The Covenant of the Arc

by Gary Fearon, Creative Director, Southern Writers Magazine

For many writers, the character arc is a vague concept that feels like an imposition.  When we already have an interesting plot that's fun to write, why must we burden ourselves with the laborious task of transforming our protagonist into a new and better person?

First of all, because the reader wants it.  Secondly, it's not as difficult or nebulous as it sounds.

The plot may be the driving force behind the story, but as good as it may be, that only covers the external. It is through the internal struggle of the hero that the reader will invest themselves and feel the real heart of the story.

Perhaps you've noticed how many famous tales feature an orphan.  From Oliver Twist to Harry Potter, it's a popular device.  Before the plot even develops, the protagonist is a sympathetic character lacking the stability of a true home.  An Oliver Twist will experience his emotional arc by looking for love in all the wrong places but ending up finding a family.  A Harry Potter will go from being an neglected child to claiming his rightful place in the world.

Similarly, in many a classic Western as well as modern-day action flick, the hero's family dies early on.  These lost souls who have had life as they know it taken away from them can experience their arc in a variety of ways: revenge, restitution, redemption, etc. A Jason Bourne, who loses both his memory and his identity, can regain his footing by discovering who he really is.

How many romances feature a selfish, stuck-up protagonist who finds the meaning of love and is transformed into happily-ever-after material?  Yes, it's a cliché, but the audience eats it up when the character recognizes that their ego is their own worst enemy.

One of my favorite comedies, Shallow Hal, centers around a man who judges everyone by their looks.  When Tony Robbins hypnotizes Hal and causes him to see people for who they really are, he finds true love with someone he would have totally ignored. Something as simple as a lesson learned is a sturdy arc.

In a lengthy series, only minor protagonist arcs are advised, because the audience wants the hero to stay comfortably familiar from book to book. Even when the womanizing James Bond got married at one point, his wife was out of the picture before the next book.

In literature you will see no lack of Scrooges who discover there is more to life than money, and adventurers who leave the safety of their world to go find themselves only to realize that there's no place like home.

And here's a tip: arcs aren't just for the main character.  A story wins extra points for depth when secondary characters get in on the action.  Someone who is an antagonist early on could well become an advocate for the hero when we least expect it.  This can be doubly satisfying because they not only help save the day for the protagonist, but demonstrate a change of heart themselves.

Each of us experience arcs of many kinds on a regular basis.  In the course of a lifetime, we couldn't count them all. Luckily, we only have to build one arc for our hero to give him or her (and the reader) the emotional anchor they're hoping for.

Your Adoring Public

by Gary Fearon, Creative Director, Southern Writers Magazine

During a memorable Johnny Carson interview, Jackie Gleason made a comment that serves as a reminder to anyone involved in the creative arts. The Great One and the King of Late Night were discussing the latest crop of 80s sitcoms and how they relied on canned laugh tracks.  Gleason had this to say:

 "We never did a show any other way but in front of an audience ... that's the only way to do a show.  How are you gonna know if you're timing [is right] if you haven't anyone to say it to?"

Any standup comedian who has graduated from comedy club work to sitcom success will be the first to credit their on-stage experience as the school of hard knocks that helped them hone their craft.  Honest, instantaneous feedback cannot be bought or learned in a book.

My many musician friends sing a similar tune about the difference between studio work and playing in front of a live crowd.  While the perfectionist enjoys the luxury of recording and tweaking until they're satisfied, there is a rush and a reward (and realizations) that can only be experienced via an audience reacting to a live performance.

The ticket seller at my local movie theater told me about a little game she plays.  Often, as a customer approaches the booth, she mentally tries to guess which movie they are coming to see.  Parents with children, for example, are usually treating them to the latest Pixar flick. But sometimes she'll be surprised by a little old lady buying a ticket to see James Bond, or a not-so-young guy seeing The Jungle Book by himself (that would be me, by the way).

When the film studios get their box office receipts, they have no record of demographics to give them the ages, sexes, races, etc of those who came to see their movie.  They can only gauge the success of their releases by how much they raked in that week.  That is another advantage connecting with an audience can give a TV star, a musician, and even a writer.

As Vicki H. Moss points out in the latest issue of Southern Writers, the crossover of readers to genres outside their typical demographic is as prevalent as ever ("The Cross-Under", July/August 2016). Being aware of who your audience includes can be invaluable feedback that today's writer is wise to take into account.  Especially when it's so easy.

Readers love to make any connection with their favorite author. A well-maintained blog and/or website is something they expect you to have.  If your online presence consists only of an Amazon listing with no photo or bio, there is little reason or opportunity to try to tell you they enjoyed your latest book.

Social media may sound like too much of a challenge to those who've never tried it.  But, when done right, it can be both an enjoyable and effective two-way tool for connecting with your audience.  I recommend Edie Melson's Connections: Social Media and Networking Techniques for Writers to anyone intimidated by the idea of social media, and anyone who's been doing it long enough that they have questions about content, frequency, etc.

Stephen King says he writes with a particular audience in mind; an audience he is intimately familiar with.  In his case, it's his wife Tabitha, who is his first reader.  If you have a sense of who your audience is, and an awareness of what they like about what you do, you're in the best position to come up with what will keep them coming back.

Not Afraid of the Dark

by Gary Fearon, Creative Director, Southern Writers Magazine


If I was to bring up the name of writer J.D. Salinger, most people would think of one of two things:

1. Catcher in the Rye, his first and most well-known novel.

2. John Lennon, whose assassin was reading Catcher in the Rye prior to the shooting.

But if you're a writer, there's a third thing Jerome David deserves to be equally famous for. He gave us one of the great quotes about writing:

"Novels grow in the dark."

Meaning that our mind continues to process for us even after we turn out the lights, figuratively as well as symbolically.  Hemingway was a proponent of shutting off his creative mind when he was done writing for the day, knowing that the empty space will renew itself for the next morning.

On a related note, another great truth comes from Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For?"

“Every time you try to block a thought out of your mind, you drive it deeper into your memory. By resisting it, you actually reinforce it.”

Fortunately, our subconscious is equally willing to cooperate with us. When we invite our mind to open up to an idea, it accepts the invitation and starts working on its behalf.  How often have you wracked your brain to remember something, only to let it go, and within a few minutes the answer magically appears?
 

I've lost count of the times a brainstorm has come to me when writing was the last thing on my mind.  An almost hypnotic activity like cutting the grass or drifting off to sleep can trigger a revelation about an existing project or an all-new one. Even when we're dreaming, our brain is literally putting ideas in our head.  We may succumb to slumber, but our synapses never nap.

As a bonus, our conscious mind tends to be a critic, while our subconscious is not.  Letting go and letting the muse take over is where the magic often happens.  I know I do my best thinking when I'm not there.

Like J.D. suggests, we needn't be afraid of the dark. Sometimes that's the best place to detect a glimmer.

Great Minds Think Alike

by Gary Fearon, Creative Director, Southern Writers Magazine


You may have heard the expression "Putting the fun in dysfunctional."  It's a phrase that's been around for years and shows up from time to time.  I'm proud to announce (trumpet fanfare) that I came up with that very slogan. Yes, it's true. The only thing is, so did a thousand other people.  It seemed original to me when I first thought it up, but within a short time I was hearing it on TV and reading it in magazines.  Apparently it was a phrase whose time had come, and obviously not just to me.

I had a similar experience this very weekend, recalling the children's chant "I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream."  (Full disclosure: I have never actually screamed for ice cream, but I've come close over a Chocolate Stampede at Longhorn.)  Anyway, it occurred to me that I Scream, You Scream would make a perfectly clever title for a novel. Out of curiosity, I checked to see if any books by that title already exist.

 
Well, fine.  I wasn't planning on writing that book anyway.  But it got me wondering whether some other well-known phrases that might make a catchy book title are readily available. How about "In your dreams"?

 

Strike two.  Apparently my muse gets around.  Not to be defeated, let's try again with a different phrase, maybe even something a little positive like "It's nothing personal."

Alright, I'm ready to say nasty things about my muse, but not out loud, because she's elusive enough as it is.

Maybe a different approach altogether is in order.  Surely a song title like "Can't Buy Me Love" hasn't been turned into multiple books.

By now you get the point.  You could spend a hard day's night going down that long and winding road, trying to come up with a common phrase that hasn't already been taken.  Rather than risk getting lost in the shuffle, you may be better off creating a title that's never been done before. The more original, the more memorable, such as How Come Boys Get to Keep Their Noses?  (Yes, that's actually a book.)

Not to suggest that there isn't value in borrowing a phrase that's already in the public consciousness, since the familiarity factor could pay off in extra recognition for your novel.  But if someone else should use the same title, remember ... it's nothing personal.

Why Write?

By Linda R. Shoaf

Because I loved experimenting with food and creating new recipes, I wanted to work in a test-food kitchen. High school teachers urged me to become a teacher. No one mentioned anything about writing. After acquiring credentials for both food-related professions and education, a lifelong career fell into place—much of it based on writing.

How can anyone teach without writing—lesson plans, student evaluations, untold correspondence, and more? Career advancement may hinge on writing journal or consumer articles, books, various teaching/career guides, newsletters, and a plethora of other printed materials. We can also share our knowledge or interests with others in many different ways, whether a part of our job or not. Here are a few examples:

Blogs give an opportunity to communicate thoughts, beliefs, ideas, or helpful information the public might otherwise not know.

Articles in magazines, newspapers, and other venues provide a medium to educate and inform.

Newsletters for organizations, communities, or industry focus on specific readers and their needs.

Books on topics of one’s expertise or interest will enlighten or entertain readers in a given subject.

To learn why others in my profession write, I asked a national writing group of peers why they chose to write. For most, this wasn’t a major part of their responsibilities. For these health-related professionals, answers reflected concern for the health and well-being of the public. Below are select responses along with my own reasons.

To share current information based on scientific knowledge to improve other’s wellness and health

To influence people to make wiser food choices

To use my expertise to help people improve their wellbeing

To interpret useful and interesting topics for the masses in my areas of training

To improve communication skills with people

Regardless of the profession we choose, those same or similar reasons may apply. But Melinda, a dietitian-nutritionist in the Midwest, added a different perspective as to why she writes. She explained that she writes to leave the world a better place because of her unique skills. Each of us has distinctive talents and abilities. Whether we write fiction or non-fiction, the goal is to help the reader improve or learn in some way. Whatever we write, it’s hard to improve on Melinda’s focus. Does our writing reflect concern for the world in which we live?

___________________________________________________________________

Linda Ross Shoaf is a registered/licensed dietitian-nutritionist with a doctoral degree in adult education. After one year of teaching junior high school, she moved into teaching nutrition and related subjects in colleges, universities, and post-secondary schools. Following several moves with her husband and teaching in five states, they founded Cindryn Group, Ltd. in the late 1980s. Within a few years, Linda integrated her independent work in nutrition and Christian living into their company. Her motto, “To nourish body and spirit” reflects her goal to encourage people in healthy physical and spiritual living. Linda has spoken at local, regional, and national venues and leads nutrition workshops, Bible studies, and national webinars. She serves in leadership roles on community and educational boards. As a registered dietitian-nutritionists, Linda is a national peer-reviewer for many articles, books, position papers and professional materials in her field. Her publications include numerous journal, trade, and consumer articles and devotionals. You can find her blog www.cindryn.com at www.foodfromthegarden.wordpress.com  

http://www.facebook.com/linda.r.shoaf     http://twitter.com/lindashoaf

http://www.linkedin.com/in/lindashoaf

The Holidays and Writing

By Susan Reichert, Editor-in-Chief, Southern Writers Magazine

I was so anxious for the holidays to get here; I put my Christmas tree up, decorated it, and put a few presents under the old tree. Then I put my tables up and created my Christmas Village, all this November 5.  A little early, I admit…but I get to enjoy it a little longer this year. Next year I will pass the Christmas Village to my oldest daughter so she can put it out for her grandchildren…my great grands. There are four of them. Three little boys and one little girl. At their ages, I can see their little eyes blinking and hear their oohs and ahs as they see the village light up and snow all around.

Even as an adult, I’ve enjoyed that Christmas Village every year and I will admit I will miss seeing it up at my house during the holidays. But, there comes a time to pass to others things that will bring them joy. Next year I will have something new to enjoy when I go to my daughters––watching my great grands precious faces light up as they look at Mimi’s village with all the people and trees. See the churches, schools, houses and buildings plus the cars, trucks and skiing slopes. Oh, and don’t forget all the trees, roads and sidewalks. They will have so much fun.

It’s a wonderful time for children, young and old. What does this have to do with writing you ask? I think this holiday would be a perfect time, to write a few short stories about what Christmas meant to us as children; things we did, places we went. Trees we decorated, presents we got and family members who were there. Describing all the wonder and joy during those special times would make a beautiful set of stories to pass on to our children, grandchildren and those yet to come. It will give them an opportunity to see how special holidays were with our families.

So, try it during the holidays this year. As memories pop up in your head, put them to paper. Who knows, you might have enough stories to use to write a Christmas book and it be published in time for the holidays in 2016. 

How to Give Your Book a Classic Title

by Gary Fearon, Creative Director, Southern Writers Magazine

Every author wants a book that will hold its own against the 300,000 new books that are published in the U.S. each year.  To give it a fighting chance, it has to capture the reader's interest instantly, and a solid title will help make that good first impression.

As always, we learn much from the ones who've gone before.  Let's consider some of the classics of literature, and see how the pros did it:


THE MAIN CHARACTER

• Dracula
• Jane Eyre
• Moby Dick
• The Great Gatsby

What could be easier than simply naming your book after its lead character?  That said, don't do it.  These books were written in a different era, when it was in vogue to to do.  Robinson Crusoe and Anne of Green Gables sound classic to us today because they are classic.  In this day and time, it's unlikely that a new book called Regina Thornbush or The Adventures of Wallace Hampton would attract anyone's attention.

If you must hone in on the hero, these days it's more popular to keep things faceless and generic, like the titles of these current New York Times bestsellers: 

• The Girl on the Train 
• The Murderer's Daughter

THE SETTING

• The Arabian Nights
• The Jungle Book
• Little House on the Prairie
• Treasure Island

This approach, immediately answering the question of "Where?" still works as long as the locale happens to be intriguing or evocative, like in the above examples or, more recently, The Great Zoo of China. John Grisham's Gray Mountain and Sycamore Row say little as titles, but hey, he's John Grisham, and his fans will buy anything he writes.

Overall, it's better to play it safe with some of the following titling strategies:

AN INKLING OF THE PREMISE

• The Call of the Wild 
• Kidnapped
• Little Women 
• The Scarlet Letter

Giving your reader insight into the subject matter gets their imagination going.  Or perhaps you'd like to get specific:

LITERAL

• Around the World in Eighty Days
• Journey to the Center of the Earth
• The Old Man and the Sea 
• The Time Machine

Identifying the main premise simply and directly may help your reader determine on the spot that it's something of interest to them.

INTRIGUING

• Lord of the Flies 
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest 
• The Color Purple
• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Would you have any idea what these books were about from the title alone? Unlikely, but their vague sense of importance conjures curiosity.  As with 2015 bestsellers Go Set a Watchman and Secondhand Souls, a thought-provoking title demands extra consideration.

And then there are titles whose very wording suggests an air of greatness:

POETIC

• For Whom the Bell Tolls
• Gone with the Wind 
• The Grapes of Wrath
• Of Mice and Men

Again, the premise is unclear, but the overall feel of erudition commands a certain respect.  All the Light We Cannot See is a current example.  You feel smarter just saying it.

Choosing the right title for your novel is one of the most important things you'll do, but it needn't be the hardest. Find the title that is an inviting reflection of what makes your book unique, and you'll have your reader at hello.

The Monty Hall Problem

by Gary Fearon, Creative Director, Southern Writers Magazine

To clarify things right off the bat, Monty Hall himself is not a problem.  As of this writing, the original host of Let's Make a Deal is alive and well. In fact, today is his birthday.  Happy 94th, Monty.

"The Monty Hall Problem," on the other hand, is a thing, and one that's been debated for decades. It is a brain teaser having to do with probability, one which has puzzled great mathematical minds and caused university professors to write papers on it.

As you may know, Monty's game show would include three doors, behind one of which would be an awesome prize like a brand new car or a European vacation.  Behind the other two were far lesser prizes, at least one of which would be a "zonk" like a goat or a burro.  To play the game, the contestant would choose a door, and Monty revealed what was behind one of the doors not chosen.  Then Monty would give the contestant a chance to change their mind about which of the two remaining doors they want. 

This is where the debate comes in.  With three doors, it's clear that the contestant has a 1-in-3 chance of winning the big prize.  After one door is revealed, has the contestant's odds of winning improved?  Is it still a 1-in-3 chance or has anything changed that?  I have my theory, but I'll let you mull it over first, or even go Google "The Monty Hall Problem" if you really want to melt your brain.

Writers today have a similar gamble to make.  When we invest ourselves in writing a book, we don't know what the outcome will be.  Will it get picked up?  Will it sell?  Will it end up in a yard sale?  We could further complicate the equation with additional options like, should we self-publish or go traditional?  We could create any number of mystery doors for this analogy.

What it really comes down to is this question: what would it take to make us feel like a winner?  For some, it will be the simple pleasure of having finished writing the book we always intended to write, whether it makes it to print or not. Others dream of opening that box filled with copies of their shiny new book. Take the scenario step by step all the way to being on the NY Times bestseller list and you have innumerable definitions of "winning" that would make Charlie Sheen's head spin.

At the end of Let's Make a Deal, Monty would go around the crazily-dressed audience and ask if anyone had such random objects as a wooden nickel or a bobby pin. Those who did would win some small cash amount on the spot. Not everyone who came to play ended up winning a trip to Paris, but they all had fun, and that was the name of the game.

My personal take on The Monty Hall Problem is that you do indeed start with a 1-in-3 chance of winning.  But once it's down to two doors, I contend that the probability becomes 50/50, regardless of whether you change your mind or not.  Genius columnist Marilyn vos Savant, however, disagrees vehemently, and has gone into exhaustive detail to explain why.  Since my IQ is not in the Guinness Book of World Records and hers is, I'll graciously concede.

As for the odds of achieving commercial success as a writer, no one can predict that with any accuracy.  But one thing we can all agree on is that the probability of getting zonked and winning nothing goes to 100% if we don't try. Going the full Monty means writing, even when we think the odds are against us.  If we love to write, and play the game for the sheer fun of doing what we love, we are guaranteed to be a winner.

I'm just glad I don't have to dress up in a clown costume to play.  Marilyn vos Savant already thinks I'm an idiot.

What's Your Caption?

Photograph by Chris Barwick

Writer's write your best caption. Thanks Chris Barwick for this spectacular photograph.

The Spice of Life

by Gary Fearon, Creative Director, Southern Writers Magazine


This weekend, a friend shared his childhood memories of the "family movie night" that was a weekly ritual in his home.  Each member of the family got to take turns picking the flick of the week at Blockbuster.  As you can predict, the kids always picked out movies geared toward children, while the adults chose more sufferable fare.

For every Ninja Turtles movie they watched, my friend's dad had them sit down to a classic like On the Waterfront. Or A Streetcar Named Desire. One week it was even Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. (Don't worry, grade school exposure to these mature themes didn't scar the young boy for life; in fact, he went on to become a youth pastor).

It harkened me back to thoughts of my youth, which included a lavish movie house with a balcony, curtains that opened and closed, and where you could buy expensive souvenir programs for the epics being shown. I think even more than the movies themselves, my parents enjoyed introducing their children to edifying entertainment.  So I too grew up on a well-balanced diet of comedies, dramas, romances, musicals, as well a couple of movies my parents made us walk out on.

Looking back, I'm especially grateful for this early education, which gives me a pretty good understanding today of the elements that go into a comedy, a drama, a romance, a musical, not to mention movies my parents would still walk out on. And no doubt you can say the same. While we may have a favorite genre of movie—let's say spy thriller—that doesn't keep us from attending the occasional romantic comedy that catches our interest.

Which brings me to this question: Do you read more than one genre?

Variety is a good thing, for storytelling and for painting

Do you always read the same genre, or do you mix that up too? Granted, committing to an entire novel requires a greater time investment than a two-hour movie (unless you're Susan Reichert, who can read a book a night).

Just as we moviegoers have cut our storytelling teeth by watching a variety of film genres, veering from our usual reading course and picking up an author who writes the kind of tale we're unfamiliar with could introduce us to other ways of telling a story. The intricacies specific to another genre could be eye-opening.  They could help add a new dimension to the genre we normally write in.

Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Mary Schmich said, "Good art is art that allows you to enter it from a variety of angles and to emerge with a variety of views."  I look forward to adding a little more variety to my library, and I hope new ideas will emerge for you too.

For now, I can't let a mention of Mary Schmich go by without sharing one of her greatest achievements, a laundry list of advice that director Baz Luhrmann turned into a music video.  It could change your life.  I at least guarantee it will change the next five minutes of your life.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTJ7AzBIJoI

The Long and the Short of It

by Gary Fearon, Creative Director, Southern Writers Magazine


At a Southern Writers authors event a couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of speaking with several novelists about their approaches to writing (you'll read about many of them in upcoming issues of Southern Writers).  When I spoke with one author in particular who writes both novels and short stories, I sought his perspectives on writing for the two different formats.

When I learned that his first step in creating his novels was to create a detailed outline, I asked if he plots out his short stories as well. "No," he replied with instant enthusiasm.  Short stories, he explained, are his opportunity to run free. When he begins a novel, he knows how it will end before the opening scene.  For a short story, he lets his characters take him wherever they want to go.

At first glance, one might think the short story would be the one warranting advance planning, since the novel by its sheer length could afford to let its characters wander off course a bit.  I'm even reminded of Abraham Lincoln's famed reply when asked to give an impromptu speech: 

"If I am to speak for ten minutes, I need a week for preparation; if an hour, I am ready now."

However, the short story—unlike the novel—isn't required to conform to the traditional three-act format we expect from a novel.  The hero's journey as explained by Aristotle, Joseph Campbell, Christopher Vogler and others will probably always have some influence on long-form stories, but the short story can afford to carve its own path. A simple contemplation of a single theme? A beginning-to-end chronicle? The sky's the limit with a short story.

By the same token, there are authors who outline their short stories while letting their novel characters cast their own fates to the wind.  Indeed, going back and forth between the two approaches (outlining versus not) seems like an excellent way to exercise both sides of a creative brain.

There are many good books to help take the guesswork out of outlining, such as K.M. Weiland's Structuring Your Novel, and even if flying by the seat of your pants is your preferred writing method, it's good to know the rules so you can break them with confidence.

Whatever your chosen approach, we invite you to forge a potentially new path by entering Southern Writers' 4th annual Short Story Fiction contest.  By popular demand, we've doubled the 1200-word limit and you can now let your imagination run wild up to 2500 words. The deadline is August 1st, 2015.

Visit http://www.southernwritersmagazine.com/shorts for all the details, and good luck!  With a $500 grand prize, there's never been a better time to get short with us.

Your Unique Voice

By Cecil Murphey

"Use strong verbs!" 

"Don't use is."

"Never use the passive voice."

Most of us have had those commands thrown at us countless times (and there was a time when they thundered from my mouth). For the past decade, however, I've disavowed them.

I prefer not to use the passive voice, but there are legitimate times to use it.  Too many writers don't know the difference between the passive voice (I was hit by the ball) and a state-of-being verb (The sun is shining). Some writers feel they have committed a literary sin if they use any form of the verb be.

All words are good words; they're the tools we use to express ourselves.

The major reason I want to bury those three sentences is that they tend to block writers' true voices. 

For instance, I'm working with a talented writer, and she's trying to learn to write with her true voice. Recently, she wrote about a man being shot and his wife situated her head on his chest. She felt that situated was a stronger verb than lay or placed. It probably is stronger, but it doesn't fit.

Later I spotted his body folded together. Originally, she had written, he bent forward, but one of her friends said she needed a stronger verb than bent.

"Do you talk that way?" I asked. When she said no, I said, "Then you're not writing from who you are. Each of us has a unique voice."

Our voices are how we see our world. They make us different from others.  It's the sound of ourselves on paper or the screen. To be true to ourselves, we need to write the way we talk—that is, to be as natural as possible. Writing with our own voices—authentically—doesn’t mean writing subjectively (although there are times we may do so.)

Each of us has that personal one-of-a-kind tone. We have valuable things to say, and no one expresses them the way we do. They become significant when they come from our authentic selves.

Readers identify with honesty. They may not realize what bothers them about certain writers, but they sense that the writing doesn't have what one person calls "the ring of truth." Too many want-to-be-published authors try to sound brilliant, erudite, or like a real writer.

Discovering and then nurturing our matchless voice is an ongoing process, and to accomplish that, we have to be relentlessly honest.

We can learn techniques, but if we don't write from within, our prose sounds forced and inauthentic, and we stifle the heart of good writing. Not only do we need to discover our voices, but also we have to accept them as valid. They express our distinctive life view. Appreciating our voices comes from facing our fears, accepting ourselves, and valuing who we are.

Finding and honoring our voices is about self-acceptance. When we respect our uniqueness, we become more fully who we are.

We also become better writers.

__________________________________________________________________

Veteran author Cecil Murphey has written or co-written more than 135 books, including the NY Times bestseller 90 Minutes in Heaven (with Don Piper) and Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story (with Dr. Ben Carson). His books have sold in the millions and have encouraged and inspired countless people around the world. In addition to writing, he enjoys preaching and speaking for events nationwide. Website: www.cecilmurphey.com Blog for writers: www.cecwritertowriter.com

Blog for male survivors of sexual abuse: www.menshatteringthesilence.blogspot.com

Twitter: www.twitter.com/cecmurphey

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cecilmurpheyauthor

Cec Murphey's Tips for Writers: https://www.pinterest.com/twilabelk/cec-murpheys-tips-for-writers/

Murphey's Maxims: https://www.pinterest.com/twilabelk/murpheys-maxims/

Unwritten

By Holly Parker

I went to one of my favorite inspiration places the other evening and watched as the sun began to set over our little local park. The wind was blowing unusually nice breezes for August and the water held reflections of remaining sunlight. There were a few people out, but for the most part, the park was very secluded and a great place to gather my thoughts.

I walked over to the covered pavilion with my notebook in hand and sat down at one of the picnic tables. I’ve learned to bring a notebook with me because God usually speaks to me when I sit in His creation. Some of my best ideas come when I am just sitting and observing the world around me.

As I looked at my surroundings, I noticed something sitting right in the middle of the table. I realized what it was and double-checked to make sure I was really seeing it.

There in the middle of the exact table I had randomly chosen was, drum roll, a pen.

Now this might not mean much to anybody else, but for me it was like a sign. It was almost like an answered prayer.

My writing had been taking off lately. Nothing major, but things were starting to happen here and there. I had prayed desperately for God to show me direction, for Him to somehow move my life into a full time writing career. I wasn’t sure how or what was going to happen, but I knew it was where I belonged. Writing gave me joy like nothing else and I had faith it was for a reason. Maybe even a divine reason.

So seeing that pen in the middle of the table was like hearing God’s voice. Even though I don’t know how the future will unfold or what will happen or even if I will ever be a full time writer, I know I am called. That pen was a simple lesson to trust even when I cannot see the big picture. It was a reminder that the story is not finished yet. I am not finished yet.

With this realization, I encourage you to look around you every day, all the time. Your calling may be right in front of you.  Your story might be in something you never thought of before. God may be speaking to you in ways you are missing. Keep your head up and your heart in…the rest of the story is still unwritten. 

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Holly Parker is a southern writer from Birmingham, Alabama. She has invested in a number of different children at childcare programs and is currently employed by the library. She has an English degree from the University of Montevallo with a minor in Writing and graduated Summa Cum Laude with a 4.0. Holly is also very involved with her church and helping out with young people in her community. She loves to travel, read, watch Alabama football, take pictures and of course write! She enjoys writing all kinds of genres, but has a passion for blogging and writing Christian fiction. You can follow her blog at onlyhopeblog.com. and on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/holly.parker

The Slow Writer

By Hannah Vanderpool

I’m a writer who also happens to homeschool three middle-schoolers. This means that any time I devote to honing my craft, meeting project deadlines, and working on long-term writing goals must be carved out of an already full and noisy day. I used to write as if I were shoplifting, stealing moments in the bathroom or in my bedroom, with the door locked. Every minute in which I managed to wrangle thoughts into words uninterrupted felt like a piece of sparkly merchandise hidden under my coat. 

Once I wrote an entire novel in a month using this write-while–the-kids-aren’t-looking method.  It was thrilling and ridiculous and stands out as a feat only slightly less insane than, say, giving birth to three children in the span of thirty-two months. The problem was that, although I had an entire first draft at the end of that month (and Mama loves her completed projects) it wasn’t any good. I had written like a hunted animal and it showed. I realized that the heart-pumping pace had forced me to produce, but it wasn’t even close to my best work. And, anyway, writing like it’s the end of the world wasn’t a long-term solution to the problem of never having enough time to write.           

It was when I realized that writing is forever, that the work is never actually finished, that I was able to develop a different mindset and make real, reliable time to do it. It meant that I had to get up very early, while my kids were still snoring, and open up the laptop. Still in pajamas, in the dark, quiet space of my bedroom, I had to learn to make the most of my time, sometimes writing less than I wanted to, sometimes more. 

Eventually I settled in to producing between 500 and 1,000 words each morning without the aid of adrenaline and cortisol. This was nothing like the output I’d managed when I crammed a novel into a month and, at first, I was tempted to feel sorry for myself, to give in the feeling that I wasn’t accomplishing much. The pace was mundane, work-a-day, normal. But each day, as I looked over the work I’d done the following morning, I realized that I wanted to trash less and keep more. I discovered that this was because I was writing at the pace of my thoughts, not trying to outrun them. 

Over time, I’ve been able to produce thousands of words with those two morning hours, many of them for keeps. I’m able to continue homeschooling my kids, giving them the freedom to discover their passions the way I’ve discovered mine, and meet important writing goals. The key, for me, is to be consistent, to go as slowly as I need to, and to remember that I’ll get to do it all again tomorrow.   

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Hannah Vanderpool is a writer, world traveler, and homeschooler to three interesting middle-schoolers. She can’t imagine a world without sisters and books. You can visit her at www.prayingwithoneeyeopen.wordpress.com and 

http://www.prayingwithoneeyeopen.wordpress.com or connect on Twitter @HannahVPool. 

Houses and Books

By M. Sakran

That house – it took me eight years to build. I redid the foundation a few times. I went back and forth between having four and five bedrooms. I built the fifth bedroom three times, but tore it down each time. I actually tore the whole house down twice and started over now that I remember. I spent a lot of time thinking. It took me four months to pick the color of grout I wanted in the guest bathroom.  And you don’t even want to know how long I spent deciding if I wanted the house wrap to be blue or green. Sure, it would be covered up by brick later – but I would know it was there. I ended up choosing orange.

Sound a little odd? It does doesn’t it. You would never hear someone talk about building a house like this, especially with a sound of pride. And if you did, you certainly wouldn’t buy the house from them (you might not even go inside it). 

But isn’t it strange – isn’t this exactly how writers sometimes talk about their books? 

They say the book took them eight years to write, that they changed the entire plot a few times, that they spent months deciding a character’s hair color. You hear this often. Writers even talk about it with pride. They love to tell you how they spent four months deciding if a character should be called Angie or Angela.

Why is writing a book different than building a house? If we heard someone talk about a house like this we wouldn’t buy it, but when we talk about our books like this, we expect readers to buy them?  Why, when a house is being built, do we want builders to be decisive, efficient, and do things only once, but when we write books we start over, change things, and spend hours over little points – and think it is good? Why are books different from houses?

Houses and books have more in common than both being made of wood products. Houses are products. Books are products too. They both give something to a consumer. You may say that books are different. Books are creative, books are expressions, details in books matter. But houses are creative, houses are expressions, and details in houses matter. But we don’t build houses like we write books.

Often as writers we feel the need for perfection. We think that if we call the town Ellesfield instead of Elesfield that everything will be wrong. We sometimes labor over connections and symbolism– the shirt in chapter five is light blue, because the woman at the diner in chapter three had a light blue ribbon in her hair, and light blue expresses a sense of calm, and ….

As a writer, ask yourself some honest questions the next time you read a book:

  Could you tell how long each part took to write?

  Could you tell how long the whole book took to write?

  Would you care if you knew?

  Did you notice countless symbolisms and connections?

  Would the book have been ruined if the main character was named Louis instead of Lewis?

  If you learned some small detail in the book was labored over, or a chapter was rewritten eight      times, would you think the book was better?

If you answer no to these questions, you might expect that readers of your books feel the same way.  When someone reads your book they can’t tell how long you took to write it (unless you tell them).  They can’t tell if a really good paragraph took ten minutes or ten hours to write (they probably wouldn’t care, and if they did, they might wonder why it took ten hours). They most likely didn’t notice the light blue shirt in chapter five. And if all the symbolisms, connections and labored points were explained to them – they wouldn’t read the book.  

As writers, we often labor over our books. We feel the need for “just right." We value effort. This has down sides though.

It’s inefficient (think about taking eight years to build a house).

It might not be noticed by readers (no one noticed the character walked twenty-three steps to the front door).

Readers probably don’t care. If anything, they might be more impressed that something took a short amount of time and flowed naturally, than was an arduous trek of expression.

Taking a long time to write a book and laboring over nuances isn’t necessarily bad. If writing a book is about something emotional and about fulfilment then it may make sense. If the idea is to fully express all that is inside you in three hundred pages then it is perfectly fine. You probably should spend a lot of time and focus on small points if the purpose is to have it culminate in something that expresses you. 

However, if the point of writing your book is to write as a writer – someone who writes multiple books, that get published, and sell, then this might not be the way to do it. There is not much purpose in doing things that slow the process, won’t be noticed and don’t add value for readers. 

If you want to write books as a writer, then you have to realize that books are like houses. Both are creative, both are about expression and both have important details – but both need to be made efficiently.

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M. Sakran is the author of a collection of poetry entitled First Try and has also written over forty items for magazines and websites. M. Sakran’s poetry related blog can be found at msakran.wordpress.com.

So You Think You Can’t Write

By K.D. Harp

The next great novel waits within you, and you’ve come down with a case of writer’s block. Join the club. Or cry in your coffee. Wail to the sun. Whatever you do, don’t complain to non-writers, who don’t understand the problem and won’t care. (The phrase ‘writer’s block’ is as meaningful as ‘tennis elbow’ is to a couch potato). Don’t complain to seasoned writers either, because we see writer’s block as a rite of passage. You’re not REALLY a pet owner until you’ve dealt with that first public puppy indiscretion unprepared, and you’re not REALLY a writer until you’ve wrestled with a Muse who is feeding the world’s worst case of PMS and using it as an excuse to give you the Silent Treatment. All the gut-wrenching writer insecurity whirling about in your psyche from writer’s block just makes it all the more authentic to us.

On the up side, it is a malady as common as the cold, and remedies abound. Google the term and find suggestions for everything from changing location, getting a new look, meeting new people, listening to music, indulging in some sort of recreation, and my (sarcasm on) favorite, changing your attitude. I know, the world has become a positive thinking place which can cure anything from world hatred to panty hose runs, but I’m not this sort of person, and when I read suggestions like this for anything, I quickly tend to picture someone curing their writer ailment by plaiting their extensions into gravity defying Wendy’s logo braids, and singing “If You’re Happy and You Know It” while hopscotching through a police station holding cell for fun. The image takes all the attitude actions and rolls them into one: new hair, new people, and song styling exercise guaranteed to get you a story of one sort or another…

Most of the useful suggestions involve something encouraging you to write anyway, essentially something that looks like denial of the writer’s block dilemma, but is in actuality, hard truth. You don’t really have writer’s block, dear writer. You’re not focused on the work of writing. You’re in love with the play of it.

You are the gal with the totally planned out wedding who isn’t even dating.

Denial Class suggestions involve working even when you think you can’t, i.e., has writer’s block. Commit to a set number of words per day, or better yet, a given amount of time. I like the time strategies because if your mind is truly blank after word wrestling for X minutes or hours, you’ve proven your dedication to the project. The minimum number of words strategy can work wonders too, though, especially if you set a ridiculously easy number of words, (even as low as ten if necessary), some number that your normal writer self just laughs at, and doesn’t take seriously as a goal. Even on a Writer’s Block Day, that ridiculous number is attainable, and once we’ve met the minimum, most of us are off and running down some writing path, because of the jump start it gives.

Or, READ. Read the text you were writing when the block occurred. Go back deep in the text, to the beginning if necessary. Immerse yourself in the story from a reader’s perspective. What do you want for these fake people, (sorry), characters on the page? What would be the worst thing to happen to them? …What’s that? You don’t have a text? OK, if starting the story is the problem, then read its predecessor, with the same mentality, and make note of what your mind conjures.

Oh c’mon! You’ve got writer’s block on your first book? Some would say read the book that inspires you to want to try writing and take note of the elements you want to emulate. Isn’t that sweet? So encouraging. So academic. While the Positive Penelopes amongst you are trading warm fuzzies whilst admiring a classic or bestseller, before you pragmatists run a finger down your throats at the thought, hang with me. For you folks, read the poorly written drivel that somehow got published which convinced you that you could do better, and this time, take note of all the ways to improve it.

Bingo. There’s your start, the elements you believe a good story requires. …Time to fill in the blanks. Now that you have it, don’t get sidetracked fretting over titles, character names or (some people actually DO this) a pen name. (Priorities people. You need no pen name until sometime AFTER you’ve actually penned something.) As for the story, use whatever character name comes to mind and don’t sweat it. It can be changed later with a simple Replace All, as long as you’re smart enough not to use a name like “Ike” (Guilty. This name will earn you the thrill of correcting a few hundred bizarre words that used to be ‘like’, ‘strike’, ‘pike’, etc.) If your mind’s such a blank you have to write XX and XY instead of a character name, just do it. The names will come later. Don’t slow their story as it trickles out.

The same strategy goes for impressive phraseology, extensive descriptions of people or place, and any other element that is flexible and can change. A story is a tough thing to craft, a line-up description, dismembered body, or resort’s high rollers poker room, not so much.

Bottom line on writer’s block: quit whining about how it’s hard, and write. If it were easy to craft a book, even Amazon couldn’t hold all the new titles. Write drivel if you have to, and edit it later (unless you score a three book deal from your pile of rubbish, in which case, publish and inspire someone else to take up the profession).

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Award winning author K.D. Harp writes suspense with romantic elements and strives to create characters of character in stories worth reading again. K.D.’s volunteer work with community emergency response teams (CERT) inspired the latest “Fighting for the Heart of Spencer” release, RESCUE ME, where doing good deeds after a disaster can score a date with a cop (and get ya killed.) Order any of K.D.’s titles worldwide in softcover and multiple e-formats.

Learn more at kdharpbooks.com