Embrace the joy

Once again I didn't know what to write about when Monday morning rolled around.

So I procrastinated. I did my morning yoga. And the 3 mile walk. And then I decided to try the morning meditation. That's when inspiration hit.

Let me explain. I have a daily meditation book titled The Celtic Spirit. It has a meditation listed for every day -- often with a quote, some text, and a question or suggestion to ponder. This morning, as I was trying to find some inspiration for this post, the suggestion was to re-connect with the people, places or things which bring us joy.

That "assignment" struck a cord with me. Where do I find my joy? Spending time with my family, of course. And my hobbies -- knitting, sewing, painting. As much as I hate to do it, I do actually find joy in my morning walk. And in going for a hike just about anywhere in the Black Hills. I find joy in reading a good book. And in writing.

I don't do each of those things every day. There just aren't enough hours in the day. I try to get the yoga, meditation, and walk in before 10 a.m. The knitting, sewing, painting, and reading all have to wait until evening. Somewhere in the middle I make sure to do at least a little writing. Then there are all the "joy suckers" which need to be done . . . a house to clean, dishes to wash, bills to pay, laundry to fold. It's all important. But those things don't bring me joy.

I hope that my joy in my chosen profession relates on the page. My goal is for the reader to find some joy in my novel.

What about you? Where do you find your joy? And how do you re-kindle it when you feel like it's gone?

Blessings!

Nichole

On Writing: Your Darlings

Stephen King's On Writing references Strunk and White's Elements of Style a great deal. Probably every writing is familiar with the phrase "kill your darlings." Strunk and White sum up the idea with this concise rule: omit needless words. That, then, just, really - these are filler words you probably don't need. In fact, when I first typed the last sentence it was this: these are filler words that you probably don't need. Take that out and the meaning hasn't changed but the sentence flows better.

Imprecise words can clog up your prose. In my original submission of Mojo Queen I used the word "finally" 27 times (I went back and used find and highlight to count). I just got the second round of edits for MQ and I think my editor has found all 27 times between these two round of edits and, er, suggested I fix them. So I did, because she's right. Why be so vague when I can either give a more precise indication of time, or cut the word completely?

Crafting sentences that belong in the Department of Redundancy Department is also something to look out for. I have a problem with this, especially in first person POV as Mojo Queen is. Here's an example: I used the phrase "risky danger" in narrative. Have you seen A Few Good Men? Remember the "grave danger" exchange, with Jack Nicholson saying, "is there any other kind?" That's what went through my head upon seeing that phrase highlighted by my editor.  ;-)  I cut "risky." Keep in mind, this was in narrative. I would have kept it if it had been dialog, as long as it was true to the character's way of speaking.

Don't be afraid to alter your darlings, either. Sometimes you might need to rearrange a sentence for clarity. Other times you might find you've used the same word three times in a paragraph. Unless it's some kind of specialized word and there's no way around using it so many times, you'll want to look at alternatives.

 Sometimes you even have to trunk your darlings when a scene doesn't work out. But NEVER delete those trunked scenes or stories. Tuck them away in their own file and keep them, because you never know when you might want to cannibalize from them. I have a hard time with opening scenes, so I've scrapped five or six scenes in the last two weeks because they weren't strong enough. I have them saved and may be able to use parts of them later.

Killing, altering, and trunking your darlings is sometimes necessary, but I think you'll find that it will only serve to make your writing stronger.

Regression

Regression is the fourth collaboration between South African filmmakers Ronnie Belcher and Dr-Benway, founders of production company Black Milk, and is a frightening look at how obsessive love can spiral out of control, with an underlying theme of death and entrapment within a hell, of sorts. It is a short horror film Black Milk finished shooting this weekend, due for release during the SA HORRORFEST in October this year.

My involvement with Black Milk started out as a bit of a cheerleader act, since I’m married to the “infamous” Dr-Benway, who is well known in certain circles for his dark glam/fetish art photography and illustrations. Since he started collaborating with Ronnie Belcher, a talented up-and-coming filmmaker, the scale of each film they’ve produced has grown, and extra hands are always needed, be it dashing out to the shops to buy food or helping out on set.

In my case, my skills as a writer and editor have come into play, and I’ve employed my proof-reading skills, helped with dialogue development and even conducted interviews for “making of” documentaries. It’s not terribly glamorous but it’s been fabulous seeing how ideas thrown around a kitchen table eventually evolve into short independently produced art films with an underlying theme of horror.

More often than not, I end up mopping up fake blood, carrying boxes or sticking down props with super-adhesive gaffer tape, all in a day’s work for an author of urban and dark fantasy. Most of the folk getting involved in the assorted Black Milk productions are already involved full-time in Cape Town’s film industry, which has become a regular little Hollywood over the past decade.

With Regression, I’ve varied between proofing the script, writing promotional copy, running errands, conducting interviews and making sandwiches. Essentially, I’ve been on standby whenever the crew have needed someone to drive to the arse-end of the world to buy fake blood or collect a tripod... or even purchase linen for the set. Most of the time, however, is spent waiting around, which can get pretty boring. Luckily for me, I have my trusty netbook, so I’ve not been idle. In fact, I’ve finished most of my novels while waiting behind the scenes. And, of course, I’m the one who has to make sure Dr-Benway has clean clothes, food and a warm bed to keep him sane throughout the madness...

The highlight of the filming for me is always the sense of camaraderie going on between crew members. They’re all highly intelligent creative people, and sometimes it can be a bit explosive putting so many of them in one room, but what blows me away is how everyone focuses on their area of expertise, from cinematography to set design, and it all seems to fall into place without anyone getting his or her ego bruised. Some of the folk have been on board since the start, so we’re like a family that gets to hang out whenever the next film is in production.

Everyone involved in a Black Milk production is a volunteer. We don’t have much in the way of budget, and we all chip in where we can. Without the support of companies such as Visual Impact, which has given us the use of a lot of equipment, things wouldn’t have run nearly as smoothly as they have so far.

But the sense of purpose generated from the Black Milk Crew, as we collectively refer to ourselves, is worth more than money. Firm friendships have been forged and there’s an underlying sense that we’re onto something big, something very special, because each film completed carries with it that spirit of love for the unusual, the sometimes shocking and macabre. We’re making art.

None of this is easy. Movie-making is expensive, so we have to overcome our financial limitations creatively, which also has an impact on the locations chosen for filming. With previous films Emma-Õ and 23 Rue d’Amour, shooting schedules were quite hectic, so the directors overcame that particular challenge by assigning a much more relaxed schedule for Regression, which has made a world of difference. It was still pretty intense, however; being on set at 9am and leaving well after 11pm that night, especially after a busy work-week, can make you hanker after that appointment at Club Duvet.

I must make special mentions of some of the folk involved with Regression. Kirsten Holtshousen, who acted as producer; Este Kira for her fantastic set design and attention to detail; Leon Visser for the mind-blowing cinematography (and editing); actors Stephen Preston, Angie Kennedy and Georgia Brooker, who probably spent a fair amount of time freezing half to death; Henk (sound); Daniel (CGI); Stef (for the red dress); stills photographers Zoltan and Jim; Digital Brothers, who allowed Black Milk to use their studio for casting; but also Lohan; Leon Partridge for being the best evillist little brother; the make-up ladies; Donovan; and Pierre, whose antics “messing up” the primary location I’ll never forget. I’m almost scared I may have left someone off that list. Everyone has put so much effort into this film.

Everything considered, I wouldn’t trade the experience of being on set with Black Milk for anything in the world. It’s a lot of hard, dirty work at times but when I look at what has been achieved in less than three years, I’m blown away.

Join the Regression Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=118385271533140

Youth is wasted on the young...

I'm sitting in my office, trying desperately to think of something to blog about this morning, when my kid comes in. She spent the night at her best friend's house and obviously drove home in her PJs.

"Morning, Mom," says kid.

I glance at the clock on the computer to verify that it is before noon. "You're pretty chipper for it being morning. Have fun last night?"

Kid grins. "We didn't even sleep. We stayed up talking all night and saw the sun rise. It was a blast!"

All of a sudden I'm tired. I begin to think of the things I could have accomplished had I not wasted those eight hours last night sleeping. I could work on my current novel. I could clean the living room. I could organize my office. I could fold laundry... well, maybe not the laundry.

Of course, the kid did none of that. At 17, she did what most teenage girls do... she talked about boys. And high school. And college. She swore her allegiance to her BFF and (I'm sure) complained about her unfair, uncool parents.

Are you wondering how this relates to writing? We, as authors, need to live more like those 17 year old girls. We need to remember seeing the sun rise with our best friend. Talking about boys. The feeling of the future being whatever we want it to be. Those are powerful experiences, powerful emotions, powerful feelings. And the memories are never as vibrant as the actual event.

Authors, however, need to remember those feelings in order to describe them. I'm not sure that is something which can be taught. You either know how to use the language to convey a feeling or you don't.

Don't you agree????

Blessings!

Nichole

On Writing: Adverbs and Dialog Attribution

Stephen King's On Writing makes a very clear point about your -ly words: The adverb is not your friend. If you have a verb that you feel needs modifying, it's probably best to pick a stronger verb. New writers commit this crime most often with dialogue attribution. Some of King's examples: "shouted menacingly," "pleaded abjectly," "said contemptuously." I guarantee you, an editor will strike through all of those. The best form of dialogue attribution is said. It's a winner every time. Other words will get in the way of the dialogue flow and distract your reader. A character's words will tell the reader if they are menacing or pleading or feeling contempt. Another good choice is to use action tags. Here's an example, first with an adverb of death:

"I'm ready to leave," she said tiredly.

Or with an action tag instead:

"I'm ready to leave." She rubbed her temple and checked her watch.

The action at the end of the second sentence shows you how the characters feels, much preferable to the first sentence which tells you.


King uses a lot of examples and rules from a terrific little grammar text called Strunk and White's Elements of Style. It's a slim volume full of invaluable information. I bought my copy for $10 at the same time I bought On Writing for $8. That's a much better value than the $300 I spent on a college creative writing class years ago where all I learned was how much the professor hated the publishing industry because they wouldn't publish his literary masterpiece. While it's true that sometimes you get what you pay for, sometimes a good deal is far more valuable.

Research never ends...thankfully!

While some of us only have one book on writing, that's not me. I have a room FULL of books! I can't even pick my favorite, or most used.

It's not really my fault, however. I need all those books. I truly do. You see, I research. A lot.

Maybe it's from my days as a journalist, but I think research is incredibly important. And I have the material to back that up. I have books on poisons, some of police procedure, books on character development, and ones on punctuation.

If I'm not sure about something, I look it up until I am sure.

It's not just my writing where I'm the research fiend. I research just about everything I do. One of my more recent hobbies is genealogy. Talk about a need to research! Maybe that's why I enjoy it so much.

Not everything I write about can be easily researched, however. Sleeping Bears, the sequel to Ghost Mountain, has a scene with fairies. No, not the Tinkerbell type. Did I research the fae? Of course. It's what I do. Did I find all the answers? Nope. Didn't stop me from writing about them, though. I even think the descriptions are pretty dang realistic.

I guess that's the key. Whatever genre we write in, the story needs to be believable -- at least in the "world" we write in. We have to create a world where our stories could take place. To do that, we have to research.

At least a little bit.

Blessings!

Nichole

On Writing: Vocabulary

I own exactly one book on the craft of writing: a mass market paperback edition of Stephen King's On Writing. The first half of the book has some autobiographical stuff, which is interesting, but what you really want it for is the second half. King calls it the "Toolbox" and it is basically a course in creative writing. He uses the toolbox metaphor to describe what skills writers need. My copy is full of turned-down page corners and underlined passages, and I find it helpful to read through it from time to time.

The first section is about vocabulary. The sentence I have underlined here is this: Remember that the basic rule of vocabulary is use the first word that comes to your mind, if it is appropriate and colorful. King includes several examples by different authors, some that used words most of us would have to look up in a dictionary, some that used more basic vocabulary. He's not advocating that you dumb down your work, but I do think he makes a very good point about clarity. Think for a moment about your own reading experience. How did you feel about a book if you had to constantly stop to look up a word, or figure out how to pronounce something, or read a sentence more than once to figure out what the author was trying to say? That kind of writing pulls me out of the story and makes me take note of the author, rather than stay engrossed in the story. I don't read a book looking to be impressed with an author's vocabulary, obscure metaphors, or purple prose. I want to get lost in a good story, and it's hard to do that if the author insists on getting in the way.

Word choice is incredibly important. If you have any doubt, pay attention to current events for about a week and see how many times a language-challenged politician has to walk back some dumb statement they made and issue a "clarification." Novelists don't get to issue clarifications, we have to get it right the first time. There's no telling how much time I've spent staring at the screen, practically begging the universe to send me the exact right word. And when your editor has pointed out you've used the same word three times in the same paragraph and need to come up with two substitutions it can be tricky. I've gotten help from using a thesaurus, had to completely re-write passages, and sometimes just had to beat my head against a wall for awhile until the words came to me. Struggling over word choice can be frustrating but often when you get it right, you'll know it. You'll be able to read over the sentence or paragraph you've been working on and know you got it right. No clarification needed.