Photo by MontanaRaven

By Mary Jaksch

As writers, we’re always trying to improve. Well, at least I am. Maybe you’re already perfect…

I’d like us all to collect a list of everything that helps us to become a better writer.

Please write in the comments what helps you, or what has helped you in the past!

Mary Jaksch is Chief Editor of Write to Done. You can read more articles by Mary on Goodlife ZEN. Get her free Ebook “Overcome Anything” here or grab a feed.

A guest post by Larry Brooks

If you want to see a room full of writers go ballistic, right up there with a lynch mob on the hysteria scale, tell them there really is a formula for writing a novel.  A list of elements and criteria that define the nature of the work.

They probably already know that stuff exists for screenwriters, but novels? No, novels are art.  Everybody knows that, and if you don’t, well you’re probably a screenwriter at heart.  Or maybe an engineer with a taste for Clancy novels.

So are novels works of art?  Absolutely, yes they are.  So is cooking and making candles, but nobody argues that recipes don’t work in those fields, and the same is true for writing novels.

While penning a novel is indeed an artistic enterprise, it is also one that depends on solid craft to be successful. And you wouldn’t set out to whip together a four-course meal or pour yourself a chapel full of candles without getting your head around the craft of it before putting on the old apron.

And yet, many novelists - even experienced ones - rip into the writing of a story without the slightest idea what the components or criteria for a good of a story are - that’s the craft of storytelling - armed only with a killer idea and a den full of bestsellers they’ve read, each of which have led them to the dual delusion that,

a) it doesn’t look all that hard

b) I’ll just head on down the storytelling road and see what happens.

As if that’s how it’s done.

How it’s done is all over the map, and that’s one of the reasons teaching writing is such a challenge.

Should you outline or write organically?

Should you depend on your drafts to add new elements and depth to the story, or are your drafts used for honing the elements to a crisp edge and elegant sheen? 

What is the art of storytelling versus the craft of storytelling?

Let’s look at two  metaphoric houses to tell the difference.  Both are built from specific designs.  Both are executed from blueprints.  But one is a tract home in a crowded neighborhood, the other - no bigger in terms of square feet - end up on the cover of Architectural Digest.  Both were built with excellent craftsmanship.  But only one is considered a work of art.

The art resides in the design, and the craft resides in the execution.

Say what?  You’re a writer, not a general contractor.  So let’s break it down.

At the design stage, both houses are nothing more than the sum of a bunch of concepts and ideas, just like a novel.  To simply stand upright against a stiff wind - the metaphoric equivalent of getting published in the case of a novel - there must be solid ideas and concepts in play which are executed with a sufficient level of craftsmanship.

But the essence of the truly artistic house is the originality, energy and beauty of the form and shape of the structure.  Without something exciting, fresh and thought-provoking, you risk your story being perceive as yet another tract house in a neighborhood full of mediocrity.

Unpublished novels earn and keep that label because they lack art or craft, or both.  It’s not rocket science to accept that premise.  But too many of those unpublished writers put all their chips on one or the other, without understand that it is the melding of both that becomes a sum in excess of the parts, which is precisely what publishers are looking for.

It boils down to this: a great idea or concept does not a good story make.  What evolves a killer idea into a marvelously compelling story requires craft, executed with artful creativity.

Art is the essence of that originality and the power of the end result.

Craft is execution using the tools of the trade: a great hook, a compelling set-up, a plot point that grabs the reader by the throat, irresistible stakes, magnificent tension and elegant exposition, blinding twists and heart-wrenching character arc, and a denouement that goes down like a smooth southern beverage on a steamy summer night under a full moon.  Or, one that scares the pants off you, depending on your genre.

In athletics they say you can’t coach speed, and the same can be said of the art of storytelling.  But it can be learned, and the formula for that is this: read, write, repeat… read, write, repeat.

The art of storytelling is an aesthetic sensibility that evolves with fickle timing, and you have to chase it down and then hold on until the whistle blows.  As for craft, the formula is much more precise: set-up, plot point, response, proactive pursuit, final twist, selfless heroism and irony.  Some call it orphan, wanderer,   and martyr.  Whatever.

It is a discipline that you’ll embrace before you write a successful, publishable story, whether it be through discovery as you write drafts or through story architecture that you create as a roadmap for your narrative.

And in the end, if you do it right, the reader will never know the difference between your art and your craft… just like that first bite of something succulent prepared by the hand of a master chef.  It just takes you there, without a hint of recipe, and equally dependent upon both the art and the craft of the creator.

Larry Brooks, aka The Storyfixer, is the author of four thrillers, one of which was a USA Today bestseller, another a Publishers Weekly “Best Books of 2004 selection. His blog StoryFix.com, is a resource for writers who are tired of workshop jargon.

A guest post by David Masters

An Ancient Greek Parable on How to Captivate Your Audience

Demades, the Ancient Greek orator, is about to address an assembly in Athens on a matter of vital importance. Though widely recognised as one of the greatest speakers of his time, he can’t get his audience to listen. They’re joking and laughing among themselves, ignoring Demades as he stands alone on the podium, babbling, struggling in vain to attract attention.

He pauses briefly before starting to speak again. At the words he now speaks, the audience falls into an enchanted silence, focusing on every syllable coming from Demades lips.

Demades’ words were these: “Ceres set off on her journey with a swallow and an eel as her companions.”

Demades’ opening words - after his pause - contained a simple magic: the magic of storytelling.

The Magic and Power of Story

As a writer, it is not words, but stories, that are your elemental tool.  Stories are an enchanting magic that grip the reader to the page.

Here is the power of storytelling: People make sense of the world through stories.

Stories are fundamental to being human.  Without stories, life would appear as a meaningless jumble of facts and ideas.  Stories make facts, and great ideas, meaningful.  They connect with the everyday life and experience of their listeners or readers.

A Short History Lesson for Writers

Take history, for example.  As a collection of dates – seemingly random numbers to a neutral observer – history has no meaning.  428, 1,564, 1,757, 1,812, 1,899, 1,947. These become meaningful, firstly, when you realise they’re smaller than 2,009 – so they could tie in with the story of Christianity and western history.  They become more meaningful when letters are attached to them: 428BC, 1947AD. They’re more meaningful still when words are added: 428AD, Plato born; 1564AD, Shakespeare christened; 1947AD, Stephen King born.  These letters and words add meaning to the numbers only because you know – or know of – the stories contained within them, hidden behind them: the lives and works of philosophers, playwrights and poets.

Invoking Your Readers’ Imagination

Stories hold truth more deeply than facts or statements.  As a mixture of images and ideas, stories cross the boundary between two types of truth. Storyteller Robert Bela Wilhelm calls these two truth types ‘day-time talk’ and ‘night-time talk’.  Day-time talk uses sentences to clearly explain ideas.  Night-time talk – the talk of dreams – gives your imagination free reign to use images and fantasy in whichever way it likes.  Story provides a way of writing that bridges these two types of truth – allowing the rational conscious mind to be co-present with the creative unconscious mind.  Stories satisfy the order required by left-brain thinking while provoking the imagination of right brain thinking.

All well written stories are fairy stories.  A well written story enchants the reader – casting on him or her a spell that will leave them transformed in a way that simple, blunt facts never could.

Stories inspire lasting change for two reasons.  First, they are memorable.  A well told story is never forgotten; it lodges itself deep in the reader’s subconscious mind. Second, the reader has to find out the purpose of the story for themselves.  The reader is responsible for working out the truth of the story.  Instead of being told what to do, how to act, where to look, how to think, they must discover this by thinking the story through.  And in finding the meaning of the story for themselves, the change will stay with them.  New ways of life learnt through stories are never merely an idea that seemed nice to read, but a new truth that has become a deep and lasting part of the reader’s inner world.

To conclude, a story.

Leave Your Readers Craving for More

King Shahryar of Persia loves his newlywed wife more than all the world.  It is his greatest happiness to meet her every wish, and to treat her with the finest jewels – diamonds, rubies, and sapphires – and beautiful silk dresses.

Shahryar’s Queen, however, is in love with another man.  For many years, the Queen and her lover have a secret affair.

When King Shahryar finally discovers his Queen’s infidelity, he is furious.  Breaking down and losing his mind, he has the Queen executed.  As revenge on his former wife, he decrees that all women are unfaithful.

He soon marries a new bride, but has her executed the next morning, before she has a chance to cheat on him.  He marries again, and again executes his new wife the next day.  He repeats this pattern until his chief advisor can find no more women for him to marry. The only single woman left in the whole kingdom is the advisor’s daughter, Scheherazade.  Reluctantly, the chief advisor agrees to let her marry the king.

On their wedding night, Scheherazade tells the king a story.  At the climax of the story, she stops her storytelling, and refuses to continue.  The king is determined to discover the ending to the story.  He begs her to finish, but she will not tell the ending.

The next day, the executioner knocks on the king’s door, as has become custom the day after each wedding. The king sends the executioner away.  Scheherazade’s execution can wait until tomorrow; he must first hear the end of her story.

That night, Scheherazade finishes her story.  The king is satisfied, and will have her executed the following morning.  However, while he is plotting  Scheherazade’s demise, she begins another story.  Again, she stops telling the story at its climax, and refuses to continue.  Again, the king holds off her execution so he can hear the ending to her story.  And again, that evening, when she finishes the previous story, she starts another.

For 1,001 nights Scheherazade captivates the king is this way, holding his curiosity each night with a new story.

During these years of sharing stories, the King has fallen in love with Scheherazade.  He can no longer imagine having her executed.   Scheherazade, too, has fallen in love with the King.  Together, they live happily ever after, with a reign of justice and truth, always listening carefully to the stories of their subjects.

David Masters is a writer, storyteller, blogger, and amateur photographer. Follow fragments of his life on Twitter.

Photo by smcgee>

A guest post by Marla Beck

If you’re anything like me, sometimes writing a first draft can be a huge struggle. On some level we may be busy “just writing,” but on another level, we’re often working hard to ignore, silence or simply drown out our mind’s chatter.

No wonder we sometimes resist writing and finishing our first drafts!   It’s not always easy to split our attention between writing and “mind-management.” To write a useful, “flavorful” first draft, it helps to have a helpful mindset and a few tools to help us focus.

Mind Management 101:  Accept the Chatter

Although the flow state feels amazing when it happens, it’s a state that blesses us mostly when we’re not explicitly trying.  “Flow” won’t happen every time we write.

To write a flavorful first draft, it’s important that we understand and accept a simple fact:  we’re human, and sometimes we’re going to bring an unruly or uncooperative mind to the table when we write.
Writers I coach sometimes worry they may be “forever blocked” when they’ve had a difficult writing session.  They may feel that until they learn to manage or “completely overcome” their negative mental chatter, they’re not writing well. Please avoid making these common mistakes.

Remember that every writer experiences blocks.
Remember that the quality of one writing session doesn’t define a life’s work of writing.

We diffuse our focus and use up valuable writing energy when we try to “reason with” or overcome  distracting thoughts. The solution to creating fantastic first drafts is much simpler.  First, accept that “mental chatter happens.” Then, redirect your mental chatter as you write.

Mind Management 102:  Redirect

Ever notice that when you’re just about to get a shot, the nurse suddenly asks about your job, your family or your summer plans?  When we’re faced with a task we resist (getting a shot, writing a first draft), it’s much easier to relax when we’re focused on something else.

Literary forms and writing exercises jump-start our writing because they provide us with helpful limits. (”Have I made the links explicit between ’cause’ and ‘effect?’” “Hmmm. Have I described seven different colors without naming them?”)  Restrictions and guidelines occupy our minds so we can focus more freely on writing.

Introducing the “Swiss Cheese Draft”

I confess:  Swiss cheese intrigues me.  It’s substantive, it’s flavorful and it’s got some degree of structural integrity.   Swiss cheese doesn’t fall apart, despite its many holes!

Try the following exercise with a sense of openness and adventure.  We’re going to build your “Swiss cheese draft” by shifting your focus from creating a “solid” first effort to creating a “flavorful” slice of writing, one that holds together, despite its many gaps.

Here’s how:

Step #1 - Limit Your Focus
Decide What the “Cheese” Is.  
Before you begin to write, choose one element (”content” or “form”) to define your Swiss cheese draft’s structure.  In other words, answer the question, “what’s the ‘cheese?’”

Once you’re defined your “cheese,” write a one-sentence statement of “what I’m going for in this draft” and put it at the top of your screen or page.  (Tip:  you may choose to emphasize the word “draft” as a reminder.)

Step #2 - Limit Your Time.
Decide to spend a specific and limited amount of time writing your Swiss cheese draft.  For example, “I’ll draft my new article for the next two hours, until 12 noon…no more, no less.”

Your time frame doesn’t have to be limited to one day.  If you’re working on a book chapter or long essay, you may need several work sessions.  Just be sure to decide on a time limit, and when you’re finished write it at the top of your page or screen.

Now you’re ready to write.  To keep you focused, you may want to set a timer as you begin.
(Tip:  To stay focused on your project, send a friend a “bookending” email, Tweet or text message.  Tell them you’re starting your draft, and describe your time limit.  Let them know how long it’ll be before you report back to them with a quick progress report.  Bookending is amazingly effective!)

Step #3 - Mark the Holes as You Go.
You don’t need to have all your ideas developed or research completed to finish a useful first draft.
As you write, use placeholders such as “X”, “[REWORK],” [??]” or  “_________________” to hold space for things to add later.  (You may do this already.)

Using placeholders acknowledges gaps you’ll return to in later revisions, freeing you up to focus on your writing.

Step #4 - Notice and Redirect.
(Keep Making “Cheese”!)
As you’re writing, your mind may still speak up and try to distract you from writing.  If this happens, here’s your chance to greet it wisely.

“Hello, mental chatter…I’ve been expecting you!  Have a seat right over here, and hey - would you watch the clock for me?

“Oh, go check something for me.  Can you remind me, ‘what’s the cheese?’ Oh yeah, that’s right.  Thanks!

“Sit tight, now…I’ll be with you shortly.”

Step # 5 - Cure the Draft Before You Revise
According to this Swiss cheese recipe, a newly formed cheese must cure for four months to a year before it’s ready to be eaten.  Your finished Swiss cheese draft may be cured and ready to revise as early as two days after creation.  It may need longer to settle.  Let your aesthetic palette guide you, and when it’s time to sample your draft, enjoy your flavorful first effort.
—-
I hope you’ll have fun with these ideas.

How do you manage your mind when you write?
How’d your first “Swiss cheese draft” turn out?  I hope you’ll drop us a line in the comments and give us your ideas.

Marla Beck coaches writers to finish their novels and create more time for their writing.  Read more articles on writing and life balance at TheRelaxedWriter. Follow Marla on Twitter: @MarlaBeck

Photo by iguerra>

By Mary Jaksch

Are you prone to digital fiddling? I am.
In fact, I’ve increased my skills of digital fiddling so much that I hardly notice that I’m putting off writing.

What is digital fiddling?

Finally, a moment comes when I run out of digital fiddling.  And the piece I need to write is pressing against it’s deadline.
Now what?

How to stop digital fiddling

There are three actions you need to take:

1. Disconnect your computer from the Net.
It can feel strange for a moment. As if we’ve left the world behind. But it really means re-connecting with ourselves.

2. Turn off all programs on your computer, except for the one you’re going to write with.

3. Write the first sentence.

As writing coach Marla Beck says:

The great thing about writing is that words breed words. Once you get going, writing gets easier. In order to avoid feeling overwhelmed, I give myself clear goals. For example, I’ll say, ‘I’m going to write at least 500 words, then I’ll stop.’
[This post is now 513 words long.]

What is your experience with digital fiddling?
How do you overcome procrastination?

Mary Jaksch is Chief Editor of Write to Done. You can read more articles by Mary on Goodlife ZEN. Get her free Ebook “Overcome Anything” here or grab a feed.

Photo by colorblindPICASO