Gratitude

You can learn a lot about a person by the things they can't live without. At this time of year and especially on this day, one often reflects on gratitude for those things.

Myself included. 

So on my debut Typelings post, I thought I'd introduce you to my many-faceted life and the things I am thankful for.

As a woman: I'm grateful for chocolate. And bubble baths. And a great book. Combine all three and you get a ridiculous level of paradise.

I'm also grateful for shopping, pedicures, sisters-who-are-also-bffs, moms-who-are-also-bffs, and the occasional Chris Hemsworth movie. (Come on, I'm married, I ain't dead.) Yes, I'm painfully girlie.

As a wife: I'm grateful for my husband. He's the one who I can't wait to spend forever with. A sure, solid, down-to-earth hottie who can fly me to the moon every time he calls me beautiful. 

I'm also grateful for the desire I have to be the traditional wife. Cooking and cleaning isn't always fun, but a clean house and a delicious meal bring me a ton of satisfaction. I love making things from scratch and I'm grateful that I've been able to learn and become good at it.

As a mother: I'm grateful for my children. I have amazing children. Ladybug is in heaven. An angel who watches over us. And Little Bub is four months old. A squishy-faced cutie who heals and steals my heart every day.

I'm also grateful for naps and jogging strollers. Holy crap are those things nice.

As a writer: I'm grateful for creativity and ingenuity. What incredible things human beings are. 

I'm also grateful for music. The perfect soundtrack can pull me out of the writers'-block mire, send me to another place, and create worlds. 

And I'm grateful for those who have gone before. People that have already created worlds or who are creating them now--fellow writers who support each other and cheer you on, TYPELINGS! or even the admired idol I'll never meet. 

There are so many other things I'm thankful for but for the sake of brevity, I'll finish with a question:

What is the one thing you take for granted the most? Take a second to be grateful today.

And for heaven's sake, eat some turkey.

Cheers,

Hero

Inspiration: By Rogue

Okay, here goes. My first attempt at "blogging" or whatever they call that thing they do on that Internet mechanism. Just kidding, I'm super awesome at Interneting (yep, just made that word up), but seriously, I don't get blogging. Whatever happened to keeping a diary? And...not putting that diary out in a public forum?

Anyway, so, I'm supposed to be talking about scenes and images from a few of my nerd shows that inspire me. You can't see me, but I just put my game face on. Let's do this.

Number 1:
Korra gets her bending back. This scene definitely inspired me, because hey, Aang is dead, and he's still kicking butt and saving the day. I'm like, Korra, Korra, Korra, you stupid girl. Please don't be born yet and let Aang still be the Avatar. I waited the entire show for this scene. In all seriousness though, ahem, I thought this scene was beautifully executed. The cycle of Avatars may live on in an unworthy vessel, but I have hope for her in future seasons. The Legend of Korra inspires my writing in a rather round-a-bout way. I look at Korra, at all her flaws and mistakes, and realize what a marvelous character she is. I don't like her very much, and that in itself is a token of her greatness. Any fictional being that can make me care about them, even in a negative way, has achieved a degree of realism I strive for in my own characters. So, Korra, you have my respect. (But I'm still holding out for the Legend of Iroh.)

Number 2:
Mount Doom and Barad-dur. This may seem like an odd choice, but hear me out. Frodo and Sam, alone in the wilderness, having just been separated from their friends and companions, have made their way into enemy territory. They crest the peak of a mountain, and sprawled out before them is Mordor. Mount Doom, Orcs, Mumakil, Shelob, wraiths on wings, swamps that want to eat them, a lidless eye wreathed in flame...the list of adversities seems to grow longer with their every step. If I was Frodo, I would have looked at Sam and been like, "Well, that was fun. I'm out." But they go on. They face every enemy and defeat every odd. I see their example and think to myself, if Sam can carry Frodo on his back up the side of a roaring volcano, I can bloody well put Skyrim away for a few hours and work on my writing! (I know, my life is full of such crippling choices.)

Number 3:
Harry's final battle and defeat of Voldemort. If you need me to explain to you why this is inspiring, I give up on humanity.

Number 4:
Vader turning on Emperor Palpatine. Vader's final act speaks powerfully of redemption. I can now be assured that murdering countless innocents, slaughtering children, destroying planets, torturing my own children, and handing Han Solo over to the likes of Boba Fett are all sins that can very easily be forgotten and forgiven. All I need do is betray and murder the man who mentored me since childhood, and all will be well. I can appear blue and glowy in all happy confidence beside such great Jedi masters as Yoda and Obi-Wan. And they will look at me and smile, and say, "Oh never mind about that brave young lad you cut down in front of the Jedi temple. Never mind about Alderaan. Leia doesn't need her home planet, and hey, technically if was Moff Tarkin who gave the order, right? The important thing is, at the absolute last moment possible, you decided, hey, maybe I don't want to just stand here like a giant toaster and watch this pancake-faced monster destroy my only son. Well done, Anakin, welcome back to the fold."

Number 5:
Spider-Man versus the Lizard. This makes me all tingly for a number of reasons, not least of which includes that fact that the arrival of the Amazing Spider-Man films ensures I will never again have to endure the agony of watching Tobey Maguire sob about his constipation. Also, Gwen Stacy is a happy alternative to Mary-Jane's awkward posing and snaggle tooth. Aside from that, I never fully appreciated the complexity and depth of Peter Parker's character until I saw that film (five times in two weeks). Even when stacked against such a magnificent villain, he always remembers what his Uncle Ben taught him. "With great hair, comes great responsibility." He knows that because he has been given the power and ability to help people, that places him under a moral obligation to do so. It was a humbling experience to watch his beloved uncle get killed over a bottle of chocolate milk, an experience that shaped him into the hero his is today, someone whose hair is never, ever out of place even when crushed under spandex for hours at a time.

All right, I know I didn't treat this as seriously as I probably should have, but it is in my nature to be snarky, and thus, I shall snark. I probably should have done this when I'm not exhausted and starving, but that's never. I promise I will try harder in the future, although I honestly don't find myself the least bit inspiring. I will understand if I am never again asked to write a blog post.

--Rogue

Multiple Trades of Pen

I engage in both fiction writing and poetry.

I find that studying both forms of writing enhances the other.

For example, poetry stresses the value of each word, fresh language, and pith.  Poetry is also meant to be performed by the human voice BUT--especially since the turn of the 20th century--much experimentation has been done with poetry as text. 

One technique that has evolved from such experimentation is enjambment, where the poet breaks a line before the thought is complete.  When done well, enjambment multiplies a single word's valences of meaning.  I've provided one of my own poems as an attempt at well-done enjambment.

George Herbert

Another technique which acknowledges poetry as text, and not as a performance of the voice, is shaping poems.  Shape poems, through the spacing of words and lines, create images on the page.  One my favorite examples is "Easter Wings," by George Herbert.  These poems transcend gimicktry by utilizing shapes which further the argument of the poem's content.  This is why I love Herbert's "Easter Wings."  

I go into the weeds on these techniques to make this point: studying different forms of writing exposes you to techniques and concerns that are under-emphasized in other forms.

Raymond Chandler

Had I never studied poetry, I never would have been made aware of shape, or enjambment as ways to further my purpose.  If I only wrote fiction, I also wouldn't have learned to worry as much about fresh language.  Only about the freshness of plot, or setting.  But anyone who has read the novels of Raymond Chandler knows that description can elevate a story from palatable to delectable.  There's joy not just in Chandler's main character solving a mystery, but savoring the words which Chandler serves up like a gourmet chef would their best dishes: hot, and juicy*.

Given the introduction, I'm not sure my own poem, which follows, exemplifies the ideals of enjambment I initially described.  Nonetheless, I offer it up for your enjoyment with my plea to apprentice yourself to multiple trades of the pen.

You won't regret it.

*(Perhaps a better-known example would be The Avengers.  Next time you watch it, notice how much the movie relies upon witty dialogue to carry otherwise monotonous set-up scenes.  Interesting language does much more than merely surprise the reader: it delights.)

Nap time.

Every time you wake up

I interpret the red marks on your cheek:

four: you drempt

of that stupid binki

I give to send you

packing with the sandman;

three: the sandman took

you to Ali Baba, and his gang

of forty thieves snaked

every grain of sleep;

eleven: you're out

of body.  These are steps

to heaven, impressed

on your cheek

and all I can think

is you've ratted me out,

told God I've sent you into ana-

phylactic shock.

After two hours I start repenting;

God's got you and you're never coming back.

Learn from the Masters

One of the things I've noticed about my own writing is this: I tend to write better while I'm in the process of reading a well-crafted book.

Jo Rowling's outline map
for Order of the Phoenix.

Published or not, if you take a little time every day to read words and sentences that are strong and put together properly, you will take that into your own writing and begin to emulate it.

It doesn't matter if you prefer to read Tolkien, Twain, or Austen, or more modern writers like Hale or Sanderson. If it's a well-crafted book, you'll be able to learn about writing, simply by reading it.

Here's an example: I'm a Harry Potter fanatic. *high fives Dash & Hero* I can listen to the Harry Potter audio books any time, while doing anything. Dishes, driving, running, whatever. I love the way Jo strings words together. It's not heavy reading, but it's very well-written. If you haven't read them, I highly recommend you do. She creates atmosphere so well, and her characters are genuine, but above all, these books are well-crafted.

Last night, as I fell asleep listening to Jim Dale voice Harry's goodbye to Dobby the House Elf in the garden of Shell Cottage, I couldn't help but hope that I can craft words as beautifully as those. That some day, someone will appreciate my stories as much as I do these and so many others. 

But to do that, I have to remember the three most important rules of writing:

1. Write.

2. Write.

3. Write.

Get the words on the page, and it'll work out, right? Right.

-Page

Ozz's writing process

Since being offered a contract to have my book published, I've found people asking me how I go about writing my books. I know the normal ways are using spread sheets to map out ideas, outlining the plot first and so forth, but to be honest, I just don't do that.

For me, the first thing I have in my head is the main character and something that has happened to them to change the course of their life. This usually becomes my opening scene. With Kiya, for example, Naomi popped into my head while I studied Ancient Egypt and said; "Let me tell you Kiya's story my way." So, I saw her with several younger sisters who were about to be taken but she stepped up in their place despite her highly ranked father's wishes.

The next thing I have in my head is how I want the story to end. With that in mind, I can figure out how to get there. I keep the finale as main points but don't write it down, because I find I change small details along the way. It gives me the freedom to have the characters develop as they will while heading to the conclusion.

The characters are the most important thing to me. I often have several scenes in my head once I have the beginning and end, but I won't write them down until I feel like I can express it the way my characters would tell it. While I'm developing my WIP I spend most of my time thinking about my characters, spending time with them while doing chores, going to the store, at work and mostly while I take my kid out for a walk to the park. Knowing the characters is the most important thing to me because it's what they do and how they react that creates the story.

When I write historicals, that means I also need to do research. Kiya had a TON of research involved for each of the characters, the chronology of events, culture of Egyptians and Hebrews, and daily life. Usually I read all of this during the character process, but sometimes I have to do it while I'm writing. Using Kiya again as an example, there's one scene where she has to clean the restrooms. So I paused and went and found out how Egyptians went to the toilet. It was a small detail, but it was important for accuracy's sake.

Once I have my beginning and end and know my characters, I fill in the middle. I usually write from beginning to end, occasionally writing a scene for later on a separate document, but generally I just let it flow. Then once I've written it, I'll go back and touch up details that I neglected to link up the first time around.

It makes things surprisingly fast. My last WIP I wrote 96,000 in a month and the whole Kiya series took me 2 1/2 months to write with about a month's research before hand. I think I can do it so fast because I spend so much time with my characters so I just chug through the scenes and rarely get stuck.

It's not very profound or ground breaking, I know... but this is what works for me. I really believe that a writer should do whatever works for them and not what other people say they "should" do. So, if you are stuck, try something different until you find what makes you tick. Creating a story shouldn't be hard, and it shouldn't be stressful. I believe being a writer is a labor of love, so do it the way that makes you happy! :-D

Ozz.