Writers Fatigue & The Cure

Writer's Fatigue

It is the demonic shadow of the dreaded phenomena that plagues all of us word-smitten creative types.  I'm talking about writer's block and it's nagging companion, fatigue.  Fatigue is a lot like writer's block, and if it's left unmanaged may create the perfect door for writer's block to step right through.  Just like a holy man preparing himself for epic combat with malevolent spirits, we as courageous writers must take precautions to keep the demon at bay.  By the way, I'm totally thinking of John Constantine while I write this.  Gimme some Enochian symbols and I'll brand them (not really) on my forearms (back satan!).
So, what is writer's fatigue?  Basically, it's the same thing as burnout.  You've invested so much time and energy in writing this project.  Your heart and soul have been ground up and mashed into the essence of every laboriously chosen word.  But you've given too much too quick.  Next thing you know, you're not so excited about getting up early in the morning and sitting at that desk.  You try because hey, you know it's not going to be fun all the time.  You've even read elsewhere that it's going to fill a lot like work.  But beware!  Sometimes the right thing might be to brutally master your mind and body, push right through and get that word count in.  And maybe not.

"Why maybe not?" you ask.  Another great question.  Jeez, you guys are really on point.  Maybe, just maybe you'll start to produce less than that high quality work that you know you're capable of.  Perhaps you inner eye begins to haze, and suddenly the clarity of direction is muddied by the work of it all.  Does that sound about right?  If so, you're in the choppy waters of writer's fatigue.  Beware!  There, just beyond the dark clouds is a place of emptiness (the "nothing" from The Never Ending Story has been there), lukewarm waters and (whispered in echoes) writer's block.  God forbid you get to that place.  You've gotta go through hell to get back where you want to be.  And you want those words to flow like milk and honey.

The Cure

Ah, but in my vast amounts of timeless wisdom, gathered and harnessed by the incredible rabbi called "experience", I have learned of a remedy.  Not like the pricey snake oil stuff that Crazy Eddie sales with ol' One Eye's moonshine (what a name for a moonshiner, right?), but the real deal.  So here we go.  I think this next bit of wisdom is so epic it deserves it's own line.

The cure to writer's fatigue is to write more stuff ... just different ... stuff.

Yup, that's it.  The trick is to write something other than the large project you're working on.  Take a break from that novel, but not too long.  You still want to make progress on that thing, so I wouldn't suggest abandoning it for more than a day (if that).  I chose to do a blog which was similarly related to my novel (subterfuge!), and to help edit fellow writers and their monstrous projects.

 I had a professor in college that gave me a bit of advice when it came to studying and writing theological papers.  He told me that your brain needs a break from doing the same thing over and over again, and it helps for the old noggin to reboot if it's located in a different space.

This means that it is good for you head to change gears for a while, and sometimes you need to get up and get out of your local writing haunt to help it out.  Let me simplify:

Change your mental location, and you physical location.

Keep writing everyday.  Write something, they say (I don't know who they are, but they say a lot of things).  Keep your craft like you would keep a hunting knife; sharp and prepared for the work at hand.  Once you've done a little work on another project, perhaps one less meaningful, you need to refocus on your first love.  You'll be surprised at how rejuvenated you feel.  It's like getting a breath of fresh air after being stuck inside a smouldering, ventless attic for hours.  Try it out the next time you feel a little less enthusiastic about your novel (don't go to a stuffy attic, though.  You could die.  I don't want this blog to be the reason for death).

How about you?  Have you had a time when you feel like you're just too burnt out to write anything good?  How did you fix it (did you fix it)?  Do you have any secret chunks of wisdom for us to learn from?  Let us know in the comments below.

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Dialogue Tags and Your First Novel

When you first started to write your book (look at you, on the ball!) you found the word "said" to be incredibly boring.  In a decent chain of dialogue, that word can get repeated a million times.  As you wrote your story, I'm sure you ended up going back over the parts you just read, and when you do, you see; no, you feel how repetitive "said" is.  It begins to really dig at you, and so you start to come up with some more exciting modifiers to use instead of the mayonnaise-like "said".  

Let's clarify what a dialogue tag is:

"Hello," Joe said
"What's it to ya?" muttered Henry.

There are two camps on the subject of dialogue tags.  One group of writers will say that dialogue tags should stay simple like "said" or the occasional "asked".  In their opinions (and this is mostly true) the word "said" ends up getting shoved to the back of our reading experience and almost disappears altogether.  Subconsciously it keeps the reader aware of who is speaking, but for the most part they skip right over it.  Think back to the last book you read (assuming it had dialogue); do you remember really reading all of the name tags the writer put in there?  Probably not, and that's why you should keep it simple.  Dialogue tags other than the basics will draw attention to themselves, slowing down the pace (which could kill your story), and may cause the reader to stumble over them.  Remember, you don't even need dialogue tags but every so often.  Look at it like this:

"Okay Joe," mumbled Larry, "it's time to get going."

"But why?" cried Joe.

"Because," grumbled Larry, "work is work and it's time you get to it!"

"Oh man.  Can't I just sleep in for once?" said Joe.

"Dad's gonna kill you if you do it again.  Let's go!" spat Larry.


See how I used "mumbled", "cried", and "grumbled" instead of "said"?  If you want fast dialogue, avoid the use of such tags.  Take a look at this example, this time with the tags cleaned up:


"Okay Joe," said Larry, "it's time to get going."

"But why?" asked Joe.

"Because work is work and it's time you get to it!"

"Oh man.  Can't I just sleep in for once?"

"Dad's gonna kill you if you do it again.  Let's go!"


This second time I only used enough dialogue tags so the reader can identify who is speaking.  Then I remove them altogether so that the conversation can happen quickly.  Notice how much quicker the conversation can occur when you keep it simple and use them sparingly? In an urgent scene, it will help the reader feel a sense of urgency.

The other camp will use the heck out of them when they need to.  If you open a book by Patrick Rothfuss or Joe Abercrombie, you'll see pretty quick they don't belong to any camp exclusively.  In one chapter, you may encounter a slew of intricate dialogue tags/modifiers, and the next it may be quick paced, action-talk.   That's because the use of dialogue tags and modifiers can be genre specific.  Do you know what that means?  Well, my dear friend, it means that fantasy novels and modern day thrillers are written differently.  They adhere to different rules, and don't always have to play the "quick and hard" game for the reader.  Fantasy novels are just as much about the minute details as is they are about the progression of the story via dialogue.  This is not so of modern day thrillers.

Think about your novel.  Think about what genre you are writing.  What specifics do you notice one author using that seems to contradict another?  Trust me, you'll find out a lot about stinkin' "rules" and who gets published (and subsequently who doesn't).

Don't overuse, don't under-use, and let your story dictate what it needs for it to be told.

Be weary of people that say you must stick with camp number 1.  That is poor advice, and will get it written in a corner you won't know how to get out of.  Pay attention to the authors that you enjoy, and why you enjoy them.  And for God's sake, look at how they use dialogue tags!

So how about you?  What's your novel about?  Are you locked into a genre, and if so, do you have a specific camp you feel you have to adhere to?  Let us know about it in the comments below.  As always, like it, love it, share it, follow it.

Writing the Perfect Scene: Show Don't Tell

In my last post I spoke about my first grimy introduction to literary criticism from other writers.  If you didn't read it (shame, shame) then you should probably go back and do that now.  Look, I'll even include a link to it (see how well I treat you?).  In short, criticism sucks, but it will make your writing better.  But that doesn't mean that everything another writer throws your way should be taken like the words of Jesus Himself (remember, there's a lot of unpublished writers who stick to the rules).

I wanted to discuss some of the rules that you're gonna hear in connection to your narrative.  Some of them may be worth paying attention to, or at least keeping in the back of your mind while you are crafting away.  Others might be outright dumb, genre specific, creative writing course style bull crap.  Okay, you're right; I shouldn't call it bull crap ... I insult the feces of the bovine brethren too much. Let's  take a look at one of the "rules" I found most helpful.

Show The Reader, Don't Tell 

This one seems pretty straight forward, right?  I mean, you are writing a novel after all, and the point is for your readers is to see what's inside your head ... right?  This "rule" is somewhat deceitful in it's simplicity, because it is complex to adhere to.  The heart and soul of this rule is to have the dialogue (character interactions) drive the story forward while you show the reader what's going on.  Showing people something is one of the first skills we learn as mortal creatures (like the baby on the right), but it seems to be something we lose the older we get.  Look at this example:

Telling

 John was angry because his wife was leaving him.

Showing

John slammed his fist down on the bare kitchen table.  "Why can't we fix this, Helen?" he said.  "Why won't you just try!"

"Because," Helen said with her back towards him, "you'll never change."


See the difference in the (poor) example above?  Telling the reader simply states a fact.  It's boring, uninteresting, and leaves nothing for the reader to imagine.  Showing the reader changes everything.  You don't have to spell it out for the reader; they are clever creatures, and can get that John is angry with his wife ... if you write it well enough.

 "What about back story?" you may ask.  "How will the reader know what's going on unless I give them three pages of backstory before the opening scene?"

Good question, my dear Watson!  Very astute observation, my friend (I thought about saying "boy" here, and then "girl" ... my androgynous desires won out with "friend").  This is where you will hear the phrase drip feed.  Think of it just as it sounds.  You don't want to dump a butt load of information on the reader all at once like a dense chunk of Leftover casserole (now that's not casserole that was left over from dinner last night.  I mean Leftover Casserole, as in that dish that Mom makes every Friday that includes all the leftovers from the week before).  Rather, give the reader (through context and well planned dialogue) small, delicious, nutrient-packed crumbs as you go along.  This will help add drama to your narratives, and create the page-turning desire you want your reader to have with your work.

Take a look at the example of John and his wife.  I could have said, "John's wife was leaving him because John was stubborn and violent.  After several beatings she was sick of the abuse."  Even though it's one line, there's a lot of information that can be shown to the reader rather than explained, especially if the story's focal point is why she left her husband. In the showing example, information is slowly given to the reader through context and dialogue.  The reader can get that Helen is leaving John, that John is angry about it, and that John is (in Helen's opinion) stubborn.  A clever reader (and they always are) will get that John is violent (i.e. banging the table).  Nothing should be said in your story that isn't important (is this a rule?), and if it's worth mentioning, then it's worth showing (holy Moses!  More rules!  What have I become?!)

Finally, telling your reader what's happening, or has happened in the story, is basically calling them dumb.  You unknowingly believe that the reader will not be able to draw the connections together on their own, and so you must tell them up front.  This is a lie of the adversary, the devil, to get you to write crappy stories!  Alright, the devil might not be responsible for your misstep here, but then again ... maybe (shifty eyes).

This "rule" happens to be one that I think will really elevate your work.  Maybe you're not like me, and you figured this one out pretty early.  If so, then good for you.  We're proud of you!  But for the rest of us, this is going to be something we'll have to really work hard to remember.  And you probably won't catch it the first time through.  This is one of those things you'll catch in the dreaded editing stage of your novel (good luck with that).

So what do you think?  Is this a "rule" of writing good narrative, or are there instances where spoon feeding your reader is exactly what you need to do?  Let us know in the comments below.  If you've found this information useful, like it, love it, share it, and share some more!  Don't forget to follow and subscribe!

Criticism & Your First Novel

Criticism sucks.  There I said it.

It's not fun, it doesn't feel good, and it's not going to be easy.  David Mitchell, Black Swan Green, said, 

"If you show someone something you've written, you give them a sharpened stake, lie down in your coffin, and say, 'When you're ready'." 

 If you haven't taken this critical (deplorable) step in your quest to become (que superhero overtones) the Greatest Writer in the Universe, pay close attention to this quote ... it's true, and, just like the death of Dracula, you'll feel the torture of every negative word they speak (or write).  Beware, my friends, this road you've chosen to embark upon is one filled with the flayed skin of writers, and the continual, mutalation of their souls.  Criticism to the writer is it's own kind of hell.  Beware!  You must have the skin of a German Panzer to withstand what must be endured.

And it must be endured, too.  If you don't let anyone read your work before you attempt to publish, be it self publishing or through a traditional publishing house, you will be doing yourself and your novel a great disservice.  It doesn't matter how many times you have re-written your story.  It doesn't matter if you edited the holy crap out of it and found it flawless.  Someone, somewhere will find something that needs to change within your work.  

It's Okay.

You know why it's okay?  Because people (other than mom, God love her) can pick out those places in your narrative that are flimsy and weak.  If your dialogue is too boring to keep someone reading, you need to know about it.  They (your critics) will find information dumps where you thought you had none, and stupid, dumb, inconsistencies that you know shouldn't be there.  In short, taking those criticisms will make your writing stronger, better, more efficient, and just freakin' awesome (like the 6 million dollar man).

 But at what cost?  Is there a cost (shifty eyes) ... yes.  There may be a cost involved.

The Problem With Criticism

So let's say you've already spent countless hours researching for your novel.  Now you've gotten twenty, fulfilling chapters pumped out, and have decided that you want others to take a look at it.  You're sold on your work.  You love your work.  It's your baby.  You spoon fed it it's first few days ... changed it's dirty diapers, burped the little farts out of it.  I bet you remember the day when the chapters started to fly from your fingers, too.  Wasn't that a wonderful day?  Writing became quick and furious for you, and you watched your baby grow.

Now you're letting other people hold that baby, and they don't quite think so much of it as you do.  You thought it was damn near flawless, little to no blemish.  But the critics?  Oh man, they've all but dissected it, chewed it up, spat it out, and became a little green because it just didn't settle too well (I've now moved from the baby metaphor to food ... do not eat babies, please ... unless they are scrambled with cheese and from a chicken).  

Then they will rattle off all of these "rules" of writing that you've unknowingly broken.  "Poor thing," they say, "you obviously didn't know ... why would you have written such [insert negative term referring to your writing] if you had known?"  They mention your use of adverbs, and then your dialogue tags ... oh God, what have I done?  I've used "mumbled" instead of "said"!

You've discovered there are all these rules that you should've been paying attention to, and that perfect little baby looks a little more like an Orc (Balruk, runny bowels, he is now called) than a human.  Your heart it broken; you've been torn down, and you don't think you have the courage to pick yourself back up again (one dude even said your work sucked so much that he couldn't read it all).  Perhaps, like me, you contemplated throwing it all away (if I'm that bad, why should I be a writer in the first place?).  

Your work is worth it, that's why.  All those tears, all that hatred and self-loathing ... worth it.

Because you've got a damn good book, and you freakin' know it.  Take the criticisms that are helpful.  Employ the ones that really make your work to shine.  Take the painful criticisms and learn from them.  But don't get bogged down by them.  Make sure you keep pushing forward, ever progressing to that lofty goal of being a working writer (and all the things that means to you).  

I felt like life had ended.  While writing my novel, He the Hallowed, I fell into something like I've described above.  For a day or so I thought I needed to really follow all these rules people kept throwing at me.  Was I really that bad of a writer?  Had I not paid attention to the books I read as research?  I picked up a couple of best sellers from my private library (book shelf) and flipped through them.  

Do you know what I found?

Authors who disobeyed the almighty "rules", that's what.  So be careful that you don't listen to every word that your constructive critics suggest.  What they say, no matter how they say it, doesn't make them unaltered laws that you have to follow.  I'll leave you with another quote to simmer on until next time:

"In theory it was, around now, Literature.  Susan hated Literature.  She'd much prefer to read a good book." -Terry Pratchett, Soul of Music

Okay, one more:

"If critics say your work stinks it's because they want it to stink and they make it stink by scaring you into conformity with their comfortable little standards.  Standards so low that they can no longer be considered "dangerous" but set in place in their compartmental understandings." - Jack Kerouac 

For more quotes on novels and criticisms, check this out (all of the above quotes were derived from goodreads).  Sharing this stuff encourages me to write it.  If you feel encouraged by what I write, please follow me and sp-sp-sp-spread the word!

What do you think of criticism?  Have you ran into other writers that preach "rules" like a Southern Baptist on the sinner's prayer?  Let us know about it in the comments below.

2 Things That will Improve Your Writing

Writing does not happen in a vacuum...don't get me wrong, though.  It's our world.  We do what we want in it.  No one can tell us anything different.  How would the literary genre grow if we didn't? (hint:  it wouldn't).  Some more conservative writers may call it bad practice, or poor quality(nay sayers!).  Being a pioneer in writing is a matter of perspective; to some you may be a genius, and to others...your work may not be worthy to grace their hindquarters (butts...I'm talking about butts).  What was I saying? Oh yeah, the vacuum thing:  it takes some outside forces to help mold and shape our abilities into that superhuman thing you've been wanting ever since you became serious about the pen.

Either way, there are 2 things that can really help elevate your writing experience.  They will help shape you into the writer that you want to be, and enlighten your mind so that you may discover the more intricate complexities of narrative formation.  A good writer (that's you) wants all the help they can get, and must never, ever back down from the seemingly overwhelming forces of evil (Sauron) that keeps us from moving on.  Remember:  we can always become better, but it will require hard work, sacrifice, and relationships.  What's that?  Why relationships?  Chill out, I'm getting there.

1.  Read & Take Notes

Reading is obviously part of being a writer (at least it should be).  I couldn't imagine a world where a
writer never read other narratives.  Writer's write, after all, and readers read.  But a writer always reads.  I am willing to wager that you probably became inspired to be a writer because you read someone's work and thought, "man!  I wanna do that!  I wanna tell a story like that one day!"

 The next thing you know, you've sat down in front of your computer, and started working away on that thing.  Of course, you trash the whole project two months later because you realize that it's tit for tat the plot of Lord of the Rings, or 28 Days Later (dark lords to zombies...someone should do it).  I became super inspired after watching Lord of the Rings as a child, sat down to Windows 95, and started pumping out pages.  I was a kid, so that was cool for me.  But as a mature writer (with age comes wisdom...I hope), I understand the necessity of reading for the purpose of writing.

There's the difference.  You have probably read a book for entertainment purposes, but have you picked up a few best sellers in your genre to see what makes them sell so well?  (Also, let's be honest. You're writing to sell your work so that people will read it...and so you can get money).  Look at the mechanics of how they write.  Look at their usage of punctuation, plot development, narrative structure, character usage, the tone of the story...I mean there are literally  thousands of things you can look for that can give you a boost in your writing.

Joe Abercrombie is one of those authors whose books I have picked apart mercilessly.  I love his stories, and the voice he was able to produce in his writing (The Bloody Nine...check him out).  I didn't know the first thing about writing a book (other than it would be epic), and realized that I had shelves full of professionals who could teach me the art of the craft.  Sit back with a few books and pay attention.  Take notes on things that you like, elements that work well, and those that just don't seem to fit.  You will be amazed at how much you will learn from the first five pages.

2.  Be In Relationship With Other Writers

This one might be a little tricky.  I doubt you have a ready-made pub full of writers like Tolkien and Lewis did to help them bounce ideas back and forth (but you might...if you do, I am envious).  But there are other ways to do this, thanks to the magical realm of the interwebs. Forums, groups, databases...a whole slew of sites that offer the kind of relationship you need to make things happen.

For instance, one such place is called My Writer's Circle.  This place is great.  Here, you will get all the encouragement you will ever need.  I recently joined the site (send me a PM if you join after reading this "CodyWright77"), and have found tons of ways improve my writing.  The benefits are innumerable, and I'm not going to get into them right now; I'll just mention the big one.

Critiquing.  You need someone other than Mom (God love her) to look at your work.  Family is great, but you need people who don't  know you from some other Joe.  Be warned:  those people are not there to kiss your butt and make you feel good about yourself.  They will look at your work and be honest...terribly, unashamedly honest.  Which is really a good thing.  Just be ready to take some hard blows.  But they are blows of love (butterflies, sunshine & rainbows)!  And they will teach you what a reader wants when they open your story (first lines are SO important).

Let's recap:  Writing is hard, and you can't do it all alone.  You need to look to people that have done what you want to do to get help (read books, take notes).  You should also think about letting total strangers on the internet look over it, too.  People that, truly, are kindred spirits to yourself.  This will help drive your story to the high places, unleashing your potentiality, and helping you get where you want to be.  Find those relationships, cultivate and reciprocate, and see what happens.

Have you already joined an online community of  other writers, or do you have a few buddies that get together every now and again to discuss your work with?  How about a novel you've read as both entertainment and research?  Tell us about it in the comments below.

If you found this information helpful, please share it on your social media go-to!  Others may find it useful also...but (darkness, thunder and lightening) how are they to find it unless you share!

20 Things Involved in the Writing Process

This is a very serious, very important list of things that will help you and your writing process, because we all know that if you want to really make a buck from your writing, you've gotta treat it like a 9-5.    Please, take this very seriously.  It is serious.  Grave, even.  Writing is serious….seriously (tongue-in-cheek).

1.    Make a list

2.    Make sure things are in order of importance

3.    Watch Dora the Explorer,  because that’s what the kids are watching

4.    Get some paper, and a pencil

5.    Decide paper and a pencil are too antiquated

6.    Get out your laptop

7.    Install updates

8.    Look through Flipboard on your phone while you wait

9.    Play Shadow of Mordor because you forgot what you’re doing

10.  Install PSN updates

11.  Look through Flipboard again, only this time get inspired by an article you read

12.  Open Focus Writer

13.  Stare at a blank screen

14.  Become overwhelmed by “the process”

15.  Decide that today should be a “research” day

16.  Surf Facebook

17.  LOL at cat videos

18.  Do fifteen minutes of actual research

19.  Feel proud of yourself for accomplishing so much

20.  Reward yourself with ice cream, a movie, and a night of video-gameage!  

Some days you’re not going to get anything done.  Don’t beat yourself up over it!  It’s okay, because writing is a process.  Sometimes things will be easy, and sometimes things will be hard.  Some days it will be like nothing you ever seen before, or will again!  (Meatloaf song, anyone?).  So take it easy, relax, and take the small victories.  Your tortured genius will flow eventually.

So how about you?  What does a typical day of procrastination, small rewards, and victory dances look like for you?  Remember to like and share, blah-blah-blah.

Write It Where You Are

Wandering off into the world to write you heart out takes a lot of moxie ( I love that word), finesse, and plain old determination.  In my last post I spoke about the heart of adventure writing being about the removal of thyself from your local writing haunt, and gaining inspiration from your environment while you work.  I have found this process to be very helpful while creating my narratives in a few different ways:

1.  Setting 

Writing scenes are easier if you are in the scenery (or a similar setting) that you are writing about.  Think about it; how many times have you been scratching the old skull-noggin, trying to figure out what realistic, mundane detail could give your work a tinge of reality.  I personally love to have my characters pick their nose; a simple, gross thing really, but let's face it...there are two kinds of people in the world: those that pick their nose, and those that lie about it.  A similar setting will work too.  If you are writing about an ancient bazaar from a more antiquated time, go to your local flea-market and see how people haggle and interact with one another.

2.  Over the Wall  

Silence, peace, and distraction free...the forceful way.  Sometimes when I need to write,  I really don't want to.  Sometimes writing is way more of a job than a career (jobs suck, careers are fun).  I found that packing up my stuff and hitting the back country put me in an environment where I had nothing else to do but write.  It got me through some tough, dry spots and helped me push through.  I'm not saying the writing is always going to be without it's flaws, mind you, but I am saying that you can force yourself into keeping the pages rolling.

3.  Inspiration   

Sometimes you need to get out of the house and away from things that are familiar to get some inspiration.  It's important to recharge your creativity tank, and the way I've found to do that is to go somewhere beautiful that is quiet where I can think.  I've sat on top of lonely mountain peaks overlooking rolling hills and valleys while conversing (like a crazy man) with my main character about why he would do the things he does.  Sometimes I think about the big picture, or shout out my frustration to a godless sky.  But I always come away with some kind of fruit for my works, even if it does mean a major rewrite (why!?  Why can't it ever be good enough!).

THE CAMPER, THE HAT, AND THE BABY 'SQUATCH

One of my first adventures ended quicker than I originally planned.  I was having a really hard time concentrating at the house, and I kept finding other, more interesting things to do (I sat on a couch mouthing the word "bored" over and over again for days).  I had been planning the trip for a few months, researched the crap out of the gear I needed, finally figured out how to solve the all important power supply issues, and gathered up three day's worth of freeze-dried foods (food is important.  I like food.  Food doesn't like me.  I've also been bitten by the diabetes bug.  I need food).  

I kissed my wife good bye, told my seven children "toodles" and then dashed out the door.  I got in my 1988 Ford F150 rust bucket, floored it up into the mountains, and hiked my happy butt deep into the wilderness.  It was early in the morning, and early spring, too.  The weather had been in the 70's for the past two weeks, and I swear...I...swear...the weather was supposed to be sunny, warm, and only in the 60's at night.  That was probably true where I lived in the valley, but it was NOT true in the high places!

So there I was, the air quite chilly, ready for my own personal adventure.  I hiked all morning out to where I wanted to be for three days, enjoyed the solitude for a moment or two, and then hung my hammock.  The first problem I encountered was the amount of people that happened to frequent that part of the trail.  I was not the only person who thought the area was pretty, apparently.  I forgive the passersby, even though one guy stayed and chatted it up for an hour and a half.  After I got my camp all gussied, I hopped in my warm hammock nest with my trusty laptop in hand, and began pounding away at the keys.

All was well.  The sun was warm during the day, even if the air was a little chilly.  That was okay, you know?  I enjoyed my quiet time, and got pretty far in a chapter.  Soon the sun began to dip below the Western ridge line, and the dreaded shadow of on coming night was upon me.  I'm sure you're thinking I kept working, feverishly engulfed in my own, twisted genius spilling out onto the digitized page...I did not.  Nighttime meant sasquatches, bears, and balrog, not of which I was prepared to battle.

I took my nightly regimen of pills, and decided that, while the twilight still held, I would go ahead and knock myself out with my sleeping pill (which never, EVER kicked in).  The night came, and from the seasonal pond near the camp came the familiar chirping of the crickets and the grumbling calls of the tree frogs.  I thought to myself, "as long as the critters still call, nothing big is coming through.  I'll be fine."  

Silence. 

 Holy terror of satan himself.  There wasn't so much as a cricket's fart, it became so still.  I reached out in my pack (only a foot away from me), grabbed my can of bear spray along with a little bar-shaped flashlight.  I held it tight the whole night, too.  I kept imagining some hairy foot sticking out from underneath my tarp shelter, the angry  face of Harry  from "Harry and the Hendersons" staring down at me.  If not sasquatch then a bear, perhaps, come to paw at the big, greasy meat sack that I was, hanging from a tree like a bagged lunch.  Then there was the balrog, ready to drag me to hell.  You see, during the day you might hear the rustling of the leaves in the woods and your mind  says, "oh!  That's a cute little fury squirrel!"  At night though, everything is bigger.  The same sound then produces, "Oh Mother of God!  Sasquatch, yetis, devils and giants!"  Needless to say, I didn't sleep much, though I do remember passing out for about an hour or so.

The worst part was waking up in the middle of the night to the sound of chewing.  God awful, mouthfuls of flesh being savagely torn asunder.  It was my worst nightmare.  I new it was a bear (sasquatch) eating out of my pack.  Being the careless camper I was, I kept my food right by me too...not a foot away.  I grasped on tight to my flashlight and bear (sasquatch) spray, and tried to gain the courage it would take to move and vanquish my worthy foe.  Believe it or not I did...I did!  I had the courage!  I peeled back my nest quickly, pointed the light and...

Blinded myself.  

The freaking flashlight was pointed right at me.  By the time I turned it around and adjusted my eyes to the now pitch black darkness, whatever was there was gone.  I calmed myself by assuming it was just the hammock bouncing up against the pack, and that no little creature (sasquatch) was munching in my pack.  It was, after all, sealed up nice and tight.  But the sound of chewing continued.  I had convinced myself enough and ignored the sound, which went on most of the night.  

By the time the grey of morning came,  I was very tired...tired and really, really needing to use the bathroom (defending oneself from sasquatches all night may cause you to be too scared to go pee-pee).    So I sluggishly got out of my hammock and started to head back into the bush.  I didn't have my glasses on.  Why didn't I have my glasses on?!  If only I had my glasses on, I could have positively identified the  baby 'squatch (raccoon or opossum) that scurried away from my area.  I went and did my thing, watched the sun come up over the mountains, and then packed up and left (I check out of hotel Scare-the-%#*@-out-of-you two days early).  One of the last things I did was put on my Boston Red Sox ball cap.

You know what I did with that hat the year before?  Swam in the ocean with it.  It was as salty as the sea, and probably more so from my own sweat, too.  When I got home and took a nice, long, hot shower, I got dressed and reached for my hat.  It was then that I noticed a small, chewed through hole in the band of it!  Whatever the creature, it must have been after the salt in my hat, and had hung out with me the whole night to get some.

You want to know what I learned?  Solo camping in the middle of nowhere is terrifying!  But it gave me an experience I'll never forget. Not to mention, it gave me a way to jump start my creativity and really open my world up to new possibilities.  

Have you ever had an experience like that?  If so, tell us about it in the comments below.  Please remember to share this stuff and pass along my chicken-nuggety bits of writing awesomeness to your friends! 

Getting Bored of Writing Your Novel? Take a Hike!

The sun beats down on the back of your neck.  Early in the cool morning, it's rays were a welcomed friend.  By midday, though, it became a torturing little leech, sucking the comfort right from you soul, and by night you wish you could've had it's truth telling shine for just a few moments longer.  The smell of pine in a quieted forest, a top a mountain that overlooks a deep, deep canyon...the faint sound of tumultuous white water, raging down it's predetermined, ancient path.  You are in the wilderness, far from things made by the hands of men.  Only God and His work remains before you... 

If you didn't read this and finish with a mental image of yourself standing on a mountain top with the faint sound of angelic voices rising in a deafening crescendo, please read this again...okay, fine, but I hope you get the point.  In my last post I wrote about three things that inspired me to write my narrative, but only really spoke about the first two.  Today I wanted to expand on that third thing, and it's all about the activity of writing in the wilderness.  It's some kind of weird mesh up of camping, hiking, writing, and gadgetry to get you there and back again...and naturally, the inspiration of it all.

I call it "Adventure Writing" (insert Superman theme music).  As far as I can tell, it's not a thing...or it probably is, but the great oracle of the interwebs (google) could only prophecy of people writing about adventures...that is not what this is.  This, my friends, is far more active in nature (pun intended).

Hammock style on the edge of a cliff

The heart of adventure writing is getting out and away from the deadly monotony of sitting at home, staring at a lifeless screen, and "working" away on your narratives.  Let's face it:  writing a novel is A LOT of hard work, and most of it isn't what we thought of when we wanted to be novelists (I for one still have this image of a half crazed, manic version of myself bent over a laptop with feverish eyes repeating the same phrase over and over again).  Adventure writing is a weird synthesis of living out what we see in our heads, and the discovery of unknown places just outside of our comfort zones.  No one has ever gone to the places we create; we are the forerunners of a pristine, new world, and when you venture out into the wilderness, it has an odd familiarity to it.

The picture above was taken when I was out in the Linville Gorge wilderness area on one of my first overnight writing adventures.  I had spent the week before this excursion scouting out the area, learning it's maps, and figuring out the perfect place for solitude and beauty.  I hung my hammock as close as I could to a cliff on top of a ridge that dropped several hundred feet below, made a fire, and wrote until the fear strangled the last bit of creativity out of me (a baby 'squatch ate my hat, but more on that later).  It was more than just an experience; it was a fundamentally life changing event.

Go. 

 Get out there, and do it.  You will learn something of yourself, and something of your story.  Your personal, human frailty will emphasize, perhaps, that one thing missing from your character's personality.  Maybe you and I will learn some of the same lessons, and maybe you will discover something beyond beautiful.  At the very least, you'll come back loving your family just a little more.

If you want to hear more about my time in the high places, you'll have to subscribe or like, or favorite this thingy I do here...figure out some way to check back in!  Hit that google+ sign at the top right, and share the crap out of it on Facebook!

Have you ever felt like you needed a serious overhaul for your writing process?  Where did it take you?  What nuggety bit of deep fried goodness came from it?  Tell us about it in the comments below.

Your First Novel and the Spark of Inspiration

Here's the pitch:  writing your first novel is full of pain, anguish, loneliness, and gut wrenching moments of everlasting terror. You put your fragile heart on the line, just to have it served back to you on a cold platter with a scribbled little note on it that says, "I got dysentery form this".  What's worse?  You've not even let anyone read you precious work yet!  We writers really are our worst critics...but should that stop our brilliance from shining upon the face of every man, woman and child on God's green Earth?

No.  Well hell...I don't know.  Maybe...Nah, I'm pretty sure we shouldn't.

We were made to write.  We can feel it resonating in our bones.  The voices of our characters echo in our heads, begging to find immortality through the blessed telling of...the narrative.  A thing spoken of in reverent mutterings, and only by those that know of it's mysterious knowledge.  Okay, okay...maybe it's not that holy, but to a writer, each of our stories are sacred things.

I'm reminded of a story  I once heard about one of my favorite authors, J.R.R. Tolkien.  "In a whole there lived a hobbit," was the bizarre first line that sparked the inspiration for the ancient, super detailed world we've all come to love (come on, you and I both know you wanted to be Legolas...no?  at least tell me you wanted to shout "You...shall not...pass!").

Inspiration comes to us all in many different ways.  Maybe for you it came when you were talking to your Papa about the old days, or perhaps you thought of some incredible character born from the imagination of your inner child.  Perhaps it was both.  My inspiration was a culmination of three things:

1.  The desire to communicate an intrinsic truth

2.   An article about some crazy Russian theologian/scientist talking about the cure for death

3.  Mountains...beautiful, smoky, misty mountains.

I wanted to write a story of a world that involved tainted, sinful humans becoming immortal creatures bound by no moral, religious or survivalistic (not a word, I know) motives.  The intrinsic truth I feel needs to be told is that of selfishness and how this is mankind's most self destructive survival mode.  "I'll get mine," and "you gotta take care of number one," are cautionary statements that whisper of this underlying epidemic.  The article, of course, was just plain cool.  The guy spoke about how death was a genetic trait that could eventually be "turned off" using gene splicing therapy.  Neat stuff.

And finally, the inspiration derived from the natural world around us.  I'll talk more on that next time, however.

In the meantime, tell us what your inspiration is!  What was that spark that set you on your journey?  Was it a phrase?  A word?  A tree or (like me) a mountain?  Perhaps it was something more ethereal and spiritual...Let us know in the comments below.

Remember to check around often for updated content, new blogs on the process, and some good ol' fashioned adventuring!