writing
Lining Up These Book Guys
I have guy characters in this novel who are not doing what they’re supposed to do. They manipulate the system, they’re preoccupied by computer games, they smell like work, they talk back to adults, they take stupid risks, they’re restless, they’re competitive, and their timing is awful. They’re also thoughtful, generous with small things and big, intensely creative, loyal to their families, and fierce. One is good at kissing in the rain. Another is funny.
I know, as a writer, I should line up one of… Continue reading
Listening to Voices
Looking over my shoulder the other day, my son asked me if the scene I was revising was the scene I’d revised most in the entire novel, because, according to him, every time he looks over my shoulder, that’s the scene I’m on. Frankly, at this point, I have no idea which scene I’ve revised the most. All I know is the scene needed more work.
Here’s how one of my scenes evolves through revision. At first, the characters say somewhat random things that I write down,… Continue reading
Incarcerated Girls Write, Too
Teacher Joanne Hayes at Journey House
The Writing Workshop at Journey House is an eye-opener, week after week. The writers, all incarcerated girls aged 13-17, join the optional workshop only if they genuinely want to come. That is key. We decide for ourselves how we want to run the workshop, who speaks, who reads aloud, and what we write about. There are no grades, no assignments, no evaluations, and no deadlines.
The writing is formidable.
These writers have lived, and they have stories to tell. … Continue reading
Learning from That Writer I Knew
Birthmarked, First Draft, 2.13.2008
I went back to my very first draft of Birthmarked this morning to see how it opened, and I was surprised by how decisive and certain it sounded, especially since I know I was making it up at the time. The draft was in single-space, which also surprised me because I write in double-space now, and this drew my eye to the size of the paragraphs, which were short, and the white space that flowed around them. The prose already had a distinctive cadence… Continue reading
Write and Write and Write
Franconia Ridge, and a little perspective, 9.15.2013
At the top of my to-do list, an ever-evolving string of reminders and chores, is the directive “Write and write and write.” It’s always the first item, at the top of the morning, a small, nudging cheerleader telling me three years into doing this full-time that yes, writing is really what I’m supposed to be doing every day. Not in a half-baked, lazy way, either. Lots of it. No matter what.
I’ll tell you what’s daunting: sitting back from… Continue reading
No Hearts, Gulps, or Sighs
Today I wrote the first draft of an awful scene. It’s scary and sad and troubling to me, and I hadn’t seen it coming, either. It evolved naturally in a new chain of events I was trying in Project Next, and then, bam, I had to be responsible to my characters and expand a full-blown, agonizing scene.
It’s hard to write about emotion and have it work on the page. It’s tempting to throw in tears, beating hearts, gulps, and sighs, but although those feel important and… Continue reading