Tell me a Story!

My contribution to the November 'Writers Craft Fair' edition of the Celebration of New Christian Fiction blog carnival. To visit other stalls, call in at Violet Nesdoly's blog for directions!


When I flew back to Cape Town after attending the Mt Hermon Christian Writers Conference in California last year, I ended up bent double beneath a backpack crammed with books! The darn thing even set off the sensors at LAX and I had to unpack it, ending up with a bunch of novels and inspirational books, and a collossal pile of 'how-to-write' tomes strewn across the counter. The bemused security person stared at the books and then at me, before saying: ‘You expecting a boring ride, lady?’

In South Africa, good books on writing are often hard to find (and even more expensive to import) hence my toting home multiple orders for friends, fresh fodder for the book club, as well as a selection of new books on writing techniques for myself, which included Self Editing for Fiction Writers (Browne and King), Getting into Character (Brandilyn Collins) and The First Five Pages (Noah Lukeman).

But oddly enough, the book that has since become my personal writing bible wasn’t even in that backpack, despite that fact that it was on one editor’s 'Most Recommended' list at Mt Hermon! I’d looked at it in the bookshop, scanned the first few hard-to-read pages, checked out the price, performed the dollars to rands conversion, let out a silent screech—and returned it to the shelf.

But as the months went by and my critique partners started raving about it, quoting from it, and writing better as a result of reading it, I realized I had to get hold of the thing. None of our local bookshops carried it, so I turned to the library and after an eternity of a wait, I received the one and only copy in the whole provincial library system.

I devoured it. Breathed it, ate it, slept it and dreamt it until I reached the end, then started all over again. I was completely and utterly hooked. I learned about …

… The love of story—the belief that your vision can be expressed only through story, that characters can be more real than people, that the fictional world can be more profound than the concrete.

… The love of truth—the belief that lies cripple the artist, that every truth in life must be questioned, down to one’s own secret motive

... The love of humanity—a willingness to empathize with suffering souls, to crawl inside their skins and see the world through their eyes.

… The love of dreaming—the pleasure in taking leisurely rides on your imagination just to see where it leads.

… The love of language—the delight in sound and sense, syntax and semantics.

… The love of duality—a feel for life’s hidden contradictions, a healthy suspicion that things are not what they seem.

… The love of perfection—the passion to write and rewrite in pursuit of the perfect moment.

… And finally, the love of self—a strength that doesn’t need to be constantly reassured, than never doubts that you are indeed a writer …

But that was just the start. This author took me deep into the world of storytelling. He taught me about the elements of story—the structure spectrum and its relationship to setting, genre, character and meaning. About story design—from the inciting incident to resolution. About the principles of antagonism, exposition, characters, problems and solutions.

By now, however, the library was petulantly wanting to know when they could get their copy back—didn’t I think four months was a little long to keep a book? With extreme reluctance I returned it. And then (bless his heart!) my brother in the UK sourced a paperback edition and mailed it to me as a belated birthday present!

Happy, happy, happy birthday to me!

So this, now, is the book on writing I will recommend first and foremost to anyone who wants to dive in deep and really get to grips with the craft of storytelling.

STORY – Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting by Robert McKee.

This book arose, btw, from McKee's highly respected Story Seminars - and his graduate list includes such luminaries as the writers of the movies LOTR, A Beautiful Mind, Shrek, Phantom of the Opera, Law & Order, CSI plus a whole ream of Emmy, Academy, DGA and WGA award winners. Don't be put off by the 'screenwriting' aspect - the input applies equally well to novelists!

In his introduction, McKee says (see, now even I’m quoting him!) that his book Story is about …

'... principles, not rules; about eternal, universal forms, not formulas; about archetypes, not stereotypes; about thoroughness, not shortcuts, about the realities not the mysteries of writing; about mastering the art, not second-guessing the marketplace; about respect, not disdain, for the audience; and about originality, not duplication.’

It’s a winner!


Elleann.

Unraveling life … one word at a time.

Embracing the mystery

It's become something of a catch phrase, hasn't it?

"Embrace the Mystery ... "

I made a comment on a friend's blog a few days ago, about what it is like being a post-modern, emergent and often confused Christian these day and how part of our growth as followers of Jesus includes "an increasing ability to tolerate uncertainty, to live with mystery - embrace it, in fact."

Today, as I drove across the beautiful mountains that separate our small, rural community from the big city of Cape Town, I found myself talking to God, as I often do when driving. And I wondered what on earth He sees in us miserable, mixed-up, weak, messy humans that makes Him want to love us? I mean, here's a Being who created universes and atoms and angels and thought and light and sunrises - with all His power and creative ability, why did He bother with us?

I don't get it, God.

But as I considered the unfathomable nature of the Almighty, I realized anew that I am never, ever going to get my logical mind around concepts like eternity. Or infinity. Or omniscience and omnipresence. None of those things, ever! They are beyond my ability to understand in the same way that concepts like 'how is soil was formed, where does rain come from and what do dark and light mean?" are beyond the understanding of an earthworm who otherwise tunnels happily through lovely, loamy, moist soil. That worm will never know what it feels like to fall in love or why human males have a need to engage in battles!

But right now, that worm doesn't need to know. All it needs to do is to embrace the mystery of the magnificent world it lives in, and trust that the Creator will take care of it. But I'm not going to take the analogy any further- we are not defenseless worms, nor is a careless gardener with a sharp spade the equivalent of our Heavenly Father!

But thinking this way made me realize again that "not knowing" the answers to the questions about God gives me, oddly enough, an enormous amount of HOPE. Hope that there IS a God who is far greater than me, who has His finger on the pulse of the world, and even better than that, knows the end from the beginnning. (Or however it is He constructed that whole eternity thing ... )

Having grown up as a evangelical protestant with black-and-white religious rules, I find it a wee bit scary these days to be embracing the mystery, not only of the BIG questions, but also to be considering issues like - maybe it's not a sin to be gay? Maybe the Bible isn't the 'inerrant' Word of God? Maybe the Church isn't all it's cracked up to be?

I don't have many of the answers yet. It's all part of the mystery. As a follower of Jesus, all I can do is embrace the unfathomable mystery of His astonishing love for me.

Elleann.

Unravelling life ... one word at a time.

The second reason ...

It's official. I am now a NaNoWriMo 2005 dropout.

Although I feel relieved to have made the decision, I hate the feeling that comes with having started something and then not completed it. My inner tape player starts spooling the same old tunes I've played time and time again over the years - no-good loser, weakling, drop-out ... failure. But having examined my reasons - second one coming up now - I can actually turn that tape off this time - woo hoo! And that's progress, big personal inner progress. I must also admit that I feel some regret, but that regret had nothing to do with my not writing! It's purely regret at not being a part of the 'team' any more, of not going every day to see how my word counts stacks up against my writing buddies' word counts - in other words, I'm missing not being in the competition anymore! So down, vile competitive spirit! Begone!

So, the other reason.

And maybe this is an even more important reason in terms of life. I gave up NaNo because I had to make a choice about my present priorities. I'm in the middle of a life-changing process right now. Having been born, bred and lived the last forty-plus years in South Africa, I'm attempting at last to fulfil a long-held dream of emigrating to the US!! Woo hoo again!!

It's quite a long process and can take two to two and a half years in total. I received a job offer from a hospital group in Northern California. But the next step is that I have to take an exam called the NCLEX , which will enable me to practice as an RN in the US. This is not an easy exam to pass - current stats reveal that only 75% of first timers pass the test, and only 42% of repeat takers get through. There is also a financial outlay as the test gets taken in the US and airfares are pricy. IF I pass, I will be reimbursed from my relocation allowance. If I fail, I will be deep in debt and my hopes and dreams will be in tatters and shreds.

So, with the exam looming in Feb next year, I have to study a lot more than I am doing right now. And at my 'advanced' age, it also takes more mental effort than it used to.

So, tied to my feeling discussed in yesterday's post, and that my evaluation test scores are only showing up at round 60% (you have to be hitting a regular 75% to be ready for the NCLEX), I don't feel bad anymore about being a NaNo dropout.

Elleann.

Unravelling life ... one word at a time.

Not this time ...

Well. I just learned my short story for the FiF contest didn't make the final cut. Sad, sad, sad ... then I found a link to one of the finalist's stories in the comments section of Dave Long's blog. I read the story, to see what the 'competition' was like, why my story didn't make it. All I can say is - awesome writing! Congratulations, Mike!! If this a measure of the calibre of the entrants, then it's no wonder I'm not among them.

That set me thinking about the writing I am doing now, however. The NaNo stuff. As mentioned below, I got going - and then I got stuck! I have the outline, I have the characters, I know the conflicts, but still I got stuck. And so I've been stressed out for the last couple days, knowing I was falling way behind the daily word count. (By now I should be up at somewhere round 6680 words, and I'm only at about 1500!)

Why? Because I don't like what I'm writing and I don't like the way the characters are behaving. Under the pressure of just churning out masses of words, I'm losing sight of the nuances of the characters - their attitudes, their accents, their hearts - the small things that make them really real. They're starting to walk and talk like cardboard cutouts instead of real people. I find I'm writing scenes just to 'tell what happens' and I'm forgetting about things like 'the turn' (McKee), the scene and sequel structure (Dwight Swain), pacing and so much more. All the things I've spent such a long time learning.

So why am I pulverizing myself just to turn out a badly-written 50 K novel, when what I really want to do is learn how to write the way Mike does, to write prose that sings and stirs the heart?

So I guess I should thank Dave for not choosing my short story for the final cut! If something I labored long and hard over isn't good enough yet, then a 50K novel written under pressure is certainly not going to be something I will feel proud of. I already have 2 other unfinished, unpublished novels gathering moss on my hard drive - do I really want another?

Maybe not.

Elleann.

Just unravelling today ...

Day Two begins

The first day of NaNoWriMo is over and I survived! But only just ...

After not having written anything for the last while, it was kinda scary to be faced with a crispy clean screen, but nevertheless I sat down, ready to go. I'd had a few ideas for a story, but hadn't done any serious preparation. So, guess what happened? I wrote and deleted, wrote and deleted, wrote and deleted .. and then it was nearly 10.30 pm and I had nothing to post to my word count.

The problem was I'd had this fantasy about 'just writing'. I'd sit down, pen in hand (so to speak!) and effortlessly pour out reams of deathless prose. I'd see this amazing, moving, award-winning novel take shape by itself, solely because I was 'doing NaNo'. Ha ha ha! So much for that fantasy! I realized that I was going to have to do something and do it pretty damn quick cos my NaNo writing buddies had already posted their first word counts - 1300 and 408 words respectively. What to do, what to do? I paced and thought and paced some more.

And I remembered that when I signed up, my esteemed writing partner and dear friend suggested I write the novel I'd just finished outlining, The Devil's Dust. I'd hesitated, then said no, because I like to write slowly, carefully, crafting every word, phrase and sentence. I like to take my time and write 'properly', and isn't NaNo all about writing with abandon, and daring, and carelessness? Yes, all of that, but it's also about writing with freedom--the freedom to make mistakes and make discoveries and make a mess and make it up and have fun! So could I write a book I really cared about that way? Wouldn't it 'ruin' it if I wrote it in 30 days, at top speed?

Did I have a choice?

If I wanted to do NaNo, I'd have to get going with something. In Devil's Dust, I have a story, I have characters, I have conflict, I have love and anguish and death and - I have a novel I could write!

So I sat down and started. And at 11:55 I posted my first word count - 862 words.

OKAY!!

Elleann.

If you're going to skate on thin ice ... you may as well dance!

NaNoWriMo

Along with umpteen thousand other wannabe novelists, I signed up for NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month. The shortest cut to a nervous breakdown that I know of! Simply reset your priority clock and push novel writing to the top of the list, and then churn out 50K words within 30 days. Easy, ain't it?

The other things I'm pushing down the priority list are studying for the NCLEX, maintaining an income, keeping the kids and me fed, clothed, clean and sane ... just the usual stuff!

So wish me luck!

Elleann.

Unravelling life ... one day at a time.