The Other Part of Writing

The further I venture along the road of writing, the more I come into contact with writing's evil twin. Would you call it marketing? Visibility? PR? It is the ever-changing, insatiable cluster of activities that are meant to get you noticed, purchased, etc. Blogging, networking, querying, pitching, attending conferences, reading newsletters and magazines. When it is sometimes a challenge to carve out time for the act of writing itself, I wonder how I can carve out time to dance with this evil twin long enough that my writing sees the light of day. In an ideal world, if I treated it like a full-time job, part of my writing day would be devoted to the act of writing, and part of it to this other creature, this bastard step-child, this time-sucking cruel master that is self-promotion. Ah! But I have a full-time job. So. When writing's evil twin holds my work hostage in darkness and demands his pound of flesh, what can I do?

I suppose it is a question of rationing your time and attention. I should count my blessings. As a teacher, I can devote time on my breaks to both sides of writing. And perhaps that is really the way to look at it. Writing has two sides - more, really. It has a case of multiple personality disorder - the Muse, the Editor, the Promotor. Who knows who else is in there? They each serve a purpose. They each have their skills and talents. Some of them are more fun to dance with - or maybe they just know different steps.

No amount of extended metaphor is likely to placate my frustration with that Other Part of Writing. But maybe it will help me tolerate it, render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, perhaps even come to respect it. Still, I doubt I will ever embrace it. My loss.

What do you do to help make your peace with this other aspect of the writer's life?

The Superhero Test (from a workshop by Lisa Schroeder)

In May, I attended an SCBWI conference and came back with some great strategies for looking at characters. One that has recently returned to my mind is form a workshop by Lisa Schroeder. I don't know if she got it from somebody else or not. It's called the Superhero test. And it goes like this: Every character, like a superhero, should have the following:
* a power
* an arch enemy or nemesis
* a special place
* a love (though it doesn't have to be a person)

Like any writing tool, it is not an iron-clad rule, but a helpful litmus test when thinking about what might be missing from a character.

At the Willamette Writers Conference this weekend, Elizabeth Lyon spoke of giving your character some deep past wound, the "hole in the soul" that results in a yearning, need or drive they must try to fill. I think this, too, belongs in the superhero test. After all, what would Spiderman be if his gentle Uncle Ben had not been murdered? What would Superman be if he had not lost his home planet? What would Batman be if his parents had not been killed? You get the idea.

Try applying the Superhero test to a character you are developing or wrestling with. See what you discover.

Getting to Know You - Character Wheel exercise

I've spent the past few days working on a character wheel for the protagonist of a young adult novel I'm writing called SCHISM, which deals with religion and homophobia. The character wheel is a great exercise I got from a workshop by Shannon Riggs at the SCBWI Oregon Conference this spring. Basically, each spoke of your wheel represents an aspect of your character - things like family, friends, school or job, religion, hobbies or interests, romance or pets, strengths, weaknesses, quirks, wants/needs, home, etc. You can add spokes, change the spokes depending.

If I were writing for audio theater, I'd want to be sure I included spokes for socioeconomic class, geographic location and era, as these can really inform the way a character speaks. I went ahead and included those pieces on my wheel anyway, just to generate as much discovery as possible.

It's a terrific brainstorming tool and can sometimes lead you right into your story. As you go along, conflicts begin to emerge, personality takes shape, storylines evolve. You catch yourself making discoveries about other characters, branching off from the wheel. I actually used a 14" x 17" sketch pad for my wheel because I wanted lots of visual space. The wheel shape helps me kick out of my linear, editor brain and into the artistic brainstorming creative side. It also gives me a sense of what may be missing from my vision of a character. I look at which spokes seem sparse or blank, and why.

My wheel took a few days because I would detour periodically to do a little research, work on and tweak my plot outline, make some extra notes about other key characters. I had originally thought to do a character wheel on each of the main characters, but I don't want to get overwhelmed. I finally decided to let my exploration of the other key characters happen in a more linear fashion, thus keeping the visual of a wheel that revolves around my central protagonist. I imagine if I were writing a piece that would have multiple viewpoint characters, I'd want to do a full wheel for each of them. but I'm sticking with a pretty traditional Point of View and plot structure on this.

How much do you find you need to know about your main character or characters before you dive in and start your draft? Does it vary depending on genre? What decisions, if any, do you make before you get to know your characters? Are there any graphic organizers or other visuals you've found useful in building a vision of your characters?

Powered by Communal Energy

I just got back from teaching writing workshops at the National Audio Theatre Festivals audio theater week. I was reminded again of the communal energy generated when a group of writers gets together. No matter how introverted or solitary we writers can be, there is a pow of electricity that can happen, under the right circumstances, when you get a group of us in a room and you ask the right questions. It was exciting to be instrumental in generating some of that energy this past week.

Whenever you plug in to that communal energy, however, you have to find a way to ride it and channel it. How do you carry that energy into the solitary part of writing and focus it onto your work?

I feel fortunate to have a teacher's schedule, because I can go to a workshop or writing group in the summer and then have lots of opportunities to capitalize on that energy during the time available to me in summer vacation. As long as I don't let the time slip through my fingers in a glorious haze of napping and gardening!