The HappyWanderer

     Any former Girl Scouts out there?  I had a very short stay with the Girl Scouts, but during my time I learned any number of songs guaranteed to drive any adult insane if you sing them for hours on end on a road trip.  One of them was "The Happy Wanderer."  You know..."I love to go a wandering, along the mountain path, and as I go I love to sing, my knapsack on my back."

    OK, that's all I remember, but you get the gist.  What does this have to do with writing? April kicked off our current thread on Friday...are you a pantser (a person who just starts writing and finds their story as they go along) or are you a planner (someone who outlines and draws story arcs before you open a single document file?)

     I am somewhere in the middle, a "happy wanderer."  I am horrible at outlining. When we had to outline term papers in school, I would write the paper first, then go back and outline what I wrote. Even worse, I find it impossible to think in a linear fashion. I write a last chapter, then something in the middle, then something that I know will go somewhere, I just don't know yet.  For years I tried writing in sequence, one chapter after the other, only to find myself stuck on chapter two, every time.  I somehow thought that writers had it all in their minds, in order and a real writer's sentences flowed, one after the other, in the right order.

    Obviously, I was not a real writer.

    Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird (my personal writing bible) gave me permission to write horrible first drafts.  She gave me permission to write chapters as they come to me, in whatever order that might be.
I dislike rules, so my new rule for myself was "Just get the story down, anyway you can."

     However, I don't start writing the minute I get an idea. I live with it for a long time. At least a year, often longer. (You don't want to know how long I've been "living" with my current WIP). I do my research. My research leads to to subplots, new characters who then beget other characters. In other words, I wander.

    My first drafts are twice the size of my final one. I throw in everything but the kitchen sink. I pack for trips the same way. I put in way more stuff than I need, because, hey, you never know what you might need.  When I can't close my suitcase, I start re-evaluating. Do I need this?  Really?

    When I get to the end of my permissibly awful first draft, I start taking stuff out. Lots of stuff. The best piece of writing advice ever given to me was in the Vermont College MFA Program.  Here it is:  If you can't decide whether to take something out, ask yourself "How does this move the story along?" (Or as my writing students and critique group members know it as HDTMTSA). If that character, that scene, that description does not move your action forward, take it out.  In writing for kids, you really don't have the luxury of writing just to "admire the scenery" so to speak.

   So the answer to the question....I know my main characters well before I start (which I suppose is a form of outline), I know my setting, and I sort of know the emotional arc of the story. But how my characters get to where they are going?...that happens as I write. And re-write. And wander.

     Sooner or later I come to a place that feels like the end of the journey.  I'm done wandering, and am now wondering.  Wondering about the new place and characters that have been waiting ...possibly in my happy wanderer "knapsack on my back."

Posted by Mary Ann Rodman

P.S. Today is Veteran's Day, where we remember those who have served out country in war and peacetime. This is a picture of two my favorite veterans., My mom, WAVE Frances Smith, and her brother, Seaman Jim Smith of the Merchant Marine. My Uncle Jim was the real life inspiration for Jimmy's Stars.

Wednesday Writing Workout: Your 30-Minute Novel

Returning to my recent obsession with outlining, I would like to offer a cool exercise from author Alicia Rasley that allows you to lay out the key points of your novel in a mere thirty minutes.  It covers many basics that I typically consider for months and collects disparate pieces of information in one place. [I suspect that this would be a great exercise to complete in preparation for NaNoWriMo.]  The timer aspect is also compelling in that it requires you to figure out all of the broad strokes in short order before you are tempted to sit down and try to fill in the details.

I particularly appreciate the fact that this exercise focuses on making the main character likeable and helps you figure out where to begin telling your story.  While I have not yet tried this particular approach to the outline, it also seems that it would be extremely helpful in determining how external and internal conflict intersect (a particular difficulty of mine). 

If you try this technique, please let me know how it works out for you. Look for me to do the same.  Happy outlining! --Jeanne Marie      

Plotting My Summer

Happy summer vacation to those of you who have already begun!  My college students have finished their semester, but my husband and kids have two weeks to slog through. We are currently in major countdown mode, and my little bookworm has piles of library books all over the house in earnest preparation for lots of reading time. 

I tried to sucker Kate into writing a "guest post" today to give some insight into the mind of an 8-year-old who loves to read (and write), but she was not so inclined. She did tell me, after much consideration, that she reads to "find out what happens next."  While she talks to us primarily about snippets of scenes or dialogue or characters (Allie Finkle's BFF has come up often recently in real-life analogy), it's the plot that gets her to turn the pages.  She added that the chapter titles often entice her to keep reading.  I was somewhat surprised to hear this tidbit, but then I remembered her methodology for writing stories of her own.  She scrawls out chapter titles and then writes content to bear them out in fulfillment of a nebulous plan that she somehow manages to bring to fruition. I suppose this is her personal method of outlining.  [Kate also says that she likes to write stories because "you can write whatever you want instead of having to write what your teacher tells you."]

The topic of outlining reminds me of a graphic I've seen floating around on facebook recently, showing handwritten outlines of famous authors' works:
http://imgur.com/a/cqWsJ

(I'm sure many of you have seen this, yes?)

I outline in narrative form (akin to a screenplay treatment), so I was intrigued by the depth and complexity of this spreadsheet format.  I was particularly interested in JK Rowling's outline, and google helped me find this analysis:

http://www.slashfilm.com/potd-jk-rowlings-plot-spreadsheet-for-harry-potter-and-the-order-of-the-phoenix/

Wow!  She not only relates each main even to each subplot, but she knows the day on the week that it happened.  As well she should.  As well I should!  It seems I have a lot of work cut out for me and, thank goodness, finally some time to do it.

Wishing a happy, relaxing, and productive summer to all!  I am about to dive into a friend's WIP and give myself a major dose of inspiration.  And, in the spirit of "reading is writing," don't forget to enter our latest giveaway contest to win a copy of This Journal Belongs to Ratchet by Nancy J. Cavanaugh. I can't wait to read this one, myself. :)  -- Jeanne Marie

Back To It

Happy Epiphany!  During this last weekend of my week-long work break, I've had a small epiphany of my own.  I told myself I'd get back to my novel, and I did.  Yay, me!  During my last long spate of novel work, I'd been bright enough to outline the manuscript chapter by chapter so that I'd have some big-picture sense when I returned to it.  What I was not bright enough to do was to give enough detail to understand where I was planning to go in the scene that I'd left mid-sentence.  Of course I managed to hash out something new (maybe better, maybe not), but gosh, I wish I could have just kept that momentum going.

Like Jill, I often find my enthusiasm for a project tempered by long delays due to my "work-for-hire" projects (e.g., my job, my kids, teaching).  I freely give myself permission to take a break, or I would lose my mind.  The effect, of course, has been far too little writing of my own in this last decade or so. 

I am not one to make New Year's resolutions, but I was struck by this article that a few friends recently shared on facebook:

http://thisblogisaploy.blogspot.com/2011/06/how-i-went-from-writing-2000-words-day.html

Takeaway messages for me:
1) No more facebook -- not while writing.  No Words With Friends, no email, no news, no Internet.  Period!

2) While my last big epiphany was the importance of outlining, it is clear to me that I need to outline in much more detail.  This is what I already do in my job, and it is well known to be the most effective way of producing 5 hours of television per week (or even one hour of television per week).  I'm not sure why I didn't realize the appeal of this method sooner.  If I wrestle with the intricate details of plot first, it makes the actual writing process about a million times less onerous and time-consuming -- with a ton less deleting, too.  I don't have to be a slave to the outline, of course, but having it makes the act of sitting down to write feel infinitely less painful. 

3) I need to write during my productive time!  I have previously noted that this would be after 10 p.m., which is fortunately when my children are in bed.  Unfortunately, it is when I am now dog tired after rising at 5:30 [not my body's natural rising time -- at all].  New plan for the new year: brief evening nap, then rising and writing for 1 hour without Internet or other distraction. 

Wish me luck, as JoAnn would say.  And good luck to you all, too! -- Jeanne Marie

Reminder from Carmela: There's still time to enter our current book giveaway for a chance to win a copy of Keep Calm and Query On: Notes on Writing (and Living) with Hope (Divertir Publishing). See  last Wednesday's post for details.