What are you Writing?

[Fading Fast]

Yeah, for a minute there, I was confused as to your true living arrangements! LOL!

Considering the cost of our renovation, I'd be living in one over-priced chicken coop.

Back to writing for others, the other day, my mother, who thinks everybody's kid, but her own son, is a genius (she right about that later) - asked me to write a thank you note for her that needed a nuanced way to express a few thoughts. It took everything in me not to say, "why don't you ask one of your friend's 'smart' children to do it for you," but I didn't and wrote the note.

 

[Benzadmiral]

I have a novel I've tried to write twice now - and have abandoned twice. I don't know if it's because it's a thriller and I am not ready to write a thriller yet or what. But I absolutely love the story and the characters. It drives me batty that I get stuck on this manuscript again and again. I have it plotted out and I quite like it - but for the life of me, I cannot make the thing work. It just might be one of those manuscripts I pick up a few years from now and finally be "ready" to write it.

Last year I finished a mystery novel that I'd originally begun in 2009, then set aside while I worked on something in a totally different genre. Then in late '14 I came back to the unfinished ms. It struck me that I was trying (in my planning) to make it much more complicated than it needed to be. When I slashed out the complications, it worked much better. Could that be part of your stumbling block?

 

[AmateisGal]

Last year I finished a mystery novel that I'd originally begun in 2009, then set aside while I worked on something in a totally different genre. Then in late '14 I came back to the unfinished ms. It struck me that I was trying (in my planning) to make it much more complicated than it needed to be. When I slashed out the complications, it worked much better. Could that be part of your stumbling block?

That is certainly possible. While I LOVE reading complicated plots, writing them is incredibly difficult. I also tend to get ideas that are hard to research.

 

[MikeKardec]

Last year I finished a mystery novel that I'd originally begun in 2009, then set aside while I worked on something in a totally different genre. Then in late '14 I came back to the unfinished ms. It struck me that I was trying (in my planning) to make it much more complicated than it needed to be. When I slashed out the complications, it worked much better. Could that be part of your stumbling block?

An old screenwriter friend of mine used to say, "we get paid a lot of money to make things simple." Meaning, it's very easy to write something that is one degree more complicated than it needs to be, while getting it just exactly as complicated as it needs to be is the superbowl of writing. I find that the simplest of plots, when submerged in realistically detailed/complicated character interaction generally seem involved enough and are more interesting than a super complex plot. Putting something aside for a while, especially while you clear your mind with another project, works wonders!

 

[AmateisGal]

Last night, I was brushing my teeth and thinking about my novel when the most brilliant idea came to me for deepening the conflict for my characters. I love it when that happens. I've found that when I'm doing the most mundane things - brushing my teeth, taking a shower, vacuuming - that I can work through plot snarls or come up with terrific ideas. Anyone else have that happen?

 

[Benzadmiral]

Last night, I was brushing my teeth and thinking about my novel when the most brilliant idea came to me for deepening the conflict for my characters. I love it when that happens. I've found that when I'm doing the most mundane things - brushing my teeth, taking a shower, vacuuming - that I can work through plot snarls or come up with terrific ideas. Anyone else have that happen?

Can't say it's ever happened to me while vacuuming; but during a shower, or preparing dinner, or (sometimes) driving, yes.

 

[Fading Fast]

Last night, I was brushing my teeth and thinking about my novel when the most brilliant idea came to me for deepening the conflict for my characters. I love it when that happens. I've found that when I'm doing the most mundane things - brushing my teeth, taking a shower, vacuuming - that I can work through plot snarls or come up with terrific ideas. Anyone else have that happen?

I write mainly non-fiction, but try to write my pieces as narratives with story arcs for interest and, like you, find I can come up with good solutions for writing "issues" when I'm doing something else. I have solved more writing issues when I'm working out in the morning than at any other time. I just have to force the solution into my brain when I think of it, as Ive sometimes forgot what it is latter when I sit down to write (grrr).

 

[LizzieMaine]

I do my best writing while I'm driving. I sometimes will take a long pointless drive to think out an article, and by the time I get back, all that's left to do is the typing.

When I was working in the factory I used to think up a lot of ideas that I would eventually put to use in radio -- the mindless, mechanical nature of the work meant my brain had to find something else worth doing. I used to jot down phrases and sentences and gags on little scraps of wrapping paper during breaks, and I still have some of these in the back of my desk drawer.

 

[MikeKardec]

Last night, I was brushing my teeth and thinking about my novel when the most brilliant idea came to me for deepening the conflict for my characters. I love it when that happens. I've found that when I'm doing the most mundane things - brushing my teeth, taking a shower, vacuuming - that I can work through plot snarls or come up with terrific ideas. Anyone else have that happen?

All the time in the shower ... got to get a SCUBA divers note pad!!!

Here's my theory: We only have a thimble full of conscious capacity. 40 bits maximum, 16 bits was chosen for CD reproduction because it's a more likely number, most people chug along on less. But the content processed by those 16 bits is constantly changing a great analogy was in The User Illusion (a great book!), your conscious is like a flashlight beam in a dark room, it doesn't light up much but you can move it around all you want. Anyway, when a hypnotist hypnotizes you he or she fills up the conscious mind with nonsense ("watch the swinging watch, listen to my voice") your actions an the words are meaningless, all that matters is that the hypnotist gets the subject to relax and to do something mindless ... max out the conscious mind with garbage and PRESTO, you're dealing with the unconscious.

I think that the low level pleasant from the shower, the background noise in a restaurant, or (sometimes) the car tends to open the unconscious. If you ask it the right questions before you let these different routines pt you in trance you can get some amazing results. A lot of the time when a hypnotist works they actually don't want you in a deep trance, the overall usefulness of deep, unconscious trance is kind of a myth. light trance is good for a lot of things and really useful for creativity or problem solving.

 

[AmateisGal]

All the time in the shower ... got to get a SCUBA divers note pad!!!

Here's my theory: We only have a thimble full of conscious capacity. 40 bits maximum, 16 bits was chosen for CD reproduction because it's a more likely number, most people chug along on less. But the content processed by those 16 bits is constantly changing a great analogy was in The User Illusion (a great book!), your conscious is like a flashlight beam in a dark room, it doesn't light up much but you can move it around all you want. Anyway, when a hypnotist hypnotizes you he or she fills up the conscious mind with nonsense ("watch the swinging watch, listen to my voice") your actions an the words are meaningless, all that matters is that the hypnotist gets the subject to relax and to do something mindless ... max out the conscious mind with garbage and PRESTO, you're dealing with the unconscious.

I think that the low level pleasant from the shower, the background noise in a restaurant, or (sometimes) the car tends to open the unconscious. If you ask it the right questions before you let these different routines pt you in trance you can get some amazing results. A lot of the time when a hypnotist works they actually don't want you in a deep trance, the overall usefulness of deep, unconscious trance is kind of a myth. light trance is good for a lot of things and really useful for creativity or problem solving.

Y'know, more than once, I have dropped my daughter off and school and then drove to work without remembering much about the drive there. This is probably not a good thing, LOL, but it does speak to the amazing power of the human brain. I can be noodling about my novel and still operate my car, be aware of stop lights and traffic, etc., yet still be so stuck in my head that I am not even *thinking* about driving. I am thinking about my novel.

 

[MikeKardec]

Y'know, more than once, I have dropped my daughter off and school and then drove to work without remembering much about the drive there. This is probably not a good thing, LOL, but it does speak to the amazing power of the human brain. I can be noodling about my novel and still operate my car, be aware of stop lights and traffic, etc., yet still be so stuck in my head that I am not even *thinking* about driving. I am thinking about my novel.

It's odd, you might end up in a nearby town but you probably won't get in an accident. It's only when you are outputting information (like talking to someone) that the distraction seems to interrupt your driving skills. Don't try it on the racetrack, however ... just for safety sale.

 

[MikeKardec]

I just got back from a sort of backwards research trip. One of the books I just finished up is my father's first novel. Never published it was written in the late 1930s and takes place aboard a tanker ship bound for Manila and in the port of San Pedro, CA. What I've had to do was a good deal of forensic restoration with some revision and expansion of the original manuscript. Research was needed all the way along but I've also learned that often the most effective research is done at the last minute, making a last pass to add a more thorough version of what is already in the book. It's significantly easier than the research you do before writing because you know exactly what you need to learn about.

I usually hit the books (in this case I went to San Pedro and visited the Historical Society and compared vintage maps to the modern streets) then make up a bunch of 3 x 5 cards of the details I want to work into the story to add verisimilitude. If I don't already know where I'm going to use a detail, a street name, slang term, etc., I skim the manuscript with each card in mind. When I figure a place to use that item I plug it in and throw that card away. Luckily, Dad wrote a series of short stories about SP in the 1920s (when he was actually there), and left behind journals and letters that also refer to it, so I have a fair knowledge of his experience and can not only do normal research but I can also include the sort of things that would have attracted his attention. Whenever I work on something of his I like to use even more of his actual life experiences than he did himself.

Anybody else have any odd or counter-intuitive ways of doing research?

 

[AmateisGal]

Your method of research is quite admirable! I know I need to do better with how I record my research - I tend to dump it all haphazardly in one notebook. I have a notebook for each of my novels, plus a plastic folding folder, and i put everything for that novel in those two things. Unfortunately, this means I will have story ideas coupled in with research. It's messy.

What I find really odd and somewhat supernatural (for lack of a better term) is that sometimes I have an idea in mind for something in my story, but I'm not sure if it would have been possible or not. For example, I needed to get my main character from Berlin to Stuttgart after Germany surrendered, and then I needed to get her to America by the end of 1945. While doing general research, I found two accounts of real-life situations, quite by accident, that perfectly answered the above questions.

 

[belfastboy]

I just "finished" writing my novel and have begun to read it to check for continuity, time line etc. It sits at 55,000 words and I suspect I have another 8-10K of back story to fillin. Then will pass on to 4 people to read and as per MikeKardec's advice will ask them for feedback as to what "story" they read. I think that will be a fascinating experience for me. Then my smarter wife will "edit" it for grammar, spelling and sentence construction.

 

[AmateisGal]

I just "finished" writing my novel and have begun to read it to check for continuity, time line etc. It sits at 55,000 words and I suspect I have another 8-10K of back story to fillin. Then will pass on to 4 people to read and as per MikeKardec's advice will ask them for feedback as to what "story" they read. I think that will be a fascinating experience for me. Then my smarter wife will "edit" it for grammar, spelling and sentence construction.

Congratulations!!! Wonderful accomplishment!

 

[belfastboy]

Congratulations!!! Wonderful accomplishment!

Thank you, it has been a lengthy but fun experience for me.

 

[MikeKardec]

I just "finished" writing my novel and have begun to read it to check for continuity, time line etc. It sits at 55,000 words and I suspect I have another 8-10K of back story to fillin. Then will pass on to 4 people to read and as per MikeKardec's advice will ask them for feedback as to what "story" they read. I think that will be a fascinating experience for me. Then my smarter wife will "edit" it for grammar, spelling and sentence construction.

Congratulations!

Your method of research is quite admirable! I know I need to do better with how I record my research - I tend to dump it all haphazardly in one notebook. I have a notebook for each of my novels, plus a plastic folding folder, and i put everything for that novel in those two things. Unfortunately, this means I will have story ideas coupled in with research. It's messy.

What I find really odd and somewhat supernatural (for lack of a better term) is that sometimes I have an idea in mind for something in my story, but I'm not sure if it would have been possible or not. For example, I needed to get my main character from Berlin to Stuttgart after Germany surrendered, and then I needed to get her to America by the end of 1945. While doing general research, I found two accounts of real-life situations, quite by accident, that perfectly answered the above questions.

I wish I had that sort of situation. Unfortunately, I'm too often finding that things I hope to do are impossible or difficult to figure out if they are possible. Growl.

I tend to discover that after a certain amount of basic research going further (before the story is worked out) can be pretty counter productive. I worry too much about what is possible within the "reality" of the situation and it can lead me to forsake storytelling. Big mistake. Sometimes it's the "that's not possible" thing but more often it causes a significant side track issue where I fall too much in love with details which are better left out or can imbalance a story. I'm constantly realizing that I've too much back story, I love it but it quickly becomes a millstone.

 

[AmateisGal]

Another episode of Agent Carter is on in an hour, so I guess that means I have an hour to work on the novel. Best get to it.

 

[MikeKardec]

Another episode of Agent Carter is on in an hour, so I guess that means I have an hour to work on the novel. Best get to it.

Ha! Whenever my unconscious knows I have to stop (meaning it won't have to be on call for long) it cuts loose with the good stuff. Hope you made the most of it!

 

[AmateisGal]

Ha! Whenever my unconscious knows I have to stop (meaning it won't have to be on call for long) it cuts loose with the good stuff. Hope you made the most of it!

Unfortunately, I wrote a few paragraphs and it didn't feel right. Turns out I was trying to make a scene longer than it should be, so my great idea will have to wait for another moment in the manuscript.