The quest for writing discipline

cj Sez: While my writing discipline is pretty much non-existent, Elmore Leonard’s writing process was admirably consistent.

Writing well into his 80s, Leonard's writing process remained the same. He settled in at his home office in Bloomfield Township, Michigan, around 10 a.m. behind a desk covered with stacks of paper and books. He lit a cigarette, took a drag and set about to writing — longhand, of course — on the 63-page unlined yellow pads that were custom-made for him.

When he finished a page, Leonard transferred the words onto a separate piece of paper using an electric typewriter. He tried to complete between three and five pages by the time his workday ended at 6 p.m.

'Well, you've got to put in the time if you want to write a book,' Leonard told The Associated Press in 2010. 

(Excerpted from an August 20, 2013, article by the United Kingdom’s Daily Mail.on Elmore Leonard’s passing. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2398117/Elmore-Leonard-Crime-novelist-wrote-Get-Shorty-3-10-Yuma-dies-87.html#ixzz4HuqYY1Le)

The problem for me is, once I’ve written the story, it’s nigh unto impossible for me to go back and change it. I don’t mean edit it, I mean really modify it. And now I have a short/short story (about 4,100 words) that I want to expand to between 8,000 and 12,000 words. The task is brought on by a desire to submit the finished product for consideration in an anthology.

It used to be, when I was B.R. (Before Retirement), that I worked better when I had a short-term deadline. That said, I thought if I gave myself a deadline, I’d have the incentive to keep going. Found out that’s not true. I have managed to bury that deadline under procrastination that I call “research.” Of course, research is necessary for accuracy, but it's those side forays into historical rabbit holes that do me in. 

However, I’m not giving up. Yesterday, I polished off a couple of paragraphs, added a few more, and last night I made a note or two when I went to bed. I get a lot of good ideas just before or just after I fall asleep so I keep a note pad and a pen right next to the bed. Sundays are for family and etc., so I won’t be sitting in front of the computer for very long. But Monday? Monday, I’ll get right back at it.

I suppose some of you might call that procrastinating. Nope, I’m calling it, Delayed Discipline.

That’s all for now, but how about you? When do you get your best ideas? Let me know how you conquer the blank page in front of you. I need all the help I can get.

Just a reminder: Choosing Carter is among the novels in the More than Friends bundle that publisher

Crimson Romance has slated for release on September 15.

You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same.

cj

cjpetterson@gmail.com

https://www.facebook.com/CjPettersonAuthor

Choosing Carter  -- Kindle  /  Nook  /  Kobo   /  iTunes/iBook

Deadly Star --  Kindle  / Nook  / Kobo

Amazon Central Author Page:  http://amzn.to/1NIDKC0

What invites you to pick up a book?

cj Sez: As an author and reader, the first thing that catches my eye when I’m looking for a book to buy/read is the cover. It will be someone or something I can relate to in a personal way. 

Then I check out the back-of-the-book blurb that gives me a snippet of what the book is about. If my interest is still piqued, I read a couple of first pages then read a couple of pages in the middle of the book. (I check the middle to see if the excitement I found at the beginning sags. No one likes a saggy middle.) Like every reader I know, I do this many, many times before I make a final selection.  

When you’re in a bookstore or library, what piques your interest in a book?
 

I tend to like stories with great dialogue and character narratives. Robert B. Parker, James Lee Burke, and Elmore Leonard are some of my favorite authors. They produce great story content and write wonderful repartee. I want to get most of the story’s sense of place, characterization, emotion, and plot from the action and the dialogue (see the Burke meme). 

 I also appreciate humor, even in some of
the dark scenes.

   What is your preference . . . lots of delicious  narrative or sassy and deep point-of-view  dialogue?

  Follow-up question:  Who are your favorite  authors? What about their writing appeals to  you?

 Exciting ups and downs, i.e., conflicts, must  always be in the story to hold my attention, but I’m not interested in grabbing for tissues. I don’t want to cringe at something a character says or does, even if it really does happen in real life. I believe I have enough grief going on in my life, and don’t want to cry while reading. I’m drawn to strong heroines and hunky heroes…they don’t have to be young, wild, and good-looking, but they do have to be likable. (And for me, the villain has to be villainous, even if there’s a hint of sympathy for him.) I want the heroine/hero to win and the story to end with a promise of something positive for the good guys. That’s the story arc I want to see.

What keeps you reading? Obviously, plot and content of any good book are de rigueur, but when those two requirements are met: Is it a strong, smart heroine, an equally smart and incredibly attentive hero, or a perfect ensemble of characters? 

From Facebook

Okay, that’s it for today. There’s a storm coming in, and I need to get this posted and the computer shut down. Last month, a lightning strike in a neighbor's yard blew out my son’s computer monitor. Can't afford another right now, so I'm gone. You-all guys, keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same.

cj
cjpetterson@gmail.com

https://www.facebook.com/CjPettersonAuthor

Choosing Carter  -- Kindle  /  Nook  /  Kobo   /  iTunes/iBook

Deadly Star --  Kindle  / Nook  / Kobo

Overused Words

First:  Congratulations to Lyrical Pens friend C. Hope Clark on being selected as one of the featured writers in this year’s Killer Nashville Anthology:  Killer Nashville Noir: Cold-Blooded  Hope is being recognized for her mystery writing chops and is in some high-powered company that includes Jeffery Deaver and Anne Perry. Hope is also the driving force behind the award-winning fundsforwriters.com

Now for my post:  

I’ve touched on repeated words in manuscripts in an earlier post, but I’m still finding them in my WiP. Not as many, but they are there, so I’ll have another go at this to remind you (and me).

Our first drafts are usually full of the words that are top-of-mind, the ones with which we are most familiar. These familiar words allow writers to push through the draft rather than take time to search our minds or thesaurus for better ones.

It’s when writers get into the rewrite, rewrite, and rewrite mode that we see how our familiar words/phrases can’t live up to the task in our manuscripts. They may rise to the surface as trite or overused once we get into the edit cycles.

The solution is to use Word (or whatever software you’re using) to “Find” how many times you repeat a word. I search my entire manuscript for some word I find too often during a quick review, and then replace or delete (most often delete) the offending repetition. This great computer feature often leads to word choice or phrasing improvements that I didn’t see before. 

From my Facebook page.

I usually start with the things I know I use too often, but one creative writing instructor I know suggests starting with the verbs . . . the “to be” verbs (is, were), but says don’t worry about occasional usage. Next go to active verbs. I find a lot of look, smile, walk, glanced, shrug, frown.  How many are too many. I suggest that if they begin to annoy you when you see them in the text, there are too many.

Don’t forget to check for nouns. I can find dozens of coffee, latte, mouth, eyes, eyebrows, hand. I also check for then and while. Too many of these can mean poor transitions and a lot of complex sentences, which tend to slow down the reader.

Adverbs. The Guardian.com* published Elmore Leonard’s ten rules for writers, and one of those is about adverbs. Mr. Leonard said:  4 Never use an adverb to modify the verb "said" . . . he admonished gravely. To use an adverb this way (or almost any way) is a mortal sin. The writer is now exposing himself in earnest, using a word that distracts and can interrupt the rhythm of the exchange. I have a character in one of my books tell how she used to write historical romances "full of rape and adverbs".  (* http://bit.ly/1Xvbg5c )

Mr. Leonard is not alone in offering this advice. That bit about the writer “exposing himself” is the taboo. The writer is telling the readers what he/she wants them to know/sense about the character. Writers should never intrude into the reader’s story.  Suggestion: Find a strong verb that doesn’t need an “ly” helper

Adjectives can be major snags. Are your characters often gorgeous, handsome, tall, sexy, ripped; your rooms large, tiny, trashed? Adjectives are important and necessary, but it’s incumbent on writers to find their own unique voice to describe things.

One of my favorite examples is the opening line of “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley. “A squat, gray building of only thirty-four stories.”  By comparison, the reader is able to visualize that all the buildings in Huxley’s new world are skyscraper tall except that particular one. The building is shorter and uglier than all the others in this new world. The line is almost a threat, if not a promise of strange things that will happen in that building.

I do find that the more often I search for/replace overused words, the fewer I find because I am learning to recognize my tendency for repetition. Perhaps you will have the same result.  What are your favorite overused words?  Have you searched for them?

That's it for today. You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I'll try to do the same. 

cj
PS;  If you've had a chance to read Choosing Carter, I'd love to hear what you thought about it. 

Choosing Carter (Pub: Crimson Romance)

   http://amzn.to/1TlMC1T (Amazon)

   http://bit.ly/1PrBsZj  (B&N)

Deadly Star (Pub: Crimson Romance)  

   http://amzn.to/1LRRwC9 (Amazon)

   http://bit.ly/19QDQq3 (B&N)  

Writing Needs Discipline

cj Sez:  I wish I could have begged, borrowed, or stolen some of Elmore Leonard’s discipline for writing. What started as necessity for him turned into habit when he became an established writer.

“To support his family, he worked as a copywriter at an ad agency, where he developed his aversion to adverbs, and also his knack for brief, punched-up prose. He began a habit of waking at five a.m. and immediately starting to write -- not even putting the water on for coffee until he had something down on paper -- then going to work at the office, first in advertising and later writing educational films for the Encyclopedia Britannica.”      (Source:  

http://www.biographile.com/a-capital-crime-elmore-leonard-deserves-a-definitive-biography/22523/

It used to be that I worked better when I had a short-term deadline at work. Then I thought if I gave myself a deadline, I’d have the incentive to keep going. Found out that’s not true. I have managed to bury any deadline under weeks of procrastination that I called “research.” (Mr. Leonard paid others to do his research.) It seems the more I research, the less creativity I have. I’m getting bogged down in facts, and the story is suffering.

See how discipline can work? (Meme from my Facebook page)

I’m not giving up. Last night I made a note or two when I went to sleep . . . I get a lot of good ideas just before or just after I fall asleep so I keep a pad of paper and a pencil on the table next to the bed. Sundays are for family and etc., so I won’t be sitting in front of this computer for very long but tomorrow . . . that’s when I’ll start working hard. I promise. You. (If I promise myself, I will find some other chore to do.) I suppose some of you might call that procrastinating.

Nope, I’m calling it, delayed discipline.

That’s all for now, but how about you? When do you get your best ideas? How do you conquer the blank page in front of you?

You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same.

cj

cjpetterson@gmail.com

https://www.facebook.com/CjPettersonAuthor

 Choosing Carter (Pub: Crimson Romance)

   http://amzn.to/1TlMC1T (Amazon)

   http://bit.ly/1PrBsZj  (B&N)

Deadly Star (Pub: Crimson Romance)  

   http://amzn.to/1LRRwC9 (Amazon)

   http://bit.ly/19QDQq3 (B&N)  

Amazon Central Author Page:  http://amzn.to/1NIDKC0

Writerly miscellaney and BOOTY BONES

cj Sez:  First let me plug a friend's book, "BOOTY BONES."  Author Carolyn Haines is a prolific (and fantastic) author of more than seventy books, and this one is from the Sarah Booth Delaney (and Jitty the ghost) mystery series.The paperback version is arriving on Amazon  Feb. 15, and pre-orders are being taken now. Check it out and place your order at:  http://amzn.to/1L7hC4y 

So far, I’ve managed to "somewhat" keep my writerly resolution. I’ve written something almost* every day. I sat down at the computer and keyboarded clever dialogue and scenes (ha!) into my work-in-progress, even if it was only for thirty minutes. My next goal is to write a consistent hour. (*I missed a couple of days but made up for it by writing extra time the next day.).

How are all y’all (I read somewhere that "all y’all" is the plural of "y’all") guys doing with your writing so far this year? 

I know Mahala’s post recommended that writers not make resolutions, but I tend to think the opposite. I may not keep the resolution, but I feel guilty when I don’t . . . especially after I’ve told “the world” that I would do something. Feeling guilty makes me write more often than I would had I not made the resolution. (Does that make sense?)

This afternoon, I spent an hour or so finding definitions to some of the verbiage in Charles Krauthammer’s book, Things that Matter.  I absolutely love learning new vocabulary. His collection of published columns is chock full of new information for me. Most of the words I understand within the context of the sentence, but I still want to know what the word means, exactly. Such searches have been a favorite pastime for as long as I can remember. My prize for winning the 6th grade spelling bee was a Webster’s dictionary with my name engraved in gold on its blue cover. I wore the thing out. (For all you twenty-somethings out there, Dictionary and its cousins, Encyclopedia and Library Card Catalogue, are the generic ancestors of Google and its second cousin, twice removed, Wikipedia.)

Okay, time to quit and get to the task of reviewing the manuscripts of my fellow critique-group members. We meet tomorrow afternoon.

To inspire you to look at your own WIP, I’ll leave you with one of Elmore (Dutch) Leonard’s famous first lines: 

Chris Mankowski's last day on the job, two in the afternoon, two hours to go, he got a call to dispose of a bomb."—Freaky Deaky (1988)

You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same.

 

cj

Delayed Discipline

cj Sez:  I wish I had begged, borrowed, or stolen some of Elmore Leonard’s discipline for writing. The problem is, once I’ve written a story, it’s nigh unto impossible for me to go back and change it. I don't mean edit it; I mean really modify it. And that’s what my finished manuscript needs. I really don’t want to send it out as is. (It’s way too topical. Even though I actually wrote it years ago, it rings true in today’s headlines.)

It used to be that I worked better when I had a short-term deadline. That said, I thought if I gave myself a deadline, told my publisher the date, I’d have the incentive to keep going. Found out that’s not true. I have managed to bury that deadline under weeks of procrastination that I've labeled as “research.” It seems that the more I research, the less creativity I have. I’m getting bogged down in facts, and the story is suffering.

However, I’m not giving up. Last night I made a note or two when I went to bed . . . I get a lot of good ideas just before or after I fall asleep, so I keep a pad and pen on the nightstand for inspirational emergencies. Sundays are for family and etc., and I don't plan to sit in front of the computer for very long right now but tomorrow . . . that’s when I’ll start working hard. Now, I suppose that some of you might say I'm procrastinating again.

Nope, that's where you're wrong. I’m calling it, Delayed Discipline. 

That's all for now, but how about you? When do you get your best ideas? How do you conquer the blank page in front of you?

You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same.

cj

PS: The artwork is off of a Facebook page. Check out my author page at   https://www.facebook.com/CjPettersonAuthor