Socializing

Writing is a lonely endeavor. Even with family and friends encouraging and inquiring about it, the writer sits and works in isolation. There is social media. One can tweet, pin, or post on Facebook. I’ve killed hours or precious writing time doing just that. But the act of writing remains solitary.

This week there was a social event for writers. Carol Lynch Williams and Ann Dee Ellis organized it. They may have had help from Queen Bee, Kyra Leigh. All of them host the blog, Throwing Up Words (http://throwingupwords.wordpress.com). Carol and company have down this before and a few weeks ago they posted to their blog they were doing it again.

We met at Olive Garden in Provo, about twenty of us or so. We ate, socialized, laughed, ate some more, read from our writing, and shared successes. Some of us read from our novels in progress, a few shared screenplays. Some brought spouses, some spouses were writers, too. It was a pleasant evening.

The best thing though, was the camaraderie. There were actual writers, sitting in that room, across from you and to your sides. Other people who struggle, have doubts, and continue to write away. There’s a bunch of us out there. We work in isolation, but it’s so good to know we’re not alone.

Thanks Carol, Ann Dee, and Kyra. Let’s do that again, sometime.

(This article also posted at http://utahchildrenswriters.blogspot.com)

Voice

It is one of those elusive things. Writers try to develop it. Publishers look for one that is unique. It is an essential element of effective writing. So what the heck is voice?

Simply put, voice is the way you write, your individual writing style. As there are a zillion of us tapping away at keyboards, there are just as many variations on voice. As a trumpet, a clarinet, and a violin all are capable of playing a melody, the sound of each produces will be different. Voice conveys the author’s attitude and personality. It’s what makes writers unique; it’s what makes your writing pop. It’s what draws a reader into a story.

Ann Cannon posted recently on her blog about voice. She says that “we all recognize it when we see it—a narrative style that makes you sit up and take notice, one that feels fresh and wholly original—a style that is as unique and individual as an author herself.  Voice elevates an ordinary story and makes it memorable, even extraordinary—and when a voice feels authentic, we as readers feel like something so natural must also be easy to pull off.” Then she confesses it is not easy.

I will be the assistant for Ann at the Writing and Illustrating For Young Readers (WIFYR) conference again this June and my guess is she is planning something on voice. She has assigned us to read the works of two masters of voice, Carol Lynch Williams and Ann Dee Ellis, both Utah writers.

I had read Carol’s The Chosen One a few years back. Rereading it does not diminish the power of her voice. Carol writes with such authority. The main character Kyra’s story is so compelling, the reader is completely pulled in. It is hard to put down and the voice stays with you after you close the book.

Ann Dee Ellis displays her gift of voice in both her first two books, This Is What I Did and Everything is Fine. I’ve just begun hearer latest, The End Or Something Like That, and it promises to serve a big slice of voice. Ann Cannon can’t think of another YA writer “who has the gift of voice in the way she does…  Ann Dee’s voice draws you into fictional words that simultaneously ring both eccentric and true. Her use of language is startling.”

Ann Dee will be doing the WIFYR Friday mini-worship and her topic just so happens to be, drum roll, please,  voice. Carol and Ann are running morning workshops. Carol’s class is full, but if you want to learn a thing or two about voice, there are still spots available with both Ann and Ann Dee.

(This article also posted at http://utahchildrenswriters.blogspot.com)

Not loving it

A couple weeks back I shared Peter Stenson's ideas about creating a compelling story. Part of it is just forcing you to sit down at the keyboard and write. Nothing tough about that, assuming you have no other life, no other people in that life, and none of those people with demands on your time.

I've been good. Except for a few occasions, I've been writing every day. Been keeping a writing log, too, so I can prove it. With Carol Williams' marathon starting tomorrow, I set a 90-minute writing goal for one project and just to get off on the write foot, I've met or exceeded it.

The other part of Stenson's savvy words is harder to achieve. He said to give yourself over to your novel. You should live, breathe, drink you story all day long. Talk to your characters, allow yourself to think like them.

That's the place I'm not yet at. I dutifully do my 90 minutes then put them away until the next day. I've compartmentalized. These little chores around the house are stored in this box, my relationship with this person in that one, and my novel neatly packaged away over there. It's good for the rest of my life but not for my writing.

Some things I've written as Stenson suggests. The story rattles around in the brain long after the computer has been shut down. I miss that.

I was talking to Ann Dee Ellis and Cheri Pray Earl about this one time. Ann Dee loves the revision part and is not keen on the original story. I told her I felt the opposite. I like the initial laying down of the story and only put up with the revision. At least it used to. On the current project, I miss that, too.

Changes

My wonderful, fantastic, they-totally-get-it writer's group has been forced to make some changes.

Critiques groups have to work just right. There is a mix of personality, diversity, commonality, trust, and commitment that has to feel right to each member.

There are four of us and we've been together for a year and a half. Four seems to be a good number. It provides enough varying input without getting bogged down by too many story to read. We started with one of us in each of our 20s, 30s, 40's and 50s ('til one of us grew a tad older). We met in Ogden, UT, but the quality of the critiques justified the 50 minute drive from Salt Lake.

The change was kicked off by a move. The 20 year old's day job took her out of the state. We tried Skyping but that hasn't worked perfectly and are now having to share online. 20 is working on a powerful YA novel in the haunting style of Ann Dee Ellis. She got us started and kept us organized. We miss her cracking the whip when we slack off.

The other two are phenomenal. 30 something and 40-ish can pull some much out of a story. They have this sense of what the piece needs and what is not working. One of them would irritate me with their comments. I would go home, ease my bruised ego, and a few days later discover that she was spot on.

Things change. T is gone. The needs of writers alter in varying stages of the process. L and C need some time to put a first draft together. Can't judge the sandcastle while you're still dumping sand into the sandbox. (That was 40s person. Brilliant, isn't it?) We're taking the rest of the year off and will meet back in January, new rough drafts to be worked.

Thanks, you all. Can't wait to see what you come up with. I'm still driving up there come next winter.