In the Zone

Yesterday at one or my writing groups we got into "the zone".  The group focused on one of the readings and group think occurred- everyone had an idea, an opinion, a continuation of what had already been said.  Social rules, group etiquette, and boundaries were all forgotten.  WE had the solution, and by gosh (for those other athiestists among us), we were going to be creative.  We were in the collective zone.

Centuries ago Lao Tse taught of the Tao- the zone, the balance.  You can't define it- if you do it's not the Tao.

When I first start to write, I create crap, as my mentor would say, with the idea of going back and fixing it in the re-write process.  As the crap flows I eventually get into my zone, my Tao, as the energy overtakes me.  My mind goes to a place I can't describe and the words, the story, the emotions, the characters all take over.  The story flows from this point.  OK, OK- still crap, but creative crap.

It might be minutes, it might be hours before I arrive.  But when I'm there I know it, and nothing stands in the way.  Energy flows from this Tao and the creative process happens.

I feel the pull to the Tao and plan a getaway next week to find my zone, get my butt in chair, and words on paper.

Books on tape all night long

I've recently stuck buds in my ears and turned on my WMA player to listen to books on tape. I now do this all night long.

I fall asleep easily, I don't hear my obnoxious cat yeowling for food at midnight, and over several nights I "read" a book.

As a writer I've discovered two things with this technique:

1. I listen a while, sleep a couple hours, wake up and listen to more of the story, then sleep some more. Even though I miss a section, it doesn't seem to matter- I still get the plot, just missed the details along the way.

2. Lee Child, who writes the Jack Reacher series, tags every person who speaks every time they speak. When I read his novels I am not aware of the tags. When I listen to the narrator say, "said Reacher, he said, she said, etc." with each line of dialogue, I am painfully aware of them.

So? How does this make me a better writer? Who knows, but knowledge is power.

Computer crash

It's true. Not if your computer crashes, but when. Fortunately I was backed-up, but not the last 30 days. Lost several chapters worth of editing. Oh well.

Purchased a new PC Laptop- tried using a MAC for a couple years, but could never get it to talk to my PC or work like I expected. Now I am convinced that Bill Gates secretly hires and underpays minions to sit up all night thinking of ways to frustrate me. They are very good at their job.

Endings

One of the friends in my writers group finished reading his book. Took a year and a half, but it was exciting to reach the end. Another friend finished his thriller last month. A third member finished a wonderful short story. All were exciting and satisfying in their own way.

The challenge, as a writer, the group presents is being a constructive critic. It’s easy to be a cheerleader. It takes trust to point to another's weakness, and acceptance to hear my own.

We celebrate each other; commiserate over a character’s loss, brainstorm plot issues, and switch persona from writer to reader as we each tell our tales.

My lesson: The story we finished I had been following as an adventure story- a rogue DEA agent sails off on his own, takes out some bad guys, is chased, steals the bad guys money and gets away with it. As I pondered the last reading this week I realized I missed the real story. The protagonist fell from grace, slipped into the Dark Side, and sailed away into a lonely sunset of his miserable life.

Sometime the ending is Ellery Queen explaining the subtle clues of the mystery; sometime the heroine kills the monster; sometimes the hero saves the world from destruction. Sometimes it’s just a human who tries and almost succeeds.

The unexpected ending is the most satisfying for the reader.

Chapter titles v. numbers

When I first started Kelly’s Reef I assumed that I would start with chapter 1 and write to the Epilog. So I numbered each chapter in sequence. Some were CHAPTER, some chapter, some Chap., and others chap. No rhyme or reason.

I quickly learned that I needed to go back and add plot details as I went. I became hopelessly lost in my own writing.

Ah, Ha! I went back and relabeled the chapters as CHAPTER #__ in a larger font. Now I could use the find function in Word. Still couldn’t find my way through the story, but at least I could find each chapter.

Next evolution was to a descriptive chapter name after the CHAPTER #. Now I knew what was in each chapter.

As the edit, rewrite work began I found myself cutting my ‘darling’ chapters⎯the crap that had no business in the book. So much for numbers on the chapters. Then I moved an entire section from the middle of the novel to the beginning.

I was terrified to delete a chapter I had rewritten⎯what if I really wanted to put the junk back in?

Solution? Each chapter became a separate Word document. CHAPTER 1.1, 1.2, etc. Then the fool in me decided to renumber the chapters into the current sequence. Now I couldn’t even find the old chapters.

The point of this diatribe you ask?

DON’T NUMBER THE CHAPTERS AS YOU WRITE! When all is said and done, you can add numbers just before you send the manuscript to the printer.

Currently I have CHAPTER- description at each heading. I can find my way around the manuscript and switch things any way I want without a problem. Now when I do a re-write/ edit I save the newest copy of the entire manuscript with a date.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Chaos Theory and writing a plot

In chaos theory there is a very simple mathematical law that explains much of the phenomena in nature. It’s called the power law.
Expressed mathematically it is 1/F squared

Put simply, small things happen frequently, huge events happen rarely. Imagine the sand falling through a small hole in an hourglass and the pyramidal pile below it. Frequently a few grains run down the side of the pile. Occasionally a small landslide occurs. Once in a while a tipping point is reached and a massive sand slide happens.

How does that relate to writing? As I read the adventure plots I enjoy, I see the same pattern. The hero has many small actions. Occasionally there are a bigger actions. In turn a final huge climax. Chaos theory in writing.

Networking Ephiphony

OK, I think I get it⎯finally. Social networking.
The hermit in me has come out of the cave to interact with a singular purpose⎯get an agent and sell my book. That expanded to writing a personal blog(s); a way to rant at the world and share my writing. Carefully, very carefully I’ve let the hermit talk to the world, but he has remained suspicious of Facebook, all the public data issues, and privacy.

Then the hermit started playing My Tribe. Initially a mindless way to waste time, he found that to progress in the game requires adding “friends”, i.e. complete strangers who also play the game and need to remain unknown.

After seeing LMAO on so many boards and emails, the epiphany occurred. Laughed My Ass Off. Got it.

A side feature of the game is a tribe member having strange thoughts when a player highlights them. Somebody created a discussion topic for players to have fun; posting silly, humorous, and suggestive thoughts.

http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=23984&post=152615&uid=102680597135#post152615

The hermit really LHAO and shared perverse humor with thousands of total strangers. Networking!

The Hermit still DGAD (doesn’t give a damn) about who likes who or what treasure someone found. But it’s a start.