Five Writing Lessons I Learned From TV

I used to spurn TV. Why would I waste all that time sitting in front of the tube when there are so many other things to do in life? Why not spend the time writing, instead?

*Photo credit

Well, despite that lovely black-and-white vision of the world, I now watch the occasional TV series. Why? From a writer's perspective, there are numerous reasons to indulge in this visual form of storytelling:

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Finals! (and Other Teenage Troubles)

FINALS. They have descended on our kids—and, therefore, on the entire household, a week of exams preceded by what seems like two months of building stress, final projects, deadlines, and kids with too little sleep. It brings back memories of my own high school career—the intense emotions of being a teenager coupled with the stress that comes with knowing that what I did mattered, like, for the rest of my life. Teens are in that awkward middle place where they want to be in charge of their own lives—and yet, at the same time, they don’t. Being in charge is scary. Being grown-up is scary. The stakes are starting to get higher.

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Mix-and-Match Characters

I played with a cool “puzzle” as a kid: three blocks stacked on top of one another, with a rod threaded through them so they can rotate independently. The result is a 3-cube stack with a different picture on each of the four sides. The top third of each image shows a head, the middle third a body, and the bottom pictures the legs and feet.

Line up the images, and you have four simple characters: for ex., a cartoon tiger, alligator, hippo, and monkey. You can also twist the blocks to connect the monkey body to the hippo head and alligator legs, or connect the alligator body to a tiger’s tail and a monkey’s head. (Now, of course, this puzzle is available as a smart phone app….)

Sometimes I think character creation works the same way: you borrow the geeky appearance of one person, add in the always-in-motion high energy of another, mix in a quirky turn of speech you overheard in the elevator and the girl-next-door’s fluorescent pink high tops…and pretty soon you’ve pieced together your protagonist.

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Thursday’s Thing to Love about Being a Writer…

…Traveling amazing places! Learning new stuff! Interviewing cool people!

Early early early tomorrow morning, I leave for Texas to spend a long weekend with a writer friend, exploring the Columbia Bottomlands, meeting with some wildlife biologists, sea kayaking, bird watching…

I wish I could say I was cool enough to have set all this up, but I’m just riding along on her coat tails as she collects material for a freelance writing assignment. But don’t worry, I will be collecting material right alongside her.

Yeah. I love being a writer. Happy writing today!

:-) Cheryl

What do you love about your writing life this week?

Mwaa-ha-ha!

Since I’m working a book for middle grade kids right now, I have the irresistible urge to spy on…I mean, pay attention to…my 11-year-old and his friends.

What do 11-year-olds spend their time doing? It’s an excellent question for the children’s writer to ask, so I thought I would share my research with you.

Eleven-year-olds train their boxers to lie in the hammock:

They climb trees, spend hours online researching the best cards for their next Magic: the Gathering deck, ambush their older brothers with homemade rubber band guns, work on their tree houses, and create elaborate ropes courses in the back yard.

 

Ah, gotta love summer….

:) Cheryl

And now, for something completely different!

Phew. It seems like I’ve been writing a lot of loooong posts lately! I’ve pulled together some good info, I hope—but I feel like it’s time for some lighter fare.

Such as:

• Weird and cool science news (which I’ve been reading a lot of lately)
• Awesome books to read (which I’ve also been reading a lot of—an extremely pleasant occupational hazard)
• How to wolf whistle.

I mean, informational blog posts are great and all, but that can’t be all we read, right?

Confession: I don’t actually know how to wolf whistle, but it seems like such a valuable skill that I just had to mention it. You may be wondering: is there, in fact, an eHow article on Wolf whistling technique?

Yes! There is! There’s also a wikiHow article as well as a number of How-To videos like this one. (I love living in the computer age….)

Challenge for the week: now that I’ve uncovered these amazing resources, can you learn to wolf whistle? Can I? Can I do so without convincing my friends and family that I’m nuts?

I’ll update you next week…

:) Cheryl

Studying Beginnings

I’m working on a new type of writing project right now. A memoir. (No, it’s not my own—I’m working with someone who is MUCH more interesting than I am on THEIR  memoir.) But since it’s new kind of writing for me, I’ve been reading and taking notes on a LOT of memoir to see how other authors handle it.

In the process, I’ve stumbled upon a wonderful tool for studying book beginnings: the Kindle. In my case, the Kindle for iPhone.

Did you know that the Kindle allows you to download sample chapters from most, if not all, available books? I knew this, but it wasn’t until I was sitting in a kid’s orchestra rehearsal, wishing I had a pile of memoirs with me so I could check out how various authors begin their stories, that I put two and two together. With the Kindle, it’s incredibly simple to download and compare ten or twenty of fifty book beginnings.

As a fellow writer, I did, in fact, wrestle with whether it was fair to the authors I was reading to download their book openings for free. I decided it was. First, I could have accomplished the same thing by picking up the books at my local library and spending a few afternoons at my local bookstore. I’d already done the first and was planning on the second—the Kindle just made the browsing process a bit easier.

Second, when I scan through 20+ book beginnings, I inevitably find a must-buy title that I would not have found otherwise, just like I go out and buy the best of the library books I read.

Meanwhile, I was able to peruse a wide range of memoir openings from the relative comfort of my folding chair during orchestra rehearsal. What more could a writer want?

:) Cheryl

PS: For those of you who do not own the Kindle or iPhone, many books are available to “browse” online through author websites, Amazon, or other bookselling websites.

The sidetracked writer

Theoretically, there are many ways a writer might get distracted when working on the first draft of her latest YA project. For instance, she might:

• Stop to research the perfect name an orca might give to itself
• Need to discover whether harbor seals sleep hauled out on land or if they sleep in the water—and then need to spend time learning about “bottling” (see above pic), the tricky seal habit of sleeping while bobbing upright in the water
• Check email, Facebook, etc.
• Go to get a coffee refill
• Pay attention to the laundry piles growing in the laundry room
• …and after all that, she might forget that her original purpose was to write the darned scene, with or without the above information.

This is why all writers need to discover brackets. You keep forward momentum much better when you’re willing to write [insert clever comeback here] instead of stopping the writing to actually come up with said clever comeback.

Could you please remind me of that the next time I stop writing to find out the social habits of harbor seals?

:) Cheryl

I love being a writer…

…because I spent the afternoon watching videos like these and can honestly say it was for my work. These are research for my current WIP, because the main character recently lived on the Valdez Peninsula in Argentina, where she and her father studied orcas.

I wanted to discover details about what it might be like to live there—and since I don’t have a few thousand to plunk down on a trip (as always, my first research choice) I took a virtual journey a la You-Tube.

Theoretical distractions in snowy Colorado

Theoretically, a Colorado writer could get totally derailed because the next words in her sentence are supposed to be the name of a teen folk-rock band.

Theoretically, she could then spend an hour or so looking up teen bands, band names, and baby names (that might become a cool band name;) and, also theoretically, that might lead to time spent reading blogs, researching the local band scene, and investigating the band names that are already out there.

This could take up a lot of a writer’s time.

I’m just sayin’.

:) Cheryl

Where is Cheryl?

Cheryl has developed a sudden, urgent need to do research on her local medical facilities. For instance:

Cheryl: (in line at doctor’s office) Weird—I can hardly see wearing this mask . (Looks up, looks down. Looks up, looks down. Looks up—)

Receptionist: You can pinch the top of your mask around your nose. Then it won’t cover your eyes.

Cheryl: Oh. Thanks. (Pinches mask and starts to walk away.)

Receptionist: Ms. Reifsnyder? You still need to sign this?

Cheryl: Sorry. (Signs and starts to walk away.)

Receptionist: Ms. Reifsnyder—your check-in papers?

Cheryl: Oh. Sorry. (Gets papers and tries to cough while wearing mask. Mask sucks into mouth.)

Receptionist: You can go now.

Cheryl: (Walking upstairs to waiting room) Wow, (breath) I can’t take a deep breath in this thing. Just (breath) lots of (breath) short (breath) small (breath) breaths (breath). Cool (breath) it makes (breath) my mask (breath) flap (breath) in and (breath) out.

Nurse: Excuse me. Ma’am? Long, deep breaths please. You’re going to get dizzy.

***So—I’m taking lots and lots of notes on the sensations of mask-wearing, back-thumping, dizziness, and other illness-related details which I’m sure will prove very, very useful in my writing someday soon.

…just as soon as I feel well enough to write something that makes sense!

:-) Cheryl

Putting on my story-filter

There’s this thing I do, now that I’m a “real writer.”* I do it without even noticing, most of the time. I do it when listening to the news, while watching kids joke around at the bus stop, even when I’m on a romantic date (sorry, sweetie….it’s the danger of dating a writer.)

What is this thing of which I speak?

Here it is: I put on my story filter. 


A story filter is a mindset, a pair of mental glasses through which I view everything around me. It’s the filter that takes a snatch of conversation and directs it to the part of my brain that’s working on a YA novel; it sends the image of a kid with straight blond hair, sunburned cheeks and a gap-toothed grin and files it as a possible picture book character. It takes the NPR news story heard in the car and slots it in with possible article ideas, and it analyzes the heartsickness of losing a treasured necklace so I’ll know how to describe that emotion later, when it’s felt by my character.

I feel as if the world is my textbook and I’m constantly studying. These tidbits, recorded in my memory or, if I’m lucky, in a journal or on a scrap of paper, give me a rich source of ideas when I sit down at the page.
So is this story-filter automatic? For me, yes, it is now something I do automatically—but it hasn’t always been. At the beginning, it was something I had to cultivate. Something I had to practice. But if you do…well, it does cause rather odd thoughts to slip through your head at random moments, but it also helps you to notice all those little details that will bring your writing to life.

So go ahead: start developing your own story filter! If nothing else, it gives you a great answer for the next person who asks you what you’re thinking!

:) Cheryl

*By “real writer,” I mean a writer who’s convinced herself that that is what she is, who actually admits that’s what she does for a living, and who devotes regular, consistent time to the practices of writing, marketing, and continuing education. Publication is nice, too, but not essential. Just in case you were wondering….

The List Post

I keep coming across tres cool list posts from other bloggers (maybe because I've been catching up on my blog reading this week? Nah, that couldn't be it....) so I thought I'd share. Enjoy!

1. Literary Rambles: Blog Topics for Writers (as featured on Alice Pope's CWIM blog). This is a great reference for those days when you just can't think what to write....


2. Agent Nathan Bransford's "10 Commandments for the Happy Writer". My personal favorite? #10: Keep writing. Or, in Nathan's words: "Didn't find an agent? Keep writing. Book didn't sell? Keep writing. Book sold? Keep writing. OMG an asteroid is going to crash into Earth and enshroud the planet in ten feet of ash? Keep writing. People will need something to read in the resulting permanent winter."


3. Writer's Digest "There are No Rules" blogger Jane Friedman's "WD's Editors Intensive Cheat Sheet", an AWESOME list of online resources for the writer-in-training, including websites for agent research, community writing/publishing sites, blogging, self-publishing, and social networking.


4. 57 Useful Google Tools You've Never Heard of", a list of resources for specialized search tools, mapping utilities (if you haven't checked out Google Earth, you definitely need to do so!), social networking, document sharing, calendar sharing, and much more.


5. "The First Five Minutes: How Editors Evaluate Your Manuscript", also by Jane Friedman. This post not only lists 14 common first-page problems, it also includes links to several other valuable online resources.

:) Cheryl

Research Woes

I'm currently working on a YA novel that takes place primarily in Peru. I've been to Peru--once. That was enough time to collect some wonderful photos and notes on the people, places, and cultural details I saw, but unfortunately, I wasn't there long enough to learn everything I now need to know for the book. For the most part, I've been able to fill in the gaps by reading what other travelers have to say about the country. Sites such as Life in Peru, Virtual Tourist, and Rachel in Peru have been extremely helpful, as have a variety of humanitarian websites and sites advertising bicycle and jungle tours...but I still have some unanswered questions.

I'm finding that it's not too difficult to track down information about even extremely small, off-the-beaten-track villages. Travelers and expatriates chronicle their experiences and share photos online--I was even able to find a photo of a particular suspension bridge along the (mostly unpaved) road from Urcos to Puerto Maldonado, Peru. What I need now, though, is a closer look at what life is like for the people in Peru, especially the 50% of the population that lives at or below the poverty line.

Needless to say, these are the people who are writing about their lives online. They also aren't the people most tourists get to know.

My first and best choice is to visit Peru again and, this time, interview a lot of the kids who spend their days selling postcards and finger puppets; but since that doesn't seem an option for the near future, does anyone have any suggestions for me?

:) Cheryl

(Photo from Flickr archives)

Getting into character--not for the faint of heart!

If you've read my blog much, you know that I do this acting thing for my church. I play a middle school, straight-A, type-A, super-social cheerleader named Cammie. (Hee-hee...and if you know me, you know how funny that is.)

Thing is, actors and writers both have to put on the psyche of characters who are somehow different. In this case, introverted and reserved Cheryl has to figure out how to be Miss Chipper-Popular. Think Legally Blond with poms. In the words of our director extraordinaire, I need more physicality in my role.

So last night I was up late doing a bit of character research...on YouTube. Did you know that you can learn to do cheerleading moves on YouTube? Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cQg4XOkC5Y (Sorry--embedding is disabled for this one.)

I've found YouTube useful for other areas of writing. Need to observe a bear raiding a trashcan?



Or need to see a rattlesnake in action?



Whether you write fiction or nonfiction, YouTube is an amazing resource for seeing things you can't manage to see in your real life.

:) Cheryl

Virtual Travel (for the cash-strapped writer)

I need to return to Peru. I'm in the midst of writing this novel that takes place almost entirely in this beautiful country--and I need to collect more details. You know, the stuff that brings a story to life. The way the bus smells, the little girl giving her stuffed puppy a drink from a puddle, the boom of ABBA's "Money, Money, Money" from a passing taxi. Yes, I have quite a lot of this info from my trip in January--but I want to take my characters to places I haven't been.

I'm trying to plan a return journey to South America, but realistically, I'm not sure if and when it's going to happen. I do have kids, husband, dogs, work, and other real-life things to give myself to, as well!

Luckily, this is one of the wonderful ways that the Internet helps out writers. Many world-travelers post blogs about their travels, complete with the awesome sorts of details that you won't find in a run-of-the-mill guidebook. Are you thinking about setting your story in a location far from home? Check out some of these sites for travelers' accounts:

• http://www.virtualtourist.com/


• http://palinstravels.co.uk/book-962


• http://www.travbuddy.com/


• http://maps.google.com/ (no first-person travel accounts, but this site will let you take a look at satellite images of the area in question)

Enjoy! :) Cheryl

How to Make a Magazine Sale

Last week I promised more on how I sold my first article--and how, maybe, you might do the same. I followed my advice from last week: studied my target market, kept my eyes open for cool ideas, and wrote my article with a similar sample article close at hand.

Now for the specifics. I had just started the Institute for Children's Literature writing course. That meant I had a pile of great reference material and not enough writing to do, because the first few assignments were too short and simple to offer much challenge. (It's a fantastic course, I just didn't click with the first (read beginner) assignments.) So, being me, I read ahead.

I learned that nonfiction is easier to sell than fiction, so I spent time studying sample articles collected in one of the ICL publications. I particularly loved one from Highlights: "Watching a Bee Keeper" by Joan Davis (http://www.dpi.state.nc.us/docs/accountability/testing/eog/g5/ReadingSamples/Gr5WS6beekeeper1615.pdf). It was written in an appealing conversational style. Its story-like format draws in the reader--guerrilla educational reading.

I thought I could write an article like that--if I had a topic.

The next step took a bit longer: I kept a lookout for news that would catch hook a second-grader. I found what I needed when I passed a herd of goats chomping weeds along a nearby bike path. A story!

Over the next months, I performed hours and hours of research, visited the goat ranch, interviewed the goat herder, wrote the article, and polished, polished, polished. I compared it, paragraph by paragraph, with the “Bee Keeper” article. I compared the amount of time I spent on description versus education. I looked at sentence lengths, word choices, point of view. I gave it to my critique group. Finally, I rewrote the article twice based on much-studied comments from Highlights’ editors.

Want to break into the magazine market? Find a publication you love and study, study, study. When you learn what the magazine likes, you’ll be able to write for them.

:) Cheryl

Seized by the Muse?

Cynthia Morris's "Original Impulse" newsletter showed up in my inbox with just the right thoughts for me today. Remember that Peru story that's overtaken my life of late? She calls the phenomenon being "taken over by the Muse." For affirmation and encouragement from a fellow writer, you have to read her February newsletter: http://www.originalimpulse.com/impulses/impulses-feb08b.htm

And before you ask--yes, her description fit me perfectly. Unfortunately for my family this past weekend! Fortunately, though, I captured several uninterrupted hours today to pour out another chapter. I feel much more settled.

But I need to go back to Peru for more research...!

:) Cheryl

Market Analysis: Highlights for Children

Earlier this week, I spotlighted Highlights as a great break-in market for children's writers. Today's topic? How to do it!

First, the basics:

1. Read (and follow) their guidelines: http://www.highlights.com/custserv/customerservicesubgateway2main.jsp?iCategoryID=203&CCNavIDs=3,203 That seems like advice too basic to include, but you'd be surprised how many people don't bother to follow simple instructions....


2. Study their needs: http://www.highlights.com/custserv/customerservicecontent2main.jsp?iContentID=2552&iCategoryID=203&CCNavIDs=3,203


3. Check out their mission: FUN, but with a PURPOSE.


4. Study the magazine for article content, writing style, and format.

In my opinion, the most valuable step in the process is to study the magazine. So, what's in this month's Highlights? A quick survey turns up the obvious--a poem, a few short stories, a few nonfiction pieces, two pages of crafts, the monthly feature "Ask Arizona," The Timbertoes, a rebus story, riddles, puzzles, and the science corner. That info helps you figure out if Highlights is the right market for your story, article, craft, or puzzle.

Next: take an in-depth look at the type of piece you want to sell. Do you want to submit a short story? Take a look at "The Mystery of the Ghost in the Wall." Hmm...about 800 words long, written for Highlights' older readers, this story has a quick-talking narrator and a math tie-in. Almost every paragraph is one to two sentences long--the story moves. Description? Minimal. Dialog? It occurs in short bursts separated by transitions, tight one-sentence scene-setting descriptions, actions, and internal dialog (aka, the narrator's thoughts.)

What about a craft? Turn to page 32 for the craft line up. These crafts have only 4-6 steps and no list of "what you need." Instead, supplies are shown in the text of each craft, highlights in bold. Word counts are low. What kinds of crafts to they feature? One toy rocket, one card craft, one decorative magnet, one Valentine-themed mask, and a treasure chest/treasure map craft pair encouraging active play.

By taking a close look at the pieces a magazine has published, you can get a vision for the types of pieces they like. Skeptical? That's how I sold my first article--but more on that later.

:) Cheryl

Transformative Travel

One of the most valuable things I gained--both as a writer and as a person--from my recent trip to Peru was completely unexpected. The trip changed me. It changed the way I see the world, the way I see myself, and the way I see the faith and love and peace and joy. Why is this important for my writing? Because as writers, we portray our characters as they grow and change. The best way to capture the emotions of transformation is to go through it ourselves.

In Criss-Cross, the 2006 Newberry Medal winner, a character says:

"I think...that it's a good thing to get out of your usual, you know, surroundings. Because you find things out about yourself that you didn't know, or you forgot. And then you go back to your regular life and you're changed, you're a little bit different, becuase you take those new things with you."

That was my experience in Peru. I returned to the States with a better handle on my values, with a bit thicker skin, and with a new clarity of purpose for writing. I also returned with a passion to write this self-discovery into a novel. Change, self-discovery, growth: these are the things a reader identifies with in a character.

Today's challenge: Do something out of the ordinary. Put yourself in a new situation, one that forces your to be brave, to be self-reliant, to discover new aspects of yourself. Nurture your own transformation. What can you do in the next six months that is radically different from your normal life? Learn to skydive? Join a soccer team? Take a weekend trip over the border? Heck, take a quick trip to Lima? Commit. Stretch yourself.

Then write about it.

And hey, let me know what happens!

:) Cheryl