Walk through the Door

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Nike says “Just do it.”

James the brother of Jesus wrote, “Do you need to be shown that faith without actions has no value at all?” (emphasis mine)

Goethe said, “Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.”

In The Matrix, Morpheus tells Neo: “I told you I can only show you the door. You have to walk through it.”

What’s my point here? My point is that after you’ve learned, studied, believed, been guided, and prepared, it all still comes to nothing if you don’t do something.

While this applies to anything in life, I’m applying it specifically to writing here, since this is supposed to be a writing blog. If you want to be a writer, then you have to write something.

Preparation and training is by all means important. You can—and to one degree or another, probably should—read books and blogs about how to write well. You can plot out an outline for a book, you can do research, you can pore over a baby names website to find the perfect names for your characters. You can put together a playlist of inspiring songs, you can read interviews with all of your favorite authors.

But to be a writer, you actually have to write something.

Side note—I’m not talking about being a published author here (since I’m not one yet). I’m talking about being a writer (I am one of those, because I write).

Sit down and begin the story. Compose a scene, or a bit of dialogue, or the first part of a chapter of your non-fiction book. Your book (or poem or essay or song) will not write itself. And no amount of preparation will get it written, either.

I have been guilty of this more than a few times in the past, of confusing “preparation” with “doing.” I’m a plotter and proud of it, as opposed to a pantser—I painstakingly plot, outline, and make notes about every detail of the plot before I start to tell the story. (A pantser tends to be a bit more of a free spirit-type, and usually will sit down to write before having any idea what they’re going to write about). Neither method is better than the other one, but I think that plotters can fall prey more easily to the deception that “plotting” is the same as “writing.”

Now I am not advocating a lack of preparation. If you don’t have an excellent command of the English language (or whatever language you’re planning to write in), it might help you to take a class or study some grammar and writing books. If your story involves a place, time period, or other subject that you’re not already an expert in, then by all means do some research.

However, I have often gotten so involved in the plotting and research areas that days or weeks will go by without me actually writing anything. Yes, I’m doing important work for my book. But after six days of plotting, brainstorming, developing character backstories, studying maps, and doing other research, I finally take a good look at my manuscript, and discover it’s still blank.

To paraphrase Morpheus’ instructions, you have to walk through the door. Walk is an action, and it’s something that each person must do for themselves. Your English professor can teach you the elements of a good story, but she can’t write the story that’s in your head. Your favorite blogger can give you dialogue tips and point you to sites you can use for research, but he can’t compose your book for you. When Morpheus walked through the Oracle’s door for the first time, he walked through it for himself alone—and now it was Neo’s turn.

And in the world of being a writer, we have to keep walking through the door again and again. Research, study, read, outline…and then go write something. Then it’s back to more researching, reading, and plotting…and then go write something again.

Neo had to step through the Oracle’s door only once–but then he spends the rest of the movie acting on what he learned. It’s a continual process. So is writing. Consistency in writing can be surprisingly hard (and that, I think, is the subject of another blog post). Finding the perfect balance of preparation and action can be challenging, too, and it’s different for every person. But it’s necessary for everyone.

So go read, study, and prepare. And then go write something!

Work In Progress #Blog Hop – The Next Big Thing

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I found this post on friend and author Tina Glasneck‘s blog, so I’m giving her props for this, and copying it to try myself. It’s not a real interview, in the sense that there is some famous interviewer asking me questions (that will come one day soon, I hope!) But this is a nice set of questions that can shed some light on what I’m working on, for anyone interested in the novels that I’m writing.

Rules:

~Answer the ten questions about your current WIP (Work In Progress) on your blog

~Tag five other writers/bloggers and add their links so we can hop over and meet them.

 

TEN INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR THE NEXT BIG THING:

 

What is the working title of your book?
I’m working on book two of a trilogy called The Light-Whisperers of Kalevala. This particular book doesn’t have a title yet.

Where did the idea come from for the book?
I finished the first draft of book one, and decided that the story needed a continuation. As for ideas for the story in general, several of my other blog entries refer to my sources of inspiration.

What genre does your book fall under?
Fantasy. More specifically, cross-world fantasy (where the characters travel from this world to another realm), with perhaps a few elements of urban fantasy.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
I don’t have any specific actors in mind at the moment, but if a movie were to be made of this trilogy, I would want actors native to the area where the book takes place (northern Scandinavia).

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? 
It’s still very early in the story-telling process and I’m creating a lot as I go, so this will change soon—but right now, my one-sentence synopsis would be: War is brewing—war that threatens not only Pohjola, but Earth, as well. Yeah, I need to work on that one-line synopsis a little bit more…

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
Haven’t decided yet.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
Book one took me almost two years to write the first draft—I’m now in the editing phase of that one. Book two I’ve been working on for a month or two, and I’ve got about 10,000 words so far.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
I’d say The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, and Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series.

Who or What inspired you to write this book?
So many things are sources of inspiration for me. For this trilogy, my love of Finnish mythology and folk music were big parts of my brainstorming sessions.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest? 
For lovers of fantasy series, this will be a trilogy with possible companion books, as well. For those who prefer a stand-alone tale, each of the three books is being written as a single story. I think it would appeal to anyone who likes a fantasy story with real-world elements, or anyone who likes a story with an exotic setting. Basically, I’m writing the sort of story that I would love to read, and I hope others will, too!

And now I’m tagging some other writers! Check out their blogs–whether they do this little questionnaire or not. You know you want to!

Writability blog

Kim Murphy

Bonnie Watson

Characters are real people, too

Posted in Writings about Writing by

So what makes a good character?

There have been dozens (or hundreds, probably) of blogs, books, and other articles written about how to write a good character. This is my small contribution to that subject of how to write well-rounded, believable characters full of depth and passion that readers will fall in love with.

I’ll keep this list short, since most of the other blogs/books/etc could probably do a much better job. But here I’ll cover three things that I believe, if utilized properly, can enhance and really help bring to life any sort of character.

So let’s say you’ve got your character’s name, some background information, and their role in the story all worked out. You have their personality, their appearance, and even some likes and dislikes in mind. These are all important, of course, but a character—just like a real person—is much more than that.

1. Everyone’s got a little quirk, vice, or weakness.

This doesn’t have to a major, plot-altering deal. It can be something like the rough and tough motorcycle guy who loves Julie Andrews’ songs, or the exercise-and-organic-food enthusiast who smokes a pack of cigarettes a day. An unexpected habit, a funny catch-phrase, a nervous tick—these are the little things that everyone has, and can add another layer of depth to your characters.

In my current WIP (work in progress), my main character Lyylia is Finnish, and she speaks several languages in addition to her native tongue. However, Swedish is not one of those languages, and in the book, she’s just moved to an area of Finland where Swedish is as widely spoken as Finnish.

This is not a major plot point, actually, and most of the book does not take place in Finland at all. However, it’s a small insecurity for Lyylia, because she is the sort of person who is accustomed to being in control of herself and her situation. Not knowing one of her nation’s official languages is a weakness that she doesn’t like, especially when a friend of hers (who does speak Swedish) gives her friendly teasing about it.

2. Nobody’s perfect

This is different from the first point, because this is more about a major flaw or mistake rather than a quirky weakness. This is often a major plot point, as the character works to overcome their problem, or their mistake influences the direction of the story. And just like good characters aren’t all good, bad characters aren’t all bad. Even the worst bad guy can have a redeeming trait.

For this example I’ll use Lucy Pevensie, from The Chronicles of Narnia. Lucy could perhaps be called the most “perfect” of all of the Pevensie siblings, and she’s the most loyal to Aslan. In Prince Caspian, she sees Aslan when the others don’t and knows she should follow him, but she weakens and listens to the voices of the others telling her she’s imagining things. Later in the book Aslan rebukes her for not being bold and following him anyway; if she had followed him, it would have saved her and the group a lot of time, aggravation, and potential danger.

Lucy’s mistake in listening to the voices of the group instead of the inner voice she knew she should be obeying didn’t alter the entire plot of the book, but for this otherwise near-perfect character, it was a big deal and a big mistake.

3. Your character isn’t you

As the writer, naturally a part of you is in every one of your characters. But not all of your characters should actually be you. (This applies to fiction only, of course; if you’re writing a memoir or something that’s heavily based on real people and real events, then stick to what you’re doing).

Remember the personality, background, and motivation of your character—all of these things contribute to how they would respond to any given situation. And this may be completely not how you yourself would respond.

I’ll use another character of mine, from a temporarily-shelved WIP. This character is rough, rude, and hyper—she likes to pick fights, swears like a sailor, and hasn’t read a book since high school. In short, she is the total opposite of me. So as she interacts with the other characters and situations, I have to remember that she would not do the things that I would do.

Honestly, if I knew this woman in real life, I’d probably strongly dislike her, but in the story, she’s one of my favorite characters—perhaps because she’s so different from me, and writing her character really stretches me.

These three points apply to protagonists, antagonists, and even supporting characters. While it’s important to keep your major characters major and the minor characters minor, even characters with a small role in the story can be three-dimensional. As I stated at the beginning, this is by no means an exhaustive list, and many other authors have done a much better job of writing about how to write characters.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this anyway, though! Any other writers out there who would like to add favorite character-writing tip? Please comment!

Darkness and Light

Posted in Music, Movies, and other Muses by

This blog entry doesn’t have a point—at least as far as useful insights or advice might go. This time I think I’ll just share my musings about two of my favorite songs (I have a lot of favorites, actually, but I’ll talk about just two here). I blogged a few weeks ago about music, how I use it in conjunction with my writing and so on—you can read it here, and I’ll try not to repeat myself for this post.

I titled this post “Darkness and Light” because of two songs that I’ve been listening to a lot lately, and that I find very inspirational for the novel that I’m working on. It also could serve as an analogy for the worlds in my fantasy novel. One country, called Pohjola, is a land of light—peace, happiness, and abundant light in the sky. The other land is called Ice-Dark, and it is appropriately dark—that’s where the bad guy lives, and there’s no sun or moon.

The “dark” song that I’m putting in this blog isn’t actually dark as in evil. It’s really about the positive side of darkness, both physical and poetic or philosophical darkness. One of my favorite lines, that I find especially inspiring for myself as a writer, is: “Imagining places that I’ve never seen, the morning of life and the end of all dreams…”

The song “Mercy of Darkness” is by Eivør Pálsdóttir, a brilliant singer and songwriter from the Faroe Islands. She has a version of this song in her native language as well, but I’ve put the English version here, gambling that more of my blog readers speak English than Faroese.

The “light” song is about actual light, as well it being a love song of sorts (at least that’s my interpretation). The title “Iđitguovssu” translates as “Dawn Light.” The singer, Máddji, is a Sami from Norway. As I mentioned in my previous post about music, part of my book takes place in Lapland or Samiland, and some of my characters are Sami.

I also happen to just really like Sami music, whether it be the traditional yoiks or the more modern music infused with flavors from other cultures.  This particular song just relaxes me, and if I’ve had a hectic day it helps to put me into a frame of mind for writing.

Does anybody else have a favorite “writing” song that provides you with comfort, inspiration, or just plain joy? Please share!

Olympics, London, and Other Stories

Posted in Music, Movies, and other Muses, Travel Writings, Writings about Writing by

I’m not really into sports at all, but I love watching the Olympics. I especially love the stories of the Olympics—athletes overcoming odd to get to the games, last-minute surprises and underdog victories, picking up and moving on when defeat hits.

Watching these past games in London brought to my memory the trip I took last year to visit London. The trip had nothing to do with the Olympics (I was just visiting a friend) and I was in a different part of the city, so the only evidence of the upcoming games that I saw was an Olympic count-down clock in Trafalgar Square.

But just like the Olympics, my personal experiences in London were full of stories. I might blog about it in more detail in the future—I could do an entire blog post alone on just the ancient Egypt exhibit at the British Museum, but for now I’ll just post one picture:

Part of an ancient Egyptian wall relief. Still pretty colors, after thousands of years!

There were plenty of little memorable moments that I could easily turn into a blog post, or even use as a prompt for a fictionalized story—like our mad dash through King’s Cross Station asking anybody we could where Platform 9 ¾ was, or my attempt at eating so-called B-B-Q chicken at an Italian restaurant that was run by Pakistanis.

I also made a quick detour by Norway on my way home from London. More stories could come from that short trip—like me accidently dropping a bottle of Pepsi at the grocery store and frantically wondering how to apologize in Norwegian when the thing exploded all over the aisle, or getting up at 3am to go catch the plane home and seeing that the sun had already risen.

So below I’m including a few more pictures of some of these random little moments. Each picture could be a story in itself, or I might use some of my adventures as prompts or fodder for future fiction stories. And if any of these pictures prompt an idea for a story in your mind, please go ahead and follow that prompting and write! Inspiration can be found anywhere!

London:

Anybody want a sewing machine? There’s got to be a story behind this one.

Old winding steps. Every foot that ever walked on these steps had a story to tell.

Bergen, Norway:

Another intriguing potential story–what’s up with all the doors opening into the air? Gotta watch that first step…

There be trolls in the forests of Norway!

I’d love to hear your thoughts! Has anyone else felt prompted or inspired by one little glimpse of something, or one picture or one incident? What stories do these pictures make you want to tell?