What a Character!

Hello, everyone, this is Jenna (aka Novel), coming at you tonight with a writing exercise. I meant to post this earlier, but ran out of time. It's Saturday for some of you, still Friday for others, so you'll have to forgive me for not getting this up while it's still Friday for you all.

Okay. Now. We're going to do something tonight that is geared toward helping with characterization and creativity. So here we go!

Actually, before we start this exercise, I need you to do a few things:

First, think of a number between ten and seventeen. This is your new character's age.

Pick a gender, build, hair color and style, and eye color. Get a clear picture of your character.

Pick a hobby, any hobby. This is now your character's favorite activity.

Now, to round your new character off and get him/her ready for the exercise, take a minute to think of any extra details you might want to include.

Got your character? Good, good. Now guess what? That character is now you. Writing as your new persona, finish this story:

I never did forget the time that my sister dragged me to...

Psychology of Writer's Block - Part Une.

Description of Writer's Block

One of the most dreaded concepts in the world of writing is writer's block, which is a condition, associated with writing as a profession, in which an author loses the ability to produce new work. Often the concept of 'writing block' is described and applied in a general manner which does not take into account the concept of the 'ability' that has been lost and the time in which this has lasted?

This ability to produce new work is 'creativity'. Creativity being the ability or power to build/create into existence, to invest with a new form, to produce through imaginative skill, to make or bring into existence something new.

In regards to Writer's Block - there are two common complaints which relate to the loss of creativity and the occurrence of writer's block - lack of ideas or lack of ability to portray ideas.

Type 1: Lack of Ideas/Plot

Interestingly, this 'type/symptom' is often overlooked when people refer to Writer's Block. Often the writer is left with feeling of inferiority/inadequacy and dispair - as their purpose is not being fulfilled. Unlike type 2 writer's block, type 1 has repercussions for type 2 with writers not being able to write at all due to lack of plot.

Advice for lack of ideas/plot usually includes that this statement is 'not true' - that ideas are 'everywhere' etc. - which often leads type 1 writer to feel more inadequate to nonWB writers as their perceptions of the world and 'ideas' are not coming into fruition or being realised - no matter how hard they look.

Other common advice includes writers being advised to go to prompt generators, go for a walk, look at pictures etc. Writers are also often told that there are no new ideas, and to stop focusing on this aspect of writing - A 'stop thinking' approach.

The prevalence of this condition among the writing population indicates however that the advice/treatment that currently exists may not provide a 'cure' but may temporarily alleviate symptoms. Often like other 'creativity-loss' conditions, time is the best cure.

Type 2: Lack of ability to portray ideas/plots

Type 2 WB, most commonly known as 'blank page syndrome' is a condition commonly experienced by both experienced and novice writers. The symptoms that classify this condition often include low word count and slow progression with work. Although writers have an abundance of ideas/plots - their words are paralysed.

Within Type 2 WB, there are two subgroups. 'Self-delete', where the sufferer writes, reviews and deletes work and 'blank stare' where sufferers make no progress or don't write at all - often resulting in a 'blank stare'. Both subtypes lead to feelings of inadequacy which often result in low self-confidence and low self-esteem which causes a vicious circle to occur. The power of this vicious circle is emphasised because one of the main causes of this condition is due to the writer's overly high expectations of their abilities i.e. 'harsh self-critic'.

This condition is quite common in the writing community, with symptoms ranging from chronic and severe to temporary and mild depending on the individual and their circumstances

Common advice for type 2 WB often includes 'BIC' which stands for Butt In Chair. Practitioners of this technique advise setting a regular routine, in which the writer writes in a fixed place, at a regular time, daily. The underlining concept is developing 'habit' - possible this concerns making regular neurologically pathways so writing becomes easier with practice and repetition. Although this advice takes time and commitment, anecdotal evidence has shown it to be successful.

Next week : Etiology of Writer's Block
What causes writer's block?

*Disclaimer: obviously this is a 'sad' and 'nerdy' mix of psycho-babble and real info about WB. Please take some of information seriously and take rest of it with a grain of salt.
Let me know what you think? :)

Generic Conventions

Genres are, as defined by Dictionary.com, is a class or category of artistic endeavor having a particular form, content, technique, or the like: the genre of epic poetry; the genre of symphonic music.

In writing, the genre of our book influences our choices in agents, the publishers we can get our work submitted to, our placement in the bookstores, our fans, and pretty much everything. There are so many subcategories within the big ones, and then there are the huge factions--literary, commercial, yadda yadda. A lot of the time it's difficult, if not impossible, to figure out what your book is pegged as.

Genres are, to my mind, unbelievably irritating. They make it easy to figure out what books one likes and where to find them, but to the writer they can be hindering. There are so many books that cross genres, books that don't seem to have a genre, and books that seem like no matter what genre you cast them as, they're still not fitting in it the "right" way.

On the forum a little while back, Emily threw out this little gem:

"I don't think its good for a writer to have to pin themselves with a
certain label."

I have to say that I agree. It's so easy to spend forever and a day trying to figure out what genre your work is that you forget to actually write the story. It irritates me at times that we have to peg our books so that we can submit. My current WiP, for example, has elements of several different genres, and no matter what I peg it as, it still doesn't seem right. I've settled on fantasy, but it makes me wonder--is it, really?

And, of course, there are some writers (like me) who write everything that pops into their heads, no matter what genre it is. Once a writer is established, it's difficult for them to move into another genre with a new book or series, because their fans might not transfer and because they've been labelled as writers of another genre, new fans might be leery of picking up a new book because they don't like the author's established genre. If that makes sense. Such writers often have to resort to multiple pseudonyms to make things work out.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that genres, while helping sell books, can be a nightmare for the ones writing the books.

Questions for the comments:

What are your thoughts on genres? Do you think writers should have to designate themselves as writers of a certain genre? What are, to your mind, the pros and cons of labels and genres?

Make a Mood

Hello, everyone! This is Jenna, AKA Novel Goddess or just plain Novel, coming to you today after a long stretch of no posts. We're trying to get back on the blogging bandwagon and we've got a fancy new blogging schedule, which can be found on the sidebar. I'm taking Sundays and Fridays. Sundays will be just regular, random writing posts, and Fridays I will post different writing activities, prompts, or exercises.

Today's activity is one of my personal favorites, which I have adapted from an exercise in Write Great Fiction: Characters, Emotion, and Viewpoint, by Nancy Kress (by the way, fantastic book. I recommend it, along with the rest of the series, to all of you). In the book, it's geared more toward characterization, but I felt the basic idea behind it could be tweaked to work for mood and tone. So here goes!

I'm going to post a short sentence, and your task is to take it and rewrite it three times, incorporating a different mood from the list each time. It's a great way to work with connotation and denotation, and a fantastic way for you to work on using more than just "he felt angry" to present a mood.

Remember, you can use all manner of things to indicate mood: dialogue, movements, actions, etc. You don't have to write only one sentence--write however many you want. Make it longer, write a paragraph, add things, tweak things, whatever you want.

The sentence:

Jane walked through the hall.

The moods (pick three):

Anger
Sorrow
Lust
Joy
Excitement
Trepidation
Fear
Suspicion
Confidence
Defiance
Exhaustion
Recklessness
Boredom

Have fun with it, and I hope you have a good weekend!

--Jenna

Publishing News

Everything Must Go - Borders Closing Down Sale!!

Borders (uk) launched a closing down sale this weekend, with all 45 branded Borders and Books Etc stores across the UK affected. The news will fuel concern among both publishers and rivals that the chain could be set to launch a fire-sale of stock.

It also came as a shock to staff who had not been told before the news emerged late on Friday (27th). According to one insider, stores were delivered the new POS on Saturday morning, which included huge 'Store closing!' banners, and discount POS up to 90%. Stores are currently selling stock with between 20% and 50% discounts. There is also reported friction over the chain's Electronic Gift Cards, with the administrator currently accepting the cards, but only if customers spend more than the value of the card. One member of staff told The Bookseller that they didn't know for how long the cards would be accepted in stores. Read More here . . .

Publishers Exposure Minimised

Publishers have limited their exposure to Borders, an attempt to avoid the major industry losses of a year ago when the collapse of EUK is estimated to have cost them £25m.

It is estimated that Borders stores could be holding as much as £20m in stock, about half what the store had at the end of its last reported financial year (February 2008), though publishers said that tight controls had been put on book supply in the months following the management buy-out in July, with some stock bought for cash. Penguin UK chief executive Peter Field said the publisher had retention of title on its stock and would now contact the administrator and await a reply. However he added: "We've been watching this quite carefully over the last few months so although it [the Borders collapse] has been really disappointing, it's not a great surprise. We've been managing the situation very carefully to minimise exposure." Read More here

Thoughts? Comments?

On Other News

All Women Short List for BBC Short Prize

An all-female shortlist has been revealed for the BBC National Short Story Award, with Orange Prize-winner Lionel Shriver battling four other authors for the £15,000 prize.

More than 600 entries were received for the award, which celebrates the best of contemporary British short stories and is part of the national campaign "story", which supports the form. The shortlist was revealed on Friday evening (27th November) on BBC Radio 4's "Front Row".
Read more here

Genre Break Down

Sorry about the minor Hiatus - we will have this blog going again soon. Promise!!

Just a little note though in the meantime about a member of our forum, Anne R. Allen's excellent post about Genre Categories!

Seriously click the link - very useful information for those of us confused by all these labels :)

Winners

I hope everyone had an amazing Halloween!!

I've just put all the entries into a hat, and i've gotten my lovely assistant (my little sister) to pull the first three names out.

First winner: Anne R Allen (grand prize)

Second winner: Wendy Sparrow

Third Winner: Grace Scully

Thank you to everyone for entering - i really appreciate it :)

I'll be contacting the winners and sending prizes shortly