Let the Page Hold Your Weight

It’s been a trying time lately. Sad, difficult and unexpected events have happened to people all around me, close friends and family members. I feel like I’ve been sitting inside a thin tent in a Saharan windstorm–protected, but barely. Eventually, the silt gets in, even if it isn’t yours.

On my low days, I take it into my very cells and feel heavy with it. Stay in a bad mood. Snap at my son and husband.

On good days, I channel it into writing. It just so happens that the protagonist of my novel and her best friend/co-protagonist have to get into some seriously screwed up situations, too. And on a regular old sunny day with blue sky flaunting herself out my window, it’s hard to get into writing about these emotional tangles. 

So these difficult days, days like today, when the funk is thick and the mood is blue–I can go there into the sorrow, the conflict and the muck. I can shed my pain in my pages, let my characters wear it instead of me.

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If you want to learn more about this, I’m teaching a 1 week online class called “Method Writing” the week of December 14th. www.jordanrosenfeld.net/events-classes.html. Just $49, or, if you want to sign up for the three week series, it’s $129 for all three.

 

The Perfect Material

Psst…Hello–you there, NOT doing NanWrimo, let’s talk.

You wouldn’t build a chicken coop out of straw, a car out of wood, a house out of plastic blocks…(If you would, don’t bother reading on) right?

The perfect material exists for every structure, and this is also true in writing. The perfect material unit for building a narrative is… the scene. I can turn this into an advertisement if you like:

The Scene!
A sexy simulacrum of real time…a self-contained unit that never fails to make a story when stacked one after the other. Now bigger, sleeker, with 50% more.

Okay, so maybe not. Still, I cannot repeat enough how powerful a tool the scene is. And lest you think it’s optional, like alliteration or deus ex machinas, let me disabuse you of this notion. Scene. Not. Optional. That would be like building your house without the framework. Scenes are an integral part of the structure of any narrative (don’t get me started, however, on the exceptions, from Beckett to Saunders).

A quick snapshot:
You’re in scene if your characters are engaged action, whether big or small. Make that action meaningful and plot relevant, with a small but vivid ldose of visual setting and detail and you are more than on your way. Remember to begin and end your scene in a compelling or suspenseful way, and you’re there, baby. You’re there.

So whether you’re doing NanoWriMo next month or not, don’t forget your friend the scene. If you’d like to learn more about scenes, take my crash-course, Fiction’s Magic Ingredient, beginning Nov. 2, and again in the New Year.

I’m also launching a Scenes for Non-Fiction Writers course in December.

In Praise of Zeal

There are many kinds of writers, but a certain breed of them is gathering energy right now, building up storage for the long month of November, when they will eschew family, jobs and social mores to write 50,000 word novels just because. The fact that “Nanowrimo” is now a word more often recognized than not, is a testament to the power of creative zeal.

It is the zealous who madly whip out novels in a matter of months or days, who carve out new paths toward publication with the mighty power of “whythehellnot!” in their pen. Not only have I been lucky to interview tons of these folks during my time as a contributing editor at Writer’s Digest magazine, but the fact is, I am one of them. And you probably are, too.

The revised product of my first round with Nanowrimo garnered me an agent and changed how I looked at “free time to write.”

The second round produced a book that I wrangled with for over a year before eventually abandoning it for what it was: a mess that would take a lot of breathing room to figure out. But it taught me a lot about novel writing that I’ve taken with me into what I’m working on now.

Both results were worth the trouble.

Now, I’m 225 pages into a novel that has been written most often in 20 minute bursts since the birth of my first and only child 16 months ago.

Both Nanowrimo and motherhood have taught me the same thing:

• You have far more time to write than you think you do.
• Writing done hastily is still better than no writing–all writing can be revised
• The sheer power of creative zeal is often enough to get you knee deep into a very worthy project.

So go for it.

But if you don’t do Nanowrimo this year and are looking for something else to do with your November, I’ve still got a few spots in Fiction’s Magic Ingredient! www.jordanrosenfeld.net/events-classes.html.

A New Home

Maria Schneider over at www.EditorUnleashed.com  has been offering great resources for writers on the state of publishing, social media, and more since she launched her site a year ago.  Has it really been a year? Maria and I met some years ago now when she was Editor of Writer’s Digest magazine and I was the persistent, hounding, perpetual writer who pitched her probably weekly, if not daily, until she finally decided that the only way to keep me off her back was to take me on as a contributing writer. I honestly don’t think I have ever had more fun writing than under her tenure for those glorious years. I interviewed some of my favorite writers, followed writing trends , and felt part of something great.

So when she, well, unleashed herself, and launched her own writing site, I knew it would also shine brightly, and the community of thousands of writers who have followed are a testament to this.

So I’m honored and thrilled that once again I get to be part of Maria’s world, as she’s made a home for my writing workshops in the EU forums. All the group participation will take place there, and you’ll benefit from the wonderful existing forums already there. I hope you’ll join us!

Accountabilibuddy

This week, students in my online course “Finish What You Start” have been encouraged to strike up a relationship I call the “accountabilibuddy.” (Yes, I borrowed that from an animated tv show).  This is someone, preferably another writer, whom you both respect, and  fear a little. By “fear” I mean that you will listen to this person’s admonishments and criticism. You take them seriously. The accountabilibuddy’s job is to hold you to the goals you set for yourself as a writer. I have my students write a letter to this person using the following template:

Dear x

You know that I’m a writer, and frankly, I am a damn fine one! But I need support to help me finish my writing goals so I don’t whittle away my time trying to find naked pictures of Johnny Depp online when I should be writing. I respect you, trust you and know that you can help me be accountable to myself and my writing. My goals for myself are as follows: I will write x hours or words, x number of days per week on Project X until I finish a draft. I would like to send you my log each week. If I completed my goals, please cheer me on and tell me that Mother Theresa has nothing on me, for I am great. If I did not, please remind me that life when I am not writing is as bad as a forced marathon of Steven Segal movies in which I am not allowed to take a bathroom or snack break.

 Your buddy,X

So what are you waiting for? Go get yourself an accountabilibuddy today!

***

Meanwhile, there’s still time to REGISTER for my next 1 week online course, “Learn to Layer Scene Types.”

Self-paced. $49. Begins Oct. 19

Image Building

Even though I am a sucker for a good plot even if the author has not been as careful with the prose, what I am most seduced by in a book are the images that arrest me along the way, and for which I am glad to have been stopped.

Betsy Cox, one of my grad school mentors, was the first one to really drive home for me the evocative use of images, one involving flies sipping on milk foreshadowing death in Cormac McCarthy’s Suttree. Before then, I’d been unconsciously aware of these stylized visuals designed to conjure emotion and to ping on the tinny submarine of the subconscious.

Since then, I look for them in everything I read, often disappointed when they aren’t there, and giddy when they are. Images may at first seem to be mere setting description, but they hit us below the conscious mind and are  incredibly powerful in fiction and non-fiction alike. They speak a symbolic language, and conjure layers that plunge a reader deeper than the sentences at hand.

Here are a few examples:

From Scented Gardens for the Blind, by Janet Frame:

…If only she were sitting now in her desk at school, turning the pages of Shakespeare…observing the stain of creation where word had joined word, blood had been shed, and the letters were lying tangled and asleep, bound by their dark cages upon the cloud-white paper.”

From Veronica by Mary Gaitskill:

On Animal Planet, people are putting computer chips under the skins of beautiful lizards in order to help save them from extinction. The camera zooms in on the writhing creatures. Their eyes bulge; their hinged red mouths fiercely gape. One strikes the air with a stiff webbed claw. Joanne presses the mute button to say grace.

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If you’re interested in honing your own image building skills, I’m teaching a 1 week online course in the subject.

Image Building. 1 week online class. REGISTER
Nov 30-December 6, 2009. $49.

The visual world of your novel or story is a powerful way to evoke mood and feeling. There may be nothing more effective than using “images”—stylized, poetic visuals that specifically conjure a feeling, a mood, or a theme. Images are different than mere descriptions in that they speak to the reader on the unconscious and emotional level. They bypass the logical mind and resonate in your reader’s mind and heart long after the page is turned.

Learn to create and use images in your fiction.

Who Doesn’t Like Free Books?

I like books–it’s no secret. So what’s better than books? FREE ones! I enjoy receiving books as gifts, ARCs in the mail, recycled books–you name it. I love free books.

So I thought, hey, why not give the joy of free books to others, as well? Here’s how you can take advantage of this:

Sign up for any of my online courses and I’ll send you a free copy of my book with Rebecca Lawton, Write Free: Attracting the Creative Life.

Successfully refer a friend to my most popular online course Fiction’s Magic Ingredient in November, and I’ll send you a $10 gift certificate for books from an online book provider (not sure which one yet), for EVERY person you successfully refer who signs up. For anyone that you get to sign up for my 1 week mini-series, I’ll give you a $5 gift certificate. And yes, you can earn as many gift certificates as you sign up people. Your friend just needs to mention you as the referrer.

Tell me that isn’t a deal?

There may even be more free book offers soon…stay tuned!

JPR

A Writer’s “Touch-up.”

For writers like me, fall is the real “new year.”  Cooler weather and darker days drives me to my desk, to my writing. But it’s also when I crack open writing books, sign up for classes and take back in the fuel that helps me do my job well. 

Give yourself a writer’s “touch-up” this October. Three 1 week mini-classes for just $49 each, or if you REGISTER before September 20th, you can have all three for just $129.

Method Writing. 1 week. Self-paced.
October 5 through 9, 2009. $49.  

REGISTER before September 20th for all 3 for just $129!

Some of the most widely acclaimed actors from Sean Penn to Robert Deniro  use an acting strategy that is said to have “revolutionized” modern cinema: “method acting.” In the form, rather than attempting to simulate emotional experiences in scenes, actors draw from their own emotional stores, channeling real feelings of their own to create characters so vibrant and alive that the line between actor and character vanishes.

In fiction, writers can use this same concept to create compelling scenes and characters rich with believable emotion. I call it “method writing.”

In this intensive 1-week course you’ll learn to draw from several rich personal fonts for the energy and emotion needed to make scenes feel authentic.  REGISTER

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How to Finish what you Start. 1 week. Self-paced.
October 12 through 16, 2009. $49

REGISTER

When the powerful momentum of a writing project starts to flag, how do you keep yourself going to the end? This 1 week class will explore practical and playful ways to bypass your sabotage techniques and get you back on track!

_______________

REGISTER

Learn to Layer Scene Types. 1 week. Self-paced.
October 26 through 30. $49. 

REGISTER by September 20th for ALL THREE for just $129.

You might be a master of the scene, but now learn to layer them for powerful effect. Avoid “monochromatic” fiction that lacks variety and texture. In this intensive you’ll learn about the ingredients of, and how to wield, different scene types, from slow, contemplative scenes, to heavy-hitting dramatic scenes and dozens of others in between.

Class is in Session

The first week of Fiction’s Magic Ingredient is underway. I don’t know yet how my students are feeling, but I’m enjoying reading their work, and eavesdropping on their discussion via the class message board. I always get energized by talk of craft; it’s why I really should be a perpetual student. I can never get enough learning. Even in the act of teaching I learn. Maybe more so, in fact.

Here are some discussion topic questions we’ve been mulling over:

What are your stumbling blocks as a writer?

What skills do you covet (that you don’t feel you possess?)

Session II, which is full, begins August 30th. I’m contemplating a session III since I’ve had so much interest. If you think you’re interested, email me at:

jordansmuse(at)gmail(dot)com.