Danika Dinsmore

Author / Educator / Activist

Rewriting

Holiday Writing Workout (a.k.a. get yr motor running for the new year)

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It’s not the 12 Days of Christmas; more like the day before and the 6 days after.

For those working on their NaNo rewrites (or any writing for that matter), I present a workout activity each day (except Christmas) to end 2011 with a bang and rev up for a new year of writing. Today’s workout focuses on what to do when you get stuck.

“THINKING” ON THE PAGE

Anyone who has taken a writing workshop from me knows that I am a big on working thing out on the page. Sometimes during a timed writing exercise in one of my classes I’ll look up and see a frozen someone with a pained expression on his face. It’s the look of someone trying to find the right words before he gets them down.

This just happened last week and after class I told the boy I noticed how much he was struggling during the timed exercise. He said, “I just couldn’t think of anything to write about.”

That’s because he was doing it backwards. That’s like waiting for the water to emerge before turning on the faucet.  Write first, don’t think. When you put the pen to the paper, and keep it there, the answers work themselves out.

And the more spontaneous writing you do, the easier it will come.

I use the following exercise whenever I’m rewriting and I get stuck (which means that I use it almost every day). I use it if there’s a conversation that needs to reveal something important, a confrontation that needs to take place, a mystery, a question, an answer . . . any time I’m not sure where I’m going or how to fix some story issue.

You should definitely have a writing/rewriting notebook. Don’t only write into your computer. I believe writing by hand is essential for this to work.

I put the TITLE of the issue at the top of the page and put a box around it so I can refer to it later. Looking back in my rewrite notebook, titles include things like: Why Does Ondelle Keep Knowledge from Brigitta? How Does the Purview Work? What Does Mabbe Want? Elders’ Traits and Personalities.

It doesn’t matter what you title the entry, just make it something obvious so when you go looking for it, you can find it again.

This is not a timed exercise. In this exercise, you write until the answer comes. But Danika, you ask, how do I know the answer will come? Because you will write until it does. Sometimes it only takes 5 minutes until the light bulb goes on. Sometimes it takes 20 because and I circle around it like a hawk until it appears.

I don’t cross anything out, although I may write on the page “No, I don’t think that’s the answer, but what if…” Think of it like talking to yourself. I ask myself questions. I leave a blank space if I can’t think of a name or still need one. I write a frustrated remark if I’m feeling frustrated. I quickly underline something I really like so I can find it later (or make a smiley face) and move on.

The thing is not to stop. And if you get stuck within this, start asking yourself WHAT IF? What if’s are a great way to brainstorm. Just keep starting sentences with “what if.”

Since I’m working on a series, if I have some fabulous insight into something that happens later in the series, or I decide I want to save for a later book, I add it to a different section after the exercise is over. I have nifty tabs at the back of my notebook for further books in the series.

I do this quickly and try not to get distracted by it. But it’s important to catch these future ideas as they come and put them some place where you can find them.

Go for it and have a great holiday.

Weekend Workout: More This is a Story About

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My virtual friend Miriam Forster is debuting as a published author and her final rewrite is due at the end of the month.

If you have ever been through this process, you will fall in love with her when you read HER POST about what it’s like having your child book leave the nest. She hits it on the nose when it comes to the difficulty of that final rewrite before it’s out of your hands.

The thing is, it’s never perfect. You could go on tweaking your manuscript forever. At some point, you just have to let it go. I’m telling this to myself as much as you b/c my final rewrite is also due at the end of the month and I’ve been petting the pooch for the past week. Perfectionism feeds the procrastination monster at my house.

When it gets like this, it’s time to go back to, you got it, This is a Story About . . . Oh, no, you say, not again. But did you really do it the last time I asked you to? Be honest.

Here’s something Miriam’s post reminded me to tell you, though. Your story is not about a girl who climbs a mountain to get a magical sword to slay an evil emperor. That’s just what happens in your story. That’s not what it’s about.

What it’s about is something more universal that can be told in myriad forms. From Miriam’s post:

. . . despite everything, all the changes and reworking and reimagining, I still see the story I sat down to write four years ago. A story about love and expectations and forgiveness and freedom and how human beings snarl them all together like a tangled kite string. A story about what happens when there are no good choices, when you pick the best path you can see and it still turns out to be wrong. The heart of the story is still there, still beating.

That’s a story I want to read. It doesn’t matter if it’s historical fiction or future fantasy or a western or steampunk. I don’t know what it’s like to be a bomber in WWII or a future miner on the moon, but I do know what it’s like to face impossible decisions.

The things that happen in your story are wrapped around what it’s about. And if you know what your story is about on this deeper universal level, the character’s decisions and the obstacles in their way won’t become random events. They will feed what it’s about.

This is my 6th rewrite of Ruins of Noe and I’m still using this exercise.

It's not just something I tell you to do!

Here’s the exercise from earlier this week.

And here’s a few tips:

1) Do all three writings, 5, 7, and 10 minutes. Each time you will go a little deeper and sometimes the aha doesn’t come until that 3rd exercise. I was really excited b/c in the 10 minute version I figured out a small scene I needed to insert as a moment of bonding between 2 characters.

2) Start with short sentences and start each short sentence with the line This is a story about . . . I call this “winding myself up.” When the ideas start to flow, then I forget about the punctuation and just go. When I get stuck or pause too long, I go back to short sentences with my start line.

3) Start with what it’s really about: revenge, justice, dealing with lost love, guilt, forgiveness, etc. Don’t second guess if something comes out that sounds wrong or unexpected. These are all simply ideas to explore. You’ll know when one lands.

Here’s a sample from my 5-minute version:

This is a story about a young girl who is forced to grow up before her time. This is a story about a girl having her first crush in the middle of upheaval in the world. This is a story about tumultuous transition. Change is always difficult. Change is difficult even for those who are supposed to be wise and in charge. This is a story about a women and a girl who grow closer through adversity. This is a story about sacrifice, a woman who sacrifices herself for the good of the world. This is a story about endings and beginnings. The Ancients know this would be difficult for the faeries, but it’s time to let go. Like parents letting their imperfect children out into the world. You can only give them so much, teach them so much, protect them so much – – eventually, you must let go. Etc. Etc.

Have a great weekend!

NaNo Hangover Episode 3.5

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I realized that I may have been a bit hasty recommending you all go for your rewrite without checking to see how much of your story needed to be rewritten! If it’s going to be quite the overhaul, I recommend you go back to an outline or, what I use, a sequence and beat sheet.

Don’t attempt one until you have done your This is a Story About exercise and can put your story into a logline. One or two sentences. If you can’t do that, you don’t know your story’s focus yet.

I cannot stress enough how helpful a sequence and beat sheet is. As a matter of fact, I’m thinking of designing a novel prep class solely about creating one of these.  It’s your map, your guide, your blueprint.

HERE IS MY POST ABOUT WRITING A SEQUENCE AND BEAT SHEET

I mention changes in “status quo” in the above post. This can be a change in power, a solution that leads to a new mystery or change in plans, a mystery uncovered to reveal a new mystery underneath, a major setback, a traitorous act, or something else that turns up the “we’re in deep doo-doo” factor.

You must, must, must have these things to keep your story moving no matter what genre it is. And if you think of your story in chunks at the end of which is a change in status quo, you’ll find the plot practically writing itself (okay, maybe not, but that’s a nice idea).

Here are a few examples from my first novel:

SEQUENCE ONE: At the beginning I set up the status quo for the White Forest. The faeries live a pretty simple life, Brigitta’s friends are getting their wing changes before her, she is in charge of her pesky sister, her parents (and every other adult faerie) are in the middle of prepping for the Festival of the Elements. Poor Brigitta. At the end of this sequence, after we’ve learned about the forest and who she is, BOOM, a curse hits and her entire world is turned upside down. Change in status quo.

SEQUENCE TWO: It becomes more and more clear that Brigitta and her sister are the only ones untouched by the curse. They explore their forest to find every single faerie and beast turned to stone. They have no idea what to do and B is getting frustrated and scared. Then, when looking through her Auntie’s things, she remembers that there is one faerie left who was banished long ago. Their only choice is to leave the forest and find her. (change in status quo)

If your NaNo suffers from runaway plot, I highly recommend taking time out to do this.

NaNo Hangover Episode 3

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Okay, so you’ve printed your newborn, placed it in a lovely binder, hugged it, read it through (completely) with magic purple pen in hand . . . and had the following response:

a) Wow! I love this!
b) Wow! This is terrible!
c) No one will ever publish/read/enjoy this. I’m a hack.
d) I should not have quit my day job.
e) All of the above

Loving, hating, smiling, laughing, cringing, crying and especially combinations thereof are all natural responses to your new work. Heck, they are even natural responses three drafts into your work. But do know this – every day you sit down to work on your manuscript you make it a little bit better.

But, how to start? What next?

As I’ve said, unfortunately I can’t work on my NaNo story yet due to a strict deadline for Ruins of Noe. But I’ll tell you what I will do once I read my newborn, because I always start a rewrite the same way.

This is a story about . . .

I am a firm believer in timed and spontaneous writing exercises. For both poetry and prose and for various reasons.

For narrative fiction, it aids in the thinking/brainstorming process. It’s where ideas can be explored, baked, fertilized, broken in half, put into beakers, shaken and stirred with no pressure, because it’s just writing exercises. And within those exercises lie the answers. Trust me. You need to get out of your head.

This is a story about . . .  is my fallback exercise. I use it when I start a new project, start a new edit of said project, or if I haven’t written in a while. It’s dependable. It’s simple. It opens me up.

I have been using timed writing exercises since Mr. Bedecarre made us write them in my 8th grade journalism class. This is a story about I owe to Jack Remick, Bob Ray, and Geof Miller who made us do this exercise countless times in the University of Washington Screenwriting program (thanks, guys!).

So, having just read your story from start to finish, grab your notebook (I always use one notebook per story), set your timer for 5 minutes, and HAND WRITE – I repeat, HAND WRITE – starting with the line This is a story about . . . (do not stop, edit, cross out – heck, you don’t even need punctuation, just dump)

When the timer stops, go to the center of that exercise, pull out the middle line, use that for your next start line, and write for 7 minutes this time. Repeat for 10 minutes.

Now go back with a highlighter or another colour pen and mark the things that make sense to you.

There are many, many more fabulous writing exercises you could do to prepare, but let’s just say you can now start your rewrite and I’ll post some of these exercises along the way.

Turn to page one of your binder (i.e. printed version of your newborn) and page one of word document and begin.

(up next: what to do when you don’t know how to fix something)

NaNo Hangover: What to do between your first draft and second (Episode 2)

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At the moment, I’m actually doing my final Ruins of Noe rewrite for my editor and can’t start rewriting my NaNo until my homework is done. Boo hoo. New projects are always more fun.

The below may seem obvious to some of you, but perhaps there’s someone else out there going through their very first rewrite  and feeling overwhelmed. If you are a more experienced / published writer, be sure to add your 2 cents about how you approach your rewrite.

First of all, rewrites are overwhelming. For all of us. You’re not alone. And you can do this.

So, the rewrite . . . First, print out your entire manuscript. If you have an aversion to paper waste, use recycled, scratch, or scratch recycled paper. All my paper gets used twice (and then recycled). I don’t like waste either.

Put it in a binder and then give it a big hug. I’m serious. Don’t skip this step just because it sounds too silly for the likes of you. It feels really good to have a physical manifestation of all your hard work. Yay.

Read the entire manuscript with pen in hand and in the shortest amount of time possible so you can stay in the flow of the story.

This was tough for me this week as I was working long days and on set. But having a print copy in a binder meant I could take it everywhere. I read/marked this sucker while I was on public transit (that’s how I commute most of the time), during my lunch breaks, and when I got home each evening.

Don’t worry so much about spelling, grammar, punctuation, or even word choice. Sure, if you see an obvious mistake, circle it and move on. But, trust me, you’ll be rewriting this thing four, five, six or more times and that run-on sentence you wanted to fix will probably magically disappear along the way. If not, it will get fixed in your final copy edit. Focusing on the little details (what we call “polishing your buttons”) is not helpful at this point.

Think big picture. Which is why you want to read it as quickly as possible to see if it all holds together.

How do I mark it as I read? Generally, I ask myself a lot of questions in the margins: what is this character’s motivation? does this match something I said earlier? do I need to reveal more here? etc. I also mark places where I need to expand something – more info, description, detail, etc.

When an idea bounces into my mind, I immediately write it down on the opposite page. OR, if my scratch paper doesn’t allow room, I keep lined paper in the back for chronological notes/ideas.

Other things you can ask yourself while you read:

  • Does my protagonist have a character arc? Does it grow naturally over the course of the story? Is it believable?
  • Is my protagonist an “active hero in conflict” (meaning, does she solve her own problems or does someone or some coincidence solve them for her)
  • Is there a clear dilemma?
  • Have I put obstacles in my protagonist’s way of achieving his goal?
  • Do my other characters sound flat / one-dimensional? Are they “too good” or “too evil”?
  • Does the story keep moving? Is it bogged down anywhere?
  • Are all my plot set ups paid off? Are any subplots left dangling? (If this is a series, some things may be left dangling, but you want the story to satisfy)

Please feel free to add suggestions for the things you look for in your rewrites!