Danika Dinsmore

Storyteller / Activist

writing exercises

Help Her! She Spoke French!

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Bonjour et bienvenue.

A few months ago I started learning French via the website Duolingo.

Anyone close to me knows just how amusing this is. I have a history of bludgeoning the French language. I’ve dropped out of two French courses. Small children have made fun of me for my particularly bad pronunciation. I can never keep the conjugations for “avoir” (to have) and “etre” (to be) straight.

My husband is from Quebec and speaks lovely French. When we were visiting Montreal, strangers would address him in French and then turn to me and speak in English, as if the words “Don’t even try” were stamped on my forehead. When people spoke French around me, I was sure they were making fun of me.

And still, I’ve always wanted to learn French.

On the outside, I laughed my French language inadequacies off (most of the time). I would say things like, “I’ve been banned from speaking French,” or “I’m wanted for murder of the French language.” Ha ha.

On the inside, I would shrink to the little girl me, feeling embarrassed and stupid. One time I lost it at someone for making fun of my American pronunciation of “croissant” one too many times. I tried to just let it go. Convinced myself I just wasn’t good at learning languages. Told myself I had numerous other talents.

window to the garden
artwork by Stefan Zsaitsits

I’ve had a fear of misspelling, mispronouncing, or misdefining words orally for most of my life. I’ve always attributed it to a specific event in third grade. Spelling Bee season. Each class had a spelling bee competition, then the winners would compete at each school, then each district, and so on until the National level.

It was my first time ever participating in a spelling bee, and I was eliminated in the very first round in the very first classroom level competition. I didn’t know what a “kiwi” was. I’d never heard of one before, so I had no idea how it was spelled. Crazy that for decades later, the same feelings of humiliation, embarrassment, and worthlessness could be conjured thinking about that moment.

(Ironic that I went into language arts education. What kind of masochist was I to go into a profession that required me to know how to spell, pronounce, and define words all the time?)    

I’ve told this story to friends before; it’s simultaneously sad and funny. But for a long time my gut would feel punched all over again if anyone ever said in response: “You didn’t know what a kiwi was?”

No, I didn’t know what a kiwi was.

What I’ve learned over the years is that even though this was a real life moment, the effect I allowed it to have over me was just a story I had been telling myself, which could, in particularly vulnerable moments, spiral into a deluge of negative self talk: I’m not a good speller, I’m not good at languages, I don’t know enough, I need to know more, my vocabulary sucks, people must think I’m stupid, I’m stupid.

I know I’m not the only one who beats herself up in this manner. I’m sure everyone has stories about their talents and abilities and accomplishments, or lack there of. How many of us chastise ourselves for not being “good enough” at something, for not being “good enough” period? I think it’s a rare soul who can just be what and who they are, have the abilities or inabilities they have, and be at complete peace. But perhaps we can get closer to that peace via acceptance or by taking on that which we fear.

Last year, after years of wanting to learn to play the drums, but feeling silly for even considering it, I started taking drum lessons. I’m doing it for no other reason than because it’s fun. I don’t need to join a band, make a living from it, or even do anything beyond jam (by myself or with others). I decided this year I could take the same approach to learning French. I don’t need to teach French or read French literature or even speak to French people. I can just learn for myself.

The thing about learning new skills is that there is always a curve. Sometimes, if that skill is particularly challenging for someone, they will give up when it feels like the wheels are spinning and they’re not getting anywhere new. Sometimes with children (and some adults, I’m sure) this frustration will disguise itself in an attitude of “This is stupid,” or “I didn’t really care about this anyway.”

With drumming, there were a few months I was completely frustrated. I could not get my right hand and right foot working independently of each other. I thought I would never get the hang of it. But since I didn’t have much attachment to being a rock star, I just kept banging away for fun and to get out of my busy monkey mind for a time. And what do you know, after a while, I started to get it. It started to feel like real, actual rhythm and music.

Three months after starting my online French adventure, I’m still not very good at speaking French. I still can’t always keep the conjugations for “avoir” and “etre” straight. But I’ve found that letting go of any expectation has allowed me to be able to do it just for fun, and I’ve committed to saying the words out loud and risk the mispronunciation. Every once in a while, I get something right without even thinking, and I realize that slowly, I am beginning to understand. And for once in my life that’s good enough for me.

What do you beat yourself up for not knowing or for continuing to struggle with when it seems easier for others? Where have you given up when you felt stuck?

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YOUR WRITING WORKOUT

What wound has shaped your character’s perception of themselves? How does that hold them back from fully expressing themselves or fully participating in life? What would happen if they came to a place of self-acceptance? What if they faced their fears head on? What might they then accomplish?

TIMED WRITING GUIDELINES

Set your timer for 7 – 15 minutes per start line
(I increase the time with each start line: 7 min, 10 min, 12 min …)

When timer starts: write, don’t stop, don’t edit, don’t cross out.

PICK FROM ANY OF THE BELOW START LINES
(use any character, doesn’t have to be your protagonist)

The wound that shaped MY CHARACTER’S fears looks like…

MY CHARACTER is still emotionally triggered whenever…

MY CHARACTER feels stuck whenever they…

MY CHARACTER must face their fears when …

Something shifts for MY CHARACTER when they begin to…

happy writing

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Anger as a Tool for Action

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The other day I was listening to a campaign speech by Bernie Sanders. The one thing that struck me was the authenticity of his anger. Most politicians, at least to me, sound like politicians expressing anger in a glossed-over sound-bite kind of way. But with Sanders, I actually believed his anger. I could feel it, the way it would catch in his throat. It was the kind of anger that drives people to action.

It reminded me of a quote from Rick Jarow (of the truly fantastic “Ultimate Anti-Career Guide”) who said that sometimes people don’t make changes in their own lives until they get angry enough.

by Michael V. Manalo

 

The other day I went on a rant on Facebook. I was feeling angry. In the past, I’ve not been much of a ranter. I’ve been more of a mediator, an empathetic ear, someone who consciously practiced uplift in the world. Ranting is too easy, especially on social media. Ranting makes you feel like you’re doing something, but really, you’re not. At most you’ll get self-righteous affirmations from other ranters.

When my anger still hadn’t cleared by the next morning, I starting designing a 2nd rant. Half-way through it I realized I was just going to trigger other people with it. But I still wanted to do something, so I turned my post into something more like a call for help and a call to action. I asked people to share ways they were consciously making changes in their lives to lower their carbon footprint so they could inspire others who were too overwhelmed to take a step. And the conversation started. And I learned some new things and got inspired.

I think anger is useful, but a lot of the time we don’t utilize it. Anger in the form of rants into the void (i.e. social media) usually just end up in name-calling and raising hackles and no one changing their views on anything. Anger in the form of self-righteousness is just as useless, because that creates not just a me vs. you mentality, but an “I’m better than you” mentality. Not productive. And believe me, I’ve danced in the self-righteous zone many times.

I think the cure for self-righteous anger is empathy, and that one way to turn anger into action is to tap into that empathy. Empathy is not inactive. It is not wimpy. It is not the same thing as condoning (anyone who’s read Amanda Palmer‘s book The Art of Asking has seen how many people often mistake empathy for condoning behaviour). It is just recognizing everyone as a human being. It is thinking in terms of uplifting all of us, so that none get left behind. We are created by our circumstances and our surroundings. We don’t know what we don’t know, and we are often scared by what we don’t know. We are not born hating, judging, mocking, condemning, etc, etc, etc. We learn that stuff.

YOUR WRITING WORKOUT

In your story, what fuels your protagonist’s anger? And where in your story does his/her self-righteous anger transition into an anger that finally calls him/her to action?

Set your timer for 5 -10 minutes per start line

When timer starts: write, don’t stop, don’t edit, don’t cross out.
(just do it!)*

Start lines:

1) The anger that burns inside my protagonist looks like . . .

2) The fallout from my protagonist’s anger destroys his/her . . . 

3) When my protagonist can’t take it any more he/she . . .

 

Now write your next scene . . . 🙂

*If you want to try various ways of writing try short sentences, long sentence release (no punctuation, just connect everything by conjunctions), or listing.

 

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The Fears That Bind Us (aka You’re Gonna Die)

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A wise friend of mine once observed:
Every action we take or don’t take is driven by one of two things:
Fear or Love.

I’ve been sifting through this idea for a few years now, wondering if this were actually true (being the “inward bound” workshop/personal development/human potential geek-junkie that I am – and yes, I am the kind of person satirized on shows like Portlandia). But I’ve discovered that whenever I break my actions or inactions down to the basic essence, my wise friend is right. I just have to be brave enough to tell the truth about it once in a while, especially when it comes to the fear end of things. I’m quite good at justifying my fears.

by Gizem Vural
by Gizem Vural

I also think that there are levels of fear, and I can always tell when I get to the fear behind the fear behind the fear (to that essence), because it just goes THUNK when it finally gets to that simple statement of belief I hold. You know, the one that isn’t really serving me.

For example: Even though I say I love to write and share and talk story and writing practice is INVALUABLE, I haven’t blogged for almost two months. I could easily tell myself I just haven’t had time. And I could list all the stuff that’s been going on in my life to enroll everyone in that story.

However, I didn’t really have to watch 3 episodes of Scott and Bailey in a row and then stay up until 2 AM playing Angry Birds feeling guilty and telling myself, Pulitzer Prize author Michael Chabon doesn’t stay up all night playing Angry Birds. (Although I certainly invite him to tell me otherwise.) He’s a real writer. He writes.

And I didn’t have to start at least 8 posts when an idea inspired me, only to finish none of them.

I know procrastination when I see it. And I know procrastination stems from fear. So when I finally broke it down, it went like this:

Why didn’t you finish those posts?
I was afraid I’d lost my momentum on the ideas and they wouldn’t be as good as I thought when I was inspired to start them. (first level of fear, logical enough that I could just brush it away)

But so what if they’re “not as good” as you thought they would be?
I’m afraid that if they’re not very good people will figure out that I’m really a fraud and I’ll lose readers.

First, you’re not a fraud. Second, so what if you lose readers?
I’m afraid if I lose readers I’ll look stupid and people will judge me for that.

So?
Then no one will like me. (I am now 9 years old)

THUNK!

Completely unannounced, Byron Katie’s voice barged in on my thought process and asked me: And WHO would you BE without that? 

Who would I be without the fear of people not liking me? If that fear were simply gone from my life, what could I accomplish?

And what is the price to myself if I hold myself back because of this fear?

by Michael V. Manalo
by Michael V. Manalo

A few years ago at a SCBWI conference, author Laurie Halse Anderson said that one time when she’d been whining and complaining about some niggling thing to do with her writing, her husband told her: “You know what? You’re gonna die.”

He didn’t say it to be mean. She got it. The things that were holding her back weren’t worth paying attention to in this limited time on the planet we all have. Her fear of not doing those things became greater than her fear of doing them. And sometimes, that’s the place I also need to go to get my motivation back.

On the flip side, the love I feel for what I do when I’m actually doing it, and not trying to be too perfect or precious about it, is also life-fulfilling motivation. And even though fear (and anger) can be incredibly useful procrastination busters, I think “doing” from a space of love is where I’d much rather be.

YOUR WRITING WORKOUT

What is the fear (big or small) that holds your protagonist back? If you look deep enough, what is the essence of the fear? How does she justify her actions/inactions around this fear?

What price to herself for inaction? What will she lose if she does not act? Her freedom? A friendship? A position? A lover? Her self-worth?

And is there a moment when her fear of not having/doing something becomes greater than her fear of doing/having this thing?

TIMED WRITING GUIDELINES
Set your timer for 5 -10 minutes per start line
When timer starts: write, don’t stop, don’t edit, don’t cross out.
(just do it!)

Start lines:

The excuse my character gives him/herself looks like . . .
The fear behind all of my character’s fears tells her . . .
The price of my character’s inaction is . . .
The scene where my character breaks the bonds of this fear happens when . . .

 

Now write your next scene . . . 🙂

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Getting to the Story

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I am developing an online course called Getting to the Story to begin in February 2015. This blog post features a sample from the coursework. If interested in taking the class, contact me HERE.

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According to NaNoWriMo stats, about 23% of their participants finished their 50,000 words by the end of Nov. If you were one of them, congratulations. You have a big pile of words to play with!

And if you were one of the 77% (hi there!) who didn’t finish, whatever you wrote you still have, and whatever you learned you’ve still got on your tool belt.

The joke around here is that my NaNoWriMo became a DecNoWriMo, and now I’ve succumb to the fact that it’s really a JaNoWriMo. But that’s fine by me, because when I started my NaNo this year, I realized I didn’t know this story at all. During NaNo month, I didn’t have the time to figure it out, so I just started telling my story, rambling down a long summary.

In the end, I have to start somewhere, and it’s always new.

After NaNoWriMo was over, I took a look at what I had and went, “Ugh.” It was the literary equivalent of waking up to a pot of crusty half-cooked noodles I’d left in the sink the night before.

I know from experience that I couldn’t just think my way out of my lumpy noodly mess. If one thinks and thinks and thinks about the mess, it doesn’t magically become a story. I believe the only way the story gets written is to write it.

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by Stefan Zsaitsits

And so, I set the mess aside and pretty much started at the beginning again.

First thing, I had to get to the story…

 

GETTING to the STORY WORKOUT
Part One

I teach an outline style called Sequence and Beat. I teach my students to write out the major sequences of their stories and then divide those up into “scenes” or “beats.” But how do I figure out what those sequences and beats are? Usually by writing exercises where I discover it on the page. (NOT AT THE COMPUTER — these exercises should be hand-written)

Think in terms of Big Action

In the following exercise, you’ll divide your story into three parts (Beginning, Middle, End). In each of these parts, there will be a BIG ACTION that crucially changes the status quo (some call this a reversal). There will be other minor reversals and complications. The Big Ones are the set up of the story (conflict) and the journey (trials and tribulations) that result in achieving (or not) the over-arching goal. If you keep these Big Actions in mind, it will help you move your story forward cohesively.

For instance, if the over-arching goal of the entire story is for a man and woman to be together, there will be things that drive them apart.  Maybe small things at first, but then something that seems insurmountable to them both happens. Maybe the Big Action by the end of the first section is the woman marries someone she doesn’t love. Bummer. Boo.

In Book Four of my White Forest series, the over-arching goal is for Narine to “reset” the world’s balance. Before she can do that, she has to find the one character who knows her destiny. That character is in mortal danger and Narine has to save her. The Big Action in part one is saving this character, but there’s a lot of things that stand in her way.

All the sequences that lead up to the Big Action make sense

The sequences that lead up to this point – the woman marrying someone she doesn’t love, for example – need to make logical sense and/or force the character into this position. What things get in her way and redirect her into doing something she would not have done at the beginning of the story? Did her kingdom become enemies with her lover’s and another kingdom demand her hand for their prince for their allegiance? Or was it more subtle – neither party recognized what the other felt and the man took a job in another country out of heartbreak?

EXERCISES

Please write without too much thinking, without stopping, and without rereading & editing

1) Start with the line below and keep writing for 5-7 minutes OR until you think you’ve covered all the events leading up to the Big Action.

The first section of my story all leads up to __(Big Action)___. This event is inevitable because . . .

2) Repeat the exercise for parts Two and Three using the following start lines:

After the events of Part One, my protagonist is left to . . . 

In Part Two, the Big Event that propels/ignites my protagonist into taking action is . . .

In Part Three of my story, the over-arching goal is achieved after . . .

 

 

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NaNo – – No

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(scroll down to skip straight to the Weekly Workout )

I came to the realization last Friday that I’m not going to be finishing my NaNo this year. Of course, a tiny piece of me keeps saying, “You can do it! Wake up at 3 am! Power through!” but that’s just because I’m stubborn like that. I really hate to lose, especially when it’s just to myself.

My hope had hung in there for a while, because last year I managed to pump out 30,000 words in one week… but I was on a porch swing in Hawaii at the time. Right now I’m working full-time on a movie, house-hunting for an upcoming move, and involved in a major protest on Burnaby Mountain.

So, life has been a bit cray-cray (wait, are women over 40 even allowed to use that term?). And in the cray-crayness of it all, I’ve done my best to take care of myself. To not exist on 5 hours of sleep per night. To watch what I eat and find some quiet mind each day.

Truthfully, my heart just hasn’t been on my NaNo, but up on the mountain with the other protectors. My blog posts suffered, because that was all I could think about in my spare time, and I have purposely steered away from posting political issues on this blog. Not that I don’t want you to know my politics (TRUST me, I will happily tell you), but because I want to feed other parts of myself and express other parts of myself. I could never be 100% political activist 24/7. I think I’d burn out and/or get cynical after a while (or both). I need to step away from all that once in a while in order to take care of myself.

Part of taking care of myself was supposed to be feeding the writerly side of myself, but that got pushed to the way-side, so here I am with four days left of NaNo month and 39,000 words left to go. (on the positive side, that’s 11,000 more words than I had Oct 31!)

The NaNo is not happening, I keep telling myself. I need to be okay with that.

 

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by Gizem Vural

 

Have you ever had that sinking feeling that something you really wanted to accomplish just wasn’t going to happen? You weren’t going to finish that marathon? Complete that degree? Climb that mountain?

Did you ever kick yourself later and say, “If I had only pushed harder…” I don’t think it’s really healthy for us to stay in that place of “I should have done better.” Sometimes we just aren’t up to it for whatever mental, emotional, physical, or environmental reason.  But perhaps remembering what it’s like in that precarious space of “I can do this” and “I can’t do this” you can have sympathy for your characters and an idea of how to bring them to the breaking point and push them over the edge.

*     *     *     *

YOUR WORKOUT

In your current story, where is the place when your character is so exhausted she doesn’t know if she can continue or seriously questions whether she will be successful at reaching her goal? HOW do you give her that last push to get her through SPLAT and to the other side where redemption lies? How are you pushing her to the edge, and have you really pushed her far enough?

 

Remember:
write without stopping, crossing out, rereading, or editing.

 

1) SET YOUR TIMER for 5-7 minutes.

Start with this line: In this scene, my character wants nothing more than to…

See where this takes you.

 

 

2) SET YOUR TIMER for 7-10 minutes.

Start with the line: In this scene, my character is up against…

Again… Write without stopping, crossing out, rereading, or editing.

 

3) SET YOUR TIMER for 10-12 minutes.

Start with the line: In this scene, my character is pushed to her limits when…

Write without stopping, crossing out, rereading, or editing

 

4) SET YOUR TIMER for 12-15 minutes.

Start with the line: In this scene, my character breaks the bonds of what’s holding her back by…

Write without stopping, crossing out, rereading, or editing.

 

Now, go write the scene in which your character is up against this obstacle, is pushed to the limit, and makes it out to the other side. And have a great rest of your week!

 

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Starting From Scratch: The Clown Challenge

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NEWSFLASH: This weekend I will be at Geek Girl Con in Seattle. My publisher (Hydra House) has a booth (#309) and I will be presenting “Imaginary Worlds for Kids” in Rm LL3 Sat at 11 AM & Sun at 3 PM and doing a signing Sat at noon wherever signings are. Probably by the book tables.

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Up for the Clown Challenge? Where do I Start?

 

I love a good challenge. Especially a writing challenge. I’ve completed NaNoWriMo twice, dozens of “10 day challenges” (writing a short screenplay, short story, or poem each day for 10 days), or doing themed challenges. It’s how I wrote my first (and only) literary zombie story. I saw a challenge. I saw a way to push myself in a new and unexpected direction.

While I was procrastinating researching today, I found a journal I was unfamiliar with:

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This speculative fiction journal focuses on some odd and interesting topics/themes: entomology, cryptography, and a rotating 3rd theme. For the next issue: Coulrophobia.

Coulrophobia is the abnormal fear of clowns. Which instantly reminds me of Poltergeist, a movie I loved as a kid.

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I know many people dislike clowns, who find them sad or creepy, but I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone with true coulrophobia. I immediately decided I needed to jump on this one. Why? It gives me an excuse to do something I wouldn’t have done otherwise. 

According to the Unlikely guidelines:

… open to anything involving clowns in some significant way … think Sacred Clowns and Holy Fools. Horror, humor, existential angst, and tears of, we’re open to all that and more, in any combination. Heck, why not see how many different genres you can fit into a piece of flash fiction?

As if that didn’t sound like challenge enough, a recent tweet from the magazine mentioned that ALL submissions so far had been from men. They need more women to submit. How could I pass that up?

It’s a flash fiction issue (1038 words max) and the deadline is Nov 1.

So, how does one go about facing such a challenge? Here’s ONE way:

Your Workout:

Even if you’re not interested in writing about clowns, you can still use this workout to begin a story, any story. I’ve used it at least three times and each time come away with an interesting short story, and ideas for a dozen more.

1) Write 50 opening lines.

Write them in one sitting as fast as possible. Put the image of a clown (or any other image if clowns don’t interest you) in your mind and then just GO. Don’t think too much about each first line. Just jot them down. Don’t judge them or edit them. These are potential first lines for a story. (in this case, a flash fiction story)

If you can’t get 50 first lines down, do as many as you can until your brain stalls or melts. I do recommend pushing through to the end if you can. If nothing else, you’ll have 50 first lines to possible stories.

2) Pick your top 5 first lines and write 5 opening paragraphs.

If you can’t decide, share with your writing group if you have one (or friend, spouse, kids) and let them pick their faves. Just whittle the list down to the 5 most inspiring lines, then write 5 opening paragraphs from those 5 first lines. Again, without thinking too much, and certainly without editing. Do this as fast as you can, whatever flows from the pen (or keyboard)

3) Pick your top paragraph and go from there…

It’s that simple. From 50 first lines to the idea for a story to the story itself. It’s a numbers game, really. With 50 first lines to choose from, one of them is bound to inspire you and send you in a new and unexpected direction.

Surprise yourself! And feel free to share your five first lines below.

Have a great weekend and perhaps I’ll see you at Geek Girl Con! 

 

 

Minor Appearances (and a Weekly Workout)

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There’s a Japanese man in my neighborhood whom I have been running into every few weeks for the past four years. I always run into him in the morning as he’s walking through the alleyways. He moves slowly, his right side recovering from what I would guess was a stroke, and my assumption is that these walks are part of his daily routine to strengthen his body again. He drags his right foot a bit and holds his right arm in a way that indicates it has little strength and mobility.

He’s probably in his late 50’s. I don’t know his name. I don’t know where he lives. And over the past four years, his recovery has been noticeably slow. But every time I see him he always grins wide and booms, “Good morning!”

I’ve never heard more than those two words from him, but I get them every time. I can even see him preparing to say them, to belt the words out and watch them being received. He looks me in the face, grins, and shares his two words.

It’s a full, clear, wonderful sound that holds so much: resilience, good nature, gratitude, joy, promise. Every time I hear those words from him I give thanks for the day and for my mobile body (that hasn’t always been (and isn’t always) mobile).

This man has become a “minor character” in my life. When I do my metta yoga meditation and I get to “someone who embodies loving-kindness” I often think of him. Even though all I know of him is his warm, “Good morning” as he moves slowly along, taking in the day, he represents so much to me about human kindness and perseverance.

by Alison Woodward
by Alison Woodward

The minor characters in our lives have histories we can read in their actions, expressions, and words. Some people are pure background: blurs, maybe a glance, exit. Some we meet once on a bus and they stick in our minds. I recall an inebriated man who stumbled out the bus doors, fell to the ground, and then became belligerent when folks stopped to help him even though he was obviously injured. I wanted to know how he had gotten to that point in his life on that day.

The minor characters in our stories should have histories, too. Obviously we don’t spend as much time developing those histories as we do for our major characters, but our fictional worlds will have more dimension if the minor characters do as well. We don’t have to know everything about them, but we can hand them some fear, some loss, some hope, some love. We can give them quirky behaviours, use them for comic relief, or paint them as a reflection of our setting or our theme.

In my current WIP I have a minor character, a nameless man who the protagonist sees walking his mini poodle sometimes. His quirk is that his sweaters match his dog’s. I let the reader think he’s background until one scene, very early in the morning, when the protagonist has snuck out of her house, he helps her finish a detailed chalk scene she’s drawing on the sidewalk. Instead of him calling her parents, or chastising her, he wordlessly picks up some chalk and helps her finish the drawing. That act made me fall in love with him.

YOUR WORKOUT

Pick any minor character in your story and set your timer for 5 minutes. Try any of the exercises below with them and see if it brings some new dimension. Don’t stop writing. Don’t edit. Just see what appears.

1) When MINOR CHARACTER steps out into the world each day, her biggest hope/fear is that . . .

2) When MINOR CHARACTER gets dressed each morning, she’s hoping that . . .

3) One of MINOR CHARACTER’s distinguishing behaviours is . . . which stems from . . .

Now that you know this character a little, perhaps you can discover something new about your protagonist through this minor character’s eyes? Set your timer for 5-7 minutes and, again without stopping, write:

When MINOR CHARACTER sees my protagonist, she assumes . . . 

Have a great rest of your week!

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Weekly Writing Workout: Get Your Purpose Straight

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How many times have you heard the phrase “I have to get my priorities straight”?

I worked off of that idea for years without consistent success. I had trouble discerning through the daze of “to do” what exactly my priorities should be, especially when it came to social media. I thought maybe if I only had more discipline I would be able to prioritize action items more effectively. I was the QUEEN of To Do Lists, but every action swam in front of me with no clear purpose attached.

I eventually realized that I can’t get my priorities straight if I don’t have my purpose straight first. How can I even make priorities without purpose? I learned that getting my purpose straight practically wrote my priorities for me, and that it was perfectly fine to drop actions that didn’t serve this purpose.

For instance, this idea of “rethinking social media” came from going back to what my purpose is around social media. If my purpose is to build an audience, then I need to think of actions to build that audience. Should I hang out in online forums? Many forums are great places to exchange information, but not really audience builders. Perhaps I should limit how much time I spend in them.

If my time is really limited, it would serve me better to simply find the one thing I can do that best serves this purpose and focus my energy on that one thing rather than using a scattershot approach.

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by Gizem Vural

On a grander scale, I can create purpose for my entire life. My purpose on that scale might be: to be joyful in my creative endeavors or to share my creative expression with others. If that’s the case, perhaps I decide to spend less time on social media in general and more time expressing myself creatively, since that brings more joy into my life. Or, simply become more creative in my expression thru social media.

It doesn’t matter if my purpose is to “sell books” or “have fun.” It’s MY purpose. It’s just that my actions will look different accordingly, and I can prioritize by asking myself if that action serves my purpose. Whenever I go to a conference now, for instance, I create a purpose around it. I might decide my purpose is to have fun. I might decide it’s to have meaningful dialogue. I might decide it’s simply to sit back, listen, and learn.

In the book The One Thing by Gary Keller (with Jay Papasan) “The most productive people start with purpose and use it like a compass. They allow purpose to be the guiding force in determining the priority that drives their actions . . . The prescription for extraordinary results is knowing what matters to you and taking daily doses of actions in alignment with it.”

“Purpose provides the ultimate glue that can help you stick to the path you’ve set.” ~Gary Keller, The One Thing

Note that doing something because you think it will make you happy is different than doing something because it serves your purpose, which, ironically, will help you find happiness.

 

YOUR WORKOUT

Several weeks ago I wrote about what a character “needs” vs. what a character “wants.” On the other side of need is where the “better self” lies. I think the same thing goes for purpose.

When your character’s purpose becomes clear, it becomes a driving force. Through the trials and tribulations of your character doing what she “must” and going after what she “wants” her purpose eventually becomes clear.

At the beginning of your story, your character might think a specific thing will make her happy. But what she thinks will make her happy might not be what she needs to actually live a more fulfilled life. If along the way she finds purpose, this will lead to what she needs. It will also drive her actions. As her actions are thwarted and things get in her way, she reacts in order to stay on purpose.

And presto, your story moves forward.

1) SET YOUR TIMER for 7-10 minutes.

Start with the line: At the beginning of my story, My Character thinks she’ll only be happy once…

Write without stopping, crossing out, rereading, or editing.

2) SET YOUR TIMER for 10-12 minutes.

Start with the line: My Character realizes her purpose on her life journey is really…

3) SET YOUR TIMER for 12-15 minutes.

Start with the line:  Driven by this purpose, she can now confront…

Write without stopping, crossing out, rereading, or editing.

And have a great week!

Quick and Dirty (okay, mostly quick, but made you look) with a bonus repurposed writing workout

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So, no new Writing Workout yesterday because I was here all weekend:

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With people like this:

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Doing things like this:

hair party

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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(photo credit to Sander Feinberg for all but hair shot)

 

 

 

 
And next weekend I’ll be HERE.

Doing things like this:

At the Book Signing

Going to panels like THIS.

And readings like THIS.

And parties like THIS.

So, in the meantime, here’s a recycled writing workout I think you’ll enjoy…

YOUR WORKOUT

When you get to what I call the “sloggy” part of your story, when inspiration appears to have left the building and you are dragging yourself to the page, it’s time for some good old fashioned spontaneous writing.

(even if you’re not in the slog, you can still play along)

Pick whatever piece of writing you’re working on. See where you are and think about what comes next.

Step 1) Set your timer for 5-7 minutes. At the top of your page, write the start: The scene that needs to be written is… because…

After you finish with that thought, write This scene needs to be written because… and start the next thought. Keep writing This scene needs to be written because… until you hit something, an idea, and then take off! At this point, no more punctuation. Just write in one long stream of consciousness. REMEMBER to write without stopping, without crossing out, without editing. If you get stuck, you can always start again with This scene needs to be written because…

Example:

The scene that needs to be written is the scene where Mabbe confronts Croilus because it gets Mabbe outside of her burl. This scene needs to be written because it’s where Zhay learns that Brigitta was telling the truth. It needs to be written because it’s where Zhay loses it and all his anger about being abandoned by the Ancients bursts forth and he attacks Mabbe but she’s too strong for him and she strikes him down and when that happens the spell seed falls to the ground and they…

Step 2) Set your timer for 5-7 minutes. Pick one of the following as your start line:

In this scene my protagonist learns…
In this scene my protagonist reveals…
In this scene my protagonist proves…

You can also put in another character if that works better for you. In this scene my villain… my antagonist… my protagonist’s mother… feel free to make it work for you.

The important thing is that a character learns or reveals or proves something. This will help move your story forward.

Again, total stream of consciousness, no punctuation, no editing, no stopping. Allow yourself to write the first thing that comes out of your pen. It’s not permanent! We’re getting ideas

example:

In this scene Brigitta proves that she can fight the force of the green zynthia and she believes it has to do with her having both air and water elements now and she discovers that she is more powerful than before and the extra element has made it easier to manipulate her environment and there is no way to give it back and maybe it was her first true element…

Step 3) Set your timer for 3-5 Minutes. It’s time for a “What if” wild flow! By wild I mean don’t discount any thought or idea. Let the What Ifs fall where they may. This is a list that you write as fast as you can. You can simply start with What if… on each line, or use any of the following prompts:

During this scene, what if…
After this scene, what if…
After my protagonist reveals ____, what if…
After my protagonist learns ____, what if…
After my protagonist proves _____, what if…

example:

After Brigitta reveals that she can overpower the zythia…
what if Croilus realizes the prophesy is coming true?
What if Devin and Ferris attack Zhay?
What if Brigitta thinks Croilus is going to attack the White Forest?
What if Zhay tries to kill Croilus?
etc.

Usually at least one lightbulb goes on during this exercise. Just let go and allow the ideas to flow. Write as fast as you can, keeping pen on the page. Afterwards, you can go back and mark items that you like.

You should now be sufficiently pumped to write the next scene. I know I always am.

Have a great weekend!

Weekly Writing Workout: Three Ring Circus Part Three – MUST

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My post is a bit late this week, mostly because in British Columbia we were celebrating our new holiday: Family Day! Where the Family Day bunny comes down the chimney to hand out turkey wishbones to all the good kids, and we have a walnut cake eating contest. The first one done wins the golden carrot. (Okay, so we’re still working out the mythology around this one, give us a few years.)

In truth we just ate a lot of sweets, drank a lot of wine, and played games.

Onward… to MUST

A few years ago, I was working on a concept for a screenplay: a single hippie mom living out of her van for 15 years with her son decides to try to settle into the “normal” world.

It was really only half a concept, because I had no stakes for her yet. I needed to figure out what she MUST DO OR ELSE.

If you think about it, the entire Harry Potter series can be reduced to this: Harry Potter, a young wizard, must defeat Voldemort, an evil wizard, before he takes over the world. This must might not be so prevalent in the first book, but as it becomes exceedingly clear that if Harry doesn’t defeat him, he and all the people he loves will die. This is the basis for the entire series.

MUST is a great way to discover your story, whether it’s an epic fantasy or an indie dramedy screenplay. It’s HOW I found the basic plot for The Van Goes. I asked myself what was at stake for Shasta (the nomadic hippie mom). I started with – what’s the WORST thing that could happen to her?

Answer: She could lose her son. Not literally, but she could lose her relationship with him, and in this story, those were big enough stakes. 

So, I thought, what if she actually DOESN’T WANT to settle down? What if she wants to keep living nomadically from commune to commune, but HER SON wants to leave the road. He’s discovered computers and masturbation and wants access to technology and privacy. And what if they get in a big fight over this?

The result of this line of thinking: Shasta MUST figure out how to live a “normal and settled” life or else risk losing her relationship with her son.

by Gizem Vural
by Gizem Vural

YOUR WORKOUT:

1) SET YOUR TIMER for 7-10 minutes.

Start with the line: If my Character doesn’t act, she is in danger of losing the confidence/trust/loyalty of . . .

Write without stopping, crossing out, rereading, or editing.

2) SET YOUR TIMER for 10-12 minutes.

Start with the line: My Character fears what she must do because . . .

Write without stopping, crossing out, rereading, or editing.

3) SET YOUR TIMER for 15-20 minutes.

Start with the line: My Character must do this thing or else . . .

Write without stopping, crossing out, rereading, or editing.

And have a great (rest of your) week!

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If you are a blogger who would like to post your own weekly workout exercise with me every Monday, please write to info (at) danikadinsmore.com