Writers And Readers Websites Wednesday - Food For Thought

Looking for a site where you can learn? Where you can troll for ideas? Where you can just enlighten yourself?

Then head over to Thinkers Network. They offer links to all kinds of interesting and informative articles. Their motto? "Exploring Beyond The Seen - Fresh Thoughts For The Stale World".

Go ahead, explore - unearth the unexpected -Think! 

Three Observations On How to Add Punch In Your Writing

Okay, first, as writers, we (at least most of us) know we need to flavor our writing with sensations that go beyond sight and sound. We add things like the aroma of chicken grilling, the smell of tangy perfume, the feel of a too-heavy gold chain dragging against the back of a neck, the feel of a chilled breeze ticking up one's back beneath a jacket or the really sour taste of overdone lemonade to add life to our writing. You know, stuff everyone experiences, maybe notices.

But, when writers are reaching for more, and it's true, editors just love more than the five senses we're used to providing, consider body language. Remember, all the extras we add as subtle touches in storytelling don't just add to the setting, but fleshes out your characters as well.

Body language is a great resource for writers and you never hear anyone commenting on it. It just is if the writer injects it smoothly.

How about a character sneaking a smoke where it's forbidden. Cupping his hand over the cigarette, whether he telegraphs he knows he's breaking the rules and is embarrassed, avoiding eye contact, or if he's arrogant and defiant, staring down those who notice him smoking, it telegraphs how the character feels, tells the reader something about his inner workings. Take some of your research time and read up a bit on body language. Then apply.Your writing will take an expansive breath.

Another thing to consider when adding depth to your story is people. You know, the characters you're writing about. We people are a strange lot. Our behavior is rational only some of the time. When you think about it, how often have you taken stupid risks or done something you're at a total loss to explain? 

You've probably heard "truth is stranger than fiction". Well, it is. You, I, all of us do strangely unpredictable things at one time or another with no rational explanation. That's a bit at odds with convincing your reader to go along with the suspension of disbelief thing. So the other side of that coin is believability. It's a high-wire act. You don't want to be cranking out boring fiction, focused on absolute rational behavior at all times.You don't want to lose your reader.

So here's the thing. The weird behavior patterns of us human beings (great fodder for writers and fun to read about) are actually just that - patterns. Others of our species can relate to or understand much of our strange and irrational behavior - heck, they've done it too!

I mean there's love, sex, obsession, weird habits. Love and sex are always basis for irrational behavior. Weird habits like never showing up on time or being obsessively punctual can easily serve as fodder or unsettling decisions, irrational anger or a host of other reactions. The obsessed can become single-minded which can lead to absolutely horrible judgment. Control freaks can have fatal consequences. You get it, more grist for the writer's mill.

Plainly, characters afflicted with human weirdness must either find redemption or with grit teeth cling to their habits to the very end. The oddity of a character's behavior is not only fascinating in your story, but it grips the reader, making him or her wonder what's coming next, why that character is reacting that way and if they'd do the same.

Inject the weirdness of human behavior into your storytelling and create sparks. It applies to all writing.

And readers, tell me if I'm wrong, but aren't you more interested, more transfixed by a character with some behavior, some quirk, that can lead to disaster or salvation? Consider stories and gripping characters you've known and get back to me on that.

And there's the third and last point I'm going to  make today. I mentioned it in another blog post and it bears repeating. You can't write delicately. You can't put restraints on your writing so you don't offend someone. Write what moves you. Don't avoid a topic because it's a darker one like incest, racism, occult or whatever you find to be the dark side. And don't put self-imposed restraints on the way you write. Let it all go. Write with abandon, feel what you did when you were a kid; the freedom of attacking almost everything with abandon.

Turn yourself loose, your readers will thank you - won't you readers?

Readers - Wonder how Writers Do It?

Really. So you ever wonder what goes on in fiction writer's lives that keep them writing the fiction they create or stop them, inspire them or throw up road blocks?

Frequently we talk here about nuts and bolts of writing, but really it's all about reading and writing. Writers who follow this blog are interested in tips and helpful websites and that sort of thing. 

Readers, no doubt are more interested in the inside scoop.  Correct me if I'm wrong, readers.

So, for today's post I decided it's time to open the door just a bit more and talk about a writer's habits. How I write and keep it moving forward.

One of my biggies and it always has been is write my fiction at the crack of dawn.  No kidding, for me the morning is a glorious time to write. 

I know, I know, a lot of writers "write all night" and "consume gallons of coffee". Nope, not me, I love a great night's sleep, popping out of bed all perky and getting down to writing right after a quick breakfast. My perkiness can definitely be a bit grating for others, but I'm good with it. Bouncy, perky me.

Another thing has always been to give my writing priority in my life. Never did play games about it. If you're a reader aspiring to be a writer, then you'll just have to get down to it. I've written since I was in my early teens, passed up a lot of things other kids were doing so I could write. It wasn't any sacrifice when what I really wanted to be doing was writing anyway. 

When I got older I dedicated many evenings to writing the books I eventually got published. Even did research and wrote notes on my lunch hours. It was a matter of stealing time wherever I could to make it happen. Obsessive I guess, but writing was always what I loved to do, what I WANTED to do. Check out some other writer's blogs like Mary Pax who's a science fiction writer and you'll begin to understand the high priority for writing thing. M Pax is always at it.

Another good writing habit? Drink a lot of water.  You laugh. You'd be surprised how we writers can forget these things when in the throes of a great story. And drinking a lot of water is great on many levels. Makes you take a break from fingers clicking keys to lift the water glass to your mouth. It hydrates you and keeps those brain cells happy and fatigue at bay and eventually it will make you get up from your desk and move - if only to the bathroom.

Ah, the mystery and romance of a writer's life.

Hey, did you readers think all this was easy?

Well, write when you're tired, write when you're stressed, write when you slept wrong and your neck hurts half the way down your back like I'm writing this morning. It's not like these things don't happen to a writer. It's not like writers can just go off in the corner and whine when there's writing to be done. There are deadlines, external and self-imposed and a good writer will stick pretty much to them with rare exceptions usually caused by some disaster.

You wonder how that book in your hand got there? Horror fiction author Stephen King tells us “Making people believe the unbelievable is no trick; it’s work. … Belief and reader absorption come in the details: An overturned tricycle in the gutter of an abandoned neighborhood can stand for everything.”

Yep, it's that wonderful gossamer world of the writer.  Hey, if you're an enthusiastic reader and that's what you love being, good on you. If you're an aspiring writer, welcome to our world.