Writing Inspiration and Reading

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Blog’s question this month:

What type of book do you read for writing inspiration, and why?  Do you read fiction or non-fiction, and what genres?  Mysteries and YA, or archeology and astronomy?

I read cozy mysteries, fantasy, and historical novels for entertainment, but I read non-fiction for inspiration.  One of my recent favorites is The Writer’s Guide to Psychology, by Carolyn Kaufman.  It’s been a bit intimidating that the other ladies of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Blog are all psychologists or medical doctors, but this book made me feel a little less inept.

I also follow blogs about things that interest me, especially about horses.  Judith Tarr, a wonderful writer, of Book View Café Blog, has a running series about horses that has given me many ideas to explore.

Lydia’s Medical Mondays gives me great ideas (when it doesn’t gross me out, and more when it does). Laura’s Mental Health Mondays and Sarah’s Strangest Situation give me a lot to think about.  (Mostly making me glad I’m not in the psychiatric field. ;-)

Churchill, though, is happy when I read anything, since it means I’m sitting still and he has a warm lap to sleep in.  Like right now.  LOL!

What do you read for inspiration?  What is the right balance to keep you writing?

Writing Expectations

Sarah asked the Sisterhood of the Traveling Blog’s question this month:

"Where do your expectations for your writing skill or quality come from? Is the source internal, external, or both? And how do you cope when you don't meet them?"

My writing expectations are strictly internal, and they vary wildly depending on the day, or even the hour.  I’m definitely my own worst critic.  When I’m working on a first draft, I do my best to tune out my Inner Editor and just get the story onto the paper.  My expectations are reasonably low, because I’m concentrating on emotions, plot, and to a lesser extent, on flow.

The deeper into revisions I go, the higher my expectations become.  And that’s where I run into trouble:  I rarely meet my goals.  Oh, my copy is clean; my grammar is beautiful.  But the exorbitant life I *thought* I had breathed into my novel is – as flat as central Texas.  Think shallow rolling hills, but no highs worth mentioning, and no lows at all.

I become discouraged.  I start to think I’ll never write a decent story, much less something anyone besides my mom would want to read.

That’s when I go work on a different project, something new and creative.  Sometimes it’s writing, but more often it’s crafts.  Occasionally I go on a reading binge.  (All right, frequently.)  But sooner or later I wander back to my novel and try again.  There are stories inside me that want to climb out.

What do you do when you don’t meet your writing expectations?

Formal Education and Writing

Here’s Churchill in my writing corner, wondering what the heck I think I’m doing. Need I admit I’m playing with the camera when I should be working? LOL!

Lydia’s question for the Sisterhood of the Traveling Blog:

“What formal writing experience do you have? (classes, degrees, major/minors). Did it shape your writing? Have you ever considered getting an MFA?”

I have a BA in English, earned mumble years ago.  Did my education shape my writing?

Maybe.  I read many brilliant books for those classes, and a few clunkers, which might not have been so awful if I’d understood them.  I’ve always been a painfully literal person, and sarcasm and satire often go right over my head.  Novels like Babbitt were excruciatingly boring because I missed the point altogether.

The “bad” novels were painful, but in many ways the great novels were worse.  How could I write to that standard?  How could I make my characters live and breath?  How could I entice readers to see and hear and smell my settings?  I knew it would take practice.  A lot of practice.

Yet the MFA programs have never tempted me, probably because I’m a genre reader and writer.  Literary and mainstream don’t interest me, and all the MFA programs I’ve noticed emphasize literary writing.  The extra years of effort didn’t seem worth the possible results.

How do you feel about MFA programs?  What formal writing training have you had?

I hope y’all had a happy holiday week, and I’m wishing you a prosperous New Year!

My Reasons for Avoiding NaNoWriMo

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Welcome back to the Sisterhood of the Traveling Blog.

Laura chose our question for this month:

If you do NaNoWriMo, why do you do it? If not, why not?

No NaNoWriMo for me this month.  I have Etsy on my mind.  And family.  And Thanksgiving.  And lots and lots of excuses.

I freely admit that most of my reasons for avoiding NaNo are excuses.  It’s hard work!  But among my best reasons are: When I attempt NaNo,

I rush through my story.  Lots of telling, but very little showing.

I still manage to be tooooooooooooooooo wordy.  Out of 50k last year, I suspect 20k needs to go.

By the time I finished my 50k, I was so exhausted I could barely function.  And worse, I was tired of my story.

By the end of my 50k, I adored my tersely spoken, non-human characters, but I didn’t much like my humans.  I still liked my basic concept, but many of the carefully crafted details had stopped making sense.

And a year later, I still haven’t gotten back to clean up or finish that manuscript.  I can’t decide if I simply can’t cope, or if I’ve moved on.

So for now, I’ve decided not to worry about it.  I’ll get back to that story eventually.  For now I’ll work on the other things that have caught my fancy.

Speaking of new toys, I recently joined Google+, but I really don’t know what to do with it.  Are you on Google+?  What’s the best way to network when social media is a foreign language?

Animals and writing

It was my turn to pick the topic this month. My question for the Sisterhood of the Traveling Blog was:

How do your pets/kids/plants (something you take care of) influence your writing?  Do they help you, or distract you?  Do you include them in your stories?

People rarely inspire my fiction, but the animals in my life often have.  I’ve even named a kitten after one of my characters, then used his personality to guide the character’s behavior.

I’ve asked what my darling, long deceased Mystic would have done if she’d been human and in such a situation.  Her ghost informed me she’d never act as silly as humans do and would never have gotten into such a situation.  When I reminded her of some of the stunts she pulled in life, she just stared at me with that cool cat stare that says “You’re thinking of someone else, but I’m too polite to correct you.” LOL!  She was good at that.

My family had horses when I was a teen, and horses are often supporting characters in my stories.  Occasionally they have more personality than my humans.  Horses are more than a mode of transportation. They have feelings and reactions and quirks, and they most certainly are not cars that can run forever without tiring.  Horses are fairly fragile, and die from misuse or accident, in real life and in my fiction.

Churchill, my current owner cat, is purely a distraction. He insists he needs to lie upon my keyboard.  No way, my lad.  That’s one of the few battles I’ve won.

How do animals affect your writing? Do you like stories with animals as significant characters?

Tooting My Horn

I’m embarrassed to be writing this post.  I hate to blow my own horn.  I don’t even like to talk about my writing, or myself.  But if I don’t tell you what I’m up to, how will anyone know?

Sooooo, I’d like to announce that I’ve released two new Mantua-Maker historical sewing patterns this year.

#1880-15 

1870 - 1890 Sunset Knoll Polonaise, Redingote, and Tea Gown

   Three major variations for dressy or severe styles.  It can be made as a ball gown, an evening gown, or as a working woman's plain, tailored redingote.  Personally, I love the Tea Gown version.

#1880-29 

1880 - 1895 Artistic Classical Gown

    While it really was worn by the Artistic set, this dress with its Grecian-style undergown are perfect for a masquerade.  It's surprisingly simple to make, and I think it looks wonderful.  (I know, I'm biased. :-)

My other news:

I’ve also opened two shops on Etsy, an online marketplace for handcrafted items.  My first shop, MantuaMakerPatterns, was intended for my historical sewing patterns, but my mom asked by to sell her bead work and my dad’s silver jewelry.  I said, “Sure thing!”

Four jewelry boxes later (and more still appear intermittently!), I opened a shop for them – I wasn’t sure how many more boxes would appear.  Not feeling terribly original that day, I named it MomNDadsJewelry. 

I hope you’ll have a look.  I’ve included links to both shops in my side bars.

What have you accomplished lately that you’d like to share?

Creating Character

This month’s question for the Sisterhood of the Traveling Blog came from Sarah:

How do you develop your characters? Do you flesh out the details before (like writing as that character, writing backstory, or filling out a questionnaire about their preferences and history) or invent as you go?

When it comes to creating characters, I’m a combination of a plotter and a pantster.  I create character sheets with physical info, fears and desires.  I determine ages, rages, and backstory.  Then I start writing.

But as military strategists will tell you, the best laid plans don’t survive engagement with the enemy.  Or in my case, with my subconscious.  My characters take on lives of their own, and some of them flatly refuse the plans I’ve made for them.  One of my minor antagonists nearly took over the story, and he definitely became a protagonist, helping to save the heroine in the last chapter.  If I ever rewrite that novel, I suspect I’ll need to start with him instead of the MC I’d chosen, and base more of the story on his actions.

Because of my pantster tendencies (and that sounds strange from a confirmed plotter), I don’t like questionnaires.  Knowing that much about the character confines my imagination too much.  Yet pinning down minor attributes, such as hobbies and clothing, can help me add details and subplots for richer and deeper characters.

How about you?  How do you create and define your characters?

The Genre Crush

Thank you to Lexcade for this fun award.  Have a look at her blog, Going from Nobody to Somebody at: http://lexcade.blogspot.com

The goal of the Liebster is to showcase up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers. The rules:

http://lexcade.blogspot.com/2011/08/i-haz-award.html

Lydia selected this month’s topic for the Sisterhood of the Traveling Blog:

"I have a genre-crush on______"

This is a fun topic, and one I think about frequently.  I have two beloved genres I don’t try to write in: Cozy Mysteries and Historicals.

I adore Cozy Mysteries, especially those in the Aunt Dimity vein, by Nancy Atherton.  Murder optional, and no (or very little) blood.  They are all about figuring out a mystery, even a little one, and always have a happy ending.  My idea of a good evening.

I don’t write them because I’m not well connected to the modern world.  I don’t watch television.  I don’t even own a cell phone.  (And that little beast of technology makes mysteries harder – when it doesn’t make a new and scarier problem for the characters. LOL!).  Quite honestly, I have very little interest in modern society.  I just love trying to solve the mystery.

Historical novels, on the other hand, I don’t dare attempt – I’d never get past the research stage.  I could research forever.  I’m not interested in romance or war, so I’ve cut out three quarters of my possible readership.  I think I’d have fun writing a mystery set in 1880s California or England.  Or in 1780s England – another fun period for me, since I enjoy the clothing styles of both eras.  Oh, dear.  That shows my priorities, doesn’t it.  ;-)

What genre would you like to write in, but haven’t tackled yet?

The Query and the Muse

I’m happy to announce my muse is back at work.  He’s not interested in querying, thank goodness, since I’m only a quarter of the way through the first pass of this rewrite, but he’s wild to write new chapters, and a hard slogger in editing standing chapters.  And in my opinion, he has a great voice.

He’d better still be around when I start writing my query!

Speaking of queries, Laura - of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Blog - asked a hard question this month:

 

If you're querying now, or have in the past, how do you develop patience to wait for responses?

I’m not sure patience even enters the question for me.  Dread, terror, and occasional despair, maybe.  ;-)  But not patience.  I need to push querying out of my mind or I can’t carry on – or at least, not sensibly.

Like Lydia, I try to keep busy.  If my fiction won’t flow, I work on non-fiction.  Cleaning, on the other hand, is a desperation measure.  Lydia, you’re a stronger woman than I am!

One thing I believe writers need to learn in order to survive the query journey is compartmentalization.  (Sheesh, do think I could have found a longer word?)  But compartmenting helps me function.  If I dwell on something I can’t change, I only make myself miserable.

I already have a tendency to keep the different parts of my life separate.  Prioritizing can be a problem (it’s waaaaaaay too easy to go play on the web – I really need to read all those agent blogs!), but knowing the internet is a time suck actually helps because I go offline to work.  If I’m offline I can’t check my email every five minutes for agent responses.

So I schedule times to check my email.  I write, or edit, whenever I can.  And I spend a lot of time rubbing Churchill’s tummy – a guaranteed soothing activity.

How do you deal with waiting for agent responses?

Inner Inspiration

I chose this month’s topic, and in a sense I cheated.  I asked the Sisterhood of the Traveling Blog: How would you personify your muse?

For many years, I couldn’t visualize my muse.  I couldn’t define it, or even think of it as separate from myself.  But since my fiction dried up, I can see my muse clearly:

Many of you have met Churchill, who I rescued from the Animal Shelter, mostly by accident.  After my ancient, long-blind cat died, I heard on the news that blind cats were euthanized at the Pound automatically, because they couldn’t find homes.  What an awful thought!  Blind cats are quite easy to care for.  Off I went to the Shelter, to sign up for the next blind cat who came in.

Churchill isn’t blind (though he has the normal Persian eye problems), but he came home with me anyway.

BUT, as you can see, he’s not exactly inspiring.  Sweet-tempered, laid-back, and sleepy, he reflects the state of my fiction writing lately.  I can power down on my non-fiction for hours, but when I try to write creatively, my eyes cross, the screen blurs, and I fall flat on my back. ZZZZZZZZZZZ.

This state is more frustrating because two years ago I wrote a book in three months, and revised over the next six months.  Since then, I’ve started two other books, only to get stuck halfway through.  I’m bored to tears with one, and the other has turned into a sequel to a trilogy that desperately needs a total rewrite.  I’m threatening to cut the trilogy down to a single novel …

As you can tell, I’m thinking with my fingertips.  I’m so frustrated with my lack of creativity, I don’t even want to go near my fiction.

What do you do when inspiration – and your muse – fails you?