Writing the Novel

"If you try to nail anything down, in the novel, either it kills the novel,
or the novel gets up and walks away with the nail."--D.H. Lawrence

I ran across this quote the other day and found it interesting--even intriguing. Since first reading it, I've been thinking about the nail it refers to. Have I been trying to nail something down in the novel I'm working on? Have I been forcing characters to do and/or say something they're not comfortable with? Have I been moving the plot in a direction it simply doesn't want to go? It's true I can't force characters or plot onto a path that suits me if that direction isn't true to the story. It's so easy to forget that when I'm in the midst of writing.

So I'm grateful every time a character steps up to tell me that he or she simply won't do what I want--or when a new character appears from nowhere and pushes me in a different direction. I'll always try to pay attention, for fear the whole thing will get up and walk away with the nail I'm trying to force into place.

I've never been good with a hammer and nail!

Tao and the Creative Process

I read this other day in my book of Tao meditations:

••••••••••••••••••••••••

An ocean of ink in a single drop,

Trembling at the tip of my brush,

Poised above stark white paper,

A universe waits for existence.

••••••••••••••••••••••••

 

It no doubt refers to the act of creating visual art, but it seems to fit the writer's life as well. It's awing to realize that a universe is waiting for existence while the writer hesitates to begin her work. Or that an ocean of ink is held in a single drop (or an ocean of words in a single touch on the keyboard). The point of the meditation that followed those words stresses the importance of having reverence for one's work, for treating it with esteem.
 

This thought gives me pause. Do I have reverence or esteem for my work as I'm putting words down? Too often I get fed up with my efforts and long to hit the delete button. Maybe if I began with a more respectful feeling for what I'm writing things would flow more and I'd be happier with what I create. Certainly worth a try. I manage to respect other writer's work. Perhaps I should treat my own words with the same esteem--before I even start out. As the saying goes: Wouldn't hurt. Might help.

The Life Skills of Squirrels

When I was teaching, our team did a lot of work on Life Skills such as patience, perseverance, flexibility, creativity, and integrity. All of this comes in handy for a writer. The creativity, of course, starts everything going, but the other skills play an important part once the writing is done. It takes patience to search out the right markets, agents, editors. Perseverance means never giving up that marketing search, no matter how many rejections come. Once a writer's work is accepted, she must be flexible about changes that are often requested, but not so flexible as to feel that the integrity of the work and of the writer is being compromised. I'm glad I persevered to finish WASATCH SUMMER and find a home for it and flexible enough to change the title (originally HANNAH"S LEAP).

However, my life skill practice is minimal compared to a young squirrel who's been studying two bird feeders on our deck. He made many attempts to go from the cylindrical peanut feeder to the cattail feeder that holds sunflower hearts. Both of the feeders were nearly empty by the time he figured it out, but he persevered to the end.

Writing and Knitting

I've just discovered that the sweater I've been knitting for Peter--and nearly finished--is too small and the sleeves are too tight. So i've been unraveling a considerable amount of gray wool yarn and working up the energy and will to try again. That may take a while!

It's as if I'd written an entire novel and then discovered that the plot was all wrong or that the characters didn't fit. The feat of unraveling 30,000-50,000 words is daunting. I'm saved from that by belonging to a critique group who will listen to chunks of what I'm writing and give me feedback and support. No need to wait until the whole book is done. I can unravel as I go along, sometimes more than once over the same chunk. I also learn as I hear how others have unraveled something that was giving them trouble the week before.

Writing and knitting--weaving words and stitches in combinations and patterns that work together and end up as a perfect fit. That's the goal. To get things right, it takes a lot of hard work, patience and perseverance--and unraveling.

Sources of Inspiration

A few days ago my son posted on his blog about finding inspiration for a new writing project while washing dishes. He and his wife live in Abu Dhabi and have had a variety of experiences--good, bad, humorous, irritating, etc. (including tremors from an earthquake far away in Pakistan)--but it was left to hot, sudsy water to provide a creative spark.

The same is true for me as a writer. Creative ideas come most often when I'm performing daily, mundane tasks that require little mental engagement--raking leaves, taking a walk, cruising grocery aisles, swimming laps, digging up a garden patch. It's as if physical activity allows the creative part of my brain to get in gear and the sparks fly! The same is true when I'm stuck on where to go next with plot or character in an ongoing project. I've found it's best to stop thinking about the problem and go do some mindless activity.

However, I draw the line at any sort of housework. Cleaning, dusting, or vacuuming is so distasteful that it blocks any creative idea that might be trying to get through.

Caladium Watch

Every spring, when the chance of frost is over, I plant caladium corms in the shade garden to the west of our house. Then I begin a daily watch for the first sign of a plant poking its way out of the soil. It takes a long time for that first tightly-curled leaf to appear and until it does, I'm riddled with uncertainly. Did I plant it too deep? Was the corm healthy and alive? Am I watering it too much? Too little? Does it need more sun or more shade? Just when I'm sure that a squirrel or other hungry critter must have burrowed into the earth and devoured every nascent plant, I spy a touch of color spiraling up from the dark ground.

A caladium corm is not a pretty sight. It looks like a clump of dirt:

It's hard to tell whether it's up or down or sideways, but the plants one little corm produces are spectacular:

Waiting for the caladium to appear is somewhat like waiting to hear from editors or agents. I send out queries and manuscripts that are, I know, more attractive than the dirt-colored corm. I have similar questions. Was my query lackluster? Too aggressive? Did I revise until I was sending my best work? Did I study the market enough to be sure I was sending my work to the best editor/agent/publisher? I wait and watch the mailbox and my inbox for replies that will produce attractive results...a magazine editor accepting an article or story...an agent agreeing to represent me and my work. Lately I've had good luck in the magazine world, but I keep hoping that one book-length manuscript will take root with an agent or publisher and produce spectacular results.

Baby Birds and Picture Books

Yesterday we discovered three baby cardinals in the nest outside our kitchen window. Their parents are busy filling those hungry mouths with mushy morsels of worms and other delicacies.

On the same day I began participating in National Picture Book Writing Week (NaPiBoWriWee), an undertaking for nutty children's writers. The challenge is to write a picture book a day for one week, beginning May 1. So far, I'm on schedule.

Apparently, so are the cardinal babies.

It's in the Mail?

I've just finished reviewing my marketing data for 2009 and noticed again the number of submissions to editors and/or agents for which I received no reply. The policy of not returning a manuscript unless interested in developing it as a project leaves writers in a quandary. Did the manuscript arrived safely at the agency or publishing house? Did someone actually look at it? There's apparently no way of knowing. Those who follow this policy advise writers not to send an SASE because no answer will be forthcoming unless "we're interested."

Now that more and more houses are accepting only agented material, this no-return practice narrows even more the field of submissions.

Rejections are never what a writer wants to receive, but it's helpful to know that your work arrived and was looked at before being turned down. It seems just common courtesy to acknowledge the writer who's waiting to hear something. How hard can it be to tuck a rejection letter into the envelope that's already addressed and stamped?

A Helpful Agent and Her Blog

A fellow writer recently put me on to an agent's blog that offers sound advice and reflects an understanding of a free-lancer's life. Mary Kole reflects on the wisdom of following up on a ms rejection by asking an agent for a referral to another agent. I found her latest post on exclusive submissions very helpful. The question of whether to submit to one agent/editor at a time has long been debated in the writing circles I hang out in. I've vacillated over the years between sending out one at a time as an exclusive; mailing mss wholesale as simultaneous submissions; or some combination of the two. Mary's advice makes it clear that the choice is the writer's; but she points out that, if you've chosen ten targets to send out your work on an exclusive basis, you're running the risk of losing several months or years waiting for an acceptance.

Mary's running a contest this month for MG/YA mss. She'll look at your first 500 pages. Check out this link for more information:

http://kidlit.com/kidlit-contest/.