Writing | Akting Out

Making The Most of Writer’s Block

August 4th, 2010 admin No comments

As writers, we all feel it. It’s inevitable.
It may start as a tingle at the base of our spine, a mild pressing at the back of our skull, or in my case, a growing weight at the pit of my stomach. We may try to ignore it, block it out (no pun intended), or press through it, but as we reach our trembling fingers for the keyboard, we find it more difficult than we imagined to ignore our ever-encroaching nemesis, that which acts as a dam against the spring of inspiration and keeps us from expressing our imagination on paper. I speak of the dreaded, tyrannous writer’s block.

Oh, how I despise it so. It usually comes at the worst possible time, after I have spent days, or even weeks planning out an epic drama to the most obscure detail, only to find that I can’t think of a bloody word when it’s time for execution. Even if I have all of my notes right in front of me, my mind is a new chalkboard; completely blank.

It took me months, a lot of banging my head into the wall, some spackle and a ton of ibuprofen before I came up with a solution that works, for me, anyway.

Walk away.

I don’t mean some halfhearted attempt to forget your work, i.e. leaving your computer on, or your pen and paper laying around while you figure out what’s for dinner that night. I mean walk away. Put away the pen and paper, as though you won’t touch it again that day. Fold up the notebook. Turn the computer off. Find something else to do.

I find that my best moments come when I’m doing manual labor, especially the dishes, for some reason. I say this to say; find something else to do with your time. Do something that keeps your moving, but has nothing to do with your writing. Try to make it something you normally don’t like doing, because you’ll find that undertaking this chore may put your mind further away from your writing. Trust me on this. Clean your house. Do the dishes. Plant a garden. Go for a walk. Ground the kids; more than likely, they’ve done something you didn’t catch along the way.

I mean it. Completely walk away. Don’t even do research. Let it go. Don’t wait for the muse to pay you a visit, because s/he never will.

Then, something miraculous happens. During the time you’ve had writer’s block, you’ve actually accomplished something, maybe several things. You may have actually learned something. The point is, you have completely forgotten about your writing when the muse strikes you like cops with a search warrant.

This is the time to return to work. Finish the task at hand, pull out the paper, pen, notebook, computer, or whatever it is that you use and get back to work. You may find that you have a hard time stopping.

This is how you make the most of writer’s block. You put the object of your frustrations out of your mind for a moment, because it’s very difficult to be creative when you’re frustrated. You accomplish something else, it doesn’t matter what, because you’re still getting something done. During this time, you find that your frustration subsides when you’ve stopped worrying about it so much. Then you return to work, stronger and more refreshed than when you were when writer’s block struck.

Thank you for reading.

Beating Diabetes and Running Down Dreams

July 26th, 2010 admin No comments

For the past couple of years, I’ve been trying to beat back type-2 diabetes. Either that or I’ve been trying to kill myself. Until a few weeks ago, I wasn’t sure which.

When I first started, I quit junk food cold turkey and began a workout routine that would’ve given Clark Kent cramps. After a few months, it worked; I was taken off medication and given a clean bill of health. Of course, being my usual self-destructive self, I decided to celebrate by falling off the wagon. The result was dangerously high blood sugar levels that landed me in the emergency unit on two occasions.

On top of all that, I wasn’t getting much done on the writing front. I was up half an hour before I was to be at work, pausing only to shave and pack breakfast. I would eat a bowl of sweetened fruit for breakfast (at work), and drink about three gallons of coffee to get through the day. I would tell myself that I would accomplish whatever herculean task I had planned that night. The problem was, I was so wiped out by the time I came home that I would often promise myself that I would get to it “tomorrow”. Then, inevitably, the week would come to an end, all of those ‘tomorrows’ would catch up to me and I’d end up cursing myself every Friday for allowing myself to get buried in work. Sometimes I could dig myself out of it, others not, and I rarely wound up satisfied with the end result.

Then, I tried this ‘balance’ thing that everyone kept talking about.

A few weeks ago, I altered my routine. Nothing drastic, mind you, just a few changes here and there to accommodate the dual purpose of keeping my blood sugar in check and writing every day. It turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made; I accomplish about three thousand words a week, I stay on top of my social networking, and I haven’t registered a high blood sugar reading in almost three weeks. As an added bonus, my girlfriend doesn’t complain (as much) about me taking time away from her. To give her credit, she puts up with a lot. I’ve tried to ensure she knows I appreciate her sacrifice.

I thought I’d share my routine, since it works for me. If you take something from it or want to pass along advice, feel free.

7:00am-7:45am: Up; check blood sugar, light workout that includes pushups, situps, shadowboxing, and pilates, shave, prep breakfast. Automatic coffee maker makes life so much easier.

7:45am-9:00am: Breakfast; this has become my favorite part of the day, because this is when I do my best writing. Breakfast is Honey-Nut Cheerios, coffee with cinnamon, and a bowl of strawberries/blueberries. My writing goal is five hundred words a day and one completed chapter a week. So far, I’ve made that goal.

9:10am-9:30am: Walk to work. It’s about a mile, one block of which is an annoyingly and increasingly steep hill.

11:30am-11:45: Mid-morning snack, usually something sugary, I won’t lie. I also try to do ten laps around my office at break, and I owe the people I work with a hug for putting up with the consistent pacing. They’re all very much aware of it. This is critical; the ten laps I do reduce my blood sugar by maybe ten or fifteen points, which can make the difference between a high and normal reading.

1:30pm-2:30pm: Lunch (usually). It’s either a salad (lettuce, tomato, green onion, jalapenos, sliced chicken and roast beef, shredded sharp cheese, Italian seasoning, and ranch dressing), or, if I didn’t feel like making lunch, the Subway Club. Every so often I slip and get the Big Philly. Considering that the sandwich makes me woozy, I try to stay away from it. I also try to get in twenty laps here.

4:30pm-4:45pm: Final break, ten more laps.

I would like to point out that time ceases to move after the final break when you work in a call center.

6:30pm-6:45pm: The walk home.

I turn into a whirlwind when I get in, showering, making lunch, and doing the dishes by seven or so. I spend a little time on the phone with Molly and the kids, and then dedicate the night to research, twitter, and taking notes. It may not be a perfect system, but it works for me.

Thanks for reading.

Expect an update soon.

And Then…Pleh (A Writer’s Journey)

April 9th, 2010 admin No comments

We all have our moments, or places, when we do our best thinking. For me, it’s either on long walks, or when I’m doing the dishes.

In my socks.

On the tile floor.

But we’ll get back to that.
So there I am, doing the dishes, minding my own damn business when my old, familiar, finicky friend, the Muse, decides to drop by. And oh my, the things she has to say. Utter brilliance, they are. The kinds of things that would make old Will Shakespeare himself stand up and applaud.

It’s always a sequence. I freeze in mid-scrub. I no longer notice how hot the water is. My eyes widen as the Muse pours inspirational gold into my mind. The words. Such words. They must be recorded and now.

And I’m off. I’ve learned to keep my computers on for just such an occasion. I go racing out of the kitchen, looking like Daffy Duck going downhill. In fact, I’ve actually fallen flat on my face before. But the pain doesn’t matter. Nothing else matters but getting the Muse’s words on paper.

But I have learned that the Muse plays a dirty trick on you. As she speaks, she’s actually placed a time bomb in your imagination. There’s no timer, although it seems to go off the second you’re ready to bring her words into reality.

So I sit at the computer, raise my hands to the keyboard, and then…pleh.

The bomb goes off. The Muse is gone. The finicky little…we won’t go there…took her words with her.
I hate those moments; those first few seconds when my mind has frozen and I can’t think of anything to write. It’s like being abandoned on date night by someone you were really excited about seeing.

I have ways of coping. I pace. I talk out loud, trying to remember what she told me while questioning my own sanity. But it’s okay, I tell myself. I passed crazy a long time ago, but if I get these words out of my head and into the real world, it’ll all be okay.

So after wearing a groove into the carpet and having full-fledged conversations with myself, convinced that I’ve plucked the important aspects of the Muse’s visit out of the pit, I take my seat at the computer, and then…pleh.

At this point, I usually scream, cuss, moan, or turn on the 360 and lose myself in somebody else’s world, but since the latter isn’t an option anymore (yet) I had to find another way around it.

And then, just last week, it hit me.
The Muse may be finicky, but she demands hard work and total dedication. As well she should, considering what she brings to the table. You don’t just walk into the mine and picking gold off the walls. You have to dig for it.

So now, I sit down and just start writing. It only has to be relevant to what the Muse has told me; it doesn’t have to be perfect. It doesn’t even have to make sense. It just has to be out of my head and in the real world. I’ve churned out five pages of crud not even the sanitation department would touch. It doesn’t matter, because no one else has to see it.

Then, when all the crud is out of my head, I go back through it, sometimes tracing the words with my finger, and there. That one sentence, quote, or scene. That’s what I’ve been looking for. That’s what the Muse was trying to tell me.

When the Muse hits me now, I try to let it happen instead of making mad dashes for my computer (it keeps me out of intensive care). I get to my computer and pour my imagination onto the screen. I mine later and keep the good parts.

Thanks for reading, and good luck in your endeavors.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and the Advancement of the Interactive Narrative

November 28th, 2009 admin No comments

We’ve been reading about the war in the Middle East for nearly twenty years. When you read the words on paper (or on a screen, as technology progresses), your mind paints a picture based on the description. Stimulating, but not entirely suitable for the ADHD (Attention-Deficit-Hey!-Dog!) generation.

For years, people have been looking for a way to accurately depict what’s happening in the world. Thanks to intrepid journalism and some pretty daring filmmakers, we’ve been on the ground floor for some of the Armed Forces skirmishes. We hear and see snippets of what they go through…but unless you’re there, chances are the memories don’t last.

So how do we create unforgettable, brutally real, yet relatively harmless experiences that accurately show what soldiers—and people—around the world are going through? How do we take what some would rather ignore and make it impossible to turn away from?

Infinity Ward found a way.
I don’t traditionally play first person shooters (Red Faction: Guerilla Warfare, which I found enjoyable, was my first one since Halo 2), but I try to investigate anything that generates as much hype as Modern Warfare 2 did. The outset of the game warns that some levels might be deemed offensive and wisely gives you the option of opting out of these missions. Figuring that I’m about to experience a bunch of racial slurs against Muslims and death-to-America propaganda, I choose to play through the offensive missions.

And I promise you, I’ll never forget what I played through. Neither will you.
I don’t want to spoil it, but if this title is even a hint of what soldiers (and people) are going through around the world, then I have a newfound respect for our armed forces and a great swell of sympathy for those who live in fear of this kind of thing—which happens almost every day, it seems.

This game is so intense that I often found myself pausing just to walk around and catch my breath—because I wasn’t breathing, during the game’s more intense moments. But beyond its stellar gameplay, Modern Warfare 2 is a shining example of what video games can do for storytelling when properly executed. In fact, I firmly believe that just as books were eventually translated to film, video games represent the next arc of storytelling, and perhaps the most potent medium of this generation.

The scene in question succeeds not just for flawless execution, not because the game gives you the option to bow out (you will not want your kids anywhere near this, I promise), but because the scene is horrific without being tasteless or exploitative. And following this scene presents a very realistic possibility of what might happen should episodes like this be allowed to continue in the real world.

What we experience on foreign soil in this game is nothing compared to what happens when the war comes home. And best believe, in this game, it does come home.

Why do we expose ourselves to stories? Why do we flock to heroes, villains, and everything in between? What is it about Batman, Superman, Wolverine, Harry Potter, Edward/Jacob/Bella, Link, Leon Kennedy, or Kain/Raziel (pretty good summary, I think) that causes us to return to the medium of our choice over and over again?

Personal opinion; these people, with their powers, wits, guns, magic or all of the above, involve themselves in danger and intrigue that we can only dream of. They deal with the same moral decisions we face but at much higher levels, with much more devastating consequences (Batman broke a moral code to assassinate Darkseid in DC’s Final Crisis). Most importantly, they do what we can’t; even if the cost is great, they get closure. They beat the bad guy. Justice wins, and in the end, I think that’s what a lot of us wants. The good guy wins, the bad guy goes to jail or hell or whatever.

But in books and movies, we only get to see and passively follow along. In Batman: Arkham Asylum, we got to be the Dark Knight and experience life from his point of view. No book or picture can rival that, although if it weren’t for those, we wouldn’t have the video game.

Reading and watching these soldiers in action is nothing compared to what Modern Warfare 2 accomplishes.

If we really love drama so much that we will sink millions of dollars into franchises just to keep them going, maybe video games can do what few other titles in other mediums have; as they immerse us in their stories and force to experience things we probably couldn’t handle in real life, maybe we can begin to prevent our own self-destruction. Instead of condemning video game violence, we should realize that a lot of this is inspired by real life. Maybe we could use the multi-million dollar video game business to learn from our mistakes, as well as tell better stories.

Cause zombies could rise up, and Skynet could take over the world. You just never know.

But in the meantime, I applaud Infinity Ward for their courage and execution and hope to see others follow suit. Titles like this not only justify the sixty dollar price tag but advance the interactive medium.

On Writing: Keeping Your Characters Happy

August 25th, 2009 admin 1 comment

For this blog, let’s pretend your imagination is an apartment—and within reside your characters.

When your characters and story are new, the apartment is empty, but you’re looking for things to fill it up with. So you hunt for inspiration (furniture).

Building a home takes time, dedication, and hard work. The same can be said of a good story and believable characters. You sit, you make the time, and you flesh out your characters. The more time and energy you invest, the better your world turns out. Soon, you have a couch, recliner, flat-screen TV, and anything else you need to make your story shine.

Your characters still have to pay rent, and they do so by telling you their story. When you give time to them, they give time to you. To me, this is how the writing process works.

Now, if you’re a bad landlord, and you’re not taking the time to keep the apartment up and running, well, tenants tend to move out. Don’t spend any time with your characters, they stop talking to you.

I’ve had Universal Warrior in my head since I was eight years old. I know these characters and their stories back and forth. I’m grateful for the success of the story, but to be honest, I had come to take it for granted. I’ve been living with these characters, and this ‘epic’ plot between good and evil for so long that I was able to think of Uprising’s plot within a couple of weeks. Suddenly bound by restrictions and deadlines, I was almost relieved when the site went down. I needed the break.

I didn’t think about Universal Warrior at all for about six weeks. I wrote the returning chapter without any planning or foresight—and man alive, am I dissatisfied with it. While I accomplished what I wanted (reintroducing the main character and his motivation) my execution was sloppier than last year’s Detroit Lions.

The lesson I learned is that if you value your characters and your story, regardless as to how you present them, then you have to invest time into them. I never should’ve taken so much time away from Universal Warrior. I could’ve kept things going with short stories. I could’ve planned out the—surprise. I could’ve done anything other than drop the project.

If I leave you with anything, invest time and energy into your creations whenever you can. They’ll reward you for it. Neglect them, and expect the same in return.

Networking In Writing

May 7th, 2009 admin No comments

The monthly Jeff City Writer’s Meetup is the only time I can connect with similar minds in person. In addition to the emotional charge I get from the meeting, it also serves as a huge reality check.

I know a lot of writers who need to find another profession. I also know a lot of writers who leave me in quiet awe after I’ve heard/read their work. I’m always blown away by reading published that is complete and utter tripe compared to some of the gems that might never find their way onto the shelf.

Then it hits me; of all the advice I’ve ever received, there is one thing that everyone agrees on. In the end, you just have to get lucky.

You can be God’s gift to the craft, but it doesn’t mean squat unless the right person is reading your stuff. That’s the secret to a lot of these twitter tools and social networking services; the larger your network, the better your chances are of finding that one person who’s willing to take a look at your work.

It’s the ultimate gamble; you can have over fifty thousand followers on twitter, and a couple thousand facebook friends, but if no one is recommending you, then you probably won’t go anywhere.

Freaky.
So when someone tells you that you should spend just as much (if not more) time networking as you do writing, listen to them. Discount no one that may show interest, because you never know who might think you’re worth the time of day.

Best of luck to everyone trying to get published. It’s not an easy road to walk; here’s hoping all of our work pays off. Thanks for reading.

Adventures in Dating

April 23rd, 2009 admin No comments

The end of 2008 was not a high moment in my life. I had just lost my damn job and my tumultous, volatile relationship had just come to a very permanent end.

Before I became involved again, I went on a few go-nowhere dates. This was the most memorable.

The day I turned in my uniform, I struck up conversation with a co-worker who became excited when I told her I was a writer. Turned out she was too (fell for that) and asked if we could go out later that night to compare notes, exchange techniques, all of that. Sure, why not? It’s a meal, I don’t have to cook.

Oh, what I was in for.
She comes to my house to pick me up and as a child caught with her hand in the cookie jar, confesses that she’s married. She got a little ahead of herself, blah blah blah. I was a little surprised, but it wasn’t a blow or anything; I wasn’t looking to get back into a relationship. She suggested we go dutch. I agreed; I’m always up for a burger and fries.

Dinner is awkward but pleasant. Turns out she really is a writer, and we trade a little bit about our backgrounds. I omit darker details.

We pay our two separate tabs and she asks if she can come back to my place so we can continue our discussion. Have you ever seen one of those cartoons where every warning under the sun suddenly appears and blares audibly to go running in the other direction? Good.

I have a code, I keep telling myself. I’m not going to be intimate with a married woman. Period.

I keep telling that to myself when I allow her to enter my apartment. She surveys the walls, her eyes coming to rest on my Marvel poster (you know, the one that features all fo the heroes and villains, the most recognizable ones prominent at the center?). She turns to me, in all seriousness, and says; “You know, you’re going to have to get rid of that when we move in together.”

They have not yet invented the words in the English language for me to articulate what went through my head. What I said was; “Excuse me?”

She repeated her statement, just as plainly as before. I promptly called it a night. She became the first person I ever threw out of my apartment.

She tried to contact me a few times beyond that (mysteriously, I never seemed to be near the phone) and after about a week, she got the idea.

It’s a story that always gets people to raise their eyebrows, and I felt like sharing.

First Steps As A Writer

April 23rd, 2009 admin 8 comments

When I started this post, it was originally going to be written out of fear and uncertainty. I’ve been a ‘serious’ writer for about four months now. It’s hard work, and yes, it’s absolutely terrifying, considering that I want to do this for a living, full time.

Honestly, though, I don’t think I’d have it any other way. I’m distrustful of anything that is handed to me. Working–fighting–for something makes me feel like I’ve earned it, in the end.

My goal in life–now–is to become a full-time, bestselling author. Despite the overwhelming odds against this happening (this blog post didn’t help; she has a community of hundreds, if not thousands), I’m confident I can make this happen. No one thought I’d last as long as I did on the street, either.

I’m still wrapping my mind around the fact that people think I’m good at this. I was even invited to write a blog post for a friend that comes out tomorrow. Yet, I still go over my work and wonder just what the hell I was tripping on when those words escaped me. It’s not that I dislike my work; I just always think I can do better.

My main problem is that I loathe the idea of having to ‘sell myself’. I’ll have to figure out how to get past that eventually.

My point is this; I have never approached anything in a half-hearted manner. If I don’t succeed as a writer, it will not be because I gave it everything I had; it will be because it was not my intended destiny.

But it will be far from the end of the world. I’ve been in way worse situations than I am now, and I mean it when I say I’m grateful every single day I can get up and do whatever I want. If I don’t make it, I will still have my drive, I will still have my ambitions, and I think I can safely say I will have someone who loves me unconditionally.

If I do the very best I can, and that’s still not good enough–I can live with that. But this venture is still going to get everything I have.

And I have high hopes.

What I’ve Learned So Far (Writing)

April 17th, 2009 admin No comments

I started Universal Warrior: Uprising (Book One) when Chris Tejeda (@ChrisTejeda on Twitter) introduced me to the world of Web Fiction. I was fresh off of Nanowrimo, having completed the 50k words in one month. I had at last found my calling, and was eager to begin work on something else.

Three months, sixteen posts, and sixty-two comments later, Universal Warrior: Uprising celebrated hitting the 1000 mark. At the time of this writing, the site had garnered 1,005 hits, and more people are picking up the story at its beginning every day.

I don’t consider the story a success; rather, I see this as laying the groundwork for my future. I most certainly never expected the story to take off the way it did, and it always makes me grin to see people tuning in every Monday before the story goes live. I enjoy the fact that people enjoy my work.

I will consider the story a success when I am paid to do it. I’ve had people ask me lately how I get paid to blog (which I don’t) and what methods I use to get the story out to the public. So I thought I’d take this time to illustrate the methods of my madness, most of which were loaned to me by someone far more experienced.
Enjoy.

1). Know Your Story.
Universal Warrior has been in my head, in one form or another, for the past twenty years. I know each of the 500+ characters that inhabit this world, I know where they’re going, and I know where everything ends up. Even so, I outline each chapter long before I type the first word. I recommend everyone do this, unless you’re extraordinarily talented. Planning your work in advance is a great way to avoid writer’s block. If you get stuck, refer to your notes. It’s okay if you end up with something far outside of what you planned, but at least you have your plan to fall back on.

2). Get Into Social Networking.
You don’t go cliff jumping without a parachute. You don’t launch your epic without having someone know about it. These days, you should spend almost as much time networking as much as you do writing. What good is it to put all this effort into your hyper-mega epic if absolutely no one was aware of its release?
Never, ever dismiss any social networking site. You never know who’s there, and who might promote your work. If you’re not using twitter, you should be. You should be using Twitter if you’re in any creative field. You should be using Twitter if you get out of bed in the morning. If you’re not on Twitter, stop reading this right now and go sign up. Then check out this site that lists people you might want to start following.
I release Universal Warrior through Twitter, MySpace, Friendfeed, Facebook, and I’m starting to post announcements through Web Fiction Guide, and next week I’ll do the same on Muse’s Success. Get your work out there. It’s better to be hated than unknown; you can always improve.
Okay, now, the flip side to this coin is this; don’t get on these sites and speak only of your work, rambling on aimlessly about how great your stuff is without interacting with anyone else. This is the quickest way to get blocked.
Network. Meet people. Establish genuine connections. Then talk about how great your work is.

3). Keep your Word
Universal Warrior comes out each Monday by 1pm CST, no matter what. I have only missed the 1pm deadline once, and I have never once missed a Monday deadline. I sincerely believe that this is why I’ll have up to ten hits every Monday before the story is released.
Before you even have a story, you have your reputation. Build it and they will come.

In conclusion, I have to say that I spend anywhere from one to three hours churning out words on various projects. You have to be dedicated or your lack of it will show up in your work. I haven’t had a day in weeks where I didn’t put out at least a thousand words (of course, this is because I have no job).

I also have to say that you probably have to be a little lucky. There isn’t a week that goes by that I wonder whether or not I will do irreparable damage to my fledgling fan base. Is it too long? Is this in character? Is this too much backstory? Is this enough action? Not enough action? Is this explained well enough? Am I revealing too much? Is this the story I should be telling?

Welcome to my world.

There are other methods I use, which include:

*Keeping a Thesaurus and two Dictionaries at my desk at all times

*Having a window to stare out of during ADD moments

*Taking a break every hour to read, play, do pushups, or anything not related to the task at hand

*Having appropriate music on at all times

All of this is just what works for me. There is no miracle cure. There is no magic formula that will turn you into the next Stephen King. In the end, you have to find what works for you, and then stick with it. Even more importantly, if you’re finding that your methods don’t work, you need to be open-minded enough to realize that something needs to change.

Ultimately, you decide your own fate.

Thanks for reading, and good luck.

Special thanks to Molly (@bookwormm21) my unflaggingly detail-oriented editor (and girlfriend), MeiLin Miranda (@MeiLinMiranda) for the tutelage, Chris Tejeda (@ChrisTejeda) for introducing me to this world, and Dianne (@keikomushi) for her work advancing in advancing Universal Warrior (and introducing me to podcasting!)

What I’ve Learned So Far (Writing)

March 11th, 2009 admin 2 comments