  Action/Adventure
This week: Edited by: W.D.Wilcox  
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There is a country within your head, a magical country, where words, colors, aromas, sights and sounds clot together without form or texture. As a writer, all you have to do is tap into it.
-billwilcox |
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THE ZONE
Have you ever had a story appear with such uncanny ease and swiftness that it almost seemed as if the tale had been written earlier and stored magically in your keyboard, from which it flowed as smoothly as music from a recording?
That, my friends, is the zone.
A place where words and ideas fall seamlessly together, space and time disappear, and a higher power takes over. When you're in the zone you write for hours and it feels like minutes. You forget to eat. You hear your family get up to start a new day. Wait, what time is it? 
Writing in the zone means blocking out everything else-when every sentence is flowing it's like...ahhhhh...a word-gasm. You connect with something deeper than yourself, a wellspring of creativity and wellbeing.
For me, two things are necessary for "zoning": a blank wall in front of me and a certain kind of messy chaos around me (I like a little craziness in my environment: tiny scraps of paper with ideas scratched on them, empty cups of coffee, that sort of thing.) But what I like best is that blank wall. On that I write my best stuff. Not literally, of course. I just stare at it until blood droplets form on my forehead. Then I start typing.
Writing is a skill, a craft, an art and a pain in the ass. I can tell you about the first two-it's up to you (and a good editor, if you're lucky) to achieve the third. The fourth, well, you already know that by now. If you haven't yet written yourself into the zone, you will. It's like finding the elusive G-spot-once you hit it, you'll know how to find it again. Or at least you'll enjoying trying, knowing how good the pay-off feels.
It's a big subject this, but essentially it boils down to freeing your unconscious mind and letting it take charge for a change. When you do, amazing things can happen. A lot of athletes get into the zone. They find that 'sweet spot' where everything they do is right.
But can that work for writing? You bet! It can and it does.
It's a state where you are relaxed and focused and where the words just start to flow.
Step one to getting into this state is to just let go of your inner critic. You know, the voice that says you can't write your way out of a paper bag. If you listen to that, you'll be as wrinkled as a crumbled up paper bag before you ever get anything published. Stop judging your work as you write, this just stops you dead in your tracks. Keep going, keep getting words on paper. Write it first; make it good later on by editing.
If you can't think what to write, it doesn't matter. Just start. Write anything at all, the first thing that comes into your head. Then keep going. Before you know it, you'll be in the zone. For me, it's the Twilight Zone, but that's another newsletter altogether.
Until next time,
billwilcox
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Picks From The Zone
[Excerpt] There is nothing worse, for a writer, than staring at a blank page. You know all around you are situations running rampant in characters and scenarios, but you cannot quite connect with them. Your muse is absent.
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[Excerpt] He looked over at his horse which was hobbled nearby and saw a strange creature sitting on her back. It was a long legged bird with what looked like a saddle bag hanging from its beak. It was a Pelican. Clement reached beneath himself for a stone that had been digging into his back all night. He threw this at the bird.
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[Excerpt] "HA! You think you've got me now, don't ya? You think I don't see what you're trying to do to me? Well, it's not gonna work, I can tell ya that right now. I see through ya, you're not gonna get to me that way."
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[Excerpt] The last creature attacked from behind. His enormous arm slammed down on my wrist and my gun went flying. He brought his solid, tree-sized knee up, into my solar-plexus. Every cubic centimeter of oxygen "whoofed" out of my lungs and I sailed backward five feet, ending up in a crumpled clot at the base of my ship. The back of my head "whanged" against the hull.
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#1253708 by Not Available. |
[Excerpt] The war started right on time. The sergeant and the boy watched the infantry march onto the field of battle. First it was the artillery that took its pound of flesh. The infantry did its duty, keeping up their advance. When the cavalry of both sides charged into the fight it was as if the sergeant and the boy had ring- side seats to hell. Now the time had come for them to stop being spectators.
[Excerpt] Somewhere, far away in her head, she could see herself running through the wheat fields attempting to capture fireflies that fluttered just out of reach. Oh, what pretty little lights, she thought. Living daylights.
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Emailllll!!!
Colin Back on the Ghost Roads 
Submitted Comment:
You're absolutely right, W.D. Verbs are often better than adjectives and adverbs to set a scene. A well chosen verb can set the tone and the scene very well even when talking about things we don't normally consider active in a story. Good food for writing thought.
-Colin
Puditat
Submitted Comment:
Bill, lovely descriptions of the rain. Well-written descriptions truly help any story come alive for the reader, but it is also a lot more fun for the writer to write it.
emerin-liseli
Submitted Comment:
What a great tip - one thing that always makes me cringe with setting is reading too much of "there was" or "there is" statements while describing - e.g., There was a bed next to the chair. There were three pillows on the bed. There was a picture over the bed.
Thanks for the great reminder and newsletter!
Hugs,
Em
NanoWriMo2018 Into the Earth 
Submitted Comment:
Awesome NL. I loved your examples. They illustrate your point so well and give the reader an "I can do this" kind of feel. Thanks, Robin
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Action/Adventure: June 04, 2008 Issue [#2432]
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