 For Authors: February 04, 2015 Issue [#6812] |
  For Authors
This week: Writing through the Pain Edited by: Vivian  
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Writing often occurs through times of pain and illness because the ideas flow through the mind. But, how do we get our aching, feverish body to work?
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Writing through the Pain and Illness
I sit at the computer, my mind filled with plots, characters, and details. However, my head is also pounding, feverish, and stuffed with infection. How do I pull out the good things for my novel and ignore the misery? Over the years I've learned a few tricks for ignoring the bad and going forth with my writing. Let's examine a few.
1. Relax the body. Lie down in a quiet and dark room. Breathe deeply. Allow our muscles to relax. Have someone massage the bottom of our feet, especially the ball and arch areas. Take a break of 15 - 30 minutes to practice relaxing before returning to our writing.
2. Change our focus: Divert your attention from how you feel. Perhaps focus more intently on your writing. Seek out positive diversions. taking a few minutes to play a game or to visit with a friend might allow us to ignore our aches and pains. Then return to our writing.
3. Get Creative: Our very writing, creating a story, poem, article may be the very way to rise above the agony. We can visualize the work finished. We can imagine being involved in the action of our writing. We can see the finished product.
Of course we won't suddenly have the pain and/or illness gone, but we can learn to work through the pain and illness to create a new work or finish an existing project.
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Words from Our Readers
Last month I wrote about "Show, Don't Tell" and still using details. The whole idea I wanted everyone to understand is that we do want to "show and not tell," but that doesn't mean we go to the opposite extreme and refuse to use any details or descriptions. We need to learn how not to overdo.
Turkey DrumStik 
Hey, there! When I read this issue, my first thought was Since when has "show not tell" been linked to writers omitting description/detail? I'd heard the advice about a year after I joined this site, but I was even more prompted to invest time into developing my descriptions and details. I may have to check out the issue of Writer's Digest to learn more about this phenomenon, which I admit is very much news to me.
That said, I do want to say that when it comes to adhering to our favorite advice while still including detail, I'd like to suggest looking at the verbs used. Even something as simple as using "sprinted" instead of "ran" gives us an idea of how quickly someone is moving and for how long. While I've had a couple people object to my verb choices (e.g. having a [human] character scurry off) I still go for this tactic because it's an amazingly versatile tactic. It can be used in super short stories to ensure an economy of words or in longer pieces to establish atmosphere or delve into a character's motivations.
Quick-Quill 
Great NL you put this succinctly.
Cheri Annemos 
THANK YOU. So nice to get a decent response to the Show, don't tell mantra that has plagued my reviews
brom21 
This newsletter was very informative. It really gave me something to work with. I try my best to describe and explicate and most of the time it is tedious and challenging- like you said though it improves the story. I also find that I sometimes info-dump. I must find a way to spread it out throughout the narrative. Thanks a lot!
Elfin Dragon-finally published
First, thank you so much for including my poem in this newsletter. Next, I really enjoyed reading this newsletter because it confirms what I've always known (and love to do). Although I must admit I have to "reign in my horses" sometimes. Smile I love description, whether it comes from the narrator or the characters. Any author who takes the time to do is guaranteed to have a repeat customer in me. Of course, as I mentioned, it's only because I love to do the same. I want readers to see and feel where my characters are, even if it's an unknown landscape on some unknown world. That's what makes fantasy and science fiction so much more fun.
Michael Thomas-Knight 
Regarding: "The Station" "The Station"
Great Advice Vivian. It is true that show don't tell can be taken too far. I was reading a book by a new writer and after chapter three, I had no idea what the setting was and where the story was taking place. I asked myself; what is this story taking place in a vacuum with a bunch of faceless characters? Needless to say, I couldnt't continue the story. Also, description of a setting should give you some insight to the character - what does it say about a character if he is hanging out at a posh upscale nightclub with crystal chandliers and a glass bar or an old man's pub on the corner with a broken pinball machine against the wall and a dusty ceiling fan with a missing blade.
Thank you for joining me again. Hope to see you again in about four weeks.
Vivian
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