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| A daily rush write in which you babble on the page is a liberating and powerful practice which works in terms of shaping. At first the plan is to keep up the cursor movement. Don't worry about coherence, just let the mind babble on the page. As you do it, enjoy the play at it and be very approving of whatever you get. Remember you can delete it after you record that you did it. But what happens after a while of doing this is that sometimes your mind latches onto an idea and starts writing coherent paragraphs out of thin air. And then perhaps after a while you stumble on a pattern that creates plot, or at least narrative like the MRU and you learn that it's really easy to keep at that in the fastest speed you can type. The key is to set your expectation for something that you can always achieve, and approve of this, while also being open for that next level. Each time you actually jump up to the next level, your mind will notice how you react. Eventually, if you keep your expectations gently low, you will begin to notice a subtle improvement. This comes from learning. The reason you can't write anything passable at this rate is the same reason a baby can't walk: they haven't done it before. If you lived in a society of babies your ambition to walk without a walker would be considered nonsense. But with experience you can convert that. Remember that there are people who tell off-the-cuff stories in person. They're relatable and interesting. So it can be done. |
| This is a lot like Julia Cameron's idea of "morning pages" in The Artist's Way (a book i have a lot of issues with, but the morning pages thing is legit). It's a worthwhile practice to just show your brain that it can TOO do it. |
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| Sean Webb's equation of emotion allows us to either empathize (reverse engineer) emotion, or to construct it as needed. I won't bore you with the symbols, he's much better at that than I, not being a mathematician. The difference between POV's standard for this situation (expectation and/or preference) versus POV's perception of events equals/Generates POv's emotion Now each person can have several, conflicting standards and several confusing perceptions. That's what makes for more complex emotion. Jack can be glad that he got something off his chest, irritated that Jo provoked him to it, embarrassed that he did it so sloppily, ashamed that he was so easily provoked, and satisfied to think that Jo will be embarrassed when she thinks of it. One slip of the tongue. Now not all of these need to be delineated in every paragraph, but they increase your appreciation and constitute that 90% below the surface that Hemingway talks about. I guess. |
| Take this first as a writer then as a wisdom idea--the warning you need. If you're writing a book about a character who finally realizes, in the end, that they is the villain, what would be the last line. Here is mine, for what it is worth: If I had given myself the permission to be wrong, to loosen up and enjoy the game... This didn't have to be, if I had not taken things so seriously. |
| Suppose you had a magic genie and he could let you go back to where you were ten and relive your life but afterward, you'd be right where you were--except with any new skills you'd picked up. So you now have thirty years to build up skills and knowledge. But mostly skills because there's no guarantee it's not a totally different world. No getting phone numbers or launch codes or anything like that. Here is my list of things I'd learn: Speed Reading Daily Writing and Improv Storytelling Executive Function Games (e.g. Chess, Checkers, Hnefetafl.) Hypnotic Language Voice Acting Caricature I'm pretty sure Chess would be very useful in plotting but even if it only helped me to develop gambits that would get my pawn in the writer's chair, well that would help. Speed Reading could allow me to absorb more of my comp titles. Voice Acting would sensitize me to the difference of how people talk and Caricature would allow me to better describe them, since it's about a form of description. And of course I'm sure that my illustrators would like seeing a sketch of what I want so that they can focus their creativity from there. Hypnotic Language is just saying stuff in such a way that people do what you intend. If you're reading a story and the writer says stuff that makes you want to punch the man in the throat, then when the hero tries it you're right there with him. The point being that there are a lot of ways to improve your writing other than writing, reading and 'living life.' Those are basic, sure, but don't stop there. |
| I say, getter done! No matter how long it takes. We seem to face many barriers in life. So be it. It may take longer than we anticipate. But please keep going. Looking back on my life, there were times when I was ready to give up on the desires of my heart. And yet, I just kept going. Then, I learned that many obstacles were to my creation. By my decisions, or lack thereof, within my mind. Then, as I looked even more profound, I saw that the obstacles were intermediate steps I had not previously anticipated in my goals list. In other words, we don't know what we don't know. My list was incomplete because I had written too broad of steps. I needed to take smaller steps to get there. So, follow your goals, keeping in mind that the list is an outline of where you want to go. Ensure you ENJOY the ups and downs, lefts and rights, hills, and valleys, too, for it will not be a straight line. Just a tip from your Uncle Hollis! Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and happy New Year! |
Joto-Kai  - Yes, you are right about scanning the writing. Whether the entire page or paragraphs. That works, too. I would use that technique when I needed to find particular information in a technical book—scanning quickly through the pages until I saw the area of interest. |
| Hypnotic Language? Interesting concept. I recall as a teenager, I would sit behind someone, and as I gazed at the back of their head, I would focus my thoughts on something like, "Turn around" or "Scratch your head." It seemed to work sometimes, but it was probably just coincidental. It is funny how things work out because as I grew older, and even today, my thoughts are to let people be who they want to be. I don't try to change anyone. Informing folks of truths that I have found. But not necessarily trying to change them. |
Stead of sleeping I wrote this.
About the woman who came when I called into the night for someone who could get through to me. Not for a happy ever after, just that. That's all she was there for, I guess. 18+ Love to hear what you have to say. |
| "Killing My Darlings?" People ask me if I am writing in English as a Second Language. LMAO no. I was fluent in Ingles och Engelska long before I learned a word of anything else. (Unless you believe the stories of my speaking German as a baby?) It's not that I don't know that it's unusual. It's that I don't know the difference between normal and a dental drill. That is, what I mean is, I could tell you how to say it the normal way, but I find the normal way--as Kryten in Red Dwarf put it, 'Mind Meltingly Boring.' That said, the problem isn't that the weird way of speaking is wrong or confusing. The problem is that the reader thinks there should be a reason for doing it the weird way. A lot of grammar is just fashion. Style, and therefore voice, is deviating from fashion--but doing it in such a way that only the meaningful bits stand out. That's where I may've missed the mark. Writing can be done entirely for the self, and then editing involves thought of how things appear to the reader. Like a singer who adjusts the pitch so that what we hear is what the singer wants us to hear, even though it sounds wrong in their head. Knowing |
| Looks like my Big Work, the novel I have locked away, is doing much better than I thought. But then, I'm only looking at the start of it. The chapters that got the most attention. I just added what looks like a plot hole--how is his computer telling him the name of a man from a lost colony? There shouldn't be any data. I usually keep things according to what the reader thinks, but my hero is... well, there's the lies he tells himself (with advanced spy tech) and the data stream from the Empire. And that from his psychic girlfriend. I do wish I had a BOOK Author group to share the keys to my book. It's been ten years since I spoke to the last person who read any significant amount of it. Or individuals... |
The application to the Workshop is at "Crosstimbers Novel Workshop Application"  . We'd love to have you join! |
| The Crosstimbers Novel Workshop currently has three members with active novels-in-progress. |
Max Griffin 🏳️🌈  - Quick question. My current version is NOT the same as the one locked away. Do I need to have the whole thing up to date or only the first several chapters? It will be a touch because it HAS been a while since I did in depth reviews though I am still with it. I am definitely interested and going to gear up for it either way. |
| ***Advertisement*** In a public review for, "Never So Alone (c. 11,000 words)" , The Phantom Reviewer  said: WHAT I LIKED: The theme, the power, the raw emotional assault carried on from start to finish. You have a voice that can make people feel, and I write this with moisture in my eyes from that finish. I also liked the profound concepts you toss around as casual dialogue, for example, "...the dreadful power of caring about the fragile lives of other people." Like I said, just wow! He went on to admit that he felt a little lost, not being familiar with my world building. So for those of your science fiction fans that are ready to boldly go into an unfamiliar setting, this could be a highly rewarding piece. This is an 18-plus piece with a troubling setting. Please consider clicking the Trigger Warning at the beginning of the piece before committing to join me on that expedition.
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| Here's another template for brainstorming: I wish [stupid, poorly formed wish] because then [actual reason, something relatable and good]. Toward that end, I really should [intelligent step toward the actual reason] but can't because [excuse that feels important] so I am tempted to [stupid action] when [trigger] and end up getting [trouble.] So I [median quality action] leading to [positive result] and [complication/consequence] The key with these is to do as many as you can, filling in decent answers as quickly as possible without getting inspiration. |
| "I am a writer..." But, are you? We all have doubts. Well, do you write? When you do, does that matter to you? What values does the act of writing present? (What experiences, both good and bad, are native to writing. And which ones do you expect?) What values does the product of your writing offer? What experiences or impacts--good and bad--do you want from writing? What do you actually get? As you begin to match your expectations to reality and tighten your grip on your memories and plans of writing you can expect to be ever more sure that you are a writer. If you have doubts, and you want to soften them, collect memories of when you write and how much that matters. Both in the past and in the future. The more easily these come to mind, the stronger your certainty. Now these are just the broadest strokes of the NLP behind Self Concept. I read a whole book about it. I don't know if filling in the ideas from your intuition will work for you, even though you're a creative. You could also look into the book Transforming Your Self by Steve Andreas. Personally I think most of us will get a boost from playing with these questions without all the specifics. The mind already knows how to organize this information, and you may just need a few more details from your reflections to tighten the idea down. |
| When you are writing and just dumping a narrative on the page first bear in mind what it will be if you write something good. What standard does your normal work achieve when you are dumping it in? And jhow will you recognize it when you find something worth salvaging? And at the end of each practice note how you did things a little differently and what caused the improvement. Experimentation makes improvement; and practice makes perfect. Discipline is the art of takingi note of what you want to do again and what you want to do less of. Just being aware of what youwant to do ore of and what that will do for you causes you to naturally and automatically reinforce your best practices and that means you are comfortably disciplined. |
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