Echoes from the Depths

Finding Inspiration in Writing

2015-05-28T21:17:00.001-07:00

When I was in the fifth grade, I had to write a paper during African American History month. My assignment was on Benjamin Banneker, a great scientist and thinker. He was credited with authoring an almanac and writing correspondence to Thomas Jefferson regarding slavery and equality. To be perfectly frank, I wasn’t as interested in the subject as I was with the arrangement of the words on paper. It was this very assignment that made me realize that I wanted to be a writer.

Fast forward a little over thirty years and I find myself on the set of a horror film. I have no illusions of being an actor (or even believing that I have acting talent). However, I love horror films and it has been a secret childhood dream of mine to be a victim or an extra (preferably a zombie) in a genre film. That dream was realized roughly two weeks ago. During a weekend (Friday – Sunday) I sat for a few minutes in a chair while an artist made my skin look decayed and my skin looking ashen and pale. Following that, I shambled down the back alleys and condemned buildings of downtown Grand Rapids looking for humans to devour.

And boy did I have a good time doing it!

I channeled my inner 10 year old those nights and played pretend. I was doused in faux-blood and devoured human flesh by night while a crew cheered on my group and gave us directions. I must say that as a horror writer, it really got me charged up to start writing.

Anyone that knows me knows that I do not like having my picture taken, I am using a very shy person, and the last thing I want to do is to be noticed by anyone. Interestingly enough, this died away when we were filming this movie. One of the many lessons I’ve learned as a writer (and teacher) has been that creativity breeds creativity. Just being in a bookstore and seeing such creative outlets all around me inspires me to write. Being among creative visionaries such as the director, the makeup artists, and the many actors have inspired me to get my pen moving and to do something creative, as well.

Creativity can be found anywhere. One of the reasons why I haven’t been writing much is because of my son. Being a first time father can be quite demanding, but watching him explore and find wonderment in the things that I take for granted is nothing short of awe inspiring. Watching Mason begin to exercise his creativity has been the most exciting time in my life.

And now…I must write.

Significance in Writing

2014-04-17T11:11:00.001-07:00

This past week, I introduced my classes to their first major writing assignment. In each of my classes, I allow them to pick their topics as well as the attitudes (voice, tone, etc.) that they may use to express themselves. Usually, when I assign an essay I ask that they choose a topic that they have an interest in learning more about. This can be something that they know very little about or something that they may have a lot of experience in, but would like to know more about said topic.

On many occasions, I ask my students if it is possible for one to disassociate one’s self from what they are writing. “If you are writing on something that you are not very interested in, can you separate yourself from the topic to the point where you do not care at all?” On each occasion, I am met with an emphatic “no”. If this is the case, then one of the most important questions that an author should answer is “Why is this topic significant?”

Most of my journalism friends define significance as answering questions such as who, what, where, when, why, and how. In a lot of newspaper articles, these types of questions are answered in the first few sentences of the article (and the headline). This is a habit that I want my students to get into. In the early sentences of the essay, one should try to answer as many of these questions that they are able to (or at least those questions pertinent to the essay).

Essentially, in the beginning and end of the writing, one should know what the overall point (or purpose) is of the document. There should be no mystery to the piece (unless, it is a mystery, of course J). Yet, there should be an overall value to the piece of writing that one is composing. This value should not merely be intrinsic; others should be able to see an obvious reason for its construction. This will keep your audience’s attention. However, before a writer can convince someone to read his or her work, the author has to convince himself (or herself). This is why I ask the “So What” question.

The So What question is my response to when a student asks me if they are allowed to write on a particular topic (of course, I give fair warning to the student that this may seem harsh. I do not want to offend). Take the scenario below:

Student: Mr. Browning, I think I have a topic and I want to run it by you.

Me: Sure. What’s your topic?

Student: I would like to write about stem cells.

Me: Okay…what about them?

Student: Well, I just want to write about general, factual information about stem cells.

Me: So what?

Usually, at this point, the student may be a little frustrated. What many writers may initially respond with is a defense of the topic. That defense is what I feel like I need to hear. This is the significance. I suggest that writers think of establishing “significance” as defending their right to write on this topic. For writers who are writing anything, there needs to be a reason for this piece to be told. Many of my students would suggest that this would be merely for essay; yet, I would beg to differ. If someone is writing fiction, the author should ask themselves the same question. Why write the story of the Twilight series? It was already done when Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet, right?

Wrong.

There was something in that story that was timeless and the author had a point (beyond what Shakespeare intended with Romeo and Juliet). One could argue the same with The Hunger Games. Golding did the same thing with Lord of the Flies. If one was to throw the characters into a dystopian futuristic, neo-fascist society, then we have The Hunger Games and/or The Divergent series. These stories are viable pieces that audiences love because there is significance in these particular tales. If one wants their story to be successful, then one has to think about the value of their words. After all, if you don’t see significance in your own piece of work, then who will?

Cashing the Check: A Sad Tale

2013-08-16T06:29:00.001-07:00

"I lived to write and wrote to live"
- Samuel Rogers

It was the day most writers have (at some point in their lives) dreamed about. I was on my way to the bank with a royalty check in my pocket. The sun was shining. The birds were singing. All seemed to be right in the world. Demon in My Head was selling and I had been expecting the check to come in since my publisher sent me an email just a week ago, telling me of the approaching wind fall. What would I do with it? Of course, being the sensible person that I am, my thought was to deposit it into my checking account.

The faint laughter of my wife’s voice through the cell phone still resonated. She mocked me mercilessly, but I didn’t waver in my resolve. I was a published novelist and no one could take that away from me. On a sunny afternoon, I took an early lunch and drove to my bank and walked through the doors. With a back that was ramrod straight, a smile that bedazzled, and a twinkle in my eye, I marched to the teller’s desk and placed my check on the counter.

“I would like to deposit this check, please.”

The teller, a nice blonde, with a deep, raspy voice turned the check over and looked at the endorsed check. She smiled and looked up at me. “All of it, or would you like me to disperse some of it?”

Sure, the $1.02 check did not look like much, but that did not matter to me. I was cashing a royalty check. Someone (just one) purchased my novel. Most likely it was someone I knew who was excited that someone they knew had successfully published a novel, but that was not the point. “I appreciate the support, Mavis.” My voice dripped sarcasm.

Mavis had been my teller since I took my current job. In that time, we’ve gotten to talk about a lot of things. I knew her oldest son would be graduating college next spring. I knew she was trying to cope with an ailing parent. She knew that I had published a novel. “I must say that I’m very impressed. What type of book is it?”

“It’s about vampires.” I waited for the slight roll of the eyes that I usually got whenever I mentioned that I had written a horror novel.

“Like Twilight?” I was asked that question so much that I JUST got used to hiding the disgust from my face.

“Not quite.” I plastered on a fake smile and briefly gave her a vague synopsis (one that I’d been using whenever someone asked about my piece).

“Oh…well…that’s interesting.” Translation: It sounds like a piece of tripe and I won’t be shelling out money for a copy. “I’ll have to take a look out for it.” Translation: Unless you’re giving out free copies so I can burn it for warmth, I won’t be picking it up anytime soon.

“Thank you!” Translation: I know you think that it’s garbage and won’t be picking it up anytime soon, so why the pleasantries? I kept the smile on my face until I left the bank, a Herculean task, to be sure. I will always recall that day to be one of the highlights of my writing career. With so many friends and family members telling me of their writing efforts, I have wondered what makes for “success” in writing. Publishing has always been a dream of mine, but that was not how I defined “success”. There are many people who tell me that they are working on publishing a book. However, few people will tell me that they are working on writing a book. Sure, it may seem like these tasks go hand in hand (and in a direct way, they do). But what they reveal is the aspects of the rationale behind their writing.

I’ve repeatedly mentioned that one of my biggest problems with writing is writing consistently and often. I have two blogs that I manage because I have something that I want to “say” (and it gives me another reason to write). So, before you set finger to keyboard (or pen to paper), ask yourself why you do it. Because when those rejections come (and believe me, they WILL come), are you writing because you want to write or because you want to publish. Only one of those answers will keep you going in those cold winter nights when you go through your mail and you find yet another rejection notice.

No, I’m not rolling in the money with Demon in My Head. I’m sure that I have more friends who have “liked” Demon than people who have actually purchased the novel. But it was my belief in the story (and my editor’s belief in it) that helped to get that novel into tangible form. And I believe, if you have a resolute attitude towards your story, you will have tangible proof that your months and months of work will bear fruit as well.

Inspiration from Beyond the Grave

2013-04-03T11:52:00.004-07:00

"You just need to put the heart before the course...."

-Margo Lagattuta

This morning I received an email from a person who died two years ago. Thus began my first day back to work after a week on vacation. It was a week away from everything, which included writing. The moment I sat at my office desk and pulled up my email to get started on the day’s tasks, the first email my eyes latched onto was an email from a close friend of mine who died a couple years ago. Like me, she was a fellow writer. Like me, she was passionate about teaching. She had a way with words that haunts me to this day and to see an email from her today tore my soul apart and opened wounds that I thought were long healed.

On many occasions we talked about writing; on occasion, she would discuss her own works, but I never discussed my own writing. We would talk of style, mechanics and finding one’s own voice. I am not even sure if she knew I was writing a novel (let alone a horror novel about vampires), but she knew I was writing. Over the past week and a half I had off, I did no writing. I would love to admit that I did it because I wanted to take a break from a copious amount of writing and my rest was well earned, but the truth of the matter was that I hadn’t picked up the pen (or the keyboard) to work on my manuscript in quite some time before my vacation. I know what my friend would tell me “Pick up that pen [she knew I wrote on a pen and pad of paper first]! Get back to work! That story won’t write itself.” Indeed, she was right. I would yell at my pad of paper (even placed the pen atop the pad) and guess what? It didn’t write itself. I hadn’t even opened the email and I mentally chastised myself for not writing (it would have been what she would have done). Finally, realizing that I was at my office to work (and not to write), I set about the day’s tasks; however, my friend and my writing weren’t far from my thoughts.

When you have a life (family, job, meetings, and other obligations) it can be difficult to factor writing into your day to day activities. This is especially true if you see writing as a diversion. If you see it purely as something fun and relaxing, then guilt can weasel its way into your mind and make you feel bad about writing taking you away from what you are “supposed” to do. Make writing something that you are supposed to do.

I find that I get a lot done when I am at a designated work station (even if that “work station” is the kitchen table). If I create a habit that I sit at a table or desk (with a straight-backed chair), it forces me to stay on task. The kitchen table and a laptop is the perfect place to set up a makeshift office where I can keep on task.

Also, I find that I write better and stay focused when I put together a predictable schedule to write at. Saturdays at 6am, and Wednesdays at 7pm are great times for me to get working on my novel. These are quite regular times for me. Most times I work my way to writing once every other day, but if I cannot do this, then I go back to my tried and true Saturday and Wednesday schedule. Lots of authors (especially published ones) have a regular schedule that they work on every day. If you can’t do this now, then work up to it. However, keep that small schedule no matter what.

Be productive, too! I give myself a set schedule of how much to write. If I exceed it, then I know that next time, I push past it. If I have a hard time doing it, then I write what I can. I also give myself an incentive for wanting to pick it up again. For example, I end on an incomplete thought or I end with a cliffhanger. That makes me want to pick it up again next time.

Think of writing as a job that can be just as important as other tasks that you have in your life. Those ideas that you have in your head are just as valuable as anything that you read in a magazine or see on the shelves. I think of that email often. I think of what my friend would say about my laziness in writing. If you’re wondering why write of this on the heels of an email from a friend from beyond the grave. It is important to know that the email came to me through my work account.

Still yet, if you’re wondering what was written…well, I’ll let that be a story idea for you to pursue.

Writing - No Writing

2013-01-02T07:39:00.002-08:00

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions"

- Old Proverb

Happy New Year to you! 2012 has been a wonderful year and I look forward to what is in store for the Year of the Snake. It is in the spirit of hope that I write this entry. With this in mind it makes me recall a year ago when my wife and I went to our gym on New Year’s Day and found it to be packed. We had been going to this gym for several months and had never seen it so packed. As the weeks continued, the parking lot for this gym was filled during the evenings. However, once February rolled around, the parking lot grew sparser and sparser. My wife and I laughed at the visual of the New Year’s Resolution curse. Many people resolve to improve themselves by going to the gym, only to let it die as the weeks progress.

Just like muscle development, writing can be developed through exercise. If you don’t want to succumb to the New Year’s Resolution curse, treat writing in the same way that you treat going to the gym. If you don’t, then your writing can be as flabby as an unexercised muscle.

To be perfectly honest, I feel hypocritical writing this simply because my writing has suffered a lot as of late. I have missed my personal deadline for completing The Demons We Create (the unofficial “sequel” to Demon in My Head) due to my job, marriage, studying three martial arts disciplines, and a near obsession with comic books (aka Life). When my wife asked what my New Year’s Resolution was, my first instinct was to loudly proclaim “TO WRITE MORE!!!” However, the superstitious side of me dared not to utter such a promise in fear of succumbing to the aforementioned “curse”.

However, my resolution would be to make writing a habit. Much like with exercise, writing needs to become a habit. Just as one makes time to put on a pair of socks or turn on the television, one needs to make writing a habit. It should be a habit to exercise. It should be habit to write. By writing this blog, I made myself something to habitually update. I make a habit to post a comment on Facebook (just the innocuous action of typing a few sentences forces me to write something). Even though it isn’t long, the action of writing is important in and of itself.

Just as putting on socks is something I don’t think about (I just do it), writing and exercising needs to be thought of in the exact same way. I shouldn’t think “I need to write today”. I just need to write. In martial arts some refer to this as “Mind-No Mind”. This is the thought that there should be no thought to writing, there should only be writing. If one is thinking: “Gee, I need to write”, or “After this, I’m going to write”, notice that neither statement states that writing will be done. Plus, how many have thought this and haven’t produced a single sentence? You may have had every intention to write, yet without writing, it is not even relevant. Writing – No Writing is all about the action of writing rather than the intention. When suffering from Writer’s Block, my Composition I professor said “Just start writing!” I must concur with his advice (even though when I first heard him say it, it was the most frustrating feeling I’ve ever had). Good luck with your writing ventures.

That Demented Child (Meditations on Halloween)

2012-10-31T13:05:00.001-07:00

The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.
~ H. P. Lovecraft.

Halloween is my favorite holiday. It is one of the few times of the year where one can throw caution to the wind and act as a kid. I can put on a mask and badger people for candy (and NOT be arrested for it). However, above all, I am able to let my imagination run wild and unapologetically explore my fears in an entertaining way.

Each Halloween, I give myself the tradition of beginning the first draft of a scary story. A couple of years ago, I penned a short story on Halloween night that gave rise to Gabriel Brimstone, the tragic vampire hunter in my novel Demon in My Head. I allowed my imagination to run wild and prey upon my deepest, darkest fears.

However, as the years went by, I gave up wearing a costume and walking the streets in the cold, autumn Michigan night and replaced it with sitting on the couch and watching horror movies for the entire month of October. Due to my bad luck with passing out candy and performing mischievous pranks on innocent passersby (both have resulted in my being “banned” from Halloween), I lay low at home and allow my Friday the 13^th film festival (also known as “Jason-a-thon”) to keep my attention on the macabre. Luckily, the tradition of writing an early draft of a story has remained.

Writing anything (be it fiction, non-fiction, an essay for class, or a story that is just sticking in your head), can be an exercise in creativity. We may not play on the monkey bars, or collect action figures anymore, but we can still tap into a side of us that has long been repressed once we learned how to operate in a “straight laced” society (and began to care what others think of us). The world has taught us how to live in a culture where we worry about bills, mortgages, clocks, 9-to-5 shifts, and responsibilities, which has caused us to repress our childish side. When I set pen to paper, I revert back to that mischievous nature I had as a kid. I can write the sickest, “yuckiest” tale that I have in my mind and it is perfectly acceptable.

Watching scary films taps into an inner part of my psyche that lets the demented child run around and play, but when I write something…well…that just allows that demented child to go to his extremes. On most occasions, I do not show anyone else what I write during the Halloween night. This may be a good thing. What this does for me is cause me to realize just how scary my mind can be. If you know me, that is not much of a stretch.

Whether you dress up, take your kids out for Trick-or-Treating, and decorate your house in an eerie way, or you decide to sit at home with your porch light off, and watch CNN, take a moment and do something to let that inner child/demon out. You’ll be glad you did!

A note to the Trick-or-Treaters: Before you egg those houses with the porchlight off or TP the trees of those who give out pennies, remember that these are people with dark sides, too.

To all: have a safe and Happy Halloween. Let your inner demented child out to play (or terrorize…whatever the case may be).

Good Writing vs Effective Writing

2012-09-27T14:05:00.004-07:00

"I write for me. for the audience of me. If other people come along for the ride then it's great."

-Edward Albee

Its fall, so that means another group of Composition classes to teach at school. I have just completed my first full week of classes and am excited to start a longer weekend. I have met over ninety new students we will all have the opportunity to share experiences of writing and learn of our ideas of what makes for good writing. On many occasions, in Academia, students gauge good writing by the grades that they receive. However, during the first week, I try to dispel this misconception. Many times student writers misconstrue good writing for “effective” writing.

At the beginning of my current position, I started discussing the difference between “good” writing and “effective” writing. Something that is “effective” is usually discovered through measured benchmarks. For example: an effective film is one that can bring in the ticket sales. That is to say, an “effectively made” film can be something else entirely. It can be something that can bring someone to tears. Notice that both are different concepts, but the similarity is that both can be measured. If a film opens on a Friday, the first thing that we read in the newspapers is how much money it made. If it made back more money that it took to create the movie, then it was “effective.”

As such, in the Composition classroom, an “effective” essay is a piece of writing that accomplishes the goals on the assignment sheet and achieved high marks on its rubric. Once the instructor/assessor has critically evaluated the essay, they can assign the appropriate “grade” for the paper, thereby concluding how effective it really was.

This is different from something that is “good.” A good essay (or anything else for that matter), is less tangible. It cannot be figured out by a measurable (i.e. rubric, benchmark, assignment sheet, etc.). Good is something that is based more on emotion than logical. Eating my wife’s vegetable soup is good, but it is difficult to convince others why I like it so much. I like the spices she uses, the amount of garlic that brings the right bite, or the veggies that soak up the tomato broth that she uses. It isn’t too much and it isn’t very little. This isn’t something that I can measure, but when I take a taste, I can tell you if I enjoy it or not.

In addition, a good film does the same thing for me. It is enjoyable. It doesn’t have too much action, or too little action. It has the right about of acting (no overacting, or a Twilight-type of bland facial-features, wooden-acting schlockfest). If I leave the film with lingering ruminations of the storyline, then it is a good film.

This is akin to my perception of “good” writing. There are aspects that I look for in good writing. However, it would be unfair of me to grade a paper solely on if it is good. Since effective is based on a rubric (something all the students have), then that would be fair. If I am in the mood to read about dung beetles, and Student A writes on dung beetles, then I would want to award them a stronger grade than someone else who decides to write a biography of Kristen Stewart (sorry Twihards).

My policy is that student writers should write to their assignment sheet, but not to forget what they consider “good”. I think every instructor’s ultimate goal is to receive a paper that matches the rubric, but the student feels that their essay is a “good” essay. Whenever I write a project, I write it to (first and foremost) make me happy. If it gets published, then so much the better. However, on that strong possibility that it does not make the grade (if you will), at least it will make me happy.

Writing to the Bitter End

2012-03-09T07:50:00.000-08:00

"For there isn’t any “right” way to do such personal work. There are all kinds of writers and all kinds of methods, and any method that helps you to say what you want to say is the right method for you. Some people write by day, others by night."

-William Zinsser "The Transaction"

One of my favorite books about writing is William Zinsser’s On Writing Well. It has great chapters about style, developing voice, and even different points of view regarding writing. I’ve used many chapters of the book to help supplement lectures for the past ten years. It is a great book to use in classes in conjunction with Struck and White’s Elements of Style. On Writing Well isn’t a grammar text; it is a book that reflects on valuable anecdotes of a master writer’s craft.

One of the chapters that Zinsser has is called The Transaction. This chapter, which is the first chapter of the book, recalls a time when Zinsser spoke on a panel about his views and approaches towards writing. During this discussion he was paired with a writer nicknamed “Dr. Brock”. According to the chapter, Brock was a doctor by trade and wrote as a hobby. He saw writing as a fun, relaxing pastime and only did it when the need arose. His views were laidback and carefree. Whereas, Zinsser saw writing as a job and did it whether he wanted to or not. He had set writing times and no matter if he was in the mood or not, he would write during those designated times. Dr. Brock’s approach to writing was more free-writing in nature (he would write his ideas down as he thought them and let the work flow onto the page). He would write only when he was inspired to write. Zinsser’s approach was more structured. Outlining, brainstorming, and the like were added to his prewriting stage(s).

I have used this chapter of his book in the classroom for years and asked the students to choose which writer they identified with more. An overwhelming majority of these writers chose Dr. Brock. When asked why I received many responses. “That’s what writing should be!” I was told. “You should write only when you feel the need…Otherwise, it would feel forced.” Other writers weighed in similarly on the subject. “Writing should be fun. It should be expressive, and that can be very relaxing.”

Yet, when I ask you to write an essay, you don’t see that as fun and relaxing,” I would say with a smirk.

“That’s because we have to write in your class. I don’t like writing when I have to write…I like doing it when I want to.”

“Well, when do you want to write?” Each time I asked this question, I would smile, knowing the response that I would inevitably get.

The awkward moment of silence was more uncomfortable for them than it was for me.

“Exactly!” I would exclaim in as dramatic a fashion as I could.

Unapologetically, my philosophy towards writing is similar to that of Zinsser. “He’s like an old, crotchety neighbor on the porch shaking a cane at kids who walk on his lawn,” a student laughed. I laughed along with the students, imagining myself standing on the porch of my house on Good Grammar Ln., all the while yelling at students who forget to place commas correctly or end sentences with prepositions.

Over the years several students have come to me and have told me that their dream was to become a writer. With all of the romance aside, what makes being a writer so attractive to some? Having a scheduled time/session to write, the tedious editing that is involved (even before one takes it to an editor/publisher), and having to face rejection on numerous occasions are all parts of writing (more so than the romantic aspect of publishing that novel or seeing your name in print, etc.).

I must say that I do think writing can be fun. Telling a story in almost any medium can be fun. With writing, however, not every aspect may be fun, but in the end, the true writer will work their way through the hardships and find reward at the end.

By Book or by Nook: The Love of Storytelling

2012-02-09T14:50:00.000-08:00

"Live your life from your heart. Share from your heart. And your story will touch and heal people's souls."
-Melody Beattie

Recently, my wife bought me a Nook e-reader. New toys always fascinate me and the very thought that I can hold an entire library in the palm of my hand does things to me that I really don’t feel comfortable articulating on this blog. Of course, the first book I downloaded onto my reader was my novel Demon in my Head (yes, it is self-serving to be sure, but I made a vow to myself that if I ever received one, that would be the first book I would download). The elitist in me is waging a desperate war with the bibliophile in me (of course, the Neanderthal in me is scratching his head in quandary).

The elitist in me yearns for less technology in my life and loves the idea of opening a book by candlelight as the poets and novelists of old did. To follow in the very footsteps of the old masters and crack open the worn spine of a classic, to smell the yellowing pages, and hear the creaking as the spine is stressed makes me feel as if I am doing what the greats have done. I am walking in their worn paths and maybe, just maybe, I will create a similar mindset as those masters and will be inspired to write a work that may just light a candle to what the geniuses have done. There would be little of this when reading a Nook.

In response to said elitist personality trait, the bibliophile in me would remind me that I did read a book by candlelight. The reason was because the electric company turned off my electricity! Also, said bibliophile reminds me of the immense enjoy of the idea of having access to hundreds of books on one portable device. While waiting for my car to be repaired, I can read a novel, surf the internet, or even do a crossword puzzle (of which I am an undeniable addict). Plus, I can bookmark my page to pick it up at a later date. The latest books are cheaper on the reader than a hardcover text.

(FYI: The Neanderthal in me is still scratching his head in quandary!)

Like most scribes, I am a person who enjoys storytelling. The platform that the story is being relayed by is irrelevant. Whether I am turning a page, moving my finger across a screen, clicking a mouse, or watching a television, I am enthralled with the idea of being transported to someone else’s world for a moment in time. I revert back to a child and listen while my grandmother would tell me stories of when she was a little girl, or with my nose in a comic book (sadly, I can reference times when I was six years old or just a few days ago). For quite a while, I agonized over the idea of whether I should get a Nook or not. Thankfully, my wife solved that problem for me. When I read through the first book that I downloaded onto my e-reader device, I realized that where the story came from was not the important thing; the important thing was just how entertaining the story was for me.

Lately, I have worked with two different writers on separate projects. One was my young niece, who worked with me enthusiastically on creating a comic book character. Sparkle Girl is a superheroine who comes from another planet. She has a magic ring (sorry Green Lantern) which gives her powers to change her image into whoever (or whatever) she wants. She can fly, but she has a fire-breathing dragon that has a penchant for hunting down robotic birds (of course). I drew the line against writing abusive plot scenes regarding shaving the heads of boys and laughing while they were crying. We spent a few hours chatting about what the character’s first adventure would be.

The other was editing an unfinished novel by a student of mine. This one was much more mature, but the imagination and zest for storytelling was the same in my little niece (which mirrors my own). I enjoyed working with both writers/creators because of that zest for storytelling. It is true creators that will not care whether the platform for storytelling is by Nook or by book. Getting a peak into another person’s world is a wondrous thing, indeed. Keep writing! If your work doesn’t get published, at least you’ll be happy and entertained for doing it.

Listen to Your Writing

2012-01-25T12:41:00.000-08:00

"Everything in writing begins with language. Language begins with listening."

-Jeanette Winterson

It was a warm spring afternoon and the students in English 101 stared at the screen with furrowed eyebrows. They stared at the projection on the eastern wall of the classroom. Their eyes seemed to be searching for an answer that would not appear on the screen. Ten sentences were projected onto the screen. All ten had errors. I asked a question, however, no one knew the answer. The ten sentences each had grammatical typos. One student decided to change “…we decided to go to a beach” to “…we decided to go to THE beach.”

“Why change a to the?” I asked, which brought us to the awkward length of silence.

“I don’t know,” a student chimed in. “It just sounds better.” She shrugged her shoulders. A few brave souls nodded their assent.

Sometimes we aren’t aware of the fact that we determine whether a sentence is grammatically correct or not based on how it sounds. I have seen this phenomenon play out many times in my Composition classes. Whenever students are asked to judge an irregular verb, they revert back to “how it sounds.” “Writing is just another form of communication, which is something that most of us do on a daily basis.” I have stated this point many times in my classes to ease the stress of writing.

When I am working in our college Writing Center, I make a point to read a student’s paper out loud to them. This way, the student gets out of the mode of the writer and into the mode of the listener. As I read their essay, I read it back to them exactly as they have written it (warts and all) so they can hear how the essay actually sounds. Writers have a tendency to “hypercorrect”. This is where the author of the text reads the paper and (whether they are aware of it or not) they correct the essay as they go along. At times, the writer will not even see the error that they are correcting. They will read the essay with the correction included. What an author means and what the author writes may be two different things. Due to this, more grammatical infractions may be committed when writing. Once the student listens to his/her own writing, they will be more apt to view it in a rational way, rather than an emotional one. It would be easier to see their own typos and errors, thus making them more effective editors.

Lately, I have been thinking about this idea of listening to writing, focusing particularly on my own. I live on the west side of Michigan; however, my parents live clear across the state. Plus, I have to drive 45 minutes to get to work. To say the least, I spend a great deal of time in my car. On many occasions, I have had an idea pop into my head only to lose it when I get to my destination. To address this, I have been using a miniature tape recorder to dictate into on my extended travels.

The storylines that I dictate into the recorder are streams of consciousness, at best. Most of the time is spent recapping what has already happened in the works. This allows me to review the particulars of the story to make sure that my thought process is on the right track. On many occasions, as I am running through a story, I will come up with something new that could work its way into the manuscript. Since time can be a precious commodity, time that would have been considered “wasted” while driving can be placed to good use. The simple action of expressing your thoughts aloud can allow you to “see” your work differently. Once the drive is over, I can write about the thoughts, plot ideas, etc. that I had set up in the tape recorder. This has led to more developed scenes and interesting plot twists.

In the same vein as dictating the story aloud, playing the tape back can be a good experience for a writer. This is the part of the scenario that I do not like. This is due, in part, to the fact that I hate listening to the sound of my voice (think Carlton from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air with Mickey Mouse). As agonizing as it may be, I listen to the stream of consciousness, all the while with an ear out for plot holes. I can ask myself questions such as: Would this character do that? Why would he/she commit this action? What is going on with this scene? This way, I become a more effective editor.

Giving a voice to your writing can add dimension to the writing process. The process need not be confined to a pen and piece of paper, or fingers along a keyboard. The writing process can incorporate sound. Even now, I am experimenting with using music in my process. I am creating a soundtrack to my newest manuscript. Don’t forget to engage yourself on many sensory levels. After all, shouldn’t we be doing that with our readers?

The Longest Twenty-four Minutes of My Life: My Retirement from Writing

2012-01-18T10:50:00.000-08:00

"A short retirement urges a sweet return"
-John Milton

"I write in order to know why I write."
-Alberto Moravia

On several occasions students, friends, and even colleagues have asked “Gerald, why do you write?” Lately, I have asked myself that very question. Writing is very time consuming, can be quite draining (physically, mentally, emotionally, and financially), and can be quite thankless. On many occasions, I will write for an hour or so and in a fit of rage, tear up my work only to start writing the same piece over again.

If the writer even thinks of publishing their work, they may get to this point when rejection letters are the norm rather than the exception. How do you keep writing when you are faced with all of these rejections? How do you keep up the morale? For me, the answer is to go back to the writing.

I quit writing for exactly 24 minutes back in 1998. When I was an undergraduate student at The University of Michigan – Flint (UM-Flint), I was desperately (and I mean desperately) trying to submit my work for publication. At that point in my life, I was a junior in college and had firmly thrown caution to the wind to purse a degree in English. While working on my degree, working as a tutor in the Writing Center, and working as the news editor at The Michigan Times (the student publication at UM-Flint), I was furiously writing short stories and a novel. I immersed myself into the works of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, James Ellroy, and Andrew Vachss (to this day, I cannot read a Burke novel without thinking I need to stop so I can study for a test). All of these authors have taught me many lessons about writing. Unfortunately, during this time, all I received was rejection letter after rejection letter. To this day, I wonder why I didn’t give up for good.

Even though I didn’t hang up my pen and fedora (the latter I mean metaphorically since I never had one), I did give up writing for 24 minutes. I was a junior at that time and ready to get into my career of being a published writer as soon as possible. As such, I sent out query letters all over the country to present my work. There was one mystery magazine above all others that I had my heart set on to accept some of my work. Hardboiled magazine is published by Gryphon Publishing. Gary Lovisi, one of the best in the business rejected several of my pieces. Yet, he seemed to remember my name because on several rejections he would reply with “Good try,” or “Please try again”. Unfortunately, due to the busy load of work Mr. Lovisi had, there was little else. On a few occasions, he would reply with “Too wordy” or “Plays on obvious cliché”, but his rejections were quite short.

Most of my weekend nights were spent reading issue after issue of Hardboiled to learn the style. Stories from Wayne Dundee, Mickey Spillane, Andrew Vachss, and Mr. Lovisi himself created noir films in my mind. I read pieces that showed me what neo-noir was and how a true expert writes it. After reading, I would set pen to paper and write a story that told what I wanted to tell and keep a style such as the ones I read mere moments before. On a cold evening, I came home from a literature class and found a letter from another magazine. I opened it, knowing in my heart what the reply would be. My fears came true: another rejection. It was a long, rainy day and I had two ten paged essays to write in as many days and this was the right nail in my coffin. That’s it! I thought. I am done with writing! I had three notebooks filled with stories. I calmly retrieved the notebooks and threw them away. I went to my parents’ computer and deleted all of the stories I had on my floppy disk drive. I took the entire “How To” writing books that I had in my bedroom and boxed them up. I placed them in the basement with the rest of my failed ventures. Fifteen years of writing, rewriting, and using up ream after ream of paper, and for what? I looked at the folder filled with rejection letters. Why are you keeping these? I wondered. Was it a testament my own sado-masochistic tendencies?

Everything went into the trashcan that night. I looked at the nearly full trashcan and huffed at the work that I’d done. My room was a lot cleaner. It looked less cluttered and I found little items that I had spent months looking for. What was the first thing I did after I gave up my writing career? I took a pen out and wrote about the experience! This was 24 minutes after I had thrown my papers and notebooks away (I consider this my retirement). I wrote for hours and it turned into a small essay that I thought was amusing. The next morning, I went to The Michigan Times and edited a few pieces for the next issue. I even worked on a book review of a novel that I had read.

Since that night, I continued to write fiction, with the same amount of success in regards to publishing. However, I cut back on the submissions. Back in those days whatever I wrote, I would immediately finish writing and put into an envelope to send it to the next entry in the 1998 Writer’s Market. Since then, I did less submitting and more editing. I left for graduate school and learned a lot of what I was doing wrong back then. When I returned from graduate school, I continued writing. A few months after I returned from graduate school I published Pro Bono, a mystery story I had written starring a private eye named Frank Mercer, in Detective Mystery Stories. I had the story set in Flint, Michigan (my home town) and tried to capture some of the realism there.

A few weeks later, I wrote and edited another Frank Mercer short. This short was called A Hint of Cinnamon. This short was published as well. A third Frank Mercer short, which was titled The Dead Don’t Dream was published as well (this one was originally written when I was at UM-Flint). It is interesting to note that these two Frank Mercer mysteries were published in Hardboiled magazine.

As a fledgling writer (which I still see myself now), I felt that I have come a long way with my work. It has matured a lot since I wrote at The University of Michigan – Flint. However, the problem was that I was unwilling to reflect on my work. I wanted to write and be done with it. We must reflect if we ever want to grow and learn from our mistakes. Mr. Lovisi was such a gracious editor. He gave clipped responses to me, but he managed to give me important feedback that I was unwilling to accept back then.

Currently, as I write, I find myself mining my old stories, thoughts, and ideas. Of course, I have to go by memory since a lot of it has been thrown away. So when I return to the question of why do I write? My answer is clear and simple: I can’t not write. As writers, that is something that we need to ask ourselves. Can we see our lives without writing? I do not mean writing in every sense of the word. Obviously, we have to write a check, a letter here and there, or an email. What I mean is telling a story, expressing ourselves, creating a picture with words, or crafting language to entertain, inform or persuade in a detailed manner. No matter how frustrated I still get with writing, I cannot see myself without it. Can you?

Finding the Method in Your Madness

2012-01-11T13:01:00.000-08:00

"All is change; all yields its place and goes."
-Euripides

"Change is the only evidence of life."
-Evelyn Waugh

This week my school is beginning a new quarter, which means new classes, new students, new preps, and new minds. Without a doubt, this has to be the most exciting and nerve-wracking portion of the quarter for me. With a new class I try to remind myself that all of the conceptions/notions that I may have should be thrown right out the window. A new quarter and a new class mean a fresh start. When approaching something new, even with writing, it is important to make sure you approach your writing in an innovative way. Otherwise, there can be baggage from the previous piece that makes its way into others. This can create dull writing.

For example, once I finished writing Demon in My Head, I began writing The Modern Prometheus, a “follow up” to Demon. In the initial stages of the writing, I found that the manuscript was very much like Demon. The protagonist was going through a “step-by-step” process (for tracking down a serial killer). It was eerily similar to Brimstone’s quest. When I discovered this (mercifully after writing only twenty pages), I scrapped the project immediately. I was still writing Demon in My Head! My major discovery was that even though I finished and published a “rewarding” novel, I was no longer finished telling the story of Gabriel Brimstone. I looked at this as not being finished telling a story. There was more that I could write.

As such, what I did was tell the story of others touched by Brimstone and his quest. The end of Demon placed Gabriel Brimstone in a very precarious position (that is all I will say). However, there were others who were affected by the events in that novel. So I decided to write a piece that follows up on the events in that novel. Due to this, Prometheus does not really act as a “sequel”, but it tells another story in that world. Many writers have a single character who acts as the protagonist. This protagonist continues to narrate throughout many books. Gabriel Brimstone, the “protagonist” (although I hesitate to use that word to describe him) that narrates Demon, is barely in Prometheus; yet, his presence is felt through the entire manuscript. Now when writing, I try to “breathe” between projects. Each piece that one writes should be different. There should be a different texture within a project, even if one is writing with the same character. In both manuscripts, the theme of family is present, which makes a lot of connections; however, it expands on the Brimstone mythos. Demon acts more as a horror story, whereas Prometheus (as it stands now) acts as a very dark (and horrific) mystery story.

I encourage writers to expand their horizons, write about something that is interesting to you, yet is different from you (or at least what you have recently written). Mystery fiction is a major passion of mine. However, when I wrote Demon, I wasn’t writing a mystery. It was outside of my element. With Prometheus, I am returning to my love, however, I am doing it in a different way. Writing involves growth and I encourage every writer to expand outside of your comfort zone.

In the Composition classes that I am teaching this quarter, I assign three major essays and a smaller essay at the end of the course. Each essay focuses on a different essay, and with each one, it stresses a different component on writing. I encourage those writers to choose a different approach when writing on that topic. If you are writing something persuasive, try writing it from a different point of view. When editing your text, how many times do you refer to yourself (using the first person)? Try cutting back on that in the next essay (or draft). Diversity is the spice of life!

Only when experimenting in your own writing will you discover what works and what doesn’t work with your own writing. At the very least, you will find out what not to do, this does nothing but narrow down what to do with your writing.

No matter what you do, keep writing!

The Circular Reality of Horror Fiction

2012-01-03T18:45:00.000-08:00

"Horror is an unknown actress, perhaps the girl next door, cowering in a cabin with a knife in her hands we know she'll never be able to use." -Stephen King

How many times have you gone to see a horror film and the film becomes so predictable that you can almost recite the last fifteen minutes of the film by heart? As you watch the film, you know that the “final woman” gruesomely dispatches the villain. Bleeding and crying, she walks away from the horrific scene. In the last few frames, the camera pans back to the face (or mask) of the villain and just before the credits roll, his eyes snap open. Creepy (or speed metal) music plays and the credits roll. Immediately, upon leaving the movie theater, you (and/or your companions) mention that you “saw that coming.” As you’re looking at the others leaving the theater, you see their eyes roll around in their sockets as they speak about how predictable it was and/or how the sequel is inevitably on the way. If moviegoers are in on the joke, then why do filmmakers (and even horror writers) continue to make films with ambiguous endings like this? Heretofore, I will refer to this phenomenon as The Circular Reality of Horror.

What makes something horrific?

Horror is the survival mechanism at work and the futility of it. We are aware of the fight or flight mechanism. We are also aware of the natural instinct of it. What if no matter what we do, it isn’t good enough? What if, no matter how fast we run, or where we hide, the killer will always be behind us? How would you feel if you knew that someone was poised to kill you, or (worse yet) someone you care about, and there was nothing that you could do about it? This is the ultimate dread. This is where true horror lies.

Subconsciously, we use defense mechanisms to negate these feelings. For example, how many of us have been to see a horror film and went with a person who continued to berate the victims for the stupid decisions that they make to survive? How many of us know never to go down into the basement to reset the circuit breakers in the fuse box? How many of us know to never go outside alone to “check out” that noise in the woods? Of course, we wouldn’t make those rash decisions! We’re smarter than that. Yet, what would you do? How do you know that the decision that you make is the correct one? What makes you certain that the stalker/killer did not already account for the move(s) that you make?

Let’s just say that I wouldn’t want to play a game of chess with Jason Voorhees.

The horror film is one long study in fight or flight. Those that choose to flee are caught and killed. Those that fight back are shown the futility in this endeavor and are killed (unless they are the “final” victim). The fight or flight mechanism is engrained in our psyche so deeply that it is something that we can universally relate to. We can see ourselves in the shoes of these characters and sympathize with their plight. We can be glad that we are not them. In an article that I wrote entitled The Seduction of Fear, I even go so far as to mention that we can even see ourselves in the shoes of the stalker/killer. This sympathy can make us feel closer to the characters. This serves to make the story even more intense for us.

Also, the themes can hit very close to home. In Stephen King’s The Shining, we see a thinly veiled allegory on the evils of alcoholism. Seduced by ghosts (and his incessant drinking) Jack Torrence is transformed into a monster and stalks his own family. In slasher flicks such as Friday the 13th, Jason Voorhees was an innocuous child who becomes a vengeful creature when he is neglected while at a summer camp and drowns. He takes it out on teens who smoke weed, have sex, and drink liquor (i.e. the same teens who would have allowed him to drown as a child). Who among us has not wanted to revenge themselves for someone’s wrongdoings? This can serve to humanize the villain/monster. The horror of sympathizing with the victim as well as the predator can be powerful in itself.

In a final reference to the fight or flight and inevitability of one’s demise, just think of this final concept. Let us say that you have spent an entire hellish night being terrorized by a monster/demon/whatever. Let us say that you have seen your friends, family members, and significant other be chopped to pieces and you have decided that enough is enough. You decide to take matters into your own hands and (against better judgment and warnings from some crazy person) try to kill that creature. You have discovered the monster’s Achilles heel and you have exploited it. In an epic battle with this creature, you (miraculously) kill this monster. Tired and drenched with blood, you crawl away from the epic battlefield to the nearest police station or hospital. You tell your story to anyone who will listen. What would be the worst thing that you can imagine? Would it be that notion that this creature was not killed, and is looking for you to start the whole horrific ordeal all over again? One of the biggest horrors is to realize that everything the final victim has gone through was all for nothing, and worse yet, they will have to go through it again. This horror is the Circular Reality of Horror.

As such, most of the sequels of horror films are based from this very premise. I do not write this to justify unnecessary sequel after sequel of bad horror (Did Friday the 13th really need so many sequels?). I write this to show the true horror that resides as a premise behind most horror fiction. There is a predictability that happens in these stories.

How many times have you gone to see a horror film and the film becomes so predictable that you can almost recite the last fifteen minutes of the film by heart…

Once Upon a Time...It was a Dark and Stormy Night…And Other Hooks that Make Us Want to Keep Reading

2011-11-30T09:59:00.000-08:00

What makes us want to keep turning the page? Why do we want to get invested in a story? When I was in graduate school at Illinois State University (Go Redbirds!!!) I would talk to friends of mine and we would discuss what it was that made people want to read a story. When picking up a book at your local Barnes and Noble, why pick up Book A instead of Book B? What was it about this text that caught my eye over that text? For me, when I read the first few paragraphs of a book story, that can tell the tale.

When I was first writing stories (on a notepad in my bedroom before bedtime), I always thought that whenever you start writing, you start at the beginning. At that time, I knew all there was to know about writing and no one could tell me anything (I long for those days, I think I’ve gotten stupider over the past few decades). Where does a story begin? Most European/American writing is linear. You begin in a chronological order and continue until the story ends. However, a lot of stories have broken that tradition. Take a look at Pulp Fiction: a film about several intersecting storylines that converge/diverge at different points in time. How about Memento (a murder mystery done backwards)? The myth of “beginning at the beginning” has long been debunked. This makes me think of the ingredients of a good opening.

“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times…”

“Call me Ishmael…”

“In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth…”

Whether it the opening lines of A Tale of Two Cities, Moby Dick or the Bible, each of these lines represent a different way to involve the reader. “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times…” This opening line makes me want to read about a different time, a different world, and a whole new story. It makes me wonder the possibilities that are endless with a story.

“Call me Ishmael…” This line makes me wonder about this narrator. I want to know who Ishmael was, what did he care about, and what put him on a ship ran by a madman. It wasn’t the story that made me want to read this novel called Moby Dick, it was Ishmael and Ahab.

What greater line evokes an epic grandiose feel than the opening words from The Bible? The opening passage induces an atmosphere of awe and discovery. It lets us know that the words that are within its pages will educate and entertain. No matter if you see the Holy Bible as a religious text or a collection of stories there is no mistaking the power and lush reality that it conjures for a reader.

Here’s a quick exercise: close your eyes and imagine what comes after “Once upon a time” or “It was a dark and stormy night.” These lines (albeit cliché), are still powerful lines that can vividly call to mind a wooded glen where elves and fairies traipse through life granting wishes, harboring secrets, or even telling a tale as old as time. Or, they can cause our hearts to speed as we imagine rain showering over us while moving timidly through a midnight forest hoping that something within the shadows does not grab us and pull us away into our deepest, darkest nightmares. That is the power of an opening line.

When it comes to writing (whether they are essays, novels, short stories, etc.), I sort the pieces into two categories: character driven and plot driven. Those that have compelling protagonists, whose evolution/development tend to become a driving force of the story, are referred to as character driven. Works such as Forrest Gump, Batman Begins, Fight Club or Atlas Shrugged are excellent examples of excellently written character driven pieces. Stories that have plots that are quite complex, and tend to overtake our attention are plot driven. Stories such as The Matrix, Saving Private Ryan, or the Odyssey are great plot pieces. With beginning lines, the writer can show (without stating verbatim) if the piece is plot driven or character driven. However, before you even sit down to write an opening line, it is important to ask yourself if your work will be focusing on the character or the events that occur.

An opening line can be what makes the difference between a character that I want to continue to read about, and one that I decide to place back on the bookshelf. Opening lines can act just like first impressions. They are great to break the ice, and can introduce you to a new friend. Just remember to think of the appropriate way to introduce them. Whether it is a person or a plot, readers want to be teased enough to want to learn more.

Smashing My Head Against the Writer's Block

2011-11-17T16:50:00.001-08:00

"Nulla dies sine linea"
- Horace

Have you ever heard that old adage “If you don’t use it, you lose it”? Well, it turns out that it is something that affects writing just as much as it affects everything else in life. Writing ability is just like muscle development; the more you exercise it, the stronger it gets.

Whenever I teach a freshman composition class, on the first week of class someone inevitably approaches me apologetically, and informs me that they haven’t written anything in a long time and to “go easy on me.” Said student usually approaches me when others are out of earshot and they seem very sorry or upset to let me know this (as if I will be angry). Unfortunately, I tell the students, “No, I can’t go easy on you. I’m a mean person,” which usually results in laughter since I look and act as one of the meekest people you will ever want to meet. Afterwards, I reassure them that writing ability is something that develops the more that the writer does it. Also, I tell them that the process is different for everyone and the journey is just as different. As such, there isn’t a “right” way or a “wrong” way to go about writing.

Sometimes that is a bitter pill to swallow when on the receiving end of it. I freely admit to not writing on a daily basis (as I feel that I should). I admit to feeling like a hypocrite when writing this blog posting knowing full well that I find it difficult to write every single day. Where does this problem stem from? Where does it stem from for college writers? I would guess the same place.

One of the biggest reasons that I find myself wanting to turn on the television instead of writing something productive is that Law and Order: SVU is on. Benson and Stabler (played exceptionally well by Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni) are more than able to pull me away from my writing tasks. I even find myself sabotaging my writing when I enable the distraction. “It’s great storytelling!” I tell myself. “If I watch the show, I’ll learn about plot pacing, character development, and realistic dialogue.” As such, it won’t be a waste of time. Of course, by the end of the episode, I am so wrapped up with how horrible the villains on the show were (not to mention the depression in knowing that the Benson/Stabler duo will soon to come to an end).

As the example shows, it is easy to be swayed by outside stimuli to forego writing for that day. One day can turn into two; two can turn into three. Before you know it, you haven’t written in a month and when you return to write something, the process is much more difficult to do than it has ever been before. To get in the habit of writing, keep a journal. When I began working on my journal, I foundt hat the more I wrote, the better my writing became and the easier it was to write on something else. Upon reflection, as I looked at past papers that students turned in, on the first essay, students would not meet the page range. When the second and third essays were written, I found that more students met (and exceeded) the page range. Writing is infectious. Writing begets more writing!

Another problem that forces me to stop writing is when I am working on a piece and right in the middle of the essay (sometimes even while writing!), I will not know how to continue. What word should I use next? What was I writing? I lost my train of thought! At that moment, I will panic. On a few occasions, I would feel this way when I wrote Demon in My Head. There was a reason that it took exactly one year to write that first draft!

This problem still plagues me, however, a wise professor of English taught me a trick over fifteen years ago, and that still helps me to this day. “Don’t finish the sentence,” he told me (and about twenty other undergraduate English students). His thinking is that if the writer returns to the piece the next day, they will be able to finish the thought and continue the next one. On many occasions, I have been able to pick up my thought and continue to the next thought. Most writing is linear. If the line is broken, the writer may be able to continue the logical line of thinking.

It is my intention to give these tips and tricks to help the writing process move along for you. Ultimately, this would be futile unless you are motivated to write. There has to be a message that you have that fuels moving that pen on the paper (or those fingers on a keyboard). Keep writing! The adage is true: if you don’t use it, you lose it.

Here’s to keeping it.

Conversing with a Figment of Your Imagination: Getting to Know Your Characters

2011-11-09T07:17:00.000-08:00

“Good writers define reality; bad ones merely restate it.”
-Edward Albee

“If you're writing about a character, if he's a powerful character, unless you give him vulnerability I don't think he'll be as interesting to the reader.”
-Stan Lee

“How do I know vampires exist? Because I see them!”
-Gabriel Brimstone

I am a person who has done a lot of quirky things just to see how other people react. On a crisp summer afternoon, while grocery shopping; I would push my grocery cart on the left side of the lane, just to see how people would react. On each encounter with another shopper, I would get a grumble, a few choice (four letter) words, and a disapproving sneer.

An assignment that I give students in my Workplace Communications class is to go into a business or organization, observe their surrounds, and record the reactions of the customers/employees/supervisors and analyze how they interact with one another. The day they turn in the assignment, my students and I get into a brief discussion (aka debriefing) of their findings.

On occasions when I am traveling, I make a habit to take a tape recorder with me to record conversations with other people and listen to the rhythm of their language. Afterwards, I play the tape over and over to hear accents, pauses, and other “quirks” in the wording.

What do these three things have in common (other than the fact that it solidifies my weirdness)?

It means I am trying to learn and understand people in order to learn and understand my characters. The characters that I write are people, too. They think, feel, love, and hate just like anyone else. I want my characters to be as three dimensional as the person who I pass in the hallway, the student in the classroom, or the person ringing up my groceries in the checkout line. My characters may have the same hopes, dreams, aspirations, or obsessions as a person I speak to at the bank. In order to understand them, I need to understand people.

In the novel that I am currently writing, I have a multitude of characters and I want to get to know each and every one of them. In order to have true authenticity, I need to know what the character’s innate desires are. I have protagonists who are selfish, villains who have had troubled pasts, and characters in-between who are more than just “cannon fodder” or are “disposable”. Even those characters that are merely in the opening prologue or a single chapter (and are brutally killed off) have desires as well. In order to know how tragic their passing is, I need to know who they touched and who would mourn their passing.

Some writers create “character profiles” of their major protagonist (or antagonist) to get to know who they are. They have a “file” (of sorts) that lets them learn who their subjects/characters are. They act as if they are therapists or physicians for their characters. I, on the other hand, act in the similar way as a friend or confidante would. I have “conversations” with these characters. I sit down with them and I “talk” to them. Yes, this does seem quite “schizophrenic” (hence the title of my first blog). Acting as their best friend, I can learn different things about them. I learn if they have fetishes that they haven’t told their significant other; I learn where the bodies are buried (literally, in some cases). And by listening to them tell their story; I can learn of the patterns of dialogue and speech impediments that they may have.

This allows me to explore a part of my psyche that I haven’t explored since I was a child. If you have ever had an “imaginary friend”, this is the exact same exercise. I am sure this exercise is no less socially acceptable as when we were children, it is a very good way to get to know the characters that you hope other people will believe in.

If you want to create people that the reader will believe in, then you must first believe in them.

Finding Your Voice

2011-10-25T18:41:00.000-07:00

“Why do writers write? Because it isn’t there.”
-Thomas Berger

“If there is a chance in hell that someone is reading this, then what I write will live on.”
-Gabriel Brimstone

One idea that I have always tried to instill in student writing is significance and depth. Ever since I have started teaching, I have allowed the writers I have worked with to choose their own topics. “You can write about whatever you want, just as long as you show the reader the significance in your words.” At first, many students are comforted by this. Some are even excited by this! However, once reality hits them, they realize just how important it is to choose the “right” topic. What is the “right” topic? How does a writer know when they have stumbled onto the right one?

All writers want to create something with depth, something that has meaning, and something that is relevant. No matter if it is an essay for a Composition class, a creative writing piece, or any variation between, they want to make sure that the send an appropriate message, plus create a piece that is worth their time.

When approaching writing (creative or otherwise), I tend to look for patterns in the world to create themes. For example, when writing Demon in My Head, I wrote of the world of a vampire hunter. Any “average” vampire story has the traditional blood-sucking storylines. Stories that simply focus on the monster killing people, only to be executed himself/herself, have been done to death. How can one put in their voice to make the story their own? I looked around in my real world to see themes that I could use in my fiction. In short, I looked within myself and my life to place my voice into the story. My grandfather was a reformed alcoholic who struggled with his addiction. I heard of this secondhand, of course, since it was something that he never talked to me about.

It is rather easy to see a similar theme of addiction of within the vampire subgenre. So, I created Gabriel Brimstone, a vampire hunter/vampire who is remorseful of his fall “off the wagon” (i.e. drinking the blood of the innocent). In the opening pages of Demon in My Head, Brimstone is found going to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. Writers (new or otherwise) should know that depth is found within one’s own discovery of patterns. I played upon the pattern of addiction that is inherent in vampire fiction, but I would not have seen it had it not been for learning of addiction within my family.

So I tell my students to look for patterns within their own lives and backgrounds. There are always patterns (humans are very logical creatures). What patterns do they see? It is like playing “connect the dots” with abstract concepts. It is these patterns that allow me to see the reality of the world around me and address it in the truths that come from my own mind.

Lately, I have been swamped with student essays to grade. Each essay has a truth in it that comes from the writer’s own mind. On many occasions, I will ask myself “What drove this student to write this particular essay?” Whether it is about gun control, a biography of John Quincy Adams, or a summary of a thought-provoking essay, there is a kernel of truth that acts as the driving force behind the project. On most occasions the essays include examples of events that have occurred in the students’ lives that have a relevance to the topic that the student has chosen. As such, the writer has a direct connection to the topic and realizes that they indeed have a voice to bring to the essay.

It is important that the writer knows that they have a valuable and valid voice. Writing is very empowering. To write something, it implies that the writer has a voice. As a writer, one must know what they care about. If it is important enough to occupy the writer’s thoughts, then it is important enough to write. Always keep the pen moving! Listen to what you write and your will hear your voice.

The Schizophrenic In Me

2011-10-17T11:09:00.000-07:00

“Are you really sure that a floor can’t also be a ceiling?”-M. C. Escher
“Just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean they aren’t looking at you and licking their lips.”-Gabriel Brimstone

Just this past weekend, I attended a wedding shower and it was discovered, by many of those who attended, that I had recently published a novel. I felt like a celebrity (something that doesn’t happen very often) and was excited to answer many questions about writing a novel. One of the questions was “How close do you feel to your characters?”

Many people have asked questions regarding to my process and where I come up with ideas, but that was the first time someone had asked me about how close to my characters I was. On the heels of publishing Demon in My Head and nearly completing The Modern Prometheus (both of which feature the vampire hunter Gabriel Brimstone), I had to think about how I felt about finishing Demon. In short, I was depressed.

It took me exactly 365 days to write the first draft of Demon in My Head (then titled Addicted). Before that, I had written many short stories featuring Gabriel. After I edited Addicted for publication in Night to Dawn Magazine, I found myself rewriting the manuscript, changing it into the version that is currently out for “consumption”. That rewrite took a good two years to complete. As such, Gabriel and I spent many, many years together.

So when this dear, sweet woman asked me about the closeness of my characters, I told her that I felt “schizophrenic”. Much like Gabriel, I, too, have demons and voices in my head. Some of them are friendly, and some of them are very, very dark. These are the characters that make the inspiration for my stories. I have eaten, dreamed and slept with Gabriel Brimstone (much to the chagrin of relationships that I have had). It took me a lot of effort to continue the conversation and refer to Gabriel as a character. Otherwise, I would have sounded like a person with severe mental issues to the curious woman.

“They are a part of me, and I am a part of them,” I remember telling her. Before Brimstone, I had published very little writing. It mostly consisted of mystery tales. However, when I jumped into horror fiction, which was when my writing received the most amount of attention.

My fiancé has mentioned many times that I should write something more romantic or (as she puts it) “real.” The problem for me is that the definition of “real” is a very ambiguous term when I dip my pen into the ink well of my imagination. Even though Gabriel Brimstone is a vampire hunter and spends his nights keeping the things that go bump in the night away from the rest of us, he is very “real” to me. At a risk of giving some of the plot away, there are some very real facets of Demon. On many occasions, I have had to work at separating myself from my characters (Gabriel Brimstone being one of the most prominent characters). Mr. Brimstone and I have philosophized on many occasions the meaning of life, the definition of reality, and our hopes and dreams. Demon tells reality through the eyes of a man who looks at the world a little different than most of us, but to him, it is no less real. After all, what does “real” mean to you?

I don’t attend wedding showers very often (in fact, this was my very first one), but I had a great time justifying my psychosis to a dear woman who wanted to get inside the mind of a writer, but got more than she bargained for. The next time you ask a writer how close they are to their characters, see what their answer is.

If you’re a doctor, don’t be afraid to prescribe something.