How to Hold Off an Idea Until It's Ready

I’d compare holding off an idea to the moment just before the needle pierces the skin in a hospital ward. The recipient is tensed up for the critical impact while the hypo, clasped between the trained fingers of a nurse cuts the air as it makes its way for the disinfected spot. A unique tingle comes over that part of the body as it waits for cold steel, hungry for blood to break skin and introduce its fluid into the bloodstream.

There comes a time when you know you are going to create something: a poem, a song, a story or even a project as tasking as a novel. I’m talking about those times when the idea presents itself to the mind as an impossible-to-make-out image, a piece of incomplete thought and you can’t readily settle on how it’s going to turn out. Here’s what you can to do to prevent yourself from ruining a great idea and end up burnt out.

Keep a Notebook or Sheet of Paper

Scribble bits and pieces of thoughts and phrases which you think have a connection with the idea at hand. You never know which of these nuggets will spark a flame and maybe become the first line of your story/poem. Jot down entire lines and sentences, from your readings if they so much as inspire creative thinking. Sometimes, a snippet from a billboard ad could be the seedbed for your idea.

Keep an Open Mind

Vague as this tip sounds; it is a really important step in cleaning up your mind and ridding it of leftovers from past write-ups. You can actually choke on a good idea while trying to force the pattern of a previous creation on it. Allow the idea free rein for as long as is required for it to ripen.

Play With the Idea

Don’t start the actual writing, yet. But do write it in your mind. Try a free association of the most persistent phrases—those expressions that keep recurring in flashes and seem to be the handle of the overall idea. By doing this you keep from trying to force it and also, get a better grip of the frame of the entire composition, at the same time. Richard Wilbur waited fourteen years while jotting down phrases before he committed his pen to paper to write his poem, The Mind-Reader.

Talk to Yourself

Do it aloud or silently. Talk around the idea; talk about its vagueness, how it squirrels away just before you can wrap your fingers around its essence. Ponder what style of writing it could turn out to be; if it is something fresh and unique or if it’s your regular thing. Brood over the theme (if you’ve figured it out), go deep and feel the weight of the inspiration which presented the idea and try to make yourself at home within it.

Take Long Walks

Here’s one surefire weapon you can use to tackle the edginess that accompanies the waiting period. Shorten the wait with walks and talks, is a saying you ought to give a try. Go on long strolls, if you can find the time and place. Take that time to tinker with the idea, turning it this way and that while you search for the key that unlocks the door and sends you reeling into the heart of your next creation.

Let the Initial Emotion Cool Off

Above all, try not to write in the heat of emotion. You stand a chance of muddling up the waters and scaring away dinner. Your emotions can totally blind you and make everything you write look awesome. A few weeks or months after your so-called spectacular write-up then you reread the work you have so wonderfully created and Ouch! *Palm over face.*

            A good fisherman knows how to tease the fish; when to cast his net; when to reel in his catch; and especially, when to hold off from upsetting the net. Now go and do likewise.

This article is actually a product of waiting. The idea popped into my mind around the month of April while I was doing NaPoWriMo but I kept putting the moment of actual writing off; kept waiting for the idea to blossom and produce fruit. I can’t tell you the thrill wasn’t worth the wait. And that’s the reason I believe that waiting is a game to the trained mind. Waiting is a writer’s game.

Keep your pens bleeding!

Akpan

10 Stephen King Stories Featuring Writers as Characters

Photo: vcablogorama.blogspot.com

Stephen King often uses authors as characters in his stories. It's possible that no other author before him or during his time equals him in this particular enterprise. And it's impossible for you as a serious writer not to find yourself parodied in one of King's stories.

Most of the writers in King's stories (if not all) are men. Nevertheless, the sort of distress they often get themselves stuck with is not gender-oriented. King, at one time announced he was hanging his pen on stories featuring writers as characters. I believe that was in the note on Secret Window, Secret Garden published in a collection of novellas called Four Past Midnight back in 1990. But alas, in 1998, a Stephen King novel, Bag of Bones featured a writer as the main character and going through the worst dread that could ever happen to a writer-writer's block. You can never trust a storyteller, han?

Bag of Bones (1998)

This novel is by far, my favorite Stephen King book. It features the writer, Mike Noonan, who is going through the worst case of writer's block, as the main character of the novel. He has not written anything, besides his laundry list, that is, for the past four years or so.

King says he was inspired to write this novel after reading a story about Virginia Wolfe who is reported to have been so prolific she had to deposit her books in a safe. The book borrows its title from Thomas Hardy who said, "The most brilliantly drawn character in a novel is but a bag of bones"

Noonan's block is worsened by the death of his wife, Jo, who passed away with their unborn child on the pavement of a pharmacy. But Noonan doesn't realize the death of his wife and the baby is in part, fulfillment of a generational curse. If you want to learn about the art of writing and how to deal with writer's block while having fun, read Bag of Bones. It's King's best effort, so far.

Secret Window, Secret Garden (1990)

Morton Rainey is the main character in this novella. He is a writer and recently separated from his wife. As a review says, Rainey is trapped in the demonic depths of a writer's worst nightmare. He has relocated to his summer home awaiting the finalization of his divorce from his wife when one hot afternoon, a stranger wakes him from his siesta. He opens the door and sees a guy who looks like a character from a Faulkner story. The first words the guy says to him and which marks the opening line of the novella are, "You stole my story." And from that point in time, Rainey's nightmares begin.

Stephen King masterfully twists the plot line, sometimes Rainey is a split personality, possessed by this strange character, John Shooter, who appeared at his doorstep uninvited. The story revolves around a writer exhibiting rare symptoms of dissociative disorder. You can't guess where King is taking you, even after the story is told. The suspense is just too intense.

Word Processor of the Gods (1985)

Here's a short story and part of the collection, Skeleton Crew about a writer who receives the gift of a custom built word processor from his fifteen-year old nephew, Jon. The machine has supernatural powers to execute whatever commands a user typed.

Richard Hagstrom, a struggling writer, uses the word processor to bring back his nephew who died in an accident caused by his drunken father–Richard's older brother. But not before deleting his son and wife from the face of reality. Word Processor of the Gods is a short story that attempts through allegories, to show how fiction immortalizes our dreams and hopes.

1408 (2002)

Of this story, Stephen King said, "I never intended to finish it. I wrote the first three or four pages as part of an appendix for my On Writing book, wanting to show readers how a story evolves from first draft to second."

Mike Enslin visits places haunted by ghosts or spirits or some other evil and then writes about his experience. Olin, the manager of the hotel tries to discourage Enslin from going up to Room 1408 (the number adds up to 13–the so-called evil number), where several paranormal activities had occurred but his attempts were rewarded by fierce rebuttal.

Enslin went into room 1408 but barely escaped with his life when the thing in the room set him ablaze.

Misery (1987)

Imagine meeting a fan of yours who wants you to write one last novel for an already concluded romance series you have been writing. You may not want to consider it as an option but she can be persuasive... with an axe! That's the scenario the main character in this story, Paul Sheldon, finds himself thrust into. Involved in an accident, bugged down by a broken ankle and rescued by a psycho nurse who is responsible for the deaths of over 100 people, Paul Sheldon is in a worst-case scenario. And Annie Wilkes is the perfect muse for any complacent writer, believe that!

Lisey's Story (2006)

This is the story King said was inspired by visions of his own death after his now famous accident. He returned from the hospital to find his wife had rearranged his study and the thought came to him what becomes of his wife after he dies.

Lisey Landon, wife of the deceased writer, Scott Landon is faced by scores of people demanding her late husband’s unpublished manuscripts to the point of threat. The story is paranormal romance at its best.

The Road Virus Heads North (2002)

Richard Kinnell is a horror writer who picked up a picture with supernatural powers at a yard sale. The original owner and artist had hung himself in his basement but not before pinning a note to his breast which read, "I can't stand what's happening to me."

Eventually, Kinnell, observes that the picture keeps changing and he tries to rid himself of the thing. He dumps it in among the pine trees behind a fast food joint. However, when Kinnell gets home he finds The Road Virus, that is the name of the picture on the wall at his home.

‘Salem's Lot (1975)

Is the story of a writer, Ben Mears who returns to a town, Jerusalem's Lot ('Salem's Lot, for short) where he grew up and had been away from for years. He finds the town almost in the same condition as he had left it but at the same time, he discovers an unspoken evil hovering over the town.

It's a vampire story with a twist. King said he did a "restructuring and updating (of) the basic elements of Bram Stoker's Dracula to create 'Salem's Lot."

The Shining (1977)

Jack Torrance was hired to take care of a large hotel all winter but the tide turns against him. He becomes psychotic and tries to harm his family. His son, Danny, and wife eventually escape owing largely to the 'gift' of The Shining the kid possesses.

The Dark Half (1989)

Thad Beaumont is a writer in distress as his pseudonym gains substance and tries to steal his reality. Beaumont was switching genres and had celebrated the fact with a mock funeral of his pseudonym with a picture on the cover page of a magazine. A few days later, the grounds keeper of the local cemetery discovers a 'hole' in the same spot Beaumont had used for his mock burial.

Something had dug its way out of the 'grave'. Then the killings began and Beaumont's fingerprint is all over the evidence. Yet, Beaumont has proof he was home on the night of the murders. This story is allegoric presentation of how fiction can influence the life of a writer.

Stephen King has more stories which, involve writers but I intend to end my ranting with Dark Half. If you want to learn the craft of writing, do read King's nonfiction book On Writing but do not stop there, read his novels, as well. You'll learn vastly by following that route.

Keep your pen bleeding.

Akpan

NaNoWriMo: 5 Things to Keep in Mind

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

November is probably the busiest month of the year on the internet. It’s the time when the www witnesses its largest input of data.

All over the world, writers are getting their muses fired up. Today is the second day of November, NaNo kicked into full swing, yesterday. What follows are five reminders you ought to carry along with you on your journey to the 50,000 word mark.

1. It’s Not Too Late To Join In

That’s considering you can pull a 2,000-word-a-day stint. You can still meet that 50,000 word deadline by the end of November. If you’re just tuning in on this wavelength, nano’s still open to you!

2. Relax. It Is, After All, a Draft

One of the most encouraging facts for the writer to remember is this; nanowrimo is the fossil of your story. Just dug up but yet to be polished and rearranged to take on semblance of the structure of an identifiable dinosaur. It’s just drafts.

            Nano is an outlet to give vent to the inward groaning; the skeletal frame of your book. That’s one primary reason you can pick up your writing from the last chapter.

3. You Don’t Have to Post It Online

I did NaPoWriMo in April and ended up typing and posting over 10,000 words of poetry online. I acquired a little bit of information about my typing ability during the adventure. (Don’t misinterpret me, it was such fun.) Last June, I proceeded on another writing gig, which I called nashowrimo. Recognizing my typing limitations, I applied for annual leave where I worked (it’s some really grueling stint) because I wouldn’t dare pretend I could write and then type over 40,000 words in 30 days with my nose deep in something else.

            Annual leaves are taken only once a year (I can’t apply for sick leave, everybody knows I’m never sick). So, I’m nanoing offline. It’s the only way I see myself hitting the mark.

You can follow my example.

4. Get Your 50,000 Words

If you got all day to write then by all means, write all day! You might experience some really nasty case of dry spells along the way, these extras will fill in those uneventful moments.

The best thing is to have a word quota for each day and then when you got free time, fill them up with writing.

5. It’s Not Over Until It’s the 30th

Just keep going at it even when it seems you’re falling behind schedule. The muse is, so many times, unpredictable. You never know when a strong burst of inspiration will drive you into the land of unprecedented creativity.

It’s not over until November gives on December!

Happy nanoing!

Keep your pen bleeding!

Akpan

Related articles

• I've got the NaNoWriMo jitters. Bad.
• Beginning NaNoWriMo
• The Pros and Cons of NaNoWriMo
• NaNoWriMo: Can you write a novel in a month?
• NaNoWriMo
• The NaNoWriMo Continuum

5 Tips on Reading Like a Writer

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

I have something for you. Especially, if you’re a writer but I guess any fervid reader might learn a few tricks from this post.

There is a world of difference between reading (despite the intensity of the reader) and reading like a writer. I know a lot of writers feel the same way, too. The tips which follow are not all there is about reading like a writer but they’ll suffice for now. For me, more than for you.

1. Live Inside the Story

This is an attempt to see the reader through your eyes as well as your senses. You’re learning how the reader is influenced by the printed page. Don’t act it. Really live in the pages and allow the words touch and move you until you hear the author’s pulse as the words pour through the windows of your eyes into your heart. Take the words through the follicles in your body.

2. Read with a Pencil Close By

If ‘Read a lot’ is the first part of the writer’s creed (The second part being Write a lot.), the writer ought to regard books as a student treats his/her textbooks. Underline words and phrases, which strike you as peculiar. Put a square around special words. Use curly brackets, asterisks, question marks, exclamation marks, any symbols that might aid sharp and brilliant recall in time of need.

            The purpose of marking phrases or whole sentences and paragraphs is to help you find the appropriate words/phrases or paragraph during your writing period. It’s easy to identify a line or box standing in the middle of a page, to find the sentence it guards. Use highlighters and colored pencils/pen. Any word that kicks up your interest should be marked for further escapades.

3. Read between the Lines

Look beyond the obvious. Strip the words of contextual and metaphorical context and dig straight for the meat.’

            Read guided by the simple but forceful truth: you are a writer. Make the words on the page appeal to you; listen to the author’s heartbeat as he speaks to you. Weigh each word on the scale of your emotion as the meaning slides home with an audible thump.

4. Add Your Own Words

Here’s one important reason you should have a pen or pencil beside you when you read.

            Reading is a stimuli for creativity. A word, a phrase, an expression could spark a bust of inspiration and you would want to mark your place with… words. No other spot can serve that need like the space beside the words that initiated the inspiration.

            Add your words to the ones already on the page; it will make you feel like you belong. The pages become less formal and more personal. To have your thoughts side by side, buttressing, explaining and magnifying the ones on the page gives the idea of everlastingness to the printed text. It keeps the memory of the experience fresh.

5. Observe the Writing Style

Ask yourself questions like, How would I write this, if given the opportunity? Or How would this look if I had penned it?

Be on the lookout for peculiar twists, things out of the way the author uses to achieve a particular effect.

            Note the beginning, the middle (body, if nonfiction, rising action/climax, if fiction) and the landing of the story. We can always learn a thing or two from one another. Sometimes, it might be what not to do while writing in a particular field or genre.

What a writer needs to do above all else, is to live inside books. Read intensely and in every field there is. You need to be something of an expert at various times to write in a particular field.

            So read. Let the words form pinions under you, fly you beyond the edge of reality until you tread unknown pastures, and smell the fragrance of the Shakespearean Rose.

Keep your pen bleeding!

Akpan

Related articles

• 5 Mistakes to Avoid When Writing A Story
• 5 Ways Writers Can Get the Most Out of Goodreads
• The Difference Between Voice and Style in Writing
• Writing Every Day: Stephen King
• Writing Every Day: Ray Bradbury
• How to Conquer Self Doubt And Just Write

7 Ways Random Writing Can Boost Your Output

Seeking the best technique to get you out of that uncharacteristically fallow period and boost your output a 100% more?

What you need, my friend is random writing!

This statement raises an interesting question:

                                    What is random writing?

Random Writing is talking on paper.

It’s the process where the writer freely expresses his feelings and thoughts as he pours out the contents of his heart on the page without stopping to edit.

That sounds a lot like free writing but it’s not. Free writing is done in careless abandon and is a kind of prewriting process that helps you unclog your mind and get on with the real project. Random writing is the real project in draft! I’ll talk more on this later.

What I’m about presently, is how this writing device can boost your output.

1. Discover Something to Write

Random writing does not require a title or a theme. You put your pen to the paper and let the first words that appear guide the flow. Just keep on writing and you’ll be amazed.

2. Bust the Block

Do I need to explain this one?

One of the best ways to get your juice flowing when you’re stuck is to random write. Just talk to yourself on paper. Sometimes, a little rambling might be sufficient to give you a good wind but don’t let up if it don’t happen when you expect.

3. Stay Focused

You are either a writer or you’re not. Writer’s write, it’s as simple as that. Juggle your creativity, stay in the middle of the road with random writing.

4. Develop A Unique Writing Voice

One of the benefits of conscious writing is that it opens up your soul to soar. You are given wings to explore the details of the real self. The deeper you reach within you to splash raw words on the pages of your journal, the closer you come to carving a niche for your writing style. You ain’t writing to fulfill a specific writing structure and this helps you discover how you truly sound on paper.

5. Invent A Writing Style

When you lay raw, unedited words on paper, it’s not impossible to stumble on a new style of writing. Especially, if you do stuff like poetry. Because, this kind of writing is not planned, you might create a seemingly random pattern in your writing and come to adopt it as a personal style. It happened to me!

6. Stay Productive

Your mind is always talking. Capture those words on paper and judge ‘em later. You are always certain of stuff to write without the over thinking involved.

7. Conquer self-Doubt

Defeat the inner critic who keeps screaming, “You know you can’t write!”

Write anyway!

You write without thinking too much about what to write. Let the words flow one after the other. Don’t try to judge, put everything down. There’ll be time enough for editing.

You won’t need everything you write but the ones you do need will make all the difference.

Keep your pen bleeding!

Akpan

Related articles

• Writing Every Day: Stephen King
• Writing Every Day: Ray Bradbury
• The More You Write For Yourself, The Better Your Book Will Be
• 7 Things I've Learned So Far: Kami Kinard
• A Truckload of Desktop Apps for Writers
• 20 Ways to Tell You're a Writer

Put The Fuel On It

In these days, the urge is pressing to be keen on what you do and to convey a measure of elegance into the practice of it. Outside is busting with millions of attractive distractions. Quite a few of these pests are almost worth the abandon of a life long career as a writer and to lay pursuit. "Almost", but not quite. And of course, you know "almost" don't count in the upward climb.

It is a fine line between idling and rusting. You may want to stack your writer resources on your way out because faster than you can see it coming, you'll be out like a candle in a storm. It's a 100% guarantee! Thinking you can switch in and out of the zone at will and at alarming irregularity is a signal there's a lot of soap opera history you haven't caught up on yet. On becoming a writer worthy of the name, anyway.

Consistency sets your bones afire as it does preserve your juice in a blanket of warmth when you have to make the little deals that take you off your writing. But, with the outward pull of enthusiastic temptations trying to trap your attention, you have a battle on your hands, a war you must win. Passion is the flare that ignites the dynamite. But, passion, on a personal level, is a process. I hardly make out that distinct quality but as product of an intense other. More on that later.

From another angle on a broader plane, you can only be consistent at something you have fallen for; something that really turns you on; works your genius and makes your consciousness spring each time it crosses your mind. I don't invite my dreams, but with the certainty of tides rising high, they will keep walking through the walls of my unconsciousness in all their arrays; the horrifying, the terrifying and the gross out. My muse does make uninvited visits too and I do try to the best of my ability to keep him entertained during the periods of his stay. Yet, I can and do make appointments with my muse. I must if I want to succeed as a writer. This idea has its own arresting clarity.

Inspiration exists, but it has to find us working. Picasso

There's a process at the helm of everything that is continuing. Passion as a rule, is not an exception. I view this like a sort of teamwork going on. Without consistency, passion is nothing but paperwork, it never comes to anything like a wild stab in pitch darkness. You just can't groom passion without consistency. It's a two-sided coin in spite of everything; consistency feeds on your passion and grows fat on the stimulus. Your passion is a drive, a hunger that comes with a twinge of appetite for consistency. Get up and get going, already. Once you find your itinerary, stick to it with passion. Be consistent at that one thing. Read. Research. Write and Read. Read ten times as much as you write.

Life is everything we plug into it. Our writing grows and matures if inspired. We actually thrive beyond elementary stages when our passion, touched by stints of consistent attendance at our writing tables, drives us into the heart of what we do. The impact eventually, turning us into human hand grenades.

When passion comes, with it comes creativeness. Guess an element of truth exists in the age-old writer slogan,

Write With Passion!

Keep your pen bleeding!

Akpan

Related articles

• Writing Every Day: Ray Bradbury
• A Writer Has Passion
• Remember Your Passion
• 5 Mistakes to Avoid When Writing A Story
• 7 Things I've Learned So Far: Joanne Brothwell
• Writing the Book You Were Meant to Write

Fear is a Writer's Toy

I remember the many times I sat before my computer and dreaded touching the keyboard afraid of what strange words might find it’s way to the screen.

Many of those times I knew there was a story waiting to be written. I could see the actions played out in my mind, it was like watching a theater act during rehearsals. What then was the underlying cause of my unrest?

I was afraid that my 'limited' vocabulary would be insufficient in communicating the world on my insides to the mind of my readers. I felt I couldn't be true to the images flickering on the walls of my mind owing to a lack of words to 'appropriately' express them. Hence, many of those stories died before they were born; they experienced literary stillbirths.

Have you ever been hindered by a seeming 'remoteness' of your story-ideas? Have you ever had a moment you regarded a picture in your own mind as superior to your writing abilities?

The story might be mightier than the warrior but definitely not the storyteller.

If two distinct authors could reproduce the telling or the showing of a specified event using exactly the same format-vocabulary and writing style inclusive-I suppose then the idea of originality would be defeated. You probably share my sentiment, don't you?

Here are a few tips from Steven Barnes which I believe could transform any writer's fears into tools for mastery of the craft:

1. What will a writing career add to your life?

2. What is the greatest risk connected with your goal? Greatest potential reward?

3. There are voices in your mind speaking to you about your plans. Whose voice speaks most loudly?

After listing these three leading questions Steven has this to say:

The more clearly you understand the potential benefits of actually fulfilling your dreams, the easier it is to feel the motivation necessary to accomplish them.

In the following lines he takes a step further suggesting that the writer ought to turn his fears into his character's fears thereby enhancing the plausibility of his story:

1. What does your lead character want, and how will her desires affect her life?

2. What danger lies ahead for your character?

3. What ghosts from your character's past keep her from seeing things clearly?

Remember, ideas in your mind sound different on paper. You can only tell a good idea from a bad one after you put it down.

Put it down. I guess that's the hardest part. The hardest moment is always before you start. This blog is my little way of learning how to conquer my personal demons.

Until next time.

Write Everyday!

Keep your pen bleeding!

Akpan

Related articles

• Staying Focused
• Writing Every Day: Ray Bradbury
• 5 Mistakes to Avoid When Writing A Story
• Top Ten Things That Terrorize
• Should Fictional Characters Be Drawn Directly From Life?
• Writing Every Day: Steven Barnes