Searching the Universe for Ideas

I've been blogging about writing in a more literary fashion.  The first critical step in any writing endeavor is to seek out an idea, a story concept.  There are many ways to do this, but some are likely to lead to more literary works than others.  Writing in a literary fashion is about building and revealing meaning beyond the surface.  If one plans to do so from the very beginning, it can be easier. 

You can just wander your world and look for interesting events, bits of dialogue, or people.  Observing the world may help you come up with a quirky or interesting alternative explanation for what you find.  This, alone, won't necessarily lead to literary stories, but it could give you some vivid descriptions and characters, which can be added to a story you're working on.  It's possible that observation can lead to some fascinating and literary stories.  As I said, literary stories are all about building and revealing meaning beneath the surface.  Sometimes, that can be harder to do when one starts with reality than when one starts with something already rife with cultural meaning.  In books like 1984 and Animal Farm, Orwell started with cultural observations and turned those observations into social commentary still impacting our lives today.  In A Modest Proposal, Swift merged satire with social commentary in order to make a biting and literary piece.  Writing from observation can certainly be done and done well, especially if one approaches it from a social commentary perspective. 

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You can also find story ideas from historical events.  Many of Shakespeare's famous pieces turned history into literary fiction, as did Homer's Odyssey and The Illiad, among countless others.  Books like these form the backbone of modern western literature. The key is not to just recount the events as they occurred but to imbue the events with meaning beyond just the facts of the story.  Otherwise, it's just history.  Every line and event needs to have more than the obvious meaning, and every scene needs to have multiple layers like you may find in books like The Help. The story should not be simply a recounting of facts but an interweaving of story, meaning, and fact. 

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A reader can also use dreams to shape meaning and tell stories.  A dream is full of personal and sometimes general symbolism.  There are countless books of dream interpretation, or one can take a dream and turn it into whatever you want it to be.  You may dream of yourself, but your main character doesn't have to remain you.  You can use your dream as a starting point to spin something new, as several writers have done such as in The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde, Catch-22, and Frankenstein.  However, if you just record the events of the dream, it probably won't make coherent sense, let along literary meaning.  As with history or fact, the dream is just a jumping off point.  It's up to you to build meaning and literary merit. 

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Also, a writer can use a literary source to create something new.  This can be done to an extreme like in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, wherein the original text is simply added to with new motifs and zombie-fighting events.  However, more commonly, a writer will take a fairy tale, Shakespeare play Jane Austen novel, the Bible, or any such text and turn it into a new story.  James Joyce's Ulysses and Eudora Welty's The Robber Bridegroom come to mind. 

Any of these sources can produce effective literary weight in its subject matter if the writer is careful.  The important thing is to read a lot within whatever genre you want to write and figure out what works for you. 

My Writers' Circle: Katie Snyder

[Katie Snyder]

This is the last in my series of interviews with fairly new writers to expand their audience as I help you discover the world of new talent.  Katie was actually the first one I interviewed.  She has it all.  She's not just a writer but also a blogger, a podcaster, a photographer, a person with a BA in Psychology, a creativity coach, and an all-around wonderful person.  She hosts a podcast most of us can appreciate called The Doing Scary Things Podcast.  She's right now shopping for agent and publisher for her books Never or Now, The Girl in the Box, The Creativity Companion, and A Guide to Beginning (though the last one is an eBook she's producing for free for you).  She's all about helping the reader find the courage within to break down barriers and embrace their creative side.  

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When I asked her how she got into writing, she said, "I think [...] I always wanted to be a writer when I was younger.  More than not believing in myself, I never considered it as an actual occupation or thing to do.  When I was 18, I started college.  I didn't have a minor.  I randomly picked photography on a whim.  I thought it would be a hobby.  It turned into a sixteen-year career.  It was not easy.  I made the worst grades in my life.  It took a long time for things to click for me.  Along the way, people would say things like it must be awesome to be born with this talent.  I wish I could do something like that, but I'm not creative.  It got to me.  I knew my story.  I knew it hadn't come naturally.  They were trying to compliment me, but they were putting themselves down.  They assumed only if you're born with a gift, you can do something.  If you're not, you can't.  I'm writing nonfiction.  Talking to these people, I wanted to do something to encourage them on their own journeys, so I began to study creativity."  Katie has gone through the kind of voyage we all can pursue, which is realizing we, too, can be creative and pursue our dreams, whatever they are.  

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She continued by saying, "I'm a Christian.  Never or Now, which I'm working on now, will be a religious narrative nonfiction book.  Christian tradition tells us that God made the earth and everything in it and that we are made in His image.  People glaze over that point.  We are creators!  We are made in the image of God.  We have license to apply ourselves and do whatever we want to do.  So that's what the book is about.  It's a challenge to really pursue your passions.  And my own story of finding my way is woven through there."  Not every person is a Christian, but every person can realize the power they have inside to create something new.   

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When we talked of the course we're both taking with Write Practice, she said of the instructor of the course, "I know Joe personally that started the Write Practice.  He lives here in Atlanta.  I took another class to get the book finished.  I've pitched it in person to one person.  They liked it.  They want me to send in more information.  With nonfiction, there's a lot of emphasis on the book proposal. I've had so much anxiety about getting the proposal perfect.  This class is great because I've had a longtime career in photography and now  I'm having to rebrand and make a writer's website.  I have an eBook idea about beginning that I'm excited to complete and give away."  She clearly feels strongly about this course we're taking and would recommend it to anyone starting to write.  

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When I asked what she liked most about writing, she said, "I think, in general and especially with my topic, what I like most is being able to encourage people.  I didn't mention this earlier.  I started the Doing Scary Things Podcast.  The things we're passionate about are going to feel scary.  Through that, it's an an opportunity to hear people's stories and talk to them and encourage them.  That has been really powerful for me.  A recent podcast episode was an interview with Best Selling author Allison Fallon.  She teaches people who don't consider themselves to be writers to have a daily writing practice.  She talks about the mental health benefits from that."  Katie is so convinced about the power of creativity that she is spreading the word to all who will listen.  Her message is simple: you, too, have the power to create, no matter what endeavors you pursue.  In creating, you can even recreate who you are and will be.   

 

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When I asked what she liked least about writing, she said, "I'm an honest perfectionist.  It's hard for me to get out of my head and hit publish, whether it's Instagram or blog post.  I second guess everything.  Writing has helped with that a little, trying to write this book I should say.  I think this is one of the things Joe talked about in the 100 day course.  You're never going to finish if you edit as you go or overanalyze.  It's been freeing to just get it out.  Trying to organize a book and have it make sense start to finish has been a challenge."  I think many of us have that perfectionist within.  When we see that what we are producing is not perfect, we, too, hesitate to send it into the world.  But Katie is here to inspire you to hit send, to make your creative voice heard.  

Head on over to Katie's website and discover a world of creativity she wishes to share.  She wants everyone to know that you, too, can do scary things.  

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It's been a pleasure highlighting these authors, most of whom I never met until I interviewed them.  We, as authors, are a family.  If we reach out to fellow authors, show them we care and are happy to support them, they will do the same to us.  You, too, can reach out and create your own writers' circle and have fun doing it.  Now, go ahead and reach out.  

My Writers' Circle: Jennnifer L Baker

[Jennifer L. Baker] 

This week, I'm highlighting fellow writers I met as part of an effort to put together my writers' group.  In the writing course I am taking, they emphasized the importance of sharing, of being generous, when working with readers and writers.  I'm using this opportunity to share with you as my readers about these new(ish) writers, so you, too, will watch for their future pieces.  This time, I'm writing about Jennifer L. Baker.  

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Jennifer is working on polishing up a finished draft of book one of a nine-book fantasy series (intended for more mature young adults and adults). She has begun writing the second book in that series and has outlined the other seven. Here is the summary of her first book:

In a medieval, Earth-like world where even the weakest humans possess some form of limited magic, fifteen-year-old Sarra struggles to keep her two beloved half-sisters–Aella and Heather—clothed, fed, and safe. Impoverished and living in constant danger from Seth, their mother’s violent boyfriend who leads a band of local criminals, Sarra fears her only course of action is to leave the life she’s built behind, to get them out of Orestone and settled somewhere far away. But it takes coin to safely travel the kingdom’s long and sometimes desolate roads.

[Metallurgy--source]

But Sarra has a plan. If she can just obtain a coveted apprenticeship with the metallurgy guild, she'll be able to secure the necessary funds to make their journey in relatively safety. However, obstacles and dangers abound: mysterious magical creatures, a journeyman at the foundry who seems oddly intent on keeping Sarra from success, long-buried family secrets, and of course, Seth and his sinister cohorts.

Will Sarra successfully attain this apprenticeship? Will she be forced to take her sisters and flee the city, leaving behind dear friends, and possibly having to say goodbye to the young man with whom she is falling in love? And, if they must leave, can Sarra rise to the challenge and get herself and her sisters safely out of Seth’s grasp? And even if she can…what might be the consequences of their Escape?

It sounds like a fun romp to me.  

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When I asked how she got started writing, she said, "I'm an avid reader. One day I found myself caught up on reading all the fantasy series I like to read and needed more. So, I figured, if I can't read something I’m dying to read, then I’ll write something. I never made a concerted effort to write for fun until that moment. It was kind of a random thing to do at the time, I suppose. My degree is actually in psychology so that change in focus a few years back really took me by surprise. But it just felt right.  

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“And, I love reading a good series. So, the idea of starting with short stories didn’t even cross my mind. I launched right into developing an idea for a series. And, eventually I did finish the first book, though it took some time and wound up turning into an unwieldy beast of a manuscript. But I learned a ton. I learned so many things not to do while trying to write a novel.

“After that, I launched into writing a new series and I’ve been having so much fun with it. I tried writing the first book as a pantser, you know, the sort of writer who writes by the seat of their pants with no outline. Turns out, I'm an outliner. I learned a great deal from that first effort at writing." I think a lot of writers can sympathize in that they start out as readers then choose to pursue their lives as writers." 

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Concerning what Jennifer likes least, she said, "It's the seemingly endless revisions it takes before I reach a draft I feel I can live with." I very much agree.

Escape, book one of Jennifer’s series, The Elven Prophecies, is in the final stages of polishing up. In the near future she hopes to see it published. When it becomes available, I recommend you pick up a copy of Jennifer L. Baker's wonderful fantasy novel. I'm sure you won't regret it. To receive updates on its progress, you can visit her website at: www.jenniferlbaker.com.