A writing meme

ETA: Due to incoming Hurricane Ike and the very real possibility that I'll be without electricty and/or phone/Internet service, I've decided to postpone the start of my Internet addiction series until next Monday, September 15th. In the meanwhile, I'll leave you with a meme to ponder and pass around:

I saw this writing meme over on Charles Gramlich’s blog during the summer so I thought I’d take a crack at it. No, I’m not going to tag anybody, but if you want to participate then consider yourself tagged:

Your genre(s): My short story credits fall under the category of noir and hard boiled. I’ve completed a crime thriller screenplay, and my current projects can all be considered psychological suspense thrillers. Basically, when I sit down to write, someone ends up dead.

How many books are you working on now: I’m actively working on two projects right now. Ordinarily I believe in working on one project at a time, but when this second project came out of left field, an idea posted on an agent’s wish-list of projects, well, the muse started whispering in my ear about this project. I was forced to listen. And take notes.

I don’t recommend that anyone work on multiple projects, not until after they’ve completed several. Since I’ve finished two screenplays and one novel, I know I’m capable of coming to “The End,” and that working on multiple projects isn’t just a procrastination technique to avoid finishing, like it is for some people.

Like it used to be for me, long ago, when I first started writing.

Are you a linear or chunk writer: Absolutely linear. Some scenes are much more difficult to write than others, but since one scene lays the ground work for the next, and I’m really big on transitioning smoothly (or at least trying to) from one scene to the other, I need to go in order.

Since “structure” is my middle name (along with “critic”), I need to build my stories (storeys?) from the ground up; you can’t put up the roof till you’ve put up the walls. At least I can’t. I also need the project’s title before I write word one. Title is usually a play on the theme, and for me theme is the glue that holds it all together.

The POV you’re partial to: There’s nothing I struggle with more that POV. For now I think an intimate, close/limited third person POV works best for me. It just seems to be a natural storytelling technique. I recognize that first person narrative best creates intimacy with the reader, but I don’t like limiting myself to going places only the main character can go, and to know things only he or she knows.

The Tense you use: (Charles added this one. He said he finds it interesting. Me too). While novels are traditionally written in past tense, I notice the trend these days is an acceptance of present tense (which is, of course, the tense of screenplays). I’ve tried present tense in a short story, and it wasn’t as awkward for me to write as I thought it would be. Still for my novel, I’ll stick to past tense.

The theme that keeps cropping up in your books: This one’s easy. Most of my projects: past, present and future, are about the exile – the person driven from their home who strives to return to it someday. But as Wolfe says: You can’t go home again, and this is what my MC’s all struggle with.

How many days a week do you write: Tough question. For the past few years, I’ve been in school, with school the priority over writing. But now that school is winding down, writing is the priority. The goal is to stay home three days a week and put in long writing sessions (4-6 hours). At least two more days a week, the goal is to put in at least an hour or two if not writing, then at least editing (I’m a big edit-as-you-go writer, and not a don’t-get-it-right-get-it-written writer; the goal is a polished, tight first draft even if it takes a long time to complete, followed by a short secondary editing process). There’s usually one day a week left over where I wish I could find time to write but the demands of a house/yard/pets/errands/repairs take over the entire day because I’ve neglected all those things the other six days.

But I also recognize the importance of taking a step back while I’m writing, especially if I’m in a tough spot and things aren’t working on the page the same way they worked in my outline. I’m a big believer of walking away from the computer for a day or so to re-group (as opposed to sitting there banging my head against the keyboard).

What time of day do you get your best writing done: (assuming that any of my writing is better than the rest 0 big assumption!) I used to be an afternoon-to-early-evening writer, but I’ve definitely evolved into starting first thing in the morning (after I’ve fed the pets) and have been know to eat my own breakfast at the keyboard. As part of my struggle to deal with my Internet addiction, I’ve become a big believer of writing first, then Internet (in the past I’d surf the web as soon as I woke up but found myself too often whiling away the entire morning online. On top of that, I sometimes noticed my brain was too jumpy and frazzled from the AM web surfing to be able to focus on writing later on in the day).

Regardless of my start time, it can take a couple of hours to get up to cruising speed, for the writing to come effortlessly (maybe should have said “more easily”); I tend to sputter and spurt when I first sit at the keyboard, although now that I’ve become an anal-retentive outliner, I know exactly where to start as soon as I sit down, and now I tend to hit the page running more often than not.

At night, I prefer to read or go for a walk rather than sit at the keyboard (Internet or writing computer). I may jot down notes on a piece paper, but I try to avoid any computer screen after dark, more so because my aging eyes prefer writing by daylight.

Who are your mentors: Charles mentioned certain classic authors as his mentors, but I thought more in terms of writing teachers I’ve had, and of course I’m talking screenwriting since those were, for the most part the only live classes I’ve taken. I consider those screenwriting teachers to have been my mentors, along with the college professors who taught the film classes I took as an undergrad.

Donald Maass, both in person and in his writing advice books has been a mentor to me, as well as his client, Sarasota author Stuart Kaminsky. I’ve had some rather eye-opening “sit downs” with both of them.

I’ve taken several online workshops with Laurie Schnebly Campbell, including a query and synopsis writing workshops, and these workshops have been instrumental in what ever success I’ve achieved so far.

Another mentor has been RITA Award winner and SWFL home-girl Linnea Sinclair. I never considered being on MySpace until Linnea mentioned that she used the social networking site for author promotion. Because of Linnea I got started on MySpace - because I got started on MySpace I got my first short fiction credit. That was the first opportunity that came out of MySpace. It was not the last. I’ve now had a bit of agent interest based on what I’ve posted there.

Two books that have become my writing bibles are Dwight Swain’s TECHNIQUES OF THE SELLING WRITER and Blake Snyder’s SAVE THE CAT; both were recommended by Linnea.

If I have any success as a writer, Linnea will deserve much credit. From her pitch workshops to her boot-camp-styled writing advice lectures, Linnea is a dynamo who can whip any writer into shape.

My favorite authors to read: While there may be a long list of books I’ve loved (a list I’ll be posting in the near future), there are very few living authors I consider among my favorites. However, some dead authors I’ve come to appreciate are Willa Cather, Dawn Powell, Iris Murdoch and Daphne Du Maurier. Interestingly, for the most part, my favorite authors are women.

In a few weeks, I’ll post my list of all-time favorite books, and do a post about the one (and only) living author that’s never let me down, the writer whose books I consider an “auto-buy.”