Finding Inspiration in Writing

            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

            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

"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

"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.