At the SCBWI Canada East conference in Ottawa this weekend, I received my shiny Crystal Kite Award in the Canada division for Bog, published by Fitzhenry & Whiteside and edited by the fabulous Christie Harkin and Cheryl Chen. This award is particularly meaningful to me because it’s peer-given. I’m honoured and thrilled that my own people would recognize Bog in this way. He’s a character who is near and dear to my heart, but I must admit that his creation was fraught with rejections and roadblocks.
Crystal Kite ceremony with Peggy Collins, Alma Fullerton and Michelle Jodoin
At the ceremony, I shared an anecdotal journey of my creation of Bog, including my inspiration, struggles, and what I learned. This blog post is an excerpt from that talk.
Overcoming Self-Doubt
At times when I was writing Bog, self-doubt slowed my process. Why was an adult woman spending her time squirreled away alone and writing about a cave troll? Would anyone want to read my story? Was I mad?
I learned that, when doubt creeps into my writing process, I need to rekindle my joy in writing. Yes, writing is a way I earn money, but it’s also a passion. With Bog, I rekindled my joy by playing. Exploring who Bog was in his world. Allowing myself the time and space to imagine him fully. I also learned that if I’ve lost the joy, I may need to switch to another project until I can rekindle my passion.
Finding Characters with Personal Meaning
Picture me in grade nine: Less than five feet tall. Weighing less than a hundred pounds. Painfully shy. With an overactive imagination.
When I hit five feet tall, I banned short jokes in my family. But at school, I got called small and cute a lot. Too much. My rebellious streak took over. I began to hate being called small and cute. I began to tell everyone that I was very large and hairy – at least on the inside. And so, my inner troll was born.
Since then, it’s become been a running joke in my family: Karen – big and hairy. In fact, this theme shows up years later in a hand-drawn birthday card from my eldest daughter. My daughter knows what it’s like to have a troll for a mother.
And so, I learned to write characters who carry personal meaning for me. When I connect with them, write them deeply, readers can connect to them too.
Gathering Inspiration from Other Creators and Their Work
Inspiration for Bog’s character continued when I saw the trolls in the Lord of the Rings movies. Maybe you remember the cave troll in the Mines of Moria, chain by the orc and dragged around by his neck collar to do their bidding. Everyone else watching the movie was probably worried about Frodo at that point, but I was wondering why the troll was chained and whether he was coerced into being a warrior for the orcs. Did he want to fight against Frodo? Was he treated fairly by the orcs?
So the idea of writing a novel featuring trolls was born. And I learned that I could build on the ideas of other creators, explore them from new angles, and gain new insights.
Finding Story Sparks Even in Dark Moments
Another influence for Bog came on 9/11 and the days and months afterward. In a way, this novel is my reaction to the terrible destruction of the World Trade Center towers, and the ensuing war on terror. But it’s also a reaction to ethnic conflicts and violent extremism the world over – anywhere where there is learned hatred against another culture instead of acceptance and understanding of differences.
On 9/11 and in the days that followed, I learned that even dark moments can hide story sparks. I also learned that I could show the dark side of life to kids and help us all make sense of it.
No Holidays from Inspiration
By this point in my writing process, I was researching things like phases of the moon, the forest and its creatures at night, how far a troll can walk per night, troll lore from both Norse mythology and ingenious stories, and what drives people to terrorism. But it wasn’t until I went on a camping trip in northern Ontario that I finalized my setting.
Sleeping Giant, Lake Superior
The novel creates a mythology around the landscape north of Lake Superior in Ontario. The setting is based on real places, including the wilderness north of Thunder Bay, the Sleeping Giant peninsula in Lake Superior, and the ruins of a flooded silver mine on Silver Islet.
From my camping trip, I learned to be open to inspiration from daily life. To pay attention. There are no holidays from inspiration.
Managing Roadblocks and Rejections
At this point, I was ready to start writing. I knew my story. I could write this book.
Or not.
This book was the hardest one I’ve written so far. It took more rewrites than I expected – a total of ten years from conceptualization to printed book. First, I got stuck while writing first draft. I had to learn more about plotting. So I got hooked on screenwriting seminars by John Truby, Robert McKee, and Christopher Vogler. Then I had to learn more about how to express character and meticulously craft a sentence. I sought out conferences, writing books, mentors, and critique partners. When I did get a readable draft written, I submitted it to a lot of agents, sure that this would be my breakout book. This book mattered. It would find its home.
But it found a lot of rejections. And I found my way tangled.
This taught me that my writing journey is not steady or consistent. It’s full of detours, roadblocks, and surprising discoveries. I also learned something about the way I react to rejection. I mourn. Then I get fierce. I think, “I can so write a great book.” I pull out the manuscript again, and I go at it once more, getting feedback, envisioning a new draft, and writing to prove to myself that I can succeed.
No Shortcuts in Writing
If I could talk to my pre-published self, I’d say have a little faith in yourself and your writing instincts but don’t think you can perfect the craft without putting in a lot of writing hours.
I’ve also learned that I can recover from a rejection, or a lot of rejections, if I keep writing and revising. And I can find an innovative way around any roadblock, if I stay steady on my creative journey.
Probably the coolest place I’ve ever run writing workshops, I wrote with grade 4 to 8 students right next to Chris Hadfield’s spacesuit, the first Canada Arm, and northern bush planes.
MASC does excellent, important work, and they do it so well. I was honoured to be part of it, and to share stories with the kids and teens.
Just to give you a glimpse into the fine writing that happened during the week, here are two great lines from my workshops:
On loneliness: “He was nothing more than nothing in a school that had everything.”
Describing the conditions that lead to belly-aching laughter between friends: “High on Cheeto dust, Coca-Cola and sunshine. When even a brownie recipe can make you laugh.”
I now have a few manuscripts from kids and teens to critique, which I’m happy to do. It’s great to have the opportunity to encourage keen writers to continue to develop their skills after the conference is over.
Writing the middle of a novel is hard. I start out a first draft starry-eyed and eager to write, enthralled by my sparkly premise and seduced by my enticing characters. This book will be different. I know so much more about writing a novel now. I won’t get lost in the messy middle this time.
Words come easily. One chapter flows into the next. Then, at some point, maybe around chapter eight, I slooowww dooowwwnnn. Word production reduces to a trickle. My characters don’t seem so sparkly anymore. My plot tangles.
Can you tell where I am in my current work-in-progress? Yep. You guessed it. The messy middle.
Here are my tips and tricks for facing down the messy middle:
Re-visit Your Plot
I typically create a full synopsis before writing. Throughout the writing of my first draft, I stop to revise my synopsis periodically. It’s easy to find places to tweak wording, but more importantly, I find places to expand. Sometimes, I get stuck in the messy middle because I haven’t fully envisioned what’s going to happen in a section of the novel. I have the larger scenes in mind, but the nuances and details fill in as I write a first draft.
Take a Walk With Your Protagonist
I may be lost in the messy middle, but my protagonist can guide me through. Sometimes, I pause during the writing of my first draft to expand my character notes. Now that I’ve written a portion of the novel, I may have a better idea of who my protagonist is, and how my other characters relate to him or her.
Research Your Next Scene
I may become stuck because I don’t have enough detail to imagine the next sequence of scenes. Researching setting and other particulars can help me get back on track. Once I’ve researched information I may have been missing, I can write more specific notes about my upcoming scenes. If I’m lucky, I’ll slip into writing the next scene without even noticing. If not, at least I’ll have a better plan for what I’ll write, when I’m unblocked.
Write About Your Novel
I sometimes need to write journal entries about my novel. Typically, I ask myself questions about what’s blocking me or how I feel about the novel and its characters. My entries are rambling and sometimes grouchy or whiny, but they eventually help me figure out why I’m blocked. When I identify the block, it’s easier to clear.
Make Revision Notes About What You’ve Already Written
Sometimes I need a running start in order to tackle the messy middle. I re-read from the start of my first draft, making notes about how to revise and deepen. I try not to do too much revision at this stage, because I know I’ll see the manuscript more clearly once I’ve written a whole first draft. But if I discover my manuscript has traveled far off track, I wrestle it back into place. This process helps me to re-connect with what I’ve written and where the story is headed, kickstarting my writing again.
Make a Project Playlist
I love collecting songs that inspire my work-in-progress and even specific scenes. Listening to my playlist before a writing session can help me get writing.
Find Images to Inspire You
I also love collecting images that inspire my work-in-progress. I’ve collected photos of people who look like my characters, setting possibilities and artwork that captures the emotional tenor of my work-in-progress. If you like to draw, you could also sketch your characters and settings, even mapping your world.
Make a Daily Word Count
I have an over-active inner editor who likes to judge whether I’m writing well. I like to keep him busy by counting words. If I set a daily word count for myself, he’s distracted from judging the quality of my writing, which frees me up to simply get words on paper. I can’t revise if I don’t write a first draft.
I prefer to set my daily word count low. If I aim for only five hundred daily words, but I achieve one thousand, I feel positive. If I aim for fifteen hundred words and achieve one thousand, I feel discouraged.
Write To-do Lists
I like to break my big-picture goals into smaller daily ones. My yearly goals are vague (for example, write a first draft of novel A and revise novel B). But I break those down into realistic weekly and daily goals, depending on the non-writing tasks I also need to do. This takes the pressure off in terms of personal or publisher deadlines. As long as I’m meeting my monthly or weekly goals, I’ll get where I’m headed.
Find a Goal Buddy
I love solitude. On my high-school aptitude test, my top job was a long-distance truck driver. I figure that’s because I answered every question as the introvert that I am. Sometimes, I need to fight that urge for solitude and talk to writing friends about my goals. When I state my goals aloud to someone I trust, it helps me feel more accountable.
I know that frustration is part of the creative process. Yet, with each project, when the messy-middle stage arrives, I’m caught off guard. This manuscript feels harder to write than any other I’ve ever written. Where do I go from here? How can I move this project forward?
I’m about to dust off a few of these techniques to re-kindle my enthusiasm for my work-in-progress. Hopefully, some of these techniques will work for you too.
Hey, Toronto teen artists and writers! Check out the great events at the Toronto Public Library on March Break, including an open mic and workshops on photography, anime, cartooning, writing, and more. For a full listing, go here.
After you perfect your artwork, photography and writing, you can submit it to the TPL’s Young Voices Magazine. The submission deadline is Tuesday April 5, 2016. Work submitted after the 2016 deadline will be considered for the 2017 issue of Young Voices Magazine.
All submissions are reviewed by an editorial board consisting of teen artists and writers working with professional artists and writers, including me. If your work is selected for publication, you’ll be notified by the TPL. Good luck, and I look forward to reading your entries!
Do you want to see what the editorial board selected in 2015? To read last year’s magazine, go here.
I’ve been thinking about how best to concentrate this month, really focus during my writing sessions, since I’ve been noticing that I can be easily distracted at times.
Why am I more distracted than usual? Maybe it’s because of the intermittent nature of connecting with people through social media throughout the day. (I love connecting with my online network, really, but I also need writing time.) Or maybe it’s the bite-sized way we now consume online information, through 500-word blog posts and three-minute videos. (How often do I favour that three-minute video over the 20-minute one? Has my brain been reprogrammed to consume in small batches?)
So I began my personal mission for better concentration.
Step 1: Control my Use of Social Media
I’m a writer with discipline, so I don’t need an app that banishes me from Facebook or Twitter. But I maybe I don’t need to check in every 30 minutes? Or watch that cat video. Or that one. Or … you get the idea. (Maybe I still need some help with step 1.)
Step 2: Get More Comfortable
I know many writers like treadmill desks. (Right Arthur Slade and Mahtab Narsimhan?) Call me lazy, but I prefer to sit while writing. The problem is that the cold gets to me, so my latest writing tool is writing gloves. I love, love, love my cozy new gloves. Warmth matters. Who can write well without warmth?
Step 3: Seek Sounds for Better Productivity
With noisy teenagers in my home and construction workers often outside it, I’ve been trying productivity sounds to help me focus. The free websites Rainy Mood as well as Noisli have helped me block unwanted sound. But I hit the motherload of sound productivity when this blog post introduced me to Brain FM. Wow! I’m a huge fan!
What is Brain FM? It’s a website-delivered audio brainwave program designed to help us focus, relax, or sleep, depending on what we’re trying to do. I was a skeptic, until I tried it once. Four hours later, I was still writing and that tug to check Facebook and Twitter was a distant memory.
Step 4: Seek Goal Buddies
I love writing in solitude. But I’ve also been seeking out like-minded writing friends to help with productivity. Sometimes, I flee my lonely writer’s garret to meet friends at a library or coffee shop to write. I love the looks of quiet concentration on their faces and the conversations about our goals for our works-in-progress.
Step 5: Just Say No
As Steve Jobs famously said in this video, “Focusing is saying, ‘No.'” Life is busy, and it can be hard to chisel out writing time. Recently, I’ve been learning the power of saying “no.” I want to be tugged in fewer directions. I want to spend less time multi-tasking. I want to to focus on one writing task at a time, and do it well. Really well. So well, that when a child or teenager picks up one of my books and starts to read, my writing will be compelling enough that he or she won’t be tempted to check Facebook or Twitter or Instagram or Tumblr or anything else. At least until the book is done.
