Sunday, 6 January 2013

Writing a short story as an exercise


I wrote a book.
And then I took some advise very seriously.
I printed it up, I found a nice red pen and then I put both the red pen and printed manuscript in my cupboard where it has sat for 3 months

It is still sitting there. By the time I look at it again, I will look at it as a READER and not as an AUTHOR. Which is an invaluable method of self-editing.

I suggest everyone who is serious about writing does this, it helps in ways I cannot explain in one simple blog.

Above is not an image of that book, by the way. Nope. That is a book I've being writing since I've locked the other one away.

I needed something to do to keep my skills fresh and my mind turning while I waited. Write every day isn't just something authors suggest to wanna-be-writers, it really does sharpen your craft. So even though my main protect is tucked away nicely, I still had to work on my craft.

I decided to take something I dreamt vaguely about and put it into an experiment/exercise.

The exercise goes as follows, WRITE WHAT SCARES YOU.

I'm very upset that I can't remember where or from whom I read it, it did not come from me but I've interrupted and used it in a way I understand.

What I understand by this is not write horror or some such genre, but rather write outside your comfort-zone.
It is scary to do anything at all outside of our comfort-zones. Most writers I know are especially sensitive, and protective even, of their writing so this a practically challenging challenge.
But one you will benefit from immensely.


This is what I did:


  • I wrote down a list of things I was comfortable with or good with

(like: female characters, first person perspective, planning out a story from beginning to end... etc.)

  • Then I wrote a list of things that made me nervous

(People reading unedited work of mine, fight scenes, having no direction in the story... etc.)

  • Then I wrote down a list of places and character traits/character tones I had not ever tried before

Then with no idea for a story and no planning other than narrowing down my fears, I sat down at the computer and I began to type. 
I had a very strict rule, I would not think beyond the next sentence every time so there could be no planning
I also forbid myself from changing anything. I was not allowed to delete scenes or swop or change. 
If I wrote myself into a corner (which I did often!) I would stop and upload at the point (which also helped me not change what was written) and I'd leave it for a few days, give it no thought at all. The first day, I'd do nothing. The second day too. But the third day, you must write or succumb to writers block. The third day, without a plan, I sat down and fought my way out of whatever corner I'd written myself into a few days before and go charging ahead, completely afraid and somehow free in my writing.
I actually tried and forced myself to write to a point where I could write no more, where I was essentially in a corner and I had no idea what I'd do next, because I wanted to push myself with every piece I wrote.

Another thing I did was this: I updated pieces I'd not edited and for a large part, not even proof-read - hence the spelling mistakes here and there. I did this for three reasons

  1. If I read through it, I'd be pressured into editing as I read and that would change the story and defeat the "make what you write work not change what you write to work" challenge 
  2. It was scary to let people read something I knew was flawed. But this helped in a way too. People were able to see where my raw and initial writing technique needed more work put into it. This helped in one other way too, self-esteem. When people loved it, I thought "Wow! And this is only the rough draft!" And then when people hated it? I thought, "Yeah, but this is only the rough draft!"
  3. My third reason was because I find it easier to edit a story once everything is complete because it gives the plot a whole-feeling so it's easier to place foreshadowing and to take out over-details and so on afterwards than it is to figure out during (that's just me though, everyone is different)

What I am saying is this: 

Put on a blindfold. Spin around. Take a step in any unknown direction and run at it!

This is your passion? Tackle it in every way it comes at you. Start with your fears because passion is smothered by the scent of it.

Pick up a pen and write what scares you until you've mastered a new skill in your work.

Send me a link, I'd love you read what you've written.

You can also read Crimson Skies here

Kel

  

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