Just Write – Page 6 – The Write Spot

From December 2013 issue of The Writer magazine. “In the Classroom” with Kelly Caldwell.

1. Don’t worry about What is My Larger Subject? in your first draft. Just get out of your own way, write the story and let the universal themes of the essay reveal themselves.

2. When you’ve got that first draft, ask yourself, “So what?” and write down the answer.

3. When you reach a point in the essay where you want to make things up because they would be more interesting or more satisfying or just prettier, don’t. This is creative NONfiction, after all, and yes, that matters. Also, those are usually places where you need to dig deeper, because that’s where the richer, more meaningful material usually lies.
Kevin Nance’s interview of August Kleinzahler in the Nov/Dec 2013 issue of Poets & Writers shows how to describe character and setting.

“One bright afternoon in San Francisco, Kleinzahler joins me for a spot of lunch at his favorite Chinese restaurant in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, once a hippie haven and now well into the process of gentrification, full of trendy shops and high-end hipsters. He cuts a fine figure in sunglasses, a banded hat, and a jaunty scarf tied haphazardly around his neck.

He is, in some ways, a Californian now, a San Franciscan. ‘It agreed with me instantly,’ he says of the city he first encountered more than three decades ago. ‘The look of it, the feel of it, the bookstores, the bars, the Chinese food—all good for me.’ On the other hand, ‘It’s not home,’ he says, ‘The people don’t talk right here, they don’t walk right, their body language is wrong.’”
I enjoy books that take me away, where I can escape into other worlds, like Cedar Cove, the fictional town Debbie Macomber created for her cast of characters. A Costco Connection article about Macomber invites readers into her real world.

“When I first started out, the rejections came so fast they hit me in the back of the head.” November 2013, The Costco Connection.

The article continues, “Macomber describes her desire to write as a ‘dream that pounded inside of me.’” She overcame dyslexia and taught herself the art of writing by dissecting Kathleen Woodiwiss’ The Wolf and the Dove. “Whatever was inside that story that made me want to go back and read them again and again, I wanted in my own story.”

From Debbie Macomber’s website:

“. . . I wanted to become a writer because I had stories to tell. And I was always interested in people—in what happens to them and what they choose to do or not do and why—which is the basis of story. I knew from the time I was in grade school that I wanted to write books, but it was a dream I kept close to my heart for fear someone would laugh or tell me I’d never be published.”

How about you? Let’s nurture your dream. . . start writing. Use any of the prompts on this blog to spark your flame to write. Write now! Just write!
I love it when writers describe characters in a way that I can really see them, beyond eye and hair color. The trick is how to describe a character that gets into the essential details of the person.

Elizabeth Berg demystifies how to describe characters, using interesting details, in “Escaping into the Open,” The Art of Writing True, page 91:

Whether you’re writing fiction or nonfiction, you can greatly help define a character by sharing not only what he says and does, but also how he looks. Again, details matter. don’t tell the reader that someone is old; show it by describing the dime-size age spots, the sag of the cheeks, the see-through hair, the spiderlike spread of veins at the back of the knees. Are nylons falling down? Are belts too big? Are there greasy thumbprints on the lenses of bifocals? Is the posture stopped or stubbornly erect? Is there a periodic squeal from a hearing aid? What does he eat for breakfast? How does she speak on the phone? Do medication bottles rattle in his front pocket? Does she keep nitro-glycerin in a silver monogrammed case?

Your Turn: Write a character sketch. Write so that readers can hear, see, smell, feel your character.
In her book, “The True Secret of Writing” Natalie Goldberg writes:

Writing is for everyone, like eating and sleeping. Buddha said sleep is the greatest pleasure. We don’t often think of sleep like that. It seems so ordinary. But those who have sleepless nights know the deep satisfaction of sleep. The same is true of writing. We think of it as no big deal, we who are lucky to be literate. Slaves were forbidden to learn to read or write. Slave Owners were afraid to think of these people as human. To read and to write is to be empowered. No shackle can ultimately hold you.

To write is to continue the human lineage. For my grandfather, coming from Russia at seventeen, it was enough to learn the language. Today, it’s our responsibility to further the immigrant dream. To write, to pass on the dream and tell its truth. Get to work. Nothing fancy. Begin with the ordinary. Buddha probably knew, but forgot to mention, that along with sleep, writing can be the greatest pleasure.
Get out some paper and a fast moving pen or set up your computer.

Set the timer for ten minutes.

Look at something in your room, anything, it doesn’t matter. Now write. Just write whatever enters your head.

Or, open your dictionary to a random page, run your finger down a column. Stop on a word and freewrite, using that word as your prompt.

Or, use one of the prompts in this blog.

Think of this as practice writing, just as a badminton player practices before an actual meet.

Follow Natalie Goldberg’s six rules of writing listed in a previous post.

Try it right now. Paper and pen or computer ready? Glance at your clock. Note the time. Or set your timer for ten minutes. Write for ten minutes about “trees.” After that, write for ten minutes, using “I remember” as your prompt. Now go with, “What I really want to say.”

Those first thoughts as you start thinking about the prompt is where the energy is. And that’s where you will find the good stuff. The nitty-gritty that means something. As Natalie Goldberg says, “The aim is to burn through first thoughts. Say what you want to say. Don’t worry if it’s correct, polite or appropriate. First thoughts have tremendous energy. First thoughts are the way the mind flashes on something.”

Keeping your hand moving is essential. If you stop to think, your inner critic enters the scene. Write quickly so there is no time to censor yourself. If you get stuck, just write the prompt again and go from there. New thoughts might come up. Or write “What I really want to say . . .” Or write, “the trouble started when. . . ” Keep going, trust the process, your mind will give you something to write about.

If you cross out, you are letting your editor take charge. There is time for the editor to work later, when you are revising. For now, invite the editor to sit this one out.

Do not worry about spelling, punctuation and grammar. You are the only one who will see this writing, unless you choose to share it. Don’t lose the thoughts that are propelling your writing energy by worrying about grammar.

Just write.
Natalie Goldberg’s Six Rules of Writing Practice from her books: Writing Down the Bones and Wild Mind
1. Keep your hand moving.
2. Don’t cross out.
3. Don’t worry about spelling, punctuation, or grammar.
4. Lose control.
5. Don’t think.
6. Go for the jugular
When you write, using the method of writing freely – called a freewrite – you can lose control with no worries about consequences. Writing in this style is for your personal enjoyment or to enhance your writing. This isn’t your final piece to be published. No one else has to read your writing, unless you invite them to.

When you freewrite, don’t think and don’t plan what you will write next. Just go with the moment’s energy. If you use a prompt that draws from your childhood, you will have endless material to write about.
Get comfortable in your chair, couch, or wherever you are sitting . Both feet flat on the floor. Wiggle, squirm, move around until you are sitting comfortably. Take a deep breath in through your nose and release slowly through your mouth.

Feel the floor under your feet. Your chair is firmly supporting you. Rest your hands comfortably in your lap, or on your thighs or on the table.

Sit back and relax into your chair, feeling completely supported and totally comfortable.

Take a deep breath in, hold and let go. Let go of your worries, Let go of your concerns.

Take a nice deep breath in. Feel the breath go down, past your lungs, into your belly.

Hold and really whoosh out.

As you go through this relaxation, take deep breaths as you need to and really whoosh out as you exhale.

Perhaps wiggle your toes and feet, rotate your feet, loosen your ankles.

Feel your feet relax. Relax your legs, Let go of the calf muscles. Let go of any tension in your legs. Just let go.

Relax your thighs. Let the chair take the weight of your thighs. Let go of any tension that is in your thighs.

Deep breath in. Hold and release. Let your worries fly away. Enjoy this sensation of feeling free. Free and relaxed.

Relax your stomach. Release and relax.

Take deep breaths as you need to.

Rotate your shoulders in a circle. And around the opposite direction.

Roll your head and your neck. Roll back the other way.

Deep breath in and as you exhale, let go of any tension that might be lingering. Just let go.

You can do this before starting to write and anytime you feel stuck. Remember to breathe!