#WW Writer Wednesday: Becoming the Writer You Want to Be

Paula Gail Benson

Two years ago, I discovered “The Easy Way to Write” series by Rob Parnell, best-selling author, musician, screenwriter, and Australian entrepreneur. With over ninety books to his credit (many in eformat), he is an acknowledged writing guru whose motto is Your Success is My Concern. 

What I like that his books are straightforward and give positive, achievable steps for becoming a working, successful author. I particularly enjoyed the opening chapter of The Easy Way to Write Short Stories that Sell, in which he gave some excellent advice for making the most of writing skills. Distilled to the essence, here are his recommendations.

First, approach the task as a business. Present yourself as a professional and act professionally and courteously in your dealings with agents and publishers.

Second, produce a clean, enticing product that meets and exceeds buyer expectations. The less an editor has to do to make a manuscript publishable, the more valuable it becomes because it costs less to produce.

Third, ensure a consistent output by developing manageable routines.

What exactly does manageable routines mean? Writing every day at a particular time and in a specific place? Meeting a daily word quota or number of pages revised?

Maybe. Or, maybe not.

Is writing one thousand words a day manageable for you? Or, are you struggling to produce a few hundred words each time you have a few free minutes between classes, or jobs, or things you need to do for your family and friends?

Remember how Curly (played by Jack Palance) explained the secret of life to Mitch (Billy Crystal) in the City Slickers (Columbia Pictures 1991)? “It’s one thing, and you have to figure out what it is.”

Manageable means one thing: what you can accomplish based on your own schedule, lifestyle, needs, and resources. You have to discover what a manageable routine is for you. And, the best test for figuring it out is determining what you can plan to do on a fairly regular basis with a sense of expectation and accomplishment.

Routine speaks of habit. I recently read an article that listed good habits to develop to help avoid some of the detriments of aging. Along with good nutrition and exercise, the article encouraged that people have a routine. It did not have to be complex, but one you enjoyed returning to consistently. Like doing cross word puzzles, practicing a musical instrument, or writing in a journal.

A manageable routine is a schedule you can look forward to keeping for the joy of finishing the tasks you set for yourself, and not so rigorous that it's daunting. In the opening chapter of The Easy Way to Write Short Stories that Sell, Parnell suggests that one way to develop the ability to finish a story is to start thinking of how the story ends. He suggests you write a dozen short paragraph stories that have a beginning, middle, and end. Then, write “The End.” Make it a practice to reach the place where you write “The End” and make that act a part of your storytelling. After you have a dozen examples, no matter how short, the act of writing “The End” becomes part of your work product. You have learned to persevere to reach the conclusion.

In essence, you’ve developed a manageable routine.

He advocates setting achievable goals, visualizing success, and writing a mission statement to better understand your brand and the product you are producing. Last year, I wrote a post giving more detail about his methods that you may find here. But, the more I think about it, the key is developing manageable routines.

So, to make certain that you have a business approach, good product presentation, and consistent output, find the writing habits that fit best into your life and make you want to embrace your writing time each day as a haven and comfort rather than a dreaded ordeal. I hope each of you finds this advice practical, achievable, and encouraging, and that it assists you in becoming the writer you want to be this year.

  

©2015 Paula Gail Benson

A legislative attorney and former law librarian, Paula Gail Benson’s short stories have been published in Kings River Life (http://kingsriverlife.com/), the Bethlehem Writers Roundtable (http://bwgwritersroundtable.com/), Mystery Times Ten 2013 (Buddhapuss Ink), and A Tall Ship, a Star, and Plunder (Dark Oak Press and Media, 2014). She regularly blogs with others at http://writerswhokill.blogspot.com. Her personal blog is Little Sources of Joy, at http://littlesourcesofjoy.blogspot.com, and her website is http://paulagailbenson.com.

Thanks, Paula! Nice piece. I'm sure our readers will take away a lot of great information. Buddhapuss Ink LLC is proud to be a small, but solid house known for great fiction and nonfiction books, written for readers with brains by authors who have more than just one book in them. 

READERS: We hope you enjoyed this week's edition of our #WW Writer Wednesday Series and that we'll see you again next week when our guest poster, Linda Sienkiewicz, writes about Getting Intimate with Point of View. Till then, "Butt in chair, WRITE!

~ The Black Cat

What's in a Name?

By Georgia Ruth

Five years ago, I tagged the main character in my WIP (Work in Progress), the warm, sturdy, uncomplicated name of “Maggie.” After several agent rejections, I did an extensive rewrite, during which I critically considered every facet of the story, including names. At that time, Maggie was already the name of a main character in two popular recent novels. I didn’t want anyone to think I was trying to steal part of their success. More importantly, it was the name of a new critique partner. I didn’t want her to think that my fictional friend, particularly some negative characteristics, had anything to do with her. So I decided to change the name.

How about Samantha? Excellent choice. For many months she was Samantha. The name was smart, snappy, and her friends could call her “Sam.” But Samantha sounded like somebody who knew what she wanted, and my character did not.

Then I heard the name “Vanessa.” I thought of soft and vulnerable, a southern name that her mother would have chosen for an only child. To her coworkers, she could be “Van,” short and direct.

I looked up various naming websites and learned that, in Greek, the name meant “butterfly.” Perfect, because this lady undergoes a change from battered wife to confident partner. Another opinion: “hot, beautiful.” Just what I wanted. Then I found an unusual philosophy website seeking to prove that names shape life and suggesting “Vanessa” had an expressive, affectionate nature and responded quickly through her feelings. Yes, that’s her. Somebody on the Urban Dictionary said it perfectly: “not in favor of rain, but loves thunderstorms.” None of this research would become part of the manuscript, but it gave me a connection to the image in my head. For this character, the decision is emotional. She continues to be Vanessa.

In other stories, I have named characters based on historical data. My Fiji story boils with tension between three characters who represent three ancient cultures in 650 AD. The names are an imaginative reference to types of people with different lifestyles. In this novella, Bahram is the survivor of a shipwreck who wants to industrialize a tiny island where the tribe is weakened by smallpox. “Bahram” was a name of a Sassanid king in ancient times when Muslims overran the Persians whose main religion was Zoroastrianism.

There is continual conflict between Bahram and Lapita, the natives’ royal descendant trying to hold on to the legends of her ancestors. Her name represents the mysterious lost culture that migrated out of East Asia around 500 BC and whose artifacts are found on Fiji and the Solomon Islands.

Melane is the chief’s widow whose child will lead the survivors in a new era. The name “Melane” calls to mind the possible evolution of contemporary Melanesians, an ethnic group that inhabits the islands in this region. None of this information is necessary to understand the plot, but it helped me frame a premise for a collision of nomadic tribes. The fantasy is titled Rampart of the Phoenix.

There are no hard rules for naming characters, but I advise caution using protagonist names that start with the same first letter. As a reader, I have often had to backtrack to make sure the character on the page I am reading is not the same one introduced earlier. For example, Martin and Mason.  Besides, that sounds like a law office! And two main characters like Brian and Brittney sound like a dance team. Also, I have noticed that multiple characters with a “y” ending tends to fluff the mood of the writing. As in Stacey, Christy, and Holly, or even with the “ie” as in Angie. I also avoid names that rhyme. Of course, this is all my humble opinion polished by reading a book a week.

Sam Hilliard’s mystery novel The Last Track published by Buddhapuss Ink is an example of what I try to accomplish. The main character is a psychic tracker named Mike Brody, a strong American name with a dash of Irish intrigue. His ex-wife is Jessica, a distinctive but feminine name calling to mind a mother fiercely protective of their child Andy. The reader expects a no-nonsense approach from a detective named Lisbeth McCarthy, a modern twist to an old world favorite. One protagonist is named “Crotty”, a harsh, ugly name that indicates his character. Sam Hilliard has developed a legion of fans who are requesting a sequel, and I understand from his website that it is on the way.

I have a speculative story coming out in the Sisters in Crime 2015 anthology Fish or Cut Bait. The main characters are an elderly couple who live on “The Mountain Top” and are visited by a couple of backwoods neighbors in a scenario possible in a government breakdown. One of the bad guys is named “Cooter.” When I was at Dollar General one day, the clerk waved goodbye to a Cooter who looked exactly like the character in my head. The good guy is Jeff, a retired electrician from Atlanta. At the time of the first draft, I knew there was a Jeff’s Electric in Atlanta! When I have real people to be concerned about in a dark future, the story becomes real to me.

In other words, I get my names from all over. When they have meaning for me and fertilize my imagination, I can step into an alternative world and take my reader along because I know my way. 

Writing is so much fun. Enjoy!

© 2014 Georgia Ruth

Georgia lives in the foothills of North Carolina and writes a historical blog about her neighbors who have deep roots in the area: www.georgiaruthwrites.us. She is a member of Short Mystery Fiction Society and has short stories published online for Stupefying Stories and Bethlehem Writers Roundtable and in print Mystery Times Ten 2013. New stories for That Mysterious Woman from Mozark Press, History and Mystery, Oh My, and the Sisters in Crime anthology Fish or Cut Bait will be published soon.

Our thanks to Georgia, for a terrific piece on what can be a difficult task for writers - finding the right name for their characters!

REMINDER: The dealine for entries in our Mystery Times 2014 Writing Competition is drawing close! Check out the rules HERE, then get your entry in!

READERS: We hope you enjoyed this week's edition of our #WW Writer Wednesday Series and that we'll see you again next week when Linda K. Siekiewciz makes a repeat appearance to discuss the topic - Small vs. Large Presses.

Till then: "Butt in chair, WRITE!"

~ The Black Cat