Three Pieces of Advice

I have been tagged by my good-friend-the-outstanding-writer Deirdre. We’ve taken turns nudging each other to write for many years. The blog stuff is new to me but I’m learning.

So the task at hand is to offer three pieces of advice. Hm-m, I’m going to assume that means “writer-ly advice”. Where to start? I once had a post-it pad that said “Wherever you are is a good place to start.” Where am I?

#1: “DON’T GET IT RIGHT. GET IT WRITTEN.” James Thurber

This has been my mantra for the last few weeks. It has allowed me to plough through a tirade of drivel from my inner critic who has become so crafty she sometimes masquerades as an editor. I had to muffle her so I stuffed her into the bottom of a laundry hamper. She’s on her third strike. I’ve given her notice: any more lip and she’s history.

#2: BE FEARLESS

This is a trait I find admirable in my favorite writers. I’m working on it for myself. It’s a slow go. For me it means going where I don’t want to go.

I am working with a character, a young girl named Tess, who loses nearly everything she knows and loves. How did this happen? Well, when she told me, I balked. No, no, no we’re not going there. I wrote it differently. The story got stuck. A writing coach got me back on track by figuratively taking my cold clammy hand and walking my shivering self back to the place where I ran away. Now the story is unfolding. It’s not pretty but it’s a better story. The interesting thing is I suspect both versions, hers and mine, are going to come together and may work really well. If so, Tess and I will be giving each other high fives!

#3: WRITE WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW; EMBRACE THE ADVENTURE (TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE )

Ooh, this one is delicious. It took me by surprise yet made SO much sense when I heard it. Why didn’t I think of it myself?

Quite some time ago I was following Tess again when she led me to a magic cave. I said to myself, “I don’t write fantasy. I don’t even read fantasy. I can’t do this.” So I set the piece aside.

A series of synchronistic events soon followed. Through a mix-up with a book club I accidentally (yeah, right.) received a copy of the classic book, How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card. If I had immediately put it back into the cardboard box, out of sight, ready to be returned, my life would have gone on just as it was. But there was no hurry to send it back so, with a yawn and a Ho Hum, I toddled off to a comfy chair by the window and OPENED THE BOOK. You, dear reader, might have known better. I certainly should have but I was a bit thick in those days. I momentarily forgot that books are powerful things that can change your life if you’re not careful.

I began writing fiction (she says with her very logical mind) to massage the boundaries of my imagination. Besides, my pen kept wandering across the pages with a mind of its own. When I OPENED THE BOOK and began to realize that fantasy writers have to have exceptionally elastic imaginations, I thought I’d better pay attention.

A short time later, while helping a friend’s foster child with her reading deficit, I was introduced to the delightful Harry Potter. When I went ape over Harry my adult daughter shared with me her childhood collection of fantasy books, which I had pooh-poohed at the time. We read and re-read her favorite authors and I discovered a new part of her that led to some much longed for mother-daughter bonding.

I came to realize that my muse has other plans for Tess and me. Tess has her cave back (I never really took it away) and, though I don’t know where to go from here, she has agreed to take my hand and lead me along on her journey. This agreement has brought me a vastly heightened sense of adventure and I look forward to each new unfolding of her story.