Dealing with Distractions

Saturday 9:15 AM

“Where are you going, Dad?”

“Downstairs to write for a while.”

“But we were gonna watch a family movie together.”

10:15 AM

“Alright guys...I’ve seen this movie before and I need to get some writing done.”

“Hey honey, before you start writing, will you throw down the laundry from our bathroom and help me sort it real quick?”

10:35 AM

I sit down in front of my laptop and suddenly remember that I haven’t checked my email or Facebook account in two days. I should probably make sure there’s nothing important awaiting my response. I wonder how Tim Tebow’s stats are fairing...

11:45 AM

“Dad, Mom said it’s time for lunch.”

12:25 AM

“Hey honey, where are you going?”

“Downstairs to write.”

“But you’ve been writing all morning!”

Does this sound like the conversations in your home (or in your head) every time you think about sitting down to write? Sure, every writer experiences the occasional supernoval flare up of a new story idea; fingers cramping, struggling to keep pace with the deluge pouring from your neocortex. It’s only when your bladder threatens to drown you that you look down and realize two hours and four thousand words have passed and you really feel this time that you’re well on your way towards the New York Times Best Seller list!

The next day you wake up, full of excitement and energy at the prospect of another one or two thousand words, only to discover you’ve cranked out a meager one or two hundred because the job, the kids, the spouse, the housework, the laundry, the cell phone, the friends, the internet, the TV, the movie, the library, the bills, the errands, the dishes, and the ten thousand other things that compete for your time have robbed you of your goal. You climb into bed at night feeling drained, unfulfilled, and guilty because you failed to write anything substantial that day. You vow that tomorrow will be different. So today becomes tomorrow, tomorrow becomes this weekend, this weekend becomes someday. Why do we give in so often and for so long to those things that keep us from writing? There are lots of reasons. Let me share two big ones I feel encompass all the others.

First, we don’t feel like we should write. Given everything we must accomplish every day, we feel - at least on a sub-conscious level - that we can't make time for such “silliness” as story-telling. After all, it’s our day jobs that put food on the table and maintains the roof overhead. When we’re not working, children and spouses need attention and care. And let’s not forget the importance of maintaining or improving our health. All these priorities consume us and it’s easy to give in to that whispering voice at the end of the day as it beckons our wearied heads toward soft pillows, “Stories are for kids. You’re an adult now. Grow up. Be more responsible. Get a good night’s sleep before the craziness of tomorrow starts all over again.”

Trapped inside every adult is the little kid we used to be, the one who’s imagination fueled the dreams of a million undiscovered worlds. At some point we became adults and bought into a belief that “growing up” meant we had to deny that inner child. As adults, we still dream occasionally (if for no other reason than to reminisce about what dreaming used to feel like). We all long for a chance to escape from time to time. It’s why we’re so easily distracted. Distractions take us away, however briefly, from the mundane adult lives we’re now forced to lead.

Writing doesn’t make us any less of an adult and we shouldn’t feel guilty for giving voice to that inner-child. Just face it; that little kid is never going to shut up and go away! Besides, denying him means denying half of our own existence. Chances are that most of your fondest memories come from childhood. Take time to go back and talk with that kid every day. He can help you remember what things were like before you became so concerned about all the troubles in your life. Let him teach you how to dream again. Give those memories and dreams a voice and let them spill out onto the pages.

Another reason we become so easily distracted is because we don’t feel we can write. Whether you realize it or not, your life has been influenced by at least one book (or perhaps a movie adaptation) that changed how you thought or felt about life. For me, it was Tai Pan by James Clavell. One Saturday afternoon when I was fifteen, my grandmother and I were cleaning her attic when I found Tai Pan sandwiched between dozens of hardbacks inside some musty box. I finished the book in a couple of weeks and knew when I closed the cover that’s how I wanted to live my life. Did my life really turn out that way? Of course not! And although I’ve never read the book a second time, I can still vividly recall the adventure, the politics, and the intrigue that Clavell so exquisitely imprinted on my memory.

As I sit down in my writing sessions, I’m constantly comparing my work to James Clavell, Isaac Asimov, Larry Niven, Arthur Clarke, Ray Bradbury, Octavia Butler (insert your own list of cherished authors here). Then I review what I’ve vomited onto the pages and think to myself, “What bile! No one’s ever going to be influenced by this!”

I’ve accepted that statement to be true insofar as I do nothing to practice my craft and hone my skills any further. Would I honestly expect an editor or agent to accept the first draft of my first story? Heck, I don’t even like it! But what about my sixth revision or my hundredth story or my fifth novel?

It’s only through writing every day that we’ll get any better. It’s only through reading a lot of stories that we learn to distinguish the tripe from the truly inspirational. As I learn what’s good and what’s bad, I incorporate good techniques into my own stories. Eventually I find my own voice and my stories become amazing, if not to anyone else but me. Most importantly, I learn to write for myself.

Distractions are always going to bombard us every single day. When we get into a habit of writing for ourselves, writing because it’s healthy for us, writing because we know we’ll get better, writing to give voice to that imaginative inner child that won’t go away, then writing itself becomes the distraction from all the craziness surrounding us. It’s okay to escape for a while every day. In fact it’s very healthy to do so. Of course, your own personal circumstances will dictate when you can and can’t write. But I guarantee you can find at least an hour every single day to write if you really look for it and you’re serious about writing. Rid yourself of all the other unnecessary distractions in your life and focus on only one distraction--writing--for a little while every day.

Brown and Furry

“Wanna play a game, Dad?” my son asked as we drove home from church one Sunday afternoon. It had been a long service and I was looking forward to lunch and a nice long nap.

I made a right turn from a stop sign and answered, “Sure. What do you want to play?”

I glanced at him in the rear-view mirror as he sat in his car seat and stared out the window. After a moment of tapping a finger on his chin, he decided, “How about ‘I’m Thinking of An Animal’?”

I smiled at his choice. ‘I’m Thinking of an Animal’ is a classic in our family.

“Ok, you go first,” I prompted.

He caught me looking at him in the mirror. “I’m thinking of an animal...” he began, “that’s brown and furry.”

“Brown and furry,” I mused. “Hmmm. Is it a bear?”

“Nope,” he said.

“Is it a spider?” I ventured.

“Nope.”

“Ok, give me a hint.”

I stopped at another intersection and waited for the light to change. He looked at me again in the mirror and hinted, “It lives in the woods.”

“Brown and furry and lives in the woods, eh? Is it a wolf?” I guessed again.

“Nope.”

“Give me another clue.”

“Wow, Dad.”

Apparently I’m the dumbest Dad in the world and any first grader would have guessed the answer already. I was feeling rather stumped by now and wondered if the next clue would give it away.

“It has three legs.”

Ok that wasn’t very helpful at all. Brown, furry, lives in the woods, and has three legs. Admittedly I’m no expert of forest creatures, but I’ve watched my fair share of Animal Planet episodes and nothing with that description was coming to mind.

We made a left and continued on a winding street where I had to slow down to navigate the curves.

“C’mon, Dad!” he pleaded.

I wasn’t about to admit defeat this early in the game, but I was honestly at a loss. My only option was to stall.

“Hold on, I’m thinking,” I said.

Brown and furry with three legs in the forest. What on earth? I had to go back and think about the rules of the game. We did clarify these animals were from our planet, didn’t we? I couldn’t remember.

I knew this was a wild stab of a guess, but I threw it out there anyway. Who knows? It could just be how an eight year old thinks.

“Is it Bambi with a busted leg?”

He shouted, “No!” then laughed, sounding as if that was about the most ridiculous thing he’d ever heard before in his life. I was a moron.

We rounded the corner onto our street and I finally succumbed to defeat and told him, “Ok, I give up. What is it?”

“It’s an octopus, Dad!”

I almost ran over the curb as I tried to pull into the driveway, tears welling in my eyes from laughing so hard. ‘I’m Thinking of An Animal’ is a classic game in our family.

Welcome to Scrivener!

I decided to use some of my pittance of a tax return this year and purchase an organizational tool to help with my writing. Aside from having a serious lack of desk space to spread out all my research notes, galaxy maps, star charts, character profile sheets, and reference manuals, I find that I still struggle with some of the basic elements of writing.

I get lots of great ideas for stories. Getting the ideas is the easy part. My difficulty comes in trying to convert those tiny sparks of inspiration into full-fledged stories. I often struggle with moving from ideation and plot development into actual scene creation and producing a single cohesive story.

A couple of weeks ago I discovered “Scrivener”, a wonderful piece of writing software developed by the inventive and understanding folks at Literature and Latte (literatureandlatte.com). Not only do these guys understand software development, they understand the varying needs of writers.

To keep this short, I want to highlight just some of Scrivener’s features that I’ve found most interesting after using the tool for a week. I’m by no means an expert and I’m sure I’ll discover much more as I continue using the program.

Scrivener was designed with the writer in mind. When starting a new project, I can select from a number of provided templates. For example, suppose I want to start a new fiction project. Scrivener provides fiction templates for novels and short stories. Choosing any of these provides me with a basic structure already in standard manuscript submission format. And if I don’t like the standard formats, I can create my own customized formats and save them as templates to use later in other projects.

Scrivener’s working window gives me access to all my project files, located in one easy-to-find pane called the Binder. All my scenes, chapters, notes, research, character sheets, photos, pdf files, etc. are all stored in the Binder. If you have an electronic file saved somewhere on your computer or accessible on the web in almost any format, chances are you can import it into the Binder. Having all your files in one easily accessible location while you write means no more having to open up one reference file at a time, flipping back and forth between multiple windows on your computer to find what you need. Files from the Binder are easily “floated” over your open document for quick reference while you write. Scrivener’s basic templates also include simple character profile sheets so you can document everything you need to know about the people in your story.

When I begin a new story, I often use index cards to try and develop scene ideas and get a sense of the overall structure of my story. More often than not, the cards end up spread all over my bedroom floor. I write, cross out, scribble, tear up, arrange, and re-arrange all those cards endlessly until I’m happy. Then I number all the cards, just in case they break loose from their rubber band and go flying.

In Scrivener, I don’t have to worry about the cards getting away from me thanks to the Cork Board. With the Cork Board, I can create, change, add, delete, and move index cards all over the place without cluttering up my bedroom or risking their loss. All of the cards can be identified with a label (Concept, Chapter, Scene, etc.) and a Status (To Do, First Draft, Revision, Final Draft, etc.). The labels and statuses can also be customized to display whatever you need.

One of the coolest features I’ve found in Scrivener is the random Name Generator. Need help finding a male name? Female name? Foreign name? Hyphenated maiden-married name? Alliterated name? Simply use the Name Generator to make your characteristic selections, set the obscurity level, and move the slider to tell Scrivener how many names to generate, then push the Generate Names button and presto!

Personally, I’m easily distracted while I write and find it difficult to focus when it comes time to begin tallying up the word count. Scrivener’s Compose button lets me block out all the distractions on my computer and focus on getting my story written. I simply press the Compose button at the top of the screen and voila! No more distractions.

Everything on the compose screen is also fully customizable, from the background image to the size of the writing space itself, font sizes and paper colors, even the transparency and fade of the workspace. Since I write science fiction, I created a planetary theme for my Compose window using a wallpaper photo I found on the Internet.

In fact, everything about Scrivener is customizable, down to the color of thumbtacks you can select for your index cards (or you can remove thumbtacks altogether if you don’t want them). The essence of the program is to give writers access to all their tools and documents in one easily-accessible location. But the real beauty of Scrivener is the capability of working on your story in pieces, creating separate documents for each chapter, scene, etc. And when you’re finally done writing your drafts, the Compile feature lets you bring them all together into one cohesive manuscript, immediately formatted and ready for submission, including your name, address, title, byline, word count, and other necessary information.

Of course there’s a lot more to Scrivener than what I’ve shared here, but I didn’t really intend for this to be a pitch for Literature and Latte. I was just looking for a way to organize my work and get some help navigating my way through idea creation, plotting, scene generation, and finally writing my stories. I got a lot more than I expected from Scrivener.

The program can seem a little overwhelming at first with so many tools and ways of working. The great thing about Scrivener is there’s no right or wrong way to use it. Every tool is at your disposal and you can use it however you like, in whatever method best suits your writing style. And if you forget how to use any of the tools, there’s a helpful introductory tutorial that comes with the program. If you can’t find what you’re looking for in the intro, Literature and Latte has additional video tutorials and online user forums on their website.

Scrivener might not be for everyone and some will doubtless find other tools that work better for them. Personally, I needed a structured format for my writing and found that Scrivener does the job admirably. Aside from that, it’s so much fun and easy to use that it makes me want to dive in and write every day. And as far as I’m concerned, making it fun to write everyday is the best bonus I could have asked for.

Reading, Writing, and 'Rithmetic

Here's a simple math formula for all us writers out there:

Better Story Telling = Writing + Reading²

Just as deep space travel depends on the relationship of energy to the mass of an object times the speed of light squared (e=mc² for all those not familiar with Einstein's theory of relativity), being a great writer also depends on universal principles. In fact, the difference between a hobby writer and a great story teller is very similar to the difference between an amateur astronomer and, say, Galileo Galilei. One enjoys spending a couple of hours a week using his instrument to scan the sky and, occasionally, happens upon something interesting. The other completely immerses himself in his field, applying what he already knows to come up with new ideas that completely change how we think about ourselves and our universe.

Nicolas Copernicus studied the pioneering works of Aristarchus before developing his own revolutionary views on heliocentrism. Isaac Newton often pondered the moon's orbit around the Earth while gazing from his bedroom window at apples falling from a tree in his mother's garden (contrary to so many cartoon stories, he was not struck in the head). In fiction, Doctor Victor Frankenstein pored through books, spending years in laboratory research before assembling his fateful beast.

The point is this: in order to be better writers, we need to be better readers. That means reading...a lot! A couple of years ago, I sat down at my computer with a burning desire to write science fiction. Needless to say, I'm still trying to finish the same story. I realized one of my biggest obstacles was the fact I was trying to write science fiction, but it had been years since I had actually read any science fiction. I was out of practice, out of vocabulary, out of style, out of research, out of context. I was trying to write the science fiction I remembered as a kid without realizing that science fiction had progressed and surpassed everything I remembered.

When the year 2012 rolled around, I made a commitment to myself and to my writing. I made a list of books I wanted to read and used the opportunity to study the craft of published writers in my genre. I wanted to learn how they wrote, how they captured my imagination, how they allowed me to visualize the worlds they created, how they made me keep turning pages long into the night when I should have been sleeping, how they expressed the messages they felt needed to be told about humanity and the fate of our world.

My goal was twelve books, one for each month, with a promise that I would learn from the best and the worst. Even if I didn't like a book, I would read it anyway to learn why I didn't like it, making mental notes about what worked and--just as importantly--what didn't, so I wouldn't make the same mistakes.

So the key to good writing is good reading and reading a lot, which is why reading gets an exponential square in the equation above. When I dedicated myself to my reading and to my writing, I found that I had more time than I thought. After just the first quarter of the year, I had already read my twelve novels for the entire year. Here was the list:

Foundation's Edge by Isaac Asimov

House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

The Atlantis Code by Charles Brokaw

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Changelings by Anne McCaffrey

Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke

A Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein

The Bradbury Report by Steven Polansky

War of the Worlds by HG Wells

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Daniel X by James Patterson

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

Granted, most of these were in audiobook format during my daily commute to and from work. But the format doesn't matter. And I didn't stop with just twelve either. I've discovered that listening to audio books is by far preferable to hearing Adele or P!nk or Taylor Swift sing for the bazillionth time about lost love. Think about it, how many times can you really hear the same song over and over again before you tire of hearing it? And I don't miss any of the talk or commercials on the radio.

It was Isaac Newton who once said, "If I have seen further it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants." The important thing is to read a lot and learn from the masters how to construct a compelling story. Read a lot and write a lot and little by little your writing will improve until, one day, you can see further because the high road on which you travelled was paved by those who came before you. Happy reading!

The Revision Process

I recently read a book titled "Stein on Writing" by editor/author/instructor Sol Stein. A section of his book is dedicated to helping writers revise their drafts in the most efficient and effective manner. For those who've completed their first draft and find themselves in revision mode, I thought this would be a timely lesson to share.

When I first began writing, I figured I'd be finished with my story as soon as I typed the words "The End" in my first draft. I didn't know much about the revision process and thought my first draft would be my final submission after making a few minor spelling and grammar changes. Wow was I ever wrong!

I've come to think that the process of story-writing is much more like baking a cake. Writing that first draft is like gathering all the necessary ingredients together and setting them out on the kitchen counter to see what you have to work with and discover what you might still be missing. It isn't until the draft is written and the ingredients are all together that you whip out your revising cups and tablespoons and begin measuring in the flour, sugar, eggs, and spices until it tastes just right. Several revisions later, you're preheating the oven and spreading the frosting for everyone to enjoy!

According to Sol Stein, the best way to revise is to start with the big problems first. Then you work on the medium problems, small problems, and finally the tiny changes such as grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

Tackle these areas in succession to make your revision process as quick and effective as possible:

1. Determine what represents the sense of wonder, enlightenment, or excitement in your story and make sure that level of enthusiasm is maintained throughout the story. Too many stories start out exciting and then just fizzle out.
2. Is the main character exciting enough to hold the reader's interest throughout the story? What motivates the main character and drives her to act and change throughout the story?
3. Do you really like your antagonist? You should! Your antagonist should be just as motivated to accomplish her goals as your protagonist and just as driven to succeed. Is your antagonist truly bad, or does she just behave badly? Villains who are truly evil are much more enjoyable than cardboard cut-outs who just cause trouble for the heck of it. What endearing or charming qualities does your villain possess that would allow the reader to care about them?
4. Don't neglect your minor characters. They need to be credible and believable with their own motivations to act.
5. Is the conflict between the protagonist and the antagonist credible and strong enough to sustain the reader's attention throughout the story?
6. What is your most memorable scene? What makes it work so well? How can less memorable scenes be strengthened to this level?
7. What is your least memorable scene? Does it move the story forward? Would the story be stronger without it? Consider rewriting it or cut it out completely.
8. What are the three most important actions in your story? Are they motivated in a believable way? Remember that "coincidence" in a story is not a credible reason for any action to occur. Review all other actions and either strengthen, rewrite, or cut them if they're not absolutely necessary to moving the story forward.
9. Place yourself in the reader's seat and read the first page of your story. Are you compelled to keep reading? If not, you have work to do.
10. Make sure there's something visual on every single page of your story. Never give the reader an excuse to remember they're reading a story. Help them visualize and become involved in the story.
11. After fixing all the above, you're now ready for general revisions:

• Tighten the manuscript by cutting every word, sentence, paragraph and scene that does not contribute to the story. Be ruthless with your word choice and make every word work.
• Vary your sentence lengths to avoid a monotonous voice.
• Make sure the pacing matches your story arc.
• Fix point of view errors.
• Make sure the tension continues to mount throughout the story and the stakes are continually raised for the protagonist.
• Get rid of all but the most essential adjectives and adverbs.
• Eliminate all cliches and rewrite for originality.
• Vary and clarify all dialogue tags.
• Look for precise word choices and meanings.
• Add variety to your dialogue. Can exposition be replaced by dialogue? Is the dialogue confrontational enough? Does it actually move the story forward or is it just banter?
• Last but not least, correct all spelling, punctuation, and grammar errors.

By correcting the biggest problems first and working through your manuscript with the checklist above, your revision process will be much more focused, productive, and efficient.

By following this process, I've also learned to quiet my inner editor while I furiously write that first heated draft because I already know it won't be - and shouldn't be - perfect. I now know that writing my draft is just a way to sort through all the cupboards, drawers, and pantries looking for ideas and ingredients for a feast I can worry about baking and garnishing later for my readers.

2012 Reading List

Today has been one of those no-good, rotten, very bad days. I don't really know why. Just one of those days when you wake up in the morning and look outside and the clouds are all scowling at you and the roads all seem to be sharpening their fingernails against the pavement, just waiting to slash your tires.

I've been sitting in my writing studio contemplating how much I don't want to write today, feeling like a fiction failure, arguing with all those little voices in the back of my skull. One keeps asking why I'm so eager to continue writing while the other keeps whispering encouragement. "Look at last year," it says. "You've come so far as a writer and learned so much since then. You simply can't give up right now." Why does this one only ever whisper while the other one always shouts?

Still, that little voice got me to wondering just how far I've really come since the beginning of 2012. For starters, I began entering the quarterly Writers of the Future contest last year and submitted two short stories, both of which were rejected. I'm still unpublished and still unknown, but I have actually come a long way as a writer from where I was a year ago and I suppose that's the important thing. I'm not actually entering the WOTF contest to win; I promised myself when I started that I wouldn't focus on winning because I have no control over whether I win or not. I enter because it gives me a quarterly deadline to reach and it keeps me writing and submitting.

I read a TON of books last year, probably more in one year than I've read at all in the last twenty years. Many of them were science fiction but many were also non-fiction, mostly about the craft of writing. I look at the list and actually start feeling pretty good at what I've been able to accomplish and that little whispering voice gets a little louder and I sense that it's smiling.

Both Stephen King and Orson Scott Card have said it over and over and I absolutely believe that it's true: if you want to be a writer, there are two things you must do -- write a lot and read a lot. At some point between starting college and starting my family, I lost my love for reading. Maybe it was working through the night shift after attending a full day of classes and homework. Maybe it was the transition from being single to being married to being a dad. Maybe it was one bad career move after another. I've just been so busy over the last twenty years dealing with life that I forgot how rewarding a good book can be.

As the kids get older and leave the house and my career stabilizes and I settle into some sense of a normalized routine, I've taken the time to slow down and find ways to escape all the craziness of the day. Writing lets me escape into worlds that I create, where I can hang out with extraordinary people from my head. Reading lets me escape into other people's worlds and hang out with people they created.

Here's a list of the authors and books that let me enter their worlds last year:

FICTION

1. Issac Asimov - Foundation's Edge
2. Nancy Farmer - House of the Scorpion
3. Charles Brokaw - The Atlantis Code
4. Ray Bradbury - Fahrenheit 451
5. Anne McCaffrey - Changelings
6. Arthur C. Clarke - Childhood's End
7. Robert Heinlein - A Stranger in a Strange Land
8. Steven Polansky - The Bradbury Report
9. HG Wells - War of the Worlds
10. James Patterson - Daniel X
11. James Dashner - The Maze Runner
12. Amy Kathleen Ryan - Glow
13. Susan Beth Pfeffer - Life As We Knew It
14. Ruth White - You'll Like It Here...Everybody Does
15. Arthur C. Clarke - The Hammer of God
16. Ray Bradbury - Something Wicked This Way Comes
17. Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson - Hellhole
18. Mary Shelley - Frankenstein
19. Edgar Rice Burroughs - A Princess of Mars
20. Kurt Vonnegut - Cat's Cradle
21. William R. Forstchen - One Second After
22. Mary E. Pearson - The Fox Inheritance
23. Diana Palmer - The Morcai Battalion
24. Michael Grant - BZRK
25. Anna Sheehan - A Long, Long Sleep
26. Orson Scott Card - Earth Unaware
27. Jeremy Robinson - Second World
28. David Weber - Out of the Dark
29. John Scalzi - Fuzzy Nation
30. Frank Herbert - Dune

NON-FICTION

1. Annie Dillard - The Writing Life
2. Stephen King - On Writing
3. Ray Bradbury - Zen in the Art of Writing
4. Orson Scott Card - How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy
5. Sol Stein - On Writing
6. James Scott Bell - Plot and Structure
7. Donald Maass - Writing the Breakout Novel
8. Orson Scott Card - Characters and Viewpoint
9. William Zinsser - On Writing Well
10. William Noble - Conflict, Action, & Suspense
11. David G. Hartwell - Age of Wonders: Exploring the World of Science Fiction
12. Gloria Kempton - Dialogue

Forty-two books and I feel like I've only scratched the surface of what I need to know about writing. In addition to reading a lot, I wrote three short stories, joined a writing group, and attended my first writing conference, where I met lots of outstanding people during helpful workshops.

Now that I've finished looking back, that whispering voice is beginning to shout, "What are you waiting for now? Get back to writing!" so I guess that's what I need to do for the next few hours.

If you feel like you're lacking motivation to write and wondering why you bother plugging along in a field that sounds so easy but turns out to be so incredibly tough sometimes, take a look back at what you've been able to accomplish in the last year. Chances are, you've come much further than you thought. And if you can find a way to keep moving forward, this year will be even more productive and rewarding.

Writing as an Art Form

When most of us think about art, our minds initially conjure up images typically associated with the fine arts--things like painting, sculpting, and photography. If we stretch our minds a little further, we might even bring in elements of the performing arts--dancing, theater, even music. Unfortunately, far too few of us remember to include the literary arts--poetry, short stories, and novels.

Anyone who’s been serious enough to try their hand at creative writing knows how frustrating it can be at times. Carving out time to write while you juggle other competing priorities can be difficult and requires sacrifice. And when you finally do get to sit down, you realize that locking yourself away in front of a computer can feel awfully lonely. Then there’s the problem of coming up with fresh new ideas that don’t sound contrived or cliche.

With all the pressure that writers place on themselves, it’s easy to forget that writing is supposed to be an artistic expression and that writers, just like any other artist, must practice their craft constantly if they expect to one day become masters in their field.

The definition of art is a very broad one. Merriam-Webster defines art as “the conscious use of skill and creative imagination, especially in the production of aesthetic objects.” Given that definition, it’s easy to see that writers do in fact create art by using creativity, skill, and imagination. But even more than that, it’s important for writers to see themselves as true artists. Doing so will help them avoid, or at least more constructively deal with, so many of the frustrations that easily beset them.

Consider for a moment two piano players. The first is a concert pianist with more than twenty years of performance experience. The second, a young woman in her early teens who only recently started taking lessons. If you were to sit blindfolded in your seat and listen to each of these individuals play his or her favorite piece, I’d bet money you could probably tell in less than ten seconds which player was the pro and which was the novice.

And how would you be able to tell so quickly? Perhaps you’re a highly trained music critic. Or maybe you’re an accomplished pianist yourself. Possibly, but I doubt it.

I’d venture to say that just about anyone could tell the difference based simply on the auditory clues you picked up, probably without even realizing it. Subtleties such as the selection’s richness and depth, the emotions and thoughts you experienced as you listened to it, the confidence with which each piece was played, the number of errors you detected...these all helped you decide.

What is it exactly that separates the professional from the amateur? Does the pro possess more natural talent? More skill? More aptitude? In our example, how do you think the amateur felt about her own skills and abilities after hearing the pro play? Was she frustrated? Did she feel like a failure because she couldn’t play at an equally high level? Did it make her want to give up and quit because she wasn’t as good as the pro right now?

The answer to these questions, of course, should be a resounding ‘no’. The pro has more than twenty years of experience behind him, giving him a tremendous advantage over the novice right now. But if the novice dedicates herself to her playing, demonstrates a real passion for what she does, and practices hard every day, then who is to say that she won’t some day be just as good as--perhaps even greater than--the pro?

As for ‘natural’ talent, skill, and ability, I don’t personally believe they really exist. People excel at doing great things because they have a passion for doing them and they work very hard at getting better every single day. They don’t do it because they have to--they do it because they want to.

Talent, you see, is merely a byproduct of passion and hard work. It’s not something you’re born with, as many people tend to believe. Stephen King once said, “Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.”

If you have a real passion for writing, no amount of failure or frustration can ever make you quit. In fact, quite the opposite is true--if you truly have a passion for something, frustration and failure only encourage you to try harder the next time so you can get better. The only thing that can ever make you quit after enduring so much hard work and embarrassment and failure is if you decide that it simply isn’t worth your time any more.

So find the passion in your writing and work hard every day, not because you have to write, but because you love to write. You are a true artist, as great as any Renoir, or Mozart, or Baryshnikov. Take up your instrument and create something beautiful for our world.

Using Alpha and Beta Readers

It takes a village to raise a child, and it takes almost that many people to shape a story into a best selling work of art. If you open the front pages of any novel, you’re bound to see a list of people to whom the author feels indebted for their assistance in getting his book published. Spouses, parents, children, editors, and agents are among those typically mentioned.

I’d like to discuss two groups of people who probably don’t normally get recognized, but without whom a story would probably never even make it into the hands of the editors and agents in the first place. These are the Alpha and the Beta readers -- those insightful, sensitive individuals who so generously give up their evenings and weekends to read through your manuscript, then lovingly rip your story to shreds! (And just when you thought you were handing them your next best seller...)

“Oh, the pain!” you cry, clutching your heart when you see all that red ink scribbled in the margins and crammed in between the lines. And yet, at the same time, you can’t help but appreciate their feedback, knowing deep down that what they’ve told you is honest and true and probably for your own good, or at least the good of the story.

The problem is this: we can never truly review our own work with a high degree of objectivity. We’re simply too close to our stories, too close to our characters, too close to the settings and all the action. There’s nothing wrong with being so close, but it does severely limit our ability to see all the individual trees through the forest.

Most of the time for me, writing is simply a process of trying to make my fingers type fast enough to keep up with all the action going on inside my head. I see every color. I smell every drop of rain. I feel every wound that’s inflicted and every throat that gets strangled. I taste every morsel of crumbling moldy bread. I hear every laugh and every scream.

I do my best to capture all these experiences and arrange them on the page in exactly the right order using exactly the right words so my readers get to see and smell and feel and taste and hear exactly the same things. But it’s never exactly the same.

After all, it’s my imagination and I’m the one creating it and shaping it and trying to make it all fit together neatly. But what seems so clear to me can often appear vague or ambiguous to anyone who hasn’t shared my experience. Maybe I meant to say one thing, but ended up saying something completely different. Or I might have neglected to include that one tiny detail or snippet of information the reader needs to make an important connection later on.

As hard as we try to get everything just right, its simply impossible for us to keep track of it all and nail every thing every time in every scene. During our first pass edits and proof-reading sessions, we can easily overlook minor flaws and pale descriptions because we’ve already lived it and our memories automatically fill in all the blanks for us.

Not so for our poor first-time readers, who have no such experiences to help them out. That’s why Alpha and Beta readers are a writer’s best resource for finding areas in the story that aren’t working exactly the way we intended. Let’s take a quick look at each type of reader and see how their unique roles can help a writer tell the best story possible.

Alpha Readers
Alpha readers are the triage doctors and nurses, the general practitioners whose patience and experience allow them to take our mangled bleeding manuscript and fairly quickly assess which areas are probably still okay, which ones might need to be cauterized to staunch further loss and, most importantly, which parts may have to be amputated to save the whole body.

What are some of the skills and characteristics that a good Alpha reader needs to possess? For starters, they have to be good communicators with strong interpersonal abilities. The primary role of an Alpha reader is to deliver bad news to the writer in such a way that the writer feels happy to hear it. Not that the Alpha reader has to sugar-coat the bad news or tip-toe around the eggshells of a writer’s personal insecurities -- heck, any good writer should have developed a thick skin by now after all those rejection letters. But it does require a certain amount of tact and skill when discussing a story critique.

Alpha readers also need to possess a good understanding of basic story telling concepts like plotting, tension, character arcs, pacing, point of view, dialogue, and conflict. When Alpha readers receive a manuscript, their job is to look for the big holes and flaws in the story:

1. Which parts of the story seem too rushed? Too slow?
2. Are there areas in the story that seem cliche or that otherwise lack originality?
3. Are the characters and settings intriguing and imaginative?
4. Does the tension seem to rise towards an inevitable climax?
5. Does the ending seem natural and satisfying?
6. Does the narrative elicit appropriate emotional reactions and levels of involvement?
7. Are there parts of the story where the reader is pushed away and reminded that there are better ways of spending her time?
8. Are there any inconsistencies that need to be addressed? (The detective drives a blue Ford Torino in the opening scene that inexplicably turns red in the next.)
9. Does the dialogue between two minor characters serve a purpose, or is it just two people arguing for no apparent reason?
10. Are there too many clues that give away the ending too soon? Are there not enough clues, making the ending feel contrived or requiring a resolution via deus ex machina?

As you can see, good Alpha readers need to be grounded in a broad range of basic story telling concepts. Because of this, and also because of their experience in giving and receiving critical feedback, the best Alpha readers tend to be other writers.

Once the author has had a chance to correct any glaring issues identified by his Alpha readers, he’ll make another round of changes and send the manuscript off to the next group -- the Beta readers. If Alpha readers are the general triage unit, then Beta readers are the specialized cardiac and neuro surgeons.

Beta Readers
Good Beta readers enjoy reading. A lot. In fact, if given the choice, Beta readers would probably choose reading over just about any other activity. Beta readers also tend to be a highly sensitive and emotional group and may even seem to be on the verge of developing OCD tendencies towards the proper use of grammar, spelling, and punctuation. These are the people who will review your manuscript and, with a great air of triumph, point out every typo they found that your twelve gig duo core word processor overlooked. Beta readers will let you know:

1. That you accidentally used the word ‘allude’ when you meant to write ‘elude’.
2. That you use too much passive and not enough active voice.
3. That you have a bad habit of slipping into the past perfect tense.
4. That  you probably meant to write ‘category’  when you typed ‘cat orgy’.
5. That you’re confusing the colon with the semi-colon.
6. How irritating it is that you dangle your participles so much.

When Beta readers return your manuscript, you’ll read through their critique notes, then slap yourself upside the head for the number of times you read that same passage and missed something that glaringly obvious.

But that’s why Alpha and Beta readers are so essential to a writer. Since they’ve never seen your story before, since they’re not emotionally bound to the characters and the settings and the plot, they can spot problems you didn’t even know were there. So the next time you write out your special acknowledgements section, remember to give a shout out to all those brave pre-readers who helped bring your story to life and raise it to be the very best you could make it.