The Invisible Writer: a ThoughtTree Writing Workshop
1. “Reading a good story is like being in a vivid and continuous dream’ John Gardner
2. “Write relentlessly until you find your own voice. Then use it” David Sedaris
3. “Definition of a writer: someone who spends time with invisible friends. And is mean to them.’
4. “Beware of advice – even this.” Carl Sandburg
5. “All I know of grammar is its infinite power.” Joan Didlion
6. “Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words.” Mark Twain
7. “Creativity is contagious.”
The creative approach
Rita turns into Ashberry Grove. She is still in fourth and her speeding car takes the corner wide. She travels some distance down the wrong side of the street.
Her passenger, Doreen, clasps her handbag tight, pushing it into her lap.
Rita swerves to the left and Doreen inhales. Audibly. Uuhf.
(From Gorgeous by Lynn Bryan)
The passive detached voice
Ashberry Grove is turned into by her. The corner is taken wide by her speeding car, which is kept in fourth. Some distance down the wrong side of the street is travelled by her. The passenger felt anxious, gripped her bag, and breathed a sigh.
Quote #1. Your stories can be like this also. You are writing a fictional dream. If you are going to write a dream for your reader, you must be able to write in that same mode. Don’t make your writing over complex and difficult to follow. Pare your work down if need be so that it is an easy interesting read. Imagine you are a guide very gently leading your reader down a dreamy believable path.
Quote#2. AUTOMATIC WRITING (a very helpful process).
• The idea is to have NO preconceived idea of what you are going to write about at all
• This sounds easy but try it now – you will feel instinctive planning kicking in
• Sit quietly for a minute or so and see what thoughts come into your mind
• WHATEVER these thoughts are (and they may be very embarrassing for you) that is what you are going to write about.
o No one is going to read or see this work
o This is a personal exercise done solely for your benefit
o Tear the work up if it would bare witness against you
o You are sometimes going to be facing and exorcising demons that you may have carried for some time
o Write with flow. If you make errors ignore them, don’t worry about grammar, don’t worry about spelling, punctuation, your pen being blotchy, nothing is to stop the words from flowing onto the page.
Below is my attempt at the workshop I have blanked out any incriminating paragraphs.
“Too impulsive. The first purchase of links that I had made I gave away to Eve because a bought a pair and really needed three and could not remember where I had bought this particular make, plus they were a bit slow for me. I repeated the mistake and ended up with a pair of 200 megs. and a pair of 300 meg. Data went out through one pair and back through the other this was a very slow system indeed worse than the first. And now the crux of the mater I need 4 high speed matching ones and not a collection of odds. It would get back to my controller that I had had to buy these wretched things for the third time around. The controller would delight in my foolishness … or is this just the way things appear to me to be?. Sod it! If we all made all the right choices all the time that would be just especially great – especially for a fool like me”
Quote#3 All stories have a beginning, a middle and an end. (regardless of whether that story continues in the next work) There is a point at which the author says oh well that is the end of this telling of this tale. Wherever your story ends it must be worth the readers while having taken the time and effort to reach this point.
Start Story ends (must be worth getting here)
Quote#4. Explore – if you are only going to follow rules you are only going to regurgitate the same old stuff. For example, everyone will tell you always use an active verb and NEVER to use an adverb
Here’s a little story for more practice in recognizing action verbs.
Billy jumped out of his bed Friday morning. He ran to the kitchen singing at the top of his lungs. “Billy, you sure sound happy this morning!” said Billy’s mother. “I am!” Billy replied as he sat at the breakfast table. He gobbled his food down as fast as he could. Then he raced out the door and jumped on the school bus. When the bus pulled up in front of the school Billy was still sinking. When it was time for class, David whispered, “You better stop singing. You’ll get into trouble.” But Billy picked another song and continued on. The teacher, Mrs. Grump, was talking about nouns and verbs when Billy started his tenth song of the day. Billy’s classmates giggled and then laughed out loud, but Billy kept right on singing. Mrs. Grump, however, wasn’t singing at all. She wrote a note to Billy’s parents and you know what they decided? No listening to his IPod for two whole days! So Billy learned to sing only in the shower, in choir, outdoors, or with his friends. Just about anywhere but in the classroom!
Could you pick out the action verbs in that story? Action verbs are used when you want to show action or somebody doing something. The action verbs in this story are underlined.
Adverbs:
Examples:
• Anita placed the vase carefully on the shelf.
(The word carefully is an adverb. It shows how the vase was placed.)
• Tara walks gracefully.
(The word gracefully is an adverb. It modifies the verb to walk.)
• He runs fast.
(The word fast is an adverb. It modifies the verb to run.)
• You can set your watch by him. He always leaves at 5 o’clock.
(The word always is an adverb. It modifies the verb to leave.)
• The dinner guests arrived early.
(early modifies to arrive)
• She sometimes helps us.
(sometimes modifies to help)
• I am the only person in the world I should like to know thoroughly. (Oscar Wilde)
(thoroughly modifies to know)
Grammar Lessons! Ugh! I hope the above helps with what the rules actually should mean.
Quote#5. At this point a fragment of a book was read. It was obvious that the Grammar and punctuation dictated to the reader how the words were intended to be read. The rules are there really to abolish ambiguity and make things crystal clear.
“Grammar is a piano that I play by ear”
Quote #6 & #7 Writing is easy creating stories people want to read is not. We had all listened to works being read that we were totally uninterested in. Why was that? How do you create interest?
Characters, Scenes, all are established by us all in small fragments. We do NOT instantly Know someone or are instantly fond of a place these certainties grow with time as our brains piece together little snippets of information about a person or place that it receives. Our brains are natural puzzlers and enjoy working out things. It is said that even by the tender age of 4 years old most of us have experienced al the fragments that we need to build upon for the rest of our lives. By age 4 we have an inkling of;
• Love
• Hate
• Death
• Loss
• Jealousy
• Rage
• Revenge
• Anger
• Regret
• Grief
Never imagine that a young person will not know of what you speak.
You can go there – IF YOU THINK IT IS WISE TO DO SO.
DO NOT BE AFRAID TO USE YOUR OWN INFORMED JUDGEMENT ABOUT ANYTHING
So you do not reveal something that is harmful or dangerous then do a small bit of planning before you write.
1. What is it that your story eventually reveals?
2. What is the core values of the characters involved?
3. How can you build these traits giving small bit of information at a time to eventually build or construct the character and place you are going with?
4. Is there enough going on in your story to keep people wanting to gather the fragments?
And then a tricky exercise – write a monolog about the character that partner in the class described to you. Angela described Mr Rochester to me in the LIKES, DISLIKES, MOTIVATION and FLAWS chart shown on the next page.
“I lay awake and unable to sleep, all because I could not release the image in my mind of being ‘brought to task’ over all that that I have avoided and hidden from the view of those dearest to me. I can feel the soft touch of a hand on my shoulder; not a hand to allure and encourage me but a hand sure and certain of guiding me to a place that I would rather not go. In my mind I try to grasp the hand and persuade it to other purposes but this hand belongs to a being of truth that will not be diverted from its task. In front of me now is a door and a stairway going up to a place of infamy and disgrace. Another hand is opening the door up wider and the attached face is set formally in a permanent frown with eyes darting towards the stair which tell me that I should proceed up them. I fear that first step with a dread that added unbearable weight to feet & legs. I looked down at my feet and note that they have mud from a puddle splashed on them, ‘Goodness I must get them cleaned by someone!’
Sometimes our story telling whips on at such a pace that we need to slow it down. Your reader needs time to piece the fragments that we are ‘feeding’ him together. They need some breathing space in which to make sense of what they have been reading. How do we do this?
The most common method is by using distractions. A small space of light dainties after having a 3 course meal of descriptive stodge.
Next we did another task.
SLOW YOUR CHARACTER DOWN BY GIVING HIM A MUNDANE TASK TO CARRY OUT. WRITE THIS IN THE FIRST PERSON HAPPENING NOW
I sat down in the chair normally occupied by our doctor and inspected the certificate in my hand. I admired the flowery script of the coroner and mused for a while on the cause of death. The paper was new and un-creased, it had a stiffness that would change to softness with age. The paper felt raw and sharp. I contemplated how I wished it were ‘steamed to softness and sweetened with the hint of thyme, whilst this thought faded I thought of a favourite shirt that I had bought that grated and made my neck red by rubbing it. With time all would be okay again. I looked at the paper in my hand, folded it in half and put it out of sight in the inside pocket of my jacket. It would remain there hidden and forgotten for now.
Defining a character.
This could be one of your own characters or a character from a favourite book
The names of the character concerned…
Bilbo Baggins
Likes
▪ Home
▪ Comfort
▪ Pleasantries
▪ Normal
▪ Being surrounded by familiar things
▪ Food, Wines to excess
▪ Being the centre of attention
Dislikes
▪ The unknown
▪ Strangers
▪ The unexpected
▪ People who go beyond his limits of generosity
Motivation
▪ Being accepted
▪ Sticking by the rules
▪ Doing the right thing
▪ Pride
▪ Doing right by others
▪ Showing mercy / clemency
Flaws
▪ Lacks courage
▪ Expects others to do everything that involves any level of risk
▪ Pride. He denies everything said about him showing him in a bad light
▪ Often conceals undesired truths
The Chart is filled in by concentrating on what you know about the character.
NOW! This could be a character that you have just created for use in a story that you are writing. For your character to be memorable and have some substance the reader must be told what the character is like.
If your reader does not know your characters they will not care whether he lives dies starved etc. You must make your reader care or your story will be a work of instant forgetability.
DRAW a chart up now and fill it in for a character that you are writing about.
See how the character takes shape has form and becomes more real.
