Vicki Hinze on Writing

    The Harlequin community is committed to reading 100,000 Books this year to benefit the National Center for Family Literacy. This is an unprecedented opportunity for all of us to help fight illiteracy at the grass roots level. If the Harlequin community achieves its goal of 100,000 books read, it will be donating the equivalent number of books to this charity–and this charity is working hard to find solutions to the literacy crisis, so we need to do our part to make sure this a success. That Harlequin book donation is equivalent to $700,000. You know how much that kind of donation can benefit women and their families. We all want to make a difference in the lives of others. Here’s a shot to do just that. Reading impacts lives; we know it does. So get involved. Be a part of making a difference. Register and participate. Blog about the books you read this year. WHAT EXACTLY DO YOU HAVE TO DO? Read a book and create a book review. Do that, and you’ve added one more book to the total–and the National Center for Family Literacy is one book closer to getting those books! We love reading–so much so that sometimes we feel we need a license to do more of it. Well, consider this your license (you’re reading for a worthy cause, a critical purpose) and go for it! Here is the link to the challenge rules and an introduction. Please, please, use it! Blessings, Vicki Vicki Hinze www.vickihinze.com Tags: read, books, novels, literacy, authors, writers, novelists, creative writing, competition, challenges, donation, writer’s library, vicki hinze

The longer you write, the more difficult it becomes to write something different.

It isn’t that you lack the capability, it’s that you’ve developed other considerations that warrant significant attention in your selection of what to write.

Your readers have certain expectations, and they don’t like (and you don’t like) disappointing them.  For example, you write romantic suspense.  Then you shift to paranormal novels.  Some readers might make the shift with you.  Some won’t.  You’ll gain new readers for the paranormals—ones who love paranormals but aren’t perhaps enamored with straight romantic suspense.

It’s for this reason that the higher you get on your publisher’s list, the less creative freedom you experience in novel type.  But that doesn’t mean that you lose all creative freedom.  You don’t.  You still can stretch your creative wings and fly—you just do so in that same novel type.

This comes easier to some writers than to others.  They seem to have an endless flow of ideas that both fit within their self-defined boundaries and exceed them without crossing into unexpected territory.

These are the writers who awaken their muse.  The ones who deliberately seek new twists and opt not for the first thing that springs to mind but the third or fourth or twenty-fourth because they know that for the reader to experience fully and become actively engaged in the fictional dream they create, the writer first must experience fully and become actively engaged in that fictional dream.

If your muse is slumbering, coasting along on autopilot, you’ve either reached the dead zone or you’re on a short approach to it.  The dead zone is when writers write from that place where they aren’t engaged, and it shows in the work in thousands of ways.  Some are glaringly apparent (often referred to as lazy writing) and others are subtle (often not referred to at all because the reader can’t peg a specific thing in words but senses those specifics at a deeper level). 

My short, stock answer to this challenge is this:  Never write a book you don’t love.

If you, the writer, love it, it shows in those thousand ways.  You automatically stretch because you’re deeply invested. You’re engaged and running full-throttle.  And that, too, shines through in the work in a multitude of ways that can’t be put into words but is felt deeply.

Whether you must give your muse a gentle nudge—being a writer to whom “different and yet the same” stories is natural—or you have to shake the smithereens out of your muse—because you’re a writer to whom “different is nowhere near the same” stories is natural, there is a key to dealing with this creative challenge.

Identify which type of writer you are.  Then nudge or shake; do what you must do to get invested and engaged.  Do what you must do for the work to stay fresh and original to you.  Refill your creative well, keep it overflowing; write about things that matter to you; write about people in situations that intrigue and interest you.  Feed your creativity. 

Do that and creativity will awaken the Muse for you. 

And you will love the books you write.

Blessings,

Vicki

©2008,  Vicki Hinze

www.vickihinze.com 

WHEN WRITING IS TOUGH © 2004-2008 BY VICKI HINZE

During the years I’ve worked on the Aids4Writers program, I’ve often received questions or soul-baring notes from writers who are having a tough time writing and want help to overcome it, or who just needed someone who “gets it” to listen to the tough times they’re having writing.

The reasons are as varied as we are individual, and I hope by sharing this post, when you have trouble writing, you’ll find the subject of it the source of inspiration I’ve found.

There are times when every writer, regardless of how much s/he loves writing, considers writing work and the joy of being able to write is buried under the burdens we’re carrying. Pulling teeth would be easier than crafting words and phrases and sentences that relay cohesive thought.

Maybe we’ve overbooked our schedule, or unexpected events have come up that have upset our apple carts. Life always intrudes. You’re sick, the kids or spouse is sick, someone you don’t know is sick, but you must fill in for them. The committee that was supposed to take 15 minutes of your time a week is taking 2 hours every single day. The group you joined to interact with other writers needs volunteers, and if you belong, you must volunteer for something. Your life is in turmoil due to work, family, friends, circumstances out of your control.

Those are but a few of the countless things that happen and impact your writing life. And all you can be sure of is this: Things are going to continue to happen that make it easy not to write.

Sometimes sheer will isn’t enough to work past them. You need more. You need inspiration.

Inspiration can come in any form. For me, one very strong source was in a man by the name of Norm.

Norm joined the Aids4Writers list shortly after I started it, which was years ago. How many exactly, I’ve forgotten now and it isn’t germane, so I’m not going to stop and look it up. What is important is that nearly from the beginning, Norm was a subscriber.

Norm emailed me often privately, asking questions, sharing antidotes, and chatting about his love for writing. Through the years, we shared life’s up and downs and our work. What was going well, what wasn’t. Techniques, methods, ideas–all the things we writers love to explore.

I admired Norm. Writing wasn’t just hard for him, it was a constant struggle, and yet his love for it shone in his every word. His stories were earthy and real. His characters were people flawed to the core and rich in life. Norm was wise and warm and wonderful.

He had been married for most of his life, and still called his beloved wife, Shirley, “My Bride.” He had goats on his farm. And when one was born and its mother died in childbirth, he brought the baby into his home and tucked it under his electric blanket in his bed, to keep it warm. He and his Bride nursed it and the baby goat lived. Norm respected life.

His life hadn’t been easy. He had a 2nd grade education, which made for challenges in his becoming a writer. But he taught himself and he learned from others. He also had a medical challenge that made reading an exercise in patience. It would take Norm about a year to read a book because of this medical challenge–but read he did.

Norm had to work at becoming a writer–harder than most of have to work at it. He wrote beautiful stories. He started a writer’s group, where they helped each other. He offered his wisdom and insight to other writers in a critique group.

He won the Author’s Friend Award, and accepted it with humility and grace. He continued to write through worsening medical conditions. He continued to help other writers through many challenges.

Norm died a week ago Friday. I’m richer for having had the privilege of knowing him. I’m richer for having had the privilege of reading some of his stories. Writers are richer for having had the benefit of his warm wit and gentle wisdom.

Norm’s stories were never published, yet they will be remembered. And when writing times are tough, I’ll do what I’ve done for all the years he has been with me at Aids4Writers:

I’ll remember Norm’s special hardships and his extra burdens and how he persisted in writing in spite of those things with such dignity and grace.

I’ll remember a man, a friend, who struggled longer and harder and received far fewer rewards, but wrote for the love and joy of it–even when it was hard work. It was ALWAYS hard work.

I’ll remember Norm, a treasured source of inspiration, and I’ll write.*

Blessings,

 Vicki

Vicki Hinze

http://www.vickihnze.com

Blog: My Kitchen Table

Blog: Faith Zone

Writers’ Library

FOLLOW YOUR BLISS

©2003-2008, Vicki Hinze

Yesterday, I spent the entire day doing background work on a fabulous new series: creating settings and rules of the realm, characters and developing plot lines. I love those days because the flush of enthusiasm burns like a welcome fire, the interest level is sky high and focus is tight–so tight that the mind is snapping with possibilities: Oh, oh, include this! Ouch, forget that–oh, wait, what about this!

See where it goes if this happens? Damn. Hit a wall, a mud puddle, a panacea!!!

The birth of fiction is energizing on a book. On a series, it’s like live wires cracking and whipping in a storm. And the writer gets to experience all the emotion of creation and feel that warm glow that lets them know they are definitely onto something special. It’s an awesome experience.

And a rewarding one for a writer. Backside to leather requires discipline and on warm, sunny days, it can be hard-won discipline. So immersing in this polar opposite of unbridled creative energy is a wonderful experience on its own–and a perfect balance to the disciplinarian.

By the time I stopped last night, I felt as if I’d run a marathon and I was drained. I fully expected that when I shut down and relaxed, my mind would continue to whirl for hours. It often does. But what did happen surprised me.

It didn’t whirl. Instead, my mind was calm–and on a different, though related, topic. And that was on analysis and how much time we spend analyzing everything. So much time that too often we don’t have time to experience life!

We think about what happened, why it happened, how it happened, who it  happened to, why it happened to them specifically, all of the other people indirectly impacted, and what will trigger it happening again–if it can happen again, and if it can’t, why it can’t and if that can be altered. See what I mean?

I’m not saying that analysis isn’t valuable, it is. But it’s like anything in excess, it’s, well, too much, and we lose the good in it under the weight of the excess. If we are moderate, we know what we need to know and we are content with that, then we have more time to actually live life rather than be distracted from it by excess analysis or anything else.

It happened. Does it matter why? Will it change circumstance to know why? If so, explore. If not, live instead.

It doesn’t pay to rehash the past for the sake of rehashing it. If you’re paralyzed on forward mobility because of the past, then revisit it. But get what you need and then get back to forward momentum because each day spent dwelling on the past is a day spent without living in the present with an eye toward the future. Days such as that cannot be recaptured or regained.

I thought about this for a long time last night. And I thought of all the events I’ve rehashed in my mind time after time–good events and bad ones–and what a waste of life that really was. Memories are great, but to have them you have to make them. And if you’re stuck rehashing the past, well, the only memories you’re making are memories of memories. Living life has so much more to offer!

I awakened this morning and this ran through my mind again–analysis or life–only this time, the thought was about what religions and philosophers throughout time have said on the subject. I had to smile. Had I thought of this topic in this context first, the answers were there waiting for me. But there is good that comes in working through something in your mind until you resolve it–provided you’re not avoiding a solution because it requires an action you don’t want to take. Joseph Campbell, bless him, nailed it in short order. “Follow your bliss.”

Smiling here. Follow your bliss kind of sums it up. If you do that, you’re going to be spending a lot more time living and a lot less time analyzing that which changes nothing.

Follow your bliss…

Blessings,

Vicki

Vicki Hinze 

We often hear the term, “Creative License,” and take it to mean that we can alter something someone else brought into existence or alter the know precepts or prevailing thoughts on something else that already exists.  Neither is the type of creative license I’m exploring. 

 I’m exploring the nebulous feeling a writer gets when writing and something sudden and unexpected happens that requires the author to do something other than what s/he thought s/he would be doing.  A character takes over, some unexpected event occurs that changes perception, goals, motivations–that changes everything.

 And the writer freezes.  Does s/he follow that path or the one intended?   

 I’ve run into this situation so often that I came up with a solution that works for me:  The Hundred Page Rule.  I follow the new path for a hundred pages.  If it works, I keep it.  If not, I toss it out and start over where I made the shift. 

 I hear some of you screaming about this, but there is a solid rationale for trudge through the mud on this new path to see what’s there.  To grasp it, just open your mind and look at the process. 

 We get an idea.  We think of it, then think on it.  It feeds from our conscious mind down into our subconscious.  Now we know that the subconscious takes everything literally, that it stores info in images, and it never forgets anything.  So we get busy with other things, writing and non-writing related, and all the while our conscious minds are otherwise occupied, our subconscious mind is percolating on this idea.  It’s chewing through all we’ve fed into it, slotting and ordering every detail–without exception.  Every detail.

 And so we sit down to write, and we come to this twist or turn on the path we hadn’t consciously anticipated.  But here’s the question:  Is this twist unanticipated by our subconscious?  

 That’s a question we should ask and often don’t. 

 When we follow, most often we discover that while we were busy elsewhere, our subconscious had slotted and ordered all we’d fed into it and spotted holes that need plugs, irregularities that need regulating, conflicts that need resolving, and challenges that need resolutions for the whole of the project to be viable, logical, and credible.  

 And so the subconscious fixed those things, and that’s why we came to the fork in the road and felt the urge to take a new path.

 Some consider this a kick of creativity.  The double-edge sword.  Because for the subconscious to accurately work out these quirks, you have to consciously feed in the whole of the project.  If you do, you get good results when following that hundred page rule.  If you don’t, you might not like where you end up.  Or in writing those hundred pages, you might add in elements that are additional subconscious food that alters the creative path yet again.

 This is where art and creativity merge, and the author must discern which is the wiser.  To do that with the least amount of inner conflict (in the writer, not the characters), the author must give him or herself a creative license to explore and experiment.  Yes, even a license to fail. 

 There’s an old saying that he who does not dare much does not gain much.  So dare. 

 You have a creative license to do so–and it’s issued by art and creativity!

 Blessings,

 Vicki

 Vicki Hinze

©2008

www.vickihinze.com

Writing Craft and Life Blog: MY KITCHEN TABLE:  1 Writer, 1 Life

Writing  Art and Creativity Blog: Vicki Hinze on Writing

Inspirational Blog: FAITH ZONE:  A Simple Woman’s Spiritual Journey      

Writing  is never easy.  It’s author’s sweat and skill and effort that makes it appear easy.

Actually, it’s a lot like eating a bear.  You can do it, yes, but it’ll try you on every level unless you eat the rascal one bite at a time.

I hesitate to say write this way or that way.  We writers have a lot in common, but we have a lot of differences, too, and a major difference in each and every one of us is the way we think.  Some would say, how our muse works, but it’s really more than the muse that inspires us, it’s how we perceive and process and function. 

For some, the process is linear.  I do this and then that and then that and then that.  

For others, the process is, non-linear.  I get an idea, I develop it–interject this and then that element and then mesh them together and see what I’ve got.  Then I write.

For still others, the process is random.  I get an idea, a plot, or a character.  I sit down and write and see where it goes and what happens. 

Whatever way works for you is right.  The process doesn’t make a bit of difference to anyone else.  You’re the only one who sees it or experiences it, and in the end, every process (followed through to fruition) ends with the same thing in the same place:  a completed book.   

So my point is to write in the way that is natural to you.  Explore others’ methods and processes, adopt what works for you and ditch the rest.  

Your way is the right way for you to eat YOUR bear. 

In the coming days, I’ll share parts of my process.  I’ve tried many and taking tidbits from this and that one and experimenting on my own, I’ve developed a way to eat my bears that works well for me–and gives me a lot more writing time and a lot less revising time.  I like that ratio. :) 

Blessings,

Vicki 

P.S.  I do several blogs:  

My Kitchen Table, which is posted at my website: www.vickihinze.com.  It’s Vicki in chat-mode, is typically on specific writing topics (right now, I’m focusing on character) and always on life.  

FAITH ZONE is about my spiritual journey.  I’m a stumbler and fumbler.  This is not a place to debate religion or theology, just a place where I share my stumbles and fumbles.

Also, there’s a pretty extensive library of writing articles and notes from seminars and lectures and workshops I’ve done on the website, too, if you’re interested in that type thing.  

Here, in the Vicki Hinze On Writing Blog, I want to just chat about the process and creativity.

Vicki 

Warning:  this is a no-edit zone…

On awakening, like everyone else, I have my rituals. One of them is to read from the Bible and then to pull a quote for the day and reflect on how the two–the reading and the quote–interrelate. The quote for today is:

“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.”

-Edith Wharton

There are a lot of ways to look at that quote. And I expect one sees in it what they’re looking for at the time. Today, my interpretation of it is that we’re all both candles and mirrors at different points in time on different issues and in different situations.

I think that’s a good thing. When we’re capable of creating paths (whether we really want to walk them or we feel compelled to walk them for the greater good), of doing things that need doing (pleasant or not), or we take action to make situations better, we’re the candle.

When we are the candle, we emit light into shadows and darkness and others see it and find their way or reflect it, emulating us, like mirrors. When your children mimic your actions. If you ask them for something and always say thank you, then they automatically do, too. When you treat others with respect, conduct yourself with dignity and grace, then others are more apt to treat you that way, as well. Not certain to, but more apt to. With free will, that’s the best you can do: be responsible for yourself.

When you’re the candle, you choose what light you cast. Knowing others reflect it, you should aspire to have it be the best you have to give.

When others are the candle and we act in harmony with them, then we are the mirror that reflects their light. This is why it is so important to choose those you surround yourself with carefully. If the light they cast is negative, harmful, hurtful–either inflicted directly or condoned–then you reflect it. If it is positive and constructive and helpful–either inflicted directly or condoned–then you reflect it.

When you’re the mirror–and at times we all are–then you don’t choose good or bad, right or wrong, negative or positive, or destructive or constructive. You simply reflect.

I’m being nudged this morning to write this post, and I never question spiritual nudgings. But this reads like a lecture on life, and I guess when you get down to it, it is. Yet like everything else it does apply to writing.

Writing is all about characters–people–and if you don’t believe that, take Scarlet and Rhett out of GONE WITH THE WIND and see what you’ve got left. Since writing is about people, it is a mirror that reflects light.

Which makes the point of this that every author is a candle. And all the fiction the author produces is a mirror that reflects the light from her candle. That is a compass for authors to consider the impact of what they write. To consider the light they emit that others will mirror and reflect.

Carrying this one step further, solely into the fictional world, the characters are candles or mirrors, too. As writers, we serve them well by remembering that.

I hope this helps–and that you all have a glorious day filled with joy and many…

Blessings,

Vicki

P.S. Because I know someone is going to ask, I’ll just answer the why question now.

I get these nudges often, and when I do, I heed them and post. Without fail, someone who gains some something from the post emails to say so. That’s held true in all the ten years (or whatever it’s been now) that I’ve done this. At first, I considered it coincidence. Now I accept that in these posts, I’m not the candle. I’m a mirror.

I’m new here and finding my feet.  Please bear with me as I learn to navigate my way.  I look forward to chatting about writing with you.  One thing.  I edit articles, books and other writing, but I’m declaring this blog a no-edit zone.  My version of untempered joy.  Blessings, Vicki