Organization Will Set You Free

That’s my motto. My goal is to be so organized that things practically do themselves. My problem is the other mammals that live in my house. My husband tries…sort of. The dogs just look at me as if I’m crazy when I tell them to put their toys away. And the cats…are cats. So it’s up to me. I’ve heard that if you want something done, give it to a busy woman. My family takes that way too seriously.

Last year, we moved and my writing slipped to the bottom of my to-do list. I got cranky and that’s never a good time for anyone. This year, I’m going to get a head start on the holidays.

Yup. I’m starting now. First and very important get a book-style calendar. One you can make lots of notes in.

1. This is the time to hit the sales. Do you have your Christmas cards yet? This is a great time to get them on sale. You might as well pick up wrapping paper and bags as well. After all, they’re 75% off.
2. Put all your card recipients’ addresses on labels. When the first of December comes, all you have to do is write a short letter or add a picture and you’re done except for the trip to the post office.
3. Get all the cards you need for the rest of the year. Yes, I already have Valentine cards and all the birthday cards for the year. There are some cards you can’t get because they’re seasonal, but do what you can. There’s nothing worse than to get all wrapped up in your WIP only to look at the calendar and realized your brother’s birthday is tomorrow and there you sit in your pajamas with no card. To make matters worse, it’s 10:30 and the only place open is the 7-11. Better to plan ahead.
4. Stick the cards in your calendar according to the month you’ll need them. If you really want to save time, address them and stick on a stamp.

Now that you’ve done what you can for special events, it’s time to turn to planning for spring. Flowers. The sight of spring with all its color and fragrances spurs the creative juices.

1. Order the flowers you want now. There are great deals on-line and you can do it all from the comfort of your favorite chair and in your jammies. Think of the time and gas you’ll save. Everything will come to your door and all you have to do is stick them in the ground. Note: Plant perennials. They come up every year and you only have to mess with them once a year, leaving you more writing time.
2. If you plant a garden, this is also a great time to get your seeds.

Now that you have all that off your plate, you’ve got time to write now and later. Speaking of writing, this is a great time to begin a new project or wrap up last year’s.

1. Make a list of the agents and editors you plan to submit to.
2. Jot down on that new calendar when you need to send in dues to the groups you belong to. This way you don’t get dropped from your favorite groups.
3. Outline or brainstorm a new book. Even if you won’t be able to start it for a while, it will get you excited about the process and spur you to finish your WIP.

I hope these suggestions help you find more time to write.

What do you do to save time? Do you have a plan for the unexpected events that always pop up?

 

Conundrum

I need your perspective. When I blogged about plot in http://bit.ly/theplotbeckons, I wrote that there were no new plots, just unique variations.  Nothing wrong with that if it provides a springboard for good storytelling.

What about a movie remake?

As a rule, I don’t like movie remakes. They “feel” lazy to me. Take a popular, moneymaking movie and film a remake. Not a prequel or a sequel. The same story.  Use younger, bright and shiny actors, better technology [don’t forget to add computer-generated images (CGI)], and you don’t have to rewrite the thing from scratch. Hire a great screenwriter to update it, put in a few twists, and rake in the bucks. Yes, I understand it’s not as easy as this, but I’m not writing a book here.

Producers of remakes have built-in attendance. There’s Joe, who goes to the remake because he loved the original and wants to see it redone no matter how badly. Then there’s Bob, who loved the original, but hates the idea of a remake, and wants to be able to tell everyone he was right.

While I won’t state that remakes never make as much money as the originals, quite a few don’t. Adjusted for inflation, the following remakes did not fare as well at the box office as the originals. The Karate Kid (1^st one), Fame, Conan the Barbarian, Bad News Bears, The Amityville Horror, and Arthur. That is a small number from the selection I found.

Rumored remakes in the works are American Pie, Barbarella, The Birds, Escape from New York, Ghostbusters, Highlander (I’m not counting the TV series as a remake), and Tomb Raider.

Why? Are all the screenwriters out of ideas? I doubt it. Are the producers and backers afraid to take a chance on a new story or a new writer? Sounds a little like editors and publishers.

And this blog isn’t even covering movie treatments of hit TV shows, comic books, anime, video games, etc. Where’s the originality gone?

In the interest of full disclosure, I go to remakes pretty regularly. But, I’m always a little uneasy. When remakes are tweaked here and there, does that make them “a variation on the same plot” and thus okay? Is the deciding factor whether they are remade well enough to make money?

What do you think? Are remakes a cop-out? I’m not sure.

What remake of a movie do you think was better than the original? And remember, prequels and sequels don’t count. Movies to TV and vice versa aren’t eligible.

 

Tidbits and Links

The time I’m going to let other people do the talking. I usually spend a few minutes at the beginning of my day reading about stuff in “the biz” of writing, especially kid lit. But just in general, it’s a way to get my brain focused on writing. Here are some of the things I’ve read this week:

The writers of South Park explain story and plot. They talk about the method they use to make the structure of their show, but it works with anything trying to tell a story. It’s the difference between “The king died. Then the queen died” and “The king died. Therefore, the queen died of a broken heart.”

Stephen Colbert talks with children’s author/illustrator Maurice Sendak. The link will take you to the first part, but stay there and view part 2 as well. I love Colbert, and Maurice Sendak is refreshingly irreverent about his own writing, and about many other things.

Two authors from our own SCBWI region make the YALSA list. This is the young adult branch of the ALA, which is my favorite genre. Carol Lynch Williams and Sara Zarr, both from Utah, made the list.

Ten Shakespeare Quotes you use every day. Remember, you too can create new phrases and expressions. It will increase the unique voice of your writing. Avoid those tired cliches and think how to write more original thoughts.

This link takes you to a contest from a friend of mine, Kelly Milner Halls. She’s an amazing children’s author from Spokane.

Darcy Pattison is a fabulous writing teacher and author in her own right. Check out this hilarious book trailer.

If you didn’t know that Henry Winkler writes children’s books with our own SCBWI Executive Director, Lin Oliver, you should check them out. I’m usually not a fan of celebrities as authors, but Henry is good.

As an editor, I find that beginning writers often use quotation marks unnecessarily. Check this out for a good laugh:http://www.vappingo.com/word-blog/unnecessary-quotation-marks/

Bookshop Talk is a web site that promotes positive book reviews. They feel there are too many people ripping authors apart, so they wanted to put more positive reviews out there.

My friend, Gregory Taylor, is the media specialist (aka, librarian) at Hillside Jr. High in Boise. Here’s his video blog this week.

 

2012 Resolutions, Part 2

My resolutions for 2012.

1. Work on improving my health.
2. Spend more time with my husband.
3. Spend more time with my children.
4. Spend more time with my friends and extended family.
5. Spend more time taking joy from each and every day.

In my previous blog, I wrote about my number one resolution for the brand new year.  This week I want to talk about my second 2012 resolution.

Spend more time with my husband.

Let’s go back in time, way back.  I had graduated from Long Beach Junior College in January.  I was going to attend a California college on the trimester system, and wouldn’t be starting classes until March.  I decided this would be a perfect time to visit my family and friends in Pocatello, Idaho.

Jerome Mapp was attending Idaho State University.  He worked as a DJ at the university radio station.  We had met prior to this visit.  By met, I mean we said hello.  This meeting was different.  We actually had a conversation.  We talked about our lives, our future plans, and about music.  I promised to call the station to make a request.

I made that telephone call.

Have you ever met someone and felt a click?

We went out one Saturday.

The following Wednesday evening we were sitting in my Aunt Tenna’s kitchen.  I remember looking at him and knowing exactly how he felt about me.  I said, “I know you love me.”

You need to understand my husband in not prone to impulsive acts, unless it’s a shopping deal too good to pass up.  I can only imagine how my words must have unnerved the poor man.  Sure, we had gone out on Saturday, and he came over to visit me each day since that date, but this, this wasn’t what he expected.  He, of course, was taken aback.  I smiled as he offered a denial.

Less than an hour later he told me he loved me.

“I know.”  I smiled.

On Saturday night we were at a party being hosted at my Aunt Jessie’s house.  That’s where he asked me to marry him.  There were seven days between the first date and the day he popped the question.

As you can imagine, our speedy engagement sent tongues wagging.  There was the pregnancy speculation.  I wasn’t.  There were the naysayers.  “It will never last.”  The possibility of divorce never goes away, but… we’re still together.

My darling husband and I have been married for more than three decades.  After all that time, it’s easy to start taking him for granted.  This is the man I once thought could walk on the moon without the aid of special equipment.  The years have shown me he is a mere mortal, but he is my mere mortal.  I want to spend more time laughing with him.

My husband and I had the kind of romance authors spin into stories.  After the head-spinning rush of love settles, living with someone takes work and commitment.

As writers we create characters that can deal with the things life hurls in their path.

We went through college together, started our careers, raised three sons, and dealt with the heartbreaking death of one of those sons.  Somehow, we’ve managed to stay together.

Recently, one of The Gem State Writers blogged on the issue of true love.  The problem with love is that the shine dulls with age.  It doesn’t sparkle as brightly as it did when you first discovered it.  He is mortal.  So am I.

My resolution is to enjoy spending time with the man a twenty year old version of me decided to spend her life with, and enjoy those ordinary moments we spend together.

 

To torture or not to torture

Writers are told to torture their characters. Which sounds like a Catch 22, doesn’t it? Here is your book – your baby – that you have slaved over, revised, pampered and revised again. This is your creation. Your masterpiece. And you are supposed to torture it?

Yes. Absolutely.

If your hero or heroine is going to have a character arc, you have to provide some sort of stimulus for that arc to take place. A story about a woman finding love and getting married is fine and dandy, but add in a jealous ex-girlfriend, disapproving in-laws and a secret in the hero’s past and the story grows, becomes richer. The heroine has to fight for her happily-ever-after and while she might end up with a few bruises, she is so much stronger for that fight.

The degree to which we torment our characters is entirely up to us, of course. A woman in love facing disapproving in-laws might be considered more of a slap to the face than actual torment. But what if the in-laws disliked the heroine so much they had her framed for a crime? And she winds up in jail? Suddenly you’ve got sucker punch to the gut torment.

It’s not always easy to poke and prod at our characters. To expose their weaknesses. Have them cry into their pillows. But it makes them three dimensional and relatable, which is what a good story should have.

I hate to torment my characters. Can’t stand it. I’ve written scenes with tears leaking down my face and a knot in my stomach. And usually I have to stay up until I’ve written the next scene so my heroine is feeling better before I can go to sleep.

In the end though, my story and my characters are all the better for it.

How do you torment your characters?