The Secret Books of Gabendoor

Just For Fun

noreply@blogger.com (J. Michael Blumer) — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 00:55:00 +0000

I’m a member of several online writing communities and just volunteered to help set up an “east side” subgroup of one organization. The main group likes a synopsis posted for each meeting. Too bad my sense of humor was acting up that night. Here is the synopsis I posted.

The St. Paul TC SF Writer Network meeting got off to a great start right after the fist fight between Janice and Jess ended. It turns out it was a good thing one of the restaurant patrons called 911. The EMT people answered some of our questions about medical procedures. Douglas and Ferone missed some of it, but Doug demonstrated the Heimlich maneuver, much to Ferone’s relief.Leanne came late so she didn’t need to have her stomach pumped like most of us. Matthew didn’t either because he had only swallowed one bite of the stuff. Mike stuck his fingers down Matt’s throat to take care of that. We thought Mike S. was being a bit of a drama king. His five stitches were nothing compared to what Zach had to endure.

Things had just about settled down and Amy give a vampire demonstration using her hubby for a “visual.” I don’t know what the restaurant staff was so worried about. It wasn’t anything a little soap and water couldn’t clean up. Besides, when the sprinkler system went off, it washed any of the splatter we had missed.

We did get some reviews in and decided to hold the next meeting at the same place, but maybe in a different room. Janice volunteered to bring her first aid kit. I promised that as soon as I got to the emergency room to have my ribs checked, I’d ask all the doctors if any of them were writers and invite them to the next meeting just in case.

Dreaming a Story

noreply@blogger.com (J. Michael Blumer) — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 00:53:00 +0000

I have heard other writers say that it’s as if they are just writing down something dictated to them. I never could fathom the idea until it began happening to me. I don’t know that I can still fathom it.

There is an interesting discussion taking place at a web writing group I belong to. It’s about getting ideas and working out the next scene of a story. The group seems split into two extremes. One group outlines the major plot elements, designs characters and works out much of their story in advance of writing. The other group creates as they go.

There have been interesting comments from both groups. I find it fascinating that many of the “work it out first” group writers use Tarot cards or something similar to work out the characters, how they will relate to other characters, if they are good or evil, etc. That’s something for another day.

The “as you go” group had a surprising number of writers who dream their way to the next scene which is what I do. I never know what is going to happen next. I do have a vague idea of the direction of the story, but it can be very fluid, changing as new events come to me or as other events change in unexpected ways.

Nearly all the “dreamers” work out a scene in that hazy time of falling asleep. I wonder if they are visual thinkers like I am. My experiences go a bit farther and I will actually have deeper sleep dreams about my works in progress. For many years I’ve been able to remember dreams. I can come close to having a lucid dream, which is one where you can control the dream to some extent.

When I begin to dream the next scene, the process or “event” usually follows a familiar pattern. I go to bed and think about where the story was on pause. I visualize the scene and situations an, as if I released the “pause” button on a movie player, things start happening. I can’t really say that I control or have thoughts about what should happen next. I can’t really say that I’m not having some influence. I can say that I am almost always amazed and pleased with what the characters start doing.

The scene keeps repeating as I fall deeper asleep. Each time it repeats, more details fill in. Dialogues take place with me just listening. Eventually I fall asleep. The next evening, the scene repeats itself. Sometimes more details fill in. Other times the scene repeats like an endless loop, not really changing much. It will haunt me each night until I finally write it down. If I don’t write it down, I can’t go on to what might happen next. So far I’ve written all my books this way.

I think it’s also interesting that this is how my very first book began. I didn’t sit down one day and decide to be a writer. I started having a recurring dream that nearly drove me crazy until I wrote it down. It’s more like some spirit world story teller picked me. She or he filled my dream with a chapter and kept pushing it at me until I finally wrote it down.

When things are Right in the World

noreply@blogger.com (J. Michael Blumer) — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 00:51:00 +0000

I had an amazing and very gratifying experience the other day. I was honored to speak before over 900 middle school students.

It began as an opportunity to talk with a couple classes about writing, being an author and my book. It quickly grew into a five session talk with a total of 32 classrooms signing up.

After each session, these young students came up to me holding two inch bits of paper torn from larger pages. They held them out with a pen and asked for my autograph. My heart was touched. When I could, I grabbed something larger and more lasting to sign for them. They asked fantastic questions and were truly interested about writing.

When I was young, no one encouraged me to write. No one told me that there were carriers in writing. Everyone lumped writers with philosophers and others who were interested in things that would not lead to a job to support a family on. I wish someone had given me encouragement.

Because of that and many other things in my life, I want to reach out to anyone, young or old that has a dream to do something. I want to provide whatever encouragement and assistance I can. At times, though, I don’t feel like I have much to offer.

At the end of the day I received my Christmas gift for the year. A young girl sought me out after the presentations were done. She asked for my help. She wanted to be a writer. Bless her heart. I hope that the little I can offer will someday play at least a small part in her dream coming true. For me, that’s what it is all about.

More on The Craft of Writing

noreply@blogger.com (J. Michael Blumer) — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 00:49:00 +0000

I’m doing some thinking about the second part of my two part workshop, and being a writer, decided I may as well think and type at the same time. Now that I consider it, I do some of my best detailed thinking about a story as I type it.

Back to class. The second part deals with making a story interesting. That’s a tough one. Actually making it interesting is more than just plot or story line. Consider an oral story teller or an instructor. A great oral story teller can take a mundane story and tell it with such style and skill that it becomes interesting. A good instructor can take mediocre class content and present it in a way that makes it interesting. I think the point is that writing in an interesting way is more than having a good or average story. Much is in the presentation. I don’t think you can have one without the other. You must have a story that has something to it, but you must do your best in the presentation or writing.

Doing that maybe isn’t a simple thing. It’s a combination of characters, setting, active and passive writing, and managing mood and drama, among many other things. It’s how well we do with these and presenting them with narrative and dialogue as a team that makes a story interesting.

Let’s take a look at characters or characterization. It’s easy to make them flat, and hard to bring them to life. For me, the key is making them alive and real in my head. If I can do that, then it’s not so bad a job to put them on paper. I’m not one who uses character sheets or profiles. I discover and learn about my characters as they grow, develop and reveal themselves to me in my writing. They naturally have a physical look to them. I sometimes forget they could have good days and bad days, be surly or phony or tired or fed up or depressed. They might tend to follow my moods, but I don’t think so. Sometimes I must stop and think how one of my characters might feel or react in a given situations. I’m at that point right now with Windslow, Hillary and Trish in book three, The Book of Twisted Truths. I stopped writing a scene I was in the middle of because I wasn’t sure how they each would react. Being a visual thinker, they have played out the scene in my head. I learned that Windslow was hurt and stuck out with some anger. Hillary was embarrassed and felt some self worth slipping. She covered up with lies that are pushing her into depression. Trish was the hardest of the three. She is becoming protective and a bit pushy. Now I can get back to the scene.

Back to class, again, I can’t just use what I wrote above. I have to finish the scene and give thought to whose point of view would work the best. I began the scene with Windslow. Intuitively, Hillary’s situation is a bit more intriguing and Trish is just playing “mom.” I began the scene from Windslow’s point of view and now will stick in a scene break and finish out the episode from Hillary’s view.

Now a bit about passive and active writing. At first, what I read about passive writing and passive sentences confused me. Actually, I started this sentence like this: “At first I was confused…” Right away the word “was” grabbed me. I have learned to watch for it. It’s usually a sign of passive writing and can also be passive sentence structure. To sort them out, I learned that, “The medal was given to the winner,” Is a passive sentence. We don’t know who did the giving. Who gave the medal to the winner? We don’t know. By changing it to, “The judge gave the medal to the winner,” the sentence is no longer passive in structure. The other form of passive writing is just that—passive writing. Think of it as presenting something after the fact rather than happening in the here and now.

My wife, a second grade teacher, gave me some interesting insight. Second grade students rarely use passive writing. To them, everything is unfolding before them. Hmm… For passive or in the past writing, the word “was” is usually a flag again. “There was a table in the middle of the room.” You could ask, “The table was in the middle of the room. Is it still there now?” It puts the story as something that happened in the past and you are recounting what took place. Making your writing active puts it in a mode of happening right now. It helps draw the reader in. Edit out the “was.” A large table dominated the room.” That keeps it from being passive, puts some attention on the table (which should be important to the story) and makes the writing active.

A quick bit about mood and drama. Mood is something an oral story teller can insert with inflection, speed of talking and more. Think about a movie or play for a moment. In a movie, the background music can help with the mood. You don’t have music in a novel, but don’t forget simple things like a storm brewing or dark clouds, candles flickering out or flames sputtering. Many things can work to covey a mood in lieu of background music.

I would have liked to spend more time on mood and drama, but my fingers are getting tired, and I’ve used about as much time at work as I dare in typing this. Back to work for me. Back to writing for you.

Expectations

noreply@blogger.com (J. Michael Blumer) — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 00:46:00 +0000

Expectations are interesting. Although I am a published writer, most people have their first encounter with me as a car salesperson. Yes, I’m a starving writer and have a day job. I have a list of honesty and ethical ratings pinned up on the bulletin board in my car selling office. It ranks professions from perceived honesty and ethics from top to bottom. At the top are nurses. At the bottom are car salespeople.

During the process of helping customers with a vehicle purchase, I try to slip in that I’m an author. When I do, the reaction from the customers radically changes. I move from the bottom to the top of the list in an eye blink. Although writers aren’t on the list, I’ve had customers who wouldn’t even give me their last name, pull out a business card and hand it to me when they discovered I was a writer.

It amazes me how quickly and radically their opinion, attitude, willingness to provide personal information, and much more changes. They ask about my writing. They ask about the process of becoming published. They tell me about that book they always thought of writing.

When we move the conversation back to vehicles, they trust what I say, drop any defensiveness and remove that wall they held between us until then. It truly amazes me.

Do I take advantage of the change? No, for many reasons. I didn’t change. I began the interaction trying my best to provide information in a factual, cordial, honest and helpful way. That would never change.

Keeping the Fun in Writing

noreply@blogger.com (J. Michael Blumer) — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 00:40:00 +0000

My approach to writing comes from looking back when writing wasn’t something I thought about. It was something I did. It was fun and satisfying. Many years later (about 6 years ago) I decided to write again and started on that first novel. At first the writing was fun, like it had been when I was a kid. Then I started to learn about setting and hooks and voice and all the fun went out. I was too focused on writing well.

The self help books got me even more confused. Not really confused, but overwhelmed. I went back to just sitting down and cranking out story, that’s were the fun was. Too many times I had sat trying to get that first paragraph out with a killer hook. I found that when I put the fun back in, the hook came naturally, just not in the first paragraph. It became fairly easy to find that hook, start the story there and either discard or weave back in everything in front of it.

That’s when I decided that for me, it worked to follow a routine of write, learn, review, edit and write. Eventually the practice of reviewing and editing made the things I learned sink in. New skills became second nature after practice and new skills were always on the horizon.

Finally I got to the point where I stopped reading how-to books. The hook doesn’t hold off until page 12, but still hides until the middle of page one. Setting, dialogue, all the parts come out reasonably well the first time. Editing doesn’t make me laugh as much because most of the really stupid mistakes are long gone. I still write about three chapters before I go back and edit. The fist edit now catches almost everything but the typos.

Author Visits Kindergarten

noreply@blogger.com (J. Michael Blumer) — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 00:37:00 +0000

Some comments I made on a writing forum that I thought were worth saving. The topic was about authors making presentations at schools. For the kindergarten kids, I turned my presentation into a game. I would ask for a volunteer. The kids already knew they got a trading card if they participated so lots of hands went up. I’d ask their name and then make up a “silly” story using them as a character and something the kids would pick out of the room as a challenge. Example: Sue & Pencil sharpener. “Sue walked to the pencil sharpener. She could hear it calling to her. She put her ear close to the …..” Improvising as I went. Something unexpected would happen, then I’d stop and ask for another volunteer and have the class pick another item.

After enough of that, we talked “briefly” about beginnings middles and ends. We talked about how exciting writing could be. The idea- You can make up fantastic adventures in your imagination and tell them to a couple friends. When you can write them down, you can share with thousands of people. We’d talk about the same concept with reading –being able to share stories.

Each small piece was short, interactive and we used silly hats, as props. I did talk about my book, but focused on a creature I have in the story, a hippograff (not a hippogriff.) A hippograff is a pigmy hippo with dragonfly wings. They have seven stomachs and eat broccoli. The broccoli ferments in their stomach and makes gas to give them lift so you can fly on them. Landings are stinky because they need to get rid of the gas. The kids love that. Sometimes we make up some creatures of our own, again a way to get them involved.

From a marketing perspective, the talks can be fun and entertaining. They can fit wit some of what the teachers are teaching, but the kindergarten kids are a little young for my book. It is a good story for parents who read to their kids, but better for a first or second grade listener.

A final thought for you teachers out there. I always visit with the teachers to learn what they are teaching about reading and writing and what they would like me to try to reinforce in my presentation. My first standing ovation was from the middle school grammar teachers. [grin].

Becoming A Writer

noreply@blogger.com (J. Michael Blumer) — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 00:34:00 +0000

I’m on some message boards and a young lady asked some questions and I responded. I though the information might be useful to others, so I put it here.

Question: Ok, so I’m 29 and I think I finally know what I want to be when I grow up-a writer. However, I have a few problems. First, I need to get a degree, since I don’t have the first clue as to how to write well, anyway. Secondly, I don’t even know if I have what it takes to be an author.

Answer: I don’t have a degree (shame on me). Short 15 credits in a foreign language back in the 70’s. Much of my life I did like to write thoughts on life, musings and ideas. About 8 years ago I decided to write a book. I had no clue how to write or even how to format things properly. I typed away until I had about half a million words and decided I had better get some help to figure out what to do with all that. The first thing I found was my word count would make about three books.

I got a couple books on writing. They said to start with a first person point of view, I was omnipotent. It was the first I heard about point of view. It said to keep it simple with one or two main characters. I had people running all over the place. The books said to have a straightforward linear plot (whatever that was). I had a multi-thread plot with subplots upon subplots.

I tossed the books out and took a class at the local

Loft Literary Center. I found the instructors a bit snooty. They told me that real people and especially characters in a story don’t talk to themselves. I do, so I dropped the class.

I joined an online writing workshop. You trade chapters and reviews. I became a prolific reviewer. I learned a bunch by looking at what other wantabees were doing. The members told me not to quit my day job. They had a ranking system with the reviews. 1 = low and 5 = high. They ranked plot, professionalism of writing, characterization and more. Because I still didn’t grasp what a comma was and where they go, among many other things, I consistently got 1’s. After six months I could squeak out a 2. I celebrated when I got a 3 in something. I forget what.

The other members still ripped my work apart and told me to give up. I stepped up my reviewing and started to see different things about point of view. In the bad writing I saw, I began to see what made a character that held my attention and why others put me to sleep.

I started another novel on a whim. I got 5’s. I reviewed more and learned more. I won an “editor’s choice” award (not worth even a cup of coffee, but a moral boost.) Other reviewers asked to see more chapters. The original group started to ignore me. The new batch of reviewers urged me to submit the novel.

Because my fingers are tired and I told myself not to be so verbose – I landed a contract for a five book young adult fantasy series, “The Secret Books of Gabendoor.”

Shameless plug. Book 1: “The Book of Second Chances, ” came out last September. Book 2: “The Book of Broken Truths, ” came out last week. Book 3: “The Book of Twisted Truths, ” is still a manuscript and at my publisher. Book 4: is on my to do list.

I teach two workshops about writing. One essentially has a theme of “Just start writing.” I talk about how not to let formal classes on writing, books on writing, friends or anyone influence you to focus on the technical or “how to” part of writing. Focus on the aspect of writing that brings you joy or some sort of satisfaction. Start writing! When you have a bunch of chapters done, then SLOWLY start learning about point of view, setting, description, characterization, dialogue, dialect, and oh, those comma things. Edit what you have each time you learn something new, like dialect. But, always, always write more with a spirit of fun, with a passion, with laughter, or drunk. Be driven by what it is you personally enjoy about writing! Join a peer review group. Grow a thick skin and go for it!

Question: lately I have been having some crazy dreams, and I’ve been meaning to write them down. Is that how these ideas start, or how do the ideas hit you? I’m waiting for that “

Eureka” moment where I sit up in the middle of the night.

Answer: My writing started with deams. I would head for bed and as I fell asleep I would visualize a scene. The scene kept repeating several times a week until I finally wrote it down.

I’ve come up with things in other ways too. I’m an “organic” writer vs. an outliner and planner. I never know what will happen next. Most of the time I dream the current situation and the characters start talking and acting as I fall asleep. They don’t always have all the details worked out, but when most of it fills in, I head for the keyboard. I can never dream ahead. As I type the story will take strange and unexpected directions.

Other times I have to work out a situation and what I do is start discarding the obvious. For example in the first chapter of The Book of Second Chances, I needed a wizard to come to earth from “someplace else.” I didn’t know where from or to yet or who they were or why they came. But…

I didn’t want them flying in on brooms—done before

No spell where they suddenly pop in—done before

No beaming like Star Trek – done before but that’s what I wanted.

It was storming out and and I got the idea of a whirlwind – but Dorothy did that in the Wizard of Oz. I took that idea. Made it a whirlwind. Renamed the whirlwind to a journy wind. They are small. I visualized it as plumped with bulging forms and off balance making it wobble so I added two more wizards for the effect. Then the journey wind burped out three forms and blew away. I decided traveling inside such a wind would mess your hair, but what else would it mess up. I decided it would mess up your clothes so bad that you might be wearing my pants and me your top, etc.

Another favorite was a shadow creature that the story didn’t really need. I was talking to my father in law, Chet. When you meet Chet he always says, “Did I tell you about the time I almost got hit by a train?” If you say, “Yes, Chet, you did.” He answers with, “Well it happened this way…” Ha! He will always tell it again. Then I thought it wasn’t his fault. He’s haunted by a shadow creature you can’t see and it makes you repeat stories. I named it the Tellagain. That got me thinking about similar creatures and came up with the scritch, the trundlewraith and many more. Now I have s section at my web site (www.gabendoor.com) that is filled with shadow creatures other people have submitted.

Creativity (and fun) comes from many places and many forms

Book Three

noreply@blogger.com (J. Michael Blumer) — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 00:31:00 +0000

’ve neglected my BLOG for a long time along with my writing. It’s time to get back in the mood. Well, it’s not so much mood as time. If we didn’t need to sleep, think of all the extra things we could accomplish. I bet if that happened, we’d eventually complain that we still didn’t have enough time—sigh.

I smile when a reader asks me about some of the symbolism beneath my stories. They ask what motivates Molly Folly Sallyforth. They wonder how Windslow feels about being wheelchair bound on earth and able to walk in Gabendoor. I smile because I don’t know. I enjoy they way I write because I experience each paragraph, each chapter, each book the way a reader must—one at a time. I never do know what will happen next. I reach a stopping point. I have a vague idea about what I think might happen next, but don’t learn the details until I actually write the chapter.

For book three, I began with Windslow’s stepmother cleaning his room. I wanted to account for some time passing between the last adventure and the new adventure. As a solution, I decided that Windslow spent several weeks at summer camp. On the day he was to return, Trish decided to clean his room. I started to chuckle when I wrote that Trish found Windslow’s dream-slip bracelet under his pillow. She absentmindedly put it on her wrist. “Oh my,” I said as I kept typing, realizing that Trish would end up in Gabendoor. Would she run into her kids or have her own adventure. I didn’t know. I finished the chapter and wished there were a couple more pages for me to read. I wanted to find out what would happen next. I went to bed, not knowing.

As I fell asleep, I imagined Trish in Gabendoor, thinking it was a natural dream. I grinned when I visualized her trying to fly, flopping on her stomach and sliding down a hill. The vision changed to Windslow and Hillary back at home with their mother. They spotted the dream-slip band. They tried their best to get the band back without raising suspicion. They failed. I could feel their worry about what would happen that night when they dream-slipped to Gabendoor. If they ran into their mother, what would they say? What would they do? About that time I fell asleep.

I thought about my semi-dreams and visions. I thought about them every night as I fell asleep. The sketchy scenes repeated with a slightly different variation each time. I started hearing bits of dialogue. No matter what I tried, I couldn’t get any significant additional information.

Finally I found time to work on the next chapter. The details filled in as I typed. The dialogue flowed clearly in my mind. I had to type fast to keep up with my thoughts. After many hours, I finished two more chapters. I read over them again, enjoying the new things that took place.

I decided to keep writing. Maybe I could do another chapter. I ended up playing a solitaire card game on my PC and finally went to bed. As I fell asleep, previews of a new chapter began forming.

That’s how is works for me. Can I answer your questions about these characters of mine? Sometimes I can, but most of the time I’m just guessing like you.

Naming Characters

noreply@blogger.com (J. Michael Blumer) — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 23:58:00 +0000

Thanks for your question about how I make up names for my characters. I like to pair words together. I look at last names of people I know and have noticed a lot of them have two parts or two syllables. For example, Johnson, Donner.

I started looking at things for the first part of a name or syllable and then different things for the second part. I ended up drawing a line down the middle of a sheet of paper. On one side of the line I wrote the first thing that came into my head:

“Meat” (I was eating dinner.) So I wrote down more things that had to do with food.

I wrote:

• Meat

• Broccoli

• Pears

• Fat

• Bones

• Gristle

• Salt

Then on the other side of the line I wrote a starter word that was from a different category. I wrote about things you eat with. I came up with:

• Fork

• Fingers

• Chopsticks

• Teeth

• Lips

Then I started matching words from one side of the line to the other side of the line. I came up with things like:

• Bonetooth

• Forkfat

I combined words from the same side of the line:

• Forklips

• Chopteeth.

Finally I made a pair I liked; Gristleteeth

That didn’t look as good or sound as good as I wanted it and I started thinking of variations and came up with Gristletooth.

I liked it. Then I thought about the sound and decided it sounded like a male name and sounded like someone who was bad versus good. So no I had a nice character who would be an evil wizard. His name is Gristletooth.

I also like names that mean something. A name like Johnson, probably came from a boy named after his father. He was John’s son. So they called him George Johnson.

Hillary and Windslow in my book have names with meaning. They are the children of the summer wind. I looked in the dictionary and thesaurus to find words that had something to do with wind. There is a gentle breeze that blows across the meadows and hills. I liked the idea and picked the words airy and hill. I put them together and modified them to fit more like a real name and came up with Hill-ary or Hillary! Cool.

There was another wind I read about that was more stormy and blew low through the valleys. I thought about that. It was a wind that was low. A low wind, or wind-low. I modified it to be Windslow (wind is low).

So now I had Hillary and Windslow, children of the summer wind. Now I needed a last name, which is what you asked about. I wanted to keep with the “Wind” idea. I looked back at what I had read about winds and decided I liked the idea of mixed summer winds in a meadow or field. I found what I wanted. Their last name was Summerfield.

Hillary and Windslow Summerfield, children of the wind.

How’s that? Just be creative and remember sometimes we just use Sally Jones or Bill Johnson for names because it’s easy to do and we’re done. As a good and interesting writer, sometimes taking the time to do a little research and a lot of daydreaming and using a lot of paper to scribble ideas on will produce something that will amaze you. Be happy and proud when that happens. It isn’t always easy or quick, but it is worth it.

Sometimes I just sit and try silly, goofy combinations. Some names in my books:

• Bitterbun

• Gandersnap

• Fistlock

• Lake Shimmer Gawn

• Gippleberry plants

• Flute beans

I almost have as much fun thinking up names as dreaming up an adventure.

Thanks for the question. I hope this helped. Ask more when you want some help or are just curious.

It isn't what it is. It is what it isn't.

noreply@blogger.com (J. Michael Blumer) — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 23:44:00 +0000

This is not a pen.
It isn’t what it is. It is what it isn’t.
Write in 3D, not flat.
Oh no, no oh oh. Or, oh oh, no oh no.
Hit me with some action.
Leave out the boring parts.
Don’t lay an egg.
Only include the good stuff.
Buzz the “was.”
Slam a book.

“This is not a pen,” and “It isn’t what it is. It is what it isn’t,” are much the same thing. The though is, if this isn’t a pen, then what is it? When I’m writing and need a new place, a new creature, a new character or something for the plot, I tell myself, “This is not a pen.” It’s a reminder to me to be creative and different. It’s a reminder to think about the obvious. What is it the reader would expect? If they anticipate a pen, give them something else to keep the story interesting and to hold on to the readers’ interest.

Keep your writing and ideas fresh.

This is not a pen. In my classes, I use the nursery rhyme, Jack and Jill to illustrate concepts. Let’s look at Jack and Jill now.

Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water.

Jack fell down and broke his crown. Jill came tumbling after.

This is not a pen. What was that water? Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of magic water. Magic water is a pen. How about a pail of saliva? Or maybe an envelope of water? Be creative.

It is what it isn’t, it isn’t what it is. They went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. They came back with what they thought was water. It did come from the well. To their shock, horror, amusement, etc. it was ?

Don't Forget the Warmup

noreply@blogger.com (J. Michael Blumer) — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 23:45:00 +0000

I’ve been “tweaking some material I use in school workshops. I bundle a couple concepts together and put a fun name on the package. One I’m playing with now is “Don’t for get the warm-up.”

When a track star goes to a race, he or she doesn’t just pull on running shoes and wait for the starting gun. If they did, they would pull a muscle. The do a warm-up first. When we write, sometimes we pretend we heard the gun and start. If you have writer’s block, don’t know where the story is going or where to start, maybe you need a warm-up.

A writing warm-up is easy. Just start writing. Write about what happened to you that day. Write about how you feel about the weather. Write about anything, letting the writing take you wherever it wants.

When I do this, I notice the writing slowly changes. At about page 5 for me, I begin to shift to the story I’ve been thinking about or working on. My writing gets better, I start to focus, I get in a “writing groove.” When I’m done, I go back, cut out the “warm-up” part, and may need to edit the transition point to the important writing. It’s a lot better than staring at a blank page.

If you have writer’s block, try the “warm-up” technique.

Don’t be thinking and planning. Be in the moment.

Don’t be thinking about your story when you write it. An athlete or actor studies and plans before an event or filming a scene. When the athlete performs, they are in the moment. When the director says, “action,” the actor plays the role. It’s fine to think about what you are going to write, before you create it. When you are writing, be in that moment. Be in your story.

Book 1 in my young adult fantasy/adventure Series, "The Secret Books of Gabendoor

noreply@blogger.com (J. Michael Blumer) — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:33:00 +0000

If you were 12, had an accident that confined you to a wheelchair, and you and your stepsister found a magic Book of Second Chances, what would you do? Would you use the book to save a distant world you traveled to in your dreams, or use it to try and reverse the accident?

That’s the challenge Windslow and Hillary Summerfield face when they dream-slip to the land of Gabendoor each night and encounter the evil Fistlock and his shadow beasties; like the Trundle-wraith that lurks under beds or the annoying Tellagain that makes old men repeat the same story over and over, and Flame-fluffers that puff from nowhere to blow out candles.

The oracle of Gabendoor calls the sister and brother team the Children of the Summer Wind. With an odd assortment of companions and help from three colorful wizards, Hillary and Windslow struggle to solve the mysteries of the Book of Second Chances. The book is the only hope they have to defeat Fistlock and his creatures, including the dreaded and unstoppable Gorlon.

It’s a fantasy, with magic and faraway lands, but with several twists and lots of creativity to keep it from being just another fantasy story. Its "other world" characters are rich and colorful with a bit of dry wit snuck in for adults. The real world characters are stepbrother and stepsister who face problems and challenges young readers can relate to.

This is Not a Pen

noreply@blogger.com (J. Michael Blumer) — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 21:28:00 +0000

Writing Tips and Hints

• This is not a pen.
• It isn’t what it is. It is what it isn’t.
• Write in 3D, not flat.
• Oh no, no oh oh. Or, oh oh, no oh no.
• Hit me with some action.
• Leave out the boring parts.
• Don’t lay an egg.
• Only include the good stuff.
• Buzz the “was.”
• Slam a book.

“This is not a pen,” and “It isn’t what it is. It is what it isn’t,” are much the same thing. The though is, if this isn’t a pen, then what is it? When I’m writing and need a new place, a new creature, a new character or something for the plot, I tell myself, “This is not a pen.” It’s a reminder to me to be creative and different. It’s a reminder to think about the obvious. What is it the reader would expect? If they anticipate a pen, give them something else to keep the story interesting and to hold on to the readers’ interest.

Keep your writing and ideas fresh. This is not a pen.

In my classes, I use the nursery rhyme, Jack and Jill to illustrate concepts. Let’s look at Jack and Jill now.

Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. Jack fell down and broke his crown. Jill came tumbling after.

This is not a pen. What was that water? Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of magic water. Magic water is a pen. How about a pail of saliva? Or maybe an envelope of water? Be creative.

It is what it isn’t, it isn’t what it is. They went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. They came back with what they thought was water. It did come from the well. To their shock, horror, amusement, etc. it was ???

Write in 3D, not flat.

Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. What does Jack look like? What does Jill look like? Why did they need the water? Where is the hill? What does it look like?

We really don’t know anything. The story, the characters and the plot are flat. Let’s puff a little dimension into Jack. Yes, we can describe what he looks like, but let’s focus on his personality.

Jack and Jill sat at the corner table in the Wellhill coffee shop. Jack sipped on his white raspberry latte. Jill slammed down her espresso. Hot, strong and thick, It was just as she liked it.

When we insert some personality cues, they start to come alive and change from flat to 3D.

“We need to get that water, or mother will die,” Jack said and looked over his shoulder, worried someone might have heard him.

“But it’s up the hill,” Jill said, her voice loud. “Lots of people have gone up the hill, but no one has ever come down alive.”

You get the idea. Put some life in your writing. Write in 3D, not flat.