Happenchance » Writing

How I Became a Better Writer

Seth M. Baker — Tue, 04 May 2010 14:37:03 +0000

This is the last post in Better Writing Month. Please don’t remind me it’s no longer April

Writing skills are funny. You could spend years studying ‘important’ literary works, deconstructing obscure texts, and writing post-colonial analyses of Salman Rushdie books…but still be a mediocre writer.

I speak from experience.

One English degree earned, hundred of books read, thousands of pages written…and I still can’t spell onomatopoeia without a spell checker.

However, over the past two years, I have become a much better writer. I’m no Joyce Carol Oates, but compared to where I was when I finished university, the difference is like comparing Spam burgers to Kobe steaks.

Did I climb a mountain, talk to an oracle, and receive sage advice? No. Did I deconstruct even more texts? No. Did I go back to university for more education? Hell no. I’ve had enough post-colonial/post-structuralist/marxist/feminist/post-deconstructionist theory for one thousand lifetimes.

How did I become a better writer?

The answer will shock you. Hold your breath…

I developed the habit of writing. Every. Damn. Day.

While doing research for Better Writing Month, I became sucked into a swirling red vortex of articles on writing. Most of these articles say write everyday. Thanks for the letter postmarked Obvious City. But how does one develop the habit of writing every day?

Developing the daily writing habit is the hard part.

But once you have it, writing everyday is easy, natural, and as necessary as breathing.

Before I developed the daily writing habit, I wrote about 2,000 words per month…even though I wanted to write more. I simply couldn’t do it. After I developed the habit, I started writing over 2,000 every day (without writer’s block, excessive procrastination, etc.) Again, the difference is like spam and kobe.

Like curling, kayaking, and fly herding, writing is a mental game. Developing the discipline to practice is difficult. Writing without an audience (or without the immediate feedback of academia) is difficult. But when you write every day, the effect is like compound interest; your skills build and multiply over time. You do become a better writer. Plus you’ll learn the secret of creative inspiration.

Please don’t think I’m bragging. I’m still a 3rd-rate hack with ambition. And please don’t think I’m saying the development of the daily writing habit is the only way to become a better writer. Reading one book a week, taking writing classes, getting feedback and critiques, reading books on writing, all these will help (some more than others). And of course, everybody’s different; what works for me mayn’t work for for you.

How did I develop the daily writing habit?

Well, I met this guy in a graffiti-covered alley. He wears a hoodie, his eyes are always bloodshot, and he carries little glass vials

If you want to develop the habit of daily writing, you need a routine or a system that makes you write everyday. You need to be writing with some purpose or goal. Just saying you want to write every day doesn’t work. At least it never worked for me. I tried for years. Finally I tried something a little more regimented and structured…and it worked.

I found structure and regimentation in two different ways:

Nanowrimo (past two years): Write 1,667 words a day for a month. Easy, but damn hard. The end product is unpublishable drivel, but that’s not the point. The real payoff is a the discipline you learn and the skills you pick up along the way. Check out 10 Lessons Learned from Nanowrimo.
Before I started blogging, I set up a thirty day challenge to write a 1,000 word article every day. By the time I hit thirty articles, I could write faster and better than before.

I know I dramatically improved my writing because, at the end of each project, I wrote and revised test pieces and compared the results. For Nanowrimo, the before-and-after was a chase scene. If the before wasn’t so pitiful I’d post a before-and-after sample. Same for the articles. Spam and kobe.

For me, hitting daily word counts for a minimum of thirty days burned the daily writing habit into my brain like a branding iron on a cow’s flank. Thirty days is kind of an arbitrary number to establish a new habit, but it seems effective. Some people claim a new habit is established in as little as twenty-one days. Here’s an interesting Google answers entry on this topic.

If you want to develop the daily writing habit…

Set a daily word count goal or target.
Create a visual way to measure your progress (calendars, spreadsheets, % complete bars).
Hit your wordcount goal every day for 30 days.
Write for an audience (even if it’s in your head).

That’s it. Soon you’ll develop a routine and experience positive creative inertia. That’s all you need to do to begin to develop the daily writing habit.

Set a goal. Write towards that goal.

Every. Damn. Day.

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How NOT to Start a Writers’ Group

Seth M. Baker — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 11:36:51 +0000

Last time I offered some good reasons to start a writers’ group. I promised that in this post I would tell you how to start a writers’ group of your very own.

I lied.

Because you’re reading this blog, I assume you know how to use the internet. I can also assume that, if you’re actually interested in starting a writers’ group, you’ve already googled this topic. Maybe you found some solid, step-by-step information. Maybe you’ve already developed a plan. Maybe you’re as confused as me regarding correct apostrophe placement in ‘writer.’

What I’m saying is this: no need to reinvent the wheel. You know what you need to do. Find some people, set a time, and get critiquing! Plenty of other people can give you basic information on how to start a writers’ group.

However, they might fail to tell you the factors that can make your writers’ group a complete and utter pain in the ass. I will Here we go…

How NOT to Start (and Run) a Writers’ Group

Welcome everyone. Use the interwebs to find anyone who might remotely be interested in writing. Don’t ask for referrals or recommendations or especially writing samples. Go for mass!
Don’t worry about ability levels. Even really advanced writers can learn from novices. And anyone can write, right? Like, you just make some sentences about this weird dream you had…
Any kind of writing is welcome. Putting poets, screenwriters, content jockeys, and fiction writers together is a smashing idea. Everyone can learn from each other. What screenwriter can’t benefit from critiquing a thirty page epic about a washing machine?
Be forgiving of the perpetually late. People lead hectic lives, cut them some slack. I mean, think of all the story ideas you’ll have while you’re sitting there…waiting.
Keep things open. Don’t worry about general critique guidelines or time limits. Let people talk as long as they want about whatever they want. Nobody does anything in the evenings anyway.
Never kick anyone out. Be gracious. Let people be who they are. It takes all kinds, right?
Take time for printing. When people forget their stories, give them plenty of time to run down the street and print them out. No one should be penalized for a common mistake. You can wait. Remember what we said about waiting?
Take time for reading. If somebody forgets to read a piece, that’s okay. They can read while others are giving feedback.
Defend your work against every assault. Your work is as precious as a taxidermied kitten. You can’t just let people tear it apart. Defend it with all your heart!
Meet in pubs. The noisier and smokier the better. Drink hard liquor. Order greasy food and use all those printed pages as your napkins. Nobody will read your feedback anyway.
Borrow pens. You’re meeting with people who write. Someone will have an extra one. No worries!

Okay, okay, I’m finished. I try and avoid needless sarcasm here at Happenchance, but I must admit that was fun to write. And since you made it this far, here are some (non-sarcastic) creative techniques to help you start and run a happy and productive writers’ group.

Critiques must remain civil and friendly! Constructive feedback works. Everyone wants the same thing: to improve their writing. That is best accomplished by offering meaningful, thoughtful criticism and feedback. If you don’t like something, that’s cool, taste is subjective, but you must be diplomatic. Offer a reason for your distaste as as well as offer a suggestion for improvement.
I don’t think reading complete works aloud is a good way to spend time (unless it’s a poetry group). Take-home critiques are the way to go.
Everybody has their own critique style, but some things to look for are effective characterization, dialogue, plot, setting, and visceral effect.
While getting feedback, the author should just chill and listen. After everybody has said what they wanted to say, the author can respond to comments and ask questions. I think feedback works well when a dialog goes on between the people giving feedback; rather than talking to the author, they talk to each other.
Time will tell whether or not you’ll need time limits for each critique. Do have a definite end time.
Three to one is a good general guideline for critiques; three parts critique: “I think this could be better…” to one part:”that rocked my socks because…”
I believe it’s best to approach a piece from a Death of the Author perspective; at least pretend the created work is separate from the creator. Don’t worry about the author’s identity, background, experiences, etc.
Remember that writers’ groups run off goodwill and reciprocity like a car runs off gas. If you want good feedback, you need to give good feedback.
Meeting in pubs is okay, but remember your primary mission.
Bring extra pens.

That’s it! I hope you find these tips useful. This almost wraps up better writing month. I’ve got one more post to share, and I think you’re going to like it. If you enjoyed this fine post, join Happenchance on Facebook, subscribe to Happenchance for more creative techniques, or hit one of the social media buttons below to share it with your friends. You know they’ll appreciate it.

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8 Reasons to Start a Writers’ Group

Seth — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 13:23:43 +0000

Back in my rusty old town, I started a writers’ group with a couple friends. We met weekly for about four months. My output soared and (I think) I became a better writer. Sometimes we drank too much (see the above photo), but we always learned something.

I also started a writers’ group in Korea, but that was bigger disaster than my recent redirection clusterf%#k. You’ll hear more about this in my next post. First, let’s get two things out of the way:

A writers’ group isn’t necessary. For the past year, due to a combination of circumstances and inclination, I’ve done just fine without one. I don’t need external deadlines to write several thousand words a day. However, I believe the writers’ group played a part in helping me develop this habit.

A writers’ group isn’t for everyone. People who find their own work exceptionally precious won’t do well in a writers’ group. People who’d rather talk than listen may give good feedback, but they probably won’t learn much.

But who am I to say what’s right for you? I’ll leave that to the gurus and stick to telling you what worked for me…or has at least been verified by scientists.

Okay, enough digressions. Let’s get down to business! Why should you start a writers’ group?

1. Artists need community. Pecking away in the dark leads to nerve damage and paranoia. It’s good to get out of the house every once in a while. When you start a writers’ group, you can find people just as paranoid as you.

2. Get feedback on your work. Feedback is so important. Outside of writing classes, finding objective feedback is difficult. Unless they’re writers, the feedback you get from your friends will be colored by thoughts like ‘this stinks worse than his socks, but if I tell him he may not pay me back that money I loaned him.’

3. Learn to meet deadlines.This is a big one, especially for fiction people. Journalists know how to do this, but fiction writers, who tend to be good at making stuff up, can invent a hundred excuses as to why they need more time to finish a story. The next point helps with this.

4. Lower your standards. Yes, I said it. When you have to meet deadlines, you start seeing the futility of spending three hours rearranging a couple of sentences. Apply the 80/20 rule, kill the inner critic and watch your output quadruple. After you get some feedback, then fix those sentences…if they need it.

5. Learn from others. We’ve all got our strengths and weaknesses. Maybe one guy plots like Koontz but his characters are as stale as the crackers on my mini-fridge. Maybe a girl does Joyce Carol Oates-like descriptions but can’t keep her POVs staight. If your group is honest and respectful, you can learn plot and description tricks and show them how to do characterization and perspective.

6. Learn by teaching. When you teach someone something you know, you develop a deeper understanding of that topic. Besides the weekly million-dollar paychecks and attractive benefits package, why do you think I blog?

7. Learn the art of diplomacy. Sometimes you’ll read stuff that just plain sucks. You’ve got to point it out, but you’ll soon learn ways to soften the inevitably dream-crushing blows. This skill is applicable to all areas of life, especially during political discussions with close relatives. Seriously thought, I recommend starting with something good, sticking criticism or concerns in the middle, and finishing with something good. There’s always something good, right? (“You’ve got page numbers, at least”)

8. Talk shop. In a writers’ group you can offer suggestions for fiction markets, ideas for keeping track of stuff, and the rate of decomposition for bodies left in trunks. In a writers’ group waay back when, we once spent an entire evening discussing ways to keep track of characters and plot points. Another evening we talked about organizing the physical detritus of the writer’s world (it involves a label maker and folders, ala gtd).

In my next post, I’ll provide some tips and guidelines on how to start a writers’ group…as well as a few things NOT to do.

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27+ Free Resources to Help You Write Better

Seth M. Baker — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 13:03:33 +0000

Thousands of people write about writing better. Most do it far better than me. Today I thought I’d use my delicious tags to share some free resources you can use to write better. I’ve used all these resources at one point or another…with varying degrees of success.

Writing about writing feels so meta, doesn’t it?

Resources to help you write better (in no particular order)

1. The Paris Review Interview Archive A huge collection of interviews from literary luminaries past and present. Learn from the best.

2. 10 Rules for Writing Fiction (from over 10 different authors) Some quite humorous.

3. 10 Simple Things You Can Do to Improve Your Writing Includes several ‘what not to do’ examples.

4. Active vs. Passive Voice Grammar Girl does a nice job of exampling this über-important concept.

5. How to Improve Your Writing Pay special attention to ‘who vs. whom.’

6. A Guide to Writing Well A distillation of the knowledge found in Strunk & White and Zinsser

7. Writing Your Way Lots of solid information from a seasoned pro…but you’ll have to dig for it.

8. 18 Types of Metaphors If the words synecdoche, metonym, and pataphor excite you, check this one out.

9.15 Ways to Generate Ideas and Write With Ease. Title is self-explanatory, eh?

10. Review of Online Writers’Groups A big Squidoo lens that lists most online writers’ groups.

11. Absolute Write Forums Like most forums, plenty of helpful people, as well as a few cranks.

12. Who is Your Audience? Shameless self-promotion but oh-so important.

13. Stephen King’s 7 Tips for Becoming a Better Writer. You’ve probably seen this before. They’re worth seeing again.

14. Storyfix This site a no-bs guide to creating an effective story structure. Highly recommended.

15. Conflict and Character Within Story Structure Story structure…with charts!

16. George Orwell’s 5 Rules for Effective Writing In short, keep it simple and avoid clichés.

17. Random Name Generator You can choose gender, number, and (my favorite) obscurity factor.

18. 54 Tips for Writers, from Writers Includes tips from Hemingway, Vonnegut, and more.

19. TV Tropes A rather useful wiki featuring common narrative tricks. Not limited to television.

20. 178 Ways to Improve Your Internet Writing Lots of quick hits for internet writers.

21. Hypnotic Writing Master Course. This is 132-page ebook is mostly for people writing sales articles, but any writer can use it.

22. How to Write Magnetic Headlines Features 11 great posts on headline writing, even one for writing Twitter folk (follow me! @sethmbaker)

23. Getting Started as a Freelance Writer A roundup post featuring the basics of the business of writing.

24. Nanowrimo doesn’t start until November, but their forums are full of helpful people.

25. This Word Frequency Counter can help you find overused words in your work.

26. Write or Die. This great little program keeps you focused by deleting words when you stop writing. Awesome.

27. Finally, Duotrope’s Digest won’t necessarily improve your writing, but it will give you over over 2800 publications, searchable by genre, pay scale, submission type, and more.

28. Your recommendations in the comments below! If you’ve got any tips for better writing, speak up and share!

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How Songkran is Like Writing

Seth M. Baker — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 05:42:26 +0000

What is Songkran?

The Songkran festival celebrates the start of the traditional Thai New Year. Originally, people sprinkled water over those they respected in order to help wash away the bad deeds of the previous year. Festivals evolve, of course, and Songkran is no different.

Today, during the Songkran festival in Chiang Mai, Thailand, people pelt each other with buckets of water. A moat runs around the old city, providing celebrants with thousands of gallons of ammunition. The streets run deep with (admittedly nasty) water from the Chiang Mai moat.

Everyone in the city, young and old, Thai people and foreigners, carries water guns and buckets. People stand on sidewalks or ride around on the backs of trucks and toss water on each other. Many of the truck people use big blocks of ice to cool their barrels of water; even though the outside temperature is around 38C/100F degrees, that cold water hurts!

Even though the festival has changed, the original idea remains the same: when you hit people with water, you’re doing them a favor; it’s a sign of respect. All this is done without malice. In fact, I was amazed to see that Thai people would often thank the person who dumped 100 liters of brownish moat water down their back.

If you leave your house during Songkran, you will be pelted with water. It’s part of the fun. So you have a simple choice: you either stay home and stay dry, or you go outside and risk getting drenched.

Once you’re outside, you have another choice: you can simply be drenched or you can get a bucket of your own and drench those around you (and be thanked for doing so).

During this festival, I realized writing, or any act of creative production, is the same way.

Why Songkran is like writing (or any other creative act)

When you write, you step outside of your comfortable house. You run the risk of being doused, of having some kind of feedback being dumped over your head, whether its criticism, indifference, scrutiny, or praise.

During the first day of Songkran, I felt like I was constantly under attack, like being doused with water was an act of aggression. (Some cultural baggage is hard to shake). But as the festival went on, I realized it’s all in good fun. No one is out to harm anyone else.

Getting feedback and criticism is the same; you might feel like you’re being ruthlessly attacked, but it really is for your own good. The people who take the time to give you a serious critical response, they’re doing so out of a desire to help. Instead of washing away bad deeds, they’re trying to wash away what they see as mistakes, things that could be improved upon.

Of course you’ll sometimes have sadistic critics who put rocks in their buckets and offer only scathing attacks without any positive suggestions. Fortunately, they tend to pass by pretty quickly.

At the same time, putting your work out there is like taking your own bucket, filling it with moat water, and throwing it onto the crowd. Sometimes you hit your target, sometimes you don’t. Most people don’t care one way or another if you hit them, but sometimes you’ll really make a splash (pardon the pun) and you’ll be thanked for your efforts.

But if you want to hit anyone, you have to go outside. You have to participate. And when you participate, you run the risk of getting drenched. It’s worth remembering that no matter how wet you get, you’ll dry out eventually.

The question, then, is this: will you go out and participate in the fun? Will you run the risk that you might not hit anyone? Will you risk being hit with rocky water? Or will you stay in your house, stay safe and dry, and miss out on all the fun?

As for me and my bucket, we’re going outside. There’s still water in the moat.

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Revision Tips for Writers

Seth M. Baker — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 05:19:54 +0000

Revision is difficult, necessary, and terrifying work. Few people can write publishable stuff on the first draft. Those who say they can are on the same wavelength as the flat earth crown. You can believe it, but most people will think you’re crazy…and your sloppy first drafts will prove them right.

Remember that revision is more than proofreading. To be most efficient in your revisions, divide the process into two parts: do the big, macro, structural stuff first. Save the copy editing and proofreading for last. I speak from experience; I used to focus mostly on copy editing and proofreading (at the expense of structural editing). The result was a disorganized collection of pretty sentences. This is like putting a new coat of paint on an engine-less car.

While I’m not a ninja editor, I’ve learned a couple tricks. Let’s see what they are.

Structural Editing

Save yourself time by starting your draft with a well thought-out outline.
Time and distance will give you a better perspective on your work. Whenever possible, wait at least one night before you begin revisions. Start your revisions with clear eyes and a fresh brain.
Don’t worry about phrasing at this point; save that for the copy editing & proofreading stage.
Set a deadline for completion. Without a deadline, you can tweak for weeks but never actually finish.
Use a different font for editing and drafting. The text will seem less familiar and easier to edit.
On screen, scan the whole piece, especially the opening sentences of each paragraph. Be sure that each paragraph adds something and supports the title/main idea.
Between paragraphs, check for smooth transitions and logical flow. Note any sections that need clarification or rewording. Watch out for excessive repetition of ideas and phrases.
If the flow seems strange, make a storyboard by putting each paragraph on an index card. Lay the cards out on a desk. Try a few different arrangements and sequences.
Enter your structural revisions. Move paragraphs around. Rewrite transitions, introductions, and conclusions where necessary.

Copy Editing & Proofreading

Print out a double-spaced paper copy. Sorry, environment. Marking up your work is easier with paper and pen. You’ll catch more little mistakes when reading on paper.
As you read, look for ways to say the same thing with less words. Your aim is precision and economy of language, not word count.
Use a word frequency counter. After you plug in your text, look at the top of the list for words unrelated to the topic. I like this word counter. For a visual representation of word frequency, try Wordle.
After you’ve read the copy once or twice, read the piece aloud. Circle any sentences that sound strange.
Ask a friend (or spouse) to read your piece. Reward them with chocolate. Other eyes will usually catch mistakes you missed.
Correct any misspellings, typos, and/or grammatical errors.

Tips for Fiction Revision

Keep a log of character data: motivation, physical description, personal history, diction quirks. Do the same for the setting and environment. This will ensure consistency throughout your story.
After your first draft, identify all the themes in the story. As you’re editing, look for sections that either add to or detract from the theme. Revise accordingly.
Look for places to improve characterization. You can do this through action, interaction, speech, internal monologue.
Check for consistency and continuity; does everything make sense in space-time?
In longer works, ensure each scene has a purpose. Is there action, conflict, characterization? Or just description? If the latter, cut or combine it with another scene.
Be a thespian. Read all dialog aloud. Get inside the minds of your characters. Whenever something comes across as wooden, stilted, awkward, or unnecessarily weird, change it.

Other things to ask yourself

Does each character have a purpose? Are they more than a useful appendage to your plot? Does each have a clear motivation?
Does the point of view remain consistent throughout?
Does the main character follow a believable story arc? Do they change or learn?
Have you avoided cliches and stereotypes in characterization and plotting?
Is the pacing varied enough to keep readers interested?

Last thoughts

Be ruthless when you’re cutting and trimming. Aim to remove 15-30% of your first draft. If you want to save any precious phrases or sections from the chopping block, cut and paste them onto another document.
Don’t be afraid to abandon a piece. Some pieces don’t work, and at some point you’ve just got to cut your losses.
Make sure each sentence is clear, punchy, and direct. Use the active voice.
No work is ever perfect, only polished and proofed. The law of diminishing returns applies to writing as well as engine manufacturing.
Save each major round of revisions as a separate document. Later on you might find something you changed just doesn’t work.

Over to You

Do you have any special tricks for revision?
I’d like to hear from people who use storyboards for fiction writing. Has this helped you write tighter scenes?

Photo credit: wwworks

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The Easy Way to Write (Blog Posts)

Seth M. Baker — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 02:44:24 +0000

Here’s a well-known secret: Writing fast and writing well are all about pre-writing.

I’m not a particularly fast writer, but I have a little system that helps me write faster and more coherently. The system is simple: headline, mind map, outline, draft, revision; this allows me to create a publishable post in a few hours. These steps are also useful for non-fiction outside the strange world of blogging.

Fiction, however, is an entirely different beast, requiring extra steps like character development, astral projection, and marmot sacrifices. Needless to say, that’s the subject of another post.

Before I give away any more trade secrets, let’s take a look at the easy way to write blog posts. Hopefully you’ll find something useful.

Headlines

Most posts start with a headline. Like blinders on a horse, writing to one headline (usually) keeps me focused. A post may contain several supporting ideas, but any more than one main idea and the result is a train wreck.

I keep a running list of headlines in my knock-off moleskine.While most ideas and headlines won’t make the cut (Why My Head is Actually a Turnip, for example), I usually have at least ten or more headlines to draw from.

After revisions are finished, I may tweak the headline a little bit for clarity and SEO purposes, but the final headline is usually pretty close to what I started with.

Mind Map

If a headline is an acorn, a mind map is the soil in which this acorn grows into a tree, different ideas and points radiating out like roots and branches.

Starting with the headline in the center, I try to generate as many good and bad ideas as possible. Whatever I think might be associated with the topic, I’ll throw it in. As with headlines, the goal here is quantity as well as quality.

At this stage, I can usually determine whether or not a post idea has legs; if I can fill up a page with ideas, I’ve probably got a solid post. If not, I set it aside until a) I forget about it or b) I think of some new angle or sub-theme I had yet to consider.

For more on mind maps, check out this post.

If I feel like I need to do more research, I do it at this stage. This usually gives me a few more ideas worth including.

Outline

Writing the outline is simply a matter of organizing all the information from the mind map into a cohesive series of ideas that support the headline. The outline is like a set of cabinets, with each shelf being labeled and awaiting its contents. You can build as high as you like, but each idea (and shelf) must rest comfortably with the ones above and below it; otherwise the whole thing could come crashing down, pinning you under underneath its terrible, crushing weight.

The outlines I make are not terribly complicated, just three to seven points in bold or

. Sometimes they get sub-points, sometimes not. Depends on how feisty I feel. Outlines are so useful…I think I smell a follow-up post, and it won’t involve roman numerals.

Draft

Once I have a headline, mind map, and outline, the hard work is finished. If creating the outline is like building the shelves, then writing the draft is simply a matter of stocking the shelves with the right products. The labels are there, so you already know where everything goes. Most of the stock is either on the mind map or floating in the ether, you simply have to retrieve it and put it where it belongs.

Again, I like to throw in all but the most ridiculous points from the mind map. Often as I’m writing the draft I’ll have a couple new points or ideas. If they’re relevant to the post, I’ll include them in the draft; otherwise they are duly noted in the headline list and temporarily forgotten.

Only after all the shelves are stocked, after each subheading has enough supporting material, do I write the introduction, conclusion (when applicable), and the call for comments. This is usually a matter of asking a couple questions and tying everything together. Sometimes I’ll use an old editorial columnist’s trick and reprise something from the intro in the conclusion, giving things a sense of close. For an example, see this post on Accidents of Birth and Early Success.

Revision & Proofreading

Revision is like making a topiary; you pick up your garden shears, step up to he big round myrtle, and proceed to snip away the excess until you have something that looks like a dinosaur (or whatever animal you fancy). Revision is all about removing the excess and polishing what you’ve got. I generally use a three-step process. These steps are:

Cutting the excess, usually 15-30%, but sometimes 100%. Several times, I’ve finished a piece only to realize that I completely flubbed a topic. At this point, it’s best to pour gasoline on the myrtle and just burn the damn thing.
Rewriting awkward phrasing.
Proofreading and copy editing. I find this step the most difficult.

I’ve left this last step intentionally spare. Why? Because my next post is on painless revisions, and I have to give you a reason to come back!

Over to You

If you’re a blogger, what does your process look like? How much pre-writing do you do?
Are you able to stare at a blank screen with no pre-writing and write something readable? If so, tell me your secret. The imbecilic fringe wants to know.

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How to Manage Stage Fright: Not Just For Musicians

Seth M. Baker — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 11:46:39 +0000

Musicians aren’t the only people prone to stage fright. Any act of creation is a performance. Your work is your performance. Writers, designers, sculptors, etc., all know that the things they make will end up in front of people who will inevitably judge them. Sometimes the feedback will be immediate; other times it could come weeks, months, even years later.

While we hope that our work will be received with laurels and accolades, we secretly imagine that we (and our work) will be criticized, condemned, shamed, ridiculed, and mocked in front of the whole world.

Terrifying stuff!

Yet, as we’ve already covered, we are our own harshest critics and our fear of failure does more to stop us than any actual audience member ever could. We also know that the brain does all kinds of things to protect itself from perceived (read: imaginary) threats. Let’s take a closer look at stage fright.

What is Stage Fright?

Stage fright manifests itself in various ways, but most commonly it shows up as:

Anxiety Everything you felt on your first date…multiplied by ten. Sweaty palms, nausea, etc.
Procrastination Screwing off in order to avoid the perceived dangers of public ridicule.
Self-doubt We imagine that we aren’t good enough to create anything people might actually appreciate.
Perfectionism By spending weeks or years trying to get something ‘right,’ we use this as an excuse to avoid performing.

Why Do We Get Stage Fright?

Lack of experience This is tricky, because there’s only one way to get experience. Getting experience can be uncomfortable, but the wisdom that comes from experience is priceless and worth any minor, temporary pain.
Caring too Much Anything we create is close to our hearts. We hate to imagine it being torn down like a sand castle.
Having an Overactive imagination By imagining all the things that could go wrong, we miss opportunities to let things go well.
Having an Overpowering inner critic This voice tells us everything we create is shit and we should consider a career in fast food.
Fear of ridicule No one except fools and comedians like to be laughed at. Stage fright is our mind’s way of telling us that we are running the risk of being publicly mocked and shamed.

Manage Stage Fright

Remember the Hardest Thing You’ve Ever Done By comparison, whatever performance you’re putting on will seem easy. People tell me this is more effective than barbiturates.
Channel the Anxiety Turn your nervous energy into performance energy. When you see performers bouncing around on stage, they’re probably making the most of their stage fright.
Write About It Imagine the very worst case scenario and you’ll realize that one rotten performance won’t result in an earth-shattering cataclysm.
Be Brave Putting your work in front of the world requires a certain amount of fortitude. You must be prepared to defend your work and deal with any negative backlash. But remember that the critics you imagine are worse that the one’s you’ll face.
Fake Confidence If you’re really terrified, pretend you’re someone else, more confident and experienced. You’ll probably convince your audience. You might even convince yourself.
Separate Your Work from Your Self Remember that you are not your work. Your work is only something you created. Even if something you make ‘fails,’ that doesn’t make you a failure. We all have a right to fail smashingly.
Ignore Critics and Doubters Everyone is a critic, but that doesn’t mean they have anything useful to say. Criticism usually isn’t personal. One caveat: if you hear the same criticism over and over again from different sources, you should pay attention.
Challenge Your Conception of Critics In most cases, the only legitimacy they have is in your own mind. If you can see critics for who they really are, they won’t seem so scary.
Have Confidence In your Preparation After you have put in days and weeks and years working on your craft, after you have practiced to the best of your abilities, you have to trust yourself that are ready.
Use a Pen or Stage Name Some people find this an effective way to separate their performing self from their personal self.
Go Easy On Yourself We all do silly things sometimes. It’s no big deal. If something you do doesn’t work, call it an experience and move on.
Imagine Wild Success Most Olympic athletes use some kind of visualization. You should, too. Imagine yourself giving a perfectly executed performance. Include all the sensory details you can.
Relax! Performing should be fun for both you and the audience. Chill out. Try deep breathing, meditation, brisk walking, or kicking cardboard boxes; whatever works for you.

Over to You:

How do you deal with stage fright and performance anxiety?
Looking back, was your first date really that terrifying?

photo credit: DerrickT

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Removing Physical Barriers to Creating Amazing Things

Seth M. Baker — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:13:27 +0000

A physical barrier is anything that slows you down or prevents you from creating or doing amazing things. A physical barrier can be something as simple as having to take an extra step to do something. Physical barriers can seem like minor inconveniences but they can create a lot of mental resistance.

Imagine, for example, you want to be a professional gamer (We have those here in Korea). You’re training on Wii, but you have to share the television with your roommate; they’re training on an XBox 360. Every time you want to play the Wii, you have to crawl behind the television (with the dust and spiders), unhook the Xbox and hook up the Wii. The extra steps aren’t physically difficult, but unless you’re super motivated to ‘practice,’ you might just end up watching drama.

The same could be said of a website checkout system. The less steps a customer has to take, the higher the conversion rate. Think about irritating sites that make you register just to view a forum. Most people would just look elsewhere.

Why? It’s easier.

People are lazy, and I’m no exception. Like objects in motion or at rest, we tend to take the path of least resistance.

By removing the physical barriers to our creative work and activites, it makes our lives just a little easier. We face less resistance. Here at Happenchance, I like silly formulas, so here’s a new one:

If a physical barrier = mental resistance, then less resistance= more amazing things.

Let’s have a look at some ways to remove these physical barriers and get a little more awesome.

Eliminate Setup & Startup Time

Think about how many steps you have to go through to get started on a creative project. If you have to drag your materials out of a closet, plug things in, sharpen your tools, or bribe someone, you have a physical barrier.

Someone once said a song can write and reveal its basic essence in about 15 minutes. The song isn’t finished, but when the idea comes, it comes pretty fast. For someone who occasionally writes songs, quickly and easily capturing that basic essence is an important step.

Problem: I have a recording interface for my laptop. To use it, however, I have to fire up the software, adjust the settings, and hook up the cables. By the time all that is done, I’m usually frustrated. This device works fine for recording a developed idea, but for capturing new ideas, it fails.

Solution: I bought a cheap tape recorder. If I have a song idea, I press record and I’m good to go. Once I started doing this, I found I could get ideas down on tape twice as fast and, interestingly, I had twice as many song ideas. Now I capture the basic ideas on the tape recorder and, once they’re sufficiently developed, allot some time to record a proper acoustic demo on the interface.

If you have the space, leave your tools setup so you only have to do one or two things to get started.

Examples:

Writers: keep your main notebook handy, your word processor files in easy-to-find locations.
Visual artists: keep your materials out and ready to go.
Digital workers: have a good file management system, easy-to-access bookmarks, and let your browser remember passwords for the websites you frequent.
Finally, while this isn’t creative work, I found keeping a backpack full of camping gear & dried food ready to go made it a lot easier to go on impromptu camping trips.

Use Quality Tools

You can’t turn a screw with a plastic screwdriver, and you can’t make a decent screwdriver without quality vodka. Quality goods are cheaper than they’ve ever been, but there’s a lot of shoddy stuff out there. While sometimes using junk can yield interesting results, using the right tools helps ensure the best results.

Problem: When I was fifteen, I went to a pawnshop and bought the cheapest guitar I could find. The action (distance between strings and frets) and intonation were terrible; after a couple weeks of diligent effort, my playing still sounding like a goat choking on nails. Even though I was making the correct chord shapes, they sounded out of tune and clanky. I gave up for several months…

Solution: I eventually saved enough money for a decent guitar. This one had good action and intonation. Once I had a quality instrument, I picked up where I left off and made a lot more progress a lot faster.

Examples:

Using a good pen and paper makes writing more fun.
Musicians should get quality gear and keep it in tip top shape.
If you use a computer at all, perform regular maintenance (removing temp files, defragmenting, etc).

Use Your Time Well

Time, like plutonium, is a limited resource, and like plutonium, you can use it for the purpose of world domination. Unlike plutonium, it is not a tangible, physical thing, but as long we exist in space, we exist in time. So…for our purposes time is physical.

Problem: In the past, I always wanted to write for myself, to create things besides school assignments. I told myself I would write when I had some free time, that I’d get around to it eventually. Sometimes I did, but usually other things would find ways to use my time. Over a two year period, I wrote maybe ten pages. Sad, sad, sad…

Solution: I chose a set time to write, everyday. What I wrote didn’t matter, only that I wrote crap…and write crap I did. I started small, only an hour a day. The barrier of not having enough time was eliminated. Instantly. Why? I set aside time. I knew I had to sit down and it, and the barrier of vague ‘other stuff’ was gone. I didn’t make time, the time was already there.

Not having enough time to create stuff is a common excuse problem, but the solution is straightforward: treat your own creative work like actual work. Show up on time, every time. This is the easiest way to remove the barrier of not having enough time.

If you really do have a full, Korean-student-style schedule, either shed some commitments or stop worrying and focus on what you’re already doing.

Examples:

Start small and set aside an hour or even a half-hour. Everyday is ideal, but two or three times a week can work.
Write down what you want to accomplish during this time. If you’ve got nothing specific, just plan to spend the time brainstorming.
Claim your time and eliminate all possibilities of interruptions. Ignore the phone. Turn off the interwebs.
Treat your creative time like a part-time job. This takes a while to get used to, but the payoffs are better than the lottery.

Have a Good Space

Having a good, dedicated place to create is like putting a houseplant into a bigger pot with better soil. The plant can stretch out its roots and have room to grow. Working in a shared space is like having a pot that’s too small. Yes, the plant may grow a little bit, but eventually it reaches the edges of its confines.

Your workspace is your home base, the place you keep your idea files, tools, materials, etc. Each space, of course, varies by medium. At the bare minimum, you’ll be able to setup in one or two easy physical steps.

Problem: Back in the States, my wife used to make really cool custom picture frames. She would paint the frame then, along the outside, she would glue the bottle caps. I drank the beer, she made the frames. Win-win. Here, though, our apartment is just a bit larger that a shipping container. She simply doesn’t have a space to lay out her tools and materials.

Solution: The easy solution would be another apartment, but that won’t happen until we leave Korea. We made some space on the floor, but that’s not the same; she has to get everything out and arrange them just right. Afterwards she must put things away so bottle caps don’t become glued to our feet. In this case, the solution is suboptimal.

Sometimes you have to work with the space you have. Sadly, in a place this small, there’s not much she can do. On the other hand, she has taken up knitting and cross-stitch (we have some wild Saturday nights); these activities don’t require much space.

Examples:

If you need to make room, sell some stuff on craigslist. It’s like having people pay you to take your stuff away.
Get your own desk and keep it clear of clutter.
Figure out the minimum amount of space you need to do your thing.
Get rid of your television. You’ll have more space and more time. Leave the professional gaming to the Koreans.

Over to You:

What physical barriers have you eliminated to make creating easier?
Do you have any suggestions for my upcoming post about removing mental barriers?
How can you apply these ideas to other areas of life? Nutrition, exercise, education, for example?
Is time physical?

I’d love to hear from you.

Update: This series continues with Removing Barriers Series: How to Mange Your Inner Critic and How to Manage Fear of Failure.

If you enjoyed this post or others, share it! Tweet it, Digg it, Stumble it, email it to friends, or submit it to your favorite online service.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lim_Yo-Hwan

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32 Tips for Better Journal Writing

Seth M. Baker — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:11:02 +0000

Journal Writing is one of the best things you can do to improve your memory, clarify your thinking, increase your creativity, and just become a more all-around awesome person. Sometimes, though, keeping a journal can become as stale as the crackers in my cabinet. Here’s a list of tips for better journal writing. Some of my categories overlap, but you’ll get the general idea.

General Techniques for Better Journal Writing

1. Write every day.

2. Aim for a set number of lines or pages everyday.

3. Fire your censors. Mute your internal editor. You’re writing for no one but yourself.

4. Use a trigger phrase to get started. For example, “Good morning,” “Here’s what happened,” etc.

5. Have conversations with famous (and infamous) people, living and dead.

6. Write in different conditions: awake, sleepy, tired, sick, drunk, drugged, etc.

7. Keep writing, even if you think you have nothing to say. Write “I have nothing to write.” You’ll come up with something.

8. Write an entry as if you were ten years older or younger.

9. Make lists of things you like, dislike, things that piss you off, make you want to murder, etc.

The Physical Journal

10. Use a paper journal and a good pen. If you’re really fastidious, aim for good handwriting, but don’t worry about it looking pretty.

11. Tape or glue in scrap papers, ticket stubs, and traffic citations.

12. Record your progress towards completing projects or mastering skills. Maybe a daily status bar or percentage?

13. Note the date, at least. You can also add the time, weather, stock index, number of celebrity arrests, etc.

15. Draw pictures in the margins. Add illustrations, diagrams, manuals, maps, pie charts.

Planning the Future

16. Plan future events, real and imaginary.

17. Elaborate on your goals. If you don’t have any, make some easy ones to get started.

18. Imagine wild success for any project, current or future.

19. Take a different look at a sticky problem. Imagine how someone from a different epoch or culture would approach the problem.

Recording the Past

20. Keep track of books you read, movies you watch, albums you listen to, performances you experience.

21. Recall conversations and details you notice about people.

22. Dig into your past, especially the mundane stuff; this is a great mental workout.

23. Forget your past by committing it to paper.

24. Reread old entries and laugh at yourself.

Understanding People and Place

25. Describe people as you see them and as you think they see themselves.

26. Describe the world around you. Imagine your eyes are microscopes…or satellites.

27. Write in a quiet place. Write in a loud place. Describe these places. Compare the difference.

28. Write in the woods or in nature. Call me a hippie, but writing in an orchard is always fruitful.

Engaging the Outer World

29. If you follow the news, write about your reaction to the big stories of the day.

30. History buffs can add a ‘this day in history’ paragraph. Some sites offer RSS subscriptions for these things.

31. Seek out and record good quotes.

32. Write reviews of books, movies, albums, and performances. If nothing else, you’ll have plenty of fodder for cocktail parties.

Further Resources:

For some great prompts, check out Writing Forward’s Journal Prompts

Journal and expressive writing improves your health. Check out this study.

An Ode to Writing By Hand (Plus Tips for Improving your Handwriting): In Defense of Handwriting.

How to Start Keeping a Daily Journal: Master Your Mental Monkey

Over to You: Do you keep a journal? Do you have any tips to share?

photo credit: Lidal-K

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