The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

Beginnings

The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

Last night, between hacking my lungs out and listening to my neighbors’ cheesy-awesome 1980’s tunes, I started writing Per Ardua ad Astra (bit of a mouthful, by no means is this the final title).

Beginning a story is difficult for me. I have no problem writing internal scenes, even endings, but the whole first-impression thing…I feel that if I can’t strike the right tone with the opening line, the rest of the book will suffer. Look at some of famous opening lines:

“Marley was dead to begin with.” A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

“In a hole in the ground lived a hobbit.” The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien.

“Midway in our life’s journey, I went astray from the straight road and woke to find myself alone in a dark wood.” Inferno by Dante Alighieri.

“Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you’d expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn’t hold with such nonsense.” Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by JK Rowling.

These opening lines capture the essence of the stories to follow. As for me, my opening line is pseudo-epic and quite frankly, reeks. It doesn’t fit with the vibe that I hope to achieve. Oh well. That’s what rewrites are for!

And I’m not going to rewrite a scene until I’m completely done. Unless I come up with a better beginning.

An Update on the WIP

The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

So, the WIP. My pet project for months, happily stewing away on the stove of my mind. A few comments on Sputnitsa’s First Draft Joys inspired me to give you all an update on how the story is coming along.

  • It now has a working title: Per Ardua ad Astra, or From Hardship to the Stars. Its the RAF motto. Not terribly original on my part.
  • The research is going. By chance, I found a handy book called The Few by Alexander Kershaw. It has many descriptions of dog fights, RAF slang, and is a captivating read. I don’t have to worry about my shotty Internet connection, either. Long live the book!
  • Characters are coming along. There are even a few female characters chucked in! And I like ’em, which is the important thing.
  • The story is beginning to take shape. A few scenes are cropping up.
  • I’ve already killed off a character. Yes, he makes an appearance in the story (and is a main character prior to his death). I shouldn’t be so bummed about his death, but I know it’s a plot point and/or experience that defines the other characters. I’m a little worried about his demise sounding forced, but I won’t know until I finish writing the first draft, eh?

Of course, things aren’t progressing as quickly as I would like them. But they are progressing. And my friends are a bit concerned about my over enthusiasm for all things WWII.

CC//flickr John Griffiths

CC//flickr John Griffiths

Pine, Crab, Tree

The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

The third and final piece of advice from the Lehrer lecture was simple: Learn to relax. Simple, right?

This ties in pretty well with daydreaming. As a whole, some of my best ideas occur when my mind is blank. I’m not searching for answers at all; they just appear. Like doing insight problems. Take the word association type games. Three words, and only one connects with all three. Pine, crab, tree. What is it?

The answer makes itself apparent not when over thinking, but when the mind is perfectly and totally relaxed.

As I’m not a neuroscience-y person, I’m not even going to attempt to explain how a relaxed mind produces better results. Something about alpha waves being present in a relaxed state of mind.

But when calm, we can direct our thoughts inward and come up with less obvious answers. Maybe a character or scene is being particularly obnoxious. By not forcing oneself to think about it, a creative solution may make itself obvious. It won’t happen right away, but maybe it’ll hit. That divine thunderbolt.

While I haven’t had any of those moments in terms of writing fiction, I’ve had my ‘a-ha!’ moments while writing papers for school. My favorite? A paper on the benefits of crime.

Daydreaming…

The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

On to part two of the advice I got from the Lehrer lecture, the lesson was daydreaming.

Lehrer suggested taking twenty minutes a day and just zoning out. Of course, he also included the important detail of not daydreaming while a) a work or b) in class.

Daydreaming recharges creativity. Simple as it sounds, I really needed to be told to daydream. The first few weeks of the semester had me stressed, so being reminded that just zoning out and letting my mind wander is good for me. Nay, great.

I’m sure the Swiffer people daydreamed a bit.

Wandering away (physically or mentally) is a good way for me to recharge, slip away, and come back with ideas for plots, characters, and just feeling more relaxed. The state of “chill” works wonders. When I daydream, sometimes good stuff pops into my head. Its when I’m most relaxed (except for when right before falling asleep…and that’s when I do most of my writing), and that’s when my best ideas show up.

I just need to remember to actually set time aside and daydream.

Thinking Like an Outsider

The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

This week, I attended a speech given by Jonah Lehrer, an author and scientist. I didn’t expect to be entertained much, nor did I expect to start taking notes! Lehrer had some really interesting things to say, but he also gave three pieces of advice. As I listened to him, I realized that these three suggestions could be applied in terms of creation, writing specifically. Given the length of things, I’m splitting up his advice into three posts. One today, one tomorrow, and one the next.

Think Like an Outsider

Lehrer began by telling the story of the invention of the Swiffer. Procter & Gamble attempted to create a better soap to use with a mop. Nothing worked. They then shipped out the task to another company (whose name escapes me). This company spent nine months watching videos of people cleaning and realized that mopping a) took too long and b) spread dirty water everywhere. They thought a disposable cleaning sheet would be just the thing. A stronger soap wasn’t need; the mop was the problem. And so the Swiffer was born.

Lehrer also mentioned a website where the world’s top companies post their problems for other people to solve (you are apparently rewarded handsomely). This is for when the biochemists can’t figure something out because they’re going about it in a biochemistry way. Maybe a physicist, an outsider on the problem, can see the best solution.

And where does creating come in?

While I was working on a brief comic prologue for my Electronic Media class (and that old faithful, The Continent), I discussed parts of it with my roommate, particularly in terms of my characters’ costumes. I was pretty confused. I had all this backstory and a scene I wanted to illustrate. As I was so embedded in my story, I kept hitting a wall when it came to actually drawing the pictures.

My roommate, completely removed from the situation (only having to deal with my griping), had me describe my characters’ personalities and lives to her.  Through all this, she came up with costume ideas (which I ended up using, to an extent) and one wonderful suggestion to my story:

Why don’t you just tell the backstory?

In that immediate instant, I didn’t. But I worked on The Continent for a good portion of the summer and found myself doing just that: telling part of the backstory as the first act.