Friday, February 21, 2014

The Outline As a Sandcastle (Or: Outlines Aren't Giant Man-Eating Spiders, So Stop Fearing Them)

Writers are an odd bunch, as you may see just from my blog. We have different ideas on what to do to cure writer's block and where to find inspiration. One of the many spars us writers engage in concerns the ol' workhorse, the Outline.

Ah yes, the outline. It either helps the writer know where the f*** the novel is going or it misleads with its certainty and doesn't allow room for growth. I'll be the first one to tell you that I love the outline. It has saved my stupid butt more times than I would like to admit. And yet, the limitations of it are known to me, so naturally it is a your-mileage-may-vary thing.

But, allow me to add another perspective to this argument. First off, the biggest problem with outlines seem to be the limitations it brings to the writer. Once you jot it down, it is the equivalent of the 10 Commandments Moses brought down from the mountain. God help you if you change a thing, everything will be thrown into chaos, the writerly variation of dividing by zero. Or maybe you like seeing how the story unfolds without knowing ahead of the plot. But, to be honest, I find that reason to be silly. I mean, you don't want to get spoiled by your own story? Man, must suck to be you, then. You do know how our life is gonna end, right? The same as the rest of us?

Okay, allow me to make the outline less scary and more accessible. Think of it as a sandcastle. A lovely one, crafted with your hands and mind, with the dark beige sand and nice and smooth grains. Sometimes, you get a little help from friends or strangers. You spent hours on the thing, adding the random seashells that brighten it up or a piece of trash that makes an excellent banner for the tower. You could easily place in a contest, a victory worth a round of beers from the beach bar. But, as we know from building sandcastles, whether for fun or profit, sand is a malleable thing. We can change and add to it as much as we can. And sometimes, there is a surprise rainstorm or a rogue wave or an SOB wearing socks and sandals that threaten the poor sandcastle. You can only protect it from the elements for so long. It's gonna get smacked by something, it's only a matter of when, and maybe the what. 

If you think of an outline as a sandcastle, it is something you work on, is worth your time, and yet isn't as concrete. You know things could change very quickly, whether it's a surprise plot point or even a better protagonist. I agree that the outline's creative asphyxiation is an issue, but I'm beginning to think it's more of a block made by the writer than the outline itself. Writers are superstitious, things have to go very well and in certain ways in order for the writing to flow. Well, let's kick that myth down. You'll never have an ideal writing space or time. It's impossible. Stephen King typed out his early works on a child's desk in his trailer's laundry room, for Pete's sake. You can have an ideal method, but it will be tested and revamped, much like an outline would be. You have to allow for that flexibility, from yourself and from your work.

If you never tried it out, just give it a shot. You have nothing to lose. Really, you don't. How else are you gonna know if it works for you or not? You can only read enough testimonials, my dear writing peeps.

I'm just real tired of people making writing out to be this precious thing that can be only handled with kid gloves and the right amount of offerings to the muses. And while I reiterate that the outline is a preference and far from a rule of thumb, its alienating reactions from writers is something I want to end. 

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

On Writing Characters Like Me (Or: For the Love of God, Another Author Surrogate?!)

If I am guilty of anything in my writing (which I am), I would say the two things I can think of are: odd dialogue (I'm working on this) and author surrogates. Now, unlike the linked definition, I don't create these characters because I think I'm so damn awesome or because I want this author surrogate to jump in and say something about my beliefs. Nah, for some reason, I happen to make characters that are a lot like me.

Actually... *stops for a moment to count*

I only have three characters that I can safely say are the closest in terms to being like me. Now, it's never 100% , 'cause really, show of hands of who wants to see me become a fictional character.

*brief pause* Thought so.

But why do I do it? Really, I wish I knew. Perhaps it is the adage "write what you know", but one of the characters is half-Japanese (which I am not) and another is bisexual (which I am not also). So, if that's not the complete case here, do I secretly harbor the feeling that perhaps I am awesome? Well, not really. I do have traits that could be interesting, like my passion for music and random knowledge of trivia, so I throw in what would make the character human. And last I checked, I am human, so it makes sense to draw from there.

But the thing is, when it comes to character creation, you draw from everything and everywhere. I can't begin to tell you the characters I have created that are loosely based on people I know, from bosses to friends to random strangers I met at the mall. For Pete's sake, my parents were the basis for about four characters! So I am just another source, that's all.

As for those three characters, my literary "twins"? Do they do anything special in their stories? Not really. They struggle, fall in and out of love, have stupid jobs, have bad days at the grocery store, and do not possess super-special powers. I do my damnest to make them as anti-Mary Sue as possible. I owe that, not just to you fair readers, but to myself and to the characters. Not like they'll kick my ass for getting them wrong, but I feel I'm not honest if I write willy-nilly about them.

So, I just happen to have these three characters (all from projects I've mentioned on the blog: Blues, Invisible, and Dolls). Their similarities: tall white girls with German ancestry that love music and reading. Wow, such spectrum. :P

What are your feelings on this topic? Should authors stop using themselves as character idea wells? Is there a way to write an author surrogate that doesn't want to make you punch the author in the face? Am I just being silly? Should I find better things to write about? Let me know what you think in the comments!

Thursday, February 6, 2014

2014 Is Not the Year of Grad School

I got the email last night from Michener. Denied again.

Yeah, I'm getting real tired of this. Perhaps grad school is no longer a thing I should pursue. As I gave it more thought after getting the email and throughout the day today (since I wasn't going outside, it's effing cold y'all), I really don't know why I'm going to grad school. What else could I learn that I don't know that I can't get outside of an academic institution?

This is really a long-winded way of me saying "I may not need grad school after all".

I think my professor was right all along...

On the bright side, I have a job interview tomorrow. At least some things are going better than I thought.

As I said on Facebook, 2014 is still a young year. We got eleven months more. Let's see what happens, shall we?

*memes do not belong to me*

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Might've celebrated too soon... or not?

*Note: This is a mish-mash of two posts that I never finished until now. You will see why as you read.

So after months of hunting, I found myself a second part-time job! It came out of effing nowhere, just a call about an application that I placed over a month ago, thinking nothing would come of it. Went in for an interview last Monday and got the call on Wednesday that I was selected. What were the perks? More hours to work (35 a week!), decent pay (I start at $9.00 an hour), and I get to wear socks all day! (It was at an early education center in my hometown.)

So I went to the second job last Friday to fill out the necessary paperwork. When it got to the discussion about vacation hours and all that, I realized that if I were to get into grad school, I was honest to God screwed. I couldn't get vacation time until I worked there for a year, so if something were to happen, it would likely make me quit the job due to that policy. I mentioned this to my new boss and she said that would have to talk to her superiors about it, let me know if this was too much of a risk.

I heard back yesterday and they said that they will hold off until I hear back from Michener. At this point, I'm not going to take the job. When a little time passes, I will contact them and say "thanks, but no thanks". I mean, to hold things off due to a theoretical, iffy thing? I could get a rejection any day now! Very weird, and frankly, kinda sad. Oh well.

But this morning I got yet another job interview! It's for a local radio station looking for an office assistant.

It's pretty damn surreal to have all this going on. I'm very excited. Even if grad school doesn't happen, the job search is going better than the last few months.

Either way, the last week or so have been very trying and interesting.