Chapter Three Newsletter issue #84 (04/12/2022) 📜

IN THIS ISSUE OF CHAPTER THREE

Meeting Recap 04/12/2022
A productive meeting. Light on attendance but with six readers.

Elements of the Writing Craft Challenge
LESSON: #40 CHARACTERS WITH A PAST

Perhaps I Have a Clue
Thoughts on dealing with writers doubt.

Articles and Other Worthies
The latest from WriteOnSC, Yak Babies, and Steven Pressfield.

ELEMENTS OF THE WRITING CRAFT CHALLENGE

PART II: CHARACTER

LESSON: #40 CHARACTERS WITH A PAST

PRINTED BOOK PAGES: 51-52

READING EXCERPT: Carnival for the Gods by Gladys Swan

There had been better days: when she was up on the high wire, and her body was a flash of motion as she swung, hanging by her heels, across the top of the tent, the faces below like rows of lightbulbs, her body light as a firefly in her blue body suit. All alone up there, no nets below, with the tight thrill that was the joy bred of danger. The tingle in the blood. God, how she loved it! It was the years that had brought her down to earth. She’d nearly killed herself once in a fall. She’d lost her timing, her body had gotten heavy despite all her efforts. the pull of gravity, the reluctance of the flesh. And all the while Dusty trying to put together his misbegotten scheme.

MY NOTES ON THE LESSON

This lesson demonstrates developing a character through consideration of his past. That past may be positive or negative, but the influence on the character’s present is made in a believable way. As Mr. Olmstead says:

Moving from intense, detailed memories to feelings of loss is one way of showing your character’s past.

That technique is shown in this lesson and it strikes me as an effective one. A progression is seen from the character’s rumination over an earlier time in his/her life that prompts good or bad feelings. In either case, it is motivating.

If you use a character’s past as a present motivator, I suggest you go beyond just stating the existence of that past. Have at least one scene, similar to the one in this lesson’s excerpt, where your character is actively thinking of her/his past and is motivated by it.

MY ANSWERS TO THE WRITING POSSIBILITIES

1. Imagine a character who performs before an audience. Make a list of five characters who are past their prime and are looking back. For example: a retired jockey; an ex-baseball player who is now a coach.

a. Computer network technician losing his mojo from being overwhelmed by Internet complexities.

b. TV comedian once known for his impersonations now sounds the same no matter whom he tries to mimic.

c. Singer-songwriter head of a famous band who lost his voice.

d. Motivational speaker who has lost his conviction.

e. Preacher who has lost his faith.

2. Write about one of your five characters. Your first sentence will begin: There had been better days: Continue this sentence with six images that vividly evoke the character’s performing experience.

There had been better days: when he stood on a platform beneath a tent that had begun the day as a pasture, holding the leather-bound Word aloft, quoting from it and moving people to awe before God’s own oracle, watching people moved to tears as he proclaimed truths they accepted without question, people falling over and pounding the ground overwhelmed by the holiest spirit sprung from his oration, with everything punctuated by the choir bursting into joyful praise on cue.

3. Swan writes The tingle in the blood. Good, how she loved it! Build your next movement to such excitement. First, internalize the feeling and then give comment.

Feeling God’s hand reaching through him to souls lost in torment. He had felt the holy power and seen it grab hopeless cases and bring them to glorious service. Humbled and weeping with joy over his role as the voice God used to make the devil tremble. Salvation was bestowed and sinners became saints. Praise Him! What heavenly glory revealed through his inspired earthen vessel!

4. Allow reality to set in. Your character becomes more somber with thought. His memory, having been re-experienced, now feels so distant. Finish your paragraph with a movement that begins: It was the years that brought….

It was the years that brought disillusion. Too many temptations stemming from the flow of donated dollars. Pride of life rose up from a twinge in his stomach to an aching need. Books that sold well beyond their literary merits. Miracles promised and never fulfilled. Crossing that line into alcoholism and finally adultery. His reputation ruined, the donations dwindled until he could no long afford a staff, cars, or houses. His name no longer attracted crowds that now preferred mega-churches to revival tents.

5. What other past pursuits might a character want to recount that have nothing to do with performance? Pasts can be something longed for or regretted. Make a list of ten possibilities.

a. A computer technician who now maintains an inspirational blog.
b. An accountant who walked off the job to pilgrimage across Spain.
c. A fighter pilot now busing tables.
d. A former Daoist monk now running for political office.
e. High school teacher now writing best-selling juvenile horror stories.
f. Homeless man now teaching at a Buddhist meditation center.
g. Successful day-trader now homeless.
h. Former street cop now rescuing abandoned pets.
i. Drug dealer now running a high-end restaurant.
j. Concentration camp survivor now doing motivational speaking.

Send questions or comments via email to rayfoy2010@gmail.com

Perhaps I have a Clue

I recently attended an online (ZOOM) webinar hosted by an organization that specialized in writer education. They had sponsored a “Science Fiction First Pages” contest that I entered. They announced five winners at this webinar.

No, I did not win. I realized when I entered the contest that my chances were slim. Not placing should not have bothered me, but it did. I really wanted a credential for my work-in-progress. Of course, that led to the kind of emotional downward spiral that I am prone to.

But what really bother me was see that the winners’ work was not outstanding. It seemed to me that the work read for critique at our COLA3 meetings was much better! While you write off that feeling to bias and even hubris, I have come across this situation many times and have heard other fiction writers mention it. In a nutshell, I’m talking about accolades given for written works (especially fiction) that don’t seem to deserve it (re: The Stand by Stephen King).

Now I have read much about storycraft, “How to Write,” and the marketing of self-published work (How to Sell Books by the Truckload on Amazon). Basically, they say that in order to sell books, you must write good books. To write good books, you must study and practice to know how. This leads to other considerations such as: knowing when you’ve written a good book, how much editing to pay for, should you use a writer’s service, should you use a publicity company, how to get reviews--etc, etc, etc. The rabbit hole runs deep.

So what am I missing here? I have pondered that question. All the self-help books I have read, have been of limited help. And I come to the question that probably all artists come to at some point: why am I doing this?

I don’t have the answer, but I’ve come to a couple of important realizations:

1. Writers (especially self-publishing writers) are a heavily exploited market. That is, we are raw material for a specific market. This has always been true to some degree, but it is really true in today’s hyper-capitalistic, high-speed electronic, Internet-based, morally bankrupt, global society. You, as an independent author, are a commodity.

2. Your literary work, no matter how good, is less than a drop in the ocean. If your work is to stand out, it must stand out against billions.

One solution some writers embrace is “hard work.” That is, they write hard and fast, producing works (usually in a specific genre), following a formula of “Rapid Release” (or “Rapid Publishing”). The process as defined in many, many books sounds good. There are writers who have found some success doing this (that is, they “make a living”). I question the Return-on-Investment, however.

As I said, I have found no solution here. Perhaps, though, I have a clue. A lot of self-help-publishing books begin by advising that you define your goals. Specifically, what you hope to achieve by writing books (or doing other literary endeavors). They say you should determine if money is indeed what you are shooting for.

I agree with that advice and recommend you really nail down why you are writing. Create a manifesto document or letter of intent. It doesn’t matter if nobody reads it but you. It just needs to be a declaration that you can reclaim from time-to-time, keeping you centered, on-track, and sane.

Your sanity and well-being as a writer is attacked when props (praises) do not come as you need. Then any setback is particularly bad. That is when the inner voice gets critical, reminding you of how crappy you are as a writer. Author Steven Pressfield calls this inner voice, “Resistance.” He has shared his struggles with Resistance in a book: The War of Art. He also spoke of this creative war in a blog post, Resistance Thrives in Darkness. In it, he describes our opposition this way:

Resistance’s most diabolical trick is that it masquerades so convincingly as our own voice. When we hear ourselves thinking,

“You’re a bum, you’re a loser, you’ve got no talent … “

We think that voice is us. We believe that these thoughts are ours, that they are an objective self-assessment offered up by our own selves. They’re not.

They’re Resistance.

Does this mean we should do art for art’s sake? Ultimately, I believe that is so. Making money is fine, but if you have to be the next J. K. Rowling, that drive could wreak havoc with your mental health (and with your writing, too).

Is “art for art’s sake” too idealistic? Are we just fooling ourselves with that credo? I don’t think so. Not in my best moments. At those times, I agree with this passage from the classic book, Advanced Course in Yogi Philosophy:

The Man who works for work’s sake—in obedience to the desire to work—the craving to create—because he gives full expression to the creative part of his nature—is the real thing.

So Resistance may slow me. It has not stopped me, so far.

Ray

Send questions or comments via email to rayfoy2010@gmail.com

ARTICLES AND OTHER WORTHIES

COLA III Meeting Recap for 04/12/2022

CALENDAR