The Agony of Writing

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Howdy, fellow bloggers! I’m back after a six-week hiatus. I felt guilty for neglecting my blog for such a long time, but I had to take care of personal matters.

Finding time and inspiration to write my latest blog post proved to be difficult. My break turned into a hobgoblin that stole my creativity along with two articles I started writing.

It was until today that my muse, disguised as an article, remembered my address and paid me a visit. The article was about Khanh Ha, a Vietnamese author and his first novel, Flesh. The blurb says that this book “takes the reader into dark and delightful places in the human condition, places where allies are not always your friends, true love hurts, and your worst enemy may bring you the most comfort.” I was intrigued. If you are, too, check out his book tour at http://tlcbooktours.com/2012/03/khanh-ha-author-of-flesh-on-tour-mayjune-2012/

In this article, Mr. Ha stated what my mentor always told me, “Write what you know”. He also shared his seven rules for writing a novel:

#1—Find discipline in solitude, in aloneness so you can meet your characters. It’s like a rendezvous with ghosts. Then make that meeting every day or every night with no excuses.

#2—Write each scene as if it were the only thing in your universe—it must command all your attention.

#3—Write one scene well and that scene would breed the next scene.

#4—Leave room for readers to participate: don’t overwrite.

#5—Stop where you still have something to say so the next day you won’t face a dry well.

#6—Read each day to keep your mind off your own writing.

#7—Don’t believe in anybody’s rules except yours.

I appreciated that he added this wonderful quotation by Toni Morrison who once said, “I wrote my first novel because I wanted to read it.”

Do you follow any of these rules? If you're writing your first novel, do you find inspiration in Morrison’s quotation?

Hiatus & an Award

Dear Bloggie Friends,

As you may have already noticed, I didn't post last Wednesday. I've been under the weather, fighting a terrible cold that sent me to the clinic. Tomorrow I'm travelling to the USA therefore, I won't be posting until next week.

I also want to thank Melissa Kline at Reflections on Writing for passing along the "Sunshine Award".

Although I'm supposed to answer some questions and follow some rules after receiving this award, I will have to break the rules due to the circumstances mentioned above.

Thank you for your continued support and readership.
Have a great week and I'll see you next Wednesday!

Blind Faith

Show, don’t tell. I can assume all writers know this as Writing 101. Whenever I failed to comply with this rule, my manuscript would come back with red markings. My mentors always told me to use metaphors, similes, or strong verbs/adjectives to describe what we perceive with our five senses without telling the obvious.

My mentors guided me through the learning process: I trusted their advice. But, did that mean I had to forget about my instincts? Through this process, I accepted their suggestions blindly because I was afraid of stumbling along the way. However, all that changed when I started trusting that little voice inside of me: my instincts. One of my mentors had suggested deleting a few sentences and changing some words in my final draft. I didn’t. These sentences spoke loudly; they vibrated in my skin. My instincts were right. My story got published.

Just like writing, in real life we sometimes need guidance. Last Sunday I took my husband to O. Noir, a local Montreal restaurant, to celebrate his birthday. (Click on the hyperlink to learn more about this fabulous experience). O Noir is a play on words in French for au noir, which loosely translates, in the dark. The servers are visually impaired. When you get there, you order your food at the bar before entering the pitch-black room. Once the barmaid has taken your order (she’s not visually impaired by the way), your server guides you to your table. He tells you where your utensils, napkins, plate, and glasses are.  

After an hour, my senses were heightened: I started distinguishing my server’s voice among the cacophony of sounds. My hands were quick to learn the objects around me. My hearing clearly made out what instruments the band was playing (The members of the band are also visually impaired, and are aptly called, Les ombres, The Shadows). Although my server guided me to our table, my other four senses guided me at the table (and I’m happy to share there were no incidents).

I wanted to share this amazing experience and use it as an analogy because I realized that whether we’re guided in our writing journey or not, we ultimately have blind faith in our instincts.

Do you trust your inner voice when you write?

My Kind of Town

A street in Istanbul - May 2011

While blogging, I was listening to Frank Sinatra’s “My Kind of Town”. In this song, Sinatra sings about specific places in Chicago and people’s friendliness.   

This song inspired me to write a post about setting which is one of the essential elements of a scene. Setting is the physical background of the story – a distinct time, place, social circumstances, as well as mood or atmosphere.  

The setting in most of my stories has been inspired by places where I’ve lived and/or visited. I said, “most” because there’s always an exception to the rule. A few of my stories take place in cities I’ve never been to. Although it's a rewarding experience, writing about a place I am not familiar with is time-consuming. I had to ensure the description and facts were accurate.

I enjoy, however, describing the setting -especially one that is meaningful to me- because it gives me the opportunity to travel there once again along with my characters.
Do you use familiar places in your setting? Do you have a special place that you’ve used more than once in your stories?

Symbolically Yours

Henry Fuseli (1741-1825) The Nightmare

Yesterday, a friend of mine asked me to brainstorm on symbols that she could use for one of her characters. I did a little research and provided her with some examples, taking into consideration that her book is for tweens (pre-adolescents).

I read that “understanding symbolism deepens the meaning and enhances the reading of many great literary works including short stories, novels and poetry.”

Some symbols may be obvious and some may be more subtle or hidden so that the reader must really think and study the work to grasp the author's true meaning.

One of the websites I found says that “Writers may also use symbolism to allude to a mood or feeling without coming out and stating that particular emotion. For example, a writer might use the symbol of a lily to represent purity or a ray of sunshine to represent hope.”

Examples of Common Literary Symbols:
Water
Sun
Crows
Eyes
Mirror
Fire

Authors Known for their Use of Symbolism:

Edgar Allan Poe
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Herman Melville

Do you use symbolism in your stories? Do you think symbolic imagery is necessary to deepen your story?