My Expertise

by

Judith Lachance-Whitcomb

Every time I get the email reminding me that I signed up to do this week’s blog, I ask the same question, “Why did I sign up for this?”  Contributors to the Indiana Writers’ Consortium blog always have such excellent writing expertise and they are willing to share it with us.  I often think that someone wanting to get into writing would just have to go through our blogs and they will find a great writing course.  A person can find everything from legal advice to ideas for writing to words from experts, great resources, and even what to do with writing blocks.  Hmmm, wait, I do have an expertise – writing blocks!  Surely, I have had more than anyone else around.

Does that make me an expert?  I don’t know.  Some may believe I live in a writer’s block. Some may even wonder how I can consider myself a writer when I spend more time blocking than writing. However, I am a writer with expertise in blocking. So, let me share some things I’ve tried to overcome this writer’s malady.

Research – All writers know the importance of research so I began to research whatever I could about writer’s blocks.  First, I found out that many well-known authors went/go through writers’ blocks, so there’s good company for those of us who block.  Then I found numerous suggestions for overcoming the blocks.  In a previous IWC blog, I reported some of the techniques and their impact on my blocks.  (December 18, 2013, "All I want for Christmas").

Therapy – One time, when the Evil Block arose again, I resorted to my knitting hobby and created two polyfill pencils. The larger one was used to hit my head while blocking, the smaller functioned as a worry stone.  Did that help?  Not much, but I do have to say there is something therapeutic about hitting my head without danger of major harm.  Also, knitting was a good excuse to avoid the writing block – I just didn’t write.

The Real Deal – If I am a writing block expert, I should be able to suggest something really beneficial in the Block Battle.  Here it is:  NETWORK.  That’s it.  I’ve found that the best way for me to work through a block is to immerse myself into the writing community.  The support, advice, and encouragement from fellow writers ignite the writer-me.  Where do you find that?

There are excellent writing critique/support groups in Northwest Indiana. A number of them are listed on the Indiana Writers’ Consortium webpage (http://www.inwriters.org/resources-and-blog/).  Often when I was in a block, I would miss my groups’ meetings.  When I returned, my block dissipated.  If you don’t have a critique group, find one. 

Other opportunities for networking are writers’ conferences.  For me, the conference that is in my own backyard, so to speak, is the annual IWC Steel Pen Creative Writers Conference.  I’ll share an experience that I had at last year’s conference.

I hadn’t been writing.  The block was winning.  I went to the conference hoping for a push to work through my block.  The first session was good, explaining how this author developed her characters by giving them depth through detailed character sketches/files.  Mulling over the next set of sessions, I couldn’t make up my mind.  I just wandered into the nearest room.  Realizing it was a session on writing memoirs, my heart sank.  Memoirs are not a genre that I read and definitely not one that I am interested in developing.  As I turned to leave, the presenter smiled and invited me to join the group already in a circle.  Not wanting to insult him, I sat.

The presenter, Marc Nieson, began by having us visualize. His calm, inviting voice allowed each of us to go into ourselves.  The session progressed and I was totally engaged.  After the session, I headed directly for the IWC bookstore tables and purchased Marc’s book, School House, lessons on love and landscape. Can you believe it?  I actually bought a memoir. 

As the conference was winding down with hors d'oeuvres and mingling, I spotted Marc.  I had already taken my books to the car.  I said, “Marc, I wanted you to sign my book but I don’t have it with me now.”  He grabbed a piece of paper and wrote the following:

To Judy,

With great thanks and affection, looking forward to your words in whatever bloody “form” they take.

In ink and arms,

Marc

Memoirs are still not my favorite reading feast but Marc’s book is.  Like his session it bore a huge hole through my block. Sharing his journey with me via his book, he created a collage of memories, people, nature, and writing that made me eager to pick up my pen (I should say mouse) again.  During the next session of one of my writing groups, Magic Hour Writers, I was extolling Marc, his book, and the effect it had on my writing energy.  They suggested that I put Marc’s note up near my computer.  I have done that, and Marc’s words help me fight my blocks. I have written more this past year than I had in the previous two.

My best advice for conquering blocks is to network.  Actually, my advice for writing is networking.  The support of people who understand the unique writer persons we are is crucial not only for helping us to work through blocks but aiding us in developing our craft.

If you haven’t done so already, be sure to take advantage of a prime network connection by signing up for the 2017 Steel Pen Creative Writers Conference.   Go to the IWC webpage for details. 

Until then, wishing you block free days and happy writing, I’ll see you at the Conference.

Characters

by

Judith Lachance-Whitcomb

When I read a book, if it is a good one, I fall in love with the characters. We all do. We even begin to care about the bad guys. When the book ends, I don’t want to leave those folks I’ve gotten to know through the author’s ability to bring them to life.  I’m realizing that I get the same pleasure from my own characters that develop along with the story.

I’ve always felt guilty because I don’t do character studies, at least not in an organized way. I don’t have a card file with descriptions of characters and locales. I don’t have character sheets, and even on my Scrivener I’m not using the character sheet template. As my characters grow, I construct their sketches based on what they’ve revealed of themselves.  I’ve come to realize, however, that there is a file box tucked somewhere in my grey matter. As a great observer of people, risking being arrested as a stalker, I can watch people for hours. In a restaurant, I eagerly try to hear their conversations. Watching people while at the beach, I note the variety of shapes, sizes, etc. of their physique and the bathing gear they use to enhance (or not) those physiques. Looking at two people having a conversation that I can’t hear, I make up stories in my mind of what is going on based on their body language. So, it’s not that I don’t pay attention to character traits, I just don’t do what many how to write sources suggest I do with developing a character study.

I find that my characters develop with the story. When I begin a story, I have a situation or general plot in mind. I know where I want to be at the end of the story. I have a general idea of who the main characters are, but many of the details emerge as they travel through the storyline. Minor characters are even less defined as we begin our adventure together.  

Sometimes my research brings the character to life. One story I wrote  was about an adventurous little Emperor penguin. He gets lost and ends up in the North Pole.   Even though the story is fiction, I wanted it to let youg readers know penguins are only in the southern hemisphere. I had the character penguin, Fidget,  firmly in my mind but I needed another animal to help  him figure out where he was.  I wanted an animal who would be familiar with both poles.  A little research and I found out about the Arctic Tern that travels between them.  The description of the actual bird helped me develop Tipper . You met both characters through their picture at the beginning of this blog.

Currently I’m working on a fiction story about Queen Guinevere (of Camelot) when she was a young girl. In the story an unlikely friendship develops between her and Emma, who is the complete opposite in position, manner, dress, and certainly grace. The story could be called historical fiction but I’m afraid it isn’t quite. To begin with, it’s hard to gather actual facts on the Arthurian period that seems to be mostly fiction as it stands. Also, the time of the story would be before the middle ages. I find very little information of that time, or at least information that would make my story more interesting. For example, castles weren’t what I was lead to believe as I read and watched all those books, plays (I loved “Camelot”), and movies. They were more like earthen and wooden rather than huge and stone structures. So, for the sake of my story, I’ve pushed Guinevere and Emma into the middle/later periods of the Middle Ages.

Anyway, back to my point. I wanted a very minor character to be Guinevere’s teacher. In truth, she probably wouldn’t have had one but my story needed it. There are many choices for a character like that: old, wise, young, handsome, brilliant, snobbish. Other than being a minor male character, he had very little definition in my mind. Needing a name for him, I began by going to my reference sheets (which I can conveniently store on my Scrivener) that contain first and surnames that would be common during the middle ages. I spent a good half an hour or more playing around with various combinations. I finally landed on one that screamed to me, “I am that teacher character.” The name?  It’s Umfrey Urry.  Isn’t that delicious? It was a name that could thoroughly confuse Emma and immediately shaped his looks and manner for me. As I introduced him to the story, he came alive in his snobbish dead-pan way. He makes Guinevere, Emma, and myself laugh – behind his back, of course.  Here is the paragraph when he enters the story:

“Stop this commotion, I say!”   A path appeared through the crowd from the door to the interior of the castle. The path was made by someone or something whose long, upturned nose appeared before the rest of him did. “I, the Royal Teacher, must prepare the lessons for Her Majesty - the Princess!”  The mouse voiced speaker, now clearly in the center of the circle and the center of attention made sure his complaint was accompanied with a snobbish swish of the long, black curls that hung well below his bony shoulders. “Her Majesty will be furious when you have caused her lessons not to be ready for her!”

I will continue to seek out advice about how to write from as many sources as I have time to find. What I’m learning, though, is that there is no cookie cutter “how to write”. Our approach to writing has to be the one that works for us. I can try the suggestions I come across but in the end I have to find the ones that work for me. One of my current mentors is Stephen King through his book, On Writing. I was pleased to read his take on character development and especially resonated with this statement, “For me, what happens to characters as the story progresses depends solely on what I discover about them as I go along…” That works for me.

I’m not a published writer, at least not in the way that some folks I’ve met in writing groups consider “published.” I have a number of educational works that were published and a chapter in a book. I have my fiction work in group publications like Hoosier Horizons and the Edge of the Prairie. That’s it. But I am a committed writer. As I wrote about in a previous blog, I write because I can. I write because I enjoy the adventures my characters and I experience. I write because I love my characters.

Celebrate the Beauty of Communication

by

Judith Lachance-Whitcomb

 

Recently, there were two occasions when I was reminded of the beauty of communication.  Thanksgiving this year took place at my grandson’s home.  It was exceptionally special because it was his son Aiden’s first.  At almost 3 months old, Aiden was at the stage where a baby recognizes that somehow those who comprise his world communicate with sounds.  He was beginning to test this out as all babies his age do.  His hands waved, his legs kicked, his head bobbed, and his mouth contorted.  Finally, he was rewarded with a very quiet and brief, “Ohh.”  His smile assured me he was well pleased with his success.

 

The second occasion, took place at my son-in-law’s parents’ home.  His niece was visiting from Texas.  Both she and her husband are deaf and have been since birth.  Their two adorable children are not hearing impaired.  When it was time for them to leave, his niece told her four year old to get ready.  Callia, typical for a four year old, did not want to leave.  A five-minute negotiation with her mother with verbal pleading accompanied with signing thoroughly entertained me.  Her hands moved in rhythm with the nuances of her voice.   Her engaging efforts did not win her argument although I’m sure in the future she will be gaining points in a courtroom. 

 

Both of these observations of connecting people through words brought to my mind the beauty of communicating.  Aiden has just begun his excursion into language. In the next two years he will develop a vocabulary larger than at any other time during his life.  Then he’ll go to school where he’ll find a whole new world of linking thoughts through the written word.  Callia already has the ability to share ideas not only to the hearing world with her voice but to the non-hearing world with her hands.  When she begins to write, she will have an exciting new way to persuade others to her point of view.

 

Thinking about this highlighted an awareness, once again, of how lucky we are to be able to communicate in so many ways.  As writers, we have been given the additional joy of sharing our thoughts and feelings with others through the written word. When asked on the Indiana Writers’ Consortium member survey what were my goals in writing, it was easy to answer because of where my thoughts have been.  I want my written words to touch the hearts and souls of those who read them. Emily Neville in It’s like this, cat showed young teens that it’s okay as a 14 year-old to cry over a stray cat. Barbara Park in Mick Harte Was Here let her young readers share Phoebe’s tears when her anger over her brother’s death finally allowed her to cry.  I want my writing to be able to unite people by evoking universal emotions.

 

I’m not there yet.  Maybe I don’t have that novel or even a short story that does that yet.  Where can I start?

 

It’s the Christmas/ Hanukkah season.  This is a time when we decide to contact friends and families with joyous greetings.  Now, I’m not too good with this.  Longtime friends know I function on a 5-year Christmas card cycle.  I buy them every year but usually get them out once in a half-decade.  I find the nicest cards that have a lovely sentiment, but somehow they never seem right for everyone.  Maybe there is a problem because at some point we decided to let Hallmark ™ express our feelings about and to people. When did we decide to delegate our opportunity to write a deeply felt sentiment to a corporation? 

 

Okay, they have lovely pictures and do a nice job of it.  But recently, I’ve gone one step lower in missing an opportunity to use the written word to express how much someone means to me by sending a mass or singular Christmas or birthday message on Facebook.  Maybe Christmas is the perfect time to write a personal note that will evoke memories or emotions in the reader.

 

Don’t be mistaken. I’m not talking about those Christmas letters.  As a young single mother, I hated those.  After reading them, I’d feel like a failure because my children were not in every sport invented, played all instruments in an orchestra, or were ready to win a Rhodes Scholarship.  The only feeling those evoked in me was nausea.

 

I could take a minute to script a brief sentence or two that would warm the heart of the receiver.  Maybe on Sandy’s card I could say, “I miss you most this time of year when I remember how we shoveled out a croquet field in four feet of snow.”  Or say to my cousin, Mary, “I’m reminded in this season of love how much you mean to me.  You held me up when I left my sister’s funeral, standing and talking to me until I could stand on my own.”

 

Maybe these notes aren’t the novels I want to write that will touch a soul.  But it’s a start.  It will be enough for me to celebrate the season with the beauty of communication.

 



Why Do I Write?

by

Judith Lachance-Whitcomb

 

Another rejection letter followed closely by another notification deadline passing without any “you’ve won” for me.  I was so sure this one would have gotten some recognition.  The story was one that when I was finished (rewriting for the twelfth time) made me think, “This is really good!” These recent submission results lead to a ‘no good writing news’ Thanksgiving for me.

 

As I plop down on the couch with my current read, I’m distracted by the question, “Why do I write?”   When working full time, I looked forward to a time that I could be devoted to writing. I engaged in quite a bit of professional writing during my career: a number of co-authored research papers, science education magazine articles, and even a chapter in a book. However, writing creatively was what I wanted to do when I had adequate time to apply to it. In my mind, words would flow freely to create engaging stories that would enchant. It would be easy.

 

Oh, yeah, easy.  Even as a hobby writer, I find that rarely do I feel something I’ve written is finished. The re-read/re-write cycle seems to go on endlessly. Since I choose to primarily write for children, the constant pressure to utilize appropriate vocabulary to challenge but not frustrate the target audience becomes very difficult.  Additionally, I constantly struggle with editing, both for grammar and content.  My mind works so much more quickly than my fingers.  Regardless of the number of times I re-read, my mind insists on seeing that which it had intended rather than that which appears on the paper. Finally, I’m never quite satisfied with the story line. How can I make it more engaging, exciting, fun? The end project of all of this will be seen only by a few pairs of eyes belonging to my supportive peers in my writing group. So, why do I write for a hobby? Other hobbies require an equivalent amount of “work.”  I knit.  Figuring out patterns or developing patterns of my own challenges me.  The craft requires skill and a significant devotion of time. At least when I finish with those projects I have something that I give away or wear. The artifact will be seen and valued, unlike my writings that languish in stored files on my computer. So, again, why do I write?

 

I leave my musings to look at the book I’ve chosen to take solace with, I am Malala. This is the story of the young girl who has come to represent the plight of young women who are denied an education. The answer to my query begins to unfold. My love of language – reading and writing – was nurtured as a young student. Through the tedious diagramming sentences to the excitement of sharing weekly writing assignments of essays and stories, a love of language grew. The way words could be manipulated to evoke feelings from sorrow to glee was a wonderment. The excitement of explorations of worlds I would never encounter became accessible to me through the words of others. I wasn’t denied an education that allows me to read and write; I was immersed in one. Why I write becomes clear.

 

I don’t need to be published or win a contest in order to feel fulfilled from writing.  I write because I want to…and because I can.   Happy Thanksgiving.



When Less is Too Much

by

Judith Lachance-Whitcomb

 

 

Recently, I came across the Children’s Writer Kindergarten Story Contest 2013. “This one’s for me,” I thought. The fee to enter was $15.00 but that included an eight-month subscription to the Children’s Writer newsletter, a very good resource for those of us who write for children. I am basically a hobby writer but I would still love to see something of mine in print somewhere other than on my computer. In this competition the winning entry will be published in a Children’s Writer newsletter. An article about other top-ranked entries and their authors will also be published.

 

Other persuasive enticements to entering the contest were the parameters for the entries – a fiction piece for five to seven year old beginning readers with a 150 word limit that could be submitted on-line. Yep, this one I could handle.  Although I whole-heartedly agree with Pam Zollen that, "Easy-to-read is hard to write," I have written more frequently for children than adults. As a teacher and then a curriculum developer, I often had to write articles and stories to support curricula.  I began.  

 

First, what could I write about that would fit the criteria of exploration? A while ago, my niece Laura suggested a story idea about a little girl who goes into a closet and tries on shoes, with each pair transporting her to a different location.  Good, this worked and took care of the exploration component. Next, develop the characters – easy thanks to my niece’s idea. I based the story around one little girl, Lily Grace, who loves to go into her Auntie’s closet and try on shoes. Plot - she tries on different shoes and in her imagination travels to different places.  Each location just isn’t going to be quite right.  She ends up back in Auntie’s closet where everything is just right.

 

Writing the story gets a little trickier.  For that age group, I needed a controlled vocabulary that was age appropriate.  In addition, I needed to think about a couple of new words that could be introduced to the child.  I researched vocabulary lists for the target age groups. I decided to name the ecosystem locations as new vocabulary words. I needed to connect the new vocabulary words to familiar vocabulary used for that section of the story to support the young reader in developing a conceptual understanding of the new word.  For example, arctic would connect to ideas of snow and cold.

 

Once that was done, I began to write. One-hundred-fifty words was going to be the easy part because I never seem to be able to write “more.”  I always do “less” and often struggle when I have to write a lengthier document. (I am always in awe of those of you who manage to write longer stories and novels.)  I finished my first attempt. Going over my first draft, I scrutinized the clarity of the story line, made sure it was readable and logically connected, and checked for the appropriate vocabulary structure for the age group.

 

The second draft was completed and I was feeling quite smug and pleased with my story. I finished the final draft (so I thought) and got ready to send it off. While double-checking the contest requirements, it dawned on me that I had not done a word count.  I was not concerned; I always write less.  Up to the tools menu my cursor went, clicked on word count, and … 200 WORDS! “This just can’t be right,” my boggled mind said, “I always write less!”

 

Well, after two more checks, I conceded it was right. The journey to eliminate 50 words was difficult.  When you have a young reader’s story, you have already constrained the storyline in order to maintain a child’s interest. The work that I had to do to pare down the number of words but still maintain the essence of the story became the most difficult part of the project. Writing, counting, rewriting, recounting, went on for a number of days.  Finally, I rejoiced when the count came up 150. I entered the story and, for my own copy, went on to illustrate it using Adobe Illustrator as my media.

 

This experience has made me think about word count much more than I used to do in terms of editing my work.  I was entering an adult story I wrote for another contest around the same time as Lily Grace (no subscription but no entry fee either). The story had 2,750 words; 2,500 words was the contest word limit.  Once again I was faced with paring done a written work that I particularly liked.  Initially, I thought the story would be negatively affected.  It was not and, in truth, was much more readable when I finished.

 

Now when I write, even my short and children’s stories, I always ask myself, “Is less too much?”