Tools of the trade

It's been a while since I've served up some original writing. The wheels of denouement have been turning in the background, but at this time (for many reasons) the stony glare of the internal censor rests heavily upon me. So I'll do what writers do, and keep writing steadily (and privately) until the censor backs the hell off.

Word of the week

fox:  /fɒks/ 

(noun)  A small carnivorous animal of the dog family, with a pointed muzzle, large ears and a long bushy tail, usually with reddish brown or silver-grey fur [Family: Canidae, Genus: Vulpes].

(noun)  A crafty, cunning or sly person.

(noun)  slang  A physically attractive or alluring man or woman.

(verb)  informal  1. To deceive or outwit somebody by means of slyness or trickery  2. to confuse or baffle someone  3. to keep an eye on someone without seeming to do so  4. to be too difficult for someone to understand or solve.

The seed

… but the seed of doubt was there, and it stayed, and every now and then sent out a little root. It changed everything, to have that seed growing. It made Ender listen more carefully to what people meant, instead of what they said. It made him wise. 

 

From Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card

Why do we need to work so hard?

The question asked by a fellow writer today:  If 85% of everything that’s published today is crap, why do we need to work so hard to improve how we write?

Word of the week

regard:  /rɪˈɡɑːd/ 

(verb)  To look at carefully; gaze at steadily; observe. 

(verb)  To consider (something) to be (a particular way).

(verb)  archaic  To take notice of; pay attention to; heed. 

regard:  /rɪˈɡɑːd/

 

(noun)  A long fixed look; a gaze.

(noun)  An attitude of admiration or respect; a feeling of friendship and esteem.

(noun)  Attention to, or thought and concern for something.  

[Middle English: from Old French regarder 'to watch', from re- 'back' (also expressing intensive force) + garder 'to guard']

NB rhymes with canard, charade, façade. 

Truth

'Truth seems to want expression. Unacknowledged truth saps your energy and keeps you and your characters wired and delusional. But when you open the closet door and let what was inside out, you can get a rush of liberation and even joy.' 

~ Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird 

What lies beneath

In fiction, as in life, all is revealed through the actions of our characters.

Characters, like people, don’t always tell the truth. They often say what they think is true, or what they’d like to be true, without arriving at a clear expression of their most salient psychological reality.

Usually it’s because they hold multiple truths – layers of thoughts, feelings and motives - which are tangled together in complicated ways.  They may not always be aware of them. Or they may be hiding them, from other people or themselves.

The right words

‘I’ve been studying history,’ Peter said. ‘I’ve been learning things about patterns in human behavior. There are times when the world is rearranging itself, and at times like that, the right words can change the world.’ 

From Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card

The Art of Omission

If a writer of prose knows enough of what [s]he is writing about [s]he may omit things that [s]he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them.  ~ Ernest Hemingway

It was a lie, of course

Ender nodded. It was a lie, of course, that it wouldn't hurt a bit. But since adults always said it when it was going to hurt, he could count on that statement as an accurate prediction of the future. Sometimes lies were more dependable than the truth.

When I was barely onto the third page and the tight, pacy narrative was serving up these penetrating insights, I knew I was about to read something really, really good.

Ender's Game: classic military strategy meets dystopian YA speculative fiction. 

I'm loving this book so hard, right now. So, so hard.   

Multistoried

'Our lives are multistoried. There are many stories occurring at the same time and different stories can be told about the same events. No single story can be free of ambiguity or contradiction and no single story can encapsulate or handle all the contingencies of life.' 

~ Alice Morgan 

Problem

The single biggest problem in communication 

is the illusion that it has taken place.

~ George Bernard Shaw