The Secret to Unlocking My Creativity Revealed

One thing I've heard/read a lot in various books and blogs about writing is that authors (or those aspiring to the title) should read, rabidly, ravenously. On face value the advice makes perfect sense -- it's a form of competitive analysis. We all do it (or should) when trying to achieve almost any goal. Want to repaint your house? Look around your neighborhood, see what others are doing, maybe check out HGTV. Looking to redesign your website? Do some surfing, check out your competitors, visit a designer's online portfolio. It makes sense that authors would want, no need, to see what's out there in order to do their very best.

But in trying to live with more intention and turn my writing "hobby" into a "career," I've discovered another use for devouring the written word: inspiration.

And I don't even mean the inspiration that comes from a mood or phrase in someone else's work that sparks an idea to life in yours. I mean inspiration to write.

This realization dawned on me last week when I returned to my desk from my lunch break and wanted more time... to write. Why was I suddenly so jazzed to write? I hadn't talked with my lunch buddy about my stories at all. In fact, the Harry Potter, Twilight, and Hunger Games series had dominated our conversation. My mind instantly started running through memories like an old film reel, highlighting all the times I could recall being genuinely excited, desperate even, to write. I could finally see a common theme, and it wasn't what I'd thought for the past decade of my life.

Sure, many of those times included lengthy, sometimes hours-long, conversations about whatever idea was at the front of my queue. But some of them didn't; that couldn't be the link. They did, however, all include discussions of the works of others -- mostly whichever writing partner I was plotting with at that time. I've spent years thinking that I didn't do my best work, couldn't get truly invested in writing, without someone to hear me out and help my process along. I was mistaken. I need these friends because hearing about their ideas and their processes fans whatever fire in me fuels my creativity.

To write, I must read. And then discuss. Especially discuss. Blame it on my degree in literature, whose power to draw me in despite the dire warnings of a financially challenged future from my professors suddenly makes a lot more sense.

Either way, now that I've discovered what works, I'm excited to once again allow myself to explore the thoughts and ideas of others. Without fear of procrastination (everything in moderation, right?), and without fear of contamination. I'm going to be inspired. And I'll learn a little more about the world through the words of others while doing it.

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What lights your fire? To write, to scrapbook, to garden... to pursue whatever makes you happiest? Let me know in the comments below. And then go do it!

View the original post on Cut-throats and Cut-purses

After Three Long Years...

I have gotten my writing act together, more or less. And while it may have taken a little (or a lot) longer than I'd envisioned in my New Year's zeal of 2011, I'm proud to say that I'm putting my written work out there -- in the form of an online serial called, Cut-throats and Cut-purses (C&C)!

About the Story:

Born in an internet cafe in Seoul, South Korea, when one friend introduced another to the wonders of Terry Pratchett's Discworld* and the "wouldn't it be cool if"s began, Cut-throats and Cut-purses follows the journey of a pair of assassins and a pair of thieves whose tangled lives lead to magic, murders (lots of those, actually), and an egomaniacal plot to take over the world.

Basically, my roommate (aka writing partner) and I decided that for accountability's sake we should publish a novel that we've been working on for nearly five years. Both of us being in the website-building industry... well, an online serial seemed the way to go. Think of it like a webcomic, but without the pretty pictures. I can't draw to save my life, and I don't know that she's ever tried.

Along with editing old and writing new C&C chapters, I'll be getting back into the blogging routine so stay tuned for musings and behind-the-scenes details from me, as well as teasers to the latest chapter posted over at the C&C site. And if you want to see what my co-author is saying, she'll be blogging with me over at the C&C site! (She's a pretty damn fine writer, if I do say so myself.)

And in case you need further enticing, here's the opening of C&C, Chapter One: Meet Cristophina Gloryfeather.

Cristophina Gloryfeather had prepared herself, upon arriving in the big city, for almost any situation. She had devoured four books on etiquette, recording notes in the margins that would no doubt serve her well when she came back for further study. She had practiced her curtsy in front of the mirror until not even the Plutocrat himself could find fault in it, not that he would, because Cristophina Gloryfeather wore the type of corsets that would keep his eyes on her assets. She had straightened her spine from the once-slumping posture it had adopted on her family's farm until it made a rigid, elegant T with her pale shoulders, so no one would ever confuse her for the clumsy stable hand/gardener/sheep-wrangler that she most certainly had never been. Perhaps most importantly, she had polished her skills of communication until they sparkled and gleamed before the inspection of her fiancé's most important friends.

Cristophina Gloryfeather was determined never to be caught by surprise.

"Maaaaaa," said the goat.

"Toffee!" said the Bastard.

"Are we having another?" cried one of the excitable young women. This one was wrapped around the Bastard's hips and wearing -- half-wearing, at this point -- a corset and panty set that Cristophina was especially fond of.

Keep reading...

They're Called Goals, Not Resolutions

It's that time of year, and as a person who is too easily seduced by things like lists, I'm not going to start 2011 off with a list of my own. But I can't help the fact that the start of a new year makes people think of all the things they'd like to do in the upcoming year, or the fact that I'm one of those people.

My major goal, as relevant to this blog, is to resume my writing with vigor. To that end, I've added a little motivational tool to my blog to help me stay focused. As you can see from the progress bars to the left, I've got a new untitled work in progress -- a YA supernatural thriller. And I'd also like to have finished my rewrite of ANJIDIA -- which I've decided to break up into three separate novels -- by the end of this year.

Four full drafts is a mighty tall order considering I'll also be job-hunting and relocating, and whatever else life throws at me, but I'm more excited than intimidated. We'll see what the year brings. But I'll be working hard to bring the things I want to myself.

So what's your major goal for 2011? And how are you going to stay motivated?

Here's to 2011

Well, well, well. Look who's back.

It's been a while, but trust that I never forgot about you all! My time in Korea was an intense experience -- one I wouldn't necessarily want to repeat, but am glad that I had. I'm hoping it'll only serve to help my writing (and job hunting) as I move forward. Only hindsight will tell.

I can't guarantee that my posts will be as regular as we'd all like, but I'll try to post some tidbits and photos of my time in Korea as well as updates about my job hunt/relocation. God-willing, you'll find them amusing. In the meantime, have a safe and happy New Year's weekend.

Oh, and here's a special message from my babies:

Virginia Sue and G.B. say, "Happy New Year!" or "Snap this picture fast, Mom, or we're out of here."

Much love,
Sam

New Year...

New look.

Stay tuned. I'm still getting my act together.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Embracing Stress

Hello from the Land of the Morning Calm!

Over the past week, I've been put in some pretty stressful situations (not the least of which was navigating a two-day airport adventure), and it made me think about stress -- specifically how people act when they're stressed.

Some people lash out, becoming irritable and rude. Some people crack and curl up in a ball to cry. Others spiral into depressions and resort to lethargy and solitude to get by. Still others bottle up the stress, seeming to thrive under the pressure only because they are adept at compartmentalizing.

None of this is news. But, it's important to remember that not all of these reactions come from the people you'd expect. The toughest of men become weepers, and the meekest of children become terrors. Too often, I think, authors fall into the trap of stereotyping (or worse, completely ignoring) the reactions of their characters to stressors -- which, lets face it, are the majority of the elements that make up a story.

No two reactions are created equal, and sometimes the diversity of humanity comes from the surprising ways people have of coping with various situations. Keep that in mind the next time Jane Protagonist goes out on a date the same week she finds out her dog died and then has to give an important presentation at work the next day. I know I will.

Super-Mini-Blog: Embracing Travel

I just wanted to let you all know that I'm alive, and I'm moving to Korea today!

We'll be back to the regularly scheduled program before long. In the meantime, check out my updates regarding Korea over at Dear Korea...

Ciao for now!

Or rather, Annyong kyeseyo!

Super-Mini-Blog: Embracing Random Quotes

It is not necessary to change.  Survival is not mandatory.  ~W. Edwards Deming

Embracing a Whole New World

Since returning from my blogging hiatus, I have alluded to something big happening in the non-writing-world-of-Sam. Finally, I am able to share the news with all of you...

I am moving to Korea to teach English!

Let me preempt one question I know you're all wondering; I don't know when or where I'm going, as I have not yet secured a teaching position.

However, I do know that I've given notice at work, I've told my apartment complex that I'll be out by October 31, and I've told my family.

What does this mean for Wuthering Life? Nothing. I will still be here, and I'll still be writing. If anything, this experience is only going to make my writing life richer.

If you are curious about my Korean adventures, please feel free to stop over at my new blog, Dear Korea..., and check out my letters to the land I will soon call home.

If you're not interested, I'll see you back here for more adventures in Wuthering Life.

Embracing My Five

I'm hoping to get back to Freaky Fridays before long, but I thought that this dreary and oh-so-important Friday could use some positivity and hope.

What better day than the anniversary of a national tragedy to begin my journey to making a positive difference in the world?

So after much delay, I present my five:

1. Encourage others to pursue their dreams. Of all the things that I'm grateful to my nearest and dearest for, this is the one that tops the list. Having the faith and support of those around me has made a greater impact in my life than almost anything else. I know that I would not be where I am today with encouragement and kind words. I want to do that for others, and to do it more often.
2. Lead by example. It may not seem like a particularly philanthropic goal, but it might very well be the hardest of my five for me to live by. As Mahatma Gandhi said, "Be the change you want to see in the world." Too often, we forget that it's only by allowing ourselves to be happy and prosperous that we can even begin to help others to achieve the same.
3. Pay more attention. When I begin to think about what I can do to help – to help the world, to help the impoverished, to help the distraught, to help the hopeless – I realize how little I know. Because of the pessimistic, never-point-out-the-good-in-life nature of news (particularly American news), I avoid it almost completely. But if I want to make a difference, I can't tune out the bad. I have to pay attention in order to spot an opportunity to act.
4. Be mindful. Every day I ignore opportunities to reduce, recycle, or reuse. I know all of the little tricks that can lead to less energy or water consumption, to less pollution, to less waste. It's time for me to take those extra few minutes to take my recycling out. It's time for me to find places to donate old clothing/equipment/furniture/etc. instead of throwing it out. It's time for me to do what I know I should be doing anyway.
5. Reach out. Whether it's an e-mail from a long-lost friend, a phone call from a relative on a non-holiday, or a compliment from a perfect stranger, it feels good to make connections and be acknowledged. I don't do that nearly enough, and I plan to change that. 

How can you change your life, and the world, for better in five ways?

Super-Mini-Blog: Embracing Thought Provocation

Kimberly over at Oceanside Praise posted a very interesting question on her blog today, and I'd like to pose it to all of you:

Are dreams just the opposite of our deepest fears?

(Check out her blog comments for my thoughts, but feel free to discuss wherever.)

Embracing What's Come Before

Merriam-Webster defines original (adj.) as "not secondary, derivative, or imitative" or as "independent and creative in thought or action".

M-W defines an archetype (n.) as "the original pattern or model of which all things of the same type are representations or copies".

When we look to the ever-helpful Wikipedia for guidance, we learn that Tolkein's beloved Gandalf is an archetypal figure himself, the wizard-as-advisor, of the likes Merlin — who himself was quite possibly modeled after religious authority types (like Odin).

Hold up, JRR Tolkein, the father of modern fantasy, was unoriginal? His main characters had been done before? His venerated series is allegory?

You may be wondering why the Hell I'm giving you a vocab lesson. The truth is, I think that we (writers, agents, etc.) can use the reminder. There is a big difference between the use of an archetype and a lack of originality.

The goal of a work of fiction, as far as I am concerned, is to pull something new and exciting out of those old stories and characters – out of the familiar. That balance of new and old is what makes a great story great, in part at least.

We've got to move past the anything-with-a-school-is-like-Harry-Potter and anything-with-a-butt-kicking-female-protagonist-is-a-Buffy-rip-off reactions. See stories for what they are, and if they're good enough, it won't matter how many tropes the author used.

Embracing Author Interviews: E Van Lowe

Uh, in lieu of my five and in celebration of Zombie Week, I have brought you a peace offering:

E Van Lowe and his debut YA novel, NEVER SLOW DANCE WITH A ZOMBIE !

A Little About E:

Bronx-born, LA transplant, E Van Lowe, began writing at the age of 10 and hasn't stopped since. A graduate of Lehman College and the University of Southern California, E sold his first short story to a romance magazine while still a student. He has gone on to write for many award-winning TV shows including: The Cosby Show and Even Stevens. He also co-wrote the Academy Award nominated short film, Cadillac Dreams.

A Little About the Novel:

NEVER SLOW DANCE WITH A ZOMBIE is E's first teen novel, but it won’t be his last. E still has lots of important, and weird, thoughts to share with readers. It hit shelves August 18!

The Blurb:

On the night of her middle school graduation, Margot Jean Johnson wrote a high school manifesto detailing her goals for what she was sure would be a most excellent high school career. She and her best friend, Sybil, would be popular and, m

ost important, have boyfriends. Three years later they haven't accomplished a thing!

Then Margot and Sybil arrive at school one day to find that most of the student body has been turned into flesh-eating zombies. When kooky principal Taft asks the girls to coexist with the zombies until the end of the semester, they realize this could be the perfect opportunity to live out their high school dreams. Now all they have to do is stay alive...

The Assessment of Yours Truly:

Margot is awesomely horrible!! Maybe she deserves a PhD in Horribleness?

• Translation: As a protagonist, Margot is an incredibly refreshing twist on the shallow, but unnoticed, teen who wants nothing more than to have it all. Instead of being empty and "what adults think unpopular teens are like," Margot was conflicted about her increasing bad girl behavior almost from the start. But she did horrible, mean girl things anyway – a sad, but true fact about some teenaged girls, and executed very creatively.

Lovelovelove the relationship between Margot and Syb!

• Translation: While Syb is the basic sidekick, less-dominate character, the genuine sweetness and goodness about her was the perfect compliment to Margot's increasing selfishness and self-delusion. They worked together very well without feeling over-the-top or like a "because I said so" relationship. (Sub-translation: When an author decides that things "just are" and never really shows the hows or whys.)

Very, very bizarre, but in a good way!

• I wasn't sure what to expect, but with a title like NEVER SLOW DANCE WITH A ZOMBIE, I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised by some of the things Margot did. It read a lot like a situational comedy, and that was something I wasn't used to. It's something I love about television and didn't realize was missing from books...until now!

All-in-all, I couldn't put it down, and that's really the litmus test for books as far as I'm concerned. E surprised and delighted me, and really, what more can a girl ask for? Except maybe a zombie boyfriend. ;)

The Interview:

Writing...is the elixir that keeps me young and vibrant.

My favorite part of the publishing process (so far) has been...seeing my first copy of the ARC. I was on cloud nine.

My least favorite part was...rewrites. I can't tell you how many times that danged book came back. At times I thought it was a homing pigeon.

Without my agent...I wouldn't be a published author. That's for sure.

The best thing my editor suggested was...the summer camp story from the book. It's something that really happened to her. Capturing her pain helped me with Margot.

My greatest writing asset is...my computer? Why do I suddenly feel like I'm back in high school, taking a test, and failing? LOL. That's my answer, and I'm sticking to it.

NEVER SLOW DANCE WITH A ZOBMIE is like...Mean Girls meets Shaun of the Dead.

Margot's biggest problem is...that she hasn't gotten over a past hurt. The pain is what shapes who she is in the story, and until she gets past it she can't become a better person.

Don't read this book if...you are a hard core zombie fan, or don't like light-hearted stories.

If I were a zombie and had to choose between brains and flesh, I'd eat...brains. I'm not a meat-eater.

The best zombie movie EVER is...28 Days Later!

Come zombie apocalypse time, I won't be able to live without...books and movies, and pizza.

If I had to be back in high school, I'd...hopefully realize that others are going through exactly what I'm going through. That definitely would make it easier.

If I had to be back in high school, with zombies, I'd...probably try to find a cure. Zombies are not fun, and I like fun!

Zombies...represent the ultimate in getting along and tolerance. Margot says: "...they don't snark at each other, or gossip behind each other's backs, or get jealous when their friends like a cute boy. They have one thing in common–they're zombies. But we kids have a whole lot in common, shouldn't it be easier for us to hang together?" We humans can learn a few things from zombies.

****

For the record, I would like to state that, though this blogger believes in peace and harmony, if forced to choose: UNICORNS RULE, ZOMBIES DROOL!

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed having E here as much as I did. Class, say, "Thank you, Mr. Van Lowe!"

If you want to know more about E or NEVER SLOW DANCE WITH A ZOMBIE (in stores now, people!!), his Web site and blog are great places to start.

Please stay tuned for more author interviews in the future, and don't forget to pick up your copy of this hilarious book today!

Super-Mini-Blog: Embracing Beautiful Art

I will post my five today. But in the meantime...

Kat Kuhl, a dear friend of mine, takes amazing photos. (See below.)

In order to pressure her to "takez moar fotoes plzkthxbai!" I would like you all to visit her Flickr gallery and pester/encourage her.

That is all.

Mini-Blog: Embracing Living Your Five

Living Your Five is an amazing initiative I stumbled across today thanks to Alyson Noël, whose Immortals series is keeping me very entertained at the moment.

In a nutshell, "Living Your Five is about making the world a better place, one person at a time. It's about understanding what you care about most and how you can make a positive difference in the world."

I think this is a fabulous idea, and I'm writing out my list as soon as I've finished the post. (You can expect it to be up in the next day or two.)

What are the five most important things to you?

How can use those five things to change yourself, or the world?

Are you living your five?

Super-Mini-Blog: Embracing Essays

Sarah Rees Brennan posted a very interesting essay about how female characters are represented and perceived in literature. I'm not sure I agree with all of the points, but she makes some very fine ones.

Read it!

That is all.

Mini-Blog: Embracing the Unforgettable

As summer shows come to an end, I've started thinking about what keeps me coming back for more, and what keeps me thinking about characters long after the shows have gone on hiatus or ended. But, most importantly, I'm wondering what allows me to let them go.

Or, in book terms (since this is a writing-related blog), what is it about Cathy and Heathcliff or Atticus Finch that makes them so memorable, but doesn't have me clamoring for TO KILL ANOTHER MOCKINGBIRD or RETURN TO WUTHERING HEIGHTS?

...Wait, you mean someone actually had the nerve to write a sequel to Brontë's masterpiece? *vom*

Ahem.

What I'm talking about is a truly incomparable literary moment, a figure we can't shake no matter how hard we try, but for whom we are never left wanting. Those are the types of characters, and stories, I aspire to create — their authors the ones I aspire to emulate.

Now if only I could find that magical formula...

Embracing That Damn Cake

You can't have your cake and eat it too.

I was thinking about that oft-confusing adage recently while perusing the Emmy award nominees list, which got me thinking about all awards, which got me thinking about publishing...and here I am.

How did I connect the two? Well, it was a very complicated train of thought, but here's the gist:

We all want to win awards and become famous and find fortune, but we want to achieve all that while doing whatever we want. I believe we call it "expressing ourselves."

But, there are certain genres, certain styles, certain concepts that are award-winning material (or have mass appeal, or make tons of money), and those that aren't (and never will). For the Oscars it's gain-thirty-pounds-and-sob-on-camera performances and make-the-audience-think-while-depressing-them-to-the-point-of-needing-a-therapist storylines, mostly. And no matter how beloved the "Ocean's" movies and Brad Pitt's Rusty were, they were never going to win Oscars.

Does that mean Soderbergh should have turned the projects down? That Angie should have threatened to leave Brad if he reprised his role for the nth time? Yeah, right.

My point is: why do authors (and creative types of all kinds) so often feel the urge to complain when their "thing" isn't given its due credit? Like short story authors who complain that they're just under-appreciated, or YA authors who bemoan the negative stereotypes that accompany the genre.

To those authors, and to comedians and indie rock bands, I say this: you can either do what you love and roll with it. Or you can do what is loved and be awarded.

Have your cake, or eat it, people. You can't do both. There's no sense in arguing with physics, and I really don't want to hear you try.

PS - Yes, I fully intend to ignore the fact that my last post was almost three months ago. Except for this post script, which is acknowledging it...

Embracing Freaky Fridays: Heathcliff Heathcliff

Before agreeing to participate in a Freaky Friday, I poked around on this blog. The emphasis everyone here seems to place on choice intrigues me. Never before have I seen such a concentrated amount of optimism in one place. And it is optimism that has this group thinking that people, fictional or otherwise, have free will. There is no "choice" in life; people simply comfort themselves with the illusion of options.

From birth, each person is set on a path—one path—that leads only to his or her final destination. Along that path, there appear to be forks, but just the one path exists. 

Imagine a traveler reaches the his final destination and reflects back on his life's journey. Though he may want to believe it, our traveler was never going anywhere other than where he went. As he passed each fork, making a "choice" about his path, he only reinforced the next "choice" he would make, until his life reached its end.

I, for instance, was always going to become Heathcliff Heathcliff. I remember my mother reading WUTHERING HEIGHTS to me around Christmastime every year when I was a child. I never forgot the fascination she had with the character I abhorred, or the words she used to describe him. She said, "Poor Heathcliff. If only he had been able to give up the life he imagined was supposed to be his..."

That vague sentiment came back to me clearly the day I joined the ranks of the Undead. What other name would I have "chosen" for my new life when Miss Xavier asked me to supply one?

Think about it, and you'll realize that all the things you've convinced yourself were choices in your life weren't. You wouldn't be you if you had chosen anything other than what you did.

Your life, your path, already stretches out in front of you. The best you can hope for is that you like it even part of the time.

Embracing Free Will

Now that the maniacal laughter has subsided... I thought we could discuss free will and our characters' abilities to act on their own. Because I believe that by providing our characters specific personalities governed by specific laws and by allowing them to reside in our subconscious minds, we hand them that proverbial apple.

For non-writers, it's hard to grasp the idea that characters have the ability to act on their own. We've all heard a writer say something along the lines of, "And then Sally decided she wasn't going to break up with Tom, and I had to rethink my entire ending," only to hear non-writers respond with something like, "Sally's not real. You control her. Just write her breaking up with him."

If we embrace reality long enough to be honest with ourselves, the reason behind this behavior can be boiled down to one sentence: the author didn't have a firm grasp of the character when planning that scene/plot point and discovered at the last minute that it was no longer in-character.

If we're avoiding reality, the reason is equally simple: our characters lash out against us for complicating their lives (no matter how well we have it work out in the end) and do things to intentionally mess up our master plans.

Aryli and her Anjidian companions most certainly fall into that latter category, reality or no.

Throughout the course of the novel, various characters have:

• stormed out of rooms when I wanted them to stay and have a conversation;
  
• gone to one locale when I wanted them to go to another;
• revealed things I didn't want revealed;
• betray characters I didn't intend for them to betray; and
• killed characters I didn't intend for them to kill.
  

I often found myself wondering who was actually telling the story. Based on how much the characters changed my pretty little outline, I'd say it wasn't me.

What have your characters done that messed up your game plan? Or improved it?