The Place For My Writers Notes

Original posting: Sat, 7 Mar 1998 11:19:10 EST

At 07:57 AM 3/5/98 -0500, Faith wrote:
:)
:) What do you do when it's the day before you were supposed to have written
:) something (*anything*), and you still haven't written a word?
:)

Somewhat too late to solve this time, but perhaps these will help:

"quick" organizers:

1. Try taking the question or problem apart. Then put it back together, along with some information. Often this will be enough to do the job.

2. Take whatever information you may have about the answer or response, and build an answer based on the natural "partitions" or "areas" of the information. I.e., there is some kind of structure to the information--talk about that structure. Put it into a nice, easily remembered metaphor/analogy. Point out the areas that aren't included, or the ones that haven't been as thoroughly explored as others.

3. Tell 'em what you are going to tell them, tell it to 'em, then tell 'em what you told them. I often write the middle (in chunks, without much attention to order, with a computer). Then write an intro: I'm going to talk about 1, 2, 3... Arrange the points to make sense, then rearrange the middle blocks (and remove the extra pieces that usually collect when freewriting--I find it marginally easier to cut those golden phrases that really don't belong in this piece if I put them in a "bits" file for later use. Of course, I have "bits" files everywhere that will never be used, but the mental trick works). Now, write a closing that explains the important point(s) you have just made.

4. Try building a set of relations. E.g., what does this (whatever the topic or problem is) mean for me, my family, my community, my nation, the world? Or what did it mean in the past, mean now, and will it mean in the future? This can be a very nice way to structure your response...

5. Build a set of questions about the topic, problem, etc. What would you like to know about it? What would your friends like to know about it? How about your reader(s)--what should they know about it? What's interesting about it? What's boring?

"been there, done that, don't want to keep doing it":

6. Learn the lesson and start planning ahead next time. If you can easily write 1,000 words a day, a 5,000 word paper will probably take at least 10 days to write (allowing for the inevitable slippage, interruptions, and other problems). Depending on what else is going on, you may want to start working on it even earlier, instead of waiting for the last possible minute to begin.

Setting yourself little "deadlines" within the larger period may seem silly, but it really does work--and builds some good skills/practices for bigger jobs (*like that novel--200,000 words? Say 100 days at 2,000 words per day, plus editing/rewrite time. Work out the "little deadlines" along the way and celebrate reaching them--and the "big deadline" will be easy!*).

Perhaps others will contribute their "instant organizers" and ways to avoid getting stuck in "deadline panics?" Although, looking around MIT, there is a certain fascination among the students with the adrenaline rush of "last minute crises" (even when self-induced).

hope this helps

Original posting: Sun, 13 Oct 2002 00:21:14 -0400

another old column...  feel free to play along!

Speeding into Memories

As we move into summer, I thought I'd give you a little speedwriting exercise and one focusing on remembering for those slow days out on the beach (or wherever you may be relaxing).

Eggtimers and writing?

I realize that most of the time, we like to consider carefully, give ourselves plenty of time, and otherwise move slowly when writing.  (something like a tortoise?)

BUT--today we're going to practice speedwriting!

A ten minute exercise!  Anyone can squeeze in ten minutes, right?

Get yourself a three minute timer.  Eggtimers, a friend, perhaps even that funny timer on your watch that you've never used.

Oh, and don't forget the die (the singular of dice, like nye is the singular of nice:-)

A.  Roll twice, picking a first and last name.


Write for three minutes about this person.  Where did they grow up? What kind of family?  What kind of work do they do now?  Write!

1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9......

BUZZZZZZZZZZZ!

Time's up.

Settle down.  Put that description aside, take a sip of your water (coffee, tea, or...your choice).

Ready?  Okay.

B.  Roll twice, picking a first and last name.


And, once again, write for three minutes.  Where did this person come from, and where are they going?  What kind of face do they see when they look in the mirror?  Who are they?

1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9....

RINGGGGG!

Time's up, please put down your keyboards and other input devices.

Breath, breath, stretch.  You may want to print the descriptions or at least review the two pieces you've written.

C.  Okay, now take these two people and bang them together!

In three minutes, write a scene where they meet.  What do they say to each other?  What kind of conflict might occur just from their backgrounds?  What kind of "bond" or "crucible" where they have to deal with each other might occur?  Write!

1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9...

BONG.  BONG.  BONG.

They said it couldn't be done.  But here you are, running those little fingers right over the finish line, with the crowd cheering, the tape snapping across your chest, the coach throwing a towel over your sweating wrists.

Relax.  You may want to set this aside and later come back to it.  If you want to continue the scene now, go ahead, but do plan to revise and strengthen the piece you've written, looking for spots where (in the heat of the exercise!) you may have told rather than shown the reader, senses that didn't get touched, and other details to polish.

So, champ, what's next?  Another 10 minute exercise?   (imagine doing three scenes in a half-hour after lunch :-)  A bit slower pace?  Some thoughtful revision of the quick draft you've just written?

Windsprints for the mental fingers--alternate with some endurance runs, a little weightlifting, and in no time at all, you'll be pushing words with the best.

Once In Every Childhood...

A quick, simple exercise that you can take as far as you like.  Although I've written it for a story, you could also use it for poetic fodder.  Enjoy, and keep those fingers moving...

1.  Pick your emotion.

flip a coin.  and roll a die (okay, pick a number from one to six...)

heads?  your list is:


tails?  your list is:


2.  Remember.  Remember.  Rememb...is that record skipping again?

Sometime when you were a child, you experienced this emotion. Remember that time.  Roll back the years, let those wrinkles smooth away, and put yourself in those days of yore, with the laughing friends making you cry even harder over...or maybe the terror when you drove the neighbor's new gocart and the pedal stuck so you couldn't slow down...or what about the anger you felt when you saw that someone else was in your favorite seat on the bus?

3.  Write it up.  You can push the details around, maybe make the air from the drunk's mouth stink even worse than you really remember, or have Freddie's braces have these enormous spikes that tore into your lip...but make us feel the emotion.  Make us jump in our seats, lean into the spin, call out her name as our favorite dog runs into the traffic and the truck hits...

4.  Now.  Take that same emotion and scene, but rewrite it so that your protagonist (or even the antagonist, doesn't matter) is experiencing it with perhaps slightly different (adult type) surroundings.  Instead of the gocart whizzing around the vacant lot, maybe it's a militarized dunebuggy sliding around Las Vegas?  Or what if the daughter of the police chief darts into traffic and is crushed?

Write about what you know?  You certainly know how you felt...don't you?  Just remember.  Stare into the little whirling bits on the screen and remember...

Then write about it!