Love at First Write: The Writing Book That Saves My Soul (Or at Least My Manuscripts)

I am a big fan of books on writing generally, and I've read a good many that have shaped my skills and nudged me up another step. But the book I find myself returning to over and over (and giving away over and over) is this one: Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott. (I have in fact given my personal copy away so many times - and then really missed it and had to run out and buy and mark up a new one - that I finally did something that would make me hold onto my copy. Well two things, really. First, I grabbed a chance to hear Anne Lamott speak and got her to autograph my copy...

...and then I went to the bookstore and bought a stash of extras, so I'd always have a copy to give away when the urge hit me.

So why, you might ask, do I love this book so much? One reason is Anne's attitude, which is gentle, honest, encouraging. (Side note: I cannot help calling her Anne. Even though our acquaintance is limited to the 10 seconds I spent stammering Ireallyadmireyourbooksespeciallythisone, when it was my turn to get an autograph. She did give me a nice smile despite my rapid-fire blathering and didn't call security to have me removed as a stalker. That makes us buds, right?) Every time I read this book I emerge from its pages feeling like, yeah, maybe I can do this writing thing after all. Especially if Anne in the form of this book will sit right next to me, offering her quiet patience and acceptance.

But the other reason I love it is the content. It's beautifully written, of course, with a real voice that's rare in how-to books, so it goes down easily - but it's the reminders about how and why that I turn to when I'm stuck on my novel, a 400-word picture book manuscript or even a sympathy note about someone I barely knew.

For example, one of the first chapters is titled with a two word life line that's my mantra when I'm feeling overwhelmed by the enormous whiteness of a blank piece of paper or a new document: Short Assignments. Anne writes that she keeps a one-inch picture frame by her computer to remind herself to focus on one small, manageable task - a paragraph, a sentence - when the thought of a 350-page book makes her freak out. She describes this particular kind of terror in a way that makes me laugh, but which is also oh-so-familiar:

Trying to write a whole book "is like trying to scale a glacier. It's hard to get your footing, and your fingertips get all red and frozen and torn up. Then your mental illnesses arrive at the desk like your sickest, most secretive relatives. And they pull up chairs in a semicircle around the computer, and they try to be quiet but you know they are there with their weird coppery breath, leering at you behind your back."  

I used to have a cute tiny vintage picture frame by my computer too, but then one day when I needed a last minute gift, I nabbed it to hold a piece of tiny artwork. (Guess I need to lay in a stash of small frames along with my Bird by Birds...) Meanwhile, though, the one inch square I cut out of an old library card catalog card does the trick just fine. And I like how the card has an even tinier peephole in it - because sometimes even a one-inch square assignment is too overwhelming for me. Sometimes all I can manage is one word or one lightly sketched line.

This chapter is also the one that contains the story that lends the book its title. Once when her ten-year-old brother had procrastinated on a science report until he was sitting frozen at his desk the night before it was due, unable to write even one word, her father put his hand on the boy's shoulder and said, "Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird."

The next chapter is also a favorite of mine - and another much repeated mantra. Though I'm not as good at following the advice:

The other content, though, that I reread endlessly, is the last section of the book on the why of writing. It's good for me to remember that publication is not the only or even the best reason to write. This section offers all kinds of other ways to be satisfied writing - even without an official seal of approval from a publisher. The advice that opens this chapter is particularly worth remembering.

I will leave you with one more thing -  a Short Assignment, a mini exercise, if you feel like undertaking it. I found a scrap of paper in my copy when I grabbed it to photograph. There was one word written on it:

Nosocomial I have absolutely no idea why I wrote that on a scrap of paper and no idea either how or why it ended up as a bookmark in here. It's a medical term, from the Latin, meaning "acquired in a hospital" - like a secondary infection you pick up while you're recovering from surgery, although I guess it could also refer to the slipper socks you sometimes get to take home as a souvenir. "These? Oh, these are just my nosocomial socks." Anyway, your assignment is to write a "3-minute fiction" piece (like the ones for this cool recurring NPR writing contest) using the word. Oh, and you have to put in a parrot too. You know, for the bird thing. And a chickadee. You can post a comment here and link back to your piece. Have fun!

Thoughts on Plotting

I’m wrapping up this year with frantic dashes out the door for last minute gifts (yes, oh young ones, the madness continues, even as your children approach thirty). At the same time, I’m mentally preparing myself to move on to a new writing project. Which project I choose is still a mystery to me. Will it be the half finished (or is it half begun) YA novel I started, shockingly, in 2002? I had no idea it had been so long ago until, looking for the most current version, I revisited the ten or so early ones in a folder on my desktop. Should I maybe choose the historical fiction novel I’ve been mulling over for years, partly because I know I would enjoy the research it involves? Or will the winner be the new idea that hit me last month completely out of left field? (a definite warning sign of a possible passing fancy) To make things even more complicated, I listened to a segment on NPR this morning which discussed the new multi-platforming movement in Kid-lit and realized, after bemoaning feeling like a techno-dinosaur, that my “passing fancy” idea may adapt itself perfectly to this format.

To hear the NPR article go here.

However it ends up, I’ve decided that my musing time might be a good opportunity for a refresher course on the basics of writing, especially since, to quote the NPR article, “As fun as the online missions” (i.e. multi-platforming) “may be, everything still revolves around the books.” Whew! So I dug out a number of “how to write” books from my shelves and decided to wrap a few suggestions on plot development into a neat little package for you. Though each author offers their own treasure trove of thought and insight, I’ve chosen Phyllis Reynolds Naylor’s straightforward, The Craft of Writing the Novel .

And for a second little gift, check out Auntie's Light As Air Sugar Cookies, the lightest, most delicate sugar cookie you'll ever taste!! (Don't be mislead by the word light)

Happy Holidays

Fran McDowell

Problems of Plot

In Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird she refers to a manuscript she had submitted and which her editor rejected.

The passages are from her chapter on Plot Treatment.

"The editor went on to say, I had in effect created a beautiful banquet but never invited the reader to sit down and eat. So the reader went hungry." "The book felt like a house with no foundation, no support beams, which was collapsing in on itself . . ."

Some truths about plot:

Plot comes into focus by perpetually asking yourself “what if . . .”

Plot delineates your main character’s journey toward change.

You can learn a lot about your plot by summarizing it in twenty-five words or less.

Theme and plot are two different things. Define your theme, keep it before you, and refer to it often.

Some necessities in plotting:

Keep your Main Character (s) your central focus. Other great characters might be important, but don’t allow them to shift focus from your MC, (I almost always end up with a main, and a supporting, character. And my supporting character almost always emerges as the more engaging of the two, something I then have to correct)

Give your MC a problem that is important to him and that is fraught with obstacles. Then find a way in which only he can overcome them. (note a comment further down on credibility)

Create each obstacle as pitting the MC against something within himself.

Increase the emotional tension by giving your MC the burden of having created the obstacle, at least in part, himself.

Recognize the climax, or turning point, in your story (I’ve been shocked to find that my own stories have occasionally fooled me when readers describe the turning point for a character differently than I intended)

Know your hook—the suspense that compels the reader to keep reading.

Include intriguing subplots that feed into the main plot, but never let them steal the show. For fellow subplot freaks . . . control the urge!!

Auntie's Light As Air Sugar Cookies

1 C powdered sugar

1C white sugar

1C butter

1C salad oil

1 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

41/2 C flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. cream of tartar

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Oven 350

Cream sugars, butter, oil & vanilla. Add eggs. Beat until fluffy. Sift dry ingredients and add to creamed mixture, mixing well. Chill. Roll into balls, then flatten with a glass dipped in sugar.

Bake 10 to 12 min.