Writing isn't Editing

I've noticed habits in my writing. Noticed them because I'm editing my entire manuscript line by line (this looks very much like rewriting).

There are patterns of grammatical error I've picked up on because they occur again and again. I have long sentences with too many pronouns. Short, almost jerky, sentences overusing the word "is" and containing too many proper names. Like a road map that would stop you every mile to ensure you're still tracking.

Weird, eh?

I could tell myself, "watch for these problems while you're writing so you don't repeat them."

I could say that.

I had a boss once (can you imagine?). I was the receptionist and she was a recluse who communicated minimally, and usually through email even though she saw me every day. One day I screwed up on something--don't ask me what, I don't remember--and she sent me an email about it. I could mention she was in the room next to me when she sent me this email, but I'll spare you the details. Part of the email read, "Please ensure that this doesn't happen again in future."

And I thought, "I can't ensure this will never happen again. I know me. I will screw up again."

I write long sentences with too many pronouns, and I write short sentences overusing the word "is." It has to do with the way my brain works when I'm writing, thinking so hard about what I'm seeing in my head that the words almost get in the way.

I'm thinking deep, aiming for clarity of vision. And what ends up on the page is long sentences with pronouns all over the place.

I don't have to watch for these problems while I'm writing. I have to watch for them later, when I'm editing. That's when it matters.

The only thing that matters when I'm creating a scene from nothing but my imagination and the audacity to believe I have the right to write, is that I write and keep writing.

Permission to write means you give yourself total freedom to write what you have to write. Get the words down. Fuss with them all you like later, but get the words down while they're still hot and meaningful.

I bid you good writing.

Figuring it out - Writing as a Journey

With the bulk of the work on my next novel behind me, I'm looking up from my computer screen, stretching, and reflecting on the experience I've come through writing Time and Time Again.

I was talking to my fab-o editor, Nicci Jordan Hubert (otherwise known as the best editor a fiction writer could hope for), and I told her that this novel felt as if it has been ripped from my spinal cord. Writing it was a personal journey of creative self-discovery. I literally learned as I wrote - sometimes creating prose I was proud of, other times. . . not so much. In the end, it came together into a novel I'm proud to have written and excited to share with readers. And as difficult as the process was, I wouldn't change a single thing about it.

Being published doesn't mean you've figured everything out. In fact, I've learned that being on the happy side of published simply means you are presented with a new, previously unknown, learning curve. Every part of my journey has been about me figuring it out.

As I reflect on writing Time and Time Again, I have discovered some wonderful things about myself. The biggest discovery is how much I've yet to learn. I'm not daunted by the fact that I've so much ahead of me to learn. I've become comfortable enjoying the process. I wanted to share with you some of the things I've learned in hopes that some of them might help you as you're figuring it out as well.

1. Creative thinking is different. I'm a person of logic. Thinking in a straight line has helped me get through university, jobs in counseling and program development. It's helped me write a non-fiction book on how to discover and develop your strengths. I'm a straight ahead thinker - except when it comes to writing fiction. My creative thinking works circularly - not linear. I can't move from logical plot point to logical plot point in a straight line when I am creating fiction. Instead, I need to hover over and around an idea for a long stretch - breathing life and dimension into it until it stands on it's own feet. Then I can move on to the next part.

2. I don't think inside of timelines. A funny realization for someone who wrote a novel called Time and Time Again - but for me, story rises above time, outside of time. My brain is Brigadoon rising from the mists every few hundred years - it carries on, irrespective of time. This isn't the only reason I need a great editor to nail my feet to the floor, but it's a good one. Regardless of my good intentions, I never write enough time cues into my novels. Why? I think sequentially - but not in terms of time. This happens, then that happens. That's good enough for my creative mind. But it isn't good enough when I hope to bring readers along for the ride. I have a note on my computer screen reminding me to include time cues at the beginning of scenes.

3. I create fiction within a specific, tightly framed time frame. Okay, I just said I don't think in terms of time lines. True enough, but that hasn't stopped me from seeing a time pattern within my writing. My stories (thus far) take place between late spring and early fall. I'm a summertime gal! These months hold fascination for me. I'm Canadian, so winter often means a sort of semi-hibernation. Summer is where the action is. As I've reflected about this, I've come to discover that my most idealistic hopes, my favorite memories are in summer. Life happens in seasons - seasons of joy, sadness, wellness, loss, striving, or blessing (to name a few). It seems I am drawn to a literal season in which to tell my stories.

4. Blind faith works. I simply believe. I believe in my story. In my ability to tell it. In the reality of the novel finished and on the shelf. Even when the words come out cockeyed, or worse, don't come at all. I've wrested with the issue of writing fiction (anyone who has sat alone for a long period of time talking only to imaginary characters will understand the need to be absolutely sold out to the idea that what you are doing is important) as I wrote Time and Time Again. I had long talks with God about if this is what he truly wants me to be doing. I was willing to accept his answer whatever it may have been. And all the while, I wrote. Some good words. Some bad words. Edit, edit. Pray, pray. And I kept writing. Because inside my questions and doubt, I had faith.

5. I know my team is behind me. My teams begins with my family. My husband is the primary reason I'm able to stay at home and write. He believes in me. My kids, too. My "in the industry" team is behind me - and there is nothing like knowing the people who agent, edit, and publish you believe you will create something special. My publisher has sent surprise e-mails simply to say, "I'm a fan, and I'm praying for you." My editor has talks to me frequently, reinforcing her faith in our partnership. Having a team of people who care about me as a person has made all the difference. Boosted my faith, brightened my disposition, and helped me finish the novel. Everyone needs a team who believes in them!

How about you? What have you learned about yourself as you've journeyed into the world of fiction writing? How is the "figuring it out" process going? I'd love to hear your insights!

Fictional Faith

I'm slung deep in my chair, an open bible at my elbow (the study version, large and serious looking - enough bulk to make me feel clever and knowledgeable), keyboard in my lap (cordless - I often type with my feet up. Sorry Mavis Beacon), and I'm thinking. And thinking almost always gets me in trouble. But. . .

It's a favorite past time. Daydreaming. Spinning ideas. But today, there is relish, today I'm thinking in one of my favorite ways to think - deeply, searching for the backdoor, tripping over potted plants as I skirt around the corner of thought only to be confronted with yet another intriguing question. I don't mind dead ends, I don't mind dark alleys, the questions too impossible for me to answer. I embrace it all and revel in the experience of the search, in the luxury of looking around my brain and the resources available to me to see what I can come up with - whale or sardine.

I'm thinking about a question my fabulous editor, Nicci Jordan Hubert asked me yesterday. We were discussing a character I have created, a fine fellow who features in my next novel. He is a Christian, this character of mine, and my editor asked me if I could explain why.

She said it, just like that. "Why is he a Christian? Why, with all he suffers, does he cling to faith?"

It's simply the best question I've ever been asked as a writer. And while it might be tempting to reach for the quick answers about faith being irresistible, and experiencing divine love being unarguable (and it is), it's always better for a writer to stop, breathe, and look closely at the question before attempting to answer.

This is what I have done - and this is how I find myself hunkered over my study bible reading the sparse details of OT theophany and NT incarnation (and yes, NT theophany too - they are in there!). Questions about faith drive me to my bible - they begin and end with God, assuredly - but writing fiction requires I open the pages of my bible without a preconceived idea of the answers. I must approach with an attitude that says, "Show me" rather than one that says, "Prove me right".

I write fiction, stories that are not true, in order to help all of us (including me - especially me) find courage to explore the facets of faith, the unfathomable depths of God, the mystery of union, the fierceness of love.

I don't write novels because I have the answers - but because I have questions, ones I think you might have too. Good questions worth exploring, confronting. I ask them, not with a fist to God's face, but with open, dirty palms of hope. I ask because I want to understand more about the God I can never fully comprehend. I know He is not afraid of my wondering, not cowered by my doubts, not changed by my wavering understanding. I write fictional faith in order to help me understand my own, very real faith.

In doing so, I've come to see scripture in new ways. I've come to appreciate (rather than overlook, or worse, dismiss) the mysteries I find inside God's word. As much as His Spirit illuminates, He also points to deep things - groaning things - unseen things caped within God's character. It is an invitation into places He knows I cannot fully understand, but He longs to share with me, with all of us. It is an invitation for all of us to enter in and explore the fullness of freedom that is found in Christ.

So I contemplate my editor's question. I give it long attention. I apply the brakes to my easy answers, my insta-knowledge, and contemplate, snoop, poke, and most of all ask questions. In writing fictional faith, I find my faith can be transformed.

I bid you good writing.

Guest Blogger - Gail Gaymer Martin - From Idea to Novel

Everyone has a process - a way of looking at the world, translating it in his or her mind and then articulating the experience to others. Writers are always looking for inspiration, but they also know its rare for a singular incident to give rise to an idea rich enough to become a book. Often, the writer pulls together various bits of information and knits them into a whole.

I love the way today's guest blogger, Gail Gaymer Martin explains how her process works.

Gail is a multi-award-winning novelist and author of Writers Digest, Writing the Christian Romance, she writes women˙s fiction, including romance and romantic suspense. She has 42 published novels with 3 million books in print.

Gail is a full-time novelist, popular keynote speaker and workshop presenter across the United States and abroad. Visit her website at www.gailmartin.com and her Writing Fiction Right blog at www.writingright-martin.blogspot.com, and look for DAD IN TRAINING in stores the month of September, 2009 and MONTEREY MEMORIES released in November, 2009.

Let's dig into the mind of this hugely popular author:

HOLES IN MY HEAD
I have holes in my head. I like to call them niches. When something triggers a story nugget, often not even an idea, it lands in one of these holes. What causes the nugget can be many things---an article in a newspaper, song lyrics, a Bible verse, observing a person, hearing someone's adventure or experience, a location, a photograph. I'm stimulated by many things so this becomes the beginning. These niches in my mind have little "magnets" and when I have another thought or experience and realize it might fit with the another nugget, it filters into the right niche. These ideas are like a jigsaw puzzle that finally begin to pull together and I begin to see an image or a picture. As the nugget grows to an idea, then scenes, a movie runs in my mind and I continue to add scenes and more nuggets. Eventually, the story fills my mind. My "hole runneth over" and I know this is a story that needs to be told.

*****

I can picture it, can't you? Reaching into the niches in her mind, examining the contents. Love the images.

How about you? Do you have holes in your head? I'd love to hear about them.

I bid you good writing.