Casting Call

I love movies! Just about as much as I love reading and writing, I love movies! Up until two years ago, I didn’t have cable, satellite or any other form of TV other than the computer (what else do you need these days). Anyways, instead of good old sitcoms or weeknight dramas, I’d create my plate-o-deliciousness, curl up on the couch, and press PLAY on my DVD player (or my VHS player…anyone remember those? Yeah, I still have one…with tapes and all!).

When I write, I imagine my stories playing out like movies. All of the details on the paper come from the filmstrip that constantly plays in my squishy little brain. It’s a lot of fun! I read the same way too(that’s why I’m often unhappy with the movie version of many books).

Tonight I got a request from my cover artist, Marco Roblin (if you don’t know this guy you need to), to do a Casting Call for the main characters of my book. Combine my love of writing and movies you ask? I’M IN!!!

This exercise is likely a great one to do BEFORE one starts writing a book, but I found that as my characters developed so did their image, so I’m not going to write this one in stone.

Regardless, what a great exercise!

My instructions were simple, list out my main characters and write beside their names who would play them in the film version of the book. OH THE FUN!!

I did as I was told and listed out my 10 most pivotal characters. Then, I took to the inter-webs! Google helped me locate a site called Listal.com that showed the picture and name of hundreds and hundreds of actors and actresses. Flipping through the pages was like flipping through a catalogue looking for the perfect wedding dress (or some male equivalent…).

In the end, I had nailed every character except for one, the villain. Though I had a clear picture of what she looked like, she is so unique that placing an actress to her role didn’t work. I thought of one and then took it back. Then I talked to some of my beta readers and we combined bits of two actresses (but in a real casting call you can’t do that without a seriously skilled surgical team). After much debate and consideration, the list was complete!

Ladies and Gentlemen, the cast of my novel!

THE GOOD GUYS (yes I get Josh and Isla are too old now but you get the picture…literally)

Josh Hutcherson as Hayden (13)

Isla Fisher as Autumn (12)

Thomas Broadie Sangster as Jason (5)

Bonnie Hunt as Aunt Jean

Victor Garber as the Sheriff

Claire Forlani as Mirela

THE BAD GUYS

Matt Dillon as Emilian

Jonathan Rhys Meyer as Theron

Fairuza Balk as Damara

And the one who caused the most grief, the Mother (literally) of all Bad Guys…

KATHY BATES as Mama Adria

SEE…I told you it’s fun! What a great looking group!

Now that the cast has been set, I’ve sent the talent off to the art director to await designs for my future cover. I CAN’T WAIT!

Whether you do it while you outline your novel, or wait until the end, I encourage anyone writing a story to put out a Casting Call for all of your characters. You never know when Mr. Spielberg will come knocking

Happy Writing my darlings!

Editing: Skinning the Cat

There’s an old proverb about the various ways one can accomplish different things and it goes like this:

There’s more than one way to skin a cat.

Gross right?!

In 1678, that proverb appeared for the first time as “there are more ways to kill a dog than hanging” and later took on several other versions including “there are more ways of killing a cat than choking it with cream” and “there are more ways of killing a cat than by choking it with butter”. Not only is there more than one way to accomplish something, there’s more than one way to express it.

In my writing life, the concept of having more than one way to accomplish my goals is a hard one for me to grasp. I am a systematic person. I like process. I want to know that there are a specific number of steps to execute before achieving the end result. It’s very orderly and as long as I’m not lazy, everything will turn out.

Alas, this is not the case.

Just like with any other artist, there are many ways to accomplish the same thing. Skinning the cat in portrait painting can be achieved through different brushes, with the subject in the room or via photograph, different kinds of paint, different techniques. In the end, you’ll still have a portrait.

It all depends on the artist and how they work best.

Editing a novel is the same. There are plenty of step-by-step how-tos in regards to writing techniques and editing. They all claim to be the best and yet they are all different. You can start working through one only to find out that it didn’t live up to your expectations then you move on and adopt another technique, then another, then another.

For someone like me, this is infuriating!

In my editing process, I started with a simple re-read. I tried to catch all of my spelling and grammar mistakes, and look objectively at my characters and plot development. How naive! I realized all too soon that I was too close to the project to be objective. I accomplished very little.

So, I found some beta readers and they provided me with feedback. All I had to do was go through and change things according to their feedback and I’d be ready to publish, right? NOPE! For one thing, much of the feedback was contradictory and based on personal bias. While it was helpful, it wasn’t complete. Regardless, I began editing based on the feedback, first going through the entire book again, adjusting spelling and grammar (I had missed A LOT on my own).

Then someone said something that changed the whole game again:

Why not make it easy on yourself and just work chapter by chapter.

Brilliant! Why didn’t my systematic brain come up with that on it’s own? Oh right, it’s because I JUST WANT IT TO BE PERFECT NOW (we can discuss my issues with patience at a later date).

Now, here I am on Chapter 3 of I don’t even know how many chapters, making every word, every sentence and every bit of punctuation count. The holes in my story are appearing more readily and I’ve made some serious adjustments I’m pretty pleased with.

Skinning a cat can be done is a variety of ways (all would be disgusting) as can editing. What is your editing process?

Writing Prompt: Talk to Me

It’s been said a great deal lately how social media and technology have ruined our ability to converse with people. For the most part, it’s true. Why call someone when you can text something more concise and save on mobile minutes? Why talk to that annoying coworker when you can send an email with a read receipt that can be used later to throw it in their face if they don’t respond (i mean…I don’t do that)? Why directly message a friend to see how they are doing when Twitter and Facebook statuses will give us the daily play-by-play?

We all do it but I discovered something over the last few weeks.

TALKING IS GOOD!

Not only does connecting with others bring us closer together it is a great move professionally as well!

In the last two weeks, I’ve packed the iPhone away in my purse and traded it for real conversation with friends and coworkers. From these conversations, I’ve had a handful of great writing ideas! Some were silly, some were serious, but all are worth discovering.

So here is your writing prompt for the week:

Talk to someone, anyone.

Writers naturally have creative imaginations so pay attention to what yours is saying to you as you converse, and when it is appropriate write down the ideas (I don’t suggest doing this mid-convo because you’ll just look like an a$$).

Happy Writing my darlings!

Monday, Monday

Okay, I’ve been AWOL for a bit (that’s Absent WithOut Leave for you non-military types). Not only have I been absent from The Write Cafe and my Twitterverse, I’ve been absent from my entire writing world! *GASP*

The last few weeks I have been preparing for, what I deemed to be, a very important work interview. I spent days studying and preparing a presentation for the interviewing panel. The information was all there, stored away in my brain and on paper. How could I fail?!

The morning of the interview came and I was confident (and looking damn good if I may add!). I had my presentation down to the allocated time and my notes were crisp. I walked in to the interview, ran through my presentation, sat down for the Q and A, and what did I do?

PULLED A WALT DISNEY!!

Yup, I froze! All of that wonderful knowledge I had accumulated got stuck somewhere between my brain and my mouth. How embarassing! What made things worse is I knew everyone on the panel very well and wanted more than anything to impress them.

What a disappointment!

Needless to say, this weekend was spent elbow deep in icecream, crying over stupid movies and generally kicking myself in the ass.

Then Monday arrived.

Most people hate Mondays. It’s the longest point between weekends, we are tired and grumpy, and the last thing we want to do is sit at a desk for 8 hours pretending to give a crap about…anything.

Today wasn’t like that for me. Even though there is still some residual embarassment and uncertainty playing through my brain (the successful candidate has yet to be named), I woke this morning feeling happy for a fresh start, happy to find renewal, to start over.

Today I get to dump the junk food, find my way to the gym and sit back at my antique secretary desk to continue withwork that really matters to me…my writing. Today I get to renew my passion for life, and that feels pretty good.

Happy Monday Darlings!

On Songwriting with Myke Hutchings

A while back I was asked to write, describing my songwriting process; a request that intrigued me as I truly do not have a “process.” For me, this request is like being asked to explain how one breathes, however is far more driven by the random acts of chaos, inspiration and chance.

The lovely hostess of this blog has written on the often mercurial nature of inspiration when it comes to creative writing and I have found that it can be doubly so with songwriting.  Let’s start with the basic building blocks of a “song.”  Most songs tend to have lyrics and music – I won’t get into a sarcastic discussion of what passes for a song in many cases as tastes differ and what I like to listen to may not reflect your personal musical tastes,  However it is sufficient to say, you won’t ever hear me singing “baby, baby, baby OH! Baby, baby, baby whoa!”

There tend to be two major methods that most songwriters use:

1.      Create a piece of music or song structure and fit lyrics to the frame work.

2.      Have a lyric and attempt to set them to appropriate music that suits the tone.

My songwriting “method” <HA!> tends to dip liberally from both wells, depending on what I am doing at the time.

If I am rehearsing one of my instruments (I play bass, guitar and keyboard instruments), I may hit on a particular chord pattern, riff, or melody while I am working out ideas or another song structure.  I usually record my rehearsals on audio and also keep a notebook handy so I can mark down the time that the idea comes out.  True “aha moments” can be kept for further tinkering at a later date – I usually just keep the area of the recording that I particularly find memorable and keep a library of ideas.

Sometimes it’s just a single line or pattern, sometimes (in rare cases) it’s an entire song from start to finish.  Single lines or patterns often sit and wait until they can be partnered with other pieces of music to eventually form a cohesive whole.  Sometimes the individual parts are brought out in jam sessions with other musicians to see what can be done with them on a collaborative basis. Eventually they may become a song in their own right.

For my purposes an entire song is documented in audio format and also written out as a chord structure or melody line and then it is ready for lyrics to be set to it.  Please note that my audio documents are not quality recordings but the audio equivalent of a first draft or rough sketch in order to lay out the framework or general idea.

For the most part these musical ideas come from random “noodling” on the instrument.  I do, however, sometimes sit down with an instrument to compose a piece with a specific intention or mood to impart.  This is usually done when I have a lyric that needs to be set to music or have an assignment to write a particular piece of music within a specific mood for a jingle or other commercial effort. While I can do this, the music created tends to be less memorable and tuneful in my opinion.  It sometimes sounds “forced.”

However I am constantly striving to work on that, I’d like all of my ideas to be things I am proud of!  I will discuss this further on in this article.

As of late, I have been travelling a lot and just generally out and about.  Years ago, I had a small travel guitar that I kept with me for when the mood struck, however I gifted it to a friend who is doing a lot of hospital and hospice work as an entertainer and social worker.  She is using it well as an instrument of healing at this point.  Today, I carry a Moleskine notebook and a handful selection of Sharpie pens (which I love because they have a fine tip, come in various colours, don’t leak through the paper, don’t smear which is a necessity when one is left handed and are cheap – thank you Costco – so if I lose one or loan it out, I don’t worry).

My current Moleskine is a conglomeration of rough notes, song ideas, short stories, poetry and various other random scribblings and thoughts.  However as of late, it is the repository of various lyrics in different stages of development ranging from the initial impressions to the “final” draft.

More often than not the development occurs on a single page as inspiration strikes and corrections are immediate, however there is at least one lyric that exists in various stages from point form notes to the “final” draft over no less than 16 pages/revisions.

And yes I use handwritten notebooks for my creative writing, not a laptop.  I tend to be an extremely visual person and personally find that handwritten pages allow me to try different configurations in a way that cutting and pasting doesn’t seem to give me.  By using arrows, different colours of ink and margin notes, I can view the words in several different configurations and combinations at once and figure out what works best in the context of the lyric.

The added bonus of lyric writing is that grammatical rules tend to be a little more flexible than in expository paragraphs!  I often liken it to painting pictures with words and sound and often point to John Lennon and Kate Bush for examples of incredible lyricists who have or had the ability evoke images, thoughts and emotion through the sound of the words themselves as much as through the actual text of the lyric.

I have found in my studies of the craft of songwriting that the role of a song lyric is as much to evoke a feeling, image or emotion as it is to specifically convey a thought, concept or idea.  Sentences and statements that would be nonsensical or trite when read as standard text, can have increased and implied meaning when applied to a specific rhythm, melody and harmonic structure.

So I choose to “paint with words” on paper for the initial drafts until I have a finished version of the lyric that I am satisfied with. After that, I then move to the word processor for the final format, which is as much for legibility when performing and recording as it is for archival purposes.  At the same time, I keep music staff notebooks (again Moleskine makes lovely notebooks) for when it comes time to put dots on paper, I also shift to electronic means when the final draft of the music is ready!

While, on rare occasions, I’m inspired to write a lyric from start to finish, more often than not, I start with a point form list of ideas and/or feelings that I am attempting to convey with a particular song.  Those items are then grouped or categorized and I attempt to create a concise statement through manipulating and sometimes, albeit sheepishly, mangling language.

When I’m actually in the creation stage of writing, I find that I work best while isolating myself in public.  Meaning that I crave the distraction that being out in a public location gives me, however I work best while I am sitting by myself, almost as an observer.  This could be a bar, a restaurant, a coffee house or even during a staff meeting at my day job!  Either way observing human interaction of all types is a wonderful creative catalyst for me.

Regardless of what efforts I set in motion to write a song, I can never tell when or where inspiration may strike so it helps to have my notebook and a pen handy at all times, which I do!

CONNECT WITH MYKE:

Website: http://mykesworld.wordpress.com/

Twitter: @hentor

Writing Prompt: Naturally Inspired

Oh, Day Light Savings Time, how I love thee. Let me count the ways…1, 2, 3, 4…

Okay, enough of that.

It may be a little early in the year, but I’d like to shout my excitement for one extra hour of sunlight from the mountain tops. YAY!!!

With the unseasonable weather we’ve been having, the time change couldn’t have come at a better moment. Not only do we get the sun longer, but it’s actually warm out. Yes, for those of you thinking “Canada is warm?”, it is. Over the weekend we got in to double digits (that’s Celsius) and everyone emerged with their pastie white skin, into the beautiful rays of the sun.

What a glorious feeling.

I find the sun inspiring. It inspires me to be outside, to explore the world, to breathe in the scents of the season and to watch as nature makes a shift. What more could a writer need?

Today’s writing prompt is so simple it is scary.

Ready for it?

GO OUTSIDE!

Told you it was scary LOL.

When the sun is out and it’s safe to leave the jacket behind, take your iphone, notebook, laptop, scrap piece of paper or stone tablet, and get out into nature. Let the sights and sounds speak to you. Write it all down. Find that perfect point of inspiration and focus on it. Perhaps it will be the green promise of a budding flower or the way a creek trickles along it’s path. Whatever it is, get carried away with it. Write, write, write!

Happy Writing my darlings.

Rolling the dice

I’ve never been much of a gambler. Casinos both bore and scare me, and Las Vegas only appeals to the “musical lovin, there for the scenery” side of me. The biggest gamble I made in my life was getting married and by now we all know how that panned out. SNAKE EYES (I think that’s a bad thing in gambling)!

In essence, I am a highly risk averse person. I don’t play the stock market, I don’t buy lottery tickets, and hockey pools don’t excite me nearly as much as they should as a good Canadian girl. Sure, I’ve taken chances with my career, and I’ve even gone bungy jumping, but on any given day, I will likely lean more to the side of caution than throw myself in to the unknown.

That is why this new stage of my novel-writing is freaking me out a bit. I’ve got a first draft, a second draft, some helpful feedback and the start of a third draft. The next logical step – in my mind – is to hire a professional to help prepare my manuscript for publication submission. The problem with this step is this:

With almost 3 Million possible services to choose from, how do you choose the best?!

Realizing that Google doesn’t always know best (i know i was initially shocked too), I turned to someone deemed an authority in the writing community, Writer’s Digest. Not only do I enjoy their magazine but the information and services they offer online seem pretty awesome. Unfortunately, their manuscript critiquing service is $4 per page! That would set me back a grand! While I understand that the investment could be worthwhile, that kind of number gets me a little flustered and I start wondering how useful the critique really would be.

Then there is Abbot Press, who Writer’s Digest promotes. They provide editorial services for a portion of your manuscript for $500. A portion? Really? I’m not saying it’s bad…I’m just saying “I don’t know”!

I’ve had friends refer me to some folks who are less expensive but then how do I know the quality of edit?

As you can see, I’m lost (and maybe a bit crazy). I know manuscript preparation will take a financial investment but I want to be sure I’m getting my money’s worth. I don’t expect the service to equate publication necessarily but I’d like to know I’ve got the best critique and feedback I can. Without this kind of confirmation I feel like I’m just rolling the dice.

HELP ME!!!

Have you had experience with editorial services and manuscript preparation services? Share your experience and suggestions below!