Different thoughts about thinking differently

Archive for the ‘writing’ Category

Douglas Adams on how writing really works

Thursday, March 5th, 2009

Don't Panic!Here are two interesting, funny, and valuable quotes about the process of creation and writing from the late Douglas Adams, creator of the now-legendary SF comedy franchise The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.  The two quotes appeared in a piece called “Where do you get all your ideas from?” that appeared in The Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy:  The Original Radio Scripts (which, incidentally, is the original version of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - a BBC radio show).

The first quote is rather blunt about the fact that writing can be hard work:

An idea is only an idea.

An actual script [Adams was writing about radio script writing in this piece], on the other hand, is hundreds of ideas bashed around, screwed up, thrown into the bin, fished out of the bin an hour later and folded up into thick wads and put under the leg of a table to stop it wobbling.  And then the same again for the next line, and the next, and so on, until you have a whole page or the table finally keels over.

Quote the second, which is Adams imagining how he came up with the name of the character Zaphod Beeblebrox (or maybe this is how it really happened, I’m not sure):

I sat and stared out of the window for a while, trying to think of a good name for a character.  I old myself that, as a reward, I would let myself go and make a Bovril sandwich once I’d thought of it.

I stared out of the window some more and thought that probably what I really needed to help get the creative juices going was to have a Bovril sandwich now, which presented with a problem that I could only successfully resolve by thinking it over in the bath.

An hour, a bath, three Bovril sandwiches, another bath and a cup of coffee later, I realized that I still hadn’t thought of a good name for a character, and decided that I would try calling him Zaphod Beeblebrox and see if that worked.

I sat and stared out of the window for a while, trying to think of something for him to say…

This second quote says two things to me:

One is that writers, like other people, can procrastinate an awful lot when they are trying to work on something.

The second is that sometimes you just need to pick a name, topic, word, phrase out of the blue and just start working with it.  Otherwise, you’re back to the bath and the sandwiches all over again.

Consciously or subconsciously, this little story about the naming of Zaphod Beeblebrox has influenced me tremendously in the small bit of fiction writing that I’ve done.  Here’s an example from the novel that I started over a year ago with some enthusiasm, wrote about 15 pages for, and then locked away in a box, which I think about occasionally, but I’m not sure that I’ll ever complete:

I was trying to think of a name for my protagonist, an accountant (really, a bookkeeper) who was going to have some amazing adventures in a story similar to the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.  I came up with the name Herbert Muckfeather, which sounded nerdy, odd, and very unlikely for a protagonist’s name.  It wasn’t very good, but at least it helped me keep going.  Later on,  I changed his name to Neil Clerk, which isn’t much better, but, honestly, is just the set up for a dumb joke that would appear later in the novel.  But it IS shorter and easier to remember.

See, if I can come up with a silly little anecdote like this, I bet you have a story that is much, much better.  So if you do (or you don’t, for that matter) have a good writing/naming story like this, why not share it in the comments section?  Please?  :D

To help keep yourself from panicking, try subscribing to Broadcasting Brain, the ideas should calm you down a bit.

How to have a climax every time… you write

Monday, February 23rd, 2009

I’m writing this post about that staple of fiction writing, the climax – when the most exciting, most important event in a story happens.

(No, this isn’t one of those how-to sexual technique posts. But you wouldn’t have expected that here, would you?)

Is your writing dull and uninspiring? Not getting traffic? Maybe it just needs a standard fiction technique to spice it up a bit.

TV shows, novels, plays and movies use scenes, dilemmas, and conflicts as ways to build excitement, tension and anticipation about how a story will end.  The climax occurs in a scene when the central conflict or dilemma of a story comes to a head, something happens and there’s a resolution of some kind, like:

  • Luke Skywalker destroys the Death Star
  • Richard Gere’s character proposes to or marries Julia Robert’s character
  • The soldiers finally do save Private Ryan

Here are some suggestions on how you can emulate this technique in your writing (this can include article writing, blogging, etc.):

  • Start with a mystery, a question, or a controversial idea and construct a way to tell a story that addresses this topic.
  • Gradually reveal clues or facts that either support or detract from the idea.  Think of this like presenting a series of scenes (or paragraphs) that describe the concept in more detail.  Take the reader on a journey from point A to point Z and all points inbetween.
  • Work up to a revelation, including one or more surprises.  We all love twists and turns in fiction!
  • Make the revelation colorful and exciting.  Sometimes predictable revelations are perfectly fine; other times something unexpected is really appropriate.
  • Provide food for thought to your reader at the end:  did they learn anything?  Are they motivated to think or act differently?

Non-fiction doesn’t have to be boring.  Borrow some literary techniques and you might be surprised at how your content comes to life!

Where the words come from

Tuesday, January 6th, 2009

Following up a bit on yesterday’s post about following a calling, sometimes I wonder where the words come from.

This story helps to illustrate the point. At one point, a music journalist was interviewing a British rock star: I believe Mick Jagger or Keith Richards (both of The Rolling Stones) was being interviewed – we’ll assume it was Mick. The journalist asked Mick about songwriting. Pete Townsend, the guitarist and main songwriter for The Who, had talked about songwriting in interviews and said that his song lyrics came from divine inspiration. He felt that he was the conduit or channel by which some higher power was communicating.  The journalist asked Mich what he thought about this idea. (more…)

Just write

Tuesday, December 16th, 2008

Just write.

Forget about how awful you think it will be.

Forget about how uncomfortable writing makes you feel.

Forget about who might read it.

Forget about worrying what to write.

Just write.  Let whatever comes out come out.

Editing can fix any mistake, omission, or suckage.

You need to write so it gets out.  Then, like Play Doh, you can mold it into the correct shape.  You can fix the problems.  You can even change it completely so that it’s not recognizable from its original form.

But you must write in order to get the idea out.  Nothing else can happen until you take that step.

It can be hard, but it’s worth pushing yourself a bit to do it.

Just write.

The Web is like the biggest amusement park in the world

Thursday, November 20th, 2008

Here’s a little snippet of a project that I’m working on:

The Internet is like the world’s biggest amusement park. Amusement parks are full of attractions: rides, games, shows, and lots of people. Picture Walt Disney World for a moment. It has four major theme parks, a major shopping and entertainment area, and a number of hotels and resorts to stay in, plus many stores, rides, eateries, and other attractions.

Imagine one hundred million Disney Worlds and you start to get an appreciation of the size and complexity of the Internet. There is no way that you could visit one million Disney Worlds in one lifetime!

The Internet and the World Wide Web are a lot like one million Disney Worlds. There’s a staggering number of websites for you to explore, devoted to almost every topic imaginable. You can buy, sell, learn, or talk about almost anything on the Internet.

If you’d like to get a sneak preview of the entire document, you can either sign up for the Thought Radiation newsletter E-Mail list (email markdykeman at gmail dot com to register; no need to register again if you’ve already sent your information to me) or you can subscribe to this blog by E-Mail (E-Mail is the only way I’m distributing the sneak peak; ergo I need your E-Mail address).

I have a privacy policy in place if you’re worried about giving out your E-Mail, so please rest assured about that.

Pen and paper are a must for effective editing

Thursday, November 13th, 2008

Write it outBetween the green movement and the habits of the mobile computing device age, there’s a growing movement against the unnecessary use of paper.

Let’s state that a different way: more and more people think it’s evil to use paper documents.

Even though paper comes from a renewable resource, there are many downsides to the process of making paper, including pollution, clutter, and garbage.

When it comes to writing (and computing in general), more and more people are getting in the habit of doing everything on a computer screen: writing, editing, and reading.

As a member of Generation X, I spent many, many years both handwriting and using a typewriter to create documents. Every single assignment that I did in high school was done by hand. 90% of the assignments that I did in university were either done by hand or on an electric typewriter.

I use a heck of a lot of paper at work, too. I’m not proud of this, it’s just the habit that I’ve developed.

I’m trying to cut back on my use of paper, at least a little bit, but it’s not going away.

Here’s the thing: I do my best document editing on paper.

I’m doing a little experiment at the moment whereby I’m taking a blog post of about 800 words and I’m forcing myself to edit it. A lot. I have a goal of editing and proofing the post 15 times to see if I can really make something exceptional. I’ve even set up a separate blog to track the editing process, mainly for my own information, but I’ll link to it when this project is done for anyone who’s curious to see.

Here’s the thing that I’m noticing about the editing process: the more substantial, higher quality edits are occurring on paper.

  • I can edit for spelling and grammar reasonably well on screen.
  • I can rearrange sentences or phrases fairly well on screen, normally within the same paragraph.

BUT

  • When it comes to analyzing a paragraph to determine whether it’s necessary
  • When I need to determine if the paragraph as a whole makes sense
  • When it comes to determining whether or not entire sections of a document flow well

I’m reliant on paper.

There’s something about being able to lay out the pages side by side that I’ve never been able (or interested) to do either efficiently or effectively onscreen.

My conclusion is that paper is still required to do effective editing. Even if some trees must die.

Now that I’ll be barred from ever joining the green movement, I’d like to hear your thoughts. Are you able to do 100% of your blog post or document editing (including BIG documents) on screen? If so, how the heck do you do it?!?

Broadcasting Brain is proudly powered by WordPress. Entries (RSS) and Comments (RSS). Copyright (c) 2010 by Mark Dykeman. All rights reserved. Theme by Omakase Design.