Armchair by Jez Timms

This Writer’s Life: A San Franciscan Middle Grade Novelist Breaks Down the Work Into Manageable Chunks

December 27, 2016 by Leave a Comment

Today we’re continuing my “This Writer’s Life” series, in which you get to meet some of my Called to Write Coaching Circle members and take a look inside their writing lives. If you’re just joining us, I encourage you to also check out the pieces about Rebecca, Frani, and Rick.

Today we’re joined by Foenix Ryder, a writer who found her home in Middle Grade fiction.

Meet Foenix Ryder: A San Franciscan Film Freelancer and Middle Grade Novelist

I’ve known Foenix for almost two years now. It’s been such treat to have her participating in the Circle. She’s the kind of writer whose enthusiasm, energy, and positivity is always present, even when the challenges of writing rear up. I love her determination and passion for her writing, and I’m thrilled to be helping her get her words out into the world.

Not only do we work together in the Circle, but I also have the pleasure of coaching Foenix around building her writer’s platform, something I’ll be offering in 2017 to other writers as well. I asked Foenix to tell us more about her writing and what she’s learned over the last several years — including how to break down the overwhelming tasks of a major writing project.

foenix-ryderWhat kind of writing do you do, and where are you in your writing process?

I love Middle Grade and Young Adult stories whether they’re action, adventure, fantasy, coming of age or anything else in those genres. Naturally, that’s what I’m drawn to write: Stories where kids and teens can get immersed and relate — and hopefully be inspired and encouraged when they read. 

Right now I’m on the verge of starting the third draft of my second novel. After struggling for a few weeks with a major element in my story, I realized I needed to pause to study the conventions and expectations of fantasy stories so I can further develop the world I’ve created and the rules within it.

In some ways it feels like I’m “taking a vacation” from my story and avoiding the work. But I’m reminding myself that I am and always will be developing as a writer. The stepping away to learn more about my genre and craft will only empower me to tell the best story I can. And that’s what we are all here to do.

How has your writing practice changed since you’ve been in the Circle?

Oh wow… it’s changed immensely! Before the Circle, over the course of six years, I wrote and revised my first novel. It actually still needs a major overhaul, but it was written in bits and pieces, from different places in the story, and most days it felt like I was struggling just to get words on the page.

Since joining the circle in March 2015, where I was instantly welcomed into a warm community of other writers, my practice has become almost daily. Writing my second novel while in the Circle, I feel like I finally have a rhythm. I create a daily goal, sit down and write, and then check in on the Circle site. I feel grounded and supported by my group every single day, which helped me write the first draft of my second novel in 7 months!

That’s not to say there haven’t been moments when I struggled, but now I have a space with other writers where I can voice my challenges and get encouragement. That helps keep the excitement going when things are great or get it going again when things are difficult.

I also love going to the daily writing sprints where I can jump online, say briefly what I’ll be working on, and completely focus on what I’m working on for one hour. The sprints have created a foundation for me to begin each day while also giving me a moment to think about what I would like to accomplish before diving into the writing.

What have you learned about yourself as a writer ?

I have learned so much over the past seven years I’ve been writing. For instance, I’ve learned that I do my best writing in the morning, and ideally write from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. each day.

I’ve also learned to create a timeline/calendar for myself at the beginning of each draft, section, or when I’m starting something new to help me stay on track. It helps me see how much time I need to accomplish my goal and what I need to get done each day. I have also learned to let go of worrying if someone is going to like my stories or that I don’t write like other writers that I admire. I can only tell my stories as best as I can. And it is my duty to write these stories.

And something huge I am just starting to take in is that I have a tendency to see a project in its enormity and can get overwhelmed thinking I need to get it all done TODAY! But Jenna has helped me see the impossibility of that and instead break things down into much smaller chunks in order to achieve something in a realistic way. This has taken so much stress off of me while helping me accomplish small tasks that add up to a larger piece of the storytelling puzzle.

How much do you write, and where do you typically write?

I have a unique life as a freelancer in the film industry where I sometimes have 12-hour plus days for a few weeks and then I have a chunk of time off. When I’m off, I have time to dive into my writing and be fully present. So when I’m not immersed in “work work” I typically write four hours a day, Monday through Friday. I find it’s the perfect amount of time for me — anything past 4 hours, I just start to fizzle out.

I write in an artist’s studio in the Mission in San Francisco. It’s a private room I share with another artist inside a building where all types of artists have spaces. My half of the room is like a small apartment with a cozy couch, a soft blanket, some china lanterns, and a cool pirate ship kite I recently bought on the beach in Bali.

In order to get into my writing “dreamspace,” I must be curled up into a ball, legs pulled to my chest, body hunched over, blanket around me, with my headphones on playing the constant rumble and downpour of “Thunderstorms.” This allows me to tune everything out except the adventure movie I see inside my head while writing by hand as fast as I possibly can.

What does a successful writing day look like for you?

A successful writing day is one where I have either gotten through the section I wanted to get through, have worked out some kind of problem in my story, or where I wrote so fast, I felt energy flowing through me, writing while the story just poured from me. Those days, I walk away feeling vibrant and excited and truly feel like “I want to live that adventure!”

What’s next for you with your writing?

I’m planning to finish my novel mid-2017 and submit my manuscript to agents. Between drafts, I’ve been writing a short story which I’ll revise a few more times and submit to magazines for publication. I feel writing short stories is valuable for me in two ways: First, I get new ideas often and want to get them out into the world so this gives me an outlet for writing something in a shorter timeframe, and second, getting a few short stories published will help me build a brand by getting my stories in front of people who would enjoy reading them.

Also! I’m working regularly with Jenna to create my website and writing platform, building my writing brand around my pen name, Foenix Ryder. Having a pen name helps me maintain the energy I feel when writing my stories.

Circle Profile

foenix-ryder

Name: Foenix Ryder
Roles: Novelist, short story writer, screenwriter, film industry freelancer
Location: San Francisco, California
Genre: Middle Grade & Young Adult Fantasy
Current writing goal: 1) Finish 3rd draft of my current novel by February 2017, 2) Build my writer platform including developing and launching my website by January 2017.
Biggest writing challenge: Working myself out of the stressful mind-numbing boxes of what I “don’t know” about my story.
Biggest writing ah-ha: When it was pointed out to me that I write Middle Grade fiction, it helped me understand my writing better and also see that there is a place for the stories I love to tell and that people of all ages can enjoy them.
Go-to writing platform: Writing by hand, Scrivener
Favorite writing spot: My super cozy writing studio that has a comfy couch and a warm softy blanket.

Bio: Foenix Ryder is a Middle Grade and Young Adult storyteller based in San Francisco, California who tells fantastical stories and lives brave adventures. Foenix’s stories explore diversity, confidence, and self-discovery while taking readers on an action-packed ride. 

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Join the Circle: Get Your Words Into the World

Join the Writer's CircleJoin us in the Circle and get daily accountability and support to make your writing happen. With our special end of the year savings, you can get a whole year in the Circle for less than $100 per session.

It’s the perfect time to join us — our next session begins on Monday, January 2nd so you can start off the new year “write”!

Registration closes on Thursday, December 29th. Find out more and join the Circle here.

 

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Writing With Intention: The Power of Journaling About Your Writing Process

December 7, 2016 by Leave a Comment

Journaling is an incredibly powerful way to create structure for your writing practice. When you use journaling to bookend your writing practice each day, you become much more intentional about your writing and your ability to learn from what works and what doesn’t.

Here are some simple techniques you can use to amplify your writing practice with journaling.

Start Your Day With an Intention For Your Writing

A powerful way to focus your writing day is to start with an intention. I’ve used this technique in the past, but when I worked with Jessica Michaelson in her Look Up program, I loved how she had us check in twice a day, starting with identifying a core value we wanted to focus on each day in a morning check-in. With her blessing, I’ve incorporated this idea into the morning and evening prompts in my Writer’s Insight Journal (one of the tools in my Ultimate Writer’s Toolkit).

The core idea is to identify and name the energy and intention you want to bring to your writing for the day. This simple act brings focus and clarity to your writing, and can be used as a tool to adjust if you get off course.

For example, if your intention is to write with JOY for the day, but you find yourself in angst instead, you can ease up on the throttle and find ways to bring a more joyful, playful energy to your work. On the other hand, if your writing intention is FOCUSED EFFICIENCY and you find yourself in distraction-mode, simply reminding yourself of your intention can be a way to get back on track with your writing.

Complete Your Day By Checking In About How It Went

Similarly, at the end of each day, you can “complete” your writing day by assessing your writing progress and process. What was accomplished, what wasn’t. What went well, what didn’t. What adjustments you want to make going forward. 

It’s the power of self-observation we rely on in my Called to Write Coaching Circle. Simply by observing and noticing what we go through each day as writers — without judgment, mind you — we gain incredible insights into ourselves, where we get stuck, where we go off track, and how we might need to adjust our writing process.

So many of us judge ourselves for not writing, or not writing enough, but as writers, our true power lies not in judgment, but in our ability to think creatively. And when we bring our creative minds to troubleshooting the challenges we face as writers, rather than beating ourselves up over them, magic happens. 

This is how we notice ourselves getting trapped by the lure of internet distractions. Or catch ourselves in the throes of perfectionism or paralysis. Or notice that we’re using our workaholism to avoid our writing, or that we’re procrastinating with sudden obsessive house cleaning. Or cotton on to the fact that the reason we’re not writing is that we’re just not getting enough sleep and our willpower is too depleted.

I’m not a fan of the word mindfulness in general because it somehow implies a level of perfection and studiousness I find stressful. But intentional works for me.

Be Intentional With Your Writing

Success in writing doesn’t happen by accident. That’s a theme that’s emerged as I’ve been writing this series. Writing happens when we are intentional about how we use our time, our days, our minds, our focus, and our creativity. And one of the most brilliant ways we writers can tap into that intentionality is through our own greatest skill, writing. Our journals become the containers for our greatest insights when we take the time to compassionately self-observe and learn from what’s working and what isn’t, and where we can go from there.

So if you find yourself floundering with your writing at all, carve out a few minutes each morning to set an intention for the day, and a few minutes at the end of the day to assess how it went. Sure, you can do this mentally. But since you’re a writer, you know the power words hold. Write it down if you can. And if you need help with making more of a space to use this tool, stay tuned for the release of my Writer’s Insight Journal in my Writer’s Toolkit this week to help you make it happen.  

How do you learn from your own writing process? Tell me about it in the comments.

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3 Tips for Staying Energized When Writing a Book (or Script!)

December 5, 2016 by Leave a Comment

One of the biggest challenges I’ve seen for writers working on long-form writing projects (like books and scripts) is losing heart along the way, mostly because we get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of work left to do.

It’s not easy to keep our energy mustered toward completion when we’ve got pages and pages more to write… or harder, pages and pages left to revise (and potentially additional revisions left to go).

Here are three tips designed to help you keep your spirits up as you battle the forces of writing resistance:

Tip #1: Create a Plan

For every stage of your writing, make a plan for it. A plan for the outline, a plan for the first draft, a plan for the revision. For example, if you’re writing the first draft, identify the milestones you’re aiming to hit, like scenes from an outline or turning points from a beat sheet. Create a timeline for those milestones so you know if you’re on track, and if you need to make any adjustments as you’re moving through the project.

Even if you’re a total pantser, you can still make some estimates for word counts, major turning points, or numbers of chapters.

Make your milestones big enough to be inspiring but not so big that they’re overwhelming. I love to use 15-page chunks of a script as a milestone, usually the number of pages between each major script turning point because I know approximately how long it takes me to write or revise a section of that length. (You can see me putting a simple form of this in action here.)

Tip#2: Track Your Work

Once you have your plan and start implementing it, make a point to track your work so you can see how your plan is progressing. I like to use spreadsheets for tracking my writing (there’s one in my Ultimate Writer’s Toolkit if you want a jump-start with your own tracking).

The core idea is this: Track your time and your word or page counts so you can SEE the progress happening. It’s one of the best antidotes I know for project overwhelm. There’s nothing quite like seeing your counts climb and knowing you’re making progress to help you focus on the progress you are making, as opposed to the work you have yet to do. And this is one of the biggest challenges we face as writers.

We tend to be an intuitive, conceptual bunch (at least the crowd I hang out with) so we can easily see the final, finished product in our minds’ eyes — and then despair when we see how far it is from here to there. But when we learn to use baby steps, and track those steps, we shift our focus from what’s yet not done to what is already done, and it’s an incredible relief.

Another amazing benefit of tracking your work is being able to see how long each stage and type of work typically takes you, and then you can project approximately how long it’ll take to hit each milestone. Such as, how long it takes you to write 15 script pages or 2,000 words in your novel. Or much writing you can do in 60 minutes. Or how long it typically takes you to outline. Knowing your own innate pacing is a big confidence booster, and helps you build trust with yourself as a writer and believe in your ability to complete a project. Knowledge is power.

Plus, when you track your work you’ll have the evidence you need to help you stay on track with your writer’s schedule. If you’ve set aside 60 minutes a day for writing, and see every day you’re adding 750 words to your manuscript, you’ll be more motivated to keep your next writing appointment with yourself because you know in your bones those minutes count.

Tip #3: Keep Your Head Down

And at the same time, let tracking your work be enough of the big picture. Learn to keep your head down and focused on the work at hand rather than on the overall timeline.

Here’s what I mean by “keep your head down.” Once upon a time, I worked as an intern doing digital 3-D modeling (I made digital houses for virtual architectural walkthroughs and elephants for an animated dictionary, super fun). After I went back to grad school, my boss told me about someone they’d hired. “She keeps her head down,” he said.

I wondered what he meant, and he explained that she focused well on doing the work that was in front of her, without looking up and around, chatting, or getting distracted. It clicked for me. And I find that the more I “keep my head down,” once I’ve established the plan for my work, and just do said work, the better off I am.

As a general rule, the time to question and design the plan is not in the middle of implementing the plan, unless something has gone horribly wrong and a course correction is required. But if things are moving forward and no major trains have gone off the rails, stay focused on putting one foot in front of the other and logging the time and tackling the items on the writing to do list.

It’s when we stop and question that we flounder. I’ve seen more than a few writers dropping in and out of the game for reasons like this, and it’s just not worth it. The only way out is through. Don’t spin your wheels asking “Why is it taking so long?”Just do the work. 

Plan the Work and Work the Plan — And Track It!

So if you’re looking for ways to keep your energy up while writing your epic book or script, remember: Plan the work and work the plan — and track it along the way. You’ll be amazed at how motivating it is to see your body of work building and building over time.

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7 Easy Ways to Sneak In Writing Time Over the Holidays (and Why It’s Worth It)

December 1, 2016 by Leave a Comment

It’s the holiday season, and the crunch is on! We’re busy with everything. Shopping, holiday parties, family gatherings, end of year deadlines, kids off school, and more. That makes it a prime time of year for our writing habits slip by the wayside, but I’m here to help with seven easy ways you can sneak writing in, even in the midst of the chaos.

7 Easy Ways to Sneak In Writing Time Over the Holidays

When you’re looking for easy ways to get more writing in, try these ideas:

  1. Write early. You’ve probably heard me talk about the virtues of early morning writing before. During the holidays, early morning writing will save you. You can write before your kids get up and your spouse leaves for work, even when the kids are off school for Winter Break. You can hide out in the guest bedroom at your aunt’s house and write in bed — no one will even know you are awake! You can write before you tackle other projects or head out shopping. Whatever else you have on your plate for the day, when you write first, your heart and spirit will be lighter, knowing you’ve met your most important commitment to yourself first. 
  2. Set a special holiday daily target. When you’re writing during a busy season like this one, you’ll want to tweak your daily writing goals. Maybe you’re someone who has oodles of time off over the holidays, and you can set higher goals, but if you’re like the rest of us with day jobs and kids and a plethora of social commitments, now’s the time to figure out your daily holiday writing targets. They’re probably lurking somewhere between what I call your “rock bottom minimum” (the absolute minimum amount of writing you want to accomplish on a given day) and your optimal amount of writing during a busy time. Here’s what I mean: Normally I aim to write for about 60 minutes a day, more when I’m stretching for a big goal. My rock bottom minimum is 15 minutes a day. So my holiday target is 30 minutes per day. 
  3. Scan your day for potential pockets of writing time. When you get up in the morning, if you’re not going to write first thing, mentally scan your timetable for the day to see if you can spot little pockets of writing time. Maybe you can go early to that dentist appointment and write in the waiting room. Or write a bit in the car on your mobile device while your spouse is driving to the holiday party. Or take a writing time-out at a café while you’re out shopping for holiday gifts. While I’m not usually one for cramming writing into every available moment of my life, intentionally identifying and using one writing window in a day can be a beautiful way to make space for writing.
  4. Streamline your other activities. My holiday life has gotten so much easier since I do most of my shopping online these days. I shop in batches on Amazon, which saves me an enormous amount of emotional wear and tear and saves my energy for writing. I also carefully balance the number of events we attend over the holidays and try to keep the number manageable (I have a threshold of one social gathering per weekend if I can keep it that way and I make exceptions only with careful forethought). When you purposefully design for sanity, it’s much easier to then make time to write, also.
  5. Write light. There’s a tremendous advantage to writing regularly, which is quite simply that it makes it easier to keep going… and that’s what gets us to the finish line with our books and scripts. But sometimes, keeping your head in a script or novel is just too hard when there’s so much crazy going on. In that case, you may want to try lighter writing — journaling, morning pages, brainstorming, writing outside your project (freewriting within the story but outside the primary document for it). This way, you’re keeping the words flowing onto the page and holding the space you have in your life for writing, but also making it easier on yourself.
  6. Write late. If you aim to write in the morning but don’t, or just don’t want to, considering writing in the evening just before bed. You can even sneak off to bed early when you’re staying with your relatives, or go to that office party early and duck out well before last call to make some time for writing. Think of it as your own secret time, just for you. You feed your soul’s calling when you write, and there couldn’t be a better gift to give yourself for the holidays.
  7. Have fun! The holidays can be delightful, but they can also be quite stressful. Emotions get stirred up; there’s more pressure to perform and feel a certain way, look a certain way, etc. So giving yourself a pet project might just be the ticket for some extra writing inspiration and energy, or bringing the spirit of play to your work can help you make a point to enjoy it. You can even make a game out of creating writing time for yourself. Make it feel like you are getting away with something, and you will be. :)

Here’s Why It’s Worth It To Sneak In the Writing Time Now

When you write now, you’ll position yourself well to take advantage of that big burst of writing energy you’re going to have come January 1st. You know it’s coming, right? Remember, a body in motion has a tendency to stay in motion, so writing now helps you write later. (Whereas not writing now means it’s harder to write later — the body at rest tends to stay at rest… It’s all about inertia, baby!)

The good news is that it doesn’t have to be hard to write even during this busy season. Use these tips to make writing easy through the holidays so you can jump in with both feet when January 1st rolls around. 

Got other holiday writing tips? I’d love to hear about them in the comments!

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Remember… You Are a Writer

November 10, 2016 by 14 Comments

It’s been an intense week. 

Regardless of your political affiliation, here in the U.S. and worldwide we’ve been through the wringer and come out changed. We’re all going through a lot right now. There’s much to process, contemplate, and recover from.

In the midst of all this, the important thing is to remember who we are. That we each have a purpose to fulfill.

A calling.

If you’re hanging out with me in this little corner of the Universe, you’re called to write. To create with words, pen on page, fingers on keyboard.

A tremendous gift, writing is.

It has the power to open minds and hearts.

To express deeper truths.

To shine lights into the recesses of our humanity and unearth hidden gems and wounds.

To heal, inspire, strengthen, catalyze, and change.

To heal us individually as writers.

And even though it may be tempting to turn away from your writing right now, please don’t.

If not for others, for yourself. Because writing will remind you who you are, and what you were put here to do.

When my mother in law died in 2015, I clung to my writing as if it would save my life. It was my constant in a sea of pain and turmoil.

If you find yourself in that place now, as I do, let writing be the raft that carries you to shore.

I know that not everyone is hurting right now. It is likely that some among us are happy with this week’s outcomes. And that is your right. 

But let us keep the focus on the larger vision. Our writing. Our truths. The messages we each have to share with the world. Because that’s why we’re here.

Keep writing.

With love,
Jenna

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My “Must Have” List Before Writing Pages

October 12, 2016 by Leave a Comment

In a recent post I wrote about what “counts” as writing. I promised to share some of the story development steps I take before I’m willing to begin writing actual new pages; hence this post. This is a work in progress for me; I’m constantly working to hone and improve my writing skills, so I’m sure it will continue to evolve as I evolve as a writer.

Here’s what I currently like to have before starting to write, in approximate order:

  • Goals, Motivation, and Conflict (GMC) for Main Characters: The goals, motivation, and conflict for each of my primary characters so I stay in touch with what they’re doing, why they’re doing it, and what gets in their way over the course of the story. (This link will take you a more detailed article about GMC.)
  • Character Profiles: I write character profiles for my primary and secondary characters detailing their personality traits, flaws, character arcs, and more. (This link takes you to the same place as the one above, where you can also download a free character profile template that includes GMC.)
  • Logline: A twenty-five word summary of the story, including its best hook.
  • Premise Line: A longer summary of the story, using Jeff Lyons’s method for mapping the core structural story elements to a premise line template.
  • Theme and Message: What’s this story about? This is one of those things I’m usually guessing at when I first start —it often doesn’t become clear until I’ve written one or more drafts, but I like to take a stab at it before I begin. More on this in the future.
  • Internal and External Content Genres: I like to use Shawn Coyne’s The Story Grid* to get clear on the external and internal content genres of the story to help me make sure I’m staying in touch with the theme and intent of the story I’m aiming to tell.
  • Key Story Values: I also like Shawn’s approach to identifying the key values at play in the story (as indicated by the content genres) and make sure (to the extent of my current abilities!) that I also understand their gradations along the spectrum from positive to opposite/contrary to negative/contradictory to the negation of the negation that I’ll be exploring over the course of the story.
  • Primary Plot Points: I detail my primary plot points, using a cobbled-together version of the many variations I’ve learned over the years. These tie in well with the mini-movie method I use (developed by Chris Soth) and help break a story down into smaller chunks.
    • Opening
    • Inciting Incident
    • End of Act I, Lock In, Plot Point #1
    • First Pinch Point
    • Midpoint
    • Second Pinch Point
    • End of Act II, Cave Moment/All Is Lost, Plot Point #2
    • Crisis
    • Climax
    • Resolution
  • Plot Backstory: I like to write out a summary in prose of what’s happened leading up to the story. Who was doing what before we enter this story world’s timeline? 
  • Scene by Scene Outline: I also like to have a scene by scene outline before I start writing scenes. I identify their location (with a slugline, since I’m writing scripts), the essence of what happens in the scene, and several other elements. I use a scene template that I’ll share with you at some point.
  • Treatment/Synopsis (Optional): I may also write a treatment or synopsis for the story, knowing it will likely change as I write the actual story, just to give myself a little more guidance about what happens. Usually I’ll do this before a scene outline.
  • Query Letter (Optional): Sometimes I’ll even take a stab at writing a query letter for the project to help me identify the hooks for the story and what to focus on building strongly.
  • Timeline or other organizing structural tools (Optional, if the story demands it): If needed, I’ll create a timeline for the project (particularly valuable for time travel stories!) or create other project specific organizational systems if the story requires it. This is one of those gut-level things for me.

Once I have all these pieces of the puzzle assembled, that’s when I’ll feel more confident about starting pages. Sure, some may change, but it gives me a road map and greatly streamlines the writing process for me. I’m also finding that I’m asking myself to stay longer and go deeper with each element, in order to feel more solid about it before diving in. 

What do you like to have before you start writing pages, if anything? Or are you more of a pantser when it comes to writing pages? I’d love to hear about your approach in the comments.

* Affiliate link

 

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I’d Love to Get Your Feedback On a New Writing Program

September 1, 2016 by 2 Comments

I’m planning to run a short-term Writing Intensive this fall (specific dates to be determined), and I’d love to get your input on it.

My vision is to create something along the lines of NaNoWriMo but with a smaller group, more support, and direct interaction with a writing coach. The purpose of the Writing Intensive would be to pick one specific project that you’ve been wanting to do a push on and focus on moving it forward significantly for the duration of the Intensive.

Unlike NaNoWriMo, we wouldn’t necessarily have a shared goal (in NaNo, everyone aims to write 50,000 words during the month of November), but rather start off at the beginning with a specific stretch goal that you personally want to meet, and have a structured timeline within which to meet it. We’ll have a collection of support tools to help you get there that may include things like: daily check-ins online, a special chat group for discussion and interaction, writing sprints, frequent teleconferences, and more (I’m refining the specifics about this on the basis of your feedback, hence this post).

I’m currently planning to use the platform I use to run my Called to Write Coaching Circle, but with a different focus (intensely focused on heightened productivity rather than daily writing habit building and ongoing productivity), additional tools, and even story coaching if warranted. 

If you’re interested in this and you’d like to give me your input on it, I’d really appreciate it! I’ve set up a survey here.

You’re also more than welcome to leave comments here on the blog.

Thank you so much! I appreciate it.

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6 Takeaways From Rewriting “The Seventh”

August 11, 2016 by 2 Comments

I can’t believe it, but I’ve worked on two different screenwriting assignments this year, all while taking care of my little toddler, who just turned two in May. It hasn’t been exactly easy, but it’s been incredibly inspiring. There’s nothing quite like working on a screenplay with a deadline to shift one’s motivation into high gear. ;)

I recently shared that I’d overhauled my character profile template in the course of working on this latest assignment. Now I want to share some of the other things I learned through the process of working on this gig. This was a rewrite project, so it was almost like being hired as a script doctor, but since I’m also sharing writing credit for the project it’s a little different than being a true script doctor, which is often uncredited work. The project is called The Seventh, and it turned out to be incredibly fun to rewrite someone else’s work (not at all like rewriting my own!).

Here are six unexpected takeaways I gained from working on this project:

  1. Reverse-outlining pays off. Before I dove into the actual rewrite, I reverse outlined the entire script. I exported it from Final Draft into Scrivener and then into Numbers (the Mac version of Excel) so I could have a spreadsheet I could easily study all in one place. I like the Navigator in Final Draft and the outline view in Scrivener, but for this, I wanted something I could easily see in one place and control in ways that I wanted.

    Once I had the scene headings from Final Draft imported into Numbers, I went through each scene and summarized what happened in a few short sentences. Then I made notes about issues I noticed as I worked through. I also numbered the scenes. The beauty of doing this work is that it highlighted story issues, pointed out plot holes, and helped me get clear on the natural story breaks and sequences, and how well they were working, or not. Since I like to work in mini-movies (approximately 15 minute sequences) it helped me to see how well the script was working with that pattern and showed me where I needed to tweak it.

    What made this so fun was that it was like being a sleuth, digging in, finding what was working and what wasn’t. Very satisfying!

  2. Backstory matters. I knew this before. But now I KNOW it. Working on someone else’s project gave me more courage to dig deep into the how’s and why’s of everything. I couldn’t write it unless I understood it. With my own projects, I’ve been more cavalier about understanding where everyone comes from and why they’re doing what they’re doing, thinking I’d figure it out along the way (and of course I learned more about these characters even as I worked with them).

    But there was something about delving into all the details and leaving no stone unturned when it came to even the slightest motivation or plot hole to get our story strong and straight. This is, of course, particularly important with a complex sci-fi world such as the one in The Seventh, but as I’ve watched and read other stories lately it’s gotten crystal clear — the characters exist before they come onto the scene in our stories. They have histories. Issues. Relationships. And all those come to bear on the decisions they make and the motivations they bring to the scenes they’re in.

    We went through several different iterations of the backstory, and the feeling of finally getting a lock on it was thrilling, particularly because we didn’t give up on it until it truly worked.

  3. Having a rewrite plan helps, but it’s not set in stone. We went into the rewrite knowing we had a certain number of days to accomplish it (40 days). And we calculated approximately how many days I could spend rewriting each 15-page section of the script to hit our deadline. But as we went into it, we found ourselves spending more time on the backstory and world building than we’d anticipated. QUITE a bit more. Which meant that I had to compress my timeline.

    The other unexpected variable was that the script got longer, due to a variety of factors. So my calculation of a number of pages per day didn’t exactly match what I actually had to write. So again, I adapted.

    A third monkey wrench was what one of the writers in my program calls a “black hole” section, where the whole thing just takes a lot longer than expected to sort out. Not all 15 page sections are created equal, after all!

  4. Tracking progress helps keep the ship on course. Despite the shifts in the winds of rewriting, because I carefully tracked my progress, I was able to see where I was, and where I needed to end up. In the graphic below, you can see my revision plan in the upper table, essentially starting on June 3rd. We’d intended to start much earlier, but as I mentioned, the backstory and world building work ended up taking 14 days. In the lower table, you can see the number of pages I worked on each day or block of days.

    This is one of those things I geek out about — watching my progress build, seeing how I’m staying on track (or not) helps make it exciting and fun and keeps me from getting lost in the “I’ll never make it” doldrums my inner critic likes to dish out. And I could easily tell my writing partner how close I was to being on schedule at any given point.
    The Seventh Rewrite Process

  5. Having a great writing partner is huge. I was thrilled to work with my co-writer on the rewrite, the original author of this script. I did all the rewriting work, but we worked closely together throughout the process. It was a huge source of fun and delight for me to have someone to bounce ideas off, run problems by, and generally dig deep into the story together. My co-writer was particularly good at keeping his ego out of the way and working hard with me on making sure the story improved. It was inspiring and impressive. Plus it turns out it’s just wicked fun to help make someone else’s writing that much better.
  6. Screenwriting every day for 40 days was empowering. Since having my second kiddo, I’ve been interspersing stretches of screenwriting with other writing (blogging, course writing, product writing, etc.) and while that’s been easier for me to manage, it’s been a little disorienting. I loved the feeling of ending each day feeling like I’d really USED my brain for my truest deepest calling — writing fiction. That expression “die empty” felt very apropos. Each evening, as I went to bed, I felt complete in way I don’t feel when I’m not writing fiction. It was amazing.

Interestingly, when I was first offered this writing gig, I turned it down, based on my level of busyness as a mom, as a writer of my own projects, and as an entrepreneur. But in the end, it was a delightful experience all around and one I’m truly grateful to have been asked to be involved in. I can’t wait to see what happens with The Seventh as it continues to evolve!

 

Filed Under: Science Fiction, Writing Tagged With: , , ,

Get Steven Pressfield’s latest book for free

June 16, 2016 by Leave a Comment

If you haven’t seen the news yet, Steven Pressfield has a new book out called Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t: Why That Is and What To Do About It.

You can download a copy of the ebook for free for the next week or so (click this link to go to the download page). There’s no email opt-in required.

I love this for so many reasons. Among them:

1. I adore Steven Pressfield’s books about writing. He says this one picks up where The War of Art takes off, which is one of my all time favorite books about writing and always gets me to sit up a little straighter when I read it. My other all time favorite is one of his other books Turning Pro. So you can imagine that I’m thrilled to read the next one.

2. It’s a very cool marketing strategy. Steven Pressfield and Shawn Coyne, the co-founders of Black Irish Books, take the long view when it comes to publishing and marketing. They believe in building a loyal audience and spreading by word of mouth. They believe in the value of what they publish and know that getting it out there is a huge part of the process.

3. They’re taking a casual approach to their offer. They’re not forcing an opt-in (though there is certainly a time and place for that when building a list and a platform). And they’re leaving the decision as to how long the offer stays open up in the air a bit. This speaks to their confidence and experience in a powerful way. These guys are comfortable about what they are doing, and it shows.

4. It’s got a great title. I’m reminded of the oft-shared article, “I Will Not Read Your F*cking Script”, which had me in stitches when I read it. This title speaks to the angst we writers experience over trying to get our stuff looked at … and WHY people may not want to, something we all could use a little education about, I’m sure. I can’t wait to read it.

5. Because I’m a lifer when it comes to being a Pressfield fan, it’s fun to get to share this with you. Ordinarily I wouldn’t share a book with my audience without reading it first. But because I know, like, and trust Steven Pressfield and his work, I’m happy to put it out there. When we think about this from a marketing perspective regarding our own work, there are lessons to be learned in spades here.

Go forth and download!

Enjoy. And let me know what you think when you read it. I’ll be diving into it soon myself.

Warmly,

Jenna

Coming Up

Coaching CircleThe next session of the Called to Write Coaching Circle starts on Monday, June 20th and the last day to register and join us is TODAY, June 16 by 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time.

Find out more and register here: http://JustDoTheWriting.com. Join us!

  

 

fittingwritingintoyourlifeI’m leading a one-week intensive called “Fitting Writing Into Your Life: Becoming a Productive Screenwriter ” at Screenwriter’s University starting on August 11th and running for 7 days. It’s a three-part online recorded video presentation from me and plus online discussions, interaction, and support from me. Find out more and register here. *

* This is an affiliate link, which means I’ll earn an extra commission in addition to my teacher’s pay, if you register through me.
Filed Under: Announcements, Writing Tagged With: , , , ,

Our Stories Are Our Ladders to the Stars

June 14, 2016 by 4 Comments

I just watched Donovan Livingston’s Harvard commencement address. It’s truly stunning.

If you haven’t seen it, it’s worth watching, thrice over.

You can also read the full text online here too.

He spoke to the deepest part of my heart and soul, where it comes to writing, to education, to believing in ourselves and in our children and in our capacity for greatness.

I loved this:

I was in the 7th grade, when Ms. Parker told me,
“Donovan, we can put your excess energy to good use!”
And she introduced me to the sound of my own voice.
She gave me a stage. A platform.
She told me that our stories are ladders
That make it easier for us to touch the stars.

Write your stories.

 

 

 

News

The Sci-Fi Rewrite: I’m DEEP into the sci-fi rewrite I mentioned in my last post. It’s been a fascinating dive into world-building, shoring up plot holes, digging into character, and more. The project is due June 29, so I’m hoping to emerge a bit more from my writing cave then. 

New Logo Design: The fabulous Giulietta Nardone and I have been working on a new logo design for my CalledtoWrite.com website. Donovan’s speech could have been written about many of the images we’ve been working with. I cannot wait to see what we come up with. Giulietta is an amazing artist, writer, muse, and fearless explorer.

Delicious New Ideas: I’m coming with all kinds of new ideas and exciting projects. I’ve been talking with a few of my Circle members about beta testing a writer’s platform building program, among other things. I can’t wait!

Coming Up

Coaching CircleThe next session of the Called to Write Coaching Circle starts on Monday, June 20th and the last day to register and join us is Thursday, June 16 by 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time.

Find out more and register here: http://JustDoTheWriting.com. Join us!

  

fittingwritingintoyourlifeI’m leading a one-week intensive called “Fitting Writing Into Your Life: Becoming a Productive Screenwriter” at Screenwriter’s University starting on August 11th and running for 7 days. It’s a three-part online recorded video presentation from me and plus online discussions, interaction, and support from me. Find out more and register here. *

 

* This is an affiliate link, which means I’ll earn an extra commission in addition to my teacher’s pay, if you register through me.
Photo by Greg Rakozy, used under the creative commons license.
Filed Under: Inspiration, Writing Tagged With: , , ,
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