Shawn L. Bird

Original poetry, commentary, and fiction. All copyrights reserved.

Turn on the tap first November 10, 2012

Filed under: OUTLANDERishness,Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 11:25 am
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If you’re going to be a writer, the first essential is just to write. Do not wait for an idea. Start writing something and the ideas will come. You have to turn the faucet on before the water starts to flow.

– Louis L’Amour

Isn’t this a remarkably logical analogy?  Pondering, ruminating, meditating, and considering are all very good, but until the thoughts are forced up the pipe and onto the page, we have nothing.

When I wrote Grace Awakening Dreams and Power, it took just under six months to go from nothing to over 150,000 words.  That’s about 25,000 words a month, half the pace of NaNoWriMo.  No wonder I’m feeling pressured.  I do my writing for the day, and hit ‘word count.’  It is generally about 850 words.  Inwardly I groan, because I need to double that count.  Sometimes I just go right back and pound out the next scene, but most of the time I need a break.

I would like to keep up the ‘assigned’ pace, but if I don’t, I just have to continue with my comfortable pace and I will get there eventually.  The important thing, as L’Amour says, is just to sit down and write.  As Diana Gabaldon reminds me, it’s important to write every day to keep up the inertia.

Write on NaNobots!  We shall get there eventually if we don’t give up!

NaNoWriMo Day 10:   1101       (Total for November so far: 13,900)

 

what’s lingering from #SIWC2012 November 7, 2012

Filed under: OUTLANDERishness,Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 7:38 am
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As I pound away on my NaNoWriMo piece, I keep hearing a voice in my head.  Not surprisingly, it’s Diana Gabaldon’s <g> but it’s not the advice I thought I was taking from my blue pencil or all the workshops I attended at the Surrey International Writers’ Conference.

At my blue pencil, Diana and I discussed historical language, dialogue, and whatnot, and while that was important,  what I keep hearing in my head is her laughing voice summarizing,  “You need to have something happen …   And it needs to be something fairly interesting.”

I mean, that’s not news.  That’s so obvious that it’s painful.  She was specifically saying that if the section of my historical novel that she read was going to end up as the beginning, then something intense had to happen.  However, the line is turning into a mantra when ever I sit down to write.  I suspect that is what makes Diana’s books so  engaging.  On EVERY page, something happens.  It’s good advice.  Don’t explain.  Make things happen.

As I write, I can clearly hear Diana’s voice, chuckling with me, just as my time with her was running out, and I think that basic though this comment might be, it might be the most important thing I took away from SIWC this year.

Something has to happen.

I intend to ponder it a lot.  We are authors.  We make things happen.  All these NaNoWriMo words are created from nothing.  We’re making things happen.  When I’m typing away I need to keep making things happen.

In my life, I need to make things happen.

NaNoWriMo count day 7: 1651  (Total 10,664)

 

The truth about history November 5, 2012

Filed under: OUTLANDERishness,Reading,Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 5:03 am
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“A story can be new and yet tell about olden times.  The past comes into existence with the story…  Beginning at the moment when you gave it its name…it has existed forever.”

Michael Ende.  The Neverending Story (Large print edition, p. 305).

I’ve been reading The Neverending Story for the last few days.  I came across this quote today, and it struck me as being rather profound within the context of the historical fiction workshops I attended at SIWC.

The history described may be factual, but its interpretation is imagined.  Scenarios are created.  Some may have happened ‘sort of’ like the author imagined, or maybe not. However, once the reader has that account in his head, it becomes the story of the history.  It becomes the reader’s experience and it colours his/her understanding of history.

I was on London’s Tower Hill last spring, and saw a plaque commemorating the deaths of Balmerino and Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat.  They were real people who were beheaded for their involvement with Charles Stewart.  They died in 1746 and 1747, but I grieved them as if I’d known them when I saw that plaque.  I touched it and felt a pang of loss, because I’d met them in the pages of Diana Gabaldon’s books.  She’d made them real.

Were the real men anything like she portrayed them?  I don’t know.   She called forth a story, and it existed from olden times.

It’s rather daunting for anyone contemplating writing historical fiction.  We may be re-creating history.  What a trust!

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NaNoWriMo report for Day 5: 1698 words   (Total: 8424)

 

What else did you do at SIWC? October 26, 2012

Filed under: OUTLANDERishness,Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 7:34 am
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Aside from the pitch and blue pencil time, The Surrey International Writers’ Conference offers an amazing variety of workshops and keynote addresses.  As a teacher, I love learning, and it was wonderful to learn from the following:

Friday Keynote by Jane Espenson– screenwriter of Buffy, Husbands, Once Upon a Time, etc.  She’s very funny and inspired us with the tale of achieving her dream to be a writer.  Our words have power: “SO SAY WE ALL!”

How to Be a Well Paid Blogger by Carol Tice.  In the next few months, you’ll see some changes to my blog, and many of them will be because of this rather astonishing workshop.

What to do with the Back story by Diana Gabaldon.  This workshop focused on how to subtly introduce elements of back story without stopping the action of the story.  To be honest, my favorite part of this workshop was when I raised my hand to ask a question, and Diana called on me by name.  <g>  In my blue pencil, we referenced things covered in this workshop, so I have specific things to remember…

Diving Into the Past a panel of historical fiction writers including CC Humphreys, Mary Balogh, Anne Perry, Jack Whyte, and in the audience, Diana Gabaldon who contributed now and then to the discussion when asked.  I was pitching to an agent during part of this session, and missed half of this panel.  The biggest tip I took from this was that you can research forever and never start writing.  Research enough to get going, and then write!  Don’t stop the fluency of writing to research, stick a question in square brackets and keep going.  Later, after the first draft is done, you can go back and figure out what you needed to know.

Keynote speaker for Friday night was Robert Sawyer who told us not to track trends and figure out what’s hot.  Rather, we should figure out our story and speak to the world the things we have to say, because we became writers to tell our own stories.   We have to trust others will love what we love.

The Night Owl event was Shock Theatre 5 with Michael Slade narrating a radio play mash up of classic horror stories, voiced by Jack Whyte, Anne Perry, Diana Gabaldon, Sam Sykes, with folly work by KC Dyer and a special appearance by CC Humphreys.  It was hilariously bad.

Saturday morning J. J. Lee gave an emotional keynote that had the crowd teary eyed and on its feet.  We write magic.

I missed the first session of workshops waiting in line for 70 minutes to see about getting a second agent appointment.  When I finally reached the front of the line it was 11:30 and I had to fly into the room to meet with Diana Gabaldon for my blue pencil.  I was so close to missing my appointment, I nearly had an apoplexy.

Taking Control, Advanced Social Media with Sean Cranbury was interesting.  His focus is essentially the anti-thesis of Carol Tice’s.  He believes in free sharing of information and celebration of the arts of joyful community.  However, he had a lot of good ideas about layout and professional presentation.  These will be reflected in some up coming changes to this blog.

History: Riding the Wave with CC Humphreys.  Poor Chris was feeling quite ill, but he was enthusiastic and had lots of interesting stories to tell about writing and researching A Place Called Armageddon, his latest book.  Chris and I had a mutual Fluevog admiration society going on throughout this conference.

The keynote on Saturday evening was Susanna Kearsley with whom I’d been speaking during the book fair, trying to place ‘where do I know your name.’  She had no suggestions, but when she was called up to do the keynote I had a face palm moment. So embarrassing.

There was a Night Owl movie event, but I was too tired at this stage.  My plan was to go back to my hotel for an early night, but in the end, I sat in the lobby chatting with Val King and Randy McCharles of Calgary instead.

Sunday morning, I was very slow moving.  I was a bit late for the morning key note by Diana Gabaldon who spoke about something moving and amusing, but I’ve completely forgotten the details.

Luckily Ursula recorded it, and here is every word!

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhgHPPMuMNs

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I missed the first workshop session standing in line to  book and then having another agent pitch appointment.

My final workshop was Rhythm of the Word by Sam Sykes who showed how prose can be empowered by playing with rhythm in structure and dialogue.

Jack Whyte and me at the 1920s themed Banquet at SIWC2012

The final keynote was by New York agent Donald Maass.  He declared this a time of positive change and growth in publishing, and challenged us to use our words to write works that will CHANGE THE WORLD!

We had something to do every day from about 8:30 a.m. until 10:30 p.m.  Every meal we sat with other writers, agents, publishers, or editors discussing projects, life, and writing.  There were 700 like minded souls sitting down to dine each meal, and just that was completely brilliant.  I loved sitting with new people each day and discovering new things!  It felt like ‘home’ in the most amazing way.  It was wonderful meeting authors I love, getting my photograph taken with JJ Lee, Diana Gabaldon, Anne Perry, and Jack Whyte.  Last time I attended SIWC I was too shy to approach any pros for photos.  It’s fun being able to put up photos in my class room.  Next time, I will take more photos of the people I mix and mingle with, so I’ll have “I knew them when!” photos! 🙂

 

How’d it go at SIWC? October 25, 2012

Filed under: Grace Awakening Myth,OUTLANDERishness,Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 2:13 am
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Prior to SIWC this year, I kept focusing on the excitement of meeting Diana Gabaldon, and completely ignoring the fact that the MOST IMPORTANT thing at these conferences is pitching to agents and publishers!

Aside from my 15 minutes  of blue pencil time with Diana discussing her suggestions and observations about Grace Beguiling, I did pitch Grace Awakening Myth to two agents: one from New York, and the other from Toronto.  I met with the NY agent on Friday, and the TO agent on Sunday.

After the pitch, both agents quizzed me on various plot elements, character descriptions, conflict development, etc., and both requested the first 50 pages of the manuscript.

One thing I found quite interesting was that the New York agent was intrigued with the story, and offered no opinions with respect to the setting, but the Canadian editor asked me if I’d consider changing the Calgary setting to “an anonymous North American city.”   Isn’t that ironic?  The New York agent didn’t care, but the Toronto one wanted to remove the Canadian element?

At the moment I’m in recovery from my sleep deprivation, but in the next day or two (after my brain recharges), I’ll take another look at the beginning of the manuscript focusing on some of the things I learned in workshops, and on Diana Gabaldon’s observations with respect to the other manuscript (general observations to keep in mind), before I send Myth off to see whether it makes some new friends.

 

magicians’ secrets October 23, 2012

Filed under: OUTLANDERishness,Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 7:29 am
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I was driving home last night, listening to my audio book  (A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon), and as the story went along I was thinking, “Oh.  There she goes again, neatly fitting in a piece of back story.  That was subtly done!”  The thought must have happened at least a dozen times.

I’m on my 9th re-read (print and audio) of this particular book within this calendar year.  I’ve seen all these lines before.  I knew what she was doing the previous 8 reads, but now, having come out of a workshop  where she discussed this technique and the careful process of fitting in these references to events from earlier books, and having her comments in my blue pencil session fresh in my mind, I can hear her voice echoing along with narrator Davina Porter’s.

It’s like the end of Wizard of Oz, “Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!”

It makes it harder to read books merely for enjoyment, when you very consciously catch sight of the technique.  I suspect it also makes one pickier as a reader, since you have less tolerance for poorly executed technique.

Hopefully, it makes you a better writer, though.  You grow in knowledge.  Not just intuitive awareness, but conscious knowledge of an executed skill that must be mastered to be an effective writer.

 

Diana Gabaldon said to me… October 20, 2012

Filed under: anecdotes,OUTLANDERishness,Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 11:24 pm
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The green shoulder is mine. I’m cropped out because I look like a troll in this shot! lol Diana does not seem to be able to take a bad photo! Check out her funky turquoise nails!

Today I had a blue pencil appointment with Diana Gabaldon at the Surrey International Writers’ Conference.  A blue pencil is 15 minutes of time in front of a professional author, who reads a very short selection of your work, and provides some general feedback.

I knew I’d be completely starstruck, so I asked her a month ago via Facebook if it’d be okay if I recorded the conversation, and she was fine with that.

I arrived into the empty seat in front of her desk in a flurry because I’d been in a line and lost track of the time, so I was nearly late for my appointment (and we’re not going to even discuss what a trauma that would have been after counting down, sometimes by the hour, for 135 days!).  I pulled out my scene, which is a very early, poorly cobbled together start to Grace Beguiling, which is/will be a historical/fantasy novel set in 14th century France.  The scene is 6 pages, which is way too long for a blue pencil, so I’d highlighted parts I particularly wanted her feedback on.  She just smiled, said that she was a fast reader, and zipped through the whole thing, laughing out loud in places, and making corrections of typos.  It is very cool to have your favourite author laughing out loud while reading your writing.  It’s a little embarrassing to have your favourite author correcting your typos.

When she was finished reading, I turned my iPhone’s memo recorder on and recorded her observations, suggestions, and reminders.

The part I most wanted to know about (and had spent months researching) she dismissed with a wave as, “Fine.”  We had some discussion about language choice in historical work and development and structuring of a ‘very beginning’ where there needs to be some action to grab the reader and the story must be established right away.  I am so glad I have that recording to remind me of my focus.  Grace Beguiling offers a number of stylistic challenges, and she’s helped me think about how I’m going to solve them.  There was nothing earth shattering, just common sense reiteration of basic principles.  It’s good to hear those words from someone whose knowledge you trust implicitly.  “Remember that…”  Oh right.  I know that.

Do it.

I wish the piece I’d brought wasn’t quite so rough, but it was a worthwhile endeavour.  One quote is going to be artistically rendered and put above my writing desk.

My favourite author, Diana Gabaldon said to me, “You know how to tell a story.”  That will keep me inspired for a very long time.

 

happiness is meeting your favourite author! October 18, 2012

Filed under: OUTLANDERishness,Reading,Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 10:07 pm
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Diana Gabaldon  and I at the Strawberry Hill Chapters in Surrey:  a gala fund raiser for the Surrey International Writers’ Conference.  This was a nice opportunity to chat a bit with her, as I visited with all of the other authors, waiting until the crowds were gone to speak to her.  Since we’ve been corresponding for a few months, she knew who I was and was very welcoming.

Now to get a good night’s sleep before falling off the deep end into the conference!

PS.  You can’t see them, but there are new Fluevogs on my feet after a pilgrimage to the Gastown Fluevog HQ… 🙂  (It’s been a very happy day celebrating my addictions).

PS2.  I didn’t even hyper-ventilate when I met her, although coming home  I wondered if I was having a heart attack.  After determining I simply did not have TIME to fit in a heart attack this weekend, I decided it was the Thai chicken wrap I had for dinner. 🙂

PS3. This trip was partially to help me prepare psychologically for my Blue Pencil session two days later.  You might be interested in reading the post Diana Gabaldon Said To Me as well

PS4. I was also amused to meet Diana’s son Sam Sykes, who wasn’t an official author at this event.  He’s amusing.

 

 

hyper-ventilating October 16, 2012

Filed under: OUTLANDERishness,Pondering,Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 9:29 pm
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I have met some ‘famous’ people over the years, and while I may be in awe of their talent, they generally turn out to be people pretty much like me. I know that. But at the moment, it’s rather difficult to BELIEVE it.

As you’ve noticed if you’ve read this blog for any time, I love Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series, and I am amazed by her talent and her generosity to her fans and other writers. I have posted questions on her Facebook page and on the Compuserve Writers’ Forum, and she has provided helpful (and sometimes lengthy) responses.

For these reasons, I am hyperventilating as this week ticks by, because in less than 48 hours I will be meeting Diana Gabaldon (and J. J. Lee, Jack Whyte, Mary Balogh, Anne Perry and Michael Slade, not to name drop or anything) 🙂 at a fund raiser for the Surrey Writers’ Conference, and on Saturday I have the honour of sharing the scene that Diana had helped me with in a 15 minute blue pencil appointment at the conference.  I am nervous, excited, and slightly terrified of making a fool of myself.

My son said, “Just don’t be a fan, Mom. Be professional.”

Yeah. Easier said than done, kid!

 

Time takes care of all things September 8, 2012

Filed under: Grace Awakening Myth,Literature,OUTLANDERishness,Pondering — Shawn L. Bird @ 9:51 am
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“Time is a lot of the things people say that God is.  There’s the always pre-existing, and having no end.  There’s the notion of being all powerful–because nothing can stand against time, can it?  Not mountains, not armies.

And time is, of course, all-healing.  Give anything enough time, and everything is taken care of:  all pain encompassed, all hardship erased, all loss subsumed.

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.  Remember, man, that thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return.

And if  Time is anything akin to God, I suppose that Memory must be the Devil.”

Diana Gabaldon in Breath of Snow and Ashes

I found this quote rather profound.  Memory being the Devil ascribes evil to our past.  Beyond haunting, it implies danger, cruelty and manipulation.  Do our memories really do that?

Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory shows up in Grace Awakening Myth.  She and Lethe, the goddess of forgetfulness, are working together on Ben to sculpt him just the right combination of memories to keep him optimistic.  They work together to keep him whole, because he would not be able to bear contemplating the possibilities opened up by his more painful memories.

I wonder if our own memories often work the same way?  If we are successful in burying the negative history, we are re-working our own memory.  I suppose it must also work in reverse.  We can ignore all our positive experiences and craft ourselves memories of a terrible childhood, and use that strange, inaccurate perspective to fuel our behaviour.  We can view ourselves as down trodden over-comers, and use that to force ourselves to deal with current challenges.

Gabaldon’s quote is from Claire’s perspective.  Claire has a lot of memories from life in the future and in the past.  She has a complex web of memories that she might like to escape.

What do you think?  Are your memories an inspiration to your future, or are they a challenge to overcome?