Shawn L. Bird

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

reality and fiction June 18, 2010

Filed under: Grace Awakening,Literature,Mythology,Reading,Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 3:56 am
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…the difference between fiction based on reality and fantasy is simply a matter of range. The former is a handgun. It hits the target almost close enough to touch, and even the willfully ignorant can’t deny that it’s effective. Fantasy is a sixteen-inch naval rifle. It fires with a tremendous bang, and it appears to have done nothing and to be shooting a nothing.

Note the qualifier “appears.” The real difference is that with fantasy—and by that I mean fantasy which can simultaneously tap into a cosmopolitan commonality at the same time as it springs from an individual and unique perspective. In this sort of fantasy, a mythic resonance lingers on—a harmonious vibration that builds in potency the longer one considers it, rather than fading away when the final page is read and the book is put away. Characters discovered in such writing are pulled from our own inner landscapes…and then set out upon the stories’ various stages so that as we learn to understand them a little better, both the monsters and the angels, we come to understand ourselves a little better as well. (Charles de Lint. Memory and Dreams. p. 323)

I wish de Lint’s words were my own, because they’re so profound. Consider: “harmonious vibration that builds in potency.” Oh how I hope that Grace Awakening offers the reader such a lingering mythic resonancy! How I hope that as they grow to understand my characters, they understand themselves better, just as I have grown from the process.

When someone asks why on Earth I chose to write a novel with a fantasy twist, I want to be answer as eloquently as this! I am reminded of Bella’s comment in New Moon, “Could a world really exist where ancient legends went wandering around the borders of tiny, insignificant towns, facing down mythical monsters? Did this mean every impossible fairy tale was grounded somewhere in absolute ghost truth? Was there anything sane or normal at all, or was everything just magic and stories?” (p. 293) When it became clear that the story I had to tell required me to embrace myth, it was an epiphany. Once the mythology began to weave between the lines, my words flew beyond me. They started unfurling so much more than the germ I’d started with. Mythology reveals great truth, and I learned a lot from Grace and Ben, Jim and Bright, and the others in their world.  I suspect there is much more to learn.

I’m really looking forward to hearing what sorts of things the rest of you learn from Grace et al. If you’ve read Grace Awakening, I’d love to hear what harmonious vibration is resonating with you.

 

engineering artistry June 13, 2010

Filed under: Commentary,Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 6:10 pm
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There’s an artist and an engineer on your team.  They have different skills and you need to use both of them!  (Sylvia Taylor)

Sylvia Taylor presented a very practical workshop on editing at the Shuswap Lake International Writers’ Festival, and this quote is from that workshop.  Our very exacting and critical left brain and our very creative right brain can either work against one another or with each other.  This lesson is a very practical one for writers.

In this case, there is an “I” in team, since both members of the team are in our own head. When they’re fighting for our attention, nothing productive happens.  While our right brain is happily thinking up new plots and dialogue, our left brain is telling us our ideas are stupid and forcing us to second guess every line.  Sylvia recommended harnessing the ‘engineer’ of the right brain by doing timed writes.  The engineer is busy keeping tabs on the time, while the artist of the right brain is free to write without disturbance.

Another fabulous way to harness the critical left brain is during the editing process.   If we tell the left brain that it will get its chance afterwards, the right brain can create the story, article or poem, but then we can turn the piece over to the left brain to turn the art into craft: honing in on problems, pruning, improving and generally simply making the right brain’s effort stronger.  Editing is as important as the inventing, and often takes far more time.  Take advantage of your left brain’s skill in this area.

Writing is a team effort, it requires both our inner engineer and our inner artist.  We need to take full advantage of our whole brain to be stronger writers.  Thanks for the inspiring lesson, Sylvia.

 

The readers’ bargain June 10, 2010

Filed under: Commentary,Literature,Reading,Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 1:02 am
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Fine: if you’re still reading, then I’ll trust we have a bargain. You will not judge—and I will tell the truth. Or at least you will withhold your judgement as far as seems humanly possibly—which is seldom very far—and I will tell as much truth as can reasonably be expected from a man—which is seldom as much as one might hope—and between us we’ll do the best we can. (Ian Weir in Daniel O’Thunder p. 8.)

It is an interesting bargain that is struck between writer and reader. The reader agrees to suspend belief, so long as the writer crafts a believable world. The art is taking the reader on a journey of the imagination that stretches so tightly it almost snaps. When the leap is too great, the reader puts down the book in disgust and may not return to it.

Ian Weir’s Daniel O’Thunder is a lovely book. I don’t want to mislead you into thinking it is full of sweetness and light, because it is a dark book full of poverty, murder, shame and the blackness of evil, but it is beautifully crafted. There is poetry in every line. Weir took me on a journey and surprised me.   His narrator, who breaks the literary equivalent of the ‘4th wall’ to address us throughout the novel, is quite an enigma.  Unreliable narrators are so much more painfully realistic than reliable ones!

Weir’s narrator takes us on a journey, that amid the surprises (and a token ending in BC that seemed all about qualifying for grants or awards!) leads to contemplation of evil and spirituality.  He may break the contract (see what you think!) but he’s too interesting for you to be concerned.

What literary  journeys have you had to abandon? What writer broke the contract and made you so irritated that you couldn’t go on?

 

rejection letters May 29, 2010

Filed under: Grace Awakening,Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 12:39 am
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In the May 20th blog entry, “Why I Love My Job” I told you that in grade 5 I switched my career goal from writing to teaching.  I didn’t tell you why.

In grade 3 and 4, I was a writing star.  I shared stories with my grade 3 class during show and tell, and I know I kept them on the edge of their seats with my brilliant prose.  In grade 4 I won a Mother’s Day contest with a poem I’d written.  My star was on fire.  I had nothing but confidence in my skills as a writer.

In grade 5, I shared a poem I’d written with my school librarian, Mrs. Alex Harbottle , and she suggested I send it in to a magazine.  She recommended a children’s poetry journal called Jabberwocky.  I sent off my poem.  In due course, I received a letter back from them.  Heart thudding with joyful anticipation I opened the envelope, and pulled out my first rejection letter.

Oh, it was a kind and thoughtful letter.  My poem, the editor said, was too mature for their journal.  It was a lovely poem, and I should send it on to an adult poetry magazine or a religious magazine.  They thanked me for my submission and hoped I would send them something else another time.

I was shocked.  I was 10 years old.  Why would my poem be of interest to adults or the audience of a religious magazine?   I couldn’t deal with their suggestion, and so I shut that door.

Don’t get me wrong, I was still writing poetry.  Just ask the boys who captured my interest and received beautiful hand calligraphied books dedicated to them!  I also wrote articles and a library column for the school newspaper.  That was just the end of looking for public approval until college when I discovered my fiance (who was NOT a writer) was going to enter a piece into the writing award.  I couldn’t have that!  It was only 2 or 3 hours to deadline, but I borrowed a typewriter, invented a story on the spot (typing very poorly!) and managed to win the prize.  It paid for his wedding ring.  That could have been enough  to inspire me to start sending out my words again, but it wasn’t.  I used them up on babies and students instead.  Two decades playing with the words of others at home and in a classroom.

Then I wrote a novel.  And another.

So now, after many years, I’m sending my words out for others to assess and to determine if those words can make them money and generate an audience for their company.  I’m sending off queries and talking to publishers.  The rejection letters are due.

I think I can handle it.  I did all right after 6 months of discussion with an agent led to the first rejection e-mail.  I wasn’t crushed.  I simply thought, “We’re just not the right fit.” (though I regret not letting her know I had a publisher indicate interest in the manuscript!) I was simply astonished when another query was returned with a “we have too many things on the pile at the moment, can you re-submit this later?” note.  (Note to self- possible area of career demand-literary agent).  No devastation.  No urges to commit suicide by letter opener as a result of another crushing blow.  So far so good.

I’m trying to re-frame the name.  They’re not so much ‘rejection letters’ as new opportunities to explore, right?  They’re not about me and my words, necessarily, they can be about what fits with the company and their needs.  Publishers a’re  businesses, after all.  They have to find product that matches with their vision.  It’s not personal.  It’s just business.  But those words I’ve sent out there are my babies, and I want them to be well-liked and find friends who will help them become all they can be.

I’m trying to feel brave as I send my words out.  I hope they’ll be received well. 

Last year, in response to a joyful email note I’d sent upon initial interest by an agent in Grace Awakening, an old, dear friend (who was beneficiary of a few of those calligraphied poetry books once upon a time) wrote, “You’re a writer.  You’ve always been one.”  It makes me weepy whenever I consider his simple assertion of this identity for me.  One rejection letter  in my youth made me doubt that this was my calling, but I’m claiming it again.

I am returning to the childhood quest, Mrs. Harbottle, because I am a writer.

 

Words May 28, 2010

Filed under: Grace Awakening,Pondering,Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 6:20 am
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Words.

We fill our days with them.  We speak them.  We read them.  They shout at us from billboards.  They whisper at us from between the notes of a song. 

 We celebrate upon a baby’s first words.  We’re empowered when we first read words.  We grieve when a stroke steals words.  We hover around a bedside to hear last words.

This weekend is a celebration of words.  I will be attending the Shuswap Writers’ Festival.  I had just finished Grace Awakening last year when I attended my first writing conference here in the Shuswap.  I thought meeting some professional writers and  mingling with the writing community was bound to be a good experience.  It was all  new. I wasn’t sure what a blue pencil was, and why I’d want to participate in it.  It was enlightening.  Every workshop offered gems.  I hung on the edge of my seat listening to Andrea Spalding share her experiences and work.  Words filled the weekend and led to more words.  On the basis of my experience I was encouraged to be brave  and travel to attend the huge Surrey International Writers’ Festival 5 months later.  That conference  was also phenomenally inspiring and led to some new writing friends and connections.

Now I will be hanging on the edge of my seat again.  What words will be shared this weekend?  Will a book sell?  Will a career launch?  Who will I meet?  What will I learn?   I am eager to meet the professionals and soak up as many of their words as I can.  I’m hoping to hear some encouraging words.

Words are waiting to change my world again.  Whose words willl they be?