You have to start somewhere....

"Irish rocks and mushrooms" watercolor painting copyrighted by Judi Getch Brodman

I thought that I could illustrate what I'm suffering through with my writing right now by quickly describing my painting process.  Directly above is a photograph of a mishmash of leaves, rocks, ferns and mushrooms that were outside my girlfriend's back door in Ireland.   She just walked by it, but I said, "Hey, look at those mushrooms!"  It was the seed for a wonderful painting... keeping those mushrooms in mind, I threw a lot of color in the background... always keeping those mushrooms in mind.  Eventually everything fell together and those mushrooms, oh those mushrooms danced.  Believe it or not, it is one of my favorite paintings and one that people always ask how I saw something beautiful in that scene.

It's not so different from the writing process I'm going through now... I found the "mushroom" that I loved for a story, a news report that intrigued me, but how was I going to find the "rocks" to showcase that mushroom?  It's a beautiful mushroom, but only something around which to build the story.  I wrote before that the first two or three chapters came easily and then?  Nothing... where was the story going?  Slowly, with the help of my on-line course, Heidi, my teacher, had me think about what my characters were like, answer some interesting questions about them, like what were their regrets, what had they saved, what memory stood out from their childhood, and voila,  a story line appeared.  Slowly, one by one, the rocks appeared and I'm finding my characters' flaws and strengths, regrets and secrets - like the rocks in the painting. As with the rocks, I have to make the story nuggets fit in with the color and shapes and the mushroom.

I'm writing Chapter 10 and it's still hard work, and I know that even when I've colored in all the rocks, there will be many revisions before the story is publishable.  But I'm finding a rhythm and enjoying it.

My advice from my experience this winter is to take a GOOD writing workshop if you can find one... at a local college, a writers group, or an on-line course like the one I took.  It will up your writing skills if the leader is a good one with good insight.  Mine was taught by an author I loved and I worked hard every day for eight weeks.

Well, back to crafting the rocks of my story...

Till,
Judi

Revving your writing engine...

Thoor Ballylee Tower - Yeats summer home  copyrighted Judi Getch

Well, I said that I'd be back after my workshop was over, and here I am!  This was my first time taking an on-line writing workshop and it worked out great.  A bit weird introducing yourself to the others in the group digitally, but we all worked real hard for eight weeks. 

We started the first week with writing exercises which were fun. These were partially so our leader, Heidi, could get a feel for the writing capabilities of the group.  Then we submitted a piece, could be a chapter or a few pages, and the group as well as Heidi would comment on the posting.  About week four or five, she asked us to choose one of our characters and answer a set of questions about him or her, questions like what were they ashamed of or if they had a small wooden box what would be in it. You absolutely can't imagine what you can learn about your characters by answering a bunch of questions about them.  After I did it for my primary character, she asked me to do it for another... this was eye-popping for her and for me.  I discovered my plot through that exercise.  Characters are her thing... making them real, being inside them as the author, placing them in a scene that you the reader can sense.  My writing took a giant leap from studying with her... she can pinpoint problems and light them up for you like a laser beam.  

I'm continuing my writing journey on my own now, but I have so much more to offer a reader after this workshop.  It felt so good to have her say at the end..."you are making real characters, real scenes, real conversations here. Her French returns in a very natural way, and the reader follows along, seeing the scene spread out before him, with interest and pleasure."

I am rewriting my novel that I thought was ready to go and my new novel is moving so fast that even I can't keep up with those darn characters!  

If you need to restart your writing engines... find a group, take a workshop, read a good book by an author you love.  Trust me, your engines will be revving in no time at all!   

Back to my writing so I can see what my characters have been up to since I've been away!

Till,
Judi