Define the Dream…

A few days ago I wrote about following your dreams. It’s so important, it bears repeating. Essentially, it’s our purpose. I’m discovering now that there is something else we should do regarding our dreams…

I’ve been so hungry for my dream of writing, I think I kind of steamrolled over the whole spectrum of what writing is. Something else we should attempt to do is rein things in. DEFINE YOUR DREAM. If I were being true to myself, as true as I could be to my dream, I think I would end up narrowing my dream to that of PLAYWRIGHT. It’s where I find the most satisfaction. And, no, I’m not talking about the accolades received from the audience when one of my plays is produced. I’m not talking about positive feedback from actors and/or directors. I’m talking about the actual act itself. There is something about playwriting that is IMMEDIATE for me, something SO electric and alive in the act of putting the dialogue to paper that I crave so much. It’s so much different than novel writing. The reward in writing a play—of anticipating the animation of the corpse (in this case, the actor) and defining characters by their words and mannerisms—it’s just so addictive and satisfying.

I think it’s time for me to define my writing dream. I’ve been a poet, a lyricist, a freelancer, a novelist, a playwright, a memoirist. I’ve had about 10 years now to explore my options. It’s more than time to zone in on a particular writing form and see if I can take it to a higher level. Otherwise, I’ll just continue mucking about without a specific plan of action. And that’s libel to get me nowhere, if I’m not careful.

How about you? Have you asked yourself lately what it is you want to achieve with your writing? In what direction you want to take it?

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with floating about doing this and that and just having fun exploring all the avenues. But I’m beginning to feel a bit dizzy in the head. I’m living my dream…I’m writing. But now I think it’s time to discover what writing avenue speaks the loudest to me. I think it may be the avenue of the playwright. I’m going to try focusing on that for awhile to see where it takes me. Who knows…I could be totally off-base.

END SCENE
EXIT – STAGE RIGHT…

Been Reading Some Outstanding YA!

I’ve been reading such incredible YA lately, it’s even cutting into my writing time! But I can’t help myself. It’s just SO good!

I thought I would share a few titles here. I won’t even get into the latest David Gilmour novel, The Perfect Order of Things! Not a YA, I just finished it and was once again reminded that Gilmour is an outstanding writer…maybe even the best! He blows me away every single time. I have a tendency to forget about him between books, for some reason. Then his next book comes out and I am once again swept off my feet by his words. It’s a love/hate relationship. I’m crazy jealous that he can perfect every sentence he puts to paper…but I swoon with mad-love for those sentences.

Here are a few picks from recent reading:

 

I included two that I am still currently reading. Voiceless by Caroline Wissing and Velveteen by Daniel Marks. Both of these books will be 5-star, unless a dinosaur pops out at the end and eats all the characters, a la deus ex machina. (-:

You can find my reviews at TRY THIS BOOK ON FOR SIZE

I fell in love with each of these 6 books…all are worth checking out. Voiceless was written by a friend and it is incredible. Still devouring it right now! And Velveteen doesn’t hit the shelves until the fall. It’s one you should mark on your calendar…a perfect treat of a YA book. It has humour, horror and intelligence. I’m loving it!

Something worth mentioning: If you read a book and love it enough to recommend it, do the author a favour and review it on Goodreads, Amazon, Shelfari or any of the other review sites on the web. SHARE the love. (-:

Don’t Let Your Playwright Get in the Way of Your Novelist!

Do you ever find yourself blocking your novel? Positioning everything in your scene either upstage right or downstage left or right centre or upstage centre? Do you ever hold your thumbs together to form a block with your hands in which you envision your scene…so that you can ensure it’s visually pleasing and correct as you imagine it?

Do you ever accidentally write in a character leaving the stage? Entering the stage? Stage whispering?

Do you ever write END SCENE at the end of a chapter or SETTING at the beginning of one?

You may be suffering from playwriting fever. A novel is NOT a play and a play is NOT a novel. This advice is more for myself than for anyone else. I tend to work the play of my novel in my head while I’m writing the novel. It makes me consider every single word of my dialogue—which is a great thing—but it also slows me down at times and makes me forget to write the prose between the dialogue.

Stage blocking can help when writing a novel. Truly…it can. You should try it sometime. It allows you to see if the picture you’re creating is going to work, if everything you’re writing is possible/viable. But it can also get in the way. You can’t cross that line where you forget you’re writing a novel. Things get stifled if you actually write your scenes like you’re blocking them. There is no poetry in the act of stage blocking. That’s probably why it’s all parenthetical in a script. In a novel, you have to make sure everything flows…not just your dialogue.

Again, this is advice for myself. I sometimes forget this…as I enjoy playwriting almost more than I enjoy novel writing. Sometimes it’s hard to turn the playwright off.

By all means, position your characters properly within your scenes. But remember not to spell it out. You’re not telling actors where to stand…you’re carrying your characters through an imaginary world which your readers have to reconstruct effortlessly. Readers are not going to read the stage directions. They’re going to float through your novel…see what you tell them to see. The trick is to get it into their heads without them knowing it’s there. Effortless scenes…not—character A is here and character B is here, okay go…read.

This concludes today’s lesson/reminder to self. Next I should tackle – If you’re going to fling your characters off of tall buildings, there is no need to fling yourself from such precipices in order to write the flinging accurately.

WCDR’s Whispered Words Anthology Launch

The WCDR Whispered Words anthology is launching! My story, SUN’LL COME, is included in this anthology.

The launch is on Tuesday, June 5th at Azian Cuisine in Ajax, Ontario. 7-9pm.

The anthology is made up of the winners, runners up and other selected entries from the 2011 Whispered Words Prose Contest.

For full details on the launch, visit the page on the WCDR website: WHISPERED WORDS ANTHOLOGY LAUNCH

(You must register online to attend the launch—and hurry. It sold out last year. If you’re in the GTA, it’s a great night of readings and nibblies.)

Sadly, I will not be able to attend. My Tuesdays are fully booked. But I will definitely be getting a copy of the anthology. If you can’t make it out, you can order a copy HERE