I bet you all thought (hoped) I was done blogging! Again! But alas I get bored and twiddling my thumbs and mastur...I mean reading can only make the days go by so fast. I don't even really remember when it was I last posted but I've been itching to get back in the game. Since we last spoke I completed some more shows, my favorite of which was Dog Sees God in which I played a teenage germophobe version of Pigpen of the Peanuts gang. It was great, I got to act like a douchebag, perform various forms of pelvic thrusting, and beat up a gay kid. You know, smalltime stuff.
Since then I've been taking a theatre break and have been attempting to rediscover what my life was like before I filled my plate with a marathon of shows. Turns out I have little to no life, so I've been trying to read and write more, which brings us to this blog post. I tried and failed to complete a 50,000 word novel for last fall's NaNoWriMo (that's "National Novel Writing Month" for the squares out there), coming up about 30,000 words short. Doing a show and changing story ideas halfway through the month kind of slowed me down. But now I'm trying to finish what I started by completing that novel and then shopping it to some publishers before inevitably self-publishing it, which will likely require a Kickstarter so all of you should remember all of the nice things I've done for you and how I always write on your Facebooks for your birthdays for when that time comes.
I was saying something...
So I'm trying really hard to finish this story which I think is really good, but we'll know for sure when my test reader gets finished with the first 60 pages I gave her. Now that I'm back in a writing groove though, I'm beginning to pick back up all of the tricks and strategies I used to use in order to keep myself committed. I'll gladly share some of these tips that work for me and may help any of you fellow aspiring writers. Here's the list:
1. Anna Kendrick
2. Katy Perry
3
Whoops, wrong list! Here's the right one, in no particular order.
1. Make a playlist
I use music for a lot of my inspiration, so one of the first things I do, and sometimes during the process, is compile a playlist of songs on iTunes that make me think of certain characters or events in the story I'm writing. This way these things are always on my mind if I'm driving or somewhere I'm unable to write.
2. Have something to drink
This doesn't necessarily mean alcohol, although a cold beer certainly isn't a bad choice. I just like to have something else to do while I'm focusing, and reaching for a bottle or a mug also keeps your hand doing a different motion other than typing. It's like a very brief break, and refilling gives you something to do for when you get stuck.
3. Listen to instrumental music
Film scores are my usual go-to for background music, but video game scores as well as classical music have also been very helpful. I can't work in silence but I also get distracted by lyrics, so this music is the most ideal.
4. Careful how often you read while working on something
Look, we all love reading. It's second nature to most of us. But if you find yourself too into a book while you yourself are trying to write one, you may find yourself copying that author's style, and in some cases, entire plot points. Always remember that every author is different and you'll gain nothing by doing what they did before.
5. Explain to your friends and family to leave you be
I'm still working on this one. Writing is work that requires great concentration, and once you fall out of a groove it's a slippery slope to get back on it. When somebody walks into your room while you're in the middle of writing, you may as well have your dick in your hand because you feel like your entire universe of privacy was just upended. Writing is basically masturbation of the mind and should be treated as such by those who interrupt you in the middle of it.
6. Become your characters
This was easier when I had more time to myself during the day, but it's a trick I came up with myself - a way to use my acting skills to boost my writing. Writing your characters, especially in POV situations, requires you to get inside their heads and think like them. Success in this results in better dialogue and natural character and plot development. I simply take 5 to 10 minutes - or more - and improvise a scene to myself as my character, acting out a conversation or an inner monologue, sometimes performing an action. Afterwards I can sit down and write practically a whole novel about that one character. And speaking of characters...
7. Plan major deaths in advance
If I really like a character in my story, I usually find ways around letting them die in certain perilous events, even if their purpose to the story has been served and they've become just bodies that talk sometimes. But the death that stung me the most in my writings came from a character whose entire purpose in the story was to die. I had a scene planned where two characters would be talking and mention that this one guy had been killed off-page. So I introduce this character for the sole intent of having him die later. I realize the main character needs a best friend for those scenes and so soon-to-be-dead guy gets promoted to "best friend." When I rewrote that whole story a few years later I intentionally gave the soon-to-be-dead a little more page time, but then somewhere along the way I gave him a love interest. It wasn't long before this character had entire chapters devoted to him and his personal life. He had now become a main character. However, his death scene still lingered on the horizon, and with my ending to the story already planned and unchangeable, he just could not be wedged into the grand finale. There was just no room for him. So I stuck to my guns and killed him when the time came. And it HURT.
8. Before having a writer look it over, have a reader do it
If you think you've got a good amount of a rough draft finished, or even just a few chapters, your natural instinct may be to send it to one of your writer friends so they can tell you how much it sucks. While you may get constructive criticism in return, it can sometimes seem like your writer friends are only telling you how they would have done it. I'm just saying there's a reason Stephen King and J.K. Rowling don't swap rough drafts, or Harry Potter would have a lot of unnecessary sex and King's stories might actually have happy endings. I'm trying something new this time around and sending what I have to 1 or 2 friends who are simply avid readers. This way I can know if my story is worth a damn before I send it off to my writing kin to work out the more technical bugs.
9. Make lists. Lots and lots of lists
This one is a bit vague but it's been extremely helpful for keeping me in my story universe. I make lists of characters in the story, list major events, list orders of character deaths (I kill people a lot), and my favorite is usually a dream cast list for what actors would play certain characters in the inevitable film adaptation.
10. Outlines are not Commandments
I don't often like writing outlines but sometimes I need to in order to keep my more epic undertakings straight. However I try not to have too many specifics in mind when drawing it up. I may write things like: "Chapter 1 - they walk in the woods/ character development occurs" or "Chapter 30 - John dies." Just small descriptions about what HAS to happen, but leaving plenty of room for improvisation. For example I had a chapter where two characters are just chased, and they had to escape somehow but unfortunately I wrote their pursuers as too good at their job and found myself stuck with them. After a lot of thinking and pacing around the kitchen, I stuck in some giant crabs and WHAMMY they were saved! It'll make more sense if you read the story. But the lesson is that if you just make yourself an outline that details every little thing, what fun are you going to have writing it? You'll basically just be reporting events and you will be bored, and bored writing = boring reading.
I think 10 is a good number to stop on, but lord knows I could give out tips all day. It just felt good to write another post again. I wouldn't be expecting these too frequently though, if you happen to be a fan/good friend who just reads out of pity. If I think of something that I just need to write down in longwinded and vulgar-filled essays, you'll see another post soon. But until then,
Say auf wiedersehen to your Nazi balls,
Tyler
P.S. And happy writing to my fellow writers out there!
