Do you Want to Start #Writing Like #Steinbeck?

 

This week marks the 75th anniversary of the the film release of Grapes of Wrath so I thought it was appropriate to re-purpose this post. If you want to start writing like Steinbeck, then take a look at some of the things he found important and include them in your writing. "Learn from the best"

John Steinbeck’s writing methodology was stringent and meticulous. When writer's you love talk about how they write, it’s hard not listen.Steinbeck really wanted Grapes of Wrath to be good  - exposing the exploitation of people in 1930’s Southern California, was a story he thought needed telling. I re-read the novel a while ago, and the style blew me away.

[tweetthis] "Nothing about The Grapes of Wrath is dated."[/tweetthis]

It's incredibly refreshing to read a book with such valuable social commentary that's also just a damn good story. Part of its success lies in the fact that we live, eat and sleep with the Joad family. Everything is personal, so we care about what happens to the characters, and it allows us to see the injustice very clearly, without the point being hammered home. Steinbeck simply tells a story.Below is part of John Steinbeck’s interview in the Paris Review*(Please note: Steinbeck died in 1968. A lot of the quotes were compiled in Steinbeck: A Life in Letters and published in October 1975 by Viking. Hence the Paris Review article was not until 1975.)The comments in italics are mine.

 ON GETTING STARTED

Now let me give you the benefit of my experience in facing 400 pages of blank stock—the appalling stuff that must be filled. I know that no one really wants the benefit of anyone's experience which is probably why it is so freely offered. But the following are some of the things I have had to do to keep from going nuts.

 1. Abandon the idea that you are ever going to finish.

Lose track of the 400 pages and write just one page for each day, it helps. Then when it gets finished, you are always surprised.This is the most important one & can’t be said too often. One page at a time.

 2. Write freely

...and as rapidly as possible and throw the whole thing on paper. Never correct or rewrite until the whole thing is down. Rewrite in process is usually found to be an excuse for not going on. It also interferes with flow and rhythm which can only come from a kind of unconscious association with the material. Don’t worry about anyone looking over your shoulder. Just get the work written. Good tip for all of us procrastinators.

 3. Forget your generalized audience.

In the first place, the nameless, faceless audience will scare you to death and in the second place, unlike the theater, it doesn't exist. In writing, your audience is one single reader. I have found that sometimes it helps to pick out one person—a real person you know, or an imagined person and write to that one.I’ve heard this before, and I think it's an excellent way to keep yourself on track. You can't write for everyone. So write for one.

4. If a scene or a section gets the better of you

...and you still think you want it—bypass it and go on. When you have finished the whole you can come back to it and then you may find that the reason it gave trouble is because it didn’t belong there.Rewriting – its all there is. But don't be afraid to write non-sequentially. Sometimes one just isn't in the mood to write about a dramatic moment, so switch gears and go to a section you do want to write today.

 5. Beware of a scene that becomes too dear to you,

...dearer than the rest. It will usually be found that it is out of drawing.Tough to give them up isn’t it?

 6. If you are using dialogue

...say it aloud as you write it. Only then will it have the sound of speech.Excellent tip. If you read it out loud it will sound strained immediately if it’s not working.On my writers resources page I refer to his book Working Days, which is the diary he kept while he was writing Grapes of Wrath. (He wrote his first draft in 6 months BTW!). It’s a great book for writers if only to show how persistent one has to be to make the end product worthwhile.Are these methods  you can work with? Do you have different ways of attacking the same problems? 

Come join the discussion, and please share this post on your favorite social media. 

Many Thanks!

Connect with A.K. Andrew:

* Follow on Twitter          * Like on Facebook          * Pinterest          *Scoop.it

*Paris Review has rich resource material in their decades of interviews of famous people, writers included.I first saw part of this particular interview in one of my favorite blogs www.brainpickings.org

3 Simple #Writing Tools for #Editing

Editing is the basis of all writing, because... yes you guessed it -

All Writing is Rewriting

So anything to make the editing process a little smoother right?Here are 3 of my favorite sweet and simple writing tools, which I use all the time.I hope you enjoy them.

A: Grammarly

Grammarly, as the name suggests is a instant Grammar checker and can

• Instantly find and correct over 250 types of grammatical mistakes
• Context-optimized vocabulary suggestions -Improve word choice with context-optimized vocabulary suggestions
• Plagiarism detector -Avoid plagiarism by checking your texts against over 8 billion web pages

There is a monthly fee for the grammarly program to get the full works, but there is also Grammarly Lite which is free-Yeah!!check it out at http://www.grammarly.com 

B: Simple Note

Simplenote is an app which is perfect for taking notes, writing on the fly. And because it syncs with all your devices, then you can reach your notes anywhere. You can organizing your notes with tags, but there is nothing fancy about it. In fact no formatting allowed! However, it’s also a perfect adjunct to Scrivener until Scrivener comes up with an iPad app (hopefully in late 2014) Sections of your larger text on Scrivener can be sent to Simplenote, edited and seamlessly compiled back into your larger doc. complete with edits.http://simplenote.com

C: Pro-Writing Aid

• Online grammar and spelling checker;
• Improve readability;
• Find overused words;
• Improve dull paragraph structure;
• Find repeated words and phrases;
• Check for consistency of spelling, hyphenation, and capitalization;
• Eliminate clichés and redundancies;
• Create a word cloud of your text;
• Eliminate vague, abstract, and complex words from your writing;
• Analysis of sentiment, alliteration, and writing time-line.

 The one I’ve found to be incredibly useful is checking overused words. Whoa! Do I really repeat myself that much? The report tells you how many times you’ve used a word, makes a recommendation as to how many recurrences to take out. It highlights the text, and makes it real easy to track the edits you make. For premium customers for either Windows or Mac there is Wordpress integration. For Windows (Grrr, not for Mac) there is an integration of Word.http://prowritingaid.com Do you use these tools, or have equivalent ones you feel work better? What are your 3 favorite writing tools? 

Come join the discussion, and please share this post on your favorite social media. 

Many Thanks!

Never Miss a post: Subscribe via email 

Connect with A.K.Andrew:

* Follow on Twitter          * Like on Facebook          * Pinterest        *Scoop.it

#Authors - An Infinite Writer's Resource

Writers are always looking for resources, whether it’s for technique, style, how to get published, or ideas for a story. The single best resource is using other authors as a reference for better ways of working.During my Creative Writing Certificate course at Sussex University, we spent one semester on  ‘Special Author’.  We each chose an author, and a particular novel, whose work we thought would most benefit our own. I chose The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood. We looked at all aspects from first encounter, tracing sub-plots and the climax of the story to name a few.At the end of the semester we each gave a verbal presentation to the class, which forced us to study the work, and think about it in a critical way we’d never have done otherwise. We were lucky to have Susannah Waters as our tutor - a stickler for precision in technique and critique skills,  with an incredible passion for the process. (FYI Susannah does independent mentoring and manuscript assessment, as well as  teaching at Arvon. See *below for contact details)The purpose of the course was not to necessarily emulate the author, but to look at how they might deal with different aspects of writing from dialogue to creating suspense, character and setting and thereby learn from them. A simple example is in my novel Radio Echo- the first scene in Bologna is set in a graveyard. I’d had no thought of using that location until our tutor asked us to create a scene in a setting used by our Special Author.As an example of how to learn from another writer’s work, I’ve chosen two pieces of text from The Blind Assassin to look at dialogue and description, and see what Atwood does with them. The sparingly used dialogue in Atwood’s novel, functions as an insight into character relationships, rather than moving the plot forward.  The immediacy is emphasized by the use of present tense. The dialogue is tight, short phrases back and forth, rarely interrupted by gesture. This accentuates the intimacy and envelopes two individuals in their own world during the scene. It’s the lover’s first sexual encounter; this is never stated, but just enough information is given to spark the reader’s own imagination. Don’t worry so much, he says. Lie Down.Don’t you’ll tear it. Wait a minute.She hears her own voice. It isn’t her voice, its too breathless. ....Smoke  taste on his mouth, salt in her own; all around, the smell of crushed weeds and cat, of disregarded corners. Dampness and growth, dirt on the knees, grimy and lush; leggy dandelion stretching towards the light.Below where they’re lying the ripple of a stream. Above, leafy branches ...the blue sky in splinters. Hard dirt under her back.¹ The text shows Atwood’s excellent use of metaphor and simile. Her descriptions are not elaborate: they simply use evocative words to show what’s in the scene. Once that is established, she then places the character, in a physical sense, into the scene, which highlights the physical nature of the encounter, but also grounds the reader.The second text shows description of setting that also conveys the mood of the scene. It’s the last time the lovers meet and the scene depicts resignation, a bleak encounter in a rundown motel.A carpet once dark blue and red. A pathway strewn with flowers, worn down now to the roots.I’m sorry, he says. It could be better. ² Painters are renowned for learning from other painters – “learn from the masters”. So why should it be any different for writers? We’re not talking plagiarism, but simple learning by example.At the end of the course I realized as a writer I'd always have an infinite resource if I was stuck and wanted to know how to deal with a scene. Looking for a spare style?  - go Raymond Carver, or Cormac McCarthy. Want to portray a character who’s fraught to the point of despair? - go to the scene in 'Anna Karenina' leading up to the suicide. Write text that will push emotional buttons? – Jodi Picoult.Etc. ad infinitum.We first learn to love books by reading them. Learn to love writing from the same source.Who or where do you go to when you’re stuck? What authors would you recommend for particular styles?Let me know. For me, learning is an ongoing process.  Excerpts from The Blind Assassin by Margaret AtwoodPaperback 2001 Virago press¹Pg 32 -33 Chapter - The Lipstick Heart²Pg 563 Chapter – The B Rage Room *Susannah Waters:-susannahwaters@yahoo.co.ukLiterary Mentoring and Manuscript Assessment. To follow this blog click on “FOLLOW” in the bottom right hand side of the page. 

#Editing Forward

How many times have you groaned about having to go ‘back’ and edit a piece of work? And yet all writing is rewriting. I’m fortunate that for the most part I enjoy editing. In fact I often view it as a way of ‘keeping in touch’ with my work when there’s not a lot of time. Edit a short passage – even a sentence – rather than wait for the 2 hr stretch that won’t come along so easily - and it keeps your mind from losing the plot so to speak. Makes it easier to get started the next time you come back to the work. In short I’m a big advocate of little and often. But hey, no one’s perfect, and I can get ground down and see editing as something that’s dragging me back, stopping me moving forward. But no more. This afternoon I had an epiphany!Today is the start of British Summertime. The clocks went forward – which is what prompted my train of thought. It’s been a lovely weekend in Brighton, on the south coast of England, and yesterday I went down to the seafront. It could have been the start of summer. The stripy deckchairs were out, seaside kitsch was back on sale – bags of shells, flip-flops, small containers of shrimps and half shells of freshly caught crab. Men had taken off their shirts, women wore bikinis – generally a lot of pale skin that hadn’t seen a stroke of sun for many months.  There were even some people with a couple of toes in the water. And not the hardy 365 days a year swimmers.The Wurlitzer carousel, built in 1888 has been reassembled into its circle, though when I was there at 10.30 the horses were still wrapped in a giant tent of tarpaulin. There was a sense of emergence in the air, a new season, a new beginning.It was only today when I sat down to do a bit of editing, secretly wanting to press on with where I’d left off, that I realised the problem was that I was looking at editing from the wrong perspective. Editing is not going back but going forward. As you may have seen in my last post I’ve changed the title of my first novel to ‘Radio Echo’. I’ve also recently re-edited the first three chapters (rewrite 28?). Both things have been very positive in my approach to the work. When you edit a section, it’s done to make it better. You might be approaching it with some feedback from other people, or with merely a keener eye from yourself. But the chances are very good that you’re going to make the work better. So in what way is that ‘going back’? The answer is it’s not. It’s moving forward.I’m not being Pollyannaish about this, it’s simply a fact. You are moving your work forward every time you edit. There is no going back about it. So if we keep this in mind, then maybe it will help to take the groan out of having to edit. When you’re sitting down to edit a 60-100,000w bit of work, it’s going to be more than a quick ten-minute task. Inevitably there’ll come a point – or several points, where you feel jaded, bored – whatever you want to call it. But more often than not, we’re editing smaller chunks - a line, a paragraph, or a couple of chapters. All of this is moving the work forward, which is a good thing. To be a writer you have to enjoy rewriting. That’s the fact of the matter. If you don’t, then you’ll rarely get past one edit without it being an unpleasant gut-wrenching task. It’s impossible to edit everything as you go along. The work needs distance. Then you move forward. You edit.I hope that looking at it as editing forward, rather than going back to edit is of some help to those of you who dislike the task. We all have different writing habits, methods, rituals that work for each one of us. How do you approach your editing? Are there ways you make it go faster or are more economical with your time?Let me know what you’re approach is, bad habits you’d like to get out of or any good habits you want to share.I’d love to hear from you!