GENREALITY

I’m a little teary right now. This is my last post for Genreality and what a great ride it is has been. I’ve enjoyed hanging out with this great group of writers, who write such wonderful, thought-provoking blogs. I’ve learned so much from them, and I’ve enjoyed my time with all of you.

If you take anything away from my posts for the last couple of years, I hope it is this: Never give up. This business is tough and it can beat you up at times. But remember why it is you write. You love it. If you do it for that reason, none of the craziness that goes into getting a book published can take that away from you.

This is a great time of year to reflect and to see how far you’ve come, and where you want to go. Make yourself accountable to someone. Let the universe know your intention, and then go about making it happen. No one is going to knock on your door and ask to read a book you haven’t written. No one is going to knock on your door and ask to see a manuscript you haven’t submitted. OK, so let’s face it — no one is going to knock on your door. But they might call if you submit your very best work and keep at it.

Thank you for sharing your advice and stories through the years. I hope you guys have a wonderful holiday, I will miss you all.

But Sasha is bringing some incredible writers to keep the blog fresh and as lively as ever.

Smoooch!

My friend, and fellow writer, Kate Cornell has a great post for you guys today!

There comes a point in every project where I hit a brain shift. My perception of the world changes to mirror my protagonist’s. Euphemisms, cuss words, food orders, music taste; you name it, I am in sync with my main character.
It’s a manageable condition. My prefrontal cortex holds on to the personality I’ve spent a lifetime cultivating while my imagination is unclipped from the leash and allowed run free.
This poses an intriguing conundrum when it comes to writing a television spec script. I need the brain shift moment to slip into the sitcom and sneak onto the set, but how do you sink into the persona of a character they did not create? The same way you always do.
Research.
Hours and hours of meticulous research.
That’s right. You’ve got to watch a lot of TV.
I recently wrote a spec script for The Big Bang Theory. It sounds easy. Nerd life, cultural references, and social ineptitude define my normal life. All I needed to do was browse on ThinkGeek.com and Wiki a few physics articles to master Sheldon and Leonard’s world.
It didn’t work out that way.
A week into the research phase, my life revolved around BBT. Seasons 1-4 played in a steady rotation. I didn’t watch any other TV, fearful that another sitcom might slip in. I was lulled to sleep every night by a chorus of “Bazingas” and “Soft Kitty”. I printed and brass-brad bound every script available on the Internet, noting the changes between drafts and final on-screen edit.
Even my parents started watching the show. Our dinner conversations turned into: “Did you see the one where…”
After plotting my A-story, I thought maybe, just maybe, I might be on to something. Maybe I can take something that isn’t mine, immerse myself in characterization, and create something both unique and familiar.
Watching television with such singular attention isn’t easy.  There is a fine line between work and entertainment.
In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell repeatedly mentions the 10,000 hour rule, the necessary time required to gain expertise based on a study Swedish psychologist K. Anders Ericsson. I may not have reached the 10,000 hours to accomplish Big Bang expertise, but I’m willing to take it to that level.
I’m watching TV.
For research.

Bio: Kate Cornell is a struggling faux-hemian who lives at home with her parents. Her current project is scraping together the cash to move out to Los Angeles and work as a writer in television. She has worked for Sony Pictures Television, Grapevine Star Entertainment, and the Soundtrack Channel.

Hey Gang,

It’s Thanksgiving and I hope that you are spending time with your family and friends, and that you aren’t sitting around reading blogs. But just in case you are… I think this would be a great day to put out in the universe what makes you feel grateful. Here are some of mine:

1. My family. I’ve the greatest kids and a mostly understanding husband. And I have a supportive mom and dad and extended family that is so amazing it makes me cry sometimes thinking about how great they are.

2. My friends. I have the most AMAZING friends. Truly incredible people that it is my great honor to know.

3. My writing. I’m so grateful that I can follow my dream of being an author. I get to write books that I love and it really doesn’t get any better than that.

4. My dogs. That’s right, Scoobie and Gizmo rate high on this list. They are my office mates and hang out with me all day every day. And they give me unconditional love, which is really hard to find in this world.

5. The Jobs. I’m grateful for my jobs writing about TV and film. I love talking on the radio about the latest movies and I adore going out to L.A. to talk to the TV peeps. I like using a different part of my brain than I do for writing books.

These are just a few of the many things I’m grateful for and I hope you’ll share some of yours.

A few weeks ago I talked about reverse engineering, which was something I learned from Matt Nix the executive producer of Burn Notice. I have to say, beginning at the end does make things easier. I’ve done this for years, but never so purposefully. I’m working on two different projects at the same time. One I wrote more or less chronologically, but the other one I wrote the ending first and I seem to be back tracking from there. It may be a messier draft than I usually do, but it’s working.

I think sometimes we get into ruts and think we have to do things a certain way. That isn’t true. I’m teaching Fast Draft and one of the students posted that he tried my technique of just moving to the next chapter where you do know what’s happening. It worked aces for him. He said it was so freeing and that the words just fell onto the page. He wondered why he’d never thought to try it on his own.

We do get caught up in how we think things should be done. The truth is, there is no one technique that works for everyone. And we should be open to new ideas and concepts about how we work. That’s what is so great about this blog. You have several authors, from all genres, who offer up ideas on how they write. I don’t care how long you’ve been writing or how successful you are, there is always room for improvement.

What are some of the techniques you’ve picked up from classes or blogs that make your life easier?

I’m teaching Fast Draft right now and one of the biggest rules is that there is no whining allowed. That’s something important for writers. We have tendency to talk about writing or whine about how we don’t have time to do it. What we need to do is take that whining time and sit down and write. You do have time, but you have to make it work.

This last weekend was one of the first free ones I’ve had in months. I have two novellas due before the end of the year. A thesis to do and a day job that requires I write at least 5000 words a week. I don’t have time to whine. If you’re serious about writing, you don’t talk about it. You sit down and do it. It’s that simple.

Last Saturday I wrote 10,000 words. In one day. It took me eight hours, but I finished my first draft. I used the time I had, and that’s what it’s all about. You have to squeeze out those moments to write. Most days I don’t have eight full hours to write. I might have 30 minutes before a movie preview starts to jot down words in a notebook. I might have 20 minutes before the next conference call. I might have 45 when an interview runs late. Those little bits of time add up.

The next time you’re tempted to whine, use that time more productively just sit down and write. Do you have a long commute where you have to drive? Put a digital recorder in your car. My phone has an app for that and I use it all the time to write get down scenes or ideas I might have.

If you ever feel like you don’t have time to write, email me and I’ll send you my daily schedule. It will make you feel better about your life, I promise. But I don’t whine because I don’t have time. But I’m also grateful. Writing is what I love to do. It is my escape. It’s my job, but it is also therapy. As my friend Ann Aguirre says, “If you have to force yourself to write, maybe it’s time to find a new hobby. Write because you love it.”

What tricks do you use? One of my favorites is 1k1hr on Twitter. Talk about motivation!