How I Moved to a New Home in a New City, and Rewrote my Writing Life
Sometimes you need a fresh start to make a fresh start
Last July, we moved from Central Florida to another part of the state. At the same time, I was starting to plan my first-ever foray into writing fiction, in the form of a cozy mystery I’d had in mind for a while.
Now, you need to understand that I’ve been writing for a long, long time. Like, all my long life long.
Just never fiction. Fiction is different from academic writing, technical writing, writing legal reports, content marketing, and blogging.
When it comes to creating a blog post, I know exactly what to do, where to start, how to wrap up, and how to get my ideas across. Fiction? Not so much.
I spent weeks spinning my wheels. I asked questions in forums, you know, brilliant queries like, “I want to write this novel but I don’t know how to start. Help!”
One of my more lucid inquiries read:
“Attempting fiction for the first time. Curious about where those of you with some experience start. Do you begin with characters? Plot? Something else? I have a loose idea but can't seem to dig in anywhere."
I joined a group of other writers in a commitment to writing Morning Pages for a month.
Finally, I just thought, if I don’t start putting words on paper I’ll never get anywhere. So — how’s this for a novel concept (yes, pun intended. Feel free to groan appropriately.) — I started writing. I opened a blank document and started typing words onto the page.
Pretty crazy, right? (I found out that makes me a pantser.)
If you’re writing a book, are you a plotter or a pantser? How did you find that out — drop a reply in the comments.
Tools
At this early stage, I had two tools: my silly pink journal, and Google Docs.
I used the journal for my Morning Pages. If you’re not familiar with the idea, it’s basically a commitment to write 750 words first thing in the morning. It’s an idea promoted by Julie Cameron of The Artist’s Way, and there are no rules, just write.
I’ve used Google Docs for all my writing for years. I like them because I can access my documents from any device anywhere. It’s completely platform agnostic. Mac laptop? Check. Android phone? Check. Tablet? You get the idea. I haven’t bought a copy of MS Word in over ten years.
I’m a writer, so why don’t I use Scrivener? you may be wondering. . . I tried to love it, really. I even took a course on using it. But Scrivener and I just never made a connection. Our relationship was like meeting the person all your friends tell you, “oh, you’re going to hit it off so well,” and when it happens your reaction is meh. Maybe with a little eye rolling thrown in.
Writing Tips & Tricks
Write more powerful descriptions. . .
One of the ways in which fiction differs from the kinds of writing I’ve mostly done is in the quality (and quantity) of descriptions. When I’m writing about how to accomplish a certain task in WordPress, or discussing how to start a freelance business, descriptive language doesn’t play a big role.
No so with fiction. As a writer, you need to show your readers what your characters feel, see, hear, smell, taste, and touch. Frankly, I’m not all that good at it — yet.
Recently I was reading a series where the descriptions were brilliant. The author is Simon Brett, who’s the prolific author of the Charles Paris and Mrs. Pargeter mysteries as well as a couple of others, and a ton of radio and TV shows.
This description of an office really caught my attention:
“The offices of the Mason De Vere Detective Agency, situated above a betting shop in South London, would have got a very high rating from the Society for the Preservation of Dust. Other organizations – like the Society for the Maintenance of Tidiness, the Association for Efficient Filing or the Commission for the Removal of Encrusted Coffee Cups – might have marked it rather lower. In fact, they would have given it no marks at all.”
From Mrs. Pargeter’s Point of Honor.
Without sketching the room, or saying where inside it the desk, or the file cabinets are located, he’s drawn a vivid picture of the messy, cluttered, disorganized, and downright dirty office space, and he’s done it without a lot of words.
Or how about this one, from the same book, which not only provides strong visual imagery, but adds sounds (“a slight sucking sound”) and sensation (“sticky linoleum”) as well :
“Though the kitchen was rarely used for cooking, just as a depository for the foil and polystyrene boxes of takeaways, it still contrived to be extremely grimy. When he walked in there the Inspector’s soles made a slight sucking sound against the sticky linoleum.”
From Mrs. Pargeter’s Point of Honor.
Or this one, which might be my favorite:
“In the centre of the space, illuminated by a hidden pinpoint spotlight, stood one grey steel chair whose sharp-angled design offered all the comfort of a kebab skewer.”
Also from Mrs. Pargeter’s Point of Honor.
Ouch. Who’d want to sit on that, after such a description?
One way to spice up your descriptions is by reading, voraciously, and noting descriptive language that’s particularly vivid or that evokes a strong feeling. Another way is to practice. You know, like the old “how do you get to Carnegie Hall?” joke.*
If you decide to do Morning Pages, you can use that daily allotment of 750 words to practice writing descriptions.
Some other ways to improve your descriptions:
Be specific. Which one gets your attention more, “a few flights of stairs,” or “377 narrow steps?”
Think about your characters. What do they hear? Taste? Smell? What’s the sensation they feel when they touch that whatever-it-is?
Use figurative language, you know, those old metaphors and similes you learned about in school
Use unexpected words. If your character always speaks in cliches, that’s fine, but otherwise, think about synonyms that evoke a bigger response. Is the spider hanging from its web in mid air, or is it suspended? Dangling? (Just be sure you’re familiar with and comfortable with the word. There’s nothing more annoying than reading a sentence and thinking, “oh, that writer’s been at the thesaurus again. . .”
Look over your description and remove all words ending in -ly. You don’t need them and they clutter up the place.
Are you a whiz at writing powerful descriptions? Share some of your tips in the comments below, because I’d love to know them.
*Answer: Practice, practice, practice. You didn’t think I’d leave you hanging, did you?