Writing Retreat

Today begins my road trip up to the northern part of the state. I've got a cabin reserved and a few whole days of nothing in particular to do. Well, except write, that is. The plan is to make this something of an expanded version of my out-of-the-house pages.

Of course, as soon as certain people became aware of this, they became demanding about it: "You're going to write lots of pages for us, right?"
-Various Pirates

So, now I'm committed.

I've packed extra fancy paper and picked up a new fountain pen yesterday. I've also got a couple of half-finished stories and my thesis binder to keep me company. The final touch: a copy of Rogue's Gallery to keep me in touch with my pirate roots while I'm away.

Ignoring Deb, U-Turns, and A Need for Titles

I managed to get everything done that I needed to yesterday, plus a quick shopping trip for new jeans, and wound up at the coffee shop plenty early. Latte in hand, I snagged the comfy seats by the fire, scooted the table up, and got to writing.

About a page later, I was at a climax point, where I had originally planned to wrap up the La Llarona story. The ghost has a hold of the boy, he's struggling to get away... and then he does. That was not my plan. Every writer talks about times when the story gets away from them and all of a sudden the writer realizes that they're not driving any more. In my case, I realized there were about three more pages to the story (if not more when I start to revise).

Before I could finish, Deb walked in with her laptop and said she was going to ignore me for a while to do some writing of her own. So, there we sat, ignoring each other for a while until the rest of the gang started to wander in. I finished my rough draft, finally, and resigned myself to the fact that this story is going to be more work than I originally planned it to be. I'll tell you right now, this rough draft is one of the roughest I've ever produced. Usually, I'm more of a writer who does mental pre-writing and then when I get to physical writing, I've got a pretty good idea of what's going on. Not this time. Not by a long shot.

I'm beginning to sense a pattern, as well. Right now I've got two stories I keep calling The __ Story and both have proven to be very problematic. I think the lack of clear title and the lack of clear vision go hand-in-hand. When I think of titles, I think of distilling the essence of what the story is all about and pasting a few words to that effect at the top. I can't help but think that once I get the perfect title for these problem stories, the rest of the difficulties I'm having with them will fix themselves. Focus, right? Clarity of vision.

So tell me, what's your title philosophy? Does having a strong title make it easier for you to writ the story that goes with it? Or, do titles come last in your writing process?

With Pinapple Chunks In It

"Already, she could feel light from the moon and stars soaking into her skin. Heat from the sunny day leeched out of her. Scars on her chest from the car accident when she was younger started to pucker and gooseflesh filled out across her skin. She would miss the scars, but there was no way to keep them. Besides, she could always get new ones."
-Starbathing (In Progress)

I managed some coffeeshop pages last night before the Rogues' meeting. Okay, well, page and a quarter. I would've gotten further, but D.B. showed up early. My lesser productivity is her fault.

Eventually, I was asked about the thesis - what am I doing? how am I doing it? cycle or collection? how am I tying it all together? Good questions from smart people, and I had no really good answers. Beyond saying I'm writing magical-realism short stories, I have a difficult time articulating.

There'll be stories, and they'll be connected - something to do with a family line, but since one of the very first stories contradicts that premise I still have some clarifying to do in my head. Then last night, my page and a quarter turns out to be part of a very short story about Chloe from the chicken heart story, only it's maybe forty years later. So, she's coming out as a connection, but since Albatross is a good two hundred or so years before her, how do I work that part out? Lots of questions at this point, but few answers.

It's like the first stages of jello right now. Eventually it'll be firm and pop out of that bundt cake shaped mold and be pretty, but right now it's just runny red stuff in a pan. The fact that one of the characters has reappeared is a good sign, though. At least there's the beginnings of coagulation.

Good News

"Alas, with school beginning soon and a Monday class, I doubt I'll be seeing the rogue gang again any time soon."
-Me

Now I feel a tad silly. I was sure I had class on Monday, but when I checked my schedule it turns out I was mistaken. Class is Tuesday. Whups. Aside from feeling foolish, I'm also pleased as this means I will be able to meet up with the rogues during the semester. Cheers.

Some Highlights

"I'm not a microwave. I'm a crockpot."
-John (Talking about writing process, a la my fermentation comment - apparently a crockpot is a more wholesome writing analogy than rotting)

"Sign my green bean."
-Jenny (Talking about the possibility of Joss Whedon being the keynote speaker at a local writing conference dinner)

"She didn't used to be like that."
-Shane (Re: my demonic nature)

"We all have to be someone's demon."
-D.B.

"Red heads are always whores or bitches."
-Fleur

"My neice, who's sixteen, came to the house at seven o'clock in the morning because JC Penney's was opening. This was very exciting."
-Mary (Talking about a recent trip back to her hometown, which is small)

I have to say, these people I know are just slightly off-bubble. Just ever so little. Great fun to hang around and chat with, though. Alas, with school beginning soon and a Monday class, I doubt I'll be seeing the rogue gang again any time soon. I always love it when the new semester starts and all of a sudden the life is sucked out of all my nights. It's great.

They Call Me Ali-Demon For a Reason

"I'll think about it."
-John

My dearest Jenny has given me a hellish nickname. I don't think I quite deserve being called a demon, but I've gotten used to it. Friday night, Deb even mentioned how Jenny had thought of naming baby #2 after me because of all the grief he/she's giving her in utero. You know, I think I'd be fine with that. Though, I think a name like Ali-demon might cause trouble for the tot in school.

I suppose you're wondering where the name came from. Well, the short of it is that in a writing community there are important roles we adopt in order to support and encourage each other. You have people who are great at cheering you on (cheerleaders), who have a sharp eye for technical stuff (editors), who can immediately see where you went wrong and how you can fix it (fixers), and people who have excellent suggestions for exercises to try in order to get around a writing problem - like writing it in a different P.O.V. or such (coaches). There are more roles than I've listed, and most people don't just fulfill one.

The reason I'm called Ali-Demon isn't because of one of the fore-mentioned roles, but because I'm a nag. Currently, there are two people who bear the brunt of my demon nature. First off is Jenny, of course. She's one of my favorite writers (Or, as Whitakker would point out - a writer I favor), and if I make a habit of demanding new work from her, I usually get it. I love sending her e-mails asking how she's doing on the new story she's going to submit this month. I've been on Jenny's case for a long time now, a year? Two? I can't remember. Long enough for the nick name, anyhow. Speaking of which, I had better remind her that I'm still waiting on the rest of her novel manuscript...

The second person who I've turned my demonic eye on is John from work. I've been working on him to come and visit the CSFWG for literally a few months. He keeps wussing out on me, "I'm not ready to show it to other people," but I think I'm making headway. For one, after looking over my comments on his first three chapters, he says he doesn't think I'm evil. Granted, he may be lying, but since he never actually threw anything or cussed at me on Saturday, I'm going to believe him. For another, I've been emphasizing that he wouldn't have to submit anything from the novel if he didn't want to. That the important thing is meeting other writers and having some practice critiquing other people's work.

With the next writers group meeting this weekend, we once again come to the point where either he'll wuss out or cowboy up. Hrm... Does it sound like I'm being hard on him? No malice intended, I promise, but he's an ex-marine, he can take it. My other plan is to take him to the less-intimidating rogue writers group as a way of easing him into it.

If nothing else, I figure he'll eventually come along one of these times simply for the sake of shutting me up. It's not the most elegant strategy, but that's not what's important. What's important is that it tends to work. Thus, the nickname.

Rogue Writers Group

"It's all about me."
-Deb, last night at the coffee shop

There's the CSFWG and there's the rogue group, made up of people who've come through (or are still in) the CSFWG. The meetings happen twice a month and are much more informal. Usually, thanks to either class or work, I can't go. Last night was an exception, and quite fun.

Deb's book, MMG, was the topic of a lot of discussion - what's working, what could work better, etc. The neat thing was the way that everyone was saying the same things, like "There are so many characters, I'm losing track of who's who," and "The way you introduced the character S-- was brilliant!"

It's crazy. You take a group of people of different ages, professions, and from different backgrounds and have them all read the same book, and they all come to about the same conclusions. Weird stuff, I'm tellin' ya.