by Jenna | Jan 27, 2016 | Writing Articles
We're closing in on the end of the first month of the year. I can't quite believe it!
Most of us started off the year with solid intentions to write. How's that going for you?
If you're writing less than you'd like to be, this is the perfect time to make a course correction.
In fact, in some ways, it's the BEST time to make a course correction, because we're early enough in the year that small adjustments will go far.
So dig out your end of 2016 writing goals and take stock. (And if you haven't created your 2016 writing goals yet, here's a great tool to help you -- and no, it's definitely NOT too late!)
Do the Math
If you haven't done this yet, reverse engineer your goals so you can see where you're wanting to be by the end of the month (and at any point along your projected timeline).
Example 1: Finish an 80,000 word novel by December 31.
For example, if you're aiming to complete an 80,000 word novel by the end of the year, you can figure out your approximate daily word counts. The math for this tells us that you'll want to be writing about 320 words per day, 5 days per week, all year, excluding holidays (there are 251 working days in 2016).
This means that by January 31, you'll want to have completed approximately 6,080 words (19 working days in January). This assumes that you're either writing by the seat of your pants (a "pantser") or that you've already plotted the novel. It also assumes that you work on weekdays and take holidays and weekends off.
Example 2: Plot AND finish an 80,000 word novel by December 31.
Another example: If your goal is to complete an 80,000 word novel by the end of the year, but you haven't plotted it yet, you can set a timeline for the plotting and the writing. You might allow two weeks or two months to plot; it's up to you, your writing process, and your available time.
But once you know your timeline, you can break down the plotting into increments, such as chapters or plot points that you want to hit by a certain date. Then you can assess your progress.
Let's say you're aiming for two months for plotting, and we're nearing the end of January right now. So you should be halfway through the plotting at this point, or ideally around the midpoint of your novel. Then, starting in March, you'll have 212 working days left to write those 80,000 words, or about 377 words per day.
Tools and Adjustments
I love spreadsheets for this kind of calculating and planning. (In fact, I'm working on making a special one for you right now -- stay tuned for that!)
Of course you can adjust these calculations for your project and schedule, such as if you prefer to write on weekends, for instance.
Or as in my case, if you're writing screenplays, you might want to set a daily target page count rather than a word count.
Also, be aware that these calculations don't include revision or editing time, which may not always lend themselves to a linear progression since deeper cuts and reworking tends to work better from a to do list method.
Assess Your Progress
Once you've reverse-engineered your goals, check in: Are you on track to meet your goals by the end of the year? Do you need to bump up your daily word counts or adjust your time table?
One of the smartest things I see writers do is get crystal clear on the math of their projects so they know exactly what to aim for and can pace themselves well. It's all too easy to live in fantasy land, unclear on what you're trying to accomplish, floundering in hope and optimism rather than grounded, practical reality.
So check in on where you're supposed to be, and make an assessment of what — if any — adjustments you need to make, and you'll be good to go.
by Jenna | Jan 21, 2016 | Writing Articles
Last week I shared an interview with my colleague Jeff Lyons, master storyteller, Enneagram expert, screenwriter, novelist, and author, about his new book, Anatomy of a Premise Line: How to Master Premise and Story Development for Writing Success.*
This week, I'm sharing a powerful two-part article from Jeff about HOW to craft a premise line that will guide all your story development.
Note: Creative nonfiction writers can also benefit from learning these tools, because biographies, "true stories" and other creative nonfiction adhere to the same storytelling principles as fiction.
Read the article below, or download our Master Your Premise Line Guidebook here:
Five Essential Steps to Crafting Your Premise Line, Part I
by Jeff Lyons
Before a novelist, screenwriter, or creative nonfiction author writes down a word, or thinks of scenes or characters, an idea sparks the imagination and a story is born. Or is it? When inspiration strikes, many writers think they have a story, when in fact they have something else. Untethered by the foundation of a real story, they risk becoming lost in the story woods, writing down creative blind alleys and painting themselves into literary corners.
How can you know if an idea that excites you one day, will have legs over the long course of developing a book, screenplay, or series of books? The only way to know for sure is to master the skill of story premise development. A story’s premise is more than a quick synopsis, or a simple statement defining the theme or hook of a story. It is your canary in the storytelling coal mine and your lifeline as a writer.
A story premise, along with its tool the premise line, is a container that holds the essence of your story’s right, true and natural structure. When properly conceived, it expresses your whole story in one (preferable) or two neat sentences. Finding this premise line is no small task; in fact the process of premise development can be the literary equivalent of water boarding. But when you get it right, the payoff in saved time, money and creative blood, sweat, and tears is worth the agony.
Fortunately, there is a process that can lessen the pain.
There are five essential steps you can learn now to facilitate mastery of the premise process. (For the full seven-step process refer to Jeff’s book Anatomy of a Premise Line.*)
These steps can give you a repeatable and proven methodology for developing any story. This is a critical skill for any writer, because the premise line is a key ally in writing effective agent or publisher query letters, or pitching film production companies. But, the premise line is more than a pitch tool. When you find a premise line that “works,” then you can know with confidence that you have a story that will stand the test of development.
These five steps will guide your writing process, acting as a roadmap to keep your narrative on track and focused, literally cutting development time in half.
After all, if your story is going to go off the rails, isn’t it better to discover that before you get to page four hundred in your novel, or page 150 in your screenplay?
Step 1: Identify the Core Structure of Your Story
A story is defined as: a metaphor for a human journey that leads to change, as played out by the dynamic interdependence of character and plot. A story is further defined by possessing a natural structure, a structure that is not invented by anyone, including the writer. At this basic level, story structure is a natural force like electricity or the wind. The job of the writer is not to impose structure on a story, but to discover what is already there.
This first step helps you identify the seven structure components present in any story—regardless of genre.
- Character: Stories are about us: human beings, even if it is an anthropomorphized version of a human being. And this person (protagonist) is central to the telling of the tale, not tangential, even in ensemble stories. Who is your protagonist?
- Constriction: The person at the focus of the story is constricted in some way. Some “personal problem” haunts them, drives them and motivates them. Try to get a sense of what your protagonist’s problem is and sense how it triggers them into action. The constriction is usually activated by some initiating event that forces the protagonist to move from where they are at the start of the story, toward a new path of action (the adventure).
- Desire: The protagonist wants something tangible. They don’t want to be happy, they don’t want world peace and they don’t want to be one with the Universe. They want the money, the girl, or to find the radioactive dirty bomb. They want to get something by the end of the story; what is it?
- Focal Relationship: Stories are conversations, not monologues. No protagonist exists in a dramatic vacuum. Who is the protagonist talking with throughout the middle of the story? What relationship is the focus of the protagonist’s attention? This relationship will be the engine that drives most of the drama in your story, even in multiple point of view stories.
- Resistance: More than a personal constriction, there is also the sense of serious, external pushback. Something opposes the goal-seeking of the protagonist, and this force creates dramatic friction. Ideally, this is a person and not some abstract force like Nature or the internal angst of the hero-heroine. This is the central opposition and is bent on stopping the protagonist from getting their desire fulfilled. Who is this opposing force?
- Adventure: Entropy is defined as the tendency of all things to move toward disorder and chaos. This is what has to happen in the middle of every good story. Along with resistance/opposition, focal relationship, desire, and constriction try to sense the messiness that will become the middle of your story, i.e., the twists, turns, reversals, and general mayhem that will occur. This is the adventure.
- Change: You may not see the exact endpoint of your story, but you can sense that your protagonist will not end up where he or she began. While the details of the middle may be a blur, there is a sense of a beginning, middle, and an end. If there is such a sense, then there must be something present that allows for these three points. That “something” is character change. Is this change for the better or worse? Does your protagonist evolve or de-evolve?
These are the seven components of the any story’s core structure. If they are present, then you have a story. If they are missing, or vague, or so muddled it feels like pulling teeth to find them, then you don’t have a story. You have something else, and that “else” is a situation.
Step 2: Assess Whether You Have a Story or a Situation
What’s the difference between a situation and a story? The main difference is that the 7-core structure elements are missing.
But there is a quick way to identify a situation without worrying about a structure analysis. Any situation has these five conditions:
- A situation is a problem or predicament with an obvious and direct solution.
- A situation does not reveal character; it mainly tests problem-solving skills.
- A situation has no (or few) subplots, twists, or complications.
- A situation begins and ends in the same emotional space as it started.
- A situation has a weak, underdeveloped, or nonexistent moral component.
A good example of a situation is the classic twenty-something kids caught in the cabin in the woods with the monster outside that’s going to eat them. The focus of these stories is all about who’s going to die, how bloody is it going to get, and who will get out alive. Protagonists don't change; there is no deeper message in the material, other than figuring out how to not get eaten; and characters are tested for their ability to avoid danger, rather than having their characters tested. Situations are parts of stories; they are not stories themselves. These five conditions are not present in a story, so if you see them, then you know what you’ve got.
If you find that you have a situation and not a story, then you can reevaluate your idea to see if you can develop it into a story using Step 1, above, or decide to simply take the "situation" route, which would not require the development of a premise line.
Read on for Part 2 of this article series, where Jeff will guide us through Steps 3 through 5:
- Step 3: Map the Core Structure to the Premise Line Template
- Step 4: Finalize the Premise Line
- Step 5: Test the Premise Line with Objective Readers
Thanks, Jeff!
About Jeff: Jeff Lyons is a published author with more than 25 year's experience in the film, television, and publishing industries as a writer, story development consultant, and editor. He is an instructor through Stanford University's Online Writer’s Studio, and lectures through the UCLA Extension Writers Program, and is a regular presenter at leading writing and entertainment industry trade conferences.
Jeff has written on the craft of storytelling for Writer’s Digest Magazine, Script Magazine, and The Writer Magazine. His book, Anatomy of a Premise Line: How to Master Premise and Story Development for Writing Success* is published through Focal Press and is the only book devoted solely to the topic of story and premise development for novelists, screenwriters, and creative nonfiction authors. His second book, Rapid Story Development: How to Use the Enneagram-Story Connection to Become a Master Storyteller, is due in 2016. Visit him at www.JeffLyonsBooks.com and follow him on Twitter @storygeeks.
* Amazon affiliate link
Want the Workbook Version? Download our Master Your Premise Line Guidebook here:
by Jenna | Jan 18, 2016 | Writing Articles
Here at Called to Write, we’re rereading Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art.
I’ve read it at least five times already. And referred to it many times in between.
This month, as part of starting off the new year, I invited my Called to Write members to read (or reread) The War of Art with me. We’ll have an online book club discussion about it next week where I’m sure we’ll learn even more about this brilliant book as we discuss it together.
Here’s why I made this pick.
The War of Art is a Bible for Writing
The War of Art has been like a bible for me since I first read it. It was the first time I understood that I wasn’t struggling to write because I was lazy, or “a procrastinator” by nature, unoriginal, or lacking ideas. When I read it, a lightning bolt of understanding flashed through me. I was afraid. I was afraid I would fail, that I would succeed, that I wouldn’t do my ideas justice. Resistance was what was paralyzing me.
It was then I began to understand what it meant to face the fear and work anyway, and to help other writers do the same.
We Sometimes Need Help Finding Our Way
2018 was a hard year for many of us. It was rough personally, socially, politically, and more.
In my own life, 2018 was borderline apocalyptic. Between losing my father early in the year, several temporary-but-limiting-and-impacting health issues, wretched tech problems with the (old) writing program I was running, the terrible air quality and fires on the west coast over the summer and deep into November, and the political and cultural climate we’re living in right now, not to mention the day-to-day regular stuff of taking care of a family and running a business… well, like I said, it was rough. And between dealing with grief and all the other ruckus, my writing took a bit of a hit. I was writing, but not the way I wanted to be and resistance was high as the year drew to a close.
When life gets rocky, I focus on getting back on track as quickly as possible.
The War of Art felt like the perfect way of clarifying and reorienting, for all of us.
We Do Better, Together
While I knew reading The War of Art alone would be fruitful, I also know there is power in reading and learning together.
I also know it can give us a common language to communicate about our writing challenges, much as we were able to do after reading Finish by Jon Acuff last year.
I also sense, in the midst of this globally challenging time, that collectively strengthening our resolve, grit, resilience, sovereignty, and drive will help us better support each other to stay on track with what we were put here to do.
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by Jenna | Dec 30, 2015 | Writing Articles
It's that time of year. We're all making resolutions and setting goals, thinking about our biggest, fondest dreams, and what we hope to accomplish with our lives in the year ahead and beyond. As writers, usually our resolutions, goals, and visions have a lot to do with our writing, along with the other big goals we'd like to accomplish.
And once you're clear on the dream -- you'll want to have a way to put it all into action.
This is where building a lasting writing habit comes into play. Habit will get you through to the end, where willpower and determination might otherwise fail you.
5 Tips to Build a Lasting Writing Habit
When it comes to building a writing habit, habit itself is the key word. We want you to get your writing to a place in your life where you wouldn't even consider NOT doing it, the way you wouldn't even consider not brushing your teeth every day. That's when you know you've got a solid writing habit.
Here are 5 tips for how you can build a habit that lasts:
Tip #1: Write daily or near daily.
When you're trying to build a habit, aim to write DAILY. Writing on a regular basis is a hell of a lot easier than writing infrequently, it stirs up more frequent creative thoughts, and it eliminates the whole need so many writers have to "warm up". It turns out that most "warming up" is procrastination and resistance in disguise, and you won't need it once you're writing regularly.
In fact, when you write on a regular basis, you'll find that your subconscious mind is always working on your project, so it's much easier to dip in and out of it on the fly.
So when you're starting out building a writing habit, or even rebuilding one, aim to write every single day. There's a kind of open window into our writing that closes more tightly the longer the span of time that passes between writing sessions. So keeping that window of time to 24 hours or less, when you're building the habit, is key. Once you've got it down, you can start experimenting with taking days off here and there.
When I first started writing regularly, I had to write every day or my resistance levels would build up to code red proportions. Now I can take weekends off and step back into the writing come Mondays with less drama and angst.
Tip #2: Set small, attainable goals for your daily writing.
Lots of writers crash and burn by setting unrealistic goals for themselves. Many writers are surprised to discover how much they can accomplish in just 15 minutes of writing every day -- it adds up over time into so much more than you would ever think. (Check out the story about Rick, who went from 5 minutes of writing a day, to now working on finishing a 6th major draft of his novel.)
Do yourself a favor and start out your habit building with a super small, easily attainable goal that you KNOW you can do, every day, even if it's just 5 minutes day. When new members start in my writing community, we encourage them to focus on even just checking in every day as a way of building the habit muscle.
Tip #3: If you're not writing, make the goal smaller.
Once you set your goal, if you don't find yourself doing it, don't despair or call yourself a failure!
Instead, take that as a useful piece of information (your resistance is higher than that goal) and set the goal smaller, even if it's writing for one minute.
Truth be told, when you're building the habit, it's NOT the size of the goal that's important, it's the habit itself that is.
Once you're meeting and succeeding with your initial goal, you can build up to more over time. I started out aiming to write for 15 minutes a day (and finished a script that way) and gradually built up to writing three to four hours a day at my peak before I had baby #2.
Tip #4: Create triggers for your writing habit.
You always brush your teeth when you get ready in the morning and before you go to bed, right? Getting ready in the morning and going to bed are triggers. You don't debate about whether or not you'll brush your teeth, you just do it because you're so used to it, it would feel weird NOT to do it. So if you can set up a trigger for your writing, it makes it easier to do.
Here are some examples of possible triggers:
- Write immediately upon awakening. A huge benefit of writing first in the day is that it clearly separates it from other life tasks and obligations so you don't have to transition so much between other things to writing and back again.
- Write with a timer or during a group writing sprint. When you use a timer or you're writing alongside other people, the writing energy just kicks in and carries you along.
- Write after meditating or exercising. It's nice to stack other resistance-provoking activities next to each other in the day and hit them with a one-two punch.
- Write before exercising or before doing some other kind of regular activity. Then you have something to "bump up against" in your schedule.
- Write immediately after you get home, eat dinner, or put the kids to bed. Know that when you're done, you'll write before you do anything else.
- Write before going to bed. If you're a die-hard night owl, consider making writing the last thing you do.
If you keep doing the same thing, over and over again, it will become a regular part of your routine, and much easier to sustain over the long term.
Tip #5. Create as much accountability as you need to keep writing.
There are many different kinds of accountability, including writer's groups, mentors, deadlines, accountability parties, and writing buddies.
The trick is to figure out exactly how much YOU need to keep the fire lit under your writing motivation and put it into place. Look for the right combination that keeps you in action.
For example, you might want to have a writing buddy you exchange pages with every week, to keep you honest, whether you actually read each other's work or not. You could combine that with a writer's group, like my Called to Write program, which provides daily accountability. If that isn't enough for you, you could also add in an in person writing group and/or a contest or submission deadline to keep you focused.
There's no one size fits all answer here. You might be someone who is either great at staying accountable to yourself or someone who rebels against any kind of accountability. If that's the case, you may you prefer to put your focus on community and connection, rather than accountability, so that what helps keep you motivated is that your identity is tied to your writing and the group you're in.
Put these five tips into action and see what you can do! It's amazing what happens once you start. I wish you all the best in 2016 for a creative and productive year!
by Jenna | Dec 22, 2015 | Writing Articles
I waited for years to start writing fiction.
Inside, I felt like I had to get some kind of stamp of approval before I was "allowed" to write. That I needed an expert or agent or mentor or master writer to see my potential and encourage me to pursue writing. That otherwise I was chasing a fool's dream or breaking the rules somehow.
Change Your Mindset
I think many writers or want-to-be-writers do this. It's tied to perfectionism. A belief that we have to be "good enough" before we start. That there's a qualification level we have to reach before we even begin.
But how can we learn how to do anything, until we actually start doing it?
One of my mentors, Hal Croasmun of ScreenwritingU.com, talks about how he makes a point, every two years, to learn a new skill, so that he always remembers what it's like to be a beginner. This helps him develop the programs he runs for new writers because he can put himself in our shoes. I'm willing to bet he doesn't wait for permission to learn karate or poker or horseback riding. I'm betting he picks something that interests him, and goes for it.
Why can't we do the same with writing?
Perfectionism, again. This has to do, in part, with the black and white nature of writing in this digital age. Back when I wrote drafts on paper, I didn't hesitate to scratch things out. I knew I was writing a first draft. (I can even recall telling my father that I didn't think I could ever write without real paper! How times have changed...) There's something about seeing our words looking so final that makes them seem like they should be final draft, publication quality. Which is entirely unfair to our early stream-of-consciousness drafts.
Underneath the perfectionism is also fear, the lurking originator of perfectionism and other writerly issues, which tells us to play it safe and protect ourselves from potential failure, ridicule, and rejection. It's a powerful force that works against us and our writing.
But again, how can we learn, grow, and develop ourselves as writers without actually doing the work?
We cannot.
We have to change our mindsets from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset.
And we have to stop waiting for permission -- for some kind of pre-approval that will guarantee our success -- otherwise, we are really just kidding ourselves.
Don't Wait for Permission
Here's the thing.
You do not have to wait for ANYONE to validate you or tell you that you are good enough or deserving enough or talented enough to write.
No one has to “see” or recognize your writing as “good enough” before you can write. There’s no outside evaluation or assessment of “potential” needed or required.
YOU ARE A WRITER.
You are a writer because you are CALLED TO WRITE.
You know you are called to write because you have been persistently nudged, cajoled, and pestered by your deeper, higher, wiser self to write.
That means, by definition, you have been invited by the Universe to write.
And therefore, you have all the permission you need, right now.
