The Novel Approach

Celebrating a century - TruLife

2008-08-28T09:43:00.001-05:00

Celebrating a century - TruLife

I worked for the Index while I was in college at Truman State University. What an awesome experience! I served as a sports writer and sports editor -- the latter during the 1997-98 school year. I remember working 60-plus hours a week for the paper, skipping classes to make sure stories were written, edited and pasted. I made some great friends and we have some great war stories to share those rare times we're together 10 years later. At that time, teachers (especially those who'd actually worked in the journalism industry) were telling us that our clips were more important than our transcripts. And that was truly the case, as my clips landed me my first job -- and the rest is poverty-stricken history. Just kidding. I'm glad the Index is still around, and it seems to get better with age. Me, not so much!

Another poem

2008-07-11T16:13:00.002-05:00

This one has a somewhat elementary rhyme scheme, but the more I read it, the more I like it. What do you think?

Legacy
By Eric Eckert

When we age, we strain to see
Just what our legacy will be.
A chest of treasure, silver and gold
Or simply the feat of growing old?

A castle, some jewels? No, I do not believe
Those are the things that we would like to leave
Behind to the loved ones who relied so much
On our abilities, our strengths and, at times, our touch.

Who we are – that is something to consider,
Not what we’ve collected, those things leave us bitter.
Not want for belongings, materials will fade.
But want for the laughter, the time that was made.

Dinners at home ‘round the table at night,
The pat on the back for a chore that’s done right,
A good wish in a card, maybe a note to say hi.
Those are the legacies for which we should strive.

A trip to the ballpark, or a hike through the trees,
Catch in the back yard, or fishing the streams.
Time with a coloring book, a story before bed.
Those are the wonders that will be remembered.

Have we served our own masters with selfish delight?
Or did we pass on what we knew to be right?
Responsibility, stewardship, justice, faith –
How about caring for others? Or giving all away?

Did we talk with one face yet act with the other?
Did we engage? Or did we ignore our brothers?
Did we care for our neighbors, for their spiritual being?
Or did we walk on by and pretend not to see?

Did we submit to the Lord? Put our lives in His hands?
Or did we do it ourselves, and forego all His plans?
Were we selfish, impure, drunk, or enslaved?
Did we acknowledge our weakness and ask to be saved?

Did we pass on to children a reflection of Christ?
Or did we concentrate on ourselves and lose sight
Of the goal, our one chance in this mortal life
To make peace and love, to subdue any strife?

At the end, we’ll reflect on our words and our deeds.
And what will grow will be the results of the seeds
That we planted and tended during our brief time.
Will our legacies blossom, or will they wither and die?

I am guilty, convicted of the words that I write.
I want to love and live better, so that I might
Hand down to my children a me that they’ll see
Tried his best to provide for their spiritual needs.

Time, faith and love are the best things we give
Our legacies, our gifts, are the ways that we live.

Copyright 2008

A new poem

2008-07-03T11:25:00.009-05:00

I played around with a new poem. What do you think? Is it too much? (PS -- while I wanted some funky spacing, I just can't seem to get the correct spacing on this blog post!)

On Writing

My arms are strong in the deep water
Shoulders stretched
Elbows bent down at right angles
Forearms circling like eggbeaters
Circling like eggbeaters
Legs kicking
Pushing me up

A breath
Between intermittent waves
A faraway shore
Success if I can make it

Waves carry me forward
Then pull me back
Forward
Then back

Progress is slow, tedious
But there is progress
And my arms and legs still move

At night
Black water sloshes against my cheeks
To sleep would be to die
To lose my strength to die
My arms give out
Give in
To the density of the waves
And the movement of the water

The movement of the water

My legs, determined still to win the shore

At daybreak
Sun reflects off the sand,
Uncut diamonds for the picking
My goal is the shore
The faraway shore,
Respite from the fight,
The constant battle to breathe

The weight
Of the water
Against
My chest

More waves

Salt and sun bake my tears,
Tears that come with the loss of my legs
The faraway shore
Now invisible through crusted eyes
The smell of the shore is strong
And the water continues to move

Waves
More frequent now
Dip
And rise
Dip
And rise

Kelp glances off my wrinkled toes
The blisters on my eyelids
Don’t hurt as much
My strength’s absorbed by the water
So I float
On my back
Head first toward the shore

The smell of the shore is strong
And the water continues to move

At dusk
Sand bristles along my back
A crab clips at the base of my neck
Driftwood pounds my ear
My lips are blistered shut
I am blind

Yet the smell of the shore is strong
And the water continues to move me

out

sea

again

Back in the saddle

2008-06-24T19:44:00.003-05:00

Well, I started writing the novel again. But I had to read through the whole thing first. And the fun thing about that is this: The last thing I had written is now the preface to the book. A section of text that would have been buried in the middle of the book fits quite well at the beginning. It was like the proverbial lightbulb came on. Sometimes I guess you just have to step away from something for awhile...

I also decided to break up my chapters. So, some of them are actually pretty short -- about two pages. Personally, I think it works great. I'm just making chapters wherever there's a natural scene change, or a change in tone. So, if you're following this blog -- and you're probably not -- keep your fingers crossed that I continue. I have renewed faith in this thing and I want to keep that passion alive.

Writer's Digest Links

2008-06-03T10:09:00.003-05:00

My friend Angela on Wicked Wordsmith posted the link to the following Writer's Digest site. The link lists the 101 Best Websites for 2008. I haven't checked them all out, but I will.

Personal essays

2008-06-02T21:40:00.002-05:00

I've recently been reading The Norton Book of Personal Essays. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in essay writing and memoir. As you might know, my thesis centered on creative nonfiction, and the personal essay is something that I've been studying lately. Some of the selections in this book are very good. Favorites so far: Willa Cather's A Chance Meeting, F. Scott Fitzgerald's Sleeping and Waking, and H.L. Mencken's Reflections on Journalism.

Hard work pays off -- for two of us

2008-05-21T14:12:00.003-05:00

Last week was a busy week. My son, Michael (age 5), and I both graduated from our respective programs. He will be moving on from preschool and will start kindergarten in the fall. I graduated with my MA in English-Creative Writing from Missouri State University and, for the moment, plan to simply enjoy the diminished amount of stress that comes with finishing the degree -- and that pesky thesis. What will I do with all of my free time? Maybe I'll be a dad and tinker with that novel. What do you think?

Here is a photo of the two graduates. Enjoy!

A great writer....and St. Louisan!!

2008-05-09T13:03:00.003-05:00

Eddy L. Harris has written several memoirs. His first book, Mississippi Solo, is a tremendous adventure story about a man (Eddy) who travels the entire Mississippi river alone -- in a canoe. I've posted about Eddy before, but I found this interview with him that I thought was pretty well done. In the interview, he talks about Mississippi Solo and his approach to writing. (I won't bog this blog down with videos. It's just something new I've discovered.)

Joyce Carol Oates on writing characters

2008-05-09T12:44:00.001-05:00

This is my first attempt at embedding a YouTube video in my blog. I thought this might interest some of you.

Where have I been? Thanks for asking...

2008-05-08T08:30:00.007-05:00

I received an email from a wonderful friend of mine who said she actually reads this blog. I knew that there were a few of you out there, but I didn't know that you'd miss it -- even a little bit. So, here is my excuse for not updating for nearly two months: I have been finishing up my thesis. Yes, I finished it. Yes, it's now turned in to Missouri State University's Graduate College for review. Yes, I will graduate with a Masters in English-Creative Writing on May 16! Finally. Four years of pecking at this degree will finally yield fruit. What fruit? I have no clue. But hopefully it's something tasty.

With my thesis, I tried to couple my passion for journalism with my passion for creative writing, so the final product was a collection of three creative nonfiction pieces -- stories from my life that I hope people (at least those on my thesis committee) could maybe find somewhat thought-provoking. One piece is called "Spiritual Battle," and it examines my relationship with my idol, my grandfather and his reaction to my marriage announcement. (Grandpa, a devout Catholic, my godfather and confirmation sponsor, felt I was abandoning my religion by so readily agreeing to be married in another church.) Another is called "Hope for Change" and it reflects on my experience seeing an African man hanging from a tower in downtown Springfield. That day and that image have changed me. The third is called "Goat Lady" and is the "story behind the story" of an article I wrote when I was a working journalist.

I have been neck deep in this thesis for a year. I'm glad I did it, but I had some issues with the whole creative non-fiction thing. Here is an excerpt from my Introduction that might help you understand the "issues" that I faced:

I’ve heard and read that the freedom that comes with creative nonfiction is liberating. If liberation means that I can “play tennis without the net” then I would agree. But if liberation means turning the microscope on myself and revealing my opinions and criticisms to the world, then I’ve found that to be excruciating.

Journalists have the safety of providing the facts and letting their readers make up their own minds. With creative nonfiction, the author shares his subjective thoughts. That part was a challenge. However, I discovered it is easier for me to criticize myself than to criticize others. With this collection, I try to open up – I really do. I do my best to be intimate. I present the facts. I experiment with style and structure. But when it comes to criticizing others, I often find myself fading back into the shadows of “Here are the facts. You decide.”

Anyway, the clouds are lifting and I'm am re-energizing to pick up where I left off on the novel. It's a great story. I just hope I can tell it!

World Vision

2008-03-11T00:25:00.003-05:00

My church, Ridgecrest Baptist, just finished a four-day exhibit called "Step Into Africa: World Vision Experience: AIDS" sponsored by World Vision. The interactive exhibit followed the true life stories of four children affected by the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa. What amazing stories of survival and faith! I am so thankful for this exhibit, the people who worked it, and the work that is being done in Africa. There is still so much to do, but with God's help, we can do it. I encourage you to visit the World Vision site to help out.

Someone Knows My Name

2008-02-20T22:44:00.003-06:00

Today, I have read nearly 100 pages of Lawrence Hill's Someone Knows My Name.

Amazing book. It's so real, I can't believe it's fiction!

(I want to write like him)

"Cousin, you live, even if you dance to my tune"

2008-02-19T13:07:00.003-06:00

I just picked up a copy of Writers on Writing, Volume II. I was struck by Dorothy Gallagher's essay: "Recognizing the Book that Needs to be Written."

As you know, my thesis is a series of creative nonfiction pieces. I have been struggling with what to include in my stories, how much truth there needs to be and whether everything must be shared.

The complete essay can be found here on the NY Times site. Here are a few exerpts from the essay that I thought I'd share:

I have never written fiction, and this memoir may be as close as I ever get to it. No more than a biography or a novel is memoir true to life. Because, truly, life is just one damn thing after another. The writer's business is to find the shape in unruly life and to serve her story. Not, you may note, to serve her family, or to serve the truth, but to serve the story. There really is no choice. A reporter of fact is in service to the facts, a eulogist to the family of the dead, but a writer serves the story without apology to competing claims.

***

Now you may ask: Just what is the relation of your memoir to the truth?

It is as close as it can be.

The moment you put pen to paper and begin to shape a story, the essential nature of life -- that one damn thing after another -- is lost. No matter how ambiguous you try to make a story, no matter how many ends you leave hanging, it's a package made to travel.

Everything that happened is not in my stories; how could it be? Memory is selective, storytelling insists on itself. But there is nothing in my stories that did not happen. In their essence they are true.

Or a shade of true.

***

What do you think about these ideas?

Snow days are great for productivity

2008-02-11T23:59:00.001-06:00

Today was a great day.

Like a kid, I was excited to have a snow day. Usually, I enjoy getting up and going to work -- even on Mondays. But this morning I was still struggling with a mean sickness that has dogged me and the rest of my family for more than three weeks. So, it was nice to see that I'd have another day to recover. In the mean time, I was able to complete another 11 pages of my thesis and FINALLY finish Erik Larson's Devil in the White City. I just finished the book a few minutes before midnight.

If you haven't read this book, go out and buy it today. Fantastic book. It leaves no stone unturned. Great historic piece filled with suspense and mystery, as well as an in-depth look at one of the most influential happenings in our country's history -- the Chicago World's Fair.

The book only left me with one question. As a St. Louisan, I've always held tight to the legend that the massive Ferris wheel that appeared at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair (but which debuted at the earlier exposition in Chicago) was dismanteled and is buried in Forest Park. Larson's book stops short of saying where those massive sections of steel went. So, Erik, if you're reading this, can you help me out on that??

Did I say it was a great book? I need to post some snippets, so you can see what I'm talking about.

Keep the action going

2008-02-07T08:55:00.000-06:00

I'm still reading Erik Larson's Devil in the White City. It's still a very good book that concentrates on two stories: the architechts who create the 1898 World's Fair in Chicago, and a maniacal serial killer operating a few blocks away.

Larson is an incredible writer, and he has done awesome research on this subject. No proverbial stone is unturned. But the strong -- albeit sensational -- part of the story is the serial killer. And what I've found is that I'm fascinated by his story. But, as the book progresses (I'm on page 238), his story is interrupted by HUGE chunks of that which concentrates on the architects. When that happens, the action (for me, anyway) slows down considerably. It's frustrating. I want to skip those parts and flip pages to find more about the killer. I won't, though, because I want the full experience the way the author intended.

This does not discount the author's writing ability because I find him to be tremendous. And, in all fairness to the author, this book was in the history section of Barnes and Noble rather than the true crime section. So, I'm guessing that the main thrust (and, obviously, the part with the most archival material) is the architect story with the serial killer just being an added bonus.

I still recommend this title.

Some questions:

Have you had this experience with books before? If so, what titles? (I think the worst was the "Left Behind" series. I did skip around through those!)

Are there tricks to keep the action going, rather than bogging the reader down in detail?

Are writers cheating the reader if we don't provide the "details" -- even if they're mundane?

Tragedy dodged

2008-01-30T21:43:00.000-06:00

This is a piece of sound advice from someone who almost screwed up royally:

BACK UP YOUR FILES!!!

This past Monday, I went to pull my jump drive from my pocket and it wasn't there. As panic slowly trickled through my body, I began to realize that more than 30 pages of my thesis (and more than half of my novel) were lost. For two days, my wife and I scoured every inch of our house, our cars and my office to no avail. I retraced my steps and called almost every restaurant I've visited since last Thursday. Then, at 5 p.m. this evening, a co-worker asked if I'd called a restaurant that we visited on Monday.

Guess what. That's where it was!

Thank you, Lord! And thanks to my awesome wife for putting up with a frazzled grad student.

I was ready to throw in the towel and bypass a spring graduation and shoot for the summer. Now, I have a renewed hope to finish this thesis and graduate on May 16.

So please, if you pray, drop one in for me -- that I might stay motivated to complete my thesis, pass my comprehensive exams, graduate and continue writing my novel!!

A new book I'm reading

2008-01-16T17:36:00.000-06:00

I hate to admit that I once again put down Sinclair Lewis' Main Street!

A colleague in the Missouri State University's Special Collections and Archives recommended Erik Larson's Devil in the White City. WOW!! This is a great historic novel -- so far. I picked it up at Barnes and Noble in Denver. I started reading it yesterday, and I can't put it down. It's the true story of a cunning and vicious serial killer who was taking advantage of the 1898 World's Fair in Chicago to lure and kill his victims. Larson switches each chapter between the architechts of the fair and the killer -- who could seriously be one of the sickest, most-vile in history. Larson (a former feature writer for the Wall Street Journal, shows that he pays attention to each and every sentence. Well done. I can't wait to get back to it!

It's also very encouraging, since my thesis is creative nonfiction.

Writing longhand

2008-01-10T12:40:00.000-06:00

My wife and I still can't afford a laptop. So, while I'm away for five days in Denver, I'll probably spend some time writing longhand. During some of the little spare time I'll have during the conference, I plan to work on my thesis, as well as (hopefully) my novel.

It's amazing how quickly we've lost our "ability" to write in longhand. All of those notes that were passed around in high school and junior high were written in longhand. Back then we were happy to do it, even eager to do it, daily.

Last month, I had to use longhand to write four pages of essays for my linguistics final. It was almost excruciating -- literally -- because I was also writing in pencil. PENCIL??!! I had four of them onhand because there is little worse than writing page after page of single-space with a dull pencil. Actually, over the past year, I've kept several sharp pencils on my desk. There's just something refreshing about pencils.

I used to have pretty nice handwriting. But when I became a reporter, that was all shot to heck. I developed my own shorthand and myriad symbols, which eventually led to some whacked-out mess of ink that only reporters could (amazingly) decipher.

I think I'm going to try to write longhand more often. Books are being published lately dealing with letters that people have written to each other (I'm thinking specifically of books that feature letters between John and Abigail Adams and one that centers on an amazing amount of correspondence to and from Henry James). There was an art to that type of writing. There's something personal, individual, about longhand letter writing. You can almost "see" how the people were feeling when they were writing.

Now we're deluged with sterile emails, that if it wern't for those stupid smiley faces, we'd never be able to tell how the person was feeling -- whether they're being sarcastic, etc.

I've saved many letters that were written to me over the years. They're fun to go back and read. I've saved very few emails.

I think there's an exercise in all of this. I'd like to begin writing more letters to my wife -- something aside from the little notes I jot down in her birthday and anniversary cards. I think she'll appreciate that.

But...that's letter writing. When you want to write a book, there's no better method than typing. I'll probably end up with a hand cramp. But, as they say, no pain, no novel.

Subplots and organization

2008-01-06T13:14:00.000-06:00

I'm going to admit that I haven't spent a lot of time on the novel lately, but I am anxious about getting back to it, as I am constantly thinking up ideas.

One thing I've realized is that there HAS to be a series of subplots -- something that is making the job of writing a little harder because I've realized that you can't just concentrate on the main storyline. Basically, there just wouldn't be the depth that I believe a novel requires.

My novel -- right now titled "The Father's Forgiveness" -- deals with several mainstream issues, including the death penalty (I'm intrigued right now with the Supreme Court's decision to hear a case about a guy who is scheduled to die for raping a child), as well as several religious issues which pit Catholic views against other ideologies. I grew up Catholic, and while I still hold dear to many of the Church's teachings, my thoughts on various issues (including the death penalty) differ greatly. Since one of the main characters is a priest, this is making for some great discussion in the book and has prompted a lot of soul searching on my part.

Anyway -- getting back to subplots and organization. I am considering using a tool that I learned about in a screenwriting course. I think I'm going to use 3x5 index cards to write out scenes, and then I will use those cards as puzzle pieces to create the best possible story I can imagine.

Have any of you used this technique in your writing? (I don't get a lot of comments here, but I like to pose questions in case someone stumbles upon this blog and decides to contribute.)

Iowa is perfect setting for twists and turns

2008-01-04T15:04:00.000-06:00

I wonder if anyone could write a book as confusing -- with as many ambiguities, twists, and turns -- as the entire Iowa Caucus processes. The processes are different for GOP and Dems. The meetings take place in living rooms and middle school cafeterias -- probably a barn or two. One is a straw poll. The other is ...well...I don't know how to explain it, but there's a lot of bullying going on. But somehow...and I don't know exactly how... it makes sense to politicos and the next US President will emerge. Weird stuff.

P.S. On Christmas, I received $70 total in Barnes and Noble gift cards. I'm very excited to buy buy buy. Any suggestions?

Archival treasures -- and a little apology

2008-01-02T12:02:00.000-06:00

First off, I want to apologize for the "little vacation" I took from this blog. It had nothing to do with the blog, other than the fact that I hadn't worked much -- if any -- on the novel or my thesis for about four weeks! I was preparing for a final, writing the paper for my linguistics course and gearing down for the Christmas break, which is now over.

This is crunch time for my thesis, as the first draft is due in February. I'm sticking with the creative non-fiction and have found some new inspiration for some essays that I will write.

Since I have been working at Missouri State University, I've been captivated by our archives in the Meyer Library. People actually donate documents and memorabilia from their lives that -- if combed through carefully -- tell fascinating stories.

When was the last time you "dug" through your own archives?

The Christmas break allowed me some time to do that. I am so blessed to have a mother that has boxed up most of the things from my childhood, as well as momentos, writings, etc. from high school and college years.

In my old bedroom closet sits a wooden toy box with a treasure trove of Eric memorabilia. Right now, it is only of interest to my mother and me; but, hopefully, my sons will one day enjoy browsing through the items.

This Christmas I was on a quest to prove that I was once a promising artist. I was scouring the Eric archives for a high school sketchbook. After locating it (and realizing that that path probably wasn't as promising as I believed), I also found a manilla envelope. In the envelope was the only hard copy of an essay that I wrote in 1994. I hadn't seen this essay since my senior year in high school, and I was very excited to find it.

The essay chronicled a four-hour visit with Baseball Hall of Fame broadcaster and longtime St. Louis Cardinal announcer Jack Buck -- a St. Louis legend, who is father to now uber-popular Joe Buck.

Over the years -- mostly at parties -- I have called forth my memories from that evening at KMOX radio. But this essay, which was written as part of a class project, filled in so many gaps that I had forgotten.

I intend to use this essay to help me write a portion of my thesis. Finding this work helped me to understand just how important "original" work can be -- especially when the goal is to provide accurate history.

I'm also convinced that EVERY life is interesting and adventurous in one way or another. That's why being a storyteller is so much fun!

Sinclair Lewis

2007-12-19T17:27:00.000-06:00

OK...I know little to nothing about Sinclair Lewis, but I DO know that he changed my life.

How's that, you say?

Glad you asked.

As some of you might know, I am a former newspaper reporter. Back in 2001, while working for the Springfield News-Leader, I had the pleasure of working for an executive editor named David Ledford. I don't think that I impressed him much as a writer, but he took a chance and devoted a lot of time to me. When I struggled with a story, he'd sit with me until the early morning hours to make sure I got it right. When I needed a push, he was there to give it. He's a gruff fellow, and not everyone enjoyed his approach to editing, but he knew how to motivate me.

Ledford encouraged his reporters to let the readers "see" what we were seeing as reporters. He drilled into us the importance of narrative writing. He held workshops, sent us to seminars, etc.

One day, he called me into his office and he asked, "Have you ever read Sinclair Lewis' Main Street?"

"Um, no."

"Read that and you'll know how to write."

That was the first time I'd ever heard an editor or any instructor of journalism say that reporters should read literature to become better news writers! What a novel idea!

So, to keep up my good standing with my boss, I went to the library and checked out Main Street. I read the first dozen pages and caught on to what he was talking about -- but that was as far as I'd ever been with that book. However, I did decide, at that point, to concentrate on my storytelling, to become the best writer I could possibly be. I got away from "just the facts ma'am" reporting and became a storyteller -- trying to let the readers "see" what I was seeing. And since then, I've taken a new approach to all writing -- whether it's a news article, press release, magazine feature, etc.

All this to say that I've finally gotten around to picking up my copy of Main Street and I'm devoted to reading it this winter. It's a pretty good book so far, and I'm excited to get lost in Gopher Prairie.

Have any of you read this book?

P.S. I'm sorry I haven't posted in awhile (I know that's a cardinal sin with blogging), but I've been busy with "end-of-semester" things like papers and a linguistics final -- and, of course, making arrangements to finish my thesis. By the way, I received an A in my linguistics course, so all I have left are comprehensive exams and this thesis! Keep me in your prayers.

Nonfiction flip-flop

2007-12-05T17:30:00.000-06:00

Okay...I'm probably going to keep with my creative nonfiction thesis. I've been struggling with this decision for several reasons:

First, my writing in that area is just not as strong as I thought it would be -- see reasons in earlier posts.

Second, I've not received feedback.

Third, I really want to concentrate on the novel.

However... I've done a lot of work already and would hate to start over. Case closed.

My interest was rekindled by Truman Capote (long story) and when I started thinking about some of the situations I've encountered. I want to write about those situations; they are stories that I feel others would find interesting and maybe even beneficial.

In 30 short years, I've seen a lot. Most of it came when I was a reporter, and, unfortunately, most was not "good," as the stories were often crime-related. I'd like to get my personal reactions and feelings toward those stories on paper. Maybe it's therapeutic. And maybe people would read them.

For instance, there was this time an African man hanged himself from a tower not far from the newspaper. Immediately, people felt it was a lynching, but it turned out to be a suicide. Regardless, try to erase an image as culturally significant (and overwhelmingly sad) as that from your mind.

There are happy stories in my life, too -- like the four hours I spent shadowing one of my heroes, Jack Buck, at KMOX radio, or the time I stood in line behind Baseball Hall of Famers Stan Musial and Enos Slaughter in the press box buffet line (Old Eno cracked wise about the baked beans and Musial likes mayo on his hotdogs).

And then there are the cliche moments that many people have experienced -- marriage, birth of children, etc. -- but those are so personal and so emotional that it would be hard to explain, or get people (other than my wife and kids) to read.

You see? This is where the encouragement part comes in. This little freewriting exercise has helped me convince myself that I have stories to tell.

This blog is working!

P.S. If this seems to be somewhat of a rant, I apologize. Life's been kind of stressful lately. I know this because I'M STRESSED, and I know this because I've had my blood pressure checked twice in the past week (once at the dentist's office and once at one of those little stations at Sam's) and it's been high on both accounts. This is the first time in my life that I've had high blood pressure. The holidays can't come soon enough -- as long as all of the family plays it cool and gets along.

A great mystery is dialogue, hmm?

2007-12-03T11:25:00.000-06:00

My 4-year-old son has been watching the original three Star Wars movies for the past few months. Not too long ago (and not too far far away), he came up to me and said, "Love you I do" in his best Yoda voice. It was hilarious!

I am taking a pretty confusing linguistics theory class at the moment -- my fault, not the professor's -- so I used the prompt from my son to write my final paper on "Yoda-speak" and the Jedi Master's use of sentence inversion in The Empire Strikes Back.

What I realized while writing this paper is that Yoda's lexicon defines him as much as his green skin, diminutive size or his masterful use of The Force.

That made me analyze the dialogue in my novel, as well as pose some other dialogue-related questions:

Does my dialogue help define my characters?
Have I fallen into any dialogue traps? (using useless words, writing dialogue when I could paraphrase, etc.?
Can individual lexicons be over-used? (Personally, I think Yoda's has been overdone in subsequent films)
What are some good examples of great dialogue? Some Mark Twain and To Kill a Mockingbird comes to mind.
Are there any good dialogue resources out there?

Thanks for listening...er, reading.

First Chapters

2007-11-28T12:50:00.000-06:00

I recently had a noted author write to me with this advice: "First chapters are critical in getting the attention of an agent, and agents are critical in getting your work before publishers."

Personally, from a reader's standpoint, I find that "first chapters are critical in getting the attention of the reader" too!

Some people judge a book by its cover. I often judge one by the first two or three pages -- and if the writing's good, the first chapter.

One of my favorite pastimes is going to Borders or Barnes and Noble, grabbing a half dozen titles from the stacks and sitting down to read with a cafe mocha. Last Sunday, my wife and I had the rare opportunity to break away from the kids and go to Barnes and Noble to do just that.

I brought my pile of books back to the tiny table and began to read. I was really excited about one particular author, so I grabbed several of his books. Unfortunately, I wasn't hooked by his writing style, so I put them down and picked up a random book from the "new fiction" shelf. I was captivated.

The book: Leo Furey's The Long Run

Wow! I haven't had a book grip my attention like that in awhile. I read the first chapter and was amazed at the emotions I went through. I literally laughed outloud at one character, Brother McCann, and then found myself ready to reach through the pages and kick him in the head until he was comatose. I was very impressed, and I can't wait to buy the book (My finances that night were going toward a movie -- American Gangster -- that was worth every inflated penny). I only hope the entire novel can live up to "first chapter" expectations.

The last few books that really caught my attention like that were Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones and Truman Capote's In Cold Blood.

A very good resource for "first chapters" is the NY Times "First Chapters" site.

A few discussion questions:

What are some books with first chapters that grabbed your attention?

Do you find that subsequent chapters -- even endings -- often don't live up to first chapters?

Do you often trudge through clunky first chapters because you know that a good story is around the bend?

For writers, how much importance do you place on the first chapter?

Cliff-hangers and chapter organization

2007-11-25T17:20:00.001-06:00

I posted earlier with a question about chapter length and organization. Although I received no comments on this site, I also posed the question to the Crimespace community. Here are some tips that I receieved:

* Some readers don't like to be burdened with having to hang in there for 20 pages before turning off the light. Others get irritated by one page chapters. In the end you have to do what feels right for your book.

* Virtually all of my scenes end with some sort of cliff-hanger. Not all of them are of the Bad-Guy-Pulls-A-Gun variety either. I try to end with some sort of a twist or reversal which increases tension and (hopefully) forces the reader to go on to the next chapter.

* Let your writing flow naturally. It's better than having a preconceived notion of what it's supposed to "look" like. If you're on your second chapter, chances are it will end up looking a lot different in the second draft anyway. My chapters in the last book start out long in the beginning and get shorter and shorter as I raised the pulse of the reader.

Personally, one of the best books I've read (in terms of cliff-hangers) was The Da Vinci Code. When I read that book (prior to all of the plot points being revealed on every major network), I couldn't put it down. EVERY chapter left me wanting more. I read it in about three days but had to force myself to put it down on the night stand and go to bed.

I thank everyone who took the time on Crimespace to answer. I've decided to just write and break to a next chapter when it feels right. I'm in the middle of Chapter 3 right now, but I've already started Chapter 4. Now, I just need to fill in the gaps!

Things I'm learning along the way

2007-11-21T12:37:00.001-06:00

This blog is actually working...

No, there are not very many comments coming in (yet), but by writing my occasional posts, I have been motivated to work on my book and to seek out resources that I didn't know existed before I started this (Wicked Wordsmith, Crimespace, etc). As of today, my book is at 22 pages and I'm well into chapter 2! This is exciting for me because I have a definite direction for this work -- and that is a huge accomplishment for me, as I've started many things that just kind of fell flat.

Some things that I'm learning along the way:

1. The characters really do drive themselves. Yes, I have a conclusion in mind, but my protagonist has a life of his own. I often find myself saying things like: "He'd do this instead of that" or I'll go back and make significant changes because I'd have Tommy doing something that was totally out of character.

2. I read somewhere that you shouldn't introduce secondary characters without having them reappear again with some significance. That makes a lot of sense, when I think about it. I've actually introduced some characters for flavor, but coming across that advice, I need to figure out how they'll reappear. I'm actually very excited about this and have some ideas.

3. I need to write when I don't want to write. The other night, my wife and I were lounging on the couch and flipping channels. I told her: "I hate nights like this when you feel like you've just wasted an entire evening." She said "Why don't you go write?" At first, I felt like saying "I'm tired" or "I just don't have it in me tonight." Instead, I got up and dragged myself to the computer and pounded out three pages or so. I started to get tired and wanted to quit midway through a scene, but I continued to write -- just to finish the scene and "turn the corner." Before I went to bed, I had revised the first chapter (again) and was well on my way into Chapter 2 (It might even be time to move to Chapter 3). I was tired the next morning, but something had been accomplished -- which is the point, right?

4. Do chapters have to be similar in length? At this point, I'm deciding they don't because my second chapter ends naturally at about half the length of the first. Is this appropriate, or is there some rule regarding chapter length?

Looking forward to some comments!!

Considering a change

2007-11-19T12:44:00.000-06:00

I am very disgruntled with my creative nonfiction thesis project -- so disgruntled, in fact, that I'm considering a change. I want to write fiction! But I've taken no fiction writing courses because there haven't been any offered after 5 p.m., when I could take them.

Some challenges I've discovered with creative nonfiction:

1. It's tough to analyze yourself and to then put it down on paper.
2. When people are still living, it's tough to analyze them and put it down on paper -- for me, there is a genuine fear of upsetting someone. Facts are facts, and they should speak for themselves (in theory and within the confines of objective journalism); but...when delving into creative nonfiction, you let your judgements show, and that still seems pretty risky to me.
3. I've got some great nonfiction ideas, but I feel rushed to write those stories based upon a thesis deadline.
4. Right now, I want to write fiction -- plain and simple!

Any thoughts?

Resident Tiller of the Soil

2007-11-16T17:27:00.000-06:00

Are you the "resident tiller of the soil" or "the trading seaman?"

In Walter Benjamin's "The Storyteller: Reflections on the Works of Nikolai Leskov", the author examines these two groups.

Experience which is passed on from mouth to mouth is the source from which
all storytellers have drawn. And among those who have written down the tales, it
is the great ones whose written version differs least from the speech of the
many nameless storytellers. Incidentally, among the last named there are two
groups which, to be sure, overlap in many ways. And the figure of the
storyteller gets its full corporeality only for the one who can picture them
both. “When someone goes on a trip, he has something to tell about,” goes
the German saying, and people imagine the storyteller as someone who has come
from afar. But they enjoy no less listening to the man who has stayed at home,
making an honest living, and who knows the local tales and traditions. If one
wants to picture these two groups through their archaic representatives, one is
embodied in the resident tiller of the soil, and the other in the trading
seaman. Indeed, each sphere of life has, as it were, produced its own tribe of
storytellers. ...

The actual extension of the realm of storytelling in its full historical breadth is inconceivable without the most intimate interpenetration of these two archaic types. Such an interpenetration was achieved particularly by the Middle Ages in their trade structure. The resident master craftsman and the traveling journeymen worked together in the same rooms; and every master had been a traveling journeyman before he settled down in his home town or somewhere else. If peasants and seamen were past masters of storytelling, the artisan class was its university. In it was
combined the lore of faraway places, such as a much-traveled man brings home,
with the lore of the past, as it best reveals itself to natives of a place.

At this point in my "career" I consider myself a resident tiller of the soil -- "the man who has stayed at home, making an honest living, and who knows the local tales and traditions."

As a journalist, I have taken what others have told me, organized it, and passed it on. So far, that's been my form of storytelling (which, Benjamin would argue -- along with the novel -- is a step down from the oral tradition).

There's a lot more to the essay than what I've shown here, but I like the imagery of digging up the stories and sharing them with others. As writers, that's our job -- whether the stories come from others or from our own personal experiences, expressed in both fiction and non-fiction.

What do you think?

(Actually, I think I confused myself in all of this ...)

A few questions

2007-11-14T12:30:00.001-06:00

What's in a name?

Do you ever have trouble naming your characters? My protagonist is Thomas "Tommy" Richter. I wanted a good German name, but now I'm re-thinking my choice -- Is the name "Tommy" appropriate for a 30-something? My thinking is that he's "Tommy" to the people in his neighborhood and "Thomas" in the workplace. Is that too distracting? Are there any really good resources out there for character naming?

Using real places?

Are there any dangers having your characters going to real places, like real universities? Right now, I have Tommy as a graduate of St. Louis University, but it's basically a place-holder until I can do some more research. Tommy is a journalist, but I haven't checked to see if SLU has a journalism program. I went to a Missouri school with a journalism program, but it's not in St. Louis. I want Tommy to go to a school in St. Louis. Does "creating" a university -- even if it's just a brief mention -- give the story less credibility?

Any good examples out there of dream sequences?

I'm looking for a creative way to insert a dream -- in real time -- into my story. Do you know of any good examples?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Three hours of writing!!

2007-11-12T22:33:00.000-06:00

This was an amazing night. Very unusual, as I had three hours of time to write. My older son went to bed early, and our baby went down soon after. So, I fought the temptation to channel surf and buckled down to write. I reworked the first chapter and I love the changes I've made.

It's still not perfect, but it's time to move on to chapter two.

The original version led off with my protagonist, Tommy, sitting in the back of a Catholic church wating his turn to jump in the communion line. But after much consternation and a nagging feeling that it was all wrong, I went back and changed it -- not the story line, just the opening pages.

Now, I lead off with a pretty nice narrative of the church (a central theme to this novel) and I put Tommy at home in bed as the church bells begin to ring -- waking him up to the realization that he is late, again. It's odd, but this slight change has allowed me to better define Tommy, to give him more depth and to introduce several integral elements that need to be revisited throughout the story.

I was just so excited to actually have the time to sit and write. If I had any alcohol in the house, I'd make a toast!

Also, I have begun to receive some comments on this blog. That is very exciting too. Please keep them coming, and I will try my best to make this site worth visiting. If you have any suggestions, please let me know.

Personal Interviews

2007-11-12T06:50:00.000-06:00

I have interviewed many interesting people in my life, and by using this tool of communication, I've found that some of the most ordinary people live the most extraordinary lives.

The last couple of years, I've been "interviewing" my grandparents. Unfortunately the conversations are usually so impromptu that I don't have a tape recorder set up, but I've been able to absorb some wonderful historic information. This weekend, my grandmother visited for my son's dedication at church. We sat and talked for hours; she told me stories about herself and others, filling in many gaps about relatives I thought I'd known. And while it was fun to learn about my relatives, I couldn't stop thinking plotlines and characters. I know they'll show up in my writing.

My grandmother was born in the Old Mines area of Missouri, just north of Potosi. The area was mined first for lead; and when that ran out, they began digging for tiff. There's an amazing French culture that is literally dying out.

For those who are writing any health-related, suspense or (dare I say -- horror) fiction, my grandma told me the story of her grandmother's funeral. This would have been in the early 1930s. Apparently, my great-great grandmother died of dropsy -- we know it as edema -- when your organs swell with fluid. Before she died, she told her husband to wait three days until she was buried. He abided by her wishes, but those three days proved to be a bad idea. You see, my grandmother's body continued to swell with fluid. During the funeral procession, the casket was put in the back of a horse-drawn wagon. Much to everyone's dismay, the body was so bloated that it DRIPPED fluid from the house to the graveyard. Yuck.

Anyway, here's the reason my great great grandmother wanted to wait three days to be buried. Back then, when people fell into a coma, people thought they were dead because the diagnoses were so innacurate. So....the rumors were that many people were buried alive.

There were other stories, but that's the one that was most vivid. My grandmother is a great storyteller -- and I'm thankful that she's taking the time to tell me and she's also writing these things down for me.

Feel free to share your personal interview stories.

Crimespace

2007-11-09T09:28:00.000-06:00

I recently became a member of Crimespace ("a place for readers and writers of crime fiction to meet").

Angela, Wicked Wordsmith, revealed on her site that Crimespace was hosting a short story competition. The theme is "Australia" and the use of this theme is very broad. I think I might enter.

One author finds time

2007-11-08T00:00:00.000-06:00

I was reading a story in the New York Times about Anne Enright, the winner of Britain's 2007 Man Booker Prize for her novel "The Gathering." (I haven't read the book, but it must be pretty good.)

Of interest to me were a few paragraphs at the end of the article regarding Anne's writing time:

“The kids go to school; I sit down and write,” she
said. “The kids go to bed; I sit down and write.” Her husband, Martin Murphy, who runs a theater outside Dublin, works at night, which makes finding time to be together a challenge. “At the Booker dinner I thought maybe we could talk about our holiday plans,” she said, laughing. But in different ways they were both too nervous.

Oddly enough, Ms. Enright said, having children — she has two, 4 and 7 — has made her work easier.

“I find that the whole sense of anxiety and largeness, the sense that you’re writing everything, the allness of it, disappears completely,” she said. “You have just three or four hours a day, and you’re going to write a book, and it just shrinks the work into its proper proportion.”

Obviously, Anne is a full-time writer. Personally, I can say with authority that having two kids doesn NOT make writing easier. It gives you something beautiful to write about, but the actual TIME to write all but disappears. I'm very thankful to God for providing me a wife who realizes this and does what she can to help me find the time.

Ahh...just more encouragement to make it, right?

Tips for creative nonfiction

2007-11-06T21:28:00.000-06:00

On a tip from my friend Angela (Wicked Wordsmith), I browsed the "Velda Brotherton" section of her Web site. Velda is an Ozarks writer with several novels and works of creative nonfiction under her belt.

As you know, I'm working on a series of creative nonfiction pieces for my thesis. I found Velda's posts -- including those on character development and historic research -- very encouraging and I've made note of several tools and tips.

See Velda's Wicked Wordsmith posts here.

Velda's professional site is located here.

Mississippi Solo

2007-11-06T12:30:00.001-06:00

Have any of you read the book Mississippi Solo?

If you have not, you're missing out. In this work of nonfiction, Eddy L. Harris -- who lived a portion of his life in St. Louis -- recounts his solo trip (in a canoe) from the head waters of the Mississippi down to Louisiana.

This is an amazing story -- quite scary at times, especially when the author is paddling his little canoe through the locks and dams and dodging the wakes of massive barges (and dodging the barges themselves).

I was intrigued by this journey because I grew up in St. Louis within a mile of the Mighty Mississippi. I didn't spend a lot of time on the River, but I've been down to its banks enough to feel its overwhelming power. When people say they want to go boating on the Mississippi, I reply with "Good luck!"

When I was a teenager, a buddy of mine and I planned to do some night fishing on the river. The spot we'd had picked out was, of course, on private land, and we were not invited. But we were determined to drop a line in anyway. Well, before I left the house (wearing old jeans, an old ratty sweatshirt and toting a much-too-small fishing pole for the Mississippi) I made the mistake of telling my mother where we were going fishing.

I don't think she believed me. Certainly, two teenaged boys were up to no good if they were heading to the river at night. She was certain that we had something else up our sleeve, so she replied with an emphatic "Nuh-uh. You're not going fishing."

I pleaded my case, but she stood her ground. She said "If you ARE going fishing, you're NOT going there. What would happen if you were sucked in? At night, when no one could see you? Forget about it."

When I was that age, I would often try to argue to get my way. But that night, there was a seriousness in my mom's tone -- something I didn't want to question. And I've never questioned it since. For the past 15 years, I've wondered what would've/could've happened that night -- two kids trying to balance on slippery rocks and battle the rip-roaring currents of one of nature's powerhouses. I'm glad I didn't go.

That's why I was fascinated by Eddy's book. He challenged the River and he won. But it wasn't for a lack of respect -- respect he learned to afford the River and respect he gained for himself.

Great book. Good writing.

Eddy followed up this book with a handful of others, including Native Stranger, Still Life in Harlem, and South of Haunted Dreams.

Wicked Wordsmith

2007-11-05T12:44:00.000-06:00

Last week, I was excited to hear from an old friend, Angela Wilson, who worked with me at the Springfield News-Leader several years ago. Angela is an aspiring novelist. But she is also a communications professional who works to market books, as well as provide resources, tools, reviews, etc. to other writers.

She currently maintains a professional blog called Wicked Wordsmith. I would encourage any writer to frequent this awesome resource.

Like me, Angela is writing a novel and she's seeking encouragment. She's been kind enough to share with me a few pages of her manuscript, and I can say this: It is suspenseful and well written.

Keep writing, Angela!!

I look forward to following her career.

"It was a dark and stormy night...."

2007-10-31T12:47:00.000-05:00

Given that it is Halloween, I thought you all might like to know exactly where the phrase "It was a dark and stormy night...." originated.

It was the opening line in Edward George Bulwer-Lytton's 1830 book Paul Clifford.

Here is the entire opening line: "It was a dark and stormy night and the rain fell in torrents--except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness."

There is actually a contest for bad writing called the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest.

This information was first passed along to me by a student, Ingrid, who worked in our office. She's a great writer and we had a good laugh about this a year or so ago.

Happy Haunting!

(I think it would be fun to write a good ghost story....maybe I'll post one here sometime...I bet you can guess what my opening line will be!)

Edith Wharton

2007-10-30T13:07:00.000-05:00

In fall 2004, I took a Modern American Authors class at Missouri State University. We read eight novels that semester; five were written by Edith Wharton. When we were finished, the professor said something like, "It'll be a long time before I teach a class on Edith Wharton again." I believe most of us agreed. However, I feel that I learned a great deal about descriptive writing during that class.

Edith Wharton has the reputation of writing stories about the high society of which she was an integral part. That society can be found in her popular novels, The Age of Innocence, The House of Mirth, etc.

But I found her to be at her strongest when she stepped out of her comfort zone and wrote about the poor and desolate, particularly a handful of characters found in the staple Ethan Frome and my favorite Wharton novel, Summer.

In Summer, there is a scene when the main character Charity travels up "the Mountain" to see her mother, Mary. When she gets there, she learns that her mother is dead. Here is the scene:

"Mary's over there," someone said; and Mr. Miles, taking the bottle in his hand, passed behind the table. Charity followed him, and they stood before a mattress on the floor in a corner of the room. A woman lay on it, but she did not look like a dead woman; she seemed to have fallen across her squalid bed in a drunken sleep, and to have been left lying where she fell, in her ragged disordered clothes. One arm was flung above her head, one leg drawn up under a torn skirt that left the other bare to the knee: a swollen glistening leg with a ragged stocking rolled down about the ankle. The woman lay on her back, her eyes staring up unblinkingly at the candle that trembled in Mr. Miles's hand.

Later in the novel, Wharton describes a scene inside one of the cabins on the Mountain. This simple scene has stuck in my mind since I first read this novel:

CHARITY lay on the floor on a mattress, as her dead mother's body had lain. The room in which she lay was cold and dark and low-ceilinged, and even poorer and barer than the scene of Mary Hyatt's earthly pilgrimage. On the other side of the fireless stove Liff Hyatt's mother slept on a blanket, with two children--her grandchildren, she said--rolled up against her like sleeping puppies. They had their thin clothes spread over them, having given the only other blanket to their guest.

Can't you just imagine this scene? How powerful! "On the other side of the fireless stove Liff Hyatt's mother slept on a blanket, with two children -- her grandchildren, she said -- rolled up against her like sleeping puppies.

I truly enjoy great narrative, and this is some of the best that I've read. If you get a chance, pick up a copy of Summer. You won't regret it. Online text can be found here.

FYI...Wharton was good friends with Henry James, who I wrote about in an earlier post.

Maurice Medland

2007-10-29T13:18:00.000-05:00

In the late 1990s, when I was preparing to graduate from Truman State University, I had the opportunity to meet Maurice Medland. At the time, Mr. Medland (a Truman alum) had recenlty published his first novel, Point of Honor, and he was signing copies at the university bookstore. We stood and talked for about twenty minutes. And during that brief time, he encouraged me to follow my dream to write. I purchased a copy of Point of Honor and Mr. Medland signed it for me. It was a very good read -- very suspenseful and extremely detailed. Mr. Medland was in the Navy, and his knowledge of ships is unparalleled.

For several years, I waited for a follow-up. That novel, China Star, is now available, and I look forward to reading it. I recently wrote to Mr. Medland and recounted the story of our brief meeting. Here is part of the response that I received:

I'm glad to hear that you're doing well--congrats to you on your marriage, your family, your career, and your studies. That's the very foundation we all need to pursue a writing career. When I was starting out, I corresponded with Dean Koontz a bit and he said, "It's a tough business, but stick with it; the rewards are great." He was right on both counts. I have to say that the fiction market is tougher than ever, but publication is still possible for those who learn the craft and have the talent to apply it. So stick with it, my friend. Don't let anyone or anything stop you.

This is the encouragement I needed, and I appreciate his counsel. I encourage you to pick up a copy of either book. I can definitely vouch for his debut, and I'm betting that the follow-up is just as fun.

Click here for the first two chapters of Point of Honor and the first chapter of China Star.

Enjoy -- and tell me what you think!

A chilling tale...

2007-10-27T17:38:00.000-05:00

It's Halloween, and it's time to to be scared.

A few years back, I read (and subsequently wrote a paper about) Henry James' "The Turn of the Screw." The paper was crap, but the story was great -- scary!

The opening paragraph of this superb ghost story sets a frightening scene. I thought I would provide it here, along with a link to an online version of the tale in case anyone is interested.

From "The Turn of the Screw":

The story had held us, round the fire, sufficiently breathless, but except the obvious remark that it was gruesome, as, on Christmas Eve in an old house, a strange tale should essentially be, I remember no comment uttered till somebody happened to say that it was the only case he had met in which such a visitation had fallen on a child. The case, I may mention, was that of an apparition in just such an old house as had gathered us for the occasion -- an appearance, of a dreadful kind, to a little boy sleeping in the room with his mother and waking her up in the terror of it; waking her not to dissipate his dread and soothe him to sleep again, but to encounter also, herself, before she had succeeded in doing so, the same sight that had shaken him. It was this observation that drew from Douglas -- not immediately, but later in the evening -- a reply that had the interesting consequence to which I call attention. Someone else told a story not particularly effective, which I saw he was not following. This I took for a sign that he had himself something to produce and that we should only have to wait. We waited in fact till two nights later, but that same evening, before we scattered, he brought out what was in his mind.

For more of the text, go to the page at the University of Virginia's LibraryElectronic Text Center.

"Turn of the Screw" does not offer a clear explanation as to exactly what is happening. The novella has been the subject of much debate since it was first published. Is it real? Is it psychological? Psychosexual?

Read it and let's discuss.

Aside from "Turn," it's been awhile since I've read a truly scary story. Do you have any recommendations?

A poem

2007-10-26T12:58:00.000-05:00

Zero hour

The world progresses without me,
mocking grief.

Pledges made at zero hour
evaporate as buds of April
pop
in breeze, in sunshine
pushing through a veiled pane.

Pain, mine, frozen still
at zero hour
when pledges poured
from empathetic hearts
steeped in sadness brief.

Hearts are healed
by April bloom.

Not mine.

Not mine.

Fragile buds,
silky, susceptible to frost,
sing for renewal,
a soprano for spring.

I pray for silence.

I pray for healing.

I pray for freeze.

©Copyright 2007

_____________________________________________________________________
Author's note: I wrote this one night after a class with Dr. Jane Hoogestraat, English professor at Missouri State University. I forget the poetic term we were discussing, but it had something to do with the personification of nature. I'll have to look that up. Anyway, I wanted to focus on grief -- specifically, grief immediately following a death. When someone dies (that moment I refer to as "zero hour"), friends and family immediately jump to the aid of those left behind. Their message: "If you need ANYTHING, let me know, and I'll be there for you." I've said it to people. You probably have too. But what happens a month later? Usually, those people who've lost a loved one are still suffering, but all of the assistance and offers of help have faded and people have gone back to their lives. I think it's natural, but it's still painful for the ones who are grieving.

My novel

2007-10-25T20:33:00.000-05:00

I've actually completed a fair amount of work with this project already. No, I haven't written a hundered pages. But I have a pretty nice outline, character biographies, plot points, etc. I've also written a rough first chapter.

I have an interesting organization. The story takes place over a period of two weeks. Each chapter is a day building up to the final day. I have some interesting characters. The protagonist, Thomas Richter (good German name) is a St. Louis newspaper reporter (write what you know, right?). He's facing a huge challenge that will alter his life forever, blah, blah, blah....Actually, it's a pretty good story. But, right now, the majority is only in my mind.

Time to get it on paper, right? So what am I doing taking up time writing here? Maybe it's the exercise of hitting the keyboard with a purpose -- sitting here, at night, when the kids are asleep and I could be vegging out watching a CSI rerun.

And what's up with that? The new season of CSI is less than a month old and they're already playing repeats? I don't watch too many television shows anymore, but I do flip channels like a mad man.

Should get to writing...

Creative Nonfiction

2007-10-25T20:10:00.000-05:00

My master's thesis is (in plan and theory) a collection of short creative nonfiction pieces. I thought this project would be a natural extension of my journalism career. After all, in only five short years, I'd seen amazing things. I'd interviewed fascinating people. I'd had the chance to report on everything from murders and drug raids to county fairs, the Iraq War and local politics. And I'd experienced nearly every emotion. With that background and all of that flavor, it should be easy to write creatively about such things. Right?

Not so fast. I'm finding it to be a very tedious task. For months, I haven't been able to understand why my nonfiction work is sub-par. But I've had a recent revelation, and I'm going to share it here.

As a journalist, I was trained to collect the facts and report the story. At no point during the process was I allowed to interject my personal feelings or views into the story. Now, I have to write about me. How did I feel when I conducted the interview? What was I thinking when I interviewed that man convicted of killing a child? What a change! And what a challenge.

When writing fiction, authors can assume any identity. Yes, writers do interject themselves into their characters. But in the end, the character is a composite of many. With creative nonfiction, the main character is the author. And I guess I'm still uncomfortable with revealing my true self to the world (or, in this case, my professor).

And it's tough to share my true thoughts about people. For instance, when I analyze a family member in a piece, I mention everything I love about him. But I also announce to the readers my criticisms of him. But what if he reads this? Would he be offended? So I water it down -- just in case. It's kind of like opening your diary for the world to see. You reveal your vulnerabilities, your prejudices, even your language.

I'm just having a hard time doing that. I guess I'm too cautious. Anyone else have this problem?

RECOMMENDATION: A very good book of creative nonfiction is The Beholder's Eye: A Collection of America's Finest Personal Journalism, edited by Walt Harrington.

The Novel Approach -- why this blog exists

2007-10-24T12:52:00.000-05:00

Has anyone ever told you, "You know? You should write a novel."

Or, have you said to yourself, "You know? I should write a novel."

Or, "That would make a great novel."

Or, "I've got a novel floating around in my head. I just have to write it down."

Or, "There's just no TIME!!!!"

It's maddening, isn't it? You know you can do it, but something always gets in the way.

Welcome to The Novel Approach.

The idea for this blog was sparked by a group of folks (several are friends or acquaintances of mine) who contribute to a blog devoted to running marathons. Members of this group post anything and everything about marathons: training techniques, news stories, personal essays, poems on marathon running, etc. But their most important contribution is encouragement.

They push each other to the proverbial finish line.

Well, writing a novel is like running a marathon. And writers need encouragement.

We also need tools, resources, prompts, and feedback.

That's the primary goal for The Novel Approach.

My name is Eric. I'm 30 years old. My wife, Corinn, tells me I should write a novel. I want to write a novel. I've got one floating around in my head. I just have to write it down. But with a full-time job, night school and two children, there's just no time.

If you're like me, it's time to make time. It's time to do it.