Category Archives: Writing

Poets, Virgins, LSD & More on the Writing Process Blog Tour

May 13, 2014Writingblog tour, nonfiction, story-telling, writing processAmber

1980 Amber reading — 10 Year Old Me, Weird Already

One of the best things about being a writer is getting to know other writers. We’re a quirky bunch, I tell you! So when poet Drew Myron and novelist Rosanne Parry invited me to join an online conversation about writing process, I jumped on board. Who wouldn’t want to listen to a bunch of writers spill the inner workings of their wordy brains?

In a series of blog posts like this one, we’ll each answer four questions about our writing process. You’ll get to see behind the scenes and discover some new books along the way.

Once you get a taste of Drew’s evocative, tender language, I know you’ll crave more. Visit her writing process post here and a link to her books here.

Rosanne is a master of middle grade fiction. She creates deftly-drawn characters who never let you go. Her writing process interview will post to her blog on the 17th, and her books, including the amazing WRITTEN IN STONE are here.

And on to my personal variety of writer-geekdom…

What are you working on?

I’m working on a project that scares me. And that’s good. It’s pushing me way out of my comfort zone in topic—it’s a young adult anthology of essays by women about losing their virginity—and in process because I’m acting as an editor for the contributors, something I have never done before.

But in spite of my jitters about how such an edgy book will be received, I am more convinced every day of its importance. I hope that the book will empower readers to take charge of their own sexuality, whether that means saying no or saying yes. If young women don’t, someone else will take charge of it for them.

THE V-WORD will be published in 2016 by Beyond Words, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

How does your work differ from other writers in your genre?

The only book on the shelves that I think is comparable to this one is LOSING IT, an anthology of short stories by YA writers. It’s a brilliant collection and you should read it, but it’s fiction. THE V-WORD is 100% true, and you’ll be astounded by the raw honesty of these talented writers. Every day I’m grateful that I have the opportunity to bring these stories to the readers who need them.

Why do you write?

Because I am stubborn and complicated and I like stories of all kinds.

What is your writing process?

My nonfiction books are usually sold on proposal so I do a lot of research up front. I need to have a very good sense of the story I am trying to tell and the shape it will take before any writing begins. The key to nonfiction is finding the right structure to carry the focal theme through to the end. After the book is under contract, the editor and I will refine the structure and outline together. With all that groundwork done, I start writing and add in research as needed.

For fiction, most of the pre-writing I do is around finding the voice of the main character. Once I have a sense of who this person is, then I generate a rough outline of the plot. The details sort themselves out as I proceed with drafting, my favorite part. After the first draft, comes the scissor-stage where I cut the thing apart and tape it back together. I have come to accept that there will always be radical and painful change.

But like I said, I’m stubborn.

________

Now I invite you to visit the blog of Kiersi Burkhart, who most famously described me as “stubborn as fuck.” She’s a fun and feisty writer of middle grade and YA fiction as well as a contributor to THE V-WORD.

While you’re on the move, I encourage you to visit Ruth Feldman, writer of historical YA time travel novels. Ever wondered about the connections between free speech, LSD and medieval Paris? Look no farther than THE NINTH DAY.

Me and the Deadline God

April 17, 2014Writingdeadlines, editor, finish line, GTD, writing processAmber

The only thing I like about deadlines is telling people, “I’m on deadline” and watching the impressed/sympathetic look on their faces.

Really, that’s the only thing.

Getting things done as a writer (with all those hours and hours of potentially distraction-filled time) is knowing your own process, especially knowing what is likely to get you bogged down. I have learned to read myself pretty well.

Stuck but almost breaking through the wall feels one way, and it means I need to stay in my chair and power through. Stuck but depleted feels different and means I need to get out of my chair and take a run to recharge my batteries. Stuck and never doing this again requires whiskey.

One thing I know for sure is that I don’t like or need deadlines. I know what needs to happen to get a book done, and most of the time, I like doing it. I plan my time so that there isn’t a rush to finish line. I don’t do my best work under pressure or time-constrained or sleep-deprived. I am not a sprinter. I do endurance best.

Can you think of anyone who works well under pressure? Because I’m almost certain that nobody can. Regardless of whether you’re a writer (like me), an CEO of a successful global company, or an office worker, it is hard to complete daily tasks and to perform to your highest standard on a lack of sleep. And it can affect anyone, for a variety of particular reasons. My friend had sleep deprivation not so long ago and said it was down to her stress, so decided to have a look for the best CBD oils in her area to see if this would help her to feel better on both counts. Luckily for her, it did. And to be honest, I may decide to do the same too. But if I take my time and don’t rush, I will be at the finish line before I know it.

On the wilderness canoe trips we take every summer, I carry a very heavy pack (half my body weight) over portages. I am slow but I don’t stop much and I get to the end when I get there. On the lakes, I can paddle for hours–not fast but steady. I’m a long-distance kind of gal.

But sometimes things happen.

In the lead up to the book I turned in yesterday, for example, I had three travel days for work, tax day (with unexpected complications), my daughter’s birthday party, Passover (hosted at my place), and my usual everyday stuff.

So I needed an extra day from my editor, which she was happy to offer, but made me feel like I’d let myself down. (Mantra: professional writers meet all deadlines.) And I had to work in a pound-it-out way that is very far from my natural rhythm.

Now I know there are those of you who love deadlines, who relish the chase and love the hot breath of the Deadline God on your neck. Happy times for you people!

But me…

… not so much.

If you don’t mind, I’ll get back to work now. There are deadlines in sight, and I plan to meet them for a civilized cup of tea.

Finding time in the cracks

December 2, 2013WritingAmber

Time and I have a convoluted relationship. It doesn’t help that time masquerades as linear when really…

Well, you’ll have to chat with Einstein (or Ruth Feldman) about true nature of time. All I will say here is that time is not what we think it is. Or actually, time is precisely what we think it is. If I’m sure there is “no” time, then I am rushed and overloaded. If I am convinced that time is bountiful then space opens.

But let me get to the point before I topple into metaphorical chaos. Writing takes time. Books get written word by word. Those brave souls that participated in National Novel Writing Month committed their Novembers to throwing down 50K of those suckers. To “win” at NaNoWriMo, they had to clear the decks and “make time” for the novel writing almost every single day. (Bravo to each and everyone that did it!)

True confessions: I am NOT a NaNoWriMo-er. I do not have the constitution for it.

I am a crack writer.

No, I’m not taking after Toronto’s crack-smoking mayor.

What I mean is that no time is too small for me to get something done. I can’t chain myself to the idea that if I don’t have a 2-3 hour window of time then there’s no point in writing. I certainly prefer large blocks of time, but often they are not there. Life has this pesky habit of intervening so I grab what time I can.

The week before Thanksgiving, I spent the majority of every day building a library in my house. (This is TERRIBLY exciting and BEAUTIFUL and pictures will be coming, I promise!) However, in the midst of construction, I was also scrambling to finish a novel revision for my agent and make headway on the nonfiction book that is due in January.

I got up early and nabbed 45 minutes before the kids woke up. I used the hour between when they got on the bus and my fab library builder helper showed up. I used the 30 minutes of daughter’s piano lesson and the time waiting in the car by my son’s soccer field. I still went for my runs in Forest Park (because there is no better way to break through knotty revision issues). I still made food for my people. Life continued, and I got the work done.

The novel is in the hands of my agent. The nonfiction book is queued up for another revision. The library is almost, almost done.

It’s Monday morning.

Time is my boundless ally.

I’ve got coffee, and I’m writing in the cracks.

Me today

September 17, 2013Writingencouragement, suckitude, writing processAmber

Most days, I get right to work, knocking out word counts or revising away the crap. Today, I am metaphorically wearing this hoodie.

I’m trying to write something hard. I don’t want to do it. So I am 100% screwing around, putting my head to my desk, jumping up to prep dinner before it’s even lunch.

Sigh. I’m not proud. It just is–for today.

The narrative difference between fiction and real life

May 28, 2013Writingstory-tellingAmber

You’ve probably heard some version of this saying: Fiction is real life without the boring parts. I don’t know where this came from and am too lazy and under-caffeinated to google it but I agree with it. I try not to write boring stuff.

Digression # 1 – Sometimes it is hard to tell what is boring or not. A scene that takes me hours to perfect (and therefore feels tedious) can be read in under a minute and can feel exciting to the reader. A friend working on a first novel recently texted me this:

Okay, so your narrative should not be boring. It should also make an arc. What the?? No doubt you’ve heard these fated words: narrative arc (the close cousin of a character arc, which might also make you shiver with dread). The central conflict of the story must build in tension, come to a critical junction, and then resolve.

All the pieces (aka plot points, scenes, details, character choices) must fit this narrative arc. Subplots as well as main plots weave together to form a cohesive story. If you screw up the tension (peak too soon, have too many peaks, forget to have anything happen), the fictional narrative fails.

Digression #2 – I deeply regret that I can not tell you how to successfully do the aforementioned. I muddle through with my own books.

But the point of this post was to point out a serious problem with real life not to tell you how to write a novel. The problem with real life is that the pieces most definitely will not fit, and I so desperately want them too. I want congruence. I want a story that makes sense. But shit happens–plot points that were NOT in my outline. Then there I am, juggling multiple narratives that are most definitely NOT working together.

Digression #3 – Psychologists call this cognitive dissonance.

In my novels, I delete things that don’t fit my narrative arc. (Actually, here is some solid writing advice: if it doesn’t work get rid of it). In real life, the delete key is broken and I’m left with press enter to accept. Then I get down to making meaning out of the hodge-podge.

Digression #4 – I put the mess into novels, where on occasion, the narrative behaves.

Wide Open Spaces (Required for Writers)

April 2, 2013Travel, Writingcreativity, intention, meditationAmber

My family and I spent spring break in a rented house on North Andros, the largest island in the Bahamas but one rarely frequented by tourists. There are no large resorts or mega-hotels, no gift shops, no high end spas. In other words, my kind of place.

I had a week’s reprieve from email (the wifi was down most of the time), to-do lists (other than: eat, read, kayak, swim, snorkel, bird-watching, sleep, repeat), deadlines, and the interwoven schedules of my family of four.

I re-remembered and re-affirmed that what I love and what I need is wide, open space. I need the horizon so I can see where the moon sets each night. I need the expansive sea so I can track the rise and fall of the tides. I need the untrammeled sand, twice renewed each day, to find my path. And most of all, I need the wide, open spaces of my mind once it is cleared of all the must-do, should-do detritus of daily life. I can not create without it.

You Do NOT Have To Save the World

March 17, 2013Antics, Events, My Reads, Writingauthentic lives, creativity, heros, teensAmber

On VivaScriva.com, a blog about critique and the writing process, I recently blogged about using Publisher’s Marketplace to get a handle on what kinds of manuscripts are and are not selling in today’s YA market. (Get the nitty gritty details here.) These patterns are still dominating my thoughts.

Even as the number of titles featuring zombies, dystopias, ghosts, murders, etc have surged, peaked, and ebbed, I’ve notice one thing that doesn’t seem to be changing. There are a whole lot of main characters who have to, at least according to the log line, SAVE THE FREAKING WORLD. Think Bruce Willis plus asteroids for the YA set. Confession: I’ve written log lines like this for my own book. (Hangs head in shame. Plans to revise.)

As a fan, I love epic fantasy, but as a reader and writer, I’m captivated by fully-fleshed, step-off-the-page-real characters. Hence my love for THE FAULT IN OUR STARS by John Green and CODE NAME VERITY by Elizabeth Wein. The characters in these books are heroic. They are heroic because they live richly and die bravely. They don’t have to save the world.

Real teens live many lives–protected and dangerous, religious and not, lonely and social, quiet and loud, painful and triumphant–but very few of them have to single-handedly deflect an astroid from hitting Earth and thus save all humankind. They just don’t.

They often have to survive terrible things and books can buoy them up. (If you weren’t immersed in the loud and raucous #YAsaves conversation last year, this link will get you up to speed.) They also like to have fun (one of the reasons I often prefer spending time with teens rather than adults). Fun in real life and fun in reading.

Last night I attended to book launch for POISON, the debut YA novel by the late Bridget Zinn. The tag line reads “Can she save the kingdom with a piglet?” That’s right! WITH A PIGLET! What follows is about as far from the doom-and-gloom of the recent rush of teens-killing-teens as you can get. Think THE PRINCESS BRIDE–good, silly fun.

It’s a good reminder in these dark days of YA that we can write stories about characters who don’t have to save the world. All they–and we–have to do is create authentic lives, whatever that may look like. And like Bridget, we should try to leave something good behind.

Keep the encouragement close to your heart #writing @drydnbks

February 28, 2013Writingencouragement, inspirationAmber

We writers have lots of voices in our heads.

Some of them move our stories along.

Some are just bitches.

When we do hear the voice of encouragement, how easily it can be lost among the cacophony.

Don’t let it get lost!

I printed Emma’s words and pinned them next to my computer–keeping the encouragement close to my heart.

One true thing

February 8, 2013Writingcreativity, process, story-tellingAmber

Much of the time writing is NOT fun. In fact, at a recent writing retreat with my critique group, Viva Scriva, Liz R. and I were discussing the things we like to do more than writing (at least when we’re in the slog phase). Much debate there was over cleaning toilets (me: prefer over writing; her: less than writing) and laundry (both: prefer), etc.

When I’m deep in a draft (or more typically in revision), my fingers are typing away while I’m thinking things like move that clause to the front, pick a better verb, and describe more viscerally. I plunk away for a page or two then I check twitter or each a piece of dried coconut (me: prefer eating to writing). Then I get back to it. Hours later I’ve laid down a couple thousand words or revised a few chapters.

But sometimes, I find the flow of it. I become my characters and they take me places I don’t expect. I inhabit my scene as fully as I inhabit these pajamas and this desk chair. When this happens, I ride the wave through and often find, much to my amazement, that I have written ONE TRUE THING. Maybe just a sentence or an exchange of dialogue or a description that captures something’s essence exactly, the ONE TRUE THING is enough to keep me going day after day, page after page.

May it happen for you.

Dealing with failure in a business full of NOs

January 7, 2013Writingdepression, encouragement, rejectionAmber

Choosing the writing life means choosing to put yourself up for rejection over and over again. Why do we do this? Are we lunatics better suited to religious practices that involve self-immolation?

I don’t know why. But it’s hard to get rejected, reviewed, and critiqued day in and day out. Sometimes I roll with it. Sometimes I despair. If you are in the despair phase, here are some places to turn.

Dave Gessner offers us the middle finger approach, which I heartily advocate.

Though I am not particularly proud of it, one way that I respond to being told my work is unwanted is by getting angry, rejecting my rejections… So what do we do with this energy, angry or not? One thing we can do it write. Better, sharper stories than before. We look rejection coldly in the eye and say, “No, that’s not true,” or sometimes “Yes, maybe that’s a little true….I’ve got to get better at that.” We write regularly, daily, with a calm fury. We show the bastards.

Amber J. Keyser

Author – Activist – Advocate for Young Adults