Category Archives: Non-writers just don’t understand

12:28 pm - September 27, 2014 - sjcarlson

Non-Writers Just Don’t Understand: The brain gymnastics it takes to work on two completely different manuscripts at once

(side note: it’s kind of sad how long I spent finding the image for this meme. Time that could have been spend working on said manuscripts)

Both of my manuscripts are first person POV, with two characters each. So here’s me, trying to edit a story set in Northern Ireland with a character from Belfast like basically. Then switchin’ to a WIP set in rural Wisconsin starring a girl from a poor, white trashy background and a Latino boy. For Chrissake, it’s mental gymnastics, so it is! Crap, why do I do this to myself? This is kind of what it’s doing to my brain.

¡Gracias a Dios! for my Latina co-writer, who’s handling language and culture for the Wisconsin WIP, but I still have to get myself into the head of Latino boy fighting to overcome racism and all kinds of barriers to get to college. Which is a wee bit different from my Belfast paramilitary hooligan with a heart of gold.

The girls are a bit easier at least, as their brains are more in line with my own. But still, I’ve got a highly motivated, straight-laced girl who’s involved at school contrasted with an underachieving loner in an unhealthy relationship with a scrubby older guy and a meth head mother. So there’s that. At least the setting for the Wisconsin one is easy for me and fun to explore from Singapore. Though I did have to face down a few inner baddies… And slay them 😀

I love both my manuscripts. Life will be easier when i finally finalize Hooligans (it is SO close, I swear), and I’ll have Rafa & Rose to focus on while I query.

Have you ever found yourself working on two completely different manuscripts at once? What was that experience like?

Category: Non-writers just don't understand Tags: writing

10:11 am - September 26, 2014 - sjcarlson

Writer friends, where do you like to write when you cannot sit at your desk/table/couch/bed/wherever for one second longer without losing your brain??

So I spend a lot of time with at my dining room table typing away. Thank God for my understanding husband that doesn’t get too bothered by all my writing crap spread all over it. Here’s my view…

It’s not a bad view by any means, but after you know like 8+ hours a day, everyday, writing, I start to feel like this….

(I love you Dexter and I miss you. Maybe I should read the books….)

Yeah, sometimes I absolutely need a change of scenery or I just might lose it lol. It’s amazing how just the bus ride over can refresh my brain, the forced break from writing. Plus I can people watch. Lately, I’ve been spying on young couples engaging in PDA on the bus.

NOT BEING CREEPY I swear!!! Just looking to incorporate more body language into my teen lovey WIP.

Anyway, being in a new setting shifts my mental state and gives me a creative boost. It refreshes me so I can keep going. Sometimes I meet with other writer friends and we write together, hopefully without too much chatting. I’ve found a few coffee shops in Singapore that have become my go-to escape from my dining room table. One even knows my order! Yay! It’s Blue Orange Mocha, which tastes like those chocolate orange things wrapped in orange foil that you can get a Christmas in the U.S.. It is kind of amazing.

Do you have a favorite place to escape and write in when your brain’s about to leak out of your ears? What about it helps you write?

9:31 am - September 8, 2014 - sjcarlson

Writer friends, do you ever wonder if you might be in a little too deep as a writer? I think I may be in too deep….

Here’s one sign… You wake up after having broken face surgery and the first thing you do is have your husband take pictures of your hospital room.

Okay, so it wasn’t REALLY the first thing I did, but that definitely did happen.

Back story: So about a month and a half ago I decided, hey, writing a motorbike for the first time ever after not even driving a car for six months sounds like a great idea. In Cambodia. So I was trying to turn and I kind of face-planted in a ditch that was about 6 feet deep according to my poor, probably slightly traumatized brother. FYI: Cambodia is not the most medically advanced country in the world. But I did get an ambulance ride, a private room (which was combination supply closet), and pretty comprehensive treatment for what they had there. Never mind that no one spoke English and I had a concussion and apparently stitches and no memory of what happened for about an hour. On the plus side, all that, only $130 USD lol.

Anyway, so I went to a public hospital in Singapore because, you know, I had some kind of stitches in my leg (not sure if dissolvable or not) and I obviously hit my head and face and had a concussion. The doctor was like, why are you here? You were treated in Cambodia. And I said, yeah exactly, and my face is still weird and my teeth are numb. So he took some x-rays at my insistence and determined there was fluid in my face and he couldn’t see anything. Okay, awesome. Then he made me an appointment with a plastic surgeon like a month later. Why? I don’t know lol. So this was end of July.

Then last week, I had a filling issue. I went to see my dentist at a private hospital and got my filling fixed then mentioned, hey my teeth are still numb and my face is weird. He had me get a CT scan THAT DAY. And apparently my face was broken in two places. The bone under my eye and the top of my jaw. Which is why all my nerves were messed up. Thanks awesome Singapore public hospital jerk ER doctor for NOT catching that and NOT suggesting, hey maybe we should get you a CT scan to be sure. Fast forward from end of July to first week of September. Had CT scan and was in for surgery less than 48 hours later (this Saturday). Apparently my face was actually broken in THREE places, the side of my jaw, too. Extra props to that awesome first Singapore ER doctor for completely missing the fact that my face was broken in three places and not bothering to give me a follow-up appointment until the end of August, which then was pushed back to the second week of September. My face should have been operated on within two weeks not six. So gold star for you, Singapore Public Hospital that shall remain nameless but happens to be located on Alexandra Road. Gleneagles, you were amazing! Saved the day! Thank God I have medical insurance, that’s all I’ll say.

ANYYYYWAY so now I’m recovering and I’ll be fine. I like to look at the positive of things. So for this, it was getting the inside scoop on being in the hospital! In Hooligans, one of the characters ends up “in hospital,” but I’d never been a patient admitted to a hospital. So I got to go into an “operating theatre,” emerge from general anesthesia, play with the bed and the remote, eat crappy hospital food, have my blood pressure checked every hour, listen to the sounds of the hospital, and have an IV drip and all that. Now I can incorporate it into my story and make the hospital scenes even more real!

Here’s a few snapshots….

So this may be a sign that I’m a bit too committed to being authentic in my writing lol…. And that I should never ride a motorbike again.

Writer What lengths have you gone to in order to get your story accurate? Do you ever wonder if you get a bit overcommited?

Categories: Expat in Singapore, Non-writers just don't understand, Writing Tags: creativity, expat, Singapore, writing

10:38 am - August 22, 2014 - sjcarlson

Hey writer friends (or really anybody), do you have a simple word you perpetually misspell?

So here I am, brushing up my synopsis, typing the word toliet, and–of course–it gets underlined red because it’s spelled toilet. I don’t know why, but I have this mental block that prevents me from spelling it properly. I don’t get it, I have no idea why I unconsciously spell that specific, simple word wrong. I have to actively think the sounds out in my brain when I spell it. Pretty much every time. I’ll blame it on being a French word 😛 Modern technology, with it’s spell check and auto-correct, has negatively impacted my spelling ability.

Do you have a word that you just cannot for the life of you spell right? (at least without really thinking hard)

Category: Non-writers just don't understand Tags: writing

9:32 am - August 20, 2014 - sjcarlson

Non-writers just don’t understand: How many different ways can I possibly show a character smile?

Okay, so for the record, I only used “sigh” 26 times so that meme is a hyperbole (my fancy word for the day). Anyway, I entered Hooligans in Shining Armour into writing competition called “Pitch Wars”. You submit your query and first chapter to four mentors. Mentors each pick one manuscript and help the writer whip it into shape to submit to an agent round in November.

I’m brushing up my manuscript. One of the things I like to do is search words and phrases to make sure I’m not being too repetitive: sigh, smile, grin, rolled my eyes, pissed up, icy fingers, etc. All writers have words or phrases that they slip into using too frequently. I’m trying to spot mine find more interesting ways to express them. In this MS, a lot of them are related to describing either emotion or drinking (lol, my hooligans drink A LOT). My novel’s written in first person. I’ve been working hard on using body language to show emotion of non-POV characters, rather than labeling the emotion or using sadly. I’m also trying word dialogue to imply tone, and use tone to show emotion.

Here’s the phrase I’m sprucing up now: She pursed her lips and sighed. “If your dad was arrested…” The character is feeling torn. She wants to help Fiona but she legally can’t, and she doesn’t want Fiona to take it into her own hands. It actually doesn’t sound too bad, except I’m watching how often I use the word “sigh”. Also she just pursed her lips and now she’s talking.

Here’s my #1 contender for spruced-up version: She pressed her fingers to her forehead. Her fingernails had been painted nude. “Fiona, if your Dad was arrested…”

That took me at least ten minutes come up with. I’m still mulling over “Her fingernails had been painted nude.” It feels a bit passive to me. Amazing how many tiny things go in to sculpting a novel.

One way I get inspiration for non-verbals is through reading. I write down good ones I find. Obviously, I don’t copy them, but they give me a starting place. I also use the power of the internet and pin good resources so I don’t lose them. Check out my Craft of Writing board!

Have you ever tried searching words in your WIP to check repetition? What word or phrase do you overuse?

Categories: Non-writers just don't understand, Writing Tags: creativity, PitchWars, writing

Sarah J. Carlson

Contemporary Young Adult Author