Sue Harrison’s “Writing the Third Dimension” – part 1: Heart Breaker

Welcome, everyone! Have you ever wished you could sit in on one of Sue Harrison’s writers workshops? Now you can, a few minutes at a time. Over the next many months you are invited here for a writers workshop, the fourth Thursday of each month, for Sue Harrison‘s teaching about Writing The Third Dimension. Sue invites you to ask questions and leave comments, to which she will gladly respond. If you miss one segment, you can still have access to them all. Just mouse over Writers’ Helps & Workshops on my drop down menu, then click on Writing The Third Dimension.

When I asked her what it means to write the third dimension, Sue explained, “Basically, the concept is for writers to write their characters, scenes, and plots in such a way that they “pop” off the two-dimensional page and assume a three-dimensional presence in the reader’s mind – as if the reader had actually lived the story.” Now we are going to learn how to do that. 🙂

*************

“Writing the Third Dimension” – part 1: Heart Breaker

I love the story about the elderly Athabascan woman who was asked how to make moosehide moccasins. Her reply? “Well, first you kill a moose.”

In other words, have a seat. This is going to take a while.

When I’m asked, “How do you write a novel?” My answer is, “Well, first you break a heart.”

And not just any old heart, but the heart of the main character. When an author writes a novel, his/her goal is to tell a story so compelling that the reader doesn’t want to put it down. That means the novelist must establish a strong connection between the reader and the book’s main character. The only sure way to do that is through emotions.

I might not know what it’s like to live thousands of years ago in the Aleutian Islands, but I can relate to an Aleut woman who loses the man she loves in a vicious raid. I feel the emotional connection, and I want to read her story, live her life, and discover how she finds love again. Because she and I are sisters. We both know what it is to have a broken heart. (Okay, I admit it. I’m advertising one of my own novels, Mother Earth Father Sky.)

So, if you’re a writer, how do you go about breaking that main character’s heart? You do it by knowing your main character so well that you understand what is at the center of her soul. Ask yourself these questions: What is most important thing/person/belief in her life? What is the foundation of her self-esteem? What does she love most? Once you know that, then you’ve solved your problem, and what you must do is take that most precious thing away from her. Then she’s in the fight of her life as she tries to survive and win back what she’s lost. Suddenly you have a plot; you have a story. You’ve pushed your character off the two-dimensional page and made her come alive in your reader’s mind.

Tell me about your main character. What is at the center of his or her self-esteem? What does he love the most? What will break her heart?

Blessings, Sue *Writing the Third Dimension, copyright, 2010 Sue Harrison*

Bestselling author, Sue Harrison, has written two Alaska trilogies: The Ivory Carver Trilogy and The Storyteller Trilogy, and a middle readers’ book SISU. Prior to the publication of her novels, Harrison was employed at Lake Superior State University as a writer and acting director of the Public Relations Department and as an adjunct instructor in creative writing and advanced creative writing. For more information, click here. To inquire about booking Sue for workshops or speaking engagements this year, click here.

Thanks for joining us! Please feel free to leave your questions and comments. Next installment February 28, 2013.

In this New Year do you resolve to, or hope to?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Can you believe this is “the year of our Lord, two thousand thirteen“? 2013! To me, that seems a strange number; it feels different somehow.

I think the beginning of a new year always brings with it that ‘starting fresh’ feeling, the way the outdoors looks after a fresh fall of snow — all sparkly and clean. The new year comes in like that — sparkly and clean with nothing marring it or tracking it up. We want our new year to be that way … unmarred with no tell-tale tracks. We want to start fresh, leaving the mistakes and disappointments behind.

Have you made any resolutions? For the past several years I have not recorded or purposely written a list of New Year Resolutions. The many times I fell short, and then felt guilty about failing, led me to give up that emotional self-abuse.

Or are yours more like “hope to’s”? What I usually do is simply think about what I want to try to change in the new year, which is sort of making resolutions but it often happens less deliberately. It could be called my list of “hope to’s” instead.

My goals this year are centered around reading, writing, and attitude – none of which should be a surprise to you. 🙂

READING: You have no idea how many books I have collected over the years with the intention of reading them someday. The problem with that is my TBR (to be read) stash continues to grow as I keep adding to it and have less time to read. The older books are still waiting and the newer ones keep coming. My husband gave me an e-reader for Christmas (a Kindle) so now I have a growing digital TBR book stash! (What complicates it further is that I found a “free e-books on Amazon” daily list. Oh woe is me! but how delightful at the same time.) To say I love books is almost an understatement. My plan is for some of them to be reviewed on my blog, a few old ones, but mostly new titles. I have a waiting list.
WRITING: Of course I hope to continue writing picture book drafts and working on the ones I already have. I also hope to finish writing my novel this year. As for my blog, I’m now trying to formulate a better plan regarding my posts. I will still be writing book reviews, interviewing authors, posting about other things in between, but possibly something else will also take shape on my blog if I can get it worked out. Being better organized along with the habit of scheduling would be very beneficial. I have not signed on for the extra writing challenges this year that I enjoyed the past few years, as much as I would have liked that. Perhaps it will give me more chance to catch up on emails, blogging, and the book writing I mentioned. Maybe next year I will be able to try some of them again.
ATTITUDE: As you know, my word – since my birthday in November – is GRATEFUL. I have not made it my habit yet, but that is something I am aiming for – to become consciously grateful every day for something. And to say out loud (to God as well as to myself) — “I am grateful!” I believe in every circumstance there is something for which to be grateful, and once found it changes one’s attitude and perspective, and releases the stress – at least a little. I believe an attitude change will help me handle things much better, including the combined challenges as a wife, caregiver, and writer.

Perhaps I have set resolutions for 2013, but I prefer to call them goals … goals that I hope to achieve – not just in 2013, but as positive long-term life-affecting choices.

How about you – what resolutions or ‘hope to’s’ have you made for 2013?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Happy New Year!

How can it be? Another new year is soon to begin!

2012 has been a mix of many things in my little world. This blog has captured much of it and has been a source of relief for me, a way of venting, sharing, seeking, growing. Through blogging and writing I have been blessed to meet some very special people who have become my long distance friends.

As my dad’s condition steadily worsens, and my husband’s healing is continuing, our hope is for the strength needed as this new year brings whatever surprises and challenges it holds for us as a family.

In looking back over 2012 I wonder what I accomplished.

I blogged, and yet never enough;
read books .. again never enough;
introduced books and their authors to you on my “Have Read” pages;
wrote book reviews for you – with more waiting in queue with their authors; (I’m sorry family things had to take priority)
offered exciting book giveaways;
offered some writers’ helps on my page of the same name;
wrote several drafts for children’s books, thanks to 12×12 in 2012, but not as many as I had hoped to, and I missed out on the community there that so many writers found helpful;
added more to my novel in National Novel Writing Month in November, and have almost completed the story;
had thought to take on Picture Book Ideas Month that I so enjoyed in November 2011, but had to sacrifice that one this year;
realized today that I missed out on signing up for the inspiring Month of Poetry for January 2013 as the closing date was December 29! [Sorry, Catherine; 😦 I had intended to, but it’s too late now.]

So what will the new year bring to this blog?

more book reviews;
more author interviews;
more book giveaways;
hopefully less whining.

For me this blog is not only about writing, it is about living. Perhaps that is not the way to do it, but with the way things are in my life now I struggle with keeping up and keeping going through all the stress. If you are faithful to stay the course with me I will continue to try to deliver. You can’t possibly know how much I love and appreciate you and the encouragement of knowing you are reading my words. My goal still is to write for children, and my hope is to keep on keeping on.

Now I wish you all a very happy and healthy 2013. May it be a year of fulfillment and accomplishments, pleasant surprises and inner joys, depth of growth and flourishing of creativity. Above all may you find Love in all the right places. 🙂

Psalm 67: 1,2 – May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face to shine upon us, that Thy way may be known upon earth, Thy saving power among all nations. Let the peoples praise Thee, O God; let all the peoples praise Thee!

Psalm 91 (the whole of it)

What wonderful things did 2012 bring to you? Is there anything you plan to do differently in 2013?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

NaNoWriMo is over. Did I win? You tell me

Wow! Here it is December 1 which means National Novel Writing Month has just ended for another year. After this month I believe myself – even more – to be a writer. Why?

The goal for the challenge is 50,000 words in the month of November. My personal goal was to finish my novel – the novel I have written only during NaNoWriMo. I started it in 2010, added to it in 2011, and planned to finish it this time. (You can check my progress, if you are interested, through each one of my pages called NaNoWriMo Updates 2010, 2011, 2012)

I have an accumulated word total of over 123,000 words through those three Novembers, every word written by hand. No editing has been done yet so there are whole sections which will be taken out or changed or added to in some way. Someday.

The cold truth is … I did not make the 50K mark. I tried hard to do it. My hand is so sore and was getting cramped by the time the clock reached 11:59 and I had to stop writing to post my final word count — of 41487 — before the stroke of midnight. (I managed to write 9750 words today.) Once midnight arrived the clock stopped in the NaNoWriMo stats chart. It now reads: Event Finished, where all through the month it had shown the number of words written that day, which day it was in the event, and how many writing days were remaining in the challenge.

Another thing is that my first goal was to finish my novel this time, second was to reach 50K. I did neither, although I wrote 82% of the 50K, and I am so close to the end of this story.

Am I disappointed? A little. I believe that if I had been able to ignore things, such as normal life stuff and responsibilities (although I tried to), I could have finished this novel. 😉 Now maybe I can cook a decent meal for my dear husband, although I usually don’t have writing to blame for my not-so-great results in the kitchen. Oh, and my internet connection dropped today, so the repairman came by to fix that for me. It is working fine now, yay!, but that was another time stealer – although I am not complaining about that. I am truly grateful for my Internet service.

The worst culprit for stealing time is ME, though. The times I could have been writing, but other things took priority; the times I had nothing coming to me at all; the times I just didn’t feel like writing. So now I still have an unfinished novel. But you know, that is okay too, because I can work away at it at my own pace now without a clock. That might not work in my favour, but that is something I will have to find out.

As I said at the beginning, now I believe myself to be a writer even more than I did before. One big reason is because when I am writing in the NaNo challenge the story practically tells itself to me. Sometimes things I write I wonder about, but later it all ties together; it makes sense as I go along. I find it to be an amazing process. And I enjoy it!

Thank you for your interest in following along as I attempted the National Novel Writing Month challenge again. I appreciate your support.

NaNoWriMo is over. Did I win? You tell me. 🙂

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

One NaNoWriMo day left! I think I can, I think I can …

Here it is down to the wire. One day left in National Novel Writing Month. ONE DAY!

I do not have 48343 words written, which is the total suggested for the 29th day in the challenge. What I do have is 31737 words captured. Yes, I am way behind, but in looking at what I managed last year I am ahead. In 2011 at the close of the 29th day I had 24133 words.

In checking over my progress in 2010 and 2011, I see that the most words I added to my total in one day was 8017. That was last year on the last day when I was making a valiant attempt to get closer to the goal. This year I have to write 18263 words on day 30 to have accomplished a win at 50000 words!

I think I can, I think I can …

That’s if I need that many to finish this novel. I really don’t know even yet. I can probably stretch it out, make it longer that way, if I have time to do it. There is much that I can play with later in pulling the story together during editing to make it really work. The main thing is to finish this novel! As I have said before, that is my main goal, secondary being a NaNo win of 50K words.

As I am nearing the end of NaNo I am also gaining ground in pulling together some threads that will bring this story to an end. I just hope it can be sorted out later, because in writing it this way there are conflicting statements and unintentionally duplicated scenes that have to be fixed. But, that’s for later. For now I have a story to write.

First things first — I am about to catch some zzzzz’s and then in the morning – Day 30 – I will start writing again, because … I am going to finish this novel! That is the plan, anyway. 🙂

How do you do with your deadlines? Do you write better under pressure or do you need lots of time to get there?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

NaNoWriMo’s nearly over! Can I complete the challenge?

Another day has ended, a day of little writing for me. I simply was stuck … no words sprawled themselves over my paper (remember, I write longhand) until late in the evening. Not a good sign.

Here is it November 25 already and I have not made it to the halfway point yet in my NaNo Novel writing for this year. My word count stands at 43%. This does not look good for me.

Let’s see now … comparing my totals at this stage of the NaNoWriMo challenge, by the end of DAY 24:

in 2010 I had written 32,179 words
in 2011 I had written 8,722 words
in 2012 I have written 21,651 words

Looking at it this way, I could make it! If I take the next six days and write like crazy, that is. Six days to go to midnight of November 30.

(And I am grateful!)

My goal is to find the end of this novel by then, too, so my questions to you are:

Do you think I can write 50,000 words by the deadline?

If you think I can, do you think I will?

And, do you think I will finish writing my novel in this challenge?

Let me know your opinion about this. Send me a little encouragement if you want, I can use it! 🙂

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

My word is GRATEFUL: Remembrance and Thanksgiving

Lately, I have been finding it hard to write. If you have been following my progress during NaNoWriMo you will have noticed there is not much moving forward the past few days. I am so far behind now there is little hope for me to end the challenge with a high word count. I’m even wondering if I will finish this novel no matter how many words it takes to get there.

For some people, when things are going wrong in their lives, or they are just having a down time, they write. It helps them through it. But for me … I can’t seem to think that way. The creativity gets put on hold by whatever is troubling me. I seem to fall victim to my emotions, and that’s not a good thing.

Remembrance Day is a special day for this family. Our dad is a WWII veteran and we are very proud of him, especially as he was one of the young Canadian soldiers who bravely liberated the Netherlands. For years, with Dad we have attended the ceremonies and the Veterans’ dinner following the special service. This year things got a bit confused and it was difficult for awhile – my week “on duty” so it was more upsetting for me. It got straightened out but left me with a troubled heart. That affected everything since I just can’t seem to separate myself from it all even when I get away for my week at home. I think if I were good at writing through things, I would have had a lot more done on my novel by now!

Last Thursday was my birthday. I won’t say which birthday, I’ll just leave that for you to guess if you want to. I’d been talking to God, telling Him (as if He didn’t already know, but I had to admit it) that I need help. I need help to get through this. The day before my birthday two friends called me, two friends totally apart from one another and whom I hadn’t talked with in awhile. Neither knew my of increased stress, both conversations were ministering to my need.

The next morning, November 16, a really interesting thing happened when I woke before my feet even hit the floor.

First, by way of explanation — There is someone who has a website or blog who chooses a word for herself at the beginning of each year, and challenges others to do the same. That word – individual to each person – is to be their word by which to live all that year. (I’m sorry I don’t recall who that person is, but if you know please remind me in a comment.) I had tried to come up with a word for myself, but nothing came to me. What is fascinating to me is that as I was waking on the morning of my birthday .. there it was! My word. GRATEFUL.

My word is GRATEFUL!

Now, let me tell you, that word makes a difference. The trick is to remind myself of it in the midst of disappointment, worry creeping in, feelings of inadequacy, frustration, sadness, depression raising its ugly head, anger over things beyond my control … GRATEFUL chases it all away!

Notice my word is not gratefulness, but I feel gratefulness when I am grateful. 🙂

Here is the definition for gratefulness:

warm friendly feelings of gratitude [synonyms: thankfulness, appreciativeness]

The definition for grateful:

1: feeling or showing gratitude; “a grateful heart”; “grateful for the tree’s shade”; “a thankful smile” [synonym:thankful] [antonym: ungrateful]

2: affording comfort or pleasure; “the grateful warmth of the fire”

When negative feelings or thoughts come upon me, I remind myself that I am grateful or I have much to be grateful for and those negatives are washed away. It’s an attitude of gratitude that has to become habit for it to be most effective. (I did remember to thank God from my grateful heart for the help He sent me.)

Our Canadian Thanksgiving was October 8, USA’s Thanksgiving is coming up on November 22, so it seems quite fitting to have this word now. Try it out and see what it does for you.

My questions to you are:

Do life’s struggles set your writing free? or does writing free you during times of stress?
If you write when life hits you hard, how do you do it?
Do you have a word to live by for this year?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂