On Typing THE END.

You might have noticed that I've been rather scarce around here for the last few months.  Here's one reason:

This means that I work at a plant nursery, and spring is our equivalent to the Christmas season. 

But here is the the main reason:

This is Siria Nightingale.  She's the protagonist in my WIP, and she's done a fairly good job of keeping me singularly occupied since December.  Turns out, her story was one of those utterly consuming ones that doesn't let you rest until you've sat your little self down and told it in full.  But here's the good news: Today I typed the words, THE END at the bottom of Siria's word document.  This means I can relax a little bit, because revisions are not quite as consuming as first drafts tend to be.

But that brings me to the main point of this post.  I have a few questions for you all.  

If you are a writer, here's your question:

When you type THE END, what does your next step tend to be?  How do you personally approach the massive undertaking of revising, editing, and polishing your manuscript?  Do you use beta readers?  And if so, how do you find them, and what do you ask them to do?

And if you are a reader, here's yours:

What do you expect out of the ends of books?  What has made you feel most satisfied when you close the back cover of a book, and what makes you want to open the front cover right away and read it all over again?  How do you feel about cliffhanger endings?  In a series, what kind of ending makes you ache with satisfaction, even knowing that you have more books to read before you know the whole story?

Please share!  I have loved hearing your responses to previous questions, and I find the variety of opinions fascinating.  Happy Monday to you all!

WriteOnCon, Moonflowers, and Tension in Fiction!

The first thing to address this Thursday morning is that you, Dear Reader, should be at WriteOnCon. Not here. Okay, so I'm glad you're here, but as soon as you're done I want you to flit on over to WriteOnCon and join in the mad, writerly festivities. The conference has been fabulously fabulous so far, and I know there are still great things to come.

Beyond that exhortation, I have a few more things to share today. The first is utterly irrelevant to Writerdom, but an enormous triumph to balcony-garden-kind, and of course, a giant step for Me as a flower-grower. And that is: I had my very first ever grown-from-seed Moonflower two days ago. And since then, I've had two more. In case you aren't familiar with this little climber, they look like this:

They are fragrant, they bloom at night and only at night--one night per bloom--and of course, they're lovely. And best of all, they're named after the moon. Now, I have a slight infatuation with the moon, so it should come as no surprise that I like this little flower. But what makes this such a triumph is the fact that this is the second year I've grown Moonflowers, and up until two days ago, I had never had a bloom before. Huzzah!

But enough about the moon. Let's move on to the gold. Today is the first-ever installment in the Chautauqua Gold Nuggets Series, and I'm going to share my notes from Patricia Lee Gauch's workshop on Tension. Dig in, and enjoy, Dear Reader!

• Many good pieces of writing are structured like the pulling of a rubber-band: two forces pulling against each other. In those first pages of your book, you really have to begin pulling the rubber-band, stretching the tension.
  
• You can also look at the book like a war, with two forces or sides. Typically, someone wants something, and something else stands in its way. This is where the war begins. And the other side might not be all bad; they might be closer and more complicated than you think.
  
• Every good book starts in a hole. The character is without something. Always start in a negative position. There needs to be something in your first chapter that makes us wonder, question, wonder what is going to happen.
  
• Your environment is important. Rhythm is so important to building conflict.
  
• There is always a time before an important scene. You have to set the scene… you have to build up to it. And you need the stuff in between (the maybe it will work out stuff) to build the tension inbetween. Is your character going to stand up and become what she can be?
  
• You are accumulating actions like beads on a string; the story picking up speed and conflict as it goes.

Some other good thoughts from Patti:

• You have to have the courage to feel throughout your book.
• Freshness and originality can exist even in the most common, overused places/scenes/ideas.
• Appreciate the power of a single sentence when it’s the right sentence.
• Don’t pussyfoot around with your story. What do you want to do with it? What do you want from it?

(All rights, credits, glories, and attributions of genius go to Patricia Lee Gauch at the 2010 Highlights Foundation Writer's Workshop at Chautaqua.)

Writing Green for Earth Day

"We need the tonic of wildness...We can never have enough of nature..." -Henry David Thoreau

In honor of Earth Day, I've decided to do a mini-intro on creating a Writer's Haven outside. Last spring and summer--right after I started working at the garden center for the Day Job--I decided to make the most of my balcony patio, and it turned out to be one of the most inspiring things I could have done for myself. From May to September I spent almost every single morning out there with my laptop, writing in the early morning stillness, while the sun crept over the trees to the east and turned everything around me to liquid gold. I couldn't have asked for a better Muse.

You don't have to have a yard to do this; a patio, porch, or even a small window-alcove will do. The trick is simply finding a sunny spot that you can call your own for at least a few hours of each day. If you are lucky enough to have a yard, I'd recommend staking off a corner for yourself (Land-Run style) and informing those you live with that this will be your personal Writing Haven, and that they shouldn't trespass unless they want to be eaten by rabid garden gnomes. (This way you ensure your privacy, and privacy is half the trick here.)

Okay! Found your space? Now you'll need to collect a few things. No need to go buy expensive stuff. The beauty of this kind of area is that it is natural, and seems to have grown out of nothing in order to invite you in. So dig through what you have and be creative--or else visit your local thrift store for some cheap solutions.

Things you'll need:
1.) A desk or table to work at. The smaller the better. (Since you're outside, this should not be anything too nice. If you have a small patio table, great; but an old, waterproofed card table would work just as well. I once made a desk by decoupaging an old shower door and lying it flat over two end-tables. Be creative!)

2.) A chair to sit on. (Again, this will be exposed to the elements, so nothing you wouldn't want rained on. Iron works well, but so do disposable old wooden chairs from the thrift store.)

3.) Some pots and trellises. (Secondhand shops tend to have tons of these--or things that work just as well. One thing you'll want to do is to create height, since you'll need the illusion that you're hidden in a remote forest or secret garden. Trellises and plant-stands work marvelously for this.)

Excellent! Now you're settled and ready to go, you'll be needing your plants. The smaller the space, the fewer plants you'll need, but the idea is to close yourself in. If you're working from a patio or porch, everything will be in pots, and probably will need to take at least partial shade. In any case, try to situate yourself into a corner; that way, you've got half your walls taken care of. Here are some ideas of plants that have worked for me:

- Morning Glory vines (These come from seed packets usually, and are excellent climbers. You can plant them below a trellis, and they'll climb up and create a lovely screen. And they'll eventually bloom in the morning!)
- Moonflowers (The night-time cousin to the Morning Glory, these fragrant flowers bloom at dusk through the night. They are climbers as well.)
- Caladiums (Like small elephant ears, these guys like shade, and can create a cool sort of mini-wall. They come in a variety of colors, and grow easily.)
- Bougainvilleas (So pretty! Their pink flowers look almost like origami pods, and the leaves are brilliant green in the sun. They can be wild and leggy in a hanging basket, or trained up a trellis.)
- Purple Heart (A little purple annual which grows like mad. The stalks eventually produce tiny pink flowers.)
- Sweet Potato Vine (Lime green or purple, this is another furious grower. Trails and vines all over the place.)
- Gardenia (Produces gorgeous, extremely fragrant flowers. Morning sun only.)

Some other options:
- Vegetables and herbs (Add green with culinary benefits!)
- Mandevillas (Beautiful climbing annual with colorful flowers)
- Roses (Add fragrance)
- Clematis (Another gorgeous climber)

(Here are a few of my pots this year. Lots of herbs!)

Of course, these are just ideas. Pick the things that you like best; the things that will be most inspiring to your writing self. (Check out these two links for even more ideas: Window Box Gardens; and Food in Small Spaces.) You can even theme your mini-haven to attract hummingbirds and butterflies! Once you have all your plants, situate them (in pots or in the ground) around your desk/table, and watch them grow! And then retreat there with your laptop or notebook and pen as often as you want, and be inspired. Personally, I prefer dawn and dusk.

Sunset is known as the witching hour--but sunrise... Ah, once you get up to write at sunrise, you'll have a hard time ever going back.




What do you think? Anyone else like to write in Nature? Plants or environments you find particularly inspiring? Do share!