What happened to my bananas:

Writing

Do you write? If you do, I'm guessing you get stuck sometimes. What to do about writer's block -- or how to move forward in the story when it stalls -- or some related phrasing -- is one of the questions I get most.

I have a bunch of techniques, and figure I'll share them with you here as I use them myself.

Today -- although my younger son is on spring break so I am mostly playing (and baking) with him -- I've also been sneaking away to write while he plays with a friend.

I'm working from the point of view of a nine-year-old boy named Justin, whom some of you may know from my book JUSTIN CASE: School, Drool, and Other Daily Disasters. Without giving TOO much away, I will just say that these days I find myself in Justin's head, during the summer between third grade and fourth -- and I want to be sure I am getting it right.

One way to avoid too much self-editing is to speed-write. So when I am checking in with a character, I like to do as many "I" statements as I can in a minute. Just start with "I" as your character, and write whatever nonsense comes. Maybe some of your statements, upon later reflection, won't work for your character. Or maybe some won't seem to but you'll discover that somehow they do because of something you hadn't fully realized before. Or maybe you'll just be listing stuff you already know -- which might remind you of something you'd forgotten, or maybe not.

Maybe it will be a waste of time. But it's only a minute. So no big loss there.

Sometimes I have to do another minute, though. So, two minutes.

Here's what I got just now for Justin:

I am Justin Case

I am not a worried kid any more

I still worry a fair amount, though

I want to get into Deep before the summer ends

I wonder what my sister thinks about when she hums and draws

I want to win a medal in something, anything

I hate the bars I can't climb across-- they hurt my fingers

I wish my heart wouldn't pound so much

I wish my counselor weren’t so mean

I feel sorry for Penelope Ann Murphy

I wish I were more like Cash

I don’t think Cash is such a good person, though

I like killing bad guys

I want to eat unlimited cookies someday

I think bus farts might be toxic

I wish Dad would be proud of me

I wonder if I am best at anything

I hate cold water, sweat that dries and itches my neck, and loud noises

I love gummy worms

I also love nothing to do all afternoon and it’s only 2 PM

I don’t have a crush on Montana C. Probably.

I don’t hate girls yet but I am still working on that

I hate when Bartholomew Wiggins pokes me when he talks

I could listen to birds arguing in our trees for an hour without getting an itchy butt

I sometimes dream the color blue and then I wake up very smooth

Now you try it -- post your character's minute (or two) of I statements if you want, but mostly do it for yourself. Did you learn anything? Did your character's voice sound in your head? Did you get surprised?

I did, a couple of times -- and I think those little eye-openers are just what I needed to spur my day's writing today. Well, that and maybe another of the banana muffins I just baked.

Do you want more tips? I'll post 'em if you want 'em...

Love,

Rachel Vail

A poem for today

Writing Day

My word count is less than I started today with

but I’ll not admit defeat

though I orchestrate harmonies characters play with

my favorite key is delete

by

Rachel Vail

this week

So much is going on.

Weather - still so darn cold. Egypt - erupting, changing every minute. My kids - in plays, getting hit in the head by basketballs. My cell phone -- getting tossed unintentionally yet athletically into the toilet (by me).

But then, in the midst of everything, I came upon this. So random and yet so wonderful.

Note: I love Pachelbel. Maybe, it turns out, because I never even attempted to play cello.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM

Love,

Rachel Vail

Good sentences

A question I'm asked a lot is, why did you become a writer?

My answer depends on my mood. Sometimes I say it's because I never really learned to play my saxophone and anyway Clarence Clemmons got my spot with the E-Street Band while I was busy doing Elementary School. Sometimes I say it's because I really hate keeping my shoes on so I had to find a job I could do in socks. Or else I say what I wanted to do was read all day so I got as close as I could, or that I meant to write and direct plays but got sidetracked.

All these answers are true.

Maybe more to the point is that my ideas tend to be story ideas, specifically characters-in-subtle-conflict ideas. I was talking with my son last night about waffles and how different people eat them -- some pick them up and dip them bit by bit into syrup, while others cut them into bite-sized pieces, some along the ridges but others diagonally or haphazardly. He gave a shudder at the thought of waffles cross-cut. So I described a scene where a couple, having brunch, were trying to avoid a fight -- she felt that he was too controlling and perfectionistic; he disagreed; neither wanted to argue. But during the discussion they were trying to have instead of the fight, she would be cutting her waffle randomly, which would be driving him utterly NUTS until he finally explodes: You have to cut along the RIDGES! And there it is; nothing more needs to or can be said as the two of them stare astonished but not fully, her jagged waffle-bit dripping syrup maddeningly onto the counter between them...

If I didn't write books, I would have no place to put my ideas.

But maybe the ultimate reason I had to become a writer is that I love sentences.

In a column on Slate.com, Stanley Fish writes about best sentences. There are some great ones there:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/browbeat/archive/2011/01/24/stanley-fish-s-top-five-sentences.aspx

Check them out... but here is one (and a half) of my all time favorite sentences. It's from East of Eden, by John Steinbeck:

…well, Samuel rode lightly on top of a book and he balanced happily among the ideas the way a man rides white rapids in a canoe. But Tom got into a book, crawled and groveled between the covers, tunneled like a mole among the thoughts, and came up with the book all over his face and hands.

I think I shared it one time a few years back, and people posted their own. Let's do it again. Post your own favorite sentences here, to brighten and warm this lovely (urgh) patch of winter for us all.

Love,

Rachel Vail

PS: Welcome home to Liz Levy and Bruce Coville, who got out of Egypt just in time, seems like. Glad you are heading home and safe -- and here's hoping for progress and safety for all over there.

What I think

I think it should be easier for an American to get mental health care than a semi-automatic weapon.

Don't you?

Love,

Rachel Vail

Reviews

Just as I sat here shivering in my freezing apartment, despairing about ever being able to write all the books I am supposed to be writing while cursing myself

for opting for the cuter, smaller, more ecologically correct LITTLE radiators when we renovated... I got a lovely review on JUSTIN CASE from The Rusty Key. So now I am warm all over.

I think it's because of this wonderful write-up. But my new-found warmth could be also slightly

due to my three sweaters, fuzzy socks and slippers and corduroy jeggings (cordureggings? will the silliness of pants neologisms ever end?)

http://therustykey.com/Justin_Case.html

Love,

Rachel Vail