Attitude Makes the Difference

Last time here I posted about Ambition. Hopefully I got you thinking about what you want, why you want it, and if you’re willing to pay the price to get it.

Ambition is the key ingredient necessary in answering these questions. Chances are if you’re reading this blog, your chief ambition is to write a novel or polish that novel enough to get it published. Even thinking about writing a novel requires more ambition than 95% of the world possesses. But you have the desire, you’ve counted the cost, and you’re ready to do whatever it takes to attain your goals.

What matters now is ATTITUDE.
"It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task, which more than anything else, will affect its successful outcome." William James

Our attitude is the only thing we have control over. Positive or Negative. Success or Failure.

We all face doubts—artists and those in the entertainment industry possibly more than any other group. Think of all those amazing, talented, tortured souls before us who committed suicide or drowned their doubts and demons in the bottle. This is a tough, tough industry. It is not for the faint of heart.

Our attitudes determine our actions. Are you pumped or pitiful? Pestering or empowering? Bothering people or blessing them?

The best way to check your attitude is to measure other people’s reaction to you. Do friends come to you for advice and encouragement? Do they avoid sitting next to you at parties? Are you a giver or a taker? If friends must continually prop you up and feed your ego to keep your engines firing, your probably need an attitude adjustment.

A good or bad attitude doesn’t only affect those around you. It affects how much effort and zeal you put toward reaching your goals. If you approach your goals with the attitude that you don’t have time or a supportive spouse or whatever else is holding you back, then you probably won’t accomplish much.

So how’s your attitude? Are you determined to give your dreams everything you’ve got? Or are you going to wait to see what the economy does or how your mother-in-law reacts to another of your silly pipe dreams?

If you suspect you have an attitude problem, you probably need to rekindle your passion. The best way to do that is to surround yourself with people you wish to emulate. If you haven’t already, join some writing groups, online and in your local area. Follow some encouraging blogs online (like this one, I hope). Nurture positive relationships that have nothing to do with what you want. The world is bigger than ourselves after all.

“You’ve got to give something to get something.” Billy Blanks—Taebo creator and fitness instructor

Next time we’ll talk about taking ACTION. All the best laid plans in the world won’t do any good if you don’t have a plan of action and the tenacity of a pit bull to stick with it.

Ambition--What drives you?

Ambition—the desire for achievement of distinction and the willingness to strive for it.

For the next few days I’m going to post a series of articles about how to achieve your goals. For most of us, that means stepping out of our comfort zone. Come on, we’re creatures of habit. We do things the same way over and over, whether it’s taking the same route to work or disciplining our children the same way our parents disciplined us, sadly with much the same results.

But to succeed, to change the way we've always done things in order to break the chains that hold us back, we must step out of our comfort zone.

Three things are vital to step out of our comfort zone in order to reach our goals.
AMBITION
ATTITUDE
ACTION
The first component necessary in reaching our goals is AMBITION.

Quick, without giving it too much thought, answer this question. What do you want? Come on, it’s an easy one. Don’t think too much. Just blurt it out. Better yet, write it down. What do you want?

My response comes easy. Since you’re here at You Can Write a Novel, yours probably will too. I want a new book contract. Right up there with acquiring a new contract, I want to finish the four or five nearly finished books in my hard drive so I can get started on the next four or five books trapped inside my head.

Next question: Why do you want it? This one shouldn’t take much thought either. Writing is my passion. My ministry. I have a story to tell. It’s exciting and I want to get the story out.

Now here’s the tough one. Are you willing to pay the price? Hmm. This one gives me pause. Am I willing to turn off the TV, stay off the phone, work through the frustrating parts when the story isn’t coming together, and get these stories finished?

Let’s face it. This business is hard. It’s lonely and frustrating and easy to throw up my hands in defeat. How hard we’re willing to stick with it totally depends on how much we want it.

I have a friend who keeps a money jar next to her workstation at the beauty salon where she works. Every tip and every extra dollar she can get her hands on goes into that money jar. She’s saving for a trip to Hawaii with her friends. They go every couple of years. Anyone who’s been to Hawaii knows it’s an expensive trip and sacrifices need to be made to make the trip a reality, especially on a stylist’s salary. But the sacrifice is worth the pay-out for her. It's important enough that she's willing to go without other things.

What about you? Do you want to go to Hawaii? Back to school? See your book title at the top of the New York Times Bestsellers List. What are your dreams worth to you?

While you're chewing on that for a day or two, you can think about my next article; Attitude Makes the Difference. Ambition is vital, but it will only get you so far. Is your attitude holding you back?

Well, that changes everything

We’ve read a lot and given much thought to the construction and execution of our book’s opening hook. Writers have one page, tops—usually one paragraph—to hook a reader into the story.
The key to launching a story that readers will remember is to begin with an inciting incident that changes everything for the character.

In Gone With the Wind, Scarlett only cares about going to attending the barbeque at Twelve Oaks where she will see her beloved Ashley Wilkes. Early on, she hears Ashley is engaged to his cousin Melanie. Well, Scarlett isn’t about to let that happen. But before she can figure out how to remedy the situation and make Ashley realize he can’t live without her, the blasted war gets in the way. Poor Scarlett has several inciting incidents that change her narrow little world forever.

The fun part for the reader is to sit back and see how our lovely heroine gets out of the predicament the writer has thrust upon her.

Think about the last 5 books you’ve read, the last 5 movies you’ve seen. What was the opening incident that changed everything for the characters? Something major was at stake or you wouldn’t have kept reading or watching.

The last movie I saw was THE TOWN with Ben Affleck. The opening scene shows Ben and a group of friends robbing a bank. I won’t spoil the movie in case you haven’t seen it, but for reasons I can’t divulge, Ben and his cohorts go against their usual modus operandi and take a hostage. This event is triggered by Ben’s reaction to said hostage. Of course taking this hostage changes everything for Ben. The robbery and its aftermath make it impossible for Ben (or Doug, as he’s known in the movie) to go back to the way things were.

How do we create a situation like Scarlett’s or Doug’s that will irrevocably change everything they have ever known or will know?

First off, you must know your character. What are they hiding from? What is their greatest fear? Doug was abandoned by his mother. Rejection, abandonment, fear of losing someone he loves has contributed to the man he became though he probably never realized it.

Scarlett is headstrong and used to having men throw themselves at her feet. The fact that Ashley Wilkes does not react the same as every other man she’s ever met might have something to do with her illogical attraction to him. It doesn’t take long for the reader to realize Ashley could never handle a woman like Scarlett. This doesn’t affect Scarlett’s determination. As we see played out over and over again throughout the story, what Scarlett wants, Scarlett gets, no matter who gets in her way.

So who is your character? What makes him tick? What’s the one thing he wants that he’s not equipped to handle? What is the worst thing that could happen to him? What incident will change everything for him?

It doesn’t have to be a civil war in his backyard. He doesn’t have to get shot during a holdup. It can be something as simple as seeing the girl who got away just as he walks into the church alongside his best man. It can be hearing a baby cry as she swallows the pain of losing a child in a car accident. It can be hammering a For Sale sign in his front yard.

An inciting incident. This incident is a turning point. There is no going back. A realization of no do-overs.

Ponder the chain of events your inciting incident will cause for the hero. There’s your story. Everything else will stem from what happens in your opening scene. It’s huge. It’s paramount to the rest of the story. It’s a jumping off point from which your character can never go back. Make it terrible. Make it magical. Make it a reason the reader must turn the page.

Happy writing.

NaNoWriMo--Your Novel is 30 Days Away

I did it. I signed up for National Novel Writing Month. If you haven't yet, it's not too late. Be warned though, the website is moving slowly tonight. Lots of last minute writers logging in and signing up. Leave it to writers to put off action until the last minute. We are champs at procrastination.

Most Novembers I am already in the middle of one or two projects and can't commit to writing 50K words on anything else. This year found me between contracts and between writing projects, so I thought, "What have I got to lose?"

In June '09 my darling husband woke up from a dream and laid out an entire romantic synopsis for me. Most writers have dreamed something that might spark an idea for a book or make a cute scene in a novel, or is just a kick to play around with. But his idea had complete novel potential. Best part, it was a romance, typically not something he thinks about or I write.

That story has nagged at me since last June when I transcribed his recounting into 8 pages of a synopsis. I've made a few changes, expounded on a few characters and sub-plots, and I'm rip-roaring ready to go tomorrow.

If you haven't signed up for NaNoWriMo or don't even know what it is, check out the website. It's not that complicated. Nor is it intimidating if you clear your head, fasten your rear to the chair and let the characters have their way. That's the best thing about NaNo. No plotting if you don't want, no editing--it's absolutely forbidden. How else will you reach your word count?--no stressing over plot points and submission guidelines. The whole point is to see if you can actually bang out 50K words in a month.

Try it and prove to the world You Can Write a Novel. Prove it to yourself. What have you got to lose? You might even find gold.

Time stealers

Writer Ben Erlichman shared his addiction to video games on his blog this morning. Actually it's a four-part post you should really check out.

Ben's confessions reminded me of my son. Randy is 26. His excuse for spending hours at Halo and others like it is that he can play with old friends and a cousin on Active Duty he doesn't keep up with any other way. He's even played with TJ Houshmanzada (not going to take the time to look up correct spelling) and Chad Ochocinco--receiver and former receiver for the Cincy Bengals. For an avid sports fan--and even a not-so-interested-in-sports mom, that's pretty sweet.

But in the process of keeping up with friends and making new ones, not to mention the fun he has mastering the games, he doesn't eat right, sleep enuf, or get any exercise. Sound familiar?

Ben's confessions reminded me the same can be said about any other addiction or pursuit that steals our time and keeps us from doing the things that will bring us closer to reaching our goals. Many of us would never allow video games to come between us and our writing time. Or TV or the telephone or other things we consider time wasters.

And not everything that keeps us from writing is a time waster per se. Housework must be done. The family needs to eat. We have to shop for the food to prepare. Then there are familial commitments, work, friends--the list goes on and on.

Even if we don't think we have any unhealthy addictions in our lives, we can use those necessary chores as excuses why we don't accomplish more. I appreciate Ben's honesty in sharing his addiction to video games with us this morning. May we be as honest in examining our own lives and the things we allow to separate us from our goals.

Even more on how NOT to get published

My mother always used to say: Every old crow thinks her little bird's feathers are the blackest. We can easily apply that sentiment to writing. All writers have done it, especially in the early days. We peruse bookshelves with our noses in the air and thinking, "How in the world did that thing get published? My book is ten times better?"

One of the easiest ways NOT to get published is to fall in love with every word you write. After all, any dummy can see it's pure brilliance. You've created a magical world in which any reader will be swept away. Your characters are multi-dimensional and complex. No other writer living or dead has come close to hammering out a plot like yours. Every reader who picks it up will be on the edge of her seat, unable to put it down until the final, satisfying scene.

Not a jot or a tittle can be added or taken away to enhance the story. If a publisher or agent can't see that...well, they don't deserve the honor of publishing your book anyway.

I believe William Faulkner said it first, and a whole lot of teachers of creative writing, film making, journalism and other kinds of storytelling have been repeating it through the ages: Kill your darlings.

Samuel Johnson had similar advice: "Read over your compositions, and wherever you meet with a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out."

I don't mean to say the only way to recognize if you've written something worth saving is that you must hate it. Just don't fall so in love with your work, you don't think it can be improved upon. Only God does it right the first go-round. Or in the case of writing--the twentieth go-round.

First drafts are easy. Throwing words on the page with little regard for grammar or syntax or if the crazy thing even makes sense. It's the editing and rewriting where many writers want to take shortcuts. Fixing the plot holes, checking the facts, smoothing out the rough edges, getting the whole thing to flow, well, that's just plain work.

What writer wouldn't be happier if all they had to do was throw their writing onto the page and be done with it. I've read much from writers who do exactly that. It's always beginning writers who have not taken the time to learn the craft. They have a story inside them they've been wanting to write forever. It flows beautifully inside their heads. Sadly that vision does not always translate as brilliantly to the page.

If you don't want to get published, write your story the way you want. Refuse to follow the advice of those who've been down the road before you. Anyone who doesn't like your work doesn't have to read it. (Believe me, they won't.) Don't read books on writing. Don't study the classics or bestselling books in your genre to see what they're doing right and you probably aren't.

Most importantly, don't read through your work objectively. Don't be willing to hack and slash any passage that slows the flow of the story, anything that doesn't further the plot, anything that might cause the reader to scratch his head and say, "Huh." or worse, throw your book across the room. Whatever you do, don't get rid of those long, flowery passages that demonstrate your illustrious writing prowess.

The only thing important is that YOU like it. A good story doesn't really matter as long as readers know how smart you are.

More on how NOT to get published

Thomas Hardy wrote after a particularly scathing review of Tess of the D'urbervilles, "If this continues, no more writing for me. A man must be a fool to stand and be shot at."

I know how poor Tom felt, on a much smaller scale of course. Even before the bad reviews come--and they will come--we feel shot at nearly every time we sit down to write. Or when we browse bookshelves and compare our writing to that of those who consistently sell hundreds of thousands of copies every year. Or when we receive yet another rejection.

Let's face it, this business is hard. It can be discouraging on the best of days. I tell fledgling writers if they need instant gratification or validation or the occasional pat on the back, they should go into a more encouraging field like the ministry or motherhood.

So here's number two on my list of how NOT to get published. Wait until someone likes you.

Take your manuscript to work and show it to the meanest, most critical and judgmental person there. Your father-in-law will do in this exercise as well. When they give you positive feedback, when they tell you they've never read anything more beautifully penned, and that you are the most brilliant, prolific writer since the Apostle Paul, you are ready to seek publication.

Until you get validation and encouragement from your peers, you shouldn't write another word. Who else but the people you work with or your family who never read a book until the Twilight series came out, can better judge your work?

By all means, don't go to writers' conferences and show your manuscript to people who actually know what they're talking about. Don't read books on the craft or practice with shorter pieces. Don't admit your first attempts might not be as good as you first thought, and should be rewritten from the first word or scrapped altogether.

So stop writing. There are already thousands upon thousands of writers more talented than you who can do what you do much better than you do it. Competition is too fierce. Publishers aren't buying so you might as well stop writing. You won't find the validation you crave in this economy so just give it up.

Great men undertake great things because they are great; fools, because they think them easy. - Vauvenargues

Happy Writing.