Writing To Be Read

When you think of a writer’s life, what images appear in your mind?  For me, I’ve always pictured Chevy Chase in Funny Farm, sitting at his desk, in front of the window, overlooking the beautiful lake, typing away on his good old manual typewriter.  (Of course, the only problem with that is Chevy’s character, Andy, didn’t actually write anything while there.)  Then, I look around and I realize that I basically have the same thing Andy had, right here where I sit.  No, I don’t have a beautiful lake to look out onto, but I do have gorgeous mountain vistas to gaze upon right outside the window of my office.  Like Andy, however, I go through periods, where I just can’t get my laptop keys to produce anything worth reading.  I don’t think it is writer’s block.  The ideas are there, I  just can’t seem to get them translated into the written word.  Andy’s problem stemmed from a crazy mailman and quirky town folk that drove him to distraction.  I think my distractions come from the problems of everyday life: trying to figure out how I’m going to get all my bills paid; the storage that I’m trying to go through slowly, but involves projects that once started, must be finished; coordinating trips to town, so all of my family members can get their tasks accomplished without multiple trips; and daydreaming of a time when I don’t have to try and write around my work schedule because I can make enough from my writing that I don’t need my other jobs anymore.  (Unfortunately, that day seems to be a long way away).
The number of authors that go on retreats, and the amount of retreats offered indicate that a change in setting can be conducive to stirring up the imagination and making magic on the written page.  Just as writer’s differ as to what type of atmosphere they require to get the creative juices flowing, retreats differ in what the type of atmosphere offered.  Colorado retreats offer many options available to the writer that needs time away from the stresses of everyday life, to concentrate and get some serious writing done, from retreats that just offer a quiet place to get away from it all to those that include structured classes or workshops to help focus your energies.  I just published a Writing Retreats 101 article on my Southern Colorado Literature Examiner site, which goes into more depth about the retreats that are available.  There seems to be something for everyone, whether pampering and day spas are what your creativity requires, or just the crisp, clean mountain air will do the trick.  The price ranges vary greatly, so there is a chance to find one that will fit even the most frugal of pocketbooks, (except maybe for mine, which seems to always be totally empty lately).
First, there is Spring Time Writers , at Rocky Mountain Retreats , located in Lyons, Colorado, which offers a vacation balanced with learning experience, with a variety of themed workshops available, all surrounded by the beautiful Colorado Rockies.  Most are four day workshop retreats that run Friday thru Monday, for a long, relaxing weekend.  There are workshops on journaling for self discovery that includes memoirs and biographies, poetry, creative writing, and a wellness retreat that takes a holistic approach that includes journaling.
If your looking for a little less structure, but still want to stimulate your brain, Write Away Retreats offers mountain retreats twice a year, that feature half day workshops, and manuscript consultation with professional authors, agents and/or editors and relaxation in the fresh mountain air or the on site hot tub.  This retreat boasts pampering of its guests in addition to first rate professionals on staff.  For an additional charge, shuttle service from Denver International Airport right to the door of the gorgeous Breckenridge chalet is available and accommodations can be made for both singles and couples.
Rocky Mountain Contemplative Writing Retreats offers more of a group experience, with group members required to bring enough food with them to provide for the group for one meal each.  The cost is $75.00 per day plus food and lodging expenses, with 1, 3 and 4 to 5 retreats available. The retreats include music and film prompts to spark creativity, writing instruction from someone named David, group discussions, and time to meditate, contemplate and write in the Rocky Mountain atmosphere, although locations do vary.  They are done for this year, but it will be time to register for 2010 very soon.
For a totally relaxed atmosphere, where you can rely on nothing more than the mountain air to stimulate your creativity, Bloomsbury West Retreat brings you to the small mountain town of Silvercliffe, Colorado and the breath taking 14,000 foot peaks of the Sangre de Cristo mountains.  Here you can get back to basics in a one bedroom cabin with no television or Internet to distract, offering time away to just think and create.  Amenities are within walking distance if you just can’t bring yourself to cut off the outside world completely.  Peace and quiet is what this retreat has to offer.
As I researched these retreats and delved into what they have to offer, I find that the one thing they all have in common is the open spaces and mountain air that Colorado.  I  look around me and realize once again, that I am blessed everyday with what other writers pay good money for. It makes me appreciate what I have available to me right in my front yard.  Except now, I don’t know what I should do when I need time to get away.  I don’t think going to the city would be much of a retreat.  I guess I would have to go to someplace really exotic.  I know of a retreat down in Baja California , lead by Salida author Susan J. Tweit .  Maybe that’s where I’ll go. (Yeah, right.)  I think for now, I’d better content myself to just sit back, close my eyes and listen to the rain.

Rain

Drop, drop, drop
A sprinkle here and there
Warns of more to come
Threatening to grow
Into something bigger

Down, down, down
It pours and pours
Until the ground is saturated
And the water just puddles
And runs off

Drip, drip, drip
Gone but not
No longer falling from the sky
Just rolling off the roof
Adding to the existing puddles

Cheep, chirp, tweep
As the sun emerges
To warm the earth
The birds return to
Fill the air with their songs.

Copyright ©2009  Kaye Lynne Booth

I think that the absolute worst mistake a writer can make is to disappoint their readers.  I just finished a book, Trace (Berkley Books, 2004), by Patricia Cornwell, whose writing I have enjoyed in the past.  In this case, however, she built up a great story line with her protagonist Kay Scarpetta and crew that was sadly disappointing.  I was really getting into it, not wanting to put the book down, because I wanted to see what happened next.  It really felt as if it were building up into one heck of a climax.  Then, she ended it simply and suddenly; no big action scene where our heroes prevail; no surprise twist at the end; just “That’s all folks” and nothing more.  It felt like a slap in the face.  I didn’t understand how it could just be over, but it was.  There was no more
As I said, I’ve enjoyed Cornwell’s writing in the past, so I’m not sure what happened with this story, but it made me realize what a big mistake it is to disappoint your readers in such a manner.  I really felt cheated, and because of this, I will think twice before picking up another one of her books.  I don’t know how many others felt the same let down that I did, but I would imagine there are many, and that could really hurt future sales.  It won’t effect the sales of this book, which has already been purchased, but it will be remembered the next time readers come across one of her books while making a reading selection.  I know the next time that I come across one of her books, I won’t be so eager to read it and chances are that I will pick something else for my reading pleasure.
My advice is to be sure that when you dangle a piece of cheese (story buildup) in front of your readers, you make darn certain that they get that cheese in the end.  In other words, make sure that your story delivers what is promises (or at least something just as good or better, because surprise twists can be very satisfying, as well).  If your story line leads up to how dangerous your antagonist is, indicating that somewhere down the line, the protagonist will come up against him and the threat of danger will be constantly present, then don’t suddenly have them meet and send the antagonist off to jail with ease, with the protagonist never facing any real risk.  Doing this, makes it seem as if the writer just couldn’t figure out a good ending and so, slapped everything neatly together in the simplest way possible; wrapping things up neatly and tying them with a bow.  I strongly suggest that if your story seems to come to an abrupt ending, with no real climax, that you go back and edit it heavily and wait to submit it anywhere until you’ve come up with a more exciting ending; one that your readers will be .  I dislike revision as much as any writer, but I think that to take the time to fine tune a piece, is usually worth the time and effort put into it, and it will pay off in the long run, when your work begins to sell.

Angels Among Us

Angels with flitty, fluttery wings
Place their harps and strike their strings,
Reclining on clouds throughout the year,
Singing songs that only the blessed can hear.
You don’t hear the music?  Open up your heart
Hear with your soul as angels do their part.
The common man will not hear a word.
I know what I say must seem absurd.
The emanating light is truly divine;
Only the totally pure of heart can shine.

The last that we talked, you had so much to say
That you needed an angel to be sent your way.
The angels can help you, if you are sincere.
They’ll pass down life lessons and create good cheer.
The trouble with angels is that they are never around
When we truly need help getting off the ground.
They may lift your spirits for a short while
Or tickle your funny bone, making you smile,
But do they change anything that is making us blue?
I think God left that up to me and you.

Copyright ©2009  Kaye Lynne Booth

As writers it is our job to paint a picture with words so that a scene unfolds before the reader and he sees what we intended them to see.  This can be a difficult task, as the words that we choose may have different connotations for different people.  For instance, if the writer says that a woman had legs like a chicken, the image it evokes may be of the chicken that chased you around your aunty Em’s barnyard when you were a child, or it may evoke an image of the big yellow chicken outfit that you had to wear on the street corner to try to convince people to eat at Tasty Chicken at your first job, or it might be the fried chicken legs that your grandmother used to put on your plate every Sunday, or…well, you get the idea.  We have to rely on the reader to fill in some of the detail themselves.  There simply is no choice about it.  Which is the reason that our writing evokes different things for different people, just as a work of art will stir different emotions, often very different from those that the artist intended.
While we do have to rely on readers to use their imaginations, many writers do not give their readers enough credit.  We do not really have to tell our readers that it was a cold, white snow, because most readers will know that snow is both cold and white.  The two  modifiers are not necessary and thus just fill up space on the page, and may insult our readers intelligence.  It isn’t necessary to tell readers that a field of corn was green, or that the fire truck was big and red.  In his book, The Poetry Home Repair Manual (University of Nebraska Press:2005), Ted Kooser illustrates this point well with the following poem,

“Morning Glories

We share so much. When I write lattice,
I count on you seeing the flimsy slats
tacked into squares and painted white,

like a French door propped in a garden
with a blue condensed from many skies
pressed up against the panes. I count on

you knowing that remarkable blue,
shaped into the fluted amplifying horns
of Edison cylinder record players.

What? Come on, you know exactly
what I’m talking about. I didn’t need
to describe them like that, but I like to

hover a little over my words, dabbling
the end of my finger in the white throats
of those __________. You fill it in.

I could go on, but all I really needed to do
was to give you the name in the title.
I knew you’d put in the rest, maybe

the smell of a straw hat hot from the sun;
that’s just a suggestion. You know exactly
what goes into a picture like this

to make it seem as if you saw it first,
how a person can lean on the warm
hoe handle of a poem, dreaming,

making a little more out of the world
than was there just a moment before.
I’m just the guy who gets it started.”

The concept of giving the reader credit for having some life experience and leaving the unnecessary modifiers out of your writing, applies not only to poetry, but to all genres.  The phrase, “She let out a loud scream.” makes the reader stop to wonder what other types of screams there could be.  Aren’t all screams loud?  It really isn’t necessary to tell the reader that the scream was loud, anymore than it is necessary to tell readers that he whispered softly.  If it wasn’t soft, we wouldn’t use the word whisper at all, but perhaps a word like spoke, said, orated or even blurted instead.
Our readers are not dumb or naive.  They have lived life long enough to know these things without us telling them, (unless, of coarse, you are writing for young children.  In which case, you might have to fill in a few more details, but you better make sure those details are true to life, because a kid will be the first to point out that not all ants are red, not all clouds are white and fluffy, and when peanut butter sticks to the roof of your mouth, it causes more of a clicking noise than the popping one which you described.)  For the most part, there are certain things that you have to assume that your readers will know and be able to relate to.  For instance, if you write that she had a heart as big as Texas, you are assuming that your readers will know that Texas is pretty big, indeed.
I guess it really all comes down to word choice, once again.  I can’t stress how important it is to choose just the right word to describe what it is that you are trying to describe.  Don’t use light purple when you really mean more of a lilac color, or happy when your character is actually ecstatic.  Don’t tell your reader details that they don’t need to know, or use modifiers that are unnecessary to get your point across, but on the other hand, you want to make sure that you do give them enough detail so that they can form a mental picture of what it is that you want them to see.  It is a delicate balance that you must really work at to achieve, but if the reader walks away with what you intended from the piece, it will have been well worth it.

Yucca! Yucca! Yucca!

They spatter the open mountain meadows
Like snow white spears reaching up
Above the tall grasses
Worshiping the sun.
Soft white flower spikes
Contrasting razor sharp spines.
The porcupines of the plant world.
Waiting, waiting for autumn winds
To dry their flower stalks into husks
That whisper the rattle of their name

Copyright ©2009  Kaye Lynne Booth

Dialog: it has to be more than simply mindless chatter. It’s not just there to fill up space on the page, or at least it shouldn’t be. Dialog must be meaningful and help to move along the story line. It must provide vital information to readers, that would not be easily portrayed by other means. Not always an easy task to accomplish. In fact, I struggle with it constantly.
One of the most enlightening lessons that I have learned about writing dialog, is that when there are only two speakers present, many of the expletative he saids and she saids can be eliminated, making dialog flow smoother and sound more natural.
Though it is not common to find a story written completely in dialog, really great dialog can carry a story all by itself. If you find that hard to believe, you are in good company, as I was a huge skeptic when first presented with this concept.
I was proven wrong when I decided to take the challenge offered by the Dynamic Dialog Contest, which charges you to do just that: write a story completely in dialog, with not even one he said or she said to be found on the page. Skeptical as I was, I ended up writing not one, but two stories completely in dialog. It is not only possible, but actually kind of fun to figure out how to progress your story minus all the settings, actions and attitudes that are usually used to this end.
This taught me a valuable lesson: dialog can be used to progress your story for you, without utilizing descriptions or even action sequences. Of course, you aren’t going to write everything in just dialog, nor would you want to, but you can learn the technique and then use it to develop more effective dialogs in your other writing. For me this was a valuable lesson; one that will improve my writing over all. I would recommend that it be attempted at least once, or perhaps several times to perfect the technique. The words we speak can be very important, as can the words that our characters speak. It’s not always easy to get them to come out right, but if we work at it diligently, we can express more than you would perhaps realize. Getting them wrong can leave us (or our characters) tongue-tied.

The Apology

Did I say that? No. I couldn’t have.
If I said it, which I don’t think I did,
I know I didn’t mean it.
At least not the way you took it.
I would never try to hurt you the way you claim,
You know how I really feel.
Why do I always have to say it for you to believe it?
That’s not what I meant either.
Why is it so hard
To tell you that I’m sorry
For the pain I caused,
For not thinking before I spoke,
For the damage done?

Copyright ©2009 Kaye Lynne Booth