A weaver of dreams

I am a teller of stories, a weaver of dreams. I can dance, sing, and in the right weather I can stand on my head. I know seven words of Latin, I have a little magic, and a trick or two. I know the proper way to meet a Dragon, I can fight dirty but not fair, I once swallowed thirty oysters in a minute. I am not domestic, I am a luxury, and in that sense, necessary.

Spoken by John Hurt in The Storyteller (1988, Jim Henson production)

I’m not ashamed to admit that I watched everything Jim Henson created right into my teens. Ok, I admit it, I still adore Henson’s work. I own a copy of the first season of the Muppets, I loved Sesame Street, and two of my favourite movie’s are Labyrinth and Muppet Treasure Island (though Henson had long since passed when the latter was made). Miss Piggy presides over my writing space and I plan on finding a Kermit to sit with her. I have a Cookie Monster bookmark and called my dog Rizo after Rizo the rat and occasionally my husband and I refer to our big dog as Beaker on account of his whinginess. I sing to the tune of the Swedish chef when I cook and I even know the names of the two old fellas in the balcony: Waldorf and Statler. A friend once referred to me as her Snuffleupagus. Another called me Scooter – so widely known was my passion for Henson. I desperately want a Gonzo doll, but I’m sorry I just can’t love Elmo (he wasn’t JH’s idea). My stepfather and I still sing songs from Sesame Street and my sister and I regularly dance like muppets, stiff arms with lots of upper body movement, but stationary feet. Even my sister owns a Fraggle doll (Red) from Fraggle Rock. I’m a fan. Jim Henson was one of the best storytellers from any age. He had an instinct for what worked and what didn’t and his products appealed to more than just children. As a kid I learned about diversity largely through Jim Henson’s storytelling. His message was simple: shape, size and colour aren’t as important; love is. It worked for me. Who would you add to a list of best storytellers of all time?

To quote Douglas Adams

The great Douglas Adams once said “writing is easy. You only need to stare at a blank piece of paper until your forehead bleeds.” Adams passed away over eight years ago but I still get so much joy out of his words.

Handbook of Creative writing

I am a collector of books and among my humble collection I have a shelf dedicated to books about writing. Most of these live at around 808 on the Dewey decimal system and that is where they reside in my library – right along side literature which occupies the rest of the 800s. I am greedy when it comes to words written on our craft by people who practice it.  I have known writers who refused to read manuals or writing guides because it stifled their creativity, or because they refused to conform to the rules of creative writing. I am a student of writing and some day I hope to be a teacher and a coach. I can’t do that without teachers of my own. Architects, painters, bricklayers, even musicians must all undertake a period of apprenticeship under the tutelage of experienced professionals – why should it be any different for writers? With this in mind I grabbed myself a copy of The handbook of creative writing, edited by Steven Earnshaw, Professor of English at Sheffield Hallam University. Though the book, in Earnshaw’s words, is aimed “primarily at the student embarking on a creative writing programme in Higher Education”, it is a valuable resource for anyone who is serious about a career in writing. When I bought this book I was half way through a Masters degree in professional writing so it seemed an appropriate resource, but now, even when I am on hiatus from University I frequently refer to the essays. This is not one of those how-to books,  rather it is an scholarly treatment of writing theory and practice and therefore not for everyone. The book contains 48 essays separated into three sections. Section one discusses critical theory, section two contains essays on prose, poetry, screenwriting,  and other forms of writing and section three explores the writing life from agents and publication to literary prizes and making a living as a writer. The handbook of creative writing confirmed for me that writing is not just about publication. It explores writing as a career as well as a worthy academic activity.

Getting into character – about the book

If you want to create three dimensional characters you need to read Getting into character: seven secrets a novelist can learn from actors, by Brandilyn Collins. I’ve used this book as a reference for a couple of years now and I find it invaluable. Collins has cleverly adapted seven techniques attributed to Russian actor Constantin Stanislavsky for novelists. The seven “secrets” discussed in the book are personalising, action objectives, subtexting, colouring passions, inner rhythm, restraint and control and emotion memory. Throughout the book Collins draws parallels between writers and actors, something I have often done myself. I routinely watch Inside the Actors Studio for this very reason. As Collins says writers and actors must be “ardent students of human nature”. We must observe.

Style guides

I can’t emphasise enough the importance of a good style guide for serious writers. Style guides should be kept in close proximity to your writing station, along with the dictionary and thesaurus. I have a number of style guides and reference manuals, but the ones I use most are:

1. Style manual for authors, editors and printers, 6th edition, 2002, published by John Wiley & Sons Australia Ltd. The first edition of this manual was published by the Australian Commonwealth Printing Office in 1966 and is still the first style manual recommended to Australian authors. It covers publication planning, writing and editing, designing and illustrating, legal aspects of publishing, and electronic production.
2. The Editor’s Companion by Janet Mackenzie, Cambridge University Press. This book, which emphasises the use of the Australian Standards for Editing Practice, is essential for the editing phase and covers the publishing process, as well as proofreading and editing methods
3. The Gregg Reference Manual: A manual of style, grammar, usage, and formatting, tenth edition, by William A. Sabin, published by McGraw-Hill Irwin. A comprehensive guide to writing, editing and publishing. It covers everything to do with writing and editing and is one of the best manuals available.

It might seem like overkill to have so many reference guides for the rules of writing, and mostly my collection was established during the four years I worked as a manuscript writer/editor in a research centre of a tertiary hospital where I needed to have a working knowledge of the regional differences in grammar, spelling, style and publishing procedures.  My philosophy is that one style guide is good, two is better.

I am not aware of any free online style guides, but there are a number of sites that deal with grammar and punctuation.

The importance of a good thesaurus

I’ve heard it said that good writers don’t need a thesaurus. On the contrary a good writer knows s/he needs a thesaurus. That’s why s/he is a good writer. A good writer also needs a good dictionary and uses it periodically throughout the writing session. I have three immediately accessible from my writing space – I keep a large volume Macquarie’s Dictionary, a concise Macquarie’s Dictionary and Encarta Dictionary tool to compare spellings and definitions. I also have The Writer’s Digest Flip Dictionary (FD) which uses of combination of dictionary and thesaurus entries, but it is neither a true dictionary nor a true thesaurus. The FD works in reverse from true dictionaries in that the user searches using cue or clue words based on concepts or definitions. Following hierarchies the FD catalogues precise words and alternatives for each concept or idea. 

Any dictionary or thesaurus is an essential tool for writers, but don’t use them to perform ostentatious affectation of your lexicon – prolixty in literature is a sign of incompetence – as I have demonstrated here. Sometimes the most familiar words are the best choice. The point is to get the message across eloquently without being wordy or pretentious – a skill you can’t learn from a dictionary.

A quote because I have nothing else to say

There’s nothing to writing.  All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein.  Walter Wellesley “Red” Smith

 

Jorge Luis Borges on the inner critic

“Any time something is written against me, I not only share the sentiment but feel I could do the job far better myself. Perhaps I should advise would-be enemies to send me their grievances beforehand, with full assurance that they will receive my every aid and support. I have even secretly longed to write, under a pen name, a merciless tirade against myself.” – Jorge Luis Borges, Autobiographical essay, 1970.

Proof that there is no greater critic than thyself!

Expect creativity

 My mother’s husband, and good friend Swami Guru Sam, has a penchant for Vulcan logic that would put Spoc himself to shame. He has recently taken on the unenviable task of being my literary coach to help me through the creative minefield known as writing a novel. Yesterday Swami Guru Sam said to me “You possibly think of your creativity as something that just happens – but by constant questioning and visualisation you create an expectancy that you will be creative and you give your subconscious something with which to fulfil those expectations. Part of the process is that you never ever leave yourself with nothing to do – it is a process of constant creativity – so if you don’t have any answers today regarding what you did yesterday, then you get on with some other aspect (guided by what ever else there is to do). Eventually your sub-conscious kicks in and give the answers for that bit – but in the meantime you’ve loaded up more visualisations and put in place further expectations – so the process continues…”

Swami Guru Sam has a point about expectations. I’ve always seen my imagination as an arbitary product of daydreaming, something that could not be controlled, rather than a powerhouse which can regulated. This makes a lot of sense to me and by changing my attitude about the workings of imagination, I’ve already started to improve my ability to tap into my own. So rather than hoping inspiration will happen, we need to make sure it does. Expect creativity.

Swami Guru on the Mountain Top

My sister has a title for people who know everything - Oh Swami Guru on the Mountain Top. My family – all members of the Swami Guru on the Mountain Top assembly – has a wealth of knowledge when it comes to creative energy and so I dedicate this section to them, because without their little nuggets of wisdom and encouragement I could not continue.

Pay close attention to what those close to you are saying, because they might know something you don’t and believe it not they’re in a better position to evaluate your work than you are.

The first nugget comes from Oh Swami-Guru sister. She says “Write as though no one is watching and no one will read it, not even yourself. Write it and leave it for a week before reading it”.

Perhaps if I followed this advice I might not feel so self-conscious about seeing my own words on the page.