But I didn’t stop. I worried about arriving late to work, and the sides of the road looked very slippery. So… another lost shot.

What is the most important characteristic a writer should have? The ability to question everything.

Every tale I’ve written began with a series of what ifs.

What if a child was thrown into a world where magic was real? What if a young girl is given the most powerful weapon in her world? What if a man discovered he was really a demon? The list is as endless as the imagination.

But what if is rarely enough to carry a story. From each what if, dozens of answers can evolve and the writer become hopelessly confused by trying to unite them into something resembling a tale.

For me, the next question is, why?

Why this character and not someone else? Why are they in this situation? Why would a reader be interested in them?

However, why is more than these. As far back as any of us remember, we are taught there are certain truths in this world and that reality is a hard-and-fast concept we must each face. This, of course, presupposes everyone’ s truths and everyone’s realities are the same? By the time we realize we are writers, we (should) know that truth and reality only stand as long as no one asks why.

Why do we believe we have certain inalienable rights when we can see it is not true in many places around the world? Aren’t these just privileges society grants or abridges at its whim?

Why do we accept the world is a sphere when, wherever we see it from, it appears as a convex disk? Is it possible only the portion we see exists and anything else we believe is in a dimension we only imagine?

The whys are not as important as the answers. Our responses are what generate the ideas we need to create worlds.

However, the ability to develop unique and interesting answers needs to be exercised.  From my perspective, every writer needs to set aside a few hours each week to let impressions flow and coalesce into ideas.

I am fortunate. I spend an average of 15 hours a week driving. This is my time to turn off the radio, ignore the phone and let the mind wander. During these moments, I recall events I’ve seen and play what if and why. Over the years the ability has grown until it is second nature. I see what is around me and simultaneously see many things they could be.

Yesterday I stopped in a place named Bachi Burger to look at the menu. The hostess asked whether she could help me so I asked if the burgers were made from real Bachi. She looked confused (as many people do when I respond to their serious questions) and told me she didn’t know what a Bachi was. I told her they were a cute little creatures from the land of Neverwas that tasted better than beef. They were in no danger yet, but what would happen if her restaurant chain expanded? She had no response so I decided it was probably best to leave. As I turned to go, she thanked me for telling her about Bachies.

My kids tell me I do a great deal to bring confusion into the world.

The point of all this though, is that learning to see with what if followed by why generates an endless stream of plots. I attribute the blessing of never knowing a day of writer’s block to the fact these questions have become automatic.

I know there are other questions of equal importance for writers to have constantly on their brain. I’ll address those in future posts.

The mark of a serious writer/author is the willingness to improve. The pursuit of excellence includes any combination of 1) formal schooling, 2) seminars, 3) reading, 4) organizations/groups, 5) research, 6) writing, 7) editing. You can probably think of other avenues.

Pablo Casals was a pre-eminent cellist and conductor (1876-1973) who blessed us with music. When in his 90's it is said that someone asked why he continued to practice so many hours each day. His answer: "I think I'm getting it."

After 58 years of writing (news articles, journal articles, non-fiction, short stories, and novels), I am learning something every day. Some of it is new, some of it things forgotten.

Yes, I read, but with the sloppy way publishers are conducting business today, one must be careful. The best information comes from those who write well and share their understanding of the craft. I learn from these writers and authors, and in turn share writing techniques on a bi-monthly eFile. (I detest the word "blog". It sounds like some disgusting noises cows emit when confined to a coral.)

You are invited to Anatomy of a Story and leave comments that can help others in our craft.

http://celtic-publications-us.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-protagonist-need-for-backstory.html

Fine wine needs to be nurtured, rested, watched and turned until ready for drinking.

I think words require a little care too. Serious writers probably have a couple of pages on the go at the same time. Maybe a dormant chapter or manuscript waiting in the wings to be revisited or re-enacted.

I find it a necessity to leave and come back, leave and come back yet again, until I feel I have a complete work, indeed will it ever be complete? It is that detail in the organisation of the narrative that, if ignored, can so easily make or mar the end product. It is often impatience that makes us avoid that essential writing task.

Once the brain becomes attuned and in tune with the process of ‘story’ it has an automatic flick response, that's what I call it, which reminds us of what we need to be thinking of next and to which the kinaesthetic readily responds. 

In another life I performed as singer and musician and had to learn a variety of repertoires, including, at one time, a new instrument. I went through a process until the flick, kicked in! But you cannot leave the flick, if you do it will not respond with that agility which facilitates coherence and fluency. It becomes part of the routine of life, though needs escaping from sometimes, in order to refresh the practitioner and creator.

The complexities and tribulations that accompany writing, for me, I cannot and would not speak for anyone else, can temporarily over absorb and possess the creator. This state of being accompanies other areas of creativity and it is important to recognise the symptoms of overload. Actors have tools and techniques to cope with tension and stress. Deeply learnt and imprinted methods of relaxation for example as part of their training.

As for removing writing stress, simply walking away or walking out for an hour are good antidotes to an exhausted or too busy mind-set. Brooding and analysing in an over serious way can alter the mood so much that it destroys the ability to select and organise, contributing to a long term writers block.

I believe these responses are all to do with the rigour and discipline serious writers have to contend with and those who do not know, do not understand.     

There is something deeply satisfying when one begins to feel the narrative moves and flows in the way it should. One hopes one’s readers will also feel that as they turn the pages. It can be a relief when the manuscript is set loose to fend for itself after many hours and days of turning, resting and maturing.

Pinot Noir or Chablis? Rioja or Muscat ? Which shall it be?   

Patience and consistency, fine words and fine wine! 

Jenny Dunbar

It would be wrong to say all things are circular, but it is interesting how the narrative can often nuance its starting point as one ties the ends up. Endings, like beginnings, are really vital ingredients and so hard to pitch exactly right. What do I hope my reader will feel here? Does the weight of the last paragraph leave us in mid air, bring us down to earth with a thump, or just miss the point entirely?

 This week as I have contemplated the ending of my story/ novel, I have been surprised as I moved the pieces of the jigsaw around slightly, how the time element suddenly made more chronological sense. Why did that not seem obvious before? How an automatic reflection upon an earlier part of the story seemed to take over and gave me another thread to sew with. I touched the primary characters again and hopefully they will touch my reader.

I know I mess around with time in my stories, I shift and vary, but this is a conscious decision, is worked out and not a random action. Hence a great deal of thought is involved and time spent in searching for what one hopes is a viable and credible end product.

Intense scrutiny into the completed draft is an arduous, but essential part of the creative process and actually releases some new ideas. That, of course, produces more reflection and inevitably more work. When I say, ‘completed draft, ’I do not mean the finished item, but it is getting there, thanks to those ever increasing circles which force me to meet my characters again and think about their raison d’etre.        

Anecdotes. They attach themselves, not quite as many coloured patches, but rather in the way one lengthens a dart, refining a point and hopefully streamlining the effect. If by some lucky chance this enhances the angle, pace and emotion of the words then craft has gone some way to creating a little  art in the narrative. We live in hope!

Thematic or formulaic?  On analysis, which is inevitable as one reads through and reads through again, themes as opposed to formulas crop up in my work. Water themes, mystical themes, themes of juxtaposition and abstracted landscape.They occur out of my imagination and I work with them, or discard them if they do not seem right. Oh! And sometimes a dash of alienation.

I do not plan in great detail, but I analyse and work in great detail.  That is just my way and a definite pattern emerges. When the knitting, patching and darting start to be necessary that pattern is hopefully made clearer and more resonant by its complexity.

The words wake me up late at night and the next part of the tale begins to take shape. I do not have a pen and paper beside me, but let the ideas fester and a version of those ideas will come to mind, if I am lucky, when I begin to write. And of course one thing leads to another, sometimes usefully, sometimes not.

At times the words rush round in those ever increasing circles I mentioned earlier and I am pleased when I wash my hair which seems to purge the demons.

We all have our versions of the ‘how’ we create I wonder what some of yours are?

Well what about the element of fire ? I have pots in the kiln and anticipate opening it tomorrow morning. If all is sound I will smoke fire the porcelain at some point and hope the shapes and patterning enhance the form.

Jenny Dunbar www.lockpublishing.com/dunbar.html

I discovered this little tidbit on a blog for writers who have Word 2010. I'm not a computer Guru, but It actually works! I only wish the voice sounded like Morgan Freeman.

"If you have Word 2010 you have, as a writer, a brilliant free tool at your fingertips. How many times have you wished that you could “hear” your own work back so that you can tell immediately whether it sounds right?

It takes a few minutes to install this tool but it is worth every second. Once you have this on your tool bar you simply highlight the paragraph you wish to hear and click on the microphone icon to hear if the words flow."

Several years ago a good friend of mine told me that I should write down a lot of my adventures because I had lived such an adventurous life. Then a year or so ago, a good friend of mine (and former high school Spanish student who is very gifted in all things computer) after having run my web-site for several years suggested that I write a blog.

 I agreed as I thought it might help the sales of my books, which seem to be coming out about one a year. At first I thought I should write a “how to” blog on screenwriting tips and writing readability in general. This lasted for about the first dozen or so blogs. Slowly but surely my blog went from the art of how to get words onto a page to a series of personal adventures. Instead of writing grammatical rules and script writing techniques, I finally found my niche—life adventures that one can translate to the written page.

 Most people when they think of the word adventure, they think of something exciting and unusual. It may also be a bold, usually risky undertaking with an uncertain outcome. The term also broadly refers to any enterprise that is potentially fraught with physical, financial or psychological risk such as a business venture or other major life undertaking.

 Since I changed over to “adventure writing”, you will obviously have noticed that my stories are all over the map literally—some high adventures and some quite small and home grown. For example: My adventures in growing up in Okolona, Mississippi; my adventures with some of my relatives and people I have known; my adventures in foreign lands and situations, my selling Fitzgerald’s Happiness Tonic.

In my blogs, I show how I have used all of these adventures in my writing. I really don’t have to sit and dream up plot complications. The way I have lived my life is enough to just pluck an adventure from my memory and transfer it to one of my screenplays, novels or stage plays.

I suppose I have been trying to show that if you want to become a writer, you must live first—that means get an undergraduate degree from the University of the World and a Graduate degree from the University of Hard Knocks. I have degrees from both. Actually this is what my friend was suggesting: Write down some of your coursework at both of those universities.

 A couple of years ago I attended a high school reunion in my hometown of Okolona, Mississippi. I reunited with my best friend growing up. We were inseparable for all those teenage years. Then at age 19 we separated; he went to a Christian Bible School to become a preacher and I went off to Mexico, California, the Army, and a wide range of adventures in life. At that reunion, we hadn’t seen one another for 55 years. Even so, we took back up in our chatting like it had only been a weekend ago that we had seen one another. He told me after a bit, “You certainly have lived an adventurous life.” Then the next day from the pulpit after introducing me to his congregation he said, “Jack went to Hollywood and I went to Jesus .” In a way, I suppose he was saying Jesus was his adventure in life and mine was Hollywood and the worldly universe.

 I know that a lot of things I write about sound like high adventure and many of them are—like being caught up in the Cuban Revolution—like being arrested in East Berlin for black market currency dealing—like hitch hiking and getting picked up by some army guys who had stolen a car and were awol, etc. etc.

 Adventure is where one is involved in a bit of danger or where your livelihood is at stake or you are taking a chance of some kind. Those are the most popular adventures we like to hear about. However, we can make life an adventure on a much smaller level. I remember when I was young there was a Hillbilly comedienne named Minnie Pearl out of The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, TN. She was pretty much the country Joan Rivers of her day. She could make ordinary happenings hilarious. In the process, she became famous and wealthy and beloved.

 So you see, adventure is where you find it. Some people get it in the kitchen. Julia Child made omelets an adventure and caught millions of people up in her world.

So just like my friend when he told me to put some of my adventures down on paper, I’m telling you the same thing. Put some of your adventures down on paper. You’ve had as many as I have but maybe just in your own way. You can keep them to yourself or you can share them—and then if they are interesting enough, they become adventures for others!

 Adventure is where you find it and most importantly, what you make of it.

Cheers, put a little adventure in your life today. As Helen Keller said, “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.”

I recorded The Grammy's because I wanted to watch The Hunger Games for the first time. The Hunger Games represented one faction of society having control over another, to me. That movie had a huge impact on me as I fear it is a sign of the times. My son was walking to the convenience store, at my request, yesterday and a white man drove up, blocking his way, and accosted him. He screamed all kinds of ignorant statements because he was tired of “Drug Dealing Niggers,” walking down his street. We called the police and they went out to the man's house.

This ignorant man proceeded to attack the police because he feels the Police in our community are doing an awful job of keeping “Niggers” out of Lake Helen, Fl. where I live. He said the Police need to stop “Niggers” from moving here and especially stop “Niggers” from walking down his street! He also stated he did not like the way my son dresses, particularly the black “Doo Rag.” my son wears on his head. My son, at the young age of 31, has a badly receding hair line that makes him self conscience and he wears that garment to hide it. This man was arrested but of course out in 24 hours. The convenience store my son walks to is the only nearby convenience store in our area and the route my son takes is the only only route to reach that store. We do not own or can afford a car and my son enjoys walking. Are we to give up our right to go to the store because he has to pass by that man's house? Does this man have the right to reach into our lives and control us? Do you think I should ask my son to go to the store again and sit home in fear of him becoming the next Trayvon Martin? This man stopped his car in front of our house tonight and waited. My eight year old Grandson ran to me frightened and screaming. As I ran to the living room and parted the curtain's he drove off. I am angry!

Trayvon Benjamin Martin (February 5, 1995 – February 26, 2012) was a 17-year-old African American from Miami Gardens, Florida who was fatally shot by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, in Sanford, Florida. On the evening of February 26, Martin went to a convenience store and purchased candy and juice. As Martin returned from the store, he walked through a neighborhood and Zimmerman, a member of the community watch, spotted him and then followed Martin (despite being told not to do so by the police) on foot to ensure that Martin would not try to steal anything from the neighborhood. Moments later, there was an altercation between the two individuals in which Martin was shot in the chest. Zimmerman also blamed Martin's death on the fact that he was wearing a black hoodie.

This is going on all over the country!

Back to The Grammy's, Beyonce's stage setup for her rendition of the gospel standard "Precious Lord, Take My Hand" featured a wall of African-American men while they held their hands up, which is a nod to the "Hands up, don't shoot" campaign that came out of Ferguson. And Pharrell's "Happy" used his performance to shed light on not only Ferguson, but also on Trayvon Martin as well. Backup dancers donned black hoodies like the one that Martin wore when he was shot and killed in 2012, and broke out the "Hands up, don't shoot" gesture amidst the middle of their performance.

Precious Lord, take my hand,
Lead me on, let me stand,
I am tired, I am weak, I am worn;
Through the storm, through the night,
Lead me on to the light: Amen!

I am glad movies like, “Selma,” are still being made, people need reminding! But there were also Common and John Legend, weighed in when they performed "Glory," their contribution to the "Selma soundtrack. "That's why Rosa sat on the bus; that's why we walked through Ferguson with our hands up," Common said. The most explicit of the comments coming from The Grammy's came from Prince, who said, “BLACK LIVES MATTER.”