E.J. Wesley, Author

Writers: You Are What You Read

“Originality is nothing but judicious imitation. The most original writers borrowed one from another.” ~ Voltaire

Oh, Tuesday. You fickle beast. You start like a Monday hangover--all noise, bright lights and regrets. Then, somewhere between 2 and 4 in the afternoon, you start to feel like Wednesday. If there's a groove in the week, it has to be from Tuesday afternoon to Wednesday afternoon. Everything else feels like climbing up or sliding down in my book, which is to say a struggle.

Speaking of books, I've been doing some stewing on the relationship between reading and writing. We all know there's one. At the most basic level, if you can't read, you can't write. Pretty simple really. But what about at a deeper level? To what extent do our reading habits influence our writing habits?

You Are What You Read

You've probably heard the expression, "You are what you eat." This clearly isn't true, or I might have looked something like this guy after college:

I think it might be more applicable to reading and writing, though. My mother called the other day and asked what I was working on. The conversation went something like this:

Me - "Well ..."

Mom - "You are still writing, aren't you?"

Me - "YES! I'm just trying to think of how to describe it. It's actually a series of long short stories--like novellas. They involve a guy who becomes a monster hunter, or paranormal investigator. Each story is about a different investigation."

Mom - "Is it horror? Like Stephen King? You know my favorite movie of his was Silver Bullet."

NOTE: My mother is a HUGE horror film fan and loves movies based off of Stephen King stories. She also knows that I've read his books since I was a kid.

Me - "Well, he didn't actually make the movie himself, but they based it off of his novella, Cycle of the Werewolf--"

Mom - "You know why I like that movie so much? Because it seemed so real! You almost forget that it's about something crazy like a werewolf. I was just worried about the little boy in the wheelchair and scared of the creepy priest."

Me - "That's because King is a master character author. You worry so much about the characters and their relationships with one another that you almost forget that you're reading a horror story. Until some possessed dog eats someone, that is."

Mom - "So your stories are like that?"

Me - "I guess they are a little bit like that. They've got some fun paranormal and scary stuff going on, but they're mostly about this guy trying to find his place in the world. Those are the kinds of stories I've always enjoyed reading."

The thing is, I've always believed you should write what you like to read. If you're passionate about YA, horror or historical romance as a reader, that passion will surely seep into your writing. However, I'm not sure I ever really made the connection beyond the very broad strokes of genre or categories. It goes so much deeper than that.

In hindsight, I can easily see the little bits of my favorite authors in my writing. King's flawed and conflicted main characters. JK's strong female roles and iron-tight friendships. Shakespeare's exploration of human emotion. On and on it goes ...

"Easy reading is damn hard writing." ~ Nathaniel Hawthorne

Don't get me wrong, I'm certainly not claiming to have successfully cloned the techniques of the legends I'm referring to in my own writing. When I do that I'll give you a ride on my private jet and let you take the yacht for a spin. :-) It's just that I can see how I've tried to emulate them, and done so almost subconsciously.

So I ask: Have you noticed your favorite reads sneaking into your work? Do you purposefully try to emulate a style or author? Do you write stories similar to those you read the most?

~EJW~

No Limits, Please

Ever get tired of boxes? I do! Here's a tune for all of those who yearn to be set free to be anything and EVERYTHING they can be.

Hope you enjoyed Lenka! (Her new album rocks, btw.)

Happy Sunday,

~EJW~

The Thoughtful Pause & Keeping Pace

"It's the deep breath before the plunge." ~ Gandalf

Pause. Interruption. Lull. Recess. Breather. Respite. All of these words can basically be defined as temporarily stopping an activity or thought. There are lots of reasons to do so.

Runners and fitness types know that proper (see - efficient) breathing is key to optimizing performance. The idea isn't to take in as much oxygen as possible (you'd pass out), but to take in exactly what your muscles and brain need. Harder to do than say when your exerting yourself, I know. However, knowing how to space your breaths--or when to pause--is important.

Pausing is an often overlooked aspect of general conversation. We've all known at least one person who never seems to pause in conversation. They jump from topic to topic with little prompt or indication. It can make communicating clunky and confusing, especially if you don't know the very person well. (If you're besties, you probably already know what they're thinking anyway. :0) Most of us learn without ever being told that it's good to stop talking from time to time when we are in conversation. We do it for lots of reasons, like to look for those all important non-verbal indicators that our words are having the intended effect, or to gauge the comprehension of the person we're talking to.

Musicians have long understood and mastered the art of lull or refrain--particularly jazz and classical musicians/composers. The best way to add drama in music is to adjust the volume or omit noise all together. This is partially because we've been conditioned to associate sound volume and frequency with emotion or feeling. (Think Pavlov's dogs, but cooler.) To our heartstrings, slow usually means sad, loud means angry, fast means exuberant, etc. Artists do similar things with color and texture.

I bring all this up because a timely respite is also very important in writing. I don't mean literally stopping, although that can sometimes be important too. I mean knowing when to use fewer words, shorter sentences, or to leave something completely unstated. It's a technique that can be used to manipulate pacing and tension in your story.

You want the reader to slow down? Add more detail and explanation (i.e. words). You want the reader to be breathless after reading an action scene? Shorten your sentences/paragraphs and use strong verbs. Dialogue, or the lack thereof, can also be used manipulate the flow of a story.

Like the breathing and exercise example, it's a simple technique, but it can be hard to master. I guess I've been thinking a lot about it lately as I've been working on edits for a new project. Learning to push/pull the reader through a story is definitely a challenge. I find I'm a little better at doing it with dialogue, but I REALLY would love to do a better job using other methods as well.

I set about trying to find some useful info on the subject of pacing, because... well, because I wanted to waste time thinking about writing instead of ACTUALLY writing. (It's a weakness.) Luckily, my search turned up some useful goodies.

THIS ARTICLE has some interesting things to say on the subject, particularly as it pertains to word choice.

THIS ARTICLE draws an excellent comparison between pacing and sports on television.

THIS ARTICLE has an awesome visual method for breaking down the pace of a story. The author lists the following factors as things to look for regarding pacing: "Word length, Sentence length, Length of paragraphs, Dialogue and internal monologue length, & White space" Highly recommend you give it a look!

Finally, I thought THIS ARTICLE offered a pretty good general explanation of pace should you still find yourself a little confounded by the idea.

I leave you with questions:

What are your tricks for manipulating the pace of your stories?

Do you consider pace when you draft, or only when you edit?

~EJW~

Tragedy & Hope

I took a long-ish blogging break for the month of May, but somewhat sadly the world didn't rest with me. When I started my break the Southern U.S. was just beginning to recover from the string of violent storms that left lives ended or destroyed in multiple states, the most heavily hit being Alabama. The stories of survival that poured out were both heartbreaking and inspiring.

Then, only a few weeks later, another massive tornado hit the modest-sized city of Joplin, MO. They were still adding to the death toll this week, and the damage was catastrophic. I lived in Missouri for 4 years and had visited Joplin many times while traveling back to my home state of Oklahoma. Missouri, like Oklahoma, is a state dominated by rural living. It's not uncommon for your nearest "neighbor" to live several miles away. As such, when something like this happens to one town or city, it feels as though it happens to the entire state. Everyone is your neighbor.

Only days after the Joplin storm another tornado struck, this time in my home state. Tornados aren't infrequent things in Oklahoma. In fact, they are kind of a fixture in the culture there. Every town (no matter the size) has a storm siren, and they have 'tornado drills' in the schools starting in kindergarden. No, if you grow up in Oklahoma a tornado is nothing to get excited about unless it's your house its blowing over. The Oklahoma tornado didn't harm as many people as it hit a small town named Piedmont (yes, I know people who live there as well); however, it held perhaps the saddest story of all.

A pregnant mother huddled in her bathtub with her two young sons, trying desperately to protect them from the storms fury. The father was out of town for work. When the storm had passed, the mother and unborn child were injured but alive. One of the boys was found dead immediately, but the other was missing. After searching through wreckage and debris for two days--the father had of course returned and joined the search--they found the body of the other boy.

The thought of that family losing two of their three children in one freak storm was almost more than I could take. You can't help but question the order of life when you hear stories like these. It's the kind of stuff that happens to people in movies or books, but not in real life. No real person should ever have to endure such tragedy, after all.

I sometimes feel that if we have no more control over things than that, why try at all?

Then I read the story of Bridget Zinn ...

I'm sure some will think Bridget's story in many ways is just as heart-wrenching. A beautiful woman taken long before her time by cancer is surely nothing to celebrate. However, after learning about her all too brief life, I do feel inspired. I think you will too.

Here is the bio from her website:

"I'm a YA writer and fan of all things YA. The types of books I like the best are usually super funny and have a unique perspective on the world – they also tend to be a bit on the girly side although not ALWAYS. Adventure and intrigue can get me too – it's just that a touch of snogging here and there is always a bonus in my mind.

I write the sort of books I like to read: you'll find adventure, unique twists, and definitely a snog here and there. It's quite possible that there's a bit of sneakiness and mischievousness in my stories, but you'll have to read more to find out for sure. All I can tell you is that if you check out my About Me page don't be surprised to discover links to Secret Lairs, Partners In Crime, or Crazy Stunts.

My first novel, POISON, will be published by Disney/Hyperion the Summer of 2012."

Like myself and so many of you who follow this blog, Bridget had big dreams. Her dreams were so big, in fact, that her brain and heart couldn't hold them all so she had to write them down and share them with others. From all the accounts I've read, Bridget was an exceedingly talented writer and a better person. She had a real zest for life and a unique ability to transform that into words.

Bridget died May 26, 2011.

If you're an author or have author-like ambitions, you'll have immediately noticed that Bridget was not able to see her book published. I say that because I know for most of us seeing our words in print IS the dream, and to come so close and never realize that dream would be the ultimate torment. It is probably breaking some of your hearts right now. I know it did mine for a time ...

Then I read her blog.

I'll confess and hopefully not sound too morbid, I expected to read the accounts of a dying person. My wife is an Oncologist, and I can tell you that cancer is typically not a subtle thing. You know it has you well before it takes you. However, after reading only a few entries, something odd occurred to me: Bridget wasn't dying, she was living.

This was a woman who took each day as a gift, and did her damnedest to make the world her playground. She loved reading and writing down to her bones and wanted to share that love, regardless of the poor hand she'd been dealt. And that's when it hit me. That's when I realized the example Bridget had set for me--for all of us.

Would I write if I had 6 months or 6 days left? Would I write if I knew I might never see it printed? Do I love this enough, does it mean enough, for me to hold onto the ambition in the face unbelievable adversity? You can really put anything in place of the 'writing' and the message is the same: Live your life with passion. Live each moment as if it were your last, and fill your time by chasing your dreams. If you do that, it will be a life well-spent.

I guess in the end Bridget's life gives me hope. Hope that I can view life as being bigger than my anxieties and fears. Hope that I CAN live in the moment and quit worrying about the future. Hope that even when things seem the ugliest, there is still beauty to be found if we search for it.

"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." ~ Oscar Wilde

To be clear, I didn't know Bridget, and I'm quite certain I'm the poorer for it. Her husband, Barrett, has setup a beautiful memorial on her blog that I'd encourage you to view at the link posted above. You can also make a donation to a memorial fund established in her honor.

~EJW~

I'm Back & Bringing the Love!

Greetings! I'm O-fficially back from my blog break. From a writing standpoint it was a very needed and productive absence. It allowed me to get my ducks in a row--or at least point them in the general direction I'd like to see them headed in the future.

I've been reading a lot of your blogs over the past few weeks and have loved every minute of it. There are soooooo many awesome author and writer blogs out there! Seriously, it gives me a ~~HUGE~~ slight amount of inferiority complex at times, but it's also what makes me want to grow and get better. I really admire all of them (you) so much.

As such, I figured a great way for me to get things started again would be to say a proper thank you to all of the folks who supported my A-Z blog marathon during the month of April.

NOTE: For more details on the A-Z, and to catch up on my writing tool themed posts, be sure to check out the MORE STUFF: A to Z Toolbox link in the upper portion of the sidebar on the right. You'll find quick links to all of my A-Z posts.

In typical non-serious me fashion, I thought it would be fun to create a blog award for the folks who so awesomely stick by other bloggers. A true badge of gratitude, so to speak, for the real troopers out there. I also thought it would be important to create an award with no strings attached, meaning it wouldn't be an award that would require the recipient to do anything in return. After all, this is about me being grateful and not about me wanting the awardees to discuss their favorite color of Easter Egg or preferred flavor of pudding.

OK, if I'm being completely honest one of my biggest frustrations and failures as a blogger is that I don't always pay proper homage to the folks who go out of their way to say nice things about me. If I get an award of some kind I always try to pop over and say thank you, but I don't always have time to actually post the other stuff that comes with the award. So think of this as the guilt-free, 0 calorie award! :-)

Here she is:

What do you think? Shiny, right?

Now to the important stuff! Here are the folks who took the time to share their thoughts and encouragement during my crazy month of April. Each name is linked to a blog, so please do yourself a favor and check them out if you haven't already. They're a dedicated and talented group!

THE REAL TROOPERS
(I did my best not to miss anyone, but if I did miss you I'm very, very sorry.)