Category: Writing

Posted in Writing

The Holidays in Verse

Posted on by Dale Challener Roe

Instead of answering yesterday’s post—by Janie—in her comments I thought I’d keep the thread going.

Unlike Janie, the written word wasn’t really part of my holiday tradition when I was young. Both my parents were singers, active not only in the church choir, but in Barbershop/Sweet Adelines as well. The holiday season was a hectic blur of rushing from one performance to another, often being drafted as an additional voice, or the head of an impromptu children’s chorus to round out the caroling. There never seemed to be any time to read.

For me the holiday stories that evoke the most vivid memories are the stories told in carols and Christmas songs, and the stories most often performed during the season—’Twas the Night Before Christmas, and A Christmas Carol.

I remember choir directors telling rooms full of people the stories of O Tannenbaum, Silent Night, and The Twelve Days of Christmas, and baritone-voiced pastors reciting ‘Twas the Night to spellbound kids.

Years later I started to seek out Christmas Stories to read, but generally not the classics. I’m a big fan of modern Christmas stories, and retooled classics—Scrooged is my favorite Christmas movie.

But to me Christmas has just never been about the written word.

This post was originally posted on Write Anything—
where six writers talk about the trials and
tribulations of their writing lives. And each
Tuesday the soapbox belongs to me.

Posted in Writing

Muse Flash: When You Grew Up…

Posted on by Dale Challener Roe

What did you want to be when you grew up? Not when you were twelve and were giving the question serious thought, but when you were eight and the world was still all magic and possibilities.

Answer this question on your own blog, then leave a comment with your answer and a link to your post.

I wanted to be the voice of Donald Duck. I don’t remember when I learned that I could imitate Donald Duck’s voice, or if it was by chance of by effort on my part. All the way back to the crib I found Donald Duck to be hilarious, and his voice especially so. My mother said that when we went to Disney World when I was about a year and a half old, that I wanted nothing to do with Mickey, and freaked out when my parents told me that I’d only get to meet Donald if we found him (evidently, the day was saved by a helpful DW cast member).

During my youth I spent hours, practicing the voice—first from read-along books, and later from toys and Saturday morning cartoons. Speaking in Donald’s voice never failed to make my mom or papa laugh, and I think one of the reasons I practiced it so much was because it seemed it could cheer people up when they were down. By the time I was about ten years old, no one I knew could tell the difference between me and Clarence Nash.

Alas, real life crept in, and the removal of my wisdom teeth altered the voice. I don’t do the voice often anymore—largely because after the wisdom teeth came out, it’s a little painful—but it’s a surefire way to make the kids laugh, even if they’re having a bad day.

Now it’s your turn. Answer this question on your own blog, then leave a comment with your answer and a link to your post.

Muse Flash is a new feature, where I’ll give you a topic for your own blog. I’m going to try it for a few posts and see if it has legs.

Posted in Writing

Young at Heart

Posted on by Dale Challener Roe

I’ve just discovered something about myself. I’m a great audience.

I’m a sucker for a story. It doesn’t even have to be a good story—just not a bad one. I realized this while going through my recent reading list.

To understand this it helps if you know a little about a popular theory of art called the Suspension of Disbelief.

The suspension of disbelief (also the willing suspension of disbelief) is an unconscious contract that a reader (or watcher, etc.) gives to the storyteller (or artist). It’s easiest to explain by example.

When you are in a theater watching the latest Indiana Jones movie you accept that the story you are going to be told is a little outlandish, that the hero will be the beneficiary of extraordinary luck, that it’s fundamentally OK that hundreds of people are going to die, and that there are limits to the level of special effects, and your mind makes allowance for these things as you watch the show.

The suspension of disbelief is necessary to enjoy the story being told. If you did not suspend disbelief you would question how it’s possible for a man with a whip to defeat an army with guns. And you’d be right. But you wouldn’t be enjoying the show.

So, a few days ago, while reorganizing my bookshelf—reshelving the ones I’d just read or pulled out to reference, pulling out other I had yet to read, or want to reread again—I realized that in the last month or so I’d read a lot of pulp.

I’m no snob when it comes to novels. True, some of my favorite stories came down from heavy hitters—Poe, Shakespeare, Dumas…—I also greatly enjoy the thrillers so often trashed by the literati. Heck, I actually liked The DaVinci Code…both times I read it. I think Stephen King is a master storyteller, no matter that he writes horror and bestsellers, both of which are a kiss of death among literature snobs.

I think what it comes down to is that I just enjoy reading so much that you’ve got to present me with a pretty bad book for me not to get caught up in it.

And I do get caught up.

I never figure out the killer before it’s revealed. The surprise ending that surprises no one, almost always surprises me. When an author kills off the secondary character that everyone liked, but that every other reader knew was going to die, I get upset.

See the thing is, I love stories. I love good plots, even if the characters are boring. If you’ve got no plot, but the characters are interesting you’ve still got me hooked. Even if those are so-so, but you’re a good writer, I’ll still enjoy the journey.

And to take it a step further, I love writing. One of my favorite books is about the impact of the Bill of Rights on modern life. Not much storytelling going on in there.

I suppose there are writers out there who would think this a weakness—that I can’t tell the difference between good and bad writing, or good and bad books.

I choose to look at it a little differently. I see it as a plus. I still love writing. I haven’t become so cynical that I have to look down my nose at what I don’t believe measures up to my standards.

Or to put it a different way…when I read, I still get to be a kid.

Posted in Writing

NaNo Recovery

Posted on by Dale Challener Roe

Well NaNo is over. Raise your hand if your glad.

But now that it’s all over, how do you get back your regular writing routine? It’s may not as easy as you think.

Odds are you fall into one of two camps. Either your sick of writing and sick of your story, or you’re really energized and just hitting your stride. If this last bit describes you, then you can read the rest of this post when you hit the wall.

You’re tired of your story, you’re characters are irritating you, your hands hurt, you’re tired, your plot has so many holes you’re afraid it’s leaking water…

Your earned a week off, haven’t you?

Yes. You really have.

But don’t you dare take it.

Have you ever run a print and stopped right after the finish? You can really hurt yourself. You’re supposed to coast to a stop. Warm down (that is the opposite of warm up, isn’t it?).

Do the same thing with your writing or you will risk a wicked writer’s cramp. If you want to put your story away for a week or two, that’s fine. Spend 15 minutes a day in your journal, or on a writing prompt, or jotting down idea for a new story…or blogging. But don’t take the time off.

Over the last 30 days you’ve developed quite a writing habit. This habit is one you shouldn’t break.

This post was originally posted on Write Anything—
where six writers talk about the trials and
tribulations of their writing lives. And each
Tuesday the soapbox belongs to me.

Posted in Writing

NaNo Wrap-up

Posted on by Dale Challener Roe

NaNo Winner

I’ve officially won, NaNo. Even though there are five days left, I’m done, and well across the 50k mark. But unlike in years past I’m not really all that jazzed about it.

I think it’s because the story I chose was a spur of the moment creation, and not one of the stories I’ve already sketched out, and planned to work on. So it doesn’t feel like I accomplished something I’ve been meaning to accomplish, as much as it feels like I’ve added something to the pile.

But at least I can hand my hat on the fact that even when my writer’s block is crippling, I can always kick it into submission for a short while. The longer I write, the more sure I am that I need solid immutable deadlines.

Posted in Writing

Chapter 4 of Chapter 7

Posted on by Dale Challener Roe

On Friday, I mentioned a collaborative writing project I recently participated in called Chapter 7. Seven different authors tell a story in seven chapters.

I was responsible for Chapter 4, and it was published at Write Anything today.

Here’s a small sample:

John put his hand on his brother’s shoulders and waited until Bob met his eyes. “You love this girl.”

“No,” Bob replied reflexively.

“It wasn’t a question, Bob. You love her.”

“I do not,” he said rather more weakly than he’d intended.

You can read the whole chapter here, or if you want to read the story from the beginning head over to the story index.

Posted in Writing

Chapter 7

Posted on by Dale Challener Roe

Recently, I participated in a collaborative writing project over at Write Anything.

Karen gathered together seven writers and we wrote a story broken up into seven chapters.

It was in interesting experience, for although I had a vote in what we wrote about, my vote didn’t win. So the upshot was that I had to write a story about a plot and character I wasn’t wild about. Which I guess is sort of the point of collaborative writing projects. Since we don’t get our own way we have to learn to adapt.

I thought the end result turned out pretty good.

Between now and next Friday, the chapters will be posted, one at a time, on the Write Anything blog. I wrote Chapter 4, so my part will be posted Monday.

Also, after it’s over, the story will be available in an ebook. I don’t have the details right now on how to get a copy, but I do know what the cover will look like…

Chapter 7

Posted in Writing

NaNo Wrap-Up (Almost)

Posted on by Dale Challener Roe

I really never intended to participate in National Novel Writing Month (their abbreviation: NaNoWriMo, mine: NaNo) this year. I had done it each of the past two years, and while it was generally a good experience, it was also an exhausting one.

And since this year I’m not only starting a new job, but I have a small ensemble of web design clients, I thought I’d take this year off, and just encourage my fellow writers over at Write Anything.

Fate had other ideas. As Halloween night ticked away, exhausted from walking the kids around the neighborhood in my Donald Duck costume, I fell asleep more quickly than normal.

And woke up 45 minutes later.

Unable to get back to sleep I picked up a blank journal I has purchased a few days earlier and one of my favorite rollerballs and thought I’d conjure up a good night’s sleep by writing about a guy who couldn’t sleep.

Six days later I’d slept about 6 hours—total—and had written a little more than 50k words.

Since then, the insomnia has waned a bit. I wouldn’t say I’m sleeping well, but I’m no longer a daytime zombie either. However, my production has waned as well. This weekend will probably be the last days I devote any time to NaNo this year, and I’ll likely wind up somewhere around 90k words.

But the big question…is what I wrote any good?

Yes and No. Starting as I did with no prep work, I had no illusions about the plot. It formed itself in a olive brainstorm, and it’s flaws are apparent. However, the character turned out pretty good, and there are some long passages that will be useful once rewritten. So I guess it turned out alright.

However, I don’t recommend severe sleep deprivation as a tool for tackling NaNo.