You Know You’re A Writer When: Lightbulb!

Old Light Switches by Orange Steeler CC 3.0 http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulcross/4333070249

Well, light switches actually.

These aren’t my switches, but they look cooler so I thought I’d use this picture rather than show you the boring white ones that probably look a lot like the ones you already have on your wall.

But picture the ones on your wall. The ones you use everyday. The ones you probably pay no attention to…until one day. Until the day you notice that one of the screws isn’t in all the way.

Perhaps it’s due, as your husband says, to normal wear and jostling — years of the plate being pushed, ever so slightly, up and down. Or, more likely, it’s because someone tampered with the wiring.

Did they flip it so off is on and on is off as a practical joke? Did they disconnect it totally so as to not work when someone sneaks in later that night? Did they plant a bug? Did they hide jewels or drugs in the light switch box?

Why would your character find the light plate only partially screwed in?

I Ride the Train Backward

he other night a friend playfully chastised me for not doing train updates on Facebook. Apparently, I used to give updates on the characters on my commute. I say apparently, because I don’t remember this ever being a regular thing.

When I first moved to Chicago, I kept a journal of all the people I met and all the strange things that happened on public transportation: the woman who told me how she used to be in fashion design until someone broke into her studio and stole everything (she gave up but had seen people wearing her clothing), the conductor who sat down next to me on his last day before retirement and told me all about the daughter he had just adopted from Russia, or the foggy day when I saw a woman harvesting some plants from the side of the tracks. Those stories were all before social media (did a time before social media actually exist?), so I know I didn’t update Facebook with them.

I ride a commuter train out to the ‘burbs…about as vanilla a passenger load as you can get. People get on, pass out or keep working. When there’s a baseball game the ride home can be a bit drunker, but usually not to the point of being post worthy.

On my train ride home today, I looked around, but didn’t see anything of note…except for the fact that I was sitting facing everyone. The seats on this train flip, so that they can face the direction of travel. Of course, the seats at either end don’t because they are against the walls. I always choose to sit in those seats. Yes, you usually get more room, but when I sit backwards, I have an easy view of everyone’s face. I can see what they’re doing.

I’m usually caught up in a book or doing work myself, but every once in a while I look up at my fellow commuters and soak up their details. Who’s eating. Who’s drinking. Who’s working. Who’s got that goofy smile on their face while they play with their phones.

I enjoy the people watching. I haven’t gotten a direct story out of this, but I like to think that the observations have helped me describe characters better.

Do you have any detail-gathering habits or tips?

#PitMad

Sorry for the late notice, but there’s a pitch party on Twitter tomorrow. That’s right, boil your query letter down to 133 characters (leaving room for the hashtag, of course) and cast a wide net! Click the big image below to learn more at Brenda Lee Drake’s blog.

While I’m excited about the Pitch Madness, my first reaction was “another hoop to jump through?” But I decided to jump and think that I actually wrote a good hook for my query letter (finally!). Not that my weak hook was the only bad thing about my query letter, but it didn’t do me any favors. And not that I have the perfect hook now, but I can safely say that, thanks to Twitter, I’ve got a better one.

Have you ever tried to sum up your novel in a tweet?

Random or Hospital Muzac 2

This weekend, I’ve been compiling music for my friend’s hospital say…it’s an education in music AND my friends. Surprisingly, only one piece of music was requested twice. Two bands were stand-outs (and oddly didn’t have the twice-requested piece).

But because I’ve been listening to music a lot lately, does that mean I know how to listen to music? There’s an online course offered by Carnegie Hall that teaches you how to listen to and enjoy music (specifically orchestra). According to this clip: “Listening is an art unto itself.”

Helpful Hint: If you have a Google Voice account (free), you can easily download your voice mails onto your computer and then transfer them from your computer onto the iPod you happen to be making for your friend. I thought some well wishes mixed in between the songs would be a fun surprise. And it lets you throw in a self-read short story or poem for more literary minded hospital patients.

Hospital Muzac?

Music Sheet by rockindave1 CC 3.0 flickr.com/photos/63723146@N08/8310302029

I’ve admitted in several posts that I don’t listen to much music (here and here).

So for some inexplicable reason, I’m the one in charge of a terrific project: compiling an iPod playlist for a friend in the hospital. How cool right? Like the mixed tapes of yore, passing on things you love and think someone else will love during a crappy time. Except for that whole me not listening to music thing.

Since everyone in the group is pitching in ideas, I’m not on my own. That’s a blessing for the recipient!

But I’m still frozen in musical fear. What on earth do I contribute?

Going through a mental playlist of songs I that remember liking turns out to be a terrible way for me to actually remember songs. However, if I go to the grocery store I find myself singing to all the 80s songs they play. Since my mental playlist came up with upbeat tunes like “I’m Only Happy When It Rains,” I may have to head to the grocery store in order to finish this project.

More Musings on First Person

irst person stories draw me in quickly. I immediately adapt to their way of thinking and seeing their world. I’m on their side from the beginning. Of course, since I’m only seeing things unfold from their perspective, it’s easier to be drawn in, so I think that’s why I also trust them less. While third person narrators can certainly be unreliable or sneaky in what they dole out, their distance lends them credibility in my eyes.

Which POV do you prefer reading?

Me, Myelf, I and Did I Mention I?

My WIP is demanding to be written in first person. Frightening. In fact, there are dueling main characters who both demand to be in first person. Horror.

I have never written fiction in first person. Essays? Sure. Creative non-fiction. OK. Fiction? That sound is me running from the room.

When I first reached out to find other people who wrote, I was in middle school. Most of my writing peers only wrote in first person. I thought that was odd. They thought it was odd that I wouldn’t. It’s supposed to be such a natural way to write.

It should be the easiest thing in the world, so I don’t know why I have such a problem with it. I experience life first person. I talk to friends in first person. The journals I used to write were in first person. My blog is in first person. But give me a fictional character and I freeze.

Serendipitously, the last three books I picked up were all in first person, and two of them had two first-person narrators. While I’m feeling more comfortable with this POV, I’m afraid that too many of my sentences start with “I.”

I think (there I go) that may be part of my problem. I like (and again!) to be behind the scenes…that’s why I write. Last week, I had to give a presentation at work and it was all I could do not to hide behind the podium. Write the speech? No problem. Give the speech? Well, uh.

Even though I’m writing fiction someone else’s voice, I still feel exposed. Every time a sentence starts with “I,” I scrutinize it. It there a better way to say it? A way the “I” can hide?