On Writing True Fiction

For years, ever since the first writing workshop I conducted, I've called the kind of writing I do "True Fiction."

What does that mean exactly? It's the kind of fiction in which the character—or the muse via the characters—dictates the course of the story, as opposed to fiction in which the plot is carefully outlined according to formulaic rules. It's literary fiction vs. genre fiction. It's seat-of-the pants writing, character driven rather than plot driven. 

So why do I call it true. It's because I write to learn the truth—about a given issue, about life, and about myself and what I really believe, and about what is important.

Others have described this kind of writing in their own terms, and a host of writers employ it. The late Tony Hillerman once said in an interview that he does not outline his books. He tried it, but it never worked for him. His characters had their own ideas of how the story should go.

And that's how they are, in true fiction. Once you are in the heart and mind of your story's characters, they will tell you if you're not telling the truth about them—about what they would do, think, or feel. And that's what makes writing so much of an exciting adventure.

Ann Lamott said "You make up your characters, partly from experience, partly out of the thin air of the subconscious, and you need to feel committed to telling the exact truth about them, even though you are making them up."

And it works like magic, as long as you, as Ann Lamott says, "don't pretend you know more about your characters than they do, because you don't. Stay open to them."

It's what Jon Gardner was talking about when he said, "Art is as original and important as it is precisely because it does not start out with a clear knowledge of what it means to say. Out of the artist's imagination, as out of nature's inexhaustible well, pours one thing after another."

"The writer," Gardner says, "asks himself at every step, 'Would she really say that?' or 'Would he really throw the shoe?'"

Wallace Stegner declared, "It is fiction as truth that I am concered with."

Oakley Hall claims that "Truth, not fact, is the business of fiction."

And as I write my stories from the characters' perspectives, I agree. It is the best way I know to learn and convey the truth of what it is really like to face the serious and difficult issues that challenge the human spirit.

In my workshops on "Writing True Fiction" I will show you that you, too, can write fiction from a character's perspective.

Have ideas—will travel

author@janetmuirheadhill.com

Developing creative writing habits

In March, I completed another enjoyable workshop with six talented authors in Ennis, Montana. It was the first five-day writing workshop and included  four more lessons in the workbook. A daily schedule of lessons will soon be posted on our website. You can e-mail author@janetmuirheadhill.com and request a workshop schedule, a list of lessons covered, a registration form, and/or more information. 

As always, we began "true fiction" writing through free-form writing exercises, with each lesson building on the one before it. Those who've participated in the three-day workshop may wonder what has been added. The three-day workshop consisted of fifteen lessons. We now have nineteen lessons in the five-day class, with lesson nineteen, Publishing Options, taking a large portion of day five. I also added lessons on setting, writing background and development, and I divided one lesson and expanded it into two; one on dispelling self-doubts, and one on developing good writing habits. The lesson on writing habits takes up the first hour of day-five. 

As in every workshop I've presented, I learn along with my students. I also learn from research and study I put into each lesson. In particular, the lesson on writing habits has helped me strengthen my own habits with good results. I just finished the first draft of the adult novel I began 3 or 4 years ago, and had put aside to work on a trilogy of children's books. Now I have developed the habit that will help me rewrite and polish this first rough draft systematically. 

I think the part of the 18th lesson that has helped me the most is the emphasis on the word "habit." We all know what habits are. Our life is ordered (or disordered) by them. We have long-established habits that compel us to a certain ritual of behavior each day. Whether it's rising at a certain time each morning, proceeding to the next step which for some is making the coffee or getting in the shower or letting out the dog or jumping on the treadmill or heading out the door in your jogging clothes,  journal writing or daily devotions, we repeat the same pattern each morning, and it's hard—almost impossible—to veer from it. Why? Because it's a habit. It's ingrained. 

Why not add one more habit to your ritual? Schedule a writing time each day wherever it fits into your already established ritual. Anne Lamott in her book, Bird by Bird, said, "So much of writing is sitting down and doing it every day, and so much of it is about getting into the custom of taking in everything that comes along, seeing it all as grist for the mill." 

From this I realize there are two parts to developing a writing habit. One is to sit down and do it every day. The other is to be open to ideas and inspiration all day long. Not all of my writing is done while sitting in front of my computer monitor each morning. Even more of it is done earlier while soaking in my morning bath with a freshly brewed cup of coffee, where I habitually solve a daily cryptogram, which is usually a profundity from some past poet or philosopher. Then I read something inspiring, currently an essay from another writer in the book, A Cup of Comfort for Writers, edited by Colleen Sell. And lastly, totally relaxed by this time, I let my mind fill with ideas for my book or whatever else comes. I have note paper and pencil handy to write down the ideas that the muse introduces. Then when I approach the computer, I use all the available time, typing madly as the muse continues, through the characters, to show my fingers where to go. 

It helps to be prepared for the presentation of ideas from the muse as you go about your daily living, seeing it all, as Lamott says, as grist for the mill. Keep pocket-sized notebooks or index cards and a pencil with you to jot down interesting conversations, descriptions of buildings, rooms, landscapes, or anything else that comes to mind that may later be adapted to your book, short story, poem or essay.  

We will each develop and integrate our unique writing habits into our daily lives in a way that works. Now that I'm experiencing "the habit" more compulsively, I can recommend that every writer work to develop one, if you haven't already done so. 

How is this done? The first step is to make the decision, firmly, to write each day and to set the time and space for doing so. The next step is to force yourself to do it consistently for as long as it takes for it to become a habit, a part of your daily ritual you would not think of skipping. Some say that takes fourteen times, some say twenty-one, others a month. Like everything else in life, however, first of all, it takes the desire. If you really want to write, it will be easier, and a productive writing habit will be formed in no time. 

Editing for brevity

One of the most important steps in editing anything I've written, is to cut—lots of it. As William Zinsser claims, about 50% of what we write can be eliminated without losing meaning. 

A good example is my last blog post. I usually edit each one several times before posting. This time, I was forced to publish it quickly before my computer shut down. I couldn't get it to save and I didn't want to lose it all. Normally I would have gotten back to it immediately and revised it, but I was late for an appointment that kept me away all day. Eventually, after several cuts, I reduced it by at least half. If you read an early version, I invite you to scroll down to see the latest, more spare one. 

In following the advice I give in my writing classes, I write without concern for the editing steps I know will come later. I take Ann Lamott's advice and let the first draft be the child's draft, writing without censor whatever comes to mind. This allows free thinking and the chance to get the thoughts down before they are lost. When the first draft is written, I take very seriously Zinsser's advise, and incorporating his "four basic premises of writing: clarity, brevity, simplicity, and humanity." 

Too often we writers will add an adverb that carries the same meaning as the word it modifies. The same is true of adjectives. And far too often I'm guilty of rambling, as I seek the exact idea I wish to convey. As David Belasco said, "If you can't write your idea on the back of my calling card, you don't have a clear idea." 

Thomas Jefferson declared that "The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do." 

My advice to writers is this: Write freely, using as many words as come to mind to state what you are thinking and feeling. But before publishing them, cut every unnecessary word. When rewriting, remember the words of Hosea Ballou, "Brevity and conciseness are the parents of correction." 

Colorado writing workshop planned.

My sister, Joan, is out of the hospital after a bout of pneumonia. The front range of the Rockies in beautiful Colorado greeted her with an explosion of spring time greenery, flowers, bird song, and blue skies. A new foal awaits our visit at our sister, Shirley's home. Whisper, a buckskin filly was born about the time Joan's cancer announced itself, so Joan hasn't seen her yet.



I will stay with Joan a while longer, as she continues radiation treatment for her lung cancer. In the meantime I have updated my Writer's Workshop work book and set a date for a 3-day event to be held at my sister Sharon's house, (the old Benson homestead) in Loveland in two and a half weeks. For details, see http://www.janetmuirheadhill.com/. It's a way of getting back to the work I had planned for myself throughout the summer and year. I planned to present several workshops in Montana, this summer, as well as expanding my publishing workshop and offering it as well. That will have to wait until Joan has recovered her health in the remission we expect at the end of radiation. In the meantime, I'll offer my workshop to Colorado residents.



I have no regrets about putting my work on hold for a while, for when your loved ones are in trouble, there is nothing else in the world as important as supporting them in every way you can. Joan has been my idol and inspiration my whole life. She taught me to love books and story-telling from the time I was a preschooler. Both of us authors, we have enjoyed some wonderful times editing and critiquing each other's writing and traveling together on a book and lecture tour. We hope to do so again. As her health improves, we will both work on books in progress as well as creating new ones, continuing to encourage each other in the process.



When I get back to Montana, I will finish preparing my next book, Kyleah's Tree, for publication and get it printed with the beautiful illustrations that Herb Leonhard has already completed. I'll let you know when it's available.

I've learned to enjoy reading and writing Haiku's from my friend and editor, Florence Ore.

Here is one I wrote for Joan while she lay in her hospital bed.

Spring blooms, skies bright blue

Breezes scatter cotton clouds

Windows dim the view.