Embrace your ‘ma’

So, I found this review of a movie I’ve heard about but never seen, called Spirited Away. Apparently, it’s pretty good. What struck me the most, however, was this insight about pacing from it’s creator, Hayao Miyazaki:

“We have a word for that in Japanese, it’s called ma. Emptiness. It’s there intentionally. …the time in between my clapping is ma. If you just have non-stop action with no breathing space at all, it’s just business, But if you take a moment, then the tension building in the film can grow into a wider dimension. If you just have constant tension at 80 degrees all the time you just get numb.”

In music, there are rests – moments where nothing is heard. Yet you’re still carried forward through the song. You know the beat is there, even though you can’t hear it. Done well, it can create a wide variety of emotions; joy, sadness, fear and anger. Without those pauses, all music would be is a continuous drone eliciting only annoyance.

It’s the same with writing. Without the action, the transition scenes, the narrative, the exposition, the showing and telling to vary the pace, a story can become exhausting to read. All action, all the time, makes the reader put down the book. And maybe never pick it up again.

As humans, we need time to process our experiences. To ponder the meaning and implications of what just happened. To laugh, cry or punch the wall, if necessary. To decide how to act or react. Sometimes it happens in an instant, other times it may take minutes, hours or days. It may or may not result in the best choice, but that’s life.

Fictional characters should be no different. Even if they’re not human, our readers are. Give them a chance to catch their breath, absorb what just happened and use their imagination. That’s why we read (or at least, why I do). It’s why the book is almost always better than the movie.

They don’t need to be told (or shown) every little detail. It becomes more of a personal experience if each reader can add their own touches to the story. Give them the important parts and get out of the way. Sometimes the conflict that’s implied can be stronger than one thrown in your face. Let them rest, and the emotional response will be stronger when the action kicks in again.

Now all I have to do is actually put this into practice…

Story updates

So, the experiment in writing a story a little at a time has been successful. After a few weeks of writing a couple hundred words a day, the rest of the story just seemed to flow and I had it complete within a few days.

The next step is to submit it for publication. In anticipation of that, I’ve taken down the previous entries so as not to conflict with possible publication rights.

To those of you that read what I did post – thank you. I hope you enjoyed it. If it gets picked up for publication, I will post the link here. If not, I may put up the entire story here or perhaps as an e-book on Amazon.

It was fun, and I’ll probably do it again, so stay tuned!

Positive thinking

So, I came up with a very profound sentiment in an email to a co-worker today. I said, “No being sad, this is a stepping stone to greater things – things that are limited only by your imagination and your desire.”

So, I feel pretty good about that comment, and I believe it’s true. But is that all it takes? I mean, that’s saying you just have to think of something and want it really bad and it will happen. Well, not exactly.

Nothing in life ever just gets handed to you. If you want it bad enough, you have to work for it. And therein lies the problem.

Work.

That dirty, nasty, four-letter word that means getting up off your ass and getting something done. I’ve never been that good at it. Which is why I’m not at the place in my life where I’d like to be. And I have no one to blame but myself.

Bottom line is, without the effort expended, the desire and imagination are just a lot of hot air. So I apologize, anonymous co-worker, my advice was incomplete. But knowing you, you already have it figured out.

Published, sort of

So, I’ve reached a kind of milestone. Instead of sitting around, moping about how I’ll never finish anything, I actually put a short story up on Amazon. Now, some people might read and still say it’s not finished, but I like how it ends, so there. If anyone is  interested, here it is Four Notes. It’s only $.99, so get the small coffee this morning and support the little guy. Goodbye, and thank you for your support.

On conferences

So, I went to this science fiction/fantasy convention yesterday that was almost, but not quite, a complete waste of time. It seemed like it was put on by a bunch of amateurs, which it was, but at least a few of the panels were interesting and I picked up a couple of tips and a little confirmation. I know that it’s okay to not like what you’re writing at the moment because you’re just too close to it. Going back later and reading it with a fresh eye can make all the difference. I’ve done that with some other stuff and found that what I’d written was really not too bad. Now all I have to do is figure out how to push through the blocks. Not necessarily writers block, but the kind of thing that just gets in the way of putting the ideas on paper.

I did also come up with another story idea at the con, but who knows if that will ever turn into anything. I’m wondering if I should go back and finish the rewrite of Four Notes, just so I have an actual short story finished. What would that be like? It might even be able to find a home somewhere and make me a couple of bucks. But that’s not why I should be doing this, right? I mean, writing should be fun, and if I happen to make a couple of dollars off of it, well, that’s great.

I have a feeling that the Pikes Peak Writers Conference would be much more informative, but the almost $400 price tag is too much for me right now. The CSFWG business meeting is today, and I’m hoping to get some workshops going through the group that might help AND be within the budget.

Still here

So I’ve pretty much been ignoring this blog, which may or may not be a bad thing. It would be fine if I was using the time to work on the other projects, but I’m not. I’ve made very little progress on the novel and just a bit more than a little on the short story. The problem is not a lack of ideas, but an inability to express them in a way that satisfies my perfectionism. To be a successful author requires that I move past that point and just put words on virtual paper. There can be no success without completion and I have yet to finish anything publishable.

The writer’s group business meeting is this weekend and I’m hoping to discuss some kind of workshop that might help me with the motivation. I realize the majority of the impetus needs to come from inside, but maybe being surrounded by a bunch of other crazy writers can give me a jump start. Even if nothing comes of it, I enjoy hanging out with the group.

I guess what it boils down to is, if other people believe I can do it, then I need to believe I can do it. Easier said than done, but it’s a start.

Pacing myself

So, I think i’ve bitten off more than I can chew with this whole epic fantasy novel thing. While I still have the desire to write, I think the scope of this story is too big for me right now. I have some short stories and a few more ideas that might be more manageable. I think I need something shorter to give me that sense of accomplishment sooner. The end of this current novel is too far away for me to see clearly.

I don’t think I’m ready for a complete novel yet. So I will save all my work so far, and file away all the notes and maps and outline to be revisited at some point in the future when I can give the story the treatment it deserves. For now, I need to polish my skills with smaller projects.