Author: kwohler

Listening to the sound of my voice

When I first started writing, I never intentionally tried to mirror a favorite writer. The problem was that I hadn’t found my own voice yet. So when I started creating stories, it surprised me when I discovered the stories were not my own.

One of my early attempts was to write a science fiction epic that would have a galactic scale to it. I stopped after a few thousand words when I realized I was retelling Issac Asimov’s Foundation series. As time went on, I discovered an interest in writing stories about a populated Mars, not unlike Ray Bradbury. When I graduated college, it was Stephen King and his epic The Stand that I was mimicking in style — if not in apocalyptic subject matter.

Through all these phases in my writing, I was equally concerned and confounded by the advice I received to “find your own voice.”

I don’t have a voice, I wanted to argue. I only know how to write like the books I have read.

After a decade or so of writing, I’ve discovered my voice has been with me all along. It was my own voice I was drowning out by listening to my favorite authors whispering in my ear.

What I didn’t understand, what many new writers fail to grasp, is that our favorite writers aren’t doing anything special in their writing. They aren’t adopting a “writer’s voice” when they put pen to page. Do you want to know their secret? Lean in close and I’ll whisper it to you: They talk to you.

Writing can still be difficult. I get off track, I overwrite scenes, and I have a habit of putting on my editor hat when I should be writing. But when I get things right, it’s because I have stopped trying to write. Instead, I talk and let my fingers transcribe what I’m saying in my head.

That’s the voice I needed to find, and it was inside me all along.

January 31, 2012
Editing: Just saying ‘no’

Even Jack Kerouac — who purportedly wrote On the Road in three weeks on a scroll of taped-together paper — still took time to edit his work.

It’s never easy to tell yourself “no.”

We live in a world where we we are programmed to eat large portions, fill our wish lists with the latest gadgets and toys, and give in to every impulse buy imaginable. So it’s difficult to show restraint and say no. Especially in one’s own writing.

As a writer, it’s necessary to explore ideas. Every character, every line of dialogue, every situation has the potential to be something great. Many writers (I’m looking at you, poets!) think every word is essential and each description is pure gold. In the end, some are good, others… well, not so much.

But I’m not only a writer. I’m also an editor. I have to edit my work, and the editor in me is much less likely to put up with the falderal that the writer in me indulges.

As much as it pains me, sometimes things in my writing don’t work. When that happens, I have to decide if it’s worthwhile to fix it, or whether I should just cut it and move on. The key to avoiding wasted time is to develop the story before I even begin to write.

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January 24, 2012
The write tools

Screenshots of Scrivener in action. Copyright © 2005–2012 Literature & Latte Ltd. All rights reserved.

Some writers have a special place to write. Others have a special time of the day. For me, the key to writing is technology.

For the past 20+ years, I’ve used Microsoft Word for all my writing. But this November that changed. For National Novel Writing Month, I decided to test drive Scrivener — one of the sponsors of NaNoWriMo.

Scrivener is described as a “complete writing studio.” It’s more than a word processor. It’s a writer’s office in virtual form.

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January 17, 2012
Putting the Man in Superman

Cover to The Man of Steel #1. Art by John Byrne. ©1986 by DC Comics

When asked to name my favorite book, I usually rattle off the same three or four by my favorite authors. Or I might mention the best book I’ve read in the past year. And then there’s Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, which is the only novel I can remember reading more than twice. But my favorite books have always been comic books.

Over the years, the Superman stories have meant the most to me. The character of Superman is iconic, and his S-shield is recognized around the world as a symbol of hope. He fights for us. He rescues us. He helps us in our hour of greatest need.

He can outrace as speeding bullet. He can fly. He can punch through steel. But the stories that mean the most to me are the ones that focus on his greatest strength: his humanity.

You see, when Superman was originally created, he was more alien than human. His true nature was alien, and he was able do all those amazing things because he was from the planet Krypton. But to use his powers to help his adopted planet, he needed to disguise himself as one of us. That word “disguise” is an important one. Because he didn’t see himself as Clark Kent. That was merely a mask he wore to pass as human.

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January 10, 2012
People from the future are waiting in the bathroom

There’s a voice I hear whenever a door opens. It tells me that this time I won’t see what I expect.

Every door is another possibility

Instead of seeing the second floor and the hallway leading to my office, I’ll see a park. Instead of shopping mall, I’ll be in a prison. Instead of a bathroom, I’ll find myself in a waiting room with people from the future.

People ask writers where they get their ideas. And I wonder what people who aren’t writers think about all day.

I’m constantly imagining other people and places. I think about names for stories, titles for novels. I pick up words the way a numismatist picks up coins, turning them over and examining them from every side.

Everything is a potential story, a character, or a setting. The problem is not in finding ideas, but in wading through the overwhelming possibilities to find ideas that are worth exploring.

But the best ideas come to me when I let my imagination cut loose. For me, this comes easiest when my editor is shut off — or shut out — so I can’t second guess myself. It shouldn’t be surprising that I get my best ideas when I’m dreaming.

A few months ago, I awoke from a dream about a female superhero. She was new to the business and she didn’t know her teammates very well. She kept referring to one of them as “the blue guy.” They worked together to save a large group of children from the evil rat king. It was all very odd.

It became the foundation for the novel I’m currently writing. Most of the details have changed, but the dream was still the starting point. Without the dream, I might never have considered writing in the superhero genre.

It doesn’t matter where you get your ideas from — whether you get inspired by long, hot showers or digging through trash. Inspiration comes to each person differently. The important thing is that you allow yourself a chance to be inspired.

Robert Penn Warren once said, “You must cultivate leisure.”

This is essential to being a writer. To be open to the story ideas around you, your mind must be ready to accept them. If you don’t allow your mind to relax, you’ll never be able to hear the still, small voice of your muse.

January 3, 2012