What's In A Name?

-a very short piece of writing

Wiley Hunter is a hard name to live up to if you’re an anti-gun vegetarian out here where some believe the high school should shut itself down for deer season. Almost as bad a name as Alexander Bates after our Grade Six year when we had the exchange teacher from England who called everyone Master Hunter or Master Smith or whatever. I figure that’s the reason Alex turned into such a skirt chaser, at least eight kids by three different women. He had to disprove the nickname.

Funny how those childhood handles stick. Newcomers, which is anyone who wasn’t born here even if they’ve lived here thirty years, wouldn’t know that Cheryl Milford is called Saucy because her maiden name was Applebaum which became Applesauce which we shortened to Saucy. She’s actually as withdrawn as cash from a gambler’s bank account, quieter than a teenager trying to sneak in after curfew. Not Saucy at all.

But the worst has to have been Murray Finnie after some wag reversed the letters to make Furry Minnie. Though now he’s Father Finnie. Or Father Furry behind his back.

On Being Eclectic

My father died when he was 47 (I was 11), his father when he was 43. One of his sisters said each of the brothers (it was a large family) heaved a sigh of relief when he hit 50.

I was never morbid, walking around terrified that my life would be short or afraid to do things thinking they were dangerous or might somehow shorten my life. However, when I hit 50 and felt quite burned out, I realized I had packed an awful lot into my years. Many people don't fit in that much in 80 years, some never, so no wonder I felt mentally exhausted.

The lesson I had learned, largely an unconscious one, was not to wait to do things. I suppose it helped form that philosophy that the motto of my high school was Carpe Diem (make the most of the day). While our homeroom teacher who explained what that meant to us had a slightly different orientation - his take was about working hard on school work every day - it furthered that underlying value I had unconsciously developed, that it was important to pack as much as possible into every day because you didn't know how many you would have. (I hope that doesn't make me sound manic - there was never a frantic aspect to my behaviour. I sat still frequently -usually with something to read in my hands - but my head never stopped. My wife once commented that my brain never turned off and my reaction was a very surprised one - Why would anyone want that to happen? -meditating is not an attractive concept to me, though maybe I don't really understand what it means.)

The result is I have a very wide range of interests and knowledge. I'm not an expert in anything, but can carry on a discussion on just about anything, as long as it is a focussed discussion. (I am terrible at small talk.)

All of which brings me around to this blog. I originally started it because one of my interests is writing fiction (I have published three novels, several short stories, and am now working on a play and another novel.) However, the blog is not simply about writing, though some entries are. Rather, there are a wide variety of topics, reflecting the wide range of my interests.

Is anyone interested in my ramblings? -I have no idea, but articulating issues which are triggered by something that happens during the day is an interesting process.

Crisis Management

Every time I turn around, I seem to hear or read someone saying something about managing a crisis. I always liked that you can look at a crisis in two ways, negatively as a problem or positively as an opportunity. I remember reading once that the Chinese ideogram is two charaters, superimposed. (I don't know if that is true - I don"t speak or read Chinese.) The two characters are 'danger' and 'opportunity'. That captures the dichotomy that I recognize. You can look at a crisis in that dark light, that there is a problem of some kind. Or you can look at with the lighter colouring, that the crisis presents an opportunity for positive change.

A local social service agency changed its name to Point In Time a few years ago. Personally, I'm not keen on it - to the public, it doesn't speak to what the agency is about- but I understand it. They deal with people in crisis of some kind (you don't go to them if everything in your life is fine) and a crisis indicates you have reached that point in time where you are willing to change. Most of the time, people aren't willing to change, even if something isn't great, because the prospect of changing is scarier (read more painful) than maintaining life as it is. A crisis presents the opportunity to change that.

Negativity In Writing

I am no Pollyanna. I certainly have known my share of pain, have seen more anger than I want, realize the world can be a cruel, viscious place. But I write about people who struggle with diffculties with positive characteristics like determination, the ability to connect with others, the belief that things can and will be better.

But somewhere along the line, the negativity that used to be reserved for the antagonists in stories, what needs to be overcome, has crossed the line into something desireable. Protaganists are bitter, cynical, sarcastic, etc. There is an underlying positiveness in that they overcome real evil of some kind, but any positve effect on their characters is transitory at best - they remain cynical.

Maybe it's just what I read. I get the feeling fantasy, which I don't read, is based on positive characters who overcome difficulties to become even more positive.

Two questions then: Am I right, and if so, why is that optimistic view of people reserved for fantasy stories? Has the real world actually become populated by peo0ple who find the other characters entertaining and worth emulating?

Somebody Must Be To Blame

There are people whose response to any diffculty is to look for someone to blame. -Not to solve the problem, stop the bleeding or change direction, but to find whose fault it is. Somehow that gives them considerable satisfaction, even if they are the ones who are suffering or losing out because of the difficulty. Having someone to blame is more important to them than finding positive responses to the situation itself. Righteous indignation makes up for everything else.

It's not that I think examing a problem to understand how it happened is always a waste of time. The opposite is often true. It's important to recognize how a problem started, what fed it so that it became bigger, why it now has the stature it does. But the reason is so that change can happen so the problem won't be repeated. -Not so there then can be a kind of self-satisfaction now that we know who to blame.

Luck, Preparation and Opportunity

One of those hokey inspirational sayings that has always stuck with me is that Luck is when Preparation meets Opportunity. I guess it has always stuck with me because I think for the most part it is true. So often, what appears to be luck is really someone being able to take advantage of an opportunity because he/she has prepared for it in case the chance ever arises. Even if that preparation only involves thinking, it is still preparation. Someone who considers a possibilty and thinks about what he or she might do in the event the opportunity ever arises is ready to take advantage of the opportunity when it does come. Outsiders who haven't seen the thinking may only recognize it as luck.

There are genuinely lucky random things, such as having a lottery ticket drawn, and I don't consider buying a ticket to be preparation. However, what the person then does with the money fits into this. The money gives him/her the opportunity to do things he/she might otherwise not have had the chance to do. If that person has thought about it (preparation), he/she probably won't be in one of those horror stories we occasionally hear, a lottery winner who is bankrupt a few years later.

At work, I used to have an 'idea folder', scribblings of ideas I hoped to be able to do someday though at the time, they seemed unrealistic as there weren't the resources or the technology or something to actualize them. Then when I heard of of funding or a technical development or a project someone else had going that seemed to fit, I was able to respond. Some of those ideas are still in the 'idea folder', but it is surprising how many of them came to fruition even though at the time they were simply 'someday it would be nice' ideas. Someone once remarked to my boss that I was lucky, that I had fallen into a good thing in my job. Her response was to the effect that No, I had made the good thing. Certainly a large part of that was preparation, being able to take advantage of opportunities when they came along.

That's why I maintain a healthy dose of scepticism when someone seems to be lucky. I usually ask what they might have done in preparation.

-And none of this discounts positive thinking, the Law Of Attraction. That might well be the most important aspect of preparation.

Twenty Years Ago

Where were you and what was your life like twenty years ago? (ten if you're under 30, five if you're under 20 - you get the idea.) Perhaps more importantly, what were you like then and what are you like now in comparison?

It's doubtful that you are the same. If you are, maybe you need to examine why. Is it because you were perfect then and your life has been static since you see no need for anything to be different? Or more likely, have you buried yourself and your life in concrete, an attempt to avoid scary change - better the devil you know than the one you don't -kind of thing.

Change is usually painful. Most people don't change for positive reasons, because they want to, but because the pain of changing has become less than the pain of maintaining things the way they are. -And sometimes they have no choice in that. Many things in our lives are beyond our control, so if someone or something else changes and it has a huge negative impact on our lives, maintining the status quo becomes more painful than the frightening idea of changing ourselves and our lives.

So looking back, not to beat ourselves up but simply to recognize where we were at back then and what changes we've gone through since. Visiting the past is worthwhile - living in it isn't.

Thinking Backwards

I find myself writing a play, not something I ever thought about doing. However, I wrote a series of short stories - short fictional anecdotes really - that had the same speaker, an old retired farmer who is keenly observant and has a wry, gentle wit. I didn't know what to do with them until one evening I was at a fund raiser for the region's land trust and the MC was a local actor, a man with considerable talent, especially a keen sense of comic timing. Part way through the evening, I realized he would make a marvelous speaker in my stories, and maybe I should turn them into a play.

However, it evolved totally differently from my usual pattern. I always talk about 'thinking backwards', by which I mean when you have the general idea for a story, think about how it ends, then work backwards, thinking about what you have to include to make the ending make sense. Then think about what needs to come before that, both events and characters, etc. Eventually, you have a plan and you can 'write forwards', based on the detailed outline from 'thinking backwards'.

However, that isn't what I did here. When I began, I had no idea how it would end, so now that I have written the ending, I need to re-write earlier scenes, so the ending doesn't come out of the blue. The things that happen, the ways the characters act, the dialogue, etc. all need to fit realistically.

Generational Changes

During the last week or so, I've come to recognize just how much things have changed in my family. My mother had to quit school after Grade 8. It was the Great Depression, she was the oldest in a large family, and her father did not believe educating women was worthwhile. My daughter attended university in Scotland last year to complete a Master's Degree, and will be beginning a PhD program at the University Of Victoria next September.

How much things have changed in two generations.

Great Images

I was in a waiting room yesterday where two other men carried on an interesting discussion about the economic meltdown, environmental challenges, etc. When talking about how inter-related the whole world is, how what happens elsewhere has an impact here, one described a cartoon he had seen somewhere. There are four men in a rowboat, two in the bow, two in the stern. There is a hole towards the stern and the water is making a fountain as it gushes in. The two men in the back are madly bailing. One of the men in the front says to the other, 'Sure glad the hole's in their end.'

I love that image as it captures a sentiment far too common, denying the idea that choices we make have an impact on everyone else in the world and we can't play ostrich, thinking we are immune to what happens elsewhere. I recall hearing a radio interview with a politician after a ban of an environmentally disastrous pesticide that the government was then collecting from people and businesses who had been using it. When asked what they would do with all they collected, he speculated that maybe they should sell it to a jurisdiction that didn't have a ban. -Really strong grasp of the problem-.

Anyway, I'm glad that image is now strong enough that it was worth a cartoon that was published somewhere, and that it had a significant enough impact that a very middle-of-the-road man not only understood and remembered, but felt it deserved to be passed on.

On a completely different note - today I was using the photocopier in an adjoining office (the program I work part time in is very small, so we share theirs) and a woman came in and asked for something. When I explained I didn't really work there, that I was just using the copier, she said, "Aren't you an author?" That's the first time someone has used that to identify me. I have participated in many different work and volunteer activities in the past, so people usually identify me with one of those roles. -So this was nice, an affirmation that maybe my passion for writing , which I only started to move out of my personal life into the public realm a few years ago, can be more than just a part of my internal, private identity.

One of the problems of not growing up with this technology and living in a relatively isolated area is that I must try things I read about or people explain to me via email. That's how I learn. I'm learning how to create a link to another entry in this blog . So ignore what follows. It is nothing but an attempt on my part to see if I understand.

Jolts Per Minute is found here.

Paranoia

Last weekend, I was at an all-day event sponsored by our local Writers and Editors Network. We (several authors) had displays of our books as people went through. As well, we each did a reading. After mine, I was approached by a woman who asked what the organization running the event was about. I explained what they do and when I talked about writing circles, including the fiction writer's circle I belong to, she expressed interest So I asked if she wrote and she said she had been working on a book for ten years. When I asked what it was about, she became rather defensive, showing considerable concern that her great idea would be stolen, and as she talked, it became apparent that she was reluctant to share the idea with anyone, including potential agents or publishers. I let her know she would be welcome to join our group, but we could not give her feedback on her writing, structure, etc. unless she was willing to share with us, and she would have to decide how much of that she would be willing to do.

When I disucssed this at the next meeting of our circle (she won't be able to join for another month, if she decides to risk it), one man expressed having once had similar concerns. He no longer feels that way, but said many years ago and with another group, he felt similarly.

This is quite foreign to me. I have so many ideas about possiblities, that I know I will never be able to pursue them all. If someone were to take one and develop it, I wouldn't feel it as a loss. To me, genuine ownership comes from the actual writing, not the basic idea in the first place. Though I suppose I might feel differently if I felt an idea was so unique and earth-shattering the actual writing was secondary. However, I don't think that is realistic. It is very rare a Dan Brown comes along with The DaVinci Code, and even then, if it is not well structured and written, it isn't going anywhere. Great ideas only take you so far, and that isn't all that far.

Anyway, every time I start to think I've seen it all, someone comes along with a differnt perspective to let me know I haven't.

Ignore this. I'm just making sure this will work - being able to edit an old post to include a link to a newer one.

Click here to go to Great Images.

Jolts Per Minute

At my Writer's Circle this week, one person said she had thought about buying all the best-selling novels to see what was working. However, when she looked at the rack of best-sellers in the grocery store (drug store, wherever she was), she said she was only interested in one, and that was a half-hearted interest at best. She said the others were all shallow, based on terror, and even that was not because of some well-developed evil character but because there was a psychopath threatening people for no logical, character-based reason other than his psychopathy.

I know there are other novels out there in whatever genre you want - novelists such as Jodi Piccoult, Sharyn McCrumb, CJ Cherryh, Elizabeth George, etc. - but it is disturbing that none of them are included in the mass-market 'best seller' displays in places where Joe and Jill Public might purchase a book.

That led to a discussion about why people might find that appealing. I think people have been conditioned by their exposure to television to need very strong jolts of adrenaline, such as would be caused by fear, sudden rage, or shock. I think TV producers (and other media too) probably have a way to measure 'jolts per minute', the number of rushes a watcher/listener/reader experiences. Is that what has led to the proliferation of action-oriented, scary plots with little if any real character development?

That discussion morphed into how even positive things like Sesame Street cause people to have very short attention spans. They expect something new and exciting every few minutes, as they have been conditioned that that is what will happen. Most older teachers who started teaching before the Sesame Street generation reached school will tell you that there has been a drastic change. Now students expect teachers to be entertainers, with something new, different, and exciting every few minutes. -But there is no off switch or channel-changer, at least no external one, but that doesn't stop students from using their internal one to turn the teacher off or switch channels to think about something else that is superficially more interesting.

Does that apply to writing too, that readers expect something new and exciting every few paragraphs, since they have been conditioned to believe that is what to expect?

Mass Appeal

We just had an interesting discussion at our Fiction Writer's Circle. (Only 3 people here - when it's a small group to start with, all it takes is a few vacation plans.) After we read and discussed our writing with suggestions ranging from minor corrections to structural reorganization, we got talking about what we read and how that relates to what we write.

I think we read (and therefore must write) things which have characters which people have to be able to relate to. Whatever the genre, whatever the plot, whatever the action details, the characters must approach what they encounter with persistence, fortitude, cleverness - or whatever characteristics people find appealing, because they think (or wish) they have those characteristics themselves. So Joe or Sue (or whoever the character is) approaches his/her problem - saving mankind or whatever - with the same characteristics people want to have when they approach a gossipy co-worker spreading rumours or whatever more mundane problems in their own lives there are.

But there are many very angry people out there, so does that mean we have to write so characters approach problems with violence since that is the way all those people would like to respond to every minor inconvenience? I'm not just talking about the obviously angry either - it's scary to discover how many apparently calm, stable people have built-up rage inside.

What do you do if you realize you are out of step with the masses? I often feel that way, and am quite content to be. But does that mean I will never write something with broad appeal unless I sacrifice my values to give my characters characteristics which run contrary to my authentic self, which I do not want to do.

Writing Fictional Characters

I recently returned from a marvelous vacation in Newfoundland where I encountered an incredible variety of extremely rich people. Someone in my writing circle (there are 6 of us, all writing fiction of various kinds) suggested they might be a great source for characters in my writing. My reaction was that I wasn't sure they would be. Since I am not part of that culture, I don't think I could write realistic dialogue, understand motivation for behaviour, etc for such creations. - Not unless I immerse myself in that culture for an extended period of time. Anyone willing to pay for me to spend a few years there?

That started me thinking about the whole issue of creating realistic characters. One of the maxims of writing is to write about what you know. So how divergent from ourselves can those characters be? For example, I think I can create a character who is mean, insensitive, and macho in a negative way, and that is all very unlike me. But I'm not sure that I could create that character in other than a stereotypical way if he was to come from the inner city of a large metropolitan area, something I am not familiar with. (I have never lived in a large city.)

Any comments? When you create characters, how do you do it if they are quite outside your culture or experience?

Another posting from Authors Promoting Authors

Here is another posting taken from Authors Promting Authors, primarily comments from reviews and comments about the novel. You can check it out for a synopsis, excerpts, etc. at the link at the bottom.

"Our 14-year-old granddaughter loved it! She said she couldn't put it down. Then she told her friends about it as well. So it seems like a great hit with her freshmen friends."
~Annie Warmke, Founder and Advisor, The League of Extraordinary Girl Scientists (LEGS), Founder and Past President, Women’s Peacepower Foundation (& Earthship Builder/Owner, Blue Rock Station, Ohio)
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"The first thing that struck me about No Shadows Left Behind was that it was written almost exclusively in the present tense. With the exception of memories and flashbacks, this present tense brought all the thoughts and actions to an immediate forefront. Because of the consistency maintained in this, however, it soon fades into the story line, making for a seamless and effortless reading. A beautiful technique!The story was difficult for me to read; but then, it was meant to be that way. As the story unfolded, I found myself anxious for the moment when Christy's secret would be discovered. How would that be accomplished? Will she finally break down and tell someone?... When it finally is revealed, I was taken aback by how it was done... In my opinion, this couldn't have been presented in a better way!...While the entire story moved me greatly, I was not able to cry until the very last page. At that point, I broke down and wept for the extraordinary characters that have become very real to me."
~Lidia Tremblay
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"The story is both informative and inspirational. The characters are very real and their struggles can be felt through the pages. For victims of abuse it encourages seeking help without ever being pushy or blind to the attached emotional struggles. For non-victims it offers insight into an ugly reality of our world and how others can gently help and support those caught in abuse and its aftermath. A book much needed and long overdue!"~Elke Rose, homeschooling mother & book evaluator
To order No Shadows Left Behind, please visit Harris Innovations at: http://www.harrisinnovationspublishing.com/index.html

Life Is Like Making Chocolate Chip Cookies by L. Sue Durkin

Life is Like Making Chocolate Chip Cookies uses stories and metaphors to inspire and inform readers on how to deal with life situations.

The insights shared come from personal experiences, as well as from others.

Life is Like.... addresses mind, body, and spirit.Insightful views on meditation and dealing with self, others, and relationships help people caught up in disappoints, negativity, anger, and fear.

Help is here now!

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Authors Promoting Authors - a great idea

I got home from a lengthy vacation (first in years) late last night, so if I'm a little rambly and not terrible clear or concise, please understand. (What a great excuse - maybe I should go away more often.) Anyway, before I left, I became aware of what I think is a great idea, and joined Authors Promoting Authors.

The basic idea comes from the fact that marketing and publicizing books which are self-published or published by small firms is often difficult. The skill-set to write with quality is not the same skill-set needed to promote and sell. So any opportunity to reach beyond the local audience (particularly for those of us who live in remote areas where that audience is very small) is welcomed.

There are interesting new books posted on that site every few days, reinforcing my belief that there are more articulate, skilled people writing that ever before (and I suspect there are fewer people reading with the growth of electronic media, though those who read probably read extensively!).

Anyway, I want to here include the posting before the description of one my novels, but there is a poem posted between the previous book and mine, and I want to be sure which I should show.

Check back later.

To Start

For much of my life, I was so busy with job, family, etc. I didn't have the sustained time or energy to pursue writing. Now I work only part-time, have significantly cut back on volunteer work, and family demands are less.

Several years ago as that started to happen, I began writing more seriously. When I reached the stage of being ready to publish a novel (not the first - like many first efforts, it was a wonderful learning tool but ...), I discovered the process of finding a publisher/agent was incredibly time and energy consuming. When I got the second rejection letter from the same agent (she obviously didn't remember that she had already rejected me once), I decided it wasn't worthwhile. What I really wanted to do was write.

As I explored options, I discovered the self-publishing process was not particularly complicated. I can't say it doesn't take time and energy away from writing, but has a definite result. Perhaps the next agent/publisher would have accepted me as a client, but there was no guarantee of that and I could envision myself devoting effort to that at the expense of my writing. -So I went the self-publishing route.

I formed a company to distribute my work, and maintain a website - www.ingoldsbybooks.com for that purpose.

There are more of us out there with the time and ability to write, and with this technology, we can publish our own work.