The Journal of Michael Merriam

Local author Rob Callahan says nice things about me, Dana M Baird, Joseph Scrimshaw, Tales of the Unanticipated Magazine, and Maggie Koerth-Baker (who I've never met or read, but who sounds awesome!) over at l'étoile Magazine. Go read about some great local Twin Cities talent!

Originally posted at michaelmerriam.net. You can comment here or there.

First of all, let's be clear: I would not give up my laptop. Not ever. Nor my air conditioner. And indoor plumbing rocks.

That said, I'm here to sing the praise of older technology. While the modern PC is a wonderful tool, it has its problems (mostly user error, in my case), distractions (again with the user error), and detractions.

Here's the things: I usually can't write a first draft on a computer. There have been times when I did, or course, and all my later drafting and editing happens on the computer. But that first draft. It happens with these:

I find working with the pen and paper freeing. Somehow, I'm better able to sort my thoughts when I work in the notebook, creating what is in essence a clean third-draft before I ever start transcribing. I find the sound of the nib running over the paper soothing, even meditative. Because I think and write at about the same speed, the process seems soother. I don’t worry about misspelled words the way I do typographical errors. I can just blow on past them and keep working. My internal editor shuts up.

As for where I like to work, I've found coffee houses the best (the low rumble of voices provides good white noise and the coffee is typically better than I make at home even with my basic and simple French press), hotel rooms when I travel (it gets me away from the responsibilities of home-life and allows me to relax into the writing), with my kitchen table while wearing earphones a solid third. Again, later drafts and editing happen at the desk, but for some reason I find myself constrained and unable to work on the first draft when I'm at my "real working area." I admit that I belong to the straying, rather than to the sedentary, type of author.

Another place I like to work, at least in my head, is while I'm shaving. Here again I sing the praises of older technology. Modern shaving involves spraying shaving cream-like stuff from a can and using razors with so many blades you have to wonder what they all do (one to lift, one to cut, three to grind the stubble into and under your skin). This is how I shave:


It is a slow and thoughtful way to shave. You have to take you time, prepare everything right, and then respect the blade. I've gotten to the point where this too is meditative, and when I am whipping up the shaving soap or slowly working the razor across my skin, my mind now turns to working on the story problem at hand.

Lather your face and allow the problem with your draft to spread out in the mind's eye. As the razor takes the beard comes off, so do the plot problems fall away. Clean the blade, find clarity. Wash the last of the soap away while answers clicks in your head. As you apply the aftershave lotion, you know what to do, you can't wait to open the notebook and set pen to paper.

I think we've allowed technology to push us to work too fast, to get the job done without being thoughtful about what it is we are doing. Modern tech tries to get us to move ever faster, to be ever more "efficient." We all hear The Big Clock of Life ticking away (which reminds me: buy a real honest old fashioned wind-up watch - winding a watch is a soothing thing) and we seem to think the thing to do is run ever harder in an attempt to Get It All In Before The End.

The thing is, you can't get it all in before the end. Really, you can't. And while efficiency is fine, it is not the end all be all. Yes, sometimes the work happens in the white hot blaze of the moment and it is glorious. This is not a state that can be sustained on a constant basis without burn-out and exhausting taking their toll.

Sometimes we need to slow down, be deliberate and intentional in what we do, whether it be writing, shaving, or living.

Originally posted at michaelmerriam.net. You can comment here or there.

And not just marketing the Sky-Tinted Waters anthology and my new novella, The Curious Case of the Jeweled Alicorn.

I took a trip to Atlanta recently for a conference of the professional organization that Beloved Spouse is an officer of. I tend to go along with her on these trips, just like she comes to all the conventions I attend. We support each other's careers pretty aggressively. Since I'm not part of her organization, I treat the days she is in conference, committee meetings, and panels as a writing retreat.

I ride the bus for hours every week, back and forth to the Day Job, and anyone who has ever ridden public transit more than a handful of times can verify that public transit is full of colorful, weird, wonderful people in all their messed-up, beautiful glory. By the time we got to Atlanta, I had this idea about two mages fighting a low-keyed magical duel every morning on the 94 Express bus between Minneapolis and St. Paul, and the unfortunate third-party who gets involved.

By the time we got settled into the hotel, I could see the entire shape of the story and even went so far as to (gasp!) write an outline. This made me happy, except I had several scenes sorted out except the opening, so I had no idea how to actually start the story! Deciding not actually knowing how to start was no good reason to not get things rolling, I kind of flung myself at the story, putting words down and not worrying about if they sucked or not. It felt great (though reading back over the beginning, I think it needs to start in medias res). I wrote a couple thousand of words that first day, the prose coming fast and easy, if perhaps a bit clunky and ugly. No worries though, second drafts and rewrites are for clean-up. I loved it so.

But…

There's always the morning after. When I opened the document the next day, I was nervous and fearful. Oh shiny new story! In the sharp light of morning, I feared you would hustle me out the door with a promise to call sometime soon, but instead you showed up with fresh coffee and a warm smile.

Once we returned from Atlanta things slowed down, not because the story had lost the shiny, but because of my own responsibilities (day job, conventions) and because I caught a cold that made writing something akin to pushing my brain through jello. I started to find the flow harder to maintain, but I knew if I just kept pushing forward, things would be fine. This was a rough patch, nothing more.

This week, I was able to get back to it. It's up over 14,000 words and counting. I'm guessing it will hit between 20- 25K before it's all said and done. Novella seems to be my natural storytelling length. Which is weird, because I use to be Mr. Under 4K.

I wrote a nice, quick 800 words on Sunday morning. I've written past all the notes and outlining I had created and am now wondering through uncharted territory. I'm at the end of a scene, so I should probably stop and think about where we are heading before I write myself into a corner.

Originally posted at michaelmerriam.net. You can comment here or there.

I've been struggling to write fiction since I returned to working a regular 40-hour a week job. I knew there would be some difficulty while I adjusted to the new schedule and I try to teach myself to write in the little nooks and crannies of time I can carve out. Other writers have done this and so can I. It's just a matter of making the writing a priority, and I refuse to have happen to me what I've seen happen to other writers, where life forced them--or at least made them feel like they had no choice but--to stop writing. To that end, I've began making changes such as turning off the cable television and getting up earlier in the mornings.

But the biggest change I need to make is in my head.

I've actually been floundering around as a writer for the last year or so. I haven't been producing at the rate I'm used to. I've been second guessing myself too much. In my head, I do a lot of saying to myself, "Yes. But…" "Yes. But…" could drive one crazy, if one let it.

Here has been my problem: I've been afraid; afraid to really let go and write the things that come from deep down in the scary places. The fact is, most of my short fiction, while perfectly fine, is also a little workman like at times. There is nothing wrong with this. I've written many stories like this, solid and entertaining pieces of fiction that sold to good markets and that people have enjoyed.

But every once in a while, I write something that…well, it sings. Should We Drown in Feathered Sleep might be the best thing I've ever written. "Out Among the Singing Void," "All the Leaves Your Bed," and "Fetch" all had that same feel, came from that same place, earlier in my writing career. There are moments in both Last Car to Annwn Station and even in Horror at Cold Springs that, while not at all the same in theme, tone, or use of language, when I wrote them I felt the story resonate deep down in my bones and soul. Not always. But enough to know I was doing something veryvery right. The piece I just finished, The Intimacy of Books, also had those moments.

But those moments when I give over and let the deep places have free range, when I let all the stuff--dark and light both--that I keep buried inside come to the surface and spill onto the page, when I set aside my fear of language and experimentation and strive for something beyond my normal style, those times scare me even as I feel (dear Tiny Gods, this is going to sound like I'm waxing mystical or some bullshit) a little transcendent.

I need to give myself permission to write from that place. I know that is why the Lowry Hill Tunnel Troll story keeps stalling. Because I start to write from that place and then I get scared and pull back. And this story is demanding nothing less than my best. I know this is why I've shied away from the Spear of Destiny novel for the last five years. I lie and say it's because of the amount of research I need to do make this novel work, but really, it's fear. I know what this novel is going to demand of me, and I'm afraid: afraid to let myself write from the deep place, afraid that I'm not up to the task the novel will demand of me, afraid the story will not live up to what I have in my mind.

I am afraid I'm going to fail the story.

I need to stop being afraid. I need to give myself permission to write from the scary places, the hard places, the places deep down inside. And if I do, maybe, just maybe, the story will sing…

I have finished outlining the contemporary non-HEA romance coming-of-age novella. Now I just need to finish writing it. And then turn it into a screenplay.

I also plan to write a story featuring the angry spirit of a derelict building, and then a couple of Arkady Bloom steampunk stories (one a riff on both Arthur Conan Doyal's "A Study in Scarlet" and Neil Gaimen's "A Study in Emerald" and the other a caper/robbery/mystery piece on a train). There is a planned story featuring U.S. Marshal William Blenchy and Lady Priscilla Talbot, characters who appeared in (and survived) The Horror at Cold Springs. (The Sam's Dot Publishing Bookstore Smashwords.)

I'm also thinking about working on the Spear of Destiny novel again. I think I might have grown enough as a writer to tackle that novel now. And I'd write the next Sharisha Zajicova (aka the Monster-Hunting Barista) novel if someone would buy the first one.

The steampunk spy-thriller novella is delivered to the publisher, so there is a big load off my mind. Dark Water Blues, has been rewritten and resubmitted to my editor, so another project down. I've been working on rewrites of Dead Brew and finishing the first draft of my still untitled contemporary coming of age novella (can you tell I've fallen in love with the novella length work?). Plans are still afoot to try my hand a screenwriting.

I've also started finalizing and lining up my programming at various conventions for 2012, and I'm looking at doing a few out-of-state readings and signings later this year. Website updates are in the works.

Over on a message board I frequent, we've been talking about Plot vs. Story vs. Characterization, though it is not the epic battle royale it sounds from that description. No one is being bashed over the head with adverbs and tossed out with a form rejection stapled to their foreheads or anything like that.

I've found it interesting watching the folks who only write short fiction and the folks who are writing novels discuss their different perspectives concerning plot. The general consensus is that in short fiction a single plot is preferable, while longer works such as novels, novellas, feature scripts, and long plays, should (and frankly, these days are expected to) have subplots. Of course I could point out examples of short stories with two or even three plots running, and I can point to successful novels that only have the main plot and nothing less the general consensus stated about does seem to be the norm.

In genre fiction (SF/F/H/M/W/R/Thr and others) plot tends to be the emphasis, with characters and setting next in importance, while in what critics call contemporary, literary, or mainstream fiction, character and story tends to rule over plot. This is also a generalization, and of course some "genre" writers focus more on characterization or world-building, while I've seen some lovely plots in post-modern contemporary novels.

From a personal perspective as a writer, I like to write deep characterization first, plot and sub-plot second (grown from the character's desires and conflicts), and deal with world-building very little, hence I tend to write contemporary and urban fantasy with a smattering of magical realism and steampunk/supernatural westerns/supernatural Victoriana where I can use a "real world" setting and short hand the world-building.

I think that in short fiction everything, from paragraph to punctuation, has to advance the story in some way, either moving the plot or developing the characters, hopefully while deepening the sense of scene and place. I think you have more room to digress and get away with long descriptions in novels, though it should be used sparingly.

As always, your mileage may vary.

Last night I had a realization concerning the Non-SpecFic Contemporary Coming of Age Novella (man, I need a working title) I've been working on.

See, thing is, I've been a little confused about writing something so totally non-specific. I've flirted with mainstream/contemporary fiction in the past, writing fiction that was classified at magical realism and slipstream, including one story that was rejected by sf/f magazines because the fantasy element was too thin and rejected by mainstream magazines because the fantasy element was too strong. I've written and sold creative non-fiction and a couple of pieces of mainstream fiction. I try not to worry too much about the genre classification (or the lack of) of my pieces. Just write it and then worry about how to market the darn thing.

Still the fact that I am 10K into what for all purposes literary, not quite YA piece, and am looking at another 10K to 20K before the story wraps up has me a little worried about the whole "Where will I sell this?" thing.

I still haven't figured that out, by the way, but I have decided on something. This novella is freaking custom made to be turned into a screenplay. It's got all the right elements and looks like it would be the right size for a (on the smaller side) feature script.

I've been meaning to get into scripts, but I've been daunted at the idea, since I'll be teaching myself to work in that format. I think my novella The Horror at Cold Springs would make a rocking script, but the story is pretty complex; perhaps too complex for adapting to a script while I'm learning. But this contemporary coming of age tale is nice and straightforward, has some fun elements, has some good tension, is driven by the dialogue, and will have a pretty ambiguous up-to-the-readers-interpretation ending.

This realization makes me happy. Now I'm off to continue working on the piece.

Dear Writer,

Here’s the deal: Once the publisher releases your book out into the wild, once your book is in the hands of the reading public, it is no longer your book.

Yeah, your name is on the cover and spine. You wrote the words, constructed the plot, made sure of your themes, bent all of your not inconsiderable literary skills in the commission of lovingly constructing a narrative of unsurpassed beauty.

Good. That’s your job.

Thing is, no matter what you’ve done as a writer, the reader—the precious reader who we are trying to entertain in exchange for their latte and beer money—is going to bring their own interpretations, thoughts, unique tastes, biases, and all of themselves to your book. Their reading experience and interpretations of your prose is colored and informed by their life.

This is true for amateur reviewers. This is true for professional reviewers. This is true for any reader.

So I would caution you, Dear Writer, to not engage with reviews of any sort. I don’t care if the review is negative, snarky, mean-spirited, and calls your dog ugly. It doesn’t matter if you think the reviewer/reader completely missed the point of your deathless prose, intricate plot, and shiny themes.

Do not engage. Do not try to tell the reviewer why they are wrong, that they misread your story. Especially do not engage if the reviewer attacks not just your book, but you personally.

Leave it alone. Let them look like stupid jerks. Carry on with the business of writing The Next Thing. No matter how tempting, do not allow yourself to be drawn into what will be a very public confrontation that will, no matter what, make you look stupid.

You do not and cannot control what people say about the book once it is published, because it is not your book—or at least not your book alone—anymore. That’s part of the price you pay as a published author, this loss of control.

Take a deep breath. Settle at the keyboard. Write the next book (or whatever you write). Don’t engage. Don’t argue. Don’t fret about who is right or wrong. Don’t be a jerk.

Just write.

I’ve been in a bunch of different kinds of critique groups over the last 10 years (10 years!) of working as a writer. I spent several years on The Online Writers Workshop, until I started to feel like I’d gone about as far as I could with OWW and was worried about creeping group-think concerning what a story should and shouldn’t be (fyi, I still highly recommend OWW to pretty much every new writer I meet. OWW made me a competent semi-pro writer very quickly).

Then I was in a couple of different groups that exchanged informal email (international) critiques. I did this for a number of years, until they finally fell apart, like groups sometimes do. I was considering casting about for two or three people I thought I could trust to be first and beta readers, with the agreement that I would offer the same, when I was made an offer by an established local novelist group.

The novelist critique group I joined does “crits-as-they-go.” I admit to being very dubious about this. In the past my groups finished complete first and second drafts and submitted them around to members, and I am having trouble seeing how to give a deep and constructive crit when I can't see the entire form of the novel. I have trouble making deep comments when I don't know the arch of each character, how the plot unwinds, what themes reoccur, and the general tone of the piece.

If the group met to exchange pages weekly, I might feel better, since I could see the shape of the novel as it develops, but instead we have these big quarterly get-togethers, with people submitting no more than 10,000 words. Some members of the group get together once a month (or two) at a library to exchange smaller, less formal crits, usually 5K. The pace seems very slow, especially if -- like me -- your intent is to write at a clip that allows you to finish the first draft of at least two novels a year (I don’t much care for NaNoWriMo, but I do believe in the “Novel in 90” concept).

When I told them at the beginning of my membership that I was use to writing the first two complete drafts of a novel and then submitting it around to the other group members, they were stunned. One member made the comment, “You must be really sure of your novel and confidant in your skills in order to write a whole draft without any input.”

Well, yeah.

My fellow group members say this “crit-as-you-go” style helps them get insights, new ideas, and interesting points of view from a critique. That it enriches their WiP as it progresses, adds extra layers of ideas and complexity, helps them correct mistakes sooner rather than later, and allows them make a novel fuller by improving the plot and story with input from the other members.

It seems to me that all this writing really slowly with constant input is a recipe to become trapped in a cycle of rewriting, editing, rewriting, polishing, changing, rewriting, editing, rewriting and on and on. I also worry that “crit-as-you-go” might have a tendency to kill the author's unique voice -- that bit of the author that tends to come out in the early drafts when the writer is less fettered by worries like editing -- and that the writer will tend toward writing the novel the group thinks he/she is or should be writing, as opposed to the novel they would have written in early draft without constant input. This is one of the reasons I finally left The Online Writers Workshop.

On the flipside, I can see how this process would catch glaring plot holes and continuity problems early, saving the author lots of headache latter, so YMMV.

What are your thoughts on how best to get critiques for the early draft of a novel or novel-in-progress?

I will be interviewed this Saturday, September 17th on “Readings in Lesbian & Bisexual Women's Fiction." The discussion will focus on my novel Last Car to Annwn Station, including the "incongruity" of a straight male writing lesbian fiction. I will also do a short (one to three minutes) reading from the novel.

The Details:
Date: Saturday, September 17
Time: 3:00pm Central
URL: http://blogtalkradio.com/readingslab

There is a guest line at phone number (646) 929-1909 for anyone who might want to call in and/or ask questions live on air during the show.

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Last Car to Annwn Station. Available in ebook format at Carina Press, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and in audio format at Audible.

Should We Drown in Feathered Sleep. Available in ebook format at Carina Press, Amazon, B&N, and in audio format at Audible.