Creating With the Seasons, Part II: Writing

Happy Spring, everyone! Taxes, allergies, never knowing if the weather is hot or cold or simply freezing . . . Yes, it's a wonderful time of the year.

In my last post I wrote about finding ways to use the various seasons as a creative direction for my artwork, especially for the days when I was stuck wondering what to paint. For today's post I want to discuss how to use those same ideas as writing prompts, starting with:

Poetry. Although it's now a few days behind us, April was National Poetry Month and one of the ways I celebrated was experimenting with some haiku. You might recall learning to write one in school, something teachers love to promote as for some lucky reason children seem to excel at the form. In case you missed out on those lessons (say it isn't so!) haiku is a traditional three-line poem from Japan consisting of a five-syllable first line, a seven-syllable second line, and a third and final five-syllable line. One of the most important elements of haiku is that ideally there should be some mention, or at least a reference to the seasons. A good book on the subject that encourages daily haiku writing is Clark Strand's Seeds from a Beech Tree. Even the title to me implies a seasonal sensibility as I imagine all those birch seeds flying around in a spring breeze. Beautiful!

Scenes in your novel. Winter storms; mosquito-infested summer camping trips; constant autumn drizzle . . . all of these things can enhance both the mood and the action of a well-written scene. Not only can seasonal details add plenty of drama or humor, but they can also be what spurs the action: a summer cloudburst destroying a high-society wedding, or the fatal consequences of SADD (Seasonal Attention Deficit Disorder) in a Yorkshire-based murder mystery.

Writing an entire short story or novel set in one specific season. Limiting your timeline to one specific season can both tighten your pacing (e.g., a goal that must be achieved during an explosive summer abroad) as well as amplify your story's theme, e.g., end-of-year gift giving can be the catalyst for a wealth of character reactions, from over-the-top shopping sprees to deep and dark financial woes, all to be dealt with during a single season of joy.

Use the seasons to bookend a story or novel. Begin your story in spring; end in spring twenty years later. Choosing a significant, stand-out season to begin and end a narrative can provide a satisfying sense of closure for both your characters and your readers.

Give your characters passionate reasons to love or hate an individual season. We all have favorite times of the year and so should your characters. Consider how the seasons might affect your characters' health, happiness, and/or plans for the future. What if they need to travel at a certain time of year, but their choices are blocked when they encounter overbooked hotels and flights which then spark entirely new challenges and obstacles to overcome. Or perhaps they suffer from "anniversary syndrome," every year reliving some terrible event from a distant summer that leaves them devastated and struggling to meet any challenges at all.

Seasonal or holiday foods. In some of my previous posts I've written about how much I enjoy books that include descriptions of food or cooking. I like authors who feed their characters as opposed to those who insist their heroine save the world with only a cup of coffee to sustain her, and she drank it three mornings ago. Showing your characters eat or prepare seasonal foods for any given holiday or time of the year is a great way to add metaphoric as well as literal descriptions of culture and character attitude (positive and negative) as seamlessly as possible.

Bundle up, or dress down for comfort. Be sure to keep your characters warm or cool with appropriately seasonal clothing. Then again, if you really want to torture 'em, ensure that they've got it all wrong: a padded raincoat in August; a summer dress for a winter party. I know from experience how difficult it can be to not have the right outfit at the worst possible time. Years ago I traveled to New Zealand in the middle of their winter (American summer) and due to an airline snafu I ended up staying in hot, humid Tahiti for two weeks with a suitcase full of sweaters and socks. Fortunately it was easy enough to buy myself a pareu and a new bathing suit to beat the heat and not stand out like a misinformed tourist, but think about how much trouble you could create for a fictional character in a similar situation. Heat rash, anyone?

Seasonal Journals. There's nothing quite as special as a journal dedicated to capturing the beauty and essence of the seasons. Whether it's an art journal, a travel journal, or a nature or gardening journal, writing down your impressions and activities amidst the changing of the seasons is a journal to keep forever.

Tip of the Day: In case you're considering writing a holiday novel, children's picture book, screenplay, or a series of craft articles for magazines, keep in mind to write and submit your material well in advance of a seasonal publication date. Six months to several years in advance of your chosen holiday is never too early. Some tricks to help with writing about fruit cake while you're sunbathing can include decorating a section of your writing space with a miniature Christmas tree in July, or doing the same with beach towels, sea shells, and resort posters in the depths of winter. Never let what the thermometer reads hinder your imagination.

7 Ways to Stay Creative Every Day

 

Quick pastel pencil and watercolor study on Arches paper. 20 minutes.

Stay creative every day. It's a great idea, but how do you really put it into practice? Especially on the days when time goes by like quicksilver and you barely have time to breathe, let alone work on your novel or latest series of pen and ink marine sketches.

Life has been a lot like that for me this last month. I'm lucky if I get to revise a single WIP page a day. Don't even mention editing a full chapter. But none of that means I've given up on my creativity or any of my on-going projects. What it does mean is that I've had to maintain momentum, keeping the ball rolling on the days when my time and energy are so limited it seems I will never complete a single project this year.

After a lot of trial and error, though, I've discovered seven things I can do to keep my creativity afloat on both the good and bad days, starting with: 

1. Eat breakfast. Lunch and dinner too. Not only is a balanced, healthy diet good for boosting your spirits and stamina throughout the day, it can also be an overlooked source of daily creativity. Preparing meals that you enjoy on both a culinary and visual level can easily go beyond just finding something to eat. How about sketching, photographing, or writing about your favorite meals before or after eating? Who knows, you might end up with a cookbook, or a memoir. If nothing else you can add the same meals to feed your fictional characters on the written page. I love books that make me hungry for a serving of pad thai or a plate of brie and fresh garden pears. For some helpful ideas on how to use food in your writing as well as what to cook for yourself, visit my posts on how to use food in your writing, along with vegetarian meal suggestions and how to make The Colonel's Muesli for the best breakfast ever.

2. Find time to sit still and do nothing. Call it a nap, meditation, or sheer idleness, but it's good to sit still, close your eyes, and release the need to "stay busy" for at least 15 minutes a day. Be comfortable with letting the world spin for a bit without feeling that you have to help push it along. Once you've learned to relax into "non-action" you'll also be amazed at how many ideas and solutions to creative dilemmas will come to mind.

3. Spend 20 minutes making friends with your tools and materials. Experiment. Play. Scribble some pastels on toned paper. Arrange some magazine cut-outs into a quick collage or a found poem. Freewrite with purple gel pens. The key is to go fast. In under half an hour you'll have accomplished at least two objectives: 1) You've exercised your creative muscles, and 2) You will have a piece of art or writing that can either be considered a finished piece or a starting point for further exploration. And all on the day you thought you'd never get anything done. A genuine win-win.

4. Read. I can't imagine a day without reading--fiction, nonfiction, poetry, screenplays--and I hope you can't either. Literature feeds the soul. To me it's as important (maybe more so!) as food. The only downside to falling in love with a wonderful book or story is wanting to stay with it, "just one more chapter!" Which is usually when you realize you've been reading so long you haven't done a thing to foster your own creative pursuits. My answer to this is to set a timer for when I want to read during the day (30 minutes is perfect), or I use reading as a reward, what I get to do after I've written my own word quotas or filled in a few sketchbook pages. Another tactic is to read only at night, choosing a book over a movie or TV program.

5. Declutter. Toss or recycle at least one item a day: an old piece of mail; a worn-out T-shirt; a spool with 10 inches of thread left on it. We all have things that are unnecessary, taking up needed space without adding anything in return, or belongings that we can't stand having in our lives any longer. The other night I overhead someone say, "If you don't like it, throw it away." At first I was a little shocked, but then it made total sense. How can you maintain a creative life with things that disturb you, or that keep you stuck in some debilitating way? Surround yourself with only what inspires you, or as Marie Kondo teaches, "brings you joy."

6.  Develop a "limited" journal style. While journaling is always an excellent creative pursuit in itself, it can easily be neglected while we're immersed in a larger project. Either we're too busy to journal, or worse, feel we don't have anything to write about. My answer here is to think in terms of 12. Open your journal and number from 1-12, leaving as much space between lines as you think you'll need to express a full thought. When you're finished, jot down twelve amazing things that happened during the day. Or twelve things you liked about the book you're reading, or twelve things you don't like. Twelve things to be grateful for. Twelve possibilities for your next WIP scene. Twelve things you'd like to paint or draw. Use any of the twelve points as subjects to journal about in more depth when you have more time.

7. Set out what you need to accomplish your next day's work. Before you go to bed each night, choose what it is you want to do with your creativity the following day or weekend. Perhaps you want to work on a particular chapter of your WIP, or you want to prepare a collection of magazine headlines to have ready for a found poem. Decide what you need to have available to fulfill your task and then assemble the pieces, laying everything on your desk or work space in advance. Set out your notes, your chapter drafts, your fountain pens, reference photos, paper and paints in one convenient place. When you're ready to work, every pen, dictionary, and chocolate bar is there for you, no excuses and no wasted time hunting down your tools.

Tip of the Day: Staying creative every day is really about living creatively every day. Paying extra attention to things we might not regard as inherently "creative" can turn the ho-hum into the spectacular. Choosing to wear our "good clothes" for an ordinary outing; adding extra sparkle and personality to an email; making a gift for a friend; planting a summer garden--it all adds up to a wonderful, and creative, life. Enjoy!

Food, Glorious Food!

I've been thinking a lot about food, mainly because I haven't been able to eat much of it thanks to an emergency dental issue. All my favorite go-to writing snacks, e.g. carrot sticks, wasabi crackers, tortilla chips, cheese, etc. have been put on hold in favor of soup and endless glasses of water-and-lemon. And if you think writing and liquids make a good combo, let me tell you, they do not.

I don't know why I get so hungry when I write, and it's even worse when I read. I am a born snacker-grazer (thank goodness I love carrots) and one of my pet peeves when reading an otherwise engaging book is the lack of any mention or description of food. Whether the characters are dining on lobster bisque at a five-star luxury resort, or heating up beenie-weenies on a campfire, I want to know. 

Food, to me, is vital to a story: Meg's first disastrous dinner "party" in Little Women; Proust and his madeleine dipped in tea; "Babette's Feast"; Like Water for Chocolate; William Saroyan eating a messy peach in The Human Comedy. In other words, a story without food is like some miserable diet--impossible to follow!

Both the consumption and preparation of food can play a magical part in your own writing. For instance,

• Food can be the basis of an entire memoir: one triggered by family recipes; favorite holiday meals; what you cooked when where, and why; favorite cookbooks; good and bad restaurant experiences. Tip: a fun way to start is to write a recipe as a letter to a friend--real or imaginary. Spin off into tangents of freewriting as you go.
• Food can be the subject of a poem or short story, or a whole collection.
• Food and meal prep can be great ways to "show, don't tell" when exploring fictional characters, and even writing action scenes. What do your characters love, hate, won't for anything? What about their attitudes to cooking--good, bad, indifferent? Do they prefer to order take-out? How do they feed kids, pets, spouses? Are they vegetarian, gluten-free, suffer from unusual food allergies? What's their favorite snack, adult beverage, brand of chocolate? There are so many possibilities I sometimes think you could write a complete character-bio made up solely of food choices and experiences.

Some other ways to include food in your writing can be to:

• Create a character who specializes in food preparation and the pleasures of the table: A chef, a restaurant owner, a food critic, an artisan cheese maker.
• Dig into cookbooks and food magazines. Both are excellent resources when you need to find new meals for your characters to enjoy, especially if you're writing about characters in foreign settings. I'm a great fan of food magazines in particular and often cut out the actual recipes along with the accompanying gorgeous photos to place in my work-in-progress files. The photos can later be used for painting references and collage elements. 
• Use your favorite restaurant as a setting. Better yet--try writing while you're there!
• Never overlook the opportunity to write your own cookbook, how-to article, or restaurant review, whether for print or online. The same applies to starting and maintaining a food blog if you find yourself falling in love with the idea of culinary writing in all its many aspects.

However you choose to write about food, the one thing I'd like to suggest is never ignore it. There's nothing worse, I think, than to read about a character who never eats unless he or she is some kind of mystic or suffering from an eating disorder. I once read an otherwise excellent mystery set in Barcelona, the home of the world's best tapas, where the characters lived on nothing but coffee. They didn't even get cake! I couldn't stop wondering how they maintained enough energy to catch the bad guys when they never stopped at a single cafe or convenience store. I was starving by the time I finished the book. 

Tip of the Day: As fun as it is to gorge characters on sushi and streudel, you don't want to bore your readers with endless step-by-step descriptions of all-day banquets or baking marathons. Like the best recipes: keep it light, keep it simple, and always keep it tasty. Bon appétit! 

P.S. The good news is my mouth is on the mend--I'll soon be crunching on those yummy carrots in no time at all! See you next time.