Inkabout L. Darby Gibbs

Science Fiction & Fantasy author

Tools for writing

Lu Chi’s Wen Fu

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When I was in college, one of the books a professor required we purchase was Lu Chi’s Wen Fu.  Just reading the introduction convinced me this was a book for me.   The book is written in poetry, but reads like a guide you climbed to the top of a mountain to sit with in silence, growing knowledgeable just through association.  Though it is geared toward the poet, any writer can gain insight from it.

“The poet stands at the center of the universe
   contemplating the enigma,

drawing sustenance
   from masterpieces of the past.  (“The Early Motion” lines 1-4)

Lu Chi’s Wen Fu

This simple book walks the writer through all the agonies of creation, the selection of the right word, bright epiphanies and the moments of satisfaction.  Frequently, it reminds the reader that contemplation and study of  master works is the road to writing well.  I remember reading this book and nodding in agreement with each line.  I also recall finding every time the professor brought this book into discussion in class that I knew what he was saying almost before the words left his mouth.  There was an instant connection to the professor’s words, this little book and my own understanding of the art of writing, however much a novice I was (and will always be as we are forever evolving in this craft).

If you are a writer, get this book.  Read it in small bits.  Breath it.  Contemplate it and then read the masters.  Then read the book again, whole, part, in sequence, out of order.  Grab snatches of it and return to it often.  Each reading is a new understanding, a new breath in writing.

Writing and kayaking: where worlds overlap

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Meandering rivers & minds

This past weekend I went kayaking with my husband and daughter.  We parked by a little lake and proceeded to launch our kayaks. Ready to go exploring, we had all been eying the source creek to our left. 

We didn’t get far into the creek before the lake disappeared and all sounds common to a lake full of campers were so dimmed that only the birds, movement of water and occasional flying wasp were heard.  I had deliberately let my husband and daughter slide on ahead of me and pass beyond the next curve just so I could take in that feeling that I was somewhere far from civilization. 

Along the banks were tight growths of trees, many of which have been undercut by resent high water flow, some having fallen partially across the creek added to the untouched feel of the place.  The cardinals and black ducks complained at our presence, and the fish were well camouflaged by the turbid water. 

I allowed the pretense of being utterly alone soak in.  Much of the sky was blocked by the canopy of trees overhead, but what showed was pale blue with occasional slashes of white clouds.  We had set out on a windy day, yet on that creek, no breeze stirred the trees, and along some lengths of the meandering river even the water was torpid and silty, where slender, curved leaves floated in stillness.

This same sense of being alone and in a untenanted place happens when I write.  The rest of the room I am in disappears and just the images filling the screen in front of me and the soft clack of the keyboard are my world.  I suppose that is why I enjoy kayaking alone so much, even if only a turn in the river up ahead creates the illusion.  The two experiences mirror each other.  I am exploring an unknown space of my own creation, my imagination building up a world.  But like the turn of the river ahead, a turn of my chair brings family up close again.

When your character is in trouble, or you need them to be

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Mad Scientist

There is a lovely little book called The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook.  This book is great if you are looking for a problem for your character to handle or your character is in a predicament you are uncertain how to bring to a proper conclusion.  Chances are this book or its travel version, will have the perfect get out, get in, get them before they get him/her idea that will fit your plot handily.  Comedy or serious trouble, this book will provide.  Is your character being followed, lost in the woods, dealing with a volcanic eruption?  Check out this book.  Scam artist, runaway horse, mad scientist…..

How to write good dialogue

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Writer at work

Teaching dialogue is not easy, partly because we all talk without paying attention. To write dialogue you have to have paid attention to others talking.  But that’s eavesdropping!  Okay, so listen without making any judgements, and definitely don’t make any faces or any shocked sounds in response to what you hear.  This is scientific research; be objective about it.

  • So listen.  Note how two (or more) people talk without really responding directly to what each person is saying.  This is important. We rarely answer questions directly because we often don’t want to give away anything important, and we have other things on our mind at the time and want to share or not share those things, so we tend to answer off topic.  Also, if we have a long term relationship with the person, we are going to talk in a sort of short hand, fragments, incomplete sentences. Some writers like to mimic this very tightly, others prefer to write in complete sentences while maintaining all other aspects of authentic speech.

Example:
“Honey, where did you put my keys?”
“You never gave me any keys.”
“No. They were here on the table, where your hat is now. So where did you move my keys?”
“There weren’t any keys when I put my hat there.”

  • Note, the person responding to the question has not once answered the question.  The hat person is more worried about being blamed for losing the keys then helping the key person find them.

  • Dialogue also needs to be essential.  Don’t waste time with dialogue that isn’t offering something: characterization, rising action, relationship dynamics and such. 

So in the above situation, maybe the hat person does in fact have keys, but they are the keys to a new car, and hat person just wants to get key person to get frustrated enough to confront him, so he can then jangle them in key person’s face, get that reaction he has been hoping for.

  • Add action, physical movement, reactions, etc., to create a greater sense of individuality and scene for the reader.

Modified example:
     Jill picked up the sweaty baseball cap and peered beneath it at the otherwise empty hall table.  She tipped the cap to look inside and then called over her shoulder loud enough to be heard in the next room, “Honey, where did you put my keys?”
     “You never gave me any keys,” was the muffled reply.
     “Noooo,” she stretched the word in mild irritation.  “They were here on the table.”  She clenched the hat tightly and dropped it back down.  “Where you hat is now.” Pivoting on one heel, she turned to the doorway.  “So where did you move my keys?”
     This time the response held the same note of irritation as her own, “There weren’t any keys when I put my hat there.”

Daily Workout Apps and writing

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I am a happier writer when I am fit, but working as a teacher, parenting a teen, wifing a husband, running a household and writing often keep me out of my fitness loop.  However, once February hits, my time seems to be less congested.  I haven’t quite figured out why this is, but every year it happens. So here I am about three days early getting back into my fitness routine.

Daily Workout App

The best source of quick fitness I have been able to find came after I got an iPod touch which I have since replaced with an iPhone.  But what I found was an app called Daily Ab Workout by Daniel Miller.  The free version is set up with a 5-minute workout that really works my abs.  I soon found several other Daily Workouts for other muscle groups by the same person and downloaded them all. Combined together, they form a good 20-minute workout and are individually set up to be extended to 7 1.2 minutes and 10 minutes for each workout focus area as I grow in fitness. (I did download the full versions in the end, which gave me a second workout for each and the ability to randomize or customize the workouts.  But the free versions are great.)

When I am fit, I feel good, and I write with more vigor because my mind is sharper. I am pretty happy with myself generally, but when I am fit, I am that bit more confident and comfortable with my self.  So now I am pleasantly sore and feel my muse gaining muscle.

Perfect match: Smashwords.com

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I graduated from a small college and now teach at a small school and live in an even smaller town.  I married my high school sweetheart and have one child with him.  I like the simple life and feeling comfortable with whom I am dealing with.

I graduated with high honors from that college, teach at a school where I am considered one of their finest teachers, and I know nearly all the parents of the children I teach.  I have been married to my husband for more than 30 years and would change very little of it (a miscarriage and a bout with Lyme disease, I could have lived without), and my daughter is a beautiful, kind, intelligent and creative young lady.  Even my dogs are smaller than their breed is expected to be.  (Their parents were huge, but somehow it didn’t translate.)  But they have so much heart and loyalty, that they’re bigger in what counts than any dog on the block.

That is why I chose to publish my ebook (and future books) with Smashwords. I knew I was coming in on the ground floor of greatness.  It keeps growing, and I know I am going to grow with it. Sure I probably gave up the power of the big boys by not going with Kindle at Amazon or Barnes & Noble, but Smashwords felt right to me.  I wanted small, where I feel good about the people I am depending on.  I wanted to gain expertise as I went along, and I wanted to see the bones behind the operation.  That’s what I get with Smashwords.

I checked out Kindle and Barnes & Noble, but I found contract obligations where I wanted author-centered philosophy.  Limitation where I wanted possibility, and a tight grip where I wanted ease of use and access. Certainly  paper publishers have that greater experience which should not be scoffed at; it’s what made them great. Those large distributors did not get this big by ignoring change; they
will catch up, regroup and adapt to the power authors now can have.  But at Smashwords, Mark Coker is already looking at publishing and distribution with a fresh view. Smashwords was developed to build the relationship between author and distributor with the future of electronic publishing in mind rather than the process that was successful in the past.  I am at the start of my writing career, whatever depth of success I am likely to earn, and I think I am going to feel a whole lot better rising with the tide with Smashwords, learning how to swim in this publishing and distribution ocean with them.

I have bought numerous paper books from Bantam, Dell, Tor, Ace, Daw, Del-Rey, etc., etc., and I would have loved to be published by them.  I now own a Sony reader and read, almost exclusively, ebooks.  So here I am in the age of the e-book with the opportunity to publish my writing.  I can do that with Smashwords.

See Mark Coker’s “Smashwords Year in Review 2011” blog post for all the other reasons why I think Smashwords is right for me.