Art Inspires Art

by Mary Aalgaard

I have been rather disconnected from this group and blog, and I'm glad to be reconnected. When my story, "One More Minute" was selected for the 2018 anthology, Tick Tock: A Stitch in Crime, I was thrilled. I loved being part of the group who were promoting the book and their stories. I miss that camaraderie. I even made a book trailer for the book!

Tick Tock: A Stitch in Crime Book Trailer

I've tried writing novels. I get to a certain point, then abandon them. I've written a couple short stories, now, that have been published. I like getting the writing prompts and know the parameters for the story. The challenge of keeping the word count down and still creating a compelling story appeals to me.

Mary Aalgaard and Jeanne Cooney

It's Murder, Dontcha Know?

Stage Play Reading at Central Lakes College

Brainerd, MN

In addition to writing, I enjoy going to the theater and have built up a reputation in the Minneapolis/St. Paul theater community for writing reviews. I'm studying the craft all the time. So, when Jeanne Cooney, a local author and friend, asked me to write a stage adaptation for her book, It's Murder, Dontcha Know?, I said, yes, without hesitation. I've enjoyed the process of bringing the page to the stage, as they say, reading and rereading the novel, pulling out dialogue and looking for the most dramatic parts. I worked with the local community college theater department and director Joseph Yow to develop it. We had a stage reading of the play at the end of September with local actors reading the parts. Jeanne was in the audience and took extensive notes! I have work to do to revise and edit the play and have great expectations of seeing it fully produced some day.

Mary Aalgaard with cast and crew

Playwright Mary Aalgaard and

Director Joey Yow

After the reading, several people talked to me about the process. They told me that they felt inspired to do more creative work after being part of this project. In my opinion, the project is already a success. I'm so glad that people told me about their inspiration and what they plan to work on in the future.

I believe that Art inspires Art. When we see people doing something they love, from making music to writing stories, and all the other creative endeavors you can imagine, we feel the stirrings to also create. I hope that you all have wonderful, creative projects in the works and that you are able to see them through and witness the wonderful ripple effect of putting it out there to inspire others!

Mary Aalgaard writes theater reviews and supports the arts through her blog Play off the Page. She teaches youth theater workshops in the Brainerd lakes area of Minnesota, writes articles for regional magazines, and works with both seniors and youth in multi-generational programs to enhance quality of life and build community. Email her at Mary@playoffthepage.com. Find out more:

mary.aalgaard@yahoo.com | Blog | Twitter: @MaryAalgaard

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How do writers do it?

PLOTTER VS PANTSER

We asked our FIRST LOVE Anthology authors to give us a glimpse into their Writing Processes - Plotter? Pantser? or a Mix of Both? Here's what they said...

On top of the world -- Oia, Santorini

I definitely began my writing career as a Pantser which is now more kindly known as a Discovery Writer. Not to say I didn't TRY to be a Plotter, but it just didn't stick. Now, like many writers, I combine both. I roughly outline chapters I'd like to write, then find my beginning, then "discover" my story as I write. Usually, I dump my ideas under forthcoming chapter headings, calling these the "bare bones" waiting to be fleshed out. During this process, I rely heavily on my critique partners and the occasional editor friend. 

As I'm very visual, my best stories have been written after immersing myself in another country, another culture. For example, the story I wrote for the IWSG Romance Anthology was based on a gem of an idea that surfaced during a trip to Santorini in the Greek Islands which was followed by lots of research into its tragic history. I find it easy to put myself into the place of my characters and suffer along with them. 

-- Denise Covey, Marmalade Sunset

I am a plotter. At least, I am now. I went in sans plan with my first novel—a vampire romance (Thank you very much, Stephanie Meyer.) Much like a creature of the night, that book will never see the light of day. Well, I say never, but who knows. Trends are cyclical. If the vampire craze finds new life, maybe I’ll dust it off and start over…with an outline this time. 

-- Kim Elliott, Clyde and Coalesce

I am a mix of a plotter and a pantser. I like to have a good foundation for the story and its structure to make sure I have an actual story and an idea of where it's going, but if I plan too much, I have a hard time wanting to write. Part of the fun of writing is discovering the characters and their journey, and I find I don't know that well enough until I start writing in the main character's voice and putting them in sticky situations. The downside is I then often have big structural revisions because I use the first draft partially as a discovery tool but, as they say, you can't edit a blank page, so having something down leads me to the final version, even if it's not the most efficient way. 

-- Sammi Spizziri, The Real Thing

I’m an outliner. It was very necessary for my five book series where I had to keep track of the overlapping stories as they moved forward in time. It was also necessary for my two non-fiction titles. (Critical!) However, the project I am working on now is a bit more free-form. Three of the stories were plotted mostly in my head and the fourth is a re-write of a very old story. 

I used to edit as I went, but now I finish a story first before going back to edit. And 99% of my fiction pieces originated from a dream. So, sometimes it’s a challenge just to write a story that make sense. 

-- L. Diane Wolfe, Dancing Lemur Press, L.L.C.

I'm a bit of both a pantser and a plotter. I never preplan. I always start out with an idea, scene, or emotion and write until I can’t go anymore. When I run out of steam, I take a break and then write out an outline or sets of goals for the story and its characters. I never take less than four passes at a manuscript before sharing with others for feedback. 

-- Sylvia Ney, Paper Faces

My writing process looks a lot like being attacked by butterflies. If butterflies carried ten pound cannonballs, dropping them randomly and maliciously. I'll be in the middle of doing something useful, like cooking dinner, when the butterflies choose to chuck a giant idea on me. WHAM, 'What if we wrote a story based on that meme we saw? That really funny one? About beauty seeing the library and becoming an instant roommate to the beast whether he likes it or not?'. With all the ideas fluttering about, you could definitely call me a Pantser. I take an idea after it lands on my head, and run with it. Sometimes I fall flat on my face and the idea goes into the discard bin. Sometimes it works, and the idea turns into a story. I've never met such thing as an outline. They tend to avoid me. I think it's all the butterflies.

-- SE White, The Castle of Ohno

The way it generally goes is that I get an idea for a story and start writing it. Then I get bored of the idea (or I get stuck), so I come up with a new idea and start working on that until I’m bored or stuck. Now, you might think that at this point I go back to work on Idea #1, but you’d be wrong. I usually come up with a third idea. The upshot of all this is that I generally have between three and ten different stories that I’m “working on” at any given moment and it’s six-to-five and pick ‘em which one I will eventually finish. In fact, it’s genuinely surprising that I manage to finish anything at all. 

-- Templeton Moss, My First Love(s)

My writing process is painful. I cannot stop myself from editing as I go. I cannot write the next sentence until I've composed the "perfect" sentence, or the next paragraph until I have perfected the last one, or the next chapter... you get the idea. The good news is, once I've finished my first "draft," my manuscript is pretty much ready to go. Unless I think of a major plot twist, in which case I have to go back and revise all my "perfect" sentences and paragraphs and chapters. And since I'm more of a pantser than a plotter, that happens a lot. As I said, painful!

-- Linda Budzinski, The Art of Making Doughnuts

I’m a mix of a plotter and pantser. I go into the story with a baseline of who my characters are and what I want to happen, but I always leave room for the magic. I love when my characters surprise me, so if they happen to veer off course, I adjust my plans to accommodate. I suppose that makes me a plantser. :)

-- Katie Klein, How to Save a Princess

I plot the basic story, then I half-plot, half-pants the scenes. I flesh out my plot notes in paragraph form, right in the drafting document, and delete them as I go. This allows me to jump forward and write a scene out of order if I get a burst of inspiration.

-- Melissa Maygrove, My Heart Approves

And there you have it, some insightful examples of different ways to get through the writing process. What about you? Are you a plotter or a pantser or a little of both? Can you relate to some of these writing processes? Maybe you found something new to try.

Whichever way you write, keep writing!

Feeling Lucky?

Where do writers get their inspiration?

That's what we asked our IWSG #7 FIRST LOVE authors this month, and here's what they said...

"I find inspiration and ideas in so many places: while dreaming, exercising, reading a great book, watching a good movie, listening to music, traveling – anything that gets me away from work and relaxed. I try to read and write every day. I read a variety of fiction genres, books on the craft, and blogs of other authors. I have a variety of interests and hobbies. I love learning about the history of other cultures, and studying people. There is so much inspiration in the world. The human race is an astounding species and we've been capable of some of the most amazing and horrific acts. Those universal traits can inspire so many tales - both fiction and nonfiction." -- Sylvia Ney, Paper Faces

"Inspiration for stories can come from anywhere. All it takes is something to make me imagine a scene, and my writer's brain runs with it. If I feel it's worthy enough to turn into a book, I jot the idea in a folder of story ideas and save it.

The inspiration for my debut novel, Come Back, came from a nonfiction book I was reading with my daughter. It was about a teen girl traveling on the Oregon Trail. It mentioned the many possessions -even furniture- that westward travelers threw out along the side of the trail to lighten the weight of the wagons. I thought, "Hm... If I can find a way to get the heroine left behind, she could use that stuff to survive until the hero found her." I felt so clever, until I remembered I had to come up with the rest of the plot." -- Melissa Maygrove, My Heart Approves

"Once a year, I mount an expedition to the Caves of Samalando, wherein is located the Lake of Krambastallah, home to the Great Spirit Fish, Ted. I speak to Ted the ancient, sacred words (“Murfreesboro, Tennessee”) and in return, he gifts me with a Stone of Inspiration, providing me with all the creative ideas I need for the next twelve months. It’s a dangerous and complex process, but the upside is I can claim the whole thing as a business expense and write it off my taxes. Ted is a dependent." -- Templeton Moss, My First Love(s)

"I’m inspired by books, movies, TV, real life…pretty much everything. Usually it starts with finding a character or scene that I can’t get out of my mind. If I’m still thinking about it days later, I start asking “What if?” What if that character were evil instead of good? What if the story happened in a different time period? Before long, I’ve gone down so many rabbit holes that I’m left with something brand new and exciting!" -- Kim Elliot, Clyde and Coalesce

"Old Europe has always been my favorite destination and became the inspiration for my stories, from flash fiction to full-length novels. From my six months of living in France, and countless visits to Paris, I have so many story ideas filling my head and my notebooks. I've published my first Paris novel, a womens' fiction/romance, Paris Dreams, which combines my love of fashion and art. I am working on the next which highlights traditional French cooking. My vampire romance series is set in Renaissance Italy, which combines my love of history with my deep love for Italy. Writing stories inspired by my travels means I can vicariously visit any time I wish." -- Denise Covey, Marmalade Sunset

"I’m not entirely sure, but I’ve come to believe that writers co-create with the universe—that it offers us bits and pieces of information/inspiration because it wants us to do something with them. It’s happened when listening to music, while watching movies, when a character’s name fell right into my lap…. It’s never just 'thinking' about something; it always feels like more, somehow. So I take these bits and pieces and ruminate on them, adding and subtracting in the best interest of the story, and draw on whatever additional insights the universe is willing to toss my way with gratitude as I work toward 'The End.'" -- Katie Klein, How to Save a Princess

Inspiration comes from anywhere and everywhere. Writers have a special ability to find a story from the smallest whisper to the most powerful bang, from past reality to future fantasy. Let your imagination run wild!