The Lorax

re-posting a blog...


Everything I Thneed to Know About Writing and Publishing I Learned from THE LORAX

Posted: 09 Jun 2013 03:00 AM PDT

School is officially out for the summer in my part of the world. For those of us who are parents working mostly from home, this is both a joy and a curse. I love having my son home with me, but it is much more difficult to work. Which is approximately 56 hours of any given day. Living in a single-level, two-bedroom apartment only exacerbates the issue, especially when my son decides to watch his movies at full volume in the room adjacent to my “office”, aka this sad little corner of my kitchen table. There is not even a wall between my work space and the living room.

Despite the insta-migraine this creates, my brain adapts to the situation by attempting to make every bit of data it collects from my environment relevant to my work. A few days ago, my son was watching The Lorax, which is a brilliant movie based on a brilliant book. But it’s very colorful and loud and not very conducive to the quiet time required to get my work done. After I’d downed a shot of Excedrin between jovial exclamations of “Thneedville! Thneedville!” the mind meld began. Everything I saw and heard in the other room was suddenly relevant to what I was doing in my sad little corner of writing and editing.

1. When a story begins with seemingly happy characters in a seemingly perfect world, there had better be Utter Doom ahead.

2. According to O’Hare Air, people will buy anything in a plastic bottle. So put your books in plastic bottles and watch your sales soar!

3. Don’t let anything stand in the way of your author dreams. Unless those dreams require deforestation. In that case, eBooks!
4. When the going gets tough, the tough eat marshmallows.
5. The Once-ler repeatedly cut his story short and told Ted that if he wanted the rest of the story he’d have to come back another day. Give the reader what they want, but not all at once. Holding back the juicy bits until just the right moment can draw out the tension.
6. The Once-ler: “How nice to see someone so undeterred by things like, reality.”
Author, defined.
7. The Lorax: “Nobody’s gonna buy that thing.”
The Once-ler: “Well, fortunately, you’re not the target market. Weirdo.”
Ignore the haters. You aren’t writing for those weirdos.

8. The success of the Once-ler’s Thneed comes out of nowhere.
No one knows why certain books take off and others don’t. But when a book does skyrocket, people are going to notice, and then they have to see what all the fuss is about. And then everyone thinks they need to read that book, even if they know they won’t like it, just so they can have an opinion on it. This can work in your favor. It can also not work for you at all. As was the case with the Once-ler, a jolt of unexplained success is not always good for the long run.
9. Ted’s main goal is to get a tree for Audrey. Half-way through the movie, when Grammy asks if the Once-ler has told him how to get a tree yet, his answer is no. In fact, Ted doesn’t get that tree for her until the very end.
Here’s the thing about main plot goals–they require the entire length of the story to achieve. Whatever the main goal of the plot that’s presented at the outset, this will be resolved at the climax. No sooner. Every minor goal along the way is a building block toward completing the major goal. Conflicts must arise that cause setbacks. New goals must be made to overcome those hurdles, all with an eye toward crossing the finish line.
You must know what your protagonist’s main plot goal is so you can keep him from reaching it until the very end. If the main conflict is resolved too soon, the tension is lost. At best, the ending falls flat. At worst, you lose the reader before they even get to the end.
10. The Once-ler’s family is all-too ready to help. After his invention is in demand. When you are successful, everyone you’ve ever known will claim to have been in support of you all along. This is an inevitable sack of lies. Be prepared for it.
11. The Once-ler’s mother: “You have to do what’s best for the company. And your mama.”
Actually you have to do what’s best for you and your stories, that’s it. I’ve heard this can mean displeasing your mother from time to time. ~whistles innocently~

12. Every villain is a hero in his own mind. The Once-ler truly believed his destruction of the forest was a good thing in the big picture because he was providing something people wanted.

13. As soon as the Truffula trees are gone, so is everything and everyone else. No more Thneeds, no more need. Then Mr. O’Hare steps in by providing the new thing people need–fresh air. If you chase a trend, you’re replaceable as soon as the next trend rises. And there is no guarantee the trend that brought you “success” will ever rise again.

14. “Let it grow, let it grow!”

True of your imagination, your stories, and your career. Because the only thing that doesn’t change in the world of publishing is that the world of publishing constantly changes.

 

Asking questions.

"The patient has all the answers, they are the expert in their diseases...it's up to the doc to ask the right questions."
--Dr. Larry Weed, MD. Inventor of the "problem-oriented medical record, and guest lecturer at Tufts Medical around 1981.

* * * *

I wish I'd kept track. The number of times per year that I pulled out the above quote from Dr. Weed...probably about 10 or 20. Over my eighteen or so years of part- and full-time teaching, that's a lot of med students and residents whom I hope to have influenced. That one bullet point from a lecture made a huge diff in my practice and my teaching.

Later teachers called it, "Patient-centered medical care." Duh. Except that in the rush in the mid-20th century to specialize and sub-specialize, along with mastering the increasingly predominant lab and technology involved in modern medicine...right, you guessed it (or, you were there)...the patient rather got lost in the weeds out beyond left field, and the old-time GP (general practitioner) was elbowed aside as a curmudgeonly and irrelevant old uncle...oh, and, ignorant, too.

Well, what goes around...in 1969, the GPs decided that riding in the baggage car of the medical train was no fun: the American Academy of Family Practice was formed, in an effort to keep alive the practice of medicine that was indeed patient-focused rather than disease-focused. I just loved being a family doc, with the challenges of knowing a whole lot in both breadth and in depth, and guiding my patients through the congested landscape of modern, technological, specialist-laden medical practice.

The best part was asking questions of my patients. Wide open questions. Questions that you could drive a truck through, such as, "So, tell me more about this problem..."
and, my favorite, "Okay, give me more details....uh-huh, what else?"

Writing is kinda like that, except one part of my brain poses the question, and another part tells the fingers what is the answer.

"Tell me more about how those guys escape. Details, please."
[Sound effect of quill scratching away on parchment.]


Writing...don't try to have all the right answers...but pray to ask the right questions. Hmm, do you suppose that works in other arenas? [Relationships? Religion? An alternative to ranting?]

God wants us to grow and discover

God wants us to grow and discover...and He accompanies us as we pursue deeper knowledge and understanding of Him and His world and His people.
                 --Loyola Press, daily retreats.

*  *  *

"...pursue deeper knowledge and understanding..." I really like that. Reminds me of the mental ferment of college/med school. While I enjoyed learning in high school, much was just factual knowledge, but college was much more analytical. "Why didn't we ever explore the 'whys' like this in high school? I'd have loved US History then!" was one thought that came back rather often. Or, reading stuff like the bio of Ben Franklin or John Adams--that gives a framework on which to hang US history--again, too bad things aren't taught that way.

In my senior yr of college, taking an economics course, I went to the library and read another book on econ theory. No prof had ever suggested doing anything outside the curric--why didn't this light dawn earlier? Regardless, I cite it as an example of the pursuit of deeper and wider understanding of God's world.

Pursuing a plot line that is populated by characters of my own devising--now that's a pursuit that would be almost too much fun to call work! Except, of course, that it is hard work. What are my biggest challenges?

--the tyranny of the urgent: there's always some other little project here or there that is slightly higher on the perceived priority list

--distractions

--writing too much detail, getting bogged down...shoot, if I think it's boring, it's gonna be even worse for a reader...and then, I'm tempted to spend time editing/fixing/re-writing that problem ppgh rather than just plowing forward. Right, like a snowplow in winter--just make your first pass and get the road open, don't try to get the road perfectly clean and cleared all the way to the edge! Besides, if the plow comes to a stop, it may have a hard time getting restarted if the grade is steep and the heavy snow is deep. (THIS IS HILARIOUS! It's high 90s out right now, here in the Arizona desert!!!)

--distractions.

--did I mention distractions, I was just thinking about something else, right after I Googled an idea, oh, and then had to write it in an email to myself as a reminder...?

Okay, in all seriousness, how am I doing with the pursuit of knowledge of God, his people, and his world?

Let's run with this question...I'll be back later, after reflecting for a bit. Meanwhile, hop on in to the discussion.

Thnx,

David

The art of writing...poetry.

The aim of art is not to represent the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.
--Aristotle.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-



      

     Writing poetry.

Hmm. Rarely a profitable job. 

Not commonly read by a wide audience.

Why write it at all?

 

Honest answer: it helps me to look at the world through different lenses.

 

Writing poetry helps me focus more on words, their sounds, their shapes, and their rhythms...hah, that said, I've always liked playing with words, word games, writing doggerel, and playing with long words with the intent to confuse, amuse, amaze, astound, and confound. True story: talking about a somewhat sensitive subject with my boss...with the office door open, I warned him that I was about lapse into "polysyllabic circumlocutory utterances." He laughed, "David, I am certain that I have never, ever heard that word in conversation." He probably hoped never to hear it again, either!

 

 

Writing poetry makes common things a bit less common.

 

Writing poetry forces me to take a step back, slow down, and to think in wider circles.

Phooey on circles.

Spheres!

 

Poetry embraces reality but tries to peel off the outer layers,

layers that may hide, disguise, or merely clothe the truth in easily-ignored togs.

 

 

Clearly see.

Reality.

Sets me free.

Poetry.

 

 

   

    

 



On Grazing.

Little blocks of time and effort may yield great outcomes.
--D. Lyn Wood.

=-=-=-=-=-=-

I was reading this blog, pondering a bit, and wondering how applicable this concept of "grazing" was...no, wondering how generalizable it was. When I was a family physician teaching my patients about dieting, I would often tell them a similar story of grazing as did the author of the blog link above. "Eat a little here, a little there, and make sure it's healthy, avoiding dips and dressings on your fruits and veggies."

I quite enjoyed how that author and the many who commented applied "grazing," particularly to the task of writing. My first book, JOURNEY TO THE HEART OF GOD, was written while I was still working full time, taking my nights and weekends on call, teaching Sunday School, attending board meetings, and giving attention to my wife and three kids...oh, you get the drift. Anyhoo, I wrote that 500 page book in spite of other things going on.

What have you been putting off, "I don't have enough time"? Especially, "I cannot put enough time together at once to be worth it."

Humbug, say the majority of comments on that blog about grazing, agreeing that, as with most things in life, slow but steady still wins most races. It's just a case of redefining "steady" to mean, "steadily coming back to the task and adding another several strides down the road."