How to write realistic, fascinating character reactions…and what that can teach you about BEING a writer…

LINKS: One-Story Challenge: https://storyaday.org/one-story-signup

Watch on YouTube

Other Help for Improving Your Writing Life

Download the Short Story Framework:

Short Story Framework

Take the 3-Day Challenge

Join The 3 Day Challenge

Sign up for the StoryAWeek Newsletter

StoryAWeek Sign Up

Take the I, WRITER Course

https://stada.me/iwriternow

Join the Superstars Group

https://storyaday.org/superstars

Coaching with Julie

Writing Coaching with Julie

---

Transcript

1
00:00:01,149 –> 00:00:02,950
Good morning, good
evening, good afternoon.

2
00:00:02,950 –> 00:00:06,870
Julie here from Story a Day and I am
here this week to talk to you about

3
00:00:06,870 –> 00:00:10,609
some other things that I’ve been
discovering working through the One

4
00:00:10,619 –> 00:00:14,779
Story September Challenge with the
current group of people going through it.

5
00:00:15,290 –> 00:00:25,349
Last week we were talking about how
characters react to various stimuli and

6
00:00:25,349 –> 00:00:30,974
so I was sharing the the things I’ve
learned in my study of the psychology

7
00:00:30,974 –> 00:00:33,155
of the human being, the human creature.

8
00:00:33,705 –> 00:00:39,864
And one of the things that’s
really striking is that we are

9
00:00:39,864 –> 00:00:43,694
not as evolved as we think we are.

10
00:00:44,594 –> 00:00:48,705
So if you’ve been struggling, if
you’re interested in how to write

11
00:00:48,794 –> 00:00:51,285
better characters, I’m going to
talk a little bit about that today.

12
00:00:51,625 –> 00:00:55,754
And I’m also going to talk about
how we can use that knowledge.

13
00:00:56,400 –> 00:01:02,459
to help ourselves to escape from
the prison of imposter syndrome or

14
00:01:02,459 –> 00:01:10,140
procrastination or lack of motivation or
starting things and not finishing them.

15
00:01:10,150 –> 00:01:13,230
All of these complaints that I hear
from people every time I put out

16
00:01:13,230 –> 00:01:16,180
a survey that asks you what’s, uh,
what you’re struggling with right

17
00:01:16,180 –> 00:01:22,880
now or any time basically I talk to
writers or, uh, be a writer myself.

18
00:01:23,369 –> 00:01:28,145
So First, let’s talk about
characters, because it’s easier to

19
00:01:28,145 –> 00:01:33,884
talk about other people, especially
non existent people, than it is to

20
00:01:34,074 –> 00:01:37,074
examine our deep, dark, inner selves.

21
00:01:38,455 –> 00:01:40,035
Here’s how humans operate.

22
00:01:40,614 –> 00:01:45,324
When something happens,
we react instinctively.

23
00:01:45,974 –> 00:01:50,404
We react chemically, actually.

24
00:01:50,404 –> 00:01:50,574
We react chemically.

25
00:01:51,215 –> 00:01:59,355
Our body floods itself with whatever
chemicals in our, our history of human

26
00:01:59,365 –> 00:02:01,615
existence has taught us is important.

27
00:02:01,995 –> 00:02:04,925
This is what we’re talking about when
we say we have the fight or flight

28
00:02:04,945 –> 00:02:09,024
response or how, you know, your
body thinks it’s going to, if you’re

29
00:02:09,034 –> 00:02:12,394
stressed, it’s like in olden days when
you used to think you were going to

30
00:02:12,394 –> 00:02:14,024
get eaten by a saber toothed tiger.

31
00:02:14,584 –> 00:02:17,614
Uh, actually humans are a lot
older than saber toothed tigers.

32
00:02:22,925 –> 00:02:25,575
And so you’ve heard those things
too, so many times that they

33
00:02:25,575 –> 00:02:26,965
just kind of wash over you now.

34
00:02:27,005 –> 00:02:31,555
But I want you to think about the
fact that we react instinctively.

35
00:02:33,374 –> 00:02:38,014
And our bodies flood us, flood us with
the chemicals that it thinks we’re

36
00:02:38,014 –> 00:02:44,255
going to need before any rational
thought has time to form in our brains.

37
00:02:44,894 –> 00:02:46,714
That’s how your characters react.

38
00:02:47,575 –> 00:02:55,025
And because we are writing something
that is potentially quite intimate

39
00:02:55,085 –> 00:03:00,355
with our characters, we can hop into
their heads, we can hop into their

40
00:03:00,365 –> 00:03:05,959
bodies at any point, and we should be
sharing that stuff with the reader.

41
00:03:06,410 –> 00:03:11,380
The reader doesn’t really want to know
just what’s happening on the external.

42
00:03:11,780 –> 00:03:14,710
They want to know what’s
happening inside the character.

43
00:03:14,980 –> 00:03:18,740
We all consume a lot of television
and movies, I’m going to assume.

44
00:03:20,170 –> 00:03:24,790
That, in the hands of a really good actor
and a really good director, sometimes

45
00:03:24,790 –> 00:03:26,410
you get some of that inner journey.

46
00:03:26,750 –> 00:03:30,750
You see a range of emotions
flicker over the protagonist’s face

47
00:03:30,750 –> 00:03:32,140
before they do the right thing.

48
00:03:33,410 –> 00:03:37,470
What’s happening, and what’s happened
with that actor and director is probably

49
00:03:37,480 –> 00:03:42,419
lots and lots of conversations about
exactly how the character wants to react

50
00:03:42,450 –> 00:03:47,099
and what they’re doing to suppress that
initial desire, and whether they’re

51
00:03:47,099 –> 00:03:48,759
going to give in to that initial desire.

52
00:03:49,019 –> 00:03:51,840
And the fact is, that’s what’s
happening in every person all

53
00:03:51,840 –> 00:03:53,070
the time when something happens.

54
00:03:53,420 –> 00:03:59,070
We have this instinctive
reaction, and then we have the

55
00:03:59,070 –> 00:04:00,499
conditioned response response.

56
00:04:02,190 –> 00:04:08,180
And the Conditioned Response, the first
response that we consciously have,

57
00:04:08,450 –> 00:04:14,450
even subconsciously, is the Conditioned
Response from when you were a kid, and

58
00:04:14,830 –> 00:04:19,430
what the people who raised you, and the
people around you, who mattered to you,

59
00:04:19,699 –> 00:04:26,709
taught you, was an acceptable solution to
a situation, or reaction to a situation.

60
00:04:28,145 –> 00:04:30,805
So, if you grew up in
a house that was very

61
00:04:34,515 –> 00:04:42,044
ebullient, whether that’s for good or
ill, if people, if your character comes

62
00:04:42,044 –> 00:04:45,314
from, say, an Italian American family,
where everybody argues and shouts and

63
00:04:45,314 –> 00:04:50,265
then it all blows over in a few minutes,
as I am led to believe, then that’s going

64
00:04:50,265 –> 00:04:53,619
to be how they think it’s okay to react.

65
00:04:53,960 –> 00:04:58,049
And that’s going to be the first
reaction they reach for beyond

66
00:04:58,059 –> 00:05:00,679
the fight or flight reaction.

67
00:05:01,609 –> 00:05:08,449
Um, the, the urge to punch
someone is fairly deeply buried.

68
00:05:08,450 –> 00:05:12,890
When somebody crosses you, the urge to
like, if they come at you physically,

69
00:05:12,890 –> 00:05:19,319
the urge to come back at them physically
is fairly deeply in us instinctually.

70
00:05:20,410 –> 00:05:24,790
Your childhood will have taught you
whether or not it’s acceptable to

71
00:05:24,790 –> 00:05:30,999
let that instinct go or whether you
need to, like, sit on your hands.

72
00:05:33,375 –> 00:05:38,095
Beyond that, as you, as your character
lives through life and goes outside

73
00:05:38,095 –> 00:05:42,555
the world of their family, their, their
childhood environment, they’re going

74
00:05:42,555 –> 00:05:46,805
to be in other environments where they
will learn other ways of being, and

75
00:05:46,805 –> 00:05:48,974
they will learn other societal norms.

76
00:05:48,974 –> 00:05:53,955
When you go to school, it’s very much not
okay to punch someone when you’re in the

77
00:05:53,955 –> 00:05:57,075
classroom, even though in certain eras
and certain places it might still have

78
00:05:57,075 –> 00:05:58,665
been fine to scrap on the playground.

79
00:05:59,725 –> 00:06:06,415
So you have to learn, as a human
being, to suppress instincts in layers.

80
00:06:07,745 –> 00:06:11,725
As you become, say, this character
who we’ve talked about comes

81
00:06:11,725 –> 00:06:15,155
from a very voluble, very, very
volatile family, where it might have

82
00:06:15,155 –> 00:06:16,535
been okay to punch your brother.

83
00:06:17,044 –> 00:06:20,005
And then they go to school and discover
it’s okay to punch them, but only on the,

84
00:06:20,175 –> 00:06:23,315
on the playground when nobody’s looking,
certainly not in front of a teacher,

85
00:06:23,485 –> 00:06:24,895
and certainly not in the classroom.

86
00:06:25,634 –> 00:06:28,325
Then they grow up and
they become a lawyer.

87
00:06:29,010 –> 00:06:31,930
for people who may still do the punching.

88
00:06:32,250 –> 00:06:37,680
But the lawyer themselves has to
have these layers of civility and

89
00:06:37,680 –> 00:06:42,390
refinement, which they, they drape
over everything that they learned.

90
00:06:42,939 –> 00:06:47,460
And so if you’re writing this character,
they’re probably not punching anyone

91
00:06:47,470 –> 00:06:51,690
anymore, except in very extreme
circumstances in very dark alleys.

92
00:06:53,070 –> 00:06:58,030
Which means that in a situation of
high stress when someone comes at

93
00:06:58,030 –> 00:07:04,340
your lawyer verbally they are going to
react with that primal urge to punch.

94
00:07:05,439 –> 00:07:10,239
The little kid in them is
going to want to punch.

95
00:07:11,479 –> 00:07:17,290
The kid who went through school and
who’s learned to suppress that urge

96
00:07:17,330 –> 00:07:20,370
until nobody’s looking might kick in.

97
00:07:21,055 –> 00:07:27,225
And then the kid who went through law
school and learned to suppress all

98
00:07:27,225 –> 00:07:33,685
of that and come at them verbally is
going to kick in, maybe, on their best

99
00:07:33,685 –> 00:07:35,524
day, in the best of circumstances.

100
00:07:36,105 –> 00:07:37,984
So that’s a lot of emotion.

101
00:07:38,244 –> 00:07:41,725
Those are a lot of stages
that your character is going

102
00:07:41,915 –> 00:07:44,485
to go through in an instant.

103
00:07:45,085 –> 00:07:49,725
That’s how the human mind
brain nervous system works.

104
00:07:50,555 –> 00:07:55,045
If you’re not showing us any of
that, how are we supposed to know

105
00:07:55,045 –> 00:07:56,165
what your character’s going through?

106
00:07:56,715 –> 00:08:04,074
If they just quirk an eyebrow or smirk,
what does that tell us about what’s

107
00:08:04,075 –> 00:08:06,875
actually happening inside your character?

108
00:08:07,164 –> 00:08:14,565
You’ve got, uh, you’ve got like a
five minute slow mo sequence that you

109
00:08:14,615 –> 00:08:21,330
could be running through You’ve got
all the off ramps on that journey.

110
00:08:22,080 –> 00:08:27,330
Your character can go all the way
to the right civilised response and

111
00:08:27,690 –> 00:08:30,070
come back with a witty rejoinder.

112
00:08:30,850 –> 00:08:36,340
Or they can take an earlier off ramp
and they can snarl or they can lash

113
00:08:36,340 –> 00:08:39,829
out or they can, you know, have some
physical reaction that shows them

114
00:08:39,829 –> 00:08:43,840
wanting to go at the other person and
repressing it because, you know, school.

115
00:08:44,280 –> 00:08:45,499
Or you can let them.

116
00:08:45,780 –> 00:08:49,560
Rip and you can let them have their
primitive reaction not even the one

117
00:08:49,560 –> 00:08:52,580
in the family where somebody would
have stepped in and said Okay kids,

118
00:08:52,580 –> 00:08:53,849
let’s you know, let’s break it up.

119
00:08:53,849 –> 00:08:54,049
Now.

120
00:08:54,360 –> 00:08:57,990
You could let them go even further
You have all of those things to

121
00:08:57,990 –> 00:09:01,780
go through emotionally inside your
character Before you even start

122
00:09:01,789 –> 00:09:05,090
thinking about how to show that on the
outside and how far they’re gonna go.

123
00:09:05,520 –> 00:09:10,564
So We go from a very primitive response
to a conditioned response that can be

124
00:09:10,564 –> 00:09:18,304
hard to get over to the civilized response
that we have layered on as adults that

125
00:09:18,314 –> 00:09:23,824
makes the, the, the actions that we
think are civilized and acceptable.

126
00:09:24,594 –> 00:09:29,025
Part of the journey throughout a story
for your character, part of the internal

127
00:09:29,025 –> 00:09:33,914
journey of any character, is probably
going to always be a balance between

128
00:09:34,295 –> 00:09:42,444
what society will accept as civilized and
what your character really wants to do.

129
00:09:43,334 –> 00:09:49,234
It’s probably a journey between, journey
about, or a balancing act about them

130
00:09:51,365 –> 00:09:57,975
overcoming their instincts and deciding
how far to go towards what society

131
00:09:57,975 –> 00:10:02,485
wants and what feels good in the moment.

132
00:10:03,540 –> 00:10:07,450
And then, of course, you get to
explore things like the conditioning

133
00:10:07,450 –> 00:10:11,299
that your character has laid over
themselves, both by their family and

134
00:10:11,300 –> 00:10:12,670
their school and their environment.

135
00:10:12,899 –> 00:10:17,039
All of these things, all of these, these,
all of this conditioning that has happened

136
00:10:17,090 –> 00:10:22,469
to them, along with the things that they
have decided to take on in order to fit

137
00:10:22,469 –> 00:10:25,850
into the world they’re in, some of that
stuff may need to be stripped away.

138
00:10:26,450 –> 00:10:30,630
You think about a romantic partner
who’s experiencing coercive control.

139
00:10:30,950 –> 00:10:34,870
They have learned all these layers of
conditioning that have kept them safe and

140
00:10:34,870 –> 00:10:36,700
some of that stuff they shouldn’t have.

141
00:10:37,330 –> 00:10:39,219
And they’re going to have
to strip that stuff away.

142
00:10:39,420 –> 00:10:44,580
And it’s always going to be a fight
between the instinct, the conditioning,

143
00:10:45,740 –> 00:10:52,010
the intellectual decision about
what’s acceptable, and then perhaps

144
00:10:52,010 –> 00:10:54,120
a further intellectual decision.

145
00:10:54,525 –> 00:10:59,965
decision about what’s acceptable now,
in this moment, for me, unlearning

146
00:10:59,965 –> 00:11:01,225
the stuff that I learned before.

147
00:11:01,945 –> 00:11:06,424
Humans are complicated and it
happens in the fraction of a second.

148
00:11:06,955 –> 00:11:12,955
What can you put into your writing to show
us what your character is going through?

149
00:11:12,985 –> 00:11:15,305
Not all the time, just some of the time.

150
00:11:16,205 –> 00:11:18,445
When are the good moments
to show that stuff?

151
00:11:18,475 –> 00:11:23,145
Is your character always going to react
in the civilized, acceptable manner?

152
00:11:23,820 –> 00:11:26,050
Is that always the right
thing for them to do?

153
00:11:26,380 –> 00:11:31,110
How are they going to feel if they let
go and they get a bit more primitive?

154
00:11:31,690 –> 00:11:35,440
How are they going to feel if they stay
civilized when they shouldn’t have?

155
00:11:43,470 –> 00:11:45,710
Which brings me to you, the writer.

156
00:11:48,160 –> 00:11:54,719
As you go through your writing
process, you too are human.

157
00:11:55,159 –> 00:11:58,409
You too are dealing with
all of these reactions.

158
00:11:59,185 –> 00:11:59,915
to your writing.

159
00:11:59,975 –> 00:12:03,055
It seems ridiculous, but it’s
not an intellectual thing.

160
00:12:05,305 –> 00:12:09,615
When you’re writing and things get
hard, this is what you go through.

161
00:12:09,785 –> 00:12:13,634
You go through an instinctive reaction,
you go through your conditioned reaction,

162
00:12:13,975 –> 00:12:18,605
and then maybe, if you’re paying
attention, you get to the intellectual

163
00:12:18,735 –> 00:12:22,615
reaction where you say, I know this
feels a little uncomfortable at the

164
00:12:22,615 –> 00:12:26,275
moment, but I’m going to be, I’m going
to be cool about it, and I’m going

165
00:12:26,275 –> 00:12:29,265
to look at my work dispassionately,
and I’m going to decide where it’s

166
00:12:29,265 –> 00:12:30,665
working and where it’s not working.

167
00:12:30,964 –> 00:12:36,505
Now, on the journey from the ugh, this,
this feels hard, to no, I’m going to

168
00:12:36,505 –> 00:12:40,834
be dispassionate and, and sensible,
and I’m going to work on this like

169
00:12:40,834 –> 00:12:42,934
a scientist and tweak my writing.

170
00:12:43,365 –> 00:12:47,785
On the journey, from one to the
other, you’re going down a path

171
00:12:47,814 –> 00:12:49,045
that I can’t possibly know.

172
00:12:49,405 –> 00:12:51,625
Because I don’t know whose
voices are in your head.

173
00:12:52,074 –> 00:12:54,954
I don’t know what you were
conditioned to believe was acceptable.

174
00:12:55,505 –> 00:12:58,235
I don’t know what you’ve
been through in your life.

175
00:12:58,625 –> 00:13:00,864
But I do know that that
stuff is all in there.

176
00:13:01,995 –> 00:13:04,665
And when people say to me I’m suffering
from imposter syndrome, even though

177
00:13:04,665 –> 00:13:06,095
I know they are beautiful writers.

178
00:13:06,535 –> 00:13:10,375
When people tell me they can’t finish
things, even though I’m dying to know

179
00:13:10,585 –> 00:13:12,104
what happens at the end of their story.

180
00:13:12,860 –> 00:13:17,480
I know there’s something going on in that
middle area, in that you were conditioned

181
00:13:17,480 –> 00:13:19,240
to believe certain things area.

182
00:13:19,620 –> 00:13:22,249
Maybe you were conditioned to believe
that you shouldn’t take this much

183
00:13:22,250 –> 00:13:24,940
time away from your family to write.

184
00:13:26,740 –> 00:13:27,340
Maybe.

185
00:13:28,130 –> 00:13:29,090
Is that acceptable?

186
00:13:29,370 –> 00:13:31,500
Is that appropriate for
this moment in your life?

187
00:13:32,400 –> 00:13:36,250
Is that lesson that you learned when
you had a tiny baby who really did need

188
00:13:36,250 –> 00:13:40,270
you to be there every second of the day
appropriate now that your children are

189
00:13:40,270 –> 00:13:45,250
adults or now that your parents are gone
or now that, uh, you know, there’s other

190
00:13:45,250 –> 00:13:48,329
younger people in your community who can
do some of the things you used to do?

191
00:14:04,509 –> 00:14:08,140
Does the fact that you’re a good
girl and you never swear mean

192
00:14:08,150 –> 00:14:09,570
that your characters can’t curse?

193
00:14:15,710 –> 00:14:17,780
And if it makes you uncomfortable,
how are you going to deal with that?

194
00:14:21,015 –> 00:14:24,844
If you were the smart kid at school
and everything came easily to you and

195
00:14:24,844 –> 00:14:30,754
you were able to dodge the classes
that were hard I’m not saying that I

196
00:14:30,754 –> 00:14:35,555
got out of gym by saying I had singing
lessons, but I’m not not saying that

197
00:14:38,305 –> 00:14:41,205
If you were able to dodge the
difficult things early in life

198
00:14:41,215 –> 00:14:45,995
Or you just a lot of stuff came
easily to you when things get hard.

199
00:14:46,045 –> 00:14:51,390
Do you have You the conditioning that
says hard things are to be avoided.

200
00:14:52,160 –> 00:14:56,640
Or do you have the ability to push
through that and get your intellect

201
00:14:56,640 –> 00:15:00,840
involved and say, Yeah, I’m not
very good at this, but that’s okay.

202
00:15:00,930 –> 00:15:04,659
I can, it doesn’t mean
I’m not good at living.

203
00:15:05,130 –> 00:15:06,379
It doesn’t mean I’m worthless.

204
00:15:06,669 –> 00:15:10,289
It means I didn’t write this correctly
and I don’t quite know what’s wrong

205
00:15:10,289 –> 00:15:13,960
with it and I might have to ask for
help and that might be uncomfortable.

206
00:15:15,205 –> 00:15:20,225
We have to work through our instinctive
reactions, just like our characters do.

207
00:15:20,675 –> 00:15:23,884
We have to work through our
conditioned responses and ask

208
00:15:23,885 –> 00:15:25,225
whether those are still appropriate.

209
00:15:26,614 –> 00:15:32,755
And then we have to look at our
intellectual rationalising of our actions

210
00:15:33,665 –> 00:15:36,365
and ask if that’s actually appropriate.

211
00:15:37,495 –> 00:15:40,625
Is it appropriate to say, oh
well, I’m not very good at writing

212
00:15:40,625 –> 00:15:42,755
novels, therefore I should just not.

213
00:15:43,580 –> 00:15:48,990
Or, is it acceptable to say, Oh well, I’m
not very good at writing novels, I need to

214
00:15:48,990 –> 00:15:53,030
figure out why, and what’s tripping me up.

215
00:15:53,030 –> 00:15:57,950
Because this is quite a complex thing, and
I bet I’m not not good at writing novels,

216
00:15:58,200 –> 00:16:03,690
I bet I don’t have a strong sense of
what’s actually supposed to be happening.

217
00:16:05,015 –> 00:16:10,125
in the scenes in the middle after the
inciting incident and before the climax.

218
00:16:10,645 –> 00:16:13,324
And maybe I need to go and study
some story structure from someone

219
00:16:13,324 –> 00:16:17,714
who really gets this and speaks about
it in a way that I can relate to.

220
00:16:21,384 –> 00:16:23,094
I know, writing’s fun, right?

221
00:16:23,214 –> 00:16:24,355
Writing’s a thing you enjoy.

222
00:16:24,405 –> 00:16:26,295
It’s supposed to be fun,
it’s supposed to be easy.

223
00:16:26,415 –> 00:16:27,285
Uh uh.

224
00:16:27,605 –> 00:16:28,645
It’s not supposed to be easy.

225
00:16:28,645 –> 00:16:31,435
If it was easy, it
wouldn’t be interesting.

226
00:16:33,165 –> 00:16:34,535
You may have to.

227
00:16:35,680 –> 00:16:42,860
do some work on, on the
bit between your reaction

228
00:16:45,189 –> 00:16:50,030
and the intellectual response you actually
want and the outcome that matters to you.

229
00:16:59,940 –> 00:17:04,109
And this all happened because I
promised to share with a bunch of

230
00:17:04,109 –> 00:17:09,200
people what I had learned in my
writing practice and study about the

231
00:17:09,200 –> 00:17:10,990
difference between show and tell.

232
00:17:11,579 –> 00:17:14,440
That writing advice that says
You should show, not tell.

233
00:17:15,720 –> 00:17:16,030
A.

234
00:17:16,050 –> 00:17:16,800
Not always true.

235
00:17:16,849 –> 00:17:17,319
And B.

236
00:17:17,579 –> 00:17:19,220
Wow, is there a lot to explore in there.

237
00:17:19,530 –> 00:17:25,079
So we’ve spent this month in the One Story
Challenge, exploring Show, Don’t Tell.

238
00:17:25,460 –> 00:17:26,579
And in the meantime,

239
00:17:31,179 –> 00:17:37,099
I got to delve into human psychology
and human physiology in order to

240
00:17:37,100 –> 00:17:38,879
allow all of us to write a book.

241
00:17:39,169 –> 00:17:44,610
Better characters who react more
realistically and who have depth.

242
00:17:44,759 –> 00:17:48,269
Even in short stories you can do
this stuff so easily, not easily,

243
00:17:48,429 –> 00:17:53,179
you can do this stuff so quickly
and with so few words that you can

244
00:17:53,320 –> 00:17:56,960
do this in a short story if you
know what you’re trying to achieve.

245
00:17:57,419 –> 00:18:03,649
So I delved into human psychology,
physiology, and expectations.

246
00:18:04,749 –> 00:18:12,120
I ended up delving into personal
development, all because I wanted to write

247
00:18:12,160 –> 00:18:17,030
and help some other people write stories
that were more satisfying to other people.

248
00:18:17,290 –> 00:18:21,690
There’s nothing wrong with wanting
to please people, especially if

249
00:18:21,700 –> 00:18:25,690
you can use it to keep learning.

250
00:18:26,770 –> 00:18:35,129
This life, I think, is a lifelong learning
project, and writing is demanding.

251
00:18:35,715 –> 00:18:40,475
Because it demands that we look
at what, the human condition.

252
00:18:41,985 –> 00:18:47,955
So simply looking at a technique
like Show Don’t Tell has allowed

253
00:18:48,154 –> 00:18:50,245
me to go so deep this month.

254
00:18:53,244 –> 00:18:59,044
And it’s allowed me to develop,
not just my craft, but as a writer.

255
00:18:59,834 –> 00:19:01,344
with a writing practice.

256
00:19:01,844 –> 00:19:07,004
It’s allowed me to examine why I sometimes
resist writing, even though I love it.

257
00:19:07,654 –> 00:19:16,925
It’s allowed me to examine whether or not
the polite society rules I was raised with

258
00:19:16,955 –> 00:19:23,645
are serving me, whether I need to be quite
that polite, or whether it would be better

259
00:19:23,645 –> 00:19:27,155
for me as a human being in this one life

260
00:19:31,085 –> 00:19:32,835
to react differently to some things.

261
00:19:36,495 –> 00:19:39,225
It’s allowed me to examine whose
voices are in my head and whether

262
00:19:39,225 –> 00:19:40,195
they’re worth listening to.

263
00:19:41,874 –> 00:19:43,284
It’s allowed me to build confidence.

264
00:19:50,025 –> 00:19:53,395
And I think it’s doing the same for
the people in the One Story Challenge.

265
00:19:55,594 –> 00:19:57,864
Never think that your
writing is a waste of time.

266
00:19:58,634 –> 00:20:07,664
Your writing is a personal development
project that trickles out into the world.

267
00:20:14,975 –> 00:20:18,254
That filters out into the world
around you, to all the people

268
00:20:18,254 –> 00:20:19,514
that you come in contact with.

269
00:20:25,665 –> 00:20:31,254
Working on a skill, or a craft
piece, or a story, or a technique,

270
00:20:32,834 –> 00:20:34,034
is never a waste of time.

271
00:20:36,564 –> 00:20:42,814
It will teach you so much about people,
about your writing, and about yourself.

272
00:20:44,465 –> 00:20:49,550
So, I commend you for being a
writer, And for doing the hard

273
00:20:49,550 –> 00:20:51,330
work, as well as the easy work.

274
00:20:53,530 –> 00:20:58,960
And if you’re not always finding
it easy or having it fun,

275
00:21:01,279 –> 00:21:07,239
finding it easy or having it feel like
fun, I heard an athlete talking about

276
00:21:07,240 –> 00:21:11,149
this recently and they said that their
coach had told them it’s the rule of

277
00:21:11,149 –> 00:21:17,149
thirds, a third of the time it’s going
to feel easy and joyous and You’re in

278
00:21:17,149 –> 00:21:19,110
the flow and it’s going to feel great.

279
00:21:19,980 –> 00:21:22,670
A third of the time, it’s
going to feel like work.

280
00:21:23,770 –> 00:21:26,780
And a third of the time, no matter
what you do, it’s going to feel

281
00:21:26,780 –> 00:21:31,060
like you’re failing because you just
can’t get, you can’t perform at your

282
00:21:31,060 –> 00:21:34,629
best level, you can’t, you can’t
go faster in art, you can’t meet

283
00:21:34,629 –> 00:21:35,970
the times that you wanted to meet.

284
00:21:36,040 –> 00:21:38,659
You’re just, you just
can’t do it on those days.

285
00:21:39,280 –> 00:21:42,610
But as long as that’s a third, and
a third of the time, you’re loving

286
00:21:42,610 –> 00:21:45,230
it, and the middle third is work.

287
00:21:45,819 –> 00:21:46,629
That’s about right.

288
00:21:47,429 –> 00:21:48,709
And I found that very encouraging.

289
00:21:54,529 –> 00:21:56,969
Worthwhile things aren’t always easy.

290
00:21:58,199 –> 00:22:01,370
We can look at ways of making them more
easy, we don’t need to make them harder.

291
00:22:02,049 –> 00:22:05,989
But there are going to be days where it’s
just not happening, it’s just not coming.

292
00:22:06,239 –> 00:22:09,019
But those days are not wasted.

293
00:22:09,759 –> 00:22:13,489
Those days are building strength,
building persistence, building grit,

294
00:22:15,879 –> 00:22:16,669
building patience.

295
00:22:18,879 –> 00:22:23,689
And for a writer, they’re probably
you absorbing experiences, noodling

296
00:22:23,709 –> 00:22:25,829
things in the back of your mind
where you’re not thinking about

297
00:22:25,839 –> 00:22:29,539
them, watching the world, watching
people, seeing how they really work.

298
00:22:32,340 –> 00:22:38,419
You don’t need to be turning out
2, 000 words a day to be a writer.

299
00:22:40,879 –> 00:22:44,870
So I encourage you to think about
deepening your character’s reactions

300
00:22:45,399 –> 00:22:50,399
Letting the reader pause and go through
that process with them occasionally.

301
00:22:51,600 –> 00:22:58,539
And I also encourage you to pause and
examine your own reactions when you come

302
00:22:58,539 –> 00:23:00,809
up against something that’s a little hard.

303
00:23:03,359 –> 00:23:09,699
In part, so you can replicate it on the
page, but in part, so that you can get

304
00:23:09,709 –> 00:23:12,889
to the intellectual analysis part of it
and figure out if there’s anything you

305
00:23:12,889 –> 00:23:17,034
need to change and What that might be.

306
00:23:18,075 –> 00:23:20,495
And there’s no rush, because
this is a lifetime project.

307
00:23:21,575 –> 00:23:22,575
That’s what I have for you this week.

308
00:23:22,575 –> 00:23:27,304
If you’d like to join the One Story
Challenge, you can join it at any time by

309
00:23:27,305 –> 00:23:33,792
coming to StoryADay.org/one-story-signup
keep writing.

This week’s StoryADay podcast is about loving your writing and sharing the love! Yes, there is stuff about marketing your writing in here, but don’t let that put you off.

CHAPTERS

00:00 StADa321 – Being You

01:09 The One-Story Challenge: Show, Don’t Tell Edition

08:07 Marketing

LINKS:

The One-Story Challenge – Show Don’t Tell Edition:

Elizabeth Wheatley’s Instagram:   / elisabethwheatley  

Elizabeth Wheatley’s Books:

Watch on YouTube

https://youtu.be/r16neqjFs1s

Other Help for Improving Your Writing Life

Download the Short Story Framework:

Short Story Framework

Take the 3-Day Challenge

Join The 3 Day Challenge

Sign up for the StoryAWeek Newsletter

StoryAWeek Sign Up

Take the I, WRITER Course

https://stada.me/iwriternow

Join the Superstars Group

https://storyaday.org/superstars

Coaching with Julie

Writing Coaching with Julie

---

Transcript

StADa321 – Being You

[00:00:00] Good morning. Good evening. Good afternoon, Julie, from StoryADay here. And I have a couple of things I want to talk to you about this week. Both of which are topics of conversation in the story of the community. And the first one. Is to do with getting the writing done and the craft of doing the writing.

[00:00:21] And I’m going to talk to you about that and the second things a little bit about marketing your work, because there are so many people in this community who’ve been writing for awhile. Now, storyADay May has generated a lot of content. And it’s been running for 15 years and people who started writing before it even started.

[00:00:40] And who’ve been consistently coming back and writing every year. They have generated a lot of material. They’ve learned a lot. They’ve got some great stuff and a lot of them are at the stage of getting their work out into the world. A lot of people who are getting their work out into the world are drawn to this community because of how seriously we take the writing,

[00:00:58] and I suspect the, how seriously we don’t take ourselves, it’s probably a bit of a draw as well. So when talk about both of those things today, but I’m not going to go too long, so let’s get to it.

[00:01:09] First of all. As I record this, it is September and I want to make a plea. If you haven’t jumped into the one story challenge yet this month. It is not too late. We spent the first week drafting a new story for people to play with.

[00:01:27] You could bring a story you’ve already got, and you could review the materials I provided in week one in no time at all. Generate a new story. If you need to, or bring something that you’ve already been working on. This week, we’re getting into the Show, don’t tell lessons of the challenge. So my promise with this one story challenge was that we would take the whole month to work on a single story. You could start from scratch and write the story.

[00:01:54] Then we would delve into this one particular craft technique that gets talked about all the time and drives people crazy. It’s really effective. It’s really powerful, but it’s become one of those. Things that people see and things that people beat you over the head with in critique groups, if you’re not showing you’re telling and what does that even mean?

[00:02:17] So that’s what we’re talking about in the one story challenge. We’re going from the first week where we’ve been drafting stories to. This week where we’re looking at what. Is really meant. By show don’t tell so on Sunday, I’m going to release that lesson. And if you haven’t jumped into the challenge yet, this is perfect timing.

[00:02:38] Jump into the challenge. It is currently priced at $30 for the month and it will never be this price. Again, I tell you that because I’ll be able to get a ton of work into it, and I’m really proud of it. And as I go through this I’m trying to make sure that the information is clear and doled out in a way that is bite size, fun size. And that you get to go through it. While also having a life. While also having obligations and maybe you’ve got kids going back to school.

[00:03:07] Maybe you’ve got parents who need driven to medical appointments. Maybe you’ve got birthday parties coming up, whatever. It is that you have going on in your life. I’ve developed this challenge, which is very unlike story a day may, which is very like, hit the ground running and writes already everyday. This is a kinder, gentler challenge.

[00:03:24] This week we’re going into what really is. Show don’t tell anyway. And we’re doing exercises that will let you take parts of your story and try out different. Versions of show don’t tell because there’s lots of ways that you can apply that advice. Within a story. And there are places where you shouldn’t apply that advice.

[00:03:49] So we’re talking about that this, the first part of that this week, w we’ll try things out, And the opening or in a scene in the middle, I’m not giving away any spoilers, but that’s what we’re going to be working on this week. Every day. There’ll be an exercise that we’ll let you tweak and play with this technique and see. What it can do for your story and what you like about it and what you dislike about it.

[00:04:09] And just be able to talk about it, defend your work in critique groups in a more confident manner. Because it does get overused next week, we will look at more holistically at the whole story. Not next week. The third week of September. We’ll look more holistically at the whole story. And we will look at ways to see. What proportion of showing and telling you should be doing.

[00:04:34] And we are looking at this from a short story perspective. So although these skills. Can. Amplify and be used in a novel quite often, I find that in writing classes, techniques, when they are talked about from a novelist point of view, Don’t miniaturize. So we’re starting. From the point of view of a short story writer and saying, yeah, but how could I do this in a short story? And so that’s really what we’re going to be looking at the third week of September. And everything that we learn in practice can of course be expanded.

[00:05:10] And I think that’s a little easier than trying to shrink things down and take novel techniques. And. And make them work for short fiction. So that’s what’s going on in the one story challenge.

[00:05:30] And the fourth week. Is going to be, when I focus on helping people get the story really finished, but also on one other thing that everyone needs to do, if they’re going to.

[00:05:45] Do this for the long haul. If you are going to make consistent progress, there is a way to, there’s a thing you need to do. At the end of projects. Which will make it more likely that you’re going to keep working without feeling burned out and stay excited about the project that you just finished, actually finished projects.

[00:06:08] All of that can suck. So we’re going to talk about that in week four of the one story challenge as well. So if that sounds good, come over to story. A date.org forward slash one story challenge. Nope, that’s not right. One story, sign up. I’ll put the link in the notes. There’s hyphens in between those words. I will put that into the show notes so that you can come over and join us because you probably have a story already that you can use.

[00:06:34] You can jump in and use these techniques on. So if you weren’t with us for week one, It doesn’t matter, you can review that material, but bring a story that you’ve already started. When I first run a workshop. Like this that’s exactly what I encouraged people to do was to bring a story that was already. In progress.

[00:06:52] So nothing lost. If you haven’t joined us for week one, you’ll still have access to those materials, but you will get the show. Don’t tell lesson this week, then next week you’ll get the. The making a scene. Version of the next step of that. And then the week four will be all about putting the story to bed. And staying enthusiastic about it.

[00:07:13] So hopefully I’ve intrigued you, but not giving away too much because I want you to join us. I don’t want you to just think about it, don’t just think, oh, I’ll learn that later. Because take talk, Time’s moving on. Life keeps passing us by. And if you start today, you’re going to be so much better in two years than if you start in two years.

[00:07:31] So you’re not.

[00:07:35] You’re not standing still.

[00:07:40] I hate to say this. But if you’re not writing. You’re getting rusty. So I put together these challenges to stop you from suffering the feet that I suffered after years of not writing. Creatively. And discovering that it was so hard to get going again. So I put together all these challenges to give you little ways to get back to your rating. Because it makes you happy.

[00:08:02] It makes you more who you are. So anyway, enough about that, you’ve heard me say that stuff before.

[00:08:07] Marketing

[00:08:07] Let’s talk, marketing everyone’s favorite topic. One of the things that’s come up in the StoryADay Superstars group. Is the idea of doing author newsletters. So we’ve been talking a lot about that. And I’ve been talking a lot to a group of entrepreneur, friends of mine about how to. write. Stories in newsletters and emails and marketing materials, that don’t necessarily involve you exposing your entire personal life. Now. We as writers. Have such a leg up on, on people who are just like, I want to be in business and sell a thing. But they understand they need to do marketing.

[00:08:51] They understand they need an email list. They understand that they need to be posting on social media, engaging their followers and having an avatar and all of that stuff. They understand it, but they don’t necessarily have the writing background to make it work. So it’s a harder lesson for me to teach them.

[00:09:08] But if I tell you. That you can write a short story. About. You know your interaction with the barista today. Or about a D something that happened in history or something that you researched for your novel, you get it, you understand, you could put together like a paragraph about that stuff. You could make it compelling.

[00:09:30] You know how to do that. You just need, I think remaindered as everyone does that when people talk about marketing and putting yourself out there, It doesn’t have to be all of you. It has to be the things that you notice. The things that come out of your brain, the things that matter to you. In your fiction writing

[00:09:54] your values come through. Your preoccupations come through. Your passions come through. If you think that, there’s the life is a zero sum game, that comes through in all of the choices that your characters make, all of the outcomes of your novels. If you think that by giving you receive then, and that you expand the pie by giving away tasters, then that comes through in your stories, every choice your characters make your protagonist, probably not your antagonist, but your protagonist is going to make those kinds of choices.

[00:10:33] It’s. It’s really hard to hide your values from your fiction. When we talk about being authentic in your marketing it’s not that you have to share pictures of your family or talk about where you went on vacation or talk about your politics or your religion or any of those things, but by sharing things that you’re interested in things that make you laugh, things that make you, go, huh? You will draw people to you who like the stuff that comes out of your brain?

[00:11:07] And I have a very specific reason I’m talking about this this week because it happened to me this week. I’ve been following a writer on Instagram called Elizabeth Wheatley, for a while. And I’ve been following her largely because she does a very silly thing. She has a character. That she has created called Book Goblin. Who she talks to.

[00:11:32] It’s one of those Instagram things where, the same person is playing both characters, but she talks to Book Goblin, Book Goblin is very obsessive about books. And so she’s used Book Goblin to talk about. Controversies that have come up in her zone, which is a fantasy, I think like romance/fantasy and there’s various. Overlapping genres there. But she’s used conversations with Book Goblin to , talk about control of receipts that have popped up.

[00:11:57] She’s used it to talk about her upcoming releases. She’s used it to talk about why you can’t find her books on Amazon or at least not when they’re first released. So anyway, I follow her largely because I saw a Book Goblin sketch and I thought it was funny. And then I started to like all of the stuff that she was posting. And. Eventually, when she announced a new book, I thought, you know what? I have had so much entertainment from her,

[00:12:26] I think that the brain that created a Book Goblin, probably has some other characters in it that I might enjoy. So even though fantasy is not my first love, and that is definitely what she’s writing. I thought, you know what. I’ll give it a try. So the new book coming out, I thought, you know what, I’ll go back to the first book in the series. I will read I’ll by it.

[00:12:48] I’ll read it. And as aforementioned, she doesn’t Promote her books through Amazon, barnes and noble and things like that. She sells them directly from our website, which I can respect. Okay. So I went over to the website. The first book in the series is $7, which is more than you would charge if you were slavishly. following the advice of all the indie author. experts out there who tell you, the first book in the series should be free or it should be 99 cents.

[00:13:14] And then you should put everything on Kindle unlimited so that people can get it. And. There’s so much advice out there and she’s not following any of that. She’s doing her own thing. And so I was like, oh, cool. That’s interesting. What, $7 for a book, but I might not like, but I’ve already been following her for awhile and consumed $7 worth of, value from what she’s given me.

[00:13:36] So I’ll buy the book. And I’ll I probably won’t like it, but I’ll buy the first book and we’ll see.

[00:13:43] I like the book. My instinct that the person who showed up.

[00:13:49] bravely, boldly and authentically on Instagram and created this book, Goblin Character, my instinct that this person probably had other characters in their brain that I would enjoy hanging out with was absolutely spot on. Now, understand. I am not saying, that you need to start recording videos that you need to have a character that you need to do sketches any of that stuff you absolutely do

[00:14:17] not. What I am seeing. Is that if you can find a way to show us a little bit of your author self. That part of you that is. Uniquely you, The part of you that goes down rabbit holes. Researching the weaving methods of Flanders textile merchants staff in the 14 00s. And spends three days reading about warp and weft and dye stuffs. You can share some of that stuff with us.

[00:14:57] You are not going to appeal to everybody. You are going to appeal to people who are out there. Looking for someone who is that type of quirky they don’t even have to be interested in weaving, but they’re looking, people are scrolling through social media and they’re looking for something that makes them feel a connection.

[00:15:19] And if you show that level of authenticity, show your weird, show your obsessions. Don’t tell us about your kids and your holidays and what you had for lunch unless that is your obsession and you don’t mind sharing those things. But if you collect vintage high heels show us those. It doesn’t really matter if it’s connected to what you’re writing, because if I like your brain. I’m probably going to like your stories.

[00:15:50] So that’s my message today. Is that Authenticity willl draw the right people to you, and it will repel the wrong people away from you. And anyway, I really have to go now because I have to find out what’s going on with Amira and Daindreth, and I need to read my book. Book. BOOK!

[00:16:19] Keep writing.

Sometimes it seems like success comes easily to other people when it feels so elusive to us. But there are secrets to making it more likely you’ll be one of those success stories, and that’s what I’m talking about this week on the StoryADay Podcast. Whether you’re a writer or not, I think you’ll like this one!

LINKS:

Tell me what you’re celebrating: https://storyaday.org/the-secret-to-sticking-with-it/

The StoryADay Handbook: https://storyaday.org/challenge-handbook

CHAPTERS:

00:00 The Engine Of Success for Writers

01:13 Things I Learned About Motivation, from My Kids

03:49 Our Inner Writer Is Just A Kid

07:36 The Characteristics of Resilient People

10:46 Steal the Strategies of Resilient People

Transcript

Other Help for Improving Your Writing Life

Download the Short Story Framework:

Short Story Framework

Take the 3-Day Challenge

Join The 3 Day Challenge

Sign up for the StoryAWeek Newsletter

StoryAWeek Sign Up

Take the I, WRITER Course

https://stada.me/iwriternow

Join the Superstars Group

https://storyaday.org/superstars

Coaching with Julie

Writing Coaching with Julie

---

Transcript

318 Find Wonder Everywhere

[00:00:00] Good morning. Good evening. Good afternoon, Julie, from story a day here I am just back from my travels. I got to go to Scotland again last week to visit family for very happy reasons. My parents celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. Congratulations, you guys.

[00:00:14] But I wanted to talk this week about. Something that comes very easily when you’re traveling and you’re in a new environment, which is seeing the wonder in everything, seeing the novelty in everything, seeing the world anew.

[00:00:31] It’s something that is easy to do when you’re away. It’s harder to do when you’re in your everyday routine.

[00:00:38] But I think that’s one of the gifts that we have as writers. We are endlessly curious. And sometimes we just need a little remainder to wake that curiosity up. And. I don’t know about you, but when I’m thinking about. writing a product, for example, writing a story that I want to send to a particular market. Or writing a novel for a particular audience or in a particular genre. It’s very easy to get overwhelmed by the expectations of the outcome. And to try and live up to our expectations.

[00:01:17] And that can take a lot of the fun. Out of the process of writing.

[00:01:22] Whereas.

[00:01:24] Discovering new stuff is really fun. And I’m going to encourage you to try and get some of the fun back into your writing by introducing some more fun into your life this month, this week, this month. And so for example, Last week, when we arrived at London Heathrow to change for our plane to Glasgow, we discovered when we turned on our phone and all the other phones on the plane beeped as well, Or at least half of them did, that’s our flight to Glasgow had been canceled and in their infinite wisdom, British Airways had decided that, . Telling us that we were going to rebooked on a flight. Two days, hence was an acceptable solution. So after some. Nervous laughter and a consultation with the people who they let us talk to.

[00:02:19] We weren’t allowed to talk to the actual help desk people, but the bouncers who were keeping us away from them. We said, what are we supposed to do? And they laughed and said, you could take a train. And we laughed because what else are you going to do? And said, I actually, you’re right,

[00:02:33] we could. So we did, because apparently you can just jump on the underground at Heathrow and go into the city and catch the train to Glasgow. So we did that. And it was great because we got to then instead of seeing the insides of Terminal Five and the jet way and another airplane and seeing, A little bit of London as we took off.

[00:02:53] And a little bit of Glasgow as we landed. We actually got to troll right through the middle of the country. We went up the west coast from London. We went up the west side of the country, of the UK. So skirting Wales and going through the industrialized north with their, the wonderful old factories and all brick chimneys.

[00:03:13] They’re few and far between though, but you still can see the origins of industrial revolution era towns nestled in river valleys. We got to see the flat pastoral land of the south of England. We got to see the hills of the Lake District, we got to see the forests of the Borders of Scotland. And then all of a sudden there we were, heading into Glasgow. In all its industrial revolution, era majesty and getting off at my, one of my favorite train stations, Glasgow Central, which is near and dear to my heart with soaring roofs, and just a hustle and bustle of people. And so it was a, it wasn’t a terrible outcome for us to have to take that. And as we were whizzing through the countryside.

[00:03:58] Every time I looked out of the window, it was a different landscape. So the reason I was thinking about that is that I was, following along with people who are heading to Glasgow this week for World Con, which is a big science fiction and fantasy convention, and somebody else was taking the train from London to Glasgow. And they posted a picture of their laptop screen on which they were watching the classic SciFi movie, The Matrix, and, Judgey McJudgerson here. I was just in my head I was just screaming, look out the window.

[00:04:29] Obviously you’re welcome to do whatever you want when you’re traveling And if watching The Matrix got them in the mood for their scifi con good for them. But I having just done the trip, I was like, ah, look out the window. You’re missing so much. And it does strike me as ironic actually that they were watching The Matrix and missing The real world going by on the window outside, but that’s, that’s a topic for another day.

[00:04:51] So what is what. What struck me. And then as I spent the next few days, visiting places that were both familiar and unfamiliar to me, because I grew up there. And I’ve been gone for a long time. I was appreciating things that other people weren’t even looking at. I was taking pictures of the purple loose strife, which is everywhere on the verges and the sides of rules on the sand dunes,

[00:05:17] At this time of year. It’s an upright green plant that grows in very dry conditions and it’s it’s a weed basically, and it’s gorgeous this purple flowers that break out everywhere and create great big swaths of purple in the land.

[00:05:32] And I was bending down and taking pictures of the low growing purple heather.

[00:05:37] And I was, listening to the seagulls and not seeing them as a pest because I just don’t see them very often anymore.

[00:05:45] And watching the patterns that the water makes in the edge, the wet edge of the sand as as the tide comes in and out. And as adults, we don’t always get time to stop and appreciate those kinds of things.

[00:06:01] And yet the people who do, people like the poet, Mary Oliver, people, poets in general… one of the reasons that people are drawn. To poetry is because there are people who make the choice to stop and look and observe and make connections between the running water and something in our everyday lives as writers.

[00:06:30] We need to actually create space and time.

[00:06:35] Too. Just be. In the world. And observe.

[00:06:40] And process. And noodle.

[00:06:42] And sometimes that means stepping away from product writing.

[00:06:48] In May, I encourage you to start and complete a story every day to get in the habit of creating complete works, things that can be turned into products, something for someone else to consume.

[00:07:01] But sometimes we just need to practice.

[00:07:03] I’ve been watching a lot of baseball this year. And , we see the players come out onto the field in their nice uniforms and their colorful socks and we see them step up to the plate once, once in a while.

[00:07:18] And then they go and sit down for a bit and it looks like a kind of an easy job, but if you watch what they do before the game, they turn up early. And the drill, they just stand there, whacking balls. They work out in gyms, they practice, sprinting, the practice throwing and catching, different different kinds of Keynes of throws different positions, different. place to try and catch different people out. None of that is on display for the audience. And yet if they didn’t do that work, what did show up at game time would be a sloppy mess. So we need to remember that sometimes going for a walk or a drive, or watching a, documentary or reading a non-fiction book or listening to a conversation someone else’s having in a coffee shop and then creating space to just noodle on that.

[00:08:16] Just doodle, just create little word salads for ourselves that aren’t necessarily part of the product that we are going to put out, is vital. This is a vital part of writing. Adding new words to a manuscript is wonderful. But celebrate the team that you spend

[00:08:39] doing things that feed your writing.

[00:08:42] My theme here at StoryADay this month is Triumph, and I’m going to be talking a lot about things to celebrate, both in your own writing in other people’s writing, in the writing world in general, in the reading world. Because that celebration of all the things that are good and the celebration of things that are curious and unusual and the connections that we can make, celebrating that stuff. Is what keeps us energized.

[00:09:15] It keeps us curious.

[00:09:17] If you can, this week, I am going to encourage you to try and vary your routine. Celebrate this world we live in and this existence we have. We don’t always feel like doing that. There’s plenty of bad in the world, and looking at that is important so that we can challenge it and fight it, but also celebrating the things that make us go, Ooh, Is really important as well.

[00:09:49] So this week I challenge you to very routine and find wonder wherever you are. You don’t need to get on a plane and travel to another country to see your world anew.. Take a new route home from work and really notice your surroundings.

[00:10:07] Go to a different grocery store and try and find all your usual stuff. See what they’ve got this different.

[00:10:14] This Week’s Assignment

[00:10:14] Wind your windows down on the way home and listen. Smell. Feel the air around here. Is it warm? Is it called? What smells can you smell better yet? Get an, a bike and cycle and remind yourself that travel doesn’t always need to be insulated and isolated from the world around you.

[00:10:37] Take off your headphones and listened to the world. As you walk through it.

[00:10:41] If you’re feeling brave, talk to a stranger. You don’t have to have anything interesting to say, ask them about themselves. Try to find out what it is that gets them excited. Try and find that one thing that lights them up. One guy I knew that the thing that lit him up was British empire era. armies And their equipment and their campaigns.

[00:11:03] And although I wasn’t terribly interested in them, it’s so fun to find somebody else’s passion and then step back and watch them late up. And as a writer, you get to watch how it changes their whole physicality when someone is talking about the thing they’re excited about.

[00:11:18] If you don’t want to talk to somebody order a different type of coffee in the coffee shop while you’re there listening to people and then try to describe The taste, the smell, the feel the The heat of it, in words on the page.

[00:11:35] Visit a museum that you have never been to since a school trip took you there, or since your last out of town visitor came.

[00:11:43] If you live in Middleton, Wisconsin, there’s a National Mustard Museum there. Have you been there?

[00:11:48] Another way that you can find wonder is to simply wander the Nonfiction. stacks at your local library and pull a book off the shelf. I did that recently and it was great fun.. It challenged me. And it sparked all kinds of ideas in my head, not entirely related to the content just related to sitting there reading.

[00:12:07] I just grabbed a book. Sat down at a table. And spent 15, 20 minutes leafing through the book, and thinking about the type of person it was intended for the type of person you would have to be to write this book. The type of person who would spend time creating the intricate diagrams that this book was explaining. Just grab any nonfiction book off the stack and leaf through it.

[00:12:35] You’re not attempting to learn anything, you’re attempting to spark your imagination.

[00:12:41] Or simply stop and look, as I did at the weeds. Growing on a free growing patch of earth Somewhere near you right now. How many different types of plants are there. Are there flowers. Are they tiny? Are they huge. How much dirt are they growing in? What kind of insects can you see in there? Are they growing up through the cracks in the pavement, how are they doing that? Are they growing in what used to be a pristine lawn? Why is it no longer pristine? What kinds of insects feed on these flowers? What if you were insect sized, what would you make of these weeds?

[00:13:23] So many questions will start to pop up in your head. Don’t repress any of them. You don’t need to create an, a thing from this. Once you have done this exercise , when you have gone out into the world and trying to find some wonder in it, come over to the blog and leave me a comment.

[00:13:43] I’ll leave the link in the. In the description of the podcast and you can come over. It speeds. It’s just storyaday.org/find-wonder-everywhere is link and leave me a comment and let me know how you find wonder or how you found wonder this week?

[00:13:59] I’m not encouraging you to come up with a different novel idea every day or a different short story idea every day, but just to help you come up with things that spark your imagination and a low you, a little space to play with words.

[00:14:18] If you have a copy of, or are signed up for the story of the challenge handbook from earlier this year. You’ll find 31 of these types of exercises in the warmup section of that. If you haven’t got hold of the challenge handbook, yet you can get that.

[00:14:35] now, at a discounted price. storyaday.org/challenge-handbook. Again, the link’s in the description. If you’re on your phone, open up your podcast app, as long as you’re not not driving and click on this episode and the little information button, and you’ll find the links in there. Click on those, go through and have a look at the handbook.

[00:14:54] So in the handbook, it’s it’s not actually a book, it’s a, an online site where you get videos and exercises from me. And there’s 31 short story prompts, but every one of those has an attached brainstorming exercise, which is directly related to helping you brainstorm the topic of the, Of the prompt, but each one also has a warmup exercise and I encourage you to throughout the year, open those up and pick one at random.

And I always say in those Warm-up exercises, set a timer for five minutes and just free-write and I give you a topic and it’s usually sparked by a memory of yours or a question. And it’s usually related to the topic of that day’s prompt, but you can use these individually any day of the year when you’re feeling like writing, and you don’t know quite what to write, pull up one of these warm-up exercises from the challenge handbook.

[00:15:51] And do this, this play practice. Intentional play, where you dive deeply into a memory or an emotion or an experience or a something you’ve seen or something you’ve touched and guided by me. And then just write, just play with words for five minutes. And I almost guarantee it will take you out of whatever anxiety you have from your daily life, from the project that you’re trying to work on and it will remind you why you love to play with language.

[00:16:33] It’s a commute for you. It’s a mental commute. But it’s also a serious business.

[00:16:39] I start a Story A Day because I was sick of seeing writing exercises, which were exactly this kind of play because they weren’t connected to anything. And I didn’t really understand the importance Of writing snippets about you or a memory from your childhood of going up the stairs or whatever it was.

[00:16:57] And I got frustrated because I would buy a book of those exercises and then I would just be like, okay, so I’m writing, but I’m not really writing anything. So when I started StoryADay May, I was like we’re going to, we’re going to write, but it’s going to be with a purpose.

[00:17:09] We’re gonna write stories. And we’re going to learn to start, get through the middle and finish stories everyday. And that’s been great and it’s absolutely has its place, but this year I decided with the handbook to bring back in some of that warmup work, some of that practice. And you can choose to do the warmup and the brainstorming and the short story on the same day, or you can just dip in and any time that you want to write, you just pull it up, open up one of those warmup exercises and spend a little time experiencing the world. In a way that we don’t get time to do when we’re just charging through it, trying to get all the things done.

[00:17:49] Your gift to the world

[00:17:49] What we do as writers is a gift to other people. We give them the gift of being able to take a little bit of time to slow down and experience the world in a different way in the way that our ancestors experienced it. At that slower pace that everybody says they want but don’t quite know how to give themselves. What we do at writers is generous And

[00:18:15] healing, and it takes a lot of work. It takes a lot of effort. And we might as well enjoy it as much as possible.

[00:18:23] So please this week, take up my challenge of taking some time every day to see the world in a new way, to pay attention to the details, to write those things down, to challenge yourself to play in a productive way with language and practice so that when you sit down to work on a particular project, that will turn into a product that you turn out into the world. You’ve got whole of this material banked inside your heart waiting to come out.

[00:18:58] That’s what I have for you this week. Check out the story at a challenge handbook. If you haven’t already it’s at storyaday.org/challenge-handbook. If you have checked it out already. And you have a copy, do yourself a favor and open it up this week. Pick one of the warmup exercises.

[00:19:17] Maybe do one a day. Maybe do one every three days. Do these exercises in addition to wandering through the world with your eyes wide open, breathing in all the smells and listening to all the sounds and touching all the things. And don’t forget to wash your hands. But most of all, keep writing.

[00:20:18] Thanks for listening. Why not come over to the blog at storyaday. org and check out this week’s writing prompts and articles. And in the meantime, have a great, creative week. And of course, keep writing.