Incorporating Real Life into Fiction

Here's me making a really weird face and gesture.
When my wife saw this picture, she said, "Does this speech make me look fat?"

I had a great time speaking at the Jot Conference on Friday the 13th. Despite the ominous date, the presentation went just fine. I did, however, forget that I had taken the top off my Snapple and sloshed Mango Madness all over the guy next to me.

My topic was “Incorporating Real Life into Fiction.” You can listen to it below (the plugin may take a minute to load) or save the mp3 by right clicking here and choosing “save link as.”


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I'm Speaking at the Jot Writers Conference Tonight

One thing I've loved about entering the world of writing is interacting with other writers, particularly at conferences. I've attended ACFW and had the pleasure of speaking at Breathe and CCWA. Next month, I'll be speaking with my buddy and publishing partner Ted Kluck at the KDL Writers Conference.

But tonight, it's an awesome free conference called Jot. No registration, no fees, just show up a little before 7:00 (to get a good seat) at Baker Book House in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I'll be speaking about connecting your writing with real life, Amelia Rhodes will address making time to write, super-agent Tim Beals will give a talk called “Agenting 101 (What you need to know about literary agents)” and Kenneth Kraegel will speak on children’s publishing. After the presentations, there will be free 25-minute workshops offered (see the event schedule for details). Add to that the draw of the world's greatest bookstore and Icons Coffee Shop and, yeah, you should come . . .

Writing Triggers

I had an article featured on the Breathe Conference website this week, about getting into the right frame of mind for writing.

Know Your Writing Triggers

At Breathe 2013, I sat on an authors’ panel. I believe I was the token newbie. I don’t remember much of what we discussed, but I do remember that someone asked us, “What do you read to prepare yourself for writing?” Tracy Groot said Steinbeck, I think. Someone else said they read John Ashbery. 

I said I don’t read anybody. I watch an episode of Breaking Bad. And I have a cigar and a cup of coffee. Then I’m ready to write.

 

I should have felt silly about that, but I didn’t. I know what triggers get my mind in the right head-space and I’m very intentional about using them. I know that I do my best writing on a particular bench overlooking the Capitol building and the Lansing skyline, while writing on this decade-old word processor I bought on eBay. I know that music and surroundings tend to affect how I write.

I like to have a playlist for each novel I’m writing, that evokes the mood I want to tap into, but also one particular song that I can play to sort of Pavlov’s Dog myself into the right head-space in under a minute. For my forthcoming book The Last Con, the song was “Crystalize” by Lindsey Stirling. I heard that song in a bookstore a couple weeks ago and immediately (involuntarily) started concocting new scenes. The problem is that I’ve already turned in the manuscript (it will hit stores in June 2015). For 42 Months Dry, it was all about Matisyahu.

For Playing Saint (which is the drug I’m actively pushing now), watching a little Breaking Bad was the thing that chambered a round for me, creatively speaking. Not that I wanted to copy Vince Gilligan’s style; just that I found myself wanting—needing—to be creative in a sort of uncharted way after forty minutes of that. The writing flowed better when I crank-started the process that way (there’s a pun in there somewhere).

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