Lisa Manterfield

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Hello from Summer Camp (for Writers)

Hello from Summer Camp (for Writers) by Lisa Manterfield -lisamanterfield.com

July is here, school’s out, and, all of a sudden, it feels like summertime. Which can only mean one thing: Time for Summer Camp.

Summer Camp wasn’t a big thing in the U.K. when I was growing up, so I have little experience with cabins, camp counsellors, or having my sheets shorted. When I was about nine years old, I did go to Band Camp at a holiday camp in Minehead in southwest England. (I played trombone, in case you were wondering.) I remember we had to wear matching red, white, and blue knit caps, so we could be easily identified. We went in March, not summer, and it rained almost the entire time and was freezing cold. It was also my first time staying away from home for an extended time and I was horribly homesick. Not exactly the stuff fond camp memories are made of.

So, this time I’m not actually going away to camp. Instead, I’m attending Camp NaNoWriMo, a virtual camp for writers, run by the folks behind National Novel Writing Month. The idea is that, during the month of July, writers around the world set a personal goal for their novels-in-progress, and team up with fellow writers for support (and perhaps a teensy bit of competition.)

My goal is to write 25,000 words of a brand new idea. It’s a reasonable goal, considerably less than the 50,000-word goal for National Novel Writing Month, but given I’ll be busy rewriting my third novel this month, it’s still going to be a stretch to make it.

One of the hardest things about a new project is committing to that first sentence from which everything else will unfold. It can be daunting to stare at a blinking cursor with infinite possibilities ahead. Having a challenge like Camp NaNoWriMo removes the temptation for procrastination and overthinking. If I didn’t start on July 1, I’d be impossibly behind my goal by the end of the first week. So, despite having a full holiday weekend planned, and despite the typical day-to-day nuisances that conspire to interrupt my writing time (e.g. dead internet, squirrel invasion, power outage) my brand new project is now officially a work-in-progress.

I don’t want to say too much more about it yet, as so much can change during the writing process, up to and including the entire idea being thrown out as useless. But I’ll keep you updated on how it’s all going and if I survived my month at camp.

Hope you’re enjoying your summer (or winter, if you’re reading from the Southern Hemisphere.)

Lisa

P.S. I’m going to be appearing at several book events over the summer. First up is Redwood Writers Author Launch in Santa Rosa on Sunday, July 8. You can find out all the details, plus information about the other appearances on my Events page.

- Lisa Manterfield 2 Comments

What to Do When the Creativity Well Runs Dry

What to Do When the Creativity Well Runs Dry by Lisa Manterfield -lisamanterfield.com

This year has been all about getting books ready for publication. I’ve been busy launching A Strange Companion and gearing up to release The Smallest Thing over the summer. This has meant a lot of editing, problem-solving, and fine-tuning, and it’s fair to say that, creatively, my well hath runneth dry.

Luckily for me, I’m taking an extended trip this month. I’m spending time with family in the U.K. and going on a trip with my mum. I’m aiming to unplug as much as possible to give my creativity a chance to restore itself.

But it’s not always feasible to run away for a month, so when my creativity needs a jumpstart, here are some of my favorite ways to recharge:

Taking long walks alone

When I’m stuck with my writing, I put on my shoes and head out for a walk. I’m fortunate enough to live near the beach, so I often walk there, but walking around the city streets is just as effective for reducing stress and clearing my mind.

I often find that the pieces of a story puzzle drop into place while I’m walking. And long walks have been proven to boost creativity for up to two hours, so once I get back to the desk, the writing often flows.

Getting out into nature and staring at a far horizon

There’s something utterly hypnotic about the rustle of leaves and the twittering of birds, the gentle burble of a stream or the sound of boots crunching on a stony path. Getting out in nature is like a form of meditation, and the quiet leaves room for thoughts to be heard. Ideas that have been stuffed into the furthest corners of my brain somehow jostle loose in nature. It’s my favorite way to refill my creative well.

Wandering around a bookstore or library

I love browsing bookstores, but when it comes to recharging creativity, libraries and used bookstores offer a wealth of treasures. I wander the stacks until something catches my eye and sparks my imagination. I have a pile of used books on topics, from surviving a lightning strike to communicating with the dead, that have given me inspiration for stories.

Going to a museum or historic building

One of my favorite creativity boosters is to dig up nuggets of history and reimagine them as contemporary stories. I’ve unearthed lost stories by rummaging through the archives at the local library or wandering around a museum and imagining the stories behind some of the artifacts. Even better is visiting historic buildings, such as churches, castles, or sacred sites. You can almost feel the stories seeping from the walls. All you have to do is walk around and capture them.

Taking a train ride

I have a soft spot for train travel. It always brings to mind those great old noir movies or romantic European adventures. Maybe that’s why I also find train travel so good for creative inspiration. Perhaps it’s the rhythmic movement of the carriage or the countryside flashing by that forces thoughts and ideas into alignment.

I’ve met some fascinating people on train trips and heard lots of great stories. I once met a honeymooning couple from Singapore who were traveling California trying the wares of every fast food chain. Great fodder for a story.

Coloring or crafting

I recently hopped on the coloring book craze and was amazed how just a few minutes with a set of colored pens can spark creativity. Breaking color combination rules and trying new patterns shakes loose possibilities. Plus, as an adult, I no longer feel obligated to color within the lines.

Reading a good book

Nothing quite lights the fires like reading someone else’s brilliant words. When I read, I often find my mind plucking nuggets from the story and spinning then into new ideas. What if I placed one of my characters in this character’s world? What if I wrote a story about a character who didn’t do what the heroine of this book did?

Just switching off

Quite often, the best ideas come when I don’t go looking for them. Switching off and doing nothing but watch the world go by, with no expectations of inspiration, is often when the muse chooses to call. I always keep a notebook on hand, just in case.

So, this coming week, I plan to do many of these—walk, browse, read, spend time in nature, and a spend a good chunk of time staring off into space doing not very much at all.

How do you like to recharge your batteries and refill your creative well?

- Lisa Manterfield Leave a Comment

How J. K. Rowling, Daisy Ridley, and Andrew Garfield Helped Me Write “A Strange Companion”

How J. K. Rowling, Daisy Ridley, and Andrew Garfield Helped Me Write -A Strange Companion- by Lisa Manterfield -lisamanterfield.com

When I’m writing, I like to “see” my story. I tape a big piece of brown paper to my office wall and cover it with post-it notes of story lines, scene ideas, and nuggets of information I don’t want to forget, along with pictures of settings in which the story takes place.

Once I have a solid feel for the characters I’m creating, I add their photos, too. Sometimes I look for pictures of actors who might play the character and sometimes I look for people who just feel right. When I choose a picture, it’s often less about the way the person looks and more about the personality traits that the photo suggests.

A Strange Companion Story Board

If you’ve been reading A Strange Companion, maybe you’ve already formed images of your own about what the characters look like. I don’t want to ruin that because one of the wonderful things about books is that you get to cast the roles in your own imagination. So, if you prefer to keep it that way, don’t read any further. However, if you’re curious to see what was in my head—and on my storyboard—read on:

Kat:

To me, Kat is very down-to-earth. She loves climbing and the outdoors and she’s not big on fashion or make-up, but she’s still very feminine. Even though she’s going through a rough time in the story and doesn’t always make the best decisions, ultimately, she is tough and smart, and very determined. This photo of Daisy Ridley, not in her scruffy Star Wars garb, is the perfect representation of Kat.

Owen:

Oh, Owen. I do have a soft spot for this character. Although it was very tempting to cast Chris Hemsworth or Aiden Turner as Kat’s love interest (okay, those are my choices, not hers, I admit it) Owen is more the roguish boy-next-door type. He’s kind and funny, handsome, but not with the sort of moody good looks you’d trip over yourself to look at. (Is that just me, too?) Although Owen is loosely based on someone I knew, when I saw this loveable shot of Andrew Garfield, I chose it for my character board.

Gabe:

In the book, Kat describes Gabe as “beautiful.” In her memories, he is perfect in every way. I needed someone sultry, but cool, with the sort of moody good looks I talked about earlier, but in a younger, boyish package. Kat was a teenager when she and Gabe met, so I needed someone that 16-year-old Kat would find attractive. Nicholas Hoult has a boyish sexiness and seemed like someone Kat might have fallen for.

Mum:

Kat’s mother, Helen, is a young widow in her early 50’s, making a fresh start with a new man (much to Kat’s consternation.) I describe her as blonde when we first meet her at the airport, and I imagined to her to be attractive and well put together, but also down-to-earth, like Kat. It took me a while to find the perfect image and, finally, I came across this picture of J. K. Rowling. To me, she looks the part of Kat’s mum and I could imagine her being very pragmatic with Kat and also letting loose and having fun with Brian.

What do you think? Does your vision of these characters match mine? If not, who would you cast to play your favorite roles?

- Lisa Manterfield 2 Comments

Why I Love Writing Classes

Having recently finished a draft of my novel, I found myself creatively tapped, to say the least. I thought I’d write some short stories, or get back into the habit of doing a daily morning writing prompt, or maybe start noodling the next book, but I soon discovered I had nothing to offer. No matter how hard I tried I was utterly uninspired.

So I signed up for a writing class.

Notebook

I took a six-week class taught by Steven Wolfson at UCLA Extension Writers Program, and I’ll admit that, when I showed up on the first day, I had no idea what I was going to write about. I gave myself permission to just go with the flow of the class, without expectation of brilliance, to see what happened next.

What happened next was a LOT of writing. Being around other writers in a workshop environment, I was forced (or at least strongly persuaded) to participate in the exercises and do the homework. The prompts generated some truly rubbish work, paragraphs of pointless prose, with no narrative thrust and no hope of ever having any. But they also sparked the beginnings of some short stories and I started to notice a theme emerging. Before long, a new character began elbowing her way into my pages, and demanding to have her story heard. I suspect I’ll be writing more about her soon.

Generating new work isn’t the only benefit of taking a writing class. Here are a few others I’ve discovered over the years:

  • Reignite Inspiration: As in my case, sometimes even the things you love to do don’t come easily, and taking a class can help get you back on the writing rails.
  • Build your writing muscle: Jacqueline Winspear, bestselling of the Maisie Dobbs series, likens taking a writing class to going to the gym and working out her writing muscles. I love the image of the writerly side of my brain pumping iron.
  • Meet people: Writing can be a lonely line of work and sometimes my cat doesn’t want to listen to me anymore. It’s good for a writer to change out of her sweats and slippers and go out into the world sometimes.
  • Find fellow writers: I’ve been a member of several writers’ groups over the years and found them to be hugely helpful. I found (or formed) all those groups through people I met in class. I also connected with the people who have become my trusted beta readers.
  • Find out what’s going on in writing world: Classes almost always include breaks, which can be a great time to socialize and find out what other people are working on, what they’ve heard on the publishing industry grapevine, and what tools and resources they’ve found helpful.
  • Create time to write: Writing takes a lot of willpower and some days that’s hard to find. If you’re struggling to make time to write, committing two or three hours a week to attend a class gets you into the habit of writing consistently.
  • Try something fun: Over the years I’ve taken classes in memoir, non-fiction, screenwriting, and playwriting. I’m toying with the idea of a poetry class, too. It’s fun to write in a different format and it can be enlightening to see your stories told with a new slant.

In my case, taking a class provided a vacation for my brain and gave me an opportunity to explore untapped corners of my imagination. Definitely worth the price of admission.

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