Creative Workspaces of The Not-So-Rich and Obscure

by Kris Kahrs

Inspired by Kyle Cassidy’s study, “Where I Write: Fantasy & Science Fiction Authors in their Creative Spaces” on BoingBoing, I, the 4th wheel here at Pen and Ink have decided to share the creative workspaces that inspire the Pen and Ink crew.

When writing, these spaces become the temples of our practice; the laptop, the wall where we offer our missive, hitting the ‘send’ key, waiting for the munificence of an indifferent being to show up in our inbox.

Sue Berger’s Den of Inspiration

At the computer in my bedroom. My son’s dog, Diego thinks it is his duty to watch me work.
 
Under my computer screen are little toys of Glenda the Good Witch, and a silver Pig. There is also a little gingerbread house.

On the wall in back of the computer are pictures of my family. On the bookshelf next to my computer are many Wizard of Oz Books, The Maida Books, The Anne of Green Gables books, the E. Nesbit books, and many other favorites. There are also Muppet Baby toys, Shrek toys and Cinderella toys and some miniature cupcakes. This is my granddaughter Grace’s favorite pretend place.

I have 4 large bookshelves in my room: One has Teddy bears on top. One has Dragons, frogs and a musical carousel on top. One has the grown up Muppets on top. The fourth one has pigs on top. Next to my door is a Giant purple dragon named Charlie.

Lupe Fernandez’s Pad of Prose

Death perches on flat screen. I'm not sleeping, but concentrating on the next scene. The folder on the right is full of revisions. The bags on the floor are camera cases with photos I need to upload onto Facebook for instant appreciation. The plastic container on the desk contains water to prevent LDS (Literary Dehydration Syndrome). I'm wearing a Los Angeles Conservancy hat to prevent my brains from exploding due to a volatile mixture of plot, doubt, character, syntax, doubt, continuity, metaphors, the brilliant idea for a story I just thought of and doubt.  

Hilde Garcia’s Corner of Composition

Hilde sent in a before shot……
I get inspired on my desk when I look at my Academy Award that says BEST... when I look at the screen saver on my desk of my husband and I on our honeymoon after I had ridden a bike around the bay in Monterey- after not having ridden on in 24 years.

…..and an after.

I get inspired when I look at my photos of Maui- where I long to go...  

I get inspired when I look out to my street and see a white picket fence... a beautiful 50 year old tree that shadows my home and the squirrels that run up and down it. I get inspired when the mail man passes by, my neighbors walk their dogs and my kids escape to run next door to see Uncle Allan.

 
I write my stories at this desk, I dream my dreams. I often fall asleep at this desk- see other photo previously posted.
 
I love it late at night or early in the morning when no one is awake... even the dog is snoring.
 

Kris Kahrs’ Table of Turbulence

This is not so much a “creative workspace” as it is a “flat surface that isn’t the floor”. This is my dining room table and when it’s not a holiday dinner, this is where it all happens folks. I did go in for the optional 20-1b. cat accessory for additional street cred.

(Have you been to a SCBWI Writer’s Day? Whew! Tough crowd.)

Anyway, the most inspirational things about my space are the sunset outside of the doors you see in the picture, the Hollywood sign and the Observatory because they are so iconic, and an Emerson quote kept posted on the magazine holder in front of me, “Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air…”

The ABC’S of Writing

by Lupe Fernandez

A is for Animal magnetism I have from being a writer.

B is for Bad Ass MoFo dance when I come up with a new story idea.

C is for Counting Words.

D is for Depression.

E is for Electronic Media.

F is for F$%@*!!! Manuscript.

G is for Gerunds.

H is for Hyperbole.

I is for Indirect Objects.

J is for Jeepers if I’d known writing a YA Novel was this hard, I’d have taken up lion taming.

K is for Keeping The Faith.

L is for Listening to Critiques.

M is for Mixed Metaphors.

N is for No.

O is for Objective Correlative.

P is for Possessive Pronouns.

Q is for Query Letter.

R is for Rewrite. Rewrite. Rewrite. Repeat. Rinse. Rewrite.

S is for Symbolism.

T is for Thesaurus.

U is for Usually I never talk about my writing process or discuss future story ideas with anyone out of an irrational fear of never finishing a project.

V is for Vowels A E I O U.

W is for Waiting for a Response.

X is for Xenon gas used in a photo flash unit taking my picture to appear on a book jacket.

Y is for Your manuscript does not meet our needs.

Z is for Zowie! Famous editor/agent/author spoke to me!

To Torture or Not to Torture: Has your Main Character Suffered Enough?

by Hilde Garcia

I was talking to my dear friend recently, the only survivor to my coming out party, when we decided to go down memory lane or maybe we should call it Nightmare Street.

"Do you remember THE PARTY your mom forced you to have?” She asks me. Do I? How could I forget? In fact, I wanted to forget it so badly that when the same scene came up for my main character, I happily skipped over it.

Funny. You are supposed to write what you know and what was is difficult. Yet, I ran the moment I had the chance.

I still have nightmares about the dress, the kids at my party that did not want to be there, forced to go because my mother had made the calls to their mothers. I boycotted the entire process.

Then when no one asked me to dance, my mother got up and made an announcement.

“Who wants to dance with my daughter?” I was mortified. How delicious if I did this to my main character. Why not? If I suffered, she should too.

The boy who was brave enough to accept the dance request or just plain scared of my mother, proceeded to step on my toes and ruin my panty hose, my eyes were closed during the one photo of us dancing, and then promptly sat down with a look of relief. Oh, what a dance!

My hair was too short, my tan was to dark and I had just had my wisdom teeth pulled, so my face was still a bit rounder than I would have cared for. Ah, 15, such a good age. NOT.

I wanted to crawl under a rock. The party ended with three people in the pool, my brother sticking his hand in my cake, and my cousin running off to make out with the guy I did like, who happened to show up with a friend. If ever there was a party to live in infamy that was it.

Did I mention it was the recreation hall of our dumpy apartment building, which had yellow and orange floral wallpaper, worn carpeting, cheesy lighting and no air conditioning? My birthday is in August in Miami. No wonder everyone ended up in the pool.

Except for me. I was told to sit and be pretty. I did just that. I sat, but pretty was far from the photo.

Years later my mom always kidded me about it. “One day, you will laugh about this.”

After 30 years, there is still no laughter. I am still traumatized. I know for her, it was a great night. It was the party she wanted and never had. Maybe I should be over it? Nope, not going to happen.

So MC, watch out. I have a lot of torturing to enhance you with, but hopefully, you will find your voice sooner than I did and speak up and say NO to really bad parties thrown by your parents.

Push the envelope. Have you tortured your MC enough today? Really?

If you squirm as you write the scene, you are on the right track.

If not, get to it. Your MC will not torture him/herself.

Bad Things Happen to Good People

by Susan Berger

Human beings have a built in safety net which prevents us from physically hurting ourselves. (Slap yourself really hard. Go ahead. Try it. Note that your hand will pull back at the last second to lessen the force of the blow.) I suspect that this safety net may be interfering with my ability to make bad things happen to my characters. After all the characters I create are part of me. I know I have to get past this.

Bad things happen to good people. It is my job as an author to make that true. Bad things happening are what make a story interesting. Where would Cinderella be without her wicked stepmother? Would the story of the Three Little Pigs be memorable without the wolf?

That thought led me to Jon Scieszka’s The True Story of the Three Little Pigs as told by A. Wolf. It’s a whole other (wonderfully funny) story when you hear it from the wolf’s point of view.

What if I tried telling my story from my other character’s point of view? (I want to do this with at least two of my other characters). What would I learn about my hero? What faults have I not exploited? What virtues?
I invite you to try this as a writing exercise.

A. Pick a scene in your story and tell it from another character’s point of view.
B. Describe the hero from the villain’s point of view

Here are some sample questions to ask the villain or secondary character:

1 Describe (your hero) physically.
2. What is their best quality?
3. What is their worst quality or what really annoys you about (your hero)?
4. Describe (your hero)’s friends.
5. What is something you know about (your hero) that you don’t think (your hero) knows about themselves?
6. What do you think (your hero) is most afraid of?

Happy writing!

Revision Process

by Lupe Fernandez

This is a page from my YA manuscript "Medicine Boy" that I revised. Looks easy, doesn't it?