Looking Back, Looking Forward

“Writers are either developing an idea or they are questing, even if unconsciously, for the germ of an idea.” - Patricia Highsmith

Well, 2020 turned out to be quite the year. I started this blog two years ago in an effort to write more. I wrote twenty-four posts in 2019 but only ten in 2020. Oh well. Time to reflect and plan for the future. 

I did write a couple of articles at the end of the year. My good friend Patrick Ijima-Washburn has taken over as editor for a zine called Mangaverse and he asked me to contribute. Mangaverse covers manga, anime, U.S. comics, film and Japanese culture. It's part of The National Fantasy Fan Federation aka N3F. I wrote a manga review and an article about my experiences buying American comics from when I lived in Japan. I’ll be writing more articles this year. 

My main goal last year was to finish things. Finish the writing course I had started and finish short stories. That didn’t happen. 2020 got in the way in more ways than one.

Towards the end of 2020 I was hoping to finish a short story but I hit a barrier and stepped away for a while. I've just had a breakthrough though and have a good idea where the story is going now. This story is important to me as it’s based on the first real short story that I ever wrote in high school. That story is lost but I still remember the title and the basic premise. The new version is turning out to be the same in spirit but more detailed. Finishing it is one of my first goals for 2021.

Books Read and Things Learned 

I got a lot of reading done in 2021, both fiction and non-fiction. Here are the books on writing that I read and what I got out of them. 

How to Write Action Adventure Novels by Michael Newton.

Solid advice on how to craft action stories. He gives both good and bad examples of passages that I found useful. 

Writing for Your Life by Lawrence Block.

The chapter on “automatic writing” or “fast writing” was useful. Sometimes all it takes to overcome hesitation is setting a timer and keeping the pen moving without overthinking things. 

Don’t Live for Your Obituary: Advice, Commentary and Personal Observations on Writing, 2008-2017 by John Scalzi.

This is a collection of the author’s blog posts and covers a wide variety of topics. I didn’t take notes but I remember finding the chapters on what it’s like being a writer pretty motivating. 

Stein on Writing by Sol Stein.

This book covers both fiction and non-fiction. I found almost everything from the fiction section very useful. In particular, the chapter on hooking the reader with an interesting first sentence and an interesting first paragraph was very helpful. 

Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction by Patricia Highsmith.

I liked how the author talked about how story ideas can develop. Sometimes an idea needs a second idea to get the story going. Then flesh out the idea with characters, setting, and atmosphere. 

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Ann Lamott.

I got a lot out of this one. The author stresses the importance of giving yourself short assignments and finishing first drafts. Having a first draft gives you something to work with. She also explains that you may not get to the good stuff until you’ve written three or four pages. 

The Successful Novelist by David Morell.

Sometimes I’m hesitant when trying to write fiction because I’m not sure where the story is going. The author explains that although he has an idea of where a story is going, the specifics don’t emerge until he starts writing and that the first draft doesn’t have to be perfect. His advice about description is also good. He points out that beginning writers often only provide visual description and that it’s important to also include sound, touch or smell descriptions sometimes. Stein talks about that in his book as well. 

Zen and the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury.

I found the most helpful ideas from the first half of this book. Write quickly. “In quickness is truth.” Make a list of things you love and things you hate. Play with words and make lists of titles. Feed your muse by reading a lot. Read novels, short stories, essays, and poems. 

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield.

In this book the author defines resistance and the various ways that it can get in the way of getting your writing done. This was really eye opening for me. 

Most Popular Posts

Although I started this blog for myself, a few people have dropped in now and then. Here are my five most popular posts. 

The fifth most popular post is Childish Things. I wrote about how reading comics in my childhood turned into a love of storytelling. Jim Reddy's We Learn By Writing: Childish Things

Fourth is Incident at an Airport. This was an assignment for the writing course that I’ve been taking. Jim Reddy's We Learn By Writing: Incident at an Airport: Setting Exercise Part 2

Third is Man, Lying on a Hill, Looking Through a Rifle Scope. This was also an assignment for the writing course. Jim Reddy's We Learn By Writing: A Man Lying on a Hill, Looking Through a Rifle Scope: Setting Exercise Part 1

The second most popular at 115 views is Education of a Wandering Man, a review of the book by Louis L’Amour. Jim Reddy's We Learn By Writing: Education of a Wandering Man

My most popular post, at just over 300 views, is A Time When I Was Deeply Embarrassed. Another assignment for the writing course. Three hundred views may not be a lot for most blogs but it's a big jump from most of my posts.  Jim Reddy's We Learn By Writing: A Time When I Was Deeply Embarrassed

Looking Ahead 

Last year I came up with goals but I didn’t plan out how I was going to accomplish those goals and I didn’t keep track of them. 

This year I’ve started keeping track of how much writing I do. I make a note of how much I’ve written at the end of every day. I'm also making better use of my project and story list. First keeping better track of it and second re-prioritizing things as needed.

In the end though I know that I need to plant myself in my chair and just write.

Here’s to a better new year. 

The Feynman Notebook Method

“Study hard what interests you the most in the most irreverent and original manner possible.”  - Richard Feynman

I recently read about something called The Feynman Notebook Method, also called the Feynman Technique. It was developed by Richard Feynman as a learning and study technique.

Richard Feynman (1918-1988) was an American theoretical physicist. He worked on the Manhattan Project, won the Nobel Prize in 1965 (along with Julian Schwinger and Shinichiro Tominaga), and helped to discover the cause of the space shuttle Challenger disaster. He was also known as the “Great Explainer” because he could explain complex concepts in simple and understandable ways.

After his second year of graduate school he started using a notebook dedicated to learning a new concept. On the title page he wrote, Notebook of Things I Don’t Know About. He used the notebook to disassemble what he was studying and reorganize his knowledge. He took a difficult concept and wrote notes and diagrams that made it easier for him to understand. As he filled the empty pages of his notebook his knowledge of the topic grew.

I found this interesting as I have been keeping a notebook dedicated to learning about writing for about two years. As I read books and articles on writing I highlight important passages. Once I finish I go back through and write notes and diagrams in my notebook. Going back later and reviewing what I have written has been helpful. 

So far when I’ve done this I’ve just written down things exactly as they were originally written. That has worked for most ideas but not all. I found myself copying down long passages because I didn't want to change what was originally written. That’s been fine for some ideas. I just broke down the long passages into smaller bite size chunks. But it hasn’t been helpful for a lot of other more complicated concepts.

I realize now that I should have been doing what Richard Feynman did. He didn’t just copy down quotes. He would simplify his notes and diagrams in order to be able to teach the concept to others. Then he would review his explanations and look for where he still didn’t understand something or where his explanations weren’t clear. Next he would go back to the source material and add or edit as needed, all the while simplifying as much as possible. I’m definitely going to start doing this with my notebook. 

When I read the article about this study method I thought Richard Feynman was completely new to me. After reading the article I looked up some more information about him. Some of what I read sounded familiar to what I’ve read on a Twitter account from what looks like a professor. The bio doesn’t explain who he is but the feed includes motivational quotes about learning. It turns out I’ve been following the Richard Feynman Twitter account for quite awhile. 

Three Favorite Authors

“People on the outside think there’s something magical about writing, that you go up in the attic at midnight and cast the bones and come down in the morning with a story, but it isn’t like that. You sit in back of the typewriter and you work, and that’s all there is to it.” - Harlan Ellison 

I’ve really been into three particular authors recently, Neil Gaiman, Ray Bradbury, and Harlan Ellison. I’ve gotten so into them that I’ve created checklists of each author’s work. I’m ticking things off as I add them to my collection and as I read them. I’ve also rearranged my bookshelves and grouped their books close together. Not only have I rearranged my physical bookshelves, I’ve also added author “shelves” for these authors to my Goodreads page. 

Neil Gaiman

I first discovered Neil Gaiman when I was in university. I read his Sandman comic around the time it was originally being published. I liked it but never finished reading it. After Sandman I didn’t read any of his work for quite a long time. I was always aware that he was writing short stories and novels over the years but I never got around to reading any of them. 

I rediscovered Neil Gaiman right after I started this blog. His book Art Matters had just been released and I picked it up. I liked it enough that I sought out more of his advice on writing. I liked what he had to say. I found his advice simple, straightforward, and motivating. It was just the right kind of advice that I needed to hear. Things like the importance of finishing things. That you don’t have to get it right at the beginning. By finishing things you start to learn. You learn more from finishing a failure than by beginning something that is fantastic that is left unfinished. 

He also uses examples from his work when giving advice. This intrigued me enough to seek out his fiction. So I read Coraline. I wasn’t expecting to like a dark fantasy children’s novella as much as I did. It was eerie and suspenseful and the main character was smart, resourceful and brave. Then I read The Graveyard Book. I never thought that a story of a young boy that lives in a graveyard and is raised by ghosts could be as moving as it was. I liked it even more than Coraline. Next was The Ocean at the End of the Lane and Neverwhere. So far The Graveyard Book and Neverwhere are my favorites. Most recently I’ve been reading his short stories and I’ve been enjoying them a lot. M is for Magic is a nice, quick overview of his short story work. I’ve just started the short story collection Smoke and Mirrors. He seems to have a genuine love for storytelling and it really comes through in his work. 

Ray Bradbury

I first read Ray Bradbury in high school. I came across his work in the science fiction short story collections that I read from my high school library. I remember liking them a lot but didn’t read any further. When he passed away in 2012 I picked up a collection of his short stories but I didn’t read it. The years went by.

I also rediscovered Ray Bradbury right before I started this blog. I have mentioned before that  I watched a video of a speech he gave at a writer’s symposium in 2001. In the speech he gives lots of advice for aspiring writers. His speech was one of the things that motivated me to write more and to start a blog. I still didn’t get back into reading his work though. Until a few months ago. I found a beat up copy of Bradbury’s R is for Rocket in a used bookstore recently. I picked it up and read it. Good stuff. I recognized some of the stories. I may have read this collection in high school. Next I read The October Country, a collection of science-fiction and horror stories and The Halloween Tree, a short novel about the origins of Halloween. I loved them both. I also read Zen and the Art of Writing. He mentions some of the advice from the book in his speech.

There’s something lyrical and poetic about his writing. I’ve added a few more Bradbury books to my shelf and I’m looking forward to reading them. 

Harlan Ellison 

I first discovered Harlan Ellison when I was in high school through his interviews, reviews, and essays in Starlog and Future Life magazines. I soon learned that he wrote my favorite Star Trek episode, “City on the Edge of Forever.” What’s on the screen may be different from his original script but his voice is still there. It’s not perfect but it’s a powerful episode. It doesn’t offer up easy answers to the problems the characters face and it doesn't end with the characters laughing and smiling on the bridge.

I can’t remember exactly when I started reading his fiction. I do remember buying his books at one of my favorite book stores in Atlanta, The Science Fiction and Mystery Bookshop. It moved twice but like a lot of bookstores it eventually went out of business. It’s been closed for years but man, I still miss that place. In any case, I bought a number of his books, both fiction and non-fiction. 

I had all my Ellison books packed away and stored at my parents house for the longest time. I dug some of them out a few years ago and started reading his fiction again. I also started filling in the holes in my collection. Within the last year I’ve picked up a hardcover, a trade, and a number of books on Kindle. Just recently I found some more boxes of his books that I forgot that I had. 

It turns out that I have way more Ellison hardcovers and paperbacks that I thought. At present I have nine hardcovers and twelve paperbacks. Some of them are signed. I thought I only had two signed books but it turns out that I have more. I haven’t seen these books in over twenty years. Finding them was like finding a time capsule filled with treasure. 

It’s been driving me crazy that I can’t remember which convention I met Ellison and got my books signed at. I thought it was at a Dragon Con but I can’t find any documentation of him attending prior to 1992, which is when I moved to Japan. It’s also driving me crazy that I don’t have any photographs. I used to always take pictures at the conventions that I attended. 

I just finished reading one of his early collections of short stories, Paingod and Other Delusions,  and I finally read Dangerous Visions, which he edited. Ellison was not without controversy and I don’t like every single thing he has written. But there are so many gems. I still find his writing, especially his fiction to be raw, powerful, and moving. 

In Summary 

While I have some other favorite authors, and I’m always discovering someone else to read, I keep coming back to these three. They have some similarities but they’re not exactly alike. Bradbury and Gaiman seem the most similar, but Ellison is different. He can come across as louder, angrier, and more in your face. That’s just one side to his writing, especially his non-fiction. He can also demonstrate that lyrical, poetic poetic quality I find in Bradbury, and he also comes across as having a genuine love for telling stories that both Bradbury and Gaiman have. 

They reached deep into themselves, put in the time to put words onto paper, and told stories that go beyond what’s just on the written page. 

A Night in the Lonesome October

"Reading is the nourishment that lets you do interesting work." - Jennifer Egan

Around the middle of October I learned about a book called A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny with illustrations by Gahan Wilson. This is the last book that Mr. Zelazny wrote before he passed away in 1995 at the age of 58. I’ve read some of his short stories and I may have read Damnation Alley when I was in high school but I don’t remember for sure. I bought the first five books of the Chronicles of Amber quite a long time ago but still haven't read them. The bookstore where I bought them, like a lot of bookstores, no longer exists. 

After reading The October Country and The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury (both quite excellent) I was interested in reading something else that fit the season. When I discovered this book I figured that I’d give it a try. I’m very glad that I did. 

The story is narrated by Snuff the dog. Snuff is the companion to a knife wielding gentleman named Jack. Together they are players in "The Game." But they aren’t the only ones. There’s also the witch, the mad monk, the druid, the vicar, a couple of hermetic occultists, the doctor and his experiment man, the Count who sleeps by day, and a mysterious stranger named Larry Talbot. Most of these characters have animal companions as well. There’s also the Great Detective, observing and investigating. 

Roger Zelazny dedicates this book to Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, Bram Stoker, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, H. P. Lovecraft, Ray Bradbury, Robert Bloch, Albert Payson Terhune (author and dog breeder), and the makers of a lot of old movies. This gives you an idea of what kind of story you’re in for. 

There is one chapter where I thought the description suddenly got a little too wordy. Snuff and Graymalk the cat find themselves on a  journey through a dreamlike world with a majestic city. As I was reading I thought about H. P. Lovecraft and realized what the author was doing. It worked. 

At the start of the book Snuff introduces himself and gives the reader some background information. After that the chapters are titled by date, beginning with October 1st and ending with October 31st. As the story progresses the reader discovers more about "The Game" leading up to the final confrontation on October 31st. 

There's mystery, adventure, horror, and humor. I loved the characters, the storytelling, and the illustrations. One of my favorite books of the year. I learned that it’s become tradition to read this book every October, one chapter a day. I plan on reading it again next year. 

Bird by Bird

“Writing a first draft is very much like watching a Polaroid develop. You can’t - and, in fact you’re not supposed to - know exactly what the picture is going to look like until it has finished developing.” - Anne Lamott

I haven't been doing much writing lately. The challenge of sitting down to write is not new to me but it’s been more challenging than usual. There is so much going on these days. In the world. In America. In my family. Not only has it been hard to find the time to write, it’s been hard to find the motivation. Eventually I managed to find the time and motivation to do some reading. I just finished another book on writing, Bird by Bird by author Anne Lamott.

I discovered this book awhile ago while browsing in a bookstore. The back cover has a quotation from the book which explains where she got the title from. She tells a childhood story about her brother and father. Her brother was in a panic as he had waited until the last minute to begin a book report on birds. I can relate. Immobilized and almost in tears because of the task at hand, her father offered the following advice to her brother, “Bird by bird buddy. Just take it bird by bird.” That grabbed my interest so I picked it up. Until now it's been sitting on my shelf with a number of other unread books.

The book is divided into four parts, Writing, The Writing Frame of Mind, Help Along the Way, and Publication - And Other Reasons to Write. The first two parts take up the majority of the book.

I found the section on writing to be the most interesting and the most helpful. In it she stresses the importance of giving yourself short assignments and writing first drafts. She explains that most first drafts are pretty bad but that’s okay. A first draft gives you a starting point, something to work with. She also talks about how sometimes you won’t get to the good stuff until you’re three or four pages in. Throughout the rest of the section she also gives advice on character, plot, dialogue, as well as other things of concern to anyone who wants to write.

A lot of the advice is similar to advice I’ve read in other books on writing. But it’s presented in different ways from other authors. She shares both her writing experiences and her experiences teaching writing. Her stories help to illustrate her advice. As for some of the advice not being new to me, it didn’t bother me. I found that it was a helpful review. Overall I found the book to be helpful and motivating.


Since finishing the book I’ve been doing some writing. I’ve written some book reviews for Goodreads, added some words to one of my stories in progress, and written this blog. Notes got turned into drafts, drafts got turned into finished things. It was a good reminder that you can’t wait to be motivated. One of the things I love about writing is discovering new things as I write. But that doesn’t happen unless I focus and write. Even if it’s not as much as I’d like I realize that I have to make the time. Even in the most challenging of times.

Where Do You Get Your Ideas?

“I always start out with an idea, even a boring idea, that becomes a question I don’t have answers to.” - Toni Morrison 

Where do you get your ideas? I’ve been told that authors don’t like to be asked that question. I’ve heard various reasons, such as it’s difficult to answer or that the answer is so very obvious.

I’ve never really had a problem with coming up with story ideas in general. I always have lots of ideas running around in my head. I think about them a lot. I hardly ever finish anything though. There are various reasons for this. Finding the time to write regularly is a big one. But the main reason is I’m not sure where to go with the idea, where to take the story, or how to end the story. So I’m always interested in hearing what authors have to say about the writing process.

Harlan Ellison said that he got his ideas from Poughkeepsie. He also said Schenectady. Cities in New York. He would then add that there was an idea service there that would send him ideas every week for a fee. I laughed along with everyone else when I first read this in my younger days.  Now that I'm trying to write regularly I think the answer isn’t helpful. Oh, it’s still funny, it’s just not very helpful. 

Recently I came across Neil Gaiman’s answer to this question. First he said that if you ask an author where they get their ideas he’ll probably mock you. I laughed at this because I immediately thought of Harlan Ellison. Neil Gaiman says that he used to give the mocking answers until he was talking to a group of seven and eight year olds. After one kid asked him where he got his ideas from, he thought he’d better give a straight answer. His answer was that ideas come from two things coming together. Confluence. Things that you’ve seen a thousand times but you look at them in a slightly different way. I found his answer helpful. 

Patricia Highsmith, in her book Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction, has a chapter on ideas. She first talks about the germ of an idea. This can come from observation or just a “brief sequence of action that pops into the head out of nowhere, from nothing seen or heard.” That second explanation describes my experience with ideas really well. I’ve lost count how many times ideas have popped into my head as I walked home from my train station to my apartment in the evenings. Something about after working my day job puts me into a place where my mind can wander, can explore, and see connections that I could not see during the day. It never happens in the morning as I walk to the train station. I am not a morning person. 

When I try too hard to think of an idea, nothing happens. On the other hand, when I’m not consciously thinking, “I need to think of an idea!”, an idea will suddenly pop into my head. Then I’ll start wondering about  what would happen next. It just happens. Sometimes the idea gets fleshed out a little further right away, but usually I’ll have to revisit the idea a few times. I’ll keep wondering about what would happen next. It’s like a game. It’s fun. But it doesn’t usually lead to a finished story. 

Patricia Highsmith adds that stories don’t always develop this way. They sometimes need a “second idea to get them going.” When I read this I immediately thought of Neil Gaiman’s advice about confluence. Two things coming together. Like Neil Gaiman’s advice, I found her advice quite helpful.

I’ve learned that thinking about a story isn’t enough. I need to sit down and write. It leads to more ideas. The act of getting the words down leads me into new directions. Ideas I would not have thought of by just thinking about them. New dialogue, new scenes, new directions, new background on characters, and even new characters. I am so fascinated by this process. I absolutely love it. 

In the end it’s different for every writer. Speaking for myself I’m enjoying this journey I’m on. As challenging as it is, I now know that I need to sit down and write more. I need to work harder to find the time to write. Thinking and imagining is the easy part. I’ve done it most of my life.

Less daydreaming, more work.  Wish me luck.

A Letter to Lawrence Block

“You can always fix bad pages. You can’t fix no pages. So write. Just write. Try to turn off that voice of doom that paralyzes you.“ - Harlan Coben

I recently participated in a virtual writing workshop conducted by one of my favorite authors, Lawrence Block. At the end of the workshop he asked for feedback. Here’s what I sent him.

Dear Mr. Block,

Thank you for conducting the Virtual Writing Workshop. It was an enjoyable experience. 

I’ve been interested in writing for years. I never do enough of it. Your workshop got me writing for two hours twice a week. It felt good. 

I am currently living and working in Japan. Since I’m in a different time zone I wasn’t writing at the same time as everyone else. I did the Tuesday assignments later in the week and I did the Thursday assignments on weekends. I felt very motivated after completing each assignment and always looked forward to the next assignment. I got behind at one point, but it wasn’t too difficult to catch up. I was able to keep to my schedule for the last few exercises. 

The assignments were clear. I was able to jump right in. I liked the flow of each assignment and I liked that there was flexibility. The fifteen minute exercises were nice warm-ups. I found the breaks between sessions helpful.

At first I was doubtful that I would be able to write for an entire hour. One thing I have struggled with is my tendency to overthink things. I often second guess myself as I write. I’ve improved after reading a few books on writing but it’s still an issue. 

I gave it a try though. It kept me going knowing that as long as the pen was moving I was doing it right. Once I started I was able to go for the full hour with no negative thoughts getting in my way. That was motivating. I discovered that writing for an hour was not as intimidating as I first thought. The combination of setting a timer and not stopping was simple but effective. 

I also liked the tone of the emails. Laid back but with clear directions and clear possible outcomes. It also felt like we were in the same room and that you were speaking to me directly. 

I learned some things about writing, I learned some things about myself, and wrote a lot. I’m definitely interested in joining a similar workshop in the future. That is if I’m not too busy writing. 

Thank you so much. 

Sincerely,

Jim Reddy

Next: Ideas and where they come from.