The Spectre of the Blank Computer Screen

It used to be the haunting white paper on the desk, waiting for the mark of a pen. Then it was the sheet rolled into the old Underwood typewriter. Some people advanced to the Selectric, and although I went straight to the computer, the blank "paper" still haunts me.

I scan through my mental Rolodex of ideas and experiences, but none seem worthy of fiction. I seach for an image--something I've seen--or a sound or a phrase--something that's landed on my ear--but the cream is not rising to the top.

Looking for inspiration, I pick up a YA novel from the pile of YA novels on my desk. Rebel Glory, by Sigmund Brouwer. I read the first three chapters. They're short. At the end of chapter 3, I'm still only on page 13. I'm trying to read like a reader who is a writer and notice things a writer might notice.

It's written in the first person. The narrator is Brian McPhee, a 17-year-old junior hockey player. Chapter 1 gives a description of an incident (I don't want to give it away!) at a hockey game. I notice a couple of great similes. The hockey coach, who "has a face that looks like it was carved from the side of a mountain" (7) lambastes his players, telling them they are "skating like ballerinas" (6). Brian describes his English teacher: "Mr. Palmer's eyes bulged out like a constipated frog's" (12).

This is off to a lively start. Okay, I'm inspired.

Now that I'm in the writing groove, I'd better get on to the real writing--an Assignment of Great Importance. Four pages of fiction. Double-spaced. That's about 1,200 words.

Breathe deep . . . write "one true sentence."

I'm on a Mission!

If I'm going to write professionally, I need to familiarize myself with what's being read. In college or university, we can read academic essays a-plenty in journals across the disciplines, and, if we are paying attention, we can see patterns of organization and so learn to write academic essays better.

For creative writing, we can also learn by reading what published authors have written. They don't always follow all the rules, but success speaks for itself.

Last week, we were all on a mission to find out whose writing style ours was like. This week, I'm on a mission to find out about YA novels and stories.

YA? Is this a throw-back to the YA-YA Sisterhood? No, it stands for Young Adult, as in YA novels. It's a genre on its own--novels that appeal particularly to young adults, which seems to be a fancy way to say teens.

I went to the public library and was dizzied by all the series. I'm marking that down on my list of characteristics of success in the YA genre: write about something that you can write about many times over! There must be some comfort in following the lives of the same characters in similar situations.

For the younger reader, the Magic Treehouse series is a phenomenal way to entice readers into other historical periods, many other historical periods. The main characters climb up into a magic treehouse and get tossed back in time to, for example, the times of knights and dragons. They have many adventures and finally, whoosh, they return to their own time and place. You can see the advantage this--almost limitless settings. Each setting means a different story. Each story means readers can look forward to the further adventures of their favourite characters.

I also looked at what I'm calling author series--many books by the same author, but not necessarily with the same characters. Here, readers look forward to a new book by their favourite author. Today, I investigated Canadian Sigmund Brouwer.

First, I see that he's published by several publishers: Orca, Word Kids, and Thomas Nelson. This is useful information. The blurb on the back of one of his books says he has more than half a million books in print for kids, teens, and adults, and that he is a former college and semi-pro hockey player. Ah, the hockey connection! Of the six of his novels that I picked up today, four sport colourful covers depicting hockey players. Oh, I see it's a series: Lightning on Ice, and it's endorsed by the Western Hockey League; the back page contains a Stay in School NO MATTER WHAT! message from the WHL.

So . . . Brouwer has turned some personal knowledge about and experience with hockey into fodder for his stories.

As we launch into our writing careers (yes, we must think of ourselves as writers!), we should ask ourselves if we have something like that to draw on--some job, some hobby, some experience that we are already knowledgeable about. It could provide the underpinnings of a novel.

Alberta author Shirlee Smith Matheson, who has written lots about the Peace Country, among other things, has had more than 35 different jobs and has lived in umpteen different places. She's had Adventures. She's has Experiences enough for four lifetimes.

And she uses it all in her writing.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it . . .