Steele

Source: The Writer, Dec 1993 v106 n12 p7(2).

Title: Beyond the keyboard. (Column)

Author: Portia Steele

Abstract: Writing can be an isolating and lonely profession, and care must be taken to stay involved with people and with outside activities. An additional bonus for such involvement may be an improvement in verbal skills, in the writing of dialogue and in character development.

Subjects: Authorship - Methods

Authors - Behavior

Magazine Collection: 71F0322

Electronic Collection: A14670067

RN: A14670067

It happens gradually. You wake up, walk directly from the bed to your keyboard, turn down the telephone answering device, and begin to write. Just as you did yesterday and the day before.

Suddenly, you can't remember doing anything but writing or editing or submitting. You realize you're seeing less of your friends and writing buddies. Dinner most nights is take-out. Your conversations with your significant other center on what you are writing and how many rejections you've gotten that week. One day it occurs to you that you don't have much of a life outside of writing, and at die same time, you realize how lonely you are.

Writing can be intense and isolating. True, you chose it. And, if you didn't love it, you wouldn't do it. The rewards are not immediate; the waiting is agonizing, and the rejections are constant. But you can mitigate this.

I told myself that I could write only in the morning; that if I went out before I started writing my ideas would dry up. That wasn't true. It was my way of ignoring the world.

Writers must find a life outside their writing. Become involved in your neighborhood's activities; talk to people everywhere, anywhere. Observe them; listen to them.

Twice a week I leave the car in the garage and take the bus. I write down descriptions of people, observing their gestures and physical differences. I'm lucky to live close to a large city, where the neighborhoods change rapidly. As the bus moves along, I note these changes. I pay particular attention to ethnic diversity. Sometimes I can build a whole story around one bus trip, using all the people and places I have just seen.

I use "dull time" to my benefit. Dentists' and doctors' waiting rooms provide a comfortable environment in which to talk to strangers, something I wouldn't ordinarily do. I ask general questions and find most people are happy to have someone to talk to. Unusual situations become grist for my mill. My fictional characters become stronger and more believable because I see them, talk to them, hear them.

Listen to dialogue, to lovers' quarrels, to children at play, to people gossiping. Really listen. Do women speak differently from men? Do teenagers speak a new, strange language? Make mental notes, as well as writing your observations down on paper.

Use your daily experiences as part of your research. Go out to lunch or dinner alone. Ask for a table in the busy section and eavesdrop. Pay attention to words and sounds. Watch the way people move and interact.

Sign up for a local exercise class. Even if you loathe exercise (and I can relate to that!), it fills an immediate need, is inexpensive, and most important, it's a consistent method of interacting with other adults in a non-writing setting.

My verbal skills had gone stale during "writing madness" (as I later came to call it). If you realize this has happened to you, do something about it. Go to a poetry reading and sign up to read. listen to other writers, and let them listen to you. Be daring! Read the poetry you thought was outrageous. Laugh at yourself. Writing less doesn't mean giving up the work you love or the writers in your life. It does mean expanding your world.

If you don't belong to a writers' group or can't find one, start one yourself. Begin at the library. Ask the librarian if you can hold readings there, or put a notice on the library bulletin board that says you are holding readings at your home. Leave your telephone number.

There are a million reasons not to participate. The truth may be that you just don't want to show your wares. You may be willing to take the direct, and often painful route, from writer to editor, without any feedback, especially from other writers. This is a major mistake; writers need honest interaction with other writers. We also need to socialize, and we need to do so with non-writers.

Of course, you must set aside writing time. Discipline is part of every good writer's make-up, but it is important to keep that writing time in perspective. I still write every day, sometimes through dinner (when my husband is away on business). Once in a while I'll miss an aerobics class to finish an article. But, I no longer let myself "escape" life through writing. To be a good writer, you have to do, not just be. You need to hear and be heard. Story characters are built from people you meet and talk with. Plot lines come from your experiences. My journal is now filled with exciting people and situations that I draw upon and use in stories, articles, and poems.

Whether you take an aerobics class or a dream workshop doesn't matter. What does matter is that you do something besides writing. If you often find your-elf eating out of cardboard cartons while you write, stop! Call a friend and go out to dinner. If everyone is busy, take a walk and people-watch.

By allowing yourself to experience new activities and situations without the constant pressure of writing, you can make the outside world part of the inside story.

Portia Steele's work has appeared in a number of publications, including Home Education Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, Twilight Zone Magazine, Family Circle, and The Miami Herald. She has also published three volumes of poetry; is Editor and Publisher of Prosetry and CLIPS, both offering advice and information to writers; and teaches a course called "Writing for Fun and Profit" in south San Francisco.

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