Magic for Courage

Embrace your Heroic Self

You don't need to rescue damsels and gents to be a hero. Sometimes being a hero is just living in your life. Sometimes a hero is the person needed in that moment. No superpowers, no special gadgets. Just the tools at hand.

Method

I prefer sigils for much of my work. They are stripped down magic. Intent and purpose directed into an object of focus. Choose a word or a phrase to construct your sigil.

Do not

Do not write what you want to be. Repeat what you are.

"I am brave." or even simpler "brave."
"I am in control."
"I am strong."
"Fear does not control me."

Transform

Embrace the positive energy and hope of becoming a stronger and more powerful person. Focus your intent to become what you want to be.

Choose a Symbol

Symbols of who you want to be are helpful. Pick a person who exhibits the kind of courage you wish to embody. This does not have to be a real person. It must be a person you feel a connection with and one who possesses qualities you wish to possess. How you feel about them is the most important aspect.

I favor pop magick so I look to the courage of Batman, Green Arrow, and Batgirl (I like comic book characters). You can choose historical figures like Abraham Lincoln or Alexander Hamilton. You can choose a person in your life, an ancient god, or a hero.

Why?

My subjects are always dictated by what's on my mind. I'm trying to effect change within myself and my life. I'm working through my fears extinguish them one by one. Nothing holds us back more than ourselves. My advice: Put up a fight.

Poem - Can't Stop Monday

Can’t Stop Monday

Sunday night and the world did not end

Disarmed another thermonuclear weapon

No mass destruction

A cause for celebration

The world did not end

No time for revelry

There is no stopping Monday

Without a time machine to rewind today

Sunday night and I did not die

Dispatched the curare cotton candy spy

No one is dead

Called by my bed

The night is sublime

I will stay

Because there is no fighting Monday

Or crime from where I would like to lay

Sunday night with the criminal

All the evidence nicely admissible

Recorded the confession

Monday rushes

With brand new issues

Violent night rages

Nothing will keep me from Monday

Unless I am broken by Sunday

Poem - Three Pieces of Eight

Three Pieces of Eight

A psychotic slick of stanzas at my core

Sugar my brains, dice my heart

Take this blade and trisect my soul

Cut me apart

Sharp pieces scatter

To save, To follow, To lose

Wrap three in a blue billy

Tie it tight enough to choke

Tuck me back in your pocket

Call me, Kill me, Love me

Dropped the ball before my fingers felt it

Restore the fight to my bruised hands

Magic, Weak, Silly

Break down the plan into steps

Directions to unite disparate

Porcelain pieces, Candy heart, Gray part
Remnants reassemble to the new me

The person I have always been

Under the suppression

Steal control

Never die

Add new, Make more, Repeat me

Edit Your Brains Out

Over and Over Again

These are a few simple methods for compulsive procrastinators with stalled drafts and plummeting confidence. In other words, some ways I've been encouraging myself to edit my draft. Hopefully, you'll find a helpful idea.

I don't like editing. When it comes to editing a coagulated mess of prose, I lose my passion and my will to work. I want to like editing because it is an important step in a writing. It's not as easy as generating ideas and creating the coagulated mess. The fact that it's hard means I have to work at it and fight to improve. Improvement will feel so good because I fought for it.

Divide and conquer

Split the draft into smaller files.

A big draft can intimidate the strongest heart. Break the draft down into chapters. Give each chapter its own file and number them to keep order. I recommend numbering by twos in case you realize you need to add a chapter because otherwise you will have to renumber every file after the new chapter.

Edit by the Numbers

Set daily goals.

One of the easy ways to gauge progress when writing is to run a word count and aim to reach a certain goal everyday. When editing, aim to make 50 changes a day or aim to edit a single chapter per day.

Go through the novel sentence by sentence and word by word. Slowly and surely, you will go from having a novel of rotted tripe to a novel you're willing to admit exists.

Have a purpose

Make a checklist of flaws.

Create a checklist of weaknesses and problems to attack. Include sections to edit, aspects to focus on, weak words to tear out and ideas you want to incorporate. Then work your way down the checklist. Being able to check off objectives on the list will give you the precious sense of progress.

Recognize failure

Go with the method that works.

Some methods don't work, some sections of prose are better in the trash bin.

Don't throw the book out with crap. If a section doesn't work, change it. A tactic fails for you, try a new tactic.

Consider the possibility that your struggle with your draft is because you are overlooking a problem. Look at your novel and ask hard questions. Is it any good? What is the point? Why am I writing this? Am I proud of this? What can I do to make this better? What is boring?

Warning

Don't torment yourself.

Don't overtax yourself. If you're tired, take a break.

Technicolor Text - 12 Words for Each Color of the Rainbow

Paint the World with Words

We live in a colorful world so write a colorful world. Here are a few dozen words to color your work.

Red

1. berry
2. blood
3. burgundy
4. cherry
5. crimson
6. fire truck
7. garnet
8. merlot
9. rose
10. ruby
11. scarlet
12. strawberry

Orange

1. amber
2. apricot
3. carrot
4. cheeto
5. creamsicle
6. flame
7. ocher
8. persimmon
9. pumpkin
10. rust
11. tangelo
12. tangerine

Yellow

1. buttercup
2. canary
3. daffodil
4. gold
5. goldenrod
6. highlighter
7. honey
8. jaundice
9. lemon
10. saffron
11. sun
12. tweety bird

Green

1. absinthe
2. antifreeze
3. artichoke
4. emerald
5. hulk
6. lime
7. mint
8. mold
9. moss
10. pea
11. pear
12. pine

Blue

1. aqua
2. arctic
3. azure
4. cerulean
5. cobalt
6. hypothermia
7. lapis
8. navy
9. ocean
10. periwinkle
11. sky
12. windex

Isaac Asimov and I agree. Indigo doesn't deserve a place on the list.

Violet

1. amethyst
2. boysenberry
3. bruise
4. eggplant
5. fuchsia
6. grape
7. heather
8. lavender
9. mauve
10. orchid
11. purple
12. plum

Put a Match to your Passion and Write

Get Inspired, Get Excited, Get to Work

The Beasts Hunt

So you have a problem, your heart is dark and your thoughts are dull. Passions wax and wane like the moon but deadlines are impatient beasts. If you refuse to do the thing and arrange letters into words, the beasts will stalk you in the darkest night of your soul and tear the words out of you. Your only hope for salvation is to light the fire of an idea.

You're Not Feeling It

Your passion is gone. Stolen by burglars wearing striped shirts and little diamond masks. The emptiness is a depressing state that the unafflicted can never imagine. You can't explain the numb, angry, sad, boring, stupid, pathetic feeling to someone who's never been there. It's the price we pay.

Vampire Weeks

Some weeks suck so bad, they suck the life right out of you. My week was hard, chaotic, noisy, exhausting. It was so bad, I felt undead. I was a set back away from embracing my new unlife as a night stalking, life sucking monster. But I'm feeling much better now.

Rally

If the fire's out, light a match. Give up on fear. Fear isn't helping you. Fear won't help you write a great novel. Fear won't help you find passion. Get excited, obsessed, and fight. Become the beast.

I am usually my worst problem. I'm arbitrarily lazy. I'm vocally dramatic. I'm comically cowardly. These are facts. I have to work so hard to do little things other people consider rote. That doesn't matter as long as the things I do are courageous for me. 

Don't be disappointed in how you compare to other people. Compare yourself to who you were. If you don't like the momentary you, change. Use your words as a catalyst for change. Write about being excited. Write the person you want to be.

A television show, a hobby, facing a fear, spending time with friends. These are all good matches. The key is to pick a match that ignites your imagination. The match could be a single idea. Find a great idea.

Practical Advice for Setting the Scene

Set the Scene

A reader must engage with a novel to experience the adventure. As writers, we create worlds for people to explore. The settings must engage the imagination, the emotions and the senses.

It takes work and practice to develop the skills to tell a great story. To become better writers, we must be able to recognize our specific deficiencies in order to address them.

I am skilled at writing dialogue and my narrative can take a backseat to that. I've worked at refining my ability to incorporate descriptions by studying what makes me write better descriptions. It's great knowing what is a good description but it's even better to know how to write that. It's the difference between knowing what a great pitch looks like and being able to throw a strike.

Passion

Love the scene you are writing. Be dark, devastating, bright, colorful and lovely. Be anything but basic.

Basic: John didn't need to go to the bar. He had just gotten his 30 day chip. He walked and ordered a drink from the bartender.

Passion: John stumbled into the dank bar. His breath stunk of turpentine and tooth rot. The bartender poured him a shot. He sipped it and the trembling stilled. He pulled out a bill. His 30 day chip clattered on the bar-top.

The first description gives action but the details are basic. The second description explains John and conveys much the same information.

Purpose

Offer important information. A setting can convey characterization through the character's reaction to their location. It can give clues to future revelations by evidence in the scene.

Revelation: Ginny sat at the empty desk and wondered where Julian was. She rubbed a dark spot on the desk. She looked in surprise at her red fingertip. She peeled up the desk pad. Her stomach turned at the sight of the dried puddle.

There are horrifying implications in the setting even if there are no answers.

Point

What is the purpose of the information? Why does it matter what your character is wearing?

If Betty is wearing a tank top and feather boa in a snowstorm, she's going to be cold and she's facing the threat of death.

Push

The details can shatter the momentum of the plot. Keep the action moving even as you're describing the scene. Don't overload the setting with extraneous information.

People

Translate the image in your head so readers can appreciate the feeling you are trying to convey. Every person has a different life experience. The key is to create a story that connects on an universal emotional level. A reader doesn't need to have experienced a similar situation to be able to understand a story. But you need to give the reader a point of familiarity to connect with in the novel.

Connect with your audience by choosing the right words. The word boat conjures a different mental image for every person. The word yacht can be associated with the conveyance of champagne swilling rich folk. The word tanker can be paired with the name Exxon and sloshing oil in the cargo hold.

Write Clear Sentences

Tips to Improving Sentence Clarity

Don't Bury Your Message

Sentences can communicate complex gestalts or piths. Don't bury your message under a hoard of ideas. Focus on the important elements and ruthlessly discard the clutter.

Build Sturdy Sentences

A weakly constructed sentence will collapse. Use the tools at your disposal to build the strongest structure possible. 

Wrote a shoddy sentence? Rebuild the sentence as many times as it takes to get it right. Read it aloud and listen to the words. Use active language and strong verbs. Look up better words.

It can be tedious but you will build a better sentence and you will write a better sentence next time.

Depart for the Unknown

Start with a simple idea then introduce new information and how it relates to the original idea.

I have a bad habit. Out of nowhere, I'll make a statement like "Can you believe that?" Unconsciously, I'm laying bait for whoever is listening to ask, "What?" So then I can tell them. This is not an effective way to communicate. 

I'm aware of this habit and I fight it. I focus on making declarative statements with the interesting information I want to convey.

Join your Phrases Together

Hook phrases together using transitions, so you create a natural flow.

Focus on the Point

Organize your ideas with care. Don't detract from your purpose by wandering off on tangents like the atomic weight of krypton unless you are writing about krypton or atomic weights.

Confidence

Be confident in your ideas. This is particularly important in fiction writing. If you don't know an answer or your character doesn't know, no one in the world knows. You need to have the answers because you are the one conceiving the answers.