It’s a Good Day to Write Like Water!

Dear Writers: Meet me over at The Narrative Project for a class on story structure I’m teaching on Thursday, October 29, 5 p.m. Pacific via Zoom.

Over the years, a lot of the requests I get for help with memoirs and novels pertain to structure. As we all know, establishing the architecture of a story can be tricky because the story’s structural design is both a writing tool and a container for the action line, but the structure should not upstage nor inhibit the unfolding action of the narrative, and neither should it be confused with the plot. One issue we all face is that despite everything we know about story and structure, every story is ultimately unique, so we have to somehow apply everything we know and simultaneously forget everything we know each time we conceive, refine, diagnose, and maximize a story’s structure. I have some techniques I use in my editing that authors and publishers have appreciated, so I’ll share those as a type of To Do list I hope you will find helpful.

Here’s the link for my latest post about the class, as featured on The Narrative Project blog.

Be sure to register in advance for Write Like Water. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Oh, yeah, the class is free. Cheers!

XO Laurel Leigh

Darrell, In Milwaukee

Dear Writers:

Years ago, I walked into a grocery store parking lot and saw this awesome blue van that had an old camper shell framed into its top, curtains on the windows, and one undersized spare tire.

The van became a feature in my story “Darrell, In Milwaukee,” published by CLOVER, A LITERARY RAG in the Winter 2013 v6 issue. It was the first story of mine that CLOVER published, and it always will be a very sweet memory to have worked with the marvelous editors, Mary Elizabeth Gillilan and Norman Green. CLOVER retired last year and sold out its back issues, so I’m putting the “Darrell” story here in its entirety. I hope you have half the fun reading it that I did writing it!

 

Guy name of Ken—that Darrell knew from around—had picked up a ’62 blue Chevy van at the junkyard run by that Dakota fellow. Ken cut out the roof of the van and framed in the top section of a camper shell he found at the same junkyard. Most of the camper windows were busted out and had plywood over, but the van had all its windows so a guy could still see out the sides if he hunkered down a bit.

Not bad, Darrell said, when he first saw it.

The Chevy’s engine ran rough and one of the front wheels was an under-size spare, but Ken rarely drove it farther than the mini mart for cold ones. Which he and Darrell drank while sitting on the lawn chairs Ken kept in the van. Sometimes they watched TV. Ken ran an extension cord out the laundry room window of his house and in through one of the van windows to plug in a portable set. But then Dot grew embarrassed by that wreck of a—well, she hardly knew what to call it, and right there in the driveway where everyone could see. She told Ken it went or she went.

I’ll go a buck and a quarter, Darrell said. About half what Ken was into it for. But Dot wasn’t happy, which meant Ken wasn’t happy, so he told Darrell, You’re an asshole, and handed over the key.

Darrell felt a freedom in the Chevy. He’d been without wheels for a while and liked that he could go somewhere and his new house came, too. The first place he drove was to the Y to collect his gear and ask for a refund on a week’s rent. Against policy, but Mickey was good that way and handed him the cash right back.

Going off with la mujer? Mickey asked.

Darrell had sneaked the same gal up to his room a couple nights. Also against the rules but, unlike the weekday manager, Mickey never hassled a guy.

Ain’t seen her around, Darrell said. I think she quit at Goldmann’s.

The elevator was still broken, but to keep fit, Darrell liked to take the stairs anyway. He got his duffle bag out of the fourth-floor room and jogged back down the steps.

Buena suerte, Mickey said, when Darrell went by him again to leave.

You too, Darrell said, and held out his hand.

He spent what Mickey gave him and then some on a used rim and tire for the Chevy. Since getting to Milwaukee, he’d been taking day jobs, banging nails, pouring concrete, but it was time for a step up. After swapping out the wheel, he went to see about a job driving backhoe for the same outfit Ken worked for.

The job was to dig out one of the foundation holes for a pair of reinforced concrete towers that would be office buildings. The towers had to be ready for the Bicentennial 4th of July fanfare, and the job foreman said there was pressure from up top to finish the dirt work ahead of schedule.

Darrell told how he’d run the only backhoe on a big job up in Sheboygan, and he had a reference on official company stationery.

We got to go hard or go to hell, the foreman said.

That don’t bother me, Darrell said.

They shook hands and the next morning Darrell walked onto the dig site.

City lets us make noise between eight and four, Slim told Darrell.

Slim was the other backhoe driver.

Lunch is whenever the puke wagon shows up.

Sounds pretty standard, Darrell said.

They went over to the Poclain that Darrell would be running.

Slim picked at his ear. I’m gonna have you start digging on the south hole, he said, as if he’d been the one to decide and they both knew otherwise. Darrell kept a poker face when the foreman walked up and Slim had to quit pretending.

Darrell climbed into the cab of the Poclain, which he’d found out from Slim was a European rig the foreman had picked up on a trade. The bucket was wider than usual but otherwise it had a slick setup. The foreman had marked out where he wanted the south ramp going into the hole and Darrell got to it, setting a pace that had the dirt haulers moving. Altogether noisy as hell, not to mention hotter than hell inside the cab, but Darrell liked the power of the big trackhoe. How he could guide the shovel to knock away the packed earth and then scoop it up and plunk it right into the back of the waiting truck, just as smooth as if he was dropping in handfuls of dirt, but with massive each shovel-full he could see a difference in the deepening hole. The trackhoe left its mark. Just like the tower going into the hole would leave its mark, growing up out of the ground like a tree putting down its roots.

At break time, Darrell got in line at the puke truck. He bought a roast beef sandwich and a bag of peanuts, smiled at the chunky gal working the window. She reminded him of this nurse he’d met in Nam. Over in the shit, as he thought of it. The one time he got shot was in the shoulder and the doctors decided to leave the bullet in. The nurses, the one gal in particular, had been real sweet to him. A helluva gal, wide end and all—if he’d been telling someone he would’ve held his hands apart to show just how wide, but meant it in a nice way, because when it was all said and done she’d been the settle-down type a guy might’ve put down roots for if he could.

On his day off, Darrell worked on the Chevy. He spent the morning replacing the timing chain and got the engine running pretty smooth. For inside he used scrap wood to build a box bench that would be good for storage and sleeping. Then he wanted a shower, which Ken had been letting him use while Dot was out getting her hair done. Erecting the beehive, Ken called it, but in a way that let on he was still sweet on her after ten years. This time she got home a little early and accidentally walked in on Darrell lathering up. To say the least, she was not happy about it.

To get back on her good side, Darrell offered to help Ken redo the bathroom, which Dot had been wanting. They pulled the old shower and put in a fancy one delivered by the Dakota. Pulling a contact on a day job he’d worked, Darrell got Ken a good deal on some tile so there was enough left in the budget for the oak sink cabinet Dot had her eye on at the home supply. She warmed up quite a bit over that. When the bathroom was done, she said Darrell could use the shower again and also got in her head to sew him curtains for the Chevy. At first it was funny, but Darrell had to admit they made things look homey. Dot still didn’t like the Chevy in the driveway, so Darrell parked at the end of the block when he visited and they all got along fine after that.

Take a Komatsu, for instance, Ken was saying. Some might say they build shit, but they build a good excavator, even if you might say under-powered.

It was after work and a few of the crew were at the A-Frame, a couple blocks from the work site. Poor excuse for a bar with only outdoor tables and the one homely bar gal, but the beers were cold. Darrell set his empty beer mug down on the wooden picnic table and held up three fingers until the gal nodded. He and the boys had been talking about the job—their other main topic aside from gals and government.

A lot of it’s economically driven and all that, how they build the new equipment, Ramon said.

Ramon had a way of talking real slow that could get a guy tapping his foot, but Darrell had to admit junior knew how to hustle. Ramon now worked under Ken, who’d got promoted to lead mechanic last week.

They all thought Slim was a rough operator.

Point is, you might say Slim is a mule in the kitchen, Ken said. He’s gonna rip that Case apart he ain’t careful.

A jackass is cute when it’s young, Ramon said in his same drawl.

That busted all three of them up. They laughed harder when Slim and his buddies showed up and took over the end of their table.

What’s so funny, Slim said.

You had to be there, Darrell told him.

Slim tossed a small bag on the table.

What’s that? Darrell said to go along.

Genuine Indian arrowheads, Slim said, only he said ‘Injun.’

You got those here?

Slim picked his ear.

Hell, I dug up Cochise for all I know, he said.

On a Saturday, Jake came in from Whitewater, where he’d been framing tract houses. Darrell was glad to see him. He liked Ken and the boys at work just fine, but when it came down to it, Jake was his best friend. They’d been together in Nam and that bond stays. Jake wanted to go get his kid, who wanted to go to the zoo again.

Been here so many times they should let us in for free, Darrell said.

They got hotdogs at the concession, then the kid tore off running for the zebra pen.

Jake said, as if it’d been a long while since they’d seen her, but it was just last week, Can you believe that little tyke? Looks more and more like Celia, right down to that hair.

Any luck with the sister? Darrell asked.

Jake shook his head no.

The sister—the kid’s aunt on her mother’s side—had custody. Never mind the kid pitched a fit every time Jake had to leave her. The deal was, the kid wasn’t Jake’s blood. He and the kid’s mother had never outright married, so when Celia died—weak heart—the kid went to her older sister by law. When the sister brought the kid from California out to Wisconsin, Jake up and followed, and he and Darrell of course got in touch. Darrell considered it luck in some respects.

He told Jake about finding Indian bones in the foundation holes, how he didn’t think it was so right to just dig them up but what could you do?

Cochise and them had been soldiers. They’d been in the shit, too, just over here, he said.

Jake of course got what he meant.

The kid wanted to ride one of the stripy horses.

Might buck you off, Darrell told her.

She didn’t think so but settled for a ride on Jake’s shoulders. He hopped around and she spit up hotdog on his head.

Oh shit, Jake said. Don’t tell your aunt.

Oh shit, the kid said.

You don’t say that, sweetie. Jake told her. He used his tee shirt to clean off her face.

One morning Darrell got to work and heard Slim talking about how there was a new office gal. Red-haired. When Darrell went by the trailer to pick up his paycheck, there she was on a step-stool putting papers in a filing box. Darrell said he didn’t mind waiting for her to finish. Her name was Mona.

How about you and me go out sometime, he said. Continue reading

Write Like Water: Free Virtual Class on Jan 14

Dear Writers:

I’m so excited for this class, so I’m glad people are letting me know already that they want to come! In teaching writing, some of you know that I put a lot of emphasis on movement. Which brings us to the title of this class: Write like water.

I find it helpful to keep in mind that your idea for the story’s structure should be fluid. Thinking of the structure as a container or the packaging for the story, also allows for the possibility of swapping out that container en route or during revision. If the structure you’re trying doesn’t meet the needs of the story, back up and rethink the structure. That’s different than coming up with a structure and then getting lazy and not following through. I’m talking about a total swap out.

Knowing when to keep or change the overall structure is all about balance. Get too loose and you lose your grip on the story. Get too locked in to making a structure work, and you can begin to force fit content into a predefined structure.

The ultimate goal is to find and follow the natural path or flow of your story. The goal is to avoid using an artificial structure because it is glitzy or you just like it. That doesn’t mean the structure has to be simplistic. It might be very complex, but it should be as simple as it can be to do its job effectively.

When thinking about structure, I like the image of a river because it’s sturdy, there are definable borders and walls, and yet it’s also flowy and curvy. It’s both strong and yet has inherent flexibility, and to me that’s one of the goals when thinking about your structure.

That’s why I think of figuring out a story’s optimal structure as finding the path of least resistance. If you watch water, it’s smart. It’s efficient. It doesn’t make things harder for itself. It wisely takes the path of least resistance. It flows downhill most easily. But given time, it carves a path through solid barriers, so it’s also really, really strong.

Another way to say this is that the truth is the easiest to remember. To me, finding the path of least resistance is like finding the honesty and authenticity in your story. Telling it in the most honest way you can, and ultimately that’s what will make the story its most compelling.

There’s more to say, so see you in class!

Here’s the link to register: https://zoom.us/…/regist…/u5Qqf-iqrjMjmiX38_c3VtGYp9KQrQcZQw.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Zoom meeting.

XO Laurel Leigh

P.S.: Here’s a post from Cami Ostman of THE NARRATIVE PROJECT with more events for writers in 2020.

As One Year Ends and Another Begins

WRITE LIKE WATER: How to Find and Follow the Natural Path of Your Story

Dear Writers:

I’m really happy to be collaborating with the The Narrative Project and the wonderful writer/coach Cami Ostman for a conversation we are calling WRITE LIKE WATER: How to Find and Follow the Natural Path of Your Story, on January 14, 2020, at 6 p.m. Pacific time. This two-hour virtual class taught by Yours Truly will be offered FREE through The Narrative Project. The focus is your story’s structure: how to find it, and how to fix it.

Over the years, a lot of the requests I get for help with memoirs and novels pertain to structure. As we all know, establishing the architecture of a story can be tricky because the story’s structural design is both a writing tool and a container for the action line, but the structure should not upstage nor inhibit the unfolding action of the narrative, and neither should it be confused with the plot. One issue we all face is that despite everything we know about story and structure, every story is ultimately unique, so we have to somehow apply everything we know and simultaneously forget everything we know each time we conceive, refine, diagnose, and maximize a story’s structure. I have some techniques I use in my editing that authors and publishers have appreciated, so I’ll share those as a type of To Do list I hope you will find helpful.

If you want to spend a couple hours talking structure with Cami and me, here’s the link to register: https://zoom.us/…/regist…/u5Qqf-iqrjMjmiX38_c3VtGYp9KQrQcZQw.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Zoom meeting.

XO Laurel Leigh

A Light in the Darkness (Or, Watching the Fireflies)

Dear Writers: I really appreciated the imagery and insight into writing in this post from The Eye-Dancers. I had to share it!

Eye-Dancers

It’s night–a warm, muggy summer night in the hills of east-central Vermont.  It’s late.  I’ve always been a night person.  Even though I arise by five thirty most mornings, I still shake hands with midnight from time to time.  Tonight is one of those nights.

I’m at the window, the breeze wafting in, carrying with it the sound of crickets as they play their fiddles, unseen, in the grass that needs mowing.  Out there, beyond the house, is the meadow–five acres’ worth, surrounded on all sides by woodlands.  It’s a private spot, down a dirt road.  There is no neighbor within a half-mile.  And while sometimes, the distant sound of a car engine or chainsaw can be heard, for the most part, it is quiet here–except for the crickets and the hoot owls and the creatures of the night who crawl and run and slither through the grass.

I’m not…

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WIN SCAMPERS!

Dear Writers:

Who can resist Scampers?!?!

Hey, Look! A Writer Fellow!

It’s time to win a signed, hardcover copy my new picture book: Scampers Thinks Like A Scientist!

Scampers Thinks Like a Scientist is the book that received a five-star review from Foreward Reviews. It’s the book that nabbed a glowing notice from the difficult-to-please Kirkus. And it’s the book that stars the cutest mouse in the history of ever.

Oh. My. God. Just look at that widdle face!

So let’s get started!

How To Enter

To enter the Scampers drawing, all you need to do is leave a comment below that answers this question:

Which fictional character would you most want to have as a next-door neighbor?

That’s it! Leave a comment and you’ll be entered in the random drawing for Scampers!

But Wait!

Do you already have a copy of Scampers? That’s great! Thank you!

Enter the contest anyway.

After all, if you win, you can…

View original post 180 more words

There Are Many Kinds of Scars

Dear Writers:
I’m fortunate to be able to say that the very first writing group I was in is still going strong eighteen years later. Our group has been a wonderful constant in my writing life, and I’m amazed at the insights I get from my mates at Dogpatch Writers Collective. As usual, they had much to say about my last piece of writing, and I’m now inspired to finish revising my essay.

Thanks, Dogpatch!

XO Laurel Leigh

Dogpatch Writers Collective

Dogpatch writer Laurel Leigh’s essay explores how as a child she experienced the scars of her mother’s mastectomy and how those issues of image and identity carried into her adult life. Here’s an excerpt of “Scars” and our comments about this deeply honest piece of writing.

The author’s mother on her wedding day.

The wound in my chest was open and wide, and I could see the layers of my skin disappearing into the circular black hole. As a kid growing up in the country and later an acrobat, I’d had plenty of scrapes and bruises, but I’d never had a cut that deep. I was engrossed by how deep the hole was—about an inch.

The doc came back to the table and explained that the wound leakage had just been fluid, but it likely would re-occur if he used liquid anesthesia. If I was tough enough to look at…

View original post 1,291 more words

Win a Doodle! Hooray and Huzzah!

Dear Writers:

If there possibly is anyone who knows me who doesn’t know my rather shady past as self-appointed fan club prez (some rude people have brought up the “S” word, but I think that’s totally uncalled for, and part of the proof is that a recent post of his linked to a post of mine, which means we’re sort of friends, so there) of that Writer Fellow Mike Allegra’s doodles . . .

I kind of lost track of that last sentence. Anyhoo, the esteemed doodler is after a long hiatus hosting another doodle contest with fabulous incentives. Plus you don’t have to do much at all to enter. Go on his blog and talk about yourself. Who doesn’t love doing that? Hit a couple share buttons or write a book review if you are a readerly sort. And in return, you get to be in a drawing to win a super-amazing doodle, which if you want could be a doodle of a pal for a certain salamander I know. Head over to Writer Fellow’s site to get the details!

XO Laurel Leigh

Hey, Look! A Writer Fellow!

I really like hosting blog contests!

And I really, really like doodling!

And I really, really, really like the fact that some people like my doodles!

So it is time once again for my semi-annual

WIN A DOODLE CONTEST!

Who will be the lucky winner? Will it be YOU?

The grand (and only) prize will be a custom made, one-of-a-kind, Mike Allegra doodle of ANYTHING YOU WANT!

“Anything?” you ask.

Yes, anything—provided that “anything you want” isn’t perverted. I’m a children’s book author, so get your mind out of the gutter!

Otherwise, yes. ANYTHING YOU WANT!

Past contest winners have asked for all kinds of doodles. Like exotic birds…

(Click to enlarge.)

A caffeine gnome…

(Click to enlarge.)

A raven shapeshifter (whatever that is)…

(Click to enlarge.)

A woman doing yoga and holding a pen as the ghost of her dearly departed dog looks on…

(Click to enlarge.)

And (of…

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Just One Week Left Until the Chuckanut Writers Conference

Dear Writers: Here’s Amberly Baker of the Chuckanut Writers Conference back again with more about this year’s conference:

It is finally June. School is out for the summer, the days are as long as they’ll ever be, and here in Western Washington, we’ve even had a few sunny days. With the beautiful month of June comes the weekend of the 7th annual Chuckanut Writers Conference, which is coming up so fast—June 23rd and 24th, just a week away.

Coming from someone who has been working behind the scenes, this year’s conference is going to be a great one. We have arranged for a delicious spread of food and drinks for our Friday night faculty reading and reception. The swag bags you will take with you are full of useful items to help you take advantage of local businesses and restaurants all over Bellingham. And the conference itself is going to be beautiful, rain or shine—a rainy day in Washington can be just as beautiful as a sunny one, which is good, because you never know what the weather will do.

We have such a great faculty line-up this year, bringing a broad range of talent to all of our sessions. From fiction writers like Jonathan Evison, Samuel Ligon, and Kelly Magee, to nonfiction writers like Daniel James Brown, Paula Becker, and Ijeoma Oluo, our faculty are sure to get your pens (or keyboards) moving. Our faculty also features past and present Poets Laureate Elizabeth Austen and Tod Marshall. Everyone on this list comes with unique talents and experiences to offer, and they have promised their expertise over the weekend of the conference for one ultimate purpose–to help you get excited and inspired about your own writing.

For some of you, this isn’t new—you have enjoyed the conference before, maybe several times. For some of you, this is your first time experiencing it. Well, it’s my first time, too, and I for one cannot wait. The promise of this event leaves me buzzing with excitement! I am thrilled by the thought of so much talent concentrated into one space—the talent of both the faculty and the attendees. I am so excited to meet you, to spend the weekend with you, surrounded by the support and inspiration that comes with a room full of writers. I am honored to have been able to be a part of making this event happen. And I can’t wait to hear about everything you take away from this experience—all of the sage advice you receive, your new writings inspired by our breakout sessions, the lifelong friends and connections you’ll make, the food you’ll eat. It is all coming so soon. I can’t wait to share it with you.

Amberly Baker is a student in Western Washington University’s Creative Writing program, and works at a small bookstore. When she is not reading or writing, she enjoys playing Animal Crossing, knitting, and is obsessed with her cats.