Just another Wednesday

No more daily posts! Whew!

THE INSPIRATION: Rest

“Every person needs to take one day away. A day in which one consciously separates the past from the future. Jobs, family, employers, and friends can exist one day without any one of us, and if our egos permit us to confess, they could exist eternally in our absence. Each person deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for. Each of us needs to withdraw from the cares which will not withdraw from us.”

—Maya Angelou, Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now

Whether you did Nano or not, whether or not you just expended a lot of energy hosting what is absolutely the worst holiday, whether you’ve been burning the midnight oil or taking it easy lately… rest is essential.

I have never valued rest. From the time I was a kid, I valued my hustle, my work ethic, my dedication to getting as much done as possible as quickly as possible with as little rest as possible. Getting no sleep has been a badge of honor for me.

No more.

It’s time to take days off. To engage only in activities that are restorative; if that’s something active, that’s fine. As long as it replaces more energy than it takes up. And if all you have the energy to do is lie in bed and nap, or read a book, or play a video game then that’s okay.

Right now, we as a global culture are learning to value rest. It’s a good lesson.

THE FAT ORANGE CAT: Nothing

On this rest-themed Dear Writer, let’s talk about the value of nothing. Negative space. Define today’s work—if you must work—with the absence of something, rather than its presence.

The “Get Your Stuff” link will bring you to an item I selected specifically to accompany this post, but you do not have to buy that thing in order to support me. Just keep popping through Amazon and buy the stuff you were going to buy anyway.

THE TROPE: Vulnerability markers

I don’t know if this idea is really a “trope” because I made it up and I think maybe a lot of people need to be aware of a thing in order for it to be a trope? Anyway, I just recorded the audio version of this chapter from the How Story Works book (out January 18, 2022) and since today is about negative space, I thought I’d share this quick excerpt with you:

“One of the best ways to draw your reader in is to give them negative space in which to intuit what is happening based on what is not being textually said or acknowledged. You hint at vulnerability by pushing your character toward something and then watching them actively walk around it. The space your character avoids gives us a big clue as to where their vulnerability is; I call those clues vulnerability markers.”

THE QUESTION: Aliens

When I said I would answer literally any question, I meant it. This one came from a random internet because y’all have apparently been busy or something. Anyway, here it is:

“Do you think that aliens exist?”

—Some Random Internet Page

Dear SNIP,

If you’re talking about “Do I believe that non-earth-based life exists in the universe?” then, yes, I believe that aliens exist. Pure probability models suggest this is almost certainly the case.

Intelligent life?

Probably. But of course, that line of discussion will almost always lead you to the Fermi paradox, which basically boils down do: If they exist, why haven’t they visited us?

To which my answer is… if you were part of a civilization that advanced far enough to be able to travel the universe casually, would you want to deal with us? What could you possibly have to gain? Earth has no resources you need, because you’ve already figured out how to get what you need to travel the universe. You’re not war-minded assholes who want to take over Earth, because if you were, you would have destroyed everyone on your planet before you ever got the technology together to achieve universal travel. You might, perhaps, buzz the control tower a few times just to fuck with us, but would you want to actually try to talk to us? What value could we possibly have to you? You hang back, wait to see if we manage to survive our own stupidity, and then maybe extend a handshake.

The Fermi paradox, to me, is the Fermi No One Wants To Come To Your Dumb Party.

So. Bottom line?

Yes.

THE PRACTICAL: Parallel stories

While driving my kid back and forth to Columbus on the Saturdays that boxed in Thanksgiving week, I got an audiobook to listen to, The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner. I haven’t finished it yet—I was also listening to music and building out a new world for a new story I’m working on, more on that in Saturday’s post—but it is such a great example of parallel story structure that I wanted to share it with you.

In The Lost Apothecary, there are three protagonists, all with their own stories, all intertwined. Two of the three are together in the late 18th century; one is in the same physical place, but in modern times. It’s a story for women, about women, with a strong theme of motherhood and sisterhood. Again, I haven’t finished it, so I’m not sure how I like it, but it held my interest while I was driving, and that’s not nothing.

Parallel stories, like everything else, have their benefits and their challenges.

The benefit of having three stories told from three different perspectives surrounding some of the same settings and themes is great. First-person is fun when you’re perspective-switching like that, because the deeper the POV, the more completely the switch in perspective can open our eyes to what we see—or fail to see—through a particular lens.

Parallel stories can also be great if you lose your interest while writing longer stories. If you get bored with one, just start writing the other.

A challenge is that you need to be really on your story game. There’s no time to stop and smell the roses. You’ve got to have multiple central narrative conflicts, escalating along multiple structures, all landing at about the same time (in the story, at least) and there’s no dilly-dallying. You’re burning plot at both ends. George RR Martin does this breathlessly in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, and it feels a bit breathless at times.

So, parallel stories may or may not be for you as a writer. I have to admit… I’m intrigued.

Maybe… someday.

Everything,

L