{"id":667,"date":"2014-02-28T08:00:04","date_gmt":"2014-02-28T15:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/?p=667"},"modified":"2016-02-13T22:13:27","modified_gmt":"2016-02-14T05:13:27","slug":"guest-blogger-amanda-mctigue-the-power-of-place","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/guest-blogger-amanda-mctigue-the-power-of-place\/","title":{"rendered":"Guest Blogger Amanda McTigue \u2014 The Power of Place"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guest Blogger Amanda McTigue \u2014 The Power of Place<\/p>\n

Writing is<\/i> setting. Indeed, to write is to place (that\u2019s \u201cplace\u201d as a verb).<\/p>\n

We writers place readers in worlds. We set them into circumstances, stories, imagery, facts, memories, actions, fantasies, and so on.<\/p>\n

Setting in this sense isn\u2019t mere background. It\u2019s the sum total of every last word we write. And yet, so often we think of place as scenery. What a mistake!<\/p>\n

Place shapes voice. I\u2019m not talking dialect here. I\u2019m saying the ways we writers situate ourselves in imagined (or remembered) worlds give rise to the ways we convey those worlds to others.<\/p>\n

Our first task, then, is to place ourselves<\/i> so fully that our readers go with us.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll well and good,\u201d you say, \u201cbut how can we interrupt our action-packed, conflict=drama, page-turning flow to squeeze in some detail of setting? We\u2019re writing to keep readers reading! There\u2019s no room! There\u2019s no time!\u201d<\/p>\n

I feel your pain. We writers are in such a rush. Determined to finish-and-publish, we worry about where to put the \u201cwhere\u201d in our text before we even know where \u201cwhere\u201d is.<\/p>\n

But place gathers power when we slow down.<\/p>\n

In my writing process, \u201cwhere\u201d has a time and pace (that\u2019s not a typo). I do everything I can to remind myself that plot points can wait; endings will find themselves. Meanwhile, when I\u2019m lost, I get more lost. I schedule time for sheer exploration. We\u2019re talking undirected (but focused!) wandering accomplished through short sessions of stream-of-consciousness writing.<\/p>\n

So often, our best work is discovered, not planned. When\u2019s the last time you ambled through your worlds with no agenda? How about sitting still? How about nosing around for nothing in particular? Try leaving your map at home. Paddle. Search. Listen. Taste. Sniff. Find a new vantage point. Marvel. Take a nap. Unpack a picnic, etc.<\/p>\n

Forget writing. Just notice and take notes. The bird watcher doesn\u2019t agonize about her style when she\u2019s out in the field. She scribbles as fast as she can. Who cares if there\u2019s a better word for \u201cred?\u201d She keeps her eye not on the page, but on that tiny splash of color hidden in the branches. She tries to capture everything, knowing the bird will fly off any minute, taking the moment with it.<\/p>\n

Lately, I find such field trips invaluable. I schedule them not only as I\u2019m drafting but also right through my editing process.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s say I\u2019m polishing a chapter for the umpteenth time and it\u2019s still god-awful. Sometimes I know what\u2019s missing. Sometimes I have no idea why it stinks. Either way, I set the manuscript aside, put on my boots and step out into a wet garden or a fetid alley or a crater on the Planet Zarn with absolutely no sense of how that\u2019s going to help. I just give myself a half-hour and go.<\/p>\n

I take field equipment along to sharpen my observations: binoculars, a camera dolly, a satellite, a cloud boat, a microphone, a microscope, my tongue. I grab every writer\u2019s prompt I\u2019ve ever enjoyed and bring them too\u2014questions or novel points-of-view\u2014to keep myself playful and curious.<\/p>\n

I place myself\u2014and things happen. Setting always brings more than static landscape. Worlds always world, even the quietest of them.<\/p>\n

When I return to editing, I bring the fruits of my wandering. Suddenly an overlooked shoelace suggests a murder weapon, a tree branch holds a charm, or the stitching on a pillow brings a character to life.<\/p>\n

Does that mean that I use every word I write in such sessions? Not even close. But nothing is wasted. What I don\u2019t use leads me to what I do use: richer passages\u2014even new storylines\u2014far fresher than anything my editor\u2019s brain could cook up.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s nothing like a road-trip. Whether staring at a blank page, or yet another re-write, schedule time to explore. Place yourself first (pun very much intended). Shake off your worries about the where of where; you can figure that out when the where is there.<\/p>\n

Go.<\/p>\n

Slow down.<\/p>\n

Forget writing.<\/p>\n

Take notes.<\/p>\n

\"Amanda-McTigue-112x150\"<\/a>Amanda McTigue\u2019s<\/i><\/a> debut novel, <\/i>Going to Solace<\/a>, was selected as one of four \u201cBest Reads of 2012\u201d by Gil Mansergh on KRCB\u2019s \u201cWord by Word.\u201d\u00a0<\/i><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Guest Blogger Amanda McTigue \u2014 The Power of Place Writing is setting. Indeed, to write is to place (that\u2019s \u201cplace\u201d as a verb). We writers place readers in worlds. We set them into circumstances, stories, imagery, facts, memories, actions, fantasies, and so on. Setting in this sense isn\u2019t mere background. It\u2019s the sum total of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[104],"tags":[321,322],"class_list":["post-667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guest-bloggers","tag-amanda-mctigue","tag-going-to-solace"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p43Dj8-aL","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=667"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5023,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667\/revisions\/5023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}