Ep. 285 Small Books and Writing

Bookbinding

I made a small book as practice in making small books. It’s about 75 pages and measures 100 mm x 75 mm which, for our Imperial users, is about 3.9 inches x 2.9 (3 15/16 by 2 61/64) inches. The cover is wrapped in red paper but there’s a chiyogami stripe down the front cover that doesn’t spread itself to the back cover. It has a bookmark so if you’ve lost your page, you can find it. 

It’s blank so you can use it for whatever purposes you choose. It’s also smaller than the palm of my hand and I have small hands; or, according to everyone I know, small fingers.

Fiction

I’ve been writing on three or two things. First, Heart of November which I’ve decided to call Soul of September. I’m making the story clearer. For me, at least. Hopefully for the reader as well. Second, My Year of Drinking Kanazawa is finished except for a small bit. Next I will print it out, case it in, and make it available to those who wish to read it. Third, a detective novel that stemmed from one of the stories in My Year of Drinking Kanazawa. Detective/mystery novels are a technique of writing that I am not so confident in; I’m learning, though. I hope.

In this episode I will outline how I write. It will be quite simple. There are five basic steps I take in my writing practice.  

• Dialog
• Action
• Emotion
• Dialog Tags
• Drama

I write the dialog first. After the dialog I bless the characters with some action. Meaning, if two people are talking, the reader can see them doing something. Pouring a drink, looking out a window, frowning.

After the action, I sprinkle some emotion on the characters. Sometimes the action and dialog match the emotion, sometimes it’s the opposite; whatever makes the story strong and the characters more believable.

After the emotional support is slapped in, I read it for the dialog tags. Those “...,” she said lines.  If I set the story up properly, you won’t need the dialog tags. Also, if the characters have a distinct enough speaking voice, you won’t need the tags.“Y’all come uppa my house, now, hear?” vs “You’re welcome to come visit me at my place, if you want. All of you.” 

Once the dialog is set, the action is proper, the emotion guaranteed, then I read the fiction for pacing, for dramatic affect, for speed of story. Once those are all set, I’m pretty much done. For the time being. Until I have other thoughts about plot, character, location, emotion, and everything else. I am no longer a One-Draft-I’m-Done kind of writer.

Sometimes I do all five things at the same time. Sometimes I space it out over the days, weeks, months, or, in the case of Soul September, years. 

I hope this helps you with whatever you’re writing. What works for me might not necessarily help you, but I hope it does.