Posts by Diana Giovinazzo
In 2020, I started writing my second novel, Antoinette’s Sister, just two weeks before the lockdown began. While everyone else was baking bread or picking up new hobbies, I was locked away in the very room where I’m writing this now. Admittedly, disconnecting from the outside world was physically much easier back then than it is now, but the same principle still holds true: put the writing first.
And though we are no longer in lockdown, the world feels like it’s in another tailspin—whether it’s the news, social media, phone calls, or people telling us we need to be somewhere or do something (I know I have a slew of unanswered emails and a basket of laundry waiting to be folded). Disassociating from the outside world can be harder than it seems. So below are some of my tips to help you block out distractions and focus on your writing:
DON’T BE ASHAMED TO PUT YOUR WRITING FIRST
Go ahead and read that sentence a few more times. I’ll wait. Ready? Alright. Ask yourself if a professional, any professional, would put off their work hours. Or if they would respond to every non-work-related phone call/text/email. What are their office hours?
Whether or not you’re published yet, you are a writer. Writing is not just an art form—it’s also a business, and it matters to you. Treat it that way. Don’t expect the world to make room for your writing, because it won’t. Whether it’s early in the morning, late at night, or while the kids are at school, find a time that works for you and guard it like a dog with a new bone. Anything that can wait until you’ve met your daily writing goal can wait.
HAVE A PHYSICAL SPACE
In Stephen Kings memoir, On Writing: A Memoir on Craft, he mentions that he likes to place his desk at the center of his room. But not having a dedicated writing space doesn’t have to be a deterrent—after all, Agatha Christie wrote at her dining room table in between homemaking duties. Physical memory helps train the mind to recognize when it’s time to write. Which leads us to…
MENTAL SPACE IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS PHYSICAL SPACE
There was a reason why I locked myself in my office. It was the one place I could go where I wouldn’t be distracted by the tv or even social media. I would place my phone on the other side of the room in my little “nest” where I wouldn’t be distracted by any of the above temptations.
Social media is the biggest time-killer, especially when it comes to the precious few hours that you have to write. Don’t be afraid to do a media cleanse. I promise you those internet “hot takes” will recycle themselves so you can pick them up on the next round. Or as one of my friends does, download an app like Opal that blocks your social media apps so that you can focus on what you need to focus on. Even if you have to lock your phone in a cabinet, do so. If it doesn’t serve your writing, it doesn’t serve you.
DEVELOP A PRE-WRITING ROUTINE
Joan Didion would review her work in the evening before dinner, then in the morning she would “retrace” her […]
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While authors such as myself love attending book clubs for their own novels, the case for attending them goes beyond that. Over the past year and a half, I have been a part of one book club. In addition, when I and a group of friends all started the same book series a new book club sprang up. As an author, there is a definite difference between being a part of a book club and being the special guest of someone else’s book club. Below are some of my reasons why writers should be a part of a book club.
Being forced to read outside your genre
When you write in one specific genre it becomes really easy to get engrossed within that genre. In my case, writing historical fiction often means that my reading list becomes historical fiction heavy. Case in point: for the last three years, historical fiction has been one of my most-read genres, followed closely by romance and mystery. Consistently.
Being a part of a group where the others get a vote, or each person gets to pick a book for their month means that you as the author don’t get to control everything. Which is an exercise in and of itself (we all know there are a lot of things in this business that we can’t control) but we also get to read a diverse set of novels and explore other’s others’ opinions. We get to find out what books each person is attracted to and why, and hear everyone else’s opinions on them.
This leads me to our next point…
You get an honest opinion of the books
Just like with children, book clubs are more often than not on their best behavior. However, when there is no author around, the opinions will fly! And while there can be some valid literary criticism, as a writer there is valuable market insight into the minds of readers. Why do they not like a certain genre? Do the members of your book club dislike a certain type of character?
These are insights that many marketing professionals would pay a lot of money for.
The friendships that form
This is perhaps my favorite by-product of being a part of a book club. As a writer it’s easy to stay home surrounded by our books, telling stories to ourselves, and have our pets become our only co-workers of sorts. And while yes, it is important to have a tribe of fellow authors/writers that you can rely on I would like to make the case that it is equally important for every author to be a part of a book club.
When my friend asked me to join her book club a year and a half ago, I only knew some of the ladies in passing, having met them at her various functions. And while, yes, the conversation will stray to random things or silly topics, there is still a bond of friendship that gets formed. The group that came together has been lovely and supportive. I am proud to call these ladies friends.
The best friendships are the ones that are forged over a common love of books. Discussing books with a group of friends can remind us why we write in the first place.
We actually have a reason […]
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There are many hot takes on social media about how to write a book, what traditional publishers like, and what you need to do to make your novel a bestseller. There are some kernels of advice that are very useful, but others make you want to scratch your head and wonder where on earth they come up with that one?
Below are some of my favorite myths about the publishing industry, and some truths about them.
You have to have an MFA to be published by traditional publishers.
While this one is new to me, it’s still fairly ridiculous. You don’t need to have an MFA, or even a writing degree for that matter to be a novelist. Many authors come from diverse backgrounds; I have met former attorneys, doctors, businesspeople, stay-at-home moms, and retirees who have books published by a traditional publisher. I have a degree in sociology and a paralegal certificate and have managed to publish two novels. I also know some best-selling authors who don’t have a degree at all. If the writing is good and the story is compelling enough, then a publisher will take an interest in you.
Other authors are your competition.
This could not be further from the truth. Other authors are not just your colleagues, they are your friends, your support system, your mentors, and at times your research buddies. I don’t know how many times I I’ve sat with another author for a cup of coffee and venting session. Or have gotten a text from a writing friend excited because their novel is getting a starred review, and so we celebrate together. Other authors are your tribe. I honestly don’t know where I would be without the advice and friendship of other writers in this community. To look at them and treat them as your competition is only hurting yourself.
There is one way to write a book.
Everyone has their own methods. I like to outline and write continuously from the beginning to the end. Other authors refuse to outline and love to pants their way through a novel; what happens at the end is just as much a surprise to them as it is to their characters (and sometimes their editor). Others like to jump around, writing scenes at the beginning, middle, or end as they so choose. The point is, there is no one way to write a novel, whatever helps you finish writing the book is the right way to write a novel.
Traditional/Independent/Hybrid type of publishing is the best/worst way to publish a novel.
Whether you’ve published independently, traditionally or hybrid, they are all valid. One is not better than the other. Each one comes with its own challenges and its own rewards. In today’s age, self-publishing doesn’t mean you gave up on trying the traditional publication route or that it was the easy way out. I hate to break it to you, but there is no easy way when it comes to publishing. Truly, getting your book out into the world comes down to one simple question: What avenue works best for you? Research the challenges, ask other authors, and decide for yourself what you want for your writing career.
You have to do all the things for your book.
Just in case […]
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In the classic Friends, episode Chandler and Rachel are trying to push a couch up the apartment stairs. Meanwhile, Ross is yelling “Pivot!” until Chander breaks down and starts yelling back to Ross, “Shut up, shut up, shut up!” The couch then winds up stuck in the stairwell and at the end of the episode Ross is back at the furniture store trying to exchange a couch that has been sawed in two.
Aside from that being a funny episode of the show, I can’t help but wonder how many times we as authors feel the need to Pivot, in not just life but our literary careers. It’s easy to think that our literary career is going to be like any other career. You get on that track and that’s the track you are going to be on, you get promotions, and all the other bells and whistles, but the reality is that we sometimes need to take a step back and think if that proverbial couch is going to make it up the apartment stairs. But as much as we want to force something to happen, we can’t, that stupid couch won’t fit up the apartment steps no matter how much your amygdala (that part of your brain that determines stubbornness) wants it to. The question that inevitably comes is “What now?” Do you force this proverbial couch up the stairs to the point where it breaks in half? Do you abandon it, letting it be someone else’s problem? Or should you try to find another route with the couch? They are all valid questions with no perfect answer.
I too find myself in this dilemma on occasion. Do I want to keep pushing that couch up the apartment stairs or do I want to try something else? When my husband was in the military, the wives were offered a piece of advice from the commander’s wife. “You pray for plan A but be ready to move with plan B.” It’s a philosophy that I have run with for the majority of my life and one that I am thinking of running with now because sometimes we must, as Ross so eloquently screamed, “Pivot!”
Recently I reached out to a few author friends about how many times they had to pivot in their literary careers. When talking with Greer Macallister, she pointed out that she had to make three pivots in her career, the last one being a few years ago.
Likewise, according to Kerri Meher:
“I’ve pivoted many times and in different ways. I’ve pivoted from literary fiction to genre fiction (and within that, from romance to YA to historical); I’ve taken time off from writing to start a literary journal and be an editor; I took a break from fiction altogether to write a memoir (This Is Not A Writing Manual). Every pivot has left me feeling refreshed. They have all be necessary.”
Now I am not saying that pivoting is an easy task to undertake. If you are stubborn like me, it can often feel like giving up because, damn it, that piece is meant to fit up those stairs. Things are supposed to work out the way we want them to. And while sometimes it’s hard to realize when to make […]
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There is no denying that this business is subjective. Every step along the way, from the moment you write the book to the moment it is out in the world, there will be criticism. It is often from others but sometimes it comes from within our own heads. It is as TS Elliot said:
“We might remind ourselves that criticism is as inevitable as breathing.”
Criticism is often synonymous with rejection because we internalize it, make it a part of ourselves like a tattoo. Every single one of us who has created any sort of art that’s made public has likely been subject to criticism. Ask any author. They may have that one negative review that stung more than the others or a story about a painful agent interaction. Our shared misery is one of the things that unites us (along with a shared animosity for stickers on books).
Receiving criticism is never easy. We may spend months stressing about the placement of every word, comma, and period only to be told that the work is not good enough. That the book could have been better or that it was a good first draft for a high schooler. And while everyone tells us that we need to develop a thick skin, they never tell us how. Because unfortunately it is not handed out to us in the welcome packets from our publishers.
But there are some steps I take to minimize the sting of it all, and those may be helpful for you as well.
Take time for self-care. I know, I know, it’s starting to feel preachy the way people go on about self-care, but it’s essential to survive in this business. And while bringing up the phrase may conjure days of being self-indulgent, it’s actually quite the opposite. I recently asked authors on Threads what they do for self-care. Responses ranged from gardening, going for walks, exercising, sound baths, anything that involved water, to reading whatever they wanted from their TBR pile. For me, I am partial to exercise, knitting while listening to an audiobook, or cooking a family recipe. Finding your self-care formula takes some trial-and-error but you can’t deny that it is a fun experiment to see what works for you.
The thing about self-care is that it not only helps us feel good in the moment, but it helps to relieve stress and create a sort of resiliency. Something that we as creatives all need. Taking time for ourselves is just as important as making space for our writing. When we step away from computers and noise to be able to do something that we enjoy, we give our creative juices the rest they need in order to come back and create more art.
In other words, self-care helps to feed the beast.
Remember that there are so many others that are going through this. Regardless of where you are in your writing journey–published, seeking an agent, or somewhere in the midst of trying to write a manuscript–there are thousands of writers who have been through that as well. While the act of writing may seem like a solitary exercise, you are not alone. Having a person to whom you can vent about your current writing struggles can be especially helpful. Being able […]
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It’s high time that you knew the terrible horrible things that zooks do. In every zook house and in every zook town every zook eats his bread with the butter side down. – Dr. Suess, The Butter Battle Book
Of all of Dr. Suess’s books, The Butter Battle Book has long been one of my favorites. The story about whether or not it is better to eat bread with the butter side up or down leads to a very dangerous stalemate for the zooks. And while it is an allegory for cold war, it can certainly be applied to one of the greatest literary debates of all time: the plotting vs. pantsing divide.
It’s the million-dollar question that every author gets asked almost daily: Are you a pantser, a plotter, or something in between?
While moderating a book event recently for fellow author, Nicola Harrison, we were both asked if we were pantsers or plotters. Nicola explained that while she likes to know the beginning and the end of a story, the middle is where she free-writes her whole way through. On the other hand, I like to plot everything out, I know what I am going to be writing when I sit down in front of my laptop.
We all have our reasons. As someone who has ADHD, the idea of having a structured space where I can hyperfocus my creativity is a comfort. Nicola likes to have the freedom to explore the story as she likes within the safe confines of the beginning and ending points of her novels. Likewise, there are those who pants their way through a book from beginning to end, which is just as much of a mystery to them as it is to their characters.
If you do a simple Google search about plotting versus pantsing, you’ll get a laundry list of articles exploring whether it is better to plot out a book, pants a book, or how to be somewhere in between. There are even articles telling you how to be a plotter if you are by nature a pantser, and vice versa. However, we get so caught up in whether or not we should plot or pants a book that we can lose sight of the goal, which is to sit down and write a good book.
It is so easy to become one of the zooks from Dr. Suess’s Butter Battle Book, focusing on what divides us that we forget to take into account what it is that brings us together. Ask an author, any author, how they wrote their book. I guarantee you no two will say the same thing. Whether sitting down at a busy café or in the quiet of their own home. Some will have music on, others prefer silence. The point of the matter is that they showed up.
People like to put rules on how a book should be written, and plotting vs pantsing can be just one such rule. While there are pros and cons to either philosophy, it doesn’t mean that one is inherently better than the other. There are so many pitfalls in our daily lives that discourage us from sitting down in front of our work to get the story out, why do we want to create […]
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Recently, I have had more than one aspiring author talk to me about their frustrations with the query trenches. And for those who seek the traditional publishing route, I tell them the same thing I say to every hopeful author: Querying your book is simultaneously one of the hardest and yet most rewarding things you will ever go through. And while that may feel overwhelming, I do have some tips to make the query trenches a bit more bearable.
Set Realistic Pitch Goals
Do not expect to get your first agent right away. Even if it is the world’s best query letter, the likelihood that the agent will pick you is rare. You will go through so many rejections that in the end you will be able to turn the rejection letters into a stylish set of curtains.
When I set out at the start of my querying journey, I stated that my goal was one hundred agents. If one hundred agents rejected me, I would look at other measures. In retrospect, it feels a bit naïve to admit that one hundred was the number I had in mind, especially considering many other published authors have rejections that are well into the triple digits. Ask a published author or two sometime how many rejections they got, I guarantee you, it will be many.
This means that when you set your goal, set your number high, don’t be afraid to pitch to every agent out there if you have to. It truly is a numbers game and if you believe in your work, someone else is bound to as well.
On the same train of thought, only worry about pitching five agents a week. Five is a good number, in my opinion. It allows you to edit the query letter each week as you see fit without worrying about burning through all the agents on your list.
Have a Support System
There are going to be days when you struggle and it feels like every agent is rejecting not just your book but you. Likewise, there will be some weeks when the rejections trickle in, while other times it feels like a damn broke and the rejections come pouring in, one email after another. Which always seemed to happen on days that were already going horribly wrong, in my opinion. On those days it’s good to have someone that you can talk to. For me, it was my husband. Every time I said I was going to give up he would say, “No you aren’t. Pitch a few more agents.” I’m not going to lie, there were some days when it felt like he was the one pulling me along in this journey when I didn’t have the strength to do it myself.
It’s also a good idea to have more than one person you can rely on. While my husband is quite easy to talk to, I didn’t want to trauma dump on him all the time, so there were times when I would rely on my best friend to complain about how the agents. We would commiserate over the unfairness of it all, drink some wine, and then get back to work.
The point is that you can’t do this on your own and it’s good to have […]
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The dreaded synopsis. Let’s be honest, we’ve all complained about writing it. And why not, when compressing a 100k-word novel into three short paragraphs can feel harder than a quantum physics exam?
When I wrote my first book, I nearly cried when it came to writing the synopsis. It felt awful, trying to get every ounce of my plot into a snack-sized page–at least until I spoke with another author in passing about synopses. She spoke about them with so much love, and said they were one of her favorite things to write. In fact, she said writing the synopsis was the first thing she did, even before laying down the details of her plot.
Her offhanded comment hit me in the gut. There was a way to love a synopsis and effectively plot my book? It sounded like a wonderful idea. But how?
Stage 1: A Lukewarm Start
If I was to conquer this thing, I had to make sure to know my enemy. Every synopsis should be in the present tense regardless of the style of the novel itself, single-spaced, and no longer than a page (bonus points if you can get it down to half a page).
Every novel can be broken into a three-act play: the opening introduction, the peak of the conflict, and finally the resolution. One paragraph at a time, focusing on one of those aspects of the novel, the writer can form the narrative arc of the book as a whole, making sure to focus on the most important aspects of the plot.
The synopsis isn’t the place for cliffhangers. The synopsis is the place where you let it all hang out, so to speak–where you let the reader, who happens to be an agent and/or a potential publisher, know all the juicy tidbits but in their most basic form.
Likewise, make sure to leave the superfluous words for the novel. Edit and trim the synopsis to keep everything simple and clear.
By focusing on that basic formula, the synopsis itself was demystified, making it a little easier for me to write the second time around. But I still didn’t enjoy the process. While it felt more palatable, it was still tantamount to eating soggy cauliflower.
It wasn’t until I started to plan for my next pitch that I found how truly useful the synopsis can be.
Stage 2: A New Approach
I had an idea for a new book, which sounded great to me. I had the beginning and ending all planned out, but that sticky middle threw me for a loop. And then I remembered the advice I’d received so long ago: Start with the synopsis.
So I set my plot aside and took to the dreaded synopsis for help. Writing those basic paragraphs helped me to figure out the meaty bits of the story, which in turn helped me to go back and create a proper outline. And in turn, to finish my pitch.
While we fuss over soggy vegetables, we may forget that we can cook them in a different way–and like them much better for the change. The same can be said for the synopsis.
When we put all the tools on the table, we can find an easier way to organize our creative points. In a lot of ways, it’s like […]
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As my favorite Christmas episode of Doctor Who begins, “In the deepest part of winter, at the exact midpoint, everyone stops and turns and hugs and says well done, well-done everyone, we’re halfway out of the dark.”
We are regularly pulled in many directions, especially during the holidays when there are family obligations and parties on top of the regular everyday stress not bound to the month of December. What if during this midpoint in the year when the nights are long, what if, now bear with me, we take a break? As writers, we give so much of ourselves to the point where we are giving a part of our souls to the world through our words.
Recently while sitting down with a therapist, she stressed the importance of self-care and taking time out for myself. As someone who has always felt the urge to stay busy, constantly working and being involved with everything felt normal for me. There was no such thing as self-care. I grew up in a world where there were constant afterschool activities, we went to church three times a week and in between, we were spending time with family. So now at forty the idea of carving out a little time out of the day to do things like meditate, exercise, or even just be felt selfish. But what it comes down to is that self-care creates boundaries within ourselves.
I know, I know, the word boundary is that big scary B word that we all try to avoid. It makes others angry when we set them but in truth, the purpose of a boundary is to protect us, even if that person we need protecting is from within. One of the interesting things that began to happen for me was that when I took the time for myself there was a renewed vigor in not only my writing but in my personal life as well. Those moments of tranquility brought my imagination back along with the desire to want to write vs. feeling like I needed to write because it’s my job.
During this holiday season when the messaging is that it’s better to give than to receive, perhaps we can take a moment to give the gift of our presence. Whether it’s our work, our friends, our family, or ourselves the question we should ask when we wake up in the morning shouldn’t be what do we have to do today, it should be who do I want to be present for?
The funny thing about therapy is that it really does make you self-reflective, and once I finished the latest draft of my novel, I thought about what I wanted to do for the next few weeks. The answer, it turns out was just to be available for myself and my family. Are most of my family getting gift cards? For sure. Is my adult brother getting a stocking filled with a random assortment of sausages, toys, and whatever weird things I could find? Absolutely. But I am not feeling stressed out or overwhelmed by the holidays this year because I don’t feel like I have to do everything in a few short weeks. The next book can wait while I spend time resting and enjoying […]
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I always wanted to be fluent in Italian. There was something about being able to speak one of the most romanticized languages in the world, whose very mechanics force you to slow down and enjoy the language as one would a decadent plate of pasta. It also happened to be the language of my grandparents, however, by the time my generation came along we were primarily an English-speaking Italian-American family. Growing up, we spoke some phrases around the house like Che cosa fa? Meaning What are you doing?, often asked in frustration when my cousins and I were up to no good. Or a favorite, mangia, when it was time to eat. Beyond a handful of catchphrases and a few choice swear words, it was a language that wasn’t emphasized. I found myself jealous of friends who spoke one language in public and a second within their home, whether it was Italian or not.
For years, I played with apps or books that promised to give Italian instruction, but I was never able to put so much as two sentences together. However, it wasn’t until a few years ago, with the help of the pandemic, that I made a point of studying Italian seriously with a tutor from Bologna. Once The Woman in Red was translated to Italian, I was delighted to be able to correspond with readers and even be a guest on an Italian podcast (with the help of my wonderful translator), but I started to notice that my study had seeped into other aspects of my life.
To be able to communicate with others in their own language is a vital skill, one that could open doors both in travel and in the workplace. Learning another language can even change cognitive functioning and the brain itself. In a 2004 study referenced in an article on Bilingual Adaptation, researchers found “that grey matter density was significantly greater for bilinguals than monolinguals in the left inferior parietal gyrus (LIPG), with larger effects for early bilinguals and for contrasts in the left hemisphere.” This is the area of the brain that is involved with emotion, interpretation of sensory information, mathematics, the movement of others, body image, and most importantly, for us, language. Furthermore, adults going through intense study to become interpreters showed evidence of greater hippocampal volume (which controls memory) and cortical thickness (which plays a role in intelligence).
As writers, we are in a unique position to use grammar to sculpt magic with our words. We pick up on language from the time of birth, and when we are in school, we are taught the mechanics. But how often do we get to look at it from an outsider’s perspective?
Once, while I was in the midst of one of my Italian lessons, my instructor informed me that we were moving on to gerunds. Immediately my mind started to race, “What the hell are gerunds?” Shortly after I felt guilty because I’m a writer, I should know that. Discreetly I did a quick google search and learned it is a word that is derived from a verb but functions as a noun. I had known that there were verbs that acted like this but had forgotten what they were […]
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“Writers don’t have time to read.”
It was a phrase someone said at a book club I attended as nonchalantly as I think it’s going to rain tomorrow. Later that week, as I wandered the aisles of Vroman’s bookstore with my little bundle of books in my arms, I too wondered, “Am I going to have time to read all these books?”
Reading has always been second nature to me to the point where I could easily get away with saying that I was born with a book in my hand. From Teddy Ruxpin to Reading Rainbow, my childhood revolved around books. A trip to the bookstore was just as good as a trip to Toys ‘R Us, if not better. That love of reading continued through my adult years, especially when I would devour books like someone coming off a three-week fast. I am still proud of the fact that I once read a whole book within one eight-hour shift at the crappy travel reservation call center where I worked.
Now that I am a full-time author, the ability to carve out that time to read, I admit, sometimes feels a bit hard–between deadlines, my podcast, family obligations, and life in general. Once when I had taken a break from writing for a day to read a book, I admitted to my husband that I felt almost guilty for not working on my deadline. My husband simply responded, “Why? It’s part of your writing process.” As I settled back into reading my book, I realized that he was right (but please don’t tell him that, it will go straight to his head).
You often hear musicians mention their literary influences, like Dave Grohl sharing how the Pixies influenced Nirvana in his book, The Storyteller, with their “tight, simple verses that explode into giant, screaming choruses.”
Couldn’t the same be said for writers?
Having been a longtime fan of Eve Babitz, I return to her books over and over, just for the descriptions. Take this example from her novel, Black Swans: Stories.
The land of self-enchantment had, once more, upheld its end of the deal—to be there for those willing to stay. By then, the jacaranda flowers had all fallen and squashed onto the streets in sticky mush, no longer turning the town lavender with clouds, but still, they’d be there again next May and so would I.
It’s the way she paints with words that have continued to mesmerize me. Odds are you don’t know what jacaranda flowers are, but you can picture the clouds of lavender and the sticky mush left all over the street. The style with which she describes things is one that I seek to be able to capture within my fictional world.
Likewise, when reading Elena Ferrante, I can’t help but feel in awe of the movement of her prose, the way one simple sentence — “Her quickness of mind was like a hiss, a dart, a lethal bite” — can invoke so much imagery within so few words. And in less than fifteen words, I know exactly what that character’s mind is like.
There are hundreds of books telling you how to write and many of them are quite good. However, there is nothing that can replace the ability […]
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I have a confession to make: I am a gamer. I’ve been one since the age of seven when I first picked up a Nintendo controller after one of my cousins told me I was too young to play. It felt so powerful being able to press all the buttons, making Mario jump up for the shiny coins. The ability to advance through all the obstacles was thrilling! My love of gaming has advanced with technology and though I no longer smash Goomba, I still feel the thrill of accomplishing quests and killing “the bad guy.”
It’s easy to think that video games are the antithesis of creativity, that by playing them we are taking away from valuable writing time. But in truth, video games can benefit our writing.
Video games, much like a good movie, can engross you in both the story and the cinematography. It should be no surprise that the historical fiction writer can be a fan of the Assassin’s Creed franchise, a game that pulls you back in time to participate in conflicts from history. Within the video game world, you the player can only take in a limited amount of space. One of the things that I love about the game is that they have these grandiose panoramas where you can see the expansive digital world before you, but it can also be extremely detailed as you are rummaging through a small building. For a writer, it’s an exercise in setting. Just like moving your controller, your readers should see exactly what you want them to, in the order that you intend things to be seen.
There is nothing better than to be pulled into a story, where the world surrounds you and reality can fall away. This is perhaps the ultimate goal for writers and it’s the same when we are immersed in a really good game.
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This past year has brought us many reasons to grieve. During the course of the pandemic, approximately 590,000 people died from covid only. In addition to that, many of us experienced loss from other things like Alzheimer’s, cardiac arrests, accidents, and cancer. Grief has become a part of our daily lives but what do we do when grief interferes with our writing?
Like many writers, the simple act of writing is a therapy for me in and of itself. It was the place I turned to escape reality. Through writing, I am able to make sense of the world around me. Where I can process emotions and thoughts I wouldn’t otherwise be able to comprehend without a pen in my hand.
Not long before we went into lockdown my best friend of more than twenty years was diagnosed with cancer. In 2019 we threw a big Christmas party, where we laughed about the ridiculous cast she had to have over her face during radiation, we exchanged bracelets, and she told me they thought they found a second tumor, causing her surgery to be delayed. I responded that the radiologist was just being paranoid — it was probably nothing.
I was wrong.
A little over a year later I was enjoying my first tentative steps back out of quarantine by going to get a haircut before starting on my edits for my second book, “Antoinette’s Sister.” On my way home, I listened to Google’s cold voice relay a text from my friend, informing me there were more tumors, one of which was inoperable. She only had months left and she was sorry to tell me via text. It was as Joan Didion said, Life changes in an ordinary instant.
Grief is the ultimate thief of creativity. As artists, we have a duty to observe and experience those poignant moments so we can better portray them in our art. But experiencing them isn’t always conducive to our deadlines. Grief is different than your run-of-the-mill writer’s block. There is the desire to write, the words are there ready to be put on paper but the energy to put pen to paper is lacking. The normal remedies of researching, journaling or even reading no longer work.
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We are thrilled to welcome Diana Giovinazzo as our newest contributor to Writer Unboxed! Diana is the co-creator of Wine, Women and Words, a weekly literary podcast featuring interviews with authors over a glass of wine. Diana is active within her local literary community as the president of the Los Angeles chapter of the Women’s National Book Association. Her debut novel, THE WOMAN IN RED, was released August 4, 2020. Her second novel, ANTOINETTE’S SISTER will be released January 2022.
Learn more about Diana on her website. Glad to have you aboard, Diana!
Five years ago my best friend, Michele, and I decided to start a podcast that we called-Wine, Women, and Words. Our friendship was formed over a mutual love of books that morphed into late a podcast where we can keep talking about books even though we are now live on opposite coasts. Somewhere along the way, we decided to add authors, we thought that at the very least we thought it would be fun to get some new drinking buddies. However, those drinking buddies turned into our own master class on writing. Below are the seven things that I have learned from authors on the show.
Writing a sex scene a lot like writing a fight scene…it’s all about emotion.
Sure, everyone thinks it’s all about the technical details: where to kiss, which way the sword should swing (no pun intended), but what many authors fail to take into account are the emotions. Emotions leave a stronger, more lasting, impression. Are the characters angry? Is it passionate?
Expressing emotions are more important than the technicalities; they are what determines the actions. When you are in tune with the character’s feelings, the actions will come naturally.
When it comes to world-building, the devil is in the details.
This is something that we hear not just from authors in fantasy but in just about every other genre as well. When it comes to creating the world in which your characters reside, the devil is in the details. Whether you are calculating the velocity of a dragon based on the wingspan of a California Condor or entrenching your character in another time, having those details is important for readers.
These little details are what make a story come alive, bringing all five senses. They set the tone and help with the overall experience of the world around your character.
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