When Writers Can’t Write Anymore

Hemmingway in Idaho

            Every writer lives with a great fear: the loss of ability to continue writing. Often, it is writer’s block, mostly caused by poor plotting or structural problems in a manuscript, but sometimes, it may have a more serious origin.

            On July 2, 1961, fifty-seven years ago, in Ketchum, Idaho, Ernest Hemmingway killed himself with a shotgun blast. In the spring of the same year, he had been requested to contribute a single sentence for a presentation volume marking President John F. Kennedy’s inauguration. He told his lifelong friend and biographer, A.E. Hotchner: “It just won’t come anymore,” and wept.

            It was a year earlier, in 1960, that Hemmingway discovered that he could no longer write. It turned out to be a devastating blow to a prolific author who deeply connected his self-worth with his creativity. That discovery triggered a deep depression from which he could not escape.

            In some ways, Hemmingway was uniquely vulnerable to depression. Part of it was hereditary: his father had committed suicide in 1928, ironically enough, in the manner. His grandfather, brother, sister and granddaughter all did the same. Hemmingway also suffered from an enormous list of medical conditions: bi-polar mood disorder, chronic alcoholism, brain injuries and hemochromatosis, a disease that results in damage to the internal organs and is linked with depression. He also had a morbid fascination with guns and death; as a child hunting in the Michigan wilderness; as a correspondent covering the Spanish Civil war and in the uncounted hundreds of big game he killed in Africa. Indeed the pages of his works are filled with violent death, whether human or animal.

            Yet, writers as a group are particularly vulnerable to depression. In an article titled “The Neurological Similarities between Successful Writers and the Mentally Ill,” Cody Delistraty[1] lists several reasons for this. Writers think a lot, and people entangled in their thoughts tend to be withdrawn. He says, “add long periods of isolation and high levels of narcissism that draws someone to a career like writing, and it seems obvious why they may not be the happiest bunch.” Other findings suggest an unusually high percentage of alcoholics in the writing community.

            But brain science may give a clearer explanation. In the same article, a connection between creativity and the inability to suppress the precuneus portion of the brain is suggested. The precuneus part of the brain regulates self-consciousness, memory and creativity. For ordinary people, it is most active during rest, when the brain is allowed to “day-dream.” For creatives, however, it doesn’t turn off.  And this may explain why the best writers find unusual associations and unique, even bizarre, ways of looking at the world. They cannot stop thinking. Unfortunately, this condition is also tied in with depression.

            Hemmingway is a classic example of misdiagnosed, or even undiagnosed, mental illness. Today, our understanding of mental illness has significantly advanced and cures are more readily available. One can only wonder what further works of genius he might have produced had such treatments been available during his decline.

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[1] https://thoughtcatalog.com/cody-delistraty/2014/03/the-neurological-similarities-between-successful-writers-and-the-mentally-ill/

Mohan Ashtakala is the author of "The Yoga Zapper" (www.yogazapper.com) published by Books We love (www.bookswelove.net)

How to keep 3 children happy for one week without really trying... by Sheila Claydon

Anyone who reads my books knows that children frequently feature, usually as background or secondary characters, but occasionally battling for prime place with the hero and heroine as in Double Fault and Kissing Maggie Silver, so it stands to reason that I like them.

Sometimes this liking leads me down unexpected paths. For example, when I was younger I never thought I would spend months in Australia helping to care for my youngest grandchild, nor that I would attend school sex education meetings for my middle grandchild when neither of her parents were available because of work commitments. Then there are the concerts and the prize givings, the birthday parties, collecting grandchildren, and sometimes their friends as well, from school, and the sleep-overs... the list goes on and on, as any grandparent knows.

This week, however, could have been a real challenge. 3 children aged 15,10 and 3, 2 dogs and a husband all staying together in a cottage on a working farm in very rural Wales. How easy was it going to be to keep children of such disparate ages interested and happy. The older ones brought their technology of course, but the Internet in such a remote place is unreliable to say the least. So is the weather!

I need not have worried. The resident donkeys and goats arrived at the kitchen window for breakfast each day and for the price of a few bags of the cheapest carrots and apples kept all 3 children occupied for hours. The younger ones also learned how to chop the food and how to keep their fingers safe as they fed their new friends. Then there were the alpacas in the next field, and poor old Sunny, the one male alpaca who had been banished to live with the donkeys while his babies were growing up, much to his disgust.

There were the ducks too, and the ducklings, and the chickens and newly laid eggs. And a field of swishy grass behind the duck pond that was exactly like the grass in one of the 3-year-old's story books, which made the whole holiday just that bit more exciting.

Then there was hide n'seek. Bales and bales of newly cut silage waiting to be bagged provided hours of fun, as well as comfortable places to stretch out in the sun. And for the little one, the sight of the tractor moving the bales a few days later made it even more interesting.

Then, on the sunny days, there was the local sandy beach. Fortunately it wasn't just any old beach. It had a freshwater river running into it, with small fish darting through the weed. So a couple of 99p fishing nets later everyone was happily engaged. And when they were all fished out there was the river to splash in, or jump over, or sit in.

A barbecue was another hit, especially as it was in a wooden Hobbit House that was complete with benches covered in furs, and lit by fairy lights, just like the one Bilbo Baggins lived in in The Hobbit. This came courtesy of the farm and provided high excitement both before, during and after the event.

Nobody was bored, nobody wanted to go anywhere 'exciting', and everybody loved being muddy and dusty and not having to care what they looked like, and that included the adults! Even a walk in the rain offered excitement, what with the muddy puddles and dripping hoods.

All it took was a few bags of carrots and apples, 2 fishing nets, a hay field and a whole lot of friendly animals. Now I need to see where I can add that to the mix in my next book!

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Writing My novels by Joan Donaldson-Yarmey

http://bookswelove.net/authors/donaldson-yarmey-joan/

 

 

I have never worked with a solid outline or arc for my novels, whether they are mystery, historical or young adult. And this is mainly because I find that my characters seldom end up the way I first pictured them and the plot never takes the route I thought it would. I do start the story with a character in his/her everyday life so the reader can get to know them then I put in the trigger that is out of the control of my main character or starts the mystery. This puts the main character on his/her quest for a solution.

I do have scenes pictured where characters are going to have a certain conversation or be at a certain place but unexpected conversations or character twists surface as I am writing the story. Some of these are surprises or mishaps or problems that get in the way of my character’s quest. I strive not to make these predictable nor so far out that they don’t make sense to the story. They should leave the reader with the thought that (s)he should have figured that would happen. I find that it is no fun to read a book where you can foresee where the story line is headed and what is going to happen before it does.

For the climax my character goes through the action of resolving the problem or solving the mystery. This has to be fast paced and sometimes at a risk to the character. By this time the reader should be rooting for the main character and wanting him/her to succeed without injury. Hopefully, too, this is where the surprise comes in, where the reader goes. “Wow, I didn’t see that coming." or "I never thought it would be that person.” I have even been surprised or saddened or happy by the ending of my novels and have said that.

 

I believe that if my emotions are rocked, so, too, should be those of the reader.

Yahoo!

For more information about Susan Calder's books, or to purchase, please visit Books We Love Author Page.  

My hometown of Calgary is in the midst of its annual 10-day festival, billed as The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth--The Calgary Stampede. Local stores are decorated with bales of hay. Bank tellers sport cowboy hats and bandanas. Every day, you can have your pick of a dozen pancake breakfasts sponsored by retail malls, companies, churches and politicians.   

It's a city-wide party, comparable to the carnivals in Venice, New Orleans and Rio de Janeiro. I'm told that Calgary's birthrate always spikes in April, nine months from now. 

The week before this summer's Stampede, I participated in a reading and discussion with three other authors of books featuring the Stampede and/or Calgary's western heritage. About eighty people attended our event titled Side-saddled: Local Writers Take on the Stampede, which shows how much Calgarians like to talk and read about themselves.   

Part of our goal for the night was to look beneath the hoopla to some of the controversies surrounding the Stampede. One that we couldn't neglect was animal rights. Every year, horses and cattle die during training or at the rodeo or chuckwagon races, often from a heart attack or a broken leg that requires they be put down. Animal rights activists stage protests, calling for the abolition of these grueling competitions.   

Chuckwagon - a modern day Chariot race

In my novel, Ten Days in Summer, set against a backdrop of the Stampede, I touch on this issue through my protagonist Paula's daughter, Erin, aged twenty-two and an animal lover.   

        A small safety pin remained pinned to Erin’s pants, beneath two other black ribbons.
        "Is that a new style?" Paula asked.  

“It's to honour the animals who’ve died at this year’s Stampede—so far,” Erin said.  

 Paula, too, felt sad when she read about a horse having a heart attack or crashing in a chuckwagon race. Unlike Erin, though, she didn’t think animal deaths were a reason to abolish the rodeo and chuckwagon events at the Stampede. Did humans treat animals better elsewhere? Paula had once made the mistake of joking to Erin that cattle participation in roping and wrestling competitions was better than their alternate career path: meat. Erin wouldn’t talk to her for days.

During the discussion, our panel tended to agree with Paula. Author Aritha van Herk, who researched the Stampede for her book Stampede and the Westness of the West, noted that deaths of chuckwagon horses were usually due to the genetic weaknesses of these thoroughbreds. If they couldn't be chuckwagon racers they would go to Europe as horse meat. 

The Stampede's macho culture also came up in our discussion. Aritha mentioned that during the festival's early years, almost 100 years ago, women competed in the rodeo events with considerable success. Now they are banned from both the chuckwagon races and rodeo, aside from the lower status barrel racing.

Side-saddle riding tricks in the Stampede's early days 

Young women can become a Stampede Queen or Princess, subject to the usual beauty pageant requirements. Except, instead of a bathing suit contest, they must be able to ride a horse. Our current mayor of Calgary also learned to ride for the two hour downtown Stampede parade. A Calgary mayor would be scorned if he or she refrained from riding without a very good reason. 

To lighten the mood, our emcee Shaun Hunter inserted occasional fun questions. 

Which do you prefer? Cowboy hat or boots?  I was the only one who chose the hat, which I find comfortable as well as practical for shade and bad hair days. 

What was the name of the first horse you rode? The others gave their answers right away: Starburst. Sunshine. I was stumped. Being a city girl, I have only been on a horse twice, when my youthful friends dragged me to a riding stable in the country. I was more focused on not falling off than relating to my horse, which no doubt contributed to my riding difficulties.   

At the evening's end, Shaun asked the audience to vote for their favourite Stampede cheer by shouting along with her. 

Yahoo! She shouted with enthusiastic audience members. 

Yeehaw!

 The winner? Yaaaaaahoooooo!

    

  

TO SEQUEL OR NOT TO SEQUEL--THAT IS THE QUESTION by Karla Stover

 Whether or not to write a sequel isn't an easy decision. Consider Dean Koontz who said, "Too many sequels diminish the original." or John Updike's pithy remark, "I suppose sequels are inevitable for writers of a certain."

 

Ouch!

 

One danger of writing a series is, how well you like your characters. Many writers grew to hate the people (or animals) they created. A. A. Milne was one. Milne wrote 3 novels, four plays and 18 screenplays but Winnie the Pooh outshined them all. "I suppose that every one of us hopes secretly for immortality; to leave, I mean, a name behind him which will live forever in this world, whatever he may be doing, himself, in the next," Milne said, but he grew to hate the "eclipsing fame of his beloved children's books."

 

It's pretty well-known tat Sir Author Conan Doyle had a love-hate relationship with Sherlock Holmes. Doyle tried to kill off Holmes in 1893 and  resisted readers' outrage for 8 years before bringing him back. Here, in Tacoma, where I live, Doyle spoke at the Scottish Hall but refused to discuss Holmes. According to  The Guinness Book of World Records, more than 70 actors have portrayed Holmes, making him the most portrayed movie character. Doyle undoubtedly would have recoiled in horror.

 

I was never a Hercule Poirot fan and, after a while, neither was Agatha Christie. She called him a douche, saying, "As much as I love the Poirot stories, one cannot deny the fact that he loved himself even more. He knew that he was always the smartest person in the room and acted accordingly." Christie killed him off and it seems no one protested much.

 

Most Little Women readers probably know that the author, Louisa May Alcott, based the character, Jo, on herself. They may not know that her own three sisters were the prototypes for Meg, Amy, and Beth. Readers may also not know that Alcott didn't want to write the book. She wanted to write literature and pulp fiction. When the editor at Roberts Brothers Publishing Company, Thomas Niles, tried to interest her in writing a book for girls, she said she wasn't interested in writing "moral pap for the young." Only after Niles offered a contract to her father did Alcott give in--writing Little Women in 10 weeks. According to http://intestinalbookworms.blogspot.com by at the end of three-book series, "Alcott literally wanted to blow up the boy's school in which her main character lived and worked."

 

And consider this: Bella Swan and Edward Cullen of The Twilight series regularly feature on lists of fiction's most disliked characters. Not that it hurt sales, but still . . . Also on the lists are Holden Caulfield, Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler, Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, Hamlet, and Beth March.

 

Hmmm, perhaps it's best to remember what Kingsley Amis said, "If you can't annoy somebody, there's little point in writing."

 

 



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