When I’m not writing or doing menial household labor (poorly), I am playing tennis. Strangely enough, what I learn on the court many times translates to my writing. One such lesson I learned the other day was this:

The ball is the boss.

My instructor noticed I seemed to be using the slice and the topspin groundstroke randomly, with no relation to how the ball was coming to me. This was true. Many times, I’d decide, before my opponent even returned the ball, that I was going to use a particular shot. If you’re a seasoned tennis player, however, you see the fault in this – you have to wait and see where and how the ball is coming to you to determine how you should hit it. So my instructor gave me this simple rule: if the ball is rising, hit a slice. If it is dropping, hit a topspin.
This translates to: The Ball is the Boss. Wait and see what the ball is doing and then react accordingly.
It also translates to Get Out of Your Own Head, Stupid!
In writing, this rule is: The Character is The Boss.
No matter how I want a certain thing to happen in my story or how well I plot out the story ahead of time, the character is the boss. If I stay in the character’s head (not in my own) I will write a truer story. My character will lead me to what would actually happen, not what I as the author think “should” happen.
It’s about being flexible, not getting ahead of things or forcing things, letting the plot or the shot work out organically.
It’s about shutting off your brain, trusting your instincts and letting go.

So here’s my question to all you writers: Who’s the boss of you?

Beverly Patt steps off the tennis court once in a while to serve up some middle grade and young adult fiction. 

I have a confession to make.

As a child, every year, I signed up for the Summer Reading Program at my town’s library.

I wrote my name on the contract. I received my little chart or check list or fill-in-the-blank card. I checked out a stack of books.

And I never got further than half-way through the chart. Never. Ever.

Why?

Part of it could be lack of follow through. I was the type of child who would start something with a great frenzy of enthusiasm but then get distracted after a few weeks.

It could have been the lure of the pool, where my friends hung out daily, smelling of chlorine and Jays Potato chips.

But the largest fault, I believe, lay with the library’s mystery section. You see, I could never get enough of them. I would have a historical fiction book in my hands, or a required biography or science fiction, when I’d spy a title like “The Hidden Staircase Mystery” or “The Clue of Black Lake” and I’d be gone. The biography was tossed aside and I’d be ten pages into the mystery before The Life Of Benjamin Franklin hit the carpet. Before I knew it, poor Mr. Franklin was propping up a table leg while I was walking out the door with a stack of spine-tinglers.

Did I have a narrow reading interest?  Yes.

Did reading only mysteries limit my vocabulary? Probably.

Did all those mysteries make my reading life suffer? Not necessarily.

While I am a big fan of library reading programs as a parent (yes, my kids all completed them!) and I am in favor of introducing young readers to different genres of writing, I also know, as a reader, there is no better feeling than being chest-deep in a book you just looooove. I read every Nancy Drew I could afford or borrow. I checked out every book in the library mystery section. Reading became something I did, a lot. It became a habit. I would forgo the pool. I would not answer the phone. I would pretend I was sick, all to finish my current book. Those little mysteries made me into the reader I am today.

When my first born started eating pureed food, I gave her pretty standard fare – pears, peaches, green beans – whatever we happened to be eating. But on the store shelves, I’d see jars of sweet potatoes and beets and prunes and I worried that I wasn’t giving her enough variety. I brought this up to my pediatrician who shrugged and said, “Some kids in other countries eat the same food every day. And they grow just fine.” My daughter grew up healthy and strong. In fact, she now towers over me. She also eats a wide variety of foods now that she has matured.

The same is true for my reading. Though I grew up on a diet of straight mysteries, I now enjoy a variety of books, and enjoy reading across the genres. I became a Reader.

A reader who just may, one day, actually finish a summer reading program.

Beverly Patt has just finished writing the first draft of her third historical fiction novel – which also contains a mysterious twist, to satisfy the young reader still inside.   Visit her at www.beverlypatt.com.

Many of you Mixed Up File readers are teachers, parents and/or writers yourselves so you are familiar with the concept of PAGE FRIGHT. You may have heard your students or children complain “I don’t know what to write!” You may have even said those words yourself. Writing a story is a daunting task – as much for the seasoned writer as it is for the fourth grader in Language Arts class. Writing a novel is even more so. There is so much to think about! Currently I am halfway through a historical novel and there have been several (many?) days where I’ve felt overwhelmed with the task I’ve set out to accomplish.

“Why can’t I just write a nice, short picture book?” I lament.

Because you don’t write nice, short picture books, my subconscious says. Not well, anyway.

It’s at this point that I pull out two great tips from two great middle grade writers. These two tips have been, to me, like life preservers in the rough seas of novel writing. The first is from Lisa Yee, writer of MILLICENT MIN, GIRL GENIUS among others. A writer friend took a novel-writing workshop from Ms. Lee and passed on her idea of only thinking about writing one scene/chapter at a time:  I can’t write a whole novel! But I can write one chapter.  It’s kind of like the new-age mantra of ‘living in the now’ versus worrying about the future. I don’t know what’s going to happen to my characters at the end of the story, but I can be with them right now, in this one chapter and write that. Little manageable chunks that, added up, will eventually become a novel! Hooray!

The second helpful idea comes from Bruce Hale, writer of many humorous MG books, including the CHET GECKO series. He spoke, via Skype, to our SCBWI chapter on writing humor and at the end, had time for questions. I asked him if his first drafts were as funny as his final works. “OH, no,” he replied. “My first drafts are filled with placeholders that say ‘SOMETHING FUNNY HERE.’ I fill them in on following drafts.”

This idea was eye-opening to me. No longer did I have to struggle to get every word, every phrase, every fact, worked out in my first draft! If Bruce Hale could use placeholders, why couldn’t I? How freeing to write (WEATHER DESCRIPTION HERE) and (CONVERSATION WITH MOTHER HERE) and (NEWSPAPER ARTICLE HERE), knowing I would get to those things at a later time. Meanwhile, I can stay with my characters in my current chapter and keep the momentum moving forward. Double Hooray!

Now it’s your turn – what helps you or your students conquer that dreadful condition of Page Fright? I’d love to add a few more tips to my toolbox!

Beverly Patt is hard at work on (HISTORICAL FICTION TITLE HERE) in her suburban Chicago home.

 Note: There is still time to win a Skype visit with Rosanne Perry. CLICK HERE to post a comment and enter into the drawing. (The winner listed towards the end of the post is the winner from a previous giveaway, so don’t be fooled. Enter your comment now!)