Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Throw out the cookbook -- we gotta strategize
I have a habit of thinking of craft and writing advice as a recipe. It's been tested and proven by a chef, someone who is recognized as an expert. And if it doesn't work, it must be because I didn't follow the recipe quite close enough, didn't measure something right. I try again, and again, to get it just right.
But then I was reading this book last night on teaching the process of writing (I won't bore you with the details) and I came across an amazing analogy. The author suggesting taking writing advice and craft advice as a heuristic:
It's a strategy, not a recipe.
What a way to think about my writing process! A strategy is, at is heart, an idea. Something we're going to try, to see if it accomplishes our goal. Think about it -- if you're creating a strategy, you're coming up with a game plan. It usually involves the expectation that it will not completely and fully succeed. We come up with contingencies: "If XYZ doesn't work, then I'll try...." It's full of Plan B's and Plan C's, and leaves fully open the possibilities of gathering more advice and ideas if the current plan isn't working. It implies you're consulting a compass which can only tell you the direction you're heading in, not the destination.
A recipe, on the other hand is a static thing. It's been tried and proved, and it's someone else's creation. It's written in absolutes, and it's written in the second person (Put the butter on the bread, which is grammatically commanding, You put the butter on the bread, which, when you think about it, takes on creepy Silence of the Lambs undertones. It puts the lotion on the skin . . .)
My point here, is that when a recipe fails, I assume it's because I didn't properly follow it. That I need to limit my mistakes and follow the proven instructions more carefully. When a strategy doesn't work, we widen our focus, look for other ideas and information and paths.
A recipe we can use over and over, always producing the same result. If we're planning a strategy, we need a new one each time. We create a new one, based on what we learned last time and new things we've learned since. We don't know exactly what path we'll end up taking this time, but we have confidence we'll get there, because we eventually got there last time.
I love this idea, that instead of taking craft advice as a commandment of what we shall do to achieve a set result, we take craft advice as an option we can add to our strategy by which we plan our path from where we are (an idea) to a destination (a bright, shiny, finished novel).
How do you see your writing process? Something that works better if you stick to it tightly and try to figure out the "best" way to get there? Or do you think of it more as a strategy? A trial-and-error set of ideas that you hope will help keep you find your path as you're on it?
But then I was reading this book last night on teaching the process of writing (I won't bore you with the details) and I came across an amazing analogy. The author suggesting taking writing advice and craft advice as a heuristic:
A heuristic procedure is an informed method of trial and error--it's a strategy, not a recipe. Mathematician George Polya's 1945 book How to Solve It popularized heuristic as a method for problem-solving, placing value on such notions as determination and discipline ("Willpower is needed that can outlast years of toil and bitter diappointments") along with more concrete strategies (such as asking, "Did you use all the data?" and "Do you know a related problem?")
It's a strategy, not a recipe.
What a way to think about my writing process! A strategy is, at is heart, an idea. Something we're going to try, to see if it accomplishes our goal. Think about it -- if you're creating a strategy, you're coming up with a game plan. It usually involves the expectation that it will not completely and fully succeed. We come up with contingencies: "If XYZ doesn't work, then I'll try...." It's full of Plan B's and Plan C's, and leaves fully open the possibilities of gathering more advice and ideas if the current plan isn't working. It implies you're consulting a compass which can only tell you the direction you're heading in, not the destination.
A recipe, on the other hand is a static thing. It's been tried and proved, and it's someone else's creation. It's written in absolutes, and it's written in the second person (Put the butter on the bread, which is grammatically commanding, You put the butter on the bread, which, when you think about it, takes on creepy Silence of the Lambs undertones. It puts the lotion on the skin . . .)
My point here, is that when a recipe fails, I assume it's because I didn't properly follow it. That I need to limit my mistakes and follow the proven instructions more carefully. When a strategy doesn't work, we widen our focus, look for other ideas and information and paths.
A recipe we can use over and over, always producing the same result. If we're planning a strategy, we need a new one each time. We create a new one, based on what we learned last time and new things we've learned since. We don't know exactly what path we'll end up taking this time, but we have confidence we'll get there, because we eventually got there last time.
I love this idea, that instead of taking craft advice as a commandment of what we shall do to achieve a set result, we take craft advice as an option we can add to our strategy by which we plan our path from where we are (an idea) to a destination (a bright, shiny, finished novel).
How do you see your writing process? Something that works better if you stick to it tightly and try to figure out the "best" way to get there? Or do you think of it more as a strategy? A trial-and-error set of ideas that you hope will help keep you find your path as you're on it?
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36 comments:
Hal - Now yer on me wavelength! A strategy instead of a recipe! I'm so there! Because I totally cannot manage to hang good with recipes, for the most part. Especially when it comes to writing.
But a strategy...a compass that gives direction but not a GPS step-by-step type...yup!
I think I'm sorta the writing sailor...I tack this way, I tack that way. I don't really aim for the port directly. I follow the wind, I keep in mind the currents, stay aware that the earth is curved...and there is weather, the doldrums, etc.
Nice blog!
Oh, Donna! Fer the procrastination blog drink, I'm working on it!
*giggle
Hal, this is awesome! I think I've been in that recipe mindset, thinking I've finally figured out how to make that souffle--only my next book is chocolate cake! LOL
So yes, a strategy is defintely the way to go for me now. Plus "recipes", like "rules", change over time. They wane in popularity, so it seems more practical to focus on a strategy utilizing skills rather than a recipe.
Great post. I'm off to strategize now!
LOL, Chance -- we'll be waiting on that procrastination drink for a long time -- it's just that kind of drink!
Chance -- Glad you liked it! I thought you might be more on board with an idea like this :) I like the idea of thinking of a recipe as GPS - step by step directions to follow exactly. My frustration with GPS is always that I'm so busy trying to follow the directions and watch the little map they give me that I miss everything actually going on around me.
There's a lot to find and discover when you don't aim directly for the port :)
I’ve finally figured out how to make that souffle–only my next book is chocolate cake!
Donna, Yes!! I love that.
Recipes definitely change. There's those immortal ones that get passed from generation to generation (like ham for Easter Sunday -- no one in my family is brave enough to mess with Gram's recipe for that!) and they're very susceptible to trends. And we all know how those go :)
I think this is what my boss hates about grade school science labs. They're all "cookbook" and not strategies or inquiry. Recipes come across as all formula and no growth, no creativity.
However, that isn't my complete experience with cooking.
I suppose if you're cooking caramel, it's still sugar and butter and water boiled in a pan until toffee colored, then cream is added. Though you could cook caramel every day with the same pan and the same ingredients and still never get the same two batches of caramel.
Sorry, now I want caramel.
I have recipes, yes, but I always--or almost always--feel they're just jumping off boards to tinker with. I don't feel like I have to follow every line to the letter. And I've had enough years of cooking to understand what's supposed to be happening or how it's supposed to come out. And if the recipe calls for cloves and I don't have any (but I have everything else), I figure it'll be all right. Unless the recipe is called Clove Studded Ham, then clearly I'd be missing something.
I think it's more important to work on cooking skills than our ability to follow a recipe. When you're learning to cook, you learn the strategies to adapt any recipe, so you won't be tied completely to it.
But even the most basic stories have a recipe, don't they? Like the hero's journey--take one hero who thinks he's a nobody but is secretly the king's son, send him on a terrible journey where he nearly gets killed a half-dozen times, and then have him win the day in the end. We do like our stories to hit the right sort of beats, don't we?
PS, great post, Hal
I don't think I even have a strategy these days. Or rather, I don't stick to a strategy long enough to see if it's going to pan out before I switch. I'm blaming all kinds of stuff--exhaustion (both mental and physical) and lack of time--but I think I'm just still ruminating on this story.
I do like the recipe/strategy juxtaposition. In my first writing attempts, I was all about the recipe. I remember one of my English teachers telling me romance was so formulaic and if you plug in certain things in certain places, POOF! you get published.
Stop laughing. Seriously. You're hurting my feelings.
Let's just say writing my first MS didn't play out like that.
Now I just keep trying new stuff and hoping that I stumble on what works best for me. I already know in the kitchen what works best for me. But it was lots of trial and error to figure that out. I guess that's how this works too.
I've never thought of my process as a recipe, probably because I've yet to find my process. LOL! I have found things that "usually" work for me, "usually" being the key word there. I love this idea of a strategy. Something that can be altered, adapted and manipulated to fit the situation.
But this recipe thing makes me think of this pizza I've been trying to make. I've bought that pizza dough in a box and the first time I followed the directions and the cheese was all burnt. The second time I put the cheese on later but it still didn't come out right. The third time I turned down the oven to prevent the burning (my oven is way hotter than all these boxed directions think) and the dough didn't cook in the middle.
My point is, I keep trying, adjusting a little something each time. And now when I finally figure it out, I have to start over with a new oven. *sigh*
I totally see the relation with writing. LOL!
I remember one of my English teachers telling me romance was so formulaic and if you plug in certain things in certain places, POOF! you get published.
This always annoys me. It's always spoken by someone who hasn't written much of anything beyond a grocery list in years and has never, ever read a romance novel--or likely any novels.
LOL! I know, right?
I remember when my college advisor told me that I couldn't write about feminism in romance novels as a senior thesis. She said it wasn't a serious thesis project. This was 1998. I was so frustrated. I argued, I put together a proposal. But, ultimately, a panel approves them and, well, I wanted to graduate.
So I didn't. I wrote on boring post-colonial literature in Kenya.
Hopefully things have come around enough that the same advisor would be more supportive now.
Man, that would have been a fun topic.
Hellie - I think you hit on this particular author's point with the analogy, that recipes are formulas and strategies are plans of inquiry.
But it's all about mindset. If we look at a recipe, can see which parts will work well and which won't, and use it as a jumping off point, than that might be all we need. I personally run into the problem where I assume anything going wrong isn't the result of me not trying new things, as much as me not following the directions exactly.
So when I get stuck writing, I assume it's because I'm not buckling down and following my process perfectly, when usually, I just need to try something new or a new strategy.
I remember when my college advisor told me that I couldn’t write about feminism in romance novels as a senior thesis. She said it wasn’t a serious thesis project.
Oooh, that makes me furious. That is definitely a serious topic. It's no less serious than some of the literary crap they research! So annoying.
That would have been a GREAT topic. There are some faculty in our Library Science area that are pro-romance novel and like to think of them in a serious manner. I remember when they did an interview with Eloisa James (it was a live talk show like thing over the college radio; I got to sit in and listen--and I even asked EJ a question! About Mayne, of course.) But not all the library science faculty are nice about romance novels. *LOL*
My point is, I keep trying, adjusting a little something each time. And now when I finally figure it out, I have to start over with a new oven. *sigh*
This is always what happens to me when I cook too *g* I feel your pain.
I keep trying to pin down my process, like "I plot first, then I write the first 25,000 words, then pause and re-plot, then write to the 60,000 point and pause to re-plot, then write to the end. Then I do minor revisions, then wait six months and do major revisions...."
But it never actually works out like that. And I get upset that it doesn't and try *harder* instead of trying something else entirely.
Marn, you definitely get to use exhaustion as an excuse! And there's nothing wrong with ruminating. This particular book had an awesome, awesome quote:
"Take a bite out of the material. If it bites back, you're on to something. If it tries to swallow you, you might need to back off.
It's all about waiting for a fair fight."
I love that part - wait for a fair fight. That's how I feel about Josephine right now. I'll get there, but right now, it's not a fair fight. I'm getting decimated. So I'm ruminating, and once I think I can wrestle her down, I'll try again :)
I remember when they did an interview with Eloisa James (it was a live talk show like thing over the college radio; I got to sit in and listen–and I even asked EJ a question!
Dude. That's awesome.
I like library people who like romance, or at least don't dismiss it offhand. I say we need a new rule: if you haven't read an award-winning romance published in the last 3 years, you don't get to have an opinion on the romance genre.
So when I get stuck writing, I assume it’s because I’m not buckling down and following my process perfectly, when usually, I just need to try something new or a new strategy.
I think I do this too. Interesting thought, Hal....
A fair fight. LOL! I know exactly what you mean.
So when I get stuck writing, I assume it’s because I’m not buckling down and following my process perfectly, when usually, I just need to try something new or a new strategy.
I do admit I feel this way a lot. If something is going wrong, it's something wrong with me rather than something wrong with the other. *LOL* Assigning good and bad labels to everything is just the story of my life.
Clearly Shakespeare had some issues with this: "There is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so."
There is nothing bad about recipes, except if you think it's the only way to do something.
And I get upset that it doesn’t and try *harder* instead of trying something else entirely.
Yikes. This sounds like me. Sometimes the best thing to do is walk away and come at things from a different angle. But "walking away" is too often perceived as "giving up".
Great post today, Hal -- it's really making me re-think things.
Hal, if we make that rule, then I have to stop making snide remarks about sci-fi/fantasy fiction and how they all have some Gandalf person who dies halfway through....
I used to fight and fight to make scenes work and they just wouldn't not come around. I would tell myself "I can make this work!" and assume I was the problem. In the end I've come to learn if a scene isn't working it's for a really good reason and once I step back and think about it, make a tweak here or there, it works.
That fair fight bit is perfect. If it's fighting me too hard, I bob and weave to another angle, usually see something I didn't see before, and we start dancing instead of fighting.
Hal, if we make that rule, then I have to stop making snide remarks about sci-fi/fantasy fiction and how they all have some Gandalf person who dies halfway through….
Oh. Really? Where's the fun in that? lol.
I'm trying to wrestle some words into submission and they're winning - I think I need to try a new strategy for sure. I'll be back later. :)
Grrr! CAPTCHA ate my first post!
I remember one of my English teachers telling me romance was so formulaic and if you plug in certain things in certain places, POOF! you get published.
I ranted in various and sundry places about one of the best selling anthologies, one that’s used in writing about literature and introduction to literature courses in colleges and universities across the country. The editor pairs an excerpt from a romance novel with a “literary” short story to demonstrate the “formulaic,” weak writing of the former and the original, superior writing of the latter. Of course, he neglects to mention that the romance novel excerpt is two decades old, that it’s from a category novel, that its author is little known and that he’s paired it with a story from a highly respected, award-winning author. He also ignores such fundamentals as using audience and purpose to measure the success of a text. When I taught from the anthology, I used the editor’s essay to discuss flawed argument, and I used excerpts from other romance novels to show originality within conventions.
Academia is friendlier to romance fiction now than it has ever been. I bet your topic would be approved today, Marn, at least at most schools. But the old prejudices are firmly entrenched. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that the pairing of the romance novel and the short story remains unchanged in the latest edition of that anthology.
When I taught from the anthology, I used the editor’s essay to discuss flawed argument,
Nicely done, Janga! I've noticed this a lot, in various arguments. But it always comes down to romance being judged by the very worst of its genre, while others (especially literary) are judged by the best.
I'm finding as well, that academically some of the bias against romance is lessening. I think that as people start to lose the knee-jerk "all romance is trash" reaction, real conversations can start about what's working and what's not in the genre.
Hal, if we make that rule, then I have to stop making snide remarks about sci-fi/fantasy fiction and how they all have some Gandalf person who dies halfway through….
Oh, my. What would the captain find to be snarky about if that rule is enforced!?
I do like the bit aobut some Gandalf person...hee, hee.
Tag team wrestling... Gandalf and Dumbledore against Sauron and Voldemort.
Writing to recipe as to writing to sewing pattern? I find the same complications. if you don't know your way around the kitchen in the first place - ME - than a recipe is just a map to Shangrila. If you don't know your way around a sewing machine, a pattern is just a short cut to scraps.
I'll stick with sailing, you see so much more of the world.
Janga - that's good to hear. I was frustrated at the time. I read a lot, across genres, and I always have. I was a little disconcerted to find that some of the best stories and writing I'd read were deemed silly. At the time, I gave up easier than I probably would now. But I was only 21, not as feisty.
Oh, my. What would the captain find to be snarky about if that rule is enforced!?
No worries. I'd find something. Nature abhors a vacuum.
;-)
I wonder if the people at MTV who had Celebrity DeathMatch ever did a claymation version of Gandalf vs. Dumbledore...?
All this recipe talk made me decide to jump in and try to make my very first apple pie! I'm not inviting any of you to my quarters just yet -- it's still cooking, which means there's still plenty of time for disaster to happen. LOL
But I enjoyed doing it. AND I considered it a "first draft". :) That's my strategy.
Nice :)
I love apple pie. And speaking of apple pie recipes, I have to share this one: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Apple-Pie-by-Grandma-Ople/Detail.aspx
There's something about pouring caramel on top instead of mixing it in that makes this divine :)
Sounds delish, but I swear, the idea of caramel poured anywhere makes my teeth hurt!
Though I tried to new caramel instant coffee from Starbucks and it's mighty tasty!
I'm glad I didn't see that recipe until I was done. LOL I'm getting ready to try the results. . .soon. I have a feeling I'll be experimenting with it. :)
I can't drink the Starbie's instant coffee -- it has a weird taste to me -- but I'm glad they're going after that market.
Ah, Donna! Well, toss that Via caramel flavored drink out the window for the procrastination blog and start over!
Don't worry, I'll get it done!
Eventually.
LOL -- I like the iced caramel macchiato -- you could substitute that while you're devising something!
I just had some of the apple pie and I liked it! Not sure there's enough to go around. . .
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