Friday Feedback: Flying by the Seat of Your Plot or Pants?

Hey, campers. Welcome back to Friday Feedback! 

Some of you are old pros by now, right? 

Okay, maybe not exactly. But, still, ask anyone. It's fun here and we don't bite. If you haven't been here before, please go HERE and read what this is, why we do it, and mostly the full rules and rationale behind them.

While you're doing that, I've glammed myself up over here because today I have one of my most uber favorite people in the world hosting for me, Geoff Herbach. 

He's funny, he's talented, he's debonair.

This is Geoff. You should check out all his books because he is
funny, witty and brilliant. Trust me here.

See? Can't you just tell he's debonair?

Truly, there are few people I'd trust enough to leave Friday Feedback with while I'm off gallivanting (it is my 20th wedding anniversary this weekend so I'm with my husband, but will pop by when I can. And, yes, I know, I know, I look way too young. Fine, I don't actually. Whatevs. Just go with me here.) 

Anyway, you're in excellent hands with Geoff. You will love him. And here are just a few quick reasons why:

STUPID FAST.

NOTHING SPECIAL.

I'M WITH STUPID.

These are Geoff's first YA books, and they are brilliant and oh-so funny. If you want to hook boy readers, these books are the thing to do it. If they're not there already, they need to be in your classroom. But you don't have to take my word for it. They've won plenty of awards. More importantly, Geoff knows his audience and he's on a mission. If you want to understand why (and him) better, read this really incredible post from Geoff at the Nerdy Book Club HERE. I can tell you that when I Skype into classrooms and mention Geoff's books (which I almost always do), the boys who have read them become animated and passionate as they talk about how laugh-out-loud-funny and buzzed up with energy they are.

Anyway, as you can imagine, Geoff will be devoting lots of time here today* so please do check out his books, share them with your students, and ask your local booksellers to keep them well-stocked on their shelves.  

So, I thought it might be great to have Geoff -- who, btw, teaches creative writing at Minnesota State, Mankato, and, who also, btw,  has a new three-book deal with Source Books -- talk a little about the dreaded "How to Get Started" and whether one should "pants"** it or plot it. 

So, without further ado, I give you my pal, Geoff Herbach. 

Me with Geoff, this one time in NYC I can't talk about.
Oh hush. Fine. I can. 

Geoff: Okay, I don’t know anyone who has unlimited time to write.  We have a few hours here and there that, over the course of many months, may add up to just enough time to complete a project. 

That’s why this drives me crazy.

I find it hard to start a story.  Really hard.  I can have an idea and a character and a place and a time and still, I have a hard time getting my story rolling.  I’m writing my sixth novel right now and in all cases but one, starting the thing has made me want to jump off the roof of my house (not much of a jump, but still). 

Here’s the thing I keep telling myself: You don’t need to know everything right now.  You can’t know everything right now.  Part of the joy of writing is the awesome sense of discovery that comes from sitting down, doing the work, putting the characters into motion, seeing what they do.

Here’s the other thing I keep telling myself: You better figure out what’s going on right now or you’ll be writing off in tangents and you’ll go nowhere and pretty soon you’ll hit your deadline and you’ll have two hundred thousand words that add up to a giant pile of melting butter.

mmmm... butter. But I digress...

The first thing I tell myself gives me freedom and joy and not nearly enough pressure to accomplish crap. 

The second thing I tell myself causes me to outline like a wild man until I have a whole story in notes and that removes all joy and all discovery and soon I have no interest in writing that story.

If you go to a lot of writing craft talks, you hear this kind of thing all the time.  One guy will say, as if it’s God’s truth, “Outlining is essential.”  A woman will then come to the mic and say with equal gravitas, “Outlining is the death of creativity.  You’re a hack if you do it.”

Over the course of the last few books, I’ve actually started to do both and neither.  Because I not only enjoy, but need to learn my character and story by writing a lot, I allow myself to write into a project maybe fifty pages or a hundred pages a few times.  Yes, I’ll figure something out about the story or the character or the voice and I’ll start over.  Once I feel like I have my legs under me and I’ve got a really good start, then I’ll outline like a wild man, with the understanding that I may need to break that outline if something amazing reveals itself (I sure hope it does).  In this way, I can find both the joy of writing and (so it seems) the end of the project.

I’ve started recommending that my students go after their short stories and novels in the same way.  Write in, get your footing, then start planning for how this thing might find completion.  You might try it yourself.

(Gae: As a bonus, once we get rolling here, I will share with you in the comments a neat little sort of outlining trick/idea/concept/something-or-other I came up with for myself being the total and utterly hopeless "pantser" that I am, that others have liked and used when I've shared before.)

In any case, below is the current first bit of my new book.  I’ve written in to the story, found my footing, and am now pushing toward completion (which might reveal something amazing that will necessitate re-writing the beginning). 

I look forward to hearing from you and seeing your work.

(Gae: Before Geoff shares his excerpt, I remind you briefly of the rules: 

1. Since this is an opening, tell Geoff if it hooks you or not. 
2. What works for you and why? 
3. What doesn't if something doesn't and why? 
4. Feel free to share your own brief excerpt in the comments for the same feedback. Please     ONLY share between 3 - 5 paragraphs, 3 if they are long, 5 if short. We do not promise to read more if you go over. 

Geoff: GABE, THE MAIN CHARACTER IN FAT BOY VERSES THE CHEERLEADERS, IS BEING INTERVIEWED AT THE MINNEKOTA POLICE STATION.

Hi, there. Good to meet you, too, Mr. Rodriguez.

I'm fine.  Feeling great, really.  I slept like a baby.  Nice cot in that jail cell!

Four hours sleep, at least.

I wish they had a dimmer switch on these lights, though.  They're giving me a headache.  On TV, interrogation rooms at the cop shop are always really dark.  What's up with the Minnekota PD, huh?  It’s like noon sun in this place.

The light isn't that big a deal.

No, I'm not hung over. I've never had a drop of alcohol in my life, sir.  This isn't some kind of alcohol fueled riot aftermath.  I robbed that pop machine with a sober mind and a clean heart.

You’re my lawyer.  I’m going to tell you the truth.  I robbed that machine!  Dad and Grandpa told me to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God.

Me. Rode my bike to the school, which I don't enjoy. (Bikes hurt my ass.)

Nobody else involved.  Just me.  Just me on my bike and my robbing skills, which I learned from the internet. 

Yes.  I stole the money.  I can show you how, too.  If you look in the pocket of my hoodie, you'll find the diagram and the list of instructions.  Can’t believe the cop didn’t take it.  He took the money from me.

I’m not going to help the Po Po, man.  I will have my day in court! I didn’t tell them anything.  They tried to beat it out of me!  Jackass officer ripped my band hoodie and I skinned my damn knee!  Check this out. 

Pretty bad scrape, right?  Police brutality.

Please.  Just me.  Just me.  I'm the one, okay?

I’m the head of Geekers United, but nobody else came with me to the school.

A flock of sheep?  Like, literal sheep?  Baa baa?  In the school this morning?

Holy balls.  Uh huh.  Yeah.  I must’ve let those sheep in by accident.

Sure.  Let’s start from the beginning.

***

Okay, campers, you're up. Be kind to one another, be constructive, be gentle, be real. Happy Friday Feedback!

- gae

*I will be popping in as best I can now and again through the day and weekend, but definitely not as much as last Friday. Geoff will take care of you, no worries. And please don't post excerpts after Sunday morning.

** In case any of you don't know "pantsers" or "pantsing" refers to the concept of writing without an outline = flying by the seat of your pants.

Friday Feedback: Stupid Love

It's hard not to love Herbach.
Why fight it?

Gae n' Geoff, sitting in a tree,
K-I-S-S-I-N-G,
first comes love
then comes...

Oh, um, hey there.
Don't mind me. I was just, um. . . *coughs*

You're in the right place. It's Friday, and this is Friday Feedback.

<----- And, that is me with Geoff Herbach. If you haven't heard of him, you should.

You can't have him, sorry.

But you can read him.

This is his first book, 2011 ALA, YALSA and CYBIL's Best Fiction winner Stupid Fast:

Show More

Show Less

omg, omg, omg, you must read this!

"I AM NOT STUPID FUNNY.
I AM STUPID FAST.

My name is Felton Reinstein, which is not a fast name. But last November, my voice finally dropped and I grew all this hair and then I got stupid fast. Fast like a donkey. Zing!

Now they want me, the guy they used to call Squirrel Nut, to try out for the football team. With the jocks. But will that fix my mom? Make my brother stop dressing like a pirate? Most important, will it get me girls-especially Aleah?

So I train. And I run. And I sneak off to Aleah's house in the night. But deep down I know I can't run forever. And I wonder what will happen when I finally have to stop."

and, this is his follow up (pretty much a sequel) Nothing Special:

is not allowed to buy this till she finishes other books ahead of it on TBR
because she will bump EVERYTHING to read it

"Hey Aleah,
I miss you. Because there's some serious donkey crap going on right now. I'm supposed to be at football camp, but noooo ... Andrew had to go missing! So because of my stupid little brother, I'll probably lose my chance at a scholarship and end up being nothing special.
I'm pretty sure Andrew ran away to Florida, and now Gus and I have to drive cross-country to get him. Did you know Gus used to think
Miss Piggy was hot? Anyway, Andrew once told me I needed to get my head out of my butt. So that's what I'm trying to do. How about a kiss for luck?
Felton"

And, in case you haven't figured it out yet, I LOVE him.

Yes, in the biblical sense.

Okay, fine, not exactly in the biblical sense.

More like in the trunk of a Crown Victoria sense:

Sorry ladies, Geoff can only have eyes for me.

And, not just because his books are brilliant and quirky and funny and real. . .

And, not just because he got me to my uber-awesome agent, Jim McCarthy, who just sold my next book to Algonquin for me. . .

But, also, because he can break dance. . .

And because he has made a series of some of the most awesome writing craft vids around (you're welcome for pointing those out to you);

And, okay, because he has written some of the most unique, laugh-out-loud, yet heartbreaking, characters there are.

So, that's the truth. I admit it. I love Herbach. And it's a gushy, mushy love.

I am not ashamed.

And I know you will love him, too.

So, without further (ridiculous) ado, for this Friday Feedback, I give you Geoff, and an excerpt from his still untitled Work In Progress, the third in the "Stupid Fast" franchise (due on shelves May, 2013!).

Remember, if you don't know the rules to Friday Feedback, please READ THEM FIRST HERE!:

Hey, thanks for all that gushing, Gae. I love you too. You are the bomb. You are the Juliet to my Romeo. You are my. . .

um, never mind, that wasn't Geoff. That was Gae writing all of that. Fine. Sue me. Whatever. It's my blog.

Here's Geoff for you:

In the third book in the Stupid Fast series, Felton and those around him are beginning to worry that the brutality he shows on the football field is putting him on the same path of his dad.  Felton is struggling with football culture and jock culture and his place in a world full of bullies (he begins roughing up jocks on behalf of geeks).  This scene takes place early in the book when Felton’s grandfather begins to show worry about how sports culture impacts his family.  I’m trying to write to serious themes, but I never want to lose sight of full, real characters who are quirky and funny.  So, what do you think? Is it working here?

 EXCERPT

“Why do you play such a brutal game?” Grandpa Stan asked me by the pool.

“It’s fun.”

               “Fun?  Murder is fun?” he asked.

               Grandpa had been at Bluffton’s homecoming game in the fall.  He and Andrew came up.  We played Prairie du Chien and I sort of destroyed them.  Coach Johnson took me out midway through the 3^rd quarter, because we were ahead by a lot and the Prairie players were sort of diving on the ground instead of hitting me, because I’d crushed so many of them they’d gotten scared (I love that feeling, knowing they’re scared of me – I start looking to hit them, instead of running towards open field).  Not only am I fast but recruiters say, “He runs angry.”  It’s true.  I do run angry.  Grandpa Stan congratulated me after the game, but his face was red and he couldn’t look me in the eyes.  It hurt my feelings.

               “I don’t murder anybody.  It’s a game.  I score touchdowns.”

               “You could play golf.  Have you ever played golf?” Grandpa asked.  “It’s very relaxing.”

               “I’m one of the best football players in the country.  I don’t want to play golf.”

               “How can that be fun?  Breaking peoples’ backs?”

               “I get out my frustration… It makes me feel normal.”

               “Okay, okay,” Grandpa Stan waved his hand, dismissing the conversation.

               Tovi and Andrew splashed around.  I rolled off the chair, stretched in the sun, then cherry bombed the hell out of them. 

- Geoff (& gae *swoons*)

p.s. Geoff is travelling today (Friday) but will be here Saturday to chime in!

p.p. s. if you missed it yesterday, and you're a #TeachersWrite camper, you're invited! Progress Pool Party, July 20th, via Spreecast! For details, click link.

Real vs. Virtual and my First "Group" Event

from front to back, Geoff Herbach, Christina Mandelski, Amy Dominy
and me in the white shirt, signing books.

This weekend I had the treat of finally meeting in person friends who, before now, I've only communicated with online: fellow Class of 2K11'ers Amy Fellner Dominy (OyMG), Christina Mandelski (The Sweetest Thing), Bettina Restrepo (Illegal), and Geoff Herbach (Stupid Fast). Of course, I had met Alissa Grosso (Popular) recently at an author event in NYC.

The crew has converged on New York City for Book Expo America Week in NYC and we have several events planned together around the city this coming week (see the right sidebar of my blog for places and times or click on the link above to go to our facebook event page). But first, Amy, Christina, and Bettina flew in to Long Island for a slumber party with me, and to attend a local event at the Huntington Library on Sunday, which Geoff and Alissa then joined us for.

We ate pizza and drank wine (and Amy D. and I may have eaten a full vat of three-flavor popcorn ourselves) and then woke up the next morning and drank coffee and had a slumber-gab in my basement on blow up mattresses. We even took a walk around my hilly neighborhood trying to work off the pizza and the full vat of popcorn (only to follow that up with bagels by the pool).

And here's the thing we kept marveling at: as I greeted each new face, previously seen to me only in photos on facebook or small square images on Twitter, it felt like I had known them all my life. There was no awkwardness. There was no sense that we didn't have a long, in-person history together.

We all kept commenting excitedly about how we felt like giddy school girls together, old friends reunited after a few years apart. Yes, even Herbach felt somewhat schoolgirly with us, but only in the most complimentary way. ;)

Of course, I had experienced this before when I met my dear ABNA friends in real life, so I knew it to be possible.

Still, it keeps on amazing me how truly connected we can become in our virtual lives, in a way that transcends the screen and cements relationships in "real" life.

Coolio, people. Coolio.

Friday Feedback - Fantastico!

This is me. You know me.

Welcome to Friday Feedback.

Guess what?

I have a super fantastico guest star putting his bravery on the line
for feedback today. I asked him if he wanted to and this is what he answered:

“What you want me to do? I do it!”

(You see how fantastico he is?!).

Who is he, you ask?

This is Geoff, not me.

Fellow Class of 2K11’er, “El Nacho Dip,” Geoff Herbach. 
(yep, that's Geoff over there on the right. Isn't he Nacho-y?)


Geoff’s book, Stupid Fast, comes out from Sourcebooks Fire this June.

According to Geoff’s website, Stupid Fast is,

“…about a boy. It’s about sports. It’s about being a serious dork. It’s about a paper route. It’s about bullying and the opposite. It’s about a girl. It’s about hair growth. It’s about a little brother. It’s about piano. It’s about a depressed mother. It’s about learning to be who you are.”

All I know is if it came from Geoff, I want to read it.

But, guess what? Geoff is giving you a sneak peek at his sequel to Stupid Fast today. It's actually still a work in progress but just sold anyway this week to Sourcebooks Fire (*throws a pound of confetti at Geoff!* er.) The working title is The Whole Warm World which I really like (you?).

Okay, before we start, a brief recap of the RULES:

(If you want more details, read this blog post here: ) otherwise, just follow along).

1. If it is the first few paragraphs of a novel – today it is NOT, so skip to #2. – tell me if it "hooks" you enough to make you want to keep reading, or not. If yes, why? If no, why not?

2. What works for you, and why?

3. What doesn’t work for you (if something doesn't) and why?

If you would like the same feedback for your own work, please post your brief excerpt at the end of your comment (and tell me what it is -- e.g. opening to a novel, short story, poem, etc...). Please post no more than 3 -5 paragraphs, 5 if they're short, 3 if they are long. If there's more, I will only read the first 3 -5. If the comment gets too long, feel free to reply in two separate comments. If you are a student from a particular class, please identify yourself as such. If not, let me know how you found me. Ok, here we go!

From The Whole Warm World:

In May, three months ago, I realized that I am not like my father or brother, Felton. This gene did not transfer. I am not a mammoth athlete, and, I’m serious, I won’t ever be.

This, of course, is the least of my troubles.

It really bothered me, which is dumb, because I’ve never wanted to play sports.

What’s sort of funny about this situation is that my classmates wanted me to play sports very badly, EXTREMELY, because my older brother, Felton, is an amazing football player. My high school class isn’t that athletic. I suppose they thought I’d save their sweaty sports buns, but I can’t. What isn’t funny about this situation is that back then, before, in April, I was really happy.

I turned sixteen and Grandma Berba purchased me a used Toyota Celica and I was free. My girlfriend, Bony Emily, and I would drive up and down Bluffton, Wisconsin’s Main Street laughing at the drunk and angry college kids. Sometimes Emily would yell funny things at them, like: “Learn to walk, Drunkie McDrunkbottom!” that made them even more angry, but they couldn’t catch us, because they were on foot and couldn’t walk very well due to their drunkenness and we were in my car. Then we’d drive into the country and go into county parks at night, which was scary. Sometimes we’d drive to Dubuque, Iowa to see decent movies. This was a good life and I didn’t worry.
----

Thanks to Geoff for doing this with me. Hopefully he'll be back to enjoy all the feedback. Now, you know, do your thing.

-gae