Pacing through Paragraphs

Imagine standing in a forest. This photo is from our family trip to see the California redwoods. Magnificent doesn't even describe them. Each is so different. They are naturally unique.

A writer's job is to bring out that kind of uniqueness in her or his own work. This comes from several arenas: content, meaning, voice, and pacing being a few.

Judith Hendin, PhD, author of the excellent book The Self behind the Symptom: Accessing the Healing Gold of Shadow Voices, asked me to help her with the editing of her latest revision. I'm a big fan of Judith's work, and her writing, so I was glad for the chance. I first looked at her material in terms of content, meaning, voice, and pacing. Judith's content is strong--she knows her material and she communicates her points very well. In earlier drafts, we worked together to add meaning to some of the examples she uses. It wasn't hard to adjust or add a sentence here and there to make the example more universal for the reader. Voice is already present; she uses interesting words and ideas and makes them her own.

Our last and biggest challenge was pacing. I suggested many pacing changes on her final draft last month, and when I returned it to her, she emailed me with a very good question. "I have just finished incorporating your edits," she wrote. "They were wonderful, so clear and helpful. I greatly appreciate that you read the entire manuscript. Can I ask you one question? In a number of places, you suggested making a new paragraph. I love the effect. Can you articulate how I can think about that in future writing? You know me, I love to learn."

I asked her if I could use her excellent question as a launch for this week's writing exercise, and she graciously agreed. I hope you'll check out Judith's new book at her website.

Paragraphs--How They Create Pacing
When I first started working professionally as an editor, I had good instincts about pacing. From being a passionate reader and a fairly experienced writer, I knew intuitively when a page bogged down from too-slow flow, when it moved too fast for a reader to keep up. I saw a few ways to correct the pace mechanically. Here are some easy ones:

1. Change sentence lengths. When you want a tenser, faster pace, use short sentences.
2. Change word choice. Use short words to get faster pace, longer words to slow things down.
3. Add in more description when you want the reader to linger or absorb more emotion.
4. Use dialogue to speed things up.
5. Use dialogue to reveal character and heighten emotional tension between people.

After a few years of working intensively with these basic pacing tools, I began to notice paragraphs.

A really good editor is the best training a writer can have, in my experience. For eighteen years, I worked with a team of really good editors at a small press in the Midwest. One of them was savvy about paragraphs and began training the rest of us. Here's what I learned.

Most writers are ridiculously unconscious about paragraph length. We find a rhythm, a pulse that feels good, and we repeat it. Over and over. For instance, five line paragraphs. In many manuscripts, page after page of five-line (or four- or three-line) paragraphs are unconsciously churned out from a writer's mind.

Result? Sleepy pace. No matter what excitement is happening, the same old stuff creates a sleepy rhythm. Imagine a symphony orchestra playing the same phrase for three hours. You get the feeling of drone? The visual rhythm of white space and text on a page imprints on a reader's mind and creates a strong effect that can overshadow the actual meaning of the writing.

Remedy? Vary your paragraph length. Break 'em up. A lot!

Breaking Up with Meaning
How do you to start breaking up your sleepy rhythms?

First, print out a chapter of your work. Lay the pages on the table. Squint at them. Study the patterns of white space and text. Do you see any similar sections? Now, be ruthless. Go in and change them, make them long here, short here. Five lines here, two here, seven there.

But break up your paragraphs consciously, designing it for the effect you want from your words. Short paragraphs, such as one liners, will have the effect of a tiny stop sign in the middle of your page. The reader will take notice. So choose well.

Let's take this quote from writer John Fowles, mess up the paragraphs a bit, and see what difference it makes in the writing.

Original

You have to distinguish two kinds of writing: most important is first-draft writing, which to an extraordinary degree is an intuitive thing—you never quite know when you sit down whether it’s going to come or not, and you get all kinds of good ideas from nowhere. They just come between one line and the next.

Changed for Different Effect

You have to distinguish two kinds of writing: most important is first-draft writing, which to an extraordinary degree is an intuitive thing—you never quite know when you sit down whether it’s going to come or not, and you get all kinds of good ideas from nowhere.

They just come between one line and the next.

Doesn't make it better, perhaps. Who am I to argue with John Fowles's placement of his paragraphs? But it changes the effect. The singled-out sentence, the new paragraph, becomes more emphatic. The reader pauses longer on this one, digests it differently.

This Week's Writing Exercise
Try two things this week, using two pages of your own writing.

1. Print out the pages and use the squint test--see where you've fallen into unconscious rhythms in your writing.

2. Mess up a few paragraphs. See what effect you get, what different pacing happens, what tension and interest heightens.

Writing a Book? Here's a Workshop to Help You Structure It

I'm opening my book-writing weekly workshops to new writers, so consider joining me for the next six-week session, starting February 1. We meet on Monday afternoons, 1:30-4:30 p.m., at a wonderful writing school in Tarrytown, NY.

The six-week course is $355 and you'll get a lot from it. Past attendees have said, "This launched me to really complete my book," "Finally, I understand what my book is about," "I loved the structuring exercises, especially storyboarding, that we learned and practiced in class," "Best writing workshop I've ever taken, bar none."

I open my six-week classes to new writers twice a year, in winter/spring and fall, so take advantage of this offer if you're in the Hudson Valley area. Easy access via train line.

See more by visiting the Hudson Valley Writers' Center website and search for "How to Plan, Write, and Develop a Book." Or call the Writers' Center to register: 914-332-5953. Or email them at info@writerscenter.org.

Hope to see you there!

Starting a Law Firm | Are There Too Many Law Students?

I read a lot of blogs. I read about business, I read about marketing, I read about criminal defense, and I read about starting a law firm (yes, there others out there!!). I was going through my reader today when I stumbled onto a post that cited an article discussing the number of law school graduates compared to the number of jobs. It got me thinking about your chances of success out there.

These are the numbers, in a nutshell. 30,000 expected open jobs a year, and 45,000 graduates. Makes it look like we are about 33% overboard when it comes to churning out law school graduates (if my math is wrong, sorry - the point is there's a big difference). This means that right now when you enter law school there is a 1 in 3 chance that there won't be a job out there for you. And, with the shift in business model that is sure to happen, those numbers could become even higher.

And there's a catch 22 for all the law schools out there. They know a lot of the new students coming in aren't going to be able to find a job, but they also know those students' loan checks are just as good as the students at the top of the class. The problem I see with it is the lack of full disclosure to entering law students concerning the harsh reality they may face when the graduate.

I know because I was there recently enough to remember. I graduated from law school in 2005 from the University of Kansas. At that time there were a lot of on campus interviews going on. About the top 30 of our class (of 250) had jobs lined up paying a ton of money (I almost said great jobs but then remembered what the jobs actually entailed - great paying, yes, great job, no). The rest of us were slugging it out trying to find anything we could. I think that remains the case today.

I don't think very many people come here that are entering law school, though if you are curious as to how to start a law firm going in you might, but just in case, I thought I'd let you know the truth about law school. There are opportunities out there. You can be great even if you aren't in the top 25 of the class. But it's tough. And nobody's going to give you anything. You have to earn it.

Related Posts:

Starting a Law Firm | Sometimes You Have to Want it More

Starting a Law Firm | Does the Economy Matter?

Starting a Law Firm | Don't be Afraid to do What's Best for You

As you know, the point of this blog, How to Start a Law Firm, is to help you open up your own successful law firm. To do that, sometimes I have to talk about things and say things that other people aren't going to like. This might just be one of those times.

Before I get too far along though, I want to point out that I am only criticizing the older generations of attorney (and probably some newer attorneys too) in this one area of being a lawyer, which is marketing. I rely heavily on people with a lot more experience than me for a lot of things, and I really appreciate it. In this area, however, I simply disagree with a lot of what they have to say.

Just because someone doesn't like what you are doing or doesn't think it's fair to them doesn't mean you shouldn't be doing it.

There, lesson over. Talk to you next week. Oh, you want a little more than that? Okay.

As I've started my law firm I've done some out of the box marketing ideas (the links will be below). I've also dived head first into the internet marketing game. This means creating several blogs covering my practice areas, creating this blog, and creating several websites. The point is for people to find me on the internet. And people do (you did). But some people don't like it, mostly because it's a direct threat to them. And people won't like what you're doing either.

My advice - don't be a jerk, but if it's legal (you aren't stealing from anyone) and it's professional (you aren't violating any ethical rules) I'd kindly tell them to mind their own business.

For example, I do some traffic ticket defense. I made a blog and started talking about all the things traffic attorneys do to beat tickets. I talked about the anatomy of a ticket. And, of course, I talked about why it was so important to hire a traffic attorney to help you.

And I started climbing Google. And I started getting phone calls. And my website started climbing Google (because I linked to it from my blog). And I started getting more phone calls.

And then I got a phone call from another traffic attorney in the area. He asked me what I was doing telling everyone all of our secrets. And I told him. First, I'm trying to show people I know what I'm talking about. Second, I'm trying to show people it's just complicated enough and time consuming enough that it's worth it to hire me. He didn't agree. I told him thanks for the call, hung up, and wrote another post. He hasn't called me back.

The point? Just because someone doesn't like what you are doing, particularly from a marketing standpoint, doesn't mean you should stop doing it. The other attorneys out there are your colleagues, but they are also your competitors. The more things you can do to differentiate yourself from them, the better.

In the end, they can do everything your doing. Bottom line? Most people are either too intimidated to jump in and learn internet marketing or too lazy to put in the time necessary to see good results.

Anyone reading having any experiences with people badmouthing your unique (or cutting edge) marketing or other practice efforts? Let's hear about it.

Related Posts:

Starting a Law Firm | Out of the Box Marketing

Starting a Law Firm | Marketing

Quotes to Inspire Writers

A writing friend, Jean Sands, author of the newly released book of poems, Gandy Dancing, sent round a lovely collection of quotes from writers and others to inspire us as we begin our new year. Jean gave me permission to share them.
(Check out her new poetry book at www.antrimhousebooks.com)

This week's writing exercise is to choose one of the quotes below and write for 15-20 minutes about what it means to you. If you're writing a novel, have one of your characters discuss it or think about it.




Quotes to Inspire Writers

“Out of the artist’s imagination, as out of nature’s inexhaustible well, pours one thing after another. The artist composes, writes or paints just as he dreams, seizing whatever swims close to his net.” John Gardner

“The novelist’s imagination has a power of its own. It does not merely invent, it perceives. It intensifies, therefore it gives power, extra importance, greater truth, and greater inner reality to what well may be ordinary and everyday things.” Elizabeth Bowen

“Before you begin to write a sentence, imagine the scene you want to paint with your words. Imagine that you are the character and feel what the character feels. Smell what the character smells, and hear with that character’s ears. For an instant, before you begin to write, see and feel what you want the reader to see and feel.” Othello Bach

“Poetic value is an intrinsic value. It is not the value of knowledge. It is not the value of faith. It is the value of the imagination.” Wallace Stevens

“The truth seems to be that we live in concepts of the imagination before the reason has established them. If this is true, then reason is simply the methodizer of the imagination.” Wallace Stevens

“In literature, you know only what you imagine.” Carlos Fuentes

“You put yourself apart from yourself, and you enter the imaginary world.” Andrew Lytle

“The realm where the narrative you are working with becomes true and alive for you.” Madison Smartt Bell

“The composition of fiction can, at least theoretically, be broken into two stages. First, and most important, comes imagination. Next is rendering. Imagination is no more or less than a highly structured form of daydreaming. Daydreaming is fun, a form of play. Once the people, the places, the events you are imagining become fully present to your senses, then it’s time for rendering. . . . to express your vision in language.” Madison Smartt Bell

“I do find something distressingly amoral in the very nature of film and TV—possibly because the photographic image denies the spectator virtually all use of his own imaginative powers. Whereas reading requires a constant use of the reader’s imagination.” John Fowles

“The artist’s imagination, or the world it builds, is the laboratory of the unexperienced, both the heroic and the unspeakable.” John Gardner

“It [imagination] is the one thing beside honesty that a good writer must have. The more he learns from experience the more truly he can imagine. If he gets so he can imagine truly enough people will think the things he relates all really happened and that he is just reporting.” Ernest Hemingway

“The real man, the imagination.” William Blake

“There is something in the nature of nature, in its presentness, its seeming transience, its creative ferment and hidden potential, that corresponds very closely with the wild, or green man, in our psyches.” John Fowles

“The writer’s sole authority is his imagination. He works out in his imagination what would happen and why, acting out every part himself, making his characters say what he would say himself if he were a young second-generation Italian, then an old Irish policeman, and so on. When the writer accepts unquestioningly someone else’s formulation of how and why people behave, he is not thinking but dramatizing some other man’s theory: that of Freud, Adler, Laing, or whomever. Needless to say, one may make some theory of motivation one’s premise—an idea to be tested. But the final judgment must come from the writer’s imagination.” John Gardner

“A strong imagination makes characters do what they would do in real life. A subtler work of the imagination—a subtler way in which the writing of fiction is a morally serious mode of thought—is symbolic association.” John Gardner

“The bad writer may not intend to manipulate; he simply does not know what his characters would do because he has not been watching them closely enough in his mind’s eye—has not been catching the subtle emotional signals that, for the more careful writer, show where the action must go next.” John Gardner

“The imagination sees with the eyes of the spirit; the maker, finished with his making, must then see what he has done, like the reader, with corporeal eyes.” Guy Davenport

“Romantic theory: the imagination, wellspring of compassion, is an innate faculty but one which requires exercise and training.” John Gardner

“The intellect has withdrawn its watchers from the gates, and the ideas rush in pell-mell, and only then does [the creative mind] review and inspect the multitude.” Schiller

“Ridiculous little parakeet faced woman; but not quite sufficiently ridiculous. I kept wishing for superlatives; could not get the illusion to flap its wings.” Virginia Woolf

“I began the making up of scenes—unconsciously: saying phrases to myself; and so, for a week, I’ve sat here, staring at the typewriter and speaking aloud phrases of The Pargiters.” Virginia Woolf

“Elvira and George, or John, talking in her room. I’m still miles outside them, but I think I got into the right tone of voice this morning.” Virginia Woolf

“A novel, as we say, opens a new world to the imagination.” Percy Lubbock

“All literary and dramatic enjoyment, whether of nursery tales in childhood or of moving pictures later on or of ‘great literature,’ appears to involve to some degree the reader’s imaginative identification of himself with the roles portrayed and his projection of himself into the situations described in the story. (At what age does the capacity for imaginative identification of oneself with the roles portrayed in a story begin? The writer would suggest, on the basis of very limited observation, that it begins around the age of two or earlier. An interesting test case is to read the story of the Three Bears to a very small child to see when he begins to identify himself with Baby Bear.)” S.I. Hayakawa

“The first conception of the work needs intuition and imagination more than the craftsman’s toolbox, and so does the final consummation.” Madison Smartt Bell

“The landscape that opens before the critic is whole and single; it has passed through an imagination, it has shed its irrelevancy and is compact with its own meaning. Such is the world of the book.” Percy Lubbock

“Safety is a crime writers should never commit unless they are after tenure or praise.” Pat Conroy

“Don Quixote does not invite us into ‘reality’ but into an act of the imagination where all things are real.” Carlos Fuentes

“If the writing is any good, it struggles free of you, and the feeling of being inside it just as it moves away is so brief; a sensual visitation, the brush of His hand.” Jayne Anne Phillips

“Throughout time great writers have always been able to transpose themselves imaginatively into not just the racial other, but the sexual other and also into other historical periods.” Philip Gerard

“I think you will agree that the good lasting stuff comes out of one individual’s imagination and sensitivity to and comprehension of the suffering of Everyman, Anyman, not out of the memory of his own grief.” William Faulkner - written in a letter to Richard Wright

New Year's Resolutions for Writers--What Do You Want for Your Creativity This Year?

Traditionally, at this time of year, I like to set some goals for my writing. Winter, when things are stripped bare, makes it easier to see what I really want from my creative life.

I found inspiration this week from teacher and writer Emily Hanlon, creator of The Fiction Writer's Journey and Creative Soul Works. Visit her website at www.emilyhanlon.com. Emily sent out these wonderful new year's resolutions for writers. They also fueled this week's writing exercise.

Emily's resolutions are very inspiring because they locate the adventure and joy of writing rather than the production of pages or books or published articles. Her resolutions include (and as she notes, these are in no particular order):

1. I write for the passion and adventure of the journey.
2. Writing comes from my heart and the fire in the belly.
3. Writing is a craft. Craft supports writing, it does not define it.
4. I love my first draft writing for its fertility and uncovered gems.
5. I welcome the unexpected in my writing.
6. I will not think about being published until the piece is finished.
7. I go where my imagination takes me.
8. I will set up a writing schedule that supports, not defeats, my writing. Discipline is a necessary part of being a writer, but I will not use failure to keep to my schedule as a reason to give up.
9. I will write the story that is gestating within me – even if it scares me or makes me think I am losing my mind.
10. When I begin a new piece, I will begin without thinking, without planning.

How often do New Year's resolutions focus on the qualities of the writing experience, not the results? It's very refreshing. And accurate to my own experience. Goals set as qualities are much more likely to manifest. They make it easier to enjoy your writing journey.

They also tend to create better writing. Why?

Goals That Loosen Us Up--Rather Than Put Us in a Box--Work Best
When writers put all of their attention on publishing rather than the creation of something unique that expresses their truths and journey, they tighten inside. It's a great road to writer's block. But when writers put attention on the qualities of their journey, what they want as an experience, it opens them up creatively. Magic happens.

This week's exercise helps you loosen up your writing goals. You'll be crafting a few New Year's resolutions for your creativity. The exercise can be done over a series of days, as you think of something to add to your goal list, or in one session of about 20 minutes. Have pen and paper or your writer's notebook or computer at hand.

This Week's Writing Exercise
Close your eyes, relax, and imagine yourself a year from now. Project yourself into the future.

Focusing on your creative life as a writer, ask yourself:
What qualities are in place with my writing that have come about during 2010?

Maybe you trust the process more, maybe you created good writing habits, maybe you manifested a supportive writing group or partner. Begin to list these qualities, as if you are at the end of the year looking back. List anything that comes to mind, using Emily's ideas above, thinking about what's lacking in your writing life, dreaming some writing dreams, or even polling your writing friends about their goals to get some ideas.

Here are some questions to get you started:
What would you like to feel by the end of 2010 about your writing journey?
What changed with your creativity?
What did you learn--new skills, new habits, new ideas?
What manifested for you?

This exercise is fun, if you let yourself travel forward in time and use the visualization to create a new experience for yourself. It may bring you an unexpectedly fertile new year--your most creative, fulfilling one ever!

How to Start a Law Firm | The Revenue Doubler System

Starting a law firm is not just about practicing law. For me, it is more than helping people who have been charged with crimes. It is more than keeping prosecutors and cops honest. It is a business. I am here to make money. I am here to provide for my family.



The problem is, though, that law school (and college if you are a psychology major like I am) doesn't teach you how to run a business. It doesn't teach you the basics like accounting, marketing, management and the like, and it also doesn't teach you about how to think like a business person.



If you have no idea what I'm talking about, think about how your mind works now that you've been through law school. You analyze problems differently. The world looks different to you. You were taught a new way to gather, process, and analyze information.



You need to teach yourself to do these same things when learning how to start a law firm. You need to think about things like maximizing revenue, your ideal client, appealing to that ideal client, monitoring return on investment, customer experience, and setting up systems so you aren't reinventing the wheel every day.



And although you can do it on your own, there are people out there that can help you. One of the people I've discovered that has helped me tremendously is RJon Robins. He was a law practice management guru for the Florida bar association until he decided to venture out on his own. And he's developed a program call the revenue doubler system that has helped me tremendously with the law practice management and marketing side of things.



Before I go any further, I want to make it clear that I'm not being paid by RJon for any of this. I just use his services and think you all could benefit tremendously from them. His system is full of audio, video, and print resources, and he does a biweekly phone call on a wide range of topics and makes himself available for questions. It has helped me tremendously in building the systems I need to have a successful business and learn how to think like a businessman as well as a Seattle DUI attorney.



So, as you embark on 2010, keep in mind that it's okay to reach out for help. It's important to understand that you are going to have to alter your mindset to become both attorney and business person.



Related Posts:

Starting a Law Firm | Yodle



Starting a Law Firm | Marketing