writing | Debra R. Borys

In my new Street Stories suspense novel, Bend Me, Shape Me, reporter Jo Sullivan leads a writer’s workshop for youth living at the Night Moves shelter. The idea for the scene came from my own volunteer experiences at The Night Ministry’s Open Door Shelter (ODS) in Chicago. Once a week, I would get together on a Sunday afternoon with several residents and do writing exercises.

One of those projects took place over several weeks in a row. Brainstorming together, we came up with a cast of characters and a plot for a fantasy story. I came across the remains of that project today as I was cleaning up some computer files and it made me nostalgic for those kids and the creativity they shared with me.

To honor them, I want to share some of what we came up with, in bits and pieces. Here’s the first installment:

The Protagonists

BRIAN is a heroin addict who hustles at Waveland and Broadway to make money to support his habit. He is 22 and has been doing this for one year. He actually came to Chicago when he was 17, a runaway from Louisville, KY who came here because he had a shitty home life and because he wanted the adventure. But things didn’t quite work out the way he wanted them to and little by little he got into heavy drugs to make him care less about being miserable and confused. He’s too old for any of the youth programs and so he sleeps on the street.

BREW is a 21 year old college student studying chemistry. Magus is her teacher. She is out of this world, frank, and honest. She wears her heart on her sleeve so the world will know exactly what she means. She wants more out of life than what she has. Her father told her never to trust “hot dogs” but she is drawn to them because she has a lot in common with them. She wears a diamond on her wrist for the one who got away–a guy named Pinkie. Her eyes are black and her hair is hazel, wild like fire.

BRIAN and BREW are connected by past lives, a constant history of trying to connect. The time frame allowed to make this connection is brief. This story is their last chance to make that connection–the opportunity will be lost forever if it doesn’t happen now. They both have visions of past encounters.

Maybe I should try this next. Three weeks ago, I figured out what my deadlines should be for the two novels I’m working on. One is my next Street Stories suspense novel titled Bend Me, Shape Me. We want to release that in early 2013. The other project is a novel for hire with a deadline that’s less important, except for the fact that I don’t get paid for it until I finish it.

So I set a weekly page count writing goal for myself and started tracking my daily output on the Bend Me, Shape Me site. Then I told my friends about it via Facebook and sent them a link, asking them to hold me accountable. First week went great. Second week I squeaked by. Third week starts with a disclaimer.

My motivator seems to be turning into an anti-motivator. I’m desperate. Maybe the added threat of humiliation will help. It shouldn’t be too hard to find an embarrassing picture of me. Happens all the time.

There’s yet more help out there for those of us with no self-discipline. Aherk is a “goal-oriented self-blackmailing service” (still in beta) that functions under the premise that fear of embarrassment is the best motivator. Seems a fair assumption.

How it works:

1. You define a goal and set yourself a deadline.

2. You upload an embarrassing photograph of yourself to Aherk.

3. Once you reach your deadline, Aherk asks your Facebook friends to vote on whether you’ve achieved your goal. If you haven’t, it shares the pic of you covered in vomit/urinating in public/reading a Jonathan Franzen novel.

One problem: I’m sure I’m not the only person who makes friends almost exclusively with total bastards. Even if your friend had just written the debut novel of the decade in the space of a month, you’d vote to see the photo, wouldn’t you?

Back to the drawing board. I want this self-discipline outsourced by the end of the year, people.

via Melville House Books » Finish your novel the self-blackmail way.