Brainstorming: Good for Creative Writing, Not for 24/7 Cable News

by Wendy Tokunaga

Like most people I’ve been fascinated (and saddened) by the mystery of the Malaysian airliner that went missing on March 8. And I’ve also been intrigued by the speculation on exactly what might have happened. Because of the extraordinary situation and the fact that so much is unknown, 24/7 cable news outlets like CNN have been piling on the theories with little or no hard information to back them up. Suppositions and assumptions are the name of the game and ratings only increase as tantalizing new scenarios are pulled out of a hat.

Did the jet turn into a “ghost” or “zombie” plane? Was it struck by a meteor? Or what if it were sabotage by the pilot? After all, he had a flight simulator at home. Had he rehearsed this scenario weeks or months before? Was he in cahoots with terrorists who wanted to use the plane for nefarious purposes at a later time? Did he land the jet at a hidden airstrip in a top-secret location? What if the passengers were still alive but unable to contact loved ones?

And what about that mysterious phone call the pilot made right before the plane took off? He also had close ties with an opposition leader in Malaysia who had recently been arrested on a sodomy charge that could have been a frame-up by those currently in power. And what about the fact that his family moved out of their house the day before the incident? Did he have serious personal problems that led him to commit suicide and cause an intentional crash?

Or was he a hero? Did he divert that plane off course because of smoke or some other problem in the cockpit to get closer to where he could make an emergency landing? Did he fly at a lower altitude, not to avoid detection, but to try and save the lives of the passengers?

These theories and unanswered questions remind me of what I do when I’m brainstorming plot points, character motivations, conflicts and complications for a novel. I open up a document and write a series of “what if” and “why” questions. Then I’ll put it away and read it another day and add to the list. At this point nothing is too outlandish to delete; I just let my imagination run wild. Eventually I pare it down to something more focused and throw out what I don’t need. While it might not work for every writer, it’s what works for me.

I’m not so sure it works well for the news. And, of course, I’m dealing with fiction.

Girlfriends, do you use brainstorming techniques when you write your novels? Do you think there’s a place for theorizing on the news?

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Writing tips: if you show me yours, I'll show you mine…. by Brenda Janowitz

This cycle on the Girlfriends Book Club, we're talking about writing conferences. But, true confession time: I've never been to one! It's not because I don't want to. I think a conference could be a great experience. Hanging out with other writers, meeting agents and editors, what could be bad? But with two small children at home, I just haven't been able to find the time.

I bet there's a lot of you like me out there. So, let's make our own little writers conference.  If I share some of my writing tips, will you share yours?!  I'll go first:



Keep writing! It’s so easy to get discouraged or feel like you don’t have the time to write. But like anything else that is important in life, you have to work at it and make the time for it.


This is the advice I give to every writer I meet.  There will always be excuses to avoid writing-- I have no free time, I have little kids, I have big kids, I don't have kids yet, my job is too demanding, I need to find a job...  you fill in your own.  If writing is really your dream, make the time.  Start with a writing class, and then find a writer's group.  Once you commit to taking the time to write, you'll be able to find the time to put pen to paper.  (Or fingers to keyboard, as the case may be.)



Edit! Editing your work is almost as important as the writing itself. Sure, you’re telling your story, but it’s also important to consider the way that you tell it. You want your writing to be tight, elegant and polished. It can only get to be that way through careful and thorough editing.




Develop a very thick skin. You’re putting yourself out there when you write and not everyone is going to love what you do. But that’s okay! You’re not writing to please everyone out there. You’re writing because you have a story that you want to tell. So start getting used to criticism and then see tip #1—keep writing!


Now, I've told you my best writing tips.  What are some of yours?

I’m the author of SCOT ON THE ROCKS and JACK WITH A TWIST. My third novel, RECIPE FOR A HAPPY LIFE, was published by St. Martin's on July 2, 2013. My fourth novel, THE LONELY HEARTS CLUB, will be published by Polis Books on May 6, 2014.

My work’s also appeared in the New York Post and Publisher’s Weekly. You can find me at brendajanowitz.com or on Twitter at @BrendaJanowitz.

Confessions of a Lazy Ass Writer - by Wendy Nelson Tokunaga

“All writers are vain, selfish and lazy, and at the very bottom of their motives lies a mystery. Writing a book is a long, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.”— George Orwell

They say admitting that you have a problem is half the battle, right? So here goes: my name is Wendy Tokunaga and I am a lazy ass writer. I haven’t always been a lazy ass writer. In fact, I have always been rather proud of my work ethic when it comes to writing. You could always count on me to be the one to cheerily encourage fellow writers to be productive, to tell them to find any bit of free time to write and, yes, to finish-finish-finish. And, heck, I’ve written a good five or six novels and an MFA dissertation. After all, it’s not like I haven’t taken my own advice.

But the truth is that I’ve been neglecting my latest WIP, having undergone a serious bout of stuckness over the past couple of years that I’ve been working on it off and on. I honestly like the book and I don’t want to work on something new (not that I have ANY ideas for another novel, mind you). I have a good 46,000 words but I’m not sure how the story should end nor how things will wrap up. And I know there are still things to add. This is kind of scary. So I procrastinate.

I have several people who are willing to read the draft and I promised them that it would be ready to go sometime in early July. My thinking was that if I gave myself a deadline, then I would finish. Usually this would work, but it’s not working at all right now. And lo and behold, it’s already early July and I haven’t even looked at the thing for probably two weeks. Maybe three. I’ve been busy with other stuff—editing clients, a student manuscript tutorial, songwriting with my husband, tweeting, Facebooking, cleaning out the litter box. But this is no excuse.

I even felt lazy about writing this blog post. But when I did research about “lazy writers” I found that most of the hits I received weren’t about my predicament, but about writers who employ lazy “writing skills.” Things like not proofreading or doing minimal research, not staying on top of current trends, telling instead of showing, relying on clichés, employing hackneyed plots, utilizing poor grammar, misspelling words, constantly using pet phrases, etc., etc. And I realized, well, at least I’m not THAT kind of lazy writer. Something to be proud of. I think.

So maybe I should just stop feeling guilty. I’ll get to this novel when the time is right. Yes, I’ll finish it—eventually. In the meantime I’ll just go with the flow. I’ll embrace all the girlfriends here and elsewhere who are in prolific phases right now (and that seems to be just about everyone!) and know that I’ll be there again someday.

But now I think I’ll loll in the hammock and sip some lemonade. Or maybe a mojito. Or perhaps a chilled glass of Viognier, and simply get back to writing when the time is right.

So will you girlfriends give me permission to be a little lazy?

Thanking you in advance,

---The Lazy Ass Writer

Wendy Nelson Tokunaga is the author of the novels, "Midori by Moonlight" and "Love in Translation" (both published by St. Martin's Press), and the e-book novels, "Falling Uphill" and "His Wife and Daughters," and e-book short story, “The Girl in the Tapestry.” She's also the author of the nonfiction e-book, "Marriage in Translation: Foreign Wife, Japanese Husband." Her short story "Love Right on the Yesterday" appears in the anthology "Tomo," published by Stone Bridge Press, and her essay "Burning Up" is included in "Madonna and Me: Women Writers on the Queen of Pop." Wendy holds an MFA in Creative Writing from University of San Francisco and teaches for Stanford University's Online Writer's Studio Novel Certificate Program. She also does private manuscript consulting for novels and memoirs. Follow her on Twitter at @Wendy_Tokunaga, friend her on Facebook and visit her website at: www.WendyTokunaga.com

RECIPE FOR A HAPPY LIFE by Brenda Janowitz

My third novel, RECIPE FOR A HAPPY LIFE, came out yesterday.  And I'm feeling a million different emotions all at once: excitement, fear, happiness, joy, terror.... you name it.

It's not the first time that I've had a book come out.  In fact, RECIPE FOR A HAPPY LIFE is my third novel.  But there's something about putting your work out there into the universe for all to see.  

And judge.

I was recently chatting with a memoir writer about how we put ourselves out there as writers.  I was telling her that I found it brave, the way she was able to tell the truth.  But then I thought about it: isn't that what we do as fiction writers as well?  Sure, I won't have family members coming to me to complain about the way they were portrayed in my novel, but aren't we truth tellers, too?  Aren't we trying to tell the world what we think, how we think, and how we process it all?

RECIPE FOR A HAPPY LIFE is about three generations of women with a culture all their own.  When Hannah finds herself spending the summer with her glamorous grandmother, a widow six times over, at her sprawling beach-front Hamptons estate, she learns that there’s more than one recipe for happiness. 

A story of mothers and daughters, grandmothers and grandchildren, RECIPE FOR A HAPPY LIFE is a quirky story about correcting the mistakes from your past and trying to create a future for yourself. 

Julie Buxbaum called it "a great summer read" and Ellen Meister said it was a "wise, tender and poignant story." Melissa Senate said "this gem of a novel sneaks up on you with just how powerful it truly is."

It's the most personal book I've written to date.  It is, at its core, about how I see the world, what I think about relationships.  It reflects who I am now, the person I've become, and it's terrifying to think that I've put that out there, for all the world to see.

I just hope you will all enjoy it.

I’m the author of SCOT ON THE ROCKS and JACK WITH A TWIST. My third novel, RECIPE FOR A HAPPY LIFE, was published by St. Martin's on July 2, 2013. My work’s also appeared in the New York Post and Publisher’s Weekly. You can find me at brendajanowitz.com or on Twitter at @BrendaJanowitz.

T Minus 29 days

The last time I had a novel out, it was 2008.  Since that time, I've gotten married, moved out to the suburbs, and had two kids.  So, you could say I've been busy.  But since that time, the publishing landscape has changed-- bookstores are disappearing before our eyes, book reviews are practically a thing of the past, and anyone can publish a book by simply clicking a few times over on Amazon.

Through all of this, I continued to write.  And my agent sold my third novel, RECIPE FOR A HAPPY LIFE, to St. Martin's in a two book deal, while I was in the hospital with my second son.  To say I was excited is an understatement.

RECIPE FOR A HAPPY LIFE is about three generations of women with a culture all their own.  When Hannah finds herself spending the summer with her glamorous grandmother, a widow six times over, at her sprawling beach-front Hamptons estate, she learns that there’s more than one recipe for happiness.  

A story of mothers and daughters, grandmothers and grandchildren, RECIPE FOR A HAPPY LIFE is a quirky story about correcting the mistakes from your past and trying to create a future for yourself. 

It's a book that was inspired by my own grandmothers, and very much informed by my own journey into motherhood.  It's deeply personal, and I think it says quite a lot about where I am in my life right now.

When you sell a book to a large publishing house, it takes about 18 months for the book to be on shelves.  Since my book screams "summer"-- the setting, the gorgeous cover-- the pub date was important, so it will actually be a full two years from the time I got my deal until the book hits shelves.

And we are now at T Minus 29 days.  29 days until my baby (my third baby in every sense of that expression) sees the light of day.  29 days until I put myself out there, completely bare, for all the world to judge.  29 days until I find out if anyone likes the book-- if it means as much to anyone out there as it does to me.

It's my third time having a book published, but every time it's the same: you're scared, you're excited, you're thanking your lucky stars that you even got a book deal and you can feel all of these conflicting emotions all at once.

So, for the next 29 days it's just that: I'll feel scared, I'll feel excited, but most of all, I'll just feel lucky.

I’m the author of SCOT ON THE ROCKS and JACK WITH A TWIST. My third novel, RECIPE FOR A HAPPY LIFE, will be published by St. Martin's on July 2, 2013. My work’s also appeared in the New York Post and Publisher’s Weekly. You can find me at brendajanowitz.com or on Twitter at @BrendaJanowitz.

Just do it! by Brenda Janowitz

So, it's that time of year again.  The wind gets a bit sharper, the sun sets a little earlier, and thousands of people pound their keyboards for a month straight, in hopes of completing a 50,000 word manuscript by November 30.

That's right, it's National Novel Writing Month!  And in honor of NaNoWriMo, we're talking writing tips here on the Girlfriends Book Club.  Every writer has a few tips, and I'm no different.  So, here goes:

Keep writing! It’s so easy to get discouraged or feel like you don’t have the time to write. But like anything else that is important in life, you have to work at it and make the time for it.


This is the advice I give to every writer I meet.  But it's even more important to those who are participating in NaNoWriMo-- after all, you've only got this one month to complete the challenge.  What are you waiting for?!

But this advice pertains to anyone who wants to be a writer.  There will always be excuses to avoid writing-- I have no free time, I have little kids, I have big kids, I don't have kids yet, my job is too demanding, I need to find a job...  you fill in your own.  If writing is really your dream, make the time.  Start with a writing class, and then find a writer's group.  Once you commit to taking the time to write, you'll be able to find the time to put pen to paper.  (Or fingers to keyboard, as the case may be.)

Edit! Editing your work is almost as important as the writing itself. Sure, you’re telling your story, but it’s also important to consider the way that you tell it. You want your writing to be tight, elegant and polished. It can only get to be that way through careful and thorough editing.


For those of you doing NaNoWriMo, the time to edit isn't now.  The fun of NaNoWriMo is pounding out your story quickly, without looking back-- letting it all flow.  Once November 30th hits, though, then it's time to edit.  Take a little time off from your work and then come back to it, ready to turn it into the grand masterpiece that you know it is.

Develop a very thick skin. You’re putting yourself out there when you write and not everyone is going to love what you do. But that’s okay! You’re not writing to please everyone out there. You’re writing because you have a story that you want to tell. So start getting used to criticism and then see tip #1—keep writing!


Readers, are you participating in NaNoWriMo this year?  What's the fastest you've ever written a novel?  I wrote one this past summer in two months.  It has not been published.  I'm not sure if these two things are related or not....


I’m the author of SCOT ON THE ROCKS and JACK WITH A TWIST. My third novel, RECIPE FOR A HAPPY LIFE, will be published by St. Martin's in 2013. My work’s also appeared in the New York Post and Publisher’s Weekly. You can find me at brendajanowitz.com or on Twitter at @BrendaJanowitz.