Hey! Welcome to a bonus interview episode of Dogs are Smarter Than People, the usually quirky podcast that gives writing tips and life tips. With us today is Lindsay Schultz
Any time I’m driving through or near Tennessee, Lindsay always offers to show me around Nashville and I just have to tell you that some day I am going to take you up on that. What’s it like in Nashville now during a pandemic?
Lindsay tells us that and why on her Facebook profile she has the word hipster in a parenthetical. She also claims to be the queen on the island of misfit toys.
Check out our interview to find out why.
WHERE TO FIND OUR PODCAST, DOGS ARE SMARTER THAN PEOPLE.
I have a new book out!!!!!! It’s an adult mystery set in the town where we live, which is Bar Harbor, Maine. You can order it here. And you totally should.
Karen Nimmo in “On the Couch” wrote that the The Most Unsexy, Under-rated Secret of Success is consistency.
Yep. And she’s calling that unsexy.
“I know, you’re rolling your eyes: I’ve seen my clients do it. “Consistency” as a concept lacks verve; even the word is boring. (And no-one rates consistency in a partner until they’ve been messed up by an inconsistent one!)”
“But the truth is consistency rules — in your job, your art, your relationships, your friendships, your health habits, your knowledge, your interests.”
“And the danger in a volatile world is that we’re destabilised, that we lose our good habits, that we lose faith in what we know is good and true.”
Karen Nimmo
So, she’s right. The whole reason I’m successful at writing is that I’m consistent as hell. I work every single day usually. I work on other people’s stories and my own. Our podcast has had over 250,000 downloads and that’s not because it’s any good. It’s because we do it every single week. We’re still married because Shaun unloads the dishwasher every morning.
I know tons of brilliant minds, brilliant writers who haven’t published yet (and want to) because they haven’t been consistent and finished their stories and done the work to get there. There’s no one way to be a writer, but one thing that really helps is actually consistently writing.
So, Nimms who is a communication genius and a lovely writer has some helpful hints about how to be consistent. That we’re going to share with you.
First she says:
“Just Aim to ‘Get Good.’”
That’s pretty easy right? Don’t try to be Lance Armstrong, but if you want to be a bicyclist, ride your bike all the time. Don’t try to be Homer, but if you want to write an epic poem about the gods, write as much as you can.
Her second bit of advice is a bit harder.
“Show Up Even When You Don’t Want To.”
That’s the whole ‘butt in chair’ adage that all writing teachers tell all writers. In order to write the story, you have to sit down and actually write the story. This helpful hint is a lot like the first helpful hint, isn’t it? Practice makes you better. You don’t get results if you don’t do the work.
Her other hints are also lovely, but my favorite is this one:
“Tuck your feelings on a high shelf.”
“‘Just being there is ninety-nine percent of what matters when your world falls apart.’― Holly Goldberg Sloan
Holly Goldberg Sloan as quoted by Karen
“Our moods and feelings are valid, especially now, but we can’t afford to let them govern everything. Especially when we’re struggling with motivation. So don’t ask yourself how you’re feeling before taking action. Just schedule it and follow through.”
Karen Nimmo
She tells us not to quit even when everything sucks and there’s a pandemic and not to compare yourself to all those brilliant other people who have been consistent and are already successful. She says that you’re allowed to think, “Damn, I don’t want to be a writer anymore.” You can do something different, go after something else.
Be consistent even if it isn’t sexy and even if it is.
Dog Tip for Life:
Sparty the Dog says that you might feel unsexy when you are reliable, but it gets you treats. Be reliable. Do the work. Sit on command.
SHOUT OUT
The music we’ve clipped and shortened in this podcast is awesome and is made available through the Creative Commons License. Here’s a link to that and the artist’s website. Who is this artist and what is this song? It’s “Night Owl” by Broke For Free.
WHERE TO FIND OUR PODCAST, DOGS ARE SMARTER THAN PEOPLE.
I have a new book out!!!!!! It’s an adult mystery set in the town where we live, which is Bar Harbor, Maine. You can order it here. And you totally should.
These six-month courses offer structure and support not only to our writing lives but also to the roller coaster ride of submissions. We offer support whether you’re submitting to agents or, if agented, you’re weathering submissions to editors. We discuss passes that come in, submissions requests, the feedback we aren’t sure about, where we are feeling directed to go in our writing lives, and more.
Find out if WSS is right for you at this FREE WEBINAR on Thursday July 23rd, from 7-8:30pm CDT.Founder Bethany Hegedus will share an inspiring talk on the literary life and will be joined by WSS instructors/TA’s, plus past and present WSS writers who will answer all your burning questions!
This is a great opportunity to meet this session’s faculty, talk with previous students about their growth throughout the program and participate in some inspirational activities led by Bethany Hegedus. *If you cannot attend live, no need to worry! All registrants will receive a video playback of the event!
Hey! Welcome to a bonus interview episode of Dogs are Smarter Than People, the usually quirky podcast that gives writing tips and life tips. I’m Carrie Jones and with me today is Jessica Burkhart
Jessica! Jessica!
Jessica Burkhart is the author of the best-selling 20-book Canterwood Crest series with over 1.5 million copies in print in multiple languages. Her other works include the Unicorn Magic series and the stand-alone YA novel WILD HEARTS. She makes her editorial debut with LIFE INSIDE MY MIND: 31 Authors Share Their Personal Struggles
Jessica’s mom hates squirrels but she still gave Jessica a chocolate squirrel for Easter? WHY?!? Jessica explains that to us if you listen.
And we talk about being brave, being neurodivergent and being an author. I hope you’ll listen and give Jessica all the applause.
Spoiler: I, Carrie, absolutely adore Jessica.
Spoiler #2: This interview touches on mental illness, addiction, and writing. And Jessica? She is brilliant.
You can find out more about Jessica and her books here on her website.
The music we’ve clipped and shortened in this podcast is awesome and is made available through the Creative Commons License. Here’s a link to that and the artist’s website. Who is this artist and what is this song? It’s “Night Owl” by Broke For Free.
WHERE TO FIND OUR PODCAST, DOGS ARE SMARTER THAN PEOPLE.
It’s not the herb; it’s the archetype in writing and maybe in life, although they don’t seem all that common in the real world. Super common in the tarot and astrology and numerology emails Carrie gets.
So, what’s a sage? It’s a smarty pants. But it’s also a bit more.
“Unlike other archetypes, the Sage archetype’s education doesn’t cease after graduation. They’re constantly applying themselves and enriching themselves throughout their entire lives.
“What drives the Sage archetype is their goal of knowing the truth behind everything. For that reason, majority of the conversations that they have revolve around their questions. This can be disadvantageous for them as they’ll take any form of misinformation as a form of deception. With that being said, they take lies very personally and feel emotionally affected when they discover that what they learned or believed in turns out to be wrong.”
“A wise figure with knowledge for those who inquire. The mother figure or mentor is often based on this archetype.”
Masterclass
They are smart, curious; they learn their whole life, use their intuition and are sort of addicted to information.
Weakness: These people think they know more than the rest of us and they often do and that makes them stubborn in their ideas and a little condescending sometimes.
Their challenges? According to the individualogist again,
“The Sage archetype needs to confront their fear and hatred for ignorance. It’s important for this archetype to realize that not everyone is able to learn at the pace and with the passion that they possess…. The Sage archetype needs to exercise humility and alter their perceptions of people in general.”
They are bit slow to act.
The Masterclass site gives examples as: “Athena (The Odyssey), Obi-Wan Kenobi (Star Wars), Hannibal Lecter (The Silence of the Lambs), The Oracle (The Matrix).”
Do you have a Hannibal in your life?
WRITING TIP OF THE POD:
Use the familiarity of archetypes or subvert them to draw your reader into your story.
DOG TIP FOR LIFE:
Don’t be a condescending bastard.
SHOUT OUT
The music we’ve clipped and shortened in this podcast is awesome and is made available through the Creative Commons License. Here’s a link to that and the artist’s website. Who is this artist and what is this song? It’s “Night Owl” by Broke For Free.
In the past month, we’ve been talking a lot about archetypes and someone asked us what the difference is between an archetype and a stereotype.
So here you go, listeners!
First up, archetypes!
According to masterclass.com when it comes to writing an archetype is,
“An emotion, character type, or event that is notably recurrent across the human experience. In the arts, an archetype creates an immediate sense of familiarity, allowing an audience member to relate to an event or character without having to necessarily ponder why they relate. Thanks to our instincts and life experiences, we’re able to recognize archetypes without any need for explanation.”
Masterclass
So, what’s a stereotype?
It can be positive. It can be negative. But it’s freaking simplistic.
And even positive stereotypes can be negative like if you say, “Women are good mothers,” it can be harmful because all women don’t want to be mothers and women aren’t unhappy if they aren’t mothers and some women’s biology doesn’t work for mothering and that doesn’t mean they are unhappy either. If you go one step further, it equates a woman’s value and role to that biological use. It also makes the assumption that all women are more nurturing and have those motherly positive attributes which means that men don’t.
And what’s a cliché?
It’s something you see so many times in tv, stories, life, that it becomes ultra banal, ultra boring and ultra predictable.
The mad scientist.
The nerdy, but secretly sexy librarian.
The rich old cranky lady.
The egotistical warrior.
How do you stay away from clichés or stereotypes? You can parody them. You can deconstruct them. You can think about how to subvert them into something unexpected. Can the old rich lady actually be kind and not wear high heels and have a small dog? Can the egotistical warrior not be egotistical and self-effacing and neurotic? Can the nerdy librarian not be secretly sexy but actually overtly sexy in a glam way?
Writing Type of the Pod
Think about your main character and the other major ones in your story. Are they normal? Typical? How can you tweak that and surprise the reader?
Dog Type for Life
How are you a cliché? Are you fulfilling society’s expectations? How can you step out of your role and people’s expectations?
WHERE TO FIND OUR PODCAST, DOGS ARE SMARTER THAN PEOPLE.
The music we’ve clipped and shortened in this podcast is awesome and is made available through the Creative Commons License. Here’s a link to that and the artist’s website. Who is this artist and what is this song? It’s “Night Owl” by Broke For Free.
I have a new book out!!!!!! It’s an adult mystery set in the town where we live, which is Bar Harbor, Maine. You can order it here. And you totally should.
These six-month courses offer structure and support not only to our writing lives but also to the roller coaster ride of submissions. We offer support whether you’re submitting to agents or, if agented, you’re weathering submissions to editors. We discuss passes that come in, submissions requests, the feedback we aren’t sure about, where we are feeling directed to go in our writing lives, and more.
Find out if WSS is right for you at this FREE WEBINAR on Thursday July 23rd, from 7-8:30pm CDT.Founder Bethany Hegedus will share an inspiring talk on the literary life and will be joined by WSS instructors/TA’s, plus past and present WSS writers who will answer all your burning questions!
This is a great opportunity to meet this session’s faculty, talk with previous students about their growth throughout the program and participate in some inspirational activities led by Bethany Hegedus. *If you cannot attend live, no need to worry! All registrants will receive a video playback of the event!
Hey! Welcome to a bonus interview episode of Dogs are Smarter Than People, the usually quirky podcast that gives writing tips and life tips. I’m Carrie Jones and with me today is
Holly!
Holly Schindler. Holly’s an award-winning, cross-genre author, dog lover, coffee addict and I’m pretty sure she has a ph’d. She likes to write under Missouri shade trees.
Holly’s been writing since she was a little girl, right? We talk about the rhythm to a story, beats, plot points and all sorts of sexy stuff. And we also talk about the magic of moms who make writers out of us.
Holly’s blog has a ton of resources and links and projects. Helping potential writers is so important to her. Check out her advice! Holly’s website!
For the past few weeks, we’ve been talking about writing archetypes for our characters and how they also apply to the real life humans we used to meet and interact with before Covid-19.
There are lists out there all over the place about this. Most have slight variations on the number of archetypes or the names of the archetypes.
An archetype is an emotion, character type, or event that is notably recurrent across the human experience. In the arts, an archetype creates an immediate sense of familiarity, allowing an audience member to relate to an event or character without having to necessarily ponder why they relate. Thanks to our instincts and life experiences, we’re able to recognize archetypes without any need for explanation.
MasterClass People
Last week we talked about the seducers, the week before we talked about the misfits and mavericks. This week, we’re going easy on you with the creator.
According to MasterClass, the creator is, “A motivated visionary who creates art or structures during the narrative.”
They make things! Like writers! They usually have willpower. They are sometimes self-involved. Or they suck at practical things.
“Also known as the artist, innovator, inventor, architect, musician, and dreamer, the Creator is solely focused on examining the boundaries or our reality and perception. As a character, they often take the position of the well-meaning scientist, or savant artist.
The Creator carries an inexhaustible imagination, often excelling at their chosen vocation. When presenting as a mortal character in a reality-based world, he is often portrayed as a man ahead of his time. There are often better examples of this archetype in the real world (Galileo, Einstein, Mozart, Steve Jobs) than in fiction!
Mediocrity is the Creator’s worst fear. Whether this result comes from concept or execution doesn’t matter. The creator wishes to be an authentic voice in a world of white noise. They gain rivals easily, answering those challenges with innovation in their work, and their personal outlook.”
All of these characters are white. When researching this, we were overwhelmed by the lack of examples of BIPOC. It’s another glaring example of a lack of diversity in books and movies. And it’s super frustrating.
To create things of enduring value To see a vision realized To hone artistic control and skill To create culture through self-expression
LIKELY FEARS
To have a mediocre vision To only execute a vision half-way To believe all is an illusion To remain unchanged/unmoved by beauty
Writing Tip of the Pod
We need all types of stories. When you create, think about who your archetypes are. If you are creating and expressing yourself, are you doing so in a way that is beautiful, clear, and fair to the rest of the world?
Dog Tip for Life
Single minded obsession is never good unless it’s about making bacon.
SHOUT OUT
The music we’ve clipped and shortened in this podcast is awesome and is made available through the Creative Commons License. Here’s a link to that and the artist’s website. Who is this artist and what is this song? It’s “Night Owl” by Broke For Free.
DOG INSPIRATION
Every weekday, our dogs have inspirational or motivating tweets on Carrie’s Twitter. Go check it out and be her Twitter friend.
The kittens felt left out.
WHERE TO FIND OUR PODCAST, DOGS ARE SMARTER THAN PEOPLE.
I have a new book out!!!!!! It’s an adult mystery set in the town where we live, which is Bar Harbor, Maine. You can order it here. And you totally should.
Hey! Welcome to a bonus interview episode of Dogs are Smarter Than People, the usually quirky podcast that gives writing tips and life tips. I’m Carrie Jones and with me today is Alyson Pelletier Seegmueller, a dance mom who is used to driving 14 hours every day but now she’s stuck at home because of Covid-19, I think.
A former Mainer living in Pennsylvania now and her motto is basically, “I can’t, my daughter has dance.”
In every post Allyson has, it’s super obvious how much she loves her family.
I asked her if she thought there was a certain vulnerability that happens when you love someone so much? Check out her answers and more.
“Sometimes the strength of motherhood is greater than natural laws.” – Barbara Kingsolver
“[Motherhood is] the biggest gamble in the world. It is the glorious life force. It’s huge and scary—it’s an act of infinite optimism.” – Gilda Radner
WHERE TO FIND OUR PODCAST, DOGS ARE SMARTER THAN PEOPLE.
Ah, yes, the archetype. Last week we talked about the misfits and the mavericks because they are sexy as hell.
Again, Merriam-Webster says archetype are:
“The original pattern or model of which all things of the same type are representations or copies.”
Good ole Merriam-Webster
Archetypes, according to Tami Nantz, help us understand what makes our characters tick. She says to ask:
What does he fear?
What motivates him?
What does he care about most?
Tami Nantz
And while I’m afraid to talk about this on the podcast with Shaun because his mind goes . . . places, this week we’re talking about the seductress.
Over on the Reedsy blog, the seductress is explained pretty well.
“I’ll give you whatever you want,” is the refrain of the seductress — a character that comes in all shapes, sizes, and genders. They might offer power, sex, love, money, or influence but remember, these things always come with strings attached. If a seductress is involved, the moral of the tale is almost always, “Don’t believe anything that’s too good to be true.”
Strengths: Allure, charisma, lack of morals.
Weaknesses: The emptiness of their promises.
Desires: Control.
Examples: Mephistopheles in Faust, Delilah from Samson and Delilah, 90% of the female characters in The Odyssey.
Reedsy blog
Some more examples would be Mystique in X-Men and Meg in Hercules.
The Seductress cares deeply about being in the spotlight. She loves attention and the way people fall head-over-heels for her.
But most of all, she loves being the most admired woman in the room.
Valeria Black
Why?
Because, if you dig deep enough, she is a child and a dreamer at heart who craves constant stimulation in the quest for her one true love.
This hidden quest for lasting love is the main reason why it seems like she strings people along. But in reality it’s because she just gets bored quickly.
And this is so cool to think about if you have one of these characters or one of these people in your life. And I think we all know one of these seducer or seductresses, the person who is all about the sexual and physical validation, and doesn’t know what to do without it. Their self-worth comes from capturing as many admiring looks or hearts as possible. They are dependent on other people’s affection and attention. And that makes it hard sometimes for both them and their friends. Their dark side is like the femme fatale like Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct, right?
That same Reedsy blog has some really great advice about archetypes:
For authors, character archetypes are a useful concept to understand — if only to save you from tying yourself in knots, trying to create stories and characters completely unlike anything that’s come before. Every story has already been told, so focus on what matters most to readers: creating rich, specific worlds populated by people living specific lives, whose struggles are so grounded in realistic human behavior that their stories become universal — no matter where the reader is from.
But the thing is that this is true about life, too. When you understand those three questions we talked about in the beginning, you can understand your friends, family, and enemies a lot more. What motivates the people you love?
Also, Shaun is totally not cool with the gender bias implicit in this archetype, which gets him bonus points from me.
Sparty is worried about archetypes
Writing Tip of the Pod
Think about the motivations of your characters. Is there a seducer in your story? Maybe there should be.
Dog Tip for Life
Living for other people’s validation is a really hard way to live. When you are all about capturing as many people’s affections for your own self-worth, what do you do when you are rejected? For many of us, being sexy only lasts so long, right?
SHOUT OUT
The music we’ve clipped and shortened in this podcast is awesome and is made available through the Creative Commons License. Here’s a link to that and the artist’s website. Who is this artist and what is this song? It’s “Night Owl” by Broke For Free.
DOG INSPIRATION
Every weekday, our dogs have inspirational or motivating tweets on Carrie’s Twitter. Go check it out and be her Twitter friend.
WHERE TO FIND OUR PODCAST, DOGS ARE SMARTER THAN PEOPLE.
I have a new book out!!!!!! It’s an adult mystery set in the town where we live, which is Bar Harbor, Maine. You can order it here. And you totally should.
Vivian Garcia Rodriguez is a secretly the queen to pixie Astley from my NEED series, but we’re not really going to tell anyone, right? Sadly, fate currently has them in different worlds but luckily for us, Vivian is in our world today! Math tutor, cosplayer with a flare for everything, I’m so psyched to have Vivian with us today.
Vivian talked to us while she was in lockdown because of Covid-19 and in her home in Puerto Rico. We talk about how cosplay makes her more confident and forces her not to pick the farthest seat away from the board at school and how different books help build up people and friendships.
So many apologies for not posting a bonus episode. I (Carrie) have epilepsy and I had a bit of a seizure last week after a really long time of no seizures (Yay!) and posting a bonus podcast was the thing that had to fall off my to-do list.
Share this if you want and also because it would be super nice of you!
