From the feedback I received from agents about my first novel, I decided I was a good writer but I was lacking that last bit of whatever needed to make my novels publishable. Writing advice books weren't saying anything new, so I decided on another route to learn what I was missing. I've been spending the last year reading a lot of novels (2 per week) of a variety of different genre.
I read mystery/suspense/thrillers in search of ones that made my heart pound and compelled me to read more to know what happened next. The ones that succeeded, I studied to identify what the author did to create that suspense. The ones that didn't, I tried to identify why they failed.
I read historical novels to discover how much detail was good, what type of detail created a sense that this story really happened, and what just bogged the story down or got skimmed over.
I read to discover how to engage the reader's emotions--how to make them feel what the characters were going through even if the reader isn't like that character in personality or values or even if a character didn't start out very likable.
I read to discover how to create atmosphere (though I probably won't do much of that), add humor, have nuance, and have those nuances effectively convey layered meanings. And so on.
So now I'm back revising my first novel, currently retitled From the Shadows. I'm not making big changes, and it's going quickly. I'm simply trying to add emotional and physical depth. I'm also trying what I didn't think I had the skill to do before: make an obvious antagonist into a nuanced, subtle conflict that creates curiosity in the reader instead of frustration.
We'll see how successful I am when I'm done and start querying it again. (I also changed the focus of my query from the physical events to the emotional journey.) Wish me luck!
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Music and Babies
I thought this was very interesting. From Breakpoint with Chuck Colson, "Music in Utero" on June 29, 2009:
A segment of The Music Instinct featured Sheila C. Woodward of the University of Southern California, who has studied fetal responses to music. A camera and a microphone designed for underwater use were inserted into the uterus of a pregnant woman. And then Woodward sang.
The hydrophone picked up two sounds: the “whooshing” of the uterine artery and the unmistakable sound of a woman singing a lullaby.
Then something extraordinary happened. Upon hearing the woman’s voice, the unborn child smiled.
....Apparently, fetal responses to music aren’t limited to smiling. They have been observed moving their hands in response to music, almost as if conducting. They have been soothed by Vivaldi and disturbed by loud tracks from Beethoven. They have even responded “rhythmically to rhythms tapped on [their] mother’s belly.”
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Character Relationships
R. L. LaFevers gave some interesting advice in her June 23, 2009 post of Things Left Unspoken:
...It is the things left unspoken that define the relationship...
...it is the things we are too afraid or too angry to say that often define the shape and quality of our personal relationships. That betrayal you felt from your sister that you never dared to tell her about will shape all your future dealings with her. The fury you felt at your father, or the heartbreak your husband unknowingly dealt you; all of those emotions will bend and distort your interactions for years to come.
And it occurred to me what a powerful tool that would be to use in our writing, what an effective layer of subtext. So consider asking yourself, what is left unspoken between your characters? And how does it distort and drive their relationship to each other?
Friday, June 5, 2009
Settings are Important
From this article about SF/F:
O'Neill: Probably the best piece of advice I can give an aspiring writer is to pay as much attention to your setting as to your plot, characters, and prose.
When I'm reading an unsolicited manuscript, I'm reading to reject....So you've got a few precious minutes to grab my attention, and you better use them.
It's hard do with plot. If your plot is simple enough to communicate in the first two pages, I've probably seen it a hundred times. It's hard to do with character, for similar reasons.
It's easy to do with setting. Two pages is more than enough space to paint a picture of your world that grabs my attention, if it's fresh and intriguing. You can't compete with [other things demanding my attention] when all you have to offer is yet another version of the tale of King Arthur, or a generic medieval setting, or a tavern filled with rangers, dwarves, and a half-orc with a dungeon map.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Non-Typical Settings
Jessica Faust wrote:
To make an international setting work in genre fiction I think the locale itself almost needs to become a character. The reader needs to be transported into another world and not feel like the book could have just as easily taken place in Houston, Omaha, Reno or Scranton.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Backstory
Carolyn Jewel wrote:
And that's how you know what backstory information to include and when. Work in the information about why the character is acting the way she is when she acts in a way that doesn't make sense or seems odd or off-putting to the reader if he doesn't have that information.
...we are not writing a story about the backstory of our novel. We’re writing about what happens BECAUSE of the backstory.
And that's how you know what backstory information to include and when. Work in the information about why the character is acting the way she is when she acts in a way that doesn't make sense or seems odd or off-putting to the reader if he doesn't have that information.
Monday, May 18, 2009
How I Revise
I tend to get very little writing done in the spring because I'm spending so much time planting and weeding my garden along with other outdoor spring activities. However, those activities are now slowing down for me, so it's time I start thinking about getting back to revising my second novel.
The problem is that I've hit a mental block: My first readers are impatiently waiting for me to get this novel revised and to them so they can read it, so I want to revise as many aspects as possible in each pass I make over the manuscript. However, there's so much I need to look for that I mentally can't even get started because it's not possible to effectively cram these steps together.
So I'm making a nice, neat list of what things I'm going to look at for revising on each pass. Feel free to point out in the comments anything I missed or tell me how you revise your manuscript.
First Pass - First Fifteen Pages
1) Is it clear who the protagonist is and what her problem is? Is the problem vital/big enough (even if just to the protagonist) that it will raise the reader's interest?
2) Is it clear where and when the action is occurring, what's happening, and why the protagonist is involved? Is the pacing too slow because so much information is dumped at the beginning instead of worked in later?
3) Are too many characters or too many technological, magical, or cultural concepts being introduced at once? Is it clear who is talking and what their relationship to each other is? Am I telling the reader about the characters or letting the character's actions reveal their personalities and engage the reader's interest?
4) Is the tone of the whole story revealed in these pages (i.e. dark and gritty, lighthearted, serious but optimistic, etc. as well as level of bad language, sexual content, and violence levels)? Does it foreshadow or reveal the novel's primary conflict and the obstacles to come?
Second Pass -- Whole Story
Read the manuscript out loud. Look for misspellings (especially ones like "peek" instead of "peak"), dialogue that sounds unnatural, awkward sentences, and characters that aren't acting "in-character." Also look for story elements "coming out of no-where" (i.e. that weren't appropriately foreshadowed), often-repeated words, overuse of adverbs or adjectives, and for the other basic "writing rules."
Third Pass -- Whole Story, In Each Scene
1) Is there a balance between dialogue, action, description, back story, and motivation (internal dialogue)? (i.e. How is the pacing?)
2) Are the details given in the physical descriptions (or people, places, or actions) necessary and revealing? Do they quickly invoke a vivid mental image? Or are they so packed with detail or metaphor that the reader can't process it all without pausing?
3) Are the descriptions occurring in large chunks or worked throughout the story as it's needed? Only give the reader the information that's absolutely necessary for them to understand that scene.
4) Are the senses engaged? Imagine yourself in the scene: what sights would catch the main character's attention, what sounds would be heard, if any strong or unusual smells are present, and (if applicable) any taste and touch. What's the air inside the room or weather like and how is it affecting everyones actions and moods? What are the "background" people (and animals and setting) doing and how does that affect our main characters?
5) Look for dull or listy description. Either cut it up and distribute it throughout the action or discard it. Or, if the information is necessary and important and has to be in a chunk, make it clear what the Point-of-View character thinks or feels about the person/thing being described or make it clear why the POV character is spending so much time looking at the person/thing. Or add motion to the description (from wind, animals, other people, etc.) or somehow have the POV character interacting with it.
6) Is dialogue, body language, etc., being used to reveal the reactions and motivations of non-POV characters? Do secondary characters have varied characteristics, quirks, and motivations?
Fourth Pass -- Whole Story, In Each Scene
1) Is it clear what the POV character's motivation is for acting the way she is (via introspection, dialogue, or actions)? If there are several ways she might deal with a problem, why does she chose the one she does? What does she feel about the situation? Always make it clear what's driving your main characters because that is what makes the characters understandable and engaging.
2) Does each scene serve a purpose? If the scene was cut from the story, would the story flow still be understandable? If so, then the scene needs to be cut or fixed.
What changes between the start of the scene and the end? What's the conflict and/or what's at stake? If a question is answered in the scene, is another question asked or a promise of future conflict foreshadowed before the end of the scene so that the reader will continue reading?
Fifth Pass -- Whole Story, In Each Scene
1) Is there tension?
1a) Are the main characters likable? Do they have faults, ideals, regrets, or even strengths that cause them to land themselves (and maybe their friends) in trouble when faced with the current situation? Are the characters too good (either morally or in succeeding against opposition) to be interesting or someone the reader can relate to? Or do they have such a disgusting or off-putting characteristic that no reader would want to spend time with them?
(Writers who deliberately create unlikable protagonists need to make them interesting and/or show early on that they have a redeeming characteristic that foreshadows future change for the better.)
1b) Are the characters aware of the danger and acting like it is danger even if the author knows nothing will come of it? Does the character stay tense and ever-mindful of the danger until it is diffused? What's at stake? Is there foreshadowing of danger even if the character isn't totally aware of it's presence? (The reader at least needs to know of the danger, though you also need to be careful to explain why the character doesn't see it or dismisses it.)
Overview Look:
1) Have the characters changed any by the end of the story?
2) What was the point of the story? What was the theme or what did the reader get out of it that will bring them back for more? Is the story emotionally satisfying?
3) Is the story promised at the beginning of the novel the one delivered by the end of the story? Are all the major loose ends tied up satisfactorily without the story dragging on too long after the climax?
The problem is that I've hit a mental block: My first readers are impatiently waiting for me to get this novel revised and to them so they can read it, so I want to revise as many aspects as possible in each pass I make over the manuscript. However, there's so much I need to look for that I mentally can't even get started because it's not possible to effectively cram these steps together.
So I'm making a nice, neat list of what things I'm going to look at for revising on each pass. Feel free to point out in the comments anything I missed or tell me how you revise your manuscript.
First Pass - First Fifteen Pages
1) Is it clear who the protagonist is and what her problem is? Is the problem vital/big enough (even if just to the protagonist) that it will raise the reader's interest?
2) Is it clear where and when the action is occurring, what's happening, and why the protagonist is involved? Is the pacing too slow because so much information is dumped at the beginning instead of worked in later?
3) Are too many characters or too many technological, magical, or cultural concepts being introduced at once? Is it clear who is talking and what their relationship to each other is? Am I telling the reader about the characters or letting the character's actions reveal their personalities and engage the reader's interest?
4) Is the tone of the whole story revealed in these pages (i.e. dark and gritty, lighthearted, serious but optimistic, etc. as well as level of bad language, sexual content, and violence levels)? Does it foreshadow or reveal the novel's primary conflict and the obstacles to come?
Second Pass -- Whole Story
Read the manuscript out loud. Look for misspellings (especially ones like "peek" instead of "peak"), dialogue that sounds unnatural, awkward sentences, and characters that aren't acting "in-character." Also look for story elements "coming out of no-where" (i.e. that weren't appropriately foreshadowed), often-repeated words, overuse of adverbs or adjectives, and for the other basic "writing rules."
Third Pass -- Whole Story, In Each Scene
1) Is there a balance between dialogue, action, description, back story, and motivation (internal dialogue)? (i.e. How is the pacing?)
2) Are the details given in the physical descriptions (or people, places, or actions) necessary and revealing? Do they quickly invoke a vivid mental image? Or are they so packed with detail or metaphor that the reader can't process it all without pausing?
3) Are the descriptions occurring in large chunks or worked throughout the story as it's needed? Only give the reader the information that's absolutely necessary for them to understand that scene.
4) Are the senses engaged? Imagine yourself in the scene: what sights would catch the main character's attention, what sounds would be heard, if any strong or unusual smells are present, and (if applicable) any taste and touch. What's the air inside the room or weather like and how is it affecting everyones actions and moods? What are the "background" people (and animals and setting) doing and how does that affect our main characters?
5) Look for dull or listy description. Either cut it up and distribute it throughout the action or discard it. Or, if the information is necessary and important and has to be in a chunk, make it clear what the Point-of-View character thinks or feels about the person/thing being described or make it clear why the POV character is spending so much time looking at the person/thing. Or add motion to the description (from wind, animals, other people, etc.) or somehow have the POV character interacting with it.
6) Is dialogue, body language, etc., being used to reveal the reactions and motivations of non-POV characters? Do secondary characters have varied characteristics, quirks, and motivations?
Fourth Pass -- Whole Story, In Each Scene
1) Is it clear what the POV character's motivation is for acting the way she is (via introspection, dialogue, or actions)? If there are several ways she might deal with a problem, why does she chose the one she does? What does she feel about the situation? Always make it clear what's driving your main characters because that is what makes the characters understandable and engaging.
2) Does each scene serve a purpose? If the scene was cut from the story, would the story flow still be understandable? If so, then the scene needs to be cut or fixed.
What changes between the start of the scene and the end? What's the conflict and/or what's at stake? If a question is answered in the scene, is another question asked or a promise of future conflict foreshadowed before the end of the scene so that the reader will continue reading?
Fifth Pass -- Whole Story, In Each Scene
1) Is there tension?
1a) Are the main characters likable? Do they have faults, ideals, regrets, or even strengths that cause them to land themselves (and maybe their friends) in trouble when faced with the current situation? Are the characters too good (either morally or in succeeding against opposition) to be interesting or someone the reader can relate to? Or do they have such a disgusting or off-putting characteristic that no reader would want to spend time with them?
(Writers who deliberately create unlikable protagonists need to make them interesting and/or show early on that they have a redeeming characteristic that foreshadows future change for the better.)
1b) Are the characters aware of the danger and acting like it is danger even if the author knows nothing will come of it? Does the character stay tense and ever-mindful of the danger until it is diffused? What's at stake? Is there foreshadowing of danger even if the character isn't totally aware of it's presence? (The reader at least needs to know of the danger, though you also need to be careful to explain why the character doesn't see it or dismisses it.)
Overview Look:
1) Have the characters changed any by the end of the story?
2) What was the point of the story? What was the theme or what did the reader get out of it that will bring them back for more? Is the story emotionally satisfying?
3) Is the story promised at the beginning of the novel the one delivered by the end of the story? Are all the major loose ends tied up satisfactorily without the story dragging on too long after the climax?
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