Deborah K. White, author

Learning the Craft: the Advanced Level

2010-02-25T09:43:00.003-06:00

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!

Music and Babies

2009-06-30T10:12:00.002-05:00

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.”

Character Relationships

2009-06-23T15:43:00.002-05:00

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?

Settings are Important

2009-06-05T15:16:00.000-05:00

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.

Non-Typical Settings

2009-05-29T15:25:00.001-05:00

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.

Backstory

2009-05-28T15:14:00.002-05:00

Carolyn Jewel wrote:

...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.

How I Revise

2009-05-18T13:12:00.004-05:00

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?

On Beginnings...

2009-04-16T10:19:00.002-05:00

Kathleen Dalton Woodbury gave this advice on where, exactly, one should start their story:

...the story should start when something starts to happen, and that's usually when the main character gets involved.

So, if you wanted to start with a fight scene, for example, you wouldn't start with the first punch. You'd start with the main character minding his own business, when some idiot comes up and tries to pick a fight with him. Of course, the main character, being smarter than to want to get into a fight with some stranger, tries to defuse the situation (and provides the author with a chance to do some characterization and get the reader to care about the main character), but when the idiot goes ahead and throws the first punch, the fight can start and the reader is more likely to be hooked.

Probably one of the main reasons for flashbacks is to try to show the reader why the main character is in the opening situation in the first place. If that "why" is at all interesting, the author should consider starting the story with it instead of starting it later.

One of the biggest problems with flashbacks is that they tend to stop the current story action (which, if the author has hooked the readers into caring, the readers are not going to want to have stopped) while the story goes back in time.

You don't EVER want to stop your readers as they are reading, because they may decide not to start up again.

Did You Know video

2009-04-14T12:08:00.002-05:00

I find this YouTube video strangely inspiring...as in, "get learning or get left behind" sort of inspiring.

Great People

2009-03-14T11:51:00.001-05:00

Mark Twain said,

...the really great [people] make you feel that you, too, can become great.

Can Do

2009-03-07T11:48:00.000-06:00

John Wooden said,

Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.

Metaphors and Similes

2009-03-02T09:54:00.002-06:00

Writing advice tends to vary on the use of metaphors and similes in novel writing, so I'll tell you my ideas on what works.

In my opinion, metaphors and similes should be used to help clarify a description rather than to impress your readers. If you're doing it just to impress your readers, it'll be noticeable and I'm betting most of your readers won't be impressed or will find the language distracting since they have to stop to figure out what you mean.

However, metaphors and similes can be useful if you're writing something that:

1) transcends what plain language can convey (like in a romance...as a poor example, "At his hurtful words, she felt like the rose she so cherished had wilted.")

2) can more quickly convey an image than plain language can (perhaps like in a mystery; "The body lay like a puppet tossed aside into the corner.")

3) does not exist in reality (like in speculative fiction; "The pixie looked like a flame of light until it got closer.").

If you're going to use figurative language, make sure it adds something to the reader's understanding. "The fan wobbled like a drunken sailor" just stops me cold as I try to figure out how a fan can wobble in a way resembling a drunken sailor and why this exact type of wobbling is important to my understanding of the story. "The fan wobbled" conveys the same image more quickly.

Good luck.

Act

2009-02-28T11:39:00.000-06:00

From Theodore Roosevelt, in 1894:

Criticism is necessary and useful; it is often indispensable; but it can never take the place of action, or be even a poor substitute for it.

Eat and Sleep

2009-02-15T11:45:00.000-06:00

Lord Chesterfield said,

I am convinced that a light supper, a good night's sleep, and a fine morning, have sometimes made a hero of the same man who, by an indigestion, a restless night, and a rainy morning, would have proved a coward.

Dare

2009-02-12T11:38:00.001-06:00

From Theodore Roosevelt, "Citizenship in a Republic," Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910:

It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.

Book Quote about Words

2009-02-11T10:36:00.002-06:00

I'm reading The A.B.C. Murders by Agatha Christie. Hercule Poirot, her hero, says on page 103:

Words, mademoiselle, are only the outer clothing of ideas.

I like that description. :)

The Ice Storm

2009-02-10T11:06:00.005-06:00

The Storm
At noon on Jan. 26, the rain and sleet began. They continued until the evening of the 27th. We accumulated 1.6 inches of precipitation which means the ice built up over everything.

By Jan. 27th, as frequently as every five to ten minutes we heard the crack of large branches breaking from their trees followed by the tinkling of the ice shattering as the branch landed.

In some places, whole trees feel and over a thousand power poles broke or otherwise needed to be replaced. Our pole simply bent under the weight.

The power lines on one side bowed until they touched the ground. Further down in the other direction, they touched the ground and one line broke.

The whole northern half of Arkansas lost electricity, as well as areas in OK, southern MO, KY, TN and other states. Since such a massive area was involved, recovery has been a slow, steady process. Power-company crews and tree-trimming crews have come in from all over the nation to help out, for which we are very thankful.

How We Did
We lost electricity at 10:20 AM on Jan. 27th and finally regained it a week later at 4:50 PM on Feb. 3. Now, nearly two weeks later, the majority of outages in our area have been restored though there are several hundred people locally still without power.

Many people around here bought generators to run their furnace, refrigerators, and freezers for a few hours--and to sometimes run their computers and a few lights.

Our house is super-insulated and has both passive and active solar heating, so we decided not to buy a generator. (Generators cost about $900 and supplies quickly disappeared even though new shipments arrived each day.)

So, we had no source of electricity for 7 days and 5.5 hours. Because of the house's good insulation and due to the heat stored in the thermal mass of the floors, we never dropped below 60 degrees during this time. Once it hit 60F at night, it just stayed there.

If the sun shone during the day, the sunlight heated the house. Since our house is also super-tight, we had to open the windows a crack on the sunny days to help get some fresh air inside. (The ERV, which normally brings in fresh air, needs electricity to operate.) This meant the house didn't heat as much as it could have. On the cloudy days, we kept most of the windows covered with the blinds and thermal drapes to help hold in the warmth.

The interior temp. at the moment the power went off was 73.

Jan. 27, cloudy
Indoor High: 73F Low: 60F
Outdoor High: 31F Low: 21F

Jan. 28, sunny
Indoor High: 72F Low: 60F
Outdoor High: 29F Low: 14F

Jan. 29, partly cloudy
Indoor High: 70F Low: 62F
Outdoor High: 35F Low: 24F

Jan. 30, mostly cloudy
Indoor High: 64F Low: 60F
Outdoor High: 42F Low: 24F

Jan. 31, sunny
Indoor High: 67F Low: 63F
Outdoor High: 54F Low: 26F

Feb. 1, sunny
Indoor High: 68F Low: 64F
Outdoor High: 52F Low: 36F

Feb. 2, partly cloudy
Indoor High: 68F Low: 62F
Outdoor High: 44F Low: 20F

Feb. 3, partly cloudy
Indoor High (before power came on): 66F
Outdoor High: 34F

Of course, we use electricity for other things than heating. After 24 hours, the refrigerator no longer kept the food cold. We took ice from the plenteous outdoor supply and placed it in a container in the refrigerator to help keep the food cold. The freezer began to thaw after 48 hours. A neighbor who had a generator and a half-empty freezer offered to let us use his extra freezer room, and we took him up on it. We also ate a lot of previously-frozen food those first few days.

We moved the food that only needed refrigeration into our newly-completed garage where the temperture was maintaining at just above 32F. We put ice in our two ice boxes, and the food kept plenty cold.

My old house, which we still own, is the next house down the road, and it has propane heating for the water, stove, and fireplace (as well as the furnace, which didn't work without electricity). We cooked one hot meal a day on the propane stove. We were able to keep that house warm enough that the water pipes didn't freeze--though we also left two faucets dripping at night.

On Thursday, Jan. 29, we were losing our water. Water was starting to dribble from the faucet instead of gush. We filled a number of gallon jugs of water just in case we were going to lose water all together. Much to our relief, on Friday morning, the pressure was back and stayed strong from then on. We think someone got a generator connected to the pump on the nearby water tower until power could be restored.

Since we have an active solar water heater, we had enough hot water for one shower a day on the sunny days. That was very nice. We also heard that some people lost their phone connections during the storm, but our lines are underground and were not affected.

While our house was designed to maximize the use of natural lighting, we still had to use flashlights to move about and read after the sun went down. By 8:30 PM on most nights, we were having trouble staying awake and gratefully crawled into our warm beds. We didn't get up out of bed until daybreak at about 6:45 AM.

So we didn't suffer (thank God!), but I sure do like electricity. How could I blog without it? ;)

Sunset

2009-02-09T21:14:00.000-06:00

Sunset

2009-02-08T21:13:00.000-06:00

Sunset

2009-02-06T21:12:00.000-06:00

Sunset

2009-02-02T21:11:00.000-06:00

Sunset

2009-01-29T21:09:00.000-06:00

Sunset

2009-01-22T21:07:00.001-06:00

Another Good Quote

2009-01-20T20:52:00.002-06:00

I did not vote for Barack Obama to become President, but I did like much of his Inaugural Address. I encourage you to read it if you haven't. To quote a bit of it:

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted--for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things--some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

Sunset

2009-01-19T21:06:00.001-06:00

Sunset

2009-01-18T21:05:00.000-06:00

Sunset

2009-01-16T21:04:00.000-06:00

Sunset

2009-01-14T21:02:00.001-06:00

A Bit of Wisdom

2009-01-14T14:30:00.001-06:00

Here's a quote from Daoud Hari from his memoir The Translator:

You have to be stronger than your fears if you want to get anything done in this life.

Surnames

2009-01-13T11:53:00.002-06:00

Kathleen Dalton Woodbury wrote an interesting response to a question about the use of surnames in a fantasy book. To quote:

As for surnames, supposedly there are four types:

location (from a place) John from Starktown => John Starktown (by the way, in some cultures "of" indicates nobility--"Elizabeth of England" means she's the queen)

patronymic (son of) John son of Eric => John Ericson

occupational Stark the blacksmith => Stark Smith

descriptive John the strong one => John Strong

Surnames are supposed to have come into being because a way was needed to distinguish between John the smith and John the farmer, or Eric the red(head) or Eric the bold.

Surnames don't mean what they once meant, but if you have a culture that uses them, you need to give one to each of your characters. (By the way, I have been told that surnames in Rwanda--look up Rwanda + April 1994--are different for every family member. They are chosen by the parents to represent their hopes for each of their children--and they help keep your enemies from knowing who is related to you.)

One advantage to giving a character a surname is that you can refer to the character by more than just "he" and the first name, and you can have other characters show their relationship to the character by how they refer to him (Mr. Stark, old Starky, John, Johnny, and so on).

Sunset

2009-01-07T21:00:00.000-06:00

We have such beautiful sunsets around here that I can't help taking pictures of them ever since I got a digital camera for Christmas.

Taking Risks

2009-01-05T10:13:00.002-06:00

I like to say, "Failure is just another chance to try again."

If you aren't willing to risk failure, you'll never try anything new. Everyone starts out at the bottom when doing something new; mistakes are expected and nothing to be ashamed of. If it's worth trying, then it's worth failing at. Go ahead and try it! It doesn't matter if you don't progress as rapidly as others. Take your time to learn the basics. Ask questions. Enjoy yourself. Focus on your own progress rather than comparing yourself to others. Often, you will be your own worst critic, so listen and believe when others praise your work even when it looks like crude compared to what you imagined.

And, even once you reach mastery of a skill, realize that flubs will happen and bad days occur. Such is life. But don't worry: failure is just another chance to try again.

What I'm Reading

2009-01-03T13:41:00.005-06:00

Title: Waste and Want: A Social History of Trash
Author: Susan Strasser
Got it: half.com

I read this book for research. It explains what people used to do with trash, mainly in the 1800's. For example, it talks about how people would make old clothing over into new outfits, turn sheets, use cooking fats to make soap, fix broken items because they knew how those items worked and had spare parts around, and so on. She also details how these attitudes changed over time from then to now.

Title: Natural Dyes and Home Dying
(formerly, Natural Dyes in the United States)
Author: Rita J. Adrosko
Got it: library

This book describes the different plants and minerals that can be used to make dyes, how this process is done in each case, and what colors are produced. It also explains how colorfast each dye is on various cloth materials. I wanted to know which dyes and colors would have been most common in the past, and this book gave this information.

A Historical Quote

2008-12-30T09:14:00.003-06:00

Thomas Paine wrote these words on December 23, 1776 in a pamphlet called The American Crisis which was given to the American troops when they were on the verge of losing the Revolutionary War.

What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; 'tis dearness only that gives every thing its value....it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated...

What I'm Reading

2008-12-29T09:36:00.003-06:00

Title: The Sailing-Ship: Six Thousand Years of History
Author: Romola and R.C. Anderson
Got it: library

I got this book for research in an attempt to confirm something I'd heard elsewhere about ships with only square sails being quite limited as to when they can sail. Well, this book didn't really cover that though it did hint in a sentence or two that such was true.

What this book does cover are the details of how the ancient Mediterranean and European boats where put together (hull, masts, sails, rudders, materials used, etc.) based on pictures, archaeological discoveries, and eye-witness accounts. The book was written in 1963 and so doesn't contain recent discoveries.

Done with the First Draft

2008-12-24T16:54:00.003-06:00

I just finished the first draft of my second novel, Rumors of War.

The writing took longer than I expect for several reasons. The first was that the story just kept growing on me. The word count currently stands at 94,784 words. That, in turn, is partly because I spent more time filling in the descriptions and doing the research needed for the details now rather than in the second or third draft. Thus, I'm hoping my revisions won't take as long as for my first novel and that I'll need to do fewer drafts. I think my first readers would like that, too, since I think they're getting impatient. ;)

In any case, I'm taking a week off for the holidays. Merry Christmas!

What I'm Reading

2008-12-22T11:10:00.003-06:00

Title: Japanese Inn
Author: Oliver Statlar
Got it: library used-book sale

I just finished reading this book for research. The book is a history of Japan from about 1596 to 1957, but it's done from the point of view of the people who ran a real inn along the Tokaido Road. The story is somewhat fictionalized at times and gives the reader a vivid feel for the times, the people, and the place. It's much more than the dry dates, names, and events most books give. The book is a good way for anyone interested in the Japanese to learn about their history in an entertaining way.

Some Short Stories I Like

2008-12-21T12:15:00.000-06:00

Some of Tor's authors have written short stories that are posted on the Tor.com website for free. If you'd like to know what types of stories I like to read, some of my favorite short stories on the site are:

Shade by Steven Gould

Firstborn by Brandon Sanderson

What to Describe

2008-12-20T11:35:00.002-06:00

Writing advise abounds on how to appropriately describe a character, object, or setting, so how do I go about it?

1) Describe first what the character would notice first. For example, gender, skin color, hair color, and physical build comes before the faint scar over the eye or the eye color (which the character might never be close enough or have any reason to notice). Also, a foreigner might first notice skin color while a native might never consciously notice it.

A long physical description can slow down the story, however, and a police-report description is usually not needed. So, how do I choose what description to include?

2) Base the description length on how important the person, object, or setting is.

3) Describe what is unique.

For example, if I'm describing a spear, I really don't have to say much. Most readers already know what a spear is and can imagine it based purely on the word "spear." If the spear is important, though, I might describe something unique about it: a scrap of blue cloth tied just below the iron head.

Don't just give information but use the description to tell the reader something about the character. Which sentence gives a more unique and interesting description of this minor character?

The sight of a short, plump woman wearing a dress and a hat distracted Randy from what his friend was saying.

or

The sight of a short woman wearing a tall hat topped with an ostrich plume distracted Randy from what his friend was saying.

I'm guessing you agree the second description is more interesting.

4) Be specific.

Instead of saying "the woman handed him a drink" be specific and say, "The waitress handed him a tall glass of water." Using specific nouns instead of general ones allows the reader create a vivid image in his head and reveals more about the characters.

So my advice is to keep focused on what your description is supposed to accomplish rather than coming up with long police-report descriptions.

A Deeper Problem

2008-12-13T11:09:00.002-06:00

The other day, someone in my writer's workshop made the comment that he liked to write his short stories in present tense because they gave the story a sense of urgency the story lacked in past tense.

(For those who do know, this means he wrote the story like "He runs to the car door and yanks it open. 'Get out," he shouts at the driver" instead of the more traditional "He ran to the car door and yanked it open. "Get out," he shouted at the driver.")

Except, his story still lacked tension (which he obviously sensed) and changing to present tense didn't fix that. What he really needed to do was fix the story by adding tension, not try to artificially increase tension by telling the story in present tense.

I've heard a lot of writers say that they write in first person (i.e. "I went to the store") rather than third person (i.e. "She went to the store") because it allows the reader to get inside the character's head in a way that third person doesn't allow. Except, that's not true. Both styles can allow the reader deeply into the character's viewpoint.

For example:

Mandy was going to be late for the party, and Shelly would never forgive her. She looked down the dark, creepy alley knowing that it was the only route that would get her there in time. She hesitantly stepped into the alley. Something rattled further in. She jumped backward and smacked into something tall and firm.

versus

I was going to be late for the party, and Shelly would never forgive me. I looked down the dark, creepy alley knowing that it was the only route that would get me there in time. I hesitantly stepped into the alley. Something rattled further in. I jumped backward and smacked into something tall and firm.

If you just like writing in present tense or first person, that's fine. However, if you write that way in hopes of fixing a problem with your manuscript, let me warn you that the problem probably still exists. Look deeper and fix the problem instead of just trying to hide it.

What I'm Watching

2008-12-10T10:55:00.003-06:00

Title: China: A Century of Revolution (2000)
Got it: Netflix

If you like documentaries and are even remotely interested in China, I'd strongly recommend this DVD. I watched it for research and was fascinated by the interviews and archival footage. The production seemed like a balanced view of China's recent history. It certainly shows how different the Chinese culture is from our own.

Though I don't recommend it as strongly, for another view into how differently other cultures think, I'd suggest:

Title: Japan's Longest Day (1967)
Got it: Netflix

It's a historical drama produced by a Japanese film company and depicts the Japanese view of the events occurring in the 24 hours leading up to Japan's surrender in WWII. The film is in Japanese (it has English subtitles) and is a bit gory in spots, but, wow, it's an eye-opener.

Motivation

2008-12-08T10:13:00.003-06:00

I am reading a book where the author doesn't take full advantage of showing what's going on in the main character's head and so some of his actions seem abrupt and out-of-character. Here's an example of what I'm talking about:

Sarah stomped up to Rebekah, who was smiling and holding another book clutched against her chest. Sarah scowled and threw the current book Rebekah had loaned her to the ground. "This book was horrible. I swear, I'll never read another book by that author. In fact, you couldn't pay me enough to read another one!"

Rebekah said hesitantly, "Oh, I'm sorry. I brought the next book in the series with me, but I guess you don't want it."

Sarah felt a surge of anger. "Of course I want it. The book's right here, so of course I'll read it."

You're left wondering why Sarah suddenly changed her mind and why she's reacting so strongly. Or, if you're like me, you're feeling a little wary of Sarah and wondering if she's insane. ;)

I expect the author knows a perfectly sensible reason why her main character acted the way he did but forgot to let the readers into his head so we also know. Here's an example of how adding motivation can help make an about-face scene like this make sense:

Sarah stomped up to Rebekah, who was smiling and holding another book clutched against her chest. Sarah scowled. She'd rather liked the book Rebekah had just loaned her, but she didn't like how her friend was getting into the habit of forcing books on her and she wasn't going to allow it to happen again.

She threw her book to the ground. "This book was horrible. I swear, I'll never read another book by that author. In fact, you couldn't pay me enough to read another one!"

Rebekah said hesitantly, "Oh, I'm sorry. I brought the next book in the series with me, but I guess you don't want it."

Sarah felt a surge of anger at Rebekah for picking this moment to finally bring a book she did want to read. "Of course I want it. The book's right here, so of course I'll read it."

Sarah's still not a very nice character, but at least we understand why she's acting the way she is. So, authors, be careful not to throw an unexpected emotional reaction at the reader. Make sure to get into the character's head and explain why they felt that way so the emotional reaction makes sense.

Fulfilling Your Promises

2008-12-01T11:29:00.002-06:00

A reader buys a book with certain expectations on what it's about. They base these expectations on the book's cover, the title, the back cover description of the book, what they've heard about the book, and by what they've read on your first few pages. If the author fails to fulfill those expectations, then the readers will be angry with him or her and probably won't buy other books by the same author.

I just read a mystery book. The back cover says the book is about the hero finding out why his wife was killed. The title is the name of the road where his wife was killed. The first few chapters describe the crime scene and launches the search for the wife's killer. The cover shows a hand which is green with moss (or something) and is barely sticking up out of some water. Since the crime happens near a river, I expected another dead body to be found in the river.

Were these expectations fulfilled? Nope. At the end of the book (which ends on a cliff-hanger), the man who ordered the wife's murderer is still free and a threat (on the last page, he's shooting a gun at and about to kill the hero). We still don't know why the hero's wife was killed. No green-covered hand is found in water (as the cover suggests). And a lot more unsolved side-mysteries have been brought up and not resolved.

So what was the book about? Well, the hero and his friends solve a mystery which they think is the reason behind the wife's killing, but it isn't. While a mystery is solved, it ultimately had nothing to do with the wife's murder or any of the current conflicts. The book didn't fulfill the promise.

If the title had been the name of the property were the solved mystery was located and the cover and back copy copy focused on that mystery, then the promise would have been kept...to a certain degree. I'd still say that something in the first few pages needed to hint that, while a murder starts the book, this isn't the murder that's going to be solved.

So be careful to know what expectations your title and first pages raise so that you can fulfill them and keep your readers happy.

Working with the Reader

2008-11-24T11:01:00.002-06:00

When you write a story, you must always keep the reader in mind: how will your words affect the reader and how will they react? Is anything confusing? Is the story consistently interesting? Will they sympathize with the main character? Will this event cause the reader to feel tense and worry about the outcome? And so on.

There are two main problems:

First, the reader is usually a person you've never met (if your book is published). You don't know if they'll understand a certain word, get your metaphor, or understand what you're describing without more explanation.

Second, no matter how clearly you write something, some readers out there will misunderstand it or won't like it. Writing clearly enough that no one can misunderstand the information being conveyed is an important goal, but it's also ultimately an impossible one.

While critique groups can be useful in pointing out elements of your story that are causing problems for the majority of your readers, critiques need to be taken carefully or the life will be drained from your writing or make it feel unnatural.

One bit of advice I've heard from several published writers is to write for a specific person--someone you know--who is in your target audience. You know them, so you know how much explanation they would need to understand what's going on. You know what would make them like the characters and what would lose their interest. This also makes the book feel more personal to all your readers (or so I'm told). It sounds like good advice to me. Then again, I've always written my novels with a specific reader in mind so I might be biased. ;)

Think of the Reader

2008-11-17T12:37:00.003-06:00

In The Writer magazine, August 1989 issue, Piers Anthony wrote:

The writer must know his readers...their hearts and dreams.

Debbie's thoughts:
By tapping into those desires and dreams, the writer can capture the reader's interest: his desire to see justice done, his longing to feel he can control of life in some small way even when it seems out of control, etc. The more the characters struggle with problems that everyone struggles with, the more the reader can relate to the problems and will read on to see how the hero deals with them.

Likewise, the most effective horror stories tap into the things we all fear: the unknown, loss of control, etc.

Storytelling

2008-11-10T11:58:00.006-06:00

In The Writer magazine, August 1989 issue, Linda Barlow wrote an article on "Great Storytelling." In it, she discusses how important it is to create characters that you readers care and will cheer for. "It is people--characters--who engage the emotions" and get the reader deeply involved in the story.

First, "what happens to your characters happens because of who they are." [As in, use a character-driven plot instead of a plot that forces the characters into certain actions.]

Second, "It is not necessary for every one of your characters to be likable." However, you then need to have your hero doing something admirable early in the novel. This action will show the reader that he has the capacity to be admirable even if he isn't now. [Note that you have to fulfill this promise by making him more likable/admirable by the end.]

Third, conflict arises by how these characters relate to one another once they are brought together.

Your conflicts must be intense and believable....put doubt in the readers minds as to whether your characters will prevail.

If the reader cares for the character, their doubt that the character will succeed creates suspense.

Fourth, it isn't until the protagonist recognizes his own mistakes and alters his method of problem-solving that he's able to succeed.

Fifth, the impact of the story is diluted by shifting the reader's focus to the unnecessary.

You must be ruthless about expunging anything that does not develop your characters or your plot--that lovely description of the sunset...or that bit of research you...would like to show off.

Sixth, "...It takes a great final chapter to sell that reader your next novel." So your ending needs to be "in some way unexpected, yet, at the same time, it must be the only possible ending that fits everything you have revealed about the characters and their problems."

What I'm Watching

2008-11-08T12:43:00.003-06:00

Title: Backstairs at the White House DVD
Got it: Netflix

I just watched another movie that I thought was interesting, at least for people interested in this type of thing.

This miniseries is based on Lillian Rogers Parks' best-selling memoirs explores behind-the-scenes life at the White House as seen through the eyes of staffers during the course of eight different presidential administrations. Lillian Rogers was one of the maids who worked in the living area for the president's families. Not only do we see what a servant's life was like during those times (early 1900's through 1960), but we see another side of the presidents and their wives.

Science Article

2008-11-04T13:08:00.001-06:00

Here's a link to a science article that Sci-Fi readers or writers might find interesting. It's about a way to create a shield to protect people living in space from radiation damage.

Solar Storm! Shields Up! by Phil Berardelli at ScienceNOW Daily News.

Avoiding "as you know" Explanations

2008-11-03T11:44:00.004-06:00

In The Writer magazine, December 1989 issue, Jeffrey Sweet wrote an article on "An Object Lesson for Playwrights." In it, he writes:

You can often dramatize what is going on between your characters through the way they negotiate over an object.

He gives an example of a man stopping a boy as he goes out the door. The man demands to know what the boy has in his hand, finds out it's a key, wants to know where the boy is going, and then demands the boy give him the key or he'll ground him for another week. From the example, it's obvious the man is the boy's strict father, the key is to the family car, and the boy is currently grounded and is resentful about it. All of this was conveyed by how the two characters interacted around the key instead of by the author explaining the situation to the reader.

Good Endings for Short Stories

2008-10-27T11:30:00.003-05:00

In The Writer magazine, December 1989 issue, Robert Twohy wrote an article on "The Shape that Satisfies." In it, he writes:

The end of a good...short story is the birthing of the seeds that were at its start and developed through it. The end is in the beginning and vice-versa.

If the quote is too cryptic, he's saying that you start the story with a premise, you develop it throughout the story, and fulfill that initial promise at the end.

Here's an example I thought of:
If the beginning is focused on finding a magic sword because it's the only way to kill the bad guy, then the middle is about the hero finding it and the end is him using it. Don't end with the hero killing the bad guy with a poison he had all along. If you want a story with that twist ending, then make sure the focus at the beginning is killing the bad guy with someone pointing out there is more than one way to accomplish this end.

Keeping the Reader

2008-10-20T11:14:00.003-05:00

In The Writer magazine, December 1989 issue, Phyllis A. Whitney wrote an article on "Let's Do It Over." In it, she writes:

If your characters feel nothing strongly, neither will your reader....The more your characters stand to lose or gain, and the more they care, the more powerful the effect on the reader.

She suggests starting the story with the heroine in a conflict that she cares deeply about and that she must take some action in or do something about. And make the conflict something the reader can care about.

Next, check your suspense level. She asks, "Is everything too out-in-the-open, too obvious or predictable?" If so, then the reader is less likely to continue reading. Add some mystery to the story.

Ending the Story

2008-10-13T20:59:00.002-05:00

In The Writer magazine, October 1990 issue, Karleen Bradford wrote an article on "Do You Want to Write for Children?" In it, she writes about wrapping up the story.

The main character's problem is solved (and always by the character himself--no intervening hand of fate, no helpful adult stepping in, no discovery that it was all a dream).

[I would add that the main character doesn't always have to be the main person to solve the problem but he does have to add the critical element to the solution. For example, a child doesn't have to personally drive the sword through the evil warlord's heart as long as he somehow plays the critical part in making that action possible.]

She goes on to say that perhaps the main character only learns how to cope with the problem.

In any case...your reader must feel, "Yes, of course, that's the only way it could possibly have ended" and even if it came as a total surprise, your reader must be satisfied [and feel positive about the ending even if it isn't a happy one].

Wisdom Found in Fiction Books #2

2008-10-07T10:38:00.003-05:00

I just finished reading Auralia's Colors by Jeffrey Overstreet. I liked this bit:

A single male and a woman married to a possessive husband have sneaked away from their work detail (their punishment for thieving). He asks her to run away with him. The man says softly,

"You can't deny you heart anymore."

She playfully pounded on his shoulder with her fist. "But my heart's a mess, and yours is reckless. If we're true to ourselves, we're in trouble. That's what promises are for, like the promise [my husband] made me." She looked into the shadows of the trees. "They give you something to bind yourself to, so you don't get carried off on a whim."

...only to regret it when you come back to your senses.

Suspension of Disbelief

2008-10-06T20:45:00.004-05:00

In The Writer magazine, October 1990 issue, Karleen Bradford wrote an article on "Do You Want to Write for Children?" In it, she explains that readers are willing to suspend disbelief but not logic.

Within the world you create, you must stick to your own rules. If horses can fly, fine. But if cats can't, and in your story you suddenly have one that does in order to escape, you're cheating....Your world can be entirely as you imagine it as long as the characters behave and act logically within that framework.

I'd add that you also need to make real elements work correctly for the readers to accept the fantastic ones. If the horse is supposed to be a normal horse but doesn't act like one (e.g. doesn't die from a diet of only oats, no grass or hay), then the reader will lose belief in your fantastical elements.

Minor Characters

2008-09-29T20:32:00.004-05:00

In The Writer magazine, February 1989 issue, Hans Ostrom wrote an article on "The Major Role of Minor Characters in Fiction." In it, he comments on avoiding stereotyped minor characters:

Don't call Central Casting; instead, draw on your own experience and your notebook for a not-so-typical sketch.

This will also help the reader remember the character if he later pops back into the story.

Beware of the time lapses between appearances that minor characters make. If the interval between appearances is substantial (several chapters, for instance), it is even more necessary for the first appearance to be striking.

If the reader has to go back and check to make sure who the character is, then there's a problem.

...One might add, if a reader's memory of a minor character's first appearance is fuzzy, how well is that character really functioning in the novel?

Where to Research

2008-09-22T20:20:00.003-05:00

In The Writer magazine, March 1989 issue, Patricia Beatty wrote an article on "Writing the Historical Novel for Young Readers." In it, she discusses how moral codes were different in the past. For example, running away from battle "would have been a far more heinous act in 1864 than today..." So how do you discover what those past moral codes were like?

For books set in pre-19th century eras, I find out the moral attitudes of a particular period from adults' and children's books published at the time. For books set at a later time, I use old newspaper accounts and bound volumes of magazines. Though hard on the eyes, microfilmed materials are often gold mines of information.

Complex Characters and Mid-Book Sags

2008-09-17T09:33:00.002-05:00

In The Writer magazine, July 1989 issue, James C. Giblin wrote an article on "Common Failings in Juvenile Fiction--and How to Correct Them." In it, he comments on one way to make more complex villains:

Remember, too, that people who behave in evil ways are often blind to the true nature of their actions.

I (Debbie) work in prison ministry and have learned that people have an infinite ability for self-justification. But more than that, most of the inmates never stopped to think how their actions affected others or the long-term consequences of their actions. They wanted or needed something 'now,' so they acted to get it--by stealing the cool toy or forging a check to pay off the phone bill. If it works why not do it? The scary part is that most of us know not to do so because of a moral code, consideration for others, or realization of the negative long-term consequences--but that doesn't mean we're not sometimes tempted to act the same way...

James C. Giblin also points out:

I usually find that the cause of the [mid-book] sag is a scene or character that doesn't advance the plot. Often the author wants to take his characters to a particular locale--say an amusement park or a country fair--because he thinks it will add color to the story; instead it merely slows it down. Or perhaps...a character...has no real part to play...

The character may be funny and interesting, but (s)he needs to go if the story can be told without that character. The same with an extraneous scene. Having unnecessary elements only dilutes the story focus and hurts the pace.

Travel Speeds

2008-09-15T11:36:00.007-05:00

I'm trying to collect this information in one place so it's easy for me to find. I thought I'd put it on my blog so others can also use it.

Conestoga Wagons were drawn by 4 to 8 horses and transported loads up to 7 metric tons. They averaged 15 miles a day (usually over dirt roads).

Wagon Trains averaged 12 to 16 miles a day.

Two-wheeled loaded carts pulled by two horses could travel at 5 miles per hour if the horses were switched with fresh ones once or twice each day. If the same horses were used all day every day, the wagon could travel at 4 miles per hour.

A lone traveler on foot carrying very little can walk at about 3 or 4 miles per hour. How long he can keep it up depends on his endurance. A marathon runner can do 8 miles per hour but likely couldn't keep that up day after day.

A very fit person trained for travelling over mountain trails or through the desert can, with a heavy pack (containing food and supplies), at best do about 20 miles in one day. Without a pack, he can make about 30 miles if he hikes fast all day. An experienced hiker not trying for a record does about 2 to 3 miles per hour.

A messenger pigeon can travel 30 miles per hour normally and 60 miles per hour in a burst.

Foot soldiers averaged a pace of 3 miles per hour. The soldiers could do this carrying fairly heavy loads (their equipment and some rations). Rain and muddy roads could cut this travel rate in half (to about 1.5 miles per hour). Forced marches usually meant marching longer (which left the soldiers exhausted at the end) rather than faster.

An army has to take time each day to break camp, load tents and such into wagons, and then set up camp at the end of the march--all of which cuts into how far they can travel in a day. The larger the army, the slower it moved. The Romans, who built temporary forts every night, often travelled only 10 to 12 miles a day even when travelling along their stone roads. Smaller armies that made less-fortified camps might be able to do 16 to 22 miles a day, but that was considered a hard pace.

The cavalry could travel faster, but they generally kept to the pace of the foot soldiers or were sent ahead to the next camp site since they had to graze their horses on good grass for about 5 hours every day. The Roman cavalry, when on its own, could do 40 miles a day.

A less-organized army might average 8 miles per day for the infantry and 12 miles per day for the cavalry.

An average horse bearing an average rider with minimal equipment along a road or good, fairly flat trail can travel 3 to 4 miles per hour at a walk, 8 to 10 miles per hour at a trot, 10 to 17 miles per hour at a canter, and up to 30 miles per hour at a gallop. A horse can not keep up a canter or gallop for more than a few miles, though. Exceptional thoroughbreds can go over 40 miles per hour for a mile. Quarter horses can reach up to 50 miles per hour for a quarter of a mile. Rough terrain would slow all these rates.

How far a horse and rider could travel in a day depends on the time of year, weather, terrain, condition of the roads, load carried (rider and equipment), and condition of the horse. A fit riding horse ridden by a fantasy warrior might cover 50 to 60 miles in a day, but 30 miles would be more average. A fantasy farm boy riding an old plow horse would go even slower than that.

An endurance horse bearing a light rider with very minimal equipment can travel 100 miles in a day on a trail over rough terrain. The horse would need several short breaks (15 to 30 minutes) to rest during the ride and couldn't repeat the performance the next day. The horse mainly travels at a trot, with some walking (up hills) and some cantering (on flat areas). Keep in mind that these horses are highly fit horses specially trained for these distances. They are well-fed, healthy, and have plenty of water available. Take away any of these factors, and the horse can't travel as far.

The Pony Express was made up of smaller horses and ponies who carried 165 pounds (including rider, mail, and supplies/equipment). Ponies were changed for fresh ones every 10 to 15 miles, and riders were changed for fresh ones every 75–100 miles. The horses traveled at about 10 miles per hour, and the mail was moved an average of 250 miles in a 24-hour day. The trail was mostly one of dirt.

Riding camels can travel over 100 miles in a day. Racing camels travel an average of 20 miles per hour during 6-miles races. A camel can travel 60 miles a day across the desert carrying up to 400 pounds. Camels can carry as much as 600 pounds if loaded properly.

A Lovely Poem

2008-09-12T12:52:00.002-05:00

I came across this poem, "Describing Paintings" by Adam Zagajewski, and liked it enough I thought I'd link to it.

Progress on Rumors of War

2008-09-11T12:25:00.002-05:00

Wow, time sure flies. Most of last summer (2007) was spent trying to get my first novel published. I worked on my second novel for about a month and a half before major distractions (e.g. overseeing the building of my parents new house) sidetracked me for half a year. Then I had to move, so I worked on revising Justice Rising in my snatches of free time (see previous posts).

I left Rumors of War at 37,872 words in first draft.

Three weeks ago, I got back into writing Rumors of War. Strangely enough, that delay was probably one of the better things to happen to the story. My writing has improved tremendously, and I realized how one of my major characters wasn't, well, real.

Ambassador Trent was originally written as a buffoon. It was difficult to take the threat he presented seriously. So I started re-writing with Trent now being a dangerous threat. It might have been easier to start from scratch because not only was Trent saying and doing things differently, but now how everyone reacted to him was different.

So I'm now in the odd position of having 37,223 words of a first draft completed with half of those words already revised into a second draft version (with filled in descriptions, etc.). How can I have fewer words finished now than I did three weeks ago despite steady re-writing which also added lots of description? Well, I had to cut 3,000 words that no longer fit the storyline. Such is the life of a writer.

Back to my writing...

Writing Historicals

2008-09-10T08:59:00.003-05:00

I picked up a batch of old magazines at a library sale. In The Writer magazine, March 1990, Rosalyn Alsobrook wrote an article on "When You Write a Historical Romance." Her advice is excellent for writing any sort of historical. To quote a small part:

Not only must the setting and the time period...be portrayed accurately, it has to be made an actual part of the story. The conflicts in your story should develop from true events or known customs of the time and place...

and

[Your characters] must be a product of their time....Their personalities and mannerisms must mesh with...the historical era...

She also points out that the historical elements should be accurate and interesting, but only included as backdrop or as a catalyst in the conflict.

For example, I read a historical novel where the author paused to explain the meaning of a tavern's name when that information wasn't needed to understand the story. Worse, that information was given in the middle of a "life-in-danger" scene and it totally drained away the tension.

Finally, she points out that heavy dialect can be very difficult for a reader to work through and will slow your story's pace.

Insert a word here and a phrase there to give the reader...the characteristic speech patterns...

And that's enough to get the idea across.

Writing Tidbits #10

2008-09-08T11:15:00.001-05:00

Creating Tension

Since, in the majority of books, the hero(ine) of the book does win in the end against all odds, how can the author make the reader worry the hero(ine) might not succeed?

The most common tactic is to have the hero try to solve the problem and fail, then try something else to solve the problem and fail, and finally try a last solution and succeed.

Here are some other examples of how to do it. (While I'm generally using fantasy set-ups as examples, the underlying principles can be used in other genre.)

1) Hero Todd loses a sword match against his friend Nate. Later, Nate fights against Villain Harod. Harod defeats/kills Nate. Todd vows to kill Harod in revenge, but he wonders how he can since Nate (who was a better fighter) failed.

As in, have A lose against B in getting the girl, solving the mystery, winning the fight. Have B lose against C in the same sort of activity. Finally, pit A against C, let A have a few doubts about his ability to win, and the reader will feel uncertain, too. The solution may be that A uses a different method to fight than B did (as in, using his brains instead of a sword or listening to the girl's dreams instead of buying expensive gifts).

2) This is based on a book I recently read. Each of the main characters are given a cryptic, personalized prophesy of what to avoid doing (like "don't kill a crow"). If they do this action, they will die within a few hours. One by one, these characters accidently do the very thing they were warned against--usually because they didn't realize the danger until the action was already taken--and each dies. Our hero is then given his death-prophecy. Will he recognize the danger in time to avoid his fate?

Here we have several people failing at the same task our hero is given. He may succeed at anything he puts his hand to, but this side danger might easily kill him before his main objective is complete.

3) Our hero can succeed alone against any odds, but he has to protect someone he cares about and/or is important to his ultimate success. This character is usually a child, though in the past it was often 'the helpless female.' The tension comes with the question "can the hero keep this other character alive?"

4) Again, our hero can protect himself just fine, but he needs the help of several other characters to ultimately win the day. (The characters may bring specialized knowledge or skills or they may be leaders of troops that are needed or whatever.) We don't doubt the hero can win his fight, but his bad temper alienates the others he needs or someone is trying (and maybe succeeding) in killing these other characters or they aren't convinced that there is a danger or that the hero's scheme is the right one. Now you have tension.

Writing Tidbits #9

2008-09-01T00:04:00.000-05:00

Show the Action!

Watch out for the talking-head syndrome. In some books, the characters sit around planning future actions (battles, research, discoveries, etc.), then the next scene occurs after the fact and has those people (or others) standing around talking about how that action went. Don't wimp out: show the action happening instead of giving the reader a news report about it! It's a lot more interesting.

Sometimes "news reports" are necessary, but beware. A book with too many of these talking-head scenes may have the illusion of things happening, but nothing actually does.

Writing Tidbit #8

2008-08-25T11:48:00.000-05:00

Tension & Pacing

If someone or something is threatening your point-of-view character's life, don't spend time describing her surroundings in great detail. First, it will drastically decrease the tension and slow the pacing when it needs to be fast. Second, a threatened person doesn't pay attention to their surroundings (except for people who may help, for escape routes, or for potential weapons) because their attention is on the danger and how to deal with that danger.

Also, use short or shorter sentences to help increase the feeling of tension. Longer sentences take longer for the reader to process, so they slow the pace and dilute the feeling of danger.

What I'm Reading

2008-08-20T13:48:00.003-05:00

Title: The Ambassadors: From Ancient Greece to Renaissance Europe, the Men Who Introduced the World to Itself
Author: Jonathan Wright
Got it: library

I checked this book out for research purposes. The author talks about the role ambassadors played in history and about the experiences of specific ambassadors throughout history. I was most interested in the sections talking about the origins of ambassadors, but the whole book was interesting. I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in the topic.

Writing Tidbit #7

2008-08-18T11:26:00.000-05:00

Intuition

If you get the sneaking feeling that a scene doesn't work, the pace is dragging, a point-of-view character won't be interesting enough to keep the reader's attention, etc.: sorry, but you're right.

Enlist the help of your first readers to diagnose the problem since they can give you a fresh view of the work. Don't try to prop the scene or character up, but look for the underlying problem and fix that. (I know, easier said than done.)

If the character is boring, then maybe you're using the wrong character as your point-of-view character or her actions are too predictable. If the pace is too slow, then maybe some of the information or description needs to be cut or moved to a new place. If the scene doesn't work, maybe it's because nothing really changes, no new questions are raised, or it lacks tension. Or maybe it's something else. Take courage and keep digging...

Writing Tidbits #6

2008-08-11T10:50:00.000-05:00

Dialogue
Keep an eye out for unnatural sounding dialogue. This often occurs when two characters are talking over information primarily to inform the reader of that information. It also happens when the author is attempting to hide information from the reader that the characters know and are referring to in their dialogue. Have someone read over the dialogue to make sure it sounds natural.

On your final draft, read the whole story out loud. This will help you find too-long, awkward, and unnatural-sounding sentences.

Writing Tidbits #5

2008-08-04T11:11:00.000-05:00

Withholding Information

If the point-of-view character knows something, then you must tell the reader that information when the character is thinking about it. Withholding "obvious" information only irritates the reader.

For example, I read a book were a point-of-view character is upset by "the green object"...and she knows what it is. Later, she actually handles it, yet she still thinks of it as "the green object." Near the end, we finally find out it is a green bikini bottom. The mystery would only have increased, not decreased, by giving this information from the start. I would even say that the reader should have known why the bikini bottom troubled her (since she would know). If this spoiled the tension of the story, then she shouldn't have been used as a point-of-view character.

The artificial withholding of information only weakens a tale. If you feel the need to do it, then something foundational isn't working in the story and the artificial withholding of information won't fix it.

Update Getting Published

2008-07-30T14:29:00.002-05:00

I've concluded that writers aren't born manic depressive. The publishing industry makes them that way.

Anyway.

I've already posted about how frustrating this process can be due to miscommunication and because what's wrong is not always obvious. The good news was that all my full-novel critiquers felt the last half of my novel is "great," "perfect," or "powerful." The problem is, though, the beginning isn't strong enough to keep the reader interested until that point.

Ironically, critiques are partly responsible for this. To fix all the problems my alpha readers and latest critiquers pointed out, my first chapter (currently a short prologue) became rather wooden. I've totally re-written it. It has the same setting, the same characters, and the same things occurring, but the dialogue is much more natural and presents Rica's problem in a clearer way (I hope).

I also had some problems with pacing. I didn't keep the tension up and the action fast enough that a reader keeps turning the pages. I think I've finally managed to fix these problems.

I'm now going to set Justice Rising aside for about a month and focus on finishing Rumors of War. By the time I read Justice Rising again, I should have enough distance from the writing that can tell if my fixes worked or if more changes are needed.

Off to my writing...

Writing Tidbits #4

2008-07-28T12:29:00.000-05:00

Tension

Several elements must be present in a story to effectively create tension:

First, something needs to be restricted: the character's knowledge (e.g. who is the killer, where my stalker, what made that sound in the brush, etc.), the amount of time to complete a task (e.g. this task has always taken me ten minutes, but now I only have 4 minutes!), freedom of movement (e.g. the killer is on this island, but there is no way off!), etc.

Second, a character needs to be realistically worried. If the characters aren't concerned or the concerns don't seem valid, then the reader will see no need to worry for them. If a character isn't concerned and the danger does hit, then, at the very least, the reader will think the character a fool for knowing there was danger and not taking any precautions.

The reader will probably be angry at the author if she implies that the reader doesn't need to worry and then kills a character they care about off.

Third, the reader needs to care about what happens to the character. If the reader doesn't like the character, then they might actually feel pleasure rather than fear when the character is in danger.

Tension also needs to build over several sentences, if not longer. If the twig snaps in one sentence and the deer dashes past in the next, then the reader barely has time to register he should be concerned by the time he realizes there was no real danger. The further ahead of time you can foreshadow danger and steadily build the worry, the greater the payoff when the danger does happen. Don't spend a lot of time foreshadowing a danger that isn't real, though.

For example, a woman gets in a car with a male friend, apologizes for the wet umbrella, and comments on the bad storm. There is dialogue between the two, some of it establishing that the man thinks the woman rather timid. Then the car skids a bit on a turn. The woman suggests putting the trip off, but the driver is confident of his car and his driving ability and wants to get this trip done. An argument happens about something else, and perhaps woman is so frightened of the storm that she swears never to let the driver take her anywhere again. Then they come to an old wooden bridge. The brown, fast-flowing water is swirling around the bridge supports only a foot below the surface of the bridge...

The reader will feel cheated if these two drive over the bridge without a problem and arrive without further trouble at their destination. If the car stalls on the bridge, the bridge shakes, but they just manage to get off the bridge safely, the pay-off will be there since the danger was realized. It also works if the bridge collapses while they're on it or right before they edge out onto it.

Also note that the scene wouldn't be nearly as tense if the storm had been mentioned only once, the characters had a pleasant discussion with no concern for the weather, and then suddenly the two were faced with the dangerous bridge.

Writing Tidbits #3

2008-07-21T15:25:00.000-05:00

Telling, Showing, Implying

If the information is vital for understanding the story, then outright state it. ("She feared dogs.")

If the information is important but not vital, then show it in a scene. (Have a scene where the heroine screams and runs away when she sees a dog.)

If the information adds to the story but isn't important, then imply it. (When the stablegirl and prince are out walking, she notices they will pass close to the kennel, so she diverts their route towards the gardens.)

Writing Tidbits #2

2008-07-14T11:06:00.000-05:00

Tension v.s. Surprise

Don't go for surprise over suspense/tension. If you are withholding information to create a surprise later, but it decreases the suspense up to that point in the story, then stop withholding information. Suspense always trumps surprise because suspense is what makes the reader continue reading to the end.

Likewise, twists in the story should never be surprising even if they are unexpected.

Writing Tidbits #1

2008-07-07T16:11:00.000-05:00

"Writing Tidbits" are, in part, to remind me of important writing lessons I've learned. You may find I've sometimes overlooked applying them in my stories, but that's partly because those things don't come naturally to me. I'm writing these Tidbits on this blog in the hopes they may help other writers.

Increasing Tension

If a scene has potential danger, increase the tension for the characters by making them react as if the danger is present (even if you, as the author, know that they don't need to be afraid of the outcome). Don't overlook any opportunity to keep some level of tension in the story. Even if the character is oblivious to the danger, the reader needs to know that the danger is present.

Creating Interesting Characters

2008-06-05T12:08:00.000-05:00

On DeepGenre, David Louis Edelman wrote an article on Building Character(s). In the comments section, Sherwood Smith said something I found very useful about creating interesting characters:

...A couple more possible additions to your list:

1) Character emotional range. If the character is always gloomy, always sarcastic, always with the wise-ass quip, or always nasty, even if he or she has all the motivation in the universe, that character is going to read one-dimensional because we all know we’re a bundle of (usually contradictory) emotional reactions. The hard-assed villain at a light or even tender moment, the hero being off-balance, the side-kick having the cool head, you get the idea, giving characters range helps because:

2) The perception of lack of dimension (I think) comes through readers’ expectations being fulfilled. If the reader can guess ahead of time how a character will react, even if there is every logical reason for the character to do or say that thing, then there’s no growth or guesswork. When the character takes the reader by surprise, I think it ups the ante, the possible interest.

Some Things Change, Others Never Do

2008-06-03T11:57:00.000-05:00

The New York Review of Books (Volume 55, Number 10, June 12, 2008) contains a very interesting article. "The Library in the New Age" by Robert Darnton talks about books and newspapers, how things have and haven't changed, and why printed books will be with use for a long time. I'd encourage people to read the whole article, but the following is an except to whet your curiosity:

Having learned to write news, I now distrust newspapers as a source of information, and I am often surprised by historians who take them as primary sources for knowing what really happened. I think newspapers should be read for information about how contemporaries construed events, rather than for reliable knowledge of events themselves. A study of news during the American Revolution by a graduate student of mine, Will Slauter, provides an example. Will followed accounts of Washington's defeat at the Battle of Brandywine as it was refracted in the American and European press. In the eighteenth century, news normally took the form of isolated paragraphs rather than "stories" as we know them now, and newspapers lifted most of their paragraphs from each other, adding new material picked up from gossips in coffeehouses or ship captains returning from voyages. A loyalist New York newspaper printed the first news of Brandywine with a letter from Washington informing Congress that he had been forced to retreat before the British forces under General William Howe. A copy of the paper traveled by ship, passing from New York to Halifax, Glasgow, and Edinburgh, where the paragraph and the letter were reprinted in a local newspaper.

The Edinburgh reprints were then reprinted in several London papers, each time undergoing subtle changes. The changes were important, because speculators were betting huge sums on the course of the American war, while bears were battling bulls on the Stock Exchange, and the government was about to present a budget to Parliament, where the pro-American opposition was threatening to overthrow the ministry of Lord North. At a distance of three thousand miles and four to six weeks of travel by ship, events in America were crucial for the resolution of this financial and political crisis.

What had actually happened? Londoners had learned to mistrust their newspapers, which frequently distorted the news as they lifted paragraphs from each other. That the original paragraph came from a loyalist American paper made it suspect to the reading public. Its roundabout route made it look even more doubtful, for why would Washington announce his own defeat, while Howe had not yet claimed victory in a dispatch sent directly from Philadelphia, near the scene of the action? Moreover, some reports noted that Lafayette had been wounded in the battle, an impossibility to British readers, who believed (wrongly from earlier, inaccurate reports) that Lafa-yette was far away from Brandywine, fighting against General John Burgoyne near Canada.

Finally, close readings of Washington's letter revealed stylistic touches that could not have come from the pen of a general. One—the use of "arraying" instead of "arranging" troops— later turned out to be a typographical error. Many Londoners therefore concluded that the report was a fraud, designed to promote the interests of the bull speculators and the Tory politicians—all the more so as the press coverage became increasingly inflated through the process of plagiarism. Some London papers claimed that the minor defeat had been a major catastrophe for the Americans, one that had ended with the annihilation of the rebel army and the death of Washington himself. (In fact, he was reported dead four times during the coverage of the war, and the London press declared Benedict Arnold dead twenty-six times.)

Le Courrier de l'Europe, a French newspaper produced in London, printed a translated digest of the English reports with a note warning that they probably were false. This version of the event passed through a dozen French papers produced in the Low Countries, the Rhineland, Switzerland, and France itself. By the time it arrived in Versailles, the news of Washington's defeat had been completely discounted. The comte de Vergennes, France's foreign minister, therefore continued to favor military intervention on the side of the Americans. And in London, when Howe's report of his victory finally arrived after a long delay (he had unaccountably neglected to write for two weeks), it was eclipsed by the more spectacular news of Burgoyne's defeat at Saratoga. So the defeat at Brandywine turned into a case of miswritten and misread news—a media non-event whose meaning was determined by the process of its transmission...

Wisdom Found in Fiction Books #1

2008-04-22T12:20:00.001-05:00

I just finished reading The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith. It's a mystery book, and I don't agree with everything the heroine believes, but I did like this bit:

The problem, of course, was that people did not seem to understand the difference between right and wrong. They needed to be reminded about this, because if you left it to them to work out for themselves, they would never bother. They would just find out what was best for them, and then they would call that the right thing.

Critiques

2008-04-21T14:44:00.002-05:00

For those who don't know, published authors usually have one to five readers who check their story for logical flaws, spelling errors, etc., after the author has finished the story and polished it up the best she can. The most common mistake is that the author sees a scene in her head and thinks she's explained everything in that scene when she hasn't. Blind spots, gotta love them.

It's been a year since I finished Justice Rising, so last month I decided to read it again. I made some minor revisions. I've already had two very helpful readers look at the novel and help me clean up the worst mistakes. I decided to bite the bullet, though, and ask for a few more volunteers from my online writer's workshop to critique my novel. I deeply appreciate these volunteers, so don't take this rant as anything against them.

That said: critiques drive me nuts. I don't mind the criticism, but it's frustrating trying to figure out what, exactly, these ever-helpful critiques mean. For example, I had one person say that most of my characters were two-dimensional cardboard-cutouts. I took that to mean she thought they all had monotone personalities, but she simply was pointing out that I had given very little physical description of several of the characters.

Critiquers, especially fellow writers, often unintentionally give advice to change things that aren't necessarily wrong, but they would write a different way. If I question the advice, I generally wait to see if other critiquers have the same problem. If they do, then the passage needs to be changed. If not, I'll leave it alone knowing that some readers will love the passage and others will think it stinks.

Several critiquers have pointed out the same problem in my first three chapters, though they've stated it in different ways. None of them have correctly pin-pointed the underlying problem because the problem is missing information. I made the assumption that people knew history and how monarchies really worked. Evidently, though, most people think that a monarch is automatically the real highest power in the land and her orders are instantly followed or the miscreant is beheaded. (So far, no one has mentioned dismissals, just beheading.) Also, they seem to believe that monarchs know all information concerning their kingdom rather than only know what their ministers see fit to report to them.

Not to mention the assumption that a seventeen-year-old commoner girl trained to promptly follow the orders of her superiors will instantly transform into this feared, powerful, and all-knowing queen just because this is a fantasy book.

*sigh*

Okay, got that off my chest. I need to re-write to make it clear in the first three chapters that 1) my heroine has been trained to follow orders, not give them; 2) she is isolated from any information sources except her high ministers; and 3) monarchs often follow the advice of their advisors and sometimes have less power than their chancellors.

Off to start my re-writes...

What I'm Watching

2008-04-04T15:11:00.001-05:00

Title: The Lives of Others DVD
Got it: Netflix

I just watched another movie that I thought was so astoundingly good that I wanted to mention it. The movie is primarily about a playwright, his girlfriend, and the man spying on them. It focuses on the human element rather than being an action-packed film.

The Lives of Others is set in 1980s East Berlin and is a foreign language film (meaning subtitles for English). To quote the 'back copy,' it "provides an exquisitely nuanced portrait of life under the watchful eye of the state police as a high-profile couple is bugged. When a successful playwright and his actress companion become subjects of the Stasi's secret surveillance program, their friends, family and even those doing the watching find their lives changed."

Writing a Series

2008-04-01T12:29:00.000-05:00

Today, I was reading Rose Fox's blog post on Strictly for the Fans. She talks about series where each novel is written as a stand-alone (i.e. you can understand and enjoy the novel even if you haven't read the previous novels in the series) or as one long book cut up into separate novels (i.e. you have to read them all in order).

Rose points out:

You would expect authors--and publishers--to want new fans, which means that new books have to be accessible to new readers. Sometimes that's as simple as providing a glossary of terms or a dramatis personae. Some authors resort to the dreaded fantasy world map or the equally and rightly despised infodump prologue. Rather than go that route, I recommend writing an all-around more accessible book.

I try to write my books so that people can join in on any book and still understand what's going on. I try to integrate that information into the book where it's needed as it's needed. I can't understand why an author wouldn't take the time to do this. Any ideas of why (beyond laziness)? Readers may put up with this, but is there anyone out there that likes reading long series that can't be understood unless you start at the beginning? If so, why? I'd like to understand.

Description and Title for My First Novel

2008-03-31T12:23:00.002-05:00

I've been trying to write a "back cover summary" description for my first novel to use when friends ask, "what's it about?"

Here's my attempt:

Rica grew up at a strict military school in an isolated village. She's been trained to obey orders without hesitation and knows little of the world beyond the school except what she's been taught. Her teacher doesn't believe she has what it takes to become an officer, so she's about to start her life as a mercenary when a heavenly being appears. He indicates that she's the new queen of the kingdom of Norida by decree of the kingdom's god.

Norida's high ministers have ruled for twelve years, since the death of the last king. Rica tries to learn her new duties and what powers she holds as Queen, but her High Ministers are more interested in manipulating her into doing as they wish than in educating or obeying her. But she's too stubborn to let that stop her.

When two assassins attack her, Rica realizes that her ministers and perhaps her own guards want her dead. Now she has to discover who her enemies are and bring them to justice while hunted by the very people who should be protecting her.

I've been calling this novel Queen's Justice for some time now, but I'm changing the title to Justice Rising. It hardly matters, though, since any publisher who buys this novel will probably change the title to something else.

What I'm Watching

2008-03-15T12:22:00.002-05:00

Title: The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman DVD
Got it: Netflix

This is a DVD, but I was so moved by it that I had to mention it here. It's based on the novel by Ernest J. Gaines and "follows the life of a black woman born into slavery in the South during the 1850s. 110-year-old Jane Pittman tells her story from her days as a slave during the Civil War to her involvement in the civil rights movement in the early 1960s." It gives a very unique and insightful viewpoint of those times. I'd highly recommend it to anyone.

What I'm Reading

2008-02-22T20:17:00.002-06:00

Title: The Reshaping of Everyday Life: 1790-1840
Author: Jack Larkin
Got it: library

I checked this book out for research purposes. The author quotes diaries, letters, and reports written at the time to help describe how people lived in the years after America gained its independence. He also quotes statistics (on number of children, etc.) and archaeological studies. It's amazing how much changed in just fifty years. I'll warn you that this book is a bit dense (like a textbook), but I never found it boring or difficult to read. If you're researching the time period (authors especially) or are a serious history lover, I'd recommend this book.

What I'm Reading

2008-02-02T12:13:00.002-06:00

Title: The Writer's Guide to Crafting Stories for Children
Author: Nancy Lamb
Got it: Half.com

This is a good book on writing, and I'd highly recommend it to any writer who's just starting out. I didn't learn much new information from the book since I've learned much this from the "writing for children" course I took, from other books, and from critiquing first thirteen lines on Deep Genre and Hatrack. I intend to add this book to my library for periodic review, though, since it's very nice to have all that information in one place.

What I'm Reading

2008-01-11T18:48:00.003-06:00

When I started this blog, I intended to keep a log or journal on the process of getting my fantasy novel published. Then I learned that agents occasionally look at the blogs of authors they're interested in as potential clients. Some of these agents don't like finding out that they're not that author's dream agent or that five or ten or even fifty agents turned that author down already. So I stopped writing about the process because I wasn't sure what was safe to put here. And posting daily "I wrote 1,000 words today on the first draft of my second novel" isn't very interesting news.

So I thought I'd try talking about the books I read; the ones I'm reading to research my novel, improve my writing, or that just plan inspire me. I'll write brief reviews of the books so that I'm not totally wasting your time with this feature. (No, I'm not getting a commission from my links to Books-a-Million or Amazon. If you're interested in buying the book, buy it wherever you like.) So let's start!

So far this year:

Title: The Writer's Digest Writing Clinic
Author: Kelly Nickell
Got it: From the library

This is the book I went to the shelves to find. (Yes, I read it second. I'm fickle.) This book gives examples of various people's writing and how it could be improved to add more tension, have a better end or climax, how to maintain your POV, and so on. It covers fiction and non-fiction writing as well as how to write queries, synopses, and non-fiction proposals. Again, most of this information wasn't new and I didn't read the non-fiction parts, but I still did learn some important things. You see, I've been reading books on how to write better because I've been trying to find the answer to a question I had about how to involve the reader emotionally in my novels. I found my answer in this book. I'd recommend this book if you're a writer, it's at your library, and especially if you don't have access to a critique group.

Reading and Renting

2007-12-05T13:06:00.000-06:00

Lately, I've heard about a few online book rental services that are trying to replicate Netflix but with books. Of course, books aren't as cheap to ship as DVDs are, but some people might be interested in these services. I was. I moved to tiny-little-town, Arkansas from Champaign-Urbana, IL. I was used to huge public libraries with a great inter-library loan system plus access to the libraries at the University of Illinois. If I wanted a book, I generally could get it through the library. Not to mention lots and lots of wonderful new and used bookstores to browse through to find a good book. *happy sigh*

I adore living on my farm, but you have to drive 40-65 minutes (imagine the gas cost) to get to the nearest big bookstores. I've switched entirely to online book buying, and I'm not totally happy with the experience because it's hard to find a book that not only sounds interesting but is written in a style I enjoy. If only all publishers would allow people online to see the first few pages of a book. I've stopped taking chances: if the book sounds fun but I can't read the first few pages, then I don't buy it. The libraries here are actually pretty good if I search through all the libraries within a 20-minute drive, but sometimes online rental sounds tempting since I read 2-4 books each week. Here are a few of the services I've heard about. I'm not endorsing any of them as I've not tried any of them.

Bookswim - Choose from over 185,000 paperback and hardback books.
Paperspine - Choose from over 150,000 paperback books.
Booksfree - Choose from over 100,000 paperback and audio books.
Bookmoch - More of a book sharing service than a book rental service.

Writing that Gets Published

2007-12-04T16:50:00.000-06:00

In a Hatrack River Writer's Worshop thread on how to avoid writing "just another fantasy," author Kathleen Dalton Woodbury wrote this excellent advice:

Possibly the two main things that make people call a story "just another fantasy" are characters that could be interchanged with fifty jillion other fantasy characters and ideas that don't follow [Orson Scott Card]'s advice to toss out the first or second idea you get and wait until the third or fourth or fifth.

He advises this because most people will be likely to come up with the first or second idea (because those ideas are rather obvious to everyone). It's when you really apply your creativity to dig deeper and find the third or fourth or fifth idea that you get interesting stuff....

For my part, if I can't care about the characters, the plot had better be phenomenal, or I won't keep reading. So I'd encourage you to make sure your characters are well-developed, believable, and have interesting motivations.

By the way, the "first and second" ideas bit refers, in this case, to the writer's ideas on how their character will react to the problem in front of them and what will go wrong next.

There are only a few different basic plots, so I would agree with Kathleen is that it's the characters and how they react that truly make a fantasy story "unique." What do you think?

Exercise and Creativity

2007-12-03T19:56:00.000-06:00

On her Writer's Beware blog, Victoria Strauss posted an excerpt of a study done by scientists at Rhode Island College. The study abstract said:

The results supported the hypotheses that creative potential will be greater on completion of moderate aerobic exercise than when not preceded by exercise (immediate effects), that creative potential will be greater following a 2-hr lag time following exercise than when not preceded by exercise (residual effects), and that creative potential will not be significantly different immediately following exercise than after a 2-hr lag time following exercise (enduring residual effects).

I'd never thought about a link between exercise and increased creativity, but I agree that there is a link. I love to swim. Two or three times a week, I swim laps for 45 minutes at an indoor pool. I call it my thinking time because that's when I figure out what will happen next in the scene I've been working on or find a solution to other problems in my life. I then go home and write for an hour or two.

On the days that I don't swim, there's always farm work to do. If I get stuck in my writing, I'll often go outside and weed-whack or whatever. If it's too cold or too hot outside, I'll go into the kitchen and start baking (which means the baking takes a long time to complete--I'm constantly running back and forth between the computer and the kitchen as ideas come to me).

So, have any of you noticed that exercise helps spark your creativity?

Yet More on the Power of Words

2007-11-29T20:19:00.000-06:00

I'm going to have to come up with a new topic to write about as you've probably already gotten the idea that I think people need to be careful with their words. Anyway, this is probably my last rant on the subject.

Joss Whedon wrote an article at firedoglake that points out how words can be wrongfully used to convince readers to dismiss the arguments of others unheard. To quote:

Reporters are funny people. At least, some of the New York Times reporters are. Their story on the [WGA] strike was the most dispiriting and inaccurate that I read....
"All the trappings of a union protest were there... ...But instead of hard hats and work boots, those at the barricades wore arty glasses and fancy scarves."
Oh my God. Arty glasses and fancy scarves. ....My head is aflame with images of writers in ruffled collars, silk pantaloons and ribbons upon their buckled shoes.... Such popinjays, we! ....Delicious.
Except this is exactly the problem. The easiest tactic is for people to paint writers as namby pamby arty scarfy posers, because it’s what most people think even when we’re not striking. Writing is largely not considered work. Art in general is not considered work. Work is a thing you physically labor at, or at the very least, hate. Art is fun. (And Hollywood writers are overpaid, scarf-wearing dainties.) It’s an easy argument to make. And a hard one to dispute.
....
"The trappings of a union protest..." You see how that works? Since we aren’t real workers, this isn’t a real union issue. (We’re just a guild!) ...[But] this IS a union issue, one that will affect not just artists but every member of a community... This is about a fair wage for our work. No different than any other union.

Nice Quote

2007-11-20T10:56:00.001-06:00

Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.
~ G.K. Chesterton

I like that quote because that's the type of books I like to read and the type I hope I write.

More on the Importance of Words

2007-11-10T11:58:00.000-06:00

A.C. Crispin, in a blog post on Agents and Publishing in Film and Television...Ahem, said:

But Hollyweird did its usual number in presenting the main character's life as a writer, and his relationship with his agent and publisher. (In a word: unrealistic.)
As Michael and I left the theater, it suddenly occurred to me that Hollywood is at least partially to blame for the inordinate numbers of aspiring writers that are scammed by literary agents and publishers these days. The agents and publishers shown on the silver screen bear little to no resemblance to the way it really is, and that helps create a lot of confusion in the public perception.

I frequently come across beginning writers (especially in fantasy) that stridently defend their lack of research on the "real" things in their book by saying that it's fantasy or fiction. I truly believe that such stories are less likely to be published because readers don't feel completely immersed in the story. They're always subtly aware that things aren't right and so don't trust any of the story to be "real." However, I'm also concerned that these writers don't feel any responsibility to not misrepresent thing. There will always be readers or movie-watchers who don't know any better and trust that what is portrayed on the screen or described in a book is accurate when it's not. Read A.C. Crispin's full post for another example of this misrepresentation can be detrimental.

The Power of Words

2007-10-31T11:15:00.000-05:00

Not everyone will agree with what I'm writing today, but I hope you'll not get too angry with me if you don't like what I say.

Despite the fact I write fantasy, I recognize the power of words and of stories. Many people dismiss the power of stories with "I know it's fantasy, so how can it affect me?" Yet our whole objective as writers is to create realistic characters and situations even in a fantasy, mystery, or thriller novel.

You may dismiss that writing "perfect sex" in every sex scene doesn't build up a dissatisfaction in the reader that such doesn't happen in real life, or that pictures of air-brushed, super-skinny models don't set up women to feel like they aren't pretty, or that repeated images of violence on TV or in games don't make children react more violently in real life. Yet I've seen statistics that say the last two things are definitely true.

So does it really matter that the sound effect used for guns in movies doesn't sound like a real gun going off? For most people, the answer is probably "no." But I read a newspaper story about a woman who didn't hit the pavement quickly enough during a random street shooting because she thought fireworks were going off rather than a gun.

Does it matter that most people unconsciously base their sense of reality on what they see in movies, read in the newspaper, or read in a book...even when they consciously know how often those sources get things wrong when applied to what they have seen and experienced? Maybe not. But here's a quote worth considering (from an article by Peggy Noonan):

On the Thomas stories, which I read not when they came out but when they began to come under scrutiny, I had a similar thought, or a variation of it. I thought: That's not Iraq, that's a Vietnam War movie. That's not life as it's being lived on the ground right now, that's life as an editor absorbed it through media. That's the dark world of Kubrick and Coppola and Oliver Stone, of the great Vietnam movies of the '70s and '80s.

If that's what you absorbed during the past 20 or 30 years, it just might make sense to you, it would actually seem believable, if a fellow in Iraq wrote for you about taunting scarred women, shooting dogs, and wearing skulls as helmets. This is the offhand brutality of war. You know. You saw it in a movie.

If you'd had a broader array of references, and were less preoccupied by the media that is the great occupying force in our own country, and you were the editor of the Thomas pieces, you might have said, "Whoa." Just whoa.

When you write, never forget that you're subtly shaping someone's sense of reality. It's an awesome responsibility.

Progress on Rumors of War

2007-10-29T20:08:00.001-05:00

I've now written 12,000 words on my second novel, Rumors of War. I'm writing whatever scene interests me when I sit down to write, but I've found that I'm writing more from the start of the novel this time. On my first novel, I wrote my first scene, my last scene, and then repeatedly wrote the scene previous to the one I had just finished. That method really worked well for me, but I guess I've been thinking more about the beginning on this one.

I need to get back to writing. This is still fun. :)

Starting My Second Novel

2007-10-21T21:11:00.000-05:00

I feel like I've been spending all my writing time obsessed with selling my first novel. While I want that novel published, what I really want to be doing is writing my next novel. I've already worked out the outline of the new novel in my head, so yesterday I started writing one of the scenes. I only got a page done, but I got another half-page done today. I guess I've officially started on my second novel now.

This is fun... :)

Depressing Day

2007-09-03T15:07:00.000-05:00

It's always fun to find out that, despite carefully following directions, my e-query really was eaten by the dreaded internet monster (a.k.a. a SPAM filter). Hmph. And, yes, I did check my own SPAM folder each day to make sure the reply wasn't diverted there. Oh, well. At least I didn't waste the last three months. I created a synopsis, improved my query letter, read publishing blogs, and researched agents. Time to start querying other agents.

[July 27, 2008 comment: I made a common newbie mistake here. I only queried one person and then waited until the outer response-time guideline was up before querying anyone else. I did this because I thought the person was the best fit for my novel, but I've learned that a writer just can't judge that accurately. Generally, a writer should query around ten agents at a time and not wait with baited breath for a response.]

A Little Bit About Me

2007-06-07T18:07:00.000-05:00

I've always been a storyteller. Even as a teenager, I'd make up stories to tell myself as I was falling asleep. I was never very good at writing them down, though. If I started writing one of my stories, I'd mentally finish it and move on to the next story before I had more than the first chapter written down. (Part of my problem has always been the desire to re-write a scene until it is perfect. I'd never get around to writing the rest of the story. Now I force myself to write the complete story down before editing it.)

When I was in high school, I saw an ad for a mail-in course on writing children's literature. It was with the Institute of Children's Literature. I somehow (and I'm still not sure how) convinced my parents to let me take this course. The Institute wrote back saying they normally didn't take students as young as I was, but that my writing was good enough that they'd decided to accept me. I took the course and learned a lot from it. However, my teacher didn't really like my fantasy stories. She saw that I was very good at writing educational stuff and encouraged me in that direction.

I turned in my last assignment--a fantasy story!--right before heading off for college. It was returned with a "you can do better than this--try again!" note. Well, I probably could, but I was too busy with school work and settling in at college. Nearly two years later, in 1996, I finally decided that it would be a shame not to finish the course. I wrote another fantasy story. Back came a letter saying, "I never thought to hear from you again after so much time!" along with some notes on my story and a graduation certificate.

At that point, I started to ponder how I could combine my college major--equine science--with writing. I decided to create a CD-ROM on horse care for my Honor's Thesis. I sat in on a graduate-level course on authoring CD-ROMs and created my first CD-ROM on how to select, buy, and care for a horse. My equine science teacher knew about this and asked me to do my internship with her. Some of my fellow students had troubles learning the various horse gaits (e.g. walk, trot, canter, gallop, foxtrot, rack, slow gait), and my teacher wanted me to write a CD-ROM teaching this information. My "Horse Movement and Gaits" CD-ROM is now used by many universities, horse clubs, and individuals all over the world. After I graduated, I refined that CD-ROM and went on to produce CD-ROMs on "A Guide to Horse Nutrition" and "Horse Conformation & Athletic Movement."

About a year ago, I decided to write fantasy stories again. Looking back, I can see that my Children's Literature teacher was right about the problems with those stories. I can also see how far I've come in my skill as a writer. One bonus in writing educational CD-ROMs is that it taught me how to clearly convey information in as few words as possible. That is a very important skill for any writer.

Writing fantasy is very different from writing educational CD-ROMs, but I love it!

The Big Day

2007-05-30T15:21:00.000-05:00

Back on October 21, 2006, I was watching a movie that inspired the question, "What would happen if a queen had to join a rebellion against her own government to regain her power?" I immediately had a scene pop into my mind of what would start the whole situation. I started writing that night. By November 17, had the first draft of the story done at about 60,000 words. I knew that I needed about 80,000 to 100,000 for a saleable novel, so I was worried by that. Still, this was only the first draft. I purposely hadn't done any revising during first draft because I tend to get myself bogged down if I do.

I went over the story to polish things up and add description ("show, don't tell" that I hadn't taken time to put in the first draft). I also made sure that everything was consistent. I then had four readers look my whole manuscript over. I also had numerous critiques of the first few chapters by a number of aspiring writers. In the end, I did five main revisions of the manuscript. The final draft of the manuscript was finished by May 13, 2007 and now has a 82,800 word count.

My query letter is now written and revised, so now it's time to see how the publishing industry likes my novel!