Experts

I think I’m studying this thing too much. When I first began writing, I wrote carefree, jotting down events as they came to mind. Then I was introduced to WIFYR and became aware that there are formats and procedures and formulae to follow. More and more, I began to research what the experts were saying on writing. Now I’ve got so many “do this, don’t do that” things going on in my head, I’m bound to go against some expert’s opinion with every sentence I write.

Cheryl Klein, Martine Leavitt, Alane Ferguson, Ann Dee Ellis, Mathew Kirby, Kathleen Duey; these are some of the gurus to whose savvy advice I try to adhere. The latest is John Truby. I recently caught up on some back copies of the SCBWI journal when I ran across an article in the November/December issue. It talked about Truby’s book, The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller. Silly me. I went out and purchased it.

I’m not sure which of the 22 steps I’m on, as they are not readily laid out in the table of contents. Truby addresses story anatomy from a screenwriter’s perspective but his concepts can be adapted to any fiction writing. I’m on the chapter about story structure. Truby says story structure is how a story develops over time.

He says your MC must have a weakness and a need. The weakness could be the character is arrogant or selfish or a liar and the need is to overcome the weakness. Then there must be desire, which is not the same as need. Desire is what the character wants. It is the driving force in the story and something the reader hopes he attains. Need has to do with a weakness within the character and desire is a goal outside of the character. The hero must, of course meet an opponent. Truby says the opponent does not try to prevent the MC from accomplishing their goal as much as they are in competition for the same thing. In a mystery story, it would seem the protagonist is opposed to the perpetrator of the crime. Under the surface, however, they are both competing for their version of the truth to be believed.

This is where the conflict is with my work-in-progress (my incredibly slow work-in-progress). It’s a middle grade book, so the story is not as intricate. Do kid characters need the complexity of adult characters? I get it that you can’t make them too sterile, too one-sided. Should a middle grade MC be arrogant or a liar?

Likewise, I’m having trouble with the opponent aspect. In my story, there is no real antagonist. There is a mystery the MC is trying to solve, but no person is preventing him.

The experts say do this or do that. My gut tells me different. What’s a poor writer to do?

Voice

Last week Scott Rhoades mentioned its importance. Cheryl Klein calls it the soul of the novel. Agents and publishers are looking for fresh ones. But what is this nebulous thing called voice?

Simply put, voice is the individual style of the author. It is what makes her writing unique. It conveys the author's attitude, personality, and character.

Author’s voice is different than finding the voice of your character. Some talk of sitting in a school cafeteria or eavesdropping at the mall in order to discern the voice of a teen. This discussion concerns author’s unique style.

Rachelle Gardner, agent for Books & Such Literary Agency, says voice is “about your originality and having the courage to express it.” Gardner says “your writer’s voice is the expression of YOU on the page.” She goes on to say that, as consumers of stories in books and on screen, we may unwittingly regurgitate characters or stories we’ve heard. Writers must strive to be original. Voice is somehow allowing the uniqueness of ourselves come out on the page. It is that simple. It is that complex.

How does one do that? Voice is not something you can study or learn. It is something you have to find, that develops. It grows and matures with your writing. Most agree that to develop you voice you have to write. And write and write.

I wanted to understand it so I set out to examine voice. It seems the more I examined it, the less I know.

Falling in love

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Not only do you have to nail the first line, you also have to have some staying power to keep them reading.

Cheryl Klein likens it to falling in love. You see a person across the way and are intrigued – that’s the cover. You inquire about them and learn a little more, or read the flap copy. You invest a little time in them to see if a relationship is possible. With a book, you read the first chapter and either fall in love or disengage.

In Second Sight: An Editor’s Talks on Writing, Revising, and Publishing Books fro Children and Young Adults, Klein discusses rules of engagement. There first must be voice, the soul of the book, the foundation upon which the whole novel is built. The narrative voice must be that of a person the reader is interested in. Readers don’t have to like the person, just be fascinated by them. She offers tactics to build that intrigue through voice.

She says your character must be real, their behavior anchored in real human psychology and behavior. This applies even to fantasy or books with animal narrators. They must take action. The story should start with the MC driving the action or responding to circumstances they find themselves in. The opening should be surprising or strive for mystery. Try to pique the reader with questions that can only be answered by reading further. The ultimate goal of the first chapter is to hook the reader with intrigue about a character they are interested in.

It just so happens that Writer’s Digest posted an article with tips for starting a novel at the same time I’m seriously trying to rewrite my NaNo piece. I read the article, followed the links then purchased the download.

James Scott Bell had an article in the January issue. He says you need to create a doorway of no return for you MC by the first fifth of the book. Local author Ann Dee Ellis, at a WIFYR workshop a few years back, first introduced me to this idea. Ann Dee says there must be a change that prompts the novel. Something must happen, either to your protagonist or by them, so that their world is different. Bell calls it a disturbance you create for your character that will force him into the conflict/confrontation central to the plot.

So to have your reader fall in love at first sight, provide them with intrigue and a reason to care about your main character. For a lasting relationship, send the MC through a door of no return.

Writig resolutions

In his post yesterday, Scott asked who does resolutions.

Maybe I’m an old fashioned kind of guy, but I like making New Year’s resolutions. The start of a new year is a time to reflect on what has been accomplished the last twelve months and how things could be improved. It’s a new beginning on the same old life. A fresh start is a chance to break old habits and establish new ones.

Not that I stick to them.  Sometimes they are out of here as fast as the Christmas tree waiting on the pick-up curb. A stroke of genius on December 31 can become a hazy memory on New Year’s Day. Some may make it a few weeks out. That new gym membership gets used for a couple of weeks but by March is a waste of money. Good intentions. Lousy follow-through.

After failing consistently for the last umpteen New Years, I’m becoming an expert at making resolutions. General, overall goals seem better than specific, time-dated ones. For example, if I resolve to exercise daily, then I give up on it after the first day I miss, usually around Jan. 3^rd or 5^th. When I tell myself to walk three or four times a week and fit in a yoga class here and there, I am more successful.

A few years back I took stock of things and resolved to write that book that had been on the brain for twenty years. Look where I am now. I thought I had talent and could write and made a rough draft. A friend suggested WYFIR. I learned there’s a difference between talent and writing skill. Six years later and I’m still learning the craft.

So, be it resolved:
-of course the usual: end to world hunger, lose twenty pounds, fast car, etc., etc.
-and the more doable goals: garage cleaned by 2018, think about what I'm eating once in a while, and what-not.

My Writing Resolutions for 2013

1. Finish revising project A by the end January.

2. Research agents and editors, find the best fit for my manuscript, create a killer query, and turn off writer mode and switch to salesperson.

3. Get Project A signed on with an agent or publisher. (Out of my hands. I know. Had to throw it in.)

4. Figure out project B. That is my new NaNoWriMo story and it is far from finished.

5. Attend a writing conference. I’m going to WIFYR again this year; that is a given. I’ll make it two conferences then. I did Cheryl Klein’s plot class in November. Nothing better to inspire writing than a workshop on the craft.

6. Stay connected with my critiquers. You guys are great.
7. Write daily. I do best with a 60-minute a day goal. Some days it doesn’t happen, but the goal itself keeps me there even on those days when you can’t squeeze in an hour.

8. Read daily. Someone once said that reading counts as writing time. Though most people my age read adult fiction, we children’s writers tend to go for something aimed at younger audiences. There are a lot of excellent children’s stories out there and reading them makes your own better.

9. Establish an online presence. Publishers want to know the writer is doing what they can to promote their book.

All this and yet balance it out with the rest of my life. Oh, and one more. I resolve to have my Saturday posts finished by Friday evenings.

NaNoWrMo week 2

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We’ve crossed the halfway point so we all are up to at least 25,000 words.

Yeah, right.

I spent the day with some writing friends at Cheryl Klein’s plot class and the number people not doing NaNo this year surprised me. The obsession with word count and winning seems to be at issue. It is a worthy goal for some, yet a source of discouragement for others.

Cheryl Klein’s workshop was excellent, by the way. It deserves a post of its own one of these days.

This is my first NaNo so maybe the lack of experience equates to indifference, or low standards. I almost didn’t enter, knowing I simply do not have the time to slap down 1600 words each day. And if I’m doomed from the start, why even try?

If I get to 25,000 by the end of the month, I will be happy. In the middle of the week, I started keeping track. I’ve topped 700 once. My current rate is somewhere between 450 and 475 words per hour. I don’t have four hours a day to write. I can’t find much more than an hour a day.

NaNo calls for a different writing strategy. I get too meticulous, too compulsive in my normal writing mode. I can’t go onto chapter 2 until everything is right in the first. Each chapter requires perfection of the previous. This is on the first draft, mind you, bound to be re-written anyway in later drafts. NaNo has been nice in that I’m forced out of my comfort zone. You just throw it down. The heck with whether it’s right and it is liberating. Don’t need to worry about spell-check, only about ignoring those irritating red underlining the offending word. When I come to a difficult part, I write a note to myself to have the character do this or say that then move on. It moves the story and pads my word count.

Problems have arisen in the storyline itself, some minor, some not. I hate my main character’s name and have tried on three or four on him. None of them work so far, but it’s not a deal-breaker. There have been moments of doubt and realization that there is no story. Now, that’s a showstopper. It takes more wind out of the sails than low word count. So I’ve had to halt and spend part of my hour a day planning or Googling something for accuracy. I did write out my research notes and included them in my word count, too. Every little bit helps.

50,000 words by December 1? It doesn’t look like it’s going to happen. A rough draft of a story? Maybe not even that. I will have a several thousand words and notes and other superfluous crap to edit through and mold into a story. That’s a win for me.

Character chart

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I’m going for NaNoWriMo and it’s kind of exciting. Never done it before and almost didn’t do it again this year. I know I will not accomplish the goal. There are too many things going on, still. Plus I signed up for Cheryl Klein’s plot class. That’s an all-day Saturday in the middle of the month and the lady has a labor-intensive pre-class assignment. Plus there’s election night and Thanksgiving. And do I have my new project planned out enough to go? Doesn’t matter. I’m trying NaNoWriMo anyway.

I’ve got the write-it-in-30-days storyline roughed out in mind. Now I need characters to carry the story. Middle grade boys need something to read so there’s my MC. He’s got to have a dog; every kid needs a dog. It’s set suburban modern day so he has access to technology, social media, 5^th grader mode of transportation, etc. So now who is my kid?

Charlotte Dillon at www.charlottedillon.com has a very nice site to help you get to know your main character. Besides sage advice on the people in your story her site has some great links, though some of them are no longer active. She also offers a character chart. You can cut and paste into a Word document then fill in. The chart is designed for adult characters, but children’s writers can pull from it as well. The exercise is obvious for your main character, but the antagonist and other major players deserve a chart of their own.

Dillon starts with the basics: character’s name, nickname, age, physical features, family and friends, etc. She suggests tag lines or gestures such as “holy moly” or cracking of knuckles so when those things are done or said, the reader knows whom. Dillon goes deeper with what she calls the character’s character. What are their good points or bad, their attitude and temperament, their weaknesses and phobias? What do they want, what’s their motivation, and how driven are they to achieve it?

Similar to Kathleen Duey, Dillon has questions to ask your character to get to the heart of them. They include:

-If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

-What do you do when you are angry?

-Do you have a secret passion? What? Why is it a passion? And why is it a secret?

-Deep down, what does you really think of yourself? Are you fair, moral, honest, etc.?

-How do you deal with anger, sadness, external/internal conflict, change, loss, jealousy, hurt, etc.? Why?

-And my personal favorite: If you had a weakness for one of the seven deadly sins, which one would it be and why? (pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, sloth)

It’s still early in NaNoWriMo. It may be worth your time to get to know your characters before you get too far into it.