Socializing

Writing is a lonely endeavor. Even with family and friends encouraging and inquiring about it, the writer sits and works in isolation. There is social media. One can tweet, pin, or post on Facebook. I’ve killed hours or precious writing time doing just that. But the act of writing remains solitary.

This week there was a social event for writers. Carol Lynch Williams and Ann Dee Ellis organized it. They may have had help from Queen Bee, Kyra Leigh. All of them host the blog, Throwing Up Words (http://throwingupwords.wordpress.com). Carol and company have down this before and a few weeks ago they posted to their blog they were doing it again.

We met at Olive Garden in Provo, about twenty of us or so. We ate, socialized, laughed, ate some more, read from our writing, and shared successes. Some of us read from our novels in progress, a few shared screenplays. Some brought spouses, some spouses were writers, too. It was a pleasant evening.

The best thing though, was the camaraderie. There were actual writers, sitting in that room, across from you and to your sides. Other people who struggle, have doubts, and continue to write away. There’s a bunch of us out there. We work in isolation, but it’s so good to know we’re not alone.

Thanks Carol, Ann Dee, and Kyra. Let’s do that again, sometime.

(This article also posted at http://writetimeluck.blogspot.com)

Voice

It is one of those elusive things. Writers try to develop it. Publishers look for one that is unique. It is an essential element of effective writing. So what the heck is voice?

Simply put, voice is the way you write, your individual writing style. As there are a zillion of us tapping away at keyboards, there are just as many variations on voice. As a trumpet, a clarinet, and a violin all are capable of playing a melody, the sound of each produces will be different. Voice conveys the author’s attitude and personality. It’s what makes writers unique; it’s what makes your writing pop. It’s what draws a reader into a story.

Ann Cannon posted recently on her blog about voice. She says that “we all recognize it when we see it—a narrative style that makes you sit up and take notice, one that feels fresh and wholly original—a style that is as unique and individual as an author herself.  Voice elevates an ordinary story and makes it memorable, even extraordinary—and when a voice feels authentic, we as readers feel like something so natural must also be easy to pull off.” Then she confesses it is not easy.

I will be the assistant for Ann at the Writing and Illustrating For Young Readers (WIFYR) conference again this June and my guess is she is planning something on voice. She has assigned us to read the works of two masters of voice, Carol Lynch Williams and Ann Dee Ellis, both Utah writers.

I had read Carol’s The Chosen One a few years back. Rereading it does not diminish the power of her voice. Carol writes with such authority. The main character Kyra’s story is so compelling, the reader is completely pulled in. It is hard to put down and the voice stays with you after you close the book.

Ann Dee Ellis displays her gift of voice in both her first two books, This Is What I Did and Everything is Fine. I’ve just begun hearer latest, The End Or Something Like That, and it promises to serve a big slice of voice. Ann Cannon can’t think of another YA writer “who has the gift of voice in the way she does…  Ann Dee’s voice draws you into fictional words that simultaneously ring both eccentric and true. Her use of language is startling.”

Ann Dee will be doing the WIFYR Friday mini-worship and her topic just so happens to be, drum roll, please,  voice. Carol and Ann are running morning workshops. Carol’s class is full, but if you want to learn a thing or two about voice, there are still spots available with both Ann and Ann Dee.

(This article also posted at http://writetimeluck.blogspot.com)

Not loving it

A couple weeks back I shared Peter Stenson's ideas about creating a compelling story. Part of it is just forcing you to sit down at the keyboard and write. Nothing tough about that, assuming you have no other life, no other people in that life, and none of those people with demands on your time.

I've been good. Except for a few occasions, I've been writing every day. Been keeping a writing log, too, so I can prove it. With Carol Williams' marathon starting tomorrow, I set a 90-minute writing goal for one project and just to get off on the write foot, I've met or exceeded it.

The other part of Stenson's savvy words is harder to achieve. He said to give yourself over to your novel. You should live, breathe, drink you story all day long. Talk to your characters, allow yourself to think like them.

That's the place I'm not yet at. I dutifully do my 90 minutes then put them away until the next day. I've compartmentalized. These little chores around the house are stored in this box, my relationship with this person in that one, and my novel neatly packaged away over there. It's good for the rest of my life but not for my writing.

Some things I've written as Stenson suggests. The story rattles around in the brain long after the computer has been shut down. I miss that.

I was talking to Ann Dee Ellis and Cheri Pray Earl about this one time. Ann Dee loves the revision part and is not keen on the original story. I told her I felt the opposite. I like the initial laying down of the story and only put up with the revision. At least it used to. On the current project, I miss that, too.

(This article also posted at http://writetimeluck.blogspot.com )

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?

Falling in love

-->

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.

NaNoWriMo week 1

It sounded like a good idea, but I knew there was now way I could plunk down 1666 words a day. Since I was doomed to fail from the start, I wasn’t going to do NaNo.

Now I’m in the thick of it.

Honestly, there is not enough time in the day. My wife still insists on normal things getting done. She hasn’t approved a 30-day hiatus from obligations. We’re used to three meals a day, so eight hours of it is spent at work. How you people with children in the home can add that extra load is beyond me. (Ann Dee Ellis had some words about managing all that her blog this week. http://throwingupwords.wordpress.com/2012/11/06/swimming/ )

My word count is low, terribly low. The NaNo site has a great personal word tracker. I’m averaging 474 words a day and my count on the bar graph falls far below the upward moving goal line. At this rate they project February 2013 is when I’ll reach 50,000. I guess that makes it NoNoWr4Mo. I need to pump out 2155 words a day to make it by December. Have you ever tried to write that many words a day? Last evening, I sat down to reach at least 1666. I wrote until midnight and I only got 667, exactly a thousand short. See? I knew I wouldn’t be able to “win.”

Yet, I still think I’m winning. I’m getting a new story cranked out. I’ve had this one in mind for a while and other commitments have kept it on the back burner. I wish I had planned it last month so I could write it this. I took one day off (couldn’t stop watching the election results) and that threw my momentum off. Then on Wednesday my story went sour and it took Thursday’s writing minutes to sketch a few things out. The only way to repair it was to re-write the first several chapters. But that’s revision and NaNo is pure rough writing. Too bad. That’s what it needed and now I’m back on track. My track, mind you. I’m not one of the Kenyans at the front of the marathon. I’m bringing up the rear. But I’m winning. For now.

Ain't it wonderful?

Technology has come a long way and writers are among the many who have benefited. Gone are the days a writer scribbled her words on paper, replaced by the typewriter. Then to have an electric one, with self-correcting tape was heaven. With a keystroke or two I can spell check, use a thesaurus to find a better word, and easily pick up text and rearrange in a more suitable spot. Of course, future generations will not find our tattered hand-written manuscripts hidden away in some attic, a small price to pay for progress.

Should we need to check accuracy on details in a story, a quick Google search can provide the facts as well as a distraction from the writing at hand. Wikipedia can tell you anything from aardvarks to zebras.

But the real advantage is in the form of social media. There are forums, blogs, and videos for every human endeavor imaginable: quilting, sports, gardening, gaming, and of course, writing. There are how to instructions for drafting, composing, editing, or for writing a query letter or synopsis. You can go online and discover which houses most likely would be interested in your work.

And there are plain old blogs. The Utah Children’s Writers blog is one that comes to mind. Perhaps you’ve read it? Go there and you can find a list of 30 or more other blogs. Most blogs have a link where you can subscribe, which gives you an email and link when a new post goes up.

There are others. You can enjoy the thoughts of local writing goddess, Carol Williams. She is accompanied by and Ann Dee Ellis and Kyra at http://throwingupwords.wordpress.com/ . Sometimes it is the only way.

Another I subscribe to is From the Mixed-Up Files of Middle Grade Authors. These talented writers, including Utah’s own Elissa Cruz, focus primarily works for upper elementary children. Yet they have so much more, including book lists and special pages for children, teachers and librarians, and other writers. The URL is http://www.fromthemixedupfiles.com/

Chuck Sambuchino’s Guide to Literary Agents blog features timely information when you’re ready to publish. In addition to various articles, several times a week, he mentions new agents and lists the kind of writing they are interested in. You can view it at http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents

There are others, too numerous to mention. I like Mary Kole’s http://kidlit.com/ and the Children’s Book Insider http://cbiclubhouse.com/ although the latter is a for profit site. The http://www.wifyr.com/blog/ can keep you abreast of news about WIFYR. The list goes on and on.