All the pieces

Writer’s should read and perhaps the most compelling reason is that reading good writing reminds us of what we aspire to. 

There are a few authors whom I want to write like. On is Matt Kirby after reading Icefall.  Gary Schmidt’s Doug character pulled me into Okay For Now. MG author Tom Angleberger impressed me the way he saved the final resolution of The Strange Case of the Origami Yoda until the last page. And John Green is John Green. Who wouldn’t want to write like him? 

Add to that list Carol Lynch Williams.

Carol is an amazing writer. I just finished The Chosen One for the second time and once again was blown away. Ann Cannon has assigned reading The Chosen One as part of our WIFYR workshop. I checked it out online through Overdrive and received both the audio version and an epub format.

There are number of elements key to a good book. These include compelling characters, dramatic events, believable settings, and a strong writers’s voice. Carol not only applies them, but squeezes the most from each. 

She draws you in immediately with her first line, “If I was going to kill the prophet,” I say, not even keeping my voice low, “I’d do it in Africa.” Thus begins the story of a 13-year old polygamous girl chosen to marry her 60-year old uncle. 

Most of us Utahans may have encountered polygamists on the street and peered curiously at them. Carol takes us inside an isolated polygamous community where we accept as normal the three wives of Kyra’s father. Carol enriches her setting with scorching heat, red desert dust, and Russian olive trees.

The Chosen One is character driven and Kyra is a compelling MC. She unquestioningly accepts the lifestyle yet does not fit the mold they have cast for her. Books have been banned as the devil’s words, yet she has a yearning to read. Kyra has an interest in a boy and wants to choose him to marry rather that have the prophet dictate who her husband is to be. 

Besides her incredible voice, a technique Carol employees masterfully, is the way she raises the stakes for Kyra. This poor girl not only must deal with her sins against the rules of the community and the approaching marriage to the uncle she despises, but faces other traumas. Carol perpetually ratchets the tension until resolving the story nicely.

Carol’s an amazing writer. She also puts on a great writing conference, coming up later this month. (Classes still open, more info here.)

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

Icefall

Right as I struggle to get a new story off the ground, along comes a great read to make mine look even suckier.

Matthew Kirby’s Icefall is an inspiration. The book has a good storyline and engaging characters. It is a model of superb writing, the kind of story I want to write.

Setting can be a main character and Kirby sets the tone the first sentence: “The fjord is freezing over.” Like this January in Salt Lake, winter grips the Scandinavian landscape and refuses to relinquish. Solveig, the narrator, tells us “winter is here to wall us up, bury us in snow and keep us safe.” That leads to plot.

Solveig and her siblings and guards to protect them are sent into hiding in this barren terrain to keep them safe from the warlord her father is battling. The winter is harsh, the soldiers become restless, and the effect of being cooped together in a small area is compounded when it becomes apparent that a traitor is in their midst. Who among her father’s trusted men has turned against them?

Solveig, is not pretty like her older sister, nor bound to inherit her father’s kingdom like her younger brother. She is plain and unimportant. She embarks on a journey to find her calling and is assisted by strong supporting characters and the inner strength she finds within herself.

Matthew Kirby is (or was – I heard he moved) a local Utah writer. He ran a workshop last year at WIFYR and is on board to do so again this summer. Two years ago, he presented an incredible afternoon breakout session about plot. He said characters must drive the plot, as does Solveig in Icefall. Kirby talked about layering the outer and inner plots. The outer plot is the series of events and the inner is the emotional change it produces in the protagonist. An inciting event occurs which raises the stakes. This incites a re-orientation of the MC who reacts. Another outer plot incident ratchets up the tension and is followed with inner psychological change. The outer and inner plots must escalate together and the author must aim the trajectory at a point where it seems all is lost. This goes on until the climax, the moment at which point the inner and outer plots confluence.

Kirby effectively uses this strategy with Icefall. He nailed it with his first book, The Clockwork Three. The guy is a master storyteller.