Just 2 Things . . .!

There are two things I've learned from a course that I'm taking to help cut down on information dumping, back story, extra words, phrases, scenes or even chapters (or whatever else you can include in this list).

Ask yourself this as you edit:


1. Does it strengthen the character?

2. Does it pull the story forward?






What's in your toolbox?

Research Trip!

One day, many years ago, my characters got stuck in an elevator. They were on the run, in terrible danger, and had to escape fast. But I couldn't help them. They were stuck because I didn't know what the inside of the elevator looked like. I had no idea what their escape options were.

So I packed my three-year-old and my new baby into the car and went elevator hunting.

I drove to the nearest multi-story building I knew of--a satellite campus of the local community college. As I parked I told my three-year-old that we were going riding in an elevator. He was thrilled.

With baby in the stroller and pre-schooler in tow, I breezed in through the front doors like I belonged there. I found an elevator, let my son push the button, and waited.

Fortunately, no one else wanted the elevator at the moment.

We rode up to the top story and back down again. Plenty of time for me to memorize the inside of the elevator, and even try putting my foot on the handrail to give myself a boost up to the emergency hatch on the ceiling. Back on the ground floor, I wheeled the stroller out to the car, buckled everyone in, then drove home to finish writing the scene.

What's the craziest thing you've done for a research trip?

Getting a True Response

Posted by Jonene Ficklin

You know how you want to be a fly on the wall when someone’s reading (or in our case, listening to) your story?

Well, nothing beats the honesty of young children. Everyone knows that. If they’re bored, they don’t politely yawn and pat their mouth and look at their watches. No, they moan, roll their eyes and collapse over something.

On the flip side, when they’re entertained, they laugh, they giggle, they can’t hold still. They actually cheer and do jigs – well ‘jigging’ is a bit old-fashioned – it’s more like munchkin break-dancing. Anyway, it’s exciting when the reason for so much excitement comes from the product of minds and hands you know.

Yesterday, that happened to a friend and I got to be there. It was awesome! A fellow writer and I went into a fourth grade class. My friend has written several children’s books, one of which I’d illustrated. She read her story with a great aplomb, giving each character voices and accents. (Watch out Jim Dale, you have competition.) I held up the illustrations and watched the children’s reactions.

I wish my friend could have seen how they responded to her story (she saw bits, but had to look at the pages she read), because it was delightful.

They laughed, frowned, and gasped in all the right places. I actually saw a jaw drop and hands clapped over a mouth. One boy’s feet started going ninety miles an hour under his desk.

Success!

It was true entertainment – at least to me, because I really admire this friend and love to see her story being truly appreciated by her target audience. And I can’t wait to do it again.

Recommended Reading

Posted by Susan Kaye Quinn

What writing books would you recommend?

Rebecca recommended Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace to me a while ago, and I still recommend it to others that want to boost their craft. I recently purchased Ursula K. LeGuin's Steering the Craft, based on a recommendation from a talented author/speaker at a conference. Sadly, I've purchased many books on writing that weren't worth the money, or the time. I find recommended books from talented authors I respect tend to be the best.

Which is where you come in!

I'll take any recommendations and add them to my TBR, but in particular, I'm looking for books that talk about plotting or storytelling.

Thanks, me hearties!

What's in a First Draft?

posted by Rebecca J. Carlson

It's NaNoWriMo, that festive time of year when folks send the internal editor on a long vacation and try to get as many words on the page as fast as they can. There's something wonderful and free about charging headlong into a writing project. Who cares if its 50,000 words of slush?

Actually, I do care, because I'm going to want to revise that slush.

I know I'm not supposed to think about it too much while I'm drafting, but there's got to be something of merit happening somewhere to make all those words WORTH revising.

What do you focus on when you write a first draft?


For me, the first thing that comes is the dialog. I hear the characters talking to each other. Then I put the scene around them, where they are, how they look, what's happening. My husband says I should be a screenplay writer because my first drafts are all dialog and stage directions.

But this time I'm trying something new. I'm focusing hard on how my pov character feels and what he thinks. So far, I like the results.

I don't draft at 1000 words an hour. More like 600. That's because I like to stop and draw floor plans, scour the internet for the perfect name for a walk-on character, research how my characters might make gunpowder from scratch, stand up and act out a scene so I get the blocking right, meditate on the most apt metaphor, or simply dream myself further into the setting. In other words, I have more fun if my fingers don't have to be flying every second.

So what do you do when you first draft?

Rejected and Dejected?

Please watch this:




Our biggest failure is giving up. How do you cope with rejection?

How to Talk to Your Readers

posted by Rebecca J. Carlson

It took me some time to learn how to take feedback from test readers.

The very first time someone (other than my mother or my husband) read a manuscript I'd written I couldn't wait to talk with her about it. I had a chance to drive her to the airport, and was so excited to have her to myself for forty-five minutes. Once we got in the car I launched into what I thought she wanted to know--the entire history of where I'd gotten every brilliant idea and how I'd developed every charming character. She listened patiently, and when at last I wound down she offered, "Do you really have to start the story with someone making photocopies?"

Oh. That. Yes, maybe I should have thought of a more compelling opening scene.

Many drafts and many readers later, I had learned to keep my mouth shut and listen to what the reader had to say about the work. But I noticed something interesting about their comments. Often, a reader would point out something wrong and make a suggestion of how I should fix it. After I got over my bitter disappointment that my manuscript wasn't perfect yet and went back to take a look, the reader would be right about there being something wrong, but often it wasn't what they told me. There would be some other thing, some underlying thing that only I could see, only I knew how to fix.

This has come to guide both my response to critique and my giving of critiques. I no longer try to tell another writer what's wrong or what I think should be done to repair it. I say vague things like, "I didn't buy that." and "This confused me." I only go into more detail if asked. I also like to heap on the praise when good stuff is happening, because that's what I want to see! More good stuff!

And when someone tries to tell me what's wrong with my manuscript I listen carefully, knowing that my reader has probably detected a flaw even if my reader can't quite pin down what the flaw is. We all know that feeling, when reading a book, that something isn't working. I can be blind to that in my own work, just like my own children look beautiful to me even when they have tangles in their hair and watermelon smeared on their faces.

So thanks to everyone, everywhere, who has ever helped me comb the tangles out of a manuscript! I've learned so much from you, and I look forward to working together again.