I've been judging some fiction writing contests lately, and I find that I can easily spot the newbie writer from the nearly published one. New writers tend to make similar mistakes, no matter they type of story they're writing.
Admittedly, it feels a bit arrogant to comment on it because I, myself, am not yet published in fiction. But I've been at this a long time and have a 12-year professional writing and editing career backing me up, so I'm not exactly a neophyte either.
So with that little bit of "so there," I'm going to outline two of the common newbie mistakes I keep seeing in the contests I've been judging...
1. Conflict that could be easily solved. I've been seeing a lot of contest entries in which the writer has confused CONFLICT with WORRYING. They try to sustain a book by having the heroine (usually) engage in a lot of handwringing about a problem that really wouldn't be all that hard to solve if she just stopped whining and took action.
More often than not, this kind of mistake usually stems from weak internal conflict, which in turn is usually the result of the writer not spending enough time fleshing out the character's backstory. The master of this process is a screenwriting coach named Michael Hauge. His workshops on character identity and essence completely changed the way I write.
2. Emotionless love scenes. I see a lot of love scenes that sound something like this: He touched her arm. She arched her back. He kissed her neck. She squeezed his ... Love scenes should never read like a play-by-play. Good love scenes should be less about the physical act and more about the emotional component.
To get more emotion into the scene, writers should keep two questions in the front of their minds as they write: How does this make them feel emotionally, and why does the act leave them feeling conflicted? If you can make sure both of those issues/questions are front and center during the love scene, the entire scene will be much stronger and more relevant.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Friday, February 22, 2008
So that's what this story is about...
One of the most satisfying parts about being a journalist is when you get what I call the "boom!" quote. It's the part of any interview when your subject/source utters something so perfect, so profound, so tightly woven that you suddenly understand what the real story is.
Boom, you say, scribbling madly in your notebook so that you don't forget a single word. That's what this story is about.
I finished a freelance article today. The version I turned in bears no resemblance to the first draft. What changed? I got a BOOM! quote last night from a source I hadn't even originally planned to interview. The minute she uttered the words, I practically swooned in my chair. That's what this story is about.
The funny thing is, the same thing happened this week with my book. I was "writing in my head" (which as any writer knows is just about 90 percent of the writing process), and out of nowhere, my hero uttered a BOOM! quote. Not only was it perfectly pitched dialogue, it also -- more importantly -- completely solved the plot problem I've been writing and re-writing around FOR MONTHS.
I almost crashed my car because I used both hands to smack my forehead. That's it! I screamed. That's what this story is about.
(Of course, I then spent a good ten minutes mentally kicking myself for not figuring this out a helluva lot sooner. Grrr....)
Both BOOM! moments reminded me that as writers - whether we're fiction authors or journalists or both -- we have to be ready to step back and let our characters tell the story. If we aren't willing to do that, we will never really see the story beneath the story. We will never find the deeper themes that make a story memorable. We will never truly understand what the story is about.
Boom, you say, scribbling madly in your notebook so that you don't forget a single word. That's what this story is about.
I finished a freelance article today. The version I turned in bears no resemblance to the first draft. What changed? I got a BOOM! quote last night from a source I hadn't even originally planned to interview. The minute she uttered the words, I practically swooned in my chair. That's what this story is about.
The funny thing is, the same thing happened this week with my book. I was "writing in my head" (which as any writer knows is just about 90 percent of the writing process), and out of nowhere, my hero uttered a BOOM! quote. Not only was it perfectly pitched dialogue, it also -- more importantly -- completely solved the plot problem I've been writing and re-writing around FOR MONTHS.
I almost crashed my car because I used both hands to smack my forehead. That's it! I screamed. That's what this story is about.
(Of course, I then spent a good ten minutes mentally kicking myself for not figuring this out a helluva lot sooner. Grrr....)
Both BOOM! moments reminded me that as writers - whether we're fiction authors or journalists or both -- we have to be ready to step back and let our characters tell the story. If we aren't willing to do that, we will never really see the story beneath the story. We will never find the deeper themes that make a story memorable. We will never truly understand what the story is about.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Never burn bridges, and never delete a scene
My first job out of college was as the nights cop reporter at the Lansing State Journal, a medium-sized daily that was --in my overinflated opinion of my newbie self -- a mere stepping stone in what was sure to be a glorious, Pultizer-winning career.
My career did indeed take me to other places and bigger papers. No Pulitzers, but other awards instead. It was a successful newspaper career, and I was always grateful that the LSJ gave me such a great foundation.
Funny how life comes full circle... I'm writing for the LSJ again. As a freelancer this time, not full-time. But it still feels like I've "come home" in a way. Home to the paper that gave me my start. Home to the business that still lights a passionate fire in my belly. Home to a community that I care about (as a good journalist should).
I never would have predicted when I left the LSJ for the Detroit News years ago that I would ever end up working for them again. But life takes all kinds of twists and turns that you can never see coming ahead of time.
Writing is the same way.
As I come home to my first paper, I've also "come home" in a way in my current WIP. The revisions I've been slugging my way through, I made a wonderful discovery the other day. I suddenly understood why a certain transition wasn't working -- and I had the answer already. I dug through the many pages of rejected scenes that were written and later cut, and I found one that was part of the original version of this book. It's going back in, and it fits perfectly.
If there's a moral to this story, it would be this: Never burn your bridges, because you never know when your life will bring you full-circle. And never delete a scene, because you never know when your characters will demand that you bring a scene back.
My career did indeed take me to other places and bigger papers. No Pulitzers, but other awards instead. It was a successful newspaper career, and I was always grateful that the LSJ gave me such a great foundation.
Funny how life comes full circle... I'm writing for the LSJ again. As a freelancer this time, not full-time. But it still feels like I've "come home" in a way. Home to the paper that gave me my start. Home to the business that still lights a passionate fire in my belly. Home to a community that I care about (as a good journalist should).
I never would have predicted when I left the LSJ for the Detroit News years ago that I would ever end up working for them again. But life takes all kinds of twists and turns that you can never see coming ahead of time.
Writing is the same way.
As I come home to my first paper, I've also "come home" in a way in my current WIP. The revisions I've been slugging my way through, I made a wonderful discovery the other day. I suddenly understood why a certain transition wasn't working -- and I had the answer already. I dug through the many pages of rejected scenes that were written and later cut, and I found one that was part of the original version of this book. It's going back in, and it fits perfectly.
If there's a moral to this story, it would be this: Never burn your bridges, because you never know when your life will bring you full-circle. And never delete a scene, because you never know when your characters will demand that you bring a scene back.
Monday, February 4, 2008
Owning the 'number'
If you've ever attended a Weight Watcher's meeting, then you're familiar with this phrase: Own the number.
It means that the first thing you need to do in your weight loss efforts is to step on the scale, look at the number and stop making excuses for it. Believe it. Accept it. This is where you are for whatever reason. Just own the number and go from there.
You could use that philosophy in any number of areas in your life. I'm using it in my writing.
See, I'm battling my way back from an unfamiliar case of writer's block. Yesterday I woke up around 5 a.m. with that phrase running through my brain. Own the number. Own the number. I realized as I was lying there that one of my mental blocks with my current WIP is that I'm actually unclear on where I'm really at in the book. I made so many changes two months ago in a last-minute dash to meet a contest deadline that I don't even remember which scenes I kept and which I abandoned. Not the best place to be when you're trying to revise your book.
Bottom line: I realized that a good portion of my writer's block stems from a fear of the unknown.
So I got up yesterday, loaded paper into the printer, and made a hard copy. And now I'm reading it. Page one to page 380-something. In the process, I'm OWNING the manuscript. I accept where I am with the book. This is my starting point. Now I can figure out what needs to be done.
It means that the first thing you need to do in your weight loss efforts is to step on the scale, look at the number and stop making excuses for it. Believe it. Accept it. This is where you are for whatever reason. Just own the number and go from there.
You could use that philosophy in any number of areas in your life. I'm using it in my writing.
See, I'm battling my way back from an unfamiliar case of writer's block. Yesterday I woke up around 5 a.m. with that phrase running through my brain. Own the number. Own the number. I realized as I was lying there that one of my mental blocks with my current WIP is that I'm actually unclear on where I'm really at in the book. I made so many changes two months ago in a last-minute dash to meet a contest deadline that I don't even remember which scenes I kept and which I abandoned. Not the best place to be when you're trying to revise your book.
Bottom line: I realized that a good portion of my writer's block stems from a fear of the unknown.
So I got up yesterday, loaded paper into the printer, and made a hard copy. And now I'm reading it. Page one to page 380-something. In the process, I'm OWNING the manuscript. I accept where I am with the book. This is my starting point. Now I can figure out what needs to be done.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
The art of withholding information
Veteran fiction writers will say that one of the biggest mistakes newbie writers make is the "information dump." It's when you dump huge chunks of a character's backstory in the first few pages because -- newbies believe -- the information provides important insights into a character's motivation.
I was guilty of it in my first (unfinished) manuscript. I didn't realize HOW guilty of it I was until I got a critique from a published author. She crossed out six pages of my first chapter with a red pen and wrote in the margins, "Backstory. Save it for later."
The critique left me sputtering. But...but...but... How can my readers possibly care about the character if they don't know X,Y, and Z about her? How can they possibly understand why she does what she does if they don't know those things? What if they think badly of her for doing what she does if they don't know THIS?! (There are many ways to make readers care about your characters without a shred of backstory, but that's a post for another day.)
I was reminded of that lesson today after watching, "Eastern Promises," starring Oscar nominee Viggo Mortenson. Viggo plays a dark character -- a member of a very violent Russian mob that runs a sex slave operation. I won't offer too many details because I don't want to spoil it for people who haven't seen the movie yet. But let me say this: You discover something about his character in the last 15 minutes of the movie that puts an entirely new twist on his actions, his motivation and his decisions. It was the kind of revelation that made me say right out loud, "Oh, you're kidding me, right? How could I have NOT seen that coming?"
I admire the movie-makers on this one for fighting the temptation to reveal this crucial tidbit much earlier in the movie. If I had known this particular thing earlier, the movie would have lost its darkness and its suspense. And -- guess what? Even without knowing this piece of information, I still developed enough of a connection with Viggo's character to care what happened to him.
It's a good lesson for fiction writers. Readers want to know the answers to all their questions. But if you offer those answers too early, you take away the reader's incentive for reading the rest of the book. You steal them of their own, "Oh, you're kidding me, right?"
I once came across a quote (supposedly) by Mark Twain. He said, "Storytelling is not the art of revealing information. It's the art of withholding information." Exactly.
WRITING TIP
When you're developing a new character or outlining a new book, play a game with yourself. Pick a crucial bit of backstory and plant the "revelation scene" in several different chapters. Keep moving it farther and farther into the story. Each time you move it, ask yourself how that delayed revelation changes the story. Does it add suspense? Does it allow you to create greater tension?
I was guilty of it in my first (unfinished) manuscript. I didn't realize HOW guilty of it I was until I got a critique from a published author. She crossed out six pages of my first chapter with a red pen and wrote in the margins, "Backstory. Save it for later."
The critique left me sputtering. But...but...but... How can my readers possibly care about the character if they don't know X,Y, and Z about her? How can they possibly understand why she does what she does if they don't know those things? What if they think badly of her for doing what she does if they don't know THIS?! (There are many ways to make readers care about your characters without a shred of backstory, but that's a post for another day.)
I was reminded of that lesson today after watching, "Eastern Promises," starring Oscar nominee Viggo Mortenson. Viggo plays a dark character -- a member of a very violent Russian mob that runs a sex slave operation. I won't offer too many details because I don't want to spoil it for people who haven't seen the movie yet. But let me say this: You discover something about his character in the last 15 minutes of the movie that puts an entirely new twist on his actions, his motivation and his decisions. It was the kind of revelation that made me say right out loud, "Oh, you're kidding me, right? How could I have NOT seen that coming?"
I admire the movie-makers on this one for fighting the temptation to reveal this crucial tidbit much earlier in the movie. If I had known this particular thing earlier, the movie would have lost its darkness and its suspense. And -- guess what? Even without knowing this piece of information, I still developed enough of a connection with Viggo's character to care what happened to him.
It's a good lesson for fiction writers. Readers want to know the answers to all their questions. But if you offer those answers too early, you take away the reader's incentive for reading the rest of the book. You steal them of their own, "Oh, you're kidding me, right?"
I once came across a quote (supposedly) by Mark Twain. He said, "Storytelling is not the art of revealing information. It's the art of withholding information." Exactly.
WRITING TIP
When you're developing a new character or outlining a new book, play a game with yourself. Pick a crucial bit of backstory and plant the "revelation scene" in several different chapters. Keep moving it farther and farther into the story. Each time you move it, ask yourself how that delayed revelation changes the story. Does it add suspense? Does it allow you to create greater tension?
Saturday, January 26, 2008
For love of the words
Every published author I know says that they eventually reached a point in their lives when they "got serious" about their writing. It was a point when they decided that writing would no longer simply be a hobby that they dabbled in whenever life gave them a free moment, but would instead become a priority with a goal of one day becoming published.
I made that decision five years ago. Writing would no longer be something I did in secret or isolation with a only vague dream of one day being a published fiction author. I decided I would do whatever it took to study my craft, become familiar with the business, and pursue publication.
I joined Romance Writers of America and started volunteering for the Orange County Chapter. I invested in a new computer and research books. I attended conferences, found critique partners, set page-count goals, and immersed myself in learning as much as I could about the business end of being a writer. I sacrificed many a Saturday with my husband so I could write. I tried different stories, different plotting methods. I started and stopped four books before finally settling on my current project.
Today, I am closer to achieving my goal than I ever would have been had I not made that very crucial decision and done all those things.
But I am learning that there is a small downside to the pursuit. Sometimes, in our zeal to get published, we forget to study and enjoy our craft. And THAT can have devastating effects -- some of which I am suffering from right now.
I have been so narrowly focused on achieving my publishing goals for the past sixth months that I am exhausted of all creative energy. I have one more round of revisions to do on my manuscript before it will be ready to shop around. I know what I need to do, but I simply cannot get it done. I sit down at my computer and... Just stare. I check e-mail. Read my favorite blogs. Check e-mail again. Scan the headlines on CNN.com. Go get myself a Coke. Stare at the screen some more.
You get the picture.
I never used to believe in writer's block. I suppose I was influenced by a wise college journalism professor who said, "There is no such thing as writer's block. There is only bad reporting." That proved to be true many times in my journalism career, but I don't think it's true in fiction. I've done my "reporting" for this book. I just can't seem to finish writing it.
Bottom line: I'm tired. So many late nights. So many early mornings. So many "I'll just write for fifteen minutes while the baby is busy with her Disney Princesses." I'm just simply worn out.
Fatigue can be a writer's greatest enemy, and not for the reasons you might think. Sure, it's hard to craft elegant prose when you're exhausted. But fatigue is dangerous for a much larger reason: It can make you resent your book. It can make you resent the very act of writing.
But this morning, I had a bit of an epiphany. I was searching for something to read while eating breakfast, and I grabbed "Pen on Fire: A Busy Woman's Guide to Igniting the Writer Within," by writing instructor Barbara DeMarco-Barrett. It's a collection of inspirational and practical lessons on, you guessed it, writing.
I opened it randomly, because it's the kind of book you don't have to read in order. I started reading a section about how to use the events of your own life to enrich your writing. By the end of breakfast, a wonderful thing had happened to me. For the first time in weeks, I didn't dread the thought of writing. In fact, I was eager to get into my office, turn the computer on and GO.
But here's the catch. I wasn't eager to delve into my manuscript revisions. I just simply wanted to write. Not for publication. Not to meet some kind of deadline. Not to keep my friends from whispering behind my back about will I EVER finish the damn book. No. I wanted to write just because I love words. I love them and the emotions they can evoke. I love the power of words and the potential of words.
I haven't felt that way in quite a while. So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to give myself permission to spend the next couple of days just playing at my craft. I'm going to tackle a couple of the exercises in Pen on Fire and just try to enjoy the art of it.
I hope that by allowing myself to do this, I will free up some of the clutter and stress that is blocking my progress. Come Monday, I predict I will be more than ready to jump into those revisions.
I made that decision five years ago. Writing would no longer be something I did in secret or isolation with a only vague dream of one day being a published fiction author. I decided I would do whatever it took to study my craft, become familiar with the business, and pursue publication.
I joined Romance Writers of America and started volunteering for the Orange County Chapter. I invested in a new computer and research books. I attended conferences, found critique partners, set page-count goals, and immersed myself in learning as much as I could about the business end of being a writer. I sacrificed many a Saturday with my husband so I could write. I tried different stories, different plotting methods. I started and stopped four books before finally settling on my current project.
Today, I am closer to achieving my goal than I ever would have been had I not made that very crucial decision and done all those things.
But I am learning that there is a small downside to the pursuit. Sometimes, in our zeal to get published, we forget to study and enjoy our craft. And THAT can have devastating effects -- some of which I am suffering from right now.
I have been so narrowly focused on achieving my publishing goals for the past sixth months that I am exhausted of all creative energy. I have one more round of revisions to do on my manuscript before it will be ready to shop around. I know what I need to do, but I simply cannot get it done. I sit down at my computer and... Just stare. I check e-mail. Read my favorite blogs. Check e-mail again. Scan the headlines on CNN.com. Go get myself a Coke. Stare at the screen some more.
You get the picture.
I never used to believe in writer's block. I suppose I was influenced by a wise college journalism professor who said, "There is no such thing as writer's block. There is only bad reporting." That proved to be true many times in my journalism career, but I don't think it's true in fiction. I've done my "reporting" for this book. I just can't seem to finish writing it.
Bottom line: I'm tired. So many late nights. So many early mornings. So many "I'll just write for fifteen minutes while the baby is busy with her Disney Princesses." I'm just simply worn out.
Fatigue can be a writer's greatest enemy, and not for the reasons you might think. Sure, it's hard to craft elegant prose when you're exhausted. But fatigue is dangerous for a much larger reason: It can make you resent your book. It can make you resent the very act of writing.
But this morning, I had a bit of an epiphany. I was searching for something to read while eating breakfast, and I grabbed "Pen on Fire: A Busy Woman's Guide to Igniting the Writer Within," by writing instructor Barbara DeMarco-Barrett. It's a collection of inspirational and practical lessons on, you guessed it, writing.
I opened it randomly, because it's the kind of book you don't have to read in order. I started reading a section about how to use the events of your own life to enrich your writing. By the end of breakfast, a wonderful thing had happened to me. For the first time in weeks, I didn't dread the thought of writing. In fact, I was eager to get into my office, turn the computer on and GO.
But here's the catch. I wasn't eager to delve into my manuscript revisions. I just simply wanted to write. Not for publication. Not to meet some kind of deadline. Not to keep my friends from whispering behind my back about will I EVER finish the damn book. No. I wanted to write just because I love words. I love them and the emotions they can evoke. I love the power of words and the potential of words.
I haven't felt that way in quite a while. So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to give myself permission to spend the next couple of days just playing at my craft. I'm going to tackle a couple of the exercises in Pen on Fire and just try to enjoy the art of it.
I hope that by allowing myself to do this, I will free up some of the clutter and stress that is blocking my progress. Come Monday, I predict I will be more than ready to jump into those revisions.
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