My Plotting Conversion

If you read my last blog you know why I've decided to plot my next book. Hot, scary mess are the words that come to mind. But even scarier is the thought of doing a complete 180 to become one of those writers with wonderful notebooks filled with detailed outlines.

Not to say anything bad about those writers. Secretely I wish I could be one of them. But whenever I try to plot that way I end up about three chapters in before losing steam. So I started to wonder if there's a happy mid-point where I can live.

I need a bit more structure to my plot but without all the hoops.
So here's my plan:

First I need to make a list of all the things I want to happen. This is going to be really rough. Things like Character A meets Character B at track meet. These will be the clear action points of the story. All of these go on a sticky note in a single color.

Once that is done, I'll determine what new information will be revealed during this action. Sticking with our example, Character B is really a talking pig in disguise.* All these new pieces of information go on a new color of sticky note.

Next, I want to plot out my character's emotional states because my particular story is very driven by the extreme emotions of being a teen. So in this case I would write Character A is dissapointed and disgusted. And, you guessed it, these go on a new sticky note.

I'll have other colors to represent the goal of the scene, the tension/conflict, any foreshadowing, etc. You get the idea.

Now that I have all my pretty notes I will commandeer a blank wall somewhere in my house and get to sticking.

The nice thing about sticky notes is that you can move the order around however you want. For example, let's say I don't want the reader to know Character B is a pig until later in the story. Easy! I just move the sticky note to the new action. Plus, now I know I need to cut the track scene or I need to add something to it. 

So the real question is: will this work? Unfortunately the answer is: I don't know...maybe. I'm going to give it a try and I'll let you know. I'll try to take some pictures as I go so you can see my madness in all its glory.

If you're looking for a new plotting technique, why not give this a try and then let me know how it works for you. Do you have another technique for the outline weary? I'd love to hear about it. Now I'm off to the office supply store.



* I want to be clear that this is not my story. Although teenage boys are often confused for talking pigs, so maybe it is my story.

Novel Super Glue

There are those that will tell you that the key to any great novel is a wonderful plot, others will preach character arcs, and still more will say its convincing prose.

I am here to tell you that none of those things are worth a can of beans without consistency!

I want to talk about two kinds of consistency because they are the offenders I am seeing most often in my reading these days. Let me preface this by saying, this is not rocket science.  A trustworthy beta reader can be a huge help in finding these lapses.

The first is detail consistency. Some of this seems pretty straight forward.  If your character goes to the gym on Tuesdays and Thursdays, then you can't give her a gym scene on Friday without explaining why she's there on her off day.  Makes sense right?

So why are so many authors leaving out the why?

Here's an example, in an unnamed book I am reading the opening scene is a doctor trying to stitch up a man's ankle in the emergency room.  This is made difficult because a storm has knocked out power and there are no lights (yes, I know there would be a back-up generator at a hospital, but apparently the author does not).  The author spends a lot (a lot) of time describing the difficulty of putting in these stitches using only the occasional lightning strike to see. We have a crystal clear picture. And then...

Another critical patient comes in and we see a whirl of activity while doctors and nurses hook up central lines, examine wounds, apply bandages and use the shock cart.  During this entire scene no one has any trouble seeing anything.

Now maybe this patient was taken to an area of the hospital where the lights were on. Or maybe they were having a hard time seeing.  The point is, I don't know, because the author didn't tell us.  All the sudden, this detail that was hammered in our head for fifteen pages is just gone.  The glue holding the scene together has dissolved.

The second area I want to touch on is character consistency.  This is a biggie for me.  Failure to keep your characters consistent is an epic fail. I'm not saying your character's can't grow, but I need to see that growth, not assume it.

Here's another nameless example to bring home the point.  Character A has been ordered by his boss to get a valuable object from character B.  Here's what we know about character A: he is shy, always follows the rules (due to his personality and his cultural upbringing), is excessively polite, does not have any home invasion skills (like lock picking) and, most importantly is afraid of character B. Character B is a highly armed, very skilled professional body guard. So what does character A do? Obviously, he breaks into character B's apartment and steals the object.  What? No, why would he do that? The character A we've come to know would simple ask character B for the object, using please as many times as possible.

In this case, the author made a character do something because the plot line called for it, not because it was a probable action for the character. This is a cardinal rule, character trumps plot every time. There are few rules in writing, but this is one of them. If your character is going to do something out of character there must be adequate motivation. 

Failure to be consistent in your writing is like taking the binding off a book.  Pages start falling apart and very shortly you'll find yourself with little more than a hot mess. Or a can of beans. Your choice.

Writing 101: Dialogue Part II

Better late than never, here is what I'm sure is the much anticipated part two of Writing 101: Dialogue.

Last week I talked about giving your dialogue context and purpose. This week, I want to discuss a few other finer tips on dialogue.

Did you know there is a king of dialogue rules? Yeah, me either. But the internet doesn't lie. Apparently the king of dialogue has decreed that Dialogue in a novel must be in conflict.

According to James N. Frey "When characters have different goals and are intent on achieving them, conflict results. If the stakes are high and both sides are unyielding, you have the makings of high drama."

This makes good sense. After all, no one wants to read a book where everyone always agrees and gets along. Conflict is the difference between a good idea and a good story. But like all rules, even the King's rules, this one should be broken...sometimes.

Every once in a while, your characters may want to just have an honest conversation. Maybe your character wants to explain something to another character. No drama, just an 'I need you to understand me' kind of talk.

This is fine, but if most of your conversations don't have conflict, or at least an underlying tension, your readers will stop being interested.

Here are some additional things you can do to give your characters some character through dialogue. Most of these come from a great book by Renni Browne and Dave King, Self-Editing for Fiction Writers. I highly suggest this book for some simple to use tips to take your writing to a better place.

Vary your sentence length. This one is easy to spot on the page.

“Hey, Bob, How was your weekend?”

“Pretty,good. How was yours?”

“OK, Did you catch the game?”

“Yep, I never miss one.”

“What did you think?”

“The referees were awful.”

“I couldn't agree more.”

Wow, even in real life that conversation is dull. I can almost here “Bueller, has anyone seen Bueller?” in the background.

Look what happens we vary the length.

“Hey, Bob, how was your weekend?”

“Pretty good, you know. Same old, same old. How about you?”

“OK, Did you catch that game on Sunday?”

“Oh yeah. I never miss an opportunity to watch the boys in blue in action. During football season, Sundays are holier than ever.”

“Well, than, what did you think?”

“Oh, man, the refs were creaming us out there. Did you see that call right before the half? Since when did a little bump in the shoulder constitute un-sportsman-like conduct?”

“I hear ya, man, I hear ya.”

But even if you vary the sentence length, that will still be a boring conversation. Why? Character A asks a question and then Character B answers. Character B asks a question and then... you get the idea. What if when Character A asks “What did you think?”, Character B responds, “What did I think? What did you think when Coach Nimrod called a trick play in the fourth quarter with 3 seconds to go?” Character B doesn't answer the question directly, but we certainly get the point.

Also, don't forget that rarely do we actually speak in complete sentences. Most of the time we use fragments or abbreviated sentences. Contrary to everything your sophomore English teacher told you, you can use a sentence fragment. And even better, you can string two of them together with a comma.

Take this for example, your character can say,

“It's good. It's really good.”

Or, they can say,

“It's good, really good.”

See the difference. Same words, but the second example sounds much closer to what someone would actually say.

So there you have it, the nitty-gritty on what I learned about dialogue. I had intended to discuss accents this week, but Lordy, that's a big subject. So next week I will tackle the subject of accents and dialect. As always, let me know if you have suggestions for topics you'd like to see covered.

Here are links to this week's resources:

http://www.novel-writing-help.com/writing-dialogue.html

www.amazon.com/Self-Editing-Fiction-Writers-Second-Yourself/dp/0060545690/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328718402&sr=8-1

Writing 101: Dialogue Part I

No matter how young you were when you first put pen to paper, there is at least one thing you have been doing much longer than writing. Unless you are Emlyn Chand, who claims to have sprung from the womb with fountain pen in hand, you were a practiced pro at talking well before you wrote your first masterpiece.

So why is it that adding dialogue to our work is so painful? Dialogue is another one of those skills that if done well is seamless in a great piece of fiction. However, if you don't follow some basic guidelines your novel will start to resemble Frankenstein. And I'm not referring to the cuter, funnier Young Frankenstein.

Here are the basic tips I found in how to write excellent dialogue (AKA dialogue that doesn't suck). Since this is such a broad topic and one that I am especially bad at, next week I'll cover even more useful tips!

First tip, listen to how people talk. This is a perfect excuse to take a seat at your favorite coffee house, library, or lunch table and eavesdrop on other people. Feeling extra bold? Use the record memo feature on your iPhone. Some people would call this being nosy. As writers, we get to call it research. But don't just listen in, write it down. Don't skip lines, don't gloss over the hiccups, write it down verbatim.

You'll probably find two things from this exercise. One, people in general have a very poor grasp on the English language. And two, real dialogue is not going to work in your novel.

So now that you have this conversation on paper, tip number two is to slice and dice. Cut out all the filler words like 'um' and 'ah' that we are all so quick to use. This should give the scene an immediate improvement, but you're not done there. Next, figure out what the main subject on the conversation is, and cut out anything that isn't.

Like a magpie with a shiny object, people tend to get distracted by the things around them. If one of your speakers uses the phrase, “And that reminds me...”, you have just hit a tangent. Dialogue should not include every fleeting thought that pops into your character's head. Stick to the point.

Next, check to see if this conversation has a purpose. You have some dialogue free of fillers and all on one subject, but does anyone care? Let's say your MC is getting a book at the library. While checking out the book, she enters into a conversation with the librarian about how great said author is. Go ahead and picture yourself as the subject of this conversation. The talk is brief, on topic, and full of articulate language. Great! Does it have anything to do with your story about Cyborg aliens intent on destroying the planet? Darn! You were about to get some great PR, but that scene will need to be cut.

If you've followed the tips above, your dialogue is probably looking pretty good. Now it's time to take a look at your tags. The purpose of a dialogue tag is to let your reader know who is talking. Here are some things your tag should not do.

• Give the reader backstory on the speaker
• Give character traits for the first time
• Pull the reader out with creative verb use (hint: no one actually ejaculates words)
• Get on a soapbox

I know it's tempting. All that he said/she said on the page can make you feel boring, but trust me, tags should be boring.

However, you can feel free to shake it up with a he asked/she asked tag occasionally. Also, it is OK to add action to a tag so long as it makes sense. For example: “You're hilarious,” he said, stirring his coffee. This is fine, not stellar, but fine. What's not fine? “You're hilarious,” he said while taking a sip of his coffee. No matter how awesome your character is, he probably can't talk and drink coffee at the same time.

Now that you have some decent dialogue and the reader knows who is who, give your words some context. Chances are, your characters are not having this conversation in a vacuum. Life is happening around them, so don't forget to remind the reader. If your characters are chatting at a coffee shop they might hear the ding of the bell over the door, the espresso machine gurgle, or the waitress take the order for the next table over. It's important to slip in parts of the environment to keep the conversation realistic.

And don't forget that your characters are not statues. Unless they are, in which case please skip this paragraph. When people talk they fidget and move, blink their eyes, and have facial expressions. All these things can give the reader greater insight into your character and break up yards of quotation marks.

But in the words of Bon Qui Qui, “Don't get crazy”. There is a fine line between adding context to your characters' conversation and interrupting them. I like to imagine the stage directions in a play. If the playwright gives the actor an action for every line, the actor loses the freedom to interpret the role. If, as the author, you give too much context, your reader loses the ability to imagine the scene for themselves.

So there you have it, some quick tips on dialogue. Next week, I'll cover some additional subject like the all important voice and accents (yuck!). As always, I'd love to hear your suggestions for what to cover in this series. 'Till next week, y'all!

Writing 101: Backstory

And Now...the Back of the Story.

Our characters are fascinating people (or creatures for the fantasy fans out there). They have complex lives full of drama, love, pain, and joy. As the creators of these characters we know all about them and want our readers to love/hate them as much as we do.

So how do we do that? Most importantly, spend the first three chapters of your novel giving the reader a full account of the past twenty years of your character's life so they can fully appreciate the subtle nuances of your character's actions.

Wait, what? We aren't supposed to do that? Well, there goes 15K from my word count. But I promise, knowing what (insert character) wore to Prom her Junior year is going to be really important later on.

OK, so you need some backstory. The real trick is dishing it out at the right time, in the right format, and in the right quantity. That seems pretty straightforward, but if like me you want to know more, here are some helpful tips.

According to Vicki Hinze the one absolute place backstory doesn't belong is in the opening pages. This is your chance to capture a reader's attention, so you need to hit them with the here and now.

I love her advice for how to incorporate the history that your character needs. “Think of bites. You can't eat a roast in one bite. But you can eat a roast by eating a lot of little bites. It's the same thing, for the same reason. So you don't choke.”

Hinze doesn't agree with the idea of cutting all backstory. And neither do I. By picking just the right slice of history to share, you give your reader better understanding of your character's motivations. Hinze agrees that these little nuggets of info “evoke the images and feelings you want the reader to have so that the reader reacts emotionally and logically to the characters the way you want them to react.”

So how do you pick which nuggets to share? Camy Tang has a great checklist to keep you from fluffing your MS with info a reader doesn't need. If you answer these questions honestly, you'll probably come up with a fairly short list of declassified facts.

1. Is your backstory absolutely relevant?
2. Is your backstory short?
3. Is your backstory broken up or inserted all at once?
4. Is there a dire reason for a character to need the information?
5. Is there conflict preventing the information from coming to light?
6. Is the information tied to some type of action?
7. Can you create a situation where someone needs to know the information?
8. Is the backstory given from the point of view of the character with the most to lose?
9. Is the backstory realistically and believably conveyed by the character?

So that covers when and what to include, but the hardest part for me is the how. Nothing is worse than the “As you know, John, we've been friends our whole lives.” Unless John has amnesia this is not going to impress your reader.

Going back to Tang, she suggests beating the information out of your characters. Or something like that. She suggest you “make that person have to fight to get the information. Create conflict that tries to prevent the character from finding out what they need to know. Let the witness be slippery or reluctant. Make obstacles for the character, and the reader will be drawn into his fight to find out the information.”

Kathy Steffen suggests that we expose critical backstory through dialogue. She says, “A veiled reference to something in the past can intrigue a reader.” I say, this sounds good but is probably harder than that. If you make your comment too veiled, the reader might be confused.

JK Rowling is a master at weaving in the little details. When bits of information needed to be shared, she often has the character unable to give all the information. Just as we were about to learn something really juice, Snape would but his greasy nose right into the thick of it. As a reader this gave us just enough to know that something is important, but also enough intrigue to keep us readeing to find out what it is.

I also love shushing my characters. When the big mouth brother is about to tell a tale of past embarrassment, the MC stops him cold with a look of murderous rage. No need to spill all the beans, but the damage is done.

So how do you know if you've done it right? Steffen suggests utilizing a very high-tech device to locate and eliminate unnecessary backstory. The Highlighter. Go back and highlight anything that is background information. If it doesn't happen during the time line of your tale, it's history. Then take a hard look and determine if it is essential information to the reader in order to understand your character's actions. If not, it has to go.

The cold, hard fact is that you have to write your character's history. After all, our past is what shapes our future, and this is true for you as a writer and for your characters. Unfortunately, most of that backstory is for your eyes only. While it does nothing for your word count, backstory will help you to write characters that hold a reader (and hopefully an agent).

Here are the links I used for today's entry.

Do you struggle with backstory? How do you handle it? Share your thoughts with other writers.

Do you have other writing issues you'd like to see covered here? Please let me know.

http://storysensei.blogspot.com/2005/08/how-to-write-backstory-without-putting.html

http://www.fictionfactor.com/guests/backstory.html

http://howtowriteshop.loridevoti.com/2010/12/writing-backstory/

Writing 101: Transitions

As promised, here is the first installation of my new Writing 101 Series.

Remember that movie “Dude, Where's My Car?” (stick with me on this). In one scene the MCs are in a drive-thru and after every item they order the clown face box responds, “And then?”. “I'd like a diet coke”, “And then?”, “I'll take a medium fry.”, “And then?”...You get the idea.

All good stories are like this scene. First something happens, and then something else, and then something else, until we come to the end.

Good stories with smooth transitions get us from that first point to the end in a way that never makes the reader stop to ask “And then?”.

You'll never see a review that raves about the amazing transitions of someone's novel, but if they aren't there you're going to hear about it. Words like clunky and dragging describe books that probably have major transition issues (among other things).

According to Wikipedia, “Transitions provide for a seamless narrative flow as a story shifts in time, location, or POV. They aid the internal logic of a story by moving readers from sentence to sentence, paragraph to paragraph, idea to idea, scene to scene, and chapter to chapter with grace and ease.. “

Don't we all wish we could write with grace and ease?

So how do we create seamless transitions without making our readers bleed from their eyes? Here are the best tips I could find from the folks who know, along with some of my own less genius insight.

Get to it.
According to Gail Gaymer Martin , the easiest way to start a transition is to use your POV characters name as soon as possible. John stared out the window of his condo. Behind him the room boasted an austere decor, void of personal effects. A woman's touch would make all the difference. Immediately we know who and where. John has gone from the diner (for example) and is now in his condo. 
Imagine if the same author took the time to describe the inside of the condo first. The room boasted an austere decor, void of personal effects. A woman's touch would make all the difference. John stared out the window of his condo. Same sentences, different order, big difference!
What time is it?
From the all-knowing site eHow, I gleaned another golden nugget. It is OK to occasionally tell your reader how much time has passed. For example: Twenty minutes later, Katie finally relaxed into her lonely bed. This can also be used before the transition. Jason knew ten minutes was plenty of time to get to the post office. End scene, open scene at post office. Passage of time: no more than 10 minutes.

I like this option for it's simplicity, but overuse can give the reader a headache. Unless you're watching an episode of 24 there is no reason every minute needs to be accounted for. 
 
Tag, you're it.
According to Jessica Page Morrell “...readers do not need to follow characters through every doorway.” And she's right. But if your character leaps through a worm-hole, best to let the reader know. If your character moves around a lot (think Clive Cussler) an easy way to keep the reader up to speed is a chapter tag. 
Chapter 10
June 10^th, Birmingham
No Namby Pamby transition
My favorite tip comes from author and writing expert Mike Klaassen. He suggests that we let our transitions pull double-duty. In other words, don't just get the reader from A to B, give them a reward for following you there.

It had been weeks since Karen had seen Mark.
OK, it works. We know what's going on and that fine. But what if...
The leaves of the wide oak tree transformed from vibrant green to a gorgeous shade of sunset before falling to the lawn below, but still no sign of Mark.
Hmmmm...tingly.
Um...what?
Sometimes it is effective to transition without a transition. After all, only highly intelligent individuals will be reading the masterpiece each one of us is creating. Riiiight. There's a lot to be said for trusting the reader to make a jump with you, but please be careful. If not done right, your reader is going to feel like their book has a missing page.
Here's my rule of thumb on this. If, as the writer, you don't know how your character got to where they are, then neither will your reader. If you know, and it makes complete sense, then go for it.

So there you have it, five easy ways to transition your reader. Here is my final thought on the subject. A transition is not an opportunity to info dump on your reader. Just like any other part of a story, character traits, setting and back story need to be woven in small doses. Four paragraphs detailing the landscape of your characters newest location does not a transition make. OK, it does, but don't expect the reader to still be there when you get done.

If you do this right, the first time your reader asks the question “And then?” they'll have reached the end and be begging for more.

I hope you found this useful or entertaining (preferably both). Feel free to share your thoughts on these transition techniques and any others in your toolbox.  Also, please let me know of other topics you'd like to see covered!

Here are some sites I found helpful in writing this week's blog. Enjoy!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transition_%28fiction%29

http://writingright-martin.blogspot.com/2010/01/location-transitions-in-fiction.html 

http://www.ehow.com/how_5863590_write-transitions-fiction.html

http://www.helium.com/items/1460910-transition-transitions-mechanics-how-to-fiction-writing-fiction-writing-fiction-writing