Jennifer Crusie's Blog, page 227

Today in Research

I have a tab across the top of my browser labeled “Nita” and it’s where I put the bookmarks for anything I find that I want to get back to later for the book. Of course, once it’s there, I forget about it, but I just put a new mark in there (for a real post that’s coming up tomorrow probably) and for once I stopped and looked at my research:

That’s not all of it, of course, but it is a reminder that I should probably put “I’M A WRITER, NOT A SATANIST, OKAY?” somewhere in there. Writers are like porn readers; we really need to make arrangements for somebody to come in and clear out our browser histories and bookmarks after we die or people will get the wrong impression.

I have other research, of course, including the map of Nantucket that came today to join the map of Mackinac that came yesterday, the multiple books on demons and angels, and the pajamas I just ordered, but I think the bookmark tab pretty much says it all.

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Politics as Research

I used to say, “Go to the mall and people-watch, but mostly people-listen.” Because character is action–we are what we do–but the way we present ourselves, the image we want to project, is often in our voices. Then the whole enclosed mall thing started to crash, so now I’m making up for it with politics. Because EVERYBODY has something to say in politics, and they’re all crafting the way they want to present themselves. Most of them are blowing that part because they’re blind to their own weaknesses, tone deaf, or such narcissists that they’re living in a different world, sometimes all of the above. And since I’m writing a book right now that has a political subplot (the Demon-Firsters are basically Green Pride), I’m watching the election with even more interest than usual.

Sometimes it’s easy to translate political messages. The white pride symbol was an easy morph into “Green Pride” for the Demon Firsters, although I had to avoid “It’s Alright To Be White” because “It’s All Right To Be Green” evokes Kermit. (Also, learn to spell, you racist morons. No, it’s not okay because it’s in the dictionary. So is “ain’t.”) (Also, don’t google for images of white pride symbols. There’s actually a T-shirt that says ” I [Heart] Being White.” Exactly where would you wear that to? Right, the white pride rally. Never mind.)

Joe Wilson’s “You lie” is another easy steal and not just because I’m still enraged by that six years later. (Be a Republican if you must, but don’t be a rude lout.)

Sometimes it’s more of a subtle lift. Clinton’s “We’re going to shut down the coal mines!” had to have come from a liberal bubble; those are jobs, lady. It reminds me of BBC’s Sherlock in the pilot episode asking why a woman would use the name of her stillborn daughter as her e-mail password since the baby had died so long ago. Watson and Lestrade just stare at him, dumbfounded by his ignorance about human emotions. It’s a great way to show the difference between repression (Nita) and a lack of empathy (Nick).

And sometimes, it’s just astounding how much character gets nailed in a soundbite:

“I have one of the great temperaments. I have a winning temperament. She has a bad temperament. She’s weak. I have a temperament where I know how to win. She doesn’t know how to win.”

How much do I love this quote?

• Look at the short sentences and staccato delivery. This is somebody on the attack, hitting with words, somebody who’s angry and punching back.

• Look at the simple, repetitive language that drives home the point, and how it’s used to recast the argument from “They’re wrong about my emotional stability” to “I’m a winner.”

• Look at the call and response: I’m this/she’s this. This is basically Foil Speak–“We’re both running for the same office, but I’m a strong winner and she’s a weak loser”–used to construct a narrative.

• Look at the blind narcissism inherent in “I have one of the great temperaments,” especially the lack of self-knowledge: a guy who’s clearly angry claiming to be emotionally stable.

The problem with using something like that is that it’s so unbelievable. Of course, so is “You lie” in the context it was delivered, and so was bragging about shutting down the coal mines in Coal Country, and so was somebody who’s a doctor saying, “You know, there’s a good reason behind the anti-vaxxers” and somebody who’s partners with one of the biggest name-callers in the history of political discourse dinging the opposing candidate by saying that name-calling shouldn’t be part of political discourse. You couldn’t get away with this stuff in fiction, it’s too unbelievable.

But you can use it as a starting place. One of the scenes I’m proudest of in Welcome to Temptation is that first town council meeting because after the book came out, one of the RWA reps I’d been on the board with said she’d laughed out loud when she read it: She’d reconized the last board meeting. Of course, that worked because there aren’t that many RWA board members to notice; somebody’s gonna make the connection when Ashtoreth keeps yelling “You lie!” at Nick. It works better to pull the sense behind the words, making them more realistic (fiction has to be more realistic than actual reality, especially the way reality is going right now) and more subtle and more telling within in the terms of the plot, the way Sherlock’s lack of empathy about the password is an analog to the coal country line.

All of which is to say, if you can’t get to the mall, watch some politicians. Those people are gold mines for dysfunctional character research.

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Cherry Saturday 7-30-2016

Today is National Cheesecake Day.

or if you prefer . . .

Bettie Page is an icon, but googling for “Bettie Page retro cheesecake” also got me this “hardware cheesecake:”

Get it? “Hardware.” “Rigid.” Har, har, those good old boys sure knew how to craft an ad.

That was just in case you’re young and think, “We’ve come a long way, baby,” is just a slogan. Good news is, we have a 50/50 chance of getting a woman in the White House. That’s a whole new meaning for “power drive.”

It also means I found this great blog. Scroll down to “1957 ads use cleavage to sell shoe polish.” Because men in 1957 were ridiculous.

Also, my next book will be “Hootenanny Nurse.” Because the possibilities are endless.

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Book Done Yet: Sometimes You Have to Close Your Eyes . . .

Yesterday, I looked at Nita’s first scene, and thought, Well, this sucks.

This is a thought I often have in the discovery draft, and it’s never depressing because it’s discovery draft so it’s all going to change anyway. But it was something that needed to be fixed now because it’s Nita’s first appearance on the page, and she is My Girl, and I want her to be the reader’s Girl, and that means I have to absolutely get her vivid and right on the first page, absolutely establish her as the One Who Owns This Story. The question was, how?

I think the first problem with Nita was that I didn’t have a clear idea of her when I started. If you remember, way back at the beginning, I wasn’t writing a book at all, I was talking about how I’d fix the mess that was the Lucifer pilot, a show that has gone on to good ratings and a renewal, so that shows what I know about TV writing. And then while I was making that argument, I got caught up in it, and a lot of what followed was moving that story from “Here’s how I’d write Lucifer” to “Here’s what a Crusie with the Devil as a hero is.” That is a lousy way for me to start a book because my books are heroine-centered. I had the same problem with Faking It when I started with Davy Dempsey and then had to find Tilda. It’s like starting with a supporting character and then trying to find what the book is about based on that, and then trying to construct a protagonist based on that. It’s nuts.

So I sat there yesterday, thinking about the shape of the book, which I like, and the cast of the book, which I like, and the protagonist of the book, whom I don’t know. And I thought, All of this stuff is getting in the way. I was trying to fit Nita into the plot instead of being Nita in the plot, seeing it through her world view, reacting as she’d react.

So I closed my eyes and thought, Okay, I’m Nita. My brother has called me to a crime scene that’s being investigated by my ex-partner and ex-lover and I have a new partner in tow. Plus I’m sick and I’ve had three hot toddies, I know my brother is up to something, I know my ex-partner is going to be angry that I’m there, and my new partner is anxious and a little bit annoying. How am I going to not just react to all of that, but handle it?

What kind of person am I?

Well, I wouldn’t just stand there, whining and reacting. I’m efficient, and I’m not run by emotion and I never get angry. I’m not a whiner, either, I’m a fixer. That’s why I became a cop, to fix things on my island. This is my corner of the world, and it’s my job to keep people safe, to fix the problems/crimes that occur, to make sure my world runs smoothly and justly. It’s my responsibility.

So I know Mort has an ulterior motive, but he’s my twin and he wouldn’t have called me out if there wasn’t something that needed fixed, even if there is something else he’s not telling me. And I know Clint is going to be annoyed, he has boundary issues, but if something needs fixed and I’m the one to do it, then he’s just going to have to step back. And I know Button is anxious, but she has to get over it because we have work to do, so I’ll make a plan to talk to her on the way home. I’m going to find out what’s going on, do whatever I have to do to get the information I need and keep things moving in the right direction, then I’ll go home and get some sleep and tomorrow, I will kick butt and take names until I’ve solved the problem/crime. With any luck, I won’t throw up while I’m doing any of that.

That means Mort is my antagonist in this scene and Clint and Button are complications. And that works because Mort is one of the few people I trust in the world, so even though I’m sick and annoyed with him, I’m stuck with him, I can’t walk away and dismiss him. He’s Mort. He’s my twin. I am always going to be there for Mort. So any conflict with him is a crucible because I can’t walk away.

Which means this scene is me trying to fix what Mort insists is wrong while dealing with Clint and Button and not throwing up, and ends with me going into the bar to sort out all the conflicting info I’m getting plus settling the hash of this absurd and annoying idiot who thinks telling cops he’s the Devil is an amusing way to spend the time.

Also, I’m upset about Joey. He’s a good guy. He deserved better. I owe it to Joey to bring his killer to justice.

Okay, I can write that. I’ll have to start over, but once the basic shape of the scene is down, I can go back to previous drafts and plug in the parts I’ve missed or that are better than the parts I’ve just written.

But that’s after I’ve closed my eyes and followed Nita (rapidly) through the rest of the book. People Who Don’t Understand the Writing Process will probably think I’m asleep, which is why I never hang out with them while I’m writing. And then I can find some crochet and do that muscle memory thing with rhythmic movement as I think about her whole story in more detail, who she is, how she changes, who she becomes.

And then I’ll rewrite the first scene, and Nick’s second scene, and then the third scene of the revised characters together.

I think I’ve got it.

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Book Done Yet: Don’t Do This At Home

So I’m obsessing over the beginning, which you should never do.

The thing is, the beginning is going to change again no matter what I do with it now. You can’t write the beginning until you’ve written the end, you really can’t write it until you’ve written a full first draft (no matter how awful that draft is). And yet I keep going back to those first three scenes. I think it’s because I’m trying to introduce the book to myself.

The beginning is the invitation to the party. I must have written that a thousand times. You’re standing in the doorway, looking at the readers, and saying, “Come on in,” and part of the success of the beginning depends on how long it take you get out of the damn doorway so they can come in.

I have pretty much come to the conclusion that the scene sequence of the beginning is 1-1 Nita vs. Mort, 1-2 Nick vs. Vinnie, and 1-3 Nita vs Nick, and that the party starts with 1-3 Nita vs. Nick. Then I think it’s 1-4 Nick vs Daglas and 1-5 Button vs. Nita, which establishes the secondary relationships, and then 1-6 is back to Nita vs. Nick because I think this is a romance. I think. But the heavy lifting is 1-1, which establishes who Nita is; 1-2, which establishes who Nick is, and 1-3 which starts the romance plot.

So 1-1 has to introduce Nita and make her fascinating, introduce the external conflict (Joey’s death) and start that plot on the first page, and set up expectation for the romance. It also introduces Button, Mort, and Clint, but it doesn’t have to; the Musts are those first three.

Then 1-2 has to introduce Nick and make him fascinating, build on the external conflict (the supernatural is real) and move the plot, and continue to build expectation for the romance.

And 1-3 has to move the plot and pay off the foreshadowing to establish the beginning of the romance even if they’re not aware there’s a romance coming at them.

Looking at those three scenes as the beginning sequence is making me look at the book as a whole: who are these people and where are they going to end up? Which brings us to the antagonist . . .

What I’m thinking is that I’m not trying to get the beginning right–I know I can’t do that until the first draft is finished–I’m trying to get Nita and Nick right, trying to get back to the beginning of their arcs, to see who they are before they move from being into becoming, that moment when the last grain of sand drops and starts the avalanche. And the third scene is the grain of sand.

Even so, it’s nuts to spend too much time on the beginning. Don’t do that.

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Michelle Obama for President of Everything

I cried during her speech. I cry when I watch clips of it now. I’m pretty much to the point where I tear up every time I see a picture of her in that blue dress.

I had no idea how much I needed somebody to stand up and say, “This is not the apocalypse, we can do anything,” somebody to embrace all the great things and move forward. “When they go low, we go high.” Really, Michelle for Queen of the World.

And Sarah Silverman for Vice-Queen.

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I Went to Demon Island and All I Got Was . . .

As some of you may remember, there’s a bar in the book called Hell Bar. Because I am not creative. No, because the guy who owns the bar is not creative. He lives on Demon Island, Demon Island gets a lot of tourists, he designed a t-shirt thirty years ago and made sure the only place you could buy them was his bar. They were pretty awful, plus his bar is in the bad part of the bad part of town, so he doesn’t get many tourists. All of which means that anybody who has a Hell Bar t-shirt has been to Hell Bar. A CLUE. Especially because it keeps turning up on bodies, demons, etc.

So last night, I designed a Bad T-shirt:

And now I want one.

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Cherry Saturday: 7-23-2016

Today is National Hot Dog Day:

Also Vanilla Ice Cream Day:

So basically, Increase Your Cholesterol Day.

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Questionable: Focus for Writers

C.A.Bridges wrote:

“How do you focus on one story? I have two things I’m dying to write, and when I work on one I get getting insights on the other. Which is great as far as that goes, but it means neither one progresses very far.”

Okay, I can hear that snickering in the background. Just because you all have read four or five or six of the WiPs I have going doesn’t mean I can’t answer this question.

Actually, I can only answer this question for me, your mileage may differ. But for me, all books start out the same way. They’re thin and light and they’re mostly snappy patter. The characters aren’t developed and I’m wandering around in their worlds like I’m at a street market, just sampling the wares. At that point, it’s easy to get distracted by something shiny (which is how I end up with multiple WiPs).

But at some point in all the books I’ve published, there came a time when the book started to glow in my head, and at that point it became more real than reality, I’d spend all my time thinking in that world, annoyed by the people who kept trying to drag me out of it, obsessed with getting it all down on paper. I have no idea what triggers that, but I’m pretty sure it bears a connection to how long I’ve spent in that world as an observer, how much I’ve let the characters grow, and how much I want them to succeed. I think it’s the same thing that happens when a movie is over and you don’t want it to end because you want to spend more time in that world. With a movie, you’re out of a luck. But with your own book, you can live in that world for as long as you want.

Well, that’s not entirely true, for me anyway. At some point that sunny glow starts to fade. I’m never finished with the story when that happens, but I can feel it slipping away from me anyway, and if I try to write much more after that, I end up screwing it up, trying to revise a corpse. It’s DONE and so am I. Of course there are beta reads and copy edits and that kind of thing, but I’m not writing any more, I’m cleaning up, I’m the guy with the push broom after the concert.

So for me, it’s the difference between “I really like this world and these characters and it’s fun being here” and “This is where I must be.” It takes me awhile to get there, I’m not there yet with any of the WiPs including Nita, but once it hits, I have no interest in writing anything else and focus is not a problem. That’s the world I want to live in.

That’s not helpful, is it?

Okay, here are some more practical ways to focus on one book:

1. Make a soundtrack for the book you want to concentrate on and play it while you write. At some point, if the songs really work with the story, they’ll merge, and then all you have to do is play the songs and you’ll be back in the book. To this day, when I hear “I Only Want To Be With You,” I see Sophie and Phin in Temptation, the sense memory is still that strong. Kenny Chesney’s “Demons” is Nick for me in the book I’m working on now. Every time I start to lose him, I get his rueful voice from there and I’m back in the game. And Lenka’s “Trouble is a Friend” is Nita, definitely, (and thank you, CateM, for that).

2. Make a collage or a pinboard (a real one, not Pinterest) and put it where you can see it. Add to it as you write and discover new things about your book. The collage for Maybe This Time kept me centered in that book the whole time I was writing it.

3. Do something repetitive while you think about the book. Doesn’t matter what it is, it just has to be mindless and repetitive. Pull weeds. Play solitaire. Hit the treadmill. Mop the floor. Drive (except I had a bad accident because I was thinking about a book, so maybe not). Anything that allows you to do something without paying attention. (So not driving.) Then think about the book while you do that. Do that half a dozen times. The seventh time, you’ll automatically begin thinking about the book as you do those automatic things. Muscle memory.

4. Make a plan for the next day’s writing and start that scene. Just the first couple of sentences should do it. You’ll think about that while you sleep, and then you’ll get up and go to that book because that’s one you were dreaming about.

Basically, the more you think about a story, the more you’ll know about the characters and the world, and that’ll make you think more about the story, and eventually you’ll connect to it so strongly, you can’t get away. Or you won’t connect, and that’ll be a good clue that it’s not the story you need to write right now.

One final thought: Are you sure those two books aren’t one? Maybe that’s why you keep getting ideas for one while writing the other one. Good rule of thumb: Never save anything for a different book. Treat each book you’re writing as the last one you’ll ever write and put everything you have into it.

And now because I started playing Lenka while I was writing this, I must go write about Nita. Good luck!

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Questionable: Starting A Story

Jinx asked:

“Recently I read a description of how one of my favorite writers began a book, and she described it as getting a scene in your head very strongly — any scene, from any point in an overall story, and then just sinking into that scene and imagining each character in it, what they were like, what they wanted, what had led them there to the scene, what had made them the way they were, and so on, until the rest of the story just sort of unfolded.”

“In a way it sounds like just letting your subconscious write your books, which sounded quite scary, and maybe wouldn’t get you to a thing in the end that was a book. Does that make any sense to you as a method of starting/first drafting?”

There are many roads to Oz. Which is the short way of saying, “There are many ways writers conceive of stories and many ways they build them and no way is right or wrong; you have to find your own path.” Grasshopper.

It comes down to the way you order reality, the way you approach life, because when we construct stories, we’re doing consciously what we do subconsciously all day. That is, we’re bombarded with images, sounds, people, problems, and we automatically select what’s important to us and shut other things out. With those selections, we construct a logical reality out of the illogical chaos that is the world around us. But the way we make our choices is reflective of our personalities and world views. So when we sit down to make up worlds, we use the tools we’ve been using all our lives to construct the realities we live in.

I used to write with this guy named Bob. He grew up in the Bronx and was a retired Green Beret, and if I had to choose two words to describe Bob they would be “orderly” and “aware.” Bob always knew where everybody in the room was. He always knew where he was going next and how to get there, and had a schedule to make sure he got there on time. And he automatically had a plan for contingencies; he planned ahead without thinking “I should plan ahead.” It was just the way he saw the world, and he watched the world all the time.

I grew up in a very small town in Ohio and I am a retired English teacher. If I had to choose two words to describe me, they would be “impulse” and “instinct.” I routinely forget things I need, like my glasses, my phone, my inhaler. If I absolutely have to be some place at a certain time, I obsess over it and it makes me very unhappy because I have to pay attention all the time. My idea of perfection is nothing on my schedule and my way of handling surprises is to wing it, and I miss most of what’s happening around me because I’m always daydreaming.

So of course we decided to collaborate. And the first collision of our partnership, one of many, was when we discovered that we were completely different in our approach to starting a story.

Bob thought everything through until he had the Big Picture of the book, broke his plot out on a spreadsheet to keep track of the details, started writing at the beginning and kept going until he got to the end. Very efficient.

I started writing in the middle of the book as soon as I heard my characters’ voices. I made collages out of the details I didn’t have to keep track of them because I am fabulous with detail, but I had to put them together so I could see them merged into one Big Picture, which I am lousy at. I wrote the scenes as they came to me, completely out of order and when I had many thousand words, I put them in chronological order to see what kind of story I was writing. Then I rewrote. And rewrote. And rewrote, trying to find the story by instinct.

Bob could finish two, maybe three books in the time it took me to write one because he was focused and organized. But I couldn’t write the way he did, organization makes me unhappy, so instead of him making me more organized, I slowed him down. Bob also has the patience of a saint, so that worked out all right, but it did cement for me the one solid truth I know about writing: You have to do it your way. So possibly the most important thing you discover as you start out as a writer is finding out what your way is.

And then, for God’s sake, embrace it. Don’t second guess it. Don’t wish you could write faster or write any way other than the way you write. The way you write is your gift, don’t try to exchange it for somebody else’s.

So that writer who followed her characters into the story, the one you said sounded like letting your subconscious write the story? That’s her gift. If the idea of that makes you uncomfortable, your gift is different but just as good. Maybe you’re a Bob and need to think your stories through first. Maybe you like outlining or mapping. Maybe you need to start at the beginning. All that matters is that you write it your way. (Get out of here, Frank, we do not need a theme song.)

As for your last question–“Does that make any sense to you as a method of starting/first drafting?”–yes, that’s exactly the way I start my first drafts. But the way I do it is irrelevant. How do you do it?

No, seriously, Argh People who are writers, how do you start your books? Keeping in mind that there are no wrong answers, I’m assuming there’ll be a variety of approaches in here, but even if there isn’t, even if everybody else agrees, you still have to do it your way.

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