Marian Allen's Blog, page 464

Murdering My Darlings

In other words, I've been in Ruthless Edit mode. Well, honestly, I've been in Squeamish Edit mode. I may need to up my dosage to get to Ruthless.

The title of this post comes from Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch: "Whenever you feel an impulse to perpetrate a piece of exceptionally fine writing, obey it – whole-heartedly – and delete it before sending your manuscripts to press. Murder your darlings."

I have this Big Fat Fantasy called SAGE, which I've been working on for almost as long as #4 Daughter has been alive. She grew up with it, and she loves every word of it as it stands now. Trouble is, editors and publishers and other readers did NOT grow up with it, and they don't want to spend the same kind of time with the world and the characters that #4 and I do.

So I've saved a "director's copy" version with all its bits in, and I'm working with an editing copy. So far, I've excised the first three entire chapters. And I'm like, "Hmmm…. Starting the book where the story actually starts…. Interesting concept."

Of course, it's sometimes difficult to say where a story actually starts. Was it when Joe stepped off the curb in front of that cab, or was it when he had the fight with his kid that distracted him so he took that step? Or was it when the kid was born and Joe's wife died in childbirth, so Joe has always been negative toward the kid? Or was it when Joe met his wife, the only woman he could ever love? Or was it when Joe woke up in the alien spaceship after he felt the impact of the cab hitting him?

I can't locate the quote about "start your story at the last possible moment" — if anybody knows, please leave the info in the comments section. It's great advice, though — better for a short story than a novel, obviously, except for a given value of "last possible". I love all the stuff I had before the point at which I now think the story should begin, but I think the moment I've chosen is the best.

SEKRIT MESSIDGE TO #4: I'm starting with Karol stumbling through the woods after the Swords have killed Cameron. The chapter where she takes refuge with Moder Zglaria. The chapter where she gives birth to Cameron's baby, then leaves it at the baby farm and goes looking for Kinnan to raise a revolution.

Good choice? Time. Will. Tell.

WRITING PROMPT: If you have a story that isn't selling, try taking some off the top. Eliminate ALL the set-up and begin in the middle of the first action. Just try it, just to see how it works.

MA

Happy Birthday, #amwriting!

If you don't know what #amwriting is, lemme tell you: There's this social networking site called Twitter (you knew that, right?) where you post Tweets (stuff) of 140 characters or FEWER (you knew it should be "fewer" and not "less", right?). On Twitter, we use hashtags (or the pound sign or the number sign: #) to sort tweets into subjects. So, if you're on Twitter and you want to see tweets about tinfoil hats, you search for #tinfoilhats and you get a list, updated even as you read, to show all the new tinfoil hat tweets as they're posted.

Okay. So about two years ago, writer Johanna Harness started using a hashtag to talk about her writing progress, process and life. She would say things like, "Using sticky notes to organize thoughts on current WIP. #amwriting" Then other people would say things like, "Working on edits with seeds of new stories bouncing off my head. #amwriting" Before long, lots and lots and LOTS of us were using the #amwriting hashtag, and we'd follow each other and cheer each other on and … we'd formed a community.

Now Johanna has made the #amwriting community official, with its own web site and everything.You don't have to be on Twitter to be part of the community.

Today, the community turns two, and Johanna is instigating a progressive blog party. Here's my entry:

These emo birds ought to stop fighting

The yarn bomb. They think it's exciting

To subjugate grammar.

Just hear them both stammer:

"I #am, you #am, we all #amwriting!"

Proceed, if you will, to the next stop on the progressive party: Girl Meets Word

WRITING PROMPT: Is your main character part of any community/communities? If not, why not?

MA

Kindlegraph – How It Works

I read about Kindlegraph on Carol Preflatish's site and I hustled my little electrons right over and signed up my books. It isn't perfect, but it's new and it's shiny, so I am THERE. Two sad things about it–no, three:

Sad Thing #1: You have to have a Twitter account to use it. I have one, but not everybody does.
Sad Thing #2: You can't really sign. You have to use pre-loaded fonts, choosing the one that most closely approximates your handwriting. This will improve in time, though.
Sad Thing #3: The autographed book cover is not incorporated into the book, but is a separate PDF document.

Still, it's a start. TGDaily says the Nook is about to leapfrog that with an Autograph feature that will let authors sign in person using a stylus. That's points for Nook for being more personal and points for Kindlegraph for letting people get some personalization even at long distances.

Meanwhile, I'm posting today at Fatal Foodies on the subject of dill weed.

WRITING PROMPT: Write a scene in which a person meets a favorite author and wants an autograph. Is the author welcoming or forbidding? Is the fan irritating, ingratiating, charming, pitiful? Is the scene funny or sad or both at once?

MA

August Update and Motivation from F. A. Hyatt

It's time for my monthly Hot Flash — a micro-mini flash fiction story. Please also check out the Free Reads page for, you know, free reads.

Floyd Hyatt is with us again today to talk about motivation. Take it away, Mr. Hyatt!

Motivate!

Motivation is one of the primary drivers of character in a plot. However focused on external issues your plot is, some attention must be lavished on your characters' inner lives, what drives them, their outlooks, histories, and personalities. However briskly this is done, it should be started right along with the character's introduction, as it is as much a part of him/her/it, as a physical description is.

While this seems fairly obvious, especially in these times of character-driven stories, I have found that many writers try to begin shaping characterization with just dialog or physical description. This, I would point out, seldom works. It's all well and good to begin a book with a colorful action sequence, but sooner or later, preferably sooner, your stick figure needs to become a personality. The faster this is done, the sooner you will attract the reader's interest, so don't write so as to put this off.

Books need their "star performers" as much as films do. The actor may well ask, "what is my motivation", and so should the author, on the behalf of his characters. Perhaps not the worst idea is to have an imaginary dialog with your character(s) to decide these things, and then write to show that motivation and inner life clearly. Beta readers will let you know how well you have done, and such comments should be attended to. Learning the best ways to write such into your leads, heroes and villains is, and should be, one of the skills that become an unconscious habit–part of the juggling act that writing just is.

This may start as an initial consideration of plot. Okay, you have this wonderful world build. Your character must now thread his adventure though it to a successful conclusion, or at least, to your conclusion successfully. You have a pretty good idea about what that conflict or journey will be like. Perhaps you even started your project with such a conception (good idea, that.) Great. Now, your character turns to you and says, "So what's my motivation here, at least to start with? Why would I care to leap into this minefield? What drives me? Who the hell am I?"

Is it hard? Is it fun? Is it Boring? It is the lifeblood of fiction writing. It is what you do. Technique will not solve it for you, grammar will only help you write it out clearly, spelling only assures your effort not be sneered at. Your plot provides the reason for writing a story. Your characters live it, are what the reader follows, loves, hates or laughs at. If the reader cannot hooray at your characters' victories, cry at their defeats, boo the bad guy, you do not have a story yet. To do this, the reader must have a sense of the character as a person. Almost every other aspect of preening a manuscript is simply a series of corrections so long as this and your plot logic are mastered.

F.A.Hyatt

WRITING PROMPT: Take three characters meeting for a business lunch. Give each of them a different motivation for the meeting. Write the meeting NOT MENTIONING THE MOTIVATIONS either in dialog or narrative.

MA

Free Sample Sunday – Born Again

I'm cheating again. I'm combining my Sample Sunday with my assignment for Quills and Quibbles and posting it both places. It isn't cheating, it's it's it's … multi-tasking, yeah, multi-tasking. Or conservation of energy or something. Anyway, here it is. Thanks to Johanna Harness, who goaded me into it.

Born Again

by Marian Allen

Désirée watched everybody at the church pitch-in pass up her deviled eggs and go for Margarita's. Up until Margarita joined St. Lawrence's Episcopal, Désirée had been the deviled-egg diva.

What was worse, Margarita's were superior.

"I keep my own flock," Margarita always said. "No, no secret ingredient. Just the usual. I don't have a recipe. It's nothing special, really."

Désirée just wanted to slap her.

This is where it ended. Désirée opened the sandwich bag in her apron pocket, snagged the last of Margarita's eggs and sealed it into the plastic.

<> <> <>

At home, she squeezed the yolk out onto a plate and smeared it around. She inspected it under a magnifying glass. She transferred it to her mouth, rolled it around on her tongue, savored it, meditated on it.

Sweet onion. Dill pickles. Celery. Mayonnaise. Mustard–Dijon? Paprika? What ?

She bit into the yolk-less whites. Damnation! Even the bare whites were delicious! Elusively spiced. Subtly fragrant. Did she marinate them? What?

<> <> <>

I tried. I asked if I could see the chickens that laid such delicious eggs. "Not while they're molting," indeed!

So Désirée had parked nearby and picked her way through a strip of woods to Margarita's hen yard. Now she lurked and watched as dusk thickened.

There were no chickens in sight. Evidently, Margarita really did keep them cooped while they were molting.

A light went on at the front of the house. Bluish flickers said "television", meaning outside work was officially over.

Désirée crept up to the henhouse window. It was too dark inside to see, but she could smell. Herbs, spices, flowers–It smells like potpourri, that's what it smells like! What she didn't smell was chickens.

She snapped on her penlight and held it close. She undid the latch and eased open the door, moving gently so as not to startle the hens. How embarrassing, to be caught snooping!

The hens looked decrepit: thin, dispirited, nearly featherless. No wonder Margarita didn't want anybody to see them! She probably starved the poor things to force them to molt, believing it would increase post-molt laying.

There were no roosts; the bedraggled hens huddled on their nesting boxes. Gingerly, Désirée plucked a dangling straw. It wasn't straw, it was a sassafras twig, smelling like concentrated root beer.

A feather fluttered to the floor. It was reddish-gold, no color she had ever seen in any chicken–in life, in a catalog or online.

The feather burst into flame.

In less than an instant, in the time it takes for realization to jump from one synapse to another, Désirée knew what was so special about these birds.

A fireball engulfed the interior of the henhouse, sending gouts of flame out of the windows and half-open doorway. When the flames died, the coop held only a flock of young birds just entering their prime.

Désirée was never seen again. The phoenix dies and is reborn in this world. Not so, Episcopalians.

WRITING PROMPT: Have a character get caught snooping.

MA

On a Turnip, Dying Young

ON A TURNIP, DYING YOUNG

a eulogy by Marian Allen

I bought myself some turnips and they tied them in a bag.

I brought them home in triumph, very happy with my swag.

I put them in the pantry 'cause they're turnips, right? They'll keep.

I then forgot about them until yesterday, when– EEP!

I found the bag all saggy and untied it and found this:

Liquidity and rottenness instead of turnip bliss.

Oh, turnip lovers everywhere, if you don't like to gag,

DO store your turnips openly. DON'T tie them in a bag.

As #4 daughter and her bestie say, "Eee, though!"

WRITING PROMPT: A character forgets something that cannot be retrieved.

MA

Friday Recommends – Humor, Horror, Arguments and Wounds

It's a real mixed bag on Friday Recommends this week.

First, Dr. Grasshopper offers this as The Funniest Thing Ever. I just might agree. Even if it isn't, it's pretty funny. I would have embedded it, but embedding has been disabled for it, so I can only offer this link to The Funniest Thing Ever.

Okay, now, for something completely different, I recommend Sarah E. Glenn's post on Greek vampires, who are so not sparkly and sexy. They're the opposite of sparkly and sexy.

The always amusing Merrill Markoe explains How to Argue Politics no matter what your political leaning. The same general principles apply for any sort of argument, really.

Mystery writer K. B. Owen has a riveting post on 19th Century law enforcement in Hartford, Connecticut, with special attention paid to some awesomely rowdy women.

And, just in case you run into a rowdy woman yourself, Web MD has a True or False mythbusting slideshow on wound care. Well, I thought it was cool. Maybe you don't get wounded as much as I do. Not from being rowdy, from being clumsy.

Do you have any recommendations for good posts and/or videos this Friday? Leave them in the comments for the other Sweet Little Baby Angels to enjoy.

WRITING PROMPT: A character of your choice runs into a rowdy woman.

MA

Never Ask Johanna Harness

As MomGoth's faithful Sweet Little Baby Angels know, I'm part of Sample Sunday, wherein participants post a sample of their writing on Sunday. Hence, the name Sample Sunday.

So I asked, "Should I post an excerpt of a longer work this week or a reprint of something older or a new flash fiction piece?"

Shouldn't have asked. Johanna Harness pipes up and says, "New flash piece!" Then she says, "Other people's decisions are always so much easier to make than my own."

That means I'm a-woikin' on a new flash piece for Sunday. I have this fantastic aid called The Story Spinner that gets me started, even if I don't use any of its suggestions. It breaks the lock of the blank mind and hot-wires your creativity. As long as you don't fall into the trap of thinking you HAVE to stick with what the Spinner presents, you're in the car and driving away, worry-free.

Having fun. Thanks, Johanna!

WRITING PROMPT: Write a short piece about something fishy going on.

MA

Lies and Science

It's no wonder I make stuff up. When I was a wee, innocent little child, before there was arugula and other greens that look like something you'd pay good money to eradicate from your lawn, restaurants that wanted to fancy up a salad would include shreds of purple cabbage. I was the pickiest of eaters (shut up, yes, I'm making up for lost time, no, I don't get out of the car and shovel up roadkill, I do have some standards), and I didn't want any of that weird purple stuff. "Don't see that color much in food," was my opinion. The only other purple food I'd ever seen was beets, and you know what I think of beets.

So my mother said, "Don't you know what those purple things are? They're orchids. Some man climbed up to the top of a huge tree in a rainforest, with snakes and things all around him, to pick that orchid and carry it down to the ground, just so it could be cut up and put into a salad for you. Did he do all that for nothing?"

So I ate the damn cabbage. It was years before I saw a red cabbage in the grocery store and the truth came out.

I like red cabbage now, and see its beauty and have learned its coolness. For instance, did you know that the color of the cabbage depends on the pH level of the soil in which it grows? "Red" cabbage can be deep purple or greenish-yellow. When you boil red cabbage, it and the water turn blue. You can use that blue water to color Easter eggs, but it doesn't make a permanent dye for fabric (washes out after a couple of launderings or, I'll bet, sweatings).

And here's another cool thing: You can make your own litmus paper with red cabbage water. Even cooler: You can make green eggs to eat with your ham.

Don't you just love the interwebs? Me, too.

WRITING PROMPT: Make up a lie for a character's mother to tell him or her to get him or her to do something.

MA

Chocolate and White Castles

I'm posting today at Fatal Foodies on the subject of White Castles. If you don't know what White Castles are or what they have to do with food, check out the post.

One of the wonderful people I met at FandomFest this past weekend was Your Chocolate Priestess from The Chocolate Cult. I wonder if my mother would mind if converted from Christianity to Chocolatianity? I think she probably would, but I don't think she'd be surprised. She might even say I might as well publicly confess a religion I actually observe properly, anyway.

WRITING PROMPT: Follow the lead of Your Chocolate Priestess and takes notes while eating a food–any food, from dry white toast to a whole fried chicken–describing the experience through all five senses.

MA