Meredith Allard's Blog, page 47

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Published on November 02, 2011 17:03

Happy Halloween!

In honor of Halloween, I wanted to share the scene from Her Dear & Loving Husband that takes place on this fun holiday. Enjoy!

* * * * *

Two weeks later it was Halloween, the most important holiday in Salem, a month-long celebration. The streets were closed to motor traffic, and James had to walk around the barriers to find his way to Pickering Wharf and the Witches Lair. When he passed The House of the Seven Gables he saw an audience watching a reenactment of Nathaniel Hawthorne's story. He passed a pumpkin festival where small children held their oddly carved treasures over their heads, and he shook his head in amusement when he saw a walking tour, a class on how to hunt for ghosts and vampires. He passed that group quickly, not wishing to be bagged as a prized game that night. The smell of sweet and salt—candied apples, sugar-spun cotton candy, popcorn, and the sea—filled the air. He enjoyed being outside in the crisp autumn night, watching the children point and laugh and eat and run while a parade of witches, ghouls, and superheroes roamed the roads. He knew the Witches Lair would be open late. It was a good time for sales, Jennifer had told him, since the tourists get bored when everything else around town closes at five. But James didn't care anything about the tourists or the costumes or the sales at the Witches Lair. He knew Sarah would be there. He was going to see Sarah.

Once at the shop he walked inside, glanced around for Jennifer, then sat behind the counter. He watched the people stream in and out, smiled at the happy children, flipped through some books on casting spells. He spotted Olivia, dressed as Raggedy Ann and moving around helping customers. Then he saw the silver crosses displayed in a basket by the cash register. He picked one up and held it close to his face. He was still studying it when Jennifer tip-tapped behind him.

"You mean the crosses don't work? I thought I could finally do away with you."

"You're thinking about werewolves. Or maybe that's silver bullets with werewolves. Most of it is such nonsense." He shook his head as he looked at Jennifer. "You're dressed as Glinda the Good Witch? I'm not sure you picked the right costume. I was thinking more like the Wicked Witch of the West for you."

Jennifer curtseyed, touching her star wand to her gold crown. Her iridescent pink dress was so wide at the waist she hardly fit behind the counter.

"Oh no, Professor. There are only good witches in Salem. And I'm at your service. I'll grant you three wishes."

"I don't think you could grant my wishes. They're beyond even your magical capacity to help."

"I wouldn't bet on that."

"Who do you think I am, Dorothy from Kansas?"

Jennifer pointed her wand at the door. "I guess that makes Timothy Toto."

James watched Timothy walk into the store. The boy looked pleased with himself as he stopped in front of the counter and threw his black cape behind his shoulders. From his tuxedo shirt to his black shoes, his brown hair run through with black dye, red streaks dripping from his lips, there was no mistaking his cos-tume.

"You're dressed as Dracula?" James asked.

Timothy flashed his fake fangs. "What do you think?"

"I think you've lost your mind."

"It's not very original," said Jennifer.

"Not any less original than your costume," Timothy said. "Come on you two—it's the one night a year I can be proud of what I am and show the whole world. I'm a vampire, everyone! A real live vampire!"

The customers walking by, an older couple wearing orange 'This is My Costume' t-shirts, probably tourists, their cameras giving them away, looked nervously at Timothy and stepped aside to study the prayer beads. They only looked back once to see what the vampire boy was doing.

"Where's your costume, James?" Timothy gestured at James's street clothes, his gray argyle sweater, blue jeans, black Converse shoes. "It's Halloween. You're supposed to dress up."

"I'm a little old for dressing up."

Suddenly James smelled it, the fresh human blood, and he sniffed the air to center in on the source. He was afraid the temptation of oozing human blood would be too much for Timothy, who was still new to that life. Then he leaned close to the boy's face and barked in frustration. The blood was dripping from the sides of Timothy's mouth as part of his costume.

"You have human blood on your face?" James whispered.

Timothy shrugged. "It was all I had."

James grabbed the collar of Timothy's shiny black cape and pulled him close. "Go wash that off before someone sees it's human blood. Are you trying to get caught?"

"Relax, James. I'm having some fun. You should try it some time."

Timothy wiped the blood from the sides of his mouth with his hand and licked his fingers. He laughed as he left the store.

James turned to Jennifer. "You said you'd grant me three wishes. Can you make Timothy disappear?"

"Sorry. I'm only allowed to use my spells for good."

"Too bad."

James looked around at the faces, some painted, some masked, all smiling, laughing, happy with the sugar-induced candy high. He walked to the door, propped open by a black cauldron smoking from the dry ice inside, and peered up and down the wharf.

"She'll be here," Jennifer said.

He walked back into the store, heading for his place behind the counter where he had a clear view of everyone coming and going. He wanted a whiff of strawberries and cream as soon as Sarah stepped onto the wharf. He wanted to see her face as soon as she arrived at the shop. Instead, he heard the heavy, plodding footsteps he recognized from the library, and he knew Kenneth Hempel stood behind him. He tried to silently will the reporter to go away and leave him alone, forever, but Hempel still stood there. Jennifer nodded when she saw the reporter in her mother's store.

"Good evening, Mr. Hempel," she said. "Welcome to the Witches Lair. I see we have yet another Dracula here this evening. Have you come to suck my blood?"

"Good evening, Miss…?"

"Mandel. Jennifer Mandel."

"It's a pleasure to see you again, Miss Mandel. And Pro-fessor, how unexpected to see you here this evening. Not in costume I see."

James turned to face the reporter. "Not this year, I'm afraid. I like your costume though. There have certainly been a lot of Draculas here tonight."

"I'm not Dracula. I'm Van Helsing." Hempel grabbed at his belt and unsheathed a wooden cross that had been whittled into a stake. He held it an inch from James's face. "Van Helsing the Vampire Slayer."

As James stared at the wooden stake he wondered if he would have to kill Hempel right there in front of everyone in the store. If it came to a test of strength between Hempel and James, James would win. That was one of the first lessons he learned on his earliest hunts—he had the oppressive power to overwhelm his prey. After a tense moment, James realized that Hempel didn't intend to pierce him that night, at least not with the stake.

"A rather convincing costume, Professor Wentworth, don't you think?"

James kept his eyes on the stake as he spoke. "I believe you're referring to Buffy."

"Excuse me?"

"Buffy is known as a vampire slayer. Van Helsing is known as a vampire hunter. Even so…"

"But aren't they the same thing?" Hempel's brow furrowed as he considered. "Come to think of it, hunting and slaying are not the same thing. You don't need to do one to do the other. Doctor Van Helsing was very methodical in the way he hunted Count Dracula, wasn't he? He gathered the evidence and considered the facts before he made his plans to uncover his prey. He even followed the wicked vampire back to his home to capture him, though he left the actual slaying of the cursed monster to others more capable of such things. Yes, I am Van Helsing after all."

James knew Hempel wasn't entirely right about Van Helsing, but he didn't dare say so. The reporter stepped closer and smiled the same self-satisfied grin James had seen in the library. "You see," Hempel said, "you needn't fear me, Professor. I don't want to slay vampires. I want to hunt them, flush them out into the open. People need to be warned because some of them are a danger to humanity. But you're right—I am more of a hunter than a slayer. Thank you for clarifying that point."

Jennifer walked around the counter and put her arm around Hempel's shoulders.

"If you'll follow me, Doctor Van Helsing, I believe I may be able to find a vampire or two for you around the shop. You won't need to do much hunting tonight."

She led him to a group of small children, each dressed as a ghost, a witch, or a vampire, and the children laughed when they saw the man with a wooden stake at his side. Hempel seemed charmed by them.

"My children are getting into their costumes so they can go trick-or-treating tonight," he said. "I'm on my way home now to escort them around town."

He pretended to chase the children through the store as they squealed with delight, and suddenly the stake he carried looked more like a toy than a weapon capable of killing someone in the store. Push a wooden stake against a man and he'll laugh because it won't hurt. The worst a human would suffer is an annoying splinter beneath the skin. Push a wooden stake against James and witness the blood-splattered gore one expects from the special effects of a low-budget horror film. At least that's what James had been told. He had never seen it himself, and he hoped he never would.

James watched Hempel as he played with the laughing children, and he was sad that, for some reason unknown to him, the reporter had taken it upon himself to expose James's well-guarded secret. Hempel seemed like a nice enough fellow, a family man who might not be a bad person exactly but someone with a serious vendetta. James was concerned about what Hempel knew, but he didn't pursue it any further that night with the Halloween-costumed crowds streaming in and out. He wanted the problem to disappear.

He saw Jennifer watching Hempel and recognized her petulant face, the one that let everyone know she was agitated. The more she watched Hempel the more set her features became. When Hempel turned away, she snapped her fingers and the potion bottles shattered into glass and dust. The reporter glanced nervously around to see what had happened.

"I thought you had to wiggle your nose to do that," James whispered.

"That's on television."

From across the shop Olivia grunted in frustration. Unhappy at her daughter's blatant display of witchiness, her arms were crossed over her chest while her fingers tapped an agitated tune—the perfect picture of a perturbed mother. Jennifer shrugged.

Hempel, visibly upset by the exploding bottles, said good night as he walked to the door. Jennifer escorted him, her arm around his shoulders, smiling to his face.

"Good night," she said, brushing the bottle dust from his cape. "I'm so sorry. I don't know how that happened."

She stood by the smoking cauldron, watching until he was gone. When he was safely down the wharf, she joined James by the counter.

"He needs to be turned into a toad," she said, "or a rat."

"You said you could only use your spells for good."

"It would be a good thing to make that odious little man run through the sewers for the rest of his life. Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. He didn't touch me."

"So that one isn't a legend."

"That one isn't a legend."

"You can be killed by a wooden stake?"

"I can."

"But you live in a wood house."

"I live in it, Jen, I'm not being pierced by it. If I were pierced by the wood that would be a different story."

"Different how?"

"My blood would gush where the stake pierced me, and I could die from the loss of blood alone. Or it could make me too weak to fight, and if I were weak and someone decapitated me…"

"All right, James, enough." Jennifer held her hand to her mouth and squeezed her eyes.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm making the horror movie I'm seeing in my mind disappear." When she settled herself, she asked, "What do you think Hempel wants?"

"To be the one who uncovers the undead in Witch City. What recognition he would receive if he were the first to prove that such beings exist. Good enough for the Pulitzer Prize."

"I think you should talk to him," Timothy said. The boy had come back into the store without his cape, his shirtsleeves rolled up, his face still streaked with blood. "I think I should talk to him. I want to tell him the truth."

"You will do no such thing," James said. "It's too dangerous."

Timothy's dilated-black eyes widened. "I don't think it would be as bad as you think. I think people would understand."

James scoffed aloud. "You think people would understand? I can tell you a story about how little people understand."

Timothy could be a foolish boy, and the foolish are the first to act foolhardy. James knew Timothy was young, especially for their kind, but the boy was stubborn in his wish to be free of hiding and James needed to make him see the dangerous road he wanted to travel. Timothy would unleash not his own personal freedom but havoc and fear, leaving destruction and desperation behind. He had to understand.

Filed under: Fiction, Her Dear & Loving Husband Tagged: Halloween, Her Dear & Loving Husband, vampires, witches

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Published on October 31, 2011 16:37

Welcome to the Spooktacular Giveaway Hop

I'm excited to take part in my first blog hop, and this one's quite a doozy! Over 400 blogs are participating in this giveaway, so if you love books and goodies–free books and goodies–you're in the right place. Thanks to the ladies at I am a Reader Not a Writer and The Diary of a Bookworm for hosting this giveaway.

Each day from Monday, 10/24 to Monday, 10/31 I'm giving away two copies of Her Dear & Loving Husband, one e-copy and one paperback. With vampires, ghosts, witches, and werewolves, Her Dear & Loving Husband is perfect for Halloween. For a synopsis of the novel, click here.

What do you need to do? It's easy. First, you must be a follower of this blog. If you're not already a follower, you can follow me via Networked Blogs or sign up with your e-mail address. Then, fill out the form below and you're entered. If you'd like another entry, you can follow me on Twitter.

For more great giveaways, click here and hop to the other participating sites. Happy Halloween!

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Filed under: Giveaways, Her Dear & Loving Husband Tagged: Giveaways, Her Dear & Loving Husband, I am a Reader Not a Writer, Spooktacular Giveaway Hop, The Diary of a Bookworm [image error]

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Published on October 23, 2011 15:00

Tips 3-1 for Submitting to Editors

Do…

3. Proofread your queries and submissions

It's important to proofread for typos and other boo-boos. It goes back to showing editors, agents, and anyone else you're submitting to that you're serious about writing. You're not sending in something you wrote off the top of your head, and you took the time to read and reread to check for mistakes. Sometimes it's hard to catch your own mistakes because your eyes see what they expect to see, and they expect to see what you meant to write. Maybe you meant to write 'she' instead of 'the' but your finger went to the right instead of the left and…you know how it goes. And spellcheck, while a great tool, isn't perfect.

It's helpful to have another set of eyes proofread your work for you. Whether it's a friend with a firm grasp of language and spelling or you hire a professional editor, someone else will often catch those pesky typos before you do, and that will help you create a professional looking draft most editors will be happy to consider.

2. Read previous editions of the journal/publication to see what they publish

Sites like New Pages or the Literary Magazines page from Poets & Writers are great resources for finding journals that publish stories like the ones you've written. When I first started writing historical fiction I searched for journals that published that genre, but I couldn't find any. As a result, I started my own—The Copperfield Review. With so many journals online these days, it's easy to click through their stories to see what they like to publish, and it helps to whittle down your list of possible submissions.

For the first nine years of The Copperfield Review's existence, we only published historical fiction. During that time we received countless submissions that were not at all historical in nature. Writers wasted time sending their non-historical submissions to us. That was one more rejection letter they wouldn't have received if they had checked our website. Even a cursory glance would have shown that The Copperfield Review was a journal of historical fiction.

If you write science fiction, seek out science fiction journals. If you write mystery, humor, romance, inspirational, literary—whatever it is, there's a journal out there that publishes it. Send your work to those journals because you'll have a better chance of being published. And if such a journal doesn't exist, start your own. It worked for me.

1. Follow the submission guidelines exactly as stated

As a writer myself, I understand that sometimes submission guidelines seem petty, even vindictive—you know, a way to make writers more miserable. What does it matter if it asks for a third person bio? What does it matter if I send in seven poems at a time instead of three? But those guidelines exist for a reason, and editors notice if writers don't follow them. You're going to have to trust me on this.

Maybe the problem is the word guidelines, which sounds more like submission suggestions. The guidelines exist because the editors need some semblance of sanity, a method to our madness, to help us weed through hundreds of submissions per edition. For example, we don't accept file attachments because we caught viruses when we did. We only accept three poems at a time and we have a word limit for fiction and nonfiction because we're a tiny staff with day jobs, families, and other life obligations. We ask for a third person bio because books, newspapers, and magazines use third person bios. I understand that to authors it might not seem like a big deal whether they send in a bio in first or third person, but it makes a difference to us as we put each new edition together.

For writers who want a one-size-fits-all file that will work as a submission for fifty different journals, I'm afraid that's not likely. Submissions that follow the guidelines are the ones we look at seriously for publication. Writers careful to follow our specific guidelines at Copperfield are showing us that they take their writing seriously, they care about presentation, and they're making the process easier by giving us what we've asked for. All I can say is a hearty "Thank you!" to those writers.

It isn't so hard to send in a strong submission. It boils down to being professional, sending in your best work, and following the guidelines. If you can do those things, the sky is the limit for your writing career.

Filed under: Writing Tagged: agents, editors, literary journals, writing, writing tips

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Published on October 22, 2011 15:39

Tips 6-4 For Submitting to Editors

Don't…

6. Resubmit a new version of your work after you've heard back from an editor

Whether your work is accepted or rejected, don't resend a new version to the same editor. If your work was rejected, it wasn't right for that editor for various reasons. It isn't anything about your talent or even that particular story. Different editors have different preferences, that's all. Keep sending the story out to different editors. But don't send it back to the same editor, even if you've reworked it—that is, unless the editor has specifically said to send it back after you've made revisions.

That goes for work that's been accepted too. It's happened where we've accepted a piece for publication and then the writer says something like, "I've reworked my story. Here's the new version." If we accepted it, then we thought it was fine. We don't need a new version. At Copperfield, we stopped accepting new versions because we were doing twice the work—formatting the original we accepted, then formatting the new one. Now on our guidelines it says writers need to send in the version they want to see online since what they send us (if it's accepted) is what's going up. Send in your best stuff the first time, and that will make the process easier for you and for the editors.

5. Forget to let editors know your work has been accepted elsewhere

I took a quick poll of a few editor friends of mine. I asked them what their number one pet peeve was concerning submissions, and every one said they're most annoyed when they choose a work for publication and then find out the work has been accepted elsewhere.

The issue isn't that the work has been picked up by another journal. Nearly every editor I know is a writer too, and we're thrilled when other writers are published whether it's in our journal or someone else's. The problem occurs when we aren't told a submission is no longer up for consideration. At Copperfield, we spend a lot of time reading and rereading every submission we receive. If authors don't tell us their work has been accepted elsewhere and we spend time considering their work, we've just wasted hours, and, like many of you, we don't have hours to waste. A simple e-mail is all it takes. No long explanations required. But it is expected, professional courtesy to let editors know your work is no longer up for grabs.

Do…

4. Send in your most polished work

I'm a writer too, and I know what it's like to be eager to be published. It takes discipline to keep reworking a piece until it's polished and ready to submit, especially since the revising process could take weeks or even months. You don't need to rush the submitting process. Literary journals, agents, and publishers aren't going to disappear (maybe publishers will disappear if you believe what you read).

Run your work by a critique group. Take writing classes. Read some great short stories and examine their greatness. Develop an ear for well-written dialogue. Unwieldy or unnecessary dialogue is a common problem in submissions we see at Copperfield. Give yourself time to grow into the writer you want to be. I know we live in the "I want it now" era, but there's no rush. You're on no one else's timetable but your own. Make sure your story is the best it can be before you send it off to editors.

On Saturday, I'll have my top three tips for submitting to editors.

Filed under: Writing Tagged: agents, editors, literary journals, publishers, writing, writing tips

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Published on October 19, 2011 19:58

Tips 10-7 for Submitting to Editors

After I was invited to speak at the Henderson Writers Group, I had to decide what I wanted to say. What did I have to offer that was useful? As the executive editor of an award-winning literary journal, I realized I could offer tips to the writers on how to make their submissions stand out so they had a better chance of being published.

Most writers write with the intention of being published. Not all writers. A few years ago I taught a creative writing workshop for adults in California and I had a lovely older lady as a student. She was taking my class because she wanted to write her life story for her grandchildren and she wanted to write it well. But most writers want to submit their work to magazines, journals, agents, and book editors so they can be published.

Every day writers give editors many reasons to say no to their submissions. If you can help your submission stand out from the crowd, in a good way, then you can increase your chances of getting a yes and being published. In honor of my friends at the Henderson Writers Group, I thought I would share my Top 10 Tips for Submitting to Editors here. Today, numbers ten through seven.

Don't…

10. Cc every editor you're submitting to in one e-mail

Most editors understand that writers are sending simultaneous submissions, meaning that writers are sending their work to several journals at a time. Even so, it's important for writers to take the few extra minutes to send a separate e-mail to each individual editor. It looks more professional, like the writer cares about presentation. Cc'd submissions look lazy, quite frankly, and other editors I know agree with me. Every time I'm included in a cc list with other editors, inevitably a few of the other editors will e-mail me and ask "Did you see that e-mail?" Then they'll follow the question with something like "What a jerk!" or some other expletive I won't include here. I don't look too closely at cc'd submissions, and neither do other editors I know.

9. Misspell the editor's name

8. Confuse the editor's gender

Make sure you spell the editor's name correctly, and check to see if the editor is a boy or a girl. If I had a dollar for every time I received an e-mail addressed to Mr. Allred I could have bought out Borders and prevented it from going out of business. I've seen my name as Allston, Allen, Allan, and every other variant of All— you can think of. On The Copperfield Review Meet the Staff page, my name is there, spelled correctly, and you can see at a glance that my gender pronoun is 'she.' It's the same for other editors or agents—the information is on their websites. Just three weeks ago we received a submission addressed to "Dear Sirs." There isn't a single "sir" on the staff of Copperfield. That submission was laughed right into the no-thanks file. Details are important. Really.

7. Add editors/journals to your groups on Facebook or tag them in your posts

This is a relatively new phenomenon, but one many editors find annoying. The Copperfield Review is fortunate enough to have 5000 friends on Facebook, along with about 70 subscribers. We've also just started a page so we can keep our network of great readers and writers growing. If even only 20 of our friends add us to their groups in one day (and this has happened), that's many, many e-mails in my inbox I have to weed through. Then I have to find the group on Facebook and stop the e-mails from coming. It's the same for tagging us in posts. About a month ago I saw an editor of another literary journal respond in real anger because she had been tagged for the umpteenth time and she was tired of weeding through e-mails from people she didn't know. She said she would never accept a writer's work based on a Facebook tag. I tend to agree.

Facebook is a wonderful way to meet other like-minded souls. We're thrilled to have every single one of our Facebook friends. But I don't pay attention to groups I'm added to or tags. I don't have time. If you want to attract an editor's attention then send in an excellent submission according to the journal's guidelines. Outstanding writing will get you the attention you want every time.

Filed under: Writing Tagged: agents, editors, literary journals, publishing, writing, writing tips

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Published on October 15, 2011 18:25

Tips for Submitting to Editors

After I was invited to speak at the Henderson Writers Group, I had to decide what I wanted to say. What did I have to offer that was useful? As the executive editor of an award-winning literary journal, I realized I could offer tips to the writers on how to make their submissions stand out so they had a better chance of being published.

Most writers write with the intention of being published. Not all writers. A few years ago I taught a creative writing workshop for adults in California and I had a lovely older lady as a student. She was taking my class because she wanted to write her life story for her grandchildren and she wanted to write it well. But most writers want to submit their work to magazines, journals, agents, and book editors so they can be published.

Every day writers give editors many reasons to say no to their submissions. If you can help your submission stand out from the crowd, in a good way, then you can increase your chances of getting a yes and being published. In honor of my friends at the Henderson Writers Group, I thought I would share my Top 10 Tips for Submitting to Editors here. Today, numbers ten through seven.

Don't…

10. Cc every editor you're submitting to in one e-mail

Most editors understand that writers are sending simultaneous submissions, meaning that writers are sending their work to several journals at a time. Even so, it's important for writers to take the few extra minutes to send a separate e-mail to each individual editor. It looks more professional, like the writer cares about presentation. Cc'd submissions look lazy, quite frankly, and other editors I know agree with me. Every time I'm included in a cc list with other editors, inevitably a few of the other editors will e-mail me and ask "Did you see that e-mail?" Then they'll follow the question with something like "What a jerk!" or some other expletive I won't include here. I don't look too closely at cc'd submissions, and neither do other editors I know.

9. Misspell the editor's name

8. Confuse the editor's gender

Make sure you spell the editor's name correctly, and check to see if the editor is a boy or a girl. If I had a dollar for every time I received an e-mail addressed to Mr. Allred I could have bought out Borders and prevented it from going out of business. I've seen my name as Allston, Allen, Allan, and every other variant of All— you can think of. On The Copperfield Review Meet the Staff page, my name is there, spelled correctly, and you can see at a glance that my gender pronoun is 'she.' It's the same for other editors or agents—the information is on their websites. Just three weeks ago we received a submission addressed to "Dear Sirs." There isn't a single "sir" on the staff of Copperfield. That submission was laughed right into the no-thanks file. Details are important. Really.

7. Add editors/journals to your groups on Facebook or tag them in your posts

This is a relatively new phenomenon, but one many editors find annoying. The Copperfield Review is fortunate enough to have 5000 friends on Facebook, along with about 70 subscribers. We've also just started a page so we can keep our network of great readers and writers growing. If even only 20 of our friends add us to their groups in one day (and this has happened), that's many, many e-mails in my inbox I have to weed through. Then I have to find the group on Facebook and stop the e-mails from coming. It's the same for tagging us in posts. About a month ago I saw an editor of another literary journal respond in real anger because she had been tagged for the umpteenth time and she was tired of weeding through e-mails from people she didn't know. She said she would never accept a writer's work based on a Facebook tag. I tend to agree.

Facebook is a wonderful way to meet other like-minded souls. We're thrilled to have every single one of our Facebook friends. Our friends are welcome to post on our wall—instant advertising to 5000 people. But I don't pay attention to groups I'm added to or tags. I don't have time. If you want to attract an editor's attention then send in an excellent submission according to the journal's guidelines. Outstanding writing will get you the attention you want every time.

On Wednesday I'll post tips six through four. Please join me.

Filed under: Writing Tagged: agents, editors, literary journals, publishing, writing, writing tips

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Published on October 15, 2011 18:25

Scene Sequels

This post is in honor of Laurin Wittig, the nice lady with a keen eye for critique who helped me get Her Dear & Loving Husband on track (it was known as The Vampire's Wife then).

When I was writing the novel, I saw the internal and external conflicts for James and Sarah so clearly in my mind, but I was having trouble articulating them on paper. Laurin shared the scene sequel with me as a way to slow down and allow the character, and the reader, to think through what is happening. The scene sequel takes place in four steps.

Step 1: Emotion

This is where the character is reacting to what has happened. In that moment when something happens, we feel it first. Before rationality, before logic, there is emotion.

Step 2: Thought

When the emotion of the moment fades away we begin to think about what has happened. Sometimes logically. Sometimes not. But the intention is to make sense of whatever is going on. What does this really mean? What is the right thing to do? For me, the thought stage is where the character questions what has happened, what should have happened, what might happen. If I do A, will B, C, or Z result?

Step 3: Decision

After the thinking is done, what will you do? Will Sarah run screaming from James when she discovers his secret? Will James tell Sarah what the secret is? This is the moment when the character forms a judgment based on his or her thoughts, making a decision one way or another.

Step 4: Action

This is the result of the decision. Once the decision is made, then the character has to do something about it. As Laurin said, sometimes the decision is to deal with it later. But there should be some kind of culmination to the thinking and the decision.

I have become a huge fan of the scene sequel. Laurin told me she kept the formula on a sticky note on her computer for years, and now I do the same. The sequel is relatively simple, just four steps, yet it allows us to understand the characters on a deeper level. I think part of the reason the formula works so well is because it mimics our real-life process of dealing with whatever it is we have to deal with. First we react in an emotional way, then we think about it, then we decide what to do, and then we do it (or we decide to do nothing, which, as Laurin pointed out, is also a decision).

A scene sequel isn't the kind of thing you want to use at every little event. But whenever something important is happening, it's helpful to slow down and allow your characters to feel, think, decide, and do. This will create a richer, fuller story for both your characters and your readers.

Filed under: Writing Tagged: scene sequels, writing, writing tips

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Published on October 08, 2011 19:47

Janet Fitch and Avoiding Clichés "Like the Plague"

I love that old saying by Dorothy Parker, "I hate writing. I love having written." Has it become a cliché? Probably. But I love it anyway because as a writer myself I know it's all too true.

My "I hate writing" moments happen when I'm drudging through a first draft. Now, I'm on the journey toward my "love having written" stage. Now, when I sit down at the computer I no longer want to pop my eyes out with spoons or pluck my hairs one-by-one. Finally, I'm able to find the poetry in the prose. When I find the flow, that's when the fun begins. How do I find the flow? It's a challenge, one that started over a decade ago.

In 1999, Oprah interviewed Janet Fitch, author of White Oleander, for the Oprah Book Club. Fitch talked about how a writing instructor told her that a "cliché is anything you've ever heard before—so never use a description anyone has heard." As I remember it (it was 1999), she spoke about a time she challenged herself to describe a tree with her own unique phrases. I was already well into fiction writing at that time, and her words struck me as truth. I learned that writers should reach to find their own descriptions, and they should never be lazy and allow others to do the work for them.

In a 2006 interview for O Magazine, Fitch explained that when she began writing fiction she had to work on word choices and the music of language. That was what I wanted too. I wanted to work on word choices and the music of language. I wanted to avoid clichés "like the plague" and create images "as sweet as pie."

It's a lesson I still hold close to my heart. When I'm molding sentences, I stretch, hands out, fingers pointing there, there where that inchoate image waits, sometimes patiently, sometimes not, for me to probe my vocabulary for the exactly right string of words to illuminate what I see the way I see it. If I'm describing a storm, a small town, a person, an emotion, I need to do it my own way. In their 2006 interview, Oprah mentions to Fitch that such a stretch "seems as if it would be quite difficult." Fitch responds, "It is. But it means that everything you give the reader is absolutely fresh. We read so that we can be moved by a new way of looking at things."

I learned a lot from Fitch in 1999, again in 2006, and I continue to learn from her whenever I read one of her novels. Reaching for phrases I've never heard before becomes harder with everything I write, but that's the part of writing I thrive on—creating poetry in prose. And when I do finally find the right words, that is when I love having written.

If you'd like to lose yourself in the poetry of Janet Fitch's prose, check out her novels or the short pieces on her blog. The 2006 interview for O Magazine can be found here.

Filed under: Writing Tagged: cliches, Janet Fitch, O Magazine, Oprah, White Oleander, writing, writing tips