Judith Post's Blog, page 114

Writing: I’ve had fun!

I mentioned that I was trying a writing experiment with POV. It’s taken more time than I expected it to, but I met my goals. Each day this week, I’ve put one part of a short story on my webpage, with one more to go up tomorrow. Each part was from a different POV character. What have I learned?

It’s fun writing from the villain/antagonist’s POV. I don’t do that very often. As a matter of fact, I use third person, single POV in every series I write except Fallen Angels. Those are the only books I write with multiple POV, and I still rarely write from the villain’s veiwpoint. I think it might be hard to do without giving too much away, but it worked for a short piece. And letting myself live inside Merlot’s head helped me understand her more. I read once that villains don’t think of themselves as bad or wrong. Instead, they focus on what they want, what they’re striving to do, and they justify their actions. They often feel they’ve been wronged, and they’re putting things right. Merlot has that tendency. Hezra, on the other hand, (in part 4), decided to turn to the dark arts and makes no bones about the fact that she wants power. It was fun writing from her perspective, too, but I still wanted to make her an individual–not just the “evil” who battles my protagonist.

I’m putting up the last part of the story tomorrow–the big showdown–but this experiment has made me think more about villains/antagonists. For me, Ilona Andrews’s Kate Daniels series really got interesting when she had Hugh D’Ambray walk onto the pages to play mind games with Kate and to battle her and Curran. For me, she created two of the most intriguing “bad guys” I’ve read for a long time when Hugh and Kate’s father, Roland, became active in the series. Not that she hasn’t had a strong, almost invincible enemy in every book. That’s part of urban fantasy, but Hugh and Roland are unpredictable and do the unexpected, and that’s made them really interesting. She’s made them such a blend of good and bad that the reader has mixed feelings about them. It’s sort of like reading The Silence of the Lambs. I hated Dr. Chilton more than Hannibal Lecter. Odd, right? But a really well-done villain can pull a reader’s emotions in strange directions. For that reason, I’ve decided to spend just as much time on my villains and antagonists as I do on my protagonists from now on. They can really make a story zing.

http://www.judithpostswritingmusings.com/

Writing: Experiment #2

I finished the rewrites for my second romance. I’m a firm believer in celebrating every single, little victory that I can as a writer. So after wine, I gave myself permission to write something pretty much out of my wheel house. And yes, I was sober when I made that decision. I wanted to write a short story in five parts, with each part told from a different POV, no repeats. I’m not sure how well it will work, so I’m putting it on my webpage. That’s where I put short-shorts that don’t fit my usual books and novellas–stories from a minor character’s POV or with a different tone than I use for the book or novella series they come from, little bits and pieces that don’t fit anywhere else. They’re my “fun” writing.

For Part 1 of Witch Gone Bad, I went way out of my comfort zone. I started with the villain’s voice. Now, Les Edgerton would give me grief about using the term “villain.” He prefers the terms protagonist to hero or heroine and antagonist rather than villain, for good reasons, which you can find here: http://lesedgertononwriting.blogspot.com/2015/02/antagonists-and-protagonists.html. I love the man and love reading his writing advice, but for me, Merlot feels more like a villain than an antagonist. That’s not what gave me grief, though. The hard part of writing from her POV was that she uses her sensuality to get what she wants. I never wrote a sex scene until I started writing urban fantasy. My Sunday School teachers and my mother frowned every time lust snuck into my writing. Now, don’t get me wrong. I happily READ sex scenes, but I wasn’t very good at writing them. But practice improves almost everything, even fumbling first efforts, and I’ve gotten better over time. This scene was different, though. Merlot uses sex as a trap, and I struggled with it. (I read Karen Soutar’s blog stories, though, and she could teach me a thing or two: https://karensoutar.wordpress.com/).

Part 2, thankfully, returned to some of my favorite protagonists, Babet and Prosper, and his partner, Hatchet. I got to fall back into the good guys-looking for the bad-guy POV. (And I hope you like this, Joan Lisanti, because it’s different than most of my Babet/Prosper stories).

Part 3, I wrote from the mother’s POV. I wanted this part, though VERY short, to capture a mother’s emotion when her daughter’s in the middle of teenage rebellion and hasn’t come home. I went with a less is more approach. For me, writing grief and strong emotions is a tough call. What do you say to someone who’s been devastated? Words never feel like enough. How do you convey that? For me, it’s tricky.

Part 4, I hope, adds a wrinkle to the story, a little twist. Merlot only thinks she’s bad. Hezra is worse.

Part 5, of course, (since I wrote the story in five parts) is where the good and bad meet. I’ve written all of the other parts, and I’ve started this one, but I have so many players, I’m keeping my fingers crossed–which makes it really hard to type:) This should be fun. Wish me luck.

Anyway, I’m going to put up one part of the story every day, from Monday through Friday, starting this Monday, August 10th. Some parts are only 2 pages, others a little longer. If you have any comments, let me know. And I want to thank my Friday night friend, Joyce Abramson, for looking at these for me. My poor critique partners have suffered enough lately, so I asked her to give this a go.

My webpage: http://www.judithpostswritingmusings.com/

Or you can tweet me: @judypost

P.S. I’ve talked about lots of things on this blog, but Jane Friedman wrote a brilliant post about the writer’s most basic tool: words. It’s worth reading: http://janefriedman.com/2015/08/06/word-choice/?utm_content=buffer4062b&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Wolf’s Bane is FREE, Aug. 6-10

I feel a little guilty. I’ve been working on romances lately, and I’ve pretty much neglected my urban fantasy series. I’ve only snuck in time to write a few Babet and Prosper short stories. So I’m offering Wolf’s Bane for free on Amazon and hoping that Reece and Damian feel a little loved. I enjoyed writing all three of their novels, but I won’t get back to them for a while. That doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten them, though. Who can forget a witch and a gargoyle? Hope you’re having a great summer, juggling your writing:) Happy August.

http://www.amazon.com/Wolfs-Bane-Judith-Post-ebook/dp/B007C5ERLE/ref=sr_1_4?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1438874980&sr=1-4&keywords=judith+post

Writing: Tone and Voice

My daughter came to stay the weekend with us. She’s a travelling nurse who works in Indianapolis, close enough to zip home and spend time with us. We’re celebrating my sister’s birthday tonight. She asked me to make supper for her–Delmonico steaks, potato salad, and peach cobbler. Easy enough to do. So I thought I’d be brilliant and write my blog ahead of time, then post it today…except when I hit the link, the only thing that saved was the title. Arrgh. I saved the post twice, to be sure. What can I say? Life happens. But here goes. Again.

I’ve been thinking about the difference between voice and tone lately, because I’ve been working on a few different things instead of just one. When new writers join Scribes, some of them ask about voice. What is it? How do you get it? It’s always a tricky thing for me to explain. But in my opinion, voice is the combination of all of the components that make up your writing style–word choice, the way you arrange words, if you prefer long, rambling sentences to short, punchy ones, if you use sentence fragments, your rhythm, your style–it’s a natural reflection of you. The best way to “find” your voice, is to simply write, then write more, and keep writing, until eventually, your writing will be YOU. You’ll learn all of the craft of writing along the way–grammar, verbs, etc.–but voice is what makes your writing different than anyone else’s. I don’t think it’s something you have to work at. Don’t try to copy someone else. Learn from them, but be you. And eventually, people will recognize your voice. (Les Edgerton wrote a good “how-to” book on Voice, http://www.amazon.com/Finding-Your-Voice-Personality-Writing/dp/1508879710).

Tone, I think, is a different animal. Tone is something I choose when I want to flavor a story. It’s the difference between a story that’s dark or humorous. It’s a matter of word choice. It permeates the cracks and crevices between sentences. Setting contributes a lot, but you don’t have to do the obvious. Small towns and cities can be both comforting or ominous, according to what you emphasize. When a horror writer describes a house or woods, there are no blue skies and birds singing unless they’re used as a counterpoint to an innocent facade where the reader knows evil is brewing. I went to hear Shirley Jump on a panel once, and she said that when she first started writing humorous romances, she made a list of “funny” words to remind herself to go for the humor in every sentence/paragraph that she could. She even started one of her novels with her protagonist dressed up in a banana suit when she meets Mr. Hunk. (http://www.amazon.com/Virgins-Proposal-Romance-Shirley-Jump/dp/0263191788)

In a series, authors often keep the tone of each book consistent. Their voice is their voice. That’s going to be the same. But every Kate Daniels book, by Ilona Andrews, smacks the reader in the face with Kate’s attitude, adds healthy doses of humor, and lots of action. Readers expect and crave that tone. Patricia Briggs’s Mercedes Thompson series has a distinct tone of its own. She uses action, too, but Mercedes isn’t as in-your-face as Kate. When I read an early novel by Patricia Briggs, though, When Demons Walk, I fell in love with the brashness of her protagonist, Sham. Briggs’s voice was still there, but the book had a fun, sassy tone.

For me, then, the protagonist is a big part of what sets the tone of the book. If we’re in her POV, the way she views life is going to creep into the story. If she’s a woman who’s had a hard life of struggles that’s worn her down, her outlook isn’t going to be innocent and sunny. Her voice–the character’s voice–might be world-weary, harsh, or brittle. Some cynicism probably creeps in, too. Or maybe she’s just given up, doesn’t care anymore. That view will tinge every aspect of what happens to her and how she reacts. We want to hear her, and that sets the story’s tone.

An author’s voice, I think, will be consistent. It’s how she writes. But tone can vary from story to story, depending on the mood you want to set and the protagonist’s POV. It’s the difference between the author’s voice and the character’s voice.

Hope you have an awesome August, and happy writing!

My webpage: http://www.judithpostswritingmusings.com/

https://www.facebook.com/JudithPostsurbanfantasy

on twitter: @judypost

The final part is up!

I posted the last part of Ophelia’s Story on my webpage today. It’s in the left hand column with the other free stories I’ve posted for my different series. Ophelia’s bad choices finally catch up with her.

And boy, has it been fun! I use my webpage to write short pieces, mostly for myself. If I think of an idea that won’t fit into one of my novels, or I have a character I want to play with or get to know a little better, the story gets slapped in the left hand column. Sometimes, I just want to experiment with a different type of tone, something darker or sillier than I usually write, a set-up I’m not sure I can pull off. It’s the place for the stories I don’t want to stretch into something longer. My webpage is my idea and writing playground:) And you’re welcome to visit it. http://www.judithpostswritingmusings.com/

Happy writing!

FALLEN ANGELS is FREE, 7/28-8/1

Wanted to let you know that my e-novel, Fallen Angels, is free on Amazon for 5 days. It’s the first book in that series, and it’s a little different from most urban fantasies. I mixed supernaturals and mortals together, letting the mortals play important roles in the story, too. My thought was, if vampires and fallen angels lived in a mortal world, wouldn’t they all interact now and then? And don’t the supernaturals and mortals have, basically, the same wants and needs? The same types of struggles? Don’t they mirror each other in many ways? It’s one of the reasons I enjoy writing about Enoch and Danny.

When I wrote my Wolf’s Bane series, I was a good girl and played by the rules. Mortals are merely a backdrop to the struggles the gargoyles, witches, and werewolves engage in. Good supernaturals respect mortals. Bad supernaturals see them as weak, and therefore as pawns or prey. THAT makes for fun, too:)

Lastly, when I wrote the Empty Altars series, I decided to go for broke. Why mess with mortals and supernaturals when I could write about gods and goddesses? I’ve always loved myths, so what better choice for protagonists than my beloved Greek and Norse deities? The thing is, even gods and goddesses struggle with right and wrong, how to protect mortals, and with limitations. I guess there’s just no getting around it. It would be bad news for a writer anyway. Where would the wants and needs come into play? The internal and external conflict? If life were perfect, there wouldn’t be much to write about.

If you’d like to download Fallen Angels, here’s the link: http://amzn.to/14X1JYi

Happy writing!

Writing: giving myself permission to fail

The Old Poop (my nickname for my adorable hubby) and I are driving to Bloomington tomorrow to pick up our grandson. He moved to a new apartment with his friends for their senior year at IU. He drove a U-Haul of furniture down there on Friday, and we’re bringing him back to his car in our driveway. He’ll eat a fast supper here and then hit the road for Detroit and his summer internship. It’s going to be a full day for everyone, so I thought I’d better get my blog up while I still had energy:) That’s the way summers are, though, right? You write around life, day trips, friends and family, and yard work.

It’s been a bit of a challenge to put up a new part of Ophelia’s story every Friday for five weeks, and I’m not sure that was my most brilliant idea, but it’s been worth it. I’ve had so much fun with this writing experiment that I want to try it again–with different goals–sometime soon. Anyway, Part 4 is on my webpage now. For this challenge, I wanted to write a story in five parts where the protagonist made a bad choice at the end of each section except the last. The thing is, I like smart protagonists, so I needed a reason WHY she’d make poor decisions, time and time again, without making her stupid or fickle. That took me a minute, but I’m happy with how the story played out. I wanted her to be fighting grief, but I didn’t want her to be pathetic. I’m not too into weak characters either. Not that grief is weak, but I didn’t want someone who just folded up and quit. Sometime, somehow, my protagonist had to pick up the pieces and move on. That takes time passing, and it’s hard. It took me a minute to get used to writing in first person, present tense, too. But I’m glad I did. I learned that I like writing in first person. It’s so in the character’s head that it pushed me to really “hear” Ophelia.

Just curious. Do any of you prefer first person stories? Third? Why?

At the same time I was playing with my story, I bought Chuck Wendig’s book, The Kick-Ass Writer, and I’m reading that, too. His blog’s just as awesome, and you can find it here: http://terribleminds.com/ramble/blog/ A couple of times a year, I get the urge to up my game as a writer. I read a “how to” book that I haven’t tried before. And I stretch my muscles by trying something I haven’t done before. Okay, I don’t experiment with LONG fiction. That’s too much of an investment. I test out new techniques on short stories or short-shorts. That way, if I miserably fail, (and that’s happened), I haven’t invested tons of time. The trick for me, though, is to give myself permission to fail. If I try to write a short story with an unreliable narrator, and I can’t make it gel, I can stick it in a digital cloud and come back to it some other time, when I might think of a way to make it work. If I want to try an unlikeable protagonist, same thing. I did try writing a character who built a wall around herself and came off as cold in one of my novels–and that got mixed reviews. Something I can try to do better some other time. But in a short story, if I want to experiment with language, why not? I might lose a few days of work, but usually I’ve learned something.

When I was younger, I tried writing horror. I can do dark fantasy, but I couldn’t get dark enough for horror. Now that I’m older, and life’s batted me around a bit, I might give it another try in a short story, but it would still be a stretch for me. I was a school teacher. I can hardly stand the thought that someone can’t be fixed, helped, or saved. I wrote mysteries when I started out, and justice always prevailed:) Not so much in horror. Bad things happen to good people. Ich.

Anyway, once in a while I like to push myself in my writing. What do you do to keep your writing fresh? Or are you so buried in stories, you don’t have to think about it? Or do you strive for consistency? Because let’s face it, when a reader picks up one of your stories, he/she comes with certain expectations and doesn’t want to be disappointed.

P.S. Here’s the link for Part 4 of Ophelia’s story, if you’re interested–http://www.judithpostswritingmusings.com/ophelias-story–part-4.html

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JudithPostsurbanfantasy

Twitter: @judypost

Rewrites–Oh, the joy!

I’ve stepped away from my novel long enough to be able to look at my critique partners’ comments and plunge into rewrites. I’m no longer as fond of my words, my chapters, my “babies.” I’m ready to dig in and make my manuscript better.

When I’m in writing mode, I have to be passionate about my characters and story. I “hear” them and I’m excited about what they’re doing and why. Sometimes, they endear themselves to me a little too much. When I go back to edit, they weren’t always as witty as I thought they were, and the time they spent bonding together in the car gets a little long and dreary. If I were a reader, I’d be saying “When will we get there?” If a scene doesn’t have enough tension, if it doesn’t move the plot forward enough, I need to be objective and cut it. More especially for me–since I tend to write lean–I need to fill in more internal dialogue and description so that the reader can hear the same character inner thoughts that I’ve been listening to since I started the book. I try to remind myself, during edits, that readers turn pages because of tension and emotional impact. Plot’s great. It drives the story, but it’s not enough. Have I delivered? Did I make my characters believable and real? Would a reader care about them enough to follow them through a second book, if I’m writing a series? Will the readers miss them when the story’s over?

A fellow blogger whom I read has developed a novel approach to editing. The linear, from start to finish approach, isn’t enough for her anymore. She has some great tips on editing, ways to make the middle of your story stronger. https://suebahr.wordpress.com/2015/07/13/a-rebel-with-a-cause/. Rewrites, for me, are about honing a novel until I’ve made it as good as I know how to. It’s when I look at the foundation of the story, as well as the fine points.

Did I start with a great hook? It can be in your face or subtle, as long as it grabs you.

Did I deliver the set-up soon enough? Anymore, lots of books state the protagonist’s big problem in the first paragraph or by the end of the first page. It tells me what this book is about.

Did I create the perfect setting? Will it flavor every nuance of the story?

Did I create protagonists the reader will care about? Are the stakes high enough? Does my main character have to struggle and change to achieve his goal?

Did I people the story with minor characters who have goals/problems of their own? Are they distinct? Memorable? (I read a post on Writeonsisters.com that gave great advice on creating characters. I like it for more than just POV: http://writeonsisters.com/writing-craft/5-tests-for-writing-multiple-povs/)

Did I add enough sub-plots to keep the story afloat? For a novel, I like to have at least two sub-plots, more if the book’s really long.

Did I add enough tension in EVERY scene to keep the pacing tight?

Were the plot points strong enough to keep the story afloat? Did I have an inciting incident, then two twists, and finally a final showdown and wrapup?

I’ve talked about all of these things on this blog before, but I’m in rewrite mode. All of the above is floating around in my head. And those are just the foundation pilings. Grammar, language, and imagery all come into play, too. That’s why rewrites take time. And that’s why they’re so wonderful. Rewrites help you tweak your tale from the basics to the “much, much better” and, if you’re lucky and persistent, topnotch.

(I’m still playing with my writing experiment on my webpage, and I’m still having fun with it:

http://www.judithpostswritingmusings.com/)

Writing: One More Week of Fun

I’m still waiting on one more critique on the romance I wrote. It’s summer. Everyone I know has busier schedules, so I know that when I give them my manuscript to read, it might take them a while. I fill the gap with writing short stories, and I’ve started to make character charts and plot points for my next novel. For the first time, my mind skipped to the FOURTH romance that was noodling in my head instead of the THIRD. Unusual for me. I’m a linear type of writer. This happens, then this, etc. Some of my friends write scenes and then figure out where to put them in the story. Impossible for me. Others let plot revolve out of their characters and their journey. My plots are built on cause and effect, scene and sequel. I write lean and rewrite as I go, and then when I do my final draft, I have to add more description and detail, more internal dialogue and emotion. And my mind doesn’t usually skip from one plot point to one far off in the distance. So I was puzzled. Until I realized that I didn’t know my characters well enough. I thought I did. I’d used them in two other stories, but they were walk-on characters, pretty minor. I could hear them and see them, but I didn’t know what really made them tick, what pushed their buttons. So back to the good, old character wheel for me, and then the story blossomed.

The first romances I wrote–to see if I could do them–were novellas, only forty pages each, and I made them into a bundle–The Emerald Hills series. I peopled the entire town with characters who owned little shops and then made each character bump into someone who’d eventually win her heart. My daughter still bugs me to write something new for Sheriff Guthrie and the Orange Tabby, but he found his soul mate, with the help of the stray cat. His story’s over (for a romance). So is the cat’s. Guthrie adopted him. I tried to give each novella a different flavor, a different type of protagonist, but a review I got made me rethink how I did the series. (If you look at the bundle, its says that I have no reviews, but each novella had them, before I lost them when I combined them into one book. *sadness*). The reviewer had read all of them, though, and said that the rhythm and tone of each story were too similar. And she had a point. I don’t want to make that same mistake with my romance novels. I want each one to have a different feel. Let’s hope that’s a good idea. I’ll have to wait and see.

Oops, I took off on a tangent. The point is, I’ve been blithely jotting notes and ideas for the third book, and I’m finishing a new Babet and Prosper. I’ve even let myself try a little writing experiment that I have to admit has been SO much fun! (It’s on my webpage). But after this week is over, it’s time to hit the rewrites and get back to serious work time. I might not write as many hours in the summer, but I still have books to finish.

Hope you’re having a great summer, too, and happy writing!

My webpage: http://www.judithpostswritingmusings.com/

My writing experiment–part 2

My goal is to put up a new segment of Ophelia’s Story every Friday until it’s finished. Every once in a while, I like to try something new with my writing. This time, I wanted my protagonist to make a bad decision that gets in her trouble in every segment until the last. I usually write about protagonists who TRY to do the right thing, who struggle against the odds, but it never works out until the end. This time, I wanted to write about someone who DOESN’T try, who knows she might not be making good decisions, and doesn’t care. It’s a five part story, and I just put up Part 2. I’m writing it in first person/present tense to make it more immediate. I rarely do that, so that’s been fun, too. Ophelia has a while yet to push her luck:)

The story’s on my webpage, and if you want to give it a try, it’s listed in the left-hand column under Ophelia’s Story Part 2. http://www.judithpostswritingmusings.com/