Elizabeth Spann Craig's Blog, page 128

The Expository Opening to Novels

Guest Post by Jack Smith

A strong opening to a novel is, of course, important.  If the opening is boring or off-putting in any way, the reader is likely not to read on.  It is true that some readers will be patient and hope things pick up, but naturally you can’t count on that.   There are four basic opening types in fiction: exposition (I mean by this expository prose), description, narrative summary, and narrative scene.  They are all used by published writers, and one isn’t better or worse than the others.  What’s important is deciding which works best in your novel.

Exposition, as a rhetorical mode, means explanation.  Writers are sometimes steered away from an expository opening for fear of mere telling. Who wants to read a long, boring presentation (or telling) of background information setting up the story?  Readers want to get directly involved in the conflict; they want to be pulled in.   But don’t fear the expository mode—instead, work it to your advantage. 

Sprinkle in some vivid description.  How about this one from Poe by Lynn Cullen:

“When given bad news, most women of my station can afford to slump onto their divans, their china cups slipping from their fingers to the carpet, their hair falling prettily from its pins, their fourteen starched petticoats compacting with a plush crunch.  I am not one of them.”

The dominant rhetorical mode here is expository, but what makes it really work is the colorful description: “china cups slipping from their fingers to the carpet”; “their hair falling prettily from its pins”; “their fourteen starched petticoats compacting with a plush crunch.”  This expository opening, then, is given some real flair.

Provide an interesting insight or two. Note this expository opening from Man Martin’s Days of the Endless Corvette:

“We never came to complete agreement about Earl and the Endless Corvette: whether it kept him from going crazy or proved he was crazy from the get-go.  Had he lived someplace else, there would have been no doubt, but because of Humble County’s history, we have a higher tolerance than most for craziness.

This is an expository opening, pure and simple.  It attempts to “explain” why they never came to complete agreement about Earl and the “Endless Corvette.”  Here’s it’s the humor, of course, that transforms mere explanation to something quite funny, and note that Twain-like snapper at the end: “a higher tolerance than most for craziness.”

Create an interesting, compelling background for your characters. If the details you introduce are fascinating enough, exotic enough, or unique in some way, you’ll do fine with an expository opening.  Consider this one, from E.L. Doctorow’s World’s Fair:

“I was born on Clinton Street in the Lower East Side.  I was the next to youngest of six children, two boys, four girls.  The two boys, Harry and Willy, were the oldest.  My father was a musician, a violinist.  He always made a good living.  He and my mother had met in Russia and they married there, and then emigrated.  My mother came from a family of musicians as well; that is how, in the course of things, she and my father had met.”

I find this reportorial style engaging.  Here are the various family dynamics surrounding this narrator Rose’s life, and I want to know more about her.  I want to know more about her mother and father and siblings.  Doctorow pulls me in.

Don’t be put off by the expository opening.  This kind of opening can capture the reader’s attention if you make it sparkle in some way.  Each of the examples I’ve given are first person narrations.  It is true that it can be more of a challenge with a third-person omniscient voice, but consider the opening to Toni Morrison’s Beloved, winner of the Pulitzer Prize.

“124 was spiteful.  Full of a baby’s venom.  The women in the house knew it and so did the children.  For years each put up with the spite in his own way, but by 1873 Sethe and her daughter Denver were its only victims.  The grandmother, Baby Suggs, was dead, and the sons, Howard and Buglar, had run away by the time they were thirteen years old . . . ”

This is third-person expository prose, and it works because it makes us wonder about “124” and all the characters Morrison mentions—not to mention the suspense hooks of “spiteful” and “baby’s venom.”

Try out the expository method.  If you handle it well, it might be your best choice for your novel’s opening.

Jack Smith is author of the novel Hog to Hog, which won the George Garrett FictionPrize (Texas Review Press. 2008), and is also the author of Write and Revise for Publication: A 6-Month Plan for Crafting an Exceptional Novel and Other Works of Fiction, published earlier this year by Writer’s Digest. His novel ICON will be published in June by Serving House Books.

Over the years, Smith’s short stories have appeared in North American Review, Night Train, Texas Review, and Southern Review, to name a few. He has also written some 20 articles for Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market, as well as a dozen or so pieces for The Writer. He has published reviews in numerous literary journals, including Ploughshares, Georgia Review, Missouri Review, Prairie Schooner, American Review, Mid-American Review, and the Iowa Review.

 

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Twitterific Writing Links

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Twitterific links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 23,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers.

Writing fast and hard:  http://ow.ly/BZsf6  @tobywneal

How to Plan Your Book: http://ow.ly/BZsfc @susiemander

How a Book Coach Can Jumpstart Your Writing Career: http://ow.ly/BZqOW @LisaCron

Self-Editing: Spot Checking:  http://ow.ly/BZsfj @carynmcgill

Everything You Need to Know About the @Reply:  http://ow.ly/BZsfn @AnnieNeugebauer

10 Twitter Tips for Authors (Infographic)  http://ow.ly/BZsfs @wherewriterswin

3 Things Your Novel’s Narrator Needs to Accomplish:  http://ow.ly/BZsfx @writersdigest

Preparing Your Pitch:  http://ow.ly/BZsfz  @writerashley

Talents and Skills Thesaurus Entry: Blending In:  http://ow.ly/BZsfH @beccapuglisi

8 Ways to Get Motivated and Stay Motivated:  http://ow.ly/BZsfJ @skyefairwin @ScribeSage

7 Simple Ways to Declutter Your Writing:  http://ow.ly/C1xO3 @JodieRennerEd

Writing Scenes v. Narration: Know the Difference:  http://ow.ly/C1xQF @lindasclare

3 Ways Writers Can Make Money from a Blog http://ow.ly/C1xNf @ninaamir

How to Critique http://ow.ly/C1xFI

Pitching Characters:  http://ow.ly/C1xVa  @PubHub_blog

5 Hard Writing Truths:  http://ow.ly/C1xSu @ava_jae

The 5 Attributes of a Successful Ghostwriter:  http://ow.ly/BZseW @ImprovisePress

Fallen Heroes: – Creating characters by looking at real people: http://ow.ly/BZseR @MiaJouBotha

Jon Fine Is Leaving Amazon:  http://ow.ly/CfCoS @Porter_Anderson @thoughtcatalog

Writers on the Reality of Book Covers: http://ow.ly/BW8a8 @KyraBandte

Goodreads Author Q&A Feature–How to Use it:  http://ow.ly/CeO1Y

3 Common Problems with Show & Tell:  http://ow.ly/BW8a5 @angelaackerman

Read Memoirs to Understand Character Motivation:  http://ow.ly/BW89W @monicamclark

Your Novel in 12 Sentences (With Links Explaining Each Plot Point):   http://ow.ly/CfTjO @JoelDCanfield

Adding Flesh to our Characters’ Bones:  http://ow.ly/CeMYx @JL_Campbell

An agent on spending money on a publicist:  http://ow.ly/BW89t @Janet_Reid

Top Productivity Tips For Writers:  http://ow.ly/BW89r @fran_booth @forbes

The Myth of Getting Ahead:  http://ow.ly/BW8ab @Write_Tomorrow

Creating story flow: the secret power of cause and effect:  http://ow.ly/BW8a2 @karenschrav

What the Lit Magazine Editor Sees (That the Writer Does Not):  http://ow.ly/BW89Q @SapphireSavvy

Brainstorming the Hero Before You Start Writing:  http://ow.ly/BW6Mb @angelaackerman

3 Techniques to Keep in Mind When Setting the Stage:  http://ow.ly/BW89H @JodyHedlund

Blessing Or Curse? The Modern Writer’s Dilemma:  http://ow.ly/BW89B @janice_hardy

Defining Your Characters (Or Who Are These People, Anyway?) http://ow.ly/BW89x @JanalynVoigt

Crime fiction stories in which the reader knows more than the sleuth:  http://ow.ly/CeKF6 @mkinberg

How to Create the Habit of Writing:  http://ow.ly/BTeIM @zen_habits

Want To Sell More Books? Understand Your Readers: http://ow.ly/BTeIK @ebooksandkids

Ignore The Haters:  http://ow.ly/BTeIJ @larin20

5 Steps To Work-Life Balance For Writers: http://ow.ly/BTeIH  @jacobkrueger

Writing Unforgettable Endings:  http://ow.ly/BTeIG @HeatherJacksonW

Writing a Novel That Crosses Genre Boundaries:  http://ow.ly/BTeIF @radhikasanghani

An Agent on What You Should Be Writing Next:  http://ow.ly/BTeIE @mcorvisiero

Turn Your Blog Into a Book Production Machine: http://ow.ly/BTeIC @ninaamir

To avoid too much ‘telling,’ characters should be allowed to act, react, interact:  http://ow.ly/BTeIB @suemoorcroft @womenwriters

4 Common Mistakes Authors Make When Soliciting Reviews:  http://ow.ly/BTeIA @trainingauthors

20 Amazing Writing Residencies to Apply for This Year:  http://ow.ly/BTeIy @alexisgrant

7 Ways to Educate and Motivate Your Muse:  http://ow.ly/BTeIx @joanyedwards

Dos and Don’ts of Queries:  http://ow.ly/BTeIw @carynmcgill

How to Use Real People in Your Writing Without Ending Up in Court:  http://ow.ly/BQaJx @HelenSedwick

Organizing a Series: Details are Author Gold:  http://ow.ly/BQkn4 @UncommonYA

Using Questions To Expand Your Story:  http://ow.ly/BQkn3 @nschmiedicker

6 Traits of Strong Characters:  http://ow.ly/BQaAI @mythcreants

Want An Irresistible Character? Try An Antihero. http://ow.ly/BQau1 @rsguthrie

How Authors Can Use Listmania to Promote Their Books:  http://ow.ly/BQaMK @aBookPublicist

5 Tips for Writing Suspense:  http://ow.ly/BQkn0  @KiraPeikoff

Tips to Write Bad Boys in Books:  http://ow.ly/BQkmY @good2tweat

7 Point-of-View Basics Every Writer Should Know:  http://ow.ly/BQaQc @jodyhedlund

Should you write under a pen name? http://ow.ly/BQkmW @standoutbooks

Bring Some Magic to Your Writing:  http://ow.ly/BQkmU @jamesscottbell

Cheerleaders vs Critique Partners:  http://ow.ly/BQ9W4 @HeatherJacksonW

20 Marketing Questions Self-Published Authors Must Answer:  http://ow.ly/BQkmQ @pubslush

The 66th Frankfurt Book Fair: On A Fast Arc To Publishing’s Future: http://ow.ly/C8jpK @Porter_Anderson  @R_Nash

On Writing a Synopsis Before the First Draft:  http://ow.ly/BMlHq @ava_jae

10 Things that Red-Flag a Newbie Novelist:  http://ow.ly/BMn32 @annerallen

Secondary Characters: An Important Tool in a Writer’s Toolkit:  http://ow.ly/BMmMT @AEJonesAuthor

Your sentence’s emphasis: how to use the periodic sentence in your stories: http://ow.ly/BMnyV @KMWeiland

Interesting Characters: You are what you eat:  http://ow.ly/BMmZk @mooderino

Could This ‘Magic’ Trick Rescue Your Story? http://ow.ly/BMmmb @Yeomanis

Want to Reach New Heights as a Writer? Learn to Quit :  http://ow.ly/BMnfX @kristenlambtx

Write Mysteries for Kids…for the Right Reasons:  http://ow.ly/C7H3z  @Dorihbutler

Characters in Novels That Are Allies and Reflections:  http://ow.ly/BMlOK @CSLakin

Blockbuster Plots:  http://ow.ly/BMmHu  @plotwhisperer

3 easy scene writing tips:  http://ow.ly/BMog1 @lindasclare

The Self-Publishing Revolution Is Only Just Beginning:  http://ow.ly/BMn7W @thecreativepenn

How to Write a Book: The 5-Draft Method:  http://ow.ly/BMmzr @jeffgoins

How Long Should Your Blog Post Be? A Writer’s Guide:  http://ow.ly/BKcjs @joebunting

8 Tips on Finding the Optimum Space for Your Creativity http://ow.ly/BKbOd @WriterJoMalby

The Stay at Home Parent/Writer:  http://ow.ly/BKchs @rhondafranz

Nailing Genre by Studying Successful Authors:  http://ow.ly/BKcl3 @CSLakin

Guidelines for Writing Novellas:  http://ow.ly/BKcf5 @BarbaraMonajem

4 Reasons Cooking Shows Make the Perfect Recipe For Writing Success: http://ow.ly/BKbFb  @PENPROSPER1

How to Be Creative:  http://ow.ly/BKbVT  @WSJ

Career progression for short fiction writers http://ow.ly/BKc1u  @smithwritr

Twitter for Authors: Worth it?  http://ow.ly/C41u0 @MichaelKelberer

Eminent creativity and everyday creativity–and making time for both:  http://ow.ly/BKccW @writeabook

Beethoven’s Daily Habit for Inspiring Creative Breakthroughs: http://ow.ly/BKbKY @GregoryCiotti

Writers’ Police Academy–Undercover Agents:  http://ow.ly/C3EIS @authorterryo

How To Deal With Negative Book Reviews:  http://ow.ly/BJ6kd @writeonepub

6 Fascinating Character Types:  http://ow.ly/BJ6NC @AnthonyEhlers

Writing–are you playing for keeps or just playing? http://ow.ly/BJ6ru @rxena77

Tips for keeping characters consistent:  http://ow.ly/BJ6z4 @Shay_Goodman

10 Steps to Launch Your Book Virtually:  http://ow.ly/BJ6C9

Revision: An Early Fiction Checklist: http://ow.ly/BJ6wL

The Progression of a Writing Life: Strategy – http://ow.ly/BJ6qW @tspoetry

Cover art–same image on different books:  http://ow.ly/BJ6o0  @robinrwrites

When Your Concept Disappears:  http://ow.ly/BJ6v0 @storyfix

7 Ways Your Physical Environment Can Help or Hinder Your Writing: http://ow.ly/BJ6ms @aliventure

Digital Revolution Act III: Is Publishing Dying? http://ow.ly/BJ6ub @claudenougat

Crowds and publishing–crowd wisdom    elizabethscraig

Revision Tips: Revealing Key Information:  http://ow.ly/BJ1i1  @kiersi

5 Tips for Submitting Your Work: Help From an Editor:  http://ow.ly/BI39G  @Margo_L_Dill

Strong verbs:  http://ow.ly/BI34O @writers_write

Book Scams and Other Crimes:  http://ow.ly/BI37g  @DebraPurdyKong

The Progression of a Writing Life: Rejection – http://ow.ly/BI305 @tspoetry

3 things you need to do at the beginning of your novel:  http://ow.ly/BI2V6  @writers_write

How to Journal Your Way to Published Author Status:  http://ow.ly/BI35V @ninaamir

The content flood” in publishing results in slow sales for writers:  http://ow.ly/C1Bfc @Porter_Anderson @bob_mayer”

6 Tips for Writing Minor Characters:  http://ow.ly/BI2WW @robinrwrites

10 Ways to Tighten Your Pitch:  http://ow.ly/BI31i @wordsprof

How to Make Social Media Worth Your Time: When Is Enough Enough? http://ow.ly/BI3dp @Janefriedman

5 Reasons to Drop ‘Aspiring’ from ‘Aspiring Author’ – Writer’s Edit http://ow.ly/BI3cu

Balancing your Faith and your Muse:  http://ow.ly/BI32B @Shay_Goodman

How to Map Out Your Hero’s Adventure in Your Manuscript:  http://ow.ly/BI344 @writersdigest

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Goodreads Author Q&A

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I ran across something a few days ago that I thought I’d share here—although I’m probably the last person on the block to find out about this.  It’s the Goodreads Author Q&A.

I’m trying to do better about visiting Goodreads. The truth is that Goodreads can be a scary environment for writers. Reviews are especially harsh there and there have been incidents involving author bullying in the past. To be fair, there have also been authors who have behaved poorly on the site.

When I’m on a site like Goodreads, I make it a point to keep a low profile.  Otherwise, it’s almost like author intrusion when authors butt into reader conversations.

That being said…when I was recently asked how I’ve been able to garner reviews right out of the gate…it’s been those Goodreads giveaways.  And the site is popular with avid readers.

So…maybe engaging in Goodreads on our own patch might be a good idea.  I recently read a mention of an author Q&A feature there that I haven’t activated or used.  (The post that mentioned the feature was “Five Ways to Use Goodreads to Your Best Author Advantage” by Shari Stauch on Where Writers Win and the whole thing is worth a read.)

I set out to investigate. First, to locate my author dashboard.  :)  I admit that I don’t find Goodreads user friendly at all.  When I login to the site, I’m automatically on a reader-ish dashboard that I don’t want to be on.  The link to the author dashboard (if you’ve got one set up there) is https://www.goodreads.com/author/dashboard.

If you scroll down the page, there is a section where you can enable Author Q&A.

When you enable it, Goodreads prompts you to customize a message to readers.  They suggest that we set expectations as to how often or quickly we might be checking in with the feature.  I used the space to give readers my email address.  Maybe they’d rather ask me one-to-one instead of on a public forum, you know?  Although my email address is scattered here and yonder, I took the opportunity to share it again there.

Then Goodreads gives us some questions to get us started….for a second, I almost had a heart attack and thought I had 6 q’s in the queue that had been rotting there for months. But no, it was just some standard questions Goodreads automatically sends out.

Since the last thing I wanted was for readers to ask questions only for me to completely ignore them, I checked in on my email notification settings.  Good thing I did, because I’d set it up to get no notifications after getting a few too many emails from the site in the past.  Here’s the link for you to check your settings:  https://www.goodreads.com/user/edit?tab=emails.

More about the feature from the Goodreads site (which is heavily reader-centric, but at least gives us an idea of how it all works).

This is actually the way I prefer interacting with readers—if they want to ask me something, tell me something, praise or complain about something…they just ask me.  I’m not in their faces in their Facebook stream or Twitter stream talking about my most recent release.  But I’m accessible.

Do you use Goodreads much?  The Q&A feature? Giveaways?  What are your thoughts on this reader site?

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Write Mysteries for Kids…for the Right Reasons

by Dori Butler,  @Dorihbutler

 I write mysteries for kids. I don’t write for this audience because it’s easier than writing for adults. (It’s NOT easier!) I write for this audience because I like it! I like kids. I like kids’ books. I make regular trips to the library to check out new kids books and find out which books are the most popular.

 I like to tell stories, but I really like to turn non-readers into readers. Whether they’re non-readers because of ability or interest. As a writer, there’s nothing more satisfying than to receive a heartfelt letter or e-mail that begins, “I never really liked reading before, but then I read your [insert book title here] all by myself.” That’s why I write for kids.

 That probably also explains why I write mysteries for kids. Kids who don’t like a lot of other books will often pick up a mystery. Writing mysteries gives me an opportunity to reach the non-reader.

Sadly, I’ve run into a number of writers who want to write for kids for what I think are the wrong reasons.

Some are writers who’ve been writing for adults, but have had a hard time selling recently, so they think they’ll try writing for kids. Because it’s got to be easier, right?

Wrong.

Not unless you really understand the kids market. Not unless you’ve taken the time to read a few hundred children’s books and have honed your skills as a children’s writer.

Others see the success of books like Harry Potter and the Hunger Games and they think there’s money to be made in the kids and/or YA genres. I know a number of children’s book authors who make a modest living at what they do (often after years of study and perseverance), but I’m not sure I know any who are rich. Many of us are able to make a living because we supplement our writing with school visits. In fact, once you’ve sold a book or two in this genre, it’s sort of expected that you will visit schools and talk about how you became an author. But if you don’t like kids or you don’t know how to talk to them, your school visits won’t be very successful.

Still others write for kids because they’ve got an important lesson they want to teach. Do you like to be hit over the head with a moral when you read fiction? Neither do kids. In fact, that’s a good way to turn a kid off reading. Forever.

Honestly, I find it a little bit insulting when someone thinks breaking into the kids market is somehow easier than breaking in to the adult market. There are no shortcuts to publication in any genre. You have to know and understand your market, write a great book that an editor can’t turn down, and persevere. That’s the real secret to publication. In any genre. Perseverance.

Write for kids because you want to, not because you think it’s easy. Write for kids because you like and respect this audience and their books, not because you think you’re going to get rich. Writing for kids is its own reward.

-Dori Hillestad Butler is an award-winning author of more than 40 books for children, including the Buddy Files, which is a chapter book series about a school therapy dog who solves mysteries. Her books have been on children’s choice and teen award lists in 19 different states. The Buddy Files #1: Case of the Lost Boy won the 2011 Edgar Award for best juvenile mystery. Dori has also been a ghostwriter for the Sweet Valley Twins, Unicorn Club and Boxcar Children series and has written numerous magazine stories, educational materials, plays, book reviews, even characters for one board game and trivia questions for another.  She grew up in southern Minnesota, spent the last 19 years in Iowa, and has just recently moved to the Seattle area. Look for her new Haunted Library series for young readers. For more information visit her website at www.kidswriter.com.

 

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Twitterific Writing Links

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Twitterific links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 23,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers.

Why we need a writing process more than a writing ritual:  http://ow.ly/BEH0h @suddenlyjamie

An Australian Digital-Only Publisher Signs Unagented Authors from Around the World: http://ow.ly/C01Mu @Porter_Anderson @stevepvincent

The Challenges of Writing a Sequel:  http://ow.ly/BEGSK @StinaLL

5 Reasons Why Your Self-Published Book Isn’t Selling: http://ow.ly/BEHjt @mommifried

15 Essential Films Every Aspiring Screenwriter Must Watch:  http://ow.ly/BEGIq  @davidcinema

Learning to Love Revisions:  http://ow.ly/BEGDg @sherrythomas

Character Talent & Skills: Mentalism: http://ow.ly/BI3b2 @angelaackerman

Balancing your Faith and your Muse:  http://ow.ly/BI32B @Shay_Goodman

How to Map Out Your Hero’s Adventure in Your Manuscript:  http://ow.ly/BI344 @writersdigest

5 Reasons to Drop ‘Aspiring’ from ‘Aspiring Author’ – Writer’s Edit http://ow.ly/BI3cu

How to Make Social Media Worth Your Time: When Is Enough Enough? http://ow.ly/BI3dp @Janefriedman

“If you breach paywalls, you’re robbing writers.”  http://ow.ly/C034n @Porter_Anderson  @scratch_mag

10 Ways to Tighten Your Pitch:  http://ow.ly/BI31i @wordsprof

6 Tips for Writing Minor Characters:  http://ow.ly/BI2WW @robinrwrites

How to Journal Your Way to Published Author Status:  http://ow.ly/BI35V @ninaamir

3 things you need to do at the beginning of your novel:  http://ow.ly/BI2V6  @writers_write

The Progression of a Writing Life: Rejection – http://ow.ly/BI305 @tspoetry

Book Scams and Other Crimes:  http://ow.ly/BI37g  @DebraPurdyKong

Strong verbs:  http://ow.ly/BI34O @writers_write

5 Tips for Submitting Your Work: Help From an Editor:  http://ow.ly/BI39G  @Margo_L_Dill

Revision Tips: Revealing Key Information:  http://ow.ly/BJ1i1  @kiersi

Digital Revolution Act III: Is Publishing Dying? http://ow.ly/BJ6ub @claudenougat

7 Ways Your Physical Environment Can Help or Hinder Your Writing: http://ow.ly/BJ6ms @aliventure

When Your Concept Disappears:  http://ow.ly/BJ6v0 @storyfix

Cover art–same image on different books:  http://ow.ly/BJ6o0  @robinrwrites

The Progression of a Writing Life: Strategy – http://ow.ly/BJ6qW @tspoetry

A 3-step writing productivity method:  http://ow.ly/BEGrB @cjlyonswriter

Dire Consequences – How to get your characters into trouble:  http://ow.ly/BEGPQ @AnthonyEhlers

Self-Publishing a New Edition? Get Rid of the Old One First:  http://ow.ly/BEGWU  @cathryanhoward

DRM: Dumb or Brilliant?  http://ow.ly/BEGFM @HughHowey

The “content flood” in publishing results in slow sales for writers:  http://ow.ly/C1Bfc @Porter_Anderson @bob_mayer

18 Common Words to Replace in Our Writing:  http://ow.ly/BEGMO @alishuhsaurus

How Has Self-Publishing Changed In The Last 2 Years?  http://ow.ly/BEHmT @thecreativepenn @DavidGaughran

What to Expect When You’re Expecting Your First Book Tour: http://ow.ly/BAVLS @llmcneal

Writing the Male POV:  http://ow.ly/BAVRD @kayedacus

Does your writing style have bulges? http://ow.ly/BAVsf @RayneHall

The Importance of Comps:  http://ow.ly/BAVDn @cathychall

5 Ways to Make Description Work in Your Novel:  http://ow.ly/BAVz8 @AnthonyEhlers

How to Write Awesome Kiss Scenes:  http://ow.ly/BAVUc @ava_jae

How to Research an Agent:  http://ow.ly/BAVoD @ericaverillo

Do your minor characters have their own eccentricities?  http://ow.ly/BAV9U @shalvatzis

How to make a reader quickly care about a character:  http://ow.ly/BAUXK from The Writing Cafe

Breaking through Writer’s Block:  http://ow.ly/BAW2Y @KayKeppler

The Secret to Writing Villains:  http://ow.ly/BAVZ1 @emilywenstrom

Fairytale’s Most Wanted: The 5 Most Well-Known Character Types:  http://ow.ly/BAUJf @JackHeckel

3 simple ways to get your hero to make a stand:  http://ow.ly/ByeKu @amandaonwriting

Is Killing Your Darlings Murdering Your Book?  http://ow.ly/ByeSG @robinrwrites

How to Create Walk-On Characters Who Are Memorable (But Not Too Memorable):  http://ow.ly/BydJx @KMWeiland

Publishing Is Rotten To The Core:  http://ow.ly/BSx4e @DavidGaughran

Plot Your Novel With Mini Arcs:  http://ow.ly/ByeuC  @Janice_Hardy

4 Steps to Writing Organically: part 1: http://ow.ly/Byehw and part 2: http://ow.ly/Byel4 @melissagmcphail

Publishing Success in the Era of Social Media: Teaming with Fellow Authors: http://ow.ly/Byedj @annerallen

15 Terms Every Indie Author Should Know:  http://ow.ly/ByeDV @wiseink

Pretentious Book Snobs:  http://ow.ly/Bye9p @impactmagazine

Where to Start Your Story (Exactly):  http://ow.ly/ByeHX @mooderino

Uncovering Your Characters’ Deepest Secrets: http://ow.ly/Byeya  @NataliaSylv

Tolkien’s 10 Tips For Writers:  http://ow.ly/BydLY @writers_write

Tips For Vetting A Book Blogger’s Platform: http://ow.ly/Byer3 @sugarbeatbc

The Real Reason to Write a Book Proposal:  http://ow.ly/Bv88A @ninaamir

Option Clauses in Publishing Contracts – friend or foe to an author?  http://ow.ly/Bv85S @tinagabrielle

Cadence: Understanding One Quality of Voice http://ow.ly/Bv8ec @jan_ohara

The dangers of flashbacks:  http://ow.ly/Bv7Wi @Shirl_Corder

5 Places Writers Can Find Inspiration:  http://ow.ly/Bv97R @AlisonPotoma

6 Archetypes Every Novel Needs:  http://ow.ly/Bv9bS @BillFerris

Unreliable Narrators:  http://ow.ly/Bv8ki @HeatherJacksonW

Big, Beautiful Movies with Sad, Stupid Endings: http://ow.ly/Bv8Pp @speechwriterguy

99 Essential Quotes on Character Creation http://ow.ly/Bv9kv @writingeekery

3 Essential Questions for Better Backstory http://ow.ly/Bv8sb @EmilyWenstrom

5 Essentials for a Successful Writing Retreat:  http://ow.ly/Bv8Gj  @tweetonsisters

The Character Biography: –Writing more to write less:  http://ow.ly/Bv93h @MiaJouBotha

Reassessing what makes our story urgent…and considering the needs of our readers:  http://ow.ly/BLMqm @Porter_Anderson

Progressive tense:  http://ow.ly/BtLHw @CSLakin

Dealing With Multiple Drafts During Revisions:  http://ow.ly/BtLU2 @janice_hardy

12 Writers Who Are Using Google+ in Cool Ways:  http://ow.ly/BtLPR @carefulcents

Writing Non-Fiction? Lose the Quotes:  http://ow.ly/BtLIN @CalebPirtle

How to Create an Unhappy Ending:  http://ow.ly/BtLGw @mythcreants

4 Smart Things Writers Can Learn from Weird Al Yankovic:  http://ow.ly/BtLL6 @penprosper1

Banned Books Week – The 10 most challenged titles of 2013:  http://ow.ly/BMpjs @writers_write

Great Character: Sarah Connor (“Terminator 2: Judgment Day”): http://ow.ly/BtLZi @gointothestory

5 Ways to Kick Your Writing up a Notch:  http://ow.ly/BtLUP @Janice_Hardy

6 Steps Writers Need to Tame the Story Beast: http://ow.ly/BLMdj  @DEIrelandAuthor

Plot Wrangling and Highlighter Love:  http://ow.ly/BtLQX  @Lara_Morgan

World building considerations: cities:  http://ow.ly/BtLNa from The Writing Cafe

How Heroes and Villains are Evolving:  http://ow.ly/BtLXk  @cloudy_vision

Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read:  http://ow.ly/BLkBg @LauraMarcella

Juvenile criminals in crime fiction:  http://ow.ly/BLkjn @mkinberg

How Chapters Are Built–What to Include, What to Skip:  http://ow.ly/BtLRK @writeabook

Music For Writers: Anna Clyne’s Collaborations:  http://ow.ly/BKk47 @annaclyne @Porter_Anderson

10 Tips for Shooting Your Own Cover Photo:  http://ow.ly/Btglq @janice_hardy @juliemusil

How to Submit Your Writing to Literary Magazines:  http://ow.ly/BtgHS @Neon_Lit_Mag

How to Listen to a Famous Author Talk About Writing:  http://ow.ly/Btgk0  @LisaCron

Writing Non Fiction As A Side Hustle:  http://ow.ly/Bth6R @nloper

8 Proofreading Tools for Beta Readers:  http://ow.ly/BtgLd @CKmacleodwriter

Organize Your Writing Project(s) via a Spreadsheet:  http://ow.ly/Bth0U @RomanceUniv

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Story Signposts

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I find my daughter’s middle school English homework a lot more interesting than she does.

She had a page of notes regarding “signposts” she should be looking for as she reads through various books for school this year. I did some poking around online and found that this material comes from Notice and Note: Strategies for Close Reading by Kylene Beers and Robert E. Probst. The notes were interesting to me, as a writer.  For one thing, they pointed out areas that could be problematic for us as we write our books.  Here’s what I read in her notes, and my thoughts in italics.

6 signposts:

Contrast and contradictions: When you’re reading and a character says or does something that’s opposite of what they normally do.  Asking why the character is doing that action may help you understand character development, internal conflict, and theme. Or—it could be a plot manipulation, if done poorly. Or it could mean a distracted/hurried writer who isn’t maintaining character consistency.

Aha moment: A character realizes, understands, or finally figures something out.  If they figured out a problem, you probably learned about the conflict, if a life lesson, then the theme.  Potential problem area for writers…when is the “aha moment” occurring?  Is it too early in the book?  If it’s a mystery, the aha moment really needs to be either a red herring or a revelation about a smaller puzzle in the story.

Words of the wiser: A character pulls over the main character and gives serious advice.  You should stop and ask yourself: “What’s the life lesson and how might it affect the character?”  It may indicate the theme or internal conflict.  Interesting.  Have to be careful with this.  If the protagonist takes a back seat during this process, this can be a problem.

Again and again: When you notice a word, phrase, object, or situation mentioned over and over.  Ask yourself, “Why does this keep showing up again and again?” It may tell you about the theme and conflict, symbolism, or might foreshadow what will happen next. Or it could be similar to Chekhov’s gun…it better mean something if it’s in there.  If we’re accidentally repeating ourselves, that needs to be taken care of during revisions. Same with overused words/crutch words.  Although I suppose no schoolchildren would think much of my overdependence on “just.”

Memory moment: The author interrupts the action to tell you about a memory.  You should ask yourself, “Why might this memory be important?” Tells you more about the theme or conflict or may foreshadow what will happen next. Memories are tricky! Maybe we should ask ourselves the same thing—“Why might this memory be important?” If it’s not essential to character development or plot, it probably needs to be axed.

Tough questions: The character asks himself a really difficult question that reveals his or her inner struggles.  Stop and ask yourself, “What does this question make me wonder?” Tells about conflict, might foreshadow what will happen next.  I’m thinking this better be in dialogue with another character or else internalized worrying expressed a bit differently.

Reading through these again, though, I’m realizing that I’ve used all of these in my mysteries from time to time.  Carefully.  A sleuth trying to elicit information from a suspect may use contradiction. The aha moment is vital for red herring discovery (and, if you’re a mystery writer and have an aha moment that points to a clue…you’d better be pretty close to the end of the book. Otherwise, the clue should slip under the radar and not be an aha at all). Insight is often given my sleuths by observant onlookers or sidekicks (sometimes accidentally). I do repeat thematic elements…over the course of a series, though, since I want the series to have a theme more than individual books. Memories involving the victim are vital to mysteries. And…sure, I’ve used the tough questions thing too, although it’s more of the “dark night of the soul” moment that we see in scriptwriting structure.

Do you recognize any of these story signposts in your own writing?  Are you more interested in your child’s English homework than they are? :)

Image: MorgueFile: Alvimann

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6 Steps Writers Need to Tame the Story Beast

by D.E. Ireland, @DEIrelandAuthor

If you’ve come with up a unique idea for a book, congratulations. But you may need advice on how to shepherd this idea from that first inspiration to typing the last line of your final draft. Here are six steps that can help you along the way.

First you need a light bulb moment. An idea pops in your brain, you say, “what if…?” and off you go to develop the premise. It’s perhaps the most exciting part of writing. Then reality sets in. We came up with the novel idea of Eliza Doolittle solving mysteries with Henry Higgins. But we first had to ascertain whether Shaw’s characters were in the public domain (yes, thankfully) and steer clear of Lerner & Loewe’s film My Fair Lady, which isn’t.

Write down that premise before the idea floats away. Otherwise another writer will eventually pluck it out of the ethereal domain and make it their own. Discuss it to death if you have a writing or critique partner. Is it workable, or the stupidest thing you’ve ever come up with in your career? Writing hours are precious, so don’t waste time on an idea that will end up going nowhere. We knew Eliza and Higgins would be an entertaining pair of amateur sleuths, and that London in 1913 would make it even better. We just needed a plot, murder victims, red herrings, clues, and suspects. Oh, and a killer with a motive.


Expand the premise into a paragraph or a page. Let your creative juices flow. If you aren’t in a writing team, find someone who can act as a sounding board. Not your children, your mother, or your spouse. You don’t need a yes-man, you need another writer who understands the process of fleshing out a story. We (the first time working as D.E. Ireland) spent days going over story possibilities, and then another few weeks reading and rereading G.B. Shaw’s Pygmalion along with countless hours researching Edwardian London.


After a month or two of brainstorming, you should be ready to outline. We’ve both written books by the seat of our pants and it can be an exhilarating process. Other times, it feels like you’re driving across the country without a map or highway signs to give you any direction. And you may end up in a roadside pit of despair. Not having an outline can seriously prolong the writing of the manuscript – something you can’t afford when working on deadline.

As for the outline’s length, at least ten to fifteen pages are average – although the outline for our second book clocked in at twenty-eight pages single-spaced! If you can’t wring out at least ten pages for the outline, then the plot is short story material, not a novel.

An outline is a great opportunity to throw down everything possible about the plot. Better to have too much story than not enough. And keep in mind most mystery editors prefer 85,000 words or around 315 pages max. So a fifty-page outline may be telling you that the story idea is better suited for a saga like Outlander or Game of Thrones. Our outline for Wouldn’t It Be Deadly was eighteen pages, which translated into a twenty-page synopsis for our proposal package. However, we nabbed our agent with a one-paragraph query three hours after sending it off. And he roped in a 2-book contract within three weeks. Nice.

After the outline, we hammered out the first draft of Book One more slowly, due to other projects and life in general. Although we sold the manuscript quickly, we still had a final draft to complete. Once we turned it in, our editorial revisions were easy and few. Then again, we both have editing experience and are grammar and spelling Nazis, as well as research hounds.

For our second Eliza Doolittle/Henry Higgins book, we managed to get the entire first draft done between late January and late April – pushing ourselves to finish before we left for Malice Domestic in early May. Then came revisions, far more painful this time due to the necessity of cutting 50 pages before we began editing. Ouch. Sometimes you have to let certain things go.

Final revision time is like dress rehearsal. Is everything working: lines, costumes, the performances of your characters. We exchange chapters to read over, using ‘track changes’ in Word. Eventually we agree on a final draft. Done? Hardly. Reading the manuscript aloud is a handy but invaluable device, and takes another week to finish. But we catch plenty of extra spaces, punctuation fails, awkward phrases, and misspellings. We take turns reading two pages at a time, which seemed the best length for our read-throughs. A whole chapter proved too exhausting both to read and to listen to for the other partner. We often take breaks, hours or days between, just to keep our sanity intact.

Only then do we attach it to an email and send it off to the editor. There is always a day or two of sheer relief at having survived the process of completing our contract without murdering each other. But we can’t wait to begin again… after a small break, of course. And we have the six steps to help us along the way.

 D.E. Ireland is a team of award-winning authors, Meg Mims and Sharon Pisacreta.

Long time friends, they decided to collaborate on this unique series based on George Bernard Shaw’s wonderfully witty play, Pygmalion, and flesh out their own version of events post-Pygmalion.  You can find them on:

Facebook

Twitter

Pinterest

 

BUY LINKS:
Amazon
B&N

 

The post 6 Steps Writers Need to Tame the Story Beast appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

Twitterific Writing Links

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Twitterific links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 23,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers.

Think big as you revise your manuscript with these 9 steps: http://ow.ly/Bruvm @onewildword

Bookstores live: Secrets of the stores saving the book world:  http://ow.ly/BrujX @salon

The importance of prewriting:  http://ow.ly/BI3YG

7 Ways to Expertly Edit Your Own Writing: http://ow.ly/Btfuz @KMWeiland               

Spark up Your Story – Adding Suspense, Tension & Intrigue: Handout http://ow.ly/Btg6G @JodieRennerEd

How to publish ebooks: the beginner’s ultimate guide:  http://ow.ly/Btfvp @Roz_Morris

Kevin Spacey’s Top 3 Tips For Better Storytelling:  http://ow.ly/Btfnh @foxbusiness

Create a rom com storyline in 5 easy steps:  http://ow.ly/Btg8T @AnthonyEhlers

3 Easy-to-Use Tools to Count Your Words:  http://ow.ly/BtfAj @joebunting

Which is better: – a Facebook page or a Facebook profile? http://ow.ly/BtfxO @ChilledCH

Overcoming perfectionism and finding the love of writing:  http://ow.ly/Btg8g  @sonyasigler

What Writers Should Know Before Attending a Workshop Retreat:  http://ow.ly/Btggy @cynmrom

Using Questions To Expand Your Story:  http://ow.ly/Btgb4 @nschmiedicker

4 Techniques of Effective Flash Nonfiction Writers:  http://ow.ly/Btfo0 @the_artifice

Trees in Fantasy: Trees as Setting:  http://ow.ly/Btgdn @SteffHumm

The Character Debate: Strong and Vulnerable? http://ow.ly/Btgmq @jamigold

Getting graphic with online tools:  http://ow.ly/BtgPd @Gwen_Hernandez

Punctuation Personality Types – Which one are you?  http://ow.ly/Bth2R @writers_write

Screenwriting Traits: — Flexibility:  http://ow.ly/BtgMB @gointothestory

Men as Crit Partners: The Male POV :  http://ow.ly/BtgGh @carynmcgill

How to Show Likeable Characteristics in Unlikeable People:  http://ow.ly/Btgip @MSaintGermain

8 Marketing Don’ts: Get Real or Get Lost:  http://ow.ly/BrtXO @srjohannes

The Difficulty Writers Have with Identity:  http://ow.ly/BrthG @losapala

7 ways to beat procrastination:  http://ow.ly/BrsU7  @jennaavery

Truth and Consequences of Traditional Publishing:  http://ow.ly/BrsJR @DeAnnaMCameron

5 Self-Improvement Tips for Aspiring Writers:  http://ow.ly/BrunY @grammarly

Self-Publishing for Graphic Novelists:  http://ow.ly/BrtmP  @BookWorksNYC

3 things self-published authors need to know about their audience:  http://ow.ly/BruPG @chrisrobley

The Surprising Importance of Doing Nothing:  http://ow.ly/Bru3W @RLLaFevers

Writing with a Day Job:  http://ow.ly/BrtG8  @LoriRaderDay

Self-pub authors gain a store window with arrangement with Nook:  http://ow.ly/BFvK2 @Porter_Anderson #FutureChat

Micro Manager vs. Macro Planner: Zadie Smith on the Two Types of Writers:  http://ow.ly/BrtPL @brainpicker

How to write a bestselling novel:  http://ow.ly/BruJg @guardianbooks

#FutureChat recap: Publishing innovation:  http://ow.ly/BEHCE @Porter_Anderson  @Roz_Morris

Ruminations on Exclusivity:  http://ow.ly/BEH9e @HughHowey

5 Tips for Writing Faster http://ow.ly/BpaqC  @NaliniSingh

6 Steps to Writing Success:  http://ow.ly/Bpbnx @OrlyKonigLopez

5 Lifelines for Writers with Deadlines:  http://ow.ly/BpaD9 @writers_write

Publishers: Base Your Business on Improved Access to Books:  http://ow.ly/BEHs5 @Janefriedman  Smart Set

A Simple Grammar Trick for Better Fiction:  http://ow.ly/Bpb5g @MarcyKennedy

6 Tips for Troubleshooting the Novel : http://ow.ly/Bpb8M @manzanitafire

Awkward Author Photos: A Taxonomy:  http://ow.ly/Bp9QT  @TheBookMaven

Freelancing: Cold-Pitching a Story? The Secret Is in the Subject Line: http://ow.ly/BpaZ3 @contently

2 Questions Every New Author Asks:  http://ow.ly/BpaKi @CaballoFrances

Should I Get an MFA? 27 Writers Weigh In:  http://ow.ly/Bpbjm @heydonnelly

14 Questions People Ask Writers:  http://ow.ly/BpbbC  @nancyjcohen

Principles of storytelling- the inciting incident:  http://ow.ly/BpaBL @nownovel

What It Really Takes to be a Writer: http://ow.ly/BpafP  @sarahrcallender @writerunboxed

What You See is What You Get: —Describing Fictional Characters:  http://ow.ly/Bp9BZ @btmargins

How to pitch a book:  http://ow.ly/BkP7g

The Secret Sauce That Turns Stories Into Magic:  http://ow.ly/BkPRf @storyfix

What Does Editing Look Like? Behind the Scenes:  http://ow.ly/BkPtH @byondpapr

‘The Magrs Method’ for Book Reviewing:  http://ow.ly/BkOHz  @WorldLitCafe @CarrieGreenBook

Can Students ‘Go Deep’ With Digital Reading?  http://ow.ly/BkN16 @mindshiftkqed

A closer look at the mystery genre:  http://ow.ly/BkQkX  @jenichappelle

Why beta readers are vital to your success http://ow.ly/BkPBt @standoutbooks

Anatomy of a Showdown:  http://ow.ly/BkOxj  @PAShortt

6 Great Apps to Help You Write:  http://ow.ly/BkQdQ @sarahannjuckes

Self-Hosting Your Author Website: Why and How to Do It: http://ow.ly/BkMXI @Janefriedman

3 Techniques to Keep in Mind When Setting the Stage:  http://ow.ly/BkPWM @jodyhedlund

Why won’t English speakers read books in translation? http://ow.ly/BkPLd @HephzibahA

Making Sense of Creative Writing’s Job Problem:  http://ow.ly/BkOb3 @The_Millions

What to do about a negative review: http://ow.ly/BiBxs @Roz_Morris

The world’s best writers’ retreats:  http://ow.ly/BiBJj

An agent on new trends in publishing: http://ow.ly/BiCj1 @MacGregorLit

How to Avoid Head-Hopping:  http://ow.ly/BiBE5 @JodieRennerEd

Setting Your Own Standards of Excellence:  http://ow.ly/BiCr9  @Author_DFarland

Accents, narrators and total silence: how you hear voices when you read:  http://ow.ly/BiBWa @martabausells @guardianbooks

Author @JonathanMaberry ‘s call for author civility and positivity:  http://ow.ly/BzdCi #PorterMeets @Porter_Anderson

Writing flashbacks: how to write them well – with examples:  http://ow.ly/BiBv2 @standoutbooks

Most Common Writing Mistakes: Telling Important Scenes, Instead of Showing:  http://ow.ly/BiBAy @KMWeiland

How to Write a Book: The 5-Draft Method:  http://ow.ly/BiBQw @jeffgoins

HarperCollins Adds Another DRM Layer to eBooks:  http://ow.ly/ByfRa @thDigitalReader

The Biggest Mistake New Writers Make and 5 Ways to Avoid It:  http://ow.ly/BiBkK @annerallen

Konrath on the recent Authors United letter: http://ow.ly/Byf2y @JAKonrath

How Do You Define Credibility and Legitimacy as an Author?  http://ow.ly/BiC52  @Martinthewriter

Uninspired? 5 things to try. http://ow.ly/BiBpT @crimsonhouseboo

Bookstore Shelves and Gatekeepers: Why 1 Writer Decided to Self-Publish: http://ow.ly/Bx7xM  @charbrentwood

Self-entitled attitudes in crime fiction characters:  http://ow.ly/Bvi37  @mkinberg

Benefits of a Pinterest business account:  http://ow.ly/BelRH @lalewauthor

Amazon book blurb formula:  http://ow.ly/Bel3l  @badassmktg

A Quick and Dirty eBook with Calibre | Indies Unlimited http://ow.ly/BemCO

When writing is hard and we don’t want to work:  http://ow.ly/Ben9g  @andilit

Stop Overthinking and Just Write:  http://ow.ly/Bempk @ava_jae

Great Character: Gamora (“Guardians of the Galaxy”):  http://ow.ly/Ben3f @gointothestory

How to Be an Author Book Bloggers Will Love:  http://ow.ly/BemXF  @brrbach

Why Do Women Read More Novels Than Men Do? http://ow.ly/BwiFq @WarrenAdler

Handling deadlines: http://ow.ly/Bemc3  @jimchines

6 Problems With Realistic Space Battles:  http://ow.ly/BelwG @mythcreants

The power of showing–writing what upsets us: http://ow.ly/Bvatj @JulieMusil @StephenTremp

Is Self-Publishing for You? Pros and Cons: http://ow.ly/Bv9BS @LyndaRYoung

The Value of “Pantsing :  http://ow.ly/BelDn @InkyBites

How to Find Your Character’s Breaking Point:  http://ow.ly/Bemkf  @KMWeiland

Backlogged? Work Like You’’re Going On Vacation:  http://ow.ly/Bemuz @99u

€œThe Libiro Platform Is Serving A Niche Market€�:  http://ow.ly/BumG7 @Porter_Anderson  @BenGalley

Why Every 1st Novel Should Be a Ghost Story:  http://ow.ly/BcGvr @siobhanster

All the links I shared last week: http://ow.ly/Buwj6 . All the links I’ve ever shared (searchable) : writerskb.com .

How Much Should You Charge for Your E-Book? Ask These 7 Questions:  http://ow.ly/BcHiO @ticewrites

Writers: How To Let Go Of The Pressure To Be Perfect: http://ow.ly/BcGq6  @writersrelief

So, Are You Working On Your Novel? Or Tweeting About Your Novel?  http://ow.ly/BcH3N @NPR @WrknOnMyNovel

How to create your very own personal PR nightmare:  http://ow.ly/BcHgO @badassmktg

The post Twitterific Writing Links appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

Prewriting

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

My entire family has suddenly become obsessed with pineapple.  I don’t know what came over them.  It’s like the pineapple fairy visited one night. And they want it fresh.  Not canned or frozen (does it even come frozen)?

So…I started out by buying those containers of chopped pineapple at the grocery store deli.  But I balked at paying $6 for a smidgeon of pineapple that the family consumed in less than a day.

Then I bought the formidable looking fruit whole.  I looked up “how to cut a pineapple” online and the internet immediately coughed up a wiki-How thing with helpful pictures.  However, this process involved a bit of brute strength on my part, a couple of very sharp knives (never smart for a clumsy person), and about thirty minutes since I still had to slice out the tough black “eyes” afterward.

I decided I wasn’t the kind of person to spend 30 minutes a day slicing pineapple.

I was back in the grocery store to glumly purchase $6 worth of pineapple when I passed a pineapple slicer at the store.  It was $3.99.  I bought it and left for home.

I’m not a mechanically minded person.  But I tried.  I cut the top and bottom off the pineapple, stuck the device on the top, and twisted.  The pineapple fell over.  I said some unpleasant words to the pineapple and stood it back up.  This process repeated itself several times until the top of the pineapple became mush and my ire alerted my husband.  He’s a computer engineer, and is definitely mechanically minded.

He carefully read the instructions. Then he experimented with the pineapple and the slicer.  Magically, it cored and sliced the pineapple in about 30 seconds. My husband’s technique with everything is thoughtful, deliberate preparation.  And everything he attempts goes well…if not on the first try, then on the next.

I’m an impatient person and I jump right in.  It was this way for my writing for ages, too.  I’d find 5 minutes and tear into the story.  I had an idea where I was going, but I’d wander off where the story or characters led me, too.

Sometimes this worked really well.  Sometimes it didn’t.  The worst was when I ran into a huge issue and I was very close to a deadline. Sometimes I ran into plot holes or character motivation issues or other problems.  I marked the manuscript with Word’s highlighter to indicate the moment in the manuscript where I fixed the issue and kept on moving forward (knowing this meant that I’d have to heavily revise the beginning up until that point).

I started trying more and more prewriting before starting new projects.  Then I started doing more prewriting before my daily writing, too.   I found it helped me clarify where I was going and added character depth to even the random suspects who are one-offs for each book.

This approach helped me write faster and cleaner with more character depth in the first draft. With the conflicting deadlines from several series, I needed the help.

My prewriting before each book:

An outline (very rough).  Some call these beat outlines.  Mine are sort of like: “and then this happened! And then that happened! And then….”

A character list with names and brief descriptions. As I add more character description, I add it to this list so that I can have some degree of consistency.

A bunch of lists.  Lists of potential motives.  Lists of possible murder methods. Lists of potential killers.  Lists of potential second victims.  Lists of settings I might want to use.  You get the idea.

And then I jump right in.

Daily prewriting:

I get my head into the story before I sit down in front of the computer to write.  While I’m fixing my coffee and letting the dog out in the morning, I’m remembering where I left off and the scenes I’m about to write.

I can still go where the story and the characters lead me. I just have a plan…one that can be deviated from.

How much, if any prewriting do you do (it doesn’t have to include outlining)?  Are you a planner?  Do you jump right in?  Or is it a little of both?

Image: MorgueFile: Pippalou

The post Prewriting appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

Why Do Women Read More Novels Than Men?

 by Warren Adler,  @WarrenAdler

There is ample statistical evidence showing that adult women read more novels than men, attend more book clubs than men, use libraries more than men, buy more books than men, take more creative writing courses than men, and probably write more works of fiction than men. If, as a demographic, they suddenly stopped reading, the novel would nearly disappear.

A recent perusal of the New York Times fiction best seller list, scoring sales of print and e-books combined, showed that of the fifteen titles listed, eleven were written by women. Indeed, women are the bulwarks of the novel trade. Those statistics could lead one to also believe that the reason for such disparity is that stories told in novels, the characters, plots, insights, inner thoughts, experiences and wisdom offered are skewed to reflect a female point of view.

Even if you take Romance fiction out of the mix, formula romance and its many spinoffs, a surefire product targeted exclusively to women, women readers continue to outpace men. Having even moved into reading categories once considered strictly male turf, women readers and writers today are heavily represented across many genres from science fiction and zombie novels to mystery, suspense, horror, thrillers, military, including a myriad of other sub-genres.

Heroines abound, many created by men, including myself. My mystery series set in Washington D.C., features Fiona Fitzgerald, a female detective, and like Barbara Rose, in The War of the Roses, women emerge in strong roles in my writing. Gender, in my writing process, has little to do with marketing considerations. My creative subconscious and intuition demand it, and I am certain that female writers create male characters for similar reasons, however mysterious. So, most female authors do not write exclusively about women despite the fact that they have an overwhelming female readership.

Whatever publishing discrimination might have existed for women in the past, they obviously do not exist in the present. I’m inclined to believe that women, despite once being held back by education, custom and bias, and restricted to roles primarily as caregivers and nurturers, have surreptitiously dominated the market for novels. The creative urge operates outside the parameters of gender and, despite the restrictions, women have been writing and publishing novels from the moment the form emerged.

In the murky definition where the literary crosses swords with the popular, note the names of these authors; Dickens, Balzac, Bronte, Tolstoy, Lessing, Hemingway, Sands, Eliot, Austen, Proust, Shelly, Faulkner, Joyce, McCullers, Fitzgerald, Cather, Stowe, Wharton, etc., some female and some male. Their stories have been told from the point of view of both genders; stories that are about the human species and not confined merely to an isolated gender.

The gender of a novelist is irrelevant to their creativity. The criterion is talent, a mysterious and extraordinary gift that does not discriminate. A talented female author can find her way into the mind and heart of her male characters just as a male writer can do the same with his female characters. If there is some mythical dividing line between the insight, wisdom, and literary skill between men and women, it is not apparent to me. As for the reasons women dominate the reading market or perhaps the writing profession, I don’t have the answers – I can understand economic and opportunity parity, but not intellectual and artistic parity.

As a reader, I make my selections solely on the basis of which author moves me to enter his or her world, and follow the lives of their characters into the mysteries of their destiny. I hope the readers of my work feel the same way.

Why do you think women read more novels than men? Or will the question continue to baffle, like the mystery of love and attraction?

Warren Adler is best known for The War of the Roses, his masterpiece fictionalization of a macabre divorce turned into the Golden Globe and BAFTA nominated dark comedy hit starring Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito. In addition to the success of the stage adaptation of his iconic novel on the perils of divorce, Adler has optioned and sold film rights to more than a dozen of his novels and short stories to Hollywood and major television networks. In recent development are the Broadway Production of The War of the Roses, to be produced by Jay and Cindy Gutterman, The War of the Roses – The Children (Permut Presentations), a feature film adaptation of the sequel to Adler’s iconic divorce story, and Capitol Crimes (Sennett Entertainment), a television series based on his Fiona Fitzgerald mystery series.Adler’s forthcoming thriller Treadmill, is officially available. Learn more about Warren Adler at www.Warrenadler.com

 

 

 

 

 

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