Jessica Russell's Blog - Posts Tagged "plot"
So You Want to Get me in Trouble?
So you all want to get me in trouble? Ok, let's go for it...Let’s talk about the E word. Yes, I mean editors. Can’t live with them, can’t shoot them. Whoops, I just ended that sentence with a pronoun, didn’t I? Here’s the issue: editing is vitally important, and that means that editors are vital to our craft. My biggest issue with editors is when they major in the minors and miss the essentials.
A friend of mine gave me a finished draft of her novel to read, which was quite good and will be released soon. However, I was appalled to see things that the editor missed. And no, I do NOT mean nitpicking about commas or worrying about a split infinitive in the third paragraph of the second page. You get my drift.
Her editor missed things that can make an author look really stupid.
For example, my friend used a phrase that wasn’t actually in circulation until about 100 years after the time period in which the novel was set. There was also a major discrepancy concerning the length of time it would have taken someone in that region in that century to travel to. She had a person taking a “day trip” that would’ve actually taken about a week during that century in that location. (We all remember that impossible "day trip" to Asheville in Crawdads, right?) There was also one scene in my friend's book where a minor character’s eye color miraculously changed.
Well, these mistakes happen for a lot of reasons. Sometimes a writer changes a character’s looks, but overlooks one sentence where the change wasn’t made correctly. Other times, certain scenes are cut, but the author forgets to cut a scene that REFERS to the scene that was cut, thus creating confusion. This is why editors are supposed to catch those mistakes, and you’re probably wondering why they don’t.
My personal opinion, and it may not be popular, is that they fail to see these things because they are so fixated on little things that don’t matter, such as whether or not a sentence ended in a preposition, if there are “smiling words,” if the author started a scene with weather, and of course, the highly debated Oxford comma. Bottom line is, readers don't care about those things.
Editors, however, become obsessed with them.
The sad part is, they become so fixated on those little bits of nonsense that they miss the major things like the ones I mentioned in my friend’s novel. She didn’t need to feel bad...I caught a lot of those things in my own book while my editor fussed about commas. All authors probably do.
I truly wish that the old-time editors would come back on the scene. The ones who caught true mistakes like plot holes, confusing dialogue, century discrepancies, etc. In other words, stuff that actually matters. Where are those editors? I bet there’s a lot of writers hiring right now.
A friend of mine gave me a finished draft of her novel to read, which was quite good and will be released soon. However, I was appalled to see things that the editor missed. And no, I do NOT mean nitpicking about commas or worrying about a split infinitive in the third paragraph of the second page. You get my drift.
Her editor missed things that can make an author look really stupid.
For example, my friend used a phrase that wasn’t actually in circulation until about 100 years after the time period in which the novel was set. There was also a major discrepancy concerning the length of time it would have taken someone in that region in that century to travel to. She had a person taking a “day trip” that would’ve actually taken about a week during that century in that location. (We all remember that impossible "day trip" to Asheville in Crawdads, right?) There was also one scene in my friend's book where a minor character’s eye color miraculously changed.
Well, these mistakes happen for a lot of reasons. Sometimes a writer changes a character’s looks, but overlooks one sentence where the change wasn’t made correctly. Other times, certain scenes are cut, but the author forgets to cut a scene that REFERS to the scene that was cut, thus creating confusion. This is why editors are supposed to catch those mistakes, and you’re probably wondering why they don’t.
My personal opinion, and it may not be popular, is that they fail to see these things because they are so fixated on little things that don’t matter, such as whether or not a sentence ended in a preposition, if there are “smiling words,” if the author started a scene with weather, and of course, the highly debated Oxford comma. Bottom line is, readers don't care about those things.
Editors, however, become obsessed with them.
The sad part is, they become so fixated on those little bits of nonsense that they miss the major things like the ones I mentioned in my friend’s novel. She didn’t need to feel bad...I caught a lot of those things in my own book while my editor fussed about commas. All authors probably do.
I truly wish that the old-time editors would come back on the scene. The ones who caught true mistakes like plot holes, confusing dialogue, century discrepancies, etc. In other words, stuff that actually matters. Where are those editors? I bet there’s a lot of writers hiring right now.
It's NOT Ok
In this day and age of "everything is ok," it's time to mention something that's NOT. It's not ok, as an author, to let apps take over your life! Years ago, a writer sat down with a typewriter or word processor and wrote a book. Authors didn’t rely on software to carry them every step of the way. Although some software is helpful and it’s convenient, you still need to perfect your craft.
You CANNOT rely on software for everything. Look what happened to music when they decided to let computer programs write the songs instead of hiring people to do it: one measure repeated for 3 minutes; there's your song.
There are even individuals who offer “editing” services on platforms such as Fiverr and UpWork and all they are doing is spinning it through Microsoft spellcheck and grammar check. Believe me…Microsoft, Grammarly, and all kinds of other apps and programs CANNOT take the place of true editing. There are also some great programs that will help you with passive, versus active voice if you do AP style writing, but AGAIN, they are not foolproof.
YOU HAVE TO LEARN YOUR CRAFT!
If you don’t know how to do all that already, WITHOUT the software, you’re not ready yet. That may be hard medicine to take, but it’s the truth.
It’s also important to avoid “plot generators.” Honestly! If you don’t have a story in your head, or at least the beginnings of a story cooking, you’re not there yet. You’re just plain not ready. I’ve actually seen people on writing groups/pages say, “I want to write a novel, what should be about?”
Ridiculous.
I’m not trying to be condescending but come on! If you have no idea what you want to write a novel about, then you’re simply not ready to write a novel!
It’s very important to follow all the steps: you need command of the English language–or command of whatever language you’re writing in–you need to learn good grammar, you need to learn how to create a book through scene, sequel, scene, sequel in a straightforward or patchwork pattern, and you need to understand how to wrap it up at the end so that it’s satisfying, whether in a good way or bad way. Just those basics alone are vitally important, not to mention everything else.
Don’t jump the gun and try to get there in one big step with software, advice from other people, and plots spun from apps. The results will NEVER be as good as organic results. Go the long way. It will be WELL WORTH IT!
You CANNOT rely on software for everything. Look what happened to music when they decided to let computer programs write the songs instead of hiring people to do it: one measure repeated for 3 minutes; there's your song.
There are even individuals who offer “editing” services on platforms such as Fiverr and UpWork and all they are doing is spinning it through Microsoft spellcheck and grammar check. Believe me…Microsoft, Grammarly, and all kinds of other apps and programs CANNOT take the place of true editing. There are also some great programs that will help you with passive, versus active voice if you do AP style writing, but AGAIN, they are not foolproof.
YOU HAVE TO LEARN YOUR CRAFT!
If you don’t know how to do all that already, WITHOUT the software, you’re not ready yet. That may be hard medicine to take, but it’s the truth.
It’s also important to avoid “plot generators.” Honestly! If you don’t have a story in your head, or at least the beginnings of a story cooking, you’re not there yet. You’re just plain not ready. I’ve actually seen people on writing groups/pages say, “I want to write a novel, what should be about?”
Ridiculous.
I’m not trying to be condescending but come on! If you have no idea what you want to write a novel about, then you’re simply not ready to write a novel!
It’s very important to follow all the steps: you need command of the English language–or command of whatever language you’re writing in–you need to learn good grammar, you need to learn how to create a book through scene, sequel, scene, sequel in a straightforward or patchwork pattern, and you need to understand how to wrap it up at the end so that it’s satisfying, whether in a good way or bad way. Just those basics alone are vitally important, not to mention everything else.
Don’t jump the gun and try to get there in one big step with software, advice from other people, and plots spun from apps. The results will NEVER be as good as organic results. Go the long way. It will be WELL WORTH IT!
Suspension of Disbelief Only Goes so Far
If you have a formal literary education of any kind, you’ve likely heard, at some point during your creative writing courses, that to enjoy fiction, readers must “suspend their disbelief” to a degree.
Naturally, this is true. Real life isn’t a novel, and unless you’re looking for something with a tragic ending, you probably like your books to have a neat and tidy finish. That is sometimes referred to as “a satisfying ending.”
However, if you’ve been to college for journalism or creative writing, it is almost certain that you ALSO heard the term “fiction has to be believable.”
Of course, that’s an oxymoron, but what that phrase means is that nonfiction is what it is: if the guy got struck with lightning four times in his life, then he did. But if you put that in a fiction novel people are going to roll their eyes and toss it over their shoulder as “unbelievable.”
Therefore, it’s important not to go too far out with a plot or a plot device. I recently read a book that had such excellent descriptive writing that I didn’t want to put it down, but the plot was so ridiculous I had to. In it, a detective happened to “stumble on” a dead body that looked just like her. So, in order to solve the crime, the police force got together and pretended that the person hadn’t really died and the detective took that person’s place amongst her friends and family to try to figure out why she was killed.
And none of the dead girl’s friends or family members would realize it wasn’t her? Particularly whoever killed her and knew she was dead? It was, in short, ridiculous. Great writer, great talent, but where in the world was the editor to challenge her with a plot that was utter nonsense? And they pick on “unknown” authors? Wow.
There was a similar book that got a celebrity endorsement so it was an instant bestseller, but it was about a girl who raised herself all alone in a shack and never once got harmed, never got sick, never had an emergency, her shack never got a leak in the roof, her boat never got a hole in it or needed repairs, and she grew up beautiful, fit, healthy and normal with absolutely no one in her life since she was about seven. Then she learned to read at 14 and six years later became a published author writing Einstein level botany.
Well, this one had a celebrity endorsement, so it was going to do well no matter what, but the other one got a lot of negative reviews. Of course, famous authors can afford to make those kinds of bizarre mistakes, as can those who have a celebrity waiting in the wings to promote their book.
If you are not yet known as an author, however, well…you CAN’T afford to make those mistakes. So be careful about how much you’re asking your readers to “suspend their disbelief,” because the last thing you want is your first novel being so unbelievable that nobody wants to read your second. Write on!
Naturally, this is true. Real life isn’t a novel, and unless you’re looking for something with a tragic ending, you probably like your books to have a neat and tidy finish. That is sometimes referred to as “a satisfying ending.”
However, if you’ve been to college for journalism or creative writing, it is almost certain that you ALSO heard the term “fiction has to be believable.”
Of course, that’s an oxymoron, but what that phrase means is that nonfiction is what it is: if the guy got struck with lightning four times in his life, then he did. But if you put that in a fiction novel people are going to roll their eyes and toss it over their shoulder as “unbelievable.”
Therefore, it’s important not to go too far out with a plot or a plot device. I recently read a book that had such excellent descriptive writing that I didn’t want to put it down, but the plot was so ridiculous I had to. In it, a detective happened to “stumble on” a dead body that looked just like her. So, in order to solve the crime, the police force got together and pretended that the person hadn’t really died and the detective took that person’s place amongst her friends and family to try to figure out why she was killed.
And none of the dead girl’s friends or family members would realize it wasn’t her? Particularly whoever killed her and knew she was dead? It was, in short, ridiculous. Great writer, great talent, but where in the world was the editor to challenge her with a plot that was utter nonsense? And they pick on “unknown” authors? Wow.
There was a similar book that got a celebrity endorsement so it was an instant bestseller, but it was about a girl who raised herself all alone in a shack and never once got harmed, never got sick, never had an emergency, her shack never got a leak in the roof, her boat never got a hole in it or needed repairs, and she grew up beautiful, fit, healthy and normal with absolutely no one in her life since she was about seven. Then she learned to read at 14 and six years later became a published author writing Einstein level botany.
Well, this one had a celebrity endorsement, so it was going to do well no matter what, but the other one got a lot of negative reviews. Of course, famous authors can afford to make those kinds of bizarre mistakes, as can those who have a celebrity waiting in the wings to promote their book.
If you are not yet known as an author, however, well…you CAN’T afford to make those mistakes. So be careful about how much you’re asking your readers to “suspend their disbelief,” because the last thing you want is your first novel being so unbelievable that nobody wants to read your second. Write on!
Figure Out Who You’re Talking To
All new authors want to run to the entire world with their recently published novel and have everyone read it and rush back to them to say how much they loved it. One critical step they overlook is not anticipating in advance the type of people they are running too.
I recently had someone tell me that my historical fiction book would be better without “all that history in it.” That was just precious. However, that person didn’t mean it as an insult. That particular reader simply doesn’t have the aptitude for deeper plots and obviously has no interest in history. In other words, she didn’t “get it.”
I ventured to ask her who her favorite author was. It was Danielle Steel. If I had known that in advance, I could’ve saved her the trouble reading mine. It also kind of explained why she struggled to get through a few pages of historical dialogue here and there in my novel. She just wasn't used to it. No offense whatsoever to Ms. Steel, but if she’s your favorite author, you probably WOULD feel bogged down reading deeper plots and historical facts within a novel. We have a tendency to like what we get used to and struggle through what we are unfamiliar with.
For that reason, it’s an excellent idea to ask someone ahead of time what type of book they prefer. Beach reads are popular for a reason. They’re light, they don’t bog you down with a lot of intricate details, they’re easy to follow, etc. etc. There’s nothing wrong with that. However, if you wrote something with a lot of meat on the bones like I did, you can't expect someone who’s favorite genre is fluffy romance to understand it or fully appreciate it.
Save yourself the frustration trying to figure out why your book didn’t gel for someone by asking ahead of time where their interests lie. You’ll be glad you did. Write on!
I recently had someone tell me that my historical fiction book would be better without “all that history in it.” That was just precious. However, that person didn’t mean it as an insult. That particular reader simply doesn’t have the aptitude for deeper plots and obviously has no interest in history. In other words, she didn’t “get it.”
I ventured to ask her who her favorite author was. It was Danielle Steel. If I had known that in advance, I could’ve saved her the trouble reading mine. It also kind of explained why she struggled to get through a few pages of historical dialogue here and there in my novel. She just wasn't used to it. No offense whatsoever to Ms. Steel, but if she’s your favorite author, you probably WOULD feel bogged down reading deeper plots and historical facts within a novel. We have a tendency to like what we get used to and struggle through what we are unfamiliar with.
For that reason, it’s an excellent idea to ask someone ahead of time what type of book they prefer. Beach reads are popular for a reason. They’re light, they don’t bog you down with a lot of intricate details, they’re easy to follow, etc. etc. There’s nothing wrong with that. However, if you wrote something with a lot of meat on the bones like I did, you can't expect someone who’s favorite genre is fluffy romance to understand it or fully appreciate it.
Save yourself the frustration trying to figure out why your book didn’t gel for someone by asking ahead of time where their interests lie. You’ll be glad you did. Write on!
What You Can Learn From Your Favorite Authors
I've said it many times. Yes, you do need, at the very least, creative writing courses if you're going to write a novel. There's just certain things that you simply have to know to ensure that your story reaches it's full potential. However, there's one lesson in the grand scheme of things that you can learn merely by reading a book by your favorite author.
We've all been there… We have a favorite author, we can't wait for the next book, and when it finally comes out we grab it and drop what we're doing to at least squeeze in the first chapter before the next obligatory task in our lives. And then, to our dismay, we sit there wondering who wrote it.
It's happened to us all. We're in love with a particular author and then that author comes out with something we would refer to as a "miss," or a downright clunker.
Nevertheless, this can be a great learning experience for YOU and here's how:
Read it carefully for the second time. Take note of exactly where the writer lost you. Mark that first page where you began to roll your eyes, or yawn, or even say "where in the world is she/he going with this?"
This will help you avoid doing the same thing when the day comes that YOU are running out of gas and rushing an ending, or losing control of your plot, or doing any number of things that could ruin an otherwise good novel.
I won't name the author, but she is one of my all-time favorites. Sadly, she has passed away now, but I loved virtually all of her books except one. And the sad part is, I was absolutely ENTHRALLED with it for the first half. It was the second half where, in my opinion, it just fell apart.
A woman married a man in the 1800s who she thought was as conventional and "normal" as she was, only to find out he was experimenting with opium and witchcraft! He was planning to make his marriage to her a turning point, give up the old ways, and go on to have traditional life. Obviously, as you may have guessed, that's not where the book went. It ended up to be a tragic marriage, commencing with the death of her child.
Her former husband eventually died of his addiction. There was a very poignant scene where she went to his bedside to tell him she forgave him, and after the funeral, she vowed to seek out the man she thought was responsible for getting him involved in all this debauchery. As you might suspect, the man she thought was responsible really wasn't the culprit and she ends up falling in love with him in the second part of the book. So far so good with regard to the plot.
Unfortunately, it was missing one thing: a climax.
She thought a man was responsible for her husband spiraling into addiction and witchcraft, as well as the death of her child, but when she finally tracked him down, that emotional, angry, dramatic confrontation never happened. Instead, when she met him, she got a bit mesmerized and decided to watch him from a distance for awhile. They eventually fell blandly in love and she ended up sleeping with him BEFORE she was 100% sure whether or not he was the culprit. HUH?
The object lesson I got out of that was that you cannot be too careful when it comes to making sure you're giving your readers what was promised. I was waiting with baited breath as the book slogged on and on. I was waiting for this major emotional confrontation and THEN the romance, which I suspected was coming.
But it was as if, when she finally found this man, she thought to herself "eh, well, whatever, he's pretty cool so maybe I won't yell at him yet."
It just stopped making any sense. This grief and anger that drove her to the other side of the world to track down this man simply trickled away and they fell boringly in love, and the conclusion about what happened with her first husband and child was wrapped up in a few sentences and the book abruptly stopped.
It was the worst anticlimax I think I ever had the privilege to read in my life. And I LOVE this author. I used to wish when she was alive that there was a way to ask her to rewrite the second half of the book with her usual genius because I think it would've been one of my favorite books of all times.
So the moral of this post is that you can learn a lot from writers that you love, by reading your LEAST favorite book by that author and figuring out where it lost you. (And then don't repeat their mistake.) Write on!
We've all been there… We have a favorite author, we can't wait for the next book, and when it finally comes out we grab it and drop what we're doing to at least squeeze in the first chapter before the next obligatory task in our lives. And then, to our dismay, we sit there wondering who wrote it.
It's happened to us all. We're in love with a particular author and then that author comes out with something we would refer to as a "miss," or a downright clunker.
Nevertheless, this can be a great learning experience for YOU and here's how:
Read it carefully for the second time. Take note of exactly where the writer lost you. Mark that first page where you began to roll your eyes, or yawn, or even say "where in the world is she/he going with this?"
This will help you avoid doing the same thing when the day comes that YOU are running out of gas and rushing an ending, or losing control of your plot, or doing any number of things that could ruin an otherwise good novel.
I won't name the author, but she is one of my all-time favorites. Sadly, she has passed away now, but I loved virtually all of her books except one. And the sad part is, I was absolutely ENTHRALLED with it for the first half. It was the second half where, in my opinion, it just fell apart.
A woman married a man in the 1800s who she thought was as conventional and "normal" as she was, only to find out he was experimenting with opium and witchcraft! He was planning to make his marriage to her a turning point, give up the old ways, and go on to have traditional life. Obviously, as you may have guessed, that's not where the book went. It ended up to be a tragic marriage, commencing with the death of her child.
Her former husband eventually died of his addiction. There was a very poignant scene where she went to his bedside to tell him she forgave him, and after the funeral, she vowed to seek out the man she thought was responsible for getting him involved in all this debauchery. As you might suspect, the man she thought was responsible really wasn't the culprit and she ends up falling in love with him in the second part of the book. So far so good with regard to the plot.
Unfortunately, it was missing one thing: a climax.
She thought a man was responsible for her husband spiraling into addiction and witchcraft, as well as the death of her child, but when she finally tracked him down, that emotional, angry, dramatic confrontation never happened. Instead, when she met him, she got a bit mesmerized and decided to watch him from a distance for awhile. They eventually fell blandly in love and she ended up sleeping with him BEFORE she was 100% sure whether or not he was the culprit. HUH?
The object lesson I got out of that was that you cannot be too careful when it comes to making sure you're giving your readers what was promised. I was waiting with baited breath as the book slogged on and on. I was waiting for this major emotional confrontation and THEN the romance, which I suspected was coming.
But it was as if, when she finally found this man, she thought to herself "eh, well, whatever, he's pretty cool so maybe I won't yell at him yet."
It just stopped making any sense. This grief and anger that drove her to the other side of the world to track down this man simply trickled away and they fell boringly in love, and the conclusion about what happened with her first husband and child was wrapped up in a few sentences and the book abruptly stopped.
It was the worst anticlimax I think I ever had the privilege to read in my life. And I LOVE this author. I used to wish when she was alive that there was a way to ask her to rewrite the second half of the book with her usual genius because I think it would've been one of my favorite books of all times.
So the moral of this post is that you can learn a lot from writers that you love, by reading your LEAST favorite book by that author and figuring out where it lost you. (And then don't repeat their mistake.) Write on!
