Diane Chamberlain's Blog, page 27

Story Weekend Theme: Movie Scene You'll Never Forget

[image error]Time to join in for another Story Weekend!

If you're new to Story Weekend, here's how it works: I pick a theme and you share something from your life that relates to that theme. We've been having fun with it, but there are a few "rules":

The story must be true.
Try to keep it under 100 words. That's about six or seven lines in the comment form. I want others to read your story, and most people tend to skip if it's too long. I know how tough it is to "write tight" but I hope you'll accept this as a challenge.
Avoid offensive language.

Have fun, and as usual, I'll kick it off with my own comment

Hearing Voices: Point of View in Fiction Writing

[image error]The Midwife's Confession is written from five different points of view, and I'm here to tell you, that was a challenge! Every one of my twenty novels has had multiple points of view, but never before have I had to balance five female voices in one story. Want to know the hardest part about multiple viewpoints? Giving each character her own distinct voice. Since this topic has come up with every bookclub I've spoken to, I thought I'd share [image error]my thoughts about it on the blog. (By the way, bookclubs, if you'd like me to chat with your group by speakerphone, fill out the form on my website and we'll try to work it out).

Here's how I handled the voices in The Midwife's Confession. The five point-of-view characters are:

Tara: fortyish, middle class, college educated, North Carolinian.

Emerson: fortyish, middle class, college educated, North Carolinian

Anna: fortyish, middle class, college educated, Virginian

Noelle: fortyish, poorer, more rural background than the others, college educated, midwife, North Carolinian

Grace: 16 year old daughter of Tara

Hmm. Notice anything? I had a problem. I had four fortyish, college educated southern women on my hands. How was I going to differentiate one voice from another?

As usual, my first draft was devoted simply to getting the story down on paper. I'm not one of those polish-as-you-go writers. I started out that way with my first novel, but soon realized that my characters were inevitably going to change the story on me and I would only have to go back and rewrite what I'd spent hours polishing, so why bother? In my second draft, though, I began to notice subtle differences between the voices of each of my characters. Those differences emerged organically as each woman came into her own, but between Tara, Emerson and Anna, the differences were way too subtle for my liking.

Tara, Emerson, Anna and Grace are all written in first person. Since Noelle kills herself in the first chapter, I wrote her scenes in third person. It was, therefore, easiest to differentiate her voice from the others. And Grace, being sixteen, was a snap. But those three women–Tara, Emerson and Anna–were my real challenge. My goal is always this: if a reader familiar with the characters picks up the book and flips it open to any page, she should be able to tell whose point of view she's in without looking at the chapter heading (where I'll have that character's name). I'll be the first to admit that with these three characters, I may not always have met that goal. Particularly with Tara and Emerson, who not only had similar backgrounds but who were also college roommates and have been best friends living in the same neighborhood all their adult lives. Of course they 'sound' very similar. Still, I wanted to do my best to make each of them distinct.

The routine I follow as I near the final draft of a book is always the same. I take a printout of the book and pull out all the chapters written in the point of view of each of the characters. So in the case of Midwife, I had five chunks of chapters. Then I go to the Opium Den, settle into my comfy chair, and read only the chapters belonging to a single character as I tweak her voice. I do this with each character, one at a time, until I'm satisfied with the differences between their voices. For example, Tara has a slightly more formal-sounding voice than the others, in keeping with her personality. The sentences in her chapters are a little longer. A little more stilted. Emerson is more relaxed and colorful in her language, while Anna is a bit irreverent.

Here's a taste of their voices. The easy ones first:

Noelle: Once all was in order she came out to the porch to watch the moon and feel the satin air and fill her eyes and lungs and ears with the world one last time.

Grace: Omigod, it had been so good! Cleve kept saying, "Holy shit!" after it was over. He was holding me and kissing my hair it was just the most amazing night.

And then the tough ones:

Tara: Sam and Grace had been two quiet souls with no need to speak to each other to communicate.

Emerson: The woman crossed the room like a drill sergeant, all sharp edges and quick movements, jutting her hand toward me for a shake. I felt like a balloon she could pop if I let her get too close.

Anna: I'd have to talk to him about it at some point. It was really pissing me off that he acted like he could waltz back into our lives without consequence.

I actually love this part of the writing process. I love spending 'quality time' with each character in turn. They deserve it, and so do my readers.

I Want to Zipline! What's Your Fantasy Adventure?

[image error]Today's paper had an article on all the places to zip line in North Carolina. I love anything that gets me up in the air, so the article really got me excited. I have a feeling I'll never get to zip line, though. I'm not sure it's the best activity for someone with funky joints, but I can dream.

It reminds me of my hang gliding adventure years ago. In Keeper of the Light, I'd written about the Outer Banks' beautiful Jockey's Ridge, where hang gliders sail above the enormous dunes. It looked  effortless and I knew I wanted to try it. I'm so unathletic, though. The flying itself wasn't my problem. It was the carrying-the-glider-while-trying-to-get-a-running-start-in-sand that presented the snag. My friends had a good laugh at my expense, but I did get airborne for a short flight across the sand. I'll never forget that weightless and wonderful feeling.

Zip lining, though? Not sure. How about you? What is it you long to do?

Story Weekend Theme: High School

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Our theme for this Story Weekend: High School. (I hope my international readers will help me with the correct term for "high school" in their countries). That's my high school on the left in Plainfield, New Jersey, after it's 1906 unveiling.

Are you new to Story Weekend? No problem! Everyone is welcome. Here's  an opportunity to share a tiny snippet of your life with my fellow blog readers. We've been having fun with it, but there are a few "rules":

The story must be true.
Try to keep it under 100 words. That's about six or seven lines in the comment form. I want others to read your story, and most people tend to skip if it's too long. I know how tough it is to "write tight" but I hope you'll accept this as a challenge.
Avoid offensive language.

Have fun, and as usual, I'll kick it off with my own comment

Where is your Third Place?

[image error]Remember the show Cheers? Every person had his own seat at the bar. Each of them drank the same drink every day. Norm walked in and everyone said in unison "Norm!" You knew these folks were in a place of comfort and camaraderie.

If you've read my blog for a while, you know I spend a lot of time writing in The Opium Den, also known as my local Starbucks. I gave it that nickname years ago when I realized I had to go there each day. I figured the cup manufacturers lined the cardboard cups with an addictive substance activated by hot liquid. But I gradually understood the real reason I needed to go there: it had become my third place.

Writer Ray Oldenburg described 'the third place' in his book The Great Good Place. It can take many forms, but it's always a place separate from home (the first place) and work (the second place) and it's always welcoming and comfortable. Many of the people you find there are 'regulars', like Norm on Cheers.

I didn't always have a third place. I'd never even walked into a Starbucks until eleven years ago, when I joined Match.com after my divorce and needed a safe, neutral place to meet the five gazillion gentlemen I got to know before meeting John.  I'd bring my writing to the Starbucks in my Northern Virginia neighborhood while waiting for a guy to show up, and soon I was looking forward to the writing more than the guy (until John, of course!). I started working there both morning and evening, making connections with other writers (You can so easily identify other writers. They type, then stare into space, then type some more), producing tons of pages and eating way too many pastries. When I moved to North Carolina six years ago, one of the first things I did was check out the location of the Opium Dens. Here I am in this 2006 photograph with my 2006 curly hair, happily ensconced in what is STILL my favorite chair. (One of the 'regulars' came in the other day and asked if I'd even moved from the chair since the morning before).

I adore my third place for what it doesn't have–laundry, piles of stuff to sort through, bills to pay, dogs to groom, floors to vacuum. And I love it for what it does have–comfy chairs, soft (usually) music, friends to chat with, and of course, lots of coffee in those opiate lined coffee cups.

Do you have a third place? Is it a coffee shop? A bookstore? A gallery?  A bar? Maybe a church? What draws and keeps you there?

The Mistake So Many Self-Published Authors Make

[image error]I sat in the Opium Den this morning, studying the revision letter my editor sent me about my twenty-first novel,  The Good Father, which will be published next spring.  As usual, my editor had a bunch of suggestions and I could see that she was right on target on every point except one (and she might turn out to be right about that one, too). I felt so fortunate that I have her skilled, objective eye to look at my work. Even though she loved the book, she saw ways to make it better. My latest release, The Midwife's Confession, is a perfect example of how her input improved a story and I've sung her praises on this blog before.

But this post isn't about my editor. It's about the lack of editing of so many of the novels being self published today. I'm not talking about those out-of-print backlist books many published authors are making available as e-books, much to the joy of their readers. I've published my backlist in ebook format myself. These books were well edited when they were first released and they're ready for their return to prime time. But I worry that the ease of self publishing is seducing writers into publishing books before they're ready. 

I thought my first novel, Private Relations, was perfect when I finished  it. I'd worked on it for years. I'd polished every word and solicited the feedback of several friends, which I took to heart as I wrote draft after draft.  I then tried to find a publisher and spent a miserable year reading rejection letters—and  wow, did that book deserve to be rejected! Even though I thought it was perfect, it was actually a mess in great need of an editor. The grammar and punctuation weren't my problem; it was my structure and pacing that were in desperate need of help. Fortunately, I found an agent with editorial skills and she helped me whip it into good enough shape to sell. But if I'd written that book in 2010 and spent a year getting rejected, I am one hundred percent certain I would have given up on traditional publishing and self published the book myself, adding one more mess of a book to the other unedited books that are pouring into the market. I doubt it would have found an audience, except among creative writing teachers looking for examples of How Not to Write a Novel.

All this is to say, if you're writing a book you plan to self publish, please hire a freelance editor to help you. Be open to his or her suggestions and take your time as you revise. This isn't a race. You want your name attached to something wonderful, right? Give your work the best chance possible to find its readers and leave them begging for more.   

It's Another Story Weekend!

[image error]This week's theme: First Kiss.

Are you new to Story Weekend? No problem! Everyone is welcome. Here's  an opportunity to share a tiny snippet of your life with my fellow blog readers. We've been having fun with it, but there are a few "rules":

The story must be true.
Try to keep it under 100 words. That's about six or seven lines in the comment form. I want others to read your story, and most people tend to skip if it's too long. I know how tough it is to "write tight" but I hope you'll accept this as a challenge.
Avoid offensive language.

Have fun, and as usual, I'll kick it off with my own comment.

The Agony and Ecstacy of Synopsis Writing

[image error]Remember my new idea? The one that came to me so perfectly formed that I knew the book would write itself? Well, it may be true that the book will write itself, but the synopsis is another matter altogether.

A good synopsis is incredibly important. Even if you've already written your book, you will still need to write a synopsis.  It's the first thing an editor will see to help her decide if she wants to read that story you've worked so hard on. In the case of a multi-published author like myself, a great synopsis can get me the go-ahead to write a particular novel and/or land me a new contract. Either way, writing a synopsis is difficult and not too many novelists relish the task.

A synopsis runs anywhere between five and twenty pages and essentially tells the story you plan to write. It should include a pithy one or two sentence "tagline" that will draw the editor in and inspire her to keep reading. That's followed by  a description of the central characters and their motivations, goals, and conflicts, as well as the action of the story: what happens in the beginning, the middle and the end? Finally, what's the theme or 'take-away message' of the book?

I've written the entire first draft of the synopsis for this new, still untitled, book. It's twenty pages long. That's twenty dry-as-dust pages. Yes, I've told the story, but that's not enough. Now I need to find a way to infuse that story with emotion, suspense and excitement—without adding pages.  My goal is for my agent and editor to absolutely need to read the (as yet unwritten) book after seeing the synopsis.

This afternoon, I finally came up with my tagline. Taglines are a huge challenge.  Try boiling down your favorite book or movie to a single sentence that gets across the main gist of the story.  Not easy! But I think I have it (can't share it yet!) and the exercise of coming up with that line really helped me sharpen the focus of the story. It only took me a few hours and one nap!

Tomorrow, I'll reread the synopsis, thinking of ways to make it juicier. I'm in love with my two main characters—two young women with an amazing story to tell. I know they'll tell it beautifully in the book. Now it's up to me to write the synopsis that will give them that chance.

 

Happy Fourth of July!

[image error]I hope you're having as good a Fourth of July weekend as we are. We started out at the Roundabout Gallery on Friday night, where John was a featured artist with some of his Red, White and Blue work. Even though all the photos look very different because of the way John treated them, all the close-ups were taken of the flag that hangs in front of my sister's house when we visited her in the spring. I love what he's done with them.

Next it was my turn. John's car is really old and falling apart, while my Sienna van is merely old. The lack of a completely reliable vehicle was starting to worry me and I thought it was time to buy something new. We went to the Honda dealer so I could test drive an Odyssey, and a few hours later I was driving it home. Blue wasn't my first choice, since my Sienna is blue, but I didn't want white, black or maroon–my other choices–and this blue is pretty. All it means is that John and I can't say to each other "You left it in the blue van."

[image error]It's been ten years since I've bought a car, and the manuals have expanded! This one is 700 pages long. There's thirty pages just giving you an overview of the manual itself. Then a separate 150 page manual on the navigation system. So I spent a couple of hours in the car today trying to learn everything, feeling like I was in flight school as I stared cross-eyed at the dashboard. I managed to link my phone to the Bluetooth and set up the satellite radio before my brain gave out.

Tomorrow, I hope to finish a rough draft of the proposal for my 2013 book. Then I'll ask John and a couple of friends to read it for me and see if my idea is the winner I hope it is. If I'm wrong. . . back to the drawing board. Won't be the first time I've made that trip, and this time I can drive there with a new car smell for company.

So how are you spending your weekend?

The Wackiest Person You Know and Love–Story Weekend

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We all have at least one of them in our lives–that person who marches to the beat of a different drummer but whom we love to pieces. Who's the wackiest-but-lovable person in your life?

If you're new to Story Weekend, it's an opportunity to share a tiny snippet of your life with my fellow blog readers. We've been having fun with it, but there are a few "rules":

The story must be true.
Try to keep it under 100 words. That's about six or seven lines in the comment form. I want others to read your story, and most people tend to skip if it's too long. I know how tough it is to "write tight" but I hope you'll accept this as a challenge.
Avoid offensive language.

Have fun, and as usual, I'll kick it off with my own comment.