The Last Qs

For the past four of weeks (how time flies), I’ve been going through the questions posed in a video produced by the BookFox. The video is titled: 9 Craft Questions Every Wrier Should be Able to Answer.

If you want, watch it. If not, I’ve gone through the questions in these following blog posts and this one you’re reading right now:

What Type of Writer Are You?Crossing that LineMorally Gray GroundThe Last Qs (this blog post)

As a reminder, here are all nine questions:

Do you prefer language as trance or as entertainment? Or both?Do you take advantage of the novel’inherent advantages as a communication medium (as opposed to films): interiority, time fluctuations, & point-of-view (POV) variation?What should you never show? Do you show everything (i.e. no topic is off the table)? Where do you draw the line? Do you have a line?Should you always write round characters? Or flat characters? Or both?Is your novel or writing moral or amoral?Should you include coincidence in your fiction? (If you do, make sure it is at the beginning and not the end.)Anticipation or surprise? Which do you prefer to write? Or a bit of both?Should you use brand names in your fictions? This will time-stamp your work.Should you create themes in your story? Or allow them to emerge organically from the work?

In this final installment of this series of questions, let’s explore the last three (seven, eight, and nine).

7. Anticipation or surprise?

This question speaks to a literary technic: Do you spring information on your readers at the last moment, surprising your readers? Or do you tell them what’s gonna happen so they are hankering for the big showdown throughout the book?

I’ve never given this question much thought. Tell you the truth, I didn’t even know it was a literary technic. I just thought, some things are surprises while others are not.

But, of course, as writers, we control the anticipation or surprise.

Unwittily, I use anticipation in a lot of my stories. In my Ghost Stories (unpublished–yet!), in the very first paragraph, my main character tell us she’s not gonna make it to the end of her pay period. She worries about losing her job throughout the entire series.

And she does lose her job.

But not in the way you’d think.

I surprise the reader at the end with her death (the only way she can finish off a demon is to join it on the other side).

For writers, I don’t think it’s a matter of either/or. You might find as you write that you naturally gravitate towards surprising your readers with information or perhaps you broadcast major events. Or maybe you use both like I did in my Ghost Stories.

With that said, there are writers and specific works that are known for either surprising their audience (think any movie directed by M. Night Shyamalan) or keeping their viewers in suspense (think any horror movie).

What do you want to be known for?

8. Should you include brand names in your fiction?

This is kind of a no brainer.

Or is it?

Let’s think about it. When you mention in your novel that Billy drank a Pepsi, what are you subtly conveying to your reader?

Pepsi has been distributed throughout the United States for, like, forever. More specifically, Wikipedia informs me that Pepsi started out in 1893 as “Brad’s Drink” and changed it’s name to “Pepsi-Cola” in 1898 before shortening it to “Pepsi” in 1961.

If I mention that my character is drinking Pepsi-Cola, I can safely assume the story takes place between 1898 and 1961–and medicinal qualities of the drink are probably important (if unfounded).

If I write Pepsi only, then the reader can assume the story is set in post-1961 America. The soda company didn’t really start its foreign markets until the mid-20th century, so after which, there is the possibility that Billy is somewhere in France or Russia.

Did you also know that Pepsi was once considered a “Black” drink? And Coke (its rival) anti-Black?

So… What more are you saying when you write Billy drank a Pepsi?

I may be writing too much into the one word ‘Pepsi’, but with these examples, you can see how brand names bring in a whole host of issues into your piece. The use of one word not only dates your work, but implies whatever connotations (subtle or otherwise) associated with it.

You might not want that.

Or maybe you do.

Your story about a black, teenager in New York drinking a Pepsi before his job interview might be exactly the time-stamp you’re after. If that’s the case, run with it.

But if you want your story to feel more timeless, ditch the corporate names and use something generic like ‘cola’, ‘soda’, or ‘pop’ (which convey regional preferences and meaning in themselves).

Since my stories almost always are set in imaginary worlds of my own making, I often don’t have to worry about brand names. They are, of course, not used. I do have to be careful when brand names that are now used as generic words sneak in. I mean, who knew “dumpster” was a brand name?

What about you? Do you take care not to use brand names? Or do you litter your writing with them to help flesh out and convey a time and place?

9. Should you create themes in your story?

Similar to the morality question, should you purposefully hang your story around a theme (i.e., acts of kindness, environmental destruction, rich people are evil, etc.)? Or not?

The BookFox’s argument here is that themes should arise naturally from the story and not whacked into the reader with every paragraph.

I’m sort-of gonna disagree with this because, as a dense reader, I often miss the theme of books unless they are smacked into me a thousand times. I’m just dense that way.

And I’ve noticed with my critique partners and beta-readers, they don’t see themes I plainly repeat over and over either. So, it’s not just me.

I definitely don’t want to imply that readers are stupid.

We’re not.

But we are bombarded with a lot of distractions and stress. When we read for pleasure, we don’t want to “figure out” what the text is trying to say.

So, my advice, if you want to convey a theme with your writing, make it simple on the readers to get it. Have a character say it. Then another character paraphrase it. And maybe have it in the narration, too.

Or best of all, don’t worry about theme. For sure, write with your theme in mind, but whether that gets across or not–don’t worry about it. The readers paying attention will get it. And those of us who aren’t will thank you for keeping the reading simple.

Phew! We got through all nine questions.

After going through all of them, do you feel like you know what sort of writer you are? Do your readers? What kind of story can they trust you to write?

Until next time, write like you know what you’re doing.

Nila