Got Fire In Your Fiction?

I was one of the few Alley Cats who did not get to go to the ACFW Conference this past weekend. Since I don't feel like I have anything exciting to offer in light of all the wonderful things the Alley Cats have learned, I thought I'd do a repost of what I learned from Donald Maass and one of his books. Here ya go:

Do you ever feel like your story is just the same old story that's been written before? Do you struggle with finding an original plot that's never been done before? Well, I do, and let me say that after re-reading the last chapter in The Fire In Fiction by Donald Maass, I was encouraged.

According to Donald Maass, there really is nothing new under the sun when it comes to basic plots and storylines. Are you writing a mystery? Well, join the crowd who starts off with a murder and ends up with a solved case. Are you writing a love story? Join all the others who write about boy meets girl-boy cannot have girl-but love conquers all and he gets the girl. There is nothing original in basic plot lines. Been there, done that.

So what makes a story unique? YOU!!!!!

Only you have the experiences that you have had. Only you can bring a unique perspective to a basic storyline. The trick is being brave enough to open yourself up to what is real and honest in your life and using that in your writing. We all have experiences that have shaped our world view and how we deal with life. If we can be honest enough bring it into our writing, our stories will come alive.

Donald Maass says, "Finding the power buried in your novel...is about finding you: your eyes, experience, understanding, and compassion. Ignore yourself and your story will be weak. Embrace the importance of what you have to share with the rest of us and you have the beginning of what makes novels great."

Maass goes on to lead you into finding that unique perspective. Take common experiences and bring out the compassion and understanding to those shared experiences. For example, many people hate their day jobs and you can bring your perspective to that experience to lead the reader to relate and "get" your take on it.

Of course, then we have uncommon experiences. Where were you during 9/11? It is the same event, but everyone experienced that day in a different place and a different way. Some had family die that day. Some slept through it. Some came out of the building alive. Some watched it unfold from their office. Each person brings a different way of looking at the same thing. Use that in your writing!

I believe it is Francine Rivers who says she takes her life experiences...what she is dealing with...what the Lord is teaching her at the time...to write her stories. And oh, what powerful books she writes! They speak to the heart the reader because she brings her heart into them.

What do you want readers to come away with when they read your book? What truth do you want people to know? What theme needs to be shouted to the world? Be honest. Be real. Let your experiences, your take on life, and your heart come through your writing.

I will leave you with a quote from Donald Maass's The Fire In Fiction:
"Having something to say, or something you wish us to experience, is what gives your novel its power. Identify it. Make it loud. Do not be afraid of what's burning in your heart. When it comes through on the page, you will be a true storyteller."

QUESTION: Is it easy for you to open up and be honest in your writing with your unique experiences?

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This post is brought to you by

 Sherrinda Ketchersid

Sherrinda is a minister's wife and mother to three giant sons and one gorgeous daughter. A born and bred Texan, she writes historical romance filled with fun, faith, and forever love.

The Four Types of Dramatic Tension - Part One

 What is the number one rule of writing? Simply this:

Don’t bore the reader.

We all dream of writing novels that readers can’t put down. Stories so engrossing they cause people to run into stationary objects while flipping pages; plots so compelling that perfectly sensible adults will sacrifice sleep in order to read “just one more chapter”, even if it means falling asleep on their desk at work.

But how? Donald Maass, author of “Writing the Breakout Novel”, advises writers to inject tension on every page.

Easy if you write action thrillers, right?

Before all you romance-writers out there start to panic, hear this: “tension” doesn’t necessarily mean car chases, shoot-outs or even scenes where characters yell at each other. EVERY genre needs to be imbued with tension, even if it’s a quiet tension that crackles off the page.

In a former life, I used to teach drama to high-school students. In this role I learned there are four main types of tension used to engage an audience:

1. The tension of relationships

2. The tension of the task

3. The tension of surprise

4. The tension of mystery

I found this exciting because it applies so beautifully to writing, and it made me aware of a whole arsenal of tension-producing tools that I never consciously knew existed.

The secret is to vary your use of the different types of tension, because too much of any one thing becomes predictable and the tension is lost. (Anyone else ever fallen asleep in an action movie after the sixth car chase…?)

The other trick is to layer the types of tension one on top of the other to create the most compelling story possible.

To illustrate how one successful author has layered the four types of tension throughout her story, we’ll look at the bestselling novel The Help by Kathryn Stockett. Today we’ll begin with the first type of dramatic tension:

1.              The tension of relationships

This is a staple of romance and women’s fiction. Interpersonal conflict comes in so many shapes and forms that the possibilities really are endless. A good, meaty novel will contain layers of relationship conflicts – the heroine with the hero, with her mother, with the antagonist, with her children...

Of course, as mentioned earlier, this doesn’t mean you need to pen a string of shouting matches or have your protagonist argue with everyone she encounters. Once more, VARIETY is key, and often quiet tension is the most powerful and effective.

Let’s have a look at how Kathryn Stockett does this in The Help. There are a multitude of interpersonal conflicts in this book.

 -       Mother/daughter: Protagonist Skeeter wants to be a writer, but her mother is only interested in “fixing” her appearance and marrying her off. Added to this, her mother has cancer, so every negative emotion Skeeter feels is tinged with guilt.

-       Girl/guy: A reluctant dater, Skeeter eventually falls for a young man only to discover that his ideological views run totally contrary to hers.

-       Between friends: Skeeter disagrees with her friends’ treatment of their black maids, a stance which causes escalating conflict throughout the book.

-       Between an individual and a social group: Celia Foote struggles to gain acceptance into the local women’s clique, but is ostracised by all.

-       Between maids and their employers: Minny, a black maid, is fired by her white employer for using the indoor bathroom. Another maid, Aibileen, struggles with the harsh way her employer treats her daughter, Mae Mobly.

The tension of relationships is often shown through dialogue between characters, but also through subtext (the unspoken undercurrents beneath the dialogue – the things the characters DON’T say) and through snippets of internal monologue.

For my next blog post, I’ll be discussing the remaining three types of tension. Don’t forget to tune in to learn about the tension of the task, the tension of surprise and the tension of mystery!

Let’s talk: Does your WIP have tension on every page? How conscious are you of delineating between different types of conflict in your writing? Do share!


Images courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

Karen Schravemade lives in Australia. When she's not chasing after two small boys, she spends her spare minutes daydreaming about the intricate lives of characters who don't actually exist. Find her on her website, on Twitter or getting creative over at her mummy blog.

Is Your Voice Shouting?

Are you stylish? I'm not talking about what's in your closet, but about your narrative style. In Donald Maass's book, The Fire In Fiction, he writes about the importance of a writer's voice - how you tell your tale. He points out different ways to make your voice "shout out".

GIVING CHARACTERS VOICE - This doesn't mean just taking their dialogue and dialect and making it different, but it means their outlook...their take on life. You need characters who have a unique way of looking at things, without becoming cartoonish. Their opinions need to be heard, however different it is from the norm. Sometimes we make our characters "safe", when we really should let them be real.

DETAILS AND DELIVERY - Maass asks why we avoid making a hero really different. He says, "Even the most ordinary people have a life that's unique. The details that make it so are a secret source of what critics glibly refer to as voice." Details are important. They give a story life and a voice. The way you state things, or the way your character speaks, gives your story its voice. It can be through syntax and/or details of what they say, do, or feel.

DIFFERENT WAYS OF RELATING STORY - Writers need to choose beforehand which POV and which tense to write from. There's no right or wrong way, but whatever you choose, you need to go deep into it. Make the character real, flaws and all.

I think VOICE is such an elusive thing. While I don't think your voice can be manipulated, I think Maass has some good suggestions for making your voice come through loud and clear. His ideas give a spring board to amplify your writing and letting you ....the real you...be heard.

It's not just the words that make a writer's voice unique. It's all the little things like details, delivery, outlook, original perspective, opinions, etc, that make an author's voice shout out.

I haven't found my voice yet. Not sure how I would go about finding it, other than just writing alot. I still feel like I am just getting started in this journey. I feel I am still whispering...afraid to speak up.

Do you think you have found your voice? Is it shouting yet?

*Reposted from a 2009 post on Sherrinda's personal blog.

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This post is brought to you by

 Sherrinda Ketchersid

Sherrinda is wife to "Pastor John" and mother to three giant sons and one gorgeous daughter. A born and bred Texan, she writes historical romance filled with fun, faith, and forever love.

The Secondary Character

I've been looking through The Fire In Fiction by Donald Maass. I'm a fast reader and sometimes miss important facts, so I often have to re-read books to really soak up information.

Maass's chapter on secondary characters really pounded in the fact that I really ignore mine! I tend to focus on the hero and heroine and stick my secondaries into the background, safe and sound. Poor things, they need more of a life so they can support the main characters like they should.

Here are three types of secondary characters to think about:

1. Special Characters: Who are the people that make an impact on your character's life? How have they made a difference in your protaganist's life? What makes these characters special is how they have changed your hero/heroine. What details show this to be true?

2. Ordinary Characters: These are the people in your protaganist's life that are taken for granted. One way to spice them up is to make them eccentric, make them quirky. While making them unique, you need to make them human too, so give them a conflict they must overcome.

3. Antagonists: Too often these can become "cardboard" characters who are entirely evil, which makes them entirely boring. These bad guys need some redeeming qualities. We need to somehow relate to them and even root for them at times. They need be in the forefront and in the hero's face, not relegated to the background.

According to Maass, secondary characters are just as important to the story as the protagonist. We need to make sure our supporting characters are real, are human, are memorable.

How about you? Do you enjoy writing quirky secondary characters? How much thought do you put into these? What is your favorite type of secondary character to write?

Writing at the Crossroads

I found myself stuck. In my last book, A Shore Thing, one of the supporting characters, Suz, continued to pray for her soon-to-be ex-husband, even as he sat in jail for committing a felony. In Fade to Blue (released this month), Suz became the heroine. I already had a strong sense of her character, so I began the process of asking, “What if …?” and applying those questions to this very real person in my mind. Eventually, I found myself with more questions than answers.

What if …

But just when she does …

What if …

And at about that time …

What if…

As I followed single-mom, Suz, it quickly became apparent that one aspect of the story—her divorce in the midst of faith—would become an issue. So I continued to write and plan, to follow Suz on her path of finding out what she wanted to do, and to learn if her desires matched up with her faith.

Inevitably, my heroine found herself at a crossroads.

May I be honest? If faith wasn’t a thread in this story, I could let my character do or say whatever pop culture dictated. The issue of her divorce might not have been an issue at all and some other conflict would have risen to the top of the plot point chain. In Suz’s case, however, her faith is the point on which she pivots, so how could I ignore her struggle?

As Christians who write, we have to be so careful, though. I’d never want to steer someone wrong, or to as the Bible says “cause my brother to stumble.” Yet I have no interest in sermonizing either. Instead, I want my characters, no matter what the issue, to struggle with their decisions the way we all do at times. And that means that as writers we too have to press in to those corners that we inevitably find ourselves in.

The answers don’t always come easy. If you write, maybe you’re like me, and you often find yourself listening to the voices of many more than your muse. There are readers, of course, but also reviewers, editors, sales and marketing—even critique partners—all who have opinions about what our characters should or should not do. Daunting, isn’t it? But in Jeremiah 6:16, the Lord gives this advice to savor: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.”

To writers, this verse suggests standing at the crossroads with our characters. It suggests contemplation, prayer, and continuing to show up and write even through the tough patches.

With Fade to Blue, after I prayed and wrestled to the point of a near-ulcer over my heroine’s decisions, my pastor “happened” to deliver a sermon that provided the perspective necessary to taking that first step out of her crossroads—and I was ready with pen in hand. Don’t you love when that happens? No peptic medication necessary!

I love what Donald Maas says in Writing the Breakout Novel: “Some say success as an author requires a big ego: I say that it requires a big heart.” So true. Not only that, I believe that those big hearts must be softened by our experiences with God’s grace.

Next time you find yourself at a crossroads in your novel, don’t shy away, instead press in. Pray hard. Shut out the voices for a while. Instead, think about what it’s like to hold a seashell, constantly turning it over in your hand. Though they’re often tossed into the sea with nary a glance, seashells are intricately beautiful—even when broken. The more you examine your characters lives, no matter how shattered or sinful they may be—the more beauty can be found. Why? Because it’s in those dark places where God’s grace shines brightest.

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http://www.juliecarobini.com/

I grew up as Julie Navarro, in a family of truly right-brained individuals. Among us you’ll find writers, artists, and musicians, all of us willing to talk about the arts at a moment’s notice.

Over the years, I’ve published several hundred articles and stories in magazines and books, including Aspire, Decision, Expecting, Focus on the Family, Key Magazine and God’s Abundance: 365 Days to a Simpler Life. As I wrote, I found a common theme cropping up: my family, the sea, and God’s timely work in the lives of those around me.

Maybe it was time to incorporate those interests into novels, I thought.
And so I did. Not once, but twice. Both times, God shut both doors and windows. So I continued to write and dream and raise my kids with Dan. Eventually I decided to write romantic seaside novels, and that’s where I found my voice.

When I’m not writing, marketing, or editing for others, I’m driving my kids around town, imagining that my mid-sized SUV is actually a sleek sailing yacht.

Self-Editing Checklist: Scene Analysis

You've got a completed manuscript and you're ready to self-edit, right? So now the big question: Where do you start?

My answer: a self-editing checklist. (If you're just jumping in, check out my post from two weeks ago where I introduced the why behind a self-editing checklist as well as some ground rules.)

Once you feel pretty good about your overall story and characterization, it's time to start in with an analysis of your scenes. Now this can be done however you want. I usually take out my 4-page checklist and work through the entire thing on one scene at a time. If that doesn't work for you, do whatever does.

Here are the first two points on the checklist.

#1 - Scene or Sequel (as coined by Dwight V. Swain in his book Techniques of the Selling Writer). Does my scene have a clear goal, conflict, and disaster? If it's a reaction scene (aka sequel), does it have a reaction, dilemma, and decision that propels it into the next scene? I track these items in an Excel spreadsheet (the CPA in me never dies). :) It helps me make sure I don't have an aimless scene.

Resources: For the full description of the concept behind Scene and Sequel, I highly recommend Dwight's book. Or if you want shorter article-sized summaries, check out Randy Ingermanson's website or Camy Tang's Story Sensei blog.

#2 - Does the scene enact a tangible change, both inwardly and outwardly? This is a direct quote from a Donald Maass post on Writer Unboxed. To read the entire post, click here.

Your homework for the next two weeks, should you choose to accept it: Read the articles I've referenced. And if you have a few extra dollars and some time on your hands, buy Dwight Swain's book (or borrow it from your local library) and read Chapter 4. Then analyze your scene for these two points.

Do you tend to get in the trap of writing aimless scenes? What's your best advice to ramp up a scene and make it meatier?

* Book photo by winnond / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
**Flower photo by Filomena Scalise / FreeDigitalPhotos.net