Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Bringing in 2014

2014 arrives in less than 24 hours. It's a time for reflection upon the past few breaths of 2013 and a time to dream about the future. It's easy to dream. (At least for me.) But it's hard to do.

So, as you party into 2014 and make your New Year's Resolutions, commit to yourself that this year you won't just dream about accepting a Book Award on C-Span, you'll work your hardest to make it happen. Whether that's actually writing that amazing book, finding an agent, or self-promoting your novel - get our there in 2014 and make it happen!

 
Original picture from:http://wallpaperhd2014.com/new-year/happy-new-year-2014-cards-wallpaper-hd.html/attachment/happy-new-year-2014-cards-wallpaper-hd

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

High Expectations

It's that time of season. A string of holiday parties, family dinners, and themed outings. If you're anything like me, when you're the host of one of those parties, you want everything (and I mean everything) to be perfect.

No poorly frosted cookies, no crooked stockings, no unlit bulbs, and definitely no family scuffles. If you're anything like me, not one year has gone your way.

But that's okay. Both in your writing (or lackthereof in this hectic time) and your social life, nothing is going to be perfect. Do the best you can and remember to breathe. Sometimes, falling a little short of your high expectations can bring unexpected opportunities, or at least a good laugh.


Happy Holidays!

Photo from: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/142707881915407994/

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

The Number One Writing Mistake (Late Post Tally #3)

Second late post this month, third of all blogging time (since last January). Wow, I'm on a roll.

Since this post is late, let me tell you how I spent yesterday so you know why I'm tallying again. After work and a massage to get out the "at the computer 24/7" shoulder knots, and grocery shopping, and cooking dinner, and cleaning up, and then shopping for new winter boots since mine are leaking wet into my socks every time I go out (and this is a massive problem in Northern Wisconsin, since it has yet to be above negative or single digits for 3 weeks and snow only keeps coming), *inhales deeply* I finished reading a book.

It was terrible.

It was so bad, I told my mother, "I don't think I'll ever read another book of her's again, in case she does the same thing."

This is the kiss of death for a writer. I (as a reader) did not enjoy the story. I told someone else it was terrible. She will probably tell another 3 people, so on and so forth, and then this writer will have to live out of a cardboard box behind Wendy's. Bad word of mouth travels.

Why was this story so terrible, you ask? It was terrible because the writer let me down.

Common ways to let your readers down:

  • Using 3/4 of the book to hype up a supposedly explosive meeting between protagonist and antagonist, and then when they finally meet on page 368, they have a slightly strained "talk" and work out their feelings sans shanking and bullet wounds. 
  • Building up a world with rules and boundaries, only to smash it to bits and tiny pieces in the third to last chapter.
  • Anything along the lines of, "Turns out they're government experiments".
  • Anything along the lines of, "Turns out it was just a dream".  

You get where I'm going with this. If you lead the reader to believe one thing (that your world's rules are solid and unbreakable) then feed them something else entirely (whoops, looks like she can bend time afterall thanks to a government mutated gene hidden deep in her genetic code...no, wait, that was a dream, she's really dead), they're going to feel let down and they will hate you - or at least your book. They may never read another word you write.

New ebook? Nope, not taking it if it's free. Score a nonfiction magazine article deal? Flipping past it, in case that's just a dream, too. You sent me a Christmas card? Trashing it, in case it's mutated by the government.

Letting the reader down is the number one mistake you can make. We can all see past a little diffused tension here, a little crappy writing there, and a typo or two, but none of us will ever get past being let down. It's like the time your friends said they'd pick you up from your house on the way to the airport, but then left on the plane to Vegas without you. They're not your friends anymore.

People's time is precious. Don't waste it.

Don't live behind Wendy's in a cardboard box because you could have done some more creative thinking - or better yet - trashed that one story you didn't know how to end properly.

That is all. Write better and more prosperous, my friends. (I'm going to leave myself a note and hopefully, we'll speak again on Tuesday!)

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Beginnings, The Bane of My Existence (Why, Yes, This Is Another Late Post)

Late Post Tally #2. Sorry, guys, the holidays have me whirling and I completely forgot about blogging yesterday while waiting for my inner zen to kick in.

Anyway, back to writing.

For me, the hardest part about writing a story (short, novella, or full novel length) is the beginning. Where can you possibly start when all these characters have so much going on, and have had so much going on in their past? Thankfully, we have an answer.

The inciting incident. The inciting incident is the moment that "kicks" your story into motion. It's the place where your character's world is changed forever.

In ye olden times, the narrator of the story would often start with a long history of the protagonist's past (and possibly the antagonist, too). From birth, through childhood, and even an explanation of how the protagonist is now king before all the characters in Act 1 filed onto stage.

In modern times, ain't nobody got time for that. All we need to know is the protagonist is now king, which can be detailed through the first scene, not the first sentence.

We live in an age of thirty second meals delivered through our microwaves or car windows, instant internet shopping (perhaps more instant with the Amazon Drones? We'll see), and laundry that takes a mere half an hour to go from wet to dry and wearable. However, it's important not to get too hasty in the opening of your story. This is the tricky part. If you move too quickly without enough explanation, the reader will get lost and confused.

That's why all those writing teachers always told you not to start off with dialogue as your opening line. The reader is introduced to the story and its problems by a character they don't know anything about, in a setting they have never seen. It'd be like leading you into a dark room, blindfolded and wearing nose plugs, to have someone whose voice you can't recognize, read you a monologue. Kind of jarring.

The key to a great beginning, one that works for publishing and for your story, is to start us off at the inciting incident - the moment your character encounters a problem. Of course this problem will grow and manipulate through the story, but it gives the protagonist something to fight for, something to change their way of thinking and their actions immediately. Start there with enough exposition sprinkled throughout so readers understand the stakes and the world, and you've got a mighty fine beginning.

It's a lot easier said than done, as I'm sure most of you know. That's why beginnings are the hardest part for me. How much is too much? How much is too little? It varies for every single story.

Happy writing!

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Hold Your Morals

I'm a very firm believer in writing a story for the plot and characters, and not to portray a particular moral standpoint. Unless you're writing inspirational literature or something nonfiction, don't begin your novel with a moral theme in mind. At least, not if you want it to be a success.

Are you staring at the virtual me asking, "What, Alyssa, are you against morality?"

No, of course not. I have morals and I appreciate others who hold strongly to their morals.

Literature is a whole 'nother ball game. Before you get anywhere near the moral theme, you need to nail out plot, setting, character development, grammar, punctuation, and plain great writing.

Here's the problem if you bypass those and instead write only what suits your moral standpoint: Your story will not flow organically.

And what happens when your story is forced and inorganic? That's right, kiss those publication dreams goodbye.

First worry about all the story characteristics we've discussed thus far or you've read in magazine articles. These are the important aspects of story. Once you've written the entire draft (and perhaps revised it two or three times) feel free to look within the story and see a moral standpoint revealing itself. There will always be one. Then you can perfect it in your scenes.

Do you disagree? Think back to your last high school or college English Lit class. How many times did you hear "exactly what is ____ author trying to portray here?" How many people decided to weigh in to the conversation of Mrs. Dalloway's stream of consciousness narrative and what that meant for Virginia Woolf? Yeah, you get where I'm going.

People will always try to interpret your work. Much like preaching to the wrong crowd, you can't force readers to accept your morals or point of view. However, your characters can help them understand it if they themselves are organically facing that moral issue in the story. Unfortunately, characters are much like the ornery people who slam the door in your face. They won't buy the morals you're selling. They have a set all their own and they will portray the message that they need to. Oftentimes, it will be the exact same moral you were trying to force them to buy. If you demand morals from your characters, they'll fight you. If you let the story and its moral evolve naturally, you might just have something publishable.

Then, maybe your book will be in the center of that English Lit class.