Grip 'em! Grip 'em Good!

I like to think of what happens to characters in good novels and stories as knots --- things keep knotting up. And by the end of the story --- readers see an unknotting of sorts. Not what they expect, not the easy answers you get on T.V., not wash and wear philosophies but a reproduction of believable emotional experiences. ~ Terry McMillan

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This week we’re learning the technique of utilizing conflict in a story. I think the above writer, Terry McMillan, has said it much better. It’s like tying your words in knots and placing the knots in the hands of your readers and letting them slowly do the unraveling of sorts until they walk away with an emotional experience for having read your words.

Conflict in a story? Sure you can call it that, but I like the knot theory much better. Conflict sounds so aggressive and can be. Do we want to write an aggressive scene or a scene that has your stomach in knots as you turn page after page? I’m leaning towards the knots, myself.

For conflict to be effectual, you need the inverted check mark is what I’ve been taught. You need to slowly build up the scene, place a few knots in the rope, or tension, as the scene grows and mounts the highest mountain.

Instead of having your character jump off the other side of the mountain, you need to bring your reader down slowly as if releasing the pressure out of a tire. It doesn’t deflate immediately; it slowly comes to a flat. But wait a second now, you don’t want your ending to be flat, you want vibrant life to be in the ending, so don’t deflate your tire completely. Give your reader an emotional release.

This is why I like the knot theory more than I appreciate the conflict. Sure you can give the reader an enormous amount of conflict but giving them knots is like handing them a fully inflated tire, and releasing the pressure slowly so that your reader is gripping their stomach in anticipation, the knot has been built and you’re slowly releasing them. By not allowing the tire to go completely flat you’re saving room for the completion of the heartache in the tale, the happily ever after, so to speak.

All in all your reader is what counts. If you can tug at THEIR heartstrings, bind them up in knots, and give them a welcomed conclusion by untying the knots, I think you’ve achieved your goal in your story.

Chapter by chapter should have elevated the heart rate so that they continue reading each and every word, dangling by a thread; they are waiting for you, the writer, to make them feel as though their visit to your world of words was worth every thread.

Giving them conflict, you might be giving them aggression. Giving them knots, you’re filling your work with the drama that carries the story. Remember that as you’re building your characters and story. Drama is GOOD; it is a writer’s best friend!

Book Bites:

Elements of Fiction Writing - Conflict and Suspense by James Scott Bell

Elements of Fiction Writing - Conflict, Action & Suspense by William Noble

Building a Novel ~ One block at a time

So you want to write a novel, eh?

I’d like to throw out some tips to you to get you started:

1)     Characters - You absolutely have to have characters planned out for your novel. Either in your head waiting to be birthed, or ones you’ve written for but never really gave them a home.

2)     Define these characters - give them hair color, skin color, clothes that suit them and facial features that define them. Give them personality and a voice that can carry a novel.

3)     Environment - Okay, so now you have characters, now you’re going to need a setting in which they’ll live or a world to wander through (You never know, you might be writing a sci-fi novel and you really need to discover the worlds in which they live)

4)     Premise - This is where you’ll define what your novel will be about. The beginning, middle and how you see it ending. You don’t have to adhere to the premise entirely but this will get you started in the direction you wish to go.

5)     Outline – You can, if you want, outline each chapter; again as you wish to see the story develops. You needn’t stick to this outline like crazy glue to your fingers, you just need a basic outline of all you see happening with each chapter.

6)     Timeline – As you work on the outline, this might be where you put forth a timeline. Have you missed years’ perhaps dates? Are they consistent/inconsistent with the rest of what you wrote?

7)     Editing – Not by paragraph, not by chapter, not even by the time you reach the middle. Save all edits for after you’ve written THE END can you go back and edit.

8)     Seek feedback – This is where a writing group comes in handy if you have one. I myself don’t have one these days, so my editing is done in my spare time. I read and fix things I think I miss, I read it out loud to myself because this is how the reader is going to hear it in their minds when they read it. Fixing things means my consistency and imagery and such.

9)     Edit some more- I go through each chapter doing the above. Making sure I have my handy dandy timeline ready for viewing, then I check for any grammar mistakes I may have made and tweak them to my liking.

10)  Edit some more - After the two edits to your liking, you’re going to want to give it another trip down the reading lane.

There you have it. Your novel should be a complete novel instead of a work in progress.  I know many writers do many more edits before being satisfied with a completed work, so be sure you’ve done enough to satisfy you. Then get searching for publishers! 

Book Bites: 

 Outlining Your Novel by K.M. Weiland

 The Essential Guide to Writing a Novel by James Thayer

Truth in Fiction?

Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't.
Mark Twain

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Have you ever heard the statement ‘life is stranger than fiction’? I found the quote by Mark Twain and it says, “Truth is stranger”. This is so true! Just take a look at the debates of our politicians as they go head to head nit-picking each other apart. I think of another statement by Rodney King many years ago, “Can’t we all just get along?”

As I write fiction, for my readers it comes across as so real, vivid, lifelike in many ways. So is my life experience leaking into my writing? Am I divulging more truth than even they realize?

I love writing non-fiction but that is for the magazines that seek true stories. But what is a true non-fiction story. Is it your truth with a little coloring of adjectives or is it ridiculously painted lies to make it look like truth. Nowadays, I just don’t know anymore.

I’ve read some harrowing stories of some of my closest writing friends and their pain and angst are clearly evident as they trudge through this so-called life. I’ve also read snippets from people who have been in the limelight (I won’t deem them movie stars or politicians) that tell a markedly different story than the one we were led to believe. They write books years after the fact, and that is when the supposed truth, comes out.

Where does the truth lie? Somewhere in between? I see over and over people slinging mud at one another, claiming it as truth, yet I see over and over the person that it is slung at lie, claiming truth. I often get confused with who to believe these days when dear, respected, trusted friends turn their back on you, when people of power turn into dictators relishing the power, and when family surrounds you…from a distance.

What is wrong with that scene? I couldn’t have paved the road and put it in a ‘supposed fictional tale’ any better. When is it okay to lie? When it furthers your agenda? When is it right to tell the truth? To me, always but not all people are like me, they’re very different. Not whom I thought they were so they become a character in life, and as I portray them in fiction.

Is there truth in fiction? You bet. Stephen King has said in his book On Writing, that he was Jack in the Shining. Over and over parts of his life are written into his fiction but he adds a splendid twist to make himself look fictional. I wonder how many other writers are really writing their fictional novel, as a way of healing a part of them that they’d never allow the world to see. Stephen King is now clean and sober and his writing has taken on much different hues, giving us the real him, hiding inside his works.

What is my point to this post? If you’re writing fiction, then you too I believe, are filtering parts of yourself into your writing.  Whether it is truth or a lie, parts of you are being seen and the world is hanging on your every word.

The truth shall set you free. That is what I practice, in writing AND in my life. THAT is how REAL character is built!

ACTION!!!

"A poem begins in delight and ends in wisdom." ~ Robert Frost
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You’ve heard those words I’m sure, LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!

Do you know why they say that, because that is the time the cameras are going to roll and everything all the producers had envisioned is going to come into play now. All their hard work, will be put into action.

Even the good Lord, in the Holy Bible tells us, faith without works is dead. Do you know why? Because even God wants you to ACT upon your vision. Say we have a talent and don’t use it, we don’t make proper use or any use of it, it has its own plan of going dormant and without action behind it, the force that once drove it, will surely die.

Action, speaks louder than words. You’ve heard that one too? Well when you’re just a word person, no one can really take you seriously because in all honesty, people have heard the gab before, and without action in your WORDS, they are no different than “faith without works”. ACTION propels. Words are just that...words.

Without action we writers are just tap dancing through life, going through the motions, but to ACT is to force you to move forward. Say you’ve written a novel. Have you done everything in your power to move it forward to the chopping block then to the submitting table for a publisher to look at?

Listen to me, I have a completed novel, a memoir in the works, hundreds of poems all just sitting there because I am not moving them forward. I don’t know why, I think I use the excuse; let me get to this first, and that first, and and and, I become a procrastinating frenzy, and get nothing but other people moving forward.

Since I’ve taken on a new mission to think of myself, and please don’t hand me ‘the selfish little wench’ bit, I NEED to take care of myself. I’ve neglected me for far too long and as my mouth is still in pain, it will have to remain that way until I get some money, to get it looked at, in the meantime, I’m searching markets and before I jump feet first into the care for others pool, I am going to take a little time to care for me.

My body is just beginning to feel normal after two weeks of feeling numb. I think I had a pinched nerve somewhere, still might, because I’m not completely healed, my mouth now feels like a train has rammed into the side of my face and has docked for permanent residency. I hope this gets taken care of soon because I have so much to do, so much in the house to do, so much to write! And no funds to do it.

Pray for me because in my mission to care for others, others have prayed for me, and healing has taken place. I have been in a writing frenzy and am acting upon the God given talent to move ME forward. I may leave a few behind, but then again, those that are left behind, really were not there wholeheartedly to begin with.

James 2:20  But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

Just words or WORDS?

Job 4:4 Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees.
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Words words words. Sure you’re building a story, you being the architect of the masterpiece, but are you building your story on just words or WORDS?

There is a difference you know. I can write a poem and by the time I’ve revised it, many of the unimportant words have bit the dust and my poem comes out stronger in my minds eye. This is what we need to do to our stories.

Sure we hate cutting out words, but we need to make sure the reader is getting every juicy morsel of our work and not just words spilled on the paper like yesterdays coffee stain. Our words are our tools in making the reader flip through paragraph after paragraph. They need to see each blooming chapter as being filled with new possibilities for your character(s).

If you’re writing a novel, those first words in a paragraph are so important to keeping your reader reading. We usually call it the hook. The first paragraph, you say, not the first page? Nope, it is that very first paragraph that has to pack so much punch that the reader will be willing to move onto the second, third and fourth paragraph.

I have read books where I’ve gotten through the entire first power-packed chapter only to find that the second chapter had less fizzle than sizzle and I wound up never reading the entire story. Is this what you want for your reader? I didn’t think so. You didn’t sit at the keyboard hours on end typing fifty thousand words only to find you’ve written nothing with substance, just a bunch of words slung onto the page, thrown together like a heap of wind driven leaves.

In revision, you need to cut out those unnecessary words, fill the sentence with flavor, scan each chapter as if you were panning for gold, and make each and every paragraph leap out at you. Make your story what you think every reader wants in their arsenal of literature.

Do you have a heap pile? That’s the pile of books that have gone un-read, sit on your shelf looking out at you like the long lost teddy-bear of years gone by, wishing you would pick it up and hold it endearingly.

I don’t have a heap pile. ha ha I only buy or read books that I know are going to get me to the end and fulfill the commitment that the writer began in the first place and that is to make my reading journey a pleasant experience.

Don’t waste you or the readers time on ‘just words’, make every one count so in the end, we the writer and reader are fulfilled in the journey!

Job 8: 10 Shall not they teach thee, and tell thee, and utter words out of their heart?

The Making of a Story

Matt: 25:15 And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.
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Here’s the Long and Short of it:

You may want an outline if this is a novel, this will be the foundation of your story, a framework on which you are going to build a solid, cohesive tale. Without it, your story could crumble down around you midway through your first draft. Outlining first may make the difference between a powerful story with depth or a mediocre tale. Which will boil down to an accepted submission or a rejection.

An outline will force us to think through our story piece by piece. It shows us quickly and precisely: (1) the depth of our principal character's problem; (2) if our story sufficiently resolves that problem; and (3) whether our plot logically takes the character from his problem to the eventual resolution.

So start by jotting down the kind of conflict that concerns your main character. With this information in front of you, you're ready to begin your outline.

Using an outline to discover the character's innermost conflict can lead you to a very rich story. A shallow story about a loser who throws away his gifted life after one mishap may leave the reader with an empty experience.

Let's look at the outline:

Plot example:
a) josie finds God (spiritual guidance)
b) josie needs attention (inner struggle)
c) josie uses drugs and alcohol (the dark force)

Theme: Man against himself (or woman) in other words, the conflict
Problem: The affects of drug use
Resolution: Leaning on God to help
Conclusion: healing through diverse measures

Outlines don’t need be lengthy epistles, nor should they take long to complete. If you can't seem to finish your outline, this may be a sign that all is not well with your story idea. If you're stuck, ask yourself: does your character have a compelling enough problems around which to build a story? Does your resolution solve your character's problem? Do your plot developments logically take the character from his problem to his resolution? If not, can you come up with a series of events that do?

I hope I’m not confusing you with the term OUTLINE. The outline is like a short story (500-1500 words) basically giving us all kinds of tidbits into one crammed piece of work. This is your story in a nutshell.

You may choose to write a short story instead, using all of the elements identified here:

1. An opening conflict
2. Complication 1
3. Complication 2
4. Complication 3 (optional)
5. Complication 4 (optional)
6. Crisis
7. Falling action (optional) -this is where the crisis tries and resolves itself.
8. Resolution - this is where the crisis DOES get resolved.

Think outside the box and start being the creator of a masterpiece. Build your story like a pair of marble steps, then let the rain wash over your words and slide down and conclude your completed story!

Most of all, Write Right!

Rom. 1:10 Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you.