3T Writing Tidbit - A Brief Rant

 As I was sorting through my cards (I jot down ideas on writing on index cards and have, at this point, an inch and a half pile) looking for things I haven't written a tidbit on, I came across one on scene planning.

While overall it's the usual: Goal, Conflict, Disaster, there's a difference. It suggests color-coding the scene based on twists, shifts, and repetition. It's this last that I want to address.

I'm climbing up on my soapbox here. This is a pet peeve, and if you don't want to hear a diatribe, don't go any farther.

You've been warned, lol.

Repetition can be good. It's a basic tenet of musical composition. State your theme. Repeat it, to get it in your listener's ear. Then start to repeat it - but vary it just enough to make something new. Think the start of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. Da-da-da-duhhhh. Da-da-da-duhhhh. Da-da-da-duh, da-da-da-duh, da-da-da-duh (and we're off!)

Repeating the scene's goal or the protagonist's goal can be good. If it's been 100 pages since it's been mentioned and she's about to face her deepest fear, by all means, give the reader a reminder.

But for the love of all that's holy please please please do not repeat it twice a page. Don't even repeat it more than twice a scene unless you're going to vary it enough to make it new.

Don't you trust your reader to remember it?

I have a favorite PNR author I had to stop buying because she repeats the heroine's goals and/or fears at least a dozen times per chapter. Without variation or adding anything to the plot, character, or even deepening those goals/fears.

Deep breath. Thanks, I feel better now.

So what can we do about this authorly tic? 

• Trust your reader to remember the goal (it's strong enough to remember, isn't it?). 
• If you must put in a reminder, vary it somehow from the last time you brought it up.
• Better yet, make it add to the plot, or character development, or deepen (or twist!) the goal somehow.
• Reread the whole scene. It'll take hours to days to write a scene, and we may be repeating the goal because we can't remember it from yesterday. Read it as the reader will experience it to catch that annoying tic. 
  

(See what I did there? I repeated the information in the paragraph 2 above this, but varied it to make it stand out differently.)

Published since 2009, over the years I've accumulated various items of writing wisdom. The Third Tuesday Writing Tidbit showcases these items in no particular order. Click here to see all 3T Tidbits.   

2T Repeat Performance - Small Town, Big Romance

 

I've done a number of blog tours over the years, posting on different sites. Now I'm bringing them to you!

Originally published August 27, 2013 for My Odd Little World

Thank you to Nancy and My Odd Little World for having me back!

Why a small town for the setting, instead of a major city?

 New Orleans, Chicago, and New York give an urban fantasy or paranormal romance that gritty urban flavor. My vampire romances are set in the small German-immigrant settled city (pop. 7000) of Meiers Corners, a town outside Chicago, for several reasons.

The contrast is funnier.

Come on. Opie with fangs? Instant hoot.

(Don’t worry. The heroes are all big bad alpha males. No wimpy neck-sippers in the Biting Love romances.)

The writerly answer is that setting is another character. In this case, it’s really true, because Meiers Corners has a lot of personality. It’s a self-contained community, settled in the 1800s, where everyone is still related to some degree, even the newcomers—the genes rub off. It’s like an extended family. Everyone knows the rules. Arrive twenty minutes early for everything; the instant the lawn gets longer than one-point-five inches the mowers come out. Meiers Corners makes a great contrast to characters like Nixie, a punk rocker who spells authority G-e-t-M-e-O-u-t-t-a-H-e-r-e.

The personal answer is that I was born in a big city and grew up in a bedroom community but raised my kids in a small town, and it was a new experience for me. In some ways we were like Oscar and Felix in the Odd Couple, but my little town rubbed off on me just like Meiers Corners does. I’ve moved since then and at our new place we have the best-clipped lawn in the neighborhood!

3T Writing Tidbit - Body Language

 As writers, we're told constantly "show, not tell". While I'm not behind this statement more than 70% (cuz really, how boring would be having to live through all the character's moments in a day?), I do think we need to be good at it in order for the reader to become truly immersed in the story.

So here's an easy way to show not tell, one we use in real life: body language. The proof's even in the description! It's not talking language. It's the language of movement, of showing a story through intimate personal dance.

Keep an eye out for ways people in your life (or just people-watching) signal emotions. Do they lift an eyebrow in disbelief, or do they wince? Maybe when they're puzzled, they scrunch up their face or just rub their nose.

Once you have a list of ways an emotion can be shown through body language, go back and consider them against your character. Would Superman, if he was puzzled, be a face scruncher or a nost rubber? Would Sherlock Holmes, if he was disbelieving, be a wincer or eyebrow lifter? 

Pick your body language and have fun showing!

Published since 2009, over the years I've accumulated various items of writing wisdom. The Third Tuesday Writing Tidbit showcases these items in no particular order. Click here to see all 3T Tidbits.   

2T Repeat Performance - 5 Reasons Alpha Males Are Like Chocolate

I've done a number of blog tours over the years, posting on different sites. Now I'm bringing them to you!

Originally published August 26, 2013 for Reading Between the Wines

Thank you to Crystal and Reading Between the Wines for having me here today!

 Quirky pairings are fun. Example: five-zero punk musician Nixie and six-plus lawyer Julian = Nitro? Meet glycerin.... In honor of Beauty Bites’ alpha male Ric Holiday and Dr. Synnove Byornsson’s affection for chocolate, I ask: How are alpha males like chocolate?

Five reasons alpha males are like chocolate.

5. Both give delight when enjoyed with morning coffee or evening liqueurs.

4. Some can be bitter and overpowering. But add in a touch of sweetness and you have a powerbar of energy that keeps you going and going. (And going... :).

3. They’re both awesome between thin sheets...hey, I mean graham crackers and marshmallows ;)

2. Photos of either in the unwrapped state may cause drool.

1. You can lick or nibble.

 Three reasons alpha males aren’t like chocolate.

3. Chocolate can’t make you breakfast.

2. Chocolate can’t be an ad tycoon, rock star, genius tech, or bad boy biker. It can be a bunny, though.

1. While both can comfort, chocolate can’t hug you.

Four reasons Beauty Bites’ alpha male Ric Holiday is like chocolate.

4. Like chocolate, Ric has a bite.

3. Both are soooo smooth.

2. When beauty Synnove is around, Ric can be very hard.

1. A childhood trauma sectioned his life into pieces.

Three reasons Ric Holiday isn’t like chocolate.

3. Chocolate doesn’t have blond spiky hair and a killer bod.

2. Chocolate doesn’t have fangs.

1. When Ric and Synnove turn up the heat, he doesn’t melt. (But she does.)

3T Writing Tidbit - Sharpen your first-draft lump of clay

When I first write something, it resembles a lump of clay. It's vaguely vase-shaped, but it's thick and lumpy and has no color.

One of the things I do when editing is to sharpen up the details.

Character: Lean into their quirks. Are they a snobby lawyer? Get out your thesaurus and upgrade their dialog from talky to loquacious. Pick a word of one or two syllables in each sentence and trade it in for a spiffy new word of four or five. Lean into obfuscation!

Setting: Make all descriptions specific. Don't just say there's a rank odor - is it burnt hair or bubbling sulfur or the rasp of spores from moldy bread?

Plot: Have a bang-up scene ender? Go back to the beginning of the scene and have the protagonist expect the total opposite. Have a couple twists in the book? Figure out how to add one more -- both you and the reader will be pleasantly surprised with how much that adds. Look for scenes that add nothing to character or plot development -- and cut them.

Sequels: the bits where the protagonist ruminates over what's happened and plots their next goal usually start out all in her head. Sharpen these by adding solid resonances. Is she planning violence? Have her pick up a knife or bazooka. Is she totally fed up with work? Have her throw her computer mouse across the room or glaring at a customer considering coming in her empty check-out line at one minute after closing or shutting her eyes as her manager stomps toward her or... you get the idea.

Published since 2009, over the years I've accumulated various items of writing wisdom. The Third Tuesday Writing Tidbit showcases these items in no particular order. Click here to see all 3T Tidbits.   

2T Repeat Performance - Synopsis in a Snap

 

I've done a number of blog tours over the years, posting on different sites. Now I'm bringing them to you!

Originally published August 2, 2013 for Savvy Authors

You’ve just spend weeks (or months or years) writing, honing, and polishing your story. But to sell it, you need to write a full synopsis. Imagine condensing your novel or novella down to 500 words or less. Does your heart pound in your throat? Does your whole being rebel against the thought?

Well, of course. A synopsis is like putting your story on an X-treme diet. Who likes diets—especially ones that reduce your baby to a bare 1% of the total?

But it doesn’t have to be that way. You can ease the stress of writing a synopsis by flipping your thinking around.

Build the synopsis from the ground up.

How? You simply have to know the traditional five turning points of your story: the catalyst, the big event, the pinch, the crisis, and the climax. These go by other names, so my definition of each is at the end. (Please note that this technique is for the one or two page synopsis, complete with ending, that you send an editor, publisher, or agent. The teaser synopsis, or blurb, is another animal entirely.)

Let’s build a synopsis using this technique from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. If you haven’t read the book or seen the movie, you’ll still be able to follow along.

Here are the turning points. If you don’t understand the story from the raw points, that’s okay. It’ll become clearer as we go.

Catalyst: Dorothy’s dog Toto is seized by her wicked neighbor. Dorothy retrieves Toto and the two run away from home.

Big Event: A cyclone hits, sweeping Dorothy’s house, Toto, and Dorothy away.

Pinch: Dorothy and her friends reach the Wizard, only to be told she must destroy the Wicked Witch (or bring him her broomstick in the movie).

Crisis: The Witch captures Dorothy and imprisons her.

Climax: The Wizard’s hot air balloon takes off without Dorothy. She must rely on herself to return home.

The book actually jumps right to the Big Event, but that’s a normal difference between books and movies. Authors are taught to get right into the story. Screenplays include a setup that’s usually ten percent of the finished film.

Now we write our synopsis. Take these five points and add to them like this: add a sentence or two before each point to orient the reader, remembering to include the setting; insert those specific details between the points that are necessary to transition smoothly. Bonus Tip: You can add in hints of what makes your writing special (like a touch of humor), and one or two tidbits of color. In this case, I’ll expand “Dorothy’s friends” to include their very lively names, and also add the yellow brick road to contrast with Dorothy’s old gray farm. Bonus Tip: The theme often makes a good wrap up.

The Synopsis:

Dorothy is a young girl living with her aunt and uncle on a small, gray farm; only her dog Toto brings her joy. Then Toto is seized by her wicked neighbor. Dorothy recovers Toto and runs away from home.

She meets a carnival man who convinces her to go home. But when she gets to her house, a cyclone hits. Before Dorothy can reach the storm shelter, the wind sweeps away Dorothy’s house with Toto and Dorothy in it.

The house lands in a colorful countryside—on top of a bad witch, killing her.  A good witch appears and tells Dorothy that the great wizard Oz can send her home. She gives Dorothy the dead witch’s Silver Shoes (ruby slippers in the movie). Dorothy follows a road of yellow brick to Oz’s city, and along the way rescues three friends: the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion. But when Dorothy and her friends reach the Wizard, he will only help her if she destroys another bad witch, the Wicked Witch of the West.

But the Wicked Witch sees them coming and sends winged monkeys to capture Dorothy and Toto (and the Lion in the book). The Wicked Witch incarcerates Dorothy (enslaves her in the book). Dorothy is alone and friendless.

But when the Witch tries to steal Dorothy’s silver shoes, Dorothy, in anger, throws a bucket of water on the Witch. The water melts her. Dorothy is freed. She collects her friends and returns to the Wizard to claim her reward.

The Wizard, though, tries to get out of his promise. Dorothy and her friends confront him, and the Wizard is proven to be merely a man. But he is a man with a hot air balloon and offers to use it to take Dorothy home.

Then, the day of the launch, the balloon takes off without Dorothy. She must rely on herself to get back home. She finds the good witch, who says the silver shoes will take Dorothy and Toto back. She’s had the power all along, but without her adventure, she wouldn’t have discovered that there truly is no place like home.

Easier than whittling down a hundred or so pages, right? Only items which are essential to making the plot points make sense are added, such as the silver shoes, which both trigger Dorothy’s anger (melting the witch) and get her home. Only the main characters and those who infuse extreme color are named.

If you’ve read the book or seen the movie, you’ll note I haven’t included the friends’ stories. That’s why this is such a great tool. The Scarecrow’s brain, the Tin Woodman’s heart, and the Cowardly Lion’s courage are important, but they’re not critical to understanding the plot points, so I know I can safely exclude them.

Need more? If you’re asked for a longer synopsis, you can simply list the five plot points for the secondary stories and weave them in. This also works for romance, where you have story arcs for both hero and heroine, or paranormal romance, where you have the hero, heroine and story arcs.

The five plot points defined. These definitions are my own. You can find other names for these points and fuller explanations with a simple web search. If these definitions don’t match yours, the technique will still work using your own understanding of the major story turning points.

The catalyst: The protagonist is going about her daily life when something changes.

The big event: Takes the protagonist in a new direction. The problem is worse than she first thought.

The pinch: Either the point of no return or a low point when the protagonist fails utterly. Usually starts her on the right path to the final solution.

The crisis: Locks the protagonist in and leads directly to the climax. Can be where the protagonist tries for a final solution and fails.

The climax: Final showdown. Can be where the protagonist tries for a final solution and either tragically fails completely with no more options, or succeeds.

 

3T Writing Tidbit - I hate selling, but without sales I'll starve

 The creativity to write books doesn't always exist alongside another very important talent needed by authors to be successful -- selling.

Basic fact is, if you want to be a successful author, you have to sell books.

Now, I do not like selling. Didn't like it even as a child. Frankly, most of the band candy I sold was to myself.

You may be like me and wonder how you'll be successful. Well, here's a small thought to help you.

It's not about what I need. It's about what I can contribute.

Readers are actively looking for good books. Your book is good, right? So why not just let them know about your book?

 

Published since 2009, over the years I've accumulated various items of writing wisdom. The Third Tuesday Writing Tidbit showcases these items in no particular order. Click here to see all 3T Tidbits.