The Writing Process - Apparently mine changes based on ....

Graphic courtesy of Warwick University

The Writing Process - it's as individual as the writer. Are you an outliner? Are you a pantster? How do you handle revisions? How many times do peers review? So many different ways to approach the process of telling a story - is there one right way?

Obviously, the answer is no. The creative process is different for each of us and what I've found is that my own is ever-evolving.  I've written a couple of fantasy stories and  in each of those cases I wrote in a linear fashion - from beginning to end. I didn't write any scenes out of order - I just wrote in a straight line.   I also wrote in silence - no music playing, (and I always have music on!) no TV and preferably no talking! (I get locked in my room a lot at home...)

Well, what prompted this post is that recently I've been writing a realistic contemporary story and guess what? My process is totally different! I have a playlist that I listen to whenever I write, I wrote the last chapter when I only had about a fourth of the book written, I'm writing scenes out of order and I'm pretty sure when I get my first draft done that I will go back in and add a few chapters in the middle.

WEIRD, huh?

I feel like the difference is totally related to the genre. When I'm writing fantasy - I'm in that fantasy world and my stories tend to be set in the past. When I'm writing contemporary it's today, it's now, it has a different sort of relevance. However, this is the first contemporary story I've written, so it's a limited comparison.

Or maybe, it's just this particular story and these characters. They're talking to me all the time (that sounds a bit cracked, doesn't it? :-) so I'm just trying to keep up.

Anyway, what about you? Do you find your writing process changes from book to book? From genre to genre? Has one story been different than another in the same genre? Please share!

~Kiki

The Writer's Corner: Developing Characters

Since I seriously began writing several years ago I am constantly working on improving my craft.  A friend of mine told me recently that to get good at anything you need 10,000 hours of practice. Of course, I had to translate that to something that had meaning to me so I figured out that if you treated the art of writing like a job and practiced 40 hours a week - it would take you 4.81 YEARS to develop any degree of proficiency. Which seems completely reasonable to me. And which also means I have a LOT of practice yet to do!!

One of the areas that I want to specifically focus my efforts on this year is the art of developing characters.  There has been many a discussion about what drives a story: Plot or characters?  Though I love a good plot full of unexpected twists and turns, my answer always falls on the side of characters. Because if I don't care about the characters, I don't care about the twists and turns.

As writers, we probably all know about creating character charts - basically a summary of character traits, both physical and emotional. But it's the next step that intrigues me - creating scenes that show how the forces of the physical and emotional backstory are reflected in the character's actions, ie. creating character motivation.

I read a great blog post recently, written by my class of 2k11 buddy, Tess Hilmo, talking about character tells vs. character traits. (You can read Tess' whole post here.)   I'd never even heard of character tells before but basically a character tell is something they do that reveals something of their character. For example, a character straightening their tie incessantly. Tess's well-made point is that the 'tell' should also be built in with a trait to create more depth. For instance,  the tie straightening could reflect the character's insecurity - if that is the intent then that 'tell' should also be reinforced with insecurity being a trait of the character and flesh that out with other examples.

I found another fascinating blog post by Livia Blackburne about building strong characters by having them act out of character. (Read her post here.) We all get an initial first impression of characters when we start reading.  Livia's suggestion is to have a character act completely opposite to the reader's initial first impression to create a powerful dramatic effect.

On that same note, my family has just started watching the TV series, LOST. (I know, I know, we're a few years behind...) Anyway, the point is, I made a comment to my husband last night that it was interesting how our loyalties to the characters shift as we grow to more about them. Our initial first impressions were not always accurate, which does make the character infinitely more interesting.

There's lots more to discuss on this topic but tell me what do you think makes characters memorable?

Who are some of your favorite literary characters?

~Kiki

The Inciting Incident: Where does it belong?

I attended a webinar recently by a literary agent who talked about creating first pages that sizzle.  I always enjoy these conversations - not only does it make me revisit information I usually already know and probably need to think about again, but it makes me look at the craft of writing in new ways.

One of the topics that came up during the webinar was the inciting incident. The hook, if you will.  As chance would have it, my teenage daughter and I had been talking the night before about 'the hook' in a book. She was reading a bestselling YA novel that she termed 'boring'. (We all can't love everything.) So, we were chatting about why that was and she said 'I need to be hooked in the first 20 pages.' Which I agreed with.  As memory served me, I'd been taught that the inciting incident, or the hook, should occur in the first 10 to 30 pages.

Well, when I was attending the webinar the next day, the agent insisted that the inciting incident needed to occur in the first THREE pages to hook her. Huh?  Did I hear her right? A writer friend of mine attended the webinar also and we talked about setting the hook in the first 3 pages versus the first 30 pages.  But what about the characters? we said.  Don't we need to care about them before something happens?  

At the time, I was working on a YA contemporary novel where the hook occurred about page 8. I thought, what the heck, I'll try to tighten that up and see if I can get to it by page 3. And I did. And guess what?  It was better. I didn't miss any of the writing that I had cut. It forced me to make every word count.

Today I was reading STEIN ON WRITING, intending to read up on characterization and came across this:

"Some years ago I was involved in an informal study of the behavior of lunch-hour browsers in mid-Manhattan bookstores. In the fiction section, the most common pattern was for the browser to read the front flap of the book's jacket and then go to page one.  No browser went beyond page three before either taking the book to the cashier or putting the book down and picking up another to sample." -Sol Stein

And I thought about my behavior in a bookstore. That is *exactly* what I do. I know by the first two or three pages if I want to read that book or not. If I am so intrigued that I have to read that book.

What do you think? Does the inciting incident need to be in the first three pages? Or can it wait until page 12 or 20 or even page 30?  Let's chat!

~Kiki

Advice for Aspiring Authors

I took this picture in Bath last year. Fed by a natural hot springs in the valley of the river Avon, these baths were in use by the Romans as early as AD 65.   I love the juxtaposition of the ancient buildings matched with the timelessness of the rainbow arching overhead.

Hope is one of the most powerful motivators. 

When Pandora opened her infamous box, she let out the evils of the world. But do you know what the last thing was to come out of the box? Hope.  In that story, Hope was more powerful than all of the evils, including Lust and Envy.

Chasing the dream of being a published author can be a road fraught with a wide spectrum of emotions. If you're a writer, you know what I'm talking about. But in the end, there is always hope. Which is what motivates us to work at the craft of writing to constantly improve. So, how can you increase your odds of getting published?

1.  Write every day. As my guitar teacher says: "How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice."  Writing is a skill that is honed. The only way to get better is to practice. Even when your brain is blank, or you don't know what's going to happen next in your plot, continue to write. Write a new scene, have your main character write a letter to their closest confidante, work on writing prompts. It will make a difference.

2.  Read every day. Study those books that you love. What is it about them that makes you love them? For instance, I remember discovering Megan Whalen Turner's THE THIEF a few years ago when I first started writing seriously. I loved her characterization of Eugenides, the protagonist.  He was so funny and clever and REAL.  I remember wishing I could write characters like she did. It's a standard I still strive to reach.

3. Research the world of publishing.  To be successful in writing, as in any endeavor, you need to understand the parameters of the industry.  How long should your book be? Picture Books are different than Middle Grade stories which are different than Young Adult novels. Do you need an agent? How do you submit to an agent? There are many many resources for writers on the internet. Check out the message boards at Verla Kay, which is a fabulous writing community. You can learn about agents at Agent Query or Query Tracker. Dig a little - there is a wealth of information out there if you take the time to find it. There are many blogs and other sites that have a wealth of information on them that pertains to the craft and business of writing: Pubrants, Writers Digest, AAR-Online and Publishers Marketplace.

4.  Take writing classes.  Even the best writers can still benefit from a structured class that looks at the fundamentals of writing. I've taken several classes from Writers.com and there are other online writing classes available as well. Check with your local community college  - they usually offer writing classes. Try it - you might be amazed at what you learn!

5. Be part of a critique group.  Being open to critiques of your work is imperative to  making your story shine.  There are very few writers who can work in an isolated vacuum and end up with polished work.  By sharing critiques, not only do you learn to analyze other work, but you can look at your own story with fresh eyes. Check with your local bookstore - they might know of writing groups you can join.

6. Attend conferences. There are many conferences available in most regions that not only provide workshops on the different aspects of writing and the business side of being published, but that also provide wonderful networking opportunities.  If you are writing for children you should most definitely belong to the SCBWI - Society of Children's Book Writer's and Illustrators. Romance writers should belong to RWA - Romance Writers of America and science fiction and fantasy writers there's SFWA - Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.

And finally, NEVER, EVER give up Hope. Persist in the pursuit of your dreams and they will become real. I know you can do it! Here's a quote I have taped on my computer (as well as on my website):

A river cuts through rock, not because of its power, but because of its persistence.

Cut that out and tape it on your computer.  And never give up!  Good Luck!!

~Kiki

Best Beginnings - also known as Setting the Hook

How to start your story?  That's a big question and one that has a significant outcome on whether Readers will be so hooked that they can't put your book down, or perhaps so unimpressed that they don't buy your book.

The experts say to start your story in the middle of the action. Drop your reader into the scene and make them *want* to know what happens next.  Here's an article by Alan Rinzler that talks about setting the hook.

I did this same test last January and decided to do it again.  I pulled some of my favorite recent reads from the shelf to see how they started.  Here's what I found:

From COFFEEHOUSE ANGEL by Suzanne Selfors:  "The first time I saw him he was lying in the alley behind my grandmother's coffeehouse. I figured he was some sort of bum."

From PARANORMALCY by Kiersten White: "'Wait - did you - you just yawned!' The vampire's arms raised over his head in the classic Dracula pose, dropped to his sides."

From BEAUTIFUL DARKNESS by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl:  "I used to think our town, buried in the South Carolina backwoods, stuck in the muddy bottom of the Santee River valley, was the middle of nowhere."

From PLAIN KATE by Erin Bow:  "A long time ago, in a market town by a looping river, there lived an orphan girl called Plain Kate."

From FIRE by Kristin Cashore: "Larch often thought that if it had not been for his newborn son, he never would have survived his wife Mikra's death."

Here's the opening to THE FAERIE RING by Kiki Hamilton :-):  "'You wouldn't be here pickin' pockets, would you?' Tiki jumped as the dark figure loomed over the corner where she sat pretending to be half-asleep."

What do you think of these openings?  Which intrigues you the most?

Post your favorite opening!

~Kiki

Where do you find INSPIRATION?

One of the questions that writers often get asked is 'where did you come up with the idea for your book?'

I admit I always like to hear the behind-the-scenes details of how a story started.

 
But, I know from experience it's one of those questions that's difficult to answer because often the 'idea for your book' starts as just a tiny kernel of a thought. Like the idea for THE FAERIE RING really just started with a pickpocket in Victorian London. I had my character - now what? It's hours of hard work at the computer: writing, thinking and developing characters, that eventually morphs that little crumb into a full-blown story.

I guess the good news and bad news for me is that I never seem to run out of ideas for stories.  What I don't have is enough time to write all the stories I think up. Or at least, I haven't had enough time yet....

Anyway, I saw a video yesterday that was TOTAL inspiration for a story. This is EXACTLY how a story begins in my head - some intriguing little fragment that catches my fancy and off we go. The video has gone viral so you've probably seen it. If you haven't - take a look:  (This guy is quite chatty so you might want to skim forward to the black and white footage (but I do love listening to those Irish accents...)

Is that not FASCINATING?  I LOVE stuff like that.  So much possibility. I can tell you now - there will be a time-travel book in my future (and probably in the future of 5,000 other writers too - ha!)

So that's the sort of stuff that inspires me to think about a new story. What inspires you?

Showing vs. Telling - how do you know the difference?

As writers, we’ve all heard it a hundred times: Show, don’t tell. But sometimes it’s not as easy as it sounds. Show, don’t tell, can be a nebulous concept to an author just starting out and even for more experienced authors.

Here’s a simple example of the difference:

  

Tell: Katie walked toward the classroom. She was one of the smartest girls in school.

Show: Katie collected her books. Latin. Trigonometry. Physics. And those were just for her morning classes.

Can you see the difference? We *saw* the subjects that Katie was studying and that revealed much more information than to just tell us she was smart.

Here’s another one – let’s see if you can decide which shows and which tells:

Peter was so angry he broke the mug.

With a roar, Peter grabbed the mug and slammed it down on the table so hard it shattered into a million pieces.

I think it’s obvious which of those two sentences drops the reader right into the scene. And that’s the key to showing: Drop your reader right into the scene. Let us feel the emotions, the cry of rage, hear and feel the mug not only breaking, but shattering into razor sharp splinters under our fingers. 

A scene shows us action in real time. The events unfold as we read. 

What makes a scene real is to include all of our senses: 

 

Do we smell the scent of fresh baked bread?

Do we feel the softness of the bunny’s fur?

Can we taste the bite of the jalapeno pepper?

Can we hear the whistle of the train as it approaches the station?

Can you see the sad eyes of the elephant in the zoo?

Scenes also include settings that the reader can picture, as well as dialogue. Sometimes a writer will “tell” the story by narrative summary, which can cause a reader to disengage and lose interest. Instead, “show” your story by pulling your readers into the scene. Make them use their senses and emotions to experience what’s happening. You won’t lose their interest that way.

However – there are places where narrative summary is appropriate – to vary they rhythm and texture of your writing. But small doses can go a long way.

Little Clues - often times, the words ‘had’ and ‘was’ are indicative of telling. Take a look at your manuscript and see how often those words appear. And when you find them, try and say the same thing in a different way using words that show the setting or the character. 

What techniques do you use to make sure you’re showing rather than telling?

Revision - It's Like Making a Cake

Revision – at times, the word is enough to strike fear in the heart of most any writer.  You’ve slaved, toiled, labored over your novel. You’ve worked for months infusing the pages with brilliance, developing your characters, actually figuring out a plot and *finally* you’ve finished your book.  Now what?

Start over from the beginning and revise to make the story better.

Say what?

Revision is hard work. There’s no two ways about it. But it is necessary to improve the story – sometimes it’s the way the writer finds the real story. Though there can be times when it feels like the process of revision never ends – it doesn’t have to be overwhelming.

I like to think of it as making a cake. You have to work in layers.

The first layer is the plot structure.  There are lots of different ways to draw out the plot or story arc of your novel.  I use a color-coded Excel spreadsheet, others use sticky notes – either way is fine – as long as you have some way to see the overall scope of the story.

Divide your story into acts: 

Act 1 is the set-up:  identify your characters and the conflict.

Act 2 begins with a Turning Point which results in rising action.

Act 3 the conflict increases until it reaches a Point of No Return.  This is where we know what the character wants.

Act 4 begins from the Point of No Return and we rise to the Crisis, which is where we learn what the character needs. From there we move to the Resolution and The End.

So, in the beginning of your revision – make sure that the story arc has the structure that you want and one that makes sense.

The second layer includes: characters, theme, emotions, plot.  Once you’ve got your structure in place, take a look at the elements that create your story: Characters, Theme, Emotions, Plot.

Are your characters three dimensional? Is your protagonist well-developed? Do we care about them? Do we want to know what happens next?  Is there a theme present in the story? Here’s a big one for me – is the plot believable? Even in fantasy, there needs to be rules of the world that are adhered to which makes the story real for the reader.  Do the protagonist’s choices make sense?

The third layer contains the supporting elements.  This is the time to look at side characters, dialogue, scene transitions, and pacing.  Are the side characters necessary? Do they get enough time on stage?  Some people use the rule of three: if a character doesn’t show up in three different scenes then they are not named. 

Dialogue is a biggie.  Do your characters speak in a believable way? Do they say the things real people in their situation would say?  This can make or break a book, so pay attention to this one.

Scene transitions are also important. Cliffhangers are great but make sure that when you move from one scene to the next, or one chapter ending to a new chapter, that you do it in a way that your reader can follow the timeline and sequence of events.

Pacing is an important device in making the readers keep turning the pages. It’s hard to look at your own work objectively, but try to see where the story drags and where it might move too quickly.  

The final layer is the details. This is my favorite part of the revision process.  I like to think of it as putting on the beautiful sparkly frosting.

Make sure you’re showing and not telling.  Show us what the main character is thinking and feeling through description and actions. Provide fresh, original details. Use vivid verbs and phrasing so that when the character’s heart races, ours does too. And finally, drop in those last little details that will set your work apart from others.

Revision is hard work but it is this part of crafting a story that will make the reader remember your characters long after they read ‘The End’. 

What tricks do you use to make the process of revision easier?

cake photo courtesy of cake.com

Writing on Wednesday: Let's talk about World-Building

There's an on-going discussion in the world of writing about whether the most poignant and memorable stories are character driven or plot driven.  In either case, setting, or the world in which the story is set, is always a very important supporting actor.  When well done, we are so immersed in the story that our move from this world to the fictional world - whether it be past, present, future or wholly fictional -  is seamless. We are there.

As in the case of Harry Potter (shown above as the First Years approach Hogwarts for the first time) - so brilliantly written by JK Rowling - the intermingled world of London and Hogwarts are created with so much rich detail that we can easily imagine ourselves in the place of our characters.

So, the question is - how, as writers, do we create the same three dimensional tapestry to pull our characters into our world?  I'm as curious as you are about this topic.  My novel, THE FAERIE RING, is set in London 1871 (map drawn by Virginia Allyn) so while research was required to adequately represent that time frame in history - information did exist from which I could pull inspiration.

In my novel, THE GETHEAS STONE, the world is wholly made up so I had to take a different approach to creating this world. (Map drawn by Virginia Allyn.)  Some of the things I thought about were:

~The physical world - the flora and fauna, the terrain, oceans vs. land, cities vs. forests

~ The language -I find language fascinating and in both of my books more than one language is spoken - so how do you intersperse that in a way that is understandable yet adds another dimension?

~ The clothing - can really help place the timeframe or manner in which your characters live

~mode of transportation - cars, planes, spaceships, carriages, horses, by foot, other?
 
~food - The Enchanted Inkpot just had an intriguing post on Food in Fantasy

~The history of your world - this is an important element because so much can be drawn from or inferred by what has already occurred.

~Magical systems - this is a big one.  If your world includes magic the rules must be well-defined to make the premise believable.

~Other areas to consider: religion, technology, education

Those are a few of the elements that I consider when I'm writing. Of course this is a HUGE topic. I find that I continually refine my world through draft after draft of the story, learning new things the more I write.

Out of curiosity I googled World Building and landed at the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America site. They had a great post by Patricia C. Wrede with a list she uses when creating fictional worlds that I would recommend you also check out.

So tell me - how do you go about creating the worlds in your books?  What tips would you suggest?

Also, I'd love to hear about books where you've been so completely immersed in the world that every bit of it seemed real.  Share!



 -

Inspiration, Advances and How to Write the Breakout Novel

Happy Saturday!  This is going to be a sort of a rambling post about a variety of topics but since it's the weekend I didn't think anyone would mind. 

First off - people always want to know - where do you find your inspiration for your stories? That, of course, is an almost impossible question to answer because who the heck knows where some of this stuff comes from?  What if's and why not's and chocolate-induced daydreams can produce all sorts of wild ideas.

However, I do love the notion of the fantastical being tied to what we know as the real world.  Myths and stories that have a finger in our reality.  An example that comes to mind is a holey stone.  For those of you not up on your faerie lore, a holey stone is a stone that has had a hole carved through the rock by water or the power of nature. You can see my niece, Emily, holding a holey stone above.

It is said that if you peer through a holey stone you can see into the realm of Faerie.  Many cultures believe holey stones have healing and magical properties. They are also said to carry the wisdom of the ages and offer protection if worn or carried.  Below is a picture of my daughter, Carly, holding a rare white holey stone.

Whenever we go to the beach we look for holey stones.  I have quite a collection of them in my office, some with two and three perfect holes carved in them.  I'm not going to tell you what I see when I look through them.  You'll have to find one and discover their magic yourself!

Other means of inspiration, when all else fails - the Candy Drawer!

(Yes, this is an actual drawer in my house. It's enough to give you googly-eyes, isn't it?  I can't believe it took me this long to think up this brilliant idea!!! Inspiration in a drawer. :D )

On to Advances - one my favorite writing-related blogs to read is Kristin Nelson's Pub Rants.  Kristin is an agent and extremely knowledgeable about the publishing industry.  She is very gracious and matter-of-fact about sharing her knowledge and often has helpful and interesting posts.  Yesterday she wrote about advances for debut authors.  I don't know why, but it seems like these sorts of statistics are difficult to find so I was pleased to read what Kristin had to say.  As we all know, it varies wildly but she at least provided a benchmark to begin with.  Thanks Kristin!

And finally, on to How to Write the Breakout Novel.  (Don't we wish we all knew how to do that one!!)  Another favorite blog of mine is that of Sarah Davies from Greenhouse Literary.  Delightfully English, (I can always hear her accent when I read her posts) and incredibly knowledgeable (she was an editor in London for 20+ years) Sarah is running a series of posts on How to Write the Breakout Novel. So far she has posted five parts to the series, each brilliantly written in a way that shows us what she means and makes you really think about the story you're writing.  The topics, thus far have been: An Inspired Concept, Larger Than Life Characters, A High Stakes Plot, A Deeply Felt Theme, and A Vivid Setting.  If you are a writer, definitely worth your time to check it out!

So, lots of good information to share.  I'm always on the lookout for writing related blogs that make me think about the craft of writing as well as providing insight into the industry. What favorite blogs do you recommend?