Just What I've Always Wanted

I found TWO fabulous books this week that I have to share with anyone who'll listen. The first is The Fire in Fiction: Passion, Purpose, and Techniques to Make Your Novel Great by Donald Maass. I picked up up on a whim at the bookstore, figuring it had to be good (because, let's face it, everything Mr. Maass writes is good). Big pat on the back for me; I was right.

Mr. Maass runs a literary agency. Not only does he serve as an agent, but he's written boatloads of novels and non-fiction books on the writing craft. He's undeniably an expert in his field, which is identifying fantastic works of fiction. In this new book, he says that writing a great novel involves a passion for storytelling, and he shares some practical methods to master the craft.

The lessons in the book aren't difficult to understand. He gives plenty of examples from other published works and his explanations are concise. By far the best part, for me, are the exercises at the end of each chapter. I usually groan when I see a list of exercises, because they have nothing to do with my work in progress. All of the exercises in this book, however, applied to my current project and opened my eyes to all the wonderful ways to make my story better. Now I'm anxious to quit blogging so I can open the manuscript.

Next time, I'll blog on the other fabulous book I found. For what it's worth.

-Sonja

Sucking The Wisdom Out Of James Scott Bell

For Christmas, I bought myself James Scott Bell's book The Art of War for Writers, and I keep going back to it. I thought I'd share tip #30, which has stuck in my brain for a day or two, mostly because I wonder if I did it correctly in my newest novel.

Tip #30 says: "The key to reader bonding is falling in love with the lead." It's pretty basic. If my reader doesn't love the protagonist, why would he/she/it want to know what happens next? What's the motivation for turning the page? After all, there's bound to be something decent on tv...

Bell offers four tips that should lead to readers loving the Lead. Get ready to take notes:

1. "Great Leads have grit, wit, and it."  He either has guts, courage, and inner strength from the beginning of the story, or he develops them as the story progresses. He's humorous. And he's got sex appeal, an inner something that makes him attractive. 

Side note from me: sex appeal doesn't have to mean he's bedding every woman in sight. I hate it when I find a powerful character I love, then in chapter 3 he's hooked woman #1, and in chapter 5 he's with woman #2, then woman #3 steps in a bit later...  Men (and women) can be attractive, sexy, AND morally pure. I know lots of people would disagree with me on that one, but I admire a sexy protagonist who's also faithful to his spouse.  Now I'll hop off my soap box and get back to Bell's stuff:

2. "Character is revealed in crisis." The tests and trials of the story build up the protagonist and show the reader what he's made of. 

Side note from me: it should be good stuff! No one likes a whiner.

3. "You should know your Lead's deepest thoughts, yearnings, secrets, and fears."  The author MUST know their character inside and out; know what said character will do in a crisis situation; know what he fears, what he loves, what he longs for, what he eats for lunch on Thursdays. If the author doesn't know, how can she pass it on to the reader?

4. "Emotionally bond the reader to the Lead character." Bell offers three tips for this one: 

A. "Make the Lead care about someone other than himself."
B. "Have the Lead do things to help those weaker than he is."
C. "Put the Lead in a situation of jeopardy, hardship, or vulnerability."

I found this last tip to be the most helpful. If I do this early in the book (first five to ten pages), then I'm bound to have a character readers will love. (I wonder if I could do all three at once...)

Bell concludes Tip #30 by saying that, if you do these things, you'll be "at least 75 percent of the way toward a novel readers won't want to put down." That's where I want to be! 

For what it's worth.

-Sonja

Upcoming Writers Renewal

The Northwest Christian Writers Renewal Conference is coming up May 7 and 8, and I'm looking forward to attending. Brandilyn Collins, a "leading force in Christian mystery fiction" is the keynote speaker. I met her at another conference a few years back, and she's a great teacher. She'll be talking about creating dynamic suspense through character desire, emotion, conflict, and twists, among other things. I'm hoping to learn new ways of creating suspense for my own mysteries.

I'm also looking forward to meeting Sandra Bishop from the MacGregor Literary Agency and Nick Harrison from Harvest House, who's teaching a course on Selling Your Fiction in Tough Economic Times. I imagine he'll say something about how writing a spectacular novel is the best way to do this, but we'll see.

When it's over, I'll blog all the highlights, so stay tuned.

-Sonja

What I Learned from Sun Tzu

I bought myself a Christmas present last week. "The Art of War for Writers" by James Scott Bell. I read about it on Steve Laube's blog and just had to have it. Now I'm glad I splurged.

Sun Tzu presented orderly principles to his generals for battle planning. Bell ran with the idea and offers a collection of principles for writing that will help authors "write stronger books and win the battle to get and stay published." The book's divided into three sections: Reconnaissance, Tactics, and Strategy.

My favorite part was Tactics, which has 33 techniques regarding the craft of writing, and contains all sorts of delicious tidbits. I can't share them all, but I'll share a favorite or two.

Tactic #45 says "Progressive Revelation Keeps Readers Turning Pages." The first couple sentences sum it up nicely: "Reveal your plot incrementally. That means leaving mystery inherent and unfolding things progressively." This isn't the first time I've heard this advice, but it bears repeating. I find myself setting up a beautiful mystery, then feeling compelled to dump an explanation immediately thereafter. Instead, I should dole out the revelations in tiny bits to keep the reader involved. After all, I don't want my precious reader stuffing in a bookmark and reaching for the tv remote!

Tactic #50 was a hard one for me. It says, "Success may be found in three great scenes, and no weak ones." Basically, my book has to have three fabulous scenes that stand out from the rest, "packed with conflict, emotion, and surprise." The hardest part, for me, was the "no weak ones" - there can't be a single weak scene in the entire book. Bell identifies a weak scene as one that feels "like fluff or filler. No one is really going after anything. There's a lot of sitting around, small talk, waiting, reacting." Identifying weak scenes in my own writing is tough, so I'll have to rely on my critique partners to point them out to me.

This book is packed with gems like these. It's definitely worth the price, and it's the right size to stuff in a stocking. Go ahead and get one for yourself!

-Sonja

Look What I Got For Christmas!

John B. Olson, a writer I admire and study, put a fun thing on sale:
an audio lecture called "Writing in the Shadows." Randy Ingermanson
praised it on his blog and e-zine and even made a special sale out of
it last week. When I purchased Olson's book, Powers, and I got the
audio lecture for free! And a comic book! And a coupon for more sales! It couldn't get any better, so I dove in.

I listened to the lecture the moment it finished downloading, all in
one shot, even chasing the kids out of the room when they complained
about wanting lunch. And it was worth it. Though compelled to share
everything I learned, I can't do that to Mr. Olson. You'll have to buy
the lecture if you want to absorb all his wisdom. But I will share the
concept I found the most helpful in my own writing.

Every scene should give the reader an emotional response. The words I chose, the mood I create, the character's emotional reactions, all
should enhance the central tension, the emotional response I want the
reader to have.

Olson used an example from his book Shade. He wanted the reader to
feel fear for the protagonist, Hailey. She believed she was being
followed, and made her away through a building to a place of safety.
Olson used phrases like "aftertaste of decay and wet rat" and
"fighting the urge to break into a run." He used verbs like "lunged"
and "escaped." He used visuals like "the door closed behind her with a
sigh" and "the floor was quiet as a tomb." These word choices all
worked along with the action of the scene to set the mood of fear for
the reader.

I chose a scene from my current WIP and identified what I wanted the
reader to feel as he read. Then I went through and re-worked the
scene, adding phrases, changing verbs, intensifying the character's
emotional responses, all with the goal of stimulating the reader's
emotions in the direction I wanted them to go. What a power rush! It
was fun, too. I can't wait to move on to the next scene and manipulate
the reader's emotional responses some more.

For what it's worth,

-Sonja

That's what he said...

Michael Hyatt blogged recently on blogging, and one of his posts
caught my eye: Do You Make These 10 Mistakes When You Blog?

Mistake number one, according to Mr. Hyatt, is: You Don't Post Enough.

I immediately noticed that I am guilty of this mistake. Not only am I
guilty, but I've been aware of this mistake for quite a while now and
have managed to NOT fix it.

Here's the deal. I like to blog. I like to post pithy comments and
pass on creative ideas and paste in remarkable quotes. So why don't I?

After pondering a good six minutes, I came to this conclusion: I don't
post often enough because I feel I don't have anything to say that's
worth reading.

Ain't that a hoot? I, who routinely overshoot my projected word count
by a good 20,000 words, can't think of anything to write in a blog. Or
I think of something, then wonder if anyone will be interested in
reading about it. The funniest part of this whole conundrum is that
when I DO finally post something, I usually get good feedback from my three loyal readers. They don't always post comments, but I hear from them in emails or in person.

The fix for this problem is pretty easy. Post More Often. I should be
able to do, for what it's worth. I shall try harder this next year.
Promise.

-Sonja

Story CPR

Janet Lee Carey teaches a class at Writer's Workshops called Story
CPR. I won't give away all her secrets, but here are some of the
highlights. The CPR stands for:

Character
Premise, Plot, Pacing
Reader Satisfaction, Renewal, Revision

If your story is sinking, delving into these concepts can help pull
the story back out.

First, take a look at your main character. He has a conflict, a
problem to solve, an obstacle to overcome. As he moves through the
story, how is he dealing with this problem? Are the obstacles too
easy? Or so hard he can't get past them? Does he make mistakes, or
simply skate through them without a backward glance? Finding a balance here could help resuscitate your story and get it moving again.

Stories lose momentum when the plot strays too far from the central
conflict, and too many subplots may confuse the reader. Focus
carefully on the main plot. Is it too predictable? Can the reader 'see
what's coming' long before you get there? Is your character intimately
involved with the conflict, or is it too far removed from him? The
closer the character is to the conflict, the more sympathy the reader
feels, and the better the story moves along. If your story isn't
moving along, maybe your plot needs to be adjusted.

Lastly, revise any weak writing in the story. Look for redundancy: is
your narrative repeating what your characters are already saying and
doing? Look for exposition overkill: do your action scenes droop with
too much description? Look for style predictability: do you have too
many long sentences? Do your dialogue tags disappear? Do you rely too heavily on adverbs? Alter your patterns and see if that helps.

For what it's worth.

-Sonja