You're Reading WHAT?!?

Here's what's in my reading stack this week:

-Void Moon, City of Bones, A Darkness More than Night, The Poet, and Trunk Music by Michael Connelly books (the Harry Bosch series)
-The Bourne Sanctum by Eric Van Lustbader
-Night Shift, Tommyknockers, Dreamcatcher, and Danse Macabre by Stephen King
-Fantasy in Death by JD Robb

Normally, I don't read Stephen King. I LOVE his writing, but he scares me out of my daylights (words of wisdom from a four year old). However, I need to add an element of fear/mystery to my latest WIP, so I'm studying the master. How does King make something scary? How does he get my heart racing? What words does he use to make me turn on all the lights, lock the doors, and huddle under a comforter while I turn pages? I need to know, so I'm being brave--just this week--to study how it's done.

-Sonja

Flawed Heroes

I've been studying Donald Maass' book The Fire in Fiction and came across an exercise that I thought I'd share regarding the protagonist.

My protagonist should be someone strong, but that can't be enough. The exercise challenges me to find in him something conflicted, fallible, humbling, or human. (I like that last category!). It can't be fatal or overwhelming, but should be a personal problem, a bad habit, a hot button, or a blind spot.

Once I've discovered this flaw, I need to demonstrate that flaw within the first five pages of my story. The last comment on the exercise is the key: Be sure to soften the flaw with self-awareness or self-deprecating humor. This helps the protagonist from being overwhelmed by the flaw.

I found this helpful. Hope you do, too.

-Sonja

Don't Play with Toothy Cows

In my last post, I said I'd discovered two fabulous books. The first was The Fire in Fiction by Donald Maass. The second is On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness by Andrew Peterson. I really can't sing enough praises for this delightful young adult fantasy. Peterson spins a wonderful tale of the Igiby children, Janner, Tink, and Leeli (and their trusty dog, Nugget), in their many harrowing escapes from the Fangs of Dang. The Fangs seek the lost jewels of Anniera and believe the children have them.

The humor is fantastic. It's set in the world of Aerwiar (sounds like "here we are") and contains toothy cows (which are quite vicious), cheesy chowder, Thwaps (think of the little critters that infest Ron's garden in the Harry Potter series), Anklejelly manor, and the ghost of Brimney Stupe. And, of course, the Dark Sea of Darkness, which is really quite dark, for a sea.

There are quirky characters. Peet the Sock Man has a penchant for picking--and losing--fights with street signs. The unseen antagonist is an evil wizard named Gnag the Nameless. The more visible antagonist is the head honcho in charge of making people's lives miserable, the fattest and meanest Fang in Glipwood Forest, Commander Gnorm (say it out loud, it's funnier that way). The proprietor of Books and Crannies is Oskar Reteep, who has a penchant for quoting bad literature every time he opens his mouth. I found his bookstore's organization especially amusing--who wouldn't like to browse in the "Blacksmithing and/or Pie" section, or the "Pointless Poems" area?

The book has beautiful maps in the front, silly footnotes scattered throughout that explain history or other tidbits not really necessary for the story, lyrics to sad, sad songs, a copy of the "Permission to Hoe Garden" form, a recipe for maggotloaf, and a realistic diagram of a toothy cow. What more could a reader want?

The only down-side to the book is the slow beginning. It's a cute and clever beginning, but the plot really doesn't get going for awhile, so you've got to be patient. Still, it's hard not to fall in love with the main characters, especially little Leeli with her crippled leg, fiery spirit, and disdain for pity.

Bottom line: Buy this book! The sequel just came out, so pick it up, too. It's called North! Or Be Eaten.

For what it's worth,

Sonja

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