Writerly Ways
Jan. 10th, 2010 12:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cornerofmadnessThe good part of being snowed in was i had time to read the 90th anniversary issue of Writer's Digest and it was one of the most helpful issues I've seen in a long while. It's probably still out on the newstand (being the jan 2010 issue). It's got a LOT of good stuff on synopsis and query letter writing (something that's hard to find).
They had '90 secrets of bestselling authors'. Secrets is an ambitious term for these quotables but i did like some a lot.
The writer must always leave room for the characters to grow and change. If you move your characters from plot point to plot point like painting by the numbers, they often remain stick figures. They will never take on a life of their own. The most exciting thing is when you find a character doing something surprising or unplanned. Like a character saying to me, 'Hey Richard, you may think I work for you, but I don't. I'm my own person.' - Richard North Patterson.
I know this feeling well. It's one of the exciting things about writing.
Another article went on about HCM's, Heart-clucthing-moments. I loved that term. It had a huge list of what could be an HCM but I think we can all thing up of some on our own and that's the excerise for the week.
1. list the HCM's you've already thought of for your story
2. think of more
3. construct your story around them. Well, that's a bit ambitious for an exercise. Take ONE and write a scene. Share it if you'd like. Here's mine.
“Placid, I found something in your mail today. We already spoken to Miss Elliot about it while you were with Mrs. Kensington,” Reanna said. “This unpostmarked letter was mixed in with your mail but Miss Elliot isn’t sure how it got there.” She held up an envelope that was smudged with fingerprint dust.
“I don’t understand.”
“Read it,” Winter said. “It’s been printed but it would be best to observe protocol.”
He nodded, pulling on the white gloves that always rode in his pocket and using only the edges to lift it out. Placid leaned in and began to read. Each word dropped his internal temperature until winter raged inside him.
Dear Placid,
I am most confused by your actions. I know how much you loathed your father for all the terrible things he had done to you but ever since I did you the favor of making sure he could never hurt you again, you’ve done nothing but chase after hints of him.
He came here looking for you. I couldn’t allow him to find you and hurt you all over again. However, you haven’t seemed very happy for my gift of peace. You’re safe now but I haven’t heard a word of thanks.
Maybe that is because you are hindered by those around you. They might not understand. Still, I shall wait for the moment you find me alone and can express your gratitude in person.
Placid gripped the desk, needing it to anchor himself. He felt hands on his back and realized Wakefield was helping to keep Placid in his seat. His stomach rebelled and only a massive effort prevented him from emptying it into the trash bin next to the captain’s desk.
“Placid, do you need some air?” Reanna asked.
He shuddered, curling up on the chair. “Oh, god. Me and my big mouth got my father killed,” he moaned, feeling tears he could not stop leaking down his face.
I've identified in the past description as being a problem for me. Another problem I need to work on are these HCM's. I whined during nano about the lack of a hook at the end of the chapters. I have this OCD thing about getting a scene finished but the more I read mysteries the more I see many of them break the scene into two. Sometimes too much so making it feel contrived.
But looking at this snippet from chapter ten, I think i should break it. What do you think? Either just before he reads the note or boom, right after the note and put his reaction as the opening of ch 11 to make you want to read on. By completing the scene in ch 10 I think it probably drags some of the energy out of the story and you have less reason to flip to ch 11. THoughts? how do you guys handle the end of the chapters to make someone want to not put your story down?
4800 / 175000 words. 3% done!
They had '90 secrets of bestselling authors'. Secrets is an ambitious term for these quotables but i did like some a lot.
The writer must always leave room for the characters to grow and change. If you move your characters from plot point to plot point like painting by the numbers, they often remain stick figures. They will never take on a life of their own. The most exciting thing is when you find a character doing something surprising or unplanned. Like a character saying to me, 'Hey Richard, you may think I work for you, but I don't. I'm my own person.' - Richard North Patterson.
I know this feeling well. It's one of the exciting things about writing.
Another article went on about HCM's, Heart-clucthing-moments. I loved that term. It had a huge list of what could be an HCM but I think we can all thing up of some on our own and that's the excerise for the week.
1. list the HCM's you've already thought of for your story
2. think of more
3. construct your story around them. Well, that's a bit ambitious for an exercise. Take ONE and write a scene. Share it if you'd like. Here's mine.
“Placid, I found something in your mail today. We already spoken to Miss Elliot about it while you were with Mrs. Kensington,” Reanna said. “This unpostmarked letter was mixed in with your mail but Miss Elliot isn’t sure how it got there.” She held up an envelope that was smudged with fingerprint dust.
“I don’t understand.”
“Read it,” Winter said. “It’s been printed but it would be best to observe protocol.”
He nodded, pulling on the white gloves that always rode in his pocket and using only the edges to lift it out. Placid leaned in and began to read. Each word dropped his internal temperature until winter raged inside him.
Dear Placid,
I am most confused by your actions. I know how much you loathed your father for all the terrible things he had done to you but ever since I did you the favor of making sure he could never hurt you again, you’ve done nothing but chase after hints of him.
He came here looking for you. I couldn’t allow him to find you and hurt you all over again. However, you haven’t seemed very happy for my gift of peace. You’re safe now but I haven’t heard a word of thanks.
Maybe that is because you are hindered by those around you. They might not understand. Still, I shall wait for the moment you find me alone and can express your gratitude in person.
Placid gripped the desk, needing it to anchor himself. He felt hands on his back and realized Wakefield was helping to keep Placid in his seat. His stomach rebelled and only a massive effort prevented him from emptying it into the trash bin next to the captain’s desk.
“Placid, do you need some air?” Reanna asked.
He shuddered, curling up on the chair. “Oh, god. Me and my big mouth got my father killed,” he moaned, feeling tears he could not stop leaking down his face.
I've identified in the past description as being a problem for me. Another problem I need to work on are these HCM's. I whined during nano about the lack of a hook at the end of the chapters. I have this OCD thing about getting a scene finished but the more I read mysteries the more I see many of them break the scene into two. Sometimes too much so making it feel contrived.
But looking at this snippet from chapter ten, I think i should break it. What do you think? Either just before he reads the note or boom, right after the note and put his reaction as the opening of ch 11 to make you want to read on. By completing the scene in ch 10 I think it probably drags some of the energy out of the story and you have less reason to flip to ch 11. THoughts? how do you guys handle the end of the chapters to make someone want to not put your story down?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-01-10 09:07 pm (UTC)Ouch at the Richard North Patterson quote, it's totally something I've wrestled with in NSI. I've tried to adjust the plot for the characters rather than the other way around, but my phonebooth!fail with Riza (which I apparently can't shut up about) happened exactly like that - I needed to get her not to call Roy to advance the plot, but really I knew that she absolutely would call, so if I needed to stop her there'd have to be an external obstacle.
Anyway! It is exciting, yes. Looking back at my earliest notes for NSI I didn't see Havoc and Rebecca as loved-up or even particularly serious about each other, but as soon as I sat down and wrote them as a couple they just clicked and it was all very exciting to see how into each other they were (and how much they annoyed everyone else). Although of course Arakawa may very well have designed them to be a super-good match for each other, in which case I've just discovered an obscure plot point of the epilogue ... which I wouldn't be sad about.
Re. Big Bang, I have a loose plot, but since I'm short on time anyway, I wondered if it might be time to experiment with just letting the characters talk to me, as you always say, instead of strangling them with a big plot chart? Do you often know where a story is headed in advance, or do you just go where the story takes you? What about if it's a prequel (to an original fic or fanfic taking place before canon) so you kinda know where it ends up?
Chapter endings: well in NSI I decided to go all out for cliffies, some of them better than others. The last couple of chapters I fiddled with the structure after they ran long, and decided to end the chapter with the start of a revelation/explanation and reconvene in the next chapter. Ch 4 ended with Havoc identifying Katzenklavier to Roy and Roy revealing that he knows him and being wigged, and then I started Ch 5 with that flashback that shows how they know each other and what a total dickwad Dr K is. I was quite pleased with how that turned out. And then at the end of Ch. 5 I believe I did something similar (Christmas phoning to say something's gone wrong with Vanessa's mission). So, er, a bit samey on my part? And possibly a bit contrived, but when it's done well I do like splits of scenes between chapters. Raymond Chandler does it brilliantly with the letter scene at the end of Ch 11/start of Ch 12 of The Long Goodbye (just looked it up in case the memory cheated, but it didn't). You get one line teasing that he got a "letter with a portrait of Madison in it" at the chapter end, then the next chapter explains that and you're all set up for it. It's my favourite chapter in the whole book, so lovely and it makes me all weepy.
So! You could end with "“Placid, I found something in your mail today", supplemented with a nice punchy line telling us why this is interesting (no postmark, grim expression on her face?). Then start the chapter with him reading the letter. I do think you're right that breaking it there gives it more forward momentum.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-10 10:09 pm (UTC)oh that patterson quote is so true to my own experience i had to include it.
as for big bang...honestly i start when i have at least a few scenes in my head usually (or someone gives me a prompt) I often know how it begins and ends but have a blank where the middle should be. I'm learning, especially as I get older, that i need to jot down scene notes or I will forget them (especially if I know there will be other things happeneing in mylife that will delay writing)
I usually end up writing sequels more than prequels. At least with a prequel you'll know how it ends.
I think you did well with your scene enders in NSI so far. Right now I KNOW I haven't in Torn Sky. A few are good. Others really need to be handle differenly like your suggestion for Placid and the letter.
my complaint with breaking scenes is sometimes it's done too gratitiously. One mystery I just finished did it when there wasn't a HCM. It was like mid conversation we stop and pick it up agian and it wasn't anything earth shattering. that's what felt like a cheat
no subject
Date: 2010-01-10 11:13 pm (UTC)That's kind of where I am with the plot (a beginning, an end and a few vague ideas of scenes in the middle). I think I should just do a bit more historical research (and by that I mean 'watch a bunch of Mae West and gangster films') and then just write and see where it takes me.
Glad you liked the chapter endings in NSI. Like I say, I'm a pretty inexperienced writer so it's been a big learning experience so far, and when I head to the sequel I'll probably change the way I work a bit and try and learn some lessons.
Yes, the pointless chapter break in the mystery you just finished does sound pretty annoying. I thought you might mean contrived as in 'contrived like an old school Doctor Who cliffhanger'. I grew up with those and almost every week the resolution was a total cheat. Bah.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-11 02:03 am (UTC)watching mae West could be fun (I see Chris Mustang a lot in her mold)
I figure we never stop learning as long as we're writing.
well those old Dr. Who's were contrived which is probably why i never liked him until recently. BUt yes it's one thing to end a chapter on the duh duh duuuuuuhn moment and another to break it mid conversation for no apparent reason
right now I'd settle for that. I'd settle for anything in this YA werewolf thing. It's lying there like a limp rag.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-11 06:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-11 06:24 pm (UTC)I'm not a fan of the chop-and-drop school of chapter ending. Almost every chunk of writing has a natural break point, and you can usually see it when you read it back. Sometimes it comes earlier or later than you expected, though, so you can't be married to a particular chapter length. Just go with your instincts on that point.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-11 06:32 pm (UTC)Like the one i just posted. You're right that would be a good place to break it (that's not where i DID break it)
no subject
Date: 2010-01-11 06:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-15 02:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-15 04:47 pm (UTC)