Quiet Time: Handling the Non-Action Scenes

We all know we’re supposed to keep our stakes escalating and our scene moving forward, but too much too fast can wear our readers out. How do you handle the quieter, in-between scenes where the world isn’t coming to and end and things have slowed down?

Whoa, There
Structurally speaking, the scenes between the scenes are called sequels. The time for the protag to reflect, absorb, decide, and react to what has just happened in a scene. Sometimes they’re a single line, sometimes they’re pages long. They help control pacing (and more on that tomorrow), but they also give you a chance to remind the reader why everything that’s going on is important.

Trouble is long sequels usually equal a bored reader, because nothing is happening.

The End is Near: What Makes a Good Ending?

Originally posted during the Blue Fire blog tour at Abby Annis.

Some writers have troubles with beginnings, or more commonly, middles, but for me, it’s endings. I tend to rush them once I get close, summarizing instead of letting things build to the big bang. I always have to rewrite them, usually several times before I get them right. I’ve given up trying to figure out why I do this, and have just accepted it as part of my process. Maybe one day I’ll solve this riddle, but for now, I just follow the same revision plan each time. Which are really things I ought to do in the first draft, but it never seems to work out that way.

Standing in Be’tween: Writing for a Younger Market

Originally posted during the Blue Fire blog tour at YA Highway.

When I first wrote The Shifter, I wasn’t sure what market it was going to be for. My protag, Nya, was 17, so it could have been an adult or a YA novel. By chapter three I knew it was YA. The voice, the tone, the story, all pointed in that direction. It was actually the story that made me realize this was my writing niche.

When my agent was submitting it, editors kept calling it a middle grade book. This surprised me, because in my mind, I’d written YA. After I sold it, it was called an upper middle grade novel, intended for ages 10 to 14. The ’tween years.

Lunchtime Link: Don't Say it!

I clicked on a really interesting link in Twitter last week, about how story is what we don't say. I loved the conceit behind that, because in first drafts we often see characters who are too self-aware and open. But people aren't usually self-aware like that and we don't always say what we think. Being able to get those unspoken feelings across to a reader is literary gold. What are some of the ways you convey those unspoken -- or even unaware of -- feelings?

Story Is About What We Don’t Say

Pop quiz: Your best friend, who’s always on a diet that never seems to work, plaintively asks, “Does this outfit make me look fat?” It does.


Do you answer:

A. Fat as compared to what?
B. Look, out the window, it’s Halley’s comet!
C. I don’t think it’s the outfit, actually.
D. No. 

Writing for Your Reader: A Follow Up

Yesterday’s article inspired some interesting questions and discussion about writing for your reader. Trusting your reader is not the same as writing for your reader, and while they're connected and tough to talk about one without the other, they accomplish different things. Those subtleties and ideas are worth further discussion.

Trusting your reader is about not over-explaining things and conveying information in a way that your reader will understand.

Writing for your reader is about targeting your work so it appeals to a certain reader.

“Your reader” is up to you.

What a Coincidence! Creating Plots That Don’t Feel Like Accidents

Things need to work out in certain ways in a story, but there’s a fine line between events that read plausibly and ones that feel like a series of unlikely coincidences. Plots become strong when events happen for reasons rooted in character goals and motivations and not just because the author wrote it that way.

Because I Said So
You can’t always cut them out completely, and at some point in your story there’s bound to be a coincidence. Two people visit the same spot at the same time, someone walks away at the right moment, an item lost shows up at the worst possible time. Stories happen when people and events converge, so naturally the book will occur around those convergences. It becomes troublesome when a high percentage of those events rely on coincidence to make them happen, because that stretches credibility for the reader. When they stop buying it, they stop reading it.

Spotlight: Everyone Deserves a Good Critter

Going on close to ten years ago, I stumbled across an online critique group called Critters. I had no crit group at that time, and really wanted some feedback on my writing. I joined up, gave it a try, and found a wealth of valuable feedback. I learned how to crit, how to take crits, and how to tell good crits from bad from my years there. I also met my now-best friend, who is one of my most valuable (and tough) crit partners.

If you write in the science fiction, fantasy or horror genres, and you've been looking for places to get some feedback, I recommend heading over and seeing if Critters will work for you.

Lunchtime Link: Be Gone, Demons!

Self doubt. We all get it sometimes -- and if you don't, please share how you do that! Doubt can really do a number on your creativity, and even keep you from seeking help to get valuable feedback to help your writing. Tawna Fenske over at  Don't Pet Me, I'm Writing has five tips to help you squash self doubt.

5 tips for squashing self-doubt demons

I recently invited questions from blog readers. I figured it might be handy on days I’m too lazy to come up with a topic on my own.

Like today.

A great question came in from Malin:

I suspect you're just as human as the rest of us (most of us) and therefore get assailed with doubt. When you've hit the bottom of the well of writing despair, how do you get back on your feet?

Trust Me, I’m a Reader: Writing for Your Audience

“Trust your reader.” You hear it all the time, but what exactly does that mean? Do you just assume they’ll figure out what you mean? That can lead to confusion, which you certainly don’t want, so what’s a writer to do? Who do they really trust?

Believe in Yourself
Trusting your reader is all about believing that they can and will pick up on the things you leave as clues in your story. Not just mystery-type clues, but hints about back story, world building, characterization, etc. The things you write and then wonder, “Will my reader get this or do I need to explain more?”

As someone who writes for teens, I face this every time I sit down to write. My youngest readers are ten years old, my oldest are adults. While I want every age to be able to sit down and enjoy my books, if I write for the adult audience, there’s a pretty good chance I’ll leave my younger readers behind. Because what each of those readers pick up on is different.

Spotlight: Yes Virginia, There Really is a Book Festival

Book festivals are not only a lot of fun, they're a great way to meet fellow authors and those in your local writing community. Coming up March 16-20 is the Virginia Festival of the Book in Charlottesville, Virginia. You'll find five days of mostly free literary events open to the public as they honor book culture and promote reading and literacy. And there's usually really great street food, too.

From their website:
The mission of the Virginia Festival of the Book is to bring together writers and readers and to promote and celebrate books, reading, literacy, and literary culture. As the largest gathering of authors, writers, and readers in the Commonwealth, and, indeed, the Mid-Atlantic region.

Lunchtime Link: Ten Mistakes Writers Don't See

I'm digging into my personal "great blog posts to keep" file for a great one from last year. Holt Uncensored did a list of ten common mistakes writers don't see and how you can fix them. This post was extremely helpful to me, especially the tip about repeats. I definitely have my favorite words that I use all the time and always have to edit them out. This is what taught me to do that.

Ten Mistakes Writers Don’t See (But Can Easily Fix When They Do)

Like many editorial consultants, I’ve been concerned about the amount of time I’ve been spending on easy fixes that the author shouldn’t have to pay for.

Sometimes the question of where to put a comma, how to use a verb or why not to repeat a word can be important, even strategic. But most of the time the author either missed that day’s grammar lesson in elementary school or is too close to the manuscript to make corrections before I see it.

In the Flesh: Fleshing Out Flat Characters

Characters play just as many roles in the writing process as they do in the novel itself. Some characters spark the very idea of the story, others show up when needed to suit plot, and others are doomed to life as nothing more than spear carriers. Most of the time, by the end of a first draft you’ll have too many, and some (if not all) will be flat as cardboard. Now’s the time to start bringing them to life.

Get Real, People
Characters will pop in and out as you write, even if you aren't sure what to do with them or how they fit. Some of these characters will be stars, others will be people for your readers to trip over as they navigate the story. After you've figured out which to keep and which to cut, you'll likely want to develop them more and make them as rich and three dimensional as your main character. Or, you might be the type who prefers to flesh out everyone after the fact once you see how the story unfolds.

Try looking at what role each character plays in the story. Not their "the protag's best friend" type role, but a thematic role. For example, in The Shifter, Aylin is the voice of reason. She's the practical one when Nya gears up to dive headfirst and full speed into something she believes in (she a bit of an idealist). Knowing this, as I edit I keep Aylin's role in mind. Her style and behavior should reflect her personality and role, both as the best friend, and as the voice of reason. Her actions will also  reinforce this.

Spotlight: RWA: It's Not Just for Romance Writers

Last year I attended RWA, the Romance Writers of America's annual conference. I had heard great things about the organization, but since I didn't write romance, I never looked at them closely. My mistake. The conference was amazing, and while romance was certainly the focus, there were tons of general writing sessions and workshops to choose from.

I had several eye-opening sessions, and my articles on developing your theme and career theme's came from there. And even though I don't write category romance, I sat in on some category romance sessions to learn more about that market. Seeing another genre and market was fascinating, as it's very different from writing for teens.

They had a fantastic workshop track, from basic craft for beginners to advanced, marketing, publishing, genre-specific. A little bit of everything for everyone.

RWA has international and local chapters, so no matter where you live, there's a good chance there's a chapter near you. There are different levels of membership as well.

As for the conference, this year it's in New York from June 28 to July 1.

More about RWA here.

More about the 2011 RWA conference here.

Lunchtime Link: Interview With Your Characters

While I've never used the interview your character technique, I know lots of writers who swear by it. The Script Lab has a great list of 100 questions to ask your characters. How about you? What are some of your techniques for developing your characters?

Character Questionnaire

1. How does your character think of their father? What do they hate and love about him? What influence - literal or imagined - did the father have?

2. Their mother? How do they think of her? What do they hate? Love? What influence - literal or imagined - did the mother have?

3. Brothers, sisters? Who do they like? Why? What do they despise about their siblings?

Guest Author Cathy Clamp: Foreshadowing -- Don't You Love it?

We launch this year's "How They Do It" column with an article on foreshadowing from author Cathy Clamp. Cathy is one half of Cat Adams, the pseudonym for writing team C.T. Adams and Cathy Clamp. Their urban fantasy Demon Song releases this week. This pair has a long history of writing urban fantasies that thrill.

Readers who love to have a mystery in a novel instinctively look for a particular plot device, even before they know what it’s called. How many Harry Potter fans were delighted to discover that Harry being able to talk to snakes would open the Chamber of Secrets? Agatha Christie was a master of the technique. And Then There Were None (previously titled Ten Little Indians) used the concept of a prophecy to target one of the characters. In fantasy, a prophecy is one of the primary methods of delivering foreshadowing. The more cryptic the prediction, the more the reader is able to try to fit the facts of the plot into it. Shakespeare’s witches hinted at later events in MacBeth , and the reader got to watch the events unfold until the rhyme became all too clear.