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Some fun news!
Hey folks! In case you missed it yesterday, I put out my first PDF writing guide in years, this time on emotion. And my friend and new critique partner, author Julie Coulter Bellon, featured me and my writing guides on her blog today. And man, am I blushing after all the nice things she said. Thanks, Julie!
Also today, it’s the first of March, in case you didn’t notice. That means it’s time for the first ever AI MARCH-A-THON!
!I’m part of the executive committee of a writing community called Authors Incognito (our one and only membership requirement: have attended an LDStorymakers Conference). And this month, we’re setting the bar really high for ourselves. We’re shooting for a Nano-style “31 days of going for the gold”—only instead of 50,000 words, we can set whatever writing-related goals we want.
You don’t have to be a member of AI to join in—come post your goals now and work together with us!
So I dreamed big. I’m already afraid I dreamed too big. But I’m hoping to finish revisions on one book (1/3 of the way through now), read one book, and write one book.
Yeah, a whole one.
See what I mean?
And I’m going to keep up the blog? Oy.
Diving back into my revisions!
Guest Post: The Mess in the Middle
I enjoyed this post when I read it on Writer Unboxed—and then Miss Barry’s publicist emailed it as a potential guest post. I jumped on it!
By Brunonia Barry, author of The Map of True Places
One year into a two-year book deadline, I have reached page 165 in my manuscript. So far, my characters have obediently done everything I’ve asked of them, but today something changed. This morning, they couldn’t seem to take a step without tripping over their feet. So they decided to stand still. I couldn’t make them go forward, and I couldn’t make them go back. When I asked what the problem was, they told me they were confused.
I’d be panicked about this situation except that I’ve been here before. Twice. And even more if you count the screenplays I wrote when I lived in LA or the books I’ve written for ‘tweens. While I don’t like it, I have come to expect that there are times when characters just won’t move.
For me, this always happens in the same place, maybe not always on page 165 but some place close to it. It’s always in the middle of the book. “What was it you wanted me to do?” seems to be the question my characters ask, and when I tell them, they become skeptical. Since I trust characters over plot every time, I tend to listen when a character tells me “I wouldn’t do that kind of thing.” And the middle of the book is always where they seem to doubt their motivation.
There’s a name for this. It’s called the mess in the middle. It’s an expression I first heard when I was enrolled in one of Robert McKee’s screenwriting workshops. I was writing a comedy called Sluts, a sort of West Coast Sex in the City with an edge, when my characters refused the adventures I was trying to send them on and threatened to infect me with a case of writer’s block if I persisted in giving them directions. They were angry with me, and who could blame them? As a relatively new writer, I was lost and confused.
Confusion, in itself, doesn’t bother me. I honor it as part of the writing process, a byproduct of communing with the muse. It is a frequent ailment, but not a serious one. Unfortunately, the mess in the middle is a different illness. If left unchecked, it can be fatal. I’m willing to wager that this midpoint is where most writers abandon their projects. I know it has been true for me. I have several unfinished manuscripts sitting in drawers, including that screenplay. One day, knowing what I know now, I may open the drawer and dust off those stories. Meanwhile, I’ll tell you exactly what the mess in the middle is, and what you can do about it.
I’m sure you’ve heard that old story about the mountain. You are climbing a tree lined mountain trail in an effort to see the view from the top. You’ve been walking for quite a while. About halfway up, you realize that you don’t have any idea where you are. You can no longer see the bottom of the mountain, and you cannot yet see the top. You begin to panic. If it were up to you, you’d just quit, but you can’t. You’re halfway up the side of a mountain for God’s sake.
So what do you do? If you’ve prepared for the hike, you’ve been smart enough to bring a map. Though it’s an exercise in blind faith, you have no choice but to follow it.
In writing, my map is my step outline. Though I write free form for quite a while when I’m starting a project, I am not a pantser. I believe very strongly in outlines. Once I’ve captured the voice of the characters and know them well enough to ask that first what if question that propels them forward, it is time to create a step outline.
My outline is simple enough. It contains only the major steps of the story. Sometimes it’s a sentence or paragraph, sometimes a list of bullet points. I spend more time on it that any other aspect of my writing, because it’s the only tool that allows me to see the big picture. It particularly helps with pacing and with the progression of character changes. If I follow it, I seldom get into trouble.
The problem is, sometimes I don’t follow it. I am moving along so fast, and the story is going so well, that I just keep writing. This is exactly what I discovered this morning when I went back to look at my outline. A few days ago, I was writing so furiously that I skipped a step, and, as a result, my characters missed an important turn. If they had reached the impasse immediately, I might have spotted my omission. Unfortunately, the dead end hadn’t come until the following chapter, several turns later.
If I hadn’t taken the time to create my map, I might never have found my mistake. The manuscript might have ended up in that drawer with my screenplay. Luckily, with my step outline and just a bit of work, I was able to get my characters back on track. They are now happily moving forward.
How are your story maps constructed? Do you outline? Have you experienced the mess in the middle?
Author Bio
Born and raised in Massachusetts, Brunonia Barry, lives in Salem with her husband and their beloved golden retriever, Byzantium.
Barry is the first American Writer to win the Woman’s International Fiction Festival’s 2009 Baccante Award (for The Lace Reader). Her second novel, The Map of True Places is out now.
For more information please visit http://www.BrunoniaBarry.com, and follow the author on Facebook and Twitter.
Photo by Jack Keene
Post © 2011 Brunonia Barry, author of The Map of True Places. Reprinted with permission.
Posted in Technique
Tagged brunonia barry, guest post, mess in the middle, outline, plotting
3 Comments
Getting to know your characters
We’ve talked about how to get into a character’s head here before, and it seems most of us discover our characters along the way, but the perennial question came up recently on one of my writers’ email loops. I especially liked the breadth of the following answer by member John Waverly, reprinted here with his permission (with video and formatting, including emphasis, added).
Call me weird, but I collect things like this. Here’s some of the ideas I’ve collected:
Write a day in their life
This is kinda like [a previously posted] journal idea, but it doesn’t have to be first person. I like starting by describing their name on a nametag. Then zoom out and describe their clothes and their physical characteristics. Then zoom out and describe where they are and why. Who else is there? What do they think about these people? Etc. At some point they leave and go home. Why do they leave? How do they travel? How far do they travel? What do they drive/ride? What do they do in the car? Do they listen to music? Do they sing? Do they get angry? Describe their home. They listen to their voice mail or check their email. What messages do they have? Who are they from? How do they feel about them? Then they go to bed. Describe their nighttime rituals if any. What do they dream about?
Define their possessions
Start writing about the things they own, the things they treasure, the things they want to own and or the things they used to own or the things they would never-in-a-million-years get caught dead with. And why.
Describe their surroundings
This is similar to defining their possessions only in this case you describe where they work and live. Describe their office/desk, kitchen, bedroom, garage, yard, etc.
Write a biography
Pretend you are a biographer and write a story from the person’s life. Pick something the character finds important. You can also do this like a journalist writing an article. In this case, YOU get to pick the topic—a topic that will be interesting to a general audience.
Interview them
Someone already mentioned that they go online and find character questions and interview the character. Another fun thing you can do is to have one of your characters interview the other. Then you can begin to see the relationships between the characters as well. Some of my characters will answer one way if a parent or teacher interviews them and a different way if their best friend (or a romantic interest) interviews them.
Brainstorming
Sit down and type everything you know about the character. When you feel the “flow” has gotten slow, set a timer for 10-15 minutes and keep going, writing anything that pops into your head until the timer goes off. It is sometimes surprising what you come up with once the “well is dry.” After you are done brainstorming, go back and delete all the stuff that doesn’t make sense.
Pictures
Go through magazines or look online for pictures. What does the character look like? Who do they wish they looked like? What do they drive? Where do they live? What do they wear? Where would they like to go on vacation? If you are doing this online, copy the picture into Word and then write a short piece about why the character resonates with that picture.
Real people
Try to think of real people the character reminds you of and see if there is anything in that real person’s personality that you can “borrow” for this character. Make sure to use traits from several different people so the original sources aren’t obvious, especially if you are working on a villain. (Unless it’s me, I’d love to be a villain in your book.)
Bio sheets
There are hundreds of character sheets online. Pick one. Fill it out. This is different than the Interview mentioned above because in an interview you are answering in the character’s voice and point of view. In the bio sheet you are answering as the novelist with an omniscient point of view.
There are some variations on each of the themes, but the ideas I’ve gathered fit into one of these. I would be interested if anyone has found other ideas.
For me, creating a character is a bit different each time, but I get the most mileage out of the first option.
What do you think? Have you tried any of these methods? What are your favorites?
About the author
John Waverly loves to write and is endlessly fascinated by the different ways writers approach the craft.
Guest posting today
I have a guest post today at Jagi Lamplighter’s blog. I’m writing about using something that doesn’t even matter to increase the suspense in your story.
Suspense on a story level and tension on a scene level are both vital to creating a readable story. Tension compels readers to read a scene, while suspense keeps them hooked until the next scene. There are many things we can do to heighten and highlight the tension in our writing. One technique that has been used to great effect is to use something that doesn’t matter at all, something that the reader doesn’t care about.
And welcome to any visitors clicking through from Jagi’s blog! To read more about tension and suspense, check out the blog series. And tomorrow, we’ll be back to our current blog series on backstory.
Winning Back Story: Not an Oxymoron (Guest post from Margie Lawson)
Note from Jordan: Margie was the instructor of the class the best writing class I’ve ever taken, so I’m very excited she’s with us today!
Note: Margie is participating in Brenda Novak’s Diabetes Auction, including:
- A WRITE AT SEA CRUISE
- A FLYING GETAWAY
- An IMMERSION MASTER CLASS
Check out the end of the post to learn more. Also, she runs a cartoon Dare Devil Dachshund Contest on her web site. You could win one hour of her Deep Editing brain. More info at www.MargieLawson.com.
A HUGE THANK YOU to Jordan for inviting me to be her guest today!
Winning Back Story: Not an Oxymoron
By Margie Lawson
You can write back story that makes me smile.
You can write back story that earns the coveted Margie margin note, NYT.
You can write back story that boosts your novel onto bestseller lists.
Or you can write back story that invites me to skim.
Are you in?
What is back story? It’s history. It’s the events that led up to your story before the story opens. Often, motivation for your POV character’s decisions and actions are in the back story.
Sometimes back story is stagnant. Flat. Boring. Readers lose interest in the book and put it down.
AACK! You want to write an unputdownable novel.
The best way to include the absolutely required back story and keep your novel fast-paced, is to sprinkle it in your story. With my EDITS System, back story will jump out at you in big puddles of YELLOW. Too much back story grinds your story to a halt. CLICHÉ ALERT!
BIGGER CLICHÉ ALERT: Too much back story grinds your story to a screeching halt.
When you review a scene, analyze the back story. Ask yourself if the reader needs to have that information now. Or – if they need that information.
Managing back story is tricky. Writers always think the reader needs all the history the writer created in his/her mind. Not true. The reader only needs what they need to buy the story.
This fact is usually disappointing to the writer. They want to share every amazingly cool detail they created.
One rule of thumb for managing back story (cliché alert) is to withhold back story until after chapter three. Those writers hypothesize that by then, your reader is hooked on your story and will tolerate some chunks of back story. Some authors hold off back story in the first few chapters then start feeding the readers chunks of back story. Sometimes pages of back story.
Not my favorite plan.
Some authors dump info-dumps in Chapters 1, 2 and/or 3.
Not my favorite plan either.
Mark Sullivan (mystery/suspense/thriller writer) has a great plan for back story management. Here’s his plan—which happens to be my first choice.
He suggests writing down what you think the reader needs to know. Write several pages of back story. Not to be used in your book, but for your own benefit.
Grab a red pen – and go through your back story points and circle what the reader absolutely has to know. What they absolutely need to know. Let go of things that you thought were important but don’t need to include. Just because you think it is interesting doesn’t mean the reader ABSOLUTELY NEEDS TO KNOW IT.
Next, take those points you circled, that the reader absolutely needs to know, and picture them etched on a sheet of glass. Got it?
You’re imagining those points imprinted on a rectangle of glass. Imagine carrying that sheet of glass to a brick patio. Imagine standing on a brick patio, holding that sheet of glass.
YOU KNOW WHAT’S COMING!
Drop that sheet of glass.
Watch it shatter.
Imagine picking up one narrow shard of glass at a time – and slipping each sliver of back story in your first 100 pages. Repeat. You insert one sliver of back story in those first 100 pages, one piece of back story at a time.
Slip shards of back story in dialogue or share it in a quick interactive way. You’ve got the first 100 pages of your book to fit in each sliver of back story.
No info-dumps.
You’ll be so good at slipping in back story that you’ll have a smooth fast-paced read.
When I heard Mark Sullivan share this visual, it resonated with me. Great visual. Great plan.
You may believe your genre or story or style need more back story as set up. Okay. You may be right. AND – I bet you can share the back story in a compelling way. Let’s dive into some examples of what works. I used the first example in my April newsletter. It’s so well written, I’m including it here.
Example: From THE WOODS, by Harlan Coben. Prologue, first page, third paragraph:
I have never seen my father cry before—not when his own father died, not when my mother ran off and left us, not even when he first heard about my sister, Camille.
Analysis: What did Coben accomplish, and how?
He slipped back story into anaphora. He gave the reader four hits of powerful back story in one sentence. Four hits of powerful back story in thirty-three words.
Read it out loud this time:
I have never seen my father cry before—not when his own father died, not when my mother ran off and left us, not even when he first head about my sister, Camille.
Strong cadence. Informative. Fast-paced. Intriguing. Enticing. No chunk of back story the reader is tempted to skim. Plus – that one sentence introduces story questions. Why is his father crying? Why did his mother run off and leave them? What happened to his sister, Camille?
Example: From STOP ME, by Brenda Novak, Chapter 1:
But Jasmine’s thoughts were so focused on what was in her lap, she couldn’t even raise her hand. She’d made that bracelet as a gift for her little sister. She remembered Kimberly’s delight when she’d unwrapped it on her eighth birthday, her last birthday before the tall man with the beard entered their house in Cleveland one sunny afternoon and took her away.
Analysis:
Look at that smooth passage. In just three sentences, Brenda Novak covered a lot of back story. She showed how seeing her sister’s bracelet impacted Jasmine. She tapped emotion by sharing that the POV character made the bracelet for her little sister. She shows her sister’s joy. She slips in her sister’s age, the city, and that her sister was kidnapped.
The cadence is strong. The words rive the reader through the paragraph.
Example: DIVORCED, DESPERATE, AND DECEIVED, Christie Craig, Chapter 1, page 3:
“Did he bring her with him when he picked up Tommy?” Sue asked.
Kathy wished she could pretend she didn’t understand the question. Wished she’d never told them that Tom had married TOW, “The Other Woman.” But during the last Jack Daniel’s night—at which, quite unfairly, neither Sue nor Lacy could imbibe—Kathy had accidentally spilled her guts. Or at least she’d spilled a bit of them. The big secrets were still in the bag. And they could stay bagged. It would take more than a couple shots of Jack for her to hang out her dirty laundry. Even to her two closest friends.
Analysis:
Christie Craig shares her humor and her talent in this fast-paced addictive romance. This passage is a light read that carries a big hit of mysterious back story. Kathy has secrets, big secrets, that she won’t divulge to her two best friends.
Hmm – makes you want to read more. Right?
When an author finesses back story, it draws you in. Keeps the story moving. Makes the read more compelling.
When an author chunks back story, it stops the action. Stops the story. It may tempt the reader to skim. And when someone is skimming, they’re not engaged in the scene. They’re no longer hooked.
Remember my opening lines?
You can write back story that makes me smile.
You can write back story that earns the coveted Margie margin note, NYT.
You can write back story that boosts your novel onto bestseller lists.
Analyze your writing. Deep edit your scenes. Make your back story carry style and power. Make your back story boost your writing onto a best seller list!
It’s your turn now! Chime in. Share your thoughts on managing back story.
FYI: My next on-line course, DEEP EDITING: The EDITS System, Rhetorical Devices, and More, is offered in MAY. You can read descriptions of my courses (and Lecture Packets) and access links to register for my on-line courses from the home page of my web site. www.MargieLawson.com
If an on-line course does not fit your schedule, Lecture Packets ($22) are available through Paypal from my web site.
PLEASE KEEP READING!
BRENDA NOVAK’S DIABETES AUCTION!
NYT Bestseller, Brenda Novak, donates an amazing chunk of her life to fundraising for diabetes research. She selflessly gives months of her energy, creativity, and what would have been writing time, family time, self-time to her DIABETES AUCTION.
For writers – it’s a warm-your-heart win-win. Bid on one of the hundreds of items, support diabetes research, and you may win an experience that changes your life.
If you’re not familiar with this auction — it’s a gold mine for writers!
My husband and I love to support the Diabetes Auction. With over 1000 donations, if I don’t mention our donations . . . you might miss them.
Yikes – a Missed Opportunity!
Margie’s Donations:
1. A set of six Lecture Packets
2. A 50 page Triple Pass Deep Edit Critique
3. Registration for a Write At Sea Master Class by Margie Lawson on Deep Editing Power, April, 2011. Donation by Margie Lawson and Julia Hunter.
4. A FLYING GETAWAY FOR TWO
You select the destination – any place within 600 nautical miles from Denver.
A weekend, you and a friend, plus my pilot-husband flying our four-seater plane, me, a night in a hotel, and a two-hour deep editing consult. The consult is on the ground, not while we’re flying. 
)
5. Registration for an IMMERSION MASTER CLASS session!
A $450 value . . .
The three-day Immersion Master Class sessions are designed as a personalized, hone-your-manuscript experience focusing on deep editing. The sessions are held in Margie’s log home at the top of a mountain west of Denver. Participants will concentrate on transforming their manuscript into a page-turner. The winner may attend a session in the fall of 2010 (depending on availability), or one of the four sessions offered in 2011.
THE DIABETES AUCTION runs from MAY 1ST to MAY 31ST.
Thank you. I appreciate your time.
All the Best…………….Margie
www.MargieLawson.com
About the author
Margie Lawson—psychotherapist, writer, and international presenter—developed innovative editing systems and deep editing techniques for used by writers, from newbies to NYT Bestsellers. She teaches writers how to edit for psychological power, how to hook the reader viscerally, how to create a page-turner.
Thousands of writers have learned Margie’s psychologically-based deep editing material. In the last five years, she presented over fifty full day Master Classes for writers in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. For more information on lecture packets, on-line courses, master classes, and the 3-day Immersion Master Class sessions offered in her Colorado mountain-top home, visit: www.MargieLawson.com.
Posted in Technique
Tagged Backstory, bad backstory, boring backstory, guest post, integrating backstory, margie lawson, mark sullivan
3 Comments
Upcoming series: Backstory
I’m planning my next series (starting next Monday!), and once again, I need your help. I need your questions, musings and and topics.
What do you want to know about backstory? What it is? How to tell it from the “real” story? How to work it in? Whether you need it?
As always, guest bloggers are welcome (check out my guest blogging guidelines here, but of course, the topic will be different this time around—you know, backstory?).
What do you want to know (or write!) about backstory?
Photo credits: question—Svilen Mushkatov
Posted in News & Contests
Tagged Backstory, guest blog, guest blogging, guest post, series
2 Comments
Call for guest posts
I’m gearing up for another series—this time on writing resources. One thing I totally forgot to do was ask for guest posts in my last series, so this time I don’t want to repeat that mistake. Today I’m asking for guest bloggers to help with my next series (because we’re all tired of listening to just me, right ?).
Here’s a bit more on what I’m looking for:
- For this series, posts on:
- Writing craft books that really helped you
- Writing classes or teachers that made a big difference
- Workshops or conferences that made an impact
- Writing friends or critique groups that affected your writing (for the positive!)
- Posts that focus on both the experience of reading/participating as well as the actual lessons learned.
- Posts between 300 and 800 words in length (though I’m flexible on the long end).
- A short bio (up to three sentences) of the author (ie you) with up to three links. (Links are allowed in the post itself, too, but if I get too much of a sense of self-promotion I may edit them.)
If you’re up to the challenge, send the post in the body of an email (if you can code in HTML, I’ll love you forever; if not, just include the URL of the links) to contact at jordanmccollum.com . I’ll probably only have room for the first three posts, and I’d need them by Friday, March 19. If that’s too little notice, don’t worry, I’ll have another call for guest bloggers at the end of May (if not before).
But for future reference, if ever you’d like to do a guest post here, go for it! I may not always post them—but don’t worry, I don’t do the whole no-response-means-no thing, so you’ll be free to use a post somewhere else. If you’re not familiar with guest blogging, check out my article on maximizing your guest blogging, as well as this more recent post on guest blogging from Darren Rowse of ProBlogger.
Questions, comments and suggestions for future series welcome!
Photo by Andrea
Beating writer’s block
Gearing up for NaNo? That’s okay, I don’t begrudge you, even if I won’t. In fact, I’ll even do what I can to help you prepare. The series on plotting will be in PDF form this week (by some miracle) and today I have a guest post on frequent-commenter-and-guest-poster Carol/Careann’s blog. Check it out: beating writer’s block.
