Today I'm going to start with what I think is a great beginning. Actually, every novel I've read by Michael Robotham has a great beginning. Maybe it's because he was a journalist and he knows what you need to pull the reader in. It was hard to choose, but I've picked Lost (and a big thank you to Michael who gave me permission to use this):
The Thames, London
I remember someone once telling me that you know it's cold when you see a lawyer with his hands in his own pockets. It's colder than that now. My mouth is numb and every breath like slivers of ice in my lungs.
People are shouting and shining torches in my eyes. In the meantime, I'm hugging this big yellow-painted buoy like it's Marilyn Monroe. A very fat Marilyn Monroe, after she took all the pills and went to seed.
My favourite Monroe film is Some Like It Hot with Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis. I don't know why I should think of that now, although how anyone could mistake Jack Lemmon for a woman is beyond me.
A guy with a really thick moustache and pizza breath is panting in my ear. He's wearing a life vest and trying to peel my fingers away from the buoy. I'm too cold to move. He wraps his arms around my chest and pulls me backwards through the water. More people, silhouetted against the lights, take hold of my arms, lifting me onto the deck.
'Jesus, look at his leg!' someone says.
'He's been shot!'
Why do I think this works? Look at all the story questions - we know he's in the water, clinging to a buoy, but we don't know why. We don't know who he is but we know he's in trouble (maybe dying from hypothermia because of the way his mind is wandering). We know it's freezing cold. We know that underneath what's happening to him, this guy observes things and notes them mentally (important in terms of a large plot element). And Robotham makes us wait through the meandering mental stuff to that moment of shock - he hasn't just fallen in, he's been shot.
Part of this is pacing, and part of this is that balance between not giving the reader everything up front (making us wait, making us want to find out) but not confusing us. He tells us at the top that this is the Thames in London - a simple device that saves a lot of time and trouble. The other Robotham book I'm reading at the moment, The Suspect, starts with the main character, a psychologist, up on a hospital roof with a teenage boy who is about to jump off. So both books start with life-and-death situations. That works for me!
Danger Zones in Beginnings
Yesterday I talked about the dangers of using a prologue as your beginning, so I won't go there again, but here are some others:
Starting with Setting
Setting on its own is boring. Once upon a time, novels used to start with two pages of setting before a human entered. Nowadays, readers often skip long setting descriptions - you may not like it but it's true. Setting is not action. It's not movement forward. And it very rarely is conflict. You could say that a snowstorm implies conflict - not until there's a human in that storm, in danger. And I'd still rather start with the character and his/her fear of that storm, and desperate desire to survive. Readers don't connect with setting on an emotional level. It's not really a hook or a question.
So you can certainly start with some setting - of course you need it somewhere in there, because it's part of situating the reader (that was yesterday's post) - but the key element here is that your setting needs to be vital to what is happening. The action or conflict. The excerpt above has the icy Thames as its setting - have another look and see how many words are used that actually only describe the place. Apart from the heading, none. Every single word to do with setting is strongly connected to the main character and what is happening to him.
Starting with Dialogue
It's great to start with dialogue - I've done it myself. What doesn't work is dialogue that has no speaker identification, and hangs out there in limbo as a stream of sentences. The reader very quickly gets annoyed because they don't know who's talking, where they are, and often it's not apparent what the dialogue is even about. It looks snappy and fast-paced, but 99% of the time it doesn't work.
Starting with Backstory
Apart from the boredom factor, starting with a whole heap of backstory is Telling. What you're really doing is trying to explain to the reader why your character is like they are. Show us in the story, don't tell us all this stuff at the beginning (don't tell us any time in the story). We read to discover, we read to be surprised, we read to understand. If you give us all this backstory, you aren't letting readers do their job (yes, you have to give the reader room to be in the story too).
Starting with a Dream
Oops, I'm guilty of this! But I made darned sure that the dream was: a) very short and dramatic, b) very dreamlike, c) very clear to the reader what it was. A dream doesn't work when: you don't tell the reader until pages later and they feel tricked; it goes on and on without much purpose; you make it too much like a real dream which is fragmented and weird and nonsensical; you make it too orderly so that it's obvious you're trying to use it as some kind of device to give the reader information; it's boring; it doesn't move the story forward in any way.
Starting with Your Character Waking Up
Everybody wakes up. Yawn. Waking up starts the day - it doesn't start any significant action. Unless your character wakes up and their house is on fire. In that case, we can skip the stretching and the looking for the slippers and the banging on the alarm clock and the cat jumping on the bed and the smell of the spouse brewing coffee and the shower and the ... You get the picture. Waking up doesn't provide movement forward, precipitating action and immediate conflict and reaction from your character. An earthquake or a fire or a bomb might. (To this Danger you can add any other everyday habit a person does which is ultimately boring.)
Starting with a Character Who is Not Your Main Character
This is a viewpoint thing, and part of situating your reader. If you make it absolutely clear that the first character the reader meets is not the main character, you could get away with it. But the reader expects that the first voice they hear, the first person they "see" will be the Number One person in this novel. We can't help it - it's a reading habit, I guess. We're looking to invest in the main character, we're wanting to care about them, follow them through the story. You start with someone different, it's confusing. The last thing you want is to confuse your reader, so I'd advise against this. (This might be a reason someone wants to use a prologue - so they can start with a different character. Same question as yesterday - if you were told to get rid of it, could you?)
OK, that's my list of the most dangerous ways to try and start a story. I'm sure you could find examples where writers have done any of the above and done it well. That's the key, though, isn't it - doing it well.
Now for your 200 words. You can email it to kidsbooks at optusnet dot com dot au. Put it in the body of the email (you can put your name at the bottom or not), and I will post each one separately which will allow readers to then contribute comments. My final suggestion is that before you send it, read it out loud to yourself. Listen for clunky sentences, and see if it flows. It's a good test!
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Great Beginnings - Day Three
Prologues
In response to posts over the last two days, we're going to start with some stuff about prologues. Why is the anti-prologue sentiment growing? I tend to think it's for the same reason that we are told not to write rhyming picture books. Because so many people do it badly. In my "travels" (meaning conferences, forums, blogs, newsletters etc), I've heard that editors at fantasy publishing houses are not keen on prologues simply because so many are one of the following: a prophecy, a curse, or an info dump. The first two are outdated tropes, and the third is bad writing. It can apply to any kind of prologue.
Out of interest, I just went to one of my bookshelves and picked out eight books - four of them had prologues. That surprised me, I have to admit. So I took a closer look. Please note that my comments that follow here are my own personal preferences/opinions. You may well disagree.
Book 1 is A Thin Dark Line by Tami Hoag. The prologue is like a poem, presumably "written" by the killer. Another one doesn't appear until page 153. My vote: not necessary, doesn't add anything.
Book 2 is Mercy by Jodi Picoult. In the prologue, a woman holds a yard sale where she apparently sells stuff as a way of telling her husband their marriage is over. It creates intrigue - why, who are these people? Does it add anything vital to the story? Well, it introduces story questions, but when I launch into the actual story itself, I instantly forget everything in the prologue. My vote: probably could do away with it, or move it.
Book 3 is Indigo Slam by Robert Crais. (You can tell I read a lot of crime!) He hasn't called it a prologue (good thinking) - it's called SEATTLE. And the next bit is called Three Years Later: Los Angeles. So we're being given backstory, involving characters who are not the main players. My vote: this works because it is chock-full of action, fear, more action, and the feeling that I will get to find out what happens to these people, and it will matter.
Book 4 is Every Dead Thing by John Connolly. The prologue is 12 pages, and is a mix of alternating bits - the main character narrating the precipitating incident that changes his life, the villain buying flowers, and a whole heap of excerpts from police reports. I guess it's a prologue because it's about something that happens before the actual story starts, and it's about the main character. My vote: it doesn't really hold my interest. Lots of it feels like I'm being fed information. Could he have done this another way?
Obviously lots of writers use prologues. There is nothing to stop you having one. But let me ask you this - if your book was about to be accepted for publication, the offer on the table was $50,000 advance, and the editor said, "The advance is yours and the first print run will be 50,000 copies - if you lose your prologue" - could you do it? If you honestly think you could, maybe you should seriously consider it.
Situating The Reader
Opening paragraphs are tricky. We want to include story hooks or questions, we want to capture the reader's interest and make them excited about what's coming next, we want to create intrigue, we want those zinger first and second sentences, we want to grab the reader by the throat. Yep, yep, all of that. But what we don't want is for the reader to think What the heck is going on? Who are these people? Where are we? Who's talking? What is that stupid monkey doing in the car? Is this 1946 or 2008?
It's probably the key reason why beginnings are so tricky, because as well as all that hook stuff, you have to let the reader know these things: who the main character/narrator is, what POV the story is in, where and when the story is taking place, what kind of voice the story has, what the tone is, what genre it is, what level of language to expect, why the story is starting here. You have to pack all of that into the first couple of paragraphs, as well as hooking the reader into the story! No wonder we rewrite our beginnings a hundred times.
But it's also why we come back and rewrite the beginning after the novel is finished. It's like writing backwards. It's a lot easier to get voice and tone working after you've been doing it for 90,000 words. You're in the groove, you hear the narrator's voice, the tone of the novel is settled and consistent. None of that is likely to be happening when you first write page 1. And even if you are a writer who rewrites as you go (I have to write the whole first draft before I can revise), you will still need to look again at Page 1 and Chapter 1 when the thing is finished. In other words, don't panic. That's what revision is for.
Remember, too, that you created the novel, so you know the characters and setting, you know what is coming next. The reader doesn't. What often happens is the writer either leaves too much out (not realising there isn't enough there to "signpost" the reader), or overdoes it, ending up with a beginning that is way too slow and explanatory. I think two key things your opening pages (I'd say opening chapter, actually) should not have are backstory and flashbacks.
What they should have is the precipitating incident, action, conflict, and movement forward. Within these will be hooks and story questions. These are the things that make the reader want to find out what will happen next. The exercise for today is to look at your opening 200 words (no more) and identify the hooks and story questions in there. I think you should have at least three. Post one sentence only from your 200 words that you think has a hook or question in it.
Tomorrow, I'm going to post on the things that are dangerous to open with, and why. And some ways you could break the rules on them. I'm also going to post the email address tomorrow for your 200 words. I was going to put it up today, but I think you'd rather read the Dangerous List first. And then if you use something on the list anyway, we can decide if you've succeeded or not!
In response to posts over the last two days, we're going to start with some stuff about prologues. Why is the anti-prologue sentiment growing? I tend to think it's for the same reason that we are told not to write rhyming picture books. Because so many people do it badly. In my "travels" (meaning conferences, forums, blogs, newsletters etc), I've heard that editors at fantasy publishing houses are not keen on prologues simply because so many are one of the following: a prophecy, a curse, or an info dump. The first two are outdated tropes, and the third is bad writing. It can apply to any kind of prologue.
Out of interest, I just went to one of my bookshelves and picked out eight books - four of them had prologues. That surprised me, I have to admit. So I took a closer look. Please note that my comments that follow here are my own personal preferences/opinions. You may well disagree.
Book 1 is A Thin Dark Line by Tami Hoag. The prologue is like a poem, presumably "written" by the killer. Another one doesn't appear until page 153. My vote: not necessary, doesn't add anything.
Book 2 is Mercy by Jodi Picoult. In the prologue, a woman holds a yard sale where she apparently sells stuff as a way of telling her husband their marriage is over. It creates intrigue - why, who are these people? Does it add anything vital to the story? Well, it introduces story questions, but when I launch into the actual story itself, I instantly forget everything in the prologue. My vote: probably could do away with it, or move it.
Book 3 is Indigo Slam by Robert Crais. (You can tell I read a lot of crime!) He hasn't called it a prologue (good thinking) - it's called SEATTLE. And the next bit is called Three Years Later: Los Angeles. So we're being given backstory, involving characters who are not the main players. My vote: this works because it is chock-full of action, fear, more action, and the feeling that I will get to find out what happens to these people, and it will matter.
Book 4 is Every Dead Thing by John Connolly. The prologue is 12 pages, and is a mix of alternating bits - the main character narrating the precipitating incident that changes his life, the villain buying flowers, and a whole heap of excerpts from police reports. I guess it's a prologue because it's about something that happens before the actual story starts, and it's about the main character. My vote: it doesn't really hold my interest. Lots of it feels like I'm being fed information. Could he have done this another way?
Obviously lots of writers use prologues. There is nothing to stop you having one. But let me ask you this - if your book was about to be accepted for publication, the offer on the table was $50,000 advance, and the editor said, "The advance is yours and the first print run will be 50,000 copies - if you lose your prologue" - could you do it? If you honestly think you could, maybe you should seriously consider it.
Situating The Reader
Opening paragraphs are tricky. We want to include story hooks or questions, we want to capture the reader's interest and make them excited about what's coming next, we want to create intrigue, we want those zinger first and second sentences, we want to grab the reader by the throat. Yep, yep, all of that. But what we don't want is for the reader to think What the heck is going on? Who are these people? Where are we? Who's talking? What is that stupid monkey doing in the car? Is this 1946 or 2008?
It's probably the key reason why beginnings are so tricky, because as well as all that hook stuff, you have to let the reader know these things: who the main character/narrator is, what POV the story is in, where and when the story is taking place, what kind of voice the story has, what the tone is, what genre it is, what level of language to expect, why the story is starting here. You have to pack all of that into the first couple of paragraphs, as well as hooking the reader into the story! No wonder we rewrite our beginnings a hundred times.
But it's also why we come back and rewrite the beginning after the novel is finished. It's like writing backwards. It's a lot easier to get voice and tone working after you've been doing it for 90,000 words. You're in the groove, you hear the narrator's voice, the tone of the novel is settled and consistent. None of that is likely to be happening when you first write page 1. And even if you are a writer who rewrites as you go (I have to write the whole first draft before I can revise), you will still need to look again at Page 1 and Chapter 1 when the thing is finished. In other words, don't panic. That's what revision is for.
Remember, too, that you created the novel, so you know the characters and setting, you know what is coming next. The reader doesn't. What often happens is the writer either leaves too much out (not realising there isn't enough there to "signpost" the reader), or overdoes it, ending up with a beginning that is way too slow and explanatory. I think two key things your opening pages (I'd say opening chapter, actually) should not have are backstory and flashbacks.
What they should have is the precipitating incident, action, conflict, and movement forward. Within these will be hooks and story questions. These are the things that make the reader want to find out what will happen next. The exercise for today is to look at your opening 200 words (no more) and identify the hooks and story questions in there. I think you should have at least three. Post one sentence only from your 200 words that you think has a hook or question in it.
Tomorrow, I'm going to post on the things that are dangerous to open with, and why. And some ways you could break the rules on them. I'm also going to post the email address tomorrow for your 200 words. I was going to put it up today, but I think you'd rather read the Dangerous List first. And then if you use something on the list anyway, we can decide if you've succeeded or not!
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Great Beginnings - Day Two
Today I went for my usual walk, and it occurred to me that my 20 minutes+ is a little like a novel. I start out a bit slowly, with joints and muscles creaking and cold, and if it wasn't for the music blasting through my headphones, I might well give up and stay home (it's pretty cold here right now). But what keeps me going is not just the promise of better health and the virtuous feeling of "having walked" (kind of like that virtuous feeling of "having written"!), but the sense of setting out yet again, about to see what's new today in the neighbourhood, and the music in my ears. I choose to put things on my mp3 player that will stimulate me and keep me walking, even when my toes and face are numb.
Does the beginning of your novel provide that sense of adventure? Of rousing voice and music? Of keen interest in the possibilities in front of you?
I talked yesterday about how well-published writers already have their "contract with the reader". They've set it up through publishing several novels that show what they have to offer. But if you're a new writer, you don't have that behind you. So your job is to create a beginning that will hook any reader right into your story. Today we are focusing on two things: starting in the right place, and the first sentence. I'm going to begin this by giving a link to J.A. Konrath's blog post on bad beginnings. It's worth reading.
Starting in the Right Place
We all need to start somewhere. My friend T, who is a fantasy writer, has rewritten her novel about a million times (only kidding) but one of the key things she has wrestled with is where to begin. I think she has changed her opening chapter about eight times. This doesn't mean rewriting it - this means starting with an entirely new chapter. Do you start with the viewpoint character? Not always. I'm seeing a lot of prologues (I took 20 books off my shelf last night and checked) where the writer has started with another character, hence labelling it Prologue.
Is this a good thing? Not very often. It gives your reader the sense that you didn't know where else to put this stuff, so you stuck it at the beginning and called it a Prologue. Sometimes it's OK, sometimes the reader skips it or wonders what you think you're doing! If you need to show a different character's POV, ask yourself why. Have you done it throughout the book? I see crime novels where the writer seems to think I need to have the "villain's" side of things. Mostly, I don't, so it annoys me. Can't you take that prologue stuff and thread it into the story? And if you did, wouldn't it create more story questions and raise the tension?
Very often, in a student's story, I'll suggest they start on Page 2, or 3, or sometimes 8! But sometimes I will also suggest they start earlier. It may well be that a flashback they have inserted on Page 3 actually needs to be dramatised and become the beginning. I can hear you thinking: So how on earth will I work out where to start? I'll go back to Hooked for what I consider is very good advice - start with the inciting incident.
The inciting incident is what propels the story into motion. It implies, and must have, action, conflict, drama and movement forward. It's not description or exposition or backstory or characterisation - it is purely and simply a key point of action that makes your main character act or react. If you are starting with something that doesn't demand action or reaction, you're probably not starting in the right place.
The First Sentence
Is your first sentence a zinger? Will it make me read the first paragraph?
Is your first paragraph gripping and intriguing and fascinating? Will it make me want to read the first chapter?
Tomorrow's post will be about the ingredients. But today I want to focus on what keeps us reading. How do you write a first sentence that zings? With a lot of persistence and hard work! Very often I feel that I can't start a new story or novel without a great first sentence that will get me excited and determined to follow it up with even better sentences. Almost as often, I will come back later, in the revision process, and delete that first sentence or paragraph and persevere until I write the zinger. The one that will keep any reader glued to the page.
Here are two of my favourite first sentences:
"Captain Ahab was neither my first husband nor my last." (Ahab's Wife by Sena Jeta Naslund) - there is so much in this: recognition of Moby Dick, a strong voice, a woman who is willing to declare herself up front, intrigue (so what will she tell me?).
"The first thing you find out when yer dog learns to talk is that dogs don't got nothing much to say. About anything." (The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness) - a friend read the first paragraph of this book and said "That voice and bad grammar would put me right off". I love it - it tells me immediately that something different is happening, and I want to know what, and who this person is. (Yes, it's two sentences, but the second one is short.)
And some crime examples:
"I don't mean to bitch, but in the future I intend to hesitate before I do a favour for a friend of a friend." (L is for Lawless by Sue Grafton)
"The old lady had changed her mind about dying but by then it was too late." (City of Bones by Michael Connolly)
"The day I got the murder book, I was still thinking about Paris." (The Murder Book by Jonathan Kellerman)
I want to make a point here - many of my favourite opening sentences come from middle grade and YA novels. These writers know they've got a tough audience. They know how important it is to scoop the reader in. My crime examples above come from writers who aren't sleeping on the job - these are not their first novels by a long way, but they still understand how important it is to grab the reader by the throat and hold on. And build on it.
Today's exercise is a double-barrel (if you choose, otherwise choose just one). In the Comments, post your favourite opening line from a novel or story - don't forget to tell us where it comes from, and you could also say why you like it, why it works for you. Two sentences allowed only if one of them is less than three words.
And you can also post your own opening sentence of your novel or story - but make sure it's a goodie!
Does the beginning of your novel provide that sense of adventure? Of rousing voice and music? Of keen interest in the possibilities in front of you?
I talked yesterday about how well-published writers already have their "contract with the reader". They've set it up through publishing several novels that show what they have to offer. But if you're a new writer, you don't have that behind you. So your job is to create a beginning that will hook any reader right into your story. Today we are focusing on two things: starting in the right place, and the first sentence. I'm going to begin this by giving a link to J.A. Konrath's blog post on bad beginnings. It's worth reading.
Starting in the Right Place
We all need to start somewhere. My friend T, who is a fantasy writer, has rewritten her novel about a million times (only kidding) but one of the key things she has wrestled with is where to begin. I think she has changed her opening chapter about eight times. This doesn't mean rewriting it - this means starting with an entirely new chapter. Do you start with the viewpoint character? Not always. I'm seeing a lot of prologues (I took 20 books off my shelf last night and checked) where the writer has started with another character, hence labelling it Prologue.
Is this a good thing? Not very often. It gives your reader the sense that you didn't know where else to put this stuff, so you stuck it at the beginning and called it a Prologue. Sometimes it's OK, sometimes the reader skips it or wonders what you think you're doing! If you need to show a different character's POV, ask yourself why. Have you done it throughout the book? I see crime novels where the writer seems to think I need to have the "villain's" side of things. Mostly, I don't, so it annoys me. Can't you take that prologue stuff and thread it into the story? And if you did, wouldn't it create more story questions and raise the tension?
Very often, in a student's story, I'll suggest they start on Page 2, or 3, or sometimes 8! But sometimes I will also suggest they start earlier. It may well be that a flashback they have inserted on Page 3 actually needs to be dramatised and become the beginning. I can hear you thinking: So how on earth will I work out where to start? I'll go back to Hooked for what I consider is very good advice - start with the inciting incident.
The inciting incident is what propels the story into motion. It implies, and must have, action, conflict, drama and movement forward. It's not description or exposition or backstory or characterisation - it is purely and simply a key point of action that makes your main character act or react. If you are starting with something that doesn't demand action or reaction, you're probably not starting in the right place.
The First Sentence
Is your first sentence a zinger? Will it make me read the first paragraph?
Is your first paragraph gripping and intriguing and fascinating? Will it make me want to read the first chapter?
Tomorrow's post will be about the ingredients. But today I want to focus on what keeps us reading. How do you write a first sentence that zings? With a lot of persistence and hard work! Very often I feel that I can't start a new story or novel without a great first sentence that will get me excited and determined to follow it up with even better sentences. Almost as often, I will come back later, in the revision process, and delete that first sentence or paragraph and persevere until I write the zinger. The one that will keep any reader glued to the page.
Here are two of my favourite first sentences:
"Captain Ahab was neither my first husband nor my last." (Ahab's Wife by Sena Jeta Naslund) - there is so much in this: recognition of Moby Dick, a strong voice, a woman who is willing to declare herself up front, intrigue (so what will she tell me?).
"The first thing you find out when yer dog learns to talk is that dogs don't got nothing much to say. About anything." (The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness) - a friend read the first paragraph of this book and said "That voice and bad grammar would put me right off". I love it - it tells me immediately that something different is happening, and I want to know what, and who this person is. (Yes, it's two sentences, but the second one is short.)
And some crime examples:
"I don't mean to bitch, but in the future I intend to hesitate before I do a favour for a friend of a friend." (L is for Lawless by Sue Grafton)
"The old lady had changed her mind about dying but by then it was too late." (City of Bones by Michael Connolly)
"The day I got the murder book, I was still thinking about Paris." (The Murder Book by Jonathan Kellerman)
I want to make a point here - many of my favourite opening sentences come from middle grade and YA novels. These writers know they've got a tough audience. They know how important it is to scoop the reader in. My crime examples above come from writers who aren't sleeping on the job - these are not their first novels by a long way, but they still understand how important it is to grab the reader by the throat and hold on. And build on it.
Today's exercise is a double-barrel (if you choose, otherwise choose just one). In the Comments, post your favourite opening line from a novel or story - don't forget to tell us where it comes from, and you could also say why you like it, why it works for you. Two sentences allowed only if one of them is less than three words.
And you can also post your own opening sentence of your novel or story - but make sure it's a goodie!
Monday, July 28, 2008
Great Beginnings - Day 1
Where else would you start a series of posts about Beginnings except Day 1?
Seriously though, I'd like to offer a range of ideas, advice and thought-provokers this week, along with the opportunity for you to send me your first 200 words for feedback later on. Possibly a la Snark. As in some straightforward give-and-take from me and other readers about what works and what doesn't in your opening. I'm also going to offer some prizes! The kind you win simply by chipping in with your comments and your 200 words (or feedback). They'll be books - what else? And I'll announce them next week. Here we go.
Why a Great Beginning is Important
Hands up if you've heard or read something like the following: "A totally engaging beginning is the key to interesting any agent or editor in reading your manuscript. You need to start your story with action, character and voice; you need to hook your reader on the first page, and keep them hooked." I think we've all heard this so many times that we yawn now, and we say things like "Yeah, but my story/novel is atmospheric and I have to set that up first" or "I need that bit of backstory and it fits on page one and it saves me doing a flashback later" or "this prologue is vital for the reader to understand the rest of the novel".
Can you hear the buzzer? It's buzzing you out of the game. It really doesn't matter how great your novel might be, if you can't write an engaging, active first page, no one is going to keep reading. Not the agent, the editor, or the person in the bookshop with $15 to spend and 5000 books to choose from. That may sound harsh. But anyone who has ever been an editor or slush pile reader of any kind, whether for a publisher, a magazine, an agent or a story competition, will tell you the same thing. If it hasn't grabbed them within the first page or two, it'll get put into the NO pile.
Yep, you've heard that before too, so I'm not going to labour the point any longer. I want to move onto the constructive stuff, not the doom and gloom parade. One of my favourite books is about beginnings - it's Hooked by Les Edgerton. And on page 7 Les says: "A good, quality story beginning is a microcosm of the work entire. If you capture the right beginning, you've written a small version of the whole."
Now this fascinates me. Les is saying that if you work really hard on your first chapter (or paragraph for a short story), and you learn everything you can from it in terms of establishing character, voice, setting, and then go onto scene construction, pacing, plotting and dialogue, you can apply what you have learned and succeeded in, and create a whole novel like that. Sounds simple. I agree with him about 80%, because Chapter 1 probably won't help you much with plotting and sustaining 90,000 words, but it'll be a darned good start.
The Contract With The Reader
There are two sides to this. On the reader's side (starting with the end first), what he or she does in a bookshop is attempt to decipher the book in front of them. Publishers do a lot of work to make this easier. They create a cover that says crime or romance or literary; they tell the bookshop where to shelve it; they write a blurb that gives you an idea of what the book will be about; they market the book as a specific genre. But the other thing they "help" with is the first page. Because after all that other work they do, the last thing they need is an author who begins their romance novel with an opening page that reads like a murder mystery.
That brings us back to you - the writer. It's a good question. Why would you start a romance novel with a murder or a crime? Why would you start a thriller with a long description of a city, no matter how interesting that city is? Why would you start your novel with two pages of dialogue, with no hint of who is speaking or where we are? Why would you start your novel with three pages of description of the major characters? (Please don't say because you are a great writer and you can get away with it!)
Take a look at what is currently on your bookshelves. Pick out ten novels at random and read their opening paragraphs. I have no doubt that the first thing you will think is: this beginning is too slow, too descriptive, doesn't start with the viewpoint character, has a prologue, etc etc. But very often the writers "breaking" those rules about beginnings are established. They already have a "contract with the reader" that will not be broken.
One example I'm reading right now is the latest Janet Evanovich novel about Stephanie Plum. There were a lot of paragraphs in Chapter 1 and 2 that I skipped, because JE was summarising stuff I already know from previous books. I gave her a bit of leeway, because in there was some humour and some action, and a promise of more of the same from previous books (but I am getting a bit over it all - I'd like Stephanie to break out now, maybe find a new job and/or a new disastrous love, but no doubt 1 million other readers would say no). I put up with it. But I'm getting less and less inclined to spend $$ on JE. She's wasting her opening chapter on things I bet 95% of her readers already know, so JE? Get on with the story!
It is easy to criticise publishers for "pigeon-holing" books into this genre or that, but let's face it, we all want to know what we are getting. What we are paying money for. I expect the first pages of a book I read, while standing in front of the shelves groaning with books, to promise me something, and to live up to that promise. A big part of that is to do with where I find it in the shop.
However, if I pick up something new, by a new writer, I'm keen to see what the contract is offering. Is it going to be an engaging character voice? A zinger of a plot? Lots of laughter? A new twist on an old story?
Ask yourself this: what does your opening page offer the reader in your contract? Are you promising them a certain kind of genre? A character they will love by page 2? An action-filled story that they will still be reading at 3am? A fantasy world that they will fall into and never want to leave? A story that reflects something happening (or that they wish would happen) in their own lives? A use of language that will stir their imaginations and their souls, and leave them gasping for breath?
OK, here is today's exercise. Please post in the Comments section. What is the contract you are offering your reader? Is it genre-based? Is it going to be about character and voice? When a reader (any reader, be it agent, editor or someone with money in their hand) picks up your novel and reads Page 1, what is in the contract you are offering them? Start your contribution with "This is what I promise you will get..."
Seriously though, I'd like to offer a range of ideas, advice and thought-provokers this week, along with the opportunity for you to send me your first 200 words for feedback later on. Possibly a la Snark. As in some straightforward give-and-take from me and other readers about what works and what doesn't in your opening. I'm also going to offer some prizes! The kind you win simply by chipping in with your comments and your 200 words (or feedback). They'll be books - what else? And I'll announce them next week. Here we go.
Why a Great Beginning is Important
Hands up if you've heard or read something like the following: "A totally engaging beginning is the key to interesting any agent or editor in reading your manuscript. You need to start your story with action, character and voice; you need to hook your reader on the first page, and keep them hooked." I think we've all heard this so many times that we yawn now, and we say things like "Yeah, but my story/novel is atmospheric and I have to set that up first" or "I need that bit of backstory and it fits on page one and it saves me doing a flashback later" or "this prologue is vital for the reader to understand the rest of the novel".
Can you hear the buzzer? It's buzzing you out of the game. It really doesn't matter how great your novel might be, if you can't write an engaging, active first page, no one is going to keep reading. Not the agent, the editor, or the person in the bookshop with $15 to spend and 5000 books to choose from. That may sound harsh. But anyone who has ever been an editor or slush pile reader of any kind, whether for a publisher, a magazine, an agent or a story competition, will tell you the same thing. If it hasn't grabbed them within the first page or two, it'll get put into the NO pile.
Yep, you've heard that before too, so I'm not going to labour the point any longer. I want to move onto the constructive stuff, not the doom and gloom parade. One of my favourite books is about beginnings - it's Hooked by Les Edgerton. And on page 7 Les says: "A good, quality story beginning is a microcosm of the work entire. If you capture the right beginning, you've written a small version of the whole."
Now this fascinates me. Les is saying that if you work really hard on your first chapter (or paragraph for a short story), and you learn everything you can from it in terms of establishing character, voice, setting, and then go onto scene construction, pacing, plotting and dialogue, you can apply what you have learned and succeeded in, and create a whole novel like that. Sounds simple. I agree with him about 80%, because Chapter 1 probably won't help you much with plotting and sustaining 90,000 words, but it'll be a darned good start.
The Contract With The Reader
There are two sides to this. On the reader's side (starting with the end first), what he or she does in a bookshop is attempt to decipher the book in front of them. Publishers do a lot of work to make this easier. They create a cover that says crime or romance or literary; they tell the bookshop where to shelve it; they write a blurb that gives you an idea of what the book will be about; they market the book as a specific genre. But the other thing they "help" with is the first page. Because after all that other work they do, the last thing they need is an author who begins their romance novel with an opening page that reads like a murder mystery.
That brings us back to you - the writer. It's a good question. Why would you start a romance novel with a murder or a crime? Why would you start a thriller with a long description of a city, no matter how interesting that city is? Why would you start your novel with two pages of dialogue, with no hint of who is speaking or where we are? Why would you start your novel with three pages of description of the major characters? (Please don't say because you are a great writer and you can get away with it!)
Take a look at what is currently on your bookshelves. Pick out ten novels at random and read their opening paragraphs. I have no doubt that the first thing you will think is: this beginning is too slow, too descriptive, doesn't start with the viewpoint character, has a prologue, etc etc. But very often the writers "breaking" those rules about beginnings are established. They already have a "contract with the reader" that will not be broken.
One example I'm reading right now is the latest Janet Evanovich novel about Stephanie Plum. There were a lot of paragraphs in Chapter 1 and 2 that I skipped, because JE was summarising stuff I already know from previous books. I gave her a bit of leeway, because in there was some humour and some action, and a promise of more of the same from previous books (but I am getting a bit over it all - I'd like Stephanie to break out now, maybe find a new job and/or a new disastrous love, but no doubt 1 million other readers would say no). I put up with it. But I'm getting less and less inclined to spend $$ on JE. She's wasting her opening chapter on things I bet 95% of her readers already know, so JE? Get on with the story!
It is easy to criticise publishers for "pigeon-holing" books into this genre or that, but let's face it, we all want to know what we are getting. What we are paying money for. I expect the first pages of a book I read, while standing in front of the shelves groaning with books, to promise me something, and to live up to that promise. A big part of that is to do with where I find it in the shop.
However, if I pick up something new, by a new writer, I'm keen to see what the contract is offering. Is it going to be an engaging character voice? A zinger of a plot? Lots of laughter? A new twist on an old story?
Ask yourself this: what does your opening page offer the reader in your contract? Are you promising them a certain kind of genre? A character they will love by page 2? An action-filled story that they will still be reading at 3am? A fantasy world that they will fall into and never want to leave? A story that reflects something happening (or that they wish would happen) in their own lives? A use of language that will stir their imaginations and their souls, and leave them gasping for breath?
OK, here is today's exercise. Please post in the Comments section. What is the contract you are offering your reader? Is it genre-based? Is it going to be about character and voice? When a reader (any reader, be it agent, editor or someone with money in their hand) picks up your novel and reads Page 1, what is in the contract you are offering them? Start your contribution with "This is what I promise you will get..."
Friday, July 25, 2008
Remember These?
Slate online has a very interesting piece about early readers for kids, questioning the use of PG13 film characters in a new series. (Iron Man and the Incredible Hulk). The link is here. Most of the piece is in the form of a slide show! And it shows pages from classic readers, as well as the new ones. It took me right back - not just to the Cat in the Hat but to A Fly Went By, Ten Apples up on Top and Frog and Toad. Great classics that helped us all learn to read. Worth a look just for reminiscing!
Thursday, July 24, 2008
The Book and the ...
It seems that the popular topic continues to be "the future of the book". Industry articles talk about publishers resisting the move into multimedia, while some publishers out there are already producing the book that goes with the website, game, cards, toys, music, etc. In the middle, the author continues to wonder where they'll be in ten years time.
One article I've just read on The Futurist website is called The 21st Century Writer. It talks about all the usual stuff, but instead of predicting writers will become extinct, it makes a few interesting suggestions. One is about what readers want now:
Authors also make the mistake of assuming the audience have all read their books. I will often go to a session with an author who I may never heard of, but who sounds interesting. If all they do is spruik their latest offering, it's really boring. I don't know what they are referring to! But if they talk about the ideas in the book, or the research, or about their work as a writer generally, the interest and engagement level rises. They are sharing something I can't get from the book.
I attended a session at the crime writing festival last weekend, one with Michael Robotham and Peter Temple. Because this really was a festival that seemed to focus more on writing, both of them talked at length about their processes. That included things like how being a journalist led to or influenced their fiction writing, and how they learned to write dialogue, among other fascinating topics. I was happy to get a book signed by MR afterwards (and permission to use one of his openings in my workshops next week) and came home even more intrigued to see how the rest of the book I was reading of his turned out.
As the Futurist article also says, an author can only be in one place at a time. That kind of festival experience is limited to how many days there are in a year! But it may be that video podcasts, interactive websites and short films will help to broaden the experience of "invoking the author" and exploring ideas. I'm signed up for a couple of Virtual School Visits in early September, and I am looking forward to seeing how it all works.
One article I've just read on The Futurist website is called The 21st Century Writer. It talks about all the usual stuff, but instead of predicting writers will become extinct, it makes a few interesting suggestions. One is about what readers want now:
the key to book publishing in the future is recognizing that readers are after more than information. They’re seeking an intellectual connection with an author and a community experience organized around an idea. Publishers have to look at what is still scarce, says Rushkoff. “While the book isn’t scarce, I’m scarce. I can only be in so many places. So there are a lot of different experiences that attend the book that [readers] should be participating in, to think about the book as a way to promote a set of ideas. How to work with those ideas is limited.” Those attendant experiences can include lectures, classes, even parties. The more personal the experience, the more people are willing to pay for it.This got me thinking about writers' festivals - most of which are really readers' festivals - and the reasons why people go to them. I think what Rushkoff says is right. Readers want to see their favourite authors, hear what they have to say, and listen to new ideas. Many times I have heard disappointed audience members talk about writers who gave boring, academic papers instead of relating directly to the audience and being more open and engaging. Reading a paper puts you behind a podium, at a distance. Some readers are interested in the story behind the story, some just want to see the author talk about their books and writing. But again, an author who talks only about their latest book, like a walking advertisement, is disliked intensely.
Authors also make the mistake of assuming the audience have all read their books. I will often go to a session with an author who I may never heard of, but who sounds interesting. If all they do is spruik their latest offering, it's really boring. I don't know what they are referring to! But if they talk about the ideas in the book, or the research, or about their work as a writer generally, the interest and engagement level rises. They are sharing something I can't get from the book.
I attended a session at the crime writing festival last weekend, one with Michael Robotham and Peter Temple. Because this really was a festival that seemed to focus more on writing, both of them talked at length about their processes. That included things like how being a journalist led to or influenced their fiction writing, and how they learned to write dialogue, among other fascinating topics. I was happy to get a book signed by MR afterwards (and permission to use one of his openings in my workshops next week) and came home even more intrigued to see how the rest of the book I was reading of his turned out.
As the Futurist article also says, an author can only be in one place at a time. That kind of festival experience is limited to how many days there are in a year! But it may be that video podcasts, interactive websites and short films will help to broaden the experience of "invoking the author" and exploring ideas. I'm signed up for a couple of Virtual School Visits in early September, and I am looking forward to seeing how it all works.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Where Shall I Buy Books?
The issue of parallel imports has come up again here. For those who don't know about this, currently there is a rule (law?) where a local publisher has 30 days in which to publish a book from overseas, as a local production, or booksellers are then allowed to import it. Say David Sedaris's new book comes out in the US on 1 June, then if a publisher here has bought Australian rights, they have to get it out here by 1 July. The idea is that it stops mass imports of overseas books, and supports our local publishing industry. I have to say I find the whole thing a bit confusing, and I have come to think that really it only applies to best-sellers. For a book with a limited audience of maybe 500 Australian buyers, nobody here is going to publish it. They'll just import a small amount after the 30 days.
I guess booksellers don't like the 30 days rule because anyone who wants a hot new (limited interest) title will buy it from Amazon or B&N. They won't wait. But as an occasional buyer of these books, I'm not going to bother with a local bookshop anyway, not even Dymocks or Borders. Why not? Because you go in to said bookshop, they find it for you on the computer, you put in a special order and you wait. And wait. And wait. Sometimes 3-4 months. And when the book finally arrives, you pay double for it. Why on earth wouldn't I buy online?
With Amazon or B&N, I go online, I find exactly what I want, I pay with my credit card and usually within 3 weeks or so (sometimes longer if it's hard to get, but not if it's new and available) the books turn up on my doorstep. I do pay quite a lot for postage - I think this is where Amazon makes a nice profit! - but often I am paying US$12 for a hardcover and less for a paperback. The current excellent exchange rate makes it an even better deal.
Of course I am going to buy in a local bookshop when it's available. My bookshop receipts show that they're ahead in my purchase dollars by about 5 to 1. But for things like writing books, it's a no-brainer. My local Borders and Readings both have lots of writing books for sale, often even newish ones I want. But the average price for a paperback is around $40 or more. I assume that's freight plus profit zooming the price up. So I will go and buy the same book online for $12 plus postage, which ends up being around $20-24.
Here's two concrete examples. I am very keen to read a new YA novel called Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. It's not in any of my local bookshops so far, and may not be for another couple of months. When it is, it's likely to be in hardcover (imported) and be around $30+. On Amazon, I can buy the hardcover right now for US$11.55 plus postage (around $9 if I just buy this one book). I can also buy secondhand copies for $9.57 from Amazon, but I won't because I want to support the author. Yes, I'm going with Amazon. On the other hand, Ellen Hopkins' verse novels are always available in Borders here, and at a very reasonable price, so I will buy locally.
My other example is about secondhand. I teach several writing subjects that involve looking at aspects of the hero's journey. This year, we wanted to cover the heroine's journey and I found some information on the net for the class, but I decided I wanted a copy of the book by Maureen Murdock. No bookshops here had a copy or could get one in for me. It was originally published in 1990. But on Amazon, I was able to buy a secondhand copy for twenty-two cents!! Plus US$12 postage. It's been three weeks and it hasn't arrived yet, but I'm not in a hurry. I'm just glad to get a copy.
I guess booksellers don't like the 30 days rule because anyone who wants a hot new (limited interest) title will buy it from Amazon or B&N. They won't wait. But as an occasional buyer of these books, I'm not going to bother with a local bookshop anyway, not even Dymocks or Borders. Why not? Because you go in to said bookshop, they find it for you on the computer, you put in a special order and you wait. And wait. And wait. Sometimes 3-4 months. And when the book finally arrives, you pay double for it. Why on earth wouldn't I buy online?
With Amazon or B&N, I go online, I find exactly what I want, I pay with my credit card and usually within 3 weeks or so (sometimes longer if it's hard to get, but not if it's new and available) the books turn up on my doorstep. I do pay quite a lot for postage - I think this is where Amazon makes a nice profit! - but often I am paying US$12 for a hardcover and less for a paperback. The current excellent exchange rate makes it an even better deal.
Of course I am going to buy in a local bookshop when it's available. My bookshop receipts show that they're ahead in my purchase dollars by about 5 to 1. But for things like writing books, it's a no-brainer. My local Borders and Readings both have lots of writing books for sale, often even newish ones I want. But the average price for a paperback is around $40 or more. I assume that's freight plus profit zooming the price up. So I will go and buy the same book online for $12 plus postage, which ends up being around $20-24.
Here's two concrete examples. I am very keen to read a new YA novel called Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. It's not in any of my local bookshops so far, and may not be for another couple of months. When it is, it's likely to be in hardcover (imported) and be around $30+. On Amazon, I can buy the hardcover right now for US$11.55 plus postage (around $9 if I just buy this one book). I can also buy secondhand copies for $9.57 from Amazon, but I won't because I want to support the author. Yes, I'm going with Amazon. On the other hand, Ellen Hopkins' verse novels are always available in Borders here, and at a very reasonable price, so I will buy locally.
My other example is about secondhand. I teach several writing subjects that involve looking at aspects of the hero's journey. This year, we wanted to cover the heroine's journey and I found some information on the net for the class, but I decided I wanted a copy of the book by Maureen Murdock. No bookshops here had a copy or could get one in for me. It was originally published in 1990. But on Amazon, I was able to buy a secondhand copy for twenty-two cents!! Plus US$12 postage. It's been three weeks and it hasn't arrived yet, but I'm not in a hurry. I'm just glad to get a copy.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Workshop Coming...
Over on Paperback Writer's blog, she is in the process of setting up a week of workshops on people's blogs (they are volunteering to run something on a topic and she'll be the central "linker", I think). It will start 28 July.
It sounded like fun, so I've put my hand up to run a workshop here on my blog - my topic is the first 200 words. Of your work in progress. Novel, short story, middle grade or YA - any genre.
I think the idea is that I put up a series of posts with information, pointers, advice and examples, and you respond with your own ideas and thoughts. And I'm thinking also that people could put up their own 200 words (max) and get some feedback. I don't moderate comments here, so I'm expecting and hoping that everyone will play fair, and remember what they learned in Workshop 101 - that's all the stuff about how it's not YOUR story, and you should be constructive, not destructive. Or rude.
As well as my own how-to stuff, I'll be pointing you to other resources, including this one from J.A. Konrath's blog.
Anybody interested?
It sounded like fun, so I've put my hand up to run a workshop here on my blog - my topic is the first 200 words. Of your work in progress. Novel, short story, middle grade or YA - any genre.
I think the idea is that I put up a series of posts with information, pointers, advice and examples, and you respond with your own ideas and thoughts. And I'm thinking also that people could put up their own 200 words (max) and get some feedback. I don't moderate comments here, so I'm expecting and hoping that everyone will play fair, and remember what they learned in Workshop 101 - that's all the stuff about how it's not YOUR story, and you should be constructive, not destructive. Or rude.
As well as my own how-to stuff, I'll be pointing you to other resources, including this one from J.A. Konrath's blog.
Anybody interested?
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Perseverance Means Dennis
This is a photo of a happy author, celebrating the launch of his book along with a big bunch of mates and supporters. Dennis McIntosh. The book? Beaten By a Blow: the story of a shearer. It's a great moment for any author, to have your first book out there, on the shelves, receiving lots of attention and good reviews. And this is one guy who totally deserves all the good things that come with being published at last. Not that Dennis's path to publication is all about the book, or even all about the writing. It's about guts and determination and - that key factor - perseverance.Beaten By a Blow is a title that rings of the shearing sheds, but couldn't be further from describing Dennis. I first met him back in 1996. He was in my poetry class, and it was obvious from the first night that he had a voice and a story to tell. At that time, he was struggling with grammar and punctuation, and poetry gave him a playing field of language that allowed him to express what he wanted to without being obsessed by the comma (that came later!). He produced two collections of his own poems, and had a poem read out in parliament.
Dennis tells me that, at the time, I said to him, 'You should go to university.' Well, he did. He started with my poetry class, and went on to do a Bachelor of Arts at Victoria University, an Honours year, and then a Masters at the University of Melbourne. He jokes about the fact that his thesis, written in academic language (after another long struggle), was about how he couldn't use academic language the way they wanted him to! He was determined to master grammar and punctuation, understanding that without those skills, he was always going to lag behind in writing for publication of any kind. So he studied editing with us at Vic Uni TAFE, TWICE!
Along the way, Dennis has fought a huge bunch of non-believers, people who decided they knew what was publishable writing and what wasn't, and told him several times to give up. Said he'd never make it. That's what I mean by perseverance. Not just writing and writing and then rewriting, but studying grammar, studying literature in order to understand what it was he was trying to do, and then not listening to the non-believers. I don't believe anyone has the right to tell a person they should give up on their dream.
Now Dennis's first book is out there. It was originally conceived as a novel, but his editor at Penguin convinced him to rewrite it as a memoir, which was a good move. Dennis said at his launch that the support from the editors at Penguin was fantastic, and he rose to their expectations, wanting to make it the best book it could possibly be. I wish you every success, Dennis. You are an inspiration.
And here's the blurb:
Dennis McIntosh was always determined not to get stuck in a factory like his father, but it's only once he takes a job as a roustabout that he discovers what he really wants to be: a shearer. Travelling from station to station, he revels in the smell and feel of the sheds, and the freedom of being answerable to no man except his mates.
And it's a thrilling tme to be in this legendary occupation. There's a fight on: the union is defending its workers against scab labourers' use of the wide comb. But while shearing's a fine life for a nineteen-year-old, it's a hard one for a man. As the added weight og adulthood settles on Dennis's shoulders, the sheds take their unforgiving toll.
Beaten by a Blow shows us the reality behind the romance of the shearer. Most of all, it tells the story of a boy dull of hope crashing headlong into life - into work, into drink, into responsibilities he isn't ready for, which come closer to breaking his back than shearing ever did.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Newsletter news
My writer friend and colleague, Susanna, has been in Kuala Lumpur recently, scouting out opportunities for our overseas writing/teaching business - textConnection. We travel to Hong Kong each year to teach writing classes and run professional development seminars. The photo above is me before I begin a session with the Hong Kong Women in Publishing members. The venue - the Helena May - is pretty amazing. I'm about to start work, not sit down for dinner!
We also produce a newsletter of fiction and nonfiction writing tips. The May issue includes a piece on how to tackle planning and clear writing, and another on finding time to write.
If you would like to be on our mailing list, email me at courses at textconnection dot net.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Resting or Feeling Guilty?
Last Thursday I finished Draft 3 of my crime novel (my secret vice when I'm not writing children's books!) - it was a complete rewrite, putting aside Draft 2 and starting again from scratch. After feedback, the intention was to deepen the characterisation, add more detail and create more depth in the story. So that wasn't going to be fixed by fiddling around the edges. I'd been working on it sporadically for about 3 months, then my friend G and I set each other a deadline to finish our respective novels. That gave me 4 weeks to write about 30,000 words.
Well, I did it. And so did she. We met up on the designated day and handed over our manuscripts to each other for critiquing, and spent a long time discussing what we thought might be the main issues, and what we specifically wanted the other person to look out for and comment on. Along with all the normal kinds of comments. My novel ended up at around 93,000 words, 13,000 more than the previous draft, so either I've been successful at the deepening process, or I've done a lot of pathetic padding!
So then I thought: back to the other story I was working on. I was halfway through and put it aside to do some research and thinking, then got into the crime rewrite, so going back to this one wasn't that hard. I had it plotted out, it was just the writing to be done. But have I been able to start? No. I have done a hundred other things, and procrastinated. I finally made myself sit down two days ago and read what I'd already written, thinking maybe I was afraid the earlier stuff was awful.
No, it was fine, and I'd written more than I thought I had. But I still haven't written any more. It's not writer's block, I think it's "resting time" perhaps. My head was inside that crime novel in a very intense way, and now the creative part of my brain is saying: Give me a break, kid. Then this morning, I was checking out a blog I hadn't read for a while, Through the Tollbooth, and there are several terrific posts on creativity and giving the muse (or whatever you want to call it) room to move. Letting it feel creative again rather than pushing, pushing, pushing to get more words out.
So rather than feel guilty for not writing this week, maybe I just need to chill out a bit, relax, go back to the writing books I was reading, watch another movie, dig more garden up, go for another walk, read some poetry, and let the muse put its feet up a for a little while longer.
Well, I did it. And so did she. We met up on the designated day and handed over our manuscripts to each other for critiquing, and spent a long time discussing what we thought might be the main issues, and what we specifically wanted the other person to look out for and comment on. Along with all the normal kinds of comments. My novel ended up at around 93,000 words, 13,000 more than the previous draft, so either I've been successful at the deepening process, or I've done a lot of pathetic padding!
So then I thought: back to the other story I was working on. I was halfway through and put it aside to do some research and thinking, then got into the crime rewrite, so going back to this one wasn't that hard. I had it plotted out, it was just the writing to be done. But have I been able to start? No. I have done a hundred other things, and procrastinated. I finally made myself sit down two days ago and read what I'd already written, thinking maybe I was afraid the earlier stuff was awful.
No, it was fine, and I'd written more than I thought I had. But I still haven't written any more. It's not writer's block, I think it's "resting time" perhaps. My head was inside that crime novel in a very intense way, and now the creative part of my brain is saying: Give me a break, kid. Then this morning, I was checking out a blog I hadn't read for a while, Through the Tollbooth, and there are several terrific posts on creativity and giving the muse (or whatever you want to call it) room to move. Letting it feel creative again rather than pushing, pushing, pushing to get more words out.
So rather than feel guilty for not writing this week, maybe I just need to chill out a bit, relax, go back to the writing books I was reading, watch another movie, dig more garden up, go for another walk, read some poetry, and let the muse put its feet up a for a little while longer.
Friday, July 04, 2008
The Potential Role of Fiction
Two items of interest this week - one an article, one an anecdote - have kept me thinking about the role of the imagination. The first was an article in Atlantic Monthly called Is Google Making Us Stupid? in which the author talks about how he has stopped being able to read in depth. Meaning things like long articles or books, pages and pages of ideas and theories and information, that all used to lead him to deeper thought and analysis. He talks about how having the internet at our fingertips, with dozens of instant results for any information search, leads to us constantly skimming and skipping. Thus he, and many people he has talked to, is losing the capacity for sustained thought and analysis. Or sustained anything where a big bunch of reading is required.
I was talking to my friend G about this, and we agreed. A few years ago, we read a lot of literary fiction. Now it seems like an effort, one I prepare for by eyeing the novel for a few days or weeks before working myself up to it. (A bit like mountain climbing.) I love literary fiction, but less and less am I reading it. Then she told me the anecdote that I will summarise: experts are saying that the toys and games children have now are too finite - everything has a purpose or an "ending" that is limiting kids' imagination. No longer does a cardboard box that could be a dozen different things, from space rocket to boat to house, satisfy parents (or kids sucked in by advertising). Nobody lets their kids play outdoors much anymore, so all those pretend games that go on and on and on, until you get sick of them and invent new ones, don't happen in the same way.
Instead you have a "make over" doll that you put make up on and that's it. Or play a video game with pre-set moves and endings (even multi-choice endings are still endings not created by you, and video worlds are never your imaginary worlds). I've seen little kids with those "action stations" - plastic boards with bells and rattles and moving bits on them that are supposed to mean hours of enjoyment - where the kid gives it a go for about 20 seconds and gets bored. What else can you do with it? Nothing much.
When I did my degree, I studied a unit on artificial intelligence, which was about how close computers were getting to thinking like humans, and what the differences were. That was a while ago, and I'm sure the differences now are minimal. In many things, computers have overtaken us. One day computers will fall in love, perhaps! But the article about Google made me think about the other side of it - are we being encouraged to become more like computers? After all, computerised humans would theoretically be more efficient, less emotional, and more able to quickly process information and get the job done for the boss.
I'm starting to think that what might save us is books, and specifically fiction. With the advances in digital animation, movies no longer have to rely on suggestion or story. They can blitz us with virtual reality on the screen. No imagination needed. But people complain loudly about movies that are all special effects and no story or characters. Where can we go to re-discover our imagination? Stories and books. For those of us who love fiction, the idea that there are kids who hate to read is astounding. When you have had that experience of diving into a book, entering a world in your imagination that sweeps you away, you just can't imagine how anyone would not want to do that!
There are, of course, lots of readers who don't like fiction. But I agree with Nicholas Carr, who wrote the Google article. Having millions of items of information at our fingertips doesn't improve our minds, it just improves our efficiency. If our brains are not going to become just processors of quick, short bursts of stuff, we need the worlds of fiction. And most importantly, so do our kids. So don't go out and buy more stupid plastic toys or video games - buy your kids some books. Read those books with your kids and stir up your own imagination. (And read the article about Google - it's not too long, and it might get you thinking!)
I was talking to my friend G about this, and we agreed. A few years ago, we read a lot of literary fiction. Now it seems like an effort, one I prepare for by eyeing the novel for a few days or weeks before working myself up to it. (A bit like mountain climbing.) I love literary fiction, but less and less am I reading it. Then she told me the anecdote that I will summarise: experts are saying that the toys and games children have now are too finite - everything has a purpose or an "ending" that is limiting kids' imagination. No longer does a cardboard box that could be a dozen different things, from space rocket to boat to house, satisfy parents (or kids sucked in by advertising). Nobody lets their kids play outdoors much anymore, so all those pretend games that go on and on and on, until you get sick of them and invent new ones, don't happen in the same way.
Instead you have a "make over" doll that you put make up on and that's it. Or play a video game with pre-set moves and endings (even multi-choice endings are still endings not created by you, and video worlds are never your imaginary worlds). I've seen little kids with those "action stations" - plastic boards with bells and rattles and moving bits on them that are supposed to mean hours of enjoyment - where the kid gives it a go for about 20 seconds and gets bored. What else can you do with it? Nothing much.
When I did my degree, I studied a unit on artificial intelligence, which was about how close computers were getting to thinking like humans, and what the differences were. That was a while ago, and I'm sure the differences now are minimal. In many things, computers have overtaken us. One day computers will fall in love, perhaps! But the article about Google made me think about the other side of it - are we being encouraged to become more like computers? After all, computerised humans would theoretically be more efficient, less emotional, and more able to quickly process information and get the job done for the boss.
I'm starting to think that what might save us is books, and specifically fiction. With the advances in digital animation, movies no longer have to rely on suggestion or story. They can blitz us with virtual reality on the screen. No imagination needed. But people complain loudly about movies that are all special effects and no story or characters. Where can we go to re-discover our imagination? Stories and books. For those of us who love fiction, the idea that there are kids who hate to read is astounding. When you have had that experience of diving into a book, entering a world in your imagination that sweeps you away, you just can't imagine how anyone would not want to do that!
There are, of course, lots of readers who don't like fiction. But I agree with Nicholas Carr, who wrote the Google article. Having millions of items of information at our fingertips doesn't improve our minds, it just improves our efficiency. If our brains are not going to become just processors of quick, short bursts of stuff, we need the worlds of fiction. And most importantly, so do our kids. So don't go out and buy more stupid plastic toys or video games - buy your kids some books. Read those books with your kids and stir up your own imagination. (And read the article about Google - it's not too long, and it might get you thinking!)
Monday, June 30, 2008
Watch Your Tone
Tone in fiction is a strange thing, not often talked about these days. We hear a lot about voice - does the writer have an original voice? Does the narrator have a unique voice? Does each character have their own voice? And then editors say voice is what they look for - a weak plot can always be fixed but a voice that's not working? Forget it. And sometimes you hear people discussing style. The use of language. The cadence of sentences. Imagery and metaphor. Literary novels are more likely to have style than genre fiction.
But tone? What is it? How do you define it? I used to know when my mother was mad - her tone changed to snappy and short. And if I was mad, she'd say, "Don't use that tone with me." (Hardly fair, if you ask me.) I'll start by saying tone is embedded in the decision about whether you are writing comedy or tragedy. A comedy signals right from the start that it's meant to be funny. The narrator jokes, his or her view of the world is humorous, we see funny things happening. Yes, there'll be some tragedy in there somewhere, but overall we expect that tone to stay light, and we expect a good laugh.
Tragedy, of course, is the mirror side. Lots of drama, serious relationship stuff, catastrophes and character change and growth. Some humour in there works well to leaven the darkness, but the tone will be clearly straight-down-the-line and the work will provide angst/or and page-turning material. Nothing fluffy.
What happens when the tone jars? One example is the YA whiner, the narrator who spends the whole book complaining in a hilarious way that isn't very hilarious by page 30. In fact, by page 40 you want to reach into the book and give the character a good slap. Another is the novel that at heart is about a serious issue, but the writer decides to try and make the issue more palatable by pretending the novel is a comedy. Lots of snappy lines from the main character, and some slapstick here and there, heavily dosed with dialogue that "tells us what we need to know about this issue". That's a book that fails to engage, for sure. No one likes being lectured to, even via dialogue.
Another kind of novel where tone fails (but not completely) is a story which is patently unbelievable, so therefore reader expectation is that we'll go along for the ride here and have a good laugh, with lots of humorous wordplay and situations. Except when you look at the plot, most of it is about serious relationship stuff - boy/girl, mother/daughter - and also stuff about peer pressure. And all the serious stuff is treated very seriously. So all the funny stuff seems a bit odd.
My last example is a movie I saw years ago with Nick Nolte in it (sorry, can't remember the title) which started out very clearly as a comedy. Funny, witty, etc. Then 20 minutes in, it turned into a serious drama. What happened? Did the director bail out and the new director change his mind? How did that happen and no one noticed? That's the thing about tone. It has to be consistent. What the reader picks up in the first 20 minutes or 20 pages is like a blueprint for the rest of the book, especially in terms of tone. You deviate or play with it at your peril. And really, what would be the point? Don't you want your reader to be so inside your story that they wouldn't notice if the roof fell in? Inconsistent tone might not be as immediately noticeable as a character whose hair changes from blonde to brunette on page 50, but it will make the reader uneasy and doubtful about whether you can really tell an engaging story.
(If you can supply any examples of books where you think tone was an issue, I'd love to hear about them.)
But tone? What is it? How do you define it? I used to know when my mother was mad - her tone changed to snappy and short. And if I was mad, she'd say, "Don't use that tone with me." (Hardly fair, if you ask me.) I'll start by saying tone is embedded in the decision about whether you are writing comedy or tragedy. A comedy signals right from the start that it's meant to be funny. The narrator jokes, his or her view of the world is humorous, we see funny things happening. Yes, there'll be some tragedy in there somewhere, but overall we expect that tone to stay light, and we expect a good laugh.
Tragedy, of course, is the mirror side. Lots of drama, serious relationship stuff, catastrophes and character change and growth. Some humour in there works well to leaven the darkness, but the tone will be clearly straight-down-the-line and the work will provide angst/or and page-turning material. Nothing fluffy.
What happens when the tone jars? One example is the YA whiner, the narrator who spends the whole book complaining in a hilarious way that isn't very hilarious by page 30. In fact, by page 40 you want to reach into the book and give the character a good slap. Another is the novel that at heart is about a serious issue, but the writer decides to try and make the issue more palatable by pretending the novel is a comedy. Lots of snappy lines from the main character, and some slapstick here and there, heavily dosed with dialogue that "tells us what we need to know about this issue". That's a book that fails to engage, for sure. No one likes being lectured to, even via dialogue.
Another kind of novel where tone fails (but not completely) is a story which is patently unbelievable, so therefore reader expectation is that we'll go along for the ride here and have a good laugh, with lots of humorous wordplay and situations. Except when you look at the plot, most of it is about serious relationship stuff - boy/girl, mother/daughter - and also stuff about peer pressure. And all the serious stuff is treated very seriously. So all the funny stuff seems a bit odd.
My last example is a movie I saw years ago with Nick Nolte in it (sorry, can't remember the title) which started out very clearly as a comedy. Funny, witty, etc. Then 20 minutes in, it turned into a serious drama. What happened? Did the director bail out and the new director change his mind? How did that happen and no one noticed? That's the thing about tone. It has to be consistent. What the reader picks up in the first 20 minutes or 20 pages is like a blueprint for the rest of the book, especially in terms of tone. You deviate or play with it at your peril. And really, what would be the point? Don't you want your reader to be so inside your story that they wouldn't notice if the roof fell in? Inconsistent tone might not be as immediately noticeable as a character whose hair changes from blonde to brunette on page 50, but it will make the reader uneasy and doubtful about whether you can really tell an engaging story.
(If you can supply any examples of books where you think tone was an issue, I'd love to hear about them.)
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Two Writing Books
Some time ago I was sent a review copy of Weinberg on Writing: The Fieldstone Method, and although I read most of it, I never got around to commenting. Now that I'm into that time of year when teaching is finished and my brain is slowly coming back to its more creative mode, funnily enough this is when I like to read books about writing.
At first, I wondered why Weinberg would write a book about writing - he seemed to be a software guy who wrote technical manuals. But it's probably the reason why he comes at writing from a different perspective, what he calls the fieldstone method. Most of his book is about ways of gathering pieces of writing, without a fixed aim in mind. Rather, you write many things and then decide how to place them together (like building a stone wall). His first rule is: Never attempt to write something you don't care about.
I like the huge amount of writing exercises he provides. Certainly you'll never have to worry about writer's block with this book. I'm not so sure about his theories on how you put it all together - how you take those pieces and construct a wall/novel. But if you are the kind of writer who isn't anal about starting at page 1 and writing to page 300 via your outline, this book might be very useful. Weinberg also has a blog about writing, which has some good pointers on it.
My second book is one I have only just started reading, but I bought it because another of Lyon's books - The Sell-Your-Novel Toolkit - is one of the best I've read on getting your novel out there with que
ry letters, marketing and approaching agents and publishers. The new book is Manuscript Makeover, and I'm always on the look-out for ways to tackle revision. So far I have read about working from the inside out (the heart of your novel) and the outside in (matters of style and language). I'm already taking notes, and making a great working list of elements I need to look at in my current work, and address. Even down to things such as the first and last sentence of every chapter and scene, and the first and last word of each paragraph.
It's too easy in revision to do a bit of tapdancing around the edges, to cut bits out and correct some grammar and think you're done. I like her suggestion of slow reading - to read some of your novel in a quiet space and "become" your character, totally immerse yourself in the experience on the page and see if the emotional depth is happening. If not, imagine how you would feel in this situation and then put it into the story. Another word for tapdancing in revision is skimming - this book won't allow you to do that, if you use Lyon's approach. I'm looking forward to the rest of it.
Also on my pile of writing books (not yet read) is a new one on writing for young adults by K.L Going - Writing and Selling the Young Adult Novel. There aren't many around on this topic. Sherry Garland's book has been the one I've mostly used in class for years now, so I'm keen to see how Going's shapes up.
At first, I wondered why Weinberg would write a book about writing - he seemed to be a software guy who wrote technical manuals. But it's probably the reason why he comes at writing from a different perspective, what he calls the fieldstone method. Most of his book is about ways of gathering pieces of writing, without a fixed aim in mind. Rather, you write many things and then decide how to place them together (like building a stone wall). His first rule is: Never attempt to write something you don't care about.
I like the huge amount of writing exercises he provides. Certainly you'll never have to worry about writer's block with this book. I'm not so sure about his theories on how you put it all together - how you take those pieces and construct a wall/novel. But if you are the kind of writer who isn't anal about starting at page 1 and writing to page 300 via your outline, this book might be very useful. Weinberg also has a blog about writing, which has some good pointers on it.
My second book is one I have only just started reading, but I bought it because another of Lyon's books - The Sell-Your-Novel Toolkit - is one of the best I've read on getting your novel out there with que
ry letters, marketing and approaching agents and publishers. The new book is Manuscript Makeover, and I'm always on the look-out for ways to tackle revision. So far I have read about working from the inside out (the heart of your novel) and the outside in (matters of style and language). I'm already taking notes, and making a great working list of elements I need to look at in my current work, and address. Even down to things such as the first and last sentence of every chapter and scene, and the first and last word of each paragraph.It's too easy in revision to do a bit of tapdancing around the edges, to cut bits out and correct some grammar and think you're done. I like her suggestion of slow reading - to read some of your novel in a quiet space and "become" your character, totally immerse yourself in the experience on the page and see if the emotional depth is happening. If not, imagine how you would feel in this situation and then put it into the story. Another word for tapdancing in revision is skimming - this book won't allow you to do that, if you use Lyon's approach. I'm looking forward to the rest of it.
Also on my pile of writing books (not yet read) is a new one on writing for young adults by K.L Going - Writing and Selling the Young Adult Novel. There aren't many around on this topic. Sherry Garland's book has been the one I've mostly used in class for years now, so I'm keen to see how Going's shapes up.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Getting Rid of Books
I've been wanting to get new carpet for some time now, but I have to admit that the biggest reason not to is furniture shifting. It would be bad enough having to move beds, chests of drawers, couches etc, but I can't bear the thought of the bookcases. Because I'd have to take all the books out first. So instead I had the carpets cleaned, and left the bookcases where they were.
But it does mean shifting a lot of stuff, and then you start looking at it all, piled up in the spare room, and wondering why on earth you have most of it, and surely it could all be thrown out or given away? And then it gets back to the books. Do I need that many? Will I read them again? Many of them, yes, I will. All of my nonfiction is mostly for research, and I have a lot of kids' books from when I and my daughter were young. (And some from my grandfather's era.)
I also use a lot of my books in class - I put excerpts in my class readers for discussion, I read bits out loud as examples, I pass them around for students to look at (but rarely lend them, I have to admit, having learned that around 50% never come back). But still ... probably 20% of my books could go. Somewhere. To a good home. To the charity shop. To friends. But can I do it? No. I can throw out most clothes without too much angst, get rid of old knicknacks, TVs and videos that no longer work properly, even CDs that I am sick to death of.
Books? Getting rid of books is too hard. Buying more is way too easy. Something has to give. I might have to grit my teeth soon and weed out my shelves. Soon.
But it does mean shifting a lot of stuff, and then you start looking at it all, piled up in the spare room, and wondering why on earth you have most of it, and surely it could all be thrown out or given away? And then it gets back to the books. Do I need that many? Will I read them again? Many of them, yes, I will. All of my nonfiction is mostly for research, and I have a lot of kids' books from when I and my daughter were young. (And some from my grandfather's era.)
I also use a lot of my books in class - I put excerpts in my class readers for discussion, I read bits out loud as examples, I pass them around for students to look at (but rarely lend them, I have to admit, having learned that around 50% never come back). But still ... probably 20% of my books could go. Somewhere. To a good home. To the charity shop. To friends. But can I do it? No. I can throw out most clothes without too much angst, get rid of old knicknacks, TVs and videos that no longer work properly, even CDs that I am sick to death of.
Books? Getting rid of books is too hard. Buying more is way too easy. Something has to give. I might have to grit my teeth soon and weed out my shelves. Soon.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
After the Critiques
I love my writing group. And I also know them very well. Which means when I have something critiqued/workshopped by them, I can kind of guess what they will say - but only in terms of how they will approach it. Some members will pay particular attention to sentences and grammar, and making sure they understand what I meant to say. Others will come at it more organically, and focus on what they think is underneath the words. One person might talk about structure and pacing, and tell me where things slow down or don't sound credible. Another might pick on particular bits they didn't like and try to explain why.
What am I to do? Do I regard all of these critiquers as pseudo-editors and try to please them in the hope that this will lead to publication? Do I throw up my hands and say they are all wrong, and they just didn't "get" what I was trying to say? The first thing I do is put away the copies of my work with all their comments on and just leave them to sit for a few days. Immediate intake is ill-advised. That's when your feelings are sensitive and you are most prone to dive into defensive mode. It doesn't help. Each person had their reasons for saying what they did. A knee-jerk reaction to their comments is a waste of energy.
Sometimes I leave the comments for several weeks or more. It's amazing what I see when I come back to them - I understand and interpret their suggestions in a very different way. I am removed from them now, so I can be more clinical. I have had time to think about what I was really trying to achieve with the work, and now I can look at my group's comments and put them in context.
The rule with workshopping is if nearly everyone is saying similar things, you'd better take notice. If everyone is saying different things, you choose what is most useful to you. But what if the workshop group is your class? And what if they are also new to this whole critique idea, and are pretty shy about saying what they think? Or they dive in and are too brutal? You have to take that into consideration too. Where are they coming from? Have they genuinely tried to be helpful? It's only by listening (sometimes to tone of voice) and thinking and reading the comments later, when you have calmed down, that you can decide on this.
My problem is that most times in a workshop (not with my group), I am the teacher. I am immediately imbued with the status of "she who knows best". Yeah, right. There have been a few times where I have hated something that has gone on to be published and done very well, thank you, for me to know absolutely that my opinion is not absolute. In a classroom, I will certainly be the most experienced person there, both in terms of being able to critique effectively and also in terms of knowing a fair bit about the publishing world. But I am not the editorial goddess there.
So I have students who dispute what I say. Who question my comments. Who say, "What do you know?" And they are right. To a certain extent. But only so far. They haven't yet accrued 100 rejection slips. They don't yet spend several hours every week reading industry news, blogs, newsletters and information, looking at new books, what is being published and how the market is currently operating. They are just focusing on writing the best they can, and hoping they might get it published. I figure part of my job as teacher is to make them aware of how publishing works, how editors think - and guess what? Editors can be just like the rest of us. They can love something and want to publish it, when a lot of the world is saying, Good gracious, why?
So I am never going to tell a student that what they have written is unpublishable. How could I possibly know that? But I am going to give them my best opinion on things like grammar, presentation, characterisation, POV, setting, plotting, theme, preachiness, dialogue, and voice. And forgive me for putting grammar and punctuation first, but if they are poorly done, it's very hard to appreciate the story or the characters or anything else. A story needs to be readable and understandable first.
So if you have written anything like the following, maybe you need another edit?
Before she went to the beach, she put moose in her hair. On the way to the beach, they went by the longest root.
In the middle of the night, I tried to crepe up the stairs.
The chainsaw cut me in half. As I walked across the room ... (this last one always gives me a vision of legs walking on their own, which, trust me, was not what the writer intended).
It's like anything else - only experience in a critique group or workshop will eventually help you to recognise what is useful and what is not. It takes time, like improving your writing takes time. And many drafts. And the bottom line is: if you think your critique group or teacher is wrong, then send your work out and test the market. If you want to be published, that really is the ultimate test. But don't automatically disregard those comments. They might be telling you something you don't want to hear...
What am I to do? Do I regard all of these critiquers as pseudo-editors and try to please them in the hope that this will lead to publication? Do I throw up my hands and say they are all wrong, and they just didn't "get" what I was trying to say? The first thing I do is put away the copies of my work with all their comments on and just leave them to sit for a few days. Immediate intake is ill-advised. That's when your feelings are sensitive and you are most prone to dive into defensive mode. It doesn't help. Each person had their reasons for saying what they did. A knee-jerk reaction to their comments is a waste of energy.
Sometimes I leave the comments for several weeks or more. It's amazing what I see when I come back to them - I understand and interpret their suggestions in a very different way. I am removed from them now, so I can be more clinical. I have had time to think about what I was really trying to achieve with the work, and now I can look at my group's comments and put them in context.
The rule with workshopping is if nearly everyone is saying similar things, you'd better take notice. If everyone is saying different things, you choose what is most useful to you. But what if the workshop group is your class? And what if they are also new to this whole critique idea, and are pretty shy about saying what they think? Or they dive in and are too brutal? You have to take that into consideration too. Where are they coming from? Have they genuinely tried to be helpful? It's only by listening (sometimes to tone of voice) and thinking and reading the comments later, when you have calmed down, that you can decide on this.
My problem is that most times in a workshop (not with my group), I am the teacher. I am immediately imbued with the status of "she who knows best". Yeah, right. There have been a few times where I have hated something that has gone on to be published and done very well, thank you, for me to know absolutely that my opinion is not absolute. In a classroom, I will certainly be the most experienced person there, both in terms of being able to critique effectively and also in terms of knowing a fair bit about the publishing world. But I am not the editorial goddess there.
So I have students who dispute what I say. Who question my comments. Who say, "What do you know?" And they are right. To a certain extent. But only so far. They haven't yet accrued 100 rejection slips. They don't yet spend several hours every week reading industry news, blogs, newsletters and information, looking at new books, what is being published and how the market is currently operating. They are just focusing on writing the best they can, and hoping they might get it published. I figure part of my job as teacher is to make them aware of how publishing works, how editors think - and guess what? Editors can be just like the rest of us. They can love something and want to publish it, when a lot of the world is saying, Good gracious, why?
So I am never going to tell a student that what they have written is unpublishable. How could I possibly know that? But I am going to give them my best opinion on things like grammar, presentation, characterisation, POV, setting, plotting, theme, preachiness, dialogue, and voice. And forgive me for putting grammar and punctuation first, but if they are poorly done, it's very hard to appreciate the story or the characters or anything else. A story needs to be readable and understandable first.
So if you have written anything like the following, maybe you need another edit?
Before she went to the beach, she put moose in her hair. On the way to the beach, they went by the longest root.
In the middle of the night, I tried to crepe up the stairs.
The chainsaw cut me in half. As I walked across the room ... (this last one always gives me a vision of legs walking on their own, which, trust me, was not what the writer intended).
It's like anything else - only experience in a critique group or workshop will eventually help you to recognise what is useful and what is not. It takes time, like improving your writing takes time. And many drafts. And the bottom line is: if you think your critique group or teacher is wrong, then send your work out and test the market. If you want to be published, that really is the ultimate test. But don't automatically disregard those comments. They might be telling you something you don't want to hear...
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Character Journeys
Some years ago, I either read or heard a statement about characters in a story that went like this: Every character in your story is on their own journey. The main character certainly is, but so is everyone else - without that, they are either one-dimensional props, or are left hanging in space. It was one of those revelatory moments for me - I had never thought about it like that before (we all have long periods of being dumb about things to do with writing - it's reading and listening and thinking that gets us past them!). Up until then, my focus had been the main character - what he/she wanted, how he/she did or didn't achieve their dream or goal.
That, of course, is the core of the story. Fred has a dream to climb Mt Everest and will do anything to achieve his dream, even beg money off his hated mother and agree to take the bank manager with him to Nepal (I use Fred in class as my running example of story/plot/motivation/complication - one day Fred will make it). But when I realised that giving every significant character in my story a journey, a desire, a goal, is what enriches and complicates the plot, and makes a short story into a possible novel, that's when I think I finally started to "get" what I needed to write something more than 10,000 words.
For others, it may be different. I've seen the light go on for students when we talk in depth about character motivation, and I keep asking them "why, why, why" about what their characters do and how they react. I've also seen it happen when we talk about setting and description and link them to characterisation and point of view. Everyone has different things they discover about how to write better, and it often results in a big leap forward in the quality of what they write.
So for me, it was this thing about a character journey, combined with the question: What is the highest point in the story for this character? That goes along with the other question, funnily enough, which is: Does this character have a high point in the story? If not, why not? If we bring it back to the journey (the hero's journey, if you like) it's the climax, the supreme ordeal, the moment of greatest change or challenge. It's the turning point for that character. It is where we finally start to see whether they will live or die (sometimes literally).
Another mistake I used to make was to rush that highest moment in the journey. When it's the main character, that point means you are close to the end of the novel. Wow, only twenty more pages to go, I think. Even less if I get a move on and get through it faster. Big mistake. Rushing the climax takes away the tension, the full exploration of what it means, and the potential of the resolution. If you read articles about dramatic scenes, you'll know that the intensity of drama in a scene usually determines how long that scene will be. The most intensely dramatic scene should be your climax, so there's a good reason why it may well be your longest scene. Not, as I used to write it, the shortest.
It's helped me a lot to imagine each character's journey in my stories. It especially helps for the antagonist - instead of being a cardboard villain, she/he has their own story, their own journey, their own desires and dreams. OK, that dream might be to burn down the school, but for that character, it's believable if we understand why. We don't have to agree, but we do want to see what motivates that character to walk that particular road to the end, no matter what.
That, of course, is the core of the story. Fred has a dream to climb Mt Everest and will do anything to achieve his dream, even beg money off his hated mother and agree to take the bank manager with him to Nepal (I use Fred in class as my running example of story/plot/motivation/complication - one day Fred will make it). But when I realised that giving every significant character in my story a journey, a desire, a goal, is what enriches and complicates the plot, and makes a short story into a possible novel, that's when I think I finally started to "get" what I needed to write something more than 10,000 words.
For others, it may be different. I've seen the light go on for students when we talk in depth about character motivation, and I keep asking them "why, why, why" about what their characters do and how they react. I've also seen it happen when we talk about setting and description and link them to characterisation and point of view. Everyone has different things they discover about how to write better, and it often results in a big leap forward in the quality of what they write.
So for me, it was this thing about a character journey, combined with the question: What is the highest point in the story for this character? That goes along with the other question, funnily enough, which is: Does this character have a high point in the story? If not, why not? If we bring it back to the journey (the hero's journey, if you like) it's the climax, the supreme ordeal, the moment of greatest change or challenge. It's the turning point for that character. It is where we finally start to see whether they will live or die (sometimes literally).
Another mistake I used to make was to rush that highest moment in the journey. When it's the main character, that point means you are close to the end of the novel. Wow, only twenty more pages to go, I think. Even less if I get a move on and get through it faster. Big mistake. Rushing the climax takes away the tension, the full exploration of what it means, and the potential of the resolution. If you read articles about dramatic scenes, you'll know that the intensity of drama in a scene usually determines how long that scene will be. The most intensely dramatic scene should be your climax, so there's a good reason why it may well be your longest scene. Not, as I used to write it, the shortest.
It's helped me a lot to imagine each character's journey in my stories. It especially helps for the antagonist - instead of being a cardboard villain, she/he has their own story, their own journey, their own desires and dreams. OK, that dream might be to burn down the school, but for that character, it's believable if we understand why. We don't have to agree, but we do want to see what motivates that character to walk that particular road to the end, no matter what.
Sunday, June 08, 2008
The World of the Novel
In a long list of basic essentials we cover in our introductory fiction writing course, Fiction Elements (also now available online), is setting and description. It's funny how students always put it last on their list of "what I need to know". We talk about theme, and how, if you start a story with a strong theme or moral you want to impart, it can often affect the story and make it seem pedantic or preachy. We talk about character and dialogue and plot - in fact, we've made plot into a whole new subject called Story Structure. But setting and description?
One of the common reactions is "nobody does that anymore". Meaning that the days of opening a novel with six pages of description, a la 19th century fiction, is long gone. We're told that readers today are impatient with too much description, and because we all watch so much TV and so many movies, that description only needs minimal space in a contemporary novel - let the reader imagine the rest. We're told about info dumps, meaning that more than six lines of description at a time is considered overkill and today's reader will skip it.
That may all be true - to a degree. But what I often find, in reading students' writing, is that they ignore setting and description at their peril. Whether it's a fantasy novel, a horror novel, a literary story set in an artist's studio, or a comic novel set in New York - the first thing a reader is going to look for is how real the world of the story is. Tell me a scene takes place on the corner of 12th Street and 27th Street in New York, I'm going to wonder what else you got wrong. Tell me the main character is inspecting her ankles, feet and toes, and then tell me she discovers she has turned into a tiger, I'm going to wonder what that writer is visualising, because it doesn't make sense to me.
At the Pima Writer's Workshop last year, one of the guest speakers talked at length about what happens when you visit a location in your novel. Suddenly, details come to life, and you notice the kinds of things you wouldn't think of putting in the story if you were guessing, or making it up from seeing a couple of movies. Smells. Tastes. The kid in the corner of the restaurant flicking ice cream at his mother. The fox that put its head up above the fern. The drunk man who walked into a lamp post and burst into hysterical laughter.
I'm not saying you can't imagine all this stuff and put it in your story. Of course you can. But first you have to realise that it needs to be there. What Michael Connolly calls 'the telling detail' is vital to helping your reader visualise your fictional world, not any old world that's been done to death in a hundred fantasy novels or chicklit novels or stories about going home again. Your world, as much as your characters, is what draws the reader in, making them believe for the time they are between the pages, that this world exists somewhere else and is real. That requires work, research and imagination. Here are some quick examples:
"The sun was hanging on a string just over the horizon, pink and lurid, and the tourists were busy packing up their sunblock and towels and paperback novels while the dark people, the ones who lived here year-round and didn't know what a vacation was, began to drift out of the trees with their children and their dogs to reclaim their turf." Mexico - T.C. Boyle (from After The Plague)
"The Saturday morning we went to pick up the china it felt almost as if we were going to a wedding. Watches were checked and the house carefully locked as if we would be away for a long time. My father drove us into town and parked in the loading dock at David Jones. With the help of a storeman, he loaded the box of china into the boot. My mother watched their every move. Back home, she held the front door open for my father while he carried the china over the threshold." China - Margaret Innes (from Love and Desire)
"She stood on the harbour in the freezing cold, mask in her hand, her breath white in the air, and shivered while Dundas hosed her down. She'd been back to recover the hand with the limb kit, the dive was over and this was the bit she hated, the shock of coming out of the water, the shock of being back with the sounds and the light and the people - and the air, like a slap in the face. It made her teeth chatter. And the harbour was dismal even though it was spring. The rain had stopped and now the weak afternoon sun picked out windows, the spiky cranes in the Great Western Dock opposite, oily rainbows floating on the water." Ritual - Mo Hayder
Probably none of these excerpts are ones you'd point to and say, "Wow, how amazing". But my point is that I opened each of these stories and easily picked out a bit to use as an example. I could have used a number of other excerpts - each of these writers created a fictional world that worked, detail by detail, to engage and draw me into the story. Where setting and character interact, you will get an even stronger effect. Something to look for next time you read?
One of the common reactions is "nobody does that anymore". Meaning that the days of opening a novel with six pages of description, a la 19th century fiction, is long gone. We're told that readers today are impatient with too much description, and because we all watch so much TV and so many movies, that description only needs minimal space in a contemporary novel - let the reader imagine the rest. We're told about info dumps, meaning that more than six lines of description at a time is considered overkill and today's reader will skip it.
That may all be true - to a degree. But what I often find, in reading students' writing, is that they ignore setting and description at their peril. Whether it's a fantasy novel, a horror novel, a literary story set in an artist's studio, or a comic novel set in New York - the first thing a reader is going to look for is how real the world of the story is. Tell me a scene takes place on the corner of 12th Street and 27th Street in New York, I'm going to wonder what else you got wrong. Tell me the main character is inspecting her ankles, feet and toes, and then tell me she discovers she has turned into a tiger, I'm going to wonder what that writer is visualising, because it doesn't make sense to me.
At the Pima Writer's Workshop last year, one of the guest speakers talked at length about what happens when you visit a location in your novel. Suddenly, details come to life, and you notice the kinds of things you wouldn't think of putting in the story if you were guessing, or making it up from seeing a couple of movies. Smells. Tastes. The kid in the corner of the restaurant flicking ice cream at his mother. The fox that put its head up above the fern. The drunk man who walked into a lamp post and burst into hysterical laughter.
I'm not saying you can't imagine all this stuff and put it in your story. Of course you can. But first you have to realise that it needs to be there. What Michael Connolly calls 'the telling detail' is vital to helping your reader visualise your fictional world, not any old world that's been done to death in a hundred fantasy novels or chicklit novels or stories about going home again. Your world, as much as your characters, is what draws the reader in, making them believe for the time they are between the pages, that this world exists somewhere else and is real. That requires work, research and imagination. Here are some quick examples:
"The sun was hanging on a string just over the horizon, pink and lurid, and the tourists were busy packing up their sunblock and towels and paperback novels while the dark people, the ones who lived here year-round and didn't know what a vacation was, began to drift out of the trees with their children and their dogs to reclaim their turf." Mexico - T.C. Boyle (from After The Plague)
"The Saturday morning we went to pick up the china it felt almost as if we were going to a wedding. Watches were checked and the house carefully locked as if we would be away for a long time. My father drove us into town and parked in the loading dock at David Jones. With the help of a storeman, he loaded the box of china into the boot. My mother watched their every move. Back home, she held the front door open for my father while he carried the china over the threshold." China - Margaret Innes (from Love and Desire)
"She stood on the harbour in the freezing cold, mask in her hand, her breath white in the air, and shivered while Dundas hosed her down. She'd been back to recover the hand with the limb kit, the dive was over and this was the bit she hated, the shock of coming out of the water, the shock of being back with the sounds and the light and the people - and the air, like a slap in the face. It made her teeth chatter. And the harbour was dismal even though it was spring. The rain had stopped and now the weak afternoon sun picked out windows, the spiky cranes in the Great Western Dock opposite, oily rainbows floating on the water." Ritual - Mo Hayder
Probably none of these excerpts are ones you'd point to and say, "Wow, how amazing". But my point is that I opened each of these stories and easily picked out a bit to use as an example. I could have used a number of other excerpts - each of these writers created a fictional world that worked, detail by detail, to engage and draw me into the story. Where setting and character interact, you will get an even stronger effect. Something to look for next time you read?
Friday, June 06, 2008
YA Fiction Roundup
I'm halfway through marking student work - have finished commenting on 25 lots of Chapter Ones and short stories, with another 25 or so to go next week. At this time of year, it's hard for students because they have several major assignments (usually writing that needs reworking after workshopping) to hand in. They oughta try it at my end! Anyway, I am still reading - helps to maintain sanity, especially the serial murder crime fiction. Only kidding. Kind of.
Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac - Gabrielle Zevin
Naomi falls down some steps at school and hits her head, resulting in memory loss covering the last 4 years. She remembers up to about seventh grade. She doesn't remember her parents' divorce, or how to drive a car, or how to speak French. She ends up in a relationship with a guy with mental issues of his own.
I had to tru
st that the author had done her homework on amnesia, although at times I doubted she'd got it entirely correct. However, it's an interesting story, not overly predictable, with other layers of meaning in photography (what are you really seeing?) and secrets. The main character is very real, and the way she deals with her problems is typically frustrating as she makes the kinds of mistakes we probably all would.
Pip: the story of Olive - Kim Kane
This is an Australian novel - I wasn't sure what age it was aimed at. The main character (and her imaginary sister) is in Year 7, but at times she felt about ten years old. On the other hand, the language used is quite sophisticated and I wondered if any Grade 5 and 6 kids would persevere with it, as the story doesn't have that much action.
Olive has a workaholic mother and a missing father. She goes to a private school and loses her best friend (only friend) to another girl. As a result, she finds instead that she has a twin sister - apparently imaginary although she just appears. I got the sense that the sister was meant to be like an alter-ego, inspiring Olive to do things, like look for her long-gone father, that she wouldn't otherwise attempt. There are lots of nice moments in the story but it fell a bit flat for me.
Lock and Key - Sarah Dessen
I've been a long-time fan of Sarah Dessen books and this one didn't disappoint (although it's not my favourite). Ruby has been alone with her alcoholic mother for about ten years, since her older sister left. When Mom takes off, Ruby tries to continue on her own but the landlord finds out and she ends up living with her sister, Cora, and her husband, Jamie. Over the back fence is Nate, a popular boy at the new upmarket school Ruby is forc
ed to attend. She has a lot of resentment going on - why did Cora leave and never contact her again? why can't she go to her old school? why can't everyone just leave her alone?
As always, Dessen's story is about relationships. Nice Nate is leading a not-so-nice life. Harriet who makes jewellery and is her family's black sheep is even more of an expert than Ruby at keeping everyone at arms-length. Ruby's only friend at the new school becomes so grudgingly. None of the interaction between the characters is easy, but it continues to grow and change throughout the whole story, so that you end up feeling very satisfied, even though not everything has a happy ending. We read to find out about life and relationships more than anything - how other people manage it - and this book shows the gradual breaking down of Ruby's defences in a believable, engaging way.
Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac - Gabrielle ZevinNaomi falls down some steps at school and hits her head, resulting in memory loss covering the last 4 years. She remembers up to about seventh grade. She doesn't remember her parents' divorce, or how to drive a car, or how to speak French. She ends up in a relationship with a guy with mental issues of his own.
I had to tru
st that the author had done her homework on amnesia, although at times I doubted she'd got it entirely correct. However, it's an interesting story, not overly predictable, with other layers of meaning in photography (what are you really seeing?) and secrets. The main character is very real, and the way she deals with her problems is typically frustrating as she makes the kinds of mistakes we probably all would.Pip: the story of Olive - Kim Kane
This is an Australian novel - I wasn't sure what age it was aimed at. The main character (and her imaginary sister) is in Year 7, but at times she felt about ten years old. On the other hand, the language used is quite sophisticated and I wondered if any Grade 5 and 6 kids would persevere with it, as the story doesn't have that much action.
Olive has a workaholic mother and a missing father. She goes to a private school and loses her best friend (only friend) to another girl. As a result, she finds instead that she has a twin sister - apparently imaginary although she just appears. I got the sense that the sister was meant to be like an alter-ego, inspiring Olive to do things, like look for her long-gone father, that she wouldn't otherwise attempt. There are lots of nice moments in the story but it fell a bit flat for me.
Lock and Key - Sarah Dessen
I've been a long-time fan of Sarah Dessen books and this one didn't disappoint (although it's not my favourite). Ruby has been alone with her alcoholic mother for about ten years, since her older sister left. When Mom takes off, Ruby tries to continue on her own but the landlord finds out and she ends up living with her sister, Cora, and her husband, Jamie. Over the back fence is Nate, a popular boy at the new upmarket school Ruby is forc
ed to attend. She has a lot of resentment going on - why did Cora leave and never contact her again? why can't she go to her old school? why can't everyone just leave her alone?As always, Dessen's story is about relationships. Nice Nate is leading a not-so-nice life. Harriet who makes jewellery and is her family's black sheep is even more of an expert than Ruby at keeping everyone at arms-length. Ruby's only friend at the new school becomes so grudgingly. None of the interaction between the characters is easy, but it continues to grow and change throughout the whole story, so that you end up feeling very satisfied, even though not everything has a happy ending. We read to find out about life and relationships more than anything - how other people manage it - and this book shows the gradual breaking down of Ruby's defences in a believable, engaging way.
Monday, June 02, 2008
Trust Me! and Ford Street - all you wanted to know
Not that long ago, I went to the launch of Trust Me! - I'm a proud contributor and rather than describe the launch (which was great fun, with 20+ authors signing copies), I thought I would interview the publisher, Paul Collins. Ford Street Publishing is his 'baby' and a fine, sprightly offspring it is too.1. What led to you starting your own publishing company?
I actually started out as a publisher back in the 70s -- I published science fiction and Australia's first heroic fantasy novels. I had no intentions of being a writer. Unfortunately, back in those days the major publishers only distributed their own books -- and they weren't remotely interested in publishing fantasy or science fiction! So small press distributors, with one or two reps, abounded. They also folded regularly. After two did this to me, the second taking all my stock and owing money, I embarked on a writing career. Macmillan now distributes smaller publishers, so I've basically returned to what I wanted to do in the first place. I also felt a little stuck in the writing groove. Last year I had something like twenty books published. It was more like work than enjoyment. I now call the tune, and it's great.
2. What has been the most difficult aspect? The most encouraging, so far?
The challenge will always be name recognition, getting Ford Street titles into shops. The distributor's reps will always push their own books, and this is a given. I would, too. But I think with time booksellers/librarians will see that Ford Street titles are quality fiction, and dare I say it, better edited than some books from major publishers. I'm often appalled at the glaring errors that are appearing in books lately. I know the trend in the US is minimal editing, but I suspect that trend has crept its way into Australian publishing.
3. What do you think the role of a small publisher is in today's publishing world?
I think we catch the ones that "got away". The first book I contracted was Pool by Justin D'Ath. Both of his major publishers rejected it. When it appeared on the CBCA's (very short) Notables List, from which the short-list is chosen, I bet his publishers got the fright of their lives lol. Small presses take the risks that major publishers won't. I've published Trust Me!, an anthology comprising fifty contributors. Much larger publishers have published similar anthologies, but they received the contributions free, citing they were for charity, and besides, such large anthologies can't work financially because of the large contents page. Well, Ford Street has just made it work, and contributors were paid. Small presses can make this sort of enterprise work because the publishers work for free. I don't pay myself. Major publishers have huge overheads: rent and staff costs being in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions per year. I have neither, and I suspect other smaller publishers have minimal costs.
4. We are often told that fantasy and paranormal fiction are "hot" at the moment - what's your perception of the various genres and sub-genres of spec fiction in Australia right now? What's selling? (in adult and kid's books)
4. We are often told that fantasy and paranormal fiction are "hot" at the moment - what's your perception of the various genres and sub-genres of spec fiction in Australia right now? What's selling? (in adult and kid's books)
Ah, if I had the answer to that question I wouldn't be telling. I'd be "doing". But the one stand out at present is Stephanie Meyer. She even appears in Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2008 list. Now that's impressive.
5. Do you think Australian publishers are dealing with spec fiction in the best way, especially in terms of looking for new writers, publishing new writers and marketing? Are authors well treated? (e.g. Orbit advertised for 10 fantasy manuscripts and are going to work on them with the authors in a residential workshop soon)
Publishing has become pretty much a fly by the seat of the pants affair. It's 80% flop and 20% success. In days gone by publishers nurtured authors, spent money on them, grooming them. All of that's gone by the wayside. Now, if your novel's not "ready to go", it's doomed. Budgets have been cut, staff reduced to such an extent that the good editors can no longer afford to be in the business. Those proficient editors still around do it because of their love of working in the industry -- it really is a labour of love for them. Only the A-list authors get publicity budgets -- the B-listers either sink or swim. If you swim, you find yourself elevated. If you sink, you're gone. Flick. Just like that. People ask me why authors do it - - they "do" it because they, like the best editors, love doing what they do. Few authors in this country can survive on their writing alone. Most are either receiving social benefits, grants, receive awards (which pay), have hefty ELR/PLR/CAL returns because they've been prolific (it's this category that I fit into) or do a lot of festivals and workshops in libraries and schools, or take on miscellaneous jobs like assessments or part time jobs.
6. The Quentaris series was a collaboration between you and Michael Pryor in terms of developing the concept, creating the series "bible" and then selling it to Lothian. What was that process like? Can you describe it?
6. The Quentaris series was a collaboration between you and Michael Pryor in terms of developing the concept, creating the series "bible" and then selling it to Lothian. What was that process like? Can you describe it?
A couple of major publishers knocked back the concept - - more fool them, the first series went to 26 titles. Ford Street is now publishing series #2. It was originally Michael's concept. He asked me if I wanted to collaborate. Together we developed the guidelines and approached Helen Chamberlin at Lothian. She took it and published six titles a year for four years until Hachette bought Lothian. The scenario has been added to over the years, and now it's changed completely with Quentaris a floating city, thrust into the rift worlds via a vortex due to the Spell of Undoing. Michael and I are still having fun with the series, and there's no sign of it slowing. Alyssa Brugman has written book #2, The Equen Queen, and James Roy is now writing book # 3, The Gimlet Eye. As you'll note, it's now sequential, and the books are fully illustrated. The website's at www.quentaris.com
7. Ford Street recently published an anthology called Trust Me - why did you want to produce something like this, rather than another novel? What has been the response so far? Do you see it primarily as a school text? Who do you hope will buy and read it?
Truth be it known I was asked by an educational publisher to edit an educational text. I commissioned what I thought were sixteen pretty good stories. Then the crunch came. The publisher disagreed. I promptly gave the advance back and decided to publish myself. I let the authors know that it was now a trade book, and they could ramp up the stories, which they did. I also invited other contributors, such as poets and illustrators, because I wanted a Kids' Night In type book. The end result has been fantastic. I've seen five reviews to date, all of which have been excellent. It has great potential as a school text, yes, but it's trade quality, too. I suspect it'll be going into reprint very shortly. According to the reviewers, it's managed to get boys reading, so in response to the last part of your question, I think anyone who has a boy who's a reluctant reader, should try Trust Me!.
8. Where do you see Ford Street heading in the future?
8. Where do you see Ford Street heading in the future?
I'm pretty much happy with the way things are presently going. I'd like to score some foreign rights sales, some awards for the authors. I'd like to employ someone to help with the workload, and this will only happen when I get that best-seller. It's a matter of time. Right now it's a seven days and nights a week career. Luckily, I am supported by people such as Grant Gittus (graphics), Nancy Mortimer (marketing), Liz Foley (FaceBook) and my partner, Meredith Costain (editing), all of whom have rallied around me free of charge. My brother has also printed a lot of bookmarks and stickers. I suspect all small presses rely on this sort of support.
9. What have you got coming up?
Forthcoming 2008 books include Jenny Mounfield's The Ice-cream Man, Dianne Bates' Crossing the Line and David Miller's picture book Big and Me. All three are issues based, so have levels deeper than just genre fiction. I have high hopes for all three. As for 2009, I'm already looking at publishing a Gary Crew picture book, a non-fiction (my first!) title by Sue Bursztynski and the third Quentaris book by James Roy.
10. What's the best way for people to find out about Ford Street?
The website is kept pretty much up-to-date: www.fordstreetpublishing.com. I also have an option for people to join the mailing list. Anyone who gets on that receives free posters, catalogues, bookmarks, as they're produced. I also email a Ford Street News every now and then. People just have to email me at: earthborn@smartchat.net.au to get onto that list.
Thanks, Paul - that's a fantastic response and useful info for all of us. (and my apologies to readers if the formatting goes haywire again!)
Friday, May 30, 2008
National Libraries - not just books
We've just had a budget here. Everyone hangs out to see if they've got tax cuts, or bonuses, or interest rate reductions, or maybe more money for education and health. Sometimes what seems like small stuff gets ignored. Like the cut in funding this time to the National Library of Australia. I know the NLA does things like archives copies of every publication produced in Australia. I know they have a great research library in Canberra. I know they host writers' events (I went to one last August). I know they have been producing a great history book series for kids called Making Tracks.
What I have also discovered, thanks to an article in The Monthly by Gideon Haigh, is that the NLA also holds an amazing range of artifacts (like Chinese woodblock-printed sutras from 1162), it is endeavouring to archive an enormous amount of web material that disappears daily, and is trying to retrieve some very important Nobel laureate material from 1980s computer disks. The Library is, on many counts, about preserving history through printed materials.
I blogged recently about digital photos - how my photos taken with my old SLR camera and printed on photo paper will last a very long time, and my digital photos on my computer might disappear at any time, thanks to a virus. The NLA is also breaking new ground in doing things like digitising old newspapers (so you can find stuff in them). As well as dealing with five semitrailer loads of material that gets deposited with them each year.
So what did the government do? Well, they cut funding, didn't they? Just like most governments, federal, state and local, are cutting funds to libraries all over these days. Who needs books, for goodness sake? One of the reasons I'm fond of apocalypse stories (the ones where the world ends for some reason) is that nearly always the thing that saves the survivors is they find books. Books that survive techno-meltdown, nuclear disaster and plague, let alone the power going off. Books that tell them how to do things like build houses, deal with injuries, make their own power and restore communications.
Funny how books can do that. Because they survive. As a librarian said, the Chinese book from 1162 can still be opened and read. Ten years from now, anything on CD or DVD will probably be unreadable, unless you've got a player stashed out in the shed somewhere that you can resurrect. But seeing as there are dozens of them in the local rubbish dump every week, how likely is that? Yep, buy more books. Treasure them. They'll last. Gee, you can even read them again in 20 or 60 years. Or give them to your kids!! Fancy that.
What I have also discovered, thanks to an article in The Monthly by Gideon Haigh, is that the NLA also holds an amazing range of artifacts (like Chinese woodblock-printed sutras from 1162), it is endeavouring to archive an enormous amount of web material that disappears daily, and is trying to retrieve some very important Nobel laureate material from 1980s computer disks. The Library is, on many counts, about preserving history through printed materials.
I blogged recently about digital photos - how my photos taken with my old SLR camera and printed on photo paper will last a very long time, and my digital photos on my computer might disappear at any time, thanks to a virus. The NLA is also breaking new ground in doing things like digitising old newspapers (so you can find stuff in them). As well as dealing with five semitrailer loads of material that gets deposited with them each year.
So what did the government do? Well, they cut funding, didn't they? Just like most governments, federal, state and local, are cutting funds to libraries all over these days. Who needs books, for goodness sake? One of the reasons I'm fond of apocalypse stories (the ones where the world ends for some reason) is that nearly always the thing that saves the survivors is they find books. Books that survive techno-meltdown, nuclear disaster and plague, let alone the power going off. Books that tell them how to do things like build houses, deal with injuries, make their own power and restore communications.
Funny how books can do that. Because they survive. As a librarian said, the Chinese book from 1162 can still be opened and read. Ten years from now, anything on CD or DVD will probably be unreadable, unless you've got a player stashed out in the shed somewhere that you can resurrect. But seeing as there are dozens of them in the local rubbish dump every week, how likely is that? Yep, buy more books. Treasure them. They'll last. Gee, you can even read them again in 20 or 60 years. Or give them to your kids!! Fancy that.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Critiquing/Workshopping
The past three weeks have been filled with workshopping of students' writing (some people call it critiquing - I think workshopping applies more to groups perhaps). Many of the students are in their first year of study in our writing course, so giving and receiving comments can be a very confronting experience. You may have been working on your novel for several months or years, and this might be the first time you have had a group of critical readers provide you with feedback. It can make you doubt everything you thought you were trying to do.
Or the story you have offered up might be the first "real" story you have ever written. Before now, everything you wrote was just for fun, or for your journal that no one else reads. How do you cope with people saying things like "I don't think you need the first paragraph" or "You've used a lot of repetition and it didn't work for me" or "You are not deeply enough inside the character's head so I didn't really get into the story". You might think your prose resembles Proust on a good day, or you might secretly feel that everything you write just plain sucks. Either way, the feedback is going to come right at you.
Giving feedback is a skill. It's hard to be critical without being harsh. It's hard to make comments on someone else's work when you think you don't know anything. Who am I to say what works and what doesn't? you ponder. Well, you're a reader, for a start. You read published books. I'm betting you've read quite a few that have made you think How the heck did this get published? This guy can't even write a coherent sentence. You stand in the bookshop or the library, read the first couple of pages of a novel and put it back. Something didn't appeal - the voice, the character, the plot that was beginning to unfold - and you move onto the next one.
In a workshop, you have to read everyone else's work. You can't just put it back. You have to put aside your aversion to fantasy or romance or what you think is literary pretentiousness, and focus on craft. Did the opening grab me? Why not? Did the voice work? Why not? Do I feel like I want to read more about this character? Am I already starting to care about what happens to her? Why not? The first part of workshopping is to see what works and what doesn't in this piece of writing. The second, and more important, part is to try and make helpful suggestions.
Why is this more important? Because it works two ways - it stops the writer from feeling like they're in a black hole (everyone thinks my beginning sucks, but I have no idea how to fix it!), and it adds greatly to the skills of the workshopper. It's a two-way street. Learning how to read your own work critically and then rewrite it effectively is one of the most difficult skills for a writer to learn. The best place to start learning it is in a workshop. It's not just what they all say about your writing, it's what you see in other's stories and the constructive suggestions you come up with that will feed back into your own craft.
Group workshopping that is a bloody free-for-all is not worth one cent of your time and effort. Good feedback is a lesson in tact and diplomacy. As the writer, you have to remember it's not about you, it's about the words on the page. You want readers? You want to get published? The workshop will help you down that path. Although having a critical reader or mentor can be a wonderful experience, I've also seen some people whose mentors have influenced their work and not helped to make it better. The group provides a variety of readers and comments - even though not all may be useful, you learn to take what is and make your writing better.
Or the story you have offered up might be the first "real" story you have ever written. Before now, everything you wrote was just for fun, or for your journal that no one else reads. How do you cope with people saying things like "I don't think you need the first paragraph" or "You've used a lot of repetition and it didn't work for me" or "You are not deeply enough inside the character's head so I didn't really get into the story". You might think your prose resembles Proust on a good day, or you might secretly feel that everything you write just plain sucks. Either way, the feedback is going to come right at you.
Giving feedback is a skill. It's hard to be critical without being harsh. It's hard to make comments on someone else's work when you think you don't know anything. Who am I to say what works and what doesn't? you ponder. Well, you're a reader, for a start. You read published books. I'm betting you've read quite a few that have made you think How the heck did this get published? This guy can't even write a coherent sentence. You stand in the bookshop or the library, read the first couple of pages of a novel and put it back. Something didn't appeal - the voice, the character, the plot that was beginning to unfold - and you move onto the next one.
In a workshop, you have to read everyone else's work. You can't just put it back. You have to put aside your aversion to fantasy or romance or what you think is literary pretentiousness, and focus on craft. Did the opening grab me? Why not? Did the voice work? Why not? Do I feel like I want to read more about this character? Am I already starting to care about what happens to her? Why not? The first part of workshopping is to see what works and what doesn't in this piece of writing. The second, and more important, part is to try and make helpful suggestions.
Why is this more important? Because it works two ways - it stops the writer from feeling like they're in a black hole (everyone thinks my beginning sucks, but I have no idea how to fix it!), and it adds greatly to the skills of the workshopper. It's a two-way street. Learning how to read your own work critically and then rewrite it effectively is one of the most difficult skills for a writer to learn. The best place to start learning it is in a workshop. It's not just what they all say about your writing, it's what you see in other's stories and the constructive suggestions you come up with that will feed back into your own craft.
Group workshopping that is a bloody free-for-all is not worth one cent of your time and effort. Good feedback is a lesson in tact and diplomacy. As the writer, you have to remember it's not about you, it's about the words on the page. You want readers? You want to get published? The workshop will help you down that path. Although having a critical reader or mentor can be a wonderful experience, I've also seen some people whose mentors have influenced their work and not helped to make it better. The group provides a variety of readers and comments - even though not all may be useful, you learn to take what is and make your writing better.
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