Author: Mary

There is so much to wrap your mind around when you set out to become an author. Character development, three-act structure, main plot and sub plots, setting, backstory, theme….

Theme?!

I have discovered by way of riding lessons and writing workshops that whatever skill  you pursue, you’re not ready to learn something until you’re ready to do so. A trainer can tell you over and over how to leg yield your horse, but the light bulb doesn’t go off until you reach the point in your skill level that you are ready to absorb that lesson.

Theme is a common topic in books and magazines about writing, as well as the above referenced workshops. Sure, it sounds great. A central idea to wrap your story around. A thread that runs through the novel. But don’t be too heavy handed and preachy. But don’t leave it out. Argh!

Then one year at the Willamette Writers Conference I attended a workshop about “One True Thing.” The instructor explained theme as one thing that you believe, or is universally understood to be true. Like: love conquers all.

That was my lightbulb moment. Theme was that simple. Select one thing you believe to be true and prove it in your story.

I thought back to the literature classes I’d taken where we dug into novels and discussed the author’s intent and how he or she implemented theme throughout the work. Deliberate choices with clever applications. How can I ever pull that off?

Then I recalled post college creative writing classes and workshops where we critiqued each others’ work. Every one of us was surprised by what the other class members found in our writing. At least I was, and the expressions and responses of others seemed to indicate they felt the same. In the process of intentionally applying the required fiction components we had also subconsciously inserted them into our writing. Which then made me wonder about my literature classes and the analysis of classics. Would those authors be surprised by the things later readers claimed to get out of their works?

Anyway — I suspect we scribblers can select a theme (or one true thing) and plot (or pants) how our characters will demonstrate it but also absorb it so deeply that it just flows without conscious application. And if a reader believes you have cleverly woven theme into your work, just nod wisely. Even if you didn’t know you were doing so at the time.

So what truth do I hope to embed in my novels for young readers to help them cope with the confusing transition from child to adult? For Marama, Duke’s Daughter it’s “Embrace your true self.” For Marama, Emperor’s Emissary I’ve borrowed it from A. A. Milne. “You’re braver than you believe, and stronger and smarter than you think.”

 

Writers tend to be introverts. All those hours spent alone with pen and paper, or typewriter, or (nowadays) electronics. One would have to be.

I confess — i’m one of them. An INFJ in Myers-Briggs terminology. As an only child, I kept myself amused much of the time. My parents never thought it was their responsibility to entertain me. I learned to do that on my own.

Reading was one way I filled the time and enjoyed various adventures without the company of others. I traveled to places real and imagined, hung out with characters braver than me, and met challenges foreign to my childhood neighborhood.

Reading triggered my imagination. The characters I read about sparked ideas for characters of my own creation. I started stories that I never finished, since creative writing courses were decades away in public schools. I even drew scenes for stories (graphic novels also came along later). When I got older, magazine and newspaper articles inspired tangential flights of fancy. “What if…?”

I have finally reached a point in my life when I can write what I want to write. Not correspondence for someone else’s signature, reports on subjects not of my choosing, or quasi-legal responses to complaints.

I get to spend as much time as I want in my own imagination. Researching, mulling, organizing, writing, and rewriting. Venturing outside only to walk the dog, visit the horse, or run quick errands (socially distancing, of course).

In other words, home alone in “quarantine.”

😉

I finished the latest draft of Ma’rama, Daimyo’s Daughter, and gave it a new working title: Ma’rama, Duke’s Daughter.

As I now have a fairly good idea of what I want to happen in the second book of the duology (Ma’rama, Emperor’s Emissary), I made changes to beef up the role of a secondary character who will have a more significant part in the second book. I also tried to correct inconsistencies and edit a key scene to eliminate an undesirable interpretation of the action.

I also changed most of the words borrowed from foreign languages to have a flavor of the referenced cultures without being those cultures. Thus, daimyo became kō sh’kun throughout the novel (as I’m not accurately applying the Japanese word in my fantasy setting anyway).

The issue became keeping track of those changes!

I initially made a table with the headings “Was” and “Now” just to get me through the draft. I also updated the glossary created for the previous draft by crossing out the old and inserting the new terms (additional “was” and “now”).

However, the glossary intended for readers didn’t include all the characters, locations, and objects that I will need to reference in writing the second novel and continue editing the first novel.

With a heavy sigh, I decided I need to skim through the current draft and capture the pertinent information in a new table. I made it to page 79 before departing to visit friends for a belated Christmas gathering.

But I will persist. The “Bible” for the duology includes many double entries for the same term — the English translation and the made-up name. It will almost be a book itself! I might not forget that Ma’rama and her twin Hahana have amber-colored eyes, but I may have trouble recalling what I now call the Great South Road.

A fantasy world “Bible” probably should be initiated as one is developing the fantasy setting, and added to during the writing phase. But no writer wants to break the flow of scribbling the first draft to make entries in the consistency table. And at the end of the writing day, I certainly don’t have the energy to back through what I’ve just written for additions to the “Bible.”

Ah, well. It certainly doesn’t hurt to skim through the latest draft once again. And the “Bible” should make it much easier to dive into the second book.

 

In his article “The Final Scene,” (Writer’s Digest, October 2019), Jordan Rosenfeld writes: “Final scenes are the end of one chapter in a protagonist’s life…However, the final scene need not feel completely conclusive. It may feel like a new beginning.”

That lit up a mental lightbulb.

“In the reader’s mind your characters and setting will live on….”

“The true final scene shows readers where your protagonist is now, how he has changed, and what he thinks or feels as a result of the consequences of your inciting incident.”

“Final actions should speak to how your protagonist is going to behave differently now that he has survived the narrative’s trials.”

This made me rethink the ending of my current work-in-progress that I’ve tagged with yet another working title. As it turned out, the novel became the first in a pair about a turning point in the young protagonist’s life. So where I leave Ma’rama at the ending of (now) Ma’rama, Duke’s Daughter is exactly where Ma’rama, Emperor’s Emissary begins.

But even at the conclusion of a stand-alone novel, the protagonist wakes up the next morning as a changed person from the opening page and moves on to a new phase of her life.

This writing stuff is a never-ending education!

Jordan Rosenfeld’s article was excerpted from Make a Scene Revised & Expanded Edition, 2017, Writer’s Digest Books.

 

NaNoWriMo is weeks away and participants are making preparations for a month of writing and more writing. After giving it a try again in 2018, I’m sitting it out for 2019.

Last year’s effort made clear my approach to writing doesn’t fit the NaNoWriMo mold. I  didn’t do as much pre-writing outlining as I usually do. Thought I’d give it a more seat-of-the-pants (“Pantser”) approach. Turns out, I’m a “Plantser.” I like to plan ahead for significant plot points so I know what I’m writing toward and so I can insert facts or foreshadowing for later use. But I’m open to veering off the original plan as the story develops. I’m definitely not one to begin with a blank page and no idea of what I’m going to write.

But the most obvious reason that I’m not a good candidate for NaNoWriMo is my tendency to loop back through previous writing before settling in to create new pages.

I’m a loopy writer.

I generally go back through the previous scene to get back into the story as well as edit before I continue with the first draft. However, sometimes I loop back even further if I’ve had a story idea that requires changes to set it up. Inspiration often comes while walking the dog or at the barn with the horse. These moments away from pen & paper or the computer allow the brain to chug away in the background. Suddenly I know how to get a character where I need her to be, or realize what special skill will get the character out of a predicament, and so forth.

NaNoWriMo is all about spewing forth words to reach the 50,000 goal. Repeatedly going back through the previous day’s work won’t get me there. I’m just too loopy.

 

I have given up on worrying about the word count for Ma’rama, Daimyo’s Daughter. Sources indicate agents and editors cringe when aspiring authors pitch lengthy first novels. Supposedly this is an indication that the author has not adequately revised the work and may be too in love with his/her writing to accept editorial recommendations.

Science fiction and fantasy settings are generally unfamiliar to the reader and must be adequately described for the story to make sense. These alien landscapes and the creatures that inhabit them may be wildly imaginative, or familiar with creative twists. Either way, describing an imaginative world and its occupants often requires more words to establish an image in the reader’s mind.

Not to say sf/f writers don’t become enamored of their world building to the point of sharing pages and pages of detail unnecessary for the story action.

That said, I will continue with my current revision to aim for emotional honesty and appropriate pacing without cringing at the word count. It seems like I tighten up one paragraph only to expand one a following page. Just tell the story as best I can.

Graph: Nicola@ThoughtsonFantasy

 

I finally heard back from Not a Pipe Publishing. The brief but kind rejection indicated they “had some serious discussion about the book,” however “we came to the conclusion that we’re not the publisher that’s best positioned to market your novel.”

Things to keep in mind:

1. Benjamin Gorman’s immediate response to my sample first page was: “I want to read this.”
2. “We had some serious discussion about the book.” The publisher didn’t dismiss my 10 pages out of hand.
3. “We came to the conclusion that we’re not the publisher that’s best positioned to market your novel.” Which means, maybe another publisher is.
4. I wasn’t even pitching my novel, yet it caught a publisher’s attention.

I’m halfway through yet another edit of Ma’rama, Daimyo’s Daughter. I will complete the effort and make additional changes I have in mind.

The novel turned out to be the first in a two-book series (duology). So — I’ll start writing Ma’rama, Emperor’s Emissary. 

This episode should be encouraging rather than disappointing.

 

Can I cut this scene?

Hmmm. What is its purpose?

Well…we haven’t seen this character for awhile. I don’t want the reader to forget about him.

Does it move the story forward?

It refers to events in the previous scene and has a kind of funny moment.

And?

Um, no. It doesn’t really add anything. But wait! Maybe I can revise it to reveal something about the character in question. > > > Hmmm. Not sure that helped. Plus, I’m trying to trim the manuscript, not add to it. Ugh! I hate this! Oh, alright. I’ll delete it.

_____

Wait! Maybe I can salvage the scene.

…

Okay. You win. It’s gone.

 

 

August 5, 2019 Facebook post

One of the country’s best writing conferences is held in my own backyard. How great is that? I’ve attended many times and pitched in the past, but in recent years I’ve just attended the workshops because I didn’t feel my draft novels were ready for other eyes (aside from my fabulous First Readers). This year I got brave and submitted the first page of “Marama, Daimyo’s Daughter” for the Big Critique on Sunday afternoon.
The conference has made many changes in format in recent years. I was tempted by Thursday’s master classes and Sunday’s intensives. Maybe next year. But I did splurge on all three days of the main conference, although I didn’t attend the evening offerings because I needed to get home to rescue Indy.
“Turn Your Idea Into a Best Seller” presented by Jeff Goins wasn’t so much how or what to write, but what to consider if your goal is to break out from the crowd of published novels. Goins suggested a good idea for a novel is fine, but an INTERESTING idea is even better. One way to do this is to subvert the expectations of readers. That is, give them something familiar — with a twist. For example, “Hunger Games” is a story about gladiators (familiar) but in the future with teenagers (twist).
Scott Myers presented “The Protagonist’s Journey” in two parts. He boiled down the traditional three-act story arc into something easy to grasp. Act I, the protagonist is in a state of disunity, just not in sync with the existing situation. Act II, the protagonist undergoes deconstruction following the inciting incident and then reconstruction in the second half of the act. Act III, the protagonist attains synthesis/unity. The second half of Myers’ workshop addressed the primary archetypal characters that go on the “journey.” They include the protagonist, nemesis, attractor, mentor, and trickster.
I also attended Myers’ workshop “Pixar and the Craft of Storytelling.” Basically, Pixar does a lot (a LOT) of preliminary work to develop their stories. Basically it boils down to beginning with character, and telling a story from the heart. The character-driven narrative dynamics of Pixar stories include: a special subculture, sires & siblings, separation, strange sojourners, and sentiment.
Melissa Hart’s workshop “10 Tips for Integrating Diversity into MG/YA” addressed not only racial and ethnic diversity, but also considered body image, economic status, physical & mental capabilities, gender (and gender identity), etc. She suggested MG/YA novels to read with characters facing these various challenges.
Of course I had to attend one of Hallie Ephron’s workshops. “Plotting a Mystery Novel: The Secret’s in the Secrets.” Took me awhile, but I recently figured out that the various suspects in mysteries are all covering up something, not necessarily the crime under investigation. Ephron’s workshop clarified my lightbulb moment. She told us each character’s secret establishes why they do what they do, and these secrets are the “red herrings” that conceal the Big Secret at the center of the story.
I think most of us walk away from the conference in a daze, our minds jam packed with information. Those who experienced a successful pitch likely float home. We reap the efforts of the many volunteers who made the conference possible. Also, kudos to the staff of the Sheraton Portland Airport Hotel that has hosted the conference for many years.
I’ll save my experience with the Big Critique for another post.