Lines in Time

The Final Rewrite: The Road to Publication

2012-01-28T14:16:00.000-08:00

Under Construction

The Importance of Beginnings

2012-01-28T14:00:00.000-08:00

Reposted from 2009
The next time you pick up a book and read the first few pages, ask yourself these questions:
– Does the first sentence catch your attention?
– Are the other sentences varied in word length and rhythm?
– Do you feel yourself stepping into the setting and entering the story?
– Do you care what happens next?

If you can answer “Yes” to all four questions, chances are you’re reading a beginning that captures your interest and will lead you into the story. It’s all very well to analyze story openings and to recognize good ones, but it’s a bit more difficult to write one yourself. Here are some rules that I try to follow:

1. Begin at the beginning and not before. Sounds simplistic, doesn’t it? But it’s a fact that inexperienced writers give too much “entry material.” They feel that they have to tell the reader every detail about a scene BEFORE the story starts. For example, if Jessica is going to have an adventure at an archeological dig in Guatemala, the beginning writer will show her packing her bag, buying airline tickets, chatting with her seat companion, adding cream to her coffee, and stepping off the plane in the middle of the season’s worst rainstorm. An experienced writer might keep the rainstorm, but will certainly eliminate the rest, letting Jessica arrive at the dig and begin her adventure.

2. Answer the questions Who? What? When? and Where? (How and why can be faced later.) These four “Ws” can show a character with a problem, arouse the reader’s curiosity, suggest further complications, hint at suspense, and establish place and time. They can help your character get into action as soon as possible, and they leave room for you to slip in other pertinent bits of information.

3. Set the mood. This is where you use those similes and metaphors you have been collecting in your journal — you do keep a journal, don’t you? For example: The swollen clouds cast shifting shadows over the heather clad stones of the moorland. OR Cassandra and Elenore stayed close together as they took their first steps into the cold, slimy water. OR The autumn sunlight filtered through the bare branches, painting patterns, like calligraphy, on the barren ground. If your story opening doesn’t create a mood, rewrite it until it does.

4. Use action and dialogue, but only when they move the story forward. Don’t let your characters move or speak without a reason. Body language and voice can strengthen your story opening — but only when they are realistic and logical.

Here’s an important thing to remember: the beginning stops as soon as the protagonist’s problem is clear. When he/she begins to cope — or not cope — your story’s middle has begun.

What do you think about beginnings. Do you have some success stories to tell? Did an editor ever tell you to throw out the opening pages and start with the action of the story. I would love to hear from you about some of your favorite openings.

Vignettes

2012-01-20T18:47:00.000-08:00

Reposted from 2009
This morning, I want to talk about one of my favorite literary genres: the vignette. The word vignette comes from the same root as "vine" and was first used to describe decorative borders painted in books or along the tops of walls. The illustrations often contained leaves, grapes, and vines. Later, in photography, a vignette came to be known as a portrait that is focused in the center, but blurred at the edges.

In literature, a vignette is a short piece that describes an event, a scene, or a memory. You might compare it to a single scene in film or on the stage. It is known for focus and compactness and can be serious or humorous. It is never written simply to convey information, and it always displays a delicacy of writing skills.

Vignettes are usually about a character, a setting, or an idea. They contain emotion, strong images, theme, and sometimes dialogue. Plot is of minor importance, for vignettes focus on a moment (or scene) in time and give insight to the importance of that moment.

Vignettes are never "locked in" to the plot of a story, but exist on their own, a little like a sketch, or a snapshot. Some people have even described a vignette as a "quick sketch," much as an artist will often render a sketch that captures the mood --the essence -- of a future painting. For the writer, the question always is: How much should I include in this single sketch? How will the details I choose to share affect the reader?

What memories do you have that can be turned into vignettes? In the Memoir Writing class I teach, we talk often of little memories that are not earth shaking, but stand out, nevertheless, like polished stones in our memories. We read them aloud, sharing the emotion, making the setting come alive, getting to know the characters. We feel as if we are part of an extended family, sitting around roasting marshmallows and sharing stories. Why? Because there is something about a vignette written by one person that reaches out and stirs up the memory of another.

Why not try your hand at vignette writing? Think back to your childhood and let the memories come alive. Did you have a secret hiding place? Were you afraid of the dark? What was it like to have a new pet? Draw a sketch of the street you grew up on. What images emerge of people and places and happenings?

How about marketing your vignette? Is it possible to sell a piece like this? Where in the world would you start? Tune in tomorrow and I'll share a vignette with you that sold the first time I submitted it.

2010-06-16T20:51:00.001-07:00

Wednesday, June 16, 2010
The Swamp
A few weeks ago, I took a look at my workplace. Disastrous! I promised myself I would do something about it -- separate the wheat from the chaff, dig for gold amidst the clutter. In the process of progress, I took time out to create a "found poem" that I want to share. First I took my original blog and cut it in half, then in half again. The idea was to save significant words and phrases, rearranging them until I had the essence of what I was trying to say. In other words, I "found" a poem in the midst of all those words. Here it is:

Clutter beyond panic,
desk piled high:
a calendar, manuscripts,
colored folders, paper clips,
last week's mail.
I work in a swamp
where paper prospers
like tropical plants.
I wonder -- could I enter some day
and never be seen again?

Besides writing a poem, I did get around to attacking the mess. First I picked up all the papers in my office and put them on my bed. This became, and still is, the general sorting area. Chaff went in the trash. Wheat went in colored, labeled folders. Label is the key word. When you find a category for something, other somethings soon follow. It wasn't long before I realized that I was dropping papers into file folders and getting them off my desk, off the floor, and out of my hair.

I'm not digging for gold yet, though a few nuggets have rolled my way. I found some half-written stories, a few passable poems, and a query that I thought I had mailed. This week I'm trying to find a place in my office to put all the colored file folders. Oh no! What's that in the corner? It's a laundry basket, full of loose papers waiting to be sorted!

Sigh. I wonder if I can start sleeping in my bed by Christmas!
Posted by Marilyn Donahue at 8:37 PM
0 comments

Creating Multi-Dimensional Characters

2010-05-31T18:12:00.000-07:00

From my forthcoming book, A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing Fiction for Young Adults. E & E Publishing:

Most commercial fiction, including series stories, is plot driven. This means that “the plot’s the thing!” Such books are often adventure stories — page turners — in which readers can hardly wait to find out what happens next. The protagonist is a character a few years older than the reader and usually has qualities the reader admires: curiosity, bravery, good looks, and the ability to get in and out of trouble without a scratch.

Literary fiction, on the other hand, is character driver. This means that everything that happens hinges on who the character is. I don’t mean name and address. I’m talking about what goes on under the skin. The protagonist will operate on a deeper level than in commercial fiction, and the change that occurs in this character will include a loss of innocence that is directly related to coming of age.

In literary fiction, voice is crucial. Voice is more than the noise the vocal chords produce, though tone and inflection are part of the effect. Voice is the total value system of a character, delivered to the reader through narrative description, dialogue, dialect, interior monologue, outside observation, and action and reaction.

Not only must the main character have a strong voice, but important members of the supporting cast, as well as walk-ons, should be recognizable by physical description, action/reaction, and the way they put words together.

When I begin a middle grade or young adult novel, I create a cast of characters, using as many pages as I need to record information about each one. I start with their names (which often change as the book develops), then go on to vital statistics, their likes and dislikes, their desires. As they begin to take shape, so do the individual voices begin to emerge. If I have trouble with a particular voice, I ask that character to write something. For example, when I was writing Straight Along a Crooked Road, Luanna wrote in a journal and told me how she felt about leaving her home in Vermont. Sometimes I interview characters by asking questions about things they like or dislike. Other times, I ask them to write blank verse telling what people think they are like, followed by what they believe they are like.

Developing characters is an adventure in which there are many surprises. I don’t like to be a stage director; instead, I like to put my characters on the stage and watch what they do next. That’s what makes fiction writing fun!

Coffee Break

2010-04-07T19:40:00.000-07:00

When I first began to write, I felt as if I were talking to the wind. I typed up manuscript after manuscript and sent my precious words to bit time magazines. It turned out that I was the only one who thought they were precious. I collected enough rejection slips to paper a wall of my “office” — a corner of the family room where I had set up a card table, a portable typewriter, and a ream of paper.

I’ll admit that I was discouraged. But in a family with four children, a cat that had just produced six kittens in the clothes hamper, two large iguanas, a South African Jackson chameleon that lived in a fish tank and ate live meal worms, and my son’s pet snake — there was little time to mope. I decided to switch from the long-winded, academic articles nobody wanted to read and write, instead, about things I knew first hand — things that happened in my family and, likely as not, in families everywhere.

I approached the local weekly newspaper and offered to write a weekly column of short, family oriented pieces that would make their readers laugh — and sometimes make them cry. I didn’t ask for pay, and the editor said he would give me a chance. Before long, people began talking about the “Coffee Break” column that someone named Mary Robb was writing. The editor offered to pay me one dollar an article. I agreed.

Did I give my writing away too cheaply? I don’t think so. It gave me a chance to establish a pen name. It gave me an audience that asked for more. It taught me the discipline of writing for a weekly deadline. It made me search my brain for new subjects to write about. And — the biggest bonus of all — I began to use the seeds of these articles to write longer, more detailed stories that I sold to magazines for much, much more than one dollar!

Giving away my writing to a no pay/low pay market was the smartest career move I ever made. It showed me that focus is important and that writing about what I know pays off. It taught me that the joy of seeing my words in print outweighs dollar signs. And it gave me the self confidence I needed to keep trying.

I would do it all over again!

2010-04-07T19:28:00.000-07:00

I love the verses from Isaiah 40:28-31 that make me feel as if I can fly.

“Do you not know? . . . Have you not heard? . . . those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40: 28-31

Those of us who have taken up the pen understand what a challenge it can be to capture the right words to describe, the best images to inspire, the perfect rhythm of a sentence. When our work is going well, we rejoice. Narrative, dialogue, and descriptive passages seem to flow from brain to paper — or at least to computer keys. At times like these, I feel that I no longer have both feet firmly on the floor. I revel in the sheer beauty of words. I feel bathed in a sea of sound.
The trouble is, euphoria is temporal. Left to its own devices, it doesn’t last. And eventually I not only have my feet on the ground once again, but they are very likely buried in the mud. What happened? I was riding the crest of a wave that reached its peak and crashed, tossing me head over heels into foaming surf and bruising wet sand.

It’s downright depressing when a writer loses momentum. It’s even more depressing to come to a sudden stop. Some call this writer’s block and turn away from their work. But I have been here before and I realize that the problem does not lie in lack of talent or the need to put aside my work for a time. It lies in a lack of focus.

And I ask myself some questions: From whence did my talent come? Am I remembering to give thanks for this gift? How long has it been since I rested in the Lord?
Then I open my Bible to the book of Isaiah and read passages about the valleys being lifted up, the wilderness bursting into bloom, streams of water in a thirsty land. The poetry of this book calms me and excites me . . . reassures me and challenges me. Finally, I come to what I now think of as the eagle verse. I read the words, and they are as new to me as if I’m reading them for the first time. They are as old as the mountains, and the skies, and the seas.
And I pick up my pen, or put my fingers on the keys, and I begin again, knowing that even if I grow weary, even if I stumble, I can always look forward to soaring with the eagles once more.

2009-10-12T00:01:00.000-07:00

We have a special treat today! I want to introduce you to Nancy I. Sanders, author of Yes! You Can Learn How to Write Children's Books, Get Them Published, and Build a Successful Writing Career. E & E Publishing. 368 pages. Available at Amazon.com. for $19.95. You can visit Nancy at http://www.nancysanders.com/.

Nancy is a best-selling and award-winning author who is now sharing her secrets to landing a contract before you write your manuscript -- even if you're an inexperienced or unpublished children's writer. In my opinion, Yes! You Can . . . is worth every penny. You will learn how to manage your time and focus your energies, thereby finding time to write each day. You will also be introduced to Nancy's unique plan to get published, earn an income, and satisfy your personal fulfillment as a writer. Listen to what people in the business are saying:

"Yes! You Can is like having your own personal writing coach at your side." -- Aimee Jackson, Senior Editor, Sleeping Bear Press.

"Here, at last, is the book on children's writing I've been looking for to offer my writing customers." -- Sally Stuart, Christian Writers' Market Guide

Nancy was gracious enough to answer some questions, and I want to share her answers with you now.

Q. Do you make a habit of reading your work out loud? Do you read it to someone else in order to get a second opinion? Or do you like to be by yourself so that you can listen to the resonance and rhythm of the words and thus get a perspective on your style and voice?

A. Actually, I like to do all of these . . . and more! My cat, Humphrey, knows that I often read my manuscripts aloud. He jumps up on the couch and listens! (And if he falls asleep while I'm reading something out loud, I don't worry that it might be boring. After all, he's a cat!) Often, I read my manuscripts aloud to my husband, Jeff. He gives such fantastic feedback that his name should probably be on most of my books as the co-author! I do like to read things aloud by myself during the stage when I'm trying to get it to really represent what I want to say and in my own voice. However, I also love to take manuscripts to critique groups and have other people read them aloud. This helps me know if there are awkward phrasings that might cause my readers to stumble over the words.

Q. Do you ever have trouble finding the voice of a minor character? If so, what are some of your methods for trying to pin it down?

A. When I first write a piece of fiction, all of my characters, both major and minor, somehow mysteriously end up talking just like . . . me! So I have to work very hard to give each character his own voice, especially a minor character. One of the best techniques I use to help pin this down is to sit all the characters down together in my mind for the scene I'm working on. I ask them the exact same question about the scene. Then I work on each of their answers until each of them answers that question in his own voice that truly reflects his unique personality and worldview.

Q. We hear a lot about "show, don't tell." Can you give an example or two that shows how you can convert a "telling" passage into a "showing" passage?

A. A narrative passage "tells" what is happening and is fine to use as a passage of time or a transition into a scene. For instance, this is a use of narrative that is good to keep in a manuscript:

Over the next few months, Chloe faithfully attended dancing school. One rainy Monday, she walked into class and noticed a new girl standing on the dance floor. She was wearing a pink tutu.

However, when we want to create a scene, we don't want to use narrative and just "tell" what happened. That's when we want to"show" a scene taking place. The best way to "show" is to use dialogue and action and develop the scene.

Here's an incorrect use of narrative that"tells" what happens in a scene:

Chloe welcomed the new girl to class and found out that she had been chosen to dance in a Broadway show.

Here's a much stronger way to use dialogue and action and "show" what happened by developing the scene:

"Is this your first time here?"Chloe asked, walking up to the girl.

"Yes," the girl said. "My family just moved here from New York City. I was in a dancing class there for three years. Students from our class danced on Broadway."

Chloe's heart beat with excitement. "I've always wanted to dance in a Broadway production. Did you perform in any of the shows?"

The new girl sighed. "I was just chosen to dance in a new show. But then we had to move, so I never got to."

The important thing to remember is that there's a time for "telling" and a time for "showing." When you want to introduce a scene or transition between two scenes, use narrative to tell the reader where you're going in the story. When you want to develop a scene, however, toss the narrative aside and pull the reader right into the action so she can see, feel, and hear what's happening. Use dialogue and action to "show."

Thanks, Nancy, for sharing your expertise today! And I want to add that I just signed a two-book contract with E & E Publishing on the basic on a proposal -- before writing a single word of text. Nancy's method worked for me, and it can for you, too.

Know Yourself

2009-10-01T13:33:00.000-07:00

. . . From my forthcoming book A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing Fiction for Young Adults. E & E Publishing.

In the creative writing classes I teach, we spend some time getting to know one another.
Students interview other students, asking questions about their families, their childhoods, their likes and dislikes. They report their findings back to the class, and we do a lot of laughing and back patting. Then I tell them that this activity was a prelude to learning more, not about each other, but about themselves.

Did they answer each of the questions honestly? Or did they answer selectively, sharing only those things that were “socially acceptable”? Did they avoid painful subjects? Did they choose areas of their lives in which they could put a little icing on the cake? In short, did they choose what to share and not to share in order to look as good as possible?

It’s perfectly human to want to be at our best, but none of us can sustain this kind of deception indefinitely. The time comes when we have to kick off our shoes, and relax in the knowledge that we are who we are – and that’s an OK way to be.

What does this have to do with writing young adult novels? Quite a lot. Until you get a firm grip on the kind of person you are – the way you handle disappointment, the way you show affection, the way you develop friendships, the way you feel about speaking out (or holding everything in) – until you understand the way you relate to life, you can’t possibly understand the audience you want to write for.

To help with the process of self-knowledge, I assign some well-tested exercises designed especially for this purpose. Students often tell me later that they thought these would be a waste of time, for they were still holding onto the idea of I know all about myself. But as they did the “Know Yourself Exercises” that I assigned, they were astounded to discover qualities that they had either forgotten about, had never wanted to talk about, or had never realized they had.

Some my students found that they related more directly to very young children; others discovered they were comfortable with middle grade readers. Still others found their emotional roots in the years we now call young adult – that stretchable span that is loosely described as ages 12 and up.

Try these writing exercises. Let your imagination lead you into some surprising revelations about yourself.

Writing exercise #1: The Equation

The equation is a writing prompt based on a mathematical concept:

Despite A, B is true because of C and D.

Here is an example:

A: Although I may seem to be a sedate,

respectable member of the community,
(This is what you are perceived to be by others.)

B: I have another identity.

(Despite what others perceive you to be, you do have another identity.)

C: I have danced on wet grass in the moonlight,
swum with dolphins in the sea,

D: ridden an elephant through the jungle,

and climbed the highest tree.

(C and D are examples of the things that make your “other identity” believable.

They are the activities you may have done, unknown to others, or they may
be what you wish you had done. Whether real or imaginary, they lend substance to the
real you.

Now translate the equation into a single narrative sentence, like this:

Although I may seem to be a satisfied, respectable member of the community, I am a free spirit in disguise, dancing on wet grass in the moonlight, swimming with dolphins in the Aegean Sea, riding an elephant through lush jungle, and swinging on a vine from the highest tree.

Take 15 minutes and write a few Equations about yourself. Let your imagination run free. Keep A and B as short as possible, but feel free to expand on C and D. Whether you write these lines in poetry or prose doesn’t matter. What you are trying to capture is the part of you that is full of imagination and inventiveness – the part that will create characters and plot and setting in a fictional story – in short, your emotional roots.

Repeat Performance

2009-09-13T16:06:00.000-07:00

From my forthcoming book A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing Fiction for Young Adults. E & E Publishing.

After I visited George Ella Lyon's website at http://www.georgeellalyon.com/, I got inspired and couldn't resist trying another “I Am From . . .” poem.

When I think of Main Street, where I grew up, I inevitably remember the front porch swing, games at twilight, and the smell of orange blossoms. Was the moon bigger in those days, or am I imagining it? I know I'm not imagining that chow dog or the back fence it made me climb. And if I close my eyes, I can almost hear the William Tell Overture as it introduced the Lone Ranger. That sound was loud and clear, for all radios on Main Street were tuned to the same station.

I walked down Main Street the other evening at twilight, slowly . . . slowly . . . looking at the cracks in the sidewalk, wondering if any of those watermelon seeds sprouted, watching for the evening star. Here is the result of my few moments of nostalgia:

I am from Main Street,

from Kick the Can and Mother May I?

at twilight,

and Mrs. Loring's terrible chow dog

with the purple tongue.

I am from back fences and hollyhocks,

from orange trees that blossomed

in the spring,

and sent their fragrance

to float on the cool night air.

I am from a porch swing

and the sounds of the Lone Ranger

and Captain Midnight,

and the taste of cold watermelon

with black seeds that were

good for spitting.

I am from sack lunches,

and the five and dime,

and banana splits

with three kinds of ice cream

and whipped cream and a cherry on top.

I am from time passing,

and starry nights

and the moon shining so bright

over Main Street

that it put sparkles in my hair . . .

or so he said.

I Am From . . . the World of Books

2009-09-07T16:55:00.000-07:00

The I Am From poem is a form developed by George Ella Lyon. It has been successfully used in schools across the country. Some of the results are wonderful, with students reaching into their everyday lives and ethnic backgrounds and coming up with single images that are worth a thousand words. It occurred to me that this would be a good exercise in the class I teach on Writing Your Memoirs. This week we thought back to our early school years and concentrated on remembering one incident that might bring to mind many images. Then we wrote I Am From poems with those memories as starting points.

I thought of sitting on the front porch swing at the house on Main Street, where I grew up. It was inevitable that I would have a book in my hand. Back and forth went the swing as I lost track of time and place and let myself be carried away into . . .

The World of Books

I am from the House at Pooh Corner,

from the Hundred Acre Wood,

from Kanga, Piglet, Eeyore, and Roo,

from Christopher Robin and Winnie the Pooh.

I am from Tinker Town Tom and his sister Belle

who fought the evil white-faced clown

and saved the polliwogs

and the cradle babies.

I am from Nancy Drew and Judy Bolton

and Beverly Gray, but not from Pollyanna.

I am from high Alpine meadows

where I lived with the Grandfather,

and climbed with Peter, and drank goats' milk

and ate cheese, warmed and spread

on white bread fresh from a stone oven.

I am from deepest Africa and Tarzan of the Apes,

from Tuck Everlasting and the life-giving spring,

from The Secret Garden and a boy crying in the night;

And I am from Raggedy Ann

and the deep, deep woods

filled with fairies and everything.

I am from Huck Finn and the mighty Mississippi,

from Menabilly and Frenchman's Creek.

I am from 1001 Nights of tales retold.

I am called Scheherazade, Rapunzel,

Heidi, Jane Eyre, Marcella.

I have heard the creaking of the sign

that hangs at Jamaica Inn,

offering travelers shelter for the night.

I have followed the paths

of Creatures Great and Small

across the heather-strewn moors of Yorkshire.

I am from the brothers Grimm,

and ogres, and giants,

and godmothers with wands.

I am heroine, adventurer, solver of mysteries;

I swing from trees, open the garden gate,

and understand the meaning

of a candy heart.

I am from ideas and memories

formed in ink

and spread across paper,

to be read under the bedsheets

with a flashlight.

I am from the world of books.

Can you imagine a character in one of your books writing an I Am From poem? What would you learn by letting this person tell you how he or she feels? By standing to one side and listening while your character digs deep and comes up with what might be surprising information? I think I’ll try it. I’ll let you know what happens.

Where Do Ideas Come From?

2009-09-04T18:29:00.000-07:00

A wannabe writer recently said to me, "My ideas just pop out of nowhere. There are so many of them that I can't think where to begin!"

That was part of her trouble. She was afloat in a sea of ideas, perfectly happy in her bubble bath world. But soap bubbles soon pop and disappear. So do idea bubbles if you don't do something to stabilize them. In my experience, this is done by writing them down, then testing them out. I don't believe for a minute that ideas spring out of nowhere. They all come from some connection we make, perhaps from a long-forgotten memory, perhaps from a current event. They may have shallow roots, but they are rooted. It is up to the discerning writer to determine whether or not an idea is substantial enough to become the basis for a larger work.

Here is an exercise I do with the class I teach on Writing Your Memoirs. It has been instrumental not only in retrieving memories, but in helping writers move from idea to paragraph, to vignette, to story.

Think back to an elementary school you attended. Focus on one classroom. Close your eyes and picture the desks, the board, the teacher's desk, the windows, the clock on the wall.
Do you remember where you sat?
Who sat next to you? Behind you? In front of you?
What was your teacher's name?
Where did you eat lunch and with whom did you eat it? (Did you carry your lunch or buy it at school? If you carried it, was it in a brown paper bag or a lunch box? Did you have a thermos? What was in it? What was your favorite lunch? Did you make it yourself, or did you have a surprise when you opened it?)
Who was your best friend at school?
Who was your worst enemy?
Do you remember a special project?
Do you remember any special parties or celebrations?
What was your favorite subject?
What subject did you dread?
Can you remember an embarrassing moment? A success or failure?
Can you describe how you felt when you were with your best friend,? When you got 100 on a spelling teset? When you got chosen last to be on a team?
What do you know now that you wish you'd known then?

Answer these questions with as many remembered details as possible. Write the answers down, letting the words flow freely. Take your time with this exercise. Feel free to stop at any one question and let the details take shape.

Now choose one incident that springs from these memories and describe it more fully. Include characters and dialogue. When you are finished, analyze what you have written. Do you have (1) a short retelling of the facts or (2) have you created a vignette -- a scene that could potentially be part of a larger work?

Do you find that you want to write more . . . to browse through your childhood memories and develop those ideas that have lain dormant, but are now ripe for the picking? More power to you. You may well be on your way to a short story or even to a completed scene in a book!
So stop reading this blog and get busy writing! Let me know what success you have in harvesting your memories and turning them into workable ideas.

Summer on Ice

2009-08-27T12:56:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I promised you an example of a marketable vignette. This one has setting and characters, but only three words of dialogue. It has no plot, for a story problem is absent -- though it does contain a kind of plot curve. See if you can find where the high point of the action is. It also has a flashback, which is common in vignettes. I believe what made it sell was the mood (which is captured in the title) and the memory-invoking details. Women's Circle Home Cooking bought it the first time out. Can you believe it?

Yesterday afternoon I was popping ice cubes out of the tray when one of them caught my eye. At first I thought it was dirty. Closer inspection showed that it contained a small piece of wood -- light brown and thin, almost a splinter --- frozen tightly to the outer edge of the cube.

I stared at it, amazed, then raised the cube to my lips and tasted the ice. I was once again seven years old and standing at the curb in front of my mother's house. The sprinkler tossed water across thirsty Bermuda grass. A trickle of sweat ran down between my shoulder blades. It was a Saturday in August, and the iceman was coming.

If he had a name, I never heard it. I'm not sure that he was even a human being. A legend would be more like it: something right up there with Paul Bunyan. One thing we knew for sure . . . he was a miracle worker. What other explanation could there be for someone who kept eggs and meat from spoiling and brought instant relief from the heat of summer?

My children don't understand the heroics of the ice truck, but they grew up in the generation of refrigerators and air-conditioned houses and will have to be excused. Perhaps, pitied. How sad to be able to flip a switch or turn a dial for almost anything you want, but not to be able to remember the days when happiness was a stolen chunk of ice, covered with wood splinters, but cool on the tongue, delightfully rubbed inside the elbow, and squealingly horrible when dropped down the back.

Ralph Peabody was best at ice thieving. He was the minister's son, which made him champion of lots of things, all forbidden by his father. He had the ability to steal an icy sliver and get it down an unsuspecting neck without taking his hands out of his pockets. Or so it seemed.

It was easy to tell where the ice truck would stop because of the four-cornered signs hung in conspicuous places in neighborhood windows. The squares were large, with 10, 25, 50, and 100 printed in the corners and Union Ice Company in fancy letters down the middle. Whatever number was up was what you got. That kind of thing appealed to Ralph right off the bat. It was too great a challenge to pass up. A quick flick of the Peabody wrist, and Mrs. Morganthau served warm cocktails at her Saturday night dinner party, while, next door, Elmira Browne's milk froze solid on the top shelf.

At least, that's what we hoped would happen. In reality, I suspect that the iceman had eyes in the back of his head and a lot of wisdom besides. He let us have our fun and made his deliveries as usual. Otherwise, Ralph Peabody would have been on permanent restriction.

The ice truck itself was nothing fancy. It couldn't compete with those earlier horse-drawn wagons with colorful signs, as gaily decorated as Gypsy carts. But even without the artistry, there was something magic about the canvas-covered truck that clattered down Main Street, leaving a dotted trail of cold water trailing behind. In those post-depression years, it was the high point of childhood mornings. Two beeps on his horn, and the iceman became the Pied Piper of Hamlin with a dancing string of children following him down the dusty street.

Excitement grew as he pulled up to the curb with a squeal of Model-T brakes. We stood in a ring and watched him throw back the canvas and reach for the long ice pick that he carried in a holster. Deftly he drove the point, again and again, jabbing with quick, crisp resonance into prescored lines until the block separated, breaking clean, with a surface that caught the sunlight and glimmered like polished glass.

Out came the thick crab-claw tongs. With our mouths opened wide, we watched him grasp the block, and, in one smooth movement, hoist the ice over his shoulder and onto the leather apron that protected his back. As soon as he was out of sight, the fun began. Like locusts, we swarmed. Stolen fruit being the sweetest, we robbed the wet, wooden floor of anything shiny and cold. We sucked the sweet juice, tasting summer goodness, clean and fragrant, better than ripe melons and more satisfying than spring water.

We had to move fast, for he was never gone long. "Here he comes!" our lookout cried, and we guiltily wiped our cold mouths on the backs of dirty hands and tried to look casual by twisting ankles around legs and draping arms around shoulders. To smile was considered a give-a-way, so we were a somber group. Innocent. Appealing. We needn't have bothered, for I'm sure he knew. And we needn't have stolen, for he always gave us a chip or two, free for the asking. But the iceman understood the excitement of the game. So he returned the ice pick to his holster, hung the tongs on a hook, then stood back and sternly looked us up and down. The shiver that went down my back was almost as good as the one caused by Ralph Peabody's ice chips. It was hard not to smile, for, as often asI could, I held in my closed fist a rapidly melting, once-thick sliver of ice, to be savored for as long as I could make it last.

Ice was different in those days. Now it comes in convenient shapes from sanitary trays. It's cool and clean, even mildly refreshing. It is frozen water. . . I'll give it that. But there was a time when a single, stolen sliver, melting precious drops down the side of a dirt-streaked arm, reflected warm sunshine and smelled of summer roses. It eased the pain of bare feet on hot asphalt. It had the distinct, sweet taste of fresh -mown grass. It held in its wet reflection all the memories of childhood.

Reason and logic show that it couldn't have been so. But I remember it that way. Some say ice was always better then because of the sliver of wood from the iceman's truck. But I think it must have been a miracle. What other explanation can there be?

Writing Havens

2009-08-18T14:53:00.000-07:00

Writing Havens

I do a lot of my writing in my office in what was once an upstairs bedroom. It originally belonged to my daughter, had a four-poster bed and was decorated with flounces and ruffles. When she got married, one of her brothers claimed the room (not the ruffles) as his. He immediately built a “radio station” in one corner, complete with all the stuff he needed to converse with his friends. In the other corner was a floor to ceiling cage containing a parrot. This room was never a quiet place. I entered it only to clean and finally gave up on that.

Who would imagine that when at last the nest was empty, and I could take my pick of three extra bedroom, I would choose this one. There are reasons: (1) it is the biggest; (2) it is shaded by several giant liquid amber trees; (3) it has a large closet. What more could I ask for? An office with plenty of working space, storage space, and a fine view of spreading branches, green leaves, and an occasional bird’s nest!

Even with the shades open, I am in perfect privacy, for the 45 year old trees make a thick, leafy screen across the windows. Granted, they do block my view of the neighborhood, but the compensations are great. In the autumn, the colors are glorious: red, brown, magenta, yellow – a riot of fall colors. In spring and summer, green leaves and bristly brown “gum balls” hang from graceful branches that sway continually in the breeze. In the winter, the branches are bare, but beautiful. They form fascinating shapes and designs, and I love the starkness of their deep brown against a winter-white sky.

I actually had to move my computer so that it faces the wall because I was spending so much time watching the trees!

But sometimes I do leave this haven. The nearest place, of course, is my back patio, also tree-shaded, this time by everlasting pear trees, whose branches dance a delicate ballet. But, once again, I become distracted by nature and find myself day-dreaming, so I pack up my notes and my favorite fine-point pen and head for Panera’s in Redlands. Occasionally I take my lap top with me, but mine is heavy and old and won’t run on its battery any more, which means I have to find a plug – something that’s not always available. But a table is always empty, and I buy a cup of coffee, glance at their cinnamon rolls, and get to work.

A wonderful thing happens to writers when we are absorbed in our work. We tune out sound. As I write, I am unaware of my surroundings. I am transported to whatever scene my characters are involved in. I hear their voices, not the people around me. But my sense of smell is not diminished, and I am tempted by the latest batch of fresh, warm cinnamon rolls. I weaken. I buy one and tell myself I need the energy to finish my work.

When I return to my office with the view, I am filled with wonder at how many pages I’ve filled. And I tackle the task of transcribing them onto to the computer screen with pleasure because this amounts to a first editing of my current project. By dinnertime, the outside light is fading, and the breeze from the canyon behind my house strengthens. The trees wave their branches, shaking off the dust of a summer day. I turn off the computer and look around. It’s a nice office – a good place to do most of my writing in!

In Search of Goals

2009-08-17T10:15:00.000-07:00

From my forthcoming book A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing Fiction for Young Adults. E & E Publishing.

A few years ago, I got in the car and headed for Los Angeles and the SCBWI conference. Because of previous obligations, I was a day late and driving alone. Since I didn't have my friend Marge in the passenger seat (Marge can find any destination in the world), I had to depend on mapquest.com. I have news for you. Mapquest does not always send drivers on the most direct route to reach their goals. I took some scenic, gas-guzzling tours through several neighborhoods before arriving at the end of my journey.

Because I was at a writing conference, I began to think how this experience could be applied to me as a writer. Did I plan each project so that I could finish it with the least amount of detouring? Did I take a lot of wrong turns before I found the direction of my plot? Was I a creative gas-guzzler, idling and enjoying the scenery instead of getting myself to the computer? Was I in such a hurry to get where I was going that I didn't take time to write in my journal, sit in the shade with a cup of tea, ask for guidance in daily devotions?

It came as a shock to realize that my writing life was not guided by a reliable map or by an estimated time of arrival. I needed some goal-setting strategies! After a good deal of soul searching, I came up with the idea of creating a "Goal Notebook." I bought a standard 11x11 1/2 three ring notebook with a 1 1/2 inch spine. I filled it with paper, using dividers with tabs to separate the categories: Inspiration, Short-term goals, Long-term goals, Journal entries, Images, and Progress Diary.

The front and back of my notebook have plastic overlays in which I slipped a colorful cover, courtesy of clip art. I can change this every couple of months, using any kind of image I find inspiring. I printed up some of my favorite quotations about writing and slipped those inside the back cover. It looked good. It looked professional. It made me want to get to work!

Here are descriptions of how I approach each section of my notebook:

Inspiration: This is where I do a little soul-searching each morning. I like to do this in my back garden where violets grow wild beneath the roses. But in bad weather the kitchen table does nicely, for a bird bath sits beneath the window, and our resident towhee likes to visit. Sometimes I copy a Bible verse or meaningful quotation into the "inspiration" pages. I write a few thoughts about these words and thank God for the sunshine warm on my back, or for the rain that keeps our hillsides green. Then I ask for guidance for that day.

Short-term goals: These are projects that I plan to finish in a day or two, a week at most; for example, a short article that doesn't require research, a poem, a rebus, a letter to the editor, lesson plans for the classes I teach, an editing job, a synopsis or query, a family story. I usually list these in order, with the most pressing first. The list seems to grow daily. Then, for each idea, I use one page to create a working outline. When the outline suits me, I print it out and put it in a standing file on my desk and cross if off my short-term list.

Long-term goals: These are projects that won't be finished in a day, or even a month. They are books I plan to write, major articles that require extensive research, family and church histories, and working outlines of writing workshops I plan to give. On the first page of this section of my notebook, I list these projects in no particular order. Order is not a criteria here. The idea is what counts. This list serves as a kind of working Table of Contents. Now comes the fun part. Each separate idea has 5-6 blank pages of its own, separated by those useful see-through page protectors, which hold lots of "notes to myself" that aren't quite ready to be finalized. On the first page of each idea section, I write "Synopsis" and an estimated time frame for completion. The second page is for "Potential Markets," and the third page is for "Research information." On subsequent pages, I write bits of narrative and dialogue. I ad lib. I free write. These meanderings, through some literary metamorphoses, eventually combine to form whole thoughts and cohesive paragraphs. When this happens, it's time to move this particular long-term project to a notebook or folder of its own.

Journal entries: Journaling is journeying . . . traveling through introspective space . . . a trip without reservations. A blank page provides me with that instinctive need to fill it with words -- my words. I have an entire bookshelf filled with journals. Some are almost full; others have yet to be opened. The unopened ones have such beautiful covers, such velvety pages, that it takes courage to open one up and write the first word. But I eventually do reach for one and write a few sentences in it, quickly, before I can change my mind.

I carry a journal with me everywhere I go for two reasons: (1) to have paper handy when an idea blooms and (2) to force myself to begin developing that idea. I am not, by nature, a courageous person, and I would rather record an idea and let it go at that. The developing part takes courage. The journal makes me a more courageous writer.

Where does the Goal Notebook fit into journaling? As soon as a journal idea is developed -- even a little bit developed -- it is on its way to the Goal Notebook section labeled "Journal Entries." I copy it here, work on it, embellish it, edit it, until finally it is ready to be moved to either the section on Long-term or Short-term Goals.

Images: This portion of my Goal Notebook is the least tidy. I collect images on journal pages, post-it notes, pieces of paper torn from newspapers and magazines, and even from snapgshots and postcards. Then I staple or paste them onto the notebook pages. What kinds of images do I collect . . . and why? I aim for two varieties:

(1) Images that are printed, snapped, or sketched. The subject must be something that encourages a strong feeling. For example, my notebook contains snapshots and sketches of several houses that (metaphorically) opened their doors and invited me in. It also contains faces, flowers, birds, brick paths, and a small printed card that commands me: "Just do it!" These are all visual images that have been recorded in printed form.

(2) Images that are seen or heard and described in writing. For example: "The dust motes fell slowly, softly, like snow on a winter night." Or "The sparrow tree is a giant aviary, a gymnasium." Or "The clouds are frothy bubbles on a glass of milk."

Such images seem important to me when I record them in my journal, but I'm seldom sure why. When I copy them into my Goal Notebook, it always surprises me to find that many of them seem to fit into something I am currently writing. I believe in serendipity, don't you?

Progress diary: This is just what it sounds like -- a record of my progress. It is one of the most vital sections of the Goal Notebook. It keeps me honest about how much writing I am producing. Each piece in progress has a separate page (or pages) on which I record the dates I work on the piece, with both proposed and actual word counts. In other words, I might say: proposed -- 500 words; completed -- 379 words. I would then know that I was behind my self-imposed schedule, but at least I was 379 words farther along than the day before. On these pages I also begin listing possible markets for the piece. When it is ready for submission, I record where it is sent, the date, the editor (if possible), and the name of the publisher or the magazine title. When the piece is rejected or accepted, I record that information. When a sale is finalized, I staple the papers together and put them papers in a file folder with a copy of the manuscript. Goal accomplished! If I receive as many as ten rejections, I pull out my manuscript and try to determine what I need to change to make it marketable. Then I start all over again.

If you haven't already created your own Goal Notebook, I encourage you to get started. Write and tell me how it is working for you!

Picture Book Memories

2009-08-14T22:24:00.000-07:00

I have never written a picture book, but I live in a picture book world. A world of images, sounds, smells -- all captured in words that create pictures of nostalgia, adventure, joy, and sometimes heartache for me and my readers. As I write, my mind is full of pictures. I see the scenery clearly, hear the voices, watch the characters move.

Would I live in a world of pictures if I hadn't been exposed to so many picture books as a child? I doubt it.

My earliest "reading" memory is of a girl sitting cross-legged on the grass, her mouth open wide as shes chews her dinner, much as the cow next to her is chewing its cud. Noisy Nora is the name of the book, and Nora is eating outside because of her bad table manners. Oh, the thought of being put outside to eat with the animals! I can remember looking at all the pictures, then chewing very carefully and quietly. Was this little book a positive influence on my life? You bet it was!

Soon after, I was introduced too Tinker Town Tom and learned that characters could have adventures. Tom and his twin sister, Belle, ran away and joined the circus. I turned the pages eagerly, watching Belle walk the tight rope and ride bareback while Tom jumped from trapeze to trapeze, swinging from his long cue. They won the polliwog fish pole prize, coveted by the terrible white-faced clown, who liked to gnash his teeth and clench his fists. Gnash and Clench! What great new words. I said them over and over, relishing the ash and ench sounds.

Every page of words was accompanied by a page of brilliantly colored illustrations, sometimes enhanced by crayolas from my own box. I shudder today at the thought of drawing in an illustrated picture book, but all those years ago I think I was putting the stamp of ownership on the pages. It was the book my father had read to me before he died, and it was somehow important that I put my mark here and there. It was a way of saying, I want to belong to this book, and I want it to belong to me.

Patsy Ann came into my life a few months later. I had never seen anything like this book, illustrated with photographs of a little doll going about her daily routine, just as if she were an adult, not a little girl. Patsy Ann did what all little girls did in those days. She played house. I followed her through her chores, delighted that she had to do them and I didn't. She lived in a dollhouse, did the washing in a tub with an old-fashioned wringer, ironed, cleaned, and cooked. She also baked cookies, did the mending, and went to the market. But my favorite part of the book was when she went to the seashore, waded in the ocean, and made a castle out of sand.

What did these three books from my young life have in common? What made them essential to me? Why did I return to them again and again, begging for the words to be read aloud?

Patsy Ann, Tinker Town Tom, and Noisy Nora filled my life with characters, and action, and setting: the three essentials for literature. Granted, they were not classics, but who cares when you are only three years old? I hungered for memorable images, for adventure, for the music of words, for the stimulus of imagination, and I found it in pictures, for I was too young to read the words.

I still depend on pictures when I write, but these pictures are the images I see with my mind's eye. I visualize setting. I imagine characters and hear their voices. At last, they begin to move, to interact, and the intricacies of plot weave their unbroken threads into a tapestry of story. And it all started with pictures.

Jumpstart Your Writing

2009-08-13T22:10:00.000-07:00

When I climbed into my car and turned the key in the ignition, nothing happened. The silence was ominous -- so empty, so void of energy. I took out my cell phone and called AAA.

"Can you jumpstart me?" I asked.

"I'll be there in twenty minutes or less."

It was as easy as that. All I had to do was open the hood of the car and wait for help to come. When the AAA serviceman arrived, he connected cables to my dead battery and told me to start the engine. I did. I heard a comforting roar. I had power! Evergy! I was burning gas! All because of a simple connection.

From battery acid to creative juices may seem like an unlikely leap in the cognitive process, but it makes sense to me. Take journal entries, for example. We write about ideas. We jot down details. We mine for memories. Bits and pieces. A little of this and that. Nothing finished . . . many things explored.

What would happen if we jumpstarted the creative process by making connections? By reading journal entries carefully and taking notes. By finding common denominators. By searching for themes that occur again and again with variations. Who knows? We might find that we don't have dead batteries after all. We just need to get the creative juices flowing to jumpstart our writing.

Secondary Characters in Middle-Grade Fiction

2009-08-12T18:01:00.000-07:00

. . . from my forthcoming book, A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing Fiction for Young Adults. E & E Publishing:

Secondary characters, when developed properly, can give direction to the story by (1) giving an extra dimension to the main character, (2) supporting the plot, and (3) reacting to the setting. Let's take it one step at a time.:

1. Dialogue: Almost all characters talk, listen, and talk again. They become believable through conversation: through what they say, through their choice of words, and through the rhythm of their speech. Well-written, distinctive dialogue gives the viewpoint character someone to talk to. It allows him/her to agree, disagree, or even argue -- all things that give extra dimension to the traits you are trying to establish.

2. Plot: A story requires a cast of characters. You can read through the supporting casts of movies to remind yourself that it takes a lot of secondary characters to make a story. Interaction is the key word here. Sometimes a secondary character interacts so well that he/she threatens to steal the scene. This is not cause for alarm. Such a character can often serve as comic relief, or as dramatic contrast. And there is a bonus -- you never know when you might need this very character as the hero or heroine of your next novel!

Secondary characters do not have to be on stage in every scene -- only when needed for support. Because they are often off-stage, they are able to report things that happened beyond the viewpoint character's frame of reference. This technique is invaluable simply because your main character can't be everywhere at once.

Jane Eyre did not see Rochester's wife on the flaming roof. She heard about it from a reliable eye-witness. Neither did Angie in my book, To Catch a Golden Ring, witness Con's terrible accident. She pieced together details from eye-witness secondary characters until it seemed that she had seen it herself.

3. Setting. Just as interaction is important to plot, so is reaction important to setting. In my book, A Place to Belong, the secondary character, Took, hates Bundy Street and everything about it. In the opening scene, he says, "This place is full of termites. I heard them crunching in the walls last night." The contrast between his attitude and that of the viewpoint character is shown when Jessica discovers that she can see the stars from the roof of the very same tenement building. Her positive feelings are strengthened by the contrast of Took's anger.

Develop your secondary characters with the same care you give a viewpoint character, and your story will be more believable, more graphic, and more memorable!

Viewpoint

2009-08-11T21:05:00.000-07:00

. . . from my forthcoming book, A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing Fiction for Young Adults. E & E Publishing:
A tween-ager read my book, To Catch a Golden Ring, and wrote to me saying, "I felt like I was Angie. I experienced everything she did, and I felt like the things that happened to her were happening to me. It was like I could get under her skin!"

How do we writers create stories that pull readers in? How do we build characters that matter, characters that readers relate to? The secret is in a technique called single character viewpoint. This means that everything that happens is seen, or heard, or smelled, or felt by the main character -- the viewpoint character -- and by that one character alone. Such a character may be seen as "I," (first person singular) or as "he/she" (third person singular). The choice is the author's.

Some of us write more easily in first person, some in third. The "person" is often dictated by the style and content of the book. As you are writing, it will become apparent to you which voice you are most comfortable with.The single character viewpoint is a convention of style that does not diminish the supporting cast. It simply answers the question, "Whose story is this?" In To Catch a Golden Ring, the story is Angie's. She therefore has to be on center stage throughout the book. Everything is seen through her eyes, heard through her ears, felt as only Angie can feel. She is the most developed character -- the one who grows and changes before our eyes. She is the character with a problem that must be solved, the character that sounds like no other.

Does this mean that secondary characters are static? Not at all. They move and breathe.They have opinions. They laugh and cry; they feel happiness and shed tears. They have their own voices. They have their own problems. But they are seen only through the eyes of the viewpoint character.They are humanized through dialogue and tone of voice (which the viewpoint character hears), through movement and facial expressions (which the viewpoint character sees and interprets), and through particular character traits (which the viewpoint character observes).

Each supporting character must move the plot forward in some way, each must sound different, each must have a unique voice --without taking over the story.Creating a believable viewpoint character will serve you well as you write your novel. How? By keeping your plot on track. By creating a relationship with setting. By allowing secondary characters to develop into important story enhancers. In short, by getting under your skin and carrying your story from start to finish.

Monthly Magazine Magic

2009-08-10T17:14:00.000-07:00

I want to talk to you today about the childhood magic of magazines. Did you wait, as I did, until a monthly subscription was delivered in the mailbox? Did you sit right down and start devouring it, reading it from cover to cover, advertisements and all? as I recall, those advertisements promised ways to have clear skin, shining hair, and unbitten fingernails!

I had a friend who liked to thumb through the magazines on the drugstore rack, coveting those her mother would never let her buy, but looking at all the pictures and reading as many articles as she could before the druggist went, "Ahem!" and she know it was time to head for the door.
I didn't have that kind of nerve. I waited, instead for the postman to put my magazines in the mailbox each month.

I remember clearly my first magazine subscription and how excited I was when it arrived. Wee Wisdom was packed with stories, poems, and activities. It even had ideas for starting clubs. I was seven years old -- that time of life when a magazine of your own is a treasure. It was a treasure for my mother, too. I know this to be a fact because I overheard her telling our neighbor that Wee Wisdom kept me from begging to buy Sheena, Queen of the Jungle from the drugstore rack.

Other favorites in my elementary school days were Children's Playmate and Jack and Jill. I poured over each copy with friends. Sheena was still tempting, and, by that time, so was Tarzan of the Apes. But comic books didn't offer the activities that we found in subscription magazines -- things like simple science experiments, silly jokes, even recipes.

Mostly, though, I gravitated toward the stories. As I read them, I saw that complications must develop in order to keep the reader interested (plot). I came to realize that people in the stories could change (character development). I became aware of the way people sound when they talk (dialogue). I learned that everything has to happen somewhere (setting). I was introduced to that exciting story genre, the serial. Having to wait for a month for the next installment made me realize the power of a chapter that ends in a cliffhanger.

As I reached my teens, Calling All Girls, "the complete magazine for teens," entered my life. At fiteen cents per copy, I certainly got my money's worth. I still remember the advertisement for "look-alike sweaters for steadies." That was the era of the first home perms, and ads featured two teens with identically coifed hair and the subtitle: "Which twin has the Toni?"

But most of my reading time was spent on short stories. They entertained, and they challenged. I devoured them like a staring person. I saw myself in the settings. I heard my own voice in the dialogues. I reveled in the development of plot. Never to Be Forgotten was the name of a collection of stories from Calling All Girls. I read those stories and re-read them. I don't remember what they were about, but I do remember that they spoke to some part of me that was ready to listen.

I saved a lot of magazines as I grew up. They were stored for years in my mother's basement. Then they made their way to the file cabinets that line a wall of my garage. I was prowling around out there the other day and began leafing through old copies of Jack and Jill, Playmate, and Calling All Girls. Wee Wisdom seemed to have disappeared. But guess what I found at the bottom of the stack? Two copies of Tarzan of the Apes and one of Sheena, Queen of the Jungle. I wonder how that could have happened!