All About the Writing

Lord Midnight is a Finalist Again!

LORD MIDNIGHT was just named a finalist in the Golden Gateway contest, in the Historical category.

This contest is sponsored by the From the Heart Romance Writers, a chapter of the Romance Writers of America (RWA).

Yay for me!

(It's not too early to celebrate with champagne, is it?  It's made from grapes, which counts as FRUIT, so technically it's a healthy beverage!  Okay, I've convinced myself.  I'm going to be on a health kick for, um, the rest of the afternoon!)

Rules of Writing, or It Works, Unless it Doesn't

A while ago I signed up for a Webinar devoted to the first few pages of manuscripts, and how to make sure the agent/editor keeps reading.  I love online classes.  You can sit in your jammies with your coffee and learn all kinds of great stuff.  Plus you don't have to devote a semester to it, and honestly, if you decide to get up in the middle and leave, you're not going to get detention.

Since I had signed up early enough, my first page (from LORD MIDNIGHT) was one of those selected to be reviewed in the class.  Yay!

I've used my computer for previous WebEx classes, so I have no idea why my computer chose THIS particular class to throw a tantrum, one of those falling-to-the-ground-screeching-and-kicking-the-heels kind.  By the time I finally got it settled down, and got me signed in, I saw my page on the screen for 3.5 seconds, and then they went on to the next one.

Nooooooooo!

Fortunately the instructor emailed me the page later, highlighting the opening line, which seemed to do its job of drawing the reader in.  She also noted the potentially troublesome part, which was a mini-flashback.  

I had debated a lot whether to include that portion.  I finally decided it showed my heroine's determination in a hopeless situation, and I believed it would increase reader sympathy for her.  And while the "rule" is not to use flashbacks, I felt if I followed that rule, I would break another important rule, which is to make readers care about your characters.

During the class, there were a lot of interesting examples discussed, and it was fun to see what worked, and what didn't, and the reasoning behind it.  It's a very fluid concept, though.

Basically, the "rule" seems to be this:  It works, unless it doesn't.

Is that an objective standard? Or is it a subjective one?

Ding ding ding!  The correct answer is "Subjective".  You've just qualified to advance to the Lightning Round.

There are sooooo many rules about writing, and the majority of them are designed to make life easier for the writer.  They provide a framework and/or structure to make a story more compelling for the reader.  Unfortunately there seems to be so many rules, writers get stuck trying to figure out how to tell their story.  It also seems like adhering blindly to rules has a tendency to homogenize writing efforts, creating a bland result that no one wants to read.

The "rule" that I think is the most important, the one that cannot be broken, is this one:

THOU SHALT MAKE THY BOOK IRRESISTIBLE TO READERS

This means you may have to break all kinds of rules and regulations.  Maybe the hero and heroine will have to meet in Chapter 2 rather than Chapter 1.  Or maybe the hero will have a career that is considered out of the norm.  If this lawlessness makes your book irresistible, it doesn't MATTER if you break those rules.  If readers can't stop reading, they aren't even aware of the broken rules.

On the flip side, if you DO break the rules, and readers are resisting your book in droves, it doesn't matter what other rules you've broken.  No one cares, because they aren't reading your book.

It works, unless it doesn't.

"Don’t chase market trends".  "Write the book of your heart, the book YOU want to read."

These are just some of the rules I adore, and try to follow.  If you keep these uppermost in your mind, you are more likely to embrace the Rule of Irresistibility.  And you won't even realize it.

P.S.  The "rule" I broke about flashbacks seems to have worked, at least once.  I won a contest with that page.  Will it work every time?  Maybe not.  Will I break that same rule again in the future? Maybe not. It all depends on the story that needs telling, and what will make it simply irresistible.

Plotter vs. Pantser, or Hybrids Seem to be the Way to Go

When I first started writing many, many years ago, I was told you HAD to outline. And I tried, and tried, and tried.  And then quit.  I couldn't outline.  Part of the reason for that was because I hadn't learned how to plot.

What I could do, and I think I have always done that well, was create interesting characters.  I often would imagine a certain character doing or saying something intriguing, or an image would appear to me, and I would wonder what was going to happen next.  I would write these snippets down, and then try to keep writing to figure out more.  And then I would think, "I better start outlining", and then I'd get frustrated because the characters weren't doing what they were told to do.  I felt like I was the Character Police, and I was constantly writing infraction tickets for characters that were essentially jaywalking, going where they wanted to no matter how hard my arms were flailing around, signaling them "over here!"

The worst part of all this is I felt like a failure as a writer.  REAL writers outline, and that's why their books get published.

Sigh.

So I didn't write.  Instead I read books ABOUT writing, trying to find that magic formula on how to outline, so I could write my books.

One autumn day I stumbled across a book in the library, with the preposterous title, No Plot? No Problem! by Chris Baty.  I started to pick it up, but then changed my mind.  I had decided to relinquish reading any more writing books, since I had this intuitive notion that I should just sit down and write, rather than read about the topic.

I walked to another part of the library, but I came back.  "I'll just look at the back cover," I said, sure I was able to control my impulse.

It sounded intriguing.  Write a book in a month? Huh.  Well, I didn't need to read a book to do that.

But I couldn't put the book back on the shelf for some reason.  "I can check it out," I convinced the resistant part of myself.  "The worst thing that will happen is I'll have to pay an overdue fine, like I do with almost every book I check out.  Which isn't a bad thing since the library IS asking for donations for the new building."

I took the book home, and consumed it in one sitting.  In addition to being rolling-on-the-floor hilarious, there was this subversive, incredibly liberating notion:  write a set amount every day, WITHOUT OUTLINING, and you will be writing so fast your internal editor won't be able to keep up with you.

I realized that was my biggest problem with outlining.  It always gave the bitchy internal editor a chance to sneer and say, "Ohmygod, you have outdone yourself with crappy ideas.  Yeesh.  Could you come up with anything worse than---YES, you can, and have. . ." [choking noises ensue]

There was plenty of mentions in No Plot? No Problem! about the National Novel Writing Month (affectionately known as NaNoWriMo) coming up in November, which was only about a month away.  I decided to give it a try, thinking it would be an interesting challenge.

I fell in love.

With writing.  And my characters, who surprised me each day with their interesting lives, and hilarious dialogue, and crazy antics.  All of it was a complete surprise, because I didn't know what was going to happen when I sat down at the keyboard each day.  And I was excited about writing, because it was fun, not a chore.

I was so happy, I think I even gave my snarling internal editor a big fat juicy kiss. 

This is how I wrote BAD SEX KARMA, at least the first draft of 50,000 words.  It was a glorious, inspiring burst of creativity, no holds barred, no second guessing, and no inhibitions. 

I had finally found my writing style.

Now I fly through the creative portion, excited to see what my characters are going to say and do, knowing it will be a surprise, as well as a foundation for a story I can work with during revisions.  This method also silences the critical voice inside, since once I get through the first 30 to 50 pages, I give my Pantser persona a little help from Plotter persona.  They collaborate, considering a variety of ideas to keep the story going in a slightly more structured fashion, and writing down a loose outline of events to follow, with the caveat that everything is subject to change.

I have become a Hybrid.

Pantser is joyful, filled with possibilities, running around with boundless enthusiasm.  Plotter is a bit dour, always on the lookout for disaster, trying to ensure no one makes an ass of themselves.

I have become a writing team.