Weekend Workshop: Sunday Edition

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I didn’t like the scene Lucey wanted me to rewrite for Chapter 11 of Story Sense. If you’re interested it’s about immigrants moving across America on a train. Bleh.

Instead I spent some time rewriting my own novel, the one I am aiming to publish this year, in about oh 6 weeks. Gulp.

I have 4 sets of Beta feedback. Three give some measure of major issues wrong. One is a full line edit. I am combining each of these with my work. So I read word for word the line edits while double checking the other three for their comments on a particular chapter. It takes a varying amount of time. Some chapters fly by in half an hour. Some take eons. At the same time I catch little mistakes that even my line editor missed. LOL. I’m about 31 chapters in, if you’re wondering.

All of this has given me a weird problem. Everyone seems to really like the book. um….It’s my first novel. Everything I have read has prepared me for my first novel to suck. To need major rework before I could even consider publication and yet….

Should I just file this under first world author problems and shut up you bleep bleep or….do I need more critical beta readers? Thoughts?

Weekend Workshop Saturday Edition

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Thanks for tuning in after my weekend off. In the mean time I have skimmed through Chapter 8: Writing for the Camera, Chapter 9: Writing Stage Directions, and Chapter 10: Script Format. I have decided to skip all three chapters here as they are very specific to script writing for film and television and this is very definitely about writing novels. So onto Chapter 11: Rewriting from Story Sense by Paul Lucey.

I am sure most people have heard for the first 100 pages an editor/agent is looking for a reason to say no, after that they are looking for a reason to say yes. Which means as writers we have to spot the weaknesses in our work and rewrite in until they hang in there to page 101. Novels are not written, they are rewritten.

Seek critics who want to help you more than they want to please you. You want your beta readers to be honest, not gloss over the yucks and emphasize the positives. You want the opposite. You want someone who wants you to write the best novel you can and will be unfailingly honest about everything they see.

Is there excessive or repetitive dialogue? Is your dialogue sharp and witty?

Do all the characters serve a purpose in the story?

Do you have thoughtful content about something or is it feel good entertainment? There’s nothing wrong with either direction but it helps to know who you are trying to appeal to.

Is the conflict productive, moving the plot and prizing secrets from the characters?

Chances are if you were intrigued enough by your story idea to spend weeks or months (dare I say years?) working it into a novel, other people will be intrigued too. Stop flitting from idea to idea and devote yourself; time, energy, and passion, into the work. It shows.

If your characters are boring, give them something to work with. Get to know them better. Give them the flaw that makes you hate your mother in law or love your best friend.

Is the story boring? Did you over explain? Are you telling or showing?

Are your characters predictable, known, stereotypes? Are you trying so hard to do the opposite of a stereotype that you become a predictable stereotype anyway?

If nothing is working….take it apart, down to the nuts and bolts if you must, down to chapters, down to separate scenes in chapters. Then throw out what is troublesome and put whats left back together with scenes that work. It’s a ton of work, but if your story idea is really important to you, invest the time and trouble.

In the end, someone will always be a naysayer. Someone will tell you it can’t be done. You can’t do it because x, y, z. And you’ll be tempted to give them some example where it has been done. Don’t bother. Save that witty repartee for your novel.

After all, if living well is the best revenge, then publishing is the best stinging comeback.

Friday Fun

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It’s raining, it’s pouring, the old man is snoring, he went to bed and bumped his head and he didn’t get up in the morning….

“That’s not funny. mommy.” Said with a frown by my kiddo when I tried to sing this to him outside the library. Children today. LOL

By (dubious) virtue of not walking the dog, doing yoga, or showering, I made it to the Friday write in today. It was just Alex and I. That is dangerous. Because Alex and I can talk about everything under the sun, twice, and still come up with something entertaining to say to each other. I edited one chapter. Just one. It was a long one though, does that help in any way? laughing.

We did however discuss our book covers, nano this year, World Con, how stunningly unbelievable it is that his wife just turned an age number I won’t repeat, but actually thought she must be lying – she looks so flipping young I thought she was my age, possibly a little less.

So some writing related work was done.

All those other conversations will help in some way I am sure, some day. LOL.

If you’re keeping track, that’s 5 chapters edited. Thirty odd to go.

Wednesday Writer’s Cafe

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Greetings and Salutations from our Cafe, we have internet again!

Writers cafe seems to be suffering from summer-itis. You know when the great outdoors is so exciting no one can tear themselves away from the thrill of the mountains, rivers, outdoors concerts, brew-fests, etc to come indoors and write.

That’s ok. It just means those of us that show up actually get a little work done in between our excessive chatting.

I edited four chapters of my novel. Combining four sets of serious beta feedback is no mean feat. But it’s working.

I had a little chat with my cover artist and we agreed on a date for completion.

I’m actually nervous as I type this. It’s looking like early October. Jibber Jabber Holy cow man. (picture that sound with a grown woman spinning in circles, flapping her arms.)

Yep, that’s me, the picture of a cool, calm, professional authoress.  ROFL. Or not.

Monday Book Review: I’ve Got Your Number

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After my disappointment with Wedding Night I decided to remind myself why I adore Sophie Kinsella by grabbing I’ve Got Your Number to entertain me on this last trip. I’ve read it before, but it’s been long enough that I could enjoy the story while driving through five wild fires, yes, I said five. That wasn’t a typo.

I’ve Got Your Number entertains by crossing a line most people would consider beyond the pale. Imagine two people sharing an in-box on their cell phone. Messages and emails available for viewing. Sharing. Now imagine the other person is a perfect stranger. How long would you remain strangers with this level of forced intimacy?

When Poppy loses her priceless family heirloom engagement ring just before her fiance’s parents are due to return from the states and has her cell phone stolen in the frantic search for the ring, she decides she has no choice to but to appropriate a cell phone she finds in a bin. After all they threw it away, right? It’s now public property. Hilarity ensues.

℘℘℘℘℘ – 5 pages. I listened in two sittings, ha-ha. I have read many other things by this author and will continue to try out whatever I find at the library by her. It’s definitely a beach read or listen. A note about the audio production, fab on this one. None of the issues I had in Wedding Night.

Wednesday Writer’s Cafe

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I was a naughty girl tonight. I didn’t even take a laptop to write in. I took Fluxx.

I hadn’t been in soooo long, there was so much catching up to. And I didn’t have a sitter so I brought kiddo. I knew I wouldn’t get any work done, what was the point in pretending.

L and I had delightful chats about both recent trips we took and the one she has coming up. J and I talked about my book, when it’s coming out, and why I am going straight to self publishing rather than wasting time with traditional. (My words.)

Then everyone else left, my hubby picked up my kiddo (thanks love), and S, V, and I got down to it. Fluxx and words. I love these women. Really. We just never run out of things to say. There’s always a funny story to tell about ourselves or someone else. Always a little love and affection to share. I won’t bore you with the details but simply say, life, love, and the pursuit of a healthy writing career. The End.

Monday Book Review: World War Z

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Let me reiterate, Book Review. This is not the Brad Pitt action movie. All commentary will be about the book World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks. It was actually a discussion on Facebook about how the movie resembled the book only in name that persuaded me to pick up the book while at the library with my son(in other words I didn’t have time to look for books for myself and needed to grab something as I walked by the “good reads” shelf on my way to check out).

I was surprised to discover, I really liked this book. Partly because it is extremely well written. It’s also a fabulous pastiche of an oral history, which I love as well. The historian in me could really buy the style and tone of the work as an authentic oral history. The war historian in me was thrilled with the first person accounts from not only soldiers but those in occupied territories (so to speak) and the aftermath of war.

The book takes place after the majority of the war. An interviewer for the United Nations Postwar Commission spends years traveling and talking to people about their lives before the war, during the war, and then after the war. That first person up close trauma is what grips me. Certain stories still cling to my mind. The young hacker who takes weeks to slowly lower himself down from balcony to balcony to escape the high rise he lived in, after he finally realizes something has happened, no one is logging in, the internet is not working. He has no idea what happened to his family or friends. He can only focus on the effort to get free. Heavy, heavy stuff.

℘℘℘℘℘ – 5 pages. I loved it. Checked for other things by the author but sadly there is nothing I am interested in. I would probably read this again except…It’s been almost two years since I read this book and I still have nightmares about Zombies. When the dog barks in the middle of the night and I get up to look outside, I think about how indefensible my home is should it come to that. Too much glass. Too easy to breach. What this says to me, is the book, whether you like zombie novels or not (I don’t), is powerful. It’s commentary on the survival of man, the ineffectiveness of government to protect us, and the need to accept there will always be winners and losers in the battle for life, is powerful.

All that said, honey, I’d like throwing knives for Christmas this year….

Weekend Workshop Sunday Edition

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The exercises from Chapter Seven of Story Sense, Paul Lucey.

Written regarding NCIS, Season 5, Episode 1.

1. Analyze in terms of the dramatizing strategies discussed in this chapter. Note when each convention appears and briefly describe its nature and purpose.

coincidence: Jeanna’s father picks Tony and Jeane up at the hospital. Rene is also a catalyst (he’s the frog).

coincidence: Abby finds the search results the director tried to erase.

reveal: the director tells the team the woman tony has been seeing is the frog’s daughter.

obstacles: can’t get satellite coverage.

reversal: the bad news: no coverage, good news – traffic cameras catch him. back to bad: Catalyst- Tony’s car blows up.

misunderstanding: the whole team thinks Tony is dead. (We know he isn’t because he’s still in the show seven seasons from now.)

contrast: Abby refuses to believe it is Tony until Ducky says so.

reveal: Abby tells Gibbs the prints on the bottle and glass are the director’s father.

undeserved suffering: someone is going to great lengths to convince the director her father’s alive

reveal: the director thinks the frog killed her father

coincidence: Ziva identifies the limo on the camera feedback-was Tony following it.

misunderstanding: Palmer doesn’t get why Ducky is so taken my the minimal lung scarring. Leads to catalyst/reveal-the dead man is not Tony (plague)

catalyst: Cort shows up demanding Tony. (CIA)

false alarm/reversal: Cort tries to choke information out of Tony, only to find himself facing multiple guns

reveal: Tony explains what happened in the morning (surprise meet the parents). The frog had known for months that Tony was undercover. He forces Tony into the limo and takes both cell phones. The car blows up. The Frog thinks he was the target. Tony wonders if he was the target. Tony is angry because Jeanne knows the truth now. The Frog wants out, he’s going to call and arrange a meeting, because he trusts NCIS.

catalyst/coincidence: who bombed Tony. Jeanne is the target

coincidence and contrast: the frog is in the director’s study.

catalyst: Gibbs shows up in the house.

reveal: the frog paid the director’s father the bribe

reveal: Gibbs tells the director the gun is not loaded.

reveal: flashback. Tony tells Jeanne who he really is.

the false alarm: the team is searching the yacht, guns drawn. But the frog is not there.

superiority: as the team walks away the audience gets to see the frog floating in the water with a bullet in his head.

2. Time the speeches and scenes in the show analyzed. Note whether the speeches end abruptly or linger. Note whether they use transitional visuals that show characters traveling from one location to another or whether the action cuts directly from scene to scene.

Multiple jump cuts per shot.

most speech is clipped and short. back and forth, snappy dialogue.

3. Examine how the film uses conflict to dramatize the story. What causes and intensifies the conflict? How does the conflict relate to the problem? How are the problem and the conflict resolved?

Constant conflict between the characters, the other agencies, and the good vs bad guys. In this show, the possible death of one of their own causes conflict with the CIA and between the characters on an emotional level. Tony is not dead, but the frog is. the problem really doesn’t resolve in this episode. Nor does the emotional conflict. Tony is heartbroken over Jeanne. The director is distraught over her father. Gibbs is in a position not to trust the director. Everyone is pissy.