Category: Writing Craft

Why is the book better than the movie?

October 7, 2019
by GinaBurgess

And a deeper question for writers…

by Margaret Welwood

It always takes me a while to recover from reading a Francine Rivers book because the characters continue to interact—scenarios from the book, and new ones as the heroes find themselves in further predicaments and need my help.

I googled the first question in my title and came up with numerous articles, all with explanations that made sense. Here are a few:

As the movie director, you watch the story play out before your eyes in the way that you can best relate to it. The characters may resemble, physically and psychologically, people you know, and may even help you to understand others better.

The movie is three hours long, with no chance to replay your favorite parts (if you’re in a movie theatre), but you can savour the book at your own pace.

You can HOLD the book. I like to keep glancing back at the cover picture, or the picture of the author I’m appreciating more and more.

Straightforward enough. But that took me to a deeper question—how can we keep our stories playing in our readers’ minds?

We’ve all started to read a book, then put it down because we’ve lost interest. And we’ve stayed up too late reading other books.

Even with the caveat that what’s fascinating to me (Biblical fiction, Christian suspense) may be boring to you (What? You like sports stories?), we acknowledge that skilled writers in every genre know how to keep interest high.

So how do we—like Rivers and other skilled authors—learn to keep our readers’ interest? The answers seem almost too simple, but they work very well.

Read successful authors in your genre. Read their work silently and out loud. Immerse yourself in it. Unknown to them, Stan, Jan, and Mike Berenstain were my mentors when I began to write picture books for children. They also mentored the artist for my first two books.
Study the craft via free or paid resources and courses.
Pay close attention to what the beta readers of your stories tell you. Their opinions may not be based on a university degree in literature, but their opinions will be based on what your readers like.
Consider joining a community of writers. When I was writing magazine articles, our library was hosting a weekly meeting for writers that provided useful feedback. The online Authors Community offers a free Starter membership that will give you friendly access to other writers as well as editors, illustrators, and other professionals.

It’s a big world out there, with millions of potential readers. Will our stories be read?

Margaret Welwood loved teaching English as a Second Language, writing magazine articles, and editing a business magazine and adult non-fiction books (one an Amazon #1 best seller, the other a Writer’s Digest award winner). However, with the arrival of grandchildren and their welcome request—“Grandma, can you tell me a story?”—she began writing and editing picture books for children. This is now her favorite genre.

Please visit eBookChristian to learn about Margaret’s picture books for children (both print and digital), and her Authors Community (AC) vendor page for her editing services.

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Encouragement

Why Do You Write?

September 28, 2019
by SarahTun

by Sarah Tun

Is it for wealth? Game? Compulsion or curiosity?

I believe for many of us, writing is a calling. It may be a ministry to GOD Himself, or a means of prayer and relating to Him. It may be a ministry to others, a bit of evangelism or theology. It may be to encourage spiritual healing or growth, for ourselves – a kind of cathartic experience – or for others.

But whatever the incentive, as followers of Jesus, I believe it is a mission and a calling to write.

I first began to write formally when the LORD urged me; He simply spoke into my spirit and said, “Write”. I had always kept a journal of some sort, from the age of 9. And so, I began my first serious foray into writing in 2000, when I wrote a novel (which, by the way, will probably never see the light of day). The process taught me a lot — not least of which was, “I can do this!”

Sometimes I’ve felt it was His way of occupying me, other times His way of giving me the opportunity to express myself… my spiritual journey, my creativity, my ambition to love; sometimes I’ve felt it was a vehicle for warning people of the signs of our times.

Now, I believe it’s entirely a ministry, and everything leading up to this point has been a preparation for me. A platform has been built and now it’s time to use this platform as a springboard into people’s lives, to prepare them for His next phase.

It’d be great to hear from others:

When did you start writing for yourself? For an audience? Is there a difference to you?

What do you feel most naturally inclined to write: Fiction, non-fiction, poetry or…..?

What do goals have you created for yourself: short term, medium term, long term?
What goals have to already satisfied?

Do you think you’ll ever stop writing? What would provoke you?
Have you written that book that GOD has placed on your heart? If not, what holds you back?

What is your GOD-given purpose for your writing?

How about creating your own Mission Statement…

Sarah Tun is an author, developmental editor as well as a professional voice for voice overs and narrations.

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Editor's Notes

Anticipation is making me wait…

September 1, 2019August 31, 2019
by GinaBurgess

by Gina Burgess

Sally watched Harry yawn, scratch his chest and pad to the bathroom to brush his teeth. He wet his toothbrush and spread the minty paste over it then popped it in his mouth brushing up and down the one hundred twenty-eight times he allotted every night.

Bleh!

What a boring paragraph.

Why is it so boring? One reason is because there is zero anticipation, another reason is we know what’s coming next. He spits out the toothpaste and rinses his mouth then goes to bed. It’s something we all do every night. Routine. Who wants to read routine in a novel? We don’t read for familiarity. A third reason it’s boring is that there is zero conflict. We want escape, adventure, romance, quirky and/interesting characters. Yes? Of course, yes. But without conflict, those things don’t appear in a novel.

Boring does not move story along. Boring doesn’t help characters to kick and claw their way to their ultimate goal.

Anticipation of Consequences – If you are like me and older than dirt, you’ll remember the song Anticipation by Carly Simon. Heinz Catsup used that song in a commercial with Tony Danza (probably his first gig). He’s on the balcony eating a hamburger and knocks over the catsup bottle. Carly starts singing, and Tony races down the stairs hamburger bun in hand. He looks up and catches a dollop of catsup before it hits the ground. The way they drag that moment out creates tension and audiences everywhere waited on the edge of seats to see if Tony would catch that dollop. (Looked for it on YouTube, but couldn’t find it.)

Anticipation is a tool I believe most authors don’t take enough advantage of in their stories.

Think about this: Shakespeare tightens the already tense situation in Romeo and Juliet when the man carrying the message to Romeo to fear not, Juliet is not dead and frantic Romeo pass each other on the road. Definitely tragedy is only moments away. Anticipation is hoping everything will turn out good, but there’s that nagging expectation it won’t. Some might call this suspense, but it isn’t.

How incredibly blind Margarete is to Percival’s under cover activities as The Scarlett Pimpernel. Anticipation fairly quivers through the entire book as the reader screams at her though every page, “Open your eyes girl! Your husband isn’t so craven and such a fop!” (If you have never read this book, I urge you to do so.) Again, some might call it suspense, again, it isn’t.

Suspense is not knowing what will happen. Will the babysitter run upstairs and be killed or run downstairs and out the back door leaving the children to be killed? Or will something intervene to save the babysitter and the children?

Anticipation is the expectation something will happen.

When my daughter was a senior in high school, she found a kitten and adopted him. That cat loved my daughter. Every day he would sit in the upstairs window watching for her to come home from school. As soon as he saw her car, he would dash downstairs and sit on the back of the couch ready for her scratch behind the ears when she came in the door, the picture of anticipation.

The reader knows something, a kiss, a proposal of marriage, a rising to the occasion to overcome the conflict, something will happen. Example: A young boy told almost his entire life that he is worthless. Circumstances force him to embark on a quest. During that quest he learns wisdom and cunning and martial arts. The reader is now anticipating a conflict where the young man uses all the skills he has learned. When the villain strikes the young man’s loved ones, the reader is anticipating that he will use everything he learned to save his loved ones.

Anticipation is most satisfies when the guy gets the girl, when the world is saved, when justice is served. Especially, when justice is served. The sense of justice that God gave us is basic and primordial. We need our world to be balanced, so when a villain tips the scales, we need the scales to re-balance by the villain paying consequences for bad behavior. That’s why ambiguous endings are so unsatisfying.

Let’s add a little bit to the above paragraph…

With a little Mona-Lisa-smile, Sally watched Harry yawn, scratch his chest and pad to the bathroom to brush his teeth. He wet his toothbrush and spread the minty paste over it then popped it in his mouth brushing up and down the one hundred twenty-eight times he allotted every night.

Okay, now we’re getting somewhere. At least we’ve raised a question. “What is Sally smiling about?” We know to expect something, but not what to expect.

Let’s add a little more…

Sally pulled the needle from the tube and inserted a toothpick mixing paste with poison.

Now we know what the Mona-Lisa-smile is all about and we’re anticipating what the poison will do to Harry. We can predict it’s something bad for Harry, but we don’t know when, or where. We could read the whole story and find out much later Harry knew all along what Sally was up to and switched tubes, or watch Harry die a slow, agonizing death. Or maybe Harry is an atrocious serial killer, and since he deserves that agonizing death, the reader deliciously anticipates it.

Your reader’s reaction?

In the movie, The Hand that Rocks the Cradle, the whole audience actually stood up and cheered (me included) when Annabella Sciorra socked Rebecca de Mornay in the jaw sending her backward. Finally, Annabella found her gumption and started fighting back. The audience was overjoyed and cheered.

Anticipation creates an emotional state in the reader that slowly builds to a breaking point. Whichever way it breaks, with joy at the kiss or with cheers and clapping at justice served, the reader is completely satisfied. Just how satisfied, of course, is up to you and how you orchestrate the conflict.

Gina Burgess is an editor, illustrator, and author. She is COO of Common Sense Marketing Strategies, LLC and AuthorsCommunity.net. She also writes a weekly column at LiveAsIf.org

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Trash or Treasure

July 17, 2019July 29, 2019
by GinaBurgess

by Marilyn Friesen

Someday I would like to write a classic. But how would you define one? It seems like what was regarded as classics in the past aren’t as highly esteemed by the publishers of the present, that is if you came to the same conclusion I did from a previous article. Were you more amazed, shocked or amused that Jane Austin’s writings were rejected by modern publishing companies?

Not that I entirely blame them. We live in such a high-speed world that wading through tedious epistles just isn’t practical.

But back to my aspirations. I still want to write classics. My definition is stories, whether based-on-truth or highly fictional that are worth re-reading several times and having a treasured spot in one’s heart and your home.

1. They must flow smoothly, so quietly in fact, that your barque [a barque is a sailing ship usually with three masts] never hits a snag, or a rock that jars you back to this present world.

2. The description is essential but woven in subtly enough that it is not like said rock that would have to be circumvented or skimmed over. Try this on for size: “ten-year-old Elsie Schrock was a skinny girl with shoulder-length red hair. She blah-blah-blah.” Or: “ten-year-old Elsie Schrock hunched her shoulders and twisted a lock of red hair around her finger.” Which one would entice you to keep reading?

3. Make your characters three dimensional! Every one of your main characters must be so real that you’d have a pretty good idea of how they would react in any given situation. Do they clench their fists, bite their nails, go red with anger, dress frumpily, sweep into the mall with their nose up and wearing spiked heels? What do they smell like? What do they eat? How do they eat? Are they neat or sloppy? Squeeze toothpaste from the middle? Tiny details slipped into the narrative seep into a reader’s conscience building the character into a real person much better than a paragraph of description.

4. There must be conflict-–of course! Just recently, however, I have been experimenting with what for me is a slightly different twist on discord. Instead of the typical good guy, bad guy images, I’ve been letting the ‘bad guy’ act in a certain way for a while and the main character gradually learning why she is so difficult, which changes her own response to her. Why would this be a great way to deal with conflict and cause your readers to care about the main characters?

5. Make your story meaningful. I shun shallow writing. Try deftly weaving in little tidbits of information that will make your readers more knowledgeable, happier, comforted, or something! By the way, did you know that dust pneumonia was a real danger in some regions of the United |states during the Dirty Thirties and special masks were sometimes worn? Did you know that during the same era farm boys found badgers to be playful pets? Until they were large enough to leap out of a barn loft and kill a sixty-pound pig, that is! Those ‘news items’ were a tiny peek preview of my next book, which will be out soon. Family: the Gift that Lives Forever.

Said autobiography isn’t out yet, but I would love to receive more honest reviews on my other books. Tell me if I’m succeeding in making them seem realistic. www.marilynshistoricalnovels.com

Marilyn Friesen, contributor is a Mennonite mother and grandmother and she also loves writing. If you gravitate towards books about Christian-based history, check hers out. They are family friendly and enjoyed by all ages.

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Writing Craft

5 Timeless Truths for the Writer

July 5, 2019June 28, 2019
by Cherrilynn Bisbano

by Cherrilynn Bisbano

Some things never change, and so it goes with writing. As a speaker, I sought clarity on a career in writing. Many ladies requested my teachings in book format. My apt reply, I am not a writer. I had no desire to write.

A friend encouraged me to attend a nearby writers’ conference.

“I can’t afford it,” I said.

“Apply for a scholarship, God will get you there if it’s his will,” my friend Lori said.

I prayed daily for God to guide me. I got the scholarship.

I drove two hours to a mountain retreat in New Hampshire. I’m an extrovert so meeting new people didn’t scare me, but the knowledge that God might call me to write—unimaginable. I hoped the answer would be no. Writing is hard, and good writing is almost impossible.

My first workshop confirmed my fears as I listened to New York Times Best Selling author, Cecil Murphy. One word was mentions often so I raised my hand.

“What’s a protagonist?” I heard a few giggles.

“We have writers of all levels at this retreat,” Cecil said. He thanked me for asking the question and thanked me for my boldness.”

As I gleaned from writing royalty at the 2014 New England Christian Writers retreat, Cecil also encouraged me and gave me a challenge to write, no matter how it reads. I also learned a writer’s life is one filled with rejection, hope and a calling. That weekend I knew I must obey God’s leading by adding writer to my resume.

Over the next twelve months I attended four writing conferences. I met many Best-Selling authors and aspiring writers—more confirmation that God wants me to write.

I am compelled to share with you five truths I learned that year and these facts remain unchanged. I am confident that my writing career would have fizzled out if I did not apply these truths.

Writing is a job, not a hobby– The most successful authors consider writing a job. They schedule time to get their story on paper. Many writers skip lunch out with friends and their television is replaced with a laptop.

“If it’s not on my schedule, I don’t do it,” One famous author told me during an interview.

“God called me to write. It’s a serious commitment,” my friend said. She has six published books.

To schedule time, start small. Get up fifteen minutes earlier and write. You’d be surprised at how many words you can get on paper. If you are a night owl, shut the television off and write.

Pick the time of day you are most productive. You can write during lunch or work breaks.

Don’t give up. My friend Lori Roeleveld works full time days and writes nights and weekends. If she was not disciplined over the last three years, her four books would not be published.

Expect rejection – Thick skin is a must in the writer’s life. Jerry B. Jenkins, Cecil Murphy, and Stephen King, along with many others, will testify that rejection is inevitable. There are many reasons a book gets a rejection. Here are just a few.

The publisher has too many books in the same genre.
The costs of printing, distributing, overhead, royalties, and other expenses are higher than the projected sales of the book.
The writing needs work. Get people other than family and friends to read your work.
The submission guidelines were ignored.
The author is difficult to work with.

Writing is a business, so when I received my first rejection after I pitched my book, I was not shocked or dismayed. I high fived my friend when she said, “One rejection closer to a book contract.”

Attend conferences- Conferences are the best palace to learn and network. I sharpened my skills and gained new friends. Please don’t let money be an issue. I acquired scholarships for the conferences. Think of it as an investment in your career. You are worth it. Search the internet for Christian Writing Conferences.

Always Learn– Conferences, college courses, along with books are great ways to sharpen writing skills. We have great content on our website and great classes. I take online courses. Some of these courses are free. Writing blogs give daily and weekly insight. The Write Conversation by Edie Melson, Jerry B. Jenkins blog at his website, and Cecil Murphy’s Writer to Writer have helped me immensely.

Read- I don’t have time to read if I write, I thought to myself. Then I learned that everyone from the Portuguese Nobel prize winner Jose Saramago to Stephen King state that reading is mandatory for the writer. Read the top selling books in your genre. Also, read books on writing. Jerry B. Jenkins sums it up nicely; Writers are readers. Good writers are good readers. Great writers are great readers.

I’ve grown as a writer by following these truths. Even best-selling writers still adhere to them. What do you do to improve your writing skills? Are you following these truths? What would you add to the list?

Cherrilynn Bisbano is an author and a book proposal writer, and a vendor for AuthorsCommunity.net.

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Advance Fiction Writing

Transitions: The secret to excellent story flow

June 28, 2019June 28, 2019
by GinaBurgess

by Gina Burgess

She looked at his expressionless face and wondered what he was thinking.

She remembered that key, and the box it opened.

Bernice might know. Bernice was the neighborhood gossip and tidbit collector.

Betty tried to quit thinking about Bob to no avail. She looked out of her window and saw his car.

The fridge was empty, and so was the pantry.

Those are examples of transitions that I just made up, so don’t be too critical, please.

The first one is a transition for a head hop within a scene.

I personally dislike head hops. I really like a smooth story flow with one POV, but when done well with good transitions, I don’t even notice a head hop within a scene. The transition is there, and it’s good, and it helps the hop become more like an easy step than a jarring hop. Head jumps take the reader to a different POV in a different scene. Usually the switch happens at the beginning of a new chapter. Without a transition, the head jump is like slamming my head into an airbag in a car wreck. Oh, so painful.

Using a transition to lead into a head jump from one scene to the next gives continuity and even flow without disturbing the pace of the story. With transitions, I know exactly where I am in the story and whose POV I’m viewing. Easy Peasy.

The second example above transitions the reader into a flashback. The reader is gently prepared to go back in time to see why the box is so important to the story. Nothing wrong with well written flashbacks as long as there is good transition and the flashback is crucial to the story. Otherwise, I think I said this before, I hate them.

The third example is flexible enough to either indicate a head jump to Bernice, or a scene change of going to Bernice and finding out if she really does know the needed information.

The fourth example is the same: head jump to Bob or scene change to the car outside. Or a switch in Betty’s thoughts from Bob to events that happened in the car – another flashback perhaps.

The last one is rather ambiguous as a transition. From here the character could wallow in hunger or go to the grocery store where the robber changes her life forever by shooting her and nicking her spine. This is where a transition is actually the scene Set Up. You are helping the reader to suspend reality/belief, and settle into a plausible story flow where characters have reasonable motivations for their actions/reactions.

You might need to think about that for a moment.

Fantasy and sci-fi writers need this kind of plausibility more than contemporary or historical fiction writers. It’s the suspension of belief factor that helps authors creatively draw readers into the suspension of reality. Most authors would not consider — The great earthquake of 2025 shifted the flow of the Mississippi River — a transition. It is much needed information so the reader understands why Biloxi, Mississipp is 12 feet under muddy, Mississippi River water. It isn’t a flashback. It’s a bridge of information from one scene to another to make sense of what is happening in the reader’s mind.

What was the last transition that you’ve written? Do you even notice them? Transitions are mostly like missing words to an editor as in the sentence: He stumbled as he ran for train station.

How many times did you read that sentence? Did your brain automatically supply the word the? Did the sentence falter in your brain while you figured out the word the was missing?

Transitions, just like common words, are never noticed unless they are missing. When a transition is not there, the missing part creates a dam making a great story flow screech to a halt; I know mixed metaphors, sorry. The reader is jerked out of the story so he or she can reread the sentence or section of sentence adding the word in, or causing the reader to lurch and stumble into the next scene trying to figure out where in the story he is or how what she just read relates to what was previously read.

An excellent example of that kind of lurch and stumble is in John Gresham’s book The Pelican Brief. The first six chapters (I think six) we are introduced to, and experience the assassination of six judges. By the fourth one, I was bored and skipped the next two chapters – and didn’t miss one single thing for the story to make sense. Any one of those chapters would have been a great start to an interesting story–but not six of them.

So tell me, when was the last time you actually noticed a transition (not the words like and, furthermore, nevertheless, etc.), but the tool used like a needle stitching scenes and sequels together to make a work of genius?

What are some great or unusual transitions that you’ve noticed? Give us some examples, please.

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Publishing

Why are classics still powerful today?

June 1, 2019June 3, 2019
by GinaBurgess

by Gina Burgess

Several years ago an author sent to publishers in London, England several of Jane Austin’s classics: “Pride and Prejudice”, “Northanger Abby”, and “Persuasion” with his name on them. He did this because he was bumfuzzeled why his own work, a thriller, had not been bought. Only one publisher called the author on his blatant plagiarism. Others sent the manuscripts back unopened because they didn’t accept unsolicited manuscripts. But some had issues with the manuscript content–not plagiarism, but the actual writing. “Pride and Prejudice” received a letter back from an acquisitions editor saying the work was way too wordy, had too many archaic sayings, and it wasn’t something the publisher could purchase. [Insert shocked, bug-eyed look here.] This is the kind of editor that is supposed to know books.

I am bumfuzzeled there isn’t at least one or two new authors out there that have the talent of Jane Austin or Alexander Dumas or Baroness Emmuska Orczy who wrote “The Scarlet Pimpernel”. Their works were not blatantly Christian, although God was mentioned and morals played a large part in the plots. There was no foul language or graphic sexual content in their works. They wrote excellent stories. The emphasis was story, not “realism”. The realism came through, of course, because of human nature. That is what makes an excellent story real, not foul words or graphic scenes (which to me, is lazy writing when trying to develop character). When will writer’s learn this simple fact?

What I’m seeing is either great storyline with poor execution, or great execution (good writing) and a storyline full of potholes. Maybe one or two in the last year has been professionally edited. Sure. I’ve read lots of debut books that are 4-star worthy. Usually, it’s the 3rd or 4th book where the author gets his stride, though. Creston Mapes is one of them. (He already knows I said this because I told him so.)

I know publishers have huge amounts of slush piles (that’s a stack of unsolicited manuscripts that are almost never read). But, if Jane Austin gets tossed, we are in real trouble. That speaks volumes about how books get chosen for publishing.

Here we have a situation that is not only annoying, but frightening, too. Publishers who are very well respected in the literary circles as well as by the buying public rejected the works that have stood the test of time for 200 years, not to mention the multi-millions of dollars they have made around the world (remember “Bride and Prejudice from Bollywood”?).

Maybe the publishers problem is the screening process. Maybe their problem is… I don’t know what their problem is.

What is “classic” about that?

It would seem that standards have deteriorated to fluffy-nothings or coarse discourses peppered with vulgarities of foul words and graphic scenes in the guise of “realism” or “modernism.” What, I ask you, is literary about that?

I hear the refrain, “I wanted it to be as real as possible.” That is the mantra of almost every writer I have come in contact with, including the Christian fiction writers on two message boards. It is fiction. What, I ask you, is real about fiction? Why do authors need fiction to be real-life?

When I was about 10, a new mall was built in Monroe, La. My mom and sister would shop the clothes stores and I would shop the book store. I used to spend my entire allowance on books at a secular bookstore. I spent my evenings and free time on weekends reading. Television never held any fascination for me, besides my imagination was much more vivid when reading than watching something on TV. The books are always better than the movies. (Remember “Bride and Prejudice” from Bollywood?) My parents never feared I would choose some book that my child eyes would be subjected to foulness of the underworld kind. It just wasn’t published.

Even the movie “Gone With the Wind” paled in comparison to the book by Margaret Mitchell. My parents were subjected to many burned dinners until I finished that book.

I think movies and television have snatched the creativity from our children, which is why there are so few really creative, imaginative, and good literary works today. And which is why publishers seem satisfied with publishing fluffy nothings or coarse discourses. And which is why the buying public is not discriminating enough to demand better fare. (Of course, present company is excluded. I know you are writing a work of sheer genius or you wouldn’t be part of Authors Community, right?!)

Now you’ve heard my rant. Why do you think classics are still best sellers today, but we are not being served reading fare that is classic worthy? Or are we?

Gina Burgess is an editor, illustrator, and author. She is COO of AuthorsCommunity.net owned by Common Sense Marketing Strategies, LLC.

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Writing Craft

Moral Arc in Literature

May 13, 2019May 15, 2019
by Genevieve

By Genevieve Fosa

A transcendentalist named Theodore Parker once said that the “… arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice.”

Many people feel that it wobbles considerably on its way towards this justice. This is where the term moral arc of a story comes from. Though some stories do not have what we might first consider a just ending. Most of the stories we love do have endings that point towards justice.

Good people in those stories tend to be rewarded, and people who are destructive tend to get rewards that are fitting to their characters. However, it does not always work out this way in life, so, some stories do not follow this rule.

The moral arc in literature is seldom discussed outside a classroom. However, if you analyze any of the novels that have stirred the imaginations of more than one generation, you will find that the main character suffers a setback of one sort or another, and through that learns something meaningful about life and the relationships he has with the people around him. The moral arc within a novel could be described as the protagonist’s path to redemption.

Whatever it is that compels this person to learn, and what it is he learns, may be very different from one story to another. If you are writing a series of books based on a few main characters, the second and third books serve to increase and refine what your characters are learning. Your novel could be about a person who is looking for the best get-rich-quick scheme.

Perhaps the moral arc is not quite the right term. Some writers may be more comfortable calling it a learning arc, or the arc of events that compels your character to mature as a human being.

The question has been raised in some discussion groups as to whether every minor character should also have an arc. Obviously this depends on how minor your characters are. You may have a involved back story for each of your characters that you only refer to as you write your manuscript. The waiter at the corner restaurant, where your protagonist happens to meet the love of his life, might not need a whole arc, unless he plays a major role in the development of the relationship.

The question of what is moral behavior is not as simplistic as you may think. Are people more self-centered than they ever were? Are electronic devices forever changing the sort of human interaction that is possible to us? Some people have forgotten how to communicate with those standing in front of them. The characters in their interactive games are much more interesting than those around them. And, the zombies meant to be shot down can easily get confused with the ordinary people around you. Perhaps the big step in your protagonist’s story would be learning how to communicate with the people around him.

I am certain you will have ideas that are richer and far more nuanced than these.

Do you analyze stories to see what works and what doesn’t? What is a good example of a moral arc that you’ve read recently—or that you’ve written? Please share.

Genevieve Fosa is an author and an Author Level member of Authors Community.

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Writing Craft

Fiction is Fiction, Right?

May 10, 2019May 13, 2019
by GinaBurgess

by Gina Burgess

Well apparently it isn’t. In a newspaper story, echoed by a Vanity Fair story, a few years ago, Katheryn Stockett was under fire for her character Aibilene in her blockbuster book The Help. It is a story about the relationships between the white families and their black maids back in the 1960s. It was an era of women breaking out of the tight cocoon of working in the home to work outside the home. Since Stockett grew up with being cared for by a black maid, I know she most likely got it right. You can’t go by the movie, don’t ya know.

I grew up being looked after by a sweet woman named Betty, and then there was Floe who took the time to put our hair in a French twist so we could pretend to be Miss America in the baking, summer heat. I can’t say enough good things about these women who looked after kids not their own, did washing, cooked, cleaned houses and then went home at 5:30 pm to do it all over again for their own families. That is such a hard life. But, we kids loved them for it. We loved the way they cooked and learned a lot from the way they thought and talked.

For us, it wasn’t such a shock when desegregation began. We could understand what the black kids were saying; and we understood their culture. Oh, there were times when it was a bit tense, but most of the time we just let people be people and thought more about winning football games than the color of skin. That was then and this is now.

This news story by Holbrook Mohr, (by the way–really, sir, I am not picking on you!) hit a raw nerve in me. He noted Ableen Cooper brought a law suit against Stockett that claimed Stockett based her character Aibilene on herself calling it “her likeness”. That it was embarassing. Cooper was Stockett’s brother’s maid and even kept Stockett’s child. The judge threw out the suit because the statute of limitations had run out since Stockett had given the woman her book to read in 2009 along with a letter stating the character’s name was similar but the character was not at all based on Ableen but on her own child care provider, Demetrie.

How can someone be so blatantly self-absorbed to believe because a character has a similar name, it is based upon her? This is a lesson children, those of you who are writers and desirous of writing. Make sure your character development is broad enough it could be anyone, and specific enough to be individualized. That should be easy, right?

We are often told we need to think of a real person while we are developing characters so that our fictional characters will be authentic. This suit brings it home and makes it clear that it might be possible to develop a character too close to the truth. So close that we could be sued.

The question is, do we have exclusive rights to our own personality?

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Advance Fiction Writing

Naked Dialogue

May 10, 2019May 10, 2019
by GinaBurgess

by Randy Ingermanson

“What’s naked dialogue?”

“It’s dialogue without any action, description, interior monologue, or interior emotion.”

“Can you do that?”

“In short stretches.”

“Why would you do that? It sounds stupid.”

“If the main conflict is in the dialogue, then adding anything else takes the edge off the conflict.”

“I don’t believe that could work. Give me three examples where you’d use it.”

“Courtroom scenes. Interrogations. Um … can’t think of a third example.”

“Maybe a Socratic dialogue?”

“Oh, right.”

“So you can actually make this work without even one tag to tell me who’s talking?”

“If it works, it works.”

“What if it doesn’t work?”

“Then add in the minimum amount of other stuff necessary to make it work.”

“I suppose you’d call that bikini dialogue then?”

“You’re stretching the metaphor too far.”

“And you somehow imagine this kind of dialogue works?”

“I know it.”

“Could you do a whole scene that way?”

“Orson Scott Card did several scenes that way in ENDER’S GAME.”

“How did the reader know who was talking?”

“Readers are smart.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Don’t readers have to see at least one tag so they know the names of the speakers?”

“Not unless they need to know the names.”

“But you’d have to limit it to two people, right? You couldn’t possibly do this with three people, could you?”

“Hey guys! Whatcha talking about so violent-like over in the corner? Gretchen, are you practicing your interrogation skills on poor Grendel?”

“Get lost, Goober. I’m just trying to get the bare facts.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! I get the message. I’m not wanted, so I’m outta here. Give her heck, Grendel.”

“So what was your question again? Something about three people?”

“Never mind, I figured it out.”

“Any more questions?”

“Well, naked dialogue sounds difficult. Is it worth it?”

“You have to decide that after it’s all written. You can always throw the scene away if you don’t like it.”

“Have you ever tried it? In your own scene?”

“Just once.”

“When?”

“Just now.”

“Oh, man, are you going meta on me? Mixing planes of existential reality again? You are so weird!”

“Admit it, Gretchen, you love me.”

“That’s it. We’re finished and I’m leaving.”

“It ain’t over till I say it’s over.”

“You can’t keep me here against my–”

“It’s over.”

~oOo~

This article is reprinted by permission of the author.

Award-winning novelist Randy Ingermanson, “the Snowflake Guy,” publishes the free monthly Advanced Fiction Writing E-zine, with more than 32,000 readers.

Randy has more. Visit http://www.AdvancedFictionWriting.com.

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Category: Writing Craft

And a deeper question for writers…

What is “classic” about that?

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