Pikes Peak Writers Newest Advice Column

Dear Annie:

I’ve just begun to write after waiting for the opportunity for years. Where do I begin? Is it better to simply sit down and write? Or should I take brush-up courses on technique or find a critique group to work with before I begin?

~ Eager to Write

Dear Eager to Write:

Things change in the industry over time. Familiarize yourself with the current expectations of publishing houses. Learn the requirements of the genre in which you hope to write; learn about the currently preferred viewpoints and tenses; and above all, brush up on your basic writing skills. Without a thorough understanding of rules for grammar and sentence structure, your attempt to hone creative skills will lack a necessary foundation. You’ll drive those improper word arrangements deeper and deeper into your subconscious mind. That, dear reader, is a recipe for stagnation rather than growth.

Dear Annie:

I’ve brushed up on my writing technique and I’ve found a critique group. I’ve completed my first short story and researched sources to which I might submit. Am I ready to push the send button?

                                                                              ~ Ready to Go

Dear Ready to Go:

Have you read through your manuscript when you were fresh, after a good night’s sleep? Try reading several times for content and another several for grammar and spelling problems. Though I do this multiple times, I still find a need for improvements on each go round. Our work is never done, fellow grasshopper. If you have edited and re-edited your story until you are positive that it is your best writing, yes. Take a deep breath and press send.

Dear Annie:

I’ve sent off my first story, and now I’m having trouble thinking of another plot. What to do?

                               ~Lacking Imagination in Colorado

Dear Lacking Imagination:

Don’t fret. If you tense up, you’ll have a more difficult time. Let your mind wander while thinking of a theme that is important to you —a subject or cause that touches you. Get out into the world and observe people and their lives. Interview those who have experienced something about which you hope to write.

I’m not suggesting that you interview a serial killer unless he or she has been safely locked away in a high security prison. As writers, we are comfortable before a computer creating worlds and structuring events in fictional lives. We need a balance between reality and imagination. It is from our own and vicarious life experiences that we draw our ideas and passions. Only by feeling a situation deeply can we recreate that emotion in our readers. So take a hike at Garden of the Gods. You may meet a homeless person whose story inspires you.

Dear Annie:

Sometimes I get so involved in building my platform that I don’t have adequate time to write. Do I really need to cultivate this huge following to be successful? Or is it better to commit my time to improving my written word?

~Dazed and Confused

Dear Dazed and Confused:

In my opinion, the amount of time called for depends on where one is on the road to success. Be reasonable about the time you invest toward this purpose. If one creates a platform but fails to deliver a worthy product, his followers will dwindle faster than they were accumulated. On the other hand, the ability you foster in yourself can never be lost. If you write well, readers will find you just as the famous baseball players found Kevin Costner’s field of dreams.

Dear Annie:

I’ve put heart and soul into a novel for three long years. When I sent out my manuscript, I received only rejections. Where does a writer find the courage to go on? The “devil” keeps whispering, “You’ll never get published.” It’s too easy to believe his discouraging message while knowing the actual odds.

~Disillusioned

Dear Disillusioned:

If you are driven to continue writing after a day or two of lamenting over your disappointment, you are a writer whether you are published or not. No one with your drive can avoid improving his skills. You have heard “the call,” my friend. Keep writing if only for self-fulfillment. Don’t ever give up.

Remember, your day may come; but if fate disappoints you, you'll have had a whole lot of fun.

About the Author:  Dear Annie is the pseudonym for Ann S. Hill. After hearing the call to write in her thirties, Ann set the ambition aside while life happened. Now that she has retired from her career as a dentist and her children are adults, she is seriously attacking that parked ambition. She spends significant time on her true passion and has recently completed her first novel, Wait for Me. She has written several short stories and is currently working on a concept for her second novel. In the meantime, she remains a voracious reader and film aficionado. 

What an Intermediate Writer Needs to Know

By DeAnna Knippling 

I blogged earlier about what a beginning writer needs to know.  At least, that was the title.  Really it was a collection of what I learned (or should have learned) as a beginning writer, combined with what I observe from other beginning writers now, the struggles that they go through.

And now for intermediate writers.

writersleague.org

What makes an intermediate writer?  How do you know that you’ve moved on from beginner status?  Do you need to master everything on the beginner list?  (Even master writers haven’t mastered everything on the beginner list.)  No, what seems to happen is that an intermediate writer is born one morning when they wake up and say, “I am incompetent.  I am completely and utterly incompetent.  Although, admittedly, not as incompetent as Jane Doe over there who wants to tell me all about the novel she's going to write someday.”  Beginning writers seem inordinately cocky and arrogant.  The life of an intermediate writer is filled with rejections, self-doubt, and redefinition of what one previously thought of as strengths.

I’ve seen a lot of people stall here with some variation of “But I’m doing everything the writing books are telling me; why am I not selling?” or “I just don’t have time anymore.”

In no particular order, what I’d advise an intermediate writer to do and learn:

1. Look up the Dunning-Kruger effect again.  Understand that a loss of confidence does not necessarily reflect a lessening of abilities.  It gets better.
2. Deliberately experiment with different genres, both in reading and in writing.
3. Looking at stories from different perspectives is often beneficial, both in asking other people to read your work, and in reading them out loud or in a different format or font.
4. Heinlein’s rules are practical instructions rather than an ideal to be strived for at this point. 
5. The focus changes from “learning the rules so you can break them” to “learning control.” 
6. What once seemed a strength now seems like a particular weakness.  It’s all relative.
7. Jealousy may become a serious, career-killing problem.  Several considerations:  Is this person a hard-working writer who obviously spends a lot of time putting words on the page?  Is this person being coached or edited by a much more skilled writer?  Has this person retreated from the writing world since their one big hit?  Is this person using a ghost writer?  Identify the person involved with the greatest amount of skill and study their work. 
8. “Craft” and “skill” are excellent watchwords--at this point.  Beware of any writer who spends more time talking about art than technique--at this point.
9. The working definition of a story tends to be, for now, “a collection of story elements that don’t suck.”  Characters that don’t suck plus setting that doesn’t suck plus plot that doesn’t suck, etc., etc.
10. Steal from life.  You’ll rarely get caught.
11. Focus on becoming a working writer:  work.  Everything you write should be treated as part of your profession.  Do not turn in sloppy, late, unclear work.  Blogs, query letters, synopses, stories, social media, interviews, appearances:  all your work should be done in a timely, professional fashion.  As often as possible, prove yourself reliable, agreeable, willing to learn and take feedback.
12. Continue typing in material and testing it with various methods of analysis.  The question to answer, at least on a subconscious level, is:  Why do I like this so much?  or, from a darker perspective, Why am I so jealous?
13. Build writing speed.
14. Start working on releasing any dependence on editing and re-editing and tweaking and quite possibly editing again, well, a revision would be nice, there’s always another typo to find or another mistake to fix, ha-ha, of course I haven’t submitted this yet, it’s only been seven years, are you kidding?
15. If you have not involved yourself in your local writing community, consider doing so.  Feel free to retreat from it as necessary.  You will take different things from the community at different times:  for now, focus on learning practical information and on meeting people who are as driven as you.
16. Be kind rather than honest with feedback to people who are not begging for criticism.
17. Beg for criticism, but do not respond to it.  Say “thank you,” even if thanks are unwarranted in this particular instance.
18. Areas of interest:  

• Openings
• Closings
• Scenes
• Conflict
• The wide variety of ways any given beginner’s element can be addressed
• Atmosphere/mood/theme/emotion
• Style
• Finding weaknesses or missing pieces from your beginner’s journey and ameliorating them

  19.  Don’t pretend to be an expert, but people are always desperate for honest information.
  20.  Continue to maintain your health, relationships, and sanity on a daily, practical basis.  Stories are an addiction; expect nightmarish withdrawal symptoms if you manage to work up a habit.

I was constantly swamped with the mosquitoes of doubt during this period--I can’t stress this enough.  This is something that can only be pushed through by work.  If I had stopped to think about art for art’s sake, or whether I was making anyone’s life any better for having read my stories, I would have stopped writing.  Put your head down in the weeds and write:  that’s about the only thing that will get you through this period.  Be a worker, not an artist; keep dreaming of large and wonderful things, but put your nose to the grindstone, blindly and unceasingly.

Here are some of my favorite reading  and research suggestions for intermediate writers:

• The Copyright Handbook, Nolo Press
• NaNoWriMo
• Save the Cat!  by Blake Snyder (the whole series)
• 2K to 10K:  Writing Faster, Writing Better, and Writing More of What You Love, by Rachel Aaron
• 45 Master Characters, by Victoria Lynne Schmidt
• Wonderbook, by Jeff VanderMeer
• Techniques of the Selling Writer, by Dwight V. Swain
• Anything by Karen Elizabeth Gordon, but especially The New Well Tempered Sentence: A Punctuation Handbook for the Innocent, the Eager, and the Doomed
• GMC: Goal, Motivation, and Conflict, by Debra Dixon
• Story Engineering, by Larry Brooks
• Hooked:  Write Fiction that Grabs Readers at Page One & Never Lets Them Go, by Les Edgerton
• Any Internet search for “craft writing books” or “craft writing blogs”
• Books by publishing writers on how to sell work in your genre
• The Dummies/Idiots guides related to writing
• Duotrope.com, Ralan.com
• The website Preditors & Editors (yes, it’s spelled like that)
• Following or friending your favorite living authors on social media
• Setting up your own blog, not named after your first novel
• Make sure to have watched and studied the following movies:  The Fugitive.  Star Wars (the original one).  The Princess Bridge.  The Avengers.  Fight Club.  Titanic.  Thelma & Louise.  They will come up repeatedly in classes and discussions

What are yours?

Aaron Michael Ritchey’s Seven-Step Gospel for Writing Success

By Aaron Michael Ritchey

So I’ve had some success in the writing game. Not a lot mind you, but enough that I’ve gotten some books published and sold some books and people seem to like some of what I write. I’ve had enough success that sometimes people approach  me to mentor them. Yeah, I’m a mentor. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Here’s the thing about me. I say a bunch of stuff, but I don’t remember anything of what I say. And heck, I have a bear of a time remembering people’s names, faces, where we met, what we talked about, what planet I’m on, who is the God-Emperor of the universe, or what I had for breakfast. No, I generally remember that. Perfect Food bars. You can get them at Costco. You’ll thank me. Eat one with an apple and some coffee, and you’ll be good to go.

Anyway, long story short, I was having breakfast with one of my mentees and he pulled out a list of seven things I told him on how to be successful at writing. I don’t remember saying them, but yeah, I have to agree with me.

inscribe.org

So here are the seven steps I laid out:

1)  Write.

2)  Write.

3)  Write.

4)  Read.  Read everything you can.

5)  Get feedback and learn how to take criticism.

6)  Finish what you start.  You can’t be a writer if you can’t finish stories.

7)  Query everything you finish.  Always have something in the mail.

Yes.  Those seven things.

Write every day and write as much as you can every day. Thinking about writing is not writing.  Planning to write is not writing. Talking on the phone or surfing kitty pictures on the Internet is not writing. Writing is writing. I will allow that editing is writing but that’s all I’ll give you.

Squeezing in time to read is tough, but I purchased a monthly plan from Audible so I am forcing at least twelve books into my mind each year. But I’ll read more than that. Stephen King suggests four to six hours a day writing and reading to be successful. I don’t hit that, Mr. King, but I try. And I also like adverbs. Greatly.

Learning how to take criticism is rough, but I’ve gotten to the point where I listen for what sinks down deep into my heart. If I can ignore criticism, I will. If I can’t, I trust it and try to follow it.

As for finishing books, well, who is going to read your unfinished book? I mean, they can’t, right?  Readers can’t read words that aren’t there.

And lastly, yeah, query agents and editors. Always having something in the mail means you are doing the deal real, as in reality, as in the real world. Pitching, talking about your book, getting it out there is hard, impossibly hard, but for me, it’s important to share what I write with the world. Writing books is a selfless act and the world is better for every book written. Yes, even that one, the one you think is total dreck.

So there you have it. My gospel. 

Can I get an amen?

Aaron Michael Ritchey is the author of Long Live the Suicide King, a finalist in the Reader’s Favorite contest. Kirkus Reviews calls the story “a compelling tale of teenage depression handled with humor and sensitivity.” His debut novel, The Never Prayer, was also a finalist in the Colorado Gold contest. His forthcoming works include a new young adult novel from Staccato Publishing and a six book YA sci-fi/western series from Kevin J. Anderson’s WordFire Press. In shorter fiction, his G.I. Joe inspired novella was an Amazon bestseller in Kindle Worlds and his story, “The Dirges of Percival Lewand” was nominated for a Hugo. He lives in Colorado with his wife and two goddesses posing as his daughters.

For more about him, his books, and how to overcome artistic angst, visit www.aaronmritchey.com. He’s on Facebook as Aaron Michael Ritchey and he tweets - @aaronmritchey.

Characterization Through Setting

By Karen Albright Lin


You’re typing away on your amazing action scene. Your heart races. You love your protagonist and want to knock your antagonist down. But down to what? Unless your story takes place in zero gravity like the hit movie, readers don’t want to float ungrounded through a plot, even one with well-drawn characters. We crave a sense of place, we want it to matter, and we want its description to be reflective of the POV character’s personality.

A sense of when and where your story takes place offers context and tone, and helps us better imagine your tale. It helps us believe these people you’ve created are truly living it.

Readers need more than a character wandering through a nondescript park. Are there children giggling on a jungle gym? Is there a sheepdog wrapping its leash around its owner? What is the vegetation? How does it smell? Are there bird droppings dotting the sidewalk or dirt path?

It’s not as simple as creating a list of facts about the locale. We bump up our prose several notches closer to marketable by conveying POV characteristics and mood through HOW those details are described. To one character, splotches of bird poop might paint an abstract masterpiece leading straight to the cocoon of a turret-crowned church. Another may grumble as he navigates through the maze of filthy bird shit.

Make the experience of setting unique to your character. He is an eyewitness and, as is true of all witnesses, his perceptions will be affected by his mood and his nature.

Dialogue and action are only two layers of characterization. The narrative, your internals, should also include every one of your POV’s senses plus her interpretation of what is in her environment. For example, let us know which country we’re in through sounds and smells. Maybe it’s the turmeric-raison pungency of Morocco. Through setting we also get a feel for its culture.

Don’t bore us. Sprinkle details into your narrative a little at a time. Steinbeck’s pages-long descriptions would not be as tolerated by today’s impatient readers. A few vivid descriptors go a long way.

If your setting creates a believable backdrop for your tension, epiphany, or action, you’ve painted a tangible moment that your audience will experience vicariously through your POV’s senses.

Texture, weather, and atmosphere are all important parts of your setup. They add power to your narrative. Close your eyes, imagine you are your character. What’s around you? How do you feel about it? Then share it with us.

About the Writer:  Karen is an editor, ghostwriter, pitch coach, speaker and award-winning author of novels, cookbooks, and screenplays. She’s written over a dozen solo and collaborative scripts (with Janet Fogg, Christian Lyons and director Erich Toll); each has garnered international, national and regional recognition: Moondance Film Festival, BlueCat, All She Wrote, Lighthouse Writers, Boulder Asian Film Festival, SouthWest Writers Contest, and PPW Contest. Find out more at www.karenalbrightlin.com.

What's a Rhetorical Device?

By Karen Albright Lin

We hear the term, but do we really understand what a rhetorical device is and what types exist? There are some that are so obscure, so archaic, they are rarely found in today’s writing. But it is shocking how many we do use without realizing it. They are our friends, artistic techniques and rules for using language. Think metaphors, backloading, analogies, alliteration, and paraphrasing. We use them because they have great impact on our writing. They help to persuade or please. They turn mundane writing into interesting writing, more elegant writing.

When I studied up on them, I noticed they fell into three categories with a convenient acronym of WIG.

W – order and use of Words or phrases

I – way of presenting an Idea

G – Grammar or punctuation

W

An example of a W device would be ANAPHORA. It is a repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses. It helps emphasize a thought or feeling. She couldn’t stop dreaming. She couldn’t stop wandering. She couldn’t stop hesitating before making decisions.

One W device most of us are familiar with is ALLITERATION, repeated initial sounds. Sherry was shipped to shore. Alliteration is an artful aid in arrangement.

  

I

One of my favorite I rhetorical devices is APOPHASIS. It is the mention of something in disclaiming intention of mentioning it, essentially pretending to deny what is really affirmed. "I don't want to say anything bad about another attorney, especially one who's a useless drunk."

Another I:  we PARAPHRASE, often euphemistically. This is a restatement of text or a passage in another form or using other words, often to clarify meaning. If your character’s enemy has died, he “is no more,” he’s “gone to meet his maker,” or as John Cleese would say, “his metabolic processes are now history.”

G

ASYNDETON is a G technique in which you omit words or phrases between items in a list. An example would be omitting the word “and.” His snake-bit arm was swelling, shaking, growing red.

Another G, POLYSYNDETON, uses a conjunction (usually AND or OR) between a series of words in a list of three or more. It adds rhythm and a sense of compressed time. The secretary brought me coffee and faxes and mail and women and air freshener.

These are only six of upwards of 100 rhetorical devices I’ve found in my research. We don’t want to overuse any one technique, but if we keep as many of them as possible in our bags of tricks, we will have vivid, luxurious, and engaging prose.   

About the Writer:  Karen is an editor, ghostwriter, pitch coach, speaker and award-winning author of novels, cookbooks, and screenplays. She’s written over a dozen solo and collaborative scripts (with Janet Fogg, Christian Lyons and director Erich Toll); each has garnered international, national and regional recognition: Moondance Film Festival, BlueCat, All She Wrote, Lighthouse Writers, Boulder Asian Film Festival, SouthWest Writers Contest, and PPW Contest. Find out more at www.karenalbrightlin.com.

The Serialized Novel – Part 1

By Deb McLeod

My venture into the land of the serial and serialized novel started with the death of my favorite soap opera. Yes, I was one of the two million loyal fans of All My Children (and I mean LOYAL) who mourned the passing of their lunchtime dose of melodrama. I watched when I could, sometimes going years without seeing the show. But, of course, was able to catch up within a week whenever I came back. As a writer, I loved watching the twists and turns, and marveled at the content churned out every week day about the same characters for over forty years.

Around that same time I began to notice nighttime television was changing. They still scheduled those horrid reality shows and inane sitcoms, but there was an added element to the nighttime drama schedule that was intriguing.

Revenge was a new show and season one was pretty good. My husband and I discovered Breaking Bad, which is a fabulous piece of writing (acting too, but that’s not my focus). The Walking Dead, Orange is the New Black, The Americans, The Newsroom and Boss to name a few. Have you noticed that TV drama written more like a novel these days? Great story lines and in some cases, great writing. TV is coming into its own.

At the same time I was observing television in a new way, I was looking into epublishing. One of the observations I came across was about satisfying ebook fans with quick content. Big-name writers were starting to put out novellas and short stories and extras for their books to keep the interest high while they prepped the next title for release. Amanda Hocking put words out. And out. And out. Like a book every two weeks!

I remembered a conversation I had with Francine Matthews years ago. At that time she had two mystery series going and was able to write a first draft of one of her series in eight weeks. NaNoWriMo showed me what I could do in a month if I made a plan.

So I began to look at television writing as perhaps a model for cranking out content. I know how to do the ‘book in two years’ thing, but I wanted to see how I could do it faster. Of course television writing rooms have more than one writer, but I thought I might be able to find some interesting ways they broke a story and if I could learn anything from the process.

I read a few books, the best of them being:

• “Writing for the Soaps” by Jean Rouveral
• “Writing the TV Drama Series” by Pamela Douglas
• “Small Screen, Big Picture” by Chad Gervich 
• “Crafty TV Writing” by Alex Epstein.

Add into the mix of television research, one of my book club buddies introduced me to Blake Snyder – another life-changing experience – and I began to get my process down. Having been a die-hard pantser, I am now a die-hard plotter.

I am writing a series of novels called The Julia Set: An Angel Thriller. It’s about the angels in and around our world and their attempt to contain a secret that will have far-reaching and long-lasting consequences should it get out. I envision eight books, high tension, with philosophical and spiritual questions, as well as a driving plot. So far it’s coming along well. The first book is done and in edits. However it took me over a year to write.

But the second book was plotted in the two or three days before 2013 NaNo and written in the first thirteen days of the contest. Hoo-rah!

So what does all this have to do with serials and serialization? Well, I’m going to serialize the series.

A true serial is one where the book is being released as the author is writing it. A serialization is a novel that’s already complete but is released in increments.When I build an audience for my thriller, I may join the ranks of ebook authors who are writing true serials. But for now I’m just trying to master the craft of serialization which has to fulfill the serial requirements.

And there is a craft to it: the cliff hanger, the catch-up, the openings of every new section. Each episode should stand on its own but also draw the reader through to the cliff hanger that sets up the next episode or book. There’s the dreaded third episode I’ve been reading about where writers often flail and fans drop away. There’s pricing issues to consider. And publishers who are stepping into the serial market.

Join me in these next few blogs while I attempt to become a serial novelist and explore the serialized novel and the market. I'll be writing about the how-to's, the history, the craft elements and the publishing. Stay tuned...

(To read Part II, click here.)

About the Author: Deb McLeod, is a writer, creative writing coach and founder of The Writing Ranch. She has both an MFA and a BA in creative writing. She has been teaching and coaching for over ten years. Deb has published short fiction in anthologies and journals. She has written articles and creative nonfiction. Deb has been a professional blogger, tech writer, graphic artist and Internet marketing specialist.  

Voice From the Inside Out

by Deb McLeod

 A few weeks ago, I learned a new way to analyze voice, to look at where the character came from by the words she uses and the rhythm of how she speaks. To see what the character thinks by how her attitude reflects in her clothes and what she notices about other people and their surroundings, etc. 

At the end of it, my friend, who was showing me this method, said, "I can analyze voice in other fiction. I can see it. I understand what I need to know about my character. So why can’t I create it?"

Since then, I’ve been contemplating how to teach voice. Some of my stories have a stronger voice than others, and all of my short stories have a stronger voice than my novels. Why is that?

At the University of Arizona, where I earned my BA in creative writing, I followed the literary events in a town rich with university culture. I loved being in school. I loved going to lectures and readings at night. I loved the intellectual conversation. But I also saw the politics, the posturing, the quirk for quirk’s sake and the art of every bit of it.

Long after I left, a voice burbled up from the past and I wrote a three-titled short story called: Green Light Over Tucson or Liddy, Loran and Me or The Last Lost Hour of My Life from that time in my life in Tucson.

The story is about a girl who’s sees the writing world as a club she doesn’t belong to. She’s going to barter the story of a possible alien abduction in the desert to get into the group. Here’s an excerpt:

I was driving my mother’s car, so perhaps they mistook me for someone who would normally drive a four-door white Ford Fairlane in southern Arizona in the early fall. But I only borrowed the car to drive from Tucson to Bisbee and then back again for a poetry reading of Loran Lorado at the Luxor Hotel. Bisbee’s a little more than an hour away from Tucson toward the Mexican border. A dingy mining town turned artist colony that’s actually a perfect setting for literary soirees.   

The parlor where they put the reading is way too small. People are hanging out the doors, into the hall, leaning against large-tasseled burgundy drapes that once covered the doorway. Grad students are opening metal folding chairs and acting like nobody knew this was going to happen. Like the sense of excitement wasn’t planned.

It’s a swank. Loran’s a big draw. They could’ve sold twice as many tickets if they’d held the reading at the U in Tucson. But then they wouldn’t have filled the auditorium. He’s a poet, after all. And how would that look with a scattered audience and empty rows? People might have even left before he was finished.

But Bisbee? Now that’s smart. Not only does the audience have to drive an hour, once they do, they have to work to get in. Anyone out in the hall feels cheated and vows to be here early next time to be on the inside. Result: Loran Lorado’s a hit before he even hits the stage. 

Years later, I was living in Highlands Ranch and studying for my MFA at Antioch University in Los Angeles. The following excerpt from my story, White Girl, comes out of the dichotomy of inhabiting both places and both lives. Mother and wife in one of the largest suburbs in America vs creative writing student at a socially conscious university in LA. This is about a juvie creative writing teacher (also an MFA candidate) who looked around at the girls he was teaching and asked among other things: Where are the white girls?

Robert Fox, white man, white hair, indignation splotching an indiscriminate red against your neck. It creeps past a day-old beard to colorless lips asking, where are the pimps? Where are the parents? Where are the teachers?

Robert Fox, white man, teacher in East LA, surrounded by thirteen, fourteen, twelve-year-old girls doing face time for prostitution, for knife fights, for murder or drugs. Still he asks: Where are the pimps? Where are the parents? Where are the teachers?

Black girls, Latina, Chicana, Asian, given permission to speak, they write him their stories. There’s nothing else to do in juvie. Who’s responsible for this? Robert Fox wants to know.

Both of these pieces have a strong voice. There’s an opinion residing behind the words. A way of thinking that comes out in the rhythm and the word choice as well as the plot of the story.

I think I can say that my stories with the strongest voice reflect a passionate opinion. I wrote White Girl in two hours during a predawn rant on a day I was to give a reading, defending the idea that white girls have not abandoned their sisters of color. I read those pages instead of the ones I had planned to read. It was a successful reading, though hard to keep my voice steady because the passion and anger that drove that story was still fresh and still rippled inside me. It’s the angriest story I’ve ever written and there’s a very strong voice driving it.

Taking my experience, I am beginning to wonder if a character's voice is never going to be revealed by coming from the outside like the method my friend was teaching me. Perhaps you don’t create voice by making a list of dialect and attitudes a character might use if they hailed from a particular place. And suffered particular wounds. Perhaps the trick is to find the passionate opinion first. And let that passion show you who the character is when you let that passion speak.

Perhaps the answer is to connect to what your characters love. And threaten to take it away. Or tap into what they hate. Or expose their prejudices and their wounds. Then step aside and see what they say.

Maybe then you analyze and make lists and try to connect to that same passion as you move through the story, faking it with the details she told you when she was talking.  

About the Author: Deb McLeod, is a writer, creative writing coach and founder of The Writing Ranch. She has both an MFA and a BA in creative writing. She has been teaching and coaching for over ten years. Deb has published short fiction in anthologies and journals. She has written articles and creative nonfiction. Deb has been a professional blogger, tech writer, graphic artist and Internet marketing specialist. 

More on Flashbacks: Backstory - Part III

By Karen Albright Lin

In my last two posts I discussed backstory as told through narrative, dialogue and flashback. Then I explored flashbacks more fully: 1) How to use one to add depth to character, story and the writing itself. 2) Reassured that sometimes the benefits of using flashbacks outweigh the sacrifice of immediacy. 3) When they work. 4) Clarifying time sense (present, past and past perfect). 5) Transitions. 6) And important things to consider when choosing when to use them.

Now it’s time to face hard truths. 

THERE ARE TIMES WHEN A FLASHBACK JUST DOESN’T WORK, such as when:

• It comes too early – first chapter flashbacks are discouraged.
• It’s so long that your real story is likely in the past.
• You do it too often (irritating) unless you are telling a story like Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried.
• It seems like only an info-dump (backstory in dialogue is notorious for this).
• You wait too long to give the flashback (frustrating to reader).
• You give so much backstory that the novel lacks suspense.
• You use it to “run away from conflict,” James N. Frey warns in How to Write a Damn Good Novel.
• It stops or slows the pace of your book (probably your biggest risk).
• It isn’t tightly linked to the front-story.
• If it confuses the reader about what exactly the story is. (Cure: set up the rule early as Tim O’Brien did in The Things They Carried.)
• It interrupts the momentum you’ve built.
• It happens in an action scene like running from a murderer.
• You go from one flashback into an even earlier one (this taxes most readers’ brains).
• A conversation between characters can impart their life stories more elegantly.
• You provide more information than is necessary.
• It could be more clearly provided in the form of a prologue, thus keeping it separate from the rest of the story. (There is a risk to this, however. Some agents/editors hate these.)
• It follows a weak scene (or sequel)
• It is confusing (better not to do it than to do it poorly). Some authors choose to put them in italics.
• It is before we know a character pretty well since we won’t care about his past.
• It is put into the first chapter at a time when the reader hasn’t yet invested in the ride you are taking him on –  let alone what happened previously.
• Your narrator is omniscient. That generally won’t work since there can’t be as much psychological impact. Deep third person and first person work well.
• The reader can surmise the same information from the dialogue and action of current story.
• You don’t orient the reader – time and place and who is present.
• You fail to use clear ( like dreams), elegant, or subtle techniques like Match Cut to lock in visual motifs.
• You fail to clearly let the reader know that you are leaving the present.

REVIEWING TENSE CLUES:

Ex: “She remembered the day her mother signed her divorce papers. She had crumpled them in her sweaty hands….” Then use past perfect “had” one or two times, then past tense within the longer flashback, and clue the reader when coming back to present by using past perfect tense again before heading back into past tense. “She had vowed never to do what her parents had done. But now wasn’t the time to think about her mother. She needed to plan the wedding and…”

Short flashback:

Past-->past perfect-->past

Longer flashback:

             Past-->past perfect-->past within flashback-->past perfect-->past

or

       

Present-->past-->present

WHEN YOU DECIDE TO USE A FLASHBACK

DO:

• Use the insight to fill in gaps.
• Be sure you are clear about what you are trying to accomplish within a given scene.
• Make careful choices about what to reveal and what to leave out.
• Make it riveting.
• Use it to clarify how your world works.
• Use it following an action-filled strong scene.  Then it can act as a sequel if it isn’t equally riveting as what just came before it.
• Use when connected to your present action.
• Use when the reader wants or needs to know more about the past.
• Keep it short if possible.
• Dole out pieces of information in bits and pieces, making your readers want to read on to learn more.
• Avoid leaving characters dangling while you go into the past.  Be sure to connect it to their current story.

EDITORS AND AGENTS AND READERS

Readers are often the most accepting of this technique. 

In contrast, acceptance of Flashbacks by agents and editors is all over the board. 50 years ago it was typical to use flashbacks. Now, they are often resisted because they are believed to crush the impetus of your story chronology, slow the read, and/or they are considered “old news” in your story. 

They must be done very well to be successful in today’s market of immediacy.

IF TOLD YOU SHOULD GET RID OF YOUR FLASHBACK:

• Be sure your adviser is right and not just blanket-prejudiced against the technique.
• Check with your critique partners to be sure you agree with the assessment.
• Revise the chapter to remove the flashback completely.
• Develop a timeline for the story and consider starting the action earlier.
•  Delete the first three chapters if you’ve begun too early, and weave the backstory into the novel through dialogue and dramatic narrative.
• Have the POV character spend less time alone thinking (Too much thinking often leads to unnecessary flashbacks). 
• Add a character that can help you integrate backstory implying it through dialogue (not on-the-nose dialogue).
• Use dramatic narrative NOT just a summary of facts.
• Don’t include it all; the reader doesn’t need to know as much as the writer does. (Historical writing can have too much detail, thanks to loads of research, and fantasy writers need to realize that the world of the story will loom larger in your head than it will on the page.)

I hope you’ve found helpful my posts offering hints about deciding whether to use flashbacks and how to write them if they are called for. Looking back over the three posts, the amount of information and considerations can seem overwhelming. Luckily, those of us who are avid readers (which should be all of us, right?) will find much of this instinctual. If aspects don’t come naturally for you, study how other authors work the magic of flashbacks.

May words come easily and flashbacks be effortless. 

About the Writer:  Karen is an editor, ghostwriter, pitch coach, speaker and award-winning author of novels, cookbooks, and screenplays. She’s written over a dozen solo and collaborative scripts (with Janet Fogg, Christian Lyons and director Erich Toll); each has garnered international, national and regional recognition: Moondance Film Festival, BlueCat, All She Wrote, Lighthouse Writers, Boulder Asian Film Festival, SouthWest Writers Contest, and PPW Contest. Find out more at www.karenalbrightlin.com.

                                                                                     

The Road to Publication: Backroads vs. Superhighway

By Debbie Maxwell Allen

It's a dream most writers have. Shaking hands with an agent at a conference, showing a sample of your work, and receiving an instant offer of representation followed by rapid publication. Who wouldn't enjoy getting on the fast track, not to mention receiving a check for the years of work already put in?


But I believe a short-cut to publication can actually short-change authors. Why?


High Speed. On a highway, your speed keeps you from absorbing the nuances of the scenery. In the same way, getting published quickly can mean you miss working on important elements of the craft of writing. A delay in publication forces writers to work harder. They join critique groups, read writing books and excellent examples of fiction. This makes for a deeper writer, rather than a quick success who has trouble with subsequent books.

Smooth Pavement. A smooth road means  traveling faster, but if you hit a pothole at that speed, it can be disastrous. On the bumpy back roads to publication, writers get familiar with rejection. Critique groups, contests, and the query process all help to develop the thick skin necessary for future success. Without this rhino skin, authors can be in danger of writer's block, or even depression when they discover that not everyone enjoys their book. Reviewers and readers are not shy about expressing their displeasure in books they've read. As writers, we need to get accustomed to criticism early. Bring on the bumps.


Anonymous Travelers. High speeds keep drivers from interacting with others who share the road. In fact, drivers see other travelers as competition, people just getting in the way. Back road drivers expect the trip to take longer. They have time to wave at those they pass, even offer a hand to someone that needs it. 


If you get published rapidly, you are immediately thrust into a world of rewrites and marketing that precludes much of the time you might like to spend helping other writers. Writers who experience a lengthy path to publication have the luxury of developing deeper relationships, and cheering each other on.


None of us knows how long our journey will last. Some writers have labored for decades, others just a few years. The important things to spend time on are craft, accepting rejection, and befriending one another. Enjoy this part of the journey. All too soon, you'll be looking back wistfully. And telling wonderful stories about the years of waiting.

Are you content on the back roads?

About the Author: Debbie Maxwell Allen writes young adult historical fantasy in the Rocky Mountains. She blogs about free resources for writers at Writing While the Rice Boils. 

Story Tips #10 - Hero's Journey, Act III

By Jax Hunter

Welcome to the next installment of Story Tips From the Big Screen. This monthly column (to be posted the second Monday of each month) explores screen writing techniques that will help fiction writers tell a better story. 

***     ***     ***     ***

Thank goodness we’re almost done with this topic. If I’d known when I started this Hero’s Journey series how long four months really were... Well, anyway, we’re to the end.

Act III: We’ll get your trusty hero out of that tree now - the Vogler way - with the final three steps.

Step Ten - The Road Back

In this step the story engine, which has been idling for a while, gets revved up again. Our hero must be forced from the plateau upon which he rests. You got it - our hero has stirred up a hornets nest and now must deal with the consequences of the Supreme Ordeal. Now’s his chance to show whether he’s really learned the lessons he’s picked up along the way. 

On his way back to Ordinary, our hero will be subjected to the final temptations and tests which may actually cause a change in the story goal.

In Star Wars, this step has Luke and Leia chased by Darth Vader as they flee the Death Star. 

Dorothy is ready to go home - the balloon is prepared and the goodbyes said. Then Toto (remember his role as Dorothy’s intuition?) takes off after a pesky cat and the balloon leaves without her.  Dorothy is stranded in the Special World with no way home.

Step Eleven - Resurrection (the Dark Moment)

This step is something of a cleansing process, sealing in the good and burning away the bad. Often, we have a death scene followed by a new birth. This death can be literal (in which case it’s likely a near death scene - we really don’t want to actually kill our hero) or it may be figurative (as in the death of the relationship in a romance.) Either way, hope is dead.

The Supreme Ordeal was the Mid-term. The Resurrection is the Final Exam. To learn is one thing - to be able to bring that knowledge home a bit more difficult. It’s one final shot from the enemy. This is the last chance for the hero to pass the test. Often in the Supreme Ordeal, he either just scraped by or he actually failed the test. Here’s the last chance for redemption, the final test of faith.

In each of the original Star Wars movies, Luke is “killed” and miraculously reborn. Each time he’s reborn increases within him the power of the Force. Han Solo is also reborn in the first movie as he turns his back on the battle but shows up at the last minute to face the enemy beside his comrades. 

In the Wizard of Oz, the Wizard has floated away. There’s no hope of ever getting back to Kansas. Then, Voila! The good witch shows up and tells Dorothy that she always had it within her to get home. We have that great moment when Dorothy is asked what she’s learned and she replies that her “heart’s desire” is “in her own back yard.” What a great movie!

Step Twelve - Return with the Elixir

It’s not enough to just get home in one piece; our hero must return to Ordinary with a treasure. A cure. A lesson learned. The key to the enemy defeat. The power to heal the wounded land. Or, in a romance, a committed relationship. 

Luke defeats Darth Vader and restores peace and order.

Dorothy’s perceptions of Kansas have changed. She admits that the Special World was beautiful, but also had some horrible elements. “There’s no place like home.” 

The circle is complete. The story is satisfying to the reader because you have taken the hero through the full cycle. All is right with the world. And they live happily ever after. Cliches all. I won’t mention here that this full circle concept is very American and that things aren’t always so neatly wrapped up in stories around the world. 

Now I have to get back to my WIP (work in progress) and I don’t know what we’ll be doing next month.  Consider it a surprise. I am :) 

Until next month, BICHOK (Butt in Chair, Hands on Keyboard)

Jax (www.jaxmhunter@gmail.com)

(This series first ran in the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers newsletter in 2004.)

About the Author: Jax Hunter is a published romance writer and freelance copywriter. She wears many hats including EMT, CPR instructor, and Grammy. She is currently working on a contemporary romance series set in ranching country Colorado and a historical romance set in 1775 Massachusetts. She lives in Colorado Springs, belongs to PPW, RMFW and is a member of the Professional Writer's Alliance.