My Son is Going on a Mission

Yesterday, my son, Mitchell, opened the big white envelope and discovered he will be serving a two year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in TALLAHASSEE FLORIDA. The mission area actually covers parts of Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, and Florida. He leaves on December 19, 2012.

Poke Your Reader in the Eye

I forgot how much torture fun revising can be. %-P (picture me cross-eyed with tongue hanging out)

But I do love a good challenge, and while working to improve my m.c. in the first ten pages (see Monday's post) ... I've been reading up on blog posts by Donald Maass. His ideas and prompts are thought provoking and really get my writing wheels rolling.

Here's a snippet (not on characters) regarding your inciting incident:

"Find in the inciting event that which would rile up anyone. Magnify and elaborate that element. Poke your readers in their eyes. Make them defensive. Make them mad. Make them think. A well-constructed inciting incident will stir up your readers but leave them with no idea what they would do. To resolve their inner unbalance, they’ll have to find out what your protagonist will do."

Sweet!

Poke your reader in the eye. That will make them buy more books from you ... RIGHT?!

What about you? Does the inciting incident in the book you're writing or reading right now have that "poke you" element?

Wanna Smile? Or Laugh?

Oh. My. GOSH! If you want a serious kick-in-the-pants go here: SO STINKING FUNNY!!!

Seriously. Go. Now.

Why are you still here?

:)

Critique Partners are ESSENTIAL!

Often times new writers will think they don't want to find a critique partner or group ... but it is essential to improve our stories!

As a writer, it is EASY to picture what my main character looks like, acts like, and talks like ... but have I portrayed that image accurately to my reader? How will I know if I don't let a critique partner rip it open? A "nice" reader (like your mom or BFF) may not have the will or desire to tell you what's wrong with your story, but another writer who wants to help you improve will (should) tell you.

One of my brutal critique partners is my 16-yr-old daughter. Seriously. She rips my stuff apart! But I just love her more for it.

I recently gave her the first ten pages of my newest work-in-progress. I waited for her to come to me and say: Give me more pages!

But ... she didn't! ACK!

I asked her what she thought of the pages, and she grimaced. She hated the main character. Why? I asked (shocked, of course, because I love the main character). My daughter said the m.c. complains too much, and it annoyed her as a reader.

What? My main character is not a complainer! She's strong and goal oriented and confident and happy ... isn't she?

I asked my daugher if she liked anything about the m.c. ... My daughter thought TOO LONG and finally answered: I like her name.

*sigh*

So ... I'm reading chapter one again of THE FIRE IN FICTION by Maass, and I'm reconsidering the concept of SAVING THE CAT by Snyder.

Clearly ... the image in my head did not carry through to the page and then to the reader.

How about you? Do you have critique partners that you trust to tell you the brutal truth about your writing?

That is SO Cliche!

Recently I was hopping around the blog-o-sphere and came across a great list from Writer's Digest.

Here's what they listed on their blog:

1. Avoid it like the plague
2. Dead as a doornail
3. Take the tiger by the tail
4. Low hanging fruit
5. If only walls could talk
6. The pot calling the kettle black
7. Think outside the box
8. Thick as thieves
9. But at the end of the day
10. Plenty of fish in the sea
11. Every dog has its day
12. Like a kid in a candy store

Now ... I love lists like this, because frankly, sometimes I don't know when I am using a cliche. (I can be slow.)

But the comments were even greater than the original list. (Click here if you want to read them ALL.)

Here's just a sampling:

tip of the iceberg

green with envy
fifteen minutes of fame
hit the sack/hay
crazy as a fox
feel like death warmed over
everyday life
cool as a cucumber
let’s get busy
OK, show’s over, nothing to see here
It’s not over til the fat lady sings
Hi, howya doin’?
dog tired
sick as a dog
at the end of the day
a bitter pill to swallow
the weight of the world
raining cats and dogs
loose as a goose
drunk as a monkey
sober as a judge
dumb as a post (or rock)
party animal
older than dirt
where’s a cop when you need one?

What cliche do you love/hate to see in books?

What Motivates Your Character?

A couple of editors mentioned they didn't believe in the motivation of my main character.

What does that mean?

Why does your/my character need believable motivation before she acts/reacts?

We need to be specific and understand exactly why a character does what she does. Ask questions. Take time to explore.

For example, from Deborah Halverson's book, WRITING YOUNG ADULT FICTION FOR DUMMIES (btw, I still hate the title):

"Consider this first draft sentence: Kirk couldn't care less about math, so he rarely did homework for his algebra class."

Cliche and bland.

"His personality is still off stage. ... What was it, exactly, that he hates about math? How would he blow something off? Kirk had 45 algebra problems to simplify that night. 15x+9+5x-2= ... Ah, screw it all. he did the simplest thing and left the book in his locker. Now that has personality. Readers get a feel for the math that's torturing him, nd then he does his knee-herk teen drama thing and ditches the math book entirely. This gives you a richer peek into the character's peronality, and it's far more engaging than the original line ..." (page 166).

Take a closer look at your characters. Why do they act and react the way they do? Is it consistent? Believable? Age appropriate?

Blog Break

I've been a bit under the weather ... *cough* *cough* ... and I've been busy getting two boys off to college. So, I need to be absent from the blog-o-sphere for awhile. But don't stray too far away, I will be back in force before you know it!