NaNoWriMo: Rookie Mistakes

Give the Lady a Ride was the result of my failed 2007 NaNo attempt. Want to know why I failed? I got so excited about my subject, I wanted to research it. So I did. Trust me, that amount of time not writing is guaranteed failure in a contest where word count is everything.


Instead of competing in NaNo, I interviewed a former bull rider, visited a rodeo ranch, watched calves being tested for the bucking abilities, studied tapes of bull riding, attended a cattle auction and interviewed the ranchers, cowboys and auction workers on the scene. I did a lot of foot work, and I'm proud of the authenticity it gives my novel.


There's only one problem: I wanted to include absolutely everything I had learned in my book. You've heard of information dumps? Well, I'm guilty of a research dump. I found the world of ranching and bull riding to be fascinating and didn't want to leave out a single detail for my readers. In doing so, I lost sight of the plot. Give the Lady a Ride is a romance. The plot, dictated by the genre, is: Boy meets girl. Boy loses girl. Boy gets girl back.


In her letter rejecting my submission, the editor of White Rose Publishing actually counted how many times my main characters shared a scene in the five chapters I sent to her, and the result was not pretty. It's cool that she read all five chapters and took the time to respond, but the point is: Ride is a romance, not a college course on bull riding or ranch management.


I needed to weave my research into the story just enough to create the authenticityI was seeking, to give the reader a feel for the setting, the life, the activity. Don't get me wrong--the research was vital. I'm not saying cut corners doing it. I'm saying it's not necessary to write into your manuscript, in detail, everything you've learned.


I went back this past weekend and axed twenty-seven pages worth of research dump. The pages read well. The characters were active and engaged. Tension and conflict and all the wonderful stuff that makes a good novel better flowed through the scenes. What they lacked was a point. What they failed to do was to move the characters forward. I took out all those pages without affecting the story. The reader will never miss them. Heck, I don't miss them!



*Flickr photo, "Bustin' Out of the Chute" by Al_HikesAZ

Writing Rituals & the Voodoo of Vinyl

by nm boliek

At various times in my life I have produced masterpieces with simple words, words that flowed like water from an eternal fountain. And I felt invincible at those moments; of course those were some of the most defining times of  my life-when pain and vulnerability along with my quietly bleating heart hung dripping and gutted, from my bloodied sleeve.  Now those were the days.

I survived love, loss and the intricacies of youth in an ill managed and foul mannered way that eventually became my hallmark; a slamming door followed by days of silence, nights of rotating vinyl and page after page of woeful exaltations’.

Emergence would only occur after Axel Rose and I had convened and summated on all the various machinations of inner turmoil. Of course he sang while I wrote, but together through the years we arrived at the same conclusion: love, people and money all come and go but the process remains. No matter what, there’s still the middle of the night, vinyl to spin and pen scrapings of scabs and wounds old & new. You see, I’m a habit writer, a formula hack, a ritualistic superstitious, gift bearing, prayer offering, soul selling, well meaning totally desperate artist. And I live under an umbrella of sheltered complexities that are more needs than desires for my creations. I happen to think most writers are like this – we need certain things to birth our creative babies – we need a tried and true process.

Finding the right combination to process is sometimes the most difficult part of being a writer. I admire those I see sitting in Starbucks tapping out their novels or the ones that create on the rush hour train. But whenever I see these people I slightly die and the laughing doubting voice inside my head utters my fears: that truly creative and passionate people can create ANYWHERE. Maybe, but creating is such an intimate process to me that I cannot imagine bearing my soul in that manner. Sometimes it’s all I can do to bear it to the cold winking cursor that cares not. On a stage, no matter how small is just not for me.

Over the years I've gotten better at confronting this fear and creating on the fly, but it’s not the way I WANT to create. And that’s really the key to how process develops - deciding how you want to do it then actively or spontaneously working to create that formula. Because once the process cements itself, you know for certain that your creativity is real and controllable and whenever you desire you can tap parts of yourself that previously only God had seen.  And this feels good - it confirms everything we've thought might be true about ourselves; that we really are more than housewives, husbands, dishwashers, sales clerks or zombies - We are Artists. Through process and communion with our soul the subsequent art we create allows us to give back to the world some of what it so graciously or cruelly handed to us.

So next time when the words are burning up the pages, stop and look around, ponder the trail traveled to this moment and mark it well. It might just lead you back here again and again. If not,  well,spin some vinyl and call up your ex from high school – that ought to do it. I can hear the door slamming now.

Video: Conjunction Junction

This video speaks for itself with its subtle approach to bring proper English instruction to the eager Saturday morning masses. In the tradition of Fantasia, its visual interpretation of the stunning musical rhapsody clearly foretold the coming of MTV as the premier vehicle of self-expression. It crossed social barriers with its appeal and demonstrated the bond we share by our mother tongue.

Each scene contains a balance of 70's style and composition lost in the passage of time, but remembered now when the nostalgic adults, bored youth, or the desperate educators do a simple search on YouTube.

The best of American English instruction, it is School House Rock's "Conjunction Junction." I ask you to consider in light its artistic grandeur and awesome yet humble and unassuming wisdom, could you answer the timeless question of existence, which it poses however masked in application to one beloved element of grammar ?

Could you answer, "What's your function?"

9 Parts of Speech

by Carrie Bailey

While I was helping my son study for his 8th grade Language Arts class, I came across a dated but relevant poem. Now, I can write a sentence and follow all the normal rules of grammar, but I often forget what they are called.

Three little words you often see,

Are Articles - an, an, and the.

A Noun's the name of anything,

As school, or garden, hoop, or swing.

Adjectives tell the kind of Noun,

As great, small, pretty, white, or brown.

Instead of Nouns the Pronouns stand-

Her head, his face, your arm, my hand.

Verbs tell of something to be done-

To read, count, sing, laugh, jump, or run.

How things are done, the Adverbs tell,

As slowly, quickly, ill, or well.

Conjunctions join the words together

As man and woman, wind or weather.

The Preposition stands before

A noun, as in, or through a door.

The Interjection shows surprise,

As oh! How pretty - ah! How wise.

The whole are called Nine Parts of Speech,

Which reading, writing, speaking teach.

~Dr. Chase 1867

I think it's a pity they never turned this in to a corny 90's style educational rap performed by a low budget cartoon dog in a jean jacket.  Hopefully, this idea's time hasn't passed.

Character Objectives

by Linda Yezak

James Scott Bell is one of the terrific authors who contributed to the Write Great Fiction Series. His book, Plot & Structure, introduces his LOCK system of plotting. As he says, whether you're a plotter or an SOTP writer (like I am), knowing the elements in a novel helps considerably. So, here are the elements according to Bell:

L: Lead (aka, Main Character or MC)

O: Objective

C: Confrontation

K: Knockout ending

He reiterates this in his Revision & Self-Editing book, and just looking at it again has helped me regain my direction for the revisions of my romantic comedy Give the Lady a Ride.

Of the LOCK components, the Objective is the one that really keeps the action moving. Leads have goals and strive to obtain them--that's why they have a story. According to Bell, the two dominant objectives found in most novels are to “get something or to get away from something.” The dominant objective for genre writers is dictated by the genre. Ride is a romance, so the necessary objective for both my Leads is to get Love.

But there are other objectives Bell doesn’t address. For instance, story objectives, the ones that makes my romance different from other romances. In Ride, Talon's story objective is to keep his job as foreman of the Circle Bar Ranch, something that may not happen if Patricia, the new owner, sells it. Although she comes to the ranch to sell it, Patricia's story objective is to get away from her situation back home, but remaining in Texas would mean disregarding her responsibilities. Until she resolves her objective, Talon's objective is on the line--which brings about confrontation, aka conflict. And keep in mind: If the Objective keeps the action moving, the Confrontation keeps the action interesting.

Each scene and chapter also contain auxiliary objectives intended to move the characters through the book. In Chapter One, Talon's objective is to find out if the cute but out-of-place woman on his ranch is really his new boss. Patricia's objective is to prove it to him. Both of these objectives are different from my objectives. As the writer, my objective is to introduce the characters and provide tension from the very beginning.

Objectives are tricky little things: they change as situations change. For the purpose of the novel, the dominant objectives (Love, for Ride) must remain the same throughout or you'll be riding down too many alleys and lose sight of the main road. Auxiliary objectives change out of necessity: After Talon discovers who Patricia is, he's met his goal and should move on to the next one. Story objectives can change or not, but they must support the dominant objectives. As an example: since Talon's and Patricia's story objectives conflict, each changes their goals to obtain the dominant objective--Love.

As you write, keep an eye on all your characters’ objectives: Do you meet your dominant objectives as set by your genre? Do the characters’ story objectives set your book apart? Does each scene or chapter have auxiliary objectives? (If not, re-evaluate whether you need them). All these objectives help keep your story moving, which is your objective as the writer.

*****


Linda Yezak teaches creative writing in Texas. Her novel, Give the Lady a Ride, was a finalist in the 2008 ACFW Genesis Competition and is in the revision stage. Linda is an independent editor, and a critique partner/writing coach. She co-hosts AuthorCulture with two other authors. You can contact her at pprmint155@yahoo.com.