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Posts Tagged ‘story’

A Storyteller

Posted in Story, tagged , on December 12, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Imagine the great room in a suburban house. It is full of light and feels large out of all proportion to the size of the house. It encompasses all the activities of the family – cooking, eating, reading, watching TV, playing and writing.

Catching your eye is the ten-foot bear in the corner by the window. I imagine it’s made of fibreglass, brightly painted. Because you seldom see ten-foot bears in living rooms it is hard to take your eyes off it. It’s a magnificent, benevolently smiling, permanent Christmas tree.

It stands beside Brenda’s desk (yes, I’ve changed the name so she won’t know who she is) smiling down at her writing. She’s a storyteller who inhabits and shares a world of dragons. Until I met her I did not realize that my world was impoverished by a lack of dragons.

Her world encompasses dragons of all shapes, sizes and with characters as widely diverse as human characters. Her dragons might belong to this world, a past world, a future world or some completely unknown world.

They relate to their world well or awkwardly or kindly or angrily, as we do. But they’re dragons, and it’s a story; it’s not like we’re being taught a lesson.

Isn’t that what storytellers always do – take us to another world and show us how other characters or creatures are doing their best to succeed and flourish there?

Maybe it’s easier to wander off into many other worlds when you have a bear looking down at you. Or you prefer to write of your own world, you write personal stories, memoir perhaps.

But your world is another world to someone else. Can you be the storyteller who turns events into stories so they are not simply about you missing a bus, missing a deadline or missing an absent lover. Can you give them the appeal of a story that is both specific and universal?

That’s what moves you from being a writer to being a storyteller.

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Story Synopsis

Posted in Content, tagged , , on October 8, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Some people like to work with structure in their fiction; others prefer to have a general idea and enjoy writing to find out just where this story goes.

Neither is ‘right’  but at some point – even if that point comes after your first draft is finished – you need to collect all your thoughts into a brief synopsis. you need it for three reasons:

  • To keep you on track with your editing. Once you clearly understand your story line you can see what bits are missing and where you have wandered off track into some irrelevant (but beautiful) tangent. You need this clarity to guide your editing.
  • As a basis for your back cover blurb.
  • This is the heart of your marketing pitch. It’s what agents and editors want to see. Again, it gives clarity to the project.

Whether you write your synopsis before you start to write your story or novel, or whether it comes afterwards you need a synopsis statement, probably one sentence covering each of the following:

  • Your main character – the type of person he/she is and the setting they are in
  • The over-riding goal of this character
  • The inciting event that starts the story and how the character decides to deal with it
  • The conflicts the character encounters and his/her means of dealing with it
  • The concluding event and the major discovery made by the character.

You don’t necessarily need to follow that sequence, but an agent or editor is going to want to know you are clear on these points. No amount of verbiage is going to cover up if you lack this clarity.

I myself have only recently become a convert to this type of synopsis. Previously I saw a synopsis written ahead of the story to be like putting on a very tight Victorian corset – not something that was comfortable or helpful. Now I find that it points me in one direction and keeps me true to the essence of my story.

Give the  synopsis a try – think of it as an elevator speech for your novel or story. Then, when someone asks “What is it about?” you’ll have an answer.

 

 

 

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Fear

Posted in Conflict, tagged , , , , on July 25, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Yesterday I heard an interesting idea – that most of us run much of our lives on fear. Well, maybe THEY do, but not me.  Definitely not me.

I’m not talking about the fear of spiders or snakes, but about day-to-day fears.

“I’m afraid my money’s going to run out before the end of the month.”

“I’m afraid my young kids might get into drugs.”

I have to invite my brother to spend Christmas with us or he’ll make my mom’s life miserable”

“I’m afraid I’ll never be as good as she is.”

“I’ll have to skip breakfast to catch my bus. If I’m late again I might lose my job and then I’d never be able to pay the rent.”

Many of these are legitimate fears – if my kids were still young I’d be afraid of them getting into drugs too. I’d behave in a way that minimized those chances. But when you are writing these fears are all grist for your mill. These are the kind of fears, reasonable or otherwise, that people are living with and orchestrating their lives around.

It affects their behavior. The woman afraid of losing her job is not going to set off sedately for the bus and calmly accept the fact that it left ten minutes ago. She is going to be running, panicked if she misses it, antsy waiting for the next bus, berating herself for being so stupid as to sleep in.

She will get to work ragged and unfocused, probably make a few mistakes in her flustering, and be cranky to her co-workers. You could be setting her up for something really bad to happen. If it does she will be mentally less well prepared to deal with it capably. You  can write her into a serious situation with heightened conflict.

Maybe in her flustering she accidentally shreds some important papers. The stakes just got raised. Maybe the Big Boss is in town and needs the papers.

But you don’t have to go for the major conflict here. You can just show this person as a woman who nervously tries to be a really good employee even though she is a square peg in a round hole. She tries so hard to be useful and helpful that she becomes a bit of a nuisance. Perhaps this leaves her open to be bullied. and maybe she is driven to do something drastic to end the bullying.

Well, here we are at major conflict again. We look at ordinary, everyday lives and perhaps we don’t see a lot of fiction-worthy conflict. But it’s there, latent, hiding in the common fears we all have.

Common sense tells us to take small steps towards addressing any fears that start to run our lives – small preventative measures perhaps. However, we’re talking about fiction here. Sensible action is not what we’re looking for. We just want our larger-than-life characters to have traits of common humanity that everyone will recognize. Fears are everywhere – possibly disguised. Use them to give your story depth and believability.

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Story: When to let it go

Posted in Writer's life, tagged , , , on July 19, 2012 | 1 Comment »

We have so many stories we want to tell.

There was the time when…

That reminds me of…

I can still remember how I felt when…

We use our experiences in our writing – the people, events and places and especially the feelings. Sharing them helps us validate them and gives others the benefit of a tiny piece of our experience. Sharing our mistakes, even, helps give them meaning and value.

But we all have some stories it might be better to forget. Stories that show someone else in a bad light. They behaved in a way we disapproved of. They were totally wrong. It could even have been deliberate. They hurt us, or someone we care about. They angered us. And now it has become one of our stories.

You could keep it to yourself. Or you can write it, blog it or get it published. Of course you’ll change the name if it goes out there. Instead of Edward you’ll call him Edgar. Instead of Pat you’ll call her Penelope. (Serve them right!) You could tell everyone exactly what they did and how devastating it was.

What a fine revenge! Except that revenge is so old-fashioned. And perhaps mean-spirited. And you have only your own perspective on the story. Would someone with a broader perspective perhaps understand Edward or Pat’s side of the story, and the reason behind their actions?

If you are carrying a load of resentment by all means pour it all out onto paper. Let your feelings have full rein. Let all the anger, all the hurt run out of your fingertips.

Then burn or shred the paper. You’ve had your catharsis. Let it go.

As the paper disintegrates,  let your resentment disintegrate along with it. Let your writing be the first step towards forgiveness, not a means of revenge. Use it as a tool for your growth. There is more to writing than being published.

If we can write away or diminish our angers and frustrations we can move along our personal track of growth more easily. As writers we have the tool to get rid of much of the negative “stuff” that holds us back, stuck in old ways of thinking.

Use your writing tool to help you with that. You have plenty more stories to tell, stories you’ll still be proud of 10 or 20 years from now.

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You’re a Unique Writer

Posted in Writer's life, tagged , , , , on June 29, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

What makes you unique as a writer? What do you have to say that is different from all that has been said before?

Are you confident that your imagination, your viewpoints, your ideas have value and are worth sharing? It’s important that you are confident of that, because if you are not sure of it your writing will reflect your uncertainty.

No two people see life exactly the same; not even identical twins have brains that work exactly the same way. and for those of us who are not identical twins the differences are even larger.

Think about a couple of adult siblings raised by the same parents in the same house. You ask them what their mother was like. One says,

“She was a demanding and difficult woman. I left home when I was eighteen.”

The other says,

“She was always warm and patient with me, even when I screwed up.”

It’s a common enough difference in perception and you’d have to know (or imagine) the back story to even begin to understand it.

Or think of two people describing the same man.

“He’s tall and…”

“I wouldn’t say he’s tall. Six foot isn’t all that tall these days.”

Or a mom speaking of her brother, Simon:

“Simon’s the most irresponsible person. He hops from job to job and half the time he’s off living in some other country.”

Her son, however says:

My Uncle Simon’s the neatest guy. He emails me from all over the world and sends pictures of places I’ve never even heard of.”

Your perspective on each of these might be different yet again, and I might see it differently from all of you. None of the perspectives is wrong. It just reflects the way we  view and structure our world.

This is what writers are all about – having a viewpoint and perspectives. Then developing ideas from that and sharing them because they might help someone else understand their world better.

It doesn’t matter what form your writing takes – fiction of any genre, blogging, essays or op-eds. You can be funny or serious or oblique. In depth or light touch. It doesn’t matter if your family thinks your ideas are right off the wall, or if some old coot takes offence because you dropped an ‘f’ bomb.

A writer feels the imperative to write their experiences and ideas, framed by their own perspective, to offer to the world. If they are read the ideas might change the world, just the tiniest bit. One perspective at a time.

Do you have the confidence in your perspective to do that? To be a writer?

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A Story about…

Posted in Content, readers, Story, tagged , , , on June 25, 2012 | 1 Comment »

You’re sitting down to write a piece of fiction – a short story or maybe a novel. Can you bring yourself down to earth for a moment, back from the wonderful moment of imagination that inspired you, to write what this story is about?

All you need to jot down is a couple of sentences. It will only take a moment but it will give your mind a solid framework within which to continue creating.

The first sentence gives the briefest of outlines. The second one states what this will do for the reader. The reader, after all, is giving you his/her time. How are you repaying them?

You can save yourself a lot of time spent editing and re-editing by understanding right off where your story is going.

A friend gave me a wonderful idea for a story. There’s this Afghani warrior on the side of a mountain with the power to injure or kill NATO forces just by thinking into a neural transmitter linked to a powerful laser weapon.

I couldn’t wait to get home to my computer and I was typing as fast as I could to get this story down. Several weeks, many recommendations from writer friends and six heavy edits later I had a story that went somewhere and said something.

If only I had taken time right at the beginning sit down and briefly outline the plot. The vision itself was great but it needed to go somewhere and do something. That’s what plot and theme are about.

The theme is that second sentence – what will the reader get from this? It could be:

- pure entertainment

- teaching

- increasing understanding

- or – most likely – some blend of all three.

Think of the science fiction or fantasy novels – pure entertainment, but often with an element of information shared and the moral drawn.

As a writer you need to be clear about what you want your reader to get from your story. you can’t get by with a vague “Well, I’m hoping they enjoy it.”

Now that they’ve read your story, what do the readers have that they did not have before?

- A sense of the vicarious pleasure at being part of a world unfamiliar to them?

- Bubbles of laughter because it was so funny?

- An understanding of poverty in 19th century New York?

- A sense of outrage about bullying?

- Realization that achieving world peace is even more complex than they thought?

Ask yourself before you even pull up your word processing program “What am I giving my reader that they did not have before?”

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Showing emotion

Posted in Conflict, Main, tagged , , , , on June 21, 2012 | 3 Comments »

When you write fiction it’s important  to convey to the reader exactly the emotion of the moment. Not tell them (“She felt sad.”) but show them.

Let’s say that her good-looking boyfriend has just announced that he is breaking up with her. She might feel anything from total devastation to great relief. How will you show her feelings?

The extremes are fairly easy – she hits him over the head with a frying pan or she sweeps him into an embrace “Oh, thank you. That’s wonderful”. You leave no room for the reader to misunderstand.

But what about more subtle emotions? She might be fearful of being alone, thinking how to find another room-mate, annoyed because she had plans for the weekend, glad to be free because she has met this other man.

How will you show her emotion? You can  state it:

“Oh, no! I’m scared to be alone!”

But that is still a bit obvious. You’ll pull the reader further into the story if it has to be figured out.

How about something like:

‘She sucked in a breath and her shoulders tightened. He wondered for a moment if she was going to cry but instead she turned to him, her eyes pleading. “Couldn’t we try again? One more time? Please?”‘

OK, maybe I laid it on a bit thick but you get the message. Let the reader do some of the work of understanding what is going on inside the character’s head. The reader doesn’t have to understand it fully right away but the characters reaction will drive further actions.

Maybe she will plead for another chance and become a compliant and obedient mouse, fulfilling his every wish until one day she smartens up and realizes there are worse fates than living alone. Or one day he realizes he can’t stand compliant women. Or one day she finds another room-mate.

Maybe, to go back to the man breaking up with the woman, the woman is just mildly annoyed at now having to find another room-mate. The milder the reaction, the harder it is to show reaction with any subtlety. Perhaps she shrugs, or yawns, or says “Don’t forget you’ve got some clothes in the dryer.”.

This is unlikely to be the reaction that drives the rest of the story unless she is faking it and bursts into tears the moment the door closes behind him.

And there’s also the man in the scene to consider. What is his body language saying? He can’t just stand there. Is he showing anger? embarrassment? fear? annoyance? How will you reveal his feelings, other than saying ‘He was angry’? Or ‘he yelled’?

Take time to pick out the body language, the gestures, the hesitations you need to reveal emotional reaction. But don’t give it all away – allow the reader to use imagination. That’s why we read.

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Writing a Story

Posted in readers, tagged , , on June 15, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

When you write a story who are you writing for?

“Well, I’m writing it so people can read it.”

What people? And why should they read it?

It’s not easy to get people to sit down and read a story or a book. These days people, especially young people, want something quick and easily understood. So why should they sit and take time from a busy life to read what you’ve written?

They will take the time if you grab them emotionally right away. If they have to know what happens to the character you’ve just introduced him to. You grab them by your title, your first line, your first paragraph. If not, it’s goodbye, sayonara, adios.

They will not stick around if they sense that you are trying to impress them or teach them. They will not stick around to try to find out more about a boring character. They will not stick around to wade through long paragraphs of exposition.

I try not to write the story for “people”. People are an anonymous bunch. I have no idea what “people” are thinking, feeling or doing.

You, for instance. What’s on your mind? What are you happy about? Worried about? If 100 people read this I get 100 different answers in addition to yours. So how can I write for “people” when all of them are different and have different thoughts and emotions?

I write for a friend. When I have a story or article taking shape in my mind I think about who – among my friends and family – will most enjoy reading this. Then I write it as if I’m telling it to that one person. One person, singular, not people plural.

Telling it to that one person makes it more personal and more immediate. And somehow this makes people, plural, pick up on the pleasure I have in sharing it. It gives my story an extra boost into the life of the reader.

No, not everyone will “get it”. But more people will get it and will enjoy it just as that one friend would. So I try to write as if just for one special person.

And if you’ve read this far, that one person is you.

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How to Start a Story.

Posted in Story, tagged , , on June 11, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Rule #1. Start with a bang!

Get right into it right away. No leading up. No preparing the ground. No getting the reader’s mind into the right space. No gentle introduction.

Start the story. Something happens. Action, maybe even excitement.

Yes, at some point you may need to show the events leading up to the Big Bang Start, but show it later, preferably in little bits and perhaps in dialog. Don’t bore the reader with paragraphs of  “It was like this. First…and then…so, you see, later…

They just want to get to the story.

When I was working on my historical novel my agent and my editor both disliked my beginning. A beginning that I personally thought was both interesting and highly relevant. It was a short, three-part prologue showing the diverse backgrounds of these three woman. It showed it vividly and succinctly, I thought. It was necessary to show how and why they came to be in this situation, I thought.

The professionals did not agree and my lovely prologue, full of word pictures, movement, color and dialogue had to go. It nearly broke my  heart….until I realized that I could cleverly keep almost all of it as long as I moved it, in bits, to later parts of the story.

So it is now sprinkled through the first three chapters and the first page of my novel has the three young women stepping off the boat into a strange land. Reluctantly, I have to agree that it reads better – it gets the reader into the story right away.

It’s OK to start off your writing by giving that introduction. Maybe you need it (I did) to get yourself into the story and into the feelings and emotions of the characters. But you have to move it out of the way before any writing professional sees it.  When the structure is finished you can remove the supports.

Rule #2? Not important. Just get the action happening. That’s what matters most.

 

I fought for

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Action and Reaction in a Story

Posted in Conflict, tagged , , , on June 5, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Let’s suppose that someone in your family says something negative to you, something that undercuts your self-esteem and spoils your day.

“You’re not wearing that dress again are you? It adds 20 pounds to the way you look.”

“I see the XYZ company got that contract you wanted. If you’d worked a bit harder you could have got that contract.”

You might snap back or, being a mature person, you might bite your tongue and leave unsaid the words you wanted to say.

You tell yourself that perhaps they were having a bad day, that their life is difficult right now and if you had their problems you might speak without thinking too. You make allowances because in a family it is important to get along.

But in your story words like that are a challenge and as a writer you are required to come up with a reaction. not equal and opposite as in physics, but unequal – greater, a more challenging response that ups the tension in the story.

Revenge, it is said, is sweet. I don’t believe that is true in life but it’s sweet in a story because it creates action and reveals character. The man might land a punch and start a fist fight. The woman might go for verbal aggression  -

“Well, you should know, you’re 20 pounds overweight yourself.”

And each of those responses would result in heightened reaction in return.

But the reaction could be slower – a  quiet seething that leads to a delayed, and probably more severe reaction. All sorts of retaliation could be planned.

But the reaction need not be revenge. Suppose the woman hears the criticism and bursts into tears, runs off and is hit by an on-coming car. Suppose she diets compulsively until she either becomes an internationally famous model or anorexic.

What about the businessman? They say living well is the best revenge. Suppose he works harder, becomes successful and takes work away from the speaker who loses his own business. Suppose there is a feud between the two companies that leads to price cutting till both companies suffer.

If the hurt or anger are not displayed overtly right away it is still your privilege, as a writer, to observe the tiny signs of those emotions that a casual observer might have missed. The woman might bite her lip and look down. She might shrink back, suck in her stomach, or try to look taller. She also might toss her head in a “Who cares what you say” fashion.

How might you respond if you weren’t constrained by politeness? OK. Multiply that by ten and give the reaction to the woman. Give full rein to the venom you’d feel. (Feels good, doesn’t it?)

How about the businessman’s anger? Men’s emotions are tougher because they tend to hide them better. The slight curling of the fingers to make a fist, tension in the jaw, a scowl, the deep breath and gritted teeth. The overt emotion – the fight response is easier to show.

Whatever the reaction is, it will lead to another reaction – this one from the original speaker. Again, depending on your story, this can be either big and overt or small and subtle. But if your characters wander along with not much happening to them, and paying not much attention to what others do or say, then you don’t have a story that causes a reader to say, “I gotta read fast. I gotta find out what happens next.”

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