One of the best and the worst things in writing fiction is to get your characters into a situation that’s difficult to get out of. It creates a quagmire not only for them, but for you, the author. There’s nothing quite like the moment when you figure out how to release them from an impossible situation. There’s nothing better for your readers than not being able to figure out where the story is going. It makes them want to keep reading. It’s the goal of the author to create such an irresistible environment.
But what if you’ve put your characters into a place that’s so boggy that the only way to get them out is for something convenient to happen? They’re adrift at sea and the sharks are circling… oh look! It’s a helicopter! That sort of thing just doesn’t fly (pardon) with most readers.
Do you keep trying to come up with a way out? Or do you start again, and put them into an easier situation? Personally I hate giving up on these sorts of difficulties. Because the solution, when it comes to me, is one of the best feelings in the world.
The subtle art of foreshadowing takes skill – some may say great skill – for if it’s done without, a work of fiction can be fatally predictable. After all, who wants to read or watch something when it’s painfully obvious exactly how the story will conclude?
For me, there’s nothing better than a story with a twist. Being strung along to believe one thing to find out that what I thought was true never was is part of the art of foreshadowing. It can be done well (The Sixth Sense) in which case the foreshadowing was so subtle as to not be there, or it can be done wrong. Maybe you can come up with a good example. They tend to be the most forgettable stories out there.
I’m hoping to get some kind of twist out of the fiction A-Z story I’m writing alongside this. If you’re reading it, I hope you’ll stick around to the end to let me know how I did. In the meantime, I’m looking for any accidental foreshadowing that already exists, since I had no idea where the story was going as I began it. I think I have an idea now.
How much predictability is too much for you? I’m wondering if there’s anyone out there who likes to know the end before they get there.
I lose things all the time. I can have something in my hand one minute and the next it’s gone. Disappeared. Like gremlins took it for fun. The idea for this post actually came about when I was looking for my thesaurus so I could look up a good word to use for my “K” post. Can you tell I didn’t find the thesaurus?
What I did find, however, was an idea for a post. I got to thinking, whilst searching, about how the minutiae of life could fit in to a story. For the most part, it doesn’t. It’s rare that we read about in a book or see in a movie a character searching for something they can’t find, having aches and pains, or even going to the bathroom, unless it’s important to the plot.
Then I took my idea one step further – what if something as small as life’s pesky little problems became the plot? It could work, right? It didn’t take me long to realize, it already had!
Where did I drop that damned ring?
Wow, that’s one hell of a belly ache – oh look, an alien!
Next time you need to plot a story, think about the last thing that got on your nerves. Then run with it. At the very least, you may get a blog post out of it.
Having never read a Janet Evanovich novel before, I ventured into Wicked Appetite with no expectations. I was pleasantly surprised at the humour and the easy way it reads.
Once I got past the suspension of disbelief one must hold in order to fully enjoy this story, I couldn’t put it down. The witty, funny and entertaining conversation between the characters was a delight to read, and the fact that I never knew what was coming next kept me enthralled right to the very end.
I would highly recommend this book for the lover of fantasy/romance fiction. I can’t wait to pick up the next in the series!
They say, ‘write what you know,’ but does that mean if you’re not an astronaut, you can’t write about astronauts? Okay, maybe it helps, but that’s what research is for. Personally, I take the rule of, ‘write what you know’ a little more loosely than that.
Take, for instance, yesterday’s post where I used the example, ‘The steamy kitchen reeked like a wet cat,’ when showing what better detail looked like. Had anyone asked me what a wet cat smells like, I would have had to tell them that I honestly have no idea. I’ve never owned a cat, let alone a wet one. In other words, I think it’s the details where our experience really comes in handy.
Having said that, not all things can really be described. 99.9% of us have had at least a sip of water, but can you describe the taste? And take, for instance, what it’s like to urinate. We’ve all (100% of us this time I think) done it, but if I’m writing from the point of view of a male, I’m unable to accurately describe the action of doing so standing up. Does that mean I shouldn’t write from the male perspective? Again, research comes in handy. I can ask other people (preferably male ones) to tell me what it’s like, but I still won’t have had the experience. And so I’ll probably never write a story in which my male character is dealing with bladder issues. Either that or, like the wet cat, I’ll get good at faking it.
My novel takes place in a real city: Kingston, Ontario, Canada. I don’t live there, but I’ve been there many times, and thought I knew the place well enough to be able to set a story there. Said story written, I decided to take the time to vacation there for a few days by myself, to really do some research, and I was amazed at what I gleaned. Because my characters get off the train there at the beginning of the novel, the station was one of my obvious places to visit. I sat to wait for the westbound train and whist there, noted the colours of the waiting room seats, the landscape outside – even the way the doors worked. When the train stopped I watched to see which track it was on, so I knew my characters would disembark on the nearside of the station rather than having to take the underground passage to get across. All of this will come to perhaps a sentence or two in the novel, but I believe it will add to the feel, as well as have the people who live in Kingston nodding in agreement when they read my book. I could never have accomplished this from information I took from Wikipedia; I had to experience it for myself.
Other life experiences from my past also often manage to creep into my stories. What comes through most vividly for my characters to experience are the wonders of nature I have had the gift of being part of. There’s nothing quite like the quiet of a country field on a snowy night, or the singing of cicadas on a sweltering summer afternoon. These are the things that make fiction come to life. Real life.
Can you tell when something is contrived in a story?
I’ve bemoaned, before, the difficulty I’m having in trying to cut down the length of my manuscript whilst keeping the important little details intact – and at the same time making it readable. In a much broader sense than the idiom perhaps implies, the devil is in the details.
After letting my ex read the beginning of my novel a couple of weeks ago, I know now that my problems are indeed serious. When we were together he was not only my sounding board, he was the one I wrote to impress, and impress him I did with the details I put into my stories. He told me that they were what drew him in, placed him in the story so that he could feel as though it was going on around him. Two weeks ago, however, the first criticism he gave me was, “Where’s the detail?” I knew I was screwed.
While you might want to scream at me, “He’s your ex, Linda! Of course he’s going to criticize!”, I know he wants me to succeed – and I’m sure it has absolutely NOTHING to do with the fact that if I make millions off this book he won’t have to pay child support. Heh.
So what is detail, and how am I to know the extent to which I should go to add it? I personally don’t like to read a book where every nook and cranny is described; every piece of clothing, or each hair that is blown out of place. I think the most important details are the ones that stimulate the senses. They say the sense of smell brings the most vivid memories to mind, yet ironically it’s the one I most often forget, and have to insert into a scene after it’s written.
For me, the most efficient way to add detail is to eliminate the passive voice. Just one example and I’ll leave it there – the rest I’ll save for my fiction post.
It was hot and smelly in the kitchen.
vs
The steamy kitchen reeked of wet cat. What were they cooking?
The detail adds to the word count. And yet which would you rather spend time reading?
We’ve discussed it here in the past and the general consensus seemed to be that most people would rather read a longer well-written book than a shorter one that sucked. I agree. It’s why I read Stephen King.
What I’d love to know today is, what kinds of detail do you enjoy? Do you want to know what every character looks like or would you rather use your own imagination? Do you want to know what they’re wearing down to the designer, or is a pair of starched jeans enough to tell you that they go to way too much trouble with their laundry?
It’s the on-again, off-again, great blogging debate: why do writers have blogs? In my own experience, my reasoning has evolved, and in a very satisfying way.
At the same time I discovered WordPress, I was told that if I wanted to write and get my name ‘out there,’ I should start a blog. The scariest part was deciding to use my real name; then came deciding what to actually write about. While that particular choice hasn’t evolved much, what I have found as the biggest surprise, is the community here. I got my name out all right – but I hardly have publishers knocking on my door.
There are many different reasons for a writer to blog. My personal favourites are; to build an audience for that eventual bestseller; to keep in the practice of writing, especially while editing; and the best one of all: to have easy access and a (good) excuse to procrastinate, rather than edit the above-mentioned eventual bestseller.
I suppose if I do ever get off my butt and start sending out queries to magazines and the like, I may be able to use this blog as a sample of my work. We all have to start somewhere, and it’s really the age-old question – what do you put on a resume when you have no previous experience? Well, here’s my experience right here. But again, am I just using the blog to procrastinate?
One way or another, the very best part of this whole blogging experience is the wonderful people here on WordPress. Even if I never make it to the bestseller lists, I will always have this great community of people who are as dedicated to writing (and art and photography) as I am. If I’ve gained anything, it’s the valuable insight and fantastic friendships – and I’m meeting more people every day. What could be better?
It would be interesting to know if your reasons for blogging are the same now as they were when you started. Are you as surprised as I am at the support you’ve gained here? I know without it, I may just have fizzled out by now – both as a blogger and as a novelist with an erstwhile eventual bestseller.
For the short fiction that goes with this post, please visit my fiction blog here: B is for … Bob the Blogger.
Happy Blogaversary to me,
Happy Blogaversary to me…
Okay, it doesn’t quite slip off the tongue like Happy Birthday does, but it’s unique to the Blogiverse, isn’t it?
In celebration of my first aniversary, I’ve made a few changes… in fact you won’t recognize it, other than the fact that all my fiction and poetry are still there. To make it more clear that my fiction blog is, indeed, a fiction blog, I’ve changed the name to “Inspiration in Progress” to coincide with this one – “Life in Progress.” I’ve also changed the menus, the “About” page, and the theme!
Please go and have a visit, and let me know what you think.
Back Hair Advocate is a new humor (web) lit mag. It was started after our team of editors (there is no team) realized that there are a dearth of opportunities for writing funny out there.
Back Hair Advocate would like to fill that dearth with your brilliance. We are looking for poems, flash fiction, cartoons, nonfiction pieces and short stories. All of them must have two things in common: they have to be funny and well-written.
The individual behind this new lit mag is IanStarttoday. His work is forthcoming or has been published in a number of fine publications you probably haven’t heard of. They include Eunoia Review, Feathertale.com, Foliate Oak Lit Mag, Asinine Poetry, and Miracle E-zine. He also boasts rejections by many other publications that probably didn’t deserve to feature his genius anyway.
He is not above utilizing smiley faces to express emotions and feelings.
Legends of Windemere: Family of the Tri-Rune is set to debut on Sunday, March 16th!!!
The magical adventure continues after Luke Callindor and his friends recover from their battles in Haven.
Nyx still has nightmares about casting the genocide spell in Hero’s Gate. Every night her heart is gripped by the sensation of hundreds of goblins dying by her magic. By the request of Lord Highrider and Duke Solomon, she is returning to fix the damage she caused. With Luke Callindor and Sari by her side, Nyx is ready to face the vengeful goblins and opportunistic thieves that plague Hero’s Gate. Yet, there is a darker threat that was born from her violated magic: The Krypters.
It is another action-packed, character driven story that will reveal one of our heroes has been lied to for their entire life.
About the Author:
Charles Yallowitz was born and raised on Long Island, NY, but he has spent most of his life wandering his own imagination in a blissful haze. Occasionally, he would return from this world for the necessities such as food, showers, and Saturday morning cartoons. One day he returned from his imagination and decided he would share his stories with the world. After his wife decided that she was tired of hearing the same stories repeatedly, she convinced him that it would make more sense to follow his dream of being a fantasy author. So, locked within the house under orders to shut up and get to work, Charles brings you Legends of Windemere. He looks forward to sharing all of his stories with you and his wife is happy he finally has someone else to play with.
lindaghill.com 