Writing Hitch

Have you ever been plugging along and come upon a major writing hitch that gave you reason to pause?

This happened to me yesterday. I'm really making strides in my re-write of my WIP. I've got all sorts of new goals and motivations and conflicts that are really making the story come to life (according to Katie, the only person who has read the new version so far).

But I needed to sort of explain the motivation of the hero in simple terms and that motivation comes in the financial world...meshing with insurance and benefits and health care plans that I KNOW ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about.

So I highlighted the section and kept plugging along, because I didn't want to lose my momentum. I finish the chapter, send it off to Katie, and of course, while Katie is critiquing she writes, "What's this highlighted for?"

Which lands me right back in that place of confusion. I NEED AN INSURANCE EXPERT.

Good thing my father happens to be one. So we start talking this morning about all the possible scenarios that might happen if a man were to leave his wife (hero's mother) and leave her with nothing. And when she's in need of long-term care, there's no money. But what if they had gotten a divorce? Wouldn't she get 50%? What about if the man just stops paying the premium on the policy and the hero was too young (and the mother too grief-stricken) to really pay attention to things like long-term care policies? Is there such a thing as a signature oversight that would render the hero's mom insurance-less (not a word, I know, but go with me)?

Needless to say, my head is swimming and I'm not even sure I've got a handle on it yet.

Add that to me trying to do some research on the Internet yesterday about long-term care facilities (specifically assisted living homes in California). In order to get pricing information I had to fill out some forms online (which I put my real email address but a bogus phone number) about who I was and who I wanted to put in a home. So now I'm getting emails from eldercare specialists about putting my mother away! Sorta funny...but you do what you gotta do.

Q4U: Has this ever happened to you? How did you solve the hitch? And do any of you think you can explain this insurance thing to me? :)

Proportions - Too Much or Too Little?

I'm reading Self-Editing for Fiction Writers. Still. (Because I am a fiction writer.) There is this chapter on proportion, which is spending too much time on relatively minor points in a scene. Browne and King mention several reasons for this.

1) Lack of confidence in your writing (and readers) - thinking you need to fill in everything for your readers so they see your character's journey precisely as you saw it.
2) Writing about your pet interests/hobbies - you want to create an atmosphere of authenticity, but you don't want spend three pages on how to kill and field-dress a deer. We all know when we've checked out of a novel and skipped pages and pages of prose or description, even.
3) Editing and cutting - to fit certain word count limits, you can cut scenes that might render your novel skewed in one direction when it wasn't originally that way.

The authors suggest simply paying attention to your story will eliminate this. And their warning?

"Paying attention to your story doesn't mean ruthlessly cutting everything that doesn't immediately advance your plot. ... There is always room for philosophical asides that reveal the narrator's character, subplots that may resonate with the main plot, forays into odd corners of background that makes the fictional world three dimensional. The trick is telling the difference between digressions that harmonize with the story (even in odd and mysterious ways) and those that hang on the story like limpets." (italics mine...and a limpet is a mollusk, by the way). :)

So how do you tell the difference? They give some suggestions:

1) Approach your work as if you were reading it for the first time - gain some objectivity by walking away for a few days/weeks. What do you like/dislike by going through your work as a reader? "If most of what you enjoyed doesn't obviously advance your plot, then maybe you need to change your plot. ... It's far better to rewrite your story in a way that makes use of the good stuff than to simply use your story as an excuse for writing the good stuff. In the end, you want to be able to cut most of what doesn't interest you and still have an intact, flowing plot made up of stuff that does." And why this may not work is if you're writing about your pet interests!

2) Pay attention to your characters - whatever viewpoint you're using should control the degree of detail you put into your description. If you're hero is trying to run the bases in the 9th inning and you're in his head, then the scene details will be blurry. If the heroine is is watching the scene, however, you might describe everything in minute detail.

The authors couldn't stress enough, though, about being careful writing your pet interests into a novel. To quote them, "If, like most writers, you've shaped your main character after yourself, then your main character may be far more interested in the coinage of the emperor Aurelian or experimental jazz from the mid-sixties than any of your readers."

Q4U: How true is this for you? Do you need to go back and read your work as a reader, trying to see where you might have gone overboard with certain descriptions about one of your pet hobbies?

Self-Diagnosis: Episoditis

After all the character assessments I've done, I thought I'd assess myself. And I've got a bad case of episoditis.

What is this ailment, you ask?

As I'm concluding my read of Debra Dixon's GMC, I'm just being hit over the head with all sorts of helpful insight for my re-write. Add to that an email that came over the ACFW loop that led me to read this article here by author Suzanne Hartman and I'm really gearing up for the editing that my latest book-in-progress will need.

Dixon asserts that each scene in your book should do ONE of the following:

1) Dramatically illustrate a character's progress toward the goal or provide an experience which changes the character's goals (G)
2) Bring a character into conflict with opposing forces (C)
3) Provide a character with an experience that strengthens his motivation or changes his motivation (M)

(And yes, for all you OCD people out there, I realize that the GMC is out of order above, but that was a direct quotation from her book...so it's canon.)

After reading Suzanne's post on episodic scenes, I realized my diagnosis. But don't despair for me...

There is a cure!

Dixon said a good rule of thumb is to have THREE reasons for any given scene in your book. this means when I go crack open your WIP, eeny-meeny-mieny-mo my way to a scene, it needs to accomplish three things.

But what three things?

Well, as stated before, at least ONE of the reasons should be to further the conflict, illustrate/change a goal, or strengthen/change the motivation. PERIOD.

This is not negotiable. (Not really.)

There is a plethora of other reasons to include a scene...so many, in fact, that there can't be any kind of comprehensive list. Dixon gave a few examples:


introduce a suspect
discover clues
sexual tension
foreshadowing
reveal secrets
speed the pacing
establish trust between characters
betray trust between characters

So your crit partners should be able to point to the scene and ask, "What's the point of this scene?" If your answer is, "To increase the sexual tension," then that's NOT enough.

(Jeannie = pointing finger at self.)

So, Katie, I give you full rein to do this with absolutely every one of my episodic scenes.

(Jeannie = quivering in her shoes.)

I will cure myself of episoditis with sheer willpower and one great support network. Thanks, y'all.

Q4U: Are there any other sufferers of episoditis out there? Should we start a support group? I know a therapist...

And remember the Rule of Three when you're writing this weekend!

What Do YOU Do When...

You have written a novel. All or most of it. Then you read a craft book that really opens your eyes to all said book is missing. Do you go back to square one and start over,incorporating GMCs and MRUs and all the other things you were lacking? Do you go back and try to re-write each scene line by line, trying to add in the missing elements? Do you just delete scenes right and left that do not have the elements needed?

Photo by Nic's events

One thing Debra Dixon said in GMC was that you can't just have the hero and heroine meet up in the laundromat to up the sexual tension or to have one more "cute scene" with the two of them before things get really heavy with the story? YIKES!! I've done that more times than I care to admit. What happens is that the author projects HER goals on to the characters instead of the character's goals shining through.

So my dilemma is a big one. I love my story. I love my characters. I love the premise. There is some great conflict already...and some great motivation (for at least one of the characters).

I'm asking for your suggestions as to the best way to go about a major rehaul. Any thoughts would be appreciated!

Delete It

DELETE [verb]: to remove or obliterate (written or printer matter), especially by drawing a line through it or marking it with a delete sign.

I've posted about this before, but once again I'm struck by how difficult this can be. Oftentimes I write like I talk, which includes a lot of additional words like "just" or "that." These words aren't needed on the page. DELETE. I use lots of -ly adverbs, or I used to...now I'm limiting myself to only truly amazing ones that add to the prose. DELETE. Then I wrote just two days ago about respecting readers and not giving them too much information that they either already would know or to leave some things to their imagination. DELETE. Again.

I guess it's a good thing I'm learning this now, as I'm sure if I ever am lucky enough to attract an agent's or editor's attention, I'll have to DELETE big time. I recently held an email conversation of sorts with a pubbed author who was going to have to DELETE major portions of a book that was bought out in advance because the publisher didn't like the finished product. Either DELETE or buy back the book or write two more books to make up for it. Whoa.

I'm glad I'm honing this skill. You should be, too. Question: have you had to DELETE anything recently that was hard to do?

Cutting Scenes

Is there anything harder to do than cut a scene? In order to write more from my hero's POV (like, 40% more), I've had to necessarily cut down scenes from my heroine's POV. When I have written something funny or charming, I don't want to let it go.

I know of authors who take all their "cut" material, either backstory dumps or portions they just couldn't include for whatever reason, and put them in a file on the computer. Maybe to reuse or not, but some just for sentimental reasons.

I shall be of the latter. If I was seeing a client (who happened to be an author) for therapy, and they spoke of this dilemma of getting attached to a scene that they had to cut or an editor said had to go, I would suggest they keep it in a personal file for personal enjoyment.

So, in order to walk the talk, I will be commencing on this exercise myself. Until now, I've had all the random Word files with scenes I've cut, or POV changes I've made to the same scene. I will be putting these all into a folder labeled, "Write Aways." Get it? I'm a HUGE fan of play on words. Away with the writing that necessarily has to go (according to other's opinions, usually)!!

Crit Groups

I'm in a crit group through ACFW comprised of 5 other individuals and myself. I'm having to edit between 50-60 pages every other week and around 30-40 pages every other week (on the week I submit). And I'm finding that this takes away from the precious little time I have to work on my own stuff! I feel obligated to edit and crit the other's work, of course. I also want to participate in the spirit of the crit group, as well as get an idea of what it's like to write/edit for a deadline, which is good practice. But in my writer's dreamlife, I'd have all this TIME to write and edit my own stuff and edit everyone else's. It's just not happening! Swamped doesn't begin to describe my thoughts. But I know crit groups are the way to go...so I'll plunge ahead and hope the schedule starts to sink in and become more routine.

On top of that, my new friend and fellow-writer, Katie Ganshert, and I will be swapping material soon to edit each other's work, as we have a lot in common in life - we figure this will transfer to the written page, as well. But we've already decided to be a bit more lax in our time requirements, as she also is in an ACFW crit group. Aren't we two peas in a pod, Katie? =)

Pitch Rewrite

Here is my rewritten elevator pitch to an agent:

My WIP is a contemporary romantic suspense about a foster care social worker suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder due to getting raped a few weeks before her wedding date. She has to quit the job she loves because she is paralyzed by fear and anxiety, and her fiance - the director of the agnecy she works for - breaks off their engagement. After two years of therapy, she's given the go-ahead to work in social services again, but she has a panic attack associated with her PTSD while in the line of duty which raises questions about her competency. A handsome attorney with a client on her caseload is keeping tabs on her, which unsettles her because he reminds her so much of her ex-fiance. My heroine wants to learn to trust her fellow man again and prove to others and to herself that she can carry out her responsibilities and reclaim her life back from her mental disorder. In the process, she embraces her faith and femininity once more, but can her newfound strength withstand her biggest fear of being attacked again?

If any agents happen to be reading...I'll be at the ACFW conference this September! Look for me in the elevators or hallways. :)

Elevator Pitch Coaching

Christian literary agent Rachelle Gardner with WordServe Literary has a blog that I recently started following (click on post title to go there). It's been such a great way for me to learn more about what agents are looking (and listening) for when an author gives them a proposal or a pitch.

Recently, Rachelle called for elevator pitches (pitches made "off-the-cuff" to agents in unlikely places and perhaps quite unexpectedly) on her blog, and I submitted my first ever. It was weird to just put my idea out there in cyberspace...but at least 110 other people did, as well.

Starting yesterday, Rachelle has been selecting a few to critique and has offered feedback on how to make them better. She selected mine to review (for which I'm very grateful) and I'm reproducing it here in its original form (along with her review).

Me: Well, my WIP is about a foster care social worker suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. She's trying to get her life back on her career path while coping with her mental disorder, but a severe flashback raises questions about her competency from a handsome attorney who has a client on her caseload. She's also struggling with understanding why God would have allowed something so traumatic to happen to her in the first place. (Hopefully the agent would be somewhat interested here...and I would go on to explain my qualifications in writing such a book, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, and how mental disorders affect 1 in 4 adults but are largely left untouched in Christian fiction.)

Rachelle: Jeannie, this is a nice, conversational style, is a good length, and I like the way you plan to explain your credentials. The problem is the lack of story. It's very vague, and I can't easily imagine an exciting tale about a woman "trying to get her life back on her career path..." What does that even mean? And how much drama or action could that possibly entail? You reference a handsome attorney, but only in passing, which is a bummer because he was the most interesting thing in the pitch. I'm wondering why you've left out the most potentially dramatic and attention-grabbing details: What traumatic event is she suffering over? What was the nature of the "flashback" she had? I'd recommend you go back to the drawing board and work to convey the story, not just the themes, not the internal struggles of your protagonist, but what would make me want to read the book.

Stay tuned for my next post, when I try to take her suggestions to heart and rework my "elevator pitch" on my blog.

Critique Group

I just got my first email today from the leader of my critique group. I joined American Christian Fiction Writers and was hooked up into Critique Group 88! For now we're just introducing ourselves and getting to know one another. Soon, though, I imagine we will be swapping WIPs (work in progress for those who don't know) and getting down to some editing.

Which prompted this post.

I've been using my mother as a sounding board-slash-editor for my WIPs and completed manuscripts. She has given me feedback that I then take to try to rework my story so that it a) reads easier, b) is more feasible, c) has better dialogue or d) makes more sense. I've found that these editing comments have been very helpful, no doubt, but also wounding!

You spend enough time with something, it becomes a part of you. These characters are my friends! What do you mean, they wouldn't say/do something like that? I'm learning that one thing I'm going to have to get better at is taking criticism. Editors in the publishing world aren't really going to spare my feelings, so why should my mother or my critique partners?

So my resolution from this epiphany is that I'm going to work on developing tougher skin. I believe it to be perhaps the biggest necessity when trying to get published. (Lord help me...I haven't even gotten to the rejection letter part of this journey...)