Writers in the Storm

By Linda Ruggeri

Earlier this month, I posted my Memoir Writing 101 Series: Getting Started Part 2. Today's Part 3: different ways we can revise our memoir once we’ve finished writing it. (In case you missed it, here's Part 1.)

Somewhere along your memoir writing path, you probably asked yourself “Why am I writing this?” As an editor, I like to follow that question with: What is your goal with writing this? What are you hoping to accomplish? Who is this really for?

Knowing your “Why?” is key to discovering if you’re accomplishing your goal when you start revising your work. The answer to that question (which you should tape to the bottom of your screen) becomes the “bar” you return to again and again during the revision process, when other questions come up, such as Does this part make sense? or Do I really need this story?

Once you know your purpose, and have that guideline, then you can move on to developing a revision checklist and a schedule. Below is what I use, and by no means is it exhaustive or exclusive but it’s a roadmap of what you can do to make the process easier. Feel free to add your own revision pit stops as you work and new things come to mind.

Organize your revision

• Set a revision schedule. Establish a block of time to revise your manuscript every day. Long blocks of time might actually not be productive. Be realistic about your attention span and plan accordingly. I like working into the late-night hours, but I also know from experience that my end-of-day work is going to have more errors in it, so I can’t do long hours after dinner for example.
• Avoid revising your manuscript by reading it from beginning to end. Instead, pick an item from your revision checklist and review that one item only throughout the whole work. (I.e. Do a pass where you revise for overused words only).
• Set up lifelines. Let a few trusted friends know you’re starting your revision work and that you might need to reach out to them to vent, ask questions, help you make decisions. And do that when the going gets tough. Talking with a trusted friend or colleague when you fall into manuscript quicksand can be uplifting and enlightening and will keep you moving forward with your work.
• Choose beta readers (not friends and family) or writing groups where you can read your work and get objective feedback and send them your manuscript once you’re done revising.
• Consider if your manuscript will need a sensitivity read, a copyedit, or a proofread down the line and start evaluating the cost and options.

“Revision is a natural consequence of growth.”

- Elizabeth Jarret Andrew, Living Revision

10 Point Revision Checklist for a Successful Memoir Writing Experience

Once you’ve addressed the organizational part of the revision, then it’s time to turn on the magnifying glass and discover the parts that aren’t helping our work or moving our story forward.

Each one of these items on the list should be done as a separate manuscript pass. I don’t recommend doing them together because each one needs your full attention and focusing just on one item at a time is actually a more efficient way of revising and going through your work than trying to do them all at once with a read.

Start with these below and don’t forget to save each pass with an updated version name.

1. Is anything in my manuscript untrue? If so, then remove.
2. Am I unsure about the truth of any event/person/situation that I’ve written about? If so, can I fact-check it? If not, can I alert the reader this is how “I remember it”?
3. Do I need permission to share any images, quotes, anecdotes, names, stories? Make a list of the permissions I need and start getting them in writing. You just need to share the section of the manuscript that involves that person.
4. Are the themes of my memoir clear and identifiable?
5. Do I locate the reader in space and time at the beginning of every chapter?
6. Do I have a character arc? Am I a different person at the end of my story than I was at the beginning?
7. Can I replace overused words? Grammarly has a great tool for pointing this out, but you can also download this handy list I keep here.
8. Is my voice sincere? Will the reader trust me? (this will require reading sections/chapters at a time).
9. Where am I “telling” that I could be “showing”?

Janice Hardy has a terrific book on this where she reminds us that “showing brings a scene to life.” Keywords she recommends looking out for that often indicate “telling” are:

• As…
• In + emotion…
• Could see…
• The sound of…
• Realized…
• When…then

10. Have I spell-checked and proofread my work?

“Revision is messy.”

- Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew, Living Revision

Once you’ve completed your checklist, your manuscript should be pretty tight, error free, and ready for another set of eyes. Sharing it with your beta readers or a writing group is an excellent way to get the honest feedback you need and will benefit from, as well as polish any areas you might have overlooked. In memoir specifically, revision is akin to a spiritual practice. Be kind to yourself, and to the feedback of others, and only take in what is useful to you.

Now it’s your turn. Are you revising your memoir (or any book)? What has your experience been like? I’d love to hear what works best for you during the revision process.

About Linda

Linda Ruggeri is a full-service editor and project manager based out of Los Angeles. She co-authored the historical memoir Stepping Into Rural Wisconsin: Grandpa Charly’s Life Vignettes from Prussia to the Midwest and can be found online at The Insightful Editor and on Instagram. Her new book Networking for Editors will be released this summer.

by Tasha Seegmiller

About five or six weeks ago, I rolled my ankle while walking to work. It wasn’t significant, I didn’t even lose my balance. Just a slight not okay and then okay and I continued on my way to work.

To you, this may seem like a non-story. People roll their ankles ALL the time. But this ankle has been traumatized. Many times. Over many years. This ankle was first really sprained when I was fourteen years old, then again throughout the rest of high school. This is the ankle that I had reconstructed nine years ago. This ankle still swells when there is a massive switch in the weather patterns, one that I am intentionally rehabbing once a week.

So a minor roll, a quick not-even-worth-noticing not-quite injury is, six weeks later, still sore, still slipping, still swollen. The small, non-injury is clearly an injury, and the emotions that I had after tearing two ligaments, after having it reconstructed, after trying to come back with atrophied muscles and incredible soreness are all living in the forefront of my mind.

When we are looking at why a character is the way they are, why they act or react the way they do, we need to make sure readers understand the emotional impact of events in their past and remember/recognize that even purely physical traumas can be accompanied with significant emotional contexts.

Honoring the Past

While we don’t want to detail every single thing that has happened to a character in our book (really, please don’t), we, as the creators of these people do need to have a familiarity with what has made them who they are at the time of the story. People aren’t just self-conscious. They don’t “get big” when confronted for no cause, and they don’t shrink away in the same situation without a reason to be cautious.

Then, after you have learned/created/acknowledged this, you need to make sure that your readers have the same opportunity to understand. You need to pick the just-right time that will deepen the moment of the current situation by allowing the memory of the past to penetrate the awareness we have of what made the character who he/she is.

Merging Then with Now

One of the reasons reconciling with the past is so powerful is that it can often serve as catalyst for where the character is when the story begins and where the character would like or should like to go. Their past can be something that happened a day or week ago, or it can be something that is months, years or decades old.

What is important is that the character can first learn what it is to reconcile what they did or what happened to them with the reality of the situation. Secondly, they must brace themselves for the reality of what this means -- how they have to heal, and how they have to move forward. This may mean a candid conversation with themselves, and it may mean the incorporation of a therapist, counselor, or trusted confidant.

The Reality of a Past Wound

There may be some wounds, some damages, that do not allow someone to heal completely. This, too, is something that needs to be explored: how will the character continue while a little bit broken? How will they adjust to a new reality that is different from what they wanted?

Exploring a character’s past with intentionality will solidify an arc and improve the quality of a story as a whole.

Have you defined your main character's emotional wound? Do they confront it, resolve it...ignore it? Feel free to summarize this for us down in the comments! Also, Tasha is open for questions. :-)

About Tasha

Tasha Seegmiller writes about womanhood, families, mental wellness, and faith. She is a graduate of Pacific University’s MFA program and teaches composition at a regional university in the high mountain desert where her husband and three kids live.

By Ellen Buikema

Weather in fiction is a powerful factor. When weather is included in a scene it adds depth and realism, pulling the reader further into the story. Every description whether in scene, tagline, or dialogue, including weather, must move the story forward.

Since childhood I’ve enjoyed storms and changes in weather so much that I used to try and outperform the weather forecasters. Sometimes I got lucky.

I find the electrical energy of a storm invigorating. (As long as I’m not traveling in it.)

I learned to estimate how far away a storm is using the “flash-to-bang” lightning to thunder method. Count the seconds between lightning and thunder and divide by five. Five seconds is one mile, ten seconds is two miles. When the time between the lightning flash and the roar of thunder is 30 seconds or less, the lightning is 6 miles away or closer. Definitely time to be indoors.

While I write this blog post it is pouring rain here in central Texas. Thank goodness for surge protectors. Now if only the power doesn’t go out…

Why Write About Weather?

Storms and changing weather can cause tension, altering the protagonist’s course and complicating the hero’s journey. Weather conditions can change the outcome of events.

Emotions and weather are intertwined

• Stormy weather/stormy mood
• Sunny skies/sunny disposition
• Overcast and rainy/depression—unless you are from an area where overly rainy is considered liquid sunshine as it is sometimes referred to in the Pacific Northwest.

One Stop For Writers has a fantastic weather thesaurus listed under the Thesaurus tab: Weather And Earthly Phenomenon Thesaurus.

This site lists 39 weather elements with notes on:

• Sights
• Textures and Sensations
• Sounds
• Reinforcing a Mood
• Symbolism
• Common Clichés
• Weather Notes
• and Scenarios For Adding Conflict or Tension

Weather-writing activity

• Think of a novel that uses weather to enhance the story.
• Which of the eight elements listed above does the author use?
• How is it effective?
• Take a scene in your current Work In Progress and try adding weather elements.
• Does that take you deeper into the scene?

Quotes where weather impacts scenes.

Weather heightening fear

“He stared in awe and fear at the freakish celestial display, another jagged crack opened in the heavens. The earth-seeking tip of the hot bolt touched an iron streetlamp only sixty feet away, ans Maxwell cried out in fear. At the moment of contact, the night became incandescent, and the glass panes in the lamp exploded. The clap of thunder vibrated in Maxwell's teeth; the porch floor rattled." Lightning by Dean Koontz

Weather reinforcing mood

"She shook off his hand. ‘Like he gave me a chance, you mean?’ She turned on her heel. ‘I can’t even believe what I’m hearing.’

The rain was falling in sheets now, dripping from her hair in wet streaks. Kate blinked the water out of her eyes and stumbled as she walked away." A Way From Heart to Heart by Helena Fairfax

Soothing weather juxtaposing horror

‘“Confounded foul-mouth fool tried ta ride them rods ’neath the train car.” He wiped his eyes with his shirt sleeve. “He slipped ’n fell clean under.” He sat on the ground, rocking while he hugged his skinny legs to his chest, his voice strained and broken. “Bill was my bestest friend.”

Soon, a gentle rain fell, washing away the blood and grime.’” The Hobo Code, a work in progress

Weather as escape

“The fog-bank lay like white wool against the window. Holmes held the lamp towards it. 'See,' said he. 'None could find his way into the Grimpen Mire tonight.

She laughed and clapped her hands. Her eyes and teeth gleamed with fierce merriment. He may find his way in, but never out," she cried.” The Hound of The Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle

Weather enhances the scene using the senses

“The snow came up to the top of Georgie's calves — she had to lift her feet high to make any progress. Her ears and eyelids were freezing ... God, she'd never even been able to imagine this much cold before. How could people live someplace that so obviously didn't want them?” Landline by Rainbow Rowell

Weather and the hero’s journey

“May the wind under your wings bear you where the sun sails and the moon walks." The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Final Thoughts

The only time I don’t appreciate the use of weather in writing occurs when the author uses a major storm or other natural disaster to resolve the ending, or rather not resolve as the characters were killed off in the disaster. When I’ve invested time and emotional energy in a story only to see the characters destroyed in a typhoon I am less enthusiastic to read another novel by that author.

What do you think is the best use of weather in fiction? Do you listen to sounds of weather or replay storms in your mind when you are writing scenes involving storms? Do you have a favorite quote where weather affects a scene that you’d like to share?

About Ellen

Author, speaker, and former teacher, Ellen L. Buikema has written non-fiction for parents, Parenting: A Work in Progress, and The Adventures of Charlie Chameleon, a series of chapter books for children with stories encouraging the development of empathy—sprinkling humor wherever possible. Her Works In Progress are, The Hobo Code, YA historical fiction and Crystal Memories, YA fantasy.

Find her at http://ellenbuikema.com or on Amazon.

---

Meet Ellen!

On Tuesday, Jun 29, 2021 12pm – 12:45pm Central Time I will be on a Skype chat with fellow authors. We will be talking about the importance of children's books.

The link to join the Meet Now chat via Skype is: https://join.skype.com/Zdbdl6IxQY2S
You do not need to have a Skype account to use this link and if you do have a Skype account you may join via Skype also.

Top Image by Comfreak from Pixabay