Writers in the Storm

Susan Bischoff 

Writing as a career isn’t easy—especially for those writers who are still in another career (the evil day job). We can’t have a career polishing five-year novels, and we know, given the demands of day jobs, family, and all the commitments in our lives, that our writing time is very precious. False starts, useless tangents, writing our way twenty or thirty thousand words down a path that ends up going nowhere—these are the thoughts that wake us up at night. And keep some of us from starting, always in fear of getting it wrong.

And let’s not even talk about waiting for the Muse to visit. There’s a creature who doesn’t show up for appointments and doesn’t check her voicemail. So often, she’s right there, with her basket of plot bunnies, so enthusiastic and helpful when you get started, only to go completely AWOL, right when you need her.

That Muse is fickle and flighty.

I’ve had an addictive relationship with the Muse in the past, feeling like I absolutely needed her by my side to get a writing session started. Over the past few years, I’ve been working to kick my dependency issues and learn to solve my own problems when plotting a novel.

All that work culminated in The Story Toolkit: a series of worksheets that takes writers like me from that initial spark of inspiration through a complete outline for a story that works from beginning to end. Even when I have no clue what to put on the page, I now have a system that asks me questions until I’m able to pull the answer out of my subconscious where it hides.

Stick with me a little longer, and I’ll take you through an early part of the process – how to move that spark of inspiration from idea to concept to premise.

An idea is often very general. If you’ve ever had that thing where you think you have a brilliant idea, and then you start telling it to a friend, and they start asking questions, and you suddenly realize you’ve got a whole lotta nothin’—well, you probably know what I’m saying. An idea is great, but it’s not really a story yet.

I’m going to write a story about the zombie apocalypse.

Great, I love that! But a story about the zombie apocalypse could turn out to be The Walking Dead, 28 Days Later, World War Z, or a host of other things. All “zombie apocalypse” gets you is “it’s gonna have zombies” and “things will be bad.”

So you need to move that idea along to the concept phase, in which you start to pick some elements that make up the story - those key things you want to write about.

• Do you want to focus on characters or events?
• Large scale vs. small scale?
• What’s the tone, comedic, suspenseful, horrific, emotional…?
• Is there a lesson, statement, or theme you want of focus on?
• Are there elements of period or place that will play key roles?

Answering those questions might take your concept to something like this:

I’m going to write about the zombie apocalypse, but instead of focusing solely on the humans fighting the zombies, I’m going to show the humans’ struggle to survive after the modern world is gone, to find food, safety, medical supplies. I’m going to focus on people. What will a person become when faced with that environment? I’m going to show the dark side, the man’s inhumanity to man stuff, but also show people growing in character, forming new family units…

Okay, so you’re writing The Walking Dead, or something close to it. But it’s still not a tellable tale. In fact, if you try to think about how to sit down and write The Walking Dead, it’s tough to see the big picture, because it’s made up of so many individual stories. Multiple premises. Note, in the concept above, the absence of story elements: characters, specific goals and motivations, and specific conflicts. Once you make up some of those things, you can start crafting premises for the stories you’re going to tell in the series.

Here is the premise for the first Walking Dead TV episode:

Rick Grimes, a small-town sheriff’s deputy who has just awakened from a coma, leaves the hospital and goes into the deserted town in search of his family, but encounters dead people who want to eat him.

That’s a story you can tell.

Idea: That spark of “I want to write about…”

Concept: Start throwing in specific elements you want to use to make the story yours.

Premise: Come up with the characters, goals, motivation, antagonist, and conflicts that will work with your chosen elements to tell a story.

Let’s try another one, off the cuff. Imagine you just watched a season of Supernatural. [Okay, now stop imagining Dean’s smile for two seconds and come back to me.]

Your idea is that you want to write something like Supernatural. (And I’m not even going to question your intentions when you start watching the boys and calling it “research.”) In your head, you have this vague idea that it’s going to be like Supernatural, somehow have the same feel as the show, but you’re going to make it yours.

Your next step, then, is to move it into the concept phase. How are you going to make it yours? Elements of the series include things like the relationship between the brothers, family business, monsters are real, road trip, monster of the week, saving the world… Elements you might add as your own might be gender swap, a romantic relationship rather than fraternal, best friends, parent child, a family business that’s based in one place—like a freaky town a la Smallville or Buffy—rather than the roadtrip aspect…

Perhaps you decide on Supernatural meets Smallville meets Buffy as a concept. From Supernatural, you know what moves you is the relationship, the way those guys are always out to save the world but they’ll throw away all their work to save each other. You want to keep it all in one place, like Smallville and Buffy, and you’re going to create a mythos for your world which will explain why it’s full of baddies. From Buffy you appreciate the aspect of The Chosen One, and how difficult it is when the mission chooses the agent. One or both of your characters will be chosen to fight these baddies, and will struggle with the willingness to give themselves up to that. And, since you adore romance, you’ve decide that your relationship will be a man and woman rather than brothers.

In just that little space, you’ve traveled far from that vague idea of “something like Supernatural.” But, again, it’s not a story you can write until you start to come up with the story elements that allow you to craft a premise.

You need to make more choices:

• Who exactly are the main characters?
• The antagonist?
• What is the type of conflict?
• What kind of personal conflict will there be?
• What is the setting?

Answering these questions will allow you to craft a viable premise.

Anna Carson is a used book shop owner in the small town of New Hope. Her boyfriend, Greg, is the kind of man who wants to settle down to the same simple, quiet, happy life his parents had in the simple, quiet, happy town. What Greg and the town don’t know is that the town is sitting atop a system of caverns which imprison an ancient evil. Or had imprisoned an ancient evil, before Anna followed a map from an old book into the darkness and broke a magical seal. Now Cain, New Hope’s newest and most mysterious bachelor, is telling her that she’s the only one with the power to fight the demons that are slipping through the cracks, and that they must work together to seal the breach before Ashog, demi-god of the underworld, gains his freedom and unleashes his army of evil on the world.

Or something like that. You get the idea.

My worksheets ask me questions that expand on my concept and help discover everything I “know” about what I want include in the story.

Finally, I feel like I’m in control of the story. I feel like I know where I’m going when I sit down to write prose. This toolkit has put the pleasure back in writing for me so, of course, I wanted to share. I hope it helps some of you as much as it’s helped me.

What helps you flesh out your story? Do you have questions that you ask yourself and your characters? What moves you along when you’re stuck?

Best of luck on your writing adventures!

The Story Toolkit:
Your Step-by-Step Guide To Stories That Sell

Do you have an idea for a book but don't know how to get started? Have you started books, but get stuck in the middle and can't quite finish? Don't be a slave to the Muse. Don't sit around and wait for the right inspiration to carry you away. Let The Story Toolkit take you by the hand and walk you through a step-by-step process of plotting a novel, from the first spark of an idea. It’s like having a developmental editor in your pocket--someone who can ask the right questions, straighten out that story you've got tangled up in your head, and smooth it out into a clear plan you can use to write a successful novel. 

 

What do you think? Would this process work for you? 

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About Susan

Susan Bischoff is a fiction fanatic, author, freelance editor, and incurable romantic. She lives in Tennessee with her high-school sweetheart husband, a daughter, two cats, and one big puppy. She loves most everything girly: sewing, knitting, and other needlework crafts, baking, doll collecting, shojo manga, and is particularly fond of things that are pink. Another favorite pastime is replaying the kissing scene at the end of the BBC's North and South.

Find her at susan-bischoff.com.

Last month I wrote about editing 1200 pages in 12 weeks. Today, I give you Part Two of my revision journey for the first book I plan to self publish.

Late Friday night I will send The Book back to Tiffany Yates Martin for her third and final pass. Sometimes I think, "Good! Then I can take a break." But there are those random moments that I've wanted to see if she'll make a fourth, maybe a fifth pass to be sure I've done the best I can do. When I'm rational again, I know there will always be at least one more thing (or ten) that I can do to improve the book, whether it's the flow, the action, the character arcs, or the story.

Why? Because my brain never shuts down. And when I'm at the computer revising eight hours (or more) a day, my brain is on overdrive. Great for the book, especially while I'm still working on it.

But, back to this story.

Revising after a second pass by your editor.

I didn't know what to expect from Tiffany's second pass. Happily, I'd fixed most of the problems she noted in the first half of the book. You know, missed opportunities, emotions, transition scenes after an action-packed, knock-down chapter endings. So the first half  of the book's revisions were line edits, cleaning up questions about my science fiction language and technology—small things that didn't require a lot of thought or angst, just time.

Now I'm to the point where the changes are bigger, whole-book details. Like updating all the tech. Naming a colony ship then searching for references to "the ship" on every single page of the document. Starting at the beginning and adding in subtext and thoughts in just the right places, to show one character questioning the identity of the other. I've entered the realm of the Time Sump, looking for ways to show a gradual build-up of emotion or trust. Or distrust.

This week, I'm working on revising the ending. I did that after the first pass, but not enough. Read that as not hard-hitting enough for a climax that's been building since page one.

Thank goodness for Tiffany. She doesn't let me get away with glossing over anything. There's no magical hand-waving over this revision. Her comments are not pedantic or put-down-ish. Her suggestions end in, "What do you think?" or "OK?" And every time, she's pointed out an angle I couldn't see from my writer's perspective.

This is why I'm working with an editor. I get so caught up in the story that I know so well, I forget to communicate it to the reader - to put it on the page. And that's my job. Thank goodness I can admit that I need all the help I can get.

What can you learn from second-pass edits?

1. Check the ending of each chapter.

Did you leave out important thoughts, feelings, or actions that should have occurred before we see the characters on stage at the beginning of the next chapter?

Remedy: Add that information at the end of the chapter as a final scene. If you want to end the chapter on a cliff-hanger, show your character twisting, literally or figuratively, at the beginning of the next chapter. Take advantage of those raw emotions to move your story forward, to deepen character, an move the character along his/her arc. Don't miss the opportunity.

2. Check for "muddied motivation."

If your character isn't acting in a way your reader identifies with, you haven't supplied clear motivation for her goals.

Remedy: Go back to the beginning, or at least several chapters. Look for places to add subtext that implies those goals. If you can't be subtle, find where you can add one line of backstory that will give your reader that "Aha" moment for why your character acts the way he does. If you have to reinforce that motivation later, be sure it's a deeper motivation.

3. Show reactions more clearly. 

It's easy to show the reactions of your POV character. Heck, we chose that character's POV because she had the biggest stake in the scene. But we need to see the other character's reactions, too. That isn't easy to do when you can't be in their heads.

Remedy: Check your non-POV character's reactions - body language, expressions, dialog 'cues'. Have you shown  physical response to the confrontation? Stress or surprise? Your POV character can recognize, and react to those responses. Your POV character can interpret body language, like a stance or lack of swagger. You can share the non-POV character's mind-set in dialogue, particularly by using words only used when stressed (a non-swearing character swearing, for instance). The delivery of those words will show the feeling just as much as the words will.  

Do you have a "final pass" revision tip? Maybe a "while-you're-still-writing" revision tip?

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ABOUT FAE:

Fae Rowen discovered the romance genre after years as a science fiction freak.   Writing futuristics and medieval paranormals, she jokes  that she can live anywhere but the present.  As a mathematician, she knows life’s a lot more fun when you get to define your world and its rules.

Punished, oh-no, that’s published as a co-author of a math textbook, she yearns to hear personal stories about finding love from those who read her books, rather than the horrors of calculus lessons gone wrong.  She is grateful for good friends who remind her to do the practical things in life like grocery shop, show up at the airport for a flight and pay bills.

A “hard” scientist who avoided writing classes like the plague, she now shares her brain with characters who demand that their stories be told.  Amazing, gifted critique partners keep her on the straight and narrow. Feedback from readers keeps her fingers on the keyboard.

When she’s not hanging out at Writers in the Storm, you can visit Fae at http://faerowen.com  or www.facebook.com/fae.rowen.

Holly Robinson

I am no fan of Halloween. Maybe that's because, as a young child, I started having waking nightmares about a cloaked figure with a pumpkin head that would regularly appear and sit in a rocking chair beside my bed. He never said anything. Just rocked and rocked, until I screamed for my mother.

This guy followed us to every house we lived in—a lot of houses, since my dad was in the Navy and we moved every couple of years. Who knows why that strange figure was my chosen metaphor for fear? I had never read The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and there weren't a lot of scary movies on TV back then. Yet, there he was, my own bedtime monster, the product of an overactive imagination.

For years, I was an insomniac. As soon as the lights were turned off, I'd lie on my back and stare at the ceiling, afraid of turning over because I was so certain I would see, if not Mr. Pumpkinhead, a face peering at me through the window or at the side of the bed.

I'm still afraid of the dark. If my husband's out of town, you can bet I keep a light burning. And, if I'm dumb enough to visit a haunted house attraction with my kids, like that Ripley's Haunted Adventure in Myrtle Beach where they have an actual clown chasing visitors with a chain saw, it might be weeks before I get a good night's rest.

Still, none of this compares to a writer's fears. Whether you're aspiring to finish your first book, a debut author, or an old workhorse like me (my sixth novel, Folly Cove, was just published), I bet you suffer from the same night terrors I do—fears that may drive you to quit, as Orly suggested in her recent post.

Here are my top five fears. What are yours?

1. You'll never finish this book.

Many of us get about two-thirds of the way through a manuscript and despair about it ever coming together. And guess what? Sometimes it doesn't.

2. Who'd ever want to read anything you write?

There is always a black place in your mind where a little gremlin is whispering, “You're not good enough for anyone to want to read your writing. Give up!”

3. Nobody reads anymore!

Let's say you get lucky. You get an agent, an editor, and a publisher. Or you self-publish. Congratulations—but you're still not free of those night terrors. As you listen to friends discussing the many TV shows they watch, you can't help but ask, Hello? Is anyone even reading anymore, in these glory days of Netflix and Amazon TV binges?

4. My book won't get reviewed.

How many print magazines and newspapers do you actually subscribe to at your house? How many of those carry book reviews? And what happens to books that are never reviewed? Enough said.

5. The reviewers will hate it.

Oh, the trolls, the trolls. You know they're out there, waiting to descend in hordes to punch in their single-star reviews. Why should you escape their blood lust?

So, Happy Halloween, my fellow writers! It's time to stock up candy—you're going to need it to get you through the night—and your manuscript! If it's any consolation, keeping the lights on at night is a great way to get more words on the page and keep the monsters at bay...for a little while.

Your turn. What are your top 5 writing night terrors?

 

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About Holly

Novelist, journalist and celebrity ghost writer Holly Robinson is the author of several books, including The Gerbil farmer's Daughter: A Memoir and the novels The Wishing Hill, Beach Plum Island, Haven Lake, and Chance Harbor. Her newest novel is Folly Cove, available in October 2016. Holly's articles and essays appear frequently in publications such as Cognoscenti, The Huffington Post, Parents, Redbook and dozens of other newspapers and magazines.

She and her husband have five children and a stubborn Pekingese. They divide their time between Massachusetts and Prince Edward Island, and are crazy enough to be fixing up old houses one shingle at a time in both places. Visit her at www.authorhollyrobinson.com and on Twitter @hollyrob1.