Writers in the Storm

By Michelle Gable

Earlier this year you might’ve read about the Parisian flat left abandoned for the better part of a century. Though photographs of the frozen-in-time apartment went viral only recently, I read about the discovery several years ago and it inspired my debut novel A PARIS APARTMENT.

It was late in 2010, on the heels of yet another heart-punching rejection, this time in the form of a failed five-way auction, which was not even the worst of it (see also: canceled book contract). I was feeling pretty blue.

I was also feeling pretty “maybe I should concentrate on my family and the career that pays me in dollars instead of tears.” It seemed logical for a second. Until, of course, I remembered that I’m a writer. I had to write.

I took a little break, a few weeks, where I didn’t think about the characters I’d already created or pay attention to the ideas trying to coalesce in my mind. Then I started feeling itchy, anxious, and I knew the self-imposed hiatus wouldn’t last.

But what would I write next? I wasn’t sure I could better my last novel which, as quickly as editors claimed to love it, was summarily rejected.

Then, a stroke of luck. First: an unusual discovery on another continent. Then an agent who noticed. Three weeks after my (self-perceived) going-down-in-flames, my agent Barbara Poelle emailed me the following link:

Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2010 15:35:11 -0400

Subject: I'm not sure why

But there is something AWESOME and haunting about this story and I think you should file it away for a book at some point.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/8042281/Parisian-flat-containing-2.1-million-painting-lay-untouched-for-70-years.html

And there it was: a forgotten, treasure-stocked Parisian apartment, once owned by a courtesan and later shuttered for seventy years. “Awesome” and “haunting” were merely the start.

Immediately I was drawn to the Mickey Mouse doll slumped in the corner, the grand but faded Ostrich, and the papers crammed onto a bookcase. My brain decided the documents were the courtesan’s private journals. It was the first seed of what would become A PARIS APARTMENT.

I spent months researching the apartment and the people who might’ve walked into and out of it. Alas, the facts remained sparse, not an altogether bad thing for a writer of fiction. When I began the novel we knew only that a young woman stepped out of the apartment in 1940, locked the door, and fled to the south of France. She never returned.

The woman was the granddaughter of Belle Epoque courtesan Marthe de Florian. In the flat was a portrait of Madame de Florian, as rendered by famed portraitist Giovanni Boldini. The artwork later sold for over two million euro at auction but was not the only valuable in the home. The apartment was filled, floor to rafters, with hundreds of museum-quality pieces.

What happened to Marthe de Florian? How did she acquire so many exquisite items? Her granddaughter died in 2010 but paid rent for all those decades. What kept her away from the apartment and its roomfuls of lavish furniture, the stacks of priceless artwork? And what must it have been like to step inside the home after its seventy-year slumber?

My novel explores these questions through the intertwining voices of Sotheby’s furniture expert April Vogt and Madame de Florian herself. Interestingly enough, it was the voice of Marthe that came the easiest.

I still wonder why news of the apartment went viral in 2014 in a way it did not in 2010. Was it the influence of the wildly successful, art world-based novel The Goldfinch? Perhaps the ever-growing appeal of Paris? Or was it merely due to more Twitter and more tweeting?

Whatever the case, the world has renewed interest in Marthe de Florian. And it makes sense. Who wouldn’t be entranced by her gilded, fairy-tale world?

About Michelle

Michelle Gable graduated from The College of William & Mary. When not dreaming up fiction on the sly, she’s spent her career in finance with focus on private equity, mergers & acquisitions, and, most recently, investor relations and financial planning and analysis. Born and raised in San Diego, Gable currently resides in Cardiff by the Sea, California with her husband, two daughters, and one lazy cat. A Paris Apartment is her first novel and will be published April 22, 2014 by St. Martin's Press/Thomas Dunne Books.

Find Michelle on online at http://michellegable.com/, Twitter and Facebook.

 

By Janice Hardy

Theme is an often misunderstood and underused aspect of a novel. Years of English classes have made us think that theme is something reserved for literary novels or stories with deep, meaningful messages, not for commercial fiction and good old fashioned stories.

Total bunk.

Theme is a highly useful part of any novel, be it a light-hearted romp or a nail-biting adventure. It's an element that gives greater meaning to the story and turns background fluff into substance. Basically, it gives a story street cred.

That's because theme can tie individual pieces of a story together so they work on multiple levels. Descriptive details resonate with a character's mood, or a plot point becomes a mirror to a internal struggle. Theme makes everything in the story matter.

Unsure what your theme is? Ask yourself...

What larger concepts do you want to explore with your novel?

Odds are there's more to the story you want to tell than a series of plot events, no matter how cool those plot events might be (and if there's not, that's okay, too). Perhaps you're exploring the nature of power, or what it means to be human, or how a good person can do bad things. Whatever it is, there's something bigger in your story on a conceptual level. If someone asked you what your story was about, you might even use this to describe it.

Try making of list of the concepts in your novel. Are there any common elements developing? Can you see a bigger picture connecting them? If not, think about how you might connect them or how they might work together to create a larger idea.

If you had to pick one cliché or adage to describe your novel, what would it be? How might you adapt that as your theme?

It might sound silly, but clichés are practically theme shorthand. If it sounds like something you'd stitch on a pillow or Grandma has it framed on her wall, there's a good chance it's your theme. "Love conquers all" is a great theme for a romance novel that explores the struggles a couple goes through to be happy. "You can't fight city hall" might work for a dystopian that explores the futility of trying to change the way society works. Or you might tweak it and say "you can fight city hall" to show that a small group of people can indeed change the world for the better.

Try picking the cliché that best fits your novel and see where you can use it to flesh out a scene or element in the story. Look for places where this theme can be illustrated. For example, show moments where "love" makes a difference, even if it's obliquely. Themes don't have to bang readers over the head to be effective.

What are common problems in the novel? Do they point to a theme?

If no cliché works, and there are no larger concepts behind the story, trying looking at the problems the characters face. Is there a common element to them? Are there similar obstacles or struggles to be overcome? For example, if you notice a lot of problems that deal with the protagonist trying to prove something about himself, then maybe the theme is about being true to who you are, or standing up to those who lack faith in you.

Try listing the problems in your novel and see if there's a common thread that could be developed into your theme.

What are common character flaws or dreams?

The theme might apply to more than just the protagonist. Maybe every character is facing a similar problem, either internally or externally. If they all lack generosity in some way, perhaps the theme is related to greed or selfishness. What they hope for can also suggest a theme. If all the major characters wish for a life without fear, then overcoming fear might be your theme.

Try listing the flaws, then the dreams, of your major characters. Look for similarities that could hint at a larger theme.

Once you've found your theme, use it to deepen your novel by giving greater meaning to your scenes. While not every scene needs to be dripping with theme, even thinking about the bigger picture as you write could influence how you choose to develop those scenes--what details you use to describe the setting, how someone reacts, what happens overall. When faced with choices on what to use or do, think about how it might show the theme and if that will make the scene richer.

Do you use theme in your novels? Do you plan for it or does it just happen?

Looking for more on planning or revising your novel? Check out my newest book Planning Your Novel: Ideas and Structure, a series of self-guided workshops that help you turn your idea into a novel.

Planning Your Novel: Ideas and Structure takes you step-by-step through finding and developing ideas, brainstorming stories, and crafting a solid plan for your novel—including a one-sentence pitch, summary hook blurb, and working synopsis.

Over 100 different exercises lead you through the novel-planning process, with ten workshops that build upon each other to flesh out your idea as much or as little as you need to do to start writing.

Find Exercises On:

- Creating Characters
- Choosing Point of View
- Determining the Conflict
- Finding Your Process
- Developing Your Plot
- And So Much More!

Planning Your Novel: Ideas and Structure is an easy-to-follow guide to planning your novel, as well as a handy tool for revising a first draft, or fixing a novel that isn’t quite working.

About Janice

Janice Hardy is the author of the teen fantasy trilogy The Healing Wars, where she tapped into her own dark side to create a world where healing was dangerous, and those with the best intentions often made the worst choices. Her novels include The Shifter, Blue Fire, and Darkfall from Balzer+Bray/Harper Collins. The first book in her Foundations of Fiction series, Planning Your Novel: Ideas and Structure is out now. She lives in Georgia with her husband, one yard zombie, three cats, and a very nervous freshwater eel. Find out more about writing at her site, Fiction University, or find her on Twitter @Janice_Hardy

by Orly Konig-Lopez

Last week my husband convinced me to go on a bike ride with him. My road bike has been in the basement on a trainer for well over a year. To say I was a bit nervous is an understatement. After all, in the basement I don’t have to worry about becoming a hood ornament or becoming intimately acquainted with a tree. But it was a gorgeous day, I was stuck with writing and it was time to squash that little negative devil in my head.

So off we went. A few minutes into the ride, hubby dropped back and said, “Don’t fight the bike. If you relax, it’ll be much easier.”

Okay. Relax. Easy. I can relax. Yeah, not so much.

Throughout the next two and a half hours, I’d hear “ReeeeeLaaaaxxxxx” from up ahead. I’d loosen my death grip on the handlebars and let the bike flow. And guess what? It got easier. And fun.

Somewhere around mile eighteen and half way up a steep uphill, I started laughing. Can’t breathe, legs are melting jello, and I’m laughing like a lunatic. Hubby was sure I’d finally snapped. Nope. Well sort of. It was one of those, “how did you not see this answer before” moments.

One word … Relax.

Relax about process. As writers many of us become obsessed over the process of writing. Laura Drake even wrote a post about Process Envy (yes it’s a real thing!). Are you making daily word count? Should you have a daily word count or a weekly goal? Do you write every day? Are you writing at the same time each day? Do you plot first or dive straight into the deep end?

I’ll admit to process envy. I love reading how authors I admire do it. Maybe if I try it their way, I’ll find that elusive secret to writing greatness. This latest WIP has had a lot of starts and stops. I tried plotting. The story refused to be caged. I tried daily word counts. Life refused to cooperate. Guess what happened when I relaxed about the process? Yup, I was able to … are you ready? … write. Really write. The moment I released my death grip on controlling the process, the words flowed. And it was fun.

Relax about finding the words. Do you edit as you write or dump words onto the page without editorial censorship? What do you do when that perfect word is hiding behind some random thought?

This was circulating around Facebook several months ago. I had to print it out and paste it next to my desk. I’m not a clean first drafter. There are times I stare at the computer, cursor mocking me with each passing blink over that one word that will not come out to play. Yesterday when I realized I’d spent counting 23 cursor blinks instead of moving the sentence forward, I wrote “something fresh here” and moved on. The rest of the scene flowed and a few paragraphs later, that “something fresh” showed up.

Relax about the ‘what next’. Do you have an agent “hit list” before you’ve even finished the first draft? Are you thinking about the best submission times before you’ve completed revisions? Do you worry about whether the book you haven’t started writing yet will sell as well as the one you just released? Are you worried about where the next idea will come from?

You can stress yourself into total paralysis. There are a lot of things that are out of your control. There’s no way to know what market demand will be in a few month, a year, two years. There’s no way to know if an agent will connect with your story even if she tweeted that she had a dream about purple flying unicorns and your book has purple flying unicorns.

Think about why you started writing. Let the love for telling stories be your motivation, not signing the agent or selling lots of copies. That doesn’t mean you abandon those goals. Not by any stretch of the imagination. If you give yourself permission to relax about the things you can’t control, the parts you do have control over - writing the best damn book you can - will be so much easier.

Relax. Such a simple word. So hard to do. I’ve found myself repeating hubby’s “ReeeeeLaaaaxxxxx” when the shoulders start to bunch up and slamming my head into the desk sounds less painful. I don’t always succeed. But when I do, it’s so much more fun.

What’s your solution to those “stuck” moments?

About Orly

After years of pushing the creativity boundary in corporate communications, Orly decided it was time for a new challenge. Three women’s fiction manuscripts later (plus a handful of picture books), it’s safe to say she’s found her creative outlet.  When she’s not talking to her imaginary friends, she’s reading or at least trying to ignore everyone around her long enough to finish “just one more paragraph.” Orly is the founding president of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association.

You can find her on Twitter at @OrlyKonigLopez or on her website, www.orlykoniglopez.com.