Writers in the Storm

Writers In The Storm is delighted to welcome paranormal writer and blogger, Jami Gold! She'll be stopping in over the next few days to answer any comments you have. (Thanks, Jami!)

On my blog last week, I talked about how it’s fascinating to watch a story evolve from a story seed into a full-blown draft.  By the time we type “The End,” we often forget how small the seed started and have a hard time recognizing how the two are even related.

Similarly, stories evolve a great deal from first draft to finished draft—especially when we’re still climbing a steep learning curve.  If we analyze the ways a story can evolve through the editing process, we might know how to focus our revisions.

I’m not talking about the editing we do to make a story prettier, cleaner, or faster paced.  I’m talking about the big picture revisions that change the essence of the story behind the words.

Types of Story Evolution

• Tone

A story’s tone greatly affects a reader’s experience.  The Sookie Stackhouse books by Charlaine Harris (source material for the True Blood TV show) deal with many dark subjects, but the tone of the books is light and fluffy for the most part, despite the threat of mortal peril.  While revising, we can control the reader’s experience by changing the tone.

• Voice

Related to the above point, changing the voice of the story will often change the tone.  A chatty or jokey voice tends to make the story less dark and serious.  This doesn’t mean a serious story can’t have comic relief, but maybe the source of the jokes would be from a non-POV character, or maybe the one-liners would be along the lines of gallows humor.

• Point Of View

If a scene isn’t working, we might be able to fix it by using another character’s POV.  Or we can try to switch a story from first person to third person, or vice versa.  Similarly, making a third person POV into a deep third person POV affects how a story reads.

• Motivation

Character motivation is like a magic formula for changing the feel of a story.  Think of all the reasons a character could be speeding while driving: impatience, escaping, rescuing, obliviousness, arrogance, etc.  Each of those would lead to different interpretation for the reader.  Same action, different reader reaction.  Then if we take it to the next level and add complex or competing motivations, or subtext, the story changes again.

• Theme

When we have a strong theme, our story naturally feels deeper and more serious.  During revisions, we can tweak wording or sentences to accentuate the themes.  If you need help bringing out themes in your story, check out my post for ideas or look at Jenny Hansen's post here on Writers In The Storm, Focusing On Your Story's DNA.

• Depth

This can mean anything from adding subtlety or subtext to going deeper into characters’ emotions.  Real people are complex and act against logic or their own best interests sometimes.  We have competing needs fighting for control over which way we react in a situation.  Adding that element of unpredictability to our stories helps them avoid being cliché or formulaic.  Readers will believe in characters who do something stupid if those motivations are laid out for them to piece together.

Being Deliberate with Our Writing

When we write, everything we type is a choice.  We not only choose between this word and that word, but also how we use the above elements to affect a reader’s experience.  And even though these aspects seem subtle, they make a huge difference in how a story reads.

So when we revise, now that we no longer have to do the drafting work of puzzling over plot, subplot, and tying everything together, we can go back to the drawing board and figure out what type of experience we want our readers to have.  Do we want the story to feel light or serious?  How intimately do we want the reader to experience what the characters go through?

If the story we want isn’t the story we have, but we can’t figure out why, we might be tempted to toss it.  We might even worry that we’re not capable of doing the subject justice.  But maybe it just means that one of these big picture things is off a bit.  In other words, it’s fixable.  *smile*

Which of the above elements have you changed when revising a story?  Were the changes big or small?  What about the results?  How much did the changes affect the readers’ experience, the essence of the story behind the words?

After triggering the vampire/werewolf feud with an errant typo, Jami Gold moved to Arizona and decided to become a writer, where she could put her talent for making up stuff to good use.  Fortunately, her muse, an arrogant male who delights in making her sound as insane as possible, rewards her with unique and rich story ideas.

Fueled by chocolate, Jami writes paranormal romance and urban fantasy tales that range from dark to humorous, but one thing remains the same:  Normal need not apply.  Just ask her family—and zombie cat.

Find Jami at her blog, Twitter, Google+, Facebook, and Goodreads.

by Roni Loren

It's no secret that writers are supposed to be building their online platform and brand from the get-go. You can find a bazillion posts on that very thing. Blog! Tweet! Facebook! Tumblr! Get lots of followers! Get lots of comments! Your name must be out there! Blog about writing! Don't blog about writing! Build a niche blog! Be broad! Make everyone love you more than their cat!

And now there's this wicked thing called Klout where you actually get a grade on how influential (read: popular) you are. I even saw a post today on how to increase your Klout score. And I actually found myself thinking--crap is my score of 60 good enough? *headdesk* Are we back in high school again? Because good Lord I never wanted to go back there.

It's no secret that I'm a fan of the social networking thing. I love blogging and Twitter and I have all the other things--the Tumblr, Facebook, Google Plus, Goodreads, etc. However, just like anyone else, I hit my limit sometimes. And the Klout thing was just too much.

I see it all around the web. Each week at least one of my fellow bloggers is posting something about how they don't know how to get more followers to their blog or that they're unsure what to post about when there is so much conflicting advice or that they're getting less comments than they used to. There are apologies about not being able to respond to comments or how they've run out of time to visit everyone who visited their blog.

SO MUCH PRESSURE we put on ourselves.

And you know what all that pressure results in? White-knuckled, desperate social networking. It becomes a job, an albatross around our neck, something we begin to dread. And that ruins the entire beauty and magic of this medium.

The most successful bloggers/networkers I know are the people who tap into the things they are passionate about and who put those things out there in the world. If it's blogging about knitting sweaters for dogs, that's fine. If it's blogging about writing--that's fine,too. I've built a successful blog and presence blogging about craft, so that has been a good move for me.

If you post about things that excite you, it will come across in your writing. People respond to that positivity (okay, Blogger says positivity is not a word, but I bet the New Kids on the Block would disagree so I'm using it anyway.) No one wants to go read a blog where someone is always whining or being negative Nancy. Readers can also tell when you're phoning it in and just blogging or tweeting or whatever because you're supposed to.

If you are not having fun doing it, people won't be having fun reading it.

Now that's not to say you can spend all your time being completely random and navel-gazing. You have to keep your audience in mind. But try to find where the balance is between being uniquely you and also providing something to readers whether that be information, entertainment, a laugh, community, etc. (I talked more about the four types of blogs here and what each provides to the reader.)

And when you find yourself dreading some aspect of social networking, cut it out or streamline it. Only focus on the things that sizzle your bacon. For instance:

• • If you hate blogging, try Tumblr* or some other form of "microblog" or don't blog at all and stick to Twitter or Facebook. 

*Tumblr is like 30 second blogging where you simply reblog things that are interesting to you. Like a web scrapbook. (Here's mine if you'd like an example, but be warned, it's 18+ and sometimes NSFW because well, I am an erotic romance author after all.)

• • If you hate Facebook (like I kinda do), download something like Tweetdeck where you can simply send your tweets from Twitter to copy automatically to your Facebook.

If you hate Twitter and Facebook, you can try Google Plus.

• • Hate all of those "update" style sites like Twitter, FB, and Google+? Then maybe try joining discussion groups on Goodreads, Absolute Write, Yahoo Groups, or Amazon. Talk with others about books and writing if that's all you feel comfortable doing.

I think as long as you have a presence in a place where people (and eventually readers) can have discussion with you, you're going to be okay. So make sure you at least have a home website (either a static one or a blog) and that you're networking on at least one or two platforms.

If you want to expand from there (and are still enjoying it), then go for it. But never do some social networking thing just because you HAVE to, you're wasting your time then because we're all going to be able to *feel* that you're white-knuckling it.

Be genuine, be you, and have fun with it.

Oh, and if any of you have a better Klout score than me, can I sit at your lunch table? I'm hoping to get a prom date with a guy who has at least an 80. :-)

So have you felt the pressure of having to do it all? What social media platforms do you dread or struggle with the most? Which do you love and have fun with? If you could only pick two social networking mediums to be on, which would you choose?

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Roni wrote her first romance novel at age fifteen when she discovered writing about boys was way easier than actually talking to them. Since then, her flirting skills haven’t improved, but she likes to think her storytelling ability has.

Her debut romance CRASH INTO YOU will be released January 2012 by Berkley Heat/Penguin. If you want to read more posts like this one or follow her journey to debut authorhood, you can visit her writing blog FictionGroupie or her author blog. She also tweets way too much for her own good.

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ANNOUNCEMENT: Due to some really icky computer issues, NakedEditor Tiffany Lawson Inman's post will be delayed until next Friday, Sept 23rd. Since she is AMAZING, we know you'll want to check back then to see it. ~Jenny :-)

Researching The Historical Novel
Part 1 in a series
by Sharla Rae

For the writer who enjoys history, researching is often the best part of writing a historical novel. Even so, deciding where to start can be mind-boggling.

Why Research?

1. Lovers of historical fiction know their history. The facts cannot be faked.
2. Historical facts set the boundaries or limits within which the writer must work.
3. History can be used as external conflict to strengthen the plot while adding deep and rich layers to the story.
4. Throughout time, history has shaped people and vise versa. It “should” be the same with historical characters. Characters are defined by the times, government, social culture language, fashion, entertainments, etc.

So Where Does the Research Start?

To keep things simple, think of researching as the construction of a house from the ground up.The Foundation:
General background research

Like building a new house, researching starts with the foundation. The foundation is the initial or general historical background, the historical facts leading up to and even slightly beyond the time the novel takes place. No culture can be understood without knowledge of its roots and development.

Example: Character idiosyncrasies aside, if a writer wishes to characterize a young Irish immigrant, the Irish heritage and the immigrant experience must be understood. Hence, the writer studies the reasons behind the Irish leaving Ireland and their experiences once they arrived in America.

The same holds true when setting a novel in an unfamiliar city, state or country. Example: Suppose the novel is set in 18^th century England. A study of England’s general history tells the writer what motivated Englishmen of that period and why they reacted differently in a given situation than say an American might.

An overly simplified example: An Englishman of the 18^th century may not have liked a Frenchman. Why? The two countries had frequently been at war.

The Walls of the House:
The Limiting Historical Facts – Who, Where, What, & Why

Once the foundation of the general historical background is laid, it’s time to add walls to the foundation of the house. The walls consist of the factual boundaries that determine the specifics of a story -- the exact who, where, what and whys.

Remember, a house usually has more than four basic exterior walls and that there will be interior walls, too. For the sake of simplicity I’ll discuss four basic exterior walls.

Lets assume the author’s story is about two men who are feuding over a piece of ranch land in the Old West, a common scenario.

General research informs the writer that there were many land conflicts in those days, white man verses Indian, cattlemen verses farmers or sheepherders, people verses the railroads, white man verses Mexican and Spaniards etc.

First Exterior Wall:

During the foundation research an interesting fact turns up. Old Spanish land grants were often not recognized by the US government. Eureka! This is a piece of history that lends itself beautifully to the type of conflict the writer wants to develop.

One character can be a gringo newly arrived on the scene, and one a Spaniard whose land has belonged to his family since the Spanish exploration land grant days. This is a “who” limitation.

Second Exterior Wall:

Since the Spanish dwelled predominately in the Southwest and California, historical facts limit the setting of this story to those areas. This is a “where” limitation.

Study general history of the Southwest and California and especially the Spanish settlers and their backgrounds. How did they come to receive their land grants. Where did most of these types of land disputes happen -- Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, or California? Deciding on a state narrows the location and this is another “where” limitation.

Third Exterior Wall:

Let’s say the author has chosen California as a setting for this story because the history supporting the scenario is especially notable in California. Laws were passed to benefit Americans and many Spanish families lost their land.

Wait! Another Wall? Yes. The year those unfair laws were passed gives a time frame in which this sort of conflict would have taken place. Thus we have a “when” or time limitation.

Fourth Exterior Wall:

A study of those laws and exactly how and why they were passed is needed. This study supports and strengthens the story’s conflict. It’s also limiting because the writer must work within the dictates of the law.

In a way this a “what” and a “who” limitation depending on how you wish to look at it. The “what” is the law itself or the government. The “who” is represented by people the law affected and limits it put on them.

Remember that there can be many exterior and interior walls.

Perhaps facts show that many Spanish ranches were located around Los Angeles. The writer may wish to locate the ranches near that city. Thus, another limit is set -- the specific city. Study old city maps, locate actual businesses and citizens during the time frame. Also, note other events that shaped the area.

The Roof:
Cultural Details Limited to a Specific Area and Period

Research local customs and culture of the time and place. Let’s say you learn there was also an Indian culture. While your story will not focus on this, some background is good for flavor.

Since part of the focus is on the Spanish family, research how they lived, what they did for fun, who were their leaders, Spanish names of things as well as Spanish people names, customs, entertainments etc.

Now look at the gringo culture, their ranches, culture, entertainments, customs. How did the gringos in the area differ from the Spanish? What was the general emotional climate among the Spanish ranchers, the gringos?

This cultural background is another limiting factor that helps the writer shape the personality of characters.

Making the House a Home or Interior Walls:
Décor, Plumbing and Furnishings and Personal Needs, and Everyday life

I’m calling this section the interior walls of the house because everyday life items of a particular era are limiting. An Old West rancher would not own a big screen television. Nor would his wife wear a mini skirt.

Once a house is built, the people who move in make it into a home by surrounding themselves with everyday things that suit their lifestyle, needs, and personal tastes.

What characters surround themselves with tells the reader what kind of people they are and what’s important to them. Of course you must always be conscious of the time period when describing your characters’ living environment.

The following is a list of just a few things that should be considered.

1. Size and number of rooms, interior furnishing, kitchen hardware, sleeping accommodations and etc. should reflect the period, social class, location of their homes, personal tastes etc.
2. Foods must be appropriate to the time and culture. For example, what drinks and foods did the Spanish serve? The Americans?
3. Fashion must fit the period, place, professions etc.
4. Modes of transportation available to them
5. Entertainments
6. Names of professions in and around the city and ranch
7. What newspaper did they read? Was it biased? Would it matter to your story?
8. What did the homes actually look like? Spanish? Americans? Materials used?
9. Ranch equipment and animals on the ranches
10. Etiquette of the Spanish and American at the time
11. Standard education of the two groups
12. Languages spoken, dialects that might be used for atmosphere
13. Religious differences between the two cultures, specific practices, etc.
14. Anything that pertains to some aspect of everyday life.

Research Can Swallow Precious Writing Time. Don’t let it. Part 2 of this series shares tips and tricks to streamline the time-consuming process of research. That post will be up next Wednesday!

What are your favorite types of historical novels? When you start a project, what are some research tricks that you use?