Writers in the Storm

by Jenny Hansen

Happy Wednesday, y’all! I’m looking forward to hearing Linda O. Johnston, one of our new bloggers, talk about “What Makes a Great Mystery” for this week’s Sensational
Summer Friday.

Today we’re going to talk about Dirty Fighting. What is it, and why do you want to do it?

To start at the beginning, last weekend my honey was cleaning the office and he came across a piece of paper that made us laugh our faces off.  This four page document he found – called, “Dirty Fighting Techniques” – helped save our relationship back in 2006.

Note:  Dirty Fighting isn’t about some how-to guide on Jujitsu or Street Fighting. Nope, it’s actually a list of twenty-two items given to us by our counselor to teach us the difference between the Dirty Fighting Techniques practiced by most people and the clean-as-a-whistle fighting he wanted us to strive for.

We’ve got to understand the goal before we can turn it upside down on its head, right? What isclean fighting?

Clean Fighting:

• Take responsibility for your own stuff. Also known as “cleaning up your own side of the street.” I know it sucks when you're mad and you clean up your side while the other person leaves their big cow patties steaming, but lead by example on this one. It helps when someone steps up to be the bigger person.
• Leave the other person an “out with dignity.” This is most often achieved by understanding that there might be facts you don’t know.
• “I” statements are always going to work better when you’re pissed off than “you” statements. And don’t be trying to cheat with crap like, “I understand that you’re a selfish bastard.”
• Talk about the behavior in those “I” statements, not any personality disorders you think they should address.
• Stick to the point. Resist throwing in the kitchen sink of laments spanning back over months of why they’re a (fill in the blank).
• Deliberately pushing buttons is REALLY dirty. The weak underbelly is to be avoided, even if you’re thinking your partner is lower than a yellow-bellied toad for siding with your mother-in-law over you.

Here is a clean fight summed up in 4 easy steps:

1. How you feel (use an “I” statement for this)
2. The behavior that prompted that feeling
3. Why it’s important/the background (i.e. what button did they push)
4. What would you want them to do differently next time

Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Go try it. It’s really hard to do when you’re mad. Most people who are angry fight dirty. Clean fighting takes some rigorous training.

Now let me ask you something. Do you really think your characters will have had any
of this sort of training? It’s pretty unlikely unless you’re writing about a psychologist. It’s much more likely that your character will be flawed like the rest of us.

What Makes Great Fiction?

• Great books are filled with conflict.
• And great characters (who learn important lessons).
• Great fiction rips emotion out of us readers.
• Oftentimes a great book will make you see yourself inside those pages.

Understanding the difference between clean and dirty fighting will give you a TON of mileage in your own stories. If you need plausible arguments and dialog, Dirty Fighting Techniques will help you achieve this. These techniques can be applied with a friend, family member or a significant other…it doesn’t really matter.

Every entry I'm sharing is guaranteed to make the other person see red. If you’re writing fiction, that anger and tension is a REALLY good thing. If I give you all twenty-two at once, it will be like taking a drink of water from a fire hydrant so we’re going to start with the five that will work best in fiction.

FIVE?? That’s all the Dirty Fighting I get off that list, you might ask… Yep. Five is all you get…until the next time we discuss the topic. I’m gonna make this a multi-part post so you
have time to really roll around in the Dirty Fighting Swamp. Go ahead, get dirty. Be the bog.

As I said earlier, great books are filled with conflict. And great characters who learn important lessons. Plus, dialog is the number one way to do several fun things like move your story quickly and legally bring in backstory.

Note: For a rundown of the perils of Back Story, read Kristen Lamb’s Monday post.

OK, now that you're into the Dirty Fighting spirit, let's discuss your dialogue. A few wonderful posts come immediately to mind:

• How To Write Dialogue: 6 Ways To Use it Effectively
• Dialogue Tags: How To Kill Off Some Of The Little Buggers by Sharla Rae
• He Said, She Said: Dialogue by Roni Loren

However, one of the problems I have with reading about dialog is that every character is unique and, even though the examples are usually awesome, my characters would never say those things. How do you think of creative things to say that would apply ONLY to our character?

One answer is to make him or her fight.

Since gratuitous fighting in a story is like gratuitous sex (kinda boring if there’s no real connection or reason for it), the author needs to find a great reason for the fight. How you use the fight is up to you but I think the easiest way to pave the road to this rad fight is to discover what your characters really want. Then dig down for what they really, really want.

DON’T give it to them. Or at least, don’t give it too soon.

Then flake away more layers to uncover what your character really fears. Then what they really, really fear. DO give that to them!

This is where things get interesting. You not only have characters who are upset, you've also found a myriad of ways to slide everybody deeper into your story. To do this, ask your character questions.

Perhaps you'll use the 9 questions I discussed a few weeks back in my post on Character
Engagement or new ones that are all your own. Below are some of mine to help you get started.

1. What matters most to this character? (What is he or she most afraid to lose?)
2. Who matters most? (This is usually the person they are most afraid to lose.)
3. How did the character's parents fight?
4. How did the character’s parents interact with him or her?
5. What does this character wish he or she had gotten in childhood?
6. What does my character want to be when they grow up?

All of these questions can provide you with cues about where your character is “broken” and give you ideas about fixing the broken part (i.e. Fix = Lesson).

Now it's time to unleash that fight!

BRING. IT. ON!!

Below are my top five Dirty Fighting Techniques for adding tension and plotting options to your story. I'll save the rest for a later post so you can really play with the first five. (Your sarcasm muscle – which is always used in a Dirty Dogfight – should get a quick flex before you begin.)

#1 - Triangulating: Don’t leave the issue between you and your conflict partner (could be a family member, friend or love interest), pull everybody in. Quote well-known authorities who agree with you and list every family member whom you know has taken your side (and lie about the ones you haven’t spoken to yet).

Uses: Triangulating is incredibly useful in fiction because you can expand the discussion to more characters and stir up some real drama. Let’s not keep this issue between just us, one character says to the other. Oh no, lets involve everybody.

If you have extreme Dirty Fighting Talent, you can stir the pot and then step back and play a new game called, “Let’s watch the other two people fight.” That's good times.

#2 - Escalating: Quickly move from the main issue of the argument to questioning your partner's basic personality, and then move on to wondering whether the relationship is even worth it. Blame your partner for having a flawed personality so that a happy relationship will be impossible.

Uses: Excellent tool for keeping two love interests apart. BUT, the fight better be about something that really, really matters or you risk falling into the Bog of Coincidence and most stories don’t have enough muscle to climb out of that place.

Escalating also allows for plausible use of Back Story. When you’re moving from the main
issue to what the REAL issue is (often happens at the black moment / end of Act 2),  escalating the argument will make someone lose control enough that they blurt out something juicy. Way to go, Author!

#3 – Leaving: No problem is so big or important that it can’t be ignored or abandoned all together. Walk out of the room, leave the house, or just refuse to talk. Sometimes just threatening to leave can accomplish the same thing without all the inconvenience of following through.

Uses: My favorite use of this is employing it when the two characters really need each
other. It completely ups the betrayal factor: I can’t depend on you, I don’t trust you,  You’ve let me down.

You noticed how dirty those last three statements were, right? Not a clean fight to be found anywhere with "leaving," which is fantastic for your story! The farther your   character falls, the harder the journey is on the way back up, right?

#4 - Timing: Look for a time when your partner is least able to respond or least expects an argument.

Uses: Think about this from a story point of view. A really great time to pick a fight is just before the main character embarks on a journey, has a new murder to solve, is called on to
save the world. Anything with high stakes works great. Be sure the character ambushing them is a likeable one so the reader REALLY gets drawn into the conflict.

#5 - Rejecting Compromise: Never back down. Stick with the philosophy that only one of you can win.

Uses: This is a kickass Dirty Fighting trick to use on the main character. If there is only  one winner, there is automatic conflict involved for the person who "loses." The
solutions are endless.

What do you think? What are some other ways you could use a good fight to help your
character grow or advance your story? Do you use any of the five techniques in your own life...come on, you can tell us! Let's hear your fabulous Dirty (Fighting) Thoughts!

Jenny

Coming Monday, a chance to win a six-pack of handmade greeting cards from Fae Rowen when she posts Making Cards-and Writing-Part 2: The Process of Creating Art. You can read Part 1 at Crafting Handmade Cards.

By Laura Drake

After fourteen years of trying, I signed with an agent this month!  That’s a lot of years to keep at something. But during down times along the way I've thought back to the first spark of the story, to get the inspiration to keep going.

Before I learned to ride my own, I rode pillion on my husband’s motorcycle. A lot. A hundred thousand miles worth.  That’s a lot of hours, and it was before motorcycle intercoms were invented. It can get boring. I learned to prop a paperback on hubby’s back and read on the long straightaways.  But you can’t read all day and after awhile, my brain would empty of the day-to-day thoughts and cast about for something new to think about.

Due to the speed on a motorcycle, your memories come in snippets – you catch a snapshot and it’s gone: a small town celebrating the Fourth of July with a parade, the queen in silk on a hay wagon. A piebald pony, standing in knee deep grass in Utah, ominous thunderclouds in the background.  A herd of antelope in Wyoming, racing our motorcycle.

Then one day, riding into the small town of Kernville, California, a dog ran in front of our bike. After a butt clenching scare, he trotted back the way he came, and we rode on. But I started thinking. What if someone came along and hit the dog?  What if a girl riding a motorcycle came along . . .

The idea grew. It wouldn’t go away. I began writing ideas in a notebook in our tent at night.  When we got home, I sat at my computer, blank file open in front of me. I wrote a bit, but mostly I fidgeted.  I knew this wasn’t a short story – that might not have freaked me out. This was a novel.

But wait, who was I to write a novel?  I’ve been an avid reader all my life; I knew good writing.

I dithered for a few years, at an impasse. Half of my mind wouldn’t let go of the story, the other half wouldn’t let me write it. Then one day, an amazing thing happened. I realized I had a ‘delete’ key on my keyboard. I could write the novel, and no one would ever have to see it!

That was three novels ago. I won’t go into the rest of the story here. You’ve heard it from a hundred writers; the ups, the downs, the twists and turns in the road.

Since then, I’ve learned to ride my own motorcycle. I found that I love the windy roads best – you never know what you’ll find around the next bend. It could be a snippet of vision that makes your soul rise – it could be something that tightens your sphincter. I love every bit of it.

I’ve told my friends, if someday, I encounter the end around one of those bends, don’t be sad.  I went smiling -- doing what I love.

For the same reason, I’ll never quit writing. I can’t fail, because it isn’t about getting published; it’s about doing what I love.

Where are you on the winding road? Is publication your destination, or something else? Any mishaps or memories you’d like to share?

Welcome to another installment of Sensational Summer Fridays, here at WITS!

Before we begin with the third in our guest blog series by Denise Domning, we'd like to announce the winner of Michelle Diener's debut novel, IN A TREACHEROUS COURT.  Congratulations to Stacy Green, who read and commented on Michelle's blog Using Real People and Events in Fiction.

Here is another fantastic guest blog from Denise Domning on the Self-Publishing journey.
(Click here for Part 1 and Part 2.)

Five days to book launch and I’m exhausted.  This is the first time I've worn all the hats:  author, editor, copy editor, book designer and typesetter.

Here’s where the book launch preparations are now:
The website is almost functional.  If only we could have started sooner, but we didn’t have our brand until Monica had her brainstorm for The Men Wars.  This is just one of those “it had to be this way” chores.  The most important thing for me is that the links to buy the books be so blazingly clear that even the least tech-savvy user can find it.

I also had to go on exclamation point control.  This is a real sticking point for me, maybe because I got my hand slapped early and often in my writing career over exclamation point usage.  Nowadays, I drive down the road and see one, two, three exclamation points in a row to tell me how special their widget is.  To me, the more exclamation points I see the more I wonder how mediocre the product is.  If it can’t sell itself on its own merits, there must be something wrong.

The manuscript is as clean as I can make it in the time allotted.  I hate finding errors in books, especially my own.  I’d use a copy editor if I knew a really good one.  Thank heavens I’ve had a little experience with publishing.  Having done this eleven times before, I know what to look for, which means I’m checking questionable words, hyphenations and such in my friend Google.  Sigh.  I love Google.

As far as the look and feel of the Createspace book, I originally chose Bookman Old Style (a serif font).  I like a serif font in a book.  However, Amber tells me that serifs are too busy for old eyes.  Since I have old eyes, I relented and went with good old Verdana.

I now hate Word even more than I did when I started this project.  Why does it insist in putting in 10 spaces for an indent instead of 5?  I’m a Word Perfect girl, but the whole rest of the world wants everything in a stupid Word doc.  Manuscript formatting doesn’t always transfer well, so I’m using Word.

Why does Word make it so hard to format a header or footer?  Why can’t you manage them without creating new sections (if only I could figure out how to do that!)  or have every gol-darn page reformat because you made a change?

Note for future books:  do not ask supposedly-Word proficient husband for help.  Ed hates any version of Windows above XP.  He snatched my laptop away after I had a meltdown when Word once again refused to let me do what Word Perfect makes easy.  Then he sat there and stared at the screen for half an hour, trying to figure out the buttons on the tool bar.  I finally asked him how to create a new section for the header and he looked at me with a completely blank expression.  I snatched back my laptop.  ARGH!  I don’t have time for this!

An online “how to create a book for Createspace” blog suggested that I might want to learn Adobe inDesign, at which point I perked up.  I have that program.  Even better, Amber actually uses that program.  I bundled the manuscript up and sent it to her.
Then made a bunch of changes.   Of course.

By the way, when she sent me the draft PDF, the indents were again set at 10 spaces instead of the 5 I want.  When did the world start using that standard?

I’m finally panicking over legal liabilities, such as someone suing us for libel or slander over being mentioned in the book, so I contacted a lawyer.  We’re going to talk on Friday.  This is an issue I wouldn’t have needed to address on my own if we’d sold the book to New York, but at least I thought of it.  I’m waiting with bated breath to hear what she says.  With legal issues in mind, I went back through the manuscript to take out anything that needed a trademark (the little circle with the R) .  No Kleenix, Little Doughboy, Q-tips allowed.

And I sent Amber another manuscript.

The final version (as of last night) is now fully formatted for both Kindle and eBooks.  All that I need now are the pictures Monica wants to include and hasn’t yet gotten to me.  I’m still wondering how I’ll preview the Nook and iBook version.   Hmm, maybe I can use the Nook and iPad we bought for contest prizes?

Which brings me to our contest.  Our big prizes are a Kindle, Nook and iPad.  The iPad will be given out after our Facebook likes reach 25,000.  What do you think?  Too high?  I hope not.  We’re also giving out Monica calendars, signed copies of the book, Amazon/B&N/iStore gift cards and such.

Here’s the big question: is the book good enough to warrant this much money being thrown at it?  I haven’t heard back from our first reviewer, so I don’t know.
Remember, we’ve also hired a national PR agent to get Monica on the radio.  Plus, we’ve got PR packages being assembled to send out to anyone and everyone (to be determined sometime between now and the 15th).  The PR package creation resulted in a demand that I get a new photo taken.  Oh, yuck.  Who cares about me, anyway?  It’s all about Monica right now and that’s just fine.

The Book:

Men-ipulation: Book One of The Men Wars, is dark, dangerous, dramatic and funny as it follows Monica Sarli's lifelong battle with men, sex and heroin addiction. More can happen to Monica in one week than most people experience in a year, from facing down psychopathic drug dealers to the FBI threatening to put her in the Witness Protection Program or the SWAT team appearing to rescue her from a man she's done with, and every story is as true as it is strange. Get ready for an exciting ride that takes you from the depths of drug addiction to the pinnacle of high society only to end up six feet under.

What a crap shoot!   Only five days to launch date and I have no clue if this is actually going to get finished on time. What do you do when you have a project stressing you out? Please send some de-stressing tips this direction!