EXERCISE: Problems and Questions!

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Original posting 13 February 2009

All right! Let's try mixing a dilemma with some little questions, shall we?

Pick a number from one to six, okay? Roll that die . . .

You got your number now? Here's what you have picked:

1. You agree to buy a friend's piano. Later, you discover that the agreed price is too high. Considering that your friend has told other buyers that it is sold, do you try to renegotiate?
2. Your neighbor's teenager has another wild all-night party. His parents return from out-of-town and asked how things were. Do you say what goes on?
3. The person you have been living with hints at suicide if you carry out your intention to leave. Do you leave as intended?
4. You have an essay due in a French language course. Your typist is French. Do you write it in English and asked her to translate it?
5. You suspect the cleaning woman is sipping your booze when you're out. Do you mention it to her?
6. You are visiting an unmarried, elderly aunt. On the table is her will. When she is out of the room, do you glance at it?

There you go. Six little problems from the game A Question of Scruples.

Okay? Now the questions. Take your problem and consider:

1. Who will this hurt? Pick out your protagonist/point of view based on who has the most trouble in this situation.
2. What can go wrong? Aha, that's the conflicts! Make a list.
3. What's the larger issue? Go ahead, think about the big scope of your story.
4. Who pays? Who loses what? There's the climax.
   

Grind it out. And you might want to make a little matrix -- secrets or conflicts and characters, to help you see what all is going to happen here.

TECH: Reading for Writing

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Original posting 15 February 2009

Reading like a Writer

Writer's Digest, January 2006, pages 44 and 45, have an article by Linda Busby Parker with the title "Read like a Writer." The point is that you should be learning from writers that you like to read. How do you learn from your reading?

"Observant reading -- the most basic and invaluable route to better your craft -- shouldn't be overlooked." Look for how the author "develops characters, nudges the plot, blends transitions, create suspense and opens our heart."

So you're going to look at how your favorite writers work. If you're like me, you may need to read them at least once just to get past the reading -- I certainly get stuck in reader mode, and forget to watch how they're doing it.

Linda suggests two approaches to looking at plot in your reading. The first is to make note cards, with a card for every plot point. In many stories, you need to include shifts in plots and subplots. Linda recommends including page numbers on each card to let you really go back and look at how this writer put together the storyline. The other approach that Linda suggests is to use highlighters, with one color for each main plot and subplot.

Transition sentences. These are often practically unnoticed in casual reading, but they are keys to how your author ties together the plot and subplots. "How does the author shift from one scene to another?" Stop and take a look at those transition sentences, and how they introduce setting and time and characters. Think about how you could use similar transition sentences.

Character development is the other big thread that you want to study. How does this writer show you their characters? You can use note cards or highlighters, and identify how they've used description, other characters, dialogue, mannerisms, and interior monologue.

The sidebar suggests five other points that you might want to look at in a close reading -- a reading to learn as a writer, rather than simply enjoying the story.

1. Analyze scene handling.
2. Study dialogue
3. How do they establish setting?
4. What conflicts face the main character?
5. How does the novel get resolved?

Fair warning -- this really isn't reading for enjoyment. And sometimes you may find yourself taking apart a book rather than dropping into that reader's zone. But learning can be fun, too.

Exercise? How about picking up that book you know so well. And take a close look at how the writer has constructed it. Look at the beginning scene, the characters, the plot -- and the words and sentences that make that magic happen.

and then write like that!

put some clouds in the sky, maybe a drop of rain, with black letters?