Exercise: The Last Dinner Restaurant

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Original Posting 9 March 2013

Here in Japan, we're about to start a new television season, so of course we're seeing plenty of advertising for upcoming shows. I have to admit I'm not sure if this is a special or a series, although I think it might very well be a series. And I may have misunderstood the commercial. But I think it makes an interesting writing prompt.

You see, apparently the Last Dinner Restaurant has a very exclusive clientele. On one side of the table or the other, one of the parties has recently died. That's right, if you can arrange to have dinner at the Last Dinner Restaurant, when you sit down, you have a chance to talk with the dearly departed.

Think about that. Someone has died. But you get the chance for one last meeting, one last time to talk to them. What do you say? What do you want to find out? What are they likely to say? What kind of a meal do you have?

I think there's another possible scene here, where someone holds out this opportunity, and the main character has to think about whether or not they want to do this. Do you want to have such a last meeting?

One other twist that you might want to throw in – who are the other customers, and just who are they sitting down with?

It's an intriguing premise. Who would use the Last Dinner Restaurant? What would they hope to get out of it, and what would they be most likely to actually get out of it? What kind of a price are they willing to pay for the last dinner?

Go ahead, write about it.

TECH: Archetype Primer Number Two!

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Original Posting 14 March 2013

Nancy Kress in June, July, and August 1997 in Writer's Digest gave a primer on classic plot structures that you can use anywhere you like. In the July issue, on pages 6 to 9, the article is called "What's Your Archetype?" In this one, Nancy describes four more classic structures. She points out that these are "skeletons over which to fashion your individual characters and incidents. An archetypal plot is one so time-honored it has become a classic; a rich story that still seems fresh because it embodies basic truths about human nature." The first five were variations on Harry winning or losing, basically. And here are four other archetypal plots that you might want to use:

1. Chase plot: searching hard for Harry. Someone is chasing someone! You can tell it from the point of view of the pursuers or the pursued, or even alternating. The outcome can be a capture or an escape. And there are plenty of examples. It may be worth noting that chase novels don't have to involve crime, murder, or national security. There are plenty of personal chases and pursuits.

One of the variations is a rescue, where they have to find someone, and then rescue them. This involves three key characters, the pursuer, the pursued, and a victim. Some of the questions that you should think about for a chase:
-- Who is looking for whom?
-- Why are they looking for them?
-- Which point of view are you going to use?
-- Who do you want the reader to sympathize with or identify with?
-- Will the pursuer catch them? How?
-- After the pursued is caught or not, what happens? Will you show this or simply imply it?

2. Quest plot: searching hard for Harry's legacy. Instead of searching for a person, now we're searching for a thing. It may be a specific object, such as the magic flute, buried treasure, something valuable in some way shape or form. In these stories, characters know what they're looking for, have some clues to chase, and often get in each other's way while looking. Plenty of examples of course. Something to consider is whether the object is important in itself, or symbolic? In either case, you need to show why characters are obsessed with this. In fact, some of the questions include:
-- What is being sought? Why?
-- What are the obstacles to finding it?
-- How many different groups are looking for it? Who are they all?
-- Will they find the object? Where? Are the place and object what was expected?
-- Who is going to triumph? How do the other groups react?
-- At the end of the story, where does the object end up?
A closely related quest plot is for a place rather than an object. There are at least two variations on this, one being where looking for and finding the new place is hard, the other being where the place itself is exotic and needs exploration. Be careful with the travelogues, you probably need another plot to go with it. In either case, if your characters are looking for a place, ask yourself:
-- Why do they want to go?
-- What stands in their way?
-- Will you, the author, let them get there?
-- What will they find there? What will it mean to them at that point? How will they cope with it?
-- Do they settle down and stay there, try to go home again, or try to go somewhere else? Can they go back?
Of course, quests can also be searching for something intangible, knowledge, an answer to a question, or something else. An honest man, enlightenment, the good, the true, the beautiful? And along the way, you as author need to think about these questions:
-- Why does the character want this? What's really at stake?
-- What price will he have to pay for it? Is it worth it?
-- What does he plan to do with it when he gets it? What actually happens?
So, we can go on a quest to find the Maltese Falcon, Shangri-La, or the knowledge beyond knowledge. Which one will you pick?

3. Competition plot: Harry versus that other guy! Rivalry and competition, as they fight it out. A lover, a sports championship, control of some kind, wherever there is a winner and losers, you've got the core of the competition plot. Evenly matched or mismatched? Who is going to win? Will it be the underdog? Along the way, ask
-- What is the prize? Make it clearly defined. Why is it worthwhile?
-- Who are the rivals? Why do they each want this?
-- How far will each of them go to win?
-- Who will win, and at what cost?
-- What happens to the rival?

4. Romance plot: Harry is in love! The key to romance is the obstacles between the lovers. Parental disapproval, previous engagements or marriages, class differences, war, revolution, murder... Just about anything and everything can get in the way. There are tons of examples, but that doesn't mean there isn't plenty of room for your story. And to write it, think about:
-- Who are the lovers? Why are they attracted to each other?
-- What obstacle (or obstacles) are keeping them apart?
-- Do they overcome it? How? If they fail, why?
-- How does it end up? Happily ever after or something more or less?

So there are four more archetypal plots to add to your kit. Chasing Harry, a quest for Harry, Harry against someone, and Harry is in love. Poor Harry, he gets run all over the place! And in Nancy's third article, she adds four more classic plots for you to play with. To get the best out of them, just remember...

Write!

EXER: What did happen to him?

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Original Posting 31 March 2013

Poking around at a convenience store near us, I noticed they have underwear for sale. Which prompted this little fragment. Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to add some imagination and see where it goes. Here's the fragment.

Hester watched the man run into her convenience store, look around, and grabbed a package of underwear off the shelf. He brought it to the register and slapped the boxer shorts on the counter.

He grimaced and said, "You would not believe what happened to my underwear."

She lifted an eyebrow. "Oh? What happened?"

There you go. What happened to his underwear? And what happens next? Go ahead, write a bit.

WOW: A novel in 13 weeks?

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Original Posting 4 April 2013

Since I know you are looking for a way to write a novel, you might want to follow this series that I just discovered. It's called Your Novel in Thirteen Weeks, and it's being written by Sarah Hoyt on the PJ Lifestyle pages, somewhere out there in cyberland. Right now they're doing set up kind of pieces, and are on part four. I'll give you the five links (I think they did the programmers' trick of not counting zero, the very first post :-)

http://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2013/02/28/the-thirteen-weeks-novel-writing-program/

http://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2013/03/12/3-questions-to-ask-before-you-write-your-novel-in-13-weeks/

http://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2013/03/19/your-novel-in-13-weeks-part-2-first-you-catch-your-idea/

http://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2013/03/26/your-novel-in-13-weeks-part-3-the-plot-wars/

http://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2013/04/02/your-novel-in-thirteen-weeks-part-4-how-to-find-the-time-for-writing/

An explanation of the program, questions to consider, getting ideas, the ever popular question of plot or pants, and when will I ever have time? Apparently there will be two more preliminary postings, probably, followed by the actual writing a novel in 13 weeks postings. So go ahead and catch up, and then we'll see what happens.

TECH: Million Dollar Outlines? (1)

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Original Posting 12 April 2013

A friend recommended I take a look at this book, I bought it, and since I'm going to be reading it, I thought I would do a "read-along" here on the list. That's where I summarize and comment on what I'm reading, and you can join in, comment, or just ignore it, if that's what makes the most sense.

So! The book is called Million Dollar Outlines. It's by David Farland. Available in Kindle here http://amzn.to/153JfZb . It's not really a book about outlining, although you might get that impression from the title.

The start of the book, the Overview, jumps right into the issue of what kind of a writer you are. After all, outlining -- everybody does outlining, right? But what this book is going to tackle is the question of why some story ideas "hit" better than others. So it's going to dip into the psychology of stories, what makes a good story, and how to make an outline (back to the title!) that really brings out the best of that story.

Oh, and while we're at it -- discovery writer? Just like to dive in and discover what the story is about in the process of writing it? You may not be interested in this book at all. Outliner? Want the whole thing cast in bullet points before you start? Might help, but... Hybrid? Mix up outlining and some free-writing? All right!

What this book offers you, no matter which kind of writer you are, is a way to "recognize and develop those great ideas." And that's something we all need, right?

Organization? Well, stories go through brainstorming, but also get into outlining or other left-brain, logical organizing, right? And the organization of this book goes through:
1. What elements make a bestseller?
2. What elements let you plot your story?
3. Put the plot together!

And Section 1 is called "What makes a bestselling story?" I'll pick up there in a while, but let me jump ahead to the first exercise in this section. I'll quote it here:

"You probably have a good idea about what you want to write -- horror, mainstream, fantasy, historical, romance, Westerns, religious fiction, and what not. Sit down for 10 minutes and list five things that you feel you most like in the fiction you read. Then list the biggest potential danger you see in trying to create that effect.

Doing this exercise will help you understand who your potential audience is, and some of the challenges you may face in reaching that audience."

There you go. Something to work on. Feel free to get a copy of the book and read ahead.

EXERCISE: It was just a wink

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Just for fun, here's a beginning line that you can use for a story, or maybe a poetry, or whatever.

He knew they were in trouble when the face in the fire winked at them.

There you go. Who are these people, and just where is this fire? Franklin stove, household hearth, campground fire pit, or perhaps somewhere else? And then, of course, there's that face. And it winked at them?

Fill in a little bit more of the setting, perhaps add a dash of backstory, and then tell us what happens.

EXERCISE: What will have happened this decade?

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Original posting 25 April 2013

There's a reason for that grammatical oddity...

There was a strange ad on TV recently. Basically, the camera panned around a table with four men sitting on it. Over their heads, labels lit up -- 20 years, 30 years, 40 years, 50 years. It was the same man, although the clothing, hair, and wrinkles changed a little bit. And the men talked to each other about their life. I think the point of the commercial was to buy insurance, oddly enough, but I was left wondering...

What if a person had an opportunity every 10 years to sit down for one hour or some other brief time to talk to themselves at various ages? So on your 10th birthday, at the witching hour, you find yourself sitting at the table with yourself at all these other ages. What, if any, advice or questions would you share? It's a bit like the dilemma that Cassandra and others supposedly faced, knowing the future, what do you say? I suppose reassuring yourself that you will make it through your teen years might be a good idea... Oh, and stay away from disco?

Go ahead, take a character and have them sit down at the table with themselves... Except separated by some period of time. What do they have to say to each other?

Write!

EXERCISE: Five similes!

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Original Posting 30 April 2013

We haven't done one of these in a while. I have a bookcase here in my office with an assortment of odds and ends. Among them is a kind of fat little paperback with the beguiling title of "Falser Than a Weeping Crocodile and Other Similes" by Elyse Sommer and Mike Sommer. And flipping the pages, we might find something like:

A small, plump woman, with her waist cinctured in sternly, like a cushion with a noose around it. -- John Cheever

(Eyes) glittered like a string of Christmas tree icicles -- Donald McCaig

Tuneless and atonal, like the improvised songs of children caught up in frantic play -- Robert Silverberg

Grunting taxicabs... wallowing yellowly in the bright sun like panting porkers -- Harvey Swados

Surprised as a sardine that went to sleep in the ocean and woke up in a delicatessen store -- Arthur Baer

There you go. Five little similes. Feel free to pick one and do something with it, take all five and roll them up in your own confection, or maybe just play with the images, feelings, and so forth. Story, poetry, even essayry (whoops, that's not a word!).

Just write!