The Place For My Writers Notes

Writer's Digest, December 2006, pages 37-39, has an article by Jordan E. Rosenfeld with the title, "The Novelist's Survival Kit." Jordan starts out with the suggestion that novel writing is like entering a new relationship -- scary, exhilarating, insecure, worrisome. However, he also points out that the major difference is that you control your novel. You create characters and change them, you manipulate the circumstances and plot, you decide everything (do I hear the twilight zone introduction somewhere in the background? We control the horizontal and vertical... :-)

But you need to be prepared for the first draft being less-than-perfect. Just as you don't get acquainted with a person completely instantly, the first run through of a novel is likely to have some rough edges. So how do you set yourself up and keep going? Jordan suggests a survival kit, building blocks, killing your critic, and beating procrastination. Let's look at each of these.

Survival Kit. This is your collection of things that help you feel prepared for the journey and keep you on the path. It starts off with blind faith: "Faith that you have something important to say, that your competent and capable of writing a novel, and if you don't begin now, then when?" He suggest two notebooks -- one small and portable, for jotting down inspirations and notes. The second is larger, and stays at your work place. This is for all the other details. Timelines, character notes, etc. (Some of us might use an electronic version of this!) Next, a reward system. Design it yourself, make it something that you enjoy, and reward yourself for sitting down to write, for completing chunks, for getting things done. Finally, a schedule. Set up times to work, and take it seriously.

Building blocks. Jordan suggests that the key to your novel is two things. 1. Plot: "a sequence of events with consequences that happen to your characters." You might use the narrative arc -- complication, crisis, solution. Complication: set up problems for the characters. Then add consequences and actions. Finally, work to a resolution and close. 2. Characters. You have to have people. You might want to start with a short biographical sketch of the main characters -- what do they look like, what do they want, what are they afraid of?

Killing your critic. Insecurities and criticism are likely to make you stop writing. Don't do it. Set your own goals and responses to the doubts and procrastination and self-criticism.

Beat procrastination. Resistance, tomorrow would be better, and so forth are sneaky and subtle. Some tricks to avoid waiting:

• Reduce research. A little bit of research goes a long way, but letting yourself chase down just a little more information can keep you from ever starting. Write down the questions, do the research when you have to or during your scheduled research time, but keep writing.
• Revision is for second drafts. Trying to get it perfect before you go on often means you never go on. Plan on revising later, and right now get the first draft done.
• Scene blocking. Pick a number between three and 10. That's your horizon -- the number of chapters or perhaps scenes that you're going to look ahead while you're writing. You need to think ahead and write down basic details to string a plot, but you don't need to know every detail of every piece of the whole story. So lay out enough to reach your horizon, then write that much, and then repeat.
• Quantity over quality. Give yourself a word count goal.

And keep writing.

aka Cutting Circles?

Great ARCS, at least. See, as you pound out the words for nanowrimo, sometimes you may want to lift your head and check on the reader. Are you keeping them interested? What's their motivation? I know, I know, it's hard enough to keep track of the characters' goals, motivations, and conflicts, now I'm asking you to think about the readers motivation, too?

Let's keep it simple, okay? Just four little bits -- ARCS! Not the ones you drew in geometry, nor the great circle arcs that we all learned about in geography. No, this is an acronym. Take a look at it this way:

Attention
Relevance
Confidence
Satisfaction

And here's how you can use it. First, get and keep your readers' attention. You know -- fireworks, surprises, hooks, change of pace, and all that jazz! Excitement, thrills, chills -- and maybe a little touch of romance to keep the sighs coming? Right, grab their attention. And keep it focused with questions, complications, suspense, cliffhangers, and all the other twists and turns that you can come up with. Remember that a bored reader won't keep reading -- so toss a firecracker under their feet every now and then, or something!

Second, readers like things that are relevant. We like to identify with the protagonist, and to some extent with other characters. So help the reader understand what the protagonist is doing, and give them a chance to sympathize, to think "I would do the same thing." Let the reader agonize and struggle with problems and complications that the character is facing. Make sure that some of the conflicts and problems are ones that the reader knows. Sure, maybe your protagonist is saving the world from the gray blobs that are eating reality, but your also gets flat tires, struggles with acne and dandruff, and has to wade through oceans of spam to find the urgent e-mail from the president. Don't just have the blobs eating missiles, have one of them eat the litter box -- now your hero (and your readers) have got a real problem, placating the cats. And don't imagine that a shredded newspaper is going to be an acceptable substitute. Make your characters, conflicts, and plot relevant to your readers.

Third, readers like confidence. They like to think they know what kind of a story it is, and that you are playing fair with them. Part of what that means is that if you start out pitching a romance, suddenly switching over to action or mystery or some other genre can be upsetting your readers. Another part of it is how you set the hooks or questions and answer them. First, you don't want to resolve things too fast -- let your readers wonder about the questions or hooks for a little bit -- but you do want to answer some of them as you move along, partly to reassure your readers that you're going to do that. Remember that you want to get their attention and build suspense -- but you also need to show them that you aren't going to just tease them forever. Sometimes I think it's like bouncing a baby -- you can drop them a little bit, but then you have to catch them and give them a hug. If you drop them too far, they get scared. Readers want you to give them little surprises, but also show that you're going to treat them right. Build your readers' confidence -- pose a puzzle, tell them a joke, make them wonder, and then show them that you are going to resolve things -- with a bit of a surprise and flash, but not by dropping them.

Fourth, we all want satisfaction. Payoffs, rewards. Part of the problem with shaggy dog jokes is that they make you think something is going to happen, there must be a reason that this character wants a pink ping pong ball, and then they end. Without a clue. And most of us have a certain homicidal impulse towards the person who dragged that joke out until they could run away. But your story can give those rewards, those payoffs. We want to see good rewarded, we want to see the person who perseveres winning, we want to believe that the world makes sense. And writing lets us give that kind of satisfaction. Your climax, your resolution, your theme provide the reader with satisfaction. Varied types of payoffs, but they are there.

So -- attention, relevance, confidence, satisfaction. ARCS! While you are writing your way around the nanowrimo marathon route, use ARCS to make sure that the readers keep pace with you. Some surprises, something that feels familiar, a little reassurance that we'll like the story, and a resolution that makes the reader glad they read along. Some guidelines for the writing.

tink
(about 800 words)
Swing yo' partner, doh-see-doh . . .