tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-319250962011-11-26T02:06:56.860-05:00Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.comBlogger651100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-58791979749994447932011-11-08T00:00:00.000-05:002011-11-07T23:54:00.082-05:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyuI/AAAAAAAAA6s/kMRdMM7cDK0/s1600-h/51QHFS7MACL__AA240_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyuI/AAAAAAAAA6s/kMRdMM7cDK0/s200/51QHFS7MACL__AA240_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392610" /></a>Today we are continuing editing lessons from the book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0062700618/">Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King</a>.<br /><br />These lessons will be shortened overviews of the chapters and by no means should be a substitute for buying the book. I'm rereading but not posting a lot of good stuff!<br /><br />Let's continue. We've been working on Dialogue Mechanics.<br /><br />Here are some dialogue faux pas...<br /><br /><i><b>"I hate to admit that," he grimaced. </b></i><br /><br /><i><b>"Come closer," she smiled.</b></i><br /><br /><i><b>"So you've changed your mind," he chuckled.</b></i><br /><br />To use verbs like these three for speaker attributions is to brand yourself as an amateur...And to stick your character with an action that is physically impossible. No one outside of hack fiction has ever been able to grimace or smile or chuckle a sentence!<br /><br />We're all in favor of choosing exactly the right verb for the action, but when you're writing speaker attributions the right verb is nearly always <em>said</em>.<br /><br />The reason those well-intentioned attempts at variety don't work is that verbs other than <em>said</em> tend to draw attention away from the dialogue.<br /><br />There are other ways to keep your speaker attributions transparent. Don't open a paragraph of dialogue with the speaker attribution. Instead, start a paragraph with dialogue and place the speaker attribution at the first natural break in the first sentence. ("I disagree," he said. "Plungers have...)<br /><br />Place the character's name or pronoun first in a speaker attribution ("Dave said"). Reversing the two ("said Dave"), though often done, is less professional. It has a slightly old-fashioned, first-grade-reader flavor ("Run spot, run" said Jane.)<br /><br />After all, "said he" fell out of favor sometime during the Taft administration...LOL!<br /><br /><strong>CHECKLIST:</strong><br /><br />First check your dialogue for explanations. It may help to take a highlighter and mark every place where an emotion is mentioned outside of dialogue.<br /><br />Cut the explanations and see how the dialogue reads without them. Better? Worse? If it's worse, then start rewriting your dialogue.<br /><br />As long as you have your highlighter out, mark every <em>-ly</em> adverb. How many are there? How many of them are based on an adjective describing an emotion? You can probably do without most of them.<br /><br />How about your speaker attributions? Any physical impossibilities? Any verbs other than said? Remember though, there are occasional exceptions, even innocuous verbs like <em>replied</em> or <em>answered</em> lack the unobtrusiveness of <em>said</em>.<br /><br />Can you get rid of some of your speaker attributions entirely? Just drop them and see if it's still clear who is speaking.<br /><br />Have you started a paragraph with a speaker attribution?<br /><br />Name before noun ("Renni said") rather than the other way around ("said Renni")?<br /><br />Have you referred to a character more than one way in the same scene (using different forms of their name)?<br /><br />Ellipses for gaps, dashes for interruptions, right? (I'm very bad at this one, right Mimi?)<br /><br />How often have you paragraphed your dialogue? Try paragraphing a little more often and see how it reads.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-5879197974999444793?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-31459792630429369442011-11-07T17:00:00.000-05:002011-11-07T23:52:49.044-05:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyuI/AAAAAAAAA6s/kMRdMM7cDK0/s1600-h/51QHFS7MACL__AA240_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyuI/AAAAAAAAA6s/kMRdMM7cDK0/s200/51QHFS7MACL__AA240_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392610" /></a>Today we are continuing editing lessons from the book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0062700618/">Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King</a>.<br /><br />These lessons will be shortened overviews of the chapters and by no means should be a substitute for buying the book. I'm rereading but not posting a lot of good stuff!<br /><br />Let's continue. Today we'll be working on Dialogue Mechanics.<br /><br />A quick review of yesterday reveals that if you're like most beginning writers, you write sentences like, "You can't be serious," she said in astonishment.<br /><br />And you probably write them without thinking! What could be easier than simply to tell your readers how a character feels? If she is astonished, you just say so. It saves time and trouble!<br /><br />It's also lazy writing. When your dialogue is well written, describing your characters' emotions to your readers is just as patronizing as a playwright running onto the stage and explaining things to the audience!<br /><br />If your dialogue isn't well written--if it needs the explanation to convey the emotion--then the explanation really won't help.<br /><br />Perhaps it's a lack of confidence on the writer's part, perhaps it's simple laziness, or perhaps it's a misguided attempt to break up the monotony of using the unadorned <em>said</em> all the time, but all too many fiction writers tend to pepper their dialogue with -<em>ly's.</em><br /><br />Which is a good enough reason to cut virtually every one you write.<br /><br /><em>Ly</em> adverbs almost always catch the writer in the act of explaining dialogue--smuggling emotions into speaker attributions that belong in the dialogue itself. Again, if your dialogue doesn't need the props, putting the props in will make it seem weak even when it isn't.<br /><br />There are a few exceptions to this principle, and almost all of them are adverbs that actually modify the verb <em>said</em>, such as "he said softly" or "she said clearly."<br /><br />To be continued...<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-3145979263042936944?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-68701044703271111422011-11-07T01:34:00.000-05:002011-11-07T23:51:05.598-05:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyuI/AAAAAAAAA6s/kMRdMM7cDK0/s1600-h/51QHFS7MACL__AA240_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyuI/AAAAAAAAA6s/kMRdMM7cDK0/s200/51QHFS7MACL__AA240_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392610" /></a>Today we are continuing editing lessons from the book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0062700618/">Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King</a>.<br /><br />These lessons will be shortened overviews of the chapters and by no means should be a substitute for buying the book. I'm rereading but not posting a lot of good stuff!<br /><br />Let's continue. Today we'll start Dialogue Mechanics. I just recently learned that one of the first things an acquisitions editor looks for when they begin reading a fiction submission, is the dialogue!<br /><br />If you're like most writers, you probably find that writing dialogue takes more thought than writing narration or action. And because it's such hard work, generations of writers have developed mechanical tricks to save them the trouble of writing dialogue that effectively conveys character and emotion...Techniques to prop up shaky dialogue, or to paper over holes and make second-rate dialogue serviceable without a lot of effort.<br /><br />Once you learn to spot these creaky mechanics, all you have to do is stop using them. And once you stop, you may find that your dialogue...standing on its own...is a lot stronger than you thought it was when you wrote it.<br /><br />Imagine that your at a play. It's the middle of the first act: you're getting really involved in the drama they're acting out. Suddenly the playwright runs out on the stage and yells, "Do you see what's happening here? So you see how her coldness is behind his infidelity? Have you noticed the way his womanizing has undermined her confidence? Do you get it?"<br /><br />You get it, of course, and you feel patronized. You're an intelligent theater-goer, and what's happening on the stage is clear enough. You don't need the writer to explain it to you.<br /><br />This is exactly what happens when you explain your dialogue to your readers.<br /><br />To be continued...<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-6870104470327111142?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-39797744567600549572011-07-22T02:08:00.004-04:002011-09-15T12:11:59.617-04:00I have joined in recent discussions about writing aids, and my favorite...besides Randy Ingermanson's <a href="http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/info/snowflake_pro/index.php">Snowflake Pro</a> software, is Microsoft's <a href="http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/onenote/">OneNote</a>.<br /><br />If you already own OneNote but have never explored it, try these videos:<br /><br />This is for version 2010...<br /><object width="420" height="269"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/8ia2-9NFEl8?version=3&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8ia2-9NFEl8?version=3&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="420" height="269" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object><br /><br />And here is a <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/education/en-us/products/Pages/onenote2010.aspx">Microsoft Tutorial for 2010</a>.<br /><br />This is for version 2007...<br /><object width="420" height="345"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/tiEbBF-Lr1E?version=3&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/tiEbBF-Lr1E?version=3&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="420" height="345" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object><br /><br />And here is the <a href="http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/onenote-help/get-started-with-microsoft-office-onenote-2007-HA010032521.aspx">Microsoft Tutorial for 2007</a>.<br /><br />Go learn...and more on this later.<br /><br /><img alt=Sig src="http://bonniescalhoun.com/Front-BonnieSCalhoun_sig.png" width=152 height=50><div id="fb-root"></div><script>(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;} js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#appId=134068980025096&xfbml=1"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));</script><br /><div class="fb-like" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/bonniescalhounsnarkandsuspense" data-send="false" data-layout="button_count" data-width="450" data-show-faces="false"></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-3979774456760054957?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-38484367225305241872011-07-02T10:54:00.004-04:002011-09-15T12:10:59.768-04:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-d-GOJ3Ck5jQ/Tg7BbTX084I/AAAAAAAAD8Q/c8X48tuzz2I/s1600/spreadsheet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-d-GOJ3Ck5jQ/Tg7BbTX084I/AAAAAAAAD8Q/c8X48tuzz2I/s1600/spreadsheet.jpg" /></a></div>I was turned on to this great post today over at Seth Godin's <a href="http://www.thedominoproject.com/2011/06/a-spreadsheet-for-the-self-published.html/">The Domino Project</a>. If you haven't been reading him...you are missing out on a marketing genius!<br /><br />Anyway, he did this post on Jenny Blake. She's an author and Googler, and another of the marketing extraordinaires. She created a system to track the hundreds of action items involved in a book launch. I'm serious! This spread sheet rocks. I probably have thought of a lot of these things but I didn't have them in one handy spot.<br /><br />She has created to forms of it. One form is that she has uploaded it to <a href="http://bit.ly/BookMarketingSpreadsheet">Google Docs</a> where you can fill it out and keep it with your other doc. Or you can download it as an <a href="http://bit.ly/BookMarketingExcel">Excel spreadsheet</a>.<br /><br />There is an explanation page that tells you how she uses it, and then a page to give you ideas for all the different devices that she offers. There are a myriad of pages of info and you may not use them all...but I only found two of the pages that I didn't need...at this time :-)<br /><br />Enjoy!<br /><br /><img alt="Sig" height="50" src="http://bonniescalhoun.com/Front-BonnieSCalhoun_sig.png" width="152" /><div id="fb-root"></div><script>(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;} js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#appId=134068980025096&xfbml=1"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));</script><br /><div class="fb-like" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/bonniescalhounsnarkandsuspense" data-send="false" data-layout="button_count" data-width="450" data-show-faces="false"></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-3848436722530524187?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-16502357478812308402011-05-04T11:53:00.002-04:002011-09-15T12:12:29.739-04:00<div align="left"><object align="middle" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0" height="250" id="rss_reader" width="200"> <param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="false" /><param name="movie" value="http://quickanddirtytips.com/widgets/qdt_masterfeed.swf?whichQD=grammar" /><param name="quality" value="high" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://quickanddirtytips.com/widgets/qdt_masterfeed.swf?whichQD=grammar" width="200" height="250" align="middle" quality="high" name="http://quickanddirtytips.com/widgets/qdt_masterfeed.swf?whichQD=grammar" allowScriptAccess="always" allowFullScreen="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" wmode="transparent" /> </object></div>Check out this great post on Active and Passive voice from the Grammar Girl!<br /><br /><a href="http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/active-voice-versus-passive-voice.aspx">Active vs Passive Voice</a>.<br /><br />There is actually a place to use passive voice in fiction writing, but the thing I learned is that passive voice is actually recommended for Scientific writing. They say it adds objectivity...do tell :-)<br /><br /><img alt="Sig" height="50" src="http://bonniescalhoun.com/Front-BonnieSCalhoun_sig.png" width="152" /><div id="fb-root"></div><script>(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;} js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#appId=134068980025096&xfbml=1"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));</script><br /><div class="fb-like" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/bonniescalhounsnarkandsuspense" data-send="false" data-layout="button_count" data-width="450" data-show-faces="false"></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-1650235747881230840?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-31869772143698456472011-04-26T15:58:00.001-04:002011-09-15T12:12:49.905-04:001) The bandage was wound around the wound. <br /><br />2) The farm was used to produce produce . <br /><br />3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.<br /><br />4) We must polish the Polish furniture.<br /><br />5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.<br /><br />6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.<br /><br />7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to<br />present the present <br /><br />8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.<br /><br />9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.<br /><br />10) I did not object to the object. <br /><br />11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid. <br /><br />12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row ...<br /><br />13) They were too close to the door to close it. <br /><br />14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.<br /><br />15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.<br /><br />16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.<br /><br />17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail. <br /><br />18) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.<br /><br />19) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests. <br /><br />20) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend? <br /><br /><img alt=Sig src="http://bonniescalhoun.com/Front-BonnieSCalhoun_sig.png" width=152 height=50><div id="fb-root"></div><script>(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;} js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#appId=134068980025096&xfbml=1"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));</script><br /><div class="fb-like" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/bonniescalhounsnarkandsuspense" data-send="false" data-layout="button_count" data-width="450" data-show-faces="false"></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-3186977214369845647?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-50581533962281072002011-03-29T23:39:00.002-04:002011-09-15T12:13:52.670-04:00I was speaking at a conference this past weekend in San Diego, and I offered help with making industry contacts. For the world of me I couldn't locate the informational data I was trying to find. Now that I have located it in the myriad of files I have, I decided to post it here so that I can't misplace it again!<br /><br />This PDF is a fabulous layout for a non-fiction book proposal that Mike Hyatt created quite a few years ago. Regardless of its age, the concept and layout are valid today. (It's amazing how, the more things change, the more they remain the same!)<br /><br />Granted, your agent (if you have one) may have a different format for you to use. But that's fine! Go with what the agent gives you. They are the ones directing your career. But for those that don't have an agent for advice, this is a great and professional way to lay it out.<br /><br />Mike Hyatt gives a great bit of advice as you read through it: "Remember, your proposal may be the only opportunity you will have to sell yourself and your concept to the publisher. Make every word count. Make certain that you come across well. First impressions make for lasting impressions."<br /><br />You can download "Writing A Winning Book Proposal by Mike Hyatt" <a href="http://bonniescalhoun.com/hyatt-proposal.pdf" target="_blank">HERE</a>.<br /><br /><img alt=Sig src="http://bonniescalhoun.com/Front-BonnieSCalhoun_sig.png" width=152 height=50> <div id="fb-root"></div><script>(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;} js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#appId=134068980025096&xfbml=1"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));</script> <div class="fb-like" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/bonniescalhounsnarkandsuspense" data-send="false" data-layout="button_count" data-width="450" data-show-faces="false"></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-5058153396228107200?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-31994686057593739742010-12-10T15:03:00.000-05:002010-12-10T15:03:28.339-05:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_m32TlugOPkM/TQKHgQtfZ6I/AAAAAAAADx0/l_9ZxtL_-AM/s1600/map.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_m32TlugOPkM/TQKHgQtfZ6I/AAAAAAAADx0/l_9ZxtL_-AM/s200/map.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Amazon announced today that Nielson BookScan is now available to authors who use Amazon's <a href="https://authorcentral.amazon.com/">Author Central</a>. You can read the full article <a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2010/12/amazon-gives-nielsen-bookscan-to-authors.html">HERE</a>.<br /><br />This is a marketing boon to authors because up until now they had to wait until they got their quarterly statement from their publisher to see how many books they had sold, and the data was often out-of-date. Now with this new tool, authors can see where they are selling to focus their marketing efforts.<br /><br />When you sign up at Author Central it will ask for your books so that you can "claim" them, and to add additional books just click on one that is already on your list. Data on new books takes about 5-days to get into your account.<br /><br /><br />by<span style="font-size: 130%;"> <span style="color: maroon; font-family: times new roman;"><b><i>Bonnie S. Calhoun</i></b></span></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-3199468605759373974?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-61430502062376582012010-07-03T23:33:00.005-04:002010-10-16T19:26:18.275-04:00Train yourself to use better action verbs rather than those pesky "ly" verbs that seem to pop up when we really don't know what to use.<br /><table border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" style="width: 470px;"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td width="153"><b>For "walked" <br />or "ran"</b> <br />lumbered <br />plodded <br />scurried <br />sidled <br />slinked/slunk <br />proceeded <br />wended <br />scuttled <br />went on his way <br />shuffled <br />scuffed <br />scuffled <br />stumbled <br />shambled <br />waddled <br />wobbled <br />scooted <br />slouched <br />scrambled <br />scampered <br />minced <br />trotted <br />strolled <br />sauntered <br />ambled <br />marched <br />stepped <br />paced <br />roamed <br />roved <br />meandered <br />shadowed <br />pursued <br />trekked <br />continued on <br />drifted past/along <br />strayed <br />glided along <br />strode <br />stalked <br />stomped <br />strutted <br />swished <br />swaggered <br />stamped <br />tramped <br />trudged <br />traipsed <br />trod/treaded/trodden limped <br />hobbled <br />lurched <br />staggered <br />tripped <br />crawled <br />crossed <br />traversed <br />inched across <br />hurtled <br />galloped <br />charged <br />darted <br />advanced <br />approached <br />bushwhacked <br />chased <br />climbed <br />crept along, crept away <br />sneaked/snuck <br />tiptoed <br />stepped lightly <br />pussyfooted <br />dashed <br />danced <br />pranced <br />descended <br />ascended <br />dodged <br />edged <br />eluded <br />emerged <br />entered <br />evacuated <br />escaped <br />evaded <br />fled <br />flitted <br />flew <br />hauled off <br />groped his way <br />launched across <br />scaled <br />lunged <br />moved <br />paraded <br />passed <br />patrolled <br />plowed <br />prowled <br />propelled <br />pursued <br />raced <br />sailed <br />rushed <br />sidestepped <br />skidded <br />skipped <br />stole <br />stomped <br />steered <br />swerved <br />veered <br />listed <br />trampled <br />ushered <br />waded <br />wandered <br />hiked <br />withdrew <br />ambulated <br />perambulated <br />absconded <br />trailed after <br />bolted <br />tore <br />tore along <br />made rapid strides <br />covered ground <br />sprinted <br />careered <br />scudded <br />hastened <br />raced <br />hurried <br />jogged <br />cantered <br />loped <br />tripped <br />took flight <br />decamped<br />drifted<br /><br /><b>For "reacted"</b> <br />reeled back <br />rocked back <br />flushed <br />blanched <br />blushed <br />scowled <br />nodded her consent <br />nodded his agreement <br />smiled <br />grinned <br />grimaced <br />fell silent <br />shrugged and said <br />admitted with a nod <br />shook his head <br />beamed <br />smirked <br />simpered <br />listed <br />tilted <br />swayed <br />keeled over <br />flinched <br />shivered <br />sniffed <br />blinked <br />retracted <br />sighed <br />exhaled <br />inhaled <br />flicked <br />flung <br />reclined <br />shifted <br />relaxed <br />swallowed <br />pouted <br />looked + adj. <br />yielded <br />hesitated <br />made no attempt to <br />frowned <br />made no answer <br />fell silent <br />paused <br />stared <br />gasped <br />started <br />startled <br />slackened <br />reclined <br />drew back <br />stepped back <br />stiffened <br />resisted <br />retreated <br />raised an eyebrow <br />cocked her head to one side <br />put her head to one side <br />tilted her head <br />chuckled <br />yawned <br />laughed <br />snickered <br />giggled <br />stifled a yawn <br />stifled a laugh <br />took a deep breath <br />glanced off <br />glared <br />shrugged <br />devoid of emotion <br />grinned <br />sneered<br /><br /><b>For "said"</b> <br />uttered <br />mumbled <br />drawled <br />parroted <br />echoed <br />said half-aloud <br />snarled <br />blurted <br />moaned <br />muttered <br />murmured <br />cooed <br />whispered <br />crooned <br />hollered <br />shrilled <br />sassed <br />prompted <br />questioned <br />demanded <br />queried <br />replied <br />suggested <br />responded <br />sang out <br />scoffed <br />screamed <br />yelled <br />yelped <br />shouted <br />inquired <br />chirped <br />squealed <br />squeaked <br />asked herself <br />asked <br />assured <br />commanded <br />cried out <br />exclaimed <br />advised <br />announced <br />growled <br />stuttered <br />stammered <br />instructed <br />told <br />jeered <br />scolded <br />lamented <br />mocked <br />objected <br />questioned <br />roared <br />speculated <br />snapped <br />spat <br />stated <br />whined <br />jabbered <br />prated <br />prattled <br />gibbered <br />cackled <br />gabbled <br />sputtered <br />blathered <br />rambled on <br />rattled on <br />maundered <br />digressed <br />sermonized <br />preached <br />came out with <br />declaimed <br />pontificated <br />harangued <br />ranted <br />rhapsodized <br />gushed <br />spouted <br />let slip <br />enlightened him <br />pointed out <br />chatted <br />revealed <br />boasted <br />crowed <br />vaunted <br />bragged <br />disparaged <br />belittled <br />notified <br />addressed <br />blabbed <br />nattered <br />bantered <br />yakked <br />whispered <br />wondered aloud <br />rejoined <br />retorted <br />replied <br />recited <br />repeated <br />remarked <br />came out with <br />conveyed <br />declared <br />summoned <br />imparted <br />mentioned <br />added <br />put before <br />revealed <br />let out <br />divulged <br />disclosed <br />made known <br />vented <br />aired <br />breathed <br />betrayed <br />recited <br />predicted <br />advanced <br />averred <br />avowed <br />avouched <br />assumed <br />imagined <br />professed <br />claimed <br />purported <br />insinuated <br />cited <br />named <br />offered <br />proposed <br />pleaded <br />imputed <br />implied <br />asserted <br />expressed <br />pledged <br />ascribed <br />affirmed <br />professed <br />admitted </td> <td width="163"><b>For "jumped"</b> <br />vaulted <br />leapt/leaped <br />pounced <br />startled <br />flinched <br />sprang <br />lunged <br />launched <br />jerked <br />jolted <br />erupted <br />exploded <br />shot from <br /><br /><b>For "took"</b> <br />drew <br />withdrew <br />pulled out a <br />picked <br />selected <br />chose <br />plucked <br />removed <br />snatched out <br />scooped up <br />rooted out <br />snatched <br />trapped <br />took up <br />raised <br />picked up <br />hoisted <br />set upright <br />elevated <br />seized <br />prized open <br />wrenched <br />wrested <br />produced <br />extracted <br />extricated <br />accepted <br />fetched <br />grabbed <br />snitched <br />took hold of <br />jimmied <br />gathered <br />grasped <br />gripped <br />fingered <br />nabbed <br />packed <br />ransacked <br />appropriated <br />swiped <br />snared <br />dragged <br />acquired <br />obtained <br />gained <br />procured <br />garnered <br />gleaned <br />pilfered <br />lowered <br />took down <br />tore down <br />swapped<br /><br /><b>For "pulled"</b> <br />pulled out <br />removed <br />took out <br />extracted <br />produced <br />tugged <br />extricated <br />lugged <br />drew <br />dragged <br />yanked <br /><br /><b>For "pushed"</b> <br />propelled <br />ballasted <br />set in motion <br />drove <br />trundled <br />shoved <br />thrust <br />pressed forward <br />made one's way <br />squeezed through <br />roused <br />prompted <br />forged ahead<br /><br /><b>For "put"</b> <br />stashed <br />placed <br />posed <br />posited <br />plunked down <br />mounted <br />positioned <br />stationed <br />set before <br />dropped <br />crammed <br />stuffed <br />stuck <br />lodged <br />plopped <br />plunked <br />parked <br />stationed <br />planted <br />perched <br />inserted <br />lay <br />set <br />set upright <br />stood on end <br />upended <br />deposited <br />consigned <br />relegated <br />strapped <br />tossed <br />threw <br />flung <br />lobbed <br />hurled <br />heaved <br />cast <br />slapped onto <br />draped <br />dunked <br />eased <br />shifted <br />interposed <br />installed<br /><br /><b>For "looked, saw"</b> <br />glared <br />glanced off <br />regarded <br />made out <br />descried <br />remarked <br />had in sight <br />glowered <br />squinted <br />shot him a look <br />fixed her with a stare <br />sighted <br />ogled <br />cast a glance <br />his eyes begged her to amplify <br />gazed <br />gaped <br />spotted <br />surveyed <br />turned an eye on <br />looked upon <br />distinguished <br />fixed her gaze on <br />noted <br />recognized <br />identified <br />took a look <br />took a glance <br />stared <br />leered <br />scowled <br />scanned <br />peered <br />squinted <br />gaped <br />noticed <br />observed <br />considered <br />watched <br />viewed <br />took in <br />studied <br />examined <br />inspected <br />scrutinized <br />perused <br />sized up <br />took stock of <br />skimmed <br />glanced through <br />flipped through <br />perceived <br />discerned <br />beheld <br />watched for <br />looked on <br />eyed <br />detected <br />contemplated <br />kept in sight <br />held in view <br />stood guard <br />kept watch <br />monitored <br /><br /><b>For "thought, remembered"</b> <br />wondered <br />asked herself <br />pondered <br />noticed <br />reflected <br />struck her as <br />entertained the notion <br />held in one's mind <br />It occurred to her <br />It came to her <br />realized <br />knew <br />she considered. <br />she considered this. <br />he was tempted to <br />brought to mind <br />he was taken with the idea that <br />she reasoned <br />understood <br />considered <br />went over <br />reviewed <br />pictured <br />featured <br />imagined <br />pretended <br />hoped <br />feared <br />envisioned <br />deliberated <br />envisaged <br />called up <br />conjured up <br />conceived of <br />fancied <br />allowed the conceit <br />judged <br />suspected <br />intended <br />expected <br />planned <br />concentrated <br />mused <br />ruminated <br />recalled <br />mulled over <br />brooded over <br />projected <br />anticipated <br />concluded <br />esteemed <br />took heed <br />kept in mind <br />guessed <br />supposed <br />formed an image of <br />conjured <br />hatched <br />fabricated <br />fashioned <br />formulated <br />concocted <br />reasoned that <br />turned it over in her mind <br />flirted with the idea <br />recollected <br />bore in mind <br />deduced <br />inferred <br />thought back to <br />put her in mind of <br />called to mind <br />reminded her of <br />acknowledged <br />weighed <br />reconsidered <br />thought better of <br /><br /><b>For "felt, seemed, showed, looked like"</b> <br />sensed <br />had the impression <br />understood <br />detected <br />seemed <br />appeared <br />betrayed <br />indicated <br />betokened <br />foretokened <br />revealed <br />bespoke <br />suggested <br />signified <br />connoted <br />hinted at <br />alluded to <br />implied <br />intimated <br />presaged <br />portended <br />forewarned <br />disclosed <br />displayed <br />lay open <br />made manifest <br />exposed <br />bared <br />struck her as <br />looked as if <br />looked like <br />had the look of <br />had every appearance of <br />had the earmarks of <br />resembled <br />sounded like <br />exhibited <br />evidenced <br />showed <br />manifested <br />emblematic of </td> <td width="123"><b>For "touched"</b> <br />clutched <br />pawed <br />gripped <br />grasped <br />took hold of <br />adjusted <br />felt <br />manipulated <br />maneuvered <br />twiddled <br />palpated <br />palmed <br />handled <br />thumbed <br />rummaged through <br />caressed <br />fondled <br />stroked <br />grazed <br />rubbed <br />tugged <br />squeezed <br />scratched <br />pinched <br />patted <br />tapped <br />tamped <br />rapped <br />brushed <br />bedaubed <br />dappled <br />dabbed <br />swept across <br />scraped <br />glanced <br />alighted <br />pressed <br />wrung <br />kneaded <br />shoved <br />gouged <br />grazed <br />prodded <br />ticked <br />trapped <br />jabbed <br />poked <br />pressed <br />probed <br />goaded <br />twisted <br />wedged <br />pried <br />prized open <br />pry/pried <br />pulled <br />pushed <br />primped <br />preened <br />rattled <br />pumped <br />mangled <br />massaged <br />felt <br />flattened <br />smoothed <br />scooped up <br />flicked <br />flipped <br />flogged <br />fondled <br />groped <br />handled <br />held <br />knifed <br />mauled <br />tapped <br />drummed <br />wiggled <br />worked <br />stubbed <br />scoured <br />scrubbed <br /><br /><b>For "had, held"</b> <br />bore <br />exhibited <br />showed <br />displayed <br />betrayed <br />wielded <br />carried <br />was furnished with <br />contained <br />wore <br />sported <br />spanned <br />suspended <br />grasped <br />gripped <br />clutched <br />contained <br />toted <br />possessed <br />retained <br />embraced <br />evinced <br /><br /><b>For "hit"</b> <br />beat <br />socked <br />bumped <br />clapped <br />thumped <br />lashed <br />pummeled <br />punched <br />rammed <br />crashed <br />thwacked <br />slapped <br />smacked <br />pumped <br />impacted <br />attacked <br />hacked <br />swiped <br />swung <br />trounced <br />tackled<br /><br /><b>For "was, were"</b> <br />stood <br />sat <br />took up <br />perched <br />lay <br />hung <br />took place <br />contained <br />spanned <br />loomed <br />occupied <br />remained <br />stayed <br />persisted <br />befell (happened) <br />bechanced <br />occurred <br />happened <br /><b>For "sat"</b> <br />slumped <br />eased into <br />lowered himself <br />sank into <br />sat himself <br />was seated <br />plopped down <br />crouched <br />squatted <br />hunkered down <br />roosted <br />perched <br />settled <br />straddled <br />sat astride <br />sat bestride <br />reposed <br />leaned <br />reclined <br />lolled <br />lounged <br />sprawled <br />lodged <br /><br /><b>For "stood"</b> <br />got to his feet <br />jumped up <br />rose <br />rose to his feet <br />got up <br />remained upright <br />held herself erect <br />stationed herself <br /><br /><b>For "smelled"</b> <br />got scent of <br />sensed <br />sniffed <br />detected <br />snuffled <br />snorted <br />inhaled <br />scented <br />snuffed <br />breathed in <br />savored <br />perceived <br />discerned <br />reeked <br />stunk <br />assaulted the nostrils <br /><br /><b>For "tasted, drank"</b> <br />savored <br />relished <br />nibbled at <br />tried <br />sipped <br />gulped <br />took a deep swallow <br />chewed <br />ingested <br />ruminated <br />sampled <br />sank his teeth into <br />bit into <br />crunched <br />melted <br />licked <br />slurped <br />chugged <br />smacked <br />suckled <br />sucked <br />swigged <br />swilled <br />chomped <br />ground <br />munched <br />gnawed <br />rended <br />quaffed <br />imbibed <br />tippled <br />nipped <br />supped <br />drained <br />washed down <br />swilled down <br />guzzled down <br />lapped up <br />soused <br />quenched <br /><br /><b>For "heard"</b> <br />overheard <br />caught <br />detected <br />picked up <br />perceived <br />apprehended <br />eavesdropped <br />listened <br />listened in <br />gathered <br />heard tell of <br />strained her ears <br />harked <br />harkened <br />attended to <br />took heed of <br />took in <br />gave audience to <br />gave an ear to <br />lent an ear to <br />heard him out <br />within earshot <br />out of earshot <br /><br /><b>For "lie down, lay"</b> <br />reclined <br />eased onto <br />flopped onto <br />lay prone <br />lolled <br />luxuriated <br />lay prostrate <br />lay recumbent <br />lay back <br />rested <br />reposed <br />lazed <br />sprawled <br />lounged <br />slouched <br />slumped <br /><br /><b>For "entered"</b> <br />stepped inside <br />went in <br />came in <br />sailed in <br />burst in <br />set foot in/on <br />broke in <br />forced her way in <br />intruded <br />penetrated <br />passed into <br /><br /><b>For "left, exited"</b> <br />ran off <br />walked off <br />went out <br />departed <br />retreated <br />decamped <br />deserted <br />repaired <br />retired <br />withdrew <br />quit <br />took off <br />fled <br />sallied forth <br />bowed her way out <br /><br /><b>For "turned"</b> <br />wheeled around <br />twisted to one side <br />whirled about <br />rotated <br />spun on her heels <br />pivoted <br />revolved <br />swiveled <br />reeled <br />trundled <br />circled <br />eddied <br />swirled <br />sheered <br />veered <br />shifted <br />divagated <br />angled off <br />shunted </td> </tr></tbody></table>This list came by the courtesy of Deanna Carlyle at <a href="http://deannacarlyle.com/">deannacarlyle.com</a><br /><br />by<span style="font-size: 130%;"> <span style="color: maroon; font-family: times new roman;"><b><i>Bonnie S. Calhoun</i></b></span></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-6143050206237658201?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-36030792908042204172010-03-24T11:29:00.000-04:002010-03-24T11:29:53.226-04:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_m32TlugOPkM/S6ov0YUuVoI/AAAAAAAADZ8/u4-bnvqCJnM/s1600/hell_skull.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_m32TlugOPkM/S6ov0YUuVoI/AAAAAAAADZ8/u4-bnvqCJnM/s320/hell_skull.jpg" /></a></div>A fiction writer died and was given the option of going to heaven or hell. She decided to check out each place first.<br /><br />As she descended into the fiery pits, she saw row upon row of writers chained to their desks in a steaming sweatshop. As they worked, they were repeatedly whipped with thorny lashes."Oh my," she cried. "Let me see heaven now."<br /><br />A few moments later, as she ascended into heaven and saw rows of writers, chained to their desks in a steaming sweatshop. As they worked, they, too, were whipped with thorny lashes.<br /><br />"Wait a minute," cried the novelist. "This is just as bad as hell!"<br /><br />"Oh no, it's not," replied an unseen voice. "Here, your work gets published."<br /><br />by<span style="font-size: 130%;"> <span style="color: maroon; font-family: times new roman;"><b><i>Bonnie Calhoun</i></b></span></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-3603079290804220417?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-87670223434843046652009-07-22T00:35:00.006-04:002010-07-03T22:47:35.073-04:00<img hspace="8" src="http://bonniescalhoun.com/animations/3_8_14.gif" style="float: left;" vspace="8" />I know, I know...just the thought of writing a One Sheet can cause most normally sane people to reach for a hammer in a futile attempt to destroy their computers and thus avoid the exercise. <br /><br />LOL...it really ranks right up there with the “<b>dreaded synopsis</b>”...but that’s another post.<br /><br />A one sheet is basically a full page elevator pitch. Remember learning to do an elevator pitch. It’s the three sentence version of a one sheet that you can tell a captive agent or editor on the way up or down in an elevator. *snort-giggle* (And it doesn’t count if you lean on the buttons to make the elevator keep stopping so that you can read them a whole one sheet.)<br /><br />The basic anatomy of a One Sheet contains enough information to pique the interest of an agent or editor. It should contain:<br /><br />Your contact info: name, address, phone number, email and your primary website. <br /><br />Stop at those and don’t embellish with an info dump including your Twitter, Facebook, or any other social networking connections. If you are word wise and have room left over when you get all the applicable data included you could add any business websites that you are involved in, but don’t forsake novel info for biographical info. You need them to be interested in the book first!<br /><br />Next...lay out the info for your book.<br /><br />The spiritual theme – usually there is a bible verse or premise in mind for the book concept.<br /><br />The length, genre, and availability.<br /><br />The concept - sometimes called a short synopsis, or <b>back cover blurb </b>– mash down the whole book into a couple sentences. Usually who, what, when , where and why works well...LOL...I got all “w’s” in there!<br /><br />A short <b>market analysis </b>- why would this book be a good seller, what makes it different or interesting, and/or what group of people would be interested in reading it.<br /><br />And lastly, a quick comparison to one or two other books that are similar, or written in the same vein.<br /><br />Here is a sample of the One Sheet that I used to get the interest of my agent, Terry Burns. This particular book has not found a home yet...but nothing comes before its time. <a href="http://bonniescalhoun.com/documents/BOOK%20PROPOSAL%20for%20Touched%20by%20Fire.pdf">One Sheet</a><br /><br />Another format for a sort of One Sheet is the type that agents send to publishers called a Sell Sheet. It contains different information that the type that we as writers would hand out because this type is usually followed by a <b>full length proposal</b> (which we will talk about in another lesson.) <br /><br />This is a sample of a Sell Sheet that my agent sent out on this same novel. The format contains about half author info, and half short synopsis, with a <b>log line </b>at the top. <a href="http://bonniescalhoun.com/documents/New%20touched%20by%20fire%20sell%20sheet%20_1_.pdf">Sell Sheet</a><br /><br />All of the words that I have written in bold will be future discussions!<br /><br /><br />by<span style="font-size: 130%;"> <span style="color: maroon; font-family: times new roman;"><b><i>Bonnie Calhoun</i></b></span></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-8767022343484304665?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-16551386955994619322009-07-14T21:07:00.002-04:002009-07-18T17:38:55.977-04:00Hi all!<br /><br />I've garnered what I consider to be very helpful information about formatting your manuscript. This info comes from my friend and agent <a href="http://www.terryburns.net/">Terry Burns</a>. He is a multi-published novelist, and an agent at <a href="http://www.hartlineliterary.com/">Hartline Literary</a> ...LOL...so the man <span style="color:#990000;">KNOWS</span> what he is talking about!<br /><br />One large hurdle to publication is submitting a good, professional-looking proposal or manuscript to an agent or editor. The object here is not to stand out but to look like an established pro. A submission that appears the submitter does not know what he or she is doing, or that looks like it will take too much work to get ready may receive little or no attention.<br /><br />These rules cover the primary items for the formatting of the manuscript, but the submission guidelines posted by the editor or agent you are submitting to should be the guide. While it is true a manuscript might not be rejected for breaking only one of these rules (unless it's a glaring one), a combination is sure to catch attention. We have to prepare a manuscript in some manner anyway, we might as well prepare it right.<br /><br />Some of the key provisions are:<br /><br />CHECKLIST FOR FORMATTING A MANUSCRIPT<br /><br /><li>1" margins, double spaced in New Courier12 or Times New Roman 12 font – only on one side of the page. To insure a consistent number of lines per page the widow and orphans feature should be turned off.</li><br /><br /><li>Paragraphs should be indented .5 inch with <span style="color:#990000;">NO </span>space between paragraphs. They should NEVER be indented by spacing in (these have to be removed by the editor) a tab is acceptable although preferred is to go into paragraph formatting and just select first line indent.</li><br /><br /><li>One space between sentences – do <span style="color:#990000;">NOT</span> justify the right margin. If tracking changes has been used during the preparation process, these should be completely removed and not just "hidden."</li><br /><br /><li>Chapters should begin near the center of the page (16 blank lines) and a page break (not section break) should be inserted at the end so chapter heads stay put if changes are made. Chapters do not require titles. </li><br /><br /><li>There should be a header slug with author's last name, a word or two from the title and the page number in the upper left or right of the page. This should be in the header and NOT in the text so it does not move when text is changed. (click on view – then header and footer) Make sure under layout that first page different is checked so the header appears only on subsequent pages.</li><br /><br /><li>The cover page on the front should use the title in normal size type centered halfway down the page and doublespace below it your name or byline. Your name, address and contact information in the upper left or lower right. Contact information should include phone number and email address, but SHOULD NOT include social security number.</li><br /><br /><li>The word count (rounded off) should be in the upper right hand corner. Word count for many years was determined by multiplying the industry standard 250 words per page times the number of pages. Most houses now use computer word count.</li><br /><br /><li>A forced scene break (intentional white space) should be indicated by placing # centered on a line of its own.</li><br /><br /><li>Do not include drawings, colored type, fancy fonts, giant size type on the cover, or anything else to make your manuscript stand out – remember the goal is to look professional not different.</li><br /><br /><li>Italics may be indicated by underlining, although most now will just take them inserted as italics where they go.</li><br /><br /><li>Remember that regardless of what is being submitted the first paragraph or two MUST capture the interest of the reader, editor or agent by raising a question, capturing interest or arousing curiosity to cause them to commit to reading further down into the manuscript.</li><br /><br /><li>When ready to submit the proposal itself will be single spaced, but the sample chapters should be placed in the proposal retaining their formatting so the editor or agent can insure the manuscript formatting is ready to go.</li><br /><br /><li>Finally, individual places where you wish to submit may have requirements particular to how they wish to receive a submission. Always check submission guidelines usually available on their website and adhere to them religiously.</li><br /><br />by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-1655138695599461932?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-81621730824513857892007-10-01T01:30:00.000-04:002007-10-13T00:55:50.118-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyuI/AAAAAAAAA6s/kMRdMM7cDK0/s1600-h/51QHFS7MACL__AA240_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyuI/AAAAAAAAA6s/kMRdMM7cDK0/s200/51QHFS7MACL__AA240_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392610" /></a>Today we are continuing editing lessons from the book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0062700618/">Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King</a>.<br /><br />These lessons will be shortened overviews of the chapters and by no means should be a substitute for buying the book. I'm rereading but not posting a lot of good stuff!<br /><br />Let's continue with proportion. This does not mean that your work is textureless. There is always room for philosophical sidetrails that reveal the narrator's character, subplots that may resonate with the main plot, or forays into odd corners of background that make the fictional world more three-dimentional.<br /><br />The trick is telling the difference between digressions that harmonize with the story (even in odd and mysterious ways) and those that hang on the story like fungus!<br /><br />How do you tell...walk away from it for a week or so, and then reread it...or get a critique partner. Once you have trained yourself to see how changes in proportion affect your story, you can begin to use proportion to shape your reader's response to your plot.<br /><br />Example: If you have some plot development that you want to come as a surprise, spend less space on it before you spring it on your readers. Or you could spend as much or more space on similar plot elements to mask the really important one.<br /><br /><em><strong>CHECKLIST:</strong></em><br /><br />Take a look at your descriptions. Are the details you give the ones your viewpoint characters will notice?<br /><br />Reread your first fifty pages, paying attention to what you spend your time on. Are the characters you develop most fully important ot the ending? Do you use the locations you develop in detail later in the story? Do any of the characters play a surprising role in the ending? Could readers guess this from the amount of time you spend on them?<br /><br />Do you have tanents...little supplots or descriptions that don't advance the plot? If so, are all of them effective? If you don't have any, should you add some?<br /><br />Are you writing about your favorite topic or hobbies? If so, give careful consideration to how much time you spend on them.<br /><br />Next we will move onto Dialogue Mechanics!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-8162173082451385789?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-34061518485384562432007-10-01T01:23:00.001-04:002007-10-13T00:56:13.078-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyuI/AAAAAAAAA6s/kMRdMM7cDK0/s1600-h/51QHFS7MACL__AA240_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyuI/AAAAAAAAA6s/kMRdMM7cDK0/s200/51QHFS7MACL__AA240_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392610" /></a>Today we are continuing editing lessons from the book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0062700618/">Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King</a>. <br /><br />These lessons will be shortened overviews of the chapters and by no means should be a substitute for buying the book. I'm rereading but not posting a lot of good stuff!<br /><br />Let's continue with proportion, and the problems that arise from taking seemingly small details and devoting excessive amounts of time to them.<br /><br />This sort of proportion problem has exactly the same effect on readers as excess description. When you fill in all the details and leave nothing to your readers imagination, you're patronizing them.<br /><br />This is even more true now than it was a few decades ago, when generous, detailed descriptions were the norm. It's the influence of movies and TV...readers are used to jump-cuts from scene to scene rather than long transitional shots.<br /><br />Fiction writers, in turn, are much freer to use ellipses, to leave more of the mundane, bridging action up to their readers imagination. Of course there are other things that can throw your proportions off besides simple misjudgment. Sometimes proportion problems arise when a writer is writing about his or her pet interests or hobbies.<br /><br />And yes, one of the joys of reading comes when a writer takes you through some little back alley of life that you never knew existed. But when we reached the three pages of how to kill and field-dress a beaver, the writer has gone too far...LOL!<br /><br />So how do you avoid proportion problems. In most cases, it's quite simple: pay attention!<br /><br />Most larger proportion problems can be avoided if you pay attention to your story. After all, if you spend a great deal of time on a given character or plot element for whatever reason, your readers naturally assume this element plays an important role in the story.<br /><br />So if the character you spend time on turns out to be insignificant or if you never follow up on the plot element you set up in such detail, readers are going to feel cheated.<br /><br />Continued tomorrow...<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-3406151848538456243?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-33064642612636337592007-10-01T01:21:00.000-04:002007-10-13T00:56:29.005-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyuI/AAAAAAAAA6s/kMRdMM7cDK0/s1600-h/51QHFS7MACL__AA240_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyuI/AAAAAAAAA6s/kMRdMM7cDK0/s200/51QHFS7MACL__AA240_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392610" /></a>Today we are continuing editing lessons from the book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0062700618/">Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King</a>. <br /><br />These lessons will be shortened overviews of the chapters and by no means should be a substitute for buying the book. I'm rereading but not posting a lot of good stuff!<br /><br />Let's continue with Point Of View.<br /><br />Okay, so what happens when you have to shift your point of view for the sake of the plot? If say, your writing from the cop's point of view and you need to add in the burglar? How do you change the POV without jerking your readers around?<br /><br />It's quite simple: end the current scene, insert a linespace, and start a new scene from the POV you need. Linespaces prepare readers for a shift( in time, place, or POV), so the change in the POV won't catch them by surprise.<br /><br />Once you've mastered your control of narrative distance, you can use it for some stunning effects. Of all the means available to you for crafting your story, POV is one of the most fundamental. It is how you show who your characters are. It allows you to convey emotions that often can't be put across in any other way.<br /><br />POV is a powerful tool! Master it!<br /><br /><em><strong>CHECKLIST:</strong></em><br /><br />Which POV are you using and why? If you want continuing intimacy, are you using the first person? If you want distance, are you using third person, or omniscient?<br /><br />Do you move from head to head? If so, why? Would your story gain power if you stuck with a single POV character or broke your scenes up at appropraite places with linespaces to make this possible?<br /><br />Take a look at your language. Is it right for your POV character? If not, should it be?<br /><br />Look at your descriptions. Can you tell how your POV character feels about what you're describing?<br /><br />Next we'll start on Proportion...<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-3306464261263633759?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-58582222516263057222007-10-01T01:18:00.000-04:002007-10-13T00:56:52.179-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyuI/AAAAAAAAA6s/kMRdMM7cDK0/s1600-h/51QHFS7MACL__AA240_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyuI/AAAAAAAAA6s/kMRdMM7cDK0/s200/51QHFS7MACL__AA240_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392610" /></a>Today we are continuing editing lessons from the book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0062700618/">Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King</a>. <br /><br />These lessons will be shortened overviews of the chapters and by no means should be a substitute for buying the book. I'm rereading but not posting a lot of good stuff!<br /><br />Let's continue with Point Of View.<br /><br />The day before yesterday, we were talking about first-person POV, now we're moving to the other end of the spectrum to the omniscient POV. Instead of being written from inside the head of one of your characters, a scene in the omniscient point of view is not written from inside anyone's head.<br /><br />So you can see the whole scene from the sidelines. Note that with the omniscient voice what you gain in perspective you lose in intimacy.<br /><br />then there is third person. If a first person invites intimacy and the omniscient narrator allows for perspective, the thirsd person strikes a balance between the two! Actually it can strike any number of balances...it's the attempt to define precisely these various degrees of intimacy versus perspective that leads to describing twenty-six different flavors of POV.<br /><br />It's much less complicated to simply treat the third-person POV as a continuum, running from narrative intimacy to narrative distance.<br /><br />Okay...so what the devil does that mean...I ask myself?<br /><br />It means that when you describe your settings and actions using only words from your POV characters vocabulary, you're not only telling the readers the facts, but but you're running those facts through your POV character's history and sensibility.<br /><br />On the other hand, when the voice of your descriptions is more sophisticated, more verbose, perhaps more acutely observant that your POV character can manage, you've put distance between the two!<br /><br />It is worth noting that, because the emotional connection between your reader and your POV character builds slowly, it's usually a good idea to establish the POV as quickly as possible...in the first sentence of the scene if you can manage it.<br /><br />When you make the POV clear at the beginning of a scene, you get your readers involved right away and let them get used to inhabiting your viewpoint character's head.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-5858222251626305722?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-90053621905003355472007-10-01T01:13:00.000-04:002007-10-13T00:57:08.808-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyuI/AAAAAAAAA6s/kMRdMM7cDK0/s1600-h/51QHFS7MACL__AA240_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyuI/AAAAAAAAA6s/kMRdMM7cDK0/s200/51QHFS7MACL__AA240_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392610" /></a>Today we are continuing editing lessons from the book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0062700618/">Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King</a>. <br /><br />These lessons will be shortened overviews of the chapters and by no means should be a substitute for buying the book. I'm rereading but not posting a lot of good stuff!<br /><br />Let's continue with Point Of View.<br /><br />Some writing books distinguish as many as twenty-six different flavors of POV, but there are really only three basic approaches: first person, third person, and omniscient. <br /><br />The first person is the "I" voice, where all the narration is written as if the narrator were speaking directly to the readers. ("I knew as soon as I entered...")<br />Note that in first person the narrator is one of the characters, not the writer.<br /><br />The first-person POV has a number of advantages, the main one being that it gives your reader a great deal of intimacy with your viewpoint character. When you are writing in the "I" voice, your main character effortlessly invites your reader into his or her head and shows them the world through his or her eyes.<br /><br />Of course, in order to succeed in first person POV, you have to create a character strong enough and interesting enough to keep your readers going for an entire novel, yet not so eccentric or bizarre that your readers feel trapped inside his or her head.<br /><br />But realize, what you gain in intimacy with the first person...You lose in perspective! You can't write about anything your main character couldn't know, which means you have to have your main character in the spot whenever you want to write an immediate scene...This can limit your plot development possibilities!<br /><br />Also in one POV, your readers get to know only one character directly. Everyone else is filtered through your viewpoint character. One way around this is to write in the first person but from several different viewpoints...With different scenes done from inside the heads of different characters.<br /><br />This technique can be highly effective in the hands of an experienced writer. For example, over the course of Sol Stein's <em>The Best Revenge</em>, first-person sections are written from the POV's of six different characters. And Mary Gordon devotes the last section in the <em>Company of Women</em> to first-person accounts by all the major characters in turn.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-9005362190500335547?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-32537272426241254762007-10-01T01:10:00.000-04:002007-10-13T00:57:30.741-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyuI/AAAAAAAAA6s/kMRdMM7cDK0/s1600-h/51QHFS7MACL__AA240_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyuI/AAAAAAAAA6s/kMRdMM7cDK0/s200/51QHFS7MACL__AA240_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392610" /></a>Today we are continuing editing lessons from the book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0062700618/">Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King</a>. <br /><br />These lessons will be shortened overviews of the chapters and by no means should be a substitute for buying the book. I'm rereading but not posting a lot of good stuff!<br /><br />Let's continue with exposition.<br /><br />Everything we've said about characterization applies to exposition as well. Backgroung, backstory, the information your readers need in order to follow and appreciate your plot...all these should be brought out as unobtrusively as possible.<br /><br />The most obtrusive type of exposition is, of course, a long discourse in the narrative voice. The same thing holds true for interior monologue.<br /><br />Perhaps the toughest expostion challenge is introducing your readers to a new culture. This could be something as simple as conveying everyday life in rural Tennessee to readers who may live in Palm Beach (or visa versa). How do you transport your readers to strange new worlds without loading down your opening with a lot of expostion?<br /><br />Bear in mind that this kind of background is really characterization, only what's being characterized is a culture rather than a person. and as was the case with characterization, readers can best learn about your locations and backgrounds not through lengthy exposition but by seeing them in real life.<br /><br /><em><strong>CheckList:</strong></em><br /><br />Look back over a scene or chapter that introduces one or more characters. How much time, if any, have you spent describing the new character? Are you telling us about characteristics that will later show up in dialogue and action?<br /><br />How about character histories? How many of your characters' childhoods have you developed in detail? Can some of these life stories be cut?<br /><br />What info (technical details, past histories, backgrounds) do your readers need in order to understand your story? At what point in the story do they need to know it?<br /><br />How are you getting this information across to your readers? Have you given it to them all at once through a short writer-to-reader lecture?<br /><br />If the exposition comes out through dialogue, is it through dialogue your character would actually speak even if your readers didn't have to know the information? In other words, does the dialogue exist only to put the information across?<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-3253727242624125476?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-76783399682455110022007-10-01T01:05:00.000-04:002007-10-13T00:57:47.091-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyuI/AAAAAAAAA6s/kMRdMM7cDK0/s1600-h/51QHFS7MACL__AA240_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyuI/AAAAAAAAA6s/kMRdMM7cDK0/s200/51QHFS7MACL__AA240_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392610" /></a>Today we are continuing editing lessons from the book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0062700618/<br />">Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King</a>. <br /><br />These lessons will be shortened overviews of the chapters and by no means should be a substitute for buying the book. I'm rereading but not posting a lot of good stuff!<br /><br />Let's continue with characterization.<br /><br />Some writers take a more subtle approach than simply describing a new character's personality...they describe each new character's history. In the course of the story, they may even trace theri characters' ancestry back two or three generations. It is perfectly understandable that a writer should undertake this sort of historical characterization. <br /><br />Delving into a character's past can be a good way for you to understand the character in the present. but htough it may have been helpful for you to write a character's history...it may not be necessary for your readers to read it!<br /><br />One you understand a character well enough to bring him or her to life, we don't have to know where the character came from.<br /><br />So how do you go about establishing a charater gradually and unobtrusively? This topic could make a book in itself, but there are some techniques that fall within the area of fiction mechanics.<br /><br />Have one character characterized by another instead of by the writer.<br />Develop your characters through dialogue.<br />Another way is to develop a character is to write not about the character directly but about other matters from that characters viewpoint.<br /><br />Next we'll start on Exposition.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-7678339968245511002?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-87638055293640775392007-10-01T01:03:00.000-04:002007-10-13T00:58:04.769-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyuI/AAAAAAAAA6s/kMRdMM7cDK0/s1600-h/51QHFS7MACL__AA240_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyuI/AAAAAAAAA6s/kMRdMM7cDK0/s200/51QHFS7MACL__AA240_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392610" /></a>Today we are continuing editing lessons from the book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0062700618/<br />">Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King</a>. <br /><br />These lessons will be shortened overviews of the chapters and by no means should be a substitute for buying the book. I'm rereading but not posting a lot of good stuff!<br /><br />Today we're going to work on characterization and Exposition.<br /><br />A lot of writers seem to feel they have to give their readers a clear understanding of a new character before they can get on with their story. They never bring a character onstage without a brief personality summary. Or else they introduce their character with flashbacks to the childhood scenes that made them who they are...In effect, psychoanalyzing the characters for their readers.<br /><br />It's often a good idea to introduce a new character with enough physical description for your readers to picture him or her. As with describing your settings, all you need are a few concrete, idiomatic details to jump-start your readers' imagination. ("A good-looking man in his fifties," for instance, is too vague to be interesting.)<br /><br />The show-and-tell principle underlies many of the self-editing points we'll talk about from now on!<br /><br />Another reason to avoid thumbnail character sketches is that the personality traits you tell us about when you introduce a character will (we would hope) eventually be shown by the way the character behaves in the story.<br /><br />Also when you sum up your characters, you risk defining them to the point that they're boxed in by the characterization with no room to grow. You may be setting boundary lines that your readers will use to interpret your characters' actions through the rest of the book.<br /><br />But if you allow your readers to get to know your characters gradually, each reader will interpret them in his or her own way, thus getting a deeper sense of who your characters are than you could ever convey in a summary.<br /><br />Finally, for today...Sketching out your characters for your readers is just plain obtrusive. It's a form of telling that is almost certain to make your readers aware that you the writer are hard at work!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-8763805529364077539?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-78387444641750233552007-10-01T00:54:00.000-04:002007-10-13T00:58:22.257-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyuI/AAAAAAAAA6s/kMRdMM7cDK0/s1600-h/51QHFS7MACL__AA240_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyuI/AAAAAAAAA6s/kMRdMM7cDK0/s200/51QHFS7MACL__AA240_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392610" /></a>Today we are continuing editing lessons from the book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0062700618/<br />">Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King</a>. <br /><br />These lessons will be shortened overviews of the chapters and by no means should be a substitute for buying the book. I'm rereading but not posting a lot of good stuff!<br /><br />Yesterday I left you with the phrase, <em>"Remember to R.U.E."</em> <br /><br />Up to this point we've been talking about showing and telling on the large scale, about narrating what should be shown through immediate scenes. But even within scenes there are ways in which you may tell what you should show!<br /><br />From the <em>Gatsby</em>: The three Mr Mumbles leaned forward "eagerly", that one girl spoke with "enthusiasm", that a man nodded "in affirmation".<br /><br />Granted, stylistic conventions have changed since 1925, but even so, the telling detracts because it's not needed. We've already been shown what the writer proceeds to tell us.<br /><br />Telling your readers about your characters' emotions is not the best way to get your readers involved. Far better to shoe why your characters feel the way they do. Instead of saying "Amanda took one look at the hotel room and recioled in disgust," describe the room in such a way that the readers feel that disgust themselves.<br /><br />You don't want to give your readers information. You want to give them experiences.<br /><br />It's more work that way, of course. It's easier to say, "Erma was depressed" than to come up with some original bit of action or interior monologue that shows she's depressed. Like if you have her take a bite of her favorite cake and push the rest away...or polish off the whole cake. Everyone has a unique way of expressing emotion.<br /><br />It's nearly always better to resist the urge to explain. Or as editors so often write in the margins of manuscripts, R.U.E.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-7838744464175023355?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-24614384763556235042007-10-01T00:53:00.001-04:002007-10-13T00:58:38.893-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyuI/AAAAAAAAA6s/kMRdMM7cDK0/s1600-h/51QHFS7MACL__AA240_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyuI/AAAAAAAAA6s/kMRdMM7cDK0/s200/51QHFS7MACL__AA240_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392610" /></a>Today we are continuing editing lessons from the book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0062700618/<br />">Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King</a>. <br /><br />These lessons will be shortened overviews of the chapters and by no means should be a substitute for buying the book. I'm rereading but not posting a lot of good stuff!<br /><br />This is the second lesson of two days of Show and Tell. Blogger ate this post on Friday!<br /><br />We left off talking about using action rather than narration. Of course, there will be times when you need to resort to narrative summary, especially if you're writing a historical novel or science fiction, both of which usually require conveying a lot of information to your readers before you can touch their emotions.<br /><br />Even though immediate scens are almost always more engaging than narrative summary be careful when self-editing <em>not</em> to convert <em>all</em> your narrative summary into scenes.<br /><br />Narrative summary is used to vary the rhythm and texture of your writing. Scens are immediate and engaging, but scene after scene without a break can become relentless and exhausting, especially if you tend to write brief, intense scenes. Every once in a while you'll want to slow down to give your readers a chance to catch their breath.<br /><br />Narrative summary can give continuity to your story on a larger scale. It is also useful when you have a lot of repetitive action. For example, your writing about a track star participating in several races. If you show all of these races as immediate scenes, they all start looking alike! But if you summarize the first few...have them happen off stage...then the one you eventually show as a scene will have real impact.<br /><br /><em><strong>CheckList</strong></em>:<br /><br />How often do you use narrative summary? Are there long passages where nothing happens in real time? Do the main events in your plot take place in summary or in scenes?<br /><br />If you do have too much narrative summary, which sections do you want to convert into scenes? Does any of it involve major characters, where a scene could be used to flesj out their personalities? Does any of your narrative summary involve major plot twists or surprises? If so, start writing some scenes!<br /><br />Do you have <em>any</em> narrative summary, or are you bouncing from scene to scene without pausing for breath?<br /><br />Are you describing your characters' feelings? Have you <em>told</em> us they're angry? irritated? morose? discouraged? puzzled? excited? happy? elated? suicidal? Keep an eye out for any place where you mention an emotion outside of dialogue. Chances are you're telling what you should show. Remember to R.U.E.<br /><br />What is that? R.U.E. Okay...so I'll add that part in...tomorrow! Mhwahaha!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-2461438476355623504?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-47001246730709698572007-10-01T00:48:00.000-04:002007-10-13T00:59:00.614-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyuI/AAAAAAAAA6s/kMRdMM7cDK0/s1600-h/51QHFS7MACL__AA240_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyuI/AAAAAAAAA6s/kMRdMM7cDK0/s200/51QHFS7MACL__AA240_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392610" /></a>Today we are starting editing lessons from the book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0062700618/<br />">Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King</a>. <br /><br />These lessons will be shortened overviews of the chapters and by no means should be a substitute for buying the book. I'm rereading but skipping a lot of good stuff!<br /><br />This first lesson is going to be two days of Show and Tell.<br /><br />What exactly makes a scene a scene? For one thing it takes place in real time. Your readers watch events as they unfold, whether those events are a group discussion of the merits of Woody Allen flicks, or a woman lying in a field pondering the meaning of life. In scenes, events are seen as they happen rather than described after the fact. Even flashbacks...Don't cringe...Sometimes they're necessary...Show events as they unfold, although they have unfolded in the past within the context of the story!<br /><br />Scenes also contain action, something that happens. Of course anything that can go into a scene can also be narrated. And since scenes are usually harder to write than narration, many writers rely too heavily on narrative summary to tell their stories.<br /><br />The result is often page after page, chapter after chapter of writing that reads clearly, perhaps even stylishly, but with no specific setting, no specific characters, no dialogue.<br /><br />Since engagement is exactly what a fiction writer wants to accomplish, you're well advised to rely heavily in immediate scenes to put your story across. You want to draw your readers into the world you've created, make them feel a part of it, make them forget where they are. <br /><br />And you can't do this effectively if you tell your readers about your world secondhand! You have to take them there. 'Showing' your story to your readers through scenes will not only give your writing immediacy. It will give your writing transparency. One of the easiest ways to look like an amateur is to use mechanics that direct attention to themselves and away from the story.<br /><br />Of course there will be times when you need to resort to narrative summary, especially if your writing a historical novel or scifi, both of which usually require conveying a lot of information to your readers before you can touch their emotions.<br /><br />We'll talk more about this in the next chapter, but you'd be surprised at how much exposition can be converted into scenes...right Mimi?<br /><br />That's it for today, except for the quotable quotes below! Join us again tomorrow for More Self-Editing for Fiction Writers<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-4700124673070969857?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-86165180296404343512007-08-31T12:49:00.000-04:002007-10-13T15:58:02.272-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s1600-h/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s200/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392626" /></a>Today we continue with Donald Maass' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158297182X/103-4445210-2959826?v=glance&amp;n=283155">Writing a Breakout Novel</a>. <br /><br />What I am going to endeavor to do here is present truncated versions of each of the lessons in the workbook. This will by no means suffice as an alternative to reading the book...or the workbook. I hope it piques your appetite to buy the books. They are invaluable reading and reference!<br /><br />This is a checklist of the Follow-up work taken from each exercise in the book. If you truly wish to write a breakout novel, do each piece of work ad check it off the list only when you have incorporated the results into your manuscript. There are 591 steps! The investment of time to complete this is huge...But then your ambition is huge too!<br /><br />On the left will be the follow-up, after it will be the number of tasks.<br /><br />Demonstrate heroic qualities..................6<br />Create extra character dimensions.............3<br />Make goals mutually exclusive.................1<br />Create larger-than-life moments..............12<br />Heighten speech, action, or exposition.......24<br />Reverse motives in additional scenes..........6<br />Add the opposite of ultimate commitment.......1<br />Deepen passages of exposition.................4<br />Develop a additional secondary character......5<br />Develop a secondary antagonist................5<br />Combine two more roles........................1<br />Incorporate higher stakes into the story......4<br />Incorporate damage from complications.........3<br />Develop 4 steps/scenes for two layers.........8<br />Add nodes of conjunction to the story.........6<br />Add subplots, even to first-person novel......3<br />Heighten turning points within scene.........20<br />Delineate extra turning points................6<br />Incorporate high moments......................5<br />Add bridging conflict.........................4<br />Cut "tea" (inactive or review) scenes.........1<br />Move backstory back in the manuscript.........1<br />Add tension to each page...........350 (approx)<br />Change your first line........................1<br />Change the last line..........................1<br />Freeze moments in time........................4<br />Delineate antagonist's changing view of hero..3<br />Delineate changing view of a place............2<br />Strengthen point of view.....................30<br />Delineate character traits...................48<br />Create impossible good outcome................1<br />Develop a secondary theme.....................4<br />Incorporate related problems..................2<br />Give someone the opposite problem.............1<br />Make the antagonist right.....................1<br />Add the opposite symbol.......................1<br />Reverse stockpiled story ideas................1<br />Shorten your pitch............................1<br /><br /> TOTAL TASKS..................591<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-8616518029640434351?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-78794475509402565412007-08-30T12:47:00.000-04:002007-10-13T15:57:51.927-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s1600-h/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s200/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392626" /></a>Today we continue with Donald Maass' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158297182X/103-4445210-2959826?v=glance&amp;n=283155">Writing a Breakout Novel</a>. <br /><br />What I am going to endeavor to do here is present truncated versions of each of the lessons in the workbook. This will by no means suffice as an alternative to reading the book...or the workbook. I hope it piques your appetite to buy the books. They are invaluable reading and reference!<br /><br />We're done with Plot Development, now we're moving on to General Story Techniques! <span style="color:#003300;">Today's lesson is in Appendix A: Outlining Your Novel.<br /></span><br /><br />There are pros and cons to doing an outline. Today we're pro people. The number in parenthesis after each step tells you the number of paragraphs that each step will yield. If you are able to follow the steps exactly, you will wind up with fifty paragraphs. If you then average four paragraphs per page, at the end of this process you will have the rough draft of a twelve-and-a-half page outline! Along the way you may also have found some new material for your novel itself!<br /><br /><em>Write down the answers to the following:</em><br /><br />A. <strong>Plot fundamentals</strong>.<br /><br />1. Where is your novel set, who is your main character, and what is the main problem, conflict, or goal? (1)<br />2. What does your protagonist most want, and why? (1)<br />3. What is your protagonist's second plot layer? (1)<br />4. What is your protagonist's third plot layer? (1)<br />5. What is the first subplot? (1)<br />6. What is the second subplot? (1)<br />7. Who is the most important secondary or supporting character, what is their main problem, conflict, or goal, and what do they most want? (1)<br />8. Who is the novel's antagonist, what is his main problem, conflict, or goal, and what does he most want? (1)<br /><br /><strong>B. The Middle</strong><br /><br />9. What are the five biggest steps toward the solution of your protagonist's main problem? Another was to ask that is: What are the five turning points or events that you positively cannot leave out? (Include your story's climax.) (5)<br /><br />10. What are the five most important steps toward, or away from, what your protagonist most wants? (5)<br /><br />11. What are the three most important steps (each) toward, or away from, the resolution of your first and second subplots? (6)<br /><br />12. What are the three most important steps toward, or away from, the resolution of each main problem facing your foremost secondary character and your antagonist? (6)<br /><br />13. What are the three most important steps toward, or away from, the resolution of each main problem facing your foremost secondary character and your antagonist? (6)<br /><br />C. <strong>Highlights.</strong><br /><br />14. Two moments of strong inner conflict. (2)<br /><br />15. Three larger-than-life actions. (3)<br /><br />16. Five places to heighten turning points or high moments.<br /><br />17. Two moments frozen in time. (2)<br /><br />18. Two measures of change. (2)<br /><br />19. The psychology of place with respect to the setting of the novel's climax. (1)<br /><br />20. Three dialogue snippets (3)<br /><br />21. A paragraph of resolution. (1)<br /><br />D. <strong>Putting it together</strong><br /><em>Elaborate in a paragraph what you wrote down in each of the steps above!</em><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-7879447550940256541?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-75906459694838865292007-08-29T12:44:00.000-04:002007-10-13T15:57:39.090-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s1600-h/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s200/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392626" /></a>Today we continue with Donald Maass' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158297182X/103-4445210-2959826?v=glance&amp;n=283155">Writing a Breakout Novel</a>. <br /><br />What I am going to endeavor to do here is present truncated versions of each of the lessons in the workbook. This will by no means suffice as an alternative to reading the book...or the workbook. I hope it piques your appetite to buy the books. They are invaluable reading and reference!<br /><br />Today's lesson is in <span style="color:#003300;">Section THREE: The Pitch.<br /></span><br />Okay, let's finish up our look at 'The Pitch'.<br /><br />We left off yesterday looking at the pertinent parts of a query letter. The next part to include is...What is the main problem? Some query writers find a reduction of the central conflict too frightening. They prefer to start with the inciting incident, the moment when the problem begins, and let the story blossom from there.<br /><br />(Believe me on this one, as I'm pointing one finger out there, four are pointing back at me!)<br /><br />Once your cruising down the highway of plot summary it is tempting to stay on it. Exit immediately! The details that make the story different are usually lacking. there are no new stories...just new ways of telling old ones!<br /><br />Here ya go...The best query letters put across the essence of the story in one hundred words or less! Donald Maass says he has seen it done in forty words and fewer!<br /><br />Use the following exercise to hone down the essentials of your story, then trust your premise to excite the agents and editors whom you have targeted. After all, your story is original isn't it? The world in which it is set is rife with conflict, right? You have invested your story with power and gut emotional appeal? Right, then. You have it all.<br /><br />Step 1: Write down your novel's title, catagory, setting, protagonist, and central problem.<br /><br />Step 2: Write down one colorful detail that makes any one of the above elements different.<br /><br />Step 3: Identify a way in which your story has any one of the following:<br /><br />Credibility (<em>This could happen to any of us</em>)<br />Inherent Conflict (<em>This is a world of conflicting forces</em>)<br />Originality (<em>A reversal of the expected, a new angle on an old subject, or familiar story elements combined in unfamiliar ways</em>)<br />Gut Emotional Appeal (<em>I would hate if this happened to me</em>!)<br /><br />Step 4: Write down these five words: <em>love, heart, dream, journey, fortune, destiny</em>.<br /><br />Step 5: Set a timer for five minutes. <em>ONLY five minutes</em> In that time, write a one-paragraph pitch for your novel, incorporating the material you wrote down in the steps one to three. In your last sentence, use one of the words you wrote doen in step four.<br /><br /><strong>Note:</strong> Consider: We summarize movies, TV shows, and books all the time, and rarely take more than thirty seconds to do so. Actually, all it takes to interest someone in a story is its beginning: the setting, the protagonist, and the problem. That's it. Fixing the problem and no more leaves your listener wondering what will happen next!<br /><br /><strong>Follow-up:</strong> Put away your pitch for a week or more, then re-read it. Shorten it to one hundred words. Put it away for another week. Now shorten it to fifty words.<br /><br /><strong>Conclusion:</strong> In pitching, less is more. It is fear that makes us blather on and on. Say less than you want to. Interest in your novel will be that much greater for your restraint!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-7590645969483886529?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-9150408922160200212007-08-27T14:42:00.000-04:002007-10-13T15:57:26.679-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s1600-h/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s200/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392626" /></a>Today we continue with Donald Maass' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158297182X/103-4445210-2959826?v=glance&amp;n=283155">Writing a Breakout Novel</a>. <br /><br />What I am going to endeavor to do here is present truncated versions of each of the lessons in the workbook. This will by no means suffice as an alternative to reading the book...or the workbook. I hope it piques your appetite to buy the books. They are invaluable reading and reference!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-915040892216020021?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-32248661624012882092007-08-26T00:39:00.000-04:002007-10-13T15:57:09.209-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s1600-h/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s200/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392626" /></a>Today we continue with Donald Maass' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158297182X/103-4445210-2959826?v=glance&amp;n=283155">Writing a Breakout Novel</a>. <br /><br />What I am going to endeavor to do here is present truncated versions of each of the lessons in the workbook. This will by no means suffice as an alternative to reading the book...or the workbook. I hope it piques your appetite to buy the books. They are invaluable reading and reference!<br /><br />Today's lesson is in <span style="color:#009900;">Section THREE: Brainstorming</span>.<br /><br />Did you ever hear a premise, snap your fingers, and think to yourself, "Now, that is a great idea for a story!" Or maybe you thought, "Boy, I wish I had thought of that one myself!"<br /><br />Some ideas are like that: They immediately engage. They are naturals. Right away the story begins to write itself in your head. You can see what will happen first and exactly how it will go after that. Strangely, although the story already is familiar, so much so that you have begun to appropriate it, your feeling is not "How common," but "How original!"<br /><br />What causes that reaction? Why is it that although there are no new stories, some ideas nevertheless feel fresh? I believe that there are several qualities that can invoke that feeling.<br /><br />First is the surprising new twist on an old idea. Take the murder mystery: The essential story is the same every time. Someone is killed, and a detective figures out who did it. So familiar is this formula that it is frequently reduced to "who-dunit". <br /><br />Every working novelist must come up with ideas, but beyond the premise, it is developed by brainstorming to develop it into a full-fledged plot. The key to keeping a novel lively and surprising is remembering the principle of reversal. When mapping out a scene, toss your first choices and go the opposite way. Why? First choices tend to be the safest, and most predictable.<br /><br />Mostly, though, originality is within everyone's reach. Practice the techniques of brainstorming: new twists on old ideas, combining stories, gut emotional appeal, and reversing the expected. These techniques will steer you to some challenging, and definitely interesting, choices for your story.<br /><br />Step 1: Pick a time and a place. Pick a problem...<em><strong>Brainstorm</strong></em>!<br /><br />Step 2: Every time you write down an idea, reverse it. Go the opposite way. See where it takes you.<br /><br /><strong>Note:</strong> The best villain is often less obvious; someone who is, say, connected to the hero in a personal way. A better choice than "senator" is almost always, "the hero's mentor." You see? It takes work to make that person a credible antagonist, but the conflict between hero and villain is a;already more complex because of their prior alliance.<br /><br /><strong>Follow-up:</strong><br />Go through your folder of story ideas. Pick a check mark on those that offer a new twist to an old idea, or that have gut emotional appeal. Try combining ideas. Also try turning them upside down and inside out. Reverse them. See what happens!<br /><br /><strong>Conclusion:</strong> Whatever you do, push your premise and plotlines further. Do not be satisfied with just a good story. Be satisfied with a story that is original, gut grabbing, unexpected, layered, and complex. In other words, stop working only when your story is great. How will you know? It will take longer than you think. Keep pushing!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-3224866162401288209?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-26703011225315570162007-08-25T12:37:00.000-04:002007-10-13T15:55:12.187-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s1600-h/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s200/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392626" /></a>Today we continue with Donald Maass' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158297182X/103-4445210-2959826?v=glance&amp;n=283155">Writing a Breakout Novel</a>. <br /><br />What I am going to endeavor to do here is present truncated versions of each of the lessons in the workbook. This will by no means suffice as an alternative to reading the book...or the workbook. I hope it piques your appetite to buy the books. They are invaluable reading and reference!<br /><br />Today's lesson is in <span style="color:#009900;">Section THREE: Symbols</span>.<br /><br />Symbols, which sometimes go by their more academic name, objective correlative, are another literary device that feels old-fashioned. The very word takes you back to high school!<br /><br />In their simplest form, though, symbols are anything outward that stands in for anything inward, or abstract, such as a mood or an idea. A statement like, "He was in turmoil" can feel blunt. Instead, we might substitute an image; say, "Outside, the Siberian Elms held their heads in their hands and swayed, wailing like a chorus of Greek women." Okay so it's over the top, but it nevertheless conveys an inner state.<br /><br />Symbols can be glaringly obvious, of course. Think sunsets and trains rushing into tunnels. At their best, though, they are elegant and evocative. Their effect can be subliminal, barely noticed. A device they may be, but they also can be quite powerful.<br /><br />Are there physical objects or recurring events that might serve as symbols in your novel? The exercise that follows asks you not to impose symbols on your manuscript, but to discover them already there. They are buried like artifacts that readers can happen upon and enjoy, either consciously or not, for the extra meaning that they add to your story.<br /><br />Step 1: What is one prominent object, event, or action that appears in your novel?<br /><br />Step 2: How can that object, event, or action recur at your novel's end?<br /><br />Step 3: Find three other places where this object, event, or action can recur in the course of the story.<br /><br /><strong>Note:</strong> Whether it is a gathering hurricane or a pink ribbon from a child hood Christmas package, symbols gain power as they recur. Naturally a hurricane forming in every scene would be a ridiculous run of bad weather, but as the opening and closing framework to a story? That could work. <br /><br />Same thing with rings, ribbons, whooping cranes, green Packard convertible...Any natural or inanimate object that returns at portentous moments. Such objects soak up meaning and then release it.<br /><br /><strong>Follow-up:</strong> What is the opposite of that object, event, or action? Find a place for that to appear or occur too.<br /><br /><strong>Conclusion:</strong> Sometimes called objective correlatives, symbols can be overly obvious, but when cleverly chosen and tactically deployed they can punctuate a story in powerful ways!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-2670301122531557016?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-74723868227657222052007-08-23T12:33:00.000-04:002007-10-13T15:54:56.112-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s1600-h/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s200/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392626" /></a>Today we continue with Donald Maass' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158297182X/103-4445210-2959826?v=glance&amp;n=283155">Writing a Breakout Novel</a>. <br /><br />What I am going to endeavor to do here is present truncated versions of each of the lessons in the workbook. This will by no means suffice as an alternative to reading the book...or the workbook. I hope it piques your appetite to buy the books. They are invaluable reading and reference!<br /><br />Today's lesson is in <span style="color:#009900;">Section THREE: Theme</span>.<br /><br />This is the final exercise in this section. It's called Making the Antagonist's Case.<br /><br />Step 1: What does your antagonist believe in? Why do they feel justified and right? How would the world be better, through their eyes, if things ran the way they would like them to run?<br /><br />Step 2: Make the antagonist's case stronger. Assume that the antagonist is actually correct: What support for their case can be found in philosophy or religion? On a practical level, how would things really be better? <em>Explain in writing</em>.<br /><br />Step 3: Choose a character who supports your antagonist, and make the antagonist's case from that character's point of view.<br /><br /><strong>Note:</strong> In many manuscripts the antagonists are cardboard. They are bluntly evil or wrong. One dimensional villains do not frighten me...or most readers. Far scarier are villains who have a good reason for doing what they do, and who can justify their intents and actions as working for the good. <br /><br />The more sincere your antagonist, the more effective they will be, and the more powerfully you will be forcing your reader to decide what constitutes right and wrong. (Which, of course is more effective than telling your reader your own opinion outright, don't you agree?)<br /><br /><strong>Follow-up:</strong> find the moment in your story when your protagonist realizes that you antagonist is right, and why.<br /><br /><strong>Conclusion:</strong> Certainly you want your hero to doubt himself at times, don't you? Why not push that all the way and let your hero doubt him/her self in the extreme? What would be the circumstances? How close to failure does your protagonist come? In that moment, you will be very close to your core values and theme.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-7472386822765722205?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-2129826154443213202007-08-20T12:31:00.000-04:002007-10-13T15:54:39.311-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s1600-h/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s200/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392626" /></a>Today we continue with Donald Maass' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158297182X/103-4445210-2959826?v=glance&amp;n=283155">Writing a Breakout Novel</a>. <br /><br />What I am going to endeavor to do here is present truncated versions of each of the lessons in the workbook. This will by no means suffice as an alternative to reading the book...or the workbook. I hope it piques your appetite to buy the books. They are invaluable reading and reference!<br /><br />Today's lesson is in <span style="color:#009900;">Section THREE: Theme</span>.<br /><br />This is the third and final exercise to this chapter. This one is entitled Same Problem, Other Characters!<br /><br />Step 1: What is the main problem in the novel?<br /><br />Step 2: Who else in the story besides your protagonist could have that problem? How would it manifest differently for these other characters?<br /><br />Step 3: Incorporate the results of the previous step into the story. <em>Make notes!<br /></em><br /><strong>Note:</strong> Theme is not smeared onto your story in the final draft. Like frosting on a cake. Rather, it emerges from the very substance of the story. To make your theme large and resonant, let it work in your story in more ways than one. It doesn't matter that the central problem is different for other characters. Your variations on the theme will only reinforce the themes itself.<br /><br /><strong>Follow-up:</strong> Who in your story could have the <em>opposite</em>problem? <em>Incorporate that into your novel!</em><br /><br /><strong>Conclusion:</strong> Just as it is advisable to strengthen your theme, it is also no problem to run counter to it. Does your hero rescue his family from the wilderness, struggling against nature? What about the hermit who helps them? He lives at peace with nature, yes? His struggle man be the opposite: to connect again with his fellow man.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-212982615444321320?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-53839510399730587582007-08-19T14:18:00.000-04:002007-10-13T15:54:20.755-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s1600-h/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s200/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392626" /></a>Today we continue with Donald Maass' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158297182X/103-4445210-2959826?v=glance&amp;n=283155">Writing a Breakout Novel</a>. <br /><br />What I am going to endeavor to do here is present truncated versions of each of the lessons in the workbook. This will by no means suffice as an alternative to reading the book...or the workbook. I hope it piques your appetite to buy the books. They are invaluable reading and reference!<br /><br />Today's lesson is in <span style="color:#009900;">Section THREE: Theme</span>.<br /><br />Yesterday we went over Theme, and the exercise was about alternate endings. Today we'll do "the Larger Problem" as an exercise.<br /><br />Step: 1 Thinking about the story as a whole, what is the main problem facing your protagonist?<br /><br />Step: 2 What is the bigger problem beyond that?<br /><br />Step: 3 What is the problem that your protagonist cannot solve?<br /><br />Step: 4 Find ways to introduce into the story the bigger problem and the problem that cannot be solved. How can that be accomplished?<br /><br /><strong>Note:</strong> What public issues stir you up. If you could change the world what would you change. Allow the words to emerge from not only your heart, but from your protagonists problems!<br /><br /><strong>Follow-up:</strong> What is the main problem in your protagonists second plot layer? <em>Write it down and follow the steps above to develop a secondary theme</em>.<br /><br />Conclusion: Every issue conceals a bigger issue. At the heart of every big issue is a dilemma that has no answer. While it may sound downbeat to introduce these elements into your story, in fact they will amplify the problem at hand. the ripples that they send outward in your readers minds are, in essence, your novel's deepest issues, or to put in another way, it's theme at work!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-5383951039973058758?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-6491875793962387222007-08-18T00:16:00.000-04:002007-10-13T15:54:05.515-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s1600-h/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s200/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392626" /></a>Today we continue with Donald Maass' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158297182X/103-4445210-2959826?v=glance&amp;n=283155">Writing a Breakout Novel</a>. <br /><br />What I am going to endeavor to do here is present truncated versions of each of the lessons in the workbook. This will by no means suffice as an alternative to reading the book...or the workbook. I hope it piques your appetite to buy the books. They are invaluable reading and reference!<br /><br />Today's lesson is in <span style="color:#009900;">Section THREE: Theme</span>.<br /><br />This chapter is too big to be one post, so I'll divide it up over a couple days!<br /><br />There are many different ways to discover and develop the themes in your novel. Themes can be motifs, recurring patterns, outlooks, messages, morals...any number of deliberate elements that make your manuscript more than just a story...indeed, that makes it a novel with something to say.<br /><br />What are the themes of your current novel, and how are you developing them? Whether you are making your point by creating a backward antagonist, or by giving other characters parallel problems, or by introducing problems that are bigger than your protagonist, or by showing us what your character is aiming for (or at least will settle for).<br /><br />Be sure that you have a means to bring out what you want to say. A novel that has nothing to say will have a tough time breaking out!<br /><br />Step:1 With respect to the story as a whole, what does your protagonist want?<br /><br />Step:2 If your protagonist cannot get that, what would she/he take second?<br /><br />Step:3 If he/she can get nothing else, what would he settle for?<br /><br />Step:4 Work out alternative endings for the novel based on each of the above answers. How would each ending go?<br /><br /><strong>Note:</strong> the point of this exercise is not necessarily to change the ending of your novel( although it might). It is to use alternate outcomes to understand what it is that your protagonist is really after, and why.<br /><br />Is second-best or the minimum good enough? Then perhaps you need to raise the personal stakes so that those lesser outcomes are in no way acceptable. Buried in the results of this exercise also are clues to what you novel, really is about: it's theme!<br /><br /><strong>Follow-up: </strong>Again thinking of the story as a whole, what outcome would be more than your protagonist possible could hope for?<br /><br /><strong>Conclusion:</strong> Ah! The answer to that last question may open up even more possible outcomes for the story. Could it be that your protagonist (or you) has her sights set too low? Even if that dream outcome is not practical, how can that vision of greater good be incorporated into the story?<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-649187579396238722?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-39279037332375517402007-08-17T14:12:00.000-04:002007-10-13T15:53:51.598-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s1600-h/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s200/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392626" /></a>Today we continue with Donald Maass' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158297182X/103-4445210-2959826?v=glance&amp;n=283155">Writing a Breakout Novel</a>. <br /><br />What I am going to endeavor to do here is present truncated versions of each of the lessons in the workbook. This will by no means suffice as an alternative to reading the book...or the workbook. I hope it piques your appetite to buy the books. They are invaluable reading and reference!<br /><br />Today's lesson is in <font color="#009900">Section THREE: Character Delineation</font>.<br /><br />Having sharpened the POV's you have chosen for your novel, it is now time to take the next step and make sure that your characters sound, act, and think differently from each other. That's the business of character delineation.<br /><br />How are your characters different from one another? In your mind, I'm sure they are quite different, but how is that specifically conveyed to your readers? Use a chart to create separate vocabularies, traits, actions, and more for your characters. You will be surprised how much more individual they become.<br /><br />Step 1: Create a chart in a spread sheet program like Excel. Write down the first column: sofa, bureau, dress, pants, shoes, auto, soda, coffee, alcohol, cash, "Hello", "Cool", "Oh well", God, mother, father, partner/spouse, man, woman, attractive, unattractive, music, periodical. Now in the next three columns to the right place a POV character at the top. Down each column fill in the character's word for the one you've listed.<br /><br /><strong>Note:</strong> You can make the list as long as you want. The point is to find each characters voice.<br /><br /><strong>Follow-up:</strong> for each POV character give them unique traits, gestures, rationalizations, peeves, hot buttons etc.<br /><br /><strong>Conclusion:</strong> Have you ever read a novel where all the characters sounded the same? That's weak POV writing. Strong POV is more than just the words, even cadence and sentence structure will be different. Make your characters different just as people are different!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-3927903733237551740?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-1079353565598990882007-08-16T00:10:00.000-04:002007-10-13T12:12:10.991-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s1600-h/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s200/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392626" /></a>Today we continue with Donald Maass' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158297182X/103-4445210-2959826?v=glance&amp;n=283155">Writing a Breakout Novel</a>. <br /><br />What I am going to endeavor to do here is present truncated versions of each of the lessons in the workbook. This will by no means suffice as an alternative to reading the book...or the workbook. I hope it piques your appetite to buy the books. They are invaluable reading and reference!<br /><br />Today's lesson is in <font color="#009900">Section THREE: Point of View</font>.<br /><br />Most contemporary novels are written from the POV of their characters. This can get quite intimate...first person being as intimate as you can get! But there are plenty of alternate POV's to employ, including the objective and authorial POV's. <br /><br />Although these are older approaches as somewhat out of fashion...Hey who ever though bell bottoms and platform shoes would come back...LOL!<br /><br />Whatever your choice, POV is the perspective you give your readers on the action of the story. It pays to make it strong.<br /><br />What sort of voice do you have? Soprano? Alto? Tenor? Bass? What kind of soprano...bright? What kind of tenor...high? Is your voice pop, smooth, operatic, or belting? The type of singing voice you have makes a difference to the sound that comes out of your mouth, correct?<br /><br />So it is with the voice of your novel. The voice will largely be determined by your choice of POV, but more than that by how you use that POV. Are the voices ordinary and generic, or are they highly colored and specific?<br /><br />Heighten POV throughout your manuscript, and you will strengthen your story's impact.<br /><br />Step 1: Open your manuscript at random. Whose POV are we experiencing the action through?<br /><br />Step 2: On this page, select anything the POV character says, does, or thinks. Heighten it. Change the dialogue. Exaggerate the action. Grow the emotion, thought, or observation to make it even more characteristic of this character.<br /><br /><strong>Note: </strong>Capturing a character's unique speech and outlook is perhaps easier in a first-person novel. But POV is more than just looking through a set of eyes onto the world. The mouth and brain must come into play also or your novel will have the chilliness of a movie camera<br /><br /><strong>Follow-up:</strong> Turn to another page at random. Do the same exercise....repeat the steps about once in every scene in your novel.<br /><br /><strong>Conclusion:</strong> What would happen if you did this exercise instead of just think about it? Your novel would take longer to write, but wouldn't it be stronger? Good news. The next exercise is a tool that might make the job easier!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-107935356559899088?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-29304769931339036072007-08-15T12:06:00.000-04:002007-10-13T12:10:19.725-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s1600-h/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s200/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392626" /></a>Today we continue with Donald Maass' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158297182X/103-4445210-2959826?v=glance&amp;n=283155">Writing a Breakout Novel</a>. <br /><br />What I am going to endeavor to do here is present truncated versions of each of the lessons in the workbook. This will by no means suffice as an alternative to reading the book...or the workbook. I hope it piques your appetite to buy the books. They are invaluable reading and reference!<br /><br />Today's lesson is in <font color="#009900">Section THREE: Setting</font>.<br /><br />How many settings are there in your current novel? From how many POV's is each of them seen? Each outlook on each location is an opportunity to enrich your story. In your novel, how many of those opportunities are you taking?<br /><br />Our perception of place changes as we change. The difference between a town as remembered from long ago and how it seems now is the difference between who we once were and who we are now. The same is true of characters in fiction. Take them anywhere and show us how they feel abut the place, or how that place makes them feel, and you will reveal to us volumes about their inner frozenness, or growth.<br /><br />Step 1: Pick a high moment, turning point, or climax involving your protagonist. Where is it set?<br /><br />Step 2: Write a paragraph describing how this place makes your character feel, or how your protagonist feels about this place.<br /><br />Step 3: Move forward one week in time or backwards one week in time. Return your protagonist to this place. Write a paragraph describing how it makes your character feel now.<br /><br /><strong>Note:</strong> There is something powerful about returning to to a place of significant action and discovering how it feels different. Pinning that down is using the <em>psychology of place</em>, that is, employing the perception of place as another way to measure change.<br /><br /><strong>Follow-up:</strong> What is the setting that recurs most often in your novel? From whose point of view is it most often seen. Count the number of times that character is in that place. Write a list, and for each return to that place find one way in which that character's perception of it changes.<br /><br /><strong>Conclusion:</strong> Bringing to life the world of your novel is more than just describing it using the five senses. A place lives most vividly through the eyes of characters. Delineate those evolving perceptions, and the world of your novel will feel rich, dynamic, and alive!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-2930476993133903607?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-81409929385127575782007-08-12T12:02:00.000-04:002007-10-13T12:04:20.038-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s1600-h/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s200/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392626" /></a>Today we continue with Donald Maass' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158297182X/103-4445210-2959826?v=glance&amp;n=283155">Writing a Breakout Novel</a>. <br /><br />What I am going to endeavor to do here is present truncated versions of each of the lessons in the workbook. This will by no means suffice as an alternative to reading the book...or the workbook. I hope it piques your appetite to buy the books. They are invaluable reading and reference!<br /><br />Today's lesson is in <span style="color:#009900;">Section THREE: Inner Change</span>.<br /><br />We grow and change. We also note the growth and change in others. The moments in breakout novels in which such changes are observed are milestones that measure the journey that is each story. <br /><br />Change in characters, or rather, characters' perceptions of the changes within themselves and others, may happen within a scene or across long stretches of time.<br />It doesn't matter. Inner changes calibrate a plot, lending it a sense of inexorable progress and pace.<br /><br />How does your protagonist's picture of himself change throughout the course of your novel? How does she/he view others in the story, and how do those views change? How do others see your protagonist? How do those assessments, in turn, alter? Delineate these shifts in your characters' self-perceptions and perceptions of each other. It is yet another way to tighten the weave of the story.<br /><br />Step 1: Find a moment in your manuscript when your hero is speaking with a major secondary character, or when that secondary character carries the point of view while speaking with your hero.<br /><br />Step 2: Create a paragraph in which your hero assesses this other character; that is, delineates for himself this other character's qualities, mood, or situation in life. Put simply, how does your hero see this character right now?<br /><br />....Alternately, have your point of view character regard your hero by the same criteria. How does she view your hero at this particular moment?<br /><br />Step 3: Move forward to a later point in the story when these two characters are again together on the page. Repeat the previous step. How does your hero view this character now?<br /><br />....Alternately, how does that character view your protagonist at this point?<br /><br /><strong>Note:</strong> You grow and change, so do your characters. But you need to once in a while measure the difference so that we as readers see it!<br /><br /><strong>Follow-up:</strong> Find three points in the story in which to delineate your antagonist's view of your protagonist.<br /><br /><strong>Conclusion:</strong> allow characters occasional moments to take stock of each other is a powerful way to mark each players progress through the story. Examine your hero from several points of view; later, show us how those views have shifted.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-8140992938512757578?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-32250431250114603892007-08-11T23:59:00.000-04:002007-10-13T12:02:08.529-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s1600-h/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s200/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392626" /></a>Today we continue with Donald Maass' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158297182X/103-4445210-2959826?v=glance&amp;n=283155">Writing a Breakout Novel</a>. <br /><br />What I am going to endeavor to do here is present truncated versions of each of the lessons in the workbook. This will by no means suffice as an alternative to reading the book...or the workbook. I hope it piques your appetite to buy the books. They are invaluable reading and reference!<br /><br />Today's lesson is in <span style="color:#009900;">Section THREE: Moments in Time</span>.<br /><br />There's no doubt that immersing ourselves in another world is one of the pleasures of reading a well-written novel. But as a writer, how can you capture the world of the story, and lives of the characters in just the right way?<br /><br />As an exercise, it is, in part, a matter of selecting individual moments to freeze for the reader. How do you delineate these in your current manuscript? Can you identify six passages in which you go beyond simple scene settings to capture the flavor of the moment in time, the feeling of an historical era of the uniqueness of a place like no other?<br /><br />If nit, is there any reason not to put that stuff in!<br /><br />Step 1: find in your novel a moment of transition, a pause, a moment of character definition or testing, a place where the action can be momentarily frozen, or the prelude to (or the aftermath of) an important plot event.<br /><br />Step 2: What are three things that make this minute in time different from any other minute in time?<br /><br />Step 3: What are three things that make this place uniquely different from any other place.<br /><br />Step 4: What are three things that define the social world of the story at this precise moment?<br /><br />Step 5: Use the details generated in any of the steps above to craft a paragraph that freezes, for the reader how the world looks and feels toward your POV character. Pin down those unique feelings<br /><br /><strong>Note:</strong> Yes we always want to keep things moving in our stories, but it must happen in time, in space and in social context that is credible, detailed and specific! Use the steps above to create at a given moment a snapshot of the story's time to bring the world of the story into sharp focus.<br /><br /><strong>Follow-up:</strong> Choose four other moments in time to freeze in the novel and delineate them using the steps above.<br /><br /><strong>Conclusion:</strong> Here is where you apply your powers of observation. Give your protagonist the same awareness of the world that you have, or maybe one that is keener!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-3225043125011460389?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-33407163525790286162007-08-10T02:56:00.000-04:002007-10-13T11:59:28.127-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s1600-h/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s200/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392626" /></a>Today we continue with Donald Maass' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158297182X/103-4445210-2959826?v=glance&amp;n=283155">Writing a Breakout Novel</a>. <br /><br />What I am going to endeavor to do here is present truncated versions of each of the lessons in the workbook. This will by no means suffice as an alternative to reading the book...or the workbook. I hope it piques your appetite to buy the books. They are invaluable reading and reference!<br /><br />Today's lesson is in <span style="color:#009900;">Section THREE: General Story Techniques</span>.<br /><br />Oh, BTW...I've been using this book as a review for the manuscript I just edited, so I had to work ahead of you guys so that I was done by the time I leave for Phila!!<br /><br />Today we're going to look at First and Last lines. No doubt about it, a great first line pulls us immediately into a story. It hooks. It intrigues. It opens a world in which things already are happening, in which discovery awaits.<br /><br />Or it can, sadly, lie flat on the page doing nothing helpful all all, merely setting a scene or in some other way getting ready for the story rather than telling it. Weak first lines greet us like a limp handshake.<br /><br />What makes a first line effective? Part of it would be the intrigue factor. It's the element that makes us wonder...<i><b>"What does that mean?</b></i> or <i><b>"What happens next?</b></i>...and therefore leads us to the next line where we may find the answer.<br /><br />All of this usually happens so fast that we don't notice it. In the few seconds it takes to read an opening line, our subconscious minds are already racing ahead!<br /><br />Just as surely as an intriguing first line can draw, a stunning exit sentence can propel a reader onward in wonder...wondering perhaps, when your next novel will be out!<br /><br />Have you yet reached the last line of your current novel? If you have, go back. If you haven't, pause when you get there. Take the time to get your last line just right. Whether it leads forward or lifts our spirits or softly closes a door. Make it a line we will remember...Especially when we see your next novel on the bookstore shelves!<br /><br />Step 1: What is the intrigue factor in your opening line? What question does it pose, or what puzzle does it present?<br /><br />Step 2:If you are not able to answer the question in the first step, try shortening your first line. If that doesn't work, audition your second line for the lead spot. Or combine elements from your first paragraph into one short, supercharged sentence. Whatever you do, choose or construct a different first line.<br /><br /><strong>Note:</strong> the one thing that all good first lines have in common is the intrigue factor.<br /><br /><strong>Follow-up:</strong> Work on your last line until it has wit, a touch of poetry, or a sense of dawning peace. Try it out on others!<br /><br /><strong>Conclusion:</strong> Whether it is a sigh of satisfaction, a soaring passage of word art, or nothing more than a clever exit line, put the same effort into your last line as went into your first. A book needs front and back covers to hold together; in the same way a novel needs strong brackets to bind it!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-3340716352579028616?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-63161896160421982652007-08-09T23:50:00.000-04:002007-10-13T11:55:13.751-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s1600-h/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s200/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392626" /></a>Today we continue with Donald Maass' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158297182X/103-4445210-2959826?v=glance&amp;n=283155">Writing a Breakout Novel</a>. <br /><br />What I am going to endeavor to do here is present truncated versions of each of the lessons in the workbook. This will by no means suffice as an alternative to reading the book...or the workbook. I hope it piques your appetite to buy the books. They are invaluable reading and reference!<br /><br />Today's lesson is in <span style="color:#009900;">Section TWO: Low Tension: Part 3</span>.<br /><br />Tension on every page is the secret of great storytelling. Everyone knows that. Practically no one does it! The dialogue of the how are you would you like a cup of coffee variety can put you to sleep. Mere talk does not keep us glued to the pages. Disagreement does. <br /><br />Friction in dialogue arrests our attention. It begs the unspoken question: Will these people be able to resolve their differences? We slow down to read the next line to find out.<br /><br />Dialogue, backstory, slack moments...these are just a few of the many low-tension danger spots that breakout novelists can make riviting. It's so simple, really! Tension on every page works. Low tension does not.<br /><br />Make that your mantra!<br /><br />Step 1: Turn to any page in your manuscript at random. Put your finger on any line at random.<br /><br />Step 2: find a way to add tension at this moment. If there is already tension, skip to the next line, and heighten the tension there.<br /><br /><strong>Note:</strong> Tension can be many things. it can be as obvious as a gun to the temple or as subtle as forlorn hope. Even the mere anticipation of change is a kind of tension. Without tension we have no reason to wonder how things will turn out. We might at first, but soon we start to skim<br /><br /><strong>Follow-up:</strong> Pick another page at random, the pick another line. Heighten the tension at this point.<br /><br /><strong>Follow-up 2:</strong> Continue picking pages at random, until you've gone through the whole novel!<br /><br /><strong>Conclusion:</strong> Go back to your favorite novels and read them with an eye for tension. you will find that your favorite novelists always have tension on the page!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-6316189616042198265?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-68423226983963217452007-08-08T23:46:00.000-04:002007-10-13T11:50:10.674-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s1600-h/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s200/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392626" /></a>Today we continue with Donald Maass' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158297182X/103-4445210-2959826?v=glance&amp;n=283155">Writing a Breakout Novel</a>. <br /><br />What I am going to endeavor to do here is present truncated versions of each of the lessons in the workbook. This will by no means suffice as an alternative to reading the book...or the workbook. I hope it piques your appetite to buy the books. They are invaluable reading and reference!<br /><br />Today's lesson is in <span style="color:#009900;">Section TWO: Low Tension: Part 2</span>.<br /><br /><br />This lesson deals with burdensome backstory! This is one of the most common ways that an inexperienced novelist...and even sometimes the practiced ones...bog down their openings.<br /><br />You may think that backstory tells things about a character, that we just have to know...LOL...sometimes it can, but that still doesn't make it necessary. We don't always need to know all of these facts, all at once, or right in the beginning.<br /><br />Backstory doesn't tell a story, have tension or complicate problems. However once problems have been introduced, backstory can be artfully deployed to deepen them. It can be particularly useful in developing inner conflicts.<br /><br />Force yourself to withhold the backstory stuff. Having it in the first few chapters always feels awfully necessary. But it is not. It may be more useful later in the story. If when you get there you find you don't need it after all, then maybe you didn't need it in the first place.<br /><br />Step 1: In the first fifty pages of your novel, find any scene that establishes the setting, brings the players to the stage, sets up the situation, or that is otherwise backstory.<br /><br />Step 2: Put brackets around this material, or highlight it in your electronic file.<br /><br />Step 3: cut and paste this material into chapter fifteen...<em>Yes, chapter fifteen </em><br /><strong>NOTE:</strong> Over and over authors bog down their beginnings with setup and backstory. The fact is, the author needs to know these things, of course, but the reader does not. The reader needs the story to begin.<br /><br /><strong>Follow-up:</strong> Now, look at chapter fifteen. Does the backstory belong here? If not, can it be cut outright? If that is not possible, where is the best place for it to reside <em>after the midpoint of your novel!</em><br /><br /><strong>Conclusion:</strong> Backstory is less important than most novelists think. If you must include it at all, place it so that it answers a long-standing question, illuminating some side of a character rather than just setting it up.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-6842322698396321745?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-83682588707281890572007-08-07T01:43:00.000-04:002007-10-13T11:56:13.353-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s1600-h/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s200/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392626" /></a>Today we continue with Donald Maass' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158297182X/103-4445210-2959826?v=glance&amp;n=283155">Writing a Breakout Novel</a>. <br /><br />What I am going to endeavor to do here is present truncated versions of each of the lessons in the workbook. This will by no means suffice as an alternative to reading the book...or the workbook. I hope it piques your appetite to buy the books. They are invaluable reading and reference!<br /><br />Today's lesson is in <span style="color:#009900;">Section TWO: Low Tension: Part 1</span>.<br />In tonight's lesson, we're going to look at Low Tension part 1, subtitled The Problem with Tea!<br /><br />Donald Maass, in his workshop on this book teaches authors to cut scenes set in the kitchen or living room or cars driving from one place to another, or that involve drinking tea or coffee or taking showers or baths, particularly in the novel's first fifty pages.<br /><br />Wonder of wonders! Hardly anyone wants to cut such material. Best selling author Jennifer Cruise even tacked him down at a writers retreat in Kentucky to debate the point about kitchens. She argued without kitchens, how can you tell a family story?<br /><br />These kind of novels invite you to skim...and most people do! The reason is that in careless hands, such scenes lack tension. They do not add new information. They do not subtract allies , deepen conflict, or open new dimensions of character.<br /><br />Typically scenes like these are to relax the tension. They do not raise questions or make use tense or worried. No wonder they don't hold people's attention!<br /><br />Put your tension mete on its most sensitive setting. When your fingers try to type any scene set in a kitchen, living room, or car, I hope your tension meter sinks into the red zone and sets off a screaming alarm in your brain....Low tension alert!<br /><br />Step 1: Find a scene that involves your hero taking a shower or bath, drinking tea or coffee, smoking a cigarette or reviewing prior action.<br /><br />Step 2: Cut the scene<br /><br />Step 3: If you cannot cut the scene, add tension.<br /><br />Step 4: Find a scene set in a kitchen, living room, office, or in a car that your hero is driving from one place to another.<br /><br />Step 5: Cut the scene.<br /><br />Step 6: If you cannot cut the scene, add tension.<br /><br /><strong>Note: </strong>The above exercise usually provokes anxiety in workshop participants. The fact is, people usually jump over such pointless review. Another trap is telling us how your hero reached a decision. Why bother? Instead, show us what happens as a result.<br /><br /><strong>Follow-up:</strong> Find ten more low-tension scenes to cut or juice up with more tension.<br /><br /><strong>Conclusion:</strong> Ninety-nine percent of scenes involving the above categories are by nature inactive. They are usually filler. You think you need them...but probably you don't!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-8368258870728189057?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-4540640574130506472007-08-06T11:39:00.000-04:002007-10-13T11:43:34.605-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s1600-h/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s200/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392626" /></a>Today we continue with Donald Maass' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158297182X/103-4445210-2959826?v=glance&amp;n=283155">Writing a Breakout Novel</a>. <br /><br />What I am going to endeavor to do here is present truncated versions of each of the lessons in the workbook. This will by no means suffice as an alternative to reading the book...or the workbook. I hope it piques your appetite to buy the books. They are invaluable reading and reference!<br /><br />Today's lesson is in <span style="color:#009900;">Section TWO: Bridging Conflict</span>.<br /><br />Did you ever arrive early for a party? It's awkward, isn't it? The music isn't playing. The host and hostess aren't ready. You offer help, but there's nothing you can do....except feel awkward.<br /><br />That's how some manuscripts are. Pieces of the story are being assembled, but nothing is happening yet, and the protagonist hasn't arrived. I fact nobody you like has shown up and your wondering why you accepted the invitation.<br /><br />Bridging conflict is a story element that takes care of that. It is the temporary conflict or mini-problem or interim worry that makes opening material matter. There are many ways to create it. Even anticipation of changes is a kind of conflict that can make us lean forward and wonder, <i><b>What is going to happen?</b></i><br /><br />How do you bridge from your opening page to your novel's main events? Do you just get us there, filling space with arrival, setup, and backstory? Or do you use the preliminary pages of your manuscript to build tension of a different sort?<br /><br />Step 1: Does your novel include a prologue that does not include your protagonist, or one or more opening chapters in which your hero does not appear. Move your hero's first scene to page one.<br /><br />Step 2: Once your protagonist arrives on stage what business do you feel must be included before the first big change, conflict, problem, or plot development arrives?<br /><br />Step 3: What is the bridging conflict that carries us through those opening steps to the first big change, conflict, problem, or plot development?<br /><br />Step 4: Open your manuscript to page one. How can you make that bridging conflict stronger at this point?<br /><br />Step 5: turn to page two. <em>Repeat the previous step. Continue until you reach the first big change, conflict, problem, or plot development</em>.<br /><br /><strong>Note:</strong> The number one reason for rejection..no conflict, especially in the opening pages.<br /><br /><strong>Follow-up:</strong> Find four places in your novel, ones that fall between plot development or scenes, in which the problem does not immediately arrive.<br /><br /><strong>Conclusion:</strong> To maintain high tension it isn't necessary to keep your novel's central conflict squarely front and center. Bridging conflict adds contrast and variety, and makes even peripheral action matter. It is what keeps your readers' eyes glued always to the page, even when your main plot is taking a break!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-454064057413050647?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-770441468637336152007-08-05T11:37:00.000-04:002007-10-13T11:39:05.066-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s1600-h/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s200/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392626" /></a>Today we continue with Donald Maass' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158297182X/103-4445210-2959826?v=glance&amp;n=283155">Writing a Breakout Novel</a>. <br /><br />What I am going to endeavor to do here is present truncated versions of each of the lessons in the workbook. This will by no means suffice as an alternative to reading the book...or the workbook. I hope it piques your appetite to buy the books. They are invaluable reading and reference!<br /><br />Today's lesson is in <span style="color:#009900;">Section TWO: High Moments</span>.<br /><br />I love it when a novel makes you suck in your breath and go, "Oh!" These are high moments, when the story soars above itself and awes or inspires us in some way.<br /><br />How are such effects achieved? It's easier than you think. Granted there are certain types of story events that are guaranteed to produce wide-eyed reactions. What are they?....forgiveness, self-sacrifice, reversals of direction, moral choices, and death. Do any of these occur in your current manuscript? If not, is there a place for them?<br /><br />Step 1: In your novel is there one character who can be forgiven by another? What is being forgiven? When? Why?<br /><br />Step 2: In your novel is there a character who can sacrifice his/herself, or something dearly loved, in some way? Who is it? What does he sacrifice?<br /><br />Step 3: In your novel is there ancharacter who can change direction? Who is it? What causes the turnabout? When does it happen?<br /><br />Step 4: In your novel is there a character who faces a moral choice? Who? What choice? How can that choice become more difficult?<br /><br />Step 5: In your novel is there a character whom we do not expect to die, but who can nevertheless perish? <em>Kill that character</em>.<br /><br /><strong>Note:</strong> What are the memorable moments in a novel? The high moments, of course, but what do we mean by that? They can mean many things like reconciliation, self-sacrifice, transformation, tests of character, or death. In many novels none of these things occur!<br /><br /><strong>Follow-up:</strong> Using the notes you made above, incorporate each of those high moments into your novel!<br /><br /><strong>Conclusion:</strong> For a novel to feel big, big things must happen: irrevocalbe changes, hearts opening, hearts breaking, saying farewell to one well loved whom we will never meet again. Create these moments. Use them. They are the high moments that make a novel highly dramatic.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-77044146863733615?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-71067846035492422672007-08-05T09:15:00.000-04:002007-10-13T11:36:18.677-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s1600-h/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s200/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392626" /></a>Today we continue with Donald Maass' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158297182X/103-4445210-2959826?v=glance&amp;n=283155">Writing a Breakout Novel</a>. <br /><br />What I am going to endeavor to do here is present truncated versions of each of the lessons in the workbook. This will by no means suffice as an alternative to reading the book...or the workbook. I hope it piques your appetite to buy the books. They are invaluable reading and reference!<br /><br />Today's lesson is in <span style="color:#009900;">Section TWO: the Inner Journey</span>.<br /><br />Plot development creates easy to see plot points. Less easy to identify are your protag's inner turning points. Call it growth, call it exposition, but get inside your characters head and find out where he/she is right now1<br /><br />Take the time to demark the inner turning points in your current WIP. We want to know about your characters, particularly how they are changing. Show us. A sense of the trick inner lives unfolding is one of the hallmarks of a breakout novel.<br /><br />Step 1: Choose any turning point except the climax.<br /><br />Step 2: Wind the clock back...How does the character feel about himself NOW!<br /><br />Step 3:Write a paragraph in which you delineate this character's state of mind or state of being at this earlier moment.<br /><br />Step 4: Now, write a paragraph in which you delineate this character's state of mind, or state of being ten minutes <em>after</em> the turning point.<br /><br />Step 5: Use the material you generated in the steps above to pull together a single paragraph. <br /><br /><strong>Note:</strong> Has your life ever changed in a moment? Was there an incident, a second in time where your life changed irrevocable. Bring the same inner transformation that has taken place into a very detailed exercise.<br /><br /><strong>Follow-up:</strong> Some novelist only do a short amount of work. Find out the feelings of a child. What does it feel to be like a child? Find out the answers from a child!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-7106784603549242267?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-49658963515031146552007-08-04T02:13:00.000-04:002007-10-13T02:15:32.820-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s1600-h/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s200/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392626" /></a>Today we continue with Donald Maass' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158297182X/103-4445210-2959826?v=glance&amp;n=283155">Writing a Breakout Novel</a>. <br /><br />What I am going to endeavor to do here is present truncated versions of each of the lessons in the workbook. This will by no means suffice as an alternative to reading the book...or the workbook. I hope it piques your appetite to buy the books. They are invaluable reading and reference!<br /><br />Today's lesson is in <span style="color:#009900;">Section TWO: Turning Points</span>.<br /><br />A turning point in a story is when things change. It could be new info coming in, a shift in events, a reversal, a twist (like revealing another role for a character), a challenge, or a disaster.<br /><br />Figuring out turning points is easy enough. Making them as dramatic as possible is another story...LOL...Heightening takes work. Sometimes it is as simple as letting go of an old way of looking at things.<br /><br />Take a look at the turning points throughout your manuscript. Are they as dramatic as they possibly can be? No...I guarantee it. Go back to work on them. Use stronger words, hand objects, dramatic gestures, more evocative settings...whatever it takes to wring out of them all that they have to give.<br /><br />Step 1: Pick a turning point in your story. It can be a major change of direction in the plot or a small discovery in the course of a scene.<br /><br />Step 2: Heighten it. Change the setting in some way. Make the action bigger. Magnify the dialogue. Make the inner change experienced by your POV character as cataclysmic as an earthquake.<br /><br />Step 3: Take the same moment, and underplay it. make it quieter. Take away action. Remove dialogue. Make the transition small and internal, a tide just beginnning to ebb.<br /><br /><strong>Note:</strong> Which works better, heightening the turning point or underplaying it. How did you change the setting, or use it differently? How did you make action more dramatic? Did the dialogue get louder, sharper, harder, more cutting? If a realization has taken place, how did it deepen?<br /><br /><strong>Follow-up:</strong> go through your novel and find the turning points in twenty scenes. find ways to heighten (or pointedly diminish) them.<br /><br /><strong>Conclusion:</strong> Many novels do not strive forward in pronounced steps. Many authors are afraid to exaggerate what is happening. That is a mistake. Stories, like life, are about change. Delineating the changes scene by scene gives a novel a sense of unfolding drama, and gives its characters a feeling of purpose over time.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-4965896351503114655?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-51315135228127241802007-08-03T02:15:00.000-04:002007-10-13T02:12:13.350-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s1600-h/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s200/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392626" /></a>Today we continue with Donald Maass' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158297182X/103-4445210-2959826?v=glance&amp;n=283155">Writing a Breakout Novel</a>. <br /><br />What I am going to endeavor to do here is present truncated versions of each of the lessons in the workbook. This will by no means suffice as an alternative to reading the book...or the workbook. I hope it piques your appetite to buy the books. They are invaluable reading and reference!<br /><br />Today's lesson is in <span style="color:#009900;">Section TWO: Subplots</span>.<br /><br />Plot layers are the several narrative lines experiences by the protagonist, while subplots are the narrative lines experienced by other characters. What does a narrative line look like? It's problems that take more than one step to resolve, in other words...it grows more complicated!<br /><br />Now that we understand the lingo, which is better, layers or subplots? Today the word <em>subplot</em> is kinda' old-fashioned. Subplots are found throughout 20th century literature, and in contemporary novels.<br /><br />Novels today benefit more from tightly weaving plot layers, than from the broad sprawl of subplots. but it is not to say that subplots don't have a place in a breakout novel!<br /><br />Are there subplots that can be developed for your novel? Some writers are afraid to add subplots, for fear their story will run away with them. That fear is unfounded. Subplots may make a novel sprawl, but if carefully woven together with the main layers, the novel will have the rich tapestry feeling of real life!<br /><br />Step 1: Who are your novel's most important secondary characters?<br /><br />Step 2: what is the main problem, conflict, or goal faced by each of these characters?<br /><br />Step 3: For each, what are the three main steps leading to the solution of that problem, the resolution of that conflict, or the attainment of that goal. Put another way, what are three actions, events, or developments...of the secondary characters...that you could not possibly leave out.<br /><br />Step 4: Outline each secondary character's story. while your protagonist is at work on the main problem, what is each character doing to slove his own problem?<br /><br /><strong>Note:</strong> What if your novel is not really about your hero, but about another character? That is the point of this exercise: To make secondary characters active, to give them lives and stories of their own. These are true subplots!<br /><br /><strong>Follow-up:</strong> Weave your plot layers together with your subplots using the method in the building Plot exercis steps from yesterday. Add the nodes of conjuncture that you discover to your novel.<br /><br /><strong>Conclusion:</strong> Can subplots and secondary characters steal the show? Yep! If they do it effectively enough, you may have the wrong protagonist. But most subplots are underdeveloped or nonexistent. This exercise can help give subplots a vital pulse.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-5131513522812724180?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-28311844523651452372007-08-01T01:07:00.000-04:002007-10-13T02:09:10.555-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s1600-h/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s200/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392626" /></a>Today we continue with Donald Maass' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158297182X/103-4445210-2959826?v=glance&amp;n=283155">Writing a Breakout Novel</a>. <br /><br />What I am going to endeavor to do here is present truncated versions of each of the lessons in the workbook. This will by no means suffice as an alternative to reading the book...or the workbook. I hope it piques your appetite to buy the books. They are invaluable reading and reference!<br /><br />Today's lesson is in <span style="color:#009900;">Section TWO: Weaving a Story</span>.<br /><br />Yesterday we added layers. The next is to get them to work together. Without linking them you might as well be writing separate novels for each layer. Weaving them together is finding ways for them to coexist.<br /><br />The devices that you use to make the connections are called nodes of conjunction. A setting in your story may recur in different layers, thus serving double duty. A character who faces his own problems in a subplot may bring relief, or introduce a complication, to your protag, who is facing their own conflict.<br /><br />Secondary characters can get dragged into storylines they did not expect to grapple with. These are the ways in which storylines cross. Count the nodes of conjunction that weave together the layers in your novel. How many are there? Search for more!<br /><br />Step 1: On a single sheet of paper, make three columns. In the first one list major and secondary characters. In the middle, list the principle narrative lines, main problems, extra plot layers, subplots, minor narrative threads, questions to be answered in the course of the story, etc, In the third column list the novel's principle places and major settings.<br /><br />Step 2: With circles and lines, connect a character, a narrative line, and a place. Keep drawing lines and circles at random, making connections. See what develops. When a random connection suddenly makes sense...make notes.<br /><br /><strong>Note:</strong> Try this and you will find connections you never saw before, characters that cross from one storyline to another, settings that host more than one storyline. these nodes of conjunction give a novel texture, a feeling of being woven together.<br /><br /><strong>Follow-up:</strong> Add to you novel at least six of the nodes of conjunction that you came up with.<br /><br /><strong>Conclusion:</strong> You may feel that you story is runninf away from you out of control. This panic is normal. Trust the process. If you have set a strong central problem, added layers, and found ways to weave them together, then the whole thing will come together in the end!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-2831184452365145237?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-60407202668146629452007-07-31T02:03:00.000-04:002007-10-13T02:06:04.247-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s1600-h/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s200/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392626" /></a>Today we continue with Donald Maass' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158297182X/103-4445210-2959826?v=glance&amp;n=283155">Writing a Breakout Novel</a>. <br /><br />What I am going to endeavor to do here is present truncated versions of each of the lessons in the workbook. This will by no means suffice as an alternative to reading the book...or the workbook. I hope it piques your appetite to buy the books. They are invaluable reading and reference!<br /><br />Today's lesson is in <span style="color:#009900;">Section TWO: Plot Layers</span>.<br /><br />In understanding how to build a breakout novel, you have to grasp the difference between subplot and a layer. Subplots are plot lines given to <em>different</em> characters. While layers are plot lines given to the <em>same</em> character. Breakout fiction makes extensive use of plot layers to reflect the natural complexity of our lives.<br /><br />How many layers have you heaped on your protagonist in your current WIP? Just one?...Get busy!! Even two layers may be too few to build a breakout novel!<br /><br />Step 1: What is the name of your protagonist?<br /><br />Step 2: What is the overall problem he/she must solve?<br /><br />Step 3: What additional problems can she face? Not complications to the main problem, but altogether different problems.<br /><br /><strong>Note:</strong> A plot is layered when more than one thing happens simultaneously to the hero. There are levels of problems to utilize...public problems, personal problems, and secondary problems. Small mysteries, nagging questions, dangling threads....these can be woven into the plot.<br /><br /><strong>Follow-up:</strong> For each plot layer that you add, work out at least four steps or scenes that you will need to bring this narrative line to its climax and resolution. Make notes for these additional steps or scenes.<br /><br /><strong>Conclusion:</strong> Have you ever noticed how everything seems to happen at once? Good things come in threes. When it rains it pours. Layers give novels the rich texture of real life. Building them into your story is extra work, but the reward is a rich resonance and complexity!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-6040720266814662945?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-65390882577463696262007-07-29T02:00:00.000-04:002007-10-13T02:01:34.021-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s1600-h/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s200/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392626" /></a>Today we continue with Donald Maass' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158297182X/103-4445210-2959826?v=glance&amp;n=283155">Writing a Breakout Novel</a>. <br /><br />What I am going to endeavor to do here is present truncated versions of each of the lessons in the workbook. This will by no means suffice as an alternative to reading the book...or the workbook. I hope it piques your appetite to buy the books. They are invaluable reading and reference!<br /><br />Today's lesson is in <span style="color:#009900;">Section TWO: Complications</span>.<br /><br />Every protagonist has a goal. This means every one also has problems, because no goal is achieved without overcoming obstacles. Easily achieved goals are not goals at all...LOL! the obstacles to the goal are important, they are the essence of the plot!<br /><br />Plot can literally be be the tally of many complications hurled at the hero. Complications can be inner, psychological, and private, or external, unprovoked, and public. Or both! Just make wherever your hero is going, difficult to get there.<br /><br />The obstacles have to be believable, whether internal or external. Look at your favorite novel. Many pages are relegated to making the opposition real and credible. This is good storytelling.<br /><br />The simplest way of opposition is to have an antagonist. But he/she needs to be a good villain. This is sometimes hard because most authors are not evil at heart. To be a good criminal you have to be able to justify your crime...and feel justified by it. Thus, motivating the villain is an essential breakout skill!<br /><br />Step 1: What is your novel's main conflict?<br /><br />Step 2: What are the main complications that deepen that conflict?<br /><br />Step 3:To each complication, assign the name of the character who primarily will enact it. How will he/she do so?<br /><br />Step 4: Work out the primary motives for each character who introduces a complication. Then list all the secondary motives, and underline the last ones you wrote down...Pick a scene involving that character and reverse that character's motivation, as you did back in the Reversing Motives in chapter six.<br /><br /><strong>Note:</strong> Plot complications need characters to bring them about. The obvious choice of character is not always the most effective. For example: You would expect it to be the boss who tells you that you are running out of time. What if it was the janitor that told you he felt bad for the last guy who didn't complete the assignment on time.<br /><br /><strong>Follow-up:</strong> For at least three complications, work out who will be hurt the most when it happens. Incorporate it in the story.<br /><br /><strong>Conclusion:</strong><br />Most authors underutilize their secondary characters. Adding complications is a way to get more mileage out of your cast!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-6539088257746369626?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-91878121731855894302007-07-28T02:04:00.000-04:002007-10-13T01:58:23.834-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s1600-h/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s200/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392626" /></a>Today we continue with Donald Maass' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158297182X/103-4445210-2959826?v=glance&amp;n=283155">Writing a Breakout Novel</a>. <br /><br />What I am going to endeavor to do here is present truncated versions of each of the lessons in the workbook. This will by no means suffice as an alternative to reading the book...or the workbook. I hope it piques your appetite to buy the books. They are invaluable reading and reference!<br /><br />We're done with Character Development, now we're moving on to Plot Development! Today's lesson is in <span style="color:#009900;">Section TWO: Public Stakes</span>.<br /><br />We sometimes think, <em>It can't get any worse than this</em>. (But I can tell you after our flooding two weeks ago...and now torrential downpours)...Oh, but it can! That is the essence of raising the outward, or public stakes: making things worse, showing there is more to lose, promising even bigger disasters will happen if the hero doesn't make matters come out okay.<br /><br />Everyday problems presented in an ordinary way, problems that anyone might have on any given day, do not have the power to become universal. That is, to resonate within us and remind us of all humanity and its eternal struggle. But when stakes rise to a high enough order of magnitude, a protagonist's problems will become the problems that we all have. What was personal becomes public.<br /><br />In your present WIP where are the stakes? How far do they rise? How bad do they get? Take them higher and deeper. Bwa hah hah...make them worse...much worse. Your novel can only get better!<br /><br />Step 1: Write down your novel's overt and outward central conflict or problem.<br /><br />Step 2: What would make this worse? Write down as many reasons as you can.<br /><br />Step 3: When you run out of ideas, ask yourself, "What would make this problem even worse?"<br /><br />Step 4: When you run out of steam ask, "What are the circumstances under which my protagonist would actually fail to solve this problem?<br /><br />Step 5: Have you novel conclude with your protagonist's failures. Can you pull some measure of happiness from this ending?<br /><br /><strong>Note:</strong> Things can always get worse. Raise the stakes by making what might be lost more valuable.<br /><br /><strong>Follow-up</strong>: Incorporate into your story four raisings of the outward (plot) stakes.<br /><br /><strong>Conclusion:</strong>A common failure in novels is that we can see the ending coming. The author signals his preferred outcome, and guess what? That's how things turn out. The only way to keep an ending in doubt is to make failure possible. Even better is to make failure happen. Maybe what's actually at stake isn't what you thought at all!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-9187812173185589430?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-78276673033688006952007-07-26T02:54:00.000-04:002007-10-13T01:55:36.003-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s1600-h/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s200/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392626" /></a>Today we continue with Donald Maass' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158297182X/103-4445210-2959826?v=glance&amp;n=283155">Writing a Breakout Novel</a>. <br /><br />What I am going to endeavor to do here is present truncated versions of each of the lessons in the workbook. This will by no means suffice as an alternative to reading the book...or the workbook. I hope it piques your appetite to buy the books. They are invaluable reading and reference!<br /><br />Today's lesson is in <span style="color:#009900;">Section One: Enriching Your Cast</span>.<br /><br />Complexity in a novel is a desirable quality. Adding plot layers is one way to do it or enriching your characters is another. But not by adding new characters, but by eliminating them...or more accurately, by combining them.<br /><br />Step: 1 In two columns, list in two columns...the names of all major, secondary, and minor characters...and the purpose or function of each in the story...be brief in the description, like...supports protagonist, supports antagonist, provides special knowledge.<br /><br />Step: 2 If you have ten or fewer characters, cross out the name of one. Delete him/her from the story....yea...go on...do it...LOL! If you have ten or more characters, cross out two.<br /><br />Step: 3 Your cast list is now shorter by one or two, but there remains one or two functions that need to be filled. Assign those functions to one or more of the remaining characters.<br /><br /><strong>Note:</strong> Give the people in your novel many roles and your story will be the big beneficiary.<br /><br /><strong>Follow-up:</strong> Are there other characters in your novel who can take on multiple roles? Go down the list and note the possibilities, then put them in practice. Find at least two more roles to combine into one.<br /><br /><strong>Conclusion:</strong> Were you to complete this exercise. Some authors have great difficulty with it. Most are able to reduce their casts, which makes the remaining ones more interesting. Why? Because not only do they have more to do, but them have become capable of more.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-7827667303368800695?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-64028556581505622812007-07-24T01:51:00.000-04:002007-10-13T01:52:42.402-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s1600-h/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s200/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392626" /></a>Today we continue with Donald Maass' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158297182X/103-4445210-2959826?v=glance&amp;n=283155">Writing a Breakout Novel</a>. <br /><br />What I am going to endeavor to do here is present truncated versions of each of the lessons in the workbook. This will by no means suffice as an alternative to reading the book...or the workbook. I hope it piques your appetite to buy the books. They are invaluable reading and reference!<br /><br />Today's lesson is in <span style="color:#009900;">Section One: Antagonists Outline</span>.<br /><br />This is a continuation of yesterday, because I don't like to make the lesson too long...it makes me want to fall asleep, so I know it messes with ya'll!<br /><br />Today we're going to do an exercise to develop the antagonist. The person we love to hate!<br /><br />Step 1: What makes the antagonist the top on your dislike list? What's their biggest problem, conflict or goal?<br /><br />Step 2: What does the antagonist want most in this world?<br /><br />Step 3: What is the second plot layer for the antagonist?<br /><br />Step 4: Name the five important steps toward your antagonists goal, or towards resolving their central problem or conflict. In other words, what are the five events, actions, or high points, of the antagonist that you could not possibly leave out.<br /><br />Step 5: Name the three important steps toward, or away from, the antagonists' greatest need.<br /><br />Step 6: Using the above material, outline the entire novel from the antagonist's point of view.<br /><br /><strong>Note:</strong> If your novel doesn't have an antagonist, who or what opposes your protagonist. What if it's internal. Can that internal conflict have a life and personality of its own?<br /><br /><strong>Follow-up</strong> find five new ways in which your antagonist can advance his/her own interests. Let these be actions that have nothing to do with your hero.<br /><br /><strong>Conclusion:</strong> We don't usually think about the antagonist's inner journey...Humanize your villain. Motivate his/her actions with kindness. Let him/her be heroic, helpful, and principled...let evil wear a compassionate face!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-6402855658150562281?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-77456293450244278802007-07-23T11:47:00.000-04:002007-10-13T01:49:21.706-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s1600-h/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s200/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392626" /></a>Today we continue with Donald Maass' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158297182X/103-4445210-2959826?v=glance&amp;n=283155">Writing a Breakout Novel</a>. <br /><br />What I am going to endeavor to do here is present truncated versions of each of the lessons in the workbook. This will by no means suffice as an alternative to reading the book...or the workbook. I hope it piques your appetite to buy the books. They are invaluable reading and reference!<br /><br />Today's lesson is in <span style="color:#009900;">Section One: Antagonists</span>.<br /><br />Antagonists can be fun to write. In fact, villians can wind up being the most memorable character in a novel. Despite that, many times the antagonists are left to be one-dimensional, and with this flaw they do not frighten, surprise, or linger in your memory.<br /><br />Develop antagonists like you would a protagonist. It demands the same attention to extra dimensions, inner conflict, larger-than-life qualities, and the rest. When developed well, an antagonist is an equal match, or more, for the protagonist.<br /><br />Villians are best when they are complex. Use these exercises to develop those depths. You may wind up with an antagonist that your readers fear or even adore! Hey, shoot for both.<br /><br />Step 1: Who is the antagonist in your novel?<br /><br />Step 2:Create an extra dimension. Write down your antagonist's defining quality. Write down the opposite of that. Now create a paragraph in which your antagonist demonstrates the opposite quality that you have identified.<br /><br />Step 3: Create an inner conflict. Write down what your antagonist most wants. Write down the opposite of that. How can this character want both of these things simultaneously? How can they be mutually exclusive?<br /><br />Step 4: Create larger-than-life qualities. Write down things your antagonist would never do, say, or think. Find places where this character can and must do, say and think those things.<br /><br />Step 5: Define your antagonist's personal stakes. What is his/her main problem, conflict, or goal? Write down what would make this problem matter more, and then matter more than life itself.<br /><br /><strong>Note:</strong> A well rounded villian is far more dangerous and interesting that a one-dimensional antagonist.<br /><br /><strong>Follow-up:</strong> Give the above qualities to a seconary antagonist who supports the villian.<br /><br />Conclusion: No one is bad all the time. Villains can act like people too. Build a villian who resembles you...That might be the most chilling adversary of all!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-7745629345024427880?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-51842263322761637562007-07-22T01:57:00.000-04:002007-10-13T01:45:24.178-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s1600-h/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s200/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392626" /></a>Today we continue with Donald Maass' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158297182X/103-4445210-2959826?v=glance&amp;n=283155">Writing a Breakout Novel</a>. <br /><br />What I am going to endeavor to do here is present truncated versions of each of the lessons in the workbook. This will by no means suffice as an alternative to reading the book...or the workbook. I hope it piques your appetite to buy the books. They are invaluable reading and reference!<br /><br />Today's lesson is in <span style="color:#009900;">Section One: Creating Secondary Characters</span>.<br /><br />Novels are full of as many people as the world. but how believable are the secondary characters who fill novels out. Many are here today and gone tomorrow, and then they act in only one way.<br /><br />Secondary characters don't have to act like that! They can be as strong as primary characters. when that happens it's because the author has deliberately made them multidimentional, conflicted, or surprising. And that's tough to do in limited space, but it can be done.<br /><br />How much attention have you given to your secondary characters? Have you taken the time to give them extra dimentions, inner conflict, and larger than life qualities? If not, why not give it a try?<br /><br />Step 1: Pick a secondary character who aids your protagonist.<br /><br />Step 2:Create an extra dimention: Write down the character's defining quality. Write down the opposite of that. Now create a paragraph in which this character demonstrates the opposite quality that you have identified.<br /><br />Step 3: Create an inner conflict. Write down what this character wants most. Write down the opposite of that. How can this character want both things at the same time? How can they be mutually exclusive?<br /><br />Step 4: Create larger-than-life qualities. Write down the things that this character would never say, do, or think. find places where this character can and must say, do and think those things!<br /><br /><strong>Note:</strong> Secondary characters can be the most vibrant and active in a manuscript. They can also be lifeless and cardboard, mere props for the hero...that's a shame!<br /><br /><strong>Follow-up:</strong> follow the steps above for a different minor character who supports your protagonist.<br /><br /><strong>Conclusion:</strong> You may wonder if the secondary character will get too strong for the story. Don't worry. If your secondaries occupy less page time and do not enact the novel's most significant events, they will add luster to the novel without blinding your readers to your stories true hero.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-5184226332276163756?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-66768354197089867892007-07-21T03:40:00.000-04:002007-10-13T01:42:22.426-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s1600-h/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s200/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392626" /></a>Today we continue with Donald Maass' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158297182X/103-4445210-2959826?v=glance&amp;n=283155">Writing a Breakout Novel</a>. <br /><br />What I am going to endeavor to do here is present truncated versions of each of the lessons in the workbook. This will by no means suffice as an alternative to reading the book...or the workbook. I hope it piques your appetite to buy the books. They are invaluable reading and reference!<br /><br />Today's lesson is in <span style="color:#009900;">Section One: Exposition</span>.<br /><br />We all star in our own movie. No one's life has, for each of us, the immediacy and importance of our own. Nothing is more significant than what is happening to us right now....believe me, I can identify with that thought!<br /><br />This may sound self-absorbed, but it is a measure of the intensity with which we experience our lives, and the importance we attach to the things we do!<br /><br />The protagonist of a novel is no different from us in that respect, or needn't be. Characters with poorly developed inner lives cannot sustain reader interest. Don't write endless passages of gushy exposition (interior monologue0, rather bring out the protagonist's self-regard that shows reflection, self-examination and the true sense of who the character really is in the story.<br /><br />Self-observation can make a character enormously appealing.<br /><br />Step 1:In your manuscript pick a moment when the POV character does not react to what is happening, or when in fact nothing is happening and the action of the story is paused or static.<br /><br />Step 2:Write a paragraph of exposition delineating this character's self-conscious thoughts about her own state of mind, emotional condition, state of being or soul, or perception of the state of the world at this point in time.<br /><br /><strong>Note:</strong> It can be as simple as "He felt lousy" or as complex as "The Hegelian paradigm was shifting." Sooner or later you must bring a reader inside your character's head and show us what's going on!<br /><br /><strong>Follow-up</strong>: Repeat the above steps at four more points of deep exposition (where we experience a character's thoughts and feelings.)<br /><br /><strong>Conclusion</strong>: Passages of exposition can be among the most gripping in your novel. When nothing overtly is going on, make sure that a great deal is at work beneath the surface. Otherwise your novel will have dead spots that your reader will skip!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-6676835419708986789?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-76753081968271793502007-07-20T01:35:00.000-04:002007-10-13T01:38:59.594-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s1600-h/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s200/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392626" /></a>Today we continue with Donald Maass' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158297182X/103-4445210-2959826?v=glance&amp;n=283155">Writing a Breakout Novel</a>. <br /><br />What I am going to endeavor to do here is present truncated versions of each of the lessons in the workbook. This will by no means suffice as an alternative to reading the book...or the workbook. I hope it piques your appetite to buy the books. They are invaluable reading and reference!<br /><br />Today's lesson is in <span style="color:#009900;">Section One: Ultimate Stakes</span>.<br /><br />Think about why we do the things we do...Lately my version of that has been a little skewed, but none the less...We get up, scan the paper, fight the rush hour, placate the boss, mow the lawn, save for vacation, etc, etc. There are reasons for all of these things. Not that we think about them before acting, but if pressed we could come up with explanations.<br /><br />We care. We feel that what we do matters, even when it is a small thing. We have to care because no one can live for long feeling that life is futile, or without purpose. If we did, at the least, we'd stay in bed in the morning. At worst, after a life without reason, we'd check out.<br /><br />When life tests us to the utmost, our motives grow exponentially greater. Our deepest convictions rise close to the surface. We become more determined to make a difference, to persist, to overcome all problems and obstacles.<br /><br />At the moment of ultimate testing we summon our deepest beliefs and swear that nothing, <em>nothing</em>, will stop us!<br /><br />The hero of your novel also will be tested to the limit of his/her convictions, or at least I hope so! If not, are there enough obstacles in the way of your protagonist? How does he/she respond at this supreme moment? the way that you or I would, let's hope, but even more strongly.<br /><br />Is there a moment of ultimate stakes in your current manuscript? If not, fix it on the page. Your hero's testing and eventual commitment will be fixed in your reader's mind for a long time to come!<br /><br />Step 1: Identify the moment in your story when your protagonist's stakes hit home...when he/she realizes that there is no turning back. This is the moment of irrevocable commitment.<br /><br />Step 2: Write out that moment in one paragraph.<br /><br />Step 3:Look at the paragraph you have written. Notice its shape, feel its effect. <em>Now imaging that this is the first paragraph of your novel</em>.<br /><br /><em><strong>Note</strong></em>: Probably it would be difficult to place that paragraph at the top of page one. It's probably part of the climax. If you put it first you'd wind up with a novel told as a flashback. And there's a <a href="http://misssnark.blogspot.com/">Certain Agent</a> that we all know who would set her hair on fire at the notion of this!<br /><br />Even so, it's tantalizing to think that your protagonist could have that kind of commitment, and your novel, that kind of emotional power, right from the opening moment, isn't it?<br /><br />Well why not? don't dump a mountain of commitment on your protagonist immediately, yet you can give him/her a passioned caring about something at the beginning. Emotionally speaking, why open the novel in low gear?<br /><br /><em><strong>Follow-up: </strong></em>The moment of commitment that you just created has an opposite: a moment of irresolution, a healthy adversion, a justified selfishness, or similar reaction. Write it down. find a place earlier in you manuscript to slot this in.<br /><br /><em><strong>Conclusion:</strong></em>: You may not wind up directly using the paragraph that you created with this exercise: however, let your hero's inner commitment infuse and underlie all his/her actions. Let them be driven. When resolve weakens, reinforce it. Strong commitment on the part of your protagonist will generate strong commitment on the part of your reader.<br /><br />The same is true, not surprisingly, when you create strong commitment on the part of your antagonist!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-7675308196827179350?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-83640216799195263172007-07-19T01:17:00.000-04:002007-10-13T01:35:00.758-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s1600-h/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s200/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392626" /></a>Today we continue with Donald Maass' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158297182X/103-4445210-2959826?v=glance&amp;n=283155">Writing a Breakout Novel</a>. <br /><br />What I am going to endeavor to do here is present truncated versions of each of the lessons in the workbook. This will by no means suffice as an alternative to reading the book...or the workbook. I hope it piques your appetite to buy the books. They are invaluable reading and reference!<br /><br />Today's lesson is in <span style="color:#009900;">Section One: Personal Stakes</span>.<br /><br />It is easy to dismiss the protagonist's <em>personal stakes </em>as just another way of saying what motivates him. That's too simple. Personal stakes are more than just what a hero <em>wants</em> to do. They illustrate <em>why.</em> Why this goal and the action that must be performed, matters in a profound and personal sense. The more it matters to your hero...the more it will matter to your readers.<br /><br />What are your protagonist's personal stakes in your current manuscript and <em>how</em> do they rise? Why does he/she care? Why might he care <em>more</em>?<br />Without personal stakes, even the highest-voltage thriller is an empty plot exercise. Raise the personal stakes and we will all care what happens in your story no matter whether the plot is boiling or not.<br /><br />Step 1. what is your protagonist's main problem, conflict, goal, need, desire, yearning, or whatever it is driving him/her through the story.<br /><br />Step 2. What could make this problem matter more. Write down as many new reasons as you can think of.<br /><br />Step 3. When you run out of reasons, ask yourself what could make this problem matter even more than that?<br /><br />Step 4. When you run out of steam, ask yourself what could make this problem matter more than life itself.<br /><br /><strong>Follow-up</strong>:For all the ways to deepen the personal stakes that you created above, work out how to incorporate each into your novel. Include at least six.<br /><br /><strong>Conclusion</strong>: Every Protagonist has a primary motive for what they do. Outward motives are easy to devise, but inner motives most powerfully drive a character forward. Don't just look at all the possibilities...Use them! That is what raising personal stakes is all about. It's extra work, but the results will be a more gripping novel.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-8364021679919526317?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-13780442298905289082007-07-18T04:30:00.000-04:002007-10-13T01:32:23.117-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s1600-h/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s200/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392626" /></a>Today we continue with Donald Maass' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158297182X/103-4445210-2959826?v=glance&amp;n=283155">Writing a Breakout Novel</a>. <br /><br />What I am going to endeavor to do here is present truncated versions of each of the lessons in the workbook. This will by no means suffice as an alternative to reading the book...or the workbook. I hope it piques your appetite to buy the books. They are invaluable reading and reference!<br /><br />Today's lesson is in <span style="color:#009900;">Section One: Character Turnabouts and Surprises</span>.<br /><br />It would be interesting to compare early drafts to finished manuscripts to compare how scenes get resolved. We normally don't get that opportunity, but many times we find scenes that do not play out the way we expect them to.<br /><br />The whole thrust is a surprise, or perhaps the scene turns in an unexpected directon, or a character does something that we do not anticipate. This comes from trying different approaches to a scene. In essence, that is what Reverse Motives...the next exercise, is about...trying different approaches to see if they work better. Here's an exercise.<br /><br />Step 1. Pick a scene featuring your protagonist. What are his/her main actions in the scene. What are they trying to accomplish, obtain or aviod?<br /><br />Step 2.Write a complete list of reasons why your protagonist is doing what she is doing. Write down as many of her motives as you can. <em>Do not look at the next step until your done!</em><br /><br />Step 3. Circle the last reason on your list.<br /><br />Step 4. Rewrite your opening scene, only this time, send your protagonist into action (or avoidance) foremost and primarily for the reason you circled.<br /><br /><strong>Follow-up</strong>: Reverse motives in six other scenes.<br /><br /><strong>Conclusion</strong>: You may wind up retaining the original motivations in many scenes in your novel, but it is likely that some of them will become more engaging after a motive reversal!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-1378044229890528908?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-13516159609977786032007-07-17T01:26:00.000-04:002007-10-13T01:29:02.763-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s1600-h/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s200/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392626" /></a>Today we continue with Donald Maass' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158297182X/103-4445210-2959826?v=glance&amp;n=283155">Writing a Breakout Novel</a>. <br /><br />What I am going to endeavor to do here is present truncated versions of each of the lessons in the workbook. This will by no means suffice as an alternative to reading the book...or the workbook. I hope it piques your appetite to buy the books. They are invaluable reading and reference!<br /><br />Today's lesson is in <span style="color:#009900;">Section One: Heightening Larger-Than-Life-Character Qualities</span>.<br /><br />We're going to work on sharpening the larger-than-life qualities throughout your story. So, okay...where to start? The opportunities can crop up anywhere. It only takes being alert to the possibilities of sending your protagonist or POV character beyond what is usual.<br /><br />Look for ways to heighten anything that your protagonist says, does, or thinks...to take the temperature up, or down for that matter! Play against the prevailing mood of the scene.<br /><br />A larger-than-life protagonist talks, acts, and reasons independently. Let you hero's speech, actions, and thoughts follow their own course, regardless of what's going on. Surprise us! That sounds hard, but it really is only a technique!<br /><br />Step 1: At random in the middle of your manuscript, pick anything at all that your protagonist thinks, says, or does. Heighten it. Make it bigger, funnier, more shocking, more out of bounds, more over the top, more violent, more insightful, more wildly romantic, more active, more <em>anything</em>!<br /><br />Step 2: Take another action, thought, or line of dialogue and make it smaller, quieter, more internal, more personal, more ironic, more offhand, less impassioned, barely noticeable.<br /><br />Step 3: Select twenty-four more points in the story where you can heighten or diminish something that your protagonist does, says, or thinks.<br /><br />Conclusion: Larger-than-life characters powerfully attract us because they are surprising, vital, and alive. They do not let life slip by. Every moment counts. Every day has meaning. How can you give that kind of life force to your protagonist. Turn up the volume!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-1351615960997778603?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-73355663477931421972007-07-16T00:23:00.000-04:002007-10-13T01:25:13.647-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s1600-h/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s200/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392626" /></a>Today we continue with Donald Maass' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158297182X/103-4445210-2959826?v=glance&amp;n=283155">Writing a Breakout Novel</a>. <br /><br />What I am going to endeavor to do here is present truncated versions of each of the lessons in the workbook. This will by no means suffice as an alternative to reading the book...or the workbook. I hope it piques your appetite to buy the books. They are invaluable reading and reference!<br /><br />Today's lesson is in <span style="color:#009900;">Section One: Larger-Than-Life-Character Qualities</span>.<br /><br />Hey the guy is talking about zingers. Now this is right up my alley! He's not quick on the draw with retorts but he's happy that one of the pleasures of writing a novel is that an hour later you can still go back and add one in! Until the manuscript is turned in, there's plenty of time to slot those zingers in.<br /><br />Zingers, barbs, shots across the bow, those things that you hear that you wished you had said...How do you build a larger-than-life character in your current manuscript? What does your protagonist say, do, and think that he, she, or we, would never (well in most cases I might)ever venture?<br /><br />Use this exercise to develop those qualities...but do not rely on that alone. Look for opportunities throughout your story to heighten these qualities.<br /><br />Step 1. What is the one thing that your protagonist would never, ever <em>say?</em><br /><br />Step 2.What is the one thing that your protagonist would never, ever <em>do?</em><br /><br />Step 3. What is the one thing your protagonist would never, ever <em>think?</em><br /><br />Step 4. find places in your story in which your protagonist will say, do and think those very things. What circumstances? What consequences?<br /><br />Here's some clues about larger than life actions.<br /><br />Winking as a stranger is easy for a flirt, but not for a shy person. Taking a swing at someone is nothing to a boxer, for a nun it would be life changing....I was going to say for Bernita, instead of the nun...but for some reason I don't think that would be too life changing for her...me either for that case...LOL<br /><br />Okay...what ever it is, it has to come as a surprise, feel big, feel outrageous.<br /><br />We'd all like to feel that way at one time or another. Here's your chance. Let your character do, say, or think something memorable!<br /><br />Find twelve more points in the story where your protagonist can break out!<br /><br />Find a single point where the protagonist pointedly lets an opportunity pass by!<br /><br />Lesson done!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-7335566347793142197?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-41460810516566801642007-07-15T02:18:00.000-04:002007-10-13T01:21:54.021-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s1600-h/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s200/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392626" /></a>Today we continue with Donald Maass' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158297182X/103-4445210-2959826?v=glance&amp;n=283155">Writing a Breakout Novel</a>. <br /><br />What I am going to endeavor to do here is present truncated versions of each of the lessons in the workbook. This will by no means suffice as an alternative to reading the book...or the workbook. I hope it piques your appetite to buy the books. They are invaluable reading and reference!<br /><br />Today's lesson is in <span style="color:#009900;">Section One: Inner Conflict.</span><br /><br />A good step for growing beyond the technique of adding character dimensions is investing your protagonist with two goals....needs, wants, longings, yearnings, desires, pinings...okay you get the drift!<br /><br />But to make it work...the two have to be diametrically opposed. When the character is being pulled in opposite directions, you have conflict....and that's what makes a character truly memorable!<br /><br />The best part is the inner conflict doesn't need to be limited to your protagonist. Wahooo! Any character can be conflicted!<br /><br />Okay...is your character conflicted? Have you expressed it clearly so that the readers are sure about it? What actions does it cause? How does it affect other characters in the novel?<br /><br />Step 1. Thinking about your protagonist as a whole, what does he/she most want?<br /><br />Step 2. What is the opposite of that?<br /><br />Step 3. How can your protagonist want both of these at the same time? What makes him/her want them both? How can he/she persue both desires?<br /><br />Conclusion: In creating real inner conflict, it's not enough to just make inner turmoil. True inner conflict involves wanting two opposite things that tear the protagonist in two directions!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-4146081051656680164?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-89242016168797234992007-07-14T03:12:00.000-04:002007-10-13T01:16:55.072-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s1600-h/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s200/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392626" /></a>Today we continue with Donald Maass' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158297182X/103-4445210-2959826?v=glance&amp;n=283155">Writing a Breakout Novel</a>. <br /><br />What I am going to endeavor to do here is present truncated versions of each of the lessons in the workbook. This will by no means suffice as an alternative to reading the book...or the workbook. I hope it piques your appetite to buy the books. They are invaluable reading and reference!<br /><br />Today's lesson is in <span style="color:#009900;">Section One: multidimensional Characters.<br /></span><br />In well-constructed fiction, multidimensional characters keep us guessing as to what they are going to do or think...In other words there is always more of them to come! Plot events by themselves can bring out a new side to your character.<br /><br />How many sides of your current protagonist do you reveal? Is he/she multidimensional only in your mind or actually on the page? Take a careful look at your manuscript. On which specific pages do you show another side to your protagonist's personality.<br /><br />Highlight the passages. How many are there? List the page numbers. How many extra dimensions to your character do you really show?<br /><br />Hint: The more dimensions your character has, the more involving your novel will be!<br /><br />Step 1. What is your protagonist's <em>defining quality?</em> What is their most predominant trait? What kind of person are they?<br /><br />Step 2. What is the opposite of that quality?<br /><br />Step 3. Write a paragraph of your protagonist demonstrating the <em>opposite</em> quality. Include this paragraph in your novel showing your character's conflicting sides.<br /><br />Do these three steps multiple times to open up extra dimensions to your character.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-8924201616879723499?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31925096.post-3832256494559279172007-07-13T01:03:00.000-04:002007-10-13T01:10:40.403-04:00by<span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;color:#800000;"><strong><em>Bonnie Calhoun</em></strong></span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s1600-h/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_m32TlugOPkM/RxBPJIfhyvI/AAAAAAAAA60/vrBV16Frxy4/s200/418MGZWZKVL__BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120679794637392626" /></a>The subject is Donald Maass' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158297182X/103-4445210-2959826?v=glance&amp;n=283155">Writing a Breakout Novel</a>. Now the man knows his business! He is the President of the Donald Maass Literary Agency in New York, and he sells more than a hundred books a year to publishers.<br /><br />What I am going to endeavor to do here is present truncated versions of each of the lessons in the workbook. This will by no means suffice as an alternative to reading the book...or the workbook. I hope it piques your appetite to buy the books. They are invaluable reading and reference!<br /><br />Let's get started on Section One: Character Development<br /><br />If your character sucks, nobody will like them. That's not to say that they can't have problems. But how much tolerance do you have for somebody who is constantly the negative charge on the magnetic, and wallowing around in the mud of self-pity.<br /><br />What you've got to do is have the character lift him/her self above their curcumstances like a phoenix rising from the ashes. How do you do that?<br /><br />You've got to start from the beginning and give us a reason not to just throw the book at the wall! Do you feel sympathy for the protag? Do you see yourself in them? Do you want them to win?<br /><br />Quickly evoking that kind of identification with a protag is one of the secrets of breakout fiction! <span style="color:#009900;">ALERT</span>! Most manuscripts don't manage to do this!<br /><br /><span style="color:#663366;">EXERCISE:<br /></span><br />1.Who are your personal heroes?<br /><br />2.What are their greatest qualities?<br /><br />3.When did you first become aware of their qualities?<br /><br />4.Assign that quality to your protag. Find a way, even a small way to demonstrate that in their first scene.<br /><br /><span style="color:#663366;">Follow-up:</span> Prior to the climax, find six more points where your protag can demonstrate heroic qualities, even in a small way.<br /><br />Conclusion: Demonstrate special qualities right away, and you will immediately turn your protagonist into a hero or heroine...a character whose outcome matters.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31925096-383225649455927917?l=bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Bonnie S. Calhounhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11769607640246518804noreply@blogger.com0