Okay, I mentioned to you all that I'd asked some friends of mine, "How do you know an idea you have is 'novel-worthy'? What is your process for taking a germ of an idea and turning it into a novel?"
My good friend Latayne C. Scott (we are part of a wonderful six author blog -
Novel Matters), author of Latter-Day Cipher (and the non-fiction The Mormon Mirage), shot me an e-mail with a remarkable sketch of how she took a handful of characters she loved and turned them into a book.
It's interesting to note that she began, not with a story gem, but with characters. Imaginary people who, when she woke up in the morning are already wide awake and waving at her, ready to get to work. It's lovely when that happens, but problematic when the author has no story for them to jump into (and dangerous if Luigi Pirandello is to believed).
Latayne said,
"Here's how I plotted a novel recently:
I had the characters in mind. I started with, "What if?" for each of them.
Then I said, "Well, if that, then this...."
"Which would certainly lead to this......"
"And no one would expect this, but would see how it could have, and should have happened......"
"And then this would have to happen to deal with that...."
"And for me to be satisfied with the ending, I'd have to resolve these issues."
And it plotted itself, no kiddin' !"
****
This is a wonderful breakdown of the keys to good plotting. It is a logic thread that can sometimes get lost in the myriad of layers and subtext. Great novels have plots we can follow and understand logically. This grounds us as readers, and helps us trust the author when the story goes in an unexpected direction, or gets emotional, or tense, or whatever else happens.
I love this simple, effective, no nonsense sketch. We should all print it out and put near our computers or our bookshelves!
YA is one of the few genres showing strong growth in the book market. While that is great news, it's important to consider the content our young adults are reading. Welcome YA author L. Diane Wolfe to the blog. She's here to help us understand what writers can do to impact this important group of readers in positive ways.
The Need for Positive YA Fiction
To understand the current state of YA fiction, one has only to view that section in the bookstore. Nestled among the fantasy and light fluff are many negative and salacious titles. Today’s youth face challenges unique to their generation and their reading material reflects this troubling trend. To balance this onslaught, it is vital that they receive a dose of hope and optimism.
The tone of YA titles has changed greatly in the past few years. Many of these books cover subjects such as drugs, sex, child abuse, and rape. Characters are portrayed as sexual deviants and self-abusers, and many possess mean-spirited and selfish traits. Inappropriate behavior is even presented as perfectly acceptable in many of these books. The messages teens receive are dark, depressing and often misleading.
Our world has changed and it is foolish to believe young adults do not encounter such situations and choices in life. However, that is a lot of negativity to dump on an impressionable young mind. A teen’s brain is still developing at this point, and the resulting impaired judgment leaves that person vulnerable to suggestion. Young adults already feel the pressure to fit in and struggle with self-image issues. Do they really need such discouraging and negative messages as those found in many YA books? Rather than contribute to the problem, YA fiction should uplift and provide hope! More books should offer morally grounded stories that do not promote deviant or illegal behavior. There needs to be consequences for characters who partake in underage sex or illegal drugs, just as there are in the real world. We owe it to our youth to help them understand values and what it means to do the right thing.
Equally important, teens need positive reinforcement. With all the negative residing in the world today, young adults need to know there is hope. Despite their problems or current situation, a better life is available. An uplifting storyline might be the only thing that inspires a teen to keep moving forward despite the obstacles. Young adults need encouragement, to realize that they are worthy. Books containing a positive message, rather than negative, will influence their future in a meaningful way.
As the author of a YA series, The Circle of Friends, I want to inspire and uplift. It is important that I also balance this message with realistic storylines and interesting characters. I find this possible without delving into the negative and salacious or creating a preachy tale. By instilling some values into my characters, I am able to portray healthy relationship dynamics and struggles with positive outcomes.
Enough negative resides in the world without dumping even more into the minds of young people. Controversy and negative may sell, but as demand for cleaner, more positive books rises, that scenario can change. Through author responsibility, parental involvement, and exposing young adults to the right material, we can send a positive message!
Welcome Kelly Schaub! An author and editor, she's here to talk about the story from both sides of the process. Much to learn here! Let's dig in!
Kelly Schaub works as a staff editor for The Wild Rose Press. She is also available freelance through her website The Write Critter www.thewritecritter.com
Kelly holds a BS in Zoology, and worked as a zookeeper for five years. A student of Kenpo Karate, she’s learning how to use nunchucks, sticks and staves as well as her hands and feet to cause pain…lots of fun. She and her family live in Oregon on a hill, under trees
Hello, Fiction Matters readers. I have two tales to tell. As an author, I’ve dealt with requested changes from editors. I am also a professional editor—and have had to deal out requested changes to my authors.
PartI. “Taking it.”
The act of creation is aligned with light—as authors, we shine our light into the dark corners of readers’ imaginations. No one thinks of those words in that combination until we put it before them—we fill the void. Our words are magic.
Some of us are blessed with critique partners or groups who helped us polish the first few drafts of our work—until they, too, think it is the best we can make it.
Last February, I sent my baby to The Wild Rose Press, and (after waiting about a month—very short turn-around) I received that magic e-mail—the editor wanted to contract “Martial Hearts.” Oh, happy day!
There were just a few teensy changes she’d like me to make.
My baby was BLEEDING. Red marks all over the page. “You use “that” way too much—cut. Try not to begin sentences with ‘it’ or ‘there.’ Kill prepositional phrases at the end of sentences. Look for cause and effect order—‘as’ and ‘when’ often give these away—fix them.” And she’d marked many other things as well.
(Sigh) What exactly did she like?
I looked through my editor’s notes and used the highlight function to find the offenders, fixed the ones I found and was at a loss for how to root out certain changes she wanted. My editor had made notes on the first five pages only and expected me to carry out the same changes throughout the document. But how?
See, when I’d sent it to her, I thought it was perfect. She expected me to find defects I didn’t understand were defects. I could not see the things she said were wrong—and she had not flagged them for me beyond the first few pages.
On my first read through her notes, I yelled at the computer screen. I rebutted each of her comments with snide replies she’d never see. She didn’t get it. She didn’t see the artistry at work. I was a better author than she knew. Harumph.
I closed the file and moped. A day or so later, I reopened the file, knowing that I was both under contract and on a deadline of 30 days to make revisions. I had to look at it again and make an attempt at changing my work. Some of her comments were easy changers, and correct. Fine. I fixed the easy ones first.
I muddled through this for a week on my own, and then turned to my critique group for help. Here’s the note I attached for them:
Gang,
What you’re looking for is (after her comments stop on p.5) dangling modifiers, Omniscient POV, and here are her words:
“In several areas the transitions need to be mentioned or strengthened…Also I spotted a couple paragraphs that seem scattered with actions and dialogue from more than one character.”
If you all could flag these things for me to change if you spot them, I’d be much appreciative.
Some examples of the commentary from my crit group and how I fixed the ms:
Original:
“You seemed to be getting the worst end of that Super Soaker,” Mari said, mopping up poppy seed salad dressing with a roll, diamond flashing on her left hand.
Editor: Be aware that phrases like this pull power from the verb. Could say ‘you were sure getting….
My whine: Mari is being ironic. Yes, obviously Austin shot April with the super-soaker more than he did the kids. I’d agree with you if this were narration, but not in dialogue. Mari is aware of something April does not fathom—that Austin likes April. She’s pointing that out indirectly.
Crit partner 1: That doesn’t come across.She’s just eating and chatting, to me.Maybe a sly grin that April wonders at or something along those lines?
Crit partner 2: I’m not sure this pulls power from the verb – but it is wordy.Your eyes have to dance over a bunch of words to get the point.“You got the worst end of that Super Soaker.”Does that say the same thing?
My crit partners also questioned the need to mention the diamond ring—it played no significant part in the story and sat as a distracting detail.
Final version:
“You got the worst end of that Super Soaker,” Mari said with a wink, mopping up poppy seed salad dressing with a roll.
Editors are inside your head—an editor can only get the information you’ve given in your text. Sometimes, their opinion of a change needed is wrong—or needs clarification elsewhere in the narrative. Don’t be afraid to differ with the editor on changes he or she asks for. Here is one I fought for:
“I plateaued pretty bad at blue belt,” Mari had once told her, “I hung there for like, three years.”
Editor: changed sentence to “I plateaued pretty badly at blue belt,” Mari had once told her, “I hung there for like, three years.”
My comment: Mari has a specific way of speaking. She said “pretty bad.”
My version stayed in—after I added earlier in the text that Mari was 19 years old. That fact had been missing from the original version, and explained a lot about her grammar.
My editor and I negotiated on a few changes. Overall, she enjoyed the layers and texture my first edit back to her added—the additions my wonderful critique group pushed me to make. This book went through two revisions with my editor before the manuscript went to galleys. Some books will need three or four rounds of revisions. (Be the two-revision type of author—your editor will thank you).
The author’s job is to consider each change the editor asks for. Your editor wants your writing to shine, to be the most polished piece of prose it can be. She wouldn’t tell you to make changes that would weaken your book. Selling books is a business, and bad reviews mean low sales, which leads to less profit for everyone. Highly polished good prose leads to good reviews, which can bring in more sales. Royalties are good.
Remember the most important thing: the editor who acquired the book liked it enough to contract you.
----------
Part II: “Dishing it out”
We turn now to the dark side, the Cave of the Editor.
The inbox dings. Message incoming from Senior Editor. “We have a query that looks fairly decent. You want to take this one?” Attached synopsis and query letter read okay, though the author is most likely unaware of how her lack of polish in the spelling, grammar and syntax makes her appear. No matter. The story seems to fit my line and the basic premise of a romance book, so I contact the author. I ask for the partial manuscript.
The partial arrives, and I schedule a time to do the read-through. Contact author, let her know the file arrived and when to expect an answer.
Edit books 1,2, and 3 currently on my desk. A gap will happen after book 3 is sent to galley-land, so at that time (no more than 60 days from receipt of initial query) I open the partial manuscript from Hopeful Author and read.
What you need to know as an author is that a book is judged as good or bad within the first six pages.
Six pages.
This does not mean the content cannot make or break the story’s potential after that, merely that my impulse to continue reading is generally triggered either direction by page six. If the prose isn’t up to publishable standard, as set down by my superiors at the publisher, I begin to compose the rejection letter. I look specifically for craft areas the author can improve on. That’s what we do at The Wild Rose Press—no form letters allowed.
If the first six pages have grabbed me so well that I’ve read to page fifteen without noticing, that is a good thing. I usually stop there and email the author to send me the full manuscript.
When that full arrives (you’d be amazed at the speed of email when it’s a positive experience for both parties), I open the file to be sure it is in one piece, alert the author that it did arrive, and again schedule a time to do the read-through.
The most difficult part of reading full manuscripts for consideration is NOT EDITING THEM. Forcing myself to read, and read only for content, plot, character, structure, voice…any one of those can go sadly awry beyond what I expected from reading the polished partial.
If I reach the end of the book and don’t have that “Yay! Good book!” feeling (and yes, books with problems such as head hopping, too many adverbs, unclear transitions, echo words, “junk” words, poor use of commas, etc. CAN give me that feeling, if everything else is right about the plot and structure and characters) then I have to compose a rejection. So hard to do that, when a book is almost there but not quite yet.
A fair percentage of the books I have rejected were excellent, well-written, stirring prose…but were not romances. Authors, make certain you follow the publisher’s submission guidelines. Look through their catalogue to see what else they publish, read blurbs, excerpts, look at cover art. For example, a good adventure with a love story entwined in the plot cannot be categorized as a romance if the hero and heroine marry on page 60 of a 380 page book and continue to work together to bring down their foe.
When a manuscript is accepted for publication, that manuscript will undergo at least one round of copyedits. Some writers are so clean that the only marks the editor makes regard pulling the punctuation in line with house style (for example, the serial comma in a list with a conjunction—leave it in? Take it out?). More often, though, the editor will have questions about content that is inconsistent within the manuscript, and guide the author into smoothing these bits so the reader will not hit “speedbumps.”
My favorite trick for tracking consistency within a manuscript is to set up a chart, a style sheet, broken down into pairs of letters, A-Z, and a column for miscellaneous facts. While reading for the first edit, I write down the name of every character as I run across them, every fact (Brandy lost her locket on Tuesday), and when I get tidbits of character description, I add that after the character’s name, to keep a running list of how this person is described.
This style sheet helps in two ways—easy to see if facts such as a character’s hair or eye color suddenly changes, and also to find repeat descriptions. One of my authors caught that she referred to the hero’s hair as “shaggy” way too often, and that she alternated between the words “couch” and “sofa,” ultimately choosing only one.
The editor’s job is to make the author look good. I polish my “babies” and declare when they are ready to go out into the world, the proud auntie of all the books I’ve worked on. In the end, few acknowledge the editor’s hand in making the story richer, better, deeper. The publisher’s name is on the book, and the author’s name. Once in a while, you’ll see a thank you to an editor in the dedication.
Remember, your editor is invested in your story too. She loved it when she read it the first time. And she contracted it knowing she’d have to read it over and over and over…
Be professional in your communications with your editor. As gabby as authors are, editors are just as talkative. If you have not received an answer, feel free to ask your questions again—emails can and do disappear. But be polite on the second ask as though the first was not heard. Allow your editor time to find your answer and reply. Sometimes she or he is waiting on someone else in the company in order to give you the best information.
I enjoy editing. I enjoy interacting with authors. I enjoy being an author. I do not enjoy interacting with editors as an author LOL. So I hear you. I’m still going to change the wording in that sentence, because it does not mean what you wanted it to say.
******
It can be a tightrope, the author/editor relationship. I love hearing both sides from one person! It helps authors find focus and understanding for the other side of the process while maintaining their own sense of contribution.
Kelly McCrady is back today with part II her article on being a writer AND an editor. Last time she spoke to us wearing her writer's hat. Today, take cover, because she's an editor - and she and her furious red pen have plenty to say!
Part II: “Dishing it out” We turn now to the dark side, the Cave of the Editor.
The inbox dings. Message incoming from Senior Editor. “We have a query that looks fairly decent. You want to take this one?” Attached synopsis and query letter read okay, though the author is most likely unaware of how her lack of polish in the spelling, grammar and syntax makes her appear. No matter. The story seems to fit my line and the basic premise of a romance book, so I contact the author. I ask for the partial manuscript.
The partial arrives, and I schedule a time to do the read-through. Contact author, let her know the file arrived and when to expect an answer.
Edit books 1,2, and 3 currently on my desk. A gap will happen after book 3 is sent to galley-land, so at that time (no more than 60 days from receipt of initial query) I open the partial manuscript from Hopeful Author and read.
What you need to know as an author is that a book is judged as good or bad within the first six pages.
Six pages.
This does not mean the content cannot make or break the story’s potential after that, merely that my impulse to continue reading is generally triggered either direction by page six. If the prose isn’t up to publishable standard, as set down by my superiors at the publisher, I begin to compose the rejection letter. I look specifically for craft areas the author can improve on. That’s what we do at The Wild Rose Press—no form letters allowed.
If the first six pages have grabbed me so well that I’ve read to page fifteen without noticing, that is a good thing. I usually stop there and email the author to send me the full manuscript.
When that full arrives (you’d be amazed at the speed of email when it’s a positive experience for both parties), I open the file to be sure it is in one piece, alert the author that it did arrive, and again schedule a time to do the read-through.
The most difficult part of reading full manuscripts for consideration is NOT EDITING THEM. Forcing myself to read, and read only for content, plot, character, structure, voice…any one of those can go sadly awry beyond what I expected from reading the polished partial.
If I reach the end of the book and don’t have that “Yay! Good book!” feeling (and yes, books with problems such as head hopping, too many adverbs, unclear transitions, echo words, “junk” words, poor use of commas, etc. CAN give me that feeling, if everything else is right about the plot and structure and characters) then I have to compose a rejection. So hard to do that, when a book is almost there but not quite yet.
A fair percentage of the books I have rejected were excellent, well-written, stirring prose…but were not romances. Authors, make certain you follow the publisher’s submission guidelines. Look through their catalogue to see what else they publish, read blurbs, excerpts, look at cover art. For example, a good adventure with a love story entwined in the plot cannot be categorized as a romance if the hero and heroine marry on page 60 of a 380 page book and continue to work together to bring down their foe.
When a manuscript is accepted for publication, that manuscript will undergo at least one round of copyedits. Some writers are so clean that the only marks the editor makes regard pulling the punctuation in line with house style (for example, the serial comma in a list with a conjunction—leave it in? Take it out?). More often, though, the editor will have questions about content that is inconsistent within the manuscript, and guide the author into smoothing these bits so the reader will not hit “speedbumps.”
My favorite trick for tracking consistency within a manuscript is to set up a chart, a style sheet, broken down into pairs of letters, A-Z, and a column for miscellaneous facts. While reading for the first edit, I write down the name of every character as I run across them, every fact (Brandy lost her locket on Tuesday), and when I get tidbits of character description, I add that after the character’s name, to keep a running list of how this person is described.
This style sheet helps in two ways—easy to see if facts such as a character’s hair or eye color suddenly changes, and also to find repeat descriptions. One of my authors caught that she referred to the hero’s hair as “shaggy” way too often, and that she alternated between the words “couch” and “sofa,” ultimately choosing only one.
The editor’s job is to make the author look good. I polish my “babies” and declare when they are ready to go out into the world, the proud auntie of all the books I’ve worked on. In the end, few acknowledge the editor’s hand in making the story richer, better, deeper. The publisher’s name is on the book, and the author’s name. Once in a while, you’ll see a thank you to an editor in the dedication.
Remember, your editor is invested in your story too. She loved it when she read it the first time. And she contracted it knowing she’d have to read it over and over and over…
Be professional in your communications with your editor. As gabby as authors are, editors are just as talkative. If you have not received an answer, feel free to ask your questions again—emails can and do disappear. But be polite on the second ask as though the first was not heard. Allow your editor time to find your answer and reply. Sometimes she or he is waiting on someone else in the company in order to give you the best information.
I enjoy editing. I enjoy interacting with authors. I enjoy being an author. I do not enjoy interacting with editors as an author LOL. So I hear you. I’m still going to change the wording in that sentence, because it does not mean what you wanted it to say.
***** This is worth a second, maybe even third read. It's chock-a-block with little tidbits, great advice, and "soft knowledge" every writer needs to know. I know we all want to be the writer who produces that "Yay! Good book!" feeling in an editor. Let's keep at it!
Welcome Kelly McCrady to the blog. She has the unique perspective that comes with being an author and professional editor. She is familiar with the pain and sorrow of watching her creation being offered up to the furious red pen AND with being the one who much apply same said pen to the tender work of other writers. In her two part contribution to Fiction Matters, Kelly speaks first from her heart - as an author, and then from her head - as an editor.
Kelly holds a BS in Zoology, and worked as a zookeeper for five years. A student of Kenpo Karate, she’s learning how to use nunchucks, sticks and staves as well as her hands and feet to cause pain…lots of fun. She and her family live in Oregon on a hill, under trees.
Hello, Fiction Matters readers. Like every Gemini, I have two tales to tell. As an author, I’ve dealt with requested changes from editors. I am also a professional editor—and have had to deal out requested changes to my authors.
Part I. “Taking it.” The act of creation is aligned with light—as authors, we shine our light into the dark corners of readers’ imaginations. No one thinks of those words in that combination until we put it before them—we fill the void. Our words are magic.
Some of us are blessed with critique partners or groups who helped us polish the first few drafts of our work—until they, too, think it is the best we can make it.
Last February, I sent my baby to The Wild Rose Press, and (after waiting about a month—very short turn-around) I received that magic e-mail—the editor wanted to contract “Martial Hearts.” Oh, happy day!
There were just a few teensy changes she’d like me to make.
My baby was BLEEDING. Red marks all over the page. “You use “that” way too much—cut. Try not to begin sentences with ‘it’ or ‘there.’ Kill prepositional phrases at the end of sentences. Look for cause and effect order—‘as’ and ‘when’ often give these away—fix them.” And she’d marked many other things as well.
(Sigh) What exactly did she like?
I looked through my editor’s notes and used the highlight function to find the offenders, fixed the ones I found and was at a loss for how to root out certain changes she wanted. My editor had made notes on the first five pages only and expected me to carry out the same changes throughout the document. But how?
See, when I’d sent it to her, I thought it was perfect. She expected me to find defects I didn’t understand were defects. I could not see the things she said were wrong—and she had not flagged them for me beyond the first few pages.
On my first read through her notes, I yelled at the computer screen. I rebutted each of her comments with snide replies she’d never see. She didn’t get it. She didn’t see the artistry at work. I was a better author than she knew. Harumph.
I closed the file and moped. A day or so later, I reopened the file, knowing that I was both under contract and on a deadline of 30 days to make revisions. I had to look at it again and make an attempt at changing my work. Some of her comments were easy changers, and correct. Fine. I fixed the easy ones first.
I muddled through this for a week on my own, and then turned to my critique group for help. Here’s the note I attached for them:
Gang,
What you’re looking for is (after her comments stop on p.5) dangling modifiers, Omniscient POV, and here are her words:
“In several areas the transitions need to be mentioned or strengthened…Also I spotted a couple paragraphs that seem scattered with actions and dialogue from more than one character.”
If you all could flag these things for me to change if you spot them, I’d be much appreciative.
Some examples of the commentary from my crit group and how I fixed the ms:
Original: “You seemed to be getting the worst end of that Super Soaker,” Mari said, mopping up poppy seed salad dressing with a roll, diamond flashing on her left hand.
Editor: Be aware that phrases like this pull power from the verb. Could say ‘you were sure getting….
My whine: Mari is being ironic. Yes, obviously Austin shot April with the super-soaker more than he did the kids. I’d agree with you if this were narration, but not in dialogue. Mari is aware of something April does not fathom—that Austin likes April. She’s pointing that out indirectly.
Crit partner 1: That doesn’t come across. She’s just eating and chatting, to me. Maybe a sly grin that April wonders at or something along those lines?
Crit partner 2: I’m not sure this pulls power from the verb – but it is wordy. Your eyes have to dance over a bunch of words to get the point. “You got the worst end of that Super Soaker.” Does that say the same thing?
My crit partners also questioned the need to mention the diamond ring—it played no significant part in the story and sat as a distracting detail.
Final version: “You got the worst end of that Super Soaker,” Mari said with a wink, mopping up poppy seed salad dressing with a roll.
Editors are inside your head—an editor can only get the information you’ve given in your text. Sometimes, their opinion of a change needed is wrong—or needs clarification elsewhere in the narrative. Don’t be afraid to differ with the editor on changes he or she asks for. Here is one I fought for:
“I plateaued pretty bad at blue belt,” Mari had once told her, “I hung there for like, three years.”
Editor: changed sentence to “I plateaued pretty badly at blue belt,” Mari had once told her, “I hung there for like, three years.”
My comment: Mari has a specific way of speaking. She said “pretty bad.”
My version stayed in—after I added earlier in the text that Mari was 19 years old. That fact had been missing from the original version, and explained a lot about her grammar.
My editor and I negotiated on a few changes. Overall, she enjoyed the layers and texture my first edit back to her added—the additions my wonderful critique group pushed me to make. This book went through two revisions with my editor before the manuscript went to galleys. Some books will need three or four rounds of revisions. (Be the two-revision type of author—your editor will thank you).
The author’s job is to consider each change the editor asks for. Your editor wants your writing to shine, to be the most polished piece of prose it can be. She wouldn’t tell you to make changes that would weaken your book. Selling books is a business, and bad reviews mean low sales, which leads to less profit for everyone. Highly polished good prose leads to good reviews, which can bring in more sales. Royalties are good.
Remember the most important thing: the editor who acquired the book liked it enough to contract you.
---------- I clinging to the comfort of that last sentence, Kelly! I think we all are!
It's a good reminder to writers: editors are our FRIENDS. Often they are our fans - they want us, and our books to succeed. Still, there's pain in the offering sometimes.
Research. A writer's ugly first cousin, the one no one wants to talk about. Ahh, but a necessary evil. We've chatted about research on the blog before. We know it's a "must". Yes, we make up these stories in our heads, but we must plunk them down in real places.
No one understands research better than writers of historical fiction. I was at a reading of a historical fiction that centered on the displacement of Mennonites from Europe to North America. The second the author finished reading, dozens of women wearing black kerchiefs on their heads stood up and began drilling the author with questions - all relating to the authenticity of her story and the accuracy of her research. The author, knew her stuff and managed to cool the burning questions, which is a good thing! Without her research she would have been dead in the water.
Welcome Suzanne Adair to the Fiction Matters. When it comes to research, she knows her stuff! She's here to share her wisdom with us in her article on writing Historical Fiction.
Here's a short intro: Suzanne Adair won the Patrick D. Smith Literature Award from the Florida Historical Society for Paper Woman, the first novel of her mystery and suspense series. The Blacksmith's Daughter and Camp Follower continue her fictional ventures into the Southern theater of the Revolutionary War. For more information, visit http://www.suzanneadair.com/.
Readers and Research: Obligations of the Historical Novelist
Historical fiction is a tough sell. Historical novels often fail to grip readers. Many agents, editors, and publishers look to genre historicals as a magic bullet to mitigate some of that tedium.
The scourge of historical fiction is the info dump. Many authors cannot help getting caught up with period attire, manners, food, furniture, setting, and social, religious, and political issues. And then there's that frantic obsession on getting all the details right. If you don't, an erudite reader will be certain to call you on it. Rather than entertainment, then, a historical novel can resemble a graduate student's dissertation, crammed with detail.
If you write historical fiction, I invite you to take a step back from your work and refrain from obsessing over those details. Focus first and foremost on providing your readers with riveting drama and compelling characters. Then strive to create a world in which that drama can unfold and those characters can reveal themselves.
Why do I believe precise history isn't your first and foremost obligation? Because it's boring, sterile! Furthermore, riveting drama and compelling characters allow your reader to glide past details, whether right or wrong, and keep moving through the book. What any novelist wants to achieve with plotting and characterizations, regardless of genre, is a page-turner.
So what is the role of accurate historical detail? Have I just given you my blessing to slack off on research? Not at all. You use accurate detail to shape your world with historical fact.
Make the past seem normal but not modern or exotic. For example, suppose you're writing a scene about a banker, and it's set during the American Civil War. Your banker climbs into a carriage for a ride to the other end of town. He takes details of the carriage for granted because the carriage is normal for him, not exotic, much the way we regard details of an automobile's interior. He doesn't linger over details of the carriage unless it's essential to the plot.
Also, make your characters truthful about how they see their world. Beware of extending your twenty-first century bias into the way your characters of the past regard their environment. Westerners of the twenty-first century often see the past through the lens of Victorian England. It might be appropriate for a character in a WW1 novel to have Victorian attitudes, but those attitudes aren't appropriate for a character in the French Renaissance.
Don't get distracted or carried away with detail. Make it second nature to your characters. Introduce it on a need-to-know basis.
If you obsess over detail, you lose the drama. What remains, then, if you sacrifice plot and character in favor of details, and a scholar disproves a fact that's been important in your novel?
When you start researching, make friends with your local reference librarian. Reference librarians can tell you where information is found and where to start looking. True, you can do a lot of searching online, especially preliminary inquiries, but inevitably, you'll wind up having to hold at least one real book or document in your hands. Reference librarians are the threshold guardians of special collections — often repositories of important information.
Exploit the personalities of various online search engines. If you haven't already done so, consider Amazon.com a search engine.
Sources for historical research fall into two main categories. Understand the differences between them. There are pros and cons to using both sources.
A primary research source comes straight from the horse's mouth. With this source, you get an authentic voice, often without a translator or interpretation bias. However, primary sources can be difficult to obtain, and you may end up traveling to get them. The main types of primary sources are as follows:
· Photographs, illustrations, and maps · Newspapers and magazines · Public documents · Interviews · Journals, diaries, and letters · Autobiographies · Hands-on · On-site
Secondary research sources are easier to access than primary sources. However, they've been interpreted or translated, so expect a bias. To counteract bias, use a combination of different sources. The main types of secondary sources are as follows:
· Books and films · Web sites · Consultants and subject-matter experts · Oral histories · Courses and conferences
Many people who begin historical research bite off more than they can chew. Here are some tips if you're new to this:
· Narrow your focus when performing a search, and be as specific as possible. Precise information isn't available for large blocks of time. You have to break it down into segments.
· Noodle around with general Internet search tools to get you going in the right direction.
· Don't expect to find all the answers in one place. Be wary of inaccuracies when you're reading something that's online.
· Sometimes, to make your research pay off, you have to read between the lines and perform a synthesis, a melding of what you uncover.
Make no mistake; weaving historical details into a novel is a tremendous challenge. But don't forget to have fun while you're researching. Your attitude will carry over into your novel and excite your readers.
So…what specific time period do you plan to research, and where will you start?
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Ahh, a little fact in your fiction, but still focused on your fiction. Makes me want to jump right in!
We've talked about self editing on the blog before. Today, Debby Mayne is here to give us a snapshot of the self-editing process. A suggestion would be to print out Debby's article and use it as a tip sheet, or step by step as you work your way through the editing process yourself.
Let's meet Debby:
Debby Mayne is a published author, Long Ridge Writers Group instructor, and speaker. Upcoming book releases include Peachtree Dreams in April 2009, Love Finds You in Treasure Island, Florida in June 2009, and Noah's Ark in October 2009
Editing your own writing is one of the most important things you can do before sending it off to a publisher. It doesn't matter whether you're pre-published or multi-published; ignoring this concept can be the kiss of death to that project and maybe even your future with that editor. You want your work to be polished and as professional as possible. Every writer has his/her own process, but most successful authors follow some or all of these basic steps.
First Draft All writing starts with the first draft. Some writers labor over their work, and others purge their thoughts as fast as their fingers can type. Either way is fine. The initial writing has to happen before it can be revised.
First Read-Through After the work is produced, it's always a good idea to look over it for grammatical, spelling, and consistency issues. I generally read the previous day's work and make corrections then move on to that day's writing. Not only do I correct as I go, it gets me back into the story. Some authors plow right through and wait until they're finished with the complete book/article/story before their first read-through. It doesn't matter which method you use as long as it brings you the result you need.
Cooling Off Time It's always a good idea to put some time and distance between the first draft and the revision. This gives you the opportunity to look at your work more objectively since you're not so close to it. I like to write something completely unrelated to my project to freshen my perspective, sort of like cleansing the mental palate. For example, if I'm working on a fictional piece, I work on a nonfiction article before I revise my fiction.
First Round of Revisions After I've separated myself from my work, I go back and look for opportunities to fine-tune the writing. The beginning of my project needs a strong introduction to capture the reader's attention. Each chapter needs a hook to keep her turning the pages. I replace as many passive verbs as I can with active verbs. Then I hunt for occurrences of pet words, such as "just," "that," "anyway," and "then," and either omit them or swap them out with other words or phrases. Other edits I make involve replacing dialogue tags with beats, strengthening dialogue, and varying sentence structure to keep a smooth flow to the writing.
Time, Sequence, and Consistency Revisions Since I usually follow a detailed outline of the plot and have my character traits figured out before I begin, I check off each event as it unfolds in the story. I always go back and make sure each incident is well placed and makes sense after I'm finished because sometimes the characters have minds of their own, and they don't always behave. Each scene must move the story forward to the goal. Pacing needs to quicken and slow down at the right times with a balance of action, dialogue, and internal thought. All dialogue needs to be relevant. When I have seven days pass in my story, I make sure it equals a week in the story. If months go by, I show the important transformations of each character. Seasons also have to change as the story progresses. When I get to the end, I check to see if the resolution makes sense and isn't rushed.
Final Read-Through Even after all that, I like to wait a few days then go back and read my story or article as a reader would. That gives me one last boost of confidence that the writing is as good as I can make it before I send it off to an editor. If anything jumps out at me, I highlight it and come back to fix it.
Research. It's foundational to writing. Fiction is no different. Within the pages of completely made up stories you will find all sorts of fact. Truth tangled in the nets of fantasy, science in among the fiction, procedure tossed in with the pretend. Author Craig harms is here to chat with us about the importance of doing your homework before you craft your fiction.
Craig Harms received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University Of Nebraska School of Journalism and his Master of Science degree in Instructional Design from Western Illinois University. His career choices have included advertising, research analysis at NBC television network, acting, radio announcing, and writing for a New York, NY art gallery. He is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Grace Marketing groups. Craig lives in Dallas City, Il with his wife Sue, their dogs, cats, and a flock of very lively parrots.
I’m convinced there’s no such thing as pure fiction; even though the story and characters are drawn from the writer’s imagination, there must be at least a kernel of truth to make the story believable to the reader. This can only be achieved by adding a certain amount of facts to the written equation. Facts can be found through research. Research can open new doors as the work in progress develops and provides an authenticity to the story in several relevant ways: Research provides local color. As the writer decides where the setting will take place, s/he should research the location, or even better, visit it in person. This helps provide a feel for its inhabitants, what they think, how they dress, their dialect; the layout of the area, its streets, businesses, and uniqueness; the landscape, climate, plant and animal life. Credibility flies out the window when the facts don’t mesh with the storyline, even if it is in the realm of make-believe. The locales in my novel Day Omega include Chicago, Israel, and Vatican City. Including even small tidbits of real information—the Picasso sculpture in front of the Richard J. Daley Center, the terrain and agriculture in the Plains of Esdraelon, the frescoes inside the Sistine Chapel—helped, I hope, paints an authentic picture in the reader’s mind’s eye.
Research can propel the writer into unexpected new directions. It’s not uncommon for novelists to find themselves at a literary dead-end street with nowhere else to go. Research can open new avenues in which to explore. Again, using Day Omega as an example, a global heat wave has destroyed all the world’s livestock, grains, fruits, and vegetables. The question I had was, “how can I keep the citizens from starving to death if they have no sustenance?” I stumbled upon a solution through research.
One of the seven bowls of wrath unleashed as predicted in the Revelation is that all bodies of water are turned to blood. By keying the words “what can turn water red?” into a search engine box, the solution became evident. Intense warm sunlight causes an explosion of red algae, which depletes oxygen content, and suffocates all living organisms in a liquid environment. Yet, it can provide nourishment, as the Japanese discovered three hundred years ago. Through research, I learned that they harvested the algae, dried it out, and called the substance nori, which was probably pretty tasteless, but very high in protein content. Finding this information helped further the story in three ways: it kept the antagonists alive until the final judgment, provided a believable interpretation for the waters turning to blood, and when the world army invades Israel for the final battle, they are given MRE’s of pressed nori stamped with a Christian cross to remind them daily of the enemy they are sent out to vanquish.
Research provides a frame of reference for the tale being told, a condition described in one dictionary as “a set of ideas, conditions, or assumptions that determine how something will be approached, perceived, or understood.” My published novel and my current WIP both deal with many complex scientific principles and terms that are critical to advancing the story, but these ideas and conditions were quite unknown to me before I began writing. Therefore, it was important that I research them, and then synthesize the information into palpable language. After this was accomplished, I could then use the frames of reference in my writing. For example, in my book, Jesus appears to everyone in a shimmering glowing figure. The optics expert dismisses the visitation as a trick of light and describes it in scientific terms; the agronomist suggests it was mass hallucinations caused by ergot—a fungus that infects grain and has a hallucinogenic effect. Experts in other fields provided rational explanations for the supernatural events that were occurring. The point is, having points of references can assist the writer greatly in approaching a subject, and then creating the arc of how it is perceived or understood.
Lastly, I don’t want to come across as self-serving, but research can make the writer seem more intelligent that they actually might be, as mentioned above! One reviewer wrote about Day Omega: “In his debut novel, Mr. Harms created a very believable interpretation of the end times of our world. His Biblical, scientific, and historical knowledge blend together into a story rich with strong characters and Christian hope”. Trust me, the biblical, scientific, and historical knowledge mentioned did not come from pre-existing knowledge, but through research, research, research. I found historical facts that were congruent with sections of the story I was creating at the time, i.e.: the Treaty of Milan (313), Hitler’s Enabling Act (1933), the structure of the United Nations. All came into play as the plots developed.
It should be noted that research doesn’t necessary require a trip to the local library or surfing the Internet. The writer should be focused enough on the project that s/he is constantly observant of sources that may help them add a depth of realism to their works in progress. It helps to keep a notebook where one can scribble down ideas that might come in handy down the writing road. Clip magazine and newspaper articles that seem apropos to your subject, perhaps you can plug the information they contain into an upcoming section, again injecting needed realism into the manuscript. Visit museums if your story is a historical piece. Research can also include studying—not just casually watching—movies and television programs. Pay close attention to plots, pacing, and character development and their emotional reactions. I truly believe that the more resources and research a writer utilizes, the easier it is for them to write—and write better, believable fiction.
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How you research can be as important as what you research. I've seen writers asking other writers for inside information everything from legal procedures, to sea captaining. All well and fine, talking to colleagues can be an important first step in research, but for the hard cold facts, we must go to the source, and once there, we must take our time. Get it right! Readers can spot bad research a mile away.
I hope you're inspired to crack open some books, talk to an expert, or visit a library this week to add authentic fact to your fab fiction.
“It isn’t often that I get so hooked on the characters and story that I forget time and purpose. Talking to the Dead caught hold of my heart from page one. It takes a gifted and intuitive writer like Bonnie to bring humor into the middle of such a serious story. Call her the Jodi Piccoult of Christian fiction! Beautifully done! I can’t wait to read the next story she writes.” Francine Rivers, bestselling author of Redeeming Love
“Talking to the Dead is a shirk-your-duties kind of book. You’ll read it to the neglect of laundry and cooking and bring it with you to read in the car at stoplights. With a story that unfolds in the most surprising ways and a protagonist so true-to-life you feel like you should be praying for her, Talking to the Dead delves deep into the recesses of grief, anger, and most importantly, redemption. Bonnie Grove has set the bar high with this one. I can’t wait to read her next book.” Alison Strobel, author of Violette Between and Worlds Collide
“With tightly-woven prose that is achingly real and skillfully rendered, Bonnie Grove has crafted a deeply-moving story of grief, betrayal and redemption. Grove’s engaging, authentic style is resonant and her words linger long after you’ve set the book down.” Susan Meissner, author of The Shape of Mercy
Bonnie Grove has a remarkable gift not only for can't-put-the-book-down storytelling, but she also takes on big, weighty issues -- betrayal, grief, wrenching regrets -- and handles them with compassion, humor, and ultimately, hope. ----Joy Jordan-Lake, author Blue Hole Back Home, Why Jesus Makes Me Nervous
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