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Well, took me long enough to update here :)
After the big conference last weekend (Rocky Mtn Fiction Writers Gold Conference in Denver), I'm raring to go on revising all my older mss that I feel still have potential. What did I learn that makes me feel I can make them saleable?
1. The basic plot skeleton for a book -- funny how I didn't know this before, but I truly didn't. Now that I have a form I can plug the major plot points into (and check them against), I feel much more prepared to craft a story. Craft, by the way, is a key word, isn't it?
2. Conflict -- yeah, imagine that! I certainly had conflict in my books already, but it was often accidental. Now I've gone through (my latest ms) and actually highlighed the paragraphs/sections which have conflict. The goal: some conflict on every page.
3. Goals -- another biggie. My characters didn't really have goals before -- or perhaps I should say, I didn't direct those goals. Sure, they wanted stuff...but because I wasn't directing it, those goals often got buried in other junk. And, as I learned at the conference, the best conflict actually arises when two characters' goals are in opposition. Guess that means I need to make note of goals, huh?!
4. Emotional depth -- once I have goals (at least one per chapter per main character), this is much easier to notice. But I still went through and listed one or two emotions that my characters should be feeling in the chapter as they aimed for the goal -- and the emotion they'd feel if they either made that goal or didn't. Then I had to be sure that I actually showed those emotions (yeah, kind of forgot that a number of times in the original writing of the story).
Phew! It was intensive but also exciting -- for the first time in my writing career, I'm learning how to direct my books. I'm sure I still have much to learn -- and I imagine that I'll continue to grow in my ability to add these things (and even, hopefully, be able to think through some of this before I even start writing the first draft). But for now, I'm thankful to have these tools available for my use.
Oh, and another tool? Plot Catalyst: This is the part of the story that without it, there is no story. You might be thinking that it should be obvious, but surprisingly, it isn't. I attended a workshop by Agent Kristin Nelson about writing queries 18 months ago -- she discussed finding the plot catalyst and crafting the query around it. I couldn't do it. I couldn't find the catalyst, and I certainly didn't understand how to build the query around it, no matter how many exercises we did. But this time, a year and a half later, I attended the same workshop -- and this time, everything slipped into place. Two reasons for this: 1) a better understanding of writing; 2) timing. Truly, timing is one of the keys for becoming a stronger writing, in my opinion. There was a woman next to me in the workshop this time, and she couldn't find her catalyst. And when she finally did find it, it was on page 100 (or something like that) -- it needs to be in the first 20-30 pages (obviously, as it basically starts the story). And she couldn't understand how to move it closer to the front of the book...boy, have I been there!
For anyone who still is there -- don't worry. The day will come, as you continue to write and study the craft of writing, when it'll all fall into place. Hopefully it won't take you 18 months as it did me :)
Here's what a couple of my pages looked like after I revised:
Happy revising! (Sorry the one is upside down -- photobucket is being stubborn!)
After the big conference last weekend (Rocky Mtn Fiction Writers Gold Conference in Denver), I'm raring to go on revising all my older mss that I feel still have potential. What did I learn that makes me feel I can make them saleable?
1. The basic plot skeleton for a book -- funny how I didn't know this before, but I truly didn't. Now that I have a form I can plug the major plot points into (and check them against), I feel much more prepared to craft a story. Craft, by the way, is a key word, isn't it?
2. Conflict -- yeah, imagine that! I certainly had conflict in my books already, but it was often accidental. Now I've gone through (my latest ms) and actually highlighed the paragraphs/sections which have conflict. The goal: some conflict on every page.
3. Goals -- another biggie. My characters didn't really have goals before -- or perhaps I should say, I didn't direct those goals. Sure, they wanted stuff...but because I wasn't directing it, those goals often got buried in other junk. And, as I learned at the conference, the best conflict actually arises when two characters' goals are in opposition. Guess that means I need to make note of goals, huh?!
4. Emotional depth -- once I have goals (at least one per chapter per main character), this is much easier to notice. But I still went through and listed one or two emotions that my characters should be feeling in the chapter as they aimed for the goal -- and the emotion they'd feel if they either made that goal or didn't. Then I had to be sure that I actually showed those emotions (yeah, kind of forgot that a number of times in the original writing of the story).
Phew! It was intensive but also exciting -- for the first time in my writing career, I'm learning how to direct my books. I'm sure I still have much to learn -- and I imagine that I'll continue to grow in my ability to add these things (and even, hopefully, be able to think through some of this before I even start writing the first draft). But for now, I'm thankful to have these tools available for my use.
Oh, and another tool? Plot Catalyst: This is the part of the story that without it, there is no story. You might be thinking that it should be obvious, but surprisingly, it isn't. I attended a workshop by Agent Kristin Nelson about writing queries 18 months ago -- she discussed finding the plot catalyst and crafting the query around it. I couldn't do it. I couldn't find the catalyst, and I certainly didn't understand how to build the query around it, no matter how many exercises we did. But this time, a year and a half later, I attended the same workshop -- and this time, everything slipped into place. Two reasons for this: 1) a better understanding of writing; 2) timing. Truly, timing is one of the keys for becoming a stronger writing, in my opinion. There was a woman next to me in the workshop this time, and she couldn't find her catalyst. And when she finally did find it, it was on page 100 (or something like that) -- it needs to be in the first 20-30 pages (obviously, as it basically starts the story). And she couldn't understand how to move it closer to the front of the book...boy, have I been there!
For anyone who still is there -- don't worry. The day will come, as you continue to write and study the craft of writing, when it'll all fall into place. Hopefully it won't take you 18 months as it did me :)
Here's what a couple of my pages looked like after I revised:
Happy revising! (Sorry the one is upside down -- photobucket is being stubborn!)
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