Start at the End

The secret is to start a story near the ending. — Chris Offut

I really like this quote from Chris Offut.

It's like my screenwriting professor once told me, "Come in a scene late and leave early." I think it's the same mentality. Start so the reader has to think - No. WANTS to think - wants to figure it out. And end the story so the reader feels s/he has done so successfully, and yet is satisfied, perhaps, by the things s/he couldn't figure out that you, the writer explained.

Makes it sound so simple, doesn't it? But we all know it's not. Maybe that's the secret - start near the end - but I wonder where the blueprints are? It's one thing to KNOW something but another entirely to be able to do it.

But as grandiose as it sound, this is what I will strive for in my novel. I don't know at what point I'll accomplish this tall task or if I ever will, but this is my goal. I'm not there yet. I'm a long way from being there. Somehow I feel when I write the ending of my novel, I will know the beginning.

What do you all think about Chris Offut's quote? What ideal do you strive to reach in your craft?

Dogs and Deadlines

My eldest daughter's dog, Luke, taken by my youngest daughter... He's a tenacious Cairn Terrier

I'm back... and not just blogging on my regularly scheduled day, but in writing too. I have been in such a writer's block for about a month - a very painful, long month. At first I thought it was my nerves before meeting with an editor from Penguin to discuss one of my books. Or maybe from preparing for the SCBWI workshop. Or maybe I was burned out from reading so many MS's a day. I am in two writer's groups, plus the small group I was placed in for the workshop, brought my reading load to 13 MS's or more to read in a week. Looking back, no wonder I was blocked.

But the words are flowing once more and I am thrilled. The sun is shining. It is warm outside and supposed to stay that way for a few days. And you can just feel, spring is a month away. Something internal has clicked on. My family and I went for a long walk along the tow path of the Delaware River today. I love walking on the river, but it's been too cold. Luke, the cairn terrier pictured above, doesn't walk so well on a leash. But Kenzie, my trusty collie/shepherd mix is, of course, perfect all the time - except when she blows her coat twice a year...

So what it is that brought the words back? Who knows? Maybe it ran its course like some word virus. Or maybe it's having a deadline. There's nothing like a solid deadline to kick things back into gear.

Perhaps there's more to it then a simple deadline, but I do have a looming Monday deadline and I knew I had to pump something out or risk losing out on a deadline. So I decided to re-read last week's pages. I prepared myself to throw 90% of it away, but was surprised that it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. While in my blocked state, I couldn't see the forest through the trees, or the words through the pages. And then seeing I actually had something to work with, I relaxed and wrote forward. This is not to say that I will not become blocked once again and fail to believe in my process. Whatever it is that stops me or allows me to write, one thing's for sure - it just feels so damn good to be back!

Here's the best way I can describe what I was recently experiencing... when I am blocked, I feel like I am over thinking every single word. I feel like I force the words. And the best way i can describe it, is I feel like I am writing from the front of my brain, where I believe the ego lives. But when I am truly in a writing zone, it feels like I am in a trance, like I am writing from within a very deep inner self, one that is not conflicted by ego or over thinking things. Yesterday, without agonizing over it, I just naturally fell into that inner core.

So what is it that stops me from reaching this core, and what is it that allows me to reach it at other times? I have no idea! I hope with time and experience I will learn to control it and not the other way around. I will learn to trust my process and know that at the end of every writer's block, comes a flood of words.

So, the sky has parted and the heaven's sing, Ahhhhhhhhhhh...

What do you do to get yourself through a rough bout of writer's block?

I am going to start a new Sunday tradition. I am going to include a short excerpt from my novel, but nothing that can kill the buzz or give away too much of the story. Just a line or two, or perhaps a paragraph at the most that I feel proud of for one reason or another. So, here it goes...

Excerpt 1: It felt like time held its breath, as Grandma May’s lacy curtains stood rigid against the breeze from too much starch. It was as if the onlookers were watching a play with a cast of two: me and Papa, not sure how this story was going to unfold, but sure it wouldn’t be a happy one.

Happy Writing Everyone!
Sheri ks, ks

NJ SCBWI Workshop

Hello all,
This is just a very brief posting saying... I've been to the NJ SCBWI workshop today. I met some lovely ladies in my group. (Hello Joelle, Marcie, Lynette, Hallee, Lisa, and of course, Leeza!)

In case you've never been to such an event, here's what happens...

About a month before, you are assigned a small group. The ladies mentioned above were in my small group. Each small group is assigned an editor to receive a one-on-one critique with for 20 minutes. So in that month’s time, you have to mail your first 30 pages of your novel, or your entire PB MS to Kathy Temean, RA of the NJ chapter of SCBWI. AND... you have to email your pages to the members of your group.

Then over that month you read and critique all the stories as they come in (or wait until the last possible moment - whichever way works for you...) Then, on the day of the conference, armed with the critiques you have written for one another, you show up ready to share.

Everyone takes turns presenting their feedback while, one at a time, a member will quietly dismiss herself (sorry no token males were present in our group) and meet with the editor in a separate room.

Then, around, well... lunchtime, there is a lunch where we can all mingle and meet other writers or editors present at the event. Then we go back and finish our critiques.

At the very end is an open mic Q+A session with all the editors. We get to learn what they are individually shopping for, how long their personal turn around is with scripts, and their tips and tools of advice and suggestions. We, as writers, are eager to eat up every nugget of info they are willing to provide.

And at the end of the day you've made friends (or enemies – no, only kidding!) and you hopefully will walk away feeling energized, renewed, and ready to revise, revise, revise.

I, on the other hand, always walk away feeling exhausted! I need a few days to not think about it, while all the while my subconscious is percolating, and simmering, deep in thought. Then, in a day or two... or three... I read everyone’s comments. I print out a fresh clean copy and begin writing notes of what the others have said. If someone else says the same thing, I put a check next to the comment. If again, another person says it, I add another check and so on. If there are comments that don't ring true to me, that no one else brought up, then I let that comment go. I toss it, as Joelle said in her “Take it, or Toss it” philosophy. If there are comments that spark something within me, even if no one else said, I star it.

Then I open my computer, copy and paste the story onto a fresh document and save it as... whatever the title is, the draft number, and I give it a new version number. For example, my novel... is on its first draft, but 5th version - 1.5. (For me, a new version is when I make changes within a single draft. Once I get to the end, any other changes would begin my next draft. And then process begins all over again, 2.0, 2.1, etc.) So now, I save it as a new document as TITLE, 1.6. Next, I take the hard copy with all the converted notes and I place it in that story’s binder. All of my stories have their own binders. Then in the binder, I mark it, TITLE 1.5 NJ SCBWI Feb 2008 conference. The editor’s version goes in the binder too, of course, and I attach her business card and her critique, so it is altogether.

And that's my process!

Another benefit of the day is... a good number of the editors that come to these workshops do not accept unsolicited work. But once you've met the editor at an SCBWI event, you are no longer considered unsolicited for a window of time - usually a few months. So even if you met with editor A, you are still welcomed and invited to send you MS to editors B, C, and D, as well. And most promise that they WILL read your MS and WILL write a personal (rejection) letter (OK hopefully not a rejection letter of course! I was only being funny!!!!)

So if you haven't ever tried an SCBWI conference or workshop. I highly recommend it. Visit SCBWI to find your state's chapter. To have that 20 minute one-on-one wiht an editor is so worth it!

BLAH...

I had a seriously blah day today... and yesterday for that matter... come to think of it and Tuesday as well. I had this "energy" work done on me on Tuesday. I was so excited. But since then all I feel is BLAH... I was actually better before having the "work" done. Now I haven't written in three days and all I want to do is sleep.

Usually going for a walk with my dog snaps me right out of it and floods my mind with a zillion ideas, but even that didn't work.

So how about it? When you are feelign BLAH and just not full of words, what gets those words flowing again?

America's Top Writer by Danette Haworth

I stumbled upon this great writer's blog the other day - Danette Haworth - She recently sold her first middle grade novel, VIOLET RAINES ALMOST GOT STRUCK BY LIGHTNING. Yay, Danette!

She wrote this great new posting on her blog entitled, America's Top Writer. It is a paradoy on today's warp-speed-to-the-top reality TV shows. Check it out. You will laugh out loud! http://summerfriend.blogspot.com/2008/01/americas-next-top-writer.html

Parting with Words

Having trouble doing a revision?
You know your story's too long and you need to make some drastic cuts, but you're afraid that by slashing away your precious words and phrases you've grown to love; you will ruin your story and loose the very essence you originally intended.

What's a writer to do? Simple. Copy and paste.

Copy your story into a new document and slash away. You'll have peace of mind knowing your original story is still in tact, safe and sound, saved under another document name.

Here's what I do...
I write a first draft and I leave it alone for a few days. I come back and read it with fresh eyes. I fix any simple editorial mistakes or add/change/delete a word or phrase. But when it comes to major revisions, I save that first draft as 1.0. 1= first draft. .0 = no revisions. I copy and paste the story onto a fresh new page. I save it and call it 1.1 1 = still the first draft. .1= first revision. I continue this process until I get to the end of the story. When I am ready to begin revising my second draft, I begin with 2.0 2 = second draft, no revisions… YET!

By the time I am done with a story, I have a file thick with all sorts of numbers, 1.0, 1.1, 1.2… 2.7... and so on. It tracks my revisions, let's me see my growth, reminds me of what I've done previously, and most of all, frees me to make those big and necessary changes. And voila! You’ve revised your story.

What method do you use?

Sheri ks, ks

A Good Review!

It was my turn for a critique in my writer’s group. Often I wonder when I will ever get that critique where all my fellow writers say, Bravo! It’s perfect! Don’t change a thing! Although I secretly wonder and hope for the arrival of this unlikely day, I know if JK Rowling herself was in my writer’s group, I am sure there would still be much to talk about.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my group. I wouldn’t be half the writer I am today without them. We've been together for nine months, and although that is still a short time, the changes I have seen in all our writing is amazing. I know, personally, I have grown by leaps and bounds as a result of being part of such a thought-provoking group of fellow children’s writers. We are certainly not afraid to speak our minds, say it like it is, and challenge each other when we need it. Which is why this last critique has left me speechless. OK I am never really speechless… but I was moved to secret tears and am still in awe!

My middle grade novel has been through many, many changes. This is my 6th draft and I hope my last, but I know, even as I write this, that that is most likely not going to be the case – as there is always room for improvement. In this draft, I have switched from third to first person. I normally do not write in first person, but I kept hearing my main character speak and I kept changing it to third until one day I said, Fine, you want to be in first, then let’s go. I never anticipated the huge transformation this seemingly small change would cause, but it did. I submitted my first 2 chapters the critique before this one, and it went very well and everyone agreed, first person helped me capture my main character’s voice and breathe real life into her... I was on the right path.

But this last critique…

I was really nervous. It was for a short chapter… chapter three. Chapter three follows a chapter where something momentous happens and I was afraid chapter three was too quiet. It is quiet in the sense that it is not filled with a lot of physical action, but it is filled with a lot of emotional tension. I haven’t been this nervous about a critique in a very long time. I thought for sure, I would leave thinking, Great! Now I have to rewrite the whole chapter before I can move forward. I couldn’t have been further from the truth.

It was a unanimous BRAVO!

They all loved it. They were moved to tears, held their breath in anticipation, couldn’t stop turning the pages, and wanted more. Finally, my dream came true – to hear that you have emotionally affected a reader! Isn’t that what being a writer is all about – that the reader is completely absorbed and invested in your story? And like I said, this group can find a needle in a haystack! I am still on cloud nine. Of course there are always suggestions about how to make it stronger and more clear, and those obscure grammar rules, but to have affected these readers, is a dream come true.

Now to keep up this momentum for only another 20 chapters or so…

Moving Forward in your Novel

I was surfing fellow writers' blogs the other day and came upon two I really liked. One is by Rebecca. I like that her blog is honest about the daily triumphs and miseries about being a writer. The ups and downs are shared in her blog about writing, and revising, and when we feel on top of the world and why we all do this crazy thing - writing stories. But it also shares the truths about those all too familiar rejection letters and how sometimes criticism is just too much to bear.

Then I happened upon Rachel's blog. Rachel wrote about a class she is taking and a new way of thinking called scenes and sequels and it has made me STOP and take notice of this now sixth revision of my middle grade novel. She says... think of your scenes in terms of goals, conflicts, and disasters. And I thought that this made perfect sense. Of course your story has a much broader goal, conflict and disaster. But each scene should have its own mini arc if you will. So there is a rise and fall within that crescendo of your story and it's grander rise and fall. Like the constant rolling of the waves within the constant rise and fall of the tides.

She then went on to speak about sequels - the emotion, thoughts, decisions, and actions of your characters within each scene as seen through narration, speech tags, actions tags, etc. It is these emotions, thoughts, decisions, and actions that color your canvas with layers. My favorite example of this is from an article in the Writer Magazine, Shtick it to Them, where Arthur Plotnik says this about adding those layers and using action, emotions, etc. to speak volumes for your characters. Some of his examples are....

"I love you," he said.
She blew smoke in his face, "How nice."

Or

"I love you," he said.
She checked her cell phone, "Gotta take this."

In both these examples, it was the actions that spoke for the characters. The author did not have to say something expository like, but Susan could careless as she answered her cell phone. How dull that would have been? By using action to speak for the character, it gave the character life.

All these layers, what is unspoken in your words, the rise and fall of the arcs within the arcs, they are what breathes life into your stories. I can't stop thinking about it and am excited to use scenes and sequels in my hopefully (but I know it won't be) my final revision.

Happy writing!
Sheri ks, ks