Tag: P.M. Rousseau

  • Motivation & The Dreaded Middle

    This week we are taking a look at motivation and the dreaded middle section of a story. I find it ironic that this title is, relatively, the middle of this series. What’s up with the middle being a bad thing? Let’s take a look.

    So far, we’ve covered getting those ideas firmed up and starting to write out shiny new wonderful story idea. This is always an exciting time – fresh new idea, exciting new plot, new characters, new conflict.  The key word here is new.  Once we get tot he middle, the idea is no longer new and fresh, we know the plot far better than we did at the start, the characters have been chattering in our heads so long now we sometimes tune them out like we do a buzzing fluorescent light, and we begin to wonder if there is enough conflict, or perhaps too much that we should just kill them all and be done with it. Welcome to the Sagging Middle!
     So what do we do now? Well, first up, step away from the keyboard.  Killing off all your characters will drastically change both your category, turning your novel into a novella (or short story), and likely your genre as well. So unless you intend to make it a horror story, a little perspective is needed. It’s likely not that bad, just that you’ve been sleeping, eating, and breathing this story for a while and need a break. It’s okay to take a day or two. Trust me, your characters won’t hate you and run off to another story. Well, I have one doing this but it is a horror story and he has evil intentions.  You don’t have to worry about that.
    Take a little time to catch your breath, get some perspective, then take a look at where you are.    The middle can be a quagmire if you lose track of your story arc.  The thing to do here is look back over what had happened so far. Is the story still on track? Does the conflict help develop the story and characters? If it’s a mystery or suspense, have you dropped enough clues so far that it still fits together? If not, perhaps one of your characters needs some fleshing out, perhaps something you think is clear to the reader but isn’t needs a little more illuminating.
    Sometimes it all in how you look at it. Instead of seeing it as the boring middle part, think of it as the top of the hill. Your setting is fleshed out.  Your characters are all set and doing their thing. The story is humming along.  You get to the top of this hill and realize, you are halfway home. That’s great news!  From here, you can look at your word count and see the ‘words left to write’ shrinking daily. Not only that, but this number is smaller than  the number of words you’ve written! I don’t know about you, but that really gets me going. It’s like the end id actually in sight, though still somewhat distant, for the first time. You can see that this thing might actually come together.
    This all ties directly into motivation. Writing can be a solitary endeavor, so much of our motivation comes from within. What excites us? What keeps us going for the long haul? Sometimes it’s nothing more than that I’ve covered above.  A wonderful new idea that insists on being written. A character that just refuses to leave your head and won’t stop talking to you. A great plot idea. Those will usually get you started, but it’s often sheer determination that keeps you going even when things seem stalled. Keep your eye on the goal and you will get there. Even when things seem to be going awry, there’s something of value there, we just have to find it and push through. Before we know it, we are off and running once more.
    As they used to say in the 70’s, Keep On Truckin’!

  • Wiley Wednesday: Completeing A Draft & Scheduling

    Last post I discussed beginning a new story, how to begin, and what tools we use.  I mentioned a often-used acronym, BICHOK.  Butt in chair, hands on keys. Here’s where that little mantra really becomes important. Learn it, know it, use it.
    First step.  How long will it be?  Is it a short story? Novella? Full-length novel?  The difference is the length, but the process is the same. At this point, you have made this decision and written your outline (or not).  Everything’s ready, it’s time to get the words on the page.  This means two things: goals and sticking to them. That’s how a draft gets done.  So how do goals work where a first draft is concerned? It’s time to do a little math. (I can hear you all groaning now!)

     The first step, once you have decided what the overall length will be, is to decide how long you want to take to write it.  When do you want to add The End to your draft? Obviously, if you are submitting for a specific  publisher’s call, you will have a deadline date to shoot for.  If not, then it’s more a matter of personal choice, and your comfort level regarding speed and  amount of work per day. Once you have your own ‘deadline’ decided, there’s where the math comes in.  Figure out the number of days till you want it done, divide your total projected word count by that number of days, and there you have it.  This depends, also, on how many days a week you plan to write. Do you take weekends off? Are Mondays the pits for you?  Are you out of town every Thursday?  Adjust your number of writing days accordingly and you’ll have a concrete number of words you  need to write each writing day to reach your daily and total goals.  And you thought this would be hard.
    Actually, the math is the easy part.  Now comes the real work.  The writing. Reaching those goals.
    I got a real ‘out of the frying pan and into the fire’  experience with my first NaNoWriMo. that stands for National Novel Writing Month, and it takes place every  November. The basic idea is to write a 50,000 word novel in one month. A friend of mine had mentioned it to me years ago, and I finally decided to give it a shot.  50,000 words, 30 days. Approximately 1666 words every day. Sound insane?  Yes, it is. It was also one of the most exhilarating and fun things I have ever done. I met with a local group of fellow insane writers and we all went at it. And I did it. All because I kept an eye on my goals constantly.
    I knew the total daily breakdown/minimum I had to do.  That gave me a weekly number, and a running total as I went. I made desktop wallpaper that had a calendar with my daily word count on it. I  crossed off each day as I went. The sense of accomplishment was huge, and that visual prodding and feeling of success is what kept me going.  This is the key.  Find a system that works for you, that will inspire you, push you when you need it, and keep your goals in front of you. Have some sort of  tracking system, a visual so you can see that you are being successful.  And every day that  you accomplish your number will make you feel that much more successful and determined to keep it going.
    That’s the real secret right there to getting that first draft written. Make a plan, stick to it, and track it.  Congratulate yourself on your successes along the way. And before long?  You too will be typing THE END.
    Happy writing!

  • Starting a New Story

    So, we’ve got all these wonderful characters talking in our heads, a fabulous plot, a gorgeous setting. We may or may not have an outline, depending on whether we like that sort of thing or prefer to wing it. Now it’s time to sit down and start banging out the words, right? Absolutely! We  sit down, open our word processor of choice and there it is….the blank page and the blinking cursor. Blinking at us.

    Non-stop.
    What now?
    Starting on the shiny new story is always exciting and often comes with no small amount of trepidation. Will it be any good? Will I  come up with the right words? Do I have enough plot to make a whole novella/novel out of it? I love the start of a new story.  By the time I sit down to actually start writing, I’ve usually had these characters talking to me for a while and know them as well as I know the people who live in my house. They are getting pretty bossy by this time and insisting I get going. Since I am a panster, I don’t write outlines and timelines and such before I start. I do, however, have a general idea of the plot arc and know the main events  that will get us from  beginning to end. How I get to these points of interest along the way is always a surprise and there lies the real excitement for me  in a new story. I can’t wait to see what surprises the characters will spring on me, what secrets they will reveal, what action develops, how the relationships among them evolve.
    But that all happens once I have actually started writing. How do I actually get started? Here’s a little bird’s eye view of (cue dramatic music) THE BEGINNING.
    If you’ve read my earlier posts, prior to this series, you will have seen one about my schedule change to being an early riser so I can get my writing in before the kids get up. If you haven’t, now you know, so the scene is set. My alarm invades my sleep just before 6 AM. There is always an momentary  wish to sleep in, which gets tossed out, then I climb out of bed. I get dressed and  head to the kitchen.  Today is  easier since I am finally going to start on that new story idea that has been bugging me mercilessly for weeks. That’s pretty exciting and once I have coffee (or hot tea) in hand, it’s off to the computer.
     So now we are there with the blank page and cursor.  What happens now? There’s a popular acronym in the writing world: BICHOK, i.e. butt in chair, hands on keys.  I start writing. Whatever comes to mind.  This may  stay, or may get edited out later but  the important and essential first step is to get the  writing flowing, prime the pump.  Chances are that I will eventually  come back here to  polish up this beginning, make it stronger, more enticing, but for now, the main thing is to get started. And keep going. Not everything you toss into this first draft will stay, but it is essential to get the thoughts moving, get the words on the page and don’t worry about perfection at this point. Once you get the draft done, then you can start to edit and polish, since you will have the whole plot arc done to reference when ‘fixing up’.
    And whether you use extensive outlines, note cards, storyboards, novel writing programs, or go simple with just a word processor of one variety or another, or paper and pen, the important thing is this: start writing. Keep writing. Don’t look back. Stay consistent, and the story will flow. Keep at it till done. The formula is pretty simple, but what it can do it absolute magic.

  • Research

    This week we will take a look at researching stories. First up, what exactly does research encompass?  Quite a lot actually. Of course, there are historical facts. Names, dates, places, major events. It also covers social and political ideas of the time, demographics, setting, geography, climate.  How about equipment?  Technology? Mechanical facts?  Then there’s clothing and food. Native languages. Well-known disasters. Wars. Exhausted yet?

    Research can be a huge chunk of your story, start to finish.  Some prefer to  do it all in painstaking detail before  they start chapter one, some would rather do it as they go. I  fall somewhere in-between. I want to have a good sense of what the world and time period was like, assuming I am using a real world setting.  However, I don’t  spend months  looking into it.  I want a good basis and then I will look up things as I go. Even those who do a lot of research ahead of time end up doing more during the course of the writing. Something always pops up that you have not planned on, requiring you to go back to your sources.
    Which brings us to the main point here – sources. Of course, there is the internet. Google is often a writer’s best friend. So is Wikipedia, but that one requires some caution in that not everything is always accurate. Historical websites, special interest associations, encyclopedia sites… the list is endless and ever-changing by the day.
    But what about other sources? In other words, how in the hell did we research anything before we had the internet? There is always the library.  In my case, that is generally not that useful given I live in a tiny town with a tiny library.  Some other favorite sources are books on the subject. I continually comb through used book stores, both online and brick and mortar. Newspapers are invaluable. When I was researching Victorian London for my Victorian vampire story, I came across all sorts of wonderful books on the era. My big score, however, was several editions of the Star, a London newspaper, all from the summer of 1888. I was ecstatic for weeks! In addition to  actual news of the era, the advertisements were great for giving a good feeling for the times (I also picked up a book printed in the 1800’s about lice and rats in London – very interesting look at the cleanliness issues. It got me some weird looks!).
    I also tend to collect good source material as I go along for times and locations that interest me and that I may want to use at some point, or places that I already envision for a story idea brewing in my head.  I may use them one day, I may not, but digging through them can be invaluable if I do. And sometimes, I may not use that particular thing, but it spurs an idea of something I do end up using, which can be just as good.
     The first week we talked about being observant and stretching our creative muscles to make use of what we see. Research is a great place for that as well, whatever form it takes. You never know what will be lurking in those pages, whether they are in a book, newspaper, or website.  Happy hunting!

  • Character, Plot & World Building

    This week’s topic is likely the most nebulous for me. It can be one of the hardest to reduce to specifics, but it is also one of the most important. The over-reaching ideas for your characters,  plot and setting are the basis for the entire story. You need a good, solid base in order to have a cohesive, readable story that takes you from introduction to conflict to a satisfying resolution. Let’s take a look.

    First up is character building. You will often hear writers discuss whether they are character-driven or story-driven. What this means, for those character-driven writers, is that  some prefer to start with vivid characters they can really ‘see’ and  take it from there. I am definitely one of those. When writing a story, you will spend an unbelievable amount of time with the characters. They will drive you, tease you, thrill you, and at times refuse to speak to you. They will live in your head, chattering away. At times the constant buzz can get distracting, but telling them to shut up is the last thing I want to do.
    Where do they come from? All over. Remember my example from last week about the lady in the funny hat?  Sometimes people I see will stir a character idea. Sometimes, as I noted with the historical I wrote last fall, they just appear, ready to go. Those are the lucky days.  Generally, for me, a character will whisper from the shadows, spilling just enough hints about  himself (or herself), to pique my interest. I’ll poke and prod them to get them to give up more details.
    Sometimes it take gentle coaxing.  Sometimes the character will unload their whole story as if they’ve been waiting years  for someone to listen to them. Most are in-between, and we do this little dance for a  bit while we get to know each other. This is  the most essential step.  As this character’s writer, I need to know all I can about them if I am going to portray them  in an accurate, believable manner. Besides, I want them to like me. After all, we are going to be spending a lot of time together.
    For those writers who are story-driven, the plot’s the thing. This is where they start – the “Oh, what if this happened? What then?” moment. But whether they start with  characters or plot, every writer needs a great story. This is the meat to go with your potatoes, er, characters. What happens to them? How does it affect them? What do they learn? Is it believable and does it draw in the reader so they keep turning pages, reading to the end?
    A well-developed plot needs three things for each character: goals, motivation, conflict. What do they want to accomplish? What drives them, keeps them going in the face of adversity? And what is that adversity that interferes with  their  goals, threatens their happiness? How do they face it? And perhaps most importantly, how does it change them in the end? What do they learn and are they better for it? The best plots are those with layers, details that add to  the story, making it more complete.  To continue our meat and potatoes analogy, the seasoning that makes it all work. To quote Shrek, “Ogres have layers. Onions have layers. You get it?”
    I mentioned believable regarding plot. Believable does not have to mean possible and  proven by current scientific and social rules. If it did, Dracula would never have gotten off the ground.  What this means is, within the scope of your story and characters, do you pull the reader in effectively so they stick with your story? Is this believable in the world you have created? Here’s the one area that some writers adore, others hate.  World building. Whichever side of the line you fall on, we all have to do it.
    Where does the story take place? Can you make the reader see it? Is it complete? Does it have layers? Some genres are easier than others in the world building department. If you are writing a story set in the current day in your hometown, well, you can simply observe and record, changing as needed. But what if you are writing science-fiction set centuries into the future?  Then you’ll be building this place from the ground up and it better be believable within the rules of your universe.
    Wait, there are rules? You better believe it. When you set about building your own world, whatever form it takes, there are rules, your own natural laws if you will, that determine how things work. You need to establish them and stick to them. Your readers certainly will expect you to follow them. Nothing guarantees a reader will throw your book across the room, and not go  pick it back up, like abandoning your ‘laws’ for the sake of plot convenience.
    Include details makes it richer, more developed, more believable. What’s the social structure? The government? How do they dress, what do they eat, what sort of entertainment do they prefer?  World building is not all about the mountains, rivers, and cities, it’s about the society too. What is acceptable, what’s taboo? And is Desperate Housewives still popular in its 487th season?
    This all skims the surface, of course, but it does give a good idea of what goes into the structure of your story. Everything you do from here till the end of it depends on these things.  Take your time and make them detailed and rich.
    Layers.  You get it?

  • Where Do All Those Ideas Come From?

    Not long ago, I participated in a group experiment: several of us wrote a series on our creative processes, each from our own point of view. I have since taken that blog down, but wanted to present them here for your enjoyment. Over the next two months, I will be examining both the creative and physical processes of writing – everything from idea generation to getting the words on the page and polishing them up into a final draft. These posts will reflect my process, how I do it, but one thing is certain – there is no one way to write a story. You’ll find as many different processes as there are writers, and different types of writing might come with  different processes. I hope this series will help spark your own  process, whatever that may be.
    First a little bit about me. My favored genre is paranormal, though I am currently in the final leg of a contemporary romance draft. I’ve also written science fiction and horror extensively, as well as some historical stories set in the Victorian period and 15th century France. My stories tend to be longer, novel length, which means anything from 50,000 words on up. And while that is considered a novel, my friends like to smile and say it means I am long-winded. I’ll take that. I have a yearning to try a novella, however, and have a few ideas waiting in the wings. It should be a challenge, but I am curious to see if I can do it.
    Speaking of ideas, that is the subject of the beginning of this series. How do I think up all these story ideas?  Where do they come from?  Do I write about people and things I know? Well the short answers are: all sorts of ways, from all over, and yes and no. Clear as mud?

    The more complete answer cannot be split up into separate questions. Storytellers, and that is what writers are when you get right down to it, find inspiration all over. Sometimes a word or phrase overheard starts the wheels turning. A lady walking by the window in a funny hat could stir an idea. Sometimes a snatch of song turns on the creative light bulb. Perhaps a dream has us waking up and running for pen and paper, or the computer, to make notes before we forget.
    This last bit happens often to me. The paranormal I was writing last fall is a good example. I knew all the characters that were to be in the story and was already off to a great start. I woke up one morning with a character sitting in my head. She had a face I could see clearly. She had a name and a whole backstory ready, and informed me that she was supposed to be in this story and  what was I doing lazing about instead of in there writing her in? I did as directed. Who am I to argue?
    Do I write about things I know?  Here is that yes and no answer. The people and places I know may spark ideas, but I don’t write them as they are. They start as the first glimmer of an idea. I make a note of it so I don’t forget and think ‘Hey, that could be cool!’. Then I let it simmer. That’s my highly technical term for tossing it into the primordial soup that is my brain, letting it swim around with everything else lurking in there, and see what eventually bobs to the surface. Sometimes the idea is too small and I throw it back to simmer some more. Some ideas sink to the bottom never to be seen again.  But some of them appear shining with the light of inspiration. And what may have begun as a lady walking by the window in a funny hat has become a prince of some unknown land, wearing a large crown, who is the subject of an assassination plot. See what I mean?
    The point is this:  ideas can come from anywhere at any time. I learned early on to carry a small notepad with me for this very reason. I got tired of pulling notes from pocket and purse that were scribbled on paper, gum wrappers, bar napkins, take-out menus, etc. People always think writers are so much more creative then they are.  I don’t think that is true, I think we just are more tuned in to the random ideas that float through our brains every moment of the day. We are more likely to grab hold of them, shine a light on them, and see if they squirm to life. People are natural born storytellers. All of us. It’s just a matter of looking a little more closely at the world around us. You may find, in doing so, that instead of too few ideas, you have too many. I’ll take that any day.

  • Keeping It Real

    Description can be both bane and boon to our writing.  It can make the setting and action seem real, pull in  the readers and put them front and center, make them a real part of your story.  Even so, too much, can be as bad as not enough.  It needs a happy medium – enough for realism without overdoing. But how do we get there?


    My senior year in high school, we were discussing this very thing. It often comes down to details. As the old saying goes, the devil is in the details.  Our teacher assigned a paper, one page only, to demonstrate this point. And while it was a paper giving directions, it applies to description very well, since you have to describe what to do.  The subject?  How to tie a shoe.  She wanted us to describe the process so that someone reading the essay could do exactly what was written and accomplish it.

    The next day, she collected all the papers, shuffled them, and handed them out again, giving everyone an essay they didn’t write and had us follow it.  Some were easily done, others quite humorous. It drove the point home, however, to focus on the important details, in a limited space, to get the job done.

    And while tying shoes may not be overly useful, try it with an apple. Spend a full minute looking at one, noting all the details. Then hide the apple and write your description. Once you are done, compare.  Sis you miss anything?  Does your description  seem as rich as the real thing? If not, you can add to it.  The idea is to make it as real as possible. Your readers may not see your particular apple in real life, but you can certainly make them see it in their minds, make them feel it and smell it, taste it. And that is what it’s all about.

  • A Solitary Occupation?

    We’ve all seen it in the movies and read it in books: the time-worn image of a writer sitting down to his typewriter (or computer these days) to write a book.  The author is always alone, in a nifty little office with an old fashioned desk, a shelf full of books, a few quaint decorations, and a window with a lovely view. The setting outside the window varies, but the one thing always there is the idea of writing alone. How true is it?

    My best answer is it is and it isn’t. Writing, for the most part, can be a very solitary profession.  There is no substitute for physically sitting down, on your own, and getting the words on the page via whatever medium you use, be it typewriter, computer, or pen and paper. A s such,  no one can bring to life the stories in your head besides you. Time to focus, without distractions, is a must and this is best done alone. When we really get into the writing groove, when the words are flowing and the story is good, the characters alive, the least interruption, one phone call, can totally derail you. We need time with the people in our heads here, perhaps not the people in real life.

     But what about the other times? What about  the night last week when you had a sticky plot point and could have used some advice? What if you just received a revise & resubmit request and need an opinion on the notes? What if you need technical information on how to saddle a horse or make nitroglycerin (for example)? There is always  the internet for research but for other things — advice, sympathy, a pat on the back, or someone to cheer with — you need other writers.

    There is no substitute for having author friends to commiserate with you over a rejection, or look over your chapters to see what’s going awry, to cheer with you over your latest sale, or even talk shop with over your process. Some of us are lucky to have people locally for this whether it’s local writing groups or local chapters of national writing organizations.  Whether you have writers at hand or don’t, there is always the internet. Writing groups flourish online.  Forums, writing blogs, online chapters of organizations, the list is endless. Add in smaller crit groups that form among the patrons of these online groups and you can spend 24 hours a day socializing. It’s a wealth of knowledge, help, and much needed socialization with people who understand what it means to have imaginary people talking in your head.

     So back to my original question. Solitary or not? I can honestly say that I think this writing gig is the best of both worlds. Now I am back to my desk, and my window with the gorgeous view of the Montana mountains.

  • Get Into The Groove

    A couple of songs popped up in my Rhapsody play list the last few days, and I noticed a trend. What played was Madonna’s Get Into The Groove, and Earth, Wind & Fire’s Let’s Grove Tonight. It got me thinking about the crazy summer, and my writing – or lack thereof. Summers in Montana are woefully short. It’s not really warm till mid-June and by mid-August often the leaves are beginning to turn. See what I mean? So we like to make the most of the warmth and sunshine while we can.

    This is not overly conducive to sitting at my computer, however, when the gorgeous outdoors beckons. And while it is perfectly logical, my distance from those magic words that I string together day by day to make a story still call to me and I get antsy and unsettled because I am not writing. So what’s a poor author to do?

    Recently, Rowan Lark, author of A Love Neverending and one of the authors on the new Nightlight blog, published a wonderful idea, and one I am planning to dive into once our family camping trip is done. She proposed the idea of 100 words a day for 100 days. It’s beautiful in it’s simplicity. The key here is consistency and habit. And the daily word count is easily achieved, so that you can be successful. It’s just what I need to get back in the habit and for P.M. to get her groove back. Pure genius.

  • It’s All In Where You Look

    Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.
    — E.L. Doctorow

    It was the fall of my freshman year of high school that I fell in love with E.L. Doctorow. I was fourteen, and that was…too many years ago now to admit to. My English teacher had a few shelves of books she considered ‘should reads’ and loaned them out. As it happens, I”d read most of them already, but then I discovered Ragtime sitting there. The cover back then was a plain, solid color – rust as I recall – with the title in retro script across the top. I took it home. I was still reading in the wee hours that night. Lunch was forgotten the next day, and by the time 6th period rolled around I was, reluctantly, returning it to the shelf. Even now, all these years later, I still feel nostalgic when I think of it.

    All that (ancient) history I present simply to explain why I picked the above quote. It’s a bit of synchronicity at play. I am now reading Bird By Bird, by Anne Lamott. I am only a few chapters in, but loving it so far. She mentioned this quote and it really hit home with me.

    So often, when the urge to write a book hits us, we face an initial panic at the idea of writing something ‘that long’. How will we ever think of enough to fill two or three hundred pages? How will we ever figure out a whole storyline? The first blank page then looms huge, becoming overwhelming while we try to see all the way to the end, even as we are typing Chapter 1 – the heading, not the actual text.

    That’s when these wise words can make all the difference. We need to focus on what we can see, what we are writing right now. What happens in this scene? What makes it important? How will it advance the characters? Is it believable and will it pull the reader in, make them feel as if they are really there? Focusing on what’s in the headlights, the scene before you, will make it happen. And that scene will lead to the next, and the next….and before you know it, you’ve made the whole trip. Enjoy the ride.