Location, Location, Location--Expanding Setting for Your Story into a Larger "Container

Realtors know that location is everything in buying or selling property.  Try to sell a house that's near a busy highway or high tension wires, and you'll learn this.  In story, location is also really important--I wouldn't say it's everything to a story, but it's as vital as good characters and strong plot.

Unfortunately, it's the aspect of writing that many writers tack on or ignore altogether.  

This week's post looks at the larger aspects of setting--beyond just the physical elements--something I like to call the container of your book.

It starts with a story about Margaret, one of my students. 

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Time and Location--Working with Flashbacks, Backstory, Chronology, and Transitions in Novels, Memoirs, and Nonfiction Books

A small book came my way this month.  It's called The Art of Time in Fiction:  As Long as It Takes, by Joan Silbers.  Very short, it explores how time appears in different ways in story.  It's useful for writers in any genre who are working with scenes and situations in time and space.

I read The Art of Time in Fiction while briefly stalled out with my novel-in-progress.  It's at revision, which means that I have about 120,000 words written, looking for a better shape and smoother flow.

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Staying in the Room with the Writing--How to Keep Yourself from Getting Blocked, Distracted, or Stopping Altogether

So many writers come to writing with a deep love for books.  They feel that love for books will make them able to write--almost magically.  But then they learn how much work it takes to become a writer, to develop the skills and hone the actual process of writing.

Occasionally, this love for reading grows into a natural love for the writing process.  On good days, I am swept away by putting words on the page, dreaming up cool ideas, and figuring out ways to touch a reader's heart and mind.  It's the best job in the world.

Other days, I sweat it.  I am distracted too easily.  I feel stupid as I write, the words are not what I am seeing inside.  I give up at the first phone call, email ping, or view of the overflowing laundry basket. 

So, we all, eventually, have to discover what keeps us "in the room" with our writing, as short-story writer Ron Carlson calls it.  Why do we stop, when we stop--and what can we do about it?  

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Self-Publishing:--Is It for You? Four Writers Share Their Experiences with Releasing Their Own Books

Several years ago, I was browsing through a recent issue of The Writer's Chronicle, a wonderful publication from AWP.  AWP has been around for four decades, and its purpose is to help writers become better writers, usually through writing programs in schools and colleges.  It's a good place to stay current on publishing news, see what's new in writing classes, and cheer on colleagues who have just released their new books.

The Writer's Chronicle always has ads for these new books, and I turned to a full-page ad for a recent release by a multiple-award winning writer I admired.  I scanned the page to see who his publisher was, and there in bold type was Lulu Press--a self-publishing company.

  

Wow, I thought, self-publishing has come up in the world!  Not long after that, I began reading articles in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times about writers who were making their millions from self-published books, often landing a six-figure advance and contract from mainstream houses as a result.

It used to be called "vanity press," but now it's looking like a good deal for many writers.  Why?  What are the pitfalls and the benefits of publishing yourself?  Why are so many writers considering it a great option these days? 

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Reading Your Work Aloud--Whether You're Sharing with a Group, a Big Audience, or Just Yourself, Some Tips on Why Reading Aloud Helps You

Many years ago, when my books were first being published, I took a class on reading my writing aloud. 

It was taught by a television actor from California.  He was a wonderful teacher, funny and engaging, and he got us introverted writers right up out of our chairs. 

He spoke about basic "reading aloud" tips like good breath control and how to pause, but the most important take-away was passion.

"You have to love what you're reading," he said.  "Without passion for your work, your listeners will never really get why they are listening.  Read it as if it's fresh, exciting, and enjoyable to you."

A very basic guideline yet one that writers often miss.  We know our work so very well, and we see all the hiccups and stumbles.  It's hard to read it as if we are fresh to it, excited, and enjoying the story ourselves.  We're mostly worrying about whether anyone else is liking it!

I've given lots of readings over the years, during book tours and on television and radio interviews.  This bit of advice has been very helpful when I choose my excerpt to read aloud and when I practice.  In my practice time if I don't feel any passion for the story, it's not the right piece to read. 

This week's blog is all about the basics of choosing, as well as how to find that passion again, so your reading will be inspired and inspiring. 

We'll also explore the benefits of reading aloud to yourself--what you can learn from this technique used by so many pros.

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Plotting--How to Go from Predictable to Perfection in Your Storyline

Plot is the most basic outer-story structure your book can have.  Fiction and memoir plots are all about action--what happens, where it happens, who is involved.  It's always external, never inside someone's head.  We see plotted events onstage, in front of us.   

Nonfiction writers also use plot.  Their outer story is about the method or ideas they are delivering.   

Obviously, in both cases, plot that's predictable is boring.  How many books have you picked up where you can foresee the ending so easily it's not even worth reading?  Plots must surprise the reader, and therefore also surprise the writer.  Again, nonfiction writers attend to this too--they have to present their material (their "plot" or outer story) in a way that shows its uniqueness.

Like agents will ask you:  How is your book unique, different, a twist or a surprise?  Plots give you this opportunity.

But most of us stay safe with our plots.  We keep to the knowns rather than venture into material that will surprise.  How do you get out of this rut, as a writer?  How do you stop repeating yourself with predictable plotting?

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Dialogue Decisions--How to Choose When to Use Dialogue (and What Kind) in Your Fiction and Nonfiction Writing

Dialogue isn't easy to write well.  In fact, it is one of the red flags that editors use to spot an amateur writer.  Maybe it's because beginning writers use dialogue more as a vehicle to deliver information than for its primary purpose:  to increase tension and emotion in a scene.

Both fiction and nonfiction writers need to know dialogue skills.  Nonfiction writers, memoir to how-to, now incorporate at least 50 percent scenes in their books.  Scenes include action and dialogue.  If you can't write a good scene, your book won't sing. 

So how do you learn to write great dialogue?   

I was taught a two-step  method that serves me well.  Step 1:  Learn to listen to how human beings talk--and how they don't listen to each other.  Step 2:  Learn to pare down the real-life dialogue into dialogue that works on the page.

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Protecting Your Work--What You Need to Know about Making Sure Your Writing Stays Yours

Patricia has taken my online class and read my book, You Book Starts Here. She wrote me last week with a good question about how to protect her work.

"While I have had my ups and downs over the years, since I took your class and started using your framework, I am finally creating some work I am willing to share" she said.  "In that vein I have been investigating some of the social network sites that allow for feedback and submissions.  The sites have been clear about the work submitted not falling into the 'published' category, so that has been addressed. 

"I am wondering, however, if I need to be doing something specific to protect my intellectual property.   

"How do I share my work, get feedback, and give feedback in return through social networks, and protect my words?  I have no idea what to do to make sure my intellectual property isn't stolen." 

The three sites Patricia is considering are authonomy by Harper Collins, Scribophile by Turkey Sandwich, and Critique Circle by Dorrance Publishing. 

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Vertical and Horizontal Writing--What They Are, How to Write Them, and Why Each Brings Interest to Your Story

The short-story writer, André Dubus, described writing as having vertical and horizontal moments. In an interview for the anthology, Novel Voices, he spoke of the challenges in his first novel, The Lieutenant: “I’m not sure I knew how to bear down then. . . . I was writing what I call hori­zontally, making scenes go. In my forties, I switched to writing vertically, trying to get inside a world and inside a character.”  

Have you ever driven long distance through the Mid­west of the United States? The horizon stretches forever, across a landscape that is flat and predictable. I loved driving the endless prairie roads when I lived in Minnesota and took summer trips through North and South Dakota.

   

But I longed for a little variation in the unending peace of the grasslands, which sometimes had me struggling to stay awake.

When I reached the western edge of these states, and the mesas and mountains began to rise, my heart thrilled. I always looked forward--after three days of flatness--to the Badlands. The newly vertical landscape provided more ten­sion and interest, a happy contrast to the sleepy time spent knowing exactly what was around each turn in the road.    

Just as the variation of landscape excites a long-distance traveler, unexpected moments charge your book with energy, suspense, and tension.

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Finding the Inner Story of Your Book--Behind the Outer Drama, What's the Real Meaning?

I worked with a writer a few years ago, who was writing a fascinating story.  He'd been through serious medical trauma, and he wanted to write a book about it partly to allow himself to gain insight, partly to help others experiencing this.

We first worked on his storyboard, tracking the outer dramatic events, and he listed them without flinching.  I felt some writerly envy as I read them--not because I wanted to experience what he went through, but because who wouldn't love a list of such strong outer events to frame a reader's journey.  Some were so intense, they felt like a page from a tabloid. 

Outer story intact, we next began to work on the inner story.    Inner story is the other half of all books.  It answers the questions Why?   And sometimes the questions What? and How? 

As in . . . Why should I care?  What did you learn?  How are you different?

Inner story contributes discovery to your book because it takes the reader along on a journey of meaning. 

I asked this writer to begin listing his inner turning points.  He sat for a long time in front of the computer.  Not much came out.  "I'm different," he said.  "But I don't really know how."

His answer told me a lot:  First, his book journey would be different than he expected.  He would have some research to do, to find his inner story.

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