The Solitude, part 5

The good news* is that some of us have been given permission to return to our usual way of life, our old habits, the normal things we are used to doing. For me, that includes the launching of my latest novel, EXCHANGE, which has been delayed because of the changing circumstances of life in general. I lovingly describe it as a crime thriller because it involves a big crime followed by on-going crimes and the main character has to keep trying to deal with the cascade of trouble. Mostly it's about the issue of gun violence in America. (More on that touchy subject next time.)

*The bad news, by the way, is that some of us haven't yet been given permission - as though we are in kindergarten and need to ask the teacher for permission to go by ourselves to the restroom!

For this week, I need to rush headlong into the next step in my writing process, a process I paid attention to while writing EXCHANGE, just so I could tell you about it.

Part 5

When I'm heading into the middle of the book, it is subplot time. Some of those are already part of the original idea, the obstacles the protagonist must overcome. Others are just some seeds I toss in hoping to harvest later in the book. Often they do not blossom so I must go back during revision and rip them out.

Depending on the genre, I might make a rough outline of events, at least chapter by chapter as I go, or I will simply press ahead and let the story unfold in whatever manner it does, almost as though I am merely taking dictation from the muses in my head. I like that feature of writing: letting it happen. If you read enough you get a sense for how a story should unfold and get a feel for the timing of things happening.

There seem to be patterns we absorb as readers that stay in our heads to shape plots and enforce genre demands. This allows me to skip a formal outline or detailed plotting. If I need to, I will slow down and write some short ideas about a scene, but I seldom do more than that. If a difficult-to-write scene is coming up, I may take a break from writing while I think it through in my head, or sometimes do some research. (I'll keep the story in my head during this time by editing what I've previously written.) Because I tend to get into the head of my protagonist and try to think like him/her (thanks Acting 101 class in college!), I feel the same emotions as my protagonist (or whichever character I'm writing), so it often takes an emotional toll on me. Yes, sometimes I cry when I've made my characters do something bad and feel proud when they do something good.

Along with subplots - which, for me, will come to fruition alternating with main storyline scenes - are other characters. Pretty standard for me: protagonist (narrator), sidekick or assistant, love interest, but I do not usually have a true antagonist or villain. I believe firmly in the antagonist being a protagonist in his/her own mind. Only in my vampire trilogy do I have a true villain bent on destroying the hero. In most of my books, what hinders the protagonist are elements of nature or other people just getting in the way, not really seeking destruction. That seems more realistic to me, even in an epic fantasy.  

So this takes me two-thirds of the way into the story - where I need to start planning how to stick the landing. Because I usually already know how the story will end, it is simply a matter of wrapping up storylines, as I do in Part 6.

NEXT: The climax. And maybe a complete explication of why I wrote EXCHANGE.


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(C) Copyright 2010-2020 by Stephen M. Swartz. All Rights Reserved. No part of this blog, whether text or image, may be used without me giving you written permission, except for brief excerpts that are accompanied by a link to this entire blog. Violators shall be written into novels as characters who are killed off. Serious violators shall be identified and dealt with according to the laws of the United States of America.

The Solitude, part 4

This extended period of time wouldn't be too different from my usual summer vacation, except for not having a movie theater to visit or a bookstore to browse in. I thought initially that I would get a lot of work done, perhaps start a new novel, but like in the past, when I have a lot of time I tend to waste it while I can be incredibly productive in short bits of time, like an hour off between classes. However, I still remember my traveling lecture about my particular writing process, so I'll keep going.

After I've gotten the idea and toyed with it a while to be sure it's something that would make a good story and I've played around finding the narrator's voice, I'm ready to go. I envision the opening scene, something appropriate to the story, maybe our hero or heroine doing something typical or something out of character. It depends on the story and the genre. The first rush of key-flinging is exciting but then...

Step 4

When I get to around 10,000 words, I have to think ahead about what should happen. Because I usually have the ending in mind when I begin - or at least by the 10,000 word mark - I need to add the required obstacles and detours and dangers I think what would be logical for the story and the characters' world view as well as being interesting in their own right.

Some of my writer friends like to plan out everything in a formal manner. Not me. I like to get into the head of my protagonist and try to think as he/she would think - like an actor taking on a role - and let the next thing happen as unexpectedly for me as for my protagonist. If I do any planning of interim events, it's seldom more than a list of event keywords, like "dragons attack" or "pervy photog, Bill intervenes". I'll work out the details when I get there. When I have tried to outline in more detail, like some colleagues do, I always drift off it fairly soon and even when trying to return it just becomes a whole new outline - like there are so many versions of a story in the multiverse.

A lot depends on the genre, of course. Each genre has its own requirements or traditions. I know I must include or follow some of them, well enough to honor the genre, but if I write the same things then it won't be good - and not so interesting to me. So I always try to write a little askew from the norms. Yes, most epic fantasy crime romances go this way, so I will make a change here and twist it there to be different. I get a lot of cross-genre hybrids that way. But I don't care; if the story interests me, I keep writing.

If the story stops being interesting to me (yes, there have been a few), nobody else ever sees it. The effort to make it interesting - not to mention believable for the story's situation - is what makes writing difficult. You know where you want to go but aren't sure the best way to get there. That is my number one frustration while writing.

In my current Work-in-Progress, given the way the book opened, at the 10,000 word mark I made sure to give my protagonist new problems to have to confront. As a contemporary story, the problems are obvious and don't require me to make a list (outline). However, while driving around, for example, I may have a thought pop into my head that reminds me to add this or that. What if this happened? Wouldn't that be awkward? How would he react? Like a psychology experiment. Sometimes I must go back to an earlier scene to put it in a new predicament - the curse of not outlining before writing. Sometimes I keep a list of things that need to be added and I will put them in at a good place in the story during revision.

Moving the story along to the mid-point is an exercise in mini-dramas and dramatic arc which are limited to a chapter. I like the aria and recitativo model taught to me by author David  Huddle during my MFA program. As a former music student, I understood immediately the operatic concept. The aria is a real-time scene with dialog and details that explore the situation, feelings, motivations, and develop character and move the plot forward. The recitativo is simple exposition which takes you to the next aria. It should not have any important revelations in it. String a bunch of arias together and you have a full opera.

The main idea is that writing the beginning, up to 10,000 words is a different kind of writing than the rest of the book. Then I must shift into what feels like a completely different frame of mind. At this point, I also start thinking of the story throughout my daily life. Thoughts pop into my head at random. Then I cannot keep from returning to the keyboard.

Next: Subplots.


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(C) Copyright 2010-2020 by Stephen M. Swartz. All Rights Reserved. No part of this blog, whether text or image, may be used without me giving you written permission, except for brief excerpts that are accompanied by a link to this entire blog. Violators shall be written into novels as characters who are killed off. Serious violators shall be identified and dealt with according to the laws of the United States of America.

The Solitude, Part 3

Have you ever just awakened in a rush and realized you're late to write a blog post? No, me neither. But I have awakened and realized it just might be Sunday again, so a blog post would be a way to fill the morning. So once again we return to the subject at hand: my writing process. Why? Because many have asked me the infernal questions: Where do you get your ideas? and How do you write all of that stuff? So I've tried to think it through and come up with answers. Then I wrote it out for the sake of some future creative writing class I likely will never teach.

I revealed the 'getting ideas' part already (see previous blog posts). The next step is to get started. The opening scene. The first paragraph. The first sentence. Once upon a time or It was a dark and stormy night are not allowed. Start with the main character doing something in the first sentence. Or you can go with a statement about the weather or the collapse of society. Something - anything - just to get some words on the page or screen. 

When I was a young writer I was fascinated by the setting of the story, mostly because I wrote science fiction and alien worlds were...fascinating. As I later moved into contemporary literary fiction, I focused on the protagonist before the setting - because, well, the setting was already fairly well known, being contemporary and such. Here is what I thought of while driving from Winnipeg to Edmonton last summer because the road was there:

Step 3

When I get the first germ of an idea, I need a character to carry the story. In my younger writing days, I was all about interesting plots and the characters were cardboard. Then, in my graduate school days, I was ushered rather forcefully into the world of character-driven fiction. So now I have to begin with an interesting person - or, at least, an ordinary person with an interesting problem.

 To begin a novel I do some test writing. I begin with the principal character (usually the protagonist) and see where it goes. Mostly I am experimenting with the voice. How does that character speak? Can I imitate that character's way of speaking? Voice patterns, way of thinking, world view? Dialect or vernacular? Age? (In my novel A Girl Called Wolf, I wrote the main character speaking as a young child with limited vocabulary at the beginning, then as an older child, then a teen, and finally an adult.) A lot of fiction today seems to favor the 1st person point of view, especially in YA. I remember most of the stories read in my youth were in first-person. A lot depends, in my opinion, on the story (what happens) and the narrator (who tells what happens).

 If the protagonist has a unique voice, a way of speaking that is compelling or who has special knowledge, then 1st person (I, me) makes sense. But sometimes you want a little distance between the reader and the narrative/characters so 3rd person (she/her, he/him) is more appropriate. Also, if you are working with a large cast of characters, 3rd person can allow you to get into each one's heads.

 In 3rd person you can still focus on one character, as I do in my current WIP, or you can treat all the characters as actors on a stage. A "close 3rd person" still allows you to hear the character's thoughts and know his/her feelings. You just cannot know the internal thoughts and feelings of other characters. In my collection, I have only 3 novels using 1st person. One other was originally 1st person but I changed it to close 3rd to give the story more space.

This bunny has no purpose here other than to be a bunny.

Therefore, as various writing gurus have said and I have to agree, the only reason to use first-person for narration is because the speaker has a unique perspective on the story and can convey it in an interesting way. Otherwise, third-person will do quite nicely. Make it close third-person if you still want that tight perspective. 

For example, in my forthcoming novel, I keep the "camera" on the shoulder of my protagonist/ main character throughout, even though I use third-person. However, in doing so, we must be very careful not to hop into the head of another character. I cheated a bit in one scene by having her overhear what the protagonist was speaking into a phone in the next room. But I did not enter her head and reveal her thoughts; only physical action - which may suggest thoughts but not official expose them. I stayed cool, man, cool.


NEXT: The Story Takes Off


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(C) Copyright 2010-2020 by Stephen M. Swartz. All Rights Reserved. No part of this blog, whether text or image, may be used without me giving you written permission, except for brief excerpts that are accompanied by a link to this entire blog. Violators shall be written into novels as characters who are killed off. Serious violators shall be identified and dealt with according to the laws of the United States of America.

The Solitude, Part 2

I didn't really expect everything would return to normal by this weekend. However, I did kind of wish I could use my time off from the day job to go traveling around, visit far-flung locations, schmooze with tropical gallivants, perhaps come up with a new story to fill my days. I did start writing a post-apocalyptic plague novel. But then so has every other writer I know. I have 4000 words so far.

Nevertheless, I promised to continue my yet-to-be-award-winning series on my particular writing process. Last blog post, I explained how I get ideas for novels. This post, I will describe what I do once I have the idea. I'm not suggesting here that this is the best or only way to proceed; rather, this is what has worked for me. Indeed, this is what I see happening time and time again when I'm beginning a new book.

Step 2

A lot of writers I know like to construct elaborate outlines of a book and follow their outlines religiously, allowing for an occasional detour. Not me. I generally have the whole idea in my head when I begin. I know where I'm going and the basic direction. However, exactly how I will get to the end and what I may discover along the way that I haven't thought of in the early stages is always interesting. By the time I reach about 10,000 words, I'm sure of how the story will end. I have changed the ending from my original idea in only a couple of my books. 

By this point, I have also listened to a lot of music and may have constructed a soundtrack, music which fits the scenes or which establishes the mood for scenes. I use music A LOT to aid my writing. Film music or music for video games works best, depending on the genre of the book. During the course of writing I will listen to the same set of music countless times and will be sick of it by the time I finished the final editing.

The post-apocalyptic plague novel I mentioned above is still in this exploratory phase, where I'm writing to see what ideas come to the forefront, what possibilities appear. A few stories end in this stage while others go on to be completed. If I don't hit some pay dirt at around the 10,000-words threshold, it's probably going to just sit on my computer forever.

I've found that, when I'm going to the day job, I seem to get more writing done by typing between classes than I do at home with a lot of free time, such as over a weekend. Yes, it depends on how deep into the story I am. I know the book is a 'go' when I'm thinking of the story - what happens next, or something I need to go back and put in - all through the day.

Now that I have time, maintaining the solitary confinement only a madman would put himself through, I find it difficult to be productive. Clearly I'm not far enough into the new book to let it pull me to the keyboard constantly. But we will get there.

I also have anxiety about the launch of my "current" novel, which has been pushed back due to the way this medical situation has filled everyone's minds with worry and fear. No room for something else, such as a new novel to read. However, some author friends have advised me that this is a good time to put out a new book because everyone has time to read, and wants something to fill their days. There is a fine line between adoring and abhorring this brave new whirly-bird.

Next post: getting the voice of the story.



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(C) Copyright 2010-2020 by Stephen M. Swartz. All Rights Reserved. No part of this blog, whether text or image, may be used without me giving you written permission, except for brief excerpts that are accompanied by a link to this entire blog. Violators shall be written into novels as characters who are killed off. Serious violators shall be identified and dealt with according to the laws of the United States of America.