Comments (0)

By Leslie, March 13, 2010 9:49 pm

I just finished reading Before I Fall, the debut book by author Lauren Oliver .

Buy it, read it.

I was not convinced that a teen rehash of Groundhog day could rock my world. But I make a point of reading interesting and notable first books by new authors. It’s all part of the Leslie Effort to Deconstruct the Excellent Novel. Where excellent is defined by: what people like to read based on the words alone – or as close to that as I can get.

I read Fallen by Lauren Kate and felt she missed. I think simply because there was just not enough tension in the pages. Not enough happening between the ears of the characters. Ever read a book where doing the dishes seemed more interesting?

I do not want to write that book.

This is not a problem in Before I Fall. Holy Moly, Oliver pegged the tension-o-meter at 11. This book had me reading every word, dragged me along each Groundhog day twist and at the end, which I knew was going to end in a Punxsutawney Phil kind of moment; I sniffled.

Why? Tension, baby. Tension.  Oliver packs it in every sentence, every paragraph and every moment.  There were damn few sentences that left me not wanting to read the next.

So, when I finished the book I checked her out on the web. Looked at her blog..yada yada…Guess who is her agent? Uh huh…from the Donald Maass Agency…Mr. Tension. Figures.  LOL.

Comments (0)

By Leslie, March 11, 2010 5:45 pm

The Third draft of San Francisco begins today.

My baby now weighs in at a tidy 75,281 words, and I expect the final version to come in around 80,000 words or 400 pages. I’m pleased, with the plot, love the twists, romance and the adventure, and find the world of 1850 completely entertaining.  I’ve taken to reading the morning edition of the Alta California for that day in 1850 with my coffee.  History is so fun.

The biggest changes in the second draft came from reading and re-reading Donald Maass’s book’s. I attended a day-long Maass workshop in January, sponsored by my local RWA chapter, right after I ripped apart draft 1. That draft suffered from many of the problems he discussed in his books and in the workshop: flimsy secondary characters, trivial dialog, ho-hum locations. And this from a book set in the glittering gold rush! YIKES! I had work to do and I did it in the second draft, but that’s not enough.

What Maass says is not that different from what any good writing instructor says. However,  he speaks my language and that’s key. When I read his books and reviewed the examples, I saw what made them work. So I can use the information. So often, I read instructional books and cannot figure out what in hell they’re talking about.

You must be unafraid to bring your life and experiences onto the page.

This is my next step for San Francisco as a story and a universe, and my theme for the third draft. An excellent writer cannot just observe the world and write only what she sees,  she must write what she feels. She must write her personal pain, humiliation, and  joy and that of others. This is not easy, it’s invasive. It’s uncomfortable.

It often takes pacing around the house and occasional tears.

My heroine is stranded far away from everyone she loves and understands. She doesn’t know how to act or dress. She doesn’t have any money, a job or a skill. She doesn’t have anyone to protect her nor does she particularly want to be protected. She is a self-reliant woman of the 1990’s in an upside down world.  She doesn’t know how she got where and when she is, only that she’s there, her daughter is hopefully safe at home, and she must get back. Somehow.

That is what draft 3 is all about. I expect that March will be a rather painful month.

Comments (0)

By Leslie, February 27, 2010 2:16 pm

Oh My God….I have truly died and gone to heaven.

Have you heard of the Veridian Digital Library? No? Well, then sit next to me, my pretty. Well I guess it actually is the California Digital Newspaper Collection powered by the Veridian Digital Library but really… who the hell cares?

They have  most of the  major newspapers in California going back and I mean waaaaaaay back.  I was able to download PDF files of the Alta California, one of the San Francisco papers, for all of 1850. Really. What amazing reading that is! Even if I were not writing a book I could totally lose myself in these papers.

The California Star and Ledger, the Placer Times check it out…..Really.

Too cool, much too cool.

Comments (0)

By Leslie, January 16, 2010 9:03 am

My friend Katie Ellyson saw my post about losing 45K in 3 days and wanted to know how.  She has a YA (Young Adult) WIP that has been in the refactoring stage for a couple of months now.  In fact that’s how I met her, I offered to beta read her WIP, did, and we’ve been chatting and emailing ever since.

So Katie, this is for you!

This is based on any code or idea re-factoring commonly done around complex projects or concepts that have, shall we say, gone awry?  There are a number of sites that help you lay out a structure for your novel from the get go.  Yes, it’s all simple then when it’s shiny and new ideas on crisp pieces of paper, or whatever.  But what happens when in the middle you look up from your amazing Next Great Novel and discover that it has taken a horrible turn for the weeds?

Stage 1: Panic

Sit down have a cup of some warm beverage or a martini, and repeat the following words.

I am a good writer and my work does not suck. Breathe.

Stage 2: Regroup

Now open a new file and read this post before you do anything else.  I like to use an outlining program because what we are going to create is an architecture and from a concept standpoint an outline works well, but you could do this in any text editor.  For San Francisco, my WIP, I use SuperNoteCard.

In my life as a program manager I’ve used actual pieces of REAL PAPER (index cards and stickies work well), Mind mapping programs such as MindManager or FreeMind. If you have a Mac, Omni Outliner is a good choice and imports well into Scrivener. The examples here are in SNC, printed and pasted to the walls of my dining room on very large Post-et notes.

The example on the right is one chapter with high-level actors and  plot arcs mapped and color coded, along with an overall chapter status.

1) With a clear mind read your work. You are reading to take notes kind of like a beta reader.

YOU ARE NOT EDITING.

STOP THAT, I MEAN IT.

2) For each chapter you need to note the following:

- Who are the KEY NAMED ACTORS and these can be people,  locations or key items (for example, that gun on  Chekhov’s mantle would be tracked) that are going to cause a turn in a plot or subplot.  Don’t worry about Jason, the Grocery Clerk with the cute butt unless he has an affair with Evelyn, your heroine. Think structure. You are looking people/places/things who create the bones of your story and cause the plot to turn.

-What are the PLOT/CHARACTER/WHATEVER ARCS - You will make a list and track this. These are the things, mostly about characters, but they can be other things that are changing over the course of the story and what make it fun to read. What am I saying, you know what a Plot Arc is.

- A BRIEF SUMMARY (no more than 1-2 lines. OK more if you have to, and do not fret over this, and bullet points are fine.) So you know what is going on, i.e. what the bones are. This is only for you.

I would not stress too much, or at all about how big or small to make the initial groupings (chapters vs. scenes). In fact I would stay with chapters for now.  If you try to go directly to scenes you will drown in detail and get discouraged.  Keep it high-level and simple.  There is benefit from going through this exercise in an iterative manner and the first run through should be at a high level, then you can drill down as needed. Lets face it, if your WIP is off the rails its likely not off the rails in the minutiae, right?

Remember, You are revealing the architecture that YOU HAVE ALREADY BUILT in your story; all we are doing is brushing away the bits of chaff that are obscuring the outline. To that point keep a note file about COOL IDEAS FOR THE REWRITE, because you will have them and if you don’t have a parking lot for them you’ll waste time. I keep a pile of post-ets in the dining room that are color coded and also have email notes to myself.

3) I keep two interconnected lists, and that is where the outlining software comes in handy. Waaaiiiittt….Two you say? yes, two. Not three. Why two? Because plot arcs and actors are really just aspects of the same thing that are mapped along a summary line.  OK, Leslie you are getting all softwarey-esoteric now. (I can hear John, my Architecture mentor laughing maniacally)

I’ve spent some time thinking about this. I am sure there are a  bunch of Literature Professors who will gnash their teeth and differ wildly with me. But From a simple informational level, this works and 2 are easier to track than 3.  If you treat plot arcs as actors in a scene or chapter an architecture emerges more easily.  In my WIP,  two major competing plot arcs are:

1) Connie needs to find a way home from 1850 to 1992

2) Connie is falling in love with man in 1850.

I treat these as actors in my architecture and when those elements ‘act’ in the scene/chapter I drop them in.

You can probably see where I am going with this.  At the end of the day, you will have  graphical structure for your work that identifies holes and rogue actors. But as usual, I am ahead of myself….

…the next step….3: Analysis without Paralysis.

Comments (0)

By Leslie, January 15, 2010 7:41 am

I’m a new writer. I have one shiny publication under my belt and I’m not really sure how that happened.  I think I share that confusion with many new writers.

Wow, that’s really good, I wrote that?

I think I have a grip on plot, voice, dialog and all that. But deep inside, I’m not really sure, and even deeper I know my grip is tenuous. I read blogs and books that promise to show me how; I take classes and go to workshops.

At the nut, all the experts say the same thing.

I know how and you don’t.

I write every day, but  some mornings I’m almost afraid to start typing.

OK, Pity party over…tap tap…tap. tap. tap…..