Anniversary

Okay, so I was looking through my previous posts and saw that exactly one year ago today, I started "dipping my characters' toes into the beginning of the dreaded middle." Ha! That's funny. A couple of weeks ago, I finally SHOVED THEM IN and forced them (and myself) to start swimming. Turns out that's exactly what we all needed.

Isn't it amazing what a difference a year makes? I'm learning! :)

My Plotting Odyssey

I've been attending conferences and workshops, reading books and blogs, and participating in critique groups for years. My biggest stumbling block was always plotting/outlining. I kept trying to write by the seat of my pants and it wasn't working, but I couldn't seem to wrap my mind around plotting. So I didn't fit in either of the "two types of writers" categories.

When people drew that triangle diagram thing, I was like, "huh"? And then they'd put dots on it and talk about plot lines and other airy-fairy stuff and I'd wonder how in the heck they got all that from a dotted triangle. Cuz ya know, I wasn't seeing it. And I thought there must be something wrong with me. I was plot challenged.

So I'd go back to the pantsing thing, but I never knew what was supposed to happen next. I'd make myself come up with something—anything—and it usually turned out stupid. All my ideas fell flat. I got discouraged and kept revising the beginning until my critique group partners started going cross-eyed from having to read the same material over and over again.

It seemed like other writers just fell off a stump and knew what to do. And then there was me, and I couldn't seem to find the right stump or fall the right way or who knows what. I almost gave up, but my motto is "never give up," so I had to find a way to keep going. In the end, I very sternly told myself that I was a smart woman and I could figure this out. For months, I studied every plotting method I could find: the Plot Whisperer; Larry Brooks' Story Engineering; Dan Wells' system; Blake Snyder's Beat Sheet; Dave Wolverton's Million Dollar Outlines course material; and a whole bunch more. I even did the exercises. Oh, and I analyzed movies and drove my family nuts with comments about this being the "all is lost" moment and that being the "inciting incident" and so on.

And eventually, the great mysterious process began to crack open and little bits of light shone through. Then at one of our critique group meetings a couple of months ago, Erin suggested that we challenge ourselves to finish our rough drafts by the end of July. And all three of us agreed. It was perfect timing, really, but also kind of scary. I wasn't sure I'd be able to make good on the deal. But I pressed forward.

I wrote a query letter with a brief plot summary. That was hard. Very hard. And so worth the effort. From there, I moved on to padding the existing (shabby) outline/synopsis and compiling all of my scattered notes. Then I did the character sketches. I started making headway. I went to Storymakers, and Karen Hoover's "Prewriting" workshop helped things click into place even more. I loved the idea of prewriting as opposed to outlining. Also, Amber Argyle gave me good advice and generous doses of praise and encouragement in the Publication Primer...and beyond. Somehow she knew I needed that extra kick in the pants.

I came home inspired and pumped up and ready to get back to some serious plotting. And an amazing thing happened. The more I thought about the story, the more I was able to fill in the blanks. I'd concentrate on specific questions or problems and the answers came if I let things percolate in my brain for awhile. I always wanted to write the story that wanted to be written, not some arbitrary series of events that I assigned to the appropriate slots in an outline. After a couple of weeks, there were only a few blanks left. I decided to go ahead and start writing. I'm almost done with the first "new" chapter, and things are coming together in awesome ways.

Yay, I can do this! And so can you.

Review: Outlining Your Novel

Plotting and outlining are my biggest stumbling blocks as a writer. Over the past year, I put forth extra effort to study and learn as much as possible about this process, to see if I could finally break through that wall. So many workshops and books are only helpful in a vague, abstract sort of way that doesn't quite nail down the logistics. Outlining Your Novel: Map Your Way to Success by K.M. Weiland is different; it provides solid, concrete steps to further writers along the path to a finished draft.

First, I read all the way through the book only completing a few of the suggested activities while bookmarking and highlighting key points. Now I am going back a second time to do every single exercise. Amazingly, I'm finding that I've already done a lot of this stuff, but my notes were scattered all over the place on various notepads and loose papers and whatnot. The compiling exercise alone has proven invaluable. There were so many ideas I forgot I had, and as I organized everything, new ideas and answers came to mind.

A huge part of my frustration and resistance with outlining was the forced, calculated aspect of making stuff up to fit a predetermined pattern. I wanted my story to grow organically. But pantsing definitely was not working. I needed structure. Weiland's approach brings pantsing and outlining together without sacrificing creativity. Several possible formats are discussed along with many useful tips and suggestions.

I also appreciated the insightful author interviews, though they again reinforced the irksome reality that different methods work for different people. That's what makes this subject so difficult to teach. My favorite question to ask published authors at conferences is, "What's your plotting process?" I've gotten a different answer every time. In the end, it's a matter of figuring out what methods and combinations work best for each of us individually. And this book provides a solid foundation on which to build.

LDS Storymakers Conference

I went to this conference for the first time last year and loved it. This is the best value around, in every respect: the price, the presenters, the editors/agents, the master classes, the bootcamps...oh, and the FOOD. They fed us really well, including decadent desserts.

Find out more here: http://ldstorymakers.com/conferences/registration/

There's also an awesome "Show Your Love" contest going on in the month of February, and all you have to do to enter is do what I'm doing now: blog about it. Click here for info: www.ldstorymakerauthors.blogspot.com

Hope to see you there! :)

Writing Again

It's been a slow summer for writing. I didn't know what happened next, and I couldn't seem to bestir myself to care. Part of the problem was overload in the critique department resulting in too many other voices in my head. And another part was the fact that I still struggle with plot and story structure. I have asked many, many published authors to describe their plotting process. Each one gave a different answer. I think that's what makes this subject so difficult to teach, and to learn. The trick is to figure out what works for me.

I have studied books and taken classs and workshops for the past few years and have yet to fling that door wide open and hear angelic choruses confirming that I finally get it. Sometimes I feel like a chick pecking away at an eggshell that won't crack. But I'm close...I can see pinpricks of light shining through.

One resource that has proven helpful is Story Engineering, by Larry Brooks. He does a good job of defining and explaining the elements of a story in a way that makes sense to me. That book has provided several "aha" moments. I'm also looking forward to The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master, by Martha Alderson. Her blog and YouTube video series are both awesome.

It feels good to be writing again. Last week I wrote a (mostly) new chapter and I'm trying to do the same this week. It's been fun and rewarding. I've been listening to the characters and the story instead of the little devil on my shoulder insisting that everything is stupid and I should just give it up. My main critique group has really helped encourage me to climb back into the saddle. Yay, Erin and Emalee!!

Yesterday, I even got some encouragement from a couple of little fans. Two sisters sidled over to me at church and the older one shyly said, "I really like your book, Whose Ears Are Whose!" I thanked her and said I'd try to remember to bring them bookmarks next week. The younger sister earnestly replied, "Wite a note to yusewf." They made my day.

And so now I'm trying hard to listen to the angel on the other shoulder and keep slogging.

Romeo & Juliet

My 10-year-old niece, Michelle took this awesome photo of two swans forming a heart...perfect for a Romeo and Juliet themed post!

While visiting us last week, she showed me some videos she and a friend made of themselves on her iPod Touch. Michelle played Juliet and her friend played Romeo (making sure to clarify that she's really a girl in the intro). This stuff was hilarious to watch. And I was more than a little impressed that these two modern girls knew so much about a play that was written over 400 years ago. They had a balcony scene from the top bunk complete with the line, "Romeo, Romeo, where art thou Romeo?" They even used a generous amount of language such as thee, thy, thine, thou. All this without ever reading or watching the play...my niece didn't even know that it's a tragedy. Somehow they absorbed enough to get the gist from somewhere.

I happen to live in Cedar City, Utah, home of the Shakespearean Festival. Last night I watched a beautiful performance of Romeo and Juliet with my daughter. Again, the timeless impact of Shakespeare's writings struck me. People flock from all over the country and even the world to our little ol' town to see these plays. I sat in awe of the characterization, plot, poignant representation of human nature, and use of tools such as cause and effect, foreshadowing, and humor. Centuries later, he's still got it.

As writers, we could learn a lot from The Bard, master storyteller and literary genius.

Quotes from Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

My daughter graduated from high school on Friday. One of the speakers shared some inspiring words from the famous Last Lecture by college professor Randy Pausch, who died of pancreatic cancer in 2008. How timely to remember him this Memorial Day and take his advice to heart: keep slogging away, no matter what!

"Don't complain. Just work harder."

"The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out; the brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. The brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough."

"Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted."

"Luck is truly where preparation meets opportunity."

Wow. What an amazing man. And what pearls of wisdom, not only for the Class of 2011, but for each and every one of us, wherever we may be on life's journey. Thank you, Professor.