Plot Revisions

The other day at work I opened a blank document and started questioning my own plot. First, I wrote down who--and what--needed to go into Praylanne (the local township) to advance the plot. Then, I looked at the plans and motivations from every characters' point of view and really began challenging myself. Slowly, a more feasible plot line emerged and I wrote it down--partly on a notepad in the car while driving home for lunch.

I fleshed out the idea and sent it on to my four critique group members. They all liked it except for the one idea which seemed random to them and added an unnecessary villain, when we already have a few good villains to start with. Besides that one catch, the plot revisions were well received and this really psyches me up for a good rewrite. Now, I just have to find the time to sit down and give myself the quiet, unrushed environment I need to produce!

Jumping Through Hoops

Sometimes, it is just too easy to look at your book and be blind to the holes in the plot. For instance, I wanted to get my main character, Riaone, into the Praylanne township with certain companions and I jumped through too many complicated hoops to get her there. When I finally sat before my critique group, someone asked the simple question, "I wondered why she just didn't get her mom to take her dress shopping or something [to get Riaone into Praylanne]." Good question! Especially working with so many points of view (I am currently using five), I am going to overlook some things like, "What is So-and-so's motivation?" "Why would he allow such-and-such to happen?" "What did she mean by this line?" and, one that gave me the biggest surprise, "There is a lot of sexual tension between X and Y! I want to see them get together!" What?

The most important thing is to remain flexible. No, wait--the most important thing is to write, even if I am writing text that I will eventually cut or move. The second most important thing is to remain flexible. As long as I am nurturing the creative flow, I can use my output to make realizations about what isn't working, or submit it to the group so that they can tell me what isn't working.

I am lucky right now in that, despite all the tumultuous events that have been happening in my life recently, I have gotten over that recent stretch of not writing and am currently writing a lot, being self-aware enough to revisit key plot points, and making time for some good honest thought processes to occur. The best part is that I have a great critique group that I appreciate more and more. Even when I am blind to the obvious, the group is there to not only point that out to me so that I can get my book back on track, but also to praise what sounds good so that I can keep that up.

I have taken the critique of my sixth submission and had a great breakthrough this afternoon that I think will bring the right characters together and give some others some great development. I am laying some pretty good groundwork for future events. I'm at 48,000+ words now, and I see where the book might end. Wish me luck.

To Bolster a Spirit

The group met last night, and I contributed more during this meeting, I felt, than the last. There was only one submission, and I read the submission twice and defended my comments well. I feel okay about that meeting. I must still read my Gardner book.

One member of the group is a published author and a book doctor. I really wish I could sit her down and talk with her about the fiction publishing world and what makes a successful book doctor, but I hesitate. I don't want to give any ground and lose credibility in the group. I am a book editor, but my company is a historical vanity publisher with a specific niche market and my publishing world is nothing like the publishing world I will need to know before I start "shopping" my book to agents.

I profess to want to teach college English, but wouldn't it be so cool to be a fiction editor? By all accounts, I would probably have to take an entry level position, and it would take a lot of time to learn the industry and find my footing. Looking at the promotions listed on Publisher's Weekly, it does take several years, and I'm sure that's for a reason. Unfortunately, most fiction editors are also based in urban New York.

I really want meeting with the group to continue to be a positive experience, not a stressful one. I think it would help to submit next time. I LOVE love love getting feedback and even relish when major changes are proposed. Anything to bring my writing to its full potential. Just talking about it with people gets the creative juices flowing and feeds my motivation. Currently I am revising from the start, and I am going to force myself to wrap that up and getting writing enough for a submission. That will bolster my writer's spirit!

A June Update

After our last writer's group meeting, I cast about for reading recommendations and was advised to read two different books to bone up on my critiquing skills: John Gardner's The Art of Fiction and Lajos Egri's The Art of Dramatic Writing to start with. I already own them both, holdovers from undergrad, so that works in my favor. I started on Gardner the second week of this month, and I am approaching tomorrow night's critique with a much more critical eye, hoping to give our submitting author something much more valuable in this period's critique than our last.

My work on my own book has taken the form of many new blossoming ideas, which I make sure I take notes on, and revision of my past pages to fit the new turns the book will take. Therefore, I won't have any new work I care to submit this week. (I could submit revised sections, but I don't think it is necessary.) At least I am making some progress, though. Riaone's character is especially benefiting from closer attention to showcasing her motivations and personality.

I am up to just under 45,000 words, because I found the need to pare as I go. I could be writing more, but at the moment I am glad to be making any progress at all!

Becoming a Better Critic

Perhaps this has happened to you: All around you, critique group members shuffle their papers and shift their gazes. Who will go first? You clear your throat and begin your critique. You smile and point to lines you liked, praise the pace of the submission, basically tell the author how well she's done and how you can't wait to see what comes next. Then, out of the silence, the second critic speaks. "I wish I had something positive to say," she confesses, and the table launches into an honest, helpful, but critical evaluation of the piece. You begin to realize how much better the submission could have been, and where exactly it was lacking and how. You feel like you deserve a big fat F.

Last night, I read a submission I really liked and was actually the last person to speak about it. I had written so many positive things about the piece but critic after critic brought up problem areas that hadn't even occurred to me. I had a positive reaction to the second submission too; again, there was the general reaction that something was lacking in the overall plot. I admitted that I felt like I had a lot to learn, and came home feeling like crap. I hadn't submitted anything, I haven't been writing very much, and now my readings are not picking up on things that I should be catching.

I am going to look for some books on how to be a good critique artist. Really, I had fancied myself to be an efficient and perceptive reader, but clearly I need some help. Any suggestions out there for books on critiquing fiction?

A New Turn in Writing

This past Thursday, I had another writer's group meeting. I was not altogether impressed with my own submission, but I knew that submitting it would spark some great commentary and advice for revising, and it did. What I didn't expect where some questions and needful reminders about story arc and where I am going with the overall plotline. One member asked, I know what they want, and what is at stake for the characters [mostly], but what is pushing back? What is making it hard? It cannot simply be a series of events, she added. That is very true.

This book is basically divided into my characters at home base, their journey across the kingdom, what happens at their first destination, and their subsequent trip crossing the next kingdom. I have created characters who have instigated questions from the group like: Is this person going to play a large ongoing role in the story? And... I hesitated. I have two characters who play a large role in the first leg of the journey, yes, but after that? And if they aren't featured, why invest so much in them? Good points.

So Saturday, I had a friend over to write with. We ended up mostly talking out our characters and plots of our own works with each other; and that was so helpful to me. I showed her the map that I sketched out (and passed among the writer's group) and she was able to make some great suggestions. Her questions about the political atmosphere of the locations she pointed to led to some great realizations in me regarding the characters at work in that location.

I am at about 40,000 words, and still my characters haven't left their starting location. But now, I feel better about the secondary characters and their larger role not just in the first half of Book 1, and not ONLY in Book 1, but having an effect on relationships and events long after. I can't wait to see what they do with the opportunities I give them! Much thanks to Karlene!

Writing Update

A section of my book was critiqued on April 23rd, and I wrote consistently for a week after that. However, as it came time to submit, I came across a really busy weekend that threw off my concentration and by the time I revisited my work and saw that it was not polished enough, it was too late and there was no time to brush it up and submit. I am mad at myself for not submitting this time, but it is certainly not a requirement of the group. The only ramification is that I will not be getting feedback this biweek, and I have thought on my own about the improvements my work needs.

Progress HAS been made toward one of my writer's goals that I established at the outset of the year. I now anticipate my story to be told in a trilogy, and I know more or less where each book will start and finish, and where most major characters will be in their lives (all turning points).

I also have been keeping up with my outline. My outline sums up each section (blocks within each section break in the narrative) with two or three sentences about WHAT the section is about and WHY I am writing it. Well, after updating the outline, I decided to do something new: I wrote in whose point of view (POV) it was written in.

The new "POV feature" is very helpful. At this point in the story, I have my major protagonist, Riaone, but also three very important sub-characters with sections in their POVs (Garel, Tsa Sial, Jaim) and another, Amanda, who plays a large role in their current setting but may not continue to be so important. By keeping this feature, I realize when I haven't written in Riaone's POV for too long, etc. I am able to step back and see who needs "a turn speaking."

Secondly, by keeping these section mini-summaries, I realize plot lines I may have let simmer too long. For instance, I realized that a major villain made a very serious threat against Amanda, but now I have gone far too many sections without returning to that tension. Knowing that, I was able to think on the best way to let it reemerge, and now I can go back and slide in that scene before I get so far that major revisions are necessary.

I encourage all writers to keep a similar document. It is difficult to write a large piece of work and still be able to keep track of details and your timeline of events, all in your head; especially when working with multiple points of view.