A-Z Writer's Toolbox: Verve & Wile

A to Z Disclaimer:

Like all craftspeople, writers need to keep a bag of tricks handy. A set of tools for the job (writing), if you will. Some of these traits or tools are obvious--like the need to have a hide as thick as a brick, for instance. Some are not. This month, I've been challenged to do a post every day of the week (excluding Sunday) that begins with a letter of the alphabet. I'm going to use this challenge to examine some of those necessary writing tools, both conventional and not. Hold on to your #2 pencil, here we go!

NOTE: I've added a page dedicated to my A to Z Writer's Toolbox posts. I figured I'd soon have a bunch of these things and it'll make it easier for you to browse any of the letters you might have missed. You can find a link to the page under the, "MORE STUFF" heading at the top of the right-hand column of this page.

V is for verve

Do your characters share the very air you breathe?  When they whisper, does it tickle your ear?  Are readers thrust into the air with every upswing in your story, or crushed beneath the weight of the mighty circumstances you've set forth?

What I'm really asking is does your writing have verve--a life or spirit that makes it more than words on paper or screen?

We've all read a story that so completely comes alive in our minds that we can scarcely distinguish between reality and fiction when we are trapped inside its pages.  In our minds the hero becomes our friend, the villain our worst enemy and the quest our own soul-churning journey.  We cry with the losses and cheer the victories as if we were watching it all unfold live in some gigantic sports arena.

Anyone who has ever attempted to write a fictitious paragraph, much less a novel, can tell you that the 'verve factor' is nothing short of magic.  Some writers seem to be born with the ability to infuse their prose with a sort of crackling energy that leaps from the pages and grabs hold of anyone who strays to close.  Their words are like the literary equivalent of potato chips or chocolate; you'll devour them even when you're too full to sensibly want more.  It seems the rest of us can only marvel at the show and hope that some of the magic rubs off on our own writing.

However, after considering some of my favorite crack reads (the ones I can't give up or put down), I think that maybe we can (to an extent) manufacture verve.  I believe that there are some common traits shared among the most lively story tellers that we can put in our toolboxes.  Here are four ways to bring spirit to your story:

1) Real Characters: Great characters suck me into a story quicker than anything, but it isn't the "greatness" of a character that really makes the story come alive.  More often than not it's the normal aspects of a character, or the parts I can directly identify with, that keep me turning the pages.  Moreover, it's when those characters act in ways that I could see myself acting that things really get interesting.  Whether it's a hero who gets frustrated with his best friend and says something awful, or a villain who loves his mother yet plans to destroy the world with a zombie virus--keep it real.  (Not that I plan on destroying the world with a zombie virus, but I do love my mom!)

2) A+ Dialogue: Nothing puts my mind into a scene like a great conversation between characters.  Humans are highly social creatures, and unique for our ability to communicate with words.  Lively stories have vivacious characters, and those characters have meaningful and engaging conversations.

3) Exceptional Settings:  We're all familiar with the concept of making a setting so detailed and full of life that it becomes a character in our stories.  While I'm not certain that the setting needs to be a star, I've found that the most gripping stories have fantastic settings and description.  For a story to truly come to life, the setting needs to have an impact on the characters and the reader.  If the damp night air of an enchanted forest sends a shiver down the spine of our hero, it'll most likely do the same to our readers.

4) Conflict: When things get messy our minds tend to shift into overdrive.  If there's a problem, we immediately jump to possible solutions.  It's human nature, and it's something we can use in our writing.  Every scene should have a conflict.  Every. Scene.  That doesn't mean we have to have a gun fight on every page, but it does mean we should be actively engaging our readers by having our characters face frequent mental and/or physical obstacles.

W is for wile



Are you a trickster in your writing?  Like the Coyote in the cartoon above, do you set traps for the reader, hoping that this is the time you snare them?  Here's why you should ...

I read for the unexpected, not the expected.  I WANT to be baited and switched.  In fact, I get a little upset when an author gets predictable.  How entertaining would it be if your friend told you a story about their trip to the grocery store and all that happened was a trip to the grocery store?  Not very.  Throw in a purse snatching and a car chase, however, and now you've got a story!

My point is that readers are smart, and they're always on to our schemes.  We have to be tireless in our efforts to pull the rug out from under them.  To do that we have to utilize all of our wile and wit.  Every character should have layers of complexity, and every plot a potential twist.

~EJW~

A - Z Writer's Toolbox: Entertainment

A to Z Disclaimer:

Like all craftspeople, writers need to keep a bag of tricks handy.  A set of tools for the job m (writing), if you will.  Some of these traits or tools are obvious--like the need to have a hide as thick as a brick, for instance.  Some are not.  This month, I've been challenged to do a post every day of the week (excluding Sunday) that begins with a letter of the alphabet.  I'm going to use this challenge to examine some of those necessary writing tools, both conventional and not.  Hold on to your #2 pencil, here we go!

NOTE: I've added a page dedicated to my A to Z Writer's Toolbox posts.  I figured I'd soon have a bunch of these things and it'll make it easier for you to browse any of the letters you might have missed.  You can find a link to the page under the, "MORE STUFF" heading at the top of the right-hand column of this page. 


E is for entertainment


Sometimes when I'm writing I forget all about the audience.  There, I said it.  Chastise away.  *holds out wrist for slapping*


I know, I know.  In the Writing Bible commandment # 8 very clearly states, "Thou shalt always know thine audience and never forsake them."  (Or something like that ...)  Still, sometimes I get so swept up in telling myself the story that I completely forget that I'm writing (at least partially) for the sake of sharing.  Sometimes I forget that what makes me giggle--yes, I giggle--, grit my teeth in anger or shed a tear doesn't always resonate with other folks.  In short, I forget that I'm an entertainer.


Now I know that there are literary purist (I'll refrain from calling it snobbery) that could care less about the reader's enjoyment.  However, I'd argue that unless you're writing a journal or some other type of writing that is "for your eyes only", the audience needs to be considered.  This is particularly true for writing that comes with a price tag.  The way I see it, if you're charging it becomes a show, and you'd better entertain the folks who bought a ticket.


In a strange way, I think it's kind of liberating to think of myself as an entertainer.  It makes me take chances with my writing.  It pushes me to try to conjure the word that will make the reader gasp, or to compose the sentence that will make the reader push to the next chapter even though it's two hours past their bedtime.  


So today I'm telling you to roll out the red carpet, flip on the spotlights and crank up the spectacle.  Give your readers something they'll never forget, and make your story the ride of a lifetime!







~EJW~

Author Vs Author - Can't we all just get along?

Howdy, all!  Sorry for the blog silence, but I had a busy weekend that involved 40 middle school students and their first ever visit to a college campus.  We took our group of students to the city of Austin to visit the University of Texas, one of the most progressive (I shan't use the word 'liberal') university/city combos in the nation.  Such a cool experience for students who still view a college education as something akin to climbing Everest.  It was great fun, but exhausting all the same.  I've been struggling with trying to get caught up ...

At any rate, I have a bit of fun news to share.   Have you ever wondered what motivates my tiny brain to write?  (You haven't, but just play along.)  Here's a hint: It has a soundtrack!  I did my first ever 'guest post' on Chris Phillips' blog to the 'tune' of naming three musical selections that inspire my writing.  (See what I did there?)   Head over and we can talk tunes!  You can check it--AND Chris' excellent blog--HERE.

Now to the meat and taters ...



Those who've followed my blog for any length of time know that one of my favorite topics is that of ePublishing and the general impact that technology is having on the publishing industry.  As an aspiring author, history tutor and a student of human nature I find it endlessly fascinating on multiple levels.

To be perfectly clear, as of yet I have no horse in this race.  I've not published anything (outside of grants) traditionally, nor have I have joined the Indie Army and uploaded my work to Amazon, et al.  I've definitely expressed that I support the ePub trend, but in general I like to think that I'm a neutral observer.  A scientist, if you will, who is simply going to allow nature to run its course and document my findings.  I've generally had the attitude of:

If the hyaenas eat the lion cub, I'm just going to point my camera in the general direction and try not to get all queazy on my new Timberlands.  

Still, as the topic has now grown into a full-sized bull elephant that has taken up residence in the one bedroom efficiency apartment that is publishing, I've come to realize that I cannot claim complete neutrality.  I do have a side.  Specifically, I have two sides.  I'm for authors, and I'm for readers.  I think that's why I'm so disturbed by what I've been reading ...

I'm seeing a lot of discourse between traditionally published authors, and authors who have gone the indie route.  In fact, I recently took part in a two week debate on a fairly prominent writing forum that had both sides practically tearing at each other's throats.  At one point, a pro-traditional publishing person referred to all self-published writing as "crap".

See, that's kind of where I draw a line.

Writing is art.  (Yes, even those vampire stories!)  As such, it will always be the domaine of subjectivity.  We can't label the creative expressions of others as unfit, because it's like saying a color is ugly or that a number is unlucky.  Maybe to you it is, but there might be 50 other people who disagree.  Or perhaps  only two other people, but that still doesn't change the fact that your opinion is just that, an opinion.  It governs you and no one else.

Do you know how many people I know think Picasso is crap?  TONS.  Does everybody dig the Beatles?  NO.  Was Twilight for everyone?  NOT HARDLY.  Does that change the scope or importance of the work?  Not in the slightest.

Don't get me wrong, there are certainly levels of refinement involved, and there is certainly a 'style' factor.  But that variance is precisely what makes all writing unique.  Furthermore, we're talking about something (DIY publishing) that allows consumers complete control over the value.  If the writing isn't polished to a degree and skillfully done, people aren't going to buy it.  No one is getting hoodwinked.

So why then is there suddenly a need to label one type of writing versus another, particularly among those who are creating it?


As a fan of YA material, I can tell you that YA authors have faced similar attacks on their credibility over the years.  Many think writing for children is a 'dumbing down' of literature.  That serious writers wouldn't think of doing it.  Don't believe me?  Recently lit fiction author, Martin Amis, said that only, "If I had a serious brain injury I might well write a children's book--I would never write about someone that forced me to write at a lower register than I can write."  

I bring this up, because I view the criticism slanted at indie authors as a pebble in the same pond, so to speak.  As such, I was really disheartened to read one of my favorite YA authors take negative stance against his fellow writers.  Rick Riordan, of Percy Jackson fame, posted the following on his blog:

"I don’t talk about books that I didn’t like, but I must mention that I read a very hyped e-book on my Kindle – or tried to read it. About a hundred pages in, I started wondering why it seemed so poorly written. How did this get past an editor? Then I looked at the Kindle site and realized it was published straight to e-book. Ah, it didn’t get past an editor because apparently it never had one. I will be more careful in the future to check the provenance of e-books. Don’t get me wrong. While I still buy a huge quantity of physical books, I love my Kindle and my iPad, too. They are great for travel especially. But publishers and editors do serve a vital role in shaping manuscripts and making sure they are ready for prime time. It’s possible to circumvent this process with the advent of e-reading, but that’s not necessarily a good thing for readers. Caveat emptor."  

There are several flaws to Mr. Riordan's line of thought, most notably the fact that he has--through gross generalization--thrown thousands of authors into a one-size-fits-all bag.  Not all indie books are poorly written, and many of the authors are hiring independent editors.  That brings me to the second thing I'd have to disagree with, which is the presumption that only publishers (and the editors who work for them) are capable of creating a "consumer worthy" book.  Lots of English majors in the world, and lots of people with the composition chops to put together a solid read, and they don't all work for Random House.  The final area of my disagreement is the idea that every book that graces the shelf of your local Barnes & Noble has somehow passed a gold standard test of quality assurance.  Have you ever purchased a paper/traditionally published book with typos, plot holes, one dimensional characters, etc.?  I sure have.  Is there a greater likelihood of finding poorly written indie books?  I just don't have the numbers to say one way or the other.  (Alas, I don't read one indie for every traditional book, nor have I even touched the surface of reading a small majority of all books that have been traditionally or indie published.  When I do, I'll check back in. :-)

I guess I was so upset by Riordan's comment because as an author who has made his fortune writing in an area that so many people ignore, disregard or otherwise downgrade, I think he should know better.  Pigeonholing is for marketing gurus, media and fools--not artists.  Anyone who enjoys the freedom of expression, not to mention survives off of it, should avoid this kind of broad evaluation.  

Authors have to get away from tearing each other down.  If a writer can self-publish and make a living doing it, support that.  Furthermore, don't denigrate their desire to get their writing in front of readers simply because they're trying a different path.  Traditional publishing cannot logistically make certain that all worthwhile stories get published.

Conversely, don't hate J.K. Rowling or Steph Meyer for being successful, even if you don't enjoy their writing.  In fact, if you're an indie, you should go out of your way to support traditional folks.  Their popularity and presence are essential to fueling reader awareness for every type of writing.  

The bottom line: Now more than ever we need champions of literature at every level, and we're not going to get it by destroying each other.    

~EJW~