Author Archives: Tami Lewis Brown

What? A Novel Has To Have A Plot??!!?? Or plotting for the plot impaired

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The Shocking Truth!

Novels have plots.

I have a confession-

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For me, and a lot of other novelists, plotting feels IMPOSSIBLE. As unfathomable as an algebra problem. And just as bound up by some weird set of rules I thought I’d never understand.

Plot = bizarrely confusing + tediously proscriptive   

A few great writers, including Tollboother emeritus Carrie Jones, dive into their drafts with plot in mind. Carrie wrote a wonderful series of Tollbooth posts on plot here (step 1 and step 2) If you struggle with plot (or even if you don’t) I STRONGLY urge you to take a look at Carrie’s posts. I refer back to her sophisticated yet no nonsense understanding of how a story fits together often.

But many of us don’t “get” plot. What do you do if plotting feels like a foreign language?

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Is there any hope? YES! YES! YES!

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Of course there’s hope!   If I can understand and conquer plot you can, too.

It’s a simple matter of ORGANIZE AND REVISE. (And it even works for the hopelessly disorganized! I’m living proof.) I call this plotting for the plot impaired. Plotting is actually easy if you break it into really obvious, can’t believe I didn’t notice this before, parts.

Here’s what works for me:

Step 1 Write a messy (or not messy) first draft.

It doesn’t matter how you get your draft done. Fast, slow, outlined, by the seat of your pants. Just do it. Then put the draft away.

Step 2 List all your scenes

I get a pack of notecards. Then I list the scenes in my novel from memory, in the order I think they should appear in the final (a long time from now) draft. Norma Fox Mazer called this a “story ladder” but it doesn’t matter what you call it. Make a list, one scene on each card.

(While I’m doing this I’m thinking a lot about motivation- what does my character want? why? what does he do to get it? what will happen if he doesn’t get it (stakes)? what stands in his way?  I write all this down in my brainstorming notebook, pondering. When something doesn’t seem to make sense I rethink and re-imagine the story I’m trying to tell.)

After I’ve listed all my scenes I lay them out, take a step back, and see what I’ve got.

Step 3 Identify key scenes. I search my plot ladder cards for several super important scenes. If I find them among the scenes I’ve already written, great! I highlight or rewrite those scenes in red. Or re-do these cards using brightly colored index cards. The point is I want them to stand out.

If I don’t find all my key scenes among the cards I’ve created I brainstorm to come up with new scenes for the next draft. Then I make cards for those scenes, highlighted in pink or some other eye catching color that designates them as important unwritten scenes.

These are the specific scenes I’m looking for-

A. Where does the story really begin? This can be hard! Often your novel’s true beginning is NOT the first scene in your first draft. In fact I’d argue that you can’t really know where your novel should begin until you’ve written the ending. Consider whether you’ve started in the right spot. Be sure there’s a card for that first scene, already written or not.

B. What’s the inciting incident? What scene sets the events in motion? Often the inciting incident takes place in the opening scene but it may come a short time later. Make  a card for it.

C. The end of the beginning. The Plot Whisperer, Martha Alderson, talks about the first quarter of a novel finishing with a scene where the protagonist leaves his old world and enters the new world he will explore during the course of the novel. You can think of it as the start of the protagonist’s journey, or the moment when nothing can be the same again, or the end of the first act. Just be sure to include a card.

D. A good strong midpoint. When middles sag stories wander. And your readers’ attention will wander, too. Think literally for a moment. Imagine a tent pole that holds your plot aloft. If you hoist your story’s middle with a strong plot point scenes before that point will build toward it and scenes after it will result from it. It’s just that simple. I promise. Look at a hundred novels that work and you’ll believe me.

What makes a good soaring midpoint? Carrie says “halfway through the book and suddenly there is a STUNNING PLOT TWIST. This is the point of no return.”  This shift, twist, obstacle, whatever you want to call it will force your protagonist to recommit to his goal (reluctantly, enthusiastically, fearfully, angrily… whatever) And guess what. It inflates a saggy middle every time. So if you don’t have a strong scene midway through the novel come up with an idea for one now. And make a card for it.

E. Crisis  Usually something happens just as the middle is finishing up that makes it appear the protagonist’s goal is absolutely unachievable. Hero’s Journey people sometimes think of this as the hero’s ritual death. Whatever you want to call it, it’s the low point, often both emotionally and actively. Do you have one of these scenes? Find it! List it! Plan it!

F. Climax  Way back in the begining, my protagonist really really really wanted to achieve his goal and now he’s fought his way back from the depths of that crisis scene to accomplish it. Maybe he won’t get what he thought he wanted… but he will achieve something (even if its just wisdom.) Otherwise what’s the point of the novel? List the scene where your protagonist gets his just deserts, whatever sauce they’re dished up in.

4 Smile. Because guess what…It’s a plot! Those key scenes are the bare bones of a plot. The other scenes on the cards are the meat on the bones. I did it!!!

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I have a real story! Or at least I will have one when I get to

Step 5 Revise! 

I arrange my scene cards on a big table or open patch of floor, adding new scenes where I see gaps, shuffling scenes to build tension, and cutting scenes to avoid repetition or trim narrative fat.

I make a story board to help me re-imagine what isn’t working or to make weak spots strong.

I stare.

I tweak.

Then I sit down and start writing. Again. And Again. And Again.

Do you think a novel has to have a plot? How do you do it?

~tami lewis brown

A Second Chance For A Fresh Start

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Lots of people make New Year’s Resolutions.

I’m sure there must be a few people who actually keep them, although I don’t think I’ve ever heard any first person success stories.

New Year’s Day has never worked for me, fresh start-wise. It’s too much the tag end of a long string of family celebrations and over-indulgences. The new semester is starting at school. There’s snow everywhere. I’m just not into being virtuous and industrious the morning after I’ve guzzled way to much champagne and stayed up long after my usual bedtime.

So I’ve missed the good habits boat once again. In the last year my writing time has dwindled and Facebook has become my false friend.

Is it too late- for me, or if you find yourself in the same messy mire, for you? No! Of course not! Let’s cut ourselves some resolution slack.

Today is Ash Wednesay the first day of Lent, and not to put too fine a religious point on it, this is a time to give up indulgences and recommit to what’s really important. Religious observers give up something for Lent- red meat, chocolate, trashy tv shows… you get the drift. I’m, um, not super religious but I’ve decided to give up my number one indulgence-

PROCRASTINATION.

(This is not me! But it might as well be)

How do I plan to accomplish this?

I’ve been reorganizing my WIP novel and I think I have the structure straight so this morning I broke my novel into individual 25 files, one for each chapter. Next saved them in one big novel folder. It’s the Bird By Bird approach. I can get this project done if I tackle it in manageable bites, a little at a time.

Next I pulled out my calendar and logged those chapters in.Tomorrow I’ll tackle chapter 3 and 4, on Friday it will be chapter 5′s turn. Most days I’ll work on one chapter, moving on the next day. At this point in my revision I know where the sticky bits are so I’ve scheduled extra time for them– but not too much. I’m building momentum as I build my book.

By creating daily appointments with small bites of my novel I hope to greet each day (with a few pre-scheduled vacation days) with vigor and excitement. No more trolling the internet. No more fooling around on Facebook. Sorry Kate Middleton, you’re going to have to plan your new maternity wardrobe without me.

I’ve got a book to write.

And now that I’m giving up procrastination for Lent I’ve got 40 days to do it! Cheer me on at my new website www.tamilewisbrown.com. I’ll be posting milestones and (eek setbacks) in the daily news section.

What are your tricks for keeping (or getting) on track? I REALLY REALLY REALLY want to know.

~tami lewis brown

 

 

 

 

 

Agent Mary Kole And Author Paul Auster Talk About Writing (but not to each other)

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In the last two weeks I’ve come across two incredible additions to my reading, thinking, and talking about writing library I’d like to share. No matter where you are in the writing journey I think you’ll find these helpful, challenging and really and truly interesting.

First up, Paul Auster. (okay okay You probably came here to get the scoop agent Mary Kole. Be patient She’s next!)  Paul Auster does not write books for young people. That doesn’t matter. HIs novels for adults have been compared to the work of Poe, Beckett and Melville. To me his work is even better than theirs, or at least more accessible and relevant to today’s readers. Anyway, Auster’s novel THE NEW YORK TRILOGY was the subject of this month’s BBC World Book Club which you can listen to by clicking this Book Club link.

I warn you most of this nearly hour long discussion is very story specific. So instead of listening to the whole book club conversation I recommend you skip ahead to 47.21 when a reader asked Auster a question about his “use of language”. This listener didn’t know the “writer lingo” but she’s clearly an astute reader. What the lady was really asking about is VOICE- how does Paul Auster create a distinctive voice both for individual characters and for the novel as a whole? Voice is a slippery topic but Auster’s answer is enlightening. Basically his authorial voice comes down to a matter of care and attention to language, a well trained and talented ear for the music of a particular story, and HARD WORK. Listen for yourself. It’s really really really worth the five or so minutes.

Now let’s move a bit closer to home, into the children’s and YA arena. A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to take a sneak peek at a new craft book- and what a book it is!

The book is WRITING IRRESISTIBLE KIDLIT  and the author is Mary Kole, a literary agent at Movable Type Management. I confess, craft book junky that I am, that I was blown away by this book. It’s at once accessible, practical and smart. Mary presents the low down of how publishing decisions are really made, why writing a nice novel isn’t enough anymore, and how to grab an agent and an editor’s attention. Which is all well and good (and even important) but even better she explains voice, pace, point of view and a slew of other often misunderstood writerly concepts in a way that’s easy to understand but that doesn’t speak down to a serious writer who wants to tackle language with an “Auster-like” precision. This is a tough balance and in my opinion Mary achieves it! In spades.

I’m thrilled to welcome Mary into the Tollbooth to talk about the industry, writing and specifically about her new book. Welcome, Mary. Who is your book aimed at? How do you think it’s different from the dozens (hundreds?) of other craft books out there?

My book is aimed specifically at writers of MG and YA fiction. I don’t purport to say that it is better than many of the amazing craft books out there (many of which continue to inspire me), but it does take on a unique dimension because I use excerpts from 34 popular MG and YA novels on today’s shelves to teach key concepts, from voice to character motivation to raising stakes. It’s something Donald Maass did to great success in his wonderful WRITING THE BREAKOUT NOVEL. Other selling points of my book are that it’s written by a publishing insider (literary agent) and also features interviews and additional tips from bestselling authors and top editors in the children’s book field, not to mention the included reading lists and writing exercises. This is probably the only writing guide that I’ll write as an extension of my Kidlit blog, and I wanted it to be a good and juicy one!
Donald Maass is one of my craft book heroes. So bravo! But your book isn’t just a children’s/YA version of Maas’s books. You explain the unique qualities of writing and publishing for young people. How have middle grade and YA books markets changed in recent years? Which changes are you most excited about?
The market doesn’t seem to show signs of slowing down. And now that the mega-trends of paranormal and dystopian have stormed through, editors are opening their minds to new trends and new experiments as everybody looks for “the next big thing.” That means that a lot of contemporary realism is starting to get noticed, as well as books that don’t fit neatly into one box or another. Since publishing everywhere has gotten more commercial and more driven by the financial bottom line, genres and trends will always be a part of the picture…but I see this year and the next as an opportunity for enterprising writers to write the best books they can and try to define where the market will go from here.
You have an MFA in Writing from University of San Francisco. What insights do you think you gained from your studies? How have you translated MFA concepts into practical advice?
My MFA experience was a bit challenging in that I was one of the only children’s book writers in my program (a lot of “adult literary” writers have historically looked down upon this category) and the program was so craft-focused that it tended to actively reject anything that smacked of the publishing industry.Since I was already an agent when I attended, I found myself in the position of being a double-underdog. What I did take away from the program was a heavy emphasis on reading widely and deeply to further my craft, as well as doing as much hands-on critique and workshop as possible. Both of those are hugely beneficial for a writer’s development. The good news is, you don’t need an MFA for either! You can read widely and deeply on your own dime, as long as you start with some good recommendations, and you can always form a critique group with fellow writers that (if you are selective and smart about it) will rival anything that a program can set up for you. If you supplement these practical studies with craft books that teach you storytelling craft concepts, you will know the MFA lingo, too. The one thing I noticed about my program and MFAs in general is that a lot of writers enroll in them to have the deadlines and added pressure to finally finish a manuscript. If you need that kind of structure, an MFA might be a good choice. Otherwise, there are a lot of resources out there to flesh out your lifelong writing journey.
Thanks so much for joining us Mary!
I’ll be recommending Mary’s book to my students when I teach at the next Highlights Whole Novel Workshop- March 3-9, 2013.
Registration hasn’t formally opened yet but we already have an amazing lineup of instructors in place. There will be fabulous food and the luxury of Boyds Mills’ lovely cabins in the woods, all ready and waiting for you to jump ahead with your writing. You can contact Jo Lloyd at Highlights for more information- Jo.LLoyd@highlightsfoundation.org
~tami lewis brown

Writing A Book That Stinks- or how to make scents of great writing

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Lately, I smell.

Not me, personally. At least not in a stinky way. But as I’ve been putting the finishing touches on my WIP I’ve been thinking, sniffing, and scribbling a whole lot of smells.

From the moment kids grab their first fat pencil they’re counseled to Add Sensory Detail. Grown up writing teachers give the same advice. What this boils down to, almost always, is a lot of description of what a character sees or how something feels to the touch. Sometimes sensory description extends to sound. Even rarer to taste. Most elusive of all (at least in my opinion) is a novel that really develops atmosphere through the sense of smell.

Essayist Diane Ackerman wrote “One of the real tests of writers is how well they write about smells. If they can’t describe the scent of sanctity in a church, can you trust them to describe the suburbs of the heart?”So why don’t we read more about smells?

I have a few theories. For one thing a little smell goes a long way. Unlike dogs, people aren’t constantly defining their world by smells they pick up. A really sniffity character would be, at best, an odd character.

Then there’s our sanitized, de-germed world. Consciously or unconsciously many writers seem to scrub their chapters down with metaphorical Clorox wipes. (Failing to notice the antiseptic odor that remains.)

The main reason, in my opinion, is smell is very hard to describe. We have a limited vocabulary of sweet, spicy, sharp or pungent words. Analogy (her golden hair smelled like an apple in the fall) only goes so far. And sounds pretty lame.

But hard isn’t impossible and if Ackerman is right we all owe it to ourselves, our characters, and our stories to get a grip on smell. What’s the solution?

This summer I bought Sara Midda’s South Of France. Midda is a illustrator and this gorgeous book in a chronicle of the colors, tastes, and sights of a year in… well Provence. As much as I loved reading Peter Mayle’s A Year In Provence, it’s Sara Midda’s sketchbook that makes me feel like I’m really there.

(The pages inside sketchbook itself are even more beautiful than the wonderfully stripy cover. Click the link for a taste!) http://youtu.be/HAw_6l-9kpw

As I reveled in the book’s gorgeously colored pages I searched for a month- August? June? April? when the smells of Southern France would overwhelm Midda’s tiny water color paintings of olives and roof tiles and espadrilles. Well… not so much. Sara Midda more or less leaves the smells of Southern France to our imagination.

So I searched on, perplexed about how to really harness smell on the page. Then I came across the fascinating work of graphic designer Kate McLean.

McLean makes gorgeous maps—but not the kind of maps that help you track down an address. These are sensory maps- smells, tastes, whatever, based on data collected from actual sniffing, feeling, tasting people. She’s already tackled a variety of cities, from Paris (a city sort of renowned for neat, elegant, urban smells) to Newport, Rhode Island (a place I’ve never visited and of which I have no smell impression, unless maybe Vanderbilt mansion dust)  About Newport she says “Newport’s scents are largely ocean-based; the ocean itself, the lobster bait, suntan oil from the bathing tourists, beach roses that brighten the low lying sand dunes. In contrast country smells of hay and juniper speak to the rural aspect of this diverse city. Cool. Her Edinburgh is a mix of boy’s toilets, penguins at the zoo, cherry blossoms and a bunch of other stuff. I can’t say I noticed the penguin smell when I was last in Edinburgh but the boy’s toilets… yes, that’s probably right.

Can you make an imaginary smell map of the place your character inhabits? Could it include the acid sting of dry erase marker on a white board? The rubbery tang of new sneakers just out of a box?  The mix of fake citrus and oil in a spritz of furniture polish? What does your character smell when he wakes up in the morning? What does he smell when he climbs on the school bus? These are the easy ones. What does his smell when his best friend dumps him for one of the popular kids? What does he smell while he tells a lie?

Now I had a great technique for graphically illustrating (and brainstorming) smell.  But once I’ve gathered a bouquet of smells I had to consider fresh and stinky ways to describe them.

Coincidentally (are there really any coincidences?) I’d been studying a great book this summer.

Mark Doty brings a poet’s sensibility to description- not just describing senses but describing ANYTHING. He deconstructs poems written by giants from Blake to Whitman, analyzing not just specific phrases but also their whole systems of description, from general to specific, concrete to metaphoric. The book offers writers brand new tools for describing old or true or elusive things. This isn’t a paint by numbers system by any means. It’s really brain expanding stuff. But it’s great. I highly recommend it.

One writer who exploits the power of smell with a sophistication that Doty would no doubt admire is Deborah Wiles. Consider this passage-

“(T)he three of us stood together like one giant statue headstone, in a vegetable garden-cemetery, guarding the temporary gravesite of Great-great aunt Florentine and brushing up against the tomatoes. It felt good.

My parents smell like a mixture of gardenias and embalming fluid, even after their showers. I think their jobs have permanently soaked into their skin.“ p. 17 Each Little Bird That Sings

The scene takes place in the family vegetable garden, a sensory delight, except at this moment they’ve just discovered their beloved aunt dead among the veg. What does that smell like? In Debbie’s world death doesn’t have a nasty stench. It’s literally a part of nature, running right through this loving family’s pores.

Let’s drill a little deeper. In the little passage above Debbie begins with a description of Momma, Daddy and Comfort brushing against a tomato plant. Anybody who’s ever been in a garden knows tomato plants have an intense green leaf/tomato smell, only released when someone rubs against the plant. It’s a soothing, domestic smell. The scent of home grown tomatoes is at least as precious as their taste. Atmosphere established she moves to the funeral home director parents. Embalming fluid and gardenias are our modern smells of death, but here they’re domestic and comforting and very very specific to these characters. Life and death unite in their smells, creating amazing emotional intensity. The passage goes on from there. Check it out for yourself. Even Comfort’s dog dismay gets into the sniffy act.

So….

So now that I have a better understanding of the power of smell I’m ready to harness scent in my novel.

I’ve decided to make a sensory sketchbook of my own, chronicling smells I encounter for real and also smells I imagine in my work. I’ll sketch out maps and trails of smells. Then I’ll put those smells into words. Since this won’t be a scratch and sniff project I’ll have to hone all my descriptive skills to articulate the nutty smell when I lift the lid from my birdseed can to fill the feeders. Or the musty smell of the inside of the clothes dryer after I’ve emptied a load of still-dampish towels. I’ll consider what these smells convey- domestic bliss? fear? sorrow?

Will these smells make it onto the page of a final draft? Maybe, maybe not. I don’t really care. This is an exercise in observation and description, precision and imagination. And it’s going to be lots of fun.

How do you describe your favorite smell? And what are your favorite “stinky” books?

~tami lewis brown

Write Your Own Readers Theater!

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A few weeks ago I wrote a post for From The Mixed-Up Files about Readers Theater and frankly I was shocked by the reaction! SO MANY PEOPLE (teachers and authors included) had never heard of Readers Theater! Teachers were excited about trying it out as soon as school starts in the fall. And writers emailed, called, and even tracked me down at a book festival to ask how to write a Readers Theater script of their own.

What is Readers Theater? I covered that in the earlier post and I won’t go into detail again here, but basically it’s a script that dramatizes a scene in your book. Picture books make great readers theater but so do YA novels. There are no limits! I’ve even put on Readers Theater for my biography SOAR, ELINOR! Nonfiction isn’t out of bounds– a dramatic performance of a real life story can bring musty dusty history to life.

SOOOOOO, you say, how do I get in on this Readers Theater thing? My publisher hasn’t offered to write one and I’m no playwright. Don’t sweat it. Writing Readers Theater is easy! WAY easier than writing the book in the first place.

There are two “genre’s” of Readers Theater– scripts that stick to the actual words printed in your book or adaptive scripts that stick to the spirit of the work but perhaps skip over some of the narration and tell the story with more dialog.

Christopher Paul Curtis’ script for Bud, Not Buddy is a great example of one that sticks close to the original. Since most of the scene dramatized is narrated the writer chose to use a whole cast of “actor narrators” to tell the story along with actors portraying Bud and the librarian. If a group is reading the novel along with performing a Readers Theater piece and being attached to the text is important this is definitely the way to go– especially when a book has a super strong voice like Bud, Not Buddy.

Other times you might chose to move a little “off the page,” summarizing some backstory and punching up the dialog lines to make a tight, fun to perform script. This was how I chose to write the Readers Theater- THE MAP OF ME. I perform it at signings and book festivals where the audience is unlikely to have the book’s text right in front of them, and my goal is to convey a tantalizing taste of my book rather than a detailed study. Result? Every time I perform my Readers Theater the audience seems to love it. And they buy the book to read more!

Here are a few tips for writing your own Readers Theater-

* Chose a great scene. Readers Theater is short and sweet so you’ve got to pack a dramatic punch from the first line. The best way to do that is with an iconic scene from your book.

* Consider cast size. There are eight actors in the Bud, Not Buddy script. That’s wonderful if the Readers Theater is produced in a classroom– the more participants the better, plus there will be practice time. But if you’re putting on a show at a signing simple is probably better. My script features my two main characters and a narrator.

* Keep the lines short and easy to read. Most of the time you’ll use child reader/actors and they might see the script for the first time as they are performing. Don’t embarrass your actors (or yourself) with tangled language and leave the solilquys to Shakespeare.

*Color code the parts. I printed three custom scripts for my actors- with the text of each actor’s lines printed in red on his own script. It’s easier to keep on track with your lines stand out. And since I saved the files I can print out more colorful custom copies any time I want.

* Keep the whole darn thing short! This isn’t supposed to be an epic reenactment of The Odyssey. It’s just a glimpse. Don’t give your audience a chance to get bored.

* Props/No Props? The simpler the better, although a couple of fun things can bring your scene to life in a hurry. I bought an inexpensive toy steering wheel and a crown for THE MAP OF ME’s Readers Theater so from the start audiences know Peep is a “pretty little princess” and Margie is in the drivers seat!

*Have fun! Don’t treat this as a movie screen test or a Broadway performance. The book is the thing… this is just for fun!

Do you have any favorite Readers Theater scripts? What tips and tricks have you used to show your book off “on the boards”????

~Tami Lewis Brown

Oh Promise Me– you’ll get the ending right

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Last week I re-learned the most important rule of novel writing. Maybe that sounds a bit over-dramatic, and, in truth, it’s a lesson I’ve known for a good long time. But I’m not sure I fully appreciated it until last week when I read a novel that failed miserably.

A novel is a promise made and KEPT.

In the first chapter of a good novel- sometimes in the very first line- the story makes an agreement with a reader. It tells us “this book is about x, y and/or z.”

Sometimes that promise is overt. (spoiler alert)

“My name is India Opal Buloni and last summer my daddy, the preacher, sent me to the store for a box of macaroni-and-cheese, some white rice, and two tomatoes and I came back with a dog.” Because of Winn-Dixie p. 1

In the next page, India Opal rescues the smiling, dirty dog in need, claiming him as her own. It doesn’t take a genius to conclude the India Opal is also in need and that this book will be about how both India Opal and the dog are ultimately rescued.We don’t know the details yet- that India Opal’s mother abandoned her, or she’s just moved to a new town filled with lonely outcasts. We don’t know Winn-Dixie is afraid of thunder or that her father the preacher is emotionally frozen. These (and plenty of other rich character revelations) are surprises we learn along the way. But we do know this is a novel of salvation.

If it turned out to be a novel about survival after a martian attack or a romance between India Opals father and the hot-stuff divorcee down the road … the reader would be surprised- in a bad way. We want to find out how India herself is saved and Kate DiCamillo delivers. A satisfying ending is a promise KEPT. Because of Winn-Dixie ends with Opal, the preacher and Winn-Dixie sure of each other’s love. All their problems aren’t solved, all their emotional wounds aren’t healed. But they’ve come to greater understanding and happiness. Each major character has been rescued.

Easy, right? Obvious, huh? Ha.

Last week I read an advance copy of a adult novel that will be released this summer. Publishers and bookstores are already pushing it. Here’s another spoiler. It stinks.

But it took this bad book- a failure- to make me truly understand why making and keeping a novel’s promise is crucial.

I’m not about writing bad book reviews so let’s call this book “That Crummy Novel That Breaks Its Promise.” In the first chapter we meet a grieving father who has vivid dreams of his dead son. “(E)ven though Mark was awake he could still hear them? He couldn’t make her (his cold new fiance)- anyone- understand a thing like that.” By the second chapter he’s been stalked by a creepy woman who says his son’s ghost is haunting her house. And we learn that his ex-wife, the boy’s mother, has always believed she could make beyond-the-grave contact with her dead son.

So this is a ghost story, right? That’s what the cover, the early reviews, and the first pages promise.

Nope.

Fast forward to about a quarter of the way from the end. We haven’t actually come close to a ghost yet but there’s been a lot of talk about them. The crummy protagonist is back with his ex-wife and they’ve hired spiritualists to summon their son’s spirit to put it to rest. The characters are nervous and excited.  The reader is flipping pages with eager anticipation.

Then the writer slams on the brakes.

In a nutshell Mark, the crummy protagonist, says “I must have been drunk when I agreed to do this.” He turns his back on his wife (again) and kicks the mediums out of the house. Smack. Crack. Promise broken. That’s it. The end.

Ending with “I was drunk and there’s no such thing as ghosts” is worse than Bobby Ewing walking out of the shower and saying “it was all a dream.”

That Dallas ending was so spectacularly silly, over the top, and (for many people) disappointing that it became a campy national joke. It’s not so funny in an (allegedly) serious novel.

I felt cheated by the crummy novel’s non-ending. I was cheated. I’m not saying ghosts needed to start circling the house to satisfy me. A good ending must also be a surprise. But it’s an inevitable surprise. You may not always get the ending you “want” but a good ending satisfies the promise made, even when doesn’t tie up every problem with a shiny red bow or turn out the way you expect. Saying Oops I was drunk and I’m not going through with this doesn’t cut it (unless I guess it’s a novel about alcoholism.)

Katherine Paterson knew something about inevitable, surprising but ambiguous endings when she wrote The Great Gilly Hopkins. In chapter one Gilly wants to leave foster care and be reunited with her mother.

(Spoiler alert)

Things don’t go as Gilly plans. Yes, she leaves foster care. Yes, her mother comes back. But it turns out that her mother stinks and Gilly loves the wonderful wacky woman who fostered her. This isn’t the ending protective readers “wish” for Gilly but it’s the brave, honest ending this no-holds-barred book deserves. If Mr. Crummy Novelist wrote this there would have been a busy signal or a wrong number when Gilly makes her spectacular, heart-wrenching last phone call. But Paterson promised us Gilly would learn to open her heart and accept love, even when love leads to heartbreak. Promise made and promise (spectacularly) kept. That’s what I call a good lesson and a happy ending.

The End

~tami lewis brown

 

 

 

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Storyboarding, Novel Writing, and the Flow State

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This week I’m talking about storyboarding a novel.

Why would a novelist want (okay, in my case NEED) to draw out a story? And what about computer programs that storyboard for you? Isn’t that neater… easier… all around better? Why pencil? Why paper? Isn’t that a little well OLD FASHIONED?

No. Or yes, maybe. But who cares if it’s old fashioned and messy. Writing a novel is a messy job. Storyboarding by hand will help you organize that mess. More important it can transform your mess into something more exciting and creative than what you had before.

What? How? Why?

Neurology.

A human brain is a mysterious thing and as a writer I’m always looking for ways to push inside my unconscious, to lift the veil between what I know on the outside and what my heart and mind know about my story on the inside. I’m trying to enter “the flow”. Even though I’m no great shakes as an artist drawing a scene is a powerful tool to lead me through the curtain into “the understory”.

Huh? This sounds a little like hocus pocus. Its not. Its science. Clinical psychologist Carol Kaufman posted a great article about brain function and creativity titledBEING CREATIVE: THE RIGHT-BRAIN/LEFT-BRAIN MYTH AND FLOW In the article she explains how brain function and creativity converge and argues that free writing and other “mind freeing” exercises are the way to achieve flow.

Great. We know taking a walk or hopping into the shower can somehow put you into a more contemplative frame of mind. But I wanted to travel deeper and direct my unconscious to particular story problems- specific spots in my novel that needed work. Could I direct my brain to those places with a pencil and paper? Why did I notice things in storyboard images I hadn’t considered when writing scenes? Could it be that drawing a few quick sloppy lines open a door deeper into my story? If so why?

First I want to start with the caveat that I’m not a neurologist or even a particularly “sciency” person. And I haven’t spoken to a neurologist about this. Or an occupational therapist… or anyone else who might study thought and brain function as their life work. But I’ve experimented- on myself. And I’ve done tons of reading on brains and creativity and talent and growing as a writer. Here’s  a bit of what I found-

At the school where I worked children with small motor skills issues were often given laptops to type their work rather than write it by hand. Keyboarding seemed to unlock a door for some of these children, not just freeing them from an unwieldy writing instrument. It was almost as if they had a new brain when they typed rather than scrawled.

At about the same time I purchased Scrivener, a powerful computer program for writers. It has pretty interfaces, including a snazzy “bulletin board” where you can tack notes about your novel. It’s easy to paste images so theoretically you could generate a gorgeous storyboard or extended outline on Scrivener. So I tried it. My outline/storyboard was over 20 pages long. It was BEAUTIFUL. And an utter failure. I couldn’t remember scene sequences. The narrative arc was off and I couldn’t tell why. Looking at images from that pretty outline made me feel like I’d sunk into a vat of brain clogging tar.

Why did working on a laptop free certain children at my school but shut my creativity down? I’m a very very fast typist. And I’m generally happiest writing drafts on a keyboard. Why didn’t planning on a keyboard work for me? Could it be something about my brain? I had lots of questions, a few suspicions, but not many answers until I read a story in the Toronto Star.

In Writing Is A Whole Brain Enterprise, reporter Andrea Gordon writes

“In handwriting, the motor cortex in the frontal lobe directs movement. But it also acts in concert with other regions that provide sensory information, such as whether fingers are holding the pencil tightly enough, and visual and fine motor feedback to guide the arm and hand, adjust the tiny finger movements and achieve precision.

The parietal lobes are the source of spatial sense, directing where on the page to begin the task and how to form the curved and straight lines for letters. The parietal lobes also provide for directionality, which makes sure the letters go the right direction and keeps the hand moving left to right.

In contrast, printing and typing are more a product of the left hemisphere of the brain, the side associated with linear, logical, sequential functions and learned behaviour that has become routine. While typing requires similar tactile and motor functions to cursive, researchers now know it also requires separate skills: bilateral coordination for using both hands, acute finger sense as each digit moves separately, and fine motor skills and motor memory to produce a different type of movement to strike the keys.”

So… is it possible, no likely, that writing an outline by hand is triggering different regions of my brain than typing that same outline? Brain regions that, in my case at least, are “more creative”?  Based on my personal experience I think the answer is yes.

Then there are the pictures. There’s a whole science of art therapy and lots of research on how drawing can retrieve memories or spark ideas. I’m no expert on this field either. But I believe when those drawings are focused on specific areas of a novel- sections I’ve identified with an emotion above the box and an action below the box half formed ideas and unconscious images bubble to the surface. My pictures aren’t pretty, certainly not as intricate or visually pleasing as the cut and paste photos in my Scrivener outlines, but they are unlocking bits of my story. That’s all I want or need as a novelist.

I don’t consider myself an expert in any of this, by any means. I’m just looking for what works for me. But this stuff makes me incredibly curious. I’ve done other reading you might find interesting. Some books I’m reading right now include-Dreaming By The Book by Elaine Scarry, Drawing On The Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards, and The Talent Code by Dan Coyle.

So… now you’ve scribbled and noted and drawn and you have a huge sheet of paper full of – stuff.  What then? It’s time to step back. This is when I see- graphically- that my protagonist is sitting and talking three scenes in a row. BORING. This is when I see the antagonist is absent for a good third of the novel. This is where I see I need some character motivation because there isn’t much connection between one block and the one next to it. This isn’t a mechanical exercise. You have to bring all your story intuition into the analysis. But I’m consistently surprised about what I see when I study a storyboard, even if I thought I knew the story backwards and forwards.

Now it’s time to share again. Have you found techniques that you think help you be more creative or that generate surprising ideas? Or maybe you are a neurologist or psychologist or one of the many other experts that I’m NOT. Does my theory of accessing the creative side ring true? What works for you?

~ Tami

A Novelist’s Storyboard

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What exactly is a storyboard?

A storyboard is a sequence of images that tell your story. In the 1930s, Disney Studios’ artists began taking on more complicated projects- intricate stories with many scenes- and before long one cartoon generated so many sketches that it was impossible to keep the flow and sequence of the story straight.

Sound familiar? This is exactly how it feels to me when I have an early draft of a novel. So much great material– backstory, dialog, action sequences, contemplative moments– but it’s a jumble. Some parts drag. Others race. Worse of all, with hundreds of pages of material and almost no perspective from my position close inside a project, I can’t pinpoint  the problem spots.

Disney animator Webb Smith had a solution- storyboarding. Basically a sequence of images arranged in the order of the final product.

Follow this link to see Walt Disney leading a bunch of Washington big wigs through a storyboard.

Neat isn’t it?  Is this what my storyboards look like? No way. For one thing I’m no artist. But believe me, that’s not a handicap for storyboarding a novel. In fact in some ways it may be an asset because my drawings are free and spontaneous. We’ll talk about why this is important tomorrow— and how storyboarding can pull you into the “flow state”. But let’s stick with practical matters today.

What does a novelist’s storyboard look like?

I’ve had a more or less hellacious time downloading images today… if I can get my camera to work with my computer I’ll post a photograph of the actual storyboard I’m working on right now. Until then take a look at this template-

This is generic but it will work for our purposes. There’s a block for an image, and underneath, lines for text. So how do you fill it in— what goes in those blocks? I have some recommendations but ultimately it’s up to you.

Recommendations-

1) Consider including three elements for each storyboard “segment”. Below the block make a brief note about the major ACTION in the scene or part of a scene you are storyboarding. In the block draw what’s happening. Above the block write a one word description of the overriding EMOTION in the scene. This will gauge both the arc of the story itself (what is “happening”) and the emotional arc of your protagonist or of the story. If every block is “Sad” “Sad” “Sad” that’s a good clue your story is emotionally stagnant.

2) Play with the pictures. At least until you’ve decided one method works best from you draw whatever you feel in each block. It may be one strong visual image (perhaps I’d draw a handprint in one of my blocks). In the next block you may chose to draw the major action (how about two characters embracing?)  When you stay loose and free you’re going to surprise yourself. Something entirely unexpected might pop up anywhere. Don’t “overthink” it. Just do it.

3) Don’t get hung up on how it’s coming together while you’re working on it. You’re not storyboarding for Disney. It’s going to be a mess in the middle of the project. Give yourself license to be messy.

4) Step back- literally and figuratively. Tack your storyboard onto a wall or prop it against a table. Stand back and take the long view. (At least in my case this means my storyboards are at least poster sized) Take your time. This isn’t a fifteen minute project. It will probably take hours. Maybe even days. Then let it cool off and come back to it. What do you see now? What do you want to add?

5) Don’t erase. While you’re working leave in the blunders. Yes, sometimes they were mistakes. Often they’re your unconscious mind rearing it’s head. At this stage be receptive, not judgmental.

6) You can storyboard an entire novel, scene by scene or chapter by chapter. You can do three blocks, beginning middle and end. You can make a block for the inciting incident, the three major hurdles, the climax, the realization, the denoument, and the wrap up. You can break it down any way, with as many or as few blocks are you want. Too much freedom? Start with four rows of four. Make the first block your inciting incident and the last one your conclusion and just work from there. Experiment.

7) Make it yours. This is JUST for you. Don’t show it to anyone else. Maybe you’re an “awful artist”. Who cares? This isn’t a drawing project. It’s a creativity and organization project.

Tomorrow I’ll be back with the “so what”. There are sound neurological reasons storyboarding works for some of us. It literally probes the deepest recesses of the creative mind. How? Come back tomorrow and I’ll try to explain.

In the meantime I’d love to hear your organization ideas. Do you outline? What do your outlines look like? Do you use computer programs like Scrivener? Do you make collages? Lets share!

~Tami Lewis Brown

Storyboarding- At the corner of creative and organized

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(Photo courtesy of Liz Gallagher)

Are you a plotter or a plunger? Can I see a show of hands for each category?

I’ve always hated that question a little because I just don’t get it, at least for my own writing. Plotters plan ahead, arranging the sequence of events in their novels with the precision of a German train schedule. Plungers take a blind leap off a cliff and write whatever their heart tells them to put on the page.

I do neither.

Or maybe I should stand up and proclaim (with pride rather than shame) “I do both.”  Now with a creativity technique I learned from my wonderful advisor Carolyn Coman I can do both at the same time. Her planning/reviewing method drops me off at the corner of creative and organized, right where I need to be to get an accurate view of my novel, its strengths, and its gaps.

The summer residency at Vermont College started up yesterday with a grand welcome — Coe Booth, Frannie Billingsley, and An Na joined the stellar faculty, and a whopping 31 new first semester students began their journey (More about what’s going on in Montpelier later this week!) On Friday alumni will converge on campus for an Alumni Mini-residency, along with a slew of agents, editors, and special speakers including Jacqueline Woodson, Gregory Maguire, and Holly Black… and um… me. I’ll be teaching a workshop for alumni on Friday. Here’s a description-

Storyboarding Your Way Out Of The Forest

Tami Lewis Brown
Deep into a novel’s revision it can be hard to see the forest for the trees and navigate your way to a satisfying, well structured novel. In the 1930′s Disney Studio’s animators invented the storyboard technique to help visualize the shape of their stories. Carolyn Coman has developed a novelist’s version of storyboarding which tracks both plot and emotion… and may reveal surprises your unconscious has buried inside your novel. Bring a pencil. Tami Lewis Brown will describe Carolyn’s storyboarding technique with examples from Tami’s own work and the work of other VC’ers, then we’ll all try our hands at storyboarding.
But wait! This post is no mere tease for my workshop! This week in the Tollbooth I’ll explore storyboarding with all of you, giving you a new tool for your toolbox, a map to lead you to the corner of Creative and Organized. Following our summer schedule we have an interview planned for Tuesday in the Tollbooth, but on Wednesday I’ll be back with specific hows and whys and whats and wrap it all up on Thursday. Sarah Aronson will be in the ‘booth, live from the mini-residency with a writing prompt on Friday.

So what are you? A plotter? A plunger? Or someone who meets your story somewhere in the middle?

Bon voyage!
~ Tami Lewis Brown

Suspending Disbelief- The Fear Factor plus 3

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This week I’ve been talking about how to suspend disbelief in your fiction.

Every story has it- some plot element that just wouldn’t happen like that in the real world. It’s because life is not a plot. Story is by its very nature at least a little bit contrived. So you don’t write about vampires or robots? No matter. You still have to suspend your reader’s disbelief.

We talked about caring about the protagonist and facing the unbelievable square on. Today I’m proposing a few other tools to bolster credibility. I bet you can come up with even more.

1 Kick Up The Bad Plot driven fiction has an antagonist- that is a person or force that challenges the protagonist. We know the antagonist has to be powerful enough to make it a fair fight. Yeah Yeah Yeah But there’s another excellent reason to make that antagonist really threatening. Fear is probably the most powerful emotion. If your protagonist is genuinely afraid and your reader cares your reader will be afraid too. A scared reader is a reader who believes.

2 Don’t forget the details. I read lots and lots of raw manuscripts. Just about every writer, from third graders on up, have been told to include colorful details in their prose. So I read a lot about flashing violet eyes and red Porsche 911s pulling up to curbs. Usually, as far as I’m concerned, those details are a big so what. Unless optometry is really important to your story who cares about the color your protagonist’s eyes? But telling details are an entirely different matter. Telling details- details that matter to your story- are the strongest building blocks for credibility. They give a reader an important anchor to hold onto. The other stuff quickly piles into clutter.

3 Mix fact with fiction. Historic fiction isn’t the only writing that requires research. Cold hard facts will establish your authority as a storyteller to be trusted. Just don’t fall into an information dump.

4 Don’t forget cause and effect/action and reaction. Everything has to happen for a purpose, as a result of something else. Whether a character suddenly feels the urge to fly, or a calm, cool, and collected mom spontaneously flies off the handle unprovoked events makes any reader skeptical. If the action is explained later okay fine. It’s not wrong to raise questions in a readers mind. But even if your story is impossible it has to have its own internal logic. There has to be a reason for everything that happens, even if that reason is physically impossible.

What else? These are just four more tools off the top of my head. What other building blocks of believability can you come up with?

And now for a drum roll…….

Next week we have a new team member stepping into the Tollbooth! Teresa Harris is a former children’s book editor and the author of Summer Jackson: All Grown Up and Love, Cherish, both forthcoming. We can’t wait to see her in the Tollbooth, bright and early Monday.

~ Tami Lewis Brown