Category Archives: How To

The Stages of a Writer’s Life or How Not to Retire from Writing

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I wanted to be a writer from the time I began to read, and I don’t even remember when that time was–before I started school, I know. I wrote during all of my years in the classroom, wrote for high school and college newspapers and annuals, the college literary magazine, took what writing classes were available. Then I married too young, had babies–distracting creatures, babies–and got sidetracked a bit but never stopped writing. In my twenties I got serious about wanting to sell and wrote my first novel.
I knew that writing was a joy, a labor, sometimes an exquisite pain, but it took me a good while to realize that publishing was a business, and one I knew nothing about. So I wandered in the wilderness for what seemed an eternity, sending out manuscripts and getting back form rejections until I discovered writing conferences. Classes and contacts, information!
Fairly soon I had an agent and then two book sales, and I was off. It wasn’t always smooth sailing by any means, but I’m very stubborn–I persevered during downs as well as ups, kept writing and selling . . . 50 something books later. . .and then a family health crisis took precedence over everything else.
I’d managed to stay afloat through many changes in the publishing world. I’d passed up the safer choice of going back to teaching after my husband died too young. I’d worked day and night, literally, to write and hold a position with a national/international nonprofit writers’ group, I’d traveled to research and speak and promote my books. It was exhausting, but I enjoyed it all. But this time everything had to come to a halt, and everything did.
My daughter had three back surgeries back to back, no pun intended, and was ordered to complete bed rest between the second and third. However, she also had a toddler whom we affectionately called the Energizer Bunny and a husband who obviously had to keep his own job, for health insurance as well as to pay their mounting medical bills. So I had to be at their house 12 hours a day. You can imagine trying to write while jumping up every ten minutes to rescue a gleefully manic tot from his rush into doom… After that there were more family health issues, and then, later, I developed some health concerns of my own. And somewhere in there we had the Great Recession and book sales went down across the boards, which didn’t help my career.
So a few years back I decided that perhaps it was time to slow down. That being free of tight deadlines would be a good thing, that it was okay not to feel the need to write six and a half days a week. That not having to get on yet another air plane and fly across country might be a relief–travel is not as much fun as it once was. And I could go to town halls, march in protests, write letters, try to save the country, the planet. Have a life.
And do fun things too. Spend more time with my grandchildren. Have more lunches with friends.. Go to movies, symphony events, plays, special museum exhibits.
Have a life.
But one unexpected thing. After the first few weeks, the ideas came back. The characters slipped into my head, hung off my ears and kicked my cheeks. “Look at me,” they’d say. “I have a story to tell.”
You can’t stop the stories.
The fact is, I am a writer to the bone. It’s not a job, not a profession, even, it’s who I am and who I will always be. So I continue to write. I haven’t submitted any of the short books or novellas–it’s a pleasure to write to my own whim–even though writers do like to be read. I could self publish but I’m not sure I want to go that road–you still have to to PR if you want to attract readers and I’m really awful at self promotion.
But I know as long as my fingers work, I’ll be writing.

Ideas All Around

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How do you find ideas for books? Many of my young adult or middle grade plots came out of newspaper stories. (Runaway, Shadow Self) Some came from incidents suggested from my days as a classroom teacher or from incidents that happened to my own children. I also found ideas from my own life. (The biggest pitfall here is that you have to remember to update a lot of the superficial stuff unless you mean to make the story a period piece. Clothing, music, amusement, electronic devices, social mores, so much will have changed.)
I’ve recently been working on a book about a teen in a military family, a background I know well. I grew up as an army brat, relocating and changing schools often. I moved eighteen times before I left home for college. Mostly it was to other military communities, but I also know what it’s like to end up in a small rural school where everyone else has known each other forever and you’re the lone new person, as happens to my main character. I made his case worse–always up the ante!-by depriving him of his dad, who died a hero, giving him a lot to live up to. The story also deals with how he is targeted by a school bully and wonders if he’s a coward, unworthy of his father. A lot of the story I could draw, bits and pieces, from my own experiences.
Happily, I didn’t lose my own father in that manner, but I was separated from him by calls of duty for long periods, thirteen months at one point, and it was very hard. I cry when I see on television children surprised by returning military parents. (I also think it’s rather unfair to film these kids!) So I know a good deal about the emotions my main character is going through, and authentic emotion is always a key to a good story.
You may not have been a military brat, but I’ll bet you have stories from your own life that could be taken and altered slightly, adapted to make a good starting place for a plot. Pull out your memory book and take a look!

FIVE MAVEN WRITING TIPS FOR NOVEMBER – PUBLISHING PATHS

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      Your manuscript is completed at last and you feel it’s ready for publication. Now what?

Laurie Knowlton:

How to choose a publishing path?
Technology has opened the door that made self-publishing not only acceptable but commonplace.
There are many avenues available for writers: Trade publication, self-publication, work-for-hire, e-books, online blogs, online magazines and more. Only you will know the right path for you by researching the field
Consider what is your end goal?
Do you want a book for your family members? Or do you want nationwide distribution?
Does the publishing house you are working with provide: artwork, editorial input, hard cover, soft cover, e-books, international distribution and translations, royalties or work for hire, escalation clauses, royalty payments that are connected to past books? The list goes on and on.
That is why research is the best answer. Then you will be able to make an informed decision. Last but not least: Ask other authors, and read books on the pros and cons.
One last tid-bit: Amazon provides a book titled Decide, Self- Publishing –Trade publishing.

Cheryl Zach:

Publishing paths: More exist than ever before. This is not necessarily easier for the new writer, it may be more confusing. You can still submit traditionally to agents and established publishing houses, at least those that will take unsolicited manuscripts. Do your homework. Even editors from ‘closed’ houses will sometimes take queries or partials from people who have attended writing conferences where the editors have spoken.
There is also self publishing, including epublishing, which is more acceptable than it once was, but still has some drawbacks. The most prestigious awards still are not open to self published books.
You will also have to all the work yourself, from designing and setting up the book to PR and distribution. It’s one thing to manufacture a book, another thing to actually sell it. Not many book stores are eager to take books whose quality has not been vetted through the traditional process. Self pubbed books are also harder to get reviewed. Amazon will publish and sell books from your manuscript, but it’s a crowded virtual warehouse!

Dawne Knobbe:

Publishing Paths: There are many paths to publishing your work. No matter how you end up published- by a traditional press, or self-publishing, marketing yourself and your work is the key to success.

Judith Ross Enderle and Stephanie Jacob Gordon:

No matter which path to publication you choose to introduce your book and yourself to the world, both will take patience and perseverance. Trade publishing as well as self-publishing will both require marketing skills. Research both areas and decide what suits you and your book.

If you choose trade publishing, investigate small publishers and large publishers. Go to the bookstore to discover what types of books each publishes, how the books are designed, what topics or genres each publisher produces.

You may find it beneficial to search for an agent to represent you and your book and help you negotiate a contract. Many publishers deal only with agents and don’t accept unsolicited manuscripts from writers. After signing a contract you will receive an advance: money up front that will be worked off with a percent of each book sold. Once you’ve worked off the advance, you’ll receive royalties. A trade book must continue selling well in order to stay in print.

If you choose self-publishing, do thorough research on the many avenues available. Hiring a content and copy editor may help you get the polished work you want. If your book has illustrations, you will have to contract with an artist. You will wear all the hats in the publishing world besides being the author. Know ahead of time what your approximate costs will be. If you are fully informed and up to the challenge, there is no reason you can’t be successful on this path. Many authors find this approach satisfying.

Most important is to explore all avenues to publication and BE INFORMED so you choose the right one for you and your book .

 

 

FIVE MAVEN WRITING TIPS FOR OCTOBER –REVISION

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  Revision, taking another look and polishing your writing. Here’s what the Mavens have to say– from what it involves to when to stop:

Judith Ross Enderle: This part of writing is the frosting on the cake; cleaning up the crumbs, adding swirls of sweetness, getting your masterpiece ready to present for consumption. Revision shouldn’t be rushed. It may involve any or all of the following: major rewriting; moving sentences, pages, paragraphs, even chapters into a different order; tossing out some of your favorite lines; the realization that in some parts you have too much story and in others not enough; and always a careful search for repetition, double verbs, awkward dialogue tags, and phrases at the end of sentences that don’t add anything to the story. If you’ve been away from the manuscript long enough, you may see places where you’ve forgotten to give the reader important information, places where you go on too long with either dialogue or description or both, places that are too slow and places that just plain don’t work. Your first draft was good, but with revision your second draft will be better, and after that you will revise for the best. Some manuscripts need only one revision, while others may need five or more.

Stephanie Jacob Gordon: I NEVER REVISE said no published author ever.

I think of revision as a trick of the trade.  My trade.  Your trade.  The Writing for Young People trade.

You write your story and suggestions abound.  Everyone has a better idea.  Your agent has input.  Your editor has input.  Your writing group has input.  Your best friend, your husband, your kids, your mother, the check-out lady at the grocery store, they all want to tell you what is right AND what is wrong with your story and how to fix it.  You listen, smile, nod your head, think about what they said, good and bad, even take notes.  It is YOUR story, nevertheless.  Apply what works, clarifies, enhances and improves your work.  In the end it really is just YOUR story and you must stand behind your craft.  So, what to do with the stuff you don’t need?  Shredders, compactors, garbage cans (do people still use cans?), and recycle bins were invented to hold suggestions, critiques, and opinions you do not want or need.   Hear, think, apply, but listen to your own head first!
Happy revision…or not.

Laurie Knowlton:   7 Tips to Revision, Where to Begin?
Once you have completed your manuscript it is time to revise. But how?
Read your manuscript out loud.
It will help you catch gummed up sentence structures.
It will help you listen to your character’s speech for uniqueness of voice.
Check and cut: overused words, weak words, and too much description.
Check your spelling, grammar and punctuation. If you have trouble with these there are how to articles on the internet that can help.
Bring your manuscript to a critique group. Fresh eyes can help you see your manuscript in a new light.
Ask yourself does my story question match a satisfying ending?
Let your manuscript set for a bit after you have completed these steps, then go back with fresh eyes and review again.
Revise as many times as it takes to get it right. DO NOT RUSH the revisions process.

Cheryl Zach: Revision is an absolutely necessary part of the writer’s process. Once the rough draft is down, if you’re lucky you’ll go over it and then have a critique group or partner to share it with, in person or on line. If not, put it aside for a few weeks or even months and then view it with a fresh eye.  Of course, you want the grammar and usage to be correct, allowing for realistic dialogue. Books such as Elements of Style are helpful. A lot of my revision goes into tightening. Taut writing is often most effective. Get rid of unnecessary tags, (the he said, she said bits) unless you write for the very young. Remember you want to show, not tell. Use action and dialogue, use sensory details to make the setting vivid. Let your own voice shine through. Then put it aside, and do it all again. And again.

Dawne Knobbe: Revision: You know it is time to stop revising when the words you replace are no longer making your sentences more powerful.

 

 

FIVE MAVEN WRITING TIPS FOR SEPTEMBER – STUCK?

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STUCK?  Don’t panic! This happens to lots of writers, sometimes in the middle of your book and sometimes as you struggle to revise, following your critique group’s suggestions or while working through the feedback from your editor. Breathe!

Here are some tips from the Mavens on how to get unstuck:

Dawne Knobbe: Stuck? : Eat cookies, make paper airplanes out of you manuscript. Not helpful? Try picking a fight with your main character.

Cheryl Zach: Stuck? Me, too. Okay, not this minute, but I have been, lots of times. Early on in my career, I’d often get off to a rousing start and then get stuck about a third or even halfway into the story.  It usually meant I didn’t know my characters well enough–pause to do some deep thinking about who your main character is. Look at your supporting characters; maybe one or more need to get in the way–they have their own plot lines to pursue, remember. Perhaps your conflict isn’t big enough to support a novel. Maybe this is the time to introduce a new character, or a new obstacle, or make the conflict harder in some way for the protagonist. Go back and look at what I said about a sagging middle.

If you’re stuck on a new project, ideas are all around you. Make sure you spend time with young people. Read lots of good books, and not just in your chosen genre. See good movies and plays. After viewing The Darkest Hour, I reread William Manchester’s multi volume bio of Winston Churchill–what writing! Go to museums and other cultural events, go outside to parks and the beach and the mountains, whatever is near you. Feed the well. Exercise. It helps the brain function. Meet with other writers and artists. And don’t be too hard on yourself. The Muse will return.

Laurie Lazzaro Knowlton:  5 Ways to get beyond Stuck

Go fill your well! Do something new to you. The experience will get your senses awakened.

Walk and talk. Take your phone and walk and talk (recording) yourself through questions about your story question.

Spend time volunteering with the age group you are writing for. Listen to their jargon. Watch their mannerisms. Be aware of what they are worried about. Observe what they get excited about. Ask them about what concerns them.

Sit and read a starred review book. Analyze what makes it work. Is the story character or plot driven? What is the heart of the story? How does the main character grow and change?

Meet with a critique group. Being around other writers who are producing can be contagious. Also other writers may be able to help you get over the hump in your manuscript.

Judy Enderle: Unstuck tricks to try:
Stay calm. You may feel as if you are sinking in quicksand, but if you were it would be best to keep cool, to ease back and float until you reach solid ground. Same with being stuck in your writing. Sometimes floating for a bit will help you get to solid ground and go forward.

Ask your character what to do next. Write down all the possibilities then choose what makes most sense for your story.

Brainstorm with your critique group. Many heads might help you find a good solution.

Skip the place where you are stuck and start writing again at the place where you know what will happen. You might figure out what to do with that stuck spot or perhaps realize you don’t even need the place where you are stuck to make your story work.

Stephanie Jacob Gordon: Ask your dog; dogs are good listeners. Take a walk (your dog will like this, too. Eat chocolate. Have a cup of tea and biscotti and pretend your main character is there with you. Read the KidsBook Mavens blog for some good ideas. Most important: DON’T GIVE UP!

FIVE MAVEN WRITING TIPS FOR AUGUST–LAST PAGES

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  We’ve made it from the beginning pages, through the middle, and now we are reaching the LAST PAGES. These will NOT be the last pages from the Mavens, however. Read on:

Cheryl Zach:

In one writing org I belong to, it’s said that the first page will sell the current book to your reader, the last page will sell your next. So what do you need on your last page? A satisfying ending, obviously. Have you truly wrapped up your problem? Did the main character, the protagonist, resolve the problem him or herself? Not a helpful adult–that’s fatal–not the best friend, not an act of fate, the ‘god from the machine.’ Are the emotional conflicts resolved as well as the physical? You may not want too neat a wrap up, it may not sound realistic, but you do want the reader to feel that the story is really resolved, or readers will never feel completely happy with the book. (Mind you, I have written at least one book with an ‘open’ ending (RUNAWAY) in that one important question was left unresolved because the two main characters couldn’t agree. Some books are just like that. You do what has to be done, or at least, what your characters demand. I hope in this case, the novel was still emotionally satisfying–the book did well, in any case, winning an award and selling well.)

Now, having admitted that every rule has an exception, what else can I say. If it’s a mystery, solve the mystery and don’t cheat and introduce the villain on the next to the last page. If it’s a fantasy or science fiction, stick to your own rules of logic. If you’re going to do something truly awful, like kill the protagonist, at least give some foreshadowing.  That’s my rule, not everyone will agree. The late great Madeleine L’Engle, author of WRINKLE IN TIME and other award winning novels, said that writers for young people owed it to their readers to leave some hope at the end of their books. I agree. Not everyone does.

Last Pages: The ending is always important–you need to leave the reader satisfied. Has the protagonist resolved his/her problem/conflict, with only minimal help from others? Is it not too neat, so as to be unrealistic, but without too many loose ends? Have both the emotional/internal and external conflicts been dealt with? My daughter always says the ending needs a certain emotional punch, as well, that little extra something that may send you away smiling, or with a tear in your eye, but feeling content, none the less. You should feel that the story just couldn’t have ended any other way. The character was true to him/herself. The problem obviously had to end this way. There was a twist you didn’t quite see coming, but it was just what needed to happen.  And again, no, I didn’t say it was easy.

Dawne Knobbe

Last Pages: Writing your last pages early helps you to know where you are trying to end up.

Laurie Knowlton

Your last pages must:

Make sure every question you set up early in the book is answered, even if the answer isn’t positive, or finely wrapped up like in: Scarlet O’Hara, “I’ll think about it tomorrow.”
Do not use some out-of-the-world twist ending where someone comes out of nowhere and fixes everything. Your reader isn’t going to buy it and they will feel cheated.
No matter how many wrong turns, and bad decisions your main character may have made getting to the end of their story, allow those decisions to be the learning curve that brings your main character to a state of redemption
Use those little details that you’ve sprinkled through the text to assist in the ending. You want your reader involved in the ending and they will value the use of those details in the solution.
Resolve the story with a satisfying ending that is hopeful. Readers want to feel good at the end of a book.

Stephanie Jacob Gordon

The end is The End is THE END! And please don’t skip the end by telling rather than showing, then moving right to “and so they all lived happily ever after.” This will cause your readers to toss the book into the air wanting to know “WHAT HAPPENED?” Readers want to see, to participate in the finale the same way they’ve participated throughout the book.

Wind up your story in the final pages by showing the growth of your character through action and dialogue. The problem may be solved or the character may have accepted that this is a problem that can’t be solved and moves on with life. This shows growth, too.

Resist explaining, resist adding what happens the next day or years later, resist. But if you insist or your character refuses to take a final bow, make notes for a possible sequel to the story that has come to an end, for some characters can be so stubborn they refuse to exit the world you’ve created and some authors love their characters so much they refuse to let go.

Judith Ross Enderle

Wipe your tears. Just because you’ve written your last pages, just because you’ve written The End, just because you’ve sighed and celebrated the completion of your first draft, this isn’t the end. Writing a book isn’t over until it’s over. And usually it isn’t over until you’ve revised and revised and revised some more. So those last pages . . . might not be your final last pages; they are probably your first last pages. Yup! Upcoming in the fall months: What to do if you are Stuck, Revision Tips, and more.

 

FIVE MAVEN WRITING TIPS FOR JULY — MIDDLES

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  Whether your middle is teeny tiny as in a picture book or quite expansive as in a novel, sometimes middles can bring your writing to a halt. Here’s what the Mavens have to say about successfully getting through the middle of your manuscript:

Stephanie Jacob Gordon  As I get older discussing middles is not high on my list. My middle has increased a lot since I first began to write.Oh. Judy says that is not the kind of middle we are supposed to talk about. I am relieved.

The thing about book middles, some of them have also increased a lot. More in novels than picture books. I am finding that there is a lot of nothing going on in these books. Action, adventure, calamities, and changing scenes are becoming description, pontification, and boring. What I think a middle should be is where it all happens.

There is the beginning to get us into the characters, learn the main character’s problem(s), and believe there is no way their problem(s) can be solved. In other words, we begin to care about the main character, move into their skin, become them, and live the story.
There is the end where amazingly the problems are solved and we see the main character’s growth because of what he/she has gone through to get to the end of their story. Or, the problem cannot be solved and we see the main character’s growth by how he/she copes with this sad (but honest) conclusion at the end of their story.

So, what did we leave out? The middle…where we hope the story allows us to be one with the main character, share their adventures, calamities, successes, and failures.
So, as I said in the beginning…the middle is where it all happens! At least it should.

Judith Ross Enderle  Your own middle is where your strength resides. It’s the place where your entire body benefits from the organs that process the food we eat and drink so your growth and development can happen. When your middle isn’t working, you hurt.

The middle of your story isn’t so different. This is where the strength of your story resides. It’s the part of that develops the who, what, where, when, and how of your story. That’s one of the reasons that middles can sometimes be tough to write, why this is where you get stuck, or where you might go off track. The middle is the where the growth and development of your story happens. If that’s not happening, then your story hurts, too.

My advice: if you are stuck in the middle, keep going even if you have to skip some places. If you come to one of those sticky spots, type WORK MORE HERE then go on to the next plot part where you know what happens and how to show it. Once you reach The End, go back and read. You’ll know how to: a) develop those sticky middle parts, or b) realize you don’t need them.

Hope this helps get you past the muddle in the middle.

Laurie Knowlton  Everyone knows that a story has a beginning, middle, and an end. The beginning is just that. The day things changed for your main character. It is a small part of the actual book that makes the reader care about your main character.

The middle makes up the largest portion of the book. It is where the main character moves forward through their problem, quest, or journey. The main character must use their whit to work through ever more difficult situations on the journey to solving their problem, quest or journey.

So what does that mean? It means PLOT. How does your character rise to the occasion, overcoming one obstacle more difficult than the last, to reach a climax? They must be active. They must be vocal. They must sometimes stumble and fight against their own inner demons. There must be twists and turns, because a straight line is BORING. There must be loss that accompanies gain. There must be laughter and tears to make the reader care enough to keep reading. Every chapter must have its own mini arc that keeps your reader on edge while your main character presses on to solve the ultimate story question.

Cheryl Zach  Oh, that sagging middle! What a quagmire it can be. You can have a fast, exciting beginning, with an action-filled and dramatic ending in mind, but what to do about the middle? If the story line seems to be sagging, it may be time for a new complication to the plot. Time to ratchet up the story tension and make it harder on your protagonist. Maybe he or she is having too easy a time solving his problem. Maybe the problem wasn’t big enough for a whole book? Go back and rethink.

Maybe it’s time to introduce a new character–must be essential for the plot, but another villain may be hiding in the wings? Maybe someone who will be a friend, an ally. Perhaps he or she was foreshadowed earlier on and you didn’t quite see it? I do this to myself a lot, without realizing I was writing it in all along. At any rate, a new element may need to be introduced, and it will get your gears moving again.

Dawne Knobbe  Middles are the hardest part for me in a story. If I get to the middle and get stuck, then it helps to work on the ending—See last pages. (Which means you’ll have to watch for next month’s blog tips about Last Pages.)

FIVE MAVEN WRITING TIPS FOR JUNE – FIRST PAGES

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Aack! The year is half over. How did that happen? If you’ve spent the past six months thinking about the book you want to write, this is a good time to get started. And where do you start? With the FIRST PAGE. Here’s what the Mavens have to say:

CHERYL ZACH: First Pages are vital. You must catch the reader’s interest at once. Years ago I heard award-winning author Richard Peck say that he used to give himself ten pages to grab the reader’s attention; now it must be done on the first page. And it’s not just a restless young person you must mesmerize–it’s also the agent or editor who will be your first reader. If your book makes it to print, it’s the book store buyer or the clerk who puts it on the shelf, or it’s the parent of a young child if your book is a picture book. First pages matter.
For a young adult novel, on that essential first page you need to establish who the main character is, give at least a hint of the problem and the setting. Sound hard? It is. The first page will go through innumerable drafts. You’ll write it, edit, rewrite  many times. Read it aloud, read it to your critique group. Write it again. Hone it, tighten it. For sure tighten it. Every word counts. {Do not do an info dump–try to tell too much on what the book is about, as if you were giving a book report. You want to show; use action, dialogue, sensory details. Bring the story to life immediately.)
Go back through your most loved novels or picture books. Old favorites are allowed, but be sure to read many new books, too. See what the current best sellers are, what editors and readers like today. See what skillful writers can do with a few lines, a couple of paragraphs, to grab you by the throat and not let you go.

LAURIE KNOWLTON: What’s so big about first pages?
First pages are not EASY. They need a great deal of thought and rewriting, and rewriting.
Riveting first pages are imperative because they introduce your reader to the main character, the setting’s time and place, and a story problem, quest, or journey.
Your opening line should GRAB your reader making them want to read the next line, and the next line, and the next line. In those lines the writer needs to make the reader care about the main character and what they are up against. The reader needs to feel the conflict. A good way to do this is through strong sensorial action and dialogue that fills in the gaps.
Your first page is either going to keep your reader reading or putting down the book and moving onto something else, or someone else’s book. Don’t let weak first pages keep your reader from consuming your book!

DAWNE KNOBBE: First pages usually become a page further into your chapter. Don’t be afraid to “cut to the chase.”

STEPHANIE JACOB GORDON: Eve Bunting always said: “Start with the moment that’s different.” That means the event that makes your character take notice and react. That moment should be important to your character, make a difference in his/her life, create a situation where something is at stake for the character. The reaction may be physical or emotional, but it should be something that will hook your reader and create a page turn in order to find out what happens next.

JUDITH ROSS ENDERLE: Don’t be surprised if you toss out your first page or even your whole first chapter once you’ve completed your first draft. That’s a lot of firsts, but sometimes you don’t know if you’ve started in the right place until you’ve found out where your story ends.

Happy summer! Happy writing!

 

 

FIVE WRITING TIPS FOR APRIL

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The April tip topic is Plot, Plot, Plot. Some writers love to plot, some hate to plot, and almost all writers have those “I’m stuck” moments when plotting their stories. What tips do the Mavens have for you as you PLOT, PLOT, PLOT? Let’s find out:

Laurie Lazarro Knowlton:

The biggest mistake I see when critiquing manuscripts is that the writer has all the early components of a story: The WHO: A Main Character and Sub Characters. THE WHERE: Setting, a WHAT: Problem, challenge or quest, But then they fail to follow plot basics:

Identify a strong reason for main character’s motivation. Hunger Games = saving her sister, Dorothy and The Wizard of OZ = Desire to get home

Plot has to involve the main character working through a series of tries/events to solve the problem, challenge or quest.
Each of the tries needs to increase in difficulty.
Emotion binds your main character and the reader.
No one else can solve the problem for the main character.
The main character has to grow in wisdom and strength in each of the failed tries leading the character to a believable solution.
Plot is the main body of your story using up approximately ½ to 2/3 of your text. Be sure to review your plot basics when writing!

 

Stephanie Jacob Gordon:

Every plot for me begins with a WHAT IF…?

One idea and my brain is off to the races.  OFF TO THE RACES….  A kid who loves racing what a great idea if I only knew something about horses, or racing, or liked horse stories.  But I don’t.  And Black Beauty is still a classic.  So that is not my WHAT IF.

But what if you are driving along through Ohio farm country with your writing partner and you see a bunch of pigs piled on top of each other and one of you says, “What do you think that pile of pigs is doing?”  WHAT IF…?  And the book A PILE OF PIGS is born.

For as long as I can remember, my friend Judy and I have been writing partners and conference buddies and Co-SCBWI RAs, RACs, Board Members, lecturers,teachers, editors, and anything else ones writing life provides.  So “what if” people all over the world start calling you the bad babies…  WHAT IF…?  And the book THE TWO BADD BABIES is born.

What if you need a plot? Grab your characters, look at their problems, then “what if” all possible solutions. And you, too, may soon have a book in the works.

Cheryl Zach:

Plot comes from conflict, conflict begins with a problem. If you don’t have a problem to solve, you don’t have anything to write about. Character is all important, but character without conflict is a big blob of shapeless nothing. Beautiful writing, maybe, but just an essay or character sketch in disguise. Literary novels, so called, can devolve into this if this writer is too self indulgent. The simplest way to think about plot is that it is what happens in a story or book and, baby, something better happen. (One important hint: it better be the main character who resolves the problem.)

Dawne Knobbe:

You want to give your readers some surprise. It is easy to fall into cliched plots. Make sure you put an original spin on your story. What happens and why it happens can make your plot original.

Judith Ross Enderle:

As a writer, you’ll find your best story path. Some writers do a lot of preplanning: chapter outlines, character interviews, and detailed research. Others dive right in from the moment an idea hits them. There is no right way to write. But, if you are starting out, preparation can give you confidence that you’ll be able to get from the first word to “the end.” That means figuring out ahead of time what happens to the characters in your story and that’s called plotting. A plot involves jeopardy for your characters, hard work on their part to move ahead as they struggle to solve a problem, and more jeopardy. Each move your characters take triggers additional moves and additional problems as a result of those moves. You’ll need action to generate drama, and conflict to build tension and keep the reader turning pages. So, if you plan, plan, plan you won’t have to plod, plod, plod, and you’ll be confident that you are off to a good start with your plot, plot, plot. One warning: characters get stubborn and have opinions. It IS OKAY to change your plot as the story develops. Nothing is permanent until the book is printed.

FIVE MAVEN WRITING TIPS FOR MARCH

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  The Mavens are back with more writing tips, this time on birthing characters. What would a story be without characters? Not a story. Characters include not only people, but some story characters are animals, inanimate objects, and fantasy figures like ogres, fairies, wizards and more. So here are our character tips:

Laurie Knowlton:

After you’ve written the basics, hair, eyes, gender, ethnicity, family, age, INTERESTING characters need to be ACTIVE, VOCAL, FLAWED, and QUIRKY.
Interesting: Your main character needs to do something out of the ordinary to catch the reader’s attention. “Out of the Ordinary” = beginning of the story incident.
Active: A perfectly content main character is BORING… Active characters that need, want, desire something are motivated characters.
Vocal: Dialogue shows us, without telling us. Dialogue moves the story forward, by giving us tid-bits of information that develops the story line.
Flawed: Your protagonist is a nobody without strengths that move them forward and flaws that produce friction. Will or won’t the MC succeed based on their strengths and weaknesses?
Quirky: What is the one quirky thing about your character that makes them unique? Do they have a pet frog they take everywhere with them? Do they dance when they are waiting in lines? Do interrupt other characters always sending the conversation in a different direction? Do they always smell like what they’ve eaten? Do they twitch every time they get next to the opposite sex?
Add interesting, active, vocal, flawed, quirky traits to your character study and your character will be one that your readers want to get to know!

Cheryl Zach:

Since for me, characters and story ideas come hand in hand, that’s usually the same as asking, ‘Where do you get your ideas?,’ the answer is pretty much everywhere. Some of my YA books, such a RUNAWAY, came straight from news stories–of course, I changed the ideas right away, but that’s where they started, and then I had to wonder, who was this teen girl, this teen boy, who was caught up in this situation? A couple of books came from episodes that happened at the high school where I taught before I stopped to write full time–again, the real life was altered drastically, but that was the germ of the idea. Sometimes it was something that happened to my children. (My daughter, after I began publishing, would preface her conversations with: Now, you can’t put this in a book!)

Most often, it was something that happened to me, when I was a kid, again often changed, a little or a lot. Right now I’m working on a story about a military family–very pertinent to today’s news. I was a military brat, and I know a lot about that life style. I have to update it, of course. You always do, unless you want to make the book a historical. <grin>  Anything a decade ago or more is historical for kids. And of course everything about a historical setting–clothing, houses, furniture, food, lighting, transportation, all details big and small, must also be accurate and be included without being obvious about it. Remember that your characters would take it all for granted.

Sometimes characters come out of thin air, and you’re not sure where they come from. Benny, of the BENNY AND THE NO GOOD TEACHER and other Benny books, floated into my head when I was sitting at a writing conference. I know he owes a lot to my son and my brother, actually, but mostly, he is himself. Developing characters, now that’s a whole other topic.

Stephanie Jacob Gordon:

For me, giving birth to my characters has been only slightly easier than it was giving birth to my children. But in one way both had two somethings in common. No, one was not the spinal that took away the pain. Believe me, there will be pain. The two things both share in this –no matter how hard you push–characters and babies don’t emerge until they are ready, and no matter how tired you get, they won’t leave you alone until you deal with them. Oh, and here’s a third thing they have in common: years from now you will look at your children and your characters and you’ll be glad you birthed them.

Dawne Knobbe:

Characters are complex. After you have sketched out your character, take him or her out into the real world and decide how he would react in different situations you find yourself in.

Judith Ross Enderle:

Characters often sneak up on you and once on scene demand their story be told. Listen carefully to what they have to say. If you ignore them, you will be pestered. Once you acknowledge their presence, then get to know them. Ask questions about everything: life situation, best and worst traits, current big and little problems, friends and family, details like favorite foods, colors, favorite sayings, hobbies, all the bits that make the character as unique as you are. Don’t limit this information-gathering to your protagonist, but also birth the story antagonist and even the minor characters so you know how they will act and react in the scenes that move the story plot forward. Is all this work worth it? Ask any author who’s received a letter from a reader wondering if you personally know the main character. Absolutely! Because then you’ll know you’ve done your job birthing real characters.