National Novel Writing Month --NOW!

It's day four of National Novel Writing Month and if you're participating you should be 6,666 words into your first draft by the end of today! If you've missed the scoop, the goal is to write 50,000 words/175 pages of a first draft in one month--November. The folks at NaNoWriMo say the focus in on output. And I have to remind even very experienced writers that first draft is not about polish, it's about finding the bones of your story. Good bones. Strong bones. Bones that can keep on through draft two and draft three and carry your story to its final, polished form.

Even if you're not keen on racing to a finish-line this month, we can all join in the creative spirit of National Novel Writing Month. When you sit down to face the page remember, you're definitely not alone! Check out NaNoWriMo!

If you're joining into the race and feel you want more support, pick up a copy of Book in a Month by Victoria Lynn Schmidt, Ph.D., from Writer's Digest Books. Schmidt lays out the basics with clarity. This book is useful whether you're aiming for speed or leisure with your writing.

Advice on Writing a Bestseller--Beware Info-Dump

When I work with writers, often the hardest news I have to deliver about their manuscript is "Cut, cut, cut, cut the info-dump." That's the term some people in the biz use to describe the excessive use of backstory/exposition. You know it when you see it--paragraphs or pages of information delivered passively to the reader. Information served up on a paper plate. Information that dulls the reader out of the dynamic narrative now.

When I say it's difficult to tell writers they have to cut backstory that's because they've usually spent hours, days, weeks getting those sections just right. They pull out the stops and the polish and the thesaurus to bring these passages to life--or at least to attempt CPR. But unless you are a staggeringly brilliant writer, beautifully crafted exposition still clumps statically on the page. It is telling, telling, telling. When agents reach info-dump that's when they stop reading your book.

Don't get me wrong, writers do want to use backstory and exposition in their stories--but the keyword is sparingly. You need to eek out the information and, whenever possible, reveal it dynamically, by choices made and words exchanged.

Literary agent Rachelle Gardner offers consistently useful information for writers on her blog. To learn more about the dreaded info-dump and how to transform it into lean, dynamic prose in your potential bestseller, visit her RANTS & RAMBLINGS.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez on Imagery, Memory and First Lines

The next time you read a novel, stop after the opening line. What promise is the writer making to the reader? A beautifully crafted novel will begin to work its magic from the first words on the page. Below is a brief excerpt of an interview of Gabriel Garcia Marquez in conversation with Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza in the marvelous book, THE FRAGRANCE OF GUAVA:

Which visual image did you use for One Hundred Years of Solitude?

An old man taking a child to see some ice which was on show as a circus curiosity.

Was it your grandfather, Colonel Marquez?

Yes.

Is it something which really happened?

Not exactly, but it was inspired by something real. I remember when I was a very small boy in Aracataca, my grandfather took me to the circus to see a dromedary. Another day, when I told him I hadn't seen the ice on show, he took me to the banana company's settlement, asked them to open up a crate of frozen mullet and made me put my hand in. The whole of One Hundred Years of Solitude began with that one image.

So you put two memories together and got the first sentence of the book. How does it go exactly?

'Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.'

You usually attach a lot of importance to the first sentence of a book. You told me once that at times it has taken you longer to write the first sentence than all the rest of the book together. Why?

Because the first sentence can be the laboratory for testing the style, the structure and even the length of the book.

Does it take you long to write a novel?

Not to actually write it. That's quite a rapid process. I wrote One Hundred Years of Solitude in less than two years. But I spent fifteen or sixteen years thinking about that book before I sat down at the typewriter.

Writing Relationships & Einstein

"A human being is part of the whole, called by us The Universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separate from the rest....a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons near us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself part of the liberation and the foundation of inner security." --- Albert Einstein

When you write today, focus on relationships.

Fiction According to John Irving: "You might say I back into a novel."

Fiction according to John Irving: "You might say I back into a novel. All the important discoveries--at the end of a book--these are the things I have to know before I know where to begin."

In his lucid book THE FICTION EDITOR, THE NOVEL, AND THE NOVELIST, editor and author Thomas McCormack quotes Irving to say: "I want to know how a book feels after the main events are over. The authority of the storyteller's voice--of mine, anyway--comes from knowing how it all comes out before you begin..."

This quote comes in the midst of Thomas McCormack's discussion of what he calls the 'master effect'. McCormack defines the "verbal expression of that master-effect. The verbal phrasing is the statement of the desired cerebral and emotional impact of the book as a whole on the reader." He cautions that although this is a vital tool for editors, it should never be forced on the writer, some of whom may balk or not find it useful.

I do think it's a powerful tool writers should consider using--but only with impeccable timing. It demands that we, as writers, move toward our relationship with our imagined reader to consider what his/her experience might be.

One danger of considering the desired master-effect too aggressively in the writing process is to suffocate a story with what emerges as a stilted message. But to hold the master-effect gently in mind--in soft focus--can be amazingly provocative and enlightening for a writer in process.

In his book McCormack imagines a possible master-effect statement for a best-selling novel some years back: "She could not stand the 'mess' in her life, probably because of the humiliation her own parents caused her. So when her son tried to commit suicide, her reaction was not concern but anger and fear for her image in the community. I want the reader to see her as she acted on these motivations, and to feel their impact not just on her son but on her husband...how his new perception...stopped her husband's love...reader should also feel the boy's guilt and his struggle...it should feel inevitable when the mother simply goes away."

I love the idea of the gentle use of a master-effect statement. Ultimately, stories area about relationships, those within the story and the relationship between the author/reader/narrative. For more information on this and other writing and editing tools, seek out McCormack's book.

Story Form--It's a jungle out there!

I had a call yesterday from a writer who wasn't sure if the story she wants to write will best be told as fiction or memoir. We talked about fear of exposure and how fictionalizing a life story does not necessarily do anything to address that issue. We talked about the kinds of books she loves to read. At the end of our brief conversation, she asked if I had an exercise that would guide her along a discovery process to find her story's form.

I have a simple step, I said, to take you in that direction.

Sit down with your notepad--or at the computer--and give yourself 15 to 30 minutes to write.

Begin with: The story I want to tell has--

Write down everything you know or suspect you know about the story you want to tell.

--it has a woman and she has a child. Someone dies. Her husband or her mother. She is an artist. No, she's a social worker. Her child is a girl. No, her child is a baby boy. This story has wounds. It has healing and recovery. It spans a year. No maybe 8 months. It has tears and it also has humor. It has a dog. And a parrot--

Those are my words but the writer understood what I was getting at. If you want to try this exercise, I encourage you to have fun and riff on whatever comes to mind. Whatever elements you feel strongly will be part of your book. This is a way to let the thoughts rise to the surface without feeling pressured to decide if the story is fiction or memoir. Trust that you know many elements of the story by heart. As you write, other elements will come to you.

One more idea for finding form: Reflect on a specific book that has inspired you recently. And if it is a book that you feel has some connection to the book you want to write, jot down the specific ways the story moved you, hooked you, affected you, touched you; take note of how it spoke to you and the way it left you feeling; what you believe its message was for you--what you took away from it when you reached the last page. What has stayed with you over the weeks or months since you read it...

Do this because it will help you learn more about what affects you and how you want to touch others with your own story. In the end, the book you write will be your book and only your book. But each day, we can reach for books on our bookshelf and learn about form from the writers whose work we love and admire.

Writing Advice from Kurt Vonnegut: Be a Sadist

Kurt Vonnegut insisted that each writer be a sadist when it comes to your main characters. Make awful things happen to them so readers can see what they are made of. If you want to absorb 7 more tips from the great KV, enjoy this YouTube wisdom.