But there is one thing that surpasses all of the skill and talent in the world. A friend of mine calls it stick-to-it-iveness. Without it, you’re just a well-intentioned and talented wannabe.

There’s definitely a lot of stick-to-it-iveness involved in writing and I’ve been notoriously bad about it the last several months. Neal calls it focus and push and I’ve definitely been lacking. But I now think there’s more to my writing problems than just not being able to stick with something.

Fear.

First a little background. When I decided to try National Novel Writing Month in 2009, I thought it would be a fun and neat way to finish a new novel. I spent six to eight weeks looking for ideas and developed several. All of them were pretty much like the previous four novels I’d written. Fun stories about people I liked. I wasn’t looking for anything really challenging. I was looking for something I could do. Any one of those ideas would have worked and any one of them still could work.

About a week before National Novel Writing Month began (midnight November 1), I wrote a scene as part of the daily writing exercise one night and woke up the next morning with an idea that had such a well formed basic premise, I was able to record it in some detail. The more I wrote, the more there was to write, but at the end of the day, I still had nothing more than a basic premise. I had no idea where it would go.

Or if it would go.

A couple days later, I had an idea for a scene that was so powerful, I simply couldn’t ignore it and the idea took off. All of a sudden, I had the story to work on through November and Saving Grace was the result. Totally unlike anything I’d ever written before.

I did nothing to find the idea and I did precious little on the first draft but sit down and write an average of 6,000 words a day. Most nights, I went to bed not knowing what to do next, only to sit down the next day and have words pour out of me. When November ended, I had a complete novel AND at least two sequels already in my head.

That’s when I got scared!

The premise behind this idea – a society turning its back on God and in chaos, an oppressive government, and political, social and religious refugees fleeing their fellow citizens and their government – was just so big, it scared me to death!

It still does.

I’m afraid of the message and afraid of the response to it in addition to being afraid of the story itself. I could list all sorts of manifestations of that fear. Enough to make you laugh, no doubt!

I now believe fear is the reason I didn’t follow up with a second draft immediately.

I tried any number of things to continue writing, but to find something else to write. Yes, ideas flowed and were fun to develop. Yes, some of them will make great stories. But it will be two years at the end of November since I finished Saving Grace and I’ve finished nothing else. I think it’s because I’ve tried to ‘run the other way’ like Jonah did and I’ve spent the last two years in the belly of a great writing fish.

With that realization also comes a call to action. I’ve been vomited up on the beach. Now is the time to do what I was given to do in the first place.

I’m working on the second draft. Ideas are coalescing. Plans are coming together. Focus seems to be returning. Work is going well day to day and progress is being made.

I am still afraid of this idea and of potential ramifications if it’s successfully completed and if it’s successfully published. But in the last few days, I’ve become aware of a peace with the process that I haven’t felt since I started writing the first draft in November 2009. The sense that I’m finally back on track.

There will be continued struggles. Nothing worth doing is easy, after all. Even if it is also fun. It’s fun to see a story come together, but this one is the most challenging, most envelope pushing story I’ve ever put my hand to.

And it does still scare me.

But if God be for me, who can be against me?

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Writing in first person comes with inherent risks. It’s such a turn off to some people, they won’t even consider a novel written in first person. Some publishers, editors, and agents have the same reaction. For those people, first person novels are a tough sell.

First person naturally limits the amount of information you can share with your readers. Because one character is telling the story, that character can tell only what he or she experiences.

First person also, therefore, challenges the writer by forcing him or her to find creative and believable ways to present necessary information to the character and, through the character, to the reader.

But there is another aspect of first person story telling that took longer to sink into my consciousness than all the regular ‘rules’. It’s also more of a personal and spiritual thought than a writing thought (that’s probably why it took longer to sink in!). It is this: Is there too much of me in the stories I write first person?

Neither the artist nor the author can avoid showing up in his or her work. The paintings I paint and the stories I write reveal who I am and what my world view is by virtue of the subjects I choose and the way I handle them. But the paintings shouldn’t be more about me than about the subject and the stories shouldn’t shout so loudly about me, as the author, that the characters are cardboard cutouts of me. Even if my life weren’t relatively boring (and it is), it wouldn’t interest most people.

Novels are also not ‘just another platform for the rant of the day’. Yes, I do often rant through characters, but those writings are as much about processing thoughts and reactions as they are about writing and most of them will never see the light of day. And I sometimes write rants for characters who believe differently than I do in order to explore important issues or to vent.

I do believe some things need to be said. I also believe some characters are more suited to delivering a good rant than others. And some stories beg for characters who feel strongly enough about something to rant.

Having said that, however, every writer needs to be careful that every character they create is unique and personable, his or her own person, and that they honestly and truly believe what they’re saying. Don’t put words into the mouths of characters just because you want to say them and need a platform to speak them. Every part of a novel has to fit the story world, the situation, and the characters or it becomes just another rant.

If you write in first person, you need to be especially careful of author intrusion, but it can happen in any voice and in any genre.

This is one of my struggles as a writer. I’m certain other writers face the same challenge. That’s okay, so long as you recognize the weakness and take special care to root it out of the manuscript during editing.

Q4U: How do you most show up in your novels?

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In a previous post, I asked for recommendations for novels written in omniscient voice. I’ll be researching omniscient voice by reading those types of novels once I concluded writing studies.

Studies are approaching their conclusion, so it’s time to start looking at some of those novels.

Some titles have been recommended. Thank you to those who shared their thoughts on the subject.

But I would like to add to my reading list, so if you’ve read a novel written in omniscient voice, let me know. It doesn’t matter whether or not you liked it. Nor does it matter what the genre is.

Date of publication also doesn’t matter, though preference will be given to recent releases.

Thank you for your assistance! I look forward to hearing from you.

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During that time, I’ve talked with dozens of artists. I’ve also talked to dozens of writers and one of the most common things I hear from both crowds is something like this:

I only paint/write when I’m in the mood.

The phraseology might be different. Moods might be replaced by muses or predetermined chunks of uninterrupted time or the right location or whatever.

Regardless of how the sentiment is phrased, the meaning is pretty much the same. I do my thing when I feel like it.

I say this from experience. I used to say the same things.

When I said, “I only paint when I have at least an hour to paint,” what I really meant was, “It’s not worth my time to put out paint and clean up brushes if I have only a few minutes to paint.”

When I said, “I’ll paint when the time is right”, what I really meant was, “I’ll paint when I want to”.

When I said, “I don’t have any inspiration today”, what I really meant was, “I don’t feel like it today”.

These days, I’m a little less susceptible to those sentiments when it comes to painting. There’s something about depending on the income an activity generates that makes the activity less of a ‘feel like it’ activity and more of a ‘must do it’ activity.

But with writing…. Let’s just say I’m as weak on discipline with writing as I used to be with painting.

I’m not implying that every writer who says similar things is engaging in the same double talk I was engaged in, but I think a lot of us are.

In fact, I’m certain of it because I’ve met very good artists who rarely paint and do nothing with the paintings they make because they’re always waiting for inspiration to strike.

Writers are no different. The method of expression is different, but the sentiments are the same in many cases.

I still think like that sometimes, but I try to avoid voicing those thoughts. Why?

Inspiration? Perspiration?

“Success is 10 percent inspiration and 90 percent perspiration.” Thomas Alva Edison

Because I’ve learned as a portrait artist that if I wait for inspiration to strike, most of the portraits I’m paid to paint would never get painted. I have to paint as much every day as possible whether I feel like or not; whether I have hours of uninterrupted time or not; whether I’m inspired or not. If I don’t, the work doesn’t get done, the clients don’t come back, and the cash flow dries up.

What it Takes

I read somewhere that a writer should expect to write a million words before they get published. I wish I could remember where that was, but alas….

I decided to try it and see just how difficult it was to write a million words.

It wasn’t hard at all. I counted everything I wrote last year – good, bad and ugly – and hit a million words by September 2. By the end of the year, I’d written 1.88 million words. Almost two million. I was astounded!

Were they all good? Nope!

Were the ones that weren’t good wasted? Nope!

Why? Because every word I wrote improved my skill as a writer. Every blog post, every letter home, every journal entry, every random scene or plotting paragraph I wrote moved me along the journey of becoming a better writer.

Every Day Determination

Before anyone gets the idea that I’m saying EVERYONE has to write EVERY DAY whether they have words to write or not, let me assure you that’s not what I’m saying at all. I just happen to be able to work at home (as a painter) and that allows me to force myself to put my seat and my chair’s seat together in front of the computer or with a pen and paper every day. To write something.

I’ve also learned that the only way for me to finish paintings and novels is to treat painting and writing like a business and do it whether I feel like it or not. I’ve sometimes had to force myself to pick up a brush and I’ve sometimes had to force myself to write. Pretty things don’t always happen, but I never can tell what ugly painting or ugly words might lead to the next masterpiece or best seller. Only God knows that.

And, having begun both painting and writing believing that I could create well only when I had the proper motivation (was in the right mood, in the right place, had at least an hour to work, etc., etc., etc.), I know that I produce more and better work if I keep after it every day.

Whether I want to or not.

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Whither Goest the Christian Cozy?

Author Ron Benrey discusses the status of the Christian Cozy, its recent past and its future. This post contains helpful information on what makes a cozy mystery cozy and, more specifically, on what sets a Christian cozy apart from other cozy mysteries and from other genres.

“The Help” – Fighting the Good Fight in Part 3

Author and writing instructor Larry Brooks continues his ‘online workshop’ on the story structure of The Help. I’ve been following Larry’s blog for several weeks and have found his thoughts on story structure liberating and informative. But the thing I found most helpful – and encouraging – this week were his thoughts on an author’s best course of action when he or she finds themselves in a plotting corner.

The Deepest Breath

Author and blogger Scott Fields writes about the concept of fresh air and deep breaths as it applies to his current manuscript and to our spiritual life.

Q4U: Have you read any good blog posts lately?

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What’s the one thing every writer wants?

Short answer, readers.

Readers who are hooked from the first word, who follow the plot breathlessly, and who stay up into the wee hours of the morning because they can’t put the book down.

Readers who then wait eagerly for the next book.

I spend a lot of time writing about how to improve your writing to achieve those things. So have a lot of other writers. And authors of how-to books, instructors of workshops, and others.

This week, I thought I’d come at the problem from a different direction.

Let’s take a look at five surefire ways to frustrate and bore your readers.
 

1: Purple Prose

This is one of my favorites! I love purple prose. Tell everything. If you’re describing a field of flowers, list all the colors, the shapes of the flowers, how many petals they have, and their names.

If you really want to bore a reader and do it fast, use a lot of flowery prose in the first paragraph, then stretch it out to a page or two. Don’t wait!
 

2: Cookie Cutter Characters

Don’t bother with character development or character background. Who really needs all that back story anyway? Your readers will never see it so why should you bother with it.

In fact, if you really want to turn off your readers, make every character the same. Same voice. Same pet phrases. Same reactions, same motivations, same… everything.

3: Unbelievable Plot Choices

Don’t worry about whether or not the choices you give your characters are believable. No one will notice if you have your characters do something that will clearly worsen their plight AND for which there was a clearly easier and much simpler option.

Every time your characters reach a crossroad where they have to make a decision of some kind, have them make the decision that’s the most exciting regardless of how easy, safe, simple, or logical other decisions are. Especially if those easy, safe, simple, or logical options mean the end of the story.
 

4: Explain Everything

Explain everything. Leave nothing to chance or the imagination.

If you character has to get up from the table to answer the telephone or the door, describe every movement, every gesture, every expression and thought, everything.
 

5: Use all the Ten Dollar Words You Know

Why mess around with plain speech when you can fancy it up with big words and technical jargon?

If you happen to have technical expertise in some area, make sure to let your reader know all about it down to the smallest detail. Don’t leave anything out!

There are many more ways to alienate your readers. I’m certain most of you have your own list of pet peeves when it comes to the ways you’ve been bored, frustrated or maybe even alienated by writers or storytellers.

Share them with us and tell us how your experiences with those things have made you a better writer.

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One of the first things every writer has to decide when starting a new novel is point of view. Who among their characters will be telling the story?

It’s not always an easy call. I have some stories that are most definitely first person and others that are most definitely third person and no other point of view will work.

But I have some that could go either direction and it’s a struggle to determine the best point of view.

So what’s the difference between the points of view? How can you tell them apart and how can you make the best use of them for your novel?

Let’s take a look at four possibilities.

1. First Person Point of View
This point of view is easy to spot. The narrator is “I”.

The major advantage with first person is that readers experience the story as it happens. They see everything through the narrator’s eyes, hear everything through his or her ears, and process everything through his or her mind.

It is also the most intimate of the points of view, allowing you to go into deep point of view by eavesdropping on what the character is thinking as they experience the story.

The major disadvantage is that readers can see, hear and know only what the narrator sees, hears or knows. This can make for some stunning surprises for the reader, but it can also create difficulties for the writer.

First person looks like this:

A cold draft raced up the stairwell and greeted me as I descended. At first, I thought nothing of it. Then I paused. Most drafts come down from upstairs. Not up from downstairs.

A shiver raced the length of my spine and fear coiled in the pit of my stomach.

Internal dialogue is usually – but not always – italicized. I bolded it here to separate it from the rest of the quote.

2. Second Person Point of View
Second person point of view used to be quite popular, but is never seen on fiction shelves these days. The reason is that the narrator refers to the reader directly and puts the reader into the role of lead character. You did this and you did that.

How does that look in fiction? Like this.

The first sign of trouble is a cold draft racing up the stairwell as you descend. At first you don’t think anything of it. It is an old house, after all. Then you pause because you know most drafts roll down the stairs. Not up.

Breathless with the realization, you hesitate a moment longer, considering the implications. A shiver races the length of your spine.

Notice the passage is also written in present tense. Second person lends itself extremely well to present tense writing, which is another reason it’s uncomfortable to read and generally unpopular with writers and readers.

3. Third Person Point of View
With third person writing, one of the characters is the primary narrator. Narration duties can revolve among characters if there are more than one main character, but there is usually a primary character and that character gets the most time.

You can do internal dialogue, but you need to remember to keep the internal dialogue with the POV character if you’re moving from one character to the next. For example, I can’t write a scene from Dick’s point of view and include Jane’s internal dialogue.

Here’s the sample paragraph.

The first sign of trouble was a cold draft racing up the stairwell as she descended. Occupied as she was with other things, she didn’t notice the draft at first. Halfway down the stairs, she paused. Most drafts roll down the stairs. Not up.

She shivered as a thread of fear knotted in the pit of her stomach.

Again, note the bolded internal dialogue.

4. Third Person Omniscient Point of View
Third person omniscient was once the POV of choice in fiction. I, for one, am sorry to see it fallen so far from favor in contemporary fiction.

With this POV, the narrator knows all, sees all, and understands everything. You can tell both sides of the story as you write. You see the characters. You can hear what they’re saying and see what they’re doing. You can see when someone is doing something that might cause them harm because you can see the things they can’t see.

However, there is no deep POV with Omniscient third person. You can’t share internal dialogue or fears in a personal way, so the writing is more passive voice than active.

Let’s look at the following paragraph written in third person:

The first sign of trouble was a cold draft racing up the stairwell as she descended. She didn’t pay it much heed at first, occupied as she was with other matters, but halfway down the stairs, she paused, considering the implications. A hundred explanations raced through her mind, most of them unpleasant, some of them frightening. She grew afraid standing there, gripping the railing, but she was afraid of moving, too; uncertain how best to proceed.

At the open door on the ground floor, the intruder paused, too, listening as she was. But he didn’t share her uncertainty. He knew exactly what he was going to do.

Notice I mentioned the cause of the cold draft in this passage and said something about the intruder. I could do that because I’m seeing everything, like a closed circuit camera. I see the heroine standing on the stair listening and I see the intruder at the door, also listening.

This point of view is the closest thing to watching a movie and, if done well, can be very effective for a variety of genres.

It is also the closest thing to storytelling as far as POV is concerned.

Q4U: What is your favorite point of view to read or write?

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In a previous post, I talked about finding the voice of my writing as a body of work and for each individual story.

This time, I’d like to talk about finding the message of a story.

It may seem like voice and message are the same, but they are not. Closely linked, yes, but not the same.

The message is what the story says.

The voice is how the story says it.

Every man and woman who has ever written a story or painted a picture or made a song is trying to share something. There is a purpose or a message behind their creation. It can’t be helped because every writer, artist, and musician creates out of their particular world view and philosophy and that world view or philosophy informs the work created.

Reading the works of G. K. Chesterton, George MacDonald, and others has opened my eyes to the need for message in writing. George MacDonald was an expert at this, focusing some of his fictional works on such issues as credible belief (do you really believe what you claim to believe?), forgiveness of self and others and other weighty issues.

A recent book on writing, James Scott Bell”s Plot & Structure, suggested that authors write about the things that move them. What makes you happy? What enrages you? What frustrates you? Those are the things you might address.

For example, forgiveness of self and others is a big issue and one that could be tackled by every author that ever has or ever will walk the face of the earth and still not be exhausted. It would be relatively easy to write about a character who has refused forgiveness either to self or to someone else and weave a message about the importance of forgiveness into the story.

So I have been thinking quite about messages either in an abstract sense or as applied to specific stories or ideas. It has been an interesting exercise and has produced some interesting thoughts. Some of them have been questions I”ve asked of myself, but that could make good underlying messages for the right novel.

It is definitely something to be considered with each story, right along with the characters, the situations and the settings. One more thing to consider in the planning stage!

Q4U: What message are you putting into your writing and how are you presenting your message?

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Developing Author Voice
Voice versus Message

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I can tell you a writer’s voice and an artist’s style are very close to the same thing.

An artist doesn’t usually set out to develop a certain style, it just happens. Case in point.

I began painting pictures of horses in grade school and sold my first portrait in high school. All I wanted to do was paint and all I wanted to paint was horses. I gave absolutely no thought at all to style. I didn’t even know what ‘style’ was.

Nor did I realize I’d developed a style until I missed entering paintings in the county fairone year. After the fair was over, a neighbor asked why I hadn’t entered anything. I told her why, then asked how she knew I hadn’t entered, since I hadn’t said anything to anyone and hadn’t talked to her in quite some time. Her answer was quite enlightening.

“I didn’t see anything that was your style,” she said.

That was the first clue I had about developing style.

My voice as a writer has developed the same way. Over years of writing, through six completed manuscripts, countless blog posts, and all sorts of other writing.

An artist’s painting style is made of color choices, painting techniques, subject selection, rendering, and his or her particular artistic vision.

A writer’s writing voice is made up of word choices, how words are strung together, subject selection, plotting, and his or her particular artistic vision.

See a similarity? I hope so, because there is one.

Some writers and painters DO set out to establish a particular style for themselves and that’s okay. If that’s you, more power to you!

Most of the writers I know, though, wonder about voice, how to get it, and what they’re doing wrong if they don’t perceive themselves to have one. If you’re one of these people, stop worrying! Just keep on writing and your voice will develop.

I guarantee it. In fact, you won’t be able to prevent a voice from developing if you write long enough and often enough. Write what you enjoy writing, what you know about or want to learn about, and in a way that suits you as a person and it will happen!

The interesting thing is that you probably won’t be the first one to notice it. People who read your work often will come to recognize your style before you do.

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One of the tools I’ve found especially helpful with the logistics of a novel is writing a time line. It can be as detailed as I want and usually includes events and information that don’t appear directly in the story, but that have an impact. It goes something like this.

Day 1: 2:00 p.m. – Carrie sits down to begin work on the time line

Day 1: 2:20 p.m. – Carrie realizes after some work that a spreadsheet is not the best way to handle this document, so she begins looking for a fast and easy way to convert an Open Office spreadsheet to a Word document.

Day 1: 3:30 p.m. – So much for fast and easy. After several varied attempts and a break for hot tea, Carrie finally finds the solution and is able to convert over 4,000 words of spreadsheet text into a word processing document.

Day 1: 3:40 p.m. – Carrie rejoices!

The purpose of a document like this is to help me determine when things happen in a story in a highly detailed fashion. I can track as much information as I want.

In some stories, I need a column for the number of the day (first, second, third, fourth, etc.), the day of the week (Thursday, Friday, Saturday, etc.), the time of day, including hours and minutes; and the event that happened.

When I’m attempting to calculate travel times, for example, or when I need to know how the logistics of an intense, short period of time happen, the time line is the best tool. The time line is also a great tool for keeping track of clues and red herrings in a mystery or suspense.

When things are slow, I write a paragraph that tells everything happening at that particular time.

When things are more intense, I keep descriptions of events to one line and use as many lines as necessary to describe everything that goes on.

When most of the story time events are directly affected by back story, the time line extends backward into that past. For Perfect Opportunities, I described a full year leading up to the story because clues were scattered throughout that year.

In those instances where a story develops a sequel, I often write a time line describing what happens to the characters between the end of the first story and the beginning of the second.

I have even been known to ‘spice up’ a time line by writing scenes that will never see the light of day, but that illustrate something, help develop and remember dialogue and that aid in character development.

You can develop a time line at in point in the story writing process. Sometimes the time line is developed after the first draft is finished; sometimes before it’s started.

So if you’re having difficulty keeping things in order and don’t mind veering off the path of fiction and onto the path of detail-keeping, give a time line a try.

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