The Act

My school's last play performance was today, and the cast party, and I'm exhausted, but I still want to post something. So here goes- this is the beginning to a book I want to write, the first of a trilogy, titled The Act. I won't tell you anymore- so grip the edge of the monitor and read on. :)

Prologue: A Freak

Do you know who you are? Most people do; kudos to them.
I one of those few who don't.
Sure, I know the basics, the bare facts: my name is Jenna Walker, I'm fifteen, and I live at 49 250th Drive- talk about unoriginal- Tolobie, Montana. But that's just the crap that goes on passports and licenses, some of it, at least. I don't even know my birthday. When I was found, they guessed I was six- so for all that matters I could be sixteen. I don't have half a clue who my biological parents are, or who the heck screwed my deoxyribonucleic acid.
Maybe I should have mentioned that earlier.
I'll start at the bery beginning. About twenty years ago, scientists began fusing animal human DNA. Some wanted to prove evolution, while others said it was inhibiting our 'natural' changing. Anyway, the first few years were total disasters- most of the embryos died in days, or, at best, a few minutes after their artificial births. It's still a very rough science, but has more or less gained in popularity. Parents are purposefully making their kids part animal, whether so they'll be better athletes, or smarter (hah!), or prettier (who defines beauty anyway?).
I'm one of those pathetic life forms.
Yes, I consider myself pathetic. Why? That's a simple enough to answer.
I'm a freak.
Being one of us has its definite disadvantages- look at me. I mean, that must be why I was dumped off in the middle of a woods in rural Montana. My creators/parents/ mad scientists couldn't have wanted me anymore.
So think again if you know who your are, and consider those of us who have no clue.

Chapter 1: School- AKA Torture

I've never been to school in my life, so my first day was naturally going to be hell.
I was shaking by the time we reached the brown, brick building. I clutched my thrift-store backpack so hard that my knuckles were white. The cab of Charlie's car was warm and dry, an even greater incentive to stay there rather than face the cold and wet weather. But the many passing faces frightened me more than anything else.
Predators- every single one of them.
I was about to be shut inside a building with four hundred othe teenages. Not a very good combination for someone who's claustrophobic and afraid of people.
"You okay?" Charlie asked, switching off the engine. I could feel his worries eyes boring into me. I didn't[ have the strength to reply, even to my brother. "Got everything? Lunch money? Schedule? Locker number? Courage?"
"Where did we get the last one?" I asked. Bravery came so easily to Charlie, him being a Marine and everything.
He smiled, one of those you're-going-to-be-okay smiles that I remembered from the first moment I met him. "Hey, in a week, school will be a breeze."
Breeze. No way.
"I'm going to make you late." I realized, glancing at the clock. Charlies answered 9-1-1 calles, though Tolobie didn't have a lot, with a  population of around eight hundred.
"Go get 'um, tiger."
Tiger. Huh. I certainly didn't feel like a tiger.
I slid out fo the cab, scanning my perimeter.
Predators- all around me.

That's all I have time for, so... yeah. Maybe I'll add more later. No, Jenna at this point is not Christian in any way, shape, or form. Let's just say she has problems with the concept of God. For that matter, she has a lot of problems...
I'm sorry if I offended anyone with my casual use of hell or crap. It's Jenna's POV. I'm sorry.
Goodnight everyone. I plan on sleeping very deeply tonight. :)

NOPs, OPs, and the Others

There are two kinds of authors: NOPs, OPs, and the Others. (Yes, that was three, and yes, that was intentional.)

I still classify them as two because the Others are a strange hybrid of the two, and often are as lost as OPs and as informed as NOPs. But I am getting wayyy ahead of myself!

There are several kinds of planning- none, some, and a lot. OPs don't plan at all. Others might. NOPs always do, so there's that distinction. But the way they plan is the real divider between the two categories.

OPs are Outlining People. They get an idea and nurture it until... well, until they think they're ready to plant it. That can be days, or years. Most of the time, it's years. Outliners tend to be perfectionists, so everything has to be just right before they can do anything with their story. They have their strengths: they can add a lot of depth, and then write faster because they have a plan. However, they may or may not add years to the writing process, and then changing the story, if need be, is a disaster. OP stories tend to be plot-oriented, since outside events are forcing the main character to do this or that.

Some use the basic pen and paper outlining method. One statistic said that the average outline length for a novel (80,000 words) is 50 pages. Wow! One way I've recently heard about is using notecards, summarizing key scenes on those and then keeping them handy for whenever. Sounds good to me.

J.K. Rowling spent 5 years outlining the Harry Potter series before she wrote a single scene or made a single penny. 5 YEARS. And look how she turned out! James Patterson tells any inexperienced writer to 'outline, outline, outline', and Christopher Paolini did just that- and became a bestselling author at 17.

Then there are the NOPs. Some people call them 'seat of the pants' writers, because they just sit down and crank out a story. They just need one snippet to start- they take an idea and run with it. The benefit is that this is much simpler- hey, no need to waste paper and time outlining! One mystery author said "My readers are discovering the story for the first time- why don't I get that same suspense?" However, that same author admitted to scrapping the first 200 pages of a novel because it had been blabbering- without a plan, she didn't know where to go with her story. NOP stories tend to be character driven, since the character is what ultimately decides what happens. It's her story, anyway.

Horror legend Stephan King is a seat of the pants writer. It's no biggie- just be aware that the NOPs have their own problems.

And then there are the Others. The people who don't fit into either category.

I'm one of those people. 

Fine, fine, I'll admit it. I walk a fine line between both. I'm neck deep in my second major book (Traitors!,  The Chronicles of the Keepers) (name is a maybe) (that's a definite maybe) and I never finished my outline. I got, oh, a third of the way down the first page? To be honest, I didn't know how to outline five plot lines simultaneously, and I didn't know what to put in that outline. I knew the beginning, the backbone of the middle, and the end.

That was it.

That didn't stop me. I wrote what I knew and then started pulling things off the top of my head, whatever fit. So... am I an outliner, since I knew some of the story, or not, because I didn't know large portions of the middle?

I'm one of the Others.

My first book is definitely plot-oriented; Kohath, my main character, really has no choice in anything that happens to him. The second book, however, leans toward character driven, since I relied heavily on what I thought they would do next.

My next book, The Silver Knight, Book 1 of the Chronicles of the Keepers, (yes, I wrote them out of order. I didn't do enough back story, not enough planning. How ironic.) I'm going to try to outline. I've already started two pen and paper outlines, but now I think I'll try my hand at the notecard method. Wish me luck!

Are you a NOP, an OP, or one of the Others?

We Should Be in New York

Please withstand my complaining for a moment.

I'm tired of being sick and I'm tired of not being able to breath and I'm tired of tissues being my constant companion and I'm tired of not being able to taste anything and I'm tired of not sleeping well and I'm tired of school and I'm tired of memorizing my stupid lines and I'm tired of Playweek (and it's only been one day!) and I'm tired of not having any energy and I'm tired of the Second Book and I'm tired of having a cluttered desk and I'm tired of not having all the ingredients I need for baking and I'm tired of the cold without any snow and I'm tired of being bugged all day and...

I want to be in New York right now.

Yes, I think we should be in the freaking Big Apple.

(1) Your characters, even the most resilient ones, should whine once or twice, simply so that they don't seem divine. My mother recently told me one of my characters- his name is Aryan- seems positively inhuman because he always handles problems with the same stone face. Thus, I need to add in something to flare his emotions. Life has been doing that to me, so... yeah. Another plot twist caught me unprepared. )

2) ( or 1, if you're particular) Why should we be in New York?

Easy.

The Writers Digest Annual Conference is going on right now!!!!

And I'm not there. And you're (probably) not there. And it is really sad.

I was planning on posting about outlining and various methods of preplanning, but this only happens once a year, so here's my rant.

If you ever have the chance to go to a writing conference, GO. I'm serious, because there, you can meet agents, editors, pitch your manuscript in person, and in other words, get a jump start on your writing career. There are seminars and real live, published authors, and you can learn so much!!! And the Writers Digest Conf. is the biggest in the Western Hemisphere (or something like that) and it only happens once a year. Here's the link to the Writer's Digest site- I blow free time (and some more) reading their articles, because these people seriously know what they're talking about: http://www.writersdigest.com/GeneralMenu/

I've only heard about them, so I don't have much to say. But Randy Ingermanson, who is kind enough to help young authors with tips, etc., begs us to go to as many as we can drag our feet too. (You should sign up for his fiction writing e-zine- go here http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/ )

I had really been wanting to go this year, but because of my school's play (grumbles) I can't. I like being the student administrator, but not being in the cast. I didn't want a big part, and what did I get? Okay, enough of my complaining. And the other problem would have been finances, as in, flying myself and a parent there and back plus food and lodging, but I still wish I could have gone.

Imagine this:
You have a completed manuscript, query, and proposal.
And now you don't know what to do with them.

Hence, writing conferences. It's where you 'pitch' your novel (or whatever you write) to people who can put it in print!!!

Thus, we should all be in New York, where hundreds of writing people are doing business right now. Right now!!!

Next year in New York, eh? ;)

P.S.- I mentioned things like queries, proposals, pitching, and agents (I had no idea writers had agents until recently), even though I haven't talked about them yet. So, if you want to jump the gun, fire away in the comments section!

The next post- hopefully sometime during the week, rather than next Saturday- is going to be on NOPS and OPS and all the rest of the people who don't fit in either category. :)

Hooks (But Not For Fishing)

Last post, I wrote about plots and the basic structure of fiction. I mentioned that hooks are important, and I figured... might as well tell everyone about them now.

Hooks are meant to grab the reader by the collar cuff (or mind) and glue them to a story. A good one really gets under a reader's skin, communicating tone, voice, etc. It should hint at the plot, and Randy Ingermanson- who runs the largest fiction writing e-zine (you should sign up), authored seven or so award winning books, and wrote Writing Fiction for Dummies- says that it should tell the reader who the main character is, but heck- another rule we can ignore.

Anyway, there should be three hooks in a first chapter- the first line, the end of the first page, and the last line of the first chapter. It should ensure the reader keeps doing their job- reading. (Read the Hunger Games- I don't have it on me, so just read it. Read and learn.)

What do you think of this hook?

"It had been months since Kyle Craig had killed a man." (James Patterson, Cross Fire)

Wow. It puts you straight in the action, hinting at the plot, and intoduced the main character.

"Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of Number 4, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much."

I can't read that one (does anyone NOT know what that's from?) without smiling. :)

"Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood.
If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is: close this book right now.
Don't say I didn't warn you.
My name is Percy Jackson." (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Lightning Thief, Rick Riordan)

I know, I know- its more than one sentence, but oh well. The first page is simply so brilliant- I love that series. It doesn't matter to me that it was written for 10 year old boys- its brilliant all the same. Harry Potter was geared towards 11 year old boys, and everyone loves that. :)

"Mr. Sherlock Holmes, who was usually very late in the mornings, save upon those not infrequent occasions when he was up all night, was seated at the breakfast table." (The Hound of the Baskervilles, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

This shows a disturbance- something's up. Holmes is actually awake at a decent hour. :) 

"On the rocky islands, gulls woke. Time to be about their business." (Johnny Tremain, Esther Forbes.)

Not the greatest hook. At all. The rest of the page is talking about Boston waking up- we don't even hear about Johnny, the main character, until the second page. Put the reader straight into the action rather than showing their whole day.

"Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the story of that man skilled in all ways of contending, the wanderer, harried for years on end, after he plundered the stronghold on the proud height of Troy." (Homer, the Odyssey)

Even Homer got it right, two thousand years ago! For that matter, he probably started the whole thing... hmm... that's something to think about.

"Wind howled through the night, carrying a scent that would change the world." (Eragon, Christopher Paolini)

The argument I have against this hook is that C.P. used a very cliche phrase, and that just takes away from it. And then he doesn't introduce Eragon until the second chapter! That just annoys me. But he's still one of my most encouraging models, since he started writing fiction at fifteen and was a bestselling author at seventeen.

"Christianity, and indeed all religion, has been declared intolerant, hate filled, and the root of all war." (The Tattoed Rats, Jerry B. Jenkins and John Perrodin)

Snaps you to attention, doesn't it? It tells the premise, and slaps the reader across the face. It's a good book.

"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit... it was a hobbit hole, and that means comfort." (The Hobbit, Tolkien)

Nothing needs to be said. It's pure beauty, bringing tears to my eyes. :)

"This is a story about something that happened a long time ago when your grandfather was a child. It is a very important story because it shows how all the comings and goings between our own world and the land of Narnia first began." (C.S. Lewis, The Magician's Nephew)

Good, right?

That's probably enough- what's your favorite hook? 

(Oh- not writing related- everyone who likes action movies should watch The Green Hornet- I love Kato! It's a great action movie, just a lot of cussing.)

Plot and Structure

Every story needs a plot- that's obvious. Some people apply the basic diagram on plots- a mountain/triangle thing-a-ma-jiggy with the introduction, rising action, climax, and resolution- on every story ever introduced to mankind. Yes, it basically fits, but in full honesty, how boring is that?

I've been reading the book Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell, and you should too. He divides plot into three Acts- the Beginning, Middle, and End. Simple enough, right? To understand, sure. To apply, HECK NO.  But that comes later.

The Beginning serves several purposes besides just 'intoducing' everything. It's main job is to hook the reader into the story, to keep them reading. A very minor detail, of course. ;) There should be three hooks- the very first sentence, the last sentence on the first page, and the last sentence of the chapter. The first hook keeps the reader for the rest of the page, the second for the rest of the chapter, the last one, for the rest of the book. Hopefully. Maybe I'll go into how to write good hooks sometime, but not now.

Intoducing everything else is the easy part. The main character, the setting, and definitely the oppisition, all come into play. Set the stakes right away- start the action ASAP- because who wants to read about the normal life of Joe the Plumber? You will also want to set the tone for the story- the voice, the pace, etc. Using first person POV (point of view) does this relatively easily, but otherwise, put the main character into a position that shows their values and typical life vs. their problems. Think of it this way: if you're writing a mystery about some quiet detective who is involved in a murder, don't start out by having him speeding down some road with his arm around a supermodel, listening to some obnoxious music. That doesn't work. Put them in their place- like Tolkien did with the Hobbit. He showed Bilbo in his natural surroundings- the Shire.

However,  disaster must strike for the plot to begin. 'Disaster' is simply the term- the change, the shift, does not necessarily have to be bad. Take Harry Potter for example. The 'Disaster' is Hagrid coming to take Harry to Hogwarts. Not a bad thing at all. However, in the Hunger Games (an excellent book, btw), the disaster is the Reaping, where the main characters's sister is chosen for the Games. The Disaster must keep the protagonist in the action- he or she cannot go back to their old life.

"What you do in Act II, the middle, is write scenes- scenes that stretch the tension, raise the stakes, keep readers worried, and build towards Act III in a way that seems inevitable." You must have action. You must have action. You must have action. This is the tetter-totter of the story- will the protagonist make his/her goal? By keeping the reader hooked, you rope them into wanting the answer, wanting to know what happens next. There must be a risk- whether death or any other kind of loss. Add conflict or tension to spice up the book. Stretch the tension by describing each beat of a scene- I suppose I'll go into that in another post.

The End is where the protagonist either does or doesn't reach her goal. There's just no other way to say it. The reader should get either an 'ahh' or a depressed flood of emotion after reading the end, and that tells them whether or not the book was good. I'll go into more ends later, because "A weak ending can ruin an otherwise wonderful book, while a strong ending can redeem and otherwise mediocre book."

So plot is about the problems disturbing the main character's life, and the steps he/she takes to solve them.

Luke Skywalker starts out as a whiny farmboy, but when his aunt and uncle are killed, he has to make the choice whether or not to join Ben Kenobi and avenge their deaths.

Bella Swan moves to Forks and meets a strange boy named Edward, and falls in love with him. Will they end up getting together? (One of the cheesiest books I've ever read, I'll admit. Not a fan of romance.)

Harry Potter starts getting strange letters and goes to a Wizarding school called Hogwarts. But the Dark Lord Voldemort, who killed his parents, is looking for the Sorcerer's Stone to resurrect himself. Will Harry find it in time to thwart Voldemort?

Any disagreements? Any favorite books with strong plots? Comment away! :)

The Rules of Writing (Fiction)

When I started writing fiction, about three years ago, I thought there were rules, a set of principles to crafting the next best-seller. J.K. Rowling, Christopher Paolini, Stephen King, James Patterson- they knew these rules, and I was determined to learn the same. Three years later, I've learned one thing.

There are no rules.

One quote said something like  "Learning to write is learning the basic guidelines, then deciding when to ignore them." Another, by W. Somerset Maugham, goes "There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, nobody knows what they are." And it's true.

There are no rules.

There may not be rules, but there are definite... suggestions. Every writer has some tip, some nugget of knowledge they're willing to give the starving student. And that's what I will be blogging about: those gems in the muck of modern prose, the true form of fiction. Granted, people will have opinions and they will disagree- I bet even you will at one point or another; please, comment away. The legions of writers out there all have tools and voices, and so I hope this will become not only a help for you, as the reader, but also for me, the blogger. Writers never stop learning. It's that simple.

But you've learned the first and only rule: there are no rules. Circular, yes. Simple, yes. Easy? NOT AT ALL.

So, how's that for my first post? ;)