Write Early. Write Often…Write Something!

Close, so close…

Finished 3800 words. Seventeen pages. All good stuff, but then DH read it over and where he has problems I have holes. Not exactly back to the starting line up. He marks the parts he likes.

So, apparently, according my first reader there's too much stuff and not enough clues. I don't need to start over he says, I just need to start better, sooner, faster. Let me know, he says, that there's a problem.

Well, duh, I respond. I thought I did. Nope. Didn't, he says.

So. If he can't get it, nobody else will either. And he knows the whole story.

A new beginning and wondering how many of those 3800 words and seventeen pages will survive.

Revealed

Yes. Yes. It's all about me. That's what Amy Koss said in her workshop at the LA Conference. If you're stuck for what your character should be doing don't look outside, look deep within. What do I want? How do I want it?

 I could wax highly philosophical here, but we're talking about writing. So. What do I know? Wait. First. What did I know before this revelation revealing discussion? 

 I know the character must grow. Nancy does grow. As a detective. But as a human being? Sketchy at best, I'd say. I know the character must be three-dimensional. They have to be more than the sum of all their good parts. They have to be conflicted, to a greater or lesser degree depends on the age level of the MC and the type of book you are writing.

 Gordon Korman talked about the fact that edgy will be moving from YA to MG. The question is how? Will it be in realism? Will it be in conflict?  

Revelation

So. What do I know? I know I love plot above all else. The more complicated the better. Why? Because when I grew up we were not encouraged to be wrapped up in ourselves. Not in my family at least. To focus on me, myself and I was not desirable. As traits go it was to be shunned. Could I assess blame? Yep. However, the take-away is not to blame but to understand.

It never occurred to me, reading Nancy Drew, that I should be worried about her feelings. Did she like what she was doing? Well, she must have otherwise ol' self-reliant Nancy would have changed the mix. Did she feel put upon by all the pressure of having to solve those mysteries? Probably not. She was helping. She was making life better for others, people without the resources to make their lives better themselves. Humm…sounds like what we really want. But…do we?

 

Full Disclosure

Character comes hard to me! Not that I don't appreciate a well-drawn character. I do. Not that I don't think a strong character is important to a story. I do. Not that I don't want readers to engage fully with the main character. I do. That's not the point. I've spent the last several days going back to the original Nancy Drew books. The ones I read in that corner of my room.

 Nancy Drew. Just picture her. Young. Attractive. Well-spoken. Affluent. Self-confident. Independent. Fully supported by her dad, the well-known, and equally accomplished and distinguished attorney, Carson Drew. Nancy had her own car at eighteen––a birthday present and [woohoo!] a convertible. There is a housekeeper who has food in the kitchen, food on the table and manages the household leaving Nancy and Carson free to engage in other peoples business which mostly occurs as helping those poor unfortunate souls who do not have the wherewithal to solved their own problems.

 Yep. Nancy Drew or Judy Bolton, or Cherri Ames or Vicki Barr. All of came from similar upper middleclass circumstances. Those were the mysteries that were available in the 50's and 60's when I was reading behind my bed. [see previous post <grin>].

 

My Journey begins…

Seems rather cliche, but the SCBWI LA conference was amazing. Last year I attended Linda Sue Park's Scene Building Master Class. I came home and followed the process of 3 X 5 cards and a cork bulletin board and lo, unto me came a new way to put my scenes together and, even according to my critique partners, yep, it was a better job. 

So, when I went to this conference, since the book was done, I decided to use MRDR MYSTRI as the filter by which I would choose my breakout sessions and take notes. And that was an inspired choice for which I take little or no credit, leaving that preening to my ever present guardian angel who has stood by me these many years and probably the real reason I am alive today--okay whole other story, but you get the idea. 

I am always so impressed with a writer to has figured out the process of writing. Not just the way they do it, but if they wish to change genre or reach across the spectrum I want to know that they have struggled with how to develop, design and complete a manuscript that's a challenge. 

As I begin this third revision of the revised 15th draft :) I want to chronicle my path. What did I pay attention to? Why did I make this or that choice? Did I take risks with my character? Did I give her room to grow and to fail? And then maybe, just maybe this edition of MRDR MYSTRI [if it even holds onto that title] will not only be better than it is, but I will have found a process that serves me. 

Thankful…

Mid point in the Thanksgiving weekend, at the end of the month of November and YES! I almost have it nailed. Came home from LA conference with a full brain of scenes and plans and promises. Got started and had to stop for the fall conference. Went back to work and stopped for the revision class. My fault, I think I have AADD, adult-on-set attention deficit disorder. But all to the good now.I did break MRDR MYSTRI down into scenes and then put it back together again. Eureka! It worked. It's moved from a ten day book to a five day book. So REVISION is done. We're moving on to EDIT. Are there mistakes? Is the chronology working? Have I answered all the important questions [excepting the solution to Jamie Getz's cat, of course. That's a whole 'nother story, short story.] Finished off December 20, today. On to 12/21 and 22 tomorrow. Hopefully by the time we leave here on Monday I'll have finished the book. Set it aside for a week and then re-read. Mayhaps my dear Soup will read as well!

And then on Tuesday off to The Redemption Series. I think I've figured out how to make the story line work without the adult voice, but keeping the nine year old boy. We'll see, but oh, it's all so exciting.

Sláinte
Teresa Fannin