Norman in the Painting, Chapter Three when Norman disappears again:
“A strong waft of air swooped into the space. Jill, with eyes closed as her hair blew into her face, clasped the edge of the desk . She couldn’t hang on any longer and fell to the floor.”
Filed under Norman in the Painting
When you first started writing, what form did you use–short stories, poetry, memoir, or a novel?
In middle school, I chose short stories and I still like to write them. Next I wrote a few novels, and then poetry. In the afternoon writing class I teach, we are writing a Haiku twice a month based on a photo members take turns bringing to class.
My preferences for short stories and poetry affect my novel writing. The shorter forms make it necessary to be aware of exactly the right words to use and to eliminate too much detail. I’ve discovered that when building character in a novel, choosing the right words is more complicated. One has to think about interspersing physical description, feelings, thoughts, and how to show a deeper, rather than a superficial character.
In my novel, Norman in the Painting, I think I’ve created minor characters that have more personality than the protagonist. I’ve written a post-a-note to remind myself to deepen Jill. She’s the center of the action, readers learn about her values by her dialogue and by the decisions she makes. However I sense she’s hiding something or resisting a close relationship with the reader. I’ll have to figure out why.
What is your favorite form to write?
Filed under Writing Tips
If any of your characters are addicted to being right, they would rather be right than happy. They have to have the last word in an argument and proving their point of view takes precedent over listening to others. Even after being shown they are wrong, they still search for ways to prove their point of view.
Characters that are always right are often eloquent, but they actually are stuck. Their focus is on making sure the other character understands why they are right. They explain over and over because they think the disagreeing character doesn’t realize why they are right. They need approval and appreciation. They have to be in control.
Low self-esteem and a lack of open-mindedness and willingness to listen to others’ beliefs underlie the need to be right. Contrary ideas frustrate them. Being right all the time is tiring. It demands an ability to distort facts, to make excuses, to delude themselves and to blame others.
Friedrich Nietzsche said, “Convictions are more dangerous foes of truth than lies.”
James Russell Lowell said, “The foolish and the dead alone never change their opinions.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “People do not seem to realize that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character.”
In my multidimensional mystery novel, Norman in the Painting, Reggie, the antagonist, is addicted to being right and he will threaten and kill to be in control. Jill was attracted to his eloquence until, too late, she discovered his flaws.
Do you have a character addicted to being right?
Information from Louis A. Tartaglia, M.D. Flawless!
Filed under Characters
Sagging middles in writing novels can be a mess. Often everything gets thrown into the middle while the plot goes around in circles. New characters or too many characters flounder, back story info dumps create road blocks, tension disappears, dialogue goes on and on by characters who are in their heads instead of taking action, and readers put the book down.
How to fix it? Try thinking of your middle in three parts, beginning, middle, and end. In the beginning of the middle, increase tension, create more conflict. Be sure there are hooks to keep the reader reading. In the middle of the middle, take out info dumps, sub-plots that aren’t needed, minor characters that are distracting and don’t support the plot, and take out dialogue that is unnecessary. The end of the middle should be close to the dark moment. Tension is at a high point, up the stakes for the main character, make the odds seem impossible, include a shock, a surprise, or twist. Check all the events and relationships to be sure the cause and effect chain makes sense and builds to the climax. Above all, avoid aimlessness. Good luck.
Filed under Writing Tips
Elmore Leonard states in his book, Ten Rules of Writing, “Never open a book with weather.” He explains that the reader looks for people and will skip ahead to find them if the author writes on and on about the weather.
Sheldon Siegel, author of several modern legal novels, spoke at the California Writers Club, Tri-Valley Writers Branch, on September 20th. Among the many topics he addressed, one was “Setting/Mood–A Sense of Place” in which he said setting is important to orient the reader right away. He suggested writers include “What time of year? What season? What’s the temperature? Is it raining? Snowing?” He advised using all the senses especially smell.
I think Leonard would agree with Siegel if a writer can use those answers to not just create atmosphere, but to show the character’s reaction to the weather and to write it with as few words as possible. When I read a book, I like to know the season and weather conditions, especially if the scene is outdoors. I admire writers who can slip those details into the story without making them sound like description, but to help the reader feel, smell, and hear, what is around the character and react along with him or her.
How do you feel about reading or writing about weather in the first paragraphs?
Filed under Writing Tips
The blog hop continues with Vi Moore, one of the writers I tagged.
Tag was a childhood game that taxed my running skills. I did my best to stay out of reach of the person who was “it,” but my short legs were no match for my long-legged nephews and friends. When the tagger touched me, he yelled “You’re it!”
When Julaina Kleist-Corwin tagged me in a blog hop, I didn’t run. I accepted the challenge. Meet Julaina.
Julaina Kleist-Corwin
Julaina Kleist-Corwin teaches creative writing for the City of Dublin, California and has been a presenter at the San Francisco Writers Conference. Julaina has won several short story contests. Her work is published in The California Writers Club Literary Review, Harlequin’s 2012, 2013 Christmas anthologies, and other collections. She writes Women’s Fiction, YA, and multidimensional romantic mysteries.
In Norman and the Painting, the man of Jill’s dreams appears out of a painting. Jill has to discover how to keep him from constantly…
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I’ve been invited to participate in a Character BlogHop. What’s that, you ask? Well, I’m going to introduce you to one of my characters from the current manuscript I am working on, the second in my Keeper series. I say “one of my characters” because my stories involve several characters at one time, and I don’t want to introduce someone who may be a spoiler for any reader who is reading my first novel, The Keepers of Éire. Today, you’ll meet Devan. But before that, let me give a shout out to Julaina Kleist-Corwin, the writer who tagged me for this bloghop.
Julaina Kleist-Corwin is editor for her anthology, Written Across the Genres. She teaches creative writing for the City of Dublin, California. She has won several first place awards in short story contests. Her work has been published in the 2014 CWC Literary Review and Harlequin’s 2012…
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How do authors write their novels? I’ve included some examples. Who are plotters and who are pantsers?
Katherine Anne Porter said, “If I didn’t know the ending of a story, I wouldn’t begin…I always write my last line, my last paragraphs, my last page first.”
“I start at the beginning, go on to the end, and then stop.” Anthony Burgess
Vladimir Nabokov used index cards to lay out the story, then he expanded and rearranged the cards before he started writing the novel.
Filed under Quotes for Writers
The beginning of a novel establishes a question. For example in Norman in the Painting, the question is, will Jill be able to help Norman remain in 3D? More questions follow, since it’s a romance, will Jill and Norman develop a relationship? The story involves mystery as well. Who is committing the murders in town? But the most important question is whether Norman can live outside of the painting or not.
The plot line leads to the climax, the resulting answer to the beginning question.The climax may have multiple actions, but the protagonist not only must be in the center of the action, he or she has to perform the main action. Jill meets many challenges along the arc but at the end, she will have to make the difference in whether Norman will stay or not.
Filed under Writing Tips
Novels today are tighter than Nineteenth-century novels, for example. With busy lifestyles readers now want the writer to stick to the point instead of going off on tangents and filling pages with descriptions and conversations that may be well-written but aren’t relevant to the plot.
Writers are expected to use every item, every conversation, every description, everything that is written to further the plot. Ford Madox Ford said “Not one single thread must ever escape your purpose.”
Every cause will have an effect. Maybe not immediately, maybe several chapters later, but the effect will be a believable result from a cause. Yet, fiction can appear to digress at times. But all pieces of the plot puzzle have to fit, which includes objects, dialog, setting, minor characters, subplots, everything must have significance in the story. A writer is always moving the story forward. Seemingly casual events let the reader relax in some parts, unaware that the plot continues with the writer’s clever strategy. What looks like asides are, as Ford said, “the art which conceals your Art.”
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Julaina Kleist-Corwin 