Getting Somewhere

                                                                                                 Pat Zabriskie

The next nine days, we scribes, will work on chapters 4 and 5 of Wiesner’s book, First Draft in 30 Days. This experience has been challenging, instructional, perplexing, enlightening, and just plain fun. At one stage or another I’ve felt them all.

This past week I worked on “incorporating” my summary outline, scene notes, and all sorts of things into my “formatted outline.” And some days, I’ve spent time just writing scenes. Not sure where they’ll all go, but I have a glimmer of hope that these elements will indeed come together.

At this stage, the author warned us that our material may look like a big mess right now. I’m glad she said that because mine is a mess of folders and notes and scenes and sometimes I feel surrounded by giant piles of paper (I’m not), but then I make progress in getting the correct folders around me.

This semi-order suits me and I take off hither and yon where the characters or plot takes me. Then it’s fun again.

One delightful surprise has been my ability to stay at the desk and work longer than I imagined I could. Last year, I was ill and out of it. The beginning of the year marked a turnaround in my health and I’m enjoying it. But I wondered if the weariness of last year’s pain would follow me into work time. It didn’t. (Thank you, Lord.)

As a group, we’ve had interruptions and necessities intrude on our writing time, and we probably won’t accomplish the project in 30 days. Nonetheless, we expect to see completion not too long into July.

No matter, we are proving to ourselves that we can indeed work better and accomplish more with a goal and with friends sharing the experience. 

The Problem With Conflict

                                                                                  Pat Zabriskie

Would you believe I know a writer who doesn’t like to put conflict in her stories? Maybe I should say “unpublished” writer. We had quite a discussion the other day.

My friend is writing a book. I asked her if there was conflict in her book. She said no. I explained that she needs to give her leading lady some opposition. She has a goal, but things keep getting in the way in her journey to the goal.

But, no, my friend doesn’t want to give her character any problems, just breeze her way to fulfillment. I asked, “Well who would read your book?”

She had an answer. “People like me,” she said.

She believes there are people who will read “nice” stories where nothing happens. I had no more to say. She’s my friend and I want her to succeed, but she’s set in her ways.

Maybe I’m wrong, but I wouldn’t read more than a couple of pages of a book like that. A new book came in the mail yesterday. I plan to enjoy it and see how the 30 Days project we’re doing fits her outline.

The first chapter introduced us to a character who is recently divorced and shows us her flaws as we meet other characters, some who are “perfect” in her eyes. By page 26 this nice woman has been roped into being the PTA secretary which is a bed of roses—thorns predominant. The school principal is a witchy, unpopular woman. She does things without consulting the parents/taxpayers.

And, you guessed it—by page 50 the principal has been murdered.

We are launched--middle of the book coming up.

The reader has been introduced to a new neighbor, the love interest. So, besides her being bombarded by PTA parents calling and telling her things, and asking her what to do, and friends whispering about her new beau, there will be lots of scenes to take us through the middle.

That’s as far as I’ve read, but I’ll be looking for short-term goals getting thwarted and characters getting disappointed.

I’m entering the “middle” of my story outline and I’m concerned I don’t have enough to do the goal—thwart--disappointment thing over and over.

I once asked my respected mentor how you get through the middle and she said simply, “Scenes.”

So I’m off to write scenes and put my characters in jeopardy and, I hope, get through the middle.

Final Week of Words and Meanings

Symbolism-a symbol is something that stands for or represents an idea.  Symbolism is the use of these symbols: the cross, the crown, the lamb...The swastika, the hammer and sickle.

Atmosphere-the coloring or feeling that pervades a work of art: "Music steeped in the atmosphere of Old Vienna,"  "The somber atmosphere of  The Scarlet Letter."

Poetic License-a variation from regular usages and facts allowed in poetry and literature:  "In the castle where food was cream and crumpets..."

Mood-a state of mind or feeling at a particular time.  The "feel" of a piece of writing.

Tone-a manner of speaking or writing: a haughty tone, a tone of quiet elegance...

Homonym-one or two or more forms that are identical in pronunciation or spelling, but different in meaning and origin:  bear/bare; through/threw. etc.

Synonym-a word meaning virtually the same as another.

Verbs-transitive verbs transfer action from subject to object; intransitive verbs are usually in the "to be" family (is, are, will be, etc.).

Voice-active, a direct form of expression; passive, a form using past tense "was" with preposition "by."

Object-direct, receives action from verb; indirect, a person or thing indirectly affected by action of verb: "I gave John the book."  John is the indirect object; book is the direct object.

Appositive-a noun added to another noun as an explanation:  "George, the carpenter, was arrested."

Prefix-a syllable, syllables, or words put at the beginning of a word to change its meaning or to form a new word: atheist, prepaid, underline.

Suffix-an addition at the end of a word to change it's meaning or to form another word: badly, goodness, talking.

It doesn't hurt to have a little time of review.  Hope these words have helped you review some writing terms and gets you motivated to keep writing.  Until next time!  Karen Sperra

Read On                                                                Pat Zabriskie

This week’s assignment was Research. The book gave us 1-6 days. I thought, This will be a cinch. What will I do with the rest of the week. Ha!

That was before I read Chapter 4 of Wiesner’s First Draft in 30 Days. I was flabbergasted. Chapter 4 dumps us into the meat of the story. To help us there were seven worksheets. Gulp! Now I know why we were allotted six days.

One sheet deals with characters, their idiosyncrasies, unique way of speaking, favorite saying, mannerisms or tags.

Now we’re getting down to the nitty gritty. Next is a fact sheet—what somebody did and where. Then two timeline sheets, and, of course, the suspects list, followed by motives and alibis.

And I haven’t even gotten to worksheet 15 which has five pages spanning the beginning, middle and end. These pages deal with conflict, which we all know, is what moves the story along and keeps the reader turning pages.

All those, plus lots of short-term goals which are thwarted, disappointing the characters, who react, letting us see more deeply into them.

I hate to distress my characters, but without conflict there’s no story—so I’ll be wrestling with these worksheets and putting my beloved characters up a tree, through the wringer, up the creek without a paddle, and down the tubes.

If we all survive, I’ll talk to you next week.

Words and Meanings A Writer Should Know II

Epigram-a saying that is more specific in occasion and more personal in wisdom or application: "Still waters run deep,"  "The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it."

Maxim-a saying that offers moral advice: "Neither a borrower nor a lender be."

Antithesis-direct opposite: "To err is human, to forgive, divine."

Rule Of Three-balance in writing: faith, hope, charity; body, soul, and spirit; I came, I saw, I conquered.  She had a Bible, a set of good boots and a faithful mule.

Parallelism-likeness, similarity, in grammatical form:  "He was advised to rise early, to work hard, and to eat heartily."

Rhyme-using words that sound alike.

Consonance-any speech sound that is not a vowel.  Poe:  "The sweet Lenore has gone before."  "Martha DePue, we're glad to have you."

Assonance-a substitute for rhyme in which the vowels are alike but the consonants are different:  "brace-vain, lone-show, man-hat, penitent-reticent."

Euphony-pleasing sounds to the ear.  Sounds to favor utterance:  "On the road to Mandalay, where the flying fishes play, and the sun comes up like thunder outter china crost the bay."  "She was down right smart, had a honey of a heart."

Cacophony-discord, harsh, clashing sounds.  "A cacophony of shots, shouts and screams came through only as a savage sort of overture."

I hope these are helping you in your writing.  Until next week!    Karen Sperra

What A Week!

This week four members of Six Rural Writers group embarked on a fascinating journey. Each of us is writing a book.

Each of us began with a fat folder of notes and some chapters or scenes written. One writer had written hers all the way through, but it came up short.

We chose First Draft in 30 Days by Karen S. Wiesner as our guide. And boy, has she put us to work! I had character sketches in my files, but Ms. W. had a worksheet that asked for information I hadn’t even thought of.

Oh, I had a picture of my hero in my mind, but I didn’t know his background. I only knew one inner conflict he had. I didn’t ask him what his external conflicts were.

I had a foggy notion of what the setting was. It involved a 1700s house and an old theatre on an estate, but where was it? And in what year does my story occur?

Next came research. I knew I’d have to do that, and I’m sure glad for the internet. I’ve already found such interesting material. In the first chapter, I was instructed to make a Research List.  How would I get all that done? Not to worry, the next chapter gives me 1-6 days for research. No sweat. This will be fun. Maybe I’ll make house plans of the mansion and the theatre. Pictures from the internet anyhow, so that when my character walks into the “drawing room,” I’ll know what kind of antique footstool he falls over.

Then came Plot Sketch. Okay, I got that one down. What’s this on the worksheet—Story Goal, Romantic Thread, Subplot Threads 1-7, Plot Tension, Release, Downtime, Black Moment, Resolution?

No, I don’t have that thought out. I thought the plot sketch would be like back cover copy, the gist of the story. But I did the worksheet, and now I know a lot more about my story. I have six subplots running through the book. I’m even more interested in the story now.

I’ve had this material in a drawer for a number of years—didn’t know how to proceed. Thought it would take forever. But just after a week, the pages I’ve produced and the information I’ve gained, tell me that if I keep working this, I will indeed have a rough draft in 30 days.

I’ll let you know how it’s going next week.

What A Week

This week four members of Six Rural Writers group embarked on a fascinating journey. Each of us is writing a book.

Each of us began with a fat folder of notes and some chapters or scenes written. One writer had written hers all the way through, but it came up short.

We chose First Draft in 30 Days by Karen S. Wiesner as our guide.

And boy, has she put us to work! I had character sketches in my files, but Ms. W. had a worksheet that asked for information I hadn’t even thought of.

Oh, I had a picture of my hero in my mind, but I didn’t know his background. I only knew one inner conflict he had. I didn’t ask him what his external conflicts were.

I had a foggy notion of what the setting was. It involved a 1700s house and an old theatre on an estate, but where was it? And in what year does my story occur?

Next came research. I knew I’d have to do that, and I’m sure glad for the internet. I’ve already found such interesting material. In the first chapter, I was instructed to make a Research List.  How would I get all that done? Not to worry, the next chapter gives me 1-6 days for research. No sweat. This will be fun. Maybe I’ll make house plans of the mansion and the theatre. Pictures from the internet anyhow, so that when my character walks into the “drawing room,” I’ll know what kind of antique footstool he falls over.

Then came Plot Sketch. Okay, I got that one down. What’s this on the worksheet—Story Goal, Romantic Thread, Subplot Threads 1-7, Plot Tension, Release, Downtime, Black Moment, Resolution?

No, I don’t have that thought out. I thought the plot sketch would be like back cover copy, the gist of the story. But I did the worksheet, and now I know a lot more about my story. I have six subplots running through the book. I’m even more interested in the story.

I’ve had this material in a drawer for a number of years—didn’t know how to proceed. Thought it would take forever. But just after a week, the pages I’ve produced and the information I’ve gained tell me that if I keep working this, I will indeed have a rough draft in 30 days.

I’ll let you know how it’s going next week.

Words and Meanings a Writer Should Know

I received a lot of useful information when taking my writers correspondence course.  Over the next few weeks I am going to share a list of words and meanings that every writer should know that came in my starter kit.  It never hurts to review and learn something new.

Metaphor-words ordinarily meaning one thing used to describe another: "A copper sky."

Simile-a metaphor using the words "like" or "as."

Onomatopoeia-words that sounds like the action they represent: pop, sizzle, gurgle, boom, bubble...

Alliteration-a series of like consonants or vowels used in a row: shiny sails at sunset; Take the ravel out of travel.

Tautology-redundancy, using more words than necessary.   Surrounded on all sides, nodded his head, vacillating back and forth...

Personification-giving human characteristics to inanimate objects.

Synecdoche-a figure of speech in which a part is put for the whole or the whole for a part: "A factory employed 500 hands..." "He had a Piccasso in his living room."

Metonymy-a figure of speech that consists in using the name of one thing for that of another which it naturally suggests.  "The pen(power of literature) is mightier than the sword(force)."

Oxymoron-a figure of speech in which words of opposite meaning or suggestion are used together: "Cruel kindness," "Make haste slowly."

Litotes-a figure of speech that makes an assertion by denying its opposite: "This was no small storm."  "It is not inappropriate to move ahead in the line."

Hyperbole-exaggeration: "I could eat a horse."

Aphorism-a saying to convey general truths or tenets:  "A living dog is better than a dead lion."