What I Learned from Watching BRAVE

The following is not a review. If you'd like to read a review of Brave that mirrors almost my exact thoughts, click HERE. Today's post is about how watching Brave this week helped me figure out how to fix a major error in my WIP.

I'm currently in the revision phase of this novel. I've finished the first draft. I took my break and let the story rest. Then I went through the whole thing a few hundred-thousand times (give or take) until I felt it was ready for the eyes of my beta readers.

I got my first crit back about a week ago and had the normal reaction of, WOW I CAN'T BELIEVE I SUCK SO HARD AT THIS WHY DO I EVEN BOTHER? After numbing the initial sting with a few tubs of ice cream, I could see which suggestions I agreed with and which I didn't, what to ignore and what to change. Those are cake.

Uhm... did someone say "cake and ice cream"?

I'm sorry, what were we talking about? Oh yes. Revisions.

The real trouble comes in when I receive comments and suggestions that I'm not sure what to do with. This is usually because I know the person giving the critique has made a valid point, something needs to change, but I'm frustrated because I don't know how to fix the issue.

At that point I have to step away for a while. I can't sort things out by forcing my face into it--that only works when there's cake involved. This doesn't mean it hasn't taken residence in the back of my head, though. I may not have looked at my ms for a solid week, but I had a hard time thinking about much else.

In the meantime, The Hubby, The Boy, and I went to see Brave. Overall, I liked the movie. I thought some things could have been done better, but this is Disney-Pixar. Even a "meh, could have been better" movie from them is still a professional product. And as a professionally written film it adheres to basic story structure.

My ms is not unstructured-- I made sure of that when I drafted the original outline. The problem, I discovered, is that Act I is missing something vital. Something that isn't on the framework of my outline, per se, but is crucial just the same.

It's called an adhesive. And it usually comes into play just before the catalyst. The adhesive is arguably the most important part of your setup.

As much as I love Blake Snyder's beat sheet for working out my story structure, you won't find anything about an adhesive in Save the Cat! You'll find it in another great book I highly recommend for fiction writers (even if I don't talk about it quite as much as StC), Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell. According to Bell, 

An adhesive is any strong relationship or circumstance that holds people together.

And here's the key,

If the Lead can solve the problem simply by resigning from the action, the reader will wonder why he doesn't do so.

~Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell, p. 81


The adhesive prevents the protagonist from taking an easy way out.

So combining the adhesive element with your catalyst should result in a clear reason WHY your protagonist is choosing to move forward in the way that he does. At the end of Act I, during what I call The Great Debate, it should feel like your protagonist has been backed into a corner and the only way out is to make a tough choice. This decision is what breaks the story into Act II, thrusts the characters into the meat of the premise with a sense of urgency.

Aaaand... when you're writing a contemporary romance, this is the point where you start to question your career choice. The story is about love and feelings and finding your soulmate and how do I-- rawr! Commence freakout in 3... 2... 1...

But seriously. It is much easier to back your main character into a proverbial corner when you have Protagonist Person being pursued by Antagonist Person (or Thing) and the only choice is Life or Death.

So let's get back to Brave and see how it was done there. Even though this story is heavily fantasy, the adhesive and the catalyst are not, in the physical sense, a matter of Life and Death. (why do I keep capitalizing those? is it more dramatic?)

What I'm about to say is not a spoiler, so please don't run away.

The adhesive in Brave involves Merida's strained relationship with her mother the queen. The catalyst is when her parents inform her that the other tribes are to present their first-born sons to compete for her betrothal. Merida wants nothing to do with this.

But!

She can't just walk away from the situation, she has to face it head-on. Why? Because the adhesive is her position as princess, compounded by her mother's insistence that they stick to tradition and go through with the competition regardless of how Merida feels.

This is what pushes Merida to the breaking point, so that by the time the opportunity to possibly change her fate arises, she feels she must take advantage of it. And just as important as the adhesive itself is the fact that it has a conflict at its core-- the strong opposing viewpoints of Merida and her mother. 

Will Merida die if she goes through with a traditional betrothal? Not physically, no. But what about psychologically? Remember that "death" for a character does not always mean "dead and buried." 

After ruminating on all of this, I realized my protagonist had too many opportunities to simply step away from the problem and take the easy way out. It took me about an hour of feverish scribbling in my spiral notebook to fix this, but it was worth it. I found a plausible adhesive that gave my opening the urgency it was missing. I know the novel will be better for the changes I'm making.

This is why I have a love/hate relationship with revisions.

But I'm a big girl, I can handle it... *devours more cake*

Happy revising,
~Lydia

Favorite Love Songs: "Crush" by Dave Matthews Band

So many great lyrics in this piece, and the overall rhythm and mood just makes me... *sigh*  I'll admit to some bias, though, being a violinist.

Enjoy!

See a Need, Fill a Need

For a romance between two characters to feel believable, one of the things that you must show the readers is why the characters are good for each other. The most effective way to do this is to have them each fill a need for the other.

And this won't work unless you show what those needs are before they fall in love.

So in your setup, make it clear what each character is lacking that the other can provide, even though they won't realize this until much later in the story. In my opinion, internal needs are much more effective than external ones. They pull a more emotional response from the reader.

However! What brings the two together in the first place is usually an external need, from one character or both, that they can assist each other with. Either willingly or forced. This is what leads them to spending more time with each other, which is necessary for them to see the qualities the other person possesses that fill their particular needs.

Does this sound formulaic? Well, it is and it isn't. We use this technique because it works, yet it doesn't get stale because you can do so much with it. You have unlimited possibilities you can mix and match with your characters.

Quick Tip: Most of the methods for romance-writing can be applied to friendship stories, including basic structural points in the character arcs such as "filling a need."

Of course, you can write romance in which the characters love each other because they're around each other so much they just can't help themselves. But romances like that have a way of feeling shallow (as do "we fell in love because it was prophesied that we would, so hey, let's just go with it" type of romances). If the characters have something solid between them that keeps them connected, makes them feel like they're incomplete without the other person, then readers will feel a deeper satisfaction when they reach the HEA ending.

Happy writing,
~Lydia

Weekend Movie: BRAVE

Today marks the official release of Brave.

Determined to make her own path in life, Princess Merida defies a custom that brings chaos to her kingdom. Granted one wish, Merida must rely on her bravery and her archery skills to undo a beastly curse. 

I've seen trailers for this movie every time I've visited the theater in the past few months, and every time, I lean over to The Hubby and say, "We're going to see that one." And he just smiles.

We're a bit biased, though. Yes, the story looks adventurous and moving and, possibly, a tearjerker, but the main thing The Hubby and I are looking forward to is a feature length film full of Scottish accents.

You think I am kidding. I am not. We are freaks for Scottish accents, and the last good movie we saw that fed our addiction was How to Train Your Dragon, so it's been a while. We are also huge fans of Disney*Pixar movies, and we usually only splurge on the theater for movies that allow us to bring The Boy along.

Personally (not speaking for The Hubby anymore) I'm also looking forward to the fantasy element they keep hinting at in these trailers. They never really say or show what it is, just hint at it. They get you intrigued by showing you the fun characters and not-so-common setting, then tease you by saying, "But wait! There's more! Aaaaand... you'll have to come see the movie to find out what it is."

That's smart marketing.

So who's with me on this one? Anyone else as excited as I am to see Brave? And if you've already seen it, what did you think (no spoilers, please)?

Have a great weekend!
~Lydia

Knowing When to Let Go

Yes, this is a long post. I feel like breaking the rules today.

Sometimes it's hard to know what's okay to blog about and what isn't. This is one of those posts that treads the line. During a conversation with a fellow writer a couple of months ago he asked me how I knew when to let go of each of my novels. At the time he was facing some difficult decisions with his own novel, and I could tell he needed some words of encouragement, but at the same time he didn't want those words to be sugarcoated. After sending my message (this was all via email) his reply included a comment that I should talk about this topic on my blog so that others might benefit.

It's one of those topics that is just so personal to our individual writing careers, though, and every person has a different experience. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this is just the type of post that I had in mind when I started this blog three years ago. Conservative behavior never got me anywhere in life. It's always when I risk making a detrimental move that things begin to happen. So here goes.

Right now I'm working on my fifth completed novel, and I'd tried (and failed) to get the four others before it published. But each of them had its own journey, although every path led to the same place. The proverbial trunk. The public admittance that I have that many unpublished novels is, in itself, a risky statement. Sure, other authors have publicly admitted that they wrote many, many manuscripts before getting one published.

But have you ever noticed that they don't do so until they DO have a book deal? For those of us who are still floating in publishing limbo-- not quite amateurs, but no solid credentials to call ourselves professionals yet-- if we say how many unpublished manuscripts we have lying about our writing cave, it comes off as an admittance, not of our hard work and determination, but of our incompetence.

There I said it. Because I doubt anyone else will publicly own up to that viewpoint. Most will, in fact, deny it even exists-- but those who do so the loudest are usually the worst offenders. (Why? Because they have a hard time keeping quiet about anything. They likely don't even realize how often their words hurt people they've never even met or heard of.) There is a discrimination against unpublished writers, even among our circle of support. It's subtle, subtle enough to roll off your back, but it's there.

I'm not going to dwell on this prejudice, though. That isn't the point of this post, but it is part of the internal journey we all must take on our path to publication. Not only do you have to convince yourself that you are good enough, but you must continually hide your insecurities so that no one else doubts your abilities.

The first book is the hardest to let go. It is usually written with gusto, the kind of blind passion you wish you still had when you get around to book five. The problem is, passion is only part of the equation. The other part is skill, and skill has to be learned and perfected through trial and error and YEARS of practice.

Years.

You can write a lot of pages inside of years. I've completed five novels inside of the past four years. In those same four years I also completed countless short stories and novellas, three of which have been published... and I've started even more that will likely never be finished.

This is another thing that is risky to admit in a public venue before you've become a published novelist, another thing that's not really okay to spread around until you have the tangible support of a publishing house behind your name. But this is normal for anyone who pursues creative work. In the beginning you will have abandoned more work than you complete. It's part of the learning curve.

You will get to a point where you realize both how far you've come, and far you have left to go. And, human nature being what it is, you will focus on the negative part of that realization more often than the positive part. This is the point where most writers give up. Logic gets the better of them.

Somewhere between finishing your first novel and the crossroads mentioned above, you will try (and likely fail) to get a novel published. I thought my first novel was amazing, but I understood it was in no shape for publication. I spent over a year trying to rewrite it, while working on other projects. I sent out one query letter for it, just because I was curious about how that whole process worked. I expected a form rejection and that's exactly what I got.

It wasn't until I completed my second novel that I really got tough with myself about my first baby. And trunked it. The reason I did so was not because I was giving up on that novel, though. In fact, I still have plans to resurrect it (someday). Because the problem with my first novel, as I suppose is the case for most writers at the beginning, is that my full scope of ideas for the story surpassed my own abilities to convey them.

In other words, I was ahead of myself. I hadn't yet learned how to plot and write a publishable novel. All I had was a fantasy that I'd transferred from my head to my hard drive. When I realized this, letting go of it was easy.

I'd been writing professionally for over a year by this time, and had recently started up this blog. What I mean by professionally is that I was writing with a goal toward publication, not just as a hobby. I was taking it as seriously as I would a career in any other field. So when I finished my second novel, around the same time I had my first short story published (which was a nice boost of positive energy), I went full steam ahead in my pursuit of a literary agent.

I got feedback on the novel and worked on revisions. I wrote a query letter and revised that, too. After about four months of revising my tail off, I took the plunge and started sending out batches of query letters for, what I hoped would be, my debut novel.

Letting go of novel #2 was a little more cut and dry than novel #1, but it was still difficult. After 50 queries and not a single request, I told myself this wasn't The One. This was about the same time that I'd started on novel #3.

And that's part of the key here, too. Always always always have something in-progress.

Looking back, the lack of interest in my second novel was actually the result of a combination of failures, and my own inexperience. The story wasn't marketable as a debut. I know that now. It was written better than the one before it, but not as good as it could have been. I know that now. And basically, I'd just written it for my own catharsis. I know that now.

This is where I need to stop for a moment and talk a little about catharsis. Writing, whether it be fiction or nonfiction, is an effective form of therapy. Psychologists often encourage patients to keep a journal to help sort out their feelings. Because it works. For example, a year ago my husband's doctor gave him a homework assignment to write a letter to the babies we'd lost through miscarriage, to help him release his anger and sorrow in a healthy format.

So those of us who spend a good deal of time writing are going to, perhaps without realizing it at the time, write stories that are essentially just self-therapy. There is nothing wrong with this. And if you do it at a time when your skill can help you shape the elements into a well-crafted story, then these therapy stories can even be published.

But not if you write them before your writing skill matches your need for an outlet. And that's what happened with my second novel. It was extremely therapeutic for me to write it, but I should have left it at that and moved on.

It wasn't until I finished my third novel that I saw a noticeable improvement in my abilities and my process. No surprise then that this is the novel that got the most interest from agents. Which is why this one was extremely difficult to let go.

I'm not going to get into exact numbers, but I had so many requests from agents to read this manuscript that I honestly had no doubt it would be my debut. I thought, Wow. Finally. All my hard work has paid off.

But that was 2 years ago. I'm still an unpublished novelist. That novel has been trunked. So what happened? Basically I got a lot of "almost but not quite" rejections. The ones that start off like, "You're an excellent writer, BUT..."

Those kinds of rejections have a way of making your brain ache. The emotional side of you says, "They think you're a good writer! Keep submitting! You'll find someone who loves it!" While the logical side of you says, "But but but BUT. Focus on the buts. This one isn't The One."

After so many buts, I painfully withdrew that manuscript as well. I kept that one on the query-go-round longer than the ones before it, and with good reason. People were reading it. But this book was a really good lesson in learning when to let go.

It was about this time that my blog had started gaining more popularity, I was getting offers to write for other blogs, and I'd finally sucked it up and joined the Twitterverse. My circle of support became magnanimous. I saw a lot more of what was going on in the lives of other writers. I followed their journeys. I kept writing (by now I was balls deep in novel #4, aka The Problem Child). I had my third story published. I still had hope.

Something else happened during the course of writing The Problem Child that I've never admitted to anyone, ever. I zeroed in on debut novelists. These authors had agents and book deals with major publishers and they all had their own stories of how they got to that point. Their debut novels were published, and I read them.

And some of them... I didn't think were that great. (entirely my own opinion)

They weren't horrible, no, but I'd seen just as many unpublished manuscripts from fellow writers that were just as good, if not better, and they couldn't get any interest in them. And I had a lot of interest in novel #3, but not enough for anyone to offer me a contract. So I analyzed the situations, as well as I could from an outside viewpoint. Surely someone thought these books were worth the time, effort, and money to publish. But why?

What most of them boiled down to was concept. A debut novel-- okay, any novel, but especially a debut-- has to have, above all else, a stellar concept. That's what gets people's attention. I had that with novel #3, but my writing (even though many claimed it was great) and plot construction weren't up to par yet. I know that now, looking back on it. I still had a lot to learn.

The thing is, with that particular novel, I probably could have had it published if I'd been bullheaded and kept submitting it. But I'm glad now that I didn't. I don't want people to read my debut and be disappointed with the quality of it. You can get a book published if you really really want to-- sub it to everyone you can find until someone says yes-- but is that all that you want? Just to get something published? Or do you want your debut novel to be the very best that it can be? Are you willing to admit that you're not ready, even if you've been writing for so long that you feel you're due?

Unfortunately, this milestone revelation of mine came at a time when I was writing another catharsis novel, one that didn't have a stellar concept. In the back of my head I knew this. I had this constant nagging feeling that the book wasn't going to go anywhere once I finished it, but at the same time, I had an even stronger nagging feeling that I'd never forgive myself if I didn't finish it.

This resulted in a 10-month long struggle, just to finish the first draft (for me that's ridiculously long to work on a first draft, but everyone is different so don't feel bad if 10 months is normal for you). I went through numerous rewrites before I even typed THE END. I had doubt after doubt after doubt. But I also had people read it who said it was the best thing I'd written so far.

And you know what? It was the best thing I'd written. I still think it is. But that doesn't mean it had to be published. I'm very proud of how that novel turned out. I don't regret one minute of the year I worked on it. However, I wasn't at all surprised that when I started to send out queries for that novel, no one wanted it.

Because of this, my view towards the rejections I received was so... refreshing. It was almost a relief to see them. I think, deep down, I didn't really want that novel to be published, but at the same time I wanted to hear that it was good.

Risky for me to admit that, I know. It makes me come off a bit conceited. But it's the truth. We work very hard on our stories-- it's perfectly normal to want some kind of affirmation of your worth from an objective standpoint.

A few agents were nice enough to comply by giving me personalized rejections when they didn't have to. All I'd sent was a query letter and the first 5-10 pages. They could have said no and I would have accepted it. But thanks to the ones who didn't. They gave me encouragement because they saw something in my work that was special, even if they knew it wasn't something they could sell.

Letting go of novel #4 was the easiest yet, despite how long and hard I struggled with writing it. I sent out less than 30 queries. Maybe it was even less than 20, I don't remember exact numbers. But I wouldn't say I gave up on it too quickly. I would say that I took everything I'd learned from my prior experiences and applied it to this experience, and made an informed decision. A confident decision.

It happened so quickly, in fact, that I'd pulled #4 off the market before I'd even started writing #5. I had other projects going on in between, of course, but they were not my next novel. So once I started on #5 I was able to focus all my energy on just that.

And that brings us to now. Novel #5 is undergoing its first round of revisions and beta reader feedback. Will I have to let this one go, too? My hope is always that I don't. But I never know for sure what will happen until... it happens. Part of being an author in today's publishing world is mastering the ability to adapt whenever necessary.

The bottom line is, every novel has its own journey, even novels written by the same person. They can be likened to children in that way. Children who have the same parents and grow up in the same household have a lot of similarities, but they are also unique individuals with their own unique ups and downs, and they need to be treated as such.

When to let go of your novels is something only you can decide. Others will certainly help you along the decision-making process, but the conclusions made are yours alone. And now, before this blog post becomes novel #6, it's time for me to shut up and open the floor to you all.

For those of you who have written multiple unpublished manuscripts, whether you have something published now or not, what has been your experience with learning when to let go?

Happy writing,
~Lydia

Favorite Love Songs - "The Sound of Pulling Heaven Down" by Blue October

Favorite Love Songs is a new feature that's kind of like the old feature of Tuesday Tunes, but with a focus on love songs with swoon-worthy lyrics. Enjoy!

Take a Break!

My vacations are officially over. No more play time. I'm buried in edits.

But!

Taking that break in between "first draft" and "revisions" reminded me of why it's so important to allow yourself some breathing room after you type THE END. You need that detachment.

After spending four months living and breathing this novel, I stepped away from it for three solid weeks. I didn't look at it once. Did I think about it? Of course. But what did I find myself doing when I had a few brief moments of boredom here and there while on vacay? Scribbling down notes about my next project.

By the time I sat down to work on my first pass of revisions, about a week ago, I'd become so detached from the characters and the story that I actually struggled a bit to get motivated enough to work on it. My brain was like, Wait a minute, I thought we were done with this. We're not? Well... what do we have to do to be done, because I want to be done!

Once I really got going on revisions, though, it became much more pleasant. I remembered my original vision for the piece. I remembered why I started this book in the first place. I remembered the point of my story. I remembered what I loved so much about my characters and their journey. And since I'd had some time away, when I came back to it I saw it as a whole, instead of dots that needed connecting.

Distance allows you to see the whole book and pinpoint areas that need adjustments. It allows you to be objective about your own work. In my experience, this makes your revision phase much more effective than if you jump right in like an eager beaver. The length of your break is entirely dependent on you as an individual, and the individual needs of the project. Whether it be a week, a month, a year... that's up to you, and no one can tell you you're wrong for whatever time you choose.

So my question today is, How long do you break after typing THE END? And what benefits have you noticed from doing so?

Happy Writing,
~Lydia

What I Learned from Watching Prometheus

This movie was released less than a week ago so I'll do my best not be spoilery.

I'm a huge fan of the Alien franchise. My overall feeling of blech for this movie has nothing to do with its connections to the other movies. It has nothing to do with the actors-- I felt everyone delivered their lines and characterizations very well. It has nothing to do with the cinematic effects, which were quite awesome. And it has nothing to do with how the filmmakers used this story as a medium to question human origin. That's typical of this kind of sci-fi.

My main issue with Prometheus is that the plot felt like a Jenga tower, full of holes and ready to topple at any moment. It didn't flow smoothly from one point to the next. It didn't feel organic.

To put it simply, the story movement felt forced and unnatural.

Critics of the critics, those in support of this movie, are saying that it's one of those films you have to watch a few times before you understand all the interwoven complexities. Which is fine, if it were true. I've seen plenty of movies like that. Inception, Sucker Punch, The Matrix... but all of them had something that Prometheus doesn't-- an organic plot flow.

What I mean by organic is that you can easily follow the story's movement from one point to the next, even if you don't yet understand all the details. The motives and decisions and actions feel natural to what you would expect. This doesn't mean there aren't any surprises. It means that in hindsight, everything makes sense.

Looking back on Prometheus, I'm still shaking my head in confusion over certain things. It just didn't feel right.

I can't really explain why I feel this way without giving away parts of the movie. But it all boils down to one thing, really. Understanding motives.

If a reader or viewer doesn't understand why a character is doing or deciding on a certain course of action, the entire story turns sour. And you can't prevent this by explaining motives. They have to be shown, and feel organic as the story moves along. Seamless.

One way you can pinpoint trouble areas is by enlisting the help of a trusted beta reader. I recently had a beta reader tell me that she was enjoying my story until my main character did such-and-such. After that, she lost her interest in the story and no longer felt vested in the main character's well-being or the story's outcome. In other words, she stopped caring about what happened because it didn't feel plausible anymore, because of a single course of action that didn't feel justified.

I took this comment very seriously, and ended up rewriting a good chunk of story to fix the problem.

What did I learn from this? You have to explore every possible line of thought, then shoot them all down except the one you want the character to use.

When I'm reading a book or watching a movie, the main thing that annoys me is when I can say, "Well why didn't he just do this instead of that? Then there'd be no problem!" I feel like, if I can come up with a realistic alternative on the fly, why didn't the writer think of that alternative and then do whatever necessary to make it impossible? Because if something is impossible, I won't question why the character isn't doing it.

You make things organic through their setup. So if you're having issues with the plot feeling unnatural and forced, work backwards. Start at the end result and ask yourself how many ways you can get there. The more possible paths you come up with, the more setup is required to narrow down the choices. Why would Bob go left instead of right? There has to be a reason, and that reason has to feel realistic to the character who chooses it.

In Prometheus there were reasons given for motives, but they felt rushed and shallow, thrown out at the last minute just to explain what happens in the very next frame. There was an overall lack of proper setup. Which is kind of inexcusable considering this movie is a prequel, meant to explain things we already know of in the other movies.

I know it is likely just the start of yet another group of movies, but considering that nearly everyone in this film dies (I don't think this is a spoiler because it's true to the nature of all the Alien films) it doesn't matter what happens in the next film, they won't be there. Their motives have to make sense now.

And I honestly don't think it would have taken much troubleshooting to fix this. A few bits of dialogue added here, a few unwarranted reactions cut there, and most of the issues would have been solved.

A satisfying plot has an organic flow. Organic = natural. So if someone says that something in your story feels off, unnatural, implausible, unrealistic... it's worth the effort to explore your other options. Either find a better alternative or clarify why the previous expectation is impossible.

Happy writing,
~Lydia

Last Week of Hiatus!

This week will (hopefully) be my final week of silence! I know I've been posting a bit here and there, in between my road trips, but starting next week the posts should go back to a regular routine.

"Regular" in this instance is going to be a once-or-twice-weekly post until some other areas of my workload lighten up. Summertime is difficult because I don't have the school to babysit my son keep my son occupied, plus I'm working on some major writing projects at the moment. While on hiatus I did finish the first draft of my newest novel (yay!) but the hard work of revisions is still ahead of me. We are also redecorating my son's bedroom, hoping to have that complete by the time he goes back to school at the end of August.

So. Many. Things.

Which is why this week I'm relishing the fact that I'll be at my mom's farm in North Carolina, surrounded by open landscapes, fresh air, and lots and LOTS of animals.

Here's a shot of the last time I rode a horse at my mom's, almost four years ago (yes that's really me). My mom has wooded hiking & riding trails in her backyard, you guys. Is that not awesome? The only drawback is that it's a 9-hour drive away.

That's my favorite Appaloosa, and sadly, he died of old age in my absence. Still hoping I'll get to saddle up again this week, though, it's been too long! I'll just have to try a new horse this time.

Until we meet again, happy writing!
~Lydia