By: Livia Blackburne
You could say that fiction is about pain. When you boil them down, stories describe characters taking hits and trying to emerge as unscathed as possible. Neighborhood under attack by zombies? Run hard and hope you have some painkillers on hand if they catch you. Or what if it’s actually a friendly, attractive zombie who loves you? In that case, it’s all good -- until you realize that mortals and undead can never be together. Oh the agonies of unfulfilled love!
So stories and torment come hand in hand. As a reader, you’re with the characters, empathizing with their struggles and hoping for a happy ending. How does this work? What is it in our brains that lets us understand other people’s pain? Well I'm glad you asked, because neuroscientists have made some progress on this question.
How do you study empathy and pain? One current technique involves electric shocks and people who love each other.
Neuroscientist Tania Singer came up with a clever experiment. She recruited women with their significant others. Singer put the woman inside an fMRI brain scanner while the significant other sat outside. Both participants were connected to electrodes capable of administering a painful shock. (Now before my fellow neuroscientists accuse me of ruining our reputations, I should emphasize that these participants were paid handsomely and had the option to stop the experiment at any time.)
Throughout the experiment both the woman and her partner received shocks, and a computer screen indicated who was getting the painful treatment. Singer found that a certain network of brain regions in the woman’s brain activated when she was in pain. But what happened when the significant other was shocked instead? The same network lit up when the woman knew that her partner was getting shocked. It turns out that we process other people's pain with the same brain regions that we use to process our own.
This kind of makes sense. Think about the last time you read a passage about a painful experience. Depending on how engaging the writer was, you might have felt like you were suffering alongside the character. But that's not the whole story. Many people suffer in stories, but we’re not always upset about it. What happens if the person in pain is someone we don't like?
Singer and colleagues did another study asking that question. This time, they had participants play a game before the brain scan. Unbeknownst to the participants, some players in the game were actually actors working with the scientists. One actor's job was to play the game fairly, while the other actor’s job was to play in an obviously unfair way. You can guess which actor was more popular.
Then it was off to the scanner again. The real participant went inside the scanner, while the two actors sat outside. Again, shocks were delivered, and the computer screen indicated who was receiving the shock.
This time, the results depended on whether the participant was a man or a woman. Both genders had empathy-related brain activation when the fair player was in pain. However, the men had less empathy- related activation when the unfair player was shocked. What’s more, they had increased activation in reward-related brain areas when the unfair player got shocked. The men actually enjoyed it when the unfair player was in pain (“Bastard had it coming!”). After the experiment, Singer asked the men to rate their desire for revenge toward the unfair player. It turns out that amount of reward-related brain activation in men correlated with their desire for revenge. In guys at least, it seems that the response to someone else's pain depends on whether or not that person deserved it.
Now as with all studies, we should remember that this is only one data set and it needs to be replicated. Also, note this study does not distingui
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By: Nathan Bransford,
on 10/12/2010
Blog: Nathan Bransford (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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By: Nathan Bransford,
on 9/27/2010
Blog: Nathan Bransford (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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Oh, to title a chapter or just go ahead and call it Chapter 72. One of the perennial questions facing any writer.
Do you notice chapter titles when you're reading? Do you like them? Dislike them? Not even realize they're there?
Where do you stand?
If you're reading in an RSS reader or via e-mail, please click through for the poll:
By: Nathan Bransford,
on 9/9/2010
Blog: Nathan Bransford (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: writing advice, Dialogue, How to Write a Novel, Add a tag
Here are a few ideas on what makes good dialogue work:
1. Good dialogue is not weighed down by exposition
When the dialogue is carrying exposition and trying to tell the reader too much, characters end up saying a lot of very unnatural and unwieldy things. You'll see things like:
"Remember that time we stole the frog from Miss Jenkins and she ended up giving us two hours of detention and that's how we met?"
"Yeah, totally! And now we're in 6th Grade and have to dissect frogs for our science project, which is due tomorrow. I don't know how we're going to get it finished in time."
So much of this dialogue would already be already apparent to the characters. They'd know how they met without having to talk about it, they'd know they're in 6th grade without having to talk about it, they'd know the science project is due without talking about it. So it's very clear to the reader that they're not talking to each other: they're really talking to the reader.
Exposition and dialogue only really mesh when one character genuinely doesn't know what the other character is telling them and it's natural for them to explain at the moment they're explaining it. Otherwise, if you're just trying to smush in info, your reader is going to spot it a mile away.
2. Good dialogue has a purpose and builds toward something.
Sometimes you'll see characters in novels bantering back and forth in a way that is meant to reveal character or fill space. Unless it's just so insanely unbelievably clever that the writer makes it work, usually this feels hollow and, well, boring.
A good conversation is an escalation. The dialogue is about something and builds toward something. If things stay even and neutral, the dialogue just feels empty.
Characters in a novel never just talk. There's always more to it.
3. Good dialogue evokes the way people actually talk in real life without actually sounding precisely like the way people talk in real life.
Paraphrasing Elmore Leonard, good writers leave out the boring parts. This goes doubly for dialogue: it's usually best to cut to the chase rather than spending time on the pleasantries that normal people use in everyday conversation.
In real life our conversations wander around all over the place, and a transcribed real life conversation is a meandering mess of free association and stutters. In a novel, a good conversation is focused and has a point.
And in a novel, dialect, slang, and voice is used sparingly. Just a hint of flavor is enough. As my client Jennifer Hubbard wrote, "good dialogue sounds like conversation, but is not an exact reproduction of conversation."
4. Good dialogue reveals personality, and characters only very rarely say precisely what they are thinking.
Human beings are not very articulate creatures. Despite all the words at our disposal, words tend to fail us at key moments, and even when we know what we want to say we spend a whole lot of time trying to describe and articulate what we feel without being quite able to do it properly. We misunderstand, overemphasize, underemphasize, grasp at what we mea
By: Nathan Bransford,
on 8/17/2010
Blog: Nathan Bransford (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: How to Write a Novel, Staying Sane While Writing, writing advice, Add a tag
I want to write a novel, I think I can write a novel, but for the love of Tim Gunn, how in the world do you write a novel?
And that brings us to the most important advice I can offer in this How to Write a Novel overview. If you try and hold the entire novel in your head all at once and attempt to imagine it in its entirety and all of its various ins and outs, your brain will suddenly become so heavy that you will topple over backwards and pass out.
Don't be intimidated by the bigness of the task. As the great Donald Trump would say: It is a 'UGE task. 'uge. The best thing you can do is to break a novel up into some comprehensible components that you can think about in a coherent fashion and try as hard as you can not to be intimated.
Contrary to the myth of the writer sitting down blindly and letting their inspiration spill onto the page, whether you're a thorough outliner or an adherent to the school of write-as-you-go-I'll-edit-later, I highly recommend having at least a rough sketch of the below elements in place before you sit down and type "Chapter 1: It was a dark and stormy night."
The Main Plot Arc
This right here is the spine of the book. It's what happens, it's what you build around, it's the main event. When people ask you what your book is about, this is what you tell them.
I like to think of every novel, whether it's literary fiction or genre fiction, as a quest: Every quest has:
1) a starting place
2) a first step
3) a journey (the biggest chunk of the novel)
4) an ending
Take a look at all of your favorite novels - they have a starting place, then something sets the main character's world ajar, then the character embarks on a literal or figurative journey with significant obstacles, and then an ending, where the character either ends up somewhere new or ends up back where they started but irrevocably changed.
There are millions of variations on this quest, whether it's a journey through the mind, battling personal demons, or flying through outer space, but every single novel is about a character or characters who start in one place and end up somewhere else. That journey, physical or emotional or hopefully both, is the heart of the novel.
(For further reading):
Do you have a plot?
Archetype vs. Cliche
Along the quest, the characters face...
Obstacles of increasing intensity, with ups and downs
If the most challenging obstacle your main character faces happens in the first half of the book: the reader will be bored in the second half. If your character gets everything they want and always has "up" moments: the reader will be bored with the predictability. If your character only has "down" moments and things get steadily worse and worse with no hope whatsoever: your reader will either be horrifically depressed or start to think everything is unintentionally funny.
Whether the main obstacle is an arch-villain, their own personal demons, or
By: Darcy Pattison,
on 10/20/2009
Blog: Darcy Pattison's Revision Notes (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: author, progress, NaNoWriMo, first drafts, first draft, how to write a novel, word count, writing career, finish, write a book, Add a tag
NaNoWriMo and the Evolution of a Writer
Guest post by Beth Cato.
Follow her NaNoWriMo progress at her blog, Catch a Star if It Falls.
For years I dreamed of being a published writer, but I didn’t actually write anything. I had plenty of excuses – college, a full-time job, marriage – but I couldn’t stop that yearning to create stories. NaNoWriMo changed everything.
NaNoWriMo
National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo is described a a writing contest with no rules, no judges and no awards; winning manuscripts are deleted. The goal is to write 50,000 words during the month of November. Of the 120,000 writers who start, about 18% complete the 50,000 words. There are special NaNoWriMo rules for schools that participate.
NaNoWriMo offered a firm deadline and a supportive community, but most of all, it taught me discipline. If I could write 2,000-words-a-day during a November, I could do it all year long. If I dared to post excerpts of my novels-in-progress, I could work up the nerve to submit my work to agents and editors. But it’s been a gradual process, and it reflects my personal maturity as well as the maturity of my writing.
8 Years of Writing
2002
Too afraid to start a work from scratch, instead I wrote a fictionalized autobiographical piece about a disastrous family trip that took place when I was ten. About a week into the November, I posted on the NaNoWriMo forums and declared myself a failure. I was working ten-hour shifts four nights a week, and I was far too tired to write when I got home. My fellow writers encouraged me to keep going. I did. I forced myself to type 5,000-7,000 words on each of my nights off and I made my goal.
2003
I dove into my first original novel effort about a ghostly unicorn, an abused girl, and selkies. No outline, no real plot. I felt tremendously proud of achieving my 50,000-words, but when I re-read my work a few months later, and I was stunned to find it made little sense and my heroine had zero personality. Ouch.
2004
My husband was on full naval deployment and I was entering my second trimester of pregnancy. Writing was a bit tricky since I felt nauseous if I sat at the computer for more than thirty minutes at a time. I somehow fulfilled my 50,000-word goal for MOUSE, and the novel wasn’t even close to completion.
2005
With my husband gone again, an infant crawling underfoot, and under the burden of constant fatigue, I resolved to finish MOUSE. But when my husband returned home partway through the month, I stopped writing at 38,000 words. I didn’t have the energy to walk to the mailbox, much less type.
2006
I was not going to fail again. I did most of my writing via a laptop while my son watched his two favorite TV shows – Sesame Street and The Price Is Right. The story wasn’t done when we went on a Thanksgiving trip to California, so I brought the laptop along and finished the novel at my parents’ house. I did it. For the first time, I felt I had something that might be publishable.
2007
Queries for MOUSE led to agent rejections, but I wasn’t giving up on the dream. THE LOCKED DOOR followed the cross-dimensional adventures of a disillusioned Navy wife. I finished my 50,000 words on November 19th, and then completed the novel in January. I learned my lesson: now I was going to write and edit all year long, not just in November.
2008
After the concept for NORMAL came to me in a dream, I knew this plot would mean trouble. I began researching in May and read and bookmarked my way through five books on anatomy and emergency medicine. Full chapter outlines and character biographies guided my writing, and my word count exploded. In twenty-four days I churned out 74,000-words on my superhero urban fantasy, NORMAL. I finished writing the novel in January and February, and after receiving critical professional feedback, rewrote the entire thing in autumn 2009.
2009
I intend to start on a sequel to NORMAL. I may be a slow learner, but I’m getting better every year.
Lessons from NanoWriMo
What have I learned from slogging through this masochistic ritual
every year since 2002?
- Don’t give up.
- Write when you can. Think out plots while exercising, showering, changing diapers. Jot down notes.
- Set high word count. For NaNoWriMo, the basic daily word count goal is 1,666. Aim higher. I give myself a minimum of 2,000 words a day. It’s worth it to have a safety buffer in case of busy or sick days.
- No time to be stuck. There isn’t time to suffer from writer’s block. If you’re stuck, skip the scene. You can go back and flesh it out later.
- Quantity. NaNoWriMo is about quantity, not quality. First drafts stink. That’s what editing is for.
The tears, carpal tunnel, and sleep deprivation are worth the effort. Nothing compares to seeing that completed progress bar on the NaNoWriMo site. “I wrote a novel. I did it. I made the time. I’m an author.” Once you experience that high, you’ll understand why suckers like me keep coming back every year.
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By: Darcy Pattison,
on 10/16/2009
Blog: Darcy Pattison's Revision Notes (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: how to write a novel, outline, confidence, NaNoWriMo, plan, resource, first drafts, first draft, revise, Add a tag
Review of
Nail Your Novel by Roz Morris
British author and writing teacher Roz Morris has a new book out just in time to help you with that first draft of your new novel. You know, the one you’re going to write in November for National Novel Writing Month, better known as NaNoWriMo.
Hiccups in your Confidence and Motivation
Morris writes with great wit and wisdom about the writing process, starting with those awkward moments when you actually admit, “Yes, I’m, uh, writing, well, you know, something a bit longer. Maybe, a, uh, a novel.”
Writing always begins here, by acknowledging the writer as a person with the usual insecurities. Morris address this directly by providing you with some structure. No, structure isn’t for everyone, but for beginners, structure can be a comfort and save them a lot of time. Her process involves a series of tasks, breaking down the process into smaller steps:
- Task 1: Shaping your inspiration
- Task 2: Starting this specific novel
- Task 3: Focused research
- Task 4: A structural survey for you novel
- Task 5: Detailed synopsis
- Task 6: How to free your muse and turn off your inner critic
- Task 7: Before you look at your manuscript again
- Task 8: The beat sheet game
- Task 9: Revising your manuscript
- Task 10: Your submission process
Help for NaNoWriMo writers
Authors embarking on the month-long adventure of writing 50,000 words in November will appreciate the first few tasks. Morris gives you direction on how to thicken the plot, find inspiration, decide what does NOT belong in the book, accept random input, and generally get the overall story thought out.
Research (Task 3) can flesh out details further:
“Research might throw up all sorts of interesting situations. For instance, I was commissioned to write a novel about people selling kidneys in India. Reading about the poverty in the villages inspired the start of the story – a young girl decides to sell her kidney to get her family out of debt. Of course, once she’s in the clutches of the butchers, she changes her mind, poor love. Meanwhile, her family are desperate to get her back.”
Overall, Morris’ experience enhances the book. This is a process she is intimately acquainted with and daily practices. Even if you’re experienced, I recommend the book as a review for concepts you already know. Because I think you’ll also find some unexpected nuggets. And for more nuggets, read Roz Morris’ blog, Dirty White Candy (Yes, a strange name for a blog, you say. Morris explains it on her home page). Example of her posts: How to Make Readers Root for Your Character
NaNoWriMo Special!
For three weeks, until 21 October, you can download the e-book of Nail Your Novel for 99p! That’s a whopping £2 off the usual price of £2.99. So if you’re preparing a book for NaNoWriMo this will help you firm up your plans, fill your plot holes – so you are ready to blast off on 1 November with confidence. Just click on the pic!
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By: Darcy Pattison,
on 9/28/2009
Blog: Darcy Pattison's Revision Notes (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: book, fiction, first page, revision, Darcy Pattison, revise, how to write a novel, Alexandra Penfold, Add a tag
First Page: So much from so few words
At the AR-SCBWI fall retreat this weekend, Alexandra Penfold, Associate Editor of S&S took us through a discussion of first pages of our novel mss. She commented on the pages, then opened the discussion for other comments or questions. Here are some observations on the discussions (Note: these should in no way be construed as Penfold’s opinions, but only my observations of the discussions):
- So much from so few words. The first pages of a novel do encapsulate so much of the story and are extremely important to establish setting, character, pace, audience, tone, voice and more.
- Audience. Sometimes, the discussion centered on the intended audience. This means we didn’t even discuss much about the actual writing except what it evoked in terms of audience. Age level (picture book, early reader, early chapter, tween, middle grade, YA or teen) and trade v. education market were the main focuses. From just a few sentences, it was possible to get a handle on the authors intentions for these two crucial things.
- Too little information-Confusion. Some pages left the readers confused. Where are we and what is going on? Usually, the author was trying to create a sense of mystery, but in the process held back too much information. Orson Scott Card has said that the only thing you hold back is what happens next.
- Too much information-Overwhelmed with information dump. On the other end of the spectrum is the possibility of too much back story, description, flashbacks, information. We only need enough to understand the scene-in-progress.
- No opening scene. Some mss opened with description, interior thoughts of characters, etc. There was no opening scene. These tended to lose the reader’s attention.
- Good balance. Some mss were well-balanced, starting with an active protagonist involved in a scene with an immediate, concrete goal. It was balanced with action, thought, a touch of motivation, a touch of description. The tone and voice were interesting and we all wanted to turn the page to see what happened next.
First Pages Give Editors & Agents
a Door Knob to Turn
(Photo from
http://www.flickr.com/photos/criggchef/2665328223/)
Strong openings don’t necessarily mean your novel will sell; it’s easier to write a couple pages well than to sustain a story over a couple hundred pages. Still, a strong opening will likely get an editor or agent to request the full mss; it’s a door knob for them to grab; it’s the starting place for your career.
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By: Darcy Pattison,
on 9/22/2009
Blog: Darcy Pattison's Revision Notes (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: plot, revision, structure, revise, how to write a novel, writing live, book, Add a tag
Issues I Must Deal With in This Novel Revision
How’s your novel revision going, Darcy?
Big v. little issues. I work for a while to clarify in my mind the big structural issues, then work on a single chapter of the novel, making it fit that overall structure. But at some point, I lose sight of the overall picture, and I’m just doing line editing. When I finally catch myself, then I have to shift focus back to the structure of the novel. I know how it should go, but it practice, it’s messy. Frustrating.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/morganfrederick94/122138564/
Besides structural issues, what are you working on?
Feedback forces changes. As I revise each chapter, I also go through mss that my friends marked to see where they were confused or bored. This raises various issues that must be dealt with. MUST BE DEALT WITH, I remind myself sternly. I cannot ignore a comment, even if I disagree or even if I think the commenter is purely sadistic. Forcing myself to consider what the reader felt, understood, hated, etc. is important. But it’s messy. Frustrating.
Wow. Two frustrating things in this novel revision. Anything else going on?
Major plot changes. Oh, yes. There’s one major plot point in the novel coming up soon that I MUST DEAL WITH. But I have no idea what to do. It will totally change the climax of a subplot and I like that climax. I don’t want to change it. I don’t want to re-imagine it. I know that I MUST DEAL WITH IT, but I’m waiting until I get there next week. Still, not knowing the solution is messy. Frustrating.
Can you verbalize the issues you are facing in your novel revision? It helps me to be able to say, this is the problem I must deal with. General complaining helps, too. It does! It gets out the frustration, so when I get to the actual writing of the novel, I can make that shift to right-brained writing and get so involved in what I’m doing that I lose track of time. In that mental state, there are no frustrations, there’s only the writing.
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By: Darcy Pattison,
on 9/14/2009
Blog: Darcy Pattison's Revision Notes (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: book, fiction, revision, Darcy Pattison, revise, how to write a novel, Add a tag
The Louisiana retreat this weekend was great!
We met at St. Joseph’s Abbey in Covington, LA, which is just north of Lake Ponchitrain. It was interesting to cross the causeway, a 25 or 30 minute drive – such a feat of engineering. Of course, there was discussion of the aftermath of Katrina, which is still being felt, particularly as the SCBWI has rebuilt its membership.
Novel Revision Retreat in Covington, LA.
We were met by Sister Bernadetta, a nun originally from Italy, but assigned to the US since 1969. She was our hospitality person for the first night and a treat to meet. The facility was great, but the people were better.
16 talented writers concentrating on revising novels – they were an intense, dedicated, hard-working bunch. We marked shrunken manuscripts six different ways and the full-size manuscript another couple ways. They stumped me on the emotional/character arc for a while, but we worked through it in the end.
I’m looking for lots of good news from Louisiana in the years to come.
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By: Darcy Pattison,
on 8/31/2009
Blog: Darcy Pattison's Revision Notes (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: book, revision, scene, revise, how to write a novel, fiction novel, passive character, scene goal, Add a tag
Still working on revising my WIP novel, scene by scene. In the novel’s scene I just worked on, the main character is sitting at a school assembly. It’s an important assembly which sets up the main point of the story; however, as in most such assemblies, the action of the novel’s scene takes place on stage and adults are doing the most important thing.
Not good. My character is just passively watching.
Activate the Character
http://www.flickr.com/photos/2create/2144345327/
Not good at all. My job in revising has been to give him an active part in what’s going on. So, I looked to my character – who is he, what does he do, what are his interests? Ah, he’s a computer guy, putting up webpages, and playing around with web programs. That means Powerpoint or a similar program would be a snap.
What if he’s in charge of the media for the presentation? He would have to sit in a different place and I can play with how to make that a minor obstacle: perhaps, he has to sit with the kindergarten kids on the first row to reach the projector. He’ll also be closer to the stage when a big disaster happens and be more directly involved. That’s a good start.
My protag also needs an active goal for the scene: supporting his step-mother as she presents. When the event falls apart, he’ll blame himself. That’s much better.
Is your character active in every scene? If not, try these:
- Character traits. Look carefully at your character to find something for him/her to do that is consistent with their interests. There’s probably something around in the setting, the event, the dialogue – somewhere.
- Setting. Move the character around if necessary, putting him/her in a different place. Draw a map and put an X on the character’s current spot. Point to other places on the map and think about what the character could do if positioned in one of these places.
- Scene Goal: Put yourself in the character’s POV. What is the character’s goal for the scene? Find something for him/her to care about intensely and work from there to find actions for the character.
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By: Martha Alderson, M.A.,
on 7/31/2009
Blog: Plot Whisperer for Writers and Readers (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: how to write a novel, flashbacks, elements of fiction, back story, Blockbuster Plots, Add a tag
Watch your delivery of backstory ~ the story of what (in the past) made the characters who they are today (in story time).
Writers want to cram everything right up front.
"I know all their history, why would I want to withhold it from the reader?"
"I wrote it that way."
"It's the good part."
Writers spend lots of time imagining and writing every little detail about a character's past, be it for a child or an adult. So, of course, writers would want to tell everything right away. Perhaps, in the process, even show off a bit how clever they are. Until, one understands how curiosity works.
Not telling everything makes the reader curious. Curiosity draws the reader deeper into the story world. The reader wants to fill in the "who," "what," "how" (the "where" and "when" have already been clearly established right up front to ground the reader). They keep reading. This is good.
Tell the reader only what they need to know to inform that particular scene. This is especially true in the Beginning (1/4 mark). During the first quarter of the project, the character can have a memory. But, for a full-blown flashback, where you take the reader back in time in scene, wait until the Middle.
(PLOT TIP: If you're absolutely sure you absolutely have to include the flashback, try using one when you're bogged down in the middle of the middle.)
By: Darcy Pattison,
on 7/8/2009
Blog: Darcy Pattison's Revision Notes (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: book, character, plot, revision, critique, revise, how to write a novel, cooling off, Add a tag
Reading a Critique of My Novel is. . .
painful. It’s necessary. It’s helpful. But it’s painful. So, I’ve developed an avoidance strategy that helps me deal with the pain. No, I don’t avoid the critique altogether, because that’s not helpful. I need and want feedback on my novel. But my ego doesn’t like it. Not one little bit!
Here’s what I did this time: I asked for critiques during a time that I knew I wouldn’t be able to concentrate on the novel revision because of other projects, family obligations and the season of the year. I openly told my critiquers that I was busy with something else, so take their time: I didn’t want them dropping important projects for a rush critique.
Then, when the critiques came in, I skimmed them. And closed the file.
Six Weeks Later – Distance
I’m now ready to start seriously digging into the novel, changing set-up, back story, character motivations, character descriptions, character qualities, setting, plot events and anything else I can find to work on. Re-reading the critiques this week was OK. I had some distance and I’m ready for the process. Distance has helped.
Before the cooling off period? The critiques seemed harsh, the critiquer as discouraging as possible. The novel in question seemed ready for the trash.
Now? The critiques seem gentle and helpful. They are indeed pointing out flaws that must be addressed, exactly what I needed and wanted. The critiques seem almost encouraging.
Almost. Well, yes, there’s still an ego problem. Always will be. But I can deal with the critiques now and early this summer, I just couldn’t. For me, the cooling off period has been essential.
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By: Darcy Pattison,
on 6/1/2009
Blog: Darcy Pattison's Revision Notes (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: how to write a novel, accountability, Summer Revision Smackdown, Holly Cupola, Jolie Steckly, revise novel, revision, write, Add a tag
Do you need to revise something this month? I do! I have a MG novel that I need to go through (again!) and then send it in.
Summer Revision Smackdown: Revision Accountability
So, I’m heading over to Jolie Steckly’s and Holly Cupola’s blogs for their Summer Revision Smackdown (Powered by Licorice, Bum-glue, and You).
It’s easy.
You just post your goals for revising during the month of June.
Then, you report your progress every Friday or Saturday.
That’s it.
The prizes? Besides solid progress toward your revision goal? You need more than that?
Jolie and Holly make promises:
At the end of June, Holly and Jolie will give one Smackdowner THE WHIPLASH AWARD for excellence in revision during the month of June. And that just might come with a cuppa something and your own personal licorice memento.
Hey, I’m in. All except one thing: licorice. I do not like licorice, so I’m donating mine to charity. Any suggestions for a worthy cause?
Post from: Revision Notes Revise Your Novel! Copyright 2009. Darcy Pattison. All Rights Reserved.
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By: Darcy Pattison,
on 5/11/2009
Blog: Darcy Pattison's Revision Notes (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: novel, point of view, characters, revision, revise, multiple, how to write a novel, write a book, Add a tag
3 Tips for Using Mulitple Point of View Characters
- Limit the number of POV characters. A general caution is to limit the number of POV characters so the reader can be emotionally invested in those few. Zuckerman, in How to Write the Blockbuster Novel, recommends no more than five main characters. Usually, one of the characters emerges as the main character and gets more space, leaving the others as secondary-main characters, so to speak.
Of course, there are lots of exceptions. On the extreme end of the spectrum, Seedfolk, by Paul Fleischman, changes POV with every chapter, dipping into the life of a different member of the community and never repeats a character; I would argue, though, that the real main character of that story is the community, arrived at through these multiple POV. In the end, I still cared for the characters, which is the main point here, and many of their conflicts were resolved while in a different POV, keeping the conflict/resolution connections intact.
- Changing POV perspective. When you change from one character’s POV to another character’s POV, can you change from 1st person to third person? In Donna Jo Napoli’s, Zel, she has three main characters: Rapunzel, told in 3rd; the prince, told in 3rd; and the mother, told in first. Napoli said that the mother had to be in first person so the reader would understand how much of her actions was motivated by love for Rapunzel. So, yes, you can change from 1st to 3rd: the question is why do you want to? What will it add to the story? Napoli had a reason for this choice — better characterization of the mother. What is your reason?
- Use Strong Scene Cuts.
One good reason to use multiple POV characters is it allows for strong scene cuts. Just as one character falls into a dangerous situation, SCENE CUT. We leave that character hanging on the edge of a pit, while we explore another character’s side of the story, until that character is in danger and. SCENE CUT, back to the first character, where we left him about to fall onto a shrub that breaks his fall before he finds himself in some other danger.
Post from: Revision Notes Revise Your Novel! Copyright 2009. Darcy Pattison. All Rights Reserved.
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By: Darcy Pattison,
on 4/9/2009
Blog: Darcy Pattison's Revision Notes (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: book, writing life, first draft, Darcy Pattison, revise, attitude, how to write a novel, Annie Dillard, second draft, Add a tag
Commitment v. Revision
Your total commitment to the current draft of your novel is in direct conflict with the need to maintain an attitude of revision
Teaching Freshmen to Have an Attitude of Revision
When I taught Freshman Composition at a local college, I started on the first day by pairing students up with a partner and asking them to tell a story, a personal narrative. The story had to be something in which they were actively doing something, and it took place over only a 30-minute time period. And, since it was college, I forbade several topics: no boyfriend/girlfriend stories; no stories of senior trips where you attended the “Party of the Century”; and no car wrecks. I gave them one-and-a-half minutes each to tell their story.
Easy. They loved getting to chat with a fellow classmate, especially since as freshmen on the campus they still felt like strangers. They expected me to then ask them to write their story.
But even before a word is committed to the page, I wanted my students to consider revision. I asked them to tell the story again, a different way. Start at a different place, end at a different place, start at a different time, include details you forgot the first time, omit details that didn’t really matter, slow down and really remember what you did step-by-step, etc. This time, each story had to fill two minutes.
Were the stories better? Yes.
At the risk of my students thinking I was totally crazy, they had to tell their own story a third time, expanding even more to fill a full three minutes.
Then, they got to write their own story. Even at the early stage of prewriting – rehearsing a story orally to write later – writers need to remember that nothing is set in stone yet. Everything is open for change, until you are much farther along in the writing process.
A Novelist’s Attitude of Revision
Crude StoryCrafting. The first draft of a story is you mostly decide/find out one thing: what is the story I want to tell? Later drafts may or may not refine the story, but they will certainly address this concern: what is the best way to tell this story? For me, even as I write a draft, I’m always asking if this is the best way, the most dramatic way, the most emotionally involving way to tell my story. I realize that first drafts help me nail down characters, plots, settings and more. The next drafts may need drastic changes to some element here or there, but I hope the overall story shape emerges in the first draft.
Logical, Logistical Details. Second drafts need to fill in holes in the story. The narrative and emotional arcs need to build, events need to challenge the main character, characters need to reveal their inner lives. But you can’t leave major logical problems: readers must never be given any reason to doubt your storytelling. Logistically, you must make sure the transitions are appropriate and move the story smoothly from one scene to the next.
Focus on Storytelling Skills. For the later drafts, the storytelling skills come to the forefront, as you polish the language, pacing, and voice. This is one of the most fun stages of drafts, because I love to play with the language, trying out different words, different combinations of sounds, varying sentence length. It’s here that I like to challenge myself to use a really long sentence, maybe 200 words. And to use sentence fragments correctly and effectively. Fun!
A Novelist’s Passionate Commitment to the Current Draft
Commit to the Current Draft. So, while I write that first draft, I’m aware of what’s coming. But I also have to make an emotional commitment to this draft. Otherwise, my characters aren’t convincing, I won’t take the time to fully explore a setting because, “It might get cut in the next draft.” If I make the mistake of thinking this is a Kleenex Draft, then I’ll have to do many more drafts later.
Give. In her book, The Writing Life, Annie Dillard has said, “Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book, or another book; give it, give it all, give it now. The impulse to save something good for a better place later is the signal to spend it now. Something more will arise for later, something better.”
Commit to the draft you are currently writing, but realize that this draft is the beginning of an exciting process. It should actually give you some relief: you don’t have to be perfect on this first draft. Just passionate.
Post from: Revision Notes Revise Your Novel! Copyright 2009. Darcy Pattison. All Rights Reserved.
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By: Jason Boog,
on 4/11/2008
Blog: ThePublishingSpot (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: novel writing, The Publishing Spot Library, Min Jin Lee, how to write a novel, narration, Add a tag
"The funny thing is that if you were a millionaire like some of these managing directors shaking down seven figures a year, you'd have known to push your way ahead and fill your plate. Rich people can't get enough of the free stuff.' Walter shrugged. There was no reproach in his tone; in fact, there was a wistful admiration in his voice, as if he were beginning to understand how the world worked."
That's a bit of clever dialogue and a life lesson from first-time novelist, Min Jin Lee.
Last year, she converted her experiences of rubbing elbows with money and power in the excellent-novel, Free Food for Millionaires. She served up practical life lessons from her writing career, including:
A primer on How To Build Stronger Transitions In Your Writing.
A guide to Researching Your Book
A brief, brief handbook on How To Outline Your Novel
An essay about How To Write Omniscient Narration
And, finally, How To Write Your First Novel
Two reasons for this repeat. First of all, some "breaking" news caught up with me yesterday. Second of all, I'm sneaking out the backdoor and going on vacation tonight. I'll be out all next week, running some of my favorite interviews from the archives to keep you company. See you in a week...
By: Scribe Chronicler of Aventar,
on 9/28/2007
Blog: LadyStar (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: The Tree Shores High School Band Room, piano, Jessica Hoshi, souvenir, ztag, zy, jazz musician, keiko matsui, light in the rain, musician, piano player, wildflower, Add a tag
“Keiko-sensei is the best. She has so many albums and has great saxophone players on almost all of them. My favorite solo is the one from “Souvenir” and also the one from “Light in the Rain” and I can play them both on my alto and on my tenor. We’re gonna add her site to our Fun Places to Visit List ’cause she’s one of our favorite musicians. Ja!”
awesome, thought-provoking post! we, the writers, are emotional puppet masters... muwahahaha...
In my last novel the women in my critique group thought my villain didn't suffer enough and I needed to drag out the pain.
The man in my group didn't comment on the amount of violence.
I guess I have a sample of revenge and punishment thirsty women.
Hee Hee Hee
Sorry, but I think the results are a one-off deal that got the results the tester was looking for by accident or design.
Women are generally MORE vicious than men when it comes to someone getting their comeuppance. Men like revenge in the moment, but then (again, generally) move past it as penance paid.
Women stew.
Women stew and plan.
Women stew and plan and execute the plan with a follow-through the typical male doesn't bother with.
This is especially true if they've suffered a personal slight.
These sort of shock tests are nothing new, even if this one is current. They've been a part of behavioral science studies for years in one form or another. A common one is to actually put the person being testing in charge of administering the shocks, whether the current actually exists or not, they're told it does. This is to determine the willingness to make another human suffer for a specific goal or greater good.
Yes, women generally empathize, but that same depth of emotion can be turned the other direction with devastating results.
Is this experiment an affirmation of schadenfreude? Makes me wonder about the levels of fiction. Tabloids dial up the fiction-o-meter to great excess. vnrieker's comment may not be far from true. Did the experiment test the bounds of empathy? Was a little pain ok, therefore suggesting an internal judgement of "acceptability" before the subjects responded?
Extremely interesting post.
*hee* that second study sounds like fun!! I know a few people I'd happily try that on *mwahahahaha*
www.damselinadirtydress.com
Perry -- Haha, that's awesome. I'd like to meet your critique group. Or perhaps I wouldn't...
Josin -- The thing to remember with scientific studies is that they are a snapshot of how a single group of people behave under a carefully replicated set of conditions. All studies are "one-off deals" until you combine lots of related studies into a coherent picture. So it's certainly possible, as you suggested, under that other conditions, perhaps involving more of a personal slight or emotional pain, the gender differences might be nonexistant, or in the opposite direction. That said, this is the result they got, and the difference was statistically strong enough to be published, so while you shouldn't run with it and say "All Men Are Jerks!!!", I wouldn't completely dismiss the dataset as an accident either.
Douglas -- Great point about schaudenfraude, that and perhaps the need for justice. The paper presents it as saying men are enforcers of "altruistic punishment." Enforcing rules of society and such...
Now if Freud had been in that room, you can just imagine all the theories he would have come up with.
Great post, Livia! I really enjoyed hearing the relevant science behind shadenfreude.
Livia,
Your Blog post is fascinating. And congratulations on being a graduate student at M.I.T. – that is awesome! Although my Masters degree is in Clinical Psychology, I did research for my Masters Thesis in the field of Social Psychology and found it absolutely fascinating. My research looked into whether or not varying the characteristics of a person in a newspaper article changed whether or not subjects found them guilty or innocent of a crime for which they were tortured. To my complete horror, changing insignificant, minor details about the person in the newspaper article did have an influence.
Marilyn -- Those are indeed depressing results...
Great article. You might be very interested in key word "presponse"
heres a starting link to cut and paste.
http://www-physics.lbl.gov/~stapp/presponse.txt
Presponse involves the field interaction of mind with matter. The crux of the issue is; if I put all the posters on this board in a chair in front of a screen upon which I would then display 100 pictures while they were wired to sensor devices; the sensors would light up with a distress response slightly before they actually were shown the 1-out of-10 pictures inserted of traumatic content.
In terms of writing being the author is akin to trying to be a noble dungeon master in a role playing game.
I try to write ensemble cast pieces with a small circle of main players (each supported by a sub cast) interweaving their interactions towards a shared goal or outcome each understands differently; while providing sub quests and obstacles along the way as a framework to explore each characters depth.
Men insist on fair play to insure the survival of the group as a whole. It's genetically programmed into us. Some of us are wingmen and some of us are pilots some of us are bombardiers and some of us are tail gunners; but one way or another we all want to take off, achieve the missions goal and land. We paint women's pictures on the plane to remind us of why we do it; and also to remind us of who got us into this mess in the first place when we crash in the desert.
Oh good - I was hoping Nathan would pick yours, Livia. It's fascinating, and a very different and intelligent take on writing.
I think it's very interesting to think about your WIP, your audience and how to appeal to them. I think as we understand the science of the mind more and more, we'll understand more about why some books really hit it out of the ballpark. It can tell us a great deal about human nature, and the impact of story.
In terms of the actual research, I would be very interested if these results holds true over age and socioeconomic status.
But assuming they do, well, that requires a total change of tone to my post, doesn't it? Because I think this explains ALOT about the world. For example, it explains why men want to be in charge of the world, and, quite frankly, why they should never, ever, ever, ever be allowed to be in charge of the world.
Pleasure out of revenge and conquest - well, that's war, in all of it's various forms, isn't it?
Of course we knew men started wars, but now we have another idea of WHY.
No offense to male readers, of course, I just think that if this research stands, you would be better off watching sports games on the weekend, and leave the running of the world to the other gender.
Just saying.
Fascinating post! Makes me anxious to go inflict pain on my characters. (That was the intent, wasn't it?)
Well done.
Mira --
LOL you make me laugh, esp that part about the sports games. Thank you :-)
Man, I feel like I need to jump in and defend men now that I've attacked them with a big fat science club over the head. I think there are times when you do want people who find the punishing of unfair people to be rewarding. After all, if you have a functioning society, you need to find and punish the rule rreakers, and it's good to have people who are motivated to do that. Say for example if you are hunting murderers or child molesters, then you want someone who is really gung ho about tracking him down.
Livia: it must be totally awesome to say you are a brain scientist!
This is an interesting study: particularly for its focus on the areas of the brain where one feels empathy and not so much about empathizing (if one does or not).
Josin, I have to take issue with that generalization of yours. Maybe sociopathic women! Or the occasional teenage girl. Plus, wanting to see someone get their comeuppance doesn't necessarily equal vicious thoughts of violence and pain. I wouldn't mind the snooty man to be taken down a notch, but I don't want to see him get hit by a car! Perhaps I'm off and not getting your message, but my feminism got stirred.
Fascinating post! Like others said, though, women can be quite vindictive and vengeful, too. It'd be interesting to see the results of related experiments where the nature of the unfairness was altered. I expect many women might have more moments of schadenfreude if they'd been personally slighted than they do when dealing with a cheater in a game.
I've hunted and captured the worst of the worst. The type of predators who hunt again forgetting how many bodies have been left unburied or even uneaten. (retired)
Sometimes the female thinker-intellectual forgets how hard it might be for a man who is trained his whole life to always protect and never to strike a female to then be alone with a female who then insists on taking her clothes off and teaching him how to torture her exactly the way she likes to be tortured to enter a state ecstasy.
That's what it feels like for a man who is well raised to learn how to shed his inhibitions and become an animal in a mutually consenting race towards sexual bliss. It feels like you are being slowly retrained to be a sadistic-penetrate. Have you ever considered how scary it might be for a boy to "take" a girls virginity at her polite and very clever entrapping encouragement. Women like to see men as cold blooded because it turns them on. But, they always want to "retrain" the nice ones. It's all actually quite logical. A woman can never imagine what it's like to "take" a woman unless she's a well developed healthy dominant lesbian. It's an art form. Hence the recent mega success of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo." because it explores loving women from the man's point of view. The guy (writer)actually died when the series was finished. That my fellow writer aspirants is dedication 10.0 TEN point OHhhhh.
Fortunately I have known 4-5 women who truly loved me romantically plus a vast group of female family relationships across four generations.
Women are complicated. PERIOD.
Luvia - good point. That type of motivation is good for a Hunter of any type, and undoubtedly helped the species survive.
I felt alittle guilty as well, pointing the finger at an entire gender. I don't have any issue with men being keen on Justice. That's a good thing.
This is a great post, Livia! It's great to have research and writing paired up - long overdue!
Steppe, men are complicated, too. :) I'm sorry if it seemed like I was putting down men - I was partly teasing and partly making a point - but not my intent to dismiss an entire gender. Sorry if it seemed like I was.
Great post, interesting experiment.
It reminds me of the scene in Ghostbusters when Bill Murray shocks the guy even though he's right and doesn't shock the girl because she's pretty. Except this experiment has more integrity.
Ahhh. This makes sense. Using a football-related analogy, I used to feel for my Charger friends when their team lost, but due to more details than I'll get into here, now it matters little and I actually enjoy seeing the Chargers lose. (I know other lisa will hate me now!)
Anyway, this week I'm inflicting both emotional and physical pain on my MCs. More emotional than physical and I'm trying to make the situations as complex and gray-area-d as I can.
I think that study would be fascinating if both participants were female. Think about how women work very hard to inflict emotional wounds, usually in way that won't obviously trace back to them. Give them little buttons to push that shocks the other, and I'm betting both of them end up with some hot fillings in their teeth.
Or maybe it's just me. Who knows?
Either way, it's an excellent thought-provoking post.
Great post.
neat, interesting post. different.
Livia,
Thanks so much for the post. It sent my mind spinning into all sorts of directions. A nice break in the middle of a long work day.
Amazing post as always, Livia. So much to think about.
Such an interesting subject and well written. Congratulations!
Rick -- Lol. Perhaps to be safe, one should beautify oneself before participating in any psych experiments.
Love this - but I'm kind of a "science/brain-stuff" geek --
Love peeking inside how our brains work, and pulling it into the writing - dang cool.
Holy crap! My brain is buzzing from this one. My first question is who would sign up for this experiment? Ouch!
In my former life I was a seventh grade writing teacher. I always had a free choice project going, and I must admit, the boys loved pain and darkness in their writing. But, I do think they they experienced less of it. The girls, however, were often living lives full of drama and chaos. They'd gather in the bathroom, huge packs of PMS Princesses, and try to work through it all.
Now that I hang out at my computer every day, I'm enjoying the drama. All I can say is, bring it on! Does that make me a sicko? Nah, I'd rather be a PMS Princess.
I've enjoyed all the posts this week. But this one in particular was very interesting.
The flaws of that study or the intepretation or conclusions pre-assume four questionable premises based on personal projections, albeit the kind of premises that feed and self-reinforce and come out of groupthink. That empathy is good. That pain is bad. That punishing misbehavior is proper. That finding humor in the misfortune of others is improper.
Empathy is a natural and automatic response to pitiable and/or fearful or other emotional situations. It's not because empapthy feels other beings' pain, it's because external pain is internalized by empathy. In extreme situations an excess of empathy is crippling or a lack of empathy is considered sociopathic. Society projects a preference for some middle normative value for the good of society, but society is a majority rules tyrrant dictating what's proper and shunning or condemning outliers because of their strangeness.
Pain is a sentinel warning that something with the body is awry. A good thing when there's an unhealthy condition. Pain is good in that regard. But chronic pain leads to self-serving treatment with dangerous obscuring consequences. Drug addiction, alcohol addiction, addiction to steroids and pain blocks. Then there's histrionic personality types who thrive on emotional pain because it gets them attention to alleviate their feelings of inadequacy.
Therefore, punishing misbehavior too often rewards misbehavior.
Finding humor in the misfortune of others comes back around to empathy, but inverted. External acts internalized as humor instead of emotional pain. It also comes back around to punishing misbehavior through shaming, embarrassing loss of face. Which, again, is society dictating behaviors.
It takes all kinds to makeup a healthy society. Without outliers to compel change, strengthen vitality, and set outlying examples of unwanted and desirable behaviors, there'd be a pea green soup world of apathetic, stagnant, dreary monocultural sameness.
Thank Providence for the outliers.
John Jack,
You're right that pain and empathy are not necessarily a priori good or bad. To use a rather disturbing example, someone with high empathy would be a very skilled torturer/interrogator, because she would be able to understand how her victim feels, and would be able to devise the best techniques for inflicting the most pain and extracting the most information. It all depends on context.
Interesting post considering that my blog post yesterday was about also character empathy. However, I'm afraid I don't have the same eloquence as Ms. Blackburne. The study still doesn't explain the real reason why we can empathize. That's what I want to know.
Social beings empathize because, There but for the grace of Providence go we. We find pathos vicariously infuential. We don't like loss. Loss to others is loss we internalize and process emotionally, physically, intellectually, spiritually, and perhaps recreationally.
Empathy is a natural instinct for learning survival skills from internalizing others' losses.
Know thy enemy. Know thy friends, family, acquaintances. Know and own thy mistakes, frailties, foibles, and failings. From knowing comes understanding, compassion, wisdom, and reasoned responses.
Brooke - That's the million dollar question! Ask a scientist and they would say we evolved the trait as social animals, to help us have better functioning societies, thus livign longer and reproducing more. Ask a philosopher or theologian, I bet you'll get something very different :-)
Excellent blog post! Helps me understand men a little more. Thanks!
Fascinating post! When I think about it, the people I know generally fit the results.
Bookmarked!
I can see how women are more likely to cause emotional pain than men. But I think men are more likely to adopt roles of power and extort them. I think the Stanford Prison Experiment showed that (granted it was only men). Men are also motivated to violence easier.
Either way, tis a wonderful way to torture our characters.
*rubs hands with glee*
Livia - I always love your posts. What a brilliant way to rethink a familiar subject.
Kristi
Haha - not sure this needed to be verified by science, but... *lulz*
Fawn - Oh snap!
Mira, not at all offended. This is the great subject of most writing the planter verses harvester in us all.
These issues are the nexus for so many great books. Growing up in the seventies there was always a socio-cultural question thinkers asked each other: "Have you read WAR AND PEACE?" I was twenty-five before I could say yes. It was awesome and I was bummed it didn't go on for an extra 1000 more pages.