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Writing is a lonely endeavor. Even with family and friends encouraging and inquiring about it, the writer sits and works in isolation. There is social media. One can tweet, pin, or post on Facebook. I’ve killed hours or precious writing time doing just that. But the act of writing remains solitary.
This week there was a social event for writers. Carol Lynch Williams and Ann Dee Ellis organized it. They may have had help from Queen Bee, Kyra Leigh. All of them host the blog, Throwing Up Words (http://throwingupwords.wordpress.com). Carol and company have down this before and a few weeks ago they posted to their blog they were doing it again.
We met at Olive Garden in Provo, about twenty of us or so. We ate, socialized, laughed, ate some more, read from our writing, and shared successes. Some of us read from our novels in progress, a few shared screenplays. Some brought spouses, some spouses were writers, too. It was a pleasant evening.
The best thing though, was the camaraderie. There were actual writers, sitting in that room, across from you and to your sides. Other people who struggle, have doubts, and continue to write away. There’s a bunch of us out there. We work in isolation, but it’s so good to know we’re not alone.
Thanks Carol, Ann Dee, and Kyra. Let’s do that again, sometime.
(This article also posted at http://writetimeluck.blogspot.com)
It is one of those elusive things. Writers try to develop it. Publishers look for one that is unique. It is an essential element of effective writing. So what the heck is voice?
Simply put, voice is the way you write, your individual writing style. As there are a zillion of us tapping away at keyboards, there are just as many variations on voice. As a trumpet, a clarinet, and a violin all are capable of playing a melody, the sound of each produces will be different. Voice conveys the author’s attitude and personality. It’s what makes writers unique; it’s what makes your writing pop. It’s what draws a reader into a story.
Ann Cannon posted recently on her blog about voice. She says that “we all recognize it when we see it—a narrative style that makes you sit up and take notice, one that feels fresh and wholly original—a style that is as unique and individual as an author herself. Voice elevates an ordinary story and makes it memorable, even extraordinary—and when a voice feels authentic, we as readers feel like something so natural must also be easy to pull off.” Then she confesses it is not easy.
I will be the assistant for Ann at the Writing and Illustrating For Young Readers (WIFYR) conference again this June and my guess is she is planning something on voice. She has assigned us to read the works of two masters of voice, Carol Lynch Williams and Ann Dee Ellis, both Utah writers.
I had read Carol’s The Chosen One a few years back. Rereading it does not diminish the power of her voice. Carol writes with such authority. The main character Kyra’s story is so compelling, the reader is completely pulled in. It is hard to put down and the voice stays with you after you close the book.
Ann Dee Ellis displays her gift of voice in both her first two books, This Is What I Did and Everything is Fine. I’ve just begun hearer latest, The End Or Something Like That, and it promises to serve a big slice of voice. Ann Cannon can’t think of another YA writer “who has the gift of voice in the way she does… Ann Dee’s voice draws you into fictional words that simultaneously ring both eccentric and true. Her use of language is startling.”
Ann Dee will be doing the WIFYR Friday mini-worship and her topic just so happens to be, drum roll, please, voice. Carol and Ann are running morning workshops. Carol’s class is full, but if you want to learn a thing or two about voice, there are still spots available with both Ann and Ann Dee.
(This article also posted at http://writetimeluck.blogspot.com)
By: Bruce Luck,
on 2/16/2013
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Utah Children's Writers
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I think I’m studying this thing too much. When I first began writing, I wrote carefree, jotting down events as they came to mind. Then I was introduced to WIFYR and became aware that there are formats and procedures and formulae to follow. More and more, I began to research what the experts were saying on writing. Now I’ve got so many “do this, don’t do that” things going on in my head, I’m bound to go against some expert’s opinion with every sentence I write.
Cheryl Klein, Martine Leavitt, Alane Ferguson, Ann Dee Ellis, Mathew Kirby, Kathleen Duey; these are some of the gurus to whose savvy advice I try to adhere. The latest is John Truby. I recently caught up on some back copies of the SCBWI journal when I ran across an article in the November/December issue. It talked about Truby’s book, The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller. Silly me. I went out and purchased it.
I’m not sure which of the 22 steps I’m on, as they are not readily laid out in the table of contents. Truby addresses story anatomy from a screenwriter’s perspective but his concepts can be adapted to any fiction writing. I’m on the chapter about story structure. Truby says story structure is how a story develops over time.
He says your MC must have a weakness and a need. The weakness could be the character is arrogant or selfish or a liar and the need is to overcome the weakness. Then there must be desire, which is not the same as need. Desire is what the character wants. It is the driving force in the story and something the reader hopes he attains. Need has to do with a weakness within the character and desire is a goal outside of the character. The hero must, of course meet an opponent. Truby says the opponent does not try to prevent the MC from accomplishing their goal as much as they are in competition for the same thing. In a mystery story, it would seem the protagonist is opposed to the perpetrator of the crime. Under the surface, however, they are both competing for their version of the truth to be believed.
This is where the conflict is with my work-in-progress (my incredibly slow work-in-progress). It’s a middle grade book, so the story is not as intricate. Do kid characters need the complexity of adult characters? I get it that you can’t make them too sterile, too one-sided. Should a middle grade MC be arrogant or a liar?
Likewise, I’m having trouble with the opponent aspect. In my story, there is no real antagonist. There is a mystery the MC is trying to solve, but no person is preventing him.
The experts say do this or do that. My gut tells me different. What’s a poor writer to do?
Technology has come a long way and writers are among the many who have benefited. Gone are the days a writer scribbled her words on paper, replaced by the typewriter. Then to have an electric one, with self-correcting tape was heaven. With a keystroke or two I can spell check, use a thesaurus to find a better word, and easily pick up text and rearrange in a more suitable spot. Of course, future generations will not find our tattered hand-written manuscripts hidden away in some attic, a small price to pay for progress.
Should we need to check accuracy on details in a story, a quick Google search can provide the facts as well as a distraction from the writing at hand. Wikipedia can tell you anything from aardvarks to zebras.
But the real advantage is in the form of social media. There are forums, blogs, and videos for every human endeavor imaginable: quilting, sports, gardening, gaming, and of course, writing. There are how to instructions for drafting, composing, editing, or for writing a query letter or synopsis. You can go online and discover which houses most likely would be interested in your work.
And there are plain old blogs. The Utah Children’s Writers blog is one that comes to mind. Perhaps you’ve read it? Go there and you can find a list of 30 or more other blogs. Most blogs have a link where you can subscribe, which gives you an email and link when a new post goes up.
There are others. You can enjoy the thoughts of local writing goddess, Carol Williams. She is accompanied by and Ann Dee Ellis and Kyra at
http://throwingupwords.wordpress.com/. Sometimes it is the only way.
Another I subscribe to is From the Mixed-Up Files of Middle Grade Authors. These talented writers, including Utah’s own Elissa Cruz, focus primarily works for upper elementary children. Yet they have so much more, including book lists and special pages for children, teachers and librarians, and other writers. The URL is
http://www.fromthemixedupfiles.com/
When a terrible tragedy befalls Mazzy’s family, her mother sinks into an unshakeable depression. Unable to get out of bed, bath herself, feed herself, or even open her eyes half the time, she has fallen into a scary sense of despair. Mazzy’s father’s method of dealing with his wife’s depression is to run far away, taking a high profile job out of state, leaving Mazzy to fend for herself. Sure, Bill comes over to help nurse her mother and some weird lady her day hires comes by now and then and brings food, but for the most part, Mazzy is alone, left to care for her depressed, invalid mother all on her own.
When a woman from Child and Family Services shows up, demanding to speak with her mother, Mazzy can only hold her off for so long, clinging to random people to try and help her be ok in her situation. Her neighbor, a boy she has a slight crush on, his mother that takes her shopping for new clothes, and a hugely overweight diabetic that crushes Mazzy with her hugs, are all the family Mazzy has left. And they're only her neighbors. Her father checked out, her mother really checked out, her house is a disaster, she has almost no food, and her life is falling apart.
Can we call this book depressing?? Holy cow yes. Though Mazzy is incredibly quirky and has quite the unique thought process, she really does try to make the best of her situation…but even with that, Everything is Fine really lacked hope. I didn’t feel any hope at all, just dark sadness, heartbreak, depression.
There were quite a few humorous moments as Mazzy still has to grow up and start becoming a woman, even lacking a mother's kind words or sense of advice. Mazzy was a weird child, I don't think her actual age was ever stated (though I could be mistaken, I don't have the book right in front of me) and I couldn't tell if she was just immature or if her mother's state allowed her to regress in terms of maturity. I think kids are just going to find her strange.
Nicely written and intriguing, I didn’t have a problem finishing it, wanting to know what happened to Mazzy and her family at the end, however I can’t really say I totally enjoyed this one. It was alright, but to me, nothing more. I wasn't attached to the characters and was confused about Mazzy most of the time.
To learn more or to purchase, click on the book cover above to link to Amazon.
Young Mazzy is living with her mother while her dad is on a week long business trip. Everything is fine... except that Dad left about a month ago and Mom never gets out of bed. Mazzy thinks she can handle it. She takes care of her mom and people bring them food too, but when the government gets involved, Mazzy is forced to talk to her dad. Mazzy knows everything is fine, but when the government disagrees, everything is not fine.
Mazzy, as a character, is very human and believable. Her denial of her family's problem is completely normal and human nature. What makes this book intriguing is watching the story of her family unravel. At first, the reader only knows that Mom is sick and Dad's never home. The reader has no idea why or how things got this way. Throughout the book, flashbacks as well as Mazzy's thoughts and encounters slowly enlighten the reader to the truly dark and dismal family past. Since this revelation encompasses most of the book, it is exciting to slowly, but surely, figure out what led to such a dreadful situation.
Another interesting thing about this book is that it is written in what I like to call "mini chapter things." They are usually Mazzy's thoughts, a conversation between Mazzy and someone else, or a flashback. They can be as short as a single sentence and as long as two or more pages in length. These "mini chapter things" make the book especially easy to pick up and read. You can pick it up and easily read a whole "mini chapter thing" in between all the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Another attractive aspect of this book includes the way conversations are written. When Mazzy talks to someone, Ann Dee Ellis exposes the reader to not only the words coming out of Mazzy's mouth, but also the thoughts in her head. This creates an entertaining discord between what Mazzy says and what she thinks. Unfortunately, it also makes conversations choppy and slightly awkward because Mazzy's thoughts interrupt the conversation's rhythm. This setback is completely worth it though because Mazzy tends to say either nothing at all, or the actual word, "nothing" when she responds to simple everyday questions.
I give Everything is Fine by Ann Dee Ellis a slightly less than deadly 3.5 daggers out of 5.
All in all, the book is entertaining and pretty unique in the way it was written but, it's really short and the ending is rather unsatisfying.
Yours truly (but only in mini chapter things),
Gabriel Gethin
The experts are guides. They are experts for a reason, and it's wise to heed their advice. In the end, though, you are writing YOUR story, and need to do what feels best for the story.
Ditto what Scott said. He's a pretty smart guy!