Never Ever Be Boring

Plotting serves only one function. To organize the story events into segments that can easily be transferred into writing. There are many ways to do that and various authors have various ways to fulfilling that purpose. These vary from plot-as-you-go to detailed story boards that work out each scene before it's written.

What many writers forget, especially those who dislike plotting, is that the plot is not the story. It's just a framework for the story. The story comes about through the ways you show the events. In other words, how you write each scene, how you have your characters move through the events in your plot, the words you put in their mouths, this is what creates the heart of your story.

This heart is created skillfully using pacing, proportion and beats to reveal your story, word by word and a well-crafted story is never boring..

Pacing has to do with time and timing.  Proportion has to do with how many words, how much page space, is devoted to any given topic, location, event in a story.  These principles apply to both long and short fiction.

Pacing
Scene and summary are the writer’s most valuable tools in controlling story pace.  Scene, in this context, means a finite period of story time, with a specific location, where something significant to the characters and the story occurs. Summary is a block of words that compresses events on the page and clarifies the story direction.Whenever strong dialogue and high tension are occurring your story is being presented in scene. Do not interrupt a scene in progress with summary.

When a scene reaches the end, use summary to clarify major points and to transition to the next location in time and space.  Occasionally you’ll find a need to pull all these summaries into a cohesive whole.  Save these larger summaries for after moments of high tension.  This delays the information long enough that  readers are hungry for it and also provides a breathing spell to digest what’s already happened. Don't overdo. Brevity keeps your writing from being boring.

Proportion:
Authors must stay aware that when you give a particular story element lots of words, readers will assume the element is important. They've been trained to expect some kind of payoff for things that have the spotlight put on them. 

If you delay your character's trip to answer a knock on the door, readers will expect some momentous event when the door opens.  If there's no payoff, it won't be long before they put a book down. Today's readers days are used to the quick intercuts of movies and television and expect it in commercial fiction as well. They grow impatient with empty words, making brevity a writer's greatest ally to making sure you aren't boring.

Save your lyrical descriptive passages and well-crafted dialogue for the people, places and things who form the heart of your story.  Aim for clarity and brevity in your exposition and introspection and you'll have proportion on your side, which always adds up to a good read.

Beats and Movements
Beat: A passage of writing that begins with the initiation of a conversation or an action and ends when the purpose is achieved (or not).  In other words, it’s a small beginning and ending.  Beats exist within beats. 

Movement: A collection of beats that created a visible change in a character or a goal.

Thus a character could walk into a store, furious, determined to get a refund on a defective toy that left his daughter sobbing.  This beat begins when Dad approaches the customer service counter and will end when Dad gets the refund or is defeated and out of options. There could be more smaller beats, but, and this is a big but, if you include too many beats on the same topic, it just gets boring.

As beats expand upon smaller beats they turn into movements.  In this case, Dad is so enraged he punches the boss, making his daughter even more unhappy.  This could pivot the story from one about a Dad defending his unhappy daughter to a man struggling to build any kind of relationship with this young stranger he fathered but barely knows. A not uncommon situation that can easily drift into cliches and become boring.

What keeps readers engaged is how tightly and precisely you carve the beats inside your movements and how well you summarize a completed movement. The hard part is that there is no cut and dried definition for when beats and movements end except that each one needs to be a complete unit of action. In this example, Dad goes to the customer service desk expecting the refund and fails to get it – the beat ends because a new action is required of him.  Movements are simply larger units of collected beats.

Understanding these principles of writing keeps you from violating the two most unbreakable writing rules:  Never devote writing space to anything that doesn’t add to tone, characterization, plot movement, or world building and . . . never be boring, which are actually the same thing. 

Mind the pacing, proportion and beats of your stories and they will always engage your reader.

Till later,
Connie Flynn
Website: http://connieflynn.com
Blog:  http://imaginationgonewild322.blogspot.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ConnieFlynnAuthor
Twitter: @connieflynn

Self-Editing Using GMC & Action/Reaction

by Connie Flynn

The subject of self-editing is a bit confusing since the phrase doesn't truly define what we're talking about. Is it rewriting, which entails tearing apart the whole book, tossing out stuff, writing new stuff, changing stuff? Or are we talking revision, which requires less drastic changes but still demands a bit of messing with the stuff? Or copy and line edits which focus on the stuff itself – word choice, clarity, rhythm and flow?

Personally, I'm an outspoken advocate of structure, so the first thing I edit is my story question. Is it present in every scene? Do the scenes move my character closer to or farther from the goal?

If the answer is yes, I move on the next step, polishing my prose. If not, I troubleshoot, using wonderful methods I learned at Debra Dixon's and Jack Bickham's knees.
When I have having trouble writing a scene or finding the heart of an already written scene, it's probably because the character GMC or scene goal isn't defined. Sometimes, neither are.  A clue that a scene is missing both is that it seems totally flat and it's difficult to pin down why. Here are some remedies:

When a character's purpose for being in the scene isn't clear, it's difficult to know what to write, and the cause is usually a lack of GoalMotivationConflict.

1.If you've completed a GMC for the character, go back to the chart and examine it for tension.  The conflict (obstacle) must powerfully oppose the goal and be apparent to the reader.  If you haven't completed one, it's time you did. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, now is the time to run, not walk, to pick up a copy of Debra Dixon's GMC book (not sold on Amazon, use link at end).

2. Look at internal conflict.  Does the character want two opposing outcomes? Is this a lose/lose situation — if he gets one, he gives up the other?  It should be, so get busy fixing if it's not.

3. If you don't have a GMC for the character, the goal is probably absent from the scene. (Yes, you may have it in your head, sorta, but it's always writes better when it's on paper somewhere).

4. If the goal is there but you have problems getting engaged in whether the character reaches the goal, take a long look at motivation. Make sure the motivation is big and that the consequences of failure are enormous.

5. You have two types of scenes. One concentrates on action and is show not tell; the second explores the character's reactions to the action. In the goal scene, your character emphasis is 'I want.' In a reaction step it is 'I'm blindsided.”
   
Action Toward Goal:
a)  Goal:  “I want” leads to b)  Conflict: “You can't/better not” or “You'd better get out of my way.” leads to  c)  Failure or Setback: “What I've feared (or worse) has come upon me.”

Reaction to Setback:
a) Reaction: “I'm blindsided.” or “This is worse than I feared.” leads to b)  Dilemma/ Indecision: “What did I do/can I do?” leads to c)  Decision: “By God, I think I've got it.”

This decision then immediately transform into action. You may have heard that the reaction scene (often referred to as a sequel) is a license to write pages of introspection. While these scenes do include character self-examination this doesn't mean long passages of internal thought. Active writing, events occurring on the page, can often show the mental and emotional change required to come to decision more powerfully than internal dialogue. Also, the process of decision can span several action segments and doesn't always neatly fit into one scene.

6. When you've identified the steps of your scene, keep your writing centered around them.  Examine everything in the character's actions that is relevant and strengthen, clarify, add, and subtract until the scene becomes vital to the forward movement of your story. If the scene still doesn't contribute or just barely performs that function, consider folding the major elements into another scene or eliminating them altogether.

7. Cut any scene that doesn't show one of these: a) the character in powerful action toward the goal, b) a visibly escalating conflict, c) a strengthening or change in motivation.  Again, extract any vital information and fold it in elsewhere.

Applying this analysis to every scene that doesn't measure up will result in a remarkably stronger book and will actually simplify your editing process if you do it first, before you begin messing with the prose. 

But how about you? Do you have some time-tested methods of dealing with the self-edit process? This is only one way  and no matter how convinced I am of its effectiveness because it works for me I'm well aware there may be easier ways or different approaches. I'd love to hear about them and invite you to leave a comment.

Until next month,  
---Connie
   

This article has its foundation in these writing books:

GMC: GOAL, MOTIVATION AND CONFLICT by Debra Dixon. Available at www.gryphonbooksforwriters.com.

SCENE AND STRUCTURE by Jack Bickham and TECHNIQUES OF A SELLING WRITER by Dwight V. Swain.

Am I the Only One?

I hate Facebook. Every time I use it something has changed. Every time I find a Facebook feature I love, it disappears. For example:

Messages. For a while messages were identified with large letters. Click on MESSAGE and, as you might expect, you would find not only a link to send messages but a link to open the ones you’ve received.  Then the link was moved to the sidebar, and then to somewhere that keeps changing in the timeline.

Pictures and Albums. On my personal page I put up birthday photos and wanted them out right away. Well, Murphy’s Law in action, nothing I did made those photos available even to my close friends and family for over a week.

Friend Requests.  Did that function vanish with the entrance of the Timeline?  I’ve been looking for it for several weeks and just recently found a function in the right hand sidebar, but it only lets me invite, not receive requests.

Home Page Posts. Why do I seem to get more posts from acquaintances and friends of friends than from my closest friends and members of my family?  Not that I don’t appreciate the more distant drop-ins, I just want my closer visitors to show up more often.

Which brings me to Privacy Settings. Say, I want to limit access to family AND close friends. Sadly, I can only click one. And if I want to know WHO is included in each list — well, good luck.  I know it’s there because I’ve found it a few times accidentally, but getting back to that place whenever I choose is another thing altogether.

*It not only asks for, it Demands my birthday, including the year. On my author page it Displays my entire date.  Not only is it none of Facebook's business to do any more than require members to certify they meet minimum age requirement, there's every reason that they shouldn’t collect this information, the most relevant being that it’s a huge invitation to identity thieves.

Overall though, the biggest reason I hate Facebook is that it makes all the rules. Your choices as a user are to do it their way or do it their way.

This is the place where you might -- and rightly so -- be asking why I don’t just stop whining and drop out.

If social interchange was the only reason I went on Facebook  I would do just that . . . but it’s not.  Presently I have two pages —  a Community Page for Bootcamp for Novelists and an Author Page for Connie Flynn. Soon, I’ll be adding another Author Page for my mystery writing pseudonym.  The thing most people don’t know is that these Pages are powered by my personal page, and I can't keep them separate. 

The demand for professional people to have a Facebook presence is intense. Traditional publishers expect their authors to build Facebook pages for their brand identity and for their books. Independently and self-published authors depend on a Facebook presence because readers expect it. It’s quite possible that the Facebook presence doesn’t sell books or make anyone famous — it’s a big pool and it’s not easy to rise — but the reason I do it anyway is that I’m afraid not to.

So there you go . . . this rant ends in a pathetic crash confession and a pitiful please for company for my terror. So am I the only one out there who feels tyrannized by the social giant? Have you run into hassles on Facebook? Do you also hate it? Are you staying with it for fear of losing relevance or being forgotten?  Let me know, commiserate with me, share your own sad story.

Or maybe you love, love, love Facebook. If so, what do you love the most? Does anything annoy you? Or are you a total no-holds-barred adoring fan? Tell me, I'm interested.

In the meantime I’’m committed to understanding and getting along better with my new best friend (that would be Facebook [sob]).  Wish me well.

And have a great May.
Connie Flynn

.  . . werewolves are back, you'll find them in the shadows. SHADOW ON THE MOON & SHADOW OF THE WOLF.

MUSINGS OF 2012

It's January 2nd and the holidays are over and my tree is still up.  I even plugged the lights in today. Neighbors are probably saying, "Poor thing. Doesn't she know?"

I'm always a little spacey this time of year because sometime back I fell into a habit  of using the New Year's holiday to assess past accomplishments and mistakes and to design the future year.  In other words, New Year's resolutions.  

What I noticed a couple years back was that the resolutions I thought were goals, were actually items on a to-do list.  What I aIso noticed was they all seemed connected to a larger outcome I wasn't aware of until then. 

This year I started with the outcome, which became the theme for my resolutions and allowed me to focus my efforts on the right to-do's.  My personal  blog covers my process in detail so I won't repeat it here, but one of the best results to come out of my newly-minted theme method was I became very careful about what I associated my "I'm" to. 

Your I'M,  you may say. What is that?

Well, it's a contraction for I AM, which seems pretty obvious, but the affects of those two letters is probably not so clear.  The scary but wonderful truth is that those two letter, whenever they're thought or spoken, become a declaration of what you think you are, and/or what think you will become.  Anything you attach I am to becomes your new mental goal.  So if you say I am going to take the Christmas decorations down, my mind puts that on my to-do list.  I may or may not take down the decorations that day, but until I do, the task will float around in my mind, taking up space.   

This is true for everyone, whether you're saying "I need to, I must, I can't, I won't, I shouldn't, I wouldn't, I will." In other words, any form of the verb  "to be."  You get locked in because you declared yourself to be or to become that way. 

If, instead, you'd simply said that the Christmas decorations needed to come down . . . well, this sounds really silly, but essentially you don't get personally involved when you say it that way.  You're free to get the task done any number of ways (like, maybe your husband will do it, can you believe that?)

This works all the way through your life.  When you use I am combined with words like happy, wonderful, excited, energetic, engaged, loving --- I could could go on forever, but you're getting my drift.  These declarations also stick in your mind, too, but as enriching energy rather than as gnatty little thoughts that clutter your mind and sap your will to go on.

So, I was actually going to write about the re-launch of, SHADOW ON THE MOON, my debut paranormal werewolf book, but since I'm scheduled for a Much Cheaper Than Therapy interview on January 13, I'll save it for then. Which left me free to ramble, thank you very much.

But let me leave you now by wishing that your I am declarations create a planet full of happiness for you and yours in 2012 and on.  

Until next time,

Connie Flynn,

Following My Heart – Part II: The Branding Process

Now that I’ve remembered where my heart is and have decided to step out there, I started listening more to this whole branding thing. Seems I have three personae to brand: Connie Flynn who writes paranormal romance and urban fantasy; K.C. Flynn who writes mysteries with maybe some paranormal thrown in; and Connie/K.C. partner and owner/instructor of Bootcamp for Novelists Online. And, of course, there’s still my college creative writing instructor persona, especially now that teachers are expected more and more to market their own courses.

Although K.C. (Old Bones) is more likely to have a new book out sooner, I’m starting with Connie because her book is the most “out there” (as in weird and strange, not out on the shelves). And she also has four ebook reissued titles available in bookstores. Various branding gurus of my recent acquaintance (when the student asks, the teacher appears) tell me I need three keywords related to what I’m writing which will also be of interest to me and my potential readers. After lots of doodling, I came up with them.

Fashion: True, I dreamed about being on America’s Top Model, but what’s more to the point is that the heroine in my fantasy THE XANADU REBELLION was a world famous fashion model before a tragic accident scarred her face. Although she now spends her time learning how to save the universe (some minor hyperbole) she still loves beautiful quirky clothes. How I understand her. Although I spend my time working for a living, I also love beautiful, quirky clothes – an indulgence I’ve denied myself for far too long. So this is my era of QUIRKY FASHION. I’ve even taken to following Lady Gaga and Prince Poppycock on Twitter and Facebook, but never fear that I’ve gone off the edge. I’m still no stranger to Ann Kline and Inc. And there is at least one pair of sturdy, sensible walking shoes in my closet.

Breakthrough Science: THE XANADU REBELLION book is a crossover between science fiction, urban fantasy, and high fantasy . . . with a little romance thrown in. So are a couple of my soon to be reissued backlist, THE FIRE OPAL and THE DRAGON HOUR. And, frankly, I’m a bit of a science geek. Mostly blow your mind stuff like the neutrino joke I posted on Connie’s Corner and the possible space elevator that I’ll be posting about soon, so welcome to FREAKY SCIENCE.

My Twisted Philosophy: I’m not sure how old I was when I realized that not many people saw the world quite the way I do. Perhaps in the second grade where Mrs. Brown constantly got after me to put my crayons away in a timely manner. Oh how I loved the coloring hour. Anyway, I have spent most of my life with my nose stuck in various, often little known, human potential movements. I’ve learned a bit of this and a bit of that and have reached a point where I might know enough to share a bit here and there. I warn you this is not for the faint of heart. Look for: GOOFBALL MUSINGS. Topics can range from how to avoid being asked to bring a hot dish to a potluck dinner to why you should be careful about what you declare yourself to be. My musings may often be goofball-y, but I AM not a goofball.

Bootcamp for Novelists is also getting a brand workover . . . and a new location. Yes, the online writing school is getting it’s very own blog where my partner Linda Style and I will switch off posts on writing, on the writing industry, and on the writer’s life. We’ve added a new slogan: COMMITMENT, CRAFT, CREATIVITY to round out our goal of teaching step by step and our promise that we can help. Check out course listings at the Bootcamp website and look for our changes around the first of 2012.

In the meantime, if you’d like to check out Connie’s books, click on the book names. SHADOW ON THE MOON and SHADOW OF THE WOLF are currently available in ebook format and so is the Old Bones story by K.C. Flynn. If you’d be willing to write a short review to post on Amazon and Goodreads (blogs are good, too) for any or all of these stories, email me at connieflynn@cox.net. I’ll send you a code that will let you download the books for free.

Meanwhile, I’m not sure how long I’ll be running with the Following my Heart theme, but for now I close part II. If part III comes into existence, you’ll find it here at Much Cheaper Than Therapy on the first Tuesday of January.