Wednesday's Writer's Tip from Elements of the Novel ala Eileen Charbonneau by janet lane walters

Today the adventure with Eileen Charbonneau's Elements of the Novel ends. This has been a fun book and some very vital clues to writing the novel have been touched upon. Market is the theme of this final chapter except for the Afterword that you'll need to read the book if you want that final bit of advice.

Marketing one's book is the final step to go from writer to author. If the book is put in a drawer and never sent out the only thing a writer can say is that they have finished the book. Even when the book is handed over to friends or relatives to read, this is marketing. Can you really trust these people? On one level you can but often those closest to you don't want to hurt your feelings.

The next step would be to find a critique group. These are fellow writers who are striving to reach the same goal as you are. I've been a member of a group that started sometime in the 1990s but I may be the only original member left. People have moved, found other groups, gone on to great success or given up on writing. Finding the right critique group can spur you on to greater success. The wrong one can burst your bubble.

Depending on what kind of stories you write, there are organizations for many genres of fiction writing. Finding one of these can put you on to the path you want to tread.

The last bit of advice is to study the market and find which publisher produces the kind of book you have written. Then learn their rules for submitting and send the story off to face the professional eyes of a publisher.

The last word here is "finish the book and send it flying into the world." Good luck.

Wednesday's Writers' Tip - Prologue and Epilogues - Eileen Charbonneau

Once again Elements of the Novel by Eileen Charbonneau is being features for some information on Prologues and Epilogues. I have been accused of hating both of these. That's strictly not the case. What I don't like is when the Prologue has nothing to do with the story. Or when the Epilogue is so long the words could have formed a chapter on its own. I've seen Prologues that are spot on. Ones that give me information needed to show something from the past that's important to the character. Or one that sets up the world I'm going to enter. So if you're going to write a prologue, make it important.

Now speaking of Epilogues. The ones that turn me off are the ones that begin 3 months later or six months or a year. Ones that show the reader what's happening with the characters. Often found in romances, they bother me. I always feel that if the last chapter doesn't make me feel these people will be happy ever after the Epilogue isn't going to do it. An Epilogue that grabs me is one that makes me want to read the next book in the series. That is a clever use of the afterword.

So if you're tempted to write either of these, make sure the Epilogue or the Prologue is necessary to the story.

Wednesday's Writer's Tip - Tell and Show - Elements of the Novel - Eileen Charbonneau

We're probably all been told to show not tell. I know I have at least a dozen times. But there's nothing wrong with using some tell in your story. Our early days of reading or being read to gave us a lot of tell in the stories. What Eileen Charbonneau has done in this chapter from Elements of Fiction is to tell us what the element of show in our stories can add to the depth.

Telling can be static but it can be dynamic so don't take out all the tell in your story, One place is moving characters from one scene to another. You could say John left the house and went to Megan's. Or you could add a little touch that gives a hint of why he's going or what he's feeling. Tell is giving the facts. I once critiqued a story where the entire first chapter was in the tell mode with the character leaving his home and giving in detail everything he saw along the way. After a time I wanted to know what was happening here. That's where show could have helped.

Why does a writer need show in his stories. The first reason is to engage the reader by giving them a picture of the character's nature. Show can have the character interacting with the setting and giving a focus to the story. Show can trigger a memory and produce a hopefully short flash into the past. Show really is what brings a story to life and helps with the pacing.

I often look at my rough drafts and realize most of what I've written is in the tell mode. I have been known to make what will become a scene and express it in a single sentence. There's a fight scene here. They make love. When I'm working on the other drafts I have to go through and show what is happening in these scenes.

Wednesday's Writer's Tip - Dialogue - Eileen Charbonneau - Elements of the Novel

What's a story without dialogue? Dialogue is one of the elements that keep a novel moving forward. In Elements of the Novel, Eileen Charbonneau gives some hints for writing dialogue. Good dialogue does many things. Insite is one. Have you ever listened to strangers talking and formed judgments about their nature, the importance of what they are talking about? Do you sometimes use this to create a story?

Dialogue should move the story forward. One can't use dialogue in an idle fashion. There must be a  reason for the characters to talk to each other. Good dialogue can bring about change. One of the problems is to write in prose about what the characters will say in a later bit of dialogue. Redundancy doesn't work but leaves the reader saying, "I already know that."

Dialogue should show the characters relationship to the other characters and their reactions to the events that are happening. Dialogue should show the differences between characters, who they are, where they have come from and what their chosen direction in life happens to be. Men talk differently than women. A nurse will speak differently than a college professor. These things should be kept in mind when writing dialogue.

One little thing I find when the dialogue seems off is to take out all the background elements and write out the dialogue as if it were a play. Then read it aloud. This lets you hear if people sound the same or if one character is speaking out of character. Try it and see if your dialogue becomes more vital. As Eileen says, "Dialogue is the spine of the story giving your characters the chance to speak in their own voice."

Wednesday's Writer's Tip - Transitions - Eileen Charbonneau - Elements of the Novel

When I think of transitions, I think of "How do we get from here to there." This can mean going fromone location to another in a story, sort of Meanwhile, back at the ranch. This is only one part of the use of transition. You may be going from one character to another or from one chapter to another. In Elements of the Novel, Eileen Charbonneau gives some ways to do this.

Extra white spaces or the *** can give the reader a hint that something is going to change. One thing I've found useful here is to locate the reader in character or setting when there's a change. Show the new character doing something and let the reader know who this character is. Setting changes should quickly show the reader where they are.

The most important of the transitions is the chapter break. Eileen suggests finding a point in your chapter where making the break holds a moment of suspense. I've often used one of the characters asking or thinking a question that may or may not be answered at the start of a new chapter. The question could be something simple like Where's Johnny? And the next chapter could start Johnny lay in the trunk of the sedan. Though this is a bit simplistic, if the reader cares about the character they're going to end the chapter wondering and start reading the next chapter to find more about the characters.

So choose your transitions with care and hone them. The reader will be hooked and keep reading.

Wednesday's Writer's Tip - Drafts - Eileen Charbonneau - Elements of the Novel

In this chapter Eileen Charbonneau talks about doing drafts. Now here is someone who approaches writing in almost the manner I do. I have a feeling her first draft is much longer than mine usually end up. But for me this is the way I write. Other people write differently since they revise each scene or chapter before they continue. What she's addressing here is what happens after a writer has found all the elements of their story and have begun the real thing.

In the Elements of the Novel, Eileen talks about three drafts. The first is getting down the story going where the characters and the idea takes the writer. Essentially this is getting the story down on paper no matter if you write it out by hand or type it into the computer. Here is where everything and anything goes. I often call this the draft only the writer can love. This is the Sound Draft.

The second of the Drafts is the Sense draft. What that really means is looking at all the elements of the story and seeing if they are what you want to show the reader. Are the characters developed? Is the setting there? Do you have holes in the plot that need to be filled in? Sometimes I find holes big enough to drive a Sherman tank through. For me, this means doing each element separately. I do wish I could do it all in one but that's not the way I work.

The third draft she speaks about is named Sing. Here attention is paid to the word use, to taking out the boring parts and making them come alive. Getting rid of those tell passages and showing, drawing the reader in. Read your story aloud. This will show you parts that don't fit what you've written. Once you've done all this, you're done. Except for me there's a final look through to find those missing question marks and those words that are real words but aren't the ones you meant to type.

But the journey isn't finished. There are a few more chapters to finish in this well-written little book.

Wednesday's Writer's Tip - POV - Eileen Charbonneau

Once again, I'm looking at  Elements of the Novel by Eileen Charbonneau. This time she's talking about POV or to make this simple, who's telling the story. A point of view can make or break a story. I usually write in third person with two or more eyes to view the story's events. What Eileen points out here is that if a number of people view the same event they will all have different versions of the same happening.

So there's First person and that's told from the eyes of one character. Useful for mysteries and often seen in YA. The problem here means that the character can only relate what they see, hear, taste, smell, touch. If something happens off stage, someone must tell them what has happened.

Second person is you and often results in stiffness or a lecture. I've never read much in this POV. This is You being the addressee.

Third person finds most of the fiction. There can be one story teller, two, or multiple plus the teller looking down on the action. This is Omniscent and sees, hears and knows all. I've used all but the omniscent POV. I like seeing actions shown through several people's eyes. In romance, two is usually what's used but I've used three when there's something that needs to be shown that neither hero or heroine has seen. I've also used many characters telling part of the story. The problem here is sticking to the chosen character for the scene or the chapter and not being in one of the other character's head.

Now this brings us to head-hopping. I once read a story where in one paragraph there were 4 POVs including the dog. Perhaps a feat but left me shaking my head and feeling lost. So an easy thing to remember is to show a scene through one character's view and switch to another for the next. If one decides to switch in the middle of the scene, make sure there's a transition allowing the reader to shift gears.

How about you? How do you choose whose eyes a story is seen?

Wednesday's Writer's Tip - Characters, Eileen Charbonneau

Once again it's Wednesday and I'm looking at Elements of the Novel by Eileen Charbonneau. This time she's talking about characters. Without people in the story, there can be no story. Of course we've read stories using animals as the major characters but they become more than just animals. I once wrote a very unsuccessful story from the POV of a park bench. I'll say nothing more except I was writing in my artsy period. Eileen has written stories with wonderful characters, so let's see what she has to say.

Her first advice is about creating these characters and knowing more about them than their name, height and weight. Looking into other aspects of the life of the characters you're developing always adda dimension to who they are.The more you know about a character and how they developed into the person they have become with the goals they strive for and the problems caused by their social, physical, emotional and mental development, the better you can bring the people you develop to life.

Once you have your character firmly in mind, Eileen talks about how to reveal your character. This is done in many ways such as speech, action, and interacting with other characters. The character is also defined by where they live and the twists and turns of the plot.

So when writing start looking at ways to enhance your characters and some day you may have a character who lives for the ages like Scrooge or Scarlet.

Wednesday's Writer's Tip - Elements of the Novel - Eileen Charbonneau - Settings

In the chapter I read today from Eileen, she's talking about Setting. Now if there's ever something I need to pay attention to, this is one area of writing where I tend to fall down. Action, dialogue and other elements are ones I usually have little problem with. I once had an editor reject a story of mine and her one comment was "Good story but the characters operate in a vacuum." Not a thing a writer wants to hear. So I set out to remedy this and failed in a different way. Each scene in the work began with a long description of the setting. This was boring. I'll admit that I haven't yet conquored the setting part of writing a story. I'm not sure why.

In Elements of the Novel, Eileen has given a very on point bit of advice. I'm going to try it to see if I can make my characters operate not in a vacuum or in a cluttered place but in a way that gives the reader a way to be in the settig with the characters.

"Setting is vital." This isn't what I learned but it's a reminder to keep the characters in a setting rather than in a vacuum.

"Place is sensory." Now this is where I usually fall down. Eileen recommends having the characters react by using one of the senses to bring the setting to life. Actually she suggests at least twice in each scene. This will bring the setting to life and can also be used to bring the characters to life as well.

Somehow this makes sense to me and I'm going to try it as I do the final revision of my curre WIP. How about you are your settings almost absent in your stories? Are your places cluttered with dozens of details that really don't have a purpose other than to put your characters in a place?