Jan Selbourne is Visiting and Talking about Writing Fiction #MFRWAuthor #Writing #Fiction #elements

 

We all know there are six elements of fiction. Who, What, When, Where, Why and How. I believe the first five lead to the sixth which for me is plot. What's your take on this?

 

I agree the first five lead to the sixth.   I think it’s important to introduce the When and Where with the Who then What and Why and How.

 

 How do you create your characters? Do you have a specific method?

 

The idea for a story comes first and I create my characters to fit the story.  No specific method, I think I know who I want when the story begins to rattle in my head.

 

2. Does your beginning arrive fully developed or do you spend a lot of time making the right approach to scene 1?

 

The story begins with an idea.  For example, in 2015 I visited the World War One Commonwealth War Graves in Belgium and France. Thousands of young men who never came home and so many headstones bearing the inscription ‘Known Only to God’.  Later, I wondered if a soldier, wanting a new life, could swap his identity disc with one whose owner was, to put it bluntly, blown to bits. I asked the Imperial War Museum, London and the Australian War Memorial. Both replied it was possible but highly unlikely. The chances of being caught very high and he’d be hanged. That was good enough for me to write The Proposition.  My character wasn’t caught.

 

3. Do you know how the story will end before you begin? In a general way or a specific one?

No, the story grows and I go with it.

 

4. Do you choose settings you know or do you have books of settings and plans of houses sitting around?

Both.  I write historical fiction, so I need books and online research to write an authentic as possible setting, however I’ve been fortunate to have visited most places and towns and walk the streets in my books.

 

 

5. Where do you do your research? On line or from books?

Both.  Thank heavens for the internet!

           

6. Are you a draft writer or do you revise as you go along and why? Do you sketch out your plot or do you let the characters develop the route to the end?

 

I’m a pantser and I revise as I am going along.  The plot and the characters develop and take me with them.

 

7. Where can we find you on the net?

Website: https://nomadauthors.com/JanSelbourne/index.html
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jan.selbourne

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JanSelbourne
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jan-selbourne-2817b6140/
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Jan Selbourne’s Books – Book Marketing Global Network

Tuesday's Writer's Tip - Openings - Settings and more @BWLAuthor #MFRWAuthor #amwriting #props # settings

 There is more to the opening of a story than the characters and the moments around the change happening to one or more of the characters. Setting is a big thing and Symbols are another that can shape the story.

Symbols is another word for a prop or an object that means something to the character and may be present throughout the book. I use this frequently. In some of my fantasies, jewels play a large role and often are used by the characters to enhance their talents. Often these gems are with the characters constantly. There are other symbols I've used. In my mystery series, mint tea plays a large role. Sometimes people think the cat, Robespierre is a prop but to my character in the book he is a person. So when you're developing a story try to find something for the character or characters to use.

Settings have a great deal of influence in stories. This has always been my problem and I've been accused of having my characters existing in a vacuum. This has become less stressful for me as a writer over the years. Of course there are some writers who expand their stories with volumes and volumes describing the settings. This can definitely upset the reader and often causes them to skip over the materisl. In an opening scene, the setting can give a hint to the atmosphere of the story. My current story has the opening scene in the hero's office and gives a bit about his character. The heroine's opening scene is set in the place where she is the caregiver to a young boy. These settings give the reader a view of the characters in their ordinary life and then shows the change.

Settings can set the tone and mood of a story. Often in my fantasies the opening scenes can show darkness coming to a character's life. One I recall has the heroine overlooking a keep and wondering what will happen to her and why she has been torn from her family. So remember the opening setting in important to your story.

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Tuesday - Th Writer's Life - Settings #MFRWauthor #settings #writing

Once you have the characters, you might think you're ready to put your story into action. You know what they want and why they want that particular thing. You know the reasons others want to keep or assist them in reaching their dreams. So you start to write. You have dialogue and action between the characters.

You have scenes with beginnings middles and ends but don't make the mistake I did. The very first rejection I received said. Your characters operate in a vacuum. I'd ignored or just put bits of the setting into the story. She walked to the kitchen. But I didn't show much of the kitchen. So I tried again.

This time I had descriptions of each room or each place the characters were in. They were long and had lots of phrases and clauses. So I sent the book off to another publisher. Rejection. The settings are wooden and way too long. You need to consider what the character sees, hears and the rest of the senses. I tried again.

During the third time, I had setting down pat and sent the story off again. Was I accepted. No. This editor found another place where I could improve the story. After many times and revisions, I sent the story off an the book was accepted.

So don't forget the senses and the setting go hand in hand.

Wednesday's Writer's Tip - Setting - Places #MFRWauthor #amwriting

As I said before settings are important since they can do a number of things. When you go from countries and the other large areas, you need to be more specific. Places where the characters live or work are important to establish with word pictures. These places also show things about the characters and we'll get into that another time.

What do you know about the characters' choices of residences? Where a person lives and how they keep their place. Is the house well furnished? What are the things the characters choose to have around them. Writing contemporary stories can be easier that writing historical novels. In contemporary settings knowledge is easily obtained from books of house plans to sites that show furniture and other decorating tips.

I have some books that show the insides of Regency homes and the internet is full of sites and pictures of mansions, castles and other things. Make good use of these. A trick is to select just a few things that are of important and show a bit about the characters choices.

Now we look at places where they work. Places like schools, hospitals, offices, wharfs, ships and other places like this. The internet and the library are filled with things.

I write a lot of stories placed in hospitals. I've worked in hospitals and I've been a patient. I can draw on my experience. but then I write fantasies taking place in other worlds. The easy ones are when I do alternate history or reincarnation stories. There are sites and books I can depend on to help me set up sites. But these are also important for fantasies of other worlds since the particular sites I choose can give the reader a way to identify. A tower from a historical site can be adapted. What I always have to remember is how the characters will react and what's important to them in each particular setting.

Tuesday's Inspiration - Settings

In the wonderful book of essay in the Writer's Handbook, I came across one by Norah Lofts talking about setting. There have been timew when I've been reading a story and I wonder when the author visited the place. The details seem so right. Questions often arise. Do they live there. How long was their visit? Then I go on to see that they've never been to the place thay have made me believe I've visited with them. Writing about a place familiar to you is easy. Well, no kind of writing is that easy. Placing characters in a setting and making the reader believe they are there.

Now if the writer isn't writing of a place they've been, research is the answer. But how much is enough and how much is too much. I have lots of books on my shelves collected over the years that are travel books and show a land. I also have friends who travel more than I do. How does the writer know if they've created a place the reader may recognize. One way is to invent a setting and to put elements of a place you know or a place you've visited or read about. Feeding in the details can be easy or hard.

I have a village invented for a mystery series that's based on the village where I live. I've combined three villages and just picked out the parts I want to show. I've sued this place as a setting in a number of books by changing details and throwing in imaginary elements, I've also written fantasies where the world is invented and bears some resemblance to places I've read about in some of the travel books. I often use recreations of ruins of houses, temples, castles to make these seem real. Most of the time I succeed. A friend saved me from making an escape and forgetting or not realizing that evening comes differently when one is nearer the equator than where I currently reside. She also reminded me that it's hot about eight months of the year so the seasons are different from the ones where I reside.

So when working to create a setting, walk the town if you're using a familiar one, visit the house you've chosen to add to the story. I have books of house and apartment plans on my shelf and there are the ones I've visited or lived in. I also have the internet and friends who have traveled. Visit the places in reality or from plicture and once you've selected the few details you need, use your imagination and place your characters there.

Tuesday's Inspiration -- Places you've been or haven't

Many of us have problems with settings. I know in the beginning of my writing career the rejections often mentioned my characters operated in a vacuum. Then there are the writers who give us pages and pages of the places where their characters exist and the story is lost. There's a happy medium and several ways to go about this.

One way is to take a place you know. Pick up your pen or pencil or hit the computer keys and just write everything you can remember about this place. Put in your reactions and also throw in the five senses. Just let it flow. You can use parts of this in your story and sprinkle them in like seasoning in a dish you're creating.

But say you're writing about a place you've been maybe onceor never. This takes a little work but can be solved from books or the internet. Look the place up and jot down descriptions and facts from your research. Once you have these notes down, put yourself or your characters in that place. Start writing what you remember from what you have read and made notes of.

Now's the time to start putting those into your story. Make sure to pick the things that are unique. I've been to Santa Fe once and while there I picked up every piece of free literature I could find. When I was ready to
set a story in that city, I thought about my impressions and then looked at all those flyers. During the writing of the story I had bits and pieces to pull out and hopefully succeeded.

Inspired by Bird by Bird - A look at Settings

Several things in this segment of Bird By Bird tickled me. The first was her woeful attempts at becoming a gardner. I have been known to have plants outdoors and they usually thrive. It's the indoor ones that never survive. Take spider plants they always grow and send out new little babies - for everyone else, not me. I also had this wonderful cactus that existed in my house for years. Carried the thing from Texas to Pittsburgh and finally to Nyack. Then the new cat attacked the plant and killed it.

Several things Ann Lamott said about settings rang true. Your characters need to be located in time and space. Details are wonderful when describing a character's space but not too many. The setting should reflect the character's ideas. I know she calls people and asks them. This is a good way to learn. I also have some aides - books of house plans and even some of apartment plans from early houses to the modern ones. I also have books on gardens and places. The internet can also help when creating a setting for your characters. What she suggests is seeing the setting like it's a set for a play or a movie. Maybe this works for some people. For me, word pictures does it. Words work to bring a setting alive.

In my current book my characters are spending a lot of time in a forest. Remembering what it was like to walk in the woods can bring the smells and the scenery to life. And if you've never been somewhere and have no friends who have been to that place of in a home like that, one can delve into books on many things and allow the words to spin dreams in their heads.