Being a writer requires a somewhat masochistic personality, I think. We love to write, it's our passion, but often we are left to dig our way out of the smoldering ruins of yet another rejection. This happened to me recently (again). Rejection hurts. But does that stop us from plopping down in front of the computer to work on the next story? No. I rest my case.
Writing is a lonely business, and when another rejection appears so unassumingly in my Inbox, I start to question why I even bother. It would be so easy to say “I don’t wanna write tonight,” and go watch Monday Night Football. I’ve even found myself wondering if I should give up the endeavor altogether. The eternal internal battle: self-doubt versus passion; fear versus dreams of avarice. So why do we continue to put ourselves in peril? Why risk the weight of all those rejections? Simple. Because we MUST write. We can’t picture our life without writing as a part of it. And because the asylum of characters, premises, story germs, plot arcs, and words-words-words running rampant in our heads won’t let us stop. There’s something wrong with us. We’re writers. Do we have any hope?
Yes.
Remember why you’re writing in the first place. What was it that originally juiced you to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard)? You have a story to tell. You have characters who are begging for you to bring them to life. You have an opinion to share. Or perhaps writing is a panacea for your inner peace, a therapy for dealing with strong emotions that need an outlet. That’s where you need to look for your reason to continue putting your babies out into the world where others will judge them—and possibly reject them.
Rejection hurts. But in the end, you will be stronger—both as a writer, and as a person.
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Dialogue, Action & Narrative: Weaving story elements
I’d like to introduce you to a friend of mine, a friend who has helped me create a three-dimensional feel in my stories. His name is DAN: Dialogue Action Narrative.
Dialogue: character’s words
Action: character’s movement
Narrative: character’s thoughts, which can include observation of setting or other characters, inner monologue, musings, etc.
Fiction is created using DAN in the right proportions. Certainly there are scenes in which only one of the elements works best, and learning which to use when comes with experience. But for this piece, I’m going to focus on how to use all three elements to create a smooth ride for your reader.
The concept of weaving these three elements should not be unfamiliar—we combine these three things in our normal life. You could be meeting a friend for lunch at a restaurant. What are you doing? You’re talking with your friend (dialogue), eating your lunch (action), thinking about what to say, the scenery, etc. (narrative). Writing a scene of fiction, then, is not much different. We want our stories to imitate life, so we need to show all of these dimensions of our characters’ lives at once. Not the boring stuff, though, but the stuff that adds to the plot and character growth.
What do you give your attention to when people around you are doing these three things? Obviously, we can’t read a person’s thoughts. Sometimes when people are doing certain things we take notice, wild gestures with their hands for example. But most likely, your attention piques when you hear someone say something interesting.
Dialogue and Action
In an action scene, people don’t stop talking. Nor do they give page-length speeches either. In a scene that’s mostly action, you want to sprinkle in bits of dialogue, even if it’s just a word or phrase. Without dialogue, the scene would feel stagnant and lifeless, even though your characters may be running away from a T-Rex (a la “Jurassic Park”). Action without dialogue often lacks substance.
Conversely, when creating a scene where dialogue is the prevalent element, make sure your characters are doing something. Even in those scenes that are nondramatic, have your characters engaged in some kind of activity while they’re talking. Dialogue can bring your characters to life, but action and dialogue combined create characters and a setting that are three-dimensional.
Dialogue Action Narrative
Simply put, narrative tells, dialog shows. While narrative can perform many important tasks in a story—reveal a character’s inner thoughts, describe setting, flash back into the past, for example—too much of it becomes boring. The best way to handle this is by weaving narrative into your dialogue in order to flesh it out. Take the following dialogue scene (excerpted from my own story, “Prey”) as an example, first using only dialogue:
“Harmless? A planet that would destroy itself…harmless? You are fahra-tog—barbarians. Your planet is dying. The Kashoori did you a favor. We saved you from your own foolishness.”
“You did me no favor by taking away my daughter.”
“She would not have been harmed.”
Though the above dialogue may be intriguing and suggest action and tension, it is lacking and makes the scene feel flat. Now let’s invite DAN:
“Harmless?” Her voice seethed with accusation. “A planet that would destroy itself…harmless? You are fahra-tog—barbarians. Your planet is dying.” She threw her jaw out. “The Kashoori did you a favor. We saved you from your own foolishness.”
He stared at her a long moment, eyes ablaze with hatred. Then, slowly, as though smothered by some deep pain, the fire in his eyes dimmed, and his face softened into an expression of melancholy. “You did me no favor by taking away my daughter.”
His mulik. Tarayvi felt a twitch in her gut. She hadn’t expected that. She opened her mouth to speak but found no suitable words. The Terran young were the most important treasure from Earth; their youth made it easier for them to adapt, and therefore they were easier to assimilate into Kashoori society. And their energetic adolescent immune systems held the key to the disease problem on the planet—the Terran sickness, brought by the first human slaves. What could she tell this human?
“She would not have been harmed,” was all she could think of.
Quite a difference. See how much more the scene is fleshed out by weaving narrative and action into the dialogue?
Pacing and Rhythm
There are times when you’ll want to focus on only one of the three elements, but generally you’ll want to create a balance between the three. How you weave them affects your story’s pacing, so weaving well helps you find your story’s rhythm. So whenever you’re crafting a scene, don’t be shy, invite DAN. He’ll prove a good friend.
Dialogue: character’s words
Action: character’s movement
Narrative: character’s thoughts, which can include observation of setting or other characters, inner monologue, musings, etc.
Fiction is created using DAN in the right proportions. Certainly there are scenes in which only one of the elements works best, and learning which to use when comes with experience. But for this piece, I’m going to focus on how to use all three elements to create a smooth ride for your reader.
The concept of weaving these three elements should not be unfamiliar—we combine these three things in our normal life. You could be meeting a friend for lunch at a restaurant. What are you doing? You’re talking with your friend (dialogue), eating your lunch (action), thinking about what to say, the scenery, etc. (narrative). Writing a scene of fiction, then, is not much different. We want our stories to imitate life, so we need to show all of these dimensions of our characters’ lives at once. Not the boring stuff, though, but the stuff that adds to the plot and character growth.
What do you give your attention to when people around you are doing these three things? Obviously, we can’t read a person’s thoughts. Sometimes when people are doing certain things we take notice, wild gestures with their hands for example. But most likely, your attention piques when you hear someone say something interesting.
Dialogue and Action
In an action scene, people don’t stop talking. Nor do they give page-length speeches either. In a scene that’s mostly action, you want to sprinkle in bits of dialogue, even if it’s just a word or phrase. Without dialogue, the scene would feel stagnant and lifeless, even though your characters may be running away from a T-Rex (a la “Jurassic Park”). Action without dialogue often lacks substance.
Conversely, when creating a scene where dialogue is the prevalent element, make sure your characters are doing something. Even in those scenes that are nondramatic, have your characters engaged in some kind of activity while they’re talking. Dialogue can bring your characters to life, but action and dialogue combined create characters and a setting that are three-dimensional.
Dialogue Action Narrative
Simply put, narrative tells, dialog shows. While narrative can perform many important tasks in a story—reveal a character’s inner thoughts, describe setting, flash back into the past, for example—too much of it becomes boring. The best way to handle this is by weaving narrative into your dialogue in order to flesh it out. Take the following dialogue scene (excerpted from my own story, “Prey”) as an example, first using only dialogue:
***
“Harmless? A planet that would destroy itself…harmless? You are fahra-tog—barbarians. Your planet is dying. The Kashoori did you a favor. We saved you from your own foolishness.”
“You did me no favor by taking away my daughter.”
“She would not have been harmed.”
***
Though the above dialogue may be intriguing and suggest action and tension, it is lacking and makes the scene feel flat. Now let’s invite DAN:
***
“Harmless?” Her voice seethed with accusation. “A planet that would destroy itself…harmless? You are fahra-tog—barbarians. Your planet is dying.” She threw her jaw out. “The Kashoori did you a favor. We saved you from your own foolishness.”
He stared at her a long moment, eyes ablaze with hatred. Then, slowly, as though smothered by some deep pain, the fire in his eyes dimmed, and his face softened into an expression of melancholy. “You did me no favor by taking away my daughter.”
His mulik. Tarayvi felt a twitch in her gut. She hadn’t expected that. She opened her mouth to speak but found no suitable words. The Terran young were the most important treasure from Earth; their youth made it easier for them to adapt, and therefore they were easier to assimilate into Kashoori society. And their energetic adolescent immune systems held the key to the disease problem on the planet—the Terran sickness, brought by the first human slaves. What could she tell this human?
“She would not have been harmed,” was all she could think of.
***
Quite a difference. See how much more the scene is fleshed out by weaving narrative and action into the dialogue?
Pacing and Rhythm
There are times when you’ll want to focus on only one of the three elements, but generally you’ll want to create a balance between the three. How you weave them affects your story’s pacing, so weaving well helps you find your story’s rhythm. So whenever you’re crafting a scene, don’t be shy, invite DAN. He’ll prove a good friend.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Writing a Book Is Like...
Having spent a year researching, planning, writing, revising, rewriting and editing my first novel, expending no small amount of time, energy, blood, sweat and tears, one would think that the hard part was over. Au contraire, mon frère.
The actual writing of a novel is the fun part, the "easy" part; what comes after is the "not-so-easy" part: finding an agent. If you're of the squeamish ilk, then you'd better grow a thick skin--fast. Nothing can be so discouraging as the consistent chime of your "new email" alert nonchalantly apprising you of the form rejections dropping callously into your Inbox:
"Please be assured that we have given your project careful consideration. Unfortunately we don't feel the manuscript is right for us at this time."
Etcetera.
Then it's back to more agent research (GLA, online agent sites, the Jeff Herman Guide), putting together and shipping out Query packages, and waiting for more (most likely) rejections.
Etcetera.
But then one day it happens: an agent offers to sign you. Glory be! Now you're on easy street, right? Not by a long shot. Now comes more revisions and editing, until both you and your agent are satisfied. Only after that does the agent begin trying to sell your manuscript to an editor at a publishing house (hopefully one of the big six). And IF (notice that's a big "if") an editor offers to buy? Then comes even more revision and editing, more back and forth...
Etcetera.
Do you get the impression there exists a great deal of these "etceteras"? Uh huh. But hey, whoever said getting a novel published was easy? Probably the same folks who tell you that you can get rich quick in Multi-Level Marketing schemes.
No matter. If your passion is to write, then write is what you'll continue to do, whether you get paid for it or not. Of course, we all dream of having our words reach multitudes of readers with the hope that maybe--just maybe--we can touch those readers with the magic of our stories. Until then, we dangle an enticing carrot in front of ourselves and stretch for all we're worth.
And of course, we diligently put our butts in our chairs every day, and we write. And write. And...
Etcetera.
The actual writing of a novel is the fun part, the "easy" part; what comes after is the "not-so-easy" part: finding an agent. If you're of the squeamish ilk, then you'd better grow a thick skin--fast. Nothing can be so discouraging as the consistent chime of your "new email" alert nonchalantly apprising you of the form rejections dropping callously into your Inbox:
"Please be assured that we have given your project careful consideration. Unfortunately we don't feel the manuscript is right for us at this time."
Etcetera.
Then it's back to more agent research (GLA, online agent sites, the Jeff Herman Guide), putting together and shipping out Query packages, and waiting for more (most likely) rejections.
Etcetera.
But then one day it happens: an agent offers to sign you. Glory be! Now you're on easy street, right? Not by a long shot. Now comes more revisions and editing, until both you and your agent are satisfied. Only after that does the agent begin trying to sell your manuscript to an editor at a publishing house (hopefully one of the big six). And IF (notice that's a big "if") an editor offers to buy? Then comes even more revision and editing, more back and forth...
Etcetera.
Do you get the impression there exists a great deal of these "etceteras"? Uh huh. But hey, whoever said getting a novel published was easy? Probably the same folks who tell you that you can get rich quick in Multi-Level Marketing schemes.
No matter. If your passion is to write, then write is what you'll continue to do, whether you get paid for it or not. Of course, we all dream of having our words reach multitudes of readers with the hope that maybe--just maybe--we can touch those readers with the magic of our stories. Until then, we dangle an enticing carrot in front of ourselves and stretch for all we're worth.
And of course, we diligently put our butts in our chairs every day, and we write. And write. And...
Etcetera.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
A Lesson in Perseverance
As a writer I am often faced with rejection. Though not the most enjoyable part of the process, it is inevitable. But I try to look at it with a different perspective, one that’s at least better for my ego: Rejections are badges of honor. I mean, hey, if I’m getting rejections, it means that I’m actually writing, doing the work. And I’m courageous enough to let my babies go out into the world to be judged, right? And then there’s the whole Law of Averages thing. Babe Ruth rang up so many home runs because he kept swinging at the ball. Eventually he would connect. Same goes for writing—you keep swinging and eventually you connect.
However, when you go through months of rejections and no responses and nothing good happening with your work, you begin to second guess yourself, to doubt your talent as a writer. Another swing and a miss. Your batting average has dropped to zero and thoughts like, “Maybe my work does stink,” and “Who do I think I am, sending in my work alongside the thousands of writers out there with real talent?” start to waft through your troubled mind. You start to feel exposed, vulnerable, hopeless. You’re aiming for center field, but center field sure looks a long way off.
But you don’t stop writing—you can’t stop, it’s your passion. And as the saying goes, “Obstacles are the stepping stones to success.”
So you keep plugging along, letting your little fingers tap merrily away at the keyboard, all the while hoping you’re not just producing more crap. But in the dark space in the back of your mind you see vultures circling. And they taunt you: “Your words will die on the page.” That’s when you wonder if you’re simply wasting your time, and when you become paranoid that the sideways glances your wife gives you are her way of saying she’s tolerating your “little hobby.”
But take heart. Life has a way of letting you know when you’re on the right track by rewarding your perseverance with little gifts. I received such a gift two days ago in the form of a notification. A short story I had entered into a contest won third prize. Not a home run, but I had entered a half dozen contests prior to this one with no results at all. Not even a “Strike three, you’re out!”
At that moment, a Bronze was worth its weight in gold.
It was the shot in the arm I needed, and I realized that I’m still in the game. The center field bleachers are reachable . . . if I just keep swinging.
However, when you go through months of rejections and no responses and nothing good happening with your work, you begin to second guess yourself, to doubt your talent as a writer. Another swing and a miss. Your batting average has dropped to zero and thoughts like, “Maybe my work does stink,” and “Who do I think I am, sending in my work alongside the thousands of writers out there with real talent?” start to waft through your troubled mind. You start to feel exposed, vulnerable, hopeless. You’re aiming for center field, but center field sure looks a long way off.
But you don’t stop writing—you can’t stop, it’s your passion. And as the saying goes, “Obstacles are the stepping stones to success.”
So you keep plugging along, letting your little fingers tap merrily away at the keyboard, all the while hoping you’re not just producing more crap. But in the dark space in the back of your mind you see vultures circling. And they taunt you: “Your words will die on the page.” That’s when you wonder if you’re simply wasting your time, and when you become paranoid that the sideways glances your wife gives you are her way of saying she’s tolerating your “little hobby.”
But take heart. Life has a way of letting you know when you’re on the right track by rewarding your perseverance with little gifts. I received such a gift two days ago in the form of a notification. A short story I had entered into a contest won third prize. Not a home run, but I had entered a half dozen contests prior to this one with no results at all. Not even a “Strike three, you’re out!”
At that moment, a Bronze was worth its weight in gold.
It was the shot in the arm I needed, and I realized that I’m still in the game. The center field bleachers are reachable . . . if I just keep swinging.
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