Deadlines

Recently I have been involved with a 'write a book in a quarter' group and very few in this group have been productive. This is a bit surprising because last spring we held a 'write a book in a month' challenge where most were very successful - at least with getting a quick first draft down. Perhaps 3 months was too much time and procrastination crept in for the book in a quarter group?

I really thought the book in a month group would not do too much work and was genuinely surprised when they did better than the book in a quarter group.

Some say all you need to finish a book is a deadline and I have definitely found this to be true! But at the same time a longer deadline can be of no use.

To put aside one month to write that first draft seems much more doable then putting aside three months. We can let the kids fend for themselves, for the most part, when it is just one month but not three. We can set aside other projects or 'shoulds' for one month but three may be too long to hold them off.

One writer said she also needed boredom to write. Which is definitely true too. I guess if you have boredom then you can have a longer deadline and stick with it; but if your life is filled with activity then a short burst may do the trick and help you get that first draft done.

Any thoughts?

Creating a Series

A new trend seems to be taking over lately. More and more publishers are asking for books with 'series' potential. New authors are now worried about not only finishing their novels, but setting up their novels up for a series as a selling point for publishers and agents.

How do you create 'series' potential? What exactly does that mean?

What publishers are looking for are books with enough detailed characterization to handle a series of books. The plot may be amazing but, if the book sells well, will readers buy a second or third story with these characters? Can we capitalize on one book's success?

A great way to foster 'series' potential in your book is through supporting characters. Not only do they give you a pool of potential 'stars' for forthcoming books but they also bring out details of the main character's background and personality. They give the hero a chance to show who he is and why he does what he does.

Another great way to foster 'series' potential in your book is to explore the hero's life details. Getting really creative with his job, title, home, setting, philosophy etc. allows you to mine these things for ideas and plot twists for future books.

What type of people will he meet because of his job?
Can you challenge some of his beliefs?
Is he afraid of commitment? - perhaps he meets the perfect woman in the next book.
Does he secretly wish to move to a tropical island? - perhaps he visits one in the next book and becomes part of a criminal investigation.

Setting up very subtle, small goals, desires and wishes in the first book, can open the door for series ideas that feel organic to the character in later books. Just don't hit the reader over the head with it because you won't be delivering on those small goals in the first book.

Mystery

Growing up I was a huge fan of Agatha Christie and Nancy Drew novels. Solving a mystery always added an interactive element to reading these books that I really enjoyed. Lately many bestselling novels have elements of mystery within them regardless of genre. Mystery seems to really be selling again (not like it ever really stopped).

Now as a writer I have gone back to the mystery story and started exploring it from a writer's perspective. What I find interesting is that most books and classes on writing a mystery are all about murder. "First you must come up with a murderer and victim and then you can build the mystery around it..."

Now this is certaintly true, as was the case for Agatha Christie novels, but what about Nancy Drew? She rarely (as far as I can remember) ever dealt with murder. Of course the audience for these novels were much younger but just because you are writing for adults does that mean you need to make your mystery about a murder?

I think not - the new hit show LOST is an example of a new type of mystery for adults that does not directly deal with murder. Sure there may be a mysterious death or two but that is not the main thrust of the mystery. Instead there is a mysterious group of numbers that keeps popping up over and over again throughout the series.

These numbers are played in the lotto bringing good fortune and bad fortune to the player. They are found on a mysterious hatch buried underground in the middle of a mysterious island. They are repeated over and over again as part of a decades old distress call.... Every episode leaves one dying to know what the connection is.

Then there are these weird creatures running around - a polar bear on a tropical island? The audience is left wondering Where did he come from and how the heck did he get here?

Personally I enjoy this type of mystery much more than the traditional 'Who dunnit' or 'How dunnit' murder mysteries we are all so used to. It will be interesting to see how much of an effect this show LOST has on the mystery genre.

Perhaps you have a story that could use a little mysterious twist to it?

Writing Can Heal

What purpose can writers serve during times of disaster? It is true that stories can change the world. In fact some of the greatest writing came out of times filled with war and conflict.

Writing not only can heal the writer as she expresses her inner feelings, despair and hopefully 'hope' but it can also heal the reader of such a piece as he identifies with what is written and knows he is not alone in his struggle. But if a writer gets overly emotional or antagonistic this connection can be hard to make.

What makes great writing so transcendent? It is being objective while writing subjectively. Okay - what the heck does that mean!

When a writer does not take a strong stance on one side or the other but can be somewhat objective about a disaster or situation, s/he is able to write in a universal way. Stepping back allows you to see a bigger picture and in some cases come up with a third option when everyone else only sees two opposing forces such as war is bad / war is good. It is moving beyond dualistic thinking.

The next step is to get in touch with your emotions and opinions and see what it is you personally feel inside. Take the hurricane disaster - you could get swept up in all the blame going on and write an opinion piece like many other journalists out there or you can toss all that aside and dig deep for your personal feelings about it. From here you would find a personal metaphor to use in your writing.

Was there a look on a stranded dog's face that touched you? Reminded you of something? Was there a smiling baby in the midst of chaos that touched you? Why? How can you relate that to the bigger picture of what is going on?

Writing can heal, writing can inform, writing can spark change and writing can entertain. It's nice every once in a while to write to heal. You may find a deeper connection in your 'writing to entertain' work afterward....