While I'm on the subject of Jen, I think this is a good time to talk about the benefits a writer can enjoy from belonging to a good writers' group. I belong to several, but the first one I joined, and still belong to has proven invaluable.
We occasionally get speakers, but more often the program is devoted to critiques by the members present. Four or five readers can read for fifteen minutes at each meeting by signing up at least a day before the meeting...generally you allow more lead time, because the list can grow very quickly and must be limited to no more than six.
A couple of years ago, when I read the scene with Jen coming out of a drug-induced sleep while she was being held captive, one of the members was very helpful. He commented that I'd described something more like coming out of a high on LSD, not being shot up with drugs to control a young girl who had been kidnapped.
Later he took me off to a side, after the meeting, and said that years before he'd done many kinds of drugs and was speaking from experience. Then he gave me something extremely valuable that allowed me to write a convincing scene.
He asked if I'd ever had surgery that required being put under, and I said "yes". Then he said, "Well try to remember how you felt when the anesthetic began to wear off. That would be more what your character would be experiencing. She wouldn't be hallucinating or on a trip.
As I rewrote the part I realized he was so right. The next time I read for critique, I read the rewrite. He said, "Now you've got it right. Now anyone who's been there will believe she really was drugged to control her."
That reading produced another unexpected critique from personal experience. One of the members said, "You describe her confusion when she realized she wasn't in her own bed. Here's what you don't know. I do. I was kidnapped."
Wow. You can't just say, "Hey, I need to speak to someone who was kidnapped and woke up bound and gagged, " then expect to get people who will tell you what it was like. That's information that could be pretty hard to get.
This woman proceeded to tell me that she found herself taking inventory...fingers, toes, what could move, what couldn't, things like that. And, once again, I rewrote what was happening to Jen, who was Katherine at the time, so that it also had a ring of reality from the point of view of someone who had been there.
Reader interest depends upon creating characters that the reader cares about...not one-dimensional cardboard cutouts. Writer's groups are great for feedback, and I also learned to start asking around. Now if I have a question about what something would be like, besides internet research, I talk to people to see if I can find someone who went through it. Then, like an actress, I prepare for the part and feel it as I write.
--ARLISS ADAMS
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
THE DEVELOPMENT OF JEN CONNOR
It's been so many years since I put the first chapters on paper, I don't even remember the last name I used, but the first name was Shawn...and that was my first mistake. The story opens in the late 1950's, and the name Shawn would not have been a typical name, particularly for a family of limited means.
Yet, Shawn was a name I liked and until someone pointed out how unlikely it was that she would be named that, I didn't even realize I'd made a mistake. At first I was defensive, as many writers are about their babies. The fact that I'd written published magazine articles didn't count, because in those cases I dealt with fact. This was fiction, and my protagonist could have any name I chose to give her. I liked Shawn, and hung on to it with a vengeance until I realized I had to let go and pick one that was more appropriate.
So the quest for a name began. Through the years she has had many: Katherine, Marie, Susan, Sandra, and more. It would change every few years along with the title and names of many of the other characters. Finally, last year I hit upon Jeanette, Jen or Jenny for short, and it stuck. The name was right.
One of the other problems with the original Shawn, Marie, Katherine, or...pick whichever one you want...was that her voice was not right for a girl of sixteen. And it stayed the same throughout the book even though the story spanned many years...years that saw her mature from a scared, abused teen to a confident young mother. Again, I didn't even realize that I'd given her the wrong voice, until I joined a writers group. One of the early questions during a reading for critique was: "How old is she supposed to be?" When I said, "Sixteen," the whole group agreed that she didn't sound anything like a sixteen year old.
This is where you have to put yourself in your character's head and take on their characteristics. Depending upon the story, once you are your character, it can become a very emotional experience in a book that is filled with triumphs and tragedies.
More about Jen tomorrow.
ARLISS ADAMS
Yet, Shawn was a name I liked and until someone pointed out how unlikely it was that she would be named that, I didn't even realize I'd made a mistake. At first I was defensive, as many writers are about their babies. The fact that I'd written published magazine articles didn't count, because in those cases I dealt with fact. This was fiction, and my protagonist could have any name I chose to give her. I liked Shawn, and hung on to it with a vengeance until I realized I had to let go and pick one that was more appropriate.
So the quest for a name began. Through the years she has had many: Katherine, Marie, Susan, Sandra, and more. It would change every few years along with the title and names of many of the other characters. Finally, last year I hit upon Jeanette, Jen or Jenny for short, and it stuck. The name was right.
One of the other problems with the original Shawn, Marie, Katherine, or...pick whichever one you want...was that her voice was not right for a girl of sixteen. And it stayed the same throughout the book even though the story spanned many years...years that saw her mature from a scared, abused teen to a confident young mother. Again, I didn't even realize that I'd given her the wrong voice, until I joined a writers group. One of the early questions during a reading for critique was: "How old is she supposed to be?" When I said, "Sixteen," the whole group agreed that she didn't sound anything like a sixteen year old.
This is where you have to put yourself in your character's head and take on their characteristics. Depending upon the story, once you are your character, it can become a very emotional experience in a book that is filled with triumphs and tragedies.
More about Jen tomorrow.
ARLISS ADAMS
Friday, July 24, 2009
WHERE DID THE WEEK GO?
My goodness. In only twenty minutes it will be Saturday. Where did the time go? It seems like it was Monday a day or so ago. It's been one of those weeks when a lot was accomplished, and nothing was accomplished. One day fully wasted, trying to figure out what was going on with AOL, only to discover that once again they made a change without really letting subscribers know. Oh well, all's well that ends well, but they stole one of my days.
When I was writing the first draft of what was then "Dance Ballerina Dance," (now A DREAM LOST and THE DEVIL'S DUE) I didn't worry about the internet. It was around 1995, and e-mail was still something most people didn't have. The fax was the big thing. Right about that time, I was pulling together the pieces of a puzzle that would eventually become my first attempt at fiction.
I had the story of the kidnapped ballerina, I had some of what happened to her afterwards, but there were so many directions it could go. I just didn't know which fork in the road to follow. Finally I decided that I would use those first bits as the nucleus of the story. From there it could go anywhere my mind wanted it to, unlike writing magazine articles about specific things. I wouldn't have to adhere to the truth. I could create places, people, scenes, obstacles, triumphs and all of the other elements that make up a good fiction novel.
The problem was I'd never written fiction. I was an avid reader, but all of the nuances that I should have picked up from wonderful writers, skipped right past me. Oh, was I ever off base. First of all I thought it had to be big in order to sell it to an agent or publisher. How does 600 pages sound? Ridiculous for a first time fiction author--that's how it sounds to me now. But that was then. Use an outline, a time line, plotting sheets? Why? Just start to write. Let those creative juices flow.
Anyone reading this who is a seasoned writer, probably senses big problems on the horizon right about now. But did I know I was starting down a fourteen year road? You bet I didn't. "Probably knock it out in six months or so."--that's what I told myself, and told myself and told myself as months turned into years.
Over the next several posts, I'll talk about how Shawn (can't even remember the last name I gave her) became Jen Connor. And, how very much I learned from Jen.
That's it for tonight.
--Arliss Adams
When I was writing the first draft of what was then "Dance Ballerina Dance," (now A DREAM LOST and THE DEVIL'S DUE) I didn't worry about the internet. It was around 1995, and e-mail was still something most people didn't have. The fax was the big thing. Right about that time, I was pulling together the pieces of a puzzle that would eventually become my first attempt at fiction.
I had the story of the kidnapped ballerina, I had some of what happened to her afterwards, but there were so many directions it could go. I just didn't know which fork in the road to follow. Finally I decided that I would use those first bits as the nucleus of the story. From there it could go anywhere my mind wanted it to, unlike writing magazine articles about specific things. I wouldn't have to adhere to the truth. I could create places, people, scenes, obstacles, triumphs and all of the other elements that make up a good fiction novel.
The problem was I'd never written fiction. I was an avid reader, but all of the nuances that I should have picked up from wonderful writers, skipped right past me. Oh, was I ever off base. First of all I thought it had to be big in order to sell it to an agent or publisher. How does 600 pages sound? Ridiculous for a first time fiction author--that's how it sounds to me now. But that was then. Use an outline, a time line, plotting sheets? Why? Just start to write. Let those creative juices flow.
Anyone reading this who is a seasoned writer, probably senses big problems on the horizon right about now. But did I know I was starting down a fourteen year road? You bet I didn't. "Probably knock it out in six months or so."--that's what I told myself, and told myself and told myself as months turned into years.
Over the next several posts, I'll talk about how Shawn (can't even remember the last name I gave her) became Jen Connor. And, how very much I learned from Jen.
That's it for tonight.
--Arliss Adams
Thursday, July 23, 2009
THANKS FOR ALL THE CONGRATULATIONS
Well, I posted my news about L&L Dreamspell picking up both A DREAM LOST and THE DEVIL'S DUE, and decided to toot my horn on Murder Must Advertise and Reader's Express.
This morning I was delighted to open up many responses. When you work on something so long, it is a real feeling of both closure and accomplishment to see it coming to fruition.
However, there are some unexpected parts to this as well.
When I originally conceived the character Vince DeLuca, I knew what I wanted him to be, but like many of the other characters he went through a real metamorphasis as the writing went on and on and on.
One day, several years ago, as I read through the most recent draft, complete with several "Vince" scenes, I realized that his original personality had disappeared. He had become someone who was very close to me in the 80's--someone I loved who lived in Seattle. Aha. With that realization, came an understanding. That was why Jen Connor moved to Kirkland, Washington. So I could use him as a model for Vince in surroundings that were intimately familiar to me. That way, every time I wrote a scene with Vince, the person was with me. He owned a restaurant, just like Vince. Had been a hair stylist, had and incredible spirit and called it like it was---just like Vince.
The real person, died way too soon, a victim of cancer. Since I lived in Los Angeles at the time I found out in an awful way. I'd spoken to him a few days before he died, but I'd introduced him to another friend who wanted him involved in a restaurant he was opening in Northern California. As I held a conversation with my friend in California, she suddenly said, "I was so sorry to hear about it." Confused, I answered, "About what?"
Then my interest turned to shock as she said, "About Peter's death." It turned out that he died not long after I talked to him. My friend tried to contact him about the restaurant, and couldn't. So she called a mutual contact and was told that he had passed away.
I never got to say goodbye, so I guess Vince was my way of doing that. It's been many years and I'm still misty writing this. With the publication of these books, it will also be closure of a wound that's been open for many years.
More tomrorrow.
--ARLISS ADAMS
This morning I was delighted to open up many responses. When you work on something so long, it is a real feeling of both closure and accomplishment to see it coming to fruition.
However, there are some unexpected parts to this as well.
When I originally conceived the character Vince DeLuca, I knew what I wanted him to be, but like many of the other characters he went through a real metamorphasis as the writing went on and on and on.
One day, several years ago, as I read through the most recent draft, complete with several "Vince" scenes, I realized that his original personality had disappeared. He had become someone who was very close to me in the 80's--someone I loved who lived in Seattle. Aha. With that realization, came an understanding. That was why Jen Connor moved to Kirkland, Washington. So I could use him as a model for Vince in surroundings that were intimately familiar to me. That way, every time I wrote a scene with Vince, the person was with me. He owned a restaurant, just like Vince. Had been a hair stylist, had and incredible spirit and called it like it was---just like Vince.
The real person, died way too soon, a victim of cancer. Since I lived in Los Angeles at the time I found out in an awful way. I'd spoken to him a few days before he died, but I'd introduced him to another friend who wanted him involved in a restaurant he was opening in Northern California. As I held a conversation with my friend in California, she suddenly said, "I was so sorry to hear about it." Confused, I answered, "About what?"
Then my interest turned to shock as she said, "About Peter's death." It turned out that he died not long after I talked to him. My friend tried to contact him about the restaurant, and couldn't. So she called a mutual contact and was told that he had passed away.
I never got to say goodbye, so I guess Vince was my way of doing that. It's been many years and I'm still misty writing this. With the publication of these books, it will also be closure of a wound that's been open for many years.
More tomrorrow.
--ARLISS ADAMS
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
ARE YOU EVER DONE EDITING?
Here's the thing about today's post--Are you ever done editing? -- I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that the answer is a resounding NO.
It was with great pleasure that I sent off what I thought was a final submission manuscript for THE DEVIL'S DUE. I'd been working on read-throughs, critiques and edits with an author friend so it had to be ready. In turn, I do the same for his manuscripts when he asks me to.
Well, we went through THE DEVIL'S DUE with what we thought was the proverbial "fine tooth comb", but I guess there were gaps in the teeth, because after the manuscript was on it's way, my friend decided to skate through the first few chapters again. Maybe it was for old times sake. Or, maybe to see what a great job we'd done by finding glitches and errors and fixing them before submission.
Instead, he found more things that we missed. One thing led to another, and before you knew it we were making our way through the manuscript again, with changes or corrections in almost every chapter. Well, since he really liked the story and didn't mind going through it again, it was sort of fun. This time we were really careful. We were going to catch every errant comma, every typographical transposition, and anything else that dared slip past our astute eyes the first time. There. It was done! I resubmitted the manuscript to my publisher, confident that every single thing had been ferreted out.
But no--now my friend was suffering withdrawal symptoms. He needed to look for commas. He missed the story. Begin round three. It was bound to be boring, because there was nothing left to find--or was there?
You guessed it. Things we'd sailed right past now were painfully obvious. We've become THE DEVIL'S DUE junkies, making our way through it for the third time--needing our fix for the day. Gotta find commas--don't care if they're ones that are missing or ones that shouldn't be there. Quick, I need to find a glitch in the timeline. Can't find any. Oh no. Are timeline faux pax off the radar now? Okay, give me a reference that could be clearer, right name in the wrong place. Anything. As my friend e-mailed me recently, "Gotta...edit."
Seriously, this manuscript has reinforced the already proven concept that many times our eyes read what we think we see, not what is actually there. That's how those pesky errors might sneak past us. One readthrough is not enough, two might do it, but three are better, I guess. However, when three is complete, the rest will be left to my publisher's editor. That is unless my friend needs another fix of THE DEVIL'S DUE.
--ARLISS ADAMS
It was with great pleasure that I sent off what I thought was a final submission manuscript for THE DEVIL'S DUE. I'd been working on read-throughs, critiques and edits with an author friend so it had to be ready. In turn, I do the same for his manuscripts when he asks me to.
Well, we went through THE DEVIL'S DUE with what we thought was the proverbial "fine tooth comb", but I guess there were gaps in the teeth, because after the manuscript was on it's way, my friend decided to skate through the first few chapters again. Maybe it was for old times sake. Or, maybe to see what a great job we'd done by finding glitches and errors and fixing them before submission.
Instead, he found more things that we missed. One thing led to another, and before you knew it we were making our way through the manuscript again, with changes or corrections in almost every chapter. Well, since he really liked the story and didn't mind going through it again, it was sort of fun. This time we were really careful. We were going to catch every errant comma, every typographical transposition, and anything else that dared slip past our astute eyes the first time. There. It was done! I resubmitted the manuscript to my publisher, confident that every single thing had been ferreted out.
But no--now my friend was suffering withdrawal symptoms. He needed to look for commas. He missed the story. Begin round three. It was bound to be boring, because there was nothing left to find--or was there?
You guessed it. Things we'd sailed right past now were painfully obvious. We've become THE DEVIL'S DUE junkies, making our way through it for the third time--needing our fix for the day. Gotta find commas--don't care if they're ones that are missing or ones that shouldn't be there. Quick, I need to find a glitch in the timeline. Can't find any. Oh no. Are timeline faux pax off the radar now? Okay, give me a reference that could be clearer, right name in the wrong place. Anything. As my friend e-mailed me recently, "Gotta...edit."
Seriously, this manuscript has reinforced the already proven concept that many times our eyes read what we think we see, not what is actually there. That's how those pesky errors might sneak past us. One readthrough is not enough, two might do it, but three are better, I guess. However, when three is complete, the rest will be left to my publisher's editor. That is unless my friend needs another fix of THE DEVIL'S DUE.
--ARLISS ADAMS
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
SHAME ON ME - ABOUT COMMITMENTS
Well, I made a commitment to myself to post on this blog almost every day, and I blew it! Here it is the 21st, and I haven't posted anything since the 16th. Yeah, I know, things come up, other priorities, but it would be far too easy to say that and get away with it.
I have the time to read e-mails...some of them total spam; I have the time to find inconsequential things to do. So why couldn't I find the time to post for the past four days? No excuse, ma'am. I'm guilty and will try to be better in the future.
Yesterday I got the "go" signal from L&L Dreamspell for the second book, THE DEVIL'S DUE, and signed the contract. Now it's a reality. In some ways, it's sad, though. The end of something I've lived with for over fourteen years. There was always that manuscript to edit, changes to be made, errors to be discovered. From this point on, there will be a few go-arounds of the publisher's edits, reviewing the galley, and then...and then...holding both books in my hand.
Hmmm, if I had to choose between a never-ending round of rewriting and holding those books, it would be a no-brainer. Holding the books, of course. It means I can go on to other projects, knowing that I've learned so very much from the journey I started with a first-time fiction novel entitled "Dance Ballerina Dance" to the polished end result. Most of the versions exist somewhere in the stacks, file drawers, floor, and other receptacles in my office, and with each one there is a new element. A new title, a new character, a new understanding of Jen's voice, a new cruel twist...it's all there on floppy disks, CD's and DVD's. A history of how I learned to write fiction.
Along with that memory, are all of the people who had a hand in it along the way. On-line groups, conferences, writer's groups, author friends, reader friends, family...they're all there in the history of the books.
I was going to write more about how the story evolved today, but went off on a tangent again, so I guess that will be reserved for tomorrow. Today I'm just going to take the time to appreciate everyone who helped me achieve the dream of telling the story...sharing it and hopefully pulling at readers' heartstrings and their joy...their sense of protectiveness and their anger. Those are the emotions swirling around in this work. Sometimes I would be sitting at the computer crying as I wrote, because I'd gotten so into the character. When people reading the manuscript tell me they cried, too, I know I accomplished what I was aiming for.
More tomorrow, I promise.
--ARLISS ADAMS
I have the time to read e-mails...some of them total spam; I have the time to find inconsequential things to do. So why couldn't I find the time to post for the past four days? No excuse, ma'am. I'm guilty and will try to be better in the future.
Yesterday I got the "go" signal from L&L Dreamspell for the second book, THE DEVIL'S DUE, and signed the contract. Now it's a reality. In some ways, it's sad, though. The end of something I've lived with for over fourteen years. There was always that manuscript to edit, changes to be made, errors to be discovered. From this point on, there will be a few go-arounds of the publisher's edits, reviewing the galley, and then...and then...holding both books in my hand.
Hmmm, if I had to choose between a never-ending round of rewriting and holding those books, it would be a no-brainer. Holding the books, of course. It means I can go on to other projects, knowing that I've learned so very much from the journey I started with a first-time fiction novel entitled "Dance Ballerina Dance" to the polished end result. Most of the versions exist somewhere in the stacks, file drawers, floor, and other receptacles in my office, and with each one there is a new element. A new title, a new character, a new understanding of Jen's voice, a new cruel twist...it's all there on floppy disks, CD's and DVD's. A history of how I learned to write fiction.
Along with that memory, are all of the people who had a hand in it along the way. On-line groups, conferences, writer's groups, author friends, reader friends, family...they're all there in the history of the books.
I was going to write more about how the story evolved today, but went off on a tangent again, so I guess that will be reserved for tomorrow. Today I'm just going to take the time to appreciate everyone who helped me achieve the dream of telling the story...sharing it and hopefully pulling at readers' heartstrings and their joy...their sense of protectiveness and their anger. Those are the emotions swirling around in this work. Sometimes I would be sitting at the computer crying as I wrote, because I'd gotten so into the character. When people reading the manuscript tell me they cried, too, I know I accomplished what I was aiming for.
More tomorrow, I promise.
--ARLISS ADAMS
Thursday, July 16, 2009
TONIGHT I ATTENDED A VERY INTERESTING MEETING
A writer friend of mine has been bugging me to check out the Las Vegas Writer's Group. Tonight he dragged me there, and was I glad he did. It is a very active group with lots of energy. I was surprised at their huge turnout.
Anyway the program was very interesting. IDorothy Howell presented some very valuable information relative to writing dialogue.
Writing dialogue requires technique. There are so many things to keep in mind:
I was really happy to have attended and will go to more of their meetings.
Tomorrow I'll go back to writing about the creation of A DREAM LOST and THE DEVIL'S DUE. For now, I'm enjoying my cool house.
--Arliss
Anyway the program was very interesting. IDorothy Howell presented some very valuable information relative to writing dialogue.
Writing dialogue requires technique. There are so many things to keep in mind:
- What do you want to accomplish?
- How old is the person and are there other considerations like educational level, what they do for a living, etc.
- Using dialogue as a device to set a scene, break up lots of narrative, or make a particular point.
- Remembering that interesting dialogue doesn't necessarily follow strict grammatical rules. Make it sound natural.
- Write tight.
- ...and much, much more.
I was really happy to have attended and will go to more of their meetings.
Tomorrow I'll go back to writing about the creation of A DREAM LOST and THE DEVIL'S DUE. For now, I'm enjoying my cool house.
--Arliss
NO POST YESTERDAY
Well, there was no post yesterday because my air conditioning went out. 110 in Las Vegas with no air is no fun. My office really heated up and I finally decided to just go out to dinne at an air conditioned restaurant!
That's all about that subject. The air is fixed and I'm back in commission.
--Arliss
That's all about that subject. The air is fixed and I'm back in commission.
--Arliss
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO "HANG IN THERE"?
Lots of determination and belief in yourself, that's what it takes.
I got to thinking about why and how I kept the faith that it was going to happen. Someday these books would be published. I think it was because I knew I had a good story to tell that would grab people's hearts, and I was determined to do what it took to get it published.
Part of what it took turned out to be really studying how to write fiction, for one thing.I attended many conferences and workshops, joined writer's organizations and absorbed information from everything I got my hands on. I kept an open mind. Critiques were not an attack on me or my writing. They were an effort to help me reach my goal, and if I wasn't ready to listen and evaluate the suggestions other writers were willing to give me, well, then I wasn't sincere about getting this published. And, let me tell you, I WAS SINCERE.
Sure, I'd put it down and pick it up again. Once I let it rest on a shelf for two years. But I always went back. And, each time I did, I brought something new to the manuscript, be it experience, technique or a great new scene I'd thought of.
Also, as I said, many of the characters in these two books are modeled on people I knew, or composites of people I knew and things that I really experienced myself. Thank goodness, not the awful stuff, but little memories, like picking all of the neighbor's flowers as a child so I could bring my mother a bouquet. I envisioning myself as a Nancy Drew, and along with four girlfriends, investigated the neighbors, hoping to find them guilty of some dastardly crime. Where were the clues?
These are the fabrics of our fiction, and we weave them into a tapestry that eventually becomes a book or a story. If you're a writer, do you reach into your memories to craft situations, give attributes to your characters that you loved or hated in someone you knew? In a way, that's what drives the completion and polishing of a book. If you can't get it good enough, no one else will ever read about all of these things.
So, I kept at it...edit after edit...wonderful writer friends helping me along the way. After so many years it clicked. I was ready and now it was time to get really serious. What would it take to get this book to print? The first thing, as it turned out, was to hone it down into two books. No publisher was going to take a 600 page tome unless it was from a J.K. Rowling or a Stephen King. But around 300 pages...that was a workable book.
So, those are my thoughts for tonight.
--Arliss
I got to thinking about why and how I kept the faith that it was going to happen. Someday these books would be published. I think it was because I knew I had a good story to tell that would grab people's hearts, and I was determined to do what it took to get it published.
Part of what it took turned out to be really studying how to write fiction, for one thing.I attended many conferences and workshops, joined writer's organizations and absorbed information from everything I got my hands on. I kept an open mind. Critiques were not an attack on me or my writing. They were an effort to help me reach my goal, and if I wasn't ready to listen and evaluate the suggestions other writers were willing to give me, well, then I wasn't sincere about getting this published. And, let me tell you, I WAS SINCERE.
Sure, I'd put it down and pick it up again. Once I let it rest on a shelf for two years. But I always went back. And, each time I did, I brought something new to the manuscript, be it experience, technique or a great new scene I'd thought of.
Also, as I said, many of the characters in these two books are modeled on people I knew, or composites of people I knew and things that I really experienced myself. Thank goodness, not the awful stuff, but little memories, like picking all of the neighbor's flowers as a child so I could bring my mother a bouquet. I envisioning myself as a Nancy Drew, and along with four girlfriends, investigated the neighbors, hoping to find them guilty of some dastardly crime. Where were the clues?
These are the fabrics of our fiction, and we weave them into a tapestry that eventually becomes a book or a story. If you're a writer, do you reach into your memories to craft situations, give attributes to your characters that you loved or hated in someone you knew? In a way, that's what drives the completion and polishing of a book. If you can't get it good enough, no one else will ever read about all of these things.
So, I kept at it...edit after edit...wonderful writer friends helping me along the way. After so many years it clicked. I was ready and now it was time to get really serious. What would it take to get this book to print? The first thing, as it turned out, was to hone it down into two books. No publisher was going to take a 600 page tome unless it was from a J.K. Rowling or a Stephen King. But around 300 pages...that was a workable book.
So, those are my thoughts for tonight.
--Arliss
Monday, July 13, 2009
REALLY STARTING THE STORY
Okay, now I've filled you in on some of the motivations and challenges in writing A DREAM LOST and the DEVIL'S DUE. Where to begin? Where should the story really start? Should the opening recount what led up to the kidnapping in reality, or should it open with a strong fictional scene?
As a writer you must choose am opener that grabs the reader and leaves them wanting more. Action, unanswered questions, challenges...all good devices. The very first version didn't start there. It started way back in Jen's childhood, when she took her first ballet lesson. It stayed like that for years, describing the little girl's love for dancing, what the studio looked like, how her mother acted...you get the idea.
Well, again, if you were giving the account in a magazine article, that's what you might do. But this wasn't a magazine article, nor was it going to be reality. My vision for the book (it was one book at that time) was fiction inspired by a combination of real situations that happened to diverse people. These would all be melded into one person's life in the book. The more I learned about writing fiction, the more I realized that my opening chapters were dead wrong. In one of the versions, I don't remember which one, I made the bold move, although it hurt more than I can tell you, and cut the entire opening chapters of this enormous manuscript.
Elements were saved to use as memories or flashbacks, but they were given a paragraph or two of tight, emotional writing instead of a blow-by-possibly-boring- blow description of what really happened. The term "artistic license" comes to mind.
The more I'd let the manuscript get cold, and then re-read it, the more I knew I had to have an opening scene that wrenched your guts out. What could be more terrifying than waking up in a strange room, head fuzzy, only to discover that your hands and feet are bound. When you try to talk, you can't because of the gag in your mouth. That's how the opening scene was born. I had to be Jen. I had to be in that awful room mentally and feel the terror she felt. And I can truthfully say, I scared myself during that writing.
About three years ago, I read the chapter aloud in my writer's group. Unbelievably, one of the members actually had been kidnapped. My chapter, although gripping, still lacked some of what would really happen in the person's mind, in their reactions. So, after the meeting we chatted, and she told me what a person really would do in this situation--what she did and thought--and I used it. And, it worked.
More tomorrow.
--Arliss
As a writer you must choose am opener that grabs the reader and leaves them wanting more. Action, unanswered questions, challenges...all good devices. The very first version didn't start there. It started way back in Jen's childhood, when she took her first ballet lesson. It stayed like that for years, describing the little girl's love for dancing, what the studio looked like, how her mother acted...you get the idea.
Well, again, if you were giving the account in a magazine article, that's what you might do. But this wasn't a magazine article, nor was it going to be reality. My vision for the book (it was one book at that time) was fiction inspired by a combination of real situations that happened to diverse people. These would all be melded into one person's life in the book. The more I learned about writing fiction, the more I realized that my opening chapters were dead wrong. In one of the versions, I don't remember which one, I made the bold move, although it hurt more than I can tell you, and cut the entire opening chapters of this enormous manuscript.
Elements were saved to use as memories or flashbacks, but they were given a paragraph or two of tight, emotional writing instead of a blow-by-possibly-boring- blow description of what really happened. The term "artistic license" comes to mind.
The more I'd let the manuscript get cold, and then re-read it, the more I knew I had to have an opening scene that wrenched your guts out. What could be more terrifying than waking up in a strange room, head fuzzy, only to discover that your hands and feet are bound. When you try to talk, you can't because of the gag in your mouth. That's how the opening scene was born. I had to be Jen. I had to be in that awful room mentally and feel the terror she felt. And I can truthfully say, I scared myself during that writing.
About three years ago, I read the chapter aloud in my writer's group. Unbelievably, one of the members actually had been kidnapped. My chapter, although gripping, still lacked some of what would really happen in the person's mind, in their reactions. So, after the meeting we chatted, and she told me what a person really would do in this situation--what she did and thought--and I used it. And, it worked.
More tomorrow.
--Arliss
Sunday, July 12, 2009
OKAY, BACK TO WRITING THE TWO BOOKS
Sometimes when I think about how long it took to write A DREAM LOST and THE DEVIL'S DUE, I can't believe that much time has passed. During those years I've learned so much, and had so many new experiences, that I'm simply not the same person who began these two books by typing out thoughts on a word processor.
I say fourteen years, but it's actually been longer. I got my first computer around 1994 or 95. My preliminary notes were on a dinosaur called a word processor. For those of you who don't know what that it, it was basically a typewriter that had a little bit of memory. When you selected print, the keys would bang out the document automatically, like machine gun fire. I swear the next door neighbors probably thought there was murder and mayhem going on right under their noses. Well, yes, there was mayhem, but it was all on paper.
I was delighted that this Smith-Corona word processor had a little 3 1/2 inch disk that could actually store some of what I'd written. Anyway, back in those days, it was possible to save in a format that later could be read by a computer. That's how I know it was more than fourteen years, because I transferred the information on those disks to my computer when I got one. Without that, I never would have been able to rescue the original manscript after I'd put it down for two years, discouraged that it wasn't going the way I thought it would. Once it was on a computer, I was enthused again. Oh, I guess I could have retyped everything from the printed pages, but would I? It was so easy to put the disk in the computer and have it all done for me..
I was a workaholic back then, (as if I'm not now) and I'd sit down to write this "great American novel" after working fourteen or fifteen hours at my "real job". I'd tap away into the wee hours of the morning. The next day I'd read what I'd written, thinking it was brilliant. Oh yes, when I was done, the publishers would be bidding against each other to get their hands on this heart-wrenching novel. Except, they weren't. Why? Well, I gave you the answer before. I simply didn't know how to write fiction. The story premise was good...the author sucked. Better stick to magazine articles.
Still, I always say there is a benefit in most things. Sure, I'd written published magazine articles, but I definitely knew nothing about writing fiction. The work was professional in its presentation, but filled with information dumps and devices that work in articles, but have no place in fiction. It was not one of those books that grab you by the throat and won't let go until you've read all night, because you just had to find out what happened.
So what was the benefit? I got those thoughts out of my mind--down on paper. They became something tangible...something that I could tweak, cut, expand, edit and use as a training ground over many years. If I had never made that first step, it would still be in my mind. If I hadn't made that first step, I never would have studied my craft until I learned how to find the voice for my characters, learned to do a "machete edit", and make people care what happened.
It doesn't come overnight. But it can come. That's where I leave off tonight. Not exactly a cliffhanger, but there is so much more to tell...so much more to talk about...that every time I post I also have to decide when to stop.
Arliss
I say fourteen years, but it's actually been longer. I got my first computer around 1994 or 95. My preliminary notes were on a dinosaur called a word processor. For those of you who don't know what that it, it was basically a typewriter that had a little bit of memory. When you selected print, the keys would bang out the document automatically, like machine gun fire. I swear the next door neighbors probably thought there was murder and mayhem going on right under their noses. Well, yes, there was mayhem, but it was all on paper.
I was delighted that this Smith-Corona word processor had a little 3 1/2 inch disk that could actually store some of what I'd written. Anyway, back in those days, it was possible to save in a format that later could be read by a computer. That's how I know it was more than fourteen years, because I transferred the information on those disks to my computer when I got one. Without that, I never would have been able to rescue the original manscript after I'd put it down for two years, discouraged that it wasn't going the way I thought it would. Once it was on a computer, I was enthused again. Oh, I guess I could have retyped everything from the printed pages, but would I? It was so easy to put the disk in the computer and have it all done for me..
I was a workaholic back then, (as if I'm not now) and I'd sit down to write this "great American novel" after working fourteen or fifteen hours at my "real job". I'd tap away into the wee hours of the morning. The next day I'd read what I'd written, thinking it was brilliant. Oh yes, when I was done, the publishers would be bidding against each other to get their hands on this heart-wrenching novel. Except, they weren't. Why? Well, I gave you the answer before. I simply didn't know how to write fiction. The story premise was good...the author sucked. Better stick to magazine articles.
Still, I always say there is a benefit in most things. Sure, I'd written published magazine articles, but I definitely knew nothing about writing fiction. The work was professional in its presentation, but filled with information dumps and devices that work in articles, but have no place in fiction. It was not one of those books that grab you by the throat and won't let go until you've read all night, because you just had to find out what happened.
So what was the benefit? I got those thoughts out of my mind--down on paper. They became something tangible...something that I could tweak, cut, expand, edit and use as a training ground over many years. If I had never made that first step, it would still be in my mind. If I hadn't made that first step, I never would have studied my craft until I learned how to find the voice for my characters, learned to do a "machete edit", and make people care what happened.
It doesn't come overnight. But it can come. That's where I leave off tonight. Not exactly a cliffhanger, but there is so much more to tell...so much more to talk about...that every time I post I also have to decide when to stop.
Arliss
Saturday, July 11, 2009
SOME RANDOM THOUGHTS
In yesterday's post, I talked about Jen Connor having to be able to find her strength. It made me think about many things. What is strength, anyway? I think the definition is different for different people.
First we have to think about what our normal personality is. Some people crumble at the least problem and others march forth through the mine fields of life like stalwart soldiers. So, for the people who crumble, working through a problem is a major show of strength. For our person who takes life as it comes, it's just one more normal day.
I've been told I'm a strong person. I'm one who looks at the options, and then I choose the path. Others have always depended upon me. They've looked to me for guidance and help in making decisions. So, when that strength is shaken, it's more than a major surprise. It can be devastating. The things that happen to us in life, shape how we react to future challenges, I think.
When I write about the depression and devastation that Jen felt after her kidnapping, I can do it from the heart. When I hear people speak about post traumatic stress disorder, I know that in most cases what they're describing is real, both the physical and mental symptoms. And when I hear others tell of the odds they overcame to regain "themselves", I know that is possible.
My strength was stolen when I was almost killed in an auto accident. I didn't know it at the time, but I was a victim of a particular kind of post traumatic stress disorder. I went from being the rock everyone depended upon to a person who couldn't make a decision as small as what color toilet paper to put in the bathroom. Quite a change. But a person who is inwardly strong can mask things like that from others and appear quite normal. For over a year I struggled to be the person I had been before my strength was taken in a split second...a twist of fate. I wasn't able to cope with many things during that time, but very few people picked up on my inner turmoil. I just kept marching through like that stalwart soldier, but the solider was a zombie. Dead inside.
You see, when the car came hurtling at me head-on, my subconscious mind decided that I was dead. There was no way I could survive. I remember hearing people look into the smashed car, saying "She's alive."
When I realized I hadn't been killed or maimed, but was unbelievable lucky enough to escape with injuries that pretty much healed within a year or so, my mind had already shut down. No one saw that the bruised psyche wasn't healing along with the cuts, bruises and torn muscles. I couldn't make myself take responsiblity for anything. It took over a year of therapy with a very talented psychologist, and boxes and boxes of Kleenex, to give me back myself. I bless the fact that I had the courage to seek help when I couldn't help myself. I'd finally had to admit that I was in trouble.
So, while my experience was nowhere as severe as what Jen experiences in A DREAM LOST, in many ways I know what it is to feel some of the emotions and thoughts that she goes through. That's why I say it was written from the heart. Whether weak or strong of character, when tragedy strikes, in my opinion survival can be the difference between reaching way down inside of yourself and finding that elusive strength, or going through life feeling you were a helpless victim.
More tomorrow.
--Arliss
First we have to think about what our normal personality is. Some people crumble at the least problem and others march forth through the mine fields of life like stalwart soldiers. So, for the people who crumble, working through a problem is a major show of strength. For our person who takes life as it comes, it's just one more normal day.
I've been told I'm a strong person. I'm one who looks at the options, and then I choose the path. Others have always depended upon me. They've looked to me for guidance and help in making decisions. So, when that strength is shaken, it's more than a major surprise. It can be devastating. The things that happen to us in life, shape how we react to future challenges, I think.
When I write about the depression and devastation that Jen felt after her kidnapping, I can do it from the heart. When I hear people speak about post traumatic stress disorder, I know that in most cases what they're describing is real, both the physical and mental symptoms. And when I hear others tell of the odds they overcame to regain "themselves", I know that is possible.
My strength was stolen when I was almost killed in an auto accident. I didn't know it at the time, but I was a victim of a particular kind of post traumatic stress disorder. I went from being the rock everyone depended upon to a person who couldn't make a decision as small as what color toilet paper to put in the bathroom. Quite a change. But a person who is inwardly strong can mask things like that from others and appear quite normal. For over a year I struggled to be the person I had been before my strength was taken in a split second...a twist of fate. I wasn't able to cope with many things during that time, but very few people picked up on my inner turmoil. I just kept marching through like that stalwart soldier, but the solider was a zombie. Dead inside.
You see, when the car came hurtling at me head-on, my subconscious mind decided that I was dead. There was no way I could survive. I remember hearing people look into the smashed car, saying "She's alive."
When I realized I hadn't been killed or maimed, but was unbelievable lucky enough to escape with injuries that pretty much healed within a year or so, my mind had already shut down. No one saw that the bruised psyche wasn't healing along with the cuts, bruises and torn muscles. I couldn't make myself take responsiblity for anything. It took over a year of therapy with a very talented psychologist, and boxes and boxes of Kleenex, to give me back myself. I bless the fact that I had the courage to seek help when I couldn't help myself. I'd finally had to admit that I was in trouble.
So, while my experience was nowhere as severe as what Jen experiences in A DREAM LOST, in many ways I know what it is to feel some of the emotions and thoughts that she goes through. That's why I say it was written from the heart. Whether weak or strong of character, when tragedy strikes, in my opinion survival can be the difference between reaching way down inside of yourself and finding that elusive strength, or going through life feeling you were a helpless victim.
More tomorrow.
--Arliss
ABOUT THE CONCEPT
Recently I watched a Dateline program about a teen who was kidnapped by someone she thought was a friend and then delivered to a house where she was raped repeatedly. The first thought that popped into my mind was, "It's still going on." They brought out the fact that for years and years girls have been kidnapped by people they knew and sold to so-called "white slavers". These girls aren't the ones who come to this country and literally work off their passage. They're American citizens who aren't any different than the teen who might live down the street from you.
I knew that the program wasn't far fetched, because the first little spark of an idea that eventually became the cornerstone of my book was actually inspired by a story not very different than the one on Dateline. But, the story I knew of happened about fifty years ago.
So, Jen Connor, the protagonist in "A Dream Lost", while a fictional character, could have been any of many girls who have lived through this horror, and some who didn't survive. As I created Jen, I knew she had to be naive, vulnerable and beautiful. She also had to have the ability to reach inside herself and find strength she didn't know she had, because without it she couldn't survive.
Every day I had different ideas for this story, but remember, I didn't know how to write fiction at the time. So I wanted to use every device, every cliche, every flowery bit of language my brain could create. Ah, the words and the story flowed, and I created more characters, never realizing what a hack job I was doing.
Jen started out as Shawn, and with every revision, every re-write, she had a new name. From Katherine, to Sandra, her names ran the spectrum until I settled upon Jeanette (a popular name of her era), with the nicknames of Jen and Jenny. The more I learned about the craft, the more she became a person to me. No longer a one-dimensional cardboard character, I really began to care about her and the torment she was going through.
I discovered that when I wrote Jen's scenes I felt her emotions and pain. Sometimes, I would be sitting at the computer crying as I wrote because a situation was so unbearable. People who have read the drafts must have felt what I did, because everyone became very protective of her. Would she make it? Would she survive? Quite frankly I wasn't sure myself.
In those days, I didn't write with a plot sheet or outline. I just sat down and wrote, so some of the things that happened were as much a surprise to me as they were to her.
Okay, that's where we leave off today. Watch for the next post.
--Arliss
I knew that the program wasn't far fetched, because the first little spark of an idea that eventually became the cornerstone of my book was actually inspired by a story not very different than the one on Dateline. But, the story I knew of happened about fifty years ago.
So, Jen Connor, the protagonist in "A Dream Lost", while a fictional character, could have been any of many girls who have lived through this horror, and some who didn't survive. As I created Jen, I knew she had to be naive, vulnerable and beautiful. She also had to have the ability to reach inside herself and find strength she didn't know she had, because without it she couldn't survive.
Every day I had different ideas for this story, but remember, I didn't know how to write fiction at the time. So I wanted to use every device, every cliche, every flowery bit of language my brain could create. Ah, the words and the story flowed, and I created more characters, never realizing what a hack job I was doing.
Jen started out as Shawn, and with every revision, every re-write, she had a new name. From Katherine, to Sandra, her names ran the spectrum until I settled upon Jeanette (a popular name of her era), with the nicknames of Jen and Jenny. The more I learned about the craft, the more she became a person to me. No longer a one-dimensional cardboard character, I really began to care about her and the torment she was going through.
I discovered that when I wrote Jen's scenes I felt her emotions and pain. Sometimes, I would be sitting at the computer crying as I wrote because a situation was so unbearable. People who have read the drafts must have felt what I did, because everyone became very protective of her. Would she make it? Would she survive? Quite frankly I wasn't sure myself.
In those days, I didn't write with a plot sheet or outline. I just sat down and wrote, so some of the things that happened were as much a surprise to me as they were to her.
Okay, that's where we leave off today. Watch for the next post.
--Arliss
Thursday, July 9, 2009
DREAMS CAN COME TRUE
More than fourteen years ago I had the idea for a romantic suspense novel. I knew absolutely nothing about writing fiction, although I had written many magazine articles. I thought a book had to be big to be published, so I kept writing and writing---no timeline, no real plotting, just an idea that kept growing and a manuscript that was bigger than War and Peace.
Well, I'd love to say it was an instant success but then they say there's a bridge in Brooklyn for sale for a good price, too. Just Kidding!! As one of my friends who had published thrillers said, "It's too long, it is filled with cliches, doesn't ring true--sorry, I don't think it will ever get published." And, it didn't.
It was rewritten, put aside, rewritten, worked through with a web critique group, rewritten, worked through with a writer's group, rewritten. I think you get the idea. Years passed and this book kept changing and changing. Still the same premise, but I was learning how to write tight fiction.
If you follow this blog, I'll be writing about what it took to finally be offered a contract after playing with this "dream of a book" for more than fourteen years, and giving insight into how some of the characters were born. Yep. That's right. It will be out sometime next year, as a set of two books. The first one is "A Dream Lost". Nope, it's not about my dream lost, because I finally found the right combination.
I'd like to share the some of the emotions that bubbled to the top while writing this, because in using personalities and traits of people who were very close to me, in many cases they became "composite people", it was like reliving incidents in my own life. Not those in the books. They are fiction. But, what inspired me to write them? Many writers dig down to personal experiences and then mold and shape them into the scene they are after. That's what I did.
That's all for today...
Arliss
Well, I'd love to say it was an instant success but then they say there's a bridge in Brooklyn for sale for a good price, too. Just Kidding!! As one of my friends who had published thrillers said, "It's too long, it is filled with cliches, doesn't ring true--sorry, I don't think it will ever get published." And, it didn't.
It was rewritten, put aside, rewritten, worked through with a web critique group, rewritten, worked through with a writer's group, rewritten. I think you get the idea. Years passed and this book kept changing and changing. Still the same premise, but I was learning how to write tight fiction.
If you follow this blog, I'll be writing about what it took to finally be offered a contract after playing with this "dream of a book" for more than fourteen years, and giving insight into how some of the characters were born. Yep. That's right. It will be out sometime next year, as a set of two books. The first one is "A Dream Lost". Nope, it's not about my dream lost, because I finally found the right combination.
I'd like to share the some of the emotions that bubbled to the top while writing this, because in using personalities and traits of people who were very close to me, in many cases they became "composite people", it was like reliving incidents in my own life. Not those in the books. They are fiction. But, what inspired me to write them? Many writers dig down to personal experiences and then mold and shape them into the scene they are after. That's what I did.
That's all for today...
Arliss
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