Merinda's Meanderings

I’m not so good with romantic things, I don’t think. I’m a happily married woman (most of the time), but when it comes to my stories I don’t think I’m very good at it. Maybe I’m okay at writing family dynamics, and maybe I just need to sit down and make myself write a love story. I like romance and the sad and the sweet.

Entertainment Weekly has a photo essay on the “Top 25 Most Romantic Gestures in Film“, that I thought was pretty good. Just have to learn to say with words what sometimes seems easier with pictures. Love is often silent.

Slightly off topic, my friend Autumn wrote a really good entry on Inner Demons you ought to give a read.

For me, one of the most interesting things in being a writer is exploring what makes people tick. What sort of things happened in their past that makes them what they are at this point? Bad guys, or good guys, they are that way for a reason.

One thing I’ve noticed in my stories is I’m apparently a big believer in one person making a difference. Not just in the world, but in a person. I can give someone the worst, most evil background I can think of, but if one person comes into their lives at some crucial point, who loves them regardless, that can totally turn them around, despite everything.

Maybe that just means I’m an optimist.

I almost always have way more background for my characters then I can ever really use. As I’ve mentioned before I’m a big fan of the 100 Questions for Characters. It may not be totally vital to know what a characters favorite food is, but then again, it may become something of a running joke. Like one of my characters fondness for peanut butter. One of the ways his family shows they care is by bringing him jars (in this world you can’t just run to the store for it). It’s a small thing, but it has a point.

And it doesn’t always have to be some major, earth-shattering event that makes a person. Maybe they got embarrassed in front of their classmates in school. Or took money out of their parents purse. Maybe they saw something bad, and didn’t stop it or report it. All those little things add up to make a person what they are. And learning those things is one of my favorite things about being a writer.

“A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” ~Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Okay I used this quote because I’ve been playing a lot of Civilization IV and it’s one of the quotes on there when you get a technology. But it’s equally true when it comes to writing and editing.

When I write a first draft I tend to paint with a broad brush. I get my ideas down, skim over stuff I’m not 100% on and just try to get my ideas and my world down on paper. Usually somewhere (hopefully after a couple of chapters) the characters take over and then I’m really just trying to hit the high notes, make sure I’m getting the gist of it down.

Second draft I expand. I fill in those missing gaps. I breathe more life into those shaky beginning chapters now that I know those characters better. Sometimes I cut. In the second draft of Grace I deleted one of my favorite scenes because it didn’t fit with the chapter rhythm of the rest of the book.

Third draft though, I really cut. I savage. I omit those needless words hanging on like dead weight. In writing, like many other arts, it is not so much what you say as what you don’t say. That’s hard to explain, but something you get better at with time.

That’s why reading aloud can sometimes be good, especially with dialogue. Of course it’s also possible to whittle away at your story until there is nothing left. That’s why it’s important to know what parts are bedrock and what parts aren’t. It’s another skill that comes with practice, but an invaluable tool.

Monday i talked about humor. Today I thought I’d mention the other end of human emotion. Actually tears and laughter are notoriously close together sometimes. I think the goal of most writers, even if they never say it out loud, is to evoke emotion. If I can make you really cry over a scene, or a character, then I’ve succeeded in forging a connection between you and my book.

Well either that or the writing is so gawdawful…but then I’d think that would more make you laugh…or throw it across the room.

Anyway, I confess to being somewhat proud of the fact that at least one of my stories seems to consistently bring the tears, no matter who reads it. I still can’t get an agent to give it the time of day, but at least that tells me that the quality is there. Maybe thats part of why I find myself still writing stories in this world; the connection is there, and strong, even for me. I’m not yet sick of these characters anyway. Heck there is probably even room for a fourth book, if I wanted or more. But I’m not looking at that right now.

Ultimately, as an author, I want you to care. I want you to come away from one of my stories changed. Maybe not in any significant way, but I believe the best stories leave us with some fragment of something special. Not that I’m all that and a box of cookies. I’m not Tolkien, or Heinlein or Gaiman or anybody else. But I am me, and I bring my own unique voice to the table. And, hopefully, someone reads my stuff and comes away with something they didn’t have before. Maybe even with some tears.

I have a minor confession to make. Generally, I suck at humor in my stories. I might have a funny moment here or there, but usually it’s blind luck if I pull it off. That said, I’m finding it a little bit easier this story, maybe because I know these characters so well and because I’ve got a collaborator. So I thought I’d bother ya’ll with a short scene I found really really funny. All you really need to know to get this is that Mark’s a big tough dude. Think Aragorn, only more hardcore.

Sarge took first watch, Mark said he’d take second, and McCarthy third. At least with three of them no one would have to stay up half the night. Mark pulled open his pack before he settled down to sleep. What the hell, he thought. And pulled out the teddy bear.

McCarthy stared at him. Sarge bit back a laugh. “Mark, why do you have a teddy bear?” asked McCarthy.

“This is no teddy bear,” growled Mark. “This is Mr. Scruffles.”

Sarge did laugh then, though he tried to keep it quiet. McCarthy shook his head. “Are you sure you haven’t cracked, Mark?”

Mark smiled as he looked at the bear. “James sent Mr. Scruffles with me. James is my son,” he said to Sarge. Sarge smiled knowingly. “And besides,” he held the bear up as if it was talking in his ear, “Mr Scruffles says he can kick your ass any day, Mac.”

McCarthy laughed. “Okay Mark, okay. I’m going to sleep now. Goodnight Mr. Scruffles.” He curled up with his pack as a pillow, still chuckling. Mark did the same, with Mr. Scruffles in the crook of his arm.

Again, I got a kick out of it. I really feel envious of people that can write humor and write it well. Peter David comes to mind. I find humor to be the hardest thing in my entire writers toolbox. But when it works, it’s great.

Monday I talked about writing, today I’m talking about rewriting. This is something else that’s up to to the writer, to some extent. But I’ve found the method that works for me:

One chapter at a time.

Well first I let the story sit for at least a week. Then I go through and give it a read, making notes on it of things I want to change, chapters or scenes I need to insert, things like that. Then I sit down and go through one chapter at a time. Depending on how much I’m working on it and how much needs to change a chapter can take me from a day or two to a week.

For instance, in my current main project, Grace, I had to rework the beginning quite a bit. Of course some of that was due to things I found out at the end of the book, but it was also necessary to set certain things up better.

Something else I do is I have a couple of people that read behind me. Now a lot of authors say the 1st draft should be some hidden thing, done in secret; like a mad scientist working away from prying eyes. I can’t do that. I almost always have to write to an audience of some kind, even on a first draft. It gives me motivation to know that someone besides me wants to know what happens next. And I’m confident enough in my writing to not take all of their suggestions.

This is even more important on a second draft. My current two main readers get the story chapter by chapter, as I finish them. They help clean up my inevitable then/than mistakes, missing words and point out awkward passages. Hopefully by draft 2 I don’t have so many of those, but especially on sections where I’m adding a lot it again helps to have a second set of eyes.

They also help reassure me regarding the question I try to keep most in mind: Does all this make sense? After all, if a character does something, well, out of character, they better have a good reason!

I don’t mind rewriting, for the most part. Of course there are times when I want to throw up my hands and be done with it, but that happens in all the drafts. Like I said on Monday the important thing is to just put one word in front of another, push on through no matter how much you want to give up. After all, when flying an airplane, the way to get out of a stall is to drop the stick and dive.

A friend of mine asked me the other day about how I write my first drafts. The answer isn’t just in the how, its in the why. After all, technically speaking, writing a first draft of anything is simply putting one word after another, stringing sentences into paragraphs, paragraphs into chapters. Ultimately, I suppose I write because I have a story to tell; characters and an interesting setting.

I frequently don’t know how a story is going to end when I start. And if I know the end I certainly don’t know everything in the middle. Usually my stories evolve as characters face various challenges. The story lies in their reactions to those challenges. It’s my job as a writer to know the characters well enough to know how they would realistically react. And sometimes they surprise me, which is almost always wonderful and scary.

The method of writing is pretty much personal preference. For me, I have to write linearly, even if I have an awesome idea for a scene later on. I’ve found, in my experience, that if i skip around, I never go back and fill in the missing scenes. But again, thats up to the author. Besides, for me, if i write in a linear fashion I get the experience of finding out what happens next as I go along. I also have the probably bad habit of keeping most of the stuff of a story in my head, instead of taking notes.

Let me leave you with a link. This is one of the best songs out there about being creative. It’s “Die, Vampire, Die” from [Title of Show], an off Broadway musical. Song has profanity.

Die,Vampire, Die

I bit the bullet yesterday, so to speak, and finally wrote a death scene in Sean, my nano novel that never ends. I knew it was coming, knew it had happen. Still, I dragged my feet and hesitated before putting words to page.

Sometimes characters have to die. As I child I think I was traumatized by Old Yeller, Where the Red Fern Grows, and Charlotte’s Web, among others. Sometimes it’s only the expectation of a character’s death, like Lord of the Rings. But a character’s death can propel a story forward, or end it.

My biggest concern in all my writing, the one question I constantly ask myself is “Does this make sense?” Death doesn’t always make sense, but in those cases then the importance lies in the other characters reaction to it. Are the other characters angry? numb? Are they secretly glad for the death or is it the worst trauma of their lives?

Hopefully, if I’m doing my job right, even the death of a secondary character has an impact. My stories tend to be about reaction. Often my main characters are people thrust into circumstance and I stand back and watch to see what they do. So, though I feel bad about this character’s death I know it was necessary and will shape my main character for the rest of the story.