INSIDE OUT

                                         

 

You need to know your character inside out. You need to know what he thinks, dreams, fears and loves. You need to know if he has red hair or brown hair. You need to know what he eats for breakfast.

One way is to fill out a character profile or checklist. There are lots of forms available on the internet or in books. Some writers like to fill them out before they begin writing. I’ve tried it but, to be honest, get bogged down and bored pretty quickly. But I do find a profile very useful to fill out as I go along and even more so after I have finished the first draft.

I’ve borrowed from several different profiles and created my own, in the form of questions. It’s what I use when I create a character who is a child (an adult profile looks a little different.) I’ve written it with “he” but of course this can be used with girls too.

What is his name?

Where was he born? How old is he? When is his birthday?

What does he look like (height, weight, hair and eye colour etc.)?

What is his ethnic background?

Who is in his immediate family (the family he lives with)? Who is in his extended family?

What is his relationship with members of his family?

What other significant adults are in his life?

Who are his friends? What does he like to do with his friends? What do he and his friends fight about?

Where does he live? Does he like where he lives? Who are his neighbours? Does he know his neighbours?

What grade is he in at school? Does he like school? What are his favourite subjects? What subjects does he disike? What kind of marks does he get? Who is his favourite teacher? Why?

Is he ever in trouble at school? What for?

Does he like to read? If so, what kind of books?

Does he like music? If so, what kind of music?

Does he like sports? Which sports? Does he belong to any teams?

Does he take lessons outside of school?

What are his favourite TV shows? Movies?

Does he have any pets?

What are his chores? Does he get an allowance?

Has he ever travelled to another country? Where?

Is he outgoing or shy? Friendly or aloof? Bold or fearful? A risk taker or cautious? Social or a loner? Selfish or thoughtful? Kind or mean? A leader or a follower?

What does he dream about?

What embarrasses him?

What frightens him?

What impresses him?

 WHAT DOES HE WANT?

The last question is key to developing motivation in your character. You’ll probably think of lots more questions to add.

Gillian Roberts says in You Can Write A Mystery that “a character can do anything you like if he has a reason and the reason comes out of his history.”

A character profile is one way to develop that history.

WHO'S TELLING THE STORY?

 

 

Point of view is the camera lens through which the story is told. Behind the lens is a character, typically the protagonist.  Everything the character sees, hears, feels, thinks and reacts to makes up his point of view.

The two most common choices for point of view are first person and third person. First person (using "I") is the most intimate and can put you right into the character's head. But it is also restrictive. You can only write scenes in which the point of view (POV) character is present. Third person gives you a little more freedom. Chapters and chapters in how-to-write books are devoted to developing point of view. It's a huge topic and it's important that it's handled well. Point of view can also be fun to play with.

Typically in a childrens book you will find one point of view character. The reader stays with that character throughout the whole book. It's easier for a young reader, rather than having to make leaps and bounds as the story moves from the mind of one character to another. On the other hand, an adult book may have six or more POV characters, adding richness to the story.

Can you put more than one POV character in a childrens book? Yes!

(Shelley Hrdlitschka's Sister Wife is a great example. It tells the story of life in an isolated religious community through the points of view of three girls.)

It's challenging. Each time you change point of view you need to give the reader a little bit of help. A new chapter or at least a break between scenes is a good idea. The rule "One scene, one point of view" is a good rule to follow. More importantly, you need to make the voice for each point of view character different. If all the characters sound and think the same way, what are you accomplishing besides confusion?

One of the biggest benefits you can gain from more than one POV character is enhanced suspense. You can stop the action in one POV character at an exciting part, move to another POV character and then make the reader wait until you return to the original character.  (A great quote on my bulletin board is "Never take the reader where the reader wants to go!" - multiple points of view can help accomplish this.)

Suspense is the reason I chose to use two points of view in my novel The Way Home. Tory and her beloved pony Lucky are separated because of a forest fire. By going back and forth between their points of view (often leaving Lucky in dire circumstances at the end of a chapter) , I built suspense.

My teen novel If Only began as Danny's story. Danny and his twin sister Pam are victims of an assault on the way home from school. Pam is attacked by a stranger in a mask while Danny "hugs a tree." Danny's guilt was what intrigued me originally (this story is based on a true story of a girl and her two brothers that I read in the newspaper.) As I wrote from Danny's point of view, Pam kept asking for her voice to be heard too. Her reaction to the assault is different from Danny's and the book quickly moved into two points of view.

I helped the reader by starting each new section (there are no chapters) with the name Danny or Pam in bold. Danny's sections are told in the third person (suiting Danny's more reserved private personality) and Pam's sections are told in the first person (she is a much more outgoing and demonstrative child.)

It was a little riskier to write The Way Home in two points of view because it is geared toward much younger readers than If Only. But in both books, it added richness and suspense. I'll definitely explore point of view more!  

Some advice from Simon Wood in Crafting Novels and Short Stories  ...

Managing multiple POV characters is a tough act but don't make it a juggling act. By making clear switches from one POV character to another and creating a hierarchy of key storytellers with distinctive voices,  you can create a multifaceted story that no one will forget.

 

 

WHO'S TELLING THE STORY?

                      

 

Point of view is the camera lens through which the story is told. Behind the lens is a character, typically the protagonist.  Everything the character sees, hears, feels, thinks and reacts to makes up his point of view.

The two most common choices for point of view are first person and third person. First person (using "I") is the most intimate and can put you right into the character's head. But it is also restrictive. You can only write scenes in which the point of view (POV) character is present. Third person gives you a little more freedom. Chapters and chapters in how-to-write books are devoted to developing point of view. It's a huge topic and it's important that it's handled well. Point of view can also be fun to play with.

Typically in a childrens book you will find one point of view character. The reader stays with that character throughout the whole book. It's easier for a young reader, rather than having to make leaps and bounds as the story moves from the mind of one character to another. On the other hand, an adult book may have six or more POV characters, adding richness to the story.

Can you put more than one POV character in a childrens book? Yes!

(Shelley Hrdlitschka's Sister Wife is a great example. It tells the story of life in an isolated religious community through the points of view of three girls.)

 

It's challenging. Each time you change point of view you need to give the reader a little bit of help. A new chapter or at least a break between scenes is a good idea. The rule "One scene, one point of view" is a good rule to follow. More importantly, you need to make the voice for each point of view character different. If all the characters sound and think the same way, what are you accomplishing besides confusion?

One of the biggest benefits you can gain from more than one POV character is enhanced suspense. You can stop the action in one POV character at an exciting part, move to another POV character and then make the reader wait until you return to the original character.  (A great quote on my bulletin board is "Never take the reader where the reader wants to go!" - multiple points of view can help accomplish this.)

Suspense is the reason I chose to use two points of view in my novel The Way Home. Tory and her beloved pony Lucky are separated because of a forest fire. By going back and forth between their points of view (often leaving Lucky in dire circumstances at the end of a chapter) , I built suspense.

My teen novel If Only began as Danny's story. Danny and his twin sister Pam are victims of an assault on the way home from school. Pam is attacked by a stranger in a mask while Danny "hugs a tree." Danny's guilt was what intrigued me originally (this story is based on a true story of a girl and her two brothers that I read in the newspaper.) As I wrote from Danny's point of view, Pam kept asking for her voice to be heard too. Her reaction to the assault is different from Danny's and the book quickly moved into two points of view.

I helped the reader by starting each new section (there are no chapters) with the name Danny or Pam in bold. Danny's sections are told in the third person (suiting Danny's more reserved private personality) and Pam's sections are told in the first person (she is a much more outgoing and demonstrative child.)

It was a little riskier to write The Way Home in two points of view because it is geared toward much younger readers than If Only. But in both books, it added richness and suspense. I'll definitely explore point of view more!  

Some advice from Simon Wood in Crafting Novels and Short Stories  ...

Managing multiple POV characters is a tough act but don't make it a juggling act. By making clear switches from one POV character to another and creating a hierarchy of key storytellers with distinctive voices,  you can create a multifaceted story that no one will forget.

 

 

CUT CUT CUT

     

 

                   2nd draft = first draft minus 10 %

 

Someone scribbled that on the bottom of a manuscript that Stephen King sent out when he was a teenager. He thought it was important enough to copy onto a piece of cardboard and tape to the side of his typewriter. He claims that when he followed that advice, good things started to happen for him. 

I've also heard that 75% of revision is eliminating words that you have already written and 25% is improving the words that remain.

I've tried it with a manuscript that I am currently working on. I finished the first draft at the end of August and it ended up a whopping 45,000 words (whopping for a juvenile novel.) My goal was to cut it back to 39,000 which is actually a reduction of about 13% . Hey, I was up for a challenge. Before I started, I knew I could get a lot of words out of the first chapter which was far too long, but I was nervous about where the rest of the words would come from.

 I tackled it in two parts. The first time through I tried to be ruthless and deleted large chunks -  whole paragraphs and sometimes entire scenes. I cut way back on my flashbacks. To make myself feel better, I cut and paste them into a file and told myself I could always put them back. They're still in that file. The pace of the story picked up and that felt exciting.

A key question to ask yourself is "Does it move the story forward?"

If  the answer is no, it has no business being there.

I still had a couple of thousand words to go. That's when I looked for unnecessary speaker attributions  - the "he said's" when it's obvious who's speaking.  I cut out a lot of adverbs (not all) and a lot of physical reactions - she took a big breath, his stomach tightened, the back of his neck prickled. (I've been much more aware of those ever since I read a complaint by an agent who said a lot of novels read like anatomy textbooks!) Other places I hunted for unnecessary words were when I repeated a thought or an idea - sometimes helpful for emphasis but usually not needed.

I kept a running tally using my computer's word count and felt like celebrating when I hit 39,362  (where I sit now.) Did I make the story better? Absolutely. Do I miss those scenes that disappeared? Not any more.

I'm not finished with the manuscript. Remember,  25% of revision is improving the words that remain. All my energy can go into that now, knowing that I have "killed my darlings" and nobody suffered!

Some advice from Theodore Cheney says in Getting the Words Right . . .

It's time to slash out the underbrush. The reader will get lost in the tangle of words and won't see the beauty of your forest if you don't go in with brush hook and machete. A first draft almost always suffers from the tangles.

My favourite kids book of the week:

Whatever by Ann Walsh

 

This young adult novel is new out this year and a super read! Sixteen year old Darrah has to participate in a Restorative Justice Circle and her sanctions involve helping out an old lady. The secrets in the book keep the reader guessing to the end.  I also highly recommend Ann Walsh's well known and well loved Barkerville series.

BORROWED WORDS OF WISDOM

 

To mark the end of 2013, I'd like to share some of the words of wisdom I've gleaned from other writers over the year. These are random with no particular theme but I'm hoping they'll inspire (and sometimes make you smile) you the way they've inspired me!

 

Only bad writers think their work is really good. (Anne Enright)

Just leave out the boring parts. (Elmore Leonard)

 

Backstory developed early on crashes down on a story's momentum like a sumo wrestler falling on his opponent. (Donald Maas)

Every true writer, I believe, starts a new story with a troubled mind. (Pierre Burton)

Rule #5 Keep trying to top yourself.

Some years ago, my old college friend and fellow broadcaster Lister Sinclair asked: "Is writing getting easier for you?"

"No," I told him. "I'm trying to make it harder."

(Pierre Burton)

Strong characters are at the heart of great literature. Not many readers could outline the plot of The Sign of the Four, but no one has any difficulty bringing Holmes and Watson to mind. (Andrew Miller)

 

We live in the best time for dialogue heavy books because it's fast and we're fast. Pace sells and dialogue is pace. A reader who falls into good dialogue on the first page of your book is in your pocket. (DBC Pierre)

Don't sit down in the middle of the woods. If you're lost in the plot or blocked, retrace your steps to where you went wrong. Then take the other road. (Margaret Atwood)

Give the work a name as quickly as possible. Own it and see it. Dickens knew Bleak House was going to be called Bleak House before he started writing it. The rest must have been easy. (Roddy Doyle)

Finish the day's writing when you still want to continue. (Helen Dunmore)

If you are going to be obsessive about anything in the writing business, make it your word quota. (James Scott Bell)

What we take away from our reading of a good novel mainly is the memory of character. (Elizabeth George)

You will be published if you possess three qualities - talent, passion and discipline. (Elizabeth George)

A lot of writing is simply showing up. A lot of writing is being willing to show up day after day, same time and same place.

Lots of people want to have written; they don't want to write.

(Elizabeth George)

If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. (Stephen King)

Let me end with a wonderful story that Stephen King tells about James Joyce:

According to the story, a friend came to visit him one day and found the great man sprawled across his writing desk in a posture of utter despair.

          "James, what's wrong?" the friend asked. "Is it the work?"
          Joyce indicated assent without even raising his head to look at the friend. Of course it was the work; wasn't it always?

          "How many words did you get today?" the friend pursued.

          Joyce (still in despair, still sprawled facedown on his desk): "Seven."

          "Seven? But James. . . that's good, at least for you!"

          "Yes," Joyce said, finally looking up. "I suppose it is . . . but I don't know what order they go in!"

 

HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR AND LOTS OF WRITING SUCCESS IN 2014!!!

WHOSE STORY IS THIS ANYWAY?

                        

 

As I work on my picture book manuscript, I can see the pictures clearly in my head. I can visualize each page and I am full of ideas for funny little details the illustrator could add. I am dying to make notes in the margins for the illustrator because I know how this book should look.

Right?

Unfortunately not.

My job is the words. I have to trust the illustrator to do his job which is the pictures.

I admit I was dismayed to read the following list of Don'ts in The Business of Writing for Children by Aaron Shepherd:

Do not find an illustrator on your own.

Do not send sketches or a dummy (mock-up of a book) or show page turns.

Do not write notes describing illustrations - unless an essential element cannot be described in your text.

The problem is, I know what I want the pictures to look like.  It's going to be hard to let someone else make those decisions.

But that is exactly what a picture book writer must do unless you illustrate your own books. Trust the illustrator. Allow him his own opportunities for creativity. You wouldn't want someone to tell you what words to use.

The end result may not match the pictures in your head.   It may be even better!  I have a friend who visualized her characters as people and the illustrator turned  them into animals - it turned out to be a charming book that everyone was happy with.

 Ann Whitford Paul in Writing Picture Books says "Ironically, while we must write with a visual image in our mind, we must eventually let that image go."

Whose story is it? Both of yours. 

 

 

 

 

THE MUSIC OF THE WORDS

 

The more I study the craft of picture book writing, the more I realize that so many of the things I'm learning apply to all writing for kids. Using as few words as possible to convey your meaning, using carefully chosen words, leaning towards dialogue and action with limited description, avoiding adverbs and going light on adjectives - all these things are important when I write a juvenile or young adult novel as well as a picture book. You can just get away with mistakes a little easier in a novel.

In a picture book, every word needs to go under a microscope. When you're used to writing novels like I am, it's challenging to tell your story in  1000 words. You absolutely don't want to waste any of them! And when you're choosing your words, one of the things you need to think about is rhythm.

  I like what Theodore Cheney says about rhythm in his book Getting the Words Right. He talks about ancient storytellers and how "stories with the most satisfying sounds and rhythms were remembered easiest and longest."

That's what we want -  children to remember our stories and, with picture books, to ask for them again and again.

The best way to test for rhythm is to read your story aloud. Picture books are meant to be read aloud so this is doubly important (novels can benefit from being read aloud too). Try reading your manuscript into a tape recorder and listening to it. Or ask someone to read it out loud to you. 

There are some tried and true ways to get rhythm into your writing.

1. Vary your sentence length. A longer leisurely sentence slows the pace. A short snappy sentence gives punch to your story. You want both.

2. Use alliteration (repetition of initial consonant.) Don't overdo this and create a tongue twister (unless deliberate!) The words don't have to be side by side but can be scattered throughout the sentence. eg. There are some tried and trued ways to get rhythm into your writing!

3. Have fun with onomatopoeia (words that imitate sounds.)  eg. slish slosh swish

4. Pay attention to where the stress falls naturally  in your sentence and how changing the order of your words can change where the stress falls.

Listen to the difference between:

He fell over with a crash.

Over he fell with a crash.

A comma can change the stress.

Listen to the  difference between:

And he never said a word.

And, he never said a word.

Time words and superlatives are often stressed:

Lyle could spend hours watching building construction.

Harry's bath was the soapiest one he had ever had.

I'm planning to print a copy of my manuscript-in-progress and mark the stressed word or words in every sentence. Maybe I'll move some words around and make some changes. I'm sure I'll learn something.

 In The Business of Writing for Children, Aaron Shepard says . .

One of the greatest compliments a reviewer can bestow on a children's story is to call it a "great read aloud." But how does a story come to merit such praise? The secret is rhythm.

Rhythm. It will make your story sing.

Favourite Kid's Book of the Week:

Mr. Zinger's Hat by Cary Fagan

A story is trying to escape from Mr. Zinger's hat. Leo contributes all the important details and learns that his cap has a story in it too!

A terrific story with charming illustrations.