NO TIME TO WRITE?

                               

No time to write! Have you caught yourself saying that? For the moment it eases the guilt (yes, almost all the writers I know battle with guilt). You want to write, you call yourself a writer, you have all kinds of wonderful ideas for plots and characters but . . . darn it, you just don't have time to write.

There are meals to cook, laundry to wash, perhaps a day job, demanding children, demanding pets, meetings, gardens to weed, groceries to buy, movies you'd rather watch . . . the list is endless. No wonder you have no time to write! 

The solution? You have to MAKE time. Writing has to become one of your priorities. At least as important as laundry!

James Scott Bell talks about learning to snatch time. Find those moments in a day when you could write for ten or fifteen minutes.  How about while you're waiting for something to cook on the stove, in waiting rooms, on the bus? There are so many portable lightweight devices available that make it easy to carry your writing along with you. Good old fashioned pen and paper works too!

I like to make a quick schedule for the day, usually last thing before I go to bed the night before. I allot a slot for writing and I make a commitment that I will write at that time. It's great if you can write at the same time every day (the writing will generally come more easily) but it's more important to write. Any time.

Put a Do Not Disturb sign on your door. Turn off your phone. Refuse to answer emails. Do whatever it takes to give yourself the time to write.

When I was teaching school, I got up every day (well, most days) at five o'clock and wrote until seven. Now I have the luxury of being able to sleep in and I kind of miss those early mornings. Those two hours were incredibly productive - probably because I knew they were the only two hours I had.

Some advice from Nigel Watts in Write a Novel and Get it Published . . .

Free time will rarely come knocking at your door. You must make the time if you're serious about writing.

Elizabeth George in Write Away can't put it more directly .  . .

I suit up and show up. I sit down at the computer and I do the work, moving it forward a sentence at a time, which is ultimately the only way there is to write a book.

MY FAVOURITE KIDS BOOK OF THE WEEK:

Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel

I love this story of a family who brings an eight day old chimpanzee into their home as part of a scientific research project. Half Brother has won all kinds of accolades including winner of the CLA Book of the Year for Children Award.

GoodReads says: Half Brother isn't just a story about a boy and a chimp. It's about the way families are made, the way humanity is judged, the way easy choices become hard ones, and how you can't always do right by the people and animals you love. In the hands of master storyteller Kenneth Oppel, it's a novel you won't soon forget.

 

 

PASSING TIME

                                    

 

Handling the passing of time in your novel doesn't have to be tricky.

Most of my novels take place over a relatively short period of time. A week or two. Sometimes a month. When I'm writing the first draft, I keep a timeline beside me. I list the days down one side of the page, eg Wed June 8. When I finish a scene, I make a brief note beside the date. Some days will have three or four scenes beside them. Some days are blank.

Is it okay to have nothing happen for a few days? Of course. You don't have to tell what your character does every single day.  Or every moment of the day. If it's not important what your character ate for breakfast, skip it. You should only write scenes that move your story forward.

The time line helps me keep  track of where I am. It also prevents me from making mistakes - something happens on Monday and four days later it's only Wednesday. Readers will pick up on those errors.

Another bonus of the timeline is when you are finished you will have a neat summary of the story's action on one or two pages.

Our horse Dylan
 who was the inspiration for the pony Lucky in The Way Home

There are lots of phrases you can use to pass time:

the next day

a few days later

that afternoon

two days later

the next week

by the weekend

Another device is to leave a double space on the page - that indicates to the reader that some time has passed. You can do that several times within a chapter.

Remember: If it doesn't move the story forward, leave it out.

 

Some advice from Alfred Hitchcock!

Drama is like real life with the dull bits cut out.

MY FAVOURITE KIDS BOOK OF THE WEEK:

Ida B . . . and Her Plans to Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster and (Possibly) Save the World  by Katherine Hannigan

This book is a lot of fun! The voice of Ida B is engaging and chock full of personality.

Amazon Review:

Ida B. Applewood believes there is never enough time for fun. That's why she's so happy to be homeschooled and to spend every free second outside with the trees and the brook. Then some not-so-great things happen in her world. Ida B has to go back to that Place of Slow but Sure Body-Cramping, Mind-Numbing, Fun-Killing Torture—school. She feels her heart getting smaller and smaller and hardening into a sharp, black stone. How can things go from righter than right to a million miles beyond wrong? Can Ida B put together a plan to get things back to just-about perfect again?

 

 

 

IT'S A NAIL BITER!

                        

Characters feel things. That's why the reader identifies with a character. But the story will fall flat if you write "John was afraid" or "Sally was embarrassed."

When I taught a class for the Summer School of Arts in Wells, B.C., we made a big chart with the headings:

                   EMOTION                               ACTION

Then we brainstormed.

Some of our ideas:

Anxiety    jittery, stomach ache, unable to focus, blinking, stammering,                   wringing hands, playing with hair, sucking thumb, difficulty

                 breathing, biting nails, picking at cuticles, looking away, jiggling                     knee, rattling keys or change in pocket, wants to throw up,

                pacing, tossing and turning in bed, shredding a styrofoam cup

Anger       flailing arms, red face, cold eyes, pursed lips, narrowed eyes,

                 scowling, shouting, glaring, spitting, slamming things, stomping,                          pulsing vein,  muscles tightening, roaring in head, throwing

                 something, breaking something, clenched fists                         

Fear         wide eyes, pounding heart, racing heart, butterflies, falling

                stomach, goosebumps, cold sweat, prickles up spine, weak knees,

                trembling, shaking, shivering, curling into ball, backing away, hard

                to breathe, dry mouth, frozen

Other emotions to try: embarrassment, loneliness, guilt, grief, confusion, shame, envy, worry, pain, sadness.

Tips:

Keep your word lists handy and reach for them when your character feels something.

Do a word check of your manuscript to make sure you're not using the same action too many times eg. Does your heroine's heart pound on  every page?

And don't overdo it! You're writing a novel, not anatomy text book!

Some advice from Nancy Lamb in The Writer's Guide to Crafting Stories for Children .

Whether it's joy, anxiety or sadness, find interesting ways to show the reader what the hero feels. You'll be rewarded with a more intriguing portrait for your efforts and a more enthusiastic audience for your book.

MY FAVOURITE KIDS BOOK OF THE WEEK:

Jane of Lantern Hill by Elizabeth Montgomery

I read this book at least 10 times when I was a kid! It's sentimental but I guarantee you'll fall in love with Jane. The setting of Prince Edward Island is enchanting and Jane's grandmother is a satisfying villain.

 FUN FOR KIDS:

What if . . . you found a diary hidden in your attic with a secret in it that could change your life? What could that secret be? What would you do?

 

 Next week:

WHAT COMES BEFORE

                           

 

One of the trickiest things for me when I write a book is fitting in all the stuff that happened to the characters before the story begins.

It's not hard to invent this prior life - a mother's death in a horse riding accident, moving from town to town, a devastating fire, a string of foster homes and changing schools are a few examples of the things that have happened to some of my characters before their story begins. These events from the past add layers of interest and depth to a character. They explain why a character behaves or thinks in a certain way.

So why is it so hard?

As soon as you switch to backstory, no matter how interesting, you take the reader away from the immediate action. And that slows the story down.

There are two ways to deal with backstory. You can insert the information into the dialogue or thoughts of a character without leaving the present action. Or you can actually go back in time and write a scene called a flashback.

Be very wary of flashbacks when writing for children. Young readers can quickly become confused. Make sure there is a compelling reason to use a flashback.

TIPS FOR WRITING FLASHBACKS:

*It must follow at least one strong scene set in the present so the reader has a sense of the character (if you don't care about the character today, why will you care about the character in the past?)

*Make it clear exactly when the flashback occurs.

*Avoid overusing the word "had" which will quickly become annoying. Use it for a few times and then switch to the regular past tense.

*Make the scene dramatic with strong dialogue and conflict.

A better way to tell the backstory when writing for children is to insert it into the character's thoughts or dialogue. But be careful it doesn't become an information dump. Tell only as much as you have to. If it's not important, leave it out.

Avoid a lot of backstory in  the first chapter. You might be surprised how easily it slips in. I once highlighted all the backstory in one of my drafts of a first chapter and was shocked when I saw how much there was.  I imagined the reader saying, "Get on with the story!" I deleted, deleted, deleted.

I believe one of the most common reasons a child finds a book boring is because there is too much "telling" of backstory.

No matter how you choose to tell the backstory, you'll need a trigger. A strong sensory detail works well. In my book Missing, the smell of hay in a barn reminds Thea of her mother and the horse barn on their old farm.

          The heavy door creaks when I push it open. I'm immediately hit with the smell of hay. An image of another barn slams into my head. . . It's four years since I've been in a horse barn. Four years since Mom died.

          From there, I was able to insert relevant details of Thea's past life with her mother.

So, let your imagination soar and invent all kinds of details about your character's past. But only use the most important ones!

Some advice from Nancy Kress in Beginnings, Middles and Ends . . .

A writer always pays a price for flashbacks. Any flashback, no matter how well written or interesting, will distance your reader from the action . . . Are you more thrilled by a kiss you experience today or one you remember from a year ago?

MY FAVOURITE KIDS BOOK OF THE WEEK:

 Making Bombs for Hitler by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch

Winner of the Silver Birch Award!

A gripping story about a girl sent to a Nazi slave labour camp. Look for the companion novel Stolen Child.

 

 

PROLOGUES: DO THEY HELP OR HINDER?

         

One of my how-to writing books asks: Should I use a prologue in my novel? The author responds with an emphatic Don't!

Prologues often occur at a time before the main action. They explain some history important to the novel. They might take the form of a letter, a will, a newspaper article. Sometimes they are told as narrative, sometimes as a scene.  Prologues can also be a scene or bit of dramatic action that occurs later in the story. These prologues are like teasers. They make you want to read the book to get to that part. Occasionally a prologue is set after the conclusion of the novel, and then the entire novel is a flashback.

Why don't they always work? 

Most readers quickly forget what was in the prologue.

Or they skip it altogether. They want to get into the "real" story.

For a prologue to be successful, it must have at least a promise of conflict. It must be memorable. And short. And it cannot be critical that the reader remember everything that was in it. Because he probably won't.

A prologue packed with tension does not mean that chapter one can be slow and dull. When you write a prologue, you are really writing two opening scenes to your novel and each one must hook the reader with conflict.

My daughter devours long dense highly detailed fantasy novels. They almost always have prologues. Curious, I surveyed the shelves of children's books in my study. Among dozens of books, I found very few prologues. Four to be exact.

One of my favourite series for kids is the Charlie Bone fantasy series by Jenny Nimo. Each book starts with a prologue, explaining the backstory of the Red King. The prologues are written as narrative, some quite complicated,  and I skip them all. In my opinion, it would have been much better to weave that information into the stories, which are charming and fast paced.

A Hare in the Elephant's Trunk (Jan. L. Coates) and Greener Grass (Caroline Pignat) both contain prologues that take place later than the beginning of the novel. In A Hare in the Elephant's Trunk, the prologue is a scene when Jacob, a Sudanese boy, is in a refuge camp in Kenya in 1992; chapter one begins in 1987. In the prologue in Greener Grass, Kit Byrne remembers a happier time before the Great Famine in Ireland. Both these prologues are beautifully written and both fulfill that promise of conflict.

The prologue in Maggie de Vries' novel, Hunger Journeys, is a short scene, plucked out of the middle of the novel, when Lena and Sofie are hiding from the German soldiers. It's dramatic and makes you want to read the book.

So prologues do work but they must be done skilfully.

Some advice from James Smith in The Writer's Little Helper . . .

Perhaps the most common amateur problem in writing fiction is the tendency to rely too much on setup. Which is what a prologue most often is. Get on with the story.

MY FAVOURITE KIDS BOOK OF THE WEEK:

No Ordinary Day by Deborah Ellis

Deborah Ellis is best known for her Breadwinner Trilogy which takes place in Afghanistan and Pakistan.  No Ordinary Day is the moving story of Valli, an Indian orphan who discovers she has leprosy. A bonus - royalties from the sales of the book will be donated to The Leprosy Mission.

FUN FOR KIDS:

What if . . .  you witnessed a crime? What did you see? Are you in danger? What will you do?

 

 

KIDS READ!!

 I know that librarians and teachers are buying my books. But sometimes, in this age of computer games and Facebook, I find myself asking . . .                

Do kids actually read my books? Do kids read any books?               

 Yes, they do!

Over the past month I have met hundreds and hundreds of amazing kids who love to read and who love to talk about what they are reading. I  visited schools and libraries in my local town of 100 Mile House, on Vancouver Island, in Saskatchewan and in Ontario. Everywhere the students welcomed me with overwhelming enthusiasm, eager to listen to my stories and to tell me theirs.

Some of the many highlights . . .

*A trip on a whale watching boat to Alert Bay where the welcome was warm and the kids fantastic.
*An exciting Gala in Saskatchewan, where I was so honoured to be presented with the Diamond Willow Award for my book Missing.
*Four grade six boys who stopped me in a school hallway to tell me that the ending of Missing was shocking!
*An avid reader who told me that she and her mother took turns reading Missing out loud, finishing the book in one day and only stopping for five minute bathroom breaks.
*A boy and a girl who acted out a scene from Missing, taking on the roles of Thea and Van.
*A wonderful discussion with a class in Thunder Bay where every student had read Missing!
*The energy of 900 kids at the Gala in Thunder Bay.
*A class of  60 grade eights. Yikes! My first presentation with high school kids! (They were wonderful!)
*The Gala at the Harbourfront Center in Toronto attended by over 10,000 noisy, excited and enthusiastic kids.
*My excitement when Missing won a Silver Birch Honour Award.
*Warm hugs from some of my best fans!

Did someone tell you that kids don't read anymore? Don't believe them!
They are out there. Thousands of them. Devouring books with passion, joy and a sense of wonder.
 
Thank you to all of them!

THE SONG REMEMBERS WHEN

                            

 

"The song remembers when . . . " Trisha Yearwood sings on my Ipod.

We've all experienced the power of music to take us back to a place or time. A song can evoke vivid memories. It can take us somewhere we've been before. It appeals to one of our five senses - hearing.

I don't watch hockey, but when I flip through the TV channels and hear a few seconds of a hockey game, I am instantly ten years old again, in a house where Hockey Night at Canada was never missed by my brother and father.

The sense of hearing is a powerful way to connect your reader to your writing. It's not the only sense we should use. Smell, touch, taste and sight are effective tools as well. They create mood and atmosphere. They give your reader an emotional experience.

The smell of burning leaves takes me back to my childhood and our weekly yard clean ups in the fall. I smell the ocean and I remember lying on my stomach on a dock at Bowen Island, eight years old, fishing for shiners.  

What do you remember when you smell a Christmas tree? Baking scones? Perfume? When you touch a horse's mane? Damp leaves? When you taste a toasted marshmallow?

 

It's easy to fall back on the sense of sight when we write. It's the sense we use the most.  But it's worth making an effort to bring in the other senses as well.

When I wrote Ellie's New Home, I wanted my young readers to experience a time and place unfamiliar to them - Upper Canada in the 1800's.   After I'd written a few chapters, I made a chart, with columns for each of the five senses. I filled them in with my images. No surprise - the column for sight was full. Not much in the others. I went back through my draft and searched for places I could insert images using the other senses. A few of the images I came up with: cool rough tongue (kitten), barn door creaked, smelled like horses (neighbour), dusty ground, sweet and syrupy (molasses), thump of hands on dough (kneading bread).

My story came alive!

Some advice from Gary Provost in Make Your Words Work . . .

While you can't load every paragraph you write with sights, sounds and smells, you should return again and again to the senses to remind the reader that this written world is the same one he lives in. It sparkles, it roars, it rubs against him, and sometimes it stinks.

MY FAVOURITE KIDS BOOK OF THE WEEK:

Poppy by Avi

This was always a favourite with my grade three and four classes. The kids were hooked on the first page - "At the very edge of this forest stood an old charred oak on which sat a great horned owl. The owl's name was Mr. Okax, and he looked like death himself." The story is full of wonderful characters - the mice with names like Poppy, Lungwort and Ragweed, and a hilarious porcupine called Ereth. There's plenty of action and an exciting climax.

Even better - Avi has written sequels!

Next week:  The Power of Books