Driving to church this morning, I had an out-of-the-blue epiphany to solve an apparent lag in the second half of my novel--and it was strange to me that the idea was to have one of my characters experience one of my life's most tragic events: pregnancy loss. I was thinking of the advice I've read for novelists: "Keep upping the stakes"--when you've got your character in conflict and struggling, what more can you do to test him/her? The truly unbidden idea (dare i say flash of inspiration) does offer a great many features that would strengthen my second half--it'd bring other existing relatioships and conflicts to great stress and would also really change the character herself. My experience is that you're never the same after losing a baby. And i can say from experience it's quite different too, the experience of an early miscarriage versus a later loss; the latter kind affects you much more. It changed me greatly, but the early miscarriage did not so much.
Having this idea made me realize: my characters in this novel-in-progress really have been echoing little of my life experiences. Whereas my first novels were very much about my life experiences, thinly guised by fictional characters, this novel is rich with characters who are in places i've never been. I've never been a 50-something year old woman who's lived with the guilt of killing her husband, failing her children. I've never been a man who lost everything for following his heart, facing terminal illness. I've never been the only child of a single, never-married mom, whose husband had an affair, or had an affair myself. And I've never been a child of a dysfunctional family, therefore searching for love in all the wrong places... i think I'm giving myself a pat on the back for this--the idea of the pregnancy loss being the first real-life event to make it into this novel makes me feel god. I've been making characters who are truly themselves, and less of me, than ever before.
NOW my real question is to figure out the intricate dance of timing. With everything else in the book happening--another character having a baby, the outcome of the affair and broken marriage the ongoing drama of the terminal illness--where is the optimal place for this to occur? In some ways, it's pretty flexible--I mean, it could take only a few months from beginning to end. The only obvious restriction is that conception obviously has to take place, and because I want the experience to be 3 months into the pregnancy, I guess my first real decision is the timing of the conception in the context of the other events. Hmmm. I just realized a snag: I was planing to do a Part 1 d Part 2 set-up, letting me fast-forward through a few months to speed the story along. But doing that would have me fast-forwarding right through when this pregnancy could naturally occur.... I'll have to think on that some more... Maybe skip only a month or 2?
I always knew I'd someday want to put into a novel the experience of pregnancy loss--because it's something not dealt with much, and i had more than a bit of anger about how it went down, how i never knew it was possible to occur the way it did for me. It's not just a powerful experience to create drama in a plot--it's a social issue I've long wanted to be able to address. I've had little luck getting nonfiction articles on the topic published; it's a hard sell--which is precisely why women who face it find themselves completely unprepared. Even if youre' searching for the information because you know you will lose the baby, you cannot find info about what it'll be like, to prepare yourself.
I never thought of putting the experience in this novel though--but thinking about it has opened a lot of doors. Advice for novelists talk about the value of putting your characters in really vulnerable positions--this will certainly do that--and leave her at the mercy of neighbors or anyone she can get to help her, as she'll be alone when it happens. I also like the possibilities in how it will affect her husband, and her best friend...
Hmmm... I've got chew over the possibilities of the timing....
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Monday, June 6, 2011
How to Organize Your Novel: An Excel Spreadsheet or Your Fridge?
For months, I've been overwhlemed by the immensity of my project. I'm no longer able to remember what I've written and what's in what chapter, etc. I knew I needed a way to keep track of my sequence of events, but I hadn't found anything to work for me. I'd tried keeping a word document list of each chapter with a summary. I've even more recently tried making this list in an Excel spreadsheet--and that makes sense--rows can be added more easily, etc. But still, I found it such a huge chore to have to go back and update that stupid list--sadly I wasn't disciplined to do it often enough, and having that file soon became a ridiculous totem to my inability to organize my novel; it was so outdated, it didn't help me at all...
I have a friend who made me jealous when he posted on facebook a photo of a 2-door closet in his room which he'd transformed into a white-board, for the purpsoe of plotting his novel. That was so brilliant! He shared it was easily made with a painted-on surface--but sadly, I have no such feature in my house that I could paint with that just to use for plotting.
But it stuck with me, and I guess, got me thinking about how the method to organize my novel could be visual, and not in a list on a computer file. Years ago (about 9 or 10 to be exact) I'd taped old computer paper to the wall of a spare bedroom I used as my office. Do you remember the computer paper where each sheet was joined to the next by perforation, for a dot matrix pritner? Yep, that's what I used. I put it at eye level across an entire wall, and there I began visually plotting a plot line for my second novel (which I've long ago ceased working on).
So I got to thinking--how could I make a workable, visual system? Well, one of my problems was that I do a lot of thinking in the ktichen. I make a decent amount of decisions about my novel while cooking, doing dishes, laundry, etc. I've often been there with an epiphany, or an idea to change the order of some chapters, but can't leave at the moment to get to my copmuter and make them. The idea is there to make a note, but it often got lost. So I figured, if I made a visual way to chart the sequence of my novel, having it in the ktichen might be the best place. I could even purposely try to work on my novel, thinking while filling the dishwasher, etc.
I'd tried one type of visual system with notecards before. I still have a stack of them in my desk drawer, a chapter synonsis on each. The idea was I could lay them out and then be able to visually see how the story would change if I changed the order. (Changing the order of the telling of my story is a big part of my craft--it has led me to a lot more depth and more possibilities.) But as good as this method sounded, I've never used it more than once. And those cards are now so outdated, half those chapters discarded, I'd have to start all over to resume.
But then I found my husband's box of old business cards I'd been saving to make flashcards for my kids. And I took some of those long twist-ties that always come around the brocoli I buy at the grocery store, and stapled them to paper like clotheslines. I pinned each sheet of paper to the fridge side with magnets. On the back of the business cards, I began writing a one-sentence description of a scene, with an initial for the character whose point of view tells it. Then I began clipping them with mini closethespins (yes, I really have them--a craft store find from 10 years ago I bought simply because they were neat and figured I'd find a use for "someday.")
Now the side of my fridge is graced with 3 of these mini clothelines hanging scenes of my novel from them. I love that they are small enough that I can see the arragnement in one contained place, and I can easily reshuffle them based on ephiphanies I have while mopping the floor or frying eggs. And perhps best, it's always there--I never have to put it away, which meant I sometimes neglected getting it out when it could be of use! And, it's not reachable by the little hands of toddlers!
When get new ideas for chapters and the forward motion of the story, I grab a bsuiness card from the junk drawer next to the sink, and jot it down, then clip it to the wire on the fridge. So far it's the best system I've used.
The other day, it solved my latest stalling point. I was glaring at a set of chapters I knew were slow. I'd been doing a lot lately to carve up some story lines by inserting other story lines between those chapters. But I was so frustrated because I was staring at a group of chapters I couldn't rearrange to any better sequence. I'd been alternating between Ash and his wife Ginny, every other chapter from each voice. But staring at a set of Ginny chapters had me sutck because I did not want to move forward in Ash's storyline just yet. Suddnely, because I could see this all laid out visually, with tangible cards in my hands representing scenes, I realized what I hand't been able to grasp when all this was in a list on a word file: there was no way to rearrange those chapters because they were, of themselves a single storyline. My only way out was to bring in another voice entirely. I had to write some chapters form another characte'rs point of view to intersperse between Ginny's. It is the only way to break up what to me seems might be a dragging, bu necessary, journey for her in the plot. Perhaps dragging is the wrong word--it's just so focused on her emotional state that it's hard to wade through if you don't get a break, a little distraction.
So anyway, that's the story of how my fridge is now a writing tool....
Other things I write (but not so much lately):
High Fructose Corn Syrup: Thirteen Reasons to Avoid It
How to Determine If Your Child is Ready to Begin Kindergarten
100% Wheat Bread with Honey or Molasses, for a Bread Machine
Lyme Disease and Autism Patients Prescribed Diets Free of Genetically Modified Foods
I have a friend who made me jealous when he posted on facebook a photo of a 2-door closet in his room which he'd transformed into a white-board, for the purpsoe of plotting his novel. That was so brilliant! He shared it was easily made with a painted-on surface--but sadly, I have no such feature in my house that I could paint with that just to use for plotting.
But it stuck with me, and I guess, got me thinking about how the method to organize my novel could be visual, and not in a list on a computer file. Years ago (about 9 or 10 to be exact) I'd taped old computer paper to the wall of a spare bedroom I used as my office. Do you remember the computer paper where each sheet was joined to the next by perforation, for a dot matrix pritner? Yep, that's what I used. I put it at eye level across an entire wall, and there I began visually plotting a plot line for my second novel (which I've long ago ceased working on).
So I got to thinking--how could I make a workable, visual system? Well, one of my problems was that I do a lot of thinking in the ktichen. I make a decent amount of decisions about my novel while cooking, doing dishes, laundry, etc. I've often been there with an epiphany, or an idea to change the order of some chapters, but can't leave at the moment to get to my copmuter and make them. The idea is there to make a note, but it often got lost. So I figured, if I made a visual way to chart the sequence of my novel, having it in the ktichen might be the best place. I could even purposely try to work on my novel, thinking while filling the dishwasher, etc.
I'd tried one type of visual system with notecards before. I still have a stack of them in my desk drawer, a chapter synonsis on each. The idea was I could lay them out and then be able to visually see how the story would change if I changed the order. (Changing the order of the telling of my story is a big part of my craft--it has led me to a lot more depth and more possibilities.) But as good as this method sounded, I've never used it more than once. And those cards are now so outdated, half those chapters discarded, I'd have to start all over to resume.
But then I found my husband's box of old business cards I'd been saving to make flashcards for my kids. And I took some of those long twist-ties that always come around the brocoli I buy at the grocery store, and stapled them to paper like clotheslines. I pinned each sheet of paper to the fridge side with magnets. On the back of the business cards, I began writing a one-sentence description of a scene, with an initial for the character whose point of view tells it. Then I began clipping them with mini closethespins (yes, I really have them--a craft store find from 10 years ago I bought simply because they were neat and figured I'd find a use for "someday.")
Now the side of my fridge is graced with 3 of these mini clothelines hanging scenes of my novel from them. I love that they are small enough that I can see the arragnement in one contained place, and I can easily reshuffle them based on ephiphanies I have while mopping the floor or frying eggs. And perhps best, it's always there--I never have to put it away, which meant I sometimes neglected getting it out when it could be of use! And, it's not reachable by the little hands of toddlers!
When get new ideas for chapters and the forward motion of the story, I grab a bsuiness card from the junk drawer next to the sink, and jot it down, then clip it to the wire on the fridge. So far it's the best system I've used.
The other day, it solved my latest stalling point. I was glaring at a set of chapters I knew were slow. I'd been doing a lot lately to carve up some story lines by inserting other story lines between those chapters. But I was so frustrated because I was staring at a group of chapters I couldn't rearrange to any better sequence. I'd been alternating between Ash and his wife Ginny, every other chapter from each voice. But staring at a set of Ginny chapters had me sutck because I did not want to move forward in Ash's storyline just yet. Suddnely, because I could see this all laid out visually, with tangible cards in my hands representing scenes, I realized what I hand't been able to grasp when all this was in a list on a word file: there was no way to rearrange those chapters because they were, of themselves a single storyline. My only way out was to bring in another voice entirely. I had to write some chapters form another characte'rs point of view to intersperse between Ginny's. It is the only way to break up what to me seems might be a dragging, bu necessary, journey for her in the plot. Perhaps dragging is the wrong word--it's just so focused on her emotional state that it's hard to wade through if you don't get a break, a little distraction.
So anyway, that's the story of how my fridge is now a writing tool....
Other things I write (but not so much lately):
High Fructose Corn Syrup: Thirteen Reasons to Avoid It
How to Determine If Your Child is Ready to Begin Kindergarten
100% Wheat Bread with Honey or Molasses, for a Bread Machine
Lyme Disease and Autism Patients Prescribed Diets Free of Genetically Modified Foods
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