Give a Man a Hammer (or Other Cool Ability): Fifty-Seven Ways it Can Be Used

I wrote Tuesday about how to make magic, the supernatural, or paranormal abilities believable in your story. Well, I skipped one—because it doesn’t have to do with the magic system, per se, but with how your characters will respond to a world where magic—or their cool technology,  works.

You know that old saying, to a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail? I’d argue that the same holds true for your characters. If they have a magical or paranormal ability, chances are that they will turn to it to solve a variety of nonmagical problems.

Take the following list of actions and ask yourself: how can my character accomplish these using his or her unique abilities?

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Tuesday Ten: How to Make Magic Real

You want to write a book with magic in it. When you imagine your story, the world is beautiful, the magic system seamless, and you’ve got all these cool twists that will make this story UNIQUE, in a big, fantastic way.

And then…you start to write. And somehow your beautifully-imagined world feels flat, the magic forced, and all those cool, unique ideas that make your story stand out? Not so much.

You need chocolate. And wine. Pronto.

If you’re anything like me, the above scenario feels a little too familiar—no matter what genre you write. It’s enough to make you crazy! How do you figure out what makes one story world complex and believable and yours…not?

My strategy? I go back to the books I love and try to figure out how those authors created magic on the page.

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Grammar Byte: How to Write With Style—the Guide

This week, my writing life is consumed by questions of commas, hyphens, en & em dashes, ellipses, and the width of a “thin space”. In other words: copy editing!

Before you groan and roll your eyes and click “back” on your browser—copy editing is an important tool in every writer’s (and student’s) toolbox. An afternoon copy edit might not be your idea of a good time,* but chances are pretty good that if you write, at some point you’ll have to smooth out the rough edges of misplaced modifiers and dangling participles and comma usage in your writing.

When you do, you’ll be copy editing. And it doesn’t have to be painful…if you know the right tool for the job:

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Tuesday Ten: Character Quirks

Geek confession: I used to play D&D (Dungeons and Dragons, for the uninitiated). In fact, I used to play another gaming system that rivaled D&D back in the day, a system designed by Steve Jackson called GURPS (which I believe stood for Generic Universal Role Playing System). It wasn't nearly as complex or detailed as the D&D 4.0, for which my boys now spend hours memorizing rules and character info, but it had one really cool component that's stuck with me over the years: Character Quirks.

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Tuesday Ten: 10 Ways to Craft a Sense of Place

You know the basics of setting creation: describe the who, what, when, and where of your character's surroundings. But how do you move beyond a mere list of details to a setting that draws the reader into your story? 

Setting can—and should—accomplish far more than simply setting a visual backdrop for plot. Setting can:
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Up Your (Story) Game: Seven Tips

I wrote last week about games in middle grade fiction—especially in books that appeal to boy readers. Great, you may be thinking, but how do I do that?

If you’re like me, maybe you weren’t the most athletic kid in the PE class…maybe you were more likely to spend your spare time with your nose in a book than kicking around a soccer ball...

*Photo courtesy of kainr on Flickr Creative Commons 

But if you write for young readers, you don’t want to limit yourself to fellow geeks and bookworms (much as we love them). And that means that many of the kids in your intended audience will love games: sports, contests, puzzles, challenges, games of all forms and shapes and sizes. Actually, even geeks and bookworms love games—different ones, maybe, but still games. So why not consider whether a game might play a role in your next project? For instance, a game can…

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Using Archetypes to Create Characters

It’s been on my list for a while to write a post about character archetypes and how they can inspire your writing…

…but Mark Nichol over at DailyWritingTips has such a comprehensive post about character archetypes—including the use of horoscope signs, Jungian psychology, Shakespeare characters, and the “personality enneagram” for character inspiration that instead of writing my own post, I’m going to point you over there.

Here’s a taste:

In essence, any literary character is drawn from one or more archetypes. An archetype is basically the pattern for a character, associated with a trait or a concept. Archetypes are most easily recognized in genre fiction — science fiction, fantasy, horror, thriller — but they are applicable to any fiction, whether of high or low literary aspiration. The key is to select one or more archetypes as just the first step in character building.

But there are many types of archetypes from various belief systems and other sources. Try, for example, associating a character with one of the figures from the Chinese zodiac — boar, dog, dragon, horse, goat, monkey, ox, rabbit, rat, rooster, snake, and tiger — each of which is endowed with a complex array of both positive and negative traits….

See? Don’t you have to go read the rest?

Enjoy!

:-) Cheryl

Writing from Your Character’s Point of View: 5 Guidelines

In my current work-in-progress, I’m writing from the POV of a 12-year-old boy. As I wrote earlier, finding his voice has been a challenge! And since I’m writing in first person, I have to stay in that voice ALL THE TIME—when he speaks, when he thinks, even in the details I include when describing setting and other characters.

*Photo courtesy of exfordy on Flickr Creative Commons

Despite my love of writing flowery description, 12-year-old Elliot probably won’t think about the way light reflects golden from the many-paned window, and even he does happen to notice flowers growing alongside the path, he certainly won’t know that they’re tiger lilies unless I’ve already shown him to have a love of horticulture. (He doesn’t. He loves squirrels.)

I never get voice perfect on a first draft, but keeping the following guidelines in mind can help me get closer. On a rewrite, these guidelines help me analyze whether the voice is consistent and believable—or whether it strays into author-speak.

Five Guidelines for Writing Character’s POV

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Crafting Believable Villains: 52 Questions to Ask

If you read much writing advice, you probably know that villains are supposed to be believable, well-rounded , and not necessarily evil. (And if you haven’t read that writing advice, now you know.) But how do you go about creating such a believable-yet-villainous character? Plunking a black hat on your bad guy is oh-so-much easier!

When in doubt, I like to start by asking questions—so I figured I’d share :). Don’t feel the need to answer them all; instead, ask and see which evoke answers that surprise or inspire. Happy writing!
52 Questions to Ask Your Villain
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Writing Your Character’s Thoughts: 3rd Person Limited POV

On Wednesday, I wrote about the importance of showing your characters’ thoughts in your writing—especially your main character’s thoughts—and gave examples for a first person point-of-view narrative. But what about third person narrators? How do you portray a character’s thoughts here without a constant stream of “he thought this” and “she thought that”? Here are some ideas…

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Writing Your Character’s Thoughts

Character thoughts are a powerful tool for any fiction writer—but one that many don’t, well, think about. What can you accomplish by writing your character’s thoughts? For starters, you can:

• Introduce problems or worries
• Explore relationships
• Expose insecurities
• Show the logic that drives a decision
• Illustrate bias
• Develop the character’s voice

Great, you say, but how do I do those things? It depends on your chosen point of view. Here are some examples for writing in first person—I’ll have some third person limited examples for you on Friday.

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More Thoughts on Voice

Thanks for such a great discussion last week on voice, what it means, and how to find it! Blogging friend Charissa Weaks was inspired to write more on the topic on her blog in the post “The Difference Between Voice, Style and Tone.”

Here’s a taste:

THIS IS A BROAD TOPIC WITH EVEN BROADER OPINIONS AND I'M ADDING ANOTHER TO THE HEAP.

Why is this such a vague area?  Well...because there is no specific definition for it, so everyone defines it in their own way - which is exactly what I'm about to do!

After Googling around I came across several articles about voice and style and tone.  Some people see the trio as separate entities and others see style and tone as a part of voice.

Maybe they are the same thing...I don't know...but in my eyes they are not.

Visit her blog and join in the discussion!

:) Cheryl

*Photo courtesy of UggBoy*UggGirl on Flickr Creative Commons

Finding Your Voice: Seven Tips

Despite the oft-repeated advice for authors to write for a single audience (to build that elusive brand), many childen’s writers write for both middle graders and young adults. Denise Vega entertains middle school students with her novels Click Here (to find out how I survived seventh grade) and Access Denied (and other eighth grade error messages), but reaches teens in Fact of Life #31 and the soon-to-be-released Rock On. (She also writes picture books, but only because she’s an overachiever <grin>).       

Fantasy author Hilari Bell targets younger readers with fast-paced adventure in The Prophecy and Wizard Test, but writes for a more mature audience in books such as her latest release, Trickster’s Girl. How do they do it? How does one change from a young voice to teen and back again?

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Ten Reasons to Practice Freewriting

Many writers I know think of freewriting as writer-style therapy—a way to get worries out of your head and onto the page. However, freewriting has so many more applications. The Faculty Leadership for Writing Initiative at the University of Nebreska-Lincoln defines it as “an invention strategy where students write for a certain amount of time for the purpose of generating ideas…”

Great. But what does “generating ideas” really mean? The truth is that I don’t *want* new story ideas when I’m supposed to be editing my current work-in-progress. New story ideas = distractions, so if that’s your view of freewriting, you’ll probably shove it on the shelf until you’re ready for a new project (or a new therapy session…) And that would be a shame, because freewriting has a lot to offer writers at all stages and skill levels.

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Creating Emotional Impact

What sorts of scenes create the greatest emotional impact for your reader?

A few weeks ago, a friend invited me to the International Film Festival to see The First Grader, the story of Marugi, an 84-year-old Kenyan man who goes to first grade when the government offers free education to all. Sounds light and fun, right?

The First Grader was a phenomenal film, but light and fun—not so much. The main character’s past unfolds via flashbacks of murder and torture. The violence in Miagi’s past helps the viewer understand his character better and lends weight to the story.

And yet—these intense scenes of violence were not the scenes to draw the greatest emotional reaction from the audience. They contained elements you’d expect to trigger emotion: vivid imagery, graphic display of emotion, a sympathetic main character in gut-wrenching situations. It made me wonder why not.

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Happy Valentine’s Day! …or: Ten Ways to Embarrass Your Characters

First: Happy Valentine’s Day! V-day happens to be my birthday…

Photo courtesy of terra in Virginia from Flickr Commons

…and it started me thinking. About how EMBARRASSING it was (when I was a teen and EVERYTHING my parents did was embarrassing) when my parents revealed my birthday.
Invariably, someone would say, “A Valentine Baby! How sweet!” And I would blush the same shade as all those frilly red hearts that seemed to decorate the WHOLE world for the SOLE PURPOSE OF EMBARRASSING ME.

Ahem.

Now that I’m older and much more mature, I can’t help thinking of ways I can use this memory to torture…I mean, breathe life into…my characters. I write about teens and pre-teens. And, in my experience, teens and pre-teens in the 21st century are just as prone to embarrassment as I was. Because, as every good writer knows, the more trouble you can cause your character, the more interesting the tale becomes.

Ten Ways to Embarrass Your Character

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Writing Craft: Show-Don’t-Tell*

Cranking through the rewrite of my current WIP, I found a lot of “telling” that I needed to replace with better writing. In the spirit of show-don’t-tell, I attempted to come up with five ways to show that it’s cold without saying “it’s cold.”

1. Let the character experience the cold: Gooseflesh prickles up my bare arms as soon as I push off the covers.

2. Let her observe the cold: Ice filmed the inside of the cabin windows. I started shivering even before my feet touched the frozen floorboards.

3. Let her think about the cold: I didn’t expect the day’s chill, not in June. If I’d bothered to check the weather, I might have brought along a sweatshirt or jacket. Instead, I’m here in shorts and a tank top, resisting the urge to curl into a ball or warmth.

4. Let her worry about the cold: As the sun drops beyond the mountains, shadows lengthen, bringing with them the sharp-edged chill of the coming night. It pierces through my thin sweater and I wonder how long it will take before I turn into a human icicle. I have to find the cabin. Quickly.

5. Let her discuss the cold: “Brrr!” I tuck my hands into the sleeves of my rain slicker, drawing deeper into the sheltering overhang. “My fingers won’t bend, they’re so frozen.”

Not masterful prose, perhaps, but the exercise helped to get my brain moving in the right direction.

Do you have a technique you’re trying to master? A bit of concentrated practice can help you learn incorporate a new technique smoothly into your writing, the way a batter might practice hitting a hundred balls before the actual game. Pretty soon, the technique becomes second nature. Give it a try!

:-) Cheryl

*This post was originally published Jan 2010

Tightening Your (Manuscript’s) Belt: a Checklist for Eliminating Unnecessary Prose

Writers: we like to write. Some of us (like me!) like to write lots and lots and lots of pretty words…and then have to cut half of them during the rewrite/polish process.

I’ve been doing a LOT of rewriting—and cutting and tightening—these past few months. If you need to do a bit of your own manuscript pruning, read on for ways to tighten your story and bring down your word count!

Checklist for Tightening the MS Belt

1. Do you say the same thing twice?

• Example: Sudden tears burn at my eyes, angry and hot.
• Rewrite: Sudden tears burn at my eyes.
  --“angry and hot” doesn’t add anything to the description
  

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Make Every Character Count

I’ve been re-reading some of my favorite books (my favorite form of writing inspiration) as I rewrite my own, and I’ve been struck by the attention authors give to secondary characters.

For instance, in Libba Bray’s A Great and Terrible Beauty (a Victorian fantasy about a young woman discovering her dangerous magic ability at boarding school—minor spoiler alert), each of the girls has her own fears and desires that come out in the course of the story.

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Society of Environmental Journalists conference 2010: what children’s writers can learn from SEJ

I just finished my time at the 2010 SEJ (Society of Environmental Journalists) conference. My head is spinning with information and ideas—a good sign, since I wasn’t sure whether to come to this conference. I mean, look at the title: Society of Environmental JOURNALISTS? I don’t think of myself as a journalist: I’m a writer. A children’s writer, a medical writer, a science writer, a nature writer—but not a journalist.

This conference made me question that assessment of myself. I write for magazines (journals); I do interviews and research; I fact check and look for bias. My first day here, a fellow attendee quizzed me on what kind of writing I do. When I finished, she said “I think you are a journalist. You just don’t know it.”

It’s an interesting question, because in the past few days I learned that journalists receive different training than “writers” do—and I think we writers (yes, even children’s writers) can learn a thing or three from them. Here are a few for starters:

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