Yearly Archives: 2009

Much of the work I've been doing lately is studying story structure, particuarly the structures of mysteries.

As much as I enjoy the reading, it's tedious work, but I think it's necessary. At the recommendation of more than a few writers/writing guides, I have gone so far as to re-type chapters of novels so I can take a closer look at both the writing and the structure.

Today's task has been identifying the basic structural elements of several chapters in Sue Grafton's A is for Alibi. I've chosen this book because Sue is one of my favorite authors and the structure of this book is similar to what I've already written for Diary of Bedlam. The elements I'm looking at today are Characters, Locations, and Purpose.

Characters
1) Introduced (Which character(s) appear for the first time)
2) Mentioned (and will apparently be introduced later)
3) Main interactions

Locations

Purpose
What does this chapter accomplish for the story

To use Chapter One as an example:

Introduced:
Kinsey Millhone (MC)
Nikki Fife

Mentioned:
Laurence Fife (Victim)
Con Dolan
Charlie Scorsoni

Main Interaction:
Nikki Fife

Locations:
Kinsey's Office
Kinsey's Car

Purpose:
Sets up case. Nikki Fife, convicted of her husband's murder eight years before, hires Kinsey Millhone to find out who really killed him

Going chapter by chapter by chapter, I can see how characters are gradually introduced, how each chapter progresses the novel, and how many scenes are generally used per chapter. Going back to my own novel, I can check and see if I may be introducing or mentioning too many characters all at once, or not using enough locations, etc.

I have done this with other books as well, in an attempt to get an overall idea how mysteries are structured. So far I've found this exercise to be very useful–possibly the most useful I've encountered so far in the re-write process.

Today’s post was originally a comment on my blog by ParkerXL, but I thought he made some good points and it deserved a post of its own. Thanks, Parker!

I’ve long held the belief that characters are the true driving force of stories. Many disagree with me, but I think its true.

We’ve come to the point now as writers and readers where every story has been re-written and re-told; there are only new characters.

All stories are driven by life itself, whether you choose to tell that story in a historical setting or on another non-existent planet, the story is still based around the lives of people.

It is the people in your real life that make your life what it is. As it will be the characters in your book that make your story what it is.

It happens in film too. There are people who have never seen Gone with the Wind, but they know who Rhett Butler is. There are people who have never seen Star Wars, but they know who Darth Vader is.

When you read a book, finish it, and miss the characters after you finish the last page, you know you’re getting the next one. But you couldn’t really turn around and give me a detailed run-down of the plot you just read without glossing over it, could you? Yet you know the characters like they are close relatives, or even an extension of yourself.

The key to making people love your book is to put in it characters that feel so real, the reader imagines one of these three things:

1) That character being so much like the reader that they feel they share much of the same characteristics, and are essentially the same person.

2) The reader knows or is related to someone exactly like the character.

3) That the character could be out there somewhere, in the real world. one day they might cross the reader in the street, brush shoulders, give a quick smile, and then they’ll be gone.

Great Books = Great Stories = Great Lives Life = Great People = Great Characters.

I welcome guest posts! If you have something you’d like to write about for my blog, contact holly -at- hollywest.com and we’ll discusss it.

True to my word in yesterday’s post, the last few days I’ve begun my work day by reading a chapter or two in some of my favorite “How-To” writing books. So far, it’s been a valuable exercise, particularly in the area of character development.

Last Thursday, I wrote about who my characters were based on. But that doesn’t address who they really are. What drives them? What experiences have they had that continue to impact them throughout their lives? What are their quirks? The answers to these questions help to create vibrant, compelling characters that, as they say, jump off the page.

One of the key questions I’ve been working on is defining my characters’ inner conflicts. It is an important part of making your characters memorable, and frankly, I don’t think I’ve given it enough thought, even with my main character, Isabel Wilde. I feel like I have a clear idea of who she is and what her desires are, but how am I making that clear to the reader?

First, what is inner conflict? It’s when a person wants two or more things that are mutually exclusive, or, put another way, two opposite desires that are equally strong.

A simple example would be a guy who hates his job, but can’t quit if he wants to make the payments on his expensive dream car. What will he choose–the awful job or the cool car? Hopefully, your characters will display less shallow forms of inner conflict, but you get the idea.

Another example? A woman whose in love with two men: one is boring, but she knows will give her a security life, and the exciting bad boy who will only cause her grief.

Donald Maass’ Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook has been a great tool for me because the chapters are short and to the point. It also incorporates many examples from published fiction which makes it more interesting than just reading instructional text. It forces me to define Isabel Wilde’s inner conflict, which in the end, will make her a much better character.

Wow, a month flies by when you've got goals to accomplish. I'm not sure if that's a good thing!

Since I am having so much trouble editing my novel, part of this week will be spent getting back to basics. I have so many books on "how to write," "how to re-write," and "how to" almost everything else that has to do with writing. It's been a long time since I've spent any time reading any of them, however. Having some solid advice on how to proceed might be helpful.

So where am I? As I write this (Saturday, September 12) I'm struggling with chapters four and five. I was hoping to be finished with chapter 7 by tomorrow, but it's unlikely that will happen unless I make some serious changes to the way I'm editing. Right now I'm still treating this first re-write as though it were the final re-write and I'm beginning to find that's a mistake. I think it's the main reason for all this "block" I've been experiencing.

I've also started a new kniting WIP in an attempt to find some balance in my "recreational" life. The new issue of Knitty came out yesterday and there were a few projects I was interested in, but based on the yarn I had I decided on this one. I love its shaping, especially the sleeves. It's likely to take me until Fall '10 to finish it, but it's nice to have something on the needles after so much time.

So all of this said, my write goals for this week areA) to continue editing B) to re-vamp my method, which clearly isn't working, and C) to find some balance by knitting, writing blog posts, and possibly working on another writing WIP in between.

Lofty goals, but I'll do my best!