The Insecure Writer and Changes in the Publishing Industry

Today is April's contribution to Alex Cavanaugh's Insecure Writers Support Group.


What makes me an Insecure Writer this month?

My fear that the world of publishing is changing faster than I can adapt.

We all know the publishing industry is in the midst of change. The rise of self-publishing, the changing roles of agents and editors, the increased competition for the reader's attention. All issues of concern. But I’m not discussing any of these topics today. Today, I'm worried about changes in how story openings should work – at least in the view of agents and editors.

Consider the opening lines from the first Harry Potter book.

 Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you’d expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn’t hold with such nonsense.

Now I happen to love this opening. It shows the author has both a sense of humor and an interesting voice. And it immediately makes me want to know what sort of strange and mysterious event is about to happen, which is exactly what opening lines are supposed to do. But a week ago I ran across a blog post that mentioned this opening and, to my surprise, the blogger seemed dumbfounded that the opening had worked. “There's no action,” the blogger wrote. “No conflict.” Why would anyone read on? And I could only shake my head.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time I’ve heard similar views on the subject. From what I unerstand, agents are now telling writers that if there’s no action or conflict at the beginning of a story, then their book stands little chance of getting published. And that worries me.

You see, three years ago, when I first began perusing the blogosphere for advice on writing, one of the first things I learned was that beginnings needed to hook the reader quickly or the author risked losing them. No long descriptions, no weather reports, no boring conversations, etc. Intrigue the reader quickly—that was the trick. And many ways were suggested to accomplish this. Pose an interesting question, show the reader something unusual, foreshadow something mysterious, use humor, begin in media res. And, of course, consider getting conflict on the very first page. All very good ideas. My point is that three years ago, getting conflict on the first page was only one of the ways to hook your readers. Now it sounds as though it’s the required method for hooking your reader -- at least according to the gatekeepers. Makes me wonder if Harry Potter would be published if it came out now.

The problem is, not all stories lend themselves to immediate conflict, which, I suspect, is one reason so many scifi/fantasy stories begin with action filled prologues. And this requirement for immediate conflict is leading to some unfortunate trends in books. Many of the MG fantasies I’ve been reading lately all start out in the same way -- with siblings arguing and sniping at one another in an otherwise boring chapter. The characters may be heading toward a haunted mansion, or a deserted town, or a suspected alien base, but instead of intriguing the reader by foreshadowing the upcoming events, the authors apparently feel obligated to generate artificial conflict by having the characters call each other names for several pages.

If you can begin your story with real conflict that leads to the main plot, then by all means do it. But sticking in artificial (and boring) conflict just to have it present in the first pages leaves me cold.

Sorry. I'm supposed to be talking like an insecure writer. I’ll get off the soapbox now.

Has anyone else noticed trends in books dictated by the new climate in publishing?

You Mean I'm Not Going To Write Any Faster?

After spending the last month working on the first chapter of my new book, I’ve come to the following startling conclusion.

I’m a slow writer.

Well, duh.

Anyone who's been reading this blog regularly knows this. My CPs figured it out a while ago. So did my wife and kids. Even my cats are beginning to catch on. So why do I mention this now? Because I naively thought much of my slowness had to do with being a newbie writer, which meant the writing should go more quickly with the second book.

Nope. Just as slow as before.

I still have to go over scenes again and again, rearranging the sequence of events, changing the scene’s focus, adding or removing characters, and putting in the most basic of details. Scenes don't pour forth from my mind, I have to shake them loose one little piece at a time. I find that slightly depressing, but at least I now understand that this is the way I write. And I'm okay with that. Because I know if I keep plugging away at a scene, it will eventually come together. 

 It's not all bad news, though. I do know I'm avoiding many of the mistakes I made the first time around, so the editing process should go much faster. Or at least that’s the plan. We’ll see.

BTW, I just realized it's been one year since I met my first CP. Thanks for sticking with me, Sher. Drop by her blog and read her reviews and blog tours.

The Urge To Infodump

It’s a very exciting time for me right now. As I mentioned last week, I’ve begun work on another story and my desk is covered with pages of notes on characters, subplots, and world-building details. World-building isn’t something I’ve had to do before. My previous story was fan fiction, and even though that story had all new characters and plotline, it still used someone else’s world. This time, I have to build the world myself.

I’ve been constructing this world in my head for the last six months, filling it with all sorts of interesting details about how it all works and how it will impact the MC. It’s beginning to come together, which makes me happy, but now that I’m writing some of the early chapters, the urge to infodump is growing exponentially and threatening to burst out of my chest. Kinda like that little critter in Alien.

It’s only natural. All these world-building details are burning a hole in my notebook and it’s hard not to want to deliver this information to the reader ASAP. I want the reader to enjoy it as much as I do. But that’s one of those bad habits a writer needs to constantly fight against. I may want the reader to get to know my world quickly, but that’s not what’s best for either the story or the reader—especially if the information is delivered via an infodump.

Infodumps can drag a story to a halt. And even if they’re written in an entertaining way that keeps the story moving forward, there’s still a problem. Releasing information too quickly robs the reader of some of the excitement. In many sci-fi and fantasy stories, half the fun is in discovering the world and how it works. This works best if you dribble out information a little bit at a time and give the reader the chance to wonder why things are as they are. If you dole it all out at once, the reader never has a chance to ask himself why. Why are all the birds in this world red? Why can’t the mage perform magic in the presence of fire? Give the reader a chance to ponder those questions a while before you explain it to him.

It’s okay for your first chapter or two to act as placeholders for your infodumps. Just make sure you move them somewhere else in the story later.

Anyone else have trouble with early infodumps?

The Insecure Writer and Taking The Plunge

Today is March's contribution to Alex Cavanaugh's Insecure Writers Support Group.


What makes me an Insecure Writer this month?

My decision to begin work on a manuscript that could, theoretically, be publishable at some point.

If you’ve kept up with this blog the last two and a half years, you’ll know I've been teaching myself to write fiction by writing a story set in Hogwarts, the school of magic invented by J.K. Rowling.  But while I've learned a lot about writing during the last 3+ years I've spent on that story, it's dawned on me that there is nothing wrong with learning about writing while working on something I can actually publish. In other words, I no longer plan on waiting until my fan fic story is finished before I start exploring my own story worlds.

Why am I doing this now? The answer, quite simply, is a matter of patience (or lack thereof). It’s hard to hear about other writers* querying and hooking up with agents when I haven’t even started writing anything that could be queried. Finding critique partners and beta readers can be difficult (and even a little embarrassing) when all you have is fan fic. (I already have two CPs who don’t mind fan fiction, but I could always use more.) And I can't imagine submitting fan fic for an excerpt critique. And the only way I'm going to solve these problems is by taking the plunge.

I've had a story in the back of my mind for over a year now; full of magic, castles, and fourteen-year-olds risking their lives in bizarre and entertaining ways. I attempted to write this story during NaNoWriMo last November, but I only hit 25k words before I conceded the outline needed massive amounts of help and shut everything down. But over the last several months I’ve reworked the plot and feel ready to try again. My new end of year goal?  Finish both the final draft of my fan fiction story and the first draft of my new story. My CP is going to be busy. Sorry Sher.

Deep down, I know that as long as I stick to just writing fan fiction, I'm settling for the safe and easy road.  I'll never have to query or send pages out to an agent. So if I want to push myself as a writer, this is the next step.
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BTW, for those of you looking for critique partners or beta readers, scoot right on over to the Falling for Fiction website. They've got a match-making service going on this month called The Matchelor. I'll definitely be signing up! 

*BTW, congratulations to Juliana Brandt.  I’m jealous in a supportive kind of way.:)

Everybody Can't Be Right All The Time

A couple of days ago, Jami Gold had a nice post describing her experiences at WanaCon. One of the things she discussed was how to know who to believe when you have receive conflicting opinions about your story—or about writing in general.

As a newbie who has yet to finish his first story, I’m certainly not the most knowledgeable of writers. I still have much to learn, and suspect that will still be the case in twenty years, but after spending the last 3+ years reading books on craft along with writing blogs (a quick check reveals I have over 1300 bookmarked links on writing alone, most of which I’ll probably never get around to rereading), I think I’ve got a bit of a handle on the subject.

And one of the most important things I’ve learned is that not everyone in the world of writing knows what they are talking about. Some bloggers present their personal preferences as rules of writing, despite the plethora of well-received books that ignore these so-called rules. The trick is to listen as much as you can to everyone’s advice and then sit back and decide what works for you.

The following four topics are areas that I find cause the most confusion.

1. Story structure. Very important subject, although I notice a lot of confusion amongst bloggers on the differences between the Hook, the Inciting Incident, and the First Plot Point—all of which are different and all of which have very specific purposes.
Hook – Meant to grab your attention long enough for you to get involved in the story. Example (Star Wars - THE ORIGINAL): The opening sequence. Space battles. Really big ships. Droids. You have no idea what the story is about yet, but you’re willing to wait long enough to find out.
Inciting Incident – The point at which the story or character leaves the “normal world.” May or may not have much to do with the eventual story problem. Example: when R2-D2 convinces Luke to remove a restraining bolt and then runs off, prompting Luke to chase after the little bugger. You still don’t know what the overall story is about yet, but this is definitely not a normal day for Luke.
First Plot Point – Happens at the 25% point in the story. A point of no return where the character either makes a decision or is forced into a decision. Either way, nothing is the same after that point. Example: When Luke returns to find his aunt and uncle dead, and decides he’s going to leave everything behind and join the rebellion.

2. Passive voice versus passive sentences. We’re talking pet peeve here, so bear with me. Passive voice is when the subject of the sentence is being acted upon instead of doing the acting. That’s it. No more, no less.

Example: "The ball was thrown by the boy."

The ball isn’t doing the throwing; the boy is, so this is passive voice. No argument there.

How about: "The ball was rolling down the street."

This is not passive voice, no matter how many people will try and tell you it is. The ball is performing the action so it is active voice. Period. End of story. That’s not to say the sentence construction isn’t passive (read: boring). It would be better written as "The ball rolled down the street." But that’s the difference between passive voice and passive sentences.

How about: "The present was unwrapped."

Passive voice or active voice? The answer is: it depends. If the author meant that the present is being unwrapped as in “The present was unwrapped by the boy,” then it is passive voice. If the author is describing a state of being, as in “the present was dusty” or “the pizza was cold,” then it is not considered passive voice, at least according to Strunk and White. Of course, state of being verbs are also considered a sign of passive sentence construction and should be avoided when possible.

Am I nitpicking here? Perhaps, but I’ve seen so many bloggers confuse passive sentences and passive voice, I just had to say something. And ranting is good for the soul.

3. Showing vs telling. Some authors like to show everything and preach that everyone else should do the same. My advice is to thank them for their advice and then ignore them. Whenever I read a book where the author shows everything, I tend to throw the book across the room long before the end. (Well, not so much now that I have a Kindle) And I know other readers who feel the same way. Don’t believe me? Do a Google search for blog posts discussing why telling isn’t so bad (there are more of them out there than you might think) and scan the comments. You’ll find all sorts of comments about how much of a slog it is to get through “too showy” books.

Showing, within reason, is good. Telling, in moderation, is good too. Too much showing makes you sound like a politician, always skirting around what you’re trying to say instead of just coming out and telling us what’s going on.

4. Deep POV. Some authors swear by it. And that’s fine—as long as they (and you) understand that deep POV is a personal preference and not a rule of writing. I’ve come across far too many blogs and books that suggest if you aren’t using deep POV, you’re doing it wrong. Perhaps that’s true in certain genres, (although I doubt it) but certainly not in sci-fi and fantasy, where deep POV is more the rarity. It’s hard enough to describe the fantasy world you’ve created without handicapping yourself with the use of deep POV. So if you don’t enjoy writing in deep POV, disregard anyone who attempts to convince you otherwise.

Edit:  After reading a nice post on deep POV, it occurred to me to be a bit more specific.  I'm all for getting rid of filter words like felt, thought, and heard; or limiting the instances in which the character thinks of himself by name, along with the other tricks that move the POV deeper inside a character's head.  But not all writers have the same definition of deep POV. Some writers would consider:  "The principal shook his hand." as an example of being too distant to be considered deep POV and would replace it with "  The principal's hand enveloped his." because that's how the character would supposedly experience it.  That's when I have a problem with deep POV.

Of course, these are all just my personal opinions, which means you’re free to pick and choose what you agree with.

And that’s the whole point of this post.

What aspects of writing do you find to have the most conflicting advice?  I'd been interested to know.



BTW, if you know anyone else who feels as confused as I do about all the conflicting information we writers receive, feel free to pass this post on to them.

Action Or Description - Which Comes First?

I’ve mentioned this before, but I’ve always had difficulty with chapter beginnings. Writing those first couple of opening paragraphs often drives me crazy. I feel the need to begin with setting so as to allow the reader to orient himself properly—a paragraph or two if the area is new to the reader or a just a few sentences if it’s an old setting. But I also feel the need to get the scene moving as quickly as possible and that’s where the trouble lies. Scenes can be such sluggish beasts, hard to move at first (much like me in the morning), and unless the descriptions are lively, the scene stalls before it even gets started. And since I have trouble writing lively descriptions…. Well, you can see my problem.

Lately I’ve been rereading Brandon Sanderson’s book, Alloy of Law. It has a nice relaxed style which I find useful when teaching myself how to approach story problems. (BTW, for those of you who wish to write extended actions scenes without getting bogged down, this book has many excellent examples.) And I’ve discovered that one of his techniques is to begin scenes with a single line of action before starting the description. The action may be simple, but it gets the scene off and running before the reader hits the more static descriptions. Here’s an example:

Waxillium pounded on the door of the townhome. The area around them was a typical Elendel neighborhood. Vibrant, lush walnut trees lined either side of the cobbled street…(several more lines of description)

See how that works? Action is occurring in the very first sentence, so you scarcely notice the slowdown during the subsequent description. In fact, the description heightens the suspense as you wonder what’s going to happen when the door does open. I should note that the opening sentence doesn’t have to be a physical action. A simple line of provocative dialogue can be just as good an entry point.

Perhaps everyone else already knows about this trick and I’m just the last one to catch on. But if not, consider using this technique every once in a while.

Sometimes, I'm My Own Worse Enemy

I’ve come to the realization that one of the biggest obstacles I face when editing my story is… me.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but after staring at a chapter for a while, sometimes over the course of months or even years (remember, I’m a slow writer), I find myself suffering from plot blindness. I get so used to seeing the scenes unfold in the same way every time I read through them, it’s nearly impossible for me to envision the chapter unfolding in any other way. And that can be a major hindrance if the chapter needs any kind of restructuring. I simply cannot see what's wrong, and so it usually requires an act of God for me to recognize the problem.

Although usually, it’s my CP.

Thanks, Sher.

Of course, even when I know how the story should be restructured, the battle is still only half over. Although I may understand that restructuring a scene is the right thing to do on a conscious level, deep down inside the recesses of my brain, I’ll fight that change to the death. The old version is still so ingrained in my mind that it can take weeks of work and internal struggle before I clean up all the rough spots.

Despite these obstacles, I finished just such a restructuring this evening, which explains the rather haphazard nature of this post.  It also means it’s time to send the chapter off to my CP. Hopefully she won’t discover another restructuring that I missed.