Cyn

I was thinking today that although I love writing, writing is also work.  Just like a job, you have to prioritize different components of the work. 

The biggest priority I see is time.  If you were working a traditional job, you would work set hours.  We need to do this with our writing as well.  It is too easy for other things to steal into our writing time so we must make it an unshakeable priority.  No excuses.

With a lot of jobs, you need to prepare as well.  Sometimes this is taking refresher classes, or getting certifications, maybe meeting a new educational requirement.  In writing, we need to prepare also.  We need to prepare our characters, knowing them inside out, as well, if not better than we know ourselves.  We also need to seek out further education regarding our craft.  There is always something to learn, someone to read or study to find out more about how we can be better writers.  Right now I am reading Story by Robert McKee and am learning, or perhaps relearning some basic tenets that belong in the concept of story.

We also need to know when to quit for the day.  Just like punching out, quiting at 5 to go home, writers need to learn to set some limits on their time so they can get away from the computer, refill their wells of creativity and relax.  As writers we need to read and we need to keep expanding our experiences.  Can't do that fastened into the desk chair.

As writers we are lucky.  We are lucky because we love our jobs.  We love sharing in our particular way our own truths through the vehicle of story.  We have one of the best jobs in the world.

My family and I are real movie fanatics. If it is remotely interesting to us we make plans to see it, often on opening day. We’ve seen all the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, all the Lord of the Rings movies, all the Bourne movies, all the Die Hard movies. Action adventure, historical, fantasy, futuristic…the genre doesn’t matter.

Why? It’s the story.

The kids are coming to realize that a lot of the excellent films they view were novels first. My youngest read Eragon and critiqued the movie on all its flaws. My middle child decided to see the Harry Potter movies first, because she knew the books would be even better.

Why do movies like The Blood Diamond, The Wizard of Oz, Sense and Sensibility and Children of Men stand out in our memories? It’s the story.

There is much to be learned from films. Many of us have read Goal, Motivation and Conflict by Debra Dixon and have seen how she’s dissected the film, The Wizard of Oz. Many of us have attended an all day seminar with Robin Perini and Laura Baker to Discover Story Magic and have dismembered the movie, Jerry Maguire. And for sheer mastery of example upon example, the information divulged by Robert McKee in Story is unrivaled.

If you look carefully at your favorite film, you can see the various plotting techniques used. It doesn’t matter if you use a “W”, a grid, an outline, note cards, a synopsis or even Vogler’s The Hero’s Journey.

Yet, saying it’s the story that brings you to view a movie or read a book more than once isn’t totally accurate. Because, what is really resonating with the reader or viewer isn’t whether or not Dorothy gets home or Jerry lands a client or the last dragon survives, it’s the emotion that is evoked by the characters’ struggles that we can relate to. It is the ability to be in their shoes, to live vicariously through their efforts and learn the lessons they learn.

Some call it the theme, the point, or the purpose of the story—whatever you find to be your universal truth. If you can state this element in a single sentence you are well on your way to tapping into the emotion necessary to make your work stand out. It’s the difference between making something read like a history textbook and a private journal.

So, you have story, and you have emotion. You’ve studied and applied craft (You have figured out a way to deal with that pesky backstory, haven’t you?). Your writing is technically perfect.

But sometimes that isn’t enough. Something is missing. That missing something could very well be you.

You?

Yes, you.

Are you passionate about what you are writing? Are you writing to fill someone else’s expectations of what you should write in order to sell? Are you writing passionately because it is something you absolutely love?

If you believe the ghosts of a cruise ship haunt the vessel, attacking adulterers as the spirits seek a way to be reunited and thus free their souls; if you are passionate about this story idea, have written it filled with the potential emotion such a situation can create do NOT let anyone tell you that the story would be “okay if only you would” change the ghosts to vampires, keep them from attacking the adulterers, put them in Manhattan and not on a cruise ship etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

If you make such changes and your heart doesn’t support those changes, the reader will know.

Now, that is not to say that you should ignore the structural changes an editor gives you. If something doesn’t make sense, is out of sync, illogical or has other issues, trust your editor to guide you. However, should your editor request changes as mentioned above that fundamentally change the vision you had of the story, you must decide on two things: 1) do you want to change the story that much to keep it with that house and 2) have you submitted your story to the right house to being with?

Your passion for the story and its theme must show through. Passion for the story is what takes an unknown Christopher Paolini from self-publishing to a three book contract with Alfred A. Knopf. Passion is the essential ingredient to make your book stand out when all other writing elements are in place. Passion is what helps writers give believable, multi-faceted characters that a reader emotionally connects with, is the very thing that makes them read a novel over and over.

“The secret of success is dazzling readers—spinning them a story they will never forget.” Donald Maass.

Believe in yourself, in your work, in your theme. Let the passion and emotion pour through each and every paragraph and you will create an unforgettable story.

Nicole Harvey, a reviewer at Paranormal Romance, had awesome things to say about my time travel book, This Time Forever.  This Time Forever is book 7 in a series that has been in the making for nearly two years by erotic romance writers affliated with Loose Id (see page 8 of listings under books by tie-in, series to see the collection).  Authors include Mechele Armstrong, Emily Veinglory,  A.J. Matthews, Ally Blue, Jeanne Barrack, Kai Anderson, Jade Rivers and Diane Charles Linford.

Here is a little excerpt from: The Collector 7: This Time Forever

Rand reached forward and yanked the material from beneath the slim fingers.

A whoosh escaped his lungs, half sigh, half gasp. Dropping his sword arm, he could do nothing but stare. “You’re dead.”

“Oh, please,” the vision implored. “I’m not quite ready to die yet.”

The husky voice was the same, but the trespasser before him looked different than his beloved. Small of stature and with short brown hair, piercing green eyes, and full, ripe lips, this person had the appearance of a young man. Yet, dressed differently, would this person look like Emma? The pale skin and vibrant eyes along with her voice drew forth the loneliness he’d buried deep when she passed. “Who are you?”

He sounded weak to his own ears. He forced himself to resume the stature and poise of a commander, to dam the well of memory that had gushed forth. “I’ll thank you not to keep me waiting as long as you did before.”

“Well, that couldn’t be helped.”

“Why is that?”

“I…I…was afraid.”

“As well you should be, lad-”

“What? I am not a boy!”

Rand’s forehead furrowed as he studied the person before him. “Step away from the curtain.”

He studied the figure before him. If this was a woman, he could see no evidence to her claim. “You wear the clothing of a man.”

Those green eyes narrowed and filled with anger. “Well, I don’t have a fucking dick!”

“No lady of my acquaintance would speak thus.”

“Bingo! Captain Queeg. I don’t know you from Adam, and I’m sure a real lady wouldn’t associate with you.” She sniffed the air. “You haven’t had a bath in ages.”

How dare this slip of a…whatever speak to him so! “I’ll have you prove your claim. But I warn you, should you be other than that which you state, I will run you through without a moment’s hesitation.”

For emphasis, he pressed the point of his sword against the lad’s throat, praying the memories evoked would subside. “Do not tarry. I lack patience.”

“So it seems,” came the saucy reply.