Too Stupid To Live (TSTL) - Mistakes of a Rookie Writer

Yes, so, I thought I'd get some objective feedback on the first portion of one of the first stories I wrote. Second draft. Much snappier than the first. Was certain it would get some sort of positive feedback. I mean, my writing isn't Man Booker Prize-worthy, but it's better than some books I've PAID for, right? Right?

No. Not so much.

So before I bury my poor wounded writer's head in the sand and follow that insane impulse to NEVER WRITE AGAIN EVER EVER AGAIN EVER...I thought it best that I just write down a couple of things I need to learn from the whole experience. Maybe they'll be useful to someone else, or at the very least it will help me remember (as if I could forget).

1. TSTL

My first lesson was on the acronym 'TSTL'. New one for me, but a quick Google session told me that every time someone was calling my leading lady 'TSTL', it meant she was 'Too Stupid To Live'. As in, 'How on earth did she get from being born to being an adult without accidentally getting herself KILLED. Killed from sheer STUPID.' Other words used to back up the 'TSTL' label were such glowing descriptors as 'twit' and 'such a ditz'.

Now, I'm not about to go into detail about the actual piece (particularly as it's still partaking in a ceremonial burning on the back patio and LET'S JUST NOT GO THERE), but here are a few more things I'm taking away from the experience.

2. FIRST IMPRESSIONS COUNT

Your character is allowed to be human, make mistakes, and be flawed. But (apparently) you cannot show all their WORST traits in the first two pages without turning at least a few readers into haters. They want to get pulled into the life of someone they can either relate to or at the very least, vaguely respect. So if all I give them is a series of reasonably dumb mistakes and nothing much in the way of redeeming qualities, apparently ...that's a turn-off. Being dramatic is not enough. Being dramatic and DUMB is bad.

This might seem entirely logical and obvious when you read it. You're nodding to yourself now. You're thinking, "Nah, I'd never do that." But how easy is it to forget that we know our characters intimately - especially if we've written the entire book and know their whole story. How easy is it to forget that our character still has to make a first impression on a completely 'cold' audience who don't yet know about our character's winsome smile or quirky laugh or extended butterfly collection? First pages do sorta have to be all about that first introduction. A polite how-do-you-do, or at least NOT a display of all your beloved character's worst traits. Like I did.

3. IF YOU THINK YOU'VE CUT ENOUGH BACK-STORY...YOU HAVEN'T

I really thought I had this down. I'd read enough excruciating 'laundry-list' intros to books that I thought I knew what I was doing. I cut a lot out. I thought I'd been brutal. I wove subtle details in. I thought I'd been clever. But instead of the gripping wash of introduction to my heroine's dilemma that I'd intended, it mainly just came across as navel gazing. Too much thinking. Not enough doing. WAY too not-enough-doing. So, if you think you've been sparing? Cut more. Snip snip. You have a whole book to bore people with the details. Or at least...I do.

4. GO WITH YOUR GUT / STOP OVERTHINKING

Ironically, but probably not very surprisingly, the one line that someone picked out as being reasonably on the way to showing a tiny glimmer of potential was one of my weird, out-of-rear-brain-nowhere things I just chucked in and shrugged about. Wasn't bad enough to cut, so I left it in. And THAT is what they liked.

So often I catch myself writing the way I think writing SHOULD BE. As in...not obeying the words on the tip of my brain's tongue (that sounded weird...but I'm going with it), but reformatting the whole thing until it sounds the way writing is 'supposed' to sound. And in the process, the pure voice of it gets muddied. Muffled. Stamped out. Out goes the visceral. Out goes the instinctual. If there's one thing I am really taking away from this is...give myself permission to BE MYSELF.

That might take a while. Work In Progress.


Lastly...

5. I SURVIVED

That's all.




Top background image Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos (with a few little amendments by moi)

Author Daisy-Chain (Or How to Find Great Writers)

Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos

Haven't heard of an Author Daisy-Chain before? Where have you been?! Okay, so maybe I made it up.


au·thor dai·sy chain
noun

• when someone gets you started on an author (who you LOVE), and then you find out which writer inspired that writer, and then you find out what books that next writer loved, and so on.

So you see, each book and author links on to another, in my little daisy-chain. Potentially, an author daisy-chain could go back and back through time until we're getting into cave paintings, but really, who has time to do that?

This is my first.

Daisy-chain Start - Sarah Wendell

I'm an immense fan of Sarah Wendell of 'Smart Bitches, Trashy Books' fame. Hilarious, caustic, down-to-earth, I have spent many enjoyable moments following her on twitter or reading the website blog. That and I have a growing appreciation for Jewish food. No idea why.

Having just removed yet another hopeless attempt at literature from my Kindle, I turned to the reviewers of Smart Bitches and vowed to ONLY read the 'A' rated reviews. No more poor quality offerings for me! I wanted a real book. And sure enough, I soon turned up a review of a Susanna Kearsley book, and I was off.

(I will note here that I'd previously noticed Kearsley's recent covers and sorely coveted them - they are GORGEOUS. I believe the artist responsible for that is Susan Zucker.)

My little daisy-chain...

Daisy-chain, Step 2 - Susanna Kearsley

Suffice it to say I consumed Firebird by Susanna Kearsley within two days and was soon hunting for more quality fodder for my newly whetted reading appetite  Reading up about Kearsley on her website, she mentioned how influenced she was as a young person by Mary Stewart's books. Who on earth is Mary Stewart? Never heard of her before now. Okay, off I went with a new name in my head and a hungry-reader brain.

Daisy-chain, Step 3 - Mary Stewart

So I'm waiting for the bus on the way home from work, and I wander into one of the nearby charity (second-hand) shops. Browsing through the shelves doesn't turn up any stray Kearsley titles to satisfy the glom I was craving. But there, on the shelf was a Mary Stewart book, Airs Above the Ground. Only £2? Involves dancing white horses?! SOLD.

Daisy-china, Step 4 - Hans Christian Andersen

Okay, by now I was getting rather intrigued. So who would be on Mary's long-loved list? Which great brain would she attribute her writing success to? I searched everywhere I could, but the interwebs failed to reveal to me her influences. Until, that is, I found an interview with her (beware, 'tis deeply '80s in style) in her later years. Lo and behold, she talks about what inspired her to start telling and writing stories as a child: fairy tales. Of course. Specifically, Hans Christian Andersen.

So this is as far as my daisy-chain has gotten for now. Maybe I can dig through the formative years of Mr Andersen (no, not Neo from the Matrix, film nerds) and find my next little daisy stepping stone.

In the meantime, I have three authors' back catalogues to sift through for quality reading fare. Or I might just start a new chain!


What great authors have you found through other authors?


LINKS:
Smart Bitches website: http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/
Susanna Kearsley website:http://www.susannakearsley.com/
Mary Stewart fan-site: http://marystewartnovels.com/
The Hans Christian Andersen Centre: http://www.andersen.sdu.dk/index_e.html
How to Make a Daisy Chain (a REAL one): http://youtu.be/EQBaQ8tRpDM

'Blue Dalton' - A quick analysis

Some months ago I made a promise to start doing some analysis reviews of the romantic fiction I was reading. I suppose I should make good on that promise! I did some detailed analysis of a book I was reading at the time, taking notes and everything (very studious of me, don't you think?). But that was when I was in the middle of jury duty, stuck in the juror 'tank' waiting to be called up for a case (which never did materialise). Long story short, I'd better start with something a little fresher in my mind. Not that I have a short attention span, salad.

So what's the most recent romantic fiction I've read? Well, like zillions of other people I'm a recent Kindle adopter, and I'm slowly making my way through the FREE books, putting off that moment when I actually have to pay money for them. It's okay. I'm a few chapters into Crime & Punishment, which I probably wouldn't have started without a certain level of desperation. Being cheap can actually lead you to the classics! Who knew.

No...no, don't leave yet. I'm not going to analyse a Fyodor Dostoyevsky book! That would require actual understanding of it, not quite there yet...

FIRST EVER ANALYSIS!

Okay, so let's start with (what felt like) a somewhat short novel called Blue Dalton by Tara Janzen, a New York Times bestselling author. From what I can see from Amazon, this is among the many (many) works of fiction that went out of print several decades ago and has had a rebirth as an eBook. So, I will try to keep that in mind as times have changed a little since then (let's not mention 50 Shades).

Okay, so here's the structure:

1. Chapter 1 Exposition - basically - what do we find out and how?
By the time you're done the first few pages, you find out a fair deal about Blue (the lead female character), in that she's on a mission to find something, is convinced she's just killed a man, and isn't about to stick around for the long arm of the law to coop her up before she has a chance to complete her mission.

We get a first glimpse of Walker Evans (love interest, and general all-round Adonis), who has been enlisted by said long arm of the law to track Blue down, if not for murder then at least for shooting someone and leaving them for dead. It's pretty clear from the beginning that Walker intends to play his own long-game.

2. First meeting - when do they first clap eyes on each other?
Nice start to a romance, I thought, when he looks her in the eye for the first time down the barrel of her rifle. In terms of where, Kindle makes this a little tricky, definitely chapter 1 (well, you do need to have your inciting incident early on, right?) and approximately 9% of the way in.

3. Key kiss - Robert McKee's term for that point-of-no-return intimate moment
Plenty of build-up to this, mainly from Walker's point of view, as Blue is somewhat out for the count for some time. Nice way to get into his head. Ch 3 gives us the key kiss, and I have to say, the memory of it does keep surfacing throughout the book for both characters, so Tara has deliberately set it into stone, which is rather interesting.

4. What’s to keep them apart?
Do the words 'family feud' suffice? 'Nuff said without super-duper spoilers (I should be encouraging reading of these books, not ruining the endings for you!).

But of course, that is only the surface reason. How about Blue, not having experienced real love before, and not trusting it from Walker. And Walker, rebelling against the attraction he has to a type of woman he's never been with before?

5. What key turning points bring them together?
Walker is there for her when she needs to be bailed out of jail, emotionally and physically. The intimacy of his ranch house also pushes them closer and forces them to examine themselves. Walker's emotional hand is forced when she puts herself in danger, and as a result, puts things in perspective for him.

6. Which key turning points push/pull them apart?
Walker's competing need for the family treasure definitely stands between them, aggravating any attempts at building trust. Blue makes a hurtful discovery at the very end which threatens to have her running away completely from their attraction.

7. When are they fully committed?
Walker is more aware of the point of no return than Blue, but the complete trust doesn't come until nearly the last pages.

8. Sub-plots!

I have to say, other than the romance and the family feud/treasure, there are no sub-plots here. This might account for the shortness or short-feel of the book. But it's a sweet romance, with very well-written descriptions and Blue and Walker did come alive for me as I read it. A nice simple read.

9. What is her major flaw and how does she overcome this?

Inability to trust anyone, really. In the end, she needs a great deal of help from Walker, but you have to give it to her...she gives it up, and leaves it in the past.

10. Any other notes...

While I don't expect epic Lord of the Rings type storylines from any romance novel, this does show that if you want the full-length feel, there have to be some additional layers of plot to buoy up the central story if you want a really satisfying 'long' read.

P.S. Can I just say that the photo on the cover really didn't match what I had in my mind from reading the book at all. Sometimes Kindle books are great that way  - you just read it and don't even see the cover!