January
14
2012
Most of us know what makes a good story. Even if we have no idea what’s going to happen from one scene to the next, we have certain expectations. Almost everyone, however, couldn’t begin to articulate those expectations. We just know.
As a pantser (writing by the seat of my pants with little to no planning), I’m one of those who couldn’t tell you the basic structure a story must have in order to work, except that it must begin with intrigue and tension, and the end – denouement – must be exciting where the protagonist reaches the brink of death or a terrible loss.
Several months ago, Amy Deardon, Author of “A Lever Long Enough” offered to send me a free copy of her new book “The Story Template – Conquer Writer’s Block Using the Universal Structure of Story” as long as I took the time to write a review.
Having thoroughly enjoyed “A Lever Long Enough,” I jumped at the opportunity (and receiving a free e-book didn’t hurt).
What I knew intuitively about structuring a story, Amy spent months studying both books and movies to tie down what every story needs in order for it to work. I’ve read other books about the “Three Act Structure,” but for some reason I always skimmed through it a bit bleary-eyed. Odd for someone who loves math, don’t you think?
I think it was due to not wanting to be constrained in any way while writing my story. I feared it would take away any uniqueness I might add because I would be too concerned about structure.
Amy, however, described it in such a way that it was more of a revelation: “So that’s why it worked (or didn’t)!” As she described in her book, every person’s face is structured the same way, but every face is also unique in a thousand different ways. Stories work the same way.
Knowing the basic structure of a story can truly free the writer to concentrate on the finer details such as characterization, plot and setting. As the title suggests, knowing the structure of a story – and even a chapter – can help with writer’s block. The writer can simply ask, is this part of Act 1 and I need to move on to Act II, or am I already trying for Act III before I’m finished with Act I? Instead of killing creativity as I always fear, Amy’s advice and exercises can instead free it. In fact, as I read through it, I found myself brainstorming ways of fixing errors in my existing work in progress, and I anticipate using her exercises in my future manuscripts. I might have difficulty creating a detailed story board with index cards, however, because my four-year-old son might find it more interesting than his Legos. That said, I happily add Amy’s book to my library of must-have books on writing.
November
22
2011
Just ask a cow.
Yet that’s what writers are required to do if they want to sell their books. Develop a brand, something that sets them apart from every other writer out there. Something (or things) that will attract potential readers and keep them coming back for more.
It’s a horrible thing to ask (demand) of a person who — in general — is anti-social by nature. It’s not enough to merely write, find a publisher, and write some more. Now we have to create a Brand before we even hook an interested publisher.
I recently watched a show entitled “Genius Minds” on the Science Channel about an autistic lady named Temple Grandin. Since a little girl, she always had an affinity for animals. She understood them, because, like her, they have no grasp of abstract concepts. She empathized with the cows especially when they were herded into the chutes to be branded. They bounced around in terror, potentially injuring themselves and others, until the headgate closed on them. They immediately calmed down. When she was in college , she created something similar for herself, which she used when feeling overwhelmed or out of sorts. She called it the “hug machine.” It was so successful for her, that it’s now used for other autistics to help keep them calm.
What does that have to do with branding? Other than the fact they’re used to brand cows?
Because I’m not a cow. I’m not like Temple Grandin where I would find something like that comforting. I see it as constraining. I don’t want to be branded, to be known as one thing and one thing only. I’ve seen other authors who’ve gone from one brand (or genre) to another and it either failed dismally or it took years for it to catch, because the author had to find a whole new set of readers.
Admittedly, the fight against branding is an excuse. I keep asking, “What do I have to offer that will keep them interested enough that they will buy my product without feeling pressured to buy it?”
Everything I’ve learned I’ve learned from others. I know a lot , but I’m not an expert at much — unless you want to know how to survey land. Even then, there are thousands more who know more than I do. There’s nothing unique I have to offer except my stories. Unfortunately, that’s not enough anymore. I have to sell myself.
*shudder*
But it is what it is. As much as I might hate it, it has to be done. My reticence, fear and lack of confidence has more to do with not knowing how to even start marketing. At Barnes and Noble the other day, I spotted “Guerrilla Marketing for Writers.” I’m only 20 pages into it, and I’m still feeling overwhelmed. I will continue to slog ahead, however, because the desire to publish is greater than my fear of putting myself out there. I will simply have to fight my anti-social tendencies.
Hopefully getting branded won’t hurt too much. Once I figure out what it will look like, that is.
November
17
2011
I appreciate the writer who sits down and writes an outline of a book, spends days researching, creating the setting and discovering everything there is to know about every major character. I can see how all the preparations before writing a single word of the story itself results in a more solid plot with relatively little re-writing later.
I’ve tried it, and it made me go stir-crazy. I simply don’t have the patience for it. I prefer to write by the seat of my pants and see where the story goes with each successive paragraph.
Right now I’m flying high by the seat of my pants with my nanowrimo book. The plot has twisted in surprising directions more than once already. But that’s part of the fun for me. I only hope that the tangents don’t get too far off my original plot that I have to force my characters to do odd things to get them back on track.
On the other hand, if not, I’m not concerned. The point of writing 50,000 words in November is to write, even if it means I write total [censored].
There’s a line in “Finding Forrester” with Sean Connery where he said, “The first draft you write with the heart. You rewrite with your head.”
I’m writing with my heart right now, and it’s (mostly) ignoring my head when it tries to interfere.
The joy of writing has eluded me for a long time, and I’m thrilled to have it back. This is why I started writing in the first place. Let’s hope it lasts well into December
Now while my son watches Wall-e and my husband cooks supper, I am going to disappear yet again into my book. Bu’bye!
November
6
2011
Nanowrimo began almost seven days ago now. I’ve not been keeping up with the minimum word count of 1667/day. More like 1000/day. I’m okay with that so far. I still have 23 days to catch up.
I also decided that I’m not going to worry about keeping up with people on the internet anymore. It sounds anti-social, and perhaps it is. But I keep going back to when I originally caught the writing bug and wrote my first novels. I did it when I was alone, meeting no one’s expectations but my own.
For the first time in a while I’m writing a story that excites me. I decided on a fantasy. It’s a story that’s been bouncing around in my head for a while, but one I didn’t think worthy of a book. After a while I decided, why not? No one ever has to see it. Why not write for me and me alone for a change?
It’s one that developed after reading another fantasy by author Mary Brown called “Dragonne’s Eg”. The only similarity between her story and mine is that the main character is in charge of returning a dragon’s egg to its rightful home.
My character, however, has no idea she has to take it where it will be safe. She steals it from her master in the hopes of making a better life for herself. She isn’t even aware it’s a real egg. Nor does she care.
I can also work in another friend’s idea of writing about ambition, and Loraine’s idea of fighting the lies we grew up with. Sorry, Mom, no wacky robots in this one. Maybe next year.
October
11
2011
What am I doing? Wracking my brain for an idea for Nanowrimo. Do I want to write fantasy? Another science fiction based on an existing character? An alternate reality? Try my hand at suspense or even — gulp — historical?
Maybe I’ll simply use the writing.com story app and see what it gives me.
I know what I really need to do: Stop worrying. The more I fret over whether or not I can come up with a story, the less likely I’ll come up with one.
After all, my first novel began with a single word: Redemption.
My second was based on a simple theme: the importance of duty.
Oh! I know! You can help me. Give me a word or theme, and I’ll write a book based on it. Sorry, no prizes. On second thought, if I succeed I’ll send you a copy of the finished book. Eiither electronic or hardcopy I haven’t decided yet (after all the idea is less than a minute old). Sound like a deal?
August
18
2011
Spam. We all get it, and it seems blogs are the target of choice. Spammers know that most internet traffic goes to blogs, so it’s only reasonable that’s where they go. Luckily many blog hosting sites have tools available to keep spam from building up, either in our email boxes or as comments.
My WordPress blog actually puts all the spam in a folder which I have to clean out every once in a while. The last time I logged in was three days ago, and I just removed 128 spam comments.
Should I take that as a compliment? Do they plant their little poops for my readers to step through, because they think their chances are good someone will go to their sites? My ego would like to think so. My more logical brain center puts things in a different perspective:
Spammers send out little bot programs to plant spam comments. They sneak around the internet 24/7 and when they find a blog without CAPTCHAs, they leave their little presents. It’s nothing personal, and it certainly isn’t because I’m popular. I’m just easy to reach.
So much for success *rolls eyes*.
There ain’t nothing more profound to add to this entry (I know bad grammar, but it’s my blog and I can do what I want. So there). I’d apologize, but I’m not sorry. I just felt like writing, and this is what I came up with.
Oh! I do want to add that four interviews I did with Ashford Radio are now available for your listening pleasure (as my ego giggles and my logic center scoffs) on my website at www.almarquardt.com/interviews. All but the first one focus on writing. I’m doing another on Saturday at 9am CDT if you want to listen in (www.ashfordradio.com). It’ll center on writing again, with some discussion on copyrights. I believe they will also give out a phone number you can call if you want to talk to me live.
August
8
2011
A friend commented on my earlier “It’s Time” entry (I sometimes write the same entry on multiple blogs):
Faith is in your heart and soul, you don’t have to shout it out loud for it to be known. As long as I have known you it has been a struggle for you at times, but each time you come through. I remember when you wanted a baby so badly…and now you have Thomas. Seriously the good deeds you do in your life speak volumes about how your faith is evident. Don’t worry.
Profound thought with much truth. It also made me think about what faith is. How is faith defined?
Turning to my Bible’s concordance, I found passages such as “. . .faith even as small as a mustard seed . . .”, “. . . Daughter, your faith has made you . . .”, and “. . . hold up the shield of faith . . .”
Faith is an act, that much is certain. Without acting with that faith, miracles cannot happen. We cannot hear God’s voice, and without it we soon despair that God is even there, let alone hears us.
Okay. How does one gain faith? What actions are required to gain a mustard seed’s worth of faith?
Included in my concordance is a “See also”. One of them was the word trust.
Ah. Now things are getting a little clearer.
Let’s bring things a little down to earth, and look at some things we put our trust into. We trust that the sun will rise in the morning. Nah. Too abstract. For most of us, we trust our spouse that he/she will not stray, and will comfort or protect us when we need.
How is that trust gained?
Through building a relationship.
Trust and faith in God comes through building a relationship with him similar to that as with our spouse. There is a saying I’ve heard multiple times: “If God seems far away, guess who moved.”
When I struggle with my faith, it’s usually because I allowed my relationship with God stagnate. I become complacent in my life, and no longer talk to him and give him even an hour’s worth of my time. It’s not about going to church (although it helps) or reading the Bible (although it helps). Those are outward consequences of my desire to actively seek God’s company.
The more I give him my undivided attention, the more my faith grows from barely the size of a hydrogen atom to the size of a mustard seed. I can’t expect my relationship with my husband to remain strong if I don’t talk to him about the things that matter, and the things that don’t, or even share moments of silence where holding hands is more than enough. Nor can I expect my relationship with God to grow if I don’t spend time nurturing it.
Thankfully God is everlasting and unchanging. I always know where to find him — since he didn’t move — and I know he will always welcome me back home. All I need to remember is to always treasure that about him, and not take it for granted.
July
31
2011
I know I promised to talk about faith in my next entry, but right now I have no motivation to do much of anything but sit in front of the air conditioner.
However, I did want to point you to the second interview with Ashford Radio I did on Saturday. You can find it at www.ashfordradio.com. Click on the second microphone (Studio B) and scroll down to the On Demand Episodes.
This time I talked about my books, why I wrote them and writing in general. I tell you, those 30 minutes really flew by. I did stumble a bit at the beginning, but I again think I did well.
I’ll be doing three others, each on Saturday morning at 9am Central. I will continue to point you to the archives when they’re out if you miss the live feed.
Later and Happy Sunday. Stay cool.
July
25
2011
First of, to listen to the show I did on Saturday, go to www.ashfordradio.com. From there click on the first microphone that says “Radio Studio A”. From there scroll down until you see my name. Click on that and the show will start playing.
Overall, I think it went well. I didn’t stutter too much. At least I don’t think I did. Just over halfway through, they accidentally cut me off and had to call me back. It was a good experience, and I wasn’t as nervous as I anticipated. Many a prayer was whispered as I waited for the show to start, let me tell ya.
Turns out I needn’t have worried about whether or not I would be more open about my faith during the interview. The subject never came up as the interviewer focused on my job and what Land Surveying entails. My biggest concern was that I described what land surveying is without talking over people’s heads. As with any technical occupation, there is a tendency to techno-speak. I tried to stay away from it, but I’m not willing to listen to the interview and find out. I never did like the sound of my voice (although I’ve never heard anyone else complain about it). I prefer blissful ignorance and believe I did okay. Why listen to the show and discover I sucked? Yeah, when it comes to this, I prefer delusion.
Since I received such good feedback so far, I’m doing another four half-hour interviews over the next four Saturdays staring at 9am Central time. These will focus more on my writing and photography. A perfect venue to talk about my faith since it’s such an integral part of my writing. As with the first one, it will be archived. I’ll provide a link should you miss it.
But it’s hot, I have a cold (when I just got over one two weeks ago), and I’m tired.
I think my next entry (should I have more mental energy) will be about the definition of faith, and why it can be such a struggle at times.
Later!
July
21
2011
When I started writing my first book, I couldn’t wait for it to be published. I wanted to see my name in print right now! That was ten years ago. Sure my name has seen print with three short stories, as many articles and a self-published novella, but my novel is still in limbo. I’m not concerned about it. In these last ten years, God has taught me patience.
But it is patience I’ve finally gained, or is it complacency? A bit of both?
I haven’t written much of anything since my last entry in March. Four months! Hard to believe. Where did the time go? Admittedly I wasted a lot of it catching up on favorite tv shows and movies (Netflix and Hulu can be quite addicting).
Over the last few weeks, my fingers have been itching to write. But write what? Sure I submitted two articles to AUGIWorld, but each one took less than four hours to write.
Two of my books need serious edits, and I’m about a fifth the way through the first. Not something to brag about, because I’ve been working on that since January. I’d also like to rewrite “Traitors,” or at least the first three chapters. I went through the comments for the Genesis Contest last year, and realized the first part needed work.
My first draft started with an assassin right before she entered the house to kill her victim. I had since changed it beginning with the assassination itself while in the mind of the victim.
Based on the comments, I decided the story would be better the way I had it originally. Funny, that. My instincts were right to begin with. It’s a good thing I keep all my major drafts, both on computer and hard copy.
I also need to come out of the shadows a bit. I’ve been in hiding, mostly because I’ve let my faith stagnate some. Okay, a lot. I haven’t gone to church since January, and I’ve barely picked up my Bible since then. My only communion with God in any capacity is when I say bedtime prayers with my son.
A few weeks ago, I received a phone call from Ashford Radio. They wanted to do a half-hour radio interview of me. I was ambivalent at first, but finally agreed. Partly it was due to cost. They wanted $2000. Not happening. After saying no about three times, they took away features such as a plaque and travel vouchers, and lowered the price to $500.
I figured if I want to come out of my shell,and start promoting myself more, a half-hour interview live-streamed on the Internet would be the boost I need. Even if I do have to pay for it.
They called me this afternoon for a pre-interview, and one of the questions they asked was, “Who was your biggest influence on your life?”
On the tip of my tongue was, “Jesus,” but I instead said, “Mostly my parents.”
That’s when I realized just how far I let my relationship with Jesus falter. Didn’t he say, “those who acknowledge me to others, I will acknowledge in heaven, and those who deny me, I will deny in heaven?” (Paraphrased because I’m too lazy to get off my bum and look it up). If I were to split hairs, I could say I didn’t deny him outright, but I sure didn’t acknowledge him either.
Luckily I have another opportunity during the actual interview to say what I wanted — and needed — to say. Hopefully I won’t chicken out then.
I also focused more on my actual job as a land surveyor and less on my writing during the pre-interview. Mostly because writing has taken a back seat to other priorities. But, we’ll see what happens during the actual interview. I may just have to sit down with God for an hour or two beforehand and discuss with him what I should say. He’s never let me down, even when I’ve let him down so many times. God’s kinda great that way.
You can listen to the interview on www.ashfordradio.com, on Saturday, 7/23/2011 at 12pm EST. You can also read the press release HERE.
