This Side Up

"[The writer] has to be the kind of [wo]man who turns the world upside down and says, lookit, it looks different, doesn't it?"

-- Morris West

For me, what separates an author from the pack of writers at the top of creativity's bell-shape curve is the ability to ignore obvious descriptors. Truly gifted and conscientious writers, instead, find a way to turn a description on its head, giving the reader a fresh vantage point from where a thing becomes dynamic and emotionally enmeshed with the narration.

For example, a writer could have her narrator complain, "I was sick to death of being constantly bombarded with sensational stories by New York City newspapers." The narrator's feelings are clear, and 'bombarded' is certainly a strong, high impact verb that carries a lot of emotional bang for its buck. But now consider how Sylvia Plath handled the same thought in the opening paragraph of "The Bell Jar":

"...and that's all there was to read about in the papers -- goggle-eyed headlines staring up at me on every street corner and at the fusty, peanut-smelling mouth of every subway."

Plath turned the idea on its side, describing the headlines and the places where the papers were sold, using modifiers that painted for the reader the emotional portrait of the narrator's feelings. In essence, her descriptions invited the reader to participate in the scene.

I love this quote by Patrick F. McManus: "Write out of the reader's imagination as well as your own. Supply the significant details and let the reader's imagination do the rest. Make the reader a co-author of the story."

Do you think about your readers as co-authors of your story? Does doing so inspire you?

You can't quit, you're FIRED!

The characters I cast in my novel aren't who I thought they were. I don't know why I'm so surprised. Anytime I meet someone for the first time, the new acquaintance smiles a lot, flatters me with complimentary politeness, chooses her words carefully. I do the same thing. It's only through subsequent meetings, time spent hanging out together, that guarded moments give way to natural reactions, and the façade begins to crumble.

In the time I've hung out with my characters this week, they have begun to shown me their authentic selves. I learned the antagonist has a lifelong fascination for electroshock weaponry. And here, I thought fire was his thing. Another character informed me I had it all wrong, that he never wanted to marry his fiancée. One character up and altogether quit the project! And an Asian dude I'd pegged from the start as a wicked man turned out to be a student and a young fellow of incredible honor. It's a shame what's going to happen to him. However, it was only when he revealed himself to me that the big climactic scene -- the one I just couldn't figure out for weeks and weeks and weeks -- finally played out in my mind. Maybe I'll make it up to him by mentioning him in the book's dedication blurb...

So, I made my first self-imposed deadline: Step Six of the Snowflake Method is complete, on time today, April 3.

The steps in this method of plotting a novel are extremely well designed. For example, in Step Five I wrote a one-page narration of each major character and a half-page narration of each minor character. The exercise was to write in first person from the POV of that character, letting him or her explain his or her role in the book (relationship to other characters, goals, motivations, etc.) Then this week, in Step Six, I expanded the one-page plot synopsis of the novel I wrote for Step Four to a four-page synopsis. Today I begin Step Seven which shifts focus back to the characters and asks me to create detailed character charts for each character. It's brilliant, because I know so much more about the characters after working through Step Six, including how wrong some of my original interpretations of the characters were. I'm excited to dive into this exercise and fully flesh these people out.

Snowflake Method author Randy Ingermanson says in Step Seven notes: "You will probably go back and revise steps (1-6) as your characters become "real" to you and begin making petulant demands on the story. This is good -- great fiction is character-driven. Take as much time as you need to do this, because you're just saving time downstream."

Blogger Jana Hutcheson @ All I'm Saying... wrote a wonderful post last Wednesday about interviewing characters as a technique for figuring out what makes them tick. She included several excellent website links with character interview questionnaires to use. Check it out by clicking HERE. [Jana is new to Blogger this year. While you're there, why not sign on as a follower? (*smile*)]

How do you get to know your characters? Have you ever interviewed them? Have your ever had a character quit your novel?

Contest Announcements!

It's a gorgeous day here in the Altanta area, and I'm spending it outside with hubby and the kids. We were up ridiculously early, for a "day off," to merged with the lighter-than-normal rush hour traffic and arrived at the French Embassy in Buckhead by 8:45 a.m. The three "Frenchies" in the family now have their updated passports for our trip to France in June. Now back home, they have zipped over to a gardening shop to buy a truckload of top soil, and I have a minute to dash off a quick blog post.

Here are some great contests you don't want to miss out on!

Tawna Fenske's @ Don't Pet Me, I'm Writing is a talented writer with THREE romantic comedies scheduled for release beginning in August 2011. Her blog posts are informative, inspirational, and often hilarious! Help her celebrate reaching 100 followers in only two months by joining her give-away. The prize is too good to pass up!! (*wink*)

The fabulous Roxy @ A Woman's Write is celebrating 200 followers with her Blogging Buddies Give-Away Contest. Way to go, Roxy!

Christine Danek at Christine's Journey has surpassed 100 followers and is having a give-away contest with fab prize. (I hope I win this one!!) Visit her today :)

Christina Farley @ Chocolate for Inspiration is giving away some AWESOME prizes, all of which are from the country setting of her WiP: Korea! Help her celebrate surpassing her 100 followers milestone by visiting her and entering the contest today!

Shannon Messenger @ Ramblings of a Wannabe Scribe has an agent!! Way to go, Shannon! Living the dream, how exciting! To celebrate, she's hosting a fantastic contest and giving away SIX books, each SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR! Visit Shannon and sign up today :)

Karen Akins @ Novels During Naptime has also surpassed the 100 followers mark. Her celebratory give-away features gorgeous writing supplies and a bead bracelet that matches one she has. I want to be bracelet twins with Karen, don't you?

Noelle Nolan @ A life Rewritten is giving away an Amazon gift card as soon as she reaches 100 followers. Let's get her there quickly! Visit her today and sign up to follow. You'll be making a wonderful new friend and supporting a published author and her platform!

There you have it, some fantastic contests to enter, all of which end in the next week or two (check my sidebar for deadlines).

And, if you know of other contests I can enter and promote, leave me the blogger's URL in a comment. I'll let them know you sent me!

Happy Easter Weekend, everyone!