Friday, March 26, 2010

My Contest Entry

Today, I'm entering Sarah Ahier's Falen Formulates Fiction 100 Followers Writing Contest. If you want to play along, you'll need to write a short story under 750 words, following one of Sarah's prompts. It's all explained HERE to click -- hurry! Contest deadline is 5 pm CST today!

I chose this prompt to work with: A man discovers a large sum of money in his wallet and can't remember where it came from.

Here's my story:

The Sacred Heart

Thomas’ black leather coat was as useful as a window screen at protecting him from the biting wind. He clutched the collar to his throat and strode down the littered Bronx sidewalk with his head bent against the constant gust. Halfway down the block, a pair of tattered shoes entered his limited field of vision. Thomas slowed his pace and lifted his chin. His gaze traveled from the shoes, up soiled pant legs, past where the waist bent at ninety degrees, to the torso of a disheveled and unconscious man. Thomas took a step closer, peering at the man’s chest to see if it rose and fell. That’s when he spied the frayed wallet, half- wedged under the man’s hip next to a smudged Styrofoam coffee cup.

Thomas glanced quickly up and down the street, snatched up the wallet, and opened it. It was empty.

He tossed it back on the card board bedroll and walked on. A hundred feet later, he turned and crossed a small parking lot in front of Fortworth Saloon. He reached for the door handle and paused. A drop of water ran down the inside of the sweating glass. Thomas whipped his head left and right, popping his neck. He took a deep breath and pulled open the door.

~~~

“Are you freakin’ kiddin’ me?” Stevie Romero scoffed as he threw his cards face down. A cheer went up from the onlookers surrounding the table. Thomas raked all the chips from the ante pile toward him, including the Rolex laid neatly on top. The piles of chips at his side resembled the smokestacks of Jersey’s finest factories across the Hudson. Thomas allowed a boyish grin and avoided looking at the other players.

A large man in a white suit and matching ten bucket cowboy hat peered at Thomas. “So, Tommy Heart?” he drawled. “How come we’ve never seen y’all around the circuit before today? Y’all can’t be new to the game. Ain't beginners who can bluff like you.” He eyed Thomas’ chip fortress with suspicion.

“I been playin’ in the neighborhood for years. In Brooklyn, you gotta have your game face on all the time, ya know what I’m talkin’ about?” Thomas smirked and offered a knuckle bump to the cowboy who sat still, his emotionless eyes fixed on Thomas. Thomas lowered his fist.

“Aw, come on Tex, you’re just pissed off ‘cause he got your stupid watch,” shouted Romero from the other side of the table. “Your bluff was weak, man. Even I saw through it.”

As the Texan argued with Romero, Tommy Heart excused himself from the table. His cool composure cloaked his racing heart. In the vacant hallway leading to the restrooms, he pulled out his cell phone. Glancing left and right, he pushed speed dial number one.

“Sacred Heart of Brooklyn, may I assist you?”

“Sister Cecelia Maria?” he whispered into the phone.

“Father Thomas? Is that you? Where are you, we’ve been worried sick!”

“I’m fine, Sister. But I only have a minute to talk. Listen, please call the parish council and tell them to block the Youth Center demolition. I have raised the money for the new roof, and I suspect there’ll be enough to buy new furniture and get some of those programs off the ground we talked about for the kids.”

“Praise the Lord, Father! This is a last minute miracle. How did you do it?”

Father Thomas glanced at the poster on the wall advertising the semi-pro Texas Hold’em Poker Tournament. With a scarlet blush he said, “I found a room full of willing donators.”

“God is great!” Sister Cecelia Maria exclaimed. “I’ll make the call now. Thank you, Father. Thank you so much!”

“You are welcome. And Sister? One other thing. Please call Father Fitzgerald. See if he is available on Sunday to hear my confession.”

~~~

An hour later with the wind at his back, Thomas made his way up the block. He stopped in front of the sleeping homeless man. Retrieving the wallet, Thomas slipped six twenties into the billfold. He shoved the wallet squarely into the man’s trouser pocket. Snapping his arm out straight to reveal the watch, he unstrapped the Rolex from his wrist and dropped it into the man’s stained trench coat pocket. The man stirred and Thomas walked away.

As Thomas rounded the corner, he looked back. The homeless man was sitting up, one hand cupping the top of his head as he stared into his open wallet.



(Word Count = 749, not including the title)


Thursday, March 25, 2010

What Time Is It?

The chosen setting of a novel presents to the author hundreds of little description decisions that must be made throughout the plot in order to sell the authenticity of the story. A novel that takes place in 1998, for example, will be very different in many ways than one that takes place in 2008.

Take a look at developments in technology over the past ten years. Since the end of the '90s we've seen Internet usage demographics go from 'just tech-savvy urbanites' to 'everyone and her grandparents.' DVD players have all but replaced VHS. In 1999, most of my music was still on cassette tape. I didn't have time to buy all the CDs I wanted before MP3 music files became the rage. Televisions were still bulky boxes with 32-inch screens sitting atop consoles, and although the technology to stop, rewind, and digitally record live TV has been around for twenty-five years, TiVo didn't become a household word until the middle of the first decade after the Millennium.

I still haven't made a firm decision about the setting of my WIP. The original premise hinges on a random, computer-generated phone call by a telemarketer selling long distance telephone service. I could stick with that premise and set the novel in the early 2000s. If I do, then when the antagonist sets out to hunt down the protagonist with only her first and last name and an area code, I'll have to decide what devices he uses to locate her. The Internet? In 2001 and 2002, a "Google" search wouldn't pull up very much on an ordinary person in her early 20s. Even if you were Feeling Lucky. WhitePages.com? MySpace? Would my reclusive, thirty-something bad guy even have a computer at his house? And on the road, would he know how to find or use an Internet café? I'd have to figure out what other options he would have at his disposal.

Option number two is to move the setting to modern day. To do so, I'd have to tweak the premise. Do we even have telemarketers anymore? I get calls from credit card company affiliates wanting to sell me protection packages against identity theft. Maybe old Ray works for one of those? Does he have a laptop computer to take on the road with him? Does Julie have a FaceBook profile? (I tried to find a "Julie Knotts" on FaceBook, just for the fun of it. There were literally thousands of people who came up.)

At this point, the logic problems to work through seem endless. Clearly, depending on the setting I choose, I have more research ahead of me.

How does technology impact your current story? Do you have to think about it, or is it irrelevant? Do you have to create any technology of your own?

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

I commit...



If someone could photograph the workings of my brain, this is what it would look like. My thoughts are like the concentric paths of each ring. If I don't concentrate my efforts, force organization into my methods, the effect is the same as letting your eyes drift to the side of this image. My rings start spinning independent of the others and before I realize what's happened, I've lost two productive hours of my day.

In support of my natural and near-nonexistent left-brain talents, I'm devising a writing schedule for my WIP. I work best with looming deadlines, so here's my plan of action:

I have until I leave for France to complete and print out the Snowflake Method outline for Overcome. I leave on June 18, so:

By April 3: Step Six -- One week to expand one page story synopsis into a four-page synopsis.

By April 10: Step Seven -- One week to expand character synopsis into detailed character charts.

By May 1: Step Eight -- From four-page story synopsis, create scenes. [Plot scenes on spreadsheet and decide chapter breaks...(*right side of brain begins weeping*)]

By May 29: Step Nine -- Back to word processor, sketch each chapter by expanding each spreadsheet line into multi-paragraph description of that scene. Decide essential conflict of each chapter.

By June 5 (leaving me a week to pack): Revisions and chapter drafts. Each chapter draft/sketch will go on new page(s). I'll print them out and put them in a three-ring binder where I can resort chapter order and make revisions. This is the hardcopy I'll take to France.


There are several motivators built into this plan. For example, my in-laws don't have a computer or Internet connection. Any work I do on the project will have to be handwritten. I'll be on vacation so clearly writing won't be my first priority; however, taking into consideration the ten-hour roundtrip plane rides and la sieste -- two hour "quiet time" strictly observed in France between the noon-day meal and late afternoon -- I'll have opportunities to write.

Disclaimer: I know in my heart that I won't need this kind of strict planning for future novels. I may never sell this one. My objective is to get it written, to learn the process so next time my organizational skills can truly support my creative voice.


Do writing schedules work for you? How important are deadlines for your productivity?

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

It's Like We're Soulmates Award

Well, after sparring with Blogger.com all day long, this is the "new look" for my blog. Whatcha think? I wormed my way into the CSS and HTML and figured out how to put my own title on there, but I wasn't able to override the template's Title Page Header configuration. It insists I give my blog a title, but when I typed "One Significant Moment at a Time," it printed it below the PSP text that says the same thing. I couldn't have that twice, so I put "Nicole Ducleroir, Author" on the configuration title line. Then it occurred to me that my blog's name is now "Nicole Ducleroir, Author." (I followed myself to verify.) Sorry for any confusion that may cause :p

On to other things...

This is perhaps the coolest award making its way around the blogosphere right now. I LOVE it! Huge shout out to my soul sista, Anne @ Piedmont Writer for passing it to me. Thank you, Anne!!
Apparently, this award is for people who "get you," which makes it all personal and awesome.

Rules are simple:
Five Recipients.
Make up something (not too mean) about the people you give the award to.
Link to the people you give it to.
Link back to the original award post here.



I'm going to pass it on to these friends I feel "get me" (and who I "get" too!):


1. Julie Dao @ Silver Linings, who this summer plans to backpack across the country and write a short story about every state she visits.

2. Christine Danek @ Christine's Journey, who I suspect has successfully cloned herself. That way she can leave insightful comments on everyones' blogs each day while her clone does the housework and runs errands for her.

3. Summer @ ...And This Time Concentrate, who by coincidence posted a picture of my ex-boyfriend on her blog today. (I'm a discrete woman, so I won't say which one he is...)

4. Shelley Sly @ Stories in the Ordinary, who used to live in the same quaint apartment that Madonna rented when she and a then-husband Sean Penn needed a vacation from the paparazzi.

5. Elana Johnson, who's actually Miley Cyrus (I know! I was shocked too!)



I have a couple more awards to give pass along, but my brain is cyber-fried. I need a break from this computer. Until tomorrow -- have a fab day!


~ Excuse My Dust ~

I'm changing my blog template and you know what that means...
SIGNIFICANT CHAOS!!
For the next couple hours :))
Please check back later and tell me what you think of the new decor!

Monday, March 22, 2010

Life is a Subway

A subway car is a microcosm of life. Its riders are a random sampling of society, the characters in that scene from life's novel. Look at this picture. Who are these people? What would happen if a disaster struck, if the train jumped its tracks the moment after this picture was snapped? The answer depends on the personalities of the people thrown together and what they carry with them in terms of priorities and their life experiences.

I'm a virgin novelist, as many of you know. I may be approaching this project backwards, but it's occurred to me that assembling my first cast of characters is a little like walking onto a subway train and picking a handful of people. As I get to know the strangers I've invited into my project, I'm reminded of a great truth in life: We're all struggling down our life paths.

Nobody has it easy in life. You can take five people, for example, and in the group have:

  • A successful Marketing Rep
  • A gorgeous fitness model
  • A creative storyteller
  • A well-known entertainer
  • A Martha Stewart-style homemaker

But within that same group and in shuffled order, you also have:

  • A person paralyzed by fear of failure
  • A woman who kicked her cheating husband out but is afraid to divorce him and truly be on her own
  • A drug addict, in and out of rehap
  • A blind person
  • A first-time mother transitioning to the new life of parenthood

If you were sitting on a subway train with these five people, you probably couldn't guess which description from each list went with what person (unless New Mom had Baby with her!).

As I flesh out the characters for my novel, I appreciate the importance of acknowledging all the successes and failures with which a character is dealing, within the timeframe of the novel. How a person acts and reacts in a scene is dependent on the combination of their conflicts and what they've experienced in life. I'm enjoying exploring what those things are and deciding how they will impact the plot of the novel.


What about you? When you start a project, are you more apt to know the personalities you need and build characters around them? Or are you like me and create characters who then reveal themselves in ways you didn't anticipate, so that you have to adapt the plot to accomodate them?

Saturday, March 20, 2010

No More Mumbling!

I'm deep in Step Five of the Snowflake Method, and I've had a revelation. Before I say what that revelation was, let me start by saying this: Even though the Snowflake Method is a very structured process for plotting my novel, there is a very real and necessary requirement for writing by-the-seat-of-my-pants.

Step Five asks me to "Take a day or two and write up a one-page description of each major character and a half-page description of the other important characters. These 'character synopses' should tell the story from the point of view of each character."

Here's my revelation: One reason my project stalled was I didn't know what was going on with my minor characters. I have two major players, Julie the protagonist and Ray the antagonist. The complete cast of major and minor characters includes nine personalities, five of which up to this point have been (patiently?) waiting in the wings to be called out on stage for the first time.

All this time, I've mulled over Julie and Ray's stories, what they want abstractly and concretely, their goals and the conflicts standing in their way. The ideas I have for the other characters were partially fleshed out, at best. I realized today how much this has contributed to my standstill.

Today, I was a full-fledged "pantser." I started with Providence Maiday, a character whose role in the plot I've vaguely known, though recognized for its importance. With no expectations I let my fingers fly. I wrote in her voice, explaining her part in the story as she sees it. I learned so much about her! An hour later, I had channeled four paragraphs about her life before her entrance in my novel, and found out what makes her tick. Then I moved on to the next character...

Story threads are emerging. Sub-plots are forming in my brain. Logic problems are working themselves out. It's exhilarating!

It was a lot like learning the real lyrics to La Bamba. I always sing that song when it comes on the radio. Its infectious melody and catchy tune suck me in every time. I sing the first two lines and then mumble the rest. And that's exactly what I've been doing with my novel!

I've been singing the two main characters and mumbling over the rest of the cast.

And that is why the Snowflake Method is working for me. It's given me the structure I need to focus my thinking, in a way I haven't been able to do on my own. My creative flow hasn't been dammed up -- just the opposite! Things are flowing again, filling up the dried creek beds and rushing toward the next bigger body of water. And, it's a lot of fun!

In honor of singing the whole song of my novel, I'll leave you with the actual words to La Bamba!


Para bailar La Bamba
Para bailar La Bamba
Se necessita una poca de gracia
Una poca de gracia
Para mi, para ti, ay arriba, ay arriba
Ay, arriba arriba
Por ti sere, por ti sere, por ti sere
Yo no soy marinero
Yo no soy marinero, soy capitan
Soy capitan, soy capitan
Bamba, bamba
Bamba, bamba
Bamba, bamba, bam
(repeat whole thing twice and toss in a guitar solo)




Have a Wonderful Weekend!!