Young Beginner Writers (closed) discussion

Okay, everyone! So, here's how this thread is going to work. I'll be posting tidbits that I find of writing advice from professional authors. I may even post some links for you guys to check out. There could be writing challenges, prompts, advice, or just thoughts for everyone to consider. Please respond if you find something helpful or if there's more of something you're interested in. If you have any questions and you want me to see if I can find something from a published author that addresses those questions, post them here and let me know!

Okay, in honor of our current group read, I'm starting with one of my favorite authors: Gail Carson Levine.

She works with so many writing shops! She's constantly replying to everyday beginner writer questions on her blog, on Goodreads, and in her workshops where she lives. (I'd do anything to go to one!!)

So, here's the link to her blog for those of you who are interested in seeing more from her. I'm going to use her blog as a primary source for some of the professional writing tidbits we're going to start out with.

http://gailcarsonlevine.com/blog/

Okay, so this week, I want to look at some advice Gail Carson Levine gave about character building, specifically: redemption. Have you ever dealt with a villain that you needed to turn around? Whether the character began good and was turned evil or was wicked to begin with, Levine gives us a few tips on ways we can change our characters for the better, if that's what we/they need. She specifically focused on doing this in a non-magical way. No scapegoats this week. So here goes:

"∙ If we can, it’s often best to work from character, so we might think about what’s least bad about each of our villains. For example, many years ago, before I became a writer, I had a bad boss: egotistical, self-centered, self-aggrandizing, self-important–self, self, self! The only admirable quality I could detect in him was generosity. If he were a character and I wanted to turn him, I’d work on that, because generosity suggests a smidgen of empathy–and empathy is villain poison.
"∙ ...relationships. The villain is changed by her connection to another character, who isn’t a villain. I used this in my Princess Tale, For Biddle’s Sake. The fairy Bombina, the villain, takes the child Parsley from her parents. Bombina’s evil stems from the joy she takes in turning people into frogs, for which she has been jailed by the fairy queen. When the story begins, she’s just gotten out. All this is lighthearted, unless you’re a current frog/former person. What starts to turn Bombina around is her love–which takes her by surprise–for Parsley. I won’t give away the turning point, but by the end Bombina is thoroughly reformed. She’s still sharp and prickly–we don’t want to make her unrecognizable–but she’s given up her frog misdeeds.
"So our villain can care about another living thing, which doesn’t have to be a person, can even be a plant. The villain’s beloved is a tiny crack in her shell of badness. We can make the story widen the crack until our villain finds it impossible to keep being evil.
"∙ We may be able to change him through reason. Our villain is very smart, but he hasn’t thought through the world view that underlies his villainy. If we can undermine his assumptions, we may turn him around.
"∙ We can get to her through her self-interest. She wants power, for example. We may be able to show her through events in our story that she’s more likely to gain power by being a humanitarian. It may be a pretense at first, but we can nudge her toward more honest kindness with our other strategies.
"∙ We can give him a flaw that we can exploit. Maybe he’s vain. In the fairy tale “Puss ‘N’ Boots,” for example, Puss works on the ogre’s vanity to get him to turn himself into a mouse. In a more serious story, we can use our villain’s vanity to our MC’s advantage, too. When he discovers the consequences of his vanity–or of any flaw–he takes the first step toward change.
"∙ Magic has been disallowed, but maybe other outside interventions can be brought to bear. For example, her brain could be changed surgically or with medicine (modern or from another time period) or through hypnosis. If we go this route, we have to establish early that such a thing is possible, and there may be suspense over whether the procedure will work on her.
"∙ If these characters were once good, we may be able to persuade them to remember their old selves, as long as their memories are intact.
"∙ Here’s a weird one. Let’s call it The Silver-Lining Effect. The bad boss I mentioned above had the good effect of spurring me to find another job, which was a much better fit for me. I think this is common, a good outcome arising from bad behavior. Our villain, who is smart, realizes that his destructive actions may hurt some, but they also strengthen the forces arrayed against him, which is the opposite of his intention. Diabolically, he decides he has to embrace virtue. Then, he can be brought to turn truly decent–or not, if we want to keep his evil in reserve.
"The Silver-Lining Effect is an example of the complexity in moral issues, which we can use to create layered stories. An example I think about regularly is homelessness and the beggars that one sees on the streets of many cities, especially in decent weather. I’m a big walker, often in New York City. New York, to its credit, is a great walking city, so it’s also a great place to panhandle. If I have change, if I’m not in a gigantic hurry, I’ll drop a quarter in a beggar’s cup. When I don’t, I feel guilty. When I do, I feel uncertain. I definitely haven’t changed anyone’s life with a quarter, and will my quarter go for cigarettes or worse? And I don’t make the interaction human, either. I drop in the coin and move on, rarely saying anything, rarely making eye contact. So I wind up guilty again. Was this a good deed or not? Upstanding people can argue both sides.
"With villains we sometimes bring in moral complexity by revealing backstory. There are other ways as well. If we’re in our villain’s POV, we can show her thoughts and feelings, which can be different from what the reader expects. But even if we’re not in her heart and mind, we can demonstrate what lies beneath through dialogue and action. For example, the villain may be kind to his henchpeople; opposition is what brings out his despicable side."

So, what do you guys think? What ways have you used to redeem your bad guys without using magic? If you've never tried this before, (or even if you have, these look pretty fun!) here are the prompts that Levine gives for practice:

"Dark magic has made villains of Robin Hood, his merry band, and Maid Marian. Think of an un-magical way to turn all of them back at a single stroke. Write the scene in which this happens. You may need to start at an earlier point to set this up. If you’re inspired, write the entire story.
∙ Pick one of the characters above, could be Robin Hood or a band member or Maid Marian. Develop the character and work the transformation gradually.
∙ Reform the evil queen in “Snow White,” using her character as we know her: jealous and rageful. Use one or more of the approaches suggested above, or another that you come up with, but no magic allowed.
∙ Using the complexity of moral questions, create a switcheroo. In the course of an investigation, make Sherlock Holmes evil and Moriarty good, and totally confuse Dr. Watson!
Have fun, and save what you write!"

Okie dokie, guys! So, this week, I've pulled a blurb from young adult author Shannon Hale's website. She gives us encouragement as young writers and a few general tips. Let me know what you think!

"Hello, friend! Are you a young writer? I was, too. My heart’s secret desire since I was 10 years old was to be a real writer when I grew up. Here are some thoughts especially for you about how to make your dream come true.

"Read!
"I just can’t stress this enough. I always tell kids and teens, "Read what you love! Don’t let anyone tell you that what you love is silly or too young for you or too long or too short." I believe this. But for writers, I must add: "Read a little bit of everything." If you love fantasy, for example, and you want to write fantasy, then do keep reading it! But if you don’t read the classics and poetry and mysteries and historical fiction and science fiction and biographies, etc., then your writing won’t be able to catapult you forward. There are lots of different kinds of books. Savor them all.

"Write!
"Here’s the honest truth—you’re not going to publish the first thing you write. If you’ve heard that someone did, then either they lied or somehow forgot about all the other practice writing they’ve actually done or they’re a freak. It just doesn’t happen. So write a lot, short stories, long stories, poems. It doesn’t have to be great, it’s all for practice. Nothing you write is wasted, even if no one ever reads it but you.

"Don’t be afraid to imitate.
"Don’t worry, eventually all your ideas will be original, but when starting out, it’s OK to imitate your favorite authors or even write new stories using their characters. This is called fan fiction, and you won’t be able to publish it anywhere, but that doesn’t matter. It’s all practice.

"Don’t worry about getting published right now.
"Quite often I get emails from teens who are in the process of writing their first book and they ask me about finding an agent or publisher. Please, banish those thoughts from your head! If you worry about that right now, your writing will suffer. Just focus on your characters, just think about telling your story. After you’re done with several drafts, then it’s time to start doing research on publishing. It takes a lot of research and time and luck to get published, and I’m afraid I can’t tell you how to do it because it’s different for everyone. But if it’s your dream to be published, then you won’t quit until you make it happen, even if you have to write five books first. But the trying-to-find-an-agent-or-publisher is not the fun part of being a writer. I recommend not burdening yourself with that gunk for as long as you can.

"Know that you’re not alone.
"There are lots of resources, classes, newsletters, and workshops for kids who write. I have some info in my links section. Form your own writing group with friends, take a class in your community, ask the children’s booksellers in your favorite local independent bookstore for ideas, talk to the children’s librarian in your neighborhood library, join a yahoo or google group of teen writers.

"Don’t get discouraged!
"The more you focus on trying to be a Christopher Paolini or Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, the more disheartened you might feel. They are extraordinary exceptions to the norm. Don’t be a them, be a You. You may publish a book before you leave high school, but most likely you won’t, and that’s OK. Just keep reading. Keep writing. Keep loving what you’re doing. It’ll all work out."

So, do you have anything you want to add? Thoughts on what Mrs. Hale suggests?

If you're interested in seeing more from Shannon Hale, here's her website: http://www.squeetus.com/stage/main.html

And remember, if you have any questions or want to explore any specific topics, let me know and we'll talk about them next week!

So, I missed last week, but I've got a few quotes from C. S. Lewis for this week. If you are unfamiliar with Lewis, I strongly suggest you go check into some of his work. He was a genius and very good friends with Tolkien, author of the popular LOTR books. Lewis is a personal favorite of mine, and I think he had some wise things to say about writing.

1. Diction: Having a thesaurus around is great, but sometimes, you just need to stick to the basics. Say what you mean and mean what you say. Choose you words wisely and think about the effect they have on the reader.

“Don’t use words too big for the subject. Don’t say ‘infinitely’ when you mean ‘very'; otherwise you’ll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.”

“Never use abstract nouns when concrete ones will do. If you mean ‘More people died’ don’t say ‘Mortality rose.'”

“Always prefer the plain direct word to the long, vague one. Don’t implement promises, but keep them.”

“Be sure you know the meaning (or meanings) of every word you use.”

2. Be clear and concise. As writer's it's our job to show our readers what we want them to see. If we don't communicate clearly, they won't get the picture.

“Always try to use the language so as to make quite clear what you mean and make sure your sentence couldn’t mean anything else.”

3. Feedback is crucial. This goes along with number 2 as well. But if you don't expose your work and ask for feedback, you'll never know whether your writing is clear or not. Feedback is your window into the reader's thoughts. Use the reactions of others to guide you and figure out what went wrong and what came across as you intended.

“Take great pains to be clear. Remember that though you start by knowing what you mean, the reader doesn’t, and a single ill-chosen word may lead him to a total misunderstanding. In a story it is terribly easy just to forget that you have not told the reader something that he needs to know—the whole picture is so clear in your own mind that you forget that it isn’t the same in his.”

4. Only you can write you. You each have a distinct style, your own writing voice. Use that.

“The way for a person to develop a style is to know exactly what he wants to say, and to be sure he is saying exactly that. The reader, we must remember, does not start by knowing what we mean. If our words are ambiguous, our meaning will escape him. I sometimes think that writing is like driving sheep down a road. If there is any gate open to the left or the right the reader will most certainly go into it.”

“Write about what really interests you, whether it is real things or imaginary things, and nothing else. (Notice this means that if you are interested only in writing you will never be a writer, because you will have nothing to write about . . .)”

“Read all the good books you can, and avoid nearly all magazines.”

5. And, lastly, a few that just resonate with me personally. I like it old fashioned: pen and paper. I do a lot of typing, but pen and paper is always trustworthy. Also, it is my personal goal to place the reader into my story. I want them to feel and to hear, to see and to taste the air around them. I want their hearts to beat with excitement and their palms to sweat with fear. I want them to fill the shoes of my MCs and live the story, not just turn the pages in a pile of bound paper.

“Don’t use a typewriter. The noise will destroy your sense of rhythm, which still needs years of training.” (For more on this, go here.)

“Don’t use adjectives which merely tell us how you want us to feel about the things you are describing. I mean, instead of telling us the thing is ‘terrible’ describe it so that we’ll be terrified. Don’t say it was ‘delightful'; make us say ‘delightful’ when we’ve read the description. You see, all those words (horrifying, wonderful, hideous, exquisite) are only like saying to your readers ‘Please, will you do my job for me.'”

To see the full article and a few more quotes, click on the link below: https://blogs.thegospelcoalition.org/...

Okay, guys, that's it for now. Leave a comment to let me know what you think.

This is NaNoWriMo! So, here to help you stay on your writing track, is a little bit from Earnest Hemingway and Elie Wiesel.

1. Writers become good at what they do because they can pull other people into worlds old and new alike. We know people. We know what they like, what they want, and what draws them in. Hemingway talks about listening and observing, two very important keys to good writing. We use live models to develop believable characters in our books. Without realistic characters, people can't relate to them, and if people can't relate to our characters, who's going to read the story?

"When people talk listen completely. Don’t be thinking what you’re going to say. Most people never listen. Nor do they observe. You should be able to go into a room and when you come out know everything that you saw there and not only that. If that room gave you any feeling you should know exactly what it was that gave you that feeling. Try that for practice. When you’re in town stand outside the theatre and see how the people differ in the way they get out of taxis or motor cars. There are a thousand ways to practice. And always think of other people."
~Hemingway

2. Wiesel develops this even further. I don't know about you guys, but she pretty much nails why I write. I write because if I didn't, I think the voices in my head would drive me insane!

"Writers write because they cannot allow the characters that inhabit them to suffocate them. These characters want to get out, to breathe fresh air and partake of the wine of friendship; were they to remain locked in, they would forcibly break down the walls. It is they who force the writer to tell their stories."
~Wiesel

So, this month, as you take on NaNoWriMo (or as you take on your own personal projects separately), remember to be observant (do your research!), to listen around you, and to let the characters tell the story. (Sometimes it's best just to get out of their way!) If you're not familiar with Hemingway's famous short stories or Ms. Wiesel, take a few minutes to look them up!

Let me know what you guys think!

Okay, this month, though a little late, I have a bit of advice from a fellow Goodreads writer. This segment, I want to focus a little on character development. Sometimes we have one-dimensional characters that are either good or bad, but they fall flat. I personally admire a writer who can capture the round, dynamic character, someone who can bring those characters to life! But it's not always so easy to do...

From Elsabet, who has been giving phenomenal advice is the Polls for Christian Writers group, answered a question someone posed about making a seemingly perfect character more relatable or flawed. I really liked her advice and she said she didn't mind if I shared it here, so here goes:

"Once again, flaws don't always work for you in some events. I'd probably aim more at making him likable rather than flawed. I think new writers tend to get hung up on flaws. Flaws are one of the last things to go to when trying to make your character less perfect. The big reason "perfect" is bad is because it is unlikable. Adding flaws just for the sake of adding flaws to an unlikable character just makes that character unlikable and flawed. Nine times out of ten you have to fix the "unlikable" instead of the "perfect."

"Two things that work really well for making a character more likable is to make them competent and proactive. I have a link to a podcast that I found really helpful on this topic: http://www.writingexcuses.com/2014/03...

"Also, add some little tiny details. Things like how he walks, his own personal speach mannerisms, how he holds a pen or how he handles books (does he treat them with great care or is he careless of them. You can tell a lot about a person by how they handle books). Does he have a favorite beverage that he is constantly drinking? Does he sing at all, and if he does, what songs does he sing? Is a he fond of poetry or does he write limericks on how unimpressed he is by the poets? Who does he look up to? Try to make him a multi-faceted character by giving him interests and abilities first, because generally a "perfect" character lacks depth instead of flaws."

What do you guys think? Do you have problems with your characters? What little things can you add to make them more relatable and realistic? Let me know what you think!