Alright, Listen

I have very little memory of what happened in September. I caught one of the seasonal, pumpkin-spice-flavored plagues that emerge when school is back in session, and I lost three weeks of my life.

(Sort of like Aloysius in the Oscuro. Too soon?)

Having a fever as an adult is particularly insulting. My kids can spike 102 degrees and still bop around the house cheerfully, sucking on popsicles and wondering when they can go back to school. I, on the other hand, was deciding between a fiberglass and wooden coffin, and praying that the Lord took me soon.

ANYWAY, I am now on antibiotics for a sinus infection and things are looking up. My teeth have stopped hurting. I have lost some of the puffiness in my face. I have halted construction on the backyard mausoleum.

What I’m Working On:

The first Camperdown Residency of the new year is in three weeks. I’m teaching three classes: short story and story architecture to the first-year students and novel disciplines to the second-year. I’m prepping my lesson plans and tweaking my lectures from last year.

Teaching people how to write a novel is an interesting endeavor, because I am constantly changing up how I write my own novels. So, as I find some new or interesting way to coax the shiny idea out of my head and assemble it on the page, I’m incorporating that into my lectures. Some parts of novel-writing are universal and applicable to all. Other parts vary depending on the writer, and it’s a fun challenge to find out how best to help each student.

In addition, I’m plodding through round two of revisions on the Thief story. These are far less invasive than round one, so I’m hoping to crank them out quickly. Maybe if I stopped writing this harbinger and got to work.

What I’m Reading:

Do we trust my fevered impressions of this month’s readings? Hard to say. I didn’t actually read that much thanks to the plague and the fact that I was grading students’ final projects.

I did work my way through Story Genius by Lisa Cron which was a fascinating way to approach novel prep. I also read Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak and cried at the most unexpected spot. As a study in complex sibling relationships, it was fantastic. It was not (reader beware) a cheerful read. And, since I was already wandering through the somber valleys of literature, I picked up All the Pretty Horses by McCarthy. If you struggle with purple prose, this is the book for you.

Writing Tip:

One of the best things you can do as you are planning a novel (or writing a scene, or revising a scene), is continually ask why. Why is my character making this decision? Why did she say those lines of dialogue? Why did this event happen when it did?

Sometimes, we writers can be very sneaky, and our answer to the why question is, “because I wrote it that way.” Or worse, “because I needed her to do/say that.” We assume that by simply writing an action into existence it becomes plausible. But it doesn’t! All that happens is your beta readers (or your agent, I speak from experience) will point out that the character doesn’t feel realistic. If you don’t understand your character’s motivations, neither will we.

The best way to make your characters realistic is to know exactly why they are doing what they’re doing. It’s not enough to create a character and give them a whole host of personality traits: “she loves coffee, watching late-night tv, the color yellow, and Subarus.” That’s still a two-dimensional character. You need to know why your character likes those things. And how you can make those traits vital to the plot.

That’s all for today! Until next month….

Christine