I'm reading the book Ron Carlson Writes a Story right now. He talks about a lot of things that really speak to me, things I need to remember when I am writing or maybe more importantly, when I am not writing. One of them I want to share.

You can't think your way through a story.

You start off thinking about what you want to write and you get a general idea and then you start to write.

It's that simple.

It's that hard.

You can outline and pre-plot and do your index cards of scenes and chart high points and mid points and black moments. But then you need to put it all aside and just write. Through-out the book you start and stop to think and then start again but you can't think it all the way through all at once. You shouldn't try. Because it is the process of writing the story that brings the story to you, to life. There are things you can't think about until you see the story unfold as you write.

But it's one of those things you have to take on faith. I need to remember that.

Example. The other day on Twitter I threw out one of my favorite writing exercise questions - what does your main character have in his pocket? And I thought about my main character and the scene I was working on. I knew he had a wallet that wasn't his but one thing wasn't enough. Because I had been reading Carlson's book I just threw in a couple of things, the first things that came to mind, a pack of gum and a parking ticket. Now I have never had a parking ticket in my life and I have no idea where that parking ticket came from but I just plugged it into my Twitter update, hit send and went out into the yard to work in the garden and think for a little while about those things in his pocket. Then I got busy cutting back the dogwoods and collecting seeds and pretty soon I wasn't thinking about the character anymore at all.

After a few hours in the garden I came inside and went back to my WIP. My character had to go someplace but I didn't know where he was going to go first. I didn't know how to figure out where to start. So I looked at that parking ticket and there was a city and a state on it. And that's where I went. I don't know what's going to happen when I get there and that's okay.

I'm going to trust the process will get me where I need to go.

The first two books I ever wrote were novels, sweet young adult romances with a very predictable plot line. Girl falls for wrong boy. Complications ensue. All is made right with the world and the good guy gets the girl. 12 chapters each and each chapter ran about 12 pages. I wrote them sitting on the stoop in the garage watching my first husband work on cars. And I wrote them straight through, from beginning to end. I figured that was just the way you were supposed to write a book, the same way you would read it, chapter by chapter. Plus I was taking a creative writing class and it just made sense to have the next chapter ready to turn in each week. (Egads, did I really write that much, that fast, back then? I think I did.)

Along the way I have written a lot of other things, picture books and articles and basically anything I could get paid for. Because my life was crazy busy with two young children I learned to write all over the place, in the car, the waiting room, watching karate lessons. When I went back to working on a novel again I pretty much assumed that I would do it the way I had before, scene by scene, chapter by chapter, in order. Of course I also assumed I would be writing it in straight prose, not free verse, which is what happened with my middle grade novel, Hugging the Rock.

When I was stumped, I mean totally blocked on the straight prose version, a friend suggested that I just try poems to see if I could connect with the character. No one was more surprised than I was when the entire novel begged to be written in free verse. The advantage for me was that poems were small and fit perfectly into the pockets of time I had to give to my writing at the time. I had been working on the novel for a couple of years already so I knew a lot of what I wanted to say, I just didn't know where anything went. Because my life was crazymaking at the time I just threw caution to the wind, picked a scene I knew I wanted in the book, and wrote the poem. The went on for a month or so and pretty soon I realized I needed to put them into some sort of order. By then I felt I had enough of a hold on the story that I could think in a more standard format, beginning to middle to end. But when the book sold and my editor asked me for some new poems, I didn't think about where they were going, I thought about what they were going to do for the story.

It was a slightly fragmented way to approach storytelling and yet it worked for me.

Last year when I was struggling to decide which story to tell, Plant Kid, Max or Flyboy, I started writing letters to the characters and having them answer me. And in case they led me to scenes in the book, scenes I had no idea where they would go when all was said and done. I'm not sure why this is easier for me, perhaps it breaks the book down into more manageable pieces? And even though I have written the first three consecutive chapters on my current WIP, Flyboy's story, I don't expect that it will continue in chronological order. How do I know? Today I wrote a new ending to chapter 3 which immediately made me think of a scene toward the end of the book. That scene is on my mind now and will probably be what I write tomorrow.

It may or may not end up in the final book but that's not what matters, at least not to me. I am a character person and have to watch myself for getting so deep inside my character's head that I forget to make him, alawriterjenn  DO SOMETHING  especially DO SOMETHING IMPORTANT.

When I think in scenes I remember that the action in scenes is the building block that carries the story forward, page after page.

And that is what matters most to me.

Today Becky Levine has a post weighing the pros and cons of  writing out of sequence at her new writing blog.

For some of my older posts about writing scenes out of sequence check out my conversion to index cards, avoiding a scene a don't want to write, and a couple of more here and here. 

 

That doesn't sound like much and yet.

300 words. Words I didn't have the day before. Words that captivated me so much when I was thinking about them that I drove right past my turn-off and had to backtrack about 5 miles when I was going home.

300 words. Mostly dialog which is unusual for me and yet it felt easy and right as I wrote it. There is still a voice that uniquely belongs to the main character and yet falls naturally from my fingertips.

300 words about a boy with a secret and his sister who has a secret of her own.

300 words. That I had no idea where they were going when I started and yet, when I ended, hooked right back to the beginning of the book.

I have never written like this before, in fits and spurts of scenes that are mostly complete in their rise and fall and conflict. With no idea of the road ahead and yet, like stepping stones in an overgrown garden a path is built to somewhere special.

300 words.

Oh happy day.

Chatting with Linda Sue Park about writing yesterday was just what I needed. I don't know about you but I do love hearing how successful authors struggle with insecurities. I don't wish pain and suffering on anyone but it does make me feel a bit better to hear well-known authors talk about floundering at different stages of creation. Linda Sue shared some of her thoughts on the importance of structure (which she feels is the must-have first thing for her which got me rethinking an original idea for structure I had for my project a long time ago) which led to her making the comment that there were two universal themes for stories: hero goes on a journey  and stranger comes to town. 

I admit to hearing that before but I hadn't stopped to think about that in regard to Plant Kid's book. So last night when I was in that in-between falling asleep time I gave it some more thought.

First thought: "That SO totally doesn't work for me." 

Second thought: "You must not be a real writer then because, come on, Linda Sue Park, HELLO?"

Third thought: "Well it's not like I have a real plot yet. MAYBE it could work for me."

Fourth thought: "HELLO?Linda Sue Park, remember."

Fifth thought: "Well B isn't going anywhere for real and I don't think he is going anywhere emotionally so that journey thing is totally out."

Sixth thought: "You're not trying. Remember what Linda Sue said, if you want easy, bake a cake."

Seventh thought: "But no one new comes to town. Everyone already lives there. See, it totally doesn't work for me."

Eight thought: "You're really dense sometimes. Remember what else she said? Remember how she said she wrote three different endings to Kite Fighters? You have to try them all out."

Ninth thought: "What if M wasn't someone who already lived there? What if M is the stranger who came to town? What if he came to town because . . ."

The last thought I remember having before falling asleep was about birds which suddenly had the potential to matter in the book which made perfect sense NOW but which I hadn't even considered before.

Thanks, Linda Sue!

So what about your story? Do you think it fits into one of the two universal themes? 


Did you turn in your best interview question yet for the contest to win an autographed copy of Jim Averbeck's stunning picture book, In a Blue Room? 

This weekend I did something I've never done before - I wrote the last scene in a book long before the end of the book was in sight.

It wasn't intentional. I didn't sit down and say wow, let's write the last scene in the book because, heck, I don't really even know what this book is about - yet. But I am continuing on my bit by bit method of writing these three stories at once by just trying to write a single scene every night before bed. Of late they have all been in the plant book and that's okay. The character is very real to me and, I almost hesitate to say this, but I may have found his voice which goes a long way to bringing a book to life.

Friday night I knew I wanted to write a scene about the MC and a particular plant. So I did. And then I reread it, as is my habit before turning out the light and I realized that it was the very last scene in the book and suddenly I knew where I was headed. I have no idea how I'm going to get there but that's okay, I have a goal for this kid.

Saturday night's scene was prompting by watching my husband spend most of his Saturday pulling weeds in the yard. So I set the MC to pulling weeds. And in the process of writing the scene I had that wonderful experience where, before you can even get the words down, you can see the whole scene unfold in front of you. I gave him a simple task to do which set something else in motion which created a conflict that I needed but didn't know how to orchastrate.

Sunday night's scene was an apology that was not accepted.

I have no title for this book. I don't even know if I have the main character's name for sure and I'm not sure I know what his problem is or what he wants.

But I have scenes. And for now, that's enough.

For months I have been busy not writing. For over a year I have been busy not writing. I have been doing an awful lot of NOT writing. Not even thinking about writing except how, once upon a time I used to be a writer.

Then I decided to wade back into it all. I was ready. I could go slowly. I had nothing pending that needed my immediate attention so I could play with a few ideas and see where they took me. My only writing goal for 2008 was to write three proposals. A hopeful goal would be to turn one into a really rough draft of a complete book. No problem. I had three ideas that interested me: the flying book I've been trying to write for over 20 years, the plant book, and Max.

First I worked on the flying book. You may remember my huge index cards project. By the time I was done I was hyped up and ready to go to work. Then came Christmas, family melt-downs and illness. I lost my way.  

Because I didn't know what to do next, I borrowed an idea from 

janni

From the book Emotional Structure - Creating the Story Beneath the Plot  by Peter Dunne


The mentor represents the protagonist's highest aspirations.

He personifies the kind of moral person the protagonist wishes he could be and mirrors the protagonist's spiritual center. While the mentor is allowed to give the protagonist all the encouragement in the world, he isn't allowed to give him any answers. And the reason is simple. The mentor's answers are HIS answers. The protagonist has to find his own.

Learning how to find the answers is the lesson being taught.

This is my current work-in-progress. A stack of paper over a foot high, much of it handwritten on old school lined paper which means the ink is fading fast. Add to that about  another 25 MB of files on my computer. That's after purging.



 This is my current work-in-progress on index cards. 



Granted that tall stack of purple prose has had close to 20 years to grow to that size. Diving back into the story again I knew it was too overwhelming for me to get a grip on the story I wanted to tell. The book was broken, I wasn't arguing with that, I was just lost in a sea of paper. I made the mental commitment to basically throw out the old story (after reading everything through once more) and start anew. But there were some things worth saving. And because the book required a lot of research, there was no need to do it all over again. I also was, I admit it, a bit afraid of this book because it has a deeper plot and a subplot (maybe 2 subplots) and there was much more to keep track of in this book than in my others.

Enter the humble index card.



I started off with bright green for all the things that needed names. (I had decided to rename everything and everyone in the book because the orginal was a wee bit too, well, cutesy.) As I went through the stacks of papers or thought about the book I jotted down anything that needed a name on a bright green card. The town, the parents, the dog, and the daughter who may or may not be a love interst. (That goes on another card.)

As I read through the old stuff there were some of those wonderful phrases I didn't want to let go of, even if the chance of me reusing them were slim. They went on the violet cards.

The book is about something I don't know much about - airplanes. So the pink cards are my glossary of words that are used around planes, like Hobbs Meter and chords and elevators which do not meant the same in the real world as they do in the world of flight.

More details about planes, like the particulars about a Cessna 152 or cruising airspeeds in different planes went on the green cards.

Over the years I had read a lot of flying books and jotted down great words about flying from other people. They all went on the blue cards. 
 
The three most important cards turned out to be orange, white and yellow.

I actually started with the white ones, jotting down just a line or two about a potential scene. I wrote down most of the scenes from the earlier versions of the book and then, of course, my brain generated new ones. I didn't stop to evaluate it, I just wrote them down. I didn't stop to think about setting or POV, I just wanted to get the good stuff out of the old stuff and start my subconscious working on bringing up new stuff.

As I worked on the cards I would get an idea of something I wanted to remember to consider during the writing, maybe something about his flaw or strengths or a piece of advice from someone on how to build a stronger plot. Those notes went on orange cards and are great to flip through and ponder when I'm feeling blocked.

The last cards are yellow for any questions that come up that I think I need to answer during the writing. At the moment it's a very tall stack. It might be something like wondering if the MC is going to fall for Edna's daughter or if he likes chocolate milkshakes or when he will find out the truth that is driving the story.  As I work and a question pops into my head, I jot it down on a yellow card. One question to a card.

Now I have a stack of a little over 500 cards. Will I use them all in the book? Not hardly. Did it help me wrap my brain around the 17 versions of the book I have had stacked up in my office for years? Absolutely.

I love that the cards are portable. I can take them and some blank ones with me wherever I go. On my lunch break if I want to work on the book I can pull out a white scene card and see where it takes me. As I firm up the scenes I will whittle down the cards I keep close at hand. If I were a real outliner, this would be a good first step to writing an outline. That's not my particular style. For me I think it is enough that I have the cards. Before I sit down to write I can thumb through and start to warm up the brain soup.

Now here's the thing about writers giving other writers advice. Most of us love to talk about how we "do it" and quite often other writers, those just starting out, will listen to us and think that's how they should "do it" too. And maybe you should. But maybe not. The best writing advice I can give anyone is to look at what works for someone else, take what will work for you, discard the rest and don't feel guilty about it.

I was pretty sure I had killed off all the mom characters in the book but I think I might have been a bit premature. I read something interesting in my notes last night. I was reading about flaws and one of the things I had printed out (I'm not near it now to get the quote exactly) said that the fatal flaw should be in direct opposition to the theme. I found that fascinating because as I played out what I first thought the theme was in my book it just didn't work with the fatal flaw I gave to my MC. The initial theme was too vague; not focused enough. So I kept doing questions on the theme to spiral deeper and deeper and finally realized what the heart of the book was all about. And I realized I need the birth mom in order to help me do it.

She's still dead, but she's back in the book because I think he needs to find some things from her or of hers that will fuel his negative expectations in himself. There is much work to be done on the idea still. I need to think of what he might find of hers that I can mirror in some fashion into his world but it should be an interesting journey.

The grandfather? He's still dead.

Writing progress. I have been working hard on the YA novel. I have gone through about 90% of the notes I have made over the years on VZ and transferred the keeper pieces of information to a variety of color-coded index cards. I've almost gone through 3 packs of cards. I need more of a couple of colors to finish off. I had already made the decision to toss all the old versions and start anew. But even after packing those old pages away I was left with a binder full of  notes about characters and airplanes and various plot possibilities. Not all of it is usable but reading through it has helped me sink deeper into the story. Reading more about planes has helped me remember the initial pull to tell the story from 20 years ago. I have one colored card just for questions that need to be answered and as I went through the notes I'd find questions leading to more questions which lead to more plot points. I just kept jotting them on cards without trying to analyze them. That will come later. 

I find it all very interesting to see that way my young writer mind worked back then - better in some ways (at taking notes) not so good in others (lots of cliche) but still workable. Still a very writeable story. A story I still want to tell. This is good news because for a while I wasn't so sure. Anytime I have to do a lot of research for a book I reach a point where I don't think I can do it. I get scared with all the facts that have to be perfectly correct and want to run and hide behind a story that just has to be emotionally correct. I think that's why I wasn't able to write this story before now - I just wasn't writer enough to stand up to the material. To do it justice. 

Jane Kurtz once told me that, "It isn't just about telling the story but about becoming enough of a storyteller so that people will listen even to the hard things." 

That the kind of writer I want to be - one that compels you to keep reading even though you know some of the story isn't going to be pretty. Am I still chasing demons of my own? Yes I am.

As I plod through this plotting process I set up for myself I've been finding odd bits of notes from the various versions of the book over the years. I realized that a big chunk of something important in the book deals with memories and how much we can remember from a young age. Basically I have to decide how old my MC is when a certain thing happens so I can use the memories. For years I've had him at 4 but now I wonder if that is too young?  He is 16 then 17 in the book. I want him to remember some things over time but not a lot. And I don't want him to have the conversational capability that an older child would have.

So the question is - how far back can you remember? How old or how young are your memories?