The Common Raven

It’s tough. It’s not a problem that usually arises for me (because most of my characters are bad people), but today it did. And I failed miserably. How do you write a virtuous person without making him or her a cardboard character? Answer: I dunno, but I think it’s impossible. The flaws are what round people out. Without them you’ve got, well, something really hard to write.

Now I’m trying to figure out if I can skip the scene (not really), write from the good person’s point-of-view which might give me a chance to explore some possible flaws in him (I could, but it would be his only POV scene in the whole book), make him evil (not really), or have my current POV character lose consciousness before meeting him and thereby miss the whole meeting and have to hear about it from somebody else (I’m actually seriously considering this option).

Another problem with the scene, aside from the presence of Mr. No-Flaws, is that the POV character isn’t really active in it. I’ve got other scenes where she’s not always the driving force but she’s making her wishes known and influencing what happens. In this one she’s just kind of standing around observing. It doesn’t really work.

To be honest, pretty much everything I’ve written over the past three days doesn’t really work. And considering they were productive writing days, that’s depressing. Sometimes I wonder why I write. Sigh. I guess we all go through periods of doubt.

Yup, I didn’t meet either of my two stated goals for last week. This week I’m just not going to bother setting any goals. Maybe I can manage to accomplish last week’s goals. *sigh*

Okay, it does exist. But sometimes what seems like procrastination is actually a sign from the subconscious that it’s not time to do a certain thing yet. Sometimes when I’m beating myself up about not writing something I know I should be writing (Chapter Four, anyone?), I then have a breakthrough and realize there’s a good reason why I’m not writing it. Something other than my expert-level procrastination skills.

In the case of Chapter Four, I thought I had everything down. I knew who the character was and why he lived where he does (remember I said that was important), and I knew what was supposed to happen in the chapter. Granted, I’m still a little hazy on the character’s speech patterns, but I won’t be able to figure that out completely until I get going. But just last night, after I gave up on Chapter Four again (at least I opened it this time) and got up from the computer to go to bed, I realized I don’t know what specific thing this guy wants.

Duh.

See, I know what his job has decreed he must want, and since he’s dealing with my other characters on a professional basis, I thought that would be enough. But of course the guy has to want something on a personal level as well. And I don’t know what that something is yet.

That’s why I’m not writing.

Now I’m casting around for ideas of what he might want, what his goal will be. At least I’ve identified the problem, although, as usual, it took me an incredibly long time to do so. I’m sure there’s some goal for him that will click in my mind all of a sudden (much like my realization last night) and make the book a million times better.

See, I wasn’t really procrastinating! It was my subconscious trying to tell me something! I only wish my all-knowing subconscious would speak up a little sooner. It’s got the “thou shalt not write” thing down pretty well, but it’s not too good at “thou shalt not write because…” It always seems to wait until I’m thoroughly frustrated before going, “Oh yeah, there’s a reason why you can’t write this yet. Did I forget to mention it?”

Inspired by one of Tia’s posts, I’ve decided to set some writing goals for the remaining day and a half of this week plus the weekend. So without further ado:

1. Write Chapter Four. I’m basically doing a page-one rewrite of the trilogy, incorporating much of the old storyline but not a lot of the actual prose from the last version. I’m also adding more viewpoint characters, and Chapter Four is from the point of view of a character who was never a viewpoint character before. It’s always a struggle for me when I start writing from a new viewpoint, no matter how well I think I know the character, and so far I just haven’t been able to get going. After spitballing with a friend I now have the last detail I needed about the character’s life before I could start writing (it was a vital detail involving his decision to live where he does, which is relevant), so I have no more excuses.

2. Rewrite at least one short story and select a market. Submitting it can be a goal for next week.

I’ve never been very good at setting goals before, but maybe it’s time to set some and meet them. These should be doable. I’ll report back next week.

I never linked you, dear readers, to my guest review of Truancy, by Isamu Fukui, on Fantasy Debut. Truancy is the story of a dystopia centered around an oppressive school system, so since I hated school I could totally relate. Fukui himself is still in high school, but based on his writing you wouldn’t know it unless, well, you already knew it. My review is in three parts, the first two parts written as I was reading. After you’ve read it (notice I’m assuming you’re going to read it) feel free to browse Fantasy Debut for more reviews and showcases of interesting debut fantasy novels.

Fukui’s novel is actually scifi. Light scifi or whatever you call a book set in a dystopia. There are no spaceships, aliens, sentient computers, or anything else that might immediately spring to mind when one hears the term “scifi.” Truancy’s website is here. Here’s the blurb:

In an alternate world, in a nameless totalitarian city, the autocratic Mayor rules the school system with an iron fist, with the help of his Educators. Fighting against the Mayor and his repressive Educators is a group of former students called the Truancy, whose goal is to take down the system by any means possible—at any cost.

Against this backdrop, fifteen-year-old Tack is just trying to survive. His days are filled with sadistic teachers, unrelenting schoolwork, and indifferent parents. Things start to look up when he meets Umasi, a mysterious boy who runs a lemonade stand in an uninhabited district.

Then someone close to Tack gets killed in the crossfire between the Educators and the Truants, and Tack swears vengeance. To achieve his purpose, he abandons his old life and joins the Truancy. There, he confronts Zyid, an enigmatic leader with his own plans for Tack. But Tack soon finds himself torn between his desire for vengeance and his growing sympathy for the Truants…

I don’t want to talk too much about character voices in dialogue, because we all know every character should have his or her own individual speech patterns (but read on, I am going to get into it near the end of this post). Instead I want to talk about the narrative style in a novel with multiple viewpoint characters.

It’s rare that I find a novel where the narrative style really changes when the writer switches viewpoints. There are a few. I thought Adrian Phoenix (link to the right) did a good job with this in her debut novel, A Rush of Wings (I reviewed it in January on Fantasy Debut). But in many novels the narrative style (the writer’s voice) doesn’t change much from viewpoint to viewpoint, and yet that fact doesn’t really jump out at you as you’re reading (or at me, anyway). In a few, however, the fact that there’s no change really does kind of spoil the novel. For instance, in a mystery I just finished (notice I’m naming the good example but leaving the bad example nameless) the main viewpoint characters were a crazed psycho killer and the detective trying to catch him, with occasional input from two kids. But they all sounded exactly the same. The narrative voice didn’t change at all, I mean at all, when the viewpoint switched.

I think in a novel where the overall viewpoint is closer to omniscient you can get away with changing your narrative voice less as you follow different characters, whereas in a close third-person you’d probably want to change your voice more. But I wonder to what extent most novelists think about this. I’ve always written close third-person and relied on my intuition to make it sound like my characters, but I’m not sure if that worked. I think I need to be relying more on conscious decisions about their voices. After all, in one of my favorite short stories ever (of ones I’ve written, that is) I made some specific decisions about how the characters would talk based on who they were, and I think that’s part of why I like it so much (for the curious, my Saxon main character spoke English using as many English-derived words as possible, whereas for the Norman guy I used French-derived words and sprinkled his dialogue with occasional snippets of actual Norman French from the period, which was around 1070 AD in post-Conquest England). But I’m curious about the extent to which other writers plan out how their viewpoint characters will sound before they start writing from their points of view.

In a book with only one viewpoint character, it won’t be as obvious if the character’s voice is really the writer’s voice. But I still think the character should sound like himself (or herself). This is a topic that’s been on my mind a lot lately as I plot to add more viewpoint characters to my own works-in-progress (and by the time these babies are done they’d better be the best damn novels ever, because they’re sure taking me forever).

Now about the things you can do to distinguish your characters’ voices in both dialogue and narrative. A lot of it comes down to how they think, but some will be based on external matters such as where they grew up and what their educational background and social status are. Regionalisms are an aspect of voice I don’t see used too often. Then there are speech tics, like, you know, characters who like use certain words or phrases in like every sentence, you know (although that would get like really annoying to read, you know?)? One trick that Adrian Phoenix used was to have characters refer to other characters by nicknames even in the narrative. So the minute you see a character using that nickname for somebody else, you know you’re in his head. It was effective.

There are a lot of other methods. Sentence length and structure can vary based on how each character expresses himself or herself. The writing will still sound like you, the writer, but at the same time it will sound like the characters. One note of caution, though, especially for dialogue: DO NOT, do not, do not have every sentence by every character trail off half-finished. Do not do this. I think people do this in an attempt to… Well, I mean, it’s probably supposed to… After all, in real life isn’t that how people…

NO. People do not talk like that in real life, and even if they do, dialogue isn’t about how people talk in real life. It’s a simulation of how they talk in real life. Trailing-off dialogue, especially when it never gets to the meat of what the characters are trying to say, is a big turnoff, at least for me as a reader. I see more of it in scripts than I do in fiction, but that’s probably because I read more unsold spec scripts than unpublished fiction. If one character talks this way, it’s not a problem, because it’s how that character talks. If they all talk this way, it becomes a problem.

Now I have to go figure out how my characters should talk.

In the interests of full disclosure, I have to say I don’t have an agent myself yet, so I’m really only qualified to give general advice like don’t market your work before it’s ready and never pay an agent to look at it. But here’s what I know about how to get agents. Some of this is just common sense. Some is stuff I’ve picked up over the depressingly long number of years I’ve been writing. Some I made up out of thin air… Well, okay, no, I didn’t, I promise.

Getting an agent basically boils down to you giving them something they think they can sell. It’s a lot like working with a recruiting agency, except that agents don’t go trolling for writers on Monster and call them with prospective jobs. But basically Writer A submits his resume (=query letter) to Agent B, who knows what all her publisher/prodco/studio/etc. contacts want and uses that knowledge to accept or reject Writer A as a client. However, if Writer A has demonstrated an alarming lack of anything resembling writing ability, then he’s pretty much out of luck unless he’s a screenwriter with a hugely high-concept premise who can be booted off the project so someone who actually knows how to write can be brought on board to do a page one rewrite keeping only the premise. In short, get some qualified people to tell you your writing is decent before you bother with agents. Don’t blow it by trying too early. The agents aren’t going anywhere.

Always be professional. Never tell off a prospective agent no matter how much you want to. After all, you never know when you might want to work with them later on. And keep in mind that just because you get an agent doesn’t mean they’ll be able to sell your work. In some cases if they can’t sell your stuff pretty fast, they may lose interest in you.

Do a lot of research before querying agents. If you’re writing books, Writer’s Market has agent listings (you have to pay to use the site, but I assume they still publish their annual door-stopper which can be found in libraries or browsed in the coffee shop kindly provided by your neighborhood Borders or B&N… er, I mean, you can buy it at one of those stores). The Association of Authors’ Representatives has a searchable database and also requires its members to adhere to a canon of ethics, which is always nice (although maybe not if you’re an “agent” looking to scam people). Check the acknowledgments in books you like in your genre to see if your fave writers have thanked their agents, whom you might then query. Read blogs by agents like Nathan Bransford and Kristin Nelson. A friend has recommended Agent Query Connect, but since I’m not a member I can’t comment on how good that site is (well, I could, but my comments would be worthless). If you’re writing a novel, finish it before querying agents. For non-fiction you can query with a proposal and sample chapters.

If you’re a screenwriter, keep in mind there are the Big Five agencies (CAA, ICM, Endeavor, UTA, and William Morris) and then there are smaller agencies. Lots of contact info for folks in the entertainment industry can be found in the Hollywood Creative Directory (another pay site; not sure if the print version is still around). For a new writer, a lesser-known but hungrier agent may be a better bet than someone established who already has big-name clients and may forget you exist, especially if they can’t sell your stuff or get you work right off the bat. In the world of screenwriting, it’s also a good idea to have more than one completed script and several pitches ready for when they want to know what else you’ve got. Keep in mind a script isn’t completed just because you typed FADE OUT. Most scripts require several drafts before they’re market-ready (so do most novels, for that matter).

Probably the best way to get an agent is through a referral from another writer. But unless this writer is your BFF, don’t insult them by asking them to pass along anything sub-par. In fact, no matter who they are, don’t ask them. If they’re willing to read your work and they really think it’s great, they’ll offer to pass it on to their agent. If they think it sucks or would never sell or isn’t what their agent is looking for, they won’t. It’s that simple.

The best way to avoid being scammed is to know what’s going on and who’s who in your chosen sector of the professional writing world. Follow the publishing news. Read the trades. Read blogs. Read message boards (Done Deal is a good one for screenwriters, for all writers there’s Absolute Write, and at both sites you’ll find a mix of pros and raw newbs; for schmucks with Underwoods, there’s a site here where you’ll find fewer established pros but some good knowledgeable people and more cussing). Also, a lot of professional writers and screenwriters have blogs and/or websites. The Artful Writer (Craig Mazin’s blog) has a forum where a number of pros post (no guarantees as to the quality of what they post, but they post). Chatrooms such as the one at AbWrite or the one at Artful can be good places to schmooze with fellow writers.

That’s about it. If anyone wants to comment with more details or things I left out or personal stories about agents, you know where the comments section is.

Lately I’ve heard a number of people saying they pick up books based on the cover, so I was wondering how you, dear readers, select books when you’re browsing at a bookstore. I rarely even notice the cover. If I’ve never heard of the writer before, I judge by the title. If the title intrigues me, I then read the blurb. If I’m still intrigued, I flip to somewhere in the middle and read a little. If the writing and characterization hook me, I usually walk out of the store with the book, regardless of whether I walked into the store intending to buy anything or not. On the rare occasions when I don’t buy the book right away, I usually forget the title and author’s name and lose the old receipt I scrounged up in my purse to scribble them down on. In that case I’m completely out of luck.

There’s still a book I’d really love to read that I didn’t buy on the spot. I have no clue what the author’s name or title might be, and at this point I’m hazy on the story, but I remember it hooked me. I think it was something about dragons and a guy who wasn’t allowed to talk and might have been a slave, although he wasn’t born into slavery. I’m pretty sure he had been punished and was being chased. Ring any bells?

So what makes you pick up a book?

I think I should set up a new category called “rants.” Today’s rant is about the folks who want writers to work for “exposure” or credit or want to pay $5 for a 400-500 word article. Or folks who want you to do a quick proofread of their work for minimal pay, assuring you the job shouldn’t take more than an hour or so (it will invariably take longer because their work will be full of elementary errors). Sorry, folks, pros like to get paid something reasonable. Because, you know, they’re pros.

I think there’s a perception that writing is easy. I mean, it is, right? You just sit down and bang out some words. Sort of the way I’m banging out this post. Bam, bam, hit save and you’re done. People who can’t do it assume they shouldn’t have to pay you more than a pittance for something so easy. Or maybe it’s just an employer attitude. There are certainly plenty of employers looking for highly qualified folks to take on huge responsibilities for a few dollars more than minimum wage.

The bottom line is you get what you pay for. If you want free content for your website, write it yourself. If you want to pay someone to write it for you, you have to offer a rate a professional is willing to take. Otherwise you won’t be getting a professional.

But hey, if there are any accountants out there who’d like to do my taxes for free, I promise to credit you on my tax form.

You know how you get sensitized to a certain word, phrase, or usage and suddenly you’re seeing it everywhere? That’s what has happened to me with the phrase “pop up” meaning to sit up in bed. I swear until a month ago I had never encountered this usage anywhere ever. Suddenly it’s all over!

I don’t even like it. The first time I encountered it, I thought it was fresh. Now I find it stale and stupid. If a person sits up in bed, just say they sit up in bed! They don’t have to pop! Really, they don’t! **exclamation mark overusage alert**

I guess my point is, fresh verbs are fine in their place, but sometimes people just sit up in bed. Or walk. Or run. Or stand. They don’t always pop up or stroll or jog or lean.