Plots and Tips
by Lois Kleinsasser w/a Cait London
(You'll need to print out the flowchart to follow this article)
by Lois Kleinsasser w/a Cait London
(You'll need to print out the flowchart to follow this article)
As you trek along on the publishing road, you pick up tips, and here are some of mine:
In the beginning (yes, it took me 7 grueling years to sell, a real overnight success), I had much to learn.
In the beginning, I came to the publishing table with lots of stories (sometimes too many for one book; I had to learn to cut down/simplify). I keep a toy box of nuggets--okay, a database--for my base ideas, and when I'm churning a story idea to see what fits, I can usually reach in there.
Characterization and dialog also seemed to be strengths, and voice, according to my first editor (Joan Golan, then at Berkley), who put so much effort into working with me to get these stories out. I learned so much from her, including this line: "Work it, work it . . .play to your strengths."
One of my strengths wasn't plotting. I had to learn several ways before coming down to a basic plot device, one that works for me. You can find that and others, i.e. a paragraph per chapter, one sentence for plot, one for what's happening for the characters, in the Writers Tips section.
The moment when story building made sense was when I started a basic programming class. I'm an artist basically, so the visual plot line and using If/Then what happens, i.e. the "dropping the dead body" or twists occur. Twists are defined as the unexpected--you get great stuff when a character meets an unexpected reaction. (Programmers, forgive me because I've forgotten symbols, etc., but hopefully the idea will hold.)
Please note the flowchart, and perhaps print it out. The point is to make certain that the story is rounding off nicely, with enough room, and not chopped off because of publisher word length limits. Based on a 4-act play, the story line smacks of decisions everywhere. (Decisions are made up and down the flowchart, just not shown.) Note: Keep in mind that characterization is also determined by the revolving subcharacters).
To translate the flowchart into physical pages: Basically, I start writing in 20 page chapters, more or less, 20 chapters to a 400 pg ms, using Arial 12. Using that format (which I pretty well have ingrained now), midpoint would be at 200 pgs, or thereabouts. Each Act has 100 ms pgs. Note that a romance will require more time for a happy ending, but a true mystery reader may appreciate quite a bit less--just the short ending. And traditional romantic suspense comes somewhere between the two, the romance resolved, the suspense resolved by the h/h working together throughout.
This is only a starting place, because the chapters are more or less than 20 pages, and a chapter break may be required when one scene is ended. Also, factor in a prologue and an epilogue, if needed. Both should be quite short, maybe 4 pages.
About prologues, epilogues and lead scenes: When first starting the ms, that lead scene can bog down a writer. For me, the first 5-7 chapters are just my setting into the story, providing the base for a suspense build-up, and are the most difficult, time-consuming pgs of the story. Suspense must be built, and secrets and lies do sustain the sagging middle (This from Alice Orr).
If having problems on where to begin, I recommend writing the clog or the dreck, just to get something on those first pages. It's really important to have words already in front of you, an incentive to write more. I encourage writing clogs, big chunks of the story's smorgasborg that can be filtered out later. These often seem like dreck, but that's why we revise, pick out the componets that are worthy and toss the rest away. That lead scene will pop out somewhere, and maybe in the second chapter. Clean it up and move it to the lead scene.
One perfect tip for ms printing: To separate time breaks within a ms chapter, use center ### on a blank line. This holds and indicates a break that could be lost if occurring at the bottom of one page. Without some marking, the next page would result in looking as if no break had occurred.
Now a little bit about attitude: Don't even think that WB word; if you do, you're setting up your own problems. Think of it as "nesting," and the story will come out as you work it. To shake it loose, I usually drive, but everyone has their own tricks.
Writing a story truly is a bag of craft, self-management, and picking up tips.
In the beginning (yes, it took me 7 grueling years to sell, a real overnight success), I had much to learn.
In the beginning, I came to the publishing table with lots of stories (sometimes too many for one book; I had to learn to cut down/simplify). I keep a toy box of nuggets--okay, a database--for my base ideas, and when I'm churning a story idea to see what fits, I can usually reach in there.
Characterization and dialog also seemed to be strengths, and voice, according to my first editor (Joan Golan, then at Berkley), who put so much effort into working with me to get these stories out. I learned so much from her, including this line: "Work it, work it . . .play to your strengths."
One of my strengths wasn't plotting. I had to learn several ways before coming down to a basic plot device, one that works for me. You can find that and others, i.e. a paragraph per chapter, one sentence for plot, one for what's happening for the characters, in the Writers Tips section.
The moment when story building made sense was when I started a basic programming class. I'm an artist basically, so the visual plot line and using If/Then what happens, i.e. the "dropping the dead body" or twists occur. Twists are defined as the unexpected--you get great stuff when a character meets an unexpected reaction. (Programmers, forgive me because I've forgotten symbols, etc., but hopefully the idea will hold.)
Please note the flowchart, and perhaps print it out. The point is to make certain that the story is rounding off nicely, with enough room, and not chopped off because of publisher word length limits. Based on a 4-act play, the story line smacks of decisions everywhere. (Decisions are made up and down the flowchart, just not shown.) Note: Keep in mind that characterization is also determined by the revolving subcharacters).
To translate the flowchart into physical pages: Basically, I start writing in 20 page chapters, more or less, 20 chapters to a 400 pg ms, using Arial 12. Using that format (which I pretty well have ingrained now), midpoint would be at 200 pgs, or thereabouts. Each Act has 100 ms pgs. Note that a romance will require more time for a happy ending, but a true mystery reader may appreciate quite a bit less--just the short ending. And traditional romantic suspense comes somewhere between the two, the romance resolved, the suspense resolved by the h/h working together throughout.
This is only a starting place, because the chapters are more or less than 20 pages, and a chapter break may be required when one scene is ended. Also, factor in a prologue and an epilogue, if needed. Both should be quite short, maybe 4 pages.
About prologues, epilogues and lead scenes: When first starting the ms, that lead scene can bog down a writer. For me, the first 5-7 chapters are just my setting into the story, providing the base for a suspense build-up, and are the most difficult, time-consuming pgs of the story. Suspense must be built, and secrets and lies do sustain the sagging middle (This from Alice Orr).
If having problems on where to begin, I recommend writing the clog or the dreck, just to get something on those first pages. It's really important to have words already in front of you, an incentive to write more. I encourage writing clogs, big chunks of the story's smorgasborg that can be filtered out later. These often seem like dreck, but that's why we revise, pick out the componets that are worthy and toss the rest away. That lead scene will pop out somewhere, and maybe in the second chapter. Clean it up and move it to the lead scene.
One perfect tip for ms printing: To separate time breaks within a ms chapter, use center ### on a blank line. This holds and indicates a break that could be lost if occurring at the bottom of one page. Without some marking, the next page would result in looking as if no break had occurred.
Now a little bit about attitude: Don't even think that WB word; if you do, you're setting up your own problems. Think of it as "nesting," and the story will come out as you work it. To shake it loose, I usually drive, but everyone has their own tricks.
Writing a story truly is a bag of craft, self-management, and picking up tips.
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