How many times have you been in the middle of something major in your life, and thought to yourself, "Gee, this would make an interesting story"? How often do you act on that and go sit down and write your story?
While I'm no memoirist, and have actually yet to read a memoir (I've got one on my Kindle--I think,) there are times when odd things happen to me and I think it would may make an interesting addition to a story, or a story in and of itself.
With my son having been in and out of the hospital so much in the last few months (we had #4 admission last week), I find myself pondering what I've learned by being at the hospital.
Let's get one thing straight: I absolutely HATE hospitals. Up until I was 25, I'd never been admitted to one. The only reason why I ever have been is due to having babies (or complications thereof). I avoided hospitals like the plague.
Maybe not the best strategy for a mystery writer. Look at all the research I missed out on.
My son's condition doesn't necessarily mean that my experiences lend themselves to mystery writing. He's hardly been rushed to the hospital, a victim of a stabbing, shooting, poisoning (and let's hope he never is!) But, the anxiety of not knowing what's going on, the waiting, hoping that my son will get better... that's something I can draw on as a writer. Even though I try to take everything one day--sometimes one hour--at a time, and I don't worry in the traditional sense of the word, I understand.
He's never been in serious enough condition that his life is hanging by a thread, but I can understand better now how the parents of a child with leukemia may feel. And, even though I have no plans anytime in the future to write about something of that nature as a topic (at least, not in a novel format), I do feel that the experiences I've had as of late will make me a better writer.
When you get right down to it, all writers draw on their own experiences. You have to. Especially when you're writing fiction. Fiction is about an experience, whether bad, good, or ugly.
You tell me: what was the last real life experience you used to draw on for your writing? It may only be related by a smidge, but did it help you write a more believable scene?
Until next time,
Monday, February 21, 2011
Living Research
Monday, October 11, 2010
Dissection: A Date You Can't Refuse
Fortunately, I'm the patient sort, and I finally got my copy a few weeks ago, just before I went on vacation, which gave me ample time to devour the book.
In earlier books, it's made clear that Wollie (short for, I believe, Wollstonecraft) is a woman in her 30s, unmarried, and is feeling the pressure of a ticking biological clock. By the third book, she finally has gotten into a relationship with FBI agent Simon Alexander. This one seems to be lasting, except for the fact that he's on a long-term undercover assignment. Recipe for conflict!
Wollie, in the latest offering, has been offered a job by Yuri Milos, whom she knows because she sat on the jury of a trial in which he was the defendant. After the trial is over, she's offered the job, and shortly after that, one of Simon's associates approaches her about accepting the job in order to feed them information. Simon knows nothing of this. And when he finds out she accepted a job with the notorious Milos... well, let's just say he was less than happy.
Our heroine needs the money and some of the benefits that are being used to lure her into accepting the spying aspect by the FBI, however. And although she's not good at lying, she finds she must learn to do so in order to do her jobs.
Can't you see how this situation is ripe for conflict? I sure did! Even while I was in the middle of reading the book, I couldn't help but think that it would make a good book to use for a book dissection post. Of course, all fiction must have some conflict, but it seemed to me that Wollie was dogged by it every sentence of every page.
While the relationships in the book are important (it's a series--isn't that what most series are really about, the relationships?) the mystery holds its own. The two deaths in the book happen off screen, so to speak, starting with the woman who held Wollie's job previously, then her boyfriend, who was convinced that his girlfriend was murdered. Until the end of the book, you're never quite sure why the girlfriend was killed, and there were enough hints that while you may be able to put the puzzle together, you need quite a few pieces in order to do so.
What I learned:
Conflict, conflict, conflict. That was probably the key thing I learned in this book, that it needed to be EVERYWHERE. Okay, maybe not learned (I know this--I've been writing fiction for over 15 years.) But, it was definitely reinforced. From the time Wollie's approached by Yuri until she has her confrontation with the murderer, she's in conflict with someone. Simon, her brother, her friends, herself, Yuri, people she works with both in the civilian job and in the FBI--it's everywhere. And she needs to be able to lie, and feels physically incapable of pulling it off!
I also could see the value of having good resources to go to. Ms. Kozak obviously had to be speaking with a lot of people to pull this book off, and her acknowledgments page supports this. While she doesn't name everyone's role in helping her book, the names list is quite exhaustive. Looks like I'll be making some calls soon to do further interviews and tours! And tapping some of the online-human resources I've made over the years...
As a reader, I'd recommend this book if you enjoy works by Janet Evanovich. While not as crazy as the Stephanie Plum world, I'd say that Wollie's got quite a nutty world to live in.
Until next time,
Monday, June 15, 2009
No, I'm Not a Sadist
I love torturing my characters.
What's more, I find that the books I enjoy most are the ones where the characters are tortured (sometimes figuratively rather than literally) by the author.
Some might say that makes me a sadist. Nope. Just a writer with a healthy respect for conflict.
In order to make an enjoyable and page-turning story, there needs to be a healthy amount of conflict. Most writers agree there should be conflict on every page. While that may be a little difficult to accomplish, depending on the genre you write, it is a good goal to strive for. Sure, you can have minor scenes along the way alleviating the tension, but until you reach the final climax, the goal of writing a novel should be to add tension as the story grows.
One of my favorite books in the 'In Death' series by J.D. Robb is Conspiracy in Death. *WARNING* Spoilers!!! In this book, Eve Dallas is faced with a murderer who will stop at nothing to prevent her from discovering who s/he is. As she and her team get closer to zeroing in the murderer, Eve has confrontations with an officer who has a vendetta against her. What she doesn't know is that the officer is a lackey for the murderer. Besides the arguments with the officer, Eve is also threatened by a droid owned by the murderer. When the officer is murdered and Eve is relieved from duty and emotionally crumbles, there's no way I'm putting that book down! While the end is still far, this climax in the middle of a book I've read several times always manages to suck me in to see what happens next.
Granted, part of this is an emotional connection to Eve Dallas. I'm not going to discuss that aspect at this time, though K.M. Weiland has a great blog this week if you want more info. And while caring for the characters you write (and read about) can heighten the feeling of conflict in your story, you can care all you want about your characters, but if nothing difficult ever passes through their life during the timeframe you're writing about, you're not writing a saleable story.
That being said, I'd urge you to review your latest work-in-progress. Try to identify what kind of conflict is going on every page or two. If you can't find it, it's likely your reader/agent/editor won't find it either.
I'll be off, creating havoc in the lives of my characters.
Until next time,
--Liberty--
Posts
