Part 5 - Endings That Spark Beginnings by CS Lakin

Today's post is the last in a 5 part series of articles by C.S. Lakin, our guest speaker for the upcoming CWOW Annual Writer's Workshop on January 25th, 2014. We hope you enjoy these invaluable tips.  If you want to hear more from C.S. Lakin on building your novels, scene by scene, pop over and register for the workshop and be sure to drop by C.S. Lakin's blog to learn more about this great writer!  

Endings That Spark Beginnings

I covered scene beginnings and middles over the last few weeks, so let’s look at endings. Just like beginnings, endings carry a special burden. The reader must be left with a feeling, like an aftertaste. So you need to stop and think. Just what feeling do you want the reader to have? Shock, sadness, warmth, confusion, curiosity? You want to keep in mind that the basic storytelling structure for a novel is action—reaction—action—reaction. Too many scenes end with a character experiencing something and then . . . it ends. We need to see how the character reacts to what has just happened. You don’t have to do this every time, and in some genres where plot is king (suspense/thrillers), you may often end with the building exploding and you have no idea if your character just died. But as a general rule, you want to be with your character and see their reaction, feeling, or response—even if just told in one line—to what has just happened.

Endings Need to Feel Like Endings

A scene ending needs to feel just like that—an ending. There must be a sense of completion, even if the reader is left hanging. I’m not sure how to explain that, but even if the POV character is left confused in the middle of something, the scene itself has to have a feeling of completeness in that the scene wholly accomplished its objective—leading you from one place to another, from one moment to another. The ending must leave the reader with a sense of anticipation and a desire to read on. Each ending, in essence, should spark a new beginning. That’s accomplished by giving the reader a piece of new plot information, presenting another clue, or revealing something moving or fascinating about the character. Again, moments don’t need to be big. They are powerful and impacting if they contain meaning for your character.

Two Types of Endings

There are basically two types of endings—plot endings and character endings. Plot endings might be cliffhangers or contain a new plot twist or reveal a clue. A character ending is more about insight. The reader now knows something more about your character, or you may have the character thinking about what just happened, or you may have some poignant dialog (even one line) or description (motif or metaphor) that your character ponders. Think about zooming in like a camera to your character’s thoughts and feelings. Or maybe zoom out to show a larger understanding your character now has for her life or her world. Moments of insight make for powerful endings.
This week, take a look at your scene endings and see if they wrap up the scene like the ending of a good book. If they just stop abruptly, think how you can create either a plot revelation or a character insight to end smoothly and leave the reader wanting more.

Part 4 - Muddle the Middle of Your Scenes by CS Lakin

Today's post is Part 4 in a 5 part series of articles by C.S. Lakin, our guest speaker for the upcoming CWOW Annual Writer's Workshop on January 25th, 2014. We hope you enjoy these invaluable tips.  If you want to hear more from C.S. Lakin on building your novels, scene by scene, pop over and register for the workshop and be sure to drop by C.S. Lakin's blog to learn more about this great writer! 

Muddle the Middle of Your Scenes

I went into detail about scene beginnings last week, and I’ll be spending a bit more time on scene structure since it’s so crucial and so often ignored. I talked about how scenes are mini novels and must have a beginning, middle, and end, and how each scene is like a promise to your reader that you are going to deliver something. And what you are going to deliver is revealed in the high moment near the end of the scene.

Middles

Just as middle scenes of a novel can slog along and sag, so too middles of a scene can drag or not go anywhere. Knowing your high moment will really help avoid that. One good way to have compelling middles is to work backward from your high moment. If you know, for example, that Mary thinks George has taken her out to dinner to propose, but the high moment reveals he’s breaking up with her, you can picture that instant of her being stunned and think how she is going to feel just before that. You want your character to change in some small way by the end of the scene, and so think how Mary feels ten, twenty, or thirty minutes before this shocking moment. How is she going to be feeling twenty minutes after? So you want to start the scene with her expectations and in the middle of action—either already at the restaurant or pretty close to being there. In your middle, you don’t want to spend a lot of time (or maybe even any time) driving there or getting your character from any one place to another. Don’t drag the middle by stretching time (unless you want to).

Complicate, Exacerbate

Middles of novels are where you up the stakes, complicate and confound your character, make things worse. You might add danger or reveal a surprise twist. A middle is the unveiling of the storyline. So in each scene, as you build to your moment, you want to do the same. Add complications, obstacles, twists. Maybe Mary’s car doesn’t start and she’s late meeting George at the restaurant, which adds to her anxiety. Maybe Mary gets a phone call right before she leaves that complicates the subplot regarding her friend who’s going through a divorce. That can enrich the scene as Mary thinks how lucky she is to have George and how he’s going to propose to her in a few minutes. If you are going to throw a twist into your scene, such as George breaking up with Mary instead of proposing to her, you can use the middle to set up Mary’s expectations of one outcome, only to have a reversal at the high point. Reversals are terrific, and if you put in at least three things leading up to them that indicate the opposite outcome, they will be powerful.

This week, take a look at not just your first scene’s middle but those of random scenes in your novel. Find the high points and see if you have developed the middle so that it is leading to that moment and complicating things. See if you can add in expectations that imply the opposite outcome. If your character expects something bad to happen, have three things in the middle that imply her instincts will prove right. Then when that bad thing doesn’t happen, it will pack a punch.

Writing Tips from Karen Kingsbury

 USA Today and #1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Kingsbury is America’s #1 inspirational novelist. There are more than 20 million copies of her award-winning books in print, including several million copies sold in the past year. Karen has written more than 50 novels, ten of which have hit #1 on national lists. So, when Karen Kingsbury gives writer's tips - we take notes!

You can find Karen Kingsbury's Ten Tips for Aspiring Authors on her web site. Here are the first two and a link to the rest on her site. Get your notepad out - or get ready to hit the print button!
 
1. Keep Writing

If God has given you a book to write, or if you feel He has placed a story on your heart that needs to be told...write, write, write. Get it finished, and make sure it is written to the best of your ability.

2. Join a Writer's Group

There are many Christian writers groups for aspiring authors. In order to make your manuscript the best book it can be, you should join one of these groups and learn from others. A couple to try are Christian Writers Guild and Faithwriters.com

Read the rest of the article - HERE

The Traveling Writer

photo courtesy lusi, rgbstock.com

Summer is upon us. While it is a fun time of vacations and family events, it's also a tricky time for the traveling writer. We want to keep up with our writing goals of minimum word counts and/or pages written, maintain blog posts and social media, and leave a foot planted in the other world of literary happenings so we don't feel out of the loop. Such ambitions are lofty, but not altogether impossible with a little planning and--dare I say it--goal downsizing. Here are a few tricks I like to employ:

• Rise early and get the writing done before anyone else wakes up, but put a little slack in your daily goals (i.e., if you normally write 1,000 words a day, decrease it to 500)
• Take vacation time to plot and research other stories and ideas instead of working on a current project: this takes less uninterrupted time, and I've found being on the road tends to add a little extra spark to the imagination
• Read for writing: instead of using travel time to read solely for pleasure, grab that marketing book and a highlighter and plow through it mid-flight
• Schedule your blogs: Write your blogs in advance and schedule them to post while you are on your vacation, schedule guest bloggers, or--if your break is less than a couple weeks--post to let your readers know you will be taking a vacation
• Post interesting pictures or tidbits about your vacation on your social media periodically (make sure it's interesting and not overly personal)

Last but not least:

• Give yourself permission to have a good time. It is, after all, a vacation.

Although all writers should wear that "get your seat in the chair" mindset like a banner across the brain, we must also be purposeful about stepping back a little to enjoy and be a part of the real life stories going on around us. So continue to write while you travel, continue to plot and plan and engage your readership, but take a courageous (and generous) step back when your travels involve family time. This way, the story you live will far out-impact any story you could ever write. Happy travels!

Tanara McCauley

tanaramccauley.com

ACFW Blog

Hey, fellow CWOWers - have you checked out the ACFW Blog yet?

I just read a great article by Rachael Hauck on Back Story VS Character History and learned a whole new way of dropping a bit of history into the scene without slowing down the forward momentum of your story.

Back Story vs Character History, Part One

Back Story vs Character History, Part Two

 

While you're there poke around a bit. There are 7 years worth of news, articles and writing tips to help sharpen your writing skills. Just one of the perks of being a member of ACFW!

The Emotion Thesaurus

Remember that old commercial...She told two people and she told two people and she told two people....

Well, Dana told Leola and Leola told me and now I'm telling you about this terrific writer resource -

The Emotion Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi

One of the biggest problem areas for writers is conveying a character's emotions to the reader in a unique, compelling way. This book comes to the rescue by highlighting 75 emotions and listing the possible body language cues, thoughts, and visceral responses for each. Using its easy-to-navigate list format, readers can draw inspiration from character cues that range in intensity to match any emotional moment. The Emotion Thesaurus also tackles common emotion-related writing problems and provides methods to overcome them. This writing tool encourages writers to show, not tell emotion and is a creative brainstorming resource for any fiction project.

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While checking out the book, I visited the authors' blog and was amazed to see that they had tons of samples from the book online. Then I checked out the sidebar and...wow!

There's a..

• Physical Attributes Thesaurus
• Character Traits Thesaurus
• Weather & Earthly Phenomen Thesaurus
• Colors, Textures & Shapes Thesaurus
• Settings Thesaurus
• Symbolism Thesaurus

For instance...want to describe someone who is embarrassed?  Here's the entry...

• coughing
• stuttering, stammering
• speechlessness
• looking down, unable to meet another's eyes
• shoulders slumping, slouching, sagging, hunching
• a desire to run away
• glancing about as if for an exit or escape
• angry or knee-jerk reactions (lashing out, taking a cheap shot, name calling)
• gritting one's teeth, pressing the lips tight
• keeping a death grip on backpack straps, gripping school books against the chest
• rapidly walking away, keeping the head down
• excessive swallowing
• muddied or panicked thoughts
• lightheadedness, tingling in the chest or stomach
• pretending to not have heard or seen
• using long hair to hide the face

  Check out Angela & Becca's Emotion Thesaurus blog post at http://thebookshelfmuse.blogspot.com/p/the-emotion-thesaurus.html .

Happy Writing!
Jan