Weekly Writing Memo: Setting Writing Prompt
Posted: July 21, 2016 Filed under: Fiction, Screenwriting, Uncategorized, Weekly Writing Memo, Writing, Writing Tips | Tags: Creative Fiction, creative process, Fiction, Screenwriting, Writing, Writing Process 1 Comment[Sorry for the delay this week, there was a glitch in posting yesterday.]
I’m off in Gunnison, Colorado this week for a writing conference at my old graduate school, Western State Colorado University. For me, a writing conference is a chance to talk writing and get inspired, so I thought I’d post a writing prompt this week to spread some of the inspiration.
Since I’m in a place that is known for its beautiful scenic views, I thought I’d go with a writing prompt that is all about starting with setting to find your story. Try to use the prompt to help visualize the setting, and see where it takes you for creating a story.
A Tree Grows in the Desert
A tree grows alone in the desert. What kind of tree is it? What does it look like?
Describe every detail you can think of. What do those details tell us about the tree?
How does it grow there?
Who discovers it? Someone has to come across it and be our narrator. So who? Why are they in the desert? How did they find the tree?
Who are they?
What does the tree mean to them? Do they interact with the tree somehow?
Is this all a dream?
Or a vision?
A miracle?
A mirage?
Don’t just have this character be at the tree, give them a reason, a purpose. Why are they there? Why is the tree there? How do the tree and the character impact each other? Where do they go once they part?
This prompt is about character and setting, since they are the two core parts of the prompt. It’s also about using mysterious elements to help draw the plot out. If there is a mystery element to be investigated, and a character to investigate it, then there is a plot in there somewhere. So explore the tree, develop the character who interacts with the tree, and see where the story takes you.
Next week I’ll be back with my usual post, but for now, happy writing! If you want to play with this prompt, you can try to set it in other unusual places if you want (the ocean, a grocery store, etc). The key is, that the tree is somewhere unusual, and the story comes from someone interacting and exploring the tree and why it is there. So explore, have fun, and get writing!
Robin Conley offers great writing advice most Wednesdays on Writing to be Read. If you just can’t wait until next week to find out more, you can pop into her blog, Author the World, for more tips, or a weekly writing prompt.
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Weekly Writing Memo: Building a Story
Posted: June 29, 2016 Filed under: Fiction, Screenwriting, Stories, Uncategorized, Weekly Writing Memo, Writing, Writing Tips | Tags: Creative Fiction, Fiction, Writing, writing advice, Writing Process Leave a comment
Stories are essentially a million little pieces intertwined in such a way that they relay a picture from the writer’s head into the mind of the reader. Specifically, every scene, and every story, is made up of a series of arcs (character arcs, plot arcs, genre arcs, etc) that combine to tell the story on various levels. In order for the arcs to work, they have to be carefully constructed and woven together so that they support each other and so the story forms a cohesive whole.
One of the most important parts of building a story is the construction. Each of the various arcs within the story have to start and end at the correct place, and have to be balanced with the other elements. If any arc or element is out of place, the entire story can falter or fail completely. There are dozens or more elements and arcs within a story to consider, but the main arcs I’m going to focus on are character, plot, and genre. These three are generally the core of every story, and if they’re right, the other elements are more likely to be right.
Character
The general rule in any story is that every character has to have an arc of their own, not just in the story as a whole, but in every single scene of the story. At the start of every scene, each character present should have two or more goals. The first goal is their overarching goal, and the second is their immediate goal. For example, in a scene where a man wants to get his daughter an ice cream, his first goal could be a larger goal that carries on throughout the story of trying to make his daughter happy, while his second goal is one that is the focus of the scene such as simply trying to buy an ice cream cone.
These goals are what drive each scene forward, and are what drive the character’s every action. A goal can change in the middle of the scene, but no matter what a character has to have a goal. The character arcs in every scene are generally caused by how they succeed or fail at achieving their goal. In the ice cream example, the character’s arc could be something like:
On the scene level: the character starts out hopeful that he will be able to buy the ice cream, he hits a peak in line when he is about to achieve his goal, but then when he gets to the front and finds out that they are out of the ice cream his daughter wants his hope disappears and he is in a much worse position than he started.
On the story level, this would be a minor arc in his larger development. This would be the arc where the father goes from trying to find his daughter’s happiness in material things to maybe looking deeper to find something more that can truly make her happy. The scene won’t resolve the problem, but it would be the first step of the father solving the problem and help him head toward the path where he will find the solution.
As shown above, by looking at and understanding the goals you can find the character’s arc of emotional and mental development in every scene, and in the story as a whole.
Plot
Each goal itself should be a part of the plot, and should have some form of arc as well. Some goals, like the larger story goals, will be made up of a bunch of mini-arcs, while the minor goals will just have a minor arc of their own. The goals make up the plot because they are what drive the action and create conflict within the story. They’re what the character wants and is constantly stopped from getting one way or another.
For each goal, there should be an arc of how it develops and changes throughout each scene and the story. Goals in general will be made up of some mix of the basic format of: conception of goal, plan to achieve the goal, enacting the plan, and failure or success. The outcome either leads to a new goal, or a new plan to achieve the new goal. Each arc of the plot can lead to new plots and goals depending on whether the character is successful or not, and whether the success/failure of the goal leads to new problems or new goals.
For example, in the ice cream story, the dad doesn’t get the ice cream so it leads to a new goal and new problem for the plot. He either has to find somewhere else to get the ice cream his daughter desperately wants, or he has to find a new way to make her happy.
Genre
Many people don’t consider that there are genre arcs within stories, but in there are almost always some form of genre arcs that happen in genre stories. For example, most romance stories involve some form of meeting of the potential couple, a period of interactions between the couple culminating in some form of acknowledgement of feelings, the breaking point where they are thrown apart, and then the reunion. This varies, of course, depending on the different types of romance stories, but being aware of the genre arc and knowing how to use them can help you create a certain flow within your story that readers find natural. It can also help you make sure your plots are working well for the genre you are using.
Even if you don’t go with a typical genre arc for your story, you should consider how the genre evolves throughout your story. For example, in horror there should be a general increase in the horror as the story develops, culminating in the final climactic moment toward the end of your story. If you don’t have an arc of the horror elements as well as the character and plot elements, then the horror part of your story could fall flat. So always consider the genre you are writing in, and think of how that influences your plot and character.
Whatever you are writing, there are many levels of story you are telling and each element should really have an arc of its own, even if it’s a minor one. Some arcs may not be super important or even that interesting, but it’s how they fit in with the other larger and more important elements that matter. Each element should be supporting the larger story as a whole. If you find a part of your story that isn’t doing its part to support the story, remove it. You’re building something where every part needs to do its job, so make every element count.
Robin Conley offers great writing advice most Wednesdays on Writing to be Read. If you just can’t wait until next week to find out more, you can pop into her blog, Author the World, for more tips, or a weekly writing prompt.
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Chronology is full of surprises
Posted: June 24, 2016 Filed under: Book Review, Books, Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Steampunk, Stories | Tags: Anthology, Book Review, Books, Creative Fiction, Fantasy, Fiction, horror, Review, Speculative Fiction, Steampunk, Writing 3 Comments
I’ve just had the pleasure of reviewing a new anthology of short fiction put out by Curiosity Quills Press. When asked if I’d like to review Chronology, I had the impression that it was a steampunk anthology, which is a genre I’m newly discovering. Some of the stories in this collection do have steampunk elements, such as Wind Up Hearts, the steampunk-ish romance that is sure to break readers’ hearts, by Bram Stoker Award finalist, Stan Swanson, or Flight of the Pegasus by Dr. Darin Kennedy. There’s also That Which is Hidden, a haunted steampunk-ish werewolf romance, by Julie Frost. But, I was pleasantly surprised to find the stories in Chronology to be a diverse mixture of speculative fiction.
Some are futuristic, leaning more toward science fiction, such as the apocalyptic Afterparty by Mark Woodring, Limited Liability, a futuristic outer space story by Matthew Graybosch or Gookie Visits Her Moma by G. Miki Hayden, an alternate universe science fiction story about a space bounty hunter whose current bounty takes her back to her home planet. Many others are more in the fantasy realm, such as Draconic King, by award winning author, James Wymore, or Yours Until the Ink Dries, a true faerie tale, as a young outcast girl discovers her true identity in her drawings, by Y.A. author Jordan Elizabeth. And then there are those stories that fall into the mythical realm, such as Strange Flesh, a well-crafted story of mythical creatures by Katie Young, or Wampus Cat, a tale of Appalachian legends come true by international bestselling author Scott Nicholson.
Still, others have a horror element or two, such as The Lair, a story of a cursed treasure hunt in jungle swamps, by best-selling independent author, Tony Healey, or Lava, a spectral love story by New York Times bestselling author, Piers Anthony, or In the Clutches of the Mummy Prince, by B.C. Johnson, which was not very scary. Also I had trouble relating with the main character in Johnson’s story, who wasn’t very likeable. There is also The Comeback, the weirdest zombie romance I’ve ever heard of, told from the zombie’s POV, by techno-thriller and MG fantasy author, Tara Tyler, and Inmate #85298, a chilling death row tale, by author and screenwriter, Andy Rausch.
Of course, there are also those stories that weren’t so easy to classify, including White Chapel, which sheds new light on the story of Jack the Ripper, by author, editor and podcast co-host, Andrew Buckley, or Signs Unseen, the story of a small town race war, by J.P. Moyahan, or Bait and Witch, a troublesome witch story by speculative fiction author, J.P. Sloan. There is also The Bull, by novelist and short story writer, J.R. Rain, which turns a Minotaur into a superhero, and The Unattended Life, a reminder to stop and smell the roses by J.E. Anckorn, and an intriguing airship romance, Above the Clouds, by Richard Roberts.
Yes, it is a big book, about 530 pages, but it is definitely a good read. In addition to the stories mentioned above there are the three I enjoyed the most, which I saved to tell you about in more detail. The following stories stuck out in my mind the most, but not in any particular order.
The Room Below, by novelist Wilbert Stanton is a horror story worthy of Lovecraft, or King. This story about a stay in a mental institution that puts One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest to shame. It held my attention and kept me on the edge of my seat, and had a surprising, yet satisfying ending.
The Colorado King, by Nathan Yocum is a story in which survival is the name of the game as a father and daughter travel over post-apocalyptic badlands in search of kin and refuge, bringing with it some very hard lessons. This well-crafted tale grabs readers’ attention and doesn’t let go, yet it leaves readers feeling like there should be more, probably due to the fact that it is an excerpt. I’m guessing that it is from Yocum’s novel, The Zona.
And finally, Innocent Deception, by Matthew Cox is a well-crafted story which has a surprising reveal in its final pages. The daughter of a pharmaceutical company’s CEO is kidnapped and held for ransom, but the plan falls apart when the mother doesn’t want the kid back.
Overall, I give Chronology 3 Quills. 
Kaye Lynne Booth does honest book reviews on Writing to be Read, and she never charges for them. Have a book you’d like reviewed? Contact Kaye at kayebooth(at)yahoo(dot)com.
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Weekly Writing Memo: Parts of a Scene
Posted: June 8, 2016 Filed under: Fiction, Screenwriting, Uncategorized, Weekly Writing Memo, Writing, Writing Tips | Tags: Creative Fiction, Fiction, Screenwriting, Writing, writing advice, Writing Process Leave a comment
Whether you’re writing a novel or a screenplay, you are going to be writing scenes for your story. The breakdown of a scene for each is essentially the same, and requires that three things happen.
The Setting
The first thing that has to be established in almost any scene is where it is taking place. Sometimes this can be as simple as establishing that it’s a mysterious unknown place, that’s fine, but some form of setting has to be established. Showing the setting helps ground the audience and helps them visualize what is happening.
To do this in a screenplay, you use the scene heading and then give a brief description of the location in a line or two. Find a succinct way to set the tone and layout of the scene without giving long descriptions. Also, make sure to mention any elements of the setting that are vital to the action of the scene. Don’t wait to mention there is a newspaper on a chair if a few lines down that newspaper is going to be used to slap someone!
This is true for fiction as well. It’s best to set up details that will come into play early on so that way when they are used, the audience feels they have been established instead of feeling like they were just thrown in when the writer needed them. Unlike in screenplays, fiction can let the setting unfold a little more naturally as the character interacts with it. You’ll still want to mention key elements as soon as you can for the best effect, but you can let some details come out more fluidly as the scene develops.
The Character
The second thing to establish in any scene is who the scene is about, and who the protagonist and antagonist of the scene is. In every scene there is one of each, even if one is an inanimate object or something. Every scene is driven forward by a character wanting something, and whatever is getting in the character’s way at that moment is the antagonist for the scene. There can also be an antagonist that is not present in the scene as well, but do consider who the antagonist within the scene is.
You’ll also want to find a way to introduce other characters that are present for the scene as early as possible. If a character is in the room while something is happening, and the audience isn’t aware of it, it can be startling when that character finally “appears” to the audience. It can also change a scene completely. So make sure to find a way to introduce each character within a scene so the audience knows who the players are.
The Conflict
Every scene is about one thing – someone wants something, and something (or someone) is stopping them from getting it. If this isn’t happening in your scene, then your scene has no conflict or tension and really needs to be reconsidered unless you have strong motivations for it.
The other key thing to remember for every scene is that every single character in the scene has a want, and their behavior is going to be driven by whatever that want is. You want some of those character desires to conflict to create tension. If the conflicts are the same (like two characters want a sandwich) then find a way to make the wants conflicting. For example, maybe they both want a sandwich, but they want the other character to make it for them. Or they both want a sandwich, but there is only enough bread for one.
If you know what your characters want, then you know how they will behave in a scene. You also know what you need to keep them from getting it for as long as you naturally can within the scene. Don’t let them get what they want easily, unless what they want isn’t really what they need! If it isn’t what they need, then the moment they get what they want, it’ll create new conflict. The point of every scene is to create tension and conflict, and to drive the story forward.
Final Notes
The final thing to consider when writing a scene is that you don’t want to spend a lot of time in the beginning setting up what your character is doing or trying to achieve. If you find yourself doing this, try jumping forward in the scene and seeing how it reads without the introduction.
For example, if a neighbor wants to borrow a cup of sugar, but the other neighbor wants someone to talk to, try this: Instead of showing Person 1 knocking on the door, show them already in Person 2’s kitchen and show Person 2 blabbering on about some subject that Person 1 cares nothing about. Maybe show Person 1 with an empty measuring cup in their hand and have them eyeing the cupboard.
Doing that tells us everything we need to know without going through the motions of the knocking on the door and asking for the sugar. It jumps straight to the conflict. And you almost always want to cut to the conflict when you can do so without the story suffering.
Robin Conley offers great writing advice most Wednesdays on Writing to be Read. If you just can’t wait until next week to find out more, you can pop into her blog, Author the World, for more tips, or a weekly writing prompt.
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“Confessions of an Honest Man” plays a boogie on the heart strings of readers
Posted: June 3, 2016 Filed under: Book Review, Fiction | Tags: Arthur Rosch, Book Review, Books, Confessions of an Honest Man, Fiction 7 Comments
From the 1960’s to present day, Confessions of an Honest Man, by Arthur Rosch follows young jazz musician through the streets of New York and San Francisco through the jazz circuit of bars and clubs with famous musicians such as John “Avian” Coltrane and Zoot Prestige. It follows Aaron through the struggling childhood where he has to fight for anything that matters to him to become first, a mildly successful jazz musician, then a washed up heroin addict, into a recovering addict trying to straighten out the mess that his life had become, and miraculously overnight, a very successful jazz musician through a turn of fate. Aaron Kantro has some help along the way as he learns to love and be loved. He is guided by his mentor and fellow jazz musician, Zoot Prestige, then from a little dog, named Diz, who was for a while, his only friend and companion, as well as Zoot’s spirit once he passes and the spirits of others whom he has known in life.
It is a thought provoking story of a family afflicted by abuse, mental illness, depression and drug addiction. It’s the story of what can happen when we chose to defy the odds stacked against us and struggle to survive, and maybe even thrive, if we’re lucky. It is the story of Aaron Kantros, a boy who fell in love at a very young age, and his emotionally abusive mother, who was an abused child herself, his father, struggling to hold all of their lives together without a clue of how to achieve his goal, his younger brother, filled with anger and resentment, and his two sisters, illustrating their very different, individual methods of coping.
Confessions of an Honest Man is not just about the characters. It’s about a time, an era, where there is very little knowledge about, or help for dysfunctional families and doctors freely handed out whatever pills they thought might make your problem go away, and if those pills caused other problems? An era in which you looked after your own and people didn’t look too closely at one another. An era of racial biases, sexual biases, hypocrisies and prejudices. An era of jazz in its purest form.
Confessions of an Honest Man is written with compelling honesty and soul. He creates characters that are so real and relatable, that the disclaimer, “All characters are fictional”, is necessary because Rosch makes it easy for us to believe that they lived. He captures the essence of time and place, creating events with vivid clarity within the mind’s eye. This story will move readers with emotion, touching hearts and stirring the empathy in all of us. I give Confessions of an Honest Man five quills. 
Other books by Arthur Rosch include The Road Has Eyes – An RV, a Relationship and a Wild Ride, and The Gods of the Gift.
Kaye Lynne Booth does honest book reviews on Writing to be Read, and she never charges for them. Have a book you’d like reviewed? Contact Kaye at kayebooth(at)yahoo(dot)com.
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Write What You Know
Posted: May 23, 2016 Filed under: Commentary, Fiction, Nonfiction, Writing | Tags: Creative Fiction, Fiction, Nonfiction, Writing, writing advice, Writing Process 1 Comment
As an emerging writer, I hear that advice a lot. I think we all do. But what does it really mean? Before a writer can write about a subject or topic, she must experience it. Which is not to say that it isn’t possible to research a subject and then write about it as if you’re an expert, or at least know what you’re talking about, but it is saying that when you experience something, you must own the emotional aspects associated with it, and that will come through in your writing.
Now you know why I am not a travel writer. I wish I were, but I don’t travel often. Travel writers get paid big bucks. No, I’m a prime example of a starving artist. I work menial labor jobs to scratch out a living, and seek out cheap entertainment. But I do write what I know.
When I started out freelancing, I knew one thing. I loved to write, and I wanted to find a way to make a living at it. When I filled out the application for Examiner.com, I had to pick a category to write on. I chose writing, and as the Southern Colorado Literature Examiner, I covered writing events in southern Colorado and wrote author profiles and book reviews for Colorado authors. I served in this capacity for six years, not because I was getting rich off it, but because I loved what I was doing. I met many Colorado authors, most of whom I’m still in contact with, I got free ARC copies of books for review and I occasionally was able to attend some great writing events, such as the 2013 Pike’s Peak Writers’ Conference, 2012 Writing the Rockies Conference and Performance Poetry Readings, with wonderful poets such as word woman, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer. The money was never an issue for me, (I maybe made a whole $20 during the whole six years I wrote for Examiner), but the perks were great. It may have actually played a role in my acceptance to Western State Colorado University as a graduate student in their low-residency Creative Writing program, since I had interviewed and written a three part profile on the then director of their poetry concentration, David J. Rothman. But I digress.
When I applied to write for Demand Media writing How-to articles, they didn’t have a lot of call for articles to do with writing, so I had to think. What else did I know? I started out with simple things like How to Put a Chain Back on a Huffy 10-speed Bicycle. I’ve always been an avid gardener, since I helped my grandfather plant petunias when I was a little girl, so I ended up writing a lot of gardening How-tos, like How to Grow Vegetables in a Bathtub. The topics I wasn’t as familiar with required a minimal amount of research, like The Best Potting Soils for a Vegetable Garden and I had references at hand to look up anything I needed. At $8 per article, the research had to be minimal. If I spent too much time researching, the time spent wouldn’t prove to be profitable.
As I mentioned, I don’t do a lot of traveling, and my entertainment is limited by my pocketbook, but I’ve learned to write about the things I do know. You won’t catch me writing about the Emmies, or the Oscars, or $100 a ticket charity fundraisers, because I’ll never be at one of those events and I know very little about them. What you will see me writing about are weird, off the wall things like, How Writing is Like Building a Storage Shed, or Getting in Shape for Writing, which combines my own experience, with building or exercise, with my knowledge of writing.
Of course, that doesn’t work with everything. My experiences on this day involved digging a ditch. Somehow, that just doesn’t seem as creative building a shed. But I could always write a fictional story in which the characters dig a ditch. You see, “write what you know” applies to fiction, too. My whole children’s series, My Backyard Friends, feature characters based on the birds and wildlife that frequently visit my mountain home. I wrote a short story one time that developed from a visit to Lake DeWeese, not far from my home. It was about a woman who walks naked into a waterfall and disappears. The funny thing about that story, titled, The Woman in the Water, was that my narrator turned out to be male, giving it a very interesting twist. But it was still based on the experience I had, hiking up to the top of the dam, and then sitting, gazing down into the waterfall.
It really is important to write what you know, for although some can “fake it” convincingly with just research, in most cases, the readers know. When the words on the page don’t feel genuine, like they’ve come from deep within the author, readers can’t quite buy in to what they’re being told, whether it is something being explained to them in an article, or a fictional story they’re being asked to believe. And if readers can’t buy in to the story, or feel the authority in the author’s voice, they are often left feeling unsatisfied, with the promise of the premise unfulfilled.
In short, what is really meant when someone says “write what you know”, is that you should draw from your own experiences, whether they be many or few, and inject a little bit of yourself with words that come from deep within into your writing. Let the readers feel the same emotions you feel when you write about your topic, or create your story. Write honestly, and the readers will feel that, too.
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“Treasure Darkly” presents a great genre combo
Posted: May 20, 2016 Filed under: Book Review, Steampunk, Writing, Young Adult | Tags: Book Review, Books, Fiction, Jordan Elizabeth, Review, Steampunk, Treasure Darkly, Writing, Young Adult 3 Comments
Clark Treasure carries within himself a dark treasure, which gives him control over life and death, and allows him to communicate with spirits. The army wants his secret and drives him into a life as a fugitive, in this haunted YA steampunk romance with a western flair, Treasure Darkly, by Jordan Elizabeth. Clark seeks refuge with the man he believes to be his father, a rich man with a lot of pull in Hedlund, the Big Valley of steampunk, hoping to ride on the Treasure name for protection. His true father comes to him as a spirit after the ruse has already been set in motion and sends Clark on a mission to take care of his unfinished business. Amethyst Treasure, the feisty, spoiled sister who’s not, becomes an object of affection when they both learn there’s no blood between them, and by the end of the book they’ve fallen in love, of course.
Elizabeth sets this first book up well to carry the rest of her Treasure Chronicles series, wrapping up the romance, while leaving the main story open ended to carry on another day, or another book or two. My only criticisms lie in the fact that at times, it didn’t feel like the characters actions and reactions were genuine and that Elizabeth detours from the main storyline from about Chapter 33, after Amethyst’s male friend from the city, Joshua, shows up at the ranch unexpectedly. The family choses this exact time to all go on a family outing, making it feel as if we’ve taken an abrupt jog into a subplot involving Amethyst’s brother, Jeremiah, and a brief romance. While this was a neat little tale driven by the urge to reveal character, I had to pause and ask myself why Elizabeth chose to stray so far from the main story with this section that doesn’t seem to move the story forward.
The place in which Elizabeth choses to end this tale feels unfinished, leaving many unanswered questions, but perhaps this was purposefully crafted to carry us into the next book in the series. For me, however, it felt like an abrupt drop off, leaving many loose ends dangling. It felt like there should have been more, maybe just one more chapter to tie everything neatly together before sending readers off to ponder the story in their own minds, which they will, because Treasure Darkly is a story that inspires deeper thought processes. It has an interesting and well thought out premise, that leaves many possibilities open to discovery. I look forward to seeing what future tales will be inspired for this series.
Overall, this is a very entertaining read. I’m a sucker for westerns, even in a steampunk world. Throwing in aspects from the spirit world, Elizabeth certainly added an interesting twist, if at times too convenient, but none-the-less enjoyable. I look forward to reading its sequel and hope to have the opportunity to review it, as well.
Jordan Elizabeth is a steampunk princess well on her way to living out her fairytale dream of being a successful YA author in New York. Her other works include Escape from Witchwood Hollow, Cogling, and Book Two of the Treasure Chronicle series, Born of Treasure. I give Treasure Darkly three quills.
Kaye Lynne Booth does honest book reviews on Writing to be Read, and she never charges for them. Have a book you’d like reviewed? Contact Kaye at kayebooth(at)yahoo(dot)com.
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Weekly Writing Memo: 4 Ways to Establish Tone
Posted: April 20, 2016 Filed under: Fiction, Uncategorized, Weekly Writing Memo, Writing, Writing Tips | Tags: Creative Fiction, Fiction, Writing 1 Comment
Tone is one of the basic elements within a story. It sets the mood for the audience, and gives context and meaning to the story. Every element within a story works together to set the tone, so it’s important to stay conscious of your choices when writing. If you set the wrong tone for your story, it could turn a comedic story dark, or a serious story comedic. So how do you establish tone in a way that is consistent, and useful?
- Language in Narration
The language you use to tell the story plays a huge part in setting the tone. Every word you use has a connotation to is, and if you choose the wrong word you can create conflicting tones within your story. For example, if you describe a dead body in an insulting or amusing way, then it takes a serious element and makes light of it which sets either a comedic or flippant. If you’re trying to write a serious mystery, than setting this kind of tone could be damaging to the story.
The key to figuring out what sort of language to use is to figure out who your narrator is. Are they a comedic person? Sardonic? Serious? They’re the one telling the story, so things should be described in their words. They set the tone of the story. If you want a serious story, a hardened detective story or something, then you need to tell the story from a hardened detective’s point of view and have him describe things as a hardened detective would do.
Another element to keep in mind for narration is the choice of phrases used. Part of tone is setting the time period for the story, and if you use phrases that are common slang when writing something like a period story, then you run the risk of ruining the tone. So be aware of slang and usage of idioms and such as well.
- Character’s Speech
How your characters talk helps set the tone of the story. Are they all fast talkers and quick witted like in Gilmore Girls or The West Wing? Do they make dirty jokes like Ryan Reynolds in Deadpool? The way characters talk and interact with each other creates a tone for the story and tells the audience how they should be interpreting a scene. If none of them are taking the problems of the story seriously, then the audience will see no reason to take it seriously.
- Setting
Where your story takes place can change a story completely. If you look at the show Burn Notice, it has a light and humorous tone about it which is fitting for its location being Miami. If, however, Burn Notice was set in some place like Chicago, it would become a much darker and more serious series. Chicago and Miami have very different personalities, and such distinctions would change the behaviors of the characters living there.
For your story, always be conscious of the setting and what it says about the story and the characters. Do you want a setting that complements your story, or a something you can contrast your story against? How will your character be different because of their setting? How will the plot have to be different? The important thing is to consider the setting carefully, because it doesn’t just impact the tone, but the story and characters as well.
- Antagonists, Conflicts, and Solutions
The antagonist in a story, and the conflicts the protagonist have to go up against are something else that set the tone of the story. If the antagonist is someone the audience can’t take seriously, then it’s going to give the story a comedic tone. If the problems or conflicts the protagonist comes up against are simplistic or easy to solve, then they can give the story a young adult or children’s story tone.
Think about the villain and conflicts of the story and ask yourself what they say about your story. If you’re writing a serious story, then your characters need serious problems. If you’re writing a comedic story, you can have serious problems but how they are handles has to be comedic. The tone is established through how the conflicts are handled, and the types of conflicts or antagonists, as well as through how the protagonist interacts and handles them both.
Final Notes:
Every choice you make when writing contributes to the tone of the story. Without the proper tone, a story can fall flat and not work. If you don’t believe me, look at some of your favorite stories, be them movies or books, and see how they’d be different if their tones were shifted. Would that comedy still be funny? Would the action movie still be exciting? Figure out how the things listed above are portrayed in whatever story you chose, and see how they helped set the tone for the story. The more you analyze how it’s been done before, the easier it’ll be for you to do it yourself.
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Weekly Writing Memo: 3 Keys of Writing Relationships
Posted: April 13, 2016 Filed under: Fiction, Uncategorized, Weekly Writing Memo, Writing, Writing Tips | Tags: Creative Fiction, Fiction, Writing, Writing Process 2 Comments
Whether you’re writing friendships, families, couples, or even enemies, the relationship between the characters has to be established very clearly in order for the audience to understand it.In general, any time two people are in a scene of a story together, there is some kind of relationship between them, even if it is something as simple as salesman to client.
Those passing relationships are easier to establish because there’s not any history between the two people so there’s less subtext going on. All you need to show for those relationships is to establish what each character wants, and keep their actions true to their goals.
The want of each character is of course something you establish for anyone in your story, but for core characters your protagonist interacts with there is a bit more that should be shown. The three key things that need to be portrayed to make the relationship work for an audience are listed below. These are things that are especially true for when you are portraying newly established relationships such as in romantic stories, or team-up or friendship stories.
What brings the pair together?
Sometimes this element is a given, such as when the characters are family, coworkers, classmates, etc. You have to show the audience why these two characters are together for the story. We don’t need to see their entire history of how they met or anything, but we need to understand what it was that brought these two characters into each other’s lives.
In romantic stories, often times two characters are brought together initially by physical attraction. In fantasy or action stories, often times characters are brought together because of a similar goal. The key is, the audience has to understand how these two particular characters, whatever their relationship is, came to occupy the same space and form a relationship.
For example, if you have two best friends, one who is a hobo and another a CEO, and you don’t give us some indication of how they came together, the audience will not buy the story. This doesn’t mean you need to spell it out, all it means is you need to find a way to imply. In the CEO/Hobo example, you could spell it out by having the pair meet because the hobo parks outside the CEO’s office building. OR, if you want to go for a subtler and a new type of connection, maybe the CEO already knows the hobo and comes to him for advice, and the hobo says something that implies he once was a big businessman himself. That would give the audience an idea of how they could have met—when the hobo wasn’t a hobo.
The point is, the audience needs to understand how the two characters you are showing us were brought together. Did they work together? Are they family? Do they go to school together? Are they invited by a wizard to a secret meeting in the Shire? Etc. What is it that makes their worlds collide?
What keeps them together?
This is something I see often gets forgotten in stories involving friendships between odd pairs. Writers like showing us really quirky friends, but they often forget to show us why these two people who are so different are friends in the first place. People come together for a variety of reason, but the reason they end up maintaining the relationship is not always the same as the thing that brought them together.
This is important to show because even if we believe that two people were brought together because of a specific thing (like high school or work), if they don’t seem like two people that would continue spending time together than we won’t believe the relationship has lasted. There has to be something shown that is strong enough to keep these two characters maintaining contact with each other despite their differences.
For example, the hobo and the CEO. Maybe they used to work together, and that is how they met. Their lives have taken very different paths, and for a lot of audiences it’d be hard to believe that the CEO would continue to hang out with the hobo, or that the hobo for that matter would continue spending time with a big CEO who might look down on him. IF, however, you establish that the CEO comes to the hobo for advice, and that the Hobo comes to the CEO for aid now and then, then you have shown the audience what keeps the pair coming back to each other.
Whatever this element is that keeps the pair interacting, it has to be mutually beneficial/appreciated by the pair. Otherwise, the audience will be asking themselves why the characters bother with each other since they are so different. This thing is often show in stories about couples who have been together for a long time. We often see them longing for whatever the initial thing was that brought them together, and through the story we see the characters discover that while they no longer have that initial thing, they have something stronger that is the thing that has kept them together for all the years of their relationship.
What pulls them apart?
Every pair of people, when thrown together, has something that they disagree on and differ on. This can be as simple as the fact that one person is messy and the other is organized. The reason this is important to show in stories is that how people deal with conflict between friends, lovers, family, etc, can tell the audience a huge amount about the characters themselves and the type of relationship the two people have.
For example, if you have two best friends disagree about something as simple as dinner, how they go about the disagreement can tell the audience a lot. Do they get into a vicious argument that ends abruptly and then revert back to friendly banter? Does one character give in to whatever the other wants? Do they both refuse to concede?
Arguments are great at showing the dynamics between two characters. If one always concedes, they might be the peacekeeper, or the other might be domineering. If the argument is written in a way that the audience can see this pair has had it before, it can show very quickly that the pair has a long history together. The point is, you can learn just as much, if not more, by showing what characters disagree on rather than what they agree on.
This also works well to establish relationships because showing that two people are still in a relationship of some sort despite what they disagree on, can show the audience how important that relationship is for the pair. If a character is willing to ignore huge flaws in another character, then there must be something of value there. Just remember to show us why the characters ignore the flaws if they’re ones that are big enough to be relationship ending.
Acceptance or Rejection – Which do You Prefer?
Posted: June 27, 2016 | Author: kayelynnebooth | Filed under: Commentary, Fiction, Opinion, Promotion, Publishing, Western, Writing | Tags: Acceptance, Creative Fiction, Fiction, Flash Fiction, I Had to Do It, Kaye Lynne Booth, Rejection, Western, Writing | 1 CommentI could go into another post about rejections. Lord knows, I’ve gotten plenty. But I’ve always been one to see the glass half-full side, rather than half-empty, focusing on the positive side to everything, so I think I’d rather talk today about acceptances. I don’t think anyone will disagree when I say acceptances are much better than rejections. You don’t have to be a writer to figure that one out.
You don’t get them as often as rejections, but they’re a lot more satisfying. But there’s a reason I want to write a post on acceptances. If you follow me on Facebook, or Twitter, or Google+, you may have seen my very recent post announcing that my flash fiction western story, I Had to Do It, has been picked up by Zetetic: A Record of Unusual Inquiry.
It’s true this isn’t a big paying publication. I’m certainly not going to get rich from this one little 850 word story. Flash fiction never pays a lot. There’s simply not enough words to make the pennies add up to much, even with higher paying publications. But, I was still elated when I received the acceptance, because my story found a home and people will now read it, and because it is still one more publishing credit for me. I can’t explain the rushing feeling of excitement and pride that small note from the editors brought me. I think most of all, it was thrilling to know that someone else really liked my writing. It was a affirmation of my own belief that my writing really is pretty good.
That probably sounds silly to those who have not yet received an acceptance. (Never fear. It will come.) But we writers are an odd lot, and we are filled with fears and self-doubt. Filled with it. Most of the time we can keep these elements of our inner beings at bay by simply pecking away at the keyboard or filling up sheets of notebook paper, but every once in a while we let our guards down and that’s when they strike. The fear and self-doubt simmer in us, just down below the surface, until they see an opportunity, a weakness, and then they reach up and grab a handful of us and don’t let go.
I think just about every writer worries that the only person in the whole world that really thinks their writing is good is themselves. Friends and family don’t count because they may be saying they like it so as not to hurt your feelings. When you receive an acceptance, any acceptance, it tells you other people do like your writing, and motivates you to get busy writing more.
It’s a good feeling. One I think every writer needs to experience. It can’t happen unless you submit relentlessly and write, write, write. That’s my advice. Write your heart out and then submit like crazy, and never, ever give up. The notes that say, “yes”, make it worth surviving all the ones that said, “no”. So what are you waiting for? Get writing!
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