Welcome Mat: Your Novel’s Title

When you are brainstorming titles, think of it as a welcome mat. A title’s job is to bring readers into your novel, story, or picture book. This is why the title is often changed by the marketing/publicity department: they have their fingers on the pulse of the audience and have a better idea of what will be appealing.

Improved Titles

Here are some titles, as originally proposed. Fortunately, these lame titles were changed! See if you can match them to the well-known title below. (See answers below.)

• 1. The Mute?
• 2. Private Fleming, his Various Battles
• 3. To Climb the Wall
• A. The Red Badge of Courage
• B. The Blackboard Jungle
• C. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

Sol Stein, in his book, Stein on Writing: A Master Editor of Some of the Most Successful Writers of Our Century Shares His Craft Techniques and Strategies, emphasizes that titles are sales tools, an invitation to the world to enter your story. He recommends finding an apt metaphor for the story, preferably one in iambic pentameter.

Titles look outward to the audience and tease. They lay a Welcome mat before the threshold of the story. Today, try writing 20 different titles for your story and then mix and match the words from the 20 until you have 20 new ones. Read them to friends and ask which title makes them want to read the book. Anytime you’re stuck on a revision, play with titles.

Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for Help

My daughter suggested the title for my teacher resource book on prewriting activities for students. She was thinking about brainstorming and storms and writing with pen and paper and came up with this: Paper Lightning. The editor loved it and the title stuck.
Answers: 1C, 2A, 3B.

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Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

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NaNoWriMo and the Evolution of a Writer

Guest post by Beth Cato.

Follow her NaNoWriMo progress at her blog, Catch a Star if It Falls.

For years I dreamed of being a published writer, but I didn’t actually write anything. I had plenty of excuses – college, a full-time job, marriage – but I couldn’t stop that yearning to create stories. NaNoWriMo changed everything.

NaNoWriMo

National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo is described a a writing contest with no rules, no judges and no awards; winning manuscripts are deleted. The goal is to write 50,000 words during the month of November. Of the 120,000 writers who start, about 18% complete the 50,000 words. There are special NaNoWriMo rules for schools that participate.

NaNoWriMo offered a firm deadline and a supportive community, but most of all, it taught me discipline. If I could write 2,000-words-a-day during a November, I could do it all year long. If I dared to post excerpts of my novels-in-progress, I could work up the nerve to submit my work to agents and editors. But it’s been a gradual process, and it reflects my personal maturity as well as the maturity of my writing.

8 Years of Writing

2002

Too afraid to start a work from scratch, instead I wrote a fictionalized autobiographical piece about a disastrous family trip that took place when I was ten. About a week into the November, I posted on the NaNoWriMo forums and declared myself a failure. I was working ten-hour shifts four nights a week, and I was far too tired to write when I got home. My fellow writers encouraged me to keep going. I did. I forced myself to type 5,000-7,000 words on each of my nights off and I made my goal.

2003

I dove into my first original novel effort about a ghostly unicorn, an abused girl, and selkies. No outline, no real plot. I felt tremendously proud of achieving my 50,000-words, but when I re-read my work a few months later, and I was stunned to find it made little sense and my heroine had zero personality. Ouch.

2004

My husband was on full naval deployment and I was entering my second trimester of pregnancy. Writing was a bit tricky since I felt nauseous if I sat at the computer for more than thirty minutes at a time. I somehow fulfilled my 50,000-word goal for MOUSE, and the novel wasn’t even close to completion.

2005

With my husband gone again, an infant crawling underfoot, and under the burden of constant fatigue, I resolved to finish MOUSE. But when my husband returned home partway through the month, I stopped writing at 38,000 words. I didn’t have the energy to walk to the mailbox, much less type.

2006

I was not going to fail again. I did most of my writing via a laptop while my son watched his two favorite TV shows – Sesame Street and The Price Is Right. The story wasn’t done when we went on a Thanksgiving trip to California, so I brought the laptop along and finished the novel at my parents’ house. I did it. For the first time, I felt I had something that might be publishable.

2007

Queries for MOUSE led to agent rejections, but I wasn’t giving up on the dream. THE LOCKED DOOR followed the cross-dimensional adventures of a disillusioned Navy wife. I finished my 50,000 words on November 19th, and then completed the novel in January. I learned my lesson: now I was going to write and edit all year long, not just in November.

2008

After the concept for NORMAL came to me in a dream, I knew this plot would mean trouble. I began researching in May and read and bookmarked my way through five books on anatomy and emergency medicine. Full chapter outlines and character biographies guided my writing, and my word count exploded. In twenty-four days I churned out 74,000-words on my superhero urban fantasy, NORMAL. I finished writing the novel in January and February, and after receiving critical professional feedback, rewrote the entire thing in autumn 2009.

2009

I intend to start on a sequel to NORMAL. I may be a slow learner, but I’m getting better every year.

Lessons from NanoWriMo

What have I learned from slogging through this masochistic ritual
every year since 2002?

• Don’t give up.
• Write when you can. Think out plots while exercising, showering, changing diapers. Jot down notes.
• Set high word count. For NaNoWriMo, the basic daily word count goal is 1,666. Aim higher. I give myself a minimum of 2,000 words a day. It’s worth it to have a safety buffer in case of busy or sick days.
• No time to be stuck. There isn’t time to suffer from writer’s block. If you’re stuck, skip the scene. You can go back and flesh it out later.
• Quantity. NaNoWriMo is about quantity, not quality. First drafts stink. That’s what editing is for.

The tears, carpal tunnel, and sleep deprivation are worth the effort. Nothing compares to seeing that completed progress bar on the NaNoWriMo site. “I wrote a novel. I did it. I made the time. I’m an author.” Once you experience that high, you’ll understand why suckers like me keep coming back every year.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

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Review of

Nail Your Novel by Roz Morris

British author and writing teacher Roz Morris has a new book out just in time to help you with that first draft of your new novel. You know, the one you’re going to write in November for National Novel Writing Month, better known as NaNoWriMo.

Hiccups in your Confidence and Motivation

Morris writes with great wit and wisdom about the writing process, starting with those awkward moments when you actually admit, “Yes, I’m, uh, writing, well, you know, something a bit longer. Maybe, a, uh, a novel.”

Writing always begins here, by acknowledging the writer as a person with the usual insecurities. Morris address this directly by providing you with some structure. No, structure isn’t for everyone, but for beginners, structure can be a comfort and save them a lot of time. Her process involves a series of tasks, breaking down the process into smaller steps:

• Task 1: Shaping your inspiration
• Task 2: Starting this specific novel
• Task 3: Focused research
• Task 4: A structural survey for you novel
• Task 5: Detailed synopsis
• Task 6: How to free your muse and turn off your inner critic
• Task 7: Before you look at your manuscript again
• Task 8: The beat sheet game
• Task 9: Revising your manuscript
• Task 10: Your submission process

Help for NaNoWriMo writers

Authors embarking on the month-long adventure of writing 50,000 words in November will appreciate the first few tasks. Morris gives you direction on how to thicken the plot, find inspiration, decide what does NOT belong in the book, accept random input, and generally get the overall story thought out.

Research (Task 3) can flesh out details further:

“Research might throw up all sorts of interesting situations. For instance, I was commissioned to write a novel about people selling kidneys in India. Reading about the poverty in the villages inspired the start of the story – a young girl decides to sell her kidney to get her family out of debt. Of course, once she’s in the clutches of the butchers, she changes her mind, poor love. Meanwhile, her family are desperate to get her back.”

Overall, Morris’ experience enhances the book. This is a process she is intimately acquainted with and daily practices. Even if you’re experienced, I recommend the book as a review for concepts you already know. Because I think you’ll also find some unexpected nuggets. And for more nuggets, read Roz Morris’ blog, Dirty White Candy (Yes, a strange name for a blog, you say. Morris explains it on her home page). Example of her posts: How to Make Readers Root for Your Character

NaNoWriMo Special!
For three weeks, until 21 October, you can download the e-book of Nail Your Novel for 99p! That’s a whopping £2 off the usual price of £2.99. So if you’re preparing a book for NaNoWriMo this will help you firm up your plans, fill your plot holes – so you are ready to blast off on 1 November with confidence. Just click on the pic!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

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First Page: So much from so few words

At the AR-SCBWI fall retreat this weekend, Alexandra Penfold, Associate Editor of S&S took us through a discussion of first pages of our novel mss. She commented on the pages, then opened the discussion for other comments or questions. Here are some observations on the discussions (Note: these should in no way be construed as Penfold’s opinions, but only my observations of the discussions):

• So much from so few words. The first pages of a novel do encapsulate so much of the story and are extremely important to establish setting, character, pace, audience, tone, voice and more.


First Pages Give Editors & Agents
a Door Knob to Turn
(Photo from
http://www.flickr.com/photos/criggchef/2665328223/)

• Audience. Sometimes, the discussion centered on the intended audience. This means we didn’t even discuss much about the actual writing except what it evoked in terms of audience. Age level (picture book, early reader, early chapter, tween, middle grade, YA or teen) and trade v. education market were the main focuses. From just a few sentences, it was possible to get a handle on the authors intentions for these two crucial things.
• Too little information-Confusion. Some pages left the readers confused. Where are we and what is going on? Usually, the author was trying to create a sense of mystery, but in the process held back too much information. Orson Scott Card has said that the only thing you hold back is what happens next.
• Too much information-Overwhelmed with information dump. On the other end of the spectrum is the possibility of too much back story, description, flashbacks, information. We only need enough to understand the scene-in-progress.
• No opening scene. Some mss opened with description, interior thoughts of characters, etc. There was no opening scene. These tended to lose the reader’s attention.
• Good balance. Some mss were well-balanced, starting with an active protagonist involved in a scene with an immediate, concrete goal. It was balanced with action, thought, a touch of motivation, a touch of description. The tone and voice were interesting and we all wanted to turn the page to see what happened next.

Strong openings don’t necessarily mean your novel will sell; it’s easier to write a couple pages well than to sustain a story over a couple hundred pages. Still, a strong opening will likely get an editor or agent to request the full mss; it’s a door knob for them to grab; it’s the starting place for your career.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

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Issues I Must Deal With in This Novel Revision

How’s your novel revision going, Darcy?
Big v. little issues. I work for a while to clarify in my mind the big structural issues, then work on a single chapter of the novel, making it fit that overall structure. But at some point, I lose sight of the overall picture, and I’m just doing line editing. When I finally catch myself, then I have to shift focus back to the structure of the novel. I know how it should go, but it practice, it’s messy. Frustrating.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/morganfrederick94/122138564/

Besides structural issues, what are you working on?
Feedback forces changes. As I revise each chapter, I also go through mss that my friends marked to see where they were confused or bored. This raises various issues that must be dealt with. MUST BE DEALT WITH, I remind myself sternly. I cannot ignore a comment, even if I disagree or even if I think the commenter is purely sadistic. Forcing myself to consider what the reader felt, understood, hated, etc. is important. But it’s messy. Frustrating.

Wow. Two frustrating things in this novel revision. Anything else going on?
Major plot changes. Oh, yes. There’s one major plot point in the novel coming up soon that I MUST DEAL WITH. But I have no idea what to do. It will totally change the climax of a subplot and I like that climax. I don’t want to change it. I don’t want to re-imagine it. I know that I MUST DEAL WITH IT, but I’m waiting until I get there next week. Still, not knowing the solution is messy. Frustrating.

Can you verbalize the issues you are facing in your novel revision? It helps me to be able to say, this is the problem I must deal with. General complaining helps, too. It does! It gets out the frustration, so when I get to the actual writing of the novel, I can make that shift to right-brained writing and get so involved in what I’m doing that I lose track of time. In that mental state, there are no frustrations, there’s only the writing.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

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The Louisiana retreat this weekend was great!

We met at St. Joseph’s Abbey in Covington, LA, which is just north of Lake Ponchitrain. It was interesting to cross the causeway, a 25 or 30 minute drive – such a feat of engineering. Of course, there was discussion of the aftermath of Katrina, which is still being felt, particularly as the SCBWI has rebuilt its membership.

Novel Revision Retreat in Covington, LA.

We were met by Sister Bernadetta, a nun originally from Italy, but assigned to the US since 1969. She was our hospitality person for the first night and a treat to meet. The facility was great, but the people were better.

16 talented writers concentrating on revising novels – they were an intense, dedicated, hard-working bunch. We marked shrunken manuscripts six different ways and the full-size manuscript another couple ways. They stumped me on the emotional/character arc for a while, but we worked through it in the end.

I’m looking for lots of good news from Louisiana in the years to come.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Still working on revising my WIP novel, scene by scene. In the novel’s scene I just worked on, the main character is sitting at a school assembly. It’s an important assembly which sets up the main point of the story; however, as in most such assemblies, the action of the novel’s scene takes place on stage and adults are doing the most important thing.

Not good. My character is just passively watching.

Activate the Character

http://www.flickr.com/photos/2create/2144345327/

What if he’s in charge of the media for the presentation? He would have to sit in a different place and I can play with how to make that a minor obstacle: perhaps, he has to sit with the kindergarten kids on the first row to reach the projector. He’ll also be closer to the stage when a big disaster happens and be more directly involved. That’s a good start.

My protag also needs an active goal for the scene: supporting his step-mother as she presents. When the event falls apart, he’ll blame himself. That’s much better.

Is your character active in every scene? If not, try these:

• Character traits. Look carefully at your character to find something for him/her to do that is consistent with their interests. There’s probably something around in the setting, the event, the dialogue – somewhere.
• Setting. Move the character around if necessary, putting him/her in a different place. Draw a map and put an X on the character’s current spot. Point to other places on the map and think about what the character could do if positioned in one of these places.
• Scene Goal: Put yourself in the character’s POV. What is the character’s goal for the scene? Find something for him/her to care about intensely and work from there to find actions for the character.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

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Do you ever type up someone else’s picture book or a chapter from someone else’s book? I do. I find that just reading a selection, even reading aloud, doesn’t get me into the language and rhythm patterns as well as typing the text does.

My intent with this exercise isn’t to mimic the selected text, but to study something about a particular genre, publisher, target audience, etc. Then, I can break any of the “rules” I’ve uncovered because I understand better why the author made this set of choices about words, sentences, rhythm patterns and reading levels. Now – off to writing.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Reading a Critique of My Novel is. . .

painful. It’s necessary. It’s helpful. But it’s painful. So, I’ve developed an avoidance strategy that helps me deal with the pain. No, I don’t avoid the critique altogether, because that’s not helpful. I need and want feedback on my novel. But my ego doesn’t like it. Not one little bit!

Here’s what I did this time: I asked for critiques during a time that I knew I wouldn’t be able to concentrate on the novel revision because of other projects, family obligations and the season of the year. I openly told my critiquers that I was busy with something else, so take their time: I didn’t want them dropping important projects for a rush critique.

Then, when the critiques came in, I skimmed them. And closed the file.

Six Weeks Later – Distance

I’m now ready to start seriously digging into the novel, changing set-up, back story, character motivations, character descriptions, character qualities, setting, plot events and anything else I can find to work on. Re-reading the critiques this week was OK. I had some distance and I’m ready for the process. Distance has helped.

Before the cooling off period? The critiques seemed harsh, the critiquer as discouraging as possible. The novel in question seemed ready for the trash.
Now? The critiques seem gentle and helpful. They are indeed pointing out flaws that must be addressed, exactly what I needed and wanted. The critiques seem almost encouraging.

Almost. Well, yes, there’s still an ego problem. Always will be. But I can deal with the critiques now and early this summer, I just couldn’t. For me, the cooling off period has been essential.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

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“She stopped and remembered her home town and how it felt to be ten years old when she moved. . .”

I checked out two books-on-tape yesterday and tried to listen to them. The first one started at a certain point, then immediately went into a flashback, within the first page. Ditto for the second.

Yes, these are published books; they are books-on-tape. But I didn’t make it through the first chapter of either.

Fatal Backstory and Flashbacks

The best explanation of why this type opening is fatal comes from David Morrell in his book, Lessons From a Lifetime of Writing. The chapter entitled, “The Tactics of Structure” . A normal story timeline should be Event A, Event B, Event C.

The structure of these openings, however was B – A – C. In fact, one of the stories does this endlessly through the first chapter. The story opens with a young man on a journey, with an appropriate set up of his environment, mode of travel, eventual destination, etc. Then, he closes his eyes and remembers the sights and sounds of his home town. Back to the present with a grouchy traveling companion and a few bits of dialogue. Then, back to his father’s life, his father’s rise and fall in his profession, his father’s hopes that his son would follow in his footsteps, and finally, his father’s death, leading to this journey. Back to the present with the grouchy companion.

We have B1 – A1 – B2 – A2 – B3 – A3 and never even get to C.

How did this pass through editing, I wonder? Nothing has happened. I’m bored with all the flashbacks and back story. If all that was important to know at the beginning of the story, then the author started at the wrong place in the story. It should have been A- B- C. Start the story with a scene showing the successful father at work, then his death, then the character’s decision to travel, a scene saying goodbye to Mom, etc.

At the beginning, we simply need to meet the character on his/her journey and understand the present situation.

Where to put Back Story?

Literary agent Donald Maass recommends putting it much later in the story, after page 100, at least. You only put the information in when it affects the current story and deepens the current emotions. Otherwise, weave in tiny bits and pieces (that’s OK) but leave out scenes and these boring, “he closed his eyes and pictured his home town.”

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win