You Must Try it On

I’m watching “What Not to Wear,” TLC’s fashion advice show. The hosts, Stacy and Clinton preach one thing that struck me today: you must try clothes on to see if they fit and look the way you want. You can’t tell anything by just looking at something on a hanger. You must see it on your body.

Revising a novel can be like that, too. I’m facing a major change in my story and I’m just fiddling with ideas. Instead, I need to “try it on” and do some sample writing, trying out the ideas.

In this draft of my novel, the villain is not believable in important ways. I need to soften him, yet still keep the impact of his actions emotionally the same. The problem is that I can’t figure out how to replace his evil ways with something equally evil or deceptive or twisted or, well, something. This will directly change the climax of an important subplot, which feeds into the story’s main climax.

I’ve been making lists and have a couple options of what is plausible, what is not, given these characters and situation. Now, I need to do “try them on” my story. I plan to do some free-writing, trying out different approaches until something hits.

One thing is guaranteed: it won’t be the first thing I try. I’m just hoping it’ll be the third or fourth!

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Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

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What Age Do you Have to Be to Write a Novel?

The question of the perfect age to write a novel comes up sometimes when I do school visits.

• Too young? At what age are you too young to write a novel and have it published? I’ve seen a 13 year old published and published well.
• Too old? And Richard Peck (April 5, 1934 – ) is still writing strong and many say he’s writing his best work now, including this one due out in September.

Basically, you just need to have a story you want to tell and you want to tell it badly enough that you’ll play with words over a long period of time so you get enough words written.

Strategies for Different Ages

But this also means that you must find different ways of working for your stage of life. When I first started writing, I had four kids at home and was home schooling the oldest. I carried around an ink pen to remind myself that when I had fifteen minutes free, I should write.

Today, I go to work at my office and try to work 4-6 hours per day. It’s hard to make myself stop when I come home!

Find a way to work. Find habits that let you work and revise your novel.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

My WIP novel has hit a snag. I was just writing along, following the plot I outlined, concentrating on using strong scenes this time, when I came to a curious section.

Choosing a Point of View Character

Here the main character (MC) needs to be housebound because of a flu epidemic. But the plot requires several events to be happening. Fortunately, the secondary character (SC) is still moving around and could do these events, but then there’s the question of whose POV to use?

NOT the MC, because he won’t be there. But I’ve been writing all this story in 3rd person MC’s POV. Now, two-thirds of the way into the story, I need to use the SC’s POV. And it came out in 1st person. OK. That can happen. A story can have some chapters in 3rd, some in 1st. But then, I rewrote the SC’s POV, trying for an edgier voice and — WOW, I found a great voice for this story.

I’ve been trusting the process to find the voice I needed for the story and suddenly, there it is. But it’s in the SC’s POV. I’ve tried the Voice in the MC’s POV and it works. But does that mean I’ll write alternating POV chapters? If so, how do I distinguish between the MC’s and SC’s voices?

So, I’m struggling. I can’t move on until I make some decisions, because POV and Voice determine so much of a story. It’s not a matter of just “translating” what I’ve done into the new Voice.

Voice Trumps Everything

At this point, I’ve got to revisit some basic decisions about the story, because Voice trumps everything.

So, here are some of the basic questions I’m re-visiting:

• Whose story is this? Who hurts the most and has the most at stake?
• Will the story work with alternating POV? If so, who is the lead character?
• What is the main story I want to tell? If I add in the SC’s POV, then how much more story development does that POV need? I would imagine lots, but the story is already long enough and doesn’t need more length. I’ll need to refocus the story.
• Can I return to what I’ve already got, but replot so the MC can be moving around during that flu epidemic? Do I really need to do all this change? If I stick with the original, will the Voice change be enough? Will it really work for the MC, instead of the SC, where it originally arose?

It’s unsettling times for this story, but there’s no looking back. Voice trumps everything, so I’ve got to tackle this head on and not avoid it. It’s a major detour, but a necessary one.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win