The LadyKillers

Adventures in Outlining

by Margaret Lucke

Some writers swear by outlines. Some writers swear at them. 

I've done both.

For my most recent novel, House of Whispers, I wrote a detailed outline. The publisher requested a synopsis, and the only way I could see to come up with one for a book I hadn't written yet was to figure out the whole story, scene by scene, and then condense it into a couple of pages. Developing the outline was hard work. It made my brain hurt. But once it was finished, writing the book went quickly and smoothly, and the creative pleasure didn't diminish at all. It was fun to add flesh to the bare bones of the story and bring it life. I was more than willing to change the outline if the story turned out to require that, but it didn't prove necessary.

The follow-up book, House of Desire, resisted every effort I made to outline it. So I plunged in, discovering the story as I wrote it. I can see why this approach might appeal to an author. The theory is that if you don't plan it in advance, the story will retain its freshness and its ability to surprise. True enough, but for me, not knowing what was going to happen next has proved to be a burden. I've just finished the first draft, which took much longer than I anticipated. The plot kept veering off in unexpected directions, which meant that much of what I set up at the beginning never played out, while the eventual resolution was never set up. I have a big rewrite ahead of me.

I had the best of both worlds when wrote my first mystery, A Relative Stranger. I came up with a three-stage technique that I call the 1-2-3 outline. My plan was to plot out the novel in some detail, but by the time I'd figured out a third of the story, I'd grown impatient to begin writing. I was eager to see the characters in action, to see my vision take shape on the page. I put aside my outline and wrote several chapters.

Soon I reached uncharted territory. Writing grew difficult. I couldn't move forward because I didn't know what happened next. So I outlined another chunk. Satisfied that I'd reestablished my sense of direction, I wrote those chapters. Finally, I plotted the ending and completed the first draft. Later I read about the three-act story structure that screenwriters and some novelists use, and realized I'd stumbled on it instinctively.

This back-and-forth process, alternating stages of planning with stages of actually writing, worked well. It gave me control of the story while keeping it fresh, vital and open to surprise. It let me take advantage of serendipity--those fortuitous elements that the Muse slips into the story when you're not paying full attention, ideas that would never occur to you while outlining.

For example, early in A Relative Stranger, my detective Jess Randolph enters the murder victim's apartment. Her artist's eye is drawn to a painting on the wall. When I wrote the scene, the painting was just set decoration, a prop to give a tidbit of insight into both Jess and the victim. Imagine my surprise when, several chapters later, the painting was stolen in what turned out be a key twist of the plot. It was too minor a detail at first to surface in my mind during the planning phase. Had I outlined the book straight through, I wouldn't have known the painting was there, and I would have lost a valuable opportunity.

The lesson here, if there is one, is that what works for one author, or even for one book, might not work at all for another. To outline or not? It's  question that we all must answer on our own.

A Fact of Life

By Margaret Lucke

In the earliest days of my writing career, I read a biography of the iconic author F. Scott Fitzgerald. It mentioned that Fitzgerald received 287 rejections before he ever sold a word. He papered his bedroom walls with them. This may not be the exact figure, but it's close, and it's the number that sticks in my mind.

Being on my way to assembling my own collection of rejection slips, I took heart from this. If Fitzgerald could be rejected that often, and persevere and succeed, then so could I.

Let's face it, rejection is a fact of life for writers. If we let it discourage us, pretty soon we'd be writing nothing but grocery lists.

Sometimes it's hard to accept that no means no, straight and simple. When we receive a rejection letter, we try to read between the lines. Was my story rejected because it's awful and I'm a terrible person who should never set my fingers on a pen or a keyboard again? Of course not, though with my first few rejections it was easy to read them this way. But there are lots of reasons why rejection can happen. Maybe the editor was rejecting everything on the day she read because a headache or a fight with her boyfriend had put her in a foul mood. Maybe my story was the twelfth one she'd read that week to feature a four-foot-high green-haired vampire as the detective and she was weary of concept by the time she got to mine.

I've discovered that there are hierarchies of rejection, and I've received them from every level. At the bottom of the list is the basic form letter that says, "We regret that your submission does not meet our present needs." Maybe that's true, or maybe the publisher words it that way because it sounds slightly better than "Are you kidding? You were really thinking we'd ever publish this?"

Next comes the form letter with a handwritten scribble -- the words "thank you" or, even better, a personal note.

At the third level is an invitation to submit something else -- "Try us again."

If I'm really lucky I'll achieve the fourth level, getting a comment that refers to details in the story so I know someone actually read it.

At the top of the pyramid is the personal letter so glowing and complimentary I have to read it twice to realize they've rejected me. Though I've never received one as flattering as this legendary rejection, purportedly sent to a would-be contributor by the China Economic Review:

"We have read your manuscript with boundless delight. If we were to publish your paper it would be impossible for us to publish any work of a lower standard. And, as it is unthinkable that, in the next thousand years, we shall see its equal, we are, to our regret, compelled to return your divine composition, and to beg you to overlook our short sight and timidity."

At the other extreme, I've also never received rejections as chilling as these chilling letters, cited by novelist Lawrence Block in one of his Writer's Digest fiction-writing columns years ago. (No, they weren't addressed to him; they were examples provided by publishing industry sources.) The first was brief and to the point: "I regret that I must return the enclosed shipment of paper as unsatisfactory. Someone has spoiled it by typing gibberish on every single sheet."

The second provided detailed instructions to the writer, who had sent a literary agent a novel that was apparently a vicious racist screed: "I suggest you take the following steps with regard to your manuscript.  1) Go out in the back yard and dig a hole several feet deep.  2) Place your manuscript at the bottom of the hole.  3) Fill in the hole and firm the soil in place.  4) Do not plant anything intended for human consumption in that portion of your garden for at least seven years."

These make the standard form letter look good, don't you think?

Breaking the Rules of Writing

by Margaret Lucke

British novelist W. Somerset Maugham once offered this advice to aspiring authors: "There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are."

Now I ask you, how is that supposed to be helpful? If writers can't know the rules, how are we supposed to break them?

Actually there are plenty of rules. Do a Google search for "rules for writing" and you'll come up with lists and lists of them. Elmore Leonard offers ten, aimed at helping writers avoid what he calls hooptedoodle--and who among us hasn't committed hooptedoodle from time to time? Mark Twain, in his satirical essay "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses," managed to come up with eighteen. Showing restraint, George Orwell limited himself to six, the last of which gave this instruction: "Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous."

In 2010, inspired by the New York Times essay ten years earlier in which Elmore Leonard put forth his instructions, the British newspaper The Guardian published an article called "Ten Rules for Writing Fiction." The editors asked twenty-eight noted writers, among Margaret Atwood, Neil Gaiman, PD James, Joyce Carol Oates, and Ian Rankin, for their writing dos and don'ts. Not everyone came up with ten, but the article provides a total of 228 rules to go with Leonard's. Some are wise, some witty, and some downright silly. All in all it's a lot of writing advice.

When I've taught writing classes, I've found that beginners often want rules. When you're face to face with that terrifying blank page, there's something comforting about the implied guarantee: if you put down the words in a particular way, and develop your story according to a certain pattern, and set your margins at the proper width, then you'll be a good writer. Writing is a very personal activity. Putting yourself on the page can make you feel vulnerable. Rules promise to provide a bulwark against the risks.

But that's an illusion. To succeed you need to break the rules. Or at least to come up with a set of your own. Of course it helps to learn the craft, but because writing is so personal, there's no one-size-fits-all way to go about it. Figuring out what works for you is a trial-and-error process. And as I've discovered to my dismay, what worked for the last book won't necessarily work for the next one.

So go ahead, make up your own rules. Then break them all you want. With one exception--a single writing rule that might be worth abiding by. I've heard it from various sources, and I wish I could find out who said it first so I could give proper credit. Here it is:

"There's only one rule for writing: Writers write. Everything else is a guideline."

Between the Sheets

By Margaret Lucke

The place where I like to get acquainted with new authors is in bed. In fact, that's where I like to spend time with my old favorites too.

It doesn't matter where we first meet. It might be at a bookstore, or a library, or a mystery convention. Perhaps a friend introduces us, saying, "Here’s one you'll enjoy getting to know." I take them home and the anticipation begins.

Finally, at midnight or close to it, I get ready. I turn down the covers, plump the pillows, and snuggle into my bed. Feeling excited, I turn my attention to this new treat, eager to pull it into my embrace. I run my fingers along its spine, caress the smooth skin that covers it. Finally I open it wide, ready to get to know it intimately and partake of whatever delights it will offer. And the adventure begins.

I look forward all day to bedtime because that's when I get to do most of my reading for pleasure. It’s true that I have words in front of my face all day--the newspaper at breakfast (yes, I still subscribe to a print edition), my book-in-progress during the morning, Internet research or a manuscript I'm critiquing or a newsletter I'm editing during the afternoon and evening. All worthwhile, but very different from reading a novel just for the sheer enjoyment it provides. And those activities manage to fill up the hours until it's my time, bedtime, reading time. As I lie there beneath my comforter, cozy in the warm circle of light from the bedside lamp, I cross the threshold into a new world. I set my daily grind aside as I enter the lives of the people between the pages and a compelling story unfolds. 

I'm always happy when a writer whose work I've enjoyed before has a new release, but there's something special about taking a new author to bed. Will I be bored or disappointed and fall asleep too soon? Will I find myself taking up my mental red pencil and poking it at offending prose?

Or this time will I fall in love? That is always the promise a book makes, and I always hope it will come true. There's nothing like having a companion in bed whose company you adore, who thrills you and leaves you eager for more.

Good night, and happy reading!

My Favorite Readers Are . . .

By Margaret Lucke

"The more you read, the more things you will know.
The more that you know, the more places you will go."
-- Dr. Seuss

My favorite readers are kids. It always makes me happy to see a child engrossed in a book. Not one of my books, necessarily--I tend to write for an older audience. But having been a book-loving child myself, I know well how the habit of reading can enrich a child's life.

Books can introduce you to new friends, transport you to fascinating places, take you on marvelous adventures. And once you've discovered the magic to be found in books, chances are you'll keep coming back for more. The habit of reading can be hard to break; it tends to last a lifetime. And thank goodness for that. Kids who find pleasure in reading tend to become adults who read for pleasure. Which is a good thing because books can be such a great source of enjoyment. And, let's admit it, we writers enjoy having readers.

So I'm delighted when I go into my local library at the Peek-a-Books Storytime and find a full house of eager preschoolers. Or when the mom of the three-year-old charmer in my extended family sends her to her room to pick out a bedtime story, and the little one comes back with so many books that they're spilling out of her tiny arms. Or when I'm strolling through the park at the foot of my hill on a warm spring afternoon and see a boy sitting on bench, so absorbed in his book that he's not noticing any of the activity going on around him. 

Kids today have lots of entertainment options, with electronic devices that put movies, music and games at their fingerprints. I'm a fan of such things myself, but if you ask me, none of those alternatives stimulate the imagination or challenge the intellect the way a book can. None provides quite the same kind of magic.

Studies have shown that children who read have many advantages. Compared to nonreaders, they do well in school and are more likely to go to college. They have better communication skills and greater self-discipline. They have a superior understanding of the world around them. They are more apt to avoid negative behaviors like drug and alcohol use. They're better equipped to succeed as adults in an economy where literacy skills are increasingly important.

So I believe in encouraging young readers. Read to the kids you know. Give them books as holiday gifts and birthdays.

Who knows, one of them may choose to read one of my books someday.

Julia and Me--Thoughts About Food and Life

By Margaret Lucke

Food for thought is anything that stimulates your thinking. Lately, thanks to a book I'm currently reading, I've been thinking a lot about … food. And also about life.

The book is an excellent biography called Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child, by Bob Spitz. Even though I haven’t mastered the art of French cooking, and saw her TV shows only on rare occasions, I've always felt
a kinship with Julia.

Two things draw me toward her. One is the fact that we share a birthday (the month and day, that is, not the year). The other is a story I heard about something that happened during the filming of a TV episode. As Julia was preparing the dish of the week, some ingredient or other slopped onto the floor. "Oh, don't worry about that," she trilled in her unmistakable voice. "The self-cleaning floor will take of it." Within minutes, the network received more than two hundred calls from viewers asking where they could purchase their own self-cleaning floor.

I don’t know if that story is true, but I hope it is, because
I like what it says about Julia's approach to cooking. Concentrate on what's important--the food--and don't let a little spill deter you. And keep your sense of humor while you're at it. All of which, when you think about it, is pretty good advice for life too.

Julia was more than a successful cookbook author and a TV star. She changed not only American perceptions of French cuisine, but also the culture surrounding food and the role it plays our lives. Given all that she accomplished, I was surprised to learn from Spitz's book that she wandered through life with no sense of direction until she was close to forty. That’s when she arrived in Paris with her husband, Paul, who'd been posted there by the US State Department. She was a bored housewife who lacked kitchen skills, unable to do much more than boil water. Looking for a way to pass the time, she wandered into Le Cordon Bleu cooking school and decided to take lessons. There she discovered her life’s work and from that point on, she pursued it with an unrelenting passion.

I find her story inspiring--not the cooking part necessarily, but the dedication, the enthusiasm and the joie de vivre. All of those traits are worth cultivating, in my opinion. On our mutual birthday last summer—her 100th, mine a much smaller number—I decided to bake her signature Reine de Saba cake in her honor. Chocolate, almonds, rum, delicious! As Julia would say, "Bon appetit!"

NEWS and Food for Thought

NEWS FLASHES!!

• LadyKillers Penny Warner, Carole Price and Susan Shea will be speaking together on Monday, February 25, at the Alta Mira Club in San Leandro, California (1 p.m.).
• Sharan Newman will be speaking about "Women in Medieval Times" at the Medford Branch Library in Medford, Oregon, on Wednesday February 20, noon to 1:00 p.m.
• Margaret Lucke will lead a memoir writing workshop called "Telling Your Story" on Tuesday, February 19, from 1 pm to 4 pm, at the Orinda Public Library, 26 Orinda Way, Orinda, California. There is no charge, but the library requests that you sign up in advance. Go to http://ccclib.org/locations/orinda.html to register or learn more.
• Chrystle Fiedler, author of Scent to Kill: A Natural Remedies Mystery, will be the LadyKillers' honored guest on Thursday, February 21st.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

... Is the topic for the coming week. Bring your coffee, your munchies, and your musings to the screen each morning and join us in the conversation!

A Conversation About Creativity

By Margaret Lucke

"Our topic this week on The LadyKillers is creativity," I announce. "Such a vast subject! What the heck do people mean anyway, when they say that word?"

My Muse is sitting in the corner of my office, doodling in a sketchbook. She looks up and says, "Mental sex."

I stare at her. "Say what?"

"Hey, I didn't make that up. Roger von Oech did, in a book he wrote called A Whack on the Side of the Head. He said that creative thinking is the sex of our mental lives, the way new ideas are generated. Just like physical sex is the way new organisms come into being. And might I point out that both types of sex give us pleasure?"

"I hadn't thought of it that way before," I confess. "I've been looking up definitions of creativity, and all kinds of words come up: originality, novelty, problem-solving, ideation, innovation, imagination. Lots of -ation words."

Her turn to look puzzled. "Asian words?"

"No, no, -ation words. Fat, fancy nouns that end in -a-t-i-o-n. For instance, in his seminal 1926 tome The Art of Thought, social psychologist Graham Wallas described the creative process as having five stages: preparation, incubation, intimation, illumination, and verification—"

"Nonsense. That kind of stuffy analysis is the opposite of creativity. If you're a writer, all you need is a blank page and a happy Muse."

"And what makes a Muse happy?" I wonder aloud.

"Tea." She holds out her mug. "By the way, this is empty."

I get up from my desk chair and take the mug. "You know, it wasn't until the Enlightment that the notion of creativity took hold. In ancient times it wasn't even a concept. Only the gods could create. All that mortals could do was make or discover things. The role of the Muses was simply to help the gods point the way."

"We Muses have always been misunderstood." She sighs, and then repeats: "Tea."

"Is that all it takes?" I stand up from my desk, mug in hand.

She smiles as she flips open the sketchbook. The page is fresh, white, empty. "Chocolate helps too."

"So tea and chocolate lead to mental sex?"

My Muse nods. "Trust me on this."

I'm both chuckling and shaking my head as I go to the kitchen. When I return a few minutes later with a steaming mug and a chocolate chip cookie, my Muse is scribbling furiously on the formerly blank page.

"Here you go," I say, setting the tea and cookie beside her.

"Thanks. And this is for you," she replies, acting surprisingly shy as she hands me the sketchbook.

I read what's written there, my excitement building with every word. "Wow, this is brilliant! How did you ever come up with it?"

She gives a who-knows shrug. "It will get you started for today."

"Thank you!" I rush to my computer and begin typing. I know there will be rough patches along the way, but the story is off to a fine start. Whatever mystical origin the words came from, they are now flowing through my mind, out from my fingertips and onto the page.

My Muse chomps on her cookie. Wiping crumbs from her chin, she says, "Isn't creativity fun?"

12 Tips for Self-Editing

By Margaret Lucke

"There is no such thing as good writing -- there is only good rewriting."
-- Anonymous

You've come up with a great plot. You've created characters that your readers will love and root for (or root against, in the case of a villain). Now that you've finished that first draft, or the second one, what else can you do to make your book a standout?

Part of my "day job" involves critiquing and editing manuscripts for other writers. Based on what I've learned from reading and analyzing many manuscripts, and from reader what writers wiser than I am say about our craft, I see the revision process as having two main goals. Here they are, along with some tips to help you achieve them both when you're going over your work with a red pencil in hand:

Goal 1:  Give the reader a rich experience

Nonfiction provides information. Fiction is about plunging your readers into your story world and giving them a rewarding experience there. If you engage their emotions and make them feel like participants in what's going on, they'll come away satisfied.

1.  Show, don't tell. Yes, this has become something of a cliché, but there's a reason--because telling the story mainly through action and dialogue makes it more lively and engaging for the reader.

 2.  Tell the story in scenes. Make each scene a mini-story, in which a specific action occurring at a specific moment and in a specific place.

 3.  Keep the point of view consistent. Put your readers in one character's mind and keep them there for the entire scene--or the entire book.

 4.  Stay in the present moment. Keep time in your story moving forward. Let your readers feel like the story is happening right now in front of their eyes.

 5.  Use vivid details. Details are the bricks you use to build a bridge between your imagination and the reader's. Make them specific, sensory, and in keeping with what your POV character would notice.

 6.  Make your dialogue sound like real people talking. Give your characters individual, colloquial voices and keep their conversations interactive.

Goal 2:  Achieve the maximum impact in the minimum number of words

This doesn't mean you can't write a long story or use lush, detailed prose to tell it. Just be sure that every word makes a real contribution to the effect you're trying to create.

7.  Make every word earn its keep. Ask yourself:  How can I say this more sharply, effectively, succinctly?

 8.  Watch for the 3 R's. Try to avoid too many repetitions, rhetorical questions, and ruminations (those long passages where a character does nothing but think).

9.  Don't overexplain. Draw readers into your story world, show them what is happening there, and let them reach their own understanding.

10.  Remember that shorter = faster. To pick up the pace, use shorter words, shorter sentences, shorter paragraphs, and shorter scenes.

11.  Don't hide your strong points. If a dramatic moment occurs, don't bury in the middle of a paragraph. And construct sentences and paragraphs so that the strongest word or idea comes at the end.

12.  Choose words for their effect as well as their meaning. Consider their energy level, emotional impact, sound and rhythm, and the mental picture they create.

What are your favorite self-editing tips?

Ten Things I'm Hoping for in 2013

 

MHL

By Margaret Lucke

Here we are at the darkest time of the year. I think hope must have originated around the winter solstice, way back when humankind first recognized that this was an annual pivot point; no matter how the short and dim and cold the days became, the year would turn and the days would grow longer and brighter and warmer again. With this positive shift, it became possible to believe that other positive things could occur. Goals might be accomplished. Efforts might be rewarded. Situations might improve.

January 1 hasn't always been the designated day for the start of the new year, but it seems logical to begin the year close to the winter solstice and the return of the sun. It's become a time to make resolutions for ourselves and offer good wishes to others. Here are some of the things I'm hoping for in 2013:

* * *

On a personal level:

1.   That the first draft of my novel-in-progress will (finally) be finished. I got so-o-o close to typing "The End" this year, but then came the holiday season with all of its delightful distractions. But this is one hope that's pretty much guaranteed to come to fruition very soon.

2.   That I'll see that novel happily published.

3    That I'll gain some insight into what "happily published" might mean, given the way that the publishing world is flipping itself topsy-turvy.

4.   That this will be the year when I finally get my office decluttered and organized.

5.   That I'll enjoy some pleasant travels and happy adventures.

6.   That I'll end the year thinner and fitter than is the case as the year begins.

* * *

Plus a few hopes on a larger scale:

7.   That politicians in this nation, this state, and my own little town will stop acting like kindergartners and learn how to make decisions for the greater good of people and places they serve.

8.   That we will be able to achieve enough of a consensus to move forward on important issues that affect us all, like guns and climate change.

9.   That we will move closer to making the notion of "Peace on earth, goodwill to men (and women and children)" more than just a seasonal catch phrase.

* * *

And most important of all:

10. That the coming year will be very good to you and yours.

The solstice was a week ago. Have you noticed that already the days are growing longer and brighter?

Happy New Year, everyone!