Well, after availing myself
of Canada’s culture for a week, I am back home in the good old U.S. of A. As I
predicted, I didn’t manage to get up blogs about the last two days of class
with New York Times Bestselling Author, Joy Fielding, so here’s a slightly
condensed version of what we learned on days
4 & 5:
Onward to the tidbits:
- “Bad writing is contagious.” Indeed.
Joy came to class bearing some of her books that she thought might be helpful for a few of us in untangling our plots or figuring out our narrative thrusts. Since some folks were writing about science fiction or YA Fantasy, not everyone received a book. I was delighted to receive a copy of “Kiss Mommy Goodbye,” (which Joy signed) and I’d never read. She challenged each of us to read the books from an analytical standpoint, to study what she did and why, since there were “no accidents,” in what she wrote.
4 & 5:
Day 4
We’d each been asked as a writing exercise the day
before to do a five point outline of our manuscript. That was tougher than a
25-word or less summary. I handed in my
five points for critique and got a pretty good response, with Joy’s comment that
I seemed to be “figuring it out,” and she liked what we discussed in class the
day before with regard to my plot.Onward to the tidbits:
- Don’t leave
troubling questions in your story
- Don’t be wedded
to the facts
- The dramatic
journey is important, vs. what actually happened
- Get away from the
literal truth to get to the real truth – what’s important is the revelation
- Book Titles:
choose something with an emotional pull; you’re telling a story in a few words
- Joy doesn’t like
a few of her titles; in fact she “hated” the title for “Don’t Cry Now,” (good
book, BTW) and felt “The First Time” “wasn’t strong.” She particularly liked the title for “Mad
River Road,” which was inspired by an exit she saw off of an expressway in
Ohio.
- Write for the people who like you
- Write for the people who like you
- “Bad writing is contagious.” Indeed.
- Sequels should
allow you to come to each book on its own and make sure you carry your theme
all the way through each book. Joy is
currently working on her first series/trilogy.
-
Questions to
consider when writing a series:
o
Will the
characters age (if you live in Sweet Valley, apparently not.)
o
How much will the
characters lives change
o
Continuity
o
Be mindful of
giving away too much information
o
Keep each element
of the series fresh
o
Each standalone
book should have a distinct beginning, middle and end.
- It was recommended
we all read “Silence of the Lambs,” as it was “masterfully done,” particularly
the way the characters are seamlessly woven into the narrative thrust, which
remains strong throughout.
- We finished our in-class critiques and I got a
pretty good sense of who would be selected to read their piece at the
end-of-week luncheon the next day. No,
it wasn’t me.
Day 5
We were all a bit sad, yet inspired by the intensity
of the week and all we’d learned. Had it
been a week already?Joy came to class bearing some of her books that she thought might be helpful for a few of us in untangling our plots or figuring out our narrative thrusts. Since some folks were writing about science fiction or YA Fantasy, not everyone received a book. I was delighted to receive a copy of “Kiss Mommy Goodbye,” (which Joy signed) and I’d never read. She challenged each of us to read the books from an analytical standpoint, to study what she did and why, since there were “no accidents,” in what she wrote.
Joy declared the commercially minded writer should start
their book from their ending. Hmmm....
We delved quite a bit into self-publishing and what a
game-changer the Internet has become in that arena, as it has removed the
gatekeeper.
One of the most fun parts of class was when Joy shared
her own journey to bestsellerdom. She
wrote her first book, “Best of Friends,” longhand at her parent’s kitchen table
(she told us “don’t bother” reading it, as it’s “not that good,” and sent it to
five publishing houses. Putnam published the rough draft, not changing a word
and it took Joy four years to get the second book, “The Transformation,”
published (another early effort she said “don’t waste your money” on), and
later “Trance.” I can’t remember which
of the three she said she had tried to read recently and couldn’t even get
through it. It was “Kiss Mommy Goodbye,”
(the new addition to my library) that broke her through, making her a bit of a
phenomenon in the publishing industry. And the rest is history. Coincidentally, she said that was the first
book she did an outline for and doing so changed everything.
We ended class by casting our vote for the story to be
read at the luncheon (it was who I thought it would be, and who I voted for)
and tendered our evaluations of the course and of Joy. I gave it high marks, deeming it to be a
phenomenal experience. My only quibbles
were that it would have been nice to have the books we were asked to read ahead
of class be representative of multiple points of view and getting a bit of
one-on-one time with Joy would have been great.
Otherwise, I was thrilled with the experience.
So of course, I am brimming with ideas on how to fix
my ever-present plot problems and move forward with my manuscript. My first order of business is to make the
edits Joy and the rest of my fellow students suggested (well, with two
exceptions). The second order of
business is to read “Kiss Mommy Goodbye,” and do the critical analysis Joy
suggested. Third will be to continue honing
in on my “narrative thrust” and finally tackle my plot problems to the ground
once and for all. Finally, I will press
my “first reader” into service, which should be interesting.
BTW, I just read that Reese Witherspoon bought the
movie rights to “Gone Girl.” Not sure
how I feel about that.
To be continued…
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