Showing and Telling

Posted on February 18, 2015 by Gail

The other day I had a lesson in hatcheting. Well, using a hatchet to create kindling. I missed camping 101 in my youth, so here we are.

My friend demonstrated, and tonight, the stove boasts fresh-shaved kindling waiting for a match. Sounds like success, eh?

I could describe the details, but most of you probably know how to make kindling. What struck me during this experience was the parallel to creative writing. Explain, demonstrate, describe. Isn’t that what authors do?

It’s one thing to explain, but action often shows better than telling. How much explanation would have been necessary without the actual hatchet in my friend’s hand, sunk into a chunk of wood?

And describing . . . that’s a level deeper, as if teaching a lesson on making kindling, now that I understand the process. I’ve mulled it over and now, it’s time to share with the waiting world.

This week my husband also took a picture of his culinary creation. He wrote, “It’s a four-egg omelette, whether it looks like one or not.”

What do you think? I can make out most of the ingredients I normally use, but the look, as my husband acknowledges, is a bit different.

Still, all the elements are here–eggs, mushrooms, sausage. What’s missing?

It’s the mulling, the organizing, the arranging, I suppose. And no matter how innovative our writing style, a little structure often does wonders.

Scene Visits and Perseverance

Posted on February 9, 2015 by Gail

Recently, I met the man who built our house, and he said during the excavation, workers found a Native American matate, or grindstone. I’d been having Abby, the heroine of a novel set here in 1870, watch for the natives–now I have evidence they were really here–nice to spend some time in the setting, as Tracy Groot shared with us last month.

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In the past two years, someone already unearthed a pumice pestle, perhaps the one used with that grindstone. Pretty cool, eh?

And here are a few pottery shards found in front of our place. Our friend gathers them when she comes up here, in an area where water washes down.

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I have yet to discover one, but I’m getting the idea of what to look for, and enjoy the “hunt.”

This past couple of weeks my writing has brought a few bumps in the road: a rough critique of a would-be novel’s beginning and word from the editor of my first contracted women’s fiction novel: your file’s been corrupted. Send me another. Oops.

Well, that’s the writing life, I’m thinking. Take the downs with the ups and keep at it. Some day, you’ll hold your fiction book in your hand, just as some day, hopefully, I’ll find some pottery shards right in our front yard. Yes, this is a picture of what I peruse in my search.

Anybody want to share how you’ve persevered in your writing life, or in anything else, for that matter? I’d love to hear your stories.

Setting and Scenarios

Posted on February 2, 2015 by Gail

Our neighbor Roy, 93 and a World War II veteran, feeds the elk regularly. One of them even allows him to stroke her muzzle. What a great hobby for someone who sacrificed so much building airstrips on Pacific Islands seventy-some years ago.

Yesterday I heard him croon to an elk, “You back again? Getting a little selfish, aren’t you? You know I like to feed the deer, too.”

Roy writes his story one day at a time and the elk act it out. He just supplies the grain, or shall we say, fodder?

There’s so much novel fodder here under the Mogollon Rim. One of my novels (hopefully publishable at some point), tells the story of a young woman desperate to belong. After losing her family in freak accidents, she’ll pay any price, and does. Every day, she watches the sun climb DOWN the Rim, since it first has to peak over the other side to reach this valley.

Ah, how life twists things around! Dottie, the World War II heroine I’ve mentioned before, experiences the topsy-turvy effects of a horrendous war.

But both of these characters, and all of us, find courage and tenacity during these tough times. The question is, will our characters make changes necessary to their well-being?

Soren Kierkegaard wrote, “All change is preceded by crisis.” And for fiction writers, crisis is integral to the plot. And as Tracy Groot shared with us the past two weeks, so is the setting: feeding Arizona elk or working at a 1947 small-town Iowa boarding house demand different mindsets. In both Dottie and Abby’s lives (and our own), character and setting meld with plot as crises arise.

I’d like to hear your favorite fiction crisis . . . Scarlet O’Hara’s dilemma, the harried chase in True Grit, or some other difficult situation? Or share how you blend setting and scenario in your own writing.

Sara Goff won the giveaway of Tracy Groot’s The Sentinels of Andersonville–congratulations! Thanks for stopping by, and have a great, creative week!

Tracy Groot on Setting and Site Visits

Posted on January 26, 2015 by Gail

Elk and javelina epitomize these rugged Ponderosa forests, the setting for one of my novels, and time spent here makes all the difference in writing.

Today, Tracy Groot shares about visiting the site of your novel.

“Site visits are very important. “The land speaks” even decades or centuries or millennia later. Visits have an orienting effect and always, always, always yield the unexpected: my visits to Andersonville for The Sentinels of Andersonville yielded impromptu interviews with the mayor, a storeowner, a museum curator.

“Visiting a site can infuse your story with small but important details–lovely specificities that round out the tone of many scenes. Also, check out any local museums—they usually have dynamite bookstores.

“My visit to France for Flame of Resistance yielded such a wealth of information, I cannot imagine how the book would’ve turned out without it; I ate the local food in Normandy, visited multiple WWII museums, talked with elderly folk who’d been around during the war. Priceless! And fun! And we’ve learned to combine site visits with family vacations, to save money.”

Did I mention I’ve been working on a World War II series set in Southern France for a looooong time . . . maybe a visit is in order!

Last week we focused on character, so here’s a bit more from Tracy on that. (Can’t you just see character in this scrounger eating food scraps?)

Character always informs story and plot for Tracy. “I love what British historian Arnold Toynbee said, that character results from a person’s heredity and interaction with his environment; so I research where one of my characters is from to develop his or her story and personality. Getting to know the character and realizing how they act or react, helps to inform plot.”

What story does Tracy resonate with most?

“Each book has something that is a part of me—scenes in every one came from the gut—and it’s still a thrill and joy that these scenes actually made it to paper. It’s hard to nail down a favorite—I usually pick the one I’ve last worked on, ha ha! Maggie Bright, a story about the rescue of the British army at Dunkirk, is a current fave. It comes out in May 2015.”

Heartfelt thanks to Tracy for giving us an inside look at her vocation—perhaps readers will get a feel for the commitment she puts into each novel. And writers, she’s given us a wealth of food for thought. Feel free to comment about anything and everything. And be watching for Maggie Bright.

Please include contact information with your comment in order to vie for the prize of Tracy’s The Sentinels of Andersonville. We’ll announce the winner next week and send the copy to you posthaste.

Tracy Groot on character

Posted on January 19, 2015 by Gail

Learning from Henri Nouwen and Tracy Groot

Though movie renditions of great books usually disappoint, Unbroken was an exception—Louie, the hero, exhibited many childhood flaws, yet developed the strength of character to endure inconceivable torture. Throughout his long life, he inspired many, with humility. Henri Nouwen might have written the following paragraph for him.

“When we say, ‘If people really knew me, they wouldn’t love me,’ we choose the road toward darkness . . . But humility is . . . the grateful recognition that we are precious in God’s eyes and that all we are is pure gift. To grow beyond self-rejection we must have the courage to listen to the voice calling us God’s beloved sons and daughters, and the determination always to live our lives according to this truth.” Henri Nouwen Bread for the Journey

Readers of Unbroken will also appreciate Michigan writer Tracy Groot’s novel, Flame of Resistance. The main character Brigitte opens her heart to grace as the story moves along—to the idea that she’s a worthy human being in spite of . . . well, I’ll let you discover the particulars for yourself.

We all like to see characters overcome obstacles, and the toughest often are internal, hidden from other people, but capable of destroying us. I’m so glad for this book’s imperfect and yearning heroine.

Tracy shares about the process of creating such a complicated plot with a powerful underlying theme.

“I tend to look upon a work as a whole, and for me, a moral premise can stem from multiple sources within the book–it can be one over-all premise for the whole work, or several themes with maybe one premise that can serve to represent the themes.

I don’t focus on moral premise or theme when I begin a work. When I see it later, when it comes to the surface in revision, I may then do some spit-shining to see what I can do to make it come out; but I never make a moral my guiding thread for the writing process. I let my characters play out their lives, and see what comes of it.”

For aspiring authors, her attitude is freeing, and for readers, the result is powerful. Boy, am I glad she allowed Brigitte’s life to play out—hers is a story I won’t soon forget.

And back to Unbroken . . . if an author hadn’t decided to take on Louie’s story, we would be so much poorer. Just for fun, I’m adding a photo of an elk my husband took yesterday . . . looks like someone seeking a novel with a great character cast, eh?

So, what types of characters draw you in? How does a character take form in your imagination? And for writers, does your writing process parallel Tracy’s, or do you begin from a very solid moral premise?

More from Tracy next Monday, when we will draw a name from both weeks’ comments for a copy of her most recent book, The Sentinels of Andersonville. Thanks for stopping by, and be sure to include your contact information in your comment.

Posted on January 12, 2015 by Gail

Jan 12, 2015 Back from the Brink

Yes, I’ve returned. The holidays, miserable winter weather, and a nasty bout with influenza during Christmas week took me away, but through it all, I remembered my promise to blog more faithfully.

The brink could also refer to a close call I experienced the other day. Thanks to my EMT husband’s expertise with the Heimlich manuever, I survived a serious choking episode. I’ve learned to say I’m grateful in Spanish: Yo estoy agradecido . . . mucho!

So here we are again, seizing the day.

And I have exciting news—since my last post, I’ve received my first fiction contract for a women’s fiction book called In This Together. A new online author friend, Elaine Stockhttp://elainestock.com, allowed me to borrow this graphic from a blog article by Edie Melson describing a necessary attitude for writing success.

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Believing in yourself and your work don’t always come easily. In This Together is not my first completed novel, but when its heroine Dottie, a widow and WWII Gold Star mother, entered my life, I couldn’t resist writing her story.

Who knew she would win my first contract? I’m very grateful to the Vintage Rose line for considering Dottie and crew worthy of publication.

I think you’ll enjoy getting to know Dottie. She’s come through a lot, and now works at a boarding house owned by a not-so-pleasant curmudgeon.

Losing her only son Bill in a North African battle devastated Dottie. When her husband died at the end of World War II, she began working at the boarding house. Climbing the stairs pains her bum knee, but her job gives her a reason to get up in the morning.

Every morning, she passes her widower neighbor Al’s house, unaware of his unspoken attraction to her—who would think it? After all, Al still misses his wife Nan, Dottie’s best friend.

Dottie would like nothing more than to help her daughter Cora with the two grandbabies she’s never met, but her fear of closed-in spaces and travel keeps her from even considering a train trip to California. Ah, why does life have to be so confounded complicated?

Clearly, Dottie’s challenges intrigue me, and there are more. A new employee at the boarding house could either drive Dottie to her own brink or force her to move past some limits she’s set for herself.

Sometimes, believing in ourselves means allowing for alterations.

Also, I now have a GoodReads author page and would love to have you visit/become a fan. Thanks for stopping by, please leave a comment here, and may 2015 bring you new delights. I hope to see you every Monday morning from now on.

Twas a Week Before Christmas/2014

Posted on December 18, 2014 by Gail

Note: my site has been down. We seem to be back in business, so greetings this December 18.

Today, my dental hygienist described her accident twelve years ago–she swerved for a deer and hit a semi instead, breaking her arm in several places, crushing her humerus, ulna, and wrist, puncturing a lung, breaking some teeth and an ankle, cracking two vertebrae and lacerating her foot. Not to mention brain swelling and about a thousand bruises.

The Jaws of Life went into action, and an EMT attended her when she roused, her main concern returning her overdue library books and notifying her employer that she’d be late. Oh yes–and that her arm zigzagged like a shattered branch.

(This picture is NOT the young woman who had the accident, but it gives us an idea.)

Another detail: somehow, her tied work shoes blew off her feet. Sounds tornado-ish, doesn’t it?

She says the experience changed her tendency to keep everything spotless—of course, that’s the personality type for a fabulous hygienist. But now, if grandchild time is at stake, she can wait to sweep the floor.

One week from Christmas day, I can’t help but notice a parallel. Experiences alter our viewpoints. Accidents, traumas, and even delightful, exciting adventures transform us.

Writers try to clarify these changes in their characters. A small detail, trivial compared with collapsed lungs, can make a huge difference. If I survived such an accident, I’m not sure the flying sneakers would capture my attention. But as a writer, they do—how in the world did that happen?

Which brings us to the mystery of the nativity. Far before modern technological advances, human conception occurred apart from normal means. How could such a phenomenon occur?

There’s no nailing this one down. Some things, you simply must report and entrust to your reader.

When Making Do Won’t Do Any More

Posted on December 1, 2014 by Gail

One of the participants in my writing class described her attachment to her old billfold. She tacked, taped, and rubber-banded it together for years (she saved those wide bands that hold broccoli stalks together). After losing the billfold from the top of her vehicle, saving it from canine attacks, and various other mishaps, she finally caved.

Along with her missive about said billfold, she brought us a picture. Does this remind anyone of their manuscript, edited, edited, and re-edited almost beyond recognition?

Yet how can we give up the characters? At least for me, it’s those heroines, heroes, and villains that call me back time after time. When months have passed since I’ve peeked at a certain file, I read the first page and wham . . I’m in the story again.

As with my friend’s billfold, its the feel of the thing that tugs at us, the familiarity. But sometimes, our patching efforts may not work for our manuscripts any longer–but we don’t give them up easily.

Gratitude and A Lesson from Football

Posted on November 28, 2014 by Gail

Not much profundity comes from football, imho. However, today, I heard an announcer say, “So this team made a lot of mistakes today—what matters is their ability to put the past behind them and move forward. What happens in the next two minutes is what counts.”

And there you have it-just the truth one of my characters needs to hear. She’s never watched a football game in her life, but oh, well!

In her circumstances, forgetting how it’s always been and plunging ahead is truly all that matters. But can she do this? I really hope so, because I like her a lot and want her to succeed. Besides, what reader will stay with her if she continues to bemoan the past and sink into depression?

Not a lot to write for the day after Thanksgiving, but at least it’s something. And it certainly beats going out into our four-degree deepfreeze here in Iowa and trying to find a bargain!

Happy Thanksgiving weekend—and by the way, gratitude is one key to my character’s success in forgetting past mistakes and trying something new!

The writing life/November 24, 2014

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“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” Annie Dillard

My post-World War II heroine Dottie, a gold star mother and widow, and I have been together three years, but two weeks ago I deleted fifteen thousand extra words from her story.

I also said good-bye to my garden, after moving parsley, rosemary, oregano, chocolate peppermint, and thyme plants inside.

Both gardening and writing teach me to say adieu. “If you’re brave enough to say ‘goodbye’, life will reward you with a new ‘hello.’ Paulo Coehlo

I used to give fond farewells to excess verbiage, but no longer. By the time this first fiction book comes out, the story will boast more compact sentences and a stronger plot and I’ll be thrilled if raving fans adore it.

But I can’t waste time nurturing my penchant for a multitude of words. Nope—heartfelt phrases I toiled over sometimes have to go.

Dysfunction can help a writer–we think we’ll get different results by trying one more time. Somebody must live out Einstein’s quote, right? This try, fail, try, fail pattern creates resilience to bounce back from rejections.

Next spring, my crocus, day lilies, lavender and creeping thyme will poke through the earth again and I’ll re-plant whatever survived the winter inside–ready for summer’s glory.