Shying Away in Your Writing

Happy Wednesday, good people of the blogosphere! Wow! It's hump day. We're halfway to the weekend and have a ton of awesome stuff done already, right? Well, you have just two more days until you get a couple off to lounge around and soak up some sun (don't forget your sunscreen!). Today, I'm gonna be talking about those hard to write scenes and why you should write what you feel; not what you think your readers want to read. Ready? Grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going.

As you probably know, I review a good number of books here on the blog (at least twelve a year by Indies, and that number tends to go up as my favorite authors - both Indie and Traditionals - release new works). One thing I notice in the books I read is the author holding themselves back from writing a scene that may seem too graphic for their audience. No, I'm not talking about sex. I'm talking about violence, gore, and death.

If you're writing Young Adult, you do have to keep it toned down. That's not the genre I'm talking about here. However, you may reconsider your target audience if you come upon a scene you know will launch your story into a whole other realm. You feel me?

Most writers I know see the story take shape in their head as they put the words on the page. Things happen, characters act in their own way, and unexpected situations arise. Remember: A book isn't prime-time television, and you can write what you're seeing in the moment.

Let your fingers communicate what's in your head. If you see it on your inner-movie reel, put it on the page.

I can't stress this enough.

Here's some examples of lead-ups to scenes that you may shy away from writing:
Tiffany spun around the dark room; her eyes searching in the inky blackness for a visual to accompany the sounds her ears were picking up. Shuffling, grunts, and heavy breathing assaulted her most active sense. Arms out, she waves her hands through the air like she's swimming. Her heart is pounding, and she can smell metal. Something hard, cold, and rough is found. A wall. It must be a wall. Feeling her way along, she finds what she hoped for and pushes the switch to the on position. As the light fills the space, and her eyes adjust, her hands fly up to cover her mouth and muffle the scream building behind her lips.

Now, this can be a myriad of things:

• People being eaten
• A group of men ready to attack her
• A group of women ready to attack her
• Zombies
• Vampires
• Rats
• Giant spiders
• Clowns

I think you get the idea. Whatever happens next, you've built up that tension for a reason. Readers are waiting for what Tiffany is surprised by. Give it to them, and don't be shy. Go into detail about what she sees, smells, hears, feels, and tastes. If she's murdered, go into how. Torture? Give it raw. Write it exactly as you see it in your head.

Clark walked through the flower field, letting his hands graze the soft tops of the tall blooms. A breeze tickled the back of his neck and caused the tiny hairs there to stand on end. He's lost with thoughts of Delia to pay too much attention to the fact that the sun is setting, but the clearing is getting brighter by the moment. His ears pick up a whisper on the wind, and he freezes in place. Delia fades from his mind as a beautiful woman steps from the treeline and holds out her arms to him. Icy puffs of breath come from his mouth as it falls open. Heat spreads through his body as he takes in her form, and his fingers twitch to touch her alabaster skin--around which long, black hair twists and flows like a silk sheet in the breeze. Red lips that need no lipstick, blue eyes the color of the clear sky, and a Romanesque nose sized to perfection all beckon to him with promises of fantasies come true. If only he'll step into those open arms.

Again, you can take this in a million directions:

• Death by haunting vixen
• A quest
• Ghostly encounters
• Witches
• Vampires
• Myth and Lore

You get the picture, eh? Again, this is a tense scene. You've told your reader something big is coming because you've painted with your words. Bring it on. Don't leave them hanging and frustrated. Go where the wind takes you (hey, there's another idea!).

What I'm trying to get across here is: Don't let the audience dictate what you put on the page. If you end up with a novel geared toward an older, more mature audience, let it go. However, if you think Clark will end up whisked away to a land of fantasy and the story is supposed to start there, let it be so. But if another idea strikes you, let it come out. Write it two ways if you must and choose your favorite.

Whatever you do, don't shy away from the gore, death, or violence if the story calls for it. I'd be willing to bet that your YA brain already went with a quest (if that's what you write). Listen to your inner writer.

Have you ever ended up with a book totally different from the idea you began writing?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Get Tense

Happy Hump-Day, good people of the blogosphere! I hope you all had a lovely first day back at work yesterday. I know I did. Chapter five of Coralie rolled off my fingers; and I plan chapter six today. You all know what that means, right? All five of the introductory Mystic books should be out by the end of October! I plan to release them in an anthology for Thanksgiving (but you never know with NaNoWriMo right around the corner). Then, my NaNo novel, Markaza, the final installation of the series, should hit the shelves by April (or May), 2014. It's almost time to do battle with that baddie in Central Park! But, today, we're talking about tenses. Since we already went over POV, this is the next most important thing you need to consider before you begin writing your novel. Grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

There are three basic tenses. They are:

Let's begin with the first: Past Tense
Past tense is something that happened before the commencement of the telling. Most fiction is set in past tense. Why? Because you're usually telling the story of a journey that occurred; not something that will happen or that you expect to take place. This probably stems from the ancient bards, who told tales as though they were the history of a people. It was entertaining to do so because folks believed what the narrator was saying could be true.

***Something to watch out for: Jumping into present tense now and then outside dialogue. Sometimes, dialogue will throw you off because it's in present tense, even though he/she said comes before it. I find the most tense errors after passages of dialogue.

Second on the list: Present Tense
Present tense is in the here and now. This one is difficult to pull off because we're so used to reading and telling in past tense, we tend to get confused as we write and jump back and forth without realizing it. It takes a highly skilled editor to tend to a novel in present tense. If you decide to write in present tense, it's usually a good idea not to use an imperative mood (where the narrator is speaking to the reader). It can be done though.

***I know of a serial story that's all about the narrator telling the reader what they're doing in the moment. It goes into what they see, hear, taste, smell, and feel. Unusual, but done in serial form for a reason: It's hard to read. Most instructional books are in present tense and all cookbooks are done in the imperative. Reading someone's inner-monologue is also a reason to use imperative. But that can only hold a reader for so long.

Third, we have: Future Tense
Future tense is telling the reader what will happen in the story (or, in the reader's life). You kind of get the idea of a fortune teller type scenario. Probably best left to short stories where you want to engage the reader for a few minutes of their time and possibly make them think about what could happen and/or their own humanity.

***Note: This is different than someone having a vision of the future in a novel. Those visions are still set in past tense if that's where the story is.

I hope this helps you understand the difference between the tenses and gives you some ideas about how you might do things a little differently than the Joe next door. Just remember, you're writing so people can read what you've written. KISS 'em!

What stories have you read that were unusually told? What did you like/not like about them?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo