[authorme] PUBLISHING EMERGING WRITERS, JUNE 2010
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In this issue...
Attempting to write A VERY BIG BOOK, With almost no prior experience
(And only a few crayons), by Kenneth Mulholland ( Australia )
Conflict and Tension. by Juliet Maruru, StorymojaBlog
===========================================================
Attempting to write A VERY BIG BOOK, With almost no prior experience (And only
a few
crayons)
by Kenneth Mulholland( Australia )
When I was a child I took pleasure in coloured pencils and pastels. I drew
things and copied what I saw in my tiny life. I
also discovered the school library bus.... First in, and last to leave.
Later, when I was all grown up and in long pants at secondary school, I thought
I might try to write something. Inspired by 'Biggles' and other Boy's-Own
heroes I concocted shallow imitations of them, written out in close lettering,
no paragraphs, to conserve space in class exercise books.
At the urging of fellow students I was prompted to read my stories out loud
during class meetings. This turned out to be a very good primer for public
speaking, not that I cope very well and still turn to water, albeit water
primed with the knowledge that you can never go wrong if you have something of
worth to say and the emotion, tears, guts, humour, to say it.
1967 or 8?
The girl, who became my wife, (and whom I still annoy, yet who tolerates me
after forty years,) and I were at a dinner party in a Carlton flat. Just four
of us. The other
couple? A ballerina from the Victoria Ballet and a television lighting pal,
Mark Randal.
During that night together he told us about a book he had recently read. He
extolled the writing, the wonders, the fantasy, but was vague about the
author's name and even the name of the work. (Or, more likely, we were all a
bit vague after too much good food and wine.)
Several years later, my sister received a package from a pen-friend in the
U.S.A. When I
saw the three volumes I knew them at once. They were the works my television
mate had told me about. I began to read 'The Lord of the Rings.' I was
entranced.
When I'd read it through, I read it aloud to my wife, then I read everything
else I could get my hands on by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien...
I began to ask myself... Could it be possible? Could I write something inspired
by Tolkien's wonderful
creation? I already knew that whatever I might aspire to would be well below
the standard set.
Tolkien was The Master. Is still The Master. Writers in the genre shy away from
taking him on. But maybe there has to be a dumb mule, or a silly ass. Back
then, in the 1970's anything was possible: 'Hey! Cool Dude! Right on! Flower
Power! Or more likely Floor Power for those who found just how effectively
gravity worked after a spliff or two. (I didn't inhale because red wine is too
hard to inhale.)
Meantime I was asking myself, would I have the tenacity to reach the end of
such a long journey? What would the storyline be? I had no formal training, I
had not written anything except one or two short audio narratives and a
half-hearted attempt at a television script which all came to naught. Apart
from the youthful short stories
through my schooldays, that was all I had to base an attempt to write a half
million word saga.
Weeks passed, then months, while I wrestled with the idea and made projections
on how long it might take, what I would have to research, what time I could
devote to the project and how I could keep it secret. (Since it seemed doomed
to failure even as I contemplated the project and I didn't want to be ridiculed
from the start.)
Finally, I decided to make that start. I had nothing more than the escape of
the central character from imprisonment to...somewhere...with elves...and
then...well there would be plenty of time to find out what happened afterward.
It was much later that I read Tolkien's 'On Fairytales' and the
sections marked 'Escape, Consolation and Recovery', which became the Volume
Titles. And even later, when 'The Prose Edda' and 'The Elda Edda' came to me.
And from those and many,
many other works was distilled the overall title 'Varlarsaga.'
Facts.
1. It took over twelve dozen H.B. pencils to hand-write the original
manuscript. I know because I kept the one-inch stubs in a plastic container,
just out of curiosity. (And also so I could quote this if I ever finished and
if I had a platform from which to make the quote.)
2. I spent several months asking myself if I should even begin such a task.
Half a million words (Even if they were the same word, let alone words that
formed into a viable fantasy work.) would take a long time, depending on how
quickly I wrote and how much time I could devote to the task. I calculated that
if I managed a thousand words per week it would take ten years. A thousand
words is not a lot of M/S. Professional writers can do that in a day, they
could probably write much more. But do it every day, or even every week as I
decided, whilst holding down a full-time job, keeping a marriage together and
having a social life, that's something else. (Besides, I was working in
television and had a burgeoning drinking-problem to support.)
3. To begin with, there was the research. You can't just launch off into a
half-million word trilogy the size of 'The Lord of the Rings.' with nothing but
conviction and determination. I had neither, but having convinced myself that I
should give it a try, I realised that I would need to construct lists before
writing a single word. What were
the lists? They were of possible character names, place names, old cooking
recipes and foods, beverages, ancient sayings, poisons, cures and purgatives,
lists of attractive words in languages, (Old English, Old High German, Latin
words, Frisian, Greek, a knowledge of Irish Ogham, Linear B, and made-up words
which always
sounds better if you say newly-constructed or invented.) weaponry, warfare and
tactics, heraldry, armour,
scents and perfumes, birds, animals, sea-creatures (Both real and mythical.)
calendars
and moon-phases, (I based my calendars on those at the beginning of the
twentieth century) herbs and flowers, trees, insects... Shall I go on? No, I
see that you're nodding off.
4. That process: the gradual accumulation of information and knowledge, (I
carried notebooks around with me everywhere I went and jotted down any snippet
or thought that came to me at any time of the day or night. I even kept a
notebook on my bedside table, and one morning I woke up and jotted down the
basis of a poem conceived in a dream.) continued over the next fifteen years,
since that's how long it finally took to write the initial draft. But it was
overwritten by some twenty-thirty thousand words, which to me was beneficial. I
had the room to begin cutting the work back. Five hundred and thirty odd
thousand words cut down to five hundred thousand. But which words of a precious
M/S to cut? Answer. More than twenty/thirty thousand, much more. Yet there were
other words to replace them. Hopefully, those words were better chosen, but
could always be pruned further. So they were culled again.
5. I wrote the last chapter of Volume Three. (It was always designed to be a
trilogy, following the first copy I ever read of L.O.T.R.,) and I noted as I
celebrated alone, that indeed fifteen years had elapsed since I set out on such
an insane journey.
6. Mapping. Well of course that had to be done. (Understood from the beginning.
You can't have a journey over vast areas of an unknown world, albeit an early
version of our own planet, without tracing the steps of the adventurers.) And
of course I should have to do that, considering that I knew every step of the
wayfarers. Luckily, I had some earlier experience with art: in pencil
sketching, water colours,
oils, charcoal, acrylics and other mediums.
7. So illustrations. Who ya gonna call? Just me. And I needed those
illustrations and maps as they grew through all the fifteen and more years.
Why? Because they became an affirmation of what I was doing. I could look at
them. I could see a positive, not just folders filled with words.
8. Re-writing. From the pencil M/S to the typed. I did that first on an old
typewriter then on a better one, and finally to what I'm using now, a keyboard.
This is where someone else entered. Someone who represented the beginning of
what was to come. She helped me, aided my progress and the progress of V/Saga
into this new age of IT just as Bruce Cook from Author Me helped us into the
age of POD. Without the aid of Lyn Fox (' Hollywood '
my nickname.) Varlarsaga would not have reached this stage in its development.
She has been my continual
reader, critic, loyal friend and most importantly, guide through the maze. Her
knowledge in the world of the Web, her understanding of creating avenues that
can display and promote, and best showcase a work and her ability to actually
get the work into the market place is vital to its success. She has invested
ten or more years of her own life on my behalf.
9. When you reach a point which you judge as somewhere nearing half-way, there
is little to be gained by turning back or abandoning your journey. Besides, you
have to know how the thing will turn out. Like Tolkien, I plodded on, but with
the shrugged shoulders and knowing looks of others who judged me as a total
lunatic bent on a lunatic quest.
So far it's me. Zero.
Them. Right.
Except, except, I did finish my chosen task. I brought it to a conclusion one
late night. I wrote the last words of the final volume and thought 'It's
finished, after fifteen years...What now?'
Well, my fellow writers and readers, what then indeed?
Answer.
Re-write, revise, transpose, correct, cut, cut, get the thing into some
semblance of cohesion.
In the words of an old football coach,
'Don't think.
Act! Do!'
The writing is of course only a part of the overall process. Then there is the
daunting task of finding someone who believes enough in your story to take it
on and publish and then promote and market and distribute. This is where Bruce
Cook comes in. It is he that I have to thank for promoting and publishing
Varlarsaga. Without his
considered and thoughtful encouragement V/Saga would not have travelled this
far. At the moment that process is
underway and I am contemplating a fourth volume, which has been in the back of
my mind for some fifteen years, though not a word of it has been written.
It would tell the tale of what followed into the next age, tying up, on the
way, several loose ends and answering some questions hitherto left unanswered.
I could title it,
Attempting to write
A SMALLER BOOK.
With some prior experience
(And a few more crayons).
Ken has just released Volume
1 of Varlarsaga - Escape
Ken is Senior Editor
(Australia) for Author-me.com
==============
Conflict and Tension
by Juliet Maruru, StorymojaBlog
Conflict
is the fundamental element of fiction, fundamental because in literature only
trouble is interesting. It takes trouble to turn the great themes of life into
a story: birth, love, sex, work, and death. -Janet Burroway
Are you wondering why your publisher thinks your book might not sell, even
though you have put in the better part of a year rewriting, re-editing and
basically losing sleep over your work? Well, publishers look for material that
will be appealing to readers.
Readers (humans in general) are attracted to conflict and tension in a story.
That’s why publishers snapped up Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code; they could see that
the story itself would hold the reader’s attention,
and also generate quite a bit of controversy in the media, which is very useful
publicity. That’s why the writer(s) of 24 the TV series, and many other films,
TV series and so on previously mentioned here are pretty much set for life,
unless, of course, drug habits and divorce settlements bring on bankruptcy
What’s that? Kenyan examples? Alright? Why do you think the John Kiriamiti
series were such a hit?
David Mailu anyone?
Ah, you want contemporary. In describing the new Kenyan TV series, Changing
Times, writer George Orido says: Changing Times is a drama about a powerful
multinational and the man
behind its success. Mr. Kanyi,
a brilliant businessman and a loving father, has got where he is by being
discerning and perceptive. But in an uncharacteristic error of judgment he gets
involved with the wrong people.
How much tension and conflict do you read in that? Well, yes, the content and
production itself will decide how long the audience will hang on to it, but I
believe the point is demonstrated. If you want your work to sell itself, it’s
got to be good, it’s got to hold your audience, and yes, your publisher is one
of them.
Of course, if you really don’t give a fig what the publishers think, you could
always self-publish. But, that’s not the point, right now. The point is, what
is Conflict, what is Tension and how do you bring them into your story?
Conflict produces tension that makes the story begin. Tension is created by
opposition between the character or characters and internal or external forces
or conditions. By balancing the opposing forces of the conflict, you keep
readers glued to the pages wondering how the story will end.
Possible Conflicts Include:
* The protagonist against another individual
* The protagonist against nature (or technology)
* The protagonist against society
* The protagonist against God
* The protagonist against himself or herself.
Conflict Checklist
* Mystery. Explain just enough to tease readers. Never give everything
away.
* Empowerment. Give both sides options.
* Progression. Keep intensifying the number and type of obstacles the
protagonist faces.
* Causality. Hold fictional characters more accountable than real
people. Characters who make mistakes frequently pay, and, at least in fiction,
commendable folks often reap rewards.
* Surprise. Provide sufficient complexity to prevent readers predicting
events too far in advance.
* Empathy. Encourage reader identification with characters and
scenarios that pleasantly or (unpleasantly) resonate with their own sweet
dreams (or night sweats).
* Insight. Reveal something about human nature.
* Universality. Present a struggle that most readers find meaningful,
even if the details of that struggle reflect a unique place and time.
* High Stakes. Convince readers that the outcome matters because
someone they care about could lose something precious. Trivial clashes often
produce trivial fiction.
Build to a Crisis or
Climax
This is the turning point of the story--the most exciting or dramatic moment.
The crisis may be a recognition, a decision, or a resolution. The character
understands what hasn't been seen before, or realizes what must be done, or
finally decides to do it. It's when the worm turns. Timing is crucial. If the
crisis occurs too early, readers will expect still another turning point. If it
occurs too late, readers will get impatient--the character will seem rather
thick. -Jerome Stern
Jane Burroway says that the
crisis "must always be presented as a scene. It is the moment the reader
has been waiting for. While a good story needs a crisis, a random event such as
a car crash or a sudden illness is simply an emergency --unless it somehow
involves a conflict that makes the reader care about the characters.
Find a Resolution
The solution to the conflict. In short fiction, it is difficult to provide a
complete resolution and you often need to just show that characters are
beginning to change in some way or starting to see things differently.
There are several ways to achieve this:
* Open. Readers determine the meaning.
* Resolved. Clear-cut outcome.
* Parallel to Beginning. Similar to beginning situation or image.
* Monologue. Character comments.
* Dialogue. Characters converse.
* Literal Image. Setting or aspect of setting resolves the plot.
* Symbolic Image. Details represent a meaning beyond the literal one.
Material borrowed from Professor Dennis
G. Jerz’s Weblog.
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Publishing Emerging Writers
June, 2010 (No. 1106)
Publisher: Cookcomm - Bruce
L. Cook, 6086 Dunes Drive ,
Sanford, NC 27332 USA .
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