Lessons in Chemistry

Posted on August 18, 2021 by knlistman

Chemistry–a subject in school that requires labs where students mix substances to observe what happens. However, the students spend much more time scribbling down equations on paper to calculate the result of reactions they never observe. Chemicals are often predictable. So, when I took chemistry, if the solutions we made in the lab did not yield weights within the correct range, I knew how to figure out an answer closer to what should have occurred. 

Chemistry between characters in a romance is an entirely different beast. Writers might observe people in love and attempt to capture the essence of interpersonal chemistry. But, we realize this valued trait is unpredictable. Describing the vixen-like female, and the strength of the hunky male does not necessarily result in chemistry. That is the result of the interaction between two different people, just as a lab experiment is about the interaction between two different elements.

So, there seems to be no way to scribble down a formula for chemistry between two characters. Or is there? For example, if two fictional characters are fated to love each other and there is never a conflict between them, there is also no chemistry. Stories and love affairs have some common elements. Both become interesting because we sense trouble. The suspense resulting from guessing what will happen next keeps us intrigued. 

The unexpected and entertaining way in which couples deal with conflicts leads to the desired quality of chemistry between the pair. This may spring from taking a chance at romance that may be rejected. One of the fated pair may struggle to reveal feelings or fear that becoming fully involved requires giving up too much. However, those of us observing the sometimes awkward dance between potential lovers do not regard this as a tragedy. We anticipate a victory over the obstacles in the road to romance that will lead to something much greater. When either person is willing to change, or to be frankly open with the other, we see sparks fly. This reaction between the two is chemistry. We root for the couple to find some creative way to get together.

Often chemistry-filled romances are between people of distinctly different backgrounds, classes, or ethnicities. The liaison is not convenient. It may cause rejection by family and friends who perceive it as inappropriate or even as a threat. This creates a barrier between the two characters. But, they keep trying to climb over these walls. The range of responses should vary from hilarious to occasionally heart-wrenching. The conflicts should keep us interested, wondering what will happen and not wear us out.

A warning–do not try too hard to introduce artificial problems to increase the chemistry between a pair of lovers. We may laugh at the couple as they test each other’s affection. However, too much of this testing is the exhibition of a full-blown borderline personality disorder. Reading about that kind of manipulation is unnerving, and we want to be free of it. In the chemistry lab an occasional overheating of a sulfur compound would result in a yellow spot on the ceiling. The teacher was not happy, even if the students were amused. However, if this happened more than once the teacher caught on that it was not accidental, and would slap a detention on the offender. When there is chemistry between a couple, we will find the tension intriguing rather than stressful.

Posted in Literature, Manipulation, Writer's resource | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Mixing past and present can get tense

Posted on August 12, 2021 by knlistman

Authors sometimes play with the parts of a novel, like wooden blocks that can be rearranged. What will happen if the middle of the story is inserted at the beginning, or time moves forward and then backwards? What if exterior stimuli and interior thoughts occur meshed together as they do in real life? When reading Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf I adjusted to the stream of conscious style and noted the movement between the flood of thoughts in present tense, and the character’s actions shown in past tense.

But, one element seemed to remain consistent—the tense used to tell the story—the standard past tense narrative. Through years of reading, I did encounter some variations. One was the Babar series by Jean de Brunhoff. His use of present tense was not a difference that I noted as a child, but one that I stumbled over as an adult while reading The Story of Babar to my own children.

The present tense story-telling that appeared in children’s books has expanded into fiction for older adults. During this time, I noted that editors have tried to reduce, if not eliminate, some more complex past tenses such as past continuous (I was writing), past perfect (I had written), and past perfect continuous (I had been writing). One reason for this trend—it is easier for readers. Editors are set on reducing words and push the writing down to a sixth grade level. However, stories lose some of their texture when the past progressive and continuous verbs are excluded. These often set the stage for the character before another event happens.

 “He was watching the riots in the street below the hotel when the door slammed behind him.”

This complex sentence uses both progressive past and a dependent clause. But, there is nothing wrong with it. The compound tense provides a sense of the setting within time.

Another reason some people insist on deleting the “was watching” form of the verb is because it sounds like a passive verb. It is not. This is: “The riots in the streets were being watched.” Do not trust anyone that advises authors to avoid any form of ‘’to be” used with another verb under the assumption that it is always a passive tense.

However back to my first point, using present tense for the narrative still seemed peculiar. I heard warnings from writing gurus. Novels written in the present tense would not sound like a story but an instructions manual. Present tense in fiction would distance the reader from the characters. After I began reading All the Light We Cannot See, with a narrative written entirely in present tense, I realized this did not take away the immediacy from the story in this historical novel by Anthony Doerr. I was no longer listening to someone recount the past but in the current moment.

Writing in the present tense requires a different expertise. While continuing to work on a book written in the past tense, I decided to play with the present tense. I rewrote three chapters to see how they would feel. This change in tense improved the flow of events as it forced me to write in a linear manner, including each action as it occurred. This prevented me from jumping back and forth to explain events as I constructed scenes.

In the end, I went back and rewrote these chapters in the past tense, so they would fit in with the style of the rest of the novel. However, I left the improved flow of events. Since my experiment writing in present tense I have become less tolerant of the rambling style which hops back and forth between past explanations and currently occurring events. Present tense works for writing novels but requires a greater skill to use this technique well.

Posted in Literature, Trends in books, Writer's resource, Writing trends | 1 Comment

Breathing life into your words

Posted on August 4, 2021 by knlistman

Where does the spark of a story originate? Walking down the street trimmed with frosted pine swags, hearing the distant hum of a children’s choir and a mother berating her teenage son for wanting to spend Christmas day at the house of his girlfriend, her voice drips with disdain. A scene both festive and a bit heart-wrenching. I often find myself drawn to this kind of imagery, beauty in a place contrasted with hurtful humans. No matter how idyllic the setting is, if people are there, some will demand other’s obedience or display a kind of selfishness that soon ruins the idyll.

What makes a story unforgettable? It has to reveal a struggle hidden deep in you. Your personal connection with a particular kind of conflict that allows you to pour in the energy, and emotion needed to draw the interest of other people. That doesn’t mean the story has to be about you. But, it does have to be about what you hold dear. This idea is the germ of the story.

However, producing the story requires so much more, including the discipline needed to take that idea and express it in characters as they develop. It requires the ability to play with events in the plot as challenges arise, until the pacing flows. It requires ingenuity in resolving the conflict. This kind of creative work, known as elaboration, is the most difficult and time consuming part of writing.

If you follow instructions and tick boxes when constructing a story, you will write a story that resembles ones that have been written before without the investment of your heart or stretching your ability to the breaking point by creating a vision that you have not yet seen. You can learn from instruction on writing, but at some point, you have to diverge from that to make a story compelling because it is your own.

Try this exercise. Keep a notebook with you the entire day. Whenever something intrigues you, an image, an event, or conversation, record them. If toting the notebook is a bit too much you can record these on a phone as I do. (Just make sure you are not connected to the internet so that you can shut down the drain of social media). If there is too much distraction in your world to write your thoughts, go to a dark room, with only enough light to write. It helps to observe not only what is going on in your vision, but also what is going on in your mind. At the end of the day review your writing and see which parts seem to draw you in while reading. Those are the themes and techniques that you can use to make your fiction come alive.

Posted in Literature, Teaching writing skills, Writer's resource | Leave a comment

Playing the writing game

Posted on July 28, 2021 by knlistman

The debate continues between those who have a flash of inspiration that propels them to write and keep writing and those who think about their ideas and outline before they start. For those who prefer the less planned routine, the extra pages trimmed from a manuscript after starting down a path that turns into a dead end can be stored away for the future.

For those who prefer the more planned routine, there are also options. A number of books descript how to create stories by answering ten or so questions. An author can use the wealth of mythology and follow the hero’s journey and even find screenwriting books that demonstrate how to outline your by beginning scenes according to number of minutes. All of these help an author design a story divided into manageable chunks that progress towards an end. However, I am not going to discuss these, because the authors who have written books on these methods have done a more thorough job of this than I could. Instead I will tell you what works for me.

When a new piece of inspiration arises in my mind, I will consider it very deeply, often for days. The goal is to delineate the major conflicts which occur in my newly conceived main character’s life. To make this thought process easier, I divide my story into acts, similar to a play but not always the same number of acts. (There are usually three to five.) Sometimes an act cycles through an entire plot from initial conflict to rise in action to the resolution and denouement. At other times nothing is concluded until the last act. However, these acts often occur in different distinct settings. (Something I learned from moving frequently in my own life.)

The next step—write out the basic description of my acts and summarize the major events occurring within that act. Then, I start listing scenes. I try to include at least five in each act, but scenes start reproducing like rabbits and often I end up with as many as twelve. I try to list all of the scenes for each act and then start writing the actual text. However, sometimes I get carried away with an idea and just commence writing, especially when the characters are talking in my head and I feel the urge to capture their conversation.

Anybody reading this may have already guessed that my novels are character driven. Therefore, I’m not sure exactly what characters will be doing in the next act, but I know what they will accomplish by the end of the current act. To keep track of my acts and scenes, I give them titles, which are converted into different levels of headings using my old standby word processor, MS Word. I like seeing the headings in the side panel as I work. At any point, I can use the table of contents function to make an index. However, if I need to move a huge chunk of the act to a different place, my old stand-by is a bit clunky. Often I resort to creating a separate document for each act.

Essentially, all authors must figure out what kind of preplanning will work for them. It often must fit the kind of novel they are writing. I am not making any guarantees that my method will work for you (and neither can anyone else.)

Posted in Story structure, Trends in books, Writer's resource | Leave a comment

Idea generator

Posted on July 15, 2021 by knlistman

Honestly, if the vast majority of authors were confined to writing only about the kind of person that they are and only their experiences, most books would be a bit boring. Writers do not live the exciting lives that they describe in books. If they did, these constant adventures would drain them of the very energy needed to sit and record their feats for hours on end. If everyone could only relay their own experience, I would not have traveled the court of Kublai Khan, nor learned how the Nez Pierce mastered the “big dogs” that could be ridden, nor wandered through a recently abandoned Machu Picchu with a Quechua boy. I enjoyed these far flung people’s adventures, because people, who had not done these things, wrote about them.

As a young teenager I read the story of a fiction character who traveled with Marco Polo to China. Did the author actually do that? No. He wasn’t even from Italy. Most likely he read Marco Polo’s Travels which were recorded when this real adventurer was thrown in prison on his return to Venice. Basing ideas for new books on ideas gathered from old ones is a natural part of creativity. Authors, like other people, have an idea of what makes an excellent book based on what they have read.  Most creative works—music, visual arts, and even movies—are inspired by other artists who have produced earlier works. That is not a bad thing, or something to be discouraged. However, being inspired by other stories does not mean that I should duplicate them. My book should show a definite difference and include facets of my own personality and creativity. Authors must give part of themselves when they write in order to connect with other humans.

So, how do I insert my ideas and my style into a book inspired by another person’s writing? My sporadic journaling is not terribly interesting. It contains events that occur to me and also my thoughts, because my thoughts are more eventful then the occurrences in my real life. However, when an occasional real-life event does become interesting, I have the details for a story. Often vague ideas float into my mind, unattached to all the little details necessary to write interesting fiction. I struggle to place this idea in a world perceivable by real senses. So, I often pull up previous journaling to gather such sensory details. Then, I can block out the world and try to imagine the scenes in which characters act out that vague idea.

Creating a story from the idea requires throwing problems at the characters and inventing logical ways to solve them. The challenge of writing is often about seeking out the problems. This is made more difficult because I usually don’t have one central villain trying to destroy my main character. The vague ideas give me a sense of who the characters are, my journal fills in the details, but the challenges and problems that I create for them are the gist of the story. Writing comes from my reading, my own experiences and my imagination. If my life was exciting, dramatic and stress-filled in the manner experienced by many characters in novels, I would not enjoy it very much.

Posted in Literature, Trends in books | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Vanilla, Chocolate, or Bananas Foster

Posted on July 8, 2021 by knlistman
https://flickr.com/photos/99842842@N00/38680174120. cc-by-sa-2.0.

Deciding which flavor of ice cream to order from the twenty types behind the protective glass is a matter of taste. But if you are trying to create a new flavor, it’s best to have others sample it before you offer it to the public. This culinary critique group often expects to have multiple shades of the same flavor to determine which they prefer. That is one aspect that is more difficult than placing your precious words in front of a writing critique group.

When involved in a literary critique group, they only expect one variation, but rarely is everybody pleased with it. Members tend to go one of a few directions.

1. They are very precise about grammar and usage rules. Therefore, they will point out all errors and even preferences that are not errors. They may point out a preposition at the end of a sentence, or “that” following a type of person rather than “who.” Both of these constructions are acceptable, even if they are not preferable. Like tastes in ice cream, people learn grammar rules at a particular age and tend to stick with them, even as their language continues to change.

2. They have read the current books about writing and want to direct me to change all writing to follow those formats. Some of these comments may be useful because I really don’t want an “info dump” following my exciting first scene. However, adverbs are still a legitimate part of speech. If they are all expunged, this impoverishes my writing. Also, I don’t want my memoir forced into a horror/suspense format.

3. They read for content and find that some events or character’s actions are not ringing true. They may be true for the life I live (I’ve had Bananas Foster ice cream at my local shop.). But, theirs has not been the same, and I wonder if they realize the differences. Or perhaps, the book is beginning to drag, and I should add a bit of tension. It is useful to know if a scene needs more detail or requires trimming.

Because opinions are a matter of taste (I am one of the few who does not like vanilla ice cream.), it seems best to have people read each other’s work and provide comments before the critique group meets. That way people will receive comments from these different viewpoints. Otherwise the most dominant person in the group will set the tone. It does help to set up a structure so that all people have a chance to speak once the group meets.

Any criticism should also provide a rationale for what is wrong, or way of dealing with the problem. Then, the author can ask questions of individuals at the end of all the comments. For example, if a person tells me to get rid of passive tense, I can ask for rewording advice. If the reworded sentence sounds worse, I should know not to take the advice and they should learn that passive tense is sometimes necessary. 

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

In praise of the passive hero

Posted on June 30, 2021 by knlistman

Don’t create a main character who just is passive, watching the other characters without taking charge or getting things done. Also, don’t read books by two of the most famous American authors Herman Melville and F. Scott Fitzgerald because they both broke that rule in their best-selling novels. (And, don’t expect me not to be sarcastic when it comes to dealing with rules for writing.)

Melville also wrote one of the most recognizable first lines of a novel, “Call me Ishmael.” Because of this, some people are foolish enough to offer it as an example of an icon hook, the kind of phrase that draws the reader into the story so that they feel compelled to keep reading. There is nothing inherently fabulous about introducing a character by name at the beginning of the book. He could’ve said, “My name is John Smith” with the same impact.

In this same manner, Ishmael does not fit the action hero. Rather he is a very observant person. He reports on the behavior of his strange, South Sea islander roommate, Queequeg. Then Ishmael, describes life on a whaling ship until we finally get to meet the obsessed Captain Ahab. Ishmael excels at watching what occurs around him, and the story he observes is intriguing. Modern writers assume that a particularly devious and vicious villain will present a worthy challenge for the hero to combat, a fight with no holds barred. But, who exactly is the villain in Moby Dick? Is it the monstrous white whale trying to save his own life ? Or, the obsessed captain Ahab who wants to destroy the whale that sent so many ships to their doom? That complex conflict between morally vague characters is what has kept readers persevering through massive descriptive text to reach the end of Moby Dick.

Nick Carraway, the point of view character in The Great Gatsby, is another example of the protagonist who is cautious and reluctant to act. He watches the world of the wealthy and bored weaving their intrigues around him, and even gets involved in bringing Daisy and Jay Gatsby back together. In both of these famous novels, the books bear the title, not of the main character, but of the most compelling one. The protagonist is the one narrating, even though the story revolves around another more dominating personality. The main character’s internal thoughts help develop that other character into a memorable one in the mind of the reader. In a tragedy, someone has to survive to relay the story. The passive observer may be the right person to do just that.

Posted in Characters, Literary devices, Writer's resource | Leave a comment

Not exactly human

Posted on June 25, 2021 by knlistman

While embarking on a new type of writing, creating alternate world fantasy, I rebelled against copying what I already knew. Instead I insisted on creating my own species and giving them my own names. However creative I attempted to be, they still resembled fantastic human-like creatures in classical myths. The cavelings dwelt in caves, raised fungus, farmed blind water creatures, and mined precious substances from the ground. When they wandered outside they stuck to the level ground and feared climbing trees or foot hills. That sounds a bit like dwarves, but the other species treat them more like trolls, and physically they don’t look like either. 

How was I to make these cavelings original? I had to create a main character that struggled to overcome his fear of heights and his ground loving attitude to gain a reputation among the treelings (who live in interconnected tree houses) when they must battle some renegade skylings (who have come down from the mountains where they live).

If I modified common species, readers would carry over their prior knowledge of species, such as dwarves and elves. That makes it easier to get directly into the plot. But, the characters may either echo others that are very common or conflict with the readers ideas of what these species should be. When I create my own, I call the shots.

If you look at early Star Trek episodes the alien races were based on different human ethnicities: Klingons were vaguely Mongolian, Romulans were supposed to be a meld of Asians. The Vulcans were part European and part elf. To design an ethnic group and not mimic one that currently exists, you have to choose features that simply don’t exist in humans. However even this may not work. People may connect them with an ethnicity. In the movie Avatar, the indigenous race was noted by many people to be blue native Americans with tails.

People remember by connecting new things to ones they currently know. So, whatever behaviors and values that you assign to your invented ethnicity will be connected with real groups that show similar ones. The depth of individual character development is the key to making invented species memorable ones – just like it is when writing about humans.

Posted in Characters, Writer's resource | Tagged | Leave a comment

Simmering the main character

Posted on June 15, 2021 by knlistman

Character development is probably the only way to make a protagonist that is someone else than a flat or stock character. However, this takes time and results in a slower pace of writing, like a stew that must simmer for hours. As the author describes how the main character deals with conflicts in their real world the story is not driven by the danger of the type of conflict, but it traces how this person responds to everyday irritations and tragedies.

The goal of the writer is to absorb the reader with the life of the main character. They should feel concern for their struggles, compassion for problems, and the more common that these struggles and problems are, the more that they strike close to home. The reader’s wish is to watch the birth of hidden strength or a secret heroism in someone like themselves.

The slowly developed character can grab the reader’s attention using a few different techniques in early scenes. One is to introduce an incongruity. For example, the guy works as an auto mechanic but in a conversation with a customer, he reveals an understanding of quantum physics. It is important not to say that he is a genius working in a position beneath his ability but to show it. A character that is interesting but not completely predictable, is worth reading about.

Also, a good writer doesn’t cannot just grab the reader’s interest and drop any mention of the dichotomy after that point. It needs to be part of the story and a source of growing tension. Another technique to increase tension is to introduce the conflict early but not reveal the problem in its entirety. Diving into only one aspect at the start allows the conflict to continue to grow in order to keep the reader’s attention.

The enduring popularity of Victor Hugo’s Les Miserable, is based on such a main character. Jean Valjean has criminal past and is a hulking, intimidating man, someone to fear physically. Yet, the trials interspersed with rare forgiveness that he experiences lead him to be a kind and gentle person. This transformation does not get rid of his problems, but only creates a dichotomous tension that follows him throughout his life. The slowly developed character, such as this is difficult to master. But, as they grow they dominate the story in a way that turns it into a memorable one in the mind of the reader.

Posted in Characters, Literature, Writer's resource | Leave a comment

Nonlinear, when does it work?

Posted on June 9, 2021 by knlistman

At one point when watching a Benedict Cumberbatch movie, my friend commented that this actor must have the requirement that all of his movies or series be nonlinear. At one moment Cumberbatch would be studiously studying a problem in the 1940s, then the scene would jump back to some prior time and we would have to wait until someone spoke the character’s name to figure out the childhood version of his adult character. 

A nonlinear timeline requires good planning to make it fit into the drama seamlessly. It also requires a very good reason to make the reader work so hard to figure out what is actually happening. Jumps within time may amp up the excitement or cause thoughts to spin and unravel.

When using a nonlinear plot line, information has to be repeated. The reader is given some prior knowledge concerning the events that will occur later in the book, but earlier in the chronology. Does that sound confusing? It is. That’s why the information has to be repeated for clarification. If the nonlinear books and movies were presented in a simple linear manner, they would be shorter, and the resolution to the conflict more obvious. But the beginning would not be as exciting.

One of the most frequent uses of the nonlinear timeline is starting in res media, dropping the reader into the middle of the action. Then, the plot timeline backs up and introduces all the prior events that describe who the characters are and how they got into this tangle. If the backup can be pushed to the real beginning of the story, it can move chronologically forward until reaching the point at which the book begins. This may be frowned upon as too much backstory at one time. However, the book is easier to understand if the beginning story is narrated in a straightforward manner, as if it is part of the plot.

Nothing is quite as confusing as continuing the current storyline, sprinkled with a profusion of flashbacks. If these chronological shifts are too distracting in a book, I skip past these memories that inform me about earlier events. Then, I try to pick up the story where it starts up again. I may miss clues that have been dropped, but at some point, the author will explain them again. That is why I rarely go to theaters to watch suspense movies. I can control the order in which I watch events with a subscription or recording.

The nonlinear timeline may be used to evoke emotions or overused to produce confusion. The main character’s actions reappear in flashbacks until the reader/viewer is not sure if they are in the present or the past. As the show Sherlock continued it was not so much about following the clues as untangling the neurotic mess in the mind of the title character. The difficult of following this sequence is exactly why my friend and I gave up watching Benedict Cumberbatch play Sherlock Holmes.

Posted in Story structure, Writer's resource | Tagged , | Leave a comment