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All posts for the month November, 2011

NaNoWriMo: The Importance of Conflict

Posted by Lora Maroney on November 18, 2011
Posted in: NaNoWriMo, Writing. Tagged: , , , . 3 comments

The NaNoWriMo forums are rife with suggestions on what to do when the word count runs dry and a scene grinds to a halt. I readily admit that I am somewhat of a snob — even on a day when I delete more than I add, I would refuse to take out all contractions in my story and count that as progress, or give a character three names, or throw in a dream sequence or sex scene just to make the daily minimum.

These are all valid tricks, I suppose (other than the contractions thing, which really just irritates me) but I have one that works infinitely better — it makes for longer scenes, meaning more words, and unlike a dream sequence, actually moves the plot forward so that when the scene ends, I’m not stuck back where I was when I started. If you’ve read the title you know what this is, but I’ll drum up unnecessary suspense anyway. Are you ready?

It’s conflict.

Conflict is the single most effective way of increasing word count and moving along a story that I have ever found. The best part is, conflict does not necessarily negate those other tips and tricks — you could have a dream sequence or sex scene fraught with conflict that will actually add to the value of your story, rather than just the number at the bottom of the screen. (It’s at the bottom of the screen because you’re all using Scrivener. You’re all using Scrivener, right?)

If a scene is going nowhere, or the story is lacking lustre, or I can’t figure out what I’m doing with a character, it’s probably because I’ve forgotten about conflict. I tend to write good characters who try to do the right thing — albeit often failing, but their intentions are honourable — and the problem with this is, after a while, without external problems, they sort of dry up. I start to get frustrated, and my writing suffers for it. At this point, either I remember (or some kind soul reminds me) that I haven’t had any conflict happen for some time.

Make your characters get in a fight with a loved one (or a rival! or colleague! or stranger! anything will do). Make them doubt themselves. Give them the right decision for the wrong reason, or the reverse. It doesn’t have to be huge and plot-altering, but you’ll be surprised at what happens when you allow a character to get angry, or give them a reason to lose their temper, and I’m not just talking about word count.

Because exactly how in real life, fights that start about not replacing the toilet paper when the old roll runs out end up in screaming matches about how the other person’s mother is trying to sabotage the relationship, in fiction, conflict can bring to light things about your story and characters that you had no idea where hiding anywhere. Your character in a happy relationship might actually be harbouring thoughts about that steak knife and which parts of their partner might be most satisfying to stick it in. Another character who seems confident and happy might be hiding a secret that threatens to tear them to pieces.

You’ll never know if you let them ride through it. Chances are, if a scene or character is stalled, this is why — and the answer is not to put in 500 words of them dreaming about doughnuts. Conflict. Try it today!

Photo of the Day: Autumn Leaves

Posted by Lora Maroney on November 14, 2011
Posted in: Japan, Photo of the Day. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a Comment

I’m tired, I have the remnants of a migraine, and I dropped my phone, which now looks like this, so here’s a picture of me and some leaves. Despite the phone thing, today was a good day. Just trying to wrangle out a few words on NaNoWriMo before I collapse.

Photo of the Day: NaNoWriMo Tools

Posted by Lora Maroney on November 13, 2011
Posted in: NaNoWriMo, Photo of the Day. Tagged: , . 1 comment

It’s NaNoWriMo, so my photo-taking has been pretty sparse — but even worse, it’s been unseasonably warm this fall here in Japan, so the leaves haven’t turned yet! :( So whereas you’d usually be getting lovely autumn leaves, have my typical hunker-down-and-write supplies instead.

Clockwise from left: writing notebook (for ideas, structure, brainstorming), chai, mobile internet, netbook, 160GB iPod.

And for those of you coffee snobs, I write at Starbucks because a) it’s close and b) unlike EVERYWHERE ELSE in Japan, there’s no smoking.

Bonus: Kate Beaton shirt and my GIANT HEADPHONES which I use because in order for someone to talk to me, I have to physically remove them from my head in a very put-upon manner (unlike just popping out an earbud).

Fantasy Writers: Stop Raping Your Women!

Posted by Lora Maroney on November 11, 2011
Posted in: Books, Rants, Writing. Tagged: , , , , . 21 comments

Want to play a game?

Ask someone to recommend you a good fantasy book. Let them list off a few titles, then say, “Oh, wait, I forgot — I want a fantasy book where no women are raped.” Watch what happens.

  1. “There’s not THAT much rape in fantasy! But, okay, there’s … uh. Hm. Uh… does attempted rape count? She gets aw– oh, wait, no, another doesn’t. Um. … Huh. Never noticed that before.”
  2. “What sort of question is that? Who cares?”
  3. “Oh god, are you a feminist?”
  4. “Oh, I know, I hate that too, but don’t worry, here’s a list –”

In my experience, #1 and #2 are the most common, with #3 following close behind if it’s a conversation on the Internet. Fortunately I have had #4 happen, and there I found fantastic books like THE STEERSWOMAN’S ROAD and David Drake’s RCN Series.

Disclaimer: I have never been raped, nor nearly raped, nor threatened with rape — facts for which I thank God, repeatedly. I do, however, have massive consent issues rising from the fear of being raped — because I have friends, family, colleagues, and acquaintances who have been. When you’re 12 and your friend calls you in tears to finally admit to someone what her friend’s dad did to her when she was 9, that sticks with you.

People always freak out when I tell them I’ve never read anything by George R.R. Martin (or whatever, but him in particular), and then they’re appalled when I say I have no intention to do so. They usually get frustrated when I tell them it’s because I won’t read any fantasy book where a female character gets raped. Or nearly raped. Or is threatened with rape. Or is implied to be raped. Or gets pregnant through rape.

“But it’s so good!” they tell me.

“If it has rape, I don’t care,” I say. Then the conversation gets awkward and I change the topic. Because I guess it’s not cool to say rape is not okay.

I honestly don’t know why fantasy, in particular, lends itself to rape. I don’t know if it’s because a lot of fantasy writers are men (except female authors are not exempt from this), or because it’s part of the ‘fantasy bingo card’ and people will complain if it’s not there, or because authors don’t know what kind of conflict to give a female character and just use the rape fallback (kind of like ‘give them cancer’ in a sitcom Very Special Episode), or because strong female characters need to get taken down a peg or men won’t read the story and rape is the easiest way to do that. I’m pretty sure fantasy authors don’t go around thinking about raping women on the subway, so what gives?

The answer I get most is that it’s “realistic” to have rape — or, on the flip side, that it would be “unrealistic” for a fantasy story NOT to have rape. This is where I get my outraged Jesus on and start flipping tables, because say WHAT?

Kate Howard, in a guest post over at The Rejectionist, said this:

Too many people seem perfectly able to imagine an alt-history with wizards, but not an alt-history with women.

Kate was talking about the inclusion of female characters, period, but still — I wanted to shout it from the rooftops, because yes! This! This x10000! We can invent societies with magic, wizards, dragons, and entirely constructed histories, but strong female characters who don’t get ‘humanised’ by rape are a no-go? Stop the planet; I don’t want to live here anymore.

I started, a while back, to do a post complaining about rape in fantasy fiction, and thought I’d compile a list of all the fantasy books in which involve rape. A little while in I realised this would take forever, and it might be quicker to do a list of the ones that don’t have rape. I hit the Internet.

And then this happened:

did you mean, 'fantasy novels without rape'?

Thanks Google. Just what I needed.

No, Google. No I did not.

And, you know, I realised that people can whine about Tolkien’s “boy’s club” and Eowyn not really being a strong female character because she was in love (…?) all they want — he didn’t rape anybody, and that puts him miles above every “edgy” author since.

In conclusion: fantasy authors, stop raping your women. Seriously.

Dear readers, if you have any recommendations, I would seriously LOVE to hear them! :)

NaNoWriMo: Act I Wrap-Up

Posted by Lora Maroney on November 7, 2011
Posted in: NaNoWriMo, Writing. Tagged: , . Leave a Comment

A confession before I begin: the last thing I wrote was a series of letters written by characters from 1806, so I have to fight the urge to capitalise all the nouns in this post. Hopefully the urge passes, but right now it’s an automatic process I have to keep overriding. Ah, outdated punctuation rules!

Most people step back from NaNoWriMo at the end of every week, but since my story is divided into 5 acts that I’ve split across the month accordingly, I’m doing this every 6 days.

Act I Stats:

  • Words written (total): 22,326
    • Day 1: 4,560
    • Day 2: 4,520
    • Day 3: 2,706
    • Day 4: 3,703
    • Day 5: 3,606
    • Day 6: 3,231
  • Morale (overall): Medium-high
    • Day 1: 6 (started slowly, but went well)
    • Day 2: 8
    • Day 3: 6 (another slow start)
    • Day 4: 8
    • Day 5: 5 (average – morning was 2, evening was 8)
    • Day 6: 7 (average – morning involved a temper tantrum)
  • Writing locations:
    • bed
    • work (desk)
    • work (library)
    • train
    • Starbucks
  • Characters killed (on screen): 2
  • Characters incapacitated (on screen): 5
  • Characters brought into the future: 4
  • Characters emotionally traumatised: 2
  • Characters manfully soldiering on through their man-pain: 3
  • NaNoWriMo-related Internet searches:
    • “history of the ice cube”
    • “anti-Napoleon caricatures”
    • “British Napoleonic-era propaganda slogans”
    • “British cavalry sabre”
    • “British cavalry pistols”
    • “Lord Byron’s letters”
    • “capitalisation & punctuation in 1800 English letter-writing”

Traditionally Week 1 is the crazed rush time, with all the setup and juicy hints and craziness. Week 2 is where it starts getting hard; you have to start expanding and explaining things, rather than just tossing in new stuff, and both your characters and your plot need to grow and advance. This will probably happen, as Act 1 for me involved the setup, with all the culture shock and character introductions and new species and technology and time travel. Act 2 is the “settling in and developing” phase, so we’ll see how that goes.

One thing I will add for people who are struggling: don’t be afraid to edit — just be careful how you do it. NaNoWriMo has a “no editing” clause that I ignore when I see fit, because sometimes, it’s what I need to do to move on. On the 5th, I had started in completely the wrong direction, and only after talking it out and doing a heavy delete-edit-rearrange was I able to continue — for another 3,000 words that day, fixing my stalled plot.

Editing is only bad if you do it instead of writing, if you let it flip you over from ‘creative mode’ to ‘super picky analytical mode’ and scare you into doubting yourself. Sometimes — especially in my case — I need to edit, or the story will simply not continue. I remember once, during my high school Star Wars fanfic days, I had been stuck at the same spot in my story for about two weeks, whereupon I finally tore out about 20 pages from my draft binder. Within a day, I had made them back.

Don’t let anyone tell you not to edit if you know the story needs it — just don’t let it become a crutch, and don’t do nitpicky things. Only edit if you have the gut feeling that this is all wrong, that you’ve taken a wrong turn somewhere. Also, don’t delete if you can help it — make a “graveyard file” and put the words there, in case you can use them later. I make a folder in Scrivener, outside the manuscript hierarchy; others change the text colour to white and put it at the end. Whatever works for you.

How are your novels going?

To the NaNoReMo Crowd, from a NaNoWriMo Veteran

Posted by Lora Maroney on November 4, 2011
Posted in: Editing, NaNoWriMo, Rants, Writing. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a Comment

For those who don’t know,  the NaNoReMo to which I’m referring is the smug elitist’s answer to NaNoWriMo (the write a novel in a month challenge). Some people use NaNoReMo to mean “National Novel Reading Month” — those people are fine. However, others use it to mean “National Novel Rejection Month” — aka, the month where agents and publishers the world over reject all the terrible NaNoWriMo novels submitted to them in December.

Look, I get that NaNoWriMo is scary. I get that people don’t want writing to be an accessible thing, that, as Syndrome says, if everyone is super, then no one will be. I get that writers are proud of how difficult writing is. I get that the idea of writing feverishly for one month and then not continuing for the rest of the year offends some true artistes. I get the idea that someone else coming into your playhouse for a month and thinking they own it can be upsetting. I get it. I also get that it’s fun to take people down a peg, to find someone genuinely excited about something and to walk up and tell them it’s pointless.

Every year, this snarky hashtag (or some variant) rears its ugly head, and I am asking — beseeching — people to stop it. NaNoWriMo writers do not submit their novels to publishers as soon as December hits. The official NaNoWriMo site in fact asks people not to. March is NaNoEdMo (National Novel Editing Month) for a reason. Novelists are encouraged to take a break for December, then come back and look at their manuscript with fresh eyes. The forums have an editing section, with resources, suggestions, and a place for people to find beta readers for their work. Every year, thousands of people use these features.

I have participated in NaNoWriMo since 2004, and am an avid forum-goer as well. Not once in the thousands of discussions of post-November plans have I seen someone submit their novel to a publisher right away. People aren’t stupid. People who have finished novels through a program designed to get them over their fear and hesitation, and to turn off the inner editor, they know they’re not holding publishable material. But they at least have something. Something they did not have on October 31st.

Some people put their novels away and never look at them again. THAT’S OKAY.

Some people send them out to crit groups and edit feverishly, then give up and never submit it anywhere. THAT’S OKAY.

Some people edit, work, submit, and end up getting their NaNoWriMo novel published and optioned for a film with Robert Pattinson, raising the hopes of everyone participating in NaNoWriMo who hopes to get published someday. THAT’S OKAY.

Some people finish the first draft, send it out immediately, and get a form rejection. THAT’S OKAY.

Some people complain that NaNoWriMo novelists plunk their books into Createspace on Amazon and think they’ve been “published’. THAT’S OKAY TOO.

The slush pile does not see a quantifiable increase during December because of NaNoWriMo — and even if it did, what does it matter? People write terrible novels and submit them every day. People who crafted for years, who painstakingly edit every single word, write terrible novels every day. Slush pile agents are who they are for a reason; they’re tough. They can survive.

The proper way to handle this fear of an influx of terrible first drafts is to remind people about the importance of editing. This is advice useful to everyone, no matter how insignificant or how important. A first-time NaNoWriMo novelist needs this just as much as J.K. Rowling did when she wrote that epilogue.

Acting like elitist crab apples and coming over to someone’s house just to urinate in their swimming pool helps no one. It discourages honest, creativity-loving people from continuing something that is designed to help them bypass their formidable inner critic. How does making snarky remarks about NaNoReMo solve anything? Does it make you a literary warrior, as some people seem to think? No. It’s the worst form of intellectual bullying, and it needs to stop.

The world of writing should be a place of community, not an excuse to tear other people down. So before chuckling and hitting  ‘retweet’ on those NaNoReMo missives, try taking a walk or playing with a puppy instead. Most NaNoWriMo novelists will never be published — who cares? Let them do what we all have in common: write, and love to do it.