QUESTION OF THE MONTH

How much detail should I include when writing a story?

This can be a tricky balance.

Generally obscurity in writing is deadly for the average writer. Sure I remember in literature classes in college — I often had to look up obscure references to places, people and even customs of the past. I did the research so I could talk about the authors intelligently in class discussions, or on examinations given by sadistic professors. Understanding the minutiae of authors lives added another level of understanding to an already thick tapestry of meaning in stories written by giants like Joyce, Shakespeare, Twain or Faulkner.

College students may grumble about the research but they do it because they know the effort will add to their understanding and should even improve their grade.

However, the average reader is not going to bother looking up many, if any, unexplained references in a story by an acquaintance from Small Town, Idaho. Nothing personal, that is just the way it is. Remember time and distance have made many details in stories by the greats unclear or ambiguous. If the reader is going to fully understand the story he needs to be aware of the particulars.

At the same time, including too much detail is just as fatal. Imagine reading ten single spaced pages of minute detail enumerating every step in a search through archives located in the basement of a library for specifics of life events of a historical figure. Who cares? Only a fellow researcher, certainly not the average reader of fiction. If you have to include details of the fictitious search cut it down to a paragraph or two.

You have to find the right balance in your stories. It lies somewhere between writing simply the name “George” and writing “George Washington, born in Westmoreland County, Va., on Feb. 22, 1732, signer of the Declaration of Independence, commander in chief of the Continental army during the American Revolution, first president of the United States, father of the nation, husband of Martha, step father to” . . . You get the idea. But remember only you can decide which details to include. After all, it is your story.

Dixie Thomas Reale

Question of the Month. How can I find neat names for characters?

The Other Bunch — Bonnie, Pat and Dixie — went to Bonnie’s cabin in Featherville for a weekend retreat recently. While there we did some writing workshops to prime our creative pumps.

A naming exercise, that proved to be reasonably productive, involved mining telephone books, obituaries or cemeteries for names. Interesting first names are to be listed on one page, interesting last names on another. When the writer needs a name for a character the lists are matched up until the right combination presents itself. Once the right first and last names are together the chosen character’s name might give an idea of the his or her personality.

For instance — Dixie matched up Adelphia and Albedyll. The character immediately took on an attitude, probably because of the wild name. The writing exercise said to stand the character in the middle of the room, walk around her and follow her down the street.

This is what resulted: Everyone called her Adel, at her request, because her name was quite a mouthful. She went forth into the morning with purpose, marching rather than ambling so no one would think she was idle or aimless. She kicked a rock in her path, as if it had placed itself there on purpose just to irritate her. In fact some days she felt the whole world was conspiring against her to make her mad.

Bonnie named her character Doyle Lesner. She didn’t get a sense of his personality from the name but he did see quite a lot of scenery when she walked him down the street.
Doyle walked down the dusty street, passing the red hydrant on the corner. It was a bright, sunshiny day, and a kid was riding his bicycle on the sidewalk instead of the street. Rusty’s old pickup truck stopped and Rusty waved from the window, “Hay ya, Lesner.” Doyle waved back and crossed the street. He passed the coffee shop on his way to the hardware store. He glanced briefly at the stand holding real estate brochures. The stand beside it usually holding the daily newspaper was empty. As he passed the cafe, Mildred stopped filling a customer’s cup with coffee long enough to wave. The red wagon outside the cafe was filled with white geraniums. Someone was getting a permanent in the beauty salon next door. A dog barked as it chased the kid on the bicycle. The caution light was blinking yellow at the corner of Main and Second.

Pat named her character Wes Manley and here is what he did. Wes Manley sloughed off his cigarette as he walked to work. He tried to remember where he had parked his car the night before. It would come to him later in the day after his fifth cup of coffee.
Running a hand over his face, he felt patches of whiskers. His boss Sam wouldn’t mind because Sam only showered three times each week.

You might like to try this activity next time you need a name for a character or even an idea to get you started writing.

Dixie Thomas Reale

Read how bad endings can ruin your good story

Check out Patricia Santos Marcantonio’s comments on her website, www.patriciamarcantonio.wordpress.com

Build your platform if you haven’t already

As writers, we need to do more than just write these days. We need to know how to market our writing. Here is a nice article on the topic.

http://www.writersdigest.com/article/elements-of-a-successful-fiction-platform?et_mid=270113&rid=22058720

Are you prolific as Stephen King?

I know that many of you aren’t screenwriters, but here is an interesting take on being a prolific writer. The title of the article is ‘The Key Ingredient to Screenwriter Success.’ The website belongs to Marvin Acuna, a producer who offers help on screenwriting. Whether you agree or not, it is something to consider.

http://www.thebusinessofshowinstitute.com/newsletter-11-19-10.html#11-19-10-01

Everyone dreads writing a query letter

Here is a nice article on how to write one. Nathan Bransford is an author and former agent.

http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2008/03/query-letter-mad-lib.html

We all hate rejections

Here is a good article from Writers Digest about why you may be getting rejections. So before you open a vein, read on…

 

http://blog.writersdigest.com/norules/2010/09/27/BackToBasicsWhyAmIGettingRejected.aspx

How to tackle the writing of subtext

How do you write words that say one thing, but are really saying something else?

This is an excellent article on that subject.

http://www.screenwritingu.com/screenwriting-articles/36-general-articles/64-the-mystery-of-subtext

QUESTION OF THE MONTH – WHAT MAKES A GOOD STORY?

I am often asked, “Where do you get your ideas?”  My answer is simple. “Everywhere.” Let me explain. Story ideas can come from a number of places such as newspaper and magazine articles, movies, plays, paintings, conversations, and landscapes to name only a few.

Take for instance the trip Pat and I took to Stricker Ranch that I wrote about in an earlier post. On one hand this outing was simply a review of local history. On the other hand, it provided a wealth of information we hope to turn into interesting stories. Why is a ghost hovering at the top of the stairs? How many ghosts haunt the dry cellar?

I read once that by the time a person reaches age 30, he/she has enough life experiences to have something to write about for a lifetime. The trick is to know how to turn those life experiences into good stories.

So the question then, is, what makes an idea a good story?

1) The idea must be interesting.

What if Shakespeare really was a woman?

2) The idea should appeal to a large number of people.

Shakespeare is a well-known playwright. Everyone has been subjected to him at least once before finishing high school.

3) The idea is specific.

Who really was this mysterious man? Did one person really write all of those brilliant plays?

A lot of people would like to know more about the person who wrote so many entertaining plays and sonnets. Virginia Woolf, in fact, speculates on that very thing in A Room of One’s Own. Thus, a story exploring Shakespeare’s gender is an idea that has universal appeal. It would make a good story.

Conversely, let’s say I want to write a story about my dog. I love my dog. My dog is cute. But she isn’t extraordinary. She can’t speak English. She can’t even sit up and beg for food without falling over. A story about my dog would be zzzzzzzzzzboring. It wouldn’t appeal to a large number of people, and there is nothing specific that sets my dog apart from any other dog, except, of course, that she belongs to me.

That’s a simplistic example, but you get my point. As a writer, everyday I am surrounded by possible story ideas. Some of them are interesting. Some of them are not.  My job as a writer is to find a way to turn those ideas into great stories that have universal appeal.

What if I told you my dog could catch mice with a butterfly net? Then you might be interested in reading about my dog. Most likely not, but you get the picture.

The best stories come from taking an ordinary situation/idea and applying the “What if” factor. What if Shakespeare really was a woman? What if my dog could catch mice with a butterfly net?

Using the “what if” factor, look around you, and at the things that have happened to you, your life experiences. Then give the ordinary idea a little twist, and you’ll be on your way to writing some great stories.

-Bonnie Dodge

Grabbing story ideas at Stricker Ranch

As a writer, I look for story ideas everywhere I go. Recently, Patricia Santos Marcantonio and I took in Fright Nights in Old Towne Twin as a way to increase our cache of stories. For two hours we heard about the history of Twin Falls County and some of the colorful people who lived there. Not only did we come away with a better understanding of the area, we also came home with several new story ideas.

What if a ghost really haunts the public library?
What if Lyda Trueblood isn’t really buried in the Twin Falls Cemetery?
What if Stricker Ranch really is haunted?

As The Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz declared, “I do believe in spooks, I do believe in spooks, I do, I do, I doooo.”, I do believe there are good story ideas all around us. All you have to do is reach out and grab one.
-Bonnie Dodge