Mystery to Fantasy, MG to YA

I'm doing a sudden switch this week. With Dog Show Detective finished and ready to go, it's time for me to move down my writer's to-do list, which includes a lot more editing and less starting-new-projects. (I listed my plans in 7 Tips for a Writer's Year). Now it's time to work on edits for The Costume Maker, the NaNoWriMo novel I wrote in 2009. 

My dodgy attempt at a cover using clipart

Not only does The Costume Maker switch me from my usual genre of Mystery to Fantasy, but  it's also aimed at YAs, unlike Dog Show Detective's Middle Grade genre. How do I make the transition?

I've put away my Agatha Christie for a while and I'm devouring fantasy novels. This story is all dragons, fairies and powerful gypsies, so I'm looking at stories with castles and magicians. I've downloaded for my Kindle, some great fantasy novels (you can see them in the bar on the left), including The Hobbit. I have to admit, I've never read it before. I'm also reading some free ebooks I found on Fantasy writing and have purchased some books on the craft.

On my audiobooks I'm listening to various Terry Pratchett stories (a fairly new discovery for me), How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell and other fantasy novels. And in the movie department? Saw I am Number Four this week (lots of fun!) and tonight the family and I are settling down to The Sorcerer's Apprentice. 

Finally, my screensaver will change from smoke hazed PIs in trench-coats, to dragons and wizards. I may even start wearing a cloak. It's a whole lifestyle change. How about you, do you need to shift your mind to shift genre?

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Writers' 3 for Free

Friday 3 for free time! 3 free ebooks (well, this week I've included an audiobook) all on the craft of writing:

Leaping Out of the Slush Pile - by Ian Bone. This article is from a workshop and has some helpful advice for getting your query noticed.

StoryWorld - by Randy Ingermanson. Why worldbuilding is essential to good storytelling and why you need rules.

Go Ahead, Make Me Laugh: Comedy Writing - I've downloaded this audiobook from Freelance Writing - for free. They also have an ebook version.

Have a great weekend!

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How Writers Read

As you may have noticed from my last post, I have a lot of books on the craft of writing. I have these books on my shelf, in audio format and on my Kindle. So why aren't I an expert already?

I find my reading habits random and unfocused. I read a chapter or two from one book and hop over to another. By the time I return to read new sections of a guide, I've forgotten the earlier parts. I'm making a bit of a resolution to stick with a book until I've finished it and only then move onto another.

Why? I suspect my writing habits reflect my reading patterns. I previously had several notebooks on the go at any one time, one for each WIP and one for new ideas. I dropped that system for one notebook at a time. My patterns have left me with several unfinished WIPs. Recently I banned myself from any new writing until I finished Dog Show Detective. That worked well for me and it is not only done, but has been sent out.

Now it's time for me to work down the list. Being eclectic may have fed my creative side of the brain, but forcing myself to be more organised with the left side of my brain is the only way I'll actually get stuff finished. Now I just have to decide which WIP to work on next.

How about you? Do your creative patterns sometimes interfere with your productiveness?

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A Writer's Obsession

Happy 13th Birthday Emily!

Drop by and visit her at Paper Dolls - she'd love it :-) 

After seeing how many audiobooks I have on the craft of writing, I decided I should tally up which ones I have on my shelf. Unfortunately, I've probably read about 10% of these (and that might be an optimistic figure). Somehow the act of owning the book makes me feel like I should already have the knowledge from the text. When I was a kid, I would sleep with a text book under my pillow before exams. I thought my brain would absorb the information while I slept. Yeah, great method.

Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss
English Essentials by Mem Fox and Lyn Wilkinson
How Writers Write by pamela Lloyd
Crafting Stories for Children by Nancy Lamb
How to Write a Damn Good Mystery by James N Frey
No Plot? No Problem by Chris Baty
On Writing by Stephen King
Publish for Profit by Cyndi Kaplan
Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell
Revision and Self-Editing by James Scott Bell
Characters, Emotion and Viewpoints by Nancy Kress
Dialogue by Gloria Kempton
Description and Setting by Ron Rozelle
Speak our Language: The Story of Australian English by Bruce Moore
The Elements of Style Illustrated by Strunk Jnr, White and Kalman
The First Five Pages: A Writer's Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile by Noah Lukeman
The Plot Thickens: 8 Ways to Bring Fiction to Life by Noah Lukeman
The Writing Book by Kate Grenville
StoryWorld by John and Caitlin Mathews
Steering the Craft by Ursula K Le Guin
Literati by James Phelan
Writer's Reader: A Guide to Writing Fiction and Poetry by Brenda Walker
Writer's and Illustrator's Guide to Children's Book Publishers and Agents by Ellen R Shapiro
Write On: A Conference Approach to Writing by Jo-Ann Parry and david Horsnby
Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel by Hallie Ephron
Writing Feature Stories by Mathew Ricketson
Martin's Young Writers Guide
Zen in the Art of Writing - Ray Bradbury

How's your shelf looking?

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Stein on Writing

This week I've sent the first 1,000 words for 'Dog Show Detective' into a literary competition for aspiring writers, with one of the prizes being having your novel considered for publication. I will also send it out to publishers, once I get that dreaded query letter mastered. 

I've also returned to the audiobook Stein on Writing this week. There are a few gems to be found in this  book on advice for would-be writers and writers perfecting their craft. 

Sol Stein knew what it took to be published. As well as being a writer, he edited and published for some masters of fiction and non-fiction.

This book covers all aspects of writing. Stein warns us that description should have more than one purpose; as well as creating a setting or painting a picture, it should reveal something about the story or the narrator's state of mind.

With the trend for fiction to open with the inciting incident, or action, Stein's advice is timeless. Characters come first. An explosive opening might hook the reader in, but can leave you feeling disorientated and unmoved if you haven't gotten to know the characters involved. As Stein says, "We need to see the people in the car before we see it crash."

For me, his best advice is about getting the job of writing done. I know I feel so busy with work and kids and, and, and... that sometimes I feel too tired or stretched to get anything down. I'm pretty sure a lot of writing mums will know what I mean. Or there are the times when you are heading off to visit family, or there's a wedding to go to, or bills to pay and groceries to get. The excuses might change for your situation, but we've all got them. Stein suggests renting the movie 'My Left Foot', then see how well your excuses stand up. It comes down to the Nike slogan: 'Just Do It'.

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3 for Free - Writers' Downloads

As promised - here are my Friday's 3 for free (and check out my post about Calibre to see how to get these great downloads onto your e-reader).

Unleashing the Ideavirus - Seth Godwin gives us this great e-book on creatively writing for free.

From the Query to the Call - You must have this book. Elana Johnson takes us through the process of writing that query letter to get your finished manuscript sold. I purchased this ebook, but you lucky-ducks can download it FREE.

How to Write a Damn Good Novel by James Frey:
 How to Write a Damn Good Novel, Volume I - A Step-By-Step No Nonsense Guide to Dramatic Storytelling
This novel is offered free on Scribd to download as a PDF file. Read it on your computer or convert it to read on your Kindle or iPad (see my post on Calibre)

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Should Your Narrative Include Coincidence?

The Hand of Fate should not write stories.

Coincidence. It happens all the time, and never more than in stories. Many narratives depend on coincidence, but is it a good or bad device? Like most tools, if used well it can make a story move neatly towards the conclusion, but if abused it reeks of lazy writing.

A lot of mysteries and thrillers will include coincidence as a way of bringing a crime to light (but not usually to reveal the culprit). Steven King masterfully winds coincidence into his horror stories to give them a dark fateful theme. So how should you use coincidence?

Narratives are small worlds or micro-communities. We don't want a cast of thousands in our story, so we zoom into a portion of life. This makes coincidences more likely to take place. Here's some tips I picked up from my recent writing course with Sydney Writers Centre.

Bring it in early. Have your coincidence set things rolling. Your protagonist has a fight with her boss when she's fired, later that day, while walking her dog, she drops her mobile phone. Not a good day for her. She starts searching the bushes in the nearby park for said phone, and what does she find? The dead body of her ex-boss. Coincidence. Now your protagonist is a suspect and has good reason to try to solve the crime herself. See how coincidence has moved your plot along?

Coincidence shouldn't be used to solve crimes though, we want to think our amateur detective is using their wits, not luck. And please don't end your story with coincidence - most readers hate that! (including me) Okay, some like it, and some fateful endings have been successful.

Ending with a coincidence, or 'by the hand of God', has a name: Deux ex Machina. This is where a plot problem heads to such a point it seems unlikely to be solved, and then, by the hand of God, all is resolved by fate. 'The Postman Always Rings Twice', is an example where it seems the two lovers will get away with murder, until fate steps in. Although a successful film, this ending always makes me feel robbed of a propper resolution. Having said that, I did like the ending to the first 'Sherlock Holmes' movie, but at least Sherlock used his wits to solve the crime first.

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