Halo's Eve Tip #3: The Beauty of Simplicity

Today I wanted to address a question Claudia Burney had about simplicity in premise creation.

 

Claudia's concern...

My problem is that sometimes I just want to tell a very simple story. All that stuff about raising the stakes makes me wonder if using different techniques in writing books would cause me to lose the integrity of the "simple" story I want to tell.

 

Last year, I took a year-long writing working with Chuck Palahniuk. The workshop helped me in such a way that my query to acceptance ratio for my magazine articles and short stories have jumped from 1:10 to 1:3. For real.

 

One of the things that he taught me that I have tried to include in everything I right now is taking a minimalist approach to my writing. That is...building the story from a skeleton model then adding to it to create more authority, to create atmosphere, to buttress theme, etc. Chucky P teaches many techniques to help achieve this. (That is why I'm still a part of the writing workshop.)

 

And as I told Claudia, the Holy Spirit has been talking to me firmly this year about writing a simple story, so that Christ could be illuminated through it. Can't tell you how many stories I've review last year that was all over the place. My prayer partners and crit gal pals of the Atlanta Christian Writer's Group have been working with me all year to stay focused on that one task. So I agree with you, Claudia.

 

Moreover, I would like Claudia and for you to see that these tips shouldn't clutter up your story, but help you bring the heart of the story out, so that ultimately when I pick up your book to review it, your story shines on every page. Afterall, Christ gave us simple, but logically complex stories that still resonate with us today. You hope to follow in his footsteps or at least allow him to carry you through times like editorial revisions and deadlines.

 

As I've spoken earlier this week about my troubling premise, I want to show you how this premise hindered my first draft first chapter. Then I will also show you how raising the stakes in my premise helped my revised chapter have a simple beauty to it, if you will. (When I say beauty, I mean voice and style not ...)

 

Go to the Christian Fiction Message Board to see the difference. The chapters will be uploaded around 11am EST. I have to take an interview with a Bishop in ten minutes. The job calls. :)

 

Thanks Claudia, for a great question.

 

Dee

 

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Children's Christmas Classic Pick

Walter Wangerin Jr.'s Probity Jones and the Fear Not Angel

From Publishers Weekly...
Ill with a fever and forced to stay home and miss her Christmas pageant performance, young Probity witnesses a Christmas miracle of her very own. Folded within the silken robes of the Fear Not Angel, Probity soon hovers high above her Christmas pageant and is also magically transported to the wondrous first Christmas. Wangerin expertly crafts this lengthy story, quickly establishing characterizations and balancing the fairy-tale elements here with a lifelike portrait of an African American family. Ladwig's soft grainy paintings depict Probity's home and her flight with equal realism, and the face of his angel fairly melts with kindness. Ages 6-9.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Maya Angelou
"I am definitely a Walter Wangerin, Jr. reader and I anticipate pure joy whenever I see one of his works."

Has anyone read this book? It came out in 1996, so I may have to order it. Let me know what you think.

Dee

Day 2 Halo's Eve: Premise Punch

Okay, so yesterday we played around with our story premise. My premise still doesn't have the punch it needs to excite me. I'm a book reviewer, whose read many books both christian and secular for over ten years. When I pick up a book from my review pile or while perusing in Walmart, I can tell if the book is worth its salt from paragraph one. There are just too many books out there that prove this point. And I collect classics so a new novel really has to get my goat. But I'm not sad that the reading Diva in me doesn't want to purchase my own writing.

Let's be honest. Good reading is crazy hard writing[Mark Twain.] Even for a constant writing workshop participating, book reviewer like myself. Everytime my DHL buddy hands me a shipped manuscript I'm in awe that someone had the bra straps to put it all out there. I'm still the lion without courage, if you get my drift.

But what I have found through all of this writing and reading, is that no matter how well-crafted your novel is if your story doesn't have punch, it will sit on the shelf beside all the literary awards you won. Can I get an Amen.

So what do you do?

First, you have to remember that when you prepare this story you have to create it in a way that has some zest--some great appeal that makes it the best drink at the party. Honestly, your novel isn't just competing with the fifty other authors out there that fit your demographic. You have to convince a Walmart shopper/browser that reading your book will be a more enjoyable trip, then skimming through the latest issue of Essence Magazine(that cover is embarrassing, because Boris Kodjoe is supposed to be promoting a christian movie), purchasing Star Wars's Revenge of the Sith, or Fantasia's Life is Not a Fairy Tale. Your book needs punch.

How do you add punch to your premise?

Tip- You story needs to pep up your generation with a zesty ingredient. There are four different types of ingredients you can include in your novel. Today we will deal with one--a larger-than life main character.

Let's look at a recent Christian bestselling novel. -Deanne Gist's A Bride Most Begrudging to see how she made Lady Constance Morrow, a secret weapon against most regency type rejects.

Go to the discussion board for the rest of this article.

Stocking your Christian Book Store

Here are the top ten books that are generating the most cash flow, according to CBA:

 

 1   Captivating   John & Stasi Eldredge, Nelson Books (Nelson)

 2   The Bible Promise Book (NIV)   Toni Sortor, ed.; Barbour, 

 3   The Purpose Driven Life   Rick Warren, Zondervan, 

 4   Standard Lesson Commentary KJV 2005-2006   Standard

5   Forgiven   Karen Kingsbury, Tyndale,

6   The Five Love Languages   Gary Chapman, Northfield (Moody)

7   Wild at Heart   John Eldredge, Nelson Books (Nelson),

8   Blue Like Jazz   Donald Miller, Nelson Books (Nelson),

9   Your Best Life Now   Joel Osteen, Warner Faith,

10   Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World   Joanna Weaver, WaterBrook, 

 

There is only one novel in that line-up, Karen Kingsbury.  

 

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Halo's Eve Tip #1- Need the Hook Up

By now you've either completed your novel or almost have. Or your manuscript has received rave reviews fro your crit group. Or your story placed well in a writer's conference contest. Unless you're a writing phenom who wishes to bless us with some sage advice. Whatever the case Halo's Eve is here. And the angel has a tip for you.

Tip # 1: Get the Hook Up

When I wrote the first draft of my book I had a more than general idea of what the book would be about. Now that the first draft is complete I see many problems with this manuscript. First of which is the premise- the novel's starting point through which the other story elements interact to make a cohesive and coherent plot.

My novel's premise:

Marlo Joyner doesn't want or need a father-figure for her tweenaged daughter, Lily. Even when Lily needs an escort for the Father Daughter Junior Cotillion. But when Marlo gains news that her ex-husband has a parole board hearing and his family has been snooping around Lily's school to gain her trust. She does the unthinkable...Marlo hires a Faux Pop. Fake Daddy.

It sounds cute and interesting, but to be honest--I wouldn't buy it. And I'm a book reviewer, book reading fanatic. So what do I do? I need the Hook Up. I need to raise the stakes of my story.

Donald Maas' Writing the Breakout Novel is my confidant.

What I found through this book is that there are many ways to take the story up a notch. One way to do this is to test my hook against the debut authors in my genre. For me that would be:

• Mary Griffin
• Tia McCollors
• Stacy Hawkins Adams
• Kendra Norman-Bellamy
• Cheri Paris Edwards
• Claudia Hawthorne-Burney

and that does not include crossing over into non-african american women writers, or non christian titles.

But to make matters worst my writing styles is quite different from them.  See. My style is a bit more comical at times and my flow is a little literary, quirky, experimental. Just a pinch.:) And I've read little works this year outside of Claudia, Deanne Gist(historical) and Mary's that is a close second or third to what I'm trying to do.

Is that the same for you? You don't know where your book will fit in?

Well, it shouldn't be a problem. In fact, it has to be a calling.

Why? Go to the message board to find out and to participate in today's Halo's Eve discussion.

Reminder: This week we will provide different tips to help you raise the stakes in your novel. Tomorrow we will talk about another way to add more to your premise through timeliness and generational revelance.

Dee

Am I Doomed from BestSellerDom?

 

Well, according to the guys at Freakonomics I could be..

 

 Three of the current top non-fiction books in the U.S. are written by men who were born and/or raised in the Twin Cities.

 

Before I began novel writing I've been working on a guide for single christian parents. But maybe I should leave that, too under my bed. The fact that I'm a woman and I live in the South disqualifies me from the list. But I am a twin. Does that count?

 

Dee

 

 

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Lori Copeland's Long Cat Nap

Tomorrow is the first day of the Halo's Eve Project. So as I'm perusing my Monday morning blog feeds, I notice Lori Copeland is talking about creating a writing hygiene between a very long cat nap over at Charis Connection.

 

An excerpt...

 So what's my point?

I guess it's this; if you want to be a writer, you have to be disciplined. I’m not. So maybe you don’t have to be so disciplined, just factor in days that you actually work.

 

Why is that important here? Well, for the next month many writers will participate in NaNoWriMo. They will sit down and try to churn out a novel in a month. At Halo's Eve we will sit down and try to polish our novels in a month. Whatever the case, we will be working toward a novel writing goal. And this takes discipline. But as Lori points out, you don't have to be a robot. You can have a life and still make time--through God's grace--to create a novel. So as we do this journey together, please remember not to get upset when you couldn't write today, because your daughter caught a virus in Kindergarten and has to stay home for two days. Or your job decides to launch a new project that requires more overtime hours from you. We do all things through Christ. He will give you the time you need. The only discipline you need to concern yourself with is--keeping God first and treating others as you would have them treat you. Everything else will line up after that. And if your cat nap turns into a post-supper snooze, then dream about your novel.

 

Writing to see what the end's gon' be,

Dee

 

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