Early Resolutions and writing short stories

cj Sez: First: Congratulations to the international organization, Sisters in Crime, for their well-deserved Raven Award. Sah – lute! (I am a member, woo hoo!)

I like to think of myself as still a member of the Mobile Public Library’s “Classics Revisited” book group even though I am no longer able to attend the gatherings (time/date conflict).  Because I think of myself as being on hiatus, I’m planning to challenge myself to complete their 2016 reading list as one of my New Year's resolutions. So here’s six months of my to-do list:    

January- The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
February- The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
March- Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
April- The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle (12 short stories in all.)
May- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
June- Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe

The book I’m most fascinated by at this point is The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes. Not only because it’s a classic, but also because it’s a collection of short stories. For me, a true short story is “the” most difficult to write. I have, in a How-To-Write file, a copy of Anne Lamott’s ABCDE formula for writing short stories (Action, Background, Conflict, Development, and Ending).

Action — Start with something happening to draw the reader into the story. 
Background — Provide context for readers to understand how the characters came to the current situation
Conflict — The characters must want something they don’t have and work to achieve it (sometimes against each other)
Development — Makes up 70-80% of the story describing the characters’ struggle to get what they want. Each time it appears they have the goal within reach, give them something more difficult to overcome until they reach the climax 
Ending — What happens after they reach their goal. In a romance, the hero and heroine realize their “happily-ever-after”. In a mystery or thriller, all the loose ends are tied up. In a literary story, the ending is often ambiguous

So there you have it, laid out in black and white…the formula for writing short stories. She makes it look easy, doesn’t she? So did Nic Wallenda when he walked a tightrope across Niagara Falls.

I also have a tiny, silver empty picture frame to help me keep my focus. In her book, Bird by Bird,* Lamott describes how she has a one-inch picture frame on her desk. The little picture frame reminds her to focus on just a small piece of the whole story. She says when a writer starts with a small focus and then gradually widens it, the story will come together more easily. (cj Sez: I keep trying.)

Crappy first drafts shouldn’t stop you from finishing your story. I hope you keep working at it. You do, don’t you?

Okay, you-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same.

cj

cjpetterson@gmail.com

https://www.facebook.com/CjPettersonAuthor

Choosing Carter  -- Kindle  /  Nook  /  Kobo   

Deadly Star --  Kindle  / Nook  / Kobo 

PS:  The stories in CHOOSING CARTER and DEADLY STAR could have been gleaned from today’s headlines, but as Oscar Wilde said:

“The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what Fiction means.” 

― Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest 

*Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, by Anne Lamott

What is needed

A new day on the Gulf Coast

In addition to the usual writerly things an author does during any given year (critiques, writing short stories, attending a conference or two, entering contests), my plans for 2014 include revising a romantic suspense/mystery, completing the first book in a detective series, and thinking through (is that called outlining?) a young adult fantasy. Several months into these projects, the dust is settling around me, and I wonder how much of this ambitious schedule is wishful thinking.

I completed my final edit (I thought) of the romantic suspense/mystery a couple of years ago, but it turned out that the theme became too close to a real-life tragedy…I didn’t feel I could send it out “as is.” Ergo, I’m doing a major revision. I will have to touch EVERY chapter and make sure the old plot threads are totally destroyed, and the new plot threads are connected from chapter one to novel ending. It’s a bit overwhelming right now, looking at touching every line of 400 pages, so I’m procrastinating.

I really like the protagonist in the new detective story that I want to turn into a series. There is a neat supporting cast as well. Jannecka Konner—“It’s pronounced Yahn-ecka, but my friends call me Jake.”—is a Yankee transplanted to the deep South. She is learning her way around Mobile, Alabama, at the same time she’s launching her career as a private detective. There’s infidelity, a murder with an unexpected twist, and a young boy in danger of being sucked into the foster care system. Jake’s sassy repartee with the lawyer who wants to be her lover is going to be fun to write.

The young adult fantasy I’m attempting is five chapters long, but it is now sitting on the proverbial back burner. Focus group review (six teenagers, most of them writers-in-training) persuaded me that I should rethink this story. The concept is good, they said, but the action needs to be beefed up. The story is written with a PG rating in mind, so I’m reading other PG YA novels for direction, dialogue, and development of characters. One novel I read was the first of John Grisham’s kid lawyer efforts. As expected, Mr. Grisham expertly develops the protagonist and the setting (time, and place), but I agree with another young reader . . . as a YA novel, it falls short. There isn’t enough action and there’s a lot of telling instead of showing. The reader also pointed out, and he is right, that some character threads were left hanging when the story reaches its denouement. Unanswered questions at the end of a novel (“hooks”) might be a perfectly acceptable method for most adult series but not for young readers. I was, however, able to analyze how Mr. Grisham develops a likeable character and appreciated the learning moments (how a trial works).

How much of my grand plan for 2014 is achievable?  All of it, I believe, if I set my derriere down in front of my computer for more than an hour a day. What is needed is discipline. Tell you what, instead of wishing me luck on completing my to-do-list, would you drop me a line and wish me discipline instead?

You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same.

cj

Photo by Jeff D. Johnston

Off and Running

Happy New Year!  May 2011 be the banner year you publish a novel, an essay, a short story, win a contest!

My goals for this year include outlining a new book of composite short stories.  AFDOC was born of short stories I wrote.  I didn't use all of them by any stretch of the imagination, and I've wanted to do this composite compilation for quite a while, so I'm studying and reading and preparing to move forward with the idea.

A second goal is to write 200 short stories - yep I said 200.  Got the idea from another writer who wrote 400, sent out 200 to magazines, and got 27 published.  Small return?  No way!  In the writing world that's a huge return in one year.  I've chosen a select few magazines to study back issues along with their current issues and am writing every day.  Too often, right now, no huge and wonderful ideas have come to mind, so I'm pulling old files and ideas and moving forward, albeit slowly   Will I make 200?  Won't if I don't try.

Here's looking at you - Mahala