The World of Dragonfly

So now it’s time. You’ve gotten the idea in your mind and created the conflict. You’ve also figured out your main characters and completed profiles on each of them. And you’ve also outline your plot and created the time line to go along with it. And you’re about the scream because you have yet to start putting pen to paper–or fingers to keyboard, to draft the novel.

Well, your wait is over! It’s time to do that. Look at it this way. The work listed above is like the preparation work (spackling, sanding, etc.) that goes into preparing walls for painting. By that point, applying the color is almost sheer enjoyment because you can see the fruits of your labor. Drafting is the same way. You’ve completed all of this work, and now it’s time to see the fruits of your labors.

Go for it! And as you do, keep these pointers in mind:

1. Just write. Don’t worry about editing right now. Sure, if you create a typo, correct it, but don’t start over-editing. You’ll have plenty of time for that later.

2. Try to get blocks of time to write. While you do hear people say, and it’s true, that if you can write a page a day, you’ll have a decent-sized novel within a year. Well, if you’re like me, you’re not that patient. Try to find blocks of time, even if it’s an hour or so, to write. Aim for four pages or more each time. If you can manage it, two to three hours is perfect. One of the ways I try to do this is to disappear to my local Starbucks once a week for an hour to an hour and a half. That way, I’m not sitting there looking at all that needs to be done around the house. Instead, I can focus on my writing.

3. Re-read previously written work. If you have a writing session and come back to it later, go back and re-read previously written work to see if it makes sense to you and to give you a reference to continuing the plot.

4. It’s okay to re-write. In many cases, what you put down may not be exactly what you’d intended. When this happens, it’s okay to erase that and move on. The key is not to get so caught up in this that you wind up getting stuck in one place.

5. No major editing. I know I said this above in #1, but I want to reinforce it here. Don’t do major edits right now. Otherwise, you can waste an inordinate amount of time on one section of the novel, get discouraged, and never complete it. Instead, focus on pushing through because, again, you’ll have plenty of time to edit later.

6. Be persistent. This is my last major point. You have to persist. There may be times when you’re so busy that the only time you draft is when you’re sitting in front of the television. Sometimes, you may have enough stuff going on that even that doesn’t happen. If that’s the case, then accept it and carve out time to write later. Aim to complete your draft within three or so months.

7. Have fun. Finally, finally, you’re off and writing. This should be the fun part. The part where your right brain goes to town and you can simply just enjoy letting your ideas spill onto paper or the computer screen. So enjoy it. Let the story you want to tell take you away for a bit and into the dream that author John Gardner talks about so much.

So there you are. Seven tips to help you get going with writing a novel. Truly soak up this experience. I promise you’ll be all the richer for it.

Next up: Editing.

Plotting and determining time lines are two other essentials when preparing to write a novel. The plot lays out how the story will develop and progress, and the time line helps you determine when that will occur.

I’m not going to get into the nuts and bolts of how to plot such as rising action, climax, and falling action. I leave those up to the experts and strongly suggest that you read a couple of good books on developing fiction. But I do want to share some items that I’ve learned over the years.

1. Think about the entire course of the story you want to tell, from beginning to end. It’s okay to know how things will progress.
2. Don’t worry about thinking linearly. Some scenes may come up early in your thought process that would be more suitable toward the end of your novel than the beginning. Plotting the whole novel allows you to plug in the scenes where you think they go.
3. Jot everything down, either on a notepad or on the computer when they come up. Everything. Even if you think it’s too detailed. And if you’re getting ready for bed or out somewhere when these ideas arrive, write them down somewhere lest you forget them.
4. Be open to change. Plotting is definitely not a done deal. If things change after you draft your plot, that’s okay. Work it into the novel.

On to the time line. This too was a concept that was drilled into my head when I took my writing course. Additionally, I’ve come to see that it is an essential part of planning out a novel. Time lines help you figure out how the plot will unfold. A good time line will also keep you from making errors that knock the reader out of the reality of the book and into their reality. For example, a character may be adopting a child where there is a waiting period of six months. If you’re not careful with the plot, then only four months might pass.

So how is the best way to avoid this? I actually use a calendar. I go to my Outlook and print out blank calendars for the months when my plot will occur. Then I literally pencil in when dates will occur for all aspects of the plot and sub plots. A suggestion I have, especially when sub plots are involved, is to group them on common days to save yourself confusion. That’s hard to explain, and if you have questions, I’ll be glad to entertain them. Just comment on my post, and I’ll respond.

Like the plot, time lines should be subject to change. If something comes up and you need to adjust it, do so. Nothing is set in stone.

One last bit of advice that I have, which was passed to me by someone years ago, was to not stretch the plot/time line over many years to turn your novel into the epic novel. Instead, as a beginning novelist, keep it relatively compact. I try to keep mine to within a year. That being said, if you view placing something in the distant past to set the stage, or into the distant future, to end the novel, then do so. A good way to do that is to use headers at the beginning of the chapters (e.g., 2008 for the past and Present Day when the present action starts). And if you have something at the very end of the novel that is way in the future, you can use an Epilogue and again denote the same thing (e.g., 2017). Just don’t stretch the entire plot over, say, ten years or so.

So that’s plot and time line from my point of view. Next up: Free write!

To me, profiling characters is one of the most important parts of writing. And I’m not talking about profiling in terms of that controversial practice that has received media attention. No, I’m talking about drafting a profile of the characters that go into a novel. If this type of profiling isn’t done, then the novel as a whole will suffer.

I learned all about profiling when I was taking a writing course several years ago. One of my assignments was to pick a character from a novel I’d written and just free write about every single thing I could think of about her. And I mean everything. What she looked like. What she liked to eat. What drove her to a particular point. Her strengths and weaknesses.

The reason this should be done? Taking the time to discover these things about the characters in a novel adds depth that cannot be addressed simply through plot. And readers like depth. Remember that conflicts can come from characters, and the only way to set up this conflict is to know the character.

Okay. So this may seem daunting. Quite frankly, I found the same thing to be true when I did that exercise. My first thought was, “I can come up with enough stuff to fill three pages?” It turns out I did that and more. So here is what I recommend to do:

1. Pick your main characters. Profiling doesn’t have to be done for every single character in a novel. If that were the case, then I’d spend all of my time writing about characters and none drafting the novel itself. Instead, pick the top three or four main characters. Definitely do the protagonist and antagonist at a minimum.

2. Set up a template. Determine what you want to look at for all of your characters. Here are some ideas I’ve come up with: Looks, personality, daily schedule, likes/dislikes, strengths, weaknesses, childhood (up through age 18), adulthood, faith walk, romantic history… The list can go on and on, as much as you wish. I like to use a profile because that way I’m consistent in what I examine for each character.

3. Draft the character profile: For each of the main characters discussed in Step 1, complete the profile. Take the time to really think about each of the topics in the template. Pages should be written about each. After completing the profiles, I think you’ll find that your characters take on a depth that will add richness to the novel.

Do keep some things in mind.

First, all characters have both good and bad traits. Just as all characters have strengths and weaknesses, all characters have good and bad traits, including the antagonists. I know. I know. It’s easy to think that antagonists are all bad. But they’re not. They may have some redeeming traits in them, even if they’re very faint. For example, one of my antagonists (actually, one of my favorite characters), is definitely someone I wouldn’t want to tangle with. He’s dangerous, for lack of a better term. Yet he also has a bizarre compassion that shows itself at strange times.

Second, characters can change. Just because you have a profile of a character doesn’t mean that their personality will be the same as you initially anticipated. Instead, as you write the novel, you may find that they seem to take a personality that you haven’t expected. That’s okay. Let it happen, as these changes may be minor. If they become major, then be sure to update your profile. For example, in a novel that I’ve written and rewritten, I discovered that my leading man had a dramatically different faith history than I anticipated. So I took the time to go back and redraft as necessary his profile. I found that it’s immensely helped me in picturing how he’d react.

Okay. So I’ve provided you with some good ideas on how to do a character profile. I think that if you take the time to do this step, your novel will be all the more richer for it.

Next up: Plotting and Timelines

Okay.  So after a four-month hiatus thanks to craziness at work, I’m back at the blogging and ready to do a series about writing a novel.  Now, I’m not a writing professor or published novelist yet, but I’ve written my share of novels (about 5 or so and probably 500,000+ words) that I would let see the light of day, so I feel comfortable saying that I’ve learned a thing or two over the years about how to develop a novel.  So, that being said, keep in mind that this is my opinion and mine alone.

The first thing I always do is come up with an idea.  For me, those ideas usually spring from two sources that have to work together.  The character and the conflict.  A lot of times, the character and conflict ideas come from entirely unexpected sources.

So here’s some examples.  In one of my novels that I’ve submitted for publication, the idea came when I saw the movie The Kingdom in 2007.  I thought it was a great movie, especially since the writer and director sought not to villainize Saudi Arabians but to make one of the heroes a Saudi Arabian police officer.  That got me thinking about the cultural differences between Saudi Arabia and the American South, the Low Country around Charleston (yes, I was vacationing near Charleston at the time).  Then I began wondering and asking myself the following: “What would happen if a Saudi Arabian man was yanked out of his native culture and placed in the American South, where he comes face to face with the strong-willed steel magnolia of a southern woman?”  So up sprang the leading man and leading lady of one of my novels.

Most recently, I had another idea come to me.  It happened in April when I was working with my husband and a friend to paint the den and kitchen of our house.  Now keep in mind that this was no small undertaking and required about 16 hours of straight painting.  Which, of course, meant a lot of time listening to the radio.  We had it tuned to a station where (I kid you not), they play anything.  One of the songs that they played was Duran Duran’s “A View to a Kill,” which came from the James Bond movie of the same name.  The thought that sprang to my head was a female sniper assassin who has many kills under her belt yet finds herself coming face to face with the lifestyle she’s chosen over the past few years.  And yes, that rapidly formed into a novel that I’ve drafted.

So my point is that ideas can come from many places and can take the form of a character, a conflict, or a plot.  So if searching for ideas, keep your eyes open and observe.

Next up?  Profiling

Today was an incredibly glorious day, one made for running.  So run I did.  Today was interval training.  Forty-five minutes of hard work.  And during one of those recovery periods where I walked to bring down my heart rate, I started thinking.  If people asked me why I do triathlons and put myself through what some would term hell, what would I tell them?  Well, as you can imagine, that got me thinking.  What, exactly, would I say?  I think it boils down to four things.

I do triathlons because I want to get into shape. Well, that’s kind of a “duh” reason, but I do think it’s a big one.  Triathlons are swims, bikes, and runs.  The lengths vary depending on the type of race (sprint vs. Olympic vs. Half-Ironman).  So the training makes me use different muscle groups.  But also, I’m not one who likes to be on strict diets, and the exercise allows me to eat a little more freely than I could if I did no exercise at all.

I do triathlons because I like doing things that many people don’t. This was an especially interesting thing to learn last year when I was the last finisher (no, not last place) at the 36 North Triathlon last year.  I kept lamenting on how poorly I felt I did until my good friend gently admonished, “Hey, look at it this way.  You did something that not a lot of people can do.”  That’s true.  It’s a unique adventure.  And one that, for a number of reasons, a lot of people can’t or choose not to do.  I like unique adventures like this or hiking to the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

I do triathlons because I want to be an encouragement to others. I’m no fish, race car, or cheetah, yet I still participate in triathlons.  It’s a sport where speed is not a necessity, even when those who are totally into the $3,000 bikes with the cool wheels and light frames think so.  No, if you have a swimsuit, a bike, and a decent pair of running shoes, triathlons are possible.  And for those women out there who think it’s beyond your reach, I dare say that it isn’t.  Several races are now for women only and serve as a great introduction to the sport.  For those in the Carolinas or Virginia, check out Dash for Divas.  If you can swim 250 meters, bike seven miles on flat ground, and run two miles on flat ground, then most likely, you can do this event.  I would love to see Olympic-distance triathlon participation one day be more then the current one-third women.

I do triathlons because it toughens me mentally. This may seem strange to some people, but I can tell you that while triathlons do require physical training, it is also a sport that is at least half mental.  Case in point.  Last year, I competed in the 36 North (yes, where I finished last).  When I finished the bike part in second-to-last place, I wanted to quit.  I so wanted to quit.  My husband was right there, encouraging me, offering to run with me even though he’d already run a 5k when he finished his own race.  I told him tonight that I was glad I didn’t quit.  So, I do triathlons because there will be times in my life where I do want to quit whatever race God puts me in.  It could be the loss of a job.  An illness in the family.  A medical diagnosis.  Or, insert your own crisis.  In these events, the temptation to curl up and quit life in some form or fashion is high.  But to truly live instead of just survive requires a mental toughness to endure.  So, perhaps, that’s one of the biggest reasons why I do triathlons.

So if someone ever asks me why, I’ll simply point them to this post.  And whatever you do, think about the reasons behind it.  Then you too can explain why you do what you do.

After who knows how long, I’ve finally taken the great leap that all serious novelists must take at some point in their writing careers.  I’ve begun sending out query letters.  Yes, for those who aren’t writers, or who aren’t novelists, this may seem like no real big deal, but believe me, for novelists, this is a huge deal.  Why?  I’ve thought about that a lot over these past few days as I’ve begun the process.  Here’s what I’ve determined:

• It’s a time investment. I see submitting to agents and publishers as a “job search” for novelists.  Each one has different requirements, be it what they want to see from authors.  So far, I’ve submitted two query letters and one complete manuscript.  Other publishers I’m looking at for this particular novel also want a proposal package.
• It’s an emotional investment. I Novelists view their product as a work of art, and believe me when I say that I’m no exception to that.  I’ve poured countless hours into not only the creation of the novel I’m submitting but also the refining of the novel through editing.  So it’s no wonder that I’m emotionally invested in my work.
• It’s a scary step. Once again, those who aren’t writers may scoff at this, but really, think about it.  When we job hunt and spend hours creating resumes and honing our interview skills, it can actually be kind of intimidating.  That’s even more so with writers.  You see, writers invest a deep part of them in their work.  So when we send queries and proposals to publishing houses or agents, we’re letting a stranger judge how good we are based on the work we submit.  To be honest, that’s really scary.
• It’s a pride thing. It’s good to take pride in our work–at least until we start treating our work like an idol.  That keeps us going and allows us to hone our skills as writers or whatever our trade may be.  However, we novelists and writers in general also need to keep grounded and remind ourselves that we need to remain teachable.  There’s a fine line between remaining teachable through editing from an agent or publisher and allowing someone to step all over us.  It’s a constant balance between a tough exterior and a tender heart.  Also, it’s important to realize that it’s easy to allow our work to take higher precedence than it should in our lives.
• Getting work on the street means putting off new work. We as writers need to remember that it’s okay to delay work because no one else will put out the queries, at least not without requiring compensation, most likely.  Besides, sending out queries and proposals forces us to edit, edit, edit, and that’s a good skill to keep honing.  The time will come for new work.

So as I start this process, I need to constantly remind myself that:

• God gave me the talent to write.  I’m good at it.  If someone doesn’t like it, that’s fine.  It’s an opinion.
• If God wants my work to get published, He’ll clear the way as He sees fit.
• Writing allows me the chance to use my God-given gifts, and I need to honor that.
• I need to remain persistent no matter what happens

So will I get published?  That remains to be seen.  My hope is that I will keep everyone informed.  In the meantime, I’ll do my part and then sit back and watch as God does His.

Well, at sunset, we finally arrived home after four days of constant driving.  Not only is it good not to sit in a car, but it’s also nice to eat home cooking.  Here’s 10 observations from our trip:

1. It’s really easy to go really fast, even in a Mustang V6.  Cruise control is crucial, especially if you’re driving a yellow Mustang.
2. If you’re going to spend 4 days in a car with someone, make sure that someone is your best friend.
3. Arkansas is scary.
4. Take time to see a little bit of the scenery and visit with friends where possible.
5. After awhile, eating food on the road gets old.
6. Hampton Inns are the best for economical places to stay while on the road.
7. Using a Garmin is no substitute for a map (electronic or paper) and good, old-fashioned commonsense.
8. Road music is a must.
9. Have a spirit of adventure and be willing to backtrack if adventure looks like it could lead to nowhere.
10. Most of all, let that Pony run!

Day 3 on the road has just finished, and now, we’re in Chattanooga and “pulling for the barn” in that we’re ready to get home.  Fortunately, today was a beautiful day for driving with plenty of sun and temperatures in the 70s.  Almost warm enough for the top to be down but not quite at high speeds.  Still, we enjoyed ourselves.

First, we dropped down into the Mississippi Delta of northwestern Mississippi.  If you’ve never been there, one thing that’s noticeable is the distinct change in landscape.  Within mere feet, we went from rolling hills to land as flat as a tabletop.  I did some work in this area about nine or so years ago, and ever since then, it’s been an area that’s intrigued me.  My impressions from back then was that it’s the land time forgot, and I think that still holds true today.  It’s a poor area (nine years ago the three counties, Bolivar, Coahoma, and Tunica) were the three poorest counties in the country.  But from what I remember, it’s a relatively diverse area thanks to its history.

The land was actually settled and put into agricultural use only after the levies were built to control the floods of the neighboring Mississippi River.  Once the levies were finished, crops were planted, especially cotton.  This meant that people had to farm the fields.  After the Civil War, the landowners still needed labor.  So in came various migrant laborers, including Chinese, Italian, African American, and others.  Today, that’s evident that the diversity remains in effect.

Another interesting facet of the Delta as a whole, which runs essentially from Tennessee (or maybe further north too) down to Louisiana is its history surrounding the Great Flood of 1927.  Long story short, the flood caused the Great Migration of African Americans up North as well as served as the event that put Hoover eventually into the White House.  For more about this event and everything leading up to it, I recommend the book Rising Tide by John M. Barry.  It’s an extraordinary book.

So once we saw the Delta, we headed east, finally and passed through Oxford, home to Ole Miss as well as John Grisham.  Then it was on to Tuscumbia, Alabama where Steve’s maternal grandparents lived.  We saw the house where they lived as well as the log cabin where she was born.  It was neat to see some family history.

Finally, it was on to Chattanooga.  We’re tired, but it was a good evening filled with taking the daughter of two of our friends to supper before settling into our hotel.  Tomorrow will be our last day of driving that will hopefully send us to Cary in good fashion.

Finally, we’ve arrived in Kansas on our trip back to North Carolina.  This was our long day of driving.  I think we left at about ten or so, fully expecting to arrive in Southaven, MS, which is just south of Memphis, by seven or so.  Except that we decided to listen to our Garmin.  Bad move.

Well, it started out innocently enough.  Our plan had been to drive from Kansas City to St. Louis and drop down on I-55 from St. Louis to Memphis.  Well, as most of you know, interstate is very boring, especially interstate out in the Midwest.  Also, I’d been to Jefferson City several years ago for work, and I remembered what a charming town it was.  So we decided to go to Jefferson City and have lunch there before continuing on our way.

Jefferson City is actually the state capital for Missouri.  Supposedly, the lawmakers who wanted to put the capital there in the eighteen hundreds had actually suggested the name Missouriopolis.  Good thing the name didn’t stick.  Instead, it was named after Thomas Jefferson.  The population is about 50,000 people, so not too big for a capital.  It’s got a nice capitol building as well as a charming downtown.  We ate at a local diner, gassed up, and decided to have an adventurous streak.

That adventurous streak is what led us toward potential trouble.  I programmed our Garmin with the address of our hotel, and soon enough, we found ourselves in the wilds of Missouri, traveling down a highway that led us further and further into the hills that would lead up to the Ozarks.  We quickly realized that maybe the boring interstate was best.  The challenge remained how to get there.

We silenced the Garmin and pulled out our phones, both of which have GPS.  So we had to get back onto the interstate, but to avoid adding additional time, we decided, after much debate, to go back onto the state roads and follow the route set out by the Droid.  The state route turned into a very rural road as we twisted and curved to Interstate 55.

Safe at last on 55, we began the journey south.  I dozed, and when I woke up, our Garmin (which we’d reactivated), showed that we’d lost over 500 feet of altitude as we dropped into the Mississippi River valley.  I-55 follows the Mississippi all the way to Memphis before cutting inland and passing through central Mississippi.  As the sun went down, we realized just how flat the land was at barely 300 feet above sea level.  And talk about straight road!

We decided to stop in Blytheville, Arkansas.  As I wrote in a Facebook post, this town scared me.  The best place to eat in town?  Perkins.  There’s an Air Force base here, and we mutually agreed that we’d rather be posted in the hinterlands of New Mexico than there.  The whole place just gave me the creeps.  Needless to say, we didn’t waste any time getting back onto the road.

So here we are now, tucked away in our room just south of Memphis and getting ready to make our tour through Mississippi and Alabama.  The nice thing?  I’m back home in the South.  The Chick Fil A I saw was all of the indication I needed.

Today was a hallmark occasion for Steve and me.  Why?  Well, we embarked upon an adventure.  Maybe not the adventure of a lifetime, but definitely an adventure.  You see, today, we traveled out to the Midwest to purchase a car.  And not just any car.  It really all began three weeks ago when we determined that we were ready to purchase the car that would replace the aging Miata we have.

We were very particular about the car.  It had to be a Ford Mustang convertible.  Screaming yellow in color.  With a manual shift.  Oh, and it had to be a V6.  With that particular formula in mind, we knew it would be no easy task to find one.  Matter of fact, we knew we might have to travel to get it.  So when we were ready to buy, I went onto www.autotrader.com and put in the appropriate criteria.  One popped up for Augusta Ford.  Yes! I thought.  August, Georgia is only about six hours from Raleigh.  We could make an easy long weekend of it.  Then I looked at the state.  Not Augusta, Georgia, but Augusta, Kansas!  Whew!  What a switch.  But, hey.  Steve and I are never ones to shy away from adventure.  Why not go out to Kansas to buy a car.  But in the middle of February???  Still, we weren’t dissuaded at all from our proposed adventure.

Fast-forward through all of the back and forth with the dealer and haggling associated with the price.  We bravely boarded a 7:15 AM flight from our home airport to Kansas City.  If you’ve been following my Facebook postings, then it’s clear that the Kansas City Airport felt like something straight out of the seventies.  But hey, that was okay.  Soon, we were on our way.  And once we crossed from Missouri into Kansas, it was like we were thrust into the countryside.  There was nothing to see but some trees for miles around.  Other observations included over ten hawks sitting either in said trees or on fence posts as they waited for small prey to catch, the stink of at least four skunks, and probably fifteen windmills.  We drove through a section of Kansas called the Flint Hills.  Essentially, when we entered this area, the somewhat tree cover transformed to virtually no tree cover.  Then, when we left the Flint Hills, the land flattened into prairie dotted periodically with small oil wells, some active and some not.  Overall, the road we drove had a whole bunch of nothing.

The deal went smoothly, although I’ve come to realize that with auto dealers, never plan on being in and out.  It just never works that way.  But we rolled away with The Pony.  It’s an awesome machine.  Solid, that’s for sure.  And what they said it was with no hidden surprises.  And it’s a great car to drive, especially after I got used to a manual transmission again.

Once we returned to Kansas City, we had supper with a friend we hadn’t seen in awhile.  Awesome pizza.  Great company.  It was good to catch up.  Now, we’re both dog-tired and ready to climb into bed.  Tomorrow, we head to Memphis.  Stay tuned for another post from Ponyville.