Trust in Me

 Remember that snake, Kaa,  in the cartoon Jungle Book? Remember how he sang: “Trus-ss-st in me!”, his big eyes all swirly, putting his snaky jungle voodoo spell on Mowgli?

I feel like Kaa whenever I begin a story. I’m aware I’ve got to overcome the reader’s resistance to the lie I am telling. Because, you know, that’s what all good stories are…convincing lies. So, the very first order is to get the reader to trust me. To take my hand and allow me to lead them on a journey of my devising. Maybe just down the block and around the corner. Or maybe to another time and place. A place filled with folks who don’t really exist. Except in my head.

I have found that in order to achieve this the people and place must already seem real to me. If they are vague to me, I know they will be to the reader too. And the reader will question my knowledge and pull back. So, I spend a lot of time with my characters before I ever begin to actually write about them. I go with them to the places where they live and work. I follow them to parties and watch them in the shower. I can’t even begin to write convincingly about a character until I know what’s most important to her.

If you query Kaa on Wiki you will see that his main attributes are: sneaky, suave, cowardly, seductive, sly, crafty, and tricky. Now, with the exception of cowardly—which simply won’t do at all for a writer, not with the long hours spent honing our craft with no guarantee of return of any sort, and the tenacity required to get published—but excluding cowardly, all those other attributes are actually perfect for a writer. We really must be sneaky, suave, seductive, sly, crafty and tricky to be successful. (I know, all those things your mother warned against and tried to drill out of you, along with being a consummate liar. But she didn’t know you were destined to grow up to be a great writer, now, did she?)

Getting the reader to follow you down your story road is a kind of hypnosis. When I write I want Dear Reader all wrapped up in my coils, unable to put down the book until…well, until I allow it. Maybe at the end.

Who are the folks most difficult to hypnotize?

Jaded readers.

Jaded readers are those, like myself, who know all the tricks and are too aware the writer is attempting to cast a spell over them. The most jaded readers are often writers themselves. Also, agents, editors, and probably publishers too. That’s why it’s so important to have a really great beginning. The beginning is the first danger zone. The first impression and the first place mental barriers will have to be breached, (gently, softly, seductively, sneakily) in those jaded readers who have read so much, and for whom any mechanics the writer employs without finesse are plainly obvious. However, being a jaded reader myself I know how desperately jaded readers long to be hypnotized. We really do want that experience we remember from our more innocent days, of forgetting about the laundry or car repairs or the pie in the oven, and just getting deliciously enchanted and continuing to read against our will.

The methods we writers use to cast our spells are many, but the best three are these:

Story: Make yours so gripping it can’t be put down. This is why it’s so important to have a really great hook right at the beginning of your novel. You want the reader to feel compelled to read on to find out what happens next and what it all means. In fact, ideally, you want to make them feel that throughout the entire tale.

Rhythm of language: This is often completely ignored by writers, always at their own peril. Can you get away without it? Well, I would say it depends on who you are writing for, and what the genre is. But taking a poetry class can’t hurt. And reading other writers who have the magic of poetic language is helpful in learning to do this. Poetic language is a technique  that often goes right over the reader’s head. They may be completely unaware of it on the surface. And that’s fine. Because beneath the surface is where we want to get them anyway.

Alliteration and repetition. Both of these can be annoying if overused or used badly. But in the hands of someone who knows what they are doing these can create the same effect as poetic language. Subtly drawing Dear Reader in and keeping her there.

Sneaky, suave, seductive, sly, crafty, tricky. Cultivate these fine attributes in yourself as a writer. (Despite what momma said.)

Trus-ss-st in me!

I can’t use Mr. Kipling’s Kaa without tipping my hat to the great man who imagined him up for us. Rudyard Kipling was awarded the Nobel prize in literature and led a fascinating life. And if you follow this link you will also discover what he had to say about learning to be an effective liar as a child, and how it almost certainly led to him being a writer.

If you are a writer: What tricks do you employ to pull Dear Reader under your spell? And if you are Dear Reader: Which writers cast the best spells over you?

Book Fest, Back by Popular Request

In response to requests for a little more about the Tucson Festival of Books I got out my notebook and will give you a few of the tidbits I gleaned.

Literary agents Amy Rennert and Claire Gerus had many suggestions for new writers. Both thought following Publishers Marketplace and Publishers Lunch were good sources to keep in the loop about what is being published.

A social media marketing workshop proved to be interesting. Although I don’t subscribe to the idea of automating tweets, as the workshop leader suggested we do. (Personally I am not interested in reading automated tweeps, so why should I send them out to others?) I use Twitter to build relationships with folks. I want to actually know about those I interact with on Twitter. I’ve found support there, and opportunity to give my support to others.  If you haven’t tried it, perhaps you should?

During a workshop for sagging middles – don’t look down at your waist, we’re still talking writing here – I learned that getting through a tough middle on a novel can simply be a matter of asking, “What is the next indicated thing a character would do? Then possibly asking, “ What is the last thing she would do?” Also, “What would make my character suffer the most?” (Always my favorite, brwhahaha.)

I attended the festival with workshop writer friends: Char Bishop, Diana Douglas, LaDonna (yes…just LaDonna, you know, like Cher, or Prince) Janice Russell, Patricia Cox, David Waid and John Blohm. All fantastic writers, and wonderfully supportive of each other. (Members of the ANWW.)

Writers of the ANWW and friends

Trish arranged for us to get together with some other writer friends Saturday evening at The Blue Willow. We ate outside on the patio. It was the perfect way to cap off the first day of the festival. The ladies later retired to one of our rooms at the Marriot, where we drank wine and talked about the high points of our day.

(It would take not one, but two, strong lattes at the funky hookah bar near campus to get me going the next morning.)

I’m marking my calendar for next March and definitely plan on attending. And if you plan on being anywhere near Arizona next year in March, you should too!

The Tucson Festival of Books – highly recommended.

Diana, Unintentionally

Jacqueline Winspear, Diana Gabadon and J.A. Jance

The Tucson Book Festival was an amazing experience. What many people don’t know is it’s also a superb writers’ conference. This year’s authors included the likes of Beth Gutcheon, Laura Fitzgerald, Diana Gabaldon, J.A. Jance, Jacqueline Winspear, Julia Glass and Jane Hamilton, among others. And these wonderful women gave interesting and often highly amusing talks about aspects of their lives as writers, and the process behind the creation of their novels. The session with Julia Glass and Jane Hamilton was wildly funny, the audience, which filled a tiered lecture room inside the chemistry building of UofA Tucson, often erupting into appreciative laughter at their reminisces.

But the high point for me was a chance encounter with Diana Gabaldon. It happened like this. She was set to speak in a panel alongside J.A. Jance and Jackie Winspear. I entered the auditorium with my friend, writer Diana Douglas, and we found our seats in the already crowded hall. I then excused myself to go in search of a ladies room. Flagging down  a green-shirted (volunteer) gal in the passageway outside the hall I was given directions to the nearest ladies room, which was located downstairs and down a long corridor. I found my way through the crowds, my thoughts all on getting back to the auditorium before the author interview began. I yanked open the heavy door of the ladies room and took my place in line behind a tiny teenager. It took me a moment to realize who stood in front of her.  I am somewhat tall so it was easy to see past the teen. The person in front of her wore a flowing Spanish style black skirt, thick-soled flip flops and an artsy jacket over a bright red fitted top, and had long darkly glossy locks. Diana Gabaldon.

Now, ordinarily this wouldn’t seem so funny. Except, if you follow my blog you may recall I posted a humorous entry on March 3rd promising not to  ‘stalk’ my favorite author (DG) to the ladies room during the festival. I also promised not to breathe on her neck or shove my manuscript beneath the stall door while she was in there.

Hmmm…life is weird, for sure.

At any rate, true to my word, I did none of these things (although, admittedly, I didn’t have a copy of Sword of Mordrey handy). I did have to stand outside her stall, the first on the right nearest the door, for a few moments as I waited for another to open up. And it did cross my mind to let the person waiting in line behind me go first and to wait (lurk) for DG to come out. But I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I did make speedy use of the first stall that became available in the slim hope of catching a word with her as she washed her hands. But, either she skipped that step, or was fast about it, because when I emerged , alas, she was gone. 

I  washed my hands, and then made my way back through the crowded building to the ballroom and took my seat, slightly weirded out by the oftimes strangeness of life, and running over in my head if I should have perhaps been more…something. Forward maybe? One is given only so many opportunities, and I do have  a manuscript needing an introduction to an agent.

More (possibly) on my experiences at the Book Festival next time I post!

What do you think? Am I too well behaved? What would you have done?

Are You a Writer?

The question came up at the Arizona Novel Writers Workshop:  How do you know if you’re a writer? It was asked by Liz – an excellent writer of the murder mystery persuasion.

The question, and the various replies to it, got my brain perking.

How do you know you’re a writer? When can that label be legitimately claimed for one’s self?

For me, I think  I first thought of myself as a writer when I was in college, taking a creative writing course. I completed my first story, beginning to end. It was terrible. Something about a woman being sexually harassed by her boss, who was a florist. As I write this I can actually feel my shoulders hunch a little, remembering how bad that story was, and that I proudly showed it to my classmates and professor. At the time I thought it was so ‘true to life’. My next completed story was a pretentious little piece of tripe about some rich kids whose hobnobbing, partying parents neglected them, which of course ended in tragedy. Very subtle literary tragedy, I was certain - I was going through my F. Scott Fitzgerald phase just then.

But irregardless of how rotten my skills were, how faulty the execution was, and the naiveté of my young human perceptions, one thing was certain: I liked writing. I liked it a lot.

And as a result I started seeing myself as a writer. Which seems to have worked, because I have since become one.  Perhaps the metaphysicians are correct and being a writer (a butcher, a baker, a candlestick maker) is linked to first imagining yourself as one.

So, in response to Liz’s question, I have compiled this list of ways to ‘tell’ if you are a writer, or not.

• You often wake during the night with an idea that makes you get out of bed and write it down.
• You sometimes shout out the obvious (to you) next plot development during movies, resulting in your family and friends irritably shushing you for ‘giving away the ending’.
• You have an uncommon (perhaps even unseemly) fondness for books.
• The weird people you meet fascinate you as possible characters in your next novel or short story.
• If you suddenly found yourself without fingers, you’d find a way to type with your toes.
• You eves drop on conversations you’re not part of.  And then mentally edit them.
• You spend more on paper, notebooks, pens and printer ink then you do on shoes. (This sign is an especially good indicator if you are female, or a drag queen.)
• You become truculent when you don’t have time to write.
• You know what truculent means.
• It’s 4pm, you’ve been working all day, you’re still in your pajamas, and the dog has made a puddle in the kitchen because you neglected to let her out.
• You continue to write, despite those depressing blogs and articles saying how slim your chances are of getting published or finding an agent.
• You’re not afraid of the voices in your head. You like them.
• You have at least as many conversations with imaginary folks as ‘real’ ones. You don’t totally buy the distinction.
• You know you ate, the empty plate on your desk is evidence, but you can’t remember doing it or what it was.
• You enjoy nothing better than torturing the heroine/hero.
• You’ve gleefully told a friend that you killed someone that morning/day/evening . . . and that you enjoyed it. 

What are your thoughts? If you write, when did you first begin to think of yourself as ‘a writer’?

 

Tucson Festival of Books

The schedule of events came out this past week for the Tucson Festival of Books. I am busy perusing it and planning my  two days there with the writers of the Arizona Novel Writers Workshop .

The very first order of the day for me, of course, was to locate those events featuring Arizona-based writer  Diana Gabaldon, since hearing her speak (squeee!!!) is one of the main reasons I’ll be attending.

Read  up on advice on attending conferences this morning. Will take into serious consideration points concerning not breathing on an agent’s (or a certain favorite author’s) neck from behind (with or without breath mints), or following said agent or favorite author to the ladies room and then lurking outside. (Also promise not to shove my manuscript under the stall door).

Here’s what the Arizona Star has to say about the Book Festival.

The festival is scheduled to take place over the weekend of the 12th and 13th of March.

Hope to see you there!