I Become Hamlet--To Stir or not to Stir

Thanks to my book club, who encourage me to step outside the reading I do to hone my craft. No apologies there; I really do love YA and MG fiction. But I've been reading some of the books I should have read long ago (fill examples) and re-reading some of my favorites (Emma, Scarlet Pimpernel, Jane Eyre, A Doll's House) and now Hamlet. If I'd kept those typed-on-pink paper essays (pink not because I loved the shade, although I do, but because my dad donated reams he didn't need,) I'm sure I had at least one on Hamlet's failure to act. With several of the books I've re-read since college, including the Ibsen play and Hamlet, I can't muster the same cheerleader cry to "Go, fight, kill!" that my idealistic zeal supplied.

I find myself too much like Hamlet in my life. Oink. Okay, totally inappropriate, but I couldn't resist.
So oink. Hamlet spends time badgering his mother, confusing his girlfriend, making long speeches no one can understand. I mean the ones Shakespeare intended to be that way, although reading the first authentic version I downloaded free on m Kindle made the entire play read like a different language. Hamlet is supposed to know what he has to do, but doesn't act until it's almost too late. Oink. Certainly too late for Ophelia. Double Oink. I never did like that part, although I'm sure it provides actors with a wonderful tragic part.

But does Hamlet really know that killing his uncle is the right thing to do? How often do we have that kind of single-focused clarity on what we should do in our lives?

Cluck. Excuse my adding more barnyard noises (I promise not to break out into e-i-e-i-o's) but I at times feel like the cliche chicken sans head. I know what I want to do. I want to write. However, it isn't as simple as taking a sword and avenging my enemy (although there's probably a recipient of a poison rejection letter somewhere that's fantasized about taking just a little return jab with his letter-opener.) At the moment I have a new book that I love. It's flowing, it has a direction, it has a plot that doesn't wander like Hamlet stumbing through the castle, pausing hither and anon to soliloquize. It's about, seriously, a boy and his lawnmower. But no, it's not about how he decides to start a profitable summer business, so don't yawn yet.

The problem is that I also have my Sonya book that I love, and thanks to Claudia Mill's workshop, I also finally have a way to realign the plot problems in the second half. I also have my dream book, that I also like, but that does  wander, confused, like Ophelia. That isn't even mention my poor, unfinished mermaid book with the brilliant title and unusual concept that I really liked and am determined to sometime finish, even if mermaids are out right now. (Ms. Twilight Saga Goddess, please reconsider writing one, please?"

Plus I went to another lecture by one of my heros, Kathy Headlee  Miner, who told more stories of youth in Africa that I'm feeling compelled to write about. I think these will end up as short stories, and I'm already hunting for my notes on those.

Cluck.

Then there's all the extra cooking I've been trying to do (see later blog post on food.) Ann Cannon says people follow her blog to see what she eats each day, not for her writing. Having read her columns, I know she's being modest, but since food is one of my crazy hen-pecking obsessions, I decided I might occasionally steal her idea. And let her know about it. Maybe she'll become one of the uh-three? people who can say they've read my blog.

Although Hamlet managed to kill Polonius with one sword thrust through a screen, a sword is still just one object, and a narrow one. If I could hone my focus to just the important things, do them first and get them done, maybe I could once again return to my collegiate disdain for Hamlet's indecisive quandry.

Oink, Cluck. My first decisive act is to realize 1:52 am is not my best time for  writing. More tomorrow.

Martine Leavitt Notes from WIFYR, Part 2: Theme

THEME: all words must have an intention, a direction, a goal. Your book needs to have heart—unifying idea, central goal. A writer has to organize a story around a core set of questions.

 Theme asks a question. There may be more than one answer, but it makes people think. Read Holes by Louis Sachar for the  message about Stanley carrying Zero up the hill (justice, paying debt to oppressed peoples.) Remember not to hit your reader over the head with a moral. Theme needs to be very subtle.

Theme grows out of the tension of asking the hard questions.  Theme levels:

1.  Word choice through repetition and layering of images. Discover some telling moment (maybe in exploratory draft) and it becomes the theme. Theme can impact word choice. 
2. Revealed at sentence level through careful use of thematic passages—where character or narration questions about impt things. Careful: lightest of hands, tiny touch will do.
3.  Revealed in structure—characters and objects thematically. Surface story conceals some less-accessible meaning. Martine’s definition: deliberately use another work to illuminate the theme of the story. In her book Tom Finder, Martine uses the opera, The Magic Flute, to reveal her theme. I really recommend this book. It's one that makes the reader think, but it's theme in revealed by structure done with the light hand she recommends. 

• As you edit your manuscript, look for the little moments that might reveal what the intention and goal is.
• Why am I compelled to write this book? 
• What am I asking of the world? 

Writing Prompt--Taken from Martine's workshop (remember she's an MFA professor,) here is your assignment: put your character in a scene that shows the his/her concrete object of desire and the announced strategy (how character is going to achieve concrete desire.) Remember there are lots of little desires along the way, but what is the overarching goal?

More WIFYR Notes--Martine Leavitt Part One--Questions to Ask Yourself as You Write

Martine is the author of amazing, terrific books such as Heck Superhero Tom Finder and Keturah and Lord Death. She's also an instructor for a children's writing MFA program, so it's not wonder she's an incredible WIFYR workshop teacher.

I'm going to divide this into two parts because I have so many good notes to cover. Character Motivation Essentials: Martine gave us a series of questions to ask yourself about your main character or MC.

What does my MC want (emotional, concrete)?

Why can’t MC have what she wants?

What will happen if MC does not get what she wants? (stakes)

How does your MC struggle?

What additional hardships does the MC face?

When is it hopeless?

How does the story end?

How is your character changed?

What is surprising about the ending?

Going along with straightening out my crooked picture frames (see last post) in writing, taking the time to make sure we address these questions as we write is essential. Then, as we review our draft [I love Ann Cannon's method of printing it out and putting it in a 3-ring binder] ask those questions again.

If you don't know the answer to those questions, consider Martine's idea of doing some preliminary writing. To give you some idea of the effort that goes into her work, she says she does lots of early drafts—discovery draft, experimental draft, THEN first draft. I know I often feel a little too married to what I write. I have done a little of this since then, however, and find a 'junk draft an easier way to pull out the parts I like and dump the rest.

Are You Using Too Many Cliches? My eyes widened and I gasped at the thought of how many cliche phrases I use. Here's her list: heart pounding, throat constricting, fist, teeth or stomach clenching, swallowing, widening eyes, gasping, all manner of breathing, tears, trembling, freezing, frozen. I'm not saying you can never use these, but it's food for thought. And yes, my cliches are intentional.

Crooked frames and writing

Hanging pictures is a two-person job (at least.) Ideally, two people should hold the ends of a tape measure to locate the center spot where it's supposed to go. Then one person should hold the frame in place while the other person steps back to see if it's at the right height. Person one then holds her finger in the spot while person two moves the frame and gets the picture hanger and nail ready. I know this because when my dad used to visit, he'd help me hang all the pictures that had been sitting on my floor for months.

My husband is useful, brilliant and kind, but would prefer simple, blank walls. So he's no help. But I got tired of the pictures that had been sitting on the floor for so long that I almost started thinking they didn't belong there. My aim and hammer approach often means I have to hang things two or three times before I get the right spot, resulting in a lot of nail holes.

When I tried to write alone, it's much like standing nose-to-glass with a painting. It may take me a lot longer to correct my errors. I need someone who has the perspective of distance to help me see where my novel is veering way off course. I'm grateful for my critique group, and for writing conferences like Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers. I'm also excited about critiquing based on whole novel trades.

I can deal with slightly-crooked picture frames. But since I really want my writing spot-on, I'm seeking education, good critiques, and whatever other help I can get.

Holly Black--Magic Has a Price

I'm not a hard-core fantasy writer, although I do have some magical elements in my last two manuscripts. Everyone at WIFYR, however, told me that I had to go to Holly Black's class whether I wrote fantasy or not. I'm glad I did. She puts a lot of thought and effort into her books, and I really enjoyed thinking about creating a magical world as she set it up for us.

There are two types of magical worlds: 1) Open, where everyone knows magic exists, and 2) Closed world: where very few know
1. Who has it? Small number, magic requires sacrifice or training
2. What does it do? Limit scope, protective, defensive
3. How do you make it happen? Action, ceremony, e.g. bare hands touching bare skin effects result. Make it complicated, lengthy ceremony, difficult somehow
4. How is user affected? Drain on energy, premature aging, must obey magical organization's rules, pain, madness
5. How is world affected? World in danger, magic causes blights, disrupts machines.
6. How are magic users grouped or perceived? Users of magic thought to be immoral/evil/inhuman—taking it up means limiting self in society.

All magic has to have a price
When Kathleen Dewey wrote Skin Hunger – price of magic school is that only student lives, rest of them die from the lessons.

What are the limits of magic? It needs to be calibrated. Can’t give them so much magic that they can do everything and get out of every situation. Limit effectiveness.

Laying cards on table about the mystery: they need to see the map [how it works] before they have to use it. Better to be clear than fancy. the best thing is to let the reader know. It is the character’s need, how high the stakes are, rather than the not-knowing, that will keep them reading. A character with deep need and higher stakes will buy the author a little more time to reveal things.

Ally Condie and Cupcakes to celebrate

Ally was the keynote speaker at WIFYR. If you ever get a chance to hear her speak, don't miss it. She has some interesting stories (house mom for a sorority?) and my daughter can hardly wait for the sequel to Matched to come out. I didn't take the book, so she signed a bookmark for my daughter. Really nice!

My notes are short, but significant: Put in the work to write!Figure out what works for you in writing and cling to it. Your writing will feel important as you put forth the little part of you that is true.

Mark the little successes—decide what they are for you (beyond just getting published) and celebrate them. Do what makes you happy.

Aren't we doing this because we want to write? Really? There are plenty of easier ways to make ourselves miserable. So go buy a cupcake, put a candle in it, and after you write for your one hour today, celebrate the fact that while other people are thinking about it, you actually sat down at the computer and wrote (or edited) something concrete. Save me some frosting.

My Guest Blog Spot

http://throwingupwords.wordpress.com/page/4/

I've been working on submitting some things (yes, actually, finally) along with getting kids back in school, attacking the overgrown bushes that I've decided are actually tress (at least they think they are) and the like. So my blog has gone woefully unnoticed. I did, at least, write for Carol Williams and Ann Dee Ellis' blog, which, BTW, is always current and wonderful, with contests and some excellent writing tips.

So go read their blog, and meanwhile, I'll finish updating mine. I promise to finally include my WIFYR notes.