Today I am thinking about my older sister Julie. Today is her birthday, and she is someone I really look up to. We weren't that close during most of our adult life. She and her husband lived in Europe and I was busy with my large family. But after she came back to the States and went through a divorce, and my kids were older, we had time to bond again.
That's when she made a statement that changed my life.
One day on the phone I was moaning about my career or lack of one. Should I go for a master's degree? Should I teach?
"What do you want to do, Karen?" she asked me. Without a moment's hesitation, I said, "To be a writer. I only want to write. It's what I've always wanted." And she said, "Then why go back to school? Writers write. They don't keep going back for degrees. They write. If you want to be a writer, you have to write."
At that time, I'd finished Farm Girl and felt there was hope for me completing a novel. After my conversation with Julie, I resolved that I would finish the novel I'd been working on for ten years and I'd get other projects lined up as well. Whenever I wavered and worried about money, thinking I should be supplementing the family income with a guaranteed paycheck instead of spending time writing with no guarantees, I thought of Julie's words.
Writers write.
There's really no other way, is there?
Like all my family Julie's a really good sport about seeing herself show up in my stories. She is who I based Marcie's older sister Linda on. One reader said this about Linda-- "I especially loved Linda, Marcie and Cindy's sister-- I do wish we got to see more of her. She was fun!"
Happy birthday to my wonderful sister, Julie! Who I'm sure won't mind if one day Linda gets to be a main character in her own book.
Julie has always loved laying out by the pool to work on her tan. (She's the one sitting on the edge.)
I'm getting through this story structure if it kills me. I wasn't going to write tonight, or blog, but I couldn't sleep and after debating 5 minutes whether to clean house or write-- here I am, ready to tackle Part 3!! The kitchen floor can wait.
According to Larry Brooks, the genius who explains story structure on his website, the Part 3 attack comes after the mid-point milestone: "Part 3 is where the hero literally fights back, hatches a plan, enlists assistance, demonstrates courage, shows initiative. This is when they step up. They evolve from responder to attacker. From wanderer to warrior. And just as importantly, this is where they begin to really fight about against their inner demon."
So I have (finally!) figured out my mid-point, and true to form, my wonderful and quirky main character (I love Marcie McGill!) goes from wimp to warrior. Thus I'm on the right track. Marcie is now taking care of business, stepping it up and becoming an attacker. So I'm deep into Part 3 and headed for the second plot point.
All is not well in the world of my wip, however. Because it's all happening too fast. It needs more scenes and more tension. That's okay, I can do that later. For now, it's enough to know that the crux of the story triangle is in place. And the second plot point is right around the corner--along with my ending.
Word count is only 51,000. No worries. After this draft I'll go back to the beginning--now that the basic story structure is in place-- to fine tune the writing itself while adding scenes. That's the fun part. Wait! It's all fun! Up until the final two words. The End!
We keep hearing over and over about the short attention span of the reader, that we have to get to the action right away. After all, we aren't writing 19th century Jane Austen or Henry James, where we have the luxury of spending copious chapters describing the character's homes, families, clothing styles, friends, hobbies, mealtime conversation, etc etc. The modern reader won't stand for it. Still, we need to be "properly introduced," as Lynn Price (Behler Blog) says in her post, Have We Been Properly Introduced?
Larry Brooks refers to it as setting up your story, acquainting us with the main character-- where they live, what they do, what their hopes and dreams are. This allows the reader to empathize, to care, and to want to know what comes next. The set up needs to happen before any plot twists, or before the "first Plot Point".
Brooks calls this set up "the seduction that is Part 1." (I love that phrase.) Your intriguing hook in the first few paragraphs captures interest. The set up does the rest, leading readers happily into the first Plot Point which takes them the rest of the way, securely entrenched in the story. Hooray! Mission accomplished!
There are 5 missions to be accomplished in Part 1, the Set-Up. First is the hook. I shared mine last post--thank you for your feedback! Second is introducing your hero.
Here's how I do it in my current WIP. It comprises two chapters:
Marcie McGill goes with all her kids to visit her sister Cindy who lives 2 hours away. They eat dinner and they talk-- about baby Jakob, about Cindy's husband Karl, a school teacher on strike. They interact with each other and with the children. In two chapters, here's what we learn about these two families during the course of this visit (above and beyond the fact that something is wrong with Cindy's baby):
1. That the teacher strike is bitterly adversarial, pitting teachers on strike against those who cross picket lines.
2. That Cindy is conflicted about using food stamps to help get by. She would like to, but Karl's against it. What does Marcie think?
3. That the McGill family has no tv in their home, because Marcie wants her kids to read and be creative instead of watching tv, but her children figure out ways to learn about their favorite shows regardless.
4. That Elizabeth McGill, the 10-year-old daughter, hates compliments because she feels singled out. "Nobody tells the boys they have pretty eyes and a pouty mouth! I hate it!"
5. That Cindy doesn't like where they live and wants to move back to Jacksonville near Marcie.
6. That Cindy had problems nursing her two-year-old when he was an infant and, due to La Leche League counsel, refused to give him formula thus almost starving him.
7. That while Cindy and Karl have serious problems to contend with, Marcie and Shawn on the other hand, are doing quite well.
These are a few of the issues, elements and background revealed in my first two chapters. Is it enough to engage the reader in the lives of these two sisters? Is it enough to keep reading on to Chapters 3 and 4 and beyond? Let's hope so. Next post-- Illuminating What is at Stake.
How do you handle set up? How do you like to introduce your characters? I prefer dialogue, because it's more engaging than blocks of explanatory paragraphs.
What techniques of set up and introduction of characters do you like to use in writing, or enjoy seeing in the books you read?
