PaulaMunier
-
Posts
11 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by PaulaMunier
-
-
Everyone always talks about how hard it is to write. And it is hard. There’s the terror of the blank page, the three steps forward, two steps back torture of plotting, the trial and error of character development—not to mention the tyranny of the impossible deadline.
And it never really gets easier, as we tend to challenge ourselves more with every project.
For me, the worst part is the first draft, which is always somewhat of a slog. I love it and dread it at the same time. It’s like running a marathon when you’ve forgotten how to run. But you haven’t really, you just keep putting one foot in front of the other. Bird by bird.
When I remember this, the writing is not quite so hard. And I am reminded that writing is not all angst and adverbs. Sometimes it’s actually—dare I say it—fun. There are undeniable pleasures, however fleeting or abstruse or just plain unfathomable to Other People (non-writers) they may be. Keeping them in mind can help us enjoy the writing process more, even on those days when we struggle to make our word count.
The next time you sit down to write, notice—and applaud!—when you:
Find just the right word.
There is no better feeling than nailing the right word. And why shouldn’t it feel good: There are more than a million words in the English language, around 170,000 in current use. Most adult native speakers have a vocabulary of 20,000 to 35,000 words. So finding that one-in-a-million perfect word is reason to celebrate.
Find just the right turn of phrase.
This is related to the above—only it’s more complicated. This is one of the glories of prose, the one that’s closest to the glories of poetry. Okay, so it’s not poetry, but when you come up with a witty bit of alliteration or a new twist on an old cliché or line that drums a sweet rhythm, congratulate yourself. That’s creativity in motion.
Solve an intricate plot puzzle.
I write mysteries, which are by definition puzzles. Piecing together a new puzzle every time is part problem, part play. But as Hemingway pointed out, “there is a mystery in all great writing.” No matter what the genre, figuring out the mystery in the story we’re telling is gratifying on every level.
Make yourself cry.
Robert Frost said, “No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.” When we bring ourselves to tears while writing a particularly moving scene, we have connected with at least one reader. And in so doing we’ve increased our odds on connecting with other readers as well. After all, there’s nothing like a good cry.
Make yourself laugh.
When I was an acquisitions editor, I acquired and developed a lot of humor books. Humor is a tough category, because it’s so subjective. But I figured if the writing made me laugh, it would make some other people laugh, too. Enough to warrant publishing the book—and I was usually right. In fiction, the best—and easiest—way to make the most readers laugh is not through one-liners, but through character-driven humor. Write characters that make you laugh, and readers will laugh with you. Bonus: You’ll benefit from all those endorphins released when you laugh, the feel-good hormones that can fuel your storytelling.
Learn something new.
When I get stuck, I do research. I google arcane topics, I conduct interviews with experts, I visit possible settings for scenes. I’ve spent many enjoyable hours tracking down wild orchids in Vermont, archaeological digs in the Middle East, luxe destination weddings all over the world. And that was just for THE WEDDING PLOT (which debuts next week).
Fall in love with a new character.
As an agent I can tell you that it’s a lot easier to sell stories with compelling characters. (One of the most common complaints I hear from editors is, “I just didn’t fall in love with the protagonist.) Bringing characters to life on the page is one of writing’s greatest satisfactions. In THE WEDDING PLOT, I wrote a scene with a character I’d not planned to be a part of the story, Bodhi St. George just came to me and I wrote him. I loved him, and that love prompted me to rework the story to accommodate his character. He was fun to write—and apparently fun to read. When my wise and wonderful editor Pete Wolverton read the story, he told me that I’d created this great character, a character readers would fall in love with, so we needed more of him in the book, so as not to disappoint them. I went back and wove Bodhi throughout more of the story, which was also fun.
Work something you love into your story.
Write what you know, that’s the old adage. But I tell my writing students: Write what you know, write what you love, write what you’d love to know. One of the great joys of writing is when you’re able to write about the things you love. That’s why there’s nature, Shakespeare, and dogs in all of my novels. And the scenes where these elements appear are always my favorite ones to write.
Work someone you love into your story.
Most of my characters are composites, built of the physical and psychological traits, virtues and vices, and qualities and quirks of many people, real and imagined. But that changed with THE WEDDING PLOT. I had just begun writing the first draft when my father died unexpectedly, and I was too distraught to do much of anything, much less write. But I had a deadline to meet. I ended up writing my dad into the book. This gave me something to do, a means by which I could honor The Colonel. It was as if he were right there on my shoulder, helping me write his story. I like to think that even now, somewhere he’s smiling.
Surprise yourself.
Right after Frost advised, “No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader,” he went on to advise, “No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.” Everyone loves surprises—especially those we create for ourselves. Be open to the unplanned, the unexpected, even the unwanted. And when you surprise yourself, go for it.
Lose yourself.
There are those magical, mystical moments when we find ourselves in the zone, so deeply engaged in the writing of our stories that we lose all track of time. We skip meals, we forget our friends and family, we even tune out texts and emails and phone calls. This is simply writer’s heaven.
Get the job done.
Sometimes the only contentment comes with meeting your word count goal. Soldier on, and then mark that day’s work as DONE. Whether you use checkmarks or gold stars or retail therapy rewards (which I prefer), acknowledge your achievement.
Decorate the house.
Joyce Carol Oates compares revising the first draft to decorating a house. You’ve got the first draft down on paper, you’ve built the house, but it’s not finished until you’ve decorated it. I love decorating, and I love revising. That’s when the real fun begins….
That’s Entertainment!
Ultimately writing a novel means entertaining yourself. If we can’t entertain ourselves, why bother? Granted, it’s a hard-won entertainment—it’s a lot easier to binge Netflix or play video games or read someone else’s book—but nothing beats the pleasure of having written, and holding that book in your hand a year or two year later.
I’m just saying.
Know Your Story's Selling Points
in Writing With Quiet Hands
Posted
Selling stories is not much different than selling anything else. As a writer turned acquisitions editor and now literary agent, I learned that the hard way. It’s not enough to write a great story; to sell that story you have to be able to milk its selling points and eliminate the obstacles to selling it.
WHAT ARE YOUR SELLING POINTS?
Here are some of the selling points that might/should apply to your story.
USP
USP stands for Unique Selling Proposition. That is, what makes your story unique.
As in these X Meets Y loglines:
What sets your story apart from the others of its ilk? What are your comparable titles? How can you articulate your USP in your pitch? What’s your X Meets Y? How soon in your story do you make the USP clear in your story? These are questions to which you should have good answers if you want your work to break out in today’s tough marketplace.
CHARACTER
Who is the hero of your story? What is their superpower? Why will readers relate to this character? In The Maid, the neurodivergent clean-obsessive heroine Molly Gray is the story’s biggest selling point. She sees what others fail to see—and everyone around her underestimates her, just like her hero Columbo. We fall in love with Molly right away—and happily follow her through her trials and tribulations until The End.
SETTING
In the best stories, the setting is a critically important character. There are a million stories set in New York City, for example, but in the best stories we see a different NYC: Tom Wolfe’s NYC in The Bonfire of the Vanities, Candace Bushnell’s NYC in Sex and the City, Katy Hays’ NYC in The Cloisters. How do you make your setting your own? In The Martian, Andy Weir shows us Mars up close and personal—and it’s riveting.
PLOT
High-concept plots sell: Big Shark terrorizes small town (Jaws). Serial killer who only kills other serial killers (Darkly Dreaming Dexter). A white father and a black father set out to avenge the murder of their married gay sons, from whom they were estranged (Razorblade Tears).
Give me a high-concept plot we haven’t seen before, and I’m one happy agent. Because that’s a selling point few editors, publishers, reviewers, readers can resist. Is your plot a selling point?
VOICE
Voice is half the battle. Give us a voice we haven’t heard before—Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye, Esch Baitiste in Salvage the Bones, Ava in Swamplandia!—and we’ll follow that voice anywhere. Think of Remarkably Bright Creatures, in which Shelby Van Pelt stunningly pulls off writing from the point of view of an octopus named Marcellus. If people tell you that you have a strong voice, you’re on your way—just make sure you have a plot to go with it.
BIO
If your personal or professional life informs your story in a meaningful way, that can be a selling point. Maybe you’re a retired homicide detective writing a police procedural, or a high school teacher writing a contemporary YA novel, or an immigrant writing a family saga about an immigrant family. If your life feeds and fuels your work, that could be a selling point.
WHAT ARE YOUR SALES OBSTACLES?
As an agent, I have a front-row seat to rejection. Here are the most common complaints editors make when passing on a project:
“We’ve seen this a million times before.”
Drugs, sex trafficking, alcoholic cops, opening with your heroine waking up, office meetings, dreams, yadda yadda yadda. Anything we’ve seen a million times before is an obstacle to selling your work. Find a way to make it new.
“I just didn’t fall in love with the protagonist.”
Unlikable protagonists are harder to sell than likable protagonists. If your hero isn’t likable, at least make him admirable in some way. Give readers a reason to read about him.
Also: Your protagonist needs to be pro-active. Your heroine should drive the action from beginning to end. We need to see her overcome the challenges and obstacles she faces to become a stronger, smarter, wiser version of herself. Give her a compelling character arc.
“The pacing is off.”
Pacing is one of the biggest reasons good writers fail to sell their work. Often pacing problems come down to:
Check your pacing for the above—and pick it up!
“I don’t know how to sell this.”
If your story does not fall neatly into a genre or sub-genre, agents, editors, publishers will not know how to sell it and readers will not know where to find it. No one will know what to do with it. Unless you’re the next Gregory Maguire or the next Diana Gabaldon, who created their own genres. But odds are what you’ve done is a mishmash of genres, not a new genre. And it’s hard to sell a mishmash.
The aforementioned complaints are, in effect, obstacles to the sale. Ask yourself if any apply to your work—and eliminate them before you try to shop it.
SELL, SELL, SELL
When I talk to clients about their work, I talk in terms of selling points and sales obstacles. (This very post was inspired by two recent conversations with writers about their stories.) Once you’ve identified the selling points in your story, you can capitalize on them. The same goes for the obstacles to selling your story: Identify them, and then eliminate them.
Armed with strong selling points and unburdened by obstacles, you’ll be ready to query agents and editors—and be this much closer to a publishing deal.