The Aha! Moment

Posted on August 4, 2012 by Donna Maloy, Author

There are two kinds of Aha! moments that fill me up with happiness. As a writer, I am over the moon when I suddenly break through the barrier that’s been holding me back and can see clear through a sticky part of my project. As a reader (or movie viewer) I get the same intense satisfaction when a particularly devious plot point suddenly becomes clear and I get it!

The Process Moment

Last year, a writer I know (Jeannie Mobley-Tanaka) posted on Facebook that she’d been facing a stumbling block in her work-in-progress.  “And suddenly, there it is, shining like the Holy Grail itself–the key issue for the MC that is going to tie every subplot and theme together with perfect clarity. Yes, Yes, Yes YESSSS!!!!!!”  An unpublished follower begged, “PLEASE tell us how you came to it… and don’t say it just happened!” Jeannie obliged, but it probably didn’t help that other writer. Her breakthrough was something tiny – a character’s reaction of embarrassment that Jeannie realized made sense somewhere else, too, and then got to thinking of the implications of that reaction.  It was Jeannie’s breakthrough.

You can’t teach the path to a moment like that. Someone else couldn’t even recognize it. It’s completely personal. And rare enough that it calls for celebration.

The Payoff Moment

Recently, I experienced the other kind of Aha! moment in a movie theater. I’d been paying attention as I watched, noting all the little details the writer inserted and how they worked within the story. It’s a shame, I know, to dissect a movie while you’re watching it. But almost every writer I know does it to some extant; we really can’t help it.

Anyway, the climax scene played out to its logical conclusion – a tragedy of superhuman courage. And then we had a quick cut to a scene that seemed to make a paradox of that conclusion. Except.

Except the writer had given us a tiny throwaway line early in the movie that explained the deus ex machina trick. And… Aha! I was so happy I’d figured it out, I left with a great big grin.

The point of an Aha! moment, from a reader/viewer’s perspective is that we solved the crime, discovered the secret, revealed the villain – on our own. Oh, sure, there were characters in the story who did a lot of the legwork. And maybe we worked it all out no quicker than the brilliant detective. But when we look back at all the layers and details of plot, at the tiny things woven in for a purpose, we see how everything led up to this incredibly inevitable moment.

And then we give that incredible book/movie a great review. We tell everyone we know about it. But we hold one thing back. We never mention that tiny throwaway line that helps the ending make sense.  Because, just like the Aha! moment of a writer, this one is personal, too. A victory, of sorts, that also calls for celebration.

And yes, I have recently seen The Dark Knight Rises.

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Character Names

Posted on July 30, 2012 by Donna Maloy, Author

“Real World” Names

There are a great many resources available for picking character names for “real world” works of fiction.  If the characters have a known ethnicity in their makeup, you can go to Google and easily search for those specific names and surnames (e.g., German names male or French surnames). Most sites will remind you if there are unique grammatical nuances you should know about, such as putting the surname before the given name, adding the mother’s surname after the father’s, or changing the final vowel to indicate gender. If your characters are multi-ethnic, or have lived in the United States or Canada for a long time, it’s possible their names are a mishmash of Anglicized foreign surnames and given names that may be completely made up or transformed into nicknames.

You can look up the most popular male and female names for many years in the lists maintained by the U.S. Social Security Administration (see http://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/). A Wikipedia site (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_popular_given_names) offers currently popular names for other countries around the world.

“Created World” Names

But if you are creating new creatures, new countries, new worlds, or new dimensions, you may need to invent an entirely new naming system for your story. Here are some questions that might help you structure your protocol:

  1. Is there a modern language (or two) whose rules you could modify for your world? For instance, many Spanish names for women end in the letter A, and the names for men often end in the letter O. Would a similar rule work for you?
  2. What titles and forms of address will be needed in your new world? For instance, the highest elected official in the U.S. is addressed as Mr. President, and a judge is addressed as Your Honor, whereas an English man who has been knighted is addressed as Sir plus their last name.  Is there an existing “real world” hierarchy you could alter to fit your needs?
  3. Is there a generic label such as Mr., Mrs. and Miss to use in polite conversation? Is age a factor in the use of such labels?
  4. If your names have meanings (e.g., in Latin, Donna means lady), what are they and how/when are they selected for a person – at birth, at puberty, after some event or feat?
  5. How are family names passed on – through the mother or the father? Or are surnames something that is either earned or selected by the individual?
  6. If names are spelled in a special way to indicate an ethnicity in your special world, what are the rules? Will your readers be able to easily recognize and pronounce these names?

Last Thoughts

A general rule often mentioned in writing workshops is to make each character’s name begin with a different letter (or at least a different sound). Andrea and Angela are too close in length and spelling for a fast read.

I would add to that a rule that is just for made-up worlds: Don’t make your character names so exotic that the reader is either annoyed or confused and ends up skipping over a lot of them because they have no idea how to pronounce them. (If you have to put a pronunciation guide in the back of the book, you’re probably getting way too exotic.)

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The Well-Phrased Insult

Posted on July 28, 2012 by Donna Maloy, Author

The Master at Work

When you were five, your mother told you not to call people names. She had in mind those innocent, angry words like Pig, and Stupid, and Dirtbag. As you got older, Mom’s influence diminished and the words became less innocent, more focused and hurtful, with words I’d rather not repeat here.

They also became less inventive.

Kids can come up with the most amazing insults when they try to outdo each other. They’ll throw all kinds of colorful, flamboyant words around, regardless of meaning, and invent new ones whThe bard himselfen the need arises. I remember a first-grader at recess who yelled at an older bully, “You smelly snort!” Everyone knew what he meant, even though the phrase makes no real sense.

That kind of reckless use of vocabulary reminds me of The Master. William Shakespeare.

Perhaps you wouldn’t call even your worst enemy, “Thou crusty botch of nature!” But Shakespeare did, in Troilus and Cressida. I wonder if his 16th century audience found it as humorous as we do today?

That was by no means the richest of his insults. He could scorch ice with his anger: “Hence, horrible villain, or I’ll spurn thine eyes like balls before me; I’ll unhair thy head, Thou shalt be whipp’d with wire, and stew’d’in brine, smarting in lingering pickle.” (That’s from Antony and Cleopatra.)

He could be so obscure you weren’t sure exactly how you’d been insulted. You just knew you had been: “Would the fountain of your mind were clear again, that I might water an ass at it.” (Again from Troilus and Cressida.)

And he could be inventive. He wove together words and phrases that still sound insulting today, even if you have no idea of their original meaning: “You bottle-ale rascal, you filthy bung…” from Henry IV, part 2.  And in part 1, we have: “Why dost thou converse with that trunk of humours, that bolting-hutch of beastliness, that swollen parcel of dropsies, that huge bombard of sack, that stuffed cloak-bag of guts, that roasted Manningtree ox with pudding in his belly, that reverend vice, that grey Iniquity, that father ruffian, that vanity in years?” I certainly wouldn’t want to be referred to like this, even if no one in the room knew what the words meant!

The Insult Generator

In looking for a way to make my middle grade Elizabethan fantasy more appealing, I decided to throw in a character with an extraordinary bag of insults. That’s how I came across the Shakespearean Insult Generator. It’s hilarious!

The generator pairs one or more single or hyphenated words with a noun that has negative connotations, such as “Thou jarring shard-borne hag-seed!”

I don’t recommend using the Generator to get creative in a cafeteria brawl or a fight with your bff. But that next comment from a too-classically-educated character…. PERFECT!

You can try out the Generator at http://tinyurl.com/8sjs2. Go on, try it, thou lumpish dread-bolted odiferous stench!

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It’s not about the couch

Posted on July 25, 2012 by Donna Maloy, Author

Last year, I attended a local writers group. The speaker, published author Kimberly Frost, spoke on “Description and Dialogue”.

Kimberly is a funny, witty writer who speaks faster than humanly possible. But she left us with a lot of great nuggets of wisdom, one of which got me to thinking about the ingredients of what we call STORY.

One of those ingredients is description. Kimberly said a workshop instructor had once likened description to the trappings of a beautiful, exquisitely furnished stage for a play. Everything is there behind the curtain, down to the minutiae of everyday living. You couldn’t ask for more detail.  But people don’t pay money to sit and stare at a stage for 90 minutes! A play with only a setting is missing a lot, including its major ingredient—the cast. A play is about what happens to characters, not what happens to the couch. There doesn’t even have to be much action. In fact, there have been stage plays (and, of course, radio shows) performed by actors who never move, but only stand or sit while they say their lines. Imagination fills in the scenery.

On the other hand, as Kimberly noted, people fight for tickets to the Montel Williams Show, which has almost no set. Why? You might say they’re paying big bucks to watch characters interact—but that’s only partly true. They have specific expectations of these characters; they want to see people raucously live out a stressful part of their lives on that bare set. What do they get for their money? Anger, confrontation, threats, passion, lying, cheating, stealing, angst, even physical fights. In other words, an ingredient writers call conflict. Sometimes, they even get happily ever after, but not always. So for this show, the prime ingredient is conflict, with a heavy dose of quirky characters and virtually nothing in the way of a setting.

Other genres demand different ingredients, mixed together in different proportions. The exact recipe depends on what you’ve promised your reader—what kind of literary cake you’re selling.

So here are some of my own personal recipes, straight out of my family recipe box:

RECIPE FOR A THRILLER

If you’re writing a thriller, then the batter has to be heavy on the tension and action, maybe even equal parts. But any external tension has to migrate into high emotions (fear, anticipation, distrust, etc.) in your main characters, so the ingredient that goes next on the list is characters we care about. You may not need a large spotlight on dialog with all those bombs going off, and you definitely don’t need to know the architectural style of the building going up in smoke.

Thriller Chillers

  • 1 heaping load of trouble heading toward the main characters
  • 1 crowded agenda of things that have to be done to evade, confront, or pursue the trouble
  • A substantial cast of characters emotionally impacted by the trouble
  • A dash of fast-paced dialog that keeps the cast together or threatens to divide them.
  • A pinch of evocative description that uses words’ emotional connotations to good effect.

Subject all ingredients to various implements of torture. Continue baking against an impossible deadline. When the beeper goes off, make sure everybody jumps!

RECIPE FOR A CHARACTER STUDY

On the other hand, if you’re writing a character study, perhaps a sweet coming-of-age story, you may need to turn the previous recipe upside down. A believable character with deep feelings is going to make or break this kind of book. You’ll be using external action mostly to trigger internal conflict and change. Emotional reactions will season every single scene, from solitary daydreams to coping with extraordinary events. Description can actually be very useful in a character study, as what and how your main character views the world should change during the course of the plot.

Roasted Life Under Glass

  • 1 small, intimate cast of main characters (as few as one or two), each of whom has a serious flaw or lack of experience
  • 1 truckload of opportunities or encounters, graduated in scope or importance, each one forcing toward an epiphany
  • 1 trunk of obstacles, bad decisions, and poor advice
  • A heaping dose of dialog, both internal and external; use to clarify, increase heat, or simmer.
  • A judicious helping of description, as needed to provide literary leavening

Combine all ingredients and strain, hard. Stew slowly, agitating often, until transformation occurs.

AND NOW, REAL FOOD!

OK, all this talk about recipes is making me hungry. Here’s my personal favorite to whip up with leftover chicken, pork or tofu. It’s a general sort of recipe that can be customized to fit the audience. Substitute mandarin oranges for peaches, add zucchini or broccoli if you like. Ad lib!

Sweet and Sour [name your protein] with Savory Peach Rice

Serves: 2 or 3

  • 1 Tbsp light olive oil (or other vegetable oil)
  • ½ Large onion, roughly chopped
  • ½ Green bell pepper, roughly chopped
  • 6-10 Baby carrots, sliced
  • 3-4 Button mushrooms, sliced, optional
  • Handfull of frozen peas, thawed or not, optional
  • Handfull of frozen corn, thawed or not, optional
  • 1/8 Cup commercial Sweet and Sour Sauce
  • Leftover chicken, pork or tofu—cooked
  • 1 Cup rice
  • 1 Can sliced peaches in their own juice, drained and cut into ½-inch pieces (reserve the juice)
  • ½ Stick cinnamon
  • 1 Piece of candied ginger

In a small container, mix the Sweet and Sour Sauce with enough of the reserved peach juice to make ¼ cup sauce. In a measuring cup, combine the rest of the juice with water to make 1-1/2 cups of liquid. Add this liquid to the rice in a saucepan, along with half of the peach pieces. Put the cinnamon and ginger in a tea strainer hung from the side of the saucepan. Bring to a boil; cover and cook for 15 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

In a skillet, sauté the onion, peppers and carrots until soft. Add all the other solid ingredients, including the remaining peach pieces, and cook for one minute. Add the sauce-juice mixture. Cover the skillet and turn down the heat. Let simmer until rice is ready. Remove tea strainer from rice and fluff. Serve. Enjoy.

Posted in Genre elements, Genre recipes, Recipe, Story Elements, Sweet and Sour with Peach Rice | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Ginormous Plot Hoax

Posted on July 21, 2012 by Donna Maloy, Author

Scam: a fraudulent or deceptive act. See also sham; hoax; swindle; run a con; cheat.

All very good things for a writer to do.

What? you say. Yes, I say. You need to quit meeting your readers’ expectations and, instead, lead them down a garden path to a cool sucker punch.

No, you still have to have a satisfying resolution to the conflict, actions still must be believably motivated, and you still need a happy-ever-after if it’s a traditional romance. But everything else is fair game for scamming.

In fact, a sagging middle or a plot that putters to a slow, dead stop is a sure signal you haven’t been running a good con.

The Ginormous Plot Hoax

A number of years ago (I’ll never tell how many), I went to a conference workshop from a bestselling writer of suspense. Her advice, which applies to plotting even a cozy domestic character study, was brilliant: When you’re trying to figure out what should happen next, write down seven possibilities. Then throw them all out and use the eighth one.

The reasoning behind this is simple and insightful. The first seven things that come to your mind will probably be the same seven things that will occur to your reader. And where’s the fun in that? Do you want to read a book where you can predict what’s going to happen at every turn of the page? Of course not.

Every craft course for writers tells you to identify your character’s main goal and then throw roadblocks up for conflict. But consider this: a highway closure is a roadblock by definition, but sitting in traffic at that roadblock is about as exciting as watching a Texas Liveoak grow. Inch by invisible inch. Wouldn’t it be more exciting to be forced into a detour to Bangkok on the way to a surprise anniversary celebration at Olive Garden?

Well, consider plot resolution to be a destination you absolutely don’t want your reader to arrive at before you do. If you take someone straight down the highway to the Mall and then turn into the parking lot beside the restaurant with big grape leaves on the logo, what else is he going to think?

True story that’s actually an allegory: A writer friend of mine wanted to surprise another writer with a big birthday bash. Both are intelligent ladies. The first friend knew that if the second one saw a whole bunch of familiar cars in the restaurant parking lot, the ambush would be blown. So another friend was enlisted to drive the guest of honor and to park on a side street, thereby misleading the guest into thinking this was just another ordinary day in her life. Surprise.

What you really want in a plot is something that makes your characters say, Whew! Didn’t see that one coming! Because that’s what your reader will say, too, and hastily turn the page to see what comes next.

I’m calling this a Plot Hoax because the goal is to fool the reader into thinking your plot is taking her down one path, while you’re slyly herding her down a different one. You can apply this same strategy to every single development in the story, not just the major turning points.

The guest of honor at that birthday bash happens to be a master at foiling reader expectations.  Consider this: Chapter One opens when our heroine wakes up in bed with a naked, strange man beside her. Think you know where this is going? Well, our heroine is attentive to details and right away notices the man is all of eight inches… tall. Gotcha.

An early chapter in her award-winning draft manuscript included the following scene:

A kiss never felt more real, or more exciting. Susan pressed her body against the pirate captain, felt his hands on her back, his lips on hers, his tongue exploring.

Electric shocks ran up her legs, through her arms, converging on her center. Hot wind swept over her as Flynn’s mouth moved to her neck, tickling the sensitive spot beneath her jewel-laden earlobe.

“Cap’n Flynn,” a sailor cried, “look below! Fire!”

Not the heat of passion at all, then.

Flames ate at the sails, ran across the deck, raced toward the foot of the stairway. Susan froze, but Flynn swung her off her feet and into his arms, and ran up the steps.

The flames never reached them on the quarterdeck. The explosion did.

In one brief capsule of time, the author (a great talent named Kay Hudson) managed to switch the reader’s gears twice. I promise, this works for comedy, suspense, character development, paranormal twists—In fact for every type of genre and every style of writing.

You Do It All the Time, Anyway

Every time you end a chapter with twist, or start a book with a hook, you’re giving the reader something unexpected. Weave that kind of shattered expectation into the fabric of your plot so subtly and yet so insistently that when you arrive at your big resolution, the reader will say Wow! Of course! Why didn’t I see that coming?

And you can say, Gotcha!

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