Caution-Meandering Plot Ahead

           I am having trouble getting a story off the ground; not an unusual thing for anyone who writes I know but I am not sure what to do. I have characters I like very much and an idea which won’t go away. I know what the second to last chapter will be and have written the ending but so far, about eight chapters into it, cannot seem to assemble the pieces into a place I feel will reach the conclusion.

            In searching for direction, I turned to a wonderful book of craft essays by accomplished authors from Tin House Books called The Writer’s Notebook. It was a gift from a dear friend, another fledgling in the tall grass of prose. Writer Rick Bass, in his essay When to Keep It Simple, addresses the choices a writer faces “when a story isn’t working as well as it could be-or when it isn’t working at all-.”

            Bass’ advice in this situation is wise and resembles the Winston Churchill mantra which is now a pop culture phenomenon “Keep Calm and Carry On.” Bass prescribes “stay calm and go back to basics, to try to show, in gestures, images and descriptions as simple as possible, what it is you’re trying to convey and not to try to do it all once, but break it down into pieces-when you have to.”

            So, today I am going to go back from beginning and simplify. Try to streamline the direction and hopefully move the characters into the path which will advance my plot. Easily said, surely not easily done but that’s the challenge of this art, isn’t it? 

Heroes

Oh we can beat them, forever and ever
Then we could be heroes, just for one day
                                                                     David Bowie

           With the upcoming release of the movie The Hunger Games based on the first of the trio of books by author Suzanne Collins there is a great deal of talk about heroes-or heroines as the case maybe. For the sake of brevity, I will call them all heroes.

            Comparisons of heroes-Hermione Granger, Bella Swan, Katniss Everdeen, among others-is frustrating to me. Some things are too obvious to be stated (like these three wildly popular book series featuring these strong female leads are all authored by women) and others much too different to stand comparison (a teenage wizard, a girl risking her life to love a vampire and a teen living in a post-apocalyptic wasteland).So don’t separate this unlikely trio of literary stars, but unite them under a banner of equity rather than inequality. 

            Hermione, Bella and Katniss offer strengths and weaknesses as female leads which are distinct to each character’s situation and circumstance.  Each is intelligent and thoughtful in their own way; all three risk their lives to defend those they love and all three are faced with life-changing decisions or events which they are unprepared for due to youthful inexperience. Mentally and physically each character is tormented and tortured and survives. This would be the one unifying quality for all three-they survive through their own inner strength and an acquired mental toughness. This should be what is taken away from the reading of the books in which each of these young women is featured. Each one makes mistakes, every one of them suffers, all three love, all three are victorious at some point due to their own wits and in the end they all survive.

            Don’t spend time picking apart the characters by pitting them against one another. Join them in a trifecta for the strength of heart and compassion they all exhibit. There are too few female characters who gain the spotlight to divide and conquer them amongst ourselves. Spotlight each for their unique abilities and attitudes, draw them together and celebrate so that there will be even more literary heroines like Hermione, Katniss and Bella. 

(Self) Publish or Perish

            Had the opportunity to attend a very interesting presentation by literary agent April Eberhardt this weekend discussing the pros and cons of self-publishing. One of her most interesting points was those who choose to self publish must raise the bar in all aspects of the endeavor in order for the industry of self publishing to gain credibility.

            Eberhardt sounds like a dream agent-worrying about the best interests of the author’s she represents and presenting all options open to them once they have a manuscript worth publishing. She said she does not push her clients in one direction or the other, but she does try to make sure they understand the differences and frustrations inherent in traditional publishing, e-publishing and self publishing. Eberhardt is planning to launch a self-publishing imprint specializing in works by women authors

            Expense and formatting appearing to be the two biggest challenges for those who choose to self-publish, although services exist to help the newbie author navigate these obstacles. As with all undertaking, Eberhardt said there is definitely risk without a guarantee of reward in self-publishing; but it is an avenue through which an author can get their book into the hands of readers more quickly and self publishing currently affords the author the most personal control over the design and marketing of their book. The world of self-publishing needs to be infused with high quality products, both in writing and design, so the process begins to be taken seriously and viewed as a viable, respectable option.