Scribblers Retreat

I'm reading a great book on structure called "Plot and Structure" by James Scott Bell. It's part of the Write Great Fiction series from Writer's Digest. I've read a lot of books on structure because it's my downfall in fiction. In fact, it's my main focus in the practice novel I'm writing. When I read the first few chapters of Bell's book, however, something clicked and I got it. I knew exactly what I always do wrong, and therefore why my books disintigrate in the last half. Somehow he managed to get it into terms I understood--a disruption and two doorways. He even explained where they go in the book--I had them, but way too soon. I had my disruption in the first five sentences and sent my heroine charging through the first door instantly, and there wasn't enough story to sustain a novel as a result.

He outlined that, the three act structure and the mythic structure. I set them out in a Word document, inserted the parts of my practice story that I knew about and...they fit. Mythic structure...who'd have guessed?

Suddenly this book doesn't seem nearly as hard as it did a week ago.

Deseret News asked kids under age 18 to write intentionally bad sentences from a pretend novel. These are great!

http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695224331,00.html

The one on funeral potatoes may not make sense unless you've lived in Utah. It's right up there with green jello and red punch as Utah food.

Anyone care to contribute his own bad sentences? Shall I loan you some of my attempts at writing fiction?

I've started trying to learn to write fiction. I have the project. I've done the research. I have..not an outline exactly, but a general understanding of where the book will go. I even have a few small scenes that have popped into my head.

What I don't have is a general idea of how to get started. Before I was a professional writer, I just wrote. I sat down and whatever came out of my head went onto the paper. Now, I think I feel like I'm supposed to do it "right" because I'm a professional. I really have to get past this. I always have trouble getting started, even with my usual non-fiction. It takes me a while to find my voice. But I know if I can just make myself put words on paper, they will eventually start to flow. I'll get to know my heroine, and be off and running.

Just get me through the first ten pages!

Do you remember the first time you understood the power of a book? When I was a young teen, I read a teenaged novel that could have been written about me. The girl's insecure thoughts were my insecure thoughts, and I'd thought I was the only person in the world to feel that way. I was overwhelmed to realize other people had the same worries, hopes, and fears, and to see that there was a solution to them as well. When I finished the book, I sat for a long time and just thought. I wondered if I could ever learn to write something that would so completely reach into another person's heart and mind the way this book did mine.

I still do.

This year I'm trying to learn to write fiction. I have written it for fun and even published some short stories (very bad ones, I confess.) But now, I'm trying to actually learn how to do it. I picked a project and to ease the stress, I'm calling it a practice project. It may or may not go out into the world when it's done.

Having started out trying to be a fiction writer, before I figured out I wasn't very good at it, I actually know a fair amount about writing fiction. I've read lots of books, and know a lot of rules. It's the application of them that throws me off. But I'm working away at it, reading more books, trying new techniques and trying not to be overly critical with myself just yet.

I think some of my problem is that while I love reading children's books, the books I love best were written long, long ago, and my writing reflects that. Today's children's books are different--faster, slicker, less respectful. That's not my style. The question will be: Can I write a book for children that I feel comfortable with and that is still readable by today's sophisticated children? Or is there a publisher who thinks the unsophisticated children still need books to read? What am I willing to compromise here?

Tell us about your efforts to learn a new type of writing.