storytelling

Austen, Speare, or Something Else? Choosing a Mentor Novel

December 14, 2012 by Rhonda 5 Comments

Novelists out there: Ever been asked to choose a “mentor” novel?

The intensive novel writing class I begin soon requires that I choose a mentor novel. This is a novel that I have already read and loved for its style, genre, tone, plotting, humor, language, or whatever reason, and wish to emulate in some way.

Question is, what to choose? What novels are educative for the writer learning her craft?

I can say what will not work. My preference might be the Eliots and Tolstoys, but Middlemarch and War and Peace wouldn’t make good mentor novels. At least, good mentor novels for the likes of me. Why? They are too long and too complex. Normally, as a reader, I would consider these to be good qualities in a novel. Who doesn’t love delving into the delightful complexities of an epic masterpiece? But they fail as mentor novels because a writer would be hard-pressed to get their minds around the structure of those books. And getting our minds around the structure of a book is what having a mentor novel is all about.

That being said, I’m toying with two novels right now: Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare.

Pride and Prejudice is an easy, obvious choice. I love Austen’s novels and I know them well (maybe a little too well). She’s a master at characterization, and emulating her would also help me achieve my near-impossible goal of being funny (considering that I’ve boldly opined on the lack of humor in new Catholic literature). Perhaps, with Austen’s help, I’ll dream up another Mr. Collins?

Pinched from here.

One can only hope.

My one objection to using Pride and Prejudice is that it’s everyone’s mentor novel. Need proof? The Elizabeth Theory. Contemporary fiction has way, way too many Elizabeth knockoffs. Other than Shakespeare’s Beatrice (Much Ado About Nothing), I cannot think of a single female literary character prior to P&P with the temperament and talent of an Elizabeth Bennett. She became a type when she arrived on the scene – a beloved and much imitated type – and since then our female characters are measured according to the Pride and Prejudice standard.

My more pressing goal, however, is to work on plotting, and for that I can think of no better example than the Newbury Award winning novel The Witch of Blackbird Pond. That Disney hasn’t already turned it into a movie is surprising, considering its vast popularity with fifth-grade teachers. It’s a compelling and tightly written story set in colonial Connecticut, and the opening chapters are near perfection in its hook, establishment of the premise, characterization, scene structure, and foreshadowing. And, being a children’s story, the plot is easier to analyze. Kit is another Elizabeth Bennett type, of course, but otherwise it’d be a great book to imitate.

How about you? What novel (or book, for you non-fiction writers) would you choose as a mentor novel, and why?

Filed Under: Current Projects, Writing & Theory Tagged With: Books, Characters, children's books, Elizabeth George Speare, fiction, Jane Austen, literary, Novel, stories, storytelling, Writers, Writing & Theory

Writer’s Notebook, 11/27/12: Opposite Day! And a Few Resources

November 27, 2012 by Rhonda 2 Comments

I mentioned in a recent Writer’s Notebook update that I had given up on writing the novel and turned to a non-fiction project. That I had hit the end of my innate abilities and was waiting for school to start. That this non-fiction project finally had context and relevancy and that it was time for it to begin.

I told the truth, but it’s also possible that I had a case of writer’s block. In any case, I had a breakthrough the other day regarding the novel, meaning that I’m back at it again.

The novel has two main characters – two sisters, to be precise. The older sister, Lisa, is lovable and lovely but a real piece of cuckoo! work underneath her outer shell of rational and religious sensibilities. In my early morning mental ramblings the other day, between dreamland and wakey-time, I understood that her reaction to the premise of the plot was not what I thought it was.

In fact, it’s practically the opposite.

Opposite!

You don’t have to be a storyteller to realize how that changes everything. Though, fortuitously, it does bring the plot line back around to my original conception, over a year ago. At least I’m not starting from scratch.

Also fortuitous is the renewed desire this realization has given me to get back to work. Bless my soul, now I have two active projects going, if you don’t count blogging. Perhaps, someday (please, Lord?), I’ll finish one of them. Finis, The End, All’s Well That Ends Well, Q.E.D. It’d sure be nice.

Feeling refreshed, my first stop was to the ever-helpful blog Wordplay: Helping Writers Become Authors, hosted by author K.M. Weiland. My foremost burning question at this point is How on earth do I outline a novel? Because I’m sure spinning my wheels, writing a ton of copy that I’m going to set aside and probably never use.

(If you’re tuning in for the first time, you must know that I don’t know what the begeebers I’m doing.)

It seems like a simple enough question to answer, but, turns out, not so much. I figured Weiland would have an answer, and she did… in the form of a book. That’s how much one can say about the benefits and methods of outlining.

So, there’s that. I’ll read her book and start outlining the (let’s not curse now!) thing.

With regards non-fiction, one of the best resources I’ve found for writers is Jeff Goins. He has a motivational + marketing savvy ethos which I actually appreciate a lot. I need help staying motivated to write and being diligent, and I’ll need help with the business side of writing. Other people are good at it and those people tell people like me what to do.

What impresses me is that Jeff Goins holds down a full-time job in addition to all this writing he does. He acknowledged in one of his talks that he makes about $3,500/month from his Kindle sales. Apparently it’s enough to allow his wife to stay at home with their son, but not quite enough to quit his 9-to-5 gig — and perhaps he doesn’t want to quit. How would I know? Anyway, here at A Naptime Novelist, we applaud people who manage to do this crazy writing thing in odd circumstances and at odd times. I admire his work ethic and envy his word counts.

Worst of all, now I have no excuse for not getting both the fic and non-fic projects done. Gee, thanks, Mr. Goins.

Filed Under: Current Projects, Writing & Theory Tagged With: Characters, fiction, non-fiction, Novel, Outlining, Plot, Resources, storytelling, writer's block, Writer's Notebook, Writers, Writing & Theory

Writer’s Notebook, 8/28/12: First Things First

August 28, 2012 by Rhonda 5 Comments

As you know, we recently moved. The upstairs of our house is still being remodeled. Our selves and our stuff is relegated to floor number one. I have no privacy, no office, few office supplies, and only a few books unpacked.

But, thank the sweet Lord Jesus, after that horrific week of nap strikes, The Boy is back to sleeping in the afternoon.

Time to write, Naptime Novelist!

Write today. Not tomorrow, or next month, when conditions are theoretically ideal. Not when I have an office (though that’d be nice). Not when the house is painted (though that’d be nice, too).

Now.

If I truly believe that I have a vocation as a writer, then I had better show up for work like the rest of the world’s working stiffs. My husband does not get a pass on work just because the sink needs fixing and the yard needs weeding. He shows up. And so must I.*

Bill and the sock puppet just crack me up.

As a measure of accountability, I’m using Bill Dodds‘ word count goals for writing a novella in nine weeks:

Week One: 300 words a day, six days of writing, 1,800 words total.
Week Two: 400 words a day, six days of writing, 2,400 words for the week, 4,200 words total.
Weeks Three – Nine: 500 words a day, six days of writing each week, 3,000 words each week, 25,200 words.

25,200 words is one small novel.

I have two days under my belt. 600 words since starting up again, plus reams of material previously written to sort through some other time.

Guess what? 300 words is nothing. Nada. Zilch. And yet, Dodds directs me to STOP at 300, make a quick plan for the morrow, and leave it there. Why? So as to prime the pump for the next day, avoid burnout, and maintain manageable expectations. Some people can write a novel overnight, but I cannot. The story is in my head, but its details must come out steadily over the course of time. A little every day a novel will make – so goes the arithmetic.

Reality check: I have plenty of time to write. Perhaps it doesn’t feel like it, but I do. Not only can I write while The Boy naps, but I also have an evening or two a week when my husband lets me out of the domestic cage for coffee shop time. Plus mornings and nights, when I can manage it.

On the contrary, my cousin John, a writing major at the University of Oregon, with no wife and no kids, has about half the actual writing time I have. Now, he produces ten times the verbiage that I do, but… I have more time. So there. Blessings counted.

Speaking of schools… remember when I was debating the best way to really learn the craft? I have an answer now. We get one-hundred percent tuition remission – no waiting period, like I thought – for classes at the small college where my husband now teaches.

Free is golden. Free means the decision has been made for me. We have enough student loans as it is.

In case you missed it… here is my August article at CatholicMom.com. Say a prayer that inspiration strikes for September.

*Struggling to get started and keep going? Read Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art – another good book recommendation from my friend Colleen.

Filed Under: Writing & Theory Tagged With: Bill Dodds, Books, Children, College, creative writing, Family, fiction, Gratitude, Novel, Personal, Procrastination, Resistance, Steven Pressfield, storytelling, Word Count Goals, Writer's Notebook, Writers, Writing & Theory, Writing Instruction

To Write is to Be a Child – Discovering My Vocation to Write, Part Two

July 19, 2012 by Rhonda 1 Comment

As I mention in Part One, I did not plan or expect to write fiction. Not seriously, at least. I had been editor of my high school newspaper and, for a brief time, managing editor of my college newspaper. I wrote for our church newsletter. I was a member of the “Young Voices” team for the local paper.

In short, I was a young journalist.

My fondest academic memories of college were not of class but of writing. I especially enjoyed taking a month off from class to write my Senior Essay. I could have written on Mansfield Park happily for months.

In short, I was a budding academic.

But fiction?

Never crossed my mind.

My fiction rap sheet is short. I wrote a few Jane Austen fan fic stories in high school. I wrote a children’s book about two chocolate-covered maraschino cherries to fulfill an AP English assignment. And my parents tell me that I wrote (drew) stories when I was very, very little.

“Discovering one’s inner child” is a clichéd concept. I’d laugh as much as anyone else… had I not discovered its truth in my own life.

Is it coincidence that I discovered my writing vocation while living with my parents, in my childhood home, after more than ten years of living far away? I think not. My uncultivated talent is a small green-yellow spout unearthed from under moldering layers of years of forgetfulness. It lay in the mind, heart, and activity of a little girl, a young storyteller who, for whatever reason, stopped telling stories.

It’s a curious directive, Christ asking us to “be like little children.” Some people sentimentalize it; I hope I’m not one of them. Learning to be a child is harder than it seems. I am used to being an adult; I am used to calling the shots and being an authority. And here I am, given a chance for “authority” of a different type – that is, of being an author – and I find myself at a loss. I’ve never done this before. I have no idea what I’m doing. I am no authority!

I am an adult, I read fiction like an adult, but I cannot write fiction with the equivalent degree of writing maturity. To say that this is sometimes frustrating would be an understatement. I know what I want but I cannot yet execute it.

But because I believe that I was given the gift of an idea, I am willing to be small, and humble, and trusting. I am willing to learn from my teachers. I am willing to put in the work necessary for seeing this idea grow to completion. I am willing to make mistakes and to accept the correction of others.

I can’t wear big girl pants until I grow into them.

I was created to be a writer. I must become who I was created to be. It’s a joy to become who I was created to be.