novel writing – Page 2

5 Things ‘House of Cards’ Taught Me About Novel Writing

House of Cards Opening Sequence (LINK) — Image via Manybits – Flickr Creative Commons

I just finished watching all 13 episodes of House of Cards, the second season. Wow! I reserve my superlatives for only the best, and this is it. I give it 10 stars! But as I was caught up in the drama, I reflected on what the writers were doing and I could see lots of value for my own novel writing efforts.

Netflix just released the entire 13 episodes of the second season of House of Cards. The story focuses on Congressman Frank Underwood and his wife Claire. At the beginning of the first season Frank was denied the Secretary of State post he wanted in the new administration, and he sets out to get revenge on the president he worked to elect. Claire helps him and they have trusted allies and enemies. While I don’t want to give away all the plot twists, I can give you some general idea of some of the learning moments I experienced.

What I learned from watching House of Cards:

1. Less is More. Subtle and understated is better. A few words go a long way. In one scene, a man is about to do something and he looks at his fiance and asks, “You think I’m weak, don’t you?” She says nothing. Very understated, but you get the message. It’s left to the viewer to decide. A few lines of dialogue with interruptions are enough to show us the tension between two of Frank’s staffers. We don’t need to be hit over the head with the message.

2. Breadcrumbs are teasers. Speaking of little hints, I love the breadcrumbs, little bits of scenes that give the reader an idea of something to come. Showing someone with a gun sets up tension in the reader’s mind. The reader wants to know, expects to know what is going to happen. House of Cards does this brilliantly.

Characters get texts or phone calls and you’re not sure what they were about, but they are explained later. Or someone is in a scene and someone else is watching them but we don’t know who or why.

These breadcrumbs keep us interested, as do asides in a novel or information we don’t know that we need. Just make sure the breadcrumbs amount to something later. This is the concept that, if you show a gun in the first scene, it must be used before the end of the book. Don’t tease readers without following through.

3. Characters are multifaceted. Frank and Claire Underwood are pretty bad people – or are they? We see them doing some bad things, but we also see them in some tender scenes together and we see them thinking about and doing some pretty touching things. That makes them human, and believable. Frank develops a new hobby based on his interest in the Civil War and his family’s history, and some of the pain in Claire’s past is revealed. This pain also shows us more about the relationship between Claire and Frank, which is complex and therefore interesting.

Ruth Rendell, mystery and psychological thriller author, says, “I try, and I think I succeed, in making my readers feel sorry for my psychopaths, because I do.” The House of Cards writers have this figured out too.

4. Symbolism shows. Instead of telling us how Frank feels about his Southern roots, we see a symbolic gesture in what he does with a ring. A pair of cufflinks provides a moment of humor, but also a way to understand the relationship between Frank and another character. A birthday cake and how both Frank and Claire react to it shows more about their relationship.

5. Leave ’em guessing. Every scene, every chapter, in House of Cards has some tension at the end, something shocking, something unanswered, or some thought that leaves the reader on the edge of her seat. In a novel, even works that are not mystery or suspense, you can end scenes and especially chapters with danglers.

The end of the season included a major plot resolution, but left lots of hanging questions that will – I hope – be resolved next season. I don’t like major cliffhangers at the end of a season or a novel because I think that’s unfair to readers, but a little mystery at the end of a novel is okay – it makes readers want to read the next one but doesn’t torture them for a year or more.

Writing and Researching, or Research as Procrastination

by Jean Murray Leave a Comment

I have a confession to make – I would rather do research than write. I love doing research, have always loved it. But I HATE writing. Well, to be specific, I hate starting to write. Once I get going, I’m fine and some days I write all day. But I find a million ways to procrastinate and researching is one of my favorites.

Research also includes net surfing. We all do it – we go off on research trails to find answers and we discover many more topics of interest that we need to follow. Sometimes this is great and it can result in some wonderful discoveries. But when it eats into writing time, it’s not.

My second confession: I would rather write non-fiction than fiction. I’ve been writing non-fiction (how-to books for people starting businesses) for almost 30 years, so it comes easily to me. I’m new at fiction, so it doesn’t. It’s painful.

Michael Connelly says, “I’m always writing one project while I’m researching the next one.” That’s what I do, but I find it difficult to stop researching and start writing. (Read more about how Michael Connelly – bestselling author of the Harry Bosch/Mickey Haller novels – writes, in this article in The Daily Beast.)

Back in the late 1990s, when I was working on my PhD, I had to do a series of papers (about 100-150 pages each), with lots of research. I developed a good working process: I would do research, search for books, write notes for a while on the subject-at-hand, then I would sit down over my breaks (I was teaching at a college that had semester breaks) and write like crazy for days/weeks until the paper was done. I usually had the research for at least one, maybe two, future papers in progress, so I could get going on the next one right away.

I prefer to write in concentrated chunks of time, rather than a little every day, for my novels.But I still need to develop the habit of writing something fiction every day, even if it’s just junk.

What I have discovered is that the act of writing increases creativity. The “just do it” philosophy is true, because “doing it” makes your brain work better and you find yourself being creative. Write-to-Done says any kind of writing, including journaling or “data dump” kinds of writing can boost creativity.

If you want help with your addiction to research or your procrastination habit, check out the Procrastiwriter, Shanan writes “Motivation Monday” articles, like this one: “Stop Explaining Everything.” Nicely said.

Sure, research can give you ideas, but only writing takes those ideas and makes them concrete – and sellable.

Why I Need to Concentrate on My Novel – the 90/10 Principle

by Jean Murray Leave a Comment

Rachelle Gardner, agent at Books & Such Literary Management in Santa Rosa, California, has hit it on the head: When asked whether an unpublished novelist (like me) needs a platform she said, yes, but…

Don’t spend to much time trying to build platform yet. Get a head start, yes. Do some blogging and social networking for fun and leisure, so that you’ll know how it works. But I recommend a 90/10 ratio. Spend 90% writing, 10% on platform building.

Great advice, Rachelle!

Like everyone, I tend to spend my time doing what is easiest, and what I know best how to do. After being a blogger for over 5 years, I know how to blog, and use social media to promote. I have been blogging as an independent contractor for About.com since 2008, and as an independent blogger, with several different blogs, for almost that long.

Now, I’ve been spending my time blogging, starting on this blog and another that is promoting a non-fiction book. It’s fun, it’s easy, and I can use my blogging and Facebook/Twitter time to procrastinate. That’s the problem. I realize I have my priorities switched around.

I’ve finished my first very, very bad draft of my first novel, and now that I have a better sense of what I need to do to fix it (read my post on how Storyfix helped me), I need to get going on the second draft.

It’s easy to do. Switch priorities, I mean. It’s not just me. Even when we know what we need to focus on, we get distracted. I call them BSO’s: bright shiny objects. Those distractions that are fun and easy and very, very tempting. But to give in to them means to ignore our main purpose.

My favorite quote of all time, ever:

The life that conquers is the life that moves with a steady resolution and persistence toward a predetermined goal. Those who succeed are those who have thoroughly learned the immense importance of planning in life, and the tragic brevity of time. (W.J. Davison)

So…

I won’t be blogging as much. That’s a promise to myself. Just letting you know. I’ll get back to you in a month or so and let you know how this works out.

Just as a final note: In the time it took me to read Rachelle’s post, write this, find and include an image, I could have written about 500 words of my novel. Sobering thought.

I’m off on my 90% writing adventure!

Plotting My Novel – A Faint Glimmer of Light at the End of the Tunnel

by Jean Murray Leave a Comment

Plotting a novel is, I’m finding, a tremendously difficult task. Having help with this process is essential.

I finished the first draft of my novel at the end of August, put it aside for a couple of weeks, then read through it. I knew it wasn’t working; I wasn’t compelled to keep reading, so I knew my readers wouldn’t be.

Then, I found a great resource that has given me a little glimmer of the light at the end of the long dark tunnel of plotting: It’s Storyfix, by Larry Brooks.

I paid $150 and received an outline with questions from Larry about the specific elements of my plot and characters, the protagonist and antagonist, the premise and dramatic concept. I also submitted a step-by-step outline of the book. Larry replied with detailed comments about what was good about the elements of my plot (not much) and what wasn’t going to work. He did this in the context of what would get readers invested in my story and rooting for my hero. I agreed with his analysis; I knew there were major problems with my plot but I couldn’t see them.

Now I’m in the process of working on my second draft, making my book more intense, making my protagonist more heroic, making the reader not want to put the book down. Sure I have a lot more issues to work through, but I can see a glimmer of light at the end of the plot tunnel and I know that there will be more light as I move forward.

You will probably say that I could have received this advice free, from a writing group, but I don’t believe that. First, I am sure that you get what you pay for. Larry is a professional. He does this all the time, and I paid him, so I expect something good. He delivered.

Second, other writers have an agenda, hidden or obvious, and they have personal reactions, not professional ones. They also don’t have the experience with plotting (maybe it’s why they haven’t been published yet!). I would rather pay one professional for advice than get it from a bunch of amateurs who may or may not know what they’re doing. Would you get a bunch of your friends together and ask for their advice on your psychological or medical problems?

If this sounds like a recommendation for Storyfix, it is, but only in part. My larger purpose in writing this is to encourage new fiction writers to get some professional advice, particularly on plotting. If you are serious about getting published, you must get advice in the developmental stage of your book.

This isn’t an editor I’m talking about; an editor looks at your book as it is closer to being completed, to help you tweak it. At this stage, you are so invested in the plot that it will be difficult for you to start from scratch or to take criticism about major plot elements. (I may be misunderstanding the role of an editor; if so, I’m sure I’ll hear from some of them to set me straight.)

At the developmental stage, you could get feedback from a professional writing coach, or a writing class, or paying a professional to give you feedback, as I did. If you want help with plotting, I would suggest getting one-on-one time with a professional, not just a quick read at a conference. Conference reads are good for other things, but they are not in-depth enough to analyze plot.

I also received excellent information on story structure and other elements of the novel from reading Larry’s two books: Story Engineering and Story Physics. If you are the type of writer who needs to work on structure first before you write, you might find these books helpful. (If you are a “seat of the pants” organic writer, you might be frustrated by this type of advice.)

I would be interested to know your thoughts on the subject of professional advice: what helped you, what didn’t? Do you use a writer’s group? If so, how helpful are they?