Digging Deeper

Digging Deeper

Short post tonight. Sorry, bit of a rough day.

I’ve been having a bit of a dry run on creativity lately, so I decided to try something a little bit different. Sometimes I like to come up with first lines that could go to a story, even if I don’t know anything about the story yet. I actually did a blog post where I discussed it. So, I took one of those sentences, typed it up, and just started exploring.

The sentence I chose is, “This is the story of how I drove to work and ended up three states away with an angry possum in the backseat.” I had no idea who the ‘I’ was, or anything about the possum. I actually left the ‘I’ mostly blank at first to explore the possum. I decided it would be more fun if the possum was intelligent and could talk. So why? Could change, since it’s a little cliché, but for now, he’s an escaped lab animal who managed to slip in my protagonist’s car.

My protagonist who I didn’t give a name to until I had to, is Monica, who was on her way to her boring soul-destroying job when she ends up in a fender bender. She’s fine and the car is still drivable. But when she tries to take the next exit so she’s at least not on the highway anymore, a voice tells her not to turn there.

She freaks out, which I think is a completely fair reaction as there isn’t supposed to be anyone else in the car. Then she discovers the talking possum. Which she finds mildly less frightening than a potentially invisible carjacker, since possums really aren’t aggressive and are resistant to rabies. But they aren’t supposed to be talking either, so she’s understandably agitated.

Monica also isn’t sure about taking driving instructions from a possum, and asks what if she ignores him and goes where she wants anyway? He threatens to bite and scratch if she doesn’t. Which is where things get interesting.

She comes to the conclusion that the possum is more desperate than angry.  But she makes a mental note that desperation can be more dangerous than anger, a fact that she was well aware of. Even as I typed that, I found the idea interesting. What does she know of desperation? Was it her desperation, or another’s?

So I did a freewriting exercise where I dove into it. Then, and only then, did the character begin to speak with me. Until then I had a generic character, I didn’t even know man or woman until page three. Now I know both why she immediately agrees to help this possum and what her biggest temptation to walk away will be.

When I realized this plot seemed similar to another WIP I have, I dug deeper, asking myself what the differences were. And the more I dug, the more I understood all of my characters and came up with potential future plot points.

So my advice is to follow those moments. There may well be gold there if you choose to dig. Maybe you’ll realize that something has potential when you write it. Maybe it’s a re-read where you decide that throw away joke could lead to something deeper. Built in foreshadowing.

Freewriting will give you room to explore your ideas before putting them in place in your story. Ask yourself the deep questions and don’t necessarily take the first answer you get. First answers are easy and the most likely to be cliché. But if you keep digging deeper, you find things you never knew.

What have you discovered while freewriting?

The Elevator Pitch

The Elevator Pitch

Sorry I haven’t updated in forever. I wrote a post but couldn’t post it at the time and in between when I wrote and when I could post it, cyberspace ate it. It is completely gone.  That discouraged me, especially when I couldn’t remember enough details of it to re-write it. Throw in not being able to think of any topics, and I ended up not posting for weeks. But I’m back now.

Like I said, I had a really hard time coming up with a topic to write about. As it is, I’m going to be stealing this one.

I’ve mentioned Wondrium before, and how I was watching a lecture series on Utopian and Dystopian Literature on it. Well, now I’m doing a lecture series on ‘How to write Bestselling Fiction’ by James Scott Bell. I’m not very far into it yet, but I am enjoying it so far, and am going to be sharing some of his instructions. Please note that I am using other sources too, but this is the most recent and concise definitions I have, so I will probably be borrowing heavily from him.

Frequently, especially when trying to market a book (or screenplay), you are pressured to come up with an elevator pitch. What is it? Why do we need it? How can we make it good?

Imagine you are in an elevator with an editor or agent, or just someone who can make your literary ambitions come true. You have their attention until the elevator gets to the proper floor. What can you tell them in that time (approximately thirty seconds) that will make them A. Remember your story and B. Want to know more?

Bell’s suggestion was that your pitch should have three sentences. The first sentence includes the main character and the initial situation, preferably with a hint of the problem. All examples are mine though not all the stories are.

Harry Potter is an eleven-year-old orphan, being raised by nasty relatives who hate him. (Harry Potter)

Frodo Baggins is the nephew of famous Bilbo Baggins, renowned for his adventures facing a dragon.  (Lord of the Rings)

Liska is a ninja Werefox who is trying for something normal while attending college under the identity of British ex-pat Anna Andrews. (Moonlit Memories series)

Violet Peters is ecstatic to be offered a full scholarship to her dream school and accepts at once, without visiting the school. (Hyde Chronicles)

The second sentence begins with ‘When’ and describes the inciting incident, or the first point of no return. Even if the story ended there, the character cannot be the same anymore.

When Harry turns eleven, he discovers that he is a wizard and his re-admittance to the wizarding world is highly anticipated by friends and enemies.

When Bilbo leaves on the night of his birthday, Frodo becomes the master of a mysterious ring of great power, known for destroying those who come across it.

When an enemy from her past resurfaces, Liska finds herself surrounded by lies and secrets, both her own and those kept from her.

When Violet gets to Hyde University, she finds herself currently the only member of Hyde’s smallest and least popular minority, humans.

The third sentence starts with ‘Now’ and describes what must happen for the main character to win their objective.

Now Harry must learn new skills and make new friends to deal with the magical world and survive the dark lord that wants him dead.

Now Frodo must leave the shire in hopes of finding a place or person who can take charge of the ring without succumbing to its evil or being killed.

Now Liska has to find the truth from the lies before she is destroyed or destroys someone else.

Now Violet has to navigate a world much more varied than she thought, deal with those who don’t want her there, and maintain a relationship with a family she can no longer tell anything important to.

Okay, I’ll be honest, I don’t like every single one of my pitches, and I intend to keep practicing. You should to. Both with your own works and with others. Also, I repeated the name in each sentence to make it absolutely clear which one went with which. You won’t need to do that when making your own pitches.

Hopefully any of those pitches would be at least enough for the agent, editor, movie director, etc. to want to know more. I wouldn’t worry too much about making sure the second and third sentence start with ‘When’ and ‘Now’, but it is a good idea to keep the mindset when practicing. Nor should you necessarily freak out if you have more than three sentences. It’s an approximation, not an exact science.

What’s the purpose? One, you may at some point actually have a little less than a minute to convince someone to grant you your literary dreams. Having your pitch ingrained in your head will help prevent your mind from going blank at this pivotal time. Other times, you may be in a situation where agents or editors ask for pitches. Maybe a seminar, maybe part of a query, maybe an online event, etc. There you go, you’ve got one.

Even before you’ve finished writing, the pitch can be helpful. The pitch tells you what the book is about. Not everything. I didn’t mention quidditch, or Nazgul, or Liska getting arrested for attempted murder, or Violet having a semi-stalker. Are those important? Absolutely. But they aren’t the bare bones of the story. If you are writing and you find yourself bogged down or unsure where to go, go back to your pitch. What direction do you need? Maybe you can’t come up with your pitch while doing your first draft because you don’t know the story well enough. Fair, I’m more of a pantser myself. But then, after your first draft, before you move to editing, try writing your elevator pitch, see if it helps you evaluate what needs to be in your story, and what doesn’t.

Which of the above pitches would make you interested to know more?