Scrapped Stories

Every writer has them. The stories you start out writing. You cut your teeth on them and when you go back and look at them after a few weeks or months or years, what do they look like, a chewed up toy. Yuck!

Keep them around if you want, just be careful who you show them to. Not all words that come through your fingers onto the page or computer screen are glittery gold and there’s always another story to write. That’s what the experience of learning the craft of writing is all about.

If you knit or sew or carve wood or stone or weave baskets, the first few projects you make will be difficult and most likely not come out as well as you’d like. Figure out how to make it better. Read a book, take a class.

Writing is like any other art form you have to learn the craft first. What holds the story up and holds it together? How do you draw the reader in? You may be able to glean these answers just by studying the novels you read. That's never worked for me, though. I get caught up in the story and forget about looking for the hidden architechture.

If you're just starting out, let yourself make some mistakes, but learn from them. Also, be patient with the process. It won't do a thing for your creativitiy to beat up on yourself.

A Word About Genres

Okay, so you’ve decided you want to write, and it’s not just that you want to write, but that you must. You have a story to tell. It might be a love story, or a mystery, or one with vampire, or even one that just follows a character through a difficult point in their lives. These are all examples of different genres. Everyone has seen the romance novels in book stores. Go a few aisles over and you’ll find yourself in the mystery section. An aisle away from that is the Sci Fi/ Fantasy section. The literary fiction section is usually large and sits off by itself somewhere. Next time you're in Barnes and Noble or Books A Million or Borders look at how the books are shelved.


All of these genres have sub-genres. Here are a few of them:

Romance

• Historical

• Chick lit

• Romantic suspense

• Paranormal

Mystery

• Cozy

• Police procedural

• Hard-boiled

• Traditional

SciFi/Fantasy

• Other worlds

• Magical

The SciFi/Fantasy can be broken down and separated further, but I’m not that familiar with it. If you’re interested in writing it, you probably know more about it than I do.

That’s the other thing about writing a certain genre, you have to read it. For example, if you’ve never read Louis L’Amour, don’t try to write a Western novel. The same holds true for romance, mystery and scifi/fantasy or any other genre.

Also, be aware that you might start out writing what you think is a cozy mystery and discover that it is, in fact, romantic suspense or literary fiction. Hey, it happens. Some writers start out with an idea in mind but somewhere along the way, another character shows up or the story takes an unexpected turn that changes it from one genre to another. Getting to the end of the story is an important goal for every writer. And when you get to the end, be flexible and honest about what genre the story fits into.

At the end of the day, the genres just tell the bookseller which section to place it in when it gets to the store.

Taking Classes

You don’t need a degree in Creative Writing or an MFA to write. It might help if you already have one, but I’ve also heard it can get in the way. Since I don’t have either one, I couldn’t tell you the truth of that. However, taking a few classes on the craft of writing can be a good thing. I started with a fiction writing class at a local college.

These days there are all kinds of online classes to take. Check out Writers Digest (http://www.writersonlineworkshops.com/retail/). They have courses for all levels, beginner to advanced. Another course I’ve had success with is Longridge Writers Group (http://www.longridgewritersgroup.com/). There are others, I’m sure, all you have to do is look for them online. Google is a wonderful thing.

The only thing you won’t get from an online class is networking with other writers. This doesn't always work out like you want it to, however. At the end of my first writing class, several of us tried to form a critique group, but it fizzled when two of the members started using it as a cover for their affair. (See, you can find stories anywhere!)

The main thing is to find a class that will be just above the level of writing you are already doing. You’ll want to stretch yourself a little and since there aren’t any grades given, it doesn’t matter if you stumble a little. Just take that step.

Careful, Or You'll End Up In My Novel

A few years after I started writing, my husband got me a sweatshirt with the above saying on it. For the longest time, I wouldn’t wear it in public. But a friend of mine told me that if you’re going to be a writer, you’ve got to own it, or it will never happen. She was right. I had to make a lot of baby steps before I got there, but now, I wear that shirt without even giving it a thought. Because, I actually HAVE a novel!

Make the first decision. What do you want to write? Mysteries, romance, thrillers, literary fiction?

The question to ask yourself is: what do I read?

If you’ve been a mystery fan for years, like I have, try writing a mystery. Chances are that you already know how even if you couldn’t explain it. You know there have to be several elements present. You need, at the very least, a protagonist/hero/heroine, a victim, and a killer. In a lot of mysteries the protagonist is suspected of being the killer, thus the reason for him/her to solve the crime. You’ll also need a side-kick for the protagonist and a few red herrings to throw the readers off.

A lot of beginning writers base their protagonist on some aspect of themselves, although their main character is usually younger, thinner and has better hair.

The killer can’t be too obvious, and you have to at least “meet” them somewhere near the beginning of the story.

The victim can be based on somebody you don’t like, such as the person who cut you off in traffic on your way home, that cyclist that always gets in your way when you’re late for work, an irritating co-worker or family member. This part can be very therapeutic!

Next, look for a place for your murder to happen and a place where the body can be found. We all have access to enough police shows to have an elementary understanding of their procedures. Just one caveat: CSI is NOT real. DNA evidence takes months to come back. Most labs are overworked, underfunded and understaffed, so keep it real and don’t use DNA evidence as your magic bullet.

My sister went with me to do some research at an orchard since one of my characters grows apples. When we took a tour, they showed us the storage room. What a “cool” place to find a body! We got some funny looks from the workers when they overheard us talking about it back in the store. Hope they don’t ever find a body in their storage room!

The main thing is to let your imagination have free rein. Play around with it. Try just writing the scene where the body is found and see where you go from there. Don’t forget to include sensory details. If you are using the first person make sure you tell how the character feels inside.

Go on, get started.

Anybody Can Write?

Many years ago as I was walking through my favorite bookstore, a title on the one of the endcaps caught my eye. Anybody Can Write, it proclaimed. The author, Roberta Jean Bryant, promised a playful approach. Since I was looking for something to read during a bus trip to a competition in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee with my son’s middle school band, I picked it up. It was the first writing how-to book I read. The title gave me hope.

It had been a long time since I’d been required to write anything but personal letters and most of those only at Christmas time. I love to read, but I wondered then, if I could write. According to Ms. Bryant, there are seven laws of writing. The first one is: “To write” is an active verb. Thinking is not writing. Writing is putting words on paper.

When the bus trip was over and we’d made it safely home, I started putting words on paper, spiral bound notebooks to be exact. This was just before computers took over our lives. Pen and paper were the first means of getting ideas out of my head and visible. It was a slow process and messy at times. Some of the pages had more lines through them than Walmart the day after Thanksgiving. I didn’t let anybody read them, either.

I have found out from being around other writers that whatever process you come up with to write should be your own. You might write a detailed outline or just start writing and see what comes out the end of your pen. You can write everything out long hand first or just start typing. There is no Right Way. As Ms. Bryant suggests, be playful with it and see what works for you.

A Writing Journey Begins

Everyone has different reasons for wanting to write. Some people know from an early age that they want to be writers. These folks get degrees in journalism and masters degrees in creative writing.

Then there are those of us who wait until middle age to decide to write down the stories that have been running around in our heads. Maybe we've had interesting experiences and want to write our memoirs. Maybe we want to write down the stories we made up for our children when they were young and still listened to us. Maybe we want to fill a void.

When my daughter turned fourteen and started that separation thing adolescent girls go through it was painful, for me anyway. That's when I started writing. I tried journaling first, but you never know who's going to find and read it. I discovered it was easier to express my feelings about the end of my daughter's childhood with fictional characters. Those were extremely clumsy first steps and they have been banished to the netherworld now. Looking back though, I've discovered that every step, no matter how small or ugly, gets you down the road just a bit.

And that's all it takes to start the journey.