Friday, November 24, 2017

My One Rule for Writing a Novel



But today I think that there is only one rule for writing a novel. Fortunately, I know what it is.

In your face, Somerset.

Easy. Like looking at a mountain from a distance and imagining yourself climbing right up to the top, looking down on the world.

And hard as actually climbing up to the very top. 

Because once you get to the base of the mountain, the entrance to its wilderness,  in other words once you get up close, the landscape changes into something very different. And then the real effort sets in like cold weather, and the imagined stroll becomes a marathon in a maze on a mountain, a long-distance climb through all kinds of terrain, at least half of it in the dark.

Fucking hard, in other words. Sorry.

So here is the one rule. Keep going. Keep going. Keep going.

Each specific work will take a specific struggle to get to the top. Keep learning as much as you can about how you write and what you want to write and the many aspects of craft that can sometimes teach you short-cuts on your long climb.

And most likely you won't be entirely satisfied with your climb even once you're done. You'll have reservations; you'll wonder if you might have done better going left when you went right way back near the beginning of your ascent. Alas, it's the nature of writing fiction. We can never be perfect. 

But it's a lot of fun. The struggle gives me great satisfaction.

So you have to keep going and you have to finish and you have to rewrite and when you've rewritten and rewritten you have to start again on something new and it doesn't get easier and that's what is both good and bad about it. Keeps it interesting anyway. 

One rule.

Keep going.

Friday, November 10, 2017

Love me a two-word sentence

I like spare writing. I try to write spare. I love to read spare. For a while now, writers have been loading their sentences with clauses and long descriptions. That's the fashion. There seems to be this swing in fashion between minimalists and maximalists, so I suppose my preference will come back.

In celebration of the two word sentence--

Clowns scream.
Dogs shine.
Moon howls
Birds fall.
Shit happens.

Sharks come.
Diana watches.
Sharks come.
Robert swimming.
They fought
He admitted
Made mistake.
Night passed
He drank
Made foolish
Admitted fucking
Diana's sister.
Diana cried.
She screamed.
She howled.
He said
Shit happens.
She watches
Stone silent
Sharks come.
Sharks here.
Robert screams.
Red sea.
Shit happens.

OK--just playing--and some of these aren't true sentences, I know, I know;  but I'm serious about my love of sentences without the clutter of many clauses, lengthy diversions, and the twenty word descriptions where three might do. I prefer my sentences clear as a  mountain stream or the starry sky of a country night. I'm trying.

Thursday, August 10, 2017

How do you start a story?

There are many ways to start a story, of course. There are many ways to do all the things you have to do to write good fiction. But my way is I start with a character and situation. I try to make, inherent in that character and situation, a conflict and the kernel of what the story might be about. Then I build my story from there.

Alas, I think it's easy to confuse a cool setting or even an interesting character with a STORY. When one of my students says my story is about ancient Rome and there's this really cool dragon in it and some mythical creatures and I've got this character named Sid. He's funny. You'll really love it.

I think, I want to.

I say, Great. But what's it about?

I just told you.

Not really.

It's about ancient Rome.

You told me about setting and you mentioned character. What's it about?


This can go on for a long time. Sometimes the student gets it and sometimes they don't. A cool setting is not a story. That can be a great part of the story. The setting can be fertile ground for the conflict needed to build story. By itself though, not so much. Not at all, really.

Story is more than setting. It's more than a building a character. It's the movement, the progression of character and plot within a design. It's about making the right choices--which conflicts to focus on for example--because you have a clear sense of character and plot movement. Obviously there are many other aspects of writing that need to work, too--great language, dialogue, voice, as mentioned-setting, etc...but this idea of story and its development is crucial.Whether you're an outliner or discovery writer, working on this sense of progression and design can be crucial to finding your way in your novel.

For me, starting with a character and situation,  and building from it helps me find my way.

Sunday, May 28, 2017

How you begin & How you develop the Beginning--a strategy

•How to begin
Character in a situation…and the situation must have potential for CONFLICT
A boy and a girl from warring families fall in love. (this may have been done once or twice)
A boy’s father dies and he suspects it’s murder—worse that his uncle is involved and maybe his mother.
A policeman owns ten cats and comes home one night and they’re all gone.

A sea captain becomes obsessed with finding and killing a large sea mammal.
HOWEVER YOU SEE IT—the character’s conflict WITH self, another character, society, natural world, supernatural world, technology drives the story, develops characters, creates progression

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Conflict--an interview

Instructor Q&A: Brian Yansky

-Brian Yanksy
Brian Yansky