NaNoWriMo Prep

Just a week left to get ready for National Novel Writing Month. I'm so thrilled that all my Kindred Heart Writer friends are participating this year. Karen, Laura, and I will be working on fiction projects, but Clella and Jeanie are NaNo rebels. They're concentrating on nonfiction. We'll be updating our progress each Monday throughout November at our KHW website.

Sticky Wicket Plot Knots

Problem: My female protagonist and her husband live in the United States, but the climactic action occurs in England. For several weeks, I struggled with this sticky-wicket plot knot by asking myself the following question:

Why does hubby need to go to England and what could possibly motivate my female protagonist to leave her young child behind to accompany him?

Because I was under a looming deadline, I finished the story. But I realized the plot knot hadn't disappeared. The scene, as written in the draft, provided enough reason for her husband to go to England, but not enough motivation for her to go with him. No mom in her situation would have gone overseas without her child.

Occupied now with revising/rewriting, I continued to struggle with this plot knot as the deadline ticked closer and closer. I imagined different scenarios, varying "what-ifs?" For a time, I even considered rewriting the novel so that the female protagonist was still pregnant when she goes to England. But that solution only created other problems.

Then it hit me. I couldn't come up with an answer because I was asking the wrong question.

Because the question focused on the wrong character.

I changed the question:

Why does the female protagonist need to go to England?

And voila! the plot knot untied and became woven threads.

The distinction between the questions may seem subtle. Yet focusing the question on my main character instead of her husband (a supporting character) made all the difference to the resolution of my story.

The Novice Novelist lesson: when confronted with a sticky wicket plot knot that refuses to come untied, be sure the question focuses on the protagonist. That may be all that's needed to unknot your sticky wicket.

[Thanks to Nick Jungels, photographer, for allowing me to use his photo.]

Toddler in Disguise

A toddler in the guise of a floppy-eared, curly-furred Cocker Spaniel resides in our home. Despite her graying muzzle and a deteriorating heart condition, she often reminds me of my kids when they were two.

She's putting in her contacts, I can almost hear her thinking about me. I can get in the trash.

Or -- She's on the phone -- now's my chance to get in the trash.

Or -- She's taking care of laundry -- think I'll see what's in the trash.

How often when I'm preoccupied do I hear the tell-tale sound of the tinkling glass of the jars next to the trash can, the technologically-unadvanced alarm system that lets me know my furry toddler has opened the cabinet and stepped inside.

"Chaney," I shout in vain from wherever I am. It does no good. I have to go to the kitchen, clap my hands, and look into her "I'm sorry" eyes. Sorry she got caught!

I scratch her behind the ears and all is forgiven.

Until the next time I'm putting in my contacts, answering the phone, or tossing damp clothes into the dryer.

Novel Journey Contest

Need another reason to participate in NaNoWriMo this year? This just might be it!

Novel Journey is holding mini-contests each month in 2010. The only criteria for entering is to be an unpublished novelist with a completed novel. If you write your [admitted rough] draft in November for NaNoWriMo, you'll have time to polish and shine it before the contest deadlines.

For contest details, head on over to:

http://noveljourney.blogspot.com/2009/10/announcing-new-writing-contest.html.

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)

Do you deam of writing the Great American novel? Is a book bursting to get out of your heart and onto your computer? Here's your chance!

National Novel Writing Month begins at 12:01 a.m. on Sunday, November 1st and ends at 11:59:59 p.m. on Monday, November 30th. In the thirty days in between, participants write 50,000 unedited words of a new novel project.

I've participated, and successfully completed, the NaNoWriMo challenge three times. My 2003 project may someday be a loose collection of short stories tied together by a strong sense of heritage and home. My 2005 project remains a work-in-progress.

My 2008 project may, fingers crossed, become my debut novel. All but the first twenty or so pages were scrapped, but the beginning provided a springboard for the manuscript I recently sent to a publisher.

If you'd like to join me in this free-wheeling, editor-free, imagination-outburst adventure, just hop on over to http://www.nanowrimo.org/ for more info and to sign up.

For the remaining days of October, I'll be researching an idea for the 2009 NaNoWriMo challenge and skimming through Chris Baty's little classic, No Plot? No Problem! Inside this gem are all the helpful hints for getting ready and surviving NaNoWriMo.

"Who's That Knocking at My Door?"

I recently completed the process of rewriting and revising what I hope will be my debut novel. Since beginning this project over ten months ago with a blank computer screen, I've learned some interesting lessons about creativity and the writing process. Thus, my first Novice Novelist Novel Note (4N), highlighting characters.

Characters Who Don't Go Away More than one character that I created for a specific story purpose has stayed around, popping up periodically to create mischief or solve a sticky-wicket-plot-knot (more on that in a future 4N). The first character who refused to leave has become an integral part of the entire storyline. I've been amazed by his evil ways, but if I'd tried to rein him in, or to shove him out the door, important elements of the story would have gone with him. I figured it was best to just let him keep surprising me with his dastardly deeds.

Characters Who Steal the Show At the end of one chapter I sent my critiquing partners, I wrote a note: "Is it just me, or did Major Bennett completely upstage Marie [the protagonist]?" He most certainly did, but he also added humor and lightness in the midst of tragedy. Best of all, he invited his wife and parents to join in the fun and, also unexpectedly, his actions moved the story forward.

Characters Who Show Up at the Last Minute Since my first tentative beginnings of this story, I knew I needed two specific characters to perform one specific function. But even though I thought and thought (and thought some more) about them -- nothing! Every effort to give them motivation failed. Then, during the last couple of weeks before my deadline, there they were, waiting in the wings to do what they had to do. Yes, they're shy and unassuming, but integral to the story nonetheless. The point here is that these two couldn't be forced, only welcomed at the right time.

As you're creating characters for your story, check to see who's knocking at your novel's door. Whether they hang out longer than you expected, steal the show, or come late to the party, welcome them with open arms.

Book Review: Kabul24

The SNI Eight. Two men and six women who responded to a God-call to serve the oppressed people of Afghanistan in the years of turmoil leading up to and entering the twenty-first century. A few weeks before the infamous 9/11 attacks, these godly people, the director and staff of Shelter Now International, were arrested on trumped-up charges, imprisoned in medieval-like conditions, and denied basic rights that many of us take for granted.

Kabul24, by Henry O. Arnold and Ben Pearson, tells the story of these people’s incredible faith despite their fears and hardships. Their genuine love and compassion for the Afghani people also shines through in their consistent prayer that no one, friend or foe, die so that they can be freed.

Two contrasting threads are woven throughout the narrative: the cruelty and wrath of tyrannical judges and wardens with the kindness, hospitality, and courage of Afghani “angels.” The daring rescue demonstrates God’s providence and His timing in amazing ways.

The genuine, authentic love of the Shelter Now staff is demonstrated in the hostages’ forgiveness of their Taliban captors and the willingness of several to return to this war-ravaged country and assist in its rebuilding.

This is an intriguing story of faith, courage, and answered prayer in the face of unspeakable horror that also shines an intriguing light upon a strange and foreign culture.

Tears

Our nest has been empty about a month now -- devoid of the children that we brought into this world. Last week, I found myself growing misty-eyed as I drove to a friend's house. My thoughts were consumed with the pain of saying good-bye.

But not to our youngest.

Oh, no! The tears weren't being shed for Nate, but for a collection of characters who've been with me for the past several weeks. The inhabitants of my novel, now completed, now over. I hated saying good-bye to them.

God's timing has been so gracious. The moment I got home from our taking-Nate-to-college-trip, I became a hermit. I promised an interested publisher that my novel would be completed at the end-of-September and I intended to do everything possible to keep that promise.

So instead of wandering through a house that suddenly seems to be too big for two or sobbing over the adorable baby photos of our now-grown children, I was tied to my laptop and chair. Without the distractions of a kid who thinks lunch is at 11:00 -- even if he just ate breakfast at nine -- and the responsibilities of a home school mom, the story I wanted to write came to life beneath my fingers.

Nate's been gone a month now. The novel is completed and in the publisher's inbox.

And I'm content, at least for awhile, to just enjoy these quiet moments of reflection and accomplishment.

Novice Novelist Novel Note - Debut!

Yesterday morning at about 10:30 a.m., I did it! I emailed my completed manuscript, tentatively titled Twirl, to an interested publisher. Through the writing journey, I learned important lessons about the creative process, especially as it relates to theme, character, and plot. I am amazed at the motifs and symbolism within the story, the surprising dialog that came from the characters, and the unexpected plot twists.

The more I got into the story, the more I felt like it was an already existing entity -- all I was doing was figuring out the pieces, discerning what really had happened to these fictitious people, and recording it for others.

In the next few weeks, I'm going to share the concepts I discovered as I actually completed a novel -- the ideas that excited me the most through the process.

I hope you'll enjoy reading this novice novelist's novel notes!