A. FICTION: The Sophisticated Novelist Sat-Tue 9:00-10:30 AM & Sat, Mon 11:00-12:00 AM Location: Auditorium (Center of Campus) Instructor: Dr. Angela Hunt, Fiction Freelance Author
Major Morning Track: The Sophisticated Novelist If you took Angela’s fiction track two years ago, this track will provide a review of the basics and then move forward. Angela suggests that you come with a work in progress in mind—or on your laptop, because you will be working with your current project. SEGMENT ONE: The Basics
I.
The Big Picture: what is a novel? Know what you are writing.
II.
Evaluate Your Idea: WAGS. make sure your story is “big enough” for a novel.
III.
What makes a novel “Christian?”
IV.
Novels and their genres
A. mystery versus suspense
B. Fantasy C. “High Concept” or speculative fiction
D. Historical
E. Western
F. The Lits: chick lit, widow lit, mom lit, lad lit
G. Science Fiction
H. “Biblical” fiction
I. Romance
J. General or contemporary
K. Literary Homework: fill out Angela’s WAGS acrostic to make sure your novel idea is sustainable. Write your one-paragraph pitch using the guidelines she’ll give you.
SEGMENT TWO: Plot Structure
I.
The Plot Skeleton
II.
The Head: the protagonist
III.
The two needs: one obvious problem, one hidden
IV.
The neck: the inciting incident
V.
The spine: the goal
VI.
The ribs: complications—and the swing from positive to negative, then leads to
a bleakest moment
VII.
The thighbone: your character needs HELP! From outside. Results in an
epiphany and a decision.
VIII.
The heel: the protagonist demonstrates that they have learned, changed, and/or
grown
IX.
The foot your story rests on: the resolution. The protag is happy, hopeful, or
sadder but wiser.
Homework: Diagram your complete plot skeleton
SEGMENT THREE: Characterization
I.
Character driven story versus plot-driven story
II.
Personality profiles and character development; importance of the antagonist
(who may not be a true villain).
III.
Character Cards—at a glance
IV.
Surface versus deep character
V.
The Fatal flaw
VI.
Villains
VII.
Antagonists
Homework: Do character sheet for your protagonist AND antagonist
SEGMENT FOUR: Mechanics
I.
Point of View
II.
Tense—past, present, or future?
III.
Outlining
IV.
Creating Scenes
V.
Making Time to Write
VI.
Drafting, drafting, drafting
SEGMENT FIVE: Sophisticated Self-Editing
I.
Flashbacks, backstory, recollections, prologues
II.
Dialogue
III.
Interior Monologue
IV.
Sophisticated Sentence Structure
V.
Showing versus telling
VI.
Sentiment versus sentimentality
VII.
The Weasel Words
VIII.
Le mot juste.
Homework: Edit two pages of your WIP. (Need about five volunteers who’d be willing to have one page of their work edited (anonymously) on an overhead. Angie will need a hard copy of that page.
SEGMENT SIX: The Finer Points--learning to read analytically
I.
Punctuation
II.
Tension on every page.
III.
Italics
IV.
RUE
V.
Beginnings and endings: the importance of the first line
VI.
Titles
VII.
Chapter Breaks
VIII.
Formatting
IX.
Miscellanea: author’s notes, glossaries, character lists, maps,
acknowledgements, thanking the cat sitter. Homework: Highlight “sample A” after reading it analytically. Now analyze one of your own pages.
SEGMENT SEVEN: Submission and Sales
I.
The Agent
II.
The submission
III.
What to expect in a sale
IV.
The contract
V.
Revisions
VI.
What to expect from your editor
VII.
The marketing
VIII.
POD presses
SEGMENT EIGHT: Wrap up, Exercises, and Unanswered Questions : anything you want to know, make a note of the question and ask before class dismisses. Sample A: From THE DARKEST EVENING OF THE YEAR, by Dean Koontz
From Page 10. POV: Brian. Brian and Amy, who works with Golden Retriever rescue, have come to a house to “rescue” a dog. Janet Brockman called them. *** Carl Brockman turned his gaze on Brian. In those eyes shone not the mindless aggression of a man made stupid by drink, but instead the malevolent glee of a chained brute who had been liberated by it. To his wife, in a voice thick with bitterness, he said, “What’ve you done?” “Nothing, Carol. I just called them about the dog.” His face was a snarl of knotted threats. “You must want some.” Janet shook her head. “You must really want some, Jan. You do this, you know it’s gonna get you only one thing.” As though embarrassed by the evidence of her submissiveness, Janet covered her bleeding mouth with one hand. Crouching, Amy called to the dog. “Here, cutie. Come here, girl.” On the table stood a bottle of tequila, a glass, a salt shaker in the shape of a white Scottish terrier, and a plate holding slices of a fresh lime. Raising his right hand from his side and high above his head, Carl revealed a tire iron. He gripped it by the pry end. When he slammed the tool down hard on the table, slices of lime leaped form the plate. The bottle of tequila wobbled, and the ice rattled in the glass.
Janet cringed, the little girl stoppled a cry with her thumb, Brian winced and tensed, but Amy just continued to coax the retriever to come to her. The dog was neither startled nor made fearful by the crash of iron on wood. With a backhand swing of the tool, Carl swept everything off the table. At the farther end of the kitchen, tequila splashed, glass shattered, and the ceramic Scottie scattered salt across the floor. “Get out,” Carl demanded. “Get out of my house.” “Amy said, “The dog’s a problem. You don’t need a problem dog. We’ll take her off your hands.”
Sample B Up from the Ashes
. . . from Chitty, Chitty Bang Bang
Every Bursted Bubble Has A Glory! Each Abysmal Failure Makes A Point! Every Glowing Path That Goes Astray, Shows You How To Find A Better Way. So Every Time You Stumble Never Grumble. Next Time You'll Bumble Even Less! For Up From The Ashes, Up From The Ashes, Grow The Roses Of Success! Grow The Roses! Grow The Roses! Grow The Roses Of Success! Oh Yes! Grow The Roses! Those Rosy Roses! From The Ashes Of Disaster Grow The Roses Of Success! (Spoken) Yes I Know But He Wants It To Float. It Will! For Every Big Mistake You Make Be Grateful! Here, Here! That Mistake You'll Never Make Again! No Sir! Every Shiny Dream That Fades And Dies, Generates The Steam For Two More Tries! (Oh) There's Magic In The Wake Of A Fiasco! Correct! It Gives You That Chance To Second Guess! Oh Yes! Then Up From The Ashes, Up From The Ashes Grow The Roses Of Success! Grow The Roses! Grow The Roses! Grow The Roses Of Success! Grow The Roses! Those Rosy Roses! From The Ashes Of Disaster Grow The Roses Of Success! Disaster Didn't Stymie Louis Pasteur! No Sir! Edison Took Years To See the Light! right! Alexander Graham Knew Failure Well; He Took A Lot Of Knocks To Ring That bell! So When It Gets Distressing It's A Blessing! Onward And Upward You Must Press! Yes, Yes!
Till Up From The Ashes, Up From The Ashes Grow The Roses Of Success. Grow The Ro-grow The Ro-grow The Roses! grow The Ro-grow The Ro-grow The Roses! grow The Roses Of Success! grow The Ro-grow The Ro-grow The Roses! those Rosy Ro-those Rosy Ro-those Rosy Roses! From The Ashes Of Disaster, Grow The Roses Of Success! Start The Engines! Success! Batten The Hatches! Success! Man The Shrouds! Lift The Anchor! Success!
What You Must Know (and Include) in a Plot Synopsis Once upon a time, (main character) _____________ was dealing with an interesting problem: ______________________________. He had a secret longing ( ____________________ ) that sprang from something unpleasant that happened in his past: _____________. One day, something unexpected happened to main character (inciting incident): ________________________________________, and he/she decided that he would pursue a goal: _______________. So he devised a plan of action: ________________________________. Even though there were complications trying to stop him or hindering his progress: ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ he moved forward because there was a lot at stake: ________________ And just as things seemed as bad as they could get: (bleakest moment) ________________________________________________________________, he/she got help from someone ___________________________ and learned an important lesson _____________________________. When offered the prize or goal, he/she had to decide whether or not to take it _______(the decision), this decision satisfied the unspoken need or longing for ______________________________ that had been created by the unpleasantness in his past.
Dr. Hunt’s Rules of Sophisticated Writing 1. Track down and put the weasel words out of their misery: Passive verbs: was, were, is, are Vague “it”s Just, very, rather, began to, started to, some, “of the”, that, “there was”, suddenly Thought, wondered, mused—signal a problem with interior monologue Hads—know how to use this with a flashback vs. recollection Adverbs (all together now: boo, hiss!) especially when used with a speech tag: ex: “said angrily” “spoke softly” “moved slowly.” Statements of the obvious: “stood to his feet” “rose from her chair” “scratched with his hand” 2. 1 + 1=1/2 1+1+1=1/3 Ex: She was tired, weary, exhausted. As tired as a dog in a room full of fire hydrants. 3. Use an ellipsis for trailing off in thought . . . Use an em dash (--) for interruptions or abrupt breaks. (notice the spaces between the dots). 4. Italics are like roaches—too many are downright aggravating. Use only for short bits of thought or emphasized words, but use sparingly. Make the words do the work. 5. Take out those exclamation marks. 6. Cut anything that does not deepen character or advance plot. Be ruthless. 7. Beware the “-ing thing.” Example: “Closing the door, she began to walk away.” She can’t do both simultaneously. 8. The FAS rule: feeling first, then action, then speech (if all three are present). 9. The “pencil rule”: when you have three elements in a sentence, the most important goes last, the second most important first, the least important in the middle. Example: my angel fed acid to Ramirez. Order will depend upon which part you want to emphasize. 10. Watch out for “block” paragraphs of description. Today’s novels read like a movie—we want descriptions of people and places as characters are moving through a scene. Resist the urge to build blocks. 11. No backstory in the first thirty pages. Go for fifty if you’re brave. Number one mistake of beginners is the second chapter backstory dump. 12. Avoid dialogue ping pong. Let your characters interrupt, change topics, get stuck in a rut. Don’t write “on the nose.”