This month, my theme for JPC Allen Writes is about how other arts inspire and influence writing stories. Although poetry and prose are often seen as distant cousins, writing poetry can improve your novel or any story you’re creating.
Improve Descriptions
Writing and reading poetry has made me look at my surroundings in a different way. Poetry often uses figurative language, such as similes and metaphors. When I use these elements in my prose, it makes descriptions more vivid and can also reveal something about the character who is doing the describing.
In my first novel,A Shadow on the Snow, I had my main character Rae describe the route to her dad’s farm in rural Ohio this way: “The Rust Bucket {Rae’s truck} followed the asphalt like a ship over the crests and troughs of waves.”
The description not only tells readers the road is hilly but it also show Rae’s background. She lived for four years on the coast of North Carolina before moving to Ohio and bring that experience to her descriptions.
Improve Diction
I love short forms of poetry, especially haiku. The seventeen syllables in haiku force me to describe something and set a mood in the most precise way I can. That’s good training for writing stories. Although it depends on the genre, most readers don’t want lengthy descriptions to weigh down the pace. So poetry can help me be thoughtful in selecting the best words for the most impact.
Although I drop in the physical characteristics of Rae’s dad, Mal, throughout a novel, I usually introduce him by describing him as Thor in a sheriff’s uniform. Those five words bring an immediate image to the minds of English readers, and since the Marvel movies, most of the world.
Improve Rhythm
Most poetry has a rhythm. Now unless I’m writing a novel in verse, I don’t want my book to sound like Dr. Seuss got a hold of it. But sometimes, a particular scene or a conversation will benefit from a definite rhyme. Sometimes, I use it to inject humor in a story.
I also think action scenes have a rhythm. Alternating between physical action and the POV character’s thoughts is like a dance that I want to sweep the reader into. If the scene is mostly action, readers are kept at arm’s length from the POV character and can’t experience the thrills through that character’s senses. But if the scene consists mostly of an internal monologue as the character deals with the action, it’s not an action scene any more.
What do I mean by the artist vs. the editor? Well, this month’s theme is all about how to edit our stories. But within one writer is–or should be–both the creative artist and the analytical editor. Both personalities are critical for creating a story readers will enjoy. But the artist and the editor don’t play well together, so it’s important for writers to recognize when to hang out with the one and when to send the other packing.
First Draft Torture
I find writing the first draft of any story almost torture. Because my pesky internal editor won’t leave my artist alone. I can be in the middle of a conversation between several characters, and my editor is saying, “You’re using ‘said’ too much. Put in some action tags” when my goal at this point is to establish the fact that Mrs. Murphy saw Old Man Willis sneaking around the abandoned Simmons house a few hours before it burned. And all my editor can see is that I’ve used too many “saids”!
But When the First Draft is Finished …
It’s time to roll my sleeves, put on my hard hat, and do some serious reconstruction and polishing. This not the time for my artist to skip in and tell me, “You know, Mrs. Murphy is a fascinating character. You should add more scenes with her.” Or “Do you really want Mayor Haggerty to be the murderer? Old Man Willis might be better.”
The artist can distract me with tantalizing variations on the story I’ve completed. But if I’m working on a deadline, I have to send her off to a field to frolic with unicorns and the Eater Bunny.
In My Experience
I’ve had much greater trouble with my editor during the first draft phase than I do with the artist in the editorial phase. Probably because the artist is so exhausted by the time I get to “The End”, that she appreciates a vacation.
In reality, writers can’t totally separate their artistic side from their analytical side, but I’ve found I have to focus primarily on one or the other. I don’t mind doing a few edits as I write my first draft. Or writing a new scene when my editor sees a need. But if I give both sides of the writing process equal weight at the same time, writing becomes drudgery, and I wear myself out.
So in the battles of the artist vs. the editor, who do you have the most trouble with?
When I began my teen mystery series, Rae Riley Mysteries, I knew family would be important. I mean, in the short story that kicked off the series, Rae is trying to figure out who her father is. I gave Rae half brothers, aunts, an uncle, two first cousins, and a grandmother as well as a father. As I developed these close member of her family, I also developed her family tree and found myself having a lot of fun writing about extended family ties.
Branch Out on the Family Tree
Although Rae’s relationship with her father Sheriff Walter “Mal” Malinowski IV is the heart of my series, exploring distant branches of her family tree has been enjoyable. One of the best things I’ve done in my series is to create an outlaw side to Rae’s family. This side so far has produced a scheming first cousin once removed, a grifter great uncle, and another first cousin once removed with a violent temper.
These less than honest relatives add a lot of tension to my storytelling as their sneaky or criminal ways come in direct conflict with Mal and his sister Carrie, who’s a former U. S. deputy marshal and current private investigator. Whenever a storyline needs some extra ingredients, I know have these criminal relatives handy. The fact that the local sheriff has a family relationship with possible suspects adds a deeper dimension to my stories than if this family of law-breakers were ordinary citizens of the county.
The head of the Malinowski clan is Rae’s great-grandfather, eighty-one-year-old Walter Malinowski Jr. He’s been a huge joy to get to know. A seventh-grade drop out, Walter had a reputation for breaking heads, working hard at any unskilled job, and marrying five times. But he has more depth than he wants anyone to know, and as I develop stories to include him, Rae begins to uncover that fact as their relationship grows.
So when writing about families, see if you can add an extended family ties to add fun or another plot line to your stories.
What novels or stories have you read that used family relations well?
It’s been awhile but historical fiction author Tamera Lynn Kraft is back with a guest blog, “Let’s Be Friends: Writing about Friendship.” Tamera isn’t only an author. She owns and manages Mt Zion Ridge Press and has designed all the fabulous covers for my Rae Riley novels. So glad you to have you back, Tamera, with your latest novel!
I’ve written many novels that include friendships. In my latest novel, THE AFTERMATH, Betsy and Lavena’s friendship is a major part of the story. It’s easy to show friendship in a novel if you add these elements.
5 Keys to Friendship
Friendships in novels, as well as real life, need to include shared experience. The friends need to have a past together. You can incorporate these shared experiences within the novel if the friendship is just starting to develop, but if you want to show a deep friendship, there needs to be a backstory of what these friends have been through together. In THE AFTERMATH, Betsy and Lavena were friends long before the story began. They were roommates at Oberlin College, and they had an apartment together when Betsy’s husband was fighting the Civil War.
Friendships in novels should always include shared values. Friends can be completely different when it comes to temperament and personality, but friendships that remain through the years must have shared values. For instance, in THE AFTERMATH, Betsy and Lavena are both strong Christians who believe in helping those who are forgotten by society. Lavena wants to have a career and “save” the world, and Betsy is more concerned with being a homemaker and mother and saving her marriage, but they both will do whatever it takes to share the love of God with others. That is their shared value.
Vulnerability is important in friendships. Even if you have a strong character who is independent, that character needs to have a friend she can go to when she is going through difficulty, someone she can be vulnerable with. And her friend needs to be willing to listen and help when needed. Sometimes a friend will see the need even before the main character shares it and will coax the friend to share. In THE AFTERMATH, Lavena tells Betsy she knows something is wrong, before Betsy opens up and shares that her husband is a drunk. This is a great device to use so the main character doesn’t coming across as whining about her problems. Instead, her friend is encouraging her to open up. It’s also a great device to show your main character’s perspective and how she feels about what she is going through.
In life, and in novels, friends have an easy and relaxed communication style. They understand each other and talk about shared experiences easily. Avoid having stilted conversation between friends because it won’t be believable. The formal, stilted conversations should be reserved for conversations with people your characters don’t know well or don’t trust.
Finally, forgiveness is an important part of friendship. If there is conflict between friends in your story, the relationship needs to be restored at some point even if the friendship has changed in some way if you are to have a satisfying ending.
Close friendships enrich our lives. This is true with fiction as well, even if the friendship is not the main plot of the story. It can enrich the development of your characters. Deep friendships portrayed in a novel can make the reader feel like she’s a part of that friendship and that the main character is her friend as well.
Betsy loves her husband, Nate, but losing his leg in the Civil War has changed him. He never touched alcohol before the war, but now he’s turning into a drunk. She doesn’t know how to help him, but to save their marriage she’s going to do everything she can. If only she can figure out how.
Tormented by the loss of his leg, Nate feels worthless. His drinking only makes things worse, but he can’t stop. It’s only a matter of time before he drives Betsy away. Why did God allow this to happen? What does he owe God now, after this betrayal?
Nate’s anger and bitterness are building a wall that neither he nor Betsy can break down or climb over. Only God can help them, but Nate is no longer on speaking terms with the Lord. Is there any hope for them?
Meet the Ladies of Oberlin, the causes they’re willing to fight for, and the men who capture their hearts.
*****
In her spare time, Tamera Lynn Kraft loves to watch classic movies, drink quality teas, and ride on roller coasters, but not while drinking tea. She does drink tea while writing and working as managing editor for Mt Zion Ridge Press, a traditional Christian publishing company. She has always loved adventures and loves to write historical fiction set in the United States because
Tamera has been married for a very long time to the love of her life, Rick, and has two married adult children and the most adorable and smartest grandchildren in the world. She was a children’s pastor for over 20 years. She is now the leader of a ministry called Revival Fire for Kids where she mentors and coaches children’s leaders, teaches workshops, and is a children’s ministry consultant and children’s evangelist. She has written children’s church curriculum including Building Foundations and is a recipient of the 2007 National Children’s Leaders Association Shepherd’s Cup for lifetime achievement in children’s ministry.
Since I’ve been reviewing Christmas mysteries, I thought I’d repost this article on writing a Christmas mystery.
For some reason, Christmas and mysteries go together like silver and gold on a Christmas tree. Christmas mysteries are a very old tradition in the genre. One of the first, and best, is “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle”, a Sherlock Holmes story. Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple had Christmas cases. So did Nero Wolfe, Ellery Queen, V.I. Warshawski, Brother Cadfael, and Father Brown. Maybe the mystery of God coming to earth, fully God and and fully human, gives the whole season an air of the unexplainable. If you’d like to try your hand at this very specific sub-genre, here are a two tips about writing a Christmas mystery.
The Story Can’t Take Place at Any Other Time
The best Christmas mysteries take advantage of what the season offers. In “A Christmas Party” by Rex Stout, the boss of an interior design firm is murdered during the Christmas office party. The man who was working the bar in a Santa Claus outfit disappears during the confusion created when the boss collapses from cyanide poisoning. Santa was so heavily made-up no one at the party can describe him.
Christmas gives Agatha Christie the perfect reason for warring members of an extended family to gather at the family estate in the country in Murder for Christmas. It’s hard to imagine another plausible reason for relatives who dislike each other to come into contact with each other, except maybe, a funeral or wedding. In “The Flying Stars”. author G.K. Chesterton uses the English Christmas tradition of the pantomime as the key plot point.
One of the many fun qualities of “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle” is how well it incorporates characteristics of Christmas that existed at the time Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote it. A commissionaire who is an acquaintance of Holmes, finds a precious stone, the blue carbuncle, in the crop of the goose his wife was going to roast for Christmas dinner. Holmes and Watson follow clues through a bitterly cold London night to figure how the jewel, stolen from a luxury hotel, ended up in the goose.
Include Themes of the Season
Another quality you can take advantage of are the meanings of the season. One aspect of “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle” that makes it so special is the offer Holmes extends to the culprit once he uncovers him. “The Killer Christian” by Andre Klavan is about redemption. In my Christmas mystery, “A Rose from the Ashes”, I used themes of mercy and forgiveness as my teen detective Rae Riley attempts to discover who her father is and if he tried to murder her mother when she was pregnant with Rae.
Writers, have you written a Christmas story? What was it about? Readers, what Christmas story uses the holiday setting effectively?
