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Published on Leave a comment on The End Justifies The Means

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The theme of my current WIP has been on my mind a lot lately. And not just because I'm sunk in the swamp of editing a saggy middle build. Thanks to several great craft articles like this one, I was able to settle on a theme for my trilogy some time ago. My theme is 'the end justifies the means'. Sometimes I use a little more casual shorthand: 'sometimes you gotta do bad to do good'.

You don't have to look very far to find examples of this philosophy in real life. I've been listening to the most excellent podcast Presidential by Washington Post writer Lillian Cunningham. Presidents often make decisions for us that I feel fall into the 'end justifies the means' category.

  • Perhaps the first example that comes to many minds is Harry Truman's decision to drop the nukes on Nagasaki and Hiroshima during World War II. Numbers vary, but hundreds of thousands died. However, Japan surrendered soon after the second bomb was dropped. Developing and using the atomic bomb achieved Truman's goal of ending the war.
Image of Hiroshima via National WWII Museum
  • Abraham Lincoln chose to prosecute a bloody war to preserve the union. A Union victory also meant the abolition of slavery. The Civil War cost more than 600,000 lives. But I believe/hope most would agree preserving the union and ending slavery was worth it.
  • Dwight Eisenhower was an early supporter of intelligence services. It makes sense. He saw plenty of death and destruction in his military career. In his mind, if there was a way to resolve controversy without going to war, he was all for it. Hard to say what he would've thought of covert operations taken to their extremes - assassinations, coups, torture.
  • Richard Nixon's active role in attempting to cover up illegal activities by his re-election campaign staff, known as the Watergate scandal, eventually resulted in ending his presidency. In their minds, the end (winning the next election) outweighed the means (breaking many laws and compounding that mistake with trying to cover it up). I'm not sure if Nixon and his cronies ever considered the possibility of failure. Hubris is often a huge factor with presidents.
  • Bill Clinton's similar approach to a sex scandal worked out a little better for him. He gambled on splitting hairs, word salad, and other forms of verbal obfuscation rather than come clean about his extramarital relationship with a White House intern. Unlike Nixon, however, Clinton's gambit was successful. Apparently the end (staying in office) justified the means (spewing a bunch of nonsense and looking like fool in the process).

It has been pointed out to me, and I agree, that 'the end justifies the means' is a slippery slope to anarchy. Anarchy is not something I aspire to in real life. But in my fiction, I'm totally fine with a little chaos.

In my story, the main character starts out as a nerdy follower of the rules. By the end, he embraces breaking them. But he also learns that no matter how carefully you evaluate your options and make tough choices, you cannot always accurately predict the outcome. Robert McKee calls this wildcard component the 'gap'. I call it 'life'.

p.s. You may be wondering why I haven't mentioned the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. I am choosing to include topics I have heard while listening to the Presidential podcast. Their last episode so far is the one covering our 44th president, Barack Obama. I have no doubt there will be much applicable material on this topic when and if they ever release an episode on 45.

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Published on Leave a comment on Liberate Your Lexicon

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I love to read. I love talking books with people who love to read. They are my tribe.

There is a subset of our tribe: people who enjoy reading the same book more than once. Apparently they return to their favorites every so often just because they enjoy the story or the style or some such.

As you may have surmised, I have never been one of those people. I'm all about the Ooh, Shiny. What's new? What's next? What's a book I've always meant to read but haven't gotten around to yet? When I read a book that I absolutely adore, I usually buy it in hardback and put it in a place of honor on the bookshelf. But I rarely re-read them.

Until now. Until I read Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian. Now, I kinda get it.

I need to take a minute here and give props to my kids for steering me in this direction. It got on their radar. Then, a guy in our local library book club was raving about it. I had read The Road, and had seen the film version of No Country For Old Men, so I was vaguely familiar with McCarthy's work. But I hadn't read this one.

Granted, Blood Meridian is not exactly the type of book you cuddle up with as a bedtime story. The formatting is a little wonky. There is no HEA; at least, not that I could tell. It's brutal. It's violent. It's so dark, I feel a little weird as I'm gushing about it to others, worried I might end up on some kind of a watch list.

What's got me hooked is not so much what happens in the story, even though it's quite a tale. It's McCarthy's style. The dialog. The description. But most of all, how he's absolutely, confidently, fearless about word choice.

I'm pretty sure McCarthy doesn't give a hoot about reading levels, or taking the reader 'out' of the story because they have no idea what a 'thrapple'* is. I looked up more word definitions in the week it took me to read this book than I have in the last year. And that's not even counting any of the Spanish (which btw can I just mention I was able to read most of the Spanish on my own, thanks to it being fairly rudimentary, and thanks to mi maestra Roxanne and the free Spanish classes at our local library).

Some of the words, I gave myself a pass for not knowing. I'm a city girl. I don't know much about livestock. I know there is such a think as hobbling an animal to keep it from running off. But I didn't know the knot and rope style used to hobble an animal is called a spancel. I know what spurs are, and in fact am in possession of a pair that used to belong to my grandfather. But I didn't realize the spinny-pokey-thingie is called a rowel. In both of these examples, a lesser author would've probably just used 'hobble' and 'spur'. Not McCarthy.

I learned that planet Anareta is an ancient astrological reference to a harbinger of doom; and that Tasmania used to be called Van Dieman's Land. I freely admit I needed a refresher on the meaning parricide (I knew something was getting killed; just not sure what), and the lesser-known meaning of filibuster as a profession rather than a political strategy.

Just to be clear, I didn't learn these terms because the author explained them in the book. Oh, no. He disperses them as daintily as pumpkin spice on a latte. I appreciate him respecting his reader like that. But I still had to look them up.

And the cool thing is, I didn't mind taking the ten extra seconds to Google. The more I read, the more comfortable I became with the occasional rabbit holes. McCarthy could've used 'handle' instead of 'helve'. But once you see, and say, 'helve', it's undoubtedly the better word. If he had used 'moccasins' or 'slippers' instead of 'pampooties', where would be the fun in that?

There were a few head-scratchers. He rarely missed an opportunity to indulge in obscure geological jargon during one of his lengthy paeans to the otherworldly landscape of the desert southwest. I am still not sure what he was trying to accomplish with his use of 'manciple', even after I looked up the definition.

Reading Blood Meridian was a challenge. But it was a challenge I thoroughly enjoyed. I'm already looking forward to re-reading this literary nonpareil to see what I've overlooked. And we didn't even talk about the sentence structure yet!

* thrapple is the neck and throat area

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1

Published on 1 Comment on Said is Dead, Baby

Conventional writing wisdom dictates we stick with 'said' for attributions. I don't know about you, but I get a little sick of 'said'.

Props to The Writer's Beat for a useful page which I stumbled upon recently, entitled '200 Words Instead of 'Said''.   I borrowed the idea, rearranged them alphabetically, pruned a few that made no sense and replaced them with a few of my own so that we stick to the 200 number.

The highlights are mine - these are words I would definitely consider using instead of 'said'. Some of these may not be perfect as attributions, but work great as a set-up. For example, I probably wouldn't ever use 'yawned' as an attribution like this:

"What time is it?" Shelby yawned.

but I would consider this:

Shelby yawned. "What time is it?"

So here they are. Any additions?

200 Words To Use Instead of 'Said'

abnegatedaddedadvisedagreedallowed
announcedansweredapologizedarguedasked
assentedassessedassured
bandiedbarkedbawledbeganbegged
bellowedbitblastedblatheredbleated
blurtedblusteredboastedbreathedburbled
cackledcalledcarpedcaterwauledchallenged
chantedchattedchewedchirpedchirruped
chucklescoaxedcommunicatedcommandedcomplained
concludedconfessedcontinuedcounteredcountermanded
coweredcriedcursedcussed
decideddeclareddeliberateddelivereddemanded
denieddisagreeddrawleddribbleddripped
egged onelocutedencouragedexaggeratedexclaimed
faultedfinishedflirtedfretted
gaspedgiggledgloatedgoggledgrimaced
gripedgrizzledgroanedgrumbledgrunted
gurgled
harpedhesitatedhintedhissedhowled
holleredhoundedhuffed
impliedimploredinformedinquiredinsisted
interruptedinsinuatedintoned
joked
lamentedlaughedlecturedlied
mewedmimickedmoanedmournedmumbled
murmuredmuttered
naggednatterednegated
objectedobservedofferedogledoozed
ordered
persistedpesteredpleadedponderedprattled
prayedproclaimedproddedpromisedpronounced
proposedprotested
queriedquestioned
raspedrattled onrecalledreflectedrelated
remarkedrememberedreminiscedrepeatedreplied
respondedripostedroaredroastedrumbled
sangscoldedscreamedshoutedshrieked
simperedslurredsnappedsnarledsneered
sobbedspelled outsplutteredspokesputtered
squeakedsquealedstammeredstartedstuttered
sulkedswore
teasedtemptedthreatenedthoughttittered
toastedtoldtormentedtwittered
urgeduttered
wailedwarbledwarnedwent onwept
wheezedwishedwhimperedwhinedwhispered
wonderedwooed
yawnedyelled

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Published on Leave a comment on All Rejection Letters Are Not Created Equal

As I was cleaning out my writing files, I came upon a folder containing an article I submitted to Highlights For Children magazine. Back in the day when I was first breaking into writing for children, getting an article accepted by Highlights was the Holy Grail of submission success. 

Highlights didn't accept my article. But they sent me a wonderful rejection letter. Not one of the form 'It is not suited to our present needs' things. Oh, no. This rejection letter is a beauty.  It's full of very specific details on what exactly was discussed by the reviewers, and how it could possibly, someday, with a little more work, actually suit their present needs. I'm posting a copy of it at the end to give props to their reviewers. They obviously spent valuable time reading my sub and giving me very valuable feedback. When's the last time you got this level of feedback on a rejection letter? Yeah, I thought so.

I'm also posting it to share their input with any of you who are submitting to children's magazines. Hope it helps.

My hat's off to Highlights. I appreciate the time and the info, even though you didn't publish my article.  

To wit: here's the article I submitted:

All About Apples

On many fall afternoons you can find Nancy Jacobson leading a group of school children on a tour of her family’s apple orchard. She tells them all about apples and how they grow.  The children usually have many questions, but Nancy has the answers. Nancy knows all about apples. She should – her family has owned the orchard for more than forty years.

The orchard sits on more than three hundred acres of gently rolling hills in eastern Minnesota. The Jacobson family home is still on the site. It is part of a building complex that includes a large apple storage and processing facility, bakery, and gift shop. Elsewhere on the property are strawberry fields, a pumpkin patch, and a corn maze.

Nancy’s parents and five siblings still work at the orchard. Nancy does the hiring and gives tours. Each of her brothers and sisters work at things they enjoy. One brother takes care of the apple trees. Another runs the wagon rides, gift shop and corn maze. Nancy’s mother oversees some of the baking, and her father fills in where needed. There are even some Jacobson grandchildren involved in the orchard operation.

Enjoying a beautiful fall day at Aamodt's Apple Orchard

The orchard is busiest during the fall. They harvest apples from August through October. Seven days a week, people come to buy fresh apples, pies, and donuts. Families choose the perfect pumpkins for jack-o-lanterns in the pumpkin patch. They take turns finding their way through the rustling paths of the corn maze.

“A lot of children think if you have an apple orchard, you’re busy in the fall,” says Nancy. “But we work all year round.” During the winter each of the 8,000 apple trees are pruned. Dead and crowded limbs are cut away to let in more air and light. Pruning helps the trees live longer and produce better apples.

Spring is a critical time for the orchard. Fragrant flowers appear on the apple trees. In order for apples to grow, the flowers must be pollinated by bees. “We can’t just rely on the bees that are roaming around in nature, because it is such a critical time of year for us. We bring in colonies.” They use about one colony of bees per acres, and they have 80 acres of apple trees.

“Bees are fussy creatures,” Nancy says. “If it’s wet, windy or cold, they won’t come out and work. The bees are furry. They’re after the nectar inside the base of the stem. They dive into the blossom to get the nectar and get that yellow pollen on their furry backs. They fly to another blossom and get that pollen all over their furry backs.” The pollen collects on the bees’ furry bodies and is deposited on other trees each time they land someplace new. “It’s all by accident,” Nancy says.

The orchard grows about twenty different types of apples. “A lot of the varieties we grow were developed by the University of Minnesota, so they are good cultivars for our climate,” says Nancy. “Haralson is a  great apple. It is a real workhorse. It grows well here and people can use it for lots of different things.” The orchard also grows some old-fashioned varieties. “Duchess is a really old-fashioned green pie apple. The day we opened up we had people waiting in line for Duchess. They remember that’s the apple their grandmother used to make pies.”

Nancy’s parents bought the orchard when she was a little girl. She enjoyed growing up on an apple orchard. “I had my own apple tree. It was right outside the back door of the house so I could hear my mom call.” It was the perfect tree for climbing, and had some branches perfect for sitting. “I knew that tree like I knew my own bedroom,” Nancy says. “When I had a rough day at school, I could go out and climb the tree and everything was fine.”

Nancy and her brother John also enjoyed riding on the picking trailer during the harvest. “When the pickers were picking the apples, the trailer would follow along and pick up the bushel boxes. There was always an empty box in the middle for my brother and I. We’d each have our own little box we’d sit in, and they’d pick the boxes up and fill them in around us. The trailer would start out empty, then it would have a few more boxes, and a few more boxes, and then you were in the middle of a big trailer that full of boxes filled with apples. Then they would unload it, and we would go back out and do another run with it.”

Some activities weren’t so fun. One job Nancy didn’t like was hand-thinning the apples. When the apples grew to the size of golf balls, they had to be thinned by hand.  Using a small set of shears, she and her siblings worked their way through the orchard, cutting away excess apples. “We left one apple for every 6 inches of tree limb,” Nancy says. This was a hot and tedious job. But it was necessary. Thinning is one way to produce the best quality apples and help keep the trees healthy.

One afternoon as Nancy finished a tour for some school children, one of the students  raised his hand. When called on, he said, “Nancy, this place is all about apples!” Nancy thinks he is absolutely right. Even though there is hard work to be done year round, Nancy and her family love working at the orchard. “Growing up in this environment, it gets under your skin. You learn that work can be fun.”

Now that you've read the article, here's the rejection letter, as promised. Isn't it great?

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4

Published on 4 Comments on You Gotta Start Somewhere

I've written a little bit previously about what inspired my current writing project. I'd like to fill in a few blanks today. To recap, it's a YA trilogy. Here's my logline:

An unsuspecting teen is drawn into a resistance movement determined to expose a powerful but secretive group that is controlling the public through the food supply.

I guess I should clarify that it is fiction. But the more research I do, the more I wonder if I should also include an 'inspired by true events' line in the front matter of the books. Because it certainly is.

For the past few years, I've been on a processed food intellectual journey of sorts. I started at Curious, then quickly transitioned to Informed. Eventually I got to a level of Angry, which almost immediately morphed into Fury Of A Thousand Suns. Today I guess I would describe my present state as Inspired. Sorta in the same way that a blast furnace inspires coal to become steel.

Here's how I got to now.

Curious

Several years ago, I watched Morgan Spurlock's now-infamous 2004 documentary, Super Size Me. If you haven't seen it, you should (watch here now for free). Spurlock pledged to eat nothing but McDonald's food every day for thirty days. He could order whatever he wanted, as long as he ate each item on the menu at least once. I won't spoil it for you. But let's just say, I found it inspiring.

At the time, I was still a fan of fast food. I knew in my heart that McDonald's made the best french fries. I frequented drive-throughs often enough that I had 'my usual' at Taco Bell (Burrito Supreme Combo), Whataburger (#7 with jalapenos), and Sonic (#1 with jalapenos and tots). And yes, I agree Whataburger has better burgers than Sonic, but until Whataburger goes nationwide, Sonic's tots make them a perfectly acceptable substitute IMO. It's probably no surprise that at that time, I was also 15-20 pounds overweight and on the verge of needing medication to treat high cholesterol.

Super Size Me spelled the end of my McDonald's trips. I mourned their fries, but their other food was always mediocre IMO. My kids had long outgrown the Happy Meals marketing juggernaut. So it wasn't too hard for me to slam that door shut.

Next up, a copy of Skinny Bitch entered my orbit. I found it hilarious in parts, if a little extreme. If animal cruelty is a trigger for you (and if it's not, what the heck is wrong with you?), you have been warned.

Informed

Clearly there was more to this business model than charming old-school marketing strategies like venting fast food kitchens in such a way that the aroma of burger patties and fries lures customers in like grizzlies to a salmon run. In Eric Schlosser's eye-opening Fast Food Nation, I learned much about the industry, not the least of which is that we wouldn't even be able to stomach their mediocre fare, if it weren't for a handful of chemical factories located off the New Jersey turnpike working their asses off to improve the taste of low quality food.

Angry

In Michael Pollan's most excellent The Omnivore's Dilemma, I learned about the political shenanigans in the 1970s that drove thousands of small farmers out of business (and caused more than a few to commit suicide); and the (very obvious in hindsight) link between today's processed food behemoth and the obesity epidemic currently overburdening our health care system.

Can you tell I was building up a head of steam?

Fury of A Thousand Suns

By the time I discovered Michael Moss' Salt Sugar Fat, I was ready to go to war. It is truly despicable the lengths the processed food industry goes to to addict and entrap us into unnatural consumption patterns. From Moss, I learned that many food industry execs migrated from the cigarette industry. Is it any wonder they are all about addiction, and value their bottom line over the health of the consumer? And the hypocritical icing on this very unhealthy cake: I learned many food industry executives will not even consume their own products. Oh, the infuriating irony.

And here we are today, in the midst of a global pandemic that is especially devastating to folks who are already in poor health, perhaps because of poor diet. A poor diet often foisted upon us by greedy corporations more than willing to sacrifice consumer health at the altar of the almighty dollar.

So I crushed my fury into a tiny, tiny ball and compressed all that mad energy into determination to do something about this wretched state of affairs. But what can one person do against an army of corporate and political will?

Not much, I guess. I stopped drinking soda. I stopped eating fast food.

I started writing a book.

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6

Published on 6 Comments on Want Writing Success? Just Push That Button

Here at the Johnston household, we're beginning Week 5(!!) of mostly total self-isolation (by choice; no health issues, thank dog) during the Covid-19 kerfuffle. Some of us are losing our minds (yes, extroverts, I'm looking at you). Others are making hay while the sun shines, baby! I've finished the first draft of the second book in my current WIP trilogy, and have begun Janice Hardy's most excellent 31-day DIY revision workshop. I've used it before and highly recommend.

Image by @clarktibbs via Unsplash

If you're having trouble getting inspired because of all the other craziness going on, I feel ya. Here's a handy trick I use when I'm having trouble getting motivated to write: nothing brings me out of a writing funk like a great success story. Specifically, a writing success story.

I've put a few of my favorites together for you. There's a variety of genres here, but they have a few things in common - not the least of which is BIC time (Butt In Chair). So what are we waiting for? Read this, get inspired, and get busy.

Fantasy

Amanda Hocking - my favorite line from Ms. Hocking's experiences: she wrote constantly, took writing classes, and marketed her booty off, 'only to be rejected until she was already a self-made millionaire'. The self-made millionaire part resulted from her decision to e-publish her stories. They have since been purchased by St. Martin's Press and are available in traditional paper format as well.

Kid Lit

Rachel Renee Russell - Russell began writing in middle school but gave up her dream after being told by a writing class teacher she had no talent. She took his advice, got a law degree, raised a family. But after a mid-life dumping by her (now ex-) husband, she returned to her passion and submitted a manuscript. Bam! The Dork Diaries were born (Simon & Schuster).

WhoDunnit

Kerry Wilkinson - perhaps the most nonchalant backstory ever. Wilkinson's detective story e-books topped Amazon's e-book sales for 2011. Wilkinson claims he simply turned 30 and decided to do something with his life, so he wrote a story. After he finished the story he noticed a 'publish your book with us' button on his computer screen, so he pushed it. And the rest is hi$tory. Now why didn't I think of that?

Romantic Suspense

My favorite part of this podcast is at about the 41' mark where Marie Force talks about the difference switching to indie publishing made for her. 80,000 books sold. In ONE YEAR, people! Cha-CHING!

Here's hoping you are making the best use of the unexpected excess time you may or may not have on your hands now that most of us are doing our part to battle Covid-19 by staying at home as much as possible. Your Future Self will thank you.

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8

Published on 8 Comments on 4 Things I Didn’t Learn From NaNoWriMo (And 3 Things I Did)

A version of this post originally appeared in 2015.

As National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) comes to a close, gird your loins for the usual flood of post mortem blog posts (like this one). You will see some of the same points made in many of them (like the ones following shortly). That's not to say they're not legitimate. They are - for first-time NaNo participants.  They're dying to tell you how they learned how to crank out a respectable amount of words per day, whether they felt like it or not. I learned not to edit and just write, they'll say. But I think NaNo veterans will agree with me when I say these observations fall under the category of No News Here. Yes, I did learn those things the first time I did NaNo. My writing discipline improved as a result. But I hope like heck I'm not snared in a writer's version of Groundhog Day, limited to learning the same stuff over and over. I like to think I come away with something new each time I participate.

Something else in the No News Here category: I am not great when it comes to planning ahead. This year I had grand intentions of using my Scrivener app to have my new novel all outlined and plotted and charted and ready to go, and all I had to do was fill in the blanks scene by scene.  But I fiddle-farted around until it was almost too late, and didn't finish my outline before November 1. This was not the end of the world, especially since I still don't know exactly how the story will wind up. Let's just say it's like motor oil: in a fluid state, very much subject to change.

Okay, so now you know what I didn't learn. Here's what I did learn.

  • As I mentioned, I became even more comfortable with Scrivener. I learned how to use the Label function for categorizing and the Corkboard for storyboarding. I used the split screen feature extensively, viewing my notes in one screen while composing in the other. I used the Inline Annotation feature to boost word count by letting notes to myself stay within the manuscript, but in such a way that is easy to spot and relocate when the time comes. I learned Scrivener has a Name Generator feature, which is pretty cool. Overall, I am really loving Scrivener. It's around $40, but they run a special during NaNo. I think I saw it was $25. Wish I had known this last year and I would've waited until November to buy it. I paid full price.
  • I have blogged previously about my Story Forge cards. I used the heck out of them this NaNo. Whenever I got stuck, out came the cards and I did a spread, usually a character backstory, which stimulated some very productive ruminations. The cards are $20 plus shipping, but they were worth every penny this NaNo. 
  • Speaking of which, this year is the first time I really gave much thought to character backstories. Thanks to the marriage of my stream-of-consciousness ramblings with the ideas suggested by the Story Forge spreads, I now have fully-formed backgrounds supporting all of my characters that informs their actions in what I think is a believable way. I feel I know them better. And knowing them better suggests all sorts of interesting plot twists and shadings and nuance that I may not have otherwise.

I don't do NaNo with the expectation of having a near-perfect project by December 1, which I edit and publish by the end of the year (the same year). Instead, I expect to have at least 50,000 words of hot mess that is the massive, shapeless mound of mashed potatoes from which I will sculpt my Devil's Tower (Close Encounters fans will get this. Others, that's what Google is for). I estimate around half of my 50,000+ word hot mess (and yes, I did finish, first time ahead of schedule, note blue badge of courage proudly displayed at upper right) is stream-of-consciousness stuff: me talking to myself about the story; spit-balling; spelling out various scenarios; why they have potential; why this might work but that probably won't; the pros and cons of adding or changing characters; tinkering with the setting; and so forth. Most of this material will be shifted to Notes and Research and other support folders and mercifully will not show up verbatim in my novel. I don't consider this cheating, or filler, and here's why: it's time and word count spent focused on the project and has a direct and productive connection to the finished product. Since this is a YA story, I estimate I am 60-70% finished with the first draft. Not bad for only 30 days' worth of my time.

There is one more observation I have on NaNoWriMo: this is the first time I've participated that I don't feel drained and exhausted and completely turned off by the thought of returning to my project any time soon. I can't explain it. Maybe because I've converted to self-publishing, and I know publication is definitely going to happen. Maybe because Scrivener really makes the mechanics of writing and publishing a breeze. I really don't know why. But I'm really looking forward to seeing it through.

Note: I have no affiliation with any products mentioned here. I just enjoy using them.

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Published on Leave a comment on Story Grid Micro: Aliens

based on the Story Grid series of blog posts, books, and podcasts by Shawn Coyne and Tim Grahl.

Welcome back to my continuation of applying the Story Grid method of story structure analysis to one of my favorite stories: the sci-fi/action/horror classic, Aliens.

Last week, I introduce the concept of Shawn Coyne's Story Grid in macro as it pertains to the entire, or global, story. I promised you a contrasting perspective this week, by applying that same method in a micro level to one of my favorite scenes from that film. We will see how it can be used at the smallest levels of story to help you analyze and troubleshoot your work.

I'll give a quick overview of the Story Grid approach here (if you want more details, check out last week's blog, or go strait to the source at storygrid.com). Stories that work typically have a solid structural foundation consisting of five fundamental components: the Inciting Incident, one or more Progressive Complications, one of which forces a Turning Point; the Crisis; the Climax; and the Resolution. See the infographic below for details on what these terms mean in the Story Grid universe.

The scene I've selected for this micro dive is one of the scenes I singled out last week as one of the 5 Commandments in the global story: the Crisis.

There's so much to love about this scene - where do I begin? Bill Paxton's panicked Private Hudson; Michael Biehn's resigned, ticked off, Corporal Hicks; and of course our fearless leader, Ellen Ripley not mincing words when she sets slimeball Burke straight about what's going to happen next. Click here to watch the two minute scene. It's glorious.

Just to recap: the elite military force sent to investigate mysterious problems on The Company's terraforming planet has just been decimated in their first encounter with the aliens. They are dumbfounded by this turn of events, to say the least. The survivors have retreated to the safety one of their fancy military vehicles to discuss what action to take next, since their original plan to show up, kick ass, and take names, has failed so spectacularly. Ripley and the remaining soldiers want to exterminate the aliens by any means possible, including destroying the terraforming facility from space using nuclear weapons. But Burke, who works for The Company, objects on the grounds they have much invested in this facility, and he urges them to consider other options. But they outnumber him physically, point out that technically he is not in charge, and decide to proceed with their plan to destroy the entire facility.

I chose this scene as a Crisis scene (in the Story Grid sense) at the global level because events force the characters to regroup and make a new plan of action. They each suggest options, laying out the various choices quickly and concisely.

Identifying important scenes from the 30,000 foot level may seem pretty straightforward (even though it's not, IMO). But what about the 3000 foot, or the 30 foot? It's tempting to feel like you're in a forest-for-the-trees situation. The trick is to view the smaller chunk as the entire story.

My other handy tip to help identify these components is to identify the most important/obvious one first, and work from there. For me, this is usually the Climax. Some find the Turning Point more obvious. Basically identify which Commandment hill you are willing to die on, and work from there.

Here's how I identify the 5 Commandments in this scene.

Inciting Incident: the expedition discovers the missing colonists deep within the aliens' lair.

Turning Point/Progressive Complication: many of the military force are killed, including their leader.

Crisis: several characters suggest their idea of a Plan B. Some are already thinking about what weapons they still have available and how they can be used. One suggests just leaving. One suggests a literal Nuclear Option. One argues for an option that would minimize the damage to the expensive terraforming facility.

Climax: all but one agree they should employ the maximum force necessary - "it's the only way to be sure".

Resolution: the group quickly prepares to take action on this new plan.

As I mentioned last time, and will mention every time when blogging about the Story Grid 5C's: even though they're referred to as 'commandments', they are definitely not written in stone. I'd love to hear your thoughts on where the 5C's of this scene are - especially if you disagree with me!

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, I hope you'll take a minute to subscribe to my blog (the subscribe box is near the top of the right sidebar).Oh, and p.s. this post includes affiliate links.

Published on Leave a comment on Story Grid Macro: Aliens

based on the Story Grid series of blog posts, books, and podcasts by Shawn Coyne and Tim Grahl.

Anyone else out there a devoted fan/follower/cult member of a particular writing craft guru? If you peruse my bookshelves, you'll find writing craft books by several of my favorites. The usual suspects are in attendance: Kleon, Lamott, Barry, King, Brooks, Snyder, McKee. In an attempt to keep my book purchasing compulsion in check, I try to only buy a book if I find it so captivating and resonant, I can envision myself referring to it frequently.

If I'm honest, only about half of the craft books on my shelf get opened with any regularity. But there is one that I refer to, think about, mull over, and recommend far more than any others: Story Grid by Shawn Coyne.

I'm a proud Story Grid nerd and I don't care who knows it. I've found it tremendously useful, and I'm starting a series of blog posts about it because I hope you will find it useful as well.

Blogging about the Story Grid method certainly isn't original to me. They've got their own website, blog, podcasts, classes, you name it. I encourage you to check them out. It will be well worth your time. Just think of my efforts here as fan non-fiction.

Story Grid consists of a variety of concepts and tools developed by editor Shawn Coyne. Coyne describes his method as a 'pragmatic approach to solving the story creation problem'. He uses a variety of analysis tools, including a robust spreadsheet that serves as a combination story spine and editing tool; an overview of the various genres; and a checklist of recommended story components.

One of the Story Grid family of podcasts is devoted to applying the Story Grid analysis to well-known stories, usually films. I find these analyses extremely enjoyable as well as useful. So I thought I would jump on the bandwagon and add a few of my own.

Recently I attended a Story Grid Live event in Nashville. The presentations were great. But the breakout sessions . . . oh, my. As Shawn likes to say, that's where the rubber hit the road. During the breakouts, groups of a half-dozen or so of Story Grid nerds sat around discussing specific scenes from a masterworks. We worked on identifying the 5Cs and other important components. Sometimes we agreed. Sometimes, we didn't. It was glorious.

I do something very similar when my online critique group gets together via Skype every two weeks. But I'm thinking, you just can't get enough of a good thing. I could do this every day.

TBH, I sorta already do this every day. Every time I read a book or watch a show, I'm breaking it down into its Story Grid components. But when you do it in a group setting, the benefits increase exponentially.

Now, I regret I cannot meet with a bunch of other story nerds in person every day, much as I would like to. But thanks to the internet, we can do the next best thing: we can blog and comment. So without further adieu, here's my contribution to spreading the Story Grid wealth.

I'm starting with a film I love and am studying as a prime example of a well-crafted action story, which is the genre I'm currently working in as well. I've selected Aliens, the second film in the franchise.

In this blog post, I'm going to attempt a macro analysis that identifies the 5Cs of the global story/entire film. In a separate post, I'll do a micro analysis of a specific scene. I hope this demonstrates the versatility of understanding the concept of the 5 Commandments as a craft tool and how it can be useful in just about any phase of your writing project.

Before I dive into the 5C's of Aliens, it would probably be helpful to catch you up just in case you're not familiar. The 5 Commandments, or suggested components, of a successful story include the following.

The Inciting Incident something happens to upset the apple cart

The Turning Point/Progressive Complication we now have a different metaphor: the straw that breaks the camel's back

The Crisis the protagonist is now in a pickle and must make a decision

The Climax the protagonist makes their decision

The Resolution the results of this decision unfold

Easy enough to understand, amirite? The fun begins when we attempt to apply them to actual stories.

One more thing before we get to the analysis: it's kinda hard to give a wrong answer in this stuff. Story Grid nerds relish the opportunity to discuss the various options at length. My opinions below are just that: opinions. My primary goal in posting this stuff is to spark some vigorous discussions. Agree with me on these? Great! Disagree? Even better! Let's discuss!

Okay, enough of the prelude. Let's get down to business. Here's my analysis, in a handy infographic, of the 5 Commandments applied to the entire film, Aliens.

Pretty simple, right? Yeah, sure, it is now, after hours of sweating through the various options and rearranging and rethinking. For example, initially I had the Inciting Incident as when Ripley is rescued in outer space after 57 years in cryosleep. There are also several viable candidates for the Turning Point. And the entire film is full of what we can all probably agree is one crisis after another.

I look forward to your thoughts on which of the scenes in Aliens best fit the global 5C's. In my next post, I'll apply the same analysis to a specific scene, rather than the entire story.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, I hope you'll take a minute to subscribe to my blog (the subscribe box is near the top of the right sidebar). Oh, and p.s. this post includes affiliate links.

Published on Leave a comment on A Bad Case Of The What Ifs

Ever have that thing happen where you are minding your own business, maybe in your car or doing some other mindless repetitive task and your mind just wanders, then out of nowhere something triggers your imagination, and before you know it, you have cooked up some grand paranoid fantasy that gives you a huge case of the heebie-jeebies? Happens to me all the time. I call it the What Ifs.

Example: Once upon a time, on a trip out of town to a soccer tournament, one of the other parents drove my son and some friends to the local mall. Later that same afternoon, I was wandering around the hotel after they returned, wondering where my son was. Down to the game room; no Riley. Okay. How about the arcade by the pool? A group of boys from our team was there, but no Riley. I get a little mental frisson, which is the precursor to a probable onslaught of possible horrifying scenarios of my son’s whereabouts. I keep it under control for about 10 minutes (okay, 30 seconds), but then the cranial floodgates open. Isn’t there a pool in this hotel? What If he was horsing around with his friends and fell and hit his head on the pool coping and fell in and his friends thought he was fooling around when he lay on the bottom for so long but then they figured out he wasn’t fooling and they got scared and left him there because they didn’t want to get in trouble and that siren wailing outside is the ambulance coming to haul him out?

Whoa. Deep breath. Don’t be silly. He’s probably fine. But What If he did go down to the pool, but some of the hotel guests were actually predators staking out hotel because they knew a soccer tournament was that weekend and they figured lots of teams would be staying here and they also figured the kids would be unsupervised in the closed environment of a name hotel and so they staked out the pool and waited for a kid to come along who was obviously unsupervised and used the old ‘I’m with the hotel staff would you please come with me, son, your mother asked us to come and get you’ and poof! before you know it he’s whisked away in an unmarked black sedan with darkly tinted windows.

Black SUVs always trigger a robust What If response in my brain. What are they doing in there that the windows need to be tinted so darkly? What happened to the bike's rider? Why is the mannequin missing a head?

Whoa!! Stop it! Don't be ridiculous! But What If he was fooling around with his friends playing hide and seek and was tearing up and down the stairwells and turned an ankle and flipped over the railing and landed a whole story down on that hard concrete and got the breath knocked out of him and can’t call for help and nobody missed him for so long the bump on his head put pressure on his brain and he’s still lying there?

I can go on for days with the grim scenarios, but I think you get the picture. This is an example of the kinds of things that flow through the tortured mind of those of us with overactive imaginations. Being afflicted with the What Ifs is definitely a good news-bad news situation. The bad news is, you can really get yourself worked up over the most insignificant things. That thump you just heard downstairs that no one else seemed to notice, in your mind becomes the serial killer from three states away finding that broken latch on your basement window. The good news: it is a dream come true for a writer.

Scientists believe creativity and imagination are dictated by nature; that some of us are able to conjure up the fantastical more easily than others. My husband is a prime example of the have nots, as it were. He would think nothing of leaving our son home alone with a box of matches and a Bowie knife. His response to my objections is usually something like “He’s twelve years old, for crying out loud,” or “You worry too much”. It used to anger me that he was such an irresponsible caregiver. But now I understand that his brain is wired differently, that he sees what IS more easily than what COULD be. He is an educated and literate man, but he's definitely not cut out for writing fiction.

Put to a more practical application, the talent of conjuring infinite What If scenarios can stimulate fresh plot ideas for your fiction. The key is to let your imagination run wild – anything goes.

Let’s say you have a middle grade novel in the works with a young female protagonist. You have a solid plot outlined but your story seems a little flat. Your critique group determines your story does not pass the ‘who cares’ test (“Who cares what happens to your heroine?”). Here’s where the What If talent comes into play.

Perhaps you need to build a more intriguing background for your heroine. Instead of being the shy loner, What If your character is seen as shy because she doesn’t cultivate close friendships? Common enough, but What If she doesn’t make friends easily because she is not Katie from Schenectady but Katya from Sebastopol who was sent here as a sleeper agent to be groomed throughout childhood until she is ready to be released as an adult superspy on the unsuspecting public? What If she is the other kind of alien, jettisoned from her home planet, receiving weekly communications to guide her home planet in taking over Earth? What If she is a genetically mutated fox trapped in human form until she can find the key to changing herself back and also the thousands of children around the world who are similarly trapped when their fox den was too close to a nuclear plant when a meteor struck in Timbukstan but the incident was covered up by the government to avoid panicking the populace?

Okay, perhaps some of these examples are farfetched and unwieldy. But you never know where that next brilliant inspiration will come from. Often the most outlandish brainstorming will condense into the plot twist or character trait that will take your story from flat to fabulous.

So the next time your What Ifs give you a good case of the heebie-jeebies, embrace your natural talent. Take a deep breath. Put that talent to good use. Choose a scene from your latest project and say to yourself: “What if . . . ?”

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