Finishing the First Draft

I'm excited and a little let down. Finishing the first draft of a novel always leaves me with an incredible sense of accomplishment mixed with a sadness because I won't be putting my characters into any new quandries that they need to figure their way out of, or challenging them with roadblocks they must overcome to reach their goals. I just finished my middle grade novel, THE EX-CON AND THE SEA, about a twelve-year-old girl, Missy, whose poor school performance leaves her at the bottom of the sixth grade, and whose mother has been sentenced to three months in an alcohol treatment center for causing an accident resulting in injury. The only person her mother could find to watch over Missy and her six-year-old brother, Hayden, is their estranged fisherman father who has been out of prison for only a year and who has no experience raising children. It's hard enough to suddenly be living with a father she barely remembers, but the task is magnified for Missy as she tries to carve out a temporary existance for her and her brother in a small fishing community, struggle with her low self-esteem, study for her pending test, and manage her growing anger over her mother's drinking.

As the title suggests, there are some ties to Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, though the story itself is quite different. I loved writing it, and the let down comes when you have to say goodbye to your children's adventures, and finally write the words, THE END. But it's really not the end, because now I'm ready to delve into revisions, and submitting it to my critique group, and more revisions, and submitting it to agents, and hopefully more revisions before submitting to publishers, and hopefully more revisions after that. So silly as it sounds, I'm praying for lots of rounds of revisions before I finally say goodbye to Missy and Hayden.

Hopping on the E-train

The e-buzz about e-books has everyone in the writing world scrambling to understand it and its implications for the future of writing and publishing. Our critique group is no exception, and we've been having a number of discussions about where the e-book train is heading. I'm finding it both exciting and daunting as I try to wrap my mind about what it all means. For example, what role do agents and publishers play in this evolving e-book market? How does it effect book reviews? Will the move to e-books effect the quality of books available to readers? Will "e-sales" become the index for labeling novels as "satisfactory" or "good" or "excellent"? Along with many fellow readers, I resisted the move away from the traditional hardcover books which for years has been synonymous with rainy days and crackling fires, but the e-book movement is gaining momentum, and I finally broke down and bought my Kindle. While my heart still fights for the old way of doing business, I'm glad that our group is taking the initiative to stay abreast of the e-book whirlwind and evaluate the impications for us as writers. Change often comes like a speeding locomotive, and if you don't hop on, you'll be waving goodbye from the tracks.

Humor and Pain

We had an interesting discussion at my critique group meeting today. It centered around the co-existence of humor and pain in novels. A book that immediately came to mind was one I'd recently read called Mockingbird, by Kathryn Erskine, about a child with Asperger's syndrome who had recently lost a beloved brother. The author does a magnificent job of getting into this little girl's head to tell the story, adeptly showing the confused thoughts associated with the disease, and the painful insults she endures from classmates while trying to comprehend the tremendous void in her heart. Even with such a heavy topic, Ms. Erskine has woven in amazing humor that made me laugh out loud. Done well, such humor intensifies the love and sympathy the reader feels for the protagonist as she plays out the painful elements of her life. In real life, pain and humor often go hand-in-hand. We can probably all remember sad and/or tragic times when something humorous happens that makes us smile, maybe even laugh, and we think, how can I possible laugh at a time like this. Maybe it's what keeps us from crashing. The trick in writing is to make the humor real and spontaneous, not contrived.

The End

I submitted a manuscript for review by my new critique group, then held my breath as I sat in the hot seat and listened to every comment. I was heartened by their kind praise of my tween novel, SEASHELL SECRETS, calling it a well written and powerful novel. This initial review helped soften the challenging suggestions that followed, suggestions they believed would make the story better. Of course, this is why they're there, and it's why I'm thrilled to be a part the group. Since the review, I've immersed myself in revisions. It's interesting how an easy suggestion can turn into hours and hours of work. Several of the members felt that a key scene in my manuscript needed to come earlier in the book and become the first turning point. I know they're right, but it's like one of the writers remarked, "pulling on one thread sometimes unravels the whole sweater." It actually hasn't been quite that bad, but close. In the early chapters, I had a number of scenes leading up to that key scene. After the change, I found myself referring to people who the protagonist hadn't yet met, or talking about something that hadn't yet happened. But I've almost completed those revisions and am feeling better about the book.

Then there's the other BIG thing...the ending. Endings can be tricky. In the "old" days, most books, especially children's books, had happy endings, sometimes too perfect. Now, the emphasis is on making the ending realistic, while still infusing a sense of hope and showing that the protagonist has changed and grown. I like my current ending, but can it be better? Possibly, and that's what I'm working on. My critique group offered several scenarios, all of which carry merit, a few which would require a considerable amount of rewriting. One thing is for sure, I will carefully consider all of them, even if it means going through the exercise of rewriting the final scenes, before settling on the ending to my story. We always want to believe that what we've written is as good as it could possibly be, but that's why we have critique groups, to keep us honest. And after my first critique, I have no doubt that my new group will keep me honest.

Historical Fiction - Telling it Like it is

During my celebration dinner with author Claudia Mills the other night, we had a discussion about a topic that's been on my mind since I began writing my tween novel, SEASHELL SECRETS, which is set in the early 1960s during the Civil Rights Movement. The issue is this: In order to tell a story involving the plight of black citizens during that time, and tell it honestly, you risk using language and writing scenes that were, and are, offensive. I was so moved by Kathryn Stockett's book, THE HELP. In it, Ms. Stockett bluntly describes the treatment (or mistreatment) of black maids in ways that sometimes brought me to tears. She could have softened the account to minimize the risk of offending readers, but she didn't. The recent controversy over Mark Twain's use of the "N" word begs the question about "accuracy" versus "non-offensive," understandably a difficult discussion. A related issue is whether it does more harm than good to write a book that brings back difficult, less honorable, times in our history after we've made significant strides to improve upon those times. After much thought and discussion, I believe historical fiction is one way to remind us of our past, offensive though it might be, and force us to recognize telltale signs that such despicable prejudices might resurface if we're not careful. There are constant reminders in the news that, as a nation, we have not conquered this problem. I asked a delightful black woman named Dorothy to read my manuscript before I began submitting it to agents. I told her I wanted the story to be accurate but not offensive. Dorothy looked at me and said, "If it's accurate, it will be offensive," and I realized then, that nothing would be more offensive than to downplay the struggle of the black population as they strove for equal rights and proper respect in our country.

Word for 2011

My wonderful mentor, Claudia Mills, comes up with the most delightful ideas. For example, as she talks about in her blog, she chooses a word each year that will be her word the year. This year she has chosen the word "grope". Today, the first day of 2011, I decided to pick a word, too, and the word I chose is "celebrate." It's fitting because less than an hour ago Claudia sent me an email, and after reviewing my most recent revisions to my tween novel, SEASHELL SECRETS, she proclaimed it DONE! And that is certainly something to celebrate! I wrote a blog a while back talking about how important I believe it is not only to celebrate the big things (like contest wins and your first book offer), but also the small accomplishments along the way (settling on a topic for your next book, completing the first chapter, the first draft...sending it out). This is true not just in writing, but in daily life. We certainly scold ourselves for mistakes made, but all too often, we forget to pat ourselves on the back for jobs well done. I will be taking Claudia out to dinner one evening soon so we can both celebrate, and I can hardly wait!

Christmas - Then and Now

Christmas brings such mixed feelings anymore. I miss the days when I was young and with my family at my parent's house with few concerns beyond what's in that big present. Since my parents died, my two brothers and my sister and I have gone different directions and it's hard to get us all together. This year, my eldest brother's family were all in town, and I had them over for dinner which was wonderful. He has two lovely daughters, both married, one with a darling daughter of her own. The spirit of Christmas shone bright in the eyes of this little 2-1/2 year old. I gave her some froggy pajamas, and as soon as she pulled them out of the box, she stripped off her cute Christmas dress and wore the pajamas the rest of the night. I think we all wished we could do the same. I loved being with my brother and wished with all my heart that my other brother and my sister had been there, too. If only I'd known as a child to cherish those days when being together was the norm. But I guess you have to grow up to appreciate what you once had. Still, there's a lesson here that I realize I need to pay attention to: I need to cherish parts of my adult life now that may be lost to me sometime in the future.