Guest Post: Janice Hardy on "Trail Blazing"

We’ve all read stories where clues were so seamlessly dropped in along the way that until the big secret was revealed, we never even realized they were there. But when we finally did, all the pieces of the story fell into place and we were awed by the skill in which that bread trail had been left. Those writers made it look easy, as if they knew from page one what clue went where and how it would all come together in the end.
I’m sure there are bound to be a few writers out that who really can write that way, but for most of us, those clues are either planned ahead of time, inserted after the fact, or happy accidents. Sometimes, (heck, probably most times) a combination of all three.

Planning the Trail
Some clues we know about in the planning stage of the novel. Those details that came to us as we were brainstorming and writing our outlines or making our notes. Important clues we work hard to build a scene around. Often these are the things our protag’s will discover down the line in some fashion and a critical plot twist may even hinge on them. They’re important, which is why we know about them from the start.

Stumbling Upon the Trail
Then there are those details that just kinda happen, and it isn’t until after that we realize that throwaway detail could be so much more. A bit of backstory or internalization that suddenly has greater meaning, an off-hand setting element that becomes the perfect hiding place for a long lost secret. The types of details that lurk in our brains and leak onto the page, and somehow, always seems to be better than the stuff we actively think up.

Marking the Trail
Last, there are those details that we go back and add in once we’ve figure out how the story unfolds. The purposeful red herrings, the hidden clues, the telling off-hand remark. Each detail is inserted at just the right spot so the reader can follow that trail, even if they don’t realize they’re following it.

Keeping the Trail Clean
No matter what type of writer you are (outliner or pantser), odds are you’re going to go back at some point and edit. Doing an edit pass for clues, hints, and foreshadowing isn’t a bad idea, especially if you’re not one of those mystery writers who think of these things naturally. (I think mystery writers are born with this skill) If you’re not sure where to leave those bread crumbs, try asking…

When do I want the reader to start suspecting things?
Sometimes you’ll want a surprise, other times you’ll want the tension of trying to figure it out to help pull your story along.

When does my protagonist start to figure it out?
Readers often spot things long before characters, but if it’s too obvious, then your character might look dumb if they haven’t figured it out yet. Make sure you have a good balance between reader hints and character hints. If your protag needs to know something by page 45, leave enough clues before then so the realization feels plausible.

Are there any slow/weak spots that could use some freshening up?
Weak spots in need of help could be opportunities to create a scene that links back or foreshadows another. Would adding in a layer of mystery help?

Do the characters encounter anything thematically or metaphorically linked to the thing?
You know how someone can say something and make you think of something different? Your brain picks up on it because there’s some link between the two things. You can do the same thing with your characters. Something they’ve heard or experienced might be the perfect trigger for a memory or realization in a later scene. Or, you can go back and add something that can make this happen.

Trails are made by folks wandering back and forth over them, so it makes sense that a good plot trail might take looking at from both ends of your novel. Knowing where a plot or subplot ends up makes it a lot easier to figure out where it starts. The more you wander that trail, the more you learn about it and the more you can share with those starting down it for the first time.


About Blue Fire

Part fugitive, part hero, fifteen-year-old Nya is barely staying ahead of the Duke of Baseer’s trackers. Wanted for a crime she didn’t mean to commit, she risks capture to protect every Taker she can find, determined to prevent the Duke from using them in his fiendish experiments. But resolve isn’t enough to protect any of them, and Nya soon realizes that the only way to keep them all out of the Duke’s clutches is to flee Geveg. Unfortunately, the Duke’s best tracker has other ideas.
Nya finds herself trapped in the last place she ever wanted to be, forced to trust the last people she ever thought she could. More is at stake than just the people of Geveg, and the closer she gets to uncovering the Duke’s plan, the more she discovers how critical she is to his victory. To save Geveg, she just might have to save Baseer—if she doesn’t destroy it first.

Buy it here.

About Janice Hardy
A long-time fantasy reader, Janice Hardy always wondered about the darker side of healing. For her fantasy trilogy THE HEALING WARS, she tapped into her own dark side to create a world where healing was dangerous, and those with the best intentions often made the worst choices.
Her books include THE SHIFTER, and BLUE FIRE from Balzer+Bray/Harper Collins. She lives in Georgia with her husband, three cats and one very nervous freshwater eel.

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Made to Stick for Writers: Epilogue

So if being sticky is so easy, how come people aren't just automatically programmed to think and act in those terms? What's in our way?

The Brothers Heath refer to this obstruction as the Curse of Knowledge.
An excerpt from the book:

"In 1990, Elizabeth Newton earned a Ph.D. in psychology...by studying a simple game in which she assigned people to one o two roles: 'tappers' or 'listeners'. Tappers receive a list of twenty-five well-known songs such as 'Happy Birthday' and 'The Star-Spangled Banner'. Each tapper was asked to pick a song and tap out the rhythm to a listener (by knocking on the table). The listener's job was to guess the song, based on the rhythm being tapped...
"The listener's job in this game is difficult...The tappers got their message across 1 time in 40, but they thought they were getting their message across 1 time in 2. Why?
"When a tapper taps, she is hearing the song in her head...Meanwhile the listeners can't hear the tune-all they can hear is a bunch of disconnected taps...
"It's hard to be a tapper. The problem is that tappers have been given knowledge (the song title) that makes it impossible for them to imagine what it's like to lack that knowledge. When they're tapping they can't imagine what it's like for the listeners to hear isolated taps rather than a song. This is the Curse of Knowledge. Once we know something, we find it hard to imagine what it was like not to know it. Our knowledge has 'cursed' us."

Writers are the tappers in this equation. We hear the story in our head. We know the characters by heart. We see every detail, even the unwritten ones. The key is to getting that story across the gap to the reader. Write the book you most want to read, because you are the only one can tell it.

Intro
Part 1: Simple
Part 2: Unexpected
Part 3: Concrete
Part 4: Credible
Part 5: Emotional
Part 6: Story
Part 7: Epilogue (You are here)

These posts are nothing more or less then the principles I've learned and applied after reading Made to Stick. I encourage you to read the book yourself. It might come in handy on the road to being published.

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Made to Stick for Writers: Story

Finally, something both readers and writers understand; story.

People have tried for years to classify stories by their plot. Aristotle claimed that there exist only four; simple tragic, simple fortunate, complex tragic, and complex fortunate.
Christopher Booker insists there are seven (overcoming the monster, rags to riches, quest, voyage and return, tragedy, comedy, and rebirth) while Robert McKee argues that there are twenty-five.

According to the authors of Made to Stick, successful and sticky stories can be categorized into three basic plots.

The Challenge Plot
The most basic of the Basic Plots. Character faces insurmountable odds and succeeds.
This includes most of Booker's plots such as overcoming the monster, rags to riches, and the quest.
The Hunger Games, Lord of the Rings, Dracula, and Cinderella are all Challenge plots.

The Connection Plot
Two people (or groups of people) from radically different backgrounds come together. The tension in these types of plot can range from the consequences of being found out or the struggle to understand each other.
This is where you find your Romeo and Juliet, Twilight, and Titanic movie.

The Creativity Plot
The character has a mental breakthrough that allows them to deal with problems.
Stories such as Alexander Graham Bell's invention of the telephone or Galileo's analysis of the Solar System.
But not all Creative Plots are about changing the world.
When Ernest Shakleton and his crew were stranded, members threatened to mutiny; an act that could mean death for everyone. So Shackleton assigned the whiners to sleep in the same tent as himself. His presence toned down their negativity so that it didn't spread to others.


Intro
Part 1: Simple
Part 2: Unexpected
Part 3: Concrete
Part 4: Credible
Part 5: Emotional
Part 6: Story (You are here)
Part 7: Epilogue

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Made to Stick for Writers: Emotional

We've found our core message, we've hooked the reader, dragged them in with a few concrete details, and kept the tone with credibility. Now one of the most important questions; How do we make them care?
Why should the reader care about the main character? Sure they're going through difficulties, but so is everyone else in the world.
We think we can present a huge, insurmountable tragedy and the reader will care. But people don't care about problems, they care about other people. It's so much easier to feel for someone instead of something.
So before you dish out the blows, introduce your character.

By introducing, I don't mean a flat-out description. So she has brown hair and brown eyes, huh? So what?
To get someone to care about the character, show what the character cares about. What are their personal goals? What keeps them awake at night?
If you plan on killing a character right off the bat, first spend a little time humanizing them. It will be so much more painful if a character you've grown to love dies, rather than a character you don't even know.

This is where Showing Not Telling comes in. Show whatever it is they care about.
If it's another character they care about, show them becoming more gentle, more gruff, or more shy around that character (depending on their personality).
If it's revenge or justice, something abstract, show them taking steps to reach that.
If it's something material, show why they want it so bad and what they're willing to do to get it.
And if all they're trying to accomplish is surviving from day to day, then you should probably throw another motive in the mix.

Your main character's desires should drive the book, rather than plot goals.

Intro
Part 1: Simple
Part 2: Unexpected
Part 3: Concrete
Part 4: Credible
Part 5: Emotional (You are here)
Part 6: Story
Part 7: Epilogue

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Made to Stick for Writers: Credible

For a fiction writer, trying to make your book believable can sound stupid. Of course fantasy books aren’t credible. Who’s going to believe that there’s a magical school called Hogwarts, or that people fly on broomsticks, and people talk to snakes?
Well, my sister did. When she was little, she waited patiently by the mailbox for her Hogwarts acceptance letter and asked Santa Claus for a “Harry Potter” broomstick.
But most readers aren’t five-years-olds who will soak up every tooth-fairy lie you tell them.

To write a credible book, you don’t have to utterly convince the readers that the story is true. You just have to make it believable enough that they will pause and remember that, “Oh yeah, these characters don’t exist.”

The book has to make sense. I cannot stress that point enough. You have to fill in plot holes and, above all, your character needs to act realistically. They should weep for the death of loved ones, they should have weaknesses and fears, and they shouldn’t escape their problems totally unscathed.

Use convincing details to add credibility. If I can visualize it, I can believe it. (You’ll note that this ties in with Concrete.)

If you lose your credibility, you can’t get it back. The minute the reader spots a mistake like, “Hang on…wasn’t that character severely injured the day before?” or “How did the poor village boy suddenly learn to fight?” or “I thought she left her sweater at home, how is she wearing it now?” the believability of the book goes down the drain.

For more on this subject, see Believable Part 1 and Believable Part 2

Intro
Part 1: Simple
Part 2: Unexpected
Part 3: Concrete
Part 4: Credible (You are here)
Part 5: Emotional
Part 6: Story
Part 7: Epilogue

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Made to Stick for Writers: Concrete

When I was first learning French, I would pore over my notes, struggling to hit it home that “chien” meant “dog” and “pomme” meant “apple.” But it never seemed to stick. It was hard to see one word as a literal translation of another.
Then one day my teacher shows up lugging a bag of pretend food. She held up the plastic apple and declared “pomme.”
Everything clicked. “Pomme” was the firm fruit whose taste, texture, and smell were familiar to me. She gave me something visual. She gave me a concrete definition.

That’s what a concrete story does; it latches onto the reader’s memories and triggers the five senses. The reader feels like they’re watching alongside the characters.

Studies of the human memory show that we’re better at remembering concrete nouns versus abstract ones. It’s easier to remember something you can visualize (grapefruit, train) rather than something abstract (equality, hope).

Writers constantly present the abstracted form of the noun “Pain”. To say “he cried in pain” is not enough. Don’t tell me that he’s in pain, show me.
Lois Lowry provides an excellent example in her book The Giver as she describes a broken leg;

Then, the first wave of pain. He gasped. It was as if a hatchet lay lodged in his leg, slicing through each nerve with a hot blade. In his agony he perceived the word “fire” and felt flames licking at the torn bone and flesh. He tried to move, and could not…

The description uses several concrete nouns; “hatchet”, “hot blade”, “fire”, “torn bone and flesh”. The agony feels almost real, as if we too are experiencing it.

To make your story concrete, use concrete details. Through the five senses, describe what is happening to your character. What do they see, smell, hear, taste, and feel?
Don’t tell me the house was old. Show me the bald patches of roof tile, the door with a zigzag crack running down the middle, the sooty window panes broken into jagged teeth, the stench of mildew, the creak of an old shutter in the wind, the splintered wood, the dusty air you choke down every time you breathe.

Put the reader in the story.

Intro
Part 1: Simple
Part 2: Unexpected
Part 3: Concrete (You are here)
Part 4: Credible
Part 5: Emotional
Part 6: Story
Part 7: Epilogue

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Made to Stick for Writers: Unexpected

To make something unexpected you must break a pattern. Doing so captures the audience’s attention. “Once upon a time…” is so common that the sentence fails to surprise.

In Patricia Kindl’s book Goose Chase she began with, “The King killed my canary today.”
Already we have several questions: Why did the king kill her canary? What does he have against birds or the narrator? Who is this king? How did he kill it? Was it an accident?

First of all, it’s surprising. It’s not the usual way for a fairytale to begin. Secondly, it’s interesting. We realize that we’re missing a lot of vital information and so we want to keep reading to find answers.

To be unexpected you must grab the audience’s interest and, more importantly, hold it.

Surprise
We become surprised because what we expect to happen doesn’t. In other words, our “guessing machines” fail us.
If that’s the case, then it should be easy to create a “hook” at the beginning of our stories, right? All we should need to do is write a surprising sentence. Wrong.

While our hooks need to be somewhat surprising, it can be difficult to craft one that avoids planting a red herring.
For example, if the first sentence was “Sitting in the shade of the tree early that morning, I could never have imagined that by sundown my whole family would be dead.”
What! We inwardly gasp. How did the whole family die?
We’d be curious to discover the cause and to read the, no doubt, thrilling adventure that led to their demise.

But what if the book suddenly begins describing every aspect of the narrator’s staircase. She then explains to us that her “whole family” consists of an old greyhound named Maddock who trips on said staircase and dies. Thus, by sundown, the narrator’s “whole family” is dead. It’s only after that episode that we get to the actual story, which is much less thrilling than we imagined.

You’d probably feel tricked and frustrated. The hook sentence turned out to be a red herring that did nothing but attempt to lure you into a dull story.

To write a successful hook it must both surprise and reflect the main idea, or the core, of the story. The stupid dog dying was NOT the story’s main idea and so it failed. Miserably.

Interest

Now that we’ve got the reader’s attention, how do we keep it?
Let’s talk Velcro; Velcro connects because one side is made of hooks and the other is made of loops. The hooks snag the loops and Voila! It sticks together.

We have the “hooks’, so to speak. We have the answers to the reader’s questions. But before we can answer their questions, we have to make them want the answer. We have to make them realize that they’re missing crucial information.

To do so, ask yourself, “What questions do I want my audience to ask?”

Once we know the questions ourselves, we can gently point out what the reader doesn't know by creating mystery.

“The man was killed by the king because he distributed treasonous flyers” leaves very little to become curious about.
By withholding information we can create mystery.
Instead, we could show the man being arrested by the king’s guard. We could show the guard proclaiming that, as a traitor, he will be tried.
Now we’ve got the reader asking questions; What did the man do that was so treasonous? What will happen at his trial? Will he end up dying?

Intro
Part 1: Simple
Part 2: Unexpected (You are here)
Part 3: Concrete
Part 4: Credible
Part 5: Emotional
Part 6: Story
Part 7: Epilogue

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Made to Stick for Writers: Simple

Let's get this straight; "simple" does not mean "dumbing down". It means "core".
For writers, who thrive on details, simple can seem like a misnomer. From what I can tell, the simple principle is very seldom used in the actual writing process. But it can help while planning and publishing.

Planning
Even if you don't believe in outlines, finding your core message beforehand creates focus. The story unfolds smoother.
Try to figure out the core, or main idea, by asking yourself;

In one sentence, what is the main idea of this story?

Twilight: A seventeen-year-old girl falls in love with a vampire who has a hard time not eating her.
Harry Potter: A neglected boy discovers that he's a wizard and goes to a school of magic.
The Hunger Games: A girl takes her sister's place in a cruel arena where only one person is allowed to survive.

These one sentence descriptions can later be used when you're attempting to publish your work.

Publishing
One of the biggest challenges in writing is convincing a publisher that your book will sell itself. Quoting from the book:

In Hollywood, people use core ideas called "high-concept pitches." You've probably heard some of them. Speed was "Die Hard on a bus." 13 going on 30 was "Big for girls." Alien was "Jaws on a spaceship."

So why do analogies work? Basically, it presents a new concept by tapping into a concept you already know. Take, for example, these book reviews;

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
"A delightful...debut from an author who dances in the footsteps of P.L. Travers and Roald Dahl."
-Publishers Weekly, starred review

The Dark Stairs
"Move over Nancy Drew, Herculeah Jones has arrived!"
-School Library Journal

Stormbreaker
"What if James Bond started spying as a teenager?"
-Kirkus Review

Wolf Queen
"A diverting escapade for fans of Karen Cushman's Catherine, Called Birdy and Gail Carson Levine's Ella Enchanted."
-Kirkus Review

Piratica
"There's a taste of Pirates of the Caribbean and Indiana Jones."
-Kirkus Review, starred Review


Intro
Part 1: Simple (You are here)
Part 2: Unexpected
Part 3: Concrete
Part 4: Credible
Part 5: Emotional
Part 6: Story
Part 7: Epilogue

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Made to Stick for Writers: Intro

Every author dreams of writing a book that sticks, one that the reader thinks about long after they've turned the last page. One that captures their attention and, more importantly, holds it.

In Chip and Dan Heath's book Made to Stick, they broke down the elements of a sticky idea into six principles (the acronym spells SUCCESs. Clever, no?). The idea must be a

Simple
Unexpected
Concrete
Credible
Emotional
Story

How can this apply this to writing?
WriterSense presents Made to Stick for Writers.

Intro (You are here)
Part 1: Simple
Part 2: Unexpected
Part 3: Concrete
Part 4: Credible
Part 5: Emotional
Part 6: Story
Part 7: Epilogue

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Graphic Novels and ReMIND

I've heard some people say that graphic novels aren't real books. They're supposedly for "wimpy readers" and "are no better than picture books".

Sure, it's faster to read a graphic novel. But does that make it any less of a story?
What about The Arrival by Shaun Tan? It has no words. Zip. Zero. Rien. Yet it's one of my favorite books.

Alright, Here's how I see it; It is just as hard to create plot for a graphic novel as it is to create plot for, let's say, ...a seven hundred page book.

In fact (and most of you might hate me for this) it can be harder to make a graphic novel. The Drawings alone require serious effort.

Some people would argue this; "But...but, with graphic novels you don't have to worry about showing not telling, or character descriptions, or giving detailed scenery descriptions."

Well, no, but you don't have to worry about drawing the same character every stinkin' page.

Graphic novels, when done right, bring together story and art.

And while we're on the subject, let's talk about Jason.
Jason Brubacker has been working on his graphic novel for four years. He's been posting pages of it every Monday on his blog.
The story is brilliant, the art is breath-taking, and...he's publishing it in March!

Okay, now that we've established that this Jason is a writer just like the rest of us, let's give him our support. To get 2,000 copies of his book, ReMIND, printed, he needs $3,000 more. $6,000 if he wants it done nice, like in the picture.
I'm not saying donate. I'm saying BUY.
For twenty bucks (Free Shipping!) you can get a 135-paged hardbound copy of ReMIND when it comes out. If you're not sure whether you want to actually BUY it, check out his blog, read a few pages, and you'll probably be drawn in like I was.

Made up your mind to support your fellow writer? Good. Then click here to pledge.

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Book Recommendation: FLY BY NIGHT

I picked up this book by Frances Hardinge in 2005 and have read it four times.

And for me, It's amazing if I ever read a book twice.

PLOT

Mosca Mye is of the few girls who can read, in a world where printed words are dangerous.

And she loves words.

 ...the words had shapes in her mind. she memorized them, and stroked them in her thoughts like the curved backs of cats.

 To escape the watery town of Chough she helps a smooth-talking con-man escape the stocks.

From there she's tossed headfirst into rivalry between those who rule the land, rule the sea, and those that rule words.

An ill-tempered goose.

A dashing highwayman.

A woman with a snow-white scar.

A duke obbsessed with symmetry.

And the words that catch hold of Mosca and never let go. 

VERDICT

I love this book, not only for its story but for the words.

I’ve always been a sucker for a well-turned Hardinge verse.
~Elizabeth Bird 

Well said Elizabeth.

But it's also how the story is about words, and the power of words.

And so for a writer, I think it makes an excellent book.

Or for anyone who cares to join Mosca in what I think to be one of the best books out there.

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Book Recommendation: THE MAGIC THIEF

The Magic Thief is one of those books that you literally can't put down.

It's from a thief boy's point of view named Connwaer. Set in the fantasy world of Wellmet, when Conn picks a wizard's pocket he finds that he's stolen the wizard's locus magicalicus (A stone that allows a wizard to do magic.)

The stone should've killed him as soon as he touched it but it didn't.

What follows is a wonderful adventure full of magic, secrets, and conn's journey to becoming a wizard himself.

The characters are original and believable. Sarah Prineas is a genius!

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Book Recommendation: THE ARRIVAL

The Arrival by Shaun Tan is very unique.

It has no words, but doesn't need them as Shaun Tan portrays the events with beautiful artwork.

It's the story of an immigrant who goes to a big city where everything is unfamiliar. However, it's set in a fantasy world, which serves to make you see through the eyes of an immigrant, as the sights are strange to you as well.

Anyone would be able to "read" it, but only older kids and adults could comprehend the symbolism.

My little sister didn't understand when I tried to explain and simply loved the pictures and creatures.

Ah well.

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