Wishes

          The lights pulse faster than the skip of my breathing.

          Blue...

          Green...

          Red...

          Yellow...

          Purple...

          It’s impossible to pull my eyes away.

          The television’s muffled glow filters behind me, but it can’t hold my attention while I’m watching the lights on their rhythmic trip around the tree.

          I’ve seen trees with only white lights. “It’s more sophisticated,” they say.

          I don’t care—I love the colors.

          They are like promises.

          No—that’s wrong. They are wishes.

          If you have bland Christmas wishes—stick with white lights, but if your wishes are deep and fierce—you need the spectrum of color to make them come true.

          Blue is for family and strength. The two are so tangled in my mind they feel like the same wish.

          And green is for peace and growth. I need both.

          Red will give you ambition, passion, and love. Who doesn’t want love for Christmas?

         Yellow is for happiness. How could it be for anything else?

          But purple—purple is my favorite. Purple is for all the wishes you can’t give voice to. The ones you keep so close to your heart you don’t know if you can part with them, because if you do—it will leave you empty.

          If I watch the lights hard enough they blur into a perfect haze of color. That’s the time to make wishes.

          If you can find each color in the vivid fog—you can push all you have into your wishes.

          And they will come true.

Thanks Jenny and Megan. This was such a fun break from NaNo :)

If you want to check out the rest of the entries—click here.

-Angie

All aboard the Gossip Train

Have you ever played the game where you sit in a circle and one person whispers something to the person next to them? For example, you whisper, "The mayonnaise, tomato and lettuce are on the counter top." One person after the other whispers the same phrase to the person next to them until they complete the circle. The last person in the circle then announces the phrase that he or she heard. Usually it is a far cry from the original statement; maybe something like: "The Maze to Nato let us iron the hunter cops."

I've thought about the value of Gossip in my writing. I've decided that having a 'home town gossip' in our stories is an invaluable tool. Think about Rachel Lind in Anne of Green Gables and how her gossip and judgments propelled so many plot twists and conflicts. Or how about the Olsens? What would Little House on the Prairie be without Harriet, Nellie and Willie meddling in everyone's personal affairs? Aside from a sappy string of dramatic warm fuzzies, it would be boring.

Tonight I reminisced with my niece about our favorite episodes. Hands down the ones we liked the most involved Nellie or her mother. The pranks, the deception, the gossiping, the back stabs, the revenge, the tricks, the heartache--we owe all of it to the Olsens. One episode in particular displays all of the many plot twists and turns that can come about all because one person, intentionally or non-intentionally, gossiped.

In this episode, Walnut Grove puts in a phone line. Of course very few people other than the Olsens can afford it, and Harriet runs the switchboard. To make the story short, by the time the 45 minute show concluded, a marriage was almost ruined, Harriet bet her entire inheritance on a faulty investment and all over town, family secrets hung out to dry like wet laundry on clotheslines. It all ends well of course, but the depth of the episode increased as misunderstanding after misunderstanding rolled through the town like a giant snow ball picking up momentum. The gossiping brought out the best and worst in the characters, giving us a rare and personal glimpse inside their lives.

If your plot needs an unexpected twist or complication, or if you need to flesh out one of your MC's, might I suggest you throw in a misunderstanding or two, preferably with a snotty nosed, villain like Nellie Olsen at the root of it all. Guaranteed you'll crank up your

*Humor

*Drama

*Romance and

*Overall intrigue.

Good Luck! I'm not the only Little House die hard out there am I?

Do you need a NaNo break?

Oh my goodness...I totally do :) So instead of plugging away at my own story on Tuesday November 15th I'm going to join in on Jenny Morris and Megan Dolan's Holiday Blog Hop

It is still early enough to join in. They are giving away 4 great books. Want more details? Click here


-Angie

If I only had an agent....

I'd be more suave than this!

I found this on Katie Dodge's blog--Katie on Fiction, a few months ago. I just had to share. Thanks Katie.

Have a great weekend. Good luck with NaNoWriMo :)

-Angie

Why should I care?

I just watched a movie that should have been amazing but it just wasn’t. This is what it had going for it:

• Period drama
• Death
• Vengeance
• Romeo and Juliet-esk family troubles
• Gorgeous actors
• Scheming
• War
• Lies
• LOVE

Sounds great right? So what went wrong? The story failed to make me connect with the characters. I could tell that they tried, but here is where the story failed.

Hot is not connection: Sometimes I think writers believe if someone is good looking everyone will like them. This isn’t true. I may melt a little, but unless you give me something more I just won’t care.

Little to no background: I knew NOTHING about the heroine in this story—and neither did the hero. When he confesses his undying love for her, I kept exepexting her to ask him, “But, why do you love me?” Because she was pretty? Boring!

Conflict doesn’t make me care: It sounds so cold hearted, but it’s true—conflict is only interesting if I’m interested in the people who are stuck in the conflict. You can’t throw people into a civil war and call it good.

Too many characters: This movie kept adding in more and more characters that I was supposed to care about. This problem is that with each new addition, time is taken away from the others and I just end up with a whole group of boring people.

I want to care about the characters. I want to cry with them. I want to bleed with them. I want them to win.

What about you? What keeps you from connecting with characters?

-Angie


Side Note: The talented Chantele Sedgwick interviewed me on her blog today. I think I may have made a fool of myself. Come check it out and laugh at me :)

Telling Words—Part One

I struggle with editing. I have to turn off my creative brain and turn on my critical brain. But I am getting better at it. Editing my own MS and beta reading for friends has helped me learn what to look for.


So in the spirit of NaNoReviMo, which a lot of my friends are doing...this post is for you :)

I want to show and NOT tell! It’s a goal of mine and I would love to get better at it. As I edit I make lists of words or phrases that tend to give me problem. Here are 5 of the worst (at least for me):

Was

I hate this word. Sometimes its use is unavoidable, but usually we can rework it.

She was astonished. This is an obvious tell. When I come across this in my MS, I try and substitute “was” for a stronger verb and add in a little action.

She swallowed her surprise and worked to keep her face impassive. Not perfect, but you get the idea.

Seemed

This word almost always implies telling. It is usually an observation from outside POV.

He seemed angered by the news. I’m telling here. Let’s show instead.

The vein in his neck throbbed as he glared at the woman standing in front of him. “You aren’t serious?” his voice growled. A little description + a little dialogue = SHOWING.

Seemed is a huge culprit that I see in telling. Kim Karras at—Confessions of a Bibliophile wrote and excellent post on this recently.

Felt

Felt is a crutch word. We use it when we are being lazy.

She felt sick at the thought of the problem. Boo—terrible, right?

“We won’t make it in time.” The worry curdled in her stomach, and she fought the urge to vomit. When you show and not tell, you can feel how your character feels.

Realized

Sometimes realized is okay. But when it is used to explain how a character came to a conclusion—it’s telling.

He stepped on the soggy carpet and realized the toilet had over flowed again. There are two problems here. First you are telling us the carpet is soggy before the MC realizes it. Second you are telling us what he realized.

He stepped into the room and the carpet squelched under his feet. What the…? He stared at his soggy socks. Really…the toilet’s over flowed again? I bolded the internalization so you can see it. Show the MC reacting to his environment and show his actual realization.

Noticed or Could See

By default everything your character describes is something she sees. You rarely need to tell us this.

She could see the sun breaking the horizon. Instead of this show us what she sees.

The sun broke the horizon, spilling golden light on the treetops. Because your MC is the POV they don’t even need to be the subject. This tell is easy to fix.

I have other words on my “Telling” List. After NaNoWriMo is over I will post more—just in time for edits :)

-Angie  


Side note: On Monday Agent Vickie Motter held a mini contest for writing advice on her blog, so I left her a comment. I'm always full of random "writerly" thoughts, and I won :) How fun is that? Check it out here. My advice: Twists aren't just for the end of the story. Use them from the beginning so readers never know what to expect.

Deep Thoughts

Do any of you post quotes, thoughts or scriptures on your walls? Mirrors? Refrigerators? I do. I also have a journal where I file away little gems and quotes that inspire me, lift my spirits, or help me smile.

Well, today is day eight of NaNo and for a variety of reasons, I needed a little pick me up; something to elevate my thoughts. Incidentally, my quote journal is missing and so I had no choice but to forage for some new material. In my search for inspiration, I happened upon a few gems and thought I'd share. I also invite you to share a few with me and anyone else who peruses the comment board. I LOVED all your comments last Tuesday regarding your 'Thoughtful Spots' and I'd love to glean some of your favorite quotes or inspirational thoughts as well.

Enjoy!

"I wonder if we'd be less cavalier about cutting down trees if they could scream; unless they screamed all the time for no reason." --Jack Handy, Saturday Night Live

"I know of no more encouraging fact than the ability of a man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor. It is something to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so make a few objects beautiful. It is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look."

--Henry David Thoreau

"Too much of a good thing can be wonderful!"

--May West

"To live is so startling, it leaves little time for anything else."

--Emily Dickinson

"Life is just like an old time rail journey ... delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride."

--President Gordon B. Hinckley

Happy Writing Everyone!

--Sara Bulla