Pet peeves of the pen (and stories, in general)…the never ending cycle of miscommunication

I have many pet peeves when it comes to stories. Whether found in screenplays or texts, certain elements of character, scene, plot, and such get under my skin, like scabies of the mind! To begin my somewhat lengthy list of pet peeves of the pen, I will start with the plot frustration of miscommunication!

Miscommunication (or lack of communication at all) leading to tragic misunderstanding is a personal irking of reality that truly aggravates me. Perhaps it is because a simple strand of questions or explanation can stitch up slow bleeders in relationships.  That personal pet peeve seeps a skeptical eye at about everything that  I read or watch.

Obviously there will be miscommunication and misunderstanding in every relationship - whether body language or verbal, it happens. It is when characters don't even try to resolve the lack of communication that bothers me most. (Even worse is when an entire plot revolves around a series of misunderstandings!) Instead of each character making rational decisions or asking needed questions, they are stuck in an elongated beginners' chess game of responses, each one acting off what the other does first. "When I saw Charlie having dinner with that woman, I just knew he was cheating on me! So, I decided to break it off with him." "I don't know why Jane called it quits. I guess I will just return this engagement ring I have in my pocket." "I saw Charlie at the jewelry store with an engagement ring! He is already going to propose to that woman?!" ...aaaaaand it keeps going - one misunderstanding leading to another utill I am so frustrated that I really don't care if Charlie and Jane every figure things out or are back together! Equally infuriating is when, suddenly, both decide to openly talk and the whole story is wrapped up with kisses and fireworks. Sigh. As I said - pet peeve! :)

What communication looks like - Sisters in the Sequoias style!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Unfortunately, I will have to substitute 2014's Thanksgiving picture of our family in place of new 2016 photograph. Instead of sitting around the table with eleven others, I am tucked into my bedroom recliner, blogging with you all! I will enjoy my turkey platter when my dear husband and kiddos return later this evening, but, for now, I am enjoying the peace and quiet that an empty home can provide.

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday, even as a child, when the gifts and extra week off of school used to be the big bonuses for kids to claim Christmas! Each year, my family would drive north to Ohio, from Tennessee or North Carolina, depending on where we were living that year. My extended family lived up in Ohio - aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. On Thanksgiving day, we would drive over to my Dad's parents' house to have the meal with whatever family could come. My little brother and I would play with cousins, inevitably getting into something we probably shouldn't have, and eating more sweets in that one day than we would have since the previous year!

All that being said - I associate Thanksgiving with being amongst family, the more the better. Yesterday, I was going to blog about pet peeves of the pen (which I still will do another day), but I just couldn't get past being sick for the holiday. Unable to swallow without pain, choking on tonsil stones and snot making their way down my throat, and sounding like a bass instead of soprano just was killing my Thanksgiving week buzz! Today, I woke up feeling even worse in the throat, but happier. Maybe it is the contagion of joy that is the day of Thanksgiving…although, the Florida sun and warmth through the shades certainly doesn't hurt! Trying to take that positive thinking to even further steps is the realization that it is impossible to over-eat when I can't swallow too much food to begin with, right?
I will stop being so stubborn and go to the dr. tomorrow, breaking my avid vows to stay off the streets on Black Friday!

Although this was the long way of saying something simple - Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

Writing about the antics of children before penning a page...

Children - I have three of them…and the stories I could tell might serve as a type of birth control for all of you who have yet to start families! For anyone who already has children, some of the following might border on familiar.

It is said that boys make bigger and more disgusting messes than girls, but in our family, it isn't my son that has caused the most chaotic upheaval, but my daughters that do! For instance, my eldest, the artist. When she was a little less than two years of age, one of her masterpieces stunk…literally. After waking early from a morning nap, she was suspiciously quiet, but happy - so I continued cleaning my bathroom, instead of going in to check on her. Bad move! She had climbed out of her crib and decided to add to the artwork already in the room. Using the dark clumps her digestive track had created after waking, she proceeded to scoop out pieces and use them as brown finger paints - coloring pictures on the walls, furniture, and some toys. Imagine my amazement when I opened her door! First, I was greeted by the lovely aroma accompanying such creative artistry. Then, her happy face and "'ook, momma! I 'ainted deese!" If she hadn't have been so cute and proud of herself, I may have had a major meltdown right then and there.

My son did stay true to his gender, but not in such a gag-inducing way. After coming home from a playdate, I put on one of the kids favorite shows and ran upstairs to change my clothes. Apparently, a toddler can do an incredible amount of damage in a 7-10 minute window of time. When I stepped into the kitchen, my feet felt it - the wet. I looked to my left, where only my daughter still sat on the couch, eyes glued to the animated entertainment that I so wrongly assumed would keep them both occupied. Looking to the right, I saw him, a bowl in his hands, frozen like a statue in front of the fridge. At his feet was the kids' toilet chair insert, already overflowing with water. "What are you doing?!" "Ummmmm. Don't ask me dat!" "Why is the floor all wet?" (Mind you, I was at least 6 feet away from him.) "Cause I made it," he said, proudly. "Why in the world would you want to make the floor wet?!" "Cause I going swimming!!" Sigh. "See, I get water here, den I put water dare, den I make a pool!" Yes, he got water out of the fridge via a bowl, then dumped it into the toilet insert, and, once full, onto the floor. I later found out that desk was also wet and puzzle pieces were floating in the drawers! At least the mess was made entirely from water…unless there was something in the toilet bowl insert before he started…oh dear!

SO - what does any of this have to do with writing, you might ask. These antics and literally hundreds more are all written into a book that I keep of "kid-isms." There are some, like the above, that I am most likely to never forget, but others fall through the cracks of my memories, never to be remembered unless I write them down on paper. What I discovered, though, is that I found myself inspired to continue writing after penning them. Let's call it a brain stretching exercise before the big game of novel writing. If you are having a hard time getting started one day, give it a try. Write or type out something that happened that day. Set the stage, give it details, and tell the tale as if someone is reading it from one of your stories. You never know how simple (or catastrophic) events might boost your day's writing!

Merely conjecture...

My Great Aunt passed away a couple of days ago. Irony or not, I was working on a death scene for my second book…and it got me thinking more about writing these types of things and how they are merely conjecture. How do we describe something like dying with any accuracy when our present lives lack such an experience?

Yes, I am aware of people claiming they have died and been brought back to life by the marvels and miracles of science and faith. Barring their testimonies, the experience of death and writing about it is truly left to our imaginations - conjecture. Does sight become hazy and fade to darkness? Is it like a blink, one second light and the next blackness? What might a character feel, taste, see, and smell in those moments between life and death?

The vast and differing emotions accompanying losing someone are something that I have experienced, too much. Death is no stranger to me, as many friends in my life have died. However, most of these were from cancer - a slow, drawn out termination of life. (An aside to this, although I am most familiar with cancer related things, I have yet to write anything concerning it or dying from it. Perhaps it is just too sensitive and intimate of a topic to expose transparency?) Other friends and family have had quicker ends with little to no closure for themselves or those they leave behind. All that being said, writing from the perspective of someone who has labored on in the land of the living is something easily tapped into when penning a page. But the one who is gone? I can research near deaths, doctors' knowledge of various terminations, etc., but really, when writing about death, it is merely conjecture.

Having that second pair of eyes and ears...

There is something about another pair of eyes and ears that keeps my writing in check. 
Is a character fleshed out completely or is there some ambiguity that needs scrubbing? Is the story flowing well or is it difficult to follow and understand? Are there inconsistencies that should be addressed? All are needed validations that the world floating around in my head is what is being read...and that it makes sense. Let's face it. We see, hear, smell, feel, and taste every detail of the scene in the recesses of our mind, but there is a good chance that some of that didn't make it onto the page…and what if one of those omitted details is what loses our readers? 

So - to avoid all this, having someone else is crucial to the writing process! This person shouldn't be someone that pats you on the back and showers you with the accolades of praise you undoubtedly want to hear. "Wow, that was awesome!" isn't exactly constructive. ;) They need to be someone who is willing to be honest and give you the raw criticisms you require in order to churn out a polished story. A close friend or family member aren't usually suitable matches for this, unless they write and feel the same. If we are honest, our work is very much a part of us and negative comments are more likely to be taken personally when it comes to close friends and family. Also, equally important, this person should be as excited about what you are writing as you are. There is a contagious motivation to keep pushing through the rougher spots when someone is waiting to read what happens next, willing to give you constructive feedback, and is excited to discover what you will do with it and where the story will go. :)

I had an invaluable "reader" when writing my first book. Unlike the advice I have just given, I used a close friend. (This truth makes me want to erase the previous paragraph; however, this person is the only exception that has actually worked out well for me. Believe me when I say it is a rare exception, though. This person is also a writer, though - so, considering I did place that clause, I suppose I will leave in the previous paragraph!)  I am not sure that I would have finished writing it without this person, whose contagious motivation pushed me through many a tough spot,  and am incredibly grateful for all their thoughts, incite, and honesty. (I refrain from giving a name here because they have requested to remain anonymous.) 

So, find that other pair of eyes and ears. Even if the only relationship you have with them is the writer/reader one, this resource is invaluable! There are websites and author groups available to help pair you with another writer of your genre and on-line forums to discuss work, as well. However, you do it - do it! You most definitely do not want the first critically eyed person that reads your work to be the agent you are trying to find!

(*Image copied from Julie Fain Art, all rights reserved to her.)

Getting to know my characters...

Getting to know your characters?! I tried to explain this concept to someone who is avid reader, but dislikes writing. If you are the author, the one sketching onto paper the images and personalities of the people driving the plot, how do the characters reveal themselves to you? Didn't you create them?! Well…yes and no.

Yet another stumbling block (wow, did I have a lot of those!) to my previous writings was thinking that I had to know everything about a character - from the personality traits, faults, weaknesses, strengths, passions, and dreams to each physical detail - before penning the first words onto a page. Anything that defined them, I thought I had to know before I could start - how else would I accurately portray them, right? I was very wrong, in more than one way!

First of all, it was one of many reasons that I would lose interest in writing a story. If I already knew everything about them, then I was just doing the tedious task of putting to paper what was completed in my head - more like typing a book I had already written, just doing it in a different font. Secondly, even though I should know myself best, I don't truly know what I will do and how I will respond to a specific scenario of life. I might think that I do, but I don't. I also don't know, with definite absolution, what a character will do when a scene is actually written. If responding in one way goes against everything they are, then I have, essentially, written myself into a corner! For example, this may be a minor detail, but I once assumed a character to be very neat and organized in every aspect of her life. At one point in the book, however, I realized that she kept her work clean and structured, but kept her home in neglected chaos!

All that being said, I do find having the general shape of a character necessary, but the details of their essence is revealed more as I write. As the story takes shape, I discover whether or not a character will stay composed after learning about the death of a loved one or scream in denial. Discovering these things as I write definitely makes things more interesting for me, as well!

One essential that I do seem to need is the appearance of a character. However shallow that might seem - I want to know the color of their eyes and hair, their skin tone, their build, whether they slouch or sit up straight, etc... while still unsure whether they will blush or pale to a suggestive comment - it is the truth. Having that image to conjure, for my mind to drift to while writing a scene, does aid in bringing the added dimension of depth and detail to the words and actions I put to the page.

Every writer is different, though. I would imagine that many might need to have a much stronger structure for their characters before getting into the grit of their stories…and, being in real life I appreciate structure so much, I am surprised that this never worked for me. But…it just didn't! Go with what works for you. Remember, your characters and their actions are what drives your story into (or out of) existence!

Getting past the back cover...

I will have to admit - I just don't get a chance to frequent book stores like I used to do (or still want to do). Sadly, vendors aren't open during my middle-of-the-night free hours. Ahhh, the days of getting lost in the aisles for hours. For the sake of this blog, let's all "go there" together...

You are perusing the shelves of your favorite bookstore, looking for something new to read. Passing the piles of "best sellers" and into the land of the now obscure, you search. Maybe its the color that catches your eye or a title that lures you closer? Pulling the book from its shelf, you flip it over and read the back. Unfortunately, there are only reviews of how wonderful the book is, but little to nothing about the story inside. The first inside flap is only about the author. Still willing to give it a chance, you decide to turn to the first chapter and read, at least, the first paragraph before returning it to its resting place.

If you are anything like me, this is the deal maker or breaker - what I read on that first page will either make me flip further or put it back. Dull or slow beginnings just aren't palatable. If I am immediately pulled into the novel, I will probably opt to buy it. (If I sink to the floor to read more, forgoing all concerns for cleanliness, I will definitely be buying it!)

The preference of getting sucked into a story is most likely why I love to read and write prologues. Stealing a scene that is, most likely, set somewhere in the middle or even end of the book, I place them at the beginning. I have to ask myself, would I be captivated by the first paragraph of the first chapter (or prologue) of my own story or would I put it back on a shelf to collect dust?
For example:

           Owen Everett was a handsome man. Evie had thought so from their first accidental meeting at the college bakery. They married the week after graduation, too excited to wait any longer to begin their life together. His parents raised the objections of their age and the one-year relationship, but Owen and Evie were confident of their chosen path. 

Bla bla bla bla. Sorry, shelving this one…

OR
      
       Tears blurred the forest's trees and bushes as she ran through them with all the speed her weary legs could offer. Thorns scraped flesh from her limbs and went as unnoticed as the evening's dropping temperature. Only when her feet would move her no further and the thundering in her chest threatened explosion did she stop. Shaking, she gasped for air and screamed into the deserted woods. "No!"

Hm…this one may have some potential. Who is "she" and what or who is she running from in the woods?

You already know which book I might be buying, but which story-starting paragraph would cause you to consider carrying it up to the cashier?