Author: Elizabeth Spann Craig

“So, what are you working on now?”

Do you mind telling people about your WIP (work in progress)? Or does it make you grit your teeth when they ask? Do you wonder why people never ask accountants what they’re working on?

Usually, if you’re out of the writing closet, this is a question that you’re going to get from time to time. I get it pretty frequently from acquaintances who know I write.

Upside of telling them:

You get ideas—If I tell you about my WIP or you’re a first reader and you offer some ideas? I’m not shy about taking them. Sometimes you can even adapt an idea and change it into something really useful. Both Dorte and Hart have given me great ideas for two separate books (one a Myrtle, one a Memphis.) I love ideas. And they’ll be in my acknowledgments section!

You get accountability—The next time you see this person, they’re likely again to ask (right after they finish commenting on the weather), “So how is that book going? The one with the murdered supper club guest. Have you finished it yet?”

You get encouragement—“That’s a cool idea for a book. Where do you get your ideas from?”

Downside:

You might not have fully formed the plot yet. You might not be able to really even say what exactly it’s about. So you halfway describe it and the person you’re talking to looks confused. Because it is confusing—it’s not a solidified plot.

You might not be in the spot where you want to share your WIP’s plot because it’s malleable. And you don’t want it transformed before you figure out where you’re trying to go with it.

When you share your idea, some people may criticize it or appear disinterested when you tell them about it. When it’s in the formative stages, that’s not fun. Then you start second-guessing your plot.

Accountability in a negative way. I’ve told people about WIPs that later ended up in my manuscript graveyard. Then every time I see these particular people, they ask about it. And it’s been 1 1/2 years since I even picked the darned thing up. I’ll tell them I put it aside to work on something else (something I was paid to write, which is always given a priority!) and they’ll say, “But I really liked that idea!” I want to tell them they’re free to write it…

Reading this over, it looks like I’m seeing more of the downside to WIP sharing. I wouldn’t have said that, going into this post. Maybe it just depends on the person I’m sharing the info with. If he’s a writer, that’s one thing (he’d understand.) If I’m sharing with non-writers? Maybe I should keep it vague.

Do you tell people what you’re working on?

When I was a kid in the late 1970s in Anderson, South Carolina, I’d sometimes have to go to the drugstore with my mother. This was not a fun trip for me. Other than Belk Department store, the drugstore was the most boring place in the world.

The only redeeming quality to this shopping trip was the comic books. The store had them on a wire rack. They were packaged in sets of three inside a plastic wrap. So you could see the comics on the front and the back of the 3-pack. Those comics would be something great like Peanuts, Donald Duck, or Little Lulu. But the one sandwiched in the middle of the pack was a mystery.

And it was always awful. When I unwrapped the pack in the car, I’d find a dreaded Boy Comic Book. (Sorry boys.) That would have even been okay if it’d been a decent boy comic like Superfriends. But no, it would be some 3rd string, horrid comic book with awful illustrations.

Having a horrible middle in your book isn’t a good idea, even if your beginning and end are fantastic.

But it’s easy to lose focus in the middle of your story. Sometimes I think, “Where was I going with this, again?”

Here are some ideas about avoiding saggy middles:

Put the character another step toward their goal.

Put the character another step away from their goal (setback.)

Introduce a new character who either causes conflict for the protagonist, or helps him to his goal.

Put your protagonist under pressure.

Throw in a life-changing event. Death, birth, job loss, unexpected personal gain.

Plot backwards. Okay, I know it sounds bizarre. But some writers swear by it. Basically, it means to start at the end (assuming you know how the book ends) and plot backwards to the point where you currently are. What needs to happen to get you to the end point? Those key events in your story can be plugged in.

Work on your subplot. If your main plot is faltering, try working on your subplot for a couple of scenes and see if you can get back to the main story afterwards. Or see if you can connect the subplot to the main story in some way.

Include a suspenseful scene. If the story is getting boring and saggy to you, it’ll really seem so to a reader. Maybe a little excitement is in order.

Reveal a secret. Or disclose some previously-unrevealed depth to your protagonist or a secondary character.

Since I’m a mystery writer? I don’t have a problem with saggy middles. In each of my books, you’ll find a dead body right in the center of the novel. :)

Got saggy middles? How do you deal with them?

I was driving back from having lunch with my husband yesterday when I saw a little tableau playing out on the side of the road. Well, the road was actually a major highway and I was driving 74 (not 75 because I never go more than 9 miles over the speed limit), so my impression of the scene was a split-second one.

There were several construction workers standing at the bottom of an incline with their arms folded. There was another man who appeared to be a foreman. A furious foreman. He made chopping, angry motions with one hand before waving it around in the air. His mouth was open wide as if he were yelling. He stood stiffly and every muscle looked tensed. The person who seemed to be the object of the fury was another construction worker with slumping shoulders and head hung low as he shifted from foot to foot.

Uh-oh. Someone screwed up. And I whizzed by in another couple of seconds.

I’m not one who does well with nonverbal cues in conversation. I frequently puzzle over conversations after they’re over—thinking that I missed something. But with my writing I’ve learned to concoct social cues that help power my scene.

Can your reader tell what you’re characters are feeling by their actions?

Body language can be really useful when you’re writing. Does a character grit their teeth when their mother in law corrects them? Smile with their mouths but not with their eyes? Bite their fingernails while waiting in the dentist’s office?Do they avoid eye contact when a parent is asking them questions? You can also use their tone of voice (strained? wavering?) to help show their reactions to events.

Nonverbal cues are great ways to communicate emotions to your reader. They also fit the “show, don’t tell” requirement that editors look for in manuscripts. One upside of show, don’t tell is that the reader is a little more engaged in the passage—they’re reading clues to the character’s emotions instead of having them labeled and spoon-fed to them. It’s a more active process.

I sometimes like using nonverbal communication that sends a mixed message just to shake things up a little bit. The meek woman with the strong handshake. Or maybe the character pretends not to see an outstretched hand. Is the character snubbing the protagonist? Or is he worried about catching germs during flu season?

I’ve found it useful to practice nonverbal skills. One way is by muting the television and watching actors (who are gifted in vividly putting emotions across) as they fret and strut their way across the stage. Soap operas are especially good at this. Lots of violent emotions on soap operas…as well as Deep Thought. Overacted sometimes, but that’s all the better!

Another exercise I’ve found useful is people watching. Lots of writers go to shopping malls to watch people and get character ideas. I’ll go to coffee shops usually, since malls aren’t a favorite of mine. But while you’re people-watching, you can focus in on people whose conversations you can’t overhear. I try to guess what they’re talking about by their demeanor. Is it a job interview? (I see lots of those in coffeehouses.) Is it a couple having an argument? (I also see a fair number of those.) Someone dominating a conversation as the other person gets irritated?

Do you enjoy using nonverbal communication? Is it an easy technique for you, or a hard one?

Hope you’ll pop by Mystery Lover’s Kitchen this morning. I have a special guest, Laura Childs, who writes several mystery series for Penguin. She’s sharing her recipe for Eggs Benedict and discussing her latest release!

Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen had a nice mention in the LA Times on Tuesday: http://tinyurl.com/yd7jxjv

Yesterday I wrote about books and manuscripts with wooden prose and a flat delivery.

Ways I thought a writer could jazz up the writing a bit were by changing the voice, revising the work, including vivid setting imagery, changing the sentence structure, and by supplying character movement.

Here are some other ways to enliven flat text:

Use more dialogue. A conversation between characters; as long as it’s moving the plot along or creating some conflict, or playing a role; is a great way to liven up a wooden scene.

Use both long sentences and short sentences. Mixing up the sentence length lends the text a different rhythm and pace.

Show, don’t tell. Instead of telling how a character feels about something, show the emotion through the character’s actions. There are times where telling is better than showing (action sequences, for example), but for the most part, it’s more interesting for the reader if they can draw their own conclusions instead of being spoon-fed information. It brings the reader into the story and gives the novel depth—gets rid of the flatness.

Consider your choice of words. Are you writing in an accessible way? What kind of an impression is our vocabulary or style giving the reader? The worst thing to do is sound pedantic or as if we’re talking down to our reader. Plus, it’s not drawing the reader in. And, usually? It reads very woodenly to me.

Consider the project itself. Have you lost interest in it? If you’re writing woodenly day after day, it could be symptomatic of a problem on your end. Have you fallen in love with an idea for a different novel? Have you written yourself into a hole? Assess what’s changed. See if you can get excited again about the WIP or whether it’s time to put it in the graveyard of unfinished projects.

Has your WIP ever sounded flat? What did you do to fix it?

Have you ever run into really flat writing?

It’s the kind of wooden writing you see from many non-writers. Desultory, lifeless. There’s no passion at all in it…just a straight narrative. A retelling of events.

It can be a trait for newbie writers, too. Eager to cross their t’s and dot their i’s, they might lose the energy and excitement in the passages they’re penning.

I’ve even read scenes in published books that seem really flat. It’s like the writer wasn’t even trying that day. I’ve had days like that, too—where I was just throwing it on the paper and knew I’d go back and fix it later. But I did make the writing livelier during the revision process.

Tips for Infusing Life in Your Writing:

Consider your voice. Are you trying to have a wooden, flat storytelling style? (J.D. Salinger’s Holden Caufield had a monotone delivery for Catcher in the Rye—but Holden is depressed.) If not, try to find your voice. When you’re telling a story about your weekend to a friend, you wouldn’t tell it in a wooden, flat style. How you tell the story is uniquely yours…but you need to discover that voice.

Cut out the dead wood. Is there a scene that’s really pedantic? Is it necessary? Pinpoint the information that the scene is there to convey. If it doesn’t advance the plot, develop conflict, or assist characterization, then why is it there? Cut it out. If it does advance the plot, see if there’s a way to rewrite the scene to give it more feeling.

Create settings that pop. There’s nothing worse than reading descriptive lists in a story. Listing the types of birds at the birdfeeder, listing the flowers blooming in the garden, listing the foods on the menu. Make your setting pop by using vivid words and imagery.

Change the sentence structure. Are you stuck in a subject-predicate pattern? Try switching the arrangement of your sentences a little. Start a sentence with a verb, prepositional phrase, or adverb.

Get your characters moving. Are your characters spending too much time sitting at diners and talking? Talking over coffee? Talking over supper? Maybe it’s time to kick your characters in the rear and get them to move around a little. They don’t have to be jogging or anything—they could be looking for something they misplaced and be absentmindedly answering the protagonist’s questions. They could be washing their car. Change the scenery, use some verbs. Give them some action to respond to or have them instigate action.

After writing this post, I realized it was way too long for a blog. I’ve got five more ways to liven up your writing tomorrow…hope you’ll come back by.