Originally, I despised the whole idea of Twitter. Now, I’ve got to give Twitter a big thumbs-up. Want to find out what I think its advantages are? Please pop over and visit Terry’s Place, where I’m guest blogging today.
Yes, it’s a teaser. :) They’re very useful on Twitter, too—and a great way to drum up blog traffic.
After 38 years of setting the clock back, you’d think I’d expect the changes.
But each fall I’m surprised how dark it is in the late afternoon. Every morning I’m surprised how light it is so early.
The darkness puts our whole family in a different mood. We light candles at suppertime. We feel sleepier at bedtime. And when I take my daughter to her Brownie scout meeting at 6 p.m., she gets the delicious sensation that she’s up really late at night and out on the town.
I’ve noticed lately, though, an aggressive attempt by stores to put me in a very particular mood.
The Christmas shopping mood.
It was November 3 and I walked into a store that was playing Christmas music. Whoa! There’s no way I’m ready for that stuff yet, y’all. I picked up some things for the kids last summer and that is it. The Christmas season starts after Thanksgiving. It does! But I kept running into stores that were selling the season awfully early.
These stores’ determination to put me in a money-spending mood was a slap in the face. It was not subtle. It felt very pushy to me.
I’ve read some books where I felt the writer abruptly and clumsily tried to force me into a mood: a tense mood, a frightened mood, a maudlin mood. It jumped off the page at me and I don’t think it’s because I’m a writer.
It’s like watching a poorly-done horror movie. You know the bad guy is going to leap out at you because of the scary music, heavy on strings, that’s loudly playing.
Subtle ways to create a mood:
Skillful (and, to my liking, brief) description of the scene’s setting: an abandoned, deteriorating house (unease). A crowded train with body to body people (stress).
Setting tone through dialogue. Obviously this would be two or more characters sharing more than just chit-chat with each other. There could be an urgent tone set, a joyful tone, somber tone…
Syntax: We convey our feelings about a person via word choice—choosing words with negative connotations instead of positive ones. Someone’s face has pity, not sympathy. Someone is smug, not content. A person is cloying, not sweet. The character contributes toward establishment of the mood—the reader feels suffocated by the closeness of the cloying character, e.g.
Weather: I’ve seen this overdone. But it can be used very effectively in unusual ways. We all remember what a beautiful day it was in New York city on 9-11. It just illuminated the horror that played out.
Light: The daylight savings time shifts play havoc with my moods. You could do the same with blackouts, houses with uncertain electrical wiring, uncovered ceiling lightbulbs creating sinister shadows, etc.
I appreciate subtlety in creating moods instead of having a writer lay it on too thick. Are you the same way? As a writer, how do you invoke mood?
I’m not a horror writer ordinarily, but I’m going to type in a sentence now that will strike terror in the hearts of many of my female readers:
I went jeans shopping yesterday.
Yes, it’s a horrific experience. And it really shouldn’t be. But apparently blue jeans manufacturers go out of their way to make all of us feel like freaks when we’re trying on their garments.
I for one, though, was desperate. I am so done with hip huggers. Come on clothing manufacturers! It’s not fun having to hitch up one’s britches. Besides, these jeans don’t hug hips. If they did, then I may not have this complaint. But they don’t. They behave as though my hips are not even there.
I have this problem in other areas, too. The Hollywood producers and cinema franchises decide what I’ll watch. But I don’t want to watch gory movies, action movies, or movies with a distracting amount of profanity in them. Could I once watch a subtitled film in a real movie theater?
And television? If I had my way, it would run British police procedurals all day long. Instead, television honchos seem to think I want reality shows.
On to books. Too often, the media tells us what we should be reading (Dan Brown, anyone?) That’s not to say that I’m not planning on reading The Lost Symbol. The whole Freemason thing is very interesting to me. But I just object to the way it was pushed down my throat by the media.
This brings us to individual writers. Some of us have books that don’t easily fit into a standard genre or description. This could throw up a red flag at a publisher—how will it be marketed? What’s its hook?
Of course, that’s a problem I don’t have. I love reading traditional mysteries and that’s what I write. It’s fun for me to work inside the parameters of their standards and rules.
But I want to make sure that there is variety out there to read. That it’s not all stuff off an assembly line that will be easy to market and a clear blockbuster. I may not be interested in reading what a marketing department thinks should sell well.
What do you think? Are you writing a book that defies easy packaging? Do you plan to adapt your manuscript to fit commercial standards of length, subject matter, genre-labeling? Or are you a writing rebel?
My daughter was worn out last weekend from being out late the night before. She was about to have another late evening, due to a friend’s party. Since she’s eight years old, I decided it would be a good idea for her to have a little quiet time. At this age, getting tired means getting our feelings hurt and crying—not a fun thing to do at a party.
“I need you to go upstairs and lie down,” I said. I was really very stern.
She nodded, pigtails bouncing.
Twenty minutes later, she brings a pair of scissors downstairs and puts them in the craft drawer. She puts a water glass in the sink and heads back to the stairs.
“I thought,” I said with what I felt was admirable control, “that I asked you to go lie down.”
“You did. But I decided it would be a good time to clean my room. It really needed it.”
It did. And her room looked absolutely immaculate.
She had not followed directions. But I was pleased with the results and so I let it go.
Editors have rules, too. There are things they’d rather not see a lot of. Many of them I agree with—I’ve no desire to see a big back story dump in a book. I don’t like pages filled up with no white spaces (which indicates a lack of dialogue.) I don’t enjoy reading a bunch of passive voice.
But some rules are made to be broken. I’m a fan of prologues. Especially campy prologues. I had absolutely no problem submitting my last couple of books with big old prologues at the beginning. No problem at all.
The editors? Well, they knew I wasn’t following directions. But they were pleased with the results and let it go.
Do you disregard different writing ‘rules’ when you write or submit? Which ones?
I’ve recently been to a couple of parties where things got lively with alcohol.
This was unusual for me.
First of all, I’m rarely invited to grown-up parties. My good friends know I don’t really enjoy them and they thoughtfully spare me.
Secondly, the parties I do attend are usually child-centered and the drinking is either non-existent or very light (since everyone is driving their children back home again.)
But these parties were different. One was a house party where everyone was staying put. The other was a party that primarily consisted of neighbors, who could walk to their houses. So, there was no driving.
I do definitely enjoy my wine and beer, but I was happier to be the slow sipper at these events. It’s nice to be the most sober person at a party. And then observe the antics.
I thought that alcohol has a very interesting effect on different people and I wondered how to apply these effects to my characters, if I chose to put them in a situation where people needed to misbehave (and, naturally, a murder needed to happen.)
Quiet people can become loud. And rather obnoxious. A good opportunity for someone to get insulted or silly rivalries to start.
Loud people can become quiet and sleepy. And be successfully taken out of the action of the scene so that other plot devices can be put into motion.
Although I knew no one but the hostess for a Halloween party, it didn’t matter as the evening went on. The reserve that had been present at the beginning of the party quickly disappeared and people came right up to chat with me about the most unusual things.
Occasionally people get belligerent. Excellent for adding conflict to a scene.
People get flirty. For a mystery writer, this kind of a situation, taken a bit further, could result in murder.
People get sloppy. I saw several spills and someone who missed his chair. Nice distraction if you’re a mystery writer and need to have everyone’s attention focused somewhere else.
People talk too much. And they’re indiscrete. Secret spilling time.
If you disapprove of alcohol in general or as a matter of principle, you could use a drunken scene as a statement or a warning (without, naturally, getting very preachy about it.)
If you need your character to act out of character or make a huge mistake, alcohol might provide you with the opportunity.
If you need a scene with a good deal of conflict or unveiled secrets, consider a well-oiled party.
As for me? I got lots of material. :)