by Elizabeth S. Craig @elizabethscraig
First up, hope you’ll run by to visit me (actually, visit my character, Lulu) today at Dru’s Book Musings. My third Memphis Barbeque mystery, Hickory Smoked Homicide, releases tomorrow!
Halloween made me start thinking of some scary book moments.
These weren’t moments that were intentionally scary. I wasn’t writing about a harrowing chase or the moment when my sleuth met up with my murderer. These were problems with my books that made we wonder if I were ever going to meet my deadline. And that’s scary.
Alex Cavanaugh created the Insecure Writer’s Support Group—supporting each other the first Wednesday of every month. Since I’m on Joan Swan’s blog on Wednesday, I thought I’d run an early post with the same theme in honor of Alex and Halloween. Hey, if your manuscript’s got problems, you’re not alone. Here are some of my scariest book moments (scattered among seven books):
1. A plot hole big enough to sink a whole book. At the end of one of my first drafts, I realized the solution wasn’t logical and my sleuth was babbling while trying to explain it. If it couldn’t be explained easily, it wasn’t a sound ending. Solution: I changed the murderer and changed all the clues leading to her. I also took out a subplot.
2. A character with no motivation but an important role to play in the mystery. Solution: I cut the character and assigned the important role to another character in the book (who made more sense.)
3. Since writing out of order does work for me (when I get stuck on one section), I decided to write an entire book out of order. Kids, don’t try this at home. Solution: A few days later, I’d finally ironed out all the jagged transitions in the book by going through back-to-back complete read-throughs of the manuscript.
4. I got 30% through the mystery that’s coming out tomorrow and realized I didn’t have a handle on the subculture of the beauty pageant world I was writing about. I decided to scrap the book and start fresh with a completely different idea. I was brooding over it when I picked up my daughter from a playdate. Solution: Research from a primary source. Little did I know the mom of my daughter’s friend had first-hand knowledge and enough insight to fuel me the rest of the book.
5. A required outline flattened all of my characters during the first draft until they were cardboard cutouts. Solution(s): I made a list of all the opposing characteristics of the stock characters I had—and incorporated some of the opposing traits into my characters. I did a few character worksheets. I also spent a few days letting the various characters accompany me on my day to day life.
Are any of these problems familiar to you? What are some of your scariest moments when writing a book? And…Happy Halloween!
Those are scary moments. I’ve put aside a story because of a huge plot hole issue. It’s marinating while I think on it a while :)
Elizabeth – Ah, scary moments indeed! I’ve had ’em myself. One of mine was… a character who had three names! Yes, I’d gone through so many name changes that I’d forgotten to “clean up” the manuscript. Oh, and another character had two distinct personalities – until I simply created another character. I think we all have those scary times…
Kids, don’t try this at home. LOL!
I am so overwhelmed by your productivity, especially as I know you don´t sit in an ivory tower with a devoted wife to cater for all your needs ;)
And I suppose I recognize most of these problems – no, not the one about plot holes because I never begin writing before the main plot is there. But all the other ones sound very familiar and explain why I am stuck in two manuscripts and have to work on the third right now (the only one where I seem to be in control).
I’ve got plenty of them and most have to do with illogical events and motivations! Working on that now. :)
Hey, thanks for mentioning the support group and this is a perfect post for the occasion. I could never write a book out of order. It would remain that way!
Hi Elizabeth .. great post and the link across to Alex’ blog – lots of support being provided there.
Insecurity and pot-holes in the life of a story and author .. come at different times – and that’s what’s great about blogging not everyone’s having tricks or treats at the same time ..
Enjoy Halloween with the family – cheers Hilary
Up until now, most of my professional experience has been as a nonfiction author. When you get corrections or edits, it’s usually a simple matter. But when I received the edits on my first novel, it freaked me out because everything needs to flow and hook-together and so if you mess with them you have to go back through and make sure everything else still works. It was maddening. And scary.
Hickory Smoked Homicide! I LOVE it!!! Your titles are the best. As for scary book moments… hmm…I think getting to the middle. It’s a mental thing for me. The dreaded middle… :D
But I hear ya about the whole “out of order” trick. How can that ever work? I’m tres skeptical. Happy Halloween, Elizabeth! :o)
I’m an outliner. I use index cards, well the Index Cards app on my iPad. I input scenes as they come to me. Then I lay it all out before I start writing. I’ve never done it, but I guess I could flesh out the scenes in any order. I may try this.
My scariest moment when writing a book is just before starting it, haha!
Congrats on your book release, Elizabeth!!! Hope you and your family have a happy Halloween! :)
Laura–It’s funny how it seems so logical when we’re *writing* it~!
Alex–Mine would have too, if it didn’t have a deadline attached to it. Ack!
Jemi–Just let it perculate and it’ll probably come to you. :)
Margot–Oooh…character with 3 names! That’s definitely a scary one!
Hilary–So true how our lives can have these plot holes, too! Thanks so much for coming by. :)
Dorte–You know, I think I *need* a wife! Ha!
It’s such a pain to straighten out our manuscripts, isn’t it?!
LTM–Thanks! I’m not crazy about middles, either–so I put a second dead body in the middle. Ha! Yes, the out of order works really well *sometimes*. But maybe not the whole book! Sometimes, though, I’ll get an idea for the end of the book, or a scene toward the end, etc.
Jamie–I’ve found it’s MOST effective when used in small doses…when I get stuck. Or if I’m in a silly mood, I’ll write a comedic scene…sad mood, a more somber scene. That type thing. Boy, the whole book out of order…wow. What a mess I made for myself.
Mollie–It IS scary, isn’t it? It’s sort of a domino effect of subplots and character motivation and action and conflict.
Laura–Oh, that blank page! I know what you mean! Happy Halloween!
Scary moment – when you realize you’ve committed yourself to five full novels. Ack! I won’t do that again…
Diane–That IS a scary moment! But you handled it so well. :)