Random Thoughts' Monday: How the ideas' process works

Hey beautiful people!

It's the start of a new week and I'm over at The Pop Culture Divas, adding my contribution to the amazing Divas' posts about the writing/publishing biz.

Wondering what that's got to do with the pic here? Take a look at the title for the post:

Hit Me Baby One More Time...or how the ideas' process works

My 'muse' and idea whisperer is a loud, sadistic, whipcracking dominatrix - she takes my ideas' process to a new level where I'm often left 2 bricks short of a patio!

What's your idea process like? Come on over and tell me.

Here's the start of the post:

"... I dunno about you peeps, but when ideas come to me, they arrive on the sting of that whip you see right here. Yes, my 'muse' is a sadistic dominatrix.

And what are we writers without ideas? The next book, the next series, the next plot point, the next scene, heck, the next line you're about to write, all spin from the ideas that simply 'happen' into your mind. ..."

Read the rest here

And let me know what the whole ideas' business is like for you over in the comments at The Pop Culture Divas blog!

From Mauritius with love,

Zee

Writing Wednesday: How Not To Suck At Synopsis-Stage!

Synopsis = sucknopsis = run for cover = pestering nuisance = How do I do this????

Find yourself in one of the above definitions? Me too, as well as countless other writers out there. I don't think there's anything we dread more than having to write a synopsis.

In a way, I envy my self-publishing friends. They never have to write a synopsis for theis mss. They write the book, edit, polish, and upload. Simple. No hassle of, you guessed it - the sucknopsis!

Yet, for all of the others who go by the agent and publisher route, a synopsis is a necessary evil. I'll admit I dread having to write one. It's not just the purpose - it's more like, how do you bring a so-so thousand long story down to a few pages?

That's where we could all do well to remember some pointers about the synopsis! It's not the trauma it represents in our minds. There are ways to do it, methods to get it right, tips and pointers to keep in mind.

It's true that I never write a synop for an ms unless I really need to (understand by that, at the query process!). But I bite the bullet, and remember the following, which have come to help me in good stead over the years.

What's a synopsis, basically? The freedictionary defines it as:

A brief outline or general view, as of a subject or written work; an abstract or a summary

Pretty simple, innit? How and why do we get it 'wrong'? How and where does this process morph into the writer's personal apocalypse?

The trick is - we need to de-mystify the synopsis. Plain and simple - bring it down to its basics. Here are some tips to do that:

• A synopsis is an outline

What does outline mean? It means the parameters of something, the limits, the edges within which that something is evolving.
What's the outline of your book/story? Don't panic and start hyperventilating when you're asked this question. Think of the broad lines of your work, its parameters, and put this all down.
Example: let's attempt an outline of the movie Mamma Mia. Heroine Sophie is about to get married, and wants to know who her father is from the 3 men who were in her mother's life at the time of her conception. She invites the 3 men to the wedding, behind her mother's back. Chaos, mayhem, and unfinished romantic business ensue when all 3 land on this little Greek island and everyone has to come to terms with who and what they've been to each other, using hit songs from Abba as their cue and expressions.
There you have it - an outline. 5 lines. You build upon this to give the plot and the resolution and you have your synopsis.

• A synopsis 'tells' your story

This is where you take a 180-degree departure from the written-in-stone line of 'show, don't tell!' You don't get flowery in a synop - you tell it like it is. This is who they are, this is what happens to them, this is how things get complicated, and this is how things are resolved. Full stop.
Example: In Cinderella (I'll use the Disney version), the movie/story shows you the Prince coming to their house as the final house to visit in the whole kingdom. The evil stepsisters try the shoe, one even manages to push her whole foot in, but the shoe doesn't resist. And when it's time for Cinderella to try it on, the Evil Stepmother grabs the shoe and slams it on the floor, shattering it to smithereens. Everyone is crestfallen, and then Cinderella says that it doesn't matter, because she has the other shoe, which she removes from her skirt pocket. The Prince makes her try it on; the shoe fits, they fall in each other's arms, they get married and live happily ever after.
In your story, you'd show all this - the glass smashing, the expressions on their faces, etc.
In a synopsis, this would give you something like - when Cinderella tries on the shoe, it fits, and the Prince finds his Princess. A whole scene is brought down into a few words that still convey the gist of what happens.

• A synopsis is abstract in nature

See above example - the synopsis tells that the shoe fit and the Prince found his Princess. It doesn't go into the details. 'Telling' is a concept that has a notion of 'vague' to it. Keep it pared down to the essentials - that's what a synopsis is about.

• A synopsis is a road map

It's how the characters/plot gets from A to B to C to reach conclusion/resolution at Z. It doesn't talk about the quaint little inn you find between M & N, or how the beauty of the countryside is breathtaking during the journey it takes to get from R to S.
A synopsis 'leaps' from A to B to C, etc. If there is something you have to mention happening between A and B, then that something is a point on your road map, and should've been labelled B instead.

• A synopsis has its own structure

It doesn't follow the same rules of disclosure as the ms. Backstory, the necessary and relevant parts of it, is stated right up in a synopsis, not distilled throughout like in the ms. You don't keep suspense in a synop, like in an ms. The synopsis tells your story from A to B to C and so on - you lay it down as it happens.
Example: In Mamma Mia, we find out halfway through (around the Chiquitita part) what relationship Donna had with each of the 3 men. That gives suspense, a sense of hanging on the edge of our seats to figure out what it is all about.
Writing the synopsis though, at the paragraph where you mention Donna, you'll already mention how and why she was involved with all 3. You don't disclose this at the halfway mark.

• A synopsis is not a blow-by-blow account

It's not about 'this happens, and that happens, and then this takes place because of...'. There should be cohesion, logic, a constant thread holding your story together in a synopsis. A synopsis skims the basics, the surface if you want, of the plot. It doesn't go deep into anything that doesn't contribute to the A to B to C journey.
Example: Cinderella again. The final shoe and proposal scene - it is brought down to a simple 'the shoe fit and the Prince knows he's found his Princess. They marry and live happily ever after.' Your synopsis tells it like it is - it doesn't chronicle every happening in the book/scene.

• A synopsis lays it down without any fluff

Cinderella example again. There's nothing extravagant about the description of that last, crucial, scene of the resolution. It is completely pared down. It's how things happen, how you get through the conflict to the resolution, without getting into the details.

• A synopsis is the bare bones' skeleton of your story.

Full stop. A to B to C through to Z.

If you keep these definitions/pointers in mind, you should be able to whittle down your story into a concise and coherent whole.

Is there a 'formula' for writing a synop? Actually, there might be, and I have found one that works very well with paring down my story yet without taking away any of the gist of my plot.

I'll share that with you next week, along with the example of one of my synops that won me publisher notice and approval. Same spot, same day - we'll take the synopsis apart and find out why it works and how this happens, all within the scope of the synopsis formula.

Join me then too, and if you have any questions or pointers to add to the discussion here, feel free to pop up in the comments.

From Mauritius with love,

Zee

Writing Wednesday: Twist, Spin, Flip

Lol, no - that's not the 'surefire way to make pancakes'. I know I was in recipe mood lately but today we're not talking of food. We're gonna talk about how you can twist, spin, and flip to bring fresh, new, and original to your writing.

Before I continue, let me post this disclaimer. I have no idea if the notion of 'twist, spin, flip' is copyrighted to anyone, or if it's the brainchild of anyone out there. I read literally hundreds of writing advice articles every year (been writing for 6 years now, do the math) so I dunno who said what and where. If the owner of this notion sees this and can show me s/he originated this idea and has a copyright over it, get in touch with me and I'll take the post down and give you due credit.

So, back to the topic at hand. I started the series of writing posts on originality back in December. The posts I've had up so far covered difference in similarity, and how using backstory can be a treasure trove of originality. Today I talk about the techniques that can be used to bring fresh, new, and original to your writing.

Let's go through it one by one.

Twist
What does this word mean? The definition that interests us in writing is the following (Merriam Webster Dictionary) :

 to make (one's way) in a winding or devious manner to a destination or objective

Let's wrap this around to say that in writing, 'twist' means an unexpected direction/manner in the story or the characterization.

Take the idea of 'students'. Automatically, you think 'school'. Which in the writing world, pretty much goes to 'YA".
Add a twist to the idea:

What if those students were adult immigrants who don't speak English? (the very popular sit-com Mind Your Language back in the 70s & 80s in England)
What if those students are people in a certain profession who have to go back to school to brush up their skills/knowledge?
What if a middle-age parent finds himself/herself thrown back into high school? (17 Again, starring Matthew Perry & Zac Efron)

Now take it back to YA:

Are the kids rich and famous? (Beverly Hills 90210 in the 90s, on the California coast. Gossip Girl on the East Coast, Manhattan Upper East Side, post-2000, plus more modern technology with the blog of Gossip Girl)
Is the academy 'special'? (Sky High, where the kids of superheroes go)

Like the above, you take an idea. Figure out the 'expected' where it is concerned. See what you can do differently - break the cliche, slant the characterization, take it into a whole setup.
Find what 'threads' there are in the yarn of the idea and twist them.

Spin
The Free Online Dictionary has this definition that interests us writers:

To provide an interpretation of (a statement or event, for example), especially in a way meant to sway public opinion

So spin in writing can be said to provide one's own interpretation/slant on an idea.

Let's take a few examples of concrete spinning.

The subject: Chick Lit

Spins:

Cami Tang - Romance with a kick of Wasabi: she takes normal girl chick lit and spins it with the life and experiences of a modern Asian-American. Expect wasabi and other Asian references in her stories. Case in point, she has a Sushi series.

Nisha Minhas - she writes chick lit about Indo-Britons with a thick dash of Indian massala. Expect references to chappatis, saris, bindis and other related Indian lifestyle stuff in her chick lit.

Marian Keyes - chick lit again, but Ms. Keyes writes mostly Irish characters living in Ireland. The spin = total Irish culture and slant in her writings.

Sophie Kinsella - her slant comes through her writing voice, which is light, airy, funny, and totally loaded with humour.

You can take every idea, every genre, and insert your own personal slant/spin on it. Overlaps a bit with 'finding your niche', but this is completely doable. All of the above authors have heroines in their 20s in the first decade of the 2000s. Basically, they should be pretty much one and the same character (same age, exposure to same happenings, technological advancements, etc). But each one infuses something different into the narrative and characters and this results in fresh, new, original.

Another take on spin would be literally, 'put your own spin' on a theme/idea.

Case in point: Twilight series v/s the Sookie Stackhouse series.

Both deal with vampires, but one has a chaste, forbidden love approach, while the other is sexy and very lustful, with a grown up and totally adult-mature slant to it. Following upon their differentiation, both series then focus on aspects pertinent to their approach. Twilight has young love as its focus, while the Sookie books have things like war and battle of species/clans and nefarious/devious intents and behaviour.

Flip
Merriam Webster dictionary defines this one as:

to toss so as to cause a turn over in the air

So applying this to a story idea, we'd thus 'toss it' and watch how it falls back down (and no, this is not like toast that always ends up buttered side down!)

Examples - let's take the idea of 'pregnancy'

The ripped condom/missed pill/contraceptive failure = a flip depending on which you use and how you use it

The heroine in a romance does not end up with the baby daddy (The Back Up Plan has this, even if the baby daddy in question is only a number on a vial of donated sperm.)

Unexpected, late in life pregnancy

Multiple babies pregnancy (and in today's world, does that make you a contender for competition in the arena of the Duggars' 19 and Counting and Kate Plus Eight?)


I've used all of these techniques in my writing. I've twisted elements - my novel The Other Side asked about HEA after divorce. In Light My World, I had a modern version of Cinderella-like-in-love looking for Prince Charming and coming up against frogs. Storms in a Shot Glass was a pregnancy story that took place in the realm of the rich and famous, the kind pursued by paparazzi and tabloids.

I've spun on genres - the first two mentioned here were about modern young women but of Indo-Mauritian origin. I brought Mauritius on the romance-writing map and showed what looking for love was like on the island. I've spun the notion of romantic comedy and made it lead towards comedy of errors where the last book is concerned.

I've flipped ideas - marriage is not the HEA fairy tales promised (The Other Side). Prince Charming appears as a frog with a serious need for manners and civility in Light My World. The baby daddy and the man the heroine ends up with in Storms in a Shot Glass are two very different people.

Try making a 3D pancake next time you're writing a story. Twist, spin, and flip it all over so you can end up with something fresh, new, and original.

What techniques do you use to make sure your writing is different? Ever twisted, spun, and flipped?

From Mauritius with love,

Zee

Random Thoughts' Monday: Saying goodbye to 2010...

So we're officially upon the last Monday of 2010. My God, where did this year fly, people??? I have no idea where mine went. I seem to recall opening my eyes and 2010 was starting. To admit the truth, I wasn't looking forward to much this year. I was pretty set in a routine and thought I'd reached where I was supposed to reach and was at the position I'd hold for pretty much the rest of my life.

How wrong I'd been...

January went pretty much without hitch. Kiddo started his second year in primary, going from the 'newbie' to the 'grown up one step ahead of the newbie'. :) I had a job, I was writing, hubby was ensconced in his job. Routine, blah, blah blah.

Appearances can be very deceptive though. In February, the cracks started to appear. Yes, I was working and I was writing like a madwoman (finishing a 100K+ novel in 17 days!). Needless to say, I saw next to nothing of the men in the house. Did I think I could get away with it? Yes, I did, because my priorities weren't set right - I wanted to be where I was and I didn't pause for one minute to ever consider the cost. Financially, I was working but not bringing any much home. Which kinda widened the chasm here - I mean, if you've got 'proof' of what you're doing to show, then it's pretty much a good idea to keep doing what you're doing. I didn't. What can I say? I'm a trustful person, I don't expect anyone to use this trust for any nefarious purpose. So yes, said cracks - hubby asks me one day if I thought that maybe he could be sick. He hadn't been feeling great lately, had lost weight, was irritable. But he was also on a huge, huge deadline at work, so what do I do? I brush him off, saying it's probably the stress. See the divide growing here?

By the time March comes around, I have no idea who I am and what the heck I'm doing. My marriage looks like it'll be crumbling any minute, because he and I meet over the dinner table, share a few words, and then I jump back on my laptop, going to bed by the time he's fast asleep. Mornings, don't mention. There's school, and that's all our mornings amount to. Celebrate my birthday, a ho-hum one - did I even recall it was my birthday back then? I don't remember.
My world crashes when my sweetly-angelic-and-devilish, then-6-year-old boy blows his top off and berates me for being an awful mother. "When will you pause to breathe and take a break?" he asks.
I look up and I don't recognise this little boy who, wait a sec, wears the same size T-shirt as I do??? When did that happen? His first trimester exams are also around the corner, and I realize I have no idea what he is even studying this year at school. Pair all that with a massive case of being over-written and sore-writer's-imagination, and the end of March sees one of the biggest episode of my life happen.

I quit. Literally. Quit my job, and was given hell for that. There are all sorts of versions flowing around as to why I was no longer there. The real reason is - I left. Full stop. It was a choice between who I could be and who I wanted to be. I chose the latter.

Suddenly, it was Easter break and I was at home with my boy. My parents were away on a trip abroad, so no 'dropping off to Mom's'. What did I find out? Kiddo's back then's fave movie was High School Musical. We had the sing-along version in the DVD, and this became our favourite activity. He sang as Troy, I did Gabriella. And Sharpey (eek!). I heard him laugh, the kind of children's specific bellow that has them throw their heads back and laugh with their whole body.
When was the last time I had heard that? I didn't remember...
Suddenly too, my marriage was doing much better. Hubby and I would take 20 minutes out every evening and just sit down together. Sometimes we talked, sometimes we didn't. Sometimes I pestered him to let me turn the caveman-him into a slightly more modern version of a caveman who would maybe exfoliate and use some hydrating cream on his face. That made for some hectic moments! :) But it also turns out that we found out my husband had been sick all along - it wasn't the stress. It was diabetes. I don't need to tell you how much of a worthless scumbag I felt when we got the news. I hadn't given anything to the one who mattered, giving my all to worthless pursuits in the meantime...

From there on, life settled down. I found the courage to pick up my 'digital pen' again and start to write. No pressure, no fuss, no worrying. Just the pure, unadulterated pleasure of telling a story the way I wanted to, going back to the thrill of the 'moment' like when I had just started writing 6 years ago now. Picked up my studies too, working towards completing my degree finally.

Along the way, there have been bumps, a most notorious one on this blog itself. But there's a silver lining to every cloud, and the lining I found wasn't silver at all - it was the best, purest platinum to have ever existed. I discovered who my friends were, and the outpouring of support and encouragement messages tumbled me into a wekk-long bout of throat-clogging so much I became emotional. I was totally overwhelmed - and to these fantastic people (you know who you all are!), I say THANK YOU for being in my life and for allowing me to say I know you and I'm proud to be your friend!

Buoyed by this feeling, I wrote some more, and then a 'click' moment happened in early November. My dream had always been to write for Harlequin - ever since the day I read my first romance at 12, I have loved HQ and M&B for the kind of wholesome stories they keep bringing to women the world over.

What's a dream, if you ain't gonna pursue it? We live only once, innit?

Today I know my priorities. I know who I am, what I'm made of. I know who and what matters. Whatever is meant to happen, will happen. But this also means I can take an active role and a forward step to make the lives of those who matter better. If not better, I can help make it not worse than it might already be.

I think my husband, son, and stepson are grateful that I came to realize this. I know I am. My family matters. My writing matters. I matter!

Today I look towards the future. I don't know if it is bright, overcast, rainy. I just know it's out there, on a path that's unfurling at my feet, and I need to keep moving. Whatever comes upon this path, God has made me strong enough to deal with it. Whatever happens, happens.

It's with this state of mind that I look towards 2011 and wait to embrace a positive continuation of my life. I just wish all the wonderful people I know can feel the same way too, and that all the best this world has to offer will grace their footsteps and bring at least a smile to their face everyday.

To all the amazing people I have met in my short life, and who have shown me time and again how much they care - my 2011 belongs to you.

And oh, yeah, I don't make resolutions normally, but I still plan of losing my spare-tyre-belly next year! :)

So on that note, let me pen off for 2010. I won't post again before next Monday, when I'll welcome the new year in this very spot.

From Mauritius with tons and tons of love,

Zee

Writing Wednesday: The Story Behind A Story

AKA Backstory - that hated, much-maligned part of writing and story creation.

Personally I like backstory. Not exactly reading it as an info-dump in the story, but as a prequel, as a character sheet on the protagonists, as my own foray into my characters and what makes them who they are.

Backstory makes your characters and your story what they are. Doesn't make sense? Let me try to explain.

We are all shaped by the experiences in our life up to where we are at any given time. We don't exist in a vacuum, and there's something inherent to everyone called a frame of reference. This is brought about by our lifestyle, culture, beliefs, experiences. All of these shape us into what we become, what we are, and what we are to become too.

At any point in our lives, the experiences we've had thus far and the life we've lived thus far will have contributed to shape us into the person we are that moment, about to embark on whatever adventure life is gonna throw at us. For example, at 17, I would've told you love is a many-splendid thing! I'd give everyone a fair chance, make concessions and turn a blind eye on some things. At 18, I would've told you that love is indeed a many-splendid thing, but with the right person, and then too, there are always shades of grey and definite areas of darkness. I was way more distrustful, I double-checked everything, I never took anything for granted. What happened between 17 and 18? I married the man I loved back then and our marriage hit the rocks in a storm of infidelity and emotional abuse. Then *poof*, I was divorced, single, grown-up and too mature for my age. Me at 17 and me at 18 were two very different people, even if I was still, basically, me.

The same applies to your character, and to your story. Past and present will have shaped and moulded for the future. And this, is the importance of backstory!

Definition out of the way, let's see how backstory really is the story behind a story. As usual for me, I'll use pop culture/movies references to get my explanations across.

Backstory as a story in itself - the prequel
Who hasn't watched Star Wars? Uhm, up until 2010, I hadn't... It took my two boys going into a Star Wars addiction to get me to sit down and really try to grasp what the whole hoopla was about. Yes, I know Harrison Ford is Han Solo, and I also know Darth Vader is the bad guy. And yeah too, Princess Leia has probably the most awful hairstyle of all movies. Other than that, I would have pleaded ignorance before this year.
Now when we went to get the DVDs for this saga, there were Episodes I-VI. Huh? Star Wars is a trilogy, innit? Actually, no - bring in the 3 Episodes recently brought forward by one George Lucas. (hunks galore - Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christiansen-- I digress, sorry).
So over the course of these 3 Episodes - The Phantom Menace, The Clone Wars, The Revenge of the Sith - we are introduced to the Empire, how it came to the point at where the original Star Wars starts, and how a little boy with tremendous powers called Anakin Skywalker is recruited to become a Jedi but ends up falling to the Dark Side and becomes the biggest villain of all time, Darth Vador.

So if you watch Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, The Return of the Jedi, you have an idea what has happened to bring the universe into the state of chaos in which it is.
Now watch the 6 Episodes (as they're now dubbed!) back to back and see how the whole integrates into a logical, fluid plot. Everything is planted, every detail has its place in the big scheme of things.
When the creators of Star Wars wrote the story back in the 1970s, there had to have been a basis why the universe was the way it was when Luke and Leia meet in the first movie. There had to have been an explanation for their being twins separated at birth, for being kept away from their father, Anakin Skywalker aka Darth Vador. All this had needed to be thought through.
And this, gives you the backstory behind the the Star Wars trilogy! Episodes 1-3 became movies and stories in their own right, albeit with a continuing thread running along them all - yet, at the start, they were simply backstory for the trilogy.
This gives you backstory as the story behind a story.
Sometimes this can be dubbed a prequel - telling you what happened before [insert whatever plot/story here].

Another good example of backstory turning prequel turning as explanation as the story behind a story - Rise of the Lycans, in the Underworld trilogy. Rise of the Lycans goes to the origin of the war between vampires and lycans, yet in Underworld, the first movie, this story is already told through explanations of who Lucian, leader of the lycans, is. Was Rise of the Lycans overkill? Maybe. You don't need it to understand the first 2 Underworld movies, but as the story behind a story, it had its weight and this was given a spotlight.

Backstory as the story behind something - the legend
Every legend has a story behind the myth. Think of King Arthur and his Round Table. Think of Robin Hood, prince of thieves.
I recently caught the new Robin Hood by Ridley Scott, starring Russell Crowe (hence the pic above, and its relevance to this post). Aesthetically, the movie was a visual feat. I couldn't help compare it to the other Robin Hood movie, the one starring Kevin Costner. But there's a huge difference between the two movies.
In the Costner version, Robin is already an outlaw who steals from the rich to distribute the wealth to the poor, a man committed to bringing down the tyranny held in place by King John and the Sheriff of Nottingham. Come on - this is the legend as we know it!
The Scott/Crowe one shows how Robin is moral-duty-bound to go back to England after fighting in the Crusades and King Richard the Lionheart's death. It shows a rather dilly-dallying Prince John acceding to the throne. It shows a conspiracy by an English lord to topple the new king, with the help of the French king. It shows Robin bringing a bill-of-rights sort of deal to the table, making peasants and noblemen alike rally behind their king to battle the invaders.
Then when the French have been defeated, it shows how King John balks at having to relinquish his 'God-given' power over all mortals and turning against the man who brought him victory - Robin Longstride.

This movie is all about Robin and how he becomes Robin Hood. See anything pertinent here? Yes - this story/movie is all about Robin Hood, the legend's, backstory!
While I admit that historically speaking, there might've been some manipulation, and the story doesn't stick exactly to the merry-meanderings-in-lush-forest scenes everyone associates with Robin Hood, the story did serve, imo, as a good springboard to answer the how, why, and who behind the character of Robin Hood.

Backstory as a means to understand - a starting point
This often happens when a concept/idea needs to be reinvented, or you're about to present 'old' material to a fresh audience. Case in point - Star Trek starring Chris Pine as Kirk & Zachary Quinto as Spock.
Everyone knows the starship Enterprise is run by Captain Kirk and his fellow Vulcan comrade, Mr. Spock. This is taken for granted.
But what they did in this new movie was take us to the first meeting between Kirk and Spock - how they rubbed each other the wrong way, how Kirk barged his way into the Enterprise's fleet, how something happening at the time of Kirk's birth set forth a series of happenings. Spock too is shown growing up as a Vulcan but with something different - a human mother. Both characters are introduced to us almost from birth and all the way into adulthood, taking them to this point where they will become the strong team everyone knows them to be.
Again, need I point it out? The movie used... Backstory!

Another example here would be the Wolverine movie. Pretty much as with Underworld and Rise of the Lycans, this one takes us to the origins of Wolverine. Aka - Logan's backstory, of which we get a pretty good feel in the second X-Men movie. Wolverine goes a little deeper into his childhood and his relationship with his brother, Viktor.
This movie uses a backstory tangent on a specific character to present the story behind a story.

Casino Royale, (of course being the first James Bond book) was the Bond series going back to its roots. With Bond as we know him (distrustful of women, a player and allergic to commitment), this movie goes into the reason why Bond is this way - namely his love for Vesper Lynd and how she betrayed him, and ultimately, saved his life too. Based on the techie-gadgets and suave shaken-not-stirred-martini Bond we've known as Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan, Daniel Craig's Bond was the portrayal of Bond at the time of his backstory.

In all these examples, the first story stands already on its own without the prequel/new beginning. Why so - strong backstory. This should be the case for your story too.

Your backstory is one of the most powerful tools at your disposal! Make use of it. No, I don't mean you have to have every single element of the backstory dumped throughout your book. I'm saying - this story behind your current WIP is well worth its weight to get you to see the big picture and know where you stand while you are writing. Yes too - it's sad to invent such an amazing story only to not use it. But that's the price of a good story - proper dosage of the utterly good lands you a strong, potent book that is well on its way to become a winner (when you write it well, of course!)

Next week - The biggest dilemma: weaving backstory in without an info dump (I can hear many run screaming... wait, I'm screaming too!)

I'm eager to hear your take on backstory and its necessity. Drop me a comment!

From Mauritius with love,

Zee

Writing Wednesday: Finding YOUR Balance in Writing

When I was younger, I was a chubby girl. Well, not exactly Roseanne Bar but more Renee Zellweger in Bridget Jones. It didn't really hurt but it was there, and sometimes, it did sting. I carried like 10 pounds too much, and believe me, on a just-above-five-feet frame, ten pounds can look like a lot!

So here I was at 15 - I wanted to lose that weight, tired of needing to have my clothes tailor-made because everything in the stores was too small or else I swam in them. That's when I looked into diets. At that time, Atkins and South Beach and whatever else popular stuff wasn't even known. We had Weight Watchers, but I didn't have the money needed to become a member. I had friends who were members, and they gave me the pointers of their every meeting. Like, weigh all your food. Drink water. 30g of cereal every morning. Chew slowly.

I did that, but lo and behold, I wasn't a gram lighter! (I know now that diets are customized, but we'll come to this later). Then I went like, to hell with it. Let's try another tactic - healthy living. Out went the junk food I lived on. Out went the colas and sodas. Out went the cookies, the crisps, the puff corn snacks. You may be wondering - she stopped eating! No, she didn't. She just didn't indulge so much any longer. I stopped taking sugar in my tea, coffee and milk; drank water at every opp (on some days I think I drank 5 litres). Cut the daily rice portion to half of what it was. Started taking the stairs. Walked a lot. Took the bus that I knew stopped 2 bus stops before my regular stop, and there was a steep uphill climb on that journey.

And 7 months later, I was 12 pounds lighter. Happier. Healthier. And I felt better.

To this day, I still apply those principles. And no, I really hadn't stopped eating, nor have I done so now. Everyone who values his/her life knows never to come between me and my twice-weekly slice of chocolate cake. I crave Pepsi or Mountain Dew at times, and I drink equal measures of water and no-sugar-added 100% juice. I cook with oil and I love my Pringles, Lays & Doritos.

What am I getting at then, talking about diets on a writing craft blog? Well, writing is just like dieting:

Find what works for you!!

In the Weight Watchers example above, I was doing what others were doing. And that didn't work for me. Why? It wasn't customized to me and my needs and lifestyle, and I actually put on weight this way.

The same applies to your writing. If others are doing great writing for HQ or Ellora's Cave, you take tips and pointers from them to make your own writing better, and then you tailor your work to have a better chance of scoring a contract with those pubs. But HQ or Ellora's Cave may not be your writing voice's cup of tea, so you struggle, writer's block and discouragement hitting you just like the weight could pile on with an inappropriate diet.

Like the diet too, find what works for you, and this is what'll make you lose weight. In your writing, this applies to, find what you enjoy writing and you will inherently find that your writing will be stronger when you write something you are passionate about. This is akin to doing something/adding a change you can do and live with, and you thus find your voice and your writing tone. This in turn, makes your work stronger and allows it to stand out amongst the crowd.
Finding your voice ( see last week's post) is an added bonus to help you get to cruising speed here.

We all know that a diet doesn't work for everyone. It is recognized now that lifestyle changes have more impact over weight loss and keeping the weight off, preventing the yo-yo effect. Same goes for writing - a pub's style/guidelines may not gel with every writer, and you need to find your own voice and what you're passionate about to keep the flame of writing alive and to prevent the dreaded discouragement and block away.

Hope this made sense! I'd love to hear what you think.

From Mauritius with love,

Zee

Writing Wednesday: What is Voice?

First off, let me start by saying I'm no expert in this field. I am just passing across what I have gathered and processed about this industry and the craft of writing over my career.

So, with that out of the way (before someone comes claiming I'm no expert and 'stealing' their lessons) - what is voice?

One of the first comments I heard in critiques I received was that I had a distinctive voice that flowed well. Could you have painted ?!?!?!?!? in the quip bubble above my head right that instant? Yeah, you could. :) I had no idea what they meant. That's how I went looking for articles about voice. One of the best I found was on Holly Lisle's website (btw, she's got tons of amazing writing advice! She was a forming cornerstone of my writing persona when I started this journey). I won't get into her article here (again, so no one can say I'm 'stealing' from Ms. Lisle now *grin* - just go to her site and read her stuff. Warning - you may lose more than a few hours because her resources are addictive reading!).

Instead I'll try to tell you what I have gathered about voice.

Basically, it's the way you speak on paper. Voice is at the heart of it (be it in writing and any other creative medium) the specific manner and way and style, all combined, that YOU use to put across your material.

Let's try to use some examples.

Sophie Kinsella - chick-lit author, very funny tone, irreverent, hilarious, tongue-in-cheek, modern-sounding prose, in the head of modern-day heroines.
That's how I would describe her voice. She's a chick-lit author, and this light, airy and freedom feel of chick-lit carries through her words and on each page of her writing. She is escapist, laugh-out-loud and be afraid you'll pee in your pants humor and feel-good reading.
Marian Keyes - another chick-lit author. Funny and modern too, but Ms. Keyes has a deeper emotional thread in her stories. Hers are women fiction (young women in their twenties or so) with an irreverent and funny slant. Her novels, while funny, are not the hilarious, laugh-out-loud (and everyone looks at you on the bus like you're an alien!) feel of Ms. Kinsella' books. Ms. Keyes draws more on the internals of the character, on the quirky entourage and backstory. Both authors write in 1st person, but Ms. Kinsella's words are more surface - she recounts what is happening from the main heroine's perspective. Ms. Keyes, however, is the character with all facets and recesses of the mind and heart and soul exposed as if you, the reader, were this heroine. Not just the one experiencing it all via the 5 senses as in Ms. Kinsella's words.

Other examples:

Martina Cole - her speciality is London's East End gangland and the gritty world of these gangs. Main protagonist is always a woman in the heart of this gang and crime story.
Women's fiction too most of the time, with a 20-30 years old heroine too. But her voice is dark, deep, emotionally profound. She deals with tough issues (in Dangerous Lady, the heroine Maura comes from an Irish Mafia family, is forced to have a backstreet abortion at 16, and her uterus is butchered so much she is barely saved and can never have children again. That's her catalyst to become the Queen of the East End underworld. In Goodnight Lady, the heroine Briony is 'sold' as a child mistress to a wealthy man. She never even gets her first period, because she falls pregnant and gives birth to a child at barely 10).
Consequently, Ms. Cole's works always have this edge of darkness, this hint that at any moment, you might fall into the abyss of desperation at your feet. Her words paint a dreadful, realistic, striking picture full of hardships and drudgery, yet there is always emotion and a certain hope carrying through. You won't find soap-opera worthy glamour and decors in her work - she is gritty and simple to the basics.

In my own work (whether my novels or my blog), I am heavy on description. I love to string words to paint a picture in such a way that the people reading my words see the very picture (or as close as it can get given people's different frames of reference) I am seeing in my head.

For example, the first time my characters meet, whoever's POV I'm in will describe the other character physically so the reader can form this visual of the person in their mind. From there on, I'll give hints that refer to this initial description.
I'll show you this using a description and subsequent referring coming from Jane, my heroine in Storms in a Shot Glass (written as Nolwynn Ardennes, a contemporary romantic comedy), about how she literally sees Michael, the hero.

"... The metal doors slid open and a man stepped into the room as soon as the opening was wide enough for him to pass through. Her pen slipped from her grasp as she contemplated him.
He was dressed in an expertly tailored dark grey suit, the slacks hinting at long legs while the coat hugged his massive chest. He had broad shoulders and was tall, around six-three she’d bet.
Her gaze travelled to his face and she sucked in a breath. He was very handsome, his skin a light golden tone and hair dark as the mahogany wood in the room. His wide jaw was clamped shut, reducing his mouth to a thin slash.
He was also very angry; she could almost sense the heated vibes radiating off him, and this impression was confirmed when she saw his eyes. Deep set and dark, the fire in them was emphasized by the way his thick eyebrows met due to his frown.
He wasn’t someone to cross; this she knew as her mouth opened and she exhaled a small puff of air.
In a few strides, he crossed the room and came to stand before her desk. Jane had to crane her neck to gaze at his face. The walls seemed to close in on her as she took in the powerful shape of him, reducing her world to an airtight bubble where only she and this man existed.
“May I help you?” she croaked, running the tip of her tongue over her dry lips.
He watched her for long seconds. His eyes darted to the nameplate on her desk before he trained the full force of his midnight gaze on her face again.
“You sure will, Jane.”
His voice was low and the husky sound strummed in her whole body. ..."

This bit comes up a couple chapters later:

"... Reaching the end of the passage, she encountered a gaping doorway. Peeking in, she came across a well-appointed sitting room. It appeared to connect to a bedroom on the other side.
Michael’s chambers. Of course he occupied the main suite. Her legs tingled, desperate to go in and discover this very private sanctum of his. The place where he slept could shed so much light on the man he was. The image of Michael in bed, his big body sprawled on a crisp white sheet, buck naked, assailed her mind.
Jane gasped and jumped back. All her blood went to her knees and she propped a hand against the wall to steady herself, closing her eyes to regain her balance.
The image in her head refused to disappear, becoming even sharper. She saw him move his legs, languid, sensual strokes crumpling the sheet underneath him. Jane suddenly wished she could trade places with the bed linen. What would it be like to experience his hair-roughened limbs caressing her thighs as he threw one leg over her from behind and pulled her back to his chest...?
Stop it!
Her libido failed to hear the rebuke, instead making her think of his strong arms closing around her while he dipped his head and the tip of his tongue traced the contours of her collarbone. ..."

Now this is how Michael sees Jane:

"... Jane Smithers wasn’t what most people would call beautiful. Her features were too sharp and angular for that. The cheekbones slashed across her face and her chin was pointed, her nose aquiline. She was also an unusually tall woman and had a big-boned frame. The long, straight black hair softened her features a little, but she wore a no-nonsense expression on her face that would deter anyone who didn’t have serious business to undertake with her.
Still, she was... different. There was something about her he couldn’t quite shrug off. ..."

I'm also big on giving physical description where my scene location is concerned - I like to plant my setting, ground my reader into the place too, so she/he has a sense of place and location.
This is the description of the office of Jane's boss:

"... After fishing her keys from her purse, she dropped the leather tote next to her chair and opened the drawer containing the suede folder with all the confidential requests neatly arranged in it.
With the file clutched tightly in her hand, she closed the drawer with her hip and walked to the large, double-paneled doors leading to the most private sanctum of the bank after the vaults.
Her gaze scanned the wide, richly appointed room as she stepped in after a sharp knock. Tiny dust motes drifted in lethargic motions where the rays of the March sun slanted through the windows edged in heavy, tied-back red velvet curtains. Heavy books bound in green and gold were displayed on mahogany library shelves that ran along one whole wall, and dark wood furniture was strategically displayed around the office, making one think of the posh setting of a elegant country club.
Amidst all this Old World splendor, Jane couldn’t find a living soul. She groaned. He wasn’t here. Again. How many times would she have to tell him he was expected to physically be in the office during working hours?
A small sound caught her attention then, a little beep, followed by the swish of fabric moving against leather. Jane’s gaze landed on the executive chair. It was turned so that the back faced the door.
The sod. With quick but silent steps, she went around the chair and faced the distinguished-looking gentleman who sat there. ..."

I also describe emotion deeply and try as much as possible to get into my character's head an psyche - the same descriptive, almost lyrical angle, gets applied to the emotional thread too.

My voice goes deep. Yes, I'm long-winded too *grins* but in my stories, I turn this into a strength, using it to my advantage, to make my characters stand out as 3D and not cardboard cutouts.

I'm also gonna use a visual to explain voice - this one pertains to the movies but you might get the drift of what I'm trying to show here.
Imagine Quentin Tarantino v/s Ridley Scott. 2 very different directors with very different and unique ways and methods of presenting you with a movie.

Tarantino is more in-your-face. A movie I was watching recently, can't recall the title as I only caught a bit in between channel-surfing on the TV, had this line that made me chuckle - people were being killed faster than in a Tarantino movie!
Yes - lots of killing and violence in his movies (Kill Bill, Grindhouse). Lots of blood and gore too. He also has a certain way of panning the camera onto a still shot, with a crazy, quirky, anachronistic sound in the background (he does that a lot in Inglorious Basterds, esp when presenting the basterds and the Nazis these guys go after). Tarantino, in his 'dark atmosphere' films, also loves to play with a monochrome palette and having one single element stand out with a burst of colour (usually a blood red).

Now take Ridley Scott. Epic is what comes to my mind when I think of his movies. I'm thinking Gladiator, Robin Hood, and Kingdom of Heaven here. Lots and lots of detail, accurate reconstruction, battles with hundreds of soldiers, realism and grittiness pertinent to the age in question. Violence too, but it's not as blood-and-gore-in-your-face as Tarantino. Tarantino is visual, while Scott is visual in details but lets emotion and plot carry the movie through.
Yet, in his contemporaries too (think Body of Lies and A Good Year), he has this attention to detail and the plot has this characteristic feature that you don't know what's gonna happen - Ridley Scott's movies are never predictable.

So in the end, what is voice? It is that special something that makes you unique, that special spark that belongs only to you and that makes you float above the rest of works that might have similarities with yours.

How do you find it? It takes practice. When I first started writing, I knew what and how I wrote but I could not analyze my voice. It took 2-3 more mss to figure out that there was a singular, unique pattern to my words and the way I put them on the page/screen. In my non-fiction, aka my blogging, I discovered I'm big on pop culture references, especially when I'm trying to explain a concept or get a point across.
Whether you pick up my work as Aasiyah Qamar, Nolwynn Ardennes, and in the future Zee Monodee (hopefully *Smile*), you'll find my voice in there. You may have to take out the culture stuff in some works, but otherwise - that's definitely me writing an 'talking' to you on the page/screen.

I hope my insight helped.

What do you think of voice? And how would you describe yours?

From Mauritius with love,

Zee