What's on the Page?

The End is Near

As I'm homing in on the end of my WIP (work in progress), I'm wondering is this enough of a climax, will the reader feel satisfied with what I'm writing, is the hero acting out of character or is what he does believable? I guess I'm not going to fully know that until my critique partners read it and give me feedback. To me it makes sense and feels right. But it will be up to my writing to convey how I see the scene playing out and how the reader envisions it.

As writers we paint a visual picture with words and the reader adds their own nuances, shading, and sharpened detail as they read. But words, when not fitting to the character they have built in in their minds, jar the reader. Then the writer needs to work on how they convey the image.

That's where I feel while I could write a paragraph or two of details when a person enters a room, I try to pick out only the details that have the most impact on the character at the moment. And that's why the climax scene keeps playing out in my head over and over, and I'm trying to pick out the moments and images that will have the most impact and show the moment from the heroine's perspective to show her despair and not make the hero look like a jerk and unlike his character.

Have you read to the end of the book and then the climax/black moment made you question the rest of the book?

What's on the Page?

Saggy Middles

I’ve hit the halfway point on my WIP and while I don’t usually have a problem with saggy middles--that malady where a writer finds the story has slowed and grown boring before the exciting black moment and resolution--I’ve found myself in a quandary.

My hero and heroine just had their first “interlude”(nice for love scene). And now I have eight days before another significant historically accurate event, but I don't want to 1) fill it with fluff or 2) have the hero and heroine do anything that really moves the story froward.

the forward motion of this story is based on the historical elements and the hero and heroine's growth both romantically and in themselves. To keep the story moving forward there are the moments like this when I have to skip over a segment of time and yet not write it in such away that the reader feels like they’re being told what happened rather than living it with the characters.

I could just say, “Eight days later, Sa-qan…” But that also leaves the reader wondering what has gone on between the hero and heroine in those eight days. So I need to let them know they have barely seen each other. So maybe, “The past eight days Sa-qan and Wade captured brief moments before duty separated them once more. And now Sa-qan…” Borrinnggg!

Or go deeper POV, “Sa-qan pulled her recollections from her last brief encounter with Wade to the two warriors below approaching the Whiteman’s settlement. The past eight days she and Wade had put duty before their own yearnings, knowing it was best for her people. The encounter between Joseph and the soldier he approached require her undivided attention.”

By keeping it deep POV it makes the transition feel less like author intrusion, shows the delay in time, and keeps the story from become boring or saggy.

As a writer do you suffer from saggy middles? How do you try to avoid them?

Readers can you think of book you read that the middle slowed and almost put you to sleep?

What's on the Page?

I've started my book and now I have to keep the story on track. A good way to do this is by having a theme that you refer to as you write the book. It helps to keep the focus of the story.

My problem... I'm bad at theme. I just give it a line I think is the crux of the story. In the case of Spirit of the Sky the theme or my take on the story is: Even though we are all different we are all the same.

The reason behind this is the fact my hero is a cavalry officer and my heroine is a Nez Perce spirit. They are in essence at war with one another yet they find that though they have different mind sets they both want what is best for the Nez Perce, only they have differing ideas again of what that is. But they both harbor the same emotions and opinions of certain things.

So while the book is about differences, it is also about how though things appear different they are the same.

As a writer do you find a theme to your books? If so do you find it before you start the book or after it's written and incorporate it in the revisions? Readers, do you notice the themes in the books you read?

What's on the page?

Shout out- I'm blogging at Romancing the Book and Seduced by History today. Check them out.

The first page.

The next process in writing my latest book, now that I have my characters graphed and the conflict and plot figured out, is to decide where to start the book. We've all heard the beginning sentence, paragraph and page have to hook the editor, agent, and reader. So finding the starting place is crucial in hooking a reader and keeping them engaged in the story.

The reason I do so much character delving in the beginning is to not fill the first pages with the dreaded backstory. By knowing my characters well to start the story I don't have to write all the backstory to bring myself up to speed with their emotions and life at the start of the book. And you don't have to bring your reader up to speed either. They can plunge into the heart of the story and learn the backstory in nice little snippets you feed them along the way.

My complication with the story I'm working on now is the fact I am using a real historical event as part the main conflict between the hero and heroine. He's a cavalry officer and she's a Nez Perce spirit. His regiment is chasing the Nez Perce on their flight to Canada. This is a romance so the hero and heroine have to have contact.

I had to research the the battles and the path of the Nez Perce to determine where the hero and heroine could meet. The history lover in me wants to tell everything that happened up until the day the Nez Perce took off. But that would be boring backstory and doesn't draw the reader into the story with my main conflict. So I started the book with the first major onslaught by the army. Where they attacked while the Nez perce were sleeping and killed women, children, old people, and warriors. This is a gruesome start but it not only shows the great cavern the hero and heroine must overcome but sets the stage for the conflict throughout the story and drops the reader into the middle of action. Not to mention it is the first time I could get the hero within the the heroine's playing field and bring them together.

Finding the right starting point took several weeks of reading, researching, and deciding how to bring the two together.

And that is how I started my latest project.

Anyone else have a story of how they decided to start a book or story? Any readers out there ever read a book they felt started in the wrong place?