Kernels of the Craft
This year, I have been studying three books about the craft that have given me new perspective on developing a novel. The book, Story Genius: How to Outline Your Novel Using the Secrets of Brain Science (Before You Waste Three Years Writing 327 Pages That Go Nowhere) Book by Lisa Cron has been, by far, the most annoying one. In the very first chapter she outlined something that took me three years writing 327 pages that go nowhere to learn.
“Story is about an internal struggle, not an external one. It’s about what the protagonist has to learn, to overcome, to deal with internally in order to solve the problem that the external plot poses.” (pg. 18, Kindle Edition)
From there, I knew I had to take my time with this book, because it has kernels of knowledge that will help me grow, step by step, as a writer.
The second book was the one I started reading at the beginning of the year with a group of aspiring and published authors. Finding Water: The Art of Perseverance by Julia Cameron has put me in an interesting state of mind. By making myself read it whenever I am not particularly focused enough to write, I have managed to rewrite my novel two times in the past five months. That being said, it may not be for everyone.
The third book, the one I sped through the fastest in the past two weeks, is titled Take Off Your Pants!: Outline Your Books for Faster, Better Writing by Libbie Hawker. The only reason I picked up this book was because an author friend (Note: MARIA E. ANDREU) told me she wanted to share outlines because we were in the same place with the new books we were writing. She then described the format for her outline would be a mix-up between The Hero’s Journey and this book.
My response was, and I quote, “Yes please! I have been doing what I do best--world building with no thought to the plot. I do need a plot outline.”
Being the professional that I am, I did not admit that I had never read the book by Libbie Hawker. When I did, I took her character arc outline straight out of the book to implant into my new novel.
Here are the few kernels of knowledge I have gleaned so far from my extracurricular studies:
Build your character’s backstory with a specific focus (their flaw). This will give you a wealth of knowledge to learn how they will face the hurdles in your novel and release you from the burden of that-one-time-they-lost-a-puppy-and-it-was-really-sad-but-not-at-all-important-to-the-narrative. Not doing this at all means that your character may crumple or act in unrealistic ways at the first difficulty they face. And that’s lame.
Because I write ambitious worlds with many motivations from different actors in those worlds, creating character arcs based off of Libbie Hawker’s book has been viciously delightful. It has challenged me to create new situations that would push my characters to their absolute limits, something I hesitate to do when I have gotten too entrenched in the novel. In my case, the “kill your darlings” mantra is much better done in advance than along the way; at least then I can emotionally prepare myself.
Find something to read that will not completely entrench you in its narrative when you are finding it difficult to write. Being okay with reading the same chapter over and over again while the gears start clicking has been extremely helpful to me, especially since it has kept me away from my phone and laptop.
Most of all, make sure to take care of yourself. Sometimes chores need to be done. Sometimes you need to make a good meal to feed yourself properly. Sometimes you need to go outside and reset your brain with nature. That is all okay.
After all, kernels take time, heat, and energy to turn into popcorn. And, once it's ready, it goes fast.