The Nixie's Song vs. 13 Treasures! by DL Larson

At my library, we take turns hosting four week long programs for different age groups. I usually take the 9-11 year old kids. This last month we did a comparison of two books: The Nixie's Song, Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles, by Tony DiTerlizza and Holly Black; and 13 Treasures, by Michelle Harrison.

The kids soon realized both stories were about fairies, and not the sweet little Disney kind. These fairies had serious issues and the characters became entangled with the fairy worlds created by the authors. We used Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide To The Fantastical World Around You. We searched the colorful pages and found the fairies mentioned in both books. The kids were quite surprised to discover a fairy from 13 Treasures in a Spiderwick Field Guide.

Then the kids noticed more similarities. One girl asked, "Did the author of 13 Treasures remake the first Spiderwick book?" I had no answer for her except, "I bet she read them, yes."

Another topic popped up. Action! The kids enjoyed the action from The Nixie's Song more than from 13 Treasures.  Now, don't get me wrong, the kids enjoyed both books. But I noticed they listened better and remembered more of The Nixie's Song because it was written with a good exchange of dialogue and simple words they understood. 13 Treasures vocabulary was a bit above them and they lost some of the plot in the long narrative.

Each week I pulled several vocabulary words from each book and posted them without definitions. I love playing word games and I asked each kid to select a word they wanted to know more about. Many of the words came from the 13 Treasures side of the board. They wanted to know what these big words meant.

Next week will be our final day of the program. We will play a game I made up for them. It's a bit like Jeopardy. We will have seven categories: three about The Nixie's Song: characters and plot, fairy mischief and vocabulary. We will have the same for 13 Treasures. The seventh category is UP 4 GRABS, mostly questions about the crafts and activities we did in the previous weeks.

Each week I encouraged the kids to take out any of the three books to read. So far, nearly everyone has taken home Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide, only a handful have taken The Nixie's Song, and no one has ventured to take 13 Treasures. I'm still hopeful they will be intrigued enough to check out one of these great books. This is the first time we have not read a whole book together. I hope with a bit more encouragement a few more will be tempted into reading one or both of the books.

So in running this program, I learned a few things to help my own writing. Using big words does not enhance the story. I knew this already, but it proved to be a good reminder. I was also reminded not to have page after page of narrative. Folks tend to skim over these parts and I want my readers to read each sentence.
Writers need to keep the plot moving and the characters growing and learning.

Even in children's books!

Til next time ~

DL Larson
www.DLLARSON.com

The Race Is On!

I'm doing my utmost to get Easter Basket ready before Easter, so I haven't been blogging much.
If I miss my deadline, I may need to change the title and make the book a Mother's Day one instead.
Time will tell! So far, this is what it looks like, unless I have to change the title!

Now, back to work on my book!

Find all of Morgan Mandel's romances and mysteries at
her Amazon Author Page:

http://www.amazon.com/author/morganmandel

Connect on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/morgan.mandel

Twitter: @MorganMandel

A Writing Retreat with Donald Maass! by DL Larson

Every time I take a writing class I feel I don't know a thing about writing. Someone changed the rules and everyone knew but me.

Once talking to other writers, I realized I was not alone with this feeling. Writing is a changing creature and if one expects to succeed, one must keep evolving too. Editors and publishers want a stronger, more involved story for readers. I believe all writers want this as well. We want our readers to become engaged with the story and characters. We want the reader to connect immediately with the protagonist.

We need to write the truth. If we don't give the reader the truth, what is the purpose of writing? We need to give the reader some deeper level of truth that resonates a connection with the characters. Truth moves us. Mr. Maass asked the class to write something from our life that would never be in our novel. He shared that this experience would most likely be something painful, hurtful or fearful. And much too personal to share. Then he told us ~ find a place in your story for your character to say that truth. When there is nothing left to lose, the truth comes out.

Another exercise was to write about a new experience we had. I wrote about my daughter having an emergency c-section. I hemorrhaged with each of my births and never quite got over that fear. I had already experienced a deep fear when my grandson was born too early. The fear nearly overwhelmed me. All turned out well and we were ever thankful for little Colton. Then it felt as if history repeated itself when my daughter had her son, Van. Except this time, the fear was for my daughter, her baby was fine. She was not. An eternity passed while we waited. Finally the doctor approached us. I couldn't breathe. My husband and I wilted against each other when our daughter was wheeled past us. I couldn't take my eyes off of her. Then I heard the doctor. Our daughter would be fine.

Mr. Maass told us to forget about safe writing. He asked if there was some place we could put our new experience in our WIP. I smiled, because I already have. So I have done something right after all!

Another topic we discussed was the saggy middle of the story. Many writers neglect this part of their story. It's an important part of any novel and needs attention just as the beginning and end. The middle needs to have surprises and twists. The POV character is going through experiences. These experiences need to be not only truthful, but self-awareness needs to evolve through whatever fear, abandonment, puzzlement the protagonist is involved in. The inner journey the character struggles with is changing and we as writers need to reveal this in new ways.

Here's an example: Her guts twisted in agony.  Delete that. In its place write the experience of the emotion so the reader's gut twists instead. Have the reader experience something they were not expecting. The intention is to stir up the inner emotions of the reader, not the character. Micro tension best describes this procedure. Tight emotions revealed on the page capture the readers empathy and they want to read more. They won't skim through the paragraphs waiting for more action. They will want to read every sentence. Neon emotions don't work. Writers need to give the reader the experience of the emotion they want to share.

We covered so many other topics in this workshop, I hope to share more with you another time. But I will leave you with a questionnaire to ask your POV character:

• What does your protagonist most want?
• What does he/she want to avoid at all costs?
• What does he/she want to accomplish, no matter what?
• What is the one thing he/she needs to become?
• Who is the one person your POV character will never trust?
• Who is the person your POV character trusts the most?

Whatever your answers may be, make the opposite come true in your story. Easy success is boring. Give your readers the challenging ride they deserve. Creating obstacles raises the stakes for your character and enhances the reading level of your audience. Writing your character out of a mess they've created is what good writing is all about.

Good Luck!
Til next time ~

DL Larsonwww.DLLARSON.com

PS: for those interested: Donald Maass has writing books to help you develop your writing skills. The one he used for our class: Writing 21st Century Fiction.

Donald Maass
Donald Maass Literary Agency

Commitment Madness! by DL Larson

I feel a bit like Chicken Little in the reverse. Instead of saying, "the sky is falling!" I'm tempted to holler, "the snow is melting!" And that is a great thing! Spring is slipping into Illinois in a nice way for a change. It's exciting and already most have shed their winter coats for hoodies or no coat at all. I saw a few brave souls in flip-flops today. Oh, to have my toes free!  Free of socks and boots! It's what dreams are made of!

I've been looking forward to this weekend for several months now - it's our Windy City RWA writers retreat. I've been excited about this even though it's my husband's birthday this weekend. He's urged me to go and so I will. But the snow is melting! I want to put out some spring decorations! I want to celebrate my husband's birthday in nice weather! It's usually so icky out in mid-March, this patch of nice weather is addicting. I had my windows down!

Then there is the other commitments that crept up. Our community choir was asked to sing at a person's funeral this Saturday. I've known this family for years. I'd love to sing with the choir, but I'll be at the writers retreat and unable to help out. I've been asked to bring a dessert for the dinner afterwards - a cake. That's just another thing that feels weird about this weekend. I'm making a cake for a funeral but not for my husband's birthday. My sweet daughter-in-law volunteered to make my husband's cake since I won't be around. Homemade cakes are a BIG deal in our family. And then, my two wonderful daughters are making the dinner because I won't have time. I'm soooooo grateful, yet feeling a tad guilty I'm not cooking my husband's birthday dinner. Again, home cooked food is a BIG thing in our family!

And finally, a good friend of ours is having a party tomorrow night! It's a celebration too since he has recovered from a bone cancer transplant. I don't want to miss the get-together. But I've committed my time to the writers retreat and won't be able to attend that either.

It comes down to commitment madness! If I decided to stay home, my family would be upset with me. I need this retreat. I need this time to devote to my writing. I know that! No matter how many times I tell myself this, I still feel selfish for choosing my priority over others. I'm going to blame my mother for this ... putting everyone else before my own needs. It's definitely the way I was raised.

Unless my upbringing gets the best of me, I will attend the writers retreat. I'll let you know how it went next time. It should be a fantastic time. Donald Maass is the presenter, and he will talk about writing 21st Century Fiction.

Til next time ~

DL Larsonwww.DLLARSON.com

Getting Hooked on a Series

Some authors have success by writing their books in a series. In a way, it seems hard, thinking up new plots for recurring characters in each book, but there are also advantages. The more you write about a character or place, the more you come to know, and the more nuances you can reveal to the readers.

Lately, I've gotten hooked watching such TV series as The Listener, Blue Bloods, Judging Judy, and Bones. By watching them in order, I can catch all the fine points, jokes, and references I might otherwise have missed by seeing them randomly.

I have dabbled into series writing, and hope to do more. I've heard the more books in a series, the more chances a reader can get hooked and want to read them all in order, like I've been doing watching my favorite TV shows.

When I wrote Her Handyman, I had no idea I'd follow up with A Perfect Angel, but I felt sorry for one of the characters and had to make life better for her. So, that ended up being a two book series, but might turn into more, after I finish a few other books first.




I'd like to complete Easter Basket, which would be the second in a holiday series. First was Christmas Carol. Both feature inhabitants of the fictional town, Deerview, Wisconsin.





I'm not sure which holiday might come next, as I still have a few other books to finish.

What about you? Are you hooked on a particular TV series or book series? Or, have you written a book series?







Find all of Morgan Mandel's romances
and mysteries at her Amazon Author Page:
http://www.amazon.com/author/MorganMandel

Excerpts: http://www.morgansbloglinks.blogspot.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/morgan.mandel

Twitter: @MorganMandel

Listen To Your Words! by DL Larson

I'm a music nut. I might not always know the performer's name, I may not know all the words to any particular song, but I do love a good melody. Readers do the same with the written word. They may pick up a book that visually intrigues them, but after a few sentences, they place it back on the shelf. Why? Usually, the reason is the words on the page didn't intrigue them as they hoped. I'm talking about style.

The way we, as writers, put our words together is important. I've attended many workshops on writing style and it always comes down to a few basic rules. Words need to create an image or impression to the reader in order to capture their attention. Then words must continue to enrapture the reader to keep them reading.

How does a writer accomplish such a monumental task? Work, work, work! Actually, the repeated word 'work' has a hint of style in it. It lends itself to not giving up, to keep on with the task at hand, to continue on, no matter what! Yet, all I wrote was, 'work, work, work.'

Also the word, 'work,' has a nice crunch to it. It gives the reader that grrrr feeling. It's a basic, elemental, primal urge to hear more strong sounding words. It's an action word over a passive one. Action creates movement in a reader's mind.

If you have a passage that lags, undoubtedly your style is lagging too. You may read it out loud and think it sounds okay, you're saying what you meant to say. But does it have flavor? Does it conjure up a particular image, or pull at some emotion? I tell my chess players, "find a good move, then discover a better one before you actually make a move." What you have written may not be wrong, it simply lacks luster and imagination.

Another simple way to work on style is to read your passage aloud. I know, you've been told this over and over. But listen as a musician listens to his orchestra. Is one word a little too sharp for the content of the sentence? Or fall flat? Is something missing? An unsung note perhaps that needs filling in. Is something out of tune with the rest of the paragraph or story? Is it too abrupt? Or not enough contrast? Is the balance in perfect pitch with the surrounding sentences?

I sing alto with our church choir and there are times when my friend and I will know automatically one of us was not on the correct note. No matter who was right on or off, we both knew it didn't sound the way it was supposed to sound. The result ended in discord. The wrong note had been sung just as times the wrong word is typed out and left to dangle like a broken reed.

If your story ebbs and flows like a symphony, then you have found your style. If it bleeps and spits and sounds more like a monkey banging away on his symbols, you need to work on your style. The sound of words give strength to your writing, if you put them in the correct order!

Let your words sing!

Til next time ~

DL Larson
www.DLLARSON.com

Fun and Games at Tax Time!

I've been trying to get my tax stuff together for the accountant, so haven't had time to do much else. Every year, I promise myself to be more organized. I thought I'd done better this year, but discovered I still had tons of stuff to get ready. It's almost all together now.

Yesterday, I had one drawback. I list various categories on Excel spreadsheets each year and save the file with the year name and the category. I'd pulled up the prior year's spreadsheet in one category and made a number of entries into it and saved it. Then, I realized I'd automatically saved it under the old name, which meant I'd lost the version from last year on my computer. Yes, I have a printed copy, but it's still not the same.

Fortunately, my subscription to Carbonite came in handy. At first, I looked and couldn't find the prior version before I'd made the changes, but then I read their instructions again, and found the one saved last year, and was able to recover it.

So, it does pay to have a backup system!

Today, I'm going to wrestle with why Amazon sent me two statements for receipts, and neither matches what they deposited into my writing account.

So, my advise is you can never be too organized when it comes to taxes. Also, get a backup system if you don't have one!

Find Morgan Mandel's
Romances, Mysteries & Thrillers
at http://amazon.com/author/MorganMandel

Excerpts at: http://morgansbooklinks.blogspot.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/morgan.mandel

Twitter: @MorganMandel