Laurie Elmquist, author

First Reader

2011-10-07T11:29:00.000-07:00

The idea of writing for your best reader, whether it is your best friend or your mother who loves everything you write, is not a new one. Many writers have such people in their lives -- a first reader -- someone they trust, someone who reads a first draft and understands where the story is going even if the writing is not quite there yet.

And when the story is being written and rewritten, somehow this first reader sits close by, not literally you understand, but in the reader's mind. Like when you are writing something really funny, part of the pleasure is making this first reader laugh.

So, I like this idea. But the trouble is, I've never been able to decide: who is this one person I'm supposed to be writing to? Sometimes I think it's my sister because she was there growing up with me in a small town. She would get the references to the steep hill going out of Wiarton and at the base of it, the beer store that always caused a lot of traffic congestion. She would laugh at my jokes.

But sometimes it's not her at all. Sometimes it feels like I'm telling the story to my neighbour who doesn't know anything about Ontario or snow or growing up in a small town. But she knows birds and I'm writing about birds so she's my first reader.

Maybe I'm not monogamous.

I'm reading Elizabeth Hay's fabulous novel, Late Nights on Air. There's this scene where Gwen asks Harry about his imaginary listener (both of them work in radio.)

"That person you pretend you're talking to when you're on air?" She looked up. "Who is it?"

Harry smiled, "My imaginary listener? He's a man in his sixties who comes home tired from work and he goes down to the basement to his workbench and builds model boats. And while he's doing that he listens with rapt attention to me."

Whether you have one kind reader, or a cast of kind readers, or an imaginary reader, I like the idea. It keeps me writing. It creates an intimacy I don't think my writing would otherwise have. I think I take risks knowing that I can hang onto this reader's hand and they'll yank me up again, dust me off if I fail.

Now...back to writing.

Child Narrator/Wise Author

2011-08-01T10:26:00.000-07:00

If you are writing a story/memoir in which the narrator is nine years old and you are wondering how you combine a nine year old's voice with the wisdom of a forty-something author, this blog is for you!!

The best example of this is Alice Munro's Lives of Girls and Women. I keep it on my desk at all times.

The character Del starts off as a nine year old just like you want to do. Del narrates the story and by the end she's about eighteen or so. So right away, it's a good model to show that developing narrator. It is told in first person, but 3rd is fine too if you're doing that lovely "limited third person" which is so close to first person.

So all lights are green. If you could just pay close attention to what Munro is doing in terms of narration, everything will be cool. It's a combo of young girl and this "other component" let's call it "the narrator." Now, I have to say, that you need to keep that young girl's voice and that intruding too much with an "older narrator" is not going to sound good.

Let's look at Munro.

"Can you write?" said Uncle Benny to me, at his place, when I was reading on the porch and emptying tea leaves from a tin teapot; they dripped over the railing. "How long you been goin' to school? What grade are you in?"

"Grade Four when it starts again."

"Come in here."

He brought me to the kitchen table, cleared away an iron he was fixing and a saucepan with holes in the bottom, brought a new writing-pad, bottle of ink, a fountain pen. "Do me some practice writing here."

(Okay so the scene continues like that. Now let's look at a bit of narration).

He could read very well but he could not write. He said the teacher at school had beat him and beat him, trying to beat writing into him, and respected her for it, but it never did any good. When he needed a letter written he usually got my father and mother to do it.

Okay, notice the adult narrator voice never intrudes over top of the child voice. The vocabulary stays in a nine year old's grasp. The child is in reporting mode. So where is the wisdom coming from? Ahh, that's coming from the author/narrator. It's really subtle but what the author/narrator chooses to focus on is the key. The author/narrator is focusing on a serious topic: literacy.

So, in conclusion. The voice is the nine year old child's. The author's voice never intrudes -- only her wisdom, only her sensibility if you will.

Don't know if this helps you, but I hope so!!!

All you need is a COMPUTER to read an EBOOK

2011-07-17T15:24:00.001-07:00

Here's how it's done if you want to read an ebook available on Amazon.com.

1. Go to Amazon.com
2. Put the author's name into the Search: Laurie Elmquist
3. Click on the book you'd like to purchase: My Mother's Dress.
4. On this page, you'll find details about the book such as a product description and editorial reviews. It's a good idea to read these so you know what you are buying. My Mother's Dress is a single essay (5000 words).
5. At the right of the screen are three options. (You will choose the third!!) The first is Buy it Now. The second one (scroll down) is Sample a Selection. The third option is: Read books on your computer or other mobile devices. (This is the one you want to click on to get the FREE app.)
6. You will see a list of options:

GET KINDLE FOR PC

GET KINDLE FOR IPHONE

GET KINDLE FOR BLACKBERRY

GET KINDLE FOR IPAD

GET KINDLE FOR ANDROID

If you want to read ebooks on your computer, it's the first one.

There's lots of reasons why you might want to sample the experience of an ebook without the expense of buying a Reader. This blog tells you how you can be up and reading for as little as the price of a book -- 1.99 for My Mother's Dress (smile!!)

I hope this blog entry is helpful.

Novels do not take place on a regular day!

2011-07-12T06:18:00.000-07:00

My new novel is underway, a delicious stage where anything is possible. It's a good time to consider that readers crave exciting experiences and extraordinary insight. They want to be taken on a journey. I'm trying to ask a lot of What if? as I go.

What if the ice on the lake isn't as solid as my narrator thinks it is? Or a question like this: What's the worst thing my narrator could do? Remember that novels do not take place on an ordinary day. They pull together all the extraordinary bits in a year or ten years and distill it into something full of tension and intrigue, and yes....even in a literary novel. Especially in a literary novel.

My Mother's Dress -- second ebook "short"

2011-07-09T18:41:00.000-07:00

If you have ever crocheted or been given a blanket (poncho, vest, hat, sweater) crocheted by a loved one, you will enjoy My Mother's Dress. Besides being about a dress, it's a story about surviving Ontario winters. When my family moved from the city to the country, my mother wasn't exactly prepared for the adventure, especially the isolation of winter. You'll find the story on Amazon.com.

My ebook is for sale on Amazon.com

2011-06-16T15:56:00.000-07:00

What a great feeling to post my first ebook. The collection is called Back to the Land and the first 2000 word memoir is called My Father's Parrot (available at Amazon.com).

I'm already hard at work on my second one, My Mother's Dress, which will be published by the end of the summer. I'm hooked on the idea of presenting them as ebooks. I like having input into the cover concept. I like seeing the books for sale on Amazon. I've been working on them for the last ten years, so it feels wonderful to publish them.

I hope you enjoy the books.

My Father's Parrot

2011-06-04T10:36:00.001-07:00

Lately I've been blogging about my first ebook, a memoir called My Father's Parrot. I thought I'd post a picture from the 70s of my father with Lapa. He's feeding the bird a grape.

Parrots only bond with one other person (usually it's another bird but a person will do). My father brought out the best in our parrot. He could flip the bird over on his back and tickle his belly, he could get Lapa to dance an old-man shuffle, and he could get him to talk and imitate the noise of the vacuum.

Becoming an Indie Author

2011-06-03T10:13:00.000-07:00

In order to publish my own books, I've established a company called Wildwood Ebooks. I've registered it with British Columbia. Name Search: $14.00 and Cost of Registration:$ 72.00 (You can do your name search for free, but I didn't know this at the time.)

I've applied for an ISBN number for my ebook.

Now onto preparing the manuscript!

I'm following the requirements as specified by Kindle Direct Publishing, but I've decided to upload an html document, rather than a .doc file. It's a bit more complicated, but I've gone this route because various people said that it will yield a better result.

Cover Art: I've given the following information to the designer:

Horizontally: minimum of 500 pixels
Vertically: minimum of 1280 pixels

Be sure to Save at 72 dots per inch (dpi) for optimal viewing on the web.

The cover will be delivered to me as a JPEG and then I'll insert it into my document.

So far so good!!

Converting your file to an ebook.

2011-06-03T09:25:00.000-07:00

One of the biggest questions I had at the beginning of the process was how to convert my file to an ebook. Was it something I could do myself? Did I have to hire a company to convert the file for me? If so, what company? Who was offering a file conversion service?

Short answer: there are companies who will convert your file for you. The charge seems to be around $150-$200. Remember, you're just paying for file conversion. You don't have to give up any royalties or control over the process. One such company is eBook Architects (Joshua Tallent) who came highly recommended to me. Wait time for your converted file: 10 weeks.

Joel Friedlander has put together a list of eBook conversion service providers but when I try to put the link in here, it always disappears. Not sure what that is all about, but I'd suggest you Google ebook conversion directory and see what turns up for you.

But I decided not to go with a conversion company. I decided to create a Kindle ebook and distribute my ebook through Amazon. The site is Kindle Direct Publishing. Now, if you watch the Youtube video, it looks really simple and maybe it is. You just load up your doc file (not docx) and Kindle Direct Publishing converts it for you.

Trouble is, some people say you are better off loading an html document into Kindle Direct Publishing. I decided to create an html document rather than run the risk of poor results. I used something called Emerald Editor, also called Crimson Editor, to create an html document. Then I used Mobipocket Creator to edit my html document and preview it. Then I uploaded this version to Kindle Direct Publishing.

So this route is more work than handing over your file to a conversion service, but it doesn't cost anything. It makes sense to do the conversion myself since I'm going to be putting up a series of short ebooks. Thankfully, you can get help from the Community -- a discussion forum on Kindle Direct Publishing. Also, I'm learning about html simply by googling questions like: How do I centre text in html?

It's been a steep learning curve, but at least I found a way that worked and didn't cost me anything.

Ebooks -- Covers

2011-05-31T12:39:00.001-07:00

Moving ahead on my ebook cover. The designer asked me to go online and have a look at feathers since I wanted a feather on my cover. Not that the designer will use these feathers, but they will give her some idea of what I have in mind. I wanted a feather that looked like it had been through the wash and I wanted a parrot feather. The name of the memoir is My Father's Parrot.

I sent Dee two feathers from Google Images that are not the right feather but had qualities I was looking for. One was all rumpled but too pointy. Another had the right attitude but was too stubby.

Next, I looked at thumbnails. I went to Amazon and had a look at ebooks and chose three that I liked and two that I didn't. Surprisingly, because I consider myself a minimalist, I liked a book cover with big type on the front. I liked it because I could read the title so easily. Another one I chose on the basis of colour. I liked the warm, sunset red colour. The third I chose because of the whimsical image and how it drew me in to want to know more.

Out of the two covers I didn't like, one had type that was so small I couldn't read the title or author's name. Why else are you looking at a cover? The second one was a cover that I kept seeing again and again as I scrolled through the ebooks, which I thought was really odd. Was it some sort of commercial cover available through a program? It wasn't the same author and the topics seemed to vary wildly. Anyway, I just wanted to steer away from anything that looked similar.

In addition to these pics which I emailed to Dee, I gave her the title and author name and a request for no caps and a round font. "Round" is not very specific but I wanted a font that didn't take itself too seriously.

Dee wrote me back asking me what size I wanted to see in terms of a proof. Right away, I knew I wanted to see a thumbnail size (1 inch x 1 1/2 inches) and I requested to see an e-reader size. My ereader is a Sony and the screen measures 3 1/2 x 5 inches. I'm not sure if it costs any extra to see two sizes, but I thought these two sizes were important to preview.

That's all for covers!

Taking the Next Step: Ebooks

2011-05-29T13:25:00.000-07:00

Let's talk book covers. It was fun to go into the bookstore with my friend and graphic designer, Dee. She began by asking me, "What stands out for you?" What followed was the kind of discussion you always dream of having where you get to match the cover to the content of your book.

Authors rarely get a say into their covers and maybe there's a good reason for it, but yesterday I couldn't find one. With Dee's knowledge of design and my knowledge of what was in the book, we came up with a terrific concept. Since each entry in the memoir will be its own 99 cent book, we needed a design that we could use about twelve times, altering the image and background colour.

Since, the book is about the back-to-the-land movement, I'm favouring 70s colours like lime green which was the colour of my parents' walls. Very 70s. Not only were the walls lime green, they were textured with a very sharp gritty substance, so whenever anyone scraped against the wall, they left some blood behind. But that's another story.

So, I'm feeling good about the process so far. I've got design and production covered. Last night I wrote up some of the information at the front of the book such as the disclaimer and copyright information and a list of contributors. I wrote up the author biography. The memoir is edited and ready to go. Dee will deliver the cover as a JPEG.

But what then? How do I convert the doc. file to the necessary ebook formats? Today, I discovered that Mobi is the format for Amazon and ePub is the format for Sony, B&N, and Apple. I need to find out a lot more about conversion. Who is doing it and what does it cost? Online, I found a company out of England that will give me both formats for a total of $160. They called it their standard conversion package.

I checked into Bookbaby which starts with a $99 fee, but adds on $39 for converting a PDF and then about $20 for an ISBN number and an annual fee of $19. But it wasn't the money that made me nervous; they take over the process too much for me. They convert the file but they also "deliver" it. Then they also collect your money for you. So when Amazon pays the author royalites, it goes to Bookbaby. Bookbaby doesn't take a cut of it, but they do charge an annual fee. It's not the kind of arrangement I'm looking for.

I know I can deliver the book to Amazon myself and cut out the middleman. But how?

I'm still exploring all my options, but I'll let you know what I find out.

Why just talk about ebooks? Why not do it?

2011-05-27T16:22:00.001-07:00

I've decided to test the ebook waters. I'm going to take one of my memoirs called My Father's Parrot and sell it on Amazon for $2.99. It's 2000 words in length. It's part of a series I'm writing called, Back to the Land and it's a humorous account of how my father hauled his family out of city-life and into rural Ontario.

It starts with my father's purchase of a parrot and his dreams to give this parrot a better life. In order to build the bird an aviary, we pack up everything and head north where land is cheaper and the living ain't so easy.

But before I get ahead of myself, I thought I'd document all the steps I'm taking to learn about ebook publishing. Like anything, it's going to require some work. Here's what I've done so far:

Step 1: I've decided to go through Kindle Direct Publishing, Amazon's self-publishing site. It is full of good information.
Step 2: Talked to my friend who is a graphic designer and asked her if she'll help design a cover. According to everything I've read, covers are very important. I need a brand, a cover that my readers will recognize and say, "Ah, the latest chapter of that Back to the Land saga -- that crazy father and all his zany ideas."
Step 3: Looked at Amanda Hocking's covers. Not that my memoir is about vampires (although there are plenty of bats) but Hocking's got the right idea when it comes to thumbnails, branding, and colour.
Step 4: Booked myself an author photo shoot with a fabulous photographer: Ryan Rock. Also a friend!
Step 5: Edited my manuscript. I was very fortunate to have My Father's Parrot edited by Pam Chamberlain who put together the anthology, Country Roads, and who is currently putting together an anthology about animals and their importance in our lives.
Step 6: Started to make notes about formatting the book. I've been reading about Amazon's requirements.

So, already this project of mine is involving a graphic designer, a photographer, an editor, and me. Oh, and I can't forget, the friend who initially sent me all these wonderful articles that got me excited about ebooks, so that makes five people so far. It really does take a village! I'll let you know how it goes.

Sell a Short Story as an E-book for .99

2011-05-22T20:30:00.000-07:00

I never thought about selling one short story as an ebook. What a concept!

This article has some fascinating information about ebook publishing and authors who are making good money from their books. It opened up my eyes.

http://thenextweb.com/media/2011/03/07/the-economics-of-self-publishing-an-ebook/

Amanda Hocking E-book Success Story

2011-05-22T20:14:00.000-07:00

She's 26 years old and she's selling her e-books like hotcakes. Here's an article about Amanda Hocking:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110324/ap_en_ot/us_books_amanda_hocking

E-books

2011-05-22T19:46:00.000-07:00

I just read a very informative article about creating e-books. You might want to check it out:

http://reviews.cnet.com/how-to-self-publish-an-e-book

Suspense

2011-03-09T10:08:00.001-08:00

I awoke after last night's writing with some thoughts about this question of when to cut away from a scene. So let's say you get the action up and running. That's good. In fact, that's a feat in itself. Get the action happening on stage, get it happening to the right person, build some tension and then cut away.

But I realized, last night I'd cut away too soon. It's not enough to introduce the big dilemma if you don't play with it a bit. So this morning I went back in and added another scene so the reader could enjoy the suspense of the thing a bit more. I wanted the reader to feel like I do when I watch a good movie and I'm hanging onto the dog, and telling the person on the screen, "Don't do that. Don't turn the door knob. Don't go inside."

I'm not writing a thriller but I understand the importance of suspense, at least I'm starting to. It takes a long time to understand where to cut to a new scene in order to build suspense but also when to LINGER in order to create suspense. I'm starting to listen to my body more when I write, if that makes any sense. I'm starting to feel my way through the story.

Building Blocks of Plot

2011-03-07T09:20:00.000-08:00

Here are some steps that may be helpful to you in terms of structuring the plot:

1. Initial philosophy revealed, the status quo established. (The story doesn't have to start here, but you should know your central character's baseline.)

2. Inciting incident. Something happens to kickstart the action.

3. You have one central character and only one. She wants something intensely and it is this intensity that will motivate her to act. (No passive central characters.)

4. She struggles to achieve her goal. (And you see to it that her struggle is as difficult as possible). Escalate the difficulties. Struggle implies a protracted effort. In the scenes that build the character resists change. Holds onto belief system.

5. Midpoint of the story/chapter, the character is closest to achieving what she/he wants. Within grasp but he or she loses it.

6. Crisis: The character faces such questions as: Do I give up? Do I change what I want? Do I dig my heels in deeper? Do I fool myself into thinking I don't care? What am I made of? Biggest dilemma of her/his life. The central character is the furthest away from success. Zero hope.

7. Climax: Show how the narrator has changed. What does the character do?

8. Resolution: End with a different belief system. As a result of her struggle, she gets what she wants or does not. Maybe she gets something else, but there is a resolution.

Lines Blur Between Adult and Teen Novels!

2011-02-23T19:22:00.000-08:00

After a busy fall semester teaching creative writing, I'm once again back at my desk as a full-time writer. Whew. The hat feels a bit loose like I've lost some weight.

I'm revising my novel which my agent tells me reads like a young adult novel. I'm embracing her expertise and the idea that my novel will appeal to sixteen-year olds and others who are young at heart.

A friend sent me this recent article in the Vancouver Sun that has wonderful things to say about cross-over novels that appeal to adults and youths.

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Lines+blur+between+adult+teen+novels/4314730/story.html

So You Think You Can Write Dialogue -- Round #4

2010-10-24T15:59:00.000-07:00

It's the final week of the Times Colonist contest and this week’s writing is full of fairy godmothers, goddesses, and happy endings. Everyone resisted the Highway of Tears. If we could rewrite the sadness and loss of missing women, we would, I suppose. These stories expressed a longing to protect, to rewrite the story, to surprise the reader with the unexpected.

For this writing prompt, I gave my own story. I was twenty-two and routinely worked the closing shift as a bartender at a golf and country club. One night, when I missed the last bus home, I hitched a ride with a tow-truck driver who lectured me about the dangers of hitching a ride with strangers. He then delivered me safely to my door. He was my fairy god mother.

I want to thank all the writers who took part in the contest. I can’t imagine what they went through to produce a new piece of writing every week, all the things in their busy lives they set aside. It was such an honour to be a judge and to have an opportunity to encourage and critique these assignments. Sometimes my first choice didn’t coincide with “the judge’s first choice.” Overall, however, I could see agreement on what we considered to be “good writing.” I believe the disagreement was over what we considered “a good story.”

That’s just my take on things. It’s been a wonderful ride and I enjoyed every minute of it. Next year, I look forward to kicking back and reading what the new judges have to say, and popping my vote in along with all the other readers.

So You Think You Can Write -- Round #3

2010-10-19T11:56:00.000-07:00

Anybody can write fiction, right? It’s a story. We tell stories since the time we are old enough to talk. “He took my bike.” That’s a story.

Not true.

Fiction is different. Show don’t tell.

It’s dialogue.

It’s action unfolding in front of our eyes.

It’s the banana seat or as Raymond Carver taught us, “the telling detail.”

It’s a spell cast over the reader so the present moment becomes something else.

Who cast the best spell this week? I asked of each entry. Which one made me feel I’d stepped into the story at just the right moment? Whose story could I not put down? These were the questions I asked until I came to the clear winner, for me. That’s it, I thought when I’d finished Norris-Jones’ story. That’s the one.

To read Everybody Hurts simply go to this link.

http://www.timescolonist.com/news/writing-contest/index.html

So You Think You Can Write a Poem -- Round #2

2010-10-12T08:55:00.000-07:00

When creating the assignment for Round #2, Carla Funk suggested we provide the writers with an image, but what image?

I had been watching Dateline and they were showing all these houses in Detroit that were abandoned and burned, but left standing. The image stuck with me. "Burned out house in Detroit," I suggested.

Carla and Rob both agreed it had something to offer. "Take out Detroit," advised Rob, "make it more open."

Although it was a dark image, and Carla feared that poetry already had a reputation for being morose, we went ahead with it.

Little did we know that one of our finalists would be an insurance adjuster who had seen his share of house fires. Trevor Presley's poem impressed me with its details, things that I thought only someone who had seen the effect of fire firsthand would know.

His poem cautions us to recognize the power of fire. He writes, "It started with Grandma’s soup simmering. An open window, a paper towel, a breeze. Combustion."

Yes, I thought. Fire starts that easily, slips in a window when no one is watching.

How do we learn about the world? Through the experiences of others and their generosity in writing about those experiences. The contestants reponded to the assignment with a range of forms from the winner's pared down lyric poem, to the expansiveness of Presley's prose poem to Dean Norris-Jones' traditional villanelle.
It was a pleasure to read them all.

So You Think You Can Write -- Round #1

2010-10-03T19:38:00.000-07:00

I know it’s not funny to laugh at a dog’s misfortune but when Lee Moss wrote, “I remember the day my dog accidentally lost his testicles” I laughed out loud because I never imagined anyone taking the phrase, "I remember the day" and ending it that way. The five finalists submitted their creative nonfiction pieces to the Times Colonist on Monday and I got down to work reading them.

I appreciated every single entry, I did. I took something away from each one whether it was an image of a single-room home darkened by smoke, or an effective line of dialogue: “You’re a useless carpenter, mate,” he said. “Useless.” I learned things. I learned about the radiation bullet, iodine 131, and what it takes to swallow it, and about how the world looks through a colonoscopy. And yes, even for that last one, I was grateful. These writers took risks.

Now, having said that, when I read over the submissions I thought there were a couple of people who might have to step up their game. There are some writers here who are setting the bar high and taking this opportunity seriously. The contest is a chance for the writers to publish their work and to reach a large audience.

There are many competitions out there, but few of them publish the work involved. Publication credits are enormously valuable to a writer. They open doors to grants, to other writing schools, and agents and publishers. As any writer will tell you, it’s hard to get your work published, and so my advice to these writers is to grab this chance. I mean, really take it and run... and dream big. You never know what’s going to come out of it. Much more than the prize, I suspect.

"So You Think You Can Write?"

2010-09-21T18:47:00.001-07:00

Sometimes in the solitary world of a writer, a window opens and a neighbour from across the street calls over, “Saw your picture in the TC!” and gives you a thumbs up. Since Sunday’s newspaper hit the streets introducing the judges for the “So You Think You Can Write?” contest, I’ve become a little more visible.

This morning, my favourite birder, who walks Dallas Road with his walker in hand and a pair of binoculars around his neck, stopped me. “I didn’t know you were a writer,” he said. “I wish I could write.” I wish I knew a tiny fraction of what he knows about waxwings, but all I could do was smile and nod.

I’m not used to the attention. Not used to having a man call down from his ladder, “Didn’t know we had a celebrity judge on our street!” I didn’t know there were so many people who read the Times Colonist. Would they follow the contest? I wondered. Would they vote for their favourite writer? Would they boo the judges’ decisions?

I’ve already been tagged as the “emotional judge.” In an interview for the Camosun website, I confessed to liking stories that moved me to laughter and tears. Isn’t that what all good literature does? But I guess people are looking for different kinds of experiences when they read. So, I’ll take the title and try not to get too emotional about it.

I’m looking forward to the contest, to learning the names of the finalists. We don't know yet who the writers are because it was a blind judging. I'm looking forward to the actual part where the writers perform before the reading public and the judges get to talk about writing. It’s a conversation I’ve been having for a long time with students and other writers. But this is a chance to have it right out in the open, like cleaning one’s gutters or weeding the garden.

In closing, I wanted to thank TC's Tanya Chasse whose idea it was to run this contest. Without her, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. “So You Think You Can Write?” contestants will be announced this Sunday in the TC and I, for one, will be running next door to steal my neighbour’s newspaper to learn the names.

Blocking the Movement of Characters

2010-09-07T06:30:00.000-07:00

A word of advice as you move your characters around the page. It's not necessary to block each movement because the details can overwhelm the reader. An example to address this is changing: "Ellen comes around to the armchair and sits down. Her whole body is shaking." To: "Ellen's whole body is shaking as she lowers herself into the armchair."

In the first quote you have a sentence that is pure blocking followed by a sentence with the interesting detail. Merging the two lends authenticity to the interesting detail, eliminates a less dynamic sentence and allows the reader the freedom to imagine the layout of the room to suit them.

In first person it can be especially intrusive to block the characters' movements and you end up with something I call the "cooking show" effect whereby it sounds like this: "I'm adding two eggs and then I'm folding them in." Characters shouldn't be narrating their lives as they go, just living them.

Example,

I opened the door and found my wallet lying open on the seat. (cooking show)

Inside the car, my wallet lay open on the seat. (not the cooking show)

Creative Nonfiction -- A Talk by Wayson Choy

2010-08-21T09:10:00.000-07:00

Wayson Choy, author of The Jade Peony, spoke at the Humber School for Writers about creative nonfiction and the courage it takes to write it. His talk was called “Speak, Memory” and here are the notes I took:

What used to be called memoir is now called creative nonfiction. It encompasses writing that is from a personal point of view, experiences as we understand them, not necessarily “the facts.”

Understand the difference between the truth of your experiences and factual truths. For example, you have an investment in the mother you know as mother. Your story about your mother may be different from a sibling’s story. Write your story.

What is essential to the story is often invisible, such as emotion. Writing at the literary level means to write with a keener sense of knowing. The things you comfortably remember are boring. Don’t settle for what is comfortable.

Some people worry about what others will think. What will my mother think? What will my father think? “I’m comfort-blind,” said Wayson Choy. “I want discomfort. Education is the process of disturbance. I want the truth of my experience, not illusion.”

Wayson Choy talked about his background: “Chinatown [in Vancouver] was an outside colony where people were not wanted. It was a ghetto.” We internalize the oppression we experienced growing up.

Be aware, he warned the audience, about “toxic certainties.” Any certainty, especially when you think you are one degree better than someone else, is a toxic certainty. “Drop your judgments so you see the world new,” he advised. “Sit down. You have a theme. Love? What are your certainties about it? What judgments?” These certainties cause us to skirt around the story. “Love has no rules,” he stated.

If you are writing a memoir that matters, know yourself. It takes courage and daring. Astonish yourself.

Ten Tips for Writing Fiction

2010-08-19T10:26:00.000-07:00

At the Humber School for Writers, Miriam Toews and Richard Scrimger gave their “Ten Tips for Writing Fiction.”

Every novel has a forward tilt.

Use your best energy for writing – your best time of the day.

Know your main character before you begin.

Be brave. Every occupation has its risks. Be as honest as you can, as intelligent as you can. Miriam Toews said, “I feel nervous before I write, exhilarated.”

90 Minute Rule: Commit to ninety minutes of writing. You can stop at that point or go on. It’s okay to stop. You’ve accomplished something.

Give your subconscious time to work on the problems that arise in your novel.

Take your notebook with you, Miriam Toews said. “I jot down everything. I stop mid-conversation and write something down. I’m a writer. I don’t have a fall-back career.”

About writing fiction, Richard Scrimger advised, “Stay on message. Ring in the fire.”

When writing a novel, it’s helpful to make notes as you go. Miriam Toews writes these notes in caps and puts them at the end of the document. Other than that, she tries to write the story chronologically. “All my odd anecdotes usually work. I write them intensely.”

About calling yourself a writer...Why not? Maybe there will be a time when people will know you’re a writer by what you do, not what you say. If you are constantly writing, what else are they going to call you?

The Story Takes Place Somewhere Local -- Alistair MacLeod

2010-08-09T09:42:00.000-07:00

In his workshop at Humber School for Writers, Alistair MacLeod talked about the importance of place. Here are some of the points he made.

Literature takes place somewhere.

People write about what worries them – what they think about. In different regions, we worry about different things. In most places in Canada in November people are worried about the oncoming winter. Winter will kill you if you don’t prepare for it. But in Victoria in November, people have different worries. They’re not so worried about snow tires.

Let’s say you sit down to write a story about a missing son. It’s a universal worry, right? The son is 15 years old. What happened to him? The specific worry is regional. He might have cracked his snowmobile up or gone through the ice, but not in Victoria. In Victoria, it’s a different worry. No snowmobile. Maybe the boy was on the bus late at night and was stabbed. Maybe that’s what happened to him, but as a mother living in Victoria, you’re not going to worry about your son freezing to death.

Geography affects our ability to make a living.

On the West Coast and the East Coast, people worry about the DFO (Department of Fisheries and Oceans). What’s the DFO doing about low sockeye salmon stocks? What’s the DFO doing about the lobster catch? What’s the DFO doing to help those affected by the global recession? The DFO, the DFO, the DFO. In Manitoba, they don’t talk about the DFO; they talk about CWB (Canadian Wheat Board). They talk about the price of grain and the CWB, the CWB, the CWB.

If a writer does these specific worries well, people identify because we all have worries about feeding our families. We’re all dependent to some degree on resources and whether the steel mill or the saw mill is being shut down in our area.

Think in scenes that take place in a specific locale: in a kitchen, at a bus stop, in a graveyard. Don’t think in terms of events like WWII. Think in terms of the woman walking down the street with a parrot on her arm. What street? A street in New York City. Is that Woody Allen’s New York City? The place you choose will give you images to draw on. New York images, Saskatoon images, Vancouver images.

As a writer, it’s your job to bring the news. Bring the issues that affect us. Ground these issues in a specific locale.

Alistair MacLeod Talks About Plot

2010-08-08T21:12:00.000-07:00

Every morning I took my seat in Alistair MacLeod’s workshop at Humber College and I scribbled down his words so I wouldn’t forget them. Here’s what he had to say about plot.

Plot is when you can go in anywhere in the story and ask, “Why?”

Alistair drew a string of boxes on the board and in each box, an event. Queen died. King died. Dog died. Prince died. So far, there is no plot here. Plot is a causal, not chronological series of events.

So how do you make the events into something more? You link them with cause and effect. When the queen died, what effect did it have on the king? Then what happened as a result? Plot consists of an action and the consequence of that action.

When the queen died, the king fell into a deep state of grief, neglecting his young son. He trusted his brother to raise the boy and as a result the prince grew to become a cruel and arrogant young man. One day, the prince was out hunting and a dog crossed his path. It was an ugly thing and the prince struck it down with his sword. The dog died and in that instant a spell was cast on the land.

That's just a quick example to illustrate cause and effect. Next time you are shaping a story or a novel, consider how one event leads to the next.

What Makes or Breaks a First Page?

2010-08-07T11:07:00.000-07:00

Craig Pyette, editor with Random House Canada, and Robyn Read editor with Freehand Books, have seen their share of first pages. They know what they like and what they don't. Recently, they spoke to a group of seventy writers at Humber School for Writers eager to hear the words, "Yes, send us your manuscript. We’d like to read the whole thing.”

Set a scene on page one. Get the reader invested. Show, don’t tell us, what the character is like.
The page must show substantive editing. Proofread several times.
The opening sounds contemporary, relevant to today’s reader. (Avoid openings that sound too much like an early Canadian novel – too much like Sinclair Ross, for example).
Dialogue shouldn’t need commentary around it. It should be strong and stand on its own.
Too many plotlines on page one is a problem. It means there’s going to be too much editing involved in clearing them all up.
I won’t go to the next page if the writing is too “spelled out” for me.
Body language, the adjustment of a purse on the shoulder is good. It provides a beat between things, provides pacing. Avoid too much head nodding, shaking of heads. Head gestures are overdone.
A kooky character is interesting. “The father’s paranoia grabs my attention, but then you go and kill him off on page one. I was just getting to like him.”
Establish the point of intrigue soon.
A hint of zaniness on the first page is good.
Don’t start with weather. It was a dark and stormy night…”Uh huh? Where have I heard that one before?”

The first page is important. People walk into a book store and open the first page. What are you going to put on it to get their attention?

What Editors Want in a Query Letter

2010-08-06T20:00:00.000-07:00

Craig Pyette editor with Random House Canada, and Robyn Read editor with Freehand Books, recently spoke at Humber School for Writers on the topic of query letters. What gets an editor’s attention?

Short is better. Shorter than one page.
Mention recent publications.
Include appropriate experience that directly relates to the book you’ve written.
If there’s humour in the book, then a little humour in the cover letter is nice.
Short fiction is a hard sell. Why is yours different? Why will this collection rise above all the rest?
You must present the project as complete, not make it sound like you want an editor to do all the work of assembling it.
Don’t narrow your book to one season – a Christmas book. It’s hard to make money on just one season.
Be accurate. The title in the query letter should be exactly the same as the title on page 1.
How will this book be relevant to today’s reader?
Does your cover letter suggest a clear trajectory? What’s the story arc?
It’s good to mention your mentors because they might be willing to write blurbs.
If a press turns the project down, don’t get discouraged. Perhaps they just put out a book on mental health and that’s their quota for the year.
Don’t refer someone to a webpage to view your work.
How is your book a new take on immigrant fiction?
Why mention extensive travel when the novel does not have any travel in it? Biographical details must be relevant to this novel.
Use the phrase, “This novel is about...” Don’t tell the editor to imagine. Imagine a world ruled by whales except nobody knows it’s ruled by whales except the whales...
The pitch should focus on one aspect of the novel.

One question from the audience elicited different responses from the two editors: In the query letter, should you mention that your book is similar to another person’s book? For example, This memoir is like Eat, Pray, Love but with a twist. It’s not Tuscany; it’s Whitehorse...

Robyn Read gave it a thumbs down. You have one chance to grab an editor’s attention. Why are you detracting from your own work by mentioning someone else’s? Craig Pyette gave it a thumbs up. It’s one of the first things book stores want to know. Where are they going to shelve it? It’s more to do with marketing than anything else. Knowing your market is good.

Publishing Realities at a Big House

2010-08-04T10:00:00.000-07:00

David Kent, CEO with HarperCollins Canada, spoke at the Humber School for Writers about the realities of publishing, starting with the statement that publishing is a business and must make a profit or it will not exist.

Most books that are published don’t sell more than a hundred copies. That’s the reality. Publishers take all the risks and with that in mind, they publish a range of books. It’s similar to an investment portfolio where you want to have a range of stocks and bonds to minimize the risk.

Publishers are looking for good writing, whether it’s commercial writing or literary writing.

If you want to be published, get to know editors and editors’ assistants. How? Ask writers about their editors. Ask them who they’ve worked with. Look at the Acknowledgment page at the back of their books. Who are they thanking? Try to figure out if your book is a good match with an editor’s expertise.

Take advantage of any opportunity to introduce yourself to an editor. For example, if you are attending a workshop and editors are there making presentations, just go up after the talk and introduce yourself. If you have a finished product, tell them about it.

The pitch. When someone asks you what your novel is about, you should be able to tell them in three sentences. Prepare your pitch in advance. Ask your friends, “Does this sound good? Too timid? Too egotistical?” Don’t oversell your work. Don’t undersell it. Just answer the question: What’s your book about?

An advance is important, no doubt about it, but even more important are royalties. The bottom line is that you want people to buy your book. Do everything you can to get the word out.

Build your author platform before your book comes out. What’s an author platform? It’s anything that tells the world that you are an author and you have a book. It’s networking and it comes in many forms from the traditional word of mouth – tell your friends – to social media like Twitter or Blogger.

The good news? Publishers are looking for good writers. They want to find you.

Writing Your Second Book

2010-08-02T19:58:00.000-07:00

Robert Rotenberg, author of the urban crime novel, Old City Hall, recently gave a talk to Humber School for Writers about what happens on the way to writing a second book. Here are some notes from his talk.

Many years of thinking go into a first book, sometimes as many as fifteen years. With a second book, you might not have fifteen years, but nonetheless you need lots of “thinking time.” Try to remember how much thinking time went into the first novel and give yourself permission to put down your pen once in a while and just think. You don’t have to be writing every minute.

Keep going to the edge of your talent. You put a lot of yourself in your first book. Writers tend to retreat in subsequent books. They don’t expose themselves as much. Maybe they are more aware – too aware of their audience. Don’t be afraid to pour yourself into the second book in the same way you took risks with the first.

Get started on the second book right away. Don’t wait for things to happen with the first book. Enjoy the feeling of writing without a deadline, without anyone looking over your shoulder. It’s a bit like writing the first book in this way. There's still a state of innocence.

Here’s a writing tip that comes from the world of screen-writing: “Come in late, leave early.” So for example, come into a chapter late. Things are already happening, dialogue is underway, tension is mounting. Then leave early. Leave your reader wanting more so they’ll turn to the next chapter.

And finally, it's not just a book; it's a career. In other words, it's okay to work hard at this job and believe in yourself and give it lots of your time. You're not just writing a book, it's a career you're building.

Writer and Agent

2010-07-29T19:35:00.000-07:00

Joe Kertes, author and founder of the Humber School for Writers, recently spoke at Humber College about the business of getting published. This is a summary of his talk.

A manuscript has five readers. In order they are

1. You
2. An agent
3. Editor of a publishing house
4. Reviewers
5. Readers

It's important to have an agent because they can walk by the slush piles and the assistants. They can walk in the front door of a publishing house and say to an editor, "I think you should read this."

An agent has done her homework. She knows which publishers will like your book and which won't. Writers don't usually know this information.

Underneath publishers are a network of scouts. Your agent will know these scouts and be able to put your book in their hands.

The hierarchy goes like this:

Publisher
Scout
Agent
Subagent

Agents can negotiate better terms than you can. They won't sign away film rights, for example. Publishers will leave out clauses and agents will spot these omissions.

Agents can get after publishers and demand the marketing of your book.

A first-time writer takes 10 times the amount of time to promote. Most agents won't deal with the entry-level writer.

Literary agent, Margaret Hart, also spoke about the role of agents and what they are looking for from writers. Here is a summary of her talk.

A lot of agents are former English teachers who appreciate good writing.

Manuscripts have to be ready: a good story, well-written, energetic, a good arc to the story. If you want to stay up reading the book, that's a good sign.

Recently a publisher at Penguin asked Margaret Hart, "Can you tell me this is excellent writing?" It made her pause. She could say it was a good story, promising writing, even good writing, but excellent writing?

An agent wants to be able to say about your book. "Yes, it's excellent writing."

Sometimes a publisher can't take a book because they just bought a book on the same topic.

Writers have to be patient and wait their turn. An agency is representing numerous authors.

End of Talk (Humber School of Writers, July 10, 2010)

Country Roads: Memoirs from Rural Canada at Munro's Books

2010-07-27T17:38:00.001-07:00

Munro's Books in Victoria is carrying Country Roads in their Canadiana section right near the front of the store. So easy to spot that cover with its colourful chicken! I'm very proud to have a memoir in this book.

John Irving on the Writer's Craft

2010-07-26T20:02:00.000-07:00

Book Signing vs. Book Club

2010-07-26T19:52:00.000-07:00

David Mamet's Advice

2010-07-23T12:11:00.000-07:00

START, EVERY TIME, WITH THIS INVIOLABLE RULE: THE SCENE MUST BE DRAMATIC. it must start because the hero HAS A PROBLEM, AND IT MUST CULMINATE WITH THE HERO FINDING HIM OR HERSELF EITHER THWARTED OR EDUCATED THAT ANOTHER WAY EXISTS.

If you'd like to see the whole memo go to:
http://www.movieline.com/2010/03/david-mamets-memo-to-the-writers-of-the-unit.phphttp://

The Author Platform

2010-07-21T04:04:00.000-07:00

At Humber the buzz was all about building an author platform. Check out this link.

http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2010/03/author-platform-what-are-you-waiting-for/

The Humber School for Writers

2010-07-15T20:02:00.000-07:00

The week is winding down and what a rich experience. Last night's student readings were amazing. I read from my newly finished novel, Pike Bay Lodge, but I was just one of about 45 students who read at the event. There was such variety in the writing: everything from baseball players to rubber chickens, to Cape Breton mines. And speaking of Cape Breton...

Alistair MacLeod led a wonderful workshop full of insight and laughter. He told us to write about the things that worry us, reminding us that these things are directly connected to where we live in Canada. In addition to the morning workshops, we were treated to many lectures. Today's talks were inspiring.

Wayson Choy offered this advice: "The things you comfortably remember are boring." So when you write, you should go to the material that makes you ask, "What is my mother going to think of this?"

MG Vassanji related the story of writing his nonfiction book on India. A lovely, thoughtful speaker, he told us about going to his ancestral home for the first time. To complete the book, he had to return several times but as he advised, "It would take several lifetimes to see India."

The day concluded with a reading of As Birds Bring Forth the Sun by Alistair MacLeod that illicited a standing ovation. We are truly blessed to have this wonderful writer and generous man in our midst.

2010-07-02T21:37:00.000-07:00

Laurie Elmquist likes

Country Roads: Memoirs from Rural Canada

Writing a Novel: Revision

2010-05-24T13:48:00.000-07:00

There are so many levels of revision. The big picture is what I'm looking at right now.

Does Chapter one lead into Chapter two? I don't mean "lead into" in an obvious way. Sometimes the two chapters don't have anything to do with each other and it's juxtaposition that I'm going for.

Sometimes it's a resting spot, so the reader can regroup and get ready for what comes next.

Sometimes I'm working hard to supply all the components of plot that I'm going to need later on in the story.

I'm often working on the shape of the chapter. If it's going up and up and up, I can't tack on another scene at the end that spins it downward. It must go up and up and up, then cut.

It's deeply satisfying work but I do wonder if it will be finished in time for my end of June deadline.

Writing a Novel: Images

2010-05-18T15:50:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been thinking about images and how they differ from description. Seems to me that they shimmer with a certain luminosity not found in the usual description of a scene.

So, as I revise, I'm reading for images. When does the moment occur when the reader pauses and really sees something. Do I have enough of those moments, ordinary moments that glow?

That's today's challenge.

Writing a Novel: Structure

2010-05-11T08:49:00.000-07:00

Building a Novel

The inciting incident establishes the narrator's baseline. Initial philosophy revealed, the status quo established. The narrator is stuck in a certain way of thinking, a specific belief system.

In the scenes that build the narrator resists change. Holds onto belief system throughout the novel.

Midpoint of the novel, the narrator is closest to achieving what she/he wants. Within grasp but he or she loses it.

Crisis: The narrator faces such questions as: Do I change or not? What am I made of? Biggest dilemma of her/his life. The narrator is the furthest away from success. Zero hope.

Climax: Show how the narrator has changed.

End with a different belief system. How did the narrator change?

Writing a Novel: One Step at a Time

2010-05-10T11:25:00.000-07:00

Annie Dillard wrote this passage in her book, The Writing Life:

You climb a long ladder until you can see over the roof, or over the clouds. You are writing a book. You watch your shod feet step on each round rung, one at a time; you do not hurry and do not rest. Your feet feel the steep ladder's balance; the long muscles in your thighs check its sway. you climb steadily, doing your job in the dark. When you reach the end, there is nothing more to climb. The sun hits you. The bright wideness surprises you: you had forgotten there was an end. You look back at the ladder's two feet on the distant grass, astonished.