writing

Starting A Novel Scene

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 9 Comments

This week I’ve been thinking about starting points. On Monday, I blogged about when to begin your novel. But what about a scene?

Once you’ve decided when to start your scene, as in before the action, in the middle of the action, or after then action, what about how to start your scene?

There are different ways to do this. These include with:

  • Action
  • Dialogue
  • Thought
  • Narrative

To choose which one, I think about what I want to accomplish with the scene, what happened in the previous scene, and what’s going to happen in the next scene.

For example, if the previous scene was high on action, I might want to start the current scene with narrative, perhaps describing where the POV character is. This slows the story and gives the reader a break.

When a first draft is complete, the next step is to check whether the scenes begin in different ways. If all the scenes start with dialogue, the novel might be tedious to read.

As usual, I keep track of scene starts with a column in a spreadsheet. This allows me to quickly glance and check that I haven’t been monotonous.

What’s your method for deciding how to start a scene?

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Before the Story Begins . . .

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 6 Comments

For any author, the starting point of a novel is a big decision. Do you start before the beginning, at the beginning or after the beginning? And how do you decide?

For my fourth novel, Look the Other Way, I’m trying something new. I wrote 20,000 words of the story. With 20,000 words on paper, I have a good idea who the characters are.

The characters come to life, but not fully at this point. Next, I write character synopses that include the basic details, but also the story of the character’s life up to the beginning of the novel. Each synopsis ends up being three to five pages.

The synopsis format is informal. Point form will do. I don’t worry about typos or grammar, but I do get to know my characters.

This process helps me decide where to begin my novel. It’s a creative process. As I write each synopsis, I keep a separate document open that contains plot points or ideas. By the time I have all the synopses written, I have the full novel outline done too.

From this process, I somehow know where the starting point should be and what the inciting incident is. I chose the point that will drive the characters through the story. Too early, and the scene’s aren’t needed. Too late, and an important scene might be excluded.

Next comes scene writing.

Everybody has a different process for writing a novel. What’s yours?

Free Download of Maxwell Huxley’s Demon Extended

~ Kristina Stanley ~ Leave a comment

Thanks to everyone who has already downloaded my brother’s novel. Due to an overwhelming response, Michael Conn is extending the free download  of Maxwell Huxley’s Demon by one day. The free download will be available on Sunday too.

It’s crazy how this is working, and we are very excited.

If you get a chance, please post a review of the novel on amazon.

Thanks for all the support 🙂

Does Writing A Journal Help You Write a Novel?

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 7 Comments

Keeping a Journal #writetip

In Write Away: One Novelist’s Approach to Fiction and the Writing Life  by Elizabeth George, she explains the value of writing in a journal. I’ve never kept a journal or a diary, but thought I’d try it.

My first timid entries focussed on writing. I can’t seem to get away from that, but a more valuable thing to focus on might be daily observations. I decided to behave like a writer and keep track of interesting or odd things I noticed during the day.

Over the past few days, I’ve recorded funny or critical words people said. I’ve recorded how I feel about what went on during the day. And I’ve recorded ideas for novels.

The first thing I learned from writing a journal is that there is not a lot of me in my characters. When writing a novel, I write in a completely different voice than in my journal. My characters thoughts and feelings are nothing like mine. I have to say, I’m quite pleased about this.

Do you keep a journal? Have you discovered anything interesting by doing this?

Why is Character Development Important?

~ Kristina Stanley ~ Leave a comment

While I spend time in Canada during the summer, I get to watch the news on TV, something that never happens in the Bahamas.

I’ve been watching how friends and family react to news, and I started thinking about character development in a novel and why it’s so important.

Witnessing a car crash, or the aftermath of a car crash, on TV can be upsetting, or make a person sad, but once the clip is over, everyone focuses on the next news clip.

But, what if someone you know is in the car? Then, I think, most people react a little differently. All of sudden, there is a vested interest in the crash. Were the people hurt? Are they in the hospital? Will they recover?

Why? Because you are personally involved.

I find if I can’t put a novel down, it’s usually because I feel like I know the characters and I care about what happens to them. To me, this means the author has done a great job of developing the characters. As a writer, I think it’s important for me to spend time on developing characters. Then maybe I’ll get lucky, and my readers won’t want to put my book down.

Does Your Writing Give You Nightmares?

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 8 Comments

This is my latest discovery. I’ve been sailing my Lagoon 380 S2 for three years now and never had a bad dream about it. Well, life changes.

My fourth novel, yet to be named, takes place on a sailboat in the Bahamas. So this week, I’ve been dreaming scary dreams about sailing, and it occurred to me it’s because I’m writing a murder mystery set on a boat.

Bad weather, sailing alone, boat malfunctions, crazy people who try to get on my boat . . . and I’m only 20,000 words in. What’s going to happen by the end?

I wonder what Stephen King or Dean Koontz dream about. It can’t be good.

Has your writing changed what you dream about?

The Novel Spreadsheet

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 9 Comments

After completing three novels using my handy-dandy spreadsheet and being 10,000 words into my fourth,  I discovered I was lacking a column.

This far into the game, I thought I would have had my spreadsheet nailed. The joke’s on me.

My first three novels take place in a fictitious ski resort (Stone Mountain) in British Columbia. I needed one location column when I had one town and a bunch of locations within the town. All I needed to note in the location column was where the scene took place within Stone Mountain. That meant on the ski lift, in an office, on a trail, in the forest, in a car, etc.

My fourth novel starts out in Kingston, ON, moves to Ft. Lauderdale, FL, and then makes its way through the Bahamian island chain.

Now, I need to keep track of locations within the new locations. The new column lists the town or island where the scene takes place. The existing column still works and lists where in the town or island the scene happens. This means on a beach, at anchor, in the dinghy, etc.

I guess my spreadsheet will continue to evolve as I write more novels.

Special Saturday Post: Maxwell Huxley’s Demon

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 9 Comments

Exciting new novel just published by Canadian Author Michael Conn.

Why am I so excited? Michael is my brother. In Maxwell Huxley’s Demon you’ll encounter  . . .

In MAXWELL HUXLEY’S DEMON, when nine-year-old Maxwell Huxley and three others break free from their mountain-top “school” for gifted children – a place where kids mysteriously vanish when they turn ten – a fantastical chase around the world begins. Pursuing answers and freedom, Max unintentionally creates a new world: a world where friends and family meet their demons, where artificial beings come to life, and where nanotechnology is indistinguishable from magic. Maxwell pays a heavy price, the loss of friends and family, to discover what he was bred for.

One part Ender, one part Jason Bourne, and a dash of Harry.

If you get the chance it’s on amazon.

Where do Characters Come From?

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 9 Comments

Do you plot or do you let the characters do the plotting?

Each writer is unique in how they create a story. I don’t like to plot the entire story before I write. I find it boring. Once I’ve plotted it, I’m no longer interested in writing the novel.

I don’t want to give the wrong idea about how I write. I’m very organized. I keep track of everything in a spreadsheet. At the end of a day of writing, I make myself update the spreadsheet. It’s not the most exciting thing to do, but since I haven’t plotted the story, it’s important for me to keep track of it.

Sometimes when I update the spreadsheet, the next scene magically announces itself to me. Then I jot a few notes, leave it for the night and have a starting point the next morning.

I have a general idea of what the story is, sometimes I even know the climax, but I never know when or where new characters are going to appear. I don’t base characters on people I know. I find this hard to do as it is restrictive, and again, not that interesting. I like to make them up from scratch.
For me new characters usually appear when I take my protagonist to a new location. Somehow that stimulates my brain.  Mostly, it’s the nastier characters that appear out of nowhere, so I don’t know what that says about me.
Where do your characters come from?

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How I Signed with a Literary Agent

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 7 Comments

I signed with Margaret Hart of the HSW Literary Agency last July (2011). We met at the Humber School for Writers Summer Workshop.

Sounds easy, but it was a long journey to get there.  I attended the Humber School For Writers correspondence course with Joan Barfoot as my mentor. At the completion of that program my novel wasn’t ready to submit to an agent.

Throughout the course I compiled many tips from Joan and used these to improve my writing.

After spending a week with Mary Gaitskill at the summer workshop in 2010, Mary introduced me to Margaret, and she kindly agreed to read Fracture Line. I spent another month updating the manuscript, this time based on comments from Mary Gaitskill, before sending it to Margaret.

Margaret’s first feedback was that she liked the novel, but I had to pick up the pace. I asked a few specific questions about what she meant and then got to work. Four months and a lot of rewriting later, I resubmitted Fracture Line. This time Margaret was happy and she offered me a contract.

There are many ways to sign with a literary agency, but getting connected through the Humber School for Writers sure helped me. If your interested, the summer workshop is starting July 7, 2012.