WIP Wednesday and Openings

 

I know last week I told you guys that I wrote "The End" on my WIP.  That is true.  However, what I failed to mention was there was one chapter in the middle that I hadn't finished.  I thought I knew where I wanted to go with it, but then when I tried to write it, it didn't work how I wanted it to.  So I've literally been writing, rewriting, scrapping, and starting over for about two weeks now.  It's driving me crazy.  I WILL get this book done by the time I go to RWA Nationals at the end up the month.  I will.  You hear that muse--wherever your sorry butt has flitted off to?  You put down that martini and get back here.


Alright, now the other thing I'm a bit stressed about it my beginning.  Some betas have said that it could to the first meet (hero and heroine) faster--which happens about five pages in.  Others say that the few pages of seeing my MC on a bad date and getting to know her a bit before the big moment works because then they're invested of knowing what her life is like before the point of change.  Then yesterday, during beta club, a commenter (Amelia) mentioned that she's sick of the must open with immediate action structure because you don't have time to care about the characters before the big action.


I've also referenced an article in the past by Jane at Writer's Digest about the Biggest Bad Advice About Story Openings.  Here's what she had to say:

The action ought to have context—and be as grounded as possible in a character that we're already starting to love.

 
 
 
 

Michael Hauge also said something similar when I went to his Screenplay workshop.  He said in movies, there is a setup.  The first few minutes of the movie usually let us see the characters in their every day lives before the big turning point/inciting incident.  I never really paid attention to this, but now I can't stop noticing it, lol.  I watched Hot Tub Time Machine with the hubs this weekend and the first five or so minutes of the movie is seeing each of the characters living their lives.  If we just started with them jumping into the time machine--we wouldn't be invested.

I personally loathe an opening where someone is running through the woods from some unknown force or they are in the middle of a car crash or someone has a gun to the MC's head for this very reason.  I don't know the character yet, so I don't care if they die.  Harsh, but true.

So how do we decide if a setup works for our book?  And how fast should the setup be? *shrug*  I'm trying to figure that out.  My plan right now is to trim some of the dialogue on my MC's bad date, but still have it there.  Maybe get her and the hero to meet by page three or four.  But we'll see how it goes.  First, I need to get that troublesome chapter out of the way.

So what's your opinion?  Does your book have a "setup" or glimpse into the MC's every day life before the big change?  How do you feel about books that jump right into it without that?  What are some of your favorite openings in books or movies?

**Today's Theme Song**
"Who Are You?" - The Who
(player in sidebar, take a listen)


 

Screenwriting Techniques For Novels

This past weekend I attended a workshop given by screenplay consultant Michael Hauge.  At first I was a little skeptical, wondering how movie techniques really related to novels, but I have to say, the workshop was enlightening.

Obviously, I can't cover everything from the all day workshop, but I do want to share some of the big points that I gained from the class.

Openings

First, is the opening.  With our culture now being so immediate gratification oriented, we're told to start our books in the middle of things, right at the point of change.  However, in the article I linked to a while back on The Biggest Bad Advice About Story Openings, this can be a problem.  If we don't care about the character or know anything about them yet, then who gives a flip if in the opening paragraph the MC is being chased by angry monkeys?  In fact, in that case, I may tend to side with the monkeys.

So, according to Mr. Hauge, the answer is simple: do what they do in movies, have a setup.  Here's how he defines the setup stage:

The opening 10% of your screenplay must draw the reader, and the audience, into the initial setting of the story, must reveal the everyday life your hero has been living, and must establish identification with your hero by making her sympathetic, threatened, likable, funny and/or powerful. (source)

This does not mean loads of backstory, this means giving a glimpse of who the person is and what they are like day to day BEFORE the big bad change flips their world on its head.  Think of some of your favorite movies.  Often this setup scene starts as the opening credits are still rolling.  Here are examples from 80s movies I'm sure everyone has seen.

  • Dirty Dancing - she's in the car reading a book (so we guess she's smart), vain sister is looking in a mirror, Baby hugs her dad and we can tell she's a daddy's girl, her family looks happy, we hear that she's going to join the Peace Corps, all in literally the first minute of the movie (although some of it is telling and now showing, mind you).  Here's the clip if your interested.
  • The Breakfast Club - Before we're ever in the detention room, we see most of the kids arriving with their parents, giving us a glimpse into their everyday life.  If you'd like to see how the brilliant John Hughes wrote it, you can view the screenplay here.

So this doesn't have to be pages and pages, but a glimpse gives us a baseline to start from.  Also, don't forget the second part of Michael's quote above, in the setup you MUST help the reader identify with your character through one of those ways he listed.  

In the workshop, he went into each of those ways to create a connection to character.  I can't list all the details, because I'm sure that would be a copyright no-no, so I would suggest buying his book--the information is so worth it (no, he's not paying me to say that, I don't even know the guy.)

Log Lines & Unique Ideas

Another point I learned was about log lines and story ideas.  Wednesday I mentioned that the agents/editors said they wanted familiar ideas with a new twist (so same but different.)  Mr. Hauge reiterated this point.  He said that when you are trying to come up with your pitch, if you can't think of any movies/books that are similar, then your idea is probably not going to sell.

When he first said this, I kind of bristled--like wait, isn't originality the name of the game?  Yes and no.  Ever see a movie or read a book and you're left going--what the hell was THAT?  Most of the time it's because the idea was so off the wall, you couldn't relate to it.  It's not to say that it didn't have some merit, but people (in general) want something that is at least a bit familiar.  And chances are if something is a really good idea, it probably has been done before. 

He used movies as an example, he said that 90% of stories (movies or books) follow the same general structure.  That structure is the crux of his plotting technique.  Click here for a detailed article on his structure. This is the part of the workshop that hopefully is going to change how I think about my stories.  This is the perfect simple outline for me (the avid pantser).  But what this structure shows is that we all know what to expect in a movie even if the plot elements are different--and we like having the comfort of that structure.

Now I'm not going to say that there aren't some out there things that have totally worked.  And maybe you are the person who is going to create a whole new genre or style of writing.  However, the chances of that are slim.  As I like to reference from the movie He's Just Not That Into You--most of us are the rule, not the exception (despite how much we try to convince ourselves otherwise).  So if you're going to do something experimental, just know that it's probably going to be a tougher road ahead.

Log Lines and Word Vomit

Alright, and the last point that really resonated with me from the talk was:  the more words in your pitch/logline the more problems you have with your story.  He said that you should be able to say in 2-3 sentences what your story is about without adding--"well you'd understand this better if you read the book because really there is a lot of other things that are hard to explain and blah blah blah."  He said he can sum up almost every movie out there with one sentence.  

I've referenced this before but IMDB.com lists log lines for movies and can be a great tool to see the straightforward pitch we should be going for.

Here's an example from the movie Knocked Up:

For fun loving party animal Ben Stone, the last thing he ever expected was for his one night stand to show up on his doorstep eight weeks later to tell him she's pregnant. (source)

This log line thing has been an issue for me in the past, so this is something I definitely am going to work on.  So just remind yourself when you start spewing all those words, to dial back and keep it simple.

Alright, I know that's a bit of a mishmash, but I wanted to hit the points that stuck out the most for me.

Can you think of a great setup scene in a movie?  What have you done in your opening to make the reader care about the character?  What do you think of the whole idea of the setup vs. jumping write into the action sentence one?

 

Things I Learned This Week

 


I had a couple of articles I read this week that I wanted to blog about, but instead of doing individual blog posts, I figured I would summarize and then provide you with the links.  And, for those of you who aren't doing the Twitter thing yet, you're missing out on a lot of good info.  Most of these articles came to me by way of tweets.  (Btw, if you want to follow me, click on the flying birdie on the right.)

 

Alright, so things I learned this week...

  • First, blogger has a PAGES feature now!  I have to thank Jody Hedlund for bringing this to my attention.  If you're not sure what I'm talking about, look at the top of this page.  See that?  Other links to other pages within this blog!  So, now we can make our blogs be more like websites.  Of course, I find this out right after I built my professional website, but that's okay.  I'll maintain both for now.  Feel free to click around above and let me know what you think of my new pages.  (To add this feature to your own blog, add the pages gadget in your layout.)
  • The action opening isn't all it's cracked up to be.  This is one of the things that has come up in a few of the Beta Club critiques--help me know the character so that I care that she's/he's in danger in the first place--but this article explained it's much better than I could:  The Biggest Bad Advice About Story Openings (thanks to @elizabethscraig for the tweet)
  • For some reason writers continue to put down other genres.  Why can't we all just get along?  Here's a quote, but the full article is here. (thanks to @Gwen_Mitchell for the tweet) 
Nicholas Sparks has no love forpeople who call his stories "romances."   "If you look for me, I'm in the fictionsection. Romance has its own section," he says toward the end of a long conversation.
  • I'm capable of writing large amounts when I put my mind to it--7000 words this week baby! *happy dance*

Alright, so that's all I've got.  How about you?  What did you learn this week?

 

 
 
 

*Today's Theme Song**
"You Learn" - Alanis Morissette
(player in sidebar--go ahead, take a listen)