There is no Age Limit for Pursuing Your Dreams

I'm turning over my blog to a guest blogger who has caught my eye. She has a unique style that captures the reader with a friendly "hello" and "let's sit and chat" manner. I hope you enjoy this post as much as I did.

Writing is an incredibly unique profession, it is perhaps one of the few careers that really does get better with age.  In today’s extreme youth oriented society, it is shocking to suggest that there is some benefit to getting older, but in terms of being a writer, age has a great many advantages.  After years working in healthcare and education, I decided it was time to do what I had always dreamed of and become a full time writer.  This has not been without some struggles, but I believe that right now is the best time for me to jump into writing with both feet.

Best-selling writer Elizabeth Gilbert is quoted saying “Writing is not like dancing or modelling; it’s not something where if you missed it by age 19 you’re finished.  It’s never too late.  Your writing will only get better as you get older and wiser.”  Using all of your life experience in your writing gives your work a richness and depth that is earned through all of the things you have learned along the way.   I am not suggesting that there are no good young writers, but there are a great many mature writers who had added so much to the literary world. 

The average age for a first published book in this country is 42.  My first book was published when I was 38 years old, so I beat the average just slightly.  After taking a few years off I am ready to jump back into the writing world and at almost 50 years old, I am in good company.  There are quite a few literary late bloomers like me.  One of my favorite authors, Claire Cook, likes to boast that she was writing her first novel at 45 and at 50 she was walking the red carpet as her book was turned in to a highly successful Hollywood movie.  She is living the writing fairy tale that many writers aspire to.  The unifying theme of all of her books is reinvention, an idea that seems to resonate with so many of us as we get older.  At 45 Cook is in good company.  Wildly popular author Janet Evanovich did not publish her first book until age 44.  Helen Dewitt also published the highly successful The Last Samurai at age 44.  These are not even some of the older authors that I discovered.  As a child I loved reading the Little House on the Prairie books.  I would read and share these books with my friends.  I was astonished to learn that Laura Ingalls Wilder did not even begin writing her stories until the age of 44 and she was first published at the age of 64.  My childhood would not have been the same if Ms. Inglls Wilder thought she was too old to try something new.  After leaving the teaching profession, Frank McCourt first published a book in his mid-sixties 

There has never been a better time to write and publish a book.  As the popularity of ebooks continues to grow exponentially, authors have so many choices for publication.  There are unending technology tools and resources available for writers.  No longer do authors have to spend days at the local library, trying to read old microfiche films, now just a few clicks on your lap top can yield the research needed for your latest book setting.  If you don’t want to go the traditional route of an agent and a publishing house, Indie publishing firms abound.  Once a book is written, authors have a plethora of marketing tools at their disposal through a whole host of social media platforms.  The tools for writing have improved so much, anyone with a computer and enough motivation can become a writer – at any age.

BIO:

Laurie Jake is a self-described writer, dreamer and child at heart.  Her unique insights on emotions and behavior come from her many roles as a wife, mother, sister and former middle school teacher.  Laurie wrote her first book in 2001.  Laurie lives in Arizona with her incomparable fiancé and three unruly dogs. http://lookingonthesunnyside.blogspot.com/

Writing Tips - Character Development

If you've been living anywhere but under a rock, you know about the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. I've read then all and eagerly await the next in the series. Janet Evanovich creates richly developed characters in this great series and I'm going to share with you how she does that. These excerpts come from How I Write - Secrets of a Bestselling Author by Janet Evanovich with Ina Yalof.

Memorable characters. It's what makes a good story a great story. In order to create memorable characters you must breathe life into them. Make them living beings with a personality.

"It's important to tell a good story, but it's critical to have memorable characters. It's not enough to describe a character's physical attributes and to tell us what he does and where he goes. You must bring your characters to life, make them believable and with caring about. Do this by motivating them and giving them personalities that set them apart from any other character you've read or written about. The deeper and richer your characters are, and the more emotion you put into them, the more your story will come to life. .... It doesn't matter if your reader loves or hates your characters. What matters is that the reader feels something. He must never be ambivalent toward these people, which means that as the writer, you can never be ambivalent, either." -- Ina Yalof

Tips from Janet Evanovich:

1. A well-developed character is multidimensional, with quirks and flaws, dreams, motivations, and values.
2. Your character must always want something. When something or someone stands in the way of your character getting what he wants, you get the beginning of conflict. It's the conflict that sets up the story. How that character meets the challenge and overcomes the obstacles of the conflict defines that character.
3. All writers are people watchers. If you want characters that ring true, take a really close look at the people around you. Begin with them, and then let your imagination run wild. Also, keep your ear to the ground and develop and ability to listen.
4. Everything you see and hear and experience can find its way into a story. Just store all this stuff up in your brain and retrieve it as you need it.
5. Television and movies are another source of inspiration for characters.
6. Everyday life is a limitless resource.
7. One element that makes up a well drawn character is honesty.
8. If you make a character real and vulnerable and kind, as soon as you put that character in jeopardy or any type of distress, the reader will always root for that person to win, or succeed, or make it out safely. To make a character vulnerable, just keep him a little bit unsure of himself and his choices. That's one way of connecting the reader with the character, which is what you want. It also keeps him wondering what's next.
9. Humor is the icing, but character is the cake.
10. When it comes to research you really need to know what you are doing.


There you have it. How to develop a memorable character. Now get out there and start creating!

Say What?

Dialogue.

It sounds easy right. You get two or more characters together and you start them talking. Ah, but did you know there are rules to writing dialogue?

Of course there are!

But, don't worry, I'll try to make them easy to understand and follow. So, let's get started. We all know that dialogue is plain and simple just easier and faster to read than narrative. It keeps the reader interested and moves the story along.

That's your first rule. Dialogue has to move the story along. As Dwight V. Swain says in The Things They Say article, "...ever and always dialogue must advance the plot. How do you make dialogue do this advancing? By having it give the reader information needed to understand what's happening."

I highly recommend a book titled Dialogue: Techniques and exercises for crafting effective dialogue by Gloria Kempton. I believe this book is the ultimate "go to" for your dialogue needs. Ms Kempton writes, "Dialogue not only creates space on the page, which is visually appealing, but it's also what brings characters to life in a story, which is emotionally appealing. We're much more interested in a story's setting when it comes through a scene of dialogue."

Yes! I totally agree. I don't know how many times I've said to my writers, use dialogue to set your scene. For example:

"The water is so warm!" Maureen said as she stepped slowly into the gentle waves.
"What did you expect when we came to Florida, you silly old girl?" Kay laughed at her friend.
"I wasn't sure, I mean, living next to Lake Michigan all my life, didn't even prepare me for this. But, " she paused as she bent down to pick up a pink seashell. "After Harold died and left me all that money, I knew I wanted something different."
"This is different." said Kay with a wry smile.
Maureen lifted her face to the bright sun. "It's so wonderful here." She shaded her eyes. "I just wish those darn seagulls would go find someone else to bug!" She laughed as a bold seagull dived hoping to snap up a tasty treat.

Do you see how we learn from this simplistic example that the scene is set in Florida at the seashore, and we learn even more, the characters are from somewhere in Michigan and they're probably older. All done without using narrative.

Just as important, while you're moving your story along with your dialogue, don't wander. And, no chit-chat for the sake of adding dialogue.

According to Ms Kempton, there are seven functions of dialogue.

Characterizes/Reveals Motives
According to Ms Kempton, "The most effective way to reveal your characters' motives is through their own mouths." In that same vein, the best way for you, the writer, to introduce a character to a reader is to use dialogue. You can use the same things you use in real life when you're interacting with other people: facial expressions and body language.

Remember, as Dwight V. Swain reminds us, "There are things a writer must think about, be aware of. If the words he puts in his story people's mouths are out of character, he'll be hard put to rise above them. Those words should reflect such factors as sex, age, occupation, status and background."

Sets the Mood in the Story
As the writer, you're in charge of setting and controlling the mood in your story. When characters interact, they exchange feelings and emotions. You should also be educing an emotion from the reader as well in order to hold their attention; to keep the reader turning that page.

Intensifies the Story Conflict
According to Ms Kempton, "Every scene of dialogue, in some way, needs to move the story conflict forward." That's a tall order, right? Just keep reminding the reader by using dialogue to show how critical it is for your character to achieve his/her goal.

Dwight V. Swain tells us this, "By the words your people say and the manner in which they say them, dialogue should characterize and individualize them, give information to advance the plot, reveal and build the emotion that galvanizes the story."

Creates Tension and Suspense
Ms Kempton says it better than anyone else, "Effective dialogue always, always delivers tension."

Tension and suspense must the at the core of nearly every scene. You might characterize these scenes with shorter words or shorter sentences to create more tension.

Speeds up your Scenes
That all elusive plot point - pacing. Yes, you can control pacing with dialogue. Used correctly, dialogue can move the story along quickly. Narrative, on the other hand, will slow the story down.

Adds Bits of Setting/Background
Go back and re-read my example above and see how I added bits of setting and background through dialogue. Most writers want to use narrative to set the scene before starting into the dialogue. That's not necessary.

Ms Kempton states, "Setting and background can actually be made interesting when incorporated into a dialogue scene. The reader experiences the setting through the viewpoint character's observations, and depending on the character, this could prove very interesting indeed. As long as there's tension, of course."

Communicates the Theme
In his memoir, On Writing, Stephen King writes, "When you write a book, you spend day after day scanning and identifying the trees. When you're done, you have to step back and look at the forest...it seems to me that every book--at least every one worth reading --is about something."

Stephen King is right. That something is theme. You have to know what your story is about and what you want it to convey to your reader.

Conflict + Resolution = Theme

This is what Gloria Kempton says about dialogue and theme, "Dialogue is not only a faster and more effective way to communicate the theme than to use long paragraphs of dry exposition, but it's also more emotional, up-front, and personal with the reader."


Dialogue is one of the most important tools the writer has you should learn to use it properly. Loren D. Estleman in her article Five Ways to Strengthen Fiction With Dialogue, suggests five steps for developing an ear for dialogue.

Write Plays
She says that even if you never sell them, the practice of writing dialogue forces you to exercise speech usage.

Listen to People
Janet Evanovich in How I Write can answer this, "Pay attention to the spoken word. Play it back in your mind. ... Dialogue is everwhere if you just listen."

Read a lot of Dialogue
Read. Read. Read. You've heard it all before. Read lot's of dialogue, see how other authors are doing it.

Read your Dialogue Aloud
Read your dialogue into a tape recorder than play it back. Have someone else read it to you. Listen to it carefully. You'll be surprised at what you hear and how quickly the fixes come to your mind.

Relax
Don't try so hard to make it work. Dialogue must come naturally. You'll know it when you hear it.


Some other DO's and DON'Ts in Dialogue courtesy of Robert Newton Peck and Janet Evanovich
Do keep your sentences and phrases short. People rarely talk in monologues
Don't worry about overusing the word "said".
Do break up your dialogue with an interjection from another character or a thought or action if any dialogue runs longer than three sentences.
Don't add useless "ly" adverbs following each said.
Do use a telling detail to remind us who's speaking when the conversation goes on a long time.
Don't use so many exclamation marks!
Do make sure each character uses different grammar and figures of speech appropriate to who he is and where he comes from.
Don't underline every other word because you think it's important.
Do be sure to use a reasonable balance of dialogue and narrative

That's it. Dialogue in a "nutshell". Now get out there and show the writing world what you've learned!

Where Am I?

Setting.

Helen Haukeness in her article Setting Your Novel Straight, defines setting simply as "a backdrop against which your characters perform."

But, in reality, setting is a little more complicated than that. Mostly it's because of the problems that you may encounter with setting. We'll discuss those and with the help of some experts, the solutions.

According to Noah Lukeman in the First Five Pages, "setting itself becomes a character, interacting with the other characters."

As writers, we must understand that setting is a living entity of its own within our story. It changes, plies us with senses, and evokes mood. But, for an agent or editor looking at your manuscript, there are mistakes you can make with setting that will cause them to reject your story.

You must have setting in your story. If you don't that's your first problem. Some writers start their story with no hint of place or time leaving the reader in the dark as to where or when the story is set.

Then the opposite is also true. Some writers spend so much time opening their first scene with a description of setting that they've bored the reader and slowed the pace so much that the reader has given up on ever getting through your story. According to Noah Lukeman, "If you have a tendency to describe the setting all at once, try stretching it out over the course of several pages -- readers can't take in all that information at once anyway, and a setting will become more real if it unfolds slowly..."

According to Janet Evanovich, in How I Write, her opinion is to "Provide the setting and atmosphere information as close to the beginning of the book. This gives your reader a sense of where the characters live and work."

Judiciously, writers. Judiciously.

Helen Haukeness describes some frequently encountered problems with setting and identifies the solutions. I'll highlight the most obvious ones.

First of all, she indicates that writers fail to understand the depth of a setting. Ms Haukeness states that "A story's setting comprises more than buildings and roads and flora and mountains in the background. Setting involves an entire environment: furniture, weather, people, tools, toys, clutter, lighting, odors. In a word, details."

This is the biggest misconception I encounter with writers; involving all the senses and surroundings in setting their story. It's the easiest one to overlook because all the focus is on the characters. That is why in most beginner writers' stories, we see the "talking heads". This is where dialogue is composed of just two characters talking with no action, setting, emotion, or senses.

Second, Ms Haukeness discusses how writers fail to change settings. Changing settings is just like changing emotions within a character and adding and subtracting conflict within your story. Noah Lukeman tells us it's a great mistake to limit settings "because limiting settings often ends up adversely affecting stories and characters, hindering them from branching out, doing what they would if they had the space."

What all three of our experts can agree on, is this. Our characters must interact with the story's setting. It can be something as simple as the teacher writing on the chalkboard. The executive sitting at his/her desk fiddling with the computer mouse. Or the stableboy rubbing saddlesoap into his mistress' favorite saddle. Whatever. Get your characters involved.

Don't wait for your readers to ask, "Where am I?"