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Rachael Dahl

Rachael Dahl

Tag Archives: characters

Economics and Writing

05 Thursday Jan 2012

Posted by Rachael Dahl in Editing

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books, characters, Editing, writing

When we were first married, my husband would constantly wonder how in a nanosecond I could change the topic of conversation to something completely unrelated to our discussion. In fact for awhile, I had to explain my train of thought and how it flew from point A to point B. Now he just accepts that there is a logical path in my head even if it doesn’t make sense to him. So if you’ll stay with me until the end of this post you’ll see how this story relates to the rest of the post.

Currently, I’m reading, That Used To Be Us: How America Fell Behind In The World It Invented And How We Can Come Back by columnist Thomas L. Friedman and foreign policy thinker Michael Mandelbaum. This book invades my thoughts at the most random times, like folding laundry or lying in bed and even sometimes while I’m in the shower. I’d like to pretend that these thoughts are deep and introspective and spur me to action, but instead they quickly lead me to compare it with writing. (Yep this is where the above story fits in.) So, today, I’d like to discuss how this book relates to us as writers.

There is a chapter titled “Ignoring our problems” where the authors write about four core problems. They argue that the future of our nation will be determined by the way we address these issues. While matching the kids socks, I thought about these four areas and (see above story) realized that in my book I’ve ignored several key problems and yes the future of my book does depend on how I choose to resolve them. In fact, they are the areas that I’m now focusing on.

In the first four pages of the book they discuss that people have sort of gotten used to it. They illustrate this with the story of a 2.5 million square foot convention center built in China in eight months, including giant escalators in each corner. Then they discussed the repairs of an escalator in the Washington D.C. Metrorail subway station that had been under repair for nearly six months. They investigated why it was taking so long and were told that “the mechanics need 10-12 weeks to fix each escalator. It was taking the Washington Metro crew twenty-four weeks to repair two tiny escalators of twenty-one steps each.” The authors wondered why nobody was screaming about this since it was causing major pedestrian traffic jams and someone said that they thought people were just use to it. When I thought about this, I’ll spare you the location, I wondered in what ways are my characters apathetic? Should they be reacting? Because of this, I’ve made more notes on places for improved action/reaction.

The last point that came to me while running was that Americans have lost our confidence, we expect China to be better than us, which again can be applied to writing. How many times do we compare ourselves to other authors and then become discouraged? The discouragement for me often leads to me doubting whether I’m just wasting my time writing.  Well, maybe that other author is better than us, but that shouldn’t stop us from being the best possible writer we can become.

Book Review: Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass

03 Tuesday Jan 2012

Posted by Rachael Dahl in Book Reviews

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characters, Pacing, plot, Setting

I read several books over the break, some for pleasure and some for help with the craft of writing. And I gotta say, that I found Writing the Breakout Novel very helpful. It provides tips for characters, setting, pacing and plots including subplots. However, and this is a big one, don’t read this book until you are done with your first draft and are struggling with editing. I know that sounds unconventional, but this book is supposed to help your book become a “breakout” novel, meaning it takes it to the next level. It teaches you how to make it shine and best of all keep the reader reading. Isn’t that what we really want? To keep them reading until they absolutely have to put it down?

It’s what I want. There are only a handful of books that have kept me so enthralled with the story and characters that I literally read until I can no longer ignore life, or the children, or the husband and then I’m annoyed that I had to put it down. (Lucky for me, I’m a speed reader and can finish most three hundred page books by the end of the day with a few interruptions.) That’s what I want my readers to feel when they read my words, that longing to stay with the characters until the very last word and then wish that the story continued so they could spend more time with them. If that’s what you desire too, then I recommend reading this book.

What do you want your readers to feel when they read your story?

Editing

02 Friday Dec 2011

Posted by Rachael Dahl in Writing Resources

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characters, plot, point of view, publish, verbs

I am not a published author. I want to be, oh I really want to be. I want my words to sing to someone’s heart, make them laugh, and have them hold their breath in anticipation. Mostly I want someone to love my characters the way I do. But for that to happen, I have to get published.

For over a year, I have trolled blogs, read Writer’s Digest, and perused agents websites. I have followed advice, taken online courses, and read books on writing. However, in all of my research on how to get my manuscript published, I have yet to find a good book, blog, or article on editing…until now.

Writing And Selling Your Mystery Novel by Hallie Ephron is a manuscript saver. And I thought I’d share some of her tips with you.

Fly High-Reread from start to finish. Here is where you take a hard look at your characters and your plot. While you are reading, keep a notebook handy for writing notes and suggestions. Here is what you pay special attention to: The main plot, point of view, the main character, and the villain. She also suggests checking the chronology of your book-Is it snowing in the summer or light at night during the winter. Have you packed twenty hours worth of events between sunrise and sunset? Another valuable tip is to open a document for scenes/chapters that you delete, in case you need some of the sentences or information later.

Flying Low-This means you check spelling, grammar and punctuation. In this category, she also mentions checking your physical reactions. Do your characters always: smile, nod their head, sigh, or frown. According to her, an occassional nod or smile is okay, but that can’t always be their reaction. This edit also includes weeding out the adverbs, pumping up the dialogue, and replacing bland verbs with ones that more accurately depict the scene. Not sure what a bland verb is? Here are a few: is, get, have, look, make, move, put, see, take, watch, and go. You might want to add your own to it.

And of course do you have a strong start and a strong finish. Does your book open and end with a strong line? Is your first time introduction to a setting, interior/exterior brought to life? How about your first and final character interaction?

These are only a few of her recommendations that I found helpful. I only wish I’d read this sooner.

What is your favorite editing tip?

Word respect.

21 Monday Nov 2011

Posted by Rachael Dahl in Antagonist, Protagonist, Writing Resources

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characters, consistency, running

A couple of months ago, I registered for a half marathon and while registering I saw that the course was listed as “difficult and challenging”. Words that should have caused me to pause, as I was a half marathon virgin, but I brushed past them and hit enter without giving them another thought. I continued to prepare for the race by running on paved routes that had a variation of hills. And a month before the race, I even ran thirteen miles, without any problems. I felt ready and while I stood at the start, I was excited because I knew I had prepared. However, while on mile four of the race, when I was discouraged and not sure if I could run the whole thirteen miles, I realized that I didn’t give the appropriate respect to the words “difficult” and “challenging”. The race course was mostly a mixture of uphill hiking trails, it also had ice, snow and mud patches. Not to mention that Colorado had high wind warnings, of 45 to 75 mph that day. The words difficult and challenging were apropos.

Since then, I’ve thought about the lessons I’ve learned from this experience and applied them to writing.

First, my words carry weight. Do I use the right words when describing my scenery, characters, or action?

Second, do my characters act and react appropriately to the situation? Or are they behaving in a manner that is contrary with their characteristics? Or are they not reacting when they should?

Third, does my story follow a logical path from beginning to end. Meaning did I fulfill my promise to the reader by solving the crime with plausible clues and trick them with possible red herrings?

These are some of things I look for while I am editing. As for the half marathon, I finished and I plan on running another one for beginners in the spring.

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