THE LONG AND SHORT OF IT ALL

There’s a huge difference between writing a novel and creating a short story. I have a tendency to be verbose, so the structure of a novel fits me well. In it I feel I get more opportunities to bring my characters to life. I can add in a bit of their background and more of their mannerisms to give the reader a true flavor of what the character’s about. Doing the same thing, bringing a character to life I mean, in a short story takes pure damn genius in my opinion. And a genius I’m not…. At the moment, I’m working on rewrites for two shorts that will appear in an anthology this year. The anthology is titled FIVES STROKES TO MIDNIGHT, and ALL of the contributors are excellent storytellers and can make a short story sing like nobody’s business. Mine sounds like somebody’s Uncle Charles singing in the shower with a bad case of laryngitis.

Fortunately, one of the tools that has aided me along this new road of short story writing, has been a plot outline that a dear friend shared with me. It’s been invaluable in helping me get to the point of the story and stop fluffing things up so to speak. Because it’s been so useful, I thought I’d share it with all of you. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, the outline comes from the infamous, master storytellers of all times….Dr. Jack Williamson.

Here’s the crux of the concept….In a 3,000 word story, for example, the beginning is about 750 words, the body about 1500 and the ending about 750 with resolution/validation taking no more than a few sentences. Thus you have said outline:

BEGINNING (3)
1. Main character
2. Disturbing situation (conflict)
3. Character’s story purpose
4. Hazards or difficulties
5. Assets essential to the ending

BODY (6)
1. Attempts to achieve purpose (usually 2-3, increasing in difficulty)
2. Results (usually 2-3, commonly failures)
3. Black (or bright) moments

ENDING (3)
1. New stimulus
2. Final conflict (one last attempt as above, usually succeeds.)

RESOLUTION/VALIDATION

So, there ya go. The perfect formula for the perfect short…..happy singin’ everyone!

As my Jenny T. Partridge Dance Mystery series get sets to launch (April 3), I find myself in the middle of some real life dance drama. Quite frankly, dance drama is a given. Pick a high strung, “creative-type” teacher, oodles of psycho dance moms, fragile egos and little dancing divas, and you have a RECIPE for disaster. It’s a wonder that things EVER go right.

Our particular studio is going through some changes, mostly because of growth. And the fact that I can’t stand the psycho moms anymore, even though they give me lots of fodder for my books.

It occurred to me last night, as I lay awake wondering if this was REALLY what I wanted for Dancing Daughter, that if my youngest’s achievements have to be attained by stepping on the backs of others, than I would rather she not achieve at all.

Of course, this does not apply should she become a cheerleader, as stunting requires some back stepping and such.

But what is really gained by a parent tearing down someone else’s child in order to make their own look better?

Some of the statements I have heard.

“I don’t know why my daughter has to stand next to those two, when she is SO much better than they are.”

“What do I have to do to get my daughter on the front row fifty, where she belongs? (Explanation: Front row fifty means dead center in the front row.)

“I’m so glad that the teacher recognizes that my daughter is so much better than those other girls, even though they are older.”

“Jane (not her real name) wants the pink dress. She doesn’t want the yellow dress. Yellow is not her color. What do I have to do to get her the pink dress?” (Explanation: the routine was True Colors, with four different dress colors.)

Hmm. Interesting. I just noticed that all of the above quotes came from ONE mother, the MOTHER of all pyscho dance moms. But there are others on the team.

I think about this, and compare it Karin’s football stories, and I know that this happens in all sports. I watch television news as parents attack other parents, and sometimes even other people’s children, and I wonder about what we are doing to our children?

And then I remember the heartwarming stories of young champions, and kids who succeed against all odds, like the autistic waterboy who shot a game-winning three pointer against all odds.

And that? That keeps me going. I still won’t let my daughter’s success be based on my tearing down of someone else’s child, but I have to believe that we can set good examples, and maybe, maybe just maybe other parents who are too-over-the-top will notice. And try to be better. A girl can dream.

And now, as I promised, my book SISTERWIFE, is now available free from my Web site. Feel free to download, share with friends, and forward to anyone you feel would enjoy learning more about a polygamist. Or a bunch of polygamists. Or a polygamous cult. Okay, I’ll stop now.

A week ago I was at a board meeting for my local Romance Writers of America Chapter. Half way through the meeting, on of the current co-presidents was extremely frustrated and said, “My hat is off to you.” She looked at me and the two women I shared the position with during my two years as Co-President.

I laughed. Oh yeah, it was funny. Why? Because the board is comprised of brilliant, creative and highly motivated women. Their brains work so fast and on such a broad spectrum, that it’s like trying control sunlight to keep these women on task. Forcing then to follow the agenda to run the board meeting is a challenge.

Sometimes though, you just have to toss the agenda and let the creativity take over. Then we bring the agenda back out and organize all that creativity.

That is what the whole writing process is like. There’s a time to be organized and a time to take the reigns off the creativity and let it go.

Recently an online group read my book as part of their book club and they posted favorite lines and favorite scenes. I noticed something interesting—many of the lines they chose as favorites are lines that were done in a fit of unrestrained creativity. Those lines when I was deep in the characters head and just writing down what she told me.

But to get a book finished, it takes some control. Just like the co-presidents of my RWA group has to control and guide the creativity, there has to be some force in the writing process to control and guide the creativity.

This is nothing new, but as I was sitting there watching the two co-presidents find a way to reign in the enthusiastic, creative women, and do it with grace and humor as they presidents set the tone, I thought about how hard I am on my own creative side. Very often I’m annoyed that I’m not working fast enough, or I’m not smart enough, or whatever. Perhaps I need a lesson from the two women running my RWA chapter. I could treat my creative side with a little more grace and humor.

Or is that just giving into my lazy side?????

I don’t know. But hey, here’s some good news—I finished my book! And I have a title for it, EXTREMELY HOT. It will be out in November 2007.

So what’s your good news this week?

I do not watch television (except American Idol, the History channel and the Discovery channel). My husband loves to watch television. So as not to make him feel as if I have deserted him, I take my Dana downstairs in the evening and write or read while he watches what he watches.

Okay, so tonight as is habit, I sat on the sofa, tele on and tried to write. But, I got caught up in the emotionalness of Grey’s Anatomy. What I found so disturbing is, I don’t watch Grey’s Anatomy, but my husband likes it and so I end up at least hearing it on a somewhat regular basis. The kicker? Hubby wasn’t home to watch it, but I was! Go figure. So back to the show. I got sucked in. It was emotional and touching and well, it didn’t make me a rabid fan, but my writer’s mind drew from it. I made notes, I paid attention, I had several ah ha moments.

So, then I see there is an Oprah special coming on afterwards. I stay tuned for Russell and Nicole. What’s-her-name and the Sexiest Man Alive don’t interest me, and I was meh, about Jamie Fox and Sidney Poitier. Well, Russell and Nicole did not disappoint, but I found myself glued to the set when Sidney Poitier began to speak. I took more notes. And something this wonderfully humble man said resonated with me. He said his father told him, “You can always measure a man by how he takes care of his children.”

I sat there for a long moment and thought, “Wow, that is some deep stuff.” And it’s true. Shitty fathers are shitty men.

I immediately thought of my heroes and wondered how they would take care of their children. Then I was like, doh! Of course they’d be great dads! They’re my heroes after all, it’s a given. But I’ve never written a hero with a child.

Then I thought about a Christmas story I may be writing, and I thought, hmm, I want my hero in that story to have a child and although he will be one angsty dark man, his child will light him up. He will do anything for that child and because of his love and devotion to his child no matter how dark and twisted his past and even some of his present, he will be an endearing character.

I can already picture this man in my mind and better still, I can see the woman he will become just as fiercely devoted to.
Moral of this story: I guess I need to watch television more often.
How about you? Does television influence your stories? And readers? Do you like to see television concepts in print?

Late last night my family and I stumbled in from Disneyland. Needless to say, today has been slow to get moving. The kids were all late to school, I was late to a doctor’s appointment, and I just sat down at the computer and realized–yikes! It’s Thursday! It’s after one and where did the day go?

I am SO sorry I wasn’t around for our two American Title finalist guest blogs! Both entries are fabulous, they had stiff competition. I think all ten finalists are wonderful writers and I’m sending Tink over with some fairy dust that their manuscript finds its way to the right editor. Now we have two entries to choose from, Kim and Jenny. I’ve read the entries. Twice. Two unique voices and two great stories. Two talented writers. It’s going to be a tough choice.

When I got home from Disneyland, I had some boxes waiting for me, including some great reference books. You know you’re crazy when you get excited over DSM-IV MADE EASY and the CRIME CLASSIFICATION MANUAL. Awhile back, I spent nearly $100 on a forensic coursebook. It’s not a book to read cover to cover, but it’s GREAT to look things up in.

And then I got this little book, THE SOCIOPATH NEXT DOOR. The hook on the front: “1 in 25 ordinary Americans secretly has no conscience and can do anything at all without feeling guilty. Who is the devil you know?”

The reason this book intrigues me is that not all sociopaths are serial killers. Are all sociopaths CAPABLE of killing? I think so. Scott Peterson is a classic example. In Dr. Keith Ablow’s book INSIDE THE MIND OF SCOTT PETERSON he argues that the only one in danger from Scott was Lacey (and he gave many reasons why this was the case.) But Scott killed his pregnant wife without conscience or guilt.

I wanted to read this book to understand the mind of sociopaths outside of the serial killers I feature in my novels. If it’s true that 4% of all people ARE sociopaths–defined as someone without a conscience and the ability to do anything without guilt–I want to know how it manifests, what signs to look for, things like that.

Anyway, I have two more books to read for the Thrillers, one for the RITAs, and three galleys. THEN I can dive into these research books and see what I can learn.

So, what’s your favorite ride at Disneyland? Can you believe I had NEVER been on the Indiana Jones ride until this week? It was fabulous. But my favorite is still Pirates of the Caribbean. I love that an amusement park RIDE spurred an idea for a story.