Inklings: Setting, Where Everything Happens

I think I may have jumped the gun a little last week when I discussed the first of the three parts of the story, the beginning. Before doing that, I had meant to talk about the setting, which is where your story takes place. The fun thing about writing fiction is that you can write about anything, anyone or any place.

Your story can take place anywhere. The only limit is your imagination. Setting encompasses a few things:

• Place--Where does your story take place? It could be in your school or your neighborhood or your state. You may want to have it take place in another country. In the case of my Deliverers series, they start out in our world, but wind up taking place on other worlds that I pull from my imagination.

• Time--Your story does not have to happen in the here and now. You can write about another time. Historical fiction novels like My Brother Sam Is Dead do this. Their authors do a magical job of bringing us to another time like the Civil War or Ancient Greece. 

• Society--The types of societies you write about also make up part of the setting. In the Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling uses modern day English society as the initial setting, then thrusts Harry into a secret society of witches and wizards unlike anything he--or we--have known before. This society has distinctly different customs from our society. That's one of the things that makes the series so much fun.

So now you have all the basics, an idea, characters, setting and an outline. You've made a beginning. You're off an writing! Next week, I'll talk about the meat of your story, the middle. See you then!

A Writer's Week #61: Calm Before the Storm

Winter is limping to its bitter end this week. We just had what I hope is the final snowstorm of the season. I am so over snow right now. We did not have too many storms this year, but the ones we had were big. So, bring on the sunshine, I'm ready for it!

This writer's week was rather slow and dull, unfortunately. There was not much going on except for some writing. On that front, I was not as prolific as I would have liked to have been. I've been fighting a cold, which has made me a little sluggish. Because of that, although things flowed really well when I did write, I didn't spend as much time as I could have writing. I guess I should relish this slow period, because I'm getting poised for a flurry of activity in the next few months. More on that a little later.

I wound up writing 2,000 words, which has been about my average for the last three or four weeks.. I really wish I could write 3,000 words a week, which is what I had been doing earlier on. Still, right now The Deliverers 3: The Golden Dragon of Ang is at 26,100 words over 24 chapters and 114 pages. It's coming along really nicely, and I'm generally pleased with the way the story is progressing.

I do have one concern, though. In the book, the Deliverers are visiting a place called the Dragon Islands. These are five islands that resemble parts of a dragon. Their adventure takes them to all five of the islands. That's fine, but here's the problem. I'm 114 pages into it and they're only on the second island. If I keep up this pace, this book is going to be even longer than book 2, which I think will wind up being about 270 pages. The way it stands now, book 3 could be over 300 pages easily. That's pretty long for a middle grade novel, unless your name is Rowling.

My wife has read it and says the pace seems to be okay. I have not read it all the way through, but I guess I should. If the pace is indeed all right, then I suppose I can live with whatever length it winds up being. If it does drag, then I can always cut, although for me that's hard.

I'm also a little worried that there is less action than in book 2 so far. Golden Dragon is more like Sharky and the Jewel in that there's a little more mystery to it. Like the first book, the characters have more distance to travel. Oh well, I still think it's good, it's just different. Each of the books seems to be its own animal. While they all have similarities, they are all radically different, and that's a good thing.

So, what's on the horizon? Well, more writing, obviously. Aside from that, narrator Jimm Singer and I are lining up reviewers for the audio version of Sharky and the Jewel so I should be sharing those with you starting this month. If you haven't checked it out you should--the link is at the top of this page. I should finally be getting a glimpse of the cover for book 2--I'll share it with you when I do. School visits will be starting soon and once Order of the Crystal Lion is out, I'll be appearing at some shows. I'll let you know the details as things are set up. Have a great week!

My Favorite Books: Charlotte's Web

As you've probably guessed by now, I'm an old school middle grade reader. While I like a lot of today's middle grade titles, I grew up with many of the older books that today are considered "classics". These books are what influenced me most in shaping my own writing style.

Take Charlotte's Web for example. The first time I read this book was when our teacher read it to us in 5th grade. I think today it may be considered 4th or even 3rd grade reading material, but I really enjoyed it as a 5th grader. I loved the idea that animals could talk and had their little own secret society in Farmer Zuckerman's barnyard.

E.B. White was such a great writer and had such command of the language. I could see the whole book playing out before my eyes so clearly. The emotions were vivid. He brought it all to life. The book had been so real that when I visited Sturbridge Village that fall, I was almost disappointed that the pigs and cattle and oxen didn't speak as they had in the book.

The values in the book also made an impression on me. Charlotte went to extremes to save her friend Wilbur's life, even as her life was ending. Wilbur paid back the favor by guarding Charlotte's eggs until they hatched. The book is truly a great story of
 friendship.

I was quite surprised when E.B. White popped up again when I was in college. I had never known much about his life, so I was surprised when his Elements of Style cropped up in an English class. Was this the E.B. White of Charlotte and Stuart Little? Yes by golly it was. Freaky. Then a little later on, I found out about his career at the New Yorker. I was astounded again. Clearly here was one talented writer for readers of all ages.

As an author I can learn a lot from E.B. White. I can not only admire the stories he wrote that appeal to both young and old, but learn from him as I peruse Elements of Style from time to time, cringing as he reminds me of some bad habits I've picked up over the years.

Yes, Charlotte's Web is a classic book written by an accomplished author who brought the world so much. That's why it's one of my favorite books.

Inklings: The Beginning, a Great Place to Start

Last week, we talked about writing an outline for your story. An outline is a great way to chart out its path by documenting the beginning, middle and end. I thought it might be a good idea to go into each of these sections a little more thoroughly. This week, we'll be talking about writing the beginning of your story.

So, how do you start a story? To tell you the truth, the beginning of a book is the hardest part for me to write. I've written two books and I've totally rewritten the first chapter both times. Check that--actually I rewrote the first chapter of my first book twice. On the second book I only had to redo it once. Even though I outlined my books, both times I thought of a better way to start it later.

 But why did I bother changing anything? The book was going along okay. I had made a start and was on my way. Why did I decide to go back and change how it started? I did that because a good beginning sets the tone for the entire story. In the beginning, you want to do three things:

• Introduction of character and setting--The beginning introduces the reader to the main character(s) and the setting of the story. This is the part of your story where the reader can get to know whoever the story is about and where it takes place. Perhaps your main character is a boy who lives in New Jersey, or a toad who lives on the third planet orbiting Alpha Centari. Whatever characters and worlds you dream up, the beginning is where your reader meets them.

• Hook 'em--The beginning is also the time to get them interested. You need to start your tale with something exciting--a hook. Starting right in the middle of the action is one good way to get your story off to a rousing start. Another is to begin with an off the wall first sentence. For example, The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien starts, "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit." This is very simple, but it gets you wondering. A hobbit? What's a hobbit? In fact, it was that very question that prompted Tolkien to write The Hobbit in the first place. Once someone is interested in the story, they'll want to read more.

• Get things moving--Once you've introduced the characters and the setting, and hooked them with some action or a good question, it's time to show them what this story of yours is all about.  You should introduce your main character to the problem they'll have to solve, the issue they'll have to tackle or the dragon they'll have to slay. It's time to send them out into the world to do what they have to do. As the story progresses, this problem will grow, but for now the best place to introduce it is in...the introduction!

Okay, now that you know what an introduction is all about, how will you attack yours? What can you do to hook your reader, get them to know your actors and the world in which they live and the problems they are faced with? It sounds like a tall order, but I know you can do it. After all, you have your outline. You know where you want to end up. It's time to head out on your writing journey. The fun has just begun!

What books have you read that have great beginnings? Share them in the Comments section below.

A Writer's Week #60: Getting Closer

This week was another good one. I thought I wasn't going to have a chance to get a lot of writing done because I was taking this week to do the final prep on The Deliverers 2: Order of the Crystal Lion. I was able to achieve my goal of getting the final edit, introduction, author's notes and everything else set.

So now, I've sent the manuscript over to Ana Vogel for her to lay out. Once the art is added, we'll be ready to go. I really can't wait. I'm hoping that I'll be able to share the cover with you in a couple of weeks, and that the book will be out in early April.

School visits will be starting later this month, and I'm looking into selling both books at some shows locally in April and May. I'll be sharing everything with you as it happens. This is the fun part, where I can meet kids at school and chat about writing with them. The shows are fun too, because I always meet interesting people and make new friends at them.

Meanwhile,, in the midst of all this, I still managed to hit my writing goal of 2,000 words this week. The Deliverers 3: The Golden Dragon of Ang is up to 24,100 words, 22 chapters and 106 pages. I'm not sure how long this one will be. I was thinking it was going to be about 60,000 words, but I don't know. I'd say they're about a third of the way through, so that would mean the book would be just under 75,000 words. That sounds kind of long to me.

I was worried that the book might not have enough action in it. The Deliverers 2 had a decent amount in it, and so far I don't think this one does. I let my wife read what I have so far, and she thinks there's enough action and suspense. That reassured me that I was on the right track. Anyway, I'll share anything that develops with you next week.