Melanie Nilles

Work on my current project has gone from being as difficult as pulling teeth to easy as brushing them. I know why too–I’ve passed that section known as the dreaded “middle” of the story. Sure, other obstacles stand in the way, but nothing like the middle of a story. Why is that the most difficult part to write?

Consider this: When an idea hits, it often starts out as a “What if…” statement. From that develops characters and setting and plot. I usually know what conflict the characters face and how it should be resolved. It’s getting from A to Z that I stumble over the many bumps in the road. And there’s a big hill to climb known as the middle. It comes after we establish the characters, setting, main conflict of the plot and maybe some sub-plots, and before the final climax. Sure, there are small peaks and valleys of action along the way–that’s the tough road known as the middle. THAT is what I have trouble navigating.

Now, a good story doesn’t falter and slow in the middle. Rather, it keeps its pace. I’m sure you’ve read stories that flatlined. (I can name a few I’ve read, but I won’t list them here.) A good writer recognizes when things start to slow down and isn’t afraid to scrap those sections and start again. Pacing is important to a story. By “Pace”, I am talking about the rate at which the action takes place. You need to find the right pace for your story and stick with it. You don’t want to slow down a fast-paced thrill ride or speed up any work to hurry to the end–that happens in too many stories. Raising the stakes throughout a story isn’t necessarily speeding it up, but having your characters suddenly figure out where every road in the plot leads does.

The trouble with the middle hump is that it involves all the scenes in which the characters may suffer, rejoice, observe, etc. events that lead to the defining moment of the book. Every scene should lead to the climax by having some impact on the plot. That’s the trouble with middles. As writers we can lose our way towards the end we see, which can also change along the way. As long as we’re aware of it, we can correct it. And the sooner we make the correction, the better. The further we veer off course, the harder it is to find our way back. If you’re seen the movie Cars, you probably know what I mean when I use that analogy

Back to my writing.

I deleted a good chunk of the middle when I realized I was heading off course and losing the story. By going back, I was able to see the path I missed and found what the story needed. Sometimes going a little off course can be helpful, but in this case, it was awful. I caught it in time, however.

Now, I’m passed the hump and coasting towards the climax. It hasn’t been an easy road to navigate–few stories are–but I’m always delighted to look back and see what I’ve accomplished and the obstacles I’ve overcome to reach the end. Although the end of my current WIP is still about 15,000 words away, I know that I’m past the hardest part. And I’ll do it all over again after this project!

In the U.S. we honor our military veterans who have died serving our nation on a special day. “Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11, and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.” (For the full article of the history of Memorial Day, visit http://www.usmemorialday.org/backgrnd.html .)

I would like to take this opportunity to say “Thanks” to all those who serve our nation, in whatever aspect, and keep us safe from threats, both foreign and domestic. You shouldn’t have to be dead for us to show you the respect you deserve.

THANK YOU!

Alas! Our dearest Miss Snark is done with her blog. Many of us who write have benefitted from her straight-forward wisdom and advice. All hail, the queen of Snarkdom, and her Major Domo, Killer Yapp! We will miss the cynicism and witty remarks.

But we won’t be lost. She’s not quitting her agenting job, simply retiring from blogging. As she posted in her blog, it will stay up to keep all of her advice and humor available for the unitiated or for those of us who may need to research what we should do in a situation.

Thank you, Miss Snark, for what you have provided for writers everywhere!

After all this time of wanting to give my website an overhaul, I managed it in one day. It’s not hard when every page has the same banner.

The graphics took the greatest amount of time. The base image came from a picture I took a year ago from our back deck. I just chopped off the pasture view. (We’re kind of in the country–just outside city limits.) The clouds were beautiful with the sun shining through. The full picture can be viewed at MySpace. I use it for my background.

The rest was done using Paint Shop Pro X, a cheaper, competitor’s version of the popular PhotoShop. Seeing all the bubbles made me think of Finding Nemo and the fish who hugs the treasure chest in the aquarium. “Bubbles! Bubbles! My bubbles!”

I like the new look. It was long overdue.

“There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.” -Winston Churchill

I think everyone has heard that quote before, but it so true. I am to the point of feeling an emptiness without the regular visits to my horse. She may not like me–H***, she heads the other way when she sees me coming or sees anyone coming for that matter. She has no reason to dislike me, but she’s the kind of horse who doesn’t want to be bothered. I still care for her, but we don’t share any special bond. It’s more of an amicable relationship where she goes along for the sake of avoiding an argument. Some horses are like that, mares in particular.

Geldings are my favorite. The boys will give all they have to their human, but geldings usually have a level head. They don’t get excited by other horses the way stallions do and they don’t get hormonal like mares. They want to be your buddy. For that, they make the best war horses, or did when horses were used for warfare.

According to Wikipedia–

“The Scythians are thought to have been the first people to geld their horses. Geldings were once prized by classical steppe warriors for their silence; without mating urges, they were less prone to call out or whinny to other horses, easier to keep in groups, and less likely to fight with one another…

“However, some cultures would not geld male horses, most notably the Arabs. These people usually used mares for everyday work or war, and culled stallions were usually sold away to those in other cultures, who lacked the cultural taboos against gelding them.”

In my fantasy stories, my fighters ride mares and geldings for the logical reasons stated in the Wiki article. When I read a story where it seems like all the knights or warriors are riding stallions, I cringe at the misrepresentation. People have this false notion that warriors would ride stallions when they are the worst mount a warrior could have. Ask any horseperson who has kept a stallion–I have briefly, before they were gelded–and they will tell you that it’s a rare stallion who isn’t difficult to keep.

I warned you I was nitpicky when I read something about horses in fiction stories!

I haven’t updated for a while on the postpartum issue, but it is going well. I have now been working out at the gym for about 11 weeks. I have only seven pounds to lose to reach my pre-pregnancy weight and for mother’s day reached my goal of fitting into my old jeans, even if they were a little snug. That means I’ve lost 35 pounds! Now, I hope to have those last pounds and maybe a little more gone before the end of June. By then, I should have my horse to ride again.

I have to share what has been working for me. Mind you that I know my body and that for me low meat works best when I want to lose weight.

The keys I found are the following:

1. Breastfeed exclusively

2. Exercise regularly, including cardio and weights

3. Drink lots of water, especially to keep up the breastfeeding

4. Cut back calories

5. Eat low fat, low sugar diet (and for me, low protein)

6. A bowl of oatmeal about an hour before bed

7. After every 4-5 days of low calorie dieting, splurge. You slow down your metabolism by cutting back too much. Enjoying yourself every few days not only helps keep you going, but also boosts that metabolism again. You’ll put a couple pounds on, but it will fall off quickly once calories are cut back.

The end will come when I reach my goal weight, which means hitting below it and finding the right amount of maintenance calories afterwards.

When it comes to describing characters, settings, or action, everyone has a different preference. Some people like lots of colorful description. Others like minimal descriptions. I like something in between, but I write fantasy and science fiction and for the most part, readers of these genres expect a faster pace. Too much description loses a reader because it slows the pace of the story. How does a writer show what he or she sees things in their story while keeping the action moving?

Here’s a simple rule that an editor gave me once: limit initial descriptions to three main points that stand out about a character or place and sprinkle in other details with the action beyond that. It works, as long as you don’t describe everything. Stick to the main characters, because if something is described or mentioned, a reader expects it to be important. Don’t overburden the reader and slow down the story with description. Focus on the main characteristics that you would first notice. Oftentimes I don’t even do that much, especially on less important characters. If you pick the right details and trust in the reader to build their own image from what isn’t said, it flows.

The biggest problem I see with beginning or young writers, and which I committed myself years ago before having it pointed out, was using passive voice instead of active voice. Composing sentences for smooth prose is tougher than for reports, which tend towards the lazy, passive voice, but with practice, writing active sentences becomes habit. A writer shouldn’t avoid passive voice completely–it has its place. However, most passive sentences can be converted easily into active voice.

With physical and action descriptions, using active verbs changes the nature of the description and makes it more exciting to read. It helps with the “show, don’t tell” rule of writing.

If you ask anyone who knows me personally what the first thing that comes to mind when they hear my name, it’s probably horses. (Any of my friends reading this can verify that in comments or negate it–I don’t really know what goes on in your heads ) At least that’s how it used to be.

I’ve always been an avid horseperson/equestrian. I grew up on a farm/ranch, chased cattle most of my life, and switched to dressage and hunter/jumper after college. I’ve been lucky to have experienced a taste of nearly everything you can do from horseback–playday rodeos, 4-H, trail riding, showing, racing, training–and from ground work–longing, breeding, driving. I have over twenty years experience under my belt from starting out as a city slicker kid who knew nothing to training a young gelding nearly to first level dressage as a four year old (before I sold him because of my pregnancy). I had a lot of bumps and bruises along the way and ribbons and awards.

Nevertheless, you don’t have to interact with horses to learn to understand them. There are riding instructors I’ve heard of with disabillities, but the power of their observation is as good as any instructor who also trains. There may be something lacking, as I know you learn more about observing riding by feel (that is, by doing the riding), but anyone can gain knowledge by watching and listening.

Along those lines I have a big complaint about many writers and those involved in movies when it comes to equine behavior. DO YOUR RESEARCH! I don’t know how many times I’ve sat ready to slam a book across the room because the writer–and it may have been a minor detail to them–wrote something completely screwball. To correct these discrepancies with reality, I will be making regular posts about equine behavior. If you have a question, particularly if you’re writing fiction and using horses–post a comment and I will respond. I can’t stand reading descriptions that tell me the writer has never been around horses in their life.

My biggest pet peeve with Hollywood is their tendency to misuse horse sounds. Horses have very specific sounds, but they are quiet most of the time. Movie sound people have a nasty tendency to throw in a neigh or a whinny when a horse would normally say nothing at all. That drives me insane! Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, WRONG! *okay, stepping off the soapbox I climbed on without noticing*

When I’m reading, I don’t see the mistakes quite as much. Good writers either do their research or use horses so little that they can’t make a mistake. Bad writers, well, they stand out to me when it comes to horse behavior or riding descriptions. One of the worst errors you can make is the old he/she “kicked the horse in the flanks.” Does the writer know that the flanks are a sensitive area located in the general area where the hind leg meets the body? It is physically impossible for a rider to do this, and if they succeed, they’d likely end up airborne. It’s a sensitive area on horses and they don’t like it. A rider’s leg when properly seated behind the withers (the hinge where the base of the neck and the beginning of the back join, usually raised) will hang behind the girth. This is the optimal position for the rider’s balance and the horse’s center of gravity. Of course, staying on is up to the rider, but it’s easiest in that position.

Those are the two biggest things I’ve noticed recently. I’ll add more as they stand out, but I don’t get much time to read. For good horse books, look up Walter Farley or Terri Farley, Margurite Henry, or Anna Sewell.

I’ve learned a lot over the more than ten years since I decided to start putting my imagination into words. I’ve learned what process helps me to write better. Now, it’s a consistent process of putting one foot before the other, or in the case of writing, one finger in front of another (on the keyboard).

The writing process I follow may not be quite the same as the next writer, but it works for me. If someone starting their first novel asked what they should do to reach the end, this is what I would tell them…

Defining your world:

The first step is to answer the following questions:

1. What is my premise? Often this is phrased as a “What if…” question. This can be more clearly defined by asking yourself what the purpose of the story is. Often that involves having a good idea of points A and Z but not necessarily every point in between.

2. Who is my main character? (male/female, human/alien, age, height, weight, hometown/world, experience/background, skills, hobbies/interests, etc.) What is their purpose? What is their name?

3. Who will my MC interact with? For this, define the existing and future friends, teachers, bosses, enemies, etc. Define the parameters of each. This will give you a reference to keep your characters consistent, although their individual personalities will evolve and become clearer the more you write them. At least you’ll have a good start.

4. What do I need to know before I start? Is it medieval fantasy–research weapons and fighting styles, culture, etc. Is it space opera–research the sciences (geography, physiology of animals/humans, etc.) I’m not saying you have to be an expert, but it gives credibility to a story to have some basis in fact and it keeps readers from being pulled from the story. A lot of research can be done along the road of writing, but you’ll always need some basic understanding of something before you begin. Keep a file of information gleaned from websites, books, magazines to reference anytime you need. Online forums can be helpful as you’ll find a lot of personal experience readily available.

5. What is my setting? This is not just the location but also the culture and time period of your story.

6. Where do I begin? Starting is always the hardest point. I could write a whole post on beginnings. The first time anyone writes a story, they have the tendency to want to write a few pages of background to “set the mood”. Screw that! Get into the action. Intersperse bits of setting with the action. Begin in the middle of something and go from there. The best way to do that is to write where you want to then cut everything up to the a good place in the action. For a first story, it often involves cutting out the first two or three chapters. That’s where you begin–in the middle.

Those are the questions I start with. I build bios for all the characters I know I’ll need from the beginning. Often other characters come up along the way, but unless they turn into part of the regular supporting cast, I don’t bother to write bios. I also make sure I know why I’m writing the story, where I want it to go.

Outlining:

The second step is to outline. I don’t mean your standard outlining, unless that’s what works for you. Rather, I’m referring to writing out scenes and defining how your characters transition from one point to the next. For some people, this step is pointless; they prefer to write “organically”, that is to just let the story come. I contend that those people do outline, but just keep it all in their heads.

The kind of outline I refer to is more of a synopsis. That is, the outline is composed of paragraphs of action, usually scattered scenes in which I see my characters accomplishing something towards the end, the climax, of the story. Write down whatever you see. It may change by the time you reach that scene, but you’ll have a better idea of what you want to accomplish, and maybe that scene doesn’t do it but you take bits of it and insert them into other scenes instead. That’s fine.

The point of an outline is as a guide. You don’t have to stick to it. As you get to know you characters, you’ll make modifications. However, at least with an outline, you’ll know about where to insert plot points and introduce different aspects or resolve subplots. I would advise it for any beginner. You might argue that it takes the fun away, but I say it doesn’t if you don’t let it. An outline can be a huge help, especially when you can’t write all day every day.

Writing the story:

This is the part everyone sees as writing. It’s putting the words down. Characterization, dialogue, plots and subplots, action, description, narration… It’s all a part of writing. Choose a place and time to write and stick to it. Set goals for yourself–so many words per day or so much time per day. Put yourself in a place where you can’t be distracted and make sure anyone else in your household understands that it is YOUR time and they can’t disturb you, unless your house is on fire or someone’s holding your cat hostage with a shotgun. WRITE! Any other time, you can do what you want or ponder your story.

Edit:

I don’t think I need to define this step. But I do need to say that you should wait for any major editing until you’re done with the story. I like to give my story a couple reads right after I’m done. After that, I put it aside for some time and move on to the next story. How much time? That depends. Sometimes I’ll think of some detail and I have to go back and make the change after just a few days. However, I try to give myself at least a month. I may go back to a story several times over a year or until it finds a publisher. I never quit editing. After a while, however, you’ll get sick of the story, so give yourself some time to get it out of your mind so you can go at it fresh.

You’re going to think the story is perfect after you write “THE END” but it’s not. You may even think it’s perfect after a couple edits, but it’s not. It never will be, but that’s okay. Just continue editing.

The point of editing is to not only clean up grammar and spelling, but also to close any plot holes, to make sure your characters are consistent throughout the story, and to tighten the writing. Critique groups and beta readers can be your best friends for finding these since they have a fresh view of your world and aren’t immersed as you, the writer, are.

Edit some more:

Don’t overdue the editing, but make sure the manuscript is the best it can be before you even consider submitting it anywhere.

Agents and Publishers:

Do your research and make sure you check what agents and publishers want and how they want to be contacted. Follow their guidelines on their websites.

Good luck!