Day 1: James Scott Bell's Tools for Dialogue

Yes, this was a back-to-back talk given by Mr. Bell after which, my brain exploded. I'm still picking up pieces.

This is one small portion of his talk and since it doesn't require diagrams, I thought I could share it without too much difficulty. (He does like diagrams.) Each of these tools are things we need to practice in each scene that has dialogue - and that means every scene for most of us.

1. Orchestration of Conflict: Keep the possibilities for conflict coming. Mr. Bell mentioned a scene in "Casablanca" where we see Rick, the Frenchman and the Gestapo agent talking about the war, Rick's stance, etc. Throughout the scene, there's an unspoken, but rising threat from the Gestapo.

2. P.A.C.: This stands for
P=Parental or authoritarian style of motivation.
A=Objective/Adult
C=Childlike, emotional motivational style.

Mr. Bell mentioned how you can watch the dialogue between Oscar and Felix in "The Odd Couple" go from one character being the authoritarian, to the adult to the child and how, given different situations, Oscar and Felix change roles. This keeps the scenes believable, dynamic and snappy.

3. Curve the Language: Write a line of dialogue, then swap words out and make it more threatening.

4. Turn Exposition into confrontation within dialogue. For the sake of a quick demonstration, please forgive me for using an excerpt from my own ms. The following scene has been posted here before. It's a confrontation that happens between my villain (Hu Xiongli) and a minor character who is the head of the Butchers Guild:

"Tell me, Guild Master, has Tong Zhang written requesting money and food yet?"

"He has." Wu crumbled more of his rice cake into the waiting mouths below. "You ought to know I cannot deny a guild member his rights-"
"I do. How long have you held your office, Yang Wu?"
Wu stiffened. It was the slightest of reactions. A flick of rice cake. A tic of facial muscles. Yet the implied threat was received. Now the enticement.
"You can deny him whatever you wish," Xiongli said. "He is a traitor to the Empire and should be denied." Silence reigned for a moment as Xiongli let his words sink in. Then he turned to Wu again and allowed the painted, friendly expression to return to his face. "You and your guild would be compensated."
"A traitor to the Empire is still not a traitor to his guild, Lord Hu."
"Ah, but if he is not a traitor to his guild, then what Empire does the guild serve?"

I do not baldly state anywhere in this scene what the threat to Yang Wu is. I leave that to the reader's imagination. However, thanks to the scene's setup, the reader is aware of recent capital punishments and an assassination attempt on Xiongli's life that's made him both bloodthirsty and jumpy. Both men are tense and each line is designed to show their struggles and desires as well as convey the importance of the guild.


5. Avoid Direct Response Dialogue: Don't do things like: "Sally, do you want ice cream?" "Yes, Daddy. I want ice cream." Answer questions with questions, non sequitur responses, etc. For example, "Sally, do you want ice cream?" "Why did you kiss Mrs. Tanner, Daddy?"

6. Go with the flow. Use dialogue without tags and beats. It's liberating.

7. Minimize dialogue. When revising, copy and paste to a new file, then compress. Add beats for dialogue, and make sure your characters talk the way people really talk. We don't always say, "Do you want ice cream?" Sometimes we'll say, "Want ice cream?" or "Want some?" Yes, I am ice cream-obsessed.

8. Silence. Don't make every response audible, but make your beats meaningful.

9. Tags. Mode and feelings should be evident from your verbiage. Beats go before dialogue. This helps identify the speaker, for one thing.

I remember trying (and failing) to understand Chemistry and despairing because my future father-in-law was my instructor and I so wanted to impress him. Years later, I confessed my confusion and he was disappointed I hadn't said something at the time. He had other methods of explaining chemistry. He said if I hadn't understood one approach, I might have grasped a different one. To me, James Scott Bell's talk was helpful because I need to remember to THINK about these things as I write and not write by "feel." What about you? Is approaching writing from this angle helpful?

Day 1: James Scott Bell On Plotting

Folks, if you ever get a chance to hear Mr. Bell speak, run, don't walk. He's not only an entertaining instructor, he makes even the most difficult concepts easy to digest.

I can't convey everything he discussed because I never learned to take dictation and my notes are consequentially spotty in places. But I did manage a few gems:

On plotting: Plot should always have death as the ultimate stake:

1. Physical death is obvious and probably the most commonly used obstacle
2. Professional death - lose the case, lose your profession. He used "Silence of the Lambs" as an example.
3. Psychological death - we become less of a person if we lose. I use this to a degree in my story as my character is tempted to kill someone who has betrayed him - someone he looks on as family - but he can't do it because family is what my hero is about. To kill this beloved traitor means the villain has won and my hero has lost what makes him who he is. So instead, he forgives the traitor and adopts him instead. However, there's still physical death at stake in my novel.
   The place where you see Psychological Death as a stake most often is in Romance.
   In a Romance, the lovers must obtain their loved one or they become less than who they otherwise might be. Check out "Pride and Prejudice" and you'll see it. I had one friend comment this morning that it's a sad commentary on our society that we have to obtain someone else to be fulfilled and complete and that's not what I'm getting at. It's not a commentary on society particularly. It's a comment on Romance in that modern Romance is required to have a happy ending. If it doesn't, it's probably a tragedy or the first part of a series. It's not a Romance.

Hope that's insightful to you all. As you can see, it did make me stop and think about my work and what the stakes are. What sort of death do your characters face?

Crested Butte: Day One

Wow. I survived the weekend. I feel like I've been on a reality T.V. show. Ya know the one where they strand you in the Rockies for four days. There are four teams of writers and each team is lead by a published author, editor or agent and you ALL have to get out of the mountains without killing or pissing each other off. Seriously, though, it was an AWESOME event. Thanks so much to Theresa, Barbara and all the wonderful volunteers who make it happen every year.

I met so many great authors and Ginger Clark, agent extraordinaire. She gave me several wonderful suggestions and permission to query later on. By the way, I won second place in the competition, which was better than I'd expected, so I'm tickled pink. I hope to go back again - maybe not next year, but who knows? If I do, I'll remember to pack more bottled water. And oxygen. My four-year old came downhill with a nosebleed. For me, it wasn't physically hard except for the sleep deprivation. It was 2 1/2 days of non-stop learning that felt like four days. My head's so full it will take me days just to blog about all of it, but I hope to give you briefs on each of the talks I attended. If I'm lucky, I'll start that tomorrow. As of Tuesday night, it's time to play Mommy/Wife and prepare a meal.

I wish it could be something like the conference's poached salmon, but at least it won't be marmoset on a stick. After all, we left the camera crew behind us at 9,000 feet.

The Fateful Day Has Arrived...Almost: Crested Butte Writers Conference

Okay, the truth is, I wrote this several days in advance of our departure and the "fateful day" will still be twenty four hours from when we leave. That said, it's the week of and I'm more nervous than the last turkey in the pen on Thanksgiving morning.


My "To Do" list keeps growing, and I refuse to guess at how I've overshot my grocery allowance for the month. Snack foods are expensive. I need to pack most of my daughter's wardrobe to insure against nudity. Sigh. I'm sure to forget SOMETHING, which is why I intend to take notes.

Huh?

Yes. My list keeps growing because of my notes and that won't change at the conference. Most folks take notes at conferences and I'm sure they share much of what they learn. I am an avid scrapbooker among other things and know from experience, I'll forget much of what happens and/or is said unless I write it down. That's why I wanted to let you all know there will be a blog fest upon my return from Crested Butte. In fact, I'll probably write a daily journal there and post those comments if I can find an available computer. I don't know if I'll see any of you, but if you are coming, I hope we meet!

Addendum: Much to my shock and delight, I discovered that I DID get a pitch request from one of the attending professionals. My relief and stress levels have skyrocketed. How on earth did God make it possible for humans to experience both sensations at the same time? Well, however He did it, I want to thank Him for the opportunity. I could never have come this far without Him.

THE BOOKS FOR ASIA FUND

I just found this site and wanted to share:

Books change lives. When you give to The Asia Foundation's Books for Asia Fund you are empowering children with literacy, creating opportunities for higher learning, and educating future leaders in 18 countries, from Afghanistan to Vietnam. Books crackle with ideas and theories – they shape and hone young people's imaginations, critical thinking skills, and their understanding of the world, and are powerful tools to combat poverty and inspire positive, long-lasting change.

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Just $1 can put a book into the hands of a child.

HOW TO MAKE A TAX-DEDUCTIBLE CONTRIBUTION

Contribute to the Books for Asia Fund or mail a check, payable to The Asia Foundation with Books for Asia Fund in the memo line, to:

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For more information contact the Resource Development team at: give@asiafound.org

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What's the Big Deal?

Question for you all:

Is it more important to be respected for your work, though you may not live to see that respect, or to be published and lauded now, though perhaps not later?

I saw this quandary posted somewhere else (and done much better, by the way) and some of the answers surprised me.

To me, there's no contest. I crave respect and would never want to give it up - even posthumously. My husband tends to chuckle at one of my Grandfather's favorite authors. The man's name escapes me right now, but his stories were well known and popular for awhile. They're banal by today's standards. I'd rather be remembered as a nice woman who rarely published, but liked to write, than as an awful writer.

This question will continue to come up due to the self-publishing craze, of course. Not everything that's self-published is bad. Obviously, not everything that's published by big houses is good. What's your take?

Deconstruction

You know that thing they tell you to do that no one wants to do? I did it.

I cropped the first six chapters, approximately 8,000 words, out of my novel. Granted, about two thousand went back in. You do need SOME backstory. I have no idea if it still flows and if so, how well. I started the task in February, had a meltdown of brain and flashdrive cells and had to restart that and several other projects. (Have you run a backup recently?) I think it's been for the better. When I launched into the restructuring two weeks ago, I had a new vision for how to do it and well, what do ya know? It worked. I think. Give me a few months of not staring at the blasted thing to get it out of my head - or a new beta reader - and I'll be able to give you a better idea. At any rate, I hope to receive some sort of guidance from the writers conference and the agent that's had my original opening. If she tells me I should never have cut a thing, fine.



My one concern has been how flummoxed everyone was by the number of characters and their names. (Be grateful I did not include the original novel's massive cast.) Those readers who got confused pleaded with me to start the book slowly and give them time to acclimate. The problem with that is, no agent and/or editor wants to see a book start slow. Since publication has always been a goal, I elected to kill more darlings. There were already little bodies all over the floor anyway, what's a few more?

Who Are You Reading?

My friend, Sangu has a great post today and I think it's so important as a writer to do the sort of exercise she suggests, that I want to recommend you visit her.
She takes apart Daphne Du Maurier's "Frenchman's Creek" and discovers what moves her in the book and how she can use what she's learned. I've done this many times in the past. I'm sure many of us have and all of us should. My "go to" book is sometimes "Tigana," by Guy Gavriel Kay, sometimes "Pride and Prejudice" by the immortal Jane Austen. I've also done it with Pearl S. Buck's "Dragon Seed" and "The Good Earth."

What novels do you study after you've devoured them?

International Exhibit Showcasing the Three Kingdoms Era

"The Three Kingdoms era can fairly be said to have been one of the most dramatic periods in Chinese history. The Battle of the Red Cliff, 1,800 years ago, marked the commencement of a new era, in which China was divided into three kingdoms. Stories of the Three Kingdoms are still told today….

The more than 100 artifacts shown in this exhibition…depict a comprehensive picture of the history and culture of the Three Kingdoms era. The artifacts include bronzes, decorated tiles, paintings and calligraphy, seals, ceramics, lacquerware, gold and copper vessels, wood-carvings, and modern handicrafts with the Three Kingdoms theme. The earliest pieces date from the Eastern Han dynasty, the most recent from the twentieth century; they thus cover a time span of nearly two millennia. The exhibition focuses on three main themes: the official histories of the era, the period as depicted in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and the continuing influence of the Three Kingdoms era in modern times. It is anticipated that, by presenting the era from different angles and on different levels, and by adopting wide-ranging approaches, it should be possible to present a comprehensive picture of military affairs, technology, the economy, daily life, art, religion, etc. in the Three Kingdoms era, as well as the influence that the history of the Three Kingdoms has exerted on later generations. In studying the ebb and flow of the power struggle among the Three Kingdoms hegemonies, and the planning that the generals and strategists undertook in their effort to secure control over the whole of China, we can see how each battle and each stratagem influenced the course of political events. The ups and downs of this conflict, with all its fascinating details, are deeply imprinted on our consciousness. The countless [non-fiction] books that have been written about the Three Kingdoms era, as well as the many movies, computer games, etc. of recent times, have succeeded in maintaining a high level of interest in this period, not only among people in Taiwan and China, and ethnic Chinese in other parts of the world, but also among our neighbors in Japan. When the Great Romance of the Three Kingdoms exhibition toured Japan in 2008, it attracted more than one million visitors, setting a new record for the largest number of visitors ever to a China-themed exhibition in Japan.”

Yeah, and that’s just Japan. Think of all the Asians who live throughout the world (not to mention those ROTK fans who aren’t Asian), and I’d say my novel has good reader base. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is the Ming Dynasty novel upon which my historical fantasy is based. Oh, how I wish I could see this exhibit! For pictures and the complete article, please go to the Taiwanese National Museum of History special exhibition, Legends of Heroes: The Heritage of the Three Kingdoms Era, or select this link.









Back to revamping the opening. Again.

The Latest From Nathan

Yup, Nathan Bransford's done it again. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you obviously haven't read his site today. There's a new contest up and you have until tomorrow afternoon at four to enter.

Sigh. It's allergy season. Medicine has failed. Again. I want to go poke holes in my head and not think about this right now. LOL

Addendum: I'm so sorry! The deadline is THURSDAY June 3rd.