Don’t leave Travis in the ball pit

by Joan

Hard to believe it’s Monday and time for the wrap-up of our annual writing retreat. As Susan mentioned on Friday, we did indeed rent a house near water, though this time I don’t think any of us could have guessed just how much water we’d see. In addition to the lake inlet just beyond our back porch, we were deluged with rain the entire weekend. Our outdoor photo shoot turned into an impromptu huddle on the chilly porch. We also attacked our goals with the same heartiness with which we ate and drank. And we met a three-year-old named Travis. But first ... how'd we do with our goals?

Julie’s goal for this retreat was to dive into her official edits to stay on deadline, but also to relax after the past few whirlwind months. In typical Julie-on-retreat style, she wandered around the house engaging in random conversations and grazing on snacks. And thinking. But she also dug into her edits as planned. An impromptu group brainstorming session about one issue reminded the rest of us the work becomes even deeper after the publishing contract comes in.

Pamela reacquainted herself with her neglected manuscript. She killed stepchildren, not darlings, and worked on crafting a stronger story by repositioning chapters and making sure that both the characters grow and the story progresses. And by reading us a chapter, she proved once more that hers is a book that needs to be written. She also planned our photo shoot and began editing our goofy smiles.

Kim got closer to the end of her manuscript by writing 2,400 words, an epic feat for her. She wrote on her Netbook, a miniature laptop that fits squarely on a child’s desk and allows for no more than six lines to a page, impossible for her to edit as she writes, as she normally does. We all encouraged her to write the rest of her manuscript on the Netbook so she can finish this poignant story and send it out to the world.

Susan tried to not be too anxious about the agents who were likely opening the Word doc to her requested manuscript. She read to us the gorgeous opening pages of chapter one, and we cheered her on, becoming anxious with her about what news she might soon hear. She focused on mapping her next manuscript and described to us her rough, but totally worthy new story.

Susan also found time to share her critique of my manuscript, brainstorming with me, pushing me to dig deeper into my characters’ souls. After the session, I edited like a fiend, making sentences pop, clarifying tricky plot points and adding or enhancing dialogue. I was rewarded when I read a revised section to her later and she rubbed the chills from her arms.

Elizabeth committed to a new kind of structure and set about to plot out the rest of her novel. She became comfortable with how she’d finish, concerned not with word count as she had last year, but instead technique. She raised the stakes about 10,000 degrees and said she felt so bad for some of her characters, she actually teared up. Better still, the structure of the book suddenly came into focus, and she now knows the exact order in which to tell the story.

The scene Elizabeth read to us also prompted our new catch phrase: Don't leave Travis in the ball pit. Something to remind our writing selves to tie up loose ends so the reader isn’t distracted by something that really doesn’t matter at all, but will take on unintended significance if we leave the neglected kid in a germy ball pit with no ride home.

Retreat!

By Susan

Once a year, the six of us here at What Women Write desert our families, day-jobs and comfort zones to attend our writing retreat. We rent a house--usually near water--divide up kitchen duties, and claim roommates before leaving the city for the getaway. I think we all agree that our collective goal is to maximize our writing time in a stress-free environment. Yet every year, our individual goals are very different. As I looked around the house this morning, I realize just how far we've come in the past few years as a critique group.

Last year, as we read to one another around the table on the second evening of the retreat, Julie introduced us to Isabelle and Robert—an interracial couple in 1930s Kentucky when it was illegal to marry outside your race. This year, she's secured an agent and a book deal for this love story now known as CALLING ME HOME, to be published by St. Martin's Press in early 2013. Julie's goals for this retreat? To dive into her official edits so that she stays on deadline. Yet her goal is also to relax—after the past few whirlwind months, she deserves it!

Pamela is wrestling with concepts and character development. Thirty thousand words into her current manuscript, she's recrafting her hook, defining her protagonist's primary goals, and shaping the ending in ways that surprise even her as the words race forward. She's also discovered that her saga may end with a completely different twist than she'd originally imagined—reminding us all how unpredictable and exciting the writing life can be.

Kim? She's an estimated five thousand words away from the completion of her epic historical fiction manuscript. Tightening, perfecting, and creating. She's currently squirreled away in a quiet place, with furrowed brow, I'm sure, weaving together the next string of dialogue and narrative that will bring THE OAK LOVERS to a close—launching her into the land of queries, edits, and agents.

Last year, Elizabeth was our most prolific producer, pounding out almost 10,000 words toward her story in our four-day retreat. This year she is on track for the same. She's so distracted by the fresh voice unfolding in her storyline that she was the first to seclude herself yesterday as we arrived, eager to pour paragraphs onto paper. And I can't wait to hear tonight, when we sit to read around the table, what that voice had to say.

Joan arrived late last evening, after a long week of work, ready to unwind. This morning, she disappeared with her MacBook and her Snuggie, diving into a read-through of her 87,000-word manuscript. She's verifying that her timelines are succinct, her characters well-developed, and the manuscripts shines. She and I plan to brainstorm this afternoon, submersing ourselves in her novel together, looking for ways to sharpen its edges and perfect the flow.

And me? I'm starting all over with a nugget of a story that will become my second novel. It's exciting to see new characters, yet unnamed, overcome the fresh and scary obstacle course that is mapping itself through my brain. New characters, new challenges, and a new setting make me feel like I'm writing for the first time. And so this retreat? My goal is to erase my anxieties about my completed manuscript that is gracing the desks of agents as we speak. The only way I know how to do that? Write something new.

Today and Tomorrow

by Elizabeth

Today, I am not at our retreat.

Today, I will brew coffee, catch up on the news, jump in the shower, wake the kids, brush little girl's hair, make the bed, load the crockpot, fix school lunches, shoo kids out the door, empty the dishwasher, take the dog to the park, peel apples and bake a pie, sweep the floor, wash and fold a few loads of laundry, dial some work calls, vacuum the carpets, take out the trash, scrub a toilet or two, check on the ancestors, send a birthday card, descend on the supermarket, visit the dry cleaner, scarf down some lunch, sneak in some Christmas shopping, gas up the car, nag the phone company, drive carpool, drag a kid to the doctor, patronize a second grocer, buy and wrap a party gift, help with homework, cook and serve dinner, clean up the kitchen, pack for the weekend, hit the gym. And whatever else I forgot. Hopefully find some time to write. If I'm very lucky, to read.

Tomorrow, I'll be at our retreat.

I will eat, and sleep, and read, and write. And write, and write, and write.

Any questions?

What not to write

By Pamela

Stacy and Clinton of WNTW

I once was a big fan of the television show What Not to Wear, where people and a hearty sampling of their pitiful wardrobes are whisked away to NYC for a complete overhaul by Stacy and Clinton. I found it hard not to cringe, though, when those featured were criticized--at times mercilessly--for simply expressing their individuality through their fashion choices. In the end, I suppose, maybe their egos recovered when they got to take home a brand new wardrobe of the 'right' clothes.

canvas.landsend.com

I absorbed fashion advice in my formative years:

• Never wear white after Labor Day or before Easter.
• Don't mix patterns.
• Don't wear horizontal stripes; they'll make you look fat.
• Never wear orange if you're a redhead.
• And so on ...

And yet today, I wear whatever I want, whenever I want. As I'm typing this, I have on a plaid shirt and a plaid scarf--not the same fabric or really the same colors but it works, I think. One of my favorite shirts has horizontal stripes, and I've been a redhead and worn orange and pink and red without a second thought. Plus I'll wear white any month of the year--as long as it's clean.

My point is: I know the 'rules' of fashion and yet I'm not shy about breaking them if I think I can pull it off.

Joan and I recently took a class in Austin, and I found it interesting, that as the instructor rattled off some 'rules,' she countered nearly every one with an exception: an author who didn't follow convention yet found success anyway. I realized that ever since I started pursuing writing as a career, I'd read and heard a lot of advice about What Not to Write.

• Don't write more than 100,000 words for your first novel.
• Don't follow the latest trend--vampires, werewolves, zombies, etc.
• Don't start a book with a reference to the weather.
• Don't 'head-hop' or have one scene with multiple POVs or have too many POVs in one story.
• Don't start or end a book with dialog.
• Don't tell an agent that you're writing a trilogy unless you've already sold the first one. 

So, if every author followed The Ever-expanding Rules of Writing, Kathryn Stockett's first novel, The Help, which is over 150,000 words, would likely have been a much different--less compelling and shorter--story.

Many folks have hitched their keyboard to the paranormal wagon and found new ways to spin a good ol' vampire tale and done quite well. 

As far as books starting with the weather, read the opening lines of The English Patient or The Memory Keeper's Daughter. 

I'm pretty sure he never 'head-hopped' but Carl Hiassen's Skinny Dip had so many POVs, I lost track. And loved the book so much, I've read it twice.

I've also heard, "Don't write a book as though it's a journal or a diary." What about The Color Purple? And that "People don't read/like/want prologues or epilogues." Really? I didn't hear anyone complaining much about The Time Traveler's Wife or The Dive from Clausen's Pier.

Someone also advised me to not write in the present tense. As in A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius? And two other books I loved: Open, Andre Agassi's autobiography and Elizabeth Berg's Until the Real Thing Comes Along.

So, my advice to anyone who writes is this: Study the craft, learn the rules and then write what moves you. It's fine to wear white in winter while you write your vampire novel in multiple POVs in present tense with the opening scene taking place in a violent snowstorm.

Just do it well--wear it with confidence--and I'm sure you can pull it off.

Happy Thanksgiving!

What Women Write is on hiatus today and Friday in observance of the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend. We will resume our regular posting schedule on Monday, November 28th.

We wish all our US readers a Happy Thanksgiving!

Lucky 21

by Joan

I’m not much of a gambler, but I’ve played a few hands of Black Jack in my time. Seated at the curvy table, cards stacked up ready to be drawn, I anxiously await a face card. A one-eyed jack perhaps, or maybe a king. I perk up with excitement when the dealer declares, “Lucky 21!”

As luck would have it, today’s the 21st of November and 21 years ago on a beach in sunny Jamaica, I married my face card (no, not the joker, though he does make me laugh!).


This past weekend, we celebrated our anniversary at a beautiful B&B, The Inn on Lake Granbury, recommended by both Susan and Elizabeth. It was a lovely respite, a private house to hole up in with the lake glistening under an autumn sun.



Late afternoon Saturday, we watched from a hammock as another bride and groom vowed to start their own journey. What I would tell them is this: Marriage takes nurturing. It takes love and work and humor and honesty and tears and more love.


A manuscript takes nurturing as well. I have worked and loved my manuscript. I have cried and laughed over it. I’ve had to face some honest truths about it, too. As much as I nurture my story, I know it takes more than that to find the right agent and then the right publisher. It takes a little luck.

What's your good-luck story?

All or Nothing

By Susan

My husband is a detail kinda guy. He's an engineer, after all. He likes order, and process, and structure. With that said, I realized early in our relationship that he's an all-or-nothing man. He's loyal to his friends for a lifetime, he's a boss's dream employee. As a spouse, he's a fantastic home chef, he loves his children without reservation, and it's fun to watch him dive into a new project--whether that means a 24-hour mountain bike race (he just completed 24 Hours of Moab in October) or planting a garden so we have fresh vegetables and chilies.

Halloween was no exception. For the past several years, he's been out of town for work when trick-or-treating comes around. This year, he decided to use his God-given size and fantastic square head to create the perfect monster. After a trip to Goodwill for the too-small coat and two hours of makeup, he became Frankenstein--the scariest our neighborhood had ever seen.

It wasn't just the makeup or the clothes. He was in-character, lurking behind trees, straight-arming little girls who came too close. He practiced his walk before the sun set, to make sure he had just the right creep factor. ("I don't want to appear too zombie. Am I walking too zombie?" he asked.) All or nothing. It's the only way to go, for him.

It made me revisit some of my own characters in my current manuscript. Which one would go all out on Halloween? Would my protagonist organize her research papers, or scatter them wildly? Did I know the motivation for each character? I wasn't sure I knew the answers to those questions. Do I know my own characters as well as I know my husband?

I decided that if I didn't, I'd better get to know them, and quickly. Because with the characters we create, it's all or nothing, too.

With my newly-found critical eye, I've also spent some time reading a fellow writer's latest manuscript, and I've turned the microscope on her characters as well. By page fifty, I wasn't sure if I knew any quirky traits of the main players. Even if two characters have the same profession, they don't have the same personalities. Which one is the life of the party, who is the wallflower? What traits set them apart?

If you don't know your characters inside and out, sometimes they get unruly and you're not sure why. It might be because you don't know them well enough. It didn't surprise me that my husband decided to Frankenstein-up his holiday. And I couldn't imagine him doing it any other way than exactly how he did it. (What other man would spend two hours on makeup?) I knew it because he's my spouse. And the only way to know our characters is to view them the same way.