Tag Archives: Cate Macabe

Change Your Perspective to Change the World

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Here’s an updated version of a Live More, Fear Less post from my archives.

Keyhole_and_LadderThere are so many things to worry about in this life: the state of the world with its pollution, wars, natural disasters, famine. There’s human trafficking, drug cartels, economic collapse. Some mothers watch their children waste away through starvation. Some fathers are beaten and killed for their faith or beliefs. Closer to home are the very real problems of putting food on the table, juggling bills, trying to keep a job, and deciding between paying the rent or going to the doctor. And then there are more personal worries like living alone or being lonely, growing old, and being forgotten.

It’s easy to worry, and it’s something I’m very good at because I’ve had lots of practice. When I feel myself slipping into that place where I need to print business cards that say “Cate Macabe, Professional Worrier,” I stop and try to put things in perspective.

If I’m living in a car or a bombed-out building, do I worry about how fat I look in my jeans? While I’m sitting by my child’s hospital bed, do I care that my gray roots are showing? What is the fear of growing old compared to the fear of having nothing to feed my children? How does the fear of crowds or heights or giving an oral presentation compare to facing the devastation of a hurricane or a flood?

When I received the news that a friend of mine lost her teenage daughter to the hands of a murderer, the first thing I did was cry, and then I wailed. I was devastated for my friend, the heartbreak she felt, the horror of the crime. And I cried out for her daughter. There was so much she didn’t get to do. She was too young to be taken from this life. The next thing I did was look at my own teenage daughter and my life with her. Did all my rules, and nagging, and too-high expectations create the relationship I wanted? Did I want to push her away or look at each day with her as a gift to cherish? I decided, on the day I got my friend’s tragic news, what was truly important and began making choices accordingly.

Don’t wait for a disaster to give you a new perspective. Decide now what is most important and take practical steps to follow through.

If living longer and enjoying your family as you age is what you worry about – walk a little everyday, make better food choices, exercise your mind. Is getting a job or holding on to one a concern? Update your skills, work for a temporary agency, volunteer in your field of interest.

Doing something for someone else can shift our focus and also change how we look at our own lives. Visit an elderly neighbor, hold the hand of someone who’s grieving, watch a busy Mom’s kids to give her some alone time, send thank-you cards and letters to soldiers serving overseas (especially in combat zones).

Today, this minute, we can’t help a starving child or love an orphan on the other side of the world, but we can contribute money or time to organizations that can. And if we have the heart for it, we can foster or adopt and change the life of such a child.

Unless we do something with our worry, it becomes a waste of our time and energy because it’s really only a useless exercise of the mind. Don’t let the worries of life get you down for long. Take one step back if you have to, then two steps forward and keep looking ahead.

What do you do to stop worry from getting out of hand?

Image “Keyhole And Ladder” courtesy of Master isolated images / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Writing the Memoir: Making Family Legends Fit (or Not)

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nasa-1_245Much of what we believe as factual history has come to us in some form of written account, often multiple accounts that make up a body of truth. According to Webster’s New World Dictionary, a legend is “a story handed down for generations among a people and popularly believed to have a historical basis, although not verifiable.”

Although legend and history might share common ground, they are two different things and should be dealt with accordingly to ensure the integrity of a work of creative nonfiction (see my post “Keeping the ‘Non’ in Creative Nonfiction“). But should writers leave legends out of their memoirs because they can’t be verified? Are there good reasons to include a legend in a memoir?

It would certainly be easy enough to begin such a tale with something like, “I grew up hearing stories of how Uncle Fred was abducted by aliens….” Deciding how to present the story is probably the easy part. Deciding if you should write it to begin with, might be more difficult.

One way to determine whether to include a family legend in a memoir is to put it to the same test you might use when deciding to include any other memories.

  • What does it contribute to the chapter, the theme, the overall story?
  • Does it really belong or do I just want it to belong (perhaps for entertainment value or sentimental reasons)?

Your decision would also depend on your goals for the memoir – a collection of family stories meant only for the eyes of friends and family, or a memoir for public consumption?

I dealt with many family legends when I set out to write This New Mountain, the memoir of private detective and repo-mama AJ Jackson. Two in particular involved important women in AJ’s family history.

The first legend says AJ’s grandmother, Inza Annie, survived the massacre of the Bigfoot Band of Sioux Indians at Wounded Knee, South Dakota in the winter of 1890. In that historic (and horrific) event, ninety Sioux warriors died and hundreds of women and children were hunted down and killed by a U.S. Army detachment. There was no way to verify Inza Annie’s story, but in 1902 she filed her marriage with the Five Civilized Tribes (the wedding having taken place in 1895). This legal document gives proof of AJ’s grandmother’s Sioux heritage and connection to the Bigfoot Band. I thought the marriage filing gave enough credence to Inza Annie’s story of surviving the Massacre at Wounded Knee that I included it in the memoir.

The second legend connects AJ’s mother to the space race. The story goes that while AJ’s father worked as a contractor for scientists at Sandia Base (later renamed Kirtland Air Force Base) in Albuquerque, he won the bid on a contract to produce new suits for the monkeys who were going into space. A way had to be found to stop the clever creatures from unzipping the old suits and climbing out of them. AJ’s father handed the project to his wife who adapted a child’s pajama pattern to make a new piece of clothing out of mesh material that fit over the original monkey suits. I couldn’t present the story as truth because there’s no evidence to support it from letters, diary entries, newspaper clippings, photos, etc. In my research I did find that a chimpanzee named Ham was brought to Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico in 1959 for training (and was the first chimp to make it into space in 1961). AJ was 15 years old in 1959, but her memory of her mother sewing the suits is sketchy. I could have presented the story as a harmless legend, but in the end I decided not to include it for a few reasons: 1) I couldn’t find a natural way to work it in; 2) I had other great examples of her mother’s ingenuity that did work; and 3) This New Mountain is not her mother’s biography, it’s a memoir about AJ’s life as a private investigator. The legend of the monkey suits just didn’t fit in the book.

Memoirists can’t expect to include every story from their pasts into a single memoir (no matter how much they love each one), any more than novelists should try to cram in every bit of character back story. Writers pick and choose the most important bits, whether it’s to make a setting come to life or complete the picture of a beloved, and ingenious, mother.

Does your family have stories – maybe a little on the crazy side – that have been told and retold at every family gathering to the point they’ve become legends?

This New Mountain Gets a Makeover

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TNM_NewCover_10Last June I mentioned that a new book cover was in the works for AJ Jackson’s memoir This New Mountain. From the initial planning to completion, it’s taken almost a year, but it’s finally ready for the world.

In redesigning the cover, we wanted to keep the colors of the sunset/sunrise, stick with an image of Shiprock, New Mexico as a focal point, and give the tow truck a more prominent role (since being a repossessor was such a big part of AJ’s life).

We also wanted to bring in elements that weren’t present in the initial cover. We aimed for movement and strength with hints of what a reader would find inside the covers of the book.

Because the memoir follows AJ Jackson as she learns the private detective trade and, in the process, learns to face her fears, I searched for an image of a woman climbing a mountain and reaching out to take the next step.

Rock climber at sunset, Kalymnos Island, GreeceI found hundreds of quality photos of mountain climbers but none so fitting as this rock climber at sunset taken on Kalymnos Island, Greece. (I can’t imagine having the physical strength or the courage to hang upside down from a rock face.) Flip the image from horizontal to vertical, apply a bit of photoshopping, and there you have it — a climber in silhouette.

TNM_NewCover_Icons10The last thing we did to hint at what the book is about was to include a line of icons at the bottom of the cover. I wanted to bring in symbols to represent the private detective profession, such as sunglasses, revolver, camera, magnifying lens, as well as the Southwestern motifs of a Zia sun symbol (from the New Mexico flag) and a desert with cactus.

This New Mountain final cover

2012 Cover

2015 Cover

2015 Cover

So there you go — a new book cover for This New Mountain. Which do you like more? Which one do you think is the more compelling cover?

Writing Process Blog Hop

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Blog Hop2Blog hops are a great way to share sites and bloggers we love and to be introduced to new ones we’ll come to love. I’m honored that Diana Jackson thought of me when she needed another blogger/writer to nominate. Until now, I haven’t been able to participate because of time issues, but she made it easy to say “yes” – I could pick my own date to continue the hop.

To begin my part of this Writing Process Blog Hop, I’ll introduce you to Diana. Then I’ll answer four questions about my writing and finish with three author/bloggers who will continue the hop.

Diana JacksonDiana Jackson

Diana became a lover of the written word in her late teens, not only reading but writing stories and poems. Although a home counties of England girl – born in Surrey, grew up in Hertfordshire and now living in mid Bedfordshire – her heart has never been far from the sea. When she discovered her family roots in the Channel Islands, UK, she began an unrequited love affair, especially with Alderney and Guernsey.

Murder Now and ThenShe has published several novels, as well as the memoir of 103-year-old Norman Campbell, The Life and Demise of Norman Campbell (his chosen title!). Her Riduna Series, Riduna and Ancasta Guide Me Swiftly Home are historical fiction with strong links to the islands and to Hampshire, where her parents were brought up. Her most recent novel is a murder mystery set in the heart of Bedfordshire. A sense of place is important in all of Diana’s novels and whilst writing Murder, Now and Then she enjoyed exploring the hidden gems of this little-known county which she calls home. She was originally inspired by a 1919 unsolved murder near the village of Haynes in Bedfordshire, UK, not far from where she lives. Murder, Now and Then is a back-to-the-future novel set in 2019, written with flashbacks to 1919. A sense of family history, or family mystery, threads its way throughout the novel, thus combining many of Diana’s interests. (Her books are also available in the U.S.)

You can meet Diana at dianamj.wordpress.com where she explores the background to her novel writing and selectionsofreflections.wordpress.com, devoted to true stories of life, love and messages of hope, including guest posts and stories of her old friend Norman Campbell. You can also find her at dianamaryjackson.co.uk, @Riduna on Twitter, and Facebook.

4 Writing-Related Questions

1) What am I working on?
My fantasy novel The Last Bonekeeper is in its first draft. While it continues to percolate, I’m working on a collection of short stories in the same universe. Writing these short stories has helped me understand the Bonekeeper world I created with its people, customs, and rules that govern it all. I’m also in the process of redesigning the book cover for This New Mountain, the memoir of private investigator AJ Jackson. Casa de Snapdragon Publishing used my suggestions for the original cover two years ago, but I’ve learned a lot about cover design since then. I want to bring more movement and relevance to it now.

2) How does my work differ from others of its genre?
Though it’s a classic tale of good versus evil, I believe I have a unique world in The Last Bonekeeper – its setting, characters, and a different take on magic. For This New Mountain, I wrote the memoir in AJ Jackson’s “voice” complete with clichés and country wisdom. What sets the book apart most is AJ Jackson herself – private investigator, ex-gun dealer, former mental patient, descendant of a great Choctaw chief, and grandmother.

3) Why do I write what I do?
I love to create my own science fiction and fantasy worlds and watch my characters move about and interact within them. One of the most exciting things is to have a character step off the path I’d planned for him. When that happens, all kinds of things are revealed, such as threads I hadn’t consciously thought of, secrets a character has kept hidden, or gems that make the story fuller and complete. On the other hand, This New Mountain was a twelve-year labor of love. I wanted AJ to realize her dream of sharing her struggles and adventures in a published memoir.

4) How does your writing process work?
When I sit down to create worlds, I see characters move through their world, hear their conversations, feel their emotions, and then transfer it onto the page. I start a fiction project as a pantser (writing by the seat of my pants), usually with only a visual of the world and a few characters, and the beginnings of a story idea. After two or three chapters I know where the story is going and how it will end – that’s when I start a flexible outline. I tend to edit as I go instead of pushing through a first draft without looking back. This means it takes awhile for me to have a completed draft. By that time I’m ready to put the project aside and start on something new. That’s where I am with The Last Bonekeeper and why I’m writing the short stories. Alpha readers, beta readers, and editors are also part of the process. This New Mountain, being nonfiction, was written in a more conventional way using outlines upfront to plan the memoir. For more about how I put the memoir together, see “Writing Readable and Compelling Memoir” on Diana Jackson’s blog.

Meet Three Other Author/Bloggers

Joyce_Hertzoff_PhotoJoyce Hertzoff

Joyce was born and raised in New York City, graduating from Queens College (a part of the City University). She’s been married for 49 years and has two grown children, one daughter-in-law, two granddogs, two grandbunnies, and three grandcats.

She retired after 45 years in the scientific literature field before turning her hand to writing fiction. Her first novel The Crimson Orb, the first installment in the Crystal Odyssey fantasy series, will be released on June 17, 2014 (Phantasm Books).

The Crimson Orb Cover2Besides writing, Joyce loves to read and knit, and also crochet. She admits to watching too much TV. When her husband retired in 2008, they moved from Ohio to New Mexico. Since then, they’ve enjoyed exploring the southwestern U.S.

You can find Joyce on her website at joycehertzoffauthor.com, her blog at hertzoffjo.blogspot.com, and on Facebook. Find out more about her book at fantasybyjoycehertzoff.com.

Peter_Mallett_PhotoPeter D. Mallett

Peter lives in Virginia not far from the ocean, but he can’t quite hear the waves from his home. He’s been writing since childhood. He also enjoys drawing, photography, and helping others with their goals.

He sold his first short story in 2002 to Kid’s Ark Magazine. Later, he sold two short stories to Tyndale Kids for “The Young Believer’s Case Files,” published in 2003. He’s been blogging since September 2012 and has written articles, short stories, greeting cards, and inspirational pieces. An article he wrote for his blog in January was later included in the Southwest Writers’ Newsletter (May 2013).

On his blog, Writing in Color, Peter expresses his thoughts on writing and encouraging people who want to write better for their profession or their pleasure. Many have encouraged him, and he wants to give back. He trusts in the power of words, but more importantly he believes in people. His writing style is lighthearted and encouraging. In fact, motivation and creativity are themes he revisits often. Some posts are short (300-600 words) and some are longer (600-1200 words), but he tries to make sure none of them are longer than they need to be. He says, “I take pleasure in shooting unnecessary words.”

Here are a few of his favorite posts:
Writing: For the Love of Words
A Tribute to People
What to Do on Dark Days When Words Do Not Come

Find out more about Peter at Writing in Color. You can also find him on Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.

Patricia_Woods_PhotoPatricia Woods

Patricia is a former award-winning journalist and editor. Her work appears in newspapers, regional and national magazines, academic journals and online publications. Her background also includes years as a classical pianist and organist, vocalist, choir director, and piano teacher to adults. She writes about business, personal finance, money management, small business, agribusiness, and occasionally on the arts, especially music. Working from home now, Patricia uses two ancient computers, dog-eared leather journals, scraps of paper and sometimes the cell phone. She’s been known to still employ a manual typewriter when the fancy strikes.

DeadBeforeYouKnowItShe is the author of several books including the newly released Dead Before You Know It (How to Tidy Your Personal Papers Before Your Time is Up), available at Amazon in paper and on Kindle. Dead is the first in a series of Helpful Little Books®, books that provide practical solutions to the daily problems of living in the twenty-first century world.

Writing daily in the morning and at every chance on the fly, she agrees with James Michener’s saying about writing: “I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions.”

“Everyone has a story to tell and that story continues right up until we take our last breath,” she says. She believes God is the Great Storyteller, and thus we are also Storytellers by nature in the very core of our being.

Patricia lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with her family and a special needs dog who is deaf. She also has an imperious cat who owns the computer keyboard and all the pens in the house. Her spare time is devoted to books, music and all types of needlework while she watches endless BBC mysteries and dramas. Despite no real soil to speak of, scorching heat, springtime hail, locust plagues, and no rain from heaven, she grows heirloom tomatoes and other vegetables.

You can find Patricia at her website patriciaawoods.com and @PatriciaAWoods on Twitter.

When Diana Jackson first tagged me for this Writing Process Blog Hop, I followed the links back to the others who came before me and found new bloggers to follow, all with a unique way to approach the writing process. I hope you’re inspired to do the same.

What are your experiences with blog hops? If you’ve never joined one, have you ever thought of starting one yourself?

Why Use a Pen Name?

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man with penDeciding whether or not to use a pen name is just one of many choices writers have to make when preparing to publish. It’s an easier decision for some than for others.

Two years ago I published This New Mountain under the pen name Cate Macabe. I had never intended to write a memoir (not mine or that of a private detective/grandmother), but from the start of that journey I knew I would use a pseudonym. My reasons were simple: 1) I write science fiction and fantasy, and I didn’t want to confuse future readers who might someday search for my other work; and 2) my writing style is significantly different for the memoir and my speculative fiction.

If you’re not sure taking on a pen name is right for you and your writing, here are ten reasons in favor of using one, followed by possible complications if you do.

Why to Use a Pen Name

  • Need to separate genres – keep them separate if your audience has different expectations (children’s books vs. erotica)
  • Recognize that gender names sell better in specific genres
    • women for romance, men for science fiction
    • some names bring to mind a specific type (strong, manly names for military or crime fiction, girly names for chick lit)
  • Your real name is too hard to pronounce or spell, or sounds “ugly” or silly
  • Create a brand or persona (a name to identify with; catchy, easy to remember)
  • Separate your work as a writer from your private life or from your profession
  • Avoid confusion – your real name is the same as another author or celebrity, or a personality/profession you don’t want to be identified with
  • Your real name is too common
  • Present your work without the pressure of living up to a previous success
  • Different writing styles – readers come to expect a consistency in style
  • Fresh start – if previous work has not sold well

Complications

  • People might see you as being phony or trying to hide something.
  • People who know you under your real name might have trouble finding you and your work
  • Payments – for indie authors, make sure payments are made out to your real name or that you can take payments under your pen name
  • If published under one name already:
    • You start from scratch – not all readers will follow you to your new work, messes with branding
    • Social media – keeping up with posting under different names (maybe separate websites, too)
    • Contract violation – some contracts forbid publishing under a different name or in a different genre

Choosing to use a pen name is a decision that should be made carefully, knowing it will add complications to your life (and deciding which one to use is even more complex). Rachelle Gardner, author/blogger/editor, gives this advice for those considering using a pen name:

We’re not going to completely get away from pseudonyms, since there are real reasons people use them. However, for now I’d say, only use [a pen name] if it’s crucial – if there’s no other way. And if you use one – it’s best to use only one name in your online presence – website, blog, Facebook, Twitter. Just inhabit that name and become it.

If you’d like to find out which authors use a pseudonym, go to this site for a comprehensive list.

Have you thought of using a pen name? Do you already use one for your writing or an online presence?

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Image “Carrying Pen” courtesy of rattigon / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

A Private Eye Gives Up Her Gun

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ID-100183203At Diana Jackson’s blog, A Selection of Reflections, she shares “true stories in the present and past” and tells about Norman Campbell who shared his story with her, “all 103 years of it!” A novelist and historian who lives in Bedfordshire, U.K., Diana also posts stories by guest writers – and I’m happy to have a condensed excerpt from Chapter 9: Know Thyself of This New Mountain up on her website. If you want to find out what could cause a private investigator to stop carrying her snub nose revolver on the job, check out my post on A Selection of Reflections. While you’re there, read a few excerpts from Norman Campbell’s memoir The Life and Demise of Norman Campbell, a man who became a silver surfer and learned to Skype at age 102.

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Image courtesy of num_skyman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

To Blog or Not to Blog

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After taking several months off from blogging, I’m back with a few questions I’ve had to answer for myself. Why blog? Why Not to Blog?

WorldPeople2You do not have to blog, and if you don’t have much interest in the form, then please don’t pursue it. As with any form of writing, it takes a considerable investment of energy and time to do it right and get something from it. ~ Jane Friedman

Why Blog?

Reasons for blogging vary from one person to another. Apart from any business goals of selling yourself and your goods or services, there are a few basic reasons to blog:

  • We all want to make a difference. Sharing knowledge or experience is one way to do that.
  • Some people have a lot to say. Blogging is another way to express themselves.
  • We all have a desire and a need to be heard. Done in the right way (and with the right intent), blogging can be a good outlet.

Initially, my purpose in starting this particular blog was to give my 12-year writing project a home and to encourage others to face their fears. AJ Jackson – the fearless private investigator and repo-mama from This New Mountain – has impacted me from the moment her red-headed spunk and energy rushed into my life more than fifteen years ago. My reasons for contributing to the blog-o-sphere were a natural by-product of my relationship with her. Later, including posts about writing style and writing as it pertains to memoir also seemed a natural addition to the blog. I am still (and forever will be) perfecting my writing skills, and I’ve felt the urge to encourage writers on their own journeys whether toward publication or “perfection.”

Why Not to Blog?

Again, the reasons not to blog (or to stop blogging) depend on the individual, but there are some standard things that come with the territory.

  • Blogging takes time. There’s the planning, the research, the writing, the proofing. Even just coming up with ideas to write about can take up hours every week. Do you have this time to spend?
  • Blogging takes commitment. Even if it’s once a week or once a month, keeping up a blog is one more thing to add to the To-Do List. How committed are you willing to be?
  • Blogging takes energy. Okay, it’s mostly brain energy. But you do have to drag yourself to the computer, then to the bathroom, then to the computer. And what about all those round-trips to the refrigerator and the bowls full of peanuts, pretzels and chocolate to carry back with you. That’s got to count for something, right?
  • Blogging can be a distraction. Blogging can keep you from something more important such as family commitments, health goals, or other dreams and creative pursuits. Will you use blogging as an excuse not to do some other thing?

It’s a physical fact that adding one thing to a finite space results in less space for something else. In deciding whether or not to blog, we each have to weigh our personal desires and goals against the added commitments and the affects blogging has on other more important aspects of our lives.

For me, I’ve decided to keep blogging. I’d like to continue encouraging writers to pursue their dreams and push through any fears that might be holding them back. But I’ve also come to realize I need to implement some major changes in time and goal management (a topic for another post).

Why do you blog? Have you found that the good outweighs the bad?

Writing a Memoir Like a Novel: Dialogue

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LongRoad2bDialogue in any kind of story is useful for revealing motives, character, conflict, setting, and important information; as well as for creating tension and suspense, and movement through scenes. While staying true to your memory when writing memoir, you can still produce realistic dialogue by following certain conventions.

In a memoir, can you really recreate pages of dialogue? No. Key phrases may live in your memory, but few [people] can remember word-for-word exchanges. For this type of writing, you’ll have to rely on reconstructed dialogue, but it needs to come up against the standards of good dialogue.  ~ Darcy Pattison

Like all of us, your characters’ speech is influenced by their education, family, friends, where they’ve lived, their way of thinking, and the particular circumstances they find themselves in. A teacher will speak one way in front of a group of children, another way with her colleagues, and still another when she’s at home. 

The following are basic ways I’ve found to effectively capture interaction between characters through dialogue.

Use Contractions: In modern conversation, people say “don’t” instead of “do not,” unless they’re trying to make a point or for emphasis. “Timmy, don’t touch the skunk.” And then, “Timmy, do not touch that skunk again. Do you understand me?”

Don’t Overuse Names: We might say “Bill, is that a venomous spider on your back?” to get his attention, but when our husband comes home from work, the conversation doesn’t sound like:  “How was your day, Bill?” “My day was so-so, Barb, how was yours?” “Well, Bill, I stubbed my toe.”

Avoid Niceties: When people meet or talk on the phone, they might begin with the weather or inquire about each others health, but unless a person is fixated on these things (as part of their personality) or they’re important to the story, skip it. So when Bill comes home from work, instead of asking about his day, Barb might greet him immediately with, “I had the worst day ever. I stubbed my toe.”

Dialect: Writing dialect, and doing it right, is a difficult thing to do. What might sound right to you in the writing – because you know what you’re trying to say and how it sounds in your mind – might not come across to the reader the same way. Pick a few words, like “y’all” and “yonder,” and pepper them in the dialogue for best effect.

Vernacular: As with dialect, common language can be overdone. Include a few words to get the flavor, such as “gonna,” “gotta,” “wanna.”

Here’s an example of dialect and vernacular from Bobbie Christmas*:

The following is the kind of dialect editors do not like: “He ben goin’ ta dat sto’ ever’ day since thin.” It is much better to write in the vernacular – the lingo – of a character’s speech, spelling words correctly, but using the character’s word, as in this rewrite: “He been going to that store ever day since then.” 

Beware Exclamation Points: Overusing exclamation points becomes either annoying to the reader or meaningless like white noise. Instead of using an exclamation point every time characters get excited or angry in conversation, show this in their mannerisms or other physical reactions. Use them only when you have to and never more than one per instance. According to author Terry Pratchett, “Five exclamation marks [are] the sure sign of an insane mind.”

Information Dumps: To keep a reader’s attention, large amounts of information should not be imparted all at once in writing, and certainly not through dialogue. When we talk to each other, we don’t usually go on and on about a subject. And when people do, we (as listeners) often tune them out. We don’t want to do that to our reader. Give us important information through description, exposition, in bits and pieces, and break it up naturally in dialogue. Even when making a speech, the speaker will pause to take a drink of water or ask for questions from the audience. A storyteller will pause for affect, catch the eye of listeners, talk with his hands.

Filler Words: People pause when they talk, using words like “ah,” “uh,” and “um.” Sometimes we do this out of habit and sometimes just because we’ve lost our train of thought. Even though this is a natural way of speaking, it fills up space in dialogue and is annoying to read. For a character who speaks with pauses as part of who he is, use these sparingly as you would with dialect and vernacular.

Dialogue Tags/Beats – Tags and beats let us know who is speaking.

Use “said” whenever possible – it doesn’t interfere with the writing because the reader tends to pick up the important information (who’s talking) and skip the “said.” Use another word, such as “whispered” or “shouted,” when it’s not already clear how the character is speaking through word choice or the use of beats (see below).

Insert a dialogue tag where it feels most natural in the conversation, and sooner than later. Waiting until the end of a paragraph can be confusing or distracting to the reader if they don’t know who is speaking. In the first sentence of the next example, the reader doesn’t know who’s talking until the end, and it could make a difference in how the reader imagines the scene: “Well, that certainly is a colorful, venomous spider. Would you like to hold it?” Barb said. Or, “Well,” Barb said, “that certainly is a colorful, venomous spider. Would you like to hold it?”

A beat is a description of a physical action that falls between lines of dialogue. It adds variety and movement to the writing, aids the reader in “seeing” the scene, adds to characterization, and helps with the writer’s work of showing-not-telling. Where you have a beat, you don’t need a tag. Do this: “Look, another colorful, venomous spider.” Barb brushed the creature off Bill’s back. Not this: “Look, another colorful, venomous spider,” Barb said, brushing the creature off Bill’s back.

Paragraph Structure: Give each character in the conversation his own paragraph, even when using dialogue tags or beats or if it’s a one-word or one-sentence paragraph.

For memoir, we rely on our memory to write dialogue, but even having a recorded conversation doesn’t mean it converts smoothly into dialogue. For This New Mountain, I was able to transcribe a recorded interview with AJ Jackson’s mentor that became an entire chapter. This was a real-life, in the moment exchange, but straight transcription wasn’t enough to make it work. I added dialogue tags and beats. I cut filler words and vernacular. And to keep the movement going and spark interest, it was necessary to summarize some of what was said and include additional, relevant information.

Learning how to write good dialogue is a process. And like most kinds of learning, it takes reading and study and practical application. Go out into the world and listen to conversation. When composing dialogue, let it play out in your mind between your characters, and then share the end result with others to get their feedback.

(*Bobbie Christmas/Zebra Communications, the Writers Network News April 2012. For a free newsletter and Tools for Writers go to www.zebraeditor.com/tools_for_writers.shtml.)

What are your suggestions for writing realistic dialogue?

Pick a Throwaway Title and Keep Writing

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Writing2In my own experience with picking a title for my fiction writing, I either know what it will be before beginning the manuscript or within a few chapters after the story gets going. So I didn’t worry when no concrete title surfaced for AJ Jackson’s memoir This New Mountain. I knew one would come to me in time.

There came a day, though, I just couldn’t write another word. Seeing an empty space on the title page above my name and in the header/footer made me freeze up. Like having an odd type of writer’s block. I sat and stared at the page for the longest time and could not put one more word to paper (or screen).

I had already brainstormed a list of titles, thinking if that was settled it would help me move forward on the book. This list included Born to Serve, Liberating Process, Liable to Confound, and In Lieu of Surrender. I thought these were clever, catchy titles considering most of the stories in the book had some kind of connection to the laws of the land – thank goodness none of them made it past the first stage. There was only one, The Amazing Life of Ann Jackson, that I seriously considered. But none of these choices truly grabbed hold of me and said, “This is it, this is the one.” They didn’t speak about AJ’s past or her future or her now. They just didn’t feel right.

But I needed to move forward, and that’s when I came up with a solution without spending any more time and frustration trying to choose an actual title. I needed something either bland or outlandish, but not something I would grow attached to or mind tossing out when a real title came to mind. Within a few minutes of realizing I needed such a thing, I had my throwaway title – and the book became Dirty Underwear: A Memoir of AJ Jackson. A very catchy title (and don’t ask where that came from), but now I could at least finish the chapter I was working on when writer’s block hit, and move on.

It wasn’t too long after that, while searching the web for quotes to include with each chapter name, I found this: 

We are volcanoes. When we women offer our experience as our truth, as human truth, all the maps change. There are new mountains. ~ Ursula Le Guin

And there it was. I had found the true title of AJ Jackson’s memoir. It embodied what all the others lacked – strength in today, while suggesting movement and something that existed before. Goodbye Dirty Underwear, hello This New Mountain.

“Dirty Underwear” is still the title I use when I don’t know a story or its characters well enough to come up with one right away. It works simply because it doesn’t fit and doesn’t have to, and because giving it up isn’t a hard thing to do. I don’t normally go a long period of time without penning a title to something I’m working on. Maybe my mind works subconsciously to come up with a suitable one, not liking the alternative attached to my stories. Whatever the reason, my throwaway title works every time.

What are some mind tricks you use to make sure you get things done (like setting your clock ahead so you won’t be late)?

Writing a Memoir Like a Novel: Story Arc

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PuzzleButton3A well-written memoir utilizes the same elements of a novel, including scenes, dialogue, characters, and a beginning-middle-end structure, also called a story arc. A story arc moves the main character/protagonist (you) from one situation to another, one state of being to another. Without this structure and focus, the memoir will quickly become a disconnected, chaotic jumble.

Take the time you need to structure your story before you write. Drawing your arc is not something you can knock out in the half-hour before dinner. It challenges you to survey the tangle of emotions, motives, repetitions and complexities of events you lived through with the cold, dispassionate eye of an editor. It asks you to know not what is important or meaningful to you, but what is important or meaningful to the story. ~ Adair Lara

The Beginning of the story arc introduces the protagonist and the protagonist’s problems, desires, and conflicts. This is the set up for the rest of the story. In many memoirs, the story begins initially in more or less the present state and then moves into the telling of the protagonist’s journey.

The Middle is full of obstacles, physical and emotional, that the protagonist encounters and strives to overcome or at least move through.

The End includes the biggest hurdle, the climax, and a tying together of loose ends. The ending is tied to the beginning in some way, often through resolution or revelation regarding the initial internal conflicts. Many memoirs return the reader full-circle to the beginning of the story.

Here are a few examples of beginning-middle-end structure:

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls is called “a remarkable memoir of resilience and redemption, and a revelatory look into a family at once deeply dysfunctional and uniquely vibrant.” In the beginning, Ms. Walls is riding through New York City in a taxi where she sees her mother rooting through a Dumpster – but she’s too embarrassed to stop. We’re then taken into Ms. Walls’ childhood and learn the things that shaped her life and her relationship with her parents. The end takes us to a time past the beginning of the memoir  to a point of healing.

My Dog Skip by Willie Morris begins with the protagonist finding a photograph of Skip, “his eyes flashing in some momentary excitement. Looking at a faded photograph taken more than forty years before, even as a grown man, I would admit I still missed him.” We’re then swept into the life of a boy and his dog growing up together in Missouri – a dear story of love and friendship that eventually brings us full-circle (I dare you not to cry).

For This New Mountain, I start with one of AJ Jackson’s “adventures” that shows a typical day in the life of a private investigator, and present her internal conflicts regarding her age, financial situation, and being “stuck” in a dangerous job she knows she can’t do forever. In the middle, we journey with her as she learns the ups and downs, and ins and outs, of her profession. In the end, AJ has worked through many of her initial conflicts, but she also faces the facts and makes life-changing decisions.

Adair Lara writes extensively about building a story arc in the Key Elements of Writing a Memoir. Here is a brief summary, taken from her article, of what defining your story arc looks like:

  • [Beginning] Decide what you, the narrator/protagonist, want in the story you’re telling. The struggle to achieve this desire drives the book.
  • [Middle] Detail what you did to get what you wanted and what got in your way.
  • [End] When the narrator/protagonist gets what he wants, or doesn’t, or stops wanting it, the story has reached the end of its arc. We see him changed by all that has come before.

Knowing and understanding your story arc will keep you focused on what the memoir is about and guide you in what to include and what to leave out, as well as what needs detailing and what can be touched on through summary.

What memoirs would make good study material for your own?