Co-Hosting Insecure Writers Support Group’s February Question

Happy February, Insecure Writer's Support Group! Writers helping writers. I’m pleased to be a part of this world-wide support group for writers created by our heroic leader, Alex J.Cavanaugh. 

           

This is my first time co-hosting our group’s monthly question along with wonderful fellow writers Stephen Tremp, Pat Garcia, Angela Wooldridge, and Madeline Mora-Summonte. Thanks for this opportunity, Alex!

Our February question is: What do you love about the genre you write in most often?

            What do I love most about writing YA contemporary adventure? Who doesn’t want to experience a life-threatening adventure [vicariously, of course!] and come out the other side changed both physically and mentally? Okay, it’s true. I would never allow my five children to actually experience the adventures I write about; however, the children’s actions usually do trigger my next YA short story.

            Like a lot of story ideas, my YA adventure stories begin in truth. Sometimes I change up the initial experience my family had; place it in a different national park or in a different season. Then the research begins. All stories should be researched—even fantasy.

The best stories begin with something that could be known to readers—even if it’s a little known fact. Writers should delve into science, sociology, mythology, philosophy, or history to name only a few subjects to ponder. I enjoy research because I love learning something new. And there’s a good chance your reader will, too. I believe both children and adults come to story to learn something, even if it is to consider a universal idea or subject through a new perspective. 

   

Then the story-building happens. This is the best part for me. Fiction is much easier than memoir. In fiction we create events and actions and emotion to build a story. In memoir, the writer needs to look for the story in life’s truth—explicitly.

In my YA adventures I know no one will die. Children’s magazines usually don’t like it when characters get into dangerous situations and make a mistake and die. That’s not to say that children’s magazines don’t deal with death in a family or friendship. I sold a short story to Cricket Magazine about a protagonist whose parents had died, and she needed to cope with grief and deal with living with her grandparents. Of course, I did add my signature danger that the protagonist had to face to help her realize the importance of her grandparents.

Story is internal. In writing my contemporary adventure stories, I need to find a realistic method to get my protagonist out of danger. Usually, the protagonist needs to realize that it’s up to him or her to save the day or be the hero of the story, and the protagonist changes internally as a result.

Thanks so much for stopping by Adventures in Writing and offering your insight. Please follow my blog if you haven’t already. It’s greatly appreciated. I’ll be sure and do the same for you.

This post was written for the Insecure Writer’s SupportGroup. We post on the first Wednesday of every month.  To join us, or learn more about the group, click HERE.  

Insecure Writers want to know: What is the weirdest thing you ever had to research for your story?

I’m not exactly sure which was weirder, the actual research for this fact or the result of researching the fact the way I did. You decide.

I was writing a mystery novella back when the internet wasn’t so prolific. I’m still not sure if the workload was a bit easier for the writer without all the social media work necessary today to stay alive in the public arena. But this was back when most of the research of writers started in the library and then moved on to interviewing experts to share firsthand knowledge.

In writing a story, as you all know, the facts have to be genuine. This is true whether you are writing contemporary stories or building a fantasy world. I opened every conversation with the librarians with I was writing fiction.

The problem? I don’t think anyone believed me. I even offered to show them the manuscript in progress. No one took me up on that offer.

Okay, so I’m not Mary Higgins Clark. No, I’m not J.K. Rowling either.

Nope! I’m just plain ol’ Victoria Marie Lees.

Guess what? No one cared. All they cared about was that I had a question about the use of a hand gun.

Just a basic question. After all, I’ve never used a hand gun before.

So I couldn’t really find any information at the library. And I was running out of time. This novella was my final assignment for a course at the University of Pennsylvania, a writing seminar in fiction entitled “From Murder Most Foul to the Explicit Corpse.” I only had a week to complete it. And with all the workload for two courses, working outside the home, helping my five children with their own school work, not to mention trying to get ready for Christmas, I didn’t have much time for research.

So I called my town police station. Well, who else do you know uses hand guns regularly?

All I needed to know was which type of handgun expelled bullet shells. I needed them, I told the police officer, at my fictional crime site. They were key to discovering who the murderer was in my mystery.

There was silence on the phone.

“Officer?” I asked.

Nothing.

“Sir, this really is a fictional story about a murder that happens onstage during a performance. … Hello? Are you still there?”

After a few minutes, I heard muffled voices on the other side of the line.

“Guys, I can bring the manuscript in to show you if you want.”

Finally, the officer answered my question. But later that day, a town police cruiser drove past my home. Slowly. Peering into my living room windows. I guess they wanted to see where I hid the body.

In fact, the police drove by my home every day for several weeks.

However, after noticing all the foot traffic at my house what with five children playing outside, running in and out of the house, friends and people popping by, the police figured I must be a crazy writer and not a murderer. For how could I ever find time to murder anyone let alone hide a dead body? And then keep the body hidden from all the occupants and visitors at the house.

I can’t wait to read your stories. Thanks so much for stopping by Adventures in Writing and offering a comment. Please follow my blog if you haven’t already. It’s greatly appreciated.  

This post was written for the Insecure Writer’s SupportGroup. We post on the first Wednesday of every month.  To join us, or learn more about the group, click HERE.  

Insecure Writers want to know: Have you ever pulled out a really old story and reworked it? Did it work out?

            Have I ever pulled out old stories and reworked them? Yep! Could I get all of them published? Not always! I did get one old YA short adventure story published and then created others that the editor liked and published. But still other short stories weren’t published. Why? Now if I knew that, I’d have many stories published, wouldn’t I?

            Writers use what they’ve learned and read to create their stories. Yet each story is different. And it can be difficult for the writer to see why editors prefer one story over another. Sometimes the writer has neglected to give the reader [or editor] key information in the story; some context, some explanation of why the reader should care about this particular character with this particular problem in this particular scene. I know I have.

            It is very difficult for writers to find what’s missing in their own work. This is why all writers need critique partners and editors. Someone who hasn’t read the story before can spot what might be missing in story logic or emotion. As the story’s creator, the writer knows everything about the story. It’s just that sometimes the writer forgets to tell the reader through story action or inner dialogue key pieces of the story puzzle.       

            I continue to forget to add “how the character feels” about a particular incident in the story. Emotion is as necessary to short fiction as it is to longer fiction. The reader needs to care about your protagonist in order to keep reading. Another thing I seem to do wrong is summarize story action in my full-length manuscripts instead of dramatizing it. Not all action. Just some of it. I think it’s because I write a lot of short fiction. As writers, we can’t show everything in our stories because that would be boring to the reader. But we need to show key scenes—fully fleshed out with emotion, dialogue, and action—whenever the protagonist goes through any emotional change or has a revelation about the story problem, either internal or external. The reader wants to be part of the story as it unfolds.     

All the luck with getting your own stories published in 2017. Thanks for stopping by Adventures in Writing and leaving a note. Please follow my blog. It’s greatly appreciated.  

This post was written for the Insecure Writer’s SupportGroup. We post on the first Wednesday of every month.  To join us, or learn more about the group, click HERE.