What do Dragons and Mice have to do with Writing?

Turns out dragons and mice are very relevant. Lancelot Schaubert's piece (November 29, 2022 on Writer Unboxed) is well worth a read. He begins by relaying stories of dragons and mice who -- when ignored -- only become bigger problems. Wonderful metaphors as to how ignoring or avoiding issues with writing or submitting can become major hindrances.

Here are some good points and quotes from his writing. Make sure to read the comments and his responses, too.

"In every medieval occidental story about dragons — actually, even in some of the medieval luck dragon stories — a dragon unattended grows. When it’s an occidental dragon, your own and the dragon’s greed and anxiety and unattended consequences worsen...How do you think Smaug got so powerful? No homely lakelander wanted to deal with a dragon. No dwarf would harm his hoard."

You really need to read the piece about the mice infestation. (Ugh, but a few wry laughs.) After waterproofing the basement of a Brooklyn apartment, the super found that small rodents had nowhere to go but up -- to closets and even stovetops in the units above. If you'll pardon the pun, the best laid plans of mice and men can go dreadfully awry. 

What followed were, " Traps. Seals. Cleaning. Disinfecting. Throwing away a British stone weight in flour and another in rice and crackers...But we faced the closet and started, simply, by throwing away a small bag of sugar. One half-empty bag. And the dragon got smaller."

And now, to writing. We've all avoided notes, manuscripts that need work, the submission process. And my favorite -- outlines.

As Schaubert says, "You’re avoiding [an outline] because it’s easier to figure out the first draft as you go along and because outlines are freaking hard, annoying, generally unrewarding work. And yet having one will make our first drafts all the cleaner and requiring of so much less revision." Don't you hate it when people know what's going on in your head?

That manuscript dragon? "Turn and face the foe — do the hardest thing in the direction of the highest good, highest beauty, highest calling...Which way? they [the seekers of the ring] once asked Frodo, who said: Towards danger, but neither too rashly nor too straight."

Easy to write, much harder to do. A child's play is also work. It's how they learn -- not just to do, but to interact with their own mind and with others.

Schaubert asks, "How can you make and fail and make and fail and make and fail and make?"

I would say start with a very short list. If it's too long, it'll be too overwhelming. That which overwhelms gets ignored.

I've been trying to talk myself into submitting to agents or small publishers rather than "only" self-publishing. Self-publishing and marketing (especially for 30 books) are hard. But submitting to others is the big unknown, with its own frustrations. And fears.

I used to edit others' work more than I do now. When nonfiction writers would say they didn't know how to start putting together what they had researched, I would say something I learned from another editor. "You can edit crap, but you can't edit a blank page."

So, I won't get rejection letters (much less acceptance) until I submit. As I tell fiction writers who say they have no time, one page a day is a 365-page book each year. I just have to do it.

Reference: Face the Dragon. Face the Mice. A Sonnet in WU Form

by Lancelot Schaubert, https://writerunboxed.com/2022/11/29/face-the-dragon-face-the-mice-a-sonnet-in-wu-form/

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To learn more about Elaine, visit her website or sign up for her newsletter.  

Why is it so Hard to Write Sometimes?

"Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen."

― John Steinbeck

With apologies to Mr. Steinbeck, it doesn't always work that way. Plus, long-haired rabbits make me sneeze.

At the moment, I've figured out the basic elements of a new book -- lead characters, overall plot, timing for major events -- and so on. I even have a rough draft of the first couple chapters. So why am I not halfway to the middle? 

For me, it usually means I have a lot on my mind. I do, at the moment, but nothing insurmountable. 

I think about the action a lot, and the pause in writing has led me to come up with really good title for the thirteenth Jolie Gentil cozy mystery. I'm trying to do something different, which is to have a second point of view character, one who has been away from the series for a while. That's hard to do. But why hide from hard?

Apparently, I'm doing this post to figure out why I'm not writing more. So, I'll commit to having a full first draft by the first week in November. That's a scary thought. 

Don't let me off the hook.

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To learn more about Elaine, visit her website or sign up for her newsletter.  

Are You a Closet Outliner?

Other than fully outlining one book in 2006, I generally start with an idea, make some notes, and start writing what I think will be opening scenes. Then I pause and make more notes, eventually creating a chapter summaries document. As the name implies, I use it to track what I've done and plan future developments.

It might be better if I fully outlined at least the murder and how it is solved. I simply have trouble keeping my fingers off the keyboard.

As I finish one project I thumb through notebooks to see what else has been in my brain. I lose thoughts unless I write on a card and staple it to a notebook page or write thoughts directly in the book. Usually I can decipher what I meant. Sometimes not.

As I shipped the Unscheduled Murder Trip to the proofeader, I began the note review. What I look for are the half-baked (excuse me, half-developed) ideas that I jotted so I didn't lose them. Because I also make notes on books underway, I see I'm more of an outliner than I think I am.

It's About the Villain

Four basic points are always in my lists.

• Who would have a reason to kill the victim?
• How did they get to him/her?
• What are the consequences if the killer is not caught?
• Who besides the murderer comes under suspicion and isn't the culprit? (The red herring thought process.)

What's most striking (even to me) is none of these points relates to the protagonists and how they solve the crime. Of course I have notes about this, but they are not in the core list. Why? Because any mystery starts with the killer/kidnapper/ embezzler's motive.

In a thriller, readers may know the motive up front because the author puts readers in the minds of the perpetrator and the hero (who sometimes seems to have almost superhero talents). Much in these books deals with how close the villain comes to blowing up a damn (or whatever) before s/he is stopped. I read many thrillers and love them. 

However, my own writing tends toward solving the puzzle -- it's only possible when the sleuth can unravel the culprit's motives. But that comes near the end. In one memorable (to me) thought process, I changed the killer after I finished the first draft. The new murderer had a stronger motive. It's one of my best books, but I don't recommend the process.

The Full List Questions

The combined sleuth/killer list is, in my mind, the order of the action (though not usually the order of the book).

• Who would have a reason to kill the victim?
• How did they get to him/her?
• How is the sleuth drawn into the crime-solving?
• Why is it so important to the sleuth to identify the killer/kidnapper, etc.?
• What are the consequences if the killer is not caught?
• Who besides the murderer comes under suspicion and how are they absolved? 
• What resources or assets does the sleuth have that others (perhaps law enforcement) does not have?
• How is the sleuth's life changed by having been involved?

The crime and its resolution have to matter to amateur crime-solvers. Otherwise, they're simply busybodies or folks with too much time on their hands.

There has to be a reason the sleuths can solve the crimes when professionals can't. The killer may discount their abilities and thus reveal something that sends the sleuth down a path. Maybe they have tremendous resources and can buy a $1,200 airline ticket and hop on a plane to keep an eye on the bad guys.

Another option is to do something illegal (hack a computer, bug a phone) that police can't do without a warrant -- or at all. However, the reader has to feel sympathy with the sleuth's methods. I stopped reading one series because I thought the sleuth's actions (in the last book I read) were as unacceptable as the criminal's.

Your Questions May be Different

All the ads for fad diets say something like "results may differ for individual participants." Same goes for how you develop a book. Any approach works, as long as it's a conscious endeavor.

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To learn more about Elaine, go to www.elaineorr.com or subscribe to her newsletter.