Q:
How many words are considered a short story and how many
make a novel?
A: The following are guidelines that will help you know what
to call your fiction manuscript:
- Short-short, flash fiction or a vignette runs up to 1,000 words.
- Short stories are generally 1,000 - 6,000 words, but can go to 30,000
words.
- Novellas are 30,000 - 50,000 words.
- Novels are 55,000 - 300,000 words, most commonly 80,000 to 100,000 words.
- Anything over 120,000 words needs to become a series of books or
condensed.
Q: Can I sell parts of my novel to magazines?
A:
Short-shorts, flash fiction, vignettes, and short stories are usually
sold first in magazines. Later you may want to publish a collection in book
form. Novels are usually published first by book publishers. Sometimes
excerpts are sold to magazines. Long stories, novelettes, and novellas are
more difficult, but they normally originally appear in magazines or
collections of short fiction.
Q:
What is experimental fiction?
A:
Generally, it is fiction that encompasses weird or non-traditional work. I
could be called 'innovative' but is far from mainstream. It is fiction that
does not fit into any other category. Read some to get a better idea.
Q: I'd like to write Christian science-fiction. What
is that market like?
A:
The Christian marketplace is an extremely tough sell for SF. It seems to
sell in kids books but sales fall off very quickly as the market targets young
adults. Strangely, fantasy seems to sell a bit better, although it is a tough
market too. Just recently a few books for adults that edge into horror have
appeared on our shelves. I haven't seen any of them sell. It seems to me that
if you can tweak your work just a bit and use some other description rather
than SF, you have a much better chance in the Christian marketplace. I think
it is much more open in the main-stream market, but can't comment on that from
inside a bookstore. Brian Austin
Q: How can I create great characters?
A:
Here are some answers from InScribe members.
-
Find magazine pictures that resemble your characters and
post them around your work space.
-
Read books dealing with the era or time frame of your
piece. Note even the ordinary items people use. Make your setting authentic.
-
Write a back story for each of your characters. Keep this
handy so you can refer to it often. Your list might include some or all of the
following: (list supplied by Glynis Belec)
-
CHARACTER'S NAME & AGE
-
BASIC STATISTICS
Current Residence?
Occupation? Talents/Skills?
Birth order?
Siblings? (describe relationship)
Spouse? (describe relationship)
Children? (describe relationship)
Grandparents? (describe relationship)
Grandchildren? (describe relationship)
Significant Others (describe relationship)
Relationship skills?
Physical Characteristics: Height?
Weight? Race? Eye Color?
Glasses or contact lenses? Skin color? Distinguishing features? Mannerisms?
-
BACKGROUND
What is their (her) background?
Where did she grow up?
What are her parents like?
Childhood, and family members?
Education, level achieved, grades,
popularity?
Sports and Hobbies, pets?
-
HABITS
Bad and good habits? Social habits? Grooming habits?
Morals, and friendships?
-
STYLE
How is their home decorated?
What
is their lifestyle? Job, satisfaction or dissatisfaction? Friends?
Income? Car? Clothes
-
RELATIONSHIPS: List and dissect
-
RESPONSIBILITIES: Children, pets, job, older
parents, etc.
-
DETAILS
Style of music? Favorite food?
Phobias? Memory?
Emotional trauma? Emotional security?
-
CHARACTER TYPE
Amiable, Driver, Analytical or Expressive?
How does this character: Look? Feel? Move? Eat?
How does this character react, in general to what life throws at him or her?
What is the major motivating event in this character's life and
its effect?
Events and the character's decisions in the past that
have brought him or her to the present moment?
How does the character start out, then grow, and finally end up at the end of
the story?
-
DISTINCTIVE QUALITIES
Favorite Sayings?
Speech patterns? Disabilities?
Greatest flaw? Best quality?
Intellectual/Mental/Personality Attributes and Attitudes?
Intelligence Level?
Any Mental Illnesses, neuroses, self doubt?
Learning Experiences?
Short-term and long-term goals in life?
What barriers stand between the character and his or her goals?
How does Character see himself/herself?
How does Character believe he/she is perceived by others?
How self-confident is the character?
Does the character seem ruled by emotion or logic or some combination thereof?
What would most embarrass this character?
Emotional Characteristics?
Strengths/Weaknesses?
Introvert or Extrovert?
How does the character deal with anger?
Sadness? Conflict? Change? Loss?
What does the character want out of life?
What would the character like to change in his/her life?
What motivates this character?
What frightens this character?
What makes this character happy?
Is the character judgmental of others?
Is the character generous or stingy?
Is the character generally polite or rude?
Spiritual Characteristics:
Does the character believe in God?
What are the character's spiritual beliefs?
Is religion or spirituality a part of this character's life?
If so, what role does it play?
Scene where character first appears.
Relationships with
other characters.
How character is different at the end of the
novel from when the novel began.
You will likely not use all this information, but once
you know your characters from all angles you are better able to understand motivation and the whys and
wherefores of attitude and opinions. Some may find this information too much, or repetitive in
some areas, but as you work this through, you will know how your character will
respond to the situations he or she becomes involved in and this
character will be well-rounded and interesting.
Example
What is their (her) background? Melony Fairchild was raised in a loving,
Christian Home. (Morals instilled; value system established by parents with a
resulting accountability) For 10 of her 12 years, Melony lived in the small
community of Bestwick. Here Melony felt reasonably well-accepted despite her
hearing impairment. Her family recently moved to a century farm on the outskirts
of Guelph - two hours away from Bestwick. (Moving to a new community intensifies
feelings of inadequacies) Because Melony has a sensory-neural hearing loss, she
has to wear two hearing aids. She sees herself as different and has the
tendency, lately, to keep herself secluded from any lasting friendship or
relationship with anyone other than her family members. (sense of belonging is
decreased; does not cope well with transition).
-
The first times I filled out the character charts about likes/dislikes as well
as description, I treated it like an arbitrary thing: e.g. “pick her favorite
color so you can be consistent if she mentions it throughout the book.” So it
didn't do much for me! Now I'm learning these questions are meant to get us
talking to our characters and finding out what they like. With the color
example, okay she likes mauve, but why? What memory does it trigger?
Maybe the answer is less important than the discovery it should prompt. And
later, having the answers in a nice list makes it easy to keep details straight
as you write.
I try now to do a character sketch of each main character, including their
goals/desires, questions and fears that may relate to the story. And ask, how
does this person change during the story? In an online character course, and the
instructor had us do a one-page introduction to the character, written present
tense. It was hard to do, but it kept me thinking about the characters long
enough for them to gel.
Dynamic Characters by Nancy Kress was the text for my course, and it was good.
Randy Ingermanson's Fiction 101 has good stuff on characters, as does
Brandilyn Collins' blog (scroll through the archives;
she has an excellent section
on goals/motivation/desire). (Joanna Mallory)
-
I like to find a connecting point with my characters, and then they feel alive
to me. One character in a story I'm doing now is a widower. I couldn't relate to
him, because he's high-class professional, smooth, well-controlled. But as I
thought about how much he misses his wife, I discovered he's so empty without
her that not only does he still get two season tickets to the symphony and go
with her memory, when the pain is too bad he calls an exclusive “escort service”
and they send someone resembling his wife, to wear her lingerie etc. Do I like
this about him? No, it's creepy. But it gave me an emotional connection,
because I really feel sad for him. Now I can write about him with compassion
instead of at arms' length. (Glynis Belec)
-
I was really struggling with my main character. I could not
picture her or chat with her. She was as shapeless as a ghost and she avoided me.
Then I assigned her a fatal flaw.
Clink, clink. That's the sound of us now having tea together. (Well, she has
wine, and I have herbal tea.)
Now she settles right down beside me when I'm driving and leans over my shoulder
when I'm typing. My novel now has direction and my main character has room to
grow.
Her flaw? Well, I know women are never like this, but I thought I would try
something new. She manipulates.
I still struggle with my characters and their motivations. But now that she has
a flaw, it gave my story a reason to start and a reason to keep going as she
matures. (Pam Mytron)
-
The thing that most helps me with my characters
is knowing what makes them do what they do - the pain from their past, the one
event that shapes their lives, what makes them laugh or cry, what they are
passionate about. (Bonnie M. Way)
-
I agree about having a face for your
characters. After a long search through numerous catalogues, I finally found Melony, Amanda, Carlotta and Leslie. They are posted on my computer with a copy
in my active file. I see them every day and I know what they look like. This is
so helpful for me. (Glynis M. Belec)
-
“The greatest characters in our literature are all
larger-than-life ... It just requires identifying what is extraordinary in
people who
are otherwise ordinary. I am dismayed that some fiction writers bristle when I
make this observation. It is as if deliberately
constructing a character is a sin. Some authors feel that if characters are to
be credible, then they must be exactly like real
people. Others report their characters take on a life of thei r own: 'They tell
me what they are going to do! I just write it down!' There is
nothing wrong with these techniques, except that a naturalistic and
laissez-faire approach may lead too easily to characters who are
humdrum, inactive or uninteresting to read about ... The characters
in your story will not engross readers unless they are out of the
ordinary ... In life and in fiction, when people act in ways that
are unusual, unexpected, dramatic, decisive, full of consequence and
are irreversible, we remember them and talk about them for years.”
Writing the Breakout Novel, pp. 104-105. (from Lorrie Orr)
-
The other day, I sat down at the piano to play one of my
favorite pieces (Traumerei, by Schumann). As I played, I thought about the music
and about my novel and, with a connection that probably wouldn't make sense to
anyone else, the music and main female character in my novel were linked.
Now Jaclyn has a theme song that I can play when I'm stumped.
After that revelation, I put in some classical CDs (and not the mellow,
muzak-ish ones, because this was not the time).
Now it's imperative (let's see if I can say this with a straight face) that I
crank up the volume on my stereo, fully submerging myself in the music to better
comprehend its nuances. But, as it's summer and all my windows are open, my poor
neighbors are subject to alternate ferocity and tenderness of Beethoven's 5th
(all movements) and the Russian passion of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto
No. 2. (which, by the way, he wrote after a lengthy period of composer's block).
I would never recommend forcing a favorite song and favorite character to fit.
Instead, listen until you hear in music what you are trying to say with words. (Becky Gray)
Q: What is Internal Monolog?
A: This is written thoughts of a character is thinking.
Some internal monolog "tells" the character's actions, feelings, etc. and and
some "shows" what is going through the character's mind. For instance, TELLS =
I feel so
sad and unhappy. Nothing ever works out for me. SHOWS = I fiddle with my keys
and press the sharp edges into my palms. I wish they were knives
instead of stupid keys. Why is this happening to me?Internal monolog can give readers a sense of how the character is
working out the conflict and create a sense of intimacy with the reader. It communicates a
character's mood, attitude, philosophy, and so on. It can also convey
information, but do this carefully. A character would not put into words, even
inner words, any background facts that are integral to their own life. This IM
can be expressed in past tense, present, and even future tense. Many authors use
italics so they can omit tags like "She thought" while others think italics
should be reserved for first person. Regardless of how these thoughts appear in
the actual writing, they must move the story along. Otherwise, don't use them. |
