Common errors! How to fix them? What are they? - Scene & Structure #11

So I missed my post last week. Sorry. A sick toddler ... or writing a blog post. Hmmmmm ... Sick toddler won. Anyway, LOL, on a happier note we are all well this week and hopping right along with our school routine.

I got my cover for OPEN HOUSE, over 4000 words done on a WIP over the past weekend, and got a contract for my A VERY RUSSIAN CHRISTMAS with Decadent Publishing! Whoohooo! Needless to say, it has been a fabulous week thus far.

So this week in Scene and Structure, Bickham talked about common errors in scenes. After I read it, I was horrified to find several in my WIP's, but hey, he said they were common.

1) Too many people in the scene.
How many is too many, you might ask? Unless absolutely necessary - TWO! The higher number of characters, the more you split your reader's focus, the more likely you are to confuse and lose. When adding in more characters you lose the ability to focus on stimulus-response dialogue or action because your POV character is getting stimulus from more than onc source.

"Be ready to do almost anything to narrow the focus to just the two main people in the conflict"

2) Circularity of Arguement
"Did not! -Did so! -Did not! -Did so!"   Familiar? Common? Yes! Bickham warns to plan your arguments so that they work for you and not the other way around. Nobody wants to hear the problem stated over and over again. Your readers aren't dumb.

3) Unwanted Interruptions
If you have the telephone ring or someone knock on the door or a dog bark and distract your main character - Have. A. Stink'n. Good. Reason. Or. Get. Rid. Of. It. (I am totally guilty of this one, LOL)

4) Getting off Track
(This would be a problem for me too. My darn characters are always running away with the scene.) Bickham suggest to always keep your scene goal first and foremost in your mind. If it's not clear in the author's mind as he/she is writing ... it won't be clear in the reader's mind when he/she is reading.

5) Inadvertent Summary
In a nutshell ... don't skip parts of your scene! If you feel your scene is running too long, his advice, instead of a copout summary to hurry it along, check the beginning and see if maybe you can jump into the scene later and then "write the good part" as he so eloquently puts it.  Watch out for words like 'later', 'after a few minutes', having thought it over', when they finally got back', etc. You get the idea.

These were the top five! Hope they were helpful.

Happy Reading,

Happy Writing,

Krystal Shannan

What does what you read make you write?

Ughhh... It is so hard to go to my bookshelves and pick FOUR favorites.  But here we go... here are four OF my favorites :-)

Princess of Fire by Shannan Drake - 1989

In this book, I love the intrigues. One problem after another befalls the hero and heroine.  They struggle and at the same time, through all these problem, the heroine can't stand the hero!  So he has an even bigger problem than she does on top of all the invading armies, and angry families trying to take over.  Normans, Saxons, and Passion.  I really enjoy a hero who has to woo an unruly or angry heroine.  It makes the 'HEA' that much more satisfying when she realizes she's completely in love with him.

What I didn't like..... There were a few places the book switched POV's rather quickly and without warning.  Several places were paragraphs had sentences that started with She, She, She, etc.  Nothing I think would have noticed or cared about, had I not started writing and been told to avoid things like that.

Twin of Ice - Twin of Fire by Jude Deveraux -1985

In this book, one sister finds a match other than her betrothed and the other sister finds that her match is her sister's betrothed!  Chaos ensues!  I actually have not read a Jude Deveraux book that I didn't love. When a book reads like a movie, I can't get enough.  I can see, hear, smell, and feel everything as it occurs for the characters. I am able to completely sink into the heroine's world and live her adventure.  Ok, maybe that sounds corny, but I love it!

Again in this book, I find things about the POV that bother me.  The changes are seamless from one paragraph to another.  I find it interesting that the rules now seem to be much more strict and for the most part an author must write an entire scene in one POV before switching away to another character.  In both Deveraux and Drake, I find one page in one character's POV and then the next page goes back to the dominant POV for the rest of the chapter.

Goddess of Spring - P.C. Cast -2004

This book sinks a normal human woman into the paranormal world of the ancient greek gods.  I have always had an obsession with the greek gods and the worlds other people have created around them.  Which is probably why my novella is centered around Aphrodite and Ares.  Anyway, I digress.  I like this book because it brings to life a fantastic supernatural world and its characters.  Lina, the heroine, falls in love with the stone faced unfeeling Hades and he has to come back to the mortal realm to get her to come back with him in Persephone's place.

Things I didn't like.... Can't think of one, sorry.

Acheron - Sherrilyn Kenyon - 2010

Alright, so my obsession with the greek mythos continues with Kenyon's reinvention of the greek pantheon and Atlantis.  Fabulous storytelling.  It was a 700+ page novel that I literally ate with and fell asleep reading until it was finished.  I can only dream that people might feel the same way one day about my stories. *A girl can dream :-)*  I think the true beauty of Acheron is that you get to know him so completely that you almost know how he will handle problems as they arise.  Kenyon's character building is phenomenal.

Things I didn't like...... maybe that there was sooooo much information, I had to go back a few times and reread parts when they were referenced later in the book to be sure I had it right in my head.

Ok, things I like: unruly, angry heroine, hero has to work hard to woo and win her over.  Intrigues!  Lots of problems arrise to create issues.  I like to sink into heroine's mind and world.  Historicals and Greek gods! Greek gods! Greek gods!  Did I say Greek gods?

Things I don't like: unnecessary POV switches  

So my perfect book to read/write would include a heroine not liking the hero right off the bat.  The hero has to works hard to convince her otherwise.  It would be a historical novel that somehow incorporated the paranormal pantheon of the Greek gods.  

After picking through my books and writing all this down I have to giggle a little because I've already been planning something sort of up this alley.  The hero and heroine do like each other right away though, no angst or hatred to be found, LOL.  But, kidnapping and other intrigues abound.  The secondary love story however, does follow the betrayer working to earn the trust back from the woman he betrayed.  So that covers my pissed off heroine, LOL, even though she's the secondary heroine.  I know.... I've bit off a lot, right!  Two stories in one.  One is human and one is supernatural in......wait.....you guessed it.... the Greek pantheon of gods!

This epiphany is all thanks to Candace Havens and her comprehensive class.  Which you should totally take!  It is so worth the money!  This is my second time through it and I know I'll get even more this time.  Last time she helped me finish my first novel :-).

So I'm going to wander back off to my pages of notes that are covering my couch.....I hear my characters calling to me, telling me I need to work on their stories.  Oh, wait...., that was the 2yr old whining that she needs a nap.  Must attend to that first.

Hugs,

Krystal