writersguide

I do like Floyd, but right now I'm listening to Loreena McKennitt. Her CD is playing from my ROM. Everything is centralized. To my left, I have the chapters I've already written for my book (I'm finishing up chapter three. This is a proposal, and I'll write no more until it sells.) They've been marked up by my critique group. I'll change some things, leave others. To my right is an open notebook.

The Basic Basic

    The notebook is flat. I can see two pages. I've drawn a line down each page to divide them into columns. Column One is labeled "Kenny." Column Two is labeled "Delta." Yep, you guessed it. They are the hero and heroine of my WIP (work in process.) This story played in my mind while I was writing manuscript number four, which is the one that sold. Kenny and Delta were both characters in, "It Only Takes A Spark." Kenny was the villain, and Delta was the woman who always seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time making mistakes. Never one to pass up an opportunity, even as I typed that early manuscript, I thought, "Hmmmm, they could have their own story."
    Pretty soon, even as I typed story #4, Kenny and Delta were whispering ideas in my head (ideas for what would become, "To Get A Fire Going.") The problem was, as with all my stories, they were only whispering ideas about the beginning and ending. They gave me no clue as to what should happen to them in the middle of the book.
    I've asked them repeatedly to give me some ideas, but they fade to black if I push. (Kenny Latkam is the biggest culprit. I know him backwards and forwards. He is firmly established in my mind. Delta is a little hazy, as she grows so will my book.) Since this silent treatment happens with all my heroes and heroines, I really cannot be angry at them.
    My notebook is open, so I begin to jot down the plot points (bricks) that Kenny tells me. I start in column one, I write chapter one and skip four lines. Then, I write chapter two and skip four lines. I intend to have ten chapters so you guess where I stop this maneuver.
    The four empty spaces under chapter one await me. This is the easiest chapter. Oh, Kenny has given me an excellent opening. How many heroes start out their books by getting out of jail for a crime they DID commit. In chapter one, I get to write about freedom, about a mother's joy, and about his being a stranger in his hometown. Go back and count my plot points (think bricks.) There are three. I do that on purpose. In my notebook, after line 3 which reads, "not welcomed by hometown" there is an empty line. The next space reads, "Chapter Two."
    I'm not done with chapter one yet. Every Mason knows that you cannot set bricks one on top of the other and walk away. You need an adhesive. My three plot points (bricks) need sustenance (think sand, cement, and water) to build reality for the reader. Chapter one needs mortar to keep my plot points standing.
    Sand is gritty, it gets into your shoes and can be an annoyance. In chapter one Kenny's inner-thoughts (struggles) about his past are the sand. Have you ever gone to the beach, in tennis shoes, without socks? If the answer is yes, then you know how hard it is to get the sand out of your tennis shoes. Kenny is not going to be able to shed his past easily. This sand will sift all through the book. Hopefully, while I'm mortaring away in chapter one, I'll get some insights on repercussions that will infuse the middle chapters.
    Water is cool, flowing, quenching. His mother welcoming him home, the letters she's written to the parole board, the favorite dinner she cooked for him. Hopefully, this grabs at the reader's emotional strings. This is water.
    Cement is the adhesive. It is what makes the conflict. It is what makes the reader keep reading. Kenny is a stranger in his own town, especially to the mother of his child. Delta McKenna never expected him to return to their hometown. Now that he's here, she hates it. She feels threatened (and, oh, all those susceptible areas will highlight later chapters.) The cement is tangible. It is hard and seemingly impenetrable. Kenny's first encounter with Delta should have, hopefully has, the impact of a car hitting a brick wall (cement).
    Wow, see how sand, cement, and water guided the bricks into a complete chapter one. And, the best part is, I haven't even touched on Delta, really, who also has to be in chapter one with her own mortar (mortar which I have to make sure has the same consistency as Kenny's mortar.) When I'm done writing all that, I can go back, see what can be moved to a later chapter (I do have to keep you dangling, wanting more, right?").
    In chapter one, Delta's sand is raising her son and also rising above her self-image of what a single mom should (could) be. Billy is getting in trouble at school and has trouble reading. She's also struggling to make ends meet. Her water is the love she has for her son and the success she's finding in the workplace. Her cement is the fact that she's built a wall around her emotions. The wall is so thick that no man has been able to get around it to find the real, vulnerable Delta. Turns out that wall was a good thing, since it kept her available until Kenny gets out of jail a new man.
    With my notebook next to me, as I type chapter one, I get a few germs of ideas for later chapters. I jot them down, erase, move them.
    And behind me, leaning on my chair, Kenny and Delta give advice. They remind me that I have not described what they look like. Kenny says, "I would never do that!" and Delta insists, "He doesn't deserve a second chance!" They look at each and their eyes darken. It is that look that will end chapter ten.
    Have a great day and write fifty pages.

Pamela Kaye Tracy took up writing in elementary school. After reading the Betsy books, and the Romana Books, and Bobbsey Twins, plus Nancy Drew; Pamela wanted adventure, too. So, Pamela started a misspelled series of books called "The Railroad Runaways." It was about her and her two best girlfriends. They followed the railroad from town to town and had adventures. Oddly enough, David Cassidy always managed to be visiting the town. In 1994, Pamela again picked up her pencil, only this time it weighed more and looked suspiciously like a computer. After typing a single-spaced, first person, time-travel, Pamela found RWA and changed the page set-up to double-space. Her first book, an inspirational titled It Only Takes A Spark, was published by Barbour Heartsong in August, 1999. Pamela is a third grade schoolteacher by day and a college reading instructor by night. She is owned by a huge black and white cat named Aquila. You can click to e-mail Pamela Kaye Tracy, or visit her web site.