That AHA Moment

I’ve always had this niggling problem with my novel, THE INK OF TIME. Otto, who clearly is the main character of this story, does not confront his issues, but instead helps Hazel get her life together.  

I’ve struggled with this problem for quite a while, thinking that maybe I have two main characters – and that Otto can be a helper to someone else but not him self- but that doesn’t work for me, either. Otto is definitely the main character and as that, I’ve come to realize, this story should focus on and resolve his problems first.

                                                             

My beta readers have commented to me in the past about not knowing much about Otto’s life and background. I intentionally wrote him that way- I was going for “mysterious, untouchable, guarded, aloof" in his persona. And that was all wrong.

I’ve been reading, studying, and applying all the information I have learned from Story Genius, by Lisa Cron, to THE INK OF TIME. 

If this story is gonna work, I’ve got to lay everything Otto feels and everything that’s happened to him in his life, on the line. Otherwise, who cares what happens to this guy? Who cares if he gets the girl or pathetically wanders the earth for the rest of his life? Nobody. That’s who.

I love my beta readers for sticking with my half-baked story, but now it’s time for me to get back at that manuscript and make everyone love and empathize with Otto as much as I do.

Through the exercises in Story Genius I am learning that novels do not start at the beginning. It’s true. They do not start at the beginning. Every novel we read starts when something is about to happen. And every character has a life before the story begins. Learning about the characters’ lives and how they handle situations makes us love a good story.

Think about it: What makes The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton, such a great story? It’s not because the story started when the boys were babies and told of their lives growing up to their teen years, no. The Outsiders were tough boys who didn’t have many (if any) opportunities to improve their lives. They had no adult/parental support. They were on their own and lived life the way they thought was correct. Lots of shit happened to those boys before the story even started on page one with a fight between a Soc and a Greaser.

And in the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon, Claire fell through a circle of ancient stones and was transported back over two hundred years in time, landing in 1743 Scotland. Had she not been a child raised by her uncle who traveled the world, and a World War II combat nurse before the story ever started, her chances of living through the events that took place would have been dramatically different.

So, I’m learning more and more about what makes my main man Otto tick. And you, dear reader, will learn it too.

It was a big struggle, but I believe I’ve figured out a way to change the story for the better so that Otto gets all the angst and triumph a main character deserves.(While helping Hazel, too.) I hope it all pans out realistically!

But now it’s time to get back to work. I’m on page 225 of 270. When I’m done with Story Genius I’ll be finding where and how to fit in all of my new information into my existing manuscript (aka story.)  

So I’ll be sitting here until next week when I take a break to write another blog post. I’ll keep you informed on my progress!

Until next time,

Be Good to Yourself!

~Nadine

*All images Courtesy of Google

75 Books

The Parade magazine that comes in our Sunday paper published a “summer reading issue” on June 26th. One of the articles was by author Ann Patchett. She was asked by Parade magazine to list the 75 best books of the past 75 years.  I read her list and I was not that impressed. Anyone can put together a list of best sellers. If she would have listed HER favorites, that might have been more compelling.

So I decided it would be interesting for me to do something like that. I use Goodreads to help me, yet it's still taken me a couple weeks to put my list together. The books I am sharing have all been in the top 100 most popular (not best seller, necessarily) for their year. I am only listing books that I have actually read. (If I did not read a top 100 in a particular year, I simply skipped that year.)

One caveat: Many of the books were not necessarily read by me the year they were published. Simply because A) I didn’t know how to read it yet or B) I hadn’t heard of it yet.

Oh, and one more thing: Since I was born in 1960, I thought I’d  start there and stop at 2015, however, for me 55 books was not enough. Ladies and gentlemen, this list is 75 books long!

Here. We. Go!

1960: Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss.

1961: Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

1962: The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats

1963: Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak,

1964: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory By Roald Dahl

1967: The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton.  (She started this novel when she 

was 15 and published at 17!)

1968: Tikki Tikki Tembo by Arlene Mosel

1969: the Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

1970: Love Story by Erich Segal

1971: The Monster at the End of this Book by Jon Stone (I didn’t read 

this book until I had my one little kiddos.)

1973: Socks by Beverly Cleary

1974: Jaws by Peter Benchley

1975: Forever by Judy Blume

1977: The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough

1977: Shanna by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss (This was my first in a long line of adult romance novels!)

1978: Mouse Tales by Arnold Lobel (Used in my teaching years- a great beginner reader book!)

1979: Bunnicula by James Howe

1980: Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel

1981: The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks (My last read aloud to my quickly growing kids!)

1981: Ramona Quimbly, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary

1983: Just Go to Bed by Mercer Mayer (A little critter fav in our house!)

1984: Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns

1986: Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg

1987: Owl Moon by Jane Yolen (A great kid book)

1988: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

1989: Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

1991: Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (The first is a series—I read them all!)

1993: The Giver by Lois Lowry

1995: Where  the Heart Is by Billie Letts

1997: The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

1998: One Thousand White Women: The Journal of Mary Dodd by Jim Fergus

1999: On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King

2001: The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

2001: Deception Point by Dan Brown

2002: Dinosaurs Before Dark by Mary Pope Osborne (A kid’s book featuring time travel. I love my time travel books!)

2003: The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown

2004: The Jane Austin Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler

2005: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (I read the whole series of this one too!)

2005: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

2005: The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards

2006: Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

2006: Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

2006: Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace… One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson

2007: The Shack by William Paul Young

2008: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (read the whole series)

2009: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

2009: Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

2010: Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand (I still can’t watch the movie…)

2010 I Am Four by Pittacus Lore (Fun Fact: Pittacus Lore is not a real person…the real author is unknown)

2010 Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith

2010: The Mountain Between Us by Charles Martin

2011: Divergent by Veronica Roth (Read this series too..)

2011: Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James (I didn’t read the others… really, this was more than enough!)

2011: The Martian by Andy Weir (This guy couldn’t get a publisher so he put his book on line chapter by chapter. It was so popular that publishers actually (finally) came to him!!!)

2011: 11/22/63 by Stephen King (A time travel novel- trying to stop the assassination of JFK. Great book!!)

2011: A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard

2012: Tell the Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt

2012: Gone Girl by Jillian Flynn

2012: Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain

2012: The Light Between the Oceans by M.L. Stedman

2012: The Rope by Nevada Barr (This is an origin story of how Anna Pigeon became a park ranger. There are several mysteries with her as the central character  that started way back in 2003)

2013: The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty

2013: Whistling Past the Graveyard by Susan Crandall

2013: Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline

2013: Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

2013: Calling Me Home by Julie Kibler

2014: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

2014: We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

2014: Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

2014: Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel

2015: Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll

2015: Girl At War by Sara Novic

2015: Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter

2016: Breaking Wild by Diane Les Becquets

There you have it! Seventy-five winners! I hope you give one (or more) of these books a try.

Until next time,

Be Good to Yourself

~Nadine

http://www.goodreads.com/book/popular_by_date/