202 Cool Winners!

Thanks to everyone who entered my Too, oh too cool contest in honor of reaching a blogging milestone of 202 followers. You all posed fantastic "ask-the-editor" questions as part of your entries that I'll continue tackling over the coming weeks.

Now, onto what your really came here for: the winners announcement.

Prize A,
the Staples gift card, goes to

Shannon O'Donnell

Prize B,
the Harry-Potter inspired "expecto patronem" tote, goes to

Lola Sharp

Prize C,
the grab-bag of writerly goodies goes to

Kelly Lyman

Ladies, please send your postal addresses to me at laurels (dot) leaves (at) gmail (dot) com.

Congratulations to the winners, and thanks again, followers, for giving me a reason to celebrate.

What good thing, big or small, makes you want to celebrate this week?

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Bad beginnings: the teaspoon problem

"Just because you've got the emotional range of a teaspoon doesn't mean we all have," said Hermione nastily, picking up her quill again.
--J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (chap 21)

That line almost always makes me laugh out loud. But recently it also kicked me in the teeth.

I've been trying to figure out what isn't quite working in my story opening, and this idea of "emotional range" was a wallop to the incisors.

I realized that by my second scene, my protagonist was already deeply entrenched in her dislike of another character. And yet, by story's end these two will reconcile. But how would my reader even want that to happen? I've given no space for the possibility that my protagonist desires reconciliation. By starting at the wrong place emotionally, I'd left no room to grow beyond simply intensifying that one emotion. In other words, I'd given her the emotional range of a teaspoon.

For conflict to work well in a story, it needs space to escalate over chapters. This might mean rethinking the emotional starting place for your protagonist. In my case, my protagonist needs to start out motivated to have a good relationship, only to have her desire thwarted. Now I have the emotional pulse needed to carry the story forward, and more potential for escalation. I've added range for her emotions to follow a larger arc:

desire for closeness > confusion and worry > hurt > frustration > anger > rage > explosion > despair > surrender > renewal.

See how starting at anger would cut my emotional arc in half?

Anyone else ever tackle this problem in a manuscript? What worked for you to widen the emotional range and stretch out the arc?

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Time is running out to enter my Too, oh too cool prize drawing!

Click HERE to enter today!

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Three chances to win!

My too, oh too cool prize drawing, in celebration of reaching a 202 follower milestone, is still open for entries. I'm offering three separate prizes to three lucky winners.

All you have to do is comment on THIS post. Simple!
(If you choose to earn bonus entries by tweeting, etc., that's up to you, but not required)

I've extended the deadline to Wednesday, September 22.

Don't miss out! Enter today!

And thank you, loyal followers, for making blogging a fun, encouraging experience. You guys rock!

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Tempting titles

Dear Editor-on-call:

What should I look for when choosing a title for a work?

Sincerely,
Untitled

(aka Lana at Lana Phillips's blog)

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Dear Untitled:

In a word? Flavor. Your working title (always think of it as such, because publishers frequently retitle works) should hint at the reading experience your book will provide.

So much depends upon a red wheelbarrow, er, your genre and approach. Look at titles in the section where you believe your book would be shelved, especially ones that take an approach similar to yours (in terms of tone and pace and level of seriousness). What naming conventions do you notice? One evocative noun? Verb phrases? Soft, shivery alliteration? Obscure literary references? Zany mash-ups? Treat that convention like a poetic form and challenge yourself to brainstorm a dozen possibilities that reflect your content but fit the form.

Once you've done that, run your favorites past LOTS of people--those who've seen your manuscript and those who haven't. Especially get the opinion of folks in your target audience. Tell them your logline, or your one paragraph summary, and ask which potential title sounds like it matches best.

Some opinions will be more useful than others. If votes seem split, go with your gut.


What do you think, readers? How did you go about choosing a working title? What are some of your favorite book titles that express flavor well?

Ask me an editing question and you could win a too, oh too cool prize! Click HERE for details.

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Too, oh too cool contest

The happy day has arrived! In celebration of reaching 202 followers, I'm hosting a "Too, oh too cool" prize drawing that you, dear readers, helped design.

I'll be giving away three separate prizes--unisex cool stuff (so please enter, gentlemen!). This is open to international entrants, though only US residents are eligible for the gift card.

Drawing prizes

1) Gift card: $15 Staples card for stocking up on printer paper, note cards and other necessities.

2) Totebag: Harry Potter inspired "expecto patronem" tote for keeping the dementors out of your latest haul from the library.

3) Goodies to inspire you
Mousepad (or use as XXL coaster for your drinks): "The alchemy of writing consists of imagination, drive and discipline. Have these and the rest is a forgone conclusion." (See image HERE.)

Keychain: "Writers Write" with vintage typewriter (See image HERE.)

Magnet: "Read, seek, imagine..." (image at left)





To enter, you must leave a comment to this post.

Bonus entries will be given as follows:
+5 Existing follower
+3 New follower as of 9/7
+2 Tweet contest
+5 Link contest on your blog sidebar
+10 Pose an "Ask-the-editor" question on grammar, punctuation, critiquing
+1 Indicate whether you are US or international
+1 Calculate your total number of entries

Contest is now CLOSED

Winners will be announced Thursday, September 23.

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Expecto patronem: energizing memories

"The Patronus is a kind of positive force, a projection of the very things that the dementors feed upon--hope, happiness, the desire to survive...."
"How do you conjure it?" said Harry curiously.
"With an incantation that will only work if you are concentrating on a single, very happy memory."
--J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (New York: Scholastic, 1999) p. 237.

I've been reading Azkaban to my daughter and came across this passage last night. It got me thinking about the power of memory in our lives and the lives of our characters.

Like Harry, I think I'd have to cast about for a while before I landed on a memory that was powerful enough to protect me from hope-sucking malevolence. Those kinds of memories are the ones tied to our identities, I think. Usually they're of some happy event that turned our life course in some way, like Harry learning he was a wizard.

How about your characters? What memories protect them when hopelessness threatens? How might you use a happy memory to bring hope to a character in a tight corner?

You could win an "expecto patronem" totebag, a gift card or other writerly goodies if you enter my prize drawing HERE.

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Get together and miscellany

Attention greater Philly-area writer bloggers--a local get together will be happening soon. My CP Simon Larter and the lovely Frankie Diane Mallis of First Novels Club have been trying to plan this event for months now. If you'd like more details, see Frankie's post HERE. I look forward to meeting some of you fine folks in real life!

Don't forget to enter my contest!

I spent yesterday on the couch rewatching the entire A&E Pride and Prejudice miniseries and guzzling tea between bouts of seal-bark coughing. (Is it possible for adults to get croup?)

What comfort films do you pull out when you're sick?

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