Beyond the Predictable

Audra here. Isn’t May just a beautiful month? Spring is finally pushing winter aside letting the sun warm our old house. Now if I can just find the time to sit out on the deck and get a skim of tan on my flashin’ white legs...


Sorry. I digress. It’s just hard to sit inside and write while outside our turkey gobbles at his reflection through the winter grunge of our bedroom window and our faithful coonhound bays at a plastic bag snagged on a remnant stalk of weed poking out of the bright green clump of emerging grasses. Ha! You thought I was going to say something corny like a light breeze ruffling the tree leaves or the scent of newly mown grass, right?

Fooled you. Just like spring brings new life onto the land, so too must we breathe new life into overused, overrated descriptions.

This is not as easy as it sounds which is why we will always read about tires squealing down a road and the moisture laden fog of the morning dawn. I’m not inferring that writers are lazy; I’m just saying re’s a lot of mental gymnastics go into the hewing of a new phrase (no mere turning allowed today).

Unique phrases and description can become an author’s trademark.

It’s one more method to help your work stand out among the legion of competition out there. Think creative, think dynamic.

Think everyday experiences.

Know your setting and characters so well you can bring in description seamlessly to your character’s train of thought. The reader doesn’t even realize they are absorbing the sights and sounds of the setting through your character’s eyes.

Unique dialogue sets a character apart also.

You’ve gotta love Ziva David of NCIS fame. Here’s a character the men can adore and women admire. Besides being just cute, Ziva offers a very logical example of breathing new life into our old clichés as a foreigner speaking English well, but not perfectly.

Ziva: I did not know you were a pool dolphin, Tony.

Tony: Pool shark. And yes, I was.



What did Ziva’s innocent turn of the English language do? It tipped Tony off -balance. It made him stumble to correct her and his execution of whatever great line he’d planned to say falls flat. It woke the audience up.

Same in books.

We all get into a rhythm when we write, a rhythm that becomes comfortable for the author and reader alike. When an unexpected exchange of words puddles on the pavement of literary progress, the reader becomes alert and maybe gives up a snicker or two. They’ve found something fresh and the hunt begins to find more gems hidden in the prose. Caution: do not use this technique unless you have the proper character vehicle to carry it through the book. Nothing worse than building anticipation in a reader and there are no more colored eggs for the reader to hunt and find.

How about characters with unique talents that make them live on in a reader’s mind?

Combine conflicting traits giving the H/H something intriguing to discover. A prim school teacher who lives for karaoke; a rough and tumble cowboy with an affinity for math; a woman with Celiac disease who owns a gourmet bakery. A dichotomy of talents.

I have to confess, I learned this technique from reading tons of Laura Kinsale novels. The woman is a master of creating characters with multiple unique attributes. Oh my goodness, who would’ve ever thought of giving a hero, once a dashing highwayman, severe vertigo that scraps his heroic presence but not his inner ego. Talk about taking a lump of human coal and picking at him through jabs at his pride until his inner strength as no choice but to break through. S.T. Maitland in The Prince of Midnight embodies the most unique combination of traits – horseman, highwayman, artist; arrogant heel and complete sap for a woman’s tears. What a multi-layered, multi-talented hero.

I may not remember the entire plot of that book, but I’ll never forget that hero.

So, what have you done to press your stamp of uniqueness into your writing? Let me tempt you to play. Leave a comment and there’s a box of lovely assorted chocolates and a $10 Barnes and Noble gift card in one lucky commenter’s future. Chocolate is always a good pick-me-up when the words slug along. Gotta send chocolates before it gets too hot to mail!

What's Your Choice?

OMG! How in the world am I supposed to follow the fun we had yesterday playing with Vince Mooney and the Tag Game? What a hoot! Okay, let me regroup here.

Now.

What was I going to say??  Oh yeah...

Happy New Year, everyone! I know it’s already the 6th, but I haven’t had the opportunity to wish you all well into 2011! My mother taught me never be rude, LOL!

I had a fuzzy concept on which to base my post today, something having to do with scheduling and goals and stuff like that. It just wasn’t gelling together for me. No matter how I turned it, the thoughts in my head were not translating onto the page.

No fear. The problem has been solved.

Did you happen to catch the great post by Tina on December 30 about What's Your One Word? If you didn’t, you really need to click on that link and read it. It will completely revamp whatever muddled thoughts you (or really, in this case ME) might have concerning all the muddled and time-consuming details sketched out for the new year. In taking the concept of the One Word to heart, all my shooting star ambitions have molded together with amazing clarity.

My word for 2011?



CHOICE.




I really have a hard time with the concept. I don’t want one piece of chocolate-I want the whole box.


Jeans on sale? Why buy one pair when half a dozen would be so much better and they all look cute?


ACFW conference a week away? I want to get business cards made, get my hair cut, a manicure, create my one page, make book marks, need new shoes, shorts, slacks, etc.


You get the picture. I’m sure many of you have the same feelings only dare I say, you can either say no to yourself, or plan your time wisely.


Sadly, I fit into neither of these categories. And to top it off…I’m very forgetful.

So, now that you know my deep down secrets ~ yes, confession is good for the soul ~ in choosing my One Word, I have wrapped up all my niggling fallacies and determined appropriate treatment.


CHOICE.


Time doesn’t expand for us to accomplish all the goals we want to in life, we have to choose the things that will fit into our day. Wow. When my friend Leslie Ann Sartor smacked this reality at me a few years ago, I realized I’d been trying to stuff 10 pounds of sugar and spice into a sandwich bag my entire life.

This year is going to be different.

I have been given responsibilities in my life: a husband, children, a job and a writing career. If I step back and look at this, I’d say my sandwich bag is pretty well filled. So now comes the hard part.

Learning to say no.

And in saying no, I must now learn to plan. Since selling a book, I now have an additional set of deadlines I must meet. I must think ahead. I must embrace, for example, the summer is my busiest time of year for my day job. It’s also the best time for camping and fishing. It’s also the kids’ summer break.

Add onto that the perpetual reality of writing the next book, marketing in person and on blogs (guest and my own), research, revisions, field trips – gotta scope out those cowboys, ya know – conferences, workshops, and the list goes on.


CHOICE.


I’ve taken a few steps into these uncharted waters.

In my appointment calendar, I’ve made note of all the immovable dates and deadlines for my day job in red ink. I’ve marked out all the vacation time my kids plan to spend at home. I’ve penciled in some of my husband’s favorite activities. When I thumb through my calendar, I can see the days and weeks I need to set as priorities.

I set aside at least 2 hours every day for writing. I’d like to increase that to 3 or 4, but let’s start with what I know I can work with. Weekends are my wildcard days. Usually that’s where my writing time increases.



So far. So good.


Now I just need to learn to work around them rather than through them, on top of them, underneath them.

This is definitely a work in progress. Choices don’t come easily to me. I can’t write 1500 words and watch the NCIS marathon. I can’t participate in NaNoWriMo and take an online class on character building. I can’t pledge to Weight Watchers and eat that box of chocolates (believe me, I’ve tried.)

So? How about it? Have you chosen your One Word? Or written your goals? Or determined to break/make a habit?

Time to share. What difference are you planning for your life? How will it help you?Leave a comment, I’ll be giving away a copy of my debut book, Rocky Mountain Hero. AND I’ll be giving away a copy of Tina’s debut book The Rancher’s Reunion if you’re trying the One Word method and how you're applying it to your life.

May 2011 be the best!!