Writing Excuses notes, Season 3

You know, I prefer this sort of thing to a written test. If only I had been assigned to write a series of blog posts back when I was working for my bachelor's. Actually, I did have that assignment once, but it was to write a one-time blog post. And way back in the 7th grade, I had an assignment to make a blog. It's still somewhere out there ... an early version of this blog, in a way. I was going to use it to throw my writing out into the world. I can't remember how to access it, though. Meh.

Self-assigned Writing Excuses course ... third season! Woot! You feeling excited?

This was the start of me taking fewer notes. FYI.

1. When writing in two genres, pick one to market the story to and steal from the other.

Brandon Sanderson used Mistborn as an example: Mistborn is marketed as a fantasy story, but it borrows heavily from the heist genre. Another example would be superhero movies. For the most part, these are marketed as action flicks, but they are so much like science fiction it isn't even funny. That makes a lot of people think they are science fiction, so it's actually up for grabs. However, when you see a superhero commercial come on TV, you aren't thinking, "Oh my gosh, the science of that makes sense and that means x or y could happen and there are so many possibilities for this story! I wonder what is going to happen?!" No. You're thinking, "Dude, that looks really cool. I'm feeling an adrenaline rush and I'm not even seeing the actual movie. I need to go see that. Like, now."

A book needs to be marketed to just one genre because people who read genre-specifically are kind of territorial. Someone who loves hard science fiction is not likely to wander over into the graphic novels section to take a gander at Spider Man. That is because graphic novels have their own main audience. It's still true, though, that the writers of Spider Man stole science fiction tropes. These two genres are close, yes, so graphic novel readers have no problem finding out it is a science fiction action story. It's the science fiction people who would have a problem, I think, if they are into hard science fiction (you'd have to cut all the fantasy and superpowers out to make them happy).

2. Use subplots to: flesh out other characters, build tension and emotion, and introduce concepts

In The Wizard of Oz, the main plot is Dorothy trying to get home. A few of the subplots are embodied in her travelling companions: the scarecrow feels like a failure and wants a brain, the tin man wants a heart (though I can't remember precisely why. Doesn't he just want someone to love?), and the cowardly lion wants some courage so he can fulfill his potential. Each of these has a conflict, progression, and resolution (notice that they have parallel climaxes, too). These plots are there so that these side characters have personality and purpose. They aren't just there to keep Dorothy company. This helps to round out a story.


Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol uses the subplots of Scrooge's past love and the Cratchit family to build emotion in the story (awesome book, by the way. I tried to allude to it at work the other day, saying someone was really dead, and someone else responded by alluding to The Princess Bride, with them being all the way dead. Either they didn't know what I was alluding to or we've got one cultured office full of subtlety). The subplots work to actually make the audience feel invested. Investment builds alongside emotion and attachment. Dickens also uses these same (and other) subplots to build up tension, making us realize just how much is at stake in the main plot and increasing the importance with our increasing concern.

Inception uses the Molly subplot (okay, maybe you see this as the main plot ... main plot vs. subplot gets murky in that movie. But stay with me here) to introduce the idea of limbo long before it becomes crucial to the main plot, which is at the end of the entire movie.

Subplots aren't just there to look pretty.

3. Your subplots should not be more interesting than the main plot, and there should be three to five of them

Inigo's story? Subplot.
Adds dimension to his character.

If your subplots are too interesting, perhaps you are telling the wrong story and you really should be talking about one of those subplots for the bulk of your time, making it your main plot. If you've got a boring main plot (it will seem boring in comparison with a more-interesting subplot), you've got a problem.

Three to five subplots is a good number because they are enough to add depth without losing your reader. They can only juggle so many plots at once. Don't wanna confuse nobody.


4. Falling = looking back to where you fell from, landing = looking to your goal

What I mean by this is that you need to be careful what your character is focusing on. Focus can change perception. It's the whole glass half full or empty thing; if you want your character worried about their acne, have them look in the mirror often, buy a lot of cream, visit a dermatologist. If they aren't, you can mention the acne and move on ... or not mention it at all.

As a side note, it turns out that when comics place their characters more toward the right (if reading left to right), it is a subtle way of making it look like they are moving forward with whatever problem they are facing. To the left means they aren't moving forward; they may actually be moving backward.

5. Actions should be meaningful

Don't have your character do something just for kicks and giggles. A lot can be packed into a single sentence. Take this scene from The Help (which I'm reading now! Check later for a post when I'm done with it):

I tried to ignore her. Problem was, I have to talk to myself when I make a caramel cake or else I get too jittery.

I said, "Hottest day in June history. A hundred and four outside."

Caramel cake!
Never had one before.

And she said, "Do you have air-conditioning? Thank goodness we have it here cause I grew up without it and I know what it's like being hot."

And I said, "Can't afford no air-conditioning. Them things eat current like a boll weevil on cotton." And I started stirring hard because the brown was just forming on the top and that's when you've really got to watch it and I say, "We already late on the light bill," because I'm not thinking straight and do you know what she said? She said, "Oh, Minny, I wish I could loan you the money, but Johnny's been asking all these funny questions lately," and I turned to inform her that every time a Negro complained about the cost of living didn't mean she was begging for money, but before I could say a word, I'd burned up my d*** caramel.

 The reader knows she's angry, and all we got that said that was burned caramel and a cuss word. Action should do that. It speaks louder than words in real life, why not in books?

See? I've been learning things. Definitely not a waste of the half hour per day I spent listening.