Back to Writing Excuses! Middles.

Time to learn about middles. If you'll remember, I wrote a post a few weeks ago saying my story Settled had a poor storyline. In particular, it was conflict-challenged and the story did not progress well because of it. I said I would research and learn more so as to improve.

That means I returned to the Writing Excuses podcast today, listening to this session in particular. It's about middles. I have always had issues with middles, and it's time to resolve that.

The main takeaway was that a middle should be full of try-fail cycles. The conflict is introduced in the beginning, then the protagonist spends their time trying to resolve it. Just before the end, matters get even worse and the protagonist tries one last time. This allows the end to feel more triumphant.

In essence, the middle is the struggle.

For example, The Odyssey. Odysseus stops at many islands, trying to get home. He tries and fails and tries again, continuing onward--and just when he is home free, he realizes he has to fight at home, too. Note that he loses men left and right and he never emerges from a scene unscathed. Every action should have an effect on the storyline. Let there be consequences. The middle shapes the end.

Let's say Settled had a conflict of one of Mel's projects getting out of hand and one of the neighbors calls the cops on them. Insert some tension by Jeff not telling Mel it had happened, and the middle starts when Jeff goes to the station to talk it over. There, instead of smoothing things over, he finds out this was the fifth or even tenth time they've been reported, so they are being fined. He doesn't have the money on him, so he says he will figure something out, please give me a week. That is try and fail cycle one. When he gets home, Mel is in tears over the American flag, which got snared in her sewing machine and now looks like a mess. He comforts her and doesn't have it in him to tell her about the police. Before bed, he looks at their bank account and finds he is short unless he uses their savings account. It continues on until he falls in the elevator and somehow the conflict is resolved...Mel meets the police and they realize she is harmless. Or she sells the fixed American flag and that covers it. Something that follows from details in the middle, anyway. Point is, it needed a conflict so it could grow a middle.

Which means next week will be about conflict.

Other things I learned or was reminded of:

Have fun writing the middle. If it isn't fun for you, it won't entertain the reader.

The things that go wrong must be things out of the hero's control. Let them try intelligently and well. It should work if nothing unexpected occurs. Of course, make the unexpected occur.

Death Rattle Writers Festival and the State of Writing

The Death Rattle Writers Festival, based in Nampa, ID, was this weekend. I asked my husband to go to the short story event with me, and he said a writers festival sounds like it's a bunch of people sitting around, reading to each other.

Well, he's right. The event looked like this.

There were other events we didn't go to, though. The festival had a premier screening of the film "Smoke," with one of its creators there to talk about it, and there was also Art of Verse, a hip-hop artist, I believe, who draws inspiration from spoken word poetry. They had a poetry lecture and reading, a flash fiction event and a dramatic reading session of one-act plays, as well as other events.

The main thing I pulled from the short story reading (please note that I wasn't there for all of it) was a reminder of how contemporary literary (not genre) writers seem to strive for a jaded tone.

Remember Mary Robison? She's got the tone down pat.

I'm at Rhythm & Blues and their parents at an eatery called The Half Moon. Have been for every bit of an itchy hour. We're still expecting Petal. Saunders sits across from me, tearing a crescent roll into many parts. Adam's queasy and may be forced to bolt when they bring the food. He has his eyes squeezed shut, his face wrinkled in a look of rejection. I'm in attendance but feeling as if I were sketched into the scene, and maybe with an old pencil. The parents sit across the table. I haven't looked up at them. Nor will I, unless they call on me.

Do you hear it? Not the story, but the tone.

My husband said the writers sounded monotone. I think that is a good way to put it. The life is faded.

Perhaps it's the current -ism. Romanticism, feminism, Orientalism, jadism. If so, count me out. I want to sound like me when I write, or like my characters (who are all reflections of me to some extent): sassy, smart, silly, sarcastic, blunt, poetic, logical, me. That is the most unique and best voice I will ever find, and that voice will lead me to the best stories.

I did a little research into this to see if anyone else has noticed, and found that they have.

This essay, found on an website associated with the College of DuPage, notes that contemporary writers believe we live in a fallen world with no God to save us (note that this is a generalization). They are looking at the world as being without hope.

Read this one, too. It is longer, FYI, and takes in the entire art scene, not just writing. Some of my favorite bits, the parts that rang true to what I've been noticing, include the idea that contemporary art makes fun of sincerity, its tone is a defense against sounding simple and naive, and it gives a disconnected view of the world.

Thoughts? Had you noticed the trend?

The second essay I linked to said sentimentalism is probably next, with its strong convictions. Not sure if I agree with that or not, I don't know enough, but I would like the next movement to be honest.  Let's paint the world as we truly see it, individually. Honesty and truth are always the characteristics of a masterpiece.

A "Settled" Verdict

No, "Settled" was not accepted by the Death Rattle Writers Festival -- but it's okay. Here is what I heard from them, first via my professional Facebook account and then as sent to my personal email (this is the order I read them in, not the order they were received).

Facebook:

(we really liked your short story by the way, we got booked up and we just had to cut off submissions without exceptions but we would love to do a reading with you or something in the future!)

Email:

Due to the high volume of prose submissions, we are remorseful to inform you that we did not select 'Settled' to be read at this years festival.

That being said we are grateful for the submission, and I thoroughly enjoyed the read. You have a great voice and a strong sense of narrative and we would definitely like to work with you in the future. I hope you won't mind us updating you on future reading opportunities and projects the Death Rattle is working on. Thanks again for your time, and we hope you will still come and enjoy the festival.

So they like it, they are just having issues and handled them unethically. Note to those trying to set a deadline for submissions: If you ask writers for three weeks' patience in reading their story, don't put the deadline two weeks before the event. The math does not add up.

And note for writers: Even though the deadline is Saturday, don't wait until then to send it. Better safe than sorry.

Another note for writers: If you get a rejection note, and you will, know that the more personalized it is, the more they were impressed. In this case, I felt like they truly enjoyed it but didn't have the time for a longer note. Most of the email is a form letter, obviously, and the bit about keeping me updated is just them adding me to their mailing list.

If I had been the one judging my own piece, I wouldn't have been so complimentary. The writing is good, but the story is atrocious.

The anatomy of "Settled":

Character intro
Comedic prose
Character intro
Comedic prose
Story begins
Tension (a single line of it)
Climax
Comedic prose
Resolution
Comedic prose

Pulling out all the jokes, you have this:

Character intro
Character intro
Story begins
Tension
Climax
Resolution

Things that are missing: central conflict, conflict development, tension buildup.

The story arc was not at all decent, basically, and to kick myself in the butt for poor storytelling skills, I will write a few posts covering those three missing elements once I finish talking about how the festival goes (I plan on attending anyway).