A Higher Concept

Used with permission from Debbie Ridpath Ohi at Inkygirl.com.

Every agent these days seems to be looking for high concept stories, even for literary fiction. But what does that mean exactly? Ask three different people, you'll get three different answers.

According to Alexis Nikki at Absolute Write, a high concept story

- is universal;

- has a fresh twist;

- involves an empathetic hero who is dealing with a BIG problem; and

- can be summed up in a 25-word logline.

A blog post from the Waxman Agency defines high concept this way:

It’s an idea that is immediately accessible and appealing to a large group of people, that taps into the hive-mind if you will, but with the added spark of feeling new (even if it’s as old as the hills). 

Agent Paige Wheeler from CMA has a slightly different spin:

I define high concept as a premise that can be boiled down into one sentence and sets it apart from other stories by its unique hook or angle. 

People say all the time to write the story that only you can tell, the story that you just can't let go of. But will it ever get read if it isn't high concept? 

So tell me, are you writing high concept? And if you're not, is it something you can learn to write? Is it something you want to learn? 

Progress on WIP: 12,210 words 

Everything We Need

On Wednesday I attended a writer's conference for kids. A group of authors, poets, cartoonists and screenwriters spoke, led workshops and encouraged students at an elementary school in Redondo Beach. The event was amazing and I'm hopeful that one day we can have a similar conference for kids here in Solvang.

But one thing that one of the authors said has stuck in my mind.

We already have everything we need to be writers. 

It's inside each and every one of us. We don't need classes or degrees or even connections. We don't need computers, fancy software or a dsl line. All we need is an idea, and the determination to capture that idea with words. Sure, the other stuff might help. A lot. But when you come right down to it, writers are people who write.

Awesome.


And now, the winner of Sarah Dessen's The Truth About Forever is:

Congratulations, Jackee!! Email me your snail mail address and I'll send this off to you.


And the winner of the ARC of Crossing Over by Anna Kendall is:

Congratulations, Becky!! Email me your snail mail address and I'll send you your book.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Words written and kept on WiP: 11,018

The Name Game

I never knew the words to this song until my son was about three. Somehow he learned it from a cd we had and sang it all the time. It was all fine and well until he decided to sing about my father-in-law who everyone calls Buck.

Buck Buck, Bo Buck, Banana fana fo ... 

Well, you can see where that went. Yeah, my son dropped the f-bomb (to a room full of laughing adults) at three. All because of a name.

When I'm writing stories, I spend a ridiculous amount of time researching the meaning of names. The novel I'm querying right now has a mom who dreams of exploring outer space. The main character is named Marten because when he was born, the Mom was researching Mars as she worked on her Ph.D. Marten is a variation of Martin (Latin) and means, "dedicated to Mars."

NONE of the information I just told you about his name shows up in the novel. Even though it's cool and it ties in with the story, giving the reader that information doesn't move the action forward. So it ends up being a useless piece of trivia filed in my brain. I just happen to be anal about incorporating meaning into the names I choose for each and every character.

I actually have a hard time writing if I don't know why a character has a certain name. Does it make a difference? Probably not. Do readers care? Definitely not. And yet, it's a piece of backstory that, for me, is vitally important.

How do you choose names for your characters? Does the meaning of the names matter?


BTW, Buck (Old English) is used for a male deer or goat. When used as a name or nickname, it means, "a robust and spirited young man." Now I understand why my father-in-law earned that moniker :)

----------------------------------

You have one more day to enter for a chance to win a book From Me to You. I'll be selecting winners for The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen or an ARC of Crossing Over by Anna Kendall at midnight PST on Thursday, November 11.

----------------------------------
New Words since NaNo began: 3972
Total Words written & kept on WiP: 10,041

The Covenant of the Arc

As I work on my novel, I've been thinking a lot about plot and motivation and all these other things that are supposed to make my story better. A few months ago I wrote about Save the Cat!, a screenwriting book by Blake Snyder. One of my favorite things that he talked about is The Covenant of the Arc.

Basically, The Covenant of the Arc is a screenwriting "law" that says every single character (except the bad guy) has to change over the course of the story. As an example, he referenced Pretty Woman. Richard Gere changed, Julia Roberts changed, Laura San Giacomo changed. Even Hector Elizondo changed by the end of the movie. Jason Alexander, the "bad guy," didn't. What that says, is that the story is so important, so life-changing to every character, that they can't help but grow and change as a result.

It's true in life. The people who succeed are the ones who are able to transform, the ones who can edit their stories until they shine. Seeing transformation gives people hope. We all want to believe that change is possible, that things can get better.

So to everyone working on a story, whether it's a first draft or a final edit, screenplay or NaNo novel, make sure you give your character's a chance to change.

New Words since NaNo began: 2828
Total Words written & kept on WiP: 8854

--------------------------------------------------------

If you'd like a chance to win a book From Me to You, go to the post below to enter. You have until midnight PST on Thursday, November 11 to win The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen or an ARC of Crossing Over by Anna Kendall.

From Me to You

Ugh. These last two days have been crazy busy with refinancing the house, my daughter's birthday and prepping for my upcoming writing class. As a result, my word count hasn't gone up much.

New Words since NaNo began: 1869
Total Words written on WiP: 7891

But enough about me. Here's something for you. Since I'm trying to reduce the number of books on my nightstand, I've got two more titles up for grabs.

The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen

(description from Goodreads)
Sixteen-year-old Macy Queen is looking forward to a long, boring summer. Her boyfriend is going away. She's stuck with a dull-as-dishwater job at the library. And she'll spend all of her free time studying for the SATs or grieving silently with her mother over her father's recent unexpected death. But everything changes when Macy is corralled into helping out at one of her mother's open house events, and she meets the chaotic Wish Catering crew. Before long, Macy joins the Wish team. She loves everything about, the work and the people. But the best thing about Wish is Wes—artistic, insightful, and understanding Wes—who gets Macy to look at life in a whole new way, and really start living it. 

ARC of Crossing Over by Anna Kendall

(description from Goodreads)
Whether it's a curse, or a blessing, or an ability, the fact remains: whenever Roger is injured or in enough pain he crosses over to the land of the dead. Once there, there are rules: only the newly dead will talk, for example, and nothing will raise the longer dead from their tranquillity.

There are rules in the land of the living as well; rules which would have Roger hanged for witchcraft if he was ever caught. But refusing to cross over isn't an option. His uncle depends on Roger to hide under the table in their fairground act, listen to the recently bereaved asking questions of their dear departed, and then cross over to find the answers. It's a hard way of life, made all the harder as his uncle's fists usually provide the trigger for Roger to cross over.

It's not the only way of life, though, and when Roger sees a chance to escape he fights for it - little knowing that love, loss, shocking revelations and, ultimately, war lie ahead of him.

Just because Roger can cross over into the land of the dead doesn't mean he wants to.

In the comments, let me know which book you'd prefer to win. (Sorry, but you have to pick one or your name will not be entered!) If you're a follower, you get an extra entry. Contest is open for one week. A name will be randomly selected at midnight PST on Thursday, November 11. I'll announce the winner next Friday. 

And the Winners Are...

New words written: 1209
Total words written: 7231

So my word count for the first two days of NaNo is not very high, but I will say that I'm very happy with what I've written. Since I had a bit of a head start on this novel, I don't feel pressured to write junk just to build up my word count and that's a good thing.

Today when I was writing, I had a hard time visualizing the room where the scene took place. So I spent about an hour looking at pictures on the internet and then drawing the basic layout of my room. It might sound like a big waste of time, but it helped me tremendously to map it out like that, even though it did slow me down.

Obviously I will have to pick up the pace if I want to "win," but truth be told, that's not my goal. I've never won NaNo, but I do get a lot more written in November when I participate.

Now to the news you're really looking for -- who won the Something Old, Something New ARCs?

I used ClassTools.net because 1) it's free and 2) how cool is it to have the winning names show up on a slot machine? :-)


The winner of the Beautiful Creatures ARC is:

Congratulations, Riv! Drop me a note at solvangsherrie at gmail dot com to let me know your mailing address and I'll get the book out for you.

The winner of the Nightshade ARC is:

Congratulations, Krispy! Send your snail mail address to solvangsherrie at gmail dot com and I will send this out to you.

NaNoWriMo: Day One

Last week I was supposed to be working on my outline so that I could just jump in with the writing today. Instead, I spent the week revising another manuscript. That's probably a good thing. I won't be thinking about the other project while I'm trying to work on this new one. But here I am Day One of Nano, preparing to...wing it. Which I guess kind of makes the "preparing" part a joke.

Of course, NaNo was kind of founded on the concept of winging it, so that might work in my favor. Plus, last time I wrote an outline for a book, I never finished writing the book. I decided on page 50 that the story sucked. Ironic, isn't it?

My goal for each day is 1667 words, but the kids are home from school today. I'm not sure how much writing will get done since Crazy 8s and popcorn seem to take priority on days like this. But I'm excited to work on this new project. I'll keep you updated on my progress. Hopefully, that will keep me motivated to actually plow through to the end this time.

If you'd like a chance to win Something Old or Something New, don't delay. Contest ends Tuesday at midnight PST. Go to this post to enter.