Musings Of A New Southern Man

There is no more important part of the writing process than revisions. It's nice to have a basic story line that shines through on the first draft. That won't carry the freight. What a good novel becomes is based on the amount of hammering you do to subject matter and characters, and how honest you are with your work in pursuit of your goals. Be ruthless. Have no pet ideas. Don't fear those times you know you must tear up chapters. There is a caveat. Make sure your characters' reactions make sense as you lead them through the development of the character arc. Keep them real amid the chaos. The best piece of advice I got from my first-draft beta readers was that one character's reaction to a major plot point didn't make sense. My main female character just had an event of shattering importance, but I had her sharing a laugh with her partner a short time later. Sorry, but that didn't fit the events, and I didn't write it as if it happened simply as an

A former co-worker was the first I saw charge that all Caucasian employees have the advantage of white privilege. I laughed and labeled it as the latest wave of thought designed to find perpetrators for victims. I laughed because of my upbringing. I was born in The Dalles, Oregon, which isn't an epicenter of wealth and status. It's a town of about 10,000 residents on the banks of the Columbia River. It is known for cherries, wheat, winds funneled through the Columbia River Gorge, and a key historic spot for Lewis and Clark and the pioneers who ventured west on the Oregon Trail. It was a good place to grow up, at least for me. It was small enough that you had the feeling all residents were neighbors. A downside was that you were often known by who your parents were. I was often introduced as Eldon's boy, or Virginia's boy. I was the third child of three, so I also was known as Steve's little brother, or John's little brother. It also was a town with a racist

I was trained to be a journalist, using those pillars of the profession such as the five W's, the inverted pyramid style and the effective use of quotes. I just used one journalism trait called for in The Associated Press style guide. That's the omission of the Oxford comma after "style". Many copy editors and not a few literary agents throw their hands up when they see the Oxford comma omitted, but that just accents the gap between two worlds. My favorite task when I was a reporter was doing a feature story. I loved having the leeway to dive into events that shaped several people, or getting to know people who were just a tad off the standard line. The story I liked best as a young journalist was a feature on a photographer who worked along the Russian River near Guerneville, California. His business name was Tintype Gordon, and he took antique-looking photos of people, putting them in period dress so they looked like they stepped out of the 1880s. The best part of

I spent the past two writing sessions tearing apart my latest novel. I've heard that your novel is like your child, but I've never treated any of my children the way I treated these words. I know I must change things, and I am hammering away to bolster several areas of the story. I must expand and deepen certain characters. I must heighten tension by injecting events with more life. There must be more peril. I must tighten my writing by eliminating unneeded words, phrases and sentences. The copy editor side of me loves doing that. One more beta reader has to send me a final set of reviews, but the section I am working on isn't affected. He already gave me information on the first two-thirds of the novel, so I am blending some of those recommendations into the work. I will do probably three more versions before hitting a work that I can use to approach literary agents. I apologize to, but thank profusely, those who gave their input on my first and second drafts. Your v

I am six months into living in South Carolina, and there are interesting lessons to learn. Here are a few more: There are a lot of redheads around here. I'm not talking about redheads made that way from a bottle. I'm talking about redheads with milky white skin. I noticed several while going to the gym near us, and I figured it was a minor matter. I learned, however, that this was more than chance. The Upstate of South Carolina has the largest number of those with Irish or Scottish heritage. Said so on the news. What's notable is that's the same fact author J.D. Vance talked about in describing the hillbilly culture of eastern Kentucky. Those folks are fiercely loyal to each other and have a bit of a combative streak. Vance noted that the Hatfields vs. McCoys was sparked by this demographic. There is a lot of black skin around here. I'm going to sound rather insular here. I never lived in an area with as many African-Americans as Anderson, S.C. That's unders

I must apologize for the lengthy time between posts. You see, I have pulled up stakes in Colorado and settled into the beautiful Upstate region of South Carolina. It's more than merely a new location. This is a different culture, weather routine, foods, way of life. I am not going to be so presumptuous to believe I understand it all, but I have had time to form opinions about my new home. Here are a few: 1) The South doesn't believe in pretenses. Maybe it's different in Atlanta or Charlotte, but my new hometown of Anderson, South Carolina, is as comfortable as an old shirt. No one is expected to act one way, dress accordingly, show off the signs of status, or spend time telling people how good you are. One of our friends in our new home is Mykel, an African-American man who just moved with his wife into a new home from the apartment complex where we currently live. His reaction to his new home and car on the same day? "That's a blessing," he says. Walk down

I am into the second phase of my second draft, which is a time when I get honest and sincere. Early versions have the right story line, characters, and setting. There also are a lot of wasted words, and story and character elements that need sharpening. My writing time this morning brought out the scalpel-wielding editor in me. My manuscript was too long (more than 98,000 words), and it needed pruning. But where? Now that I am in my third overall trip through the story, it is easier to see. How many times do I put "that" and it is unneeded? How many dangling parts of dialogue do I include? How many times do I put "I believe" or "I feel" when a punchier sentence is necessary, and those snippets are removed? Oh, I am seeing all these errors, and dealing them a quick death. I made one major change in story structure. I had an important secondary character and resulting events buried too deep. I moved them up several chapters. This results in a better read

I read an unbelievable statement by an author last week. She said she hated the process of having friends and cohorts read a draft of her manuscript because it meant part of her creation would be disliked and often criticized. She didn't like that she might have to alter her original content. I have one message for that author. Your material isn't without blemish, dearie. Neither is mine, and that's why I welcome the input of my precious beta readers. My work needs to be knocked around, criticized, and then reshaped because of their astute observations. Any author who believes otherwise is delusional. As Stephen King eloquently says, your first draft always sucks. This leads me to another major revelation. Going into a second draft forces a second, third and even fourth revision, which causes me to review the anchor points of my writing. My latest work is a solid story with good characters, and a few surprises are thrown in. I received excellent feedback from my beta