In July 2001 I was fortunate enough to attend the RWA Conference in New Orleans and hear Donald Maass give a double presentation based on his latest book, WRITING THE BREAKOUT NOVEL.  Donald Maass is a multi-published author in his own right as well as being the principal of one of the most successful literary agencies in New York, obtaining 6-7 figure advances for writers such as Anne Perry (Historical Crime) and Todd McCaffrey (SciFi).

Bemused by the phenomena that caused a writer such as Anne Perry to go from the mid list to the best seller list, Maass started to analyse the elements which makes a novel "break out" from the hundreds of  similar books on the shelves.  He concluded it was not magic, it was not the agent, the editor, the promotion budget or the marketing it was purely and simply great storytelling.

Maass began by critically assessing over one hundred "breakout" novels ranging from Jurassic Park to Gone with the Wind and concluded there were a number of elements all these novels have in common:  plausibility (the story could happen to any of us), inherent conflict (problems to be overcome), originality (new angles on old stories or story elements in unexpected combinations) and gut emotional appeal (emotional situations that grab us in life).  He challenges the reader to look at their current premise and ask whether it has all those elements present.  If not, he hastens to reassure us that premise can be built on and the rest of his book is devoted to showing us how this can be done. 

To brainstorm your novel, ask yourself the "What if…?" question.  Escalate the stakes, add layers to the plot and character and open new thematic dimensions.  Chapter by chapter he looks at these elements, challenging us to raise the personal and public stakes of our characters, teaching us how to create larger than life characters and looking at plotting and plot techniques and introducing theme.  Every thing he says is illustrated with examples from his list of "breakout novels" so rather than being faced with yet another theoretical discord, the reader can instantaneously identify with his point.  At the end of each chapter there are Checklists summarising the major points of the chapter.

If I have one disappointment it is that during the course of his talk he introduced his audience to a number of writing exercises based on our work in progress.  The exercises challenged us to take our plot and characters to a breakout level and the results were surprising, even shocking.  Sadly the exercises are not included in the book but if you are a member of RWA and can buy the tapes of the session, I would recommend you do so.  It will be money well spent.

This is not a book for a beginner but if you are already published or knocking on the door, if you have no other "how to" book on your bookshelf make it this one.  His appeal is universal and relevant to all genres.  I can guarantee you will find yourself devouring his words, re-evaluating every element of your work, cutting out huge swathes of writing, adding characters, conflict and changing your plot dimensions and going back to his book for more.  It is a book that will never leave your desk.

  Maybe it was the atmosphere of the "deep south" which was beginning to affect me, but when the very English Jo Beverley got up to speak at the RWA New Orleans conference in July it was all I could do not to leap to my feet my hands upraised and cry out "I hear you, sister!".

Conferences are full of workshops on plotting - using story boards, plot arcs, brainstorming – all sorts of wonderful suggestions to aid in pre-plotting a novel. The topic Ms Beverley (multi-published, RWA Honors List, historical writer) was talking on was the art of not plotting your book, or as she calls it, "Flying into the Mist". 

  It may surprise Jo Beverley fans to know that she does not pre-plot any of her books.   For her, writing a novel is an ongoing mystery that unfolds before her when she sits down at her computer and the reason she chose to speak on this topic was to give permission to "flimmers" (and yes I am one of them!) to work this way.

   I have been to the conferences, read the books, devoured the  articles and in the earnest belief that I must be doing something wrong, I made several concerted attempts at pre-plotting a story.  Instead of sailing into stress free writing I found I had got so bored with the story before I even started that I never got around to writing it.  All the pleasure of writing had been taken away from me.  So you can understand my enthusiasm when this evangelist of the non-plotters told me it was quite acceptable not to pre-plot and that I was not alone!

  So what does "Flying into the Mist" mean? In Ms. Beverley's words, it means "that the writer does not pre-plot.  No scene outlines, no plan for key scenes and dark moment.  Not even a plan for theme or metaphor.  These things reveal themselves as the writer writes."

  That does not mean that a "flimmer" flies into the mist on autopilot.   A good "flimmer" will have something in mind when they start – it may be a character, a setting, a scene or an incident.  If you are writing romance you generally know the ending – the hero and heroine will end up together in a happily ever after embrace.  How they get there is, for a "flimmer", the excitement!  

  Of course there are inherent risks in this method of writing and the obvious one is that you can waste an awful lot of time, flying in the wrong direction and then having to back track to put the story back on the right course.   However I consider no writing wasted and in that diversion you may discover things about your characters that you can use at another point in time. 

One thing I love about "flimming" is that the characters take on life and start to tell me things about themselves.  It is almost as if a character will stop in the middle of the action and look at me, arms crossed, with a quizzical expression and the following conversation ensues:

  Character:  "I wouldn't do that."

  Author:  "Why not"

  Character:  "Because you have missed my motivation for acting the way I am.  You know I am really looking for my brother."

  Author (with surprise):  "You have a brother?"

  Character (with studied patience).  "Yes, I have a brother.  He is being held prisoner on an island…"

  And so the conversation continues and a whole new character and plot line enters the story.

  Jo Beverley overcomes problems with her characters by holding "character interviews", much along the line I have just outlined or she will use "mind mapping".  Here a large sheet of paper or a whiteboard is essential.  She will put the hero and heroine in circles in the middle of the sheet with some minor characters in smaller circles around them and then using lines map out the relationships between the characters and their problems and motivations.

  How does she know that a particular plot line is (or is not) going to work?  Jo will give herself three or four chapters into a story before she makes a decision on whether to continue or abort.   She may find that the characters need rearranging  or that the story is only just starting by Chapter Three.

  Once the first draft is done, then Jo will go back with "all the tricks of the plotters trade" which she will use to strengthen the story:   Key points, hero's journey, scene and sequel, metaphor and theme will all be used to turn that first draft into yet another best seller.

  So why doesn't an experienced writer like Jo Beverley pre-plot her books?  Because she feels pre-plotting drags her out of the present.  She can have her characters conduct their interactions in a natural way without feeling she has to move them onto the next scene.  "If I know what's supposed to happen next or later that distracts me from what's happening in the moment.  I might even push the characters to certain words or actions instead of letting them do and say what they truly would."

  Flying into the mist is a method of plotting (or non-plotting) that does not suit everyone.   Do what feels natural to you, there is no right or wrong way to write your novel and if  what you are doing works for you then go with it.  Every writer is different.

  For those closet-"flimmers", quietly reading your Hearts Talk in the comfort of your living room, I hope, like me, you are leaping from your chair, with your hands in the air shouting "I hear you sister!".  Thank you Jo Beverley for giving us permission to "fly into the mist"!

MY SISTER'S KEEPER - Jodi Picoult

The moral concept of breeding a child, genetically engineered solely for the purpose of keeping another child alive is topical. It raises huge moral and ethical issues about a parent’s rights to play God with the lives of two of their children while neglecting the emotional and psychological impact of such a decision on the individuals involved.

This is the premise of MY SISTER'S KEEPER by Jodi Picoult.  The protagonist, 13 year old  Anna has been aware from the moment she was able to comprehend that she came into the world solely for the purpose of keeping her sister Kate alive. From the moment her cord blood was used,through a series of horrific medical procedures, Anna has provided the “spare parts” that have allowed Kate’s life as a chronic leukaemia sufferer to limp on. Now the family is faced with a choice. Kate requires a kidney donation from Anna. The chances of the success of such an operation are doubtful and there could be long term medical ramifications for Anna. Yet it is assumed by her parents that Anna will acquiesce.  At the age of thirteen, Anna sues her parents for medical emancipation, for the right to make her own medical decisions.

The book is written chapter by chapter in a different point of view from all the characters except Kate, whose voice is not heard in the first person in the last chapter and in the third person from Anna in the witness stand. Picoult exploits the “head hopping” between the characters to the fullest, allowing every nuance of their troubled consciences and difficult decisions to be laid on, sometimes in a very heavy handed manner.

While I found the book compelling and a surprisingly easy read in some respects, I was glad to reach “The End” for the following reasons:

1. I am extremely squeamish and I found the long, detailed descriptions of Kate’s symptoms and the simply horrendous medical procedures too hard to read so vast tracts of the book, mostly in Sara’s voice were skipped over by me.

2. I felt, as a reader, my emotions were being manipulated by the writer and no more so than at the very end of the book. The ending is a “cheat”… a cop out by the writer. Having achieved her medical emancipation, the readers should have been left with the ramifications of that action. Would Anna voluntarily donate her kidney or would she hold out? Instead we are left with a neat, pat ending, a tear jerker that the readers are manipulated into. It left me feeling angry.

3. I felt there were some practical difficulties… would a person who suffers epilepsy to an extent that he requires a service dog, be allowed to drive a car? Would Sara have ever represented herself in a court case in which she was so emotionally involved?  Would the judge have allowed it? How could she be both attorney, party and witness?

4. The relationship between Campbell and Julia was a distraction. I found myself skipping Julia’s chapters because rather than see what she was seeing about the Fitzgerald family, she seemed totally pre-occupied with Campbell.

5. Did we ever get to know Sara? Was she the villain of the piece or the heroine? Even as a parent I felt very little sympathy for her, whereas Brian, with his escapes to the stars, was a far more well rounded character.

I’ve not read any other Jodi Picoult books and I’m not sure that this one tempts me into trying some of her others.

FIRST DRAFT IN 30 DAYS - Karen S Wiesner - Writers Digest Books 2005

NO PLOT? NO PROBLEM - Chris Baty - Chronicle Books 2004

It is my experience that on the whole, most writers fall roughly into two camps... the plotters and the flimmers (as in "flying into the mist"). FIRST DRAFT IN 30 DAYS by Karen S Wiesner and NO PLOT? NO PROBLEM? by Chris Baty couldn't be two more different books aimed at these two completely different writing styles.

Let me preface this by saying I am not a big fan of "how to" books but when a very well established and successful writer sang the praises of FIRST DRAFT IN 30 DAYS, I decided to lash out and buy it to see if it would help with my current writing doldrums. While I was on Amazon, I succumbed to their "other buyers have purchased..." spiel and on a whim picked up the second book.

FIRST DRAFT IN 30 DAYS is a beautifully presented book for the "plotter" complete with sample schedulers, worksheets, goal charts, time lines and charts of all descriptions. However I felt it was a little misleading to call it a "first draft' because what you produce at the end of your 30 days is not a draft, so much as an outline of your novel. The timetable goes along these lines: six days spent on the preliminary outline, seven days on research, two days on story evolution. nine days on a formatted outline, four days on an outline evaluation and two days on revision. Voila - an outline of your novel so you can then start actually writing. Being a dyed in the wool flimmer, I am afraid this method of intensive plotting is not for me. Even though I love the idea of charts and time lines and all that lovely "stationery" surrounding me as I wrote my best seller, I know I would be heartily sick of the whole exercise before I got to the end of the first week!

On the other hand I loved NO PLOT? NO PROBLEM?, "A Low-Stress, High Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 days".  This little book is the handbook for the NANOWRIMO (National Novel Writing Month).  This annual "write a book in a month" challenge is similar to RWAustralia's book-in-a-week challenges we hold at frequent intervals on the ROMAUS E-list. The theory behind NANOWRIMO is that the best incentive to writing is a deadline.  The first part of the book is dedicated to the preparation for the month and the second part is a four week guide to getting through the month.  The goal is to have a complete (albeit rough draft) of a 50,000 word novel by the end of a month, even though you may start the month with no more than a rough idea or just a character in your mind. It is written with humour and buckets of good advice, in fact some of the most sensible advice I have ever seen in a "How to" book. It gives you full permission to let your inner editor go and just write - perfect for flimmers like me! What is more, it is a tried and true method that works, as the growing success of NANOWRIMO can testify.

Two different books for two different writers... the choice is yours! 

THE SILENT CRY - Anne Perry

In recent years Anne Perry has soared to the best seller lists with her crime novels set in Victorian England. She writes two “series” detective novels, the first and more successful being the “Inspector Pitt” series and the second revolving around the darker more complex character of the policeman turned private investigator William Monk and the nurse Hester Latterley.

THE SILENT CRY is the eighth of the William Monk series and like many of her previous novels both in this series and the Pitt series it takes as its theme the hypocrisies of Victorian society.

It begins with the discovery of two bodies in the grim streets of the London slums. The older man, a respected middle class solicitor by the name of Leighton Duff lies beaten to death; the other, his son Rhys Duff, lies close to death. When he regains consciousness the horror of his experience has rendered him mute and his injuries preclude any other form of communication. Hester Latterly is employed to nurse the badly beaten young man as the police begin their investigation into the death of Leighton Duff.

At the same time Monk is commissioned by the owner of a sweatshop to find out who has been raping and beating the girls who work for her. These are part-time prostitutes, women with husbands and families who are forced to turn to a little part time prostitution to keep their families alive. Monk’s investigations indicate that the rapes are carried out by three men of good breeding and indeterminate age. Inevitably the two cases begin to merge together and it seems that the rapist and the murderer of Leighton Duff may in fact be his own son, Rhys.

As always the picture Anne Perry paints of the underside of Victorian England is stark and believable. The hypocrisy of a society that will turn every stone to find the murderer of a respectable lawyer but will not lift a finger to help the women who are being raped and beaten is grimly portrayed. This is the London of Jack the Ripper, a dark and frightening place, contrasting with the genteel civility of the middle classes.

But sadly, this is not one of Perry’s better books. In fact the denouement when it comes is an insult to a writer of Anne Perry’s calibre. Within the last few pages of the book, with a still-mute Rhys on trial for his life (an unlikely scenario to begin with), Perry produces a “rabbit out of the hat” that leaves the reader feeling unsatisfied and cheated. Nothing in the rest of the book has foreshadowed this conclusion and one is left with the overwhelming impression that the writer herself did not know what the solution to the crime would be until the end of the novel.

Having churned out the last few pages it was as if she lacked the time or the energy to go back over the book and rectify the glaring errors that the solution demonstrates during the course of the novel. In fact quite the contrary. The crime may have been solved, for example, during the first chapter of the book as it would have presented itself to the very first doctor who examined young Rhys. Additionally the behaviour of a  number of the characters should have been differently portrayed given the circumstances of the ending. Even the date of the crime seems to move during the course of the book.  These sloppy inconsistencies ruin an otherwise interesting and intriguing tale.

L.P. Hartley in The Go Between  wrote "The past is a foreign country. They do things differently there."

Not only do they do things differently, but it’s also a foreign country with closed borders. We can read contemporary accounts of life, visit museums and watch TV programmes such as Edwardian House, where the TV producers have tried to step modern people back to those times. Enjoyable experiments though they are, contemporary people can never truly step back in time because they do indeed come from a different country, walk a different walk and speak a different language!  What we are left with is a shadow country that looks and feels like the real thing but is still far removed from reality.

As a writer of historical novels, I find it particularly challenging to create fictional historical characters who will be acceptable to modern readers. Let's face it, who would want to hang out with a 17th century man? They never washed, most likely had appalling teeth (not to mention any number of unsavoury STDs!) and were misogynistic to the core. 

My novels may be historical but they are also romances. I want my female readers to fall in love with my hero, not beat him over the head with a frying pan because he honestly believed an orgasm made a woman pregnant!

Anyone who writes historical novels must first and foremost have a passion for history. If you don’t have an instinctive feel for history and in particular, the historical period you are writing about, you are going to fail at the first hurdle.

You MUST know your chosen historical period. I can’t imagine trying to write a novel set in the middle ages in Bavaria just because German medieval knight stories are selling really well at the moment.  I can spend a few hours on Google and pick up a rudimentary knowledge but it will never be more than superficial precisely because I have no real interest in that period. 

The period in which your novel is set is the background tapestry on which your drama is played out and your characters must move naturally within that world. To do that you must understand that world.

While minor details can be glossed over, historical facts cannot. While there is some debate on this topic, my own personal feeling is that a historical fact is just that- a FACT. It exists and you can’t move the date of a battle or the death of a King just to fit in with your story. 

Readers notice! Chances are your reader has picked up your novel precisely because it is set in a particular period. As a passionate student of the English Civil War I am going to hurl your book at the wall if I find you have moved the date of the battle of Naseby or changed the outcome.

But don’t go too far the other way and blind your readers with historical facts. This is not about how clever you are.  While the small details of the world they live in count, the relationship between the characters is what really matters.

Fantasy writers call it ‘world building’. Tolkein created entire languages for his fantastic worlds of Hobbits and Elves. Historical writers should do no less. We cannot visit the past except in our imaginations so if we are to set our characters in a credible world, we need to know that world – the language they spoke, the clothes they wore, the meals they ate, the smell and the feel of their world… the list goes on.

Once you have an understanding of the world about which you are writing, you must people it with credible characters. Keri Arthur writes paranormals; novels peopled with werewolves, vampires and shape shifters and yet she  creates believable characters out of an incredible mythology.

To quote author, Anna Jacobs:  “Heroic, unusual people are different in any age… and we’re not writing about ordinary people with our main protagonists, are we? I don’t think people were that different emotionally in the past, but there were overlays that you have to take into account.”

As I said earlier, 17th century men were generally an unlovable lot, but at heart people have not changed much over the centuries. External influences that we don’t fully understand may dictate their behaviour (particularly the attitude to religion)  but at heart they still love, hate, laugh and cry...and those core emotions are at the heart of any great story, in whatever period it is set.  It worked for Shakespeare!

If your characters retain motivations and displays emotions that are universal to any period, then you are part of the way to appealing to the 21st century reader. However, your characters must also be credible to the period in which you have set them, otherwise all you are writing is a modern drama set in costume. Finding the balance is the challenge!