Creating a Fictional World

“So unleash your creative power, let it flow in all its beauty.

Yes, Novelist, you are in charge of your own bright world.”

~Don Pendleton, The Metaphysics of the Novel

A few years ago, my husband, Don Pendleton, wrote in his nonfiction book, The Metaphysics of the Novel, The Inner Workings of a Novel and a Novelist:

“One thing that every novel needs is credibility, and as a novelist you must never forget that. Your story must be plausible, meaningful, and entertaining.

“Before the final draft of any story is set to paper, you must have resolved all your story problems and structure problems. Then, and only then, can your characters have the freedom they need to carry the story, to handle their conflicts, and to finally reach resolution.

“As you review your manuscript, begin by studying your opening paragraph. Read it and re-read. If it sounds weak as you read it silently, and then out loud, rewrite it. Study it again. Polish it until it shines.

“If you discover you have "padded" your story with unnecessary dribble, or if you come upon a place where you wonder where the hell it is going, it is because you did not know where you were going. So get out the scalpel and start carving away. Do it delicately but deftly until you feel you are in command as god of your novel.

“Watch for the spots where you come across even a page or two of nothing. If nothing was happening, change it, make something happen.

“Make sure your dialogue is sharp, and real. If it is not, beef it up until you hear the voices singing. Be sure those characters talk like real people.

“Are you satisfied that you have properly dimensioned each character? If you have villains in your story make sure you have made them powerful and resourceful, not reduced to the idiot level. In real life, the bad guys are highly formidable and dangerous individuals. Real life is full of grim games played by grim people. So should your fictional world be, if that is the type of story you are presenting. Do not indulge in some juvenile misunderstanding of the forces that move and shake this world. Some people are dangerous, not because a gun is in their hand, but because something cold and deadly is in their hearts. So make sure you are presenting a credible world with the world of your novel.

“The paradox of good fiction is that the fictional world must seem more understandable and coherent to the reader than the world in which he lives daily. So to connect with the readers, the writer had better be in complete charge of the world he creates at the keyboard. Pointless defiance of real world logic is available all the time on television. Don't expose your readers to anything but a setting of characters in a logical cause and effect world.

“When you have edited your manuscript to a high polish, when you love every word you have placed there, set it aside for a few days. When you pick it up again, and you find you still love every word there, you are then ready, novelist, to present it to the world.

“But brace yourself. Your presentation may not be received with the open arms you expect and hope for. The days ahead can be filled with frustration and rejection. In those times, though, the important thing to remember is, you have fulfilled your dream of becoming a novelist, and you have taken your vision from that place inside, to that place where books really are–outside.”

Don went on to write about marketing your book and hopefully selling it. At the time he wrote the book, the only way to publish was via a traditional publisher, or with original vanity publishing which could cost you a small fortune, or self publish and sell your books out of the back of your car, as a few well-known authors have done. James Redfield and The Celestine Prophecy comes to mind, as does Richard Paul Evans who also wrote another best-seller, The Christmas Box; and a more recent book, The Shack.

Today we consider the Internet and the incredible technology to be so much a part of our lives, and I believe if Don were still alive he would be in favor of what many authors are now doing with self-publishing and e-books.

He wrote: “Play the game and give it all the artful attention you possess. I shudder to think of all the talented writers I have known who are still unpublished because they never learned to play the game to their best advantage. In a card game, you know, there is a time to sit tight and a time to fold. Play your publishing moment to its best advantage.

“If you have not yet found that moment then you need to get actively involved in your own destiny. Even a moment that may be pre-ordained needs a willing and active interest in those whispers from the muses, a driving force that propels you into that fateful encounter. It will not come looking for you unless you have already "prepared the soil" for a fertile encounter.

“Develop an understanding of the publishing world. “

Get actively involved in your own destiny. Yes, Don would be in favor of self-publishing especially when you know you have produced a credible and quality work. You have a choice and you don’t have to waste time and seek permission to share your book with the world.

The time can be now! Go for it!

Kindle, Smashwords, Createspace, not only give us darn good royalties that are not found in traditional publishing, but give us opportunity to share our works worldwide.



The Metaphysics of the Novel is available at Kindle, Smashwords, and other ebook online stores and in print at Amazon.com

~Linda

Words

"Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind."
--Rudyard Kipling 1865 – 1936

Novel Writing Guide by Jon Guenther

"HEY, DID YOU HEAR THE NEWS?"

Author Jon Guenther has a new blog for writers...aspiring writers...or those interesting in the art of writing...

Novel Writing Guide
Your ultimate guide to creating, writing and publishing a novel by Jon Guenther.

Take a look as he has some excellent comments and ideas--and this will be an ongoing series of instruction and information.

~Linda

Joseph Finder, Author of Thrillers

“Writing is the only profession I can think of that requires no license, no certificate, no special training, and no special tools. Anyone who wants to can be a writer. All you have to do is write.” ~Joseph Finder, Author



Joseph Finder is a best selling author of thriller novels. Here in this interview he talks about his new book, Vanished, the first in a series featuring his new character, Nick Heller, a high-powered investigator with a private intelligence firm who was trained in Special Forces and “specializes in digging up secrets that powerful people would rather keep hidden.”

This video is Joseph Finder conversation with actor Holter Graham who did the audiobook rendition of Finder’s book, Vanished.

~Linda

Nicholas Sparks, Novelist

Nicholas Sparks happens to be my favorite author of recent time, at least since his first novel The Notebook was published.

One Sunday in 1996 I was watching C-Span 2 on books and Larry Kirshbaum, Chairman and CEO of Time-Warner Books was speaking about a novel he had paid one million dollars for. I had met Larry previously so he did have my attention but it was the million dollar advance against royalties that really caught my attention! The novel was The Notebook written by Nicholas Sparks. Larry said he knew the book would be successful and it was already on the best seller list.

As soon as the television program was over I drove to my local small bookstore in downtown Sedona and bought the book because I had to see what it was about Nicholas Spark’s book that deserved such a big advance.

I spent the evening reading The Notebook, loving every word of it, and by the time I reached the last two chapters I had a box of tissues beside me. For me, that has become a standard procedure anytime I read a Nicholas Sparks’ novel. I suggest to have a box of tissues ready at least three chapters before the end of his books.

What I like about Sparks’ novels is the simple yet dramatic flow of his writing, and always a mixture of the ups and downs, the love and sadness of loss, and all the reality of life.

Of course, as it turned out, Kirshbaum was correct in believing in the book. It spent over a year on the hardcover best seller list. And the movie followed. Nicholas has now written fourteen novels and four have been made into movies and apparently another one coming before long.

Here is a short interview with Nicholas Sparks about his writing process. Even though I write myself, I am always curious about the process of other writers.

~Linda

Author, Elmore Leonard on Writing and His Career

“My most important piece of advice to all you would-be writers: when you write, try to leave out all the parts readers skip.” Elmore Leonard, Author

I don’t know if you’ve read Elmore Leonard’s books but if not, you’ve probably seen one or more of his movies.

He is one of the best writers when it comes to dialogue. His dialogue is so real, street-smart, down and dirty. He’s very talented. His writing over the years has covered various genres: Westerns, crime novels, thrillers, mysteries, short stories and screenplays. Elmore Leonard was recipient of the 2008 F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Award (videos below)

I had the honor of meeting him several years ago at the Santa Barbara Writer’s Conference where he had spoken. It was either 1983 or 1984. A little while after his talk he was sitting in the lobby quietly autographing a box of books. I had three of his books to be autographed and he invited me to join him, and we had a nice conversation. He was very laid-back, soft spoken, and modest. I liked him very much.

This month’s AARP Magazine has an article “Making it Up as I Go Along” by Elmore Leonard about his writing career. As a writer I really identified with it.

“At the time I begin writing a novel, the last thing I want to do is follow a plot outline. To know too much at the start takes the pleasure out of discovering what the book is about.”

“I think of characters who will carry a story. The plot comes out of the characters, their attitudes. How they talk describes who they are. Dialogue, in fact, is the element that keeps the story moving. Characters are judged as they appear. Anyone who can't hold up his or her end of a conversation is liable to be shelved, or maybe shot.”

Leonard writes with pen and paper, and then types it when it is what he wants. He does not use a word processor. Although I do identify with that as I once wrote that way, I cannot imagine going back to a typewriter.

He commented on how the characters let him know where the story is going next. How true that is. I love it when the characters take over the story and tell it their way.

I had commented on that to a friend the other day in wrapping up my new novel. Yes, I finished writing my Civil War period novel. It turned out bigger than I thought it might because those characters still had more to say. I have not yet gone into postpartum depression but that may come in the near future after I come down from cloud nine! I am very happy with the book. It is damn good, even if me and my characters wrote it—and say so. LOL.

Sometimes I swear I am channeling those people from the past. At least I wasn’t around the Civil War in this lifetime.

Previous life? I think so.




Interview Part One



Interview Part 2:




For more Leonard Interview videos

~Linda

Novel Writing, Character Flow

After completing my latest nonfiction ebook , How Thin the Veil! 150 Years of Spiritualism and the gift ebooks that go along with it, most in celebration of Lincoln’s bicentennial birthday this month, I began a new novel. I had intended to do some writing today but did not. Sunday evening is one night that I watch certain programs, my favorite being “Big Love” on HBO. The acting is tremendous on that show. Although the story line is unique, and may not seem to be approved of by many, you really learn immediately to overlook that with the incredible acting, not just by one or two of the characters but by every one on that show. My other favorite is “Brothers and Sisters.” And of course it is hard to let a Sunday night go by without watching what is happening on Wisteria Lane with those Housewives.

So tonight thanks to my DVR I was able to see the Grammy Awards and the three programs.

So, no writing tonight. I stopped late last night at page 98. I write at night for the most part as my days are too busy. I’m usually still going strong at 1:00 am or later. It seems with the writing of this story I have been getting into a character flow...where the character or characters take over the story and “write” it. As usual, I do not know where my story is going. I have this vague idea of the overall story, but that is about it. After all it is their story to tell, so hopefully it will continue to unfold at an even pace. I hope I can keep up this momentum with the manuscript. I go to bed thinking about it, have even dreamed about it. I usually listen to the radio, Coast to Coast AM, George Noory, which is on until 4:00 am. Often I fall asleep soon after going to bed, but when Coast to Coast goes off at 4, I almost always wake up about 4:10, when the infomercials are on.... special vitamins, herbal products, and there is something so irritating with the voices of the “doctor” and interviewer, and announcer for the 800 numbers. I turn the radio off and then about that time I hear the train whistle blowing.... and then I again think about my characters in my book and what they are doing next.... and sometimes have to talk myself out of getting up and going to the computer for more story telling.

So now instead of writing page 99 and more, late tonight, I decided to write this blog....and then go listen to the radio...and the rain.

~Linda