Dancing Word Writing Workshop

with Rosey Dow

May 15, 2008

 

 

Hosted by Jason McDonald

Dancing Word Assistant Editor

Rosey: We only have about three minutes. I want to say if anybody is listening to the replay, the recording just started but we’re not going to start for three minutes.

A lot of times when people come into the replay they think there’s a mistake because the recording begins before we actually start the teleseminar. Just hang on for about two minutes and 45 seconds. You’ll hear some intro music and that’s when we’re actually going to get started.

Jason: So ignore everything you hear up to this point. 

Rosey: [laughing] Until you hear the music! We’re basically killing time. 

I believe I have about 20 or 30 minutes of teaching, and then we can go into questions. 

Jason: Okay. I’m just going to be quiet now. 

Rosey: Please excuse me if I sneeze. I’m trying very hard not to. I went to Georgia to visit my son. My little grand-daughter is six months old and she had a really bad cold, so I caught the cold from the baby. 

My son was telling me, “Watch out, you’re going to catch her cold,” and I said, “I have to kiss the baby! I can’t be here and not kiss the baby.” So I’m taking my punishment now. It’s cause and effect, and I’ve got the effect. It’ll be better in another day or so. 

Jason: For any of you who are used to us doing the chat room and are wondering, “Why are we doing this on a teleconference?” it’s because Rosey can’t type that fast right now. 

Rosey: I broke my wrist. Although it’s been out of the cast now for three weeks, I’m still struggling with typing and writing with a pen and a lot of things. It’s going to take at least two or three more weeks before it gets back to normal, so I really appreciate the grace of doing this a different way to accommodate my needs this time. 

We have about ten seconds and then you’ll hear music and we’ll get started. 

Jason: Where’s the music? 

Rosey: I’m having a little problem with my web page. We might have to stick the music in later. 

Jason: [hums some music] 

Rosey: [laughing] Thank you very much! 

Ok, we have five people who are on. Welcome! Let’s just go ahead because something happened. When it hit the top of the hour something happened and it won’t let me have my audio now. Maybe there’s a limit on when you can start it, so let’s just go ahead. 

Jason: Welcome to a very creative chat this evening. We’re talking with Rosey Dow about writing, “Gripping Beginnings and Killer Endings.” 

Rosey is the director of www.ChristianFictionMentors.com and she has published 13 books with more than half a million copies in print.  

Just a note for anyone listening. If you have questions you can type it in on the page where you saw all the teleconference stuff, or you can sign into the Dancing Word chat room at www.TheDancingWord.net/chatroom.htm. You can sign in there and you can ask questions and I will relay them to Rosey. So please welcome our guest! 

Rosey: Thank you so much. I am so excited to be here. We had to reschedule like three times and finally we’re getting it done here. 

Fiction is one of my passions, my most intense passions. If I stop writing for any amount of time I just have to sit down and write a little bit because I just get that urge. Anyone who’s a writer can understand that. 

Tonight we’re going to be talking about “Gripping Beginnings and Killer Endings.” 

I’m going to start with the beginnings. Actually, both of these could be put into one session by itself, beginnings and then endings, but I’ve combined them both because actually a lot of times your ending is found in your beginning, and your beginning in your ending, so they kind of connect each other. 

If you’re on the web page online, you see a link there that says, “Get the handout.” There is a handout, and if you want to go there there will be a page that will come up and you can print that. Then as we go through you can fill in the blanks. 

If you’re on that page, you can go there. If you’re not on that page, you should have gotten an email today with a link. Do you have that link? I don’t have it right in front of me. Do you have the link for the web page? 

Jason: Which web page? 

Rosey: The one with all the teleseminar stuff and the buttons and how to call in. 

It starts out with InstantTeleseminar.com. 

Jason: It’s http://www.InstantTeleseminar.com/?eventid=2932428  

Rosey: Okay, 2932428, is that right? 

Jason: Yeah. 

Rosey: All right. If you go there you can get your handout and print it out. I’m going to go ahead and get started. The replay will be up, so if you miss something, or maybe you’re writing and you hear something but you don’t have time to go ahead and write it down, you can just come right back to this same page and listen to it again and get whatever you missed, right here from this same web page. 

That’s one of the great things about doing the teleseminars. They’re very quick and easy to get your recording. 

Okay, beginnings, reeling in the reader. When we have the beginning of the book, the first thing you want to do is capture the reader’s attention. The opening paragraph and the first few pages will make the difference between having a novel published or rejected, because the first reader that you have to impress with your beginning is the editor. 

You have one chance, just like a job interview. The first impression is of utmost importance, and you’ll never get a chance to do it over. 

Acquisitions editors are crazy busy. They have manuscripts piled up on their desk galore. They’ve got them stacked by their bed. They have so many manuscripts to look at and to evaluate, that when they pick one up they are looking for a way to reject it. They’re not looking for a way to accept it, they’re looking for an excuse to reject it. 

So it’s our job to keep them from getting to the rejection stage by capturing their attention from the very first words. 

Cliché’d Beginnings 

Let’s talk about clichés. Now clichéd beginnings are like a death sentence to a manuscript. Unless you can put a twist on it, these beginnings are very, very much to be avoided.  

Don’t begin with only dialogue.

If you have a conversation, you  need to set it up. Don’t just have someone begin to blurt out some dialogue and have a conversation when you don’t really know who’s talking. 

Don’t leave out all dialogue.

There should be some dialogue. There should be some dialogue in the beginning because you want to see the people interacting. If you don’t have any dialogue, then you’re just telling what someone’s doing. So you want to have some dialogue. 

Don’t begin with a dream.

I know a lot of people like to do this, and in the old-fashioned books they could get away with it, but Dickens got away with a lot of stuff that we cannot get away with today. Don’t begin with a dream. 

Don’t begin with a ringing alarm clock.

Now I know Groundhog Day did this, but Groundhog Day was an exception to the rule. Don’t begin with a ringing alarm clock. 

The next one is very important, and it’s one that most beginning writers fall into.  

Don’t begin with back story.

Start right now today. Choosing where your story will begin is a very important process. You want to begin where the action begins. We don’t need to know all about where the person grew up and what their mother was like and what kind of relationship they had with their uncles and their aunts and all that. You just need to get into the action. The back story can come later. 

Don’t begin with long descriptions

I’ve read books like Ivanhoe and those old stories with ten pages of description, starting with the country, going to the city, going to the plantation, going to the garden, and all the way down to the people – ten pages! It will not work today. Don’t begin with long descriptions. 

Don’t begin by talking directly to the reader.

“Dear Reader, The reason I’m writing this story is….” 

Don’t do that. That is the sign of a novice. In the old days, way back in the 1800’s and those times, you could start with talking to the reader, but you can’t do that anymore today. 

So if we don’t want to do all those things, what do we want to do? 

The First Paragraph 

In the first paragraph, make a promise, and make a promise on several levels. When you start out your story, you’re making a promise about: 

The writing style

What kind of writing style are you going to use? Are you going to be sarcastic? Happy? Sad? Intense? What is the writing style that you’re going to be using throughout the whole story? That’s how you should start out.  

So the first paragraph makes a promise about the writing style. 

The intensity

Is this story going to be one of those “smell the daisies and have a good time” stories? Or is it going to be one of those edge-of-your-seat dramas where you never know if danger lurks around the next corner? 

The point of view

If the story is going to be basically in one character’s point of view, one main person, then you want to start with that person. Even if you have several point of views that you go into through your story, start with the main person because that is making a promise to the reader. 

“This person is important because he’s at the beginning.” 

The pacing

The first paragraph makes a promise about the pacing. How quickly is the action going to move? How slow is it going to move? 

The initial conflict

The first paragraph should have something about the initial conflict. You should jump right into it. 

There’s a really good book called Hooked and it is very, very good about how to dive right into that conflict. It should have something about the initial conflict, and we’re going to talk about that conflict a little more later as we go through this lesson. 

The quality of the writing

The last thing the first paragraph makes a promise about is the quality of the writing. 

Whatever you deliver at the beginning is going to set the pace for the rest of the story, and the reader is going to expect to see that in the rest of the story.   If the work is sloppy, if there are spelling errors and poor grammar, the editor is naturally going to assume that the rest of the novel is also poorly done. 

If the characters are interesting and the conflict is compelling, if it has good manuscript form, then the editor is liable to read on. 

Setting up the beginning 

Setting up the beginning involves a series of very critical decisions. 

Who will begin telling the story?

If you’re using more than one point of view character, it’s very important like I said before to choose who’s going to be the first one that gets to tell his viewpoint? 

At what point in the storyline will Chapter 1 begin?

I can’t stress enough how important it is to start at the right spot. We’re going to be talking about where to start a little further on. 

What is the attitude of the point of view storyteller?

Is the point of view character sarcastic? Depressed? Is he optimistic or agitated? Is he having a good day? A bad day? What is the attitude of the storyteller? 

What set of characters will appear right away?

Who are going to be the people that come right into that first scene? Who are you going to introduce?   You have to be very careful not to introduce too many people in the first scene. Two or three people are all that should be in the first scene; otherwise, the reader gets overwhelmed and they think, “Oh, I can’t keep up with this. I can’t remember who Joe is, who John is,” and so forth, and they get discouraged. So two or three people in the first scene. 

The beginning is both the first part you’ll write and the last part. It’s first because it’s the start of your initial draft. You’re going to start on the first page. But it’s also last, because once the ending has been written you’ll need to go back and adjust the beginning to fit the ending. 

Read the rest of the chat

 

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