The Writers Page

Anna Michelle Page

"Frankly, I don't care what genre a reader thinks my book is, as long as it gets him to pick it up."

                                       Quote by: Jodi Picoult (The Complete Handbook of Novel Writing by Writer's Digest)

"Honestly...this is why I write. I write to get the happy ending I sometimes feel is eluding me. I write for my sanity."

                                             Quote by: Debora Dennis

    Debora Dennis said it perfectly in the quote above. Romance is the happy ending that eludes us. To discover the secrets of a successful romance, the writer will have to first pick the trope and follow the beat sheet, then decide whether their romance will have one or more subgenre(s).

THE TROPES of Romance

There are more tropes for romance than I can list here, so I will mention just a few. 

 

• Friends to lovers
• Forbidden love
• Fake relationship
• Trapped
• Enemies to lovers

For a more comprehensive list, go to: 

    https://eviealexanderauthor.com/150-romance-novel-tropes/ 

THE BEATS of Romance

1. Introduce the 1st protagonist
2. Introduce the 2nd protagonist
3. The two meet, called a: Meet Cute
4. Reveal the reason this couple isn't a good match
5. By raising the stakes, you've reached the Turning Point
6. The Midpoint - they are in love
7. The Big Problem - they cannot be together
8. 2nd turning point - Another obstacle
9. Love is impossible - all is lost
10. HEA - Happily Ever After

The Meet Cute must have 3 criteria for a successful romance.

1. Chemistry
2. Tension
3. Conflict

SUBGENRE's of Romance

Nearly every subgenre written works with a romance. Here are a few. To find more, go to: 

    https://darlagdenton.com/2015/03/04/what-are-the-most-popular-sub-genres-in-romance-how-do-they-compare/

• Contemporary
• Historical
• Thriller
• Fantasy
• Paranormal
• Comedy
• Erotica

And my personal favorite subgenre is transnational romance. 

Play around with these genres. Nothing says you can't mix them together.

Successful Romance's need:

1. Happily Ever After
2. Must have 2↑ compelling protagonists
3. Hit the romance beats
4. Is the 'love story' believable
5. The denial/resistance
6. Have you affectively built the highs/lows 
7. The end - worth waiting for

To Create Your Success as a Romance Author:

• Figure out what you enjoy reading
• Drama
• Thriller
• Comedy
• Have you trained yourself on the expectations of romance?
• An outline will help keep you within the borders of those expectations
• Does 'love' remain at the forefront of importance in your story?
• Have you invested the time in learning the language of love?
• Can you repel the heartache of rejection and keep writing?

Begin:

• Learn your craft. Anyone can put one sentence after another. A writer goes the extra mile
• Create characters that want an 'all-consuming' something
• Make characters that seem real
• Creates empathy from the reader
• Characters with complex personalities
• Surprise the reader
• Get into the character's inner thoughts
• Create conflict
• Define the motivation that keeps the characters together and apart
• Write. Rewrite. Write again. Pluck every word, every sentence, every piece of clutter ruthlessly from your writing
• Join a writer's group and learn from the critiques of other writers
• https://thewritelife.com/find-a-critique-partner/
• Get a comfortable chair, a seat pad, learn to sit up straight, and toughen your exterior
• Get tough cause your heart will be broken
• You are going to believe your writing is brilliant 
• Rejection is easier if you are ready for it
• Rejection isn't personal
• Be forewarned - years later, after hard work and lots of writing, your early work will one day be an embarrassment 

Turn the page,

Anna Michelle

 

The Writers Page

Anna Michelle Page

"Crafts have to have clothes...

                                       Quote by: Thomas Fuller 

    Genre has gotten complicated. Most new writers are unsure what genre they write in. Not knowing your genre makes finding comps more complicated. My own struggles in genre have forced me to begin a series of research to discover the complexities of this issue. 

I chose this quote because our stories must wear clothes to catch the reader's eye. The clothes we dress our books with are its genre.

Genre

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary Genre is a category of artistic, musical, or literary composition characterized by a particular style, form, or content.

Subgenre

The Subgenre, according to Jennifer Schuessler, is part of a larger genre.

Types of Genre I will discuss over the next months

1. General fiction
2. Science fiction
3. Literary
4. Comedy
5. Mystery fiction
6. Fantasy
7. Horror fiction
8. Dystopian
9. Nonfiction
10. Thriller 
11. Romance Novel
12. Historical fiction
13. Short Story
14. Speculative fiction
15. Children's Literature
16. Literary Criticism
17. Memoir
18. Magical Realism
19. History
20. Young Adult fiction
21. Detective fiction
22. Creative Nonfiction
23. Drama
24. Autobiography
25. Contemporary Literature
26. Literary Realism
27. Humor
28. Paranormal Romance
29. Fairytale
30. Woman's fiction
31. Adventure fiction
32. Fantasy fiction
33. Romance 
34. Lovecraftian Horror
35. Cozy Mystery
36. Christian fiction
37. Suspence

Turn the page,

Anna Michelle

 

The Writers Page

Anna Michelle Page

"Follow the yellow brick road."

               The Wizard of Oz screenplay by Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, and Edgar Allan Woolf; book by L. Frank Baum

    Writing - an effective teacher. Writing, though elementary, is one of the most complicated aspects of being an author.

    Despite its simplicity, many writers search for the ‘holy grail’ of story, a formula they can adhere to time over again, a yellow brick road of calculated success to the completed work. 

    Even the yellow brick road wasn’t easy to find. If you recall, Dorothy passed through a tornado and the Wicked Witch of the East threatened her. The brick road became the greatest challenge as her companions fell back in fear, but Dorothy maintained a forward approach. 

    The yellow brick road to writing with a road map to success.

1. The Writer's Compass by Nancy Ellen Dodd
• A basic 3-act structure (beginning, middle, end)
• Or, the 6-scene Structure Model (crisis, solution, creates bigger problem, solution, creates even bigger problem, resolution)
2. Plot Perfect by Paula Muneir
• A Plot Perfect Checklist
• Write to satisfy the reader by meeting their expectations (know the plot conventions for each genre - character archetypes, key events, and settings)
1. The Archetypes and The Collective Unconscious by Carl G. Jung
• The persona, the shadow, the anima or animus and the self (This is is a psychology book)
3. The Writer's Journey by Christopher Vogler
• A road map to create a hero - The Hero's Journey
1. The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell (the foundation book of the mythical hero)
4. Writing Tools by Roy Peter Clark
• The nuts and bolts of writing
5. The Little Red Writing Book by Brandon Royal
1. Powerful principals of structure, style, and readability

Like Dorothy, don't quit. Write on the yellow brick road to the end.

Turn the page,

Anna Michelle

For more advice on writing, read Savannah Gilbo's Blog: Conventions vs Tropes: What's the Difference? 

https://www.savannahgilbo.com/blog/tropes#:~:text=%5B01%3A28%5D%20Genre%20conventions,a%20story%20in%20that%20genre.&text=They%20are%20subjective%20interpretations%20of%20a%20genre%20convention.

Send your work to: ampage18@gmail.com and risk revealing your story, poem or article on the Page.  After a painless critique, learn basic tools for improvement.  Right here.  On the Page.

Styrus - Creative Style Virus

 

The Writers Page

Anna Michelle Page

"But still, the fates will leave me my voice, and by my voice I shall be known."

                                                         Poem by Ovid, Metamorphoses    

  I’m currently reading The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. A poetic genius, Atwood’s work stands up against time even as time advances. Miss Atwood writes little dialogue in this story, though my mind hears the story through dialogue. The tool - voice - The handmaid’s voice is convincing, as if she sits before me sharing her story.

    

    At the same time I’m reading, The Future is Faster Than you Think by Peter H. Diamandis and Steven Kotler. Possibly not the first choice for most writers, but the future is for storytelling. Studying the possibilities creates entertainment - a writer’s dream. Learning from the greats,  such as - Atwood - while expanding our knowledge, keeps the writer sharp.

A dialogue driven writer, I might never produce a piece such as Atwood’s, but her story improves my writing. Another writer’s style enters through photoreceptors that turn light into electrical signals to the brain where it becomes a virus of creative proportion.

By cultivating this creative virus - I’ll call ‘Styrus,’ the virus mutates into voice. 

Turn the page,

Anna Michelle

For more advice on writing, read K.M. Weiland's Blog: Writing Voice: 6 Things You Need to Know to Improve 

https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/writing-voice/, or read The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.

Send your work to: ampage18@gmail.com and risk revealing your story, poem or article on the Page.  After a painless critique, learn basic tools for improvement.  Right here.  On the Page.

Painting a Scene

 

The Writers Page

Anna Michelle Page

"We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospection."

                                                                                                                      Anais Nim

Painting a Scene

    Like the quote by Anais Nim, let the reader live twice. Don't paint me a picture to study its beauty - slap me into the scene. Make it a threesome, or foursome. The skies the limits. 

Turn the page,

Anna Michelle

   

For more advice on writing, read posts by Steven Pressfield https://stevenpressfield.com/2021/12/lessons-from-the-killer-angels/, or read The Writer's Journey Mythic Structure for Writers Third Edition by Christopher Vogler

Send your work to: ampage18@gmail.com and risk revealing your story, poem or article on the Page.  After a painless critique, learn basic tools for improvement.  Right here.  On the Page.

Weave Setting Through Story Painting

 The Writers Page

Anna Michelle Page

"Hammett took murder out of the parlor, and dropped it into the alley where it belonged."

                                                                              Raymond Chandler

Painting Story Settings

Setting is story painting - adding color that manipulates character's and scenes, that pulls the reader into an imaginative world of your weaving.  Not just a backdrop for action, but an intricate part of a fictional world that imbues a great story with meaning, while imposing the writer's will on the mood and thematic connotations.  

I think Jessica Page Morrell says it best, in her book, "Between the Lines," when she wrote, "Setting whispers, hints, and sets the stage for events to unfold."

Research is Key

The key to a impressive setting - Research!  Dive-in and learn every aspect of your scene settings - not just the geography.  How does setting affect weather, work, home, politics, population, child rearing - the list goes on?

The details - determine the complexity of the story first.  A historical novel requires a considerable amount of research, while a contemporary romance is in the here-and-now.

When writing chaos in a real, or make-believe world, mistrust, lawlessness and even death finds its way onto the page.  The same book, different setting, you'll read moments of passion, joy and love.  Writer's create settings that allow the reader to immerse themselves into a story that chimes with truth.

When to Introduce Setting

The time to introduce the setting is in the first crucial moments while familiarizing the reading audience with the protagonist, writer/character voice, and POV (Point of View).  Dialogue, action, and narrative are the three fictional elements that effectively integrate a setting into the story.  If the writer doesn't understand the connection between the setting, character and plot, they're unlikely to capture the story's essence on the page.  

If the setting isn't working, and is a propelling factor to the events of the story, go back to the drawing board, and explore your vision and purpose behind the plot and evaluate whether the setting works.  One idea to connect the protagonist to the setting is to write them into a couple of distinctive settings, ones that prove more dramatic or striking, and then write them into the new locale.  Step into the setting and visualize what they see.  Do they fit?  Does this setting move the plot and character forward?

Early Writing Woes

Early writers gravitate toward placing focus on dialogue and characters.  Some place a heavier emphasis on plot, such as fantasy.  All three are structurally significant, but recognizing the jolt setting carries will enhance the thematic scope and construct a more sensational and remarkable scene.  Catching the reader in a 'gotcha' moment that keeps them reading.

When I first started writing, and even to this day, I rely heavily on dialogue, thinning my descriptions.  I've studied to crush anxiety and develop round settings using the five senses and thorough research.  On the flip-side, some newbie writers slip into the peril of over-describing.  Stephen King states in his book, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, that a writer must know what to describe, and what to leave out.

If writer’s are character aware, the setting will form in their mind, capturing the surrounding smells, tastes, textures, sounds, and sights the character will acknowledge. The writer will come to think like their character’s.  What they'll say, or not say. What they'll pick up, admire, or find disgusting.  What they’ll eat, or not eat, in a foreign country?  Whether certain sounds agitate them, or it shoots them with a mythological arrow by cupid?

Exposing Setting Through Dialogue

The importance of dialogue in revealing the setting can be vividly experienced when the character’s emotional influences impact how they experience the scene.  For instance, anger can twist the joyous enthusiasm one experiences in a roller coaster plummet, while love can turn a meek man invincible as he steps to the edge of a bungee-jump platform. What we think, feel, and perceive is all altered by mood.

Setting Controls Pace

Setting can speed up or slow down the pacing of a story.  It’s essential to have a concoction of fast- and slow-paced scenes.  The diversity is a must for a well-paced novel.  Setting controls pace by:

• Creating Mood & Atmosphere
• Backstory
• Emphasizing themes
• Seduction
• Foreshadowing
• Culture
• Multi-tasking a scene

Setting as the Main Character of Story

   Many settings are chosen for suspense, but Sci-fi and Fantasy rely upon the setting as the substantial function of the story, often over plot and character.  This is a tactic movie director’s have adopted, such as Beauty and the Beast and Avatar. 

      I use this style, creating conflict in my transnational relationship romances, generating a clash of cultures as two people from vastly different countries connect, the way we watched in The Karate Kid.

Writing is an Inner Vision

Anne Lamott, in Bird by Bird, says that a good writer views the passing world with empathy, seeing into the eyes of strangers without prejudice.  It is by this act, we free our minds to the world of our characters and encounter their solitude, their suffering, their happiness & wonder.  Then, and only then, will the writer recognize the misery behind the affluent woman’s veneer, and notice displays of bliss in a world of turmoil and shame among the impoverished.

Write stories the way it dances inside your head.  There’s time enough to cut through your prose later and create settings that incorporate the character’s customs and rituals.  To salt & pepper the sentences with locations that have climate issues, language barriers, job conflicts, plus sights and sounds that reinforce the story's deeper significance. Then watch as the mediocre becomes extraordinary, and readers are riveted in mingled words of your imagination. 

For more advice on writing, read Jane Friedman's Blog: How Writers Can Craft an Effective Setting 

https://www.janefriedman.com/effective-setting/, or read Between the Lines by Jessica Page Morrell for more.

Send your work to: ampage18@gmail.com and risk revealing your story, poem or article on the Page.  After a painless critique, learn basic tools for improvement.  Right here.  On the Page.

Create a Telepathic Connection With Your Readers Through Tone

 New Writers Page

Anna Michelle Page

“There is a pleasant firmness of tone when one is in harmony with oneself. Even when it's a weak ethic one is resonating with.”

― Peter Høeg, The Quiet Girl

Forged in Fire is one of my top shows.  Weird. I can’t forge a knife and decline to try.  A forge fire can reach up to 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit, and a whetted blade can slice through a wild boar.  Call me poultry, but I get enough danger while striking the keys on my keyboard, typing words on the page.  Brr... Did you feel the chill?

So why do I tune in to Forged in Fire?  Simple.  I can’t wait to hear Doug Marcaida  say, “It will keal.” 

On the contrary, my nerves catch fire each time J. Nelson says that the test is not to find out what the blade will do to the ____, but what the _____ will do to your blade.  Not an exact rendition but close.  

Then why mention it?  Marcaida and Nelson posses a unique voice that draws viewers into the show.  Ego’s would skyrocket if the judges alone brought spectators to the screen, but alas, it also requires the contestants and today’s message... Tone.

The show’s tone matches the thrill for the “keal.”  Watching the bladesmith’s forge their knives under pressure, often with tools they’ve never used, away from home and working with unfamiliar metals, raises my pulse.  I’m dragged in by their pressure as I push them along, telling them how to forge their knives, (ahem... I abstain from yelling or fowl language), since after only a handful of episodes, I’ve turned into an authority.  (I’m serious here!)

Then the magic moment happens.  The bladesmith’s stand in line, their last blades displayed; the patina of the blade made more wonderful by the exquisite handle.  Each contestant jittery as they wait.  Will their blade break?  Bend?  Chip?  Get dull?

The tension flexes my muscles as I watch.

This tension sets the tone.  Viewers come back to the same show over and again, because the tone excites them, giving the observer time to cultivate a mental connection with the characters.

Forged in Fire the novel, not so much.  Readers don’t want to read the same phrases spoken over and over from one addition to the next.  Nor does the reader connect with the contestants.  A comic book with the right imagery, word choice, cadence and tension might draw interest for a few copies. 

Tone helps draw the reader, planting them inside the story, the setting, and the different personalities.  Once they connect, whether with the protagonist, antagonist, or Auntie Em who stands out in a tornado yelling for Dorothy, they’ll be hooked.  A hooked reader becomes a lifelong fan.  Exciting, huh?

One way to find the tone is in the details.  Paying extra consideration to the setting provides those details.  Search for ideas watching old movies, visiting the area, finding a community Facebook page, and even reading an indie book from a local author.  Online newspapers are another source.  Digging into the details fills the writer’s lair, but don’t use everything you uncover. 

Readers are smart.  Great settings take readers on a search to experience the protagonists steps first hand. They may find the location on Google Earth, or take a family vacation.  Don’t laugh.  I’ve done this multiple times.  If you botch the setting, or give the characters a flimsy voice, the reader will hand the book off to the kid with instructions to toss it in the trash.  Since they handed it off to a kid, you may get lucky and the book will linger long enough to get thrown into a Goodwill box.

Conflict and tension sustains tone.  Get into the dirty of your characters.  What can they throw at your protagonist to buckle their knees?  Prepare your reader.  Set them up to experience an asthmatic fit of laughter, to fall in love, experience a shattered heart, shake in their boots, break into heaping fits of tears, or crap their pants.  Do this by setting the proper mood.  This mood sets the tone of the book.  You set the tone when molding your first sentence.

Tone consistency must stay the same throughout the book.  Before choosing a tone, try writing the first sentence in distinct tones and POV’s (Point of View).  The sassy narrator may suit the overall theme of the story, or you could find a little comedy fitting the page.  It’s the first line.  What can you lose?  Nothing, but a great story.

Stephen King mentioned telepathy as an important tool for the writer in his novel, Stephen King On Writing.  Telepathy allows the reader to see what the writer sees through their written words.  Powerful!

If you are struggling with developing tone, I recommend you read The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron: The book can be found on Amazon.com, ebay, or at https://juliacameronlive.com/. 

Send your work to: ampage18@gmail.com and risk revealing your story, poem or article on the Page.  After a painless critique, learn basic tools for improvement.  Right here.  On the Page.