Bending Grammar to Your Will

Every language has a set of grammatical rules that it follows. For example, in English, a simple sentence like

Jim threw the ball

can be broken into its components

subject - verb - direct object

That is the basic form of English sentences, though obviously you can add things like adjective phrases and indirect objects, and you can change the tense of the verb to present or future. We're not here for a grammar lesson, however. Today we're going to talk about the darker side of English grammar, and how to conquer it and make it your slave.

I'm sure you've heard the rule, "Never end a sentence with a preposition." Well, I'm here today to tell you that rule is bullshit. That's what we call a "prescriptive" rule of grammar - it tells us how a sentence should be composed. The subject-verb-object rule mentioned above is called a "descriptive" rule, meaning it just explains how sentences actually are composed. What's the difference? English-speakers were creating SVO sentences before the rule; the rule is merely an observation. Think about how awkward the following sentences are

Jim the ball throwing.
The ball threw Jim.

The first is out because of the word order, and the second is weird because an inanimate object acted on a person. These are considered violations of the rule because they don't actually make sense if you try and interpret them as they are - they require work to put them right. On the other hand, look what happens when you mess with prepositions

Nashville is the city from which Nancy came.
Nashville is the city Nancy came from.

No meaning is lost between those two sentences, and in fact it takes more effort to misread the second one, which violates the "rule," than it does to read it and comprehend it. I bring this up to make one major point: Go with clarity. If you think your sentence actually makes sense and you think it sounds good, don't worry about people who say you're violating a rule.

The other idea I want to convey boils down to Sometimes don't go with clarity. You have to be more careful with this because, if it is misused, you end up destroying the story. But think - what kinds of situations exist in which even rules like Subject-Verb-Object can be violated? One that comes to mind involves characters whose primary languages are fundamentally different from English, like Japanse, which is basically Subject-Object-Verb. If those characters haven't had much experience speaking English, they may occasionally put their words in the wrong order. Another example is small children - they love playing with language and seeing what kinds of things they can put together. Excited people sometimes say weird stuff, as do people who are focusing on too many things at once. Think about what kinds of grammatical idiosyncrasies your characters have and work with them when it is appropriate.

Remember, grammar serves you, not the other way around. If rules (descriptive or otherwise) interfere with the story you want to write, throw them away. You're a writer. You're allowed to do that. Be clear. If you need a character to say something unclear, just make sure you have solid reasons for it.

Challenge: Take three characters and put them in a plausible situation (airport, bus, etc). For your characters and the narrator, pick unique styles of speech. Some examples include American South, New England, Urban, Broken, Stuttering, and Whatever You Think "Normal" Is. See what happens.

Choosing the Right Words

In a work of fiction, every word matters. I mean this in a very literal sense - every single noun, verb, adjective, and preposition makes a difference in the way the story is understood. "Hate" and "loathe" may be considered synonyms, but when only one of those words carries the idea of "disgust" with it, it is important that you choose the one that best fits your situation.

"Oh come on, Stan," you say, "the reader doesn't care! You're just being nitpicky." Both of those statements may well be true, but that doesn't excuse the writer from practicing precision. Imagine a violinist in an orchestra saying, "Well, I'm not in tune, but no one will notice." There is no way that would fly - even tone deaf people would consider that attitude highly unprofessional because it aims for something less than perfection. The same is true for writers. If you're shooting for "good enough," you aren't giving your work the proper attention and ultimately failing your readers.

Okay, so we've got the gloomy stuff out of the way...now what? Well, the first step, as with everything else, is "Write the damn story." Step three is going to be "Repeat step two." Step two is going to be tedious.

Start reading your work, one sentence at a time. Look at each sentence one word at a time and ask yourself two questions: 1) Is this word necessary? and 2) Is this the right word?

For the first question, you're looking at word economy. Even if you prefer a more verbose style, you still need to consider whether you need the words you choose. Take a look at the following paragraph:

The house was empty when William returned home. "Damn, where is everyone?" he muttered irritatedly to himself. He dropped the family's mail in a pile on the counter. They can sort their own mail, he thought to himself. He kicked off his shoes into the closet, then went in his room and collapsed on his bed.

That gets the job done, sure, but it needs to be thinned out. We can get rid of "home" in the first sentence because the verb "returned" implies that he lives in "the house." In the second sentence, chop "irritatedly" because William says "damn" and mutters, axe "to himself" because, well, there is no one around for him to mutter to. The third sentence can do without "family's" because a family is implied by the next sentence; "in a pile" because, again, the rest of the sentence implies what we're cutting. Italics are typically used to represent thoughts, so that can stand alone (and again, "to himself" can go because he really can't think to someone else). Finally, the last sentence can lose "off" and "in his room"; the former becomes unnecessary and the latter is implied. The result:

The house was empty when William returned. "Damn, where is everyone?" he muttered. He dropped the mail on the counter. They can sort their own mail. He kicked his shoes into the closed, then went and collapsed on his bed.

Much better! I think you get the idea, so let's move on to choosing the right words. This time, I will present you with two slightly different passages:

Allison was about to switch off her lane when yet another customer began unloading merchandise on the conveyor belt. "Find everything you were looking for?" she asked, running the items over the scanner and placing them in a bag.
The man mumbled an affirmation, watching the prices blink on the display. "Hang on, those shirts are on sale. Get it right."

And:

Allison was about to switch off her lane when yet another asshole started unloading merch on the belt. "Find everything?" she started scanning and bagging.
The man grunted, eyeing the prices on the display. "Hey, those shirts are on sale. Get it right, bitch."

The same action occurs in each passage, but they have distinctly different feels to them. This is the sort of thing a writer needs to pay attention to. Don't shrug anything off as "close enough," or you will reach a point where the story doesn't come across the way it was intended.

Challenge: Write a few sentences, then grab a thesaurus (or visit thesaurus.com) and start playing with synonyms to see how they change what you've written.

Suffering Through Revision

First off, I'd like to apologize for being so late with this week's update. I blame assorted network and homework problems for this. Now, onward to this week's topic!

Revision, to many, is the least appealing aspect of creative writing. After creating characters, building an environment and breathing life into the scenario, the idea of going through and making changes seems too much like work. The whole point of writing is to have fun, isn't it?

No. The lazy person writes for fun. The writer writes because it is a fundamental part of who he or she is. For the writer, revision is something worth suffering through because it serves the end goal, which is to produce excellent - not good, excellent - writing.

Admittedly, my own revision ethic is weak, but I think I know a few things that are worth sharing at this point.

The most important thing is to let the work sit for a while after it is finished. How long depends on the length of the story - a short story may only need a week or two, where a longer body could require a few months. In the meantime, it's a good idea move on to other projects. The idea is to get your mind off your finished work so when you go back to it, you will see it with fresh eyes. What, then, should you be looking at?

Your Use of Words - I don't mean whether or not you have "proper" grammar. Have you chosen the right words for the situation? Think about the differences between words like "anger" and "rage." The basic meaning is the same, but they tend to have different connotations. Also, consider your characters' dialogue. Do the words they use reflect their personality, or does everyone say "darn it!" because you're afraid to make some of them say "shit"?

Scene and Summary - Do you spend too much time detailing your characters actions, or do you have a tendency to blast through parts of the story that could use more attention? Ask yourself, "Does this add to the story?" If you are questioning details, make sure they are relevant. No one wants to sit through a long description of a room and a lenghthy conversation if it doesn't pertain to the story. If you're looking at a summary, make sure you don't gloss over events that will develop the overall story. For example, you might tell the reader that your main guy "worked for the phone company for twenty years, only taking five sick days in that time." While that may be enough to show that the character is a hard worker, it would develop him even further to explain the circumstances around those sick days (were they consecutive? was he the one who was sick, or was it someone else? did he do something impulsive that he normally wouldn't do?).

Scenery and Symbolism - Look for objects that appear in your story and think of ways to make them somewhat consistent throughout the story. Suppose the protagonist goes to visit her mother several times in the course of the story. If the first scene includes, say, a photo album on the end table, make sure that photo album is present in subsequent visits, or else mention its absence. Show the page it is open to (if it is open). Work with these details to enhance what is going on with your story, just don't be too heavy-handed with it - keep it subtle.

Consistency - This is key. Get a notebook or new text file and take notes on what your characters say and do and what history you reveal and keep an eye on any changes that occur as the story progresses. The longer the work work is, the more likely you are to screw up your continuity - it happens. You come up with better ideas as you go, and they weasel their way in without your knowledge. That's just how it goes. Your job is to go back and fix those problems.

Revision is brutal, but you don't have to go it alone: Ask other people to read your drafts and offer their feedback. Outside input can be quite valuable in determining the story's weak points. That's not to say you should just change everything your readers don't like, you just need to honestly consider the opinions of others because they might see something that you overlooked.

So, let's recap. Revision is suffering but necessary. Don't worry too much about grammar until you've fixed problems with word choice, scene and summary, setting and symbolism, and consistency. Listen to others. The last, and probably most painful thing you'll hear today, is the last step in the revision process: rewrite and repeat. That's right, there's a good chance that you may need to start with a blank page and write the story again with the vast knowledge you gained in the revision process. Then revise it again. It may require more rewrites, but remember, it's okay to cry.

Challenge: Write a short story (keep it under five pages for this exercise). Let it sit for a day, then revise it, focusing on one area we discussed today. Wait another day, then look at a different area. Repeat until you are satisfied.

Thanksgiving Challenge

This week's update is going to be short and sweet on account of the holiday. Stay safe this weekend, and don't let the leftovers get nasty.

Challenge: Think about the people you have encountered this weekend, whether it be family or the people who camped out at Best Buy Thursday night, and create some character sketches from them.

Mining For Ideas

Every now and again a good idea strikes with such force that the writer feels as though they are channeling the idea from some mysterious cosmic fiction-fountain. The rest of the time, however, coming up with a good idea is a pain in the ass and can be quite discouraging. This week, I'd like to talk about the brainstorming process and how to take seemingly "stupid" ideas and turn them into interesting stories.

I've found that the best place for me to start is with a "what if..." question. This can range from something as mundane as "What if I switched laundry detergents for a month?" to something as far-fetched as "What if an extra-terrestrial being is monitoring my use of plastic knives in conjunction with buttering my toast?"

Now, it's very easy to dismiss these questions with a chuckle. After all, laundry detergent is hardly significant in the grand scheme of things, right? Right... unless you make it otherwise. Think about it: What are the differences between two laundry detergents? The biggies are color and scent, but the amount that is used could vary as could the thickness. But again, who really cares? Perhaps your clothes do.

Okay, so this is still sounding ridiculous. "Why the hell would clothes care about what detergent is used on them?" This is where things can start to become interesting. Why would they care? That is the central question, and it is the path to your story.

(In case you are wondering, there are many reasons why an assortment of shirts and pants would care about laundry detergents. Perhaps they are living entities, and some members have specific allergies, and the detergent aggrivates them. Or maybe the clothing exists in the future or in an alternate universe, and is outfitted with several nanomachines that are responsible for regulating body temperature and maintaining camoflage. The wrong detergent could cause something to glitch out, resulting in any number of strange situations.)

The main thing to keep in mind during this process is that any idea, no matter how stupid it seems, can be fashioned into something relatively interesting. It just takes some work.

Challenge: Take your dumbest idea and think of what implications it might have in the real world, then write that down.

Developing Personality

A character's personality is something that develops over the course of the writing process. It's a lot like getting to know another person - it's impossible to know a whole lot about them before you've seen them in a variety of situations. In the prewriting stage, don't worry about brainstorming a full-fledged character; just stick with the basics we discussed two weeks ago - the immediate backstory and the important details of the characters' relationships with each other. Your chief concern is getting the story finished, even if it sucks.

Because it will suck, and it will most likely be due to your characters. That's where revision comes in. Your second and third drafts (and beyond) are where you start fixing things, including the focus of this week's talk: personality.

Do you have your character sketches handy? Get those out. If you had any ideas during the writing, add those if you haven't already. You should have a rough idea of what the character is like - adjectives like "angry" or "melancholy" should give you a basic filter through which all other details should pass. The next step is to take the information in your character sketch and ask, "How does this interact with the character's personality?"

Let's take a look. Suppose your character sheet tells you that your main character is bald. If he is fundamentally insecure, then he'll probably wear a hat and become defensive if attention is drawn to his head. If he's more secure, he may think he looks like a badass and try to act tough. Of course, it could be an interesting twist for a guy who is insecure about something else to think his baldness makes him look scary, so don't rule anything out without giving it real consideration.

Another thing to keep in mind are your character's hobbies, as they can be quite revealing. Think about the differences between things like collecting stamps and fixing old cars. What is it about your character that makes one hobby preferable to another? Does he have exceptional patience? Is he organized or disorganized? Is he creative or destructive? Try and imagine your character involved in different activities and see how it unfolds.

Finally, think about personality quirks - little things that bring a character to life. These can be anything from fear of clowns to obsession with the freshness of fruit. Work these idiosyncrasies into the story; the characters will be far more interesting with them than without them.

Challenge: Take a character you are working on and put them in a variety of challening situations (traffic jam, power outage, in line behind a screaming kid at the grocery store, for example) to see how he or she will react.

What Good is Prewriting?

Last week's discussion of character touched on something that I think I should deal with more fully before I move on. Developing a character's backstory is just one aspect of prewriting, which is essentially "what you do before you write the story."

Before this goes too far, I want to be clear that it is perfectly legitimate to begin work on the story before stepping back and engaging in what we call "prewriting." When an idea strikes, it may do so with action or dialogue, and there is no reason to forego getting that down simply because it would be "out of order."

The main idea of prewriting is getting the rough idea out of your head and into a notebook or text file. This frees up your mind to develop the idea further since you no longer have to worry about keeping everything in your memory. And that's really the point of prewriting, to get major aspects of your story worked out at the beginning so there is less to worry about in revision.

Obviously character is one of those major aspects that needs to be addressed - personalities, backstory, physical appearance, and relationships are all things that need to be considered ahead of time to make the story believable. But character isn't the only thing that needs to be considered.

It is important for the writer to be aware of the story's setting - the locations the characters inhabit and the props they interact with. The setting has tremendous potential for symbolism, but in the prewriting phase the writer only needs a general idea of the way things are set up. For example, if the story involves three characters on a road trip, the size of the car is more important to consider in the prewriting phase than the vehicle's color or the scenery. Three people driving across the country in a Volkswagen Golf are going to behave much differently than three people in a conversion van because of space difference, but are not likely to be affected by whether the exterior paint is blue or black.

The writer also needs to have a loose handle on where the story is going. This is an area that I strongly recommend against spending a lot of time on in the prewriting phase because it is likely to undergo the most drastic changes throughout the writing process. Still, it helps to have an idea about the situations that the characters may face in the story, even if those situations ultimately become irrelevant because of choices the characters make.

Basically the point of all of this is to establish a framework to build the rest of the story around. It will make it easier to maintain consistency within the work if the world and the characters are laid out for easy reference. Ultimately, this will reduce the stress that comes with revision because there will be fewer mistakes to correct.

Challenge: Create an environment. Then create two or three characters. Write a rough outline of what will happen if those characters are dropped into that environment.

Getting Started With Character

Character is a tricky element to work with in a piece of fiction, but it's the most important. The success of a story hinges upon the believability of its characters. The question, then, is "How do you write a believable character?" The answer involves a number of things, too many for one entry, so we'll just start at the beginning.

Most story ideas allow for a wide range of character types. The first step in creating your characters is to narrow your selection. Suppose you want to write about college life. That is a subject that could involve people of all ages and from any background. Get a little more specific. We'll talk about plot and setting in detail in the future, but consider those things. Who would be present and participating? If your idea involves an introductory Algebra class, you're looking at one teacher and twenty to thirty students. Let's say our idea involves four people meeting for lunch - two students, one professor, and one graduate.

Now stop for a minute. I mean it, this is important. You need to ask yourself why they are having lunch together. Your answer isn't going to be "because they are hungry," or "because they haven't seen each other in a while." Those might be the characters' reasons, and they are plenty sufficient for the reader, but as the writer you need to know much more than that. These four people need to have a reason to get together, otherwise their interaction won't be believable.

Start with the students. Make one male and one female, just for kicks. How do they know each other? One option is that they are dating. Another is that they have a class together. Maybe they are siblings who are following in a parent's footsteps. What are they majoring in? What do they want to be? Do they know yet? These are all things that will affect the way they act together and around others.

Moving along, what about the professor? Let's have a female professor. How old is she? What is she teaching? Is it what she wants to do, or did she get her Ph.D. at a time when her field was full? Have the students taken her class, or does she know them some other way (friend of family, distant relative, etc)? Know these things - again, they will affect her relationships with other characters.

Finally, the alumnus. Why is he in town? Maybe he lives there, or maybe his out-of-state company transferred him there. Or maybe he's just passing through for the holidays. How does he know he professor? Was he one of her students at one point? Maybe they are related - he could be her son, her brother or her father. Maybe they're married or divorced.

What's important in all of this is the common ground that these characters are meeting on. Obviously the college is a part of that, but it isn't enough. A writer needs to know the specific reason that the characters are being brought together. "Random chance" isn't good enough for the writer - each character has his or her own reasons for being where they are at the time the story takes place. Those reasons need to be known to the writer, even if the reader is never aware of them, because they are what make the character's presence in the story realistic.

Remember, this is their story as much as it is yours, so make sure you know who they are.

Challange: Take one or more characters from something you are working on and write a page about what they were up to ten years ago.

The Discipline of Writing Fiction

The most important thing to understand about creative writing is that it requires effort on the part of the writer.

Yes, that's right - effort. In my personal experience, I encounter an increasing number of people who shy away from this notion. Writing multiple drafts, incorporating symbolism, hell, even thinking prior to sitting down with a pen or word-processor and "just writing" are repugnant ideas to some aspiring writers. They claim to struggle with writing, but when the idea of effort is put forth, they say, "I just don't work that way."

And they don't work that way. They don't even work. They have just enough innate ability that they don't feel like they need to do anything to develop it. That is wrong and it is arrogant. Writers are not somehow exempt from dedication to their craft. Athletes don't prep for marathons by sitting on their asses, musicians don't play good shows if they let their instruments sit in the attic. Why should writing be any different?

Challenge: Come up with an idea. Write it down. Keep it.