Psychology 101, Dominoes, and Answers to the $64,000 Question

Congratulations to Ellen Sepnafski who won Eleanora Tate's book, "Just an Overnight Guest."

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For those of you who are writers, no doubt you have parried the question which friends and relations pose: 

"What's taking you so long to finish your book?"

This question, often accompanied by skeptical looks and eyebrow raises, may or may not accompany genuine interest and bemusement.  

I have heard it more times than I care to remember.

(If you aren't familiar with my YA historical novel Half-Truths, you can find a pitch and relevant blog posts here.)

I've been fortunate to work with Rebecca Petruck as my book doctor/editor/and all-around cheerleader. As I reflected on her feedback on a 34-page outline for Draft #4, I realized that her comments fall into three categories: psychology (deep characterization), dominoes (story events), and plot. Or,

     Psychology + Dominoes = Plot

(For a great explanation of plot and story, see this blog from the amazing folks at Writer Unboxed.)

So for your benefit (and for any of my relatives who happen to be reading this blog) here are some of Rebecca's suggestions which I need to incorporate into my next draft:

Psychology 101: Characters must always act true to their personality and the time period and/or story world. Rebecca is gifted at seeing deeply into who a character is and how he or she will act.  

1. Kate's upper-class grandmother would NEVER ask her granddaughter to fix a barn in her Myers Park back yard. (And yes, my Charlotte friends--there were barns for animals in Myers Park in 1950. But fixing them would have been the help's job. Not the family's.)
2. Lillie's parents would do whatever they could to help Lillie get an education. Lillie's mother wouldn't be jealous of Lillie's dreams; she would fear her daughter's dreams might take her far from home. (This observation was actually expressed by one of my African-American experts. Girls who went to college in the 50's stayed close to home in case they were needed.) Lillie's father would also want what is best for his daughter, including trying to protect her from disappointment.
3. Kate's family wouldn't have moved off the farm in South Carolina unless it had been sold. Aging relatives who took them in years earlier would demand a "we'll stay here and help" mentality. 
4. Lillie's anger would not be in realizing that she has "white blood" in her. She knows that already. It would be her connection to her employer's family that would send her over the edge.

Dominoes: Like dominoes falling, story events are supposed to naturally trigger other events, as shown in this image from  photobucket:

1. When Lillie passes there MUST always be the risk that she will be seen by her black friends. 
2. If Lillie steals something from her employer, she's got to be caught with it. (Like showing a gun in a scene. It has to go off. Note: I took this scene out. Not only was it too difficult to figure out how she'd be found out, it was historically unlikely, and not in keeping with her personality  See points above in Psychology 101.)
3. If Kate's father is in the Korean conflict, his safety will be of great concern throughout the book and will affect Kate's choices and actions.
4. If Laura's mother's arc is contributing to the family's nest egg, then how will her growing independence from her mother-in-law impact Kate?

Plot:

Rebecca and one of her works of art:
my new plot chart.

1. If this story is about an unlikely friendship between Lillie and Kate, then they need to meet as soon as possible in the book. In other words, that can't wait until Chapter 4. 
2. If you open with something dramatic like a scene in a funeral home, you've got to revisit that place later in the book. 
3. If Shirley was Kate's friend when she'd visited her grandmother previously, then she wouldn't reject her out right.
4. If finding a broken Blue Willow teacup in a grave rocks the girls' friendship, than it needs to happen much earlier in the story. 

Pinned from brabournefarm.blogspot.com
Although an unearthed teacup would not
look like this, it is an imaginative way to
re-purpose pieces of Blue Willow china.

So to answer that $64,000 question: it takes time to figure out how I will incorporate changes like these into my manuscript, and time to write it. The good news is that on January 1, Rebecca gave me a thumbs up on my recent plot outline. It started out looking like this,

but ended up looking much neater and organized. 

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I'm starting the new year with a new vision for my book, and a few answers to my $64,000 question. 

How about you? How have you answered this question before? What are you kicking the year off with? 

Chicken Boy and a Giveaway!

I would like to think that I would have enjoyed Frances O'Roark Dowell's book, Chicken Boy, even if it wasn't set in North Carolina. 

But it sure helped to be able to picture the rural farm areas around the triangle region of North Carolina that are slowly being gobbled up by suburban development. Fifteen years ago I visited a goat farm in Durham that no longer exists. 

But I digress.

Like North Carolina itself, the author skillfully intertwines modern people and places with Southern folk and settings. 

Tobin Mccauley, the 12-year-old protagonist, is a lonely outcast in 7th grade. His mother has been dead five years and no one in his dysfunctional family ever talks about her. Tobin longs to live in a "normal" home--one where  his father talks to him and his family does more than eat together in front of the television. His best friend is his wacky Granny, who loves trucks, fishing, and her privacy; but who is also grieving the loss of her daughter.

Into this picture walks a new boy in school. Henry not only befriends Tobin, but encourages him to join him in his chicken-raising venture--despite the fact that Tobin hates chickens ever since watching Granny ring one's neck with her bare hands. 

Through Henry's friendly perseverance, Tobin sheds his skin of his old self, discovers he likes chickens, realizes that he has athletic and academic abilities, and begins to have friends at school. Henry is a powerful secondary character who comes alongside of Tobin, accepts him for who he was, and nudges him out of isolation.    

I also loved Granny. Since I listened to this book on CD, I can't quote any of her lines, but trust me, she is a Southern Toyota-truck-fixing character you won't forget. Other secondary characters including Tobin's foster parents, school teacher, social workers, and family therapist are also skillfully portrayed. 

O'Roark Dowell created original, quirky characters that stick in the reader's mind. Do you know a grandmother who drives up on the sidewalk in front of her grandson's middle school? Or a boy who wants to prove that chickens have souls? Or a 7th-grader who notices his teacher smells like lemons and likes to sniff the oil and grease on a tool? These people were real.

Vivid details bring Chicken Boy's characters to life.  As I move into my next round of revision of Half-Truths, I want to bring more depth to my characters. In order to do that, I've decided to use my daybook to start recording random characteristics of people I meet and know. 

Watch out. You know that quirky jerk of your head or the way you fling your hands out when you talk? You never know. I might just be watching...and taking notes about you. 

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AND...Frances O'Roark Dowell is donating either a copy of this book or audio book to one lucky reader! Leave me a comment by the evening of July 27th (with your email address if you are new to this blog) and you might win!