Literary DNA

In Greek mythology a chimera is an animal that is part lion and part goat. Myth has other hybrids too, think of centaurs, both horse and man share the same DNA. Well, it appears that once again myth is a sign post to a larger truth. 

An article in last year’s Scientific American (I know, I know, I’m behind on my reading) explains how cells from a fetus can cross from the placenta into the mother.  And those cells remain in the mother, becoming part of her DNA, for the rest of her life. Apparently this is true even for babies who die before birth. The mother still carries part of them. 

So what does this have to do with writing, you ask? I’ve been thinking about our literary DNA and the way we carry the many parts of past inside us. Everyone does.  But for writers, their pasts become part of their literary DNA expressed in the themes and voice of their works.

Hopefully writers don't write about the same event over and over. It’s usually much more subtle. Events leave fingerprints.  And those fingerprints are left on the stories we write. Think about themes: redemption, abandonment, the fragility of hope, how to save a life. While characters and events change  in each story, familiar themes run through them like DNA.  Why? Because they are drawn from the same deep well. 

Here’s an interesting fact about fetal cells found in the mother. They can be healing. They can actively fight off disease. I write to tell a story, but also to explore and wrestle with questions that I don’t have answers for. I tackle those questions over and over. And in the writing I have glimpses of truth, and I make connections and, at the best times, it is healing.

Dating a Book

It’s been a very long time, maybe a millennium, since I went on a first date. That’s the way it is with married folks. But I can remember that time in my life. The getting to know you questions, listening with your whole body, really paying attention, noticing the details. And friends always had commentary. They had strong opinions about who was and was not worthy and why. Sometimes it was really smart to listen to friends, other times I wondered. Get a group of friends together and see how a strong opinion, whether based in fact or not, can influence the whole group. Soon everyone is agreeing each other because we like to belong, to be part of something. We like people to agree with us. 

I was thinking about dating when I was looking at some book recommendations from friends on a well known reader site. And I began to wonder if the same group think phenomenon was true for books too. And then I came across a post by Laura Fredericks on the site Writer Unboxed.

“…authors can pay for reviews, readers can gang up on an author, and it’s been shown that up to a third of reviews are fake. Like also tends to beget like in the book review space. If there a lot of five star reviews, then the five star reviews keep rolling in. Insert a few one star reviews, and the ball rolls in the other direction. Mob mentality is no way to choose a book.”

Our thinking appeared to be in sync. I have a few trusted friends I listen to when selecting a new book to read. We have the same tastes much of the time, but not always. There are tried and true authors I go back to again and again, like a soft well-worn shirt. But many of my favorite books have been discovered quite by accident when browsing in a bookstore or even on line when I’ve been able to take the time to listen to the voice. As a reader, I can’t always articulate what magic draws me into a story. It’s not just genre, some fantasy I love and some, well not so much. I can’t look for a character type.  I’m not always wooed by the same kind of voice.In fact, one of the most gratifying reads is when I am captivated by a book I never suspected I might fall for. And as for that pretty cover, it may catch my eye, but that doesn’t mean I’ll be taking it home.

A great example for me was the book, I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith. The cover wasn’t appealing to me. I hadn’t heard any gossip about it, hadn’t read the reviews, didn't even recognize the author. Then I read a page and found Cassandra Mortman sitting in the kitchen sink.

And when the magic is right....I like to think that there is a dialog that happens between reader and book. At a particular time a book is speaking just to me. I am its intended audience in this place and time. And time stands still.

As a reader, how do you choose your books?

8 Key Ways to Add Layers of Depth to Your Scenes

By Jordan Dane
@JordanDane
 

I’ve been working with college-aged writers recently and noticed that many of them rush a scene by sending it to me too soon, as if they’re in a race. My job is to get them to be their own critic and not settle for mediocre, even if it means they won't get a grade. To get noticed in the slush pile of an agent or editor, today’s author must bring something new to the table that is uniquely from them and their storytelling ability.

Using an example of constructing a house, they send me the basic framework, but the finishing touches are lacking. Is the dialogue there? Check. Is there a beginning, middle and end to the writing sample? Check. Did I meet the bare essence of the assignment? Check. But a good house needs walls and all the finishing touches that make it feel like a home. Well-balanced scenes can be those finishing touches that make a house a home. They can add a balance of color/setting, voice, emotion, and memorable characters that doesn’t slow the pace down and make your work stand out as unique, too.

Here are 8 key ways to layer your scene with more depth and make them stand out:

1.) MAKE YOUR VOICE UNIQUE - Pick a POV for the character who will tell the story of the scene and give him or her a unique voice. That means you must see through their eyes and add their senses and opinions to the scene. You can talk about what’s in a room, as if it were a forgettable inventory, OR you can add color by having your character say things like, “the dump smelled like cat piss.” Also give each character their own unique voice, using the same care as you craft each one.

2.) USE ACTION - Show your character taking part in the scene, rather than merely talking about the emotion they’re feeling. A guy who is forced to fight when he’d rather cut and run like a coward will behave differently than a guy who wants to be there and do the right thing. The coward might hang back or urge someone else to take his place or fake an injury to get out of what he really doesn’t want to do. The brave guy would take lead or protect the others by shielding them with his body, for example.

3.) USE DEEP POV - Set your character’s deepest thoughts in italics as “Deep POV” to give the reader insight into your character’s internal motivation. These could be expletives or funny one liners that he /she would mutter under their breath or in their head. The right Deep POV touches can add punch.

4.) WEAVE IN BACK STORY SPARINGLY - Know your character and their back story so you can slip it into the story seamlessly. Not many readers today tolerate a back story dump. There’s not many ways to disguise it either. But weaving a back story over a longer timeframe of your story is a good way to build upon your character’s history without slowing the pace—and it can create a mystery element. Other characters (who have a past with him or her) can fill in the gaps in a more interesting way.

5.) PICK THE ESSENCE OF EMOTION - Emotion is vital to make a scene memorable. Pick out the best images or set the stage in actions that best highlight the emotion you’re trying to weave into the scene. Add only the essential images. This could be a man talking about the small of a woman’s back, at a certain time of day when her body entices the shadows, or his memory of the first time he’d ever noticed how perfect that gentle curve had always been. The sensuality can be there, without overwriting the description of her, plus it conveys his enduring love for her in a sensual way. I'm not a poet, but I often think that good writers have the soul of a poet in them when I read certain passages that make me stop and reread them.

6.) PICK THE MOST PROMINENT PHYSICAL TRAITS - Beauty is in the small details. Today’s average reader may not tolerate an author describing a character in great detail because that would slow the pace, but try picking out the most essential characteristics of your character and pepper your scene with those images to suggest traits, rather than spell them out. Instead of describing how thin a guy is, add color by saying his suit hangs on him as if he were a human coat hanger.

7.) GIVE THE SCENE STRUCTURE – I think of scenes as mini-stories that will propel the story along with 1-3 plot points infused into every scene. They have a beginning, a middle and an end so that the characters in that scene take a journey and move the story forward. Internal monologue should not be repeated. Have your character discover or learn something about themselves during the scene, for example.

8.) ADD SETTING THAT ENHANCES YOUR SCENE – Any scene can be enhanced with the right setting. The bare bones of two characters talking in a study can be enhanced if there is a menacing storm rumbling outside, a loud crackling fire in the hearth, and a musty old library smell in the air from the countless alchemy books that lined the shelves, an extensive collection of magic books that spanned centuries, set in a mansion in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Classic.

I’ve mentioned 8 key ways to add depth to your scenes. Can you add more to this list? Please share your thoughts and what has worked for you.