Author’s Gab, Reader Talk.
A letter to you, the reader, so that you can finally figure out what I’m thinking.
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This Month: Asking for advice
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“There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.”
—W. Somerset Maugham
Dear Reader,
Recently, I rewrote an outline of a book I wrote a long time ago and lost: “Tipsey and His Brothers”. The book was based on the Hungarian fairy tale, “Boots and His Brothers”, which I modified to my own, longer version of the tale. The story has changed a little bit from when I was ten years old, but I wanted to keep the basic frame the same and expand upon it from there. As I’ve grown, the characters have grown and I have begun to know each one a little more intimately. And, as the characters have grown, I have begun to ask myself why certain events would even happen in the first place.
For instance, how did the old man, who is actually the young king, come to be cursed and bewitched? We find him in the middle of the forest, his castle turned into a cottage, with a magic tree and well as the keys to unlocking his curse. I, of course, added stirring the water with a spoon as a key to breaking the curse in addition to the original items of ax, shovel and rock, from which water flows to create a spring, to my version of the fairy tale. So, why the extra item? And, who was the king before the curse? Who does he want to become after it? How has he been living in the mean time? When was the curse cast and how long did it last? And, who has been ruling in the king’s disappearance?
Or, who is that nice lady who tips the young lad, known as Tipsey in my original tale, off to the king’s location in the forest? How does she know this is the fortune the “barrel man” was talking about on the road? And, what does a cursed king have to do with a fortune anyway?
More importantly, in my original tale, Peter and Rudolf, Tipsey’s brothers, are quite mean to said “barrel man” on the road and knock over his barrels of beer. After that, they basically disappear from the story, doing their own thing and oblivious to what Tipsey is up to. That doesn’t differ too greatly from the original fairy tale, where Boots’ brothers basically show up and fail at their appointed tasks; however, over the years, Peter and Rudolf have become their own persons in my mind, developed with their own distinct personalities as supporting characters alongside Tipsey, who I recently renamed Conrad.
Peter is the oldest, the strongest and the responsible family man who looks out for his brothers and family and runs the family farm with his father. Rudolf is the single, heavy-set, fun-loving tavernkeeper who is knee-deep in his career of running the restaurant and bar and loves a girl who is just out of reach. He could never quite get behind farming and pursued his own interests of creating a good time for others. He is supportive of his brothers and family nonetheless, but doesn’t see much sense in responsibility and family life like Peter does. Both are good men at heart and care about Conrad, the youngest, who was born with a disabled leg. So, it’s harder for me to see that scene playing out now the same way than as when I was younger. What would make two good men so blatantly disregard basic civility and knock over those barrels of beer? And, why then, would they just basically disappear from the main plot line afterwards?
Or, there’s the king’s daughter, a princess who wasn’t affected by the curse, who is Conrad’s age. Who is she? And, what happened to her mother? What happened to the king’s staff in the curse? Who cast it? And, more importantly, how does magic exist in our world, since the story takes place in northern Switzerland in basically medieval times? I have decided on Bavaria as the location for the king’s castle, which narrows down where the journey takes place, which was previously undecided, at least.
So, you see, the story is evolving. As this happens, I added a character, an antagonist, which pushes the plot a little further past breaking the king’s curse itself for a confrontation with the villain. I also added the existence of his two half-dragon, shape-shifting sons and his dragon, shapeshifting wife, who is very similar to how Maleficent can change into a dragon in her form. I have added also the presence of an “Angela-the-herbalist-like” character for the woman who tips off Conrad to the king’s presence, a nod to my favorite author, Christopher Paolini, who I shook hands with and said I would write this fantasy book all those years ago at a book signing for “Brisingr”. And so, we are very much in new territory now with this book than I was before.
Writers, there comes a time when every writer must ask other writers for advice, myself included. Nobody’s saying you have to write that book alone, or whatever it is you’re writing. It’s always good to ask for help from other writers, because it amps up your writing. You do very much have to be careful who to ask. It’s about knowing who to ask, because that person will indeed affect your writing. I always recommend only asking other writers, people you know who are in the profession or who you know you have a good creative shared mind with, for advice on your work. That is, if you know who to ask.
In my case, I’m not quite sure who to ask. Ask Google? Ask Writers Digest? Ask my English Department professors?
So, I’m asking you about my book. And, maybe someone out there will drop me a line in the comments: How do you deal with an original story that evolves? I’ve never been good at dealing with character dossiers, though I’m told that’s the way to go on these things. Because, if you build strong characters, you get strong outcomes. Do I need to fill out character dossiers in this case? If so, where do I begin on that, what’s a good dossier and how do you go about doing it? And, at what point does story development end and you actually start writing the thing?
I also plan on redoing some of my illustrations, perhaps the most time-consuming part of the original book. But, bottom line, let’s get the story down first. Always ask for advice when you need help and never be ashamed. And, so goes this month’s column.
Drop me a line. A good person to get “writing your first book” advice from would also be good. Thanks in advance.
Think about that. ~
Sincerely, Your Author,
Jessica A. McLean
The Rose 