Revisiting the Basics: Throughline

photo courtesy google images

"The best fiction has a line of compulsion as strong as a hawser running through it. The reader is compelled because the characters are compelled, each equipped with a 'through-line,' an actor's term for what he 'wants' overall, what he 'wants' in a particular scene. These through-lines are the strands of the hawser, but, complicating the figure, they run at cross-purposes with each other and with circumstances, creating conflict and opposition." --Oakley Hall, The Art and Craft of Novel Writing

...hawser (n.):  a large, stout rope or thin steel cable, used for mooring or towing ships... 

The term "hawser" was a new one to me, not being familiar with boating or, on a bigger scale, towing ships. But now it's a word I've added to my vocabulary. Can't you just see how the braided strands of rope work together to make a stronger product, strong enough to pull a ship, keep it headed in the right direction, and help get it safely to its final destination?

Mr. Hall has certainly come across an apt metaphor for a story's throughline, a subject I've taken more of an interest in following the latest critique of my manuscript, one in which the throughline was mentioned as needing strengthening (thanks again, Cathy :-)

And so I went back to the basics again--to review, chew on, digest how to make improved revisions to my story's throughline and, ultimately, the story itself. I found the following sources helpful:

From Nancy Lamb in her book, The Art and Craft of Storytelling (p. 72): "The best way to travel the length of your story is to grab hold of the throughline--the driving force of the book that you set up in the opening pages--and refuse to let go."

Again from Ms. Lamb (p. 76): "From beginning to end, the throughline is the constant in your story. You can have any number of other things happening in the book. But the matter of what drives the hero and compels him to act is never in question because the throughline is there to maintain the reader's attention and to pull him through the story."

She also elaborates on these thoughts in the online Writer's Digest article What Is The Throughline of a Novel (And Why It's Important You Have One). Here she says, "Some writers think of the throughline as the embodiment of the main character's conscious desire. The character knows what he wants and knows that he wants it. This personal hunger, shared by the viewer, drives the story and shapes the narrative."

Author Nancy Kress, interviewed at Writer UnBoxed, was asked "What is a 'throughline' and how can you use it to make writing the middle of a manuscript easier?" Her answer: "Draw an upside down 'U.' Left-hand leg (call it A) is the state of the character and the situation at the start of the story. The right-hand leg (B) is the story's end, where character and situation have changed (if they haven't, you usually don't have much of a story.) This is the throughline. Your task is to create and relate all the incidents that occur to plausibly turn A into B." Other writers have described the throughline as an invisible thread that binds your story together.

So a throughline? A hawser or rope that pulls the reader through the story. A line of compulsion. The story's driving force. A character's personal hunger. An upside down U that shows the character's growth, change. An invisible thread that binds it all together.

How to strengthen that hawser, that's the question! Ms. Lamb gives insight on the subject in a section of her book subtitled, "Take a Ride on the Throughline," where she lists a series of questions to consider including:

• What is the primary throughline of my story?
• What are the secondary throughlines of my story?
• What does my hero want, why can't she have it, what is the driving force that makes her do, endure, overcome?
• How does each throughline pull the reader through the story?

And so another revision calls. You can bet I'm going to cast that hawser out there in hopes of pulling a stronger story through the waters to its final port and make it a more engaging ride for the reader at the same time. Let's hope!

How would you describe "throughline"? Any tips on how to capitalize on it so your WIP sails forward with purpose, and not drift into troubled waters?

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On Generosity, Critiques, and Valued Feedback

July 2018

"You may wish you knew then what you know now, but remember sometimes...the things you know now were learned from what you didn't know then." --Terri Amshey

Can we speak of generosity? I have a couple of people to thank. Thanks to an agent who gave of her time and resources to read my manuscript and give me much needed advice. Thanks to a friend whom I've come to know and appreciate through blogging who generously offered to read my work and then took precious time to offer a detailed critique that far exceeds anything I've received in the years in which this book has taken shape. 

Both of these responses have come in just the last few weeks. Both were like a bouquet of flowers: a collection of sweet words of encouragement entwined with words rooted in growth and change. Seeds have been planted to make the whole experience of writing a book so much better. And I'm grateful.

Yes, I could say, "if only." If only I knew then what I know now. But then, as Ms. Amshey (above) says, those things I know now came from what I didn't know then. In my case they arrived by way of generous and open hands from those who offered a fresh perspective. I think too many times we seek writing advice, read books on writing, dip into the myriad blogs on the subject of writing, only to come away with a sense that yes, something isn't working but what is that something? When someone then comes along to cut through the fog, we realize what a gift we've been given.

So to Irene and Cathy (you know who you are!), I say thanks. I'm compiling a list of terms of issues that you called out, things like conflict/tension, throughlines, depth, 'episodic.' Then there's an ugly weed that I didn't understand at first but now see more clearly: 'insufficiently digested research'! It just goes to show the old adage, you can't see the forest for the trees :-)

To help along the way, I offer links to a few more articles I will visit in the next round:

10 Tips for (Re)Writing a Novel, by Jolina Petersheim

Pacing Your Plot: 20 Ways to Rethink Your Narrative Pace, by Jodell Sadler

3 Types of Conflict to Improve Your Story, by Ryan Lanz

What I Wish I'd Known, by Cecil Murphey

What has been your experience with critiques--encouraging, constructive, or otherwise? Anything you're particularly grateful for at the moment?

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Shelby Foote, Dip Pens, and Making Space to Slow Down

on June 2018 walk

"When asked why he wrote with a pen that required frequent pauses for dipping into a fresh supply of ink, the late Shelby Foote, noted novelist and Civil War writer, answered, 'It helps me slow down.'" --quoted in Working it Out, Growing Spiritually with the Poetry of George Herbert by Joseph L. Womack

The bee on the flower showed up to view only after I had downloaded the picture from my phone to the computer. If I had not slowed down first to take a walk, second to take the time to snap a photo, and third to take that closer look, I would have missed the unexpected detail.

Maybe that's what Shelby Foote (1916-2005) experienced when he wrote with an old fashioned dip pen. I'm sure, based on his list of published works, the exercise must have helped him capture extra-special details. Let his record stand: The Civil War: A Narrative in three volumes, along with six published novels, are among his published credits. I'm not thinking of going all the way back to dipping a pen in an inkwell, but I do like to start writing sessions with a prompt or two--often written by hand--to slow down and give the creative side space to kick in. In fact just the other day my oldest granddaughter (age 10) and I did a word association exercise to generate ideas for setting and character names needed for a writing project the two of us are working on together :-)

Additional quotes by Mr. Foote include:

"If you want to study writing, read Dickens. That's how to study writing, or Faulkner, or D.H. Lawrence, or John Keats. They can teach you everything you need to know about writing."

"And I'm a slow writer: five, six hundred words is a good day. That's the reason it took e 20 years to write those million and a half words of the Civil War."

And how about this one:

"A university is just a group of buildings gathered around a library."

Yep--and maybe just about any community as well. At least they should be. A good place to slow down anyway.

How's your summer going? Finding time to slow down? Maybe carving out enough time to get some writing done? What is your go-to-technique to slow down and capture that elusive thought?

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Hands, Hope, and Historic Lighthouses

Lake Erie June 2018

I hear lake water

lapping with low

sound by the shore...

I hear it in the deep

heart's core.

--William Butler Yeats

We went to Lake Erie last week to spend a few days on the shore, to play, to read, to explore. Stories abound with each trip a person takes, I guess, but my story features a light house, 77 steps to the top, a challenge, and--after the fact--a good laugh (seasoned with relief).

Marblehead Lighthouse

While the rest of the family went to nearby Cedar Point Amusement Park, my daughter and I, along with her two youngest kids, explored close-by villages and the historic peninsula housing the oldest lighthouse on Lake Erie: Marblehead Lighthouse in Marblehead OH.

Now if we had given it more thought in advance, would we have made the subsequent climb? In fact, after the fact, our famous words upon reaching the pinnacle were, "What WERE we thinking??!" But the attendant selling the tickets had said, "There's only 77 steps." 77? That's not too many is it?

And so, since the day was a beautiful one, and the view would be so dramatic from the top, we bought our tickets and entered this quaint, historic lighthouse. Did I mention we had a five-year old and a two-year old with us?

Lighthouse staircase

 The doorway yawned open. The narrow cast iron steps rotating up the spiral staircase beckoned. We each took the hand of a little one, and thus we started the climb. The five-year old was so good to help; we had her counting the steps. She's a pretty good counter after all. 'What step are we on now, Ceci?' 'Twenty-seven.' Later, 'Fifty-six.' and so on. It was the littlest one, though, that had the greatest sense of adventure. Little Miss Independent resisted holding her mother's hand. She wanted to do this all by herself. Can you say clash of wills??

All I could think of was, don't look down. Yet, climb we did. It was not Mt. Everest (although grandson called the loft in our condo overlooking the living room Mt. Everest!), but a mountain to conquer none-the-less.

Below staircase looking up

Ours was a small challenge, of course, next to those who made history in this lighthouse. Marblehead, built in 1821, served as a beacon, a guiding light, a source of aid and protection for over a century, from post-War of 1812 through the Civil War, and World War I. Benajah Wolcott, Marblehead's first keeper, was a Revolutionary War veteran. It is said that each evening during the shipping season, Benajah would climb the lighthouse (by way of wooden steps which preceded the cast-iron spiral staircase we climbed) to light its thirteen lamps (source) and then faithfully tend the light until the following morning. He kept records of ships that passed, noted weather conditions, and organized rescue efforts. When he passed away, his wife Rachel took over his duties--the first female lighthouse keeper on the Great Lakes. What a remarkable woman she must have been. The guide at the lighthouse told our group that in the early years lighthouse keepers would carry two four-gallon buckets of whale oil up the steps to keep the lights burning. Now that's a climb!

View of Cedar Point from lighthouse

The lighthouse keeper with the longest record was Charles Hunter (1903-1933). His tenure included the years of the Great War, with log entries reflecting the times: "War started in Austria, Belgium, England, France and Germany (source); and later: "Keeper and Assistant purchased each $100 Liberty Loan Bond." Local tragedies were also recorded: "Assistant found two boys frozen at Put-in-Bay." One log entry tied a local event and tragedy together: "Assistant planted a walnut tree, A Memorial to cousin killed in the war!" A grove of walnut trees stands today on the site, all testimony to that first tree planted.

The two brave lighthouse climbers

"I can think of no other edifice constructed by man as altruistic as a light house," George Bernard Shaw is quoted as saying. "They were built only to serve."  I didn't think of all of this while concentrating one step at a time, holding the hand of a five-year old up 77 steps and back down. But as I reflect on the experience, I think of all the feet that have climbed this monument, all the people who served others in connection with it and all the messages and images this lighthouse and others project: hope, harbor in the storm, helping hands, heart.

We survived our climb and can laugh about the adventure in retrospect. But we can also link hands with those who worked in obscurity, with little or no recognition, with a simple purpose: to reach out a hand to others. One generation to another. As one unknown source put it: "Don't forget that maybe you are the lighthouse in someone's storm."

That's just a glimpse of our summer so far. How is your summer going? Any words written, steps climbed, hands held, hope inspired? Have you visited any lighthouses? Let's share our stories.
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Always Learning and Another (Writing) Book

May wildflowers 2018

"I am still learning." --Michelangelo

Yes, I'm still learning, too (although far, far away from the category of a Michelangelo!)--and hope that I never lose the desire to do so. So it is, in the spirit of learning, that I've added yet another book on writing to my shelf: The Story Cure, A Book Doctor's Pain-Free Guide to Finishing Your Novel or Memoir by Dinty W. Moore (Ten Speed Press 2017). I've only just begun digging into it, but already I like Mr. Moore's premise: "A Book Doctor is different from a copyeditor or a proofreader. The task at hand is not to clean up sentences, adjust punctuation, or fix typographical errors. A Book Doctor looks at the patient as a whole--the plot, the main characters, the voice, the structure--or, to continue the physician metaphor, the arms, the legs, the belly, and the heart. The Doctor's job is to diagnose exactly why the patient isn't thriving" (p.2).

And if I were honest, it's the heart of the book I'm now drafting that's suffering. May the doctor help diagnose my problem. In fact, in Chapter One, The Story Cure, one section is subtitled "Discovering (or Rediscovering) the Heart of Your Story." I'll have that part of the book dog-eared, I think.

Maybe your problem is where your story begins. That's addressed in Chapter 2: Your First Breath. Maybe it's voice and point of view. See Chapter 5, A Visit with the Throat and Eye Doctors. Or maybe plot and structure? How about Chapter 6, The Strong Skeleton?

Have I whetted your appetite yet? I think most of the material will be familiar to those who have been writing for a while, but why not review the subject matter from such a fun angle?

And speaking of books on the shelf: today's the day to announce the winners of my give-away for the inspirational book, The Short and Sweet of It, When the Right Word is a Short Word, compiled by Susan Cheeves King--an anthology of inspirational pieces written in one-syllable words. Peggy and Cathy, be on the lookout for your copies! You both commented in the give-away post (here) and I couldn't bring myself to pull just one name out of a list of two, so you are both winners! I'll be in touch by email to verify your addresses.

Yes, may we live motivated to always be open to learning and, for us writers, to be open to improving our craft. The journey of life is far more interesting that way.

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On the Value of Short Words, and a Give-Away

courtesy google images

"There is a story that an American general once asked Churchill to look over the draft of an address he had written. It was returned with the comment: 'Too many passives and too many zeds.' The general asked him what he meant, and was told: 'Too many Latinate polysyllabics like systematize, prioritize and finalize. And then the passives. What if I had said, instead of 'We shall fight on the beaches,' 'Hostilities will be engaged with our adversary on the coastal perimeter'?'"   --Winston Churchill (source)

Short words vs. long words (monosyllabic vs. polysyllabic): they both have their place, of course, but often--as Winston Churchill, Britain's great leader and prime minister during WWII, so artfully displayed--the scale of good communication tips more toward the punchiness and action of short words as opposed to the more flowery, lofty nature of long ones. Do you agree?

George Orwell weighed in on the subject, too: "Never use a long word where a short one will do. Never use the passive where you can use the active."

As mentioned in an earlier post (here), I answered a call to write for an anthology in which the main criteria was that we were to write in only one syllable words (with a few exceptions like prepositions, proper names, and words for family). Writing for this volume was not only rewarding in that my piece was accepted for the collection, but because the challenge itself provided opportunity to stretch the writing muscles in a different way. 

Thus, I'm happy to share in the good news that the book is out! The Short and Sweet of It, When the Right Word is a Short Word, compiled and edited by Susan Cheeves King (Grace Publishing, Broken Arrow OK 2018). As an anthology of inspirational pieces, the book is designed to encourage and uplift the reader. From the back cover: "How do we say more with less? Can short, simple words make what we write so clear that the reader gets it? Or will it remind them of reading a child's board book? The truth is, short words bring power because they are easy to read, easy to grasp, and easy to recall...In this book, the third in the Short and Sweet series, you'll find a collection of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry on a variety of topics. They have two things in common: Each is about something that matters deeply to the writer, and with few exceptions, each is written using only one-syllable words or words of fewer than six letters. If you've always thought writers have to use long words to keep readers engaged, discover why it's often a great idea to keep it Short and Sweet."

Short and Sweet! Maybe you'd like to take a peek between the covers and see what a few writers have done with a few short words. And so a give-away! I will send a copy out to a commenter-chosen-by-random. All you have to do is comment here by May 28, at which time I will do a random drawing and send a copy out to that person. Just leave a contact email so that I can be in touch to get your address :-)

Who knows, maybe then, too, you will be inspired to see just how far a few short words can go!

And here, a bonus of extra words of wisdom from Winston Churchill. See if any of these quotes stir you on to more words of your own, too--or maybe simply be an encouragement for the moment:  

• "Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb."

• "Success is not final, failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts."

• "Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with it is a toy then an amusement. Then it becomes a mistress, and then it becomes a master, and then it becomes a tyrant and, in the last stage, just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster and fling him to the public."

• "All the greatest things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom; justice; honour; duty; mercy; hope."

• "It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time."

• "Out of intense complexities, intense simplicities emerge."

• "Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak, it's also what it takes to sit down and listen."

• "Continuous effort--not strength or intelligence--is the key to unlocking our potential."

Enjoy! 

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National Poetry Month 2018 Draws to Close

April 2018

"Poetry is vocal painting, as painting is silent poetry." --Simonides of Geos*

Amazingly as April and another National Poetry Month draw to a close, I can say I completed the 30-Poems-in-30 Days challenge, and I'm celebrating! Of course now the revision cycle kicks in, so we're not done yet, but the bones of the challenge have been completed. Completed submissions are due in a few days so I have my work cut out for me.

I'm also amazed that this precious bluebird posed long enough on a wire outside our living room window the other day that I could capture his picture (and through the glass no less). All things considered, like poetry, sometimes the best images come in quite unexpected ways.

Any amazing or unexpected things come your way lately?

*And just who was Simonides of Geos? Turns out he was a Greek poet who lived 556-468 B.C. Poetry has been around a long, long time!

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