Value Added Writing & SnackPack Eat-a-thon

    A couple of years ago, my sister (a doctor of education) and I were talking about our kids' picture books. She mentioned liking one in particular because she didn't "feel dumber when she finished reading it." I've thought about that a lot since then. There are so many kid-books that way--books where no author is even listed on the spine or cover. Books no one dares take credit for. Books that deplete the brain mass in my head.

    Then, on the other hand, there's the beautiful, mind expanding, soul-lifting book. The book that makes the heart sing. What's the difference? What's the magic?

    If I knew that, I'd be cranking out magical books every day.

    I haven't got it pinpointed, but I do have one idea that keeps cropping up. It's the term "value added." Like the "bonus features" on the menu selections of your DVDs, sometimes a book has something besides the story to recommend itself. It's the thing that makes the reader come away *not* feeling dumber.

    Shakespeare said there's nothing new under the sun. Or, maybe that was Ecclesiastes even longer ago. Fact: plots get recycled--whether the author realizes it or not. Most plots have been done before. The thing that makes a story new or different is the "value added."

    Here are some ideas to add value to our writing.

    1) Take the reader somewhere new. Describe an exotic setting, whether real or imagined, and make it vivid enough that the reader feels like he or she has really been there. It doesn't have to be a fantasy world or a "foreign land." The movie Napoleon Dynamite made tiny Preston, Idaho, my dear homeland, seem alive and exotic.

    2) Introduce the reader to someone new. Describe at least one character with enough precision that the reader feels like s/he would recognize the character on the street. This was the author's gift in Twilight. Readers knew Edward and Jacob well enough they'd buy t-shirts defending one or the other.

    3) Teach the reader something new. Describe a process or a situation in your story well enough that the reader feels like s/he can now educate his or her friends on the topic. Legalese is what makes Grisham fun. Make the reader feel smarter in *some* aspect. It doesn't have to take up five pages. It could just be a tidbit, like how to whip cream perfectly, or how to dispose of used oil after an oil change. It just needs to be there, adding to the brains and not depleting them. (Make sure you know the info well, or you may anger well-informed readers who already like the topic.)

    Being writers inherently means we think we have something to say that someone else ought to want to hear. It's hinting at the edges of what my husband and I call the "superiority complex." And readers are fine with that. They come to be told a story. They come to be educated. They come to be swept away. Take the responsibility seriously and we'll win repeat customers of our blogs, our novels, our newsletters, our memoirs.


Meanwhile, I'm going to think about what kinds of candy add value to my life. That's easy. Pretty much all kinds of candy. And my category for candy is broad. It includes cake. And pudding. And ice cream. And chocolate of all varieties.

Right now the candy in my cupboard that calls to me is the delicious Snack Pack pudding.  Back in the old days, this pudding came in a can. The can had a pop top. If you opened the can just right the lid would bend into a perfect concave to use as a spoon. (I guess that meant the package had added value.) However, if an 11 year old girl was not careful, she could slice open the edges of her mouth with the sharp metal of the pseudo-spoon. Oh, well. Blood just gave the chocolate pudding a salty edge.

I remember sitting at the sixth grade "read-a-thon" where our teacher gave us the whole afternoon to laze about on rugs surrounded by reading materials and treats. Some kids were lucky and brought Snack Pack puddings. Unlucky kids had spongy homemade banana cookies. My mom usually sent red and black licorice for me. The coolest kids got Pringles.

Not a lot of reading got done. More like it should have been called an "eat-a-thon." But that kind of situation is a bit of a fantasy for me still: lying about surrounded by reading materials and foods of my choice. Honestly, tell me: what could be better?

Want it Most of All

My sister in law just stopped by to visit. She'd been to the Sweet's Candy Company in Salt Lake City on a factory tour. My eyes about popped out of my head when I heard this. In fact, I found myself getting irrationally jealous. Get this: at the factory store, she'd purchased a 27 pound box of chocolate covered cinnamon bears (a $115 value) for $15!

Insane jealousy.

She told me there were great, cool facts on the tour. Did you know it takes several days to make a jelly bean? The sugar layers have to dry.

Of course I can't remember the exact number of days now that I'm posting this. But it made me think. It takes several layers of effort in editing and writing to make a great, sweet story.

I'm reading a novel for a friend, for a critique. I really like the characters, and the story is unique. I'm interested to see where it's going.

However, I'll be honest. I'm not as interested as I might be. Why not? Because of one glaring omission.

RULING PASSION.

That would be like the jelly center of the bean.

In the book How to Write a Da*n Good Novel by James N. Frey, the author explains in great detail the importance of imbuing our characters with ruling passions. The character has to have a goal, something he wants more than anything else, and must be willing to go after it. The more the character wants it, the more the reader will care, the more the reader will pull for the character and invest their own feelings into the story.

When a character has a ruling passion, and a clear goal, we can begin to worry as readers whether the character will achieve the goal. And, Frey says, that's what the reader wants is to worry.

I was thinking about this--when I read for escape (and that's my favorite kind of reading) the cotton candy of the story takes my mind away from what I'm worrying about in my own life, and I can worry about something else. The diversion of worry lets me forget my own problem and I can invest in the fiction, leaving behind reality. The more I can worry about the fake person, the more I forget my own life.

So, I think Frey has a point.

As I read this novel for my friend, I look forward to letting him in on the secret Frey shared. A novel like this that is well constructed and has fleshed-out characters can only be made more solid with a clear goal for the reader to pull for. It already has sparkle and magic. It just needs focus.

As a writer, I have been working to get my characters to be more solid, and when their ruling passion is as clear to me as possible, it seems to shape all their behavior, and I think it makes for better characterization. The love interest girl in my book I'm editing (my own) lacks it, and I need to figure out what it is that drives her. I believe it will lift her out of obscurity and boringness and into the believable, sympathetic character I need her to be!

Meanwhile, if you're wishing YOU could go on the Sweet's Candy Company tour, you can click here to book a tour (or just to check out the home page and salivate over the candy.)

Of all the treats my sister in law bought, this was the crown jewel.

RED LICORICE FLAVORED SALTWATER TAFFY.

I have to say, possibly the best taffy of all time, and that's saying a lot.

I wonder how much shipping costs.

Pink Floyd Song

Today I am trying to get myself past the wall.

Distance runners call a certain point in their marathons "hitting the wall." It's the point where they feel like they can't even put one foot in front of the other. A friend of mine ran her first marathon a year or so ago. She said when she got to that point she was on a slope, the hill seeming too steep to even consider continuing along. She was crying and shaking and convinced she needed to quit. A stronger runner (her husband's sister) slowed down and came up alongside her and helped her keep moving. The encouragement and the strength of her sister in law helped her push through the wall, and my friend continued and even finished the race.

For the past couple of years I have been immersed in family concerns. First and foremost in my life I'm a mother and a wife. I love to write, but I have to always keep in mind it's not my true legacy in life. When you write fluff like cotton candy, you have to be realistic and self-aware that way.

That has made seeing a novel through to completion ... let's say, difficult. Coming up with the concept, throwing down 175 pages or so, getting through to the beginning of the third act when all the forces of the plot need to converge on the main character, that's the fun part for me. But the beginning of the third act of any novel I write seems to be my "wall."

At the beginning of 2010 I set myself a New Year's Resolution. This year I would get past the wall. I would finish the novel I'm working on, I would go past the 3/4 mark and tie up the loose story lines, I'd let the hero and/or heroine get their just desserts, I'd give the villain what he or she had coming. I'd let my story people get their happily ever after.

It's just mean to them not to finish.

So today, I sent my kiddos in the other room and asked them to please play--because today I am finishing up the final chapter of this novel. I am. I WILL. Having this goal for myself and remembering it, referring to it, is kind of like the friend I needed along the way--to encourage me to keep plodding. That, and writers from my awesome writing group ANWA who give me feedback and encouragement along the way. My husband helps too. Bless him.

This novel may not be a masterpiece. I am writing it to teach myself several skills--what better place to practice them? However, finishing the story for me is going to be a big accomplishment and a great big feeling.

And then, I'm going to take myself down to the little grocery store and buy myself a bag of red licorice laces. Because a sweet feeling just gets sweeter with candy in hand.