Writing Advice: Finding Peace in the Darkness

Have you ever had a really peaceful experience? A time when, somewhere deep inside your heart and mind, you simply feel good or unafraid; and somehow you know, or at least hope, that the universe is unfolding exactly as it should? I know I've been there.

Peace can come in two different packages. First is peace because of the circumstances. This is when the sun is shining, everything is perfect, and you reflect on life with a smile on your face and the most gratitude you've ever felt. But second, second is peace in spite of the circumstances. This is when nothing is going right, you're at rock-bottom in the midst of darkness; bleeding, hurting, dying - but even so, you still hear that little voice that says, "Don't give up. Things will turn out. There's hope yet."

In this way, if we choose to, we can feel peace in the darkness. And so can our characters.

In Inheritance by Christopher Paolini, there's a fantastic scene in which Eragon realises that the world is round. He has the weight of the world on his shoulders and fate of it in his hands, and he has just flown out of a terrible storm on the back of his dragon. But despite this, when he notices the curvature of the horizon (something he has never seen before), he's wonderstuck. And he forgets all of his worries for a moment and finds peace, in awe of the world's roundness.

Or what about the scene in The Return of the King when Sam and Frodo are on the slopes of Mount Doom? Who could forget it? The pair are famished and parched, frightened and lost, and surrounded by blackness and an inhospitable landscape. They're cold and dying. But in such despair, and after all the horrors they've been through, the recall to each other life as it blissfully was back in the Shire - and not only find peace, but also the hope and courage they need to complete their quest. The result? An incredibly moving scene.

Or in The Matrix, when the machines are closing in and Trinity has every reason to run screaming. But instead, she finds peace enough to stay with Neo and even say, "I'm not afraid anymore."

Am I making sense yet?

Having your characters find peace in the darkness, usually near the climax of the story, can heighten the emotional investment of the reader. It makes the reader long further for the protagonist to achieve his or her desire, because we admire characters who can trade fear for peace, sorrow for joy. We want those kind of characters to win.

And when they do, the reader is all the more moved because of it.

Writing Advice: What Is Sound?

In Story, Robert McKee writes that 75 percent of a writer's efforts are spent on constructing the plot. However, because it isn't in keeping with the purpose of the book, he never mentions the importance of that remaining 25 percent: the execution. The writing itself. The truth is that all reader (including agents and editors) will notice the writing before the story. And if it's not up to par, they'll put it down before even getting into the plot.

Sound is one of the most important aspects of the "execution" to pay attention to because it can be incredibly noticeable if done poorly. As in, it sticks out like a sore thumb (cliché alert!) and pulls the reader out of the story - which is never a good thing. But if sound is done well, it's invisible - which is exactly what you want.

In this context, sound is synonymous with rhythm, or even lilt. It's the flow of a sentence or paragraph, the way the writing sounds within the reader's mind. In The First Five Pages, Noah Lukeman writes that sound "is one of the distinctions between writing general and writing as an art form," because "prose can be technically correct but rhythmically unpleasant." To strengthen your sound, take a look at:

Poor sentence construction. In this blog post, as a part of her series on grammar, Beth Revis gives a few examples of how independent clauses and dependent clauses fit together in a number of different ways (as long as you use the correct rules). However, many people pointed out that, although technically correct, the sentences sounded wrong, like run-ons.

Echoes. Echoes occur most frequently when a character's name is repeated too often (Bill gave the map to Joe and Joe thanked Bill), when he/she is repeated to often, or when an usual word or phrase is repeated too often. In the case of unusual words, these can be as far apart as one every twenty pages, but still call attention to themselves. In On Writing, Stephen King tells of a novel he once read that constantly repeated the word zestful, and it annoyed him so much that he's never used that word in his own writing. Not once.

Alliteration and rhyme. In prose, avoid these two things like the plague, unless you have a very good reason not to. Alliteration and rhyme draw attention to themselves like nothing on Earth and pull the reader straight out of the story.

Resonance. This aspect of sound is subtle, and can be difficult to get right. It is the overall sound of sentences in contrast with each other. The resonance of a short sentence will be different when contrasted with long sentences, rather than other short sentences - and vice versa. Sentences starting with an independent clause will resonate differently to dependent clause starters, infinitive starters, participle starters, etc. It's your job to choose the write ones and then fit them together in a way that strengthens the overall sound of the paragraph, page, and book.

And that's it. If you can sort out these things, then your sound will be strong enough that the reader doesn't notice it. Instead, they'll be focussed right where you want them: on the story.

Wildcard: Why Commenting Is Important

Most of us follow tons of blogs. Often hundreds, sometimes over a thousand. But how many do you actually, truly follow? Maybe not as many as you thought. The truth is that Blogger lies to you each and every day - not all of your followers are actually following you; not all of my followers are actually following me. And you aren't actually following all the blogs you've subscribed to, and nor am I.

To actually follow someone's blog means more than just to click the "follow" button. It means to actively participate in what they're doing. To give your opinion, support, feedback, express your interest in what they have to say. And the best way to do this on any blog is through these magic things called ...

... comments.

Of course, there are only 24 hours in each day, and there's never enough time to follow everyone we'd like to. There's never enough time to be an active part of everyone's blogs. Heck, there's hardly enough time to be an active part of anyone's blog.

So, this is where comments come in. Comments are great because they don't have to be long at all, and they only take a minute to write. And it could be simply something like: "Neat post!" But this doesn't matter. because the real meaning of a comment is in the subtext: "Hey. I'm actually following you. I'm interested in what you're saying. I enjoy your opinion and your voice. Plus, I exist. See your 57th follower? That's not a robot from Antarctica. That's me."

This is why comments are important. They're an easy way to show a blogger that you're listening. And I'll admit that this is something I need to work on, but these are simply my thoughts on the matter.

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While we're on the topic of comments, I have an award to give out! David Powers King decided to be awesome by giving me the Great Comments Award, and so now I'm passing it on to my top commenters (wait a sec - is commenters even a word?):

Heather

Ty-shaun Coles

Paul Joseph

Kelley

Laura

Jackson Porter

Jay Noel

J. A. Bennett

Mark Koopmans

Mark Noce

Lillie McFerrin

Sarah Pearson

Thank you all for sharing your voice on this blog. I appreciate it!