Planning Your Culture

by Lisa Binion

Whether you realize it or not, culture is central to your story, even if you write a story that takes place in modern times. Over time the clothes that are worn, the music that is listened to, the way people travel, the hobbies that people have, the way people practice their religion, the way that people look at things - these will all change. If you want your story to survive through the ages and be read time and time again, you need to write your story not just for the time, but for all times. How do you manage to do this?

Cultures are made up of people (or animals, if that is the way your story works) who share a common interest, who share a related outlook on life and who keep certain goals. It may be required that some of the citizens set aside differences. Of each member personal sacrifices of time, effort and resources are required for the good of the community if it is to survive and flourish past the lifetimes of those who are in it now.

Let’s take the Writer Culture as an example. (I chose the Writer Culture for obvious reasons). The common ground of writers is to put words formed into a story or article onto paper, a computer screen, or clay tablets (depending on the time in which they live). Their mutual outlook on life is that they have something they need to share with a few people or a lot of people. If they are lucky, what they write down will actually be read. But that doesn’t matter, a writer's compelling need is to write it down.

Their goals are to finish whatever they are writing, send it out to an editor and hopefully be published. They may have the goal of writing so many words each day, or so many paragraphs, chapters, or scenes. When writers meet with other writers, they generally are able to set aside differences in religion, politics, personal beliefs, and so on and just discuss their true love of writing.

Where does making personal sacrifices come into the writing culture? Well, writers may sacrifice time that most people spend watching television, sleeping, or even going places in order to have time to write. You need to write even when you don’t feel inspired, but inspiration chooses to hit at the most unexpected and inconvenient times. A writer may be in the middle of doing something he really enjoys when the inspiration for a scene that has been eluding him comes. Then the choice must be made whether to leave what he is doing and write the scene while the inspiration is fresh, or pray that later he remembers it.

Writers work together for the good of the entire group by sharing information with each other. If one knows how to write great descriptions, he will share how with the others. They would also make suggestions to each other. One may share with another how he makes notes so that momentary inspiration is brought back to memory later.

When new writers appear on the scene, they are supported so that the writing culture will continue and grow. They should be encouraged to write and send work off to editors. It is impossible to be published if your work never leaves your house.

The same thing also works with musicians, artists, mechanics, and many more. There are also subcultures, where the membership is more restrictive, within each culture.

You need to show the culture at work in the lives of your characters and let your reader know why they act the way they do and speak that way they speak. Your work is more likely to stand the test of time if these things are made clear to the reader. People still enjoy books written by Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, and Shakespeare even though the way we live now is far removed from the way life was in their books.

Basically, your planned culture needs to cover the home life, the community, religious beliefs, practices and government. The more that each section relates to your story, the more deeply you need to plan it out.

It is fun to create a culture, one where you decide the rules and the way of life. Just be careful not to get so caught up in creating your culture that you forget about your story, the reason for creating this culture in the first place.

In Create A Culture Clinic, author Holly Lisle goes even deeper into how to successfully create any kind of culture. She provides questions that you need to answer to ensure that every part of your culture is planned out. This is simply a great book, one that I highly recommend you make part of your writer’s library. I have provided a link to if you wish to purchase this book from Holly Lisle.

Create A Culture Clinic, by Holly Lisle

Plot Basics

by Lisa Binion

There are those who say that there are only 7 basic plots: a person vs. nature, a person vs. a person, a person vs. the environment, a person vs. machines/technology, a person vs. the supernatural, a person vs. self, and a person vs. god/religion.

That is about as basic as you can get. I don’t know about you, but I need more than that to my storyline. The above “plots” lack characters and a story; they are simply conflicts. Conflicts - lots of them - are needed to put together a plot. The events that happen and propel both your characters and your story onward is your plot.

Others propose that there are 20 basic plots: quest, adventure, pursuit, rescue, escape, revenge, the riddle, rivalry, underdog, temptation, metamorphosis, transformation, maturation, love, forbidden love, sacrifice, discovery, wretched excess, ascension, and descension.

This gets even better. Now we find that some propose 36 basic plots:
1) supplication (in which the supplicant must beg something from power in authority)
2) deliverance
3) crime pursued by vengeance
4) vengeance taken for kindred upon kindred
5) pursuit
6) disaster
7) falling prey to cruelty of misfortune
8) revolt
9) daring enterprise
10) abduction
11) the enigma ( temptation or a riddle)
12) obtaining
13) enmity of kinsmen
14) rivalry of kindmen
15) murderous adultery
16) madness
17) fatal imprudence
18) involuntary crimes of love (for example, the discover that one has married a brother or sister, etc.)
19) slaying of a kinsman unrecognized
20) self-sacrificing for an ideal
21) self-sacrifice for kindred
22) all sacrificed for passion
23) necessity of sacrificing loved ones
24) rivalry of superior and inferior
25) adultery
26) crimes of love
27) discovery of the dishonor of a loved one
28) obstacles to love
29) an enemy loved
30) ambition
31) conflict with a god
32) mistaken jealousy
33) erroneous judgement
34) remorse
35) recovery of a lost one
36) loss of loved ones

The things suggested as your 20 basic plots and as your 36 basic plots name out the conflicts that could take place, but you are still lacking characters to go along with those conlicts. These basic plots could be used to give you ideas, but they are not something that I would depend on to try and develop your plot.

A plot consists of every part of the storyline - the people, the conflicts, the world it takes place in. An important thing to remember is that no plot is ever set in stone until the story is published. Bits and pieces or it, or huge chunks of it can be changed as you write the story, not just one time but several times.

Use things that have happened in your own life, or in the lives of others you know, as a starting point for your plot. In October of this year, a spider with lots and lots of legs, somehow managed to crawl back inside my ear. Even though the little creature had only eight legs, it felt like so many more! Anyway, I had no clue what kind of bug had crawled in my ear until it came out. For a former arachnophobiac, that was a terrifying moment. The sensation of the creature moving around in my ear was terrifying enough, but the moment it came out and I saw what had been in my ear was even worse.

What happened to me could be turned in to a plot. It could be a thriller, a mystery, or a romance. Maybe even a heart-warming reunion story or a science fiction/fantasy story. The choice is mine. It all depends on the plot I choose.

My first thought was a thriller. Another author I know immediately said that it would make a fantastic children's story. I haven't figured out how that would work, but that is what she said. I can see it as part of a mystery story. The event that happened could somehow lead to a romantic encounter or a reunion with long lost friends or family members. It could definitely be part of a science fiction/fantasy story.

Once the genre is decided upon, then the main characters need to be developed and a basic storyline formed.

If you would like to learn more about creating a plot, I highly recommend Holly Lisle’s Create A Plot Clinic. The link I’ve provided below is to buy the book from HollyLisle.com.

Create A Plot Clinic, by Holly Lisle

Absolutely Certain to Advance Warning

by Lisa Binion

A redundant expression is an expression where each word in the expression means basically the same thing. For example, If you attend the opening, you will receive a free gift. Free gift is a redundant expression. Let's think for a moment about this. A gift is something that is given to you at no charge. When something is free, there is no charge for it. So instead of saying 'free gift', you should just say 'gift'.

Just because I am writing about how we need to get rid of redundant expressions in our writing (unless it is a character trait) doesn't mean that I never use them myself. Until I began looking at these expressions, I had no clue how many of them I had been speaking and writing. Once you look at the expression and explore what it really means, you will see that a redundant expression is just needless repetition. In spontaneous speech, redundancy is forgivable, but we need to cut it out of our writing.

This is the first of many articles on redundant expressions. After explaining why each expression is redundant, I will give you two sentences. The first will have the redundant expression, the second will not.

absolutely certain - Absolutely means totally and definitely. If something is certain, it will definitely happen.
I am absolutely certain the party is at 7 p.m.
I am certain the party is at 7 p.m.

absolutely essential - If something is essential, it is necessary and has to be.
It is absolutely essential that we go to the beach on a sunny day.
It is essential that we go to the beach on a sunny day.

absolutely guaranteed - A guarantee is absolute in itself, or at least it is supposed to be.
My word is absolutely guaranteed.
My word is guaranteed.

absolutely sure - When you are sure about something, you are certain it is so.
I am absolutely sure I have an English paper due tomorrow.
I am sure I have an English paper due tomorrow.

actual experience - Actual is used describe something that really happened, as opposed to something that happened in one's imagination. An experience is something that you have gone through, something that has happened to you. Why would you want to say actual experience?
I had that same actual experience.
I had that same experience.

actual fact - A fact is a piece of true, not false, information.
In actual fact, I saw the intruder myself.
In fact, I saw the intruder myself.

add an additional - When you add something, you provide more of it. When something is additional, more of it is provided.
Please add an additional order of fries.
Please add an order of fries.

add up - When you add numbers together, you find what they total. It is unnecessary to use 'up' with add, even though when something is 'up' it is increased in number.
Please add up the numbers for me.
Please add the numbers for me.

added bonus - A bonus is already understood to be something extra. When you get a bonus in your paycheck, you have money added to what it would normally be.
You can expect an added bonus at Christmas.
You can expect a bonus at Christmas.

advance forward - When you advance, you move forward. Wow. I just used forward to explain what the meaning of advance is, so why would you want to use the two words together?
The troops will advance forward ten miles each afternoon.
The troop will advance ten miles each afternoon.

advance notice - Notice is an announcement of something that is going to happen. The only way you wouldn't receive it in advance is if your notice was lost in the mail or someone chose not to tell you. A notice is always intended to be told before the fact.
Darlene received advance notice of the swim meet.
Darlene received notice of the swim meet.

advance planning - You don't wait until an event is over with to plan for it, you always plan for it in advance.
The wedding required a lot of advance planning.
The wedding required a lot of planning.

advance reservations - When you make reservations, you ensure that a room at a hotel will be saved for you, a seat on an airplane will be waiting on your arrival, or that a table at a restaurant will be kept for you. If you wait until you arrive, you aren't making reservations. Reservations are always made in advance.
Alisha requires patrons to make advance reservations to dine in her restaurant on Sundays.
Alisha requires patrons to make reservations to dine in her restaurant on Sundays.

advance warning - A warning is received of possible danger ahead. You wouldn't want to receive warning of a tornado 15 minutes after it hit where you live.
Advance warning of the approaching tidal wave cleared the beaches before it hit.
Warning of the approaching tidal wave cleared the beaches before it hit.

How many more redundant expressions can you think of?

Character Creation

by Lisa Binion

Every character starts out with a blank slate, kind of like a baby. His or her personality is formed through the hardships faced, the ways he thinks, the way he reacts, the way he gets what he wants.

The physical appearance of your character is important, but even more important are the events that have made your character like he is. It isn’t necessary to write a biography of your character, but it is necessary to know a few things about his life.

Your characters need to be real people with wants, hates, loves, desires, anger, resentment and so forth. I don’t want to read a book where the characters are all perfect, nor does anyone else I know of.

Every character, fictional or real, has a compelling need. One compelling need just about every human has is money. Not an unusual need, but a necessary one. How else will the bills get paid? The question is, how far will your character go, what will he do to ensure that he receives money? Will he turn to a life of crime? Will he deceive others? Does he just need money to pay his bills, or does he need money because he is hooked on drugs? He could have an expensive habit, one that frequently requires large sums of money.

Or the compelling need could be the friendship of a certain person, a person who seems impossible to get close to. And why would your character desire the friendship of this person? Once again, could it be money? Could it be drugs?

Once you’ve come up with something that your character would do almost anything to get, other questions will pop up about that need. The answers to these questions only serve to make your character more realistic.

Now that you’ve decided on your character’s compelling need, what does he do for work and for play? Give him a job of some sort, whether he is paid for it or not. If your story takes place in the past or in a different part of the world or universe, the jobs could be different from those available here on earth.

What does he do to enjoy himself? Remember, work and play are not the same for every person and are looked upon in different ways by different cultures. But just about every person finds some way to pass the time in an enjoyable manner.

Now is the time to give the life of your characters some depth. Pick out important moments in their lives - times challenges were faced and he failed, or maybe he succeeded. The impact the death of a family member had on his life. Maybe he was witness to a murder and was scarred by it permanently. Ask some questions about the past. Don’t be afraid to give your character obstacles to overcome. Your character's life wouldn't hold much interest if he never had any obstacles in the way of him achieving his goals.

What is going on with your character in the present? Has an event occurred that brought drama into his life? How does he feel about important issues? Would he ever turn to crime? Would he ever betray those close to him?

What are his dreams for the future?

Who are his friends? Enemies? Lovers?

What are his religious beliefs? Is he afraid of death?

What are his moral beliefs?

Answer the questions that pertain to your character’s place in the story and you will find that he or she becomes more alive to you and to your readers.

To learn more on creating believable characters, I highly recommend Holly Lisle’s Create A Character Clinic. I have provided a link below for you to purchase this book from Holly Lisle, if you so desire.

Create A Character Clinic, by Holly Lisle

The Writer's Journal

by Lisa Binion

Do you dream? Do entire novels play themselves out in your imagination each night as you are peacefully, or not so peacefully, slumbering? Perhaps you daydream? Do you lose track of where you are and what is going on because you have been sucked into a world that your mind has created? Does it distress you that when you sit down to write that you can never remember these dreams?

A great way to keep track of all the story ideas that go running through your head is to keep a writer’s journal. Unlike a diary, you don’t keep track of the daily events of your life, though you can track those as well, if you wish. Instead you write down story ideas, character descriptions, snatches of dialogue and anything else that you might want to use in a story.

Two separate journals would be great - one in a notebook that you carry around in your purse or car and another on your computer. The notebook in your purse or car comes in handy when you are away from home and your computer. You can jot down interesting things that you see, scraps of overheard conversation, descriptions of people, etc.

A journal on your computer is a great place to organize these ideas. It might also be a good idea to print out this computer journal and keep a copy of it somewhere. In case of an extended electrical outage, it would be nice to still have access to your notes when the computer is pretty much useless. Even if you have a laptop, the battery will only run for so long without power.

The notebook in your purse also comes in handy if, for instance, you run out of gas and have to wait on someone to bring you more. That happened to me once, and I used the time to sit and write about the experience in a journal I carried with me. I don’t recommend running out of gas, though. The experience taught me a lot, but it really wasn’t much fun.

Ideas tend to go running full speed through your head when you can’t stop to write them down or take time out to type them on your laptop. When that happens, just rest assured that if the same ideas will come back to you if they are worth remembering.

Your writer’s journal is a good place to write down the experiences that you go through and how you react emotionally and physically, and the reactions of others. Are you scared of storms? How does one make you feel? Have you gone through traumatizing times raising you teenage children? Have you ever been the victim of a crime? Have you ever had a parent die? Have you ever been attracted to someone who wasn't attracted to you? Has your marriage ever been on the rocks? All of these experiences are fodder for a future story, even when it hurts to write about them.

If you have a camera, digital or not, pictures speak volumes. Pictures of interesting things or places add to your journal and spark your memories and imagination. Pictures of a trip to the Golden Gate Bridge could start your muse thinking about a romance or murder centered around the bridge. Grab your camera, go outside your house, and look around. In the fall, take pictures of the trees as their leaves change to brilliant yellow, gold, and orange. There is a boat in my backyard. Yes, I said a boat. It is an unused boat, rather old and dilapidated, but right above this old boat is a tree whose leaves have turned the most beautiful shades of gold, orange, and yellow. Behind this gorgeous tree are other trees, already stripped of their leaves by the cooler autumn temperatures. One way to get your mind back on track when writer's block sets in is to pull out the pictures and stare at them. You will be amazed at stories that begin to run through your mind.

New words that you have learned can be kept track of in your journal. Subscribe online to receive a new word to learn each day at http://wordsmith.org/. It is free and you will learn new words that can be used in your writing. Today’s new word was eleemosynary. It is an adjective that means relating to charity. ”Every Thanksgiving our church has an eleemosynary dinner.”

Write down scraps of overheard dialogue. I’m not encouraging you to eavesdrop or anything, but when you go shopping or walk down the street in a busy town, you can’t help but pick up scraps of conversation, especially around the holidays. “I can’t believe it. My mother-in-law is coming down to spend Christmas with us! I would never forgive myself if she tripped and fell on the ice.” No, that wasn’t overheard, but if you happen to listen in on a scrap of conversation like that, questions arise. What does the lady have against her mother-in-law? Is she planning on 'accidentally' making her trip and fall on the ice? What will her husband do if he finds out? For that matter, what kind of person is the mother-in-law? Does she try to run her son’s marriage and try to tell his wife what to do? Does the son call his mother and ask her advice about everything, instead of talking to his wife about them? Could there possibly be some resentment there?

Look at your mind maps. Take, for instance, the items that bring you fear. Most everyone is scared of tornadoes, unless you are a tornado chaser. Write down why you are scared of them. Do the same for each of the words under each heading.

Ideas are everywhere around us. As writers, we need to keep track of them and be able prompt our muse to make stories out of them at a moment’s notice. A writer’s journal helps us to accomplish this.

Dealing with Writer's Block

by Lisa Binion 

The dictionary defines writer's block as a usually temporary psychological inability to begin or continue work on a piece of writing. Scary thought, huh? For a writer, not being able to write can shatter an ego and become a nightmare.

Is writer's block all in your head or is it real? Not everyone believes that writer's block exists. Some believe that it is an excuse to get out of writing or just pure laziness. Those who believe this have obviously never suffered from writer's block. Every writer has days where it is hard to write. This tends to happen if you have really been pushing yourself to write a lot and have spent days doing nothing but writing. If you are stuck and having problems, it could mean you just need to take a break.

Get away from writing for a short period of time. Go for a walk or a jog. When I am walking or jogging is when my creativeness is at its peak. Often I wish I had an internal tape recorder to record my thoughts so I could transcribe them on paper when I get back in front of my computer. If you are so lucky as to have a hottub, go relax in it for a while. Allow the heat and steam to rekindle the creative part of your mind.

Clean your kitchen. Agatha Christie said that the best time to plan a book is while you are doing the dishes. If you can plan one while you do the dishes, you should also be able to plan one while vacuuming the carpet, dusting the furniture, sweeping the kitchen floor, hanging out or folding the laundry, etc. Make housework one of your most creative times.

What robs us of the ability to create? It is my belief that stress has a lot to do with it. Some people can write no matter what is going on in their lives. They have learned to separate themselves from the situation. I'm not one of those people. If there is something not so good happening in my life, not only does it affect how I write, it affects what I write.

You can learn to deal with normal, everyday stress so that it doesn't bring to a halt your writing ability. There are more stressful situations, so horrific you can think of nothing else - such as a child running away from home, finding out a spouse or significant other has been unfaithful, a loved one in a possibly fatal accident, etc. - that can seriously disrupt the creative flow.

At times like these write something you can focus on - write down what you are feeling. When things are back to normal, what you wrote down will give you new inspiration and insight for future characters.

When your muse has seemed to quit cooperating with you, there are some things you can do can coax her back. Try reading through some of my writing prompts articles. Some of them are specifically writing prompts. Others take their start from collecive nouns, from phobias, from unusual holidays, or from whatever else I happen to be writing about.

Are you more of a visual person? Start looking at pictures. They can be your own pictures, or pull up some pictures on the internet. Pull of pictures of other countries, pictures taken in the desert, in the jungle, in the sky. Pull out pictures from your childhood or the one's taken of your children when they were young.

Pick up a pen and a sheet of paper. Write down the first word that comes to mind. Now write down all of the words that the first word makes you think of. Allow your mind to form a storyline with one or more of the words you wrote down used as its basis.

If you need more help, there are several websites that offer creative writing prompts. Language is a Virus at www.languageisavirus.com offers writing prompts, writing games, exercises and tips. Possibly you will learn how to make writing fun once again.

Writing is a skill. The more you practice any skill, the better you become at it. Make it a habit to write each and every day, whether or not you feel inspired, whether or not the creative juices are flowing. If you find your writing to be stale and unimaginative, if you just can't persuade the words to come, then write a letter. Pick an object and write a description of it. Write a review of the last book you read. Pick random words out of a dictionary and construct a story using them. Anything to convince your brain to write. Once the creative juices have begun to flow, work on a current project. You need to write every day, even if you don’t like what you are writing and feel that it could be done much better.

Holly Lisle, a successful writer, has written a book, How to Beat Writer's Block (And Have FUN Writing From Now On). You can buy a copy of this book for yourself by clicking on the below link.

How To Beat Writer's Block (And Have FUN Writing From Now On)

Point of View

by Lisa Binion

Your story's plot is full of action, the characters are outstanding, and the locale is mysterious and exciting. How do you decide which point of view to write it in?

Point of view (POV) is whose eyes the story is told through. There are four different POVs - first person, second person, third person, and omniscient.

First Person
First person POV is the most intimate. This POV has its advantages and disadvantages. Through it you experience the story from only one person's perception. Since you are seeing, hearing, and experiencing only what your viewpoint character does, you will not know about any events that isn't personally known by this character.

Example
My heart pounded as the growling dog, saliva dripping from it black tongue, viciously stalked towards me.

You are subject to the world view of this character. If he or she is self-centered, mentally unstable, scared to death of dogs or thinks everyone is out to get him, you will experience the story the way he sees it. This is great for mysteries or thrillers where you don’t want the reader to know everything. Watson could not reveal everything to us that Sherlock Holmes knew, nor was Hastings able to reveal the secrets only Hercule Poirot knew. In this way the reader is kept in suspense. The author cannot include anything not witnessed or heard by the narrator. Everything is seen and understood from their view of the way things happen.

Second Person
Second person is told from the perspective of “you”. This is not commonly used, except in instructional writings.

Example
Your heart pounded as the growling dog, saliva dripping from its black tongue, stalked towards you.

When you give someone directions, you normally use second person.

Example
“You go three blocks down Main Street. Then you take a left turn onto Bloom Avenue. The house you are looking for is at the end of the road.”

Omniscient
In the omniscient point of view everything is seen, everything is known. This technique, frequently used in the nineteenth century, is seldom used today. With it you only read about things the different characters experience. Whether or not you experience what the characters do depends upon how caught up you are in the story.

Example
Maya’s heart pounded as the growling dog , saliva dripping from its black tongue, stalked towards her. From underneath a bush, ten little puppy eyes, never letting their mama out of sight, anxiously watched.

Using omniscient POV, the reason the dog is growling at Maya is seen. She is only protecting her puppies. If Maya could see these puppies, she would know to turn and go the other direction, away from the bush.

Third Person
Third person POV is a compromise between omniscient POV and first person POV. This point of view allows you to switch back and forth between different characters and the unique way they each see things. There can be multiple lead characters when the story is written in third person POV. This is now the one that most writers use today.

Just be sure to not make the story confusing for your reader. There should not be too much head-hopping and it should always be clear when the point of view character is switched. If you confuse the reader, chances are your story will be cast aside and not finished.

How does one decide which character has the point of view for each scene? Whichever character has the most to lose should be the one you select.

In two of the prior example sentences, Maya is the human with the most to lose. When you consider that the dog is a mother protecting her young, the dog is the one with the most to lose. Are you good enough to write a scene from a dog’s point of view? Although I’ve never attempted to write from an animal’s point of view, it has successfully been done before.

No matter what your story is about, realize that which point of view you choose to write in determines how your story will be told and how much the reader will be kept in suspense.