James Scott Bell -- You CAN Learn Fiction Writing

Welcome to the How-to Author Series!

January’s Featured How-to Author: JAMES SCOTT BELL

This monthly series is your opportunity to dig deep and ask how-to authors your hot questions. We’ll take questions from any level of combustion: sparks, slow burns, and bon fires.

Post a comment today – and you may win:

• A signed, hardback copy of Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell
• A Lecture Packet from me, Margie Lawson

A big Thank You to JAMES SCOTT BELL for joining us today. He’ll drop by the blog several times to respond to posts.

As promised in the promo, Factoids and Funtoids about James Scott Bell!

Factoids:

• Award-winning author of nineteen novels
• Author of PLOT & STRUCTURE and REVISION & SELF-EDITING
• A former trial lawyer
• A former fiction columnist for Writer’s Digest Magazine
• An adjunct professor of writing at Pepperdine University

Funtoids:

• A former Off-Broadway actor
• A former actor in commercials
• A guitar-playing-singer-song-writer

His website is www.jamesscottbell.com

Upcoming Releases:
DECEIVED -- a suspense thriller, will be released in March, 2009
TRY FEAR – another Buchanan thriller, will be released in July, 2009
THE ART OF WAR FOR FICTION WRITERS – a new how-to book, will be released November, 2009

Publishers Weekly Review of Deceived:

“Former trial lawyer and Christy Award–winner Bell (Presumed Guilty) hits his stride in this twist-filled suspense thriller...Dialogue carries the book with rich characters...a fast-paced thriller with its Los Angeles music scene, creepy canyons and a slew of cons. Bell, who also writes nonfiction books on writing, is a master of the cliffhanger, creating scene after scene of mounting suspense and revelation in this heart-whamming read.”


James Scott Bell Interview
By Margie Lawson

ML: Your first how-to book, PLOT & STRUCTURE, was published in 2004, nine years after your first novel was released. It's a text in many creative writing programs. What prompted you to write PLOT & STRUCTURE?

JSB: I wanted to do a couple of things. First, kill what I call "The Big Lie," which is what I'd heard for years: Fiction writing can't be taught (and variations on that theme, such as, Writers are born, not made). I wasted about ten years believing that Lie. Then I decided I had to write, even if I failed, and determined to try and learn the craft. I found you CAN learn how to do it. So that's one reason I wrote the book.

Also, to save new writers time on the learning curve. What took me many years to figure out I put in the book.

Plus, I like helping writers. Nothing pleases me more than to see one of my former students getting a contract.

ML: You're the author of nineteen novels. You've won awards. You've also written two acclaimed how-to books for writers. What writing rule might you stretch, or snap?

JSB: Writing "rules" are good and necessary when you're learning to write. Like scales on the piano. And usually they are rules for a reason. They work. They make your writing stronger. So I don't usually go out with the intent to break anything.

If I get to a place where I think something will work, I'll use it. But in retrospect I find that, for the most part, things work because of the craft, not in spite of it.

ML: When reading fiction, what are the Top Five irritations that would drive you to frisbee the book out the window? Not that you would . . .

JSB:
1. Point of View inconsistency ("head hopping")
2. Constant adverbs in speaker attributions, he said disgustedly.
3 Exposition dumps, especially in the opening.
4. Author intrusion. When I hear the author's voice, not a POV voice.
5. Overwriting, when cutting flab would make the writing stronger.

ML: In REVISION & SELF-EDITING you recommend 'getting HIP.' Given that it's not the 70's, what did you mean by HIP?? Hip-deep In Prose? Hike in Paris?

JSB: Let me slip on my Isaac Hayes outfit and tell you about HIP. It stands for Hook, Intensity and Prompt. It's my little acronym for a great scene. If you can build every scene with HIP, you will have an "un-put-downable" novel.

Basically, you hook the reader from the first line or paragraph. There are ways to do that, like starting with the action or dialogue, and then dropping back for description.

Then, you ratchet up the intensity level. You can always add another 10 – 20% on intensity.

Finally, you leave them with a "prompt" that makes them have to read the next scene. In the book, I give some examples.

ML: Your chapter on dialogue in REVISION & SELF-EDITING is superb. You covered 8 Essentials and Twelve Tools for Great Dialogue. One of my favorites is 'curving' dialogue. Your examples from The Godfather and Seinfeld are page-popping-powerful . Could you explain how to curve dialogue - and provide an example from the small screen, big screen, or your books?

JSB: That chapter is the result of years of not finding much out there on how to write dialogue. As I was studying great dialogue from books and movies, I started coming up with these principles and have been teaching them for at least ten years. They help tremendously because, as I say in the book, dialogue is the fastest way to improve any manuscript.

Here's a tip: If you can put great dialogue on the first or second page of your proposal, the reader will instantly think you know what you're doing.

"Curving the language" is a concept I got when I studied comedy writing with Danny Simon, Neil's older brother (and the one Neil and Woody Allen credit for teaching them to write narrative comedy). It is a way to turn mediocre lines into memorable lines.

What you do is write out the line as it comes to you, probably in a plain vanilla or even clichéd way. Then you play with it. You "curve" it. You don’t throw it out, you just tweak it until it is original.

They did this all the time in Seinfeld. Here's an example I use in the book. In one episode Elaine is suddenly being hit on by Jewish guys. She’s told this is “shiksa appeal.” So she goes to a rabbi to ask about it. The rabbi tells her shiksa appeal is a myth.

Her reply might have been written out the first time this way:

“Something’s going on here, because every healthy Jewish guy I see is making a play for me.”

Not funny. So you curve it. You think, Hmm, what would be a substitute for “healthy Jewish guy”?

“Something’s going on here, because every able-bodied Israelite I see is making a play for me.”

Okay. Now maybe curve it some more:

“Something’s going on here, because every able-bodied Israelite in the county is making a play for me.”

And so on. When it was all over, the line in the show was hilarious:

“Something’s going on here, because every able-bodied Israelite in the county is goin’ pretty strong to the hoop.”

Sometimes, you can just add something fresh to an old line. Harlan Ellison once wrote, "She looked like a million bucks tax free."

That little "tax free" at the end kept it from being a cliché.

ML: The next four questions focus on tenets from PLOT & STRUCTURE. You warn against rushing at the end. How do you avoid the rush?

JSB: Discipline. If you keep to a quota system, you should know how long it will to take you to get to the end. When you do get there, be sure to spend a lot of "brooding" time over it.

It also helps if, as you get toward the end, you are mapping out your climactic scene possibilities, in your head if not on paper or screen.

ML: You introduced an interesting concept, The Force Field of Character Change. Sounds powerful. Could you share a short version of the force field?

JSB: The idea actually came from my days training trial lawyers in jury communication. As human beings, we have certain beliefs and self-concepts that make up who we are. We protect these (put up "force fields") because, if they are disturbed, we get into a state of disequilibrium, which we try to avoid.

The core of your being, your deepest beliefs about yourself and the world, are the hardest things to change. That's because people protect this area at all costs, and thus create "force fields" around it. Your self-image is at the core, then your beliefs, then outward with values, attitudes and opinions.

The easiest things to change are opinions, at the outer edge. But as you go deeper, change is harder.

As a writer, then, you can view the events happening to the character as disturbing the rings of the force field. If you do it skillfully, you can show true character growth by the end of the book.

ML: In your chapter on BEGINNING STRONG, you recommend including six tasks in the beginning portion of a novel. Then you dive into the specifics and tell writers how to successfully carry out those tasks for twenty-six pages. Could you list those six tasks? Here's a follow-up question: You recommend accomplishing those six tasks in the beginning portion of your book. Define: beginning portion.

JSB: The six tasks are:

1. Get the reader hooked.
2. Establish a bond with the reader via the Lead character.
3. Present the story world--tell us something about the setting, the time and the immediate context.
4. Establish the tone the reader will rely upon. Is this to be a sweeping epic or a zany farce? Action packed or dwelling more on character change? Fast moving or leisurely paced?
5. Compel the reader to move on to the middle. Just why should the reader care to continue?
6. Introduce the opposition. Who or what wants to stop the Lead?

The "beginning portion" of the novel is another way of saying Act I. I am a strong believer in the three act structure. You can play with it in many ways, but you ignore it at your peril.

ML: You explore Read on Prompts. Can you share several?

JSB: One of the first things I did when I started to learn how to write was go to my favorite used bookstore and buying up an armload of paperbacks: Grisham, King, Koontz and some others.

Then I read them for study, and one of the things I noticed was how they could end scenes with prompts that make you want to read on. In REVISION, I give a few examples:

• A mysterious line of dialogue.
• An image that is full of foreboding (like the fog rolling in, or a distant sound).
• A secret suddenly revealed.
• A major decision or vow.
• Announcement of a shattering event.
• Reversal or surprise—new information that turns the story around.
• A question left hanging in the air.

And so on. Here's a tip: go to the library or a bookstore (or your own shelf) and gather five books by King and five by Koontz, from the 1980s (their "middle periods"). Then just read the last few paragraphs of each chapter. You'll get a real strong sense of prompts.

ML: In REVISION & SELF-EDITING you discuss the magic of writing. What advice would you give aspiring writers about creating that magic?

JSB: I think the magic comes from having your heart in the story. If you're going about this mechanically, it won't be enough to carry you. You've got to be "juiced" about the story in some way. Usually that happens when you've worked out the LOCK elements of your story up front (Lead, Objective, Confrontation and Knock Out, as explained in PLOT & STRUCTURE)

Then, know your craft. The more you know it, the better you'll feel. Some people say you can't learn from books, or you shouldn't waste your money. I feel exactly the opposite. When I would study a writing book and find a technique that worked for me, I got excited. I have a shelf of my favorite books, and will occasionally grab one and read what I highlighted, and get excited again.

In REVISION & SELF-EDITING I talk about my encounter with Dai Vernon, the greatest card magician of all time, and his "trick that cannot be explained." He could improvise moves on the spot, because he knew his craft so well.

I apply that to writing. You face a problem, a creative challenge, and you use your tools to find a way through it. That's when writing becomes magical.

ML: Last question! You have a new how-to book for writers coming out in November. I'm intrigued with the title. Can you give us the WHY and WHAT on THE ART OF WAR FOR FICTION WRITERS?

JSB: It's a riff on Sun Tzu's ancient classic. A handbook, basically, of axioms, with some commentary. The idea is to fill in some cracks in the traditional teaching on fiction writing. To go a little deeper, to offer some of the "extras" that can elevate a manuscript above the slush. Along with advice on the business of writing and how one should approach it.

Hopefully, people will still be reading it 2000 years after it comes out, just like generals still read Sun Tzu.

We hope you enjoyed Margie's interview with James Scott Bell. Join us next month on February 25, 2009 when her featured How-to Author will be Hallie Ephron, Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel: How to knock 'em dead with style.