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Posts by Carol Despeaux Fawcett

Nov 11

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The Bad Sex Scene Award: how NOT to get nominated

London’s “Literary Review” has just announced its winners for the 2013 Bad Sex Award—Britain’s most dreaded literary prize.

The prize is meant to “draw attention to the crude, badly written, often perfunctory use of redundant passages of sexual description in the modern novel and to discourage it.”

This year the nominees included author Amy Tan’s, “The Valley of Amazement,” for this line: “He flayed against me, until our bodies were slapping, and he took me into the typhoon and geologic disaster.”  Read more

Nov 7

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See how these famous writers outlined their work

As I experiment with outlining my novel, I’m learning that there are as many ways to outline as there are writers and types of writing.

For the Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling made a hand-written table that contained the outline of her entire series.

Joseph Keller’s outline for “Catch 22” was meticulously ordered like an Excel spreadsheet.

Dylan Thomas’s outline for one poem contained a list of words.

William Faulkner wrote the outline for his short story “A Fable” on his office wall.

To see more famous authors’ outlining methods check out the Daily Mail’s article by Tara Brady here.

If you’re a writer who outlines, how do you go about organizing your thoughts?

Nov 5

What is your writing style? Part one

I recently decided to take a break from writing scenes in my current manuscript until I get a better feeling for where my story is going.

While I continue to brainstorm scenes, there is one thing I’m working on—my style.

For a writer, style is how we put words together on the page. Style is syntax—the order of our words. Style is poetry—choosing just the right word. Style is the underlying foundation of everything we write. Style is being conscious of what words we choose, how we order our sentences and paragraphs and pages, and why. Read more

Oct 31

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What stops an agent from wanting to read more of your story?

One of the most popular events each year at the Surrey International Writers’ Conference is a workshop called SIWC Idol.  Think American Idol except for writers. Anybody who’s brave enough can submit the first page of their manuscript to be read in front of a panel of judges—four literary agents.

Author Jack Whyte, in his deep and resonant voice, reads a random selection of first pages in front of the 200 or so writers. He reads until at least two of the agents raise their hand indicating this is where they’d stop reading if they were reading the submission in their office. The agents then explain why they stopped where they did.

I was lucky enough to be one of the few submissions where a hand wasn’t raised. But what exactly stops an agent from wanting to read further?

  1. Too much description up front that’s not interwoven into the action and dialogue. A long paragraph of description. Read more

Oct 30

How to keep readers turning the page: tips from bestselling author Diana Gabaldon

How to keep readers turning the page was the title of a workshop I attended last weekend by author Diana Gabaldon at the Surrey Writers’ Conference.

Gabaldon, bestselling author of Outlander now being made into a TV series, knows what she’s talking about. She has an avid fan base and for good reason—she knows how to tell a good story and how to keep her readers turning pages.

Have you ever read a book or heard of one that was poorly written but developed a big following? Several come to mind that I won’t name here. But there are reasons for their success.

One bestseller from a few years back was set in an art museum and, despite trying to read the novel three times, I could never get past the first third of the book. But others evidently did as it sold millions of copies and spawned a movie. This book kept readers turning the page because the author used cliffhangers at the end of each chapter. Read more

Oct 22

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Four more tips to get the most from a writer’s conference

In an earlier post, “5 tips to get the most out of a writer’s conference” I describe the Action Plan I put together before each writer’s conference or event I attend.

I used to go bumbling into conferences with no clue what I wanted to get out of them except to learn as much about the craft of writing as I could.

Things are different now that I have a better grasp of my craft. Now, I think about things like networking, interviewing successful authors, and getting feedback on my work.

What if you have a manuscript ready to pitch? In addition to the tips in the post above, I also recommend the following to make sure you present your best self: Read more

Oct 21

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Name your muse to increase creativity

“Art does not come from the mind. Art comes from the place where you dream.” – Robert Olen Butler in From Where You Dream: The Process of Writing Fiction.

The other morning, I had a dream about writing. I was definitely in my happy place when I woke because the dream starred one of my favorite authors–Neil Gaiman–who was giving me writing advice.

In the dream, my hubby and I were having a picnic on a grassy knoll in England. (I’ve never been to England so I’m not even sure what it looks like or if there really are grassy knolls). Mr. Gaiman was walking by and stopped to entertain us with the details of his next writing project.

I told him I was a writer but that I was having problems finishing my current novel. He said, “You’re getting caught up in all that other stuff that doesn’t mean anything.” Wagging his finger at me, like my mother used to do when I was young and naughty, he continued, “Just tell a story. Forget about everything else for now.”

I woke up smiling. I mean, who wouldn’t with Mr. Gaiman wagging his finger at you?  Read more

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