Get a Clue

 

On New Year’s Eve, Roland and I watched a movie loosely based on the board game “Clue.” I won’t go into the reasons why we chose it, but it was a bad choice.

Filler is one of my pet peeves. That’s when a writer (usually of a book, but in this case of a movie) throws in extra material to lengthen a book (or a movie) even though it doesn’t add to the story. That’s often the sign of a lazy writer, although sometimes it is simply the sign of an amateur.

The movie “Clue” drove me crazy because the principal character kept running around and reenacting parts of the crimes (multiple murders) to show us how they could have been done. There were simpler, less annoying, ways to show it, but they wouldn’t have been as long. As it was, I was so annoyed that if it had been a book I would have put it down. The author got away with it only because it was a movie and I knew the agony wouldn’t last much longer.

That doesn’t mean that a writer can’t attempt to make a story longer. In fact, sometimes it needs filling out just as an emaciated person needs to put on weight. But the additional material must be a seamless part of the story, flowing with and enhancing it. That takes work and creativity, which are the lazy writer’s enemies. For me, it’s a challenge that give me an adrenaline rush.

Next week I’ll talk about info dumps.

Reading as a Reader

 

Over the years, I’ve attended a number of writers’ conferences and read many books on how to write fiction. Usually I agree with the advice that the presenters and authors give, but not always. One piece of advice that I do NOT agree with is this: read with an eye to discovering what the writer does right or wrong. If I had time to read a book again right after the first read, I suppose I would be okay with doing that on the second read, but I have too many books on my reading list to read any of them twice.

Why do I disagree with the advice on a first read?

I read for two main reasons: research and pleasure, and sometimes a book (such as a diary or journal) provides both. If I’m reading for research, I’m interested in the facts or the situations or the emotions that are portrayed, and how well the book is written is often irrelevant. If I’m reading for pleasure, I don’t want to get distracted by analyzing the writing. Because that’s what it is: a distraction that takes me away from the story.

That doesn’t mean I never notice the author’s skill or use of particular writing devices. Sometimes I do, especially if the devices are themselves a distraction that pulls me out of the story. I’m going to use my next few blog posts to highlight some of these devices that I would classify as pet peeves. As a reader, you will probably agree with me, and if you’re a writer, I hope you will get the message and avoid using them.

Next week I’ll talk about obvious filler.

Finding Names by the Side of the Road

 

Roland and I went to Raleigh, North Carolina, over the holidays to celebrate Christmas with our children. On the way there and back, we drove by Mount Airy and Pilot Mountain. That’s Pilot Mountain in the photo.

For those of you who don’t know, Mount Airy, North Carolina, was Andy Griffith’s childhood home and the inspiration for the fictional town of Mayberry on the Andy Griffith Show. Mt. Pilot was the fictional county seat on that same show. It’s obvious where the name of the county seat came from, and apparently the name of the town came from Mayberry, Virginia, just across the state line.

Not all names are that easy to come up with when writing a story. Still, I have noticed that road trips provide me with a great resource. When Roland is driving, I read the exit signs and write the town names in a notebook for later use. Sometimes they are common names like Monroe, but at other times they are more unusual, such as Gallipolis or Litchfield.

Since I write historical fiction, I often use real locations. It would be hard to write about the Great Chicago Fire or the siege of Vicksburg without setting those stories in Chicago or Vicksburg, respectively. But when I’m writing about something that happened throughout the U.S., or at least in a relatively large area, I may create a fictional town to give me more flexibility in the layout, shops, and general characteristics of the setting. In that case, I look at the names on my list and consider using one, but I do a Google search to ensure that the state I am locating it in doesn’t have a town by that name. Since I collect names from all over the country, I can usually find something that works.

That’s a secondary use of my list, though. I primarily use it for surnames. Most of my characters have last names that I pulled from my list of towns, such as Girard or Morton or Waldon.

But whether I use the names for characters or locations, interstate exit signs can be a great resource.