Prologues by Bonnie Le Hamilton

These days if you mention prologues in a writing group just about everyone will tell you not to write them. I’ve even been told that editors hate them, but I happen to think there are times when a prologue is good and helpful, and even needed.

I’ve also heard that anywhere from ten to fifty percent of readers even read prologues. Well guess what, I’m in that group. I read them, I find them just as important as the story itself, and I have written a few. And by a few, I mean a grand total of five out of my over thirty stories that I’ve at least started. So not very many, and I have no intention of writing prologues for the stories that don’t have them. As far as I’m concerned, they don’t need them, but the five I have prologues for, well, in my opinion, they need them.

And I can explain why I have everyone I do have.

The first one is in the POV a minor character in the story, but the information in that scene is of vital importance. All of the remaining scenes are either in the hero’s or the heroine’s POV, but neither were present in that one scene. These few paragraphs inform the reader what the story is about. And frankly I tried to get away without writing that scene, because after all, I’d been told many times to avoid prologues, but well, this scene was needed, I wrote it.

The second one is partly in the POV of a secondary character and partly in the POV of the hero, its short, but it also says what, and who, the story is about. I guess it could be the first chapter, but its rather short for that.

The next two are short scenes, one in the hero’s POV, and in the other story in the heroine’s POV. They also say what the story is about, but at first it doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the rest of the story, its only later that you see what it has to do with the story, sort of like in my first prologue.

The final one is for my sci-fi, and the prologue is an ancient story in the world where my sci-fi is set. A story as old as time, as my heroine later tells the hero. This story is mentioned often throughout what will be my sci-fi series, but I didn’t want it actually in the story, so I put it in the prologue, skip it if you want, but you may end up referring to it later. 😊

I know none of these stories are published, only one is even in the finished rough stage, and I’m currently working on the sci-fi, but each time I read these prologues I’ve worried about how the publishers will feel about them, and what they will do to my chances of being published, because after all, we are told to avoid them at all costs.

Then this past week Konnie came across this blog post: https://www.septembercfawkes.com/2018/06/how-prologues-actually-function-6-types.html  by September C. Fawkes, who is an editor. It’s a pretty good outline of the uses for a prologue.

I particularly like when Fawkes says, “. . . prologues are about making promises of one kind or another to the audience. This is the main function of a prologue.”

Okay, I do make promises. In four of my prologues, they tell what the story is about, they show something that is important or vital to the story. In my final one, well that story lets the reader know the story does not happen in our world. All of them set the stage for what is to follow.

Fawkes also says, “Like all writing rules, there may be some exceptions once in a while, but I’d argue almost always prologues = promises.”

According to what Fawkes says in her blog post my first one is an Alternative Viewpoint prologue, my second is partly an Alternative Viewpoint, and partly a Time Displacement because it happens months before the main story, my next two are little bit Theatrical and a little bit Dual Draw (Well actually, all of these have a bit of the Theatrical in them.), and my final one is both Informational and Time Displacement.

They all serve a purpose, and they all make a promise about what is to come.

In other words, I’ve used prologues correctly the few times I’ve used them. 😊

So, how many of you read prologues?

How many of you skip prologues?

And how many of you have written a prologue?

Happy writing everyone! 😊

Of Storms and Setbacks by Konnie Enos

“When it rains it pours.”

I don’t mean literally.

I live in a desert after all.

I’m talking about life’s little setbacks and unexpected annoyances and minor traumas you have to deal with. Far too often with a price tag you just aren’t ready to deal with.

Sometimes the price is an emotional one.

A young girl we attend church with spoke Sunday about her recent loss of her beloved family member, her pet. The loss of any loved one can be an emotional stressor.

Other times it’s physical. An accident or a health issue.

My own daughter is dealing with several medical issues though recently she finally found a doctor who one, believed her, two wanted to help her find answers, and three felt the best place for her was a tertiary clinic. Then she ran into a huge problem. The clinic won’t accept her insurance and she doesn’t have even the minimum amount of money in cash to get them to see her without insurance. So she is still fighting.

Accidents can be anything from breaking a bone to wrecking a car. Both have after effects.

Then there are times the problems you have to deal with come with an actual price tag. An unexpected bill or repair. Needing to replace worn out, or out grown, clothing. If you have animals, an unplanned trip to the vet.

Usually these unexpected, unplanned events occur sporadically enough you can recover from one before the next one pummels you.

Usually.

Other times, well, when it rains, it pours.

One day you get slapped with an unexpected repair and the next it’s a bill you had no idea was coming. Then you’ve got to cover things like maintenance on your car, or taxes or other things you don’t pay every month and you had been saving for them but now you don’t have any left. Or at least not enough to cover everything you where saving for AND all those unexpected expenses and yet one more repair. And that regular bill that’s going up, yet again. Not to mention the bill that’s higher than you expected it to be. And you can’t possibly squeeze another penny out of your budget.

And you look at all those bills and all those repairs and maintenance needing done along with your empty bank account and the only thought going through your head is, when it rains, it pours.

No, my bank account isn’t empty.

Yet.

Yes, my family is being pummeled.

At the moment I’m sure the only reason we still have money in the bank is because I have yet to do any of my yearly Christmas shopping.

Normally, this time of year I’d have completed nearly half of it. This year, I haven’t even gotten one gift. I’ve barely managed to keep up with getting birthday gifts.

For some reason, this year, I’ve been unable to come up with the motivation or the ideas to even start shopping this year. So now, at a time I’d normally be nearly done with it, I haven’t even started, which might be a good thing this year.

Why?

Because the way things have been pouring around here I’m sure it’s going to have to go next, and Christmas will be reminiscent of our more austere past.

When the girls were little and money was really tight, I made what few gifts I gave them because we really couldn’t afford anything.

Unfortunately, my girls are all adults now and I can’t make them a baby doll blanket anymore. I also have no clue what I could possibly make the males in my household.

In our church we’re told you’ll get hit the hardest when Satan wants to get you off the straight and narrow path, but if you stick with it you’ll be blessed in the end.

Well we’re getting bombarded now and our daughter is preparing to partake in a religious ceremony that is something of a rite of passage, it also shows her devotion to our faith.

All things considered, I think this storm has been long enough.

I don’t want any more unexpected bills or repairs.

I don’t need another bill raised.

I don’t want to replace anymore clothes or shoes.

I don’t need any medical bills or a needed doctor who won’t take our insurance.

If it has to rain, why can’t it pour down some blessings instead of troubles?

Personally, I’m ready for a storm of blessings.

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.

Confusing Critiques by Bonnie Le Hamilton

Here is my problem, I recently received one last critique on my finished novel “Forbidden Connection”, and this one, along with several others was on the line of, “Love the premise, hate that they fall in love so quickly.”

Excuse me?

The entire premise of the story is that the hero is part of an alien society which is set up around insuring that their youth form a “connection” with someone of the opposite sex by a certain age, but the hero somehow manages to “connect” with a young lady who isn’t part of their group. Ergo the title.

I even have in the story where he tells his dad he loves the girl and his dad says, “Son, with the connection, you have no choice in the matter.”

I also have a subplot where the heroine’s cousin connects with the hero’s sister. The cousin goes from barely knowing the hero’s sister exists to can’t take his eyes off her in a matter of minutes! How else I can show this connection is instantaneous? I’m mean I’m certain I didn’t show it with the hero and heroine getting together, because at the very first of the story, I have the hero bemoaning that he finds her, an outsider, so attractive. I also have her telling him she finds him attractive and she had tried to get his attention while they were still at school together.

In other words, the entire premise of the story isn’t whether or not they fall in love. It is about whether or not their families will accept their union, period.

Maybe my mistake is in saying this is a romance, since all other such stories are about the couple getting together and falling in love, not about whether or not their love will be accepted by those around them, but what kind of story would it categorized as?

It can’t be sci-fi, even though the hero is an alien, it is set on contemporary Earth, no fancy technology or anything.

And it can’t really be paranormal because the closest it comes to that is the form of ESP that is what the hero’s people call the connection. It’s a one on one thing. This is in fact how they form couples. There are no spirits, no magic, no mysticism. Nothing supernatural beyond “the connection.”

And now clearly, only a few people see it as romance, the few who managed to get that they fall in love so fast because of “the connection.” The few who actually get the premise.

So now the issue is, do I scrap the entire story and start all over without “the connection” as part of it (in other words come up with a different premise) or do I try to figure out a different way to market this story as is.

I’m telling you, each time I’ve mentioned that I got a critique saying they didn’t like how fast they fell in love to any of the few people who actually get the premise, they’ve exclaimed, “But that’s the entire story!”

And they are right. If I change that they fall in love so fast, if I take out that her cousin and his sister fall in love even faster, then I don’t have a story at all.

After all, why even have the worry about acceptance if you don’t love the person in first place?

And how do I market a story that isn’t your typical romance/sci-fi/paranormal, it really doesn’t fit in any of those categories, and it doesn’t fit at all in any other category. So where do I market it? Who is the audience?

Well I already know that. I know that from the reaction of my then preteen and teenaged nieces to the first draft of the story. They not only loved it they drove their mother mad with talking about the hero and heroine as if they were real and talking about the hero’s alien culture as if it really existed.

And one of my nephews, on hearing how much his sisters talked about these aliens, snuck onto my sister’s computer and read it himself. He loved all the alien parts of the story and hated, as he put it way back then, “all the mushy stuff.” Of course, he wasn’t a teenager yet, and I haven’t asked how he feels about all that mushy stuff now. Then again, I never expected him to read it, I never intended this to be something guys would read.

But now I need to figure out who would read it beyond my nieces, their mother, and my one friend who all got the premise. Any suggestions?

Happy writing everyone. 😊

When the Muse Grabs You by Konnie Enos

The last few weeks I’ve been trying to do edits on my fantasy and sci-fi mostly because they are my two “finished” WIPs. I’ve even been ignoring my one romance which is the closest to done of all my WIPs in that genre. However, the last couple of days I’ve had a new story demanding attention and some resolutions.

Well at first it was just one issue and I foolishly thought if I could just write that scene I’d be able to get back to what I should be doing.

It didn’t work out that way.

I did resolve it but wrote myself right into another one.

Yep, I needed to get it taken care of too.

I think I’ve done it at least six times now and I know I’ve had to backtrack closer to a dozen times because I either left information out or there was no way it could possibly work so I’d have to start over at some point. I’ve had to erase at least three scenes and try again because it wasn’t quite right. One of those I’ve erased at least three times attempting to get the right results.

And when I wasn’t moaning because it wasn’t working, yet again, I was typing as furiously as my normal mom schedule would allow.

Other than driving my kids hither and thither I have neglected my chores.

I have not updated the checkbooks. Don’t ask me how much I have in the bank right now, because I actually don’t know other than not much.

In the last two weeks we’ve actually run completely out of milk, not once, not twice but several times. Once we didn’t even have any juice in the fridge, which rarely happens. It was weird seeing my fridge so empty.

I have not done any laundry. Not to say laundry hasn’t been done in this house, just not by me.

What I did do? Up until this week, I made it to church each Sunday and, because circumstances kept me from my Henderson’s Writers Group meeting a couple of weeks ago, I made every effort to make it last week. My intent had been to make it to church and my meeting this week as well.

Well I didn’t.

And no, I didn’t miss church because I was writing.

Sunday I was sick.

Monday I felt better and I intended to go to my meeting. I really did. So what was I doing when I should have been driving to my meeting?

No, I wasn’t writing.

Yes, I spent most of the day writing, but what I was doing when I should have been going to my meeting was cooking dinner.

In fact, it didn’t even dawn on me I was missing my meeting until about an hour after it generally ends when my daughter came in my room and asked me if I was missing it.

By this time I was engrossed in writing again and I kid you not, it took about half a second for me to figure out what meeting she was talking about. Then I had to digest the fact I’d completely missed it.

I went back to my writing. Oh well. Next week.

Now to understand the next issue I came across, you have to know my sister and I attempt to get our posts up every Wednesday morning at 9 a.m. Mountain time. Yesterday (yes, I mean Tuesday) just before 11 a.m. Mountain time, my sister got on Skype and asked if I was online.

I seriously panicked.

I went so far as to pull my calendar out to confirm it wasn’t Wednesday. For a moment I thought I’d completely forgotten to write my post while I’d been working on my story. It was the most disconcerting feeling.

In order to not get lost in my writing yesterday, and hopefully get some of my chores done, I forced myself not to even open that file.

What did I accomplish yesterday?

Well, I didn’t update my checkbook or do my laundry,

I did run a child where she needed to go and accomplished a couple of errands, one of which was getting groceries. I also worked on my writing, considering my post was due I tried to focus on it.

Tried being the operative word. I fell asleep.

Good thing I’m used to getting up early.

Now to see if I can get my chores done before I open that file again.

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.

Writing Conundrums by Bonnie Le Hamilton

I think Konnie got more writing/editing done this past week then I did. Of course, (and I have mentioned this before) Konnie doesn’t have to deal with ADD. Then again, I’m not sure my problem this last week was ADD.

Or maybe it was.

Here’s the gist of it − I spent all week trying to get some writing/editing done, but I couldn’t bring myself to open the manuscript I’d been working on, nor did I want to open my sci-fi, I wanted to work on another one of my unfinished manuscripts, the one I was thinking about at the time. So, I opened it, read through it, however, I only found a few typos, and had no ideas for changes, or additions.

Then my mind turned to another story I have sitting unfinished (I have way too many of those) so I opened it and started reading. And what happens? I suddenly have an idea for yet another story! Dang. So, I opened that one, and started reading it, but what happens? My head fills with a story I haven’t written yet.

A story with too many problems for me to fix. I’ve actually considered it several times, and tried to write it several times, and none of those attempts have come close to the idea in my head. I just can’t seem to write it. I’ve actually made four attempts at starting this idea and have four unfinished manuscripts to show for it. They just aren’t anywhere near what I have playing in my head.

So basically, I kept opening one or another of these four, or a fifth one kind of on the same theme (I actually have six manuscripts on what is essentially the same theme but I started those other two before I came up with this idea I’m talking about), intending to work on them, only to either just find some typos or find myself thinking about one of the others I didn’t have open, i.e. getting nowhere in my writing, all while Konnie managed to write her post, finish one of her manuscripts, and get some editing done on a second one, all between taking kids to doctors, attending meetings, and doing all her other chores, like grocery shopping.

I do know the story I want to write, and I even know when I come up with it – just before NANO 2016.

For those of you paying attention, you know that in 2016 I actually worked on two different stories for NANO. I started one, then started over with another one which intruded, but the fact is that the story I started writing first wasn’t quite the vision I had and the new idea seemed to fit the bill. Sadly, it didn’t.

Actually, what I need is a story somewhere between those two, with maybe a dash of the two I started since that. And maybe not. Then again, all four manuscripts are pretty good as is, and I really should finish them, even if they aren’t what I started out trying to write.

And I’m still not sure how to fix the issues so my idea makes sense and works as I envision it instead of how it is coming out on my computer screen, times four.

Adding to that is the problem that I do like these four stories, so I have to come up with even more character names and backgrounds to try yet again to write what is in my head, but I haven’t actually written this story because of the big problem I haven’t been able to solve in my mind.

So, anyway, have any of you ever had trouble writing a story that you can see in your head, but can’t work out on paper, and every time you try, you end up writing a decent story, but it isn’t the one you set out to write, not by a long shot? And I’m not talking about pantsing it, and things go off on a tangent (though admittedly I am a pantser), I’m talking about not even coming close to the story in your head.

I’ve used a written outline only once (and I veered off that anyway) and that was my sci-fi. My stories usually go off on tangents, but they don’t normally veer off course in the first paragraph. And I’m not sure how I can fix this.

Outline?

I still have the believability issue.

Brainstorming?

Maybe, but I’m not sure that will help, because that is how I came up with my first attempt at this idea.

What would you do?

If you have any good suggestions, please let me know. I could use it.

Happy writing everyone. 

Thwarting the Best Laid Plans by Konnie Enos

Recently I was reminded that the best way to make a story intriguing is to give your leading a character a goal and then throw obstacles in their way to make it difficult or even impossible for them to obtain it.

My one thought was, but it can be challenging to toss in realistic sounding obstacles without sounding cliché. Unique ones are even trickier to come up with.

Of course, when you have thoughts like that, life decides to teach you a lesson.

My week so for has been a major lesson on how life can mess with your plans in new and unique ways, or maybe some old ways, just with new twists.

Monday I had nothing planned except attending my local writer’s group meeting. Due to my daughter’s schedule I also had to take her to and from her class and we were, of course, and again, out of milk, so a trip to the store would need to be done, but both of those were necessary and par for the course.

The day was going smoothly and I was sure I needed to get ready to pick up my daughter because I would need to get her home before I could make my meeting and it was going to be a close call no matter how I did things.

Then my married daughter called.

We talked so long that the daughter I needed to pick up also called because I hadn’t responded to her text, which I didn’t notice came through while talking to her sister. By this time it was late enough I would barely have enough time to get her picked up and home and then run to my meeting IF there wasn’t any traffic.

I expected some congestion because of construction on Highway 15, but generally Highway 95 is clear once I get to the interchange. Not this time. In fact, the traffic for 95 was actually slower than for 15, which never happens. I finally get on 95 but it doesn’t really pick up and just when I think we might finally pick up speed the lane I’m in comes to a complete stand still. The other lanes are moving though.

I get out of it and eventually make it past the off ramp that is backing everything up, and on to pick up my daughter.

Driving her home we again run into heavy traffic and cars at a standstill on the highway waiting to get off at the same street that had things backed up going the other direction.

I have since learned this particular street, which normally runs three lanes in each direction, is currently under some construction and the powers that be saw no problem with restricting it to only one lane in each direction. Considering it is a main through street it is major league backed up and now that's spilling over to the nearest exit.

Anyway the entire round trip should have taken an hour. It took me that long just to get to her. By the time I got her home, any attempts to make my meeting in that traffic would have gotten me there roughly about the time it usually ends.

So instead of going to my meeting I figured I’d better make that grocery run. I had no desire to go alone especially since it involved several gallons of milk and juice.

Five of five family members were in bed and or fast asleep. After trying to cajole three of those people to go with me I finally resorted to bribing the youngest family member.

After getting the groceries put away and it not being all that late, not for me anyway, I determined I’d do something productive and work on my writing, like maybe this blog post.

I did get on my computer, but then the power went out. The first time was only for a few minutes, then it flickered a few times. Then it went out for roughly two hours. The estimated repair time meant it would be back on sometime between 11:30 and midnight.

I went to bed, though I did prepare a nice to-do list for Tuesday. I had hopes.

The day started out fine. Right up until I exited the highway on the way to my daughter’s class. Engine overheating. Again!

I got her to class, but spent three hours waiting for my husband and a tow. Then the rest of the day at home waiting for my car to be fixed. So much for my errands.

However, I learned a lesson.

When life wants to throw you a curveball, there is nothing mundane about them.

I think that’s what we need to remember when we start throwing curve balls at our characters when we are creating those intriguing stories.

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.

Independence Day 2018 by Bonnie Le Hamilton

Two Hundred and Forty-Two years ago our Forefathers first read the Declaration of Independence to the people of what was then this brand-new country. Today everyone is busy going to parades, picnics, fairs, family gatherings. But while you’re taking part in all that fun, try to remember that such things happen in your stories too.

I know I’ve said this before, because I have read stories that have no holidays in them at all. Of course, in some the events of the story are confined to a few short weeks, they can be forgiven. But when a story covers a longer period, why aren’t there at least family special days, like a birthday or anniversary. If the character doesn’t have much family, couldn’t their friends have such days?

And of course, there are also national holidays to consider. After all, if the events you have happening occur on like the first Monday in September here in America, your character isn’t going to find a single bank that is open, possibly not even a store.

If the story you are working on happens over the summer months, why don’t you have Independence Day events in your story? Even if your character isn’t in America, if he or she is American, wouldn’t they at least celebrate on a small scale? And all sorts of things can happen during or around the events associated with this holiday.

I’m currently working on just such a story, still need to work on the scenes which happen on the fourth of July, but I do have them, because they happen. Somewhere in this story I also have to have the birthday of the hero’s stepsister because I’ve already established at the beginning of the story that her birthday was coming, as in over the summer.

Of course, my problem is, because of many different issues, its been decades since I’ve been to any events that occur between the parade and the fireworks, so I’m trying to figure out what this fictious town would have planned that would be fun for teens and younger to enjoy for most of the day. What kind of booths or games they’d have planned, where they would they be at? That sort of thing.

Then again, this is a fictitious town, so I guess I could do just about anything.

And then there is writing sci-fi or fantasy, things that happen in worlds not our own. I have a sci-fi in the works too, and I have to decide what I’m going to do about things like birthdays and anniversaries. Do they celebrate them? If so how? And what kinds of other things do they celebrate? Do they have national holidays? Do they have religious holidays? And again, if so, what are they? Do they even have celebrations of any kind? And if they don’t? Why not?

There are so many questions that can be asked, but what are the answers?

The answers always depend on the story, and what you are trying to convey about the characters, the place, etc. But I think I might enjoy coming up some holidays, celebrations, and traditions for this make-believe world of mine. I also think having such things as a part of the fabric of the world I am building will make that world more believable.

Don’t you think so?

Have a happy and safe Fourth, Happy writing everyone. And happy birthday, tomorrow, Konnie!