HOW I WROTE MY SECOND NOVEL

Writing, for me, is like breathing air.  I  always wrote little stories and poems as a child.  We had lots of books in our home.  My  mom was a college professor, so during the summers she'd bring home boxes of books (literally) for us to read and have our fill. So in junior high and high school I read numerous  books—especially in the summertime—as I wrote in my diaries.  This, not surprisingly, turned out to be extremely beneficial for me as a writer. For  that way, I  practiced and fine-tuned my writing.  Then, when I was about 19 years old, I wrote my first 'novel'.   I got as far as ten or so typed pages.  The problem, I discovered, was that I did not know the direction of the story.  The ‘novel’ opened with  a young girl visiting an elderly woman.  The old lady reflected my drawing of an old  woman—with  lots of dialogue between the crone  and the girl. I also had a grand theme.  But after ten or so  pages, where was the story going?  I had no idea. *** A decade later, instead of a diary, I kept a journal.  (Girls write diaries; women keep journals.) By writing  my stories and poems and daily existence, I was doing as Virginia Woolf, Anais Nin, and Doris Lessing had done.  I wrote down story ideas, novel ideas,  synopses, chapters, essays, poems, and parts-of-novels. Now I think what a remarkable child and teen I was—to be writing so consistently with no visible reward (except that I wrote great, impressive essays for my classes, papers and book reports).  But at the time, writing was the norm for me.  My air.  It was my clandestine life. *** After I wrote my first novel, Porridge & Cucu: My Childhood, I began thinking of a larger more ambitious story. At the time I'd just finished reading Doris Lessing's  The Golden Notebook  and, trying to emulate her, I had in mind a mixture of stories and folklore and family history.   I also wanted to include Panamanian history, as Isabel Allende—a writer I had read and admired—had embodied the history of Chile in some of her novels. At the same time, I wanted to tell the story of a woman betrayed by her first love.  I knew infidelity was a main theme, but   I wanted her to survive and get stronger.    Her name was Eulalia. I had innumerable notes—written haphazardly when ideas came to me, and so I created a ten-page synopsis. I divided the synopsis into chapters.  I tweaked the outline with a few changes.  Then I began.  I took a long time writing Chapter 1—since I felt I had to cram so much into it.  Theme.  Foreshadowing the plot.  Main characters.  Also I wanted to use gorgeous language.  So I went over the first page countless times, and the entire chapter at least a dozen times (probably more), tinkering with each word.  That phase took about six weeks or more—after which I decided to split the chapter I'd been working on into two chapters. I also decided to go forward. Chapters 3, 4, and 5 basically flowed effortlessly:  I was astonished that the characters took over their own fate. I had done some research into Panamanian and US history—while writing the outline and synopsis, and beforehand.  But, since I love doing research, I had to stop myself and just begin writing (and do the research intermittently, as needed). In a sense, I’d been preparing to write The Honeyeater all of my life. *** Surprisingly, I never felt overwhelmed as I wrote The Honeyeater.  Instead, I felt empowered.  I was, I felt, 'in the zone'.  Certain sections—to this day—make me misty-eyed.  Part of the reason could be that  I was crying as I wrote them. So The Honeyeater is very heartfelt.  I loved writing it.   I also love reading The Honeyeater.  And hope other readers will agree. --Yolanda A.  Reid

MY WEBUTATION

When I read that author Elizabeth Gilbert  never googles her name, I had to ponder.   My reaction was surprise, since I google my name at least every other day.  I used to google it daily.  Often,  to verify that a blog or forum post had shown up in  cyberspace.  But just as often, it was to see my name.

At a glance, all this googling seems a form of net narcissism.  But, bear with me:  I had sound
reasons.

I first began my name-searching, like most people, out of curiosity.  I wanted to know  what
information about me was floating in cyberspace.  I wanted to discover my  webutation.

At once, I was mesmerized.  The kaleidoscope I ogled through as a young girl had now morphed into my computer monitor.  My mom had bought our family's first Apple computer years ago, and that kaleidoscopic box had opened a world of infinite information.  I marveled at this brave new cyber-world, as I wandered from website to website, searching everything.

Over the years, I've read a multitude of articles online, with accompanying photos.  Articles,
for instance, on conjoined twins, various lunar and solar eclipses, a harvest moon, a blue moon,
a couple of new planets, the oldest living man, a two-headed baby,  an old woman pregnant
with a 'stone' fetus, Manhattanhenge and celebrants at Stonehenge, the Rainbow Mountains and a scarlet river in China, the beaches of Tahiti, a midnight sun in Scandinavia, an ice igloo, an underwater hotel, and a multiplicity of whales, alligators, giraffes, and elephants.  Also, pink flamingos on a South American river, grey koala bears in Australia, green turtles on the Galapagos islands.

Add to that, a few hundred how-to articles on every topic imaginable. How to put files on a
blank CD.  How to take an online course.  How to pay for grad school.  How to clean your
computer.

Eventually, I read an online article on how important it is to guard your webutation.  In doing
so, you prevent identity theft.  You also prevent misinformation, as employers or potential
employers, family, friends and frenemies troll the web for information about you.

That article was validation of sorts.

I then began the little exercise of googling my name.

Besotted, I discovered a few things about it.  First, between 90 and 136 women in the US are
named "Yolanda Reid."  So my name is not as unique as I thought.  Second, my surname means
"red", since a few distant ancestors were Scottish and had red hair.  Third, Yolanda means
"violet."

In addition, I discovered that searching--or googling--has changed me, albeit subtly.  New
aspects to my character have emerged.  For instance, I'm impatient now for results--even if they take .614 seconds to generate, say, 3 million results.  If results will take as long as fifteen seconds, I sign off and click on something else.  My expectation is for instantaneity.  A quarter-minute is  way too long to wait.  And one minute seems an eternity.

If I'm realistic and ask myself, When have search results ever taken fifteen seconds to
manifest themselves?  I have to answer, Never.  Internet time is in milliseconds.  My secondary
webbrowser takes as long as two minutes or more to upload webpages.  That is why I stopped
using it.

Now I always research people and products.  Whether I'm buying a book, a computer or a water
heater, I'll research it first.  I take a look at people's Facebook or Twitter page, if they
have one.  I check out celebrity gossip, obviously.  And I read news stories from a handful of
e-newspapers, to the point that some days I consider myself over-informed.

Moreover, I've tried to get on as many platforms as humanly possible.  I have a website, a
blog and a Twitter account.  I'm also on Goodreads.  The blog is a must, but for a long time, I avoided Twitter.  The reason?  I noticed that people tended to get into mini-scandals from their tweets.  From celebrities to ordinary netizens.  As it happens, 140 characters can be powerful.

But all the  how-to articles I read on the uses of social media stated that a Twitter account
was essential for an author.  How to connect with readers.  How to create a persona online.
How to . . . .  On a whim, I gingerly decided to enter the Twittersphere.  So far I've tweeted
about books, writing and  authors.  Literature ad infinitum.  Very writerly.  As if I were leading
a virtual seminar.

I've kept my revelations modest, and professional.  No scandal here.  On forums, I try to
maintain a dual stance--friendly yet not too friendly, for fear of engaging with an e-stalker.
And I've discovered that everything you post turns up in the search engines, sooner or later.
Mostly sooner: between two days and a couple of weeks.  Today I can even view posts of mine
from ten years ago.

The internet is, at once, evanescent and ever-present.   My words float on in cyberspace.  The
virtual frontier. 

Not surprisingly, I'm more concerned with my webutation now than ever before.  Moreover, all this cyber-information has changed how some people perceive me--including a few  family members.  I get a little bit of the recognition I crave.  In essence, I'm saying to the world, Look, I'm great.  And the world seems to validate me.  Thanks to the internet gods.

But the reality is that I haven't changed all that much:  I've always written, even as a child.
I've always drawn and loved art.  I've always loved reading and books.  I was a gifted child
and creative teen.  My personality has not changed all that much.  Now, however, all this
information is available online for anyone who wants to know.  From my interests to my favorite books, to what my childhood was like.

And I, myself, am more informed than ever.

On occasion, I've searched for a quote by Shakespeare.  Once, at my father's urging.  He wanted
to know the quote's exact wording and what play or poem it came from.  As I recall, it was a
Saturday.  I put off the word-hunt for a couple of hours.  Then I logged on.  Within a few
minutes, I'd found the answer.  I've also hunted down song-lyrics, most memorably a Destiny's
Child song, "I'm a survivor".  I searched out the poems of Chinese poet Tzu-chimo.  I verified
the year Dylan Thomas was born.

Whenever I discover a new book or author, I get online and search for more info.  Alice Munro
the week she won the Nobel Prize.  An article by author Natasha Pang-Mei Chang.  The weirdly fascinating writings of Karen Russell.  Author Taylor Jenkins Reid--of whom I was curious to know if we are related.  Or an interview with novelist Darcie Chan.

So as I voyage in cyberspace, I engage in a virtual meditation of sorts.  I--and millions of
other people--can posit these two ideas, simultaneously, about the entire experience:

I am online, therefore I exist.  And, I search therefore I am.

--Yolanda A.  Reid

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Yolanda A. Reid is the author of The Honeyeater, a contemporary women's novel about love, heartbreak and betrayal.  For more info, visit  www.yreidbooks.blogspot.com or www.thehoneyeaternovel.com  or www.twitter.com/YolandaAReid .


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Copyright  © 2014-2016  by Y. A.  Reid
  

HOW TO BEGIN A NOVEL: FIVE TASKS

First, do not begin with the character waking up in the morning and thinking about her  whatever as she looks into a mirror, combs her hair or brushes her teeth.

I've begun a couple of novels  that way.  But my excuse is that I was a teenager at the time. What got me out of that rut were the articles I read in Writers Digest Magazine. All accomplished novelists and authors said, Do not begin a novel with the character waking up and commenting on (or thinking about) the sun or the birds tweeting or the previous evening with her boyfriend/husband/significant other.

No, they said, the way to begin a novel is in the middle of the story.  Or with some event that's taking place.  With action.

For the first page to be engrossing to the reader you have to develop the character before you begin.  Before you set pen to paper or touch the computer keyboard.

As a reader, I'm vaguely annoyed when I eagerly start a book only to find the first few pages littered with the character waking up rubbing her eyes, stumbling to the bathroom, etc.  It's boring and uninteresting, but more importantly it is NOT sound storywriting or novel-writing.  You can get away with it  in the middle of the book, but not at the beginning.


1-In the beginning, it's important to grab the reader's attention.  What is going on with the character?  What is the problem she's grappling with?  Or it could be something smaller that's symbolic of a larger problem.  For instance, I have in mind a sixteen-year old character.  Let's call her Shauna.
Shauna is a high school student.  She's not the most popular girl in school, but she has a few friends. 

Tell me or hint at a problem she has.  Dumped by her boyfriend?  Best friend's father coming on to her?  Is she adopted but looking for her birth mother?  Is her teacher a surrogate parent and why? 

2--Another thing I find tiresome is those stories and novels whose character has no name.  She goes to the movies.  She goes to the store.   She looked at him ...etc.

I speak from experience.  I have several stories in my files--well-written and cogent stories--whose character has no name.  It's simply "she". My short story "The Silver Bow" begins as follows: "The previous summer she had played tennis eagerly.  She had worn an ivory tennis dress with blue and green edging, white Nikes, and white anklet socks.  She had taunted the shoe salesman with sarcastic wit, even as he helped her with her Nikes, and did not cease taunting him until her mother said she should apologize."

At the time I thought I was being experimental and avant-garde.  The problem is that--unless you're catering to an experimental market--the story (I realize now) is a yawn for me as a reader, and, I believe, for most other readers as well.  Although the story is well-written, I want more information about the character, so that I can be intrigued by her circumstances.

Spend a couple of hours (at least) choosing a name for the main character.  The name gives  us clues about the character and her life. Realize that the choosing of a name is a process.  If the character changes significantly, you may wish to re-name her.

For my first novel, PORRIDGE & CUCU: MY CHILDHOOD, I used an old Webster’s dictionary (hard copy) with a name section in the back.  This section explicated the meaning and linguistic origins of surnames and first names.  For example, Miss Hildy’s maiden name is Hildegarde Blixen, since
she has Scandinavian  ancestry.  I arduously pored over this Webster’s dictionary.  Occasionally, I used the encyclopedia. 

For my second novel, THE HONEYEATER, I spent a day or more choosing names for each character. I wanted to choose names that reflected each character's personality.

3-You should answer the age-old questions What? Who? When? Where? and Why?  These are the questions my former journalism professor demanded of us.  But they also apply to novel-writing. Do not begin a novel until you can answer those questions for yourself.

4-Write an outline and synopsis. Set down the details of the character's life and what happens to her  in the novel.  And be certain to include the resolution. 

5-Define the main character.  Write down all of her personality traits.  How do you envision her?  What are her quirks?  What is her defining characteristic?

Once you've done these five tasks, you can begin.


---Yolanda  A. Reid




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Yolanda A. Reid is the author of THE HONEYEATER, a contemporary women's novel, and of PORRIDGE & CUCU: MY CHILDHOOD, a YA novel.  Check out her essays, "How I Wrote My First Novel" and "Writing Tips" at http://www.sites.google.com/site/porridgeandcucunovel/essays.

WRITING TIPS I LEARNED AS I WROTE MY FIRST NOVEL by Yolanda A. Reid

Years ago, I read an essay about a Pulitzer Prize novelist.  The writer of the essay claimed that the novelist's relatives did not confide in her: they feared intimate details of their lives might spill into her novels.  The relatives wished for some privacy, in this, our most revealing and confessional TV-era yet.

So my question is this: Can a writer or novelist create solid, walking-off-the-page characters without dipping into her own life?  And the lives of those around her?

An interviewer obliquely raised this same question with Native-American novelist, Louise Erdrich--one of my favorite writers.   Erdrich said her novels are "something that's fabricated, but out of real observations and real aspects of people we might have known or imagined."   She creates complex characters by using composites.

Inspired by Erdrich, I adapted the technique of composites (mostly after my first novel had been written).   Some of the other tips, I learned as I wrote; some, I've learned since.   I’ve  made use of these tips in my fiction, to avoid looking like I'm writing about myself and those I know all the time.  They are as follows: 

1-Use composites.--I try to create characters by blending characteristics of two or more people.   For example, try blending the mannerisms of one person you know--let us say, the milkman--with the physique of an ex-boyfriend, and the personality of a third person.  Experiment with the characteristics until they feel authentic. 

At times, a real person you know is one-of-a-kind--in which case, vigorously change one or two major characteristics if you wish to base a character on that person.   In my young adult novel--Porridge & Cucu: My Childhood--I based the grandfather-character on my own grandfather.  He was, for me, unusual and compelling.

2-Change names.--It may seem obvious, but not using real people's names is crucial.  Unless you are writing a non-fiction novel, in which case you ought to triple-check facts and consult a lawyer.   If you make the risky choice of tattling about friends/acquaintances in your novels, then at least change the names.

In early versions of my novel, I broke this rule  by naming the main character "Yolandita"--my own name.  At my mother’s suggestion, I later re-baptized that character with a new name.  Moreover, once or twice, I've met a real person with the same or similar name as a character I was writing about--in which case, I changed the character's name.

Use the internet to find name sites, such  as www.babynames.com

or at www.ivillage.com/namefinder and others.   Phone books, real or on-line, are good as well.  

3-Change locations.--If you and everybody you know lives in northern New Mexico, then change your novel's location to another city/part of  New Mexico, or to the Midwest.  Especially if you live in a small town. You can achieve this by researching the new town on the internet. 

Some novelists, Faulkner and Erdrich among them, have gained success by creating worlds in the very state/city they lived in.   For Faulkner, Misssippi; for Erdrich, North Dakota.    This makes sense, because you impart a sense of authenticity when you write characters in an environment you know very well.

Check out the What to see/What to do sites for most cities (especially in the U.S.), or try www.citysearch.com.

4-Change time.--The same, basic story-line may be told in a different era.  The novel will resonate differently for the reader if set in, say, the 1980's as opposed to present times.  Research historical information

on-line  (headlines, news events, etc.)  at websites such as www.infoplease.com/yearbyyear.html.

5-Create authentically “real" characters.--I try to build characters from within.  Their psyches and their physiques.  Achieve this by being very specific.  Write everything about the character down.   From her hair color to her black Chanel suits.  If she's in cargo pants, are they baggy or too tight?  Was her childhood tormented or happy?  Which events define her life the most?

6-Create a scrapbook.--I once read that Emma Bovary was based on a real woman that Gustave Flaubert, the French novelist, read about in the newspaper.  So, collect magazine articles or news stories that interest you.  If the thought of organizing all that paper in folders is too much

(they pile up!), then  bookmark links to interesting news stories on your PC.  (I personally rarely read real newspapers.  Now I get most of my news on-line.)   Find lots of news stories at www.onlinenewspapers.com/Top50/Top50-CurrentUS.htm.

 

7-Use a journal.--I have a stack of notebooks that I mine like gold for novels and stories.   I also keep a novel journal, in which I write notes about my novel's characters and their lives.  The story grows, changes, and  takes shape.  You might try using your computer or tablet PC to keep a virtual journal. 

Or you might try a blog--an on-line journal that must be posted at a web site.  Bear in mind, anyone with internet access can read your blog (if you make it public).  That means, both your cousin and that girl from college who dated your ex-boyfriend would get to read  your inner thoughts.   You can create a blog at websites such as www.blogger.com   or  www.wordpress.com.

       

Each day that I write, I make an effort to practice one tip.  If you're a  novelist or short story writer, you know what I mean.  But if you're a writer toying with the idea/dream of writing a first novel, then read these tips again.

--Yolanda A.  Reid

               

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Copyright © 2013  by Y.A.  Reid