Month: July 2019

Character Transformation

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Once again time for an Extra. Following the pattern, we will explain a bit about content, rather than process. In the last Extra: What is a Story?, we talked about how to tell a story, mentioning that Transformation is an important aspect. This time we’re going to discuss how that transformation takes place.

Transformation is not only integral to any story, it is just about the only reason the story even exists. Initially, the Hero, in spite of trying to solve the problem, continues to fail, but in failing, learns something. Although disappointed, the Hero continues to strive forward, sometimes by Wit, piecing together the clues, sometimes by Grit, sticking to the job despite complications.

As the story progresses, the Hero is blocked from victory again and again, finally resulting in the highpoint of the story. It is at this point that the Hero comes to a realisation and makes a decision. This decision can’t be by chance or luck, nor one foisted upon him by his mentors (the Wise Answer-Giver can guide and direct but never actually do anything). The decision must come from the Hero’s own internal conversion.

This decision will change the Hero’s life, either by resolving a problem in the external world or by understanding an internal truth. In either case, it will reshape the Putty Person.

We know that readers will try to predict the ending, but in spite of doing so, they really want to be wrong. They find it so much more satisfying if the ending is unexpected yet still logical, following from what came before, obvious in hindsight, though not predictable.

The Transformation:

In the transformation, the Hero, as a caterpillar, enters the cocoon to emerge as a butterfly—becoming more mature, insightful, at peace. The Hero undergoes a Physical Renewal, a Psychological Understanding, an Emotional Healing, or a Spiritual Awakening.

OR the Hero dies in the cocoon, plunging into despair or even death, whether physical, psychological, emotional, or spiritual death.

BUT the Hero never returns as a caterpillar.

This transformation resolves the crisis introduced at the beginning of the story. The old ways are gone, never to return. The process of moving through the struggle has changed the Hero, giving a new and different life. This is the new normal, the new shape of the Putty Person, different from the beginning of the story. This is the whole reason for the story, and it has now happened.

Subordinating Conjunctions

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From the name, you can guess that conjunctions connect things (con=with, junction=to join). We had previously discussed Coordinating Conjunctions, and we’ll take on Correlative Conjunctions later, but for now we’ll focus on just Subordinating Conjunctions. As with coordinating conjunctions, the name says it all, but in this case the connection is between ideas that are unequal in importance or focus, one idea is above and the other below (sub=below, ordinate=put in order), so in making the connection one of the ideas is put into a lower priority. You’ll see examples of that to follow.

There are different ways to connect ideas (or in this case clauses) depending on the reason for the connection. Linguists group those ways into a variety of categories, and, as with much in the way of language, you’ll find all kinds of differences in the lists depending on who makes them.

Subordinating conjunction examples:

  • Time:
    • after, as, as long as, as soon as, before, ere, now that, once, since, still, until, when, whenever, while
    • Amy will sit and read until Bill gets here.
      • It is more important that we know that Amy will be reading and less important that she’s waiting for Bill.
  • Place
    • whence, where, whereto, wherever, whither, whithersoever
    • Wherever you go in the world, you’ll always find someone who speaks English.
      • The fact that there are English speakers all over is more important than where you’ll travel.
  • Reason
    • as, because, in order that, seeing as, since, so, so that, that, whereas
    • The team lost because they had a beer party last night.
      • Why they lost isn’t as important as the fact that they did.
  • Condition
    • although even if, except, if, in case, on condition that, provided that, so, though, unless
    • Even if you have already paid for your lunch, you will still need to wait for them to cook it.
      • Waiting for the cook is more important and is going to happen—with or without payment.
  • Concession
    • although, as though, even though, in contrast to, just as, though, whereas
    • Though it was raining, she went out.
      • The rain was a minor point and irrelevant to her going out.
  • Comparison
    • as much as, as, rather than, than, whereas, whether
    • Dave is tall, dark, and handsome whereas his friend is short, pale, and ugly.
      • Dave’s friend isn’t important except as a comparison object.
  • Manner
    • as, as if, as though, how, however, howsoever
    • They talk as though they’re heading for divorce.
      • The fact that they talk is important…and indicates a possible future.

One point to remember: if the Main Clause comes first, then you don’t need any punctuation as the conjunction serves to separate the two clauses—but if the Subordinate clause comes first, then you need a comma to show where it ends and the second clause begins.

As you can see, using conjunctions to connect ideas improves the flow, one idea leading into another with a specific relationship.

Front and Back Matter

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Books, whether printed or on a screen, have more to them than just the content. The important part of the book is surrounded by other parts: known as Front Matter and Back Matter. There are a variety of ways to organise both sections, with only minor disagreement amongst publishers, so here’s what they typically are and how they’re placed:

Front Matter:

  • Title page (both full and half): the title of your book
  • Copyright information: legal info, could include credits for pictures or cover art (only one starting on verso side)
  • Table of Contents (aka TOC): listing of chapters and sub-chapters with page numbers
  • Dedication: specific folks mentioned to whom the work is devoted
  • Acknowledgements: recognising folks who helped create the work
  • Introduction: an explanation of why the work was created
  • Forward: often written by another person, explains how the author is connected to the topic
  • Preface: written by the author explaining how the book came to be
  • Prologue (sometimes considered part of the book block): a scene in the story, either long before or extracted from the middle of the story, a teaser

  Back Matter:

  • Epilogue: similar to the prologue but at the end, tying up loose ends in the story
  • Afterword: how the book was created, sometimes written by another person
  • Appendix: tables, diagrams, maps, and other useful non-text info for the reader to consult
  • Bibliography: formal listing of sources gleaned to create this book
  • Colophon: information about printing, paper, ink, binding, type face
  • Glossary: definitions of words or terms used in the book that may not be commonly known
  • Pronunciation guide: how to pronounce new words…especially useful if you have characters with strange names, gives you a chance to steer the reader towards your clever naming method
  • Index: alphabetical list of important words with the page numbers where they are used
  • Notes: explanation of how the author gathered and put together the info in the book
  • References: casual pointers to other works where you found the info you mention in your book
  • About the author: your chance to tell the reader all about yourself, who you are, where you came from, what you have planned for the future
  • Order form or Next Book Announcement: a list of your previous works and how to get them, or an advert for your next book and when it will be released, could include the first chapter as a teaser

Quite a bit there, but not all are needed. Some are more common to Fiction, some to Non-Fiction. If you can’t think of a reason to put any of these in your book, you are welcome to leave them out.

Keyboard Shortcuts Used in Editing

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In a few previous posts (Essential, More Essential, and Extended), we covered a variety of keyboard shortcuts that could be useful when you are creating your masterpiece, but this time we’re going to hit on a few that work best when editing—your own work or someone else’s. (You can learn a lot from reading, critiquing, and editing others’ work…you don’t have time to make all the mistakes yourself, so try to learn from others!) Some Critique Groups read and mark up printed copies of mss, but there are a few that never meet physically, doing all their discussions online or via email. Whatever type of group you decide to join, these shortcuts will come in handy.

Seeing what’s there

Just as a matter of habit, I always have non-printing characters showing, but it’s especially useful if I’m trying to format a document for printing. There are often times when it looks right, even in print preview, but if you have an author who indents pgphs with multiple spaces, or starts a new page by multiple enters, or has extra tabs and spaces at the end of lines, you’ll never know unless you look.

  • View or hide non-printing characters – Ctrl-Shift-* (asterisk on numeric pad does not work)

Whenever I start editing someone’s ms, I also make certain that I can see what changes I’ve suggested.

  • Turn Track Changes on or off – Ctrl-Shift-E

Getting the Whole Picture

Being able to look at the document in different ways is always useful, too.

  • Split or unsplit edit window – Ctrl-Alt-S (so you can see two parts at the same time)
  • Switch to Draft view – Ctrl-Alt-N (focus on content, ignoring page layout)
  • Switch to Outline view – Ctrl-Alt-O (focus on organization of topics)
  • Switch to Print Layout view – Ctrl-Alt-P (see what each page with print will look like)
  • Print Preview view – Ctrl-P or Ctrl-F2 or Ctrl-Alt-I (overall view, showing blank pages)

We’ll go over how to Edit in Print Preview mode in a later post, as it requires modifying some basic settings in Word.

Font Adjustments

Sometimes it’s helpful to add comments to the author that aren’t meant for the reader. Setting the Font to Hidden will do that. The text will only show up if non-printing characters are visible, but be careful as these characters will affect the format and layout when visible, so remember to turn them off before that step.

  • Hidden – Ctrl-Shift-H

Changing selected text to the Symbol font is quick and easy, too.

  • Change to Symbol font – Ctrl-Shift-Q

Sometimes you need to adjust the font for other reasons, so the Font Dialogue Box is just what you need.

  • Open Font dialog box – Ctrl-Shift-F or Ctrl-D

Styles

Using styles is important to maintain consistency throughout a document, so besides the Style Gallery on the Home Tab, there are also two other task panes that will help.

  • Open Styles task pane – Ctrl-Alt-Shift-S
  • Open Apply Styles task pane – Ctrl-Shift-S

And finally, if all else fails, you may need to remove any local formatting changes.

  • Remove manual character formatting – Ctrl-Space
  • Remove manual paragraph formatting – Ctrl-Q

That should pretty much cover all the shortcuts you’ll need when editing, so have at it!

Story Elements (Action & Solution)

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This week we’re going to examine two more of the Story Elements: Action and Solution. We’ll also touch on a bit of non-fiction: Memoir.

Most of the action in a story will be as a result of the conflicts the Hero has to deal with, whether they are Physical, Mental, Emotional, or Spiritual. In any case the action is there to drive the Hero towards the end of the story and his eventual Transformation.

The best kind of action is one that your reader will find not only logical, but also familiar, something the reader himself might do (or might have done) in the same situation. The easiest way to force those actions is to find conflicts that you’ve personally endured. Many such experiences are common to all, so that way the reader can connect with the Hero (and you, as well). All the action should be there to move the story forward towards the satisfying conclusion.

And as to that conclusion, the main object there is to answer the Story Question (posed by the Inciting Incident in Act I). The only good ending is the one the reader accepts as plausible—yet didn’t expect. That type of ending will be supremely satisfying to the reader, but you need to remember to avoid giving away the end when you’re sprinkling all those red herrings throughout the story. Lead the reader, but don’t reveal all, until the very end, showing how the Hero has changed. We want an ending that will get the reader running all around, telling friends, family, and even strangers how wonderful your book is.

I had mentioned Memoir in the intro…so how is memoir different from any other story? Not much, really. It has all the same fundamental parts: Heroes and Villains, Conflict and Conquest, Failure and Triumph. The only thing is that it is easier to write! The plot is your life, the characters are you and your friends (or kin), the action is what you did when you encountered conflicts, and the solution is where you are now, after surviving all the struggles of life.

So, go ahead and tell us a story, whether based in fact or only loosely connected to reality. Either way, the reader will be entertained and might even learn some important concepts along the way.