Trope versus cliché

My Tuesday post, "No Mary Sues: operating at maximum capacity," was intended to get you all thinking about ways to keep your characters perpetually striving towards goals, or at least pondering them, worrying them, feeling strongly about them--rather than letting characters give up and walk away too quickly when conflicts arise.

I'd used the term "Mary Sue" in my title, believing this to be the proper term for the coddled character. I linked THIS "Mary Sue litmus test" which seemed to take the term in a somewhat different direction. The testmakers identified Mary Sue as a "wish fulfillment character" who is not only coddled, but also too precious by half--too much fantasy, not enough reality.

Turns out this link was only very peripherally connected to my point, but it did generate some intriguing concerns and questions in your comments.

Susan Kaye Quinn @ Ink Spells said:

"I think you have to be a little careful with the Mary Sue generalization (like any sweeping definition, especially one with so many requirements). It is undeniably true that Mary Sue characters exist, just like any stereotype. But just because your character may have a "Mary Sue" type characteristic doesn't make them an egregious thing that must be banished from the face of the earth (I think the authors of the test even say this).

Ex:
Question 1.e. Does your character's name ...
Involve a noun or verb not usually used as a name, spelled normally or not?

Tally - MC in Scott Westerfeld's Uglies. Um, that's a verb (and a noun) normally not used as a name. It's a FANTASTIC name. Also a best selling series.

Question 54: Does your character have the ability to shapeshift?

Never mind that this rules out any story about werewolves, but Modo from The Dark Deeps is a a shape shifting quasimodo character in a steampunk setting. TOTALLY original, fun, and one of the most sympathetic characters I've seen in a while.

So.

The Mary Sue phenom is real, but also a trope itself...."

I think Susan brings up a very helpful distinction--trope versus cliché.

Here's a useful definition:

"Tropes are devices and conventions that a writer can reasonably rely on as being present in the audience members' minds and expectations. On the whole, tropes are not clichés. The word clichéd means 'stereotyped and trite.' In other words, dull and uninteresting."
--TV Tropes wiki homepage

Think of a trope as a genre rule. An element your audience expects to be present to make your work a fit for the genre.

For example, it is a trope for YA novels to feature a teenaged main character. No one would dream of calling it cliché to have your protagonist be 16, even if ten million other YA books do. Make your protagonist 47, however, and you're going to have problems convincing anyone your story is YA.

I think one could easily go through the "Mary Sue litmus test" and find some aspects that the testmakers labeled "Mary Sue" traits are actually EXPECTED in some genres. To not include these tropes would put your work out of synch with the genre and make it harder to sell.

What do you think? Which elements labeled "Mary Sue" in the test would you argue are viable tropes and for which genres?

Are elements of wish fulfillment part of audience expectation for your genre? How so?

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No Mary Sues: operating at maximum capacity

In How to Write a D@mn Good Novel, James N. Frey says many plots lack integrity because the author doesn't have her characters acting at their maximum capacity.

What does he mean exactly? When a character hits a problem, some roadblock keeping him from his goal, he should do everything in his power to reach the goal. Characters who become easily stymied by their problems lose readers' sympathies and their desires and drives won't seem particularly compelling.

The Harvard-educated investigator, for example, won't just sit around wringing her hands when she doesn't immediately understand something--she'll make use of all the intellectual tools at her disposal to research and probe. Likewise, even the "cannon fodder" expendable characters should go to a lot of trouble to avoid dying, unless the author has characterized them as suicidal or deeply stupid or proven some motivation for a death wish. "Maximum capacity" will, of course, vary from character to character. A nine-year-old protagonist in a middle grade adventure will have fewer resources than the Navy SEAL/brain surgeon in a techno-thriller. The trick is to know one's characters thoroughly.

In every scene, Frey says your character's actions and reactions have to pass the "would s/he really ____ ?" test. Does the action/reaction fit her personality? Is he making full use of his personal resources, know-how, experiences? These lines of questioning can open up plot to intriguing new possibilities.

For those unfamiliar with the term "Mary Sue," see THIS Wikipedia article. Worried your character might be a Mary Sue? Try THIS "Universal Mary Sue Litmus Test."

How might "maximum capacity" make your plots more compelling? In what circumstances do you think Frey's "rule" might not be the best way to go?

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Friday fun day

My hubby and I have been geeking out big time on the latest season of Dr. Who, which at last became available on Netflix in November.

How badly are we geeking out? Check out the themed snowflakes hubby created (from scratch, I might add, using an exacto knife and a hole punch). He is the awesomest!


































Can you recognize the iconic Dr. Who images in each?

Posts of Note
Talli Roland, who's e-book version of her first novel The Hating Game released December 1, has two amazing posts with how-tos on marketing your work:

The Web Splash: How I Organised It explains how to harness social media in a launch.
The Behemoth explains how to work with amazon.com.

Think I'll keep it short and sweet today. We're in full-on holiday hustle at my place.

Any other Whovians out there?
Have you ever made fan art? Ever tried cut paper creations?
Does marketing your work excite or scare you? Why?

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Let's talk numbers

Dear Editor-on-Call,

My critique group always argues about how you should write time. 5 o'clock or 5:00 pm? And do you have to write out numbers, as in five thousand, or can you go with 5,000 (in fiction?)

Yours truly,
Counting on you
a.k.a. Margo Berendsen of Writing at High Altitude


Dear Counting,

Unfortunately, there isn't one hard and fast rule for this. These sorts of decisions are what industry pros call "style." Every publisher has its own style guide dictating its preference for handling things like numbers. No one will expect you to know this information ahead of time--they'll likely just ask for changes during the editing phase if you chose something other than house style. However, if you don't handle numbers consistently, you won't be making fast friends with the editorial department.

For many years, I worked on publications that used Associate Press (AP) style, so I've had that pretty deeply ingrained in how I approach this question. Its style choices will feel more right for some genres than others.

Clock time
AP usually handles time like this-- 4:43 a.m. or 11 p.m. (Note the letters are lower case with periods after each. AM and PM is right out.) If your story is, say, a mystery, thriller or SciFi full of time references, this is the format to go with. It's pithy and official looking.

In most other fiction, I typically see times written out as four o'clock or eight-thirty or half past two. For occasional references, spelled out numbers read more fluidly. The a.m. and p.m. distinction can be handled better through descriptors like morning, afternoon, evening, night.

I'd recommend against combining the two formats. Both "four forty three a.m." and "5:02 o'clock" just look stupid.

Quantities, amounts and ages
AP style says to spell out numbers under ten and use numerals for everything else. I can't think of a single novel that follows that rule. Quantities should be spelled out. Hyphenate a compound number when used as an adjective.

He came in sixth place.
Joyce won fifteen million dollars.
The kidnappers are demanding thirty grand.
I can give you twenty-two reasons to stay home. (note hyphen)
When Kit turned twenty two, she bought an electric bass.
The victim was an eleven-year-old male. (note hyphens)
I haven't been back to Viperville since I was eleven years old.

Dates
Calendar dates are another sticky area you didn't mention. AP handles them like this--May 5, 1999; June 13; Summer 2004. Commas are used only between day and year. Ordinal numbers are a no-no (notice it's NOT June 13th in AP).

I haven't seen any clear preference in fiction for how one handles numbers for the purpose of naming a date. Obviously spelling out the year will be too wordy, so I'd avoid that. As far as using the word or numeral, go with whichever looks better in context. Ordinal numbers will generally look better spelled out--and sound more like natural speech.

Kyle left for camp on June 23.
Which day should we go, the sixth or the seventh?
Joe-Bob remembered that awful lynching in April 1952.
Who wants to hike on February third?
The ambassador's letter was dated September 9, 2002.

The most important thing is to pick a style and follow it consistently. I'd suggest making an index card with your personal "style guide" and posting near your computer for quick reference.

If anyone knows of a definitive style guide all the major houses use, please me know!

Which of these areas have tripped you up? Would you argue against any of my recommendations? Why?

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A new approach to drafting: reel it

One of my CPs is a big advocate of experimentation to get through blocks when you're drafting. She says to keep trying things until something works. On its face, this idea sounded like a huge time suck to me. Draft ten versions of the same scene? Ugh.

While thumbing through an old favorite reference to help a different CP, I found a great way to adapt Jenn's advice. In Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell, he suggests you "think in film" to improve your plots. In other words, play a scene in your mind as if it were a film. Now imagine you're the director, and your characters are an improv troupe. As you vividly imagine a scene playing, give the characters freedom to improvise. If you don't like what they come up with, rewind and try something else.

In another chapter, Bell mentions "unanticipating" as a way to avoid plot cliches. By this he means going for the unexpected--taking a typical scenario and letting it veer off in a new, interesting direction. Instead of going with the first character reaction that pops into your head (the cliche), you brainstorm five to eight alternate "and then what?" scenarios.

To take Bell's ideas to the next level, I suggest combing "unanticipate" with "think in film" to help you make the most of your drafting hours. Rather than painstakingly write out every possible permutation of your scene, brainstorm some alternate ways to play the emotion, action, motivation, conflict. Jot a few notes, then let each scene alternative play in your mind like a film.

Which version grabs you? Which feels right for your characters? Which opens the most interesting possibilities for your story to move forward? That's your winner.

Run to the keyboard or notebook and get down as much as you can, quickly.

How might these techniques help you draft more effectively? What other tips do you have for avoiding stuckness and cliches?

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Feature Friday

So many of my lovely blog pals keep a nice, consistent schedule. I haven't yet found one that works 100% for me, but I'm leaning towards T, Th, F. My Tuesday, Thursday posts would be the more practical and meaty ones you all keep coming back for, and the Friday posts would be lighter.

So today I'm going to share some linkage and wish you all a splendid weekend.

Posts of Note
In the querying dumps? I urge you to go read Sherrie Petersen's latest post at Write About Now, Sometimes You Just Give Up. It has an amazing twist ending sure to delight.

At Roxane Salonen's blog Peace Garden Writer, she discusses the very essential work of being dreamy and giving your mind space to develop ideas deeply in Let the Tortoise Have His Way.

Michelle Gregory at Beautiful Chaos encourages us to walk away from the "shoulds" that don't fit our lives in true to who i am.

And just for fun, see Diana Paz's Ten Signs You *May* Be Procrastinating on Revisions.

Friday Follow
If you write PB, MG or YA, your should be following Casey McCormick's very awesome blog Literary Rambles. Her site will help you tremendously with agent research. Tremendously! She has two new agent spotlights up this week alone. And the information is beautifully organized and cogent. She also offers a forum to have your query and/or opening pages critiqued.

Contest alerts
C.A. Marshall is offering a free manuscript edit, up to 100K words, to one lucky winner!

Lisa Galek at Read. Write. Repeat. is giving away a copy of Dirty Little Secrets.

Jessica Bell at The Alliterative Allomorph is giving away a signed copy of Someone to Blame.

Warm up your flash fiction muscles--Hairnets and Hopes is hosting a blogfest and contest December 15 on the theme "Truth is Stranger Than Fiction."

Do you blog on a set schedule? How did you decide? What has worked or not worked for you?

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Plot stuck? Rewind

When you hit a place where you just can't move your story forward, it's frustrating in the extreme. It's not like you have nothing to say, but rather that the next plot action seems to be on the other side of a deep chasm.

At times, you might be able to brainstorm the perfect narrative bridge to get you across. Or perhaps you can jump cut past potentially boring filler actions that can be summed up in a sentence or two of narrative summary.

But many times, hitting this place is a sign you've taken a wrong turn somewhere and plowing ahead will only get you more lost. That's when you need to stop and rewind. Find the last place where you thought the story was working at its full potential, then slowly read on in search of the wrong turn.

Here are some common culprits:

Characterization
~Main character loses sight of his/her objective

~Character desire or motivation shifts unexpectedly

~Character does something with no logical motivation

~Character doesn't do something s/he'd logically be motivated to do

~Character overreacts and conflict escalates or resolution happens too soon

~Character underreacts and forward motion doesn't happen

~A secondary character or subplot suddenly steals center stage

Structure/pacing
~You have no subplots

~Early information dump leaves too little surprise to be revealed later

~You've withheld information that would enable forward movement

~You've introduced too many characters--some aren't important or interesting

~You need to introduce a secondary character sooner

Whether your story is plot-driven or character-driven, emotions are the real energy behind it all, so developing characters' emotions well and "on pitch" is the core challenge. Thus, it's very often characterization issues that get us off course most frequently.

Every time I've made a wrong turn with plot, there were seeds of off-pitch emotions behind it. Those off-pitch moments can start very, very subtly--a yelp when a gasp would do, an analytical thought in a moment of panic.

Don't be surprised when you rewind to discover a seemingly nothing moment that inadvertently set the wrong tone, which then snowballed all other emotions in the wrong direction. Tweak that moment, and you'd be surprised how quickly you're back on course again.

How might the rewind concept help you?

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