Karen S. Wiesner: The Four Myths Your Muse Desperately Wants You to Believe, Part 4

 Writer's Craft Article by Karen S. Wiesner

The Four Myths Your Muse Desperately Wants You to Believe, Part 4

by Karen S. Wiesner

Based on FIRST DRAFT OUTLINE (formerly titled FIRST DRAFT IN 30 DAYS)

This is the final of four posts dealing with how writers can get their muses to work with rather than against them.

In Part 3 of this article, we talked about the third myth your muse desperately wants you to believe. Let's continue.

Myth Four:  Outlines and setting goals stifle a writer’s creativity.

I went online and conducted an informal poll with authors about the use of outlines in order to see an interesting slice of the writing life. I asked participating writers if they use outlines to write novels. The majority of the 76 authors who responded to this poll were published. Thirty-eight percent of them said they always use an outline, 38 percent said they sometimes use an outline, 28 percent said they never use an outline, and one percent said they’d like to use one.

Then I asked authors how many drafts they write to get to a final, polished, salable novel. Forty-seven writers voted, 98 percent of whom were published. Forty-seven percent of the authors said they had to write four or more drafts of each book, 15 percent had to write three drafts, 30 percent had to do two drafts, and only eight percent need a single draft.

These poll results, while obviously not conclusive, nevertheless astounded me. Thirty-eight percent of published and unpublished authors said they do use outlines in some form; 28 percent said they never use outlines. In contrast, 47 percent of mostly published authors said they have to write four or more drafts to get a final, polished, salable novel! Only eight percent of them do one draft to get the same results. Based on the many interviews I’ve read in writing magazines with published authors, I believe my informal polls do show a fairly accurate picture of writers these days. It seems that even the household-name authors follow a spiritual journey of manuscript writing rather than an organized system or solid road-map. How can this be?

I think we can all agree that the publishing market these days is in a major state of chaos. Even more thwarting is if those authors can only write one book a year. In this current state of publishers folding, changing hands, and concentrating mainly on their prolific, best-selling authors, it’s absolutely essential that writers learn how to finish quality novels and to do it fast enough to keep the momentum of their careers rolling steadily. Published authors who want to compete in a totally chaotic market need to learn to write fewer drafts because they can sell a proposal “on spec,” which generally translates into selling more in less time.

I’m not suggesting in any way that authors should crank out inferior novels simply to sell. Too many writers already do that. I’m suggesting that the best time to learn to create a fantastic novel fast, to learn to “write tight”, is during a writer’s unpublished years. As soon as you finish your first novel and submit it to a publisher or publishers, start a second because you never know how much time you have once "the call" comes. For the published writer, the ideal way to keep rolling along is to write at least one or two projects ahead of your contracts. (If you’re unpublished and still in the formative stage of being a writer, don’t let this scare or intimidate you—let the creative process take you where it will.)

I would venture a guess that the authors who are selling like hotcakes and making the New York Times Bestseller List are using outlines in some form, they’re writing more than one novel a year, and they have specific goals that encompass years in advance.

There is no wrong way to write a book. I’ll be the first to state that emphatically. I’ve talked to hundreds of authors, published and unpublished, and all of them have their own, unique ways of working. There’s no wrong way, but there are very ineffective ways of writing, especially after you’re published.

John Berendt says, “Don’t make an outline; make a laundry list. The very idea of an outline suggests rigidity; items on a laundry list can be shifted around. Don’t lock the structure in too early. A piece of writing should evolve as it’s being written.” Never mind the fact that I don’t have a clue what a “laundry list” is (something like a grocery list?). The point is, I hear the same thing from almost every writer I talk to, whether or not they’re published:  Writers like outlines about as much as a homeowner likes termites. The word can actually make some writers cringe and do a full-body shudder. The idea of an outline doesn’t inspire them, sounds like too much work, seems too confining, absolutely unappealing, necessitates the ability to see far ahead in a novel, I can’t possibly work that way! 

Now I can hear the questions arising in a tumult:  Is it possible for an outline to be flexible? To take into account my individuality as a writer? Can I continue to be creative using an outline? Can I use an outline for writing any fiction genre? Can using an outline reduce the number of re-writes I have to do? Can it really take me less time to complete a project from start to finish using an outline?

Many authors are seeking something to give them direction and embrace their individual way of working without robbing them of the joy of creating. They want something that will streamline the process in order to make them more productive, so they’re not digging up endless, empty holes. They want something that will help them work more productively before they ever start writing a word of an actual book, and do it in a way that won’t rob them of the joy of their craft. They aren’t aware that a full outline can achieve all this because someone has, however sincerely, led them to believe a writer’s job has to be an ethereal, intuitive journey, which means they have to stay firmly under their muses’ controlling thumb.

An outline can be flexible, can be so complete it may actually qualify as the first draft of a novel. An outline can also make it possible that writers, in fact, do less work, not only reducing the number of drafts they have to do per project, but possibly even reducing it to a single draft. More books finished a year and quite likely more sales to publishers. The clearer a writer’s vision of the story before the actual writing, the more fleshed out the story will be once it makes it to paper.

We’ve already established that countless writers believe outlines are rigid, unmalleable creatures which hinder them in the quest of true and righteous creativity. But there is another way of looking at them. Instead of viewing an outline as an inflexible, unchangeable hindrance, imagine it as a snapshot of a novel. A snapshot that captures everything the novel will contain on a much smaller scale. A snapshot that can be “airbrushed” and rearranged until it’s smooth, strong, and breathtakingly exciting. Now, in the same vein, imagine revising 50 to a 100 pages instead of 250 to 400 pages. That, you must admit, my fellow writer, is an ideal place to begin.

Remember, anytime you as a writer gain control over an aspect of your writing, your muse is reined in, and—if you’re determined enough to succeed—eventually your muse will have to accept the task of being your assistant rather than being your master. Someday your muse will even realize it enjoys its role as an assistant and will rise to meet every challenge just as eagerly as you do because you’re a team who respects each other and the two of you have mutual goals. Just as children thrive under gentle yet firm direction from their parents or caretakers, so, too, will your muse.

Are you willing to take the risk of battling with your muse, author? Do you believe the benefits of taking that risk could be well worth it in the end if it meant becoming a productive writer with an assistant (your muse) to die for? Would you be willing to take the risk if it meant you could start a project and complete it, easily and quickly, without wasting time in possibly fruitless searches, meandering aimlessly as you wait for divine inspiration?

If you’re willing to take a leap of faith and commit yourself for the long haul, using an outline that tracks your novel from start to finish can be the very thing you need.

Karen S. Wiesner is the author of First Draft Outline

Volume 1 of the 3D Fiction Fundamentals Collection

http://www.writers-exchange.com/3d-fiction-fundamentals-series/

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/writing-reference-titles.html 

Happy writing!

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series. Visit her here:

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Karen S. Wiesner: The Four Myths Your Muse Desperately Wants You to Believe, Part 3

Writer's Craft Article by Karen S. Wiesner

The Four Myths Your Muse Desperately Wants You to Believe, Part 3

by Karen S. Wiesner

Based on FIRST DRAFT OUTLINE (formerly titled FIRST DRAFT IN 30 DAYS)

This is the third of four posts dealing with how writers can get their muses to work with rather than against them.

In Part 2 of this article, we talked about the second myth your muse desperately wants you to believe. Let's continue.

Myth Three:  You have to dig for plots blindly.

The writing process has been compared to many things since the beginning of time:  A series of epiphanies exploding all around you. A spiritual journey. Currently, the most popular analogy is that stories are discovered by digging around in the creative dirt, and then you as the writer are supposed to unearth whatever it is you think you’ve found. How many authors believe this fossil-in-the-ground philosophy? Countless. Let me tell you, my friend, that’s exactly what your Master Muse wants you—its loyal, cowering slave—to believe.

The single biggest flaw in this digging-blindly-for-plot theory of writing (and similar analogies) is that it doesn’t take into account that the writer may start digging for his story a hundred miles in the wrong direction! If you haven’t done all the necessary preparation to begin work, you have no idea whether or not there really is a story beneath the soil you’re unearthing. You may dig endlessly and never find it…or you may find it quite a ways down the pike from where you started, and nothing that has come before has any or much consequence and worth.

How many authors believe outlines are a last resort? Sadly, too many to count. So many writers attribute far too much of a project to some magical, cataclysmic explosion which somehow takes you from the first page of a novel to the last, with little or no premeditation involved. I don’t discount the magical element—because it is there in some degree, but I simply can’t buy into the spiritual intuition way of writing. How can a brand-new, never-written-much-or-anything-before writer have this kind of intuition?

With an outline and clear-cut goals, you know there is a story down there, you know where to start digging, and you know exactly how far to go down. Everything you plot from start to finish is good and worthwhile.

Now I’m sure archaeology has changed radically in the last five or ten years, becoming what archaeologists believe is more of a science than treasure hunting. Do you think archaeologists feel less like archaeologists because of these changes? I doubt it. In fact, they probably feel more like worthwhile scientists because they spend more time uncovering what they’re after than in seemingly endless searches for it. Likewise, writers who use an outline spend more time writing a story than searching for one.

In the next part of this article, we'll talk about another myth your muse desperately wants you to believe.

Karen S. Wiesner is the author of First Draft Outline

Volume 1 of the 3D Fiction Fundamentals Collection

http://www.writers-exchange.com/3d-fiction-fundamentals-series/

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/writing-reference-titles.html

Happy writing!

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series. Visit her here:

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Karen S. Wiesner: The Four Myths Your Muse Desperately Wants You to Believe, Part 2

 Writer's Craft Article by Karen S. Wiesner

The Four Myths Your Muse Desperately Wants You to Believe, Part 2

by Karen S. Wiesner

Based on FIRST DRAFT OUTLINE (formerly titled FIRST DRAFT IN 30 DAYS)

This is the second of four posts dealing with how writers can get their muses to work with rather than against them.

In Part 1 of this article, we talked about the first myth your muse desperately wants you to believe. Let's continue.

Myth Two:  If you try to master your muse, it’ll leave you forever.

Like most writers who write based on the whims of their muse, I used to believe if I tried to master my muse, he’d punish me by leaving me forever. But I had to make a choice:  I either mastered him and made him my assistant, risking the chance that he’d leave me forever, or I let my muse win, and I went into what had now become a career allowing him to direct me, if and when he deigned to. I took a gamble, and I decided it was worth losing my muse if I could be the one to make the decisions in my career. My gamble paid off—in spades.

So how did I become a master of my muse? With self-discipline. I made goals, and I stuck to them religiously. I also started using outlines for every project.

I had no opinions about outlines before I tried one, outside of simply believing I couldn’t learn to use one. I forced myself to try using an outline—my own version of an outline—for a novel I’d already written numerous drafts of. First I sketched out a couple chapters of the book, then I started writing the book once more. I completed the outline about midway through writing the first draft of the book. Not long after that, when I used an outline for a brand new project, I found myself brainstorming, productively and constantly. I was able to outline six to eight scenes of the book without writing a word of the actual novel.

With the outline complete well ahead of the novel, I was able to revise the outline instead of the novel. A wondrous thing happened in this process:  I could now see the entire novel from start to finish, in one condensed place—including all the workable parts and all the unworkable. All I had to do was fix the unworkable elements in the outline in order to strengthen the book.

Now when I write a novel, I always start with a complete outline, which I can revise as many times as I need to. Writing a book has almost become a simple process, requiring only one draft and a final edit and polish (for most projects). I save time, effort, and many, many intense rewrites. I can also write more “final draft” novels a year, rather than a half dozen that need another overhaul.

There’s a big difference between authors who are slaves to their muses and those who have mastered it. Authors who have mastered their muses have left behind many of their monomaniacal ways and have re-directed their energies in more productive ways of accomplishment on each project. Some projects capture them more than others, but quality work continues regardless. They don’t wait for a fickle muse to bless them with divine inspiration.

They set their course with determination and purpose, and they don’t detour from it. These writers not only plans ahead project by project, but frequently plans their careers by the year (or more!) with challenging yet attainable goals. They seem very satisfied, almost laid-back with themselves and their work because they tend to finish what they start, a couple pages or a chapter a day. Generally, they write in a linear fashion. Writer’s block and burn-out are rare since the muse has become an assistant rather than the supreme ruler. These authors are nostalgic when they remember those day-and-night writing sessions, but a part of them is also relieved that they no longer have to rely on the whim of something so unstable to accomplish anything. Authors with muse assistants love their work just as much—possibly more—than a muse-driven author. The author and muse have formed a cohesive team, each respecting the other and working harmoniously with the common goal of wanting to produce the best book they possibly can together.

Your first instinct after reading the vast differences between muse-driven and muse-assisted is probably that there is one wrong and one right way to creating a book. In fact, it’s not about that at all. The first year or more of committing yourself to becoming a writer will be one of the most definitive in the life of any author. This is where you learn the very foundations of being a writer, where you learn what you can do. Your goal during these formative years isn’t to be a productive writer or even a published one. Writing, re-writing and re-writing some more is how you grow.

All writers deserve to give themselves the time they need to refine and learn to love their craft in whatever way works for them—even if it’s crazy, to believe in themselves enough to take the next, crucial step.

There is a time to move beyond that wonderful stage, if you believe you’re talented and ambitious enough to succeed as an author. I think you’ll know when the time has arrived for you. You’ll have at least one near-perfect, complete manuscript that you believe in with all your heart. Quite possibly, you’ll have many more than that. You’ll also feel a strong urge for direction and discipline as you approach each project. That is the time to rein in your muse, to train it to assist you instead of control you, and to get down to the business of becoming a productive writer who sells that near-perfect manuscript of your heart.

It’s a very different world for me than when I first started writing. I no longer believe in superstitions. They never got me anywhere except face-down on the ground, cowering. There are so many writers who believe that the muse is a magical being who either blesses us or curses us. Imagine believing your muse is your assistant in the process of writing. Imagine a world where it’s no longer up to the power-hungry bard you possess whether you write, when you write, how much you write, or how you feel about any of it.

Now is the time to take control of your writing, if you’re willing to gamble (and possibly wrestle until one of you concedes defeat) with your muse.

In the next part of this article, we'll talk about another myth your muse desperately wants you to believe.

Karen S. Wiesner is the author of First Draft Outline

Volume 1 of the 3D Fiction Fundamentals Collection

http://www.writers-exchange.com/3d-fiction-fundamentals-series/

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/writing-reference-titles.html

Happy writing!

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series. Visit her here:

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Karen S. Wiesner: The Four Myths Your Muse Desperately Wants You to Believe, Part 1

Writer's Craft Article by Karen S. Wiesner

The Four Myths Your Muse Desperately Wants You to Believe, Part 1

by Karen S. Wiesner

 Based on FIRST DRAFT OUTLINE (formerly titled FIRST DRAFT IN 30 DAYS) 

This is the first of four posts dealing with how writers can get their muses to work with rather than against them.

I don’t know about you, but I didn’t always believe my muse was working with me. When I first started writing, I was convinced my muse was a sadistic taskmaster who enjoyed having enormous power over me. He (apparently my muse is male) could make me happy, he could make my life everything I could ever want...and he could make me utterly miserable by working me to death, leading me every-which-way just to get a finished book, or leaving me altogether just when I needed him most. It was all under his power, and I believed I had to accept the situation or he’d take the words away—maybe for good.

Now, most writers are stereotypical hosts: They believe if their muse leaves them, they must have done something horribly wrong. If the muse comes and guides them on a magical journey of enlightenment, they feel utterly blessed. They accept whatever their muse throws at them simply because the muse has exactly what they need. The words, the words! We need the words! Anything to get them! 

The muse likes to withhold its favors from us because it gives it even more power over us. It likes to lead us in the wrong direction or make us slave endlessly—working and re-working the same things over and over—to make us realize just how dependent we are on it. Who created writer’s block and spread the rumor that a writer’s dirge will be played if we defy our omnipotent muse? Guess.

This for-part article takes a stab at the all-powerful muse and shatters some of the myths it leads us to believe are the truth in order to keep us in line.

Myth One:  You have to be a slave to your muse.

Writers who are slaves to their muse are positively on fire for their craft...when the muse has them in its fickle grasp, that is—then and only then. When the muse is withholding favors, these writers may feel they have no sense of purpose or direction. When they’re in the grip of writer’s fever, they’re the happiest, most fulfilled people in the world. When they burn out like a comet in the night,—and it is always that dramatic—they’re miserable. They write day and night for a couple weeks or months solid, conceivably producing anywhere up to fifty or more pages a day. Writer’s block and burn-out are constant fears. Muse-driven authors may or may not finish a project. If they’re unpublished, more often than not, they don’t finish. They tend to write in a non-linear, chaotic fashion, heeding the muse in whatever direction it calls. There is no feeling of control over this creative urge they have. These authors are terrified of their muse; they, essentially, worship it from afar, not daring to get too close and disturb the Almighty Bard. They are willing, superstitious slaves to their muses.

Does this describe you at this point in your writing? Don’t worry. Almost every writer starts out this way and may continue because she’s been told it’s the only way, or she’s superstitious and deathly afraid of defying her muse.

During my years as a slave to my muse, each book I wrote required a minimum of twelve drafts (read:  start to finish overhauls). I never used an outline; I couldn’t even imagine how any writer could see far enough ahead to use an outline when I couldn’t see the present scene before I wrote it, let alone see these things in detail. I wrote by the seat of my pants, never knowing what would happen from one scene to the next. Frequently, I ended up with a thousand pages of useless drivel, too. Other times I at least came out of the book knowing what was right and what was wrong with the project. I could then set it aside for a while and come back to it fresh later, ready to start all over again with those “right” parts.

After writing a dozen books like that, I got better at the whole process of writing and I could write four of these overhaul drafts instead of twelve, coming out with a fairly clean novel. It still wasn’t as efficient as I wanted to be. Let’s face it, it’s exhausting and intimidating to go into writing a book thinking you’re going to have to do this at least four times before you get it right.

I had my life happen to me all at once when I was twenty-nine—I had my first child and my first book accepted for publication almost simultaneously. A fickle muse wasn’t what I needed. I was forced to make a decision about how I was going to juggle everything, and quick.

In the next part of this article, we'll talk about another myth your muse desperately wants you to believe.

Karen S. Wiesner is the author of First Draft Outline

Volume 1 of the 3D Fiction Fundamentals Collection

http://www.writers-exchange.com/3d-fiction-fundamentals-series/

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/writing-reference-titles.html

Happy writing!

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series. Visit her here:

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Writing Holiday Stories: Tricks (and Treats) by Karen S. Wiesner

 Writer's Craft Article by Karen S. Wiesner

Writing Holiday Stories: Tricks (and Treats) 

Who doesn't love to read chilling tales at Halloween that embed inside readers deeply enough for them to bite their nails, shiver, or even scream out loud?

Holiday stories have always been popular. Scrooge and those life-altering ghosts of goodwill in A Christmas Carol have been giving readers pause for reflection in the 179 years since it was first published; An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving by Louisa May Alcott is all about family and gathering together grateful hearts; Emma, with its matchmaking namesake, is an unexpected tale custom-made for Valentine's Day; not to mention Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman thundering through the chill autumn countryside in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Whole hosts of fiction give us reading adventures that embody the spirit of the holidays they're set around. But what distinguishes a holiday story from all others? In this article, we'll talk about three tricks writers can use to craft authentic holiday fiction that will give readers a treat year in and year out.

1          1)    Prominently Feature the Holiday Itself

Just because there's a romance alluded to somewhere in the story doesn't necessarily mean it's a Valentine's Day story any more than any old garden variety of frightening tale is specifically a Halloween one. Before embarking on a specific type of holiday story, write down what defines the particular festivity you're writing about and what you want to highlight in your unique take on it. While countless stories have become holiday favorites unintentionally, if you want to write something that could become seasonally beloved, starting with a plan is wise. Be specific about you want to accomplish using this season in your story elements because in some ways you're actually making the holiday a character that needs to be developed fully and consistently throughout the tale. The more preparation you do in advance, the more your readers will exult in how you've captured the essence of the holiday.

Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow has become an annual All Hallows' favorite since it was first published in 1820, although the author may not have specifically intended it to become such a Halloween haunt. Based on a 1790 Dutch settlement, the secluded glen of Sleepy Holly depicts a quaint, autumnal countryside in which the community is fascinated by tales of the supernatural. His vivid descriptions are the driving force behind this treasured yuletide yarn:

"From the listless repose of the place, and the peculiar character of its inhabitants, who are descendants from the original Dutch settlers, this sequestered glen has long been known by the name of Sleepy Hollow, and its rustic lads are called the Sleepy Hollow Boys throughout all the neighboring country. A drowsy, dreamy influence seems to hang over the land, and to pervade the very atmosphere... Certain it is, the place still continues under the sway of some witching power, that holds a spell over the minds of the good people, causing them to walk in a continual reverie. They are given to all kinds of marvellous beliefs; are subject to trances and visions; and frequently see strange sights, and hear music and voices in the air. The whole neighborhood abounds with local tales, haunted spots, and twilight superstitions: stars shoot and meteors glare oftener across the valley than in any other part of the country, and the nightmare, with her whole nine fold, seems to make it the favorite scene of her gambols...

"On all sides he beheld vast store of apples; some hanging in oppressive opulence on the trees; some gathered into baskets and barrels for the market; others heaped up in rich piles for the cider-press. Farther on he beheld great fields of Indian corn, with its golden ears peeping from their leafy coverts, and holding out the promise of cakes and hasty-pudding; and the yellow pumpkins lying beneath them, turning up their fair round bellies to the sun..."

2)    Set the Mood for a Seasonal Tale

The second thing that distinguishes any holiday story is mood (or tone). Mood is a carefully constructed means of building layers of tension and suspense, and the tone almost always fits the genre. Romance stories capture the tender feelings of swoon-worthy, appealing main characters that readers will root through obstacles to see share a happily ever after. Mystery stories tend to have an escalating sense of drama and the certainty that something is just not right; only by unraveling the confounding threads and clues can peace and order once again prevail. Gothic leans toward a suffocating feel of atmospheric foreboding. Horror should have the hairs at the back of your neck standing on end and you have to fight the constant need to look back over your shoulder to see if there's something unnatural lurking there.

In the same way, Christmas stories tend to be merry, festive, nostalgic, filled with hope and cheer and benevolence. Valentine's Day stories are frequently romantic, passionate, and rife with promise for the future. Easter tales usually personify grace, redemption, and joy. Thanksgiving yarns are overflowing with the gathering of loved ones, images of feasts and bounty, the good things to be grateful for in our otherwise mundane lives. Each holiday has evocative sentiments that tend to be universal.

Sensory descriptions that evoke the individual seasons should be used in holiday stories at their most potent times. Vivid descriptions bring the reader directly into this kind of story. Using these, you give something tangible in your vision. Your reader moves and uses his senses right along with your characters. The most effective way to capture mood is by using all the senses, as Washington Irving did so effectively in his Gothic tale that contains the epitome of all things spooky:

"It was the very witching time of night that Ichabod, heavyhearted and crest-fallen, pursued his travel homewards, along the sides of the lofty hills which rise above Tarry Town, and which he had traversed so cheerily in the afternoon. The hour was as dismal as himself. Far below him, the Tappan Zee spread its dusky and indistinct waste of waters, with here and there the tall mast of a sloop, riding quietly at anchor under the land. In the dead hush of midnight, he could even hear the barking of the watch-dog from the opposite shore of the Hudson; but it was so vague and faint as only to give an idea of his distance from this faithful companion of man. Now and then, too, the long-drawn crowing of a cock, accidentally awakened, would sound far, far off, from some farm-house away among the hills—but it was like a dreaming sound in his ear. No signs of life occurred near him, but occasionally the melancholy chirp of a cricket, or perhaps the guttural twang of a bull-frog, from a neighboring marsh, as if sleeping uncomfortably, and turning suddenly in his bed."

3)    Immerse the Story in the Setting

Setting is a critical foundation to immersing characters in a world that's directly tied to the holiday you're depicting in the story. In A Writer’s Guide to Active Setting: How to Enhance Your Fiction With More Descriptive, Dynamic Settings, Mary Buckham says, "Setting can create the world of your story, show characterization, add conflict, slow or speed up your pacing, add or decrease tension, relate a character's backstory, thread in emotion, and more… Setting can add so much to your story world or it can add nothing." If you're writing a Christmas story, for example, you're literally at the mercy of your imagination when it comes to crafting prose that floods the senses with Christmas songs, scents, tastes, sights, sensations, and the sheer multitude and range of emotions that can accompany each.

In fiction, settings should be less about objective reality (impersonal) and all about subjective experience (highly personal), especially when you're writing a holiday-specific story. Settings may provide the backdrop for festivity events to unfold, but they do much more than that by creating the context of each scene. Settings can suggest conflicts, personality, memories, goals, and motivations. The connotations are endless. What does the setting reveal about the character’s state of mind, preferences, desires this holiday season? What does the setting reveal about relationships? What in the setting means the most to the main character and/or brings the most regrets? What internal conflicts and motivations can be drawn to describe holidays more tangibly as a result? Are there ways in which the current holiday setting has been influenced by something that happened in the past, and what associations can be made with past events to deepen the present? How can this setting be used to establish the foundation for escalating conflict and suspense in the course of the holiday unfolding?

When you relate all of these things to the specific festivity you're highlighting in your story, amazing prose can homogenously emerge, as it did in Irving's haunting language that screams and embodies Halloween:

"All the stories of ghosts and goblins that he had heard in the afternoon, now came crowding upon his recollection. The night grew darker and darker; the stars seemed to sink deeper in the sky, and driving clouds occasionally hid them from his sight. He had never felt so lonely and dismal. He was, moreover, approaching the very place where many of the scenes of the ghost stories had been laid. In the centre of the road stood an enormous tulip-tree, which towered like a giant above all the other trees of the neighborhood, and formed a kind of landmark. Its limbs were gnarled and fantastic, large enough to form trunks for ordinary trees, twisting down almost to the earth, and rising again into the air... The common people regarded it with a mixture of respect and superstition...

As Ichabod approached this fearful tree, he began to whistle: he thought his whistle was answered—it was but a blast sweeping sharply through the dry branches. As he approached a little nearer, he thought he saw something white, hanging in the midst of the tree—he paused and ceased whistling; but on looking more narrowly, perceived that it was a place where the tree had been scathed by lightning, and the white wood laid bare. Suddenly he heard a groan—his teeth chattered and his knees smote against the saddle; it was but the rubbing of one huge bough upon another, as they were swayed about by the breeze. He passed the tree in safety, but new perils lay before him.

About two hundred yards from the tree a small brook crossed the road, and ran into a marshy and thickly-wooded glen, known by the name of Wiley's swamp. A few rough logs, laid side by side, served for a bridge over this stream. On that side of the road where the brook entered the wood, a group of oaks and chestnuts, matted thick with wild grapevines, threw a cavernous gloom over it. To pass this bridge was the severest trial. This has ever...been considered a haunted stream, and fearful are the feelings of the schoolboy who has to pass it alone after dark.

As he approached the stream his heart began to thump... Just at this moment a plashy tramp by the side of the bridge caught the sensitive ear of Ichabod. In the dark shadow of the grove, on the margin of the brook, he beheld something huge, misshapen, black, and towering. It stirred not, but seemed gathered up in the gloom, like some gigantic monster ready to spring upon the traveller.

The hair of the affrighted pedagogue rose upon his head with terror. What was to be done? To turn and fly was now too late; and besides, what chance was there of escaping ghost or goblin, if such it was, which could ride upon the wings of the wind?"

Readers love holiday stories for good reason. Using these tips, you can help your readers get in the mood for the season with a timeless favorite they can look forward to returning to each year.

What are some of your favorite holiday stories? What elements make them timeless reading on those special days of the year?

Happy writing!

Just in time for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas!

Adventures in Amethyst Trio of Holiday Romances by Karen Wiesner
 
Three holiday novels in one volume including:

Halloween: NEVER A BRIDE, Book 11: When Charlize met Ben, he was in a committed relationship--the last thing she wanted. She returns at Halloween to find that Ben and Layla have broken up, but his ex- is having a change of heart. Despite the complications, the solution could be as simple as a kiss.

Thanksgiving: UNLUCKY IN LOVE, Book 12: Layla and Adam find themselves jilted at Thanksgiving. Heartbroken and wondering if there's anything left to redeem, they re-evaluate life…and love.

Christmas: SHOTGUN WEDDING, Book 13: Right out high school, Trevor and Eden married for the baby on the way. Years later at Christmas time, she finds herself competing with the other woman he'd been interested in back then, and their shotgun wedding is called into question.

Find out more here:

http://www.writers-exchange.com/trio-of-holiday-romances/

http://mybook.to/AdventuresAmethystTrio

https://karenwiesner.wee​bly.com/adventures-in-amethyst-series.html

Karen S. Wiesner is the author of the 3D Fiction Fundamentals Collection

http://www.writers-exchange.com/3d-fiction-fundamentals-series/

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/writing-reference-titles.html

She's also an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150+ titles and 16 series. Visit her here:

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor