Inspiration for My Novel

By Elizabeth Moore

I began my inspirational novel, The Dreaming Road, as a diary of my personal struggles in coping with my daughter Cassie’s death by suicide. After a few years, I decided to turn my diary into a novel to give to family members and friends who helped me along the way. When I shared the rough draft of my novel with several professional editors, I was told that I was “telling” rather than “showing” through scenes and dialogue much of my story. Describe the memorial flower garden you created for your daughter they told me - it’s colors, scents, the taste of honeysuckle, softness of a rose petal and the sound of birds as the garden comes to life in an early spring dawn, use all your senses. I am primarily a visual person and love to create vision boards, so I began cutting photos from magazines to help me describe the scenes in my novel.

The other issue I had, being a novice writer, was whether to first write an outline or just go with the flow, writing the words as they came to me when I described my daughter’s journey into death and the afterlife in her half of the novel. In the end, it seemed truer to the story to ask just my daughter’s character, Callie, well what happened next?

After several years of bumbling along with this process, I attended a writer’s workshop where the facilitator described a common structure for many novels, The Hero’s Journey. As a child I was fascinated by fairy tales of beautiful heroines in desperate circumstances and my favorite was The Wizard of Oz. I could see, looking back, that this story contained many elements of The Hero’s Journey. The tornado that transported Dorothy to Oz was the inciting event that sent her out of her ordinary reality and into the unknown. Glinda, the good witch of the north, became her mentor, gave her the ruby slippers and called her to the adventure of the yellow brick road. I took

The Hero’s Journey and superimposed all of Dorothy’s challenges on it. Then in one of those “lightbulb” moments I realized that my journey contained similar themes and took another sheet of paper describing The Hero’s Journey and added my story to it.

I finally published The Dreaming Road this January and in sorting through my files found all the photos I used to create my story and my notes on The Hero’s Journey. I’m working on a vision board now using the yellow brick road, elements of my hero’s journey and the photos to create a visual depiction of my novel. I have always envisioned The Dreaming Road as the first novel in a trilogy but I am thinking that I will start with blank white poster board, a yellow brick road, and photos of the journey ahead before I put my pencil to paper on the next one.

I went to the big island of Hawaii on spring break to swim with the dolphins this year and stayed at Banyan Tree Farm. Much to my surprise they had built a yellow brick road on the property. I do believe in synchronicities so maybe this is telling me that I’m on the right path.

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Elizabeth Moore is an Associate Professor of Nursing at Vanderbilt University. Her nursing research articles have been published in well-known journals in the field of pediatric nursing and women’s health. Her research has focused on strengthening the bond between mother and baby immediately after birth by skin-to-skin contact. The death of her daughter inspired a personal journey to connect with her again and her first novel explores the eternal bonds between mother and child that continue even when one of them has passed on. She lives near Nashville with her three dogs, Beau, Buttons and Bramble. Visit her at www.thedreamingroad.com. Novel title – The Dreaming Road Social Media Contact – www.thedreamingroad.com

Isn't It Ironic?

by Gary Fearon, Creative Director, Southern Writers Magazine


When George Bailey decides to drown himself in It's a Wonderful Life, he ends up saving someone else from drowning instead.  Over the course of the story, George realizes his life isn't worthless after all, but rather has had positive impact on everyone around him.  Irony such as this adds a touch of magic to fiction; a poetic twist of fate that makes it bigger than life.

In truth, life itself is full of ironies, so we identify with this fictional device. Ever since Greek tragedies, storytellers have sought to heighten the drama by pitting characters and situations against themselves.

There's enough irony in Titanic to sink a ship. The rich girl doesn't want her rich suitor; she loves the poor immigrant boy. Many on board were looking to start a new life, only to have no future at all. There were too few lifeboats available because something like this was never going to happen, much less on the maiden voyage.

In The Wizard of Oz, everyone puts their hope in a wizard who isn't a wizard at all. Dorothy, who runs away from home, only wants to go back home.  Her traveling companions long for a brain, a heart, and courage, when it turns out they had them all along.

More recently, The Fault in Our Stars features a character who likes to keep a cigarette in his mouth but never lights up, in metaphorical defiance against the cancer causer. 

There is irony in a flawed protagonist.  All super heroes and detectives have at least one serious Achilles heel.  To makes matters worse, costumed crusaders from Spiderman to Zorro can't reveal their secret identity to the people they love most, and are often blamed for something they didn't do.
 
Contrast is a particularly popular form of irony.  A messy roommate drives neatnik Felix Unger to distraction in Neil Simon's The Odd Couple.  Even Sesame Street's Bert and Ernie were a pint-sized pair of opposites.  From The King and I to My Fair Lady to Downton Abbey, there is fascination in seeing different cultures and classes clash.

How many romances start out with the two lovers despising each other?  (Besides all of them?)  Indeed, we wouldn't be quite as interested if it was love at first sight and remained smooth sailing through the tunnel of love.

Similarity can be just as ironic as contrast.  We see it in a child who takes on the negative characteristics of a parent, or a sidekick who comes to the rescue by using a skill the hero taught them.

The very jokes we tell make us laugh through irony.  We are surprised by the punchline because we were expecting something else.  Why did the duck cross the road?  Because it was the chicken's day off.

Irony comes in many different forms, and creates interest instantly. We can give a story more layers and more complexity with the simple addition of this very easy device.  How ironic is that?

Subjectivity In Publishing

By Byron Suggs

When I was invited to write a piece for SuiteT, it was truly a Sweet Tarts moment—opportunity vs. challenge! So, let’s talk about subjectivity in publishing, shall we? For the benefit of this post, we’ll approach it from the viewpoint of a writer who’s spent a good deal of time honing his/her craft. If you're at that level, then you’ll probably be nodding your head as you read this. If not, read carefully.

When I finished my first book, Rockapocalypse, it wasn't very good. I queried tons of agencies and got either the silent treatment, or "I'm afraid your work is not suitable for our current needs". It took a while, but I got the message. So, I pulled my book and worked furiously to improve it. That meant swallowing a lot of crow to get over my self-importance. I was fortunate to have a small, traditional publisher show interest, and after several re-writes, a failed attempt to get their pub board approval, and much grief, I wrote the doggone thing all over again from scratch. I listened to their advice…threw caution to the wind…stayed outside the box.

And BINGO! They changed their mind.

During all of this, I took everything gained from that experience and started my second book, Cold Currents. It was a joy to find my voice, run with it like the wind, and apply everything I'd learned. Many beta readers and freelance editors loved it. When I started querying, most agencies turned it down, but a few slipped positive comments into their rejection letters. So, I changed tactics mid-stream because I knew I had a good book. I made it a numbers game. All-out assault. I landed twelve “full” manuscript requests from agents.

Why am I telling you this? Because this is where subjectivity really hits home. Even after all of that, three-quarters of them turned it down. Part of those did so because they didn't know any editors that were looking for this kind of book (aka extended subjectivity). The other part did so because it wasn’t their cup of tea, didn’t resonate with them. The lesson here, and one I think every writer should learn, is that even with a good book, subjectivity can still make for a rocky road. Fortunately, I ended up with three agents that saw a good book and offered representation. Bottom line: subjectivity.

I've seen too many writers get depressed over their inability to make their mark in this industry. Too many give up their biggest dream for a lesser one. All because they didn't grasp the concept of subjectivity in publishing. Remember, you're a writer. Your words are the most important thing to you. But publishing is a business. Their potential to sell your work, who they know, andespecially what they personally like, will determine whether you're successful at getting to the next level. Don’t give up! Work hard, believe in yourself, and learn the business! Understanding subjectivity should be a part of every writer’s toolkit.

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Primarily a writer of southern fiction, Byron's first novel, Rockapocalypse: Disharmony of Justice, is a tale of youthful dreams, adult peril, and Divine intervention by a few deceased rock icons. His second novel, Cold Currents, a southern literary mystery/thriller, is in the hands of his agent. He is currently working on his third novel, Bone Whispers, (a follow-up to Cold Currents), and a collection of short stories for future publication. A child of the sixties, his first viewing of The Wizard of Oz shaped his outlook of the world and erased any boundaries that could have stunted his imagination. He believes that a good tale should take you on an exhilarating adventure and leave you a bit more enchanted after you turn the last page. Byron is represented by D4EO Literary.  Website: http://www.byronsuggs.com  Twitter  Facebook Linkedin

Weebly: http://byronsuggs.weebly.com/index.html 

Publisher Website: http://www.written-world.com/WWC/book_rock.html