Nine years ago today, I sat in a high school classroom watching images of a terrifying, unthinkable tragedy unfolding in my country. No one will never forget where they were that day or what it felt like to be so helpless in the face of pure evil. It is a part of our history, culture and collective consciousness in a way that few events have ever been before.

But is it so much a part of who we are now that it should be mentioned and referenced by authors in contemporary novels? Does it lend to the realism of the book or act as a distraction?

Prior to reading A Soft Place to Land by Susan Rebecca White (great book, highly recommended–especially if you have a sister!) I don’t think I would have had a conclusive answer to that question. To me, September 11th is still a little too fresh, too “real” (if that’s possible) to bring into the fiction world. As an author, I would be afraid that my readers would focus on their personal feelings about that day instead of considering the character’s emotions and ties.

But the way White handled it in her book was perfect. It wasn’t a focal point in the novel, but then for many of us it’s not something we want to be a focal point in our lives either. A hesitation, a pause, maybe a reason to make a few adjustments to our priorities, but if there’s anything we’ve learned from 9/11 it’s that life does go on no matter what. I think White managed to tap into the reader’s own feelings and memories of that day without making it a major distraction to the overall plot of the book.

Maybe someday literature will play a part in how future generations reflect on a major event in our history. Just as other fiction pieces have helped us gain perspective on pivotal events in our history from wars to assassinations to genocide.

What’s your take? Should we include current events in our writing when it’s relevant? Give me a shout on Twitter @shanwrites or leave a comment. I always love to hear what other authors are thinking.

Later days,

- Shannon

As writers, one of the things we struggle with most (especially–thought not always–at the beginning of our careers) is settling into one writing style. It took me years of writing some very good and very bad pieces to realize that my natural voice is a humorous, first-person point of view with lots of sarcasm and parenthetical asides. It’s more commercial fiction than literary fiction (for the detailed differences in the two check out this great article by Pamela Samuels Young) which means it’s a little lighter in feeling and mood. Once I figured that out, my first novel came very easily to me. The story flowed without much mental anguish and the product has been well received.

So why then, have I spent the last three months trying to write my next novel like John Irving? The subject matter for my next novel is a little darker and more emotional than my previous work, and for some reason I got it in my head that I could only do this topic justice with an Irving-like style of literary writing. I struggled to wax poetic on this serious topic but it felt like casting Zack  Galifinakis in a period piece. The fit wasn’t right.

Disappointed, I was about to give up on the novel last week when I had an epiphany–it wasn’t the subject matter that was the problem, it was the writing style. I’m a commercial fiction writer with a sense of humor, but that’s what could make this book unique. A lighter, more humorous take on a generally morose subject matter–it at least sounds interesting, right?

Last week on Duolit’s blog, I wrote about the important of writing what you know, but it’s also about writing how you know. It’s much easier to adapt your writing style to a subject than vice versa. Trust me.

So now I’m back on track, plugging away on my next novel with renewed vigor. If you’re struggling to write, you might want to take a step back and evaluate your overall writing style before you go any further. It may save you a lot of stress and headache in the long run!

Later days,

Shannon

Though I currently have three well developed novel ideas on marinating in my brain, I’m leaning very hard toward one in particular. It’s somewhat non-traditional, so I’m not quite ready to share the details, but I’m having a major dilemma with it that I think some other authors can sympathize with: Past vs. Present Tense.

In doing some research with my trusty pal, Google, I discovered a terrific article from the Grammar Girl about the uncommon use of present tense in fiction writing. While the article itself is very helpful, what I really enjoyed were the comments that others shared about why past tense is used so often and what the general pros and cons are of using present tense. There were also some examples given of popular (and lesser known) books written in the present tense.

Unfortunately, everyone’s arguments were so good that I still haven’t decided what to do with my idea! I’m worried that as some people say, the present tense can be very distracting (which I think is directly related to sentence structure–you have a tendency to want to use choppy sentences like: “Joe walks into the room. He looks around. He is alone.”) Beyond the clunkiness, it is just simply in our nature to tell stories in the past tense, because you’re describing previous events to someone who wasn’t there.

On the flip side, present tense can be very engaging. One of the best books I’ve read in the last few years is Anita Shreve’s “Body Surfing.” Shreve artfully uses present tense to wrap readers tight in the story before they even know what’s happening. Without being  a murder mystery, it’s still a gripping tale that leads you anxiously from page to page. Even better, the present tense takes away many of the readers’ notions of what’s to come. There’s no assumption to be made about the outcome of the story based on the way it’s told (like when 48 Hours Mystery interviews the suspicious neighbor while he’s wearing  a neon orange jumpsuit, as though we’re not supposed to pick up on the fact that clearly this person is in jail–it  takes away from some of the suspense).

What do you think? Is one better than the other? Would you put down a book in the store the minute you realized it was written in present tense?

It’s an interesting question to ponder and I guess I’ll have to continue to marinate until I come up with my own answer.

Later days,

Shannon