The Symbol of Good Writing By Angela Ruth Strong

 

This year, since my novel Finding Love in Big Sky has been optioned for film, I started taking classes on screenwriting so I could better understand how my story might be changed. You know they always are. It’s disconcerting as a novelist, but in learning more about writing for the screen, I can appreciate the reason for this.

When writing a novel, I get into my character’s head and explain their thoughts and feelings. Without voiceovers, this isn’t possible on film. Instead, they use symbolism. Whenever he looks at the photograph, you know he’s thinking about his dead wife. Or whenever she clasps her necklace, you know she’s thinking of the grandmother who gave it to her. While this isn’t necessary for a book, it can definitely add to it. It can show how a character has grown or changed without spelling it out.

In my book Lighten Up, I have my character reach for M&Ms in the counselor’s office. They comfort her pain, and she gains weight from overindulging. In the wedding scene at the end, she looks at the pastel colored M&Ms then walks out of the wedding without taking one. She’s found health.

Now if you’re wanting to take symbols even deeper, you can connect them to scripture. I did this in my Resort to Love Series. It started with Finding Love in Sun Valley, where Emily Van Arsdale does a Bible study on water. I learned a lot and got so much good feedback that I continued with the rest of the books.

Finding Love in Big Sky is a Christmas story, so naturally I used scriptures about the star.

In Finding Love in Park City, my main character heads into the mountains for the Sundance Film Festival, so I gave her a mountain top experience.

Finding Love in Eureka took me the deepest. With an adopted character, I wanted to explore the idea of a family tree, which led me to Jesus dying on a tree so that we could be grafted into his family.

Writing symbols can be both powerful and fun. I like to try to pick them out too. When my husband and I went to see I Can Only Imagine, I asked him afterwards what he thought the symbol was. Without being a writer, he was able to guess, “Baseball bat.” That symbol was the perfect representation of how his father beat him and the exact moment when that anger was released.

Think about your own life and all the symbols that represent memories. There are probably many of them boxed in your garage or attic at this very moment. Ballet slippers. Art projects. Seashells. Trophies. This is real life, so adding a symbol to your story is going to make it also feel realistic.

While I do have the desire to write screenplays and have books adapted for film, that’s not the goal of symbolism. The goal is to help the reader connect with your story. The goal is to write truth.

What is one symbol that has stood out to you in literature?

Angela Ruth Strong published her debut novel, Love Finds You in Sun Valley, Idaho, in 2010, and has since had her books selected for TOP PICK by Romantic Times Magazine and in development for film. This Idaho Top Author and Cascade Award winner also started IDAhope Writers to encourage other aspiring authors. She currently lives in Meridian with her husband and teenagers where she teaches yoga and works as a ticket agent for an airline when not writing. She'd love to have you visit her at www.angelaruthstrong.com.  

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BCC: Solving a murder mystery is harder when you don't trust your partner...or their taste in beverages.

Sassy city girl Tandy Brandt moves to the small town of Grace Springs to start a coffee shop, never imagining she'll be competing with local beauty queen Marissa Alexander and her dream of running a tea house. Unfortunately, the current store owner dies before selling the location to either of them, and they both become murder suspects.

The unlikely pair team up in an attempt to discover the real killer, though with the secrets in Tandy's past and Marissa's infamous clumsiness, they could be their own worst enemies. Despite their differences, they follow clues to question a sweet, apple pie baking antique store owner, a GQ Santa in the retirement center, and a hipster millionaire with no social skills. Will they be able to figure out whodunit and prove their innocence before one of them goes to jail...or worse?

A Caffeine Conundrum: https://amzn.to/2PvOZWh

10 Things I learned About Writing from Romancing the Stone by Angela Ruth Strong

1. It’s okay to cry when you write. Sure, my characters are imaginary and the only reason they are in trouble is because I put them in trouble, but their feelings are as real as it gets. Their story has to touch me if it’s ever going to touch anybody else. So I let myself bawl like Joan Wilder as she types “The End.”

2. Hero and heroine must have the same goal but for two very different reasons. Jack and Joan set off to find a telephone when she’s lost in Columbia, but while her goal is to save her kidnapped sister, Jack’s goal is to make some money to buy a boat. This difference will help create the conflict needed to make their adventure exciting and unpredictable.

3. Break stereotypes. When captured by Columbians with guns, Jack says, “Write us out of this one, Joan Wilder.” At which point the Columbians get excited because they are Joan Wilder’s biggest fans. Veering away from the expected makes this scene both memorable and humorous and changes the status quo, turning Joan into the hero rather than Jack. Not only does the viewer see the Columbians differently, but Jack sees Joan differently through this turn of events.

4. Don’t be afraid to take things over the top. I’ve never been afraid of this. I’m usually wondering if I’ve gone too far. But then I watch a movie like this one where nobody is ever simply talking over coffee in a coffee shop. Even the first kiss comes in the midst of dancing and lively music and colorful lanterns. And that’s one of the reasons it often gets voted as “best first kiss.”

5. Chemistry is everything. Chemistry is the other reason the kiss between Jack and Joan is memorable. But you don’t have to be writing romance for your characters to zing dialog back and forth and feed off each other’s energy and become more themselves around each other than around anyone else. Even Danny DeVito yelling at “Ira” brings the story to life.

6. Dialog should reveal character. For example, who could forget the time Jack chopped the heels off Joan’s shoes with a machete? She complains, “Those were Italian,” and he counters, “Now they’re practical.” Their values are displayed in a witty way.

7. Humor lightens up a dark story. Sure there are drugs and kidnapping and guns in Romancing the Stone, but it’s all in fun. Viewers aren’t on the edge of their seat with fear but with laughter. They get a break from reality with an adventure that includes awkward landings after sliding into muddy ravines and screaming as the heroine swings on a vine. It can help viewers learn to laugh at their own problems, as well.

8. Heroine finds her strength. While Joan thinks she needs the guy to save her, she’s really the one to save him, and through learning to work together, they not only obtain both their goals but become better people in the process. In contrast to the books Joan wrote where the hero rode to her rescue, she pretty much killed the bad guy single handedly. Her life becomes better than a romance novel.

9. Tie the ending to the beginning. If you never noticed, the boat Jack gets at the end of the story is named after the heroine of the story Joan is writing about in the beginning. I love doing this as an author. I tie it all up and also include what could be considered inside jokes with the reader—things they will only get if they were paying attention. Or things that will want to make them read it all over again.

10. There are no new ideas under the sun. Okay, King Solomon said this first, but Romancing the Stone is a good example of this. When it released, many claimed it was a knockoff of Indiana Jones, which had been produced first, but in fact, the script had been written five years before Raiders of the Lost Ark released. No matter what I write, it’s probably been done before, but I can still use my own voice to make it fresh and fun and memorable and relevant.

Bonus: Don’t let anyone stop you from believing in yourself. The author of the book Romancing the Stone quit writing when a college professor agreed to only pass her if she gave up her passion. The film’s director lost a job directing another film because the studio thought Romancing the Stone was going to be a flop. They were both considered failures for a time, but they did what they loved anyway and found an audience who loved it as well.

Raised in the West Indies, Jacqueline James is on the verge of becoming a modern day princess until the prince hires a P.I. to do a background check and discovers her father is a fugitive from the States. Determined not to let her fairy tale fall apart, Jacqueline hires the P.I. to help her prove her father's innocence. 

When former police officer Beau Ryan's wife's murderer was acquitted, he left Miami on what would have been their anniversary cruise, planning never to return. It's his unexpected soft spot for Jacqueline that has him swallowing down the pain to face his past.

Together they elude press, bounty hunters, and the Miami P.D., searching for the truth needed to free Jacqueline to marry a monarch. Will Beau be able to save the woman he loves this time around? And if so, how will being her knight in shining armor compare with a proposal from Prince Charming?  

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Angela Ruth Strong studied journalism at the University of Oregon and published her first novel, Love Finds You in Sun Valley, Idaho, in 2010. With movie producers interested in her book, she's rereleased it as part of a new series titled Resort to Love, and she's excited to be writing for Love Inspired Suspense, as well. Though if you like a little comedy with your adventure, you'll love her latest release, The Princess and the P.I. This Idaho Top Author and Cascade Award winner also started IDAhope Writers to encourage other aspiring authors. She currently lives in Idaho with her husband and three teenagers where she teaches yoga and works as a ticket agent for an airline when not writing. She'd love to have you visit her at www.angelaruthstrong.com.

WRITING CINEMATICALLY BY DEBORAH RANEY

It wasn’t until my first novel, A Vow to Cherish, was made into a movie, that I understood why the “show, don’t tell” rule of writing is so very important. Had I known then what I know now, I would have written my first novel very differently—much more visually. Since getting the opportunity to read the screenplay of “my” movie, and learning more about scriptwriting at some of the conferences I’ve attended, I’ve discovered ways to apply film techniques and thus make my novels more “cinematic”—and hopefully, more likely to someday be turned into movies! Here are just a few of the techniques filmmakers employ to keep viewers engaged. These methods can easily be adapted for the written page to create a novel that will have your story playing like a movie in your readers’ minds!

 

1. Jump cuts and fade outs. Don't feel like you have to wrap every scene up in a nice bow. It's perfectly fine to jump into a scene in the middle of action already in progress (without knowing what kind of car your characters drove to get there). It's also fine—even preferred—to end a scene in the middle of the action and simply JUMP to the next scene. You don't always need a closed door or a good-bye to the phone call.

 

2. Cliffhanger. A good way to keep your readers turning pages is to end your scenes in the middle of action. Force the reader to turn the page to find out what you left him hanging not knowing. Just be sure you SHOW that cliffhanger instead of telling about it. Don't say: Little did he know it would be their last night together. Instead: The doorbell startled him. He pushed back the curtain to see a police car parked in the snowy driveway, its emergency lights eerily dimmed.  

 

3. Dissolve. In a similar way, you can end one scene and transition to the next by taking a visual element from the first scene and using it in the next. For example, in the story of Snow White, you might zoom in on the deadly apple as the wicked stepmother poisons it, then open the next scene with a close-up of the apple in Snow White's hand as she brings it to her mouth. Dissolves work especially well in comedy where a character says, “Oh, Harvey would never do that." And of course, the next scene opens with Harvey doing exactly that.

 

4. Zooms. If the movie camera zooms in on an object, you can bet that object will play a significant role in the story later. By taking your writer’s "camera" and describing a close-up of an object or action, you give it the same importance as an object zoomed in on in a movie.

 

5. Lighting. Describing the light in your scene—bright and sunny, hazy, moonlit, etc.—not only gives the reader a visual image to picture, but also sets the mood, or creates a metaphor for good/evil, happiness/depression, etc.

 

6. Establishing shot. In film, an establishing shot is a long or wide-angle shot opening a scene to show the audience the locale/setting (or era, weather, time of day, etc.). In writing, sometimes this type of opening is written in omniscient point of view, and the author then zooms in on a more specific point in the setting—inside a house, for instance. This is a great way to paint the big picture. Just remember: today’s readers don't have the patience for more than a paragraph or two of description.

 

7. Background music. You can create a wonderful mood for your scene by helping the reader hear the music that would be the soundtrack if your novel were a movie. Have your character flip on the radio or play a musical instrument. Have her always singing or humming or whistling. Have music from a grocery store waft to the character's ears. The reader will hear those songs in her mind and your story will be so much richer for it.

 

DEBORAH RANEY's first novel, A Vow to Cherish, inspired the World Wide Pictures film of the same title and launched her writing career after twenty happy years as a stay-at-home mom. She recently completed a five-book series, the The Chicory Inn Novels, for Abingdon Press and is working on a new series for Gilead Publishers. Deb and her husband, Ken Raney, recently traded small-town life in Kansas––the setting of many of Deb's novels––for life in the (relatively) big city of Wichita. They love traveling to visit four children and seven grandchildren who all live much too far away. Visit Deb on the Web at www.deborahraney.com.

 

 

What Inspires You? by Terri Weldon

When I sat down to write this post I was watching Dr. Who. And it occurred to me that at times my inspiration comes from movies, other books, television programs, sermons, a sentence in a conversation (mine or someone else’s), and most definitely scripture.

Do all these sparks of inspiration turn into a book? Not even close, but they do spark my creative juices. I’ll never write a character like Dr. Who, but while watching the program I might wonder why people are so drawn to him, so devoted, and willing to follow him anywhere. That query sends my mind in two directions: 

1. Can I write a strong hero, perhaps military, whose troops would be willing to follow him anywhere?

2. It would be totally wicked to write a villain with that kind of pull over people. 

I’ve stopped counting the number of times I’ve watched The Fugitive. Trying my best to figure out how the writer wrote a screenplay that draws you from the beginning and refuses to let go. Wouldn’t we all love to have that gift?

When I’m reading my daily Bible I might run across a verse that inspires me or even just a few words. When I do I jot them down in the notes section of my phone. One day I simply listed the book, chapter, and verse and said good scripture for a suspense novel. A word of caution, put in a few more details. There have been times I’ve looked at that verse and wondered why I thought that. 

Since I’ve shared a little bit about how I find inspiration I’m hoping you will do the same. What inspires you? What sparks the creative genius in your brain?

Terri Weldon is a lead analyst by day and an author by night. She enjoys gardening, reading, and shopping for shoes. One of her favorite pastimes is volunteering as the librarian at her church. It allows her to shop for books and spend someone else’s money! Plus, she has the great joy of introducing people to Christian fiction. She lives with her family in Oklahoma. Terri has two adorable Westies – Crosby and Nolly Grace. Terri is a member of ACFW and OCFW, a local chapter of ACFW. Her dream of becoming a published novelist came true in November 2013 when Mistletoe Magic, released from White Rose Publishing.

Readers can connect with Terri: Website: www.TerriWeldon.com & Blog: Seriously Write