First Things First: Part III by Patti Lacy

This Manuscript Monday, please welcome Patti Lacy as she concludes her First Things First series.

Discovering Your Message
by Patti Lacy

“Write for me,” a Still, Small Voice whispers. “Tell my stories.”

You label a file "Great American Novel." Memorize a snapshot of your target victim—I mean reader—like it’s a Post Office poster. Now what?

Decide what you want to say. I’m not talking plot or scripture, though to survive the publishing journey, you’ll need narrative and spiritual life jackets.

What in the deep blue sea do I mean?

Moral premise. Williams declares in The Moral Premise: “…the desperate desire of the audience for entertainment that embodies some moral principles, some guidelines for ethical living, some prescription for a healthier world and a saner life” (xv).

Need oars to row that boat?

Before you write anything, determine your character’s want.

Example: What does Sheila, a preacher's wife protagonist, want?

To help the son she gave up for adoption.

Who wouldn’t help their son? So what’s the conflict?

Example: If Sheila helps her son, she risks destroying her husband and their ministry.

Wow. A woman, choosing between son and husband. Conflict. But not a moral premise.

To create moral premise, think algebraic equations. If “A” happens, “B” results. If “C” happens, “D” will result.

As Williams explains: “[Vice] leads to [defeat], but [Virtue] leads to [success.]” (61).

Determine character’s reaction to greater moral good AND lesser moral good.

Example: If Sheila withholds the truth, she faces rejection by son and possibly her husband.

If Sheila tells the truth, she may begin a relationship with her only child and heal a marriage based on secrets.

Build a solid vessel to weather market storms and reach the shore of a well-written story.

What’s next?

Development of Character. As conflict tears at your characters, how do they change? Jean Valjean of Les Miserables steals to save his nephew from starvation. Then a priest provides an alibi and dedicates Valjean to God. Valjean must now answer to God. When he adopts a Cossette or wields a sword with student protestors, he does so at God’s behest. By the deathbed tear-jerker, Valjean has been transformed into a saint. And we followed it every compelling word of the way!

Sociocultural Values expand readership and layer your story. Scan headlines and thread issues into plot. Bulging budgets? Protagonist has a purse strings problem. Euthanasia? Protagonist’s parent has cancer. The plight of 143 million orphans? Your character considers adoption or is an orphan.

Satisfactory Ending. All good stories must end. Leave your target reader satisfied and zippings to www.amazon.com with a five-star review.

I said “satisfied,” not necessarily “happy.” The difference? If your character doesn’t CHOOSE events that produce greater moral good, let him or her suffer the consequences. Readers crave structure and justice. 1 + 1=2 and not 5. Readers want orderly things, especially when they grapple with life situations far from these ideals.

Whether you outline or SOP, plan what you want to say before you hoist the sails and explore distant shores. Your readers will thank you!

Patti Lacy thanks her parents for planting the love of stories in her heart and for laying a foundation for a career in teaching. At age 50, she entered the world of writing and has published two novels, An Irishwoman’s Tale and What the Bayou Saw. Patti and her husband live in Normal, Illinois and love to take long walks with their dog named Laura.

First Things First: Part II by Patti Lacy

This Manuscript Monday, we're pleased to welcome back Patti Lacy as she continues her series.

Love at First Sight—
A Captivating Idea Becomes Your Next WIP
by Patti Lacy

A woman carrying a fringed shawl and a notebook approaches my book-signing table. I smile, knowing who stands before me. A writer-in-progress.

“Hi.” We shake hands. “So you’ve written two books?”

“Three.”

“That’s what I want to do.”

I know.

“So…how do you get started?”

I bite back, “Do you have all day?” and schedule coffee. You can’t explain love at first sight in two minutes.

We meet at Coffee Hound in Normal. Latte steam curls into the air. Gorgeous!

“How do you get started?” she repeats before I take my first sip.

You are hooked, aren’t you?

How to start? Images, quotes, predicaments, grab me and won’t let go. I’d startle awake at 2:00 a.m. to see Mary, a barefoot child wearing a torn shift. “The little eejit’s got to go!” echoes off the walls of a dilapidated County Clare cottage. Tea sloshes in cracked cups.

Mary’s first memory, being given away.

That sad freckle face haunted me when Celtic music played. When I graded papers. When I watched a sitcom.

I fell in love with memories’ coloring life and God’s Romans 8:28 promise of working for good in ALL things. Even a five-year-old being “sold.”

I HAD to write Mary’s story: An Irishwoman’s Tale.

“But I’m a __________ (housewife, teacher, accountant). Where on earth can I find these stories?”

Where on earth?

The newspaper. (My Name is Sheba.)

Your past. We all have incidents ready to blossom into a compelling read. A mother with Alzheimer’s. A dead child. A miraculous cure.

Flip through albums. Storytell at reunions.

“One little story can’t possibly be enough.”

You may be right.

When I fall in love, the first puzzle piece is input in a computer file. Yeah, it’s a border piece! I pray and wait for interlocking pieces. A picture begins to emerge . . .

In What the Bayou Saw, a woman shared her story of separation from a neighbor because of segregation and a chain link fence. I imagined . . . two hands desperate to reach through steel gaps and a prejudiced society. But I needed more characters. Conflict. What’s a writer to do?

Time-travel to my Louisiana upbringing via old annuals and locked-away memories. More puzzle pieces emerged. Two former students grew the cast list. Pieces locked into place. A plot materialized, on my mind’s card table!

“But aren’t you messing with nonfiction? Real people’s lives?”

“There’s nothing new under the sun,” said Ecclesiastical Solomon. Authorities concur. Basic plots resonate in works penned and to be penned. We add passion and twists to intensify our work.

Mix and match stories to personalize your love at first sight. Nurture it until it stands proud on library and bookstore shelves!

You’ve fallen hard. What next?

Plot your usual way (SOP or outlining.) Develop characters. Maass’s Writing the Breakout Novel book/workbook will help, as will Ingermanson’s snowflake method (www.advancedfictionwriting.com/blog, www.ingermanson.com).

Fall in love, then blossom that love into a lifelong affair, with your stories AND the writing process!

Patti Lacy thanks her parents for planting the love of stories in her heart and for laying a foundation for a career in teaching. At age 50, she entered the world of writing and has published two novels, An Irishwoman’s Tale and What the Bayou Saw. Patti and her husband live in Normal, Illinois and love to take long walks with their dog named Laura.

"First Things First: Part I" by Patti Lacy

For the next three weeks, guest author Patti Lacy will share some advice for writers here on Manuscript Mondays. Please welcome my friend as she shares some first things first.

First Things First: Part I
Who’s Your Audience? What’s Your Message?
by Patti Lacy

My mama always told me to put first things first. I avoided boutique racks of prom dresses until I had a date. Muted Nike “Just Do It” commercials until Doc okayed an exercise program. A “first” in penning the next great American novel is to consider your target audience, then determine what they’d like to hear.

As an author writing for the Audience of One, the idea of skewing stories for a target audience coats my mouth with a slimy taste. There’s several ways I’ve determined to pour my passion onto paper yet still find readers besides my mother, husband, and kids.


Do research on who’s reading what. According to an AP poll conducted among avid readers, "the typical woman reads nine books in a year compared with only five for men. Women read more than men in all categories except history and biography." "We see it every time in our store," says Carla Cohen, owner of Politics & Prose bookstore in D.C. "Women head straight for the fiction section and men head for nonfiction."

Okay, I’m a woman whose passion is to pen secrets women keep and why they keep them, so this isn’t too hard. But a male author or a woman whose story involves a hero can interest a target audience of women by heaping personality into female characters, honing in on women’s issues, and including current events pertinent to the plot.

Include social, economic, and cultural issues that involve your target group. So what interests women these days? Stretching the household budget like those old panty hose in your bottom drawer. Characters—and plots—filled with hope for troubling times. You can read the headlines, the bylines, or just ask employees where the customers are bee-lining when they run through the bookstore doors.

Genre jump—it broadens your mind AND your target group. Have you checked out bookstore end-caps lately? They’re sagging with romance and suspense novels. Plant a sizzling, mysterious love interest in your story. Not only will those elements enrich your plot, you will reach more readers. Touch more hearts.

Consider these elements as you put first things first. But don’t forget the One who first loved you and placed His pen in your hand. Put God first in your writing career. After all, He was your first reader . . . and He will be your last reader as well.

Stay tuned for Part II, telling your readers what they want to hear.

Patti Lacy thanks her parents for planting the love of stories in her heart and for laying a foundation for a career in teaching. At age 50, she entered the world of writing and has published two novels, An Irishwoman’s Tale and What the Bayou Saw. Patti and her husband live in Normal, Illinois and love to take long walks with their dog named Laura.