Runaway Train

It took me a very long time, comparatively speaking, to read the Young Miles omnibus by Lois McMaster Bujold. I enjoyed the omnibus so much that it made me interested in reading more of the series, so I've been cruising the book stores for used paper backs, and I've been hoarding them away for down the line, dutifully, in my desk row of books to be read. Few books skip the line. Books for the book club and books by friends do, but otherwise I chug along. I'll get there eventually.

It took me a long time. There was a lot to do at work, my own writing, and just plenty of social activity to be had. But time is a relative thing. The other night, I started in on last year's World Con books. Like I said, about a year. So, I began reading Blackbirds by Chuck Wendig last week.

The epiphany? I figured out why I personally, and perhaps you, other writers, need rejections. I'm not so sure Chuck Wendig would appreciate the gift he's given me, but let's unpack that.

The thing about Wendig's book? It's sick, evil, twisted and wrong, but I couldn't stop reading the book! I read the book preferentially to all things. I dug through my stack and found the sequel, also published at the same time, and began it immediately. I wrote dutifully on my own material yesterday, and finished off a hunk of Wendig last night.

As I was working with my writing group on Skype last week, I said that this was the problem. This is why my books aren't being published. Wendig's book is a tension juggernaut. Ain't nothing stopping this book. It moves forward like a bus in Vietnam (Did you know in Vietnam, there is no word for brakes in the language?) My book stops and starts. There are good action scenes in my book, but there are also quieter scenes, and there's some tension in those scenes, but not enough, perhaps, to keep a reader in the game from start to finish.

I have read other books like this. Machine by Jennifer Pelland comes to mind this year. Fair Coin by E.C. Myers. These are books where you sit down, and you reluctantly leave the book. What is it about these books, and Wendig's that move you forward?

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1. Action. There's a great deal of plottiness--things that happen that the heroes have to address.

2. Characters. You want to ride along with the mains. You can identify with them or their problems, and you want them to succeed, or to change.

3. Relationship tension. If you check out Blackbirds, you'll see that Wendig pairs Miriam, his psycho unstable main up with a mellow, nice guy, shakes that up in a martini blender, and watches the jumble that comes out. Ethan's problem in Fair Coin is that he's displaced dimensionally, and each new incarnation of his friends becomes a situation he has to negotiate. And well, you just have to read Machine. A lot of that relationship tension comes from who the main was versus who she is becoming.

4. The rising action builds into the character's relationship tension. The scaffolding and the way the characters and the plot are all interconnected make the reader focused on seeing what happens next. Miriam is in a situation. She reacts to it, and something happens, and then that builds a new situation, and she reacts to it, and something new happens, and so it goes. Like a snake eating its tail.

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None of this is stuff aspiring writers don't know. But newsflash for me, and perhaps you. Your book may have a great idea and interesting characters, but how does the whole thing interlock? How active are these characters? How much do they affect the universe around them? How much tension is there in the relationships around them?

Pelland and Wendig are helped by having some seriously broken main characters. Myers' main is not broken, but he is a classic young hero who is more resourceful than many. This isn't about likeability or about brokenness. It's about tension and the main interfacing with the plot. Forward movement.

All right. I can see it. I understand it. Now, can I do it? Because Abby Rath is a good book, but it's no out of control train. You probably could put that book down. How do I write you a book you can't put down? How do I put you on a runaway train? Until I figure this out, I expect the rejections will continue.

This is why you should study the successful art of those that have come before you.

Mirrored from Writer Tamago.