In Medias Res: Jumpin' Right on In

How do you begin a scene? How should I begin one? Say, for example, a scene from On Tejas Trails? There's this scene that shows the main character Katterina and her family members in the parlor of their ranch home, and the important thing that happens involves a magical amulet.

Now, I might think like this: So the family is in the parlor--- why? I guess Katterina's Pa decided to call the family together. How? Well, maybe he sent the housekeeper to each of them with the message. Yeah, he did that because he wants them together when he unwraps the amulet that just arrived. OK, so we show each family member where they are when they get the message, and then   going to the parlor, and then they sit down and exchange pleasantries, and then....

Actually, there is a better way. Begin in medias res. Or, jump right in to the middle of things. The family is there, in the parlor. Pa unwraps the amulet and puts it on a table. And the action begins. Katterina, who has a magical Gift, reaches for the amulet, while dull brother Edward fusses over her manners and her clothing which riles Katterina enough that she snatches the amulet and tries it on, and is transformed.... Well, let us just say that is where some excitement begins.

You see, the thing is, when we start out writing we have this impulse to start everything off at the beginning. With the character getting out of bed and brushing his teeth, or taking the subway, or putting a saddle on his horse (or his dragon) preparatory to an adventure.

But that's the boring stuff. The prosy stuff. Want to keep a reader's attention? Skip that stuff.

The next time you read a cracking good novel, slow down a bit. Pay attention to how the scenes start. Do they begin with the transitional and routine beginning stuff? Or do they jump right to where the action begins? Make a mental note. And go thou and do likewise.

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IWSG: Fear of Writing Failure

Insecure Writer's Support Group

It's the beginning of a new month, and the beginning of a new writing project for me. But for me that brings fear of failure. I all too often start a writing project with high hopes, only to fail to finish it. And as time goes by with more failures I keep asking myself, why would I ever begin to believe there will be a success?

And so I don't mention my WIP to anyone since deep down I'm sure that in seven days time the project will be abandoned. Forgotten.

But this month I've decided I DO believe in myself. I WILL talk about my WIP: It's called "On Tejas Trails" and it's a juvenile fiction (YA) novel set in a magical realm called 'Empire Tejas' which was settled largely by Texans and cowboys from our own world's Old West. So, yes, it's a mash-up of Western and Fantasy genres. Plus being Catholic fiction and dealing with the issue of same-sex attraction, and probably the issue of Asperger Syndrome as well.

My main character is seventeen-year-old Katterina Malloy, daughter of a rancher who has inherited the family gift of talking to horses (and other animals). She takes a talisman meant to turn a commonplace, soft man into a heroic man of the frontier. Wearing it, she is perceived as a man. Her much-older brother becomes angry and is determined to take the talisman from her and have her taken away to an asylum. Warned by her elderly father, she flees the ranch with some ranch hands and a strongbox full of treasure to start a new horse-breeding ranch on the farthest frontier, a task which she will begin by the taming of a legendary dapple-gray stallion. I don't have a name for the horse yet. Which is bad because the most important thing in a Western is to have a cool name for the horse.

I am going to be posting a small description of my WIP on my sidebar as a token of my decision to believe in myself and my WIP, if only for this month. It's kind of like giving up on self-doubt for a month--- like the time I gave up having Asperger Syndrome for Lent. (My therapist gave it back to me.)

Have you experienced writing failures and fear it happening again? Have you overcome it? Are you trying to?

This is what the stallion in 'On Tejas Trails' looks like. Maybe mane and tail are lighter or darker than in this picture, I haven't decided for sure. Have any good horse-names to suggest?