Alpha and Omega

I usually approach a story with a strong voice, a character or characters with a problem, and a setting. The voice is the engine that propels the narrative. Sometimes I know the ending, sometimes I have a vague idea of what the ending must ultimately be, but the journey of the story influences and enriches how I arrive there. Even when I know ultimately what state of being the character must arrive at the end of the story, the means by which the character arrives influences so very much, and in many ways, writes the story. It is sometimes clear, sometimes muddled.

I am muddled right now as I work on a picture book, Miss Smackbottom Lives Three Doors Down. I know my main character, I know my antagonist, I know what must transpire, and I have a sense of the state of being at which my character must arrive by the end. Still, a missing link (s) eludes me. As if hiding behind an opaque screen in my writing mind that I can almost make out, it is playing hide and seek, throwing hints in my direction if I don't "think" too hard. This frustrates and amazes me because I recognize the creative process, and know I have to allow myself access by crawling through a window, so to speak, instead of knocking on the front door demanding it show itself. And, of course, practice patience and stillness. I do this by smiling at the games of my muse, who is just waiting for me to figure out the solution that completes the story.

Beginnings, Middles, and Endings?

In an interview with 2009 Children’s Writer”s and Illustrator’s Market, my editor, Allyn Johnston said:

Whenever I am working on a picture book, I try to remain as mindful as I can of the actual experience an adult and a child will have reading it together. I think of the shared feelings of connectedness they’ll have as they listen to the story—as much for a raucous book as for a quiet one.

I try to have those thoughts inform all of my decisions—especially about pacing, and most especially about that Mother of All Page Turns: the one from pages 30-31 to page 32. That’s the most important part of a picture book, the place where the arrow goes right into the reader and listener, and that’s where I want the book to have its strongest emotional impact.

Whenever I write a picture book, I keep this in mind. The ending as an “arrow” to the heart of the reader. Does this mean I will begin with an ending? Currently I have lots of picture book beginnings, middles, but the endings are waiting in the wings, waiting for that emotional impact. When I began writing Winter is the Warmest Season I had the first line: “Winter is the warmest season. Most people think it’s summer with its long steamy days, but not me, my world is warmest in winter.” It was a good beginning, but good picture books need a good beginning and a good ending. The ending is what I did not have. I made lists of warm things in winter with opposing lists of cool things in summer. The comparisons began to bounce off of each other creating a sense of passing time. Suddenly my story was passing through a typical snowy winter day with a party at night, bath time, bedtime with books and hugs. It was not until I put my character to sleep that the ending came to me and when it came, it made me laugh out loud. That is when I knew it was ready to send to my publisher.

To Know or Not to Know

Since I prefer to know my endings in order to have a sense of where I am “going” in a story, I usually do not start until I have at least a fairly good grasp of my characters, plot, and resolution. Even with this “security,” in the course of writing I frequently veer off into unforeseen directions, and occasionally wind up changing my original ending. Still, the fact that I think I know where I’m going gives me the nerve to begin a story in the first place.

This winter, though, I have been stuck for quite a while on several different projects and so I decided to try a different approach. For one story I had a few characters, a setting, some scene ideas, and a quest. I knew where the characters would go and where they would physically end up, but I didn’t really have a firm grasp on who these characters were, what would happen along their journey, or what would serve as the climactic emotional turning point. So I dove in and just started writing. This was dangerous territory for me—shutting off my inner critic and allowing myself to simply explore the world I was inventing as I went along without worrying about whether it would all work out or not. I figured, “Hey, at least I’m writing.” To my (grateful) surprise, characters began evolving, new scenes started popping into my brain, and I stumbled upon an emotional climax that was both unintended and satisfying!

I still like to know where I’m going in a story, but if I’m stuck, I learned this winter that I don’t have to wait for inspiration to strike—I can go find it!

Do I know the beginning and ending of my stories when I start writing?

For my two co-authored Civil War novels, yes I did. Both books were based on actual people involved in the Civil War: Charley King in BROKEN DRUM and Nancy Hart in REBEL HART. I think of both those books as "connect-the-dot" pictures. The dots were the facts that we researched and could not change. The lines connecting the facts were the fictional elements we used to make our stories more interesting. It was those connecting lines that took unexpected twists and turns.

For my current novel-in-progress, I started with a setting and two characters, but no definite "beginning" in mind. The better I get to know my characters, the more my plot develops, and I have a pretty good idea of where the story will end. However, many of the scenes in between are still in question. Once the characters take over, they often surprise me, and I am amazed at how natural some decisions become. If I get stuck, I jump ahead to a scene I know will come and then go back later to work on the transitions or to change the sequence.

I hope my characters keep me guessing as much as I want them to keep my readers turning the pages.

WEIRD!

I'll take it one by one:

The stories in Juan Bobo:Four Folktales from Puerto Rico went from morning to evening. So the book had to end with Juan Bobo going to bed.

Teresa grew out of her racism in In The Shade of the Níspero Tree. I knew her mother didn't. Still, unfortunately, I rewrote the ending with her mother changing her views. I regret it.

Biographies end with the death of their subjects--if they die. Even then I try to end my books with hope.

The Afterword of Poet and Politician from Puerto Rico: Don Luis Muñoz Marín begins with one of his quotes: "Gone to feed the roots of the gathering spring."

My biography about farmworker César Chávez was dictated to me (I prefer to think that he dictated it to me) so I just wrote it as told, including its ending.

I knew how to end my biography about muralist Diego Rivera. He was a storyteller so it had to end with a moral to his story.

My latest biography, Sonia Sotomayor: Supreme Court Justice, ended with her success!

I know how the novel I am writing now will end. Elisa won't become a nun!

Writing process

Do I know the ending of my stories when I begin to write?

Yes, usually I do. In both my YA novel Absolutely Positively Not, as well as the middle grade novel that I'm currently working on, not only did I know the ending early in the process, but I also knew the exact wording I wanted for the very last line. It's nice to have that goal to work towards, and it's nice to have a powerful ending line in mind, but I worry that having such a specific destination prevents me from letting the story wander into unexpected, and perhaps more interesting, territory.

Tonight, however, I don't know the ending to my real life story. I'm in the middle of a school residency and when I got home tonight, I lost my voice completely. Yikes! I hope lots of warm water with lemon and a long steamy shower tonight can restore my voice before I return to the school in the morning. An author visit where the author can't talk is not very interesting.

Collage artist, collage writer

“Do you know the beginning and end of your story when you start writing? What is your personal process?” This is our topic of discussion this round.

I’m usually focused on picture books, but now I’m enrolled in a middle grade/YA novel writing class at Stanford, so I’ll discuss my current writing efforts. In fact, I just submitted a chunk of my story for next week’s class workshop.

My general story arc is clear because I am drawing from my past. I’m a newbie, so memoir is a starting place for me. I may have to distance myself at some point, but for now it helps me to write the truth I know. My story is shaped in vignettes (snapshots or slice-of-life stories), a nontraditional narrative structure. This is not strictly linear storytelling, rather more of a collage or scrapbook approach. I try to link all these pieces into a story that holds together in a cohesive way and builds a plot. However, when I begin writing I do not know how each vignette will evolve. I am exploring an idea, theme, emotion, or mood. Each vignette is like a little packet where I try to create a connection between the beginning and the end. The delight of this process is in the discovery of patterns and meaning. I'm hooked on this surprise.

I debated whether to use vignettes or verse. Verse novels use another nontraditional narrative structure that has recently become quite popular in the MG/YA world. Both approaches combine poetry and prose. I experimented breaking my existing sentences, but the work didn’t quite feel like verse or poetry, just lots of short lines. Ultimately I decided I prefer a lyrical prose.

I’m in the early phases so I don’t know specifically how the story will end. Our Stanford instructor is focused on helping us to write strong beginnings so we can hope to get the attention of an editor when and if we submit samples.

A couple years ago I read some of my early vignettes to my writer’s group. One member suggested I read The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. Cisneros describes her motivation for writing in vignettes, “I wanted stories like poems, compact and lyrical and ending with reverberation.” This is my aim too.