Novel Writing Made Less Impossible - Working the Master Plot Pt. 2

Thanks for returning, friends. Hope you're getting those elevator pitches ready to flesh out because we're returning to the sage advice of Lester Dent, one of the best and most prolific pulp authors ever.

Picking up where we left off, let's discuss the importance of your setting(s) ...

As always, my own comments on Mr. Dent's will be in Bold.

Unique locale? Easy. Selecting one that fits in with the murder method and the treasure--thing that villain wants--makes it simpler, and it's also nice to use a familiar one, a place where you've lived or worked. So many pulpateers don't. It sometimes saves embarrassment to know nearly as much about the locale as the editor, or enough to fool him.

Research can't be stressed enough for any writer worth their salt. A few hours in a library, a few phone calls, several e-mails asking for help, or even one hour with the search engine of one's choice, saves a lot of flop sweat when a mistake is caught by someone who knows more about the setting or the profession than you, and there's always someone who knows more than you do. Believe it!

For instance, I thought I knew about a location used in one of my books, specifically a landmark. Well, a year after the book saw print, a friend called me to explain that a specific landmark I'd referenced didn't exist in that time period. It probably wouldn't hurt to verify what you THINK you know.

Here's a nifty much used in faking local color. For a story laid in Egypt, say, author finds a book titled "Conversational Egyptian Easily Learned," or something like that. He wants a character to ask in Egyptian, "What's the matter?" He looks in the book and finds, "El khabar, eyh?" To keep the reader from getting dizzy, it's perhaps wise to make it clear in some fashion, just what that means. Occasionally the text will tell this, or someone can repeat it in English. But it's a doubtful move to stop and tell the reader in so many words the English translation.

This also series to remind the reader where the story is set. There are several Swiss and German terms in Santastein to give the book some local flavor, so to speak. Admittedly, there are a couple of phrases and words that showed up simply because they made the jokes work, such as a substitute for the f-bomb.

And it turned out that some terms, such as "vaude de ville," made the joke work because the German word sounded like its corollary in English.

On the other hand, some writers are tempted to craft their dialog to reflect dialect. A little is okay and should be consistent throughout a character's appearances. On the other hand, it can become distracting and force the reader to slow down in order to translate.

Dropping "g"s is one thing in order to establish a deficiency in elocution training, such as, "I'm not doin' anything wrong." It's also used for young and rural speakers as well as to denote a lack of education. Fortunately, most people don't use a consecutive series of words that end in G too often.

Also, mirroring the sound of accents can help make a character's dialog stand out in a group discussion. However, this should be used even more carefully.

For instance, a person from South of the Mason-Dixon Line could say, "Sure enough, that's fancy shooting," this way: "Sho' 'nuff, that's fancy shootin'." However, this kind of dialog could become grating on the reader quite swiftly. I'd rather read, "Sho' enough, that's fancy shootin'." Or find an analog for the first two words in that sentence, like "Certainly," and/or possibly add after the person's speech, "he stated in his thick Southern accent."

Also, when dealing with a person of foreign extraction, I defer to the standard dropping of a word or phrase to remind us which country they identify with. "Oui, my friend." "Drop the verdamnt whip." "Going somewhere? Aloha, pal." I'll save longer passages for languages I understand fluently (which happens to be English and Pig Latin) or for the translations of my work.

The writer learns they have palm trees in Egypt. He looks in the book, finds the Egyptian for palm trees, and uses that. This kids editors and readers into thinking he knows something about Egypt.

I heard a comedian talk about "experts" several years ago. He defined it as the person who knows more than you, no matter what the level of knowledge. The gentleman then pondered, "I wonder who's Bill Gates' computer guru is." Anyway, solid research will make YOU an expert in the eyes of your readers.

So we have the characters introduced, at least the vital ones, and some advice on local language and settings.

# # #

And that's it from Lester Dent this week. Next time, he and I will talk about taking your story to the halfway point.

NEXT WEEK: Working the Master Plot, Pt. 3

LAST WEEKEND: Many, many thanks to the wonderful Juli Trapp who heads the Porter County Monster Con. As always, it was a fantastic time with my dear friends DJ Gidget, Maia Marusek, Rachelle McCauley, Charles D. Moisant, Philo Barnhart, Master Ron Fitzgerald, Meli Keiff, Candice & Deborah Comeleri, DC Claymore, Travis Bunch, and newest buddies Jim Beard, Nika Westerman, Brady Siples, Mandy Madrox, and Jen Bish. The cosplay was amazing, the customers were fun, the company was exceptional, and dinner was awesome!

Next year will be bigger and more astounding than ever. I will see you there, I trust!

THIS WEEKEND: I'm taking a weekend off for a showing of DLO's production of DISNEY'S THE LITTLE MERMAID. It's going to light up the Dick Van Dyke Auditorium inside Danville High School, 202 East Fairchild, Danville, Illinois. It's a HUGE cast and the special effects and wardrobe (supervised by my wife Cookie) will remind you of the Broadway stage. For information on tickets and to reserve your seat, go to www.dlomusicaltheatre.com and enjoy the show!

NEXT APPEARANCE: To celebrate the upcoming Halloween, CASTLE PERILOUS at 207 West Main Street in Carbondale, Illinois will be throwing a party on Saturday, October 27th! Owner Scott Thorne will be giving away comic books (more with purchases) for Halloween Comicfest and the surprises shall abound! You can also bring in cans of food and newspapers to aid some local concerns. Go to castleperilous.com for more information on the store and check out their events calendar for all the coolness available.

​Be sure to SUBSCRIBE to this blog. We're going to put out something every WEDNESDAY morning or you'll know the reason why. We plan to beef up our output to five times a week eventually.

Don't forget that you can support me via Patreon as well as purchase my works on Amazon.

And of course, I'd love for you to purchase my books.

I'm also on Twitter and Instagram.And don't forget Silver Phoenix Entertainment.

As long as you're at it, give a LIKE to my Facebook pages for Freelance Words, Rising Tide Publications, and Vulcana.

And every Monday and Thursday at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time, I host a live interactive broadcast on my Facebook page.

See you next Wednesday, if not sooner!

#Writing #LesterDent #DocSavage #Plotting #CastlePerilous