C. Lee McKenzie

Young Adult and Middle Grade Author

The Other Side of Writing

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I’ve always thought of reading as the other side of writing-sort of the Ying and Yang of the literary universe. I haven’t read a good author who hasn’t also been an avid reader. Of course, there’s always a first time, so let me know if you have met one of these scribes.

When my writing well is dry, I grab a book that someone else has toiled over and enjoy their labors. I’m looking for some ideas to refill my well, and in the meantime, I’m happy to be lost in a story. I don’t care what kind of story it is as long as it’s good.

So what do I need to make a good story?

A great hero who

-has inward and outward goals that I can easily identify.
-I care about, empathize with, and understand.
-is a bit larger-than-life, but I can still relate to because of a few flaws.

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A vivid bad guy (or force) who

-is interesting and powerful enough to give the hero a run for the money.
-has clearly defined inward and outward goals that go right up against those of the good guy.
-is not 100% evil, so I have some sympathy for the character.
-gets it in the end. (Yes, I’m a sucker for the HEA ending)

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A Setting that

-fits the story
-is vivid so that I can see, hear, and feel it around me as I read

Something exciting or poignant happens

-at or near the beginning of the story. (I love the end of Chapter 1 to make me turn the page)

Conflict. Conflict. Conflict that

-creates and builds drama, and nothing is ever “just hunky-dory.”
-is internal and wrenches the poor good guy’s heart or messes up his head terribly, or…
-is external and affects the good guy in his world (Nothing keeps me reading late into the night like “the monster’s-coming-any-minute kind of tale)

An End that

-wraps up the conflict and ties off any threads that have been woven into the story.

I’m in the middle of four books at this writing: Pont Neuf, The War of the Roses, The Falcon at the Portal, and Eating The Dinosaur (non-fiction). Obviously, I’m in need of some idea replenishing. What are you reading and do you also read to fill up that writing well?

Quote of the Week: “Read a thousand books, and your words will flow like a river.”
― Lisa See, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

Secret Tributes

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I love writing and sharing that experience with other people. And I love creating and receiving secret tributes from fellow writers when they publish. Unlike dedications, only the writer and the person being mentioned know about these gifts of gratitude.

So what am I talking about?

In my book, Not Guilty, I had a lot of favorite characters, but there was one named Buddy that was special. He was special because not only was he a fabulous dog, but a real one. Buddy had his own website with tales about his adventures with his favorite human, Mike. Mike posted from Buddy’s point of view a lot of the time, and his take on the world was heartwarming and funny.

I was so sad when Buddy died. I felt as if he and Mike were good friends of mine. I asked Mike if he would mind if I paid my own tribute to his beloved Canine Couch Potato, and he not only didn’t mind, he loved the idea.

The Real Buddy

Here’s a scene about Buddy from Not Guilty.

By nature, Buddy was a people-loving retriever-mix who had come to him by some unknown chain of dog owners. He had a long history of being in and out of the pound. On their first day at the beach together, Devon found out why. Buddy hated water. He even hated wet sand under his paws. It took a lot of convincing to get Buddy on the sand that first day. Then they’d no sooner settled on the blanket when Buddy let out a yelp and hightailed it back to the asphalt. His leash whipped behind. People jumped out of the frantic dog’s way. Devon didn’t catch him until they’d run the length of Sugar Cove. Over the next few years, Buddy finally agreed to walk on the dry sand, but he never became the beach buddy Devon had imagined. And Frisbees could sail overhead all day without a single blink. He was a failed retriever, but he wasn’t a failed friend.

AMAZON . SMASHWORDS . EVERNIGHT TEEN . KOBO . APPLE

As every writer knows, books come into the world in different ways, but one thing is for sure, they need early readers with keen editorial talent to help get through those drafts. I’ve been so lucky to have great critique partners over the years. A few have been with me since before publication. They’ve suffered through a lot of my bad writing. They’ve pushed me to do better each time I’ve crafted something, and they’ve always been there for me when I finally launched a book. They’ve also said “Thank You” by tucking me into their stories.

In Black Flowers White Lies, by Yvonne Ventresca, I’m Lee, the flower seller. I loved this walk-on role, and I loved the secrecy-kind of a Members Only exclusivity. Yvonne and I have been writing friends for years. I’ve always valued her help with my manuscripts.

Weekly Quote: “I think if I’ve learned anything about friendship, it’s to hang in, stay connected, fight for them, and let them fight for you. Don’t walk away, don’t be distracted, don’t be too busy or tired, don’t take them for granted. Friends are part of the glue that holds life and faith together. Powerful stuff.” Jon Katz, Author

The First Spring Wednesday

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Lancaster in Bloom

I know it’s spring when I can’t sit for more than three minutes in front of the computer, I pace, stopping at the window to stare at the daffodils, the poppies, and the wild plums all pink with flowers. Color is everywhere out there, and I’m itching to enjoy it up close. However, business first, so here’s my First Wednesday post for April and a great spring hello to everyone.

And I’ve started spring off with an INTERVIEW. The BOOK SAGE, a reviewer, asked me make an appearance on his blog. Of course, I said YES! Please stop by and say hello.

#IWSG
Join Us Now

The awesome co-hosts for the April 3 posting of the IWSG are some of my favorite people! Please go say hi to them and thank them for hosting.
J.H. Moncrieff, Natalie Aguirre, Patsy Collins, and Chemist Ken!

Remember, the question is optional!

If you could use a wish to help you write just ONE scene/chapter of your book, which one would it be? (examples: fight scene / first kiss scene / death scene / chase scene / first chapter / middle chapter / end chapter, etc.)

I’d wish for a solid and non-saggy middle chapter-maybe I’d push my luck and ask for a few of those. For me the middle of the book is a challenge. I’ve set up the story and I usually know how I’m going to end it. It’s that long bridge between that I do battle with to keep the pace up and the characters at their charismatic best. My greatest worry is the middle chapters will be as sad as an old mattress. Of course, wishing won’t prevent saggy-ness from happening; only long hours of weary fingers on the keyboard and longer ones deleting and rewriting with those same weary fingers will do that.

Here’s my wish! Non-saggy middle chapters.
Email Connect

This month on my Email Connect, I’m begging for people to STEAL MY BOOKS. I’ll let you know if I have any takers. My featured author is Alex Cavanaugh. Surprise! And I’m linking to the WEP winner for the February challenge.

And speaking of the WEP…here’s the April theme. Better jump in now with your contribution. Sign up HERE.

Amazon ~ Amazon UK ~ Kobo ~ B&N ~ Smashwords

Rescuing Mara’s Father kept me reading.

From my Review: When Mara’s father is abducted by an evil queen, she ignores all of her father’s wishes for her to hide and stay safe to go in search of him. Set in a distant future and a fictional galaxy, Rescuing Mara’s Father is a fast-paced science fiction adventure with unexpected twists up to the very end. You’ll enjoy the read.

As usual there are things happening here at #IWSG. Our latest excitement is our affiliation with DIY MFA so we can bring you great programs for writers. This is actually my excuse for not visiting blogs early this month. I’m in a training session today. But I’ll be around to say hi and catch up soon.

Here’s a podcast that you should sample. It’s with David Morrell who is just brilliant. Then there’s one with David Corbett that’s very like a master class on writing characters based on historical figures. There are many more, so don’t touch that dial. There’s going to be something for everybody.
 

And another IWSG Anthology Contest is on the horizon. We’ll announce the theme next month, but start thinking about Middle Grade Adventure/Fantasy stories you’d like to write. You’ll have from May 1-September 4 to enter.

Quote of the Month: “Wishing as a strategy is the very worst.” Andrew Young, Clergyman

What’s The Focus?

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Since I’m not featuring any authors this month, I’m just posting things I enjoy writing about. If I seem scattered, you’re right. I’m still re-organizing my computer after it murdered so many of my files, and I’m busy with two book launches. More about that next time, but right now, let’s talk focus.

There are four parts to any story: the world or milieu, the idea, the character(s) and the event. So with only four elements, we should soon be bored reading stories, right? I mean they are the same, again and again.
But no. That’s not the case because each story is filtered through a unique human brain, and each human who writes will have a different part of the story that matters most to him. What is most important to the writer will be what is most important in the story.
In theory, if four people wrote The Wizard of Oz, there could be four different stories. One might focus on milieu, whereas, the next three might focus on the other story elements.

So let’s say you want the world or milieu to be paramount. Your characters will enter this world you’ve created, they’ll look around, react and interact with it, and they’ll let you find out what this place is about while, at the same time, they’re finding out about it.



Think of Alice. Now, there is one milieu-dominated story. Alice moves through an underground realm of odd tea parties and even odder court trials, then she returns home, having finally understood the futility of trying to make meaning out of any of her encounters. Critics of the story say that, unlike a good milieu story, Alice hasn’t been transformed by her experience, and this is often noted as the failure of the novel. If she had returned to her “real” world different than when she entered it, the story would have been a stronger one. Still Carroll’s milieu tale is popular and continues to entertain readers.

If it’s the idea that you want to focus on, then your character is going be in search of answers to questions. Who killed the lord of the manor? Was it the butler? What destroyed the world you created? Meteorite? Alien? The rest of the story is letting the character discover the answer. Wasn’t Agatha Christie a master at the idea story? If you love mysteries, you love the focus to be on the idea.

But the characters, you say. They must be the focus, especially the protagonist. And in a character-focused story, they are the focus. The character(s) start in one place and end in another. With my story Double Negative, my guy, Hutch McQueen, is stuck in an abusive home, and his one thought is escape. The problem is he can’t because he makes one bad choice after another that prevents his escape. It’s not until he starts making smart choices (and that take some serious work) that he finds the way out of the mess he’s in. And viola! He’s a new kind of kid-still flawed, but with an idea of how to make his way through the world without landing in trouble.


When the author focuses on an event that throws the established world order into chaos, then you’ve got a story that requires either knitting up the old order or creating a new one. Shakespeare did the event story a lot. Macbeth to name one.

Every focus has its excitement and its effectiveness in the hands of a good writer. It doesn’t matter to me whether I’m reading Gulliver’s Travels (a milieu focus), And Then There Was None (an idea focus), Holes (a character focus) or Hamlet (an event focus). They’re all excellent. They all capture my imagination and keep me engaged because they are so well told.
Quote of the Week: “Tell me the facts and I’ll learn. Tell me the truth and I’ll believe. But tell me a story and it will live in heart forever.” – Native American Proverb