Happy new year! May we all have perfect vision, actually and metaphorically, in 2020! And may we have good writing!<\/p>\n
A year or so ago I said here that I would occasionally write something about grammar and usage. Occasionally<\/em> seemed to be never again, but I have a little rant before I launch the post. Many people misuse lie<\/em> and lay<\/em>, so many that eventually usage will probably change. But at this point the old way is still hanging on, and I came across a poem that may make lie easy to remember. It\u2019s an unpleasant two-liner written hundreds of years ago by the English poet John Dryden (I don’t know if he was writing about his actual wife, which would be very sad.):<\/p>\n Here lies my wife: here let her lie. Lie<\/em> is the present tense; lay<\/em> is the past. I lie in bed now. I lay in bed last night. The usefulness of the poem is that if we\u2019re confused, we can think of the poem and make sure our usage fits the rhyme.<\/p>\n What confuses everybody is that lay<\/em> is present tense when it takes a direct object: The hen lays<\/em> an egg today. (An egg<\/em> is the direct object.) The hen laid<\/em> an egg yesterday.<\/p>\n Onto the first post of the year!<\/p>\n On November 9, 2019, Erica wrote, I like to sing, and have a tendency to randomly start singing bits of songs as I feel like it. My question is, how do you include songs\/poetry in a story and make it seem like a part of a character\u2019s nature, rather than like it has to be significant to the plot?<\/em><\/p>\n And Sara wrote, My advice would be to have all the songs or poems be pretty different from each other, and pretty random (if that\u2019s what your character is like). I think if your character repeated one song or poem the whole time, then people would expect it to be significant. If the songs or poems are well known in your world, maybe have other characters notice and point out when your character randomly brings them up. They can talk about it. I think if something is related to character bonding, then people will see it more in that way than in a plot way. If they\u2019re making up their own little songs or poems, I would go for random, situation-specific ones, since doing that kind of thing is sorta unique and noticeable and cool. Another thing is to just have little snippets of different songs or poems, because when there\u2019s some huge song or poem in a book, it really seems like it\u2019s there for a huge plot thing. The most important thing, though, is to do it, however you\u2019re going to do it, multiple times in different situations without exactly calling a bunch of attention to it. I think when you let the audience notice something, it comes off as really subtle and clever. And something can\u2019t really be part of a character\u2019s nature if they only do it once or twice.<\/em><\/p>\n Erica wrote back, Yes, what I was thinking of would just be snippets here and there. Part of the reason I want to include them is because the plot of the story itself is very serious and dense. Including songs helps keep it from seeming so overpowering.<\/em><\/p>\n I agree with Sara that, in general, if songs or poetry are in a story, they should appear more than once, and if they\u2019re part of our MC\u2019s character, they certainly should. They can be as short as a word or two, broken off when someone enters the room where she is. It\u2019s terrific if singing helps define a character\u2019s personality, and I think it can work well to lighten the mood of a book.<\/p>\n (My mother used to hum when she was angry. When my sister and I heard her hum, we would tread very carefully! If I made her into a character, the humming would help define her.)<\/p>\n I agree also that if there is only one song in a book, it will take on a lot of significance just by being the only one, which is fine if that\u2019s what we want.<\/p>\n And I agree again that the selections should generally be short. Otherwise, they can stop the action, and some readers will jump over them.<\/p>\n Many of my books weave in songs or poetry: Ella Enchanted, Fairest, The Two Princesses of Bamarre, The Lost Kingdom of Bamarre, A Ceiling Made of Eggshells, Fairy Haven and the Quest for the Wand<\/em> (though the poems are written in Mermish, the language of mermaids\u2013with no consonants), Ever, Stolen Magic<\/em> (limericks), The Fairy\u2019s Return<\/em> (in which the poems are entirely silly). Forgive Me, I Meant to Do It<\/em> is a collection of humorous poems, and I offer advice on writing poems in Writer to Writer<\/em>. And in the novel-without-a-title I\u2019m working on now there\u2019s a Greek chorus of crows, who comment and issue warnings in verse. (I love a good Greek chorus.) So I\u2019ve used poems in lots of ways.<\/p>\n For me, writing them is slower than writing prose, because I\u2019m thinking about elements I don\u2019t pay a lot of attention to ordinarily, like assonance, alliteration, rhythm, and, once in a while, rhyme. A couple of editors have asked me to write a novel entirely in verse\u2013until I\u2019ve explained how long that would take.<\/p>\n Erica says that she sings song fragments when the mood strikes her. If we\u2019re like Erica, we can pay attention to those moments when we sing and what gets us started, and we can give them to our MC.<\/p>\n We can think about what we know about our MC and how singing fits in. We can make a list!<\/p>\n \u2219 She sings when she\u2019s nervous (or when she’s angry, like my mom).<\/p>\n \u2219 She sings to keep herself from stuttering.<\/p>\n \u2219 She sings when she\u2019s happy and has to let out her joy, or to express any passing feeling.<\/p>\n \u2219 She sings because she knows it irritates a certain person.<\/p>\n \u2219 She sings to see how high or low a note she can hit.<\/p>\n \u2219 She sings the songs her dead mother loved.<\/p>\n As an early prompt, list at least three more possibilities.<\/p>\n We can also ask how and when she sings–loudly or almost inaudibly, in the presence of others or only when she\u2019s alone or some combination of the two. Is she a good singer?<\/p>\n We can pick a few of these and they will become part of her. They\u2019ll make the reader\u2019s understanding of her more complex. We can create a secondary character who also sings, but at different times and for different reasons, and this will contribute to his character. We don\u2019t have to have two singers, but if we do, we\u2019ll even further solidify how singing can delineate character.<\/p>\n If she gives up singing or stops speaking and only sings, the reader will be affected, even worried, depending on what else is going on.<\/p>\n The singing might become integral to the plot, if we\u2019re pantsers and our story isn\u2019t entirely set. For example, suppose our MC is in a tight spot. Can we have her use song to improve her situation? Maybe she sings in her prison cell and gets better\u2013or worse\u2013treatment from the guards as a result. Or, since song carries better than speech, another prisoner may answer her in song. Their duets can remain defining character traits, or they can influence what happens (plot).<\/p>\n This is not the direction Erica wants to go in, but I\u2013a pantser\u2013love when things I toss in casually turn out to be useful for my plot. For example, when I made Addie talented at needlework in The Two Princesses of Bamarre<\/em>, I had no idea that her skill would come in handy later on when she\u2019s trapped in a dragon\u2019s lair.<\/p>\n Here are three prompts. In them, there may be more song than Erica is going for:<\/p>\n \u2219 The two Disney versions and the Broadway show of \u201cCinderella\u201d are musicals. They did it first, but you can, too. Your Cinderella loves to sing. Write a scene from the original fairy tale and include song snippets. Some may be in Cinderella\u2019s thoughts rather than out loud. One may be sung softly, and one may be belted out. If you like, write your own \u201cCinderella.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2219 \u201cLovely Ilonka,\u201d which I\u2019ve mentioned here at least once, is one of the weirdest fairy tales there is. You can read it for free online in Andrew Lang\u2019s Crimson Fairy Book. (These adaptations are old enough to be in the public domain.) Here\u2019s a link: http:\/\/www.gutenberg.org\/files\/2435\/2435-h\/2435-h.htm#link2H_4_0002<\/a>. Part of the story involves three maidens, each trapped in her own (of all things) bulrush. Write the scene when the prince plucks the bulrushes. Give each hidden maiden her own song or song snippet, which reveals her character. Show that each character is different through her song.<\/p>\n \u2219 To satisfy my continuing fascination with Rumpelstiltskin, make him the character who loves to sing. Write a scene in which you reveal his motivation, whether fair or foul, in song.<\/p>\n Have fun, and save what you write!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Happy new year! May we all have perfect vision, actually and metaphorically, in 2020! And may we have good writing! A year or so ago I said here that I would occasionally write something about grammar and usage. Occasionally seemed to be never again, but I have a little rant before I launch the post. 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\nNow she\u2019s at rest, and so am I.<\/p>\n