On the very interesting Cynsations blog, there's an interview with a (announcer tone): New Voice in the writing world: Annamarie O'Brien who speaks about her hit new story "Lara's Gift." She speaks about how researching this story took her years upon years. It's set in Russia and thus, required a lot of creativity especially to research how life was like in the Imperial era in Russia. Though she lived there and had memories of the area, some of the details she wanted were more obscure to find. Two years passed before she was able to choose what kind of business one of her character's owned (she chose a bell foundry industry). She says this was important because by integrating bells into the story she could increase tension, show emotion, and 'poke' at the senses by having this bell sound clang throughout the story. She also described that the beginning of her story was very difficult, so she eventually decided to integrate a prologue into the story. Such a decision was something she tossed around for awhile, but she didn't know whether or not prologues were necessary or acceptable in contemporary stories. In a sense, the answer to this lies in her first point of advice: trust yourself. She also lays out two more tips: give yourself goals/deadlines, and never give up hope.
The interview to me shows that solving specific details of a story can take time, and that's okay, because those details uncovered can really strengthen a story or enable the writer to integrate a lot more than they would've been able to without it. It also shows that research is okay and sometimes necessary when dealing with historical things: it can be fascinating, and those obscure details you find interesting can likely [or at least can be tweaked to] be what the reader will find interesting. And it also shows that sometimes unconventional means, such as using a prologue or epilogue can be effective and utilized, though some may frown upon it, each story is different. I mean case in point, look at the epilogue in the Gospel of John. None of the other Gospel's have such an epilogue (or some of the closing paragraphs). There shouldn't be a "yes" or "no" answer to such conventions, just the notion to trust ourselves.
For an appropriate seasonal choice, there's also an interview with Charlotte Gunnufson on her new story "Halloween Hustle." The first thing she discusses is the long process of being published: she started sending out her story in spring of 2008 and didn't get publication until 2013. She says things like her critique group and magazine pieces and just clinging to hope helped her continue on even though it took such a long time to get published. Her inspiration still comes from what re-invigorated her writing career: the acclaimed movie Pursuit of Happiness, which inspired her to pursue happiness rather than achieve it. In other words, we are full of joy when we are almost to our goal, not when we actually grasp it: "we are happier when we are almost there." This shows that patience is often necessary when dealing with writing, but the process can be exciting and lead to fruitful endeavors. See Donald you should be patient...
For more tips, there's the book "Writing Great Books for Young Adults" by Regina Brooks. The First Chapter lays out some simple but often overlooked tokens of advice: the first of which is that the 'heartbeat' of the story depends on the ability of the writer to convince the reader that the protagonist is one of them. This is really all about authenticity: a writer has to be able to channel kids voices and emotions and thoughts, it has to be grounded and realistic: even the most larger-than-life personality should be relatable and have the same struggles/hardships/doubts/joys that teens/kids have. The second tip is to not be condescending to your readers. This really goes hand in hand with the first tip: kids can understand complexities, it shouldn't look down on kids, it should build them up. The next tip is to read young adult fiction because it'll teach you further about the diction of children, what is popular, and the complex plots writers are using. The next tip is to silence commercial thoughts because that will limit your self and you will focus on what is 'mainstream' or trends or what you think people will like rather than the originality of the story. This ties into tip number five: to forge a new path--to blend genres, use off the wall but relatable characters or something of the sort. This will set your book as the proverbial city on a hill, a light that shines a different hue from all the rest of the lamps.
Okay Donald, you can go to your spa.
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