Researching my next book!

May 21, 2019May 21, 2019beccakinla novel, prewriting, research, Uncategorized Tags: FSU, interviews, jewish, jews, novel, planning your novel, prewriting, research, soviet jews 2 Comments

While I’m deep in the querying process for my first adult novel and my first secular picture book, I’ve started to research my next book. I began with digging out some old interviews I did for an article I published about the Jewish experience of the Cold War, and have acquired some reading material which should help.

And now I’m doing interviews!

Since my university background is in anthropology, I spent quite a bit of time learning how to do interviews for research purposes. It’s a little different than interviewing for an article, because you ask many people similar questions, and then look for patterns and anomalies in those patterns. It took a couple interviews to get into the groove, but now I’m having a blast, and learning a bunch, too.

Photo by Julius Silver on Pexels.com

I love the way so many questions I ask lead to new questions, unexpected little journeys.

In case you are wondering, the topic I’m researching is living under Communism as a Jewish person. I’ve got many female respondents so far, and many people from Russia or the Ukraine. If you are Eastern European, from a Central Asian republic, or male, who was born before 1984 (so you have some memory from before the fall of the Soviet Union/Warsaw Pact), and you would like to be interviewed, email me at beccaklempner@gmail.com.

More about McKee’s STORY: How two of my stories measured up

February 17, 2014February 17, 2014beccakinla advice, authors, movie, novel, novels, writer, writing, writing process Tags: action and reaction, analysis, character, dissection, film, literary analysis, literature, McKee, novel, organizing, planning, prewriting, reflection, rewriting, Robert McKee, scene, screenwriting, stories, story, structure, the gap, writing, writing process Leave a comment

I’m still reading STORY and have so much to say on its utility that you’ll just have to bear with me for a few more posts on it.

THE GAP

Writer! Mind the gap!

McKee has a theory that the material a story is made of is not words, not paper and pen (or computer) but something he calls the GAP. The Gap develops when a main character acts and discovers that his/her expectations regarding the response s/he’s going to get conflict with the reaction s/he really gets. This discrepancy forces the character to adjust and change.

Continue reading →

To outline, or not to outline, that is the question.

May 14, 2013May 13, 2013beccakinla advice, authors, preparing, writer, writing, writing process Tags: book, diagram, famous, graphic organizer, notes, novel, organize, outline, prewriting, slideshow, story Leave a comment

I just viewed this interesting slideshow on Flavorwire containing outlines by famous writers. I use “outlines” in a broad sense–several were more like graphic organizers than true outlines. I had a weird reaction to the piece.

Usually, I start stories with clusters or notes, not with actual outlines, unless we’re talking something big–a serial (even a mini-serial) or a novel. Sometimes, I cross out and draw arrows to rearrange the elements so often, I end up rewriting the whole thing a few times because I no longer can read my own diagrams.

In most cases, these scribbles remain private. However, I happen to be working on a project right now where the publisher requested an outline first, but that’s never really happened before.

Several of my friends tell me they just start writing. They skip the outlines, diagrams, and charts and words just start to flow.

This slideshow bizarrely made some part of my brain do a superiority dance. “I am in good company with other prewriters,” it seems to say. “Just look at me with the likes of Henry Miller, William Faulkner, Sylvia Plath and Joseph Heller!”

This is utter nonsense. Plenty of writers do just fine without scribbling diagrams, outlines, or the like first, particularly if they are writing short form.

Are you an outliner? Why or why not?

3 Tricks for magazine writers: How to write on a theme and still make your deadline

January 21, 2013beccakinla advice, magazines, submissions, submit, words, writer, writing, writing process Tags: article, assignment, brainstorm, children, cluster, contest, deadline, graphic organizer, help, ideas, idiom, issue, journal, kid, literature, magazine, need idea, prewriting, pun, secret, story, theme, tip, title, topic, trick, what to write, word play, words, writer, writing Leave a comment

Before you start to type, you might want to try one of these 3 things.

One of my writing jobs is penning teen and tween stories for Jewish magazines. Before getting this gig, I had to learn an important lesson: most kids’ magazines select one theme per issue, and they are only open to stories on those themes. That means you have to write what they want, when they want it–but you’ve got to still tap into your creativity to make your story fresh, fun, and readable.

NOTE: Writing contests (although many are scams, there are plenty of legit ones) and classroom assignments frequently require that submissions/assignments include a specific topic or theme and have a deadline, as well. You don’t have to write for magazines to benefit from these 3 tips.

Sometimes, I get the heads-up on what story the editor wants on what theme a month in advance. But sometimes it’s a lot less. How do I come up with a story on short notice? Continue reading →

Rebecca Klempner

Author page of Rebecca Klempner

prewriting

Researching my next book!

More about McKee’s STORY: How two of my stories measured up

THE GAP

To outline, or not to outline, that is the question.

3 Tricks for magazine writers: How to write on a theme and still make your deadline

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THE GAP

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