What Writers Can Learn from S. J. Kincaid's "Insignia"

I plucked S. J. Kincaid’s Insignia off the library shelf randomly the other day, was enticed by Veronica Roth’s blurb and the fact that it was published by Harper Collins’ imprint Katherine Tegan, and then proceeded to devour it in a few days (which is fast, considering that I’m working full time).

According to her blog, Kincaid apparently wrote something like eight novels before finding a publisher for Insignia. There’s always something a little sad about trunked novels, but with Insignia all the experience definitely paid off. It has the freshness and unassuming tone of a first novel, but with the structure of a bestseller, which I really hope it was.

Firstly, I loved the opening line: New town, new casino—same old plan.

I love this because it’s so perfectly concise. We have seven words—seven—and we understand exactly what Tom’s life has been like and what it seems like it’ll continue to be. Kincaid didn’t need to go on for a few paragraphs about how Tom journeyed from casino to casino, beating people in the Virtual Reality parlours. Instead, she gives us one fantastic sentence and then shows us, in a well constructed scene, the sort of life Tom leads.

The entire novel fits together like a puzzle. Every scene has a point. There’s always something to be gained or lost. There were never any extra details that just sorta got left behind.

That was the most impressive bit: everything tied in with everything else. Little details at the beginning of the story ended up relating to major plot points near the end. Certain scenes that seemed a little useless early on became necessary to later scenes. Eventually, whenever something seemed to be a little extra, I started watching for it to crop up again, and it always did.

All in all, I loved Insignia for its characters, and its plot, and its ideas, but I was most impressed by Kincaid’s structure. I’d definitely recommend the book to any sci-fi/dystopian fans, and to any YA writers in general who want to create intricate and interconnecting plot lines.

WIP Update

I was supposed to post a writing tip today, but when I checked in my file, I found that I had no pre-written posts ready. Since today is a busy day (I have to watch Hamlet, read all of The Tempest, start studying for my final exam on Monday, go job searching, tune my 34 string harp, help my mom garden, and try to find some time to read and write) I don't have the time to spend the hour thinking up a good topic, writing about it and then cutting it down to something resembling a reasonable length. So, to make a long short story long, there will be no writing tip post this week.

Instead, I'm going to update you on my WIP, The Web. I started it a little bit over a month ago, at the beginning of May. Now, I'm normally a die-hard plotter, and I have complex character sketches and chapter outlines and random ramblings about the story. This time, I started off with only a very general idea of where I was going. For the first 20k everything was great; I loved the story, I had no trouble writing it, and everything came to life perfectly.

After that point I wasn't sure exactly what was going on. I kept slogging on, coming up with new ideas and trying to fit them together with the old ideas and characters and trying to find my way to the planned ending that was seeming more elusive as time went on. At last, when I reached the milestone of 40k, I looked at what I was writing and realized that it was boring.

Boring isn't good for any story, especially not when it's supposed to be an action-packed Sci-fi/dystopia. So, despite the fact that I had been slogging ahead, writing an average of 2000 words daily, I just stopped writing the story. But I didn't stop writing. I got out my brainstorming document and wrote about the story. I wrote about why characters would do what they did, about what they were feeling and what they thought about the other characters. I wrote about how The Web works in my story, figuring out its limitations. I wrote about the conflict in my story, trying to force it to the center and create a well-paced book.

Then I went back and edited. Almost every chapter, even the first ten chapters that I absolutely loved, had to be changed somehow. Some were cut entirely. Other events were moved around. Some characters were cut, others had their roles changed and enlarged.

Just the other day I started writing new stuff. I'm now 31k into it again with a bit of an outline stretching in front of me. I know what sort of things are coming and I vaguely know the order, but nothing's set in stone. The outline is flexible, but at least it's there. I've discovered that I can't write without an outline. I need some sort of a guide to keep me going. 'Pantsing' it just doesn't work for me.

So far, this story has been great experience for me. I've learned how to write without a super-flexible outline, but I've also learned that I need an outline to keep me going. Now that I've learned this about my writing style, I'm ready to go full speed ahead. If I don't suffer another setback like this, I may well have a finished manuscript by the end of July. Wish me luck!

Why Beginning Writers Should Learn to Plot

I’ll admit it: I’m a die-hard plotter. Before I wrote WANDER, my outline document filled with character sketches and minor plot outlines clocked in at 45,000 words. It was pretty much a novel in itself. This allowed me to write the entire story in just 19 days, because I already knew what was going to happen. Now, I know some people just can’t outline, and that’s fine. Many of my favourite published books are written by ‘pantsers’. However, I think some skill in outlining would greatly benefit many beginning writers. Here’s why.

Often times when people hear about all their favourite authors writing without an outline, they think ‘I can do that too!’ and so they pull out pen and paper and start writing. Five pages later, the story is already fizzling out. Why? Because they don’t know their characters, or their setting or the conflict. Even pantsers have a pretty good idea of these three things before they start writing. Remember this: Plotting may not be essential, but you need to have a good idea of Characters, Setting and Conflict. Even pantsers do some work ahead of time, especially figuring out their characters.

If you’re writing any sort of mystery or suspense, or basically any novel that has a secret revealed near the end, you’ll need some sort of lead up to it. A classic example would be the detective novel, where all the clues are there for the reader, but it’s only at the end that everything comes to a climax and the secret is revealed. In most novels there will be some sort of big revelation at the end, and some sort of foreshadowing earlier on. I enjoy plotting ahead of time, because that way I can put the foreshadowing in when I’m writing the appropriate scene, rather than forcing it in later to an already completed manuscript.

The main thing I enjoy about plotting is that it forces you to figure out the key areas of Characters, Setting and Conflict. You need to know your characters because you’re planning their actions. You need to know the setting, especially if it’s fantasy or a book that involves travelling. And most importantly, plotting forces you to figure out the true conflict of the story and allows you to plan scenes in order so that the pacing all works out.

Plotting certainly isn’t for everybody. Maybe you just really aren’t a plotter. But if you’re currently struggling with a first draft that isn’t going anywhere, or have five incomplete novels in your drawer, or a story with a main character who seems to be constantly changing, then it may well be a good idea to sit down and write up a bit of an outline.