SETTING
When you chose the setting for your novel you circumscribe your
options for theme and to a considerable extent, also characters.
Many writers don’t have the interest, motivation, courage or the
knowledge needed to learn about unfamiliar places and regions, and
they focus on well-known communities of urban African Americans,
such as Harlem and Chicago’s south side or Clix’s Alley in
Washington, DC, and confine their ideas to the familiar and to the
stereotypical. The writers themselves may never have lived in these
places nor known any one who has, but they continue to write of
dysfunctional African American life in these communities. And, mind
you, not all African American life and experiences in these
communities are dysfunctional. That’s another kind of stereotype.
Communities themselves are often stereotyped in fiction. For what
other reason would bus loads of visitors (both foreign and national)
cruise around Harlem looking for excitement and scared to get off
the bus?) Some of this countries most distinguished citizens live in
Harlem. Former President Clinton has his office there.
Research is the answer. Get in the habit of doing research.
Begin with an encyclopedia such as The Encyclopedia of Black
Americans, Who’s Who in America and The Encyclopedia Americana. se
the internet and your local library. Visit the elegant black
neighborhoods in Nashville, in Decatur Georgia, Washington, D.C.,
Chevy Chase, Maryland and others sprinkled throughout the country;
There you may note the families entering church or the mosque
together, shopping together, at the movies, basketball games,
museums. Observe the mothers and fathers who attend PTA meetings
together and, in many other ways give evidence of normal family
life. If you chose a slum neighborhood for your setting, your
story will necessarily give accounts of crime. If you set it in the
rural south, you will deal with poverty, illiteracy , and your hero
will not likely be a wall street broker, though be may be both
admirable and noble. This is meat for your novel, provided you write
it with the skill apply in writing about dysfunctional families and
individuals.
Pick up a copy of Jet or the Sunday New York times and
look at the black men and women in evening wear attending charity
functions and the like. These people have families, a love life,
problems, failures, successes, goals and dreams. Why not write about
them?
The African
American community is rich in lore, history and experience. What
other people have come through as much and traveled so far.
Why not celebrate in your novels our fascinating and extraordinary
accomplishments?
PREMISE
You’ve settled on an idea and a setting for your story, now let’s
deal with the premise. One may look at premise as the thread that
holds scenes together in a logical fashion. In Fools Rush In,
a man can’t forget that at the age of seven, a landlord dispossessed
him and his family for inability to pay the rent. The experience
caused his father - a hard working, honest man - to have a fatal
heart attack. When we meet the hero, he is a wealthy, successful
investigative journalist. But what is the point in recording that
early experience if it has no effect on the story? It does. The hero
discovers that the same man is a slumlord in an area on which he is
writing a story, but he also discovers that the man is not
responsible for the slums. The building superintendent pockets the
money that the absentee landlord allots for repairs. But when
tenants sue the absentee landlord, it is our hero who, although he
has longed for revenge, nonetheless exonerates the man in court,
because the hero in an honorable man. The premise here is that an
honorable father will nurture an honorable son. Of course, this
point is also to support other related facts in the story.
In AGAINST THE WIND, the heroine is unable to relate to the
protective, caring man she loves because he has the same physical
characteristics as a man who attempted to violate her. But with
gentleness, patience and restraint, the man she loves teaches her to
care for him. He is strong, supportive and protective. The premise
of this story is that love begets love. Thus, the premise of any s
story holds that if X happens, Y will follow. By adopting a premise
that fits the idea, we force ourselves to stay on track, to write
logically within the framework of cause and effect.
THEMES
We have an idea, a setting and a premise for our novel. But what is
the story about? What is it’s theme?
The theme you chose will determine the kind of story you write. A
theme is the recurring idea, the philosophy, the moral of the story.
And themes are based on certain suppositions or, in this case, upon
sociological or socio-psychological principles. For example: break
society’s rules and society will break you. But in positive fiction
writing, we reverse that principle. Stay within the bounds of
society, respecting and adhering to its rules, and society will
defend and support you. We know that among American Americans,
as in the country at large, there are many societies and
sub-cultures- ethnic groups, drug cultures, cults, the society if
the rich, fraternities, sororities - to name some, but I refer here
to the larger society for, as I said at the outset, we are all bound
by its strictures. Moreover, as every writer knows, we all seek
society’s rewards - health, recognition, prosperity and longevity.
There are
some powerful themes, and all best-selling novels are driven by one.
Forgiveness is one of the most powerful themes in fiction
literature, as in my book, SWEPT AWAY, which
BET/Arabesque will release in April. In it, a woman finds happiness
with the man she loves, but only after she forgives she forgives
those who wronged her and reunites her father and stepfather, two
princely men whom she dearly loves, and who had once been close
personal friends. In my book, NAKED SOUL, (which won an award
for best contemporary ethnic romance of 1998) Della Murray overcomes
false pride and warped values to embrace her loving and supportive
family, and to accept the powerful love of a man she had mistakenly
assumed to be unworthy of her.
A
father’s love uplifts and comforts a child and gives it the security
that it can find in NO other source. This is the theme in many of my
books, stories of fathers who willingly sacrifice aspects of their
own well being for the sake of their children. I first explored this
theme in my novella, Christopher’s Gifts which is included in
the anthology, SILVER BELLS. That book was
published in December 1996, but this past week, a woman wrote that
she has read more that two hundred romance novels since then, and
that Christopher’s story is still her favorite. She could feel the
father’s love for his son, she wrote. Such fathers are the heroes of
several of my other books, FOOLS RUSH IN, SEALED WITH A KISS
and most especially, BEYOND DESIRE. And it is not an accident
that these books, along with AGAINST THE WIND are my most
popular books and yield the most fan mail.
You do not sacrifice success if you write positive fiction rather
that about dysfunctional families, if you refuse to malign black men
and trash black women. Quality writing pays off.
Base your stories on ideas that excite you, the writer, undertake
the research necessary to drive the story with knowledge - not with
violence, foul language and stereotypes. Learn the techniques of
writing skillfully: of developing characters that live and breathe
and how to pace your stories. You must learn how to use the hook -
at the beginning of your story and at the end of each chapter. I’ll
deal with that another time.
In my first novel, SEALED WITH A KISS, the heroine wrestled
for weeks with the way her life would change if she agreed to meet
the child whom, as a sixteen-year-old, she gave up for adoption. Now
thirteen, that child wants to meet his birth mother. At the end of
the chapter in which she looks squarely at the consequences, the
last words written are: She went to the telephone and lifted the
receiver. Nobody who got that far is going to throw away that
book.
