My Friend, Chris Crowe

I haven’t been writing lately. My grief for friends lost and parents and children mourning has been overwhelming.

This is no different today as I write a note of sorrow for Chris. He lost his oldest grandchild. Ella’s funeral is tomorrow.

Lots of you know Dr. Crowe.

He’s a husband, father, grandfather, friend, teacher, writer, jokester. He’s hilarious. Compassionate. Loving. Devoted. The adjectives are endless with him. If he were reading this as I wrote, I know just what his expression would be. There’s be a little bit of a smile and then zing! A joke from him. Chris is who he is, in part, because of wife Elizabeth. She is just so good.

Many years ago, Chris came to me and asked, “If you could run any kind of writing conference or workshop, what would it be?” With John Bennion we brainstormed what became Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers. For several years we ran the conference together. And sang If I had a Million Dollars, Oops, I Did It Again, and Paperback Writer for everyone (agents and editors included). The words changed, of course.

Here’s the thing. With all the joking, all the teasing, all the tricksies you almost miss Chris’s kindheartedness.

He loves babies and I remember when my youngest was born. Anytime we were together and I brought Carolina, he took her from me and held her. He should have been the father to a hundred kids. The grandfather to a million. One day, I’m sure he will be.

But for now, I am heartbroken he’s doing this. Ella was a baby the Hughes fought to get. I remember when she was born. She was a beautiful girl. And she grew into a talented young lady. Not unlike her grandmother and grandfather, not unlike her stunning mother, Christy, and her artist father, Daniel. And Chris adored her. Has adored each of the children and grandchildren that have come into his family.

There are no words for this kind of loss. I haven’t been able to say the right things to any of my friends who have lost parts of their hearts lately. I wonder at my inability.  My frozen fingers, weeping heart. Shouldn’t a writer know how to say the right things? Be able to reach out? Soothe?

Some of you (of the 8) who read this post know I am a faithful Latter-day Saint. A few days ago, as I wept for Stephanie Moore at the loss of her baby, something came to my mind that offered me insight and comfort to lots of what’s going on now. And while I won’t share that here, I have a feeling Chris and his family already know what I learned during prayer.

Chris, thank you for believing in me as a writer and as a possible conference organizer. Thank you for the jokes, even though I did go and tattle on you to Elizabeth. Thank you for being an example –by loving your family and God more than the writing or teaching or anything else you do.

 

#28, #29

Life is never how we expect it, is it?

I learned long ago to not say, “Things are going well.”

“Hey, we’ve had no real troubles lately.”

“Yup, life’s running pretty smoothly!”

A recipe for disaster, those comments. An invitation to the Universe to look a little more closely at my house.

In writing, there are things our characters shouldn’t say, too. Not because they may pull the heavens down on themselves but because they may lose readers.

“He writes teens like they’re adults. No kids talks like that.”

“She was way too smart. Too political. If felt like the author was talking, not the character.”

“It was like reading the story of a 40-yr-old woman, not a teen.”

“Not one line of dialogue sounded real or had depth.”

“I thought she was a stalker.”

These are all things I have heard about books out there on shelves. Ack! Don’t let that be about my writing, please!

When writing dialogue, you shouldn’t imitate ‘real speech,’ as we are boring. I’ve seen this plenty when teaching, talking to my girls, hanging out with my buddies. Not everything I say is that great, and people wind up with their eyes glazed over.

However, this isn’t a good idea for a writer.

You don’t want people skimming your work, looking only for great kisses or funny lines. You want them to read each word. No eyes glazing over! No 40-yr-old shining through! No political agenda! In writing dialogue, our characters should get to the point. No hemming and hawing. There isn’t time for that in a novel for kids or teens.

Every word must count. Every word should carry weight. No wasted words. None. Dialogue can show who a character is, can reveal information about the story, can move the plot forward and plenty other amazing things–and you should use dialogue for just that.

#28

Look over your dialogue. Is it doing work or is it just a way to fill white space?

Are your characters saying things they never would?

Is the story moving because of the dialogue?

Are you trying to preach through your characters?

Are you letting the story just shine though?

 

#29

Without looking at your work, rewrite a scene of dialogue.  Change the characters so a secondary character is now the MC. How does the dialogue change? Motivation should change the scene.

Wanna read a professional’s dialogue?

Check out the Blossom family by Betsy Byars. We’re reading WANTED . . . MUD BLOSSOM aloud. (Yes, all my kids are grown, but we still read out loud over here. Does wonders for storytelling.)

Hilarious!

Want to learn more? Here’s this great article:

http://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/rewriting-the-7-rules-of-dialogue