Putting Emotion on the Page

Today's designated topic is on how to put emotion on the page.  But with Thorn of Dentonhill's release just days away, it's just about impossible to talk about HOW to do that.  So, instead, I'll just put some emotion on the page.  Or screen, as it were.
And that emotion is gratitude, because the book would not exist without the assistance of quite a few people.
First of all, there is my amazing and incredibly patient wife, Deidre Kateri Aragon.  She has been an anchor in my life for the past fifteen years, giving me the ability to pound away at a keyboard day after day and making this book happen.  But more importantly, she got me on task in the first place, moving me from being that guy who just talked about “writing a book at some point” to actually making writing a real focus in my life.  She, as well as my son Nicholas, have been a source of constant support and strength through the process of becoming a novelist.
No less important to thank are my parents, Louis and Nancy Maresca, and my mother-in-law, Kateri Aragon.  My mother, especially, read an early draft and gave it a solid critique and line edit. 
Next, there are all the many people who read versions and drafts of Thorn, and gave useful advice that helped shape it into a stronger, better work.  This includes Kimberly Frost and Julie Kenner, as well as Miriam Robinson Gould, and the Bat City Novelocracy crew: Kevin Jewell, Abby Goldsmith, Ellen Van Hensbergen, Leigh Berggren, Nicole Duson and Amanda Downum.
A huge portion of thanks has to go to Stina Leicht, who has been running the ArmadilloCon Writers Workshop for many years, and after I had attended it several times, brought me on board to run it with her.  Stina has been a friend, a mentor, a sympathetic ear, and a good source for the occasional much-needed whap upside the head, which is exactly what every writer needs.
I can’t emphasize enough how much is owed to my agent, Mike Kabongo.  He’s handled with grace and humor the arduous task of dealing with my constant harassment while shopping my work.  He deserves extra accolades for taking an interest in a manuscript that was not ready or sellable, but filled with potential.  He really shepherded that work, which eventually became this novel.
Further thanks are owed to my editor, Sheila Gilbert, as well as everyone else at DAW and Penguin: Josh Starr, Katie Hoffman, Nita Basu, and probably a dozen other people who helped bring this about whose names I never knew.  I am deeply grateful for all the hard work they’ve done to make this the best book it can possibly be.
Finally, there is my dear friend Daniel J. Fawcett, who has been my sounding board and bent ear on everything creative I’ve done since the seventh grade.  Nothing in this book would be what it is without his influence.  I wouldn’t be who I am today without his friendship.

In Which I Become A Word-Whore; Or, Who is Marshall Ryan Maresca Character Anyway?

Hello!  I'm Marshall Ryan Maresca, the latest addition to Word Whores, and I know exactly the question you're all asking.

Who?

I just told you.

No, really, who are you?

All right, fair question.

So: Marshall Ryan Maresca, Fantasy and Science-Fiction writer.  I'm also a playwright, but in all honestly I don't focus on that as much, leaning more toward fantasy and sci-fi writing. 

Yeah, but, have I read any of your stuff?


Well... maybe?  My short story Jump the Black appeared in Rayguns Over Texas, an anthology of sci-fi short stories all from Texas authors.  It's a very cool anthology, and I highly recommend it.

Texas, huh?

Yes.  Born and raised in Syracuse, New York, a city known for its rainfall and winters where daily snow can occasionally be measure in feet.  All right, admittedly, that's during freak blizzards, but it still happens.  So after finishing a film degree at Penn State, I moved to Austin, Texas.  A place where snow is so uncommon, a wisp of it shuts the whole city down.  It is bliss.

Film degree, playwright?  Why are you writing novels?

I actually spent quite a bit of time doing theatre in Austin, as a playwright, director, producer, and even a bit of time as an actor.  As an actor, I mostly specialized in characters who got beat up, smacked around or killed.  I even played a character who was killed twice: first time, getting my neck broken, and then having my brain stolen.  Said brain was installed into a virtual reality system, and then my virtual self was killed.

It was a weird show.

But over time I began to realize that writing novels was what I really wanted to do, and I but all my focus into that.  I still write short plays on occasion, mostly because it helps keep those dialogue writing muscles sharp.  (More on that in a bit)

So, ahem... novels, you were saying?


Right.  I've got two fantasy novels coming out in 2015 from DAW Books.  First is The Thorn of Dentonhill,  coming out on February 3rd.  The next one, A Murder of Mages, will be coming out later in the year.  Both books are in the same fantasy setting, in the same city, but they are each, individually, the first of a series.

So you're launching two different series essentially at the same time?

Yes. I'm crazy.

All right, man, it's your life.

Is that all?

Hey, I'm asking the questions!

Actually, you're not any more.

Oh, yeah.  So, aren't your posts for WordWhores supposed to be on a topic-of-the-week?

Yes, they are!  Which I'm quite grateful for, so now I won't spend Wednesday nights thinking, "What the heck am I supposed to be writing about for tomorrow?"

What's this week?

This week is about dialogue in non-action scenes, which is a right-in-my-wheelhouse place to start.  Dialogue and I are good friends.  This comes from cutting my writing teeth on plays.  I can throw two characters in a room and have them banter and bounce until days end.

Which means sometimes, in writing prose, I fall into the trap of thinking like a playwright.  I mean, I just give them the words to say.  Action, emotion, intention?  The actors will bring that in their performance.  What's that?  No actors?  Just words on the page?  Ah.  Have to go back and revise.

So, yeah, for me, it's always an active process of remembering the action of the non-action scene, what the people are doing, how they physically react to the conversation, how the POV character feels and their observations of other people's emotions.  But part of that being an active process means I have to be aware that it isn't becoming inorganic.  It's one thing to make sure the characters are active while they're talking.  It's another to make sure I'm not just marking minutia for no reason other than to give them bits of business to do while talking.

That's overdirecting your actors.

So, on some level, you do have to trust in the effectiveness of the words of dialogue themselves.  Like you trust your actors to find the meaning and action that goes with it, you can trust your readers to do the same.

And with that, it's time to head back into the word mines.  See you down there.

New Contributor to the Blog!

Please join us in extending a warm bordello welcome to our newest Word-Whore, Marshall Ryan Maresca!

~pours the wine~      ~tosses flower petals~

Marshall takes over Thursdays, bringing his experiences as a playwright and a sf/f author to our mix.  His latest works include the sci-fi short "Jump the Black"  in Rayguns Over Texas Anthology. His fantasy novel The Thorn of Dentonhill is available for pre-order now with a release of February 2015.

A member of  team Plotters & Outliners, he's currently running a tutorial on worldbuilding over on his personal blog: http://blog.mrmaresca.com.  Trekkies, take a closer look and you'll find an Easter egg or two.


Little known fact: He's a foodie who, along with his wife, mixes Spanish cuisine with Spanish language instruction.

You can follow him on Twitter @marshallmaresca and on Facebook at @Marshall.Maresca

Welcome, Marshall!