In The Marshall Plan® novel writing system, there are two units of story action: the action section and the reaction section. The action section is where your story’s action takes place; one of your viewpoint characters seeks to achieve a short-term, or section goal that she thinks will take her closer to achieving her overall story goal.

In most cases, an action section ends with the viewpoint character making a decision as a result of what has happened in the section, and another action section follows, based on this decision.

But sometimes that’s not enough. Sometimes the failure at the end of an action section is so devastating or momentous that something more is called for. That something more is the reaction section. The reaction section is a protracted account of the character’s reaction to the failure in the last section. You write a reaction section in three distinct phases:

• the character’s emotional response to what has happened;
• the character’s rational response to what has happened;
• and the decision the character ultimately makes based on his rational response—that decision being the next action he will take.

Here’s an example from the novel Disclosure by Michael Crichton.

In an action section, Tom Sanders, the novel’s lead character, tries to convince Phil Blackburn, his company’s chief legal counsel, that Tom’s new boss Meredith Johnson sexually harassed him. But Meredith has already told Phil a conflicting story, saying that it was Tom who harassed her, and Phil is siding with Meredith. He says that, whatever really happened, it would be best for all parties if Tom accepted a transfer to another office. If Tom accepts the transfer, he forfeits a chance to make a lot of money if his current division is sold.

“Look, Tom. Let me review this with Garvin. Meanwhile, why don’t you go off and think this Austin offer over. Think about it carefully. Because no one wins in a pissing match. You may hurt Meredith, but you’ll hurt yourself much more. That’s my concern here, as your friend.”

“If you were my friend—” Sanders began.

“I am your friend,” Blackburn said. “Whether you know it at this moment, or not.” He stood up behind his desk. “You don’t need this splashed all over the papers. Your wife doesn’t need to hear about this, or your kids. You don’t need to be the gossip of Bainbridge for the rest of the summer. That isn’t going to do you any good at all.”

“I understand that, but—”

“But we have to face reality, Tom,” Blackburn said. “The company is faced with conflicting claims. What’s happened has happened. We have to go on from here. And all I’m saying is, I’d like to resolve this quickly. So think it over. Please. And get back to me.”

This section failure is too devastating to Tom to confine his response to the end of this section. A reaction section is called for so that we can see the stages of his response.

Tom’s next section—the reaction section—reads like this (text in brackets mine; some text omitted):

[EMOTIONAL PHASE:]

Look at the situation.

Sanders stood in Pioneer Park and leaned against a pillar, staring at the light drizzle. He was replaying the meeting with Blackburn.

Blackburn hadn’t even been willing to listen to Sanders’s version. He hadn’t let Sanders tell him. Blackburn already knew what had happened.

She’s a very sexy woman. It’s natural for a man to lose control.

That was what everyone at DigiCom would think. Every single person in the company would have that view of what had happened. Blackburn had said he found it difficult to believe that Sanders had been harassed. Others would find it difficult, too. . . .

[RATIONAL PHASE:]

Susan would never accept it. Her practice in Seattle was successful; she had spent many years building it. They had just finished remodeling the house. The kids liked it here. If Sanders even suggested a move, Susan would be suspicious. She’d want to know what was behind it. And sooner or later, she would find out. If he accepted the transfer, he would be confirming his guilt to his wife.

No matter how he thought about it, how he tried to put it together in his mind, Sanders could see no good outcome. He was being screwed. . . .

[DECISION PHASE:]

As Sanders stood in the rain, his sense of shock slowly faded. And with it, his sense of loyalty. He started to get angry.

He took out his phone and placed a call. . . .

The call Sanders is placing is to a pit bull of an attorney who specializes in workplace harassment cases.

Crichton’s text follows the action/reaction section structure so perfectly that one wonders if he used The Marshall Plan®! I wouldn’t be surprised. Many successful writers tell me privately that they use it but don’t talk about it. It’s their secret weapon.

Keep the reaction section mind, and use it when it’s warranted in your novel. You’ll increase your story’s dramatic impact while realistically showing the thought sequence that invariably follows a devastating blow.

When deciding what kind of novel to write, it’s not always smart to pick a genre that’s currently hot. By the time your novel is written and on submission to editors, that genre may have gone cold. Some genres appear to be eternally hot—vampire fiction, for instance—but everything cools off eventually. You’re always safer trying to anticipate a future trend and aim your fiction in that direction. How to figure out tomorrow’s vampire fiction?

Look at current films. Films both reflect trends in books and set them. Speaking of vampires . . . when Hollywood saw how vampire novels were selling, it jumped enthusiastically on that bandwagon, not only adapting many of these novels but acquiring original scripts in the genre. That’s Hollywood copying books.

When the publishing industry caught on to the popularity of India-related movies like Monsoon Wedding and The Namesake (itself adapted from a novel), it began looking for India-related novels. Now we are enjoying stories from Shobhan Bantwal, Indu Sundaresan, Anne Cherian, Padma Venkatraman, Farahad Zama and many others. Will the current success of True Grit spark a spate of new Westerns? Keep an eye out.

Watch news trends. Book editors scour the news for hot trends, and so should you. I’ve noticed an unusually large number of animals killing or maiming their trainers lately—killer whales, chimpanzees, elephants. If it keeps happening it will turn into a trend people watch, and editors will no doubt put out the word they’re seeking novels about it. Will more suburban spies be exposed? Will face transplants become commonplace? Will the apparent new spate of floods spark a resurgence of “disaster” novels? As you read the news, keep a list of possible trends.

Monitor conversations. Perhaps the best way to find out what interests people is to simply listen to them. What are people talking about at cocktail parties? At the dinner table? Over the holiday table? Don’t grab at one conversation pulled from the morning’s headlines; watch for trends. For example, lately I’ve noticed a lot of people talking about municipal budget cuts that cause police to be laid off, causing a degree of “lawlessness” not seen before. Today I clicked to my favorite news site and caught this headline: ”Camden lays off nearly half of its police force.”

Budgets cuts aren’t going away anytime soon. My experience tells me that some editors would find a novel about gangs taking advantage of police cuts interesting.

Don’t write what’s trendy now; write what’s trendy tomorrow. If you’re smart you can figure out what that is ahead of everyone else.

Anyone familiar with my novel writing system or my views on fiction writing in general know I stress targeting a specific genre when tackling a novel. Is it a romance? A mystery? A science fiction novel? A Western? I stress this simply because editors stress it, and I’m all about not only writing novels but selling them.

But more and more, people say to me, “But half the novels on the bestsellers lists are blends of genres. If they can do it, why can’t I?”

Well, you can, but there’s a right way and a wrong way to do it.

Which Genre Predominates?

First of all, though it’s true that many successful novels meld two or more fiction genres, in the majority of them one of those genres is predominant. For instance, a so-called science fiction/fantasy novel may at first glance contain equal parts of both genres, but almost always a careful study will reveal that one dominates, and that’s the one that will determine where the book would be shelved in a bookstore. That’s the bottom line: In what section of the bookstore would I find this book?

So, if you’re writing a novel that doesn’t strictly belong to one genre, make sure one of them predominates. That way, agents and editors can’t say your book sits between two stools and is uncategorizable. Because before a book is shelved in the bookstore, it’s presented in a publisher’s catalogue, and inevitably a book’s listing includes its genre.

When Melded Genres Become Genres of Their Own

Often in publishing, the public reacts so positively to certain melded genres that the “meld” becomes a genre itself. Examples are paranormal romance (paranormal fiction melded with romance fiction) and historical mystery (historical fiction melded with mystery fiction). Call these genres or subgenres, but whatever you call them, they are accepted categories in which agents and editors are always looking.

So, if you want to meld, choosing a popular combination is a good way to go.

When genres collide, the results needn’t be catastrophic. In fact, the collision could result in a sale.

1. I will decide on one genre of novel—the genre I most enjoy reading—and stick with it.

2. I will study novels in this target genre to get a good idea of the kinds of stories they tell.

3. I will work hard to come up with a story idea that fits my target genre yet is fresh and new, something I’ve never seen done before in novels, TV or movies.

4. Before I begin to write, I will create a detailed outline of my novel, so that when I do begin writing, I won’t hit any rough spots.

5. I won’t share my story idea with others, because (a) when you talk out an idea it can lose some of its sparkle, and (b) someone will undoubtedly find fault with it, and I’m not interested in what other people think.

6. I will work on my novel every day, whether it’s writing my outline, doing some research, or actually writing text.

7. I will adhere to a timetable: for example, a detailed story outline by April 1, a first-draft manuscript by Thanksgiving, a polished manuscript by the end of the year.

8. I will keep a running list of editors and agents who seem right for my project.

9. I will not start another writing project until this one is finished.

10. By this time next year I will be ready to start submitting my finished novel . . . and I will already have begun working on another one.

Polish up your writing with these easy tips.

1. Seek and destroy clichés: butter-soft leather, a mighty oak, a trusted servant.

2. To show habitual action, use the past tense rather than would. Not “Each morning he would walk to the Y and swim twenty laps,” but “Each morning he walked to the Y and swam twenty laps.”

3. Watch it, which should replace the noun that immediately precedes it. Not “He took an apple from the refrigerator and ate it,” but “He rummaged in the refrigerator, found an apple and ate it.”

4. Don’t use the weakeners appeared to or seemed to. Not “The road appeared to waver in the intense heat,” but “The road wavered in the intense heat.” Not “Her face in the portrait seemed to call to him,” but “Her face in the portrait called to him.”

5. Don’t tell us what you’re showing us.

Not:

Teddy smashed his fist into the oatmeal. Annoyed, Barbara shut her eyes and groaned.

But:

Teddy smashed his fist into the oatmeal. Barbara shut her eyes and groaned.

6. Limit the use of there was and there were. Not “There were ants all over the cake,” but “Ants covered the cake.” Not “In the next block there was the barking of a dog,” but “In the next block a dog barked.”

Learn these simple but important writing habits and watch your writing improve.

You did it—you finished a manuscript by the end of NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, but it falls short of your goal of 50,000 words.

This often happens: novelists find themselves typing “The End,” only to realize their word count is too short.

Here are some tips for adding additional pages to your novel without “padding” it.

• Can you add more chapter divisions? Each new chapter in your novel gains you half a page—not words per se, but definitely additional length. Remember, short chapters are in style. Just remember to end them with cliffhangers whenever possible.
• Can you lengthen any of your action sections’ conflict phases, heightening the drama? (In The Marshall Plan®, there are two kinds of sections—units of story: action, in which the actual movement of your story takes place; and reaction, in which a character reacts to an especially traumatic action section.)
• Should you length the rational phase (the part where the character looks at the problem objectively and makes new plans) of any reaction section where perhaps you didn’t show enough of the character’s option-weighing process?
• Can you lengthen the emotional phase (the part showing the character’s gut, emotional reaction to the problem) of any reaction section, intensifying the impact on this character of the previous section’s failure?
• Throughout the novel, have you remembered to show details of characters’ everyday lives and occupations so sections do not play in a vacuum?
• Have you used space-break (hitting Enter twice) or run-together (no space between sections) connectors where you might use summary (telling us what happens between sections) connectors?
• If you’re in dire need or more pages: You undoubtedly have characters referring to or thinking about action that has taken place offstage, between sections. Can you convert any of this action into actual, full-blown action and reaction sections?

Try any or all of these techniques to bring your novel up to the word count appropriate to its genre.

We are pleased to announce the winners of The Marshall Plan® Fiction Makeover Contest.

2 Grand Prize Winners

Hannah Cobb for Mortis

James Montgomery Jackson for Bad Policy

Ms. Cobb and Mr. Jackson each won:

• A copy of The Marshall Plan® Novel Writing Software
• A copy of The Marshall Plan® for Novel Writing Ebook
• Our Makeover Report: suggestions for strengthening the project in order to make it more salable in the current market

3 Runners-Up

Kate Fellowes for Thunder in the Night

Andrew Fuller for The Birdman’s Apprentice

Elka Weber for Against the Sea

Ms. Fellowes, Mr. Fuller and Ms. Weber each won:

Grand prize winners and runners-up were selected according to the following criteria:

• Freshness of story idea
• Commerciality of story idea
• Quality of writing

Congratulations to our contest winners!

A Contest Sponsored by The Marshall Plan^®

In celebration of National Novel Writing Month (November 2010), Evan Marshall and Martha Jewett, leading literary agents and authors of The Marshall Plan® Novel Writing Software and The Marshall Plan® for Novel Writing ebook, are sponsoring a contest for aspiring novelists. Send them a proposal for your novel for a chance at winning a free copy of the software and a free Fiction Makeover—professional advice on revising your material for better chances of a sale!

Contest rules:

Entrants must not have published a novel with a major commercial publisher. Submit the first 25 (no more!) double-spaced pages of your novel, any genre, along with a synopsis no longer than 1 single-spaced page. Send your material in one .doc file as an email attachment to: evanmarshall@optonline.net. Submission deadline: November 15, 2010. Winners will be announced on November 30, 2010, on writeanovelfast.com as well as Facebook and Twitter. Entrants who do not follow rules exactly will be disqualified.

Become a fan on Facebook and follow on Twitter for contest updates and writing tips.

Prizes:

2 Grand Prizes:

• The Marshall Plan® Novel Writing Software ($149 value) 
• A copy of The Marshall Plan® for Novel Writing Ebook ($10 value) 
• A Free Fiction Makeover for your novel proposal: top literary agents Evan Marshall and Martha Jewett will tell you what you need to do to get your novel published faster in today’s competitive publishing climate.

3 Runner-Ups:

• A copy of The Marshall Plan® for Novel Writing Ebook ($10 value)

About Evan Marshall & Martha Jewett

Evan Marshall is an internationally recognized expert on fiction writing and author of the “Hidden Manhattan” and “Jane Stuart and Winky” mystery series. A former book editor, for 27 years he has been a leading literary agent specializing in fiction. His Marshall Plan® Novel Writing Software, written with Martha Jewett, is an adaptation of his bestselling Marshall Plan® series.

Martha Jewett is an internationally recognized expert on business books. A former award-winning business book editor at McGraw-Hill, John Wiley & Sons, and HarperBusiness, she is currently a literary agent and editorial consultant specializing in business books. An avid memoirist, she blogs at http://www.writeyourmemoir.com. She co-created with Evan Marshall The Marshall Plan® Novel Writing Software,  an adaptation of the bestselling Marshall Plan® series.

“I recommend this user friendly software to writers at all levels and, particularly, to new writers.”–Amber Scott

Novelist Amber Scott chronicles her NaNoWriMo experience using The Marshall Plan® Novel Writing Software on 1st Turning Point:

The National Novel Writing Month 50k November 30th finish line is in my rearview mirror and, thanks to The Marshall Plan® Novel Writing Software, I crossed this year limp free.  While the software did not ease the pain of getting my butt in the seat and typing every day, it did keep me on track.  Not once did I face a single page, staring, dry-mouthed, and wondering, now what?

“Now what?” is the question that plagues me on every first draft.  Nothing is scarier than getting stuck, particularly when a deadline and a whole lot of bragging rights are on the line.  Thanks to this software, I already had an answer…Read More