• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to secondary sidebar
Women's Fiction Writers Banner
  • Home
  • About Amy Sue Nathan
  • About WFW
  • Amy’s Books
    • The Glass Wives
    • The Good Neighbor
    • Left To Chance
  • Amy the Writing Coach & Editor
You are here: Home / Guest Post / Guest Post: Rona Simmons Takes Apart Some Popular Stories And Puts Them Back Together

Guest Post: Rona Simmons Takes Apart Some Popular Stories And Puts Them Back Together

September 4, 2014 13 Comments

cover for websiteWho knew that the summer I went all DIY at home (the crafting and home improvement gods have possessed me) that the first guest post of fall would be about dismantling a story and putting it back together? There is something very satisfying in doing a project yourself, figuring it out, making sense of it all. And that’s just what Rona Simmons shares with us below—and she’s doing it with works of women’s fiction. Lucky us!

As for me, it’s time to paint another piece of furniture or maybe get back to my list of fifty things to make with pumpkin…or, oh right, there’s a WIP I’m writing as I wait for my second round of edits on novel two! (It’s busy here in the empty nest, I tell you.) 

Please welcome Rona to Women’s Fiction Writers and share your thoughts in the comments!

Amy xo

 

Taking Apart Stories—And Putting Them Back Together

by Rona Simmons

cover for websiteI take things apart. I always have. Once, I took a clock apart to see how it worked and later, a vacuum cleaner to fix what was broken. I failed on both accounts, but my drive to see the inner workings of objects persisted. Today, I apply it to the world of writing. I want to understand how the magic happens: how an author hooks a reader on the very first page.

So, with a pliers in one hand and a screwdriver in the other, I selected five works of general or women’s fiction from the top of the 2013 New York Times bestseller list. I bypassed cover art, book blurbs, and introductory quotes, to focus on the authors’ own words, ones that would snare a reader from the start and keep them reading for the next several hundred pages.

My small sample included what I’ll call a “beach read”, a “hot topic” book on drug addiction, a “page-lingerer” chock full of lush writing and internal musings, a tale “based on true events”, and a story that explores relationships and secrets.

I read only the first sentences and paragraphs–up to 150 words, skipping prologues just as some readers might.

The opening sentences of the five novels were as different as night and day:

  • The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt: “While I was still in Amsterdam, I dreamed about my mother for the first time in years.”
  • The Husband’s Secret, Lianne Moriarity: “It was all because of the Berlin Wall.”
  • The Orphan Train, Christina Baker Kline: “Through her bedroom wall Molly can hear her foster parents talking about her in the living room, just beyond her door.”
  • The Girls of August, Anne Rivers Siddons: “The girls of August had decided, given our long hiatus and the introduction of a new person–Baby Gaillard nee LucyAnne Gaillard, to be exact–that we best meet ahead of time at my house to map out our strategy and make sure we all felt OK about Tiger Island.”
  • All Fall Down, Jennifer Weiner: “Do you generally use alcohol or drugs more than once a week?”

The authors’ writing styles were equally diverse. The openings ranged from dense, descriptive exposition (49 words per sentence and a reading level of 15) to short staccato sentences filled with internal dialogue (14 words per sentence and a reading level of 6). Three were in third person and two in first.

On the other hand, the openings occurred in remarkably similar situations: a woman alone, worrying. In fact, a lot of worrying took place in those first sentences. The women faced threats of unknown origin and specificity and, presumably, would confront their demons in the pages ahead.

  • The Goldfinch: A woman alone in her hotel room dreams of her dead mother. There are fearful sounds outside her hotel room. She is afraid.
  • The Husband’s Secret: A woman alone at her kitchen table stares at a sealed envelope, addressed in a familiar hand. And then there’s the elephant in the room, the Berlin Wall.
  • The Orphan Train: A young woman alone in her bedroom eavesdrops on her foster parents who discuss their worries and their suspicions about their foster child.
  • The Girls of August: A woman will meet a group of friends after a long hiatus. She worries about the upcoming event and worries about worrying.
  • All Fall Down: A woman reads about alcohol abuse and wonders if her own addiction is worse than she admits and could wreak havoc on her family and young daughter.

All five authors exposed the reader to the narrator’s inner thoughts and feelings, their “sixth sense” for lack of a better term. The Goldfinch was the best example: with “innocent” noises outside the door, the reader looks for threatening noises nearby, a bell “tolling” the hour with “a dark edge to the clangor”. I was surprised to find little discussion of the other five senses in the early passages.

Though not snared by the first sentence, after I’d read 150 words or so, I committed to read at least one of the books. Why? And, why would so many other readers invest in these stories?

The answer, I believe, is the presence of strong emotions, the sixth sense, in a tension-packed situation, the details of which are reserved for the later pages.

Will this finding change my writing?

The answer, of course, is maybe. I write my way. I write what I like to read and I hope that it has broad enough appeal to be enjoyed by others, many others–New York Times bestseller list or not. But I will seek more opportunities for my protagonists to express their fears and hopes in my own first pages.

Now, excuse me, I need to sit at my kitchen table, take something else apart, and worry.

WEB-DSC_6354-SIMMONS-HEADSHOTRona Simmons was born in Santa Monica, California. She’s the daughter of a WWII fighter pilot and later career military officer and moved with her family from state to state and country to country, living in 25 different places by the time she graduated from high school. So she’s still astonished that she’s spent the last twenty years in any one place.

Three years ago, she launched her second career using the writing, analysis, and research skills she’d acquired during her thirty-year career in corporate America. Since then she has written several articles for magazines, a novel, and a collection of short stories and was the ghostwriter for the biography of a prominent Atlanta businessman.

Rona’s latest novel, The Quiet Room, was published by Deeds Publishing, an Atlanta-based publishing company. Though this novel is set in the Midwest, and the one she’s working on now in New England, she considers herself a southern writer, drawing inspiration from the wooded acres where she lives with her husband and (she swears) the last member of a passel of cats.

website: www.ronasimmons.com

blog: womenatword.wordpress.com

facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Rona-Simmons-Writer-and-Author

Twitter: twitter.com/rona_simmons

Pinterest: pinterest.com/rdsimmons

Rona’s books are available through her website or: Amazon, Deeds Publishing, Barnes & Noble, and other book retailers

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Email

Filed Under: Guest Post, Rona Simmons

Previous Post: « Author Interview: Lorrie Thomson Plays The What-If Game, And Doesn't Believe In the Sophomore Curse
Next Post: Guest Post: How One Author Struggled With Body Image And Wrote A Novel »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Densie Webb (@dlwebb) says

    September 4, 2014 at 7:43 am

    Thanks for this! I keep telling myself I’m going to deconstruct a favorite WF novel to see “how the magic happens.” You’ve inspired me to do just that.

    Reply
    • rona simmons says

      September 4, 2014 at 9:23 am

      I’d love to hear what you find. I was amazed by the similarities.

      Reply
  2. rona simmons says

    September 4, 2014 at 8:01 am

    WOO HOO! And, I am readying my first 50 pages to send to you for critique, editing, opinion. The novel is with some beta readers and out for other comment. What is your turnaround timing like, while you’re not making pumpkin muffins? Rona Simmons Author of The Quiet Room

    email: rona_simmons@bellsouth.net; cell: 404-606-8911 website: http://www.ronasimmons.com/ ; blog: http://womenatword.wordpress.com; twitter: http://twitter.com/rona_simmons facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rona-Simmons-Writer-and-Author/355194234519266

    Reply
    • Amy Sue Nathan says

      September 10, 2014 at 10:15 am

      Hi Rona, I don’t know why I just saw this! Turnaround time depends on the day/time I get the pages and payment. It can be as little as 48 hours or up to a week, depending on what else is on my plate. 🙂

      Amy

      Reply
  3. Christina Kaylor says

    September 4, 2014 at 9:33 am

    Interesting post, Rona. I’ll have to try your idea to analyze first sentences from the pile of ARCs I’ve read this summer.

    Reply
    • rona simmons says

      September 4, 2014 at 1:20 pm

      The exercise made me realize how “easy” it might be for agents and publishers to weed through submissions, unfair, yes, it doesn’t give the story a chance, but I knew right away what I wanted to spend time reading!

      Reply
  4. bethhavey says

    September 4, 2014 at 10:13 am

    Thanks, Rona. The first sentence is so important in many ways. Your deconstructing helps us see the seeds of the story right in that first string of words. Beth Havey

    Reply
    • rona simmons says

      September 4, 2014 at 1:21 pm

      Thanks Beth. And now, I’m anxious to see if my first impressions pan out in a read of the whole book.

      Reply
  5. Martta Karol says

    September 4, 2014 at 2:55 pm

    Great post, Rona! I have been thinking of putting together a group for writers of “women’s fiction” to do just this kind of analysis. I think it’s one of the best ways to learn the craft of fiction-writing, and what could be better than focusing on best-selling novels in the realm of fiction we write in? I’ve thought such a group could combine some of the attributes of a book club, a critique group, and writing workshop or class. You’ve inspired me to stop thinking about it and find like-minded writers to make it happen. Thanks! (Anyone interested and reading this in the Portland OR/Vancouver WA Metro Area can contact me through my blog site, MarttaKarol.com.)

    Reply
    • rona simmons says

      September 10, 2014 at 2:30 pm

      Good luck on setting up your writers group, I’m sure you’ll find kindred spirits out there! Or, maybe online.

      Reply
  6. Bonnie Schroeder says

    September 8, 2014 at 10:56 am

    Thanks, Rona, for this really helpful post. I tend to get so caught up in the story that I forget to analyze what makes me want to keep reading. You gave us a great reminder that, as writers, we need to be aware of the craft, and you provided some fabulous examples of successful books. Interestingly, the narrator in The Goldfinch is actually a man, but I just reread the first few pages, and you don’t learn his gender until page 13. Until then, it might well have been a woman. Wow.

    Reply
    • rona simmons says

      September 9, 2014 at 8:24 pm

      Bonnie, interesting! Glad you pointed out the protagonist is a male! I suppose we like to read whether it’s a man or a woman based on the ability to get into the character’s deepest thoughts

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Deeds Publishing | Readers Unbound says:
    December 4, 2014 at 12:00 am

    […] another AWC member. Other AWC members who have books published by Deeds include Trisha Slay, Rona Simmons, Mike Brown, and Jameson […]

    Reply

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Get Updates by Email

Enter your email address to receive notifications of new posts by email.

Award-winning 2015-2018

Search for a post

Posts by Topic

Secondary Sidebar

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

My Novels





Copyright © 2021 · Women's Fiction Writers Blog

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.