Tips for Writers

Mar 01

I am well into the editing stage and part of me hates everything, but a small part of me sees potential. There just might be something worthwhile in this manuscript.

In conjunction with my read-through, I am continuing to write every night. If there are scenes I think I missed, or areas that need to be elaborated on, I write them out in 500-1300 word chunks. They may not go into the final story, but by writing these, I am continuing to process the information, to see where I can go with my story. Plus it keeps me writing.

I owe the writing while editing in part to 750words.com. I wanted to complete their 1-month challenge, which I did. But it is also really nice to try things out on a clean piece of paper, to test scenes and ideas without having to commit to them. And, when I am ready to start doing my real edits, I will have some potential content to add into the story.

It is actually pretty refreshing, the amount of new material I am coming up with by writing while reading. I have discovered scenes I didn’t know existed. I am flushing out relationships I didn’t imagine. I am making the world all the more dynamic. And I love it.

I don’t know why I never thought of editing this way before, but so far, it is really working for me. I know that I don’t want to add too much more content to the manuscript. I am already right around my word limit, but by creating the new content within a second document, I have the freedom to keep or discard anything I want. Regardless of what I keep or toss, the insights I glean from the new scenes are something I will always have. The depth I am adding to the story will only improve it.

What do you think? Will writing new scenes while trying to read through my first draft distract me from my initial evaluation, or will it help me to produce a stronger story? Have you ever used this method?

Feb 20

As you may have read in last Tuesday’s post, The Light at the End of the Never Ending Tunnel, I was nearing completion of my first draft. Well guess what? I finished it. Yup, that’s right. I found the ending and stopped upon arrival. Of course, now comes the hard part – the Editing stage.

Editing – a Love/Hate Relationship

I’ve read a lot about the editing process in the blogs I follow. So I can guarantee you, I have not been looking forward to this stage. While I’ve been dying to finish draft one, I’ve been dreading the reward – editing. But in reading through blogs, I got a really good suggestion from several sources – read through your first draft as though you are reading a book. Do not start editing or adding content. Just read through it to see how it works as a real book.

Easier said than done, I know. And this is where my Kindle comes in.

After completing my draft, I set out to put my WIP onto my Kindle. This turned out to be extremely easy (click here for instructions). Basically, you get an email account for your kindle then you email the file to the account. For a very small fee (I paid $0.15), Amazon will convert your ‘book’ into an ebook. It then magically shows up on your Kindle when you connect to the internet.

The formatting is not ideal – my paragraphs are not indented, my headings are all wrong – but I can pick up my Kindle and read my words the same way I would read any other book. Plus, I cannot edit while on the kindle.

I am getting a little frustrated with the no editing thing. I read some sentences and cringe, or I see a typo or a place where I inserted the wrong character’s name. And the writing, oh the writing is so loose and I am just dying to tighten it up. But I also see the sense in this plan.

Why don’t I just get out the red pen and go to town?

Before waisting my time editing, I need to make sure the story actually works. I need to know how it is flowing, what things I abandoned halfway down the road without meaning to, or where I can add things that I decided halfway through to run with. By reading it all the way through, I am experiencing it the way a reader would experience it. And if you recall from my post last Tuesday, the reader is who you ultimately want to please.

So far, not so good

I know it is a rough draft, a point I keep reminding myself of, but so far, I’m not impressed. In fact, I’m a bit bored with my writing. Part of this could be that I already know how it will end, but part of it too is that I got lazy with word choice and my sentences are too wordy. But you know what, that’s alright. Because what I got down in the first draft was my story. The details are all there, waiting for me once I can get past the poorly constructed sentences. And once I see how the content works, I can go back and spend hours searching for the best word or the most clever sentence structure. But until then, I’m just not going to worry about it. I’m reading for content, and content only. The rest can all come into play in the next drafts. This read-through is all about making sure it works.

Why?

Without the bones of a good story, no amount of fancy writing will save your book. This is the reality of being a writer. And so I’m willing to suck it up, cringe at the writing I would never pay money to read, and focus on the content.

How do you edit? Do you pull the red pen out and start marking everything up, or do you take your time, immerse yourself in the story first, focusing on that main element, before going crazy with the edits?

Feb 15

Ok, I know you’ve heard this from me before, but I am so, so close to finishing my rough draft (and by rough, I mean ROUGH). And I really mean it this time. I’m coming in just at 80,000, I’ve gone through a story arc and I’ve set up the action for the next books in the series. The only problem is, where do I stop?

You’d think since I’m writing a series that this would be the easy part. Can’t I just stop anywhere? Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. In fact, finding an ending for a series might be harder than finding an ending for a single book.

When reading a series, you want to feel satisfied by the ending of the book, but still eager to read the next book in the series. You need to feel like some things were resolved but that there is still a bigger picture in need of a resolution. In trilogies, the second book doesn’t always follow this pattern, but the first book almost always does. If you end too abruptly and leave too many ends untied, your readers may get frustrated. Frustrated readers often times equal lost readers. Losing readers is never a good thing.

So how do you find the perfect ending?

If I had the answer to this question, I’m sure I would have written a million books by now, or at least more than I’ve written to date. So what am I banking on then? That I’ll just know.

My plan is to stop when I think it’s done, then read through it and see how the ending leaves me – do I feel satisfied, disappointed, eager to read the next installment? Based off of my reaction, and eventually my beta readers, I should (hopefully) be able to gauge where it should end. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes. And fingers crossed that I finally finish a first draft.

Feb 07

A few weeks ago I read in a woman’s magazine (not sure which one) that it takes 66 days to make something a habit. The article was talking more about dieting, or exercising, or flossing your teeth. But in reading it, I couldn’t help but wonder if writing couldn’t also be applied to this.

I know I’ve talked about 750words.com before. Since my last post on the subject, I’ve been using it a lot – I’ve entered almost 20,000 words into the site. And I’ve got to say, it’s growing on me.

Making Writing a Daily Habit

Since February is the shortest month of the year, I decided to join the 750words.com 1-month challenge, where I will write 750 words a day for the entire month. I figure if I succeed, I will have reached day 28 in the 66 days needed to form a habit. And once I’ve hit my 28th day, what’s to stop me from writing for 38 more days? And if I manage to do this, will I have succeeded in making writing a daily habit? I hope so.

So far I am on day 7. Not long, I know. But I already feel the need to sit down and get my writing done. And it really is surprising how fast it is to write 750 words. My best time, earning me the Speedy Typist badge, is 12 minutes, but I average closer to 15. In 15 minutes a day, I can write 750+ words. Not too shabby.

My 750 words are not stellar, I know this. But I’m still on the rough draft stage of my book (and I’m almost done). My only concern with the 1-month challenge is that I will finish my first draft before the month is over. But then, is this really a bad thing?

Do you think I can finish the challenge? Do you think I can turn daily writing into a habit? Have you turned daily writing into a habit? How do you fit your writing time in? Is 15 minutes a day enough time? Or do you need more time to write a first draft?

Jan 30

You may be asking yourself, what’s with all the book reviews lately? Isn’t this a writing site? Weren’t there only supposed to be 2 reviews a month?

And you would be right to ask. This is, after all, a really good question. Let’s step back for a moment. Think about any expert in any field. If you work in technology, you probably keep up-to-date with the current trends in technology. If you are a scientist, I bet you read new journal articles in your area of interest. Well, the same is true for writers.

Sure, a writer could write with no research, but I question how good the writing will be. Writing is about more than just good grammer. It is about being a good storyteller. And what better way to research this craft than to look at other storytellers, to see what works and what doesn’t? To see how they tell a story? Not that you should copy someone else’s style, but picking up a few tips here and there is definitely not a bad thing. And that leads me to the recent book reviews.

It’s not that I’ve started reading more. I’m reading as much as I always have. But I’m thinking more about what I read. And writing reviews helps me to think about the books even more. Plus, by sharing my thoughts on a book, maybe I will help other writers out there. If you are struggling with voice, what better way to understand it than to read good and bad examples? If you want to get better at character development, why not check out books with a strong focus on this?

Of course, there is another reason to share my reviews. Every time I share a review, I may be introducing one of you, my readers, to a new author or a new genre. And what could be better then finding new, exciting things to read?

If you have found any new, exciting reads I’ve missed or just not gotten to yet, let me know. Nothing beats a good read.

Jan 26

Several months ago I was reading an interview with Maria V. Snyder (I can’t remember where I read it). In the interview, she shared that originally she had intended Yelena, the Heroine of the Study Series, to have a relationship with the Commander, not Valek. But in the course of writing, she realized this wasn’t meant to be.

Characters have a mind of their own in matters of love

In my current WIP, I set out with a lovely outline detailing how my MC would come to love the intended love interest. But as I’ve been writing, there’s been a complete lack of chemistry. Zero emotion. They don’t hate each other, but they don’t like each other either. They are completely indifferent. So how am I supposed to make them like each other, let alone love each other?

As it turns out, my MC made up her own mind and, out of nowhere, I suddenly realized that sexual chemistry had been building between her and a minor character, and I realized that he really isn’t a minor character but rather the obvious love interest and ideal hero. And in realizing this, everything fell together. Several of the plot holes, the way to create a romance that an audience will like, everything finally made sense.

Without even realizing it, I’ve already written several scenes full of sexual tension. And the new love interest is extremely likeable. I’d go as far as to say that he’s lovable. And I’ve already built in conflict for the relationship, reasons why he shouldn’t fall for my MC and reasons why she should definitely not be falling for him. It really couldn’t have worked out better if I had sat down and written an outline. Oh wait, I did that and my outline love story flopped.

Let your characters run wild

I know people talk about this a lot, but sometimes, your characters do unexpected things. They may be fictional, but in our subconscious, we know what will work, and this comes out through our characters doing something we, the writers, did not foresee. And you know what, it’s actually kind of exciting when this happens. It makes the story feel more dynamic, more real. And personally, I’m a big fan of letting my characters run wild.

Do your characters do things you don’t expect? Do you give them free reign? Or do you make them conform to what you planned for them all along?

Want to read more about creating a romantic relationship? Check out this post from Dark Angel’s Blog, The Essence of Attraction.

Jan 23

January is almost over, meaning we are about 1/12 of the way through 2011. And so far 2011 is shaping up to be a pretty busy year.

In 2011, I’m planning the following:

Reading 100 books (I joined the GoodReads group 100+ books in 2011. You should check it out. You should also check out Writer’s Block NZ Blog, where I learned about this GoodReads group)
Getting a submission worthy manuscript out the door
Running a 5k in April (meaning lots of training building up to it)

And then, of course, there’s going to work every day, my trip to Europe (on it as you read), moving to an apartment with a better view in March, participating in a wedding in May, regularly updating my blog, and all the other things that come with life.

So how to make time for my writing?

I work best under pressure. I’ve always been that way. The reason for this is that being overbooked (a.k.a. under pressure) forces me (and most people) to create schedules. If you know you only have x hours to do something, you find a way to get it done. And that is what I’ve been doing with my writing.

NaNoWriMo helped a lot, reminding me that I can write every day. And now that I am using 750words.com, I’ve found additional help in scheduling my writing time.

I look at writing time the same way I look at gym time. If you get into the habit of doing something at the same time everyday, it no longer seems like work. It becomes something you just do. Similar to making it to your 9-5 every day. If you treat writing like a job, which you need to do if you have dreams of being a professional writer, then you can find a way to schedule it in.

My schedule may be pretty booked. But a little organization and the creation of a routine can make all the difference between finding time to write your first book or spending your days talking about writing a book.

How do you make time for writing? Do you write every day? Do you write at a specific time of day? Do you sacrifice other things to fit in writing time?

Jan 16

I’m nearing the end of my first draft, and it’s everything I can do to just keep pushing through. I want to go back and read it. I want to start editing. I want to fix the plot holes I know are there. I want to make it polished and shiny and perfect. But I know I can’t do these things yet. I know I need to finish before anything else.

A change in perspective

My philosophy on this matter has changed dramatically in the past year. I used to think there was no point continuing on if you knew things needed to be fixed. But then I would get so caught up fixing that I never quite reached the end. I need to show myself that I can complete a first draft first and foremost. Once I know how it is supposed to end (I do have an idea, but everything plays out differently when you put it down on paper), I will know how to go back and spruce it up.

I’m right around 60,000 words right now. Not bad considering I started this one November 1. Ideally my WIP will come in around 90k. But I’m not stressing out. I know there are scenes I need to elaborate on, characters that need to be expanded upon. These things will give me some extra words. So instead of worrying about reaching my word count goal, I’m just worrying about getting to the end, about creating a story with the three essential parts: beginning, middle, and end.

How do you write your first drafts? Do you edit as you go? Do you try to write more words than you need or do you prefer to add instead of subtract in the editing process?

Jan 03

Meeting a daily word count was easy during NaNoWriMo, or easier. Now that November is long gone, I’ll be the first to admit that my daily word counts are suffering.

Why is it easier to meet daily word counts during NaNoWriMo?

NaNo is only a month long. It’s easy to put your personal life aside for one month. Plus, there’s a score of other people also sacrificing their lives for the common goal of 1,667 words a day. But for me, the progress bar was what really helped. I didn’t want to miss a day and risk falling below the ‘where you should be’ line. And so I stayed up an extra hour, or spent my lunch hour writing, or skipped the gym here and there. And then November ended, and so did many of my sacrifices.

How to keep that momentum going?

Recently, I learned about an online program called 750words.com. What’s great about 750words.com is that, like NaNo, it tracks your daily word counts. Unlike NaNo, the daily goal is more realistic for every day writers – only 750 words. Additionally, you write directly into the program and the program tracks not only your word counts, but how quickly you reach your word count, the tone of your writing, common topics, commonly used words, etc. Not only are the stats fun, but knowing that I’m being timed keeps me from wandering to other websites or just plain wandering.

In keeping with the recent trends in mobile gaming, you can also earn badges for things like reaching your word count several days in a row or reaching your word counts in a timely fashion. Plus, there is a community surrounding the site, so you can follow other writers, like you would with NaNo. And every month offers members the chance to participate in a monthly challenge where you are challenged to reach your word goal every day of the month. Winners are added to the Wall of Amazingness whereas losers find themselves on the Wall of Shame and remain there until successfully winning a month challenge.

The one negative is that you have to write on the site. Whereas with NaNo you just entered in your new word count for the day, 750words determines your word count and typing speed based off of how much you write into the text box that is provided when you login for the day. You can always just copy and paste the text into your own word processor, or use the sites text exporter, but if you have a hard time focusing in an unfamiliar environment, this could pose a problem.

The site also archives your writing. While I have no problem with this and actually like the idea of having a backup sitting in cyberspace, I know this could makes some writers uncomfortable.

If you are looking for a way to get your writing momentum back, though, why not give 750words a try? The worst you’ll get out of it is an additional 750 words. The best you’ll get is a new time management/motivation tool. If you give it a try, or if you are already using 750words, what do you think of it as a writing tool?

Dec 29

The New Year is rapidly approaching and, while I’m not usually one to make New Year’s Resolutions, I decided, why not make some writing resolutions this year.

I don’t consider finishing my book to be a proper resolution. This is something I work on all the time. In my mind, resolutions should be about trying something new. So this year, I am resolving to start entering writing contests.

Why writing contests?

I’ve resisted writing contests for a while. I thought they would distract me from my book. But then I got a new writing exercise book from my writing buddy, The Daily Writer: 366 Meditations to Cultivate a Productive and Meaningful Writing Life, by Fred White. The book has one exercise for every day of the year. Being the go-getter that I am, I thought I’d get a head start and check out the exercise for Jan. 1. And I found myself stumped.

The exercise asked me to write an allegory. I’ve never taken a creative writing class so I’ve never really had the opportunity to sit down and write an allegory. And I was a bit shocked to find that I had no clue where to start.

But what about the Writing Contests?

In thinking about how to complete this exercise, I realized that I was being forced to stretch my imagination, to look at stories in a way I don’t normally look at them. I may subconsciously think of things as being allegories, but thinking something is an allegory and trying to write your own allegory are two very different things. In thinking about this exercise, I also started thinking about my WIP in a different way. Instead of stifling my creative energy, the exercise was expanding it.

Writing contests are similar to this exercise. They give you parameters (even if it’s just a word count) and they give you a deadline. Both of these are good skills for someone looking to turn writing into something other than a hobby. And, if writing contests are anything like this exercise, they will help my creativity soar. Another good thing for a writer.

In addition to helping to foster new skills, writing contests also lead to exposure. I may not win any contests, but I will be getting my name out there and meeting others who are entering the same contests, or at least meeting their writing if they win. And if I do win a contest, all the better.

Back to my resolution

I don’t want to overwhelm myself. After all, I work a full-time job and am trying to finish my WIP. But I also don’t want to let myself off too easily. So this year I’m going to enter 3 writing contests. Why 3? Well, 4 seemed like too many and 2 seemed like too little, so 3 it is.

Now I just need to figure out which contests to enter. Maybe I’ll start with this Highlights Fiction Contest that I learned about over at MiG Writers…

What do you think about writing contests? Have you ever entered one? Have you ever won?

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Page 5

Editing my First Draft

Loving my Kindle – Revisited

Editing – a Love/Hate Relationship

Why don’t I just get out the red pen and go to town?

So far, not so good

Why?

The Light at the End of the Never Ending Tunnel

So how do you find the perfect ending?

750 words revisited – making writing a habit

Making Writing a Daily Habit

Reading for Research

Fictional Characters are Picky in Love

Characters have a mind of their own in matters of love

Let your characters run wild

Making time for a little writing