Tips for Writers

Dec 12

Ok, I know. Weird topic for a writing blog. What does a Rumba have to do with anything? Wait for it though, it’s coming.

House cleaning is a time suck, especially vacuuming (loud groan at the thought). Now, I could just skip it altogether, but I live with a cat who likes to scatter litter from here to the North Pole. And he’s long-haired. And I’m long-haired. And I write from home. I think you’re getting the idea. Ignoring housework isn’t really an option.

So in comes the Rumba. As I type this blog post, the Rumba is in the living room doing my housework for me so I can write this blog post for you. Later when I head to the gym, the Rumba will go to town on the bedroom/office, meaning I can justify my gym time. If the place magically gets clean while I’m working out, it’s not like I sacrificed writing time. I actually saved writing time.

Now if they would come out with a pick my clothes up and put them in the laundry hamper/dresser drawers robot I’d be all set.

How do you make time for writing? Are there things you skimp on to give yourself some extra time?

Nov 04

I often hear writers say that you should allow your character to surprise you, or let your characters think for themselves. When I was first starting out, I had no clue what this meant. I remember thinking ‘how is a fictional character that lives inside my head going to surprise me?’

Little Surprises Lead to Realistic Characters

And then it happened. At first it started with little things. A character choosing to go left instead of right, or saying no instead of yes, things that helped move the story along while also sharing something about how the character thinks. And then it moved on to bigger things, like a character ending up in a room he most definitely did not belong in, making an appearance when, in fact, he was supposed to remain unseen until the very end. Tuesday, it went so far as a character creating an entire back story for another character through a memory she had that I never intended her to have. She created a connection different but better than the one I planned. So how does this happen?

Character Surprises are a Good Thing

When you are engrossed in your writing, things fall into place. You get in the zone and the story makes sense. Things you forgot to plan out beforehand jump out at you and they just happen. And this is a good thing. It helps your characters become real. No human is 1-dimensional. These surprises help move your character from 1-D to 3-D; they help make that character real.

Example:

Yesterday I discovered that my character has a fear of blood. Here’s what happened. I decided that the best way to create a sinister environment was to add in the scent of blood. This smell then triggered a memory in the MC and through that memory, I discovered that she has really bad associations with blood, having seen a man killed when she was only 6. Not only does this provide insight into both the character’s past and the nature of her world, but it also makes her a little vulnerable. People like characters that are a little vulnerable.

I’m sure there are many experienced writers who plan things out down to those tiny details before ever starting chapter 1. I’m not yet at that level. But if my characters keep speaking to me, keep throwing out little surprises, that’s OK with me. After all, doesn’t everyone love a good surprise?

Do your characters surprise you? Are there downfalls to this? Do you think this goes away when you become a more experienced writer?

For more on character’s thinking for themselves, check out this post from YA Highway

Nov 02

My original plan for today’s post was to continue with my website redesign series. But I’ve decided to push that off until later in the week. Instead, I’m going to continue writing about NaNoWriMo.

And so it begins

As many of you know, National Novel Writing Month is officially upon us. In celebration, I took the day off from work. In my humble opinion, it really should be a national holiday, but so far I have been unable to convince any of the higher ups.

I’ve got to say, taking the day off was a great idea. And no, it wasn’t great because I didn’t have to go to work or because I was able to stay in my PJs all day and sleep in until 8 (I’m usually up at 6, so 8 is a big deal). Naturally those things contributed to the greatness of today, but the true greatness stems from what NaNoWriMo taught me about myself.

Failures of Years Past

This is my 4th year participating. The first year I jumped into a brilliant story idea only to change my mind 50 pages in. I then threw myself into the next brilliant idea, writing an additional 50 pages. Only to realize that the execution was far from brilliant. In short, I failed.

Year 2 I decided to use NaNo to push myself to finish my book, which was my story from year 1 fully resuscitated and fixed up through the help of tons of plastic surgery and duct tape. Again, I failed.

Year 3 I may as well not have participated. Not only was I extremely ill, but I attended a wedding in Thailand halfway through November. Needless to say I didn’t even come close to completing the challenge.

NaNoWriMo – Finding Your Zen

This year, my 4th year, is the first year I have gone into NaNo with a solid plan. And today I saw the benefit of this. Because I was not distracted trying to think up a plan on the fly, I was able to really focus on the writing. I also learned some things about myself.

1. NaNoWriMo teaches discipline

Ok, in a perfect world we could teach ourselves discipline. But NaNoWriMo gives that finally push to those of us struggling with the whole discipline thing. Through the act of participating in NaNo, I am able to see that I can be a disciplined writer. I can sit at my computer and write on command. I can reach daily word goals. Today, I saw that discipline in action and it was the most productive I’ve felt in a long time.

2. NaNoWriMo reinforces a schedule

Since finishing school, I’ve found it difficult to properly organize my personal life. I spend all day at work organizing my time. By the time I get home, I’m exhausted. I don’t want to think about the order. NaNo reminds us that order is not so hard to achieve, if you are willing to let it happen.

Today, I was willing to let it happen. Before getting out of bed, I had a plan. I decided I would reach 5,000 words by lunchtime. Then I would do the many other things on my list, like going to the gym, updating my blog, cleaning the house, etc. Once those things were done, I could sit down and write some more.

Because I had a set plan, I was not trying to do a million things at once. I knew I had to reach my word count for the day or I would not do the other things I needed to do. And you know what? Not only did I accomplish everything on my list, but I finished ahead of schedule.

3. NaNoWriMo stretches my limits and shows me what’s possible

Following along the same lines as the previous point, by focusing, I was able to get a really good sense of how much content I can produce in a set amount of time, and I don’t think the quality suffered more than it suffers in any first draft. Seeing how easy it is to write 5,000 words in 1 day gives me renewed hope in my ability to actually complete a project. The massive rewrite I’m undertaking with my original WIP (yes, I am currently working on 2 projects) has been disheartening to say the least. Now that I see how much I can produce in a day, I feel like it is possible to finish project 1 and all future projects. I stretched my limits today, at it feels great.

And the Conclusion is…

So what is the point of this extremely long post? I’m not saying every writer should participate in NaNo. But if you are like me and having problems figuring out the time management, discipline, reaching your full potential etc. craziness that is all part of being a successful writer, especially one working a full-time job on top of writing, maybe you should think about participating. It’s not too late to sign up.

Oct 31

I realize tonight is Halloween and you probably have better things to do then to be worrying about tomorrow. But there are some things you can and should prepare before running out to the parties and the trick-or-treating sugar rush that is Halloween.

My NaNoWriMo Checklist

To ensure that you are ready for this year’s NaNoWriMo, make sure you have the following:

Tons of coffee or tea, waiting to be brewed. I personally go for the tea. I like to be relaxed when I write. But I know for many people, NaNoWriMo equals zero energy, and they need every ounce of liquid caffeine they can get
Along the same lines, a favorite tea cup/coffee mug. If you have been wanting a new one, NaNoWriMo is the perfect excuse to get one.
A plot. Even if you haven’t created an outline or character sketches or anything like that, before you go to bed tonight, you should know what you are going to write about. Even if all you have is a plot to steal the world’s light bulbs and the main character learns about it and goes out to save the day, despite his phobia of light bulbs, that’s good enough. You have the general plot and a little bit of information about your character. So long as you have something to draw from, you’re good to go. If you don’t have something to draw from, get cracking. You have precious few hours to come up with an idea.
A NaNoWriMo account. This should seem obvious, but if you haven’t registered, go ahead and do that today. No sense wasting time tomorrow with creating a profile and uploading a picture and writing a story summary and etc. etc. To sign up, just follow this link.
Some NaNoWriMo buddies. Ok, this isn’t necessary, but it makes you feel better going into the competition with other writing mates. It’s really easy to get buddies. You can add me (dragonfly83) or you can search for people in your area/genre/etc. Then you just select the “add as buddy” link below the person’s avatar and congratulations, you’ve got a buddy.
A good music play list. If you like to listen to music while you write, set up your play list now. It will save some serious procrastination time later. And if you need some inspiration about what to include, check out the NaNo Soundtrack forum.
Snacks – nothing ruins a productive writing session like having to run out to the grocery store.
Better yet, the number and menu for a variety of take-out restaurants
Comfortable clothing – I enjoy writing in warm socks, comfy yoga pants/sweats, tanks tops and sweatshirts. If your writing clothes are dirty, wash them before tomorrow
And finally, confidence – confidence in your writing and in yourself. Even if your idea seems like it’s getting crazy or stupid, just go with it. NaNoWriMo should be about having fun while doing something you love. Your first draft doesn’t have to be perfect. It doesn’t even have to be good. You have the months after November to bring it to that level.

Do you have anything else to add? What goes into your ideal writing environment? How do you prepare for NaNoWriMo?

Oct 27

To continue the NaNoWriMo countdown, let’s talk about genre.

Know Your Genre

There are many reasons why genre is important. From a business perspective, you need to know your genre so bookstores know where to shelve it. As a reminder to YA writers, Barnes and Noble is now dividing YA based on genre (check out this blog too), just like they do with adult books, so genre really is important to consider.

From the perspective of a writer just looking to write, genre is important because it can help guide you in the development of your plot. If you are writing high fantasy, you better include a quest, because that is what your readers will expect. For definitions of some common genres, check out this post from Jennifer Represents…

Knowing your genre can help provide a mini-blueprint. If you get stuck, you can think about what elements you need to include in your book and then try to figure out how to include those elements. Of course, you don’t have to follow a formula, but you should be mindful of what readers of a particular genre will expect to read.

And finally, for NaNoWriMo participants, genre is important in that it helps you to meet other writers. By including your genre on your profile page, writers can find you by genre. There are also forums set up by genre. The forums are a great place to chat with other writers about any and everything related to NaNoWriMo, your book, writing, etc.. By browsing forums for your genre, you are sure to encounter people who know about your genre and can offer genre specific advice.

So, do you know your genre?

Oct 25

Assignment: Create a plot sketch using this photo as your inspiration

What follows is a quick and dirty plot sketch based on the photo to the left. The plot might be shoddy, but note what I have done here. There is a beginning, middle, and end. There is an MC, a love interest, and a villain. I do not waste time on too much back story, though I note things I may want to research. When I don’t know how to get from a to c, I leave b vague, providing only the most basic of information. I can go back later to fill in the gaps. By creating a short, quick sketch of the general flow of action, I at least have something to work from.

My Quick & Dirty Plot Sketch Example

MC returns from a trip. She has been living a few towns over, working as an apprentice (research ideas for what type of apprenticeship). When she returns to her village, she finds it empty. There is no one anywhere. A stillness fills the air
MC has no clue what happened. She did not hear any reports. There were suspicions of possible trouble because there had not been a word from her family for a few weeks. That is why she was given leave to return.
MC wanders down the empty streets, and arrives at her parents home. It is empty. There is no sign of life. She goes to her room and finds it just as she left it. Nothing is out of place. It’s like everyone just disappeared.
MC is walking through the ghost town. She walks to the statue garden, her favorite place, and breaks down. She cries out of fear, out of loneliness. Everything she knows is gone, and she doesn’t know why. She hears a noise and it startles her to silence. She pulls a knife (she always carries a knife – maybe this has something to do with her apprenticeship) but finds nothing threatening. A man is standing there, arms held out, showing her he has no weapons.
MC lowers her knife, but still keeps a firm grip on it. She doesn’t know this man or whether to trust him. Maybe he has something to do with what happened here. But then, he might know what happened here too.
Man asks MC who she is and what she is doing here. She is offended. He has no right to ask her. This is her home. After snapping at one another, she learns that he has seen something like this before. This is not the first town to vanish.
MC and man return to town and find some mildly stale bread and cheese in the local tavern. They eat a solemn meal and man asks if she has anywhere to go. She says she isn’t going back to the apprenticeship until she learns what happened here. After an argument, the man agrees to take her with him on his travels to learn what is happening to their world.
Travel — see stuff. Learn about one another. Uncover clues to what happened. Run into some danger. Find more and more villages that have disappeared.
In the end, they discover that some evil wizard is responsible. He has been transporting the people to his realm to serve as slaves. They defeat him and everyone is returned and lives happily ever after.

Creating Your Own Plot Sketch

In creating my actual plot sketch for NaNoWriMo, I began in a similar way, writing down bullet marks for moments that progress the story. I then went back and filled in additional information or made changes where necessary. For example, in my NaNoWriMo project, I realized that the conflicting love interest (yes, I am using a love triangle) should be someone from the MCs past. This worked better than providing two new characters. It created a stronger emotional connection and helped to create motivation and tension. Because I have not yet started the novel, all I had to do was go back to a few places in my plot sketch and make a couple of changes. This was much easier than rewriting an entire chapter.

By laying out the plot in this way, I can easily see where the story is going. I can also make sure that I have a story arc (see my post from Oct. 13 for more on story arcs). When November 1 roles around, I won’t have to waste time deciding what I am writing or figuring out how to make my story work. I can just open up my short plot sketch, glance over it, and then get down to some serious writing.

Now it’s your turn

Do you have an idea for NaNoWriMo? Have you created a plot sketch/outline/etc.? Do you have another method that works for you? If you answered no to 2 or more of these questions, get cracking. November 1 is fast approaching.

If you need more help thinking about your project, be sure check out Wednesday’s post on choosing a genre.

Oct 24

With NaNoWriMo 2010 fast approaching, I’ve got one question for you. Are you ready?

For first-time participants, you may be thinking, ‘but isn’t preparation against the rules?’ Having an idea, an outline, character sketches, etc. is not cheating. You are only cheating if you add words to your word count that you did not actually write during NaNoWriMo.

As a 3-time failure, I will let you in on the secret to my lack of success. I was unprepared.

If you do nothing else…

Have at least a general idea about your story. My first year, I wasted valuable time day 1 trying to figure out what in the world I was going to write. As I’m sure many of you have noticed, November 1 inconveniently falls on a Monday this year. Unless you are taking the day off of work or school (which I am considering), you will have precious few hours on day 1 to add some progress to your progress bar. All the more reason to come in with a plan.

Your NaNoWriMo Story Plan

Having a plan does not mean you need to have a fully developed, beautifully outlined plan. For many, that would take the fun out of NaNoWriMo. A plan can be as simple as knowing your general plot and the name of you MC. This year, I have decided to go with a slightly more detailed plan, but it is by no means the fully sketched out plan suggested by Karen Wiesner in her book First Draft in 30 Days (a great book, by the way).

Because everyone loves an example

To help get your juices flowing, I thought an example was in order. One way I get ideas is through pictures. A picture really can say a thousand words, or in this case, 50,000, if you know how to look at it. Look at the photo and let you imagination flow. Think of some stories you could create from it. The scene in the photo does not even need to be included in your story. You could base it off of the emotion you get from looking at the photo or what the photo makes you think of. Post your ideas and come back tomorrow for an example of a short plot sketch I created based off of this photo.

Oct 21

As some of you may know, I’m taking a web design class this semester. It’s something I’ve been interested in for a while and I figured, as an added bonus, it would help me to create a professional, user-friendly website.

This series will span over the next couple of months, with a post here and there. At the end of the series, I will have a brand spanking new site up and running and ready for your viewing pleasure. So let’s begin.

Creating an Author Website

As I start thinking about redesigning my site, I find that I have to start at the beginning. Specifically, the building blocks of a great author website. Lucky for me, there was a post on Inky Fresh Press yesterday about cleaning up your online presence. Not only did the author, Brigid, offer great suggestions, but she also included links to several helpful articles.

The main points I got from these sources were:

Keep your site professional – both in design and content.
Let people know who you are – include a head shot and a short bio
Keep the content clean and easy-to-read
Use a memorable url, preferably your name – an author website is like your online business card
Include a way for people to contact you
And, most importantly, be professional

Some additional points I picked up about content are to include:

Bio page
Blog
Writing Excerpts/publications
Contact Page

An Author Website for the Unpublished

I found Annette Fix’s article, What Every Website Needs, to be the extremely helpful when addressing this issue. Not only does she tell you the elements you must have, but she also gives some guidelines for what to include in each section.

The main difference between a published author’s website and an unpublished author’s is that the published author needs to include information about their books and should have a separate website devoted to each title/series. Unpublished authors, of course, do not need to do this since they are unpublished. Otherwise, the sites should be more or less the same.

My Layout

Before I can start designing my website, I need to figure out the layout, or the site architecture. I’ve decided to include the following pages:

Home
About
Blog
Projects
Contact

The Projects page can include writing samples but it is also versatile because I can use it in the future for published works, works that are with an agent/looking for an agent, sample chapters, etc. I already have a bio page on my current site, I’ve been maintaining a blog, so I can just move that content over, and a contact page is easy to create using widgets or some simple coding. All that leaves me to create content for are the writing projects page (which I sort of already have for my writing samples) and a home page. Because I am not yet published, I will either use my home page as a landing page or just have it redirect to the blog.

What this means is there will really be little content to create. The bulk of the work will revolve around creating a clean, professional, personable design.

Coming Up…

Stay tuned next week for Website Redesign Part 2 – Part 2 will look at some mock-ups for my redesigned site.

Oct 17

As promised, a recap on the writer’s workshop I attended.

The workshop, which was a free, shortened version of Grub Street’s Jumpstart Your Writing Workshop was just one short hour. Perfect for a workshop/writing class novice. Being such a small time commitment, not to mention bank account commitment, I felt less pressure to get the most I could get out of it. Granted, I still went into it wanting to get the most I could from it, but since I was not giving up my entire weekend or a boat load of cash, it was alright if I got nothing out of it. This freedom let me enjoy the workshop for what it was. It was like going on a first date where you don’t know it’s a date. You can talk and have fun and not worry about what you are wearing. There’s no pressure to make the other person like you. Of course, once you learn that it was a first date, then you can start feeling awkward, but that’s an entirely different experience.

So, back to workshops. We did two exercises. One was a memoir focusing on description. It had to include a memory from a car. The second was a short story that was supposed to focus on the inside story. We had to write about a person claiming responsibility for a historical event as a way to mask some internal issue.

These exercises were not the type of writing I’m used to at all. Exercises like this are one of the main reasons I did not major in English or get a master’s in creative writing. I didn’t want to be forced to write something. I wanted to write what I wanted to write. But this was a workshop. I had filled a slot and I was here to learn.

For the first story, I wrote about driving back to college late at night. I wanted to show the freedom I felt, sitting behind the wheel with the cold winter wind blowing in my face to keep me awake. I don’t think this story was very successful. I have a hard time writing about myself. It makes me uncomfortable. I’m fine borrowing from real life, but I always alter it just enough to make it no longer my story.

For my second story, I felt a little more in my element. I wrote about a boy from a poor family who feels insecure because of his lack of wealth. He claims responsibility for warning the Americans that the British were coming. He was able to do this because he invented a time machine. Due to some incidents that almost altered the course of history (i.e. accidentally knocking out Paul Revere minutes before his ride), the boy decides that he cannot use the time machine to bring his family wealth. Who knows what he might mess up were he to do that.

Now, I don’t think this was my best bit of writing. But I will say, doing these exercises opened me up to the idea of trying new things in your writing, to experimenting with new styles and sometimes writing things you don’t want to write, just to see where they will take you. Would I sign up for a full workshop? Most definitely.

P.S. If you are in the Boston area and have thought about taking a writing class/workshop, you should check out Grub Street.

Oct 13

As it turns out, I am having a harder time giving up on my WIP than I thought I would. Even though I’m ready to put it aside and ignore all of its problems, I can’t let it rest. Instead of working out the details for my next project as I lie in bed at night, willing myself to sleep, my mind keeps wandering back to my WIP. How can I fix it? How can I make the story I know is in there work?

Story Arc

The other day I was browsing the blogosphere and I came across a post by Alexis Grant titled Learning by doing (or the importance of story arc). This post got me thinking. It’s not that my story is a bad idea. I think the concept is there. The characters, with a little bit of editing, have the potential to be quite lovable. The problem lies within the story arc.

Now this is something I’ve sort of known. Every time I sit down to work on my WIP, I find myself stuck on the flow of action. But it isn’t the flow so much as it is my inability to pick my inciting incidents. I have thrown so much in there, the reader doesn’t know where to look.

In researching story arc after reading Alexis’ post, I came across this very familiar diagram. You may recognize it from middle school English classes. I know I used to sit and stare at it, wondering how this was going to help me to dissect Lord of the Flies or get the lead in Antigone. As a reader, it didn’t seem too useful. As a writer, though, it is quite useful.

If you are not much of a graphs person, the explanation of story structure that goes with the graph was pretty clear and concise. Between the graph and the explanation, I feel like I now have a pretty solid grasp about what makes a successful story arc. And that brings me back to my WIP, which pretty much lacks a story arc.

And so, I am picking my WIP back up and working out the story arc. I’m sure there will be a lot of shifting and deleting, but if it leads to a book that people are excited about reading, isn’t it worth it in the end?

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Writers and the Rumba

When Characters Have a Mind of their Own