Editing Cheat Sheet

It’s that dreading time in your novel where you’ve completed the first draft and let it breath for a little while, but now you have to do the editing before you can send it off to beta readers or your editor. No heavy sighs and no groaning. Editing isn’t so bad when you go into it prepared. For me, I have a little cheat sheet that I keep nearby when I’m starting the editing phase and it helps tremendously. With the cheat sheet, I can remember to watch for little things and edit in waves rather than plunk down in front of the manuscript and try to face the daunting task head on.

With all of that said, I can provide you with the cheat sheet I use when revising my manuscript after the first pass. Some things may be different based on the way you work and based on common issues your own writing may have, and this is also not to be used for a final pass edit. I suggest using an editor for that. At any rate, onto the list.

1. Fix General Trouble Areas (Homophones and Common Misspellings) - This one will vary from writer to writer. Come up with a short list of problems with specific homophones or spelling errors you notice your work has. For me, I have this annoying habit of typing LEAD instead of LED, almost every time when I’m writing really fast. So, it’s the first thing I check for, especially because it’s something easy to fix too. Sometimes, I have issues with Its and It’s. When I’m in “the zone” while writing, my fingers will just type and my brain is in full-on right side mode, so things like grammar and homophones are not on my mind. So, I check first for the homophones and any other minor spelling issues I know I have that can easily be found using the Find/Replace function. Compile a list of your known trouble areas to remember them.

2. Check Dialogue and Dialogue Tags - I check my dialogue for awkward phrasing. Sometimes I say it out loud to be sure it sounds like something a character would actually say. Dialogue should flow freely and be easy to read. Natural. Just like speaking is. I also make sure that I’m not repeating information with dialogue and that I’m cutting unnecessary dialogue. While I’m checking on these things, I also check my tags. Do I abuse adverbs? Do I repeat in the dialogue tags what is already clear from the dialogue? Is there a way to remove the tags and add an action? Before I finish this step, I also make sure that it’s clear who is talking. You don’t want the reader to be confused.

3. Check for Point of View Shifts - This is something I rarely have an issue with, but there are cases when I switch a sentence into a different point of view on accident. Unless your story is in third person omniscient, you should generally have only one point of view at a time. When you do have to change the POV, be sure that it is done clearly.

4. Watch for Repeating Words - Some writers or readers might not care, but I look out for repeats. As a reader, I notice things like chapters or paragraphs in a row that start with the same word or sentence structure. At first glance, this might not matter, for chapters even less so, but generally this indicates monotony. Varying sentence structure and word usage helps break up the monotony. No matter how action-packed or how interesting or how important the section might be, monotony will kill it. So, I check for this in my own writing. This also goes for word usage too. If I have a paragraph with four sentences in it and use the word “coin” five times, it’s too many. Or if I use a character’s name too many times in several sentences. Often, we don’t need constant reminders of what the word is.

5. Focus on Pacing and Plot Consistency - Pacing is important when writing a good story, as is consistency in the plot. This is where I check for plot holes or check for details like whether or not character A’s hair color changed part way through the book. Pacing should be looked at scene by scene and overall. Are there any places that drag in the overall book? Is there anywhere that needs to slow down a little? In my work, there tends to be a lot of action and high energy, so when I am revising I tend to look out for areas where there is little to no “down time”. Sometimes readers need a break from the action. If I forgot this fact during my outlining and writing phase, I have to correct it during the editing phase.

6. Listen to Your Manuscript - The last thing I do to get my manuscript ready for eyes other than my own, is to physically listen to the manuscript. Use the Text to Speech tool or have someone read it back to you. Yes, the entire thing. Listening to your book will help you pick out the trouble areas. It will also help you catch spelling or grammar mistakes as well as awkward dialogue. Also, it’s really fun to hear your book being read out loud.

If you need a reminder of what to look for when you edit your manuscript, feel free to use this cheat sheet. Anything else that is needed should be mentioned by your beta readers, editor, and proofreader, which is why this list isn’t all inclusive. Also, what works for me, may not work for you. I suggest you learn what your weaknesses are and create your own cheat sheet that caters best to your needs.

Happy New Years!

Wow, it's amazing that today starts the first of a new year. This means, reflection and goal-setting time. If you are into that sort of thing. Which, I'm great at the setting part, but not so great at the following through part. All in all, 2011 had some real bad times and some really great times.

I moved twice this year, was pretty much homeless for a while, couldn't find work, etc etc. But I also wrote and published a novel. That in its self was epically amazing. I also earned my MFA in Creative Writing and wrote and published four more short stories. So, those things were great. One of the best things, though, was that my Husband and I finally made it back out to Kansas and are doing better. We have a place to live, we make enough money to survive, and I have a job that is part time but makes enough money to help support us so that I can have time to write as well. Pretty good year in the end, despite the bad.

For 2012, I imagine it's going to be great. Hopefully, anyway. My number one biggest goal for the new year is to learn to focus and maximise my productivity. I have issues with following through on things, even if they are important, unless it's for something like school or a job with foreseeable negative impacts like getting a B or losing your job. I started an exercise in productivity a week or so ago, and I will work on it some more to see if I can retrain myself to stay focused and work my ass off to do the things I want and love. Since all of those horrible, negative things that happened last year should not effect me any more, I will be able to get writing things done without feeling guilty too.

My second goal is to write three (3) novels next year. It's a huge stretch for me, but if I can get myself focused and productive, it really shouldn't be too hard. Ideally, I'd like to also publish those three. It would be great to write and publish a short story every other month too, but I don't want to push it to the point of no getting anything done.

I want to make 2012 a great year, not only for my writing and my business, but for me to have some fun too. There was so much stress last year that 2012 should be the year of awesome. I'm going to try my damnedest to make everything I want come true.

Also, there had better be snow in 2012, or so help me... *shakes fist*

I wish for the best 2012 for everyone and hope you all had a great 2011! Let me know if you have any cool 2012 goals or plans too!

I Refuse to "Dumb Down" My Writing

A very interesting topic on vocabulary popped up on an writer's discussion board I participate in where someone questioned why an author would choose a "fancy" word over a more commonly known word. First, I wonder what a "fancy" word is. Is it just a word out of the reader's known vocabulary? Or is it a word that is rarely used in general public during this time period? Is it a word that is way too formal for the story/narrative? And really, is it a big deal if the author uses a word you don't know? Sure, you had to pull yourself out of the story to look it up, but now you know a new word. Education is always good, even while entertaining yourself.

As a writer, I refuse to "dumb down" my words, especially when I know it's the appropriate word. It's insulting to my readers. And I'll be honest, I don't have a huge or "fancy" vocabulary, but I DO write for children, teens, and young adults. Because of this, I have to be aware of what words I choose. For example, I had several fantastic beta readers for Land of No Angels, but had one mention that I should consider changing a word because it may be too advanced for the YA audience. The word was "equidistant", which I don't think is a very "fancy" or advanced word, but I considered the comment before ultimately keeping the word.

Had the book been a Middle Grade I may have changed it, but because it's a Young Adult book and my target audience is between 15-20, I felt that if they didn't already know this word, then they should. Don't YAs learn this word in high school math? I'm pretty sure they do. If they don't, then it's a great way to introduce them to the word. Why use two or more words to describe something that one word can? I trust that my readers are smart enough to either know the word, guess what the word means, or to educate themselves and look up its meaning.

Now, if the "fancy" words are used arbitrarily for no other reason other than to abuse the thesaurus and try to make the writing sound smart, that's where I draw the line. It tends to be easier to point out these instances since the vocabulary tends to be awkward when read with the rest of the story.

In the end, as long as the vocabulary is appropriate to the style, time period, narrator, and the audience, I don't see a reason to "dumb it down".

Writing The Opposite Gender

So, today's a writing day and because the task ahead of me is so daunting, I'm here procrastinating instead of doing my work. Due to some news and business advice, I decided that instead of working on my Middle Grade novel, I was going to bang out this Young Adult novel that was next on my list. One of the biggest struggles I've come across in writing this story is that the main character is the opposite gender that I am.

I've written male leads before, and I'm by no means a girly girl, but I have to consider my audience, my limited knowledge of the male mind, and the story of this novel when I'm writing. For example, I believe more females read YA than males do, so my book having a male lead could be harmful if not done well. I noticed that of my two published short stories and my novel, the one with a male lead character and male on the cover does not sell as well as my other two. Could it be that the cover is just not as strong as the others? Perhaps, but when I consider how many YA books out there have a male lead, it makes me wonder.

This book I'm working on will have a much stronger romantic element to it than anything else I've written/published thus far, so to help attract the most people, I intend for the cover to show both an attractive male AND an attractive female. Doing so should keep it more neutral. I don't want to give anyone the impression that it's a paranormal romance, because it's a paranormal mystery of sorts, but I think highlighting the romance will help me reach my target audience, which is young adults between 13 and 19.

All that aside, the actual writing can be a challenge at times. In a good way, of course. But how much teenage boy do I want to include in the story before I start losing girl readers? I've been thinking about good YA I've read with male lead characters, and most of them were written by women. For example, Beautiful Creatures is a great book and has a male lead, and while the characters voice was there, I don't recall him feeling very manly. Teenage boys think about boobs and girls and nice legs, don't they? But I don't recall much of these things happening in the YA books with male leads written by women. I'm not saying that they have to overpower the story with the character talking about sex or boobs, but if a girl's blouse is too low or skirt too high and all the character does is mention this like an asexual third party observer, then what does that mean?

It's possible that I'm just over-generalizing teenage boys and that the majority of them don't sneak an (un)intentional glance at an attractive girl's chest when she leans over in her low cut top, or they don't notice long sexy legs in a short skirt. Maybe all of the guys in the books are too effeminate or too much of gentlemen to do such things. Or maybe the women writing the stories don't think it's important enough to mention, and maybe it isn't. I'm not sure, but I always found it strange that the point of view male characters were never as teenage boy-like as they should be. Again, it could just be me not knowing what I'm talking about.

So, how can I convey that this main character is in fact a teenage boy and not a woman trying to write a teenage boy? Voice and characterization are key, but how do I do this without making assumptions or stereotyping the character? An idea I had was in the way they notice things. Generally, I would say men are more visual and women are more intuitive. This is not to say that every single case is exactly the same or that both genders can't be both visual and intuitive. I know this happens and that's fine, but I'm speaking in general terms for the sake of this example. If both a man and a woman were to walk into a restaurant scene, how would their narratives differ? Would their narratives still differ if they were written in 3rd person rather than 1st? As a writer, I would tackle them differently, even in 3rd because the things they notice and the way they notice them would be different between them, not just because they are different people, but because they are different genders too.


[READER INTERACTION]: What are your thoughts on the subject? If you write, how do you tackle this challenge? Know any great examples of an author writing a lead/POV character of the opposite gender?

In Defense of the Thesaurus

The thesaurus is one of those things that can either be beneficial, or it can be the key to your undoing. General consensus deems that the thesaurus is a troublemaker for professional and amateur writers alike. Stephen King has even gone on record to say, "Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule."* While I adore him and his writing, maybe I'm just too naive or too inexperienced to agree completely. Another source of my sudden need to defend the thesaurus was in a book I am currently reading, Robert's Rules of Writing. Even though I'm enjoying the book and there are some wonderful little snippets of advice, I can't help but slightly disagree. For example, "Thesaurus words are words you would never use on your own; the fact you had to resort to the thesaurus just to find them proves it." (Masello, 293-98) I don't disagree with this statement completely, but I do have to come to the thesaurus' aid.

I have a confession: I use the thesaurus. Often. All the time, really. My desktop dictionary/thesaurus is open almost the entire time I write or am on my computer at all. Why? Because I don't have a vast vocabulary, nor do I remember the exact meaning of every word I (or anyone else) have ever used. This doesn't mean I lack skill, or that I'm an amateur, or worse: just and idiot. It means that I have a zillion other things going on in my head at one time and I can't always remember things, even when I really do use them on a daily basis.

Let's do a quick scenario. I'm looking for a different word for a colour. It's red, but not the typical cadmium red, or tomato red. Crimson's not quite right either. Also, who wants to use those couple of words over and over again in their writing? Not me. I'm thinking of a dark reddish colour with maybe a hint of purple, but I can't think of the word. I know there's a word for it, but for some reason I can't remember what it's called. It's a word I use plenty in my vocabulary, and, hell, I can even tell you exactly how to mix the paint that will make that exact colour. But for some reason, the word escapes me. Should I put "He wrapped a dark, reddish-purple colored shawl over her shoulders and sat down next to her." and use so many words? Or should I take the two seconds out of my "organic flow" of writing to type in 'red', click enter in my dictionary/thesaurus program, and find BURGUNDY sitting in there among the other different types of red? Heh, which do you think I picked?

This happens to me plenty of times with other things too. Completely common words that I can't think of during my focused writing time. Sometimes I'll just go back and edit, but my brain doesn't work that way. If I'm writing about an imp and it's fleeing from someone, shouldn't I use a better word than 'run'? Maybe that word doesn't reflect how he's actually moving. So let's work through some words I could use: dart, bolt. Okay, sure, those are pretty good. It implies quick movement, which works for an imp. Scamper or scurry would be better, though. Sometimes I can't remember the meanings of words, so I will check the thesaurus and the dictionary to be sure the words mean exactly what I'm visualizing in my head. I don't want to use the word 'run' when I meant the word 'scamper'. Run is NOT the right word. Scamper is. No matter what any other author tries to say. Should I leave it as run because I had to use the thesaurus to remind me of the word scamper?

There are so many different and commonly used words for many things that sometimes, to make the writing clearer and less wordy, it would be better to use one of those words. Maybe I'm not the brightest crayon in the box, or maybe I'm just not as awesome as those who hate on the thesaurus. And I can understand. Some people... even extremely famous authors *cough* abuse the thesaurus with inane synonyms that people haven't used since who knows when. Funny, though, that this same author uses a few other words so many times in the same page that it becomes ridiculous. At any rate, when used well and not mistreated, the thesaurus can be a useful tool. And I'll continue to use it without shame.

[READER RESPONSE] How do you feel about the thesaurus? Do you ever use it? Why or why not?


_{*Quote found on http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Stephen_King}

Dragon Dictate and No Hands Writing

Over the weekend, I spent a lot of time working with a dictation software called Dragon Dictate (Formerly known as MacSpeech), and thought I would share my experience and how using such software will optimize my writing experience. First, I'll preface this by saying that Dragon Dictate is the mac version of Dragon Naturally Speaking, only it's more expensive and doesn't work as well. From what I've read, anyway. However, I've found Dictate to be an amazing and fun way to dictate my handwritten work to the computer, and I'm even trying to dictate directly, skipping the handwriting process.

Beginning with the training. When you first get the program, you will have to train it to recognize your voice. The training doesn't take long, though, and you're on your way. You can dictate to a lot of different programs, but I chose to just dictate in the Dragon window, then copy/paste it into my normal program (Scrivener), because it's less buggy in the dragon window. Sometimes in Scrivener it was adding random letters for no reason I could understand or find.

I began officially dictating with chapter two of my next novel project, which is the sequel to Land of No Angels. So, there are a lot of little word quirks, such demon names. Often times if the name sounds like something else, I will have to retrain it almost every time. For example, the demon name Halpas is impossible for the software to understand no matter how many times I retrain or correct it. Often times it won't even show up in the list of words to choose from when trying to correct it. Luckily, the name hasn't come up much, yet, but when it does, I'm going to lose my mind.

There was another name, one that is a normal name and was actually already in the program's vocabulary, that I had trouble with: Nadia. No matter how many times I tried to get it right, the program always changed it to Nokia. In the end, I deleted Nokia from the vocabulary and I haven't had another problem since. This can't be done with Halpas, though, because the words that pop up for that name are words like "help us" or "helpless". Basically, words I will need at some point. Even if I emphasized the 'ah' (as in autumn) and 'a' (as in at), the program changes it to 'hall pass', which, I suppose, is closer than the others, but still not right.

Strangely enough, it immediately had no issues with the name Errol the first time I spoke the name. Though, at times it will now change it to Carol. For the most part, though, it recognizes my words just fine. I enunciate pretty well to begin with, and it does worse when I'm slurring some, but it's not so bad. I correct as I go and am still doing pretty well with productivity. Reading from my two handwritten chapters took a lot less time than typing them. Usually it would take me an entire week to write them out, but this took three days.

Today I decided to try dictating straight from my brain, to my mouth, to the computer for chapter four. This was amazingly difficult to begin with because I like to write things down. Seeing the words makes them more understandable for me. At first, straight dictating felt awkward and I struggled a little, but after a while, I was much better at it. In the end, it was just as fast to dictate than it was to write by hand, and much faster than typing myself. Normally I only write for 30 minutes in an hour because I get distracted and I suffer pain in my hands and wrists. But with dictating, my hands hurt less and I was more focused and interested in what I was doing. Somehow it made me focus more. I'm not sure how, but it did. Perhaps I was more focused because it took a lot more brain power to translate the narrative into speech rather than the silent translation of narrative to my fingers.

A couple awesome things I noticed while straight dictating:
-Dialogue was a lot easier to dictate than narrative and went a lot faster.
-My dialogue felt more real because I was actually having the conversations out loud.

[READER RESPONSE] If you've ever used dictation software, how did/do you like it? Did you find it more or less useful? If you haven't ever used dictation software, would you like to? What problems could come with using such a software?

Themes: Siblings and Family

One of my most favourite themes has to do with family, and particularly siblings. It pops up in my writing a lot and I enjoy writing about brothers and sisters looking out for one another. I'm the eldest of four, and my sister is 7 years younger while my twin brothers are about 8 years younger. It's a pretty big responsibility to be the head sibling. This was especially the case for my family, but despite everything, having siblings is great.

Land of No Angels has a strong theme around family because the main character, Rebecca, only has her sister left. She's the eldest of the Ashford sisters and looks after Errol, who can be a trouble maker at times. In the setting of the book, there is constant danger because of the demons and the idea developed from some of my own fears.

When I was younger, and even now on rare occasions, I would have nightmares about my own siblings and about how I couldn't save them from some horrible monster. Whether it be the evil leprechaun from that terrible (but hilarious) horror movie trying to boil them alive, or a car with no driver trying to run them down in the street, the dreams were a compilation of Eldest Sibling Fears. The fear that you won't be strong enough to look out for them, or the fear that you will be helpless to stop horrible things from happening to them. It doesn't even have to be supernatural like in my books. It can be real things like "Are they making the right decisions?"

These may be more the sort of things parents should worry about for their children rather than the head sibling. However, I love my sister and brothers very much and when I hear about my sister's friends getting into deadly car accidents or my brothers' friends doing stupid things and getting into trouble, I can't help but worry about them. I know that my siblings are smarter than that, but it's still something on my mind. It must be the nature of being the big sister.

[READER RESPONSE:] Are you the "Head Sibling"? Or are you the middle or youngest child? What's it like for you? How do you feel about the theme of family in books?

Outlining

I wanted to write a post on outlining today because I've spent the last week or so working on the outline for the sequel to Land of No Angels. And since tomorrow is the start of my 75,000 words in 45 days marathon, I suppose it would be good to talk about outlining.

There are many different ways to outline something. Some people choose not to outline at all (generally called "flying by the seat of your pants" or "pantsing", while others use a very meticulous outlining method called the Snowflake Method or the equally tedious Phase Outlining Method. I'm not going to tell anyone which option is right or wrong, because it would be pointless, but I will tell you that I personally outline everything I do whether it be a short story, a school essay, or a full length novel. That's just how I roll. It works for me because I don't like feeling around in the dark. Too much time will be wasted having me sit there staring at my screen if I don't have some sort of clue.

Even though I am a plotter/outliner, it doesn't mean I go crazy. I don't used any of the methods I mention above because I find them tedious and insane. There's something fun about discovering certain things along the way while still maintaining a sense of structure. Basically, I'll plot out the whole book with a series of plot points, scene points, and other important notes. Once I begin writing the story, I will read through some of the outline in order to know what's going on. Then I will write the scenes and chapter. Sometimes I look back at the outline, others I don't.

When I wrote the outline for Land of No Angels, I'd done a lot of note taking on the post-apocalyptic world. I wrote up a five page outline on it too, but in the end I barely looked at. If I were to compare the original outline to an outline of the actual book and the differences would be immense. In fact, I took a look at the old outline a couple days ago (days before the ebook release date) and realised how many things I forgot to add because they didn't flow with the natural current of the story. Additionally, in the original outline there was a lot less conflict. Everything seemed to be solved with ease and nothing was hard to overcome. But as I wrote the actual story, conflict naturally appeared. A lot of conflict.

So, outlining is always where I start and it's a great thing, but never feel tied down to it. It's kind of the best of both worlds and I intend to keep using this method until it grows into the perfect method.

[Reader Response] Do you outline? Why or why not? What's your pre-writing process?

Pen Names

So, I wanted to talk a little bit about pen names. Some time ago, I didn't understand the reason for pen names or pseudonyms, but now that I'm publishing my own book and am aware of branding, I understand the need for them. This is especially clear when I read an article last week about a teacher who is catching a lot of flack for writing erotica on her free time.

Writers choose to use pen names for various reasons. For me, I write under my initials, which is a moderate pen name. I'm not trying to hide my identity, though, nor am I too worried about people discovering who I am and what I write. My reasons are related to separating my identity from that of another person online with my same name. This person is associated with things I not only disagree with, but also would be very embarrassing for fans or anyone to stumble upon and think it's me. So, I use N.R. Wick (or NRWick for usernames) in order to separate myself and my brand from someone else with my same name.

Pen names can be tricky, though. If you want to really disassociate your real name from your pen name, that makes sense, but I know of plenty of budding writers who believe they need to have a pen name for no reason. This is something I don't understand. Well, actually, maybe I do in a way. For marketing purposes, it seems like a good idea to have a pen name similar to a popular author in order to get your book noticed. For example, if you write horror novels, would you rather have your real name, Aaron Zhan, or your pen name, Craig Kimball? Which would more likely be found closest to popular horror authors' books? The second one, right? But it Aaron Zhan really that bad? But if your name is very hard to pronounce, having a pen name might be the way to go.

[INTERACT: Do you have a pen name? Why did you choose this name? If you are not a writer, what would your pen name be if you had to have one?]

How to Handle Deadlines

Deadlines are one of those things that are necessary and important but can sometimes make you feel rushed and suffocated. No matter if you work at home for yourself or in an office building for someone else, deadlines are an integral part of business. It's much more difficult to get anything finished without some sort of deadline because your mind rationalises the importance of projects based on their due date and their rewards. For example, are you more concerned about a 3-day project due tomorrow, or a 3-day project due in two weeks? What if the latter project is of higher value than the former? I'd bet you are still more concerned about the project due tomorrow.

What happens if you are not given a clear deadline? Well, I had a lot of experience with this in my old job. The setting was fairly relaxed but my job was integral to the company. I wrote all of the website and marketing content (and sometimes wrote articles for the company's ezine), created marketing graphics, flyers, brochures, etc. and I filmed, edited and compiled video... among a number of other things as well. I did this primarily on my own with very little, if any, supervision and the workload was hefty. It was important for me to know which projects were of top priority and which were not, but I rarely had this luxury, and I was rarely given a set deadline.

In a perfect world, you would work together with other members of your team to write up a calendar and have a clear plan, but often times this doesn't happen. Instead, you are stuck making your own calendar. Try to prioritise your projects by the ones you feel are most important. If you know they are time sensitive, then be sure to take that into consideration. The only problem I find with doing this is that sometimes it makes me lazy. I'm a big time procrastinator when the pressure to finish on time isn't there because no one is depending on me at that moment. It gets even worse when I'm working on something I don't like to do (like making seminar power points! UGH!).

Right now, I've been making writing calendars to organize when I need to have my writing projects finished by. Since I'm a procrastinator, it's been a major help. For the most part, I've been on schedule. Not only is it something I'm passionate about, but it's something I want to make a living off of, so I need to be very disciplined if I want to make it work.

INTERACTIVE: How do you handle non-existent deadlines and/or work you don't care for?

Focused Writing

I can always tell when I have a tight deadline and a lot of work to do because I seem to post a lot of blogs, tweets, and facebook statuses when I'm stressed out. (I also seem to get a lot of cleaning and errands done during this time.) I've been working on my MFA thesis, which also happens to be my YA novel, because I have to finish the first draft by March 7th. I'm at about 40,000 words and would like it to be around 65,000 by the time I'm done. So, I have about 3 weeks to write 25,000 words. This actually wouldn't be an issue, but I'm a procrastinator and I've been struggling a bit with my process and getting words out.

For almost a week, I wrote only 600 words. In my defense, I was doing other things as well, like working with my thesis mentor to finalize my schedule and reading list, reading a book from my reading list, and playing video games with my Husband. So, this week started and I panicked. Only 3 weeks left and I was writing too little. With the thrill and cram-sessions of NaNoWriMo gone, and no useful way to continue word sprints, I decided to try a few new things.

The first thing I did was start chapter nine by hand. The entire chapter was written by hand in the end and it's going to be about 4,000-4,500 words long. doing this gave me the opportunity to keep myself away from distractions on the computer and was a nice change of pace for once. The second thing I did, was to set my own word sprints. I'd set Apimac Timer (a freeware timer for macs) for 10 minutes at a time. In those 10 minutes, I would write without interruption, then stop and take a break for 5-10 minutes TOPS. Sometimes, I'd be on a roll and not want to stop, so I'd continue passed the 10 minutes or reset the timer. But if I was in a distracted mood, I'd stop working for five minutes to allow myself a break and to keep my focus.

Surprisingly, this method works wonders for me. I wrote about 1,300 words in two hours, and half of that time was spent actually writing. The day before, I spent 5 hours trying to write and had only written 500 words. My brain starts to see Timer Time as "Getting Down To Business" Time and I focus.

For chapter 10, which I'm starting tonight after husband goes to work for a 4 hour shift, I will try to type it up using my timer method. I'd like to hit 2,500 word tonight (about half the chapter), but I know I type slower than I hand write, so I'm not sure how it will compare. I want to see if I can still maintain the same level of focus whether I'm hand writing or typing.

Well, that's all I have to say on the subject for now.
-N.R. Wick

[READER RESPONSE] What method do you use to get the max amount of writing done in the amount of time you are given to work? Do you have any useful tips to share?


Note: This entry has been cross-posted to my personal Live Journal blog.

Infinity and Craft

It's that time again! I'm going to share an exercise I did using 3 AM Epiphany, which is one of the most useful book of writing exercises I have ever used. The point of the exercise was to write something that felt the way an infinity symbol looked, and gave an episode of Start Trek (when the ship gets stuck in a time loop) as an example. I've always been a huge fan of this type of story and wanted to give it a try.

Something I discovered afterward was the style in which I wrote the exercise. I've been reading a lot of Hemingway for another class and am really fond of the minimalist style in which he writes. I took a minimalist approach to this exercise using mostly dialogue and only detail when necessary. I often tend to write like this, which is often my downfall in novel writing, and I think doing so for this exercise helped with the feeling of mystery and dread I was trying to convey. However, I don't think I did it on purpose. It was more of an instinctual thing, which is good, but I wonder if I will have to remind myself of these things later when I'd like to replicate the effect or if I will do it naturally again.

Main Character CPR

While I was trying to write a different blog post about the writing process, I realised that I have a problem with the main character on my current work in progress. A major problem. My main character is flat. Sure, she has fears, which is a major part of her character, but I realised that there was nothing to make her unique. She was kind of just going with the flow.

My main character was suddenly overshadowed by my further developed secondary characters. This is a problem because the story has to be told from her perspective. It's her story, not her sister's and not her love interest's even though they may seem like bolder, stronger characters than she is. Also, I understand that my novel is plot-heavy, but it's very important for my main character to three dimensional and grow because she (and the secondary characters) is so important to the story.

No matter what I did, I seemed to skirt around the main character. The love interest suddenly became the most three dimensional, relatable character. Perfect. He likes to read. Okay, but in a desolate environment, this could prove challenging. If I am able to write a second book, he will also struggle with his identity in that book.

The main character's sister is out of play for most of the novel, but even in the short time she is there it's easy to see that she has a strong personality and it's unique to her. Her character is natural for me and it comes to me without having to work too hard. This is not the case with the main character. She has flaws; the type that cause her to doubt herself and her actions a lot. But I realised she didn't have any likes or desires (other than the desire to hide and for things to be normal again). After talking with my best friend and going through some ideas with her, I found something that would not only make her unique, it fit her personality and actually enhanced it.

[READER INTERACTION] What do you do when you realise your character is flat. How do you handle this situation?

Thoughts and the Unreliable Narrator

I've been thinking a lot about my writing lately and about teaching because my first two classes in the graduate program where fiction writing workshop and creative writing pedagogy. I had to write a huge paper (okay, huge meaning 8-10 pages and mine turned out to be about 10 pages) about my statement of pedagogy. Before this class, I didn't even know what the word pedagogy meant, but I learned quickly. I finally got around to reading Stephen King's On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft and found it to be a great read. I think every fiction/creative writing class should be required to read this book. And one day, if I ever get to teach creative writing, I will make it required in my class. I learned a lot about myself as a potential teacher and myself as a student of writing during this class. I will definitely post my paper to my website, if anyone is interested. (Also, a kind of funny side note: I wrote a paper for the AWP Forum about students blogging as a means of learning creative writing.)

So, with a new class starting up comes new exercises. This class uses a book called 3 AM Epiphany. It has a series of interesting writing exercises meant to help one write critically as well as creatively. They are fantastic exercises. One day I wish to write a novel with an unreliable narrator in third person who is believed to be reliable the entire time, but ends up being unreliable.

[READER INTERACTIVE] Please feel free to try this exercise. It involves 500 words written in third person, intimate and must be written in a way that makes the narrator seem reliable, but actually is not. Post your version in the comments or post a link to it.

Changing Points of View and Voice

So, a week or so ago in class, we did this exercise about changing view points. We had to write a narrative in third person limited about a group of people doing something and change points of view for each character while keeping their voice. I like the exercise because I prefer to write in third person and often times it can be difficult to give a character a strong voice. Here is what I wrote for this class exercise:

Lily relaxed her body as she listened to the deep breaths of three clients sitting around the circular table in her spiritual parlor. Her grimiore lay open in front of her; behind it in the centre of the table, stood four white pillar candles. Lily held out her palms to either side and invited her guests to hold hands. As the others closed their eyes, she gazed at the candle flames, watching them wane and bloom in succession. Her eyes drooped as she chanted words from her book; she knew them by heart, but insisted on keeping the grimiore nearby.

Amanda was losing her patience. She’d been sitting around the creepy table for almost an hour and nothing had happened. She rolled her eyes, then shut them again. What was she doing here? The card someone, she assumed Lily, slipped under her apartment door had a date, the time and directions to a location with the words ‘In need of a Spirit Medium?’ written across the top with red grape coloured ink. While she wasn’t in need of a psychic, Amanda’s curiosity got the better of her and she found herself at Lily’s homely cottage anyway. At least she wasn’t like the poor SOBs who came hoping to talk to their dead kid.

A cool breeze blew over Danny’s neck, sending shivers through his body. He wished Madame Lily would close the window, but didn’t want to interrupt her. Danny brought his wife, Erin, to Madame Lily because she was having trouble getting over the loss of their daughter 4 years ago. He received a card inviting him and his wife, and under any normal situation he would have just tossed it, but they had tried every “normal” option without avail. Danny gave Erin’s hand an encouraging squeeze. He couldn’t stop shivering. Was the wind blowing that hard? The only sound Danny heard was Madame Lily chanting.

Tears fell from Erin’s closed eyes as she thought of her baby. She never forgave herself for falling asleep on the couch while three year old Anna wandered outside the house and into the street. The sight of her child bleeding and broken lying in the street bore into her mind unlike any memory she’d ever had. Half of her baby’s grated face was flecked with black from skidding across the assault. Erin felt sick. An immense moan echoed throughout the room and Madame Lily flew to her feet. Lily insisted that they would have to resume at a later time. Erin thought what little was left of her heart was breaking. She tried to protest through sobs, but the words refused to come out. Lily lead them to the front door as she explained something to Danny that Erin couldn’t comprehend through her disappointment.

[READER INVOLVEMENT] Feel free to try this exercise and post it or a link to it! How do you feel about voice and changing points of view?

Learning your Craft

So, I've been under the radar for the last month or so due to school starting and, more so, a horrible back injury. I was bedridden for a couple of weeks and while you would think I should have been able to get tons of work don, this was not actually the case. I couldn't sit up for 3 weeks and typing while flat on my back was just plain hard. But, I managed and now I'm doing better. Still sore and all that but I can sit for long periods of time and get work done.

As I mentioned, I started school during my absence. I'm earning my master's in creative writing and I may go on to earn my PhD. We'll see about that. At any rate, I turned in the first two chapters of my novel, Land of No Angels for critique. Now, this is a graduate level class, so the expectations are high, but in general the response has been good so far. I definitely have things to work on and my classmates gave me plenty of things to think about. I'm pleased because I feel like I'm finally on the right path, not just with my book, but with myself. I know that once I finish this book, it will be publishable and that thrills me. Don't get me wrong, I don't expect it will be easy, I just believe that at some point this story will be worth publishing so many others can enjoy it.

Other things we've done so far in this class are weekly writing exercises. One of the recent exercises had us write a 150-300 word narrative using sentences with a max of 7 words in it. That one was devistating when I did it. The second part of that assignment was to write another narrative or the same story (I chose the same) up to 300 words long using only 1 sentence. I will never understand why anyone needs a 300 word sentence, but this part of the exercise seemed a little more like how I naturally write with long and short lines. For fun, I will post it here.

Leslie ducked behind a tree, narrowly missing three whizzing arrows to the chest; he scrambled to run deeper into the thick forest and regretted getting caught stealing the precious Kalic amulet, but knew it would be worth it to trade in order to get Aurora back; besides, getting into a Kalic prison was easy, getting out alive was not so much; several towering Amazon-like women chased after him; he used the thought of Aurora’s warm, sweet skin and her large brown eyes which seemed to encompass Lesley’s entire soul in rapture to motivate him, pushing past dry shrubs and rotting, fallen trees; a fourth warrior woman dropped down from a tree in front of Lesley’s escape route with a fiery arrow in her bow; it was too late for him to dodge the blazing projectile and in a single shot to the chest—right through the heart—he went up in flames, shrieks of pain cut through the early morning air.

It ended up being 159 words long. If I saw this in a book, I'd either skim it or stop reading the book entirely, even though I know this sort of sentencing happened a lot a long time ago.

We also did an exercise in class where we had to write without any adjectives or adverbs. It was a serious nightmare. Adverbs are easy to keep out for me because I try not to use them anyway, but adjectives! Noooooo! The exercise wanted us to think outside the box for ways to describe things without depending on adverbs, which I think are crutches, and adjectives, which are important even though sometimes people abuse them. The exercise made me realise how dear to me adjectives are.

I recommend either of these exercises to those who are having trouble coming up with something to write. [Reader Interaction] If you try either of these, feel free to link me to them or post them in a comment! If you have any other good exercises, please share them!

Details, Details, Details!

I've been working on my work-in-progress YA novel, Land of No Angels, a bit over the last few days. It's been a slow process lately due to life issues and the lack of cooperation from my brain. However, during the time I stare at my manuscript vacantly and wish I could just spill my guts all over the digital page, I find myself wondering about the details.

For the most part, I can follow the "Don't think. Don't self edit. Just write." concept while working on my first draft. But sometimes, I get this idea that all of the details I add or need to add feel awkward. For example, I'm writing a scene with two sisters outside in a some-what post apocalyptic setting, who fear for their lives being out in the open and they need to hurry their conversation to get back to their safe zone. There is so much information that needs to be conveyed or even just introduced in this scene, but I find it hard to place these details and bits of information without feeling like it's too awkward. Sometimes this even happens with describing a little of the surroundings when it doesn't directly relate to the character(s) in focus.

When I try to explain things in a little more detail than "they were in a forest" and "she his under blackberry brambles" I start to get an awkward feeling. Like when you are reading a book in first person and the main character starts describing his/her own physical appearance while gazing into a mirror. Awkward! This first scene I'm working on is sort of intense and I wanted it to FEEL and READ just like the main character's breathing: short, sharp breaths that sting her lungs. Which... actually makes the scene go fast. A little too fast maybe? So the suspense isn't building properly....

Okay, so I took a break from this blog post after I had an epiphany halfway through it. I went to lunch, discussed some things with my writing partner (who also happens to be my husband) and I realised that the scene mentioned in the above paragraph wasn't working because it lacked details. While I still want it to feel like a panic attack, it can do so with some additional information to break away from the immediate action and build suspense. Not in an awkward "Hey, I thought this girl was being hunted... now we're talking about her living situation, wtf?" sort of way, but more so a "Ack! What's going to happen to her. The suspense is killing me!" sort of way. Breaking up the quick action sentences with longer description sentences will help build that tension I need.

[READER QUESTION] Do you struggle with writing details? Are you too detailed? Not detailed enough? How do you overcome these issues?

MFA in Creative Writing

If you don't already know, I've recently enrolled in a MFA program for Creative Writing. I am so excited about it, but I can't help but feel a nagging in the back of my mind telling me that I might be wasting my money. While I understand that having an MFA is not required for most jobs, I'd like to be able to teach higher education. So, having my MFA is important for that. Also, if I could make a living off of going to school, I totally would. I love school and learning and teaching. But alas, being a Professional Student is not a paying profession.

Let's start from the beginning. Ever since I was a child, I've been writing. I remember staying up all night sometimes writing stories. When I was in high school, I found my love for art and animation. I decided that I wanted to get a degree in illustration. I did, for the most part, but because of issues with my school, the program I was in and my own burn out, I found myself graduating in a hurry with a B.A. in Studio Art. What does that degree even mean? I couldn't begin to tell you because I wasn't in that program until my last semester. After graduation, I ended up in my current job doing web design, marketing, graphic design, etc. All things I like to do, but I've never had formal training for. I've been building websites and coding and working in flash since I was 15, but I apparently lack creativity. Which, I suppose, was part of the problem I had in school too.

Why did I share all of this? I needed to paint a picture of why I'm now struggling with my decision and with my life (financially and living situationally). I have a degree that is pretty much useless, a love for story telling and teaching that wants to explode from me, and a knack for coding/IT. I wonder if I should just nut up and go back for a degree in coding/IT because I'm afraid that even an MFA in creative writing will be as useless as the BA I currently hold. At the same time, having my masters opens up teaching possibilities, but will not likely provide the financial stability that IT would. I'd be poor, but happy. And honestly... I can live with that. And this is why I will be getting my MFA. Sure, the back of my mind is doubting, but my heart is telling me that this is something I should do.

For anyone who reads this and is trying to decide whether or not to get a degree in creative writing: Do what you feel in your heart is right. When I was researching, this was pretty much the most common answer and I know it pissed me off. I wanted a clear, set in stone answer... but now I realise why there isn't one. In the end, you will come out a better writer with more opportunities and hopefully feel fulfilled and happy. That seems like a great reason to me.

What are your thoughts on getting degrees in writing?

Contests and Thoughts

Just a few quick thoughts about some topics I'm going to write articles for. I've noticed lately that I've had to defend my view on romance/love in books and even movies, so I think I may write an article on my thoughts on this subject. I also need to write a review on Ted Dekker's Adam, and I think I may ever write a few movie reviews. I'm a bit behind because i've been so exhausted lately, but I will catch up soon!

By the way, the online writing community is amazing. Everyone is so helpful and supportive to one another and I'm so thrilled to have found it. This may seem a little random, but I was thinking about it today because of a series of tweets over on Twitter. There is a sense of camaraderie and it's just so awesome.

If you haven't heard, head over to WORD for Teens and sign up for the Word for Teens Givaway of the book, Benjamin Manry and the Curse of Blood Bones. I suggest you go and join in! My pirate name is Lunie Seawitch. Hehehe!

On a final note, I've gotten so many new ideas for my current WIP, which is still untitled. I've been asked why I care whether or not the WIP has a name yet because it's really not important. It may be silly, but I can't start actually writing without a title of some sort, even if it isn't the one I will use in the end. And no, "Untitled" and "WIP" do not count for me. It's just one of those weird little quirks I have. But, it's coming along really well.

Sorry for such a short entry today, but I felt like I needed to update! Now off to catch up on article writing!

Put the LURE in Failure and the New Year

To anyone who followed me for NaNoWriMo, I wish I could bring good news. Let's just say that I failed horribly even if I wrote more than I have in ages. In the end I got distracted and discouraged and then miserable. This seems to happen a lot to me.

What I think happens is that once something starts getting too big or complex or becomes an overwhelming amount of work, I seem to just shut down and freeze up. This is a serious issue for me because I want to accomplish certain things in life so desperately. I have many goals and I am sure they are possible to achieve, but getting myself to actually finish them or even finish a small piece of them is like pulling teeth.

A couple of days ago, I came across two highly inspirational websites brimming with invaluable information. Not only have the articles from these two sites helped me understand a lot of my own issues, they have also made it clear to me that my goals are not unattainable if I just fight for them.

The first site is WAHM Biz Builder and it is a coaching site for Work At Home Mums. You might wonder how a website geared towards mothers who work from home could help me or anyone else for that matter, but the great thing is that the tips and articles found at wahmBizBuilder.com are fundamentally substantial which makes them universal. While I may not be a mother yet, and I do stress yet, I do want to learn how to make a living by working at home and eventually become a work at home mum. Some of the concepts found within the articles don't even have to target businesses women, or men.

For example, I have a friend who has trouble following through with things and can't seem to reach or keep her own personal life goals. I gave her a few links to wahmBizBuilder.com and a couple from Men With Pens and she was still able to use the information to help her with her non business goals.

This brings me to the second website I found helpful: Men With Pens. This site has a vast number of informative articles ranging from business to web design to writing. How to Make Scary-Big Stuff Happen is probably one of my favourite articles because it helps break down large, daunting goals into small, manageable goals.

With that said, I am working on sorting out my goals and thought I would share a few.

My top two goals:

• Work completely from home and make enough money to survive in doing so.
• Finish one of my novels.

Secondary goals that I'd like but can happen later:

• Go to grad school and earn my masters (without getting further in debt).
• Get rid of my school debt.

I also have a few life goals, but I think I will refrain from sharing those right now. One of my sub-goals is going to be to rework my website and blog(s) completely. I think Scribble Me This will be a part of my main site as well.

At any rate, if you have any inspirational goal setting and achieving websites, please share them.