Connect and Get Updates
Recent Comments
Brenna on #WriteMotivation Continues!
Hey you! I haven't heard from you in a while, and this is old, so I was wondering how you...Jenn on #WriteMotivation Continues!
haha thanks!K.T. Hanna on #WriteMotivation Continues!
Oh I definitely agree. I think something writing related is still writing. Outlinging, Writing, Revising, Editing, Drafting out ways to improve...Jenn on #WriteMotivation Continues!
Thanks, you too! Oh...realized maybe I should have used my recommendation link for How To Revise...Ceridwen on #WriteMotivation Continues!
Good luck with your revision! And thanks for sharing the link. The site seems really interesting! :)
Rafflecopter and Their Giveaway
Filed Under Tools of the Trade | Leave a Comment
If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you might have noticed I’ve gotten a bit into giveaways. They’re super fun (and I find a lot of good blogs this way, especially if they’re hops), and Rafflecopter makes them really easy. I signed up to get invited to Rafflecopter so I could use the forms on my own site – just haven’t had any giveaways yet!
Today I got an email directing me to a massive giveaway for their public launch. You can win an iPad2 or a Kindle Fire! (I’ve also included a widget below for easy entering!)
So go! Go forth and enter! Tell them I sent you!
And may the odds be ever in your favor. 
The Plan to End All Plans
Filed Under Tales from the Author's Desk, Tools of the Trade, Updates | 2 Comments
Okay, not really. But I’ve decided to take a leaf out of Holly Lisle’s book and make a Master Checklist. It includes my plan to get published, my plan to improve my craft, and there’s even a checkbox for when I finally get my Masters. Take a look:
First off, we have the Narrator task force. I’ve included all the main tasks I need to complete: rewriting, sending out to beta readers, revising, and querying (broken down into query, synopsis, perfecting the first 10 pages, and agent research).
Second, I have the Holly Lisle classes I need to finish / take: How to Think Sideways and How to Write a Series. I’m extremely pleased with HTTS, and I want to take another course. The series one sounds perfect, considering all the series ideas I get.
Third, I have space for writing a second novel. Notice I didn’t put the name – I’m going to go back through HTTS to plan my next project, whether it’s Shadows, Echoes, and Reflections, Gatekeepers, or Sight.
This checklist should help me keep an eye on the Big Picture. Hopefully when I dive into Narrator I won’t get downtrodden by Endless Revision Syndrome. The light – and tally mark – are just ahead!
So there you have it. My master plan to be awesome. What’s on your master checklist?
Planning. Check.
Filed Under Tools of the Trade, Updates | Leave a Comment
I have finished my Ultimate Beat Sheet of Doom!
I may have fudged a bit. Instead of breaking down a battle scene into when I switch points of view and who does what, I just say “throw down with X.” I haven’t decided where exactly to put certain scenes for Arianna and Pennington’s storylines, but I think once I have a better idea of the length of each quarter of my story, that will sort itself out by which needs more scenes.
And now – to the draft!
Subtlety is Your Friend
Filed Under Tools of the Trade | Leave a Comment
In case that was too subtle for you, I’ll say it again: subtlety is your friend.
If you’re worth your salt, you’ll throw in some hints of the Big Bad, the great reveal, and a few foreshadows. But if you’re not subtle about it, you can ruin the experience for your readers.
Just imagine. You crack open a bestselling mystery, fall in love with the main character, joke around with his best friend, and – oh. That guy did it.
Either the author wanted you to know that, or – more likely – they were trying to set up some clever hints and went overboard.
I’ll use a basic example. Remember the boggart scene in Prisoner of Azkaban? The boggart’s zooming around, showing everyone’s worst nightmare, and it stops in front of Professor Lupin. The text just calls it an orb, and later you hear one of the students wonder why he’s scared of crystal balls (this is even reinforced later, when we hear that he practically fled the divination teacher when she offered him a reading). But it’s not until later when we find out it was the moon.
The movie fails here – it’s obviously a moon, complete with clouds. Not subtle at all, that.
See, a light touch is all that’s needed. A truly clever hint won’t be recognized for what it is until it needs to be. A genius hint won’t be recognized until a re-reading.
You don’t need that many either. If you pepper too many hints throughout your story, you risk the chance of having your reader put the pieces together before your major reveal – and that’s just plain anti-climactic.
The Ultimate Beat Sheet of Doom
Filed Under Tools of the Trade | 1 Comment
I am determined to only revise Narrator one more time. And I don’t mean little stuff, I mean a huge overhaul. So I have to make this one count.
Thanks to Story Engineering by Larry Brooks (to be reviewed either Friday or next week), this goal might actually be within my reach. I’m going to try to take everything I’ve learned from this amazing book and apply it to Narrator.
But first, the hard work of planning. Everything’s going into my Ultimate Beat Sheet of Doom.
A normal beat sheet lists every scene in a novel. My beat sheet will do that, plus include all kinds of things like whether the scene is new/old, written/in progress, what my notes are for it, as well as where it is in terms of story structure (see future review post), character arc, theme, and its mission.
Whew.
But hopefully, with all of this planning, I can finally be done with major revisions – and in a short while, to boot – and I can begin querying this sucker!
Hide [subtext in] Your Dialogue
Filed Under Tools of the Trade | 1 Comment
One sure sign of an amateur writer is dialogue that is stale and clear-cut. In the same way that you should keep your readers in suspense in terms of plot and character, you should keep your readers guessing with your dialogue.
After all, people rarely say what they really mean. If they did, your bad guy wouldn’t last long at the head of his secret evil plan, and the divorce rate would be a heck of a lot higher.
I’m not saying every character should be cryptic, or a guru who speaks in riddles. But don’t be afraid to let your characters hide their real meaning in uncomfortable situations. Which conversation is more interesting?
““It’s hot, isn’t it? said Hermione, fanning herself with her hand. “Viktor’s just gone to get some drinks.”
Ron gave her a withering look. “Viktor?” he said. “Hasn’t he asked you to call him Vicky yet?”
Hermione looked at him in surprise. “What’s up with you?” she said.
“If you don’t know,” said Ron scathingly, “I’m not going to tell you.”
Hermione stared at him, then at Harry, who shrugged.
“Ron, what–?”
“He’s from Durmstrang!” spat Ron. “He’s competing against Harry! Against Hogwarts! You–you’re–” Ron was obviously casting around for words strong enough to describe Hermione’s crime, “fraternizing with the enemy, that’s what you’re doing!”
”
“
“It’s hot, isn’t it? said Hermione, fanning herself with her hand. “Viktor’s just gone to get some drinks.”Ron gave her a withering look. “Viktor?” he said. “Hasn’t he asked you to call him Vicky yet?”
Hermione looked at him in surprise. “What’s up with you?” she said.
“If you don’t know,” said Ron scathingly, “I’m not going to tell you.”
Hermione stared at him, then at Harry, who shrugged.
“Ron, what–?”
“Why did you come to the ball with him,” Ron yelled, “when I’m the one in love with you!”
Hermione gaped. “Ron, I – I love you too!”
”
*ignores screaming of Hermione/Ron fangirls*
If you said the first one, yes, you’d be correct. There are many ways to play with the situation when people won’t say what they really want to. (Ron’s a special case though. If he knew at this point he loved Hermione, I’ll eat this blog. He might not know why he’s acting this way, but he’s definitely not being honest with himself or Hermione here.)
Don’t cave and stick with face value dialogue just because it’s easier. Easy is boring. If you want it easy, you picked the wrong hobby/career.
Blogroll
Filed Under Tools of the Trade | 2 Comments
Thanks for reading my blog! But do you read any others? Any by fellow aspiring writers or published authors or helpful editors?
This past year I have grown tremendously as a writer, and it’s all thanks to reading others’ blogs. The advice and experience I’ve encountered has been invaluable to me.
Today, I’ll forego my own post in favor of my favorite blogs’. If you haven’t checked out my Blogroll yet, I advise you to start there and explore the interwebs. You never know what you’ll learn!
Writing Space
Filed Under Tools of the Trade | Leave a Comment
If you’ve been writing for a while, you might have picked up on where you do your most creative work. Do you write at a desk? On the floor? On a picnic bench?
Writing spaces can be crucial to us neurotic folk. If we don’t have our particular environment, with theme music playing and inspirational quotes within easy view, it can be near impossible to make the words flow.
Now that I’m moving out of my parents’ house, I found myself wondering about where my writing space will be. I wanted to position my desk in front of my bedroom window, but my room will be too small for that. And I haven’t written at a desk since college. But I don’t want to take up my roommates’ sofa to write, especially if they’re watching their tv program or what have you.
So where will I write? Does it even matter? On some level, yes. I like to play music, and I don’t like people peering over my shoulder at what I’m writing, so that does play a part in where I write. But do I really need to create my own nook?
What’s your writing space like? How do you use your environment to get the creative juices flowing?
Novel Soup
Filed Under Tools of the Trade | Leave a Comment
Take a look at your backburner. How many novel ideas do you have simmering there? If you’re anything like me, there’s about a dozen, all at a different stage in the planning process.
To make your life easier – and your novels better – see which complement each other and can be combined into one great novel.
Maybe that romance you want to write would work better as a subplot for your epic fantasy. Maybe two or three characters from your murder mystery would offer more conflict when paired with the characters from your political intrigue mystery. Maybe…you get the idea.
Combining ideas can give you a better fleshed out novel, and it can help jazz up your conflict. For example, in Gatekeepers, I wanted to do a novel about the zodiac. I threw in an old idea about a girl being tricked by Coyote into taking his form, exchanged the coyote for a rabbit, and bam! Suddenly I had a much better conflict for my zodiac novel.
So go back to your list and start mixing and matching. You’ll be amazed what connections pop up and take hold of you!
How to Find Time to Write
Filed Under Tools of the Trade | Leave a Comment
If your days are anything like mine, you can be hard put to find a spare hour to block off for writing. Heck, I can’t even find a spare ten minutes. So what do you do when your creative juices get so backed up you feel ready to explode into a thousand inky pieces?
Find ways to write in smaller chunks throughout your day.
A good rule of thumb: if a task only takes one hand, you can use the other to write.
Perfect examples include: eating meals, when sitting on the train (not your car people! I am not condoning distracted driving!), waiting in line at the supermarket, brushing your teeth…
Okay, maybe not that last one, but you get the picture.
Find some “spare” time in your busy day, and you’ll get more writing done than you would have thought possible. Then you can brag to all your writing friends that you managed to crank out a chapter this week, while they’re mired in paragraph one.
Disclaimer: did not happen to me this week.
Welcome
Official Progress
4/21 segments
A narrator hijacks a cliche fantasy story, much to the chagrin of its characters.Status: Second revision
A young noblewoman with strange powers must choose: her king or her soul.1,639/70,000 wordsStatus: First draft
When a girl's heart is stolen, she's plunged into a world of magic and shadows - but can she get her heart back before she loses it completely?1,087/70,000 wordsStatus: First draft
-
