Page Me Fantasmic

A Lot Going On, Not A Lot To Say

2010-10-05T18:24:00.000-07:00

These last couple weeks have been crammed full for me, not just in the writing department. If anything, I think my muse has taken a short hiatus.

I've mostly been thinking about my soon to be WIP: the characters, their reactions, how they might behave in scenario X or conflict Y. I've been doing a lot more planning for this story than I did for any other WIP.

My hope is that this will help focus my writing, that I'll be less of a pantzer, and that the scenes and conflicts will come across clearer and truer for my effort.

My fear is that I'm subconsciously delaying the writing process for fear of messing it up due to my impatience and not knowning my characters or story well enough.

With my first WIP, even after several rounds of heavy edits, I simply don't think there is a way to streamline the scenes and events into one cohesive whole. The story is still fun to read, and many people have said they liked it a lot, but it definately lacks some fluidity that I'd like my future work to contain.

And wow, for not having a lot to say, I seem to have been rambling on. Never trust a writer to be lacking for words, I guess.

Well, my planning period is over, so I must go teach class now.

Happy Writing!

Thrilled

2010-09-23T04:32:00.000-07:00

The experience of creating an interesting, multileveled, possibly unique (if there is such a thing) villain is quite simply thrilling.

Some worthy opponent for my hero to show her skills and character by besting.

Some entity that is not cardboard, but a living, breathing person.

My favorite part is that my villain is not evil incarnate or seeking to rule the world or destroy it. I grow so wearing of those types. It is thrilling and entirely satisfying to have created a believable, if not lovable, monster. :)

It's alive!

Has anyone else had as much fun creating their antagonist?

Two Streams of Thought (Part II)

2010-09-18T08:41:00.000-07:00

Alrighty, I'm back!

Yesterday I blogged about my first recent revelation. In it, I talk about setting your goal too low (even if you already think its high) and about the persistence of successful people. There are several inspirational quotes at the bottom of that one, so if you're feeling down and need a little "pick me up," see the last post. :)

And on to the second of my two streams of thought...

I read and write fantasy, specifically YA fantasy. As a genre writer, I've been writing my stories as if to an audience of fantasy addicts like myself. Makes sense, right?

Well this week I realized that that's not a great mindset. It pigeonholes my stories a bit. They read in a way that a non-fantasy reader could be easily lost and not too keenly interested to begin with. This in itself is not a terrible thing. The pool of fantasy readers is broad and deep and there are plenty of successful fantasy books that do exactly as I've just described. I'd even go as far as saying that MOST science fiction stories are written as if speaking only to an SF reading audience.

But I'd like my stories to be available and interesting to more than just that one pool. Most, if not all, stories are ultimately about the human experience. Even if a story is all about aliens, it's really telling about how humans are NOT.

Therefore, I suspect if I shift my focus ever so slightly from the fantasy world and focus more on the human experience, a broader range of people might be able to enjoy my stories. No, this is not a gimmick to get more readers, but rather a means to let people, like say my grandmother, to enjoy a story that wouldn't fit in her typical reading list.

I see it more as an opportunity to introduce non-genre readers to fantasy without so much shock of the unfamiliar. Will it work for everyone? Certainly not. I myself cannot stand most murder mysteries, but occasionally an author delights me. This delight is without exception having to do with how I relate to the characters. The human experience.

So what do you think? Do you prefer to write a genre story focusing on the general human qualities, or to dig deep into genre, out of reach to the general audience (ex: high fantasy, hard core science fiction)? Do you target a genre specific audience or the world at large?

Happy writing!
Anette

Two Streams of Thought

2010-09-18T07:40:00.000-07:00

This week I've had two important realizations that I think will help my writing immensely. Perhaps they are things which have already occurred to you, and in that case, you can tip your hat at me and say "Thank goodness you finally caught up." To which I would reply, "Glad to be here. It's better than back that way yonder."

These ideas aren't even entirely new to me. But rather than fuzzy vague images, they have been brought into sharp clarity in my mind.

The first is that I'll be lucky to achieve what I aim for, and will never surpass my goal. Therefore I need to set my sights higher in order to go further. Oddly, this realization came while bowling with my husband.

In the not so distant past, I went bowling every Sunday with a friend. I knew I was capable of bowling a 130 game on average. So I would say to myself, "If I break 130, this would be a successful game." Sometimes I did better than 130, but rarely did I go much higher.

Flash forward a few years. Having fewer chances to bowl these days, I now say "I'll be satisfied with this game if I break 100." An average of 10 pins a frame is not so unrealistic a goal is it?

The problem with this train of thought is that I know I only have to make so many good throws to meet my goal. I get sloppy. I don't try as hard. I realized that if I said "I want to reach 150" or "Let's try for 200" I'd likely bowl a lot better. Yeah, I'd be really lucky to ever reach 200, but I'd also do a lot better than "just breaking 100."

This same principle applies to my writing. For the last couple years, I've been going alone with the mindset that I'd like to write a book worthy of publishing. A daunting goal all by itself, but I have just come to realize that its not good enough. I'm not striving to write an amazing, epic, can't put it down, your-eyes-are-burning-from-lack-of-sleep-and-you've-had-to-pee-for-the-last-hour kind of story.

And while, yes, I'd be extremely lucky to produce anything so awesome, it's this higher goal, this striving for not just good but excellence, that will improve my writing. I personally don't care for literary stories. I find them slow, heavy, and needlessly wordy. So my main goal is not to write a beautiful, poetic story, but one that delights the reader as so many stories have delighted me.

So let me not sell myself, or my reader, short. I don't want "publishable." I want extraordinary. And I'm determined to work my tail off to reach that goal, because (and I don't remember who said this or the exact phrasing) "Success isn't the absence of failure. It's having failed 1000 times without giving up."

This blog post is getting longish, so I shall save my second revelation for a "Part II." In the interim, here are some inspiring quotes I came upon while looking for the source of the one above. Bye for now!

Success and failure. We think of them as opposites, but they're really not. They're companions - the hero and the sidekick.
- Lawrence Shames

Not failure, but low aim, is crime.
- James Russell Lowell

Thomas Edison viewed each setback he encountered in making a light bulb simply as another way NOT to make a light bulb.

Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don't quit.
- Conrad Hilton

Persistence is what makes the impossible possible, the possible likely, and the likely definite.

The difference between stumbling blocks and stepping stones is how you use them.

The Model "T" - Why "T"? Because Ford had gone through A-S before being successful in producing and marketing the "T".

Breakdowns can create breakthroughs. Things fall apart so things can fall together.

When you fail, don't give up. These people didn't:
- R.H. Macy failed seven times before his store in New York caught on.
- Novelist John Creasy got 753 rejection slips before he published the first of his 564 books.
- Thomas Edison was thrown out of school in the early grades when the teachers decided he could not do the work.
- Harry S. Truman failed as a haberdasher.
- When Bob Dylan performed at high school talent show, his classmates booed him off the stage.
- W. Clement Stone, successful insurance company executive and founder of Success magazine, was a high school dropout.

Wow! Over a Year (and not an empty one)

2010-09-11T23:21:00.000-07:00

Hello all!

It's been over a year since my last post here. Life has been busy, but I haven't stopped writing, though it may appear that way from all the blogging I've been doing. I got married and moved to Korea with my military husband. But I'm back in the groove, so hopefully you'll see me more often on here.

First off, congrats to Lady Glam for her first self-published book. I am very keen to get my paws on it. I saw the book trailer for it and am very excited.

Second, I've finished editing AUC and have set it aside for the time being. I have three projects I'm currently working on (a short story, a children's series, and a YA novel) that are far more pressing. I won't go into details here, for this is mostly an "I'm back!" blog post.

Third, I took up a couple suggestions on books to read: The Hunger Games and City of Bones. Both came highly recommended by fellow bloggers, but I must say that Hunger Games FAR outstrips City of Bones. I wasn't all that impressed with the latter story, but the Hunger Games is now sitting on my "favorite books" shelf. If you haven't read it yet, do yourself a kindness and go pick it up. :)

Lastly, if you read this post, drop me a comment. I'd really love to see who still haunts these parts. I know Glam is still alive and kickin, but how about everyone else?

Cheerio!

Spark, Spark

2009-06-18T03:39:00.000-07:00

It seems I've neglected blogger for a long time now. Hmmm... updates: I'm querying Angel Undercover. I finally wrote a query letter with some spark to it. Kristen Nelson has some great advice on that. Head on over to her website / blog for more on that.

On another note, I'm starting out on a new project! I "pitched" my idea (i.e. read the 300 word preface) to a few friends and they are super excited about it, as am I. It's still YA fantasy, but leans more toward slipstream, whereas AUC was more high fantasy. I don't want to say much more than that just yet for fear of jinxing it. Once it's all plotted out and I'm well into the draft, I'll give more details (though no spoilers!). Super excited. With everything I've learned from editing AUC, I feel like I'm going into this project with a much better head on my shoulders.

Ah, and before you go for the day, I suggest you check out the querytracker blog post up for yesterday. Top ten writer mistakes, uncensored. Very detailed.

Happy writing / living!
Anette

Seven Basic Plots

2009-06-02T05:42:00.000-07:00

Holy Moly, gone for all of May, then two posts in one day! I assure you, that rhyming was unintentional. :)

From Christopher Booker's The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories, the seven storylines are:

Overcoming the Monster - A terrifying, all-powerful, life-threatening monster whom the hero must confront in a fight to the death. An example of this plot is seen in Beowulf, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Dracula.

Rags to Riches - Someone who has seemed to the world quite commonplace is shown to have been hiding a second, more exceptional self within. Think the ugly duckling, Jane Eyre and Clark Kent.

The Quest - From the moment the hero learns of the priceless goal, he sets out on a hazardous journey to reach it. Examples are seen in The Odyssey, The Aeneid, The Count of Monte Cristo, and Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Voyage and Return - The hero or heroine and a few companions travel out of the familiar surroundings into another world completely cut off from the first. While it is at first marvellous, there is a sense of increasing peril. After a dramatic escape, they return to the familiar world where they began. Alice in Wonderland and The Time Machine are obvious examples; but Brideshead Revisited and Gone with the Wind also embody this basic plotline.

Comedy - Following a general chaos of misunderstanding, the characters tie themselves and each other into a knot that seems almost unbearable; however, to universal relief, everyone and everything gets sorted out, bringing about the happy ending. Shakespeare’s comedies come to mind, as do Jane Austen’s perfect novels.

Tragedy - A character through some flaw or lack of self-understanding is increasingly drawn into a fatal course of action which leads inexorably to disaster. King Lear, Madame Bovary, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Bonnie and Clyde—all flagrantly tragic.

Rebirth - There is a mounting sense of threat as a dark force approaches the hero until it emerges completely, holding the hero in its deadly grip. Only after a time, when it seems that the dark force has triumphed, does the reversal take place. The hero is redeemed, usually through the life-giving power of love. Many fairy tales take this shape; also, works like Silas Marner and It’s a Wonderful Life.

This post comes to you from pure curiousity. I believe my novel AUC is a Voyage and Return story. Since so many of you are fellow writers, I'm curious... where does your story fall?

Secondarily, does anyone refute the notion of seven basic, all encompassing, never ending plots? If so, please share your reasoning. :)

P.S. Don't miss the first post of today, below. Or miss it if you like. :) So long as it's intentional missing rather than accidental.

Ultimately...

2009-06-02T05:04:00.000-07:00

This is a short post and it comes from a discussion I had on CC. But I figure it's been a good month since my last post here (AA anyone?), so you might like to hear from me. :)

I'm thinking that my main priority is to make sure AUC remains an interesting read throughout. Discovering a whole new world, with hints of underlying conflict involving your beloved big sister, could be conflict enough for the first four chapters as long as readers are still interested in Paige's story.

I've been rereading a bunch of classics and greats, from Ender's Game to Harry Potter, and realizing that they break tons of the "rules" we all endeavor to follow.

From this, I take that the number one goal of any novel should be to entertain the mind. If it's doing that, keeping interest, keeping the pages turning, then it succeeds.

I think that there are a lot of ways to do this and that it might not be as formulaic as many of us treat it. Heck, if it was formulaic, everyone could write a great novel. I think it really comes down to whether we can write a great story or not.

I, for one, sure hope we can!

Hey, A Girl’s Gotta Do Her Research

2009-04-24T11:15:00.000-07:00

I keep telling my grandmother (who’s dying to be a children’s book author) that she needs to do her research.

“Go in a bookstore or library and READ children’s books,” I tell her.

Over and over. I cross my fingers that it’s sinking in, but I’m not holding my breath.

But all these talks got me thinking about my own “research.” Now, I’ll readily admit that no one had to twist my arm to get me to do this. I’ve always loved reading, so if writing is my field then research feels like an afternoon at the park for me.

I sat down and put together a list of books I’ve read. It’s probably incomplete, but hey, I tried.

I tried to limit it to books relevant to my writing, so while I’ve read books like Summer of the Monkeys and Island of Blue Dolphins, they won’t appear on this list, nor will Hawthorne, Poe, or The Da Vinci Code, for that matter.

Some are YA fantasy. Some are just YA. Some are just fantasy. Some just influenced me.

2007 and prior

Christopher Paolini - Eragon and Eldest
John Flanagan - Ranger Apprentice, books 1,2,&3
Erin Hunter - Warriors, first 13 books
JK Rowling - Harry Potter series
Elaine Cunningham - Songs and Swords quintet
Elaine Cunningham - Starlight and Shadows trilogy
Orson Scott Card - Ender’s Game
Ray Bradbury - Fahrenheit 451
HG Wells - The Time Traveler
Margaret Atwood - A Handmade’s Tale
CS Lewis – The Chronicles of Narnia
KA Applegate - Animorphs, first 43 books
Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman – The Soulforge
RA Salvatore – The Silent Blade
Marjorie B Kellogg - The Book of Earth
Anne McCaffrey - Dragonflight

2008
Scott Westerfeld - Uglies trilogy and Extras
Tamora Pierce - Lioness quartet & Immortals quartet
Tamora Pierce - Terrier
Stephanie Meyer - Twilight saga
Jonathan Stroud - The Amulet of Samarkand
Patricia Briggs - Steal the Dragon and Masques
Patricia Briggs - Mercy Thompson, books 1-3
James Patterson - Maximum Ride
Orson Scott Card - Ender’s Shadow
Jenny Nimmo - Charlie Bone
Angie Sage - Magyk
Cornelia Funke - Inkheart
Shannon Hale - Princess Academy
Jeanne DuPrau - City of Ember
Kristin & PC Cast - Marked
John Levitt - Dog Days
Jocelynn Drake - Nightwalker
Christopher Pike - Alosha
Eoin Colfer - Artemis Fowl
Donna Jo Napoli - Sirena

2009
Charlaine Harris - Dead Until Dark
Jim Butcher - Codex Alera, books 1-4
Rachel Vincent – Werecats 1 (Stray)
Scott Westerfeld - Peeps and The Last Days
Richelle Mead - Vampire Academy, books 1-3
Ed Decter - The One
Randa Abdel-Fattah - Does My Head Look Big In This?
Delia Sherman - Changeling
LJ Smith - Night World, book 1

TBR List
Micheal Grant - Gone
Patricia Briggs - Bone Crossed
Tamora Pierce - Bloodhound
Rachel Vincent – Werecats 2&3 (Rogue & Pride)
Jim Butcher - Codex Alera book 5
Richelle Mead - Vampire Academy book 4

So, for those of you who are either YA fantasy readers or YA fantasy writers, what books have I not read that I absolutely MUST? After all, a girl’s gotta stay on top of her research. ;)

Great "Ready For Submission" Checklist from Fellow Writer

2009-04-22T06:44:00.000-07:00

Miss Jennifer has posted a checklist to help us understand when our manuscripts are ready for querying. I think it's appropriate and by-and-far correct. It mentions several things I hadn't though of before. Let me know if it helps you too!

I Heart CC (or, Beta Readers Rock!)

2009-04-22T06:16:00.000-07:00

So, last week my prologue went up at CC. I actually liked this version, so I was super excited when I got lots of feedback from critiquers. I feel like I must have done something right since eight people took the time to read it and half of that came in the first day. But on to the subject of this post...

Critiquers, or Beta Readers, simply rock.

This is why: I loved my prologue because I'd finally squeezed all the necessary information in while keeping character focus and interest, BUT I couldn't see that it was just a little bit confusing.

How could I? I wrote it. I understood it.

But my reviewers helped me see where the trouble spots were and I figured out where the focus needed to lie. I also realized that taking a more direct approach would help clarity a ton.

So I completely rewrote it.

And you know how I said I liked the old version? I love this one! It's not going to win any prizes (it's rough draft phase again) but I love it.

It's not even the same scene anymore. For that matter, it's not technically a prologue anymore. It's a preface. A long one (for prefaces) at around 1000 words.

The one thing I managed to keep through all three versions was my duck metaphor.
Draft 1 - Alexander FEELS like a duck.
Draft 3 - Alexander WATCHES the duck and relates to it.
Draft 4 - Alexander IS the duck and relates to it.
haha... I love it.

Anyway, I get super excited whenever something in my novel starts working for me, so I'm on cloud nine now. How often does that happen to you all?

I Have This Idea...

2009-04-18T07:20:00.001-07:00

… of how I want my novel to look. And by look, I mean read. I mean Feel. I know exactly what I want out of it. The work is the process of getting it there. The work is training myself to think, speak, and write in the verve I expect out of my novel. And I can tell you, with draft 3 complete and 4 in the process, I’m not even close. That sounds totally depressing, doesn’t it? Well it’s not. Because I know what I want, I have every confidence that I’ll eventually get there – and by extension, so will my novel.

The process of this is really rather cool, because for every one thing I learn, that’s one mistake I won’t make as often in the future. Once I learn how to create the kind of book I want to produce, I’ll be able to do it again. Or so I imagine. And hope.

In the process, I have to keep reminding myself of the things people have said along the way to cheer me on. All the way back to creative writing in college, when my classmates were enthralled by a short story that I now think is terrible. I have to keep telling myself that if my then-good-work is now bad, that means I’m moving toward great. Just the direction, not the proximity. But I will get there. And I will remain hopeful and not depressed along the way.

So to all my fellow blogging writers, cheers to optimism. Whether we ever get published or not, we’re always improving. I know most of you love your craft as much as I love mine, so becoming better writers should be enough. Publication would be the icing. The sweet, sweet icing.

Oh, and if you don’t follow How Publishing Really Works then click that link for today’s blog about what editors want. It cheered me up, because what they want is exactly what I want to produce in ms form.
“What editors want, more than ANYTHING else in the world, is for someone to delight them.” -Osiander

Cheers!
-Anette

Agent for a Day

2009-04-18T06:22:00.000-07:00

Leave it to me to wait until the last minute to do my day of being an agent. Nathan Bransford does his big reveal later today, so keep an eye out for it.

My five picks (requested manuscripts) are:

10 – On One Hand
15 – The 15 Date Rule
17 – Inugami
28 – Long Shot Lost
35 – Losers

These are the ones that leaped off the page so to speak. I really want to know more about these stories.

And I really learned a lot about what makes a effective query.

I'd finally gotten a query that I was truly satisfied (version 21). With what I learned from Agent for a Day, I'm going to... wait. Yep. Wait. I'm going take my treasured v21 and put it in a special file and not touch it until I'm truly satisfied with my manuscript. THEN I'll pull it out and work again. But not until.

I've got a million ideas running around my head for my ms anyway. Can't wait to get started on draft 4 and 5 and 6...

How was your Day of being an Agent?

Anette

It's Okay to Make Them Wait

2009-04-17T06:15:00.000-07:00

Curiosity in a reader is a good thing, right? As long as it’s curiosity and not confusion. Like most other lines we writers ride, it’s a fine one.

For example, I was reading a book that was fast losing my interest. The characters weren’t doing much to reel me in and the plot was moving pretty slow. But there was this dog that traveled with the two main characters and the author had already given several hints that the dog was not really just a dog. So I’m compelled to read further, to find out about this blasted not-dog if nothing else. Perhaps by the time I figure out what it actually is, the characters and storyline will have hooked me again.

How does this apply to my own writing? Well, hopefully I don’t lose my readers with plot and character problems to begin with, but there are certain elements in my story that I WANT the reader to be curious about and wait for – mostly dealing with the angels of the world.

My prologue gives the reader a glimpse into the angels’ world and introduces you to a main character in the story. Then I jump into chapter 1 with Paige, my protagonist, who knows nothing about angels. A couple chapters in, she meets the angel character, but he goes by a different name and she has no idea he’s an angel, but I’m hoping I’ve dropped enough hints for the reader to realize who he is. This angel then accompanies her through the rest of the story, guiding her a bit, and near the end she learns the truth. He explains more about the angels at that time, information that was hinted at all the way back in the prologue.

Now, the angels stuff isn’t really key to the flow of the novel. It’s from Paige’s POV and she doesn’t even know of them, so how could it? But I want the READER to be curious. What I don’t want is for them to feel overwhelmed by the need to know information that I only hint at in the beginning.

Essentially I need the reader to trust me, the writer. I need to somehow show them that I’m not going to leave them hanging and that it will be explained, but that it’s just not the right time at the beginning. My CC reviewers are all getting stuck on details and want me to slow down and explain them, but I want to move into the action of the story. How do I convey that they should be interested, but not obsessed?

To my fellow writers: How do you get your readers to trust you? What do you make your readers wait for?

Because I, for one, am convinced that it’s okay to make them wait. Curiosity is a good thing.

Twentieth Time Is A Charm

2009-04-09T06:27:00.000-07:00

I think I've got it. My query letter. You tell me if I'm right.

It's 149 words long and has everything Nathan Bransford says a good query letter needs. Best of all, it's almost identical to my "five sentences' from the Snowflake Method. Here we go:

Fourteen year old Paige Moss is a bleeding-heart humanitarian optimist held captive by her own timid nature. But when she is kidnapped by a deranged visionary, Paige must get past her shyness in order to save her sister’s integrity, her friend’s happiness, and her city’s existence from his manipulating grip. A much bolder Paige exposes the visionary’s ruthless game, follows him into exile to retrieve a precious belonging, and leads a team of allies to save her city from his vengeance. Through her oft-dangerous, yet light-hearted adventures, Paige is accompanied by a diverse cast of unforgettable friends. She learns that shyness is not a state of existence, but a choice – that her character is really the sum of her actions – and becomes the hero she never expected she could be.

Angel Undercover is an 84,000 word YA fantasy. It is my first novel and it sets up for sequels.

By the way... did you see that? 84,000 words! I'm in the middle of chapter 17 (of 25), so it'll go down more. I'm shooting for 80K.

This is my "fluff" layer of edits. You know, all the extra words and sentences. You should check out Lady Glam's series of posts about layers. She explains it exactly how I do it.

Next I'll be going through combing for content, then tension, then nit-picks. It's such a long process, and my word count might go up again, but it will improve my novel. I know it will. You know it will.

Oh, and on the side, I'm filling doing the Snowflake Method on AUC and it's first sequel. It really gives great insight into a novel, in addition to clarity the query process has given. You really have to dig to find what's key. It's hard, but totally worth it.

For comparison, here is my "five sentences" from the snowflake method: (You know, setup, three major disasters/plot points, and conclusion.)

Fourteen year old Paige Moss, a bleeding-heart humanitarian optimist held captive by her own timid nature, gets kidnapped by a deranged visionary. Paige must get past her shyness in order to save her sister’s integrity, by exposing the visionary’s ruthless game. When he steals the source of her friend’s happiness, Paige must follow him into exile to retrieve it. Then her city is threatened by yet another of the visionary’s plans and Paige must lead a team of allies to protect it from destruction. Through her oft-dangerous, yet light-hearted adventures, Paige learns that shyness is not a state of existence, but a choice – that her character is really the sum of her actions – and becomes the hero she never expected she could be.

The revised Sentence:

When Paige gets kidnapped, she must get past her shyness in order to save her sister’s integrity, her friend’s happiness, and her city’s existence from the manipulating grip of a deranged visionary.

And the revised 15 word summary sentence: (yeah, mine is 21 words)

A girl must part with her timid nature to save her sister, her friend, and her city from a deranged visionary.

For those of you who've seen the earlier versions of all these things, isn't this much clearer?

How many of you find that some or all of these methods help you understand your novel?

Nineteen and Counting

2009-04-05T18:14:00.000-07:00

Quick update: edits on AUC are going well. Word count is down to 85K, with a long way to go.

So I've now created nineteen versions of my query letter. NINETEEN! Yikes. I'm really hoping that's a reflection of my query writing skills rather than my novel writing skills.

Out of the nineteen, there are five distinct versions:

Queries 1-6: mainly synopsis, protag vs physical antagonist.
Queries 7-9: little plot detail, a lot protags growth process
Queries 10-14: an attempt to combine plot and purpose, with a better hook
Queries 15-17: protag vs internal (main) antagonist, with key plot details
Queries 18-19: bare bones based on Nathan Bransford's Query MadLib

I'm really hoping v17 or v19 will work out. This is a long process that I'm hoping will be done soon. Does anyone else have this much trouble with query writing?

Anette

Cutting a Tenth of Your Novel

2009-03-28T06:23:00.000-07:00

This will be a quick post. It's been two weeks since my last one (doesn't that sound like an AA line?), but I've just been editing, which isn't hugely exciting to hear about. :) The process is teaching me so much about writing well though, so I count it as time very well spent.

Anywho, we've already established that I'm something of a numbers freak, so I'll give you some more here. Numbers tell us nothing about the quality of a story, but it does show the quantity of things I've removed from the earlier draft because they were unneccessary or just plain bad writing.

This recent round of edits was the "I was ly-ing" edits. That is getting rid of excess pronouns, passive voice, adjective/adverbage, and present tense verbs. None of these are bad when used in the right places and in reasonable quantities, but let's face it... my first drafts of my first novel were bound to come out really rough. I hope that I can write cleaner in future novels to avoid some of this work.

Anyway, without further ado, the numbers.

Data displayed in a quantity before --> quantity after format. These cuts didn't remove content, only excess wordage.

I (pronoun) – 4146 --> 3377
Was (passive voice) – 1345 --> 610
Were (passive voice) – 442 --> 307
Ly (adjectives/adverbs) – 2150 --> 716
Ing (present tense verbs) – 4000 --> 3225
Word Count – 100K --> 89K

Amazing that a tenth of my novel was just unneccessary words.

Anyone else had that kind of experience?

A Little Boost

2009-03-13T06:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had a query writing crisis. I have 9 versions of my book's query, from two completely different angles (each with several revisions, totalling 9). Yet I'm still not anywhere near the right hook or "advertisement" that I need to be at. It was crushing that both ways didn't work, when I thought I was on the right track.

So when I saw this on How Publishing Really Works it brightened my day:

"To paraphrase James D Macdonald: if you can write something that’s grammatically correct, which doesn’t contradict itself too many times and which shows a reasonable understanding of both spelling and punctuation then you’re already in the top ten per cent of the slush-pile, with a good-to-excellent chance of getting read—and getting published."

Hope it brightens your day too!

(I recommend reading the whole post)

The Long Road of Revision (Query)

2009-03-11T06:10:00.001-07:00

I’ve said it before, but I’ve got to repeat:

You can’t know what you didn’t know until you know it.

You might have seen Query v1, v2, and v3 in earlier posts. The latest is v9. Be thankful I didn’t bore you with the interim versions. :) It’s been a long road and I have many thanks to give, but mainly to Glam for asking “why should I care about Paige?” and “why does her story need to be told?”

Her questions made me step back and throw the first six versions (all pretty similar) out the window and start fresh. In previous versions I worked on boiling the story down to the main conflicts, the main characters, and the main plot. But I never got to the Why Should You Care part. :) Seems important in hindsight. How could I miss it? Well, I couldn’t know what I didn’t know until I knew it.

So, to all of you who have struggled with your query letter like I have, high fives all around for stickin’ with it when you wanted to tear your hair out.

Without further ado, here is v9 (surely not to be the last, but likely the best so far):

[redacted. v9 was one of the best bad ones, so I considered leaving it up, but it still had to go]

Does it reel you in? Does it make you care about Paige or her story? Any and all suggestions are welcome.

Where Would You Like Your Splash of Genre?

2009-03-05T06:40:00.000-08:00

Today's post comes from the middle of a short story I'm working on. Well, from the first third really. See, it's a horror, but I've decided to open it up with normal occurances to ground it in reality before dabbling into the more supernatural elements. Makes good sense, right? But my concern is that an avid horror reader will open it up and wonder why the first five hundred words are a flirtatious conversation between a woman and her fiance. Insert question...

Where would you like your splash of genre?

What I mean by that is this... Everything you read has a prime element that causes it fit into a genre. Westerns, sci fi, mystery, horror, romance, you name it. But how far into the story (any story, from flash fic to full blown novel) can you go without introducing that element before the reader goes "Well, what the crap?"

When you open a book or magazine, do you want the element of your interest to jump out at you from line one or can you wait?

From the other side of the fence, do you write safely (genre strong from the get go) or daringly (make 'em wait and bet it all on your brilliant narrative)?

Short Story Contests

2009-03-03T06:31:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm still editing, so not a lot to report on the writing front. AUC is down into the 95K range, so a quarter of the way to my goal (80K) and I'm 73 pages into 317 (about a quarter!) I'd say that's right on track, though it's really strange to think of my goal as shrinking wordcount after all the time spent increasing wordcount.

Anywhoozle, on to the point of this post. I have been searching for reputable short story contests and have turned up very little. Perhaps I'm not searching in the right places, so I beseech you. If you know to where I may turn, let a girl know, all right? Please note: I write popular fiction (horror, fantasy, YA), not literary fiction so that will have some effects on what contests my work would work for.

And while you're here, feel free to share your short story successes or troubles.

~Anette

From Gimmick to Substance

2009-02-27T07:25:00.001-08:00

Based on the advise I’ve gotten from several blogging writers (*coughInkyGlam&Davincough*), I updated my query letter once again (v3.0). Glam said I need to be more specific, Inky taught me about “the sentence,” and Davin suggested I try to summarize the novel in five sentences.

Well, I don’t know if I succeeded on all three fronts, but I certainly tried. Oh, and almost everyone said to shorten it. (was 360 words, now 215) When I finished v3.0 I reread the old one for comparison and noticed something in particular.

The original query (the one that got sent to EE) read like a gimmick. Like I was trying to get an agent to read my ms as if he or she were browsing through a store reading back covers. It contained little actual substance, but lots of catchy lines:

“kidnapped by a supposed myth that turns out to be all too real”
“complete with magic, myth, and a cast of characters that act so human, they’re actually related”
“must wade through the layers of intrigue and outright lies”

gimmick
gimmick
gimmick

I think the new one tells the story better, without the gimmick. I felt like I was on the right track with v1.0 and now I’m on a whole different track. You don’t know what you didn’t know until you know it. (Follow?) Well, I learned some things and I have my fellow bloggers to thank for it. I don’t know whether I’ll stay on this track or if I have more to learn to get to another track, but it was a positive step forward in any case.

Here’s the new version:

[redacted for your sanity and my eyes. it did improve from earlier versions, but still... ugh]

Better, no? It still feels a bit synopsis-y but I think it gets the point across. My big problem with it now is that while it certainly gets all the main points across, it feels dry and doesn’t hook me very well.

I think this is largely because the story is ABOUT Paige's growth from the events that happen, but the query doesn't express this. She IS the angel undercover, even though the story contains an actual angel who is undercover. What I mean by angel undercover is that she is an amazing, good person in a surprise package. No one, leastwise herself, expects her to do the things she does and be the person she becomes. Make sense?

Suggestions? Good, bad, and ugly, I want to hear it all. :)

Editing update: Chs 2 and 3 are done, with 2K shaved off between the two of them. I cannot thank my CC and blogging partners enough. Without what I’ve learned from these people, I wouldn’t know what to focus on when editing AUC. So thank you all!

Just Can’t Win

2009-02-26T06:06:00.000-08:00

The tree was easy to spot. (breaks the passive “was” rule)
It was easy to spot the tree. (breaks the passive “was” rule)
I spotted the tree easily. (breaks the adverb “ly” rule)
I spotted the tree with ease. (sounds funky, especially from my 14 y.o. protag.)
I spotted the tree. (blah… see Spot run.)
Found tree. (even simpler)
Tree. There. Good. (caveman)

No, this one sentence isn’t enough to blog about, except as an example of my revising frustration. I’ve found that short sentences are harder to fix up than longer ones because I have fewer words to work with. In the example above, what’s your pick? Have any better suggestions?

Yes, it’s just one sentence and rules can be bent and broken – “I was ly-ing”s can be used in healthy moderation – but it’s good exercise, no?

Sidenote: I finished going over chapter two and ultimately (haha! I can use adverbs in my blog to my heart’s content) shaved off 917 words. Yowzah! I read through it and vastly prefer the shorter version. The tree sentence comes from chapter 3, my current project (originally 6K!) Too long to be reasonable on CC even. 650 words shaved so far…

Good Frustrations

2009-02-24T18:36:00.001-08:00

Wow… using the “I was ly-ing” edits, I cut nearly 500 words off of chapter two of AUC. It went from 4,600 words to 4,137 without losing content. And if my estimation serves me, it gained a whole lot of clarity from cutting all those unnecessary words. At that rate, it’ll be easy to whittle this beasty down to 80K.

I’m rewriting chapter one (it needed it!) and then using “I was ly-ing” on the rest of the novel before posting any of AUC on CC again. And even then, I’ll probably start with Ch 1 again just because it has changed so much.

That’s not to say “I was ly-ing” isn’t frustrating, particularly the “was” part. There are places where critiquers suggest I change from passive to active voice and if I do it doesn’t make sense or mean what I meant it to. I think it’ll be a task in and of itself just figuring out where it’s okay and where it’s not.

My next post on CC will either be Ch 1 of Snatch or my short story “Foolish Nonsense.” Can’t wait!

“I was ly-ing” Round of Edits

2009-02-24T06:29:00.000-08:00

Today’s post comes to you from a technical standpoint. In the most recent round of crits on my story over at CC, some technical points were made that I decidedly wasn’t aware of before.

I – overuse of the pronoun in first person POV
Was – was, were, be, being, been… overuse of passive verb choice
Ly – overuse of adverbs and adjectives that end in “ly”
Ing – overuse of present tense clauses. “I sat on the rock, thinking…”

It wasn’t until my third posting up on CC, that anyone suggested to fix these things. Now, I know all of them are fine in moderation. Apparently the reading flows smoother when they are few and far between though, so as I bring draft 3 up to draft 4, I’ll be working on these four items to see how much I like playing by the rules.

So tell me, how much has playing by the rules affected your writing? Good or bad, frustrating or pleasant…

My Stab at The Sentence

2009-02-22T19:23:00.000-08:00

Miss Inky had a great post up last week about The Sentence, so I decided to try writing a few sentences myself.

The Sentence is "a protagonist with a compelling need, set against an antagonist with a compelling need, doing interesting things in interesting places, with something slightly askew." (Holly Lisle) See Inky's blog for futher details.

So, applying this method to three of my novels and two short stories, this is what I came up with.

Angel Undercover:
When amoral idealist Maisen uses her sister as a tool in his world-altering plan, Paige Moss must intervene, which leads to a self-discovery and confidence-gathering experience like no other.

(updated version 4/9/09: When Paige gets kidnapped, she must get past her shyness in order to save her sister’s integrity, her friend’s happiness, and her city’s existence from the manipulating grip of a deranged visionary.

The Snatch:
Xindlepete Henderson, a sort of Robin Hood figure, struggles to make his atypical idealism work amidst the much harsher realities of the crime world in Iphesia.

Foolish Nonsense: (short story)
Janice Martin doesn’t believe in superstition – at least not until the day she dies for it.

Tonight I Hunt: (short story)
Estranged from her people, Pearl, a predator by nature, adopts an abandoned prey whelp and holds onto this unnatural relationship, despite that it may starve them both to death.

Of The Sea:
As a selk born without a pelt, and thus no way to join the world of her kin, Colleen struggles to learn of her heritage and reconcile the possibility that she may never be able to call the sea her home.

For those of you familiar with The Sentence, did I do a fair job?
For anyone, do these sentences hook you? Which work and which need work?

Updates to the 'ol Query Letter

2009-02-18T13:38:00.000-08:00

Post-EE discussion. Yes, I realize I said I'd wait a couple days 'till the comments stopped rolling in, but I got all itchy and impatient. Here goes.

Old Query (the one that went up at EE)

[redacted]

And now the new, revamped version. I've focused it down to just the main conflict, which removed a lot of words, but then I had to add details to explain the conflict, thus it's only marginally shorter than before. I think it's too long even though it does fit on one page. If any of you see a way to make it smaller, please comment! :)

[redacted]

EDIT: Trust me, you don't want to see the old versions. I'm trying to forget them, personally. :)

Evil Editor's Turkey Ogres

2009-02-18T07:50:00.000-08:00

Well it’s up!

Watch out, there are Turkey Ogres ahead. EE is a riot. :)

He and the other commentators left me quite a bit to work on. If any of you leave a comment on EE’s post, I’ll see it.

Query Quivering

2009-02-17T07:08:00.000-08:00

I have returned from my weekend out of town. Naturally, one of the first things I did was check blogger, critique circle, and of course email. And I noticed that my query is on the top of Evil Editor's list AND it's absent from the "guess the plot" section.

By my estimation that means it's due to go up any time now. *shiver* I wasn't really nervous until now. I find myself suddenly second guessing everything I wrote, even the plot of my novel. Is it too convoluted? Too rambling? Ugh...

Well I guess the only thing to do is wait. I'll post a linky up here when it does go up. For now I sleep. Have a wonderful day all you day people!

Writing - To Create Art

2009-02-14T06:19:00.000-08:00

Warning: the following post is a little more emotional and a little less cerebral than is typical of me. Feel free to skip if that's not your style.

I get rare moments of lucidity after viewing some art forms – whether it be dance, musical, or the written word – that are brought on by either the emotional depth or a sense of carpe diem in the piece. I feel as though this is one of those times…

Every day, we writers are thinking about our work – how to make the plot flow or the character feel alive, how to mold our language to support the scenes we create, how to captivate and enthrall the reader and make them want to know more… to read more. To care. But in this routine, I find that sometimes I forget what I’m really doing. Why it’s a passion. I sometimes get lost in the technicalities – word choice, punctuation, phrasing, use of tense or point of view.

And then it’s nice to sit back and remember, or realize, that what we as writers are truly doing… is creating art. Sure we all know that writing is a creative art, but have you ever just thought about what that means. We are making something out of nothing and we are attempting to do it in such a fashion that it appeals to our fellow people. To their minds. To their emotions. To whatever is in us that makes us human.

Of course within the plethora of stories that have been written, there are varying degrees to which this is accomplished. How many novels out there contain that spark of humanity? If the world were a warehouse, containing barrels of rocks and gems as stories, how many would be diamonds?

Some of you may disagree with me on this point, but I judge the quality of the books I read based on how much I care about the people in them. Did I laugh at their antics, their flaws, their quirks? Did I cry when their world crumbled or hearts broke? Did I get so mad that I wanted to reach into that world and act? The stories that do this to me are what I view as diamonds.

I’d say the same thing about movies and plays. The ones that amuse me are great, but the ones that touch my spirit… those are the ones I love. The ones I watch again and again. Those are the kind of stories that I want to write. They don’t have to be serious or dark. They can be playful or vibrant. But the characters have to matter. And as an artist, I want to create characters that matter. Fictional people with which real people feel some connection. Sympathy. Empathy.

I suppose a lot of this could go without saying, but as I mentioned, in the day-to-day world of pursuing our passions, it’s easy to get wrapped up in the details and forget what exactly we’re doing. Whether we write mysteries, horrors, science fiction, romance, westerns, thrillers, or fantasies, we are all commenting on the human experience.

The only real questions are: to what extent and what impressions are we leaving?

Writing is a solitary, quiet art, mostly devoid of the fanfare that comes from dancing or singing, from acting or playing an instrument. But it is indeed an art. An art of creation.

So my new question to myself is – how can I get readers to connect with every character I create? (a question which deserves its own blog post to answer). Later gators!

New Blog - My Novel

2009-02-13T08:43:00.000-08:00

I've finally decided to take a leaf out of Miss Glam's book and create a blog for my first novel. It's completed and in draft 2.5 stage, and I would LOVE to get some feedback and advice on it. If you would like an invite to read, just leave a comment on this post or shoot me an email (pagemefantasmic@yahoo.com).

For those of you who havn't been with my blog long enough to know what Book 1 (AUC, aka Angel Undercover) is all about, you can check out this post to see my sample back cover and hook page. It is a YA fantasy and is currently at 100K, though I'd really like to whittle that down to 80K or less.

I've stared at the thing for so long that I'm not sure what needs cut and what needs expanded on, so I come to you, my fellow writers/bloggers for advice. I sincerely appreciate any imput you may have, strongly dislike sugarcoating, and will reciprocate if let me know what you want looked at.

Thanks and here goes nothing!

-Anette

The Thursday Three

2009-02-12T06:45:00.000-08:00

1. I feel like I don't blog often enough. In the past couple months, it's only been about once a week. The reason? My blogging is almost directly proportional to how much I'm writing. To those of you who like to read this blog, I'm sorry! I prefer to post only when I have something insightful to say. Sadly, today is not one of those days.

2. Lately I've been on Critique Circle a lot, mostly working on helping other people with their stories. And the comments that have been left on my posted work have helped me immensely. I love it! Whoever thought up that site is genius. I recommend it to any aspiring author. You have to have thick skin though and be ready to sort out the good advice from the less useful tidbits. (Aren't I tactful today)

3. I've been working on several new story ideas. At some point though I'm going to have to pick one and stick with it long enough to write it. I'm plotting and outlining on a slipstream, a thriller, and a fairy tale. Plus I have a horror short story on the side. All of which means that I'm working, but have very little to actually show for it. I've pretty much put Snatch (Book B, my NaNo project) on hold indefinately. I'm just not feeling inspired even though I think there are only six chapters (20K) left to write. It makes me feel extremely down that I can't seem to kick myself into gear on that. I hate leaving a project unfinished...

Be back, hopefully soon, hopefully with something more insightful to share.

Anette

For Better or For Worse

2009-02-03T18:54:00.000-08:00

I'll admit I havn't been writing much lately. Shame on me, I know. As it stands:

-I'm updating AUC to a draft 3
-3 complete copies of draft 2 are floating amongst friends and family reviewers
-I'm at a stalemate with Snatch (book B, my NaNo project) I need a swift kick in the toosh with that one
-My muse continues to visit me with ideas, which I write down
-I have started my first horror short story
-I'm plotting out OTS (book C)
-I've spent hours of enjoyable time reading (Jim Butcher and Rachel Vincent recently)
-Chapter 1 of AUC went up on Critique Circle this week and based on the critiques I recieved, I've updated it. Most notably the first 250 words have changed a lot. So I've decided to post up both the draft 2 version and draft 3 for your comparison. I'd love to hear your thoughts on if its improved as much as I think it has or if it still needs a lot of work.

Draft 2

School was the peace in my life.
Once inside the schoolyard each morning, I was able to relax. In here, there were limits to how bad kids could be. Teachers wouldn’t think twice about sending someone home for misbehaving and all of us, no matter how tough, would rather be in here than out there.
Sadly, we were just three short days away from autumn break and the end of my second to last semester here. I wished I wasn’t so close to turning fifteen. I wasn’t ready to graduate. I reveled in all the blissful moments of calm I could get.
But as I left Crossroads Fundamental School each afternoon, I felt like a target walking.
I hurried from the very heart of the city up the gentle slope toward my home in the upper east quarter. My heart fluttered nervously whenever anyone walked too near.
Rose Creek Bridge. I was halfway there.
A man sat in the middle of the bridge, playing a lively tune on a strange amber flute. He seemed completely unafraid, steadily meeting the eyes of each person that passed him. His boldness was unheard of in these present times. It made me wary.
I slowed down, not sure I really wanted to cross within arm’s reach of the man. He didn’t look scary, I reasoned. Unsettled as I was by his confidence, I stepped forward, muscles tightened, ready to run at any moment.
As soon as my foot touched the bridge, everything changed.

Draft 3

“See you tomorrow, Paige!”
I ducked my head and waved to my classmate shyly, berating myself for lack of backbone. Then I neared the school’s iron gates and more important matters required my attention.
School was the peace in my life. Within these fences, I reveled in a blissful calm that only came from enforced limits. Our instructors dealt with rabble-rousers by sending them home. And all of us, no matter how tough, would rather be in here than out there.
I hurried from Crossroads Fundamental School up the gentle slope. The fire pit was near my home, deep within the upper east quarter. My heart fluttered off-beat whenever anyone passed by too close. In the open streets, I felt very much like a walking target.
Halfway there, a man sat in my path on Rose Creek Bridge. He was playing a lively tune on an amber flute. I slowed my pace as he steadily met my gaze. I really didn’t want to cross within arm’s reach of the strange man. His boldness was unheard of in these fearful times and his music seemed to belong to some other, happier, place.
He didn’t look scary, I reasoned. And there was no safe place for me to go if I turned back. Unsettled as I was by his confidence, I smoothed the skirts of my school uniform and stepped forward, prepared to run at any moment.
As soon as my foot touched the stonework of the bridge, everything changed.

So let's have it... is it for better... or for worse? Does it hook you? I'd love to hear your feedback.

Anette

Ode To Voice

2009-01-15T10:21:00.001-08:00

At the end of my commenting on this month’s Are You Hooked I realized I had:
30 Not Hooked(s)
13 Hooked(s)
and 8 On The Fence(s)
so I went back through and picked out my top favorites and I realized that all of them I picked for the same reason: voice.

Top Pick
11: The Biggest Weirdo in the Whole Eighth Grade***** If I were an agent, I would snatch this one up to read.

Runner Ups (in no particular order)
37: However
36: The-Not-So-Beauty-Pageant Queen
15: Panic
25: Stop the Presses

Honorable Mentions (picked for originality, not voice)
19: Prisoners of the Throne
27: Forest for the Trees
45: Pandora

Now I’ve heard agents talking about how much voice matters to them, but I never realized until now just how much it matters to me. I should have though, because in my reading I tend toward the authors with more voice than others. It’s the reason I love Patricia Briggs’ Mercy Thompson and Scott Westerfeld’s Tally Youngblood. They have voice.

Now I want voice. In my writing that is.
Maybe it’s something I can work on more.

There is, in fact, a project that I believe could be great, but I refuse to start in earnest until I feel like I have a solid unique voice for my main character.

How’s your voice?

Are You Hooked?

2009-01-15T10:20:00.001-08:00

Last night I read and responded to all of the Are You Hooked entries at Miss Snark’s First Victim and I feel that I need a disclaimer or at least to talk about it.

Let me preface this blog by saying that very few of the entries hooked me and that I was honest in my comments. Though I tried not to say anything that could be taken as rude, I also did not sugar coat my feedback.

Now, the reason I’m blogging about the experience is that I do feel bad for not being able to give many positive reviews. As I am a writer as well, I feel I need this disclaimer. Here it is:

-No, I do not think the writers who didn’t hook me are terrible writers.
-No, I didn’t enter anything to this one, because I was late (3 hours and it was full up!)
-No, I don’t think my openings are better than other people’s

Yes, I DO think that good, solid, reel-you-in openings are the hardest, let me repeat, hardest, part of writing a good novel. It’s what I struggle with the most and I’m sure what many other writers feel likewise. It is for this reason that I am completely honest when I read others’ openings.

Think about it… We’re each trying to write a opening that gets the reader into the world of the novel, makes them care about at least one character, and includes or at least hints at the coming conflict… all without info dumping or putting in anything unnecessary that will slow the reader down or cause them to lose interest.

We want to write fantasmic, stupendous, knock-your-socks-off and make you buy this book openings. Not okay, not good, not so-so… In a market as tough as the publishing industry, we need to create literary miracles with our openings. They are the first think a potential agent, a potential editor, a potential publisher, and (most importantly) a potential reader is going to see. I am firmly convinced that writing a great opener is the hardest part of producing a great book.

Now some authors might have this down to a science, or “in the bag” if you will, but how many of you have rewritten your prologue or chapter one? How many have rewritten it five times? Ten times? Twenty?

So yes, I may have been bluntly honest with my comments (and no, no one has attacked me for it, this is just my own nagging conscience), but I do that because I would want the same done to mine. In the hardest of tasks, I want the most truthful, hold-nothing-back criticism you can give me. Because that’s what it’ll take to get my ‘script into an agents hands, into a spine, and into the hands of a fellow lover-of-words. Hopefully thousands of them.

Whew, I got a little worked up over this. Didn’t expect to, but I did. There you have it. My disclaimer. Are you hooked?

Anette

Saturday Six

2009-01-10T20:49:00.000-08:00

Haha... I won't be doing this every week, but in the good-spirit of mimicry, I'll update this way this week.

1. I revisited my interest in Dark Angel, watching both seasons last week and decided to order the three DA books that came out after the third season didn't get picked up by FOX. The end of the second season left so many open holes. The books have mixed reviews, so I'll decide for myself. I'm thinking the cause for some of the negativity is in the transistion between TV show and literary medium. Fans of the show likely have expectations that couldn't be met in book form. We'll see. I'll have to update my impressions after reading.

2. I'm taking down Page Me Choice. It's a fun activity, but between Critique Circle, this blog, my main writing, and life, I'm not finding the drive to keep Choice running smoothly. I may use the premise I had for Choice in a later story/novel idea.

3. I'm about halfway through Jim Butcher's Furies of Calderon and so far it's great. In the field of epic fantasy, he's already earned a gold star from me. Mainly, I think this is because Butcher's writing style balances the focus on multiple characters, so much so that I can't surely say which are main characters and which are secondary. I care about many characters equally, which is rare. I love it.

4. Tonight I indent do return to the writing of Snatch. More on that later.

5. Washington was hit with furious winds, rain, and warm temps, all of which contributed to the removal of the precious snow I need to go boarding. *cry* Oh well, next weekend I'm headed to Oregon on a snowboarding trip with my fam. Yay!

6. I see why most people stick with five. ;) Actually, life is generally going well. That should work... How goes it for you?

So Long ’08! Welcome ’09!

2008-12-31T20:59:00.001-08:00

Each New Years Eve, I usually look forward to the next year and plan what I’d like to do, make resolutions, etc, but I’ve never really taken a good hard look back at the year that passed. Several of the blogs I follow have taken this approach, so I decided I’d like to try it.

In 2008:
-I spent the first half of the year developing several dozen new friendships in Tacoma, reveling in the social light.
-I made a spontaneous decision to move to central Washington and followed through with it a mere six weeks later. This was huge for me because 1) spontaneity is not my strong suit (I’m a meticulous planner) and 2) I see it as the first big life choice I’ve made. Going to college and graduating college and moving back to Washington and getting a job were all things I felt I had to do. This move was the first thing I did just because I really wanted to. *pats self on back*
-I spent the second half of the year developing relationships with an aunt, uncle, and three cousins who I’ve known and loved my whole life, but never got to be close to.
-I started and finished the first two drafts of my first book. Although I don’t foresee publishing it, I am extremely grateful for the experience and look forward to developing my writing skills further. I’ve found writing to be both passion and hobby and I feel it enriches my life even if I never sell a book. Also I got 30K into my second novel’s rough draft.

Smaller events of 2008:
-driving a loop around the Olympic Peninsula and seeing the cool temperate rainforest there
-reviving my love of reading (which lessened somewhat in college sadly)
-(re)learning to snowboard and loving it
-getting my substitute teaching license and subbing grades preschool to twelve

Looking forward to 2009:
-I plan to finish my second book and hopefully write my third. By the end of 2009, I hope to have at least one manuscript that I feel is ready to start querying.
-I plan to get outside more. Snowboarding, hiking, biking, camping, whatever… part of the reason I moved out here was to be away from gray concrete and near nature, so I plan to make a more active lifestyle out here
-(hopefully) find a love interest. Hey, what’s a 23 year old girl to do, right?
-generally live life without much of a plan. I’m working on that whole spontaneity thing.

Crazy Days

2008-12-13T19:27:00.000-08:00

Well, school finished up last week and I've decided I'm not going back. I would feel bad for "quitting" if I didn't already have a bachelor's, but I feel I've paid my time. So a big hip hip horray for freedom and free time!

In other news, I've joined Critique Circle. I must say I like it very much so already. It's proven to be very helpful. Due to this connection, I'm taking Page Me Petite down since it serves the same function as CC, except with fewer critiquers. :-)

Winter has officially settled in here in Eastern Washington. The snow has been coming down for the past two days and the roads are slick. My job has given us optional overtime hours (which it never does) and my cousin lent me Warcraft III, thus I've had little to do with writing outside of critiquing for others. I've decided to let myself play this holiday season, so writing in earnest will settle in once more come January. I will continue to update Page Me Choice each Monday, read others' blogs, play on CC, and probably edit a prologue based on what others have given me in feedback.

That is the short of all the updates in my life. Hope they didn't bore you too terribly.

Tata from Anette

Are You Pulling or Pushing Your Plot?

2008-12-05T06:14:00.000-08:00

I’ve been noticing this contrast in many books I read and then compared my own work. As a writer, I’m more of a puller, whereas I like to read plots that are pushed.

Allow me to explain my thinking here.

Whether a story is propelled forward by characters or events, whether it’s a mystery, adventure, or love story, it is either being pulled or pushed. What I mean by this is that the reader is either being dragged through a series of events (pulled) without really understanding where its going or they are shoved through it (pushed) where you feel like you’re standing right next to the character as an active decision maker in the story.

The former situation tends to happen more with action oriented plots, where the character(s) have to respond to whatever is happening around them, while the latter usually occurs in character driven plots, where the character(s) make decisions that set events into motion. Mysteries can run either way, but I prefer the pushed ones, because then I feel that the character is being proactive and has some control over the situation. I would argue that no genre or category of stories is exclusively pulling or pushing, though they certainly tend to lean one way or the other,

I wouldn’t say that pushing is better than pulling, though I imagine some publishers and editors might. What about you? Do you have a preference as a reader? Do you find your writing falling steadily into one of these categories? Or – and it must be asked – is my rambling making no sense whatsoever? Haha.

In any case, it’s a thought that’s run through my weeble wobble head lately, along with methods of choosing which perspective each story ought to be told from (first, third, omniscient, limited…). But that’s a topic for another day…

For a quick update, I finished Ch 7 of Book B two nights ago, hacked and slashed a short story into prologue form (For Book C - OTS) last night, and outlined Book 2 (AUT) tonight. That’s what’s going on in my wonderful world of writing. I found the F2S round over at Miss Snark’s First Victim to be very helpful. If you haven’t been to Authoress’s blog, stumble on over there the next chance you get.

Okies, that’s enough for this girl. Time for bed.
(Don’t give me that strange look, I’m nocturnal!) :-)

-Anette

Page Me Choice

2008-12-01T01:30:00.000-08:00

Howdy everyone!

Just a couple quick updates to usher in the new month. Yes, it's December already. Scary huh?

Update 1: I've changed the goal wordcount of Book B to 80,000 since NaNo is over and a more realistic length is in order. On a sad note, that makes me much further from that goal. But I must reach it, because my cousin will kill me if I don't finish Book B. He loves it.

Update 2: I've spent a couple days tinkering around with children's books. Yes, I totally realize this is distracting me from my main goal - that being publishing YA fantasy novels - but it was interesting. My grandmother really wants to write kiddie stories and I think it would be fantasmic to make online "read alongs" for little kids, since they are supposed to read 20 minutes a day and many, if not most, parents don't have the time or inclination to do that with them. 'Tis a project to play with.

Update 3: I've created two new blogs, neither of which will be as active as my main one here (I think). The first, Page Me Petite, is a place where I will post flash fiction, short stories, and kiddie fiction I write. Since my main interest is novels, I feel comfortable sharing my shorter work with others under a Creative Commons license. The blog is by invitation only, though so if you want in, you'll have to ask. The second new blog, Page Me Choice, is my personal writing gym. I get to exercise my skills whilst entertaining whoever would like to read along. "Choice" is an open blog, in which I write little episodes and then ask the readers to make a decision, which I base the next post on. Sound fun? Read along...

Anyway, I know that probably sounds like I've loaded my plate too full, but I'll manage, I promise! I've decided to stop taking classes at the college seeing as I already have one degree and I'd really rather focus on writing. It's what bring joy and satisfaction into my life anyway and it would be nice to just live life to live life rather than planning to live life.

If you find you enjoy Page Me Choice, please do invite your friends to read too. The more decision makers there are, the more fun it can be!

Finding My Focus

2008-11-30T22:25:00.001-08:00

This holiday weekend, I was given the opportunity to gain some perspective on both my life and my novel (AUC). Since this is a blog about writing, I'll not tire you with the details of my life. :-)

I spent a long time preparing to write AUC, which resulted in many characters with conflicts that weave together throughout the story. I like this, because it makes the reader feel like everyone is real and that the main character is not disproportionately interesting, but it does set me up to lose my focus. Add to the mix the fact that AUC was my first full novel and you have a recipe for author-blindness. :-)

Up until this weekend, I've stuttered and stumbled when people ask me what my book is about. It's long and multilayered. How could I sum it up quickly without going into a whole spiel? I wished for ages that I could come up with something clever to match taglines like "A girl falls in love with a vampire" or "A boy goes off to a boarding school that teaches magic" or "Four kids fall through a wardrobe into another world"

And this weekend, I've finally found my focus. It should seem obvious, that the main character's main conflict should be my focus, but with everything else going on, I seemed to lose myself. When my grandmother was talking with me about the various story ideas I have, I told her AUC was really about a girl who gains confidence and finds herself - a sort of coming of age story. The second those words left my lips, I felt the figurative light-bulb turn on. Oh! Right! Why was that so hard before?

So today I was perusing Lady Glamis's blogs and saw that she'd been tasked to write a summary sentence for her novel (15 words or less) and I decided to try writing one for mine. This is what I came up with:

"An unconfident teenage girl discovers her true potential while on an adventure of world changing proportions."

Does that appeal to you? I know it's vague, but what can you do in 15 words? I even cheated and used 16! Have any of you found it difficult to summarize your book for curious people? Ever written a snippet summary?

Anyway, I'm happy. Now when I go back through for Draft 3, I'll know how to focus the book so the reader isn't as disoriented as I was...

It's Alive!

2008-11-27T06:23:00.000-08:00

I feel like Dr. Frankenstein.

Before I begin querying for AUC, I am sending Draft 2 out to several test subjects – ahem, I mean, friends – who will hopefully give me some useful feedback. Once I’ve collected the test data – or criticism (constructive, of course) – then I’ll run AUC through the wringer to produce a Draft 3, which hopefully far exceeds Draft 2.

So in preparing Draft 2, I may have went a little overboard, but I wanted my test readers to feel like they were reading a complete novel. I wrote a back cover blurb and made a front cover. Then the blurb looked plain, so I had to design a back cover. Then I made a hook page (you know, the excerpt that sometimes appears before the title page). So I put all these, along with the ms into a three ring binder, with the “covers” in the clear pockets on front and back. As a result AUC looks like an actual book (sorta) and as I feel like a proud mom. The fact that I’ve written a full novel never really sunk in until I was loading the binder with almost 200 ms pages. I was thinking, “Wow, I really wrote all this. All those words… all those filled pages… I did that.” It seemed unreal and real in the same moment.

Now hopefully the quality matches the quantity and AUC can make it into real bindings. Since I went to the trouble to make a cover blurb and a hook page, I’ll share them here. I’m not completely happy with the blurb and I’m sure a professional could do a far better job, but it’s my attempt to sum up the book without giving too much away while still attracting interest (a daunting task). I’d love to hear what you think of each.

Back Cover Blurb:

__She Always Wanted To Help,
______But Never Felt She Could…
_____________…Until Now

Shy dreamer Paige Moss is forcibly yanked from her ordinary, yet danger-ridden life, into a part of her world that was supposed to exist only in myth and legend.

She encounters a colony of fabled creatures that’s tense with discord as it gears up for battle, with Paige’s older sister as its commander and her home nation as its contender.

Paige must sort through layers of intrigue and outright lies to discover who’s at the heart of the conflict, a task that’s complicated by the fact that her own beloved sister tops the suspect list.

When the lives of those she loves are threatened, can Paige muster enough courage to save them?

Hook (Excerpt) Page:

A few months ago, I laughed at my mum for being paranoid. Only after several of my classmates and neighbors became victims did I smarten up.

___Adrenaline pumped through my veins and I ran harder than I’ve ever run in my life. I could still hear their pounding footsteps behind me. Glancing back again, I saw that they were gaining on me once more.
___I ducked into another alleyway and pulled on the first door I came to.
___It opened easily.
___I threw myself inside and ran through the kitchen of the pub and out through the bar room. Dozens of dining faces stared at me as I shot past them and out the front door. I doubled back into the same alleyway I started in, hoping that all of my pursuers followed me into the pub.
___The alley was empty.
___I figured if I could make it to the end and turn down the street before the thieves came out of the pub, I might make it. Hope stirred, but I still felt woefully exposed.
___I was almost at the end when the thieves jumped out of the pub door to block my escape. My feet scuffed to a halt and reversed quickly to retreat. Their expressions were fearful. Wait. Fearful? Yes, eyes wide, mouths hanging open, and they too were backing away. I couldn’t understand why.
___Claws grasped my shoulders, sending a spasm of pain through me. My feet left the ground, swinging wildly as if I could still run away.

So there you have it. Based on one or both of these samples, would you pick up my book?

As a side note, I am sad to say I lost my NaNo challenge, what with job changes, exams, and a myriad of other excuses distracting me. I think if I were juggling a couple fewer things, I’d have gotten through it, but at least NaNo gave me a good jump into Book B. I’ll likely not get any writing done until December, so my NaNo total stands at 22,600 words.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Devaluing the Valuable

2008-11-21T14:15:00.001-08:00

I have spent the last few weeks devaluing Book 1 (AUC) in light of how much better Book B seems to be going. So much so, in fact, that I’d whittled my experience and the resulting work down to nearly worthless.

It was only when I went back to proofread parts of AUC (because a friend requested to read it) that I remembered how much I like the story. There are flaws in it, certainly, but as I laughed at the idiosyncrasy of the characters or the ways the events wind, I realized my merriment might be shared by others.

Yet even without that, the learning process that came with AUC should not be devalued. No, never that. Because without a first book, there cannot be a second or third. Without a beginning, there can be no progression.

I’d gotten to the point where I thought that AUC was only worth the lessons and practice I garnered from it, viewing it as something that would never graze the fingertips of a potential agent, much less see print.

But I’ve renewed hope.

Although I am unsure as to which direction I need to take AUC in order to fix the problems I see in it (mostly because I’m not sure I have the right perspective to say for certain what the problems really are), I now see the value and potential in the story as I saw it while writing.

I don’t think myself a writing genius by any stretch of the imagination, but sometimes when I reread a scene, I’ll find it hard to believe I actually wrote it because it seems beyond my capabilities.

Have any of you found yourselves in similar predicaments – having written something, and then forgotten its worth, only to find it later as a lost treasure?

PS: If my diction or syntax seems unusual today, it’s because I’m writing this blog while watching Interview With a Vampire. :-)

Direct vs Indirect Perspective

2008-11-18T06:16:00.000-08:00

Okay, I’m back. The test is over and I can write freely again. I’m a solid 8K behind now, but moving forward again, which is always good. I also had a fantasmic night of writing last night, getting through a scene I was stuck on and accomplishing a whopping 3500 words overall. Not bad considering I like the fight scenes that I got to write. I’m currently at 22K and in the middle of Chapter 7.

My current challenge is trying to figure out how to explain a change that happens within the main character given that it’s a first person narrator. Like, he’s one way, then switches to another, then back to the original way (mostly).

Now obviously, since the story is in past tense (he walked, they stabbed, we laughed) the expectation is that the MC is telling the story to you after its all done happening. Given that, he’d have the perspective to say “I was off my rocker” or something to that effect, but I don’t feel that a direct explanation like that fits within my story smoothly.

It’s sort of a camera angle problem for me. Like in the commercials where the spokesperson is speaking to someone just over the shoulder of the cameraman rather than speaking directly into the camera. Switching between the two seems disruptive and a bit disorienting to me. Have any of you noticed that or am I just being finicky?

Off to sleep. Have a spifferific day!

Variable Daily Word Goals

2008-11-14T06:24:00.000-08:00

I’ve been thinking about the reasons this book is going slower for me than the last.

There is a significant difference of words per day: Book B – 2,000 vs Book 1 – 3,500. That’s almost half!

Reason #1 – I had a much longer outline for Book 1. So I didn’t have to be AS creative when I sat down to write since it was basically there and I just had to fill in the details. For this one I have a very sketchy outline (like a sentence per chapter), so when I write I have to figure things out more as I go. That’s hard in perfect conditions, but when you’re tired… ouch.

Reason #2 – I find dialogue much easier to write than action. Maybe it’s because I’m a girl and we’re supposed to be more conversation oriented or maybe dialogue is just easier to write for everyone. If you have thoughts on this, let me know. There certainly must be a proper balance between the two, but I’m not sure which of my stories is nearer to that balance. My first book had more talk than action, while this one has a LOT of action. So it’s harder and slower.

So with that in mind my daily word goals are different. I aimed for a chapter a night with Book 1, but with Book B I shoot for 2K and make it if I’m lucky. Do any of you find a significant difference in your goals between your different stories? What are the factors that affect that difference?

Anyway, my brain is tired and I didn’t meet my word goal last night, so I’m off to sleep. *sigh*

Almost Halfway There ... And Not

2008-11-12T17:03:00.001-08:00

Well, it's the 12th of November, which means in three days, we should all be to 25,000 words right? Hehe...

For all I love this book better than my first, it's coming along slower. I finished Ch 5 and am at 15,ooo words (when I should be around 20K by now) and I desperately want to get to 50K this month. Not so much to "win" NaNo, but because this story will probably not exceed 75K, so being to 50 would make me 2/3 done. Unfortunately, life tasks and sleep deprivation are hindrances to the writing process.

I'd like to get into some details about the current story and why I like it so much, but for now, it's off to class. Weeeee!

The Black Hole

2008-11-06T07:08:00.000-08:00

Blogger and NaNo are eating my time. I'm not really complaining because it's my choice to partake of these activities, but I spend way more time online than I used to. And online time is time not spent writing or studying or doing any of those nasty errand and shopping thingies. Seriously, I used to check my email, facebook, myspace, bank account, and blog and be off in thirty minutes flat. I'm staring the clock now wondering how an hour and ten minutes have passed. I need to say it: I'm out!

Oh, and Book B is up to 6530 words. Yay for eensy weensy progress :) It's still progress...

Ah, the Thrill of a Challenge...

2008-11-05T09:49:00.000-08:00

Writing is so much fun! Have I ever mentioned that? Yes? I have? Oh, well, I thought it needed reiteration.

I've been snooping around NaNo and other blogs and I'm amazed at how many people cringe before a writing challenge.

Sure, I've had rough patches while writing Book 1 - times when I couldn't figure out how to accomplish a scene, or how to explain something. Times when my creativity flattened and I couldn't write period. Times when I doubted myself and the quality of my work. But those were not - let me repeat, NOT - the most prevalent times.

For 90% of my rough draft experience with AUC, I trilled at telling Paige's story. I loved the character interactions and how characters and events managed to surprise even me. I love the feeling that I was outdoing my expectations by writing better than I thought I could.

I write because I love writing. If you don't love it, then why force yourself to go through what many have described as an agonizing process? It just doesn't add up to me...

Anyway, my update for the day is that I've finished chapter 1 of Book B (5K words). Time to sleep.

Book 1 (AUC) Rough Draft is DONE!

2008-11-04T06:23:00.000-08:00

As promised (at least to myself) the rough draft is finished. In keeping with my number freak-ish-ness, here are the ending stats.

Standard
Words per average ms page: 550 (12pt TNR single spaced)
Words per average book page: 300

1. AUC
Began: August 29th, 2008
Finished: November 4th, 2008
Average words per day: 2-5 thousand
Average chapter length: 3,950 words, 7 ms pages, 13 book pages

As of Draft 2:
Half length (thru ch 13): 96 ms pages, 177 book pages (~53,000 words)
Full length (thru ch 25): 178 ms pages, 330 book pages (~99,000 words)

And I'm thoroughly pleased... not with the draft, just that it is done...

The Road of Revisions is sure to be long and windy, but for now, I'm setting it aside to work on NaNoWriMo (and pass my classes and read wonderful books like Iron Kissed...)

My first book ever is DONE! I feel like Dr. Frankenstein, only it won't really "live" until it sees publication so that other people can enjoy the world that haunts my waking moments...

Determined to Finish

2008-11-03T20:44:00.000-08:00

Between work, sleep, school, and not one, but two writing projects, my juggling skills should be improving right? Add to that the fact that I'm completely addicted to a good book (like now, Iron Kissed, by Patricia Briggs) and am completely incapable of focusing on other things when in the middle of one.

But I'm determined to finish Book 1 (AUC) tonight. All that's left is to wrap everything up and wind it down, and I fear that if I don't get too it soon, my own interest will wind down. I also feel guilty working on my NaNoWriMo project with this one still not done, so with any luck, I'll get to post around 7AM tomorrow morning that AUC is all done and I'm celebrating...

That would be wonderful, considering I have an exam on Thursday to study for. But then there's still Iron Kissed to get over. Ah, the life of a book-a-holic...

*sigh*

If I could... No, I would still rather be an addict :-) Wouldn't you?

NaNoWriMo - the Book B project

2008-11-01T06:42:00.001-07:00

Howdy to all of yous out there in cyberland,

Well it's morning on November 1st, which means the start gun went off almost seven hours ago... the race to a 50,000 word (or longer) novel(la) has begun. And like all long distance races, for most of us this is about finishing rather than coming in first.

I've begun my second book this morning, and for the purposes of this blog, I'll call it Book B. It is in the same world as Book 1, with a few of the same characters, but it's not really connected with Book 1, so I'm not wanting to call it Book 2. The MC of Book B is a secondary character in Book 1 and it's told for his POV. I'm a little over 2,000 words into it and so far I'm liking it better than Book 1. Not sure if that's a good thing or not...

Anyway, I'm still about 4K away from finishing Book 1, or a little over a chapter. That's all the updates for now... tata!

Edit: as a secondary, unrelated note, I just noticed that the full trailer for Twilight has been posted. So here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxjNDE2fMjI

It's All Downhill From Here

2008-10-30T09:22:00.001-07:00

I finished chapter 23 last night and it feels GREAT! The main conflict and fights scene are done, down on paper, and out of my worry closet. I’ve been looking forward to writing the resolution for a long time so I don’t imagine that will be hard. It is all downhill from here. Yeah!

The main fight scene will probably require a lot of revision, but I’m happy with it thusfar. As a rough, it’s not terrible. I’m thinking I have two chapters left to write and right now I’m at 92,500! That’s pretty darn close to where I should be at this point.

On another note, I am signed up to do the NaNoWriMo (http://www.nanowrimo.org/) next month. It’s where writers across the world (read: a writer is anyone who puts words down on paper, or a computer screen, so you can do this too if you feel so inclined) spend the month of November writing a 50,000 word novel from scratch. Now, I know that sounds daunting, but I banged out the first 72,000 words of my current novel in the first month, so I know it’s do-able.

Now the real question in… What story should I tell?

(Join in if you think that sounds like fun! I’ll be your cheerleader and you can be mine.)

Edit: Hey I'm 92.5% done! Does that mean I get an A for effort? No? Darn!

Real and Tangible

2008-10-27T06:53:00.000-07:00

Tonight I finished Chapter 22, am up to 86,800 words, and right up to the beginning of the climax. Excitement!

This is the first time that I’ve thought of my book and my world as believable for other people. It’s always seemed real to me, as in tangible, where what you see is only the tip of what’s all there, but I think I’ve finally gotten enough on paper to convey that realness. I feel like there is finally enough depth.

I hope it’s not bad that it didn’t fully happen until the 22nd chapter, but hey, maybe that’s normal. At least it happened before the end of the book, so that when a reader finishes it, the whole thing can feel real to them, like it does me. Okay, maybe it won’t be AS real to them as me because I still hold about a thousand cards in my paw. We’ll see how many I get to deal out over the course of a few books…

The next chapter is my big, glorious, action-packed battle / climax. And now that its here, I’m both excited to get the privilege to write it and terrified of screwing it up. I’ve never written a battle as large as this one, but then hey, I’ve never written a book before this one either, so that shouldn’t be a deterrent. It’s just the fact that so much has to happen in the scene for several characters, and they can’t all die, but it has to be tough, and believable, and scary. It is the culmination of everything my MC has learned up to this point and she somehow has to win. Yeah, daunting to me at least…

Perhaps I’m the one that has to win this battle instead of my MC. Hmm…

Can't Get Enough

2008-10-24T06:36:00.001-07:00

One of the biggest reasons I love writing is that the characters and scenes I get to create intrigue me. The second biggest reason is that they frequently do things that I don't plan. I'll be writing along, following the story as it unfolds in my head and end up loving something I wrote even though I wrote it.

It's like I get to be the writer and the reader all in one!
Can't get any better than that.

I do follow an outline, but I think my outlines are general enough that I get to play. I could never be a panzer, nor do I think I'd like following a highly detailed outline. To give you an idea, the outline for Book 1 was three pages single spaced, size 10 TNR font. Starting out, it looked incredibly detailed, but when you get into the gritty of it, a 1,000 word outline gives you a lot of freedom in a 100,000 word story.

So last night I finished chapter 21 and loved where the ride took me. I'm fairly close to the biggest battle in the book and a wee bit nervous about writing it, but if the process is anything like it was for most of the rest of the book, then it should be a blast.

My concern is that after that conflict is over, I have quite a bit of resolution, with a surprise finish. I don't see a problem with it, but I wonder if agents/editors/publishers will.

Likewise, earlier in the novel I had eleven chapters of rising action, a chapter of climax, and then seven chapters of action (but not rising action) before we start the rise to the big finish. I did this, 1) because it fits my storyline, and 2) because in real life conflicts, its not always all constant building tension. It's a bit unorthodox (at least I think it is), so I'm hoping my chances of publishing it won't be hurt simply because I don't have 22 chapters of rising action followed by a climax followed by a resolution.

Anyone have an opinion to share on this? Is my rising / falling sequence likely to hurt me or do you find it refreshing to read a story that follows my pattern?

Falling Back In Love...

2008-10-19T10:30:00.000-07:00

…with your own story. I’ve spent the last few weeks plagued with doubts about my story. It’s too unfocused, it has cardboard characters, it has weak development, its juvenile, etc… Of course it may be none of these, but that’s how my mind has been. The last worry is a little ironic considering I’m writing a YA novel. It’s supposed to be juvenile! Anyway, I went back through and read a bunch of scenes further back in the story and, to my great amazement, I found it to be interesting and intriguing. Almost like someone else had written my story for me and I got to see it through their words. I like it, I really do. It’s not probably my best potential, but it’s certainly not a bad start either.

I think most of my doubt came from making unfair comparisons with books I’m reading. I see this book and say “well I don’t do that” or “they do that so much better,” yet I never turn around and see what I do that isn’t in the books I’m comparing my work too. There’s only so much you can squeeze into a 100,000 word novel, so it’s really a matter of picking your priorities. I know that’s very generalized, but this would be a really long post if I went into it all.

I’m just hoping my entire writing career isn’t a neverending series of love it / hate it waves. Doubt is a big bad enemy to my writing mojo. I need to build my confidence out of bricks instead of sticks, I suppose.

Quick Update

2008-10-11T22:30:00.001-07:00

Well it's been almost a week since my last post, so I'm throwing a quick one up here for an update.

After my nearly two weeks worth of no writing due to distractions I finally got back on the bandwagon. This week I finished a chapter and a half, only about 5,500 words. What's sad is that I used to write that much each night for the first two weeks when I started the book.

I'm taking this as a writing lesson. Don't take a big break or let yourself get distracted when you're in the middle of a project. Maybe it doesn't bother some writers but it really threw off my groove. But with the end of chapter twenty in sight and prolly six chapters to go after that, I really want to finish it.

Also, when I'm working on it I find I like the story and I think it's good, but during the two week break I found my doubts growing larger and larger. Not good.

Off to work again... woohoo!

Guilty of Distractions

2008-10-05T23:46:00.000-07:00

Yep, I’ll admit it. I have spent the last week being completely unproductive when it comes to Book 1. Starting chapter 19 has been hard because the chapter encompasses two and a half weeks worth of time. Obviously not a lot happens in that time or it wouldn’t all fit in one chapter, but trying to tell how two and a half weeks passes without breaking the cardinal “show, don’t tell” rule is HARD. I wrote about 500 words of summary about a week ago and then closed the doc out in frustration.

Since then, I’ve made up about four excuses for why I havn’t opened it back up.
-I reviewed an old story idea and started chapter one (only about 500 words)
-I reviewed an old short story and completely revised it, readying it for potential publication
-I came up with about 6 new story ideas, and majorly filled out one of them. (hmm, majorly isn’t a word according to Word. Imagine that…)
-I had a biology test to study for (the only legitimate reason I’ve had to delay work on Book 1)

Thus I’ve been keeping myself busy, but I’ve been putting off the real project… shame on me! It’s not that I’ve gotten bored with it or anything, it’s that I got lazy and unmotivated :)

So today I finally got back on the figurative horse. Not sure how much I’ll get done, considering I have that test tomorrow, but something is better than nothing right? I revised part of chapter 11, and am getting back into 19… yea, go me…

Yeehaw! Giddy-up, horse! (Anyone know how to spell git-e-up? Is giddy up right?)

Edit: I’d forgotten how fun writing this story is! And easy. Once I made myself sit down, it just flowed. Up to 73,000 words now and off to bed (5AM)

Why Writers Can't Be Their Own Editors

2008-10-03T19:09:00.000-07:00

It's simple, really...

After a certain point in editing, we writers cannot fix everything, because our noses are pressed up the to metaphorical painting we've created. We need someone objective to smooth out those last few edges and tell us where we sucked. :) And you know what? We love it! Because learning what's not perfect in your masterpeice gives you back the paintbrush to go fix it.

On that note, I have gotten about as far as I can on editing my own short story. It looks great to me, but I KNOW someone with a keen eye will find about a hundred flaws I can't see.

So, basically, what I'm saying is... Help?!

Anyone who'd like to help edit a 7,000 word short story, let me know please.

...and I'm back off to Book 1...

Pretty and Pretty Hard

2008-10-03T18:25:00.000-07:00

Another night spent editing the old short story… And guess what? I actually like it now. Hooray!

I cut it down below 7,000 words (I’m thinking 6,000 just isn’t feasible for this one) and chopping those 3,000 words out is much like cleaning a dirty window so you can see the view. The sight was always beautiful, but you had to get rid of the gunk to really see it. That’s how I feel about this story.

It’s endearing to me. A story about familial love that doesn’t come from who you’re born to, but rather who loves you your whole life. It’s a great feeling when one of your favorite stories is one you actually got to tell.

So, anyway, I’m down to the fine tuning of it and I’m realizing from all the work that’s gone into this edit that editing a 100,000 word book is going to be long and exhausting. The only positive note is I don’t think my rough of the book is as rough as the short story was. It was a ROUGH rough! Wordy is probably the best description for how it used to look. .

But with that problem cleared up, I’m optimistic about it’s odds for publication. You just can’t hate this story unless you don’t have a heart :) My grandmother wanted me to continue the story and turn it into a book, which I just couldn’t foresee, given the ending it has, but I realized tonight that five or six years down the road in the MCs life, a real adventure would likely happen.

And it’s all set up in the short story…

I love it!

Edit: Here’s me and my number game again…

Scenes Words
Swim / Bus ............ 765
Home 1................. 948
Professor .............. 981
Crazy Bell 1 ......... 1,037
The Pier ............... 534
Cousins .............. 1,254
Crazy Bell 2 ........... 504
Home 2 ................ 913
Totals: 8 scenes / 6936 words

I can hardly believe that I got eight scenes to fit in under seven thousand words.

Hooray for Progress!

2008-10-02T06:02:00.000-07:00

No, I didn’t get any further in Book 1, sorry if the title was misleading, but I did discover something great!

I spent today pouring through old files, things I’d written previously, and I decided to revise a short story from my creative writing class in hopes of getting it into a magazine and establishing some credibility.

Now, I love the story itself. It’s about a girl who discovers her true heritage, and let me tell ya, it’s not even human. But reading through it, I kinda went . . . Did I write that? Yikes! The style is horrible, the pacing ghastly, the sentence structure bland, the dialogue very amateur. I even had some spots where I disobeyed the cardinal rule of writing (show don’t tell). How newb can I get?

Anyway, it will take quite a bit of work to both revise the story and bring it down to under 6,000 words (it’s almost 10,000 now). But rereading it gave me hope, because it is tangible proof that my writing abilities have improved.

Now, I wonder if, in a few years, I’ll look at Book 1 and think the same thing…

Edit: Well, I switched the perspective from third to first and got the word count down to just over 7,500. Still a lot of work to go though… It’s coming along…

Things Change

2008-09-30T19:34:00.000-07:00

I noticed awhile ago and I’m going to point out now something inevitable in the writing process… or at least in my writing process.

Things Change

I went into this first book with fourteen pages of notes. World building, character info, plotting… It was all there. But as I actually wrote, I found that my plan wasn’t always what necessarily happened.

-A main character became very secondary, nearly unimportant
-Main characters didn’t end up with the exact same personality I had planned for them.
-Several characters I hadn’t even dreamed up were suddenly there, with vibrant personalities, begging for big parts.
-Not a single chapter flowed the way I had it plotted. They didn’t generally deviate too far, but they were always different.
-Several chapters I hadn’t planned on came into existence. Like you get to chapter X and realize that this big thing needs to happen in order to get to Z. Insert Y.

It’s like the book has a mind of its own and I’m just a tool in the process of bringing it to life.

On the whole though, I think the changes were great. The characters and scenes came out better than I’d imagined them. They seemed to just flow, like they were meant to be a certain way and if I tried to force them to go my way they’d come out like twisted scrap metal instead of a shiny new car.

I’ve learned from this experiences that plotting ahead is a good idea because that’s the only thing that’s kept me from getting lost, but that I have to be flexible, because the stories and characters will change, whether I want them to or not.

Fantasmic, this world of writing, isn’t it?

Number Freak

2008-09-30T07:47:00.000-07:00

Okay, I’ll admit it… I love numbers. Not like, LOVE.
So naturally the thing to do with a writing project is figure out the statistics for it… right? Okay, so most people wouldn’t do that, but what can I say? I’m strange.

Anyway, I spent last night finishing Ch 18, rereading chapters 14-18 (finding pleasantly that I still like them), and figuring out all the numbers for the project. It’s fun. Perhaps if I write ten books I can do an analysis of my writing. Categories: over time (aka: experience), by book length, by content depth, etc.

Yeah, I know I’m a freak.

But here are the stats nonetheless. Enjoy! (unless its not your thing, in which case, skip over this post entirely *wink*)

Note: everything in white is solid, color is variable.

Standard
Words per average ms page: 550
Words per average book page: 300

Book 1
(yes it has a name, but I won’t dare post it here until editors approve)
Began: August 29th, 2008
Finished: _________, 2008
Average words per day: 2-5 thousand
Average chapter length: 4,000 words, 7 ms pages, 13 book pages

Half length (thru ch 13): 96 ms pages, 177 book pages (~53,000 words)
Full length (thru ch 26): 180 ms pages, 330 book pages (~100,000 words) expected

End of chapter 19 expected at 75,000 words, 136 ms pages (3/4 the way through)
Currently at end of chapter 18 (71,500 words, 130 ms pages, 240 book pages)

Edit: Well, I looked up the manuscript style preferred by editors and agents and its different from what I was doing. I type in 12 pt Times New Roman single spaced, which gives about 550 words per page. They like 12 pt Courier double spaced, which only gives 210 words per page, so bear in mind that my ms numbers above reflect MY ms type, not THEIR type (which I’ll have to use when I actually submit stuff, but is largely irrelevant now)

Slash and Burn

2008-09-29T23:41:00.001-07:00

I know you’re probably supposed to wait until you’ve finished the whole rough draft before you start revising, but that darn first chapter was bugging me so much. It was all I could think about. I know, sad right?

So I revised.
So sue me. ;) (That’s a joke! I’m broke, so you wouldn’t get anything anyway)

I ended up cutting about half of the first chapter out entirely. And it was painful. But it’s soooo much better now. Probably not top quality (give me like six more revisions – I’m a perfectionist), but it’s definitely better. Just above the “that sucked” line. Woot! What an accomplishment. lol

I’m thinking that all but the very best authors probably have trouble with the first chapter. It’s like this. You know a thousand things that the reader needs to know, but you have to space those things out over the whole book and even then they only get about five hundred. It’s hard. And then you have to prioritize which twenty or so are too important to leave out in this chapter or that one.

To clarify, I already knew not to dump a backstory into the first (ten) chapter(s), so I didn’t do that. But I gave details about typical day to day life, just so the reader has some jumping off point. Unfortunately, nothing exciting happens in day to day life, so much of the chapter was pointless and bland.

Hence the slashing.

Fortunately, now that I’ve seen what a drastic change it can make, I think a big edit like that will be easier from now on. Although I suspect it will probably happen to every first chapter I ever write.

Fact: Getting a project (school essay, fantasy book, anything really) started is always the hardest part. Chapter two through about eight were super easy and by chapter nine the story was getting complex enough that it started slowing down. But by far, chapter one was the hardest to write. Hardest to edit. Hardest, period.

I wish chapter ones just never existed. :)
That’s my happy thought for the day.

Tootles!

Weak Points

2008-09-28T23:36:00.001-07:00

Ugh! It’s hard to know what to do when your biggest weak point is your first chapter. You know, the part you send off for review when agents ask for it. I’m staring at it, going ‘well this is all important stuff that I can’t really cut’ so what’s a girl to do.

Starting with chapter two it all starts to flow and be peachy (chapter two is my mom’s personal favorite so far), but that’s not what I would get to show an agent. Not to mention readers. Chapter one is supposed to dazzle, to motivate a reader to keep reading, but what do you do when your chapter one is the worst spot in the whole story?

I’d throw it out if I could, but the protagonist refers back to it so many times throughout the rest of the story that it’s impossible… Ah well, I guess it’ll just have to be rewrite rewrite rewrite. Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to work I go…

I Really Love This Stuff

2008-09-28T23:35:00.000-07:00

I’ll admit readily that I didn’t expect the writing process to be fun or easy. Just thinking back to all those papers in college, and even the two semesters of creative writing, I cringe. I liked the short stories I wrote in there well enough, but pushing out a mere thousand words a week was challenging.

This first book of mine is a completely different experience. I’ve found that I love telling the story and usually have to force myself to stop writing at the end of the night. I think that the writing style is far from my potential, but I do like the story.

I feel that this is a necessary step – like there were some things I just needed to get out before I could really write. Perhaps after some heavy revision it will be sellable, but even if it never gets into bindings, I will still appreciate the experience.

To give you some background, this book was originally planned out as four, but I decided to squeeze them all together and do some serious outline updating. With the added twists, I can easily see two or three sequels to it, but – as my favorite agent blogger says – if the first book doesn’t sell, why bother with the sequels?

My problem is that I’ve created this world, Ralyn, and the events in Book 1 change that world in such a way that it opens up many new possibilities. (Much like Tally’s experience in the Uglies series opens the world up for Extras). So if Book 1 doesn’t sell, what on Earth – excuse me, Ralyn – will I do with my world? ‘Tis a dilemma I must deal with if the time comes…

Tips from an Agent

2008-09-28T19:47:00.001-07:00

Well, I’m about two thirds the way finished with my first book, so I decided to get some information on how to go about the publishing world.

There seems to be three ways:
-Self publishing (*shudder*)
-Contacting mid to low level pub houses on your own (and deal with the headache that comes with the industry)
-Get an agent

Now, the smartest thing to me would be to get an agent. For one thing, if an agent likes your work enough to take you on, you know you’re on the write – I mean, right – track. Plus they know what they’re doing a heck of a lot more than I do. The one bit of advice I’ve run across numerous times is avoid any agent who charges upfront fees. Sounds smart to me. As far as I can tell, agents make their money by selling books, not reading unpublished authors’ works.

So stumbling around the internet world, I found an agent’s blog that I found both entertaining and full of good information. (http://pubrants.blogspot.com/). Here are the big highlights I found in terms of advice to “newbies.”

-No info dump (first chapter, second, or otherwise)
-No repetitious recaps (character relaying to other characters what just happened)
-Don’t be dialogue heavy. Balance your dialogue and action
-Show don’t tell (yeah we’ve heard that a million times, but she specifies to be careful to not overload with dialogue about offstage action)
-No pointless dialogue
-No summarizing what the reader should have gotten out of a scene or conversation

So sure, that’s a lot of “no”s and “don’t”s, but I think it’s sound advice. Those are sometimes hard pitfalls to avoid as a writer, but as a reader, I recognize that I don’t want to read that kind of gunk.

Looking over my own work, I’ve found myself guilty of several of those crimes. Some things to work out during the editing process, for sure.

Ciao!

Encouragement

2008-09-28T19:46:00.001-07:00

I doubt I’d be nearly as excited about this project if it weren’t for what I think of as my personal cheerleaders.

I have a grandmother who’s encouraged me to write for years and I swear she has more faith in my ability than I do most of the time. It’s good to have her at my back. Then I have a cousin – who’s just as much a fantasy freak as I am – reading along. As I finish each chapter, he’s asking to read it. That, in and of itself, is encouraging, because it tells me that my story is interesting to someone other than just me. It also tells me that I havn't completely botched the job. Now, seeing as I’m in the rough draft phase, I realize that there are some major revisions to come, but all the same, it’s encouraging.

Now the only thing I need is a fellow writer, who understands the writing process, to share the experience with. No matter how hard you try, you just can’t tell someone how it is to be a writer and have them empathize if they themselves don’t write. Believe me, I’ve tried.

So long for now.

Hurdles and Getting Started

2008-09-28T19:44:00.000-07:00

So I’ve written off and on for years now, notebooks of ideas piling up, but I never once considered myself to be a writer.

I’ve been wanting to tackle a book project for over a year now, ideas accumulating, characters forming, but it wasn’t until about a month ago that everything sort of fell into place. One epiphany and one established author’s advice worked together to tear down the mental blocks I had set up against writing.

Firstly, I realized that nothing I say can be wrong… in my story – in my world – I am authoritative. If I want maroon skies or gargoyles that eat, I can do that… there’s no reason to fear rebuke. (Well, I didn’t make any maroon skies, but the point is still valid).
Things don’t have to be scientifically sound in a fantasy world, so I could let go of the need to make everything make sense – the need to explain everything. Furthermore, I stopped comparing my writing with that of published writers. Sure, some basic principles apply to all of us (show, don’t tell, etc), but I don’t have to emulate them to be successful. I have my own writing style, as they each have theirs.

Secondly, I really liked Stephenie Meyer’s advice that you should write for yourself. She said in an interview (and I’m paraphrasing) that if you liked the story you were writing, then you were a writer and that it didn’t matter whether or not it ever gets published and others liked it. Well with this philosophy in mind, I found myself freed from the pressure of pleasing the crowd. Now I’m writing a story that I like and when it’s done we’ll see if others agree with me.

So now I feel I’ve jumped a few hurdles and taken a sledgehammer to those mind blocks. I have to tell you, it feels great. I began writing on August 29th and I’ve found myself writing 2000-5000 words a night, landing me halfway through chapter seventeen a mere month later. So far I am very pleased with the progress, though I’m already sensing my writing skills improving, which makes this book project seem like the first stepping stone on a long road of story-weaving.

I, for one, am anxious to get to step two.