Amazing Editing Services For Serious Writers

You may or may not have heard me gush about the fabulous Adam Heine.  He's been my colleague/friend/critique partner for a number of years now, and he wrote this awesome book:

Izanimi's Choice by Adam Heine

Adam amazes me for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that he lives in Thailand and is a foster (and biological) dad to more children than you could possibly imagine living under one roof.

It's thrilling for ALL WRITERS that this man has now hung his official editing shingle.  I can honestly say that I couldn't imagine not sending my work to Adam for critique.  Adam is a master worldbuilder, and he's adept at poking holes in worlds that need shoring up.  (And when I get something right and he praises me? It's like Sudden Christmas.)  His in-line notes are relevant, thoughtful, and infused with his special brand of humor.  (Seriously, I laugh out loud. And everyone needs a bit of out-loud laughter in the midst of reading a critique, yes?)

I recommend him to you with great enthusiasm!  Here are his own words:

I've been writing (professionally) and editing (unprofessionally) for years, but I've recently opened up my services as a professional editor. I love helping authors, whether seasoned novelists or those still on the road to publishing, and I offer several different levels of editing -- including a sample edit so you can try before you buy. My specialty is speculative fiction (all categories), but I'll edit anything.

So if you'd like to have a professional author with an obsessive eye for detail take a look at your novel, I'm your guy. More detailed information can be found here: Editing Services

Do Your Dialogue A Favor

I have to say this -- and it's said in the spirit of wanting you to learn to write better.

Okay, here goes.

I have read SO MUCH REALLY-BAD DIALOGUE over the past few years, both as an editor and as a reader-of-contest-slush, that I sometimes want to throw a veritable tantrum.

One of the first things a writer needs to learn is to STOP BEING IN LOVE WITH HIS WORDS.  And, in my opinion, one of the places this in-love-with-my-words shows up most painfully is in character dialogue.

So here's what I want you to do (and what I tell my clients):

READ YOUR DIALOGUE OUT LOUD.

I've said this before (probably more than once), but it bears repeating, because I really see so much clunky, unbelievable dialogue.  Reading our dialogue out loud helps our EARS to discern whether or not something sounds natural.  Because, in real life, dialogue is aural, not visual.

Like, if you met someone on the subway and they talked like Yoda, you'd sort of notice right away, yes?

Yet you might be tempted, in the midst of your fantasy novel, to make Gregor the One-Handed say, "Perturbed I am that fallen has the city."

Seriously.  It happens.

Here are some examples (and things to avoid):

1.  TOO FORMAL

Because you're thinking about words too much, or you're trying too hard to make your character sound intelligent, you over-think and over-craft his dialogue, making him sound like he's reading from a textbook or giving a speech.   Often, you are FORGETTING TO USE CONTRACTIONS, which exacerbates the problem.

"I do not know what you mean," Goober said.  "I have been trying, to no avail, to reach you by phone or by email for approximately four days.  There is nothing more frustrating, in my opinion, than being accused of not communicating properly, when actually I have been doing my best all along."

Poor Goober.  He has a stick up his behind.

This is better:

"I don't know what you mean," Goober said.  "I've been trying to reach you for four days."

(No, really.  That's all you need here.)

2.  TOO MANY WORDS

People do not talk in gigantic chunks of text (unless they are stuck in a Dickens novel).  If your character's dialogue is more than a couple lines long (three at the most, unless the situation truly warrants a more verbose speech), he is SAYING TOO MUCH AT ONCE.  If he really does have a lot to say, break it up by interspersing reactions from other characters and beats (character actions).

"I got there right as they closed," Twiggy said.  "The woman had just flipped the sign over, and she saw me standing there.  I raised my eyebrows at her, but she pretended she didn't see me.  I mean, I get that.  It was time for her to go home.  But she made me feel less than human.  So I started banging on the window with both fists--just banging and banging, while she stood there staring at me like I was some sort of alien.  I never meant to break anything.  I never meant for the police to be involved.  It just got a little out of hand."

Oh, Twiggy.  No one wants to listen to you prattle on.

This is better:

"I got there right as they closed," Twiggy said.  "The woman had just flipped the sign over, and she saw me standing there.  I swear she saw me."

"Did you ask her to let you in?"  Maximus asked.

"I raised my eyebrows at her, but she pretended she didn't see me."  Twiggy crossed her arms and started pacing.  "I mean, I get that.  It was time for her to go home.  But she made me feel less than human."

"Oh, Twig."

"I started banging on the window with both fists, while she stood there staring at me like I was some sort of alien."  She sighed.  "I never meant to break anything.  I never meant for the police to be involved.  It just got a little...out of hand."

3.  TOO RAMBLY

Dialogue needs to have a clear purpose--it's either a) developing character relationships, or b) revealing information, or c) moving the plot forward.

And even if it's not doing a or b, then it DEFINITELY and ALWAYS needs to do c.  Otherwise, it's just blather.

Tip sat on the bench.  "What'd your mom pack for lunch?"

"Tuna fish and a bag of chips," Flip said.

"Tuna fish?  That's gross."

"Well, I like it."  Flip opened his lunch bag and pulled out a sandwich.

"That smells."

Flip frowned. "I didn't even open it yet."

"Well, I can smell it anyway."

"I've got ham and jelly," Tip said.

"And you think tuna's bad?"

"I've been eating ham and jelly since I was two," Tip said.  "My gramma used to always cook ham with pineapple on top, and then we'd have it for leftovers on bread.  Well, one day, there was ham leftover, but no pineapples.  So my mom smeared jelly on my sandwich.  Been eating it ever since."

Flip pulled open his bag of chips.  "Whatever.  Are you trying out for that play tomorrow?"

"Haven't decided."

"Mary Fulsen is trying out," Flip said.

"What do I care about Mary Fulsen?"

"She's been in two plays before, her brother used to be plays all the time before he moved up to high school."

"Well, I'm not going to try out just because she is," Tip said.

Flip opened his milk carton.  "They were out of chocolate milk again."

"I don't like chocolate milk."

"Strawberry milk is pretty good, though."

Tip made a gagging noise.  "That's even worse.  Milk isn't supposed to be brown or pink."

"Whatever."

"How's your tuna fish?"

"It's pretty good.  How's your ham and jelly?"

"It's pretty good, too."

(Hopefully you stopped reading before you got here.  Tip and Flip's entire scene needs to be deleted and rewritten.)

4.  TOO WEIRD

This is the kind of thing that tends to happen in science fiction or fantasy novels.  In an attempt to create an "otherwordly" effect, writers will sometimes overdo the weird, creating character dialogue that sounds like it came from the scrap pile on the editing floor of a B-movie.

Kuzani stared at the mage, her heart in knots.

"Precious and irreplaceable daughter of the Most High Governor, I salute you with a thousand bright stars."  The mage bowed, folding in half like a boneless snake.  "I am Cheezits'kan, First Mage of the Aboriginal Muckus."

"I'm honored."  She wasn't, really, but it seemed like the right thing to say.

Cheezits'kan stepped forward, his iridescent robes playing with the light.  "As the sun rises and sets over the hills of hither and yon, with each rising and setting easily predicted and never failing, so my confidence in you is longsuffering and ever-present."  He placed his finger on his nose.  "Hark!  And heed!  For many and sundry are the words I have to speak to you e're this night passes, and already my throat is nigh parched for lack of arcane liquid.  Come, let us partake of the fruit of the sacred vines, fermented and bottled in the ages before time.  Then, and only then, we will squeeze words from our lips."

If Kuzani had only stabbed him at "precious", we wouldn't have had to read that.

So I'm going to say this one more time:

READ YOUR DIALOGUE OUT LOUD.

Trust me when I tell you that your ear WILL let you know when something sounds off.  If your character says, "I will not be there," and you read it out loud, your ear will immediately say, "Well, huh.  It should be I WON'T BE THERE."

And so on.  LISTEN to the words you write.  It will start to make a difference in how you write them.

(Disclaimer:  I'm not saying that you have to sit down and read your entire novel out loud.  That's just...silly.  But spending some time on pertinent scenes of dialogue, and reading them out loud so that you can really listen to your characters conversing, will go a long way in improving the way you make your characters talk.)

All righty, then -- have at it!  And best of luck.  I truly want you to be able to produce the best that you are capable of.  Dialogue, ultimately, is FUN!  Spending a little time making it better will allow you to enjoy it so much more.  Your characters--and your readers--will thank you.

From Beth Revis: Awesome Writing Workshop Retreat

Dear ones!  This is a fabulous opportunity (and I adore Beth Revis).  I can tell you from personal experience that Beth is FABULOUS and really knows her stuff.  Read on!  Read on!

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Hi guys! Beth Revis here. I'm a long time MSFV reader--in fact, I was a reader far before I was published, and entering one of the critique contests here helped me to revise the book that became Across the Universe, my debut novel and the story that changed everything. I'm now the author of five published novels and three nonfiction books on writing, publishing, and marketing. Today, I'm talking with Cristin Terrill, author of All Our Yesterdays and the founder of the Wordsmith Writers Workshops, to tell you about the program. Make sure you read all the way to the bottom, because we have a special discount code just for MSFV readers!

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BETH: Before I was published, I attended every workshop, conference, and critique session I could. I tackled them with the same rigor as an MFA student, filling up notebooks with scribbles, digesting every critique with cold analysis, studying pamphlets and books with much more dedication than I did with textbooks when I got my degree. About a week or so after my first book was published, I attended a writer's retreat. Initially I was shaking. I was such a newbie, and the ladies on the retreat all seemed to be more knowledgable, more experienced, more everything. Despite my intimidation, what I found was that the writing community is a close-knit group that cares about each other's success. There was solid writing time, but what was even more important was the discussion. I remember, very distinctly, wishing that I had had something like this before I was published--a writing retreat with people who'd been there and done it before--along with all those conferences and workshops I'd done.

CRISTIN: Luckily, that’s exactly what I had. About four months before I got my agent, I attended a workshop/retreat for aspiring young adult authors in Yorkshire, and it was a major turning point for me. Along with twelve other writers who I grew immensely close with over the course of the week, I got to spend time learning from famed historical YA author Celia Rees and one of my personal favorites Patrick Ness (who has continued to be supportive of me and my career to this day despite how I accidentally stalked him on that train that one time). Giving myself that time to focus on my writing and to surround myself with other people who had the same aspirations and struggles I did was one of the best things I ever did for myself or for my career. With Wordsmith I wanted to recreate the best aspects of that experience by mixing the social and productive benefits of a retreat with the learning, networking, and critique you get from a conference or workshop. Beth was an ideal partner, because she’s extraordinarily savvy about storytelling and the industry and can diagnose the problem hanging up a manuscript almost instantly AND she’s a ton of fun to hang out with and makes everyone around her feel at ease. Together I think we’ve created a long weekend that’s a finely-calibrated mixture of critique time with published authors and each other, lessons and insider secrets from authors and agents, and plenty of quiet time for writing, brainstorming, talking through a problem, or just blowing off some steam. With killer comfort food served all day!

Read more about the workshop program here

BETH: OH MY GOSH THE FOOD. That was such a huge thing for me. I've been on retreats where the attendees take different chores and do the cooking, cleaning, etc. And that can be fun, but it also takes away from the focus. I find myself this way at home...four o'clock rolls around and I start thinking, "What's for dinner? Do I have all the ingredients? When should I put the dinosaur chicken nuggets in the oven to time them perfectly with the tater tots?" But with the Wordsmith retreats, that's just not a concern. Four o'clock rolls around and I start smelling delicious things, but I keep working and then when I'm done, there's delicious food put in front of me. WIN WIN WIN.

See a sample menu here 

But aside from the food, haha, I think my favorite part of the Wordsmith Workshops is the critique sessions. I've done paid critiques before, usually at conferences. And they're helpful, but they're also short. Typically, paid critique sessions at conventions are for 5-10 pages of a manuscript, which is obviously a small amount. And the ones you pay for online tend to be longer--but lack the in-person back and forth. Our critiques are a longer sample; we really get an idea of what the book actually is and can be. We read prior to the workshop, and then make notes for the attendees to take home. But the really great part is the private sessions where we individually discuss the work with the author. That back-and-forth discussion was invaluable. In some cases, we replotted the whole novel, right there at the table. In others, we helped refine the rough edges and got it query-ready. I'm just so inspired by how those sessions went!

CRISTIN: I loved the critique sessions, too, and the fact that we were all together for five days meant that we had the chance to follow up on the critiques and keep working with writers on the issues we’d identified. A couple of writers made major changes to their books after their critiques and we were able to work with them throughout the long weekend coming up with and refining new ideas so that they left with a solid plan for how to rewrite. It was so much more satisfying and useful to the writers than the usual kind of professional critique, which is basically a hit-and-run where they tell you what’s wrong and then leave you to figure out how to fix it on your own. Likewise, we dedicated the teaching portion of one of our days to writing and workshopping queries, which is a skill that pays endless dividends when you master it, even after you have an agent. I love knowing that when writers leave us, they each take with them a killer query letter that will catch agents’ eyes in addition to the more intangible rewards of the retreat. At our spring retreat, we’re making a new addition to our offerings that I’m really excited about, which is a visit by NYT-bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout. She’s going to come hang out and write with us one day, which will give all of us (Beth and myself included!) the chance to pick her brain about how she manages to write so many books and what she’s learned from being a successful hybrid author. In addition to being incredibly knowledgable, Jennifer is also one of the friendliest, most generous, and fun authors I know, and I'm looking forward to kicking her ass at ping-pong!

Read more about the authors here

BETH: Hah! While you're ping-pong-ing (best word ever), I'll be in the corner, working on my new manuscript. Because while we have such a packed program--critique sessions, one-on-ones, workshops, tasty meals--we also built in plenty of time to just quietly write (or sneak off for games)...which is good for me, because it looks like I'll be facing another deadline there! I hope I channel some of our past participants, who got 5k words in a single day! Talking about the Wordsmith Workshop Retreats really fills me with such eagerness--I can't wait for spring to get here! Writing can be such a solitary endeavor, but it's programs like this that remind me how great the writing community can be.

Sign up for this spring's workshop retreat here  

We'd both like to thank MSFV for hosting us today, and we hope to see some of you at a Wordsmith Workshop Writing Retreat!  The next program is March 30 - April 3, and will be located in Warrenton, VA. Fees are all inclusive--one programming fee covers all food and lodging, all workshops, and two critique sessions by both Cristin and Beth, as well as some extra goodies that we have planned just for you guys. To thank MSFV for hosting us, we have two discount codes to offer to you, her readers! You can choose between using code snowday to get a 20% off discount on a double room, or you can use code msfv-rocks! to get a 10% off discount on a bunk room. Both codes are valid while supplies last. Space is very limited, so sign up today!

YA: All The Sexy

I want to tackle something that might be a bit awkward one-on-one, and I'll come right to it:  If you write YA and you want your main character to kiss someone, then you'd better not infuse any adult sexuality into the scene.  Especially if it's your character's first kiss ever.  Or even second kiss ever.

Nobody does this on purpose.  The truth is, though, that if you've ever had sex, then you've got an entire personal arsenal of sexual habits and responses that are alive and well in your unconscious mind.  So when you sit down to write that sizzly smooch scene between two sixteen-year-olds, it comes out infused with Stuff-Sixteen-Year-Olds-Wouldn't-Think-Or-Do.

Hear me on this one.  I get that some sixteen-year-olds (and even younger) are sexually active.  I get that, yes, sometimes the sexual experience of a teenager would make a married thirty-five-year-old blush.  But that's not what I'm talking about.

I'm talking about INAPPROPRIATELY ADULT SEXUAL RESPONSES in teen kiss scenes.  And I've read quite a bit of it--not only here, but in my editing work as well as in published novels.  And it frustrates me, because it is so incredibly inauthentic.  It screams I-am-a-grow-up-writer-trying-to-sound-like-a-smoochified-teen.

But it's easily fixed.  How?  By becoming aware of the fact that you, as a grown-up sexual being, have experienced things that your fifteen- or sixteen- or seventeen-year-old protagonist hasn't.  (Unless you've written her that way.  And again, that's not what I'm talking about here.)  By reminding yourself that TEENS ARE NOT EMOTIONALLY MATURE, so they therefore cannot be sexually mature, either (experience and maturity are not the same thing).  And by stepping back and asking yourself, "Would my character say/think/do this?  Or is this something that I would say/think/do?"

I've broken it down into some typical behaviors in order to make this a bit easier:

GROANING

Yes, groaning is generally an involuntary response to arousal.  But folks.  A young girl (or guy) who is having a first kiss IS NOT GOING TO GROAN INTO THE OTHER PERSON'S MOUTH.  None of this "I groaned without realizing it."  Groaning may be involuntary, but it's also a conditioned response.  Even if a teen is feeling aroused (and a first kiss for the never-before-kissed? THIS IS NOT THE TIME FOR AROUSAL), she is likely not going to be confident/experienced enough to groan.

Now, if your never-before-kissed heroine is passionately kissed by a boy who has sexual experience, then it would be believable if he might groan as he deepens the kiss.  Or something.  But if this happens, you've got to put yourself in the shoes of the never-before-kissed heroine.  As in, Oh my gosh, he just groaned.  What does this mean? Am I doing something wrong?  Because, folks, SHE JUST DOESN'T KNOW.  Seriously.

BITING

Yes, some people do this.  Some people like this.  But again, we're talking about teens here.  And unless your main character is ALREADY SEXUALLY EXPERIENCED, or is growing in this experience as part of your story, then bites do not belong in first- (or second- or third-) kiss scenes.  Again, it screams This is a kiss written by a sexually mature person.  A girl kissing her first boyfriend isn't going to fantasize about biting him, and she isn't going to gnaw seductively on his bottom lip.  SHE DOESN'T KNOW THESE THINGS.  And she isn't trying to arouse him -- she is LOST IN THE KISS and HOPING THAT HER KISSING IS GOOD ENOUGH FOR HIM.

TONGUES

Honestly, I don't want to know much about what tongues are doing in a kiss scene.  There are ways to write about French kissing that aren't graphic enough to make me feel like I'm gagging on my own saliva (or on someone else's).  But that's a personal preference thing.  One thing about French kissing, though, is that it's not exactly a skill you're born with.  So if Jane and Johnny are having their first kiss, probably the tongues need to keep to themselves.

Here's the thing (cue dramatic, Authoress-is-about-to-get-personal music):  My first kiss was a French one.  As in, MY FIRST KISS EVER.  I was 15.  I knew nothing about kisses, and I was MADLY IN LOVE WITH THIS BOY.  (He was 17, experienced with girls, and a druggie.  Do I sound like a contemporary YA heroine, or what?)  And when he did that THING with his tongue, my first thought was Omigawd he's French kissing me! and my second thought was Omigawd I don't know how to do this!

Yes, I remember it like it was (almost) yesterday.  I did not "deepen the kiss" or "explore his mouth with my tongue" or "groan".  I freaked out on the inside.  And afterward, all I could think was, "I hope he kisses me again so that I have a chance to do it right."

Not too spicy, right?  Because HOW COULD I KNOW ABOUT SPICY WHEN I WAS FIFTEEN AND NEVER-BEEN-KISSED?

So, yeah.  If you want your heroine's first French kiss to be believable, let her experience it on her own level.  Not on yours.

LEGS

A girl who may have a few kisses under her belt, but who has never had sex, is not going to press her thighs into her guy while he kisses her, or wrap her legs around him if he lays her down somewhere.  Again, these are learned behaviors.  Even if you're writing your characters toward an inevitable sex scene, you've got to be realistic about how your protagonist is responding in situations she's never found herself in before.  And the younger she is, the more this is true.

You've got to step back.  You've got to say, "Okay.  If this were twenty-thirty-forty-fifty-something me, I would wrap my legs around him and groan while he kissed me.  But my protagonist is sixteen and this is their second kiss.  So what will SHE do?"

Mind you, I'm talking about KISS SCENES.  Sex scenes are a whole 'nuther topic, and one that I'm not going to broach, simply because I personally don't write them.  They don't belong in the stories I write, and that's just the way I roll.  Kisses are something else altogether, though--I LOVE writing kiss scenes.  In fact, if I get a scene just the way I want it, it's not unusual for me to sit there and reread it half a dozen times, just to relive the moment over and over.  (Is there such a thing as a kiss dork?)

So there's my I'm-saying-this-as-tenderly-as-I-can advice for you today.  Give your teen kiss scenes all the romance and sparkle and sizzle and breathlessness and angst and urgency that you can--but keep your grown-up sexual self out of them.  Then, and only then, your teen kisses will be truly authentic and believable.

And by the way, I love you.  Always wanting better things for you; always hoping to give you food for thought that will improve your writing.

Now go rewrite that kiss. :)

Friday Fricassee (How NOT to Open Your Novel)

What are your thoughts on our First Five round?  Thanks to all of you who took the time to leave thoughtful feedback.

So, let's talk about the fine art of not confusing our readers.  One thing we need to bear in mind as we are writing our opening scene is that we know EVERYTHING about our world and our main character, and our reader knows NOTHING.  So we need to ease the reader into the story in such a way that time, place, and character are immediately apparent.

This does NOT mean:

Gregory Cheeseneck was a typical twelve-year-old with wiry hair and precisely thirty-nine freckles on his cheeks, who lived in a handmade, split-log house with his parents and four younger sisters at the end of the line, a quarter mile from the station and no fewer than fourteen steps from the outhouse, since these were the days of no indoor plumbing.

It might mean:

Gregory yanked up his trousers and tore from the outhouse, sure as sure that he was going to be late for school again.

Example #1 is heavy with description and telling, and sounds "narrator-y".  Example #2 brings us right into Gregory's head and shows us immediately (trousers, outhouse), that we are in an earlier era. It also gives us our first glimpse at Gregory's voice ("sure as sure") and character (he runs late a lot).

In our opening paragraph (and pages), we need to find the delicate balance between "too much" and "not enough".  And in my editing experience over the past couple of years, I find that the "not enough" is more common.  IMPORTANT:  By "not enough", I don't mean to imply that the problem of over-writing doesn't exist.  OH, GOODNESS, IT EXISTS.  But you can over-write and still not give the readers what they need to actually be grounded in your story.  And if they're not grounded on the first page or two, you'll lose them.

Here are some common problems that I've seen:

1.  ANNOYING HINTS AND REFERENCES THAT MEAN NOTHING BECAUSE WE DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT

Like I said above--you know your world and characters, but the reader doesn't.  So avoid doing things like this:

Marshina slammed the door and locked it.  Nobody else was going to get in and steal another sacred poo-poo bead.  No one.

It was just like that other time.  Marshina shuddered.  That other time almost cost her sixteen hours of freedom--and Sue-bear's life.

What would Sue-bear think now?

(We don't know what a sacred poo-poo bead is, we have NO IDEA what "that other time" is, or why Sue-bear would think anything at all.  You may think you are being mysterious and tempting when you do this, BUT YOU ARE ONLY BEING ANNOYING.  Trust me.)

"You have no idea what you're talking about."

I stopped in my tracks.  Yes, of course I knew what I was talking about.  I thought everyone knew.  But here I was, being accused of not knowing anything for the third time this week, and it was starting to annoy me.

(We're opening with dialogue and we HAVE NO IDEA who is speaking, and the protagonist is referring to something we don't know about either.)

2.  GOING HEAVILY INTO SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY WORLDBUILDING WITHOUT HELPING US TO UNDERSTAND WHAT THE HECK YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT

This one is self-explanatory:

L'trxvy tiptoed around the detran, careful not to drop his f'nee in the mud.  Breathing deeply, he sensed the nearness of his k'n'oo.  That was reason enough to be wary.  His k'n'oo should have been halfway to Meerduck by now.  Everything was off balance, and it was only the second cycle of Gorshnik.

3.  DROPPING US INTO ACTION BEFORE WE KNOW ANYTHING AT ALL ABOUT YOUR MAIN CHARACTER OR HIS WORLD

I've railed about this one many times in the past.  This is what Jodi and I refer to as "the car crash opening".  We can't root for a character whose legs just got blown off if we haven't even met him yet.


Glass shards everywhere.

I threw myself again the nearest wall, pressing myself flat as a leech.  Outside, a third explosion rocked the foundation of the old building, and I stumbled sideways, landing hard on my knee.

The shard pierced my patella, sending hot pain shooting up my leg.  I cursed as blood began to soak my pants leg.

(We have no idea what's going on.  We don't even know if our protagonist is male or female.  We don't care about the explosions or the wounded knee.)

Nathan gripped his handlebars and veered sharply to the left.  The road was slicker than he'd expected, and his sudden turn made him lose control, his front wheel jacking to the left and skidding for several yards until the bike flipped end over end.

Nathan landed hard on his back, his breath slamming out like an implosion.


(We know what's happening, but we don't know Nathan, and we don't know why he's riding his bike down a wet road.  So it's hard to care.)

And there you have it -- a mini-primer on How Not To Open Your Novel.  Mind you, I don't have all the answers.  Like I said, it's a delicate balance, and I continue to rewrite and tweak my own openings as many times as it takes to get them right.  But the huge faux pas mentioned above are easily avoided.  Let us SEE (show, don't tell) your protagonist in his setting, and draw us into the world (show, don't tell) by letting us SEE and HEAR and SMELL and FEEL it for a little while.  Insert a sense of tension right away, remembering, of course, that TENSION IS NOT THE SAME AS ACTION.  If you do this, then chances are high that your readers will want to keep reading.

All right, then!  Have a wonderful weekend.

Spuds (a.k.a. The Beauty of Voice)

I'm going to tell you to do something I've never told you to do before, and it's this:

I want you to read a picture book.  Out loud.  To yourself or to a loved one (or, if you're really lucky, to a child).  Specifically, I want you to read this:

There I was, doing my weekly grocery shopping.  If I hadn't zipped over to the back entrance to grab a coupon from a store flyer, I would have completely missed the "bargain bin" of books.  (I know, right?  Books in a grocery store.)  Of course I had to take a quick peek--especially considering the "80% off" sign.

Right on top sat this luscious-looking book by Karen Hesse.  The cover drew me in immediately (which is saying a lot, because I find many picture book illustrations cloying at best).  I cracked open the book, not expecting too much (again, it's hard to find a superbly written picture book).

And I was transfixed.  In fact, by the end, my eyes were tearing up.  Not because it's a sad book (it isn't, really), but because it was so beautiful that I was moved to tears.

Seriously.  So I bought it. 

That's not the only reason I want you to read it, though.  The beauty of SPUDS is in its voice.  The author's careful word choices and spare language perfectly capture the setting and draw you immediately into the narrator's world.

Here is the opening page:

The night me and Maybelle and Eddie harvested potatoes,
Ma was workin' night shift.
Our ma, she's mighty fine,

but lately it seems like she got nothin' left over,

not even for us kids.

Hold me back, you say.  That first sentence has a pronoun error!

Exactly.  The story is told by Jack, the middle of 3 siblings, and that's the way he talks.  We are completely inside his head on every page.  As such, we feel like we know him--really know him--and care about what happens as the story unfolds.

So Jack and his siblings sneak out at night, after their mother leaves to work the night shift, in order to "harvest" some potatoes from Mr. Kenney's field.  Which brings us to what is probably my favorite page in the entire book:

We three kids headed out Waddell Road in that rattle-bang fashion. 

Maybelle, she goosed us with the meals Ma'd make out'a them spuds.

"You'll see.  Ma's gonna boil 'em, and bake 'em.  She's gonna

slice 'em thin as fingernails and fry 'em up crusty brown with

lots of salt sparklin'."
Man, my mouth juiced up just thinkin' about it.

Luscious!  "Rattle-bang" perfectly describes the kids pulling a wagon along the side of the road.  And how about slices "thin as fingernails"?  Can't you just see them, all crackly good on your plate?  And the "salt sparklin'" says so much more than just "salt" or "salty" could ever say.  (Because salt does sparkle when the light catches it--have you noticed?)

Picture books are HARD to write (as anyone who has tried knows).  Language needs to be spare yet beautiful, conveying a simple tale in simple language in such a way that the story is compelling--and also that it's a pleasure to read out loud (since these books are primarily meant for reading to children, right?).

(Side note:  I read this book out loud to Mr. A, so that he could experience the beauty of the language.  I'm sad to say that it did not resonate with him the way I'd expected it to.  But then, he's not a writer.  Or a child.)

I'm sure you can see by now how this translates to our novel-writing.  We have a lot more words to play with, true.  But we should still take this careful, choose-each-word-like-it's-a-diamond approach, too, because it will make our writing sing.  And voice?  We already know that voice is where it's at.  I believe that it's voice, more than anything else, that ultimately draws us into a tale, whether we're aware of it or not.

You may or may not like Karen Hesse's story, but you must admit that it's got a powerful voice.  The voice might not speak to you--you might totally hate it--but as a writer, you can acknowledge that it's there.

That's what your novel needs.  VOICE.  It's not something that can be taught; it's something that can be CAUGHT.  By reading good stuff, and by continuing to write and write and write (until our voice develops).

I've written exactly one picture book (it's not amazing) and will probably revisit this category at some point.  So I'm always interested to see what's out there.  Here are two others I've recently discovered that are worth taking a look at:

THE TIPTOE GUIDE TO TRACKING FAIRIES by Ammi-Joan Paquette

AT THE BOARDWALK by Kelly Ramsdell Fineman

Now get thee to your local library or bookstore (or, um, grocery store) and grab SPUDS.  Read it quietly, read it out loud, read it so that the words seep into your soul.  Then, take what you've learned and apply it to your own work.

I am going to do the same!

Editing Options

Okay, writers--here is some info for those of you who wish to go a step beyond critique partners:

AUTHORESS EDITS

1.  I've once again got openings for 3-page edits, so bring 'em on!  It's a great, relatively quick (1 to 4 weeks, depending on load and schedule) to get feedback on your 3 opening pages.  An in-depth line edit plus editorial letter will cost you $18.  Email me at authoress.edits(at)gmail.com if you are interested.  (Projects will go into the queue in the order in which they are received.)

2.  I still have ONE opening this month for a Premiere Critique (75-page line edit plus editorial letter).  Availability changes as my schedule changes, so grab it while I'm free!

3.  And I continue to accept 30-page critiques in my queue on a regular basis.

JULIE BUTCHER -- "I CAN TELL YOU WHY YOUR MANUSCRIPT SUCKS"

If you're looking for a content edit (and NOT a line edit!), my irreplaceable critique partner, Julie Butcher, is your gal.  Her editing window is opening again on MONDAY, MARCH 25.  If you want an edit, you need to in the queue, because she only has 2 weeks available in her schedule.  Prices and contact information are HERE.

JAMIE WYMAN

For full-blown editorial services, I'd like to introduce you to Jamie.  Her entire menu of services can be found ON HER WEB SITE.  She comes highly recommended by editor Gabriel Harbowy, who has been a friend of this blog for years (and who has scooped up authors here!).

As an introductory special, Jamie is offering a 10% discount to the first 3 people who mention me. (You know, something artless like, "Authoress sent me".)

The Transformation Is Complete

In the spirit of transparency, and to give credence to the saying "never say never", I am here to report that I am officially no longer a pantser.

WAIT, DID I JUST SAY THAT?

Okay, sometimes it makes me panic.  As in, have I left behind my roots and moved on--for real?  Can the I-was-born-this-way in me have morphed so dramatically?

Really??

Well, let me clarify.  If the word "plotter" conjures visions of carefully annotated outlines or neat stacks of numbered notecards, that's not me.  But I've spoken before, in glowing terms, of Blake Snyder's "beat sheet" and the marvelous way it translates to novel writing (it's designed for screenplays), which definitely falls into the "plotter" category.

And I'm officially saying that I will never write another novel without a beat sheet.

Yep.  I said never!

I've just finished a WIP in 3 months, which is my normal time frame.  But THIS time, I've got a story with an arc that isn't broken in twelve places.  It WORKS!  Now, that doesn't mean the piece doesn't need a whole lot of work.  In fact, I'm already super-antsy to dig in.  (This, and I promised myself I would tuck this novel away until much later.  Hah!  You know how it goes.)

But, truly, the difference between THIS first draft and my LAST first draft is astounding.  And I don't want to go back to the way things were.

It makes a huge difference to know where you're going.  And I don't just mean the ending--I think that, for the most part, even the most hard-core pantsers have at least some idea where the story will end.  But "knowing where you're going" is about way more than just "The End."  The exhilaration of ALWAYS knowing where I was going next--even if I'd just come up with a new scene or secondary storyline--is indescribable.  And so FREEING!

Yes, I've converted.  Chortle, applaud, roll your eyes, or lament at will.

On top of the whole I'm-a-plotter-now thing, my WIP is written in first person present.  And, yeah.  I used to HATE first person present.  As in, Hate.  Capitalized.  But you know how a story often begs to be told a certain way?  That's what happened.  This story is a fairly intense YA dystopian (I can't stop writing them!), and from the moment I conceived it, I knew it had to be first person present.

Funny how, even three quarters of the way through, I still sometimes reverted to "said" without realizing I'd done it.  But for the most part, I found my rhythm and groove quickly, and actually enjoyed writing in this tense.

Who knew!

So there you have it.  You know how I continually refer to this writing-toward-publication thing as a journey?  This is yet another example.  And it feels wonderful!

What about you?  Have you morphed into anything lately?

On The Fine Art of Titling

It's no secret that I do not possess the gift of titling.  In fact, I generally loathe coming up with titles, and am usually underwhelmed with whatever I do come up with.

So, sadly, this is not a post on How To Come Up With The Most Amazing Title Ever.

It is a post, however, on the fact that many--many, many, many--of the Baker's Dozen entry titles were less than stellar.  And this phenomenon was unrelated to the quality of the actual writing.  Because, truly, it seems to me that titling is a separate skill.

Which is why I think it's important to throw titles out to critique partners and colleagues in the same way we throw our writing out.  And we've got to ask them, honestly, "Does this title suck?"

If they love you, they'll say "yes."  Unless, of course, it doesn't suck.

But the Baker's Dozen entry titles?  Many of them were simply flat.  Cliched.  Cardboard.  The kind of title that, if you type it into Amazon, you'll get two hundred hits.  Or the kind of title that, if you type it into Amazon, you'll get no hits.  Because nobody else wanted it, either.

Again, I want to stress that there wasn't a correlation between the titles and the writing!  I'm just thinking that, somehow, the art of titling stories has somehow been overlooked.  And we've all suffered a bit for not having invested more time, perhaps, in learning how to do this thing right.

(I know, I know.  That's what editors are for.  But imagine how delighted an editor would be to not have to come up with a good title because the story already has one!)

I've just gone through the angst of Coming Up With A Better Title for something, at the request of Agent Josh (he was absolutely right to request it), and it was decidedly un-fun.  Because I hate it when I'm not good at things and am unable to prove myself wrong.  (Which is why I'm thankful to be surrounded by talented and helpful people!)

In the midst of my finding-a-title angst, I pleaded with agent Lauren MacLeod, a self-professed Stellar Title Comer-Upper-With, to tell me what method she uses.  Here is her approach:

• Go through the manuscript and highlight interesting words or phrases and write them all down.
• Make a list of "what the book is about" (values, morals, themes, etc.) and hit the thesaurus.
• Cross off anything silly or overdone (aka cliched).
• Hand the list to your crit partners who have already read your novel.
• If you're still stuck, make a list of your favorite parts of the book and see if anything comes up.
• Don't panic! Titles aren't written in stone until the book is printed.

And, yes, titles do change. Just ask Peter Salomon and Jodi Meadows and Beth Revis, whose debuts have all ended up with different titles from those that had been submitted originally.

So, while I don't think it's necessary to get all angsty over a title, it is certainly something that bears closer examination.  A title should reflect the SOUL of a story, and that's no easy thing.  And, yes, a title should also say, "Pick me up and buy me."  But I believe that will happen when we find the title that does reflect the soul of the story.

No pressure, right?

Anyway.  Are you gifted at titling?  I would love for you to share your tips and expertise in the comment box today! Something tells me that a lot of writers will be devouring your words of wisdom.

Including me!

Baker's Dozen: Reasons for Rejection

As a voracious lover of feedback (as most of us are), I thought I'd take some time to share some of the reasons why Jodi and I rejected entries for the Baker's Dozen Auction.

Bear in mind, of course, the subjectivity of all this.  Neither Jodi nor I claim to be Empress of Slush.  (I'd rather be Empress of something else, anyway.  Like chocolate.  Or the universe.)  Still, I do hope that our combined eye has been discerning enough to perhaps give some of you a few things to think about as you continue to write/revise/edit/polish.

REASON ONE: ACTION WE DIDN'T CARE ABOUT

I'm fairly sure I've touched on this in the past, but there does seem to be a trend--particularly in YA and MG--of starting a story by jumping directly into high-stakes action.  It's born, I think, from the pressure we receive to "grab the reader!" and "start the story somewhere interesting!".  Yet, frankly, it backfires.  And here's why.

If I open a book and someone is running for his life on the first page, I don't really care whether he dies or not--BECAUSE I DON'T KNOW HIM.  Or if, after one paragraph of introduction (or perhaps no introduction at all), someone is flying through the windshield of a car or waking up in a pool of blood or diving into a subway entrance to avoid an explosion--I DON'T CARE.  Because I'm not invested.

And I think the problem--and Jodi agrees--is that folks are confusing ACTION with CONFLICT.  And they're not the same thing.  A good novel will begin with inherent conflict, which is ultimately what makes us want to keep reading (assuming the writing is good).  But dropping the reader into the middle of a battlefield or onto the balcony of a burning building isn't going to automatically make him CARE.

I think, as writers, we need to constantly reevaluate what CONFLICT means.  And to be careful not to confuse it with ACTION, which doesn't necessarily belong in the opening pages.  It was, more often than not, a fairly quick "no" from Jodi and me.

REASON TWO: WE WERE VERY CONFUSED

Sometimes the opening page was so confusing we weren't even sure what was going on.  This doesn't mean there wasn't a good story to follow.  It just means that the opening didn't do anything to make us want to know what that story was.

I think there are three specific things that can make an opening confusing:

1.  TOO MUCH ACTION:  If there's so much going on that we can't follow it, there's nothing that makes us want to continue reading.  This is, of course, directly related to what I listed above.  Being dropped into the middle of a storm of action is disorienting.

2.  NO GROUNDING IN THE WORLD:  Setting the stage for your world is a delicate balance of details-without-too-many-details.  If too much is thrown in at once--or if there isn't enough to go on--the reader will not know where/when he is, or where/when everyone in the story is.  And if there's confusion like this on the first page, it doesn't bode well for the worldbuilding in the rest of the novel.

3.  WRITING THAT ISN'T CLEAN:  This goes without saying.  The words themselves will lend to the clarity of your opening scene.  Sometimes, the confusion factor is directly related to sentence and paragraph structure.  (Or lack thereof.)


REASON THREE: WEAK WRITING/NO VOICE

Writing can be halfway decent but still lack a compelling voice.  And voice isn't something you develop overnight.  In fact, it isn't even something that someone can tell you how to do.  Rather, it develops as you continue to grow as a writer.  The voice of your novel is twofold; a combination of your voice as the author and your protagonist's voice relative to the genre.  If the voice was lacking--or if it was wrong (as in, a YA that didn't have a teen voice or an MG that sounded too "old"), it was a "no" from us.

Similarly, some entries had writing that simply wasn't ready yet.  This doesn't mean the writer couldn't write, or that the story idea was bad.  It just wasn't ready.  One or two read like first novels (yes, there is a certain "first novel read"), but most of the time, when an entry fell into this category, it was writing that needed work.  (And sometimes these were the most disappointing "nos" of all--an exciting logline followed by not-there-yet writing always elicited groans.)

One thing that's different for the Baker's Dozen is the fact that Jodi and I aren't looking for specific things the way agents are.  So we've got an entire palette of genres in the slush and we get to find the best entries without being constrained by subgenres or agency bents.  Sure, it's challenging to read an entry in a genre that doesn't flip our cookies, but that's when the question, "Will someone else like this?" comes in handy.  Because if the writing is decent and the first page generally works, it doesn't matter if it's not a pet genre of either Jodi or me.  We get to say "yes" because there's a good chance one of our participating agents will like it.

And you saw them fighting last week, so we're feeling pretty good about what we put out there!

Anyway, I hope this has been at least a little helpful.  I hated reading all the "I didn't make it" comments after winning entries were announced, despite the fact that they were beautifully stated and offered congratulations to those who did make it.  I have dozens and dozens of rejections under my belt, and I don't relish being the one to hand them out.

So there it is.  I can't deny that reading so many entries in a short time was fairly exhausting.  But I also can't deny that it's a privilege to read the work of my fellow writers.  Thank you all for being good sports, and for your many kind and appreciative words for Jodi and me.

Let's do it all again next year. :-)

On YA and Teen Sexuality

No, I'm not going to debate sex in teen novels.  It exists, and you either read it/write it/like it or you don't.

I don't write it, and I have no plans to.  That's just me.  That doesn't have to be you.  My novels do have teen sexuality in them, though, because it's impossible to be a teen and not experience your burgeoning sexual self.  I choose to be subtle instead of overt about this in my stories.  Again, that doesn't have to be you.

Just thought I'd clear up what my own approach is.  (As if this surprises you!)

So here's the thing.  I've been ramping up my YA reading lately, so naturally I'm reading things with sex in them.  Because, yeah.  There's a lot of it out there.  Also almost-sex, which is pretty much the same, so long as we're talking non-explicit.

And here's my observation:  I'm seeing teen protagonists having sexual responses and behaviors that are too adult.  This is particularly noticeable when the character in question has never had sex before--and, in some cases, hasn't had a boyfriend/girlfriend before.  Or even a first kiss.

So when it comes to Very Sexy Behavior on the part of the main character, I find that I'm thrown out of the story.  For instance (and no, I'm not going to be explicit on my decidedly PG-13 blog), if the protagonist-who-has-never-been-kissed is fantasizing about doing Something Very Provocative to the resident Cute Boy's lips, it makes me think--whoa.  That's an AWFULLY aggressive/sexual/intimate thing to think about in light of the fact that you've never been kissed/never had a boyfriend/never had almost-sex/etc.

Yes, I know there are movies and books and sexually active best friends and all sorts of ways teenagers get information.  But to extrapolate that information into a highly focused desire or fantasy is, for me, outside of realistic.  Maybe to wonder tentatively what it would be like to.... Or to blush while remembering what so-and-so told you about the time when... Or to be a little confused/blown away by the way you're feeling about...  That sort of stuff.

You may disagree.  And that's okay.

(Naturally, if you've written a sexually experienced character, the above doesn't apply.)

Here comes the Angst-ridden Tale From the Annals of Authoress's Teen History (brace yourself):

I was 15 when I got my First Kiss.  I was head-over-heels, and I'm not sure what he was, other than messing with my ditzy little head.  For me, it was probably a classic theatre romance.  We were in GODSPELL together; he was Jesus.

Yanno?  Who can resist a cute Jesus with brown, curly hair?

So we went to see a play.  Afterward, he kissed me in the front seat of his car.  It wasn't a tiny kiss, either.  It was way more than I could handle.

In fact, after the giddiness wore off, all I could do was to long for an opportunity to try again, so I could show him I could, yanno, kiss him back.  Or something.

I felt completely inept at kissing.  Because, well, I was.

Most people are, the first time.  Right?

I'm not saying that every teen protagonist needs to be all squirrelly and unsure and I-grew-up-in-a-closet backwards.  I mean, who would want to read about teens like THAT?  What I AM saying is that, as you infuse sexuality into your teen characters, make sure you step back and ask yourself, "Is this something my 15- or 16- or 17-year-old character would actually think/feel/do?  Or is this something I might think/feel/do?"

Know what I mean?

It's about authenticity.  And I don't feel like it's authentic for an inexperienced teen to have thoughts and behaviors that seem more appropriate (and believable) for someone who's been married for ten years.

I'm not picking on any particular book, by the way.  It's just an overall trend I'm seeing.

There you have it!  And now back to infusing-my-lame-teen-self-into-amazingly-self-assured-main-characters.  Erm, I mean, reading.

On Building Worlds

I hate worldbuilding.

That's pretty awful, considering I write science fiction and fantasy.  I mean, all genres need strong worldbuilding, but if one is creating a world from scratch, it's definitely more work.  The rules of the world have to work.

In fact, there have to be rules to begin with, or the world won't be consistent.

And, yeah.  I hate the time and energy it takes to think these things through.

I can say with some authority that it is vastly easier to write in a world that already exists.  My WIP, which is currently undergoing post-beta revisions, is set in two worlds:  the real one (on the Jersey shore), and an alternate reality (in my brain).

Guess which chapters are stronger.

To be fair, I've been to this particular beach town a dozen times.  It's my Favorite Place On Earth.  Mr. A and I honeymooned there.  We've fantasized about moving there (too expensive).

In short, I know the place.  And other than changing a few names and Googling the main drag to double check the names of cross streets, it wasn't hard to plunk my characters in the middle of a place that already exists.

Now, you'd think I would also know a place I've created myself.  In fact, you'd think a place like this would reveal its intimate details to me in such a way that I start believing it's a REAL PLACE.  And, naturally, this would be reflected with ease in the unfolding of my story.

Um, nope.

Because--and I'll bet many of you will relate to this--I see bits of my world and I understand them, and then I make the (deadly) assumption that everyone else will understand them, too.  I describe just enough to create the setting and hint at facts I feel may be important, and I go on my merry way.

And then the beta readers come back with a big, fat HUH???

Oh.  My partially-developed-and-not-well-explained world doesn't make sense?

WELL, WHY NOT?? It makes sense to me!

Okay, I don't say that.  I mean, I used to say that, back when I was writing Novel One (*shudder*) and Novel Two (*groan*).  But not anymore.  I really do understand the mechanics of worldbuilding now.  And the importance of clarity.

I still hate it, though.  And I still consistently fall short.

Which admittedly makes me feel incompetent.

It's funny.  I'm a visual-spatial learner, which means I have to SEE things to truly understand them.  And I think that works against me when I worldbuild, because you can't exactly SEE what's in your imagination.

You might think drawing a map would help someone like me, yes?  But I hate drawing maps and actually suck at it.  Which is probably directly related to the fact that I am irreparably directionally challenged.

It's true.  I hold up the thumb and index finger of my left hand to make the letter "L" in order to know which way is left.

So, yeah.  That makes things even worse.

Anyway.  I know there's hope for my WIP, because my YA dystopian moved from "Huh?" to repeated compliments on my worldbuilding.  I can do this thing.

I just hate it.

Some of you love worldbuilding.  I WISH I COULD BE LIKE YOU.  Maybe if you tell me WHY you love it, I'll catch some of your enthusiasm.  And maybe if you tell me HOW you do it, I'll learn something new that just might lessen my struggle a bit.

I'm ready to take notes...

Levels of Competence

Over a year ago, Jodi Meadows shared the following with me: (She doesn't take credit for it, but also doesn't remember where she learned it. If you know the original author, please share.)

In our pursuits, we move through four distinct levels of competence:

LEVEL 1: Unconscious incompetence (Our work sucks and we have no idea that our work sucks)

Most (if not all) first-time novelists fall into this category.  It's why they dissolve in tears or explode in anger if anyone points out the tiniest fault in the Masterpiece.

LEVEL 2: Conscious incompetence (Our work sucks and we know it sucks)

A wonderful transformation occurs when we REALIZE our work sucks, because then we can start working to make it NOT SUCK. Miss Snark's legendary critique of my first page is what propelled me into Level 2.

LEVEL 3: Conscious competence (Our work is good, but it takes a conscious effort to make it good)

In other words, we know what we're doing now, but we still have to think about it.

LEVEL 4: Unconscious competence (Our work is good and we don't have to think about it to make it happen)

The level of "arrival."  Seriously.  I'm pretty sure people like Marian McPartland (jazz pianist) and Yo Yo Ma (cellist) fit into this category.

I'm at Level 3.  Sometimes I DESPAIR of the anguish of clean plotting and the hair-pulling tedium of worldbuilding. WHY can't this come easily for me? WHY do I adore writing when it brings me so much PAIN during the process?

All the same, I'm thankful to be here. Things happen--especially while I'm editing or revising--that remind me I know what I'm doing.  I'll spot an extraneous prepositional phrase and strike it out before it has a chance to protest.  I notice a dialogue beat at the end of a line of dialogue and quickly move it to the front. (Okay. When this happens, I actually hear Holly Bodger scolding me in my subconscious.)  And sometimes I'll read a passage or scene or chapter and actually get swept up by the story.  Makes me feel sort of dorky, but there you have it.

Also? Just this morning, I found a small Jodi-ism in my novel.  Which is proof that you'd better surround yourself by, get critiqued by, and READ good writers.  Because despite the fact that you've got your own voice and style, you WILL be influenced by what you read.

So.  What's your level of competence?  If you're not sure, ask a trusted critique partner.  I think this blog is high on the "Level 3" meter, for sure.  And I don't think any of you are Level 1, or you wouldn't be here trying to improve your writing!

Fascinating stuff.  And now, back to finishing the draft o'love (which goes out to my readers next week!).

Oh, To Be Spock

I'm struggling through the Final Push To The Big Climax on my WIP.  And it makes my brain hurt.

Know why?  Because, in order to make things work in a novel, it's got to be backed by LOGICAL MOTIVATION.  Not just motivation, which can be tricky enough.  (As in, why did Ricardo steal his mother's pink stilettos in the first place?)  But it has to make sense.  Lots and lots of sense.  (Ricardo stole his mother's pink stilettos because he knew his father had hidden the Sacred Jewels inside the heels.)

Logic is not my strong point.

My husband, of course, knows this.  He is highly amused by what he calls
"(insert-Authoress's-real-name)-logic".  Which, of course, is always illogical.

You can imagine how hard plotting is for me.

You can imagine, also, how astounded I am when someone describes my novel as "well plotted."  As though that couldn't possibly have happened.

Yeah.  It's that hard.

So here I am.  Moving SO slowly through this last important bit of story.  Chapter 24.  Which may as well be Chapter 4, for as little progress as I've made in the past two weeks.  I know how the novel ends--really, I do!  But it's the Getting There that's killing me.

It's all that logical, this-action-will-lead-to-that-action.  The character motivation.  The REASONS that lead to the big Boom.

Bleh.

It can't possibly be true that I'm the only author who struggles with logic.  (And if it is true, I'm sure I don't want to know.)  So please.  If you're one of those struggles-with-logic authors, please share your survival techniques!

And if logic comes more easily for you, I want to hear from you, too.  Sometimes watching someone else's brain work is a marvelous way to learn!

Okay.  Sitting back and awaiting your words of wisdom.

From Pantser to Plotter?

I wouldn't go that far. Despite my increasing penchant for planning, I can't deny my natural bent toward organic writing.

Still, I've been letting you in on my authorly journey for some time now, so I thought I'd share some visuals so you can see just how PLOTTERISH I'm looking these days.

I am in the midst of a fairly large revision. While staring at 30 chapters, extensive notes, and a blinking cursor, I decided the best course of action would be to break the chapters into their individual scenes. It took me a whole afternoon at the vineyard, and it was SO. BORING. I don't do well with tedium or anything remotely repetitive, you see.

But I persevered. And ended up with 144 lavender notecards, as such:


Yes, that's a Scrivener screen shot. It's too tiny to read the words, which are mostly cut off because of the size of the cards, anyway. But a simple click on each card reveals the bullet items I included on each to let me know exactly what's in the scene. Part of Scrivener's coolness is that you can drag the cards around. So changing the location of a particular scene is easy.

As I finish each chapter, I color-code the corresponding scene cards. That way, I can see the chapter breakdown at a glance. If I decide at some point to move a scene from one chapter to another, all I have to do is drag it and change its color.

At any rate, I've completed nine chapters so far. So my bulletin board now looks like this:



Isn't that pretty? The uber-dork in me gets all excited each time I get to choose a new chapter color. And the anal retentive administrative assistant in me (yes yes, I used to BE one) is all excited by the high level of organization here.

So there you have it. Breaking the novel into its smallest components has been HUGELY successful so far. Those of you who already use the write-in-scenes approach may be rolling your eyes at my slowness. No matter. I'm absolutely giddy over this.

Mind you, this is a completed novel. I haven't tried my hand at scene-plotting a new story. My brain doesn't work that way! But my love affair with colored notecards is flourishing, and I heartily recommend it to any of you who are feeling overwhelmed with a large, looming revision. Each completed scene feels like a wonderful accomplishment -- even if it's only 280 words long. And you all know how important those little psychological boosts are.

Happy plotting, happy scening, happy editing, happy revising, happy WRITING to you!

The 25% Test

I'm determined to crank out a WIP that is NOT rife with errors that need to be fixed during the second draft. So I'm reading and studying along with my writing. (Soon I'll stop sleeping and eating, too.)

Here's what I'd like to throw out to you today: How many of you pay attention to the one-quarter rule? That is, your novel is completely set up and the first plot point smacked down by the time you are 25 percent in.

For a 60K novel, that's at around 15K. And for my projected 75K novel, it's 18.5K, give or take.

And I'm almost there.

So in attempting to make this story arc WORK THE FIRST TIME, I am making a concerted effort to place my first plot point right where it belongs. It'll be either the end of chapter 7 or chapter 8, depending on everything else that needs to line up before then.

I'm in the middle of chapter 6. So you can imagine how I'm pressuring myself right now.

Last night I propped myself in bed with Beatrice and a glass of (cheap) Chardonnay, and made a bullet list of things-that-need-to-happen. I can move these around, delete the ones that aren't necessary, and hopefully come up with a clear road map to the End of Act One.

Then I'll feel all happy and professional.

It's boiling down to craft for me. The actual writing feels more like breathing every day. So, yeah. Craft.

What about you? Do you give thought to things like this while you draft? Have you applied the one-quarter rule to your own writing with any success?

And if you have a minute, will you please mail me some chocolate? Preferably packed in dry ice. I'm sure that'll make this whole process much easier.