Thinking Good Writing's a Blending of Craft Skills

Lot's of people who talk to me think revising is the number #1 writing tip. I don't think so. That's a little like having a donkey push the cart. Yeah, writers need to finish writing something first to revise, but that isn't all. Writing is a blend of craft skills that takes practice and more practice. Yeah, I think writers are jugglers ... that's why we drop so many balls when we first start creating.

Oh, I think revising is the linch-pin of getting your writing published. You gotta get the words in some semblance of order, but once you have the story line down, you need to create images in your reader's mind and a hundred other different things.

That's where revising comes in. Writer's Digest, that helpful trade journal, posted a guest blog by Brian Kelms on tightening the screws on your readers in the first 50 pages of your work. This is important, because agents seldom read more than 50 pages in their first reaction to your query. More important, the excerpts given online aren't that long either. You've got to hook your reader early ... and show your competence.

Another thing. You have to carve out the time out of your life to write and revise. I struggle with this as much as most other writers. Then, I came across a tweet on how you only need to blog once a week on Twitter. Music to mine ears. Mohana Rajakumor's blog on Pro-blogger is a must read if you want to make a big splash in the blogging sphere. For most of us, writing and worrying about writing one blog a week gives us more time to work on our current manuscript.

Me? I think I was looking at the once a week excuse, but I think blogging too much can rob your creative juices unless you are mainly reporting on happenings.

So, how are my writing craft skills going? I'm having a hard time hitting my target of adding to Hag Stone Magic [500 words] this morning. If you also have a similar problem of meeting your priorities, check out Kristen Lamb's blog on Setting Priorities. It's about how social media overwhelms you. 

Hey it's only the 31st of January and I think I have my first blog for February almost done. *smiles*.

Haitus

Yeah ... It's the middle of February ... Ash Wednesday to be exact, if you follow such stuff. Still, it's a good time to reflect on how insignificant we are in the scheme of things. 

Still, the above advice is still pertinent, and I'd like to add another tip of my own. If you read this blog even semi-regularly, you've read me complaining that I'm a slooooow writer. Was it the dreaded writer's block. No. My mind was building a growing chapter outline. [very loosely structured]. But after a running start of over 500 words a day ... word production slowed down more and more as new questions rose about Mac's world.

Why? I kept have to explain things plus adding the notations in the "bible". Yeah, the dreaded clumps of back story kept clogging up  the flow of the story line. The solution didn't pop into my mind until I explained why magic existed in my post-apocalyptic world to my critique group. I was trying to write book two first. So, Hag Stone Magic has been relegated to a file of it's own. I'm still world-building but it's from the boonies-point-of-view rather than an administrative center. -- Did I just steal that from Suzanne Collins?

My tip? If you're suffering from "writer's block", maybe you aren't starting your story in the right place.

Oh, Dean K. Miller, a fellow Northern Colorado Writer, did a blog featuring my author website. Why don't you click the link and see what he has to say.

Author Kay Theodoratus http://wp.me/p1pN8h-uW

And, it's Valentine's Day.
I should proof read this again, but you're getting this typos and all.
It's been festering in my computer too long.

Agents and Openings

Agents and Openings

Every wonder how quick an agent makes a decision on your query's sample? Maybe a minute, if you're lucky. 

Don't believe me. You can find the answer in the October 2011 Writer's Digest in their section on agents. The cover even teases writers with the possibility of meeting "...Your Future Agent". How can you resist that lure to buy ... even if you don't believe it?

The most obvious first step in meeting an agent for those without the money to attend conferences is to send a query. Chuck Sambuchino has some interesting information on snagging an agent with that letter, including agent interviews, questions to ask if you get "that call", and just what an agent can do for you in this new world of self-publishing.

Kristin Nelson, the agent of many good insights into the world of publishing, gave readers the value for the price of admission, in my opinion. She not only did a "when did I stop reading this sample" segment, but she explained why. Some of the queries she used as examples presented some interesting ideas, in my opinion. Nelson rejected all but one -- all on the basis of a few sample paragraphs.

Yeah, our fates hang on a few opening paragraphs and, hopefully, the first fifty pages if you get asked to supply a "partial". Fortunately, Writer's Digest had another piece: "Workbook: Your First 50 Pages",an except from Les Edgerton's "Hooked". 

The page I tore out of the magazine? An excerpt from James V. Smith  Jr.'s "The Writer's Little Helper" -- a checklist for your first 1,000 words. I figure that should help me place my hooks for agent or, more important for me, publishers. 

Just for Fun:

I find old covers fascinating.  Maybe because I have so many of them on my bookshelves with the books and series I've kept over the years. Recently, I discovered an article at Abe Books on the book covers of Georgette Heyer's novels..  

In case you didn't know, Georgette Heyer was one of the writers who made "Regency romances" popular as a genre in the 1930s. She also wrote mysteries but they weren't as enduring as her romances. [She was most prolific in the heydays of Dorothy Sayers and Agatha Christie.]

Any other Heyer fans out there? I think my favorite books were Frederica and Venetia. 

Trivia:

Bad enough I get yowled at until I twirl the cat in the extra office chair. 

Now, he's fighting me for my computer chair. 

[It's better padded and has a pillow.
He usually sleeps on the tops of the couch using a stuffed skunk as a pillow.]

Lessons from Ants

Lessons from the Literary Side of the Fence ....

A confession.  I love to watch ants scurry around ... as long as they aren't too close to my kitchen.  But, I tried for two days to get into E. O Wilson's Anthill, A Novel.  My internal editor kept getting in the way.

The blurp on the trade paperback was a "hooker".  "'What the hell do you want?' snarled Frogman at Raff Cody, as the boy stepped innocently on the reputed murderer's property.  Fifteen years old, Raff had only wanted to catch a glimpse of Frogman's 1,000-pound alligator."  Then, the blurp lied.  It said that was the beginning of the book.

I opened the book and fell over a pretentious prologue.  [Okay.  Easy to skip over.]  Chapter 1 begins with Raff and his cousin eating ice cream on a hot day.  Which was an okay, if slow way, to introduce the characters.  Unfortunately, my internal editor kept stabbing at words with its red pencil.  The narrative is mostly telling by a dull story-teller.  --  I couldn't trade-pile it because the book belongs to my old man.  Guess I'll banish it to the basement.

Lesson?  Well, ants scurry around.  The story arc of a book should move too.

A Little Dip in Old-fashioned Print ...

The Writer's Digest leavened all the advertising circulars in the mail yesterday.  Better, they included an interview of Charlaine Harris as part of the publicity for the third season of True Blood.  Love her attitude towards writing:  She does it for fun.  I really relate to that since I write to amuse myself first of all.

Zachary Petit writes a profile that sheds light on the publishing world as well as the author.  Harris comes across as very down to earth.  Sounds like she was enduring as a mid-list author (of two published series, one of which is Lily Bard, a favorite) until she got tired of the mystery formula.  She jumped over the traces and wrote about telepathic Sookie Stackhouse who just happened to have a vampire for a boy friend.  In the process, she created a logical alternative vampire/werecritter/supernatural world.

Worried about whether you should outline or not?  Harris probably wouldn't recommend you follow her practice.  She basically turns on her computer, types 'Chapter 1', and then, wonders what the heck she's going to do.  She's usually saved from embarrassment by someone throwing a "firebomb through the window".

She does give some good advice tho.  "To read everything you can get your hands on.  And to write.  Constantly."  The July/August issue also has a comprehensive section on writing memoir.

If you don't subscribe to Writer's Digest, try to find a copy on a newsstand ... or order from a bookstore.

Progress ...

Stared at only two more chapters of Voices to do  ...........  I thought ... no hoped.  Then, last night I got a whole 500 words down ... ended the chapter ... then, added another.  Still have three chapters to go.  *nasty face*

Tried to research agents yesterday afternoon.  My back started whining so I used it as permission to shut down the computer.  Do you think my psyche is telling something?

Trivia ...

All was quiet on the robin front, allowing me to sleep in until seven (AM).  For half a day, I thought they'd left.  Then at lunch time, there was a fledgling snuggled in the front lawn grass with a parent hopping around, guarding him/her.  Fortunately, no dogs came by.

How Complex is Thy Character?

The Read:  Funerals are terribly time-consuming [and emotionally draining] even when expected and a mercy.  I can't image what a widow and family must go through.  It's bad enough when you're only peripherally involved.  One last event and my life can go back to normal.  I really do prefer being a hermit.  --  All this by explanation that I haven't been getting much reading done since I've been squeezing my writing time in between events.

I finished Savannah Russe's In the Blood, the fourth of the Darkwing Chronicles.  [About vampires, yes, I know, but I read it anyway]. As far as I can remember I haven't read any other books in the series.  At the same time, the book was easily self-contained and stood on its own.  I don't know if I'll go looking for any other in the series but I did enjoy this book's main character's quandaries while searching for a bunch of kidnapped girls.  In this case:  vampires 1, terrorists 0.  A nice little thriller that was easy to read while watching the news (which is what I did to finish it). --  Fortunately, the news has been fairly boring.

Since I'm still journaling Maren, I'm looking at a lot of articles I've clipped [torn] out of Writer's Digest and The Writer.  The gist of these seems to be "stick a characteristic on your characters", and a lot of published writers seem to do just that.  Actually, Daphne seems to have more problems than just trying to rescue the kidnapped girls and be a moral vampire.  (an oxymoron if there ever was one) ... 

She also has problems with her mother interfering in her life.  How does a 400+ vampire have "mother" problems?  It's easy when your mother is an 800+ vampire, which leads to interesting questions of vampires breeding as well as being turned.  The explanation of vampire procreation wasn't given in this book, and I doubt if I'll go looking for it, but I'm thinking there might be the makings of a twist somewhere in there.

Oh yeah,  there were "man problems" but that got solved by her breaking off the relationship and sending him into hiding so he wouldn't be corrupted by the vampire lifestyle.  [Mama was insisting boyfriend/fiance be turned.] 

So, I'm faced with the problem of how many problems should I give Maren.  Haven't really thought of it before ... though by default, my characters have all more than one problem.  Now I think I have to do it consciously since I always enjoy plots with more than one note.

Progress:  Maren.  Thinking of having the book start in this world ... sort of.  Actually, in my never never California.  I do have to change the town's name I think.  I've already used Hardscrabble twice.

Emma.  Did get the query and synopsis rewritten ... again or is that again and again?  Whatever, I've sent it out to four agents to see if my query can hook a couple of partial requests.  

Trivia:  See above.  The only good thing I can think of about funerals is that you get to chat with people you haven't seen in ages.

Another Batch of Cookies Down

Trivia:  Doing single batches of koulourakia is much easier on my hands.  I should have done it last year ... but then, I'm a slow learner.  Slow but sure, though, has filled the canning kettle.  Figure I still have four more batches to go ... plus the baklava.

(I'm avoiding thinking about wrapping presents.)

Lessons From My Reading:  Have started Joanne Harris' Runemarks.  Did I say somewhere that the Brits do fantasy well?  Well, they do.  This one is delicious ... after I slogged through all the explanation the beginning. --  Outcast girl with a forbidden magical rune mark meets up with a supposed-to-have been-exorcised Odin to change/save the world.

On some blog or forum, I read that paranormal and Nordic themes were "in" now.  The book was originally published in Britain in 2007 and here in 2008.  Maybe the book was part of the vanguard for the trend.

The writing styles British writers are allowed differ from the American blog/forum recommendations.  The beginning was larded with telling and about as interesting as an anthropology text even though the MC was chasing a goblin out of the cellar.  It took me several tries before the action/danger picked up speed for me to read it after the news.  By the time the local bully was following her into the hills after she got fired by his mother, I was into the story.  --  The action really picks after she meets Loki, about 80 pages into the book.

Nice to see Nordic mythology featured rather than Celtic, though.

My reaction to the beginning is ironic.  After thinking and comparing the beginnings of Emma and Demons, I'm beginning to wonder if my own fascination with milieu won't keep me from ever being published.  Of course, I think my action moves faster.  Oh, well.


Progress:   Maren:  Got the first chapter drafted -- POV: Faithfull Alice Sweet's journal.  It just bubbled out.  (It was an expansion of the paragraph mention in a previous blog.)  Now, I'll probably chop it.
 
Perhaps, the draft opening is too much like a prologue with too much telling.  Still, Sweet is a crucial antagonist to the human villain and Maren's defender/mentor in modern ways.   Of course its super short, but it names two more characters.  Forde Travers (sheriff) and Faithfull Alice Sweet.  The next chapter is more like ... 3rd person from Maren's POV.  It's not written but part of the 3rd chapter is.

Playing with and getting to know my characters is my favorite part of writing.  How I implement the ideas is another matter entirely.

Emma: is printed/off the computer. --  I've glanced at the first chapters.  They still don't flow evenly so I have a lot of work cut out for me.  I'm sure it'll go downhill once I get to the middle.  --  I'm using a couple of articles I tore from the Writer's Digest as editing crib sheets.

Need to get the Emma query going to help focus the first part of the book.  (I stink at writing fiction queries.)

Blog:   Note I changed the title.  Since I started this in September, I've been trying to focus the blog on some target.  I think I'm getting there.

Demons:  Am still trying to put the agent query together.  Just chopped half a page out of the five page story sample.  (Makes me worried about the rest of the manuscript.)  Maybe between the last of the Christmas shopping .... ?????

Falling over My Feet

Trivia:  Leaves are turning fast in our yard -- except for the peach and apricot, but they're never in sync with the Colorado weather.  Since we aren't getting enough, we went up the Rist Canyon to see more leaves.  The road is winding, hilly and narrow all the way from Bellvue to Stove Prairie and down the Poudre Canyon.  Since it was Monday morning, almost all the traffic was going the opposite way.  -- Nice to break the routine.

Oh, we almost got too close and personal with a couple deer who didn't have sense to stay in the yard where they were grazing.

Reading:  I've started a Charlaine Harris marathon.  When I went to B&N, I couldn't find Koontz where I thought he'd be (to stock up on Odd books to read them in sequence).  Found Harris' Harper Connelly series, so that's what I'll read.  Now I can only hope I don't decide to go back to Voices of Ghost Creek.  I've got enough on my writing plate.

Read Harris' A Secret Rage, a stand alone about catching a rapist -- of the main character and a couple of her friends.  The mystery has all the elements of enjoyment.  Nicely drawn characters, even the secondary ones.  A nice trail of clues.  A satisfying climax.  It kept me reading past my bedtime.  Maybe more important, that southern atmosphere.

Writing:   Emma bopped me up the side of the head.  Figuratively, that is.  Came up with another character out of nowhere and had to do a little research of Skadi, a Norse goddess of winter and other things.  When I went back into my character/location log to save my notes, I found I'd been writing by the seat of my pants.  

So, last night I updated a lot of stuff like I should have been doing the last couple months.  Physical characteristics.  Tics.  Favorite words.  Basic attitudes.  Wishes and desires.  Weaknesses.  All that stuff -- What was I thinking not to keep it up to date?  Not much, obviously.  


So, Maxim 10001:  Defining your characters makes your book easier to write.


Found a treasure trove in B&N yesterday -- besides the coffee and cinnamon scone and Harris' books.  Was looking to see if they were stocking Realms of Fantasy again ... if they're publishing again.  Anyway I discovered Writer's Digest's Novel Writing.  All sorts of good stuff from getting ideas to marketing after a book is published.  

The last article is a discussion of why novelists need a platform just as non-fiction writers do.  -- I know the info is useful, but I want to be a hermit; it suits my disposition.  

Progress:  Not much.  It was the weekend.  Did get my crits done, so now am waiting to read the next chapters. 

Won't be writing as much tonight either.  Castle is on the TV.