Sela wrapped her good hand around her tea mug and took a careful sip.
The salon was crackling with noise and activity; passengers readying themselves for the charge down the iron gangway and the resulting jostle for primacy in the luggage line, the customs line and the cab line. Mother of the Deep, I hate traveling. She tucked her feet further under the bench as a cluster of children galloped past, each declaring primacy at the curved viewing windows.
“Scuse me, miss. Spare some change for a fellow cripple?”
Sela looked up into a pair of stunningly blue eyes sunk deep in an otherwise unremarkable face. “Cripple?” She straightened. “Fellow?”
The young man, barely old enough to be called a man but too tall to be a boy any longer, shrugged. “Not sympathetic, eh? Can I interest you in some flowers?” He opened his coat, revealing three pence posies, each threaded through a hole cut in the lining of his jacket.
The 'ship bobbled and there was a vague roar as the steam-thrusters kicked in. Over the heads of the milling children, Sela could just make out the curve of the planet below.
“Come on. Just five pence and these lovely flowers are yours.”
“Just five pence. For three-penny flowers?”
He grinned. “Hard work for me, hobblin' around. And I've been told my charm's worth the extra tuppence.”
“Hardly.” She dug in her pocket and produced a five-pence. “Better not to call strangers cripple and expect them to give you something for it.”
“Sorry 'bout that. I saw your hand and thought we had summat in common.” He slapped the brace around his leg with one hand and held out a drooping posey with the other.
She looked down, almost unwilling. The black leather brace covered her right hand from the first joint on each finger to the midpoint between wrist and elbow. That part was hidden under the sleeve of her coat and the long cuff on her shirt was meant to hide as much of the gold wires and tiny gears that meshed across the back of the leather glove. She guessed it didn't do that as well as she had hoped.
The flower seller was already limping away, smily and bright-eyed.
Sela tucked the flowers into the top buttonhole on her coat, knowing full well they would be dead and colorless by the time she got where she was going. The viewing windows turned milky red as the 'ship descended through the atmosphere. She flexed her hand and the wires glinted, pinkily, in the eerie light.
Summat in common. Clenching her fist so tight the brace pinged in complaint, she took another swallow of tea. I doubt that.
-- Outbound Screnzy project in development
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Friday, October 29, 2010
Naming Your Cats. Er... I Mean Characters
A common question from beginning writers is: How do you come up with names for your characters? (This question is matched by a predisposition to name characters things like Raven, Jet or Hiro.)
There is no right or wrong way to name your characters. Really. But here are a few things you might consider during that creation process.
First. Most people are named by their parents. That means that whatever name the parents of your MC think is cool or apt is the name that they will have. This means, know your MC's background and culture and name him/her accordingly. (Because that's what his/her parent's would have done.)
Second. Names might be descriptive or trendy or just weird. That's okay. But don't pick something just because you think it's unique.
Third. Sometimes names are just a bunch of sounds put together that sound nice.
Fourth. Certain names become trendy, both in real life and in the world of fiction. Be careful about naming your character something similar to an already existing character in a similar world/story to your own. (Especially if the other story is popular.) This does not mean you could never call a character Harry or Edward, but try not to name your vampire hero/villain after another (now famous) fictional vampire.
I have a lot of cats. They all have names. Some of them my husband named. Some of them I named. Let's look at a few of the names I gave my cats to demonstrate how you might go about naming characters.
Rosie was originally called Tiger because she was tiger-striped. But every time I looked at her I thought "Rosie." I don't know why. She's not pink. She's not girly. Nor is she part of the womens manufacturing effort at home. But she's definitely Rosie.
Then there's Nona. A quiet little lady who doesn't get in trouble or have any distinguishing marks (she's solid black). At first I thought of her as "no name" but that seemed kind of rude so I shortened it to "Nona".
When I name my characters I try and look at who they are and where they come from. By the time I get finished getting to know them a name usually pops into my head. If it doesn't I turn first to their cultural roots, then to the characteristics they might have displayed as a baby. (Dark hair, cheerful, whatever.) Eventually I figure something out.
The point is, they are your characters and you can name them whatever you like. Despite my cautions there really is no right or wrong way to pick a characters name. Just let you imagination go. (And, when it doubt, peruse a site like babynames.com for inspiration.)
There is no right or wrong way to name your characters. Really. But here are a few things you might consider during that creation process.
First. Most people are named by their parents. That means that whatever name the parents of your MC think is cool or apt is the name that they will have. This means, know your MC's background and culture and name him/her accordingly. (Because that's what his/her parent's would have done.)
Second. Names might be descriptive or trendy or just weird. That's okay. But don't pick something just because you think it's unique.
Third. Sometimes names are just a bunch of sounds put together that sound nice.
Fourth. Certain names become trendy, both in real life and in the world of fiction. Be careful about naming your character something similar to an already existing character in a similar world/story to your own. (Especially if the other story is popular.) This does not mean you could never call a character Harry or Edward, but try not to name your vampire hero/villain after another (now famous) fictional vampire.
I have a lot of cats. They all have names. Some of them my husband named. Some of them I named. Let's look at a few of the names I gave my cats to demonstrate how you might go about naming characters.
Rosie was originally called Tiger because she was tiger-striped. But every time I looked at her I thought "Rosie." I don't know why. She's not pink. She's not girly. Nor is she part of the womens manufacturing effort at home. But she's definitely Rosie.
Then there's Nona. A quiet little lady who doesn't get in trouble or have any distinguishing marks (she's solid black). At first I thought of her as "no name" but that seemed kind of rude so I shortened it to "Nona".
When I name my characters I try and look at who they are and where they come from. By the time I get finished getting to know them a name usually pops into my head. If it doesn't I turn first to their cultural roots, then to the characteristics they might have displayed as a baby. (Dark hair, cheerful, whatever.) Eventually I figure something out.
The point is, they are your characters and you can name them whatever you like. Despite my cautions there really is no right or wrong way to pick a characters name. Just let you imagination go. (And, when it doubt, peruse a site like babynames.com for inspiration.)
Monday, October 25, 2010
That Special Time of the Year
Well, my darling sparrows, it's almost that time of year again. No, not the winter holidays with rampant consumerism, depression and stress. November 1st marks the start of the National Novel Writing Month 2010.
I know I've talked about NaNoWriMo before, but for those who aren't familiar with it here's the overview. The goal is to write 50k words in 30 days (about 1700 words a day) and produce a "novel" in a month.
"That sounds awesome," some of you say.
Yes, it is.
"That sounds stupid," a few of you think.
No, not stupid. Just masochistic.
"Fifty thousand words in one month? Do you think I'm a robot?"
Maybe.
However you look at NaNoWriMo, here are a few reasons to consider participating.
1. Writing with a group can be very motivating. NaNo is basically a personal challenge. But, there are thousands of people all taking the same challenge and plenty of friendly rivalry to go around.
2. NaNo is what you make of it. Although it's called the National Novel Writing Month, the fact of the matter is you can write pretty much whatever you want. As long as it's 50k words or more. Short story collections. Novellas. An epic poem. They all count.
3. Remember how I'm constantly saying you should write every day? NaNo is the perfect time to try it out. Even if you don't meet the overall goal you'll get a better sense of how easy it is to work writing into your every day schedule.
4. You have nothing to lose. Even if you only write 10 words by the end of November that's still 10 words more than you had at the beginning of the month. This is a situation where you will not be worse off if you make an effort.
Still not convinced? Or maybe you're curious. Click on over to NaNoWriMo.org and check it out for yourself.
I can guarantee that if you try NaNo you're in for a wild ride. There will heartbreak, tears, joy, anger, dancing and chocolate. And then there's actually writing your novel.
Come join a few hundred thousand aspiring writers and challenge yourself to do more, more quickly.
I know I've talked about NaNoWriMo before, but for those who aren't familiar with it here's the overview. The goal is to write 50k words in 30 days (about 1700 words a day) and produce a "novel" in a month.
"That sounds awesome," some of you say.
Yes, it is.
"That sounds stupid," a few of you think.
No, not stupid. Just masochistic.
"Fifty thousand words in one month? Do you think I'm a robot?"
Maybe.
However you look at NaNoWriMo, here are a few reasons to consider participating.
1. Writing with a group can be very motivating. NaNo is basically a personal challenge. But, there are thousands of people all taking the same challenge and plenty of friendly rivalry to go around.
2. NaNo is what you make of it. Although it's called the National Novel Writing Month, the fact of the matter is you can write pretty much whatever you want. As long as it's 50k words or more. Short story collections. Novellas. An epic poem. They all count.
3. Remember how I'm constantly saying you should write every day? NaNo is the perfect time to try it out. Even if you don't meet the overall goal you'll get a better sense of how easy it is to work writing into your every day schedule.
4. You have nothing to lose. Even if you only write 10 words by the end of November that's still 10 words more than you had at the beginning of the month. This is a situation where you will not be worse off if you make an effort.
Still not convinced? Or maybe you're curious. Click on over to NaNoWriMo.org and check it out for yourself.
I can guarantee that if you try NaNo you're in for a wild ride. There will heartbreak, tears, joy, anger, dancing and chocolate. And then there's actually writing your novel.
Come join a few hundred thousand aspiring writers and challenge yourself to do more, more quickly.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Sweating the Small Stuff - The Creative Process: Part Eleven
Revising means more that looking for spelling errors and misplaced commas. It's more complicated than simply fixing a rough plot. Revising means polishing characters and finding (and keeping) a consistent voice for the whole novel.
Everyone always wants to know how to edit for voice. I can't tell you exactly how I do it. But I can give you some examples and maybe a few pointers.
Here's a line from a short story I'm working on. First, the rough draft version. Dust and heat hit like a wall as I take my first steps on Malachee.
After a bit of thinking about how that "hit" confuses the tense (which is first person present), I came up with the following solution. Dust hits like a fist as I take my first steps on Malachee; heat is a sucker punch behind.
Not necessarily the perfect (or permanent) solution but now I'm thinking along a better train of thought. And I have more creative options about how to expand or diversify that opening.
Here's a bit from a sketch for a potential novel. Centurion was about ten hours ahead of her internal clock which meant she’d be coming on duty about the time she normally went to sleep.
And the revised version. Stretching and pretending to yawn didn’t trigger any feelings of sleepiness. Her internal clock was not in synch with life on the ship. Yet. In the meantime she would have to deal with a duty shift that coincided with her normal sleep cycle.
Again, it's not necessarily a perfect solution but it certainly has more movement, more in common with the POV character, than the first version. (And let's remember that, for better or worse, I work through several drafts before I'm satisfied.)
I like to write my narrative as close to the POV characters "voice" as possible. I've been told that narrative voice (in third person) can never exactly match a character's voice. But I'll be damned if I don't try. That means that every description, every observation, every word choice is informed by the POV character. If they are poorly educated, I don't use big words and may even opt for less smooth sentence construction to stick more closely in their head.
This is not a choice that every author will want to make. I find it works well for me. In part because once I find the main character's "voice" I've also found the book's voice. Learning how far to push it... that's an ongoing process.
For me, the small details are really what holds the story together. A character describing something a particular way. An image that is beyond typical. Making sure those details come through is part of the revision process. It doesn't matter how brilliant the plot is if the characters seem flat or the action is stilted by failing to show those little nuances that say "This is someone you've not met before."
Right now I'm in the middle of a fourth draft of a novel. There's a lot of fiddling with little things. But less now than there was in the previous draft. And that's the way it should be.
What about you? Do you have a method for finding voice? Or a way to compare one chapter to the next as you aim for consistency? Or maybe your "small details" are something else entirely? How do you polish the little things in your novel?
Everyone always wants to know how to edit for voice. I can't tell you exactly how I do it. But I can give you some examples and maybe a few pointers.
Here's a line from a short story I'm working on. First, the rough draft version. Dust and heat hit like a wall as I take my first steps on Malachee.
After a bit of thinking about how that "hit" confuses the tense (which is first person present), I came up with the following solution. Dust hits like a fist as I take my first steps on Malachee; heat is a sucker punch behind.
Not necessarily the perfect (or permanent) solution but now I'm thinking along a better train of thought. And I have more creative options about how to expand or diversify that opening.
Here's a bit from a sketch for a potential novel. Centurion was about ten hours ahead of her internal clock which meant she’d be coming on duty about the time she normally went to sleep.
And the revised version. Stretching and pretending to yawn didn’t trigger any feelings of sleepiness. Her internal clock was not in synch with life on the ship. Yet. In the meantime she would have to deal with a duty shift that coincided with her normal sleep cycle.
Again, it's not necessarily a perfect solution but it certainly has more movement, more in common with the POV character, than the first version. (And let's remember that, for better or worse, I work through several drafts before I'm satisfied.)
I like to write my narrative as close to the POV characters "voice" as possible. I've been told that narrative voice (in third person) can never exactly match a character's voice. But I'll be damned if I don't try. That means that every description, every observation, every word choice is informed by the POV character. If they are poorly educated, I don't use big words and may even opt for less smooth sentence construction to stick more closely in their head.
This is not a choice that every author will want to make. I find it works well for me. In part because once I find the main character's "voice" I've also found the book's voice. Learning how far to push it... that's an ongoing process.
For me, the small details are really what holds the story together. A character describing something a particular way. An image that is beyond typical. Making sure those details come through is part of the revision process. It doesn't matter how brilliant the plot is if the characters seem flat or the action is stilted by failing to show those little nuances that say "This is someone you've not met before."
Right now I'm in the middle of a fourth draft of a novel. There's a lot of fiddling with little things. But less now than there was in the previous draft. And that's the way it should be.
What about you? Do you have a method for finding voice? Or a way to compare one chapter to the next as you aim for consistency? Or maybe your "small details" are something else entirely? How do you polish the little things in your novel?
Begin at the Beginning - The Creative Process: Part Ten
Once I get a better idea of what needs to be fixed plot-wise in my rough draft, I start rewriting. Usually I have a stack of scribbled-over, post-it splattered pages, a new outline, and a bunch of pages in the trash. This is because A) I like to work from an actual paper copy when I make revisions, B) the original story/outline has undergone major reconstructive surgery, and C) a lot of the rough draft turned out to be useless. (At least for the moment.)
When I start rewriting I start from scratch. Using my outline to keep me on track and my scribbled-over pages to give me something to work with I open up a brand spanking new document, label it "Big Shiny Idea - Draft Two ver 1". Then I begin with sentence one (even if for some miracle I decided to keep it the way it was in the rough draft) and start typing. All of it. From scratch.
I can type 2k in an hour if I absolutely have to. If you are a slow typist you might want to consider improving your typing speed or use an alternate method for revisions.
Before you say "Screw that. I'm not retyping the whole damn book." let me explain my madness.
I noticed a while back that when I went through and made revisions (especially in longer - novel length - work) that I could tell which sections had been in the rough draft and which were revised. Sometimes it was just a shift in voice or tone. But most of the time the revised sections simply did flow with the rest.
Maybe I'm the only one with this issue. Maybe every other writer on the face of the planet has no trouble in making revisions flow seamlessly into the rest of the story. But I, apparently, struggle with this.
After a bit of flailing trying to rectify the problem I discovered a simple solution. Write it all as one piece. When I started at the beginning and wrote through to the end (not all in one sitting if we're talking about a novel) my brain ironed out the seams and tweaked the notes I had made so that everything actually fit together.
I'm not sure why it works like that for me, but it does. And I always recommend that you try and actually retype as much as possible when you revise a draft. This also helps smooth out changes in voice or writing skill that may have developed over the course of writing the novel.
Whether I'm rewriting everything or filling in chunks I do find it works best to start at the beginning and work through to the end. It just helps me keep the story moving forward, the character arcs arcing and the tension moving gradually toward the climax.
What about you? Do you revise beginning to end or hop around until it's all finished?
When I start rewriting I start from scratch. Using my outline to keep me on track and my scribbled-over pages to give me something to work with I open up a brand spanking new document, label it "Big Shiny Idea - Draft Two ver 1". Then I begin with sentence one (even if for some miracle I decided to keep it the way it was in the rough draft) and start typing. All of it. From scratch.
I can type 2k in an hour if I absolutely have to. If you are a slow typist you might want to consider improving your typing speed or use an alternate method for revisions.
Before you say "Screw that. I'm not retyping the whole damn book." let me explain my madness.
I noticed a while back that when I went through and made revisions (especially in longer - novel length - work) that I could tell which sections had been in the rough draft and which were revised. Sometimes it was just a shift in voice or tone. But most of the time the revised sections simply did flow with the rest.
Maybe I'm the only one with this issue. Maybe every other writer on the face of the planet has no trouble in making revisions flow seamlessly into the rest of the story. But I, apparently, struggle with this.
After a bit of flailing trying to rectify the problem I discovered a simple solution. Write it all as one piece. When I started at the beginning and wrote through to the end (not all in one sitting if we're talking about a novel) my brain ironed out the seams and tweaked the notes I had made so that everything actually fit together.
I'm not sure why it works like that for me, but it does. And I always recommend that you try and actually retype as much as possible when you revise a draft. This also helps smooth out changes in voice or writing skill that may have developed over the course of writing the novel.
Whether I'm rewriting everything or filling in chunks I do find it works best to start at the beginning and work through to the end. It just helps me keep the story moving forward, the character arcs arcing and the tension moving gradually toward the climax.
What about you? Do you revise beginning to end or hop around until it's all finished?
Monday, July 26, 2010
Trimming Back the Shrubbery - The Creative Process: Part Nine
Once my rough draft is done it's time to start revising and editing. Those two words do not mean the same thing. (At least, not in my world.)
Revising is the work of tightening up plots, fleshing out characters, cutting out dead chapters, filling in the gaps and rewriting those passages that spewed forth at the end of a caffeine binge. It is the process of polishing "the big picture" of your novel.
Editing is the nuts and bolts of your writing. Checking spelling, punctuation, grammar, formatting. Editing should only be done once the revisions are done. (This doesn't mean ignore glaring errors. But don't waste time angsting over whether a comma is needed in a particular sentence until you are damn certain that sentence will be going out to agents/publishers.)
I point this out because it seems to be a common mistake among beginning writers that the purpose of a second draft is to clean up the minor errors (spelling, grammar, etc) that occurred in the rough draft and that once the editing is done the manuscript will be ready to submit. First, let me take a moment to laugh hysterically.
All right, now let's talk about the basics of revising your rough draft.
It's very important to be able to look at a story with "fresh eyes". This means you shouldn't remember every twist and turn, every plot point or all the clever dialogue. This will help you recognize the dead stuff. It will also enable you a few moments of pleasant surprise. Many will suggest (and I will repeat as well) setting aside a manuscript for a period of time in order to gain some perspective. For some that means putting something aside for a week. For others it may take several years. From what I've read the average is usually 6 - 8 weeks.
Once you've let your manuscript age or percolate or however you want to think about it, you need to print it out. "But that's expensive. And what about the environment?"
Screw the environment, you're writing a masterpiece. Dig that change out of the couch cushions, buy a ream of paper and print that sucker out.
I actually despise proper manuscript formatting and never print my stuff that way until it's ready to send off. I like 11 point, Times New Roman/Courier, single spaced with normal margins. Personally, that's plenty of room to make correction marks and I use post-its for any detailed notes about revisions. (And the margins. My manuscripts get kind of messy when I'm revising.)
The point is, figure out how you like to read your MS and then print it out that way. Now that you have the whole thing in your hot little hands read it through from beginning to end. Do not stop to correct spelling errors. Do not make notes about how to change Villain B into Antagonist H. Do not change the lame dialogue into something witty. Just read through from beginning to end.
After you've finished it's okay to cry a little. Or hit something. You are not allowed to throw away said manuscript, shred it, burn it or otherwise destroy it. (That's what the revision process is for.)
Trust me. When I read through a rough draft again for the first time I walk away thinking "What the hell? I wasted a month writing that shite?" Then I eat something and drink a cup of coffee and resolve to rip the guts out of the thing and put something better in it's place.
Which brings us to step two of the revision process: figuring out where to start. The beginning is always a good place, but if you're having doubts about whether the story starts in the right place then you should start somewhere else.
I begin by taking a red pen and drawing brackets in the margins with the words "fix this" next to every section I think needs to be fixed. Anything that seems to be not working at all I mark through and put "Cut" in the margin. And any place where I think I have an idea about how to expand or fix a section I either scribble it in the margin or on a post-it. At this point I'm trying to think about the story as a whole. Is the beginning too rushed? Is the final confrontation half the book? Does the romantic subplot help or hinder the story?
Once I've gone through the whole thing again, I open a new document, label it "Big Shiny Idea draft 2" and start making revisions.
"But what," you say, "do you revise? How exactly do you turn that pile of poo into a golden masterpiece?"
That, my little lollipop is the next blog entry.
In the meantime, think about your current WIP and try to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the plot and pacing.
Revising is the work of tightening up plots, fleshing out characters, cutting out dead chapters, filling in the gaps and rewriting those passages that spewed forth at the end of a caffeine binge. It is the process of polishing "the big picture" of your novel.
Editing is the nuts and bolts of your writing. Checking spelling, punctuation, grammar, formatting. Editing should only be done once the revisions are done. (This doesn't mean ignore glaring errors. But don't waste time angsting over whether a comma is needed in a particular sentence until you are damn certain that sentence will be going out to agents/publishers.)
I point this out because it seems to be a common mistake among beginning writers that the purpose of a second draft is to clean up the minor errors (spelling, grammar, etc) that occurred in the rough draft and that once the editing is done the manuscript will be ready to submit. First, let me take a moment to laugh hysterically.
All right, now let's talk about the basics of revising your rough draft.
It's very important to be able to look at a story with "fresh eyes". This means you shouldn't remember every twist and turn, every plot point or all the clever dialogue. This will help you recognize the dead stuff. It will also enable you a few moments of pleasant surprise. Many will suggest (and I will repeat as well) setting aside a manuscript for a period of time in order to gain some perspective. For some that means putting something aside for a week. For others it may take several years. From what I've read the average is usually 6 - 8 weeks.
Once you've let your manuscript age or percolate or however you want to think about it, you need to print it out. "But that's expensive. And what about the environment?"
Screw the environment, you're writing a masterpiece. Dig that change out of the couch cushions, buy a ream of paper and print that sucker out.
I actually despise proper manuscript formatting and never print my stuff that way until it's ready to send off. I like 11 point, Times New Roman/Courier, single spaced with normal margins. Personally, that's plenty of room to make correction marks and I use post-its for any detailed notes about revisions. (And the margins. My manuscripts get kind of messy when I'm revising.)
The point is, figure out how you like to read your MS and then print it out that way. Now that you have the whole thing in your hot little hands read it through from beginning to end. Do not stop to correct spelling errors. Do not make notes about how to change Villain B into Antagonist H. Do not change the lame dialogue into something witty. Just read through from beginning to end.
After you've finished it's okay to cry a little. Or hit something. You are not allowed to throw away said manuscript, shred it, burn it or otherwise destroy it. (That's what the revision process is for.)
Trust me. When I read through a rough draft again for the first time I walk away thinking "What the hell? I wasted a month writing that shite?" Then I eat something and drink a cup of coffee and resolve to rip the guts out of the thing and put something better in it's place.
Which brings us to step two of the revision process: figuring out where to start. The beginning is always a good place, but if you're having doubts about whether the story starts in the right place then you should start somewhere else.
I begin by taking a red pen and drawing brackets in the margins with the words "fix this" next to every section I think needs to be fixed. Anything that seems to be not working at all I mark through and put "Cut" in the margin. And any place where I think I have an idea about how to expand or fix a section I either scribble it in the margin or on a post-it. At this point I'm trying to think about the story as a whole. Is the beginning too rushed? Is the final confrontation half the book? Does the romantic subplot help or hinder the story?
Once I've gone through the whole thing again, I open a new document, label it "Big Shiny Idea draft 2" and start making revisions.
"But what," you say, "do you revise? How exactly do you turn that pile of poo into a golden masterpiece?"
That, my little lollipop is the next blog entry.
In the meantime, think about your current WIP and try to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the plot and pacing.
Friday, July 23, 2010
The Daily Grind - The Creative Process: Part Eight
Sitting down to write every day is sometimes more fiction than fact. But on the days when it does happen there are certain things one must be prepared for.
The key thing is this: Writing is work.
While you might have days when writing is fun and words just seem to flow, chances are they will be outnumbered by the days when every word is a struggle. Having a routine can help put you in the proper "space" to write.
My routine goes something like this.
First, turn on the computer. While it's booting up (several minutes if I'm using the laptop, just under a minute if I'm using the desktop) I get something to drink. Coffee. Tea. Ruby grapefruit pomegranate juice. Whatever. This means I won't have to get up for a while.
If I plan to write for an extended period of time I find a snack too. (Usually potato chips or half a chocolate bar or something that will satisfy the "must-snack-and-thereby-procrastinate" urge. Once I have my provisions I open up my document and take stock of where I am.
I do NOT edit what I've previously written. (Unless, of course, I'm working on a later draft and then only if I'm in the "editing" phase.) I MIGHT read through what I wrote during the previous session to see what I haven't gotten to yet. This is usually unnecessary if I'm actually writing every day. When I've been busy with more pressing concerns (feeding 19 cats and finding them loving, caring homes) I have to refresh my memory before my fingers hit the keyboard.
Once I'm up to speed I start writing.
Rough drafts are just that. Rough. I include every nitpicky world-building detail that strikes me. I ramble. My characters smile and shrug and whirl a lot. They look tense and shove hands in pockets and slam books onto shelves. I spend an entire paragraph describing a desk in a room that is otherwise undescribed. But the story gets onto the page.
I also change names part way through the manuscript (with a note in [brackets] to indicate I will have to edit accordingly), skip scenes that seem boring and throw in twists that may or may not make it into the next draft. But the story gets onto the page.
Bit parts turn into sidekicks. Friends turn into villains. Mysteries are rather dubiously solved and the final conflict takes up a much higher percentage of the draft than is proper. But the story gets onto the page.
After I've spent an hour or two (if I'm lucky) writing, I save my work, back it up on an external drive and resolve to finally reach the end of that chapter tomorrow.
It is not rocket science. The simple thing about writing is that you just have to write. Every. Day. Whether you feel like it or not. Whether you know where the story is going or not. Whether the words seem golden or not. You just have to write.
"But," you say. "The stuff I wrote yesterday was pure shite!"
Yeah, me too. Here's the secret that keeps me sane. When it's time to edit I can cut any damn thing I like back out.
And the second thing is this: Your story-writing self is smarter than you think.
As I've been working my way through the fourth draft of Gaslyte I've discovered a marvelous thing. Things that I wrote in the first draft, things I then scrapped because I thought they were terrible, now make sense. Of course, some of them come in far different places in the story than I'd first envisioned. And some had to be reincarnated a little. But the whole of the story has been there all along. It just needed to be unearthed (or as the professionals like to say, developed) a little more.
With that thought in mind I drink my (now cold) cup of coffee and eat my stale potato chips and make an appointment with my cramped little desk for the same time tomorrow.
The key thing is this: Writing is work.
While you might have days when writing is fun and words just seem to flow, chances are they will be outnumbered by the days when every word is a struggle. Having a routine can help put you in the proper "space" to write.
My routine goes something like this.
First, turn on the computer. While it's booting up (several minutes if I'm using the laptop, just under a minute if I'm using the desktop) I get something to drink. Coffee. Tea. Ruby grapefruit pomegranate juice. Whatever. This means I won't have to get up for a while.
If I plan to write for an extended period of time I find a snack too. (Usually potato chips or half a chocolate bar or something that will satisfy the "must-snack-and-thereby-procrastinate" urge. Once I have my provisions I open up my document and take stock of where I am.
I do NOT edit what I've previously written. (Unless, of course, I'm working on a later draft and then only if I'm in the "editing" phase.) I MIGHT read through what I wrote during the previous session to see what I haven't gotten to yet. This is usually unnecessary if I'm actually writing every day. When I've been busy with more pressing concerns (feeding 19 cats and finding them loving, caring homes) I have to refresh my memory before my fingers hit the keyboard.
Once I'm up to speed I start writing.
Rough drafts are just that. Rough. I include every nitpicky world-building detail that strikes me. I ramble. My characters smile and shrug and whirl a lot. They look tense and shove hands in pockets and slam books onto shelves. I spend an entire paragraph describing a desk in a room that is otherwise undescribed. But the story gets onto the page.
I also change names part way through the manuscript (with a note in [brackets] to indicate I will have to edit accordingly), skip scenes that seem boring and throw in twists that may or may not make it into the next draft. But the story gets onto the page.
Bit parts turn into sidekicks. Friends turn into villains. Mysteries are rather dubiously solved and the final conflict takes up a much higher percentage of the draft than is proper. But the story gets onto the page.
After I've spent an hour or two (if I'm lucky) writing, I save my work, back it up on an external drive and resolve to finally reach the end of that chapter tomorrow.
It is not rocket science. The simple thing about writing is that you just have to write. Every. Day. Whether you feel like it or not. Whether you know where the story is going or not. Whether the words seem golden or not. You just have to write.
"But," you say. "The stuff I wrote yesterday was pure shite!"
Yeah, me too. Here's the secret that keeps me sane. When it's time to edit I can cut any damn thing I like back out.
And the second thing is this: Your story-writing self is smarter than you think.
As I've been working my way through the fourth draft of Gaslyte I've discovered a marvelous thing. Things that I wrote in the first draft, things I then scrapped because I thought they were terrible, now make sense. Of course, some of them come in far different places in the story than I'd first envisioned. And some had to be reincarnated a little. But the whole of the story has been there all along. It just needed to be unearthed (or as the professionals like to say, developed) a little more.
With that thought in mind I drink my (now cold) cup of coffee and eat my stale potato chips and make an appointment with my cramped little desk for the same time tomorrow.
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