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?

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?

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.

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.

Roughing It - The Creative Process: Part Seven

Now I'm at the stage to finally start writing the novel that goes along with my Shiny New Idea. At this point I've thought about my story and my Main Characters and I either have an outline or I don't.

Now all I have to do is take the Idea, start writing at the beginning, slog through the middle, and finally reach the end. It sounds simple enough, right? The truth is the rough draft is probably the easiest and the most difficult draft to write.

The easy part is this: it's all unexplored territory. Yes, even if you have a really detailed outline there are plenty of surprises still waiting for you to uncover them. And, at least for the first 20k or so, there's probably a lot of enthusiasm for the story. This is your new baby, you want to see it to completion.

The hard part is in keeping the momentum going 'til you get to THE END. There is no magic formula, just a lot of hard work.

Here's how I approach the task.

1) I set daily/weekly goals (usually about two to three hours worth of writing per day) and do my best to meet them. Every. Day. Things will come up to prevent you from making every session. Not feeling in the mood to write is not a good excuse. (I know it's hard to write when you don't feel like it, but the more you do it the less you find you don't feel like writing.)

2) I use a simple word processing program to write in. Usually Q10 (which has some drawbacks) or OpenOffice. There are plenty of programs that will help track characters and give you all sorts of options about how to file notes and link documents together, etc. If they help you write more effectively that's great. I find they tend to distract me from the actual process of writing.

3) I write in sequence from beginning to end. Or I don't. It depends on the story, how developed my idea is, whether the wind is blowing from the east... You get the picture.

4) I write every day whether I feel inspired or not.

5) I write every day whether I feel inspired or not.

6) I write every day whether I feel inspired or not.

I think you get the picture.

Some authors edit as they go. I find that is not helpful during the first draft process. I do tend to read through the last couple of pages I wrote before I start each session. This helps me keep track of where I am in the story, how relationships are developing, and so forth.

I do not worry about whether I'm putting chapter breaks in the optimum location (although I do put in chapter breaks just because I feel like it). I do not worry too much about pacing. I do not worry about if my descriptions are too light/too heavy. I do not worry about whether or not my dialogue is snappy enough.

The rough draft is the one version that doesn't have to be better than a previous version. That doesn't mean you should deliberately make it terrible. But don't sweat the small stuff.

Remember: Some words is better than no words.

A Map to Hidden Treasure: Creating an Outline - The Creative Process: Part Six

So, I talked about Pantsing your novel. Now it's time to discuss the idea of an Outline. The big complaint about outlines is that they "restrict" an author's creativity and produce a stale story.

I once attended a (really fantastic) screen writing conference. While I was there I attended a class on writing adaptations. The man hosting the class said something very important that I have consistently applied to my use of outlines (and not just my approach to adapting novels into screenplays). He said when he started an adaptation he would read the book over and over, at least five or six times, making notes about the themes that really appealed to him, getting to know the characters and their motivations inside and out, learning the twists and turns of the plot like the back of his hand. Then he would put the book on the shelf and write his screenplay without looking at the book again until the first draft was done.

I do the same with my outlines. Why? Because just like screenplays and novels are different creatures, outlines and novels are different creatures. An outline is a tool that is part of a method that builds a Plot gradually. As a tool it should be used when it is useful and ignored when it isn't.

"Well," you say. "I guess I could try it. But aren't outlines complicated?"

Sometimes, but they don't have to be. Here are the components of a successful outline: a Beginning, a Middle, and an End. That could be a single sentence for each part or a paragraph or a detailed twenty page bulleted list of every important plot-point. The key here is: whatever works best for you.

I like to sketch out the main beats of each chapter in my outline. Here's an example.

1.
Keiran Fennel comes to the zeppelin port seeking passage to London
Despite the threatening weather he sets off with the crew of The Hind
Part way through the crossing the weather turns violent
Captain Hart enlists Keiran's help stoking the engines in the hope the ship can outrun the storm
While in the engine room Keiran sees his father's shade
The shade indicates that he (Keiran should go out on the upper deck)
Captain Hart tells Keiran it's dangerous and he's likely to go over the edge
Keiran insists, says it may the only thing that will save the ship
Hart is reluctant but is not in a position to argue
Keiran goes out on the upper deck
A brief conversation with the shade who points out a shape in the storm that is not natural
Keiran struggles with the monster (aerolis?) and succeeds in driving it away before being overcome with exhaustion

2.
Keiran wakes to find that The Hind has reached London
Captain Hart talks with him a bit, says he saved the ship and the crew
Three other zeppelins were lost in the storm
Keiran tries to play it off, pretend that he had nothing to do with the safe passage but Hart tells him he saw the storm monster
Hart wants to know if Keiran knows why the monster was there in the first place but Keiran tells him he has no idea
He does say that The Hind was likely not the target as they were only on the outer edge of the storm and the monster retreated quickly when attacked
Hart agrees and he tells Keiran that when he wants to return to Eire he should seek them out and The Hind will give him free passage back
Keiran thanks him for the offer but says he doesn't know how long he will be in London, perhaps a day or so, perhaps weeks
Keiran collects his bag and departs The Hind

In total that outline was about nine pages. Every chapter was sketched out and it took me about three days to work through the whole thing.

"Nine pages! Three days! But that's too long," you say.

True, three days is a big chunk of time. Especially when the Big Shiny Idea is banging on the door begging you to just start writing already. But that three days saved me countless hours of staring at the screen trying to figure out how to get my Plot back on track. For me, it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. Because I've tried it out and I know that having an outline saves me more time in the long run. If it didn't, I wouldn't keep using them.

"All right. I see your point," you admit. "But what about that organic energy you mentioned about Pantsing? Doesn't the outline kill that?"

Now we come back to my opening anecdote. Outlines can be restrictive. But they don't have to be. If you get to a point where it seems like the story wants to go in a different direction you have a choice: keep writing according to the outline or follow the new path. This is not any different than writing without an outline. You will always have moments where you realize the story could go differently. And you have to make a choice about which path you want to take. Whether it's the one highlighted on your map/outline or just a fork in your mental road.

An outline shows you one way to get from Point A (the Beginning) to Point C (the End) while passing through Point B (the Middle). But it doesn't show you every way.

So. If you feel like trying something different, here's the way to begin an outline. Figure out where the Plot starts (remember this may not be the same point as the beginning of the Story) and write that down. A good Beginning should give the reader some sign or clue about your MC's normal life plus drop them into a situation that is outside their normal experience that presents them with a problem.

Next, consider how that situation (usually referred to as The Inciting Incident) will effect your MC's life. What will they do next? Is there a possible resolution to the problem they are facing.

FREX: Your MC is framed for murder. A possible resolution is that they find the true killer. Now you have a Beginning and a possible End. How do they get from Point A to Point C? Hire a detective. Investigate the murder themselves. There are a number of possibilities about what happens in the Middle. Write them all down. Then see if any sort of pattern or order suggests itself.

The amount of detail you put into the outline depends on how much you feel is necessary for you to start writing your rough draft. I find lots of detail helpful. You may need only a paragraph to get the gears turning.

Remember what I said about digging the Story out of your head? Well, just like asking questions about your characters, the outline is meant to get you thinking about how the characters will solve their big dilemma and what's at stake if they fail. As you figure out how they'll try and make things right you'll start to see how the story can progress.

One final thought about outlines. I like to think of them as a very rough draft. It's like the draft of the story before I start adding all the frills like dialogue and narrative and description.

What about you? Do you like to spell out every chapter? Hit the main turning points? Maybe your outline is just a logline that says "Punk girl discovers industrial conspiracy and teams up with washed cop to reveal the truth before the whole planet starting mutating into frogs." Or something. What do you need to know about a story before you start writing?

Pantsing: Not just for bullies - The Creative Process: Part Five

There are two basic ways to develop the Story part of your Big Shiny Idea. The most basic is to simply sit down and start writing. Typically this is called "pantsing" i.e. writing by the seat of your pants.

Here are the advantages and short comings of this method.

Writing as the inspiration hits is a wonderful thing. But it can also be problematic. The big advantage is that it lends itself to more organic plot-development. A number of authors just like to write and see what happens next. It also can provide quicker turnaround between projects because a lot of the "preproduction" is put aside in favor of writing to see what the story is about.

Personally, I've written two novels and most of a novella this way. It's... all right. I also tend to spend a lot of time going back and inserting scenes and deleting massive chunks when it becomes obvious that the plot has taken a wrong turn.

But that's me. Writing in the moment may be the way to go for you. If it is, that's great. If it's not, never fear, I'll be addressing Outlines next time.

One word of caution regarding the pantser method. A lot of beginning authors seem to think that in order to be a "real" writer they need to write without an outline. I can't tell you how many years I spent thinking that I shouldn't need an outline to write a novel. (Well, I could but it's embarrassing so I won't.) During that time I started novel after novel and wallowed around trying to find the core of the plot, the characters driving motivations, before finally chucking the whole thing and starting something different. There is nothing wrong with using an outline.

There is nothing wrong with not using one either. You need to do what works for you. My caution is that I don't want you dismissing something without trying it out first.

As I've developed as a writer I've found that I have gotten better at pantsing. However, I still outline short stories and novels when I feel I don't know the plot/characters well enough to just write. Which method works best for me varies from project to project. It might for you too. And that's okay. The only real rule we need to adhere to is "Do what works for you."

Do you find as you write more that your pantsing ability gets better? Or do you crave the outline more?