Tag Archives: #writetip

November 6, 2023 · 9:30 am

Food as set dressing #worldbuilding #amwriting

We’re well into NaNoWriMo, and writing is going well so far. I’m on track, and the words are flowing well. At our Saturday write-in, one of my fellow writers asked me how I introduce food into a narrative. As you might imagine, I have an opinion about that: I see food as set dressing, a part of world-building.

MyWritingLife2021BFood scenes serve as transitions between events. The act of dining occurs, but the conversations are the point of that scene. This is an opportunity to rest and regroup.

I write books set in fantasy environments, but you create a world no matter what genre you write in. As that world grows on paper, so does the culture. An aspect of worldbuilding involves including the casual mention of appropriate food for your ecology and level of technology.

I feel it’s best to concentrate on the conversations when writing about meals. The food should be part of the scenery. The conversations around food are where new information can be exchanged, things we need to know to move the story forward.

Apples 8-25-2013I’ve read many unforgettable fantasy books. One that shall go unnamed stands out, but not for a good reason. The author gave each kind of fruit, bird, or herd beast a different, usually unpronounceable, name in the language of her fantasy culture. She must have spent hours devising that hot mess of fantasy foods.

The characters were great and engaging, and the plot was engrossing. But the information about each and every kind of plant or vegetable was inserted into the narrative in long info dumps that ruined what could have been a great book for me.

As a reader, I think Tolkien got the food right when he created the Hobbit and the world of Middle Earth. He served common everyday food that his target audience was familiar with.

Food is an essential component of a culture but should be only briefly mentioned. Whether commonplace or exotic, it should be similar enough to known earthly foods to create an atmosphere a reader can easily visualize.

As many of you know, I have been vegan since 2012. However, during the 1980s, my second ex-husband and I raised sheep as part of a family cooperative.

I could write a book about those five years, but no one would believe it—fantasy is easier to make sense of.

I grew up fishing with my father and have a first-person understanding of putting meat, fish, or fowl on the table when a supermarket is not an option.

That experience taught me many things. Meat, fish, and fowl won’t be served daily in the average person’s home if they must catch, kill, and prepare it for themselves.

Village_scene_with_well_(Josse_de_Momper,_Jan_Brueghel_II)

Village Scene with Well, Josse de Momper and Jan Brueghel II PD|100 via Wikimedia Commons.

It’s a lot of work to raise an animal. Hunting is also labor intensive. Then you have a lot of messy, smelly work to prepare it for cooking.

Travelers often streamline this process by skinning game birds rather than plucking them. The feathers come off with the skin – the whole point of hunting for dinner is to get it roasting as quickly as possible.

Why not raise animals and eat them? In the Middle Ages, pigs were raised solely for meat. The wool a sheep could produce in its lifetime was of far more value than the meat you might get by slaughtering it. For that reason, lamb was rarely served. The only sheep that made it to the table were usually rams culled from the herd.

Chickens were no different because you lose the many meals her eggs would have provided once a chicken is dead. Young roosters were culled before they got to the contentious stage and were usually the featured meat in the Sunday stew. Only one rooster was kept for breeding purposes. If he was too ill-tempered, he went into the stew pot, and a young rooster with better manners took his place.

Cattle and goats were also more valuable alive. Cows were integral to a family’s wealth as they were milk producers and sometimes worked as draft animals. Only one bull would be kept intact in a small herd for breeding purposes. The others would be neutered, made into oxen and draft animals that pulled plows, pulled wagons, fertilized the fields with their manure, and did all the work that heavy farm machinery does today.

In medieval times, it was a felony for commoners in Britain to hunt for game on many estates. Poachers were considered thieves and faced harsh penalties, horrific by our standards, if they were caught.

cucumbers waiting to be pickles 08-24-2013

Cucumbers waiting to be pickles © 2013 cjjasp

However, most people were allowed to fish as long as they didn’t take salmon, so hutch-raised rabbits, fish, or salted pork were on the menu more often than fowl, sheep, or cattle. Eels and frogs were abundant and were a menu staple in the average peasant’s home. Anything one could raise in a garden was carefully harvested and pickled or dried. Berries were dried or made into jams and wines, as were tree fruits. Fish were dried and smoked or salted, and even pickled. These preserves were critical to surviving winters.

Common vegetables in medieval European gardens were leeks, garlic, onions, turnips, rutabagas, cabbages, carrots, peas, beans, cauliflower, squashes, gourds, melons, parsnips, aubergines (eggplants)—the list goes on and on. But what about fruits?

Wikipedia says:

Fruit was popular and could be served fresh, dried, or preserved, and was a common ingredient in many cooked dishes. Since sugar and honey were both expensive, it was common to include many types of fruit in recipes that called for sweeteners of some sort. The fruits of choice in the south were lemons, citrons, bitter oranges (the sweet type was not introduced until several hundred years later), pomegranates, quinces, and grapes. Farther north, apples, pears, plums, and wild strawberries were more common. Figs and dates were eaten all over Europe but remained expensive imports in the north. [1]

Pies of all kinds were the fast food of the era, often sold by vendors on the street or in bakeries.

Pieter_Bruegel_the_Elder_-_Peasant_Wedding_-_Google_Art_Project_2

Pieter Bruegel the Elder – Peasant Wedding (1526/1530–1569) via Wikimedia Commons

Wheat was rare and expensive. For that reason, the grains most often found in a European peasant’s home were barley, oats, and most importantly, rye. In the Americas, maize (corn)was the staple grain that provided flour for bread and was an essential ingredient in cooking.

Mostly, my characters eat fish, vegetables, grains, fruits, and nuts. The primary sources of protein are eggs, cheese, and fish. Herbal teas, ale, ciders, and mead are staples of the commoner’s diet. This is because drinking fresh, unboiled water can be unhealthy if your tale is set in a low-tech world. Medieval beers and ales were lower in alcohol but higher in nutrition than today’s brews. Ale or lager might be served at every meal, even to children.

pie and picklesIn my current work in progress, my people have a melding of familiar European and New World ingredients for their diet and do a lot of foraging. Fish, maize, and potatoes are essential staples, as are beans and wild greens. For a good list of what this diet might entail, visit this link: Indigenous cuisine of the Americas. You will be amazed at the variety of everyday foods that originated in the Americas.

Knowing what to feed your people keeps you from introducing jarring components into your narrative. But don’t make it the center of the scene unless your plot demands it. One of my favorite series does just that: Recipes for Love and Murder: A Tannie Maria Mystery (Tannie Maria Mystery, 1)

CREDITS AND ATTRIBUTIONS:

[1] Wikipedia contributors, “Medieval cuisine,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Medieval_cuisine&oldid=896980025 (accessed Nov 4, 2023).

Apples and pickles courtesy of the author’s own kitchen garden.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder – Peasant Wedding (1526/1530–1569) PD|100 via Wikimedia Commons.

Village Scene with Well, Josse de Momper and Jan Brueghel II PD|100 via Wikimedia Commons.

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September 13, 2023 · 6:00 am

#NaNoPrep: Discovering your writing style #amwriting

Are you a ‘pantser’ or a ‘plotter?’ For me, the answer lies somewhere in the middle. I plot, get two paragraphs in, and then find myself winging it, and the plot goes in a new direction. Then I replot and let it fly again.

crows-clip art clicker vector dot comAlso, my first drafts are not written linearly. I write what I am inspired to, skipping the spots I have no clue about. I fill in those places later. Even after completing the first draft, things will change structurally with each rewrite.

But what if you aren’t interested in writing a novel? What if you are a poet or your best skill is the short story?

In thirteen years of participating in NaNoWriMo, I have discovered that there is no one way that fits everyone. You’ve had this idea rolling around your head for a while now for something you’d like to read. You wish your favorite author would write it. In my experience, you must write it yourself, or it will never happen.

Your favorite author can only write so fast. Not only that, but what they’re in the mood to write might not be your wished-for book.

I’ve noticed a trend—most authors don’t live beyond 100 years of age. Unfortunately, dead authors rarely publish new books unless they are ghostwriters.

So, there you go–if you want that book, write it yourself.

My addiction to NaNoWriMo began innocently, as all good habits do: A young writer in the Philippines whom I had met through a gaming website mentioned he planned to do this writing challenge. I had never heard of it.

nano-computer-word-count

November’s Goal

It was a worldwide thing where hundreds of thousands of people began writing a novel on November 1, intending to have it finished by November 30.  The catch was that you couldn’t start until 12:01 a.m. on November 1st; it had to be at least 50,000 words long, but it could be longer. And you had to have it validated by 11:59 p.m. on November 30th to earn the coveted winners’ goodies.

I wasn’t sure I could do this crazy thing. All I had to do was write 1,667 words daily, which I felt I could do. I figured the worst that could happen was that I would fail to have anything to write about.

Fear of failure had never stopped me from ruining my life, so I googled the national website and signed up. I chose the handle dragon_fangirl.

At 6:30 a.m. on November 1, 2010, I looked at my laptop and had no idea what to do. I wrote the first line as if I were telling myself a fairy tale. Inspired by my misspent childhood reading such disparate works as Don Quixote and the heartily misogynistic adventures of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, I wrote:

There was a cabin in the woods.

Author-thoughtsIt wasn’t exactly literary brilliance, but it gave my idea a jumping-off point. I just began telling the story as it fell out of my mind. Surprisingly, I discovered my word count averaged 2,500 to 3,000 words daily. By day fifteen, I knew I would have no trouble getting to 50,000, and by November 21st, I had passed the 50,000-word mark.

At the 68,000-word point, I had completed my rollicking tale of snark and medieval derring-do. It was utterly unpublishable (say that hokey phrase three times!), but I didn’t know that until later.

What I did know was that I had written a complete novel and told the kind of tale I would have sought out at the bookstore.

All it needed was rewriting, editing, revising, rewriting, and putting it in a drawer, never to be seen again.

Julian_Lackland Cover 2019 for BowkersBut I took that incoherent mess apart, and over the next ten years, it became three books: Huw the Bard, Billy Ninefingers, and Julian Lackland.

One rule they tell you at NaNoWriMo is never to delete and don’t self-edit as you go along. This is all strictly stream-of-consciousness, so write how it falls out of your head. That was hard for me, but eventually, I got into the swing of things.

My rules for NaNoWriMo:

  1. Write at least 1,670 words every day. Technically, it’s three more words than the pros suggest, but it gives me a little cushion and takes about 2 hours. I’m not fast at this.
  2. Write daily whether you have an idea worth writing about or not. Write that grocery list if you have nothing else. When stuck, I work on my characters’ personnel files, visualizing them as people I might want to know. Every word counts toward your ultimate goal. We will talk about my approach to writer’s block next week.
  3. NANO CrestIt helps to check in on the national threads each day. Look at your regional threads on the national website to keep in contact with other local writers. You will find out when and where write-ins are scheduled.
  4. Be brave! Attend an in-person write-in or join a virtual write-in at NaNoWriMo on Facebook. The company of other writers keeps you enthused about your project.
  5. Try NOT to self-edit as you go. Just get that story down from beginning to end.
  6. Delete nothing. Passages you want to delete later can be highlighted, and the font turned to red or blue so you can easily separate them later.
  7. Remember, not every story is a novel. If your story ends, draw a line at the bottom of the page and start a new one in the same manuscript. You can always separate them later; that way, you won’t lose track of your total word count.
  8. Update your word count every day. It’s an honor system, but you get little badges for updating every day and achieving specific goals. One badge is for updating your word count more than once in one day. I try to earn all the badges, and most years I do.

In 2015, I took a different path from the usual novel-in-thirty-days approach. I named my project November Tales. I suffered from a bout of pneumonia and worked from my bed for most of the month. Even so, I managed 42 short stories, all fueled by Nyquil and desperation, totaling 107,000 words.

Bleakbourne front Cover medallion and dragon copyIncluded in this mess were ten dreadful poems, along with chapters 7 through 11 of Bleakbourne on Heath.

The following year began the same, this time with a severe case of bronchitis. I named my project November Tales 2016 – 30 Days of Madness and Pot Pies. I started by writing short stories, flash fiction, drabbles, and poems. Within five days, I was writing the first draft of a novel and managed to get 90,000 wonky, misspelled words.

That novel is still in the first draft stage, but I intend to finish it in this year’s NaNo rumble.

If you choose to join this writing free-for-all, go to www.nanowrimo.org and sign up! Pick your name, start your author profile, and look up dragon_fangirl (that’s me). Add me as your writing buddy, and I will be part of your writing posse, cheering you on when you need a morale boost.

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September 11, 2023 · 6:00 am

What is National Novel Writing Month, and should I participate? #NaNoWriMo

September is in full swing, and with it comes writers’ conferences. This last weekend, I attended the Southwest Washington Writers’ Conference in Centralia, Washington. I sat in on presentations by Lindsay Schopfer, Mellissa Hart, Elizabeth Goddard, and many other writers, all discussing the craft of writing. I also gave a small presentation on adding depth to our heroes and villains.

2020_nano_Project_coverConferences are excellent places to make good connections with other writers. You meet people you can talk to about every aspect of the experience of writing as well as craft. No one’s eyes glaze over when you try to explain your main character’s inner demons and you find people with struggles similar to your own.

You also meet industry professionals who will help you on your road to a finished project.

I have another conference in two weeks, this one in Seattle. After PNWA’s 2023 conference, I will plow through my notes for new info, as conferences always give me plenty of fodder for several blog posts.

September is also the time of year when I begin pulling together the characters and plot of my next novel. I’m a Municipal Liaison for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).

If you haven’t heard of this, it’s a worldwide event taking place in November. Each year, thousands of people in all parts of the world dedicate themselves to writing a 50,000-word narrative in only thirty days.

NaNoWriMo is a contest in that you have achieved your goal if you write 50,000 words and have your word count validated through the national website. But it is not a contest in any other way as there are no monetary prizes or fame for those winners, only a PDF winner’s certificate that you can fill out and print to hang on your wall.

Depending on your intended audience, a manuscript of only 50,000 words is a short novel. It’s a good length for YA or romance but is only half a novel for epic fantasy or literary fiction.

nano-computer-word-count

November’s Goal

Regardless of the planned length of their finished novel, a dedicated author can get a book’s basic structure and storyline down in those thirty days. They sit for an hour or two each day and write at least 1667 words.

That’s all you need to do. At the end of 30 days, you will have written 50,000 words.

Author Lee French and I are co-MLs for the Olympia Region for NaNoWriMo. Every year, many writers in our area create profiles at www.nanowrimo.org and embark on the writer’s journey. Lee and I work together to ensure they have all the necessary tools and support to achieve their goals.

We’ve been doing this for a while and have seen a pattern among our writers. The first roadblock happens when reality sets in, and the writers realize that writing is work. This usually occurs within the first few days. A small percentage will never get more than 2,000 words written.

They discover writing isn’t their jam, after all.

The majority of new NaNo writers are people who “always wanted to write a book.” Often, they don’t know what they want to write and have no clue how to be disciplined enough to write any words, much less the number it takes to make a novel.

They start, get 30 to 1,000 words in, and realize they have nothing to say. But in our region, many people will reach the 10,000-word mark before they stop writing. That’s an achievement—it’s almost a novella.

NANO CrestSome new writers are completely fired up for their novels, obsessed. They go at it full tilt for a week or even two, and then, at the 20,000-word mark, they take a day off. Somehow, they never get back to it. These writers will continue to write off and on and may participate in NaNoWriMo again.

Even seasoned writers who have crossed the finish line at NaNoWriMo in previous years may find that the commitment to sit and write 1,667 words daily is not doable. Things come up—life happens, and it’s okay to set the writing aside. You can always come back to it later.

But by November 30th, a third of the writers in our region will make it to the 50,000-word mark. Some will reach above 80,000, and a few will exceed 100,000.

Some of these novels have complete story arcs and are ready for revisions. Most are not, but more work could make these proto-novels publishable.

It takes commitment and discipline to write 1,667 new words every day. You are not revising old work. Instead, you’re writing something new and not looking at what you wrote yesterday.

To do this, you must sit at the keyboard, open the document to where you left off, and begin writing forward. I have some tips and tricks to simplify this process, and we will discuss them later.

I’m not a good typist. The words that fall out of my head during NaNoWriMo are not all golden, just so you know. When writing stream-of-consciousness, many words will be garbled and miss-keyed.

This means that the revision process is a long and winding road for me.

I began writing Ruins of Abeyon, my forthcoming novel in November 2017, on the spur of the moment when I had a sudden flash of “what if.” I started with no outline, so the story arc evolved as I wrote the book. I listed the events in a separate document as I went. Later, when revising, it was easy to see the arc and make an outline. I could see when it was best to move certain events to more logical places and even when things needed to be cut.

Still, it has taken five years to get this book to where it is ready to be published.

Succeeding in writing even a short story gives one the confidence to continue.

If you have a novel in your soul and it’s bursting to get out, this might be your chance. However, planning for a successful NaNoWriMo is like preparing for a marathon.

We let our families know what we are planning well in advance and share how vital reaching our goal is to us. That way, we have their emotional support. We also plan ahead for meals and family time so the essential people in our lives aren’t neglected. In the US, this means fixing a Thanksgiving dinner on the last Thursday of November and enjoying the things that matter most.

Pumpkin-Pie-Whole-SliceCooking is my love language. I have many tips and ideas for getting word count and having a proper family feast. As a dedicated writer, I know how to plan for all aspects of life.

In many ways, we’re physically and mentally preparing for a marathon. We build our strength and get our families behind us by ensuring we have prepared well in advance.

Over the next few weeks, we will focus on laying the groundwork for our novels so that we will be ready and able to write when November comes.

Much of what I will discuss has emerged from my 13 years of experience and my co-ML Lee’s ideas for prep work.

I have made life-long friends through participating in my local NaNoWriMo group. The emphasis is on having fun and meeting personal goals, commiserating when goals can’t be met, and just enjoying the experience of creating something that is ours. We have the support and encouragement of the worldwide community of writers and people of all nations and walks of life.

Everyone has a story. Some people will write those stories, and I will be first in line at the eBook store, eager to read them.

NaNoWriMo-General-Flyer

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September 6, 2023 · 6:00 am

Guest Post: Five or six things I’ve learned by Stephen Swartz #amwriting

My dear friend, author Stephen Swartz, has kindly agreed to share some of his wisdom with us. Stephen is a fellow co-founder of Myrddin Publishing Group and is the author of eighteen novels. He writes in whatever genre suits his mood, and his work is always original and bold. So, without further yak-yak on my part, here is Stephen.

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I’ve been asked to write about five or six things I’ve learned about being a so-called Indie author. Probably it will be closer to five than six, but no more than seven, unless I get inspired. Inspiration is the hardest part, however. That’s one thing.

guest_post_LIRF09052023How to get inspiration? That translates to getting a story idea. I used to think up nifty situations and wondered how an average person would deal with it. That’s the good ol’ what-if set-up you find mostly used in sci-fi stories. The problem with focusing on the cool idea is that usually the characters who have to deal with it become rather cardboard. That’s fine when you’re a young writer or producing a first draft. Slap it down and keep going. You can come back later to beef up the character, add description details, and so on. Whatever the idea is, get it out of your head at any cost.

I think a lot of new writers get hung up trying to write perfectly from the start. That will eat you alive, so stop doing that. Write whatever, as dumb or meaningless as it may come out of you. It won’t be the final version. You can fix it up later. I was already doing that when I came upon a quote (attributed to poet William Stafford), that goes a little bit like this: “When the writing gets hard, I lower my standards.” So I have a file of unfinished stories I dabble with whenever I need to work the gears a bit before I get to my serious writing – or when I hit a wall and need to pause before continuing the serious writing.

fluSeasonBookOfMomWhat is serious writing? Even if it’s comedy, it’s the writing you take seriously. What you want readers to admire, no matter the genre. That is all well and good, but you will find that what you think is good isn’t always what readers think is good. Got nothing to do with what you’re writing or how well you write it, it’s just the way it is. So don’t take yourself too seriously; you can take your writing seriously, of course. The idea is that the writing will get better for readers each time you go through a manuscript and revise and edit it. How many times you go through it is your decision. It helps to get someone else’s eyes on it at some point, especially if you are new at writing. You can look at a map but until you get to your destination you can’t be sure that map is accurate and you’re going the right way. Sounds like another thing I learned.

Characters are the bane of my existence, so I put them through Hell and only some come back. Can’t be afraid to bust some noses. We aren’t all Mary Sue and her pretty dolls to whom nothing even remotely bad ever happens. Real people are flawed, make mistakes, say stupid things, miss a lot, sin like there’s no tomorrow, take wrong turns, and get lost. They fret and regret and get down on themselves. You have to show all of that through description (body language, including nods and sighs) and dialog that matches the character. If writing in such a way that you can pop into the character’s head, you can slip in some thoughts and feelings and backstory to add richness to the character’s presence in the story. Every scene is an opportunity to broaden a character into a full-fledged person you’d want to sit down and have a cup of coffee with…right up until you kill ’em off. That’s the one big thing I learned in my long-ago MFA program in Creative Writing: interesting characters will draw your readers in better than a cool idea or weird setting.

fluSeason2I started reading a long time ago. Started writing soon after, making up my own stories which I thought were better than the ones I read. I borrowed here and there – and in later writing had to tone it down so as not to sound like the sources I borrowed from (sci-fi authors, mostly). You develop your own style eventually if you write enough. So write a lot; you don’t have to show it to anyone. I like to try writing in different styles, too. I like trying to have characters speak in different ways, some slang, vernacular, accents, different levels of education, just for my own amusement – which is cruel, I’ll admit. But trying different things is good for a writer. Read different styles, too, and try to imitate them. Read the juicy parts aloud, let them get stuck in your head. Consider what is special about the style the author uses. Compare and contrast with other authors you read, and with your own writing. Most of all, read a lot in different genre and different writing styles. How much you absorb from that differs for everyone, but try it.

You may hear about story arcs and how to outline a story (or novel) and think you have to do that, too. You don’t. Well, awrighty, if you read a lot then you don’t. You’ll pick up a sense of pacing from reading a lot, and you’ll know when to let things happen. It’s not a perfect system but, if you got it in you (i.e., a plot ‘clock’ ticking away, urging you to pull that trigger already) it’ll work. I seldom outline more than scribbling a few notes about what happens next. I do get to the middle and have to pause and look ahead to see how to get to the end, but that’s the fun part of writing. I know how the final scene will be usually by the time I’ve written a fifth of the way into the novel (about 20,000 words). I think I’ve changed what happens at the end only twice in 18 novels.

If it helps, think of a movie, the kind we find these days: the action hook, the backstory & character development, then we get on with the story, reach the mid-point, more action, crisis after crisis…. Well, you get to know what to expect every few moments. That’s not interesting. So shake it up. Sure, keep enough that it looks like it’s supposed to for the audience’s sake, but do some things differently for variety. Same with a book: keep enough of the genre features so that readers know what genre it is (maybe!) but change or add some things that keep the reader guessing. I like to mash-up my novels: two or more genre together. First of all, it’s simply more interesting for me to write. Second, I like for readers to get something unexpected (or so I’ve been told I tend to believe!). Like a crime thriller (my novel EXCHANGE) with that age-gap romance in the later chapters that turns creepy by the end. Didn’t see that coming, did you?

fluSeason3Finally you have a complete story (or novel) from beginning to end and the plot is satisfying, characters compelling, dialog crisp, and so on. What next? Read and revise at least three times, but put it away at least a few days between each reading (a month is optimal; go get some coffee). Yes, I know you’re eager to get into it again but make yourself wait. Go to your slush file and work on that erotica. Now back to your masterpiece. Try to read it as a reader who’s never seen it before: what would the average reader think and feel in this scene or on that page? You’re no longer thinking of how to write the story so now you focus on how someone you don’t know might understand it. (Sure, go ahead and correct those pesky mistypes as you find them. No rule saying you have to do that in a separate pass.) I like to look at scenes in isolation: every scene should do something, even if it is “only” showing a character’s personality. I read dialog aloud (or, recently, have my computer read it to me); I catch a lot of mistakes and sloppy or weak sentences that way. Run spellchecker until it’s about to fall off the rails but understand it is not actually reading and still will miss errors. You must read your manuscript with your own eyes and ears more than twice. Look for pet-peeve errors (e.g., I type ‘form’ a lot when I mean ‘from’; obviously the spellchecker will not catch it because ‘form’ is correctly spelled, just the wrong word). I run a search for them. Most importantly, never ever hit “replace all”!

I’ve lost count on the number of advice things. Maybe this is enough to get you started. Some is common sense, of course, some you’ve likely heard before. Much is just my personal routine which may or may not work for other writers. I know myself, my foibles and tendencies, so I can more or less keep them in check or know what to look for when editing. Know thy self is another advice thing.

Lastly, I think the two biggest flaws in the writing of “new authors” I have read are: 1) a dull story, and 2) a flat cast. In the MFA program I suffered through (that’s a separate blog post) the professor once told me, when a story I’d written wasn’t working: “Get a better idea.” Yes, there are some ideas that just don’t make good stories – or, in the alternative, you or I just can’t pull it off satisfactorily. Even with a good idea, a cast of characters that are like cardboard won’t keep a reader reading. Yes, it’s true, no matter how long I insisted. A good idea is only as good as the crafting of the story, that is, the writing itself. More than writing correctly, it should have a flavor, a style, a particular way of letting the words flow – and that is up to the author, perhaps with some help from the narrator.

In my most recent novels, FLU SEASON*, a trilogy focused on the hardships of a family trying to survive a 9-year pandemic and the lawlessness that follows, an autistic teen son narrates the first two books while his daughter narrates the third book. Each has a unique way of speaking which I let out freely, including poor grammar and Southern vernacular. It builds the personality of the character and adds flavor to the setting. They absolutely cannot, should not, speak with perfect grammar. As I work on a sequel to the trilogy, I have a character who has more education so he speaks with more correctness than those before him.

Now I’ve gone past my nap time. Add up the advice and it probably comes down to do your own thing, keep doing it, share as much as you are comfortable doing, and read a lot for ideas.

*FLU SEASON, a pandemic trilogy:

Book 1: The pandemic of 2020-22 has ended, but what if its worst days extended into 6 years? Follow autistic teen Sandy and his single Mom (& her tuba) as they flee a city in collapse for the hope of sanctuary with relatives, a plan which doesn’t succeed. (Nov. 2022)

Book 2: Sanctuary from a pandemic is only good if you can stay there. When Sandy and his young family are exiled from the island, he struggles to find a way to save them while they face the worsening situation. Without Mom to guide him, Sandy must take on all the responsibilities for survival in the lawless outerlands. (May 2023)

Book 3: There is no safe space – except maybe hiding away in the forest of a national park. But when others have the same idea, Sandy’s family faces a variety of opportunities and challenges. As the post-pandemic world recovers, it is his daughter who must carry the family forward, no matter the difficulties she and her sisters must face. (Sept. 2023)

You can read more about this trilogy here:
http://stephenswartz.blogspot.com/2023/08/flu-season-3-dawn-of-daughters.html

and here (with more about writing process):

http://stephenswartz.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-flu-season-trilogy-doing-what-i-do.html

About the Author

stephen-swartzStephen Swartz is the author of literary fiction, science fiction, fantasy, romance, and contemporary horror novels. While growing up in Kansas City, he dreamed of traveling the world. His novels feature exotic locations, foreign characters, and smatterings of other languages–strangers in strange lands. You get the idea: life imitating art.

After studying music and even composing a symphony, Stephen planned to be a music teacher before turning to fiction writing, and taught writing at a university in Oklahoma. Stephen Swartz has published poetry, stories, essays, and articles for scholarly journals in the U.S. and Japan

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August 30, 2023 · 6:00 am

When life interferes with writing #amwriting

I have been prepping for NaNoWriMo 2023, trying to complete the outline so I can hit the ground running on November 1st. As always, I’m mentally committed to writing at least 1,667 (or more) new words every day during that writing rumble.

MyWritingLife2021By just doing that, I will have 50,000 (or more) words by midnight on November 30th.

Every year, I wonder how I’ll meet this goal. I don’t have a one-size-fits-all answer for that, as authors must be able to pay their bills, or no books will ever be written.

Sometimes, I feel guilty for taking the time to indulge in such a profoundly personal pleasure. It does take time. I tend to resent anything stopping me from having at least one hour of dedicated writing time each day.

But life tosses up roadblocks. We’re retired, and even so, keeping to a regular routine for writing is difficult. One would think we could do whatever we want and to heck with the world’s demands.

But life is not that way. Even people who are retired have obligations that take them away from home. Extra work and other activities that come along with living our lives take up space in our heads as well as the calendar. Finding the energy to be creative is a challenge.

When I was younger, I was a single parent. I had two jobs and children and sang in the choir at our church. I had many demands upon my time, but somehow, I always managed a little time for writing. Admittedly, it wasn’t much.

In those days, I wrote while my children were doing their homework. Sometimes I wrote for half an hour or so at night after they were asleep, pouring my angst into lyrics for songs. This is why my poetry has a more traditional rhyming rhythm. I’m a songwriter at heart, and there is always a melody in my head.

Everyone has a different creative process. What works in December might not work in April. When the tried-and-true fails, give yourself permission to change and find a way that works.

how-to-play-gin-rummy-1Be willing to be flexible. Do you work best in short bursts? Or, maybe you’re at your best when you have a long session of privacy and quiet time. Something in the middle, a melding of the two, works best for me.

But what if the way that worked last month no longer works? Varying my projects and writing in bursts broken up by daily activities works best for my schedule nowadays.

We must be open to finding the way that makes us feel productive, whether it works for someone else or not. We feel good when we’re productive.

I have my best ideas when I’m about to leave the house—no joke. If that is you too, do as I do and write those thoughts down. I keep a notebook around just for those moments.

You will be productive once you find your best style.

But first—you must give yourself permission to write.

I have plenty of downtime between my daily tasks. That is when I work on whatever revisions are needed. You would be amazed at what you can get done in ten-minute bursts.

We who wish to write must set aside time to do it. This allows us to be creative and still support our families, who all have activities and interests of their own.

As I have said many times before, being a writer is to be supremely selfish about every aspect of life, including family time.

ICountMyself-FriendsA good way to ensure you have that time is to encourage your family members to indulge in their own interests and artistic endeavors. That way, everyone can be creative in their own way during that hour, and they will understand why you value your writing time so much.

A balanced life is a happy one. Don’t become so obsessed with writing about fictional lives that you aren’t present in your own.

  • Some people manage to fit short bursts of writing into their daily schedule, writing at work during breaks or at lunch.
  • Others must schedule a dedicated block of time for writing, either rising two hours before they depart for work or skipping some TV in the evening.
  • Write in small increments—ten minutes here, half an hour there. These short bursts add up.

Perhaps your mind has gone blank. An idea is locked in your head, but you don’t have the words to free it. Step back and view your story from a distance:

  • Write several paragraphs detailing what must happen in your story, such as: Next morning, Stan arrives with the recruits. His drama ensues. Ends well, with Neela asking him to walk to the market with her.

Taking a break and doing something completely different is a good thing. When you return to writing, you may have nothing to add to the old project, but something new may be forming.

Write it.

I always have many manuscripts in the works because I come to a point where I begin flailing. I move between each project as I have inspiration for them. Right now, I have a short story, a novella, a novel in the final stage of editing, a novel at the halfway point, and this blog to keep me interested and writing something every day.

I am a slow keyboard jockey, and I can do about 1,100 wonky, misspelled words an hour during NaNoWriMo. Remember, misspelled or not, in NaNoWriMo every word counts and moves you closer to having a completed first draft. The important thing is to get the whole story down from the beginning to the end. Once that is done, you can fiddle with phrasing to your heart’s content.

My Coffee Cup © cjjasp 2013Writers and other artists do have to make some sacrifices for their craft. It’s just how things are. But don’t sacrifice your family for it.

If the urge to write is there, get up an hour early to have that quiet time. Or give up something ephemeral and unimportant, like one hour of TV.

I always encourage writers who are falling behind and unsure they can “do” NaNoWriMo to live their lives and write in short bursts during the moments between other things. We should write what we’re inspired to, and find the blessings in each day. If we do that, the words will come.

Happy writing!

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August 9, 2023 · 6:00 am

Dark energy part two—a deeper dive into motivation #amwriting

In the previous post, we discussed how backstory illuminates and makes our characters’ motives logical and reasonable.

WritingCraft_Dark_EnergyBut we all know infodumps are an insidious poison, so how do we apply this backstory without losing the reader?

I spend a lot of time thinking about plot and character, imagining the story, and writing. I have a vision of the story but getting it down isn’t easy. Ideas slip away unless I get them on paper first.

This is the method I use. I create a separate document that is for my use only, and I label it appropriately:

BookTitle_Plot_Core_Conflict.docx

I boil the conflict down to a few paragraphs and refer back to it whenever I find myself rambling.

Most of us know what motivates our protagonist. But our antagonist is frequently a mystery, and the place where the two characters’ desires converge is a mystery. We know the what, but the why eludes us. This can make them less important than the protagonist. Yes, the protagonist is the character we want the reader to sympathize with. But we also want the reader to see the reasoning behind the enemy’s actions, or they won’t be able to suspend their disbelief.

What follows is an example of the short document that is my reminder. These paragraphs summarize the story and detail what motivates the characters. It keeps me focused when I have lost my way:

The root of the matter: The Dark God has assaulted and imprisoned his brother in an effort to steal his wife, and the universe intervened. Now, the gods can only act against each other through the clergy of their world. However, they can corrupt another deity’s clergy through a tainted physical object.

The story: The protagonist and antagonist begin as members of a sect of hunter-mages sworn to serve the Goddess that rules their world. Most of the time, they are mages working as smiths and masons and working as ordinary community members in other crafts. Sometimes they are called to hunt rogue mages and empathically gifted healers who follow the Dark God.

dream catcherCharacter A is a shaman, a fire-mage smith and warrior, and is slated to be the next War Leader of the tribes. His shamanic purpose is to unite the people, both the tribes and those citadels who have turned tribeless. He is the chosen champion of the Goddess his sect of mages serves, and his success or failure will determine her fate.

Character A must survive the high shamanic trial to become War Leader. Then he must defeat the Dark God’s champion if he is to have the chance to fulfill his shamanic purpose. Unfortunately, his closest childhood companion is now the champion of the dark side.

Once a devoted follower of the Goddess, Character B triggered a mage trap and was forcibly converted by the Dark God. Character B has always been a traditionalist, a firm believer that the way of the tribes is the only way to keep the people strong. The Dark God twists his loyalty to the tribes and his tribal heritage into a weapon he can use to conquer the Goddess and annex her world. The deities are immortal and can’t be killed, so his quest for total domination threatens the universe’s balance. Each world must have its creator deity, and there can only be one deity for each world.

Before his conversion, Character B was the most dedicated of the sect of rogue mage hunters. After triggering the mage trap, he sees them as the enemy, a cult that stifles and weakens the tribes. He is determined to lead the tribes to conquer the tribeless citadels and regain the power the tribes once wielded.

The Dark God is adept at twisting people’s deeply held beliefs to serve his purpose. He is the ultimate antagonist, acting through the tainted artifact that was able to corrupt Character B. Therefore, Character A’s ultimate goal must be to destroy the mage trap in Character B’s possession. In doing so, he removes Character B’s source of dark power and can fight him on equal ground.

Character A represents teamwork succeeding over great odds. Character B represents the quest for supremacy at all costs.

  • Both must see themselves as the hero.
  • Both must risk everything to succeed.
  • Both must believe they will ultimately win.

When I create the personnel file for my characters, I assign them verbs, nouns, and adjectives, traits they embody. Verbs are action words that reflect how they react on a gut level. Nouns describe their personalities.

They must also have a void – an emotional emptiness, a wound of some sort. Character B knows he has lost something important, something that was central to him. But he refuses to believe he is under a spell of compelling, a pawn in the Gods’ Great Game. He must believe he has agency—this is his void.

plot is the frame upon which the themes of a story are supportedThis void is vital because characters must overcome fear to face it. As a reader, one characteristic I’ve noticed in my favorite characters is they each have a hint of self-deception. All the characters – the antagonists and the protagonists – deceive themselves in some way about their own motives.

My task is to ensure that the stories of Characters A and B intersect seamlessly. Motivations must be clearly defined.

I ask myself what their moral boundaries are. This is where I explore the lengths they will go to achieve their goal. I like to know their limits because even cartoon supervillains draw the line at doing something.

Even if it is only refusing to eat Brussels sprouts.

Like me.

The way my creative mind works, plots evolve out of the characters as I begin picturing them. When I sit down to create a story arc, my characters offer me hints as to how their story will develop.

This evolution can change the course of what I thought the original plot was and sometimes does so radically.

But at some point, the plot must solidify.

The story must finally have an arc that explores the protagonist’s struggle against a fully developed, believable adversary.

My method works for me. It might work for you and takes very little time, only a few paragraphs describing the core of the conflict.

Motivation meme

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August 7, 2023 · 6:00 am

Dark energy—villainous motivation #amwriting

One character archetype essential to any tale is the villain. Yet, despite being crucial to the story, this character is often less developed and two-dimensional.

WritersjourneysmallIn his book, The Writer’s Journey, Mythic Structure for Writers, Christopher Vogler discusses how the villain of a piece represents the shadow. The enemy injects the narrative with the momentum of dark energy, powering the plot.

Some of the best narratives I’ve read feature the antagonist as the protagonist. We want to see them succeed, yet we fear they will and know it can’t end well. This tension creates a memorable narrative.

One novel that stuck with me was Grunts! by Mary Gentle. She features the orcs as the protagonists, and one feels a great deal of sympathy for the devil.

From Wikipedia:

Grunts! (1992) is a satiric fantasy novel by British writer Mary Gentle. It is set in a basic fantasy world taken from the usual The Lord of the Rings mould, with orcs and elves using magic and typical medieval weaponry, but it plays heavily on black comedy and strong doses of violence and graphic description, frequently depicting scenes “over the top.”

Grunts!The story follows a group of orcs who always find themselves on the front lines of battle against the carefully prepared and always triumphant forces of good. The orcs decided to organize themselves and fight back. As a satire of high fantasy the novel mocks most of the conventions of the genre from using traditional villainous races, orcs, as the protagonists, to having the noble characters have much less than noble motivations and secrets.

The opening of the book plays up the orc warleader sent to reclaim a weapons cache in preparation for the ‘Last Battle’ between good and evil, which is well on its way. They are assisted by a pair of halflings whose cute demeanor is contrasted with extremely violent acts. [1]

In any narrative, the shadow provides opportunities for contrast. Whether a person, a creature, or a natural disaster, the antagonist represents darkness (evil), against which light (good) is shown more clearly. Also, the shadow, whether a person, place, or thing, provides the roadblocks, the reason the protagonist must struggle.

Large predatory animals will be aggressive toward humans because hunters need a large habitat and hefty prey. They are unpredictable and will attack when we enter what they see as their territory. This is plot-fodder for many a scary horror novel.

Storms and natural disasters make perfect antagonists. Everyone loves a good disaster novel or movie because when nature throws a tantrum, it’s terrifying and deadly. People love nothing more than tales of humanity surviving and overcoming the worst that nature can do.

Animals and natural disasters are straightforward antagonists with little room for backstory.

WoT03_TheDragonRebornHowever, when the antagonist is a person, I ask myself, why this person opposes the protagonist? What drives them to create the roadblocks they do? Why do they feel justified in doing so?

Perhaps you are writing a memoir. Who or what is the antagonist? After all, memoirs are written to shed light on the difficulties the author has overcome, so who or what frustrated your efforts? In some autobiographies, it is a parent or guardian. Other times it is society, the standards and values we impose on those who don’t fit into the slots designated for them.

For many novels, the enemy is the protagonist’s inhibitions and self-doubt.

In others, the two main characters have a sharply defined good versus evil chemistry. (Trust me, the antagonist is a main character, or the hero has nothing to struggle against.)

The struggle makes the story. The characters on both sides of the battle must recognize and confront the darkness within themselves. They must choose their own path—will they fight to uphold the light? Or will they take the easier way, following the shadow?

When the protagonist must face and overcome the shadow on a profoundly personal level, they are placed in true danger. The reader knows that if the hero strays from the light, they will unknowingly offer up their soul.

The best shadow characters are shown to have many layers, and not all of them are bad. They are charismatic because we can relate to their struggle. We may hope events will change them for the better but know in our hearts they won’t.

Characters portrayed as evil for the sake of drama can be cartoonish. Logic must support their actions, or the villain is not believable.

The most fearsome villains have deep stories. Yes, they may have begun life as unpleasant children and may even be sociopaths. Something started them down that path, reinforcing their logical reasons for what we consider villainy.

Speculative fiction has a trap waiting to snare the unwary writer. When the plot centers around the pursuit of a desired object, authors spend enormous amounts of time working on all the supporting reasons for the quest. They give the hero firm, logical reasons for struggling to acquire the Golden McGuffin.

Where some fantasies fail is in depicting the enemy. The villain must also have a plausible explanation for going to the lengths they do to thwart our heroes.

A mere desire for power is NOT a good or logical reason unless it has roots in the enemy’s past. Why does Voldemort desire that power? What fundamental insecurity drives them to acquire absolute control over every aspect of their life and to exert control over the lives of their minions?

LarrysPostRapturePetSittingService_EllenKingRiceWe must remember that the characters in our stories don’t go through their events and trials alone. We drag the reader along for the ride the moment we begin writing the story. They need to know why they’re in that handbasket and where the enemy thinks they’re going, or the narrative will make no sense.

Ask yourself a few questions:

  • What made your villain turn to the darkness?
  • What events gave them the strength and courage to rise above the past, twisted though they are?
  • What is the void that drives their agenda?
  • What do they hope to achieve?
  • Why do they believe achieving their goal will resolve the wrongs they’ve suffered?

None of this backstory needs to be dumped into the narrative. It should emerge in tantalizing bits and hints as the plot progresses and conversations happen.

We must make the hero’s ultimate victory evoke emotion in the reader. But we also want them to think about the dilemmas the characters have faced.

The villains we write into our stories represent humanity’s darker side, whether they are a person, a dangerous animal, or a natural disaster. They bring ethical and moral quandaries to the story, offering food for thought long after the story has ended.

Credits and Attributions:

[1] Wikipedia contributors, “Grunts!,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Grunts!&oldid=1117040155 (accessed August 6, 2023).

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July 31, 2023 · 6:00 am

Plotting alternate history #amwriting

A few years ago, about ten minutes into a NaNoWriMo write-in, I accepted a dare to write an Arthurian tale with a steampunk twist.

MyWritingLife2021I quickly regretted that decision.

Everyone was quietly typing away in that coffee shop, getting impressive word counts.

But not me.

I sat there asking myself where Arthurian and steampunk connect well enough to make a story. On the surface, they don’t. I experienced the mental blankness we all feel when a story refuses to reveal itself.

220px-Sir_Galahad_(Watts)Arthur and his court originated as ordinary 5th or 6th-century warlords. But the tales featuring them were written centuries later. Their 11th-century chroniclers presented them in contemporary armor as worn by Crusaders and with medieval customs and moral values.

Over the centuries, subsequent authors continued to romanticize the story but with their own twist. Alfred Tennyson’s Idylls of the King reworked the entire narrative of Arthur’s life to fit the romantic ideals of the Victorian era.

When I agreed to the challenge, I decided my protagonists must be real people, flesh and blood. They would be subject to the same emotions and physical needs as any other person.

Galahad is traditionally portrayed as a knight errant, which means wandering. The knight-errant was a popular character in medieval romance literature. Miguel de Cervantes‘ mad knight, Don Quixote, believed he was a knight errant and lived his fantasy with hilarious abandon.

Wilhelm_Marstrand,_Don_Quixote_og_Sancho_Panza_ved_en_skillevej,_uden_datering_(efter_1847),_0119NMK,_Nivaagaards_Malerisamling

Wilhelm Marstrand, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza (after 1847) via Wikimedia Commons

The Chivalric Code was a system of values combining a warrior culture, devotion to the Christian faith, and courtly manners. Adherence to the code of chivalry ensured a knight epitomized bravery, honor, and nobility.

They roamed the land looking for heroic tasks, engaged in knightly duels, or went in pursuit of courtly love. The medieval romance of highly ritualized courtly love was a rigid literary structure. It defined the written behaviors of noble ladies and their lovers and was woven with the principles of chivalry.

Medieval and Victorian authors loved superheroes. To them, nothing was more impossible or super-heroic than a man who lived a virtuous and self-sacrificing life.

I randomly picked an Arthurian knight, Galahad, and began making notes as I pondered the problem. What kind of a person might Galahad have been had he truly existed?

The established canon dictates that Galahad isn’t attracted to women. He goes on quests to find strange and magical objects, such as the Holy Grail. Since he’s not attracted to women, how about men? I asked myself, what if Galahad and Gawain were lovers?

And what really happened after the Grail was found? With no answer to that, I moved on to the next question. Where does steampunk come into the story? Steampunk is science fiction set in Edwardian times using only technology available during the reign of King Edward VII, who reigned from 1901 to 1910.

Thinking about what steampunk really is triggered the cascade of plot points:

What if finding the Grail somehow opened a door in time?

What if all the magic in the world vanished with the Grail?

What if Galahad was marooned in Edwardian England with Merlin?

How would Galahad get back to Gawain?

I sat in the coffee shop with my friends, all of them writing their novels. The November rains pounded on the windows and drowned passers-by, but I didn’t care—I had the plot I needed.

Julian Lackland Cover 2019 copyI am an abject fangirl for Don Quixote, so different versions of both Galahad and Quixote appear regularly in my work. Julian Lackland was inspired by my love of Don Quixote. they’re both insane, both deeply committed to doing good, and both have moments of hilarity mixed with the tragedy.

And Galahad–nowadays he’s considered a minor knight. However, what we regard as canon about him is taken from Sir Thomas Malory’s 1485 work, Le Morte d’Arthur, in which he and his quest have a prominent role.

Malory’s collection was a reworking of traditional tales that were hundreds of years old, even in his day. Also, he wrote it while in prison for a multitude of crimes, so we can be sure it’s not historically accurate.

Traditionally, Galahad is an illegitimate son of Lancelot du Lac. He goes on the quest to find the Holy Grail and immediately goes to heaven, raptured as a virgin.

When I began plotting the tale my friend had challenged me to write, I wondered why Malory said Galahad was raptured. Why was the notion of a virgin knight and being taken to heaven before death so important to medieval chroniclers? Why would they write a saint’s virginity and rapture as though it were factual recorded history?

People always rewrite history to suit the times in which they live.

Religion and belief in the Christian truths espoused by the Church were in the very air the people of the time breathed. All the physical and material things of this world were entwined and explained by the religious beliefs of the day.

Excalibur London_Film_Museum_ via Wikipedia

Excalibur London_Film_Museum_ via Wikipedia

Literature in those days was filled with religious allegories, the most popular of which were the virginity and holiness of the Saints, especially those deemed holy enough to be raptured.

Death was the common enemy, an inescapable event kings feared as much as beggars did. Those saints who were raptured did not experience death. Instead, they were raised to heaven, living in God’s presence for all eternity.

Galahad as written by Malory and later authors never married. But humans tend to be human, so why assume he was a virgin? Galahad’s state of virginity and grace was written to exemplify what all good noblemen should aspire to.

The High Middle Ages was the period of European history that commenced around the 10th century and lasted until the 14th century (or so). That era saw a flowering of historical-fantasy writing among the clergy and educated nobility. Medieval chroniclers detailed the people and events of 300 to 400 years prior. Their sources were the oral histories as told in well-known bardic tales and local legends.

Malory was writing during the final decades of the Crusades and trying to fit the old stories into his modern time. Rumors and stories passed down became historical truths, reshaped to justify the desire for conquest. After all, the New World was just over the horizon, vast cities of Inca gold ripe for the taking.

We 21st-century authors have excellent records of 15th and 16th-century political struggles. Yet, we make things up about the Tudors and Elizabethans, because they were interesting people. We love to imagine what they must have been like.

We all know the written records from before the time of Elizabeth I are highly questionable. Sifting medieval fact from fiction is the life’s work of many historical scholars. However, they’re entertaining fantasy reads, leaving fangirls like me free to riff on them and create our own mythologies.

So, that is how my creative process works. Someone gives me an impossible idea, and I fight with it until it beats me. Once that idea has me by the throat, I know what has to be written. That tale became a short story, Galahad Hawke.

Bleakbourne front Cover medallion and dragon copyAnd sometimes a theme refuses to let go of me. I took Arthurian myth and the chivalric code and turned them inside out with the characters of Lancelyn and Galahad in Bleakbourne on Heath.

I feel quite sure I haven’t written my last Alternate Arthurian tale. Galahad Hawke may get an expansion into a novel–after all, he didn’t get the traditional happy ending.

Or maybe not. I do have an epic fantasy on deck so … maybe next year.

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July 24, 2023 · 6:00 am

The Business of Writing – Lessons I’ve Learned #amwriting

I have always thought of myself as a writer. Unfortunately, for about forty years I didn’t know how to write anything longer than a poem or a song. I wrote hundreds of poems and songs and sang them to my children, went to open mics, and performed in various bands.

MyWritingLife2021During the 1980s and 90s, I listened to music on the stereo, writing my thoughts and ideas in a notebook while my kids did their homework. I drew dragons and fantasy landscapes and worked three part-time jobs to pay the bills.

My pen and ink ramblings weren’t writing as I see it now. However, they were frameworks containing ideas that later became full-fledged stories. In 1987, my father bought me a secondhand IBM Selectric Typewriter, and my writing addiction took off. My typewriter sat beside the hamster cage in the kitchen—not a wise placement choice—and while my kids did homework, I pecked away at short stories.

One of those frameworks evolved into a proto-novel in 1994 when we were given a secondhand Apple Macintosh Performa, and I began writing a novel. Five years and 225,000 words later (including a switch to a Windows 98 PC), I realized I had a mess on my hands that would never be finished.

I didn’t know what to do with it.

Markers 1090px-Caran_d'Ache_FilzstifteFor most of my writing life, I was like a toddler given a package of magic markers and told to go wild. My enthusiasm exceeded my ability.

  • I didn’t have the information I needed to make my work readable or know how to get it.
  • I felt embarrassed for even thinking that I could be an author.

One day in 1990, I stumbled upon a book offered in the Science Fiction Book Club catalog: How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card. The day that book arrived in my mailbox changed my life. Since acquiring that book, I have amassed a library of books on the craft. Some are brilliant, some not so much, but I always learn something from them.

Personal experience, good and bad, is a great teacher. So, here are a few things I wish I had known in 2010 when I stumbled upon NaNoWriMo and began this journey in earnest:

One: Make a style sheet (also known as a storyboard or bible) as you go.

rudimentary stylesheetBuild a glossary of words and spellings unique to your story, and be sure to list names. I use an Excel spreadsheet, but you can use anything you like to help you stay consistent in your spelling.

And even though I think I am developing a thorough glossary, my editor will find many words to add to it.

Two: Develop a logical, consistent system for naming your files. Save your document regularly.

Save each version of your manuscript in its own master file, and give each subfile a different name so you can go back and retrieve bits you may need later. I use a system like this:

  • fileFolderThe master file might be titled: Lenns_Story
  • The subfile might be: L_S_V5.docx

That stands for Lenn’s Story version five. I work out of Word, so the extension is automatically a docx. Each master file will contain many subfiles before a story or book is published.

Three: Find a local group of writers to meet with and talk about the craft.

Authors need to network with other authors because we need to discuss the craft with someone whose eyes don’t glaze over.

ICountMyself-FriendsI gained a fantastic local group through attending write-ins for NaNoWriMo, the Tuesday Morning Rebel Writers. Since the pandemic, and with several of our members now on the opposite side of Washington State, we meet weekly via Zoom. We are a group of authors writing in a wide variety of genres.

We’re like midwives, helping each other bring new books into the world through beta reading and critiquing. But more than that, we are good, close friends who help each other through life’s twists and turns.

Four: Never stop educating yourself. It requires dedication and a small investment of money, but you can do it.

Learn how to say what you mean with your unique voice and style. A college education may be out of reach, but you can buy books on grammar, style, substance, and writing craft.

Wendig_Damn_Fine_StoryLearn about structure and pacing from successful authors. Spend the money to go to conventions and attend seminars. You will learn so much about the craft of writing, the genre you write in, and the publishing industry as a whole—things you can only learn from other authors. I gained an extended professional network by joining The Pacific Northwest Writers Association and attending their conferences.

Five: Don’t even consider signing with the slick-talking publisher that contacts you out of the blue.

In 2010 I made my word count and became a firm believer in the principles behind NaNoWriMo. If you sit down and write at least 1,667 words every day, you will complete your novel.

I didn’t know that while a novel might have the complete story arc, it isn’t finished.

orson_scott_card_write_scifi_fantasyThe year that followed was filled with mistakes and struggles. Legitimate publishers NEVER contact you. You must submit your work to them, and they prefer to work with agented authors.

I, of course, didn’t know this. There were some low points and a devastating falling out with my first publisher. Ultimately, I retained the rights to my work. After years of revisions, I did finally bring that novel back to a new life in 2020. But that is another story.

Ask yourself this: how can a publisher possibly want work they haven’t seen? And how did they get your email address?

Make use of SFWA’s Writer Beware site. You won’t benefit from the predator publisher’s “services,” but they will profit from your desperation to be published. They will charge you for services they don’t provide and publish your work in its raw, unedited form, and you will never see a dime.

Six: even though you’re writing that novel, keep writing short stories too.

Lascaux 2015Short stories and micro fiction are a training ground, a way to hone your skills. They’re also the best way to get your name out there. I suggest you build a backlog of work from 100 to 5,000 words in length. Keep them ready to submit to magazines, anthologies, and contests.

Every scene and vignette that rolls through your head can be made into something you can use.

Get the Submittable App and start submitting your work, and don’t let rejections stop you. Keep sending that work out to new places because someone will want it.

Seven: Never Stop Reading. Read widely and in all genres. Read critically and apply what you learn about writing, both good and bad, to your work.

These are a few of the many things that I wish I had known when I first started writing professionally but didn’t. I hope it makes your writing life a little smoother.

Credits and Attributions:

Image: Macintosh Performa, Wikimedia Commons contributors, “File:Macintosh Performa 5200.jpg,” Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Macintosh_Performa_5200.jpg&oldid=729233027 (accessed July 23, 2023).

Image: Markers, Wikimedia Commons contributors, “File:Caran d’Ache Filzstifte.JPG,” Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Caran_d%27Ache_Filzstifte.JPG&oldid=506240371 (accessed July 23, 2023).

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July 3, 2023 · 6:00 am

Making effective revisions – avoiding repetition #amwriting

We who are indies know we should have our work edited, and most of us aren’t that good at self-editing. So, we find someone we can work with. But hiring an editor is expensive, so before we send our manuscript off, we should take the time to make it as clean as possible. It will greatly speed up the process if the editor doesn’t have to wade through a mess.

WritingCraft_self-editingOne of my favorite authors writes great storylines and creates wonderful characters. Unfortunately, the quality of his work has deteriorated over the last decade. It’s clear that he has succumbed to the pressure from his publisher, as he is putting out four or more books a year.

While I can write that many first drafts in one year, I could never make more than one book ready for a reader every two or three years. For that reason, I have manuscripts in various stages of completion and try to publish one a year. However, I often can’t keep to that schedule.

Taking the manuscript from the first draft to the finished product is a long and involved process. The author I mentioned above has his characters repeat what has already happened every time they meet someone new.

oopsThis frequently happens to me in a first draft, but whoever is editing for him is letting it slide, as it pads the word count, making his books novel-length. I suspect they don’t have time to do any significant revisions.

The Big Traditional Publishing Giants are just as tempted to rush a manuscript to publication as we indies are, and editing sometimes falls by the way. However, if an indie publishes work as poorly edited as what is being sold by the big publishers, the entire indie community looks bad.

Since the large publishing houses aren’t as concerned about their editing as we always thought they were, it’s up to us to find the flaws before we submit our work to them. This means you should prepare the manuscript as thoroughly as if you intended to publish it yourself.

ok to write garbage quote c j cherryhWhen we lay down the first draft, the story emerges from our imagination and falls onto the paper (or keyboard). Even with an outline, the story forms in our heads as we write it. While we think it is perfect as is, it probably isn’t.

The revision process is about far more than merely grammar and word placement. It is about ensuring the story arc doesn’t flat-line and that inadvertent repetition of entire ideas doesn’t bog it down.

Those who regularly read my blog know I frequently repeat an idea phrased a bit differently further down the post. My elderly brain seems determined to make that point, no matter what.

We all do this in our first drafts, and very few things are more “first draft” than a blog post.

Epic Fails meme2Inadvertent repetition causes the story arc to dip. It takes us backward rather than forward.  In my work, I have discovered that the second version of that idea is usually better than the first.

One way to minimize the number of flaws in your work is to print it out and read it aloud. Mark each place where you stumble or the passages don’t make sense with a highlighter.

You will find run-on sentences, spell-check errors, and many small things you don’t notice when it’s on the computer screen.

At this point, since you have already printed out each chapter, read it aloud, and highlighted what you stumbled over, you could take the time to go a little deeper into the revision process.

It’s already printed, so I don’t have to waste more ink or paper.

  • I turn to the last paragraph on each chapter’s last page.
  • Working my way forward with a yellow highlighter, I make notes in the margins.

Mardi_Gras_mask_cateyes_iconYou see things from a different angle when you start reading the chapter from the end and work your way toward the beginning. It’s amazing how many bloopers show up when you do this, even though you have already read it aloud. When you read it aloud you were going the direction you always go, the way you know so well. The mind tricks us, and we read what should be there instead of what is.

This admittedly involved process works for me because we don’t notice wonky grammar and mechanics as much when we see them on a computer screen.

Once I have printed out my manuscript chapter by chapter and finished going over it, I put the hand-corrected copy on a recipe stand beside my computer. I begin making revisions in a new file labeled with the date. The date in the file label tells me which is the most recent version of a manuscript.

BoH_revised_07-01-2023

(I never delete the old files because we never know when we might need something we have already written.)

weak-words-when-used-in-transitonsHere are a few things that stand out when I do this:

  • Inadvertent shifts in the spelling of names for people and places, such as Moran becoming Muran. (Keeping a style sheet of how names and created words are spelled and doing a global search for each before publishing resolves that.)
  • Places where I have contradicted myself, such as a town being northof the main character’s location, but they travel south to get there. Making a simple hand-drawn map resolves the location problem (if I remember to look at it).
  • Punctuation errors and missing quotation marks also stand out when I see them printed.

My editor keeps me aware of inadvertent shifts in spelling. Years ago, she taught me to make a style sheet for each project.

The style sheet can take several forms. Even a simple handwritten list will do, as it’s only a visual guide to print out or keep minimized on my desktop until needed. I was a bookkeeper, so I use Excel to copy and paste every invented name, hyphenated word, or placename the first time they appear in my manuscript.

  • I sometimes forget to make a note of made-up words and usages when I am really into writing. (Oops.)

My editor takes my list of invented words and adds the ones I overlooked to it during her part of the process.

ICountMyself-FriendsIf you have the resource of a good writing group, you are a bit ahead of the game. I suggest you run each revised chapter by your group and listen to what they say. Some of what you hear won’t be useful, but much will be.

Many years ago, a friend who read my work gave me a list of weak words to watch for.

Another friend trained me out of using “that” as a crutch word—a word I use too often in my everyday speech.

Constructive criticism is a good thing.

I have discovered that the real work of writing a novel comes after I have written the story.

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