2015 Writing Goals

 

As promised, my tl;dr 2015 writing goals:

• 10 tokens
• 2 pro
• 4 subs

My longer read 2015 goals: Write productively by focusing on length and using past experience to set realistic goals. Write broader by putting more effort into other genres I write. Write smarter by implementing what I learned from that Kameron Hurley article.

Write Productively

The novelette has always been my sweet spot even though the market doesn't care for it very much, and vice versa for shorts. I'm focusing on length because I've noticed I have a habit of just writing until a story ends--shorts turn out to be novelettes and novelettes end up having only enough story for shorts, ideas that were too big and plots that cover too much grow unwieldy and difficult. All because I didn't plan and commit to what I wanted a story to be in terms of length and scope. This is counterproductive and results in disappointment and discouragement. At this stage in my journey, I've reached the happy middle on the scale of pantser to plotter.

Write Broader

Writing more poetry last year was a spontaneous why-not sort of thing. I didn't think I was very skilled at it, not the non-rhyming, non-meter, 'serious' kind anyways. But then I started subbing pieces and getting positive feedback. I have been exclusively researching and working to publish sci-fi prose fiction. It's the genre my ideas most readily spring from. I speak the language, so to speak. But that's not all I read or write. Just as I took my poetry more seriously to encouraging results, I'm going to give the other genres a chance to flourish.

Write Smarter

"It's the difference between knowing what I'm doing and doing what I know." That means understanding how I'm able to do it, and it isn't magic. It's replicable, which is the exact opposite of what I have always tried to do. Nothing new must resemble that previous story or else I was being lazy, unimaginative, and cheating. That has led to variety in my bibliography, yes, but also a lot of incomplete works, inconsistency, and long periods of unproductiveness. Here's the link again for why it is okay to be a little formulaic. By plugging new story ideas into existing formulas, by doing what I have already done and not always trying something new from scratch, I know in finer, more tangible detail the contours of similar stories, why having my protagonist make a poor choice is essential here, how allowing others to help her there will be critical later, what skipping this and elaborating on that will do to the feel and structure of the plot. By knowing those peaks and troughs, pitfalls, and yes, cheats, I can work more efficiently and with the most effective techniques to help the story shine.

So those are my aspirations for writing in 2015. Overall, I aspire to be very strategic in playing to my strengths as much as to the market. We'll see how it goes!

What are your aspirations? Comment or link below.

2014 In Review

So, last year I posted my writing goals for 2014. How did I do? What will I do differently this year? Lets get to it!

I had four areas I wanted to push myself on: submissions, revisions, pro-level pieces, and token pieces just to keep in the habit of writing. Here's how close I came to reaching my goals:

• Subs - 80%
• Revisions - 10%
• Pro - 25%
• Token - 112%
• New Pieces Overall - 83%

Not bad. I did a lot more token writing and that was mostly poetry, some of which turned out to be good enough to sub. I've revised that goal upwards this year.

Speaking of subs, I only counted new submissions, as opposed to resubmitting the same piece different places, so I did a lot more subbing than the number reflects. Still, I came up a hair short, so I'm revising that goal down. I realize that I am very picky about what I sub, so even if I wrote more, I may not feel confident sending everything out.

The pro number seems okay, until you realize I only set out to write 4 such pieces. These pieces have always taken me a long time to write. I had hoped to push myself to go faster, but the stories fought me all the way. Needless to say, I'm revising the goal down for this year.

Revisions. When I made this category, I thought I would be dusting off old pieces, spit-shining and firing them off. Yeah, no. I focused my time and energy on new pieces. This goal is going away entirely. Rather, my goal is to write more saleable pieces which, naturally, will have been revised and polished as needed.

Overall, I'd say I did okay and ended the year on an encoraging note, which I'll get into in my 2015 goals post.

How'd you do?

photo credit: Gina Fairchild

It's Okay to be Formulaic

Merry New Year!

I want you to read this article by Kameron Hurley. I want you to read it especially if you are at a point in your journey where your ideas, focus, and creative skills have gained more precision but it feels like you're starting each new piece with a hammer and chisel and you don't know why. If you are more confident about what you can do as a writer, but you are not as consistent and productive as you would like to be from one piece to the next, I want you to read this article.

Spoilers: you're not necessarily doing it wrong. You just need more practice doing it right.

I know you know that. I knew I knew that, until I read the article:

I’ve started a lot more books and stories than I’ve finished, and this is a problem. Why? Surely, when a concept or story isn’t working, you should stop while you’re ahead, right?

"Right!" I say. Not exactly, she says:

The thing folks don’t realize is that learning how to write a piece of work requires you to actively practice how to write the whole thing. Writing five hundred great beginnings will not make you a great novelist.

I knew I knew that. "Tell me something I don't know." She did. A bunch of things. Mainly, I did not know it was okay to be a little formulaic.

It is okay to be a little formulaic.

There is a lot of pressure in literature to be original and fresh, and in the speculative fiction genre that can get to be as arduous as reinventing that wheel. Especially for a short fiction writer in today's market. Even just looking through your own body of work you can feel like you need to do something drastically different each and every time to stay relevant. If you're constantly thinking about what you could be doing differently, you're not really thinking about, much less nailing down, what you did right the last time.

Hurley calls it understanding the form. I understand it as having a formula. Go ahead and read the article. You'll see what I mean, when she talks about her work in corporate writing, how many novels she had to write before her first sold, and how many she wrote after the first that were very similar to the first, until she had that formula down pat and and was ready to move on to a new one.

It is okay to be a little formulaic.

When you have a formula that works,  it is not always necessary to change it up drastically or abandon it straight away, even when you aren't doing anything wrong, and especially before you've had a chance to understand what you did well, how, and why. Got a new idea for a story? Go back and see if you're trying to accomplish something you've done before, see if the circumstances and events map, and if they do, use all your previous hard work to your advantage. You can plug in new values for every factor and variable--characters, world, goal, conflict--and execute it again, over and over, until your results are as reliable and consistent as your creativty demands.

I'm not just talking in broad strokes of beginning-middle-end, goal-conflict-disaster, a fantasy story, a novella, a Heinleinian story. I'm talking fine grain stuff you won't see by emulating someone else's formula. I'm talking about your own recipe for success. I'm talking about knowing why you made the creative decisions you did, what you cut or kept and how that worked or didn't, story elements you'd like to replicate and others you'd like to avoid. What happens when you pull it all together with just the right details in just the right way. It's not magic. It's a formula, and it is okay use it more than once. That is how you practice doing it right.

If you only do it twice, I can attest the process becomes familiar, becomes easier, becomes more efficient and effective. The very last piece I wrote in 2014 was to test Hurley's article. Having a formula to work from was the difference between knowing what I was doing and doing what I knew. I wrote faster and smarter and with more confidence that I would not only finish in a timely manner but I would end up with the story I wanted.

That is how you practice doing it right, over and over, until it seems like you can produce a certain kind of story effortlessly. It really is okay to be formulaic. From what I've seen, the majority of the stories on the market are just that, and to great success, including many by our favorite authors. I knew I knew that. Hurley's article crystallized it.

Girl, Where You At: 2014 Writing Goals

So, I read an article on the CritiqueCircle blog about meaningful ways to set realistic goals and track progress. As I was in a more productive place, mentally and emotionally, I felt like giving it a try.

I had to look at my past performance honestly to understand what I could achieve in the span of a year. Outliers, like that time I knocked out 16k in 6 days, didn't count. More recently, I was doing the same wordcount in about 30 days, on average, consistently. These were stories I had no intention of putting on track to publication, so I was freewheeling it and not taking the time to make a good first draft.

I had to set milestones. So, no vague by-end-of-year-kazzam goals that I  could choose to do whenever and however. What could I do in one month--how many pieces could I productively work on at the same time? What should I have done in 3 months? Every 3 months? Where could I push myself and where would I need slack?

I had to decide what areas of my writing I would focus on and which had to take a backseat. Since I wanted to get in the habit of being a prolific, published short story author, that meant no long works and no reviving old works.

I had to commit. That's where this post comes in. I'm 3 months into the year and doing better than projected in some areas while in others I'm way behind or doing nothing. It has helped in the past to make my goals known to a writer friend--sometimes known as an accountability buddy. I hope making my goals public (ha! Like anyone's reading this!) will add a bit more incentive to try harder.

So here are those goals. (If you do the math, you'll note I gave myself at least 2 months' padding, and I should be working on 3 pieces at a time):

2014

• 4 for-publication pieces
• 8 token pieces
• 10 pieces polished
• 5 unique pieces subbed

Every 3 Months

•  1 for-pub piece
•  3 tokens (max)
•  3 polished
•  1 subbed

Every Month

• 1 token completed
• 1 act (or a third) of for-pub completed
• 1 polished

Now you know where I'm at. Now you (yes, you!) can nudge me on how it's coming along. I ain't scairt.

RaNoWriFo Update

At just over 8500 words, it's a bust. I have no idea where the past two weeks went, but they certainly did not go into my writing. I never got into the story I wanted to write. It all felt very unnatural. Not necessarily the process, mind you. I wrote my last RaNoWriFo novelette in 6 days! But this time around, I loved the idea but wasn't feeling the characters or the plot, and one needs to care about those things to write about them successfully.

Next time, I'll choose more wisely. For now, I'm shelving this story to revisit it in future. Back to my regularly scheduled writerly things.

RaNoWriFo

#amwriting

It's the second biennial Random Novelette Writing Fortnight(!), in which I write a 20-25k novelette in two weeks.

Why a fortnight? Because it's half a month. Why a novelette? Because it's half a novel. Why biennial? Because I was too lazy to do one last year.

And now that I've announced it, there's no wussing out. See you in two weeks.

Update: For chuckles, here's proof an unedited excerpt from the novelette I wrote two years ago:

The king made good on his threat and called off the official search. Not one Eleamite soldier, guard, or knight was to look for Gwendolyn. This, he thought, would work to discourage Giovanni and his only help, Armand. But true to his word, Giovanni did not return. The three moons passed, then four and five. The heat of summer waned in September, and the cool of fall swept through in October. The leaves faded and shriveled, and the king seemed to do the same under the inquiring masses. His anxious subjects, and ally nations, wanted to know why there had been no wedding, why there was no word of a future heir, why the events of the prophesies had suddenly come to a halt. Had they misinterpreted the texts? Worse, had they been misled? The rumors spread, and the king, once such a visible force in the kingdom, retreated, for he had no answers. Scarcely did he leave the palace grounds. Scarcer did he leave his chambers until he was bed-ridden with stress, broken under the strain.

Image: Copyright 2012 Gina Fairchild

It's Gonna Be Good

“It’s gonna be good.”

I've heard some version of that on these skilled reality competitions, the cooking and designing ones where the contestant’s skill level accounts for most of their survival. The designer sketches something out, gets all excited about the vision, gathers the material, and makes it work. Someone comes along and picks apart everything, doubts the overall vision, questions the designer’s taste or his ability to pull it off.

Often, this is followed by a brief moment of panic. She might drop several crucial elements. He might go with a safer, backup choice in fabric, instead. The whole thing might be reimagined.

Sometimes, the unperturbed designer responds, “It’s gonna be good.”
 
And, sometimes, that’s the best way to go.

I’m not a meticulous plotter. In the thick of it, my first draft can look pretty bleak, doubtful. I lose track of the plot and lose touch with the characters. Back when I started, I was so excited and couldn’t wait to get this really awesome idea out of my head and onto the page. Then I get to a point, usually around the final act, where I start contemplating whether to drop several elements and go back to switch things up.

This time, I’ve decided to skip the panic session. This draft is nearly complete. I’m going to put my head down and keep working, doing what I know how to do as best as I can.

It’s gonna be good.

Photo: Copyright 2012 Gina Fairchild

Sleep On It

When the flow of my writing slows to a trickle, I often retreat to the piano. So, when I got stuck on a scene in my WIP, The Strangekinds, I listened to Fur Elise to get some inspiration for a song I’m working on. Later, I turned in for the night. Mid-sleep, I woke up to the tune of Fur Elise flowing through my head, that delightful, brighter section (which Google says is part B.) And I thought what a nice tune to have playing during the concert scene in The Strangekinds. Perhaps, Alice will play it.

Then I remembered that Fur Elise is the exact song that featured in the old, original, non-YA, version of The Strangekinds, which is now sort of the prequel that I never finished and had forgotten all about. And I thought, well, then that’s definitely the song Alice will be playing on stage, so that the man who is sitting beside Tamara in the audience can remark upon the significance of song and the woman it reminds him of, whose name happens to be Elise. He won’t stop talking about it, until Tam realizes this dude is Bad News.

And whilst I’m washing my hands in the bathroom, which is where I shuffled off to with these thoughts in my head, I see myself laugh in the mirror. It just struck me how I could go through the whole day with Fur Elise and that concert scene in The Strangekinds disparately cycling through my head, and I never made the connection until mid-sleep.

It’s funny, the things that come together when you sleep on it and let your subconscious go to work.

Photo credit: "Sleeping Lion" by wwarby  available under CC BY 2.0

Close Parenthesis

:

That's not a colon. It's a smiley face. Only it's missing something, so now it's just a sad smiley face.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been reading an article and encountered incomplete parenthetical punctuation. I see the opening parenthesis, my mind automatically ‘nests’ the information that follows (bookmarks where the road forks,) and next thing I know I’m back in the main subject, only I don’t know it’s the main subject, so I’ve lost the thread of the whole thing. How did I get here? Where did the aside end?  How do I get back?

You can’t just leave the gate open for side comments to run off like wild tangents. You’re not a lazy writer, content with using ‘u’ instead of ‘you’ and ‘i’ instead of ‘I’. You were discerning enough to know you needed the brackets, so use them. Both of them. Close your parentheses.

Do it for the smiley faces.

SIROTI: The Week in Review

A lot of my reading on stuff about writing stems from conversations on CritiqueCircle.com. Did I mention CritiqueCircle.com is a great place to chat with a variety of writers, as well as give and receive feedback on WIPs? CritiqueCircle.com.

• The Business Rusch: Perfection

So, this week on writing, it started with Perfection, at Kristine Rusch’s website. While I thought the article was overly-long and meandering at times, there is, apparently, something for everyone to take away.  My take away? “Give yourself some credit, cut yourself some slack, and write on to the next adventure.”

Her main focus gets a little lost in the text, IMO, but it is about critics and reviewers and how one shouldn’t keep revising to appease every concern raised in pursuit of a ‘perfect’ novel. There’s no such thing. This, I find, can be applied to the inner editor, as well. Hence, my takeaway.

• Your E-Book Is Reading You (Wall Street Journal)

Speaking of the pursuit of the perfect novel, e-books can and do collect more data on how e-reader owners read books. This is useful to publishers. I can only imagine it is useful because it might help them make more money, in as much as it helps their authors know what readers’ sweet-spots are and what buttons to push.

Is it useful to writers at-large? For the ones not backed by big houses, I doubt it. Trying to write towards a trend is like trying to hit a moving target. It’s almost impossible considering how long it takes to write a novel and how fast trends come and go nowadays.

As for me, well, I think there’s a good story in there somewhere.

• http://ssnroyal.blog.com/2012/07/01/gina-fairchild-fellow-author/

Oh, and I’ve been interviewed! :)


Photo credit: "catch 22 nately" by schammond available under CC BY 2.0

Author Interview: Susan A. Royal

I'm excited to welcome to the blog new author and my writer pal Susan A. Royal. Her novel, Not Long Ago, is a time-travel romance due out this month. It's a wonderful tale of romance, friendship, strength, and honor. Let's get to know a little more about Susan and her novel.

1. How long have you been writing? 

I’ve been making up stories since I was a little girl.  In fact, I still have my first “book”, complete with illustrations, written in pencil on lined notebook paper, folded and bound with a red ribbon.  I believe I was six years old.

2. What is your favorite genre to read and/or write?   

I love urban fantasy, time travel, science fiction, paranormal and that’s pretty much what I write.  Remember Spielberg’s series “Amazing Stories”?  Twisty, quirky little plots.  Someone ordinary, like you or me, and how they deal with something that goes beyond. 

3. What sparked the idea for Not Long Ago and what made you see it through to publishing? 

I had the first scene written for at least a year before I went any further.  It could have gone in a thousand different directions, but the romantic in me knew I had to explore the connection between the man and the woman who saw each other by accident through the coffee shop window.   I was lucky enough to submit my work to an editor and an agent who took the time to encourage me.  They told me my strong points and what I needed to develop further.  After I got over feeling rejected, I took what they said to heart and learned.  I entered and won short story contests.  I kept reading, writing, learning, editing and I never gave up.

4. Who’s your favorite character in the story and why? 

I get attached to my supporting characters, sometimes more so than my main characters.  In Not Long Ago, Arvo, the tailor’s gangly, red-headed son is a charmer with an eye for the ladies, who loves to listen to gossip.  He keeps Erin, a young woman who time travels from modern times to a medieval society, informed of castle goings-on.  He knows she’s masquerading as a boy but keeps her secret.  He even helps her sneak into the Masked Ball so she could dance with the handsome knight, Sir Griffin.  In the end, Arvo turns out to be a fast friend Erin can never forget.

5. Favorite comfort food, music, or distraction when writing? 

Food:  something I can snack on that isn’t greasy or sticky (makes it difficult to type-LOL)  a cup of coffee or Earl Grey in the winter, Pepsi or iced tea with lime in the summer  Music:  Something that sets the mood I’m writing.  I like to listen to acoustic guitar (my son’s recordings) Enya, movie soundtracks like Cold Mountain, The Village, Outlander, Braveheart.  I like Moby, Coldplay, Loreena McKinnett, Crowded House and the list goes on…  

6. Who’s been your biggest supporter on your writerly journey? 

My family.  They listen to my ideas, help me past my blocks, listen to me whine, or listen to me period!! (I do get carried away sometimes)  And I can’t forget my writer friends like you who brainstorm with me when I’m stuck.

7. What’s the most important thing you learned in the process from first draft to published? 

Never give up.  Someone once told me “There is nothing about your story that can’t be fixed.  You are the author, after all.  You can fill the plot holes, flesh it out, expand, or condense, learn to say things better and improve. 

8. Least favorite thing about the process? 

The waiting.  I’m an impatient person

9. Are you a plotter, pantser, or a combination? 

A little of both, I think.  I have a general idea of where I want to story to go.  It comes to me in scenes.  It works better for me to write, write, write, and get my ideas down, then go back and whip them into shape.

10. What are your current writing goals?
 

I’ve just finished a fantasy romance, In My Own Shadow and I’ve submitted it.  I’ve begun writing the sequel to Not Long Ago.  (My daughter insisted the story wasn’t done so I had to continue)

Not Long Ago

Blurb:  
Erin has met the man of her dreams, but as usual there are complications. It’s one of those long distance relationships, and Griffin is a little behind the times-- somewhere around 600 years.

Erin and her employer, March, are transported to a time where chivalry and religion exist alongside brutality and superstition. Something’s not quite right at the castle, and Erin and March feel sure mysterious Lady Isobeil is involved. But Erin must cope with crop circles, ghosts, a kidnapping and death before the truth of her journey is revealed.

Forced to pose as March’s nephew, Erin finds employment as handsome Sir Griffin’s squire. She’s immediately attracted to him and grows to admire his courage, quiet nobility and devotion to duty. Yet, she must deny her feelings. Her world is centuries away, and she wants to go home. But, Erin can’t stop thinking about her knight in shining armor.    

Not Long Ago will be available in June, 2012 through MuseItUp and Amazon 

Excerpt:

I saw him the other day. It happened when I cut across Market Street and passed in front of the fancy new coffee shop. On the other side of spotless glass, waitresses in crisp black uniforms served expensive coffee in fancy cups and saucers. One man sat alone at a table by the window. No one I knew, just a nice looking stranger who looked up as I passed. We exchanged glances and I froze in the middle of a busy sidewalk crowded with impatient people. Annoyed, they parted, sweeping past me like water rushing downstream.

What I saw left me reeling, as though someone had knocked the wind out of me. My glimpse deep inside the man’s essence unnerved me, but I couldn’t look away. Who was he? The waitress stopped at his table. He turned, lowering his cup into its saucer and shook his head, his mouth curving into a familiar smile that made my heart lurch.  

After she left, his eyes returned to mine. A moment before, I thought they’d held a spark of recognition. Now, I saw nothing. I felt cold, as though he’d slammed a door in my face and left me standing outside in the rain.

I had no other choice but to move on.

It wasn’t just recognition—I knew things about him too. Things I had no reason to know. An image flashed in my mind: the curl of hair at the nape of his neck; a scar snaking down his arm. I’d put it there, after all.

I knew the man before me was an excellent horseman, accomplished swordsman, and an honorable man. Beyond the shadow of a doubt. How could I be so certain?

There was something else. A chilling realization crept up my spine. He didn’t belong in my world. Not in the coffee shop, not in the city. Not anywhere. None of this should have happened. We should have been no more than casual observers sharing a moment before going our separate ways. But something went wrong.

~*~

Be sure to visit Susan A. Royal at her website or blog, where you can find more fascinating tidbits about Not Long Ago:

• http://susanroyal.moonfruit.com/
• http://ssnroyal.blog.com/

Thanks for stopping by, Susan! Congratulations on your success and best of luck on your writerly journey.

Inhibition

I don't like to nano stories, that is, to write them really fast and without a lot of thought or care going into the words that make up the sentences that make up the paragraphs that make up the story. But I have a problem with not finishing very many good stories in a timely fashion...or at all. That's why I accepted a friend's challenge to nano a couple of short stories this month.

We actually started last month. He finished his story before I did, and it took me 25 days to complete a 12k word story. (I did say I had a problem, didn't I?) I hated the story as I wrote it, and I hated the story when I finished. So, what was the point?

Glad to be done with the thing, I quickly retreated to my proper WIPs and basked in the sanity and coherency of the prose. Ah, the smooth narrative and the delightful dialogue were like soothing balms. Then it struck me:

When you see how bad your own writing can really be, you appreciate how well you write when you’re trying. You appreciate the trying.

The challenge is not about trying--trying to write a great, good, or even likeable story, or trying to come up with clever plots and indelible characters.  I already know how to strive for precise words, better flow, coherent structure, strong voices, etc. I know how to endeavor to write well because I have, and after years of practice I know when I'm writing poorly.

The challenge is about doing. It is about setting aside inhibition. When I try my best, the final draft will be my best, to heck with how cringe-worthy it starts out. Right now, it's about writing now, and the more I do, the more I learn how best to approach it, how to work more efficiently and get better results. I second-guess a little less.

Genesis

Trice Farrow is the primary antagonist in a fantasy WIP, named Phelia's Sound. I knew how she played into the events of the story, but not necessarily what drove this driven woman. How did she become so self-centered and mean? I figured it’d all come out in the wash, but then I wrote the bit of freewriting below for fun one day, and lo, Trice’s genesis.

I come upon his room as I came upon it the first time, alone. The little boy I found inside is now a man. The one who’d been too sick to leave his bed has just returned from another adventure overseas, his travels undoubtedly marked by a trail of broken hearts.

Twenty-two years ago, I left this hall, asking my mother, “Mama, can’t you help that boy?”

Roald had been so nice, letting me play with his toys. I could hardly believe he was too sick to join in or even leave his bed. There had to be something Mother could do for him.

No, she’d said, even though she was a healer.  “He has people for that. They can make Roald feel better, but he’s dying, Trice. No one can save him. It’s better to put him out of mind.”

Out of sight and out of mind, the Hamlins’ little boy was practically dead already. I hadn’t known him before I wandered away from the party downstairs and discovered his room. Trailing Mother’s voluminous evening gown as she ushered me away, I did not want to forget him. I didn’t want him to die.

 “But, I don’t want Roald to die.”

Mother sighed. “You never should have come up here.”

I stepped back when Mother leaned down to carry me. “You can’t let Roald die, Mama—you can’t.”

“It isn’t within my power. When you’re older you’ll understand.”

I frowned, because I did not understand, nor did I believe I ever would. “You’re lying. You just don’t like healing. You said some people don’t deserve help. That’s what you said before when you thought no one could hear, but I heard you.”

Mother straightened so that she towered above and stared down her nose at me. “Trice Farrow, you apologize for your rudeness, or you will be in serious trouble when your father hears of it

“I won’t. You’re selfish and mean.”

Her eyes flashed briefly. “So, you think healers must be unconditionally selfless and kind to all who are in need of their services? Very well. There is a way for you to save Roald, yourself. We will see how long your generosity lasts.”

Twenty-two years. Roald looks up at me, the poison creeping up his veins, mottling his golden skin with black splotches. Who knows how it happened? All I can think of are all the times he tempted fate because of the enchanted pendant dangling from the chain around his neck. I think of how many times his recklessness hurt me, and his brazen disregard sapped my strength.

A sharp pang rips through him and I feel it as though it were my own. He gasps. I gasp. Dizziness overcomes and I steady myself, a hand against his bed.

Roald grips my wrist and pleads, “Trice…help me?”

No one can. I reach for the pendant. Twenty-two years. No more.

This scene will not be in the story. At least, not in this form, but I now know Trice’s prime motive, underneath everything, was to prove her mother wrong. Yet, all her efforts seemed to be for naught—the boy she saved hardly appreciated it, to say the least. The more he enjoyed life, the less she did, until she became just as begrudging and compassionless as her mother predicted.

A few posts back, I talked about how journaling helps reveal things about my personal writing process—habits, strengths, weaknesses, etc. This is how freewriting can sprout new ideas and reveal new dimensions of a given story or character. It's pretty exciting. :)

Photo credit: "Sprouts" by MissMessie, available under CC BY 2.0

Update & Link Goodness

Oh, dear. I've only been at this for just over a month. I've only got to do one post a week, yet I have begun to lapse. I'm so sorry crickets. Yes, I heard you chirping irritably in lieu of new content, but I ignored. In my defense, I have been under the weather. Here's a picture to cheer you up:

Isn't that cheery? Yes, it is, especially because it is only a picture and can't spew its Evil Yellow Haze of World Domination at me, innocuously refered to as pollen. (If you ask me, M. Night Shyamalan was onto something.)

On to the link goodness:

First up, The Bookshelf Muse. It's famous for their Emotion Thesaurus. Yep, that's a thesaurus for how to describe different emotions--and settings, and character traits, and much more! But they also are just great for finding other writer resources, writer interviews, contests, and giveaways. It's an all around fun blog to read, and it was on that blog where I discovered link number two.

I like what I've seen of The Plot Whisperer, so far, because her posts are clear, concise, easy to understand, and easier to apply to my own travails. There's no rambling or muddling, no fuzzy concepts that take hundreds and hundreds of words to explain, yet still somehow don't make practical sense. She also has a Youtube channel for those of us who absorb even more information when looking at and listening to a real live person. She's got every aspect of plot and writing covered.

So, click through to these sites and enjoy. I'll be over here, going through my fiftieth box of tissues.


Photo credit: "LILIES" by whologwhy, available under CC BY 2.0

Journaling the Journey

I keep track of my writing. By ‘keep track’ I mean I journal—offline—about anything and everything writerly, even if it’s just “This WIP is cursed!” or “I’ve just read the most awesomist sf story.” It is not the same as free-writing fiction. Journaling is about self-examination without concern for audience, craft, or pointlessness. It can be therapeutic and enlightening, even if it’s just to rant, rejoice, or sort out a mess of thoughts. 

In an entry from two years ago, I had decided to compare excerpts from a few successive drafts of one my first sci-fi stories, dubbed ORIGINAL, FIRST, and SECOND. With many months, if not years, between them, it presented a good sampling of my writing over time. The results were pleasantly surprising.

The first thing I notice is how the paragraphs got shorter and more deft. 

ORIGINAL reads like a list: I did this and then did that. There was this and then that other thing. 

FIRST is immediately more active. The mc comes to fore—he’s moving, and experiencing the world in real-ish time, not just relating some past event, but the deets are still painfully meticulous and that SLOOOOOOWS the pacing down to a crawl. 

SECOND is leaps and bounds better as regards word usage, structure, and style. It has cadence and mood. The mc not only comes to fore but his voice is so much clearer. Many of the same details remain but are described more matter of factly and succinctly rather than painstakingly or with many words that don’t paint a clear picture. Oh yeah, and he talks! Lol! Hooray for improved writing skills!

Journaling has helped me track and appreciate how much I’ve grown as a writer, which is not always evident deep within the trenches of writing and rewriting. Taking some time to read back those ramblings might show recurring problems. Fits and starts resolve into patterns for a writing regiment, solutions present themselves, ways to break bad habits and reinforce good ones. Causation clarified. Improvement illuminated.

Read the excerpts I’d taken, below the fold.

Finding Your Angle

Over at the Publication Coach website, Daphne Gray-Grant has some interesting advice for writers of all stripes. Like most Writing Advice, some of hers resonated and others didn’t. One such article that stuck: How to Find an Angle.

When I translated to fiction writing what she had to say about the difference between an angle and a topic, and why simply writing about a topic at face value will produce dull work, it all sounded so familiar. The vast majority of the stories that remain in my Never-To-See-The-Light-Of-Day trunk are all Idea Stories, stories about a topic with no angle, an idea with nothing to say. Pretty much all of my science-fiction stories had started with a Big Idea—or a What If—but the successful ones like Don’t Read the Books found an angle.

I can go through story after story of mine, and the same will be true for why each one rose above dross or remained just a good idea that went nowhere. Oftentimes, that defining angle will come from a character, and how the topic shapes their life and the world they live in. DRB went from being an idea about the extinction of physical books, to the story of a woman who lived through the change, what she lost, and what she gains.

While Gray-Grant’s process for finding an angle didn’t click as much as the idea of having one, the article helped to elucidate the importance of each story having something to say. I recommend How to Find an Angle. It’s short and sweet, and she gives good examples and clear explanations that just might be for you.

Characters and Purpose

Whether it’s to move the plot forward or provide a unique perspective on an event or another protagonist, every character should have a purpose. Not just, but no two characters should have the exact same function in the story (aka cloning.)

It seems obvious enough, but while working on my space opera WIP, I ran afoul of this critical idea, and rectifying it was not a happy experience.  Over halfway through the novel, I wanted to inject some new blood into the story. Enter Tara, an ex-U.S. Special Forces operative but geek at heart. She was funny, animated, and a breath of fresh air.

Five and a half thousand words later, I realized she was a younger clone of another character, Mrs. E. But, but, but! Tara was an ancient astronaut geek, so she could provide insight for the crew! So could Mrs. E.  There were some great moments in those five thousand words! Too bad. Why can’t I keep her? Because when I got right down to it, she served no real purpose. I had to contrive ways to involve her in the rest of the plot, and that inevitably marginalized more integral characters.

I've no words of wisdom to impart, just the foibles from which I learn on my writerly journey. I learned Tara existed because I was tired of writing all the other characters, and I just wanted to write something new. Don’t do that, even if it feels good—and fun and exhilarating. Make sure each character compliments others instead of replacing them. Make sure they fit the plot instead of the other way around. Make sure each has a developmental trajectory over the course of the story, a lifespan longer than one scene.

Anything less warrants no more than a few paragraphs, let alone five thousand words. Failing that? Cut ‘em without mercy…and paste them into a new document for another story. ;)

Don't Read the Books

Don’t Read the Books is my very first published story, ever. I’m not getting paid, but I’m still proud of this milestone. I’m proud of the work I put into it and the work I got out of it. I’m proud of myself and the finished product. A big thanks goes to my critters over at CritiqueCircle.com.

But what is Don’t Read the Books?

It’s a humorous science fiction short story about a little old lady named Edwina Hoffman. She's determined to break the golden rule at The Hoffman Printing Press Museum & Library. Hence, the title.

Beyond that, it’s about a world where all printed text, including books, have gone completely digital with the advent of e-paper. Hence, the printing press museum & library.

And underneath it all, it’s the result of my spending a lot of time contemplating the changing tides of the traditional versus e-book market.

Do read Don't Read the Books at Larks Fiction Magazine, and leave a comment if you enjoyed it!