Tag: Wiley Wednesday

  • Wiley Wednesday: To Outline or Not To Outline

    A lot of people, generally nonwriters or new writers, tell me that to write a novel, one needs an outline. To which I say, Hogwash.

    That’s right. Hogwash!

    One needs an outline as much as one needs a pencil – which is to say, there’s more than one way to write something down.

    Take a look at my story, The Night is a Harsh Mistress. I started this without any kind of cohesive plan, just an idea of a flavor. I wanted to write something noir, which is to say like a 1940’s detective novel, but with a female lead. Most such novels have a main character who is a loner and who smokes, and I felt that in today’s climate, smoking without compunction would be a little unrealistic, so it would be someone trying to quit.

    Voila.

    That was really it.

    So, when I started, I wrote about her in the pursuit of one of her cases. Classical storytelling tells us that we need to show our protagonist succeeding at their objective, then put in a position where they cannot possibly win, then they surmount the odds and win. So the first chapter is her succeeding at her work. Then it gets weird.

    I added Viktor not, as many of my readers have assumed, as a love interest, but as a foil. He’s someone who would usually be a villain, but in this context I wanted him to be more of someone who helped Rachel to find herself in the midst of all the activity of her life.

    How do I keep the strands straight? A couple ways. For one, I reread periodically, so I can keep the flavor of the story in my head. This is more critical when I’m writing a serial like Rachel, since I’m only writing a chapter every two weeks. Additionally, I keep a notes section at the end, called “Endnotes,” where I track ideas for action I want to see happen or things I don’t want to forget. I also put questions here, like “Who is the man in the first chapter?” That way, as I’m writing, I can incorporate those things into the story.

    I find that if I write an outline, in order, from start to finish, it sucks the fun out of the story for me. That’s not to say that outlining is bad or doesn’t work for others, just that it doesn’t work for me. If you find you’re that way too, it doesn’t mean you’re doing it wrong – it just means you’re not left-brain sequential in your approach to your storytelling. Or, it may mean that you use an outline for some projects and not for others.

    Steven King, in his book On Writing, talks about his method of working (and he doesn’t use an outline either). He starts a story and doesn’t stop until he’s finished. He suggests that you find a room, hide away in it, (the fact that the room has a door, even if it’s the bathroom or a laundry room, is of the utmost importance), and write on a regular basis. He suggests not starting a new project until your current one is finished, because he finds that it dilutes his focus. While I don’t work that way – I usually have multiple projects going at any one time – I like his idea of having a regular writing time where you shut yourself away from distractions and work until you’re finished. That’s advice more of us could use.

    So instead of worrying about your outline next time you sit down to write something, just try telling a story and see where it leads you. Like me, you might find this method is a lot more fun. And, in this business, what’s fun is what works.

  • Wiley Wednesday, 10/15/2008: “Twin Realities”

    As we head into what shows every sign of being a prolonged period of economic stress, it pays to look to our own houses and make sure they are ready to weather the coming storm. As writers, we must be sure to keep our spiritual and emotional house in order so that we may continue to create. It is the times of challenge that show us where our weak points are, the cracks in our armor that let the wind in; the leaks in the roof that send drips down on our heads. These don’t need to be as onerous if we just remember the universal principle of the power of thought.

    While not a new idea, it bears repeating. I’m not talking here of ‘blame the victim:’ “Oh, you thought about cancer, so that’s why you have cancer.” That kind of cause/effect leap is specious and unhelpful. I’m talking here in a subtle reality shift of what reality we choose to inhabit. The key word there is “reality” – I’m not talking about avoidance of reality, quite the contrary. But there’s a world of difference between being aware of reality and cynicism – though cynics will, of course, tell you differently.

    Every day we are given a choice (or, if you prefer not to think of something “giving” us anything, then I’ll say merely each day we have a choice to make). We can inhabit the reality of abundance, or the reality of lack.

    It’s easy to get down about the future, the world, when things aren’t going our way. But Rena Tarbet once said, it doesn’t matter what stops you – your mother’s diagnosis of cancer, a sick child, your own injury, the dog threw up. What does it matter, if it stops you? There are stories of great everyday heroism – Christopher Reeve, Helen Keller, Steven Hawking… these stories can inspire us, but better, they can inform us of what it takes to inhabit the real. We are far more wealthy than even we are aware of, a fact that immediately becomes apparent if we watch footage of Iraq and Afghanistan, to name just two of the places on earth today that are torn by war and worse. We have safe homes to live in and people to love us (even at the remove of the internet – love is love, don’t throw it away because it’s not physically sitting next to you on your couch).

    Okay, so all of that is very good and well, if we already inhabit the reality of our own abundance. But if you are reading this, thinking “Yeah, yeah, but I’m really NOT living in abundance and have no idea how to get there,” do not despair. Two simple tools can help each of us shift our reality. If you consent to walk this path with me, you will not be the same person three weeks from now.

    The first tool begins as soon as you finish reading this: count your blessings. That’s right, pull out a sheet of paper, (yes, please handwrite this exercise; the hand knows reality better than the keyboard). Write down each of your blessings: you have underwear, socks, pants, shirts, sheets, a bed, four walls and a roof, food, and go from there. Try to get to fifty, then a hundred.

    The second tool is a gratitude journal. First discussed in Sarah Ban Breathnach’s lovely book, Simple Abundance, the idea of the gratitude journal is to make us aware of just exactly how much we have in our lives, every day, for which to be grateful. Each night for the next month, before bed, write down five things for which you are grateful. Some days they may be magnificent. Others, particularly if you are really in a state of lack, it may simply be the simplest: I am alive, I have an internet connection, I can type, I can read, I ate food today. That’s okay; they don’t have to be big things.

    And that’s the lesson. It doesn’t have to be big things. But the reality of abundance is the mirror image of the reality of lack, and they are both simple realities. It’s your choice which one to inhabit.

    Please, leave a comment and tell me how your blessings list went, or any thoughts on the twin nature of reality that you might like to share. We are not alone, and sometimes just that simple fact can remind us of how abundant our lives really are.

    Resources

    Ms. Sarah Ban Breathnach’s website: http://www.simpleabundance.com/
    Author, Simple Abundance (and many other excellent books, including Moving On)
    Available on Amazon, http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=282922

    Ms. Rena Tarbet’s website: http://www.renatarbet.com/
    Author, How to Succeed in Spite of Life’s Challenges
    Available on Amazon, http://www.amazon.com/Rena-Succeed-Spite-Lifes-Challenges/dp/1880692325

  • Writing Reference Series #1


    A while back, I went on a ‘craft-building’ book buying binge. Over my next few Wiley Wednesdays, I’ll be talking about what I took away from each of them. One repeating pattern I found was that several of the books had lists of other handy reference. At the top of almost every one of those lists was Strunk & White’s ‘The Elements of Style’ – a short text that packs a real wallop, and definitely the place to begin. In short, I wish I had read this book three years ago. It would have saved me a lot of time.

    William Strunk Jr. was an English professor at Cornell in the early 1900s. He taught from his own ‘little book’ – a concise text he wrote to cover the basics of grammar and composition, originally published in 1869. At 105 pages, including forwards and index, it truly is little. But little is too small a word. E. B. White (Stuart Little, Charlotte’s Web) was a student of Mr. Strunk, and decided much later in his career that Strunk’s ‘little book’ could serve a much broader audience. The text was revised in 1935, 1959, 1979 and 2000 – and everything in it still bears repeating. In his original introduction, Mr. White describes the book as, “seven rules of usage, eleven principals of composition, a few matters of form, and a list of expressions commonly misused . . .” All of these are centered around one theme, that edict pounded home by Strunk himself:

    Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all sentences short or avoid all detail and treat subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.

    I won’t run through every rule here. They are neatly numbered and stated with very clear examples in the full text, and I highly recommend you pick up the book and read it from cover to cover several times, as I did. The full text is also available online. Instead, I’ll skip the grammar stuff, and cut straight to the elements of composition I wish I had learned by studying this text, rather than the hard way (i.e. sludging along cluelessly until someone pointed it out to me the twelvth time).

    13. Make the paragraph the unit of composition. To some, this may come naturally. To others, it is something pounded into our heads by 6th grade teachers. Still others struggle. But it’s quite simple, as laid down by Strunk. Writing is a series of thoughts. How we compose and gather these thoughts either facilitates or hinders how the the reader understands. In summary: one idea per paragraph. Introduce it. Add detail. Conclude or sum up.

    14. Use the active voice. Ugh! I can’t tell you how long people were saying ‘that’s passive voice’ before I knew what they were talking about. And finding someone to clearly explain it had me tearing my hair out. In general, passive voice takes the action away from your subject and misplaces it. According to Strunk, the active voice makes for more ‘forcible’ writing. But, examples do far better (from the text):

    “I shall always remember my first visit to Boston.” Not, “My first visit to Boston will alway be remembered by me.”

    Not, “At dawn the crowing of a rooster could be heard.” But, “The cock’s crow came with dawn.”

    In general, when scanning for passive voice, the words would, could, was and were are indicators. However, this is not to be confused with the progressive past tense: “I was walking through the woods.”

    15. Put statements in positive form. Basically – don’t describe what is not happening, describe what is happening.

    Not, “He was not very often on time.” But, “He usually came late.”

    Not, “She did not think that studying Latin was a sensible way to use one’s time.” But, “She thought the study of Latin a waste of time.”

    As you can see, the affirmative is usually more direct and concise. It also sounds less ‘wavering’. Be definite in what you say. Oh, wait . . . that’s number 16.

    16. Use definite, specific, concrete language:

    Not, “A period of unfavorable weather set in.” But, “It rained every day for a week.”

    Usually, this means you will give more specific details. If you are trying to make a general statement, do so, but make it concrete and definite. At least knock out two of the three:

    Not, “She seldom enjoyed visiting her aunt.” But, “He hated visiting her aunt.”

    17. OMIT NEEDLESS WORDS. This is by far Strunk’s most important point, linking back to his main theme. Omit needless words. Omit needless words! You’ll find this easier at the edit phase. I don’t recommend having this mind set when you are drafting, because when you haven’t written anything, one could argue every word is needless. But once you have a draft, you’ll find there are a HUGE amount of ways to rephrase to use less words or to simply cross out the ones you don’t need, without losing meaning. Some examples of classic needless words are often: that, because, as to, for. Also stall phrases, such as: started to, began to, almost, was going to, etc. Strunk lists several examples of his least favorite needless phrases, which you’ll find very useful. Cut to the action, and . . . OMIT NEEDLESS WORDS.

    I think that is a good start, and a fair chunk of some of Strunk’s most important points. As stated above, I highly recommend reviewing the text in its entirety. Adding these feathers to your editing cap will most certainly help you to write concisely, without losing meaning.

    Happy writing!

    -Gwen

  • Wiley Wednesday 08/27/2008

    The Peripatetic School

    Peripatetic:

    ADJECTIVE:
    1. Walking about or from place to place; traveling on foot. 2. Peripatetic Of or relating to the philosophy or teaching methods of Aristotle, who conducted discussions while walking about in the Lyceum of ancient Athens.

    NOUN:
    1. One who walks from place to place; an itinerant. 2. Peripatetic A follower of the philosophy of Aristotle; an Aristotelian.

    ETYMOLOGY:
    Middle English peripatetik, from Latin peripat ticus, from Greek peripat tikos, from peripatein, to walk about, or from peripatos, covered walk (where Aristotle allegedly lectured) : peri-, peri- + patein, to walk.

    http://www.bartleby.com/61/55/P0195500.html

    So. What does peripatetic have to do with writing? Good question. I was reading Julia Cameron’s work and she commented that several writers belong to the “peripatetic school.” My first thought was, what the heck is peripatetic? Then it was, what does walking have to do with writing?

    Well, try it, then you can tell me.

    I should just stop the essay there, but I’ll be kind. For me, walking is something that slows me down to human speed, rather than caffeine speed, stress speed, or I have to finish twenty things in time enough only for ten speed. Walking is repetitive. There’s not much more than pick up one foot, put it in front of the other. Lather, rinse, repeat. This allows the mind to wander while the feet, well, wander.

    How is this of benefit to writing?

    Well, try it, then… you get the picture.

    It’s strange how we get so into our own heads when we write. Our own heads are not necessarily the most helpful places to be when writing, either. But instead of fighting with our internalized voices, next time you are stuck try getting up and walking around the block for twenty minutes. See what interesting insights might bubble up for you.

    Besides. You can dazzle and confuse everyone by telling them, “I’m part of the peripatetic school.” “Really? What degree are you getting?”

  • Elements of Fiction-Characters

    Throughout the next few months, I plan on doing Wiley Wednesdays that are focused on different elements of fiction. By doing this, I hope we can all learn a few things, and improve our writing (isn’t that the goal here?). Today I shall begin by talking about characters. I’ll be honest, you can have the most amazing plot in the world, but if I don’t connect with your characters, I won’t remember your story a month from now. We all want our characters to be remembered and loved, but to do that it takes time, patience and love. (Yes I said love, stop giggling and pay attention!)

    Character – Any person or entity created in a fictional story.

    There are many different ways and reasons to create a character. The protagonist is the main character that drives the action (Hello! That’s who the story is generally about), this is usually who we consider the good guy. You also need a character that opposes this person, like a villain. This is the antagonist, which in Greek literally means competitor, opponent or rival. Occasionally you’ll read a story from a different point of view and you’ll see the good guys as the antagonist.

    So now you have two main characters to flesh out and create a story for. You’ll usually find you need others to help you along the way. This is where the supporting characters come from. They help move the plot along and can give clues and insight into your main characters.

    Round and Flat characters

    Your main characters are usually what would be called round characters. You’ve fleshed these characters out so well that they’re almost real. You know that they detest onions and have a secret passion for Belgium chocolate. They have good qualities and bad ones. They occasionally get caught up in their own internal conflicts and are just plain complex. Think Frodo Baggins or Sherlock Holmes.

    Photobucket

    There is another kind of character called a flat character. This is “the redneck” or “the con artist.” They have one or two traits and are pretty easy to figure out. You can usually sum them up in one sentence. “Gollum is driven to obsession by the One Ring he will forever try to recover.”

    Photobucket

    Dynamic and Static Characters

    A dynamic character is one who undergoes a change. You see this alot in the coming of age stories. The protagonist starts out young and a bit naive, and by the end of the story they’ve had to grow up and they see life differently. The best example I can think of this is Harry Potter.

    Photobucket

    Static characters pretty much stay the same throughout the story. Their personalties are mainly unchanged and stable. Lots of main characters that are not the protagonist are static characters. Ysandre de la Courcel from Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel’s Dart springs to mind when I think of a static character.

    This wraps up today’s study on characters. I hope it may offer some insight and help with your characters a bit. Until next time my lovelies 🙂

    ~Dawn

  • Words in Context

    Please note, the content of this post is, Adult Only.

    The challenge Cont’d:

    Welcome to my Wiley challenge. I have been working on poetry for the ‘Words, Words and more Words’, challenge that I laid down in my last Wiley post here, Words in Context. The challenge involved twelve set words being written in a poem or drabble (100 words).

    I wrote three poems, the reason being, I wanted to show how different combinations of words can change the context of what has been written and also change the readers experience in each individual work, even though basically they say the same thing. I had a lot of fun writing these poems, playing with words and watching them evolve from the set twelve words into vibrant poems. I hope you enjoy reading and experiencing my efforts. 🙂

    The list of twelve words that has to be in the writings is as follows:

    Ivory
    Flesh
    Hunger
    Seeking
    Tongue
    Wetness
    Penetrate
    Climax
    Alive
    Secret
    Folds
    Eager

    Here are the poems I wrote for this challenge:

    Pale moonbeams
    Illuminate ivory flesh
    Deep sleep elusive
    Dreams penetrate the mind
    Calling forth erotic hunger
    Phantom tongue
    Seeking wetness in
    Eager secret folds
    Shuddering climax
    Alive!

    Ivory flesh exposed
    Body quiescent
    Limbs still, expectant

    Senses stirring
    Dreams penetrate the mind
    Freeing erotic hunger

    Eager tongue; illusion or reality
    Seeking wetness veiled
    By secret folds

    Exquisite pleasure budding
    Climax overwhelming
    Breathtaking…Alive!

    Moonbeams falling on
    Ivory flesh
    Face stark in the glow
    Limbs taut

    Dreams of erotic hunger
    Take flight
    Tendrils of passion
    Burning

    Tongue sliding over
    Wetness
    Desperate to penetrate
    Secret folds

    Willing submission
    Desire alive
    Eager for fulfilment
    Climax!

  • What To Do When Stress Rears Its Head

    Four Simple Tools Anyone Can Use

    Those of you who have read my blog recently, know that I was stranded in Minnesota a few weeks ago. I want to share some of the tools that kept me calm and able to function to the best of my ability during this experience.

    Tool the First: Morning Pages

    First, Morning Pages. I know I’ve talked about these before, and quite honestly, will probably do so again. Morning Pages are from Julia Cameron, in her book The Artist’s Way and others. They are three pages of longhand writing, done in the morning. (Hence the name, nu?) They are many things, but most of all they are NOT writing.

    Huh?

    Nope. Not writing. They just happen to be written, but they are emphatically not writing. In fact, writers will find them the hardest. The rest of us who aren’t writers will find them easier. Feel better now?

    The genius about writing morning pages is that they are just three pages of writing, done in the morning. They can’t be done wrong. If you wrote three pages, you did them right. If you did them, then they’re done right. This is sort of counterintuitive to us left-brain Westerners, but it’s true. Just three pages. Longhand.

    Think it’s got to be harder than that?

    Try something for me. Pause from reading this essay (but you’d better come back to it! ~shaky finger~) and go grab three pages of paper. Could be lined or not, doesn’t matter, as long as it’s 8.5” x 11”. Now write. Just fill up that paper. When you get to the bottom of the third page, stop.

    There. You did it right.

    Feel good? Uh-huh. That’s all there is to it.

    Why am I harping on Morning Pages?

    Morning ages are a method of moving meditation, sort of like walking. Like sitting Za-Zen, they bring us into the moment where we meet the moment, and ourselves. This may sound kind of hokey, but it’s true – it’s easy to be in the moment when you’re writing, because writing IS in the moment. You can’t write later, or in five minutes. If you’re writing, you’re in the moment. It’s a “now” activity. It’s sort of hard to let your mind wander when you’re writing longhand, because then your pen tends to stop and you’re no longer writing.

    When I was stranded, one of the only ‘creative’ activities I could do was writing my morning pages. I couldn’t even fill up the endless hours while I waited for news of my doomed car with any actual creative writing – I was too tense. I just managed to do my Morning Pages, and stay present.

    I kept the television off during this time, as an added method of staying in the moment and being present.

    Tool the Second: Walking

    Another tool I used was walking. That’s right, just putting one foot in front of the other. Nothing more profound than that. The town I was stranded in had a lovely lake in the center of it that the tow truck driver passed by when he took me to the hotel. I was able to find it from my hotel and wandered over there in the evening. After that, I was able to return to the hotel, much more centered in my body. I didn’t do anything more strenuous than walking, looking at trees and the little tree-dwelling creatures that were by the lake. Several cheeky squirrels and a family of ducks kept me company, as did a man walking his mother in her wheelchair and several afternoon joggers. It’s amazing how much one slows down when one is walking.

    Tool the Third: Bathe, Thou Stinky One!

    Another tool I used was a bath. Is this a tool? If not, it should be. “Noony’s Guide to Enlightenment, Chapter Four.” (No, I haven’t written it yet.) But seriously. Sitting in water is an excellent way to relax. Something about the water is grounding (or is that, wetting?). Regardless, it helped me feel comforted, miles away from my family and friends, stuck in the middle of nowhere. (Well, to be fair, the residents of Winona probably don’t think of their town as “nowhere.” But I digress.) Bathing is an easy way of getting present. I’ll give you a little secret – you don’t actually need any bath soup, either. Just water. It might be odd the first time you try it, it was for me anyway, but having bath oil or bath salt or bath sugar isn’t required. Just hot water.

    If you dislike baths, try sitting in the tub or shower with the water beating down on your head. That’s another way to get present.

    From a magical perspective, water is one of the four Aristotelian elements, and as such, extraordinarily powerful. Even if you don’t go in for that kind of “hokum,” water can be very helpful to the grounding and relaxing process. Why do you think spas have hot tubs for use by patrons before their massage?

    Tool the Fourth: Breathing

    Breathing was the final tool I used. Duh, right?

    I’m serious! Breathing is very underrated, particularly by Westerners. How are you breathing right now? Chances are, very shallow, little breaths that hardly fill up your central cavity. If that’s the case, try something. Take a nice, big, deep breath that fills your belly up so much, your tummy distends. Now hold it for a second or two, then let it out. Press it all the way out of your body like you’re pressing water out of your laundry. Now do that two or three more times. Chances are, your fingers and toes will start to get warmer. That’s the blood flow increasing all the way to your extremities. This is very healthy, and means that you are getting into the moment – which is where your power is.

    Tie Them All Together With a Cute Little Bow

    We have all the power and strength we need to handle life’s challenges, but we shortchange ourselves and ignore our power. We cannot access it anywhere except in the moment. And the only way to get into the moment is to get into the moment. (Which is sort of a silly thing to say, but nonetheless true.) We spend so much time elsewhere – reading books or watching time-filler television. (You’ve seen my rant on Americans and television, right?) Well, these four simple tools can be used right where you are, and don’t require any special equipment other than a pencil, paper, and shoes – things most of us are fortunate enough to have in our possession. And if you can read this, then you can breathe. If you can’t breathe, then I can’t help you.

    So, go forth and power yourself into the moment. See what kinds of problems and challenges you can surmount by doing so.

  • Words in Context

    Another Wily Wednesday! What to do, what to do? I don’t know actually, going to “fly by the seat of my pants”, as the saying goes.

    …some minutes later!

    Words! I want to explore the color of words a little. Not only the color, but the texture, the feel and the different ways words paint pictures for us. Hmm, I am wondering if this is a little adventurous for me? Too late, already started, can’t stop now.

    Months ago I grouped together words that alone might be innocent, but together are most definitely not. So, if your of a gentle persuasion, embarrass easily or are uncomfortable with words that intimate sensuality and the erotic, I apologise right here and now. Sort of!

    My list

    Ivory: makes me think of the palest off white color. The feelings I attach with this word are soft, smooth, innocent and something waiting to be touched, felt with the fingers, handled with care. Expensive items are made from Ivory, such as piano keys. Ladies combs used to be made from it in centuries past. Now it is illegal to hunt Elephants and sell it.

    Flesh: we all have it. Thoughts about flesh can be completely clinical, it comes in all shapes and sizes, colors and ages. We don’t hang too well together without it.

    Hunger: food is probably the first thing thought of with this word. But, how many different types of hungers are there?

    Seeking: We all do it. We are all seeking happiness, fulfillment, excitement, pleasure, friendship. The list is a lot longer than what I have written here.

    Tongue: impossible to talk without one, to lick your lips when they are dry or to taste the food we eat.

    Wetness: the planet can not survive without rain, we need water for so many of our daily tasks.

    Penetrate: your mind can be penetrated by thoughts and ideas. Our computers are being penetrated by viruses and hackers all the time. Injections penetrate the skin and so it goes on.

    Climax: the obvious climax’s come at the end of a movie or a book.

    Alive: we all have to be alive to be reading this blog. Nothing happens if we aren’t alive.

    Secret: we all have them. We try to keep other people’s and often want to know other people’s as well.

    Folds: I automatically think of fabric and picture the way a beautiful velvet gown would drape and the shade and texture a fold in that dress would create.

    Eager: those of us that are alive, usually are eager to experience life, eager to move on to the next project. Eager to see someone, or finish something.

    All these words stand alone as quite ordinary words, nothing unusual or exceptional about them.
    But listed below, they take on a different quality and texture. Bringing different thoughts to mind, turning from the ordinary to the provocative and full of possibilities.

    Ivory,
    Flesh,
    Hunger,
    Seeking,
    Tongue,
    Wetness,
    Penetrate,
    Climax,
    Alive,
    Secret,
    Folds,
    Eager,

    As you see, these words are no longer innocent, but have a totally different context. I am proposing a little challenge girls. A poem or a drabble using these words to paint a written picture and blogged here. For purely educational purposes of course. 🙂

  • The Edit Bat of Doom

    A friend of mine has a special bat. It’s called the Edit Bat of Doom. When the time comes, she pulls it out and uses it with great enthusiasm! Editing is a necessary evil. Everything from a thank you note to a 500 page novel requires a bit of editing. I know we’ve already talked a bit about the process this week, but here are a few more tips on it. So take your own Edit Bat of Doom out of the closet and lets learn a few new swings!

    1. Read you paper out loud. It’s easier to hear a mistake than read one. If you stumble reading it, you know you have a problem. If you still aren’t sure, take it to someone you trust and ask them to do the same.

    2. Leave as much time as you can between writing and editing. Fresh eyes pick out the problems faster. Try to do something in that break that gets your mind completely off your story.

    3. Read the paper backward (from the end to the beginning) one sentence at a time. This helps you concentrate on sentences and words rather than on the paper’s meaning as a whole.

    4. Know the errors you commonly make. Make a list of these errors so you know what to look for. For each error, read through the paper (or chapter for longer works) once. Don’t try to find all the errors on your list in one pass.

    5. Use the spelling and grammar check, but don’t rely on it. Have dictionaries and thesauruses at hand and USE THEM.

    6. Place **’s where you think a reviewer should pay special attention. Make sure to go back through and take these out though!

    7. Ask yourself who, what, when, where, why, and how when reading for content. Does the text answer all the questions you think it should? Highlight the sentences that answer these questions. This makes it easier to see if the questions are answered in a logical manner.

    8. If a character is acting out a procedure or action of some kind, do it yourself to make sure you didn’t miss any obvious steps.

    9. Don’t edit under fluorescent lighting. The flicker rate is slower than regular lighting and your eyes won’t pick up inconsistencies as easily. (WOW! Learn something new every day huh?????)

  • Building A Goal Pyramid

    Last time I posted a long essay for Wiley Wednesday talking about motivation and dedication, following one on balance-point. I’ll finish this series with today’s post on GOALS.

    If you missed the first two, you can find them here:

    1. Balance-Point

    2. Motivation + Reinforcement = Dedication

    In quick review:

    – It’s crucial to find your internal/external balance-point in any creative pursuit. You have to know your limits in order to set realistic goals.

    – Your desires motivate your actions. The act of reinforcing your motivations is dedication. When you combine dedication and goal-setting, you get positive action – progress towards your ultimate desires.

    DISCLAIMER: As per usual, this is just my opinion, and one of an infinite number of ways to attack the task of goal-setting. If it works for you, that makes me gleeful. If it doesn’t, don’t blame me!

    Once you’ve gotten a handle on what motivates you, and you have your general compass-point (your desires/dreams) you are ready to set some goals. One method for doing this, is to think of your goal-plan like a pyramid.

    Remember: Your dreams are the pinnacle of your ‘pyramid-o-happiness’, which you
    are hopefully always building. Your goals are the bricks that, when stacked with care, will get you to the top. Sometimes they’re gritty and heavy, sometimes they’re fun and ornate. Positive action is the act of stacking your bricks. (And results from combining dedication with your goals.)

    How many writers does it take to build a pyramid?

    One.

    Everything you need to get to that pinnacle is inside of you. And believing this is the key to ultimately achieving those dreams of yours. You can’t stand around waiting for someone else to pick up your bricks and start stacking. It’s up to you. You can recruit help from time to time,
    borrow tools, rely on someone else’s strong back, consult other pyramid engineers – but if you aren’t dedicated to it, your pyramid will not get built.

    Let’s assume that we all have dreams – that spot up in the clouds somewhere that we want to be. Maybe it’s being a NYT best-selling author, or a record-holding sword swallower, or just
    managing to complete one novel on top of raising two stellar kids. Whatever it is, dream big. I’m a firm believer that aspirations are healthy, as long as you realize that until you take positive action towards them, that’s all they are.

    Dream exercise:

    Find a nice quite spot and set aside a good chunk of pressure-free time. Take out a blank piece of paper. At the top, write, “I want to be . . .” and then list off everything you can finish that sentence with. Now, these are dreams, so you’re allowed to be whimsical, of course. But, try to think of it in terms of WHO you want to be. Many of the things listed might be who you are, or strive to be, already.

    Example:
    I want to be . . . Able to run three miles in fifteen minutes. Someone who speaks three languages fluently. A published author. The first person my friends think to come to when they’re sad. A teacher. A good role model for my nieces and nephews.

    You get the idea. This is a boundless exercises, aimed at getting you thinking about that pinnacle of your pyramid. What do you want to accomplish most? Who do you want to be? That is your pinnacle.

    Now we’re back to the first part of our formula: Goals.

    Goals are sorta like dreams – they are things that you want to accomplish, often as a means to obtaining said dreams. The difference is that goals are concrete. In our pyramid analogy, they are the concrete bricks we use to build the pyramid up towards our dreams. To work on goals, you need to pick one ‘aspiration’ or several that are tied together, and set that as a pinnacle to build towards.

    Let’s take my ‘I want to be a published author’ aspiration and expand on that. We’ll ask questions and add details so that it can start to take solid form – so that it can morph from dream to goal. What type of author? What genre? What length? Published where, by who and for what audience?

    Once I’ve determined that I want to be published in novel length fiction, in the paranormal romance genre, by a NY print house (maybe I have a top five list), then I’m almost there. Only one thing missing to make this goal solid by asking one question – when? You have to have something more definitive than ‘someday’. Someday is up in the clouds. We want to come down to earth. But we will answer this question after a little more self-exploration.

    Your goals are very personal. Just as your list of ‘I want to be’s’ is personal. Some goals can remain more abstract and you can still reach them, some can be very detailed. The most important thing in setting your goals is that you do set constraints on them – give them a solid form. Don’t leave them wispy and unformed – these are still dreams. It’s OKAY to have those – have LOTS of them, but don’t mix them up with goals. Your goal needs to have a who/what/where and a when. The why is personal, and the how is . . . well, the how comes later. Keep reading.

    So, have you built your top triangular brick – the pinnacle of this particular pyramid? Great! Now I’ve got news for you: goals come in multiples. Rather, they sort of spawn each other like rabbits. You have one main goal. Now we need all the other bricks that go underneath it – a wide foundation, growing smaller towards the top. You have two choices in planning your pyramid: top-down, or ground-up. It’s a matter of personal taste, so do what feels the most natural to you.

    Pyramid planning exercise:

    We have our main goal, and now we need to carve out the rest of our bricks. Using the back of the sheet of paper you wrote your dreams on (or a fresh one – or, heck, you can make this out of construction paper and glitter glue if you like – have fun), start like this:

    Write your three-sided who/what/where goal at the top of the page. If you’re using top-down, think of two things you need that would be your last two steps towards that goal.

    Example of the top-down:
    I want to be published in novel length paranormal romance by publisher XYZ. I need:
    1 polished manuscript worthy of print, and an agent to land me a deal.

    (The ground-up method would start with basics and work up from there. You might start with: I need a computer/word processor, I need books on craft XYZ, and genre books, I need a basic
    writing class, etc.)

    Now, take each of those branches and think of (at least) two things you need in order to get them:

    To get an agent, I need:
    1. A list of agents and
    2. A polished query

    To get a print-worthy manuscript, I need:
    1. A really great idea
    2. Time to write said idea
    3. Feedback to help polish the manuscript.

    Note: If you have problems with this step, look at your top goal. It might be too general.

    And so on. Do you see how your goals branch out and get wider at the bottom? Sort of like a pyramid? Well, use your imagination.

    You can be as detailed or as vague as you want in this process, depending on how detail oriented you are. Some people will have 100 tiny bricks (steps) and some just need the 10 major ones to keep them on track. You might also find that some of your ‘bricks’ end up being the same, repeating, or inter-linking. That’s to be expected, if you’ve made your top brick concrete enough. Also, remember to make this subjective. They are always multiple ways of approaching a problem, and this is catered to you – what you need and want, what your strengths and weaknesses are.

    The main purpose here is to start seeing the pyramid take form. Maybe some of the bricks you have handled already – that’s terrific. You still need to know what they are and where they go. Maybe there are big holes in your plan and you have no idea what step goes there? Write the question you need answered in its place and below it, put finding a resource to have that question answered. The other thing you will hopefully see is that when setting goals, you can make them tiny manageable pieces, or more general. (Hopefully both.) Just make them concrete.

    Pyramids don’t get built overnight.

    Once you have your pyramid outlined to a level of detail that is comfortable to you, you’re more than halfway there. Now we can ask ‘When?’

    Guess what – the ‘How?’ has taken care of itself! Look at your pyramid again – the how is what you’ve just done. Pat yourself on the back.

    The next step is where my previous post on Balance Point fits in. Be honest about your limits and knowing what you can accomplish. I’m not going to tell you: ‘if you really want to be a NYT best-selling author, you will take out a second mortgage on your house, quit your job and write the Great American Novel in the next year.’ Partially because I don’t believe that, and partially because I think that is a very unbalanced way of doing things. Whether your goal is to publish, or simply to complete a work, it shouldn’t come at the cost of other things and people important to you. KNOW YOUR LIMITS.

    Now, keeping your limits in mind, write underneath each one of your ‘bricks’ how long you
    estimate it will take you to accomplish each of them. Be realistic, and keep your balance point in mind. If you think you can read every how-to book on writing fiction in a year – you’re probably wrong. These estimates can be in rates: two books a month; but they must also
    have a TOTAL time required: 12 books at two books a month = 6 months.

    And remember, these are your best estimates and don’t have to be 100%. Many will be influenced by things out of your control. I guarantee they will ALL change. That’s okay.

    Got that done? All except for the top one right? Here’s a trick – items on the same level of
    your pyramid can generally be done concurrently. Add up the longest time frame of each level. This is the minimum amount of time you need to prepare to reach that pinnacle. It might take longer than you initially anticipate, but as long as you keep building, you’ll get there.

    I’ll see you at the top.