Tag: Writing

  • The Power of Praise

    My big brother shared an interesting story with me the other day.  It really impressed upon me how we all must battle the inner critic.

    First let me say that he is a gifted singer and respected choral arranger and director.  He leads a large chorus of barbershop quartet singers, dedicating a great deal of time and effort to their success.  Recently, he attended a conference, the source of his anecdote.

    Asked to sing before a group of his peers, he in turn listened to several of them.  After the solo, each man was asked to share one thing he liked about his fellow performers’ offerings.  Then each sang the same song again.

    The claim my brother made – that everyone performed better the second time – really impressed him.  In turn, I found it striking how he had to stifle his inner critic for the praise to get through.

    He’s going to start encouraging his guys to positively critique one another, especially if those words accompany constructive criticism.  This strategy is one I believe in one hundred percent in the writing world, and would like to enlist everyone’s help in spreading the positivity.  As a side benefit, you’ll feel good for brightening someone’s day.

    So jump on those forums and websites, twitter and face pages.  Tell your favorite authors what you enjoyed about their story.

  • A New Book Is Born!

    It’s hard to believe it. We wrote it, and edited it, and loved it into existence. Countless hours spent on the phone and in emails and chat, working and playing with it. We’ve created a whole world in Persis, one that is so real to me it seems as though I should be able to open a door and step into it like walking through the armoir into Narnia.

    Emerald Fire, the first in what we hope to be many novels about Persis, is available now from Torquere Press! We are very excited and pleased to bring it to you and hope you will enjoy it as much as we did.

    While a brief blurb and excerpt are available on the website, I thought I’d talk a little about the process of worldbuilding that we developed as we worked and played on this novel. I grew up reading mysteries by Phyllis A. Whitney and fantasy novels by such authors as Anne McCaffrey, Piers Anthony, and Ursula K. Leguin. Patricia McKillip and Steven Brust are two more of my favorites. Rachel grew up reading fantasy as well, like the Sword of Shannara and other quest novels, as well as a lot of romance like the Harlequin white-covers. We got to talking one day and wondered what it would be like to write a world of Sheikhs and Harem Girls, only where the Girls were Boys – since we write M/M romance.

    Persis is based from that concept. We looked at ancient Persia and developed our culture from there. Our two main cities are Cyrus and Darius, after two of the greatest rulers of ancient Persia – and the world. Darius I, known as Darius the Great, ruled over much of what is now Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. We wanted the settlers of Persis to know that and want to honor their ancestors. The third city, newer than Cyrus or Darius, is Reghdad and is a name we made up based on Baghdad.

    One of the first challenges we came across is one of distance: first, how far apart are these cities? Second, how long does it take to travel between them? After all, if there aren’t paved highways and modern cars, how to folks get around? (“What’s the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?”) We drew a map and estimated distances, then estimated how long each of our styles of vehicle would take to travel between the cities.
    Another challenge is how to keep everything organized as you’re developing it. We decided to write a “Concordance” for our world, in which we track everything from geopolitical relationships and macroeconomics to the Keeps and their customs of dress. It’s great fun, especially if you enjoyed learning stuff like this in school but never really figured out how to apply it in the real world. The made-up world. Persis. Whatever. You get the picture.
    We hope you enjoy the story as much as we do, and that our efforts to make it come to life are successful. Enjoy!

    Resources

    Wikipedia article on Darius I, accessed 06/11/2012

    Monty Python – Airspeed Velocity of a Swallow, accessed 06/11/2012

  • Why Big Goals Don’t Work – Baby Step Your Way To Success

    Every so often in writer circles, there is talk about goal-setting and success and word-count and other such lofty things.  I repeatedly hear writers moan, “My word count is too low.”  “I need a kick in the pants.”  “THIS month it’ll be different and I’ll write a NaNo length manuscript.”  (NaNo refers to the National Novel Writing Month held every year in November; more information at their website.)  What these goals fail to do is offer a workable way to achievement.  They’re not bad goals, exactly, just ineffective ones.  Why?

    The secret lies in why we don’t write more.  The common misconception is that we don’t write because we’re lazy, or because we’re doing other things, or because that other person got there first and there’s just no use, or because all the good stories have been told and there’s no space for us and our stories.  The reason is rarely because we are physically incapable of writing.

    I’d like to tell you an anecdote.  A professional friend of mine, under deadline for a novel (and her novels are over one hundred thousand words each), became very ill.  After hospitalization, she returned home and was given the wrong medication.  She nearly died.  Her ability to sit up at a desk at all was gone.  She could not type.  She could hardly see the monitor in front of her face.

    What did she do?

    She typed that novel, word by painful word, with one finger.  Tap.  Tap.  Tap.

    If that doesn’t blow any excuse out of the water, I don’t know what will.

    What’s the lesson there?  When we have large projects in front of us, the only way to accomplish them is by one bite at a time.  One does not eat a chicken by stuffing the whole thing in one’s mouth.  One has a nibble at a drumstick.  A bite of wing.  One eats the chicken, slowly, swallowing each bite before going on to the next one.  So, too, with writing a novel.  One does not sit down in one sitting and write a novel (unless under rare circumstances).  To have sustainable growth, one gets into the habit of writing a small amount, each day, which add up to a completed manuscript.

    Next time you have the opportunity to make a large goal, why not try taking a step back and set a small one instead?  Maybe, “I’ll write 3 pages a day.”  Or, “I’ll write 1,000 words a day.”  Or even, “I’ll write 3 pages today.”  See if that unlocks some of your potential and gets you onto the page.  That way, at the end of the month, you won’t be one of the writers who laments, “Wow, I had such high hopes for this month but… [fill in the blank].”

    Tap.  Tap.  Tap.

    Write on!

  • Resisting the Critic

    Inspired to write this moments ago, I recognized an attack by the inner critic. I’m sure anyone reading this knows what I’m talking about.  I gratefully say that “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron makes these insidious traps easier to recognize and combat.

    In my case, my wandering mind wondered if I should continue writing a particular theme on another website. After all, I don’t have all that many readers or reviewers. Maybe it’s time to veer away from that particular character.

    And that’s when my thoughts froze in realization that the skeptical and cranky critic in my mind was on the loose. As I’m gently reminded again and again by friends from this very blog, Story is God. Thank you, A. Catherine Noon, for sharing that particular, poignant phrase.

    After all, who am I really writing for? Myself. It’s a creative urge that gives great pleasure and satisfaction. What else ultimately matters? Sure, it’s nice to know others appreciate what I’ve penned. In this information age, though, I should be grateful for any kind of niche in which to be found.

    That’s not criticism of my writing, it’s simple fact. I find myself with limited time to read and a subsequently small list of writers which I faithfully follow. One can only wonder, out of all the blogging and twittering going on, how much time others lend to reading any fiction at all.

    So that returns me to what’s important – following my muse. I really just need to be grateful I hear this calling at all considering the dry spell of which I’ve lamented in previous posts. Recalling how much joy has been garnered from material I’ve never even shared with the public, I feel darn lucky at the moment.

    I hope sharing my brief battle with the critic will enable you to dip into your creative well for the sheer, childlike enjoyment of the process. Happy creating!

  • Deep Point-of-View or “How Do You Really Feel About That?”

    As I learn more about the old writer’s dictum, write, revise, revise, and revise; and as I get practice submitting my work to publishers, I’ve found that one of the hardest parts is when you get to the nitty-gritty, down-and-dirty “let’s clean up this sucker because we’re about to hit ‘send’ to give it to the publisher and it’s time to make sure it’s free of any dumb-dumb errors.”

    Dumb-dumb errors. Kind of like Dumb-Dumb Bullets in Lethal Weapon IV.

    But in all seriousness, I wanted to share with you my magic list of POV [point-of-view] problem words that I got when I attended a self-editing workshop put on by my editor, Tera Kleinfelter, Assistant Managing Editor at Samhain Publishing:

    • assumed 
    • considered 
    • decided 
    • felt 
    • figured 
    • heard 
    • knew 
    • realized 
    • remembered 
    • saw 
    • thought 
    • wondered 
    • worked out

    One of the challenges with writing deep point-of-view is that there are so many different definitions for it, but little concrete advice on how to do it. I have found that doing a “find” command on my manuscript for these words, then rewriting the sentence in which they occur, does wonders for deepening my POV.

    Which leads me to my next point. WHY are these POV problem words? After all, fiction is full of “He felt a shiver,” and “She wondered if he would ever get up the nerve to ask her out.” So why are these words “problems?”

    In deep POV, the objective is to get as deeply as possible into the mind of the character. The better that I, as an author, get at giving the reader the exact thoughts as though my character were thinking them without translation, the better I’m accomplishing my goal of going deep into POV. I do not profess to be an expert that this, by any means, but here’s how I understand that to work. Let’s use the “He felt a shiver,” as an example.

    What is the statement? It’s the author telling the reader what the character is feeling; it’s not the character himself doing it, nor is the author showing the reader anything. (Remember that old saw, “Show, don’t tell”?) “He felt a shiver” could apply to the President of the United States entering a room in which the President of Russia and the King of Monaco are sitting; it could be a spy entering a room in which his target is dancing with the person with whom the spy has fallen in love; it could be a serviceperson discharged from the Army after a tour in Iraq and finding out that his baby brother has been in a car accident. It doesn’t show us anything unique about the character.

    “A spasm shivered up the side of his neck, vibrating all the way into his ear and making his stomach roil with dread.”

    That tells us a lot more about the character. It’s probable, of the three examples I listed above, that it’s the serviceperson finding out about his brother. It’s unlikely that the President is going to report a feeling in his stomach as “dread,” particularly when meeting two other heads of state (although, if it is, you can use this description to “sell” the reader on WHY it’s plausible that the feeling belongs to the President). It’s unlikely it’s a spy, since a trained spy is unlikely to feel dread like that, and certainly not upon seeing the person he loves in the arm of an opponent or an enemy.

    The more directly you can describe for the reader the emotional flavor that is referred to by one of our problem words, the more deeply you are showing the reader the character and, therefore the more deeply you are getting into POV.

    Happy writing!

  • Wiley Wednesday: Life After NaNo

    Those of us who have done NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) share one thing in common, whether or not we actually completed our project or not: there’s a sense of let-down after November is over, a feeling of “what now?” Rest easy, writers; you’re not alone. There are others out there to play with, other projects to tackle, and other crazy goals to set.

    A great place to look, even if you didn’t do NaNo itself, is the “I Wrote a Novel, Now What?” section on the main NaNo site. It has several sections useful to writers of all stripes:

    Revision Advice – After the draft is done, the editing begins. There are as many ways to revise as there are to edit, and this section features excellent suggestions to make the process less painful.

    Revision Pep Talks – never underestimate the power of a good pep talk! Marathoners and long-term Weight Watchers can tell you, attitude is everything; a good pep talk can help give you a well-placed attitude adjustment.

    NaNoWriMo-style Events On the Horizon – I love this section! It is comforting, particularly in the first and second weeks of December, to find that there are others out there doing what you’re doing – or, in some cases, doing WAY more. There are blog-everyday-for-a-month people, editing people, and NaNoNotNovember folks. This is a great place to come to get ideas about where other writers hang out, and what you can do to keep up the madness of NaNo. Momentum’s a beautiful thing.

    Novel Writing Contests Without Entry Fees – This is a great way to test your mettle. Many contests out there do not require entry fees and this is a place to find many of them. Not all of them are for novels, either – the Writer’s Digest “Your Story” contest is 750 words or less – a great way to prime the pump.

    Some Thoughts on Publishing – This is a very useful section. Rather than pimping for the publishing industry, it contains links to some excellent advice sites, particularly helpful for avoiding scams.

    More OLL Goodness – Last, but not least, this is the place to come to find out what else the crazy folks at the Office of Letters and Light (the organization that brings you NaNoWriMo every year) are up to.

    Bottom line, if you love to write, there are others out there who love it too. Even if you don’t have an in-person writing group in your very own town, with the internet, you don’t have to. Writers all over the world connect and support each other every day. What are you waiting for? Get out there and write!

  • Darla’s Wiley Wednesday

    Today I’m supposed to impart some sort of writing wisdom. Honestly, I don’t feel qualified. What I can do is follow a theme.

    Are you writing your novel yet? Have you signed up for the 2011 National Novel Writing Month? I hope so.

    It’s a fun, frenzied time where we learn what we can do if pressuring ourselves to write. So far, I’ve kept up with the quota and already learned more about where my story can go than I dreamed possible.

    I hope you’ll join us in NaNoWriMo next year if not this. Just know that it’s not too late to start. Nor is it too late to complete the task if you’re feeling behind.

    Happy writing!

  • National Novel Writing Month

    I can’t believe November is here again already.  Are you ready for a challenge, fellow writers?  Now is the time to dust off your keyboard and start on your novel.

    “What’s that?” you ask.  “A novel?”

    Well, yes.  All that’s required of you is that you abandon all excuses and just write as fast and furious as you can.

    At the end of November we’d like to see you having accrued fifty thousand words toward a WIP.  It might be finished at that point and it might not but the effort is what counts.

    That said, I’m going to go back to my work in progress and try to crank out the requisite 1,600 words in a day to start meeting my goal.  Happy writing!

  • Wiley Wednesday – Writing Quantity Over Quality

    As the month of October quickly slips along, I’m left to contemplate participation in NaNoWriMo. That is shorthand for November’s National Novel Writing Month. It’s actually a worldwide affair during which writers of every conceivable genre scramble to put out 50,000 words toward one story in thirty days.

    This is no minor feat, demanding an average of over 1,600 words every day. Last year I count myself blessed to have succeeded. The resulting manuscript still needs work, as I set it aside in favor of other projects and then life in general. Still, I did it!

    Dogged persistence isn’t the only requirement. A big part of the process involves turning off the inner Critic. That alone is no easy task. Another is ignoring the desire many of us have to edit what is on the page instead of continuing to write. Edit in January or February after the pressure is off and you’ve stepped away from the project for a time.

    Finishing fifty thousand words in thirty days requires each author to focus on simply spooling out the story rather than worrying over the quality. This is key to completing a tale under any conditions, let alone increasing the rate of production.

    So, write instead of editing. Write despite any murmurings of an inner critic. Just sit down and write.

    Have I decided to participate in NaNoWriMo this year? I honestly can’t say. First, I need to figure out what to write! It’s great fun, though, and provides an opportunity to meet writers online and in person at various events or through the website.

    If interested, you should definitely check it out. Instructions for participation are simple, and then you put fingers to the keyboard and get busy. It’s that simple, if not exactly easy.

    Write, right?!

  • Lessons I’ve Learned About Promo

    My first book, BURNING BRIGHT, written with coauthor Rachel Wilder, comes out next month. One of the things I’m learning as a new author is how to do promo. In fact, I’ve started talking about it like that – “do promo” like it’s some kind of jargon term, some in-crowd thing that I’m part of.

    But it’s sure easy to get overwhelmed. I talk to people in my writing group who are mystified by even the small efforts I do, and I know authors who are so on top of their promo that I despair of ever catching up (Delilah Devlin and Xakara are two examples). So what have I learned? Here are three easy steps that anyone can take to dip a toe into the promotional waters without diving directly into the deep end.

    Step One: Start Small

    Don’t try to drink from the fire hydrant. Find a small drinking fountain at the park instead. Pick one outlet and play with it for a month or five – a blog, or Facebook page, or a website. Learn how the technology works and practice.

    Step Two: Invent a Framework

    Instead of staring at a blank screen waiting for inspiration, come up with a list of ideas that you can use as a framework. What works for me is this: on a clean sheet of paper, write in a column the days of the week:

    Sunday
    Monday
    Tuesday
    Wednesday
    etc.

    Then, next to each day, write an idea of a topic. Play with alliteration, (Sunday Silliness), or with some kind of one-through-seven sequence (chakras, musical notes, or subjects). Use those as your theme for the day, if you post daily, or for the week, if you post weekly.

    Step Three: Play Well With Others

    Join a forum in your genre of choice, or something targeted for writers. Read other writers who work in your genre, and comment on their posts. No one likes talking to themselves in an empty room, so give as good as you get: commenting on others is a good way, and sometimes the only way, to encourage others to comment on your own stuff.

    That’s all it takes. Just start with something simple, and build from there. A well-done but simple presence is much more effective than a broad scatter of disconnected blather.

    Above all, have fun. After all, that’s why we write, right?