SF & YA Contest ends tomorrow!

Just a quick last minute blurb for those of you writing SF or YA- there's a very cool contest that ends tomorrow!

http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents/13th-free-dear-lucky-agent-contest-young-adult-and-sci-fi?et_mid=600832&rid=3081327

http://tinyurl.com/a8msdw2

And if you don't follow The Guide To Literary Agents blog already- get on over there!

Time to Write

 

Let’s first look at the concept of time— aka that thing we never seem to have enough of.  How many times have you heard, “You’re a writer?  OH!  I’ve always wanted to be a writer—I just never have the time.”

Hmmm- balderdash.  If they REALLY always wanted to be a writer, they would FIND the time.  They would make it, fight for it, carve it out in five minutes blocks if need be.

But they would DO IT.

And since all of us here are writers, I know all of us are doing that too.  Right?

I seem to hear some muttering in the wings there ;).

Let’s face it, even with the best intentions and the most heartfelt NEED to write, we all often have trouble finding the time for it.

But the fact is we all have the same amount of time as all of those famous scientists, inventors, and yes, novelists.  Very few people are given the chance to have unlimited time to follow their passion (and those folks, believe it or not, often face a new set of issues even with all of that time).  Many of us have to hold Evil Day Jobs (aka EDJ) to pay the bills.  We can’t afford to run off into some cottage and just follow our bliss.  Others may not have to have an EDJ, but have young families they need to take care of.  Nicer than the EDJ, but still a lot of work, and time not spent on writing.

So, how do we do it then?

First, find out where the problem is.  Do you plan out your day?  If not, you may want to, at least until you get a routine down.  Making writing a daily routine is key.  Even if it’s just for 15 minutes- after a month or so of doing it every day, it will just be part of what you do. So grab all of the “must-do’s” in a day.  Things like EDJ, family, food, sleep, writing. Yup. Note how many things aren’t must do’s.  Yes, house work and laundry are important—but put them on a second tier for now.  TV, Facebook, emails, social media belong on a third tier.

Looking at your first tier how much time does this leave you? I work 8 hours a day at an EDJ, so add on a generous hour and a half for dinner and decompression….hmmm, that leaves about 3 hours… THREE HOURS! And yet, I still have “trouble finding time to write”.  I’m confessing to you all in the hopes it will shame me into mending my wastrel ways.

Step two is figuring out just where this missing writing time is being sucked off to.  For many of us (myself included) the vile villain is TV.  I have a stressful EDJ, so I tell myself I deserve the TV time to relax.  Well and good, the trick here is to make writing work with your life, not destroy it.  A TV show won’t kill it—a few shows every night might.

I have realized that I have to be tough on my inner TV addicted child.  She can now watch while eating dinner and can watch one recorded show.  Then writing.  Or even mindlessly starring at nothing (but the brain works when you do that, did you know?).

Computer madness is another draw for many people.  The real and imagined “needs” of social media are seriously becoming a crisis for many people. Again, setting parameters of when and when you will engage will help.  If you are someone who has the freedom to write in the mornings- don’t start with your email.  Get some writing in, then check email, etc.  Gets the brain focused on the right thing.  Also, limit your time.  Use a timer if need be. Disconnect the internet if you need to while writing.

Sometimes time sucks aren’t as much of a problem as time planning.  You have your list of things to do, and where is writing?  Often squished in somewhere where you could fit it.  If you’re not a night person, putting writing in at the end of the day is sort of useless.

Figure out what is the best time of day for you to write-- and put it in your plan at that time.  Block off that time.  If you need to get up an hour early- DO IT.

The saddest writing excuse is, “I don’t have time.” Because, yeah, you do.  You just have to find it and fight for it.

Thanks for coming by!  And please, if you have any of your own time sucks (and solutions!) post them!

Middle Mayhem

Before I launch into today’s blog, I do want to preface a point-- any and all writing advice, suggestions, madcap ideas that you are exposed to here-- are just ONE writer’s way of doing it.

The ideas may work for you – they may be absolute crap for you.  Just wanted to remind folks there is no absolute RIGHT way to write…so don’t break your neck trying to follow all suggestions from all people.

OK, Public Service spot over (prompted by a post I saw from a very confused new writer on another blog!) Now on to today and my current writing issue.

MIDDLES.

Ya know, I don’t think I have ever met an author who openly admitted to liking the middle portion of their book.  At least not while IN the middle of it.  Whether plotter, pantser, or somewhere in-between—it seems that middles are a pain for a majority of writers.

Either there’s too much mayhem going on, or not enough. 

Beginnings are great, the excitement of a new world, new characters, and new adventures.  Endings are thrilling, even in a series, you’re finishing up something big, a story arc is coming home to roost.

Middles are just…there.

Middles can go one of two ways (well, three really, but the third way is when they do exactly what they are supposed to do—more about that later).

The two ways they can go wrong is to putter out or explode. Puttering out is probably more common for pantsers. You’re steaming along, things are getting interesting, then you hit a “then what happens” moment. Problem is, when you’re telling the story if you don’t know, then who does?

One way I’ve come up with the help get by this is to have a nice conversation with my main characters. I ask them at this exact moment in time- what would be the thing they would want the absolute most. What would bring them untold happiness and joy. Really detail it out.

Then do the opposite.

At that precise moment in time- what is the worst thing that could happen (something I’m sure we always are asking- but a muddled middle sometimes means we lost that). Do that worst thing and go with it. Try and pull your characters apart. Give them crappy weather. Have the damn break. Wash out a road or two.  Destroy the dilthium crystals. Whatever it is- do it.

I don’t always keep all of my middle worst case events in (I aim to go over the top)- but it gets me moving.

After that, I look at my end goal. Where do they need to be by end of Act 3. How many other things could go wrong before they get there? This usually gets me past the muddled middle and solidly into the final act.

The other way middles can go wonkie (and sadly, these sometimes end up in books too) is mayhem middle. Too much is going on and the reader (and I’m thinking the writer) kinda gets lost. Could be a case of applying the worst case scenarios without editing them back in a later draft.

My suggestion would be to really take those middle scenes apart and pull out the main line. What do you need to make the scene do what it needs to do. Then slowly add a few bits at a time so it’s not so naked, but hopefully no longer as gaudy ;)>.

Which leaves us with what middles should do.  They need to pull the character deeper into their “new world” and the reader right along with them.  They need to raise the stakes, and have the character move solidly into the point of no return. They also need to make a logical path for the character arc from beginning to end, as well as one for a twisty, turny (but still logical) plot.

Those are my views on middles—what about you?  Major problems?  Ways you’ve beaten them into submission?  Please share!

 

Injured Characters

 

First off, sorry this blog has been awol the last two weeks, but the reason leads into today’s blog post J.

On New year’s Eve, completely sober and of sound state of mind, I fell off the front steps of my home (for no reason that I can tell) and did a nasty sprain to my right ankle.

The good news is I didn’t break anything, and while painful, I have not missed a day of work (my day job).  However, this injury has affected me.

I haven’t been writing because pretty much by the time I come home from work, I’m wiped out and simply eat then crash into bed.  I haven’t kept up my blog for the same reason.

But wait- you say as you read this- it’s your FOOT.  Whyever would that mean you can’t write?

Good point- but that injury is making me far more tired than I would be if I could just stay home off of my foot. And mentally there may be a bit of a pity party going on too.  I’m glad it’s not busted, but I really want to be able to walk normally again- NOW!

This impacts my writing and other aspects of my health.

And it’s something writers need to keep in mind while they are damaging their characters.  We all love to mess our folks up (physically, mentally, emotionally) but are we making sure that we’re changing our characters behavior to suit the damage?

Their injury, whatever it is, may have repercussions far beyond the immediate location of the damage.  It could affect many aspects of their day to day life, causing chronic stressors, and a whole new level of issues.

In the recent Star Trek movie, old Spock, tells young Kirk, that even though young Spock may not seem emotionally compromised- they just witnessed the death of their world- they ARE emotionally compromised.  Old Spock tells young Kirk this, so young Kirk can use that injury (young Spock’s) to get him to step down from command.

That’s another point- when your character is “compromised” how is it affecting their interaction with others?  Is there a new weakness that an enemy can exploit?

I’m not suggesting you mention the injury all the time, but if you know the affects it will cause, you can subtly add that realism to your book.  And any time we can pull in something that resonates as “real” to a reader, we pull that reader deeper into our world J.

 

Have a great day and try not to fall over anything !

Steps to reaching your goals for 2013

Well its a few days before the new year, hopefully everyone is thinking about, writing down, and or actually getting a jump start on their 2013 goals :).

 
Studies have shown that the more concrete the goal, the more likely the person is to complete it. So saying, “I want to lose weight”, “I want to get published”, aren’t valid goals. Well, they might be valid, however, they have two things wrong with them 1) too vague, 2) the goal is not directly controllable for the person.

 
So the first step in our little goal blog today is:

 
Define the goals:

 
Work backwards. Where do you want to be in a year from now?

In as concrete terms as possible put down exactly where you want to be.  Then map your way to it in nice, easy to digest chunks. (I like weeks personally ;))

 
Control the goals:

 
If I want to lose 30 pounds, and I break it up into nice little x-pounds per week chunks- I could still be messing things up because my body may not lose weight at that ratio. There are many different variables that make up weight loss- such as our body type, our fitness level, genetics, age, etc. So to say, “X-pounds per month” is setting things up for a big disappointment. Then you get depressed, give up, and go eat a pint of rocky road. The trick is to make as your goal something you CAN control. For weight loss this could be “I will work out for 30 minutes a day 3 days a week, and go for 45 minute walks 6 days a week.” This is something YOU have control over- if you fail, regardless of the reason (no time, things came up, etc) the onus is on YOU to fix it. Plus, in terms of weight loss- when you get enough healthy goals lined up you WILL lose weight ;).

 

For the goal of getting published- again break things down. For most folks still looking at the traditional model, an agent is a good idea. Now saying, “I’ll get an agent this year.” isn’t a viable goal either. The agent does have a say in things- after all, free will, etc. So the better goal is one in which control comes back to you. Something such as, “I will submit a query to 25 agents this year.” That is in your control completely and hopefully will lead to an agent, which will lead to a sale, which will lead to being published.

 

Responsibility for the goal (or failure):

 
The problem for many folks is that they place the “success-o-meter” for their goals in the hands of something other than themselves. Psychologists refer to it has an external locus of control. My happiness, or success, is in the hands of someone else, whether it be fate, luck, some higher power. If a person has an external loci of control, they see that their happiness, sadness, success, etc is out of their hands. "I'm not happy because (outside action, person, event)." Or I’d do that “wonderful thing to change my life BUT”. These could be called the ‘because’ and ‘but’ folks.

It's also true for responsibility of ones life and actions- external locus of control folks are never to blame for their own failures or mistakes. It’s not their fault their life isn’t what they want, or they can’t reach their goals- it’s always the action of something far beyond them.

Folks with a more internal locus of control see themselves as the steering action for their lives. If they succeed at something- it’s through their own hard work. They fail at something? It’s them who dropped the ball. And it's up to their to get back on course.

 
Now guess which group has more control in changing their behavior? In succeeding in their goals?

 
Like all personality and social behaviors, people range from one end of the spectrum to the other- probably no one is at the extreme end for either side. But as people who want to gain control of our lives, one of the first things we need to do is take responsibility. Develop your internal locus of control ;).

 
Future Time Perspective concerning goals:

 
This is a psychological theory about people’s ability to delay gratification now in order to achieve a goal or desire in the future. Aka, how much are you willing to suffer now to reap future rewards. Like locus of control, people range on this scale. Some folks are close to zero. They’re the 'I want it now, I don’t want to set aside time to advance my goals, I want to watch tv because it gives me immediate enjoyment' bunch. Those folks have a hard time making the reality of those future goals concrete in their heads (and most are going to be on the external locus of control end of the game too- if you can’t control your future, why should you give up current pleasure for it?).

 
People with a strong sense of future time perspective have trained themselves to see what they want (define their goals), adjust those goals as needed, and can connect their current actions with those future goals. They adjust to dealing with getting up at 5am, to watching less tv, playing less with social media, giving up some time with friends (not too much, social contact is vital for mental health ;))-because their future goal is real to them and they see they have control over it.

Notice I said train themselves. Through upbringing people may be at one end or the other on both of these scales. BUT they can train themselves to be better. To realize they have control over their lives (both good and bad events), that sacrifice now is important for success later on.

 
Flexibility of goals:

 
Goals should grow and change as you do, don’t hang onto a goal just because you wrote it down.  Take a look at your goals regularly, and change them as needed.

 

Hope all of you have some great goals for 2013!

 

Writing is like making cookies...

Now yes, the title of today's blog is a bold and possibly rabble rousing statement. How can I compare cookies to writing a novel?! Well, it could be that I’ve blown out my last brain cells during the great cookie baking week-end of 2012.

Or I may have a point. ;)

Let’s start with cookies (always a great place to start ;)). I make a lot of different types, most all have folks for whom THAT cookie is their favorite. But they don’t all agree. What one person loves in my frosted pumpkin spice cookies, another may find too sweet.

So which person is “right”?

Both.

Cookie taste is subjective, I like all the cookies I make to varying degrees or I wouldn’t make them. I do use my friends as litmus tests- if everyone finds a cookie too sweet, or too something not good- I’ll modify that cookie recipe. But if person A loves them, person B thinks they are too sweet, and person C likes them but likes a different cookie from my collection better- I don’t change the recipe.

I make my cookies to the best of my ability- over the years I’ve created and modified recipes to suit my tastes. I am the first consumer of the cookies- if I don’t like them, others won’t either. But you are never going to have a cookie that EVERYONE universally loves.

Cookies are subjective.

And writing is subjective.

Ah, you knew I’d get back to the point—right? ;)

As writers the ONLY things we must do are to keep writing and to keep learning our craft. We can’t worry about making everyone who sees our work love it- that simply won’t happen.

All we can do is make the best cookies—er, books— that we can and keep an eye out for an ‘everyone hates the same thing’ mark. Otherwise, take feedback with a grain of salt, if it feels right to you- make the change. But don’t change every little thing because one person didn’t like it.

Believe in yourself.

Believe in your writing.

Don’t give up.

And make lots of cookies! J

GUEST: RACHEL AARON- author of the Eli Monpress series

I’m lucky enough today to have the wonderful Fantasy novelist, Rachel Aaron as my guest. Rachel is the author of the Eli Monpress novels and one of the fastest writers around!

 I’ve started her off with some questions and she’s really given a wealth of answers- if you’re a writer or a reader-READ ON! (Then go check out her books ;)).

 

                                                                                             

How did you get started writing?

I always wanted to be a story teller. Ever since I can remember, I've been full of stories, but it wasn't until college that I fixed on writer as the way to get them out (as opposed to manga or movies since I can't draw and have no visual artistic sense what so ever). Even then, though, I didn't get really serious about writing until I finished college and started a very boring job as a secretary/graphic designer for a Methodist church.

 

By this point, I was starting to get really serious about being a writer. I was researching publishing and trying on and off to write, mostly at work, but I wasn't really getting anywhere. Then, one day, I found this quote from Ernest Hemmingway "Those who say they want to be writers, and aren't, don't."

 

This was the shot across the bow for me. Because I did want to be a writer, but I wasn't writing, and if I wasn't writing, I'd never be one. Also, I knew I was in a rare position. I was newly graduated, no responsibilities other than feeding myself and paying my dirt cheap rent. I had a boring job with several dead hours in front of a computer, if I couldn't write under these conditions, I never would.

 

So I got serious. I started trying to get 2000 words a day. Most days I didn't, and sometimes I'd have whole months where I didn't write a word (especially when Warcraft was really going). But the point is I never stopped for good. I always came back. I got a new, much harder job, but I still got up in the mornings and wrote, and about a year after I got serious, I finished my first book... and it got rejected EVERYWHERE. But I had the bug now, and I wrote another book that became The Spirit Thief, which was the book that got the agent, the book deal, and started my career.

 

From the published authors I've talked to, my story seems pretty typical. There's often this moment where you shift from thinking "I want to write" to really doing it, and that moment is the moment where your career as a writer really begins. For me, it was in 2004. For reference, I sold my first book in 2008. Four years and 2 books after I got serious, I made it. Some people take less time, some people take WAY more (Bestseller Lynn Viehl famously took 10 years to make it). The point is we all made it not because we're geniuses and writing came easy to us, but because we didn't give up.

 

What words of wisdom would you want to tell that early version of you as a writer?

PLAN BETTER! I'm a huge plotter now, but at the beginning I rushed into things head long and often ended up painting myself into corners or making dumb plot decisions simply because I was trying to play everything by ear. If I'd just taken the time to figure out my ending and the plot twists, much of my in book angst could have been avoided. Planning will set you free!

 

Who were your biggest influences?

 In terms of my writing, probably anime, weird as it sounds. I love the way anime/manga handles drama and pacing, and I try to incorporate that same addictive excitement into my books. I take my prose sensibilities from Peter S. Beagle (for the pretty stuff), Elizabeth Moon (for the fights), and Frank Herbert (for the spiritual/magical stuff).

 For my writing life, though, I'd be remiss if I did not mention Holly Lisle. Her website was my window into how publishing worked when I was first starting out, and I loved her for it. She was the one who taught me to "Pay it forward" and her influence is a huge part of the reason I take the time now to help new authors as much as I can. We're all newbies at some point, and I feel it's my duty as an author to reach back and help others with the climb just as Holly helped me.

 

What would you say has been the most difficult writing lesson to learn?

If something isn't working: stop. This is a lesson I'm still learning, actually. In many writing circles,"finishing what you start" is a sacred creed, and for a good reason. You'll never sell a book if you can't finish one. But this saying often leads writers (or at least, lead me) to try and just power through scenes that aren't working in the name of "just get it done." But it doesn't work. Cliched as it is, you can't force art. If you're not interested in writing a scene, if the words aren't flowing, you can't make them. And believe it or not, this is a good thing. Your brain is trying to tell you that something is wrong, and when that happens, the best thing to do is just stop (even if that means missing your words per day quota) and figure out what's gone sour.

 This can be really scary. Often it means throwing out words and rewriting. But if I've learned one lesson so far, it's this: writing should be enjoyable. If you didn't have fun writing your scene, no one's going to have fun reading it. So instead of sitting there desperately trying to wring words into an unwilling scene, just stop and ask, why don't I want to write this? What's wrong? The answer is often the solution to problems you never even knew you had, and it almost always makes your book better.

 

What have you enjoyed the most about your Eli Monpress series?

Completing the meta-plot. The Eli Monpress novels were always planned to be five books. Right from the beginning, I knew how the overarching story was going to end. I knew what the Shepherdess was and the secret of the world, but I didn't quite know how to get it out there. As the series went on, unfolding the meta-plot of the larger world and Eli's role in it became this enormous balancing act. I was telling a huge, background story over five books, one I couldn't show too much of for fear of spilling the beans but I still had to make sure readers noticed things so that when the revelations did come, they'd know what they meant. This was a really freaking ambitious stunt to pull on a first series, but I did it, and I think I did it really really well. Pulling off the end of Eli is probably the single thing I'm most proud of in my career so far, and Spirit's End is my favorite of the Eli books by far.

 

Other than that, though, I LOVED writing Eli. His voice is one of the strongest character voices I've ever had, and spending 5 books with him talking in my head was an absolute delight. Ah, Eli, I miss you!

 

Now that your series has ended, what is on the horizon? Where do you see yourself five years from now writing/book wise?

I'm currently finishing up the third book of a new SciFi trilogy for Orbit Books. It's a much more R rated series than Eli, more Romance, sex, cursing, and violence. The main character is a very badass female powered armor mercenary and I love her to pieces. I'm kind of on the fence about whether my Eli fans will like it, so was Orbit, which is why the books are coming out under the name "Rachel Bach" instead of Rachel Aaron. But I think the series is a hoot. So if you like adventure romance mixed with hard core armored combat and space adventure, my new series might be right up your alley. Book 1, Fortune's Pawn, comes out in May 2013.

http://www.amazon.com/Fortunes-Pawn-Deviana-Morris-Rachel/dp/0316221112

 

What is the most important thing (or things ;)) any writer can learn to improve their craft?

Patience with yourself. So many of the writers I meet have these strange ideas that they're just supposed to know how to write a publishable quality book even though they've never done it before. This is silly, because writing is a skill. You wouldn't expect to sit down at a piano never having touched one before and just start playing like a pro, would you? Of course not, so why do people expect to be able to just shoot out quality fiction? It's absurd.

 

Good writing takes practice, patience, and a whole lot of experimentation. Failure is inevitable. You're going to write a lot of bad words before you get to the good ones, and this is totally acceptable and natural. Don't look at a failed book as failure, look at it as practice. Every word, every scene, every chapter, every book you write makes you better. Nothing is wasted. So if you're frustrated with your work, rather than hate on yourself for being a bad writer, remember that you're learning your craft and cut yourself some slack. It's much healthier for everyone involved.

 

Thank you so much for coming by Rachel! 

Writer folks, along with her amazing Eli  Monpress series- Rachel also has a must read short e-book and improving your writing speed- this book is great regardless of what genre you write!

 

Her main website:  http://www.rachelaaron.net/

 

The Legend of Eli Monpress http://amzn.to/VR7rKg

 

 2k to 10k: Writing Faster, Writing Better, and Writing More of What You Love (http://amzn.to/STqqku).