Something NaNo This Way Comes

Apologies to Ray Bradbury for the title, but NaNo- aka NaNoWriMo- aka National Novel Writing month IS scary!

For those of you still not aware of this annual exercise in literary madness, authors from across the globe will spend the entire month of November- yelling, screaming, swearing, drinking too much caffeine- all to complete 50,000 words.

Just because.

One does wonder if there is anything more insane than self-inflicted madness?

This will be my forth NaNo, and like previous ones, I'm going to use it to try something different.

I'm going to outline the new book.

Serious outlining- like an entire three act layout and everything.

I know, madness, right?

Well for a hard core serious pantser like myself, this is probably the biggest out of the box experiment I could try. But I've got a secret....

I'm liking it so far.

Now, granted, I've just started the outlining process, just figured out my scene/chapter count (about 36 more or less).  But I'm kinda liking it!  It's like a puzzle, I have some characters I want to really screw up, then follow as they figure things out.  I know who they are (or will through the magic of character outlines) and I know about how long I want it to be.  I also know the basic bits, pieces, and screws that need to be in place to keep the story on track.

I'm even going to make a fold out three act board with cards!!!

So, I'm having fun, and looking at this as the Great NaNo Experiment of 2012.  I may end up keeping some of the things I learn, or my head may explode when I actually start writing with an outline in place.

But either way I'll learn something about me and my writing- right?

What about you?  Ever NaNo?  Why?  Why not?  Have you ever tried "the otherside" (aka plotting if you normally pants, or pantsing if you plot like mad?)?

Share!  And share any NaNo survival tricks that you've learned too!

Serious about series- how to keep things real

Ok, I’m the first to admit that I am a series junkie. I rarely pick up books that don’t have “Book 1 of blah” at the top. I love the feeling of total immersion you get from a series. You really get to see the wonderful world and people created by the author, and since it usually takes years for a series to play out, you have an ongoing treat for a long time. (This excludes those books for whom the author over stayed their welcome- some series have gone on waaaay longer than they should have. But that’s for another post.)

This obsession with series flows over into my writing. All four of my currently completed books are series. Now all four can also stand alone, but all of them have further books in my head and in various notebooks. Two are more trilogy based-aka- the big arc would be resolved in a total of three books. The other two are open ended series. Meaning that while the main adventure for book one is resolved in book one, there are plenty of further adventures in store. In both types of series I’ve got hints to the other stories- little bits of information that when the next book comes out will make the reader say, “OH! I remember that!” In a way it’s akin to planting the gun in chapter one that the killer needs to use in chapter four- only longer range.

For example, in my steampunk book one of the minor villains is tracked deep under water at one point, then later found with certain issues that indicate a time spent exposed under great depths of water.

Not alot is said about it, he’s a minor villain. But it leads directly to book two Jand a very large sea based threat that my heroine and hero have to face.

Since my main characters run through the entire series, they have secret plants/hints as well. As they go through their adventures, there are hints dropped that they may not be what and who they thought they were. Sometimes this is a good thing, sometimes it’s very very bad. But the point is, there are hints. Even though who they really are may not be part of the arc of the first book, there are enough hints there that when more is revealed in future books it’s not a shock. I hate it when an author pulls something major out of thin air that wasn’t in a previous book, then acts as if it’s part of the main story. The whole point of unveiling things is to entice the reader, but also to make them see how the pieces fit.

A word of caution about planting hints. If you plant them, they need to lead to something. This is true for long-term plants (things for future books) and especially true for bigger ones you use in a single book. If you as the writer focus on a certain action, event, type of shirt, whatever- I as the reader will think it’s important. When the author doesn’t do anything with it, then I as the reader get vexed.

Unlike real life where unconnected things happen all the time, there has to be a connection between everything you show your reader. And even everything you hint at.

I see written people!.

The other day a friend asked how I kept all my characters separate, especially since I do have a type that I write- aka tough chicks.

I’m sure I blinked my eyes at her for a few moments in confusion before I stammered out, “Because they’re different people!”

To me it would be as if someone came and said, “You have so many friends- however do you keep them separate?”  Has anyone, without a disorder of some sort, had trouble confusing their friends?  I don’t think so.

To me my characters are like friends- even the ones I wouldn’t want to be friends with.  I know them, I know their differences and nuances in behavior.  My two closet characters are probably Vas (The Victorious Dead- Space Opera) and Sakari (Sakari’s War- fantasy steampunk in progress).  Both are by far my toughest of the tough chicks.  Both have probably killed far more people than they care to think about.  But there are differences.  Sakari used to be an assassin, she killed who she was told to kill, and fled that life.  She still has no problem with killing if it’s called for, but she’ll ask questions afterwards.  Vas is a kill first ask questions never gal- or at least she starts out that way. But even though both women have blood on their hands, their reactions and temperaments are vastly different.  If I’m writing about Vas, words that Sakari would use would never come out.

Unlike a visual media, writers don’t have something in front of them reminding them that oh yeah this character has red hair and is taller.(Ok, so folks who use clippings, planning books, and Pinterest might- but I doubt they need to visually remind themselves which character is which ;)). But what we do have is how they sounds or are seen in our head.  I see my characters, but it’s not just how they look, it’s how they feel, how they react to the world around them.

They are all as unique as the real people in my life- maybe even more so since I know everything about them :).

What about you- do you have a “type” of character you lean towards?  Have you ever had a problem keeping lead characters straight?

Got patience? If not, then don’t be a writer.

There are lots of things a writer needs: determination, a fertile mind, a grasp of the language they’ve chosen to write in.  But I’d add patience as a major virtue. 

So much of what we as writers do involves taking our time, cooling our heels, waiting.  Even for people who write fairly fast, books always take far longer to finish than we think, and editing often takes lifetimes.  Then there’s the waiting game while submissions are out with agents, then once we’ve found that dream agent, there’s more waiting time while the agent sells our work.  Then…you guessed it- more waiting once the editor, senior editor, marketing, and the entire company debate whether your book can make money.  And a yes answer leads to lots more waiting.

But today I’d like to talk about a much more subtle patience, the ability to pull back, to keep a work from being finished, or if done, keep it from going out because something isn’t quite right. I just recently went back into editing my steampunk book after a hiatus.  When I finished it I knew I wasn’t totally happy with the climax and ending, but kept editing around it. 

Then a few months ago I ripped the weak parts out.  Otherwise I’d keep coddling them.  Then I did the hardest thing for any writer to do- I ignored the book. I started a new one, did edits on the others.  But my problem child needed time.  I had to give it and I time to forget the original climax and ending, and to re-build a new one.

Of course if you wait long enough, you need to re-read and edit your entire story to get back to that trouble spot.  Got there yesterday.  I’m still working on re-building the missing chunk, but it’s so much easier to do with time between me and my original mis-step.

What about you?  Have you ever stepped away from a project?  Or the opposite, have you sent something out without giving it a time-out?

Say it with me, annoying your readers is bad!

Today I want to look at things that bug readers. Now, no writer wants to be the person who annoys their readers so much they fling your book across the room, flush it down the toilet, or turn it into compost for their garden. So then, why does it happen? We’ve all seen it, whether it be in an unpublished work, or a book on the best seller shelf- those moments that make us cringe and think, “why didn’t they see that?!” (And in the published book, “Why didn’t the agent, and slew of editors see that?!”)

 
I can’t address why the professionals miss things (if someone can, please share!) but for the writers, I have to say we were blinded by the work. Writers work at a far different pace than readers, we see things at a slower speed and sometimes forget that reading is a much faster event. (Try reading your work as a regular book- NOT as an editing writer- it’ll look a bit different me thinks!)

 

Awareness of our blind spots is the best way to make sure we nip them in the bud. We can’t count on agents and editors to catch these things, but readers sure will! Looking around a few sites I found some basic complaints readers have, and maybe some ideas to keep them out of your work.

 

Wasteful sub plots- I call these wasteful because they engage the reader’s attention- but don’t actually impact the story, the character, or anything. (You could call them Tom Bombadil’s.)  Sometimes they are the result of a pantser who changed her mind and ended up with a non-used sub-plot, other times it’s just something really cool the author wanted to slip in. The worst reason though is when an author wants to throw the reader off track. Don’t do it. All it does is annoy folks. Make every scene and sub-plot do something!

 

Repeat-itis- Even though you may feel that it’s been too long since you mentioned that the lead character has piercing blue eyes and a chiseled jaw, most likely the reader still remembers. Trust that if you tell a reader about how the character feels about the betrayal from their best friend since grade school on page four, they still recall it on page forty. This is a big speed related point- we may take days (or weeks) to write a few chapters; but the reader might chew them up in a single setting. Solution: Don’t repeat basic information. Fight the urge to remind the reader of basic details concerning your characters looks or feelings. If you did it well enough the first time, it will stick with your reader. If ya didn’t, ya got a whole ‘nother set of problems.

 

Cliché-invisibility- Clichés exist for a reason, at one point eons ago (when monks were hand copying books perhaps) they worked. Now they are a lazy-writer’s way of getting out of work. Some folks feel they can just toss them in for the rough draft, then fix them in edits. Problem is, they have the ability to turn invisible! Right before your eyes, the evil cliché vanishes! Only to pop out with horrific clarity at the poor reader! Solution: Don’t use them even as place holders. Take the time if the rough draft and find a better way to say it. Watch for them in their favorite lurking spots- character descriptions and emotions.

 

Out of sight but not out of mind- Having something important happen off stage. Now one would really wonder why an author would do this- but alas it has happened. And I saw a complaint specifically aimed at a VERY well published author for this very thing. My only thinking in terms of reasons would be laziness, wanting to maintain some sort of mystery about the event, or just didn’t feel like writing the scene that day. If it is to keep a mystery, make sure that it is covered later! And be aware you may be risking pissing off readers. If it’s a scene that’s important to the story- it really should be shared with the reader on stage.

Ok, that’s four- there are tons more I'm sure  What ones can you come up with? And better- what ideas do you have to stop them from happening?

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Websites, opportunities, and new agents- Oh My!

Today I thought I’d do something a bit different, post a few cool writer related websites, contests, open opportunities and even a few new agents that I’ve run across recently. Some you may already have heard of- others might be new. As always- PLEASE add any good writer websites you know of!



1) Do you write Fantasy or SF?  Harper Voyager open for un-agented submissions- http://harpervoyagerbooks.com/harper-voyager-guidelines-for-digital-submission/



2) Galley Cat- a great website for all writers- lots of info there - http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/



3) Newer agent! Thao Le from the Sandra Dijkstra Agency http://www.dijkstraagency.com/meet-the-agents.html



4) Newer agent! Pam van Hylckama Vlieg of the Larson-Pomada Agency http://www.larsenpomada.com/pam-van-hylckama-vlieg-associate-agent/



5) Gotham Writers Workshops- Writing classes and info- here’s some free stuff: http://www.writingclasses.com/FacultyBios/facultyArticleArchive.php

6) Query Tracker- been around for a while- but very handy!  Find agents, find out what other authors are saying about agents!  http://querytracker.net/


7) Agent Query -oldie but a goodie- http://www.agentquery.com/writer_hq.aspx



8) Publisher’s Marketplace- hopefully you all know about this one! http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/


9) Interesting site- workshops, news, and free writing essays :)   http://litreactor.com/essays

10) Great source for where to submit short stories!  https://duotrope.com/

11)  For the more literary writers among you- a list a magazines to submit to- http://www.writermag.com/Writing%20Resources/Literary%20Links.aspx?groupid={52F69639-85B0-4FCD-A85F-AECC37969AB7}

12) Another newer agent!  Liat Justin  http://www.serendipitylit.com

13)  Contests!  Lots of different genres http://www.writersdigest.com/competitions/writing-competitions

14)  Cool Conferences!  San Diego this November : http://lajollawritersconference.com/    LA next week-end! (also check the site out for San Diego early next year :)) http://www.writersconference.com/la
Seattle- Oct 26-28  http://www.gsrwa.org/conference.php


(I have no idea why some of the links won't come through- blogger hates me!)

If you have any great spots of info for fellow writers, please add them!

Do you have a Tom Bombadil hiding in your book?

For those of you who don’t know who the title character of this blog is, ya ain’t reading enough fantasy ;). So right now, go pick up the Lord of the Rings, and read it. Go on, I’ll wait. Back now? Great. Ok, Tom was a character in the LOTR books who didn’t make it to Peter Jackson’s movies. (For those of you who kept reading here instead of racing out to buy and read the aforementioned book(s).)

Tom was very cute and charming, sort of a nature man married to a water spirit (she got the ax in the movies as well.). When the cutting of him, his wife, and the entire scene came out, there was much hewing and crying at the deletion of this beloved character.

But I agree with the Peter’s choice. And more so, I think if the books had been written today instead of fifty years ago- ol’ Tom may never had made it through editing. The pace of the LOTR books is rather slow. I’ve been a fan of the books since I was a teenager, but I usually skip whole sections after that very first read. Tom was one of those sections that I’d re-read sometimes, but not often. To me it didn’t add much to the book. The characters were changed very little by their meeting Tom (the barrow wrights did more, but still they weren’t part of the “main big bad”). I felt like he and his lovely wife were there as window dressing, just to add more world building to an already very crowded world. He didn’t move things forward- therefore he wasn’t needed.

Now before the pro-Tom Bombadil crowd comes to lynch me, lemme say he fit the original book. Those books were written in a different time, when writers took little side trips in their literary journeys and readers followed along.

But those aren’t the times we’re writing in now. The pace of the world is far faster. Entertain me fast is the mantra of today’s readers. And if you don’t keep up the pace, they’ll wander off, distracted by something bright and shiny on the internet.

My point for this long rambling post (and I do have one ;)) is that most all of us have some Tom Bombadils in our books. It may be a person, or a place, or just a really wonderfully written scene. But if it doesn’t advance the story then it needs to go away. How can you tell if you have one? Since we as the creators might miss it, you might ask a trusted reader if you suspect a “Bombadil” lurking in your mss. Also, during editing, ask yourself if this section advances the story of EVERY SCENE. Have you ever watched a TV show where the status quo is pretty close to the same at the end of an episode as it was at the beginning? Annoying isn’t it? We read to follow a story, yes we want fleshed out characters, engaging world building, and amazing dialogue. But if the reader doesn’t keep moving forward through your writing craft, they may just walk away from your book.

So go forth and hunt your Bombadils down and rip them out of your book. Keep them in a special folder for your eyes only. Or for a great ‘added scene’ to post on your website when your book is out and published. But be merciless- you really do have to kill some of your darlings ;).