My Writing Process - A Work in Progress (Penny Rader)

This month our topic is When you sit down to write, do you have a writing “process?”  Share! 

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I haven’t settled on a specific process yet.  While I don’t recommend it, with Sapphire and Gold it went something like this:

• I'm not one of those people who knew from childhood they wanted to write.  So once I decided to try my hand at writing a romance (because that is what I read), I read lots and lots of ‘how-to’ write books because I didn't have a clue how to get started.
• While watching an episode of Rawhide, the opening scene intrigued me and inspired the idea for Sapphire and Gold. 
• I had to decide who was in the river and why, then how that person would get out of the river and who would help.
• I read through a couple American history books to narrow down what time period I wanted to set the story in. 
•  Colonial America had long been a favorite of mine, so I began doing a lot of research.   I discovered visuals helped, so I found pictures that resembled my characters, a poster of a ship with cutaways so I could better imagine my hero’s schooner, maps of Colonial Philadelphia and Williamsburg, cutaways of colonial homes. The secretary of the Newfoundland Society sent me scads of info that helped me create my hero’s dog, Max.
• Once I decided who my hero and heroine were I tried to figure out their backstory and their GMC (Goal, Motivation and Conflict).  The “C” part was especially difficult for me.  Still is.
• The climactic scene of the book popped into my head, which gave me something to write toward. 
• When scene ideas revealed themselves I jotted them down and dropped them in a file folder. 
• After a while I took those bits of paper and spread them out to see if I could find the story.
• Worked on Chapter One.  
• Wrote it out by longhand, and then typed it. 
•  Then fiddled with it. Over and over and over.   

  

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• Wrote Chapter Two. 
• Yes, still in longhand, then typed it.  Writing in longhand and then typing it continues to this day.
• Fiddled with the first two chapters.  Over and over and over.  
• Still researching.
•  Started to enter writing contests for feedback from people who didn't know me.
• Wrote Chapter Three. 
• Tweaked the first three chapters.  Over and over and over.  
• Still researching.  Found a wonderful professor of Pharmacology who answered tons of medical questions for my heroine who was a healer.  Found another expert who helped me plot possible routes my sea captain hero might sail to get my heroine from Philadelphia to Williamsburg. 
•  More fiddling and tweaking.  This went on for some time.   You've probably figured out by now that I have a Master’s Degree in Procrastination.
• Wrote some more, bit by excruciatingly slow bit.  Really rough draft.  Mostly dialogue (which is what usually comes to me first).  
• Tweaked.  Fiddled.  
• More contests. 
•  More research.  A librarian in Colonial Williamsburg provided me with a fantastic list of books about Colonial America as well as Colonial Williamsburg (thank goodness for Inter Library Loan!).
• Watching the pages of Sapphire and Gold fill up the fat stationery box gave me a secret thrill and helped me keep putting pencil to paper.  
• Four years passed.  
• Then one day, a few minutes before I needed to leave to pick up my son from school, I realized I was just about to finish the story.  Freaked.  Me.  Out. 
•  I wasn't ready for the draft to be done, so I stopped.  Put down my pencil and closed my notebook.  Picked up my son from school.  
• Waited till the next day to write The End.

  

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• Still trying to nail down a powerful conflict, a stronger heroine.  Gutted and rewrote the story at least four times.  
• The opening never changed much and the climactic scene stayed the same. 
•  But the muddly middle?  It changed.  A lot.  Characters came, characters went.  Ditto subplots. 
•  I managed to edit the life right of the story and dove back in to undo the damage.

During this time I was still entering contests, sending the manuscript to agents and editors, getting rejected...though many of the rejection letters were encouraging.   The Colonial America setting had become a hard sell.

I set the manuscript aside for quite a while till my WARA writing friend and critique partner Starla Criser told me The Wild Rose Press was looking for books set in Colonial America.   She had printed out their submission info and put it in my hands.  Within a month I’d sold the book to them.  I received “the email” on April Fool’s Day.  Yes, I thought it was a joke.  Turns out they really did want to buy it!

By this time my reading interests had changed to contemporary romance and romantic suspense, so the other stories I've begun are all contemporary.   Here’s where my writing process has fizzled.  Big time.  I have openings for at least 17 stories.  Some are 3-5 pages.  One has 80 or so pages.  But I've stalled out on all of them.  Unlike my first book (and A Colonial Valentine, a short free read prequel I wrote for The Wild Rose Press), I've never had a clear idea of how any of these other stories are going to end, of what I’m writing toward.

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Confession time:  I like “having it written” more than the actual writing. Researching and revising and editing are my favorite parts of writing. Getting words on a blank page is a mighty struggle for me.  Well, that and plot and conflict.

I've allowed fear to stop me in my tracks.  Meanwhile, I scour the Internet and how-to write books for other writers’ writing processes, hoping something will click and help me to once again get words on paper.  To get beyond the first 3-5 pages. To defeat the fear.  To finish another book.  And then another.

~~~

What’s your process?  Has it evolved from story to story or has it pretty much stayed the same?

Mistake or Learning Experience?

There are two kinds of writers.  Plotters and Pantsers.  Plotters tend to outline their stories and follow the outline faithfully.  Pantsers on the other hand, write by the seat of their pants or in a much more freewheeling spontaneous style.  I slowly evolved from a dyed-in-the-wool plotter to a hybrid with characteristics of both styles.  That I needed to be more of a pantser (read that my characters needed me to be) was brought home like a proverbial 2x4 up side the head during the writing of the fourth book in my Honour series.  Honour’s Redemption took an eternity to write.  Well, not an eternity but it seemed that long since I ended up writing the first half twice.  How did that happen?  Was it a mistake?

I had always outlined my stories and was accustomed to my characters occasionally going their own way.  It usually wasn’t a big detour and the story followed the outline more rather than less.  Forgive a small aside here: I’ve never been able to understand or explain how the characters I create act like my children in that they do their own thing no matter how I feel about it.  I worried for my sanity until other writers mentioned having similar problems.  The end result is the same--if I don’t let my characters have their way the story will stall out and go nowhere.  When it came to Honour’s Redemption the characters evidently decided I need a writing life lesson.

After outlining Redemption I started writing.  Somewhere around Chapter Four my hero and a couple of my minor characters started objecting to the direction of the story.  I put my foot down or rather my finders to the keyboard, and wrote on ignoring their protests.  By Chapter Seven I was getting uneasy about the tone of the story.  It was dark to a degree anyway but it was taking on a more sinister rather than redemptive quality.  I still refused to listen to what my characters were whispering in my head.  This was MY story I was going to write it \MY way.  The outline or the highway.

Then in Chapter Eleven a minor character was raped.  This scene was not in my outline.  “How could this happen?” I asked in stunned horror.  I, after all, was writing the story.  The incident had nothing to do with my image of my main characters’ journeys-- physical, emotional or otherwise and I did not want this incident in my story.  And the story was dead on the monitor or perhaps more realistically completely, totally stalled in my mind.  I tried rewriting the chapter to take it another direction.  That went nowhere.  I put it aside for a week and when I came back to it I struggled until I admitted that I didn’t have a glimmer of an idea about how to fix it.  I put it aside again.

Two months later, and over 200 pages into the book, I came to the conclusion that the only way the book would get written was to throw out what I had and start over.  I bit the bullet, reread the outline, and began again.  But this time I let the characters lead the story.  I steeled my nerves and re-outlined when they got too far off the Roman numeral track.  At the mid-point of the story I heaved a huge sigh of relief.  While the tale wasn’t following MY outline it did have the tone I wanted.  Evidently the characters also decided I had learned my lesson.  I wrote the last third of that book, 130 plus pages, in less than a week.  I usually write faster when I near the end of writing a book, just like I read faster when reading a book.  I can’t wait to find out how it ends in either case.  I mean, we all know boy gets girl or vice versa but HOW?  That is what I must know.  This time the words, the scenes just flowed from my fingers like magic.  Gives me a chill just to recall it.

I still plot but I learned from my experience with Honour’s Redemption and never stand in the way of my characters for long.  Are your characters as independent as mine?  Or am I a few keys short of a keyboard?

Struggling with backstory?

One of the hardest parts of writing for me is deciding what to do with character backstory. What do the readers really need to know? Am I dumping in too much? Did I give them enough? I'm in the process of working up the basics for a new cozy mystery series that I'm co-authoring with my daughter. We're at the point where we need to fluff out the characters we've come up with and determining backstory. So I decided this would be a good time to share one of the articles from my Be Romantic blog, which is focused only on Writing Tips.

BACKSTORY: PURPOSES & PROBLEMS


Defining Backstory: Backstory is a device for writers to reveal to the readers some of the character’s history or history underlying the situation for the storyline. It is also known as back-story or background. It explains how the character became who he is and why he thinks or acts in a certain way. Characters, like real people, are influenced by what happens in their lives: their family life, friends, enemies, era grew up in, education, experiences, tragedies, phobias, and more.

Purposes of Backstory:
• To reveal important information about the main characters
• To depict a story world
• To give depth to characters and understand who they are, why they think or act in certain ways
• To supports the character’s motivation
• To reveals the character’s fears
• To explain the conflict between the protagonist and the antagonist

Problems with Backstory:
• The author has a wealth of knowledge about the character’s background and struggles with wanting to immediately reveal all of it to the reader, over-kill through knowledge dumping.
• Too little backstory can make a story appear to thin, with no “meat” to the characters.
• Too much backstory can bog a story’s progress down.
• Giving the reader more backstory than they need to know and confusing them.

Ways to Reveal Backstory:
• Flashbacks: Interjecting a scene from the past by using inner dialogue.
• Dialogue: Using a conversation, especially an argument, to reveal backstory and conflict.
• Narration: The author using an omniscient point of view to reveal backstory; best used in plays.
• Recollection: Using a character’s memory of something, introspection, to reveal backstory.
• Inner Dialogue: Providing backstory in a character’s thoughts.

Tips for Using Backstory:
• Insert backstory in small pieces that don’t slow the forward movement down.
• Decide what you are trying to do within a scene and insert only what backstory might be necessary for the reader to know in that particular moment.
• Avoid using author narration as it takes the reader away from the story.
• Keep flashbacks to a minimum and use only to reveal a specific character or event that is necessary for the reader to know.
• Reveal tidbits of background throughout the story’s action.
• Reveal details to evoke specific images and feelings that the reader needs to “see” at that time.


© 2010 Starla Kaye

Ideas and Time Wasting

I’m blogging today as a weak substitute for Sharon. We’ll all wish her back even sooner if you wade through too much of my brain ooze. However, let us forge onward!

This month’s blog theme is writing using pictures to stimulate the writerly brain to come up with stories or components of stories. I’m staring wheat harvest in the face because my other job is a Southwest Kansas farmer’s wife. I’ve just spent the last two days clearing the decks (this would also include my desk surface) for the next three week’s fevered cooking and whatever else essential activity. I’ll find out at the end of each day what was required that day. It is as if my life will not be plotted but written as a famous author once said ‘by flying into the mist’.

Part of what became a part of the ‘clearing of the decks’ today was to toss all of those enticing ideas, articles, and pictures in the trash. Gulp! How could I do such a thing? Easy. There are too many to keep track of, make sense out of, or even attempt to file them in a meaningful way. I started to sort them and all of a sudden realized how stale they felt. I’ve seen them all a couple of times. That evidently was enough. They suddenly felt like leftovers. You know the ones—those changing shape and color at the back of the refrigerator. Somehow, no longer as appealing as they once were in their raw state.

I wanted to think of something new. So, off they went. The feeling was cathartic! Free, empty, a blank slate, I could now let my imagination go without fearing I was missing some essential essence. Imagine the time I have wasted by gathering, piling, sorting, re-sorting, re-stacking only to end up tossing the entire batch. Why did I do it? Because the adventure of writing this blog on my turn only a few days ago was enough to let me know that my mind doesn’t use external pictures. How wonderful to find that out about my writerly self. I wouldn’t have ever known that to be the harsh truth if I hadn’t been asked to stretch myself that direction as a writer for the goal of this month’s blog.

Do I have pictures? Yes. But not for writing. They are my mind’s relaxation and they hang on my walls to sooth me as I admire different things about them. I also have a port hole from a ship hanging on my wall. And a pair of size 4 black high heels from the forties. A Chinese puzzle box. A conch shell which occasionally I pick up and blow. Yes, they actually do sound like they do in the movies—loud and full and last, my secret vice, a black box of clippings of unusual deaths (the robber who died in the back of an armored car when it went around the corner and bags of change shifted and…) and stunning ironies. But the rest of the stuff. Gone. As of today.

I’m not going to begin to say that gathering things and pictures and inspiration aren’t a useful activity, but obviously not for me. For my muse, she whispered to me, “time’s awastin’.”

Give yourself permission to be different. You’re a writer. Each of us comes at our craft and use of our talent differently. Good luck with finding the dimensions of your talent. I’m thinking that for each of us it is much like the blind man feeling his way around an elephant. Sometimes we find the foot, sometimes the tusk.

Worldcrafting Means People Too

Quite often, we writers forget that people and social situations for our characters are a large and very serious part of the world we are creating. Here in the USA the social structure is different than it is in other parts of the world. Not only do we generally not think we have one, but it is so misunderstood that many people in their own lives suffer tremendously because of it—all without having a clue about what has clipped their wings or allowed them to soar. Actual money in the bank is way down on the scale for how high a person’s perceived social level is.

Let’s start with this common situation. Clerks at quick stores quite often do not curl or fix their hair, attend to basic grooming, or wear enhancing but subtle makeup to the degree an office person does. They don’t iron their clothing and make sure it is crisp and well fitting with colors and cuts that flatter. They do not look like office personnel. Many display tattoos and piercings. Their speech patterns indicate they are concerned about people, not current events. They do not usually wear perfume or cologne and for some deodorant is a foreign concept. Good grammar and complicated word recognition is not usually widely used.

Their customers, however, are often business people, landowners, and travelers. Customers often have different value systems working than the clerks. These two sets of very nice and intelligent people quite often find themselves at odds over the simplest of things. Customers tend to not see beyond the surface and have no notion how complicated the job of a convenience store clerk actually is. It isn’t for the weak of back or mind. Customers regularly treat clerks with disdain whether it is quietly or not. Often clerks think customers are spoiled brats.

There are layers in our society. These are two. There are many more and are not difficult to find when you start looking. Each has its own dress code, speech, and position for where they go for entertainment, jobs, and living space. Public school mixes all of these groups together. However, public school will also divide itself into social groups. People can jump across lines going up or down by adjusting their physical behavior, dress, and speech faster than they can by which family they’re born into. Ever heard the phrase ‘dress like the job you want, not the job you have’? That refers to the fact that those in management heavily weigh outside clues to determine who gets new positions. They can’t help it, that’s how humans are built. Those who are passed over time after time even though very qualified, might want to consider whether they are displaying the right signals. Jumping into a different social strata is easiest when the expected requirements for both outside dressing and inside thinking are matched. That’s when we have secretaries marrying bosses.

This is a fairly controversial subject and I believe that no one set of people are more valuable than another, but I wish that there was more awareness of the ins and outs of our society—I’d like to see less heartache and heartburn over the seeming injustices that can be served up.

Our paper world can be whatever we dream it up to be with a social structure however we wish it.

What Keeps Me Going?

It is all about me this time. What more could an author want than the riveted attention of the entire internet and all people of the world swooning for just one more evocative word to flow from my presence?

Was that a tad over the top?

Perhaps. But as exposed as that feels, the opposite (and closer to the truth) is that the crumbs on the collective human counter tops that need wiping off after breakfast each morning have had more intense application of notice than all the words I'm ever likely to write.

So, where am I in the scheme of things? Where did I pop up from?

I've been a voracious reader from a young age. And as all young-uns, had a notion by the time I was fourteen or so of a solution to the world's problems (in story form). And if I only found a writer to write it, I would know how it ended. Thirty-four years later, I shared that ONE story idea at the one, single point in the fabric of time that it made a difference. I started the story that night, having to get out of bed (having laid down for only a minute) to scribble a note for beginning the next day. My mom had sent me a Tandy laptop word processor she'd picked up at a garage sale. For the next eight months I wrote whenever I could and finally a book (400+) pages was born. I remember how surprised I was that the tale actually came to a natural conclusion and stopped. I told my beloved that it was finished and that I wanted to go into town for supper. (I thought to celebrate, he thought we could check a sprinkler and buy a part too). He's a farmer. Doing twofers and threefers is what he does. Nothing is done only for itself--wastes time you know. That's ok. I'm a farmers wife and find it charming in him and make bets with myself on how many things he can put together in seemingly random ways until they all get done on any single trip to town. I also never turn down an opportunity to hit the ladies room. Sitting field side on the way home for an extra hour while a field sprinkler turns is havoc.

What happened during that eight months? I didn't tell the tale. I had to tell her younger sister's story. I think because I had refused to think of the details for all those years that it wouldn't flow for me. But, as I wrote the story of her younger sister who was inspired by her older sister's story, both stories unfolded for me. I wrote the story as I thought writers would, from beginning to end. But, problems began to crop up as I wrote. How to get the characters to behave? I kept checking on them to see what they were doing and writing it down, but they refused to get together for the longest time. I even wondered how long a novel was. I called a publisher. The person who answered the phone told me it depends. When I asked, on what, the conversation went downhill fast. Yes, you can be that ignorant. I was and still am in so many ways.

I knew that if I did write I wanted to write a satisfying story for readers. So many stories go along very well and then, as if a dinner bell rang somewhere, they finish the book too quickly--chopping the end right off. I didn't want that. I also wanted the reader to 'see' the characters the same time as the character did. I played tricks on the reader by misdirection. Oh, how fun that was. Then the middle of the story seemed to drag in the writing of it and I wondered if the characters were EVER going to get where they needed to be--at the end of their thousand mile walk. So, I did something else to keep me interested in the process. I didn't name the most powerful individual in the book, the heroine's father. It took a bit of effort, but he was a minor character. I managed to make it smoothly to the end without readers noticing he had no name. This little game kept me interested in the story enough to keep going. The second book, he's a much more major character and I've still managed to keep him nameless. I've enjoyed that almost as much as finding out I can write two novels. Oddly, the second novel ended in about the same number of pages--don't you think that odd too?

The joy of writing, for me, is the surprise of where the story goes. My premise is that in the future, to assure population control and viable quality control of humans, all the world's people agreed that we would have sterilization implants at the age of eight or so and that you could be anything you wanted to be, but if you wanted children, you must walk a thousand miles through the proving zone and reach the last step. The last step is in Randar, where after your trek, whenever you like, you may have your implant removed and are free to have as many children as you like. A survival of the fittest if you will. Each story explores different reasons people have children as well as the character's personal reason to be going through the Zone. One guy got dumped there as left for dead--he has no idea where he is but he isn't wearing his own clothes when he wakes up. Another character/story, well, let's talk about the last one.

I thought it would be terribly funny if a woman was so vane, she had to have perfect grooming at all times, her hair was dyed. She ended up going through the zone with a man she needs to impress and taking in her backpack everything she needs to maintain her personal image--including her hair dye--which explodes in her pack. I thought it would be a story of blasted vanity. The story went a different direction entirely. The woman was afraid. If she wasn't perfect, she faced horrible consequences from her nanny from the time she was an infant. She could only be free if she was alone. She went catatonic when her hair dye exploded. In the Zone. Where animals, weather, and unstable people hang out.

The changes of direction of stories don't seem to be up to me and they are what keeps me writing. I have to check in with my story people to see what they are doing and write it down. I am each of them as I write. I see out of their eyes and describe what they see. Sometimes they won't move or think and they are stuck in position. This usually happens when I try to make them go somewhere or do something they don't want to do. Other writers tell me this happens when I'm trying to force a character to do things that is out of character for them. They are right. But since I don't know what is happening until it is 'seen' except in the most vague of ways, I often write until I'm stuck or have painted myself and my characters into a corner. Then my subconscious comes to the rescue and the next time I sit down to write, the characters have figured out a way out of the problems I left them in.

What keeps me going? That no-name the important guy game I have going, readers who fight over what a character actually looks like, the fun of describing exactly what I mean even if it takes me fifty tries, the joy of communicating with other writers and their processes of the amazing skill that writing is, my husband's warm regard, and so many other things that add up to so much for me. I've a curious experimental nature and finding how other people's writerly talent expresses itself and how they deal with the process of publishing and that world are all fascinating to me. Last week, on line, I met a woman who is so opposite of me, she plots everything before putting the story on paper. She even knows that every four pages written is one percent of the story finished. She writes about four hundred page books. Wow!

I hope all of you find, if not a passion, then something that fascinates you about what you do, something that keeps you going. That's my Christmas wish for you.

Enjoy your life and the process of living it.

Storytelling Is An Art

Don’t we enjoy reading a good book? If it doesn’t hold our attention, we usually lose interest, never picking that book up again. This concept should be just as important when writing our own manuscript. As writer’s we want to hold the reader from the beginning to the end. When a reader loves your book, they are inclined to tell others. Waiting with anticipation for the release of your next novel.

An essential writing technique in storytelling is Creating Suspense. How many books have you read until the wee hours of the morning? Not wanting to put the book down. Involving yourselves with the characters, as if you knew them on a personal basis. Have you taken time to watch people when you talk to them? If what you are saying is putting a glassy eyed look on their face, it’s a sure bet, they aren’t listening. Same concept goes for when you are writing your story. Anyone can write words on paper. It’s the emphasis a writer applies to grammatically correct sentences and interesting words, that makes the novel suspenseful to the reader.

Characters are the working force to storytelling. Without them, there isn’t anything to write about. Characters have an agenda following a goal. Put them in a situation where there is conflict. I like to call conflict, obstacles. The hero and heroine will work through the conflict; building on the obstacles, moving the plot along creating the necessary suspense. A book I have found helpful is “Building Believable Characters” by Marc McCutcheon. Great book for helping me develop my character charts.

Some writers have difficulty applying Conflict in their storytelling. Once our characters are developed, we as writers have established a relationship with them. The last thing we want to do is cause pain or discomfort towards them. Conflict makes the story worth reading. It provides the story with struggles, tension, choices the characters will have to make. Having opposing forces is what brings the internal and external conflicts to a height of the drama. If you touch the reader’s hearts at all levels of emotions, you’ve created the art of storytelling.

Storytellers must satisfy their readers with a Believable Ending. Characters should have their conflict reduced to a workable agreement. A twist of surprise at the ending will bring delight to the reader. Such as a traumatic event giving the character a chance to change. Romance storytelling is based on the hero and heroine resolving their differences in harmony. What the basic conflict was in the beginning of the story is now reflected to a happy ending.

Are you excited to be with your characters each day? Does your story hold your interest?

Sharon.

Well, bite my steaming, swollen toe!

I’ve had a lot of favorite writing books over the years. Fiction Is Folks by Robert Newton Peck, Shut Up, He Explained: A Writer’s Guide to the Uses and Misuses of Dialogue by William Noble, The Complete Writer’s Guide to Heroes and Heroines by Tami D. Cowden, Caro LaFever, and Sue Viders, Goal, Motivation and Conflict by Deb Dixon, Dangerous Men and Adventurous Women edited by Jayne Ann Krentz, Sun Signs by Linda Goodman, Color Me Beautiful by Carole Jackson, and 45 Master Characters by Victoria Lynn Schmidt are just a few of them. One was a small book bound in light blue paper that I got from Beverly Wadsworth that had been written by an author she represented. It was an informative little piece of work that had one of the best character sheets I’ve ever seen in it. I can’t remember either the title or the author of it, and I lost it during one of our many disasterous moves.

So you can see it would be hard for me to pick just one book. These days, like everyone else, I rely a lot on Internet websites for assistance and information. The two I use most are Dictionary.com (http://dictionary.reference.com/) and Seventh Sanctum™ (http://www.seventhsanctum.com/). Dictionary.com has a dictionary, a thesaurus, an encyclopedia and a translator all on one site. It’s good for spelling, short information on a subject and synonyms and antonyms. I use the thesaurus section most often, particularly when I’m stuck for a word or stuck on one.

Seventh Sanctum™ is a collection of “generators.” These generators are programmed to randomly create names, characters, plots, ideas, items, or just about anything you can imagine. If you need a name for a minor character in a hurry, try the Quick Character Namers. It generates names based off census data for America. It uses common names only, so you won’t get something like Grail Steelreaper or Ginger Lustflame. However, if you need a name like one of the afore-mentioned, you can certainly come up with it on the Weird Name Generators.

Two of my favorite generators are the Romance Stories generator and the Cuss-O-Matic. The Romance Stories generator will give you a romance-oriented plot and pair of characters complete with extra details and plot complications. For example: This story starts in a small city in the Antarctic. In it, a silly professor is in love with an unwise project manager - all thanks to a murder. If it does nothing else, the generator will certainly get you thinking.

The Cuss-O-Matic is found at Serendipity(http://nine.frenchboys.net/). If you need a colorful epithet, try generating one like, “Oh, pinch my pestilent, pogo-sticking rump!” One of my favorite all time exclamations came from the Cuss-O-Matic. It’s fun to use Seventh Sanctum™ or one of the other generators links on its page. The only problem is you can get caught up in the whimsy and adventure of generating that you don’t get much writing done. But if you need a quick writing boost, Seventh Sanctum™ is the place to go.

Resources for Writers.

Resources for Writers. Humm.

I was really scratching my head over this topic for our blog during the month of November. There are more resources available to us than one can possibly imagine. We have resource books, research books, the Internet, even movies can show us how to become better writers.

Today, I want to talk about a resource EVERY writer has.

The writer.
Yes, the invaluable resource I'm talking about is you.

When I wanted to know the symptoms of appendicitis, I called the local hospital emergency room, explained that I was a writer and asked if there was someone available to talk to me. Before I knew it, there was a doctor and an ER nurse happily telling me how to diagnose and treat appendicitis. Yep, all I had to do was ask, and this was long before I was published.

In my most recent novel, I needed information about nurse midwives. My nephew is married to a nurse midwife, so I did have a special in, so to speak. But what I really needed was information from an Ohio nurse midwife, because laws on midwifery vary from state to state. In this instance, the Internet and e-mail became my best friend. After searching for an Ohio midwife in the area about which I was writing, I contacted the clinic via e-mail, explained I was a writer, and soon had the phone number and e-mail address of the midwife happy to answer any questions I had.

I have interviewed, The Commanding General's Mounted Color Guard at Fort Riley, Kansas, the sheriff and police chief of Council Grove, Kansas, a nurse midwife in Millersburg Ohio, a cowboy, a rancher, a cattle buyer, an 1860's reenactor and a fireman. Talk about more information than I could possibly use. And all because I asked.

People can give you insight and information that you could not uncover by reading. Their anecdotal stories can give your writing an authentic flavor. You can learn terms and procedures that add realism to your characters. So when you're doing research for your heroine’s or hero’s job or just need information about a different part of the country, you can be your own best resource tool. Don't be afraid to ask.

Who has been the most interesting or helpful person you've talked to and why?

Lucky

Lucky is Good.

I was watching Stargate SG 1, my all time favorite show, when something one of the characters said really struck a cord with me. The handsome young hero had engaged in deadly combat and survived.



Let me paraphrase here.

“He is good,” said the old warrior
“No, he is lucky,” snarled the loser.
The hero smiled and said, “Lucky is good.”

Lucky is good. How true, I wanted to shout.

I have always believed that I’m a lucky person. In my life, I have cheated death at least four times. That certainly qualifies me as lucky. On the other hand, facing my possible death four times before I’m 57 years old could make me unlucky. Which is it?

Is the glass half empty or half full? Great question. I see the glass half full. Every time.

Does someone get published because they were good or because they were lucky? Ask yourself—are you lucky or are you good? You may not think of yourself as either, but I believe you should.

The national organization, Romance Writers of America reports that a first time published author (of full length novels) has been writing an average of four years and has an average of four manuscripts completed before she sold.



Four!

I can tell you one thing about writing four manuscripts. Your craft improves a lot between 1 and 4. It took me eight years to get four manuscripts done. I was nearing the end of that fourth book when I sold. Gee, I wish I’d written those four books faster. Oh, well, with my hectic life back then I was lucky to get that much done.

Lucky or good? If you ask me, the writer who believes in her heart that she is LUCKY and GOOD is the one who will find her book for sale at Barns and Noble. No matter how long that journey takes.

So make your own luck. Get good. Get busy. Write a book, then write another, and another, and another. It does no good to write them and not send them out. No one buys a book that is still only a file in your computer. Swallow every painful rejection and use it to fuel your determination. Write more, send it out again. With a lot of hard work, you may discover that you are both good and lucky, too.





Pat

Don't Forget the Flaws! (Penny Rader)

I don’t know about you, but I can’t stand perfect people. Or perfect characters. Why? Perfect people remind me just how imperfect I am and perfect characters are, well, boring. Flawed characters are so much more interesting. They learn and grow over the course of the story.

This is what Connie Flynn has to say in Building Three-Dimensional Characters: Give your central characters a fatal flaw. While greed, envy, vanity and the rest of the seven deadly sins are perfect flaws for villains, virtues carried to extreme usually works best for protagonists. For instance, a nurturing nature can become controlling or smothering. A lighthearted attitude can become irresponsibility. If a more deadly flaw is chosen, it must be well motivated. In the villain, this flaw is a vice carried to extremes. In both cases, the fatal flaw is the trait that has the potential to bring about the character's downfall. http://members.cox.net/cflynn11/articles_tips1.html

Laurie Schnebly Campbell has a terrific article you might want to read, Creating Your Hero's Fatal Flaw. She uses the personality typing called enneagrams. There are nine of them and each one has a fatal flaw built into it. Check out her workshop: http://www.booklaurie.com/workshops_flaw2.php

Here are a few more articles you might find helpful:The Fatal Flaw – The Most Essential Element for Bringing Characters to Life by Dara Marks
http://www.writersstore.com/article.php?articles_id=788

Being, Doing, Becoming: The Heroic Strength, the Heroic Flaw, the Heroic Journey by Alicia Rasley
http://www.sff.net/people/alicia/artflaw.htm

Flawed Characters and Why We Love Them by Kris Cramer
http://www.writersmind.com/articles/flawedcharacters.html

Fiction Writing: Flaw Your Character by a guy named Harry
http://menwithpens.ca/fiction-writing-flaw-your-character

Not sure how to go about deciding what your character’s flaw is? Try this exercise from Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook by Donald Maass:

Step 1: What is your protagonist’s defining quality; that is, how would anyone describe your protagonist. What trait is most prominent in his personality? What kind of person is she?

Step 2: Objectively speaking, what is the opposite of that quality?

So, who are your favorite flawed characters? Do you have any tips for creating them?

Ya gotta get a thick skin

Writing is a personal experience unlike anything else I've ever done. Writing a story is pouring your heart and soul onto paper. It's almost a secret life. We authors sit alone, typing away, trying to craft the best possible prose and plot. Honestly, we all love what we've written. We know we have talent and we know it's a good story.

Now for the hard part. Someone else has to read it. What if they don't like it? Oh, what do they know, anyway. Our baby is perfect.

Having someone else read your work is important. After all, that's what you want, isn't it. You want thousands and thousands of people to read your work. So you have to start somewhere.

You have have your mother, your daughter or your best friend read it, but they love you and they are going to love what you've written. They'll try not to hurt your feelings.

Get someone who doesn't love you to read it if you really want to know if it's good. Tell them you want constructive criticism. Insist on it, and be prepared to listen. Yes, it hurts, but it this person tells you, "I didn't understand why the heroine did such and such." You quickly explain why.
No. No. No. If your reader didn't get it, you missed the mark as a writer. Other readers, editors and agents may not get it either.

Time to toughen up your skin and revise that beautiful baby. A gem is just a rock in the dirt until someone picks it up and polishes it.

I've off at a conference and won't be able to respond to your comments. Please forgive me.
Blessings

Pat

The Process: Beginning a WIP

• Decide on the genre and sub-genre.
• Decide on the approximate word length, basic market aiming for with the manuscript.
• Decide on the working title.
• Build a working notebook for the story. My notebooks are arranged in this order: Photos of Characters, Character Grid, Character Contrasts Chart, Story Progression & Outline spreadsheet, setting details, clothing details, occupation details, vehicle details, etc., and printed copies of each chapter.
• Create a basic storyline theme in 100 words or less.
• Choose names for the main characters and most important side characters.
• Fill in the Character Grid for the heroine, hero, and villain (if there is one) with information as it pertains to each character under each of their columns. The information includes the Inciting Incident, Long Range Goal, Short Range Goal, Character Flaw, Relationship Barrier/Conflict, Black Moment, and Realization.
• Find photos of all characters, particularly the main characters to visually refer back to for details. I scan the photos into my computer, use Publisher to create a sheet with all the characters, save that to my manuscript’s file, and print it out for my story’s working notebook.
• Fill in the Character Contrasts Chart with very basic details for each of the main characters: name, nickname, age, height, hair color/style, facial unique features if any, color of eyes and anything unique, unique body details, sound of voice or accent, some personality details (birth order, family, education, work attitude, strengths, weaknesses, favored style of dress, occupation, marital status). Sometimes I fill it all in to get a “feel” for the characters. Sometimes I fill in part of it and maybe add to it as I write and the characters reveal themselves to me.
• Set up the Story Progression & Outline spreadsheet and fill in basic plot elements to aim for in specific chapters, remembering that anything can be changed and moved to another spot. I use a basic spreadsheet set up for what I commonly write, 5-7 chapter novellas of 25,000-35,000 words or 12 chapter novels of 50,000-60,000 words. I refer to the spreadsheet for the basic plot flow elements that might occur in a specific chapter, and I fill in the chart as I finish each chapter with what actually happened, who was involved, setting(s), and when (my story timeline). Since I work on more than one storyline at a time, I can not only read the previous chapter to get my head back into the story again but also I can use the basic summary of each previous chapter to do the same thing.
• Decide on basic setting details and find photos for visual referencing; such as sample ranches with building layouts, the main characters’ places of residence (house, condo, etc.), offices involved (actual main buildings in a particular city for details, office furniture, etc.), scenery details (mountains, beaches, particular details to an area), vehicles (pickup trucks, cars). I’m a very visual person and having pictures helps me with descriptions. Sometimes I scan in the detailed photos and print them out, sometimes I just put the pictures from magazines, etc. into my notebook, and sometimes I just write down the details I might need and put that in the notebook. Maybe I use the information and maybe I don’t, but it helps to have a basic idea of details before I begin. And I add to these details when necessary as they come up while actually writing the story.
• Do basic research for specific information I will deal with in the storyline: occupation details and appropriate lingo (cowboys, ranching, common lingo; fraud investigation, how it’s done, what is involved, terminology), time period details (type of dress, furniture, inventions up to that time period, social manners, language, etc.).
• Sometimes I add a spreadsheet that details specific items for this manuscript such as overall deadline and chapter deadlines, because most of the work I write and sell is sold either as a whole finished product, or as a whole product but published by chapters. If the manuscript is submitted somewhere else with the hopes of a sale, I list where it was sent, when, and any responses. And for my business records, I list the type of payment or amount to be received (or received).
• WRITE. Actually sit down and plant your hands on the keyboard and let them fly as you write the story.

NOTE: The charts I use are all available as pdfs or Word or Excel documents on my website www.starlakayeromance.com

Self-Editing—it’s a trust issue.

Self-editing is the approval or disapproval of every word you have written. As the writer, you determine whether each word is correct in description, depth of importance, value, placement, and nuance.

Unfortunately, writers are often torn between two extremes. Their secret egotist believes they have talent, but that pesky insecurity angster keeps looking at her feet, heartsick sure that there isn’t a square inch of talent in her whole body. The self-editor with the ego says, “Break all rules, this is my book and I’m writing my story and everyone will love it. I’ll be published in no time.” The angster self-editor says, “You don’t know what you’re doing and the last ten people you spoke to about it pretty much said the same. Hang up your pen and sneak wordlessly out of the room if there is another writer in it. Don’t touch the chocolate on the way out.”

Obviously, we have to learn to trust ourselves to learn the sacred tricks of editing our own writing. Why must we do it ourselves? Because, we are the only ones who know what we are trying to say and mean with our stories. We must believe in ourselves enough to know that when we are offered the fantastic opinions and wonderful images of others, whether they will merge seamlessly with our story. The quickest way to ruin a story is to re-write it using every reader’s suggestions. Instead of creating something as beautiful as a forest, we have nothing left but the beaten earth of a fairground where many have trod. A writer must have the courage to winnow out undesirable suggestions and the trust in their own judgment to be able to determine which idea, notion, or detail to keep or reject. We must guard against reduncy (or saying the same thing three times over as I just did).

One the other hand, a writer must be experienced enough in the world to realize that they do not know everything. That some of the best ideas have come from someone else; that the writer does not have a corner on the market for good ideas, colorful words and phrases, or the correct use of some words. Writers can be so at one with their story that they leave out significant words, never realizing that their brains are filling in the blank spot where a particular word should be. Readers tend to notice things like that. Writers can live their world so close to their imaginary world, that they know details without having to explain them to a reader. Publishing editors and readers tend to notice things like that. Thus, the reader never gets a chance to know the characters because the writer does not think more information is necessary. Writer's minds are filling in the crucial portents and details, but not communicating them.

Many writers edit as they write and end up with an almost finished product that needs little polishing. The amount of editing often depends upon the writing experience of the writer. Other writers lay in the bones of a story and their editing process adds words and excitement to the story. Editing is like cooking eggs. Too little and the integrity of the experience falls far short of expectation. Too much and the texture is too rubbery and nasty to have a joyful experience.

One editing process we don’t often think about in the self-editing process is our own SELF. Writers are better off when they can distance themselves or take the SELF out of the editing equation. Take the ego out of the experience and park her on the shelf for a while and let the integrity of communicating with all of the unknown people who will want to know the story be thought of as the most important thing. For my own experience, that means time has to pass so that my enthusiasm for the characters isn’t so immediate (kind of like dating), that I can see the story for all it is—faults and all, clean it up, clarify it, and still love it (kind of like marriage).

It is worth the time and much less wearing on the spirit to learn to trust your self-editing. Like writing or learning to ride a bicycle. Self-editing takes time and practice to get any good and or fast at it (and hopefully very little bloodshed).

Can This Book Be Saved?

Remember those articles in women’s magazines that asked the burning question, “Can this marriage be saved?” Sometimes I have to ask myself a similar question, and then decide whether or not to finish the book.

A lot of factors play in that decision. Is it your first book? Has the market you aimed it for undergone changes? Have you learned information about building plot or creating characters that tells you to rethink your story? Will the book require a major revamp that would take more time than creating a new book from scratch?

If it’s your first book, you might want to stick with it. A first book is a huge learning experience, and the confidence you get from telling your story from beginning to end is one of the biggest boosts you’ll ever receive.

If the market has changed, you can search for a new one. Or you can see if the book can be tailored to the new requirements. If you’ve grown in your craft, you might want to finish the book out while making notes for changes in your second draft.

A major revamp of a book takes time and energy. Unless an editor has requested the changes, if people you trust tell you this baby just ain’t flyin’, you might want to bury it and start with something fresh.

I have a heavily sensuous futuristic romance that features a ménage a trois. There are three and a half chapters written on it. It has too many characters in it, the consummation scenes are in the wrong place, and it was written as an attempt to begin with physical intimacy and move to emotional intimacy. Oh, and it has a hidden baby subplot in it as well.

Since it’s not the book of my heart and might be difficult to market, it’s a good bet I won’t finish out Never Love in Vain. But boy, it’s hard to let all that work go. Maybe, I’ll keep it in my files one more year….

Nothing like a little S & S to keep you up all night

Light a candle and turn down the lights. Key the sultry, sexy sounds of Barry White as we get ready for a little S & S. I’m here to tell you that after a long, hot day at work there is nothing better than crawling between your cool, 300 count cotton sheets and enjoying some S & S with your characters. Kinky? Nah. Intrigued? Hopefully.

The S & S I’m referring to is Scene and Sequel. Honestly now, what did you think it was? (wink-wink) Usually, the only initials that turn me on this much come bagged and promise not to melt in your hand so you’ll have to pardon me if I get a little excited about S & S. It’s very exciting subject matter.

Scene and Sequel is the reaction to the action in the previous chapter. Huh? It’s the one-two punch that keeps you reading long after you should have gone to bed. If it’s done well enough for you to “just read one more chapter” before you turn out the lights, then feel free to blame those little baggies under your eyes the next morning on S & S. Who cares if you were so caught up in the novel that you need an extra layer of Cover Girl or another swipe of Maybelline for your long, hot day at work? You can go to bed early the next night. I promise you if you blame your current disheveled look on S & S—no one will ask. They wouldn’t dare.

A huge share of popular romance novels employ the S & S technique. Hooks (Scenes) are meant to keep us turning pages. Sequels are the payoff—answers and reactions to the questions/situations just posed.

But, not every book has them. Some authors use them all the time and some never use them. In the ones that don’t, there is some sort of segue, but the usual Scene and Sequel as we know it is missing. These books can be just as fascinating because you know in your heart that eventually the current dilemma will be resolved, but I like to know right away what happened when a gun is fired, or the brakes on their vintage convertible no longer work or even something as simple as your heroine taking a pregnancy test. I gotta know. (See the baggies under the eyes paragraph above.)

I do my best to utilize the S & S method (uh-oh, I hear Barry White again) every chapter. If you’ve never tried it then I suggest you give it a whirl. Who knows, it might be the key to keeping your readers up all night. Now go enjoy a little S & S with a tall, dark and handsome hero or heroine of your dreams.

Hugs,
Reese

How to Come Up with a Story Idea.

When I saw this title I had to laugh. Most of us have way more ideas for stories than we’ll ever have time to write. I always say the difference between an idea and a book is about 55,000 words.

I was driving to visit my brother in Montana several years ago and I noticed this car on the interstate. Kind of beat up, but the same kind of car my daughter once drove so that caught my attention. Do you know how many times between Denver and Cheyenne I saw that car. Maybe 15. I’m pass them, twenty minutes later they go around me. I blow past a gas station and there was that car just pulling back onto the highway. We even stopped for lunch at the same fast food joint.

In the back of my mind a story began to form and I started playing the What if game. Want to play?
Here goes.
What if: the driver of the beat up car in on the run? Why?
She’s a single mother running away from an abusive relationship. Or-what’s your scenario?

okay
What if, the hero is in the big SUV, keeps seeing her and wonders about her.
Why? Her little boy reminds him of the son he lost in a car accident. Or-what’s your scenario?

Okay
What if they stop at the same rest stop and he sees someone trying to take her child away from her?
Why?
Because they’re thugs hired by her ex-husband to kidnap the child and the hero saves the day and winds up taking them in his car.
Why?
Because her junker won’t start and she begs him to get her out of there.

Okay, that’s how you play the What If game. For me, this is where stories ideas grow into novels. What about you? How does your process work?

THE PROCESS: FROM IDEA TO BOOK

So you thought writing a book was easy. There are too many things involved and too many things to learn to keep it from being easy. Information changes, editors (and publishers!) come and go, and the market changes almost daily.

But you have an idea for a book. Great! Where to begin? Is plotting necessary? What about minor characters? How much should they play a part in the story? And one more important thing: How to keep writing until THE END.

Or maybe you don't have an idea and need some help. WARA is here!

We hope everyone has been enjoying and learning here on Bits & Bytes. We have! We've discovered it's fun and rewarding to share what we know and get questions answered. We hope our visitors are discovering the same. Don't be shy! You can just to say hi or ask a question if you have one. Someone will find an answer.

Pat will kick off the first topic tomorrow, so don't forget to stop by then. Dates each of us will be posting are on the right.

Enjoy the first half of July!

The Art of Character Naming

Cornelius Cornwall stepped into the corral, tipped his Stetson low, and headed for the proud black stallion held by ropes by two of his men. From the look in the stallion’s eyes, Cornelius knew he faced a hard day of breaking ahead.

Maybe it’s just me, but the name “Cornelius” doesn’t fit with the image in my mind of a rough, tough cowboy. “Cord” would, or “Dexter,” or “Wade” would, as more fitting examples. The point is you need to really consider what all goes into choosing a proper name for your characters. Personally, I think choosing a character’s name is harder than choosing your own child’s name.

Here are some things to consider when deciding on a character’s name:
Gender
Race or ethnicity
Time period in which he/she lives
Personality traits
Ease of pronunciation for the reader
Role in the storyline: hero or heroine or villain
Possibly the meaning of the name
How the character feels about his/her name

For help with choosing a name there are dozens of baby name books available, name lists online, phone book listings, etc. The following are three of my favorite book sources for picking names, all of which are being added to the WARA library:

Dictionary of Surnames by Basil Cottle
The Name Book by Pierre Le Rouzic
The Writer’s Digest Character Naming Sourcebook by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Panster or Plotter...What Does It All Mean?

There is only one way to write a novel. Sit and write it. Whether using paper and pen, typewriter and paper, computer and disk, or chisel and rock, writing is the putting of meaningful symbols in a place by one person for another, who is absent, to read. The miracle and wonder of it is that the writer and reader may be separated by distance and centuries.

After that, writing is a personal adventure and like all adventures has some similarities as well as things that are very different. Take the two major separations of writers, pantsters and plotters. Pantsters are those who get an idea and then explore it as they write. Sometimes their stories come to them as visual pictures or movies that play in their heads and their fingers become the instrument that writes down what happens. They continue to follow the story as it unfolds letting the characters go whither they will, pretty much doing whatever they will. The plotter will be more like a person with a dollhouse. They will decide the room’s décor, select the furniture, and decide who will be where and what they will be doing while they are there.

There is a wide range of mix between the two extremes of pantsters and plotters. To go along with the different mixes there are as many methods to express that mix as there are writers or so it can seem to the beginner. The most important thing any aspiring writer can do is get the damned thing written. A writer isn’t much of a novelist if nothing is ever finished. If one keeps that one salient fact in mind, then how the story is written doesn’t really matter. Writing may be scribed on toilet paper in those odd free moments and still become a novel. But how does one begin? With all of the confusing methods that everyone has an opinion about, how do you start? That precious idea. That’s where. When? Whenever a writer has a moment. How? Ah, that’s a paragraph.

How. Three letters and we’re already stuck. But guess what? It doesn’t matter. A writer may start anywhere. Once the idea for a story has taken hold, it will build on its own. A plotter will likely begin with a type of character, say a cowboy. Where will we put him? Kansas. Why we ask? (And an answer pops up—may not be a good one, but one pops into mind.) Because his brother wants to farm and plow up the ancestral pasture. What keeps our cowboy from moving? He’s in love with his brother’s wife’s kid sister and she’s been abandoned with a newborn. How’s he gonna convince her to take another chance and leave with him for parts not explored when he wants to give her stability? A story is born. Or a title might beg a story, The Children of Easy Virtue, Texas. I refuse to write westerns so that one will probably never be written, but I can tell you it is easier to live in Easy Virtue, Texas than explain where you come from. How a story idea will play out or be changed will be up to the writer as he pantsters his way through or plots the changes or as he is writing his plot a vision comes to mind and temporarily he goes with the vision.

Editing. Pantsters tend to edit as they go because changes determine where the story wanders. They tend to depend more on their subconscious to do the writing and attending to details than do plotters. Plotters tend to be concise and edit more when they are finished. Some put a lot of detail in as they write; others get down the bare bones of the story. Then, like watercolorists, they go back through, layer in different details, and sometimes flesh out plot twists.

Whatever your method will be or mix of methods, make sure you are the one who determines it. When an idea resonates as making sense, then it may be an idea that will work for you. Be reasonably cautious about changing the way you write. Rewriting because someone tried to tell you how to write is a horrid way to waste your time. Rest assured that whatever method gets the story written and finished is a good one because that is the goal. Can you be faster or more efficient? Probably. Experience is wonderful for that, and one of the best reasons to be always working on another story while the ones before it are in the process of being sent out, marinating in dust for the final edit, or hidden judiciously for your heirs to dig up and sell for a fortune after you expire.

After the first sale, a writer may not wish to waste time completing a book whose premise isn’t promising to their editor. This is where a plotter or someone who is more used to doing some plotting has it above pantsters. I’ve been told that plotting makes it easier to sell an idea on a synopsis and I hear that plotting helps to focus thoughts and tighten up plot issues. I concede it might.

About a month after I started writing I thought I was going insane. Mind videos and stills started appearing in my head. Why was I so worried? Because other writers and well meaning non-writers but well educated people told me, I was doing it (writing) all wrong. That’s when a very good friend of mine recognized my soul-deep distress and did some research and presented it to me. Less than twenty percent of writers are truly pantsters. By this I mean, they have an idea of a beginning and know somewhat how the story will end but everything in between is completely a mystery to them when they begin. Some bestselling authors are pantsters. I have no idea what their selling methods are. As I have explored this plotting/pantsters question, I’ve been amazed at the incredible variety of ways that writers get the essence of their story.

Best advice? Join a writer’s group so that you can be exposed to a variety of methods and get the encouragement of writers who have entered the forest of writing before you. They have successful navigated a path and seen other paths. But what is the most important? Getting the story written. That is a constant no matter what the method or mix of methods. Don’t make your eyes bleed from the stress of figuring out how your idea fits a story arc, instead consider going forth to sit and think up some what-ifs and then scribble a bit and get your story written. Perfection is in the editing—a different process.

PS No one was more surprised than I was to finish the first novel at 467 pages. I had wondered if it would finish. It came to a natural close and took eight months to get there. Weirdly, the second novel finished at 473. I’m only 83 pages into the third and am afraid it will not make it to minimal novel length—around 250 pages. For me, only time will tell (and sitting down in front of the computer and writing it).