This

Sometimes other people say it better than you can.

This. This is perfect.

It's a comfort to know that successful, wonderful authors can struggle in the same way I am. That I'm not hopeless or unfit to be an author. Even better to know that there is hope for this horrible first draft I'm fighting with.

Alphabet Soup

As part of his pre-school, mini-Engineer (aka Truck Boy) was filling out Valentine’s day cards for his classmates. He loved doing it and insisted on writing all their names himself. I noticed that while he could make all the letters  and knew what letters where in which name, getting them in the right order was a completely different problem. 

He’d start in the right place but if he ran out of room, or if he just wanted to, he would continue the name under the first couple letters, or above, or in front of. Because there was that nice empty margin to fill up. Upon occasion the letters could be scattered around in no order whatsoever.  Alphabet soup. 

It reminded me of a few of my early novels. They were a collection of scenes thrown together with no overall plot arc, no through line, and no rising tension. Just as my son needs to put the letters in the right order for them to make a name, I needed to learn to organize my scenes. First thing that should be done after finishing the draft and letting it sit for a little is give it a read and just look for the over all plot structure. Is the conflict set up at the beginning of the book resolved at the end? Is there growth and movement throughout the book, or is it just someone reacting to things thrown at him. 

If the scenes don't line up like the letters in a name then you probably have a problem. I just finished a structure draft of my current WIP. I’m super excited to see how this is coming together, and I can’t wait to move on to language, polishing, and really making my book shine.  I’m even looking forward to checking the grammar.  

Have you ever written an alphabet soup book? 

Define It.

Lately I've been coming across discussions and definitions of what writing is and it has made me wonder about my own definition of writing. 

I think everyone believes 'writing' involves grammar, punctuation, word choice, sentence variety, lyricism, pacing and similar mechanics. But is that the sum of writing?  Is it only about commas and word choice?  Or does writing also include story, plot, characters? 

There are many times when we say at writers "I like the story but the writing wasn't very good." or "The writing was amazing, but I couldn't connect to the characters." does writing include making your characters relatable (obviously there is still room for personal preferences here as not every reader will like every character no matter how well written) and making sure your plot has a beginning, middle and end? Or is that story telling? 

The fact that writing is defined differently by different people is one more reason the whole industry is so subjective and we sometimes feel there are no straight answers. 

For me, writing includes the line by line mechanics, grammar, word choice, smoothness, etc, but it also includes the whole; whether or not the story makes sense, multidimensional characters and such. I don't differentiate between "writing" and "story telling".  They're all part of the same thing. 

How do you define writing? Do you differentiate between the two?

Plant a scene

I finished the first draft of my still untitled WIP yesterday!  Even though I know it's just a step towards the finished product it still made me happy and I've been 'celebrating' today by taking the day off.  I've put in 40K in the last three months, which is a lot for me.  Now that the first draft it done I find my mind already turning to thoughts of editing.



I have hear a picture of a snapdragon growing in between the bricks on my front stairs.

I haven't planted snapdragons in years but somehow I keep finding them in odd spots like this. Back when I first started blogging I used a picture very similar to this to show the determination of the plant and vow that I had that much determination and that I would keep working until I was published. Which is true. But now that I’ve got a little more experience under my belt I see this differently. 

 I love snapdragons.  Thus the reason I planted them in the first place many years ago.  They’re pretty, and I love how they strive to survive.  But, no matter how much I love the plant. It doesn’t belong here.  Not only is the plant not able to grow to its full potential, it destroys the mortar and weakens the stairs.   

There are scenes like that in my first draft.  Scenes I may love but that are just in the wrong place.  Maybe they can’t deepen and reach their full potential where they are.  Maybe they weaken the story and detract from the plot arc.  Either way I need to take them out.  No matter how hard it is.

Loosing Faith

Have you ever lost faith with an author?  There were two such authors for me.  Growing up they truly inspired me.  I read their books over and over.

One of them, I found as an adult that she had released a new book within the last decade.  I was so excited to read it.  Hands trembling with anticipation I began reading.  The opening was promising enough, it had her voice and style but as I went on it read more and more like a first draft of a novice writer.  Nothing had been edited out.  It rambled back and forth with no clear coherency. The dialogue was more people talking after each other than to each other, not to mention that sometimes a single speaker would go on for a page and a half without breaking quotes or having any kind of beats.  The ending was so poorly written I laughed out loud.  And felt so guilty for doing so. I don't know if the author was getting old and tired, or trading in on her fame by assuming people would buy her stuff no matter what but it was a huge disappointment. 

The other author is different.  I'm well read enough now to believe she did more than just be influenced or inspired by other people's writing, if you know what I mean.  And I just can't feel the same about her.  When I went back and tried to reread her work it felt tainted.  

Loosing faith with those authors is like killing my childhood.  While I have yet to be published I worry that I may let future readers down.  You can never please everyone but I would hate to leave people feeling cheated or tainted. I guess we just have to keep writing the best and truest stories we know how and hope that people can see what we see in them. 

Cleaning Day

My sister-in-law is a fast moving, busy woman.  When it comes to her home she tears through it in a whirlwind of work, doing one of her many projects, throwing things here or there and never cleaning until she blows through in a whirlwind of picking up.  I, however, clean while I go.  This causes The Engineer much distress as I have a tendency to clean up the tools he's still using. 

I can't help it, it's habit. 

Now, this is not to say my house is perfectly clean.  I have clutter spots where I dump stuff I don't want to deal with.  Also I have two kids.  This may be one reason I've adopted this style of cleaning.  There's no possibility of a large block of cleaning time so I clean here and there while I go.

I'm like that in my writing too. While I have participated in, and won, NaNo, in general I tend to revise as I go.  Again, this is not to say my first drafts are perfect.  There are things I don't want to deal with and I put it off until later drafts.  I'm a chunky pants writer.  I don't write linearly, and I don't plot, so I find I do a bit of editing as I put all the parts together.

This works for me.  It fits my style and it keeps the thoughts flowing, though I'm sure there are as many ways of doing it as there are writers.  How about you?  Do you tend to tear through a first draft leaving all the clean up until later, or do you try to tidy while you go?

Rewrites Again

I’ve had some questions generated by my last post about what exactly I consider a rewrite.  For me I use rewrite for in two ways.  Now, let me say upfront that this is how I think of it.  I’m guessing others might have different ideas and I’m open to correction or thoughts. 

The first way I use rewrite is a general umbrella to cover rewrites, revisions, editing, and polishing.  Because sometimes it gets tiresome to type out each word, and really aren’t we all trying to cut word counts?  Ok, not really, I’m just lazy. 

The second way I use rewrites is for the heavy duty part of, well, rewrites with the first definition.  It’s like the part of construction that uses the big machines, the bulldozer, the backhoe; the ones that change the landscape.  For me, that sometimes means, taking a scene and writing it from a new POV, or with a different emphasis and better dialogue.  I’m rewriting if I move scenes around, and have to change transitions.

Revisions are a bit smaller.  The basic arc is set, the characters are themselves and not nebulous.  But you may still move things around within a scene or change part of it to bring out a theme or provide better foreshadow.  They’re like using a jackhammer, or a floor sander, changes are being made but only within certain boundaries.  

Editing is like using hammer and screwdrivers.  They’re the tightening, straightening and fixing of each sentence and paragraph. 

Polishing is using the Windex to make it shine.  You change the word “ran” for “darted” or “galloped”. You weigh each word separately and as part of a whole to make sure it carries the weight it needs. 

Personally, these tend to blend together. Rewriting may change to revision without conscious thought.  It’s not like crossing a state line where you can say, Now I’m in Ohio and now I’m in Indiana. It’s more of moving from country to town in Wyoming (If you’ve ever been in Wyoming you know what I’m talking about)  First there’s just one random building, then there’s two.  There’s some animals, maybe a dog or kid, the houses get closer together and more plentiful.  Before you realize, and without leaving the freeway, you’re downtown. 

I don’t think you have to “rewrite” the whole book to have it be a rewrite.  Maybe the beginning is fabulous but your ship changed course and you need to get it back on target, so you just reshape the middle chapters.  Personally I have not yet ever taken a story and rewritten from scratch, either keeping the plot and changing the characters, or vice versa, or some combination of the two.  If you don’t keep any of the scenes is it rewriting or drafting? 

Now once again this is all my opinion and if there are actual definitions of this then I’d LOVE to know. 

How do you define rewriting?  I’d love to hear everyone’s ideas on this so tell everyone to come on over and let’s get a discussion going. 

Pooped Right Out.

Please forgive the potty mouth title.  The other day I was reading over an excerpt and realized I had put “pooped” for “popped”.  Not quite the meaning or imagery I had wanted.  I think these types of misspellings are the most dangerous.  Not only is the misspelling a real word and therefore there are no spell check red squiggles underneath to give it away, it’s close enough to the real word that when you read it, you read the word you want, not the one that’s there. 

You know how it’s always easier to notice things in other peoples’ work?  I think author intent has a lot to do with that. When we read or own work we are so familiar with the story and the emotions that we don’t notice the clunky sentences.  We end up seeing what we meant not what we wrote.  That’s why crit partners and beta readers are so important. 

Other good ideas to help see your work in a new way are try printing it out, reading it out loud, putting it on an ereader or in a different font.  Anything that helps you view it differently than the last dozen times you’ve read it.  Maybe then you’ll catch the poop before it pops and you hit the send button.

Have you ever had a mistake like this, and did you catch it before you sent it?