Writing a first draft in 30 days? Fast Fiction by Denise Jaden can help.

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Writing a first draft in 30 days? I have something that will help you do it effectively: 


Fast Fiction: A Guide to Outlining and Writing a First-Draft Novel in Thirty Days

I picked up this book just before NaNoWriMo this past November, along with several other books designed to help people who were diving into the NaNoWriMo pool without a life jacket. But, while invaluable for NaNoWriMo purposes, this book isn’t just about plunking yourself down for thirty days and coming up at the end with a draft; it will help you prep and revise, as well. And, it doesn't lie to you and lead you to think you'll have a ready-to-be-published book in that time; as the title itself makes clear, this is about getting you through your first draft, and then working to improve what you have. So this book is an awesome find anytime you're writing a novel, no matter your time frame. 


The book is divided up into three sections. The first, 'Before the Draft', takes you through the process of preparing to write the novel; it covers everything from ideas to setting to characters to point-of-view to themes to the three-act structure. Each topic within the section defines terms, explains key concepts, and gives clear, concise advice on the topic; there are also questions and/or exercises to help you explore each topic as it relates to the specific book you want to write. The section finishes with several action-oriented chapters that take all of the concepts you’ve been exploring in the previous sections and helps you turn them into a list of scenes, along with a story plan. 


There is an immense amount of information in this first section; if you’re a beginning writer, it will introduce you to all of the basics you need to think about when writing your book. If you’re a more experienced writer, it will remind you to think about things you may be glossing over, give you tips for problem areas, or just help you think about things in a new way. One of the things I love about the book is the linked compare/contrast character charts, and her character interview lists; these replaced a bunch of others exercises I've been using but never found fully satisfying.  


Once armed with your characters, your list of scenes, and your story plan, you’re ready for section two, ‘During the draft’. Here you’ll find short daily readings designed to focus your thinking and your writing, along with a daily task. The task is a loose, general prompt designed to tune you in to some aspect of novel-building, and often includes more specific prompts or probes to get you going. The order of the prompts is designed to guide you through the novel gently: week one is 'Launching in', week two is 'A New Direction', week three is 'Deepen the plot' and week four is 'Race to the finish'. 


There is even a ‘cheat sheet’ that reduces the daily prompt exercises down to their bare bones to help guide you through the novel creation process.


This section kept me jazzed and motivated during last NaNoWriMo. It allowed me to keep firm contact with the forest during an event that can easily mire you in the trees. In fact, I bought this book only a few days before NaNoWriMo started, and didn’t have time to use the first section beforehand at all; I started each writing day with the short reading and the prompt, and finished each writing day by reading a little bit from the first section of the book. 


I like that the prompts were general enough in most cases to fit with wherever I found myself on a given day; there were no overly specific prompts like ‘Your main character finds a note in his backpack—write!’. What I mean by this is, most of the prompts can be used at any point in your novel-writing; for example, a prompt that reminds you to be aware of genre expectations is a good one to have in the back of your mind on any given day, no matter if you’re writing the beginning, middle, or end of your book. 


The final section, 'After the Draft', is short, and gives you some basic advice (along with suggested resources) for revising your novel. The first piece of advice is to put the novel (and the book!) aside for at least two weeks, and come back with fresh eyes; when you return, the book discusses several important issues to keep in mind while doing your read-through and revision.


When a single book covers most of the major elements of writing a novel AND gives you a targeted lesson for each of thirty days, there is a limit to how in-depth the information can be. Entire books have been written, for example, about developing characters, or how to use the three-act structure. But despite the limited space available for each, Jaden gives thoughtful, effective treatment to each. There is more than enough information to get the most novice writer prepped and ready to hit the ground running. 


In my last post I mentioned I’m neither a pure plotter or a pure pantser. I also don't write my novels in order. So how does a book like this work for me? I didn't find the book restrictive in any respect; it's not the sort of book that's going to make you write your first page on day one and your last page on day 30; I was all over the place while reading it during NaNoWriMo. I’ve also been reading it as I revise MMORPG; it reminds me of all the elements I need to be sure are in place as I’m doing my revision passes, and helps me deal with the bumps I find there. In one example, during my second read-through I realized I need to add two more witness characters, and I need them to be distinct from those I already have. The sections on character development and the compare-contrast charts have been very helpful as I work those parameters out.   


So, who is this book for? I think it's useful for anyone doing NaNoWriMo, anyone writing their first novel, and anyone who ever finds themselves banging their head on their keyboard wishing someone would just write a darn manual on how to write a book already. If any of these are you, Fast Fiction is worth a look, whether you’re hoping to write your book in thirty days or thirty weeks.

Happy writing!
M. 

Plotter nor Pantser: The evolution of a Pl-antser

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Hello, my name is Michelle, and I have a dark secret. 

I am neither a Plotter, nor a Pantser.

In case you've never heard these terms, a ‘Pantser’ is a person who writes their novel by the seat of their pants, with no preparation or pre-planning. They have an idea, maybe even sometimes only a character, and nothing more; on November 1st (these terms were originated with NaNoWriMo, or at least that's where I've experienced them), they sit down and start writing. On the other side, a ‘Plotter’ is a writer who does extensive preparation before putting pen to paper or finger to keyboard—outlines, character sketches and interviews, volumes of research. On November first, they surround themselves with their prep-work, and then write, write, write.

I’ve discovered I’m neither of these, but rather a hybrid of the two. And I suspect there are more out there like me, who don’t fit neatly into either category, and who aren’t quite sure where they belong. So I’m here today to stand up for all us Pl-antsers out there by describing for you how I pl-ants my novels.

My first novel: Discovering my twisted hybrid nature

Although I didn't know the approach had an official label then (I had no idea what ‘Pantsing’, ‘Plotting’, or even NaNoWriMo was), I started work on my first novel, Hazel-Green, in the ultimate Pantser way. I had an idea nugget and no clue where it would take me. I’d been researching my family tree and kept discovering intriguing ancestors in incredible situations; as a writer’s mind is wont to do, I started making up stories in my head about what their lives were like, and what characteristics and knowledge might have passed down from them to me. Then little bells went off in my head: that would be a cool book! Protagonist finds out about ancestors and it turns out that events in their lives, back to 300 years ago, are relevant to protagonist’s current life in a useful way.

That was all I had.

I started writing scenes based on a few of the ancestors I’d learned about, one in particular who was hanged for two murders. At first, I had a single Word file, with the story I was writing for that character. Then I added a second Word file dedicated to her great-great-great grandmother’s story, based on ancestors I had who immigrated from France to Quebec in the 1600s. At that point I was still firmly ‘pantsing’, and if I had Scrivener then (which I did not), my project would have looked like this:

As I wrote about the second character, I was inundated with ideas about how her experiences could plant seeds that would eventually lead to what my first character had done, and what the in-between generations would need to look like for that to work. The issues got complicated, and I decided I needed organization—time for some ‘plotting’, apparently. I pulled out a notebook, and put together what could (very generously) be called an outline, along with an exploration of the changes that would need to take place over the generations and the characters. In Scrivener terms (which I still didn’t have), it would have looked like this:  

Luckily, shortly after that point, I got Scrivener (and it completely blew my mind—but that’s another blog post). As I transferred what I had written into Scrivener, the ‘outline’ I’d put together in my notebook naturally came to live in the binder. And I was so excited playing with my new toy that I started creating scenes in different parts just because I could. I was ‘plotting’ and didn’t even know it. BUT. My outline was nowhere near complete, and there were whole sections that I had no idea what to do with. Yet, I went forward.

Enter my discovery of NaNoWriMo. That put me right back in pantsing mode—writing, writing, writing, writing, writing, despite the huge holes in my outline and in my thinking about the novel.

The more I wrote, the more ideas came to me about what I wanted to do with the current chapter, or the next chapter, or the themes I wanted to hit on in the book, or even new characters I needed. As I had these ideas, I’d create scenes or chapters or character descriptions in Scrivener as placeholders—sometimes with a sentence or two to capture my ideas on where to go, sometimes completely empty.

And when I’d finish with the current scene or chapter, or got bored or stuck, I’d go write whichever of those other scenes/chapters were calling to me. And as I wrote them, I’d have new inspiration for plot points and themes, and how to work out problems and holes. So I’d create more placeholders. Or I’d reorganize, because I realized a different order would work better. And then I’d write more.

And so it went; lather, rinse, repeat as needed until the first draft of my first novel was complete.  

Novels 2 & 3: Adapting my discovery

My second novel, MMORPG, about a serial killer who finds and seduces his victims in World of Warcraft, went essentially the same way; the one difference was that I had a tiny bit more organization to start with. And when I say ‘tiny’, I mean tiny: I knew there would be at least two murders, some police investigation, and an ending. When I started, my Scrivener binder looked about like this:

Then I started writing, and the same creative process unfolded. As I wrote, I’d get inspiration, which I’d build into my Scrivener binder; when a given scene called to me, I wrote it, which lead to more inspiration, which led to more structure in my Scrivener binder. Novel #3 (Accidental Divination) followed the path of her older siblings. 

And finally: Celebrating my process

I currently have the idea for my fourth novel waiting on deck; I’ve created a Scrivener project for it to record my thoughts until I have time to write it. Because it’s a sequel to Accidental Divination, I'm already aware of some of the elements it will need; the basic structure of the book will be similar and there are some plot points that follow up the first book. I have more than double the amount of pre-pants plotting than I’ve ever had before; there does seem to be variation for me depending on the project. But I know that the true development of the novel will come when I write, and my pantsing and plotting begin their delightful duet.


So am I recommending you try it my way? No, although you certainly can if you like. What I'm saying is, not everyone is a pantser or a plotter, and that’s okay. For me, my ‘plotting’ and ‘pantsing’ work together in tiramisu-like layers where luscious coffee-flavored pantsing seeps into rich ladyfinger plotting. For you, who knows? Try things out. See what works. Adapt. Go with your gut. And put the kabosh on anything that doesn’t work, including general conceptions of process that work for other people.

I’m going to end there, because for some reason I’m really craving an Italian dessert right now...

Happy Writing!

M.

Three excellent writing advice books

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Like most writers, I’ve been writing in one form or another since I was able to form letters.  And even when my academic career demanded mostly non-fiction articles and books, I still found an outlet for the more creative, fun side of my writing. But when I set out to write my first novel, I felt strangely unprepared. And when I decided I wanted to publish said novel and make a career of my fiction writing, I felt adrift in a sea of cluelessness. 

And whenever I feel like I don’t know enough about something, I turn to books. Go figure.

So as I was stealing my snippets of time here and there to write my novel, I also started stealing snippets of time to read advice books about writing. I have many favorites for different subjects within the writing-advice genre, but three stand out in my mind because they did so much to encourage me and ease me onto the path.

Stephen King’s On Writing

On Writing, By Stephen King

On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft This one is no surprise, everyone raves about it. But there’s a reason for that—it’s down-to-earth and incredibly useful. The first half of the book focuses more on his autobiography, the second more on what you’d think of as writing advice.

I found almost as much that was useful in the autobiography material as the rest. It’s easy to think of famous, prolific writers as these untouchable wizard-like beings who birth their creations by sneezing them out. And of course you can never live up to that, so why bother? So to read about the very real struggles of someone who has attained the mega-success that Stephen King has is food for the writer’s soul. All of those manuscripts written and copiously rejected, the manuscript for Carrie tossed into the garbage can—if these things happened to him, they don’t spell the end of the world when they happen to us.

But don’t get me wrong—the writing advice is beyond valuable as well. When I stared writing my novels, I had no idea what sort of process was going to work for me; writing research articles and books, even short stories, is very different from writing a novel. Luckily, I’m a big proponent of asking successful people how they accomplished what they did, and then trying what they say to do—so that’s what I did with this book. Stephen King says set your first draft aside for six weeks, and work on another project? Okay, I’ll try it. So I put the draft up on a shelf, and started playing around with an idea I had for another book. Six weeks later I had the needed distance to begin revising Book One, and I also had a completed draft of a second book. HOLY CRAP. It worked. And so began a cycle of revising and writing that keeps me productive in an effective way.

So much else has stayed with me in the same way. Advice on when and how to get feedback from others, when and how to revise, the importance of a writing routine, and so much more. Whether you’re just starting on a serious writing career or have several books under your belt, you’ll find that interesting and useful information abounds between these covers.

Anne Lamott’s Bird By Bird

Bird By Bird, Anne Lamott

This is another blended book, part autobiography, part writing advice. Lamott weaves her life and her advice together to varying degrees throughout the book. Sometimes she gives the advice straight-up, no chaser, like in her discussion of the basic formula for drama, and how to keep  your characters moving forward. Sometimes it’s given lyrically, embedded in life’s wisdom. The best example is the anecdote that gives the book its name. Her older brother had put off a report on birds for months, and was scrambling to get it done for school the next day. Beyond frustrated, he broke down because he had no idea how to get it all done. Their father gave him this advice: “Just take it bird by bird”. This approach has never failed me, in my writing life and out of it. If I look at everything that needs to be done, I want to curl up in a ball and suck my thumb. But if I break off just one piece and work on it…And then work on another piece…It gets done. Today this scene. Tomorrow that one. Before I know it, I have a book.

Simple. Beautiful. Powerful. Just like this book.

Another aspect I find continually valuable about Lamott’s book is the exploration of the writer’s life, the struggles and insecurities. When my self-doubt rears its pernicious head and I’m sure I can’t possibly write anything anyone would ever want to read, her honesty and insight never fail to make me feel ‘normal’. Not ‘normal’ as in the real world (that will never happen!) but ‘normal’ in the writing world. All writers have these issues; it doesn’t mean I’m talent-free and doomed to failure. And that helps me to pick myself up and move forward.

Lawrence Block’s Write For Your Life

Write For Your Life, Lawrence Block

Block has several writing books, most of which are compiled from his past writing-advice columns in Writer’s Digest. I recommend them all—they all give excellent insight over a variety of topics in a fun, engaging way. But Write For Your Life is my favorite for beginning writers, because it deals with the psychological stumbling blocks that beginning writers face (and that return periodically to plague experienced writers). Back in the day, Block used to lead a very successful writing seminar, and decided to write a book based on it. As much as possible, he made this book a written version of what is was like to actually be in the seminar, including meditations, affirmations, and exercises.

Yep, you heard me, meditations and affirmations—that was a revelation to me, too.

A major goal of the book is to get you past the fears that are holding you back and blocking your creativity. Turns out, simply naming your fears and writing them down can help you put them to bed, or at least make them take a little nap. And of course, there's much more dealing with those nasty little imps.

Meditation is an excellent way to allow your mind to disengage from other things, and engage with the writing you want it to do—a tool I’ve found very useful when I need to do my daily writing but my mind doesn’t want to cooperate. This book walks you through how to use a five-minute meditation to turn a potentially wasted day into a productive one.

If that sounds a bit too new-agey for you, don’t worry. There is certainly a new-age feel to much of the stuff. I thought so too at first, but luckily I have that whole try-what-successful-people-do thing going on, so I gave it a shot.  And you know what? It works. Don’t let some silly preconception stop you from getting the benefits. Maybe not every exercise will work for you, but something will, and it will be well worth the cost. :)

So there you have my three favorite writing books for beginning writers! They'll also likely be useful for more experienced writers, too. I have many more favorites in various content areas, and I’ll be reviewing them here as well. But as Julie Andrews sang, the beginning is a very good place to start.

Do you have any favorite writing books?

Happy Writing!
M

My first Pitch-O-Rama!

This weekend I took another step in my development as a writer—I participated in my first Pitch-O-Rama: two hour-long sessions of speed-dating for agents and writers.

And I was terrified.

I’ve learned how to write query letters, various lengths of synopses, and even 140-character twitter pitches. But to sit down in front of an agent with only a few minutes to convince them to take a look at my manuscript? I had no idea where to begin.


Luckily for me, the day started out with a mentoring session; I was in Betsy Graziani Fasbinder’s group, and she was amazing. She had each author in her group give their pitch, and then gave them pointers on how to efficiently and effectively communicate what was important about their particular project. She has a gift for quickly evaluating and re-tuning that makes you feel supported and empowered in a few minutes; I left our session feeling far more confident that I would be able to maximize the day's opportunities.


She also gave us some excellent general advice:

My terror before the mentoring...

• Take a moment to connect with the agent, even if just to ask how they are today. Don’t instantly jump into the pitch.

• If the agent seems to desperately need a moment to drink some water, catch their breath, etc., give it to them. Basic human decency is highly underrated, and highly appreciated. 

• Don’t read from notes, or memorize a spiel. Nobody likes that monotone and lack of connection that comes from reading/memorizing, and agents hate this. Know what you want to communicate, but have an authentic conversation. 

• Don’t give a plot synopsis. Communicate the essence of your project—genre, audience, core idea, why you're the right person to write it, and why it will sell.

• You’re looking for a match, not a sale. This was a huge revelation for me. You have a specific product to sell. They have a specific market they’re trying to buy for. The question is, is there a fit between you? It’s not personal if there isn’t, and it’s not about saying what they want to hear. You want to find the agent that can represent your book well, not trick an agent into looking at something that isn’t right for them.

• Open your body up and breathe.  Betsy explained that when you’re tense and sitting with your arms all crossed or pulled into yourself, you constrict your chest and breathe less easily, and all this makes it more likely you’ll get those shaky hands and knees. That makes you feel even more nervous, and makes you look nervous, too.

Not only did I find these events intimidating before today, I wasn’t sure how useful they were, regardless. I’m a complete convert. The truth is, agents know very quickly if they want your project or not, and this is a great way to sort through potential agents to find one who will actually be interested in your query. It’s also a great way for authors to get a feel for who the agent is as an individual; hours of research on the web can’t tell you if there is something about the person you will/won’t connect with—maybe you’ve heard an agent can be brusque and off-putting, but when you speak to her in person, you realize she just likes to cut to the chase. And for me, the event helped me hone my ability to think and talk about my project in ways that will transfer to other situations.


If you’ve never gone to one of these events, I encourage you to do so. And to help you with your first time, here’s some specific advice based on my experience:

They're just people like anyone else...

• Research the agents before you go. Determine which agents are the best potential matches for your project, and rank order them. Learn about who they are, not just what their wish-list is. At my event, if there were more than 10 people in line, I knew I wouldn’t get to see that agent, and I only had seconds to pick the next line before it filled up. Thank goodness I knew exactly who I wanted to see, and why.

• If there are opportunities to work with mentors, take them. Even if you think you’re pitch-perfect. A lot of what I thought would have been right turned out to be wrong--like giving any plot synopsis.

• If all the agents you want are booked for that session, talk to someone else, anyway. I spotted an agent who didn’t have anyone in her line, and asked if I could practice my pitch on her and see if she possibly knew anyone that might be interested in it. She was welcoming and helpful.

• Put your focus on honing your ability to pitch and navigate the event, not on how many agents request a query; you’re learning an important skill. Soak up everything you can, including any feedback about your project, your pitch, or the market. Ask questions about the current market if you have a chance. This way you’ll walk away with value even if you get no invitations to query; and, ironically, when you take the pressure off of yourself you'll perform better anyway. 

• Talk to other authors in line while you wait. Practice your pitch, and let them practice theirs. Listen. You never know when the person in line with you knows someone or something that can help you, or when you’ll know someone or something that can help someone else. An author in line behind me had a problem I knew the answer to, and it felt good to help someone else. 

So how did my day go? I learned a lot, and feel more confident in my ability to pitch my work. I also feel like I have another skill in my author tool-kit now. 

Oh, and got three invitations to query. Guess what I've been working on today? :)

Happy Writing!
M.

My short essay, Impossibly Tiny, has been published!

Hello!

Just a short note today because I'm excited to announce that my short essay (just under 800 words) has been published! It's called Impossibly Tiny, and it's the true story of a sick kitten I found and raced to save; he taught me an important life lesson I really needed at that point in my life.

If you'd like to read it, you can find it by clicking here, published in Elephant Journal. And here's a teaser shot of the kitten:

Little Neo about a week and a half after I found him. :)

Happy Reading!
M.

Adventures in Beta Reading

No author can write in a complete vacuum; we have to know how our writing is received by readers. What’s clear to you may be confusing to your readers; what seems subtle to you may be incredibly obvious to someone else. If you want to be a successful writer, you’re gonna need feedback. And since most beta-reading is done in manuscript swaps, you’re gonna have to give it, too.

I’ve gone through several rounds now both getting feedback from beta readers on my first novel, and acting as a beta reader for other writers. I’ve emerged older and (hopefully) wiser, thanks to quite a few mistakes. Here are some things I’ve learned along the way.

If you’re asking people to beta read for you:

(1) Don’t send out incomplete or unfinished work. This sounds contradictory—obviously the work isn’t ‘finished’ if you’re looking for feedback. What I mean is, if you know that you need to go back and tighten the writing up or fill in some of the dialog, don’t ask people to read the work yet. Fix all that stuff, and then send it out. Also, don’t send out a few chapters while you finish the rest. In order to get a true reaction, your reader needs to be able to read the entire thing in a way that flows naturally for them.

(2) Pick readers that are appropriate for your manuscript. Make sure your readers like your genre and are in your target demographic. If you have a 20-year-old male read a book intended for 40-year-old women, his feedback will not be helpful, and vice versa. If you’ve written a mystery and your reader hates mysteries, you're probably not going to get what you need.

(3) Pick readers that have the right skill-set. I’ve found that the best beta readers, by far, are other writers. People who are prolific readers can also be good. But friends who don't read much are probably not the best bet, even if they do want to do you a favor. Another ‘skill’ you need is the ability to be honest, so be careful when asking friends. If both of you are comfortable with the possibility of a negative reaction to your book, great. But if your friend is worried about how their honesty will impact your friendship, then they won’t be giving you real feedback anyway--so what’s the point?

(4) Give your readers a time-frame. Ask them if they can get back to you by a certain date; if they can't, thank them, but find someone else. Once you're underway, send your readers a reminder about a week before your due date—time flies, and they may have forgotten. If you haven’t received feedback by the due date, send a gentle e-mail asking about the status; if you still don't hear back or they don't follow through after another week, find another reader. Don't make the mistake of thinking, "oh, I'll give them just one more week/month...", without asking someone else in the meantime. If the original reader does get back to you, great! But if they don't, you'll be out of luck if you haven't asked anyone else.

(5) Specify what you want from your readers. If you are looking for feedback on what works and what doesn’t, but don’t yet need feedback on typos/grammar, make that clear to your readers. Otherwise you may get back a line-edited manuscript that gives no insight into whether or not you’ve told your story effectively.

(6) Use at least three beta readers. A widely bandied-about principle regarding feedback is the ‘rule of two’: if two people agree that something needs to change, you should consider changing it. So two should be enough, right? Wrong. If you only have two readers, you risk ending up in a situation where the two readers disagree on some, if not all, of their feedback (yes, this has happened to me!). And then all you can do is stare at the feedback and wonder whose you should take, until your head explodes. And brains are really hard to get out of the carpet. With three readers, you have a built in tie-breaker. And if you can get more than three—awesome!

(7) Remember you don’t have to take any suggestion you don’t agree with. Just make sure you aren’t rejecting it out of stubbornness, fear, or hurt. Consider it with an open mind, maybe even do some re-writing with the suggestion in mind, and if you just believe the suggestion doesn’t work, go with your gut. It’s your piece/book, and you’re the one that has to proudly hand it to agents/publishers.

(8) Don’t take the feedback personally. People aren’t spending hours of their time just to hate on you. Seriously now. And if they are, they have waaay worse problems than you do. Always assume the reader is trying to help you, because they really are.

(9) Thank your readers in a genuine way. I’ve had people not respond when I sent my feedback, and I’ve had very passive-aggressive responses that thanked me but let me know they were upset  about what I'd said. On the other hand, I’ve had lots of people thank me in a way that let me know they really appreciated my time and my insight. Since I don’t have time to beta read for everyone who asks me—guess who I’ll be willing to read for again?

If you’re beta reading for someone: 

(1) Remember that this is extremely important to the author. Not important like ‘Hey, can you stop on your way and pick up some ice?’ but important like ‘This is my livelihood and may make the difference in my ability to pay rent.’. If you say you’re going to get back to them in a month and it takes you six months, that’s a five month delay to their potential paycheck. You might be thinking ‘Hey! I’m doing them a favor!’ You are ONLY IF you take it seriously and do it in a timely fashion; otherwise, you’re doing damage. This isn’t checking a book out of the library and forgetting to read it before it’s due. Imagine how you’d feel if your paycheck was sent to a friend, and for months they kept forgetting to bring it to you. Not cool, right? Neither is making your author wait months for your feedback when they’re trying to write and publish a book.

(2) Be honest with yourself and them. If you are worried that you can’t be honest with them, or you know there’s no way you can get it done in the time frame they’re requesting, don’t agree to read for them. If you truly believe you can and then something changes, tell them as soon as you can so they're able to get someone else to do it. Keep that paycheck metaphor in mind.

(3) If you’re not sure what your writer wants from you, ask them. Maybe they weren’t very clear to start with, or maybe you’d had one too many margaritas when you were talking about it with them. Either way, ask what they need from you, don’t guess.

(4) Respect your author’s writing process. If they tell you they aren’t ready to edit for typos and grammar yet, don’t send them back a manuscript edited for typos and grammar. Your author may have to completely rewrite scenes and even delete entire scenes; they will be putting new things in and taking old things out. No matter what, by the time they do what needs to be done, your line-editing (typo/grammar feedback) is obsolete. But during a final round of feedback, catching typos and grammar errors may be crucial. Just don’t waste your time and theirs doing the wrong thing at the wrong time.

(5) Respect your author’s feedback process. Imagine this: you just sat in a big pile of something really gross and didn’t realize it. You’d want someone to tell you so you can fix it, but that doesn’t mean it's the most pleasant moment in your day, right? You’d probably have an ‘oh crap!’ moment, run to fix it, and then be very, very grateful. Along the same lines, writers want to know what isn’t working, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to instantly yell “Woo-hoo! I’ve never been so happy in my life, this feels so good!’ when they find out what it is. It’s a serious moment, and they may need a little time and space to read, think, and process. Trust that they know how to do this in a way that works for them. If they ask for your feedback in writing, don’t insist on giving it face-to-face over coffee, and if they want it face-to-face, don’t insist on giving it over text message. Some authors want a written record of your feedback so they can go back and consult it repeatedly as they work. Some authors want the vocal and visual cues from your face when you tell them what you think. Unless it’s extremely inconvenient for you, honor their wishes.

(6) Re-read your comments before sending. Remember things come off harsher in writing, and remember that you can be honest without being harsh or cruel. And always-always-always remember that your author wants to know what worked as well as what didn't. Find something nice to say, and make sure that even the negative is couched in terms of 'this can be improved' rather than 'this sucks'.

(7) Don’t be offended if your writer doesn’t make the changes you suggest. This doesn’t mean they aren’t grateful, they are. But there are many reasons why they might choose to go a different direction. Maybe you felt something was too obvious, but all their other readers were stymied. Maybe a scene was too gory for you, and made you want to vomit—but that’s exactly the reaction they were going for. Maybe you’re just far more insightful and awesome than the average reader. Your author is trying to make decisions that work, based on a variety of opinions, including yours.


Above all, whether you're the reader or the writer, remember that you've been given a compliment, and you are valued. Someone is trusting you with their blood, sweat and tears, or someone is giving up their precious time to help you. Keep that close to your heart no matter which role you're playing. :)


Happy writing!
M.

The power of the free-write

The first time a teacher asked me to free-write, my reaction was fairly typical—you want me to what? Why? 

It’s very counterintuitive. Sit and write, even though you don’t know what to sit and write? Even if you’re just writing ‘I don’t know what to write’? No matter what, keep going? What good can that possibly be?


Ah, young Padawan. I had so much to learn.

Since those days, I’ve learned the power of the free-write, and it’s now one of my most valued tools—it’s my life-line, in fact. And I believe it answers at least two of the big questions that all writers get repeatedly pelted with.



“Don’t you ever get writer’s block?”


I no longer believe in writer’s block, and free-writing is one of two reasons why (the other is NaNoWriMo and how it gave me permission to turn off my internal editor). When I find myself sitting staring at a screen, I instantly start to free-write. It usually goes something like this: 

“Argh, why can’t I think of anything to write here? I can see the scene in my mind with all the trees and the water in the background, but for some reason I just can’t figure out what the two characters are gonna do here while they have their conversation. It feels stupid to have them just stroll by the riverside, but maybe I could have them find a tiny path or something…”

…And next thing I know I’m writing about a path that has an interesting hut at the end, and I’m off and running. Sometimes it happens almost immediately, sometimes not, but I’ve never had a free-write take more than four or five minutes to bring up an idea I can latch on to. It doesn’t have to be a perfect idea—I can adapt it later, but usually I don’t have to. Either way, it gets the writing flowing, and I have a productive session. The key is DO NOT STOP, keep writing until you get something you like. In the two years since I started doing this, I have never had it fail. 


“Where do you get your ideas from?”

Generally speaking, I’ve found the whole plot-bunny thing to be true: once I have one or two, they multiply, and mostly I just have to jot them down before I forget them. But there are still times when I have no ideas, or none that are appropriate for what I need to work on that day. 

For example, I just started a writing challenge for March (#MarWritingChallenge), and need to write 500 words each day for each day in March. But, I am at a revision-heavy place right now, so hadn’t put a whole lot of thought into what I’d write during the challenge. After knocking out the flash fiction ideas I had sitting around, I thought I’d start writing my fourth book, which I’m hoping will be a sequel to the last book I wrote. Only problem: I didn’t have a central murder plot.

So I sat down and and started a free-write; when I do this sort of free-write, I also make generous use of the ‘What-if-Yes!-And’ technique. (I don’t know who originated this because I’ve seen it in several places and couldn’t find the answer when I searched for it; if you know, please tell me so I can credit.) How it works is, ask yourself ‘What if’ questions, and always answer with ‘Yes! And…’, no matter how ridiculous the questions or the answers seem in the moment. So it might go like this:

“What if Semarra got hit in the head with a fish? Yes! And she turns around to see who threw it at her, and it turns out to be this guy she went to high school with. And what if she’d had a crush on that guy in high school? Yes! And it turns out he had a crush on her, too. And what if he’s in Cypress Grove to try to find his biological parents because he just found out he’s adopted? Yes! And they live there but then when he goes to meet his mother, he finds out she died that morning, from what looks like food poisioning? Yes! But of course it isn’t really food poisoning, and…”

(I literally just wrote that right now, trying to come up with an example for this blog post, and I love the idea it generated--I’m going to tuck it away for future use!)

Again, it doesn’t always happen so quickly, but I’ve never had it take very long. When I did my free-write the other night, I came up with a plot I love and a basic skeleton for how to turn it into a book--in fourteen minutes. Don’t get me wrong, there is still a LOT of work to be done even just sorting out the basic plot, but I now have a good, solid idea I didn’t have before. All because of a free-write.

And in the example above, I came up with a new idea I like—someone searching for their biological parent discovers the parent was recently murdered—a mere three sentences after starting out with a completely ridiculous starting premise of getting hit in the head with a fish. Why did I start with the fish? No idea, other than fish was the last meal I cooked, so I had fish on the brain. Imagine how much better your free-write will turn out when it starts off with a decent, if hazy, first question?

So what happens if you start writing and you follow your path and it leads to a dead end? No dead ends. Keep writing that next sentence, even if you think it’s complete nonsense. 

And what if you come up with a better idea while you’re answering one of your questions? Hey, let’s not get crazy now. Go with the better idea, of course. That’s what this whole thing is about—to allow your brain to come up with a good idea. Grab it, run with it—write it. 


So why does it work?

When you sit staring at the screen, your brain is, essentially, freezing up. Or worse, you’re putting all your energy into telling yourself you suck. That just activates the self-loathing part of the brain, and who needs more of that?  But when you start to write, no matter what you’re writing, each word activates related words and concepts in your brain. These then activate others, and start to play around with other words and concepts and anything else you’ve been thinking about recently, making this awesome word/concept/idea stew. So the more you write the more things you can think of to write, which activates more thoughts, which then activates a bunch more. It’s sort of like when you’re browsing in a library or bookstore; your eyes flit over different books until one captures your attention, and you pick it up and page through it. Something in it reminds you of a book you saw online the other day, so you go look for that. Next to it is another book that looks really cool, so you pick up that one, and so on—only during a free-write, the ‘books’ you’re picking up and considering are ‘words’ and ‘concepts’, which trigger ‘ideas’. The first ones may not be very helpful, but before too long, you’ll find something you want to check out.

So the next time you find yourself with a precious half-hour to write and your brain seizes up, don’t shake your fist at the universe in frustration. Start writing about how you want to shake your fist at the universe in frustration…and before you know it, something good will be popping out in those words of yours. 



Happy Writing!
M.