Category Archives: Writing

Writing

Inspiration from the mental stew

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So, I haven’t started looking at my manuscript yet. Yes, I know I said I would, but I haven’t. Still, it isn’t a bad thing for me to let it breathe for awhile. It’s been stewing in my mind and inspiration has struck!

While working on my synopsis, I realized that events need to be tightened. At one point Amaris, who is a cantella trying to save people from the Destroyer before Mavelle gets there, is found and led to a hidden city. This woman is a servant of the force that eventually helps Mavelle. Then later Amaris runs into Mavelle and that’s how Mavelle gets to the city. Well, I thought, that’s just too convenient. Tavin is already having these dreams earlier in the book, I should use them to lead Mavelle where she needs to go. I can cut the scenes where Amaris goes ahead. She can still meet Mavelle and Tavin at the same point, but I’ll have to rework some of what she’s doing before then. Anyway, once I figure it all out, it should be a tighter story, but there will have to be some reworking.

The other thing I thought of was the awkwardness of some of the revelations that come to Mavelle. I think if Wilhenn, the expert in everything the Order knows about the cataclysm and what life was like before, was given enough clues, he could help put things together. For example, the keeper of the spiral, might not only be guarding the spiral but other things, such as a book, or fragments, things in a language that they have forgotten how to read, but Wilhenn might be able to. Anyway, it’s a thought.

Probably the most difficult thing about my story is explaining all the stuff that the characters don’t know, but need to find out. I guess I need to thing about exactly what they DO need to know and what they don’t.

On a side note: I am reading Sebastian by Anne Bishop because she is one of Jennifer Jackson’s clients. I haven’t gotten very far yet, but I am disappointed to see that there is a force in the story’s world called “The Eater of the World” who is escaping from a prison. This is unfortunately similar to my Destroyer who is escaping from his prison and has an army of Eaten. sigh. There is even the concept of something being divided. In this case The Light and The Dark. In my case The Mother and the Destroyer. Well, I’ll just have to hope all the OTHER stuff in my book is original enough in concept or combination.

Writing

Revision Goals

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My mind is already spinning with all the things I need to do to fix my manuscript, and there are many. Right now I’m mainly thinking of big things like combining characters, adding a character, fixing a subplot. I’ll think about smaller things like adding more description, avoiding the passive voice and not repeating information to the reader later.

1. Combine the characters of Wilhenn and Jorrniss. Wilhenn’s character is to provide conflict; he is someone who causes trouble for Mavelle. Jorrniss’s main purpose is to provide information, though he also helps Mavelle deal with Wilhenn. I think one character can perform both these roles and also be more interesting. If Wilhenn doesn’t like Mavelle, doesn’t believe in her, it will be MORE interesting for him to end up being the one to provide so much useful information.

2. Figure out what to do about the gods. In earlier drafts of my manuscript, there are “interludes” from the gods’ POV in which they discuss their plans. These are very short and most readers disliked them. I stopped using them for the last 2/3 of the novel and am not sure they would fit as well there anyway. But without the Interludes, I feel the first part of the book is lacking something. Also the purpose and actions of the gods become more inscrutable to the reader without them. If I bring Benny’s POV up earlier in the novel this could help take care of this, BUT I’d need to someone work in the gods into conversations with his brother. I’m not sure about this. Perhaps it is enough for Mavelle to be thinking about the purpose of the gods’ actions?

3. Expand on the sections of Benny’s POV and move them closer to the beginning of the novel. I need to introduce the character of Lovak in these sections and develop Chera’s character more early as she becomes more important later, more important than i thought she’d be.

4. The earlier scenes from Amaris’s POV need to be reworked some to make her sound older, more confident and drop hints about what could otherwise be an unfair surprise later.

5. Mavelle’s relationship with Tavin needs to be worked on. I think I can build tension without being so explicit early on. It will bring more impact to the scene where they finally get together if there aren’t so many make-out scenes earlier. I’m definitely keeping the one in the cave however.

6. I think Rylin will be more effective if I introduce him later and make him Chera’s husband rather than her brother. That way I can take him out of the Sharlis incident and clean that whole sequence up some. I think he can be introduced in Hydrelt instead. He will have been pestering the cantellissima there for help and either she can bring him and Mavelle together or it can come as a surprise.

7. Bea’s character needs to be move developed. After she serves her purpose I kind of drop her. If that’s all she’s good for, I should find out some other way to do it and cut her. Otherwise she needs a more important role in the end.

8. Georth needs to be more developed as well, I think.

9. There is a dip in tension between when they reach Hydrelt and they flee for the hidden city. I think this will be helped by introducing Rylin later, but I need to make sure the story keeps moving here.

10. The other men from Brom need to be move developed so when they die it is more painful. I’m not sure how I will do this, but it needs to be done.

I’m sure there are many other things that I will think of, but this is plenty enough for me to start with. All right, my plan of attack. I’m going to read through the whole manuscript, noting places where I can do some of these things and other places where the tension is low or there are problems, without actually stopping to fix them. Once I have done that read through, then I will go through and work on all these things.

There we go. Time to get started.

Writing

So what’s your book about anyway?

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I started writing the next post about all the things I need to do to revise my manuscript and realized that absolutely none of it would make sense unless I first gave at least an overview of what my book is about. Well, here is the pitch paragraph of my query to agents (that I can hopefully send out soon!):

SONG OF THE PROPHECY is set in a world where the gods have demanded exorbitant amounts of sacrifice for hundreds of years, causing devastating natural disasters when they don’t get what they want. Only the cantelli, women with power in their voices, have been able to keep the gods from wreaking complete havoc. When a mysterious god starts demanding human sacrifice, the cantella Mavelle is told that she is the one prophesized to defeat him. Despite the wealth being a cantella has brought her, Mavelle longs for a normal life. With her desire for freedom eating at her willpower and her voice her only weapon, will she be able to destroy a god?

On her journey Mavelle fights the gods, falls in love, discovers an ancient power and makes some sacrifices of her own. I don’t want to give too much way here. I want everyone to read the whole thing when it’s published. *crosses fingers* The synopsis that I’m having a horrible time with will give away the ending, of course, because that’s what agents want.

Feel free to comment and let me know what you’d do if you were an agent. Would you request a partial manscript from me?

Writing

I’M FINISHED!!

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I’ve finished writing the 1st draft of my book!! I’m so happy. Finally. Finally. It’s been so long since I finished one, I’ve forgotten how good it feels.

Now I just have to revise the whole thing. At least the first six or so chapters are in pretty polished condition. That’s something at least. (And the part I’ll be sending out to agents!)

But enough thinking about that. I’m getting ahead of myself. Now is the time to celebrate. Well, first to sleep. and then to celebrate. whoo hoo!

Anyway, here’s my stats:

genre: fantasy (of course–what else is there? j/k)
Time from original germ of an idea: 10+ years
Time from serious start on manuscript: approx. 2 years, 5 months
Length in page: 491
Length in words: about 150,000

Whoo hooo!

Writing

Writer’s Block

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Actually I don’t believe in “writer’s block” in the way people traditionally define it. At least not for me. I believe that other people believe in it and I suppose I should feel more sympathetic towards them, but most of the time when I’m going through something like writer’s block it’s more out of sheer laziness on my part than anything else and I assume if a writer really buckled down, they’d get over it.

However. That is not to say that I don’t get clogged now and then. And this I am sympathetic about, because I feel it always stems from a reason. And if you look at that reason, you can unclog yourself and start writing again. There are two types of clogs: idea clogs and flow clogs.

Idea clogs happen when you can’t think of anything to write about. I would suggest that you have an idea before you sit down to write, coming up with one on the spot can indeed be difficult. The trick is to be sponge. Open yourself to material while you are reading, watching TV, listening to the radio, talking to your friends and family. Soak it all in and if you have the glimmer of an idea, ANY idea, WRITE IT DOWN. It doesn’t have to be good now, you just don’t want to forget that you had it. The act of writing it down will reinforce it in your memory and while it’s there in your head it will bump and mingle with all the other ideas you have and eventually when you need to squeeze something out ideas will come.

Or if this doesn’t work and you still have trouble thinking of ideas, there are all sorts of writing prompts that you can use. Or you can pick some technique a favorite author uses and try and imitate it, starting with the technique first rather than an “idea.”

This probably isn’t very helpful, because I don’t usually have a problem with ideas. I have more fantasy novels in my head than I’ll probably be able to write in a lifetime.

The other type of clog is the flow clog. This happens to me a lot. It’s happening to me right now actually. This is what happens when you are writing something and for some reason you lose the thread or the spark and it stops flowing. For me this state results from one of two things. Either I have just lost focus and/or are avoiding writing for some reason that has nothing to with the story at all or there is something wrong with what I have written before or what I am planning on writing that my subconscious recognizes needs to be fixed before I continue. Sometimes if I identify to myself what the problem is and promise to fix it later, I can continue. Sometimes I can’t.

This is where strength of will comes in. If it is a lack of focus, I just have to buckle down and do it. If I sit in front of the computer for two hours and actually try to write, word WILL come, probably close to 2,000 of them, it it’s a work in progress, but if I don’t give myself that time because I’m not focused the words don’t have a chance. If it’s a problem I see, there may be something to letting my subconscious stew on the problem for awhile, but eventually, I have to again actually sit down and focus on what the problem is.

Writing is hard. Anyone who doesn’t think so hasn’t tried it. But blaming lack of progress on “writer’s block” instead of taking responsibility for your process, will not help you move forward. Identify what kind of clog you have and start plunging! Take control of your writing. It might be slow at first, but eventually, the flow will come back.

Writing

Reflections on the semester

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The semester is finally over. I handed in my last few assignments yesterday and sometime soon the fact that I’m actually finished and graduating will sink in. Until then, I can at least reflect on this past semester and what I’ve learned.

1. Reading classic or influential writers and trying to emmulate their writing can help you learn a lot. We read Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary, Ernest Hemingway’s In Our Time and Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse. I think I got some good material from the exercises I did for class, some of which really forced me to sit down and think about description, which, as one of my weaknesses, was very good for me.

2. When I am distracted by things that are going on (or a person who isn’t going on) in my personal life, it is very difficult for me to write anything not required for class.

3. I can be anal-retentive when in comes to completeing homework assignments, especially ones involving improving my own work. This is a good quality when it comes to revision.

4. A query letter and a synopsis are much harder to write than it would seem.

5. Short stories still aren’t my favorite thing to read or write, but I do respect ones written well.

6. Getting published is very hard to do and requires not only good writing, but most of the time luck as well. This doesn’t keep me from believing that it will happen to me someday.

These are just some highlights. I actually learned a lot more. I’m sad that I won’t have the chance to keep learning, but I can’t stay in school forever; it’s too expensive.

Now I’ll have a lot more free time to do things I haven’t had time to do, like theater and reading. I can write more and start the huge project which is revision. I need to finish my Web site. I guess once the holidays are over, I’ll still have plenty to do, I just won’t be graded on it.

Writing

I think it’s working now

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I was just about asleep last night when inspiration struck! So of course i had to wake up and write for an hour. The problem was that I was trying to write the story the way I always have, but just alternating viewpoints in one scene. That wasn’t working. What I did was take a step back and added some distance, a narrator-type voice at the beginning of the piece and that helped me slide into what I think will work in terms of character thoughts and emotions. I didn’t get as far as I would have liked (it was late!) but there was definitely forward progress and I think i now have a section good enough to read in our Virginia Wolfe class on Thursday.

Now, I just need to finish the story while making sure to include some “stillness” description and counterpoint a la Flaubert and Madame Bovary and some layered detail description a la Hemingway. I don’t think my language will be the same as Hemingway, necessarily, that might now fit the piece, but I think I can use the technique. Maybe. If not, the other stuff should be enough.

I’m actually getting excited! I’m happy about that because it’s been awhile. I always let my personal life have too much influence on my writing life. But I will not bore anyone with all that here.

Writing

So I don’t think my short story is working…

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Last week I set a goal to either write something new or rewrite something significantly for my class tonight. I started writing a short story that I’ve been thinking about for awhile now (it covers a significant event in the back story of one of the characters in my novel). I also decided that I would use this short story to display all the nifty techniques we learned in my other class, including the shifting emotional consciousness of Virginia Wolfe’s To the Lighthouse.

So far, I don’t think it’s working very well. I’ve never written from a more omniscient-like POV before (i.e. shifting from one character’s head to another’s in one scene). I usually write in third person, but stay with one character for a whole scene. Anyway, I don’t like what I have so far. I don’t know if that’s because I’m not getting the inner voices of the characters right, or if it’s too choppy. There’s something wrong. Which is all right because I don’t have to turn the story in for grading until next Thursday (but that’s along with 2 other things I haven’t started yet, sigh).

But tonight I have to give what I have writen now over for my other class to look at and pretend they are editors. In a way, that’s good, because I may get some useful comments. But in another way that’s bad because they might not like it and then I’ll feel bummed.

And I’ve been feeling bummed a lot recently. And for no good reason at all.

Ok, bright side. They probably won’t hate it. I’m not getting graded on it or anything. I can completely change it if it doesn’t go over well. I should NOT let myself get worked up over this. I must remember to breathe.

Writing

Trying not to take it personally…

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but rejection sucks.

I knew I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up (remember how short stories aren’t my natural form?) but I guess I did. I think the fact that this particular story did well in a recent Writer’s Digest competition spoiled me.

It’s a strange story because it doesn’t have a normal structure or characters, and I have thought of ways to make it more “normal,” but I think the coolest thing about it is the fact that it’s different and so far I’ve refused to change it.

So are my author’s instincts correct and it should stay the way I have it, even though it might never get published? Or should I work on revising it to fit people’s expectations before sending it out again?

Writing

Short Stories

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<>
Short stories don’t attract me like novels do. I can admire them. I can appreciate the crafting of a good one. But I don’t seek them out. I can’t get immersed in a short story like I can a novel. I just don’t enjoy them as much.

Recently, however, I’ve been forced to read more of them while doing research and assignments for my course on publishing and also my other literature class. Obviously, like most MFAs, my program focuses on studying literary fiction, but they are nice enough to let me write whatever I want. Normally I don’t get many ideas for short stories. I have a ton of ideas for fantasy novels, a series of contemporary romance novels, and even an idea for a literary novel, but short stories have never come to me as easily.

But now, at the end of the semester when I have a TON of work to do and a novel to finish and revise, I’m coming up with ideas for new stories or ways to revise my other short stories to make them better (which is even worse because the urge to work on those is stronger).

I know what you’re thinking. Why should I complain? lol.

< /vent >

GOAL: I have to bring in a short work of fiction next week for one of my classes. I will either write something new or significantly revise something.