Fiction City

So Long 2010

2010-12-30T07:14:00.004-06:00

I haven't blogged the second part of 2010 as I was busy cooking up these nuggets!

I did manage to read a few books, and a list of my favs are on StoryStudio Chicago's blog, Cooler by the Lake.

Here's to a happy new year and a return to writing in 2011!

Trying a Story on For Size

2010-06-02T08:37:00.002-05:00

I've been tinkering with my writing process, hoping to learn what works for me as a writer and what doesn't as I (hopefully) grow in my writing skills and process. I'm halfway into a new novel, but when I reached that midpoint I hit a bit of a standstill. I wondered if my seat-of-my-pants approach might be doing me a disservice and I should try a different method. I thought it might be time to *gasp* plan.

But when I tried to think out the rest of my novel, it just didn't take. I had ideas in my head of a few ways the story could end, a handful of obstacles I could throw at my characters. But that was about as far as I could take it. When I sat down with the intention to plan major plot points, or draft deeper character sketches, I came up with nothing. So much nothing I stopped writing anything at all.

And then one day, while reading, an idea popped into my head. I wrote a scene, short but sweet. A couple days later I wrote another one. And it all started to gather momentum, and I've gotten back on the writing horse. I'm quite relieved, and really glad to confirm that those thoughts of "I should just give up writing" were temporary moments of insanity.

So I realized yesterday that I have a certain writing style, and that style keeps me writing, and writing makes me happy, so maybe I should just stick with what works instead of trying to invent something new.

The best way I can describe my writing process -- just sitting down and typing and seeing what comes out -- is that it's like shopping. When I go shopping, I often have an idea in mind of what I'm looking for. A dress for a special occasion, new shorts for the summer, cute weekend tops. That's all I know, and that's enough. Then when I get into a store, I grab anything and everything that I might even consider draping on my body.

I go into the fitting room with clothes spilling over my arms. And I try it all on for size. Some clothes that look adorable on the hanger look terrible on me. Too boxy, color washes me out, pants are too long. And then some clothes are okay, take a few turns in the mirror to consider, and get temporarily assigned to the "maybe" pile. And then there are those gems that are a perfect fit. You know with that first glance in the mirror that the dress is to die for.

And that's what my writing style is like -- I just can't tell what will happen next until I sit down and type it out. I need to constantly try my story on for size. Some scenes are awful and need to be deleted. Some scenes have potential, but you know they need more work. And then there are those scenes that push the plot forward, reveal deeper layers of your character, and burst with beautiful language.

I'm not a plotter. I can't order clothing from a catalog either. These are things that I know and accept about myself, so there's no sense in fighting them. As long as I keep writing, I have to believe that some great story somewhere is bound to evolve. I'll discover the story that's a perfect fit.

Writers Group Guest

2010-04-02T10:47:00.000-05:00

What would get me driving through the crummy Colorado snow on a day when it hit 83 degrees in Chicago? A writer's group. I've been on a family ski vacation in Steamboat Springs this week, and as I'm not a skier, I've been looking for other ways to pass the time when everyone else is up on the slopes.

So I've spent the week reading and writing, just like at home. As I was looking through a visitor's guide, I found a listing for the Steamboat Springs Writer's Group. They welcome drop-ins and visitors, so I schlepped through the snow to hang out with writers.

The group was wonderful. About 10 or 12 members attended today, but they sometimes get up to 20. This group has been around for more than 25 years and they meet every Thursday. Folks read their work -- up to ten minutes -- and there's a brief discussion of their work afterward. It's not a hearty critique like I'm used to in writing workshop, but people offer off the cuff reactions and insights.

I read the opening scene of my current novel, just three pages. I received feedback that I should get to the crux of the story sooner. Even with three pages, they wanted the story to move faster. Some folks disagreed with that, but the topic was debated enough to signal that it's something to think about it.

And I've heard so many different ways of saying that an author owns her work, and you can certainly ignore any critique comments you like. But in this group, Cesare gave a unique interpretation of this rule that I will never forget. He said, "If you don't like our comments, just flush 'em!"

They invited me to coffee afterward, and I sat and chatted with these writers who live on ranches or ski every Sunday -- a completely different set of writers than I'd ever met. It was a wonderful experience. If you're ever in Steamboat Springs, check them out on Thursdays at noon at The Depot. They'll be happy to have you.

All About My Writing Home

2010-03-31T15:50:00.002-05:00

I'm excited to share this article about StoryStudio Chicago, my writing home that I often gush about here. I've taken creative writing classes at StoryStudio Chicago for about three years and work there part-time as the Events Coordinator.

And did you see that great nugget of news at the end of the article my non-Chicago writer friends? StoryStudio Chicago will be offering online classes in the future! So even if you're not local to Chicago, you can soon take part in the supportive and challenging writing community that StoryStudio provides.

Olive Kitteridge

2010-03-17T08:05:00.004-05:00

I just finished reading Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout, and it was one of my favorite reads in recent years. I read Strout's debut novel, Amy and Isabelle, years ago, and found it breathtaking.

Olive Kitteridge is a novel in stories, mostly centered around the oafish and oblivious Olive, a schoolteacher and pharmacist's wife, but also the folks who live in her small Maine town. I love character-driven stories and this book is all about character. Each short story has its own story arc, and is beautiful independently.

But through the collection of stories, the reader follows Olive wading through life with oblivion, anger, and sadness. Yet it's her brief moments of self-awareness -- she is very observant, but about everyone else and rarely herself -- that are startling in their simplicity.

Strout won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for this beautiful book. I think it's a must-read for writers who want to study the art of characterization.

Story Ideas: Do You Find Them or Do They Find You?

2010-03-09T15:21:00.004-06:00

A writers group I belong to asked to do a profile on me, and one of the questions was, "Where do you get the ideas for your stories?"

I didn't have a glamorous answer, just that sometimes I have a fuzzy idea of a character, or maybe an opening line. I sit down and type and see what happens.

I've been sitting down and typing and seeing what happens to my current WIP, although this time I have a few more ideas of what I want or need to write about next, a rough bulleted list of plot points I know the story will hit. I just don't know how the story will get there or what the characters will do at those points. I just write and hope that these folks I've created know enough by now to keep causing trouble.

How about you? Do you get ideas for stories, or do you show up and see what happens?

Out of Order

2010-02-23T10:06:00.002-06:00

I'm 27,000 words into my current work in progress -- over a fourth of the way complete with a first draft. One might say this is a minor milestone to be slightly proud of, but I'm skeptical. Instead of jumping up and down and glowing about how many words I have on the page, I know (and it took me two other novels to learn this) that now is a pretty good time to stop and see if I need to do some course correction.

I've done a lot of experimenting with this novel. I'm writing this draft super slow, with these long, leggy sentences. So my word count is not shooting up that high, which makes me nervous. But, I know that this is the best first draft I've ever had.

I'm also writing from multiple points of view. This story revolves around two couples, and I'm telling the story from each of these folks' POV. I did this at first as an experiment, to get to know all my characters better. But then I liked the concept and decided to stick with it. I've had fifty pages in front of my workshop group, and the jury is still out on whether or not this is effective. The most helpful feedback is that I'm not spending a long enough time with each character, and that's been an easy fix. I'm sticking with it for now.

But the thing I'm doing most differently with this WIP is that I'm writing my scenes out of order. I've heard people talk about doing this before and I thought they were out of their minds. But now I get it. I have, for once, an idea of the plot of this story. So I wanted to write out key scenes and see what they felt like. Then I've been going back and filling in the gaps.

Yet now I wonder if this is harmless and I can keep drafting this way, or if it's a lousy idea and I should just knock it off. Does anyone write this way? Have you tried and it found it to be a disaster? Or has it been an effective writing technique for you? I'd love to hear any and all advice!

Waiting Out Winter

2010-02-11T09:14:00.001-06:00

The romantic part of winter in Chicago is long gone. I’ve forgotten the excitement I felt at the first fresh snow. How smoothly it blanketed the streets. I loved looking out the window, past the Christmas tree and onto the snowy streets.

Now, it’s just a game of endurance. Now it’s the days where the snow squeaks under your shoes and it sounds like nails on a chalkboard. Or days when it’s so cold, too cold to snow, and the trees are bare and the air feels blank except that it’s biting your cheeks. The new scarf that was cute and warm in November now smells like mildew and snot.

And maybe, if you’re like me, you question why you even live in a city with such awful weather. Why do you even put yourself through it? But maybe, on a good day, you can summon up memories of the perfect summer day where you linger at a beer garden with friends, or have a nighttime picnic, or go for an extra long run along the lakefront. And you remember why you’re willing to wait out winter.

So as I begin the querying process, I wonder if it’s just like waiting out winter. Those cold days, weeks, months of waiting to hear a response from an agent. Of hoping for a request for a partial, or better yet a full, or, the dream of dreams, representation. But some weeks, all you get are more rejections. Some weeks, all you get is more snow.

And you wonder why you go through it all. But then you remember that if you work hard enough, if you keep at it and don’t give up, an offer will arrive. Summer will arrive.

What Reality TV Can Teach Us About Writing

2010-02-02T09:44:00.002-06:00

I'm a fan of reality TV. American Idol, The Biggest Loser, Project Runway, Tabitha's Salon Takeover, Tough Love, Hoarders. And when I spend time not writing, I try to think about what my current procrastination activity can teach me about writing. And reality TV has four things going for it that we can apply to our writing: casting, editing, trouble, and high stakes.

Casting
The folks who go on reality TV are recruited usually for one of two reasons. They have extreme talent (American Idol, Project Runway) or they are a hot mess (American Idol, Project Runway). The characters on these shows are selected because they are extreme. They are not run-of-the-mill, easy to get along with, happy, well-adjusted people with no special skills or obstacles to overcome. Those people (average folks like you and me) don't make good television. They don't make good writing either.

So make sure your characters are fighting for a dream (American Idol), have awful social ticks they need to correct (Tough Love), or are facing death if they don't get their act together (Biggest Loser).

Editing
So many people who come onto these shows thinking they are nice, normal, run of the mill folks complain that the show is edited in a way that makes them look worse than they are. That the show only televised their worst moments and left all the sweet stuff on the cutting room floor. So while I feel bad for these characters because they are real people, I don't feel bad about doing the exact same thing to fictional characters!

You need to show the worst of your characters. You need to show them when they are sweating through an uphill climb, their large flabby belly flapping in the wind. When they lose their shit and start screaming at someone who broke the sewing machine. When a strong, well-composed young man cries like a baby when Simon tells him he's not a good singer.

Trouble
One of my favorite episodes of Project Runway is the group challenge! In a game where folks usually design their own garments, the group challenge creates a protagonist (team leader) and antagonist (not the team leader). The team leader gets to call the shots and wants to show their vision on the runway. Well, the other guy wants to show his vision too, but he's not in charge. Instant conflict!

High Stakes
On Tabitha's Salon Makeover, she's not just visiting salons that give bad haircuts -- the show also looks for salons where the owner is facing bankruptcy. Usually without the staff's knowledge. But when everyone learns that if they don't start doing better business, the owner might lose her house, everyone becomes invested in a single goal and bonds together. And what higher stakes could their be than death? The Biggest Loser has everyone literally fighting for their life.

So with some careful thought to what type of characters you include in your story, crafty editing, lots of trouble, and high stakes, you have the ingredients for a story that will pull readers in and keep them turning the pages.

How Soon Do You Start Critiques?

2010-01-19T11:10:00.001-06:00

I've been workshopping a new novel, one that has less than 20,000 words so far. I haven't let so many people see my words so early before. I always thought that I needed to get a story into decent shape before people could have something solid to critique. However, now I realize that showing an early draft to critique partners can help you create that shape.

I sent my first two chapters for critique last December, and I asked the group to focus on character, not plot. I had an idea of how the plot would reveal itself, but at I wanted to know if my characters were compelling. And my workshop told me who they liked and who they didn't. What they were curious to know about each character's background and what details they didn't need to get weighed down in.

At the end of the critique, the group speculated about where the story was going and what could happen next. A few folks picked out the plot path I was heading on, but what was more interesting to me was hearing new possibilities of what could happen to these characters that I'd never dreamed of. They gave me some potential directions to investigate.

I'd been hesitant to toss pages out for critique so early before, but now I'm going to get early stuff out there sooner. And in my notes I submitted with my pages, I asked the group to focus on a certain aspect (character) that I needed the most help with, and the group kindly obliged.

Once you have a full first draft, it might be harder to change direction and press that delete key so often. It has been for me at times. But now that I'm sharing these early pages, I feel like making changes won't be as gut-wrenching because I'm not tossing away so much time and effort.

What have your experiences been with getting critiques at various stages in your drafting process?

Homer Simpson & Character Development

2010-01-15T09:30:00.005-06:00

I was watching The Simpsons Twentieth Anniversary Special this weekend, and a quote by creator Matt Groening struck me as a tip to apply to creative writing. If you're not familiar with Homer Simpson, he's kind of a doofus. He's lazy and terrible at his job. He often shirks parental responsibility. He wastes the family's money on crazy schemes. He spends too much time at the bar and often forgets the name of his youngest child.

But, viewers love him. At the end of the special, they addressed the question of why, when Homer does so many awful and destructive things, does everyone love him? Matt said that someone suggested that viewers love Homer because Marge (his wife) loves Homer. Well, isn't that sweet?

But, Matt contradicted this assertion. He said that he believes that viewers love Homer because Homer loves Marge. And that, my friends, is how you offer your audience a well-rounded character. If you know The Simpsons, you also know that Homer and Marge are crazy in love. When Homer gets in a jam and Marge gets mad at him, Homer makes his sad, Homer whimper and realizes he's been a doofus. And he feels bad about it and know he's disappointed Marge.

If Homer went through all his hijinks not caring about his consequences, he wouldn't be so appealing to an audience. But because he balances out his screwballness with sincerity, because he loves his wife and hates letting her down, he's likeable. He's relatable.

And when Homer and Marge walk off into the sunset together, you know he's truly in love. And that makes for a character we all can root for.

Creating Trouble for Your Characters

2010-01-11T07:45:00.003-06:00

I love my story's characters. Even the mean ones. I want the very best for them, and I want to see all their hopes and dreams come true. And with fiction, this is very easy to do.

Lose your job? Hey, how about you pop by the 7-11 and I'll make you buy a lottery ticket on a whim. I'll even make it a winner. Striking out on the dating dance floor? Well, I can whip up a man who meets all your requirements. Want to bop around Europe? Wouldn't you know it, the value of the Euro just plummeted and I can get you there for a song.

Problem is, all these easy outs don't make for interesting writing. It's clear that as an author you'll have a more complex relationship with your characters than anyone who reads about them. But, to create compelling writing, you really have to care more about your readers than your characters.

Because creating trouble for your characters is what your readers are thirsting for. They want to see the very worst of your characters. They want to read about people who are down on their luck. Stuck between a rock and a bigger rock. Choosing between crappy option A and crappier option B. It's what keeps the reader turning the pages, to find out how will Billy get out of this mess?

And without the readers engaged enough to keep turning the pages, those characters don't get a chance to tell their story. So fall in love with your characters, sure. But love your readers more.

Short Story Publication: In Amsterdam

2010-01-07T10:03:00.005-06:00

I'm thrilled to announce that my short story "In Amsterdam" will be included in the Genre Wars Anthology. The great folks over at The Literary Lab put this baby together. Look at the beautiful cover!

Proceeds from the anthology go to a non-profit organization that supports writers. Please hop on over to their site and vote for an organization!

I started this story when I was in Amsterdam, and blogged about it in this post. Here's a picture of me writing those first few sentences!

Just Keep Showing Up

2010-01-06T09:30:00.000-06:00

Well hello blogosphere! I hope you had a very nice holiday season and are settling into 2010 nicely. Mostly, I hope that wherever you are it's warmer than it is here in Chicago (current temperature: 14 degrees!). Now, let's chat more about writing, shall we?

One day in early December when I checked in at the gym, the general manager was working the front desk instead of the usual silent, sleepy employee who barely mumbles a hello. It was one of those days where I was too tired to even go to the gym, but I went anyway because I know that's when I need it most. I could tell the manager wanted to chat, but I just wanted to get my card swiped and get on with the workout.

But the manager beamed at me with a shiny smile as he slid my card through the reader and said, "Hi! What's your holiday workout goal?" He pointed to the wall behind me, that was plastered with small sheets of white paper where other members had posted their holiday workout goals.

I held my hand out for my card, not wanting to get roped into his game, but his smile worked its magic on me. So I said what instantly popped into my mind: "Just keep showing up."

"That sounds like a great goal!" the manager said and slapped down a piece of paper and pen for me to jot it down. And I was sucked in. It was a great goal, I decided.

I don't really care what kind of workout I do when I go to the gym, I just count it as a win that I even show up. I know that once I get to the gym, or step outside with my running shoes on and iPod in my ears, exercise is going to happen. That first step of showing up is more than half the battle.

And perhaps writing is the same way. If I sit down in front of my computer, and instead of going to Facebook or Google News or Twitter, I open the Word document that contains my current WIP, writing is going to happen. Some days I'll get in a great scene or craft some fantastic metaphors. Some days I'll write just a page or two that's way too heavy on dialogue.

But I've written words, and writing some words is closer to a book than writing no words. And the first step in all that, where I need to start each and every day, is to just keep showing up.

Around the Internet

2009-12-22T12:15:00.006-06:00

Before I sign off for the holidays, I thought I'd link to a couple of other places where I've landed on the internet recently.

First is a profile on the blog for La Muse, a writers' and artists' retreat in France I attended in June of 2008. I had a wonderful experience and this quick interview will tell you a little about my time there.

I also did a profile of Grassroots.org for the travel blog The Lost Girls. Grassroots.org provides free technical infrastructure to non-profit organizations.

And even though I'm not in this next spot, I'm there in spirit. My delightful employers Jill and Molly over at StoryStudio Chicago are featured in a video on Beyond the Pedway. This will give you a glimpse into my writing home. (Chicago writers, you can check us out in person at our next Open House on January 12th).

Happy holidays to all and talk to you again in 2010!

Talking Out Your Story

2009-12-08T08:10:00.001-06:00

Mike and I were running errands this weekend and catching each other up on what we've been doing during a busy week. I finally admitted to him last week that I'd started a new novel, and he wanted to know what it was about. I was shy about it at first, since I'm still feeling things out, but I finally spilled the beans.

Unlike my last manuscript, I've started this one with a clear idea of the story in mind, and a crucial plot point. Thing is, I'm not sure yet where in the story this event should take place. I've thought about all the different impact this event could have if it happens earlier. Or, on the flip side, all the tension and obstacles that could lead up to it as a climax.

So I have a few paths of possibility in mind. Mike listened very nicely and attentively as we weaved through the snowy city streets and I rattled along, describing all the different ways I could tell this story. I'm jabbering on and on about my story, verbalizing ideas that have only existed in my head or in my computer.

And then when I got to one specific idea, Mike perked up and said "Ooh! Wow, that's really something!" One of the many ideas grabbed him. And that's a branch of my little story sapling tree that I'll now pursue.

For me early drafts of stories are safer in my head, or just on paper (and not even real paper, but a virtual electronic document). But talking out my story at this early stage gave me very clear feedback on what ideas were working and which were better left in my head.

What about you? How soon do you share your story ideas with the universe?

Stories in Song: Evacuate the Dance Floor

2009-12-04T10:00:00.002-06:00

Something a little fun for a Friday: finding the stories in songs.

I'm the youngest of eight children and my mom was a music teacher. Suffice to say there was a lot of music in our house. Everything from classical to rock to blues, and when I grew my own musical tastes, rap and hip-hop. While I imagine my parents must have screamed to one of us at some point or another, "Turn that music down!" I have no memory of music being shunned in our household.

And today, music is still a huge part of my life. I listen to music when I workout, I sing at the top of my lungs when I'm driving in my car (alone or not), and, like some sort of teenager, I still sing and dance in front of the mirror before I go out at night. I love music, and I also love lyrics.

As a writer, I've started to analyze songs for word choice. Songs are often mini-stories, and they really only have a few words to get their point across. So word choice is vital and I think we can learn a lot about how to express an idea, a feeling, an action or an image, with just a handful of the right words.

Take this song, "Evacuate the Dance Floor" by Cascada. Here's a snippet of the lyrics:

Steal the night
Kill the lights
Feel it under your skin
Time is right
Keep it tight
Cause it's pulling you in
Wrap it up
Can't stop
It feels like a overdose

Evacuate the dance floor
I'm infected by the sound
Stop, this beat is killing me
Hey Doctor DJ let the music take me underground

While it may look like a song about dancing at first glance, there's an underlying theme because of the specific word choice.

Evacuate evokes a sense of emergency. She didn't sing "Hey, get off the dance floor." With one word, she got her message, her sense of urgency, across.

She didn't use "turn off the lights" but "kill the lights." That's no accident. Kill creates a sense of danger. Same thing with "steal the night."

And then the music is an overdose. It's too much, it's killing her, but like a drug, she can't stay away from the music. And she expresses this in one word.

On par with overdose, she's infected by the sound. The music didn't just get stuck in her head, it's not pumping the beat through her veins, it infected her.

And when you listen to the song it sounds like "Mister DJ", a phrase used in tons of dance songs, she actually choose the unique label Doctor DJ. And who do you turn to for an infection other than a doctor?

Then she wants the doctor to take her underground. A reference to the underground music scene, or six feet under? The artistic interpretation is endless!

Through the use of specific words, Cascada created a dance song that's deeper than "I really dig the beat of this music." She labeled music as dangerous as the plague, said that it got her sick, that she was as addicted to it as a drug, yet she's willing to dance herself to death because it's all so good.

Here's the video if you'd like to have a listen. I've had this song in my head for months, and this morning was the first time I actually watched the video. While they missed out on a lovely opportunity to bring the imagery of the lyrics to life (Little Miss Performance Artist Lady Gaga would've had a field day with this one), it's still a fun dance video.

And look, I found an unplugged version! You can really focus on the lyrics better here. The song starts at the 0:48 mark, as the first part is an interview in, I'm guessing, German.

Writing Slowly, Words Faintly Falling

2009-12-03T09:21:00.003-06:00

I’m just a few chapters into a new novel, but the words are coming out slowly. I’ve written previous first drafts in caffeine-laced rushes of worry and hope, afraid the words would disappear if I didn’t commit them to paper fast enough.

But this draft is different. I started with an idea. I shaped my characters ever so slightly – a job here, a hairstyle there – ahead of time. I’ve refused to outline in the past, shunning it as lacking creativity.

But this time, to feel out my four major characters, I’ve written scenes from their points of view. And through that exercise I’ve discovered this is not a story about what one character wants, but the ripple effect her desires have on others around her. And really, that’s what all stories are about, so mine is no different. But I know now the impact of everyone’s actions. I can anticipate how these characters will move across the dance floor of life.

This story’s paragraphs are heavy, full of metaphor and tension and theme. I’ve been reading Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, a book that will make a writer stop and think about just how full you can pack a sentence.

And as this story is coming out slower than anything I’ve written, these well-fed paragraphs drag me along to an end that, for once, is in sight. I’m sprinkling words slowly into this idea of a story, and like Joyce’s snowflakes, they are faintly falling.

Early Morning Winter Writing

2009-12-01T08:13:00.002-06:00

I am not a fan of winter. Sure, I fall in love with the first snow, I dig a White Christmas, and every winter season calls for a cute new hat-scarf-glove combo. But come January, when the snow is slushy and sidewalks haven’t been shoveled in weeks, and the tires on my car swish around while I’m driving, and the wind is too bitter to run in, I’ve had enough.

But this morning, I remembered one thing I do love about the start of winter. Getting up early, when it’s still very dark out. Walking straight to the living room (ok, quick stop at the fridge for a Diet Coke) and instead of opening the blinds, I open my laptop. I don’t turn on any lights and write in the dark, sleepy and cold, a blanket or two across my lap.

And by the time by husband walks into the living room, ready for work in a warm winter sweater, I’m a thousand words into a new novel, and not so mad at the cold.

I love summer in Chicago. I want to jog by the lake, run errands with my hair still wet from a cool shower, enjoy a four o’clock happy hour at an outdoor beer garden. But summer is not good writing weather.

Winter, I don’t love you all that much, but I will take your sleepy, dark, cold mornings and wrap them around a fresh first draft.

Books on the Beach

2009-11-23T07:24:00.003-06:00

I was in Mexico for a beach vacation last week, and I'd say the number of books rivaled the number of bikinis. To my delight, everyone was reading! Because we all know the publishing industry isn't quite at the top of its game these days, (I do so love the idea of giving books as Christmas presents this year -- help an author out!) it was so refreshing to see books doing their thing: helping people relax and taking them into another world.

At one point when I was walking on the beach, I decided I wanted some stats on how many people were reading. It could've been the strawberry daiquiri-induced haze, but it seemed like all I saw were books. So I started to pay attention to just how many.

There is nothing sweeter really, than a couple reading side by side under a beach umbrella. Well, perhaps it could've been Tommy, who was reading one of the Twilight tomes on the flight home. Tommy, who wears boxers with green shamrocks and carries his wife's purple polka-dot Kate Spade shoulder bag. Tommy, who wore a T-Shirt with parrots on the back that read "Meet the Squawkers." Tommy, who's wife, I assumed, wrote the long, curvy, swirly inscription to him on the inside of his book. I'm going to take a leap of faith and say that wasn't Stephanie Meyer's handwriting.

But back to the beach: me walking along, searching out readers, starting to deduce that at least a third of the people had books on their bellies. Then I wanted to know who they were reading. I could spot some covers in an instant: Picolt, Brown, Meyer, Weiner, Irving. I felt foiled when I saw books in foreign languages. I stared harder at everyone, trying to distinguish the covers I didn't recognize. And suddenly I was staring right at a woman's bare breasts. Sorry lady, I was really looking at your book, I swear. At that point I gave up on data collection and focused on the surf.

Beach: relaxing. Frozen drinks: relaxing. Books: relaxing. By my little survey in the Riviera Maya, the publishing industry is doing just fine.

NaNoWriMo or Not, How About a Write-A-Thon?

2009-11-11T16:21:00.003-06:00

I’m not participating in NaNoWriMo, but I will be working at StoryStudio Chicago’s November Write-A-Thon this Saturday. Need to catch up on your word count for NaNo? Trying to finish up a short story for end of year submission deadlines? Finally ready to start that first novel? Come on out and join a bunch of other writers who are looking for a quiet, distraction-free place to get some words on the page. We're in Chicago at 4043 N. Ravenswood, #222.

And if you do come out on Saturday, please stop by the front desk and say hello. While the studio is usually packed for these events, it gets very, very quiet at times, and I think people are often afraid to talk. So much so that I get afraid to talk, answering the phone in some kind of creepy whisper. We can chat about your current work in progress, brainstorm ways for your antagonist to antagonize, swap lists of our latest must-reads.

The studio’s open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and you can stop by at any time. Stay for as little or as long as you like. I’ll be there from one to five and hope to see some new faces!

John Irving Video

2009-11-04T16:10:00.002-06:00

John Irving was on The Bonnie Hunt Show yesterday and I saw the episode while I was running on the treadmill at the gym. He is my favorite author, and his interview made me stay on the treadmill longer than I intended. I can't find a video of the portion of the interview where he talks about writing just yet, but in my search I came up with this one. It's a few years old, but it's short and sweet, and emphasizes how a story needs to keep moving. He says this gem about his goal with the novel: "To make the story better, more compelling, more unstoppable on page 400 than it was on page 40."

The Lost Girls Book Review

2009-11-02T08:37:00.003-06:00

Travel junkies, hop on over to the The Lost Girls to see my book review of The New Age of Adventure: Ten Years of Great Writing, a collection of travel articles from National Geographic Adventure magazine.

FTC, I don't even know what to do about you since all the book review fuss you made has kinda died down. But yes, I got this book for free. It was delicious.

Guide to Literary Agents Guest Post

2009-10-29T08:08:00.003-05:00

If you haven't already found this article via twitter, scoot on over to the Guide to Literary Agents blog where I have a guest post about what gets an agent's attention. It's my review of an agent panel at the SCWW conference.

I think the GLA blog, run by Editor Chuck Sambuchino, is one of the best sources for agent info and query examples that doesn't get as much attention as sites like Query Shark and Nathan. I mean, Nathan only needs a single name to be identified. He's just like Madonna.

But the GLA blog has a great series on queries that work, where agents post a query letter for a book they sold and provide commentary on what in particular got their attention in the query.

They also highlight new agents, who are often more willing to take a chance on a debut author to build their list. I've queried many agents (who rep what I write) the day I see a review of them on GLA, and frequently get an immediate response. My request rate for partials is higher with these new agents too.

Plus, Chuck talks about his cover band. How can you not dig a dude who understands the beauty of Pour Some Sugar on Me?

It's a helpful and fun blog. Go check it out now!

A Simple Statement About Loglines

2009-10-27T13:41:00.004-05:00

I took a class in Freelance Magazine Writing and in our final session last night, we talked about writing query letters. Pitching an idea for a magazine article really isn’t that different from pitching a novel. You need that hook, the logline, that super brief description of your story.

Our lovely instructor Kate Ancell put it this way: “If you can’t get your story down to a sentence or two, you don’t really know what you’re writing about yet.”

That just says it all, now doesn't it?

Finding Consistency in Query Letter Advice

2009-10-26T14:32:00.005-05:00

On Friday I took two classes at the SCWW conference with agents who have a very clear point of view on what they’re looking for when it comes to query letters. One was by FinePrint Literary agent Janet Reid (see also Shark, Query) and the other by Greyhaus Literary agent Scott Eagan. (I missed the session by Knight Agency's Elaine Spencer, but Chuck Sambuchino blogged about it here.)

What surprised me was when an agent would dispense a piece of advice (you know, from their oodles of business experience where they slog through hundreds of queries each week) and a few people would get downright fussy. They’d shoot their arm in the air and say, “but hey, so-and-so agent just said that they don’t like to have information about where I found them,” or point out some other such minor differing opinion.

The agent would often say something about this being an example of personal preference or style. They’d nicely remind the attendees that every agent has his or her submission guidelines on their website, and they probably blog a lot, or are on Twitter, and with a little surfing you can learn their style.

However, the questioner might sigh or huff about how hard it is to figure out what agents want when they all want different things. So I thought I’d collect a list of similar things that agents do say about queries.

Perhaps if we focus on the consistencies, we can learn 80% of the tricks, and stop feeling so lousy about the other 20% seeming like a big mystery.

Here are things both Janet and Scott said in their sessions:

A query letter is a business letter. It’s not the time to be creative. It’s the time to be professional. Your manuscript is where you get creative. Janet even said, “Formality is never out of place.”
A query letter must tell the agent what the book is about. This is the story’s premise, i.e., “A great white shark haunts a sleepy New England beach town.” Be specific.
Query letters should never ever be longer than a page. Janet said about 250 words.
When writing a query via email, you don’t need to include everyone's mailing address up top. But darn it, don’t forget to put your contact information at the bottom! And have a professional email that identifies you by name, not snookypants49@yahoo or awesomewriter@gmail.
Include the word count and title.
The query must sell them instantly. Scott gives about twenty seconds.
Best quote from Janet: “You can query too soon. You can never query too late.”
Best quote from Scott: “Your resume is your manuscript.”

Writing a query takes a lot of work. It might feel like it takes just as much effort as writing the manuscript. But there are tons of great resources on honing your query letter. If you haven’t yet, check out Query Shark, The Public Query Slushpile, the QueryTracker forum, and from Curtis Brown agent Nathan Bransford, this post and this series. Enjoy!

Preparing for a Writers Conference

2009-10-21T09:27:00.004-05:00

The past few days I’ve been preparing for the South Carolina Writers Workshop Conference this weekend. What goes into preparing for a conference? In my world, it’s this stuff:

Business Cards. I finally created business cards where my job title is “Writer.” I love seeing that. And to promote the Fiction City brand, the top of the business card uses the same image that’s at the top of this blog. Details on my business card include email, phone, blog website and twitter page.

Business Attire. Since I consider this a business event, I’m going business casual all the way. And because the weather is lovely, that means skirts and dressy sandals. While I’m excited to wear warm-weather clothes again, my look will still be professional and conservative. Check out this post on the SCWW blog and read the comments to see agent Scott Eagan’s confirmation that yes, agents to pay attention to how you use your wardrobe to present yourself.

Knowing the Faculty. Thanks to blogs, I already know a lot of stuff about much of the faculty. The great roster of agents, editors and authors is what attracted me to this conference. I signed up for agent pitches and manuscript critiques and could select my top three choices for each, but I won’t know who I’m matched with until I arrive. Still, I’ve been researching the reading interests, recent sales, and background of each agent so I’m prepared to talk business or fun no matter who I’m paired with.

Practicing my Pitch. I am ready to tell anyone and everyone what my book is about in one to three short sentences. I worked on my logline, and have it memorized and ready to discuss at a moment’s notice. I also think I’m able to rattle it off without sounding rehearsed. I’ve identified a few key verbs I know I need to hit, but I can mix it up depending on the situation I’m in – pitch session, elevator ride, or buffet line.

Sessions Selected. I’ve reviewed the schedule and already know which sessions I want to take. In some timeslots, it’s a clear choice. At others, there are three sessions I want to go to. I’m arriving Thursday night and Friday is an extra day of intensive sessions. During this extra time I hope to ask around and get to know more about each presenter to narrow down which session will be most helpful to me. But, just like I did when I went to conferences back in my business days (for free--sigh!), I have backup sessions ready to dart off to if the first session I chose just isn’t doing the trick.

I’m so excited to spend a few days surrounded by writers and other people who dig books as much as I do. My goal is to listen, learn and make new friends. And if I can squeeze in a quick walk on the beach, that’s even better.

A Novel in Pieces

2009-10-14T10:42:00.002-05:00

I’ve been hanging out in revision mode and making slow yet steady progress. I’ve focused on the first 100 pages and have tightened up the plot. The beginning needed the most work, plot wise. The middle and end are okay, but I know there are a few specific spots where I need to weave in my higher-stakes plot just right to make the story sing all the way to the end.

But looking at 85,000 words, how could I find those problem spots? And find them efficiently. I use a spreadsheet to keep track of all my scenes. So the other day I assigned each scene a status regarding plot: fine, needs a few tweaks, or in deep trouble. The only other detail I will tell you about this spreadsheet (and therefore about me) is that it is color-coded on three different variables.

So now there were colors and labels and I knew there were spots that needed more work than others. Yet looking at my colorful contraption, I got overwhelmed. I’ve been going over and over the book so much I’ve started to feel like I’m not making as much progress. I needed to stir things up.

I learned long ago that when a task feels unmanageable, breaking it up into smaller pieces and focusing on one at a time really works for me. The task of “clean house top to bottom before entire family comes over for a party” sounds daunting. But what about “vacuum the living room?” Heck, I can handle that. “Clean the second bathroom?” Easy as pie.

Well the same thing works with novels, because a novel is just a bunch of little chapters. I seemed to forget this part. When I started revising and moved scenes around drastically, I kicked chapter numbers to the curb. I didn’t know what was going to end up where and labeled (alphanumerically) my scenes. Yes, each and every individual scene -- right now, there are 94 of them.

Now that everything is in the right place – story starts where the trouble starts, a nice reversal about halfway through – I felt like I could chunk the scenes back into chapters. And you know what? Seeing those chapter numbers (each set of scenes with their own individual border in the spreadsheet, of course) really made it manageable.

And of all those scenes, I identified eight chapters where I need to tinker with the plot. In some spots, it's just one scene that needs a fix. In others the whole chapter needs a good talking to. Before, I thought I was up against a whole novel. But now it's just eight chapters. I can handle eight chapters.

So take that, big bad scary novel. You’re just a bunch of little ole chapters after all.

The Pitch

2009-10-07T18:03:00.006-05:00

I'll be pitching my novel to agents at the South Carolina Writers Workshop Conference in two (count them, two!) weeks and I've been working on my logline. There are lots of great descriptions of what a logline is, like the ones here and here and here. But basically, it's that one sentence description that explains what your story is about. The word logline is more of a screenwriting term, but it clicks with me, so I use it. It's your story's hook.

And it's no time to talk about the character's "journey" or "self-discovery" or "search for self-identity." In the logline, you need facts. Get specific. What's the conflict? What's the obstacle? What happens? Oh yeah, and explain it in about 100 words or less.

Here are some posts that are helping me through the process. There are two great articles (part one and part two) from Edittorrent about how to write a logline. Also helpful is Nathan's Query Letter Mad Lib. That helps you get the gist of the story down to a few lines too.

Everyone Has to Start Somewhere

2009-10-06T08:06:00.004-05:00

Everyone has to start somewhere. Cranking out short stories in small circulation literary magazines. Writing the novel that never gets published but teaches you so much about the craft. Or a guest spot on Gilmore Girls.

Herewith, a younger, skinnier, not-yet-smoldering Jon Hamm (now know as Don Draper of Mad Men fame) on Gilmore Girls in 2002:

Seth MacFarlane (creator of Family Guy and man of many voices) had a two-episode spot on Gilmore Girls. The only link I can (quickly) find is from the WB and it has a commercial in it! So I won't embed the video here, but here's the link if you want to hop on over to the WB website and check it out.

BTW, this episode aired in 2002, while Family Guy was cancelled. For the second time. For three years. And what did Seth do in the face of this rejection? He kept on working.

These little "before they made it big time" sightings are always reassuring to me. I know we'd all love to have that novel on the shelf at Borders right this very second. But perfecting your craft, whether at acting, writing or something else, takes time. Lots of time. At least these guys proved to us that plugging away on the small stuff can result to making it in the big leagues.

Getting Unstuck

2009-10-01T15:19:00.003-05:00

September was not the best writing month I’ve ever had. I spent more time being stuck than being productive. I'd been working on weaving a stronger, meatier plot into my novel. It was a big undertaking, but I knew I had to get it right. But I got stuck, and for a lot longer than ever before.

Good news is that I’m finally back on the horse of productive writing and revising at a respectable pace. So I thought I'd share a few things that helped me stay on track.

I took a little break.
I knew I was facing a big change and I knew I didn’t know how to solve it. The words were spinning in front of me and I couldn’t see any story. So instead of writing, I went to movies in the afternoon. I watched a lot of Gilmore Girls. I took a few mid-day naps. Of course, at the time I was distraught by all these non-writing activities. But I see now that my brain needed a break from the book and I let it have it.

I didn’t give up.
After a couple weeks of pure nothing, I felt like I indulged enough. But I kept opening the document, and looking at it, and thinking about it. For one brief second, I questioned if I should just abandon the book. Then I questioned it some more. It was a good, important question. Was my approach of writing by the seat of my pants failing me? Did I discover the right plot too late and used up all the creativity I had on this story? But I knew if I gave up on the book I’d feel so disappointed in myself. Believe me, I’m a fan of walking away from things that just aren’t working for me. I don’t believe in banging my head against a wall. But I believed in this book, in this story. I knew if I gave up I’d feel like a failure. So even if the book never gets published, at least I know I finished what I started and gave the story a chance.

I talked about it.
No hiding in shame here. When people would ask how my book was going, I would gleefully shout, “Just awful! It’s a big mess and I don’t know how to fix it!” And these kind friends, writers or not, would listen and I would talk about what I was struggling with. By the seventh, or eight, or eighteenth explanation of what was wrong with my story, my mind started to jump alive with ideas on how to make it right.

I wrote new words.
At first, I kept trying to move the existing scenes around. If that approached worked by putting my inciting event in the right place, wouldn’t it work for the rest of my chapters? Couldn’t I just add a little paragraph here and a couple sentences there to support my new plot point? Unfortunately, no. The best thing that helped me see the story was to write brand new scenes. Entire, full scenes. I learned more about my characters and what they wanted. And I felt like I was making progress.

I kept sending pages out for critique.
Even though I knew I had a problem in a specific spot, I sent other chapters that were in decent shape out for critique. My critique partners were kind and patient enough to review what I had. And learning about what worked and what didn’t work in those other chapters helped me see the whole story and determine what I needed to add.

I stayed focused.
Mid-afternoon movies and naps aside, when I was working through this problem in the beginning of the book, I stayed focused on the beginning of the book. I focused on the first fifty pages, and when I got them in order, I focused on the next fifty pages. That’s where I had the biggest issue. But I knew that every word I would write past page 100 had to be supported by what happened in pages 1-100. And because I knew I was struggling with a plot issue, working on another section of the novel wouldn’t serve me well. I refused to move forward in the story until I got that section sorted out.

I didn’t give up.
This is worth saying twice. Sure, you can argue that no one is going to publish a really awful book (definition of awful is subjective, just leave Dan Brown alone, he’s getting people to read, he’s found an audience that loves his work). But what I really believe to be true is that no one is going to publish a book that isn’t finished. And if you don’t believe me, listen to agent Jessica Faust over at BookEnds when she says: Never Give Up. It's a tough business, and like any business, problems will pop up. But whether it’s during the first draft, final revisions, or agent search, you must just keep going. And keep writing.

Where Does Your Story Start?

2009-09-23T08:25:00.003-05:00

As I continue to learn about the writing process, I'm always excited when I hear a piece of advice for the millionth time. It means that piece of advice is probably pretty accurate.

I had this experience at a recent seminar that was filled with people who really hadn't even written a single word of fiction yet. I wish I had heard this piece of advice when I was just starting out, because it is perfect and true.

"In your first draft, your story probably doesn't really start until chapter four."

Or chapter seven. Or, in my most recent first draft, I'm pretty sure it was chapter fourteen. But that's okay, because that's what, as Anne Lamott calls them, shitty first drafts are for.

They're for feeling out your character, finding your voice, edging your way into the story. But, as you revise, you have to be able to lift away the muck that was your warming up writing and yank it out of the story. Get that gunk out of there. Delete it. Or, if you're like me, save it in a different precious little Word document so you can always go back and grab those words if you need them. Another piece of advice: you'll probably never need them.

It's hard to take a hatchet to your book. But your story will be better served if you can get right down to it sooner. So write away. Then as you revise, take a close look at where things really start shaking, and let your story begin there.

Fun with numbers

2009-09-15T09:32:00.003-05:00

I wish I could remind myself that it's really not necessary to count drafts. But I like having concrete goals and accomplishing specific tasks. It feels so fantastic to say, "Do you know what I did these past few months? I finished the third draft of my novel." Specific, concrete, and tangible. But hey, do you know what's not always specific, concrete, and tangible? Creative writing.

I wrapped up my second draft in mid-June, three very long months ago. And I've been plugging away at the book for most of those days, but certainly not all. There's been some stuckage. And I'm starting to make my way through the muck the past week or so. But when I solve the problem in one scene (for example, what happened to my antagonist? Why hasn't he shown up in forty pages?), another one awaits me right around the corner.

I've been doing a lot of ~~cutting~~ editing. When I cut a big chunk out of a current draft (anything more than two sentences) I save the text in a document called Extras. And just as I was getting frustrated about working hard yet feeling like I was going nowhere fast, I noticed some interesting math in my word count.

Word count draft one: 88,260

Word count draft two: 72,911

Current word count of draft three: 79,646

Current word count of Extras I deleted from draft two: 5,908

We all know that a first draft is often full of awful, extra, excessive, unnecessary, redundant words. But let's take a look at what's happened between drafts two and three. My good friends over at Excel tell me this means that while I've cut about 6,000 words out of draft three so far, I've added in 12,000 new ones. My story isn't getting completely hacked away after all! And hopefully my sentences are getting more efficient. If I said it in ten words, could I say it just as well in eight?

So back to the challenges ahead. One word at a time.

Back to School

2009-09-08T19:45:00.002-05:00

I'm not going back to school, like at a place where they confer degrees and such, but I can't help get caught up in the spirit of the Back to School season. I've been thinking about my fourth grade Trapper Keeper, the one with the kittens, a lot. I have an urge to buy pencils and a new pair of shoes. I live across the street from a school and it was fun to see the kids file in again today.

What I am going back to is writing workshops at my lovely neighborhood writing studio/place of work StoryStudio Chicago. First class (I'm taking two, two classes I say!) starts tomorrow and I've been doing critiques today. I love critiques, I really do. I love when I learn about writing from other people. I love when I recognize a little flaw that I've also made in my own work and finally see a way to fix it.

I've been stuck on the book for a while. This summer I really focused on getting my hook nailed. Getting those first fifty pages just right, so that everything that flows after makes sense, is connected, appears somewhat logical, those kind of things.

I think that now I can finally get on to those next fifty pages. I think I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel once again. So I'm kind of going back to school too, in my own little way. Which, I'm pretty sure, means I get to buy a new pair of shoes.

What I've Been Up To

2009-08-27T16:18:00.007-05:00

What have I been up to this week? Well, it's not writing, I can tell you that much. This week I have not written or edited one word of the novel. Never you mind that I owe 10 pages for a manuscript evaluation by September 1st, or that I've had two critiques via blogs where I've received feedback that I could, you know, incorporate into said novel. I've done squat.

Oh, and by the way, I don't believe in writer's block, so that's not the problem. The problem is that I don't know what to do with the story so I've been avoiding any and all work on it. I've been employing simple avoidance techniques. No writer's block to be found.

And since I don't believe in whining either, and always try to look on the bright side of things, here is a list of things I have been doing this week instead of working on the novel. I offer this because if I stumbled on another writer's neurotic list of things she did when she was stuck on her book I might feel less alone and therefore slightly more hopeful.

So, this week I:

Cleaned the lobby of my condo even though it is not, and has not, been my month to clean the condo lobby for quite some time.
Saw Julie & Julia (fabulous!) on Wednesday afternoon. Proceeded to prepare for weepy confession to hubby over dinner that I went to see a movie in the middle of the day instead of working on my novel. Wonderful husband didn't mind, perhaps because I was busy plying him with lasagna and Chianti and/or he was grateful he didn't have to sit through that movie with me.
Tried to think of other ideas for a new novel, since I keep hearing so many people say they know exactly what their story is going to be about before they even write a word. Needless to say, no luck there.
Recorded and watched every episode of Gilmore Girls available to me on ABC Family.
Cried a lot about being a lousy writer who will never, ever make it and wished I didn't want to be a writer so very badly so that I could actually consider the easier option of giving up.
Vacuumed living room and the little sun room where I ~~write~~ read blogs.
Stopped reading one book half way through (to protect the innocent, I won't say which) and started reading another (Queen of Babble Gets Hitched by Meg Cabot).
Exercised almost every day, because if I didn't I would be even more crazy than I currently am. Plus, now that my body can process red meat again I've been eating every cheeseburger in sight.
Tried not to think about partial I sent to agent last week.
Also tried not to read too much into agent's blog post about how all the partials she has are pretty good.
Washed and folded laundry, but did not put said laundry away.
Enjoyed two fun social evening events (yay for birthday parties!) but was bummed when two additional social evening events were cancelled. I needed four fun social evening events this week!
Gave myself a pedicure. Forgot about recent pedicure, and smudged six of ten toenails in less than five minutes.
Re-read one of my existing short stories and thought about making it my next novel. Got scared/overwhelmed by thought of starting another novel. Closed Word document quickly to avoid potential panic attack.
Wished I didn't blog so much last week so I would have more topics saved up to post this week instead of a terribly revealing list of novel avoidance activities.

Yeah, that was my week. Quite the winner, no? Anyhoo, what have you been up to? And what do you do when you get stuck?

How's that Novel?

2009-08-27T09:38:00.006-05:00

Well, I'm stuck. I just hope that I won't still be stuck in another three years, so that when, say, Stewie from Family Guy keeps asking me about it, I won't do this to him. Seriously, watch this through to the end.

Blog Goodness

2009-08-21T06:29:00.003-05:00

Before I leave the urban jungle for some weekend camping (read: drinking beer and eating chips while sitting next to a bunch of trees, maybe going for a hike) I thought I’d leave you with some blog goodness:

Agent Colleen Lindsay of FinePrint Literary Management is hosting a contest for two scholarships to the Backspace Agent-Author Seminar in New York. This is a big deal. If you have a finished manuscript you’re ready to query, enter now.

Really funny writer and twitter avoider Karen from Mentor created a story based on a list of random words, like birthday cake, submitted by me and someone named Estrella. It includes lines like this: "Now I love Cas more than birthday cake, and that's saying something because for chocolate birthday cake with butter cream icing I'd push my grandma into traffic."

The ladies at edittorrent have yet another smart and helpful piece, this time on a story’s emotional arc. They remind us that "nearly every event is going to cause emotional effects in the POV character."

The very cute and generous Miss Snark’s First Victim is hosting her monthly Secret Agent contest. I’m submission #31! Feedback is dead on and I’ve already updated my manuscript.

Janet Reid goes, um, nice? She asks for advice to give a "very very beginning writer." Seriously, read the comments on this one.

Celebrating Mad Men here and here.

What to do when you realize “A monkey could have written something more coherent.” Although Ms. Freeman seems to insist that plot must be planned in advance, which I don’t agree is a requirement. That’s one option, but not the only option.

I haven’t read his book, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, and apparently I’m the only one, since it’s a international bestseller. But author Jamie Ford keeps a blog at Bittersweet, where he makes frequent but brief posts on his book tour. It's clear that this guy adores what he does and is humbled by the success he’s earned. This post is worth a look.

I continue to adore author Joshilyn Jackson because she says honest things like this: “I draft in huge awful hunks of steaming word poo.”

That’s a lot of blog goodness!

I'm Starting to See a Pattern

2009-08-20T09:54:00.000-05:00

I've finally been writing long enough that I'm starting to notice patterns in my writing habits. Note that I didn't say I've started to develop patterns. They've likely always been there. I'm just now noticing they exist.

For example, my first draft is usually overloaded with dialogue. And to this, do I say, heck, I'll just take up screenwriting? Oh no, I do not. Probably because screenwriting is a completely different animal with its own rules of craft and I'm just starting to become good friends the fiction craft rules and they are all my brain can handle for now.

What I do instead is create a lot of backstory. Oodles of it! Piles of delicious, luxurious, how my character felt about her elbows in third grade backstory.

Problem is, backstory sucks. It's a little indulgent for both the character and the writer, not to mention super boring to read. But alas, it comes out of me. I cannot stop it.

I've considered trying to just turn off the backstory spout (as if I could even locate that precious valve in my brain). But it has spit out some interesting nuggets about my characters. Instead, I take out the backstory hatchet.

I do not know how to properly use said hatchet just yet. I don't know how much to cut vs. save vs. move. But I have the tool in my hand and I'll figure out how to use it little by little. (Hey, adverbs, are you listening? Scared, aren't you?) Anyway, I'm just glad I know that I need the backstory hatchet.

So for now, I'm just going to write how I write. My plan is to take whatever writing pattern comes and work with it. Because if I run away from it I will have nothing but a blinking cursor and a really high score on must pop words.

What are some of your writing patterns?

Women's Fiction

2009-08-19T11:08:00.000-05:00

When I dropped out of a Creative Writing MFA program after one measly, expensive semester, I was embarrassed to tell folks what I was working on next. But I've been getting more confident lately and a few posts from Bookends and Pimp My Novel have helped me take pride in what I do.

I write women's fiction. There. You might even call my current novel chick lit, but some say the market got over-saturated and now “contemporary women’s fiction” is apparently where it’s at, although these hilarious girls believe that Chick Lit is Not Dead.

A good three or four years ago, the first time someone suggested that my first novel was women’s fiction, I was insulted. To be honest, I thought my writing was more important than that. I thought women's fiction was too narrow of a category and not taken seriously. For folks who are better at explaining genre than I am, check out posts like this and this.

But a few years of learning about how important it is to define your genre, how many agents are specifically seeking women's fiction, finding authors of that genre who I love (Lolly Winston, if you write another book I promise I will buy it and not just borrow it from the library), I've come to peace with the term.

I love thoughts and feelings. I really, really do. I love to write about thoughts and feelings, I love to experience thoughts and feelings, I love to think about and feel thoughts and feelings. I just can't help it. Granted, that's not all that women's fiction encompasses, but it's what I'm obsessed with and so it's what I love to write about.

However, my books aren’t just touchy-feely emotional dramas. There’s more to the story than just sex and love (but there is sex and love!) They do have some meaty topics, so I can tack on the term “upmarket”.

But they’re not science fiction, crime, paranormal, thriller, historical, young adult, or steampunk (yes, that is a genre!). And based on how quickly I can whip out a draft, they’re not literary either. I tried to use the term “mainstream” fiction, but agents really, really, really want you to pick a genre.

So I picked, or perhaps it picked me, women’s fiction.

And that’s what I’m writing. I’m rather proud of my book. It’s cute. It’s not going to change the literary stratosphere or evoke world peace. But it might make you forget your crummy day when you’re riding home from work, and think, hey, that girl's kind of like me. How does she deal with all the crap going on in her life? Do I want to be like her, or the exact opposite of her?

What about you, what are you proud to say that you write?

Conviction, Not Just Conflict

2009-08-17T09:15:00.000-05:00

I've been reading John Irving's "A Son of the Circus" and came across the following passage that really hit home. In this scene, Dr. Farrokh Daruwalla is reading a book that completely drawing him in -- and it's at a time when he feels an urge to have a more creative endeavor in his life. He's completely inspired by the power of this particular writer. (Eerie flashback to me reading Irving's "A Prayer for Owen Meany" circa 1996.)

"But more than technical virtuosity separated Dr. Daruwalla from Mr. James Salter, or from any other accomplished novelist. Mr. Salter and his peers wrote from a vision; they were convinced about something, and it was at least partly the passion of these writers' convictions that gave their novels such value. Dr. Daruwalla was convinced only that he would like to be more creative, that he would like to make something up. There were a lot of novelists like that, and Farrokh didn't care to embarrass himself by being one of them."

I love the line that this author was "convinced about something." It hit home for me, especially as a firm believer of Socratic ignorance, the idea that "All I know is I know nothing." I am a humble person and I'm just smart enough to know that I don't know everything and have so much to learn everyday.

I always allow myself room to consider the other point of view, but this often leads me to be a waffler, which can be all sorts of types of frustration. I think this makes me easy to get along with, but it just might mean I'm also a pushover. Either way, I don't really mind. See what I mean?

But, when it comes to writing a book, Irving shows me, the author is best advised to have a conviction about something. Perhaps a big idea: That other thing that the story is about, the stuff that bubbles underneath the conflict. Hope. Honesty. Betrayal.

I have to say, I'm still picking away at what I'm convinced of in my current WIP. I can see this as a big problem this far along in the game. Or I can be grateful that at least I've learned this lesson now instead of two weeks from now, or two years, or never. See how waffling can do some good?

Anyhoo, this conviction is something I don't quite have figured out for this book, but it's something new to add to the to do list. And when I write my next novel, it's something I will know to consider up front.

What are you convinced about (or still unsure of) in your current story?

Literary Twitter

2009-08-13T08:30:00.002-05:00

Check out this USA Today article on creative ways writers are using twitter.

And how did I hear about this article, since I never, ever read the USA Today or visit their website? Well, twitter of course.

I'm home alone writing all day and twitter keeps me connected. I've made a few twitter friends and visit their blogs regularly. I even won a free book yesterday by retweeting an author's post (thanks @LizandLisa).

Twitter posts do not merely consist of "I'm going to the bathroom," and "I hate folding laundry." You don't even have to follow Ashton Kutcher, I promise. You really can use twitter to find a community of like-minded people who share the same interests. And if you're reading this, those interests are books, aren't they?

You don't have to be on twitter all the time for it to be effective either. Check in when you can and read through the most recent posts. You will never catch everything, don't even try. But you'll probably learn more about the publishing industry, discover more books, better understand potential agents, and make a few more friends than if you never tried.

Go ahead and give it a whirl and check me out at twitter.com/fictioncity. Send me a tweet and I'll add you to my Follow Friday list!

StoryStudio Chicago Open House

2009-08-11T10:00:00.003-05:00

Tonight I'll be swinging by StoryStudio's open house. If you're in Chicago, stop by and say hi! StoryStudio is located at 4043 N. Ravenswood, #222. It's right across from the Irving Park Brown Line stop and has gobs of free parking. The open house runs from 4 to 7 p.m. and I'll be there early before I head to the Cubs game.

StoryStudio has tons of writing classes in fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and oodles of other stuff. Plus, I work there, although I apologize in advance for how the coffee might taste. But the cookies are delicious. Check out the class schedule for more details.

After India

2009-08-11T08:04:00.003-05:00

When I first heard that I might get a chance to spend a month in India this summer, I divided my to do list into two categories: Before India and After India. (The During India to do list would take care of itself, and it did, more photos coming later). The Before India list involved things like immunizations, buying summer clothing beyond Old Navy tank tops, spending as much time with friends as possible, getting through a second draft of the novel. Check on all counts.

Then there were the things I would take care of in the second half of the year: After India. Namely, finish the novel. Well, here we are. And I think I can pull it off. Just as long as I can continue to make it through the "when will I have enough sanity to realize I am nuts to quit my job to write a book?" bouts of self-doubt. Because I sure don't ever want to have one of those "boy, I sure wish I took some time in my life to write a book" deathbed moments. I consider this preventative medicine to avoid regret.

Anyway, what this means is there is a lot of writing to do. I had some pretty good breakthroughs on the book my last couple of weeks in India. It's really taking much better shape.

So, the goal is to finish it by year end. It's harder for me to mark progress in the rewrites stage than I did in the first draft daily word count. On my trip, I tried to focus on the first fifty pages, and boy are they different. I can see the end in sight, I think, or at least I'm confident enough this morning to think so.

So back to regular blogging, writing, reading and writing some more.

India Photos

2009-07-27T08:41:00.006-05:00

I've been writing, but I don't think my insights about learning that chapter three should be chapter one are as interesting as these photos.

Woman at Russell Market. We stopped here on the day we took a cooking class with the hotel chef. I can now make about six different Indian dishes!

Visiting Ooty, the highest point in southern India. The road winds through a beautiful, mountainous area filled with crazy hairpin turns.

At a market in Mysore, where I bought perfume for two dollars from an eight year old boy who told me the scent was just like Calvin Klein's Eternity.

Another bookstore! This is the Landmark bookstore (that also sells jewelery and luggage) in Bangalore's Forum Mall.

India is full of contradictions. It's old world and modern. Luxuriously rich and poop in the street poor. Hard to break into and full of heartwarming hospitality. It's been an enriching trip.

Short Story Marketing

2009-07-15T00:42:00.003-05:00

Here’s the scoop on how I marketed “Silence” for publication. I started writing “Silence” back in 2006. It went through a few drafts with my writing teacher at All Writers. Kathie suggested I send it to PMS.

I found a copy of their journal at a local bookstore and read it. Since they’re based in Arkansas, this is where national distribution helps. My story was a perfect fit. But their yearly reading period was over. So I sat on the story and didn’t send it out. And then I moved, and for almost a year my literary journals sat in an unpacked box. I was working on my first novel and forgetting about short stories.

I sent the story out to two magazines (never heard back from them) in 2007, but missed the PMS reading period again. Last fall, I sent the story to five more magazines. I got one immediate email bounce back -- that journal was dead. I received a rejection from two more – both about three to four months later.

Here is one of my most favorite rejections, from Epiphany: “Thanks for giving us the chance to read your work, but unfortunately it wasn't quite right for us. Never mind what we say. Keep writing!” Isn't that both efficient and fun?

I still haven’t heard anything from the other two. In March, I sent Silence to PMS and one other journal.

The PMS reading period opened again at the start of the year (January 1 to March 31st) and I sent the story on March 23rd. Spending a season as an editor for Oyez Review, I’ll suggest that you send your stories closer to the end of a reading period than the start. You probably won’t hear a response until after the reading period, so why have a story sitting around collecting dust all that time? This can be hard to manage for simultaneous submissions, but I’d recommend this practice for those “first pick” journals you’re especially in love with.

PMS notified me of my acceptance via email on July 1, just three months after their reading period was over.

I only submit to journals that allow simultaneous submissions, so I've notified the places I haven't received a response from that my story has been accepted elsewhere. Don't skip this step! It is professional and kind and just the right thing to do.

In total, I submitted my story to nine journals. I found most of the journals through Writer's Market. I have the short story market book at home and also a subscription to their online database.

PMS was the only journal I properly targeted -- by purchasing their journal and seeing if my story was a good fit. I’m glad I kept waiting for their reading period. I’m proud to be part of their journal.

This acceptance, of course, is making me go back and take stock of all the short stories I've written over the years. More stats on those in another post! I know a lot of the readers here are novelists -- any short story writers out there who'd like to comment on their marketing process?

Still Life

2009-07-13T00:38:00.011-05:00

I visited the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam. I’m familiar with Van Gogh’s Starry Night, The Bedroom and Sunflowers. But seeing an entire collection of an artist’s work gave me a new perspective. His earlier paintings were extremely dark, like he painted in only blacks, browns, and blues. Look at this link for an example of how the light in his paintings changed over the years.

Only after he visited Paris and studied the work of other artists did he start using bright colors in his paintings. A description of one early painting noted how his perspective of a chair was technically inaccurate. So he had crappy first drafts, too!

I was thrilled to discover that a brilliant artist like Van Gogh practiced and struggled with his craft, just like we do as writers. Just as I’m sure all artists do. I couldn’t imagine having all my early short stories, standalone scenes or pathetic attempts at poetry on display for everyone to see. But it was so helpful for me as a writer to see another artist’s growth process.

There was one section of still lifes -- the basic paintings of a vase of flowers on a table and maybe some fruit. This collection had a painting from a different artist in the middle -- I think it was Pissarro’s Still life with Peonies and Mock Orange.

It was flanked by two of Van Gogh’s still lifes on each side, one of which was Vase with Autumn Asters. (Anyone who knows anything about art, please correct me. I’m doing this from memory and I was jetlagged at the time.)

As an exercise, Van Gogh copied paintings he admired as practice to hone his craft and technique, to learn about light and shading. And in some cases, I liked Van Gogh’s pieces better. The concept wasn’t original - flowers in a vase on a table - but it was a completed piece of work in his early years. It was an accomplishment to him. It was practice to get him to Starry Night.

So when I write another story about love, or finding yourself, or the basic clichés (although, aren’t most stories, on some level, about love?) I will allow myself those practice stories, those still lifes, the "flowers in a vase" version of creative writing.

Solo Trip in India

2009-07-09T06:22:00.003-05:00

Today I ventured out of the hotel. To another hotel. The ladies recommended Leela Palace as a place where I could be safe on my own and spend several hours. And dollars. There’s a mall there. I’ve never been a super big shopper, and since I gave up my job I traded in my bi-monthly trips to Ann Taylor Loft for visits to the library. But I ventured into the Galleria, to see it, to kill time, and to maybe shop.

I circled the first floor and saw shops with rows and rows of fabric. The colors and patterns popped out so much I could even sense their feel from the other side of the glass windows – the smoothness, the swirls of silk, slippery. I waltzed past these shops, afraid – of spending money, not knowing what to order, or how to haggle – even as a man in a green T-shirt standing at the threshold of his store offered me, "Please, take a look." I didn’t even respond to him, just looked away – down even, not forward.

I turned the bend and then in bright, yet soft, blue and white letters I saw the sign. I sucked in my breath. I saw rows and rows of them, upright, packed in tight, behaving, beckoning. Books.

I asked the bookseller for recommendations on books written by female Indian authors. He went to the front display and bestseller section and handed me book after book. I declined to buy anything I knew I could get in the US. I told him I was a writer and I was interested in India’s version of contemporary women’s fiction – stories about love and life and self-identity. We ventured a bit from that criteria (although he did attempt to sell me Love Story, it’s apparently very popular there) and here’s what I ended up with:

Almost Single by Advaita Kala
The Marriage Bureau for Rich People by Farahad Zama
First Love by Brinda Charry
The Argumentative Indian: Writings on India Culture, History and Identity by Amartya Sen
Multiple City: Writings on Bangalore, edited by Aditi De
The 24 X 7 Marriage, Smart Strategies for Good Beginnings by Vijay Nagaswami

Books are very cheap here. On average, about $5 for a trade paperback. After lunch (Indian buffet, where the waiter told me they could also make me pizza – I declined – and where I had some of the best tiramisu ever) I went to a music store and asked for recommendations on CDs ($4) of popular Indian dance music. I bought The Power of Bhangra (closest thing to hip-hop) and Everyone On Dance Floor (no the), Level 7.

Finally, I visited one of the many Shiva temples:

Short Story Publication

2009-07-08T08:35:00.003-05:00

I’m so happy to announce that my short story “Silence,” will appear in the upcoming issue of PMS poemmemoirstory. PMS is the annual, all-women literary journal at University of Alabama at Birmingham. (I’ve also had a short story published in Foliate Oak, the literary journal at University of Arkansas at Monticello - I guess they like me in the south!).

I’ll post more on the marketing process for this story, but I thought I’d see if anyone has questions about marketing a short story that I can address in my post. Let me know and I’ll try to include any details you might be interested in. Fun fact about this story: I wrote the first draft three years ago!

Amsterdam Inspiration

2009-07-05T23:54:00.008-05:00

On our way to India, Mike and I spent two days in Amsterdam. Since I rarely drive in Chicago, Amsterdam is a city that’s after my own heart. It's completely walkable and bikes outnumber cars something like 400 to 1 (okay, that’s an exaggeration, but not by much). Bicyclists have their own traffic lane, but the roads in Amsterdam are curvy and crisscrossed, and riders gracefully weave their routes inches from the trams and skinny sedans. Bicyclists ride about without a care in the world – no one even wears a helmet. Each vehicle casually moves around one another like a comfortable, rehearsed dance routine.

I was also awed by the thousands of bikes outside Grand Centraal train station. There’s a three-story bicycle garage and every inch is packed. It’s filled with rusty, old-fashioned, wide handle bar, fat seat street bikes. Not the mountain bikes we pointlessly ride up and down Chicago’s lakefront. I found the massive bike garage and the spirit behind it beautiful. I started a short story that takes place here.

In this story, I’m trying to use the idea of fearless movement and practiced harmony. The few words I’ve written so far have a completely different tone than the pound-it-out-fast early drafts I’ve been working on lately. It’s a nice change of pace to have a mood in mind for a story, and I think it will develop slower. I’m sure it helped that I started this story freehand, armed with just a hotel pen and moleskin notebook.

I’ve always struggled with setting in my stories and I think this trip will give me lots of practice. I’ve already hit a chord with something in Amsterdam. Unfortunately, it doesn’t involve giant wooden clogs.

What’s the Big Idea?

2009-06-25T08:41:00.002-05:00

I feel like I’ve been working on my WIP in layers. I’m trying to really challenge myself and question everything in the novel. But every time I get one layer figured out, it makes me see through to the next one to wrestle with. For example, I recently spent time figuring out what my character wanted. Hooray! But then I got stumped when I had a good-but-not-great answer to the question “why does she want it?”

This story is an office drama, but in workshop last week my instructor Jill made a comment that stories don’t really take place in a stinky old office, do they? Okay, Jill did not use the word stinky, but that’s how my MC Sadie would describe it.

So Jill then asked the question, what’s the story about? Short answer: it’s about how a naïve, smart-but-not-as-awesome-as-she-thinks young woman deals with a re-org that puts her job in jeopardy.

But Jill pushed further. She asked, “What’s the big idea?” To which I wanted to respond, “Hey, what’s the big idea with you, punk?” But Jill is not a punk so I figured she meant something smarter than that. And she did.

She meant, what’s the big concept I’m trying to examine in this novel? It’s not just about office politics. While that’s all fine and good, Jill was looking for a big idea like love, loss, redemption, self-discovery. Oh boy, did I get worried. I did not want to write another love story. Don’t get me wrong, I love to write about love, but I also want to challenge myself to move beyond my usual box of tricks.

But then, Jill said, “What about hope? This character, she’s a big cynic. Can she maybe be hopeful too?” Bingo. That was it. Wouldn’t you know it that I talk about hope in the very last scene of the book. Can I make that a theme -- a big idea -- that I weave throughout the story? You better believe I can.

I don’t know how I’ll pull that off yet, but that’s okay. I know I need that layer, and that’s a big step. I’ll figure out how to make it work somehow. At least I hope so.

So what's your story’s big idea?

Writing Practice

2009-06-23T07:44:00.002-05:00

A week from today, I’ll be leaving for India for forty days. My husband is going for a business trip, and since I’m “self-employed” I’m tagging along to write. While this is first and foremost a work trip for both of us, we do have a vacation tagged onto the last week.

But I’m trying to figure out how I’ll handle the work part. And by that I mean what are my writing goals? Goals keep me motivated and give me a sense of accomplishment when I cross something off a list. I pounded out the first draft by hitting a daily writing goal. I rewrote the second draft by refusing to focus only on the opening chapters and making sure I did a walk-through of the entire manuscript.

A few months ago I thought my goal while in India should be to complete the manuscript. But I realize now that is way too aggressive. While I think my gushing it out by the seat of my pants sans outline approach really worked for my first draft, now it’s time for the manuscript to marinate. I need to listen to what my novel is trying to say, question my characters, and figure out what big ideas I want to investigate in my story. I can’t rush this.

When I finished the second draft a few weeks ago, (which I realized I never blogged about, probably because I didn’t know what I was going to attempt next), I knew I needed a break before I dug back in. But I’m now considering not touching the book at all when I’m in India.

Instead, I might do some practice writing. Just write for fun, write with no goals, create little scenes that may never see their way into a full story. And one thing I stink at is setting. What better place to practice that than in the color-infused, chaotic world of India?

We’ll see if I pull this off. I’m most worried about making sure I still feel a sense of accomplishment at the end of each day. But I’m ready to shake up my process a bit and see what happens.

Writing Without a Blueprint

2009-06-17T16:59:00.002-05:00

The past few weeks as I’ve been struggling with the mess of the first draft, I’ve questioned if my organic, writing by the seat of my pants with no outline or idea where I’m heading approach was really a good idea. But now I think it is. I never, ever would have sat down and dreamed up this story. Or these characters. They just kind of happened. And then stuff happened to them. As I got to understand my characters, I could put more story around their lives, finally build some tension, understand their goals and figure out what the big climax they’re all heading toward actually is.

I really did like the ending of the first draft. The beginning was slow, as early beginnings tend to be in my world, but it had potential. Actually, I liked the whole first draft, the way you love a four-year-old’s weird crayon self portrait that is really just two squiggly lines, because hello, the kid is just four.

So I say to my first draft, you are just a first draft, you don’t know any better. But you will grow up into a final draft, one of these days. You just need a little time and practice.

Anyway, as I’m deleting and moving so much stuff in this next draft, I wonder if I could’ve made life easier for myself by writing under a more structured plan – i.e., an outline. I hear that people do this, yet I’ve never ever tried it. It just doesn’t feel, well, creative.

My husband Mike suggested that how I write a first draft is like building a house without a blueprint. I know a house needs some basic things: kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, living room. I know a story needs some basic things: inciting event, conflict, voice, characters, climax, resolution.

So I kind of built a house that has all the basic elements, but not so much in the right place. The structure of my first draft is kind of like a house where the front door opens right into the bathroom, and you have to step over the toilet, into the tub and then through the kitchen to get to the living room. My inciting event was on page 74 or something like that.

On the second draft, I’m tearing down walls and really thinking about if I want an open floor living space or a separate kitchen and dining room. And I’m patching up that big hole in the roof. And I’m taking down the four by four room in the middle of the house with no windows or closets because who needs something like that?

It’s pretty fun, this rehabbing of my story. Would I build a house this way? No, that would be super expensive and there’d be a heck of a lot of dust. But for a story, building it without a blueprint works just fine.

So after I get the layout of the house in the right shape (plot), then I have the future drafts where I’m painting and buying furniture. And the final draft of polishing where I’m decorating and finding just the right piece of art to hang on the wall and candlesticks for the dining room table.

And then I’ll have a real house, built in stages, little by little, nail by nail. And inside it will be my book that I wrote, also in stages, little by little, word by word.

Twitterific

2009-06-16T08:21:00.000-05:00

Check out my post at Listen UP! about why I heart twitter. I mention both Oprah and John Mayer. Also, some things about writing.

Don't forget to follow me at twitter.com/fictioncity.

Blog Goodness 6/12/09

2009-06-12T08:28:00.002-05:00

Here are some interesting things I read this week on -- I was going to use the phrase the “interwebs” because everyone does that to be funny and I want to do it too. But then I worry there’s going to be one person who doesn’t know it’s a joke, and think I’m stupid, or worse yet, leave a comment that says “I think you meant internet.” No, I meant interwebs. Plural. There, I got that out of my system.

Anyway, here is this week’s blog goodness:

A sad but true tip from Janet Reid: “It’s too soon to query if … it’s your first novel.” I think she’s right and I wish I learned this a year ago.

Great post on word count from Moonrat. I’ll pull out two comments here: “I would say that the absolute upper limit of OK is 100,000 for a debut novel, but you'll find some people turned off to it if it's anything above 80,000” and “Probably the most universal flaw in early-career writing is overwriting or over-inclusion of material.”

Query Shark, who is Janet Reid, but the woman really has a knack of spelling things out for you: “Your job as a writer is to make me care about the protagonist even if I do want to smack her upside the head.”

Via QueryTracker, some positive thoughts on the economy courtesy of Beth Fleisher from the Barry Goldblatt Literary Agency: "I am a huge believer that good books will always sell. I would be crazy to pass up a book I love and an author I want to represent because of the economy."

From FinePrint Literary Agency: "Peter Olsen, the former boss of Random House recently wrote an essay on the future of e-books which is fascinating. Click here to read the whole essay. In part, Olsen says: 'Book businesspeople are about to make the same mistake that has devastated the music and newspaper industries: worrying about whether a new digital format will cannibalize their traditional business rather than focusing on how to make the new format more competitive with other digital media.'"

At Editor Unleashed, a post by Jordan E. Rosenfeld that gives a different point of view to my take on Character, Story, Language. I love differing points of view! “So rather than trying to write character first, then going back to see if you’ve got a functioning plot, or hoping that you built a convincing setting, and so on, you’re better off learning to write integrated scenes.”

And over at Bookslut: “If you had asked me if the world needed another 6-page examination of the usefulness (or not) of creative writing programs, I would have made obnoxious puking gestures. But surprise, surprise, the New Yorker manages to make it entertaining.” I haven’t read the full article yet, but as a proud MFA dropout I'm sure I will eat that one up.

And that's what I call blog goodness!

Character, Story, Language

2009-06-11T08:02:00.003-05:00

I’m tinkering with my writing process, figuring out what is most effective, motivating, efficient, practical, productive, etc. Last night, my shiny new critique group talked about our writing process. I am still a firm believer in writing draft one without an outline or even an idea.

For this book, I used draft one to discover my character, Sadie, and figure out what she was like, how she talked, where she lived, how she spent her weekends. I found her voice.

In the second draft I’ve worked on the story. I asked myself questions about Sadie. Now that I know her personality, what is it that Sadie wants? Why does she want it? And what’s the obstacle that’s getting in the way of this? What’s at stake if she doesn’t get it? This helped me develop the story I was telling about Sadie, aka the plot.

The questions I answered (which I really forced myself to think about in this novel) are important and, frustratingly connected in different ways. I was happy when I was certain that I knew what Sadie wanted, then defeated when I realized I didn’t know why. I had an obstacle, but wasn’t sure what was at stake that motivates her to keep moving in the face of conflict. I’ll be spending at least one more draft (I wasn’t going to count them, but here I am doing it) working out the story.

And then, once I my character is strong and my story is in the right place, I’ll focus on language. That’s when I’ll tinker for hours over one paragraph. That’s when I’ll search for opportunities to add metaphors and similes. That’s when I’ll decide if someone’s face is beet red or wine red.

This is just one type of process, and it works for me right now. I may evolve into another process. Some people swear by outlines but that approach just doesn’t move me. Although, I’ve never seriously tried it, and someday I should to see if it works for me or if there’s anything I can take from that approach and apply it to my writing process.

I don’t think it matters how you write, just that you keep writing. Whatever tricks you need to do to keep those fingers dancing across the keyboard is just fine.

What's your process like?

South Asian Author Night

2009-06-10T14:35:00.002-05:00

Hey, hop on over to Listen UP! to check out my post on a South Asian Author Night reading I attended. Listen UP! is the blog of Story Studio Chicago where I’m a long-time student and a new staff member. They are full of the awesome!

The Girl Who Stopped Swimming

2009-06-08T09:44:00.004-05:00

The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson is now available on paperback. I know Joshilyn from her so-hilarious-you-will-spit-Diet-Coke-out-of-your-eye-socket blog, Faster Than Kudzu. Joshilyn doesn't blog so much about writing, but a lot about funny things that go on in her household and I would definitely say that she has a higher ratio of funny to non-funny than the average household. Maybe this is because she has kids.

Anyway, she also is very talented at using all caps for emphasis instead of italics and NOT making it sound like she's screaming at you. I think this is very interesting skill and I'm not sure how she pulls it off.

I have a copy of her book Between, Georgia here in the living room. It's in my "To Read" queue, and if the book I'm supposed to be reading next for book club doesn't come in from the library soon, I am going to have to dig into this thing. I was excited that I read Joshilyn's blog, went to my local library branch (yes, I'm in Chicago but the branch near my house is just teeny) and there was her book on the shelf. I felt famous just for checking it out.

I feel bad that I didn't buy her book, since that's what authors really like you to do. But with the economy and all, I imposed a no book buying rule at the start of this year, and let me tell you that I am reading more books than ever.
Courtesy of the fabulous Chicago Public Library (and likely any library near you), you can request any book you like online and the library will send you a nice email when it arrives at your local branch.

So even though I haven't started Between, Georgia (okay, I read the first page when I checked it out and I was hooked and it also made me laugh) and I've never read The Girl Who Stopped Swimming, I can still heartily recommend Joshilyn's books solely by the quality and high level of fun in her blog.

Because we all know a good blog means a good book.

P.S. Joshilyn is hosting a little contest where if you visit her blog and make a comment, you'll be entered into a drawing for a free book. And if you post about The Girl Who Stopped Swimming on your blog or Facebook or MySpace, you'll be entered twice. Check out her blog for the details. And spread the word about a nice and funny lady who writes books for a living.

Update: The Girl Who Stopped Swimming just made the 7/7/09 New York Times Bestseller list!

Marketing = Work

2009-06-07T15:29:00.002-05:00

Just a test post. More details later.

Blog Goodness

2009-06-02T17:54:00.004-05:00

I read brilliant things on blogs (you have a blog reader, like Bloglines or Google Reader or something, so you only have to go to one place to read them all, right?). Sometimes I think I should just re-post what other people write on their blogs, since they are smarter, funnier and more successful than me. So, here are a few things I liked that I read on blogs this week:

"When you're considering what to write about, you have to start with the assumption that everyone you're up against in the slush pile can write -- it's your idea that will set you apart." -- Super Agent Nathan Bransford, and this is even a re-post 2007.

"Dialogue made up of nothing but words rarely works." -- Agent Jessica Faust at Bookends . Sounds so obvious, but think about it. What else is the character up to while talking? Give the reader that stuff too!

"Wanting to meet the author who wrote your favorite book is like wanting to meet the cow that produced your hamburger. Basically, you’re only going to be disappointed." -- The prolific and adorable author Meg Cabot.

"So every scene should in some way show the character (I mean, the scene's protagonist or central character) acting and reacting with the motivation or goal in mind. Their ambition/desire doesn't take a vacation. And if he should find himself going several hours without thinking of the goal or acting to fulfill the motivation, then it should be a conflict." -- Editorrent, a blog that I love but don't quite know how to pronounce. Editor rent? Edit torrent? Edit or rent? Anyway, it's written by two editors and they give lots of good craft advice.

Now that's what I call blog goodness.

The More You Know

2009-06-02T08:32:00.002-05:00

Hey, remember those cheesy self-help public announcements NBC used to do on Saturday mornings with the soft music and rainbow? Some star would talk to you about self-image or whatever and the tagline was “The More You Know?” Are they still doing those? I also heard a rumor that Saturday morning cartoons don’t even exist anymore. Thanks a lot, Saved by the Bell.

Anyway, I had one of those learning moments about writing where I realized “Boy, the more I know about this, the more I learn how much I don’t know.” The longer I spend searching for things to fix in this draft, the more holes I discover. This is a good thing, I tell myself. The last thing I want to do is try to write a book thinking I know it all. I realize that I do not; but I still continue to amaze myself by learning exactly how much I don’t know.

How about an example? I realized that my character doesn’t really change in the end! How dare she! There is a nice climax, a payoff for the reader, and a decent resolution. But this stuff happens to her. It’s not quite deus ex machina; the climax has been set up pretty decently, following a series of events leading it up to be believable. But Sadie isn’t the one calling the shots in the climax. She should be.

The climax is the place in the story where something’s gotta give; something absolutely has to happen to change the course of events. My character is backed into a corner, and someone has to make a move.

But what I realize is that Sadie has to be the one to make that move. She should be the one to affect change, not someone else. And the choice she makes should be evident of how she’s changed as a character since she embarked on this journey at the beginning of the story.

This all seems obvious as I write it now. I’ve read it in countless writing books, heard it in plenty of workshops. But I didn’t know it was missing from this book until I sat around and stared at my story, going over and over it in my mind.

Does this mean the climax of my story is going to change drastically? No, the end result will be pretty similar. There are only a few options on how the story can end (at least without getting aliens involved).

What I need to do now is figure out how Sadie will change in the end. This is a very big question. It ties into the one I’ve nailed down recently of What does Sadie want? But I’m still fuzzy on the Why does she want it? I have to spend more time with her figuring out her motivation.

To learn more about Sadie, I have to write more scenes for her and see what she does. Then once I know more about her, I can decide (or she will show me, really) how she’s changing or where she needs to change and why. Then I can decide which option for my climax would fit her actions, and go on from there.

And then, hopefully, when Sadie is backed into the corner, she’s going to be the one calling the shots and we’ll all understand why she makes the choice she does.

A Little Break Helps

2009-05-27T09:08:00.002-05:00

I know that I love my job when I kind of want a long holiday weekend to be over so I can just get back to writing already. I started my holiday weekend Friday at lunch and worked very little on Friday morning, if you must know the truth. I was feeling kind of stuck and pushed myself through rewriting a couple of scenes, but didn’t feel like I accomplished much.

So on Tuesday, I was super excited to get back to the book. But I felt like I’d been a little slow last week and the story had started to get heavy in my mind. I spent so much time on that awful middle part of the story, I felt drained. I made progress in that section, but I was unsure of what was ahead of me when I opened the document again.

Apparently I was so frightened, I never opened the document up yesterday. Not even once. I read a lot though, so that was nice. So this morning, full of guilt and determination, I opened the document up as soon as I got up. And I started rewriting.

And things are just not that bad. The ending is pretty solid, at least that’s what I think right now. Getting through the end of the book actually feels possible. So I’m trading in my guilt and saying I really needed a break from the story to recharge my writing batteries and see things with a fresh perspective.

Chopping Block

2009-05-20T12:26:00.001-05:00

I have deleted a lot of stuff from the second draft. I have now gotten over the need to delete just about everything. I think the plot is in the right order. I need to add new scenes and still flesh things out, but the sequence of events is finally right. But let’s take a look at what I’m left with now, shall we?

First draft was 314 pages, 88,260 words long. Second draft, as it stands today, is 240 pages and 67,344 words long. This might look like I cut 74 pages. But really I’ve saved 43 of them in a lovely document titled “Extras.” This is the stuff that doesn’t fit right now, might not work, but I might be able to salvage later. Who knows, those pages might end up in the trash eventually, but I like that they are ready for me to plunk them back in if I can figure out where they best help the story.

Looking at chapters as they were numbered in the first draft, the order is sort of like this now: 1, 2, 14, 5, New, 7, 3, 17, 4, 6-10, 20-21, 11, 14, 12, 15, 22, 15-16, 24, 17-18, 19, 18, 23-33.

Do you see how those last ten chapters get to stay in their nice tidy order? Do you see how I had to wiggle the opening chapters around a bit to make the reader (aka agent) stick around long enough to get to those final chapters? Because the last thing you want to do is send an agent a book where you’re thinking, the first 200 pages are rather odd, but that last 100 is just perfect!

I have things in order. At least, enough of an order to move on. Now I have the time to add in more scenes, heighten the conflict, and deepen the characters. The fun just does not stop!

Moving Parts

2009-05-19T11:30:00.002-05:00

As I started to dig into the second (sort of) draft, I realized pretty early on that I’d buried a lot of good conflict way down in the second half of the book. So I started moving things up and down and out and I got my first fifty pages in solid enough shape to move on.

Then I started working on next fifty pages. I kept moving scenes around and deleting stuff there, too. Now I’m getting into pages 100-150 and I’m still trying to move things around some more. But do you know what? Those chapters are kind of in an okay order. Yes, there’s still plenty of stuff to delete and expand on. The writing is still lanky, awkward, sluggish first draft writing. But, the plot, the story itself, is not so bad there.

I was nervous to rewrite a draft I’d received no feedback on. Would I really be able to find the problems on my own? But once I discovered I needed to better solidify the main conflict, I was relieved that I identified a problem and had a solution to fix it. But then I started to apply this solution to the entire book.

The rest of the book doesn’t need this particular fix. The middle has its own problems. One of them, I think, is keeping track of a few different subplots. So maybe I should focus on fixing that area instead of other problems that aren’t really there.

Second Draft, Sort Of

2009-05-13T10:11:00.002-05:00

The first few chapters are safely in the hands of trusted critique partners. So exciting! It took me about a week longer than I expected to get things in shape, but I wasn’t off my goal by far.

By the way, when you change the point of view in a story, do you know how many times you need to look at a chapter before you’ll be able to find every instance of the old POV? Me neither! Third person is still popping up everywhere I look.

I was reading a post by Anna David on Editor Unleashed the other day where she says she doesn’t know how to count her drafts. Being a very goal-oriented, make a list and cross things off it kind of person, I’m very motivated by knowing what draft I’m in. But that post made me reconsider this.

The first draft was clear, I wrote it front to back, no stopping. The second draft has been a much more iterative process. At first, I’ve focused heavily on the first fifty or so pages. Then I focused on the second fifty pages a ton. Then I went back to the first fifty pages to make sure they were set up properly so the stuff in the second fifty made sense. Should I be counting these as different drafts? Does it matter? No, not really.

I’m going to stick with calling it a second draft for now, because I know I’m further along than the first, and nowhere near the final polishing draft. I’m moving forward, and that’s really all that matters.

Funny Videos About Writing

2009-05-01T08:47:00.002-05:00

I recently discovered Fiction Matters, via Jane Friedman’s blog There Are No Rules where she linked to some of their tweets. Anyway, they are really bringing home the awesome, like linking to these two funny videos about writing.

Here's one from Dennis Cass, where he talks about his marketing attempts.

And then Jeff Somers gives us a glimpse into a day in the life of a writer.

Making it a Mystery

2009-04-30T07:30:00.004-05:00

I love when I read writing advice and can apply it right away. Usually I read an interesting tidbit in a book or hear an idea or experience something in workshop, then I tuck it away and months later, I’m like, “oh, that’s what they meant.”

But yesterday I read a piece of advice and immediately used it in my book. I wasn’t even trying, and I think that’s when learning is at its best. Since I do anything agent Janet Reid ~~tells me to~~ suggests, I went on over to writer Robert Gregory Browne’s website Casting the Bones. I liked the first post and poked around.

Then I stumbled onto this nugget: “I don’t care what kind of story you’re writing. EVERY story is a mystery story. And by mystery, I merely mean that you don’t reveal everything up front. You tease your reader, planting questions in his/her mind, questions that he wants answers to.“ (More here.)

This made a lot of sense, and, like I usually do with nuggets of wisdom, I tucked it away in my brain and let it marinate. Then I typed away, got stuck, twittered, read and then was ready to type some more.

This was the situation: Yesterday morning I had Sadie’s antagonist antagonizing her, but I couldn’t figure out his justification. The scene really helped solidify the story’s conflict, but it bothered me that it didn’t make any sense for Jack to do what he did. So then I decided to write a scene where Sadie conspires with a former co-worker to figure out what Jack was up to.

Well, smart girls as they are, they did figure it out. And it totally works. I was quite happy with myself and my characters, since they did all the thinking and all I really did was type some words. But then Browne’s advice flew right to the forefront of my mind. Sure, it was great that I, the author, knew my antagonist’s motivation, and what he wanted in that scene. But what if I didn’t tell my readers just yet? What would that be like? Well, it would be a little mystery, wouldn’t it?

Do you see how that all came together? I will replay it for you: read writing advice, write, forget about writing advice, read a book, write some more, (okay, twitter if you must,) then brilliantly apply writing advice just when it was the very last thing on your mind.

It doesn’t matter if these events happen within minutes of one another or months. The point is, you must actively seek out writing advice, you must always be reading, and you kind of always have to be writing, too. I think when you pursue these three activities, the learning will do its own thing behind the scenes. Then you get that aha moment and see what your brain has been up to when you weren’t even paying attention.

Rewriting and Reordering

2009-04-28T12:42:00.002-05:00

Remember how I said I created an intricate numbering system to keep track of my scenes? Well, I’ve moved some things around and that exercise sure came in handy. Take a look at the new order of the scenes:

1B
1C (and some new stuff)
1D
2A
2B
14A
14C
5A
7A
3B
4E
6B
6C

This is only up to page 34, but I bet you get the picture. And do you know what was buried in chapter 14 of the first draft? Only the inciting event, the crisis moment that invokes a conflict that starts everything out that makes a character’s story interesting to tell right now at this very moment in their life. Yeah, that part. I thought I had it right there in chapter two, but it was kind of weak. It was an idea of a conflict, but when the actual forces started competing against one another in chapter 14 – 100 pages into the book – oh boy did things get good.

And for the record, here are the scenes I’ve deleted so far: 1A, 2C (what I thought was my inciting event), 3A, 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, 5B-D, 6A, 6D. Okay, so maybe you could’ve figured things out by process of elimination, but I am here to make things easy for you.

My goal for the week (which you know already if you follow me at twitter.com/fictioncity) is to focus on getting the first fifty pages in shape to hand off for critique. For my first book, I wrote each draft linearly. I still absolutely believe in this approach for draft one. But the topic, and therefore structure, of this book is different from the first one and so the story feels more fuzzy to me this early on. I knew I really had to get a hold of what the story was about, what the main conflict was, what was at stake, etc. before I could write about the results of those things in the second draft.

Character Flaws

2009-04-26T13:24:00.001-05:00

I finished marking up the entire first draft of the book this week. I’m not certain what my next step will be, so I’ve been thinking about the book a lot. This completely counts as writing, by the way, even though there’s no typing going on. I’m writing in my head, I swear.

I am clear on a few things in this book. What’s the main conflict? Sadie wants to get the big job. What’s the obstacle? The new boss promotes Sadie’s co-worker instead.

I also wanted to create a young, contemporary woman who was kind of the anti-Bridget Jones. Don’t get me wrong, I love that book, I just can’t help it. But it’s been done and sequeled and imitated. I wanted to create a character who wasn’t falling into goofball situations at work, who didn’t have credit card debt, who wasn’t obsessed with her weight struggles, wasn’t unable to maintain a normal relationship. So what if my character was smart, successful, ambitious and driven? You know, like most of the women I know in my life and who I can actually relate to.

So I made Sadie strong (but also sassy). I put her through the rigmarole at work, gave her lots of roadblocks, and never made things easy. After re-reading the first draft, I see I need a lot more of this, but the building blocks are there.

And lately, with all this thinking that’s been going on, I discovered a problem I had with the main character in my first book has potential to pop up in this book as well. Like Rebecca, Sadie is a little too good at everything. She’s sometimes too smart, too quick on her feet, too confident around guys, too unflappable.

I’ve realized that she needs a lot more flaws. One of the hardest to receive, yet really important to hear, pieces of feedback about my first book was that it was a little too after-school special. The story was perhaps too pleasant, too uplifting, too optimistic.

I can see the possibility of that happening in this novel. But now that I know this, I can work to avoid it. This is what writing the second novel will teach you. Can you imagine the stuff I’ll learn when I’m writing my seventh unpublished book? I’ll be like an unpublished book writing pro. Now that’s something to aim for.

But seriously, it’s interesting to see how much you can learn by just plugging away and practicing. It’s just like playing the scales on the piano or doing twenty math problems every night in seventh grade algebra. Eventually, things come easier, and you get a little stronger.

So in this situation, to get stronger as a writer, I have to make my characters a little weaker.

Fine, I Joined Twitter

2009-04-23T08:12:00.002-05:00

I’ve been contemplating this for a while. It started with an article about all the twittering going on at a lousy SXSW publishing panel. Then Ellen got me all excited about it. Then Oprah joined and, honestly, it lost a little of its cool for me.

But here’s what did me in this morning. On Editor Unleashed writer Andrew Keen said, “Any writer not on Twitter should have both their hands chopped off.” I instantly went to Twitter and signed on. I mean, how much more pressure did I need?

Anyway, follow along at www.twitter.com/FictionCity. I don’t promise to only twitter about writing though. You’ve been warned.

Review: AFRAID by Jack Kilborn

2009-04-21T08:34:00.002-05:00

Because I like to read and I also like to get free things, I signed up to receive a free copy of the horror novel AFRAID by Jack Kilborn in exchange for posting a review online. I don’t read horror novels. I’ve never even read Stephen King. But I’m making an effort to read outside the genre I write in, and this fit the bill.

I have to say I had no idea what the book was about, even after reading the back cover and lots of marketing materials. This was on purpose and effective, because let me tell you, this story was weird. I had an idea of what I thought it might be about. It was weirder than that.

I even hesitated to open the darn thing because I thought I’d get scared and have nightmares. The book arrived in the mail when when my husband was out of town and I honest to goodness wouldn't start reading it until he was back home. But after all that, I didn’t find it scary. It was super gross, but not scary.

The story was simple: “something” invades a small town in Wisconsin. Figuring out the “something” was pretty cool, and that’s what kept me reading. I didn’t need to see more gore (and really, I expected a lot more of it), but I wanted to figure out what the “something” was. Kilborn was tricky about this.

Even though I was reading gross scenes, I got through the book pretty quickly. I did get stalled in the end by some of the logistics. As I started to put the pieces together, I kind of wanted it to be over a little faster.

I have to give Kilborn credit for succinct description. There’s always just enough to paint a little picture in your mind, then he keeps things moving. But his best credit (also in his Lt. Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels thriller series, written under the name of J.A. Konrath) is his character development. These people have some serious back story. In a good way. Everyone has a motivation, a reason for being the way they are.

Joe Konrath (aka Kilborn) says he tried to stretch himself by writing a horror novel, something he’d never done before. I’d say he was successful. It’s a good book. But I’d love to see him go all MYSTIC RIVER on us and write something more (okay, maybe equally?) centered on character than plot.

Overall? If you like horror, I think you’ll love this. If you’re a fan of Konrath’s other books, I think you’ll like this, too. His breezy and compact writing style pulls you through any of his books, no matter the genre. Not a fan of horror? Read it anyway. It’s super weird, and that’s always interesting.

When Do You Quit Writing?

2009-04-20T08:58:00.005-05:00

I’ll cut to the chase. The answer is never, unless you're a big wimp with no backbone, which, I must say, many writers are starting to sound like with all this queryfail and agentfail nonsense.

Anyhoo, check out this great post by Toni McGee Causey over at Muderati. It’s a moving read. The link comes courtesy of agent Janet Reid, who I learn from daily and will constantly adore, no matter how many people keep saying nasty things about her.

Back to the Book, Baby!

2009-04-14T09:39:00.002-05:00

So last week I took the first draft out of hiding and printed it up for round two. My plan was to go through it with a red pen (okay, it’s green, but you get the point) and mark up weak spots, jot down questions, highlight sections that work. This was not a line-by-line, rewrite everything edit. It was a high-level analysis of what’s working and what’s not.

I also numbered every scene in the book. For example, chapter one now has scenes 1A, 1B, 1C, etc. On a separate sheet of paper, I wrote down the main point of each scene – just one brief line. This will help me keep track of things, sure, but it’s not the point of this exercise. What I’m doing with each of these chunks is questioning how each scene either advances the plot or reveals character. I would love if all scenes did both, but for now I’m just requiring one. And let me tell you, I already have identified many scenes that I can put right in the trash because they don’t do either of these things.

With my last book (you know, the unpublished one) I never really thought about the story. I was glad I was writing, I was glad I was revising, I was glad I wasn’t giving up. But now I’m really trying to actively think about how each scene affects the entire story arc. Am I maintaining tension? Am I creating setting instead of leaving it all in my brain where no one can see it? Do I use too much dialogue? How long has it been since there was some action?

I didn’t consciously think about these things with the first book, and let me tell you it makes a huge difference. I know exactly what my plot is. I know what my character wants. I know what obstacles are getting in her way. I know how it’s resolved in the end. Everything I write needs to support these things.

Now that I’m writing with these goals in mind, it feels a lot easier. And now I can focus on fun things like voice. I can experiment with point of view. I can spend time learning how to write setting. This is one of my weakest areas – at least that I’m aware of at this point – and I have no idea why I always glaze over it. But once someone pointed it out to me, I totally saw it.

So I have a sense of relief that the book is manageable. It’s all still very hard, I’m no expert on this, and this very well may be my second unpublished book. But, I can recognize that I’m learning and the more I know the harder I can challenge myself.

One last comparison, I swear. I think this is the difference between how I jog and how I run. I never consider myself a runner, but I jog three or four times a week. I put one foot in front of the other, quickly, and listen to music and look at the pretty trees. I don’t go very fast, but I get exercise and, until now, that has been enough. But now I want to think about running. I’m trying to time myself, use the incline on the treadmill, actually think about my stride.

My first book was a jog. Now I’m ready to run.

Notes on Rewriting

2009-04-04T18:48:00.003-05:00

I’ve got rewriting on the brain. I started going through my writing books and reviewing sections on rewriting. For as much as everyone says “writing is rewriting,” writing books seem to have awfully small sections on revision. Anyway, I re-read parts of Immediate Fiction by Jerry Cleaver recently, and thought I’d share some of my favorite tidbits. Back in the day when I started this innocent hobby (or so I thought) of creative writing, this was the first book on writing I read. It’s very helpful and a pretty easy read. Good starter book.

“Rewriting is not polishing.” So good to remember. You aren’t ready to get things perfect on the second draft. Continue to let yourself experiment and make mistakes. Don’t try to get every synonym down and every comma in the right place. Polishing comes later.
Cleaver suggests it takes, on average, about five drafts to get a story right.
When you’re starting out, don’t always try to get a story perfect. Get it as good as you can get it for where you are as a writer. Then start another project.
Cleaver refers to rewriting as “craft in progress.” Mmm. Love that phrase.
What to do when you’re lost? Go back to the main elements of Want, Obstacle, Action. He suggests that if you avoid these main points of the story “It’s like waxing your car when it needs a new engine.”
When you’re revising and thinking about your story and if it has what it needs, “don’t work in your head.” Find the proof on the page. If you can’t point to the exact words that back up how obvious it is, then they are only in your mind and will never be in reader’s. I am guilty of this a lot!
Resolution “is simply a matter of a victory or a defeat.” Did the character get what they want or not? Mini-resolutions occur throughout your story as your character faces her obstacle and chips away at it bit by bit.
Don’t forget emotion. This “is where the ultimate connection is made.”
“Showing is creating the experience.” Don’t just talk about what happened; write it so the reader can really experience it herself.
“Let nothing be easy for anyone ever.” Who wants to read about someone’s easy breezy life? No fun! Make things tough, always.
Use double duty: every little action and scene in the story has to reveal character. If you send your character to a cocktail party, this event better have some significant connection to your character. Is the person who’s creating an obstacle there and can help/hinder your character? Does your character have a drinking problem? Is your character socially awkward and full of anxiety about attending cocktail parties? Make it all count.
History and biography doesn’t develop character. “Your character is developed by the way he acts in the present, the way he deals with his problems.” Don’t rely on too much backstory. Show what’s going on now.
Ask yourself “why” about everything. Be specific. Why is this event relevant to this specific character? “In fiction, we’re looking for the root cause, the deepest level of the experience, the most personal and specific reasons.”

Novel vs. Short Story

2009-03-26T11:41:00.003-05:00

I’m rewriting a different short story today, one that I started last fall and has been through workshop. The draft I started with this morning was 21 pages. I reviewed notes from critique (yay for me for saving them!), figured out what I wanted to improve, spent time getting the order of events right, and cut stuff. A lot of stuff. Scenes I loved that just didn’t fit. Images that were hard to part with, but just didn’t relate to the central theme. It was hard, but I cut stuff.

Whew! That felt better. I got rid of a lot of junk. Then I checked the page count (why do I do this to myself?) and found the story was now 20 and a half pages. Um, what? What is that about? I thought I cut a lot. And I did write a new scene at the end, but it was a tiny little scene. Or so I thought.

I think the novel has ruined the short story for me.

Novel and short story writing are two such different crafts, I must remember. I can’t really tell the story the same way. I can’t linger on so much in a short story. I can’t reveal as much as I would like about a character. Or, put a more challenging way: in the short story you have to figure out how to still reveal a lot about a character but with, you know, five words or so.

It’s different, so, so different. And I am totally out of practice. But my novel is napping and so what’s a girl to do? I will keep at this short story, I will just remember now not to be so wordy about it.

Revising a Short Story

2009-03-25T13:20:00.001-05:00

I’m revising a short story I first started more than two years ago. I got critiques from writing groups on two different versions. I just went back into my file cabinet and looked for the mark-ups from workshop and they’re gone. I remember throwing them out. This is why I (usually) never throw things out.

But still, I was able to remember feedback from the critique. The most important feedback I received from this story was that my climax was too early. There was also a scene that pretty much everyone found confusing and terrible (although they were nice enough not to say terrible). Now, all I have to tell you about this scene to make you understand why it didn’t work was that it was backstory. I thought it was important, but I can see now that it wasn’t. Talk about taking time away from your stories. I removed this scene during the last draft I did (about a year ago) simply because everyone had a problem with it. I just didn’t get what the problem was then. Today I do – it slowed down the story.

When I studied Journalism in college we had a professor that gave us ten cardinal rules to follow. The one I remember is “Don’t slow down the reader.” I have used that in journalism, technical writing, creative writing – everywhere I write.

And this scene of backstory did just that. I thought it provided more character development, but all it did was pull the reader out of the immediate story. It was too clunky. I needed to show what was going on with the character in the present.

So, I started moving bits and pieces around and I think I finally got the order right. I still have too much slow business at the front of the story. But if I cut out the slow business, I will have more room for a perhaps a nice long dinner scene where I can show what the character is thinking, feeling, doing, etc., right now as the story is happening.

I have three different versions of this story on my hard drive. After I did the above revising, I went back to the original version. The story as it stands now is pretty much the same content as my first draft, but without the awful backstory and with the crucial flashback broken up and spread throughout the story, and climax in the right spot. This is an example of writing more than you need and taking away what doesn’t work. It took me a long time to get there, but now I can really see it.

Novel Nap

2009-03-23T09:24:00.001-05:00

So the first draft is taking a little nap, but all I want to do is go into my hard drive and wake it up and play with it! Print it out and put it in a binder and just stare at it with awe. Laugh at its wordy sentences and overuse of adverbs (it is just a little baby novel, after all, it doesn’t know better yet).

But I know better, and I need to let it sit for at least another week. I know I said I’d leave it alone for three weeks, but I really don’t know if I will make it. Last week I took a huge break and did a lot of nothing. Well, I read a lot, which always counts as good use of time in my world. And I watched a lot of movies (thank you, AMC) where you really can study storytelling and conflict and overcoming obstacles. But, I got down just barely 600 words on a new short story. I did not revise any existing short stories. I did not send any finished short stories out for submission. I did not even blog!

And why was my big grand plan of switching to short story land and maintaining my other writerly duties foiled? Well, I was a bit creatively exhausted, but the real reason was that I didn’t set any goals. This is what motivates me. When I make a promise to myself to do something, I do it. When I just kind of think about doing something, well, who knows what happens.

So, I have goals for this week. Send finished short story for submission (going to post office today!). Complete first draft of new short story. Revise two existing short stories and send to critique buddies. I hope all this will help take my mind off my shiny new novel that I just can’t stop thinking about. Then, when I do come back to it, I’ll be able to see it in a new light.

First Draft: Finished!

2009-03-13T08:19:00.003-05:00

You guys, I totally finished the first draft of the novel!

Okay, the deets. Draft one is 88,260 words long. Three hundred fourteen pages. It has an actual, honest to goodness plot. Conflict. Subplots even (that I did not know what I was going to do with and miraculously came together in a fit of Diet Coke early yesterday morning). Rising action, a climax, a resolution. It has a love story (of course, how I love to write about love!). Characterization. It has voice.

Now, it also completely sucks. But that is okay, because it is a first draft. Sure, it has the items listed above but in very rough form. I kept switching the names around of two secondary characters – they are too much alike. I don’t know if third-person point of view works and might have to switch it to first. Another secondary character totally disappears two-thirds through the book. There are way too many adverbs.

These are things I can fix in the rewriting stage. This is where the real work exists, I think. I can be all “yeah, I wrote a novel in three months” bad about myself (at least for a little while, right?). But, how good can a book that only took three months to bake be? Answer: not very. So, I have lots to do.

First, I take a break from it. I can’t decide between two weeks and four weeks, so I think I will settle on three. I need to have a rewriting plan. My first plan of attack will be to print this puppy out and go through it with a red pen, marking plot holes, crossing out adverbs, identifying spots to develop.

When I wrote my first book, I wrote it all linearly. First draft all the way through. Second draft all the way through. Third draft, etc., etc. I really think the back half of my first novel was a lot stronger than the front, because I was a stronger writer the more time I spent with it.

But guess what? Agents don’t request pages 180 to 220. They request the first three chapters, or ten pages, or more often, just the first five pages. So I need to get the beginning in the absolute best shape possible. I’m going to try rewriting differently this time, I just don’t know how yet.

I will think about rewriting plans during my break from this book. I also have to outline what other writing goals I’ll have. I want to rework some existing short stories and send a few more out for publication. So I have to put some goals around that, too.

Wow, so lots more to do! I am tired just thinking about it. So, I am going to get a Big Gulp and a sesame seed bagel from Dunkin Donuts, eat/caffeine myself into a stupor while watching bad morning television and then likely take a nap. Where is Season 2 of Mad Men when you need it?

80,000 Words

2009-03-10T10:23:00.004-05:00

I hit a lovely milestone this morning that makes me breathe a humongous sigh of relief. I wrote (without even noticing!) 80,000 words in my first draft so far. Now, I have to admit that some of these words are things like Chapter 27 and this doesn’t make any sense and make sure this is possible. But that is okay and it is close enough for me. I had a bad spell of lousy writing days Friday and Monday in which I wrote less than 1,000 words (a lot less). Yesterday it dawned on me that if I tried for just a little bit I would reach 79,000 words and at one point I was typing while keeping my eye on the word count meter and that was just terrible and I will try to never do that again in my life but I am human so who knows.

I think I may have mentioned before that I keep track of my word count in Excel, harkening to my days of managing things at work and trying to be organized. It is obsessive and not creative, and I understand writing is not about how many words but how good those words are, but gosh I needed something to motivate me each day and turns out my little word count obsession did just the trick.

Anyway, when I first started this book I did some quick formulas to map how close I was to 80,000, 90,000 and 100,000 words. Well, I am at 102% of goal for 80,000 words and have -0.73 days left to hit that goal. So that is somehow (I don’t know what makes me tick, but as long as I’m ticking I don’t really question it) a very big relief and sense of accomplishment. My ultimate goal for the first draft is 90,000 but at this point I am able to let the book wrap up in as many (within reason) or few words as it needs.

I had been worrying the past week about needing to wrap things up and not knowing how to make that happen. When I was reading in bed last night, in the middle of a lovely paragraph, an idea came to me and I thought yes, I can do this. I haven’t really used that idea yet, but having it gave me confidence, like Dumbo’s little feather and well, here we are. Plus I had a Big Gulp this morning and that always really helps.

I am pretty confident I can finish this first draft by mid-next week (famous last words, I know), falling a few days past my March 15 deadline but who the heck cares? After I get the full first draft out of my system I will blog about what it was like. I couldn’t blog about the writing the book while I was writing the book. Weird, I know.

And the nice part is, so far today (about 10 a.m.) I pounded out 2,372 words and I still have more in me - I can feel them.

Rejection Letter

2009-03-06T13:49:00.002-06:00

I understand and accept rejection of my writing. It still sucks, but doesn’t sting as much as it used to when I first started submitting things. One day, years ago, I got two rejection letters in one day. Then a writer told me she once got four rejections in one day. So I gained perspective.

But, I love, love, love when rejection comes with feedback. I can work with feedback. It wasn’t until I got specific feedback on my first novel from two different agents within about a week of one another that I knew it was time to give up the ghost. They pointed out things I’d worried were weak. They were right and I knew it. The weak spots, I could suddenly see, were beginning writer mistakes. The question was to keep revising the novel or move onto a new project. Hence, book number two.

But earlier this week I got a rejection for a short story I submitted to a literary journal back in mid-November. Yes, this is how long these things take. I submitted the same story to about five different journals around that time and have only heard back from one. I only apply to places that allow simultaneous submissions. I love these places and really see no other way for a writer with a handful of stories in her arsenal to break through.

Anyway, here is the feedback I received on my story: “Skilled pacing and an interesting flow. The story's beginning is most emotionally powerful; its climax fails to keep the same tension and feels a bit forced.”

They are right. I had this nearly exact feedback from a seasoned writer that the ending of the story didn’t match the beginning. I couldn’t see that until it was pointed out to me. I reworked the ending, but apparently not well enough.
But, did you hear those words skilled and powerful? I didn’t even notice them the first fourteen times I read the rejection letter. But there they are, so I should appreciate them. Still, I know the ending needs work.

And guess what? I’m totally struggling with the ending of my novel right now. I kind of know how to wrap it up, but I’m just having a hard time getting the words out. Scenes are too long, people talk too much, a character turns from mean to nice with very little justification. So I recognize that I need to work better at wrapping up my books (remember that 550-page first draft?). But I have no idea how to go about this just yet. At least I’ve learned that I have work to do in this area. Frankly, I have work to do in lots of areas, but it’s easier to get started on that work when you know where the holes are.

Two Weeks Left

2009-03-03T08:48:00.002-06:00

No, I am not quitting my job. Even though this (writing!) is the best job in the world. Even though I miss talking to people all day. Even though I’m not getting paid. But I am not in it for the money, and having experienced the time in my life when I was in something for the money, let me just tell you being in something for the money pales in comparison to being in it for the love.

Anyhoo, at the beginning of the year, as I was outlining my writing goals, I set a target date to finish my novel by March 15. Well, let me just remind you that March 15 is in less than two weeks. OMG. Seriously.

But, I will make it or get very close to it. If I’m off by a few days, I won’t be upset. At the rate I’m going, Excel tells me I should be just fine. Unless, well, lots of things. Who knows if the climax will really wrap up in as many words as I’ve estimated? Maybe it will all be a mess and I’ll keep writing and writing and end up with 550 pages like my first novel. If that does happen, I will force myself to stop. At least I can say I’ve learned that.

I’ve started having weird feelings knowing my book is wrapping up. I’m all crabby and tired and, last night, perhaps a little sullen. You know how on the second to last day of vacation you (OK, I) might get a little depressed that the vacation is nearly over and suddenly the sun is not bright enough, or it’s too bright and you wish it would just quit already, and the food isn’t that great after all, and you wonder why you even spent all this time and money being on vacation in the first place since tomorrow American Airlines is going to rip your precious vacation right out of your grubby little hands by shooting you in the air at an obnoxious speed?

Yeah, I’m kind of starting to feel like that.

Excuses, Excuses

2009-02-25T19:02:00.002-06:00

So since I made a fuss about writing 2,000 words a day, I will also admit when I miss the goal. Namely, yesterday (about 1,850 which is not bad but I said this week I’d shoot for 2,250). And today: only 900!

I have plenty of excuses on why I didn’t hit my goal today. Would you like to hear them?

I spent a lot of time on the phone tracking down old 401Ks. I went for a run (which I often do, but somehow this comes up today as an excuse not to write). I also spoke to Chase about a strange $20 fee on my account. My ankles hurt. Right as I was about to turn off the TV after my TV/lunch break, HGTV’s Design on a Dime opened with an episode in Chicago. Well, I live in Chicago! I have to watch that. I recorded it so Mike could watch it later. That meant I could watch it later too. Still, the logic evaded me at the time.

Did I mention my ankles hurt? The upstairs neighbor is vacuuming. I have a second job interview later this afternoon. This is for a fun, minimum-wage, get out of the house a few hours a week part-time job; still it’s all I can think about! I wrote 900 words, so that’s not so bad. This morning I was wired from Diet Coke. This afternoon I’m kind of tired. I did some online critiques at Miss Snark’s First Victim this morning. I don’t really know what I’m going to write next. My knees kind of hurt too. I think I’m getting old. Etc., etc., etc.

It’s all pointless, really, the excuses. I’m kind of tossing in the towel that this is just a mess of a writing day. I don’t do it often, but heck, I’m human and some
days I have off days. This here is one of them.

Maybe I’ll treat them like personal days at work. You only get a few times a year when you can give your boss a vague, shielded-in-personal-privacy excuse of why you can’t make it to work at the last minute and you’re forgiven, no questions asked. I’ll forgive myself today, but if this becomes a habit, I’m probably going to have to meet with HR. Since I’m manager and worker and HR rep of my own little writing career, a meeting like that would totally blow my mind, so I’m probably best served to just get down to work tomorrow.

Character Tags: Michael Scott and Mustache Jeff

2009-02-24T21:18:00.002-06:00

A few weeks go, there was another great episode of The Office. In this episode (see the clip from Hulu) Michael does one of his terribly embarrassing, offensive, and in-the-real-world-would-get-you-fired things that we love to watch him do on TV. I will relate it to writing. I love making analogies to writing!

Michael gives a presentation on his great sales record to other branches. (Note also that this is one of many redeeming qualities of Michael that allows us to forgive him his awkward mistakes. Others are that he treats his officemates like family and really, really wants to be in love). In this session, Michael lets them in on a trick he uses to remember people’s names.

Michael proceeds to point at people right there in the room and say lots of offensive things about each person's physical appearance that I really can’t bear to repeat. But what he’s doing here is giving each person a character tag. In writing, this is a unique physical characteristic, mannerism, hobby, speech pattern, etc. that quickly helps the readers keep track of characters and fleshes out their personality.

I remember in one critique group a writer submitted a historical fiction piece. It had a lot of description and dialogue, but there was one character, the protagonist’s Aunt, who had a large, purple feathery hat on. Everyone in the group agreed that the one thing that stood out for us was this very minor character’s big purple hat and how she clumsily got out of the carriage as she was trying not to smash the feathers on her hat. And then how as she talked excitedly the rest of the night, the purple feathers on her hat would bob up and down.

I am writing a novel based in an office. Since I’m just in the first draft, I am not going crazy deep into character development just yet. However, I realized I’m having a hard time keeping track of the characters. And when I’m deep in the zone of pounding out words, I don’t want to scroll back 30 pages to remind myself what the name was of the guy who sat to the right of my character in last week’s meeting. Such a diversion will surely take me out of the story and so I keep on writing. I hope that later I will remember that when I said Bob on page 187 I meant Tom from page 146. But I’ve come to realize this may not be the case.

So yesterday, like the great Michael Scott, I named a character Mustache Jeff. I will never forget who he is and in another scene later that day I went on to describe all the glorious shades of brown, gray, white and yellow in his bushy, magnificent mustache.

And while I certainly don’t condone remembering people in real life this way (OK, if you must call me Big Blue Eyes Lisa I’ll let you) I do think it’s a simple and quick way to distinguish your characters in that rush of a first draft. And go back and develop those traits as you revise. You don’t want a one-dimensional character that’s nothing but mustache.

As I revise I’ll think things like, what does a guy with a mustache do? Does he have a wife/girlfriend/partner who begs him to shave his ‘stache or do they love the tickle of his whiskers on their face? When he’s shaving, does he comb his ‘stache? Then these become not just details about a mustache, but a character’s personality. If a guy combs his mustache each morning (knowing nothing about mustache maintenance, I am really stretching here, but just please go with me for the sake of example) does that mean he also puts his dishes right in the dishwasher after he eats? Is he the guy with a perfectly clean desk at work?

A quick little tag can soon develop into a full-blown character with real human traits just like you and me (aka Big Blue Eyes Lisa.)

Agents Providing Query Insight

2009-02-19T08:48:00.007-06:00

Colleen Lindsay of FinePrint Literary Management had a great post earlier this week on her responses to queries. She gave her reactions to 20 queries via Twitter and kindly posted a compilation on her blog. Here's the link. I will post two of my faves below, but you really must click the link and read more. It's quite helpful.

Query #16: This query was cc'd to multiple agents. Reject. You just shot yourself in the foot, dude.

Query #20: Loves me. Loves my blog. Has MFA. Won contest I've never heard of. Three paragraphs in and it's still not a query letter. Reject.

Also, since it's kind of related, check out Curtis Brown agent Nathan Bransford's post that lists stats of his 105-query three-day weekend.

Interesting fact from Nathan's post: "Queries that misspelled the word query or blog: 3"

When Reading Becomes Writing

2009-02-18T11:34:00.003-06:00

I read a lot yet always think I should read more. But what I hate about reading lately is that there I am, settled into the couch, fully pulled into a perfectly fine book when I get an idea for my story. To be clear, it’s not like I’m reading a book where the character has a heart attack and I think, I know, my character should have a heart attack. The two topics are always completely unrelated.

But reading wakes up my writing bones and even more so as I’m doing more writing these days. I think a lot of writing is subconscious. I never ever plot a story. I have no idea what is going to happen when I sit down in front of the computer. Most days, I open my laptop and think “I have no idea what to write. How am I going to get 2,000 words out of nothing?”

But then I go ahead and write nothing. OK, I don’t mean nothing at all, but instead nothing significant. I start with very little things. I make my character walk down the aisle, go for a jog, walk her dog, go to lunch. A very simple forward motion (I try to avoid the character sitting around and thinking, but gosh, sometimes I just can’t help myself) and then do you know what happens? I start making things up. I make up a whole bunch of things, and have my character do these things, and then throw in obstacles to prevent future related things from happening.

I would never think up these things when I’m in the shower or cleaning the kitchen sink. I don’t think these things when I’m away from my writing for long either. But once my fingers hover over the keyboard, it’s like they get addicted to typing silly crazy things that I make up. And when my brain is reading words, it decides it has some silly crazy words of its very own to put into my very own book.

Shopping for clothes? No story ideas. Driving in my car? No story ideas, just singing along to the radio at the top of my lungs. Chopping broccoli? No story ideas, just laughs about Dana Carvey.

But when I’m in front of that computer or engrossed in a book, story ideas abound. I think it’s kind of magnetic. So put yourself in situations where, when the magic mountains come, you are ready to write all about them. That means read a lot. Go to the bookstore. Hang out at the library (seriously, when was the last time you went there?) Make new writer friends. And for crying out loud, but sure to sit at the computer now and again and type some words.

AWP 2009

2009-02-17T10:41:00.004-06:00

I attended the AWP conference last week. Us writers, we’re weird people. Let me say that my previous industry conferences have been run by and had as their presenters corporate trainers and marketers. These are people who know how to speak professionally and do it up right. They know how to sell their ideas. In fact, their jobs depend on it.

I think a writer's job depends on this a little, too. Yet, more than half of the sessions I attended consisted of people reading straight from an academic-like paper and making no eye contact or showing any general passion whatsoever. Maybe everyone was hung over, who knows, but at times I felt like I was at an anthropology conference. With the exception of the “Capturing the Attention of the Media” panel, where the great Chicago Tribune writer and radio host Rick Kogan was a surprise guest and pretty much made my whole day.

But, I always learn something. Some things you hear for the first time, and some things you’ve heard a million times but a refresher hits home.

A few notes:

The difference between point of view and narrative distance. One speaker talked about point of view being the camera and narrative distance being the zoom lens.
A speaker used the phrase “conventional bad marriage story.” Reminded me not to write these, which is a good reminder because I love so very much to write about love.
Another session tried to define the purpose of the chapter, but really just raised a lot of questions and I think expected us to stare off into the distance and philosophically ponder the purpose of the chapter. Although the speaker, Drew Johnson, had a good suggestion. Look at all your “white space” (i.e. scene breaks or chapter breaks). Did you ever use white space as a cheat to get yourself out of writing a tough scene or when you didn’t know what to do? Of course you did. Writers do it all the time. But take another look at those spots and force yourself to keep writing the scene and see what happens. A good pushing-yourself exercise.
When you’re on TV or the radio, tease your book, don’t give it all away. Give the listeners a taste of what your book is about so that they want to go out and read it. Don’t summarize it so much that they feel they’ve already experienced the book and know the story well enough.
When you get published, go to bookstores that carry your book and ask if you can sign copies. The signed copies often end up in highlighted places of the store.
Are you going to be on the radio talking about your book? Schedule an event (reading, sitting at a bar allowing people to buy you drinks) later that day or week for readers to meet you in person. And, you know, buy your book.
Someone asked a great question of when should you stop promoting your book? Rick Kogan said when it’s no more fun. Like when do you feel like you don’t want to date someone any more? You kind of just know when it’s over.
In case you haven't heard, you need a website. Add all sorts of neat tidbits on your author website or blog just like the extras on a DVD. Videotape yourself doing a reading, post it on You Tube, and link to your website. Get creative.
Donna Seaman from Booklist referred to book trailers (just like movie trailers) as “one more thing to ignore.”
When you’re choosing a conference to attend, consider what the goal is. Pitch to agents? Manuscript review? Writing workshops? Define that first, then narrowing down the options of which conference meets your criteria becomes so much easier.
One session on point of view got my vote for funniest title. "Omniscience: We Know, We Know," was another "let me read you my thoughts directly from these four pieces of paper in my hands" session. But one nugget I actually jotted down was the idea that "In the beginning you must be willing not to know." I'm pretty sure this comment related to the omniscient point of view, and that you can't really apply it until further drafts of the story after you’ve figured a few things out. But I think it's a good rule of thumb, a freeing one, for getting through those early drafts. Keep allowing yourself to not have all the answers about where your story is going or what your characters are up to. Give yourself the freedom to be, you know, creative.

And personal highlight of the conference for me was the release party (I was the bartender!) for my former teacher and all-around-great guy Scott Blackwood and his novel (the AWP Novel Award winner, mind you!) We Agreed to Meet Just Here. Beautiful book.

Kindle Crazy

2009-02-10T10:46:00.004-06:00

Everyone is all crazy about the new version of the Kindle. The NY Times is drooling all over it. The original online headline read “New Kindle Is Faster, Smarter, Thinner” which I think means they want us all to take it out on a date. Even Computerworld has stuff to say about e-books in general. Yet, some are still fans of the Sony Reader.

But I am not in love with the concept, not yet. I’m perhaps a passive fan of technology. I love my iPod but didn’t get one until the video iPod version came out. I didn’t start paying my bills online until a couple of years ago. I only just recently parted with my collection of cassette tapes. Though I do DVR and love every commercial-free minute of it.

All of these things have made my life easier, faster, more convenient. And I guess this is what the Kindle is supposed to do.

But I'm not sold yet. Of course, there’s the cost of $359. And they say you earn it back after a couple dozen e-book purchases. But as my lack of jobness has recently made me switch from bookstore purchases to library loans, I am not looking to lay down that type of start-up cash right now.

People rave that when you return to your Kindle, it opens it up right to the page where you left off!! You mean, like a bookmark? I don’t get all the fuss. Plus, you can’t read it in the bathtub. And who cares that I take about one bath a year. When I do sink into those bubbles, I want something in my grubby little hands to read.

I will accept that the day may come (I won’t say will, not yet) when paper books and newspapers are obsolete and we (okay, I) will laugh at ourselves for turning our nose up at this new technology just like we did with TV, Eight Track Players and wi-fi. (But really, did anyone ever shun wi-fi? That stuff is fantastic!)

So Kindle, I guess you’re fine and all, and maybe we could have some good times together at some point down the road. But right now, I’m just not that into you. Don’t worry, it’s not you, it’s me.

Word Count for the Week

2009-02-06T17:28:00.002-06:00

As promised (mostly to myself) here is an update on my word count this week.

Monday I hit 2,488 words total, and all before 2:00. This was great, and a rare treat. I savored it as it happened. First, the words flowed quickly. I think this was because I don’t write on weekends and the words were all stored up in my brain and fled right out of my fingers. Also, I knew I had two social activities on Tuesday that would keep me away from my keyboard for a while and it would probably help if I pushed myself harder while the words were easy.

Tuesday, I hit only 1,847 words. To me, that’s 1,900 (I understand the science of rounding actually makes it 1,800, but I am an optimist, so when it helps to my advantage, I round up). If I am feeling spent, and I’ve just wrapped up, and I’m around 1600 or 1700 words, and it’s late in the afternoon, and I made decent progress the day before, I’ll allow myself to stop for the day. This was one of those days.

It’s noon on Wednesday. I have not written a single word. I have not even opened the document. I have been surfing and reading and moping a bit. I know I will get some words out, but I think this is my problem: my husband is out of town on business, so I don’t feel the urgency to wrap up by 5 or 6:00. I can write until 8:35, I tell myself! Or even 10:35! (After that, I get sleepy.) My normal office working hours of 9 to 5 are a very good thing and logic tells me really should maintain them. But right now, I’m going back to reading a book. I’ll hit the computer later and see what happens.

Later: I’ve eeked out 702 words. That is not so hot, but it’s 702 better than 0.

Later still, but earlier than 8:35 (yay for me!): Hit 1,597. I wrote a tough (i.e. sad and rather emotionally wrenching) scene today. Those words are harder to come by. But there are more words on the page now than when I woke up this morning. I’m calling it a day.

Thursday I hit 2,331 words. Due to a slight alarm clock fiasco, I did not get up and at ‘em as early as usual. Plus, I had plans in the late afternoon, so I had a small window of time to work with. Boy, do I love pressure. It really works its thing on me. Good day. Pushing myself day (aren’t they all that way?).

Friday I hit 1,284 by 10am. Leaving to meet old work friends for lunch. It’s now 5:12 and I hit 2,045. And I really, really pushed myself to hit that 2K mark. I sat down in front of my laptop late in the afternoon wondering what else I could eek out. I had nothing. So I got a Diet Coke and as I was grabbing a handful of popcorn (what does that have to do with Diet Coke?) I had an idea. If I hadn’t forced myself to sit back down and at least contemplate more words, who knows what would have happened.

So, I tallied 10,308 words this week. It was holy moly hard. I did not always want to write so many words each day. I rarely had an idea of where the story would go or what I would say when I sat down in front of the computer. But sit down I did, and then typing happened and then a skeleton of a story was born. And only because I showed up to work each day.

But now, it’s Friday, my work week is over. It’s beer-thirty, so I gotta run.

A Day in the Life

2009-02-03T13:49:00.004-06:00

I think people wonder what I actually do all day without a paying job. For fun, here is a run-down of Monday, February 2nd.

7:20 Wake up.

7:22 Pee.

7:24 Return to bed.

7:45 Get out of bed.

7:55 Walk to 7-11 for Big Gulp. Also get a chocolate donut, which was not part of the plan. OK, donut was totally part of the plan, who are we kidding?

8:10 Surf internet, craft email message about launching blog. Email message to Mike and obsess that he does not respond in four minutes.

9:06 Open actual Word file that contains the novel I'm working on and remember that there is writing to do.

9:30 to 9:45 Receive and incorporate feedback from Mike on blog announcement email. Obsess about the link being purple instead of blue.

9:46 Forget about stupid purple shade of link. I mean, who cares?

9:52 Send out email about blog.

9:53 to 10:10 Check Google Analytics to see how many new unique page visits I get to Fiction City. About 5.

10:11 Shut up and write.

11:00 Do a word count of the day’s progress. At 1,445 words. Surf internet some more.

11:05 Read wonderful book called Good Grief by Lolly Winston and wish I could write like that.

11:35 Eat something I shouldn’t for lunch and watch Episode 10, Season 1 of Mad Men.

12:25 Turn off TV and get back to writing.

12:40 Check word count again.

12:42 Realize word checking is stupid and wasteful use of time.

12:43 Curious about how much time is wasted on said word count, decide to document how I spent various chunks of time this morning. Begin writing this time log.

12:46 Shut up and write.

1:00 to 1:10 Talk to husband on phone. (Just for the record, he called me).

1:11 Write an email.

1:12 Add stuff in log.

1:13 Realize there’s only 47 minutes until The Bonnie Hunt show and decide it would be a good idea to hit 2K words before then.

1:52 Hit 2,300 words and feel absolutely creatively depleted for the day. Watch a little Days of Our Lives.

2:00 Watch The Bonnie Hunt show and make plans to meet writer friend later in the week.

3:00 Leave for the gym, bringing book I cannot put down. Proceed to stop Elliptical machine three times due to pressing book into buttons due to the fact that I cannot wait to find out what happens next due to book being great.

4:00 to 4:20 Stop at grocery store on way home from gym and somehow end up buying little Valentine cupcakes.

4:20 to 4:35 Email friends to hang out, which should help to maintain normal amount of human contact and also be fun.

4:35 to 5:20 Shower (finally), clean kitchen, straighten up, etc., so as to appear as a normally functioning human being when husband arrives home from work.

5:20 to 11:00. Family time and general hanging around.

2K a Day

2009-01-31T15:29:00.005-06:00

I started writing a new novel a month ago and I’m a third of the way through my first draft. At this stage of the game my writing style is to just get some words on a page. The first draft of my previous novel clocked in at a big hot mess of 152,000 words. Although I believe in writing anything and everything in the first draft, this time around I knew I needed to give myself a limit. So my goal for the first draft of this book was to hit 80,000 to 100,000 words. Not being good at math, I turned to Excel to calculate some things for me. If I wrote 2,000 words a day, five days a week, it would take me eight weeks to hit 80K, ten weeks for 100K and (go, math go!) nine weeks to hit 90K. I, being a firm believer in the middle ground, decided to shoot for 90,000 words.

I am driven by deadlines and 2K a day gives me something to work towards. I already know I don’t hit that 100% of the time. But what if I didn’t have a daily goal? How many words would I write then? I’ll tell you: about 37. My goal with the first draft is to get some words down on a page. I don’t care how grammatically incorrect or plotless or without setting they are. I just need them there to shape them into some sort of story. Then, the super hard stuff of rewriting begins.

For now, I have a method of writing that works for me. I know the output of my early drafts is not writing at its finest, but I’m consistently producing words. I write like it’s a job, something I have to show up at the computer and do each day. Whether I want to or not. Whether I’m inspired or not. And at the end of the day, I have a bunch of words to work with.

Next week (and likely next week only) I’m going to document my word count each day. I’ll post it here, too, and chat about it a bit. The good, the bad, the ugly. It will help me see how close I come each day and hopefully keep me honest about how I’m spending my time.

I wonder about the different methods people use to get their words out. What works for you? Can you write at the drop of a hat, the way some people can sleep on command? Or do you have days where you only get out a single paragraph, but it is a perfect, lovely paragraph wrapped in beauty? Do you write the ending first, then write the chapters in reverse order, kind of like that movie Memento? Please share your writing methods. And then keep comin’ back and I’ll share more of my tales as I climb that Mt. Everest of a first draft.

Itching to Write on Vacation

2009-01-27T07:52:00.000-06:00

I just got back from a lovely week-long vacation in Puerto Rico. For the first time in my life on vacation, I really missed my job. My job of writing. That doesn’t pay me a thing.

I approach writing full-time as a 9 to 5 job, Monday through Friday. Just like any other job I’ve had, I don’t work on weekends or evenings and I get to take vacation. But boy did my fingers miss the keyboard when I was out of town. They were itching for my laptop as terribly as the bug bites were burning up my legs.

And here’s another little struggle I had. My husband is pursuing photography as a serious hobby. We approached this trip as our first foray into freelance travel writing and photography. I love to write, he loves to take pictures, and we both love to travel. Why not combine the three?

So, every day, Mike was armed with his camera and spent his time getting the composition and lighting right for his pictures. Not only was he taking pictures to document our excursions, and possibly get published, he was having tons of fun. I have to say I was terribly jealous.

I didn’t bring my laptop (it was a vacation after all) but I brought my little travel notebook. Yet I didn’t write a thing in it. I felt like I wouldn’t be vacationing if I was writing. Writing is my job now, not just my hobby, and I felt an obligation to keep the two distinct. How would I have felt if Mike whipped out his blackberry and started checking work email? Answer: angry, disappointed, and kind of weirded out.

I was struggling with how much I missed writing and how happy Mike was pursuing his passion of photography on our trip. I hinted at this finally, and he said “I’m telling ya, bring your laptop next time.” As easy as that. As casual as that. But no way, I said, giving him my blackberry example. To which he replied, “But your job doesn’t make you miserable. It makes you happy.“

I have to say I’m not certain if I’ll bring a laptop on our next trip, or ever. It feels like a slippery slope. Plus can you imagine what it would be like to get sand in the keyboard? But the fact that I was itching to get back to work while I was on vacation says to me that I’m surely doing the right thing with my life. Sure, it sucks that this job doesn’t pay me a cent right now, and may not ever. But I’m not in it for the money. I’m in it for the accomplishment, the creativity, the challenge, the fun, the slightly obsessive need to write. And for that feeling that I must have the best job in the world if I can’t wait to get back to work.

Voice

2009-01-16T08:19:00.006-06:00

One of the big things I keep hearing agents talk about is voice. And by hearing, I mean reading their blogs. My eyes are my ears these days. So, they say to me, one on one in our daily little virtual chats, voice is what really pulls them into a story.

I have come to admit that my background in journalism and technical writing has done me no favors in this area. Journalism is strictly facts. Technical writing is insert item A into slot B and click OK. (Did you know that the proper term is not press or hit or push, but in fact click, and that you never, ever click on? For shame). There is no room for these little funnies in a documentation manual or online help system.

And when it comes to creative writing I do have a fond appreciation of descriptive text, made-up situations, and onomatopoeias (yet I fear the adverb, as should you) I realize that I have a hard time with voice. And I couldn’t put my finger on it until I started looking for it. Think Bridget Jones. Really, I don’t care if you think this book is fluff, Helen Fielding nailed a distinctive voice here. Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird. Holden getting all sexy in The Catcher in the Rye. Enzo the dog in The Art of Racing in the Rain (by Garth Stein, a great new book, you must go read it).

I noticed voice better when I started reading blogs daily. I read mostly (aka only) blogs of agents, writers, and editors and I read them to learn. But for the folks with voice, I will read the posts about their cats. Their words sang to me, no matter the topic. So to demonstrate voice and also share some lovely ideas about publishing, here are a few posts that I dig.

Courtney Summers. I read her as a guest blogger on the The Swivet. And even though, not being a young adult, I don’t read YA fiction, I could not stop reading Courtney’s posts. She was adorable and I wanted to give her a hug and dance to 80s music with her.

Janet Reid. An agent at FinePrint Literary Management and also the Query Shark. She will tell you why your queries suck and when you get done laughing at a bad query, you will realize that you make some of those same mistakes too. Here’s a post on query mistakes.

Nathan Bransford. An agent at Curtis Brown Ltd. He is super laid back and fun all around, but I especially love this one where he writes in the voice of the dreamy and mysterious Don Draper of Mad Men fame.

Moonrat. An editor with a blunt tongue. This is a great post on Overwriting. Plus, she goes by Moonie for short. That’s just super cute.

Keep Writing

2009-01-15T17:11:00.005-06:00

Apparently I didn’t impress anyone in my Graduate School applications with my memory of my first foray into fiction. But it’s my blog and I love this story, so here goes.

In third grade English we had an in-class assignment to write a story. Mine was about a girl named Christie (which I thought was the most beautiful and exotic name I’d ever heard) and a haunted house. That’s pretty much all I remember about the story, except overuse of the word “eerie.” What is significant is that when the time for English was over, and we had to move onto social studies or some other such nonsense, I told my teacher I wasn’t done with my story. She said, “Keep writing,” and let me be for the rest of the day until the story was out of my system. The edge of my hand was fully of ink smears from my blue Bic erasable pen (remember those?).

Years later, I realized “keep writing” is pretty much the best and most basic advice you can give a writer. Yes, there is a lot to learn beyond that. But no one is going to publish your blank page with that sad little blinking cursor.

When I started writing seriously as a grown-up who had discipline (I took two creative writing courses as an undergrad and wish I appreciated them more at the time), I started with the short story. I must have a copy of it somewhere, although that was three computers ago. I don’t need to pull it up to remember that it was awful. Just awful. Critique partners (I started with Writers Online Workshops, cheap and helpful and great way to start, totally recommend it) said they couldn’t picture things in the story. Heck, I couldn’t picture things in the story. But, like Mrs. Nagratski said, I kept writing.

In those days, I didn’t stay with a story very long. I would edit and proofread my heart out before I turned anything in for critique (please, for the sake of your critique partner’s time don’t skip this step – and you’ll get more impactful feedback if people aren’t editing sloppy punctuation), and then revise a little based on feedback. I churned out a couple bad drafts and moved on.

Then, as I started spending more time on individual stories, they got better. They were not fabulous, but I eventually moved out of awful. I had characterization. I even dropped in some similes. Setting, I am sorry to say, is really still a struggle for me.

And one day, a short story turned into a novel. The story was bigger than what a shorty could handle, and my first novel evolved from there. And three years later, it ended up getting rejected several times over. But at least I had a book to submit, which was a big, scary, impossible world I never thought I would become a part of when I first started. And, bottom line, I only got there because I just kept writing.

An Introduction

2009-01-15T09:25:00.002-06:00

Last summer I did a very bold thing. I quit a very nice job to focus on writing full-time. After working in Corporate America for twelve years and writing on the side seriously for the past six, I decided to switch my priorities. I kicked it off by attending a month-long writers’ retreat in France. I started my MFA in Creative Writing in September, finished my first semester in December, and in January decided not to go back. All I really want to do is write. So without a pesky job or piles of homework, I have plenty of time to do just that. My current goal is to write 2,000 words a day. Some days are better than others.

I have had a few short stories published and completed my first novel last year. I sent queries to 62 agents. Fifty-two rejected it. Ten requested partials and of those ten partials only one requested a full manuscript, but that agent is suspect. It’s a tough business. Right now I’m working on my second novel, and I’m 22,000 words in.

My goal now is to take my business and marketing background (a few wrong turns from my technical writing and training career) and apply it to writing. Treat it like a business. Goals, plans, consistent output, market research, networking. And I’m totally my own boss, so that’s pretty cool.

I offer this blog as a way to share my full-time plunge into creative writing. I’ve learned a lot about the publishing industry, writing queries and handling rejections from fellow bloggers. I hope I can offer a community, an online Fiction City, for writers to hang out and chat about the business of creative writing. We’re all in it together.