Author Archives: Lin White

I’ve completed nanowrimo – what’s next?

That’s the question that many people are asking themselves at the moment, or will do over the next week or so. If you’ve been keeping up with the wordcount, churning out your story and ploughing on to the end, you should have 50k or more words of a first draft and might be considering the next step.

What not to do

Please don’t rush to publish your story as soon as possible. Your story deserves more than that. It deserves a careful re-reading, consideration and editing before it is cast out into the world. The industry gets flooded with nanowrimo stories at this time of year, as new writers, overcome by the excitement of having written a novel, send it out too soon. Readers can be easily put off by a badly presented story, and you risk damaging your reputation as a writer and the reputation of indie writers generally.

 

For the same reason, please don’t rush it out to an editor or agent. An editor is likely to cost a lot of money if called in at this early stage, and an agent is likely to have many such manuscripts sent to them.

 

On the other hand, if you just want to share your work with family and friends, why not find a company who will print a few copies for you?

What you should be doing

Set the manuscript aside for a month or so. Then you should be able to read it through with a more objective eye. You might be pleasantly surprised or you might be shocked. Either way, make notes as you read, and then go through and fix the issues you spotted.

 

  • Take a look at your characterisation – do your characters grow and develop? Do they behave consistently? Are they interesting?
  • Take a look at your show/tell balance – one thing that might help here is to use highlighters. Highlight dialogue in one colour, and telling passages in another. This will give you an overall view of your balance.
  • Take a look at your use of settings. Do you know where the scenes are set? How do the characters and the plot interact with the setting?
  • Take a look at the structure. Is there a clear progression in the story? Is it logical?

Once you’ve considered all these, and revised your story as much as you can accordingly, then you need to seek out a beta reader or two. This should be someone who reads the sort of story you’ve written and is willing to comment honestly on it. If you don’t know anyone suitable, then try looking online, in places such as goodreads.com groups, or search for beta reading services. You might be asked for a small fee, or you might be lucky and find a good reader who will read for free, or will agree to exchange services. Don’t spend too much at this stage!

 

Another useful resource is scribophile.com, where you critique work to earn points that you spend to post your own work for critiques from other writers.

 

After you have heard back from the beta reader(s), it’s time to work through some more, with their comments in mind. You don’t have to implement everything they say, but they should raise some points that will help you develop the story.

 

Once you’ve reached the point where you can do no more yourself, then it’s time to consider whether your work is ready for editing, proofreading and publishing, or whether it’s better to set your manuscript aside, start on the next and return to this one when your writing has improved still further.

 

 

Writing books – On Writing

On WritingOn Writing by Stephen King is probably one of the most famous books around on the topic of writing. I first read it years ago, and while working through books for this blog I decided it was about time I read it again.

 

I was half-expecting to slog through the autobiography section, but found that King tells stories in such an entertaining fashion that I was laughing out loud. It’s not a complete story of his life, but some of the highlights and stories from his childhood and early experiences as a writer.

 

The second section, The Toolbox, starts off with an anecdote about his uncle’s old toolbox, and develops into a description of what he sees as the writer’s toolbox: the essential tools that every writer should take with them everywhere, in order to be able to use whatever tool best does any given job. Here, the importance of issues such as grammar and vocabulary are discussed.

 

The third section, On Writing, contains more general advice on writing, including King’s own writing processes. You might or might not agree with all his points – he is actively against plotting, preferring to allow the story to develop from the situation and characters, for example – but you will find them enlightening and thought-provoking.

 

The fourth section, On Living: A Postscript, describes his experiences on being hit by a van and badly injured. Again, King brings the story to life with a few vivid details, and the account is very readable.

 

The final sections include an example of the first and second draft of an excerpt, with detailed explanations as to why he made the changes he did, and a detailed list of recommended books. King is a prolific reader – one thing he is clear on is that if you don’t have the time to read a lot, you’ll never be able to write successfully – and the list comprises fiction books he has read and recommends.

 

If you take nothing else from this book, you will get an idea of the dedication and hard work it took King to get where he is today, and you’ll have a much better understanding of what life as a successful writer is like and how to get there. I completely understand why this is one of the books that is constantly recommended to writers and would-be writers.

 

Writing books – The 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes

38 most common mistakesThe 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes (and how to avoid them) by Jack M. Bickham is a slim but useful volume. It covers a wide variety of topics, each in a fair depth – most chapters are two or three pages long, explaining the nature of each mistake and how to avoid it.

 

Topics start with Don’t make excuses – suggestions to avoid the procrastination that all writers seem to suffer from to a greater or lesser degree. They continue with topics such as Don’t expect miracles, Don’t lecture your reader, Don’t ignore scene structure, Don’t ever stop observing and making notes, Don’t ignore professional advice, Don’t forget sense impressions, and finishes with Don’t just sit there.

 

The advice is sensible and thought-provoking, with probably more on general plotting and structure principles or the process itself than on specific writing issues. While this book is unlikely to directly influence your writing, it could help your attitudes and beliefs about your work.

 

The book is available in kindle or paperback, and the kindle version is available on kindle unlimited. There are more thorough books out there, but this does work as an interesting, relevant read as a present for a new writer, or as a general motivational book. Generally, though, there shouldn’t be anything in here that comes as a big surprise to any regular writer.

 

 

NaNoWriMo season

You can’t exist for long in the writing world without hearing at least a mention of NaNoWriMo – national novel writing month. During the month of November, the challenge is to complete a novel of 50,000 words. The writing should not start until 1st November, should be a new project, and the word count target should be reached on or before 30th November. Winners – those who upload and validate at least 50k words – receive all sorts of goodies from the sponsors, such as discounts on writing software or discounted membership of writing communities.

 

Some people swear by nano – some hate it. Some never open their projects again, some go on to publish. Some enter year after year and fail every time. Some enter every year and win, but do no other writing all year. Some win on their first year and then swear never ever to do it again.

 

One thing you must be aware of when taking nano on is that the writer who can storm through their novel draft in 30 days or less and then publish it within a week is a very rare creature. What’s much more likely is that you’ll be left with a draft zero, something that has got the story down in words but that needs a lot of refining, redrafting and a major dose of editing before it’s ready to be seen by anyone other than the writer.

 

So when you have finished nano, don’t rush to publish your work without considering the quality very carefully. On the other hand, don’t throw it into the bin in despair because it’s not ready to publish. That’s only to be expected. Never judge a novel by the first draft.

 

Please, if you’re going to take part in nanowrimo, enjoy the experience, make the most of the peer support and general buzz about writing, and then consider very carefully your next step. And before you try to submit to agents or publishers, please bear in mind that they have generally learned to dread the words “here is my nanowrimo novel” because of the pile of raw drafts they receive around December/January time!

 

Planning tools – storyplanner

storyplannerThere are many different approaches to planning a novel. Do you start with characters and a setting and see what happens? Do you plan out every detail thoroughly before starting? How do you structure the content?

 

One tool that offers to help you with all that is www.storyplanner.com, a website where you can find a collection of different templates to complete online. There is a selection of plans to choose from, many well-known, such as the Snowflake method or the Three Act structure, as well as other, lesser known methods that are equally useful. Other sections on the website include facilities for developing your characters and your story world, and creating a summary or synopsis of your novel.

 

Plans can be created and then downloaded for further use, in Word, PDF or text format. A free membership allows you to create one story plan, which would need to be deleted in order to create a new one, while premium membership allows unlimited plans.

 

The variety of plans means that you are bound to find something that suits your method of working, and the advice that accompanies each plan will help you structure your thoughts and develop your ideas. Screenplay plans are included alongside those for novels and those applicable to either medium. The ability to favourite plans is an added bonus, as you start developing your planning skills. Links take you to further information on some of the plans.

 

I’m currently trying out this site for my own projects, and I’m finding it’s a useful way to keep my ideas together and organised. As it’s online, it also means that it’s accessible from just about anywhere. As a bonus, it also appears to be fully accessible from tablets, meaning that planning is easy to do while out and about, as long as you have internet access.

 

 

 

 

Writing books – The Power of Point of View

power of point of viewPoint of view is one issue that many writers struggle with. One of the first questions you face is the question of which POV would suit your story best, and then there’s ensuring your POV is consistent throughout.

 

The Power of Point of View, by Alicia Rasley, looks at the topic in depth. Part one, the basics, looks at the different options and how they affect the story. Examples are given that demonstrate the difference POV can make both in the telling of the story and the emotional impact.

 

Part two, building your story, looks in more detail at each POV. The advantages and disadvantages of each technique are looked at in detail, so that you can make your choice wisely, and the technical aspects are looked at. As well as first and second person, third person is divided into impersonal, personal (single) and personal (multiple). The dangers of headhopping and how to avoid it are covered.

 

Part three, the master class, looks at individualising POV, levels of POV and creating alternative and unusual voices.

 

Each topic is explored in depth, with relevant examples explained, Further reading is suggested. There is enough technical information to be sure that you can tackle POV more confidently in your own projects.

 

If POV is a topic you struggle with, then you will find this book helpful. It might be a little much for a very new writer, but the content is accessible to most who have any experience on the topic and there is enough depth for more experienced writers too. The book is more expensive than the smaller guides but I’ve found there’s plenty of material in there to justify the cost, and the paperback is a useful addition to my bookshelf.

 

 

Help! My beta readers disagree

I often see complaints from authors that their beta readers are giving them conflicting feedback. “One wants more detail, another wants more action.” “One says this character is too bad, another says he’s too boring.”

 

So is it better to use just one beta reader? Or is there a way to reconcile different comments?

 

Using one beta reader means that you get one person’s opinion. This is useful, but limited. If the person likes thrillers more, then maybe they’re pushing for more action. Or maybe they prefer strong characters, or they’re focused on settings.

 

Using several beta readers will mean a wider variety of issues might be picked up, but it can also mean conflicting comments. Here it’s important to remember the golden rule: if they say something is wrong, then they’re probably right. If they tell you how to fix it, they’re probably wrong.

 

So in both the examples given above, the same issue is raised: in one case it’s the action/detail balance, and in the other it’s the characterisation. Maybe both sets of comments are right, because the passage gives off mixed messages. The fact they’ve selected this passage as not working right should be your cue to look closely at it, but you don’t have to agonise over their suggestions. Maybe the solution is something completely different.

 

What should the passage be achieving? Do you want the reader to feel the action? Then make sure your details are adding to the passage and not slowing it down. Do you want your reader to slow down and take a good look round? Then write the passage more clearly to show that.

 

Every reader will bring something slightly different to your book, and will take something slightly different away. It’s your job as author to ensure that they receive the message you’re trying to give. Not everyone will get it completely, but awareness of the ways in which the message is missed will help you refine your writing.

 

The most important thing to do is to listen to your beta readers and think carefully about their comments. Then remember that it’s your novel and you have final editorial control. So thank your readers for their comments and input, and then edit your novel as you feel best.

 

Writing books – Ready, Set, Novel

ready set novelWith Nanowrimo fast approaching, there are many writers out there preparing to spend the month of November writing a first draft of a novel. Ready, Set, Novel! is written by the organisers of Nanowrimo, Chris Baty, Lindsey Grant and Tavia Stewart-Streit, and promises to help you plan and plot your upcoming masterpiece.

 

While this book is more of a workbook than a reading book, the structure that it offers is very helpful if you’re new to planning for a full novel. From the very first steps of storming your brain, through characters and plot, to exploring setting and heading into the blank page, this book contains plenty of ideas and useful information to help you pass that tense month of October in a positive way and hit November ready to go.

 

Pages include family tree diagrams ready to fill in, places to freewrite about what you want to achieve, spaces for timelines, pages to consider the before and after of your main characters, suggestions for scenes, and a space to write out your schedule and deadlines.

 

If you’re used to planning for a novel and you already have a good idea of what to write, then this book would probably be too much for you, and you would struggle to fit your ideas into the areas and structure provided, but if you’re coming to nano for the first time, or are nervous about what to write or how to plan, then this book would be an ideal way to spend the time between now and November, when the fun really starts. And, of course, it can be used at any time of year, not just planning for National Novel Writing Month.

 

Writing books – Writing Faster FTW

2015-09-30 07.39.45Writing Faster FTW is written by L.A. Witt and Lauren Gallagher. FTW means For The Win, for those who haven’t come across it before. This is a short book, available only in ebook format, and offers to give you ways to remove barriers and make your writing process more effective and productive. It’s fairly cheap, current price £1.26, and my copy was obtained when they ran a free promotion.

 

I’ve read a few other books on writing faster or more productively, and while this one has lots of good advice, I don’t feel that it covers as much as I would like in terms of maintaining quality and maximising small pockets of time.

 

What it does cover:

  • Not all writing advice is applicable to all writers; if it works for you, follow it.
  • It is perfectly possible to write fast and efficiently.
  • You need to step away from distractions and overcome self-doubt.

It also gives practical advice on outlining, writing out of sequence, writing with a co-author and researching efficiently, as well as avoiding burnout. These tips are likely to lead to increased productivity, but the rest is more or less common sense.

 

In the end, this book seems to be full of practical advice that any writer who is serious about their craft needs to take on board but in the main should already be aware of. Writing means writing, not writing about writing, not tweeting about writing, not complaining about how hard it is to write, not watching TV while complaining there’s no time to write. Dare I add to this list: not reading books about how to write more. There is a place for such books, of course, but the single best thing you can do to improve your writing productivity is to write.

 

Writing books – The Story Grid

2015-09-23 10.37.53The Story Grid by Shawn Coyne is subtitled What Good Editors Know. This is another book that looks in detail at story structure, but from a different angle than the Blueprint your Bestseller that I looked at previously.

 

Coyne looks at two ways of analysing a book: the Foolscap Global Story Grid breaks a book down into its essential components, as a check that the basic structure is sound and clear, while the Story Grid Spreadsheet looks at each scene in more detail, recording the change in mood, turning point, length of scene, POV and other aspects. Both these sections take Silence of the Lambs as a reference point, analysing it in depth and applying the methods to the text.  I found this a little irritating, as it has been many years since I read the book and I’m not sure I ever saw the movie, so my lack of familiarity with the sample text made these parts a little harder to follow.

 

However, what I did find very useful with this book is the in-depth look at genre, both in the sense of genre fiction and in the sense that every book falls into a specific category of book. Each genre has its own rules and conventions, and these are laid out for some genres at least in great detail. This came to mind recently when I read a thriller that did not follow those conventions, and I did indeed find that it fell flat because of this.

 

Story arcs are also looked at in depth, with the arch-plot, the mini-plot and the anti-plot discussed in detail, as well as the interplay of external and internal content genres.

 

Most or all of the material is available online, at www.thestorygrid.com, and I would suggest that before considering buying the book you take a good look at the website and the resources there. You can see a summary of the techniques used on the resources page. The paperback book is rather expensive, at £25, while the kindle book at just under £5 is better value, but I found it a struggle to view some of the images, especially on a kindle device, which doesn’t have the same facility as an iPad to zoom in on images. However, it is useful to have the text all in one place for easy access.

 

There is a lot of useful material in this book, and it is well worth looking through. It emphasises the necessity of knowing the rules in order to break them deliberately if you feel appropriate, rather than ploughing on without understanding them in the first place, and the fact that understanding your genre is essential to producing a strong book. The grid is a good way of checking that every part of your story is strong, while the foolscap method is a good check that the overall arc is clear. Both techniques together will tighten up your writing and reduce flabbiness that fails to drive the story forward. This is not a book for the writer just starting out, but if you’re nearing the point of thinking about seeking publication in some way then this would be very useful. It would also be useful for any beta reader to bear in mind, although there is always the fear that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, and I would hate to see anyone applying these rules rigidly without understanding why they exist or when they may be broken (a bit like the rules of writing itself, in fact!).