Writer's Wednesday--Exciting news!

I composed my IWSG post for last week a bit in advance, since we were out in the wilds of Maine. As a result, I failed to include my writer's news, most of which happened after I queued up the post. I have a couple of things I'm excited about sharing this week instead!

1.  I got a story accepted! My short, "The Revenge of Gorg," a rewriting of the first chapter of Gorg's book was accepted for publication in the November issue of "Frostfire Worlds." I'll share more info about purchasing copies when I have it. I'm extra excited about this, because after trying a couple of years ago to put Gorg's stories into a novel form, I let that project drop in frustration. This sale restores some of my faith in Gorg, and his book is going back into the hopper for more work (as soon as I deal with a few other things).

2. I got inspired, and the outlining process for the Pismawallops PTA #5 is well under way, even while #4, Death By Library, is with the proof-reader (heck, while she has the MS I can't do anything with that one, so...). The new book is tentatively titled Death By Donut.

3. While working on the outline, I stumbled on some notes from last spring for a short story or novella featuring our friends from Pismawallops Island. I got excited, and on Monday drafted over 5000 words of the story, which I plan to finish and release before Christmas (but after Death By Library).

We expect to be back home in about 5 more days, and then I'll have until the end of January to focus on writing (well, aside from that whole bit about hosting the holiday revels).

Some of our time in New England has been this:

Descending the Bridle Trail from Franconia Ridge, NH

And some has been this:

View from the Zealand Hut, White Mountains, NH

Lots more photos to come as I get them sorted. I made my life extra difficult by hitting something early in the trip that caused the camera to take 3 versions of every photo. Extra fun in the editing phase!

©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2019
As always, please ask permission to use any photos or text. Link-backs appreciated!

Outlines and Planning Ahead

Chuck Wendig has opened the conversation about plotting and outlining, in time for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). I have written about this before, because I have gone both ways with my writing--total pantsing (def: pantser: one who does things by the seat of the pants, i.e. without planning or forethought) as well as pre-plotting. How well each works may depend (for me) on the type of book. The Ninja Librarian didn't require a lot of planning, because each story stood alone, and was short enough to get it all out at once--and to edit easily.

On the other hand, my first attempt at a full-length mystery novel was a disaster. It took well over a decade to draft, and was so riddled with plot holes and issues that I never was able to beat it into shape. The second went better, but still--revision for Death By Ice Cream was a painful and lengthy process that I didn't want to repeat. So when I decided to draft Death By Trombone (which is coming this fall!) during NaNo 2013, I made an outline. And by gum, it made the writing easier, and--the real key--it has made the editing easier (you wouldn't think so by how long that has taken, but, well, I got distracted by Halitor the Hero in the middle) (and I did a pretty danged cursory outline of that, which worked out okay, but it was a much simpler story).

So my verdict has been: for easiest writing and editing, a bit of planning is in order.

That leaves the huge question of what an outline might look like, and (more important) how you get there. Chuck describes several approaches to outlining in his post on the subject, and that's a good place to start. Go ahead and read it; I'll wait (caution: Chuck uses naughty language. Funny language, usually, but often naughty. Don't go there if you are easily offended).

What I use for DBIC was the "question approach." Start with some basic questions, and work on finding answers for them. This was my initial set of questions:

That's right. One page, and obvious questions. Who got killed? Why? Who killed him? What does my heroine have to do with it all? And, because these are, after all, the Pismawallops PTA mysteries, what does it have to do with the school/PTA?

After this page, I spent a fair bit of brainstorming time (on the following pages) coming up with answers to many of these questions--and discovering many, many more questions to answer. Eventually, I did create a more traditional-looking outline, with 5 main sections for the main--not scenes, but arcs, I guess--of the story, and lists of the things that should be covered in each. This outline was what I referred to as I wrote, and I can't include it here because it would be a total spoiler.

What did my outline do for me? First, it was a brainstorming tool. I could start small, with the obvious questions at the heart of any mystery, and use that framework to start fleshing out the story, start seeing the other questions. Eventually, I began asking really important questions, like "who are the red herrings?" "What is everyone lying about?" and also questions about the development of the relationships between characters.

When the questions had bloomed out to be a pretty good look at the whole shape of the book, I knew several things: I knew what I needed to research (cause of death, divorce in Washington State, etc.), and I had a list of scenes and events that needed to go into the story, roughly in order. That was probably key for the fast-writing approach of NaNo. I could look at the outline every morning and see where I was and what I needed to do next. And if a particular scene was a problem, I could jump ahead, knowing where something (probably) fit into the big picture.

The final outline was fairly sparse, but I still had those pages and pages of brainstorming notes, too. That notebook stayed by my computer, so that I could consult it for all sorts of questions. In the end, the process worked: I drafted about 80,000 words in under 6 weeks, and the story held together as it was written the first time.

One other tool that I am finding more and more important as I work through series: character charts. I use individual files on main characters, with everything I've learned about them. But I also have a quick-reference chart for Pismawallops Island, and another for Skunk Corners, listing every character I've put into the books, where they fit into the community, and anything really important about them. No more than one line per; if I need more, they get their own file. These files grow from book to book, though I'm wondering if I shouldn't maybe have saved separate versions for each book, so I could know at a glance when characters appeared. Maybe not.

I can't share the character chart for Pismawallops Island, because it has notes about who killed whom, etc. But Skunk Corners has fewer secrets. Here's a page from that list:

As you can see, in addition to people, I found it helpful to list all the places that I've brought up. What businesses and buildings are in town? What are the nearby towns? Geography is important, and I hate it when writers make mistakes or gratuitous changes in people or places from book to book. Growth and development of the community is natural, but if Endoline is up the mountain from Skunk Corners in Book I, it had better not be down the mountain in Book 3.

In the end, that's what outlines and notes are all about: making the best book I can, with the fewest headaches. Every writer has to find her own way; these are the things that have helped me.

Now to return to editing Death By Trombone, and outlining--brainstorming--the 3rd mystery.

Beta Readers, Editors, and Friends with Opinions

If you have a contract with Megapublishing, Inc., they may take care of everything to do with editors.  For the rest of us, some huge issues lurk around the question of finding readers for your MS.  Issues like: when where what why and how.  I certainly don't know the answers to all of those.  In particular, I haven't figured out how, if you need to hire an editor, you go about finding a good one (other than the usual word of mouth advice; if taking that I'd want to a) know the other author pretty well, and b) check out their work to see if the editor succeeded).  But, as always, I have thoughts and opinions.

When: I'm still experimenting with this.  In the past, I have waited to inflict my work on share stories until I've gone pretty far into the editing process.  I'm trying now to share more as I go--not necessarily with an editor (I'm not ready for that until I finish drafting the story, at least) but with a beta-reader, someone who will mostly just enjoy the story (or not) and maybe pass on a bit of a reaction, let me know if I'm completely out in left field.  Also: if you give a reader part of a story, they may help hold you accountable for writing the rest, so as to find out how it comes out.  This is a good thing.  Later, of course, I need a story editor who can help me sort out where I'm going wrong, and finally a line-editor to catch the last of the typos and small errors.  I'm pretty good at this, but no one is perfect, especially when editing her own work.

Where: Okay, I just put that in because it's part of the litany.  But I could make it an answer about where to find a beta-reader.  I find them at work.  Try the PTA meeting.  Your book group (I at one point managed to get my book group to read my MS and offer critiques.  They were very kind, somewhat helpful--and out of that experience I connected with two other writers to form a writing group that is still the basis of my editing exchange).

What: The "what" changes as you work through the project.  As noted above, you might want someone to kind of do a reality check early on, and let you know if you should continue or rethink.  Later, you need the various forms of editing on the finished draft.

Why: If you have to ask this, you probably should keep your day job.  Seriously.

How: This one's the killer for us Indie folks.  We don't expect to make a lot of money from our books, so shelling out the big bucks for a pro editor doesn't seem very feasible.  So here's my take on it: while a pro is probably best, any reasonably competent editor is better than none.  So you find a grad student in the creative writing program or a wanna-be English teacher, and work out a deal.  Maybe they aren't perfect.  But they will, if at all competent, be able to tell you where your story stops making sense, and when you've changed point of view three times in a single paragraph.  Join a writer's group and let them critique the work.  And finally, your proofreader could be anyone who is really good at spelling and details.  Actually, it's not so much about spelling (your spell check will tell you it's "weird" not "wierd") but about knowing the homophones, having a good vocabulary they can gently point out that you meant "ablution" not "ambulation" or that most likely in 1873 they didn't use the expression "put the pedal to the metal."  Ask your Mom or that cousin who always sends back your email with corrections.

Oops, I think my "how" drifted back to "what."  Where's an editor when I need one?

What gets in the way

I just thought I'd detour here for a moment to talk about what gets between us and writing.  Mostly because right now a nasty headache is making me more than a little disinclined to do actual work.  That includes doing our taxes, writing, or (especially) editing.  And that made me think about all the things that get in the way for writers, especially for writers like me who are doing it as a sideline to two or three other jobs.

For the most part, I've been finding it to be a pretty effective approach to say that I work as a writer from 9-11 every morning (which incidentally works out to 10 hours a week, the same as my part-time job at the library).  The trouble of course comes in two parts, one of which I can control and one I can't.  No control over things like a stinking awful headache or kids who throw up. Just have to do my best to cope when and as they happen, and forgive myself for not being perfect.

Other areas are more fuzzy.  Appointments.  Why not make them some other time?  But it always seems like the only ones available are during the morning hours (probably because everyone else claimed the after-work or after-school times).  Chores.  I try to make them wait until after work (after writing and/or after work at the library).  But what about that commitment to reduce our carbon footprint by hanging the laundry outside?  That means the stuff has to be done in the a.m., or it does no good (I live in a climate that is marginal for drying laundry outdoors, though it is better in winter than summer).  Baking bread.  Gotta do that when I'm home for a longer period.  And those dang taxes.

But here's the thing: none of those things (except maybe appointments and taxes) needs to stop me from working.  I have to get up every 15 minutes or so anyway (I have some issues that make it a good idea not to sit too long).  A five-minute break to work out the bread or ten minutes to hang out the laundry doesn't mean I have to give up.  In fact, a little time to think never hurt anything, when it comes to writing.  It's a little like cheating on your diet.  You don't eat one cookie, decide you've failed at dieting, and go back to swallowing entire boxes of chocolate truffles in one sitting.  Even an appointment isn't a disaster.  I've learned to carry my notebook everywhere, and scribble a page or so while waiting for the doctor or dentist.

Same with writing.  You have a bad day, but get back at it next day.  You spend half an hour of your writing time unclogging the toilet?  Great, you still have 90 minutes.

And as for the headache?  I managed to complete grad school with a headache (my memory says it was pretty much constant.  Given the nature of graduate school, that may well be accurate).  Surely I can write 500 words that way.  They don't even have to be good words.  Anne Lamott said so!

 When in doubt, Stinky says: have another cup of coffee!

Progressive Book Club #1

Bird By Bird by Anne Lamott.  Note: this is not a review.  This is a book club discussion.  It may be hard to tell the difference.

I recently joined a group of writers in The Progressive Book Club, founded by M. L. Swift.   Monthly readings of books on writing result in monthly posts about the books we read.  Sort of like a progressive dinner but without the extra calories.  We move from blog to blog and nibble at the literary goodies.  Bird By Bird is the first book for discussion, and I am almost certainly the last one to post on it.  The list is at the link above, if you want to see what others have to say.

Now for the true confessions: this isn't the first time I've read Bird By Bird.  That doesn't matter, because truly good advice and insights are worth reading over.  That goes double for someone who will give a writer a swift kick in the seat of the pants, because heaven knows we need it.

So I love Anne Lamott's take on writing, and I have totally embraced her policy of writing truly rotten first drafts (like I have a choice about that).  But the more I write the more I realize that ANY book about how to write boils down to an idiosyncratic take on the way the writer of the book does it.  That's not necessarily bad.  All we can ever do when asked for advice about anything is ramble a bit about what we do, or what we would do if we weren't too lazy to do it.  And Lamott has proven that she does it and the end result is good.  It's worth considering how she does it.

I think that the number one bit to take away from this funny and inspiring book is the thing everyone says: sit your backside down and write.  Just do it, as Nike used to (annoyingly) say.  Do it every day.  Even if you only manage to squeeze out a few really bad words (in whatever sense of that you want to take it), you will make it a habit. Habits get done without you thinking about it.  That can be bad, but it can be very, very good when it's a habit of brushing your teeth or writing for 20 minutes before bed.

Many of the details of how Lamott gathers ideas and holds them inside and eventually pulls them out and uses them, though not necessarily how and where she thought she would, are just too individual for me to copy.  My process does not look like hers.  Your process will not look like hers.  At least, not precisely.  But she will make you think until you figure out what IS your process (and then she will mock you until you do it).

But you know, even if all I take from Bird By Bird is the affirmation that rotten first drafts are not only okay but desirable (because they mean that you just did it, and you turned off your inner editor/angel of death and didn't get all hung up about the exact right word so that after a month of writing you only have one sentence), and the idea of carrying a pen and index card in your pocket at all times (though I usually have the means to carry a whole notepad, the pen and index card are going into the pocket of my biking jersey), that's a pretty good pair of thoughts to take away.  I ought to apologize for that sentence, but I won't.

If you write, or think you might like to write, or sometimes sit down and stare at a piece of paper and wish you were a writer, read Bird By Bird.  If you don't write, go ahead and read it anyway.  It will make you laugh and help you to understand your friends who do write.

Editing: the next step

So last week I was chugging away at editing Murder in the PTA, and feeling a little sluggish about managing to get through only 20 pages a day.

Turns out that was the fast and easy part.

See, what I was doing last week was working with a print-out of the MS, fussing with words and sentences, but when it came to things that needed big changes or completely rewriting, I would scrawl "fix this!" or "needs rewriting," or my favorite, "UGH!" in the margin and move on.

Now it's payback time.  Sitting in front of the computer, typing in those changes, I'll cruise along pretty well for a page or two (though even when doing simple changes, I read the whole thing as I go to see if anything else wants tweaking, so it's not all that fast).  Then I hit one of those evil marginal notes.  "Fix this?  How?  What the heck am I supposed to do about it?  And how DO I make this plausible?  Can I cut it entirely?" I grind to a halt.  Stare at the screen.  Shuffle through my pages and pages of notes about what needs modifying.  Ask myself again why I even wanted to try to beat this thing into a readable book (the answer, for those who care, is that I love the characters and their home on Pissmawallops Island).

Then I start typing.  And I realize that however hard it is, this is the part of editing that returns me to creativity.

I also realize that sometimes editing 5 pages a day is good progress.

So now I'm going to go all philosophical on you about writing and editing.  We writer-types get a lot of positive feedback from writing rough drafts.  You sit down, take up pen or keyboard (yeah, still undecided about that), and let the words flow. Out come 1000 words, 1500, and you get a cookie for being a good little writer.

Editing is completely different.  Sometimes the greatest progress is represented by the fewest pages completed.  I may hit a chapter that's pretty good as is and I can zip through it, change a word here and a sentence there, and think I'm really cruising.  But I haven't actually done much.  It's when I hit the rough patches, the "fix this!!!" parts, that I have to really write.

Here's the philosophical part.  I used to be a trail-runner (long story about why I don't get to do that any more, never mind).  When running trails, particularly in hilly country, the first thing you have to do is dump your idea of what your pace is.  Yeah, sure, I'm an 8-minute mile runner.  On the flat.  But when grinding up a steep, rough trail, the pace drops.  Twelve-minute, 15-minute miles. . . it's good.  A completely respectable pace, because you're climbing like crazy and gravity is a very powerful force determined to keep you at the bottom of the hill.  So you change your mindset.  You put yourself in a place where a completely different definition of speed holds sway.  Heck, it's a completely different definition of running.  One that says that as long as you are moving forward at all, up that giant, rock-strewn mountain, you're fantastic.

That's what real revision is.  A place where maybe you take all day to make two or three pages work right.  And you are happy, because it took you only one day to turn two or three pages of dreck into sparkling, witty prose (or just readable prose.  Sometimes the goal has to be truly modest.  It can learn to sparkle on another day).  And you stand on your little pile of two or three pages, and you are the winner of the New York Marathon.

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For those who are wondering, I'm past that stage with Return to Skunk Corners, and hoping soon to get it back from my editors (you reading this, Lisa & Emily?) and put on the final polish.  Hope to have a cover to reveal soon, too!  Meanwhile. . . having fun with a little murder and mayhem, and starting a new kids' book to keep me out of trouble.


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On another note--jump over to author S. W. Lothian's gorgeous web site to get all the details on the 14-book Middle Grade sampler, Love Middle Grade, Actually, free on Amazon from Feb. 7-11.  Read it and enter to win a Kindle, gift cars, and ebooks!

Staying sane as a writer

Sticking (sort of) with my resolution to work every day on revising my novels has made one thing very clear: all revisions all the time makes Rebecca one crazy lady.  Doing it while laid up with a bum foot probably doesn't help, as my usual approach to regaining sanity is to go out for a ride or a run.  Instead, I have to think about what can be done beside start another game of Words With Friends (not that there's anything wrong with that).

The thing is, I notice that all the books and articles on writing talk about needing to sit down and write every day.

None of them seem to address what to do when you've finished a draft, and you need to sit down and revise every day.  Completely different job and different piece of the brain, though utterly essential, (as noted here) and if you can't do this part, no matter how good you are at sitting down and writing every day, you aren't a writer and should get a day job.

So how do I keep sane while doing the hard part?  Here are my two main solutions so far:
1.  Set a modest goal every day.  I'm shooting for 25 pages worked over and annotated for further working over.  That's one to two hours, depending on how awful it is, or how much I've changed my mind about where things are going.  If my head or foot starts to throb before I get there, I cut myself some slack and stop at 20 pages.  Today it took me an hour to do 10 pages.  Since I have a report to finish and some other work, I may stop there.  Maybe I can do more later in the day.  Rules are made to be broken.

2.  What else?  Start a new book.  That short story I posted last week about Halitor the Hero?  Yeah, him.  He's bouncing around in my head asking to get out.  So I'm letting him out.  Finish the revisions for the day, and I get to write a few pages, for an hour or until my hand wears out and I get cramps in my shoulder from writing on the couch with my foot higher than my head (this will improve.  My foot will heal.  My hand will probably never adapt to writing for long periods).

This means I am now working on three projects simultaneously.   Well, I read multiple books at once. Maybe I can also write them that way.

This also means I'm back to struggling with another on-going debate: hand-written vs. drafted on the computer.  That's my next blog post.

Pep talk for a lazy writer

Time to give myself a pep talk, because January is evaporating under me, and frankly, I haven't done squat.  There's always an excuse, isn't there?  I could list them all: family visits, foot surgery, waiting for my editors to send me something to work on . . . but the truth is that there is ALWAYS something an author can be working on, and ALWAYS something to prevent us doing it.  So time to give myself a pep talk, which may be full of threats, if that's what it takes.  These are meant for me.  If they work for you, take them and run with it.

1.  If you are a writer, then you'd better prove it.  Or get a real job.  Writers write.  Even when they are trying to keep a foot higher than their heart, or need to clean the shower, or any other awkward conditions prevail.

2.  Editing is work.  You have to do it anyway.  An hour a day will get the book done, eventually, and that's better than looking at the huge MS and thinking it's too much to do today, so I won't even start.  If you can't sit down and edit for an hour, you aren't a writer and should get a real job.

3.  Reward yourself.  Editing is work, so reward yourself with play.  That play should take the form of some actual writing--the fun stuff.  Use writing prompts to generate short stories, even if they are awful.

4.  Finish things.  Even if the short stories prompted by the random universe are awful, finish them before consigning them to oblivion.  It's good discipline.  I'm not actually sure about this--maybe it's a waste of time to keep going on something bad.  But I think that it's better to work it through, because a habit of giving up when things look like going wrong is not one I want to cultivate.  Fall into that trap and you'll need a real job with a real boss.

5.  Learn to write (and edit) with people watching.  I wrote about this last week--how my oldest son sat around during the holidays, surrounded by relatives talking, tapping away at his computer, writing an ever-growing story.  I get all bashful or something when there are witnesses, and I need to get over it.  Writing is what I do, so I need to do it (or else, yeah, get a real job).  Not that I'm saying I should have ignored the relatives the way the kid did.  But if my husband is in the living room reading a book, that really ought not stop me from working.  Christmas dinner is a valid excuse.  "Someone else is in the house" is not. (Oddly enough, I have no trouble working in a crowded coffee shop.  I think it's because I don't care what those people think).

Having written this. . . I'm going to take a shot at an hour's editing and a writing prompt.  I'll come back tomorrow and say if it worked.

Drowning in words

Dorothy Sayers said it, and I heartily agree: "The rereading of one's own works is usually a dismal matter" (Gaudy Night).  Even the bits that you can see are really pretty good have a great deal less shine to them than they did when they were new.

And why, you ask, this spirit of disheartened eloquence?  Because, like thousands who "won" NaNoWriMo, I am struggling with the revision of a novel that isn't quite there yet.  Unlike the NaNers, mine isn't fresh, but rather a book abandoned about five years back when I couldn't interest an agent in it.  Now, it's better than five-year-old fish--the book doesn't stink--but five years is long enough to let me see it as an editor might, which is rather harsher than the casual reader, I suspect.

Thus the "dismal matter."  But here's the thing: if I don't push through the dismalness (did I just make that word up?  The spell-checker thinks so), my book will never be more than mediocre.  So I'm rereading, outlining, making notes of what works and what doesn't, all preparatory to heavily revising a manuscript that I have already revised two or three times.  And, of course, getting some distance and reading it like an editor will make for a better book.

Does this make me happy?  Frankly, no.  This is the work side of writing, and not much fun. Oh, there are occasions when the realization that you've figured out how to make something that was just okay into something good is as exciting as was composing the crappy first draft.  But most of the time, it hurts a little.  "Dang," you think.  "I loved that scene.  But it really doesn't work.  Not unless I figure out a way to get the dog out of there, and I already made such a big deal about the dog never leaving the girl's side."  So out goes the scene.  Or days are spent in dealing with the dog, only to decide that your changes ruin something else, and the scene gets the chuck after all. (I made that up, so when the book comes out, please don't go looking for a girl and a dog and writing me snippy letters when you can't find them.)

This painful reality explains the sudden burst of short-story writing I've indulged in.  I can only edit for so long before I need a creative booster shot, and have to write something.  So, coming up next week: "An Elegant Apocalypse," just in time for the end of the world on December 21st.  You know, just in case.