Secrets to Keeping Things Straight in Big, Complex, Epic Novels

I've been asked a time or three how I'm able to keep facts and events straight when I write a big, complex novel. First off, kudos to the querier because they recognize there is more work involved in such a novel. Secondly, everyone who tackles these types of novels will have their own system. Here are some hints from mine.

1. Write things down.
I have multiple files that are generally categorized as Notes and Structure. When I get an idea or a snippet of conversation in my head, I write it down. Don't leave these precious tidbits floating around in your head until you get to writing that part of the story. You'll most likely forget them by that time.

I don't always write the story chronologically or linearly. I certainly don't edit that way either. That means I have to have written notes as a backup. Granted, I have a pretty good memory for just about everything I write, but why leave it to chance?

I have backstory notes files as well. I find that the more of these I have, the richer the story becomes. Some complex novels stay within one person's POV, but not usually. Most deal in multiple POVs, and that means you need distinguishable backstories, vernacular, personalities, and quirks for each POV character. And then you have all the side characters.

I have note files and picture files sometimes to help me with my world building. It's been so handy to reach a part of the story and just pull up the description of the setting to pull from rather than try to remember or create it on the spot. Especially when you don't want to present the setting the same way each time it's shown. Setting, as I've said before, acts like a character or mood setter for the scene.

Writing things down also helps you remember them better. The act of writing, literally writing not typing, has a peculiar effect on memory in the brain. I tend to jot things down by hand and then transcribe into digital files afterwards.

My notes files tend to be twice as large as the novel by the time I'm through.

2. Chunking and Recall
Chunking is a great term I learned last January when I took a course on the human brain and how to utilize it better in order to learn. In regards to writing, chunking would be taking an element of the story and associating it with other things in order to have better recall.

For example: When I bring up the word "red," based on the series I'm currently writing and publishing, I automatically think of one of my main characters, Thssk. I also think of blood, lava, anger, fire, dominating personalities, and power struggles. These next tier words lead me to specific scenes, character development, and backstory events - most of which revolve around Thssk, but also lead and connect to other characters and their story lines.

By chunking, or associating elements of the story to other elements, it just takes one word or phrase to recall much more information at once.

3. Make lists.
This one might go up under the Writing Things Down category, but I like to treat it differently. Lists are more compact, easier to read information, the overviews of the story.

In a complex novel I will use lists for:
i. Characters
I list characters by whether they are main characters, significant level B characters, C, and so on. Writing down everyone who has a name and assigning them their role in the story lets you see if your cast is too big and if you can't combine characters to have fewer people doing more in the novel. The danger with big, complex, multiple POV novels is making it difficult for the reader to remember who is who.
ii. Places and Settings
Listing your settings down gives you a great overview of what the story is doing. Do you use the same settings over and over again? Is there variety in your settings? Do you have too many settings? How can you reuse the same setting and portray it differently to help the mood of the story?
iii. Chronological order of events
Not all stories are told linearly, in fact, many really good ones aren't. Yet, it's important to know the chronological order of events as the author to avoid discrepancies in your writing. You don't want to use the scene where character A discovers the bad guy is really character Y before the scene where character Y declares they are in love with character A.
iv. Chapter and scene orders, including a list of POV characters for each
In a multiple POV novel, this list is vital, particularly for keeping track of how well mixed those POVs are. It lets me know if I've gone on too long with one story line at the expense of another.
v. Language and dialect
This has been valuable when I'm making up the words and phrases. I'm able to keep them straight, including their spellings and meanings.
vi. Historical events
A chronological list of historical or backstory events goes hand in hand with your story chronology. Backstory fuels character motivation and plot lines. Know what happened before the story and keep it straight with a simple timeline.
vii. Nodes of conjunction
This isn't one everyone uses but I have to. Nodes of conjunction are where story lines or characters connect. Say information about character D is discussed between characters X and W that will lead the reader to understand character D's actions in the next chapter. Or, characters F and G are going to finally collide with each other, when and where does this happen and how does it change the story? By using Nodes of conjunction in both a list and in my notes, I've found my stories get fuller faster and have more vitality in character development. 
viii. What still needs to be written
I'm a to-do list sort of person sometimes, and with big, complex novels, it helps me feel like I'm making a dent in the writing if I have a checklist of what needs to be done. Completely changeable as the story develops, this checklist works hand in hand with my outline and if I get stuck, I make a note about it and move on to the next item.
ix. Inconsistencies and places that need further research and development
All writers end up with inconsistencies in their stories, especially in the early stages. When I find one, I'm usually engrossed in working on something else. It helps to make a list of what the inconsistency is and where it is so that I can go back and revisit the issue.
x. How one scene or chapter segues into the next
Another list others may not use, but I like to. When moving from one POV character to another or one story line to another, I may have a cliffhanger, but something in the scene or chapter preceding the next needs to have a segue. It can be an object, mentioning the conflict or the next POV character, or even a theme. This list has been crucial in helping set chapter order.

4. "Put it together and what have you got?"
I've made mention before on this blog about creating a Story Bible. In essence, once you've created all of the things I've listed, you have made a Story Bible. The essential ingredient to successful orchestration of a complex novel.

When really considering how I keep things straight, my most personal answer is I like a challenge. I enjoy diving into multiple character and plot lines and playing with them. I love making connections between them and exploring the results. To me, it reflects life. Our actions or failure to act have an impact on others. It's never been about creating a glut of characters, events, or settings just because I could. People are complex. We're never completely good or evil. To me a story isn't about creating one hero that does everything, but celebrating the many heroic acts happening at different levels. The same thing for the mischief and malice created by the characters bent on being antagonists.

5. Index cards
Sometimes I need a visual representation of the story, especially when dealing with multiple POVs or plot lines. That's when I get out my index cards and put down information scene by scene. By keeping to scenes it makes it possible to rearrange quickly or play with the order. Usually my card looks something like this:

(Name of Scene) (Scene #)
Setting/Date
List of key points
POV character
Ritual/Theme
Key objects

I name my scenes. In a large novel it makes it easier to refer to if I've given a short clue as to what the scene is about. The scene # relates to where I have it listed in my overall outline or Table of Contents. The list of key points is pretty self-explanatory, as is point-of-view character. Rituals or themes help me classify the scene. For example: Outward Conflict, or Barter Ritual, or Point of Humiliation. Key objects refer to literal objects in the scene that have meaning or purpose to the story. They might be a weapon, or a green dress, or a tree. They are often symbolic and reoccur in the story.

Once I've compiled all my index cards I put them up on a blank wall in my office. Usually right in front of my treadmill so that when I'm taking a break and releasing endorphins I can also be brainstorming and reviewing the basic story material.

In Conclusion: 
My love for exploring every aspect of a story makes it easy to keep things straight in my head. I like to live and relive the moments. It's not a matter of knocking off a scene or chapter in order to reach a quick writing goal and then move on to the next novel. I prefer to savor and revisit. And that is why I know my stories so well and can write big, complex, epic novels.

Have a further question about anything you've read here or regarding more info on how I keep things straight? Please, ask me. Or tell me how you keep your material straight when you write. Do you do some of the same things I do?

Why is Writing So Hard?

The simple answer is: because writing is nothing more than making lots and lots of decisions.

Think about it. First you decide you want to write, either because you have come up with a great idea or simply because you enjoy the written word. Then you have to decide to make time to write and how you're going to write: computer or pencil and paper, or perhaps out loud into an audio recorder.

Once you're sitting down facing that blank screen or page then the hard work starts. Some decisions you may have made mentally while brainstorming your idea, but most others will happen while you are actually writing. Whose point of view is the story from? What tense will it be in? What is the setting or time period? Who are the characters? What are they like? What do they want? Is there conflict? What is their individual vernaculars? What words do I choose to use to describe? What if the plot goes this way - no wait, what if it went in the opposite direction?

Every moment of writing is decision making and that is what makes it hard. Unless you've brainstormed a lot mentally, it's not going to be easy to just start writing and knock off a hundred pages in a day. In fact, even with all your prior preparation, you're going to find that putting those images and scenes down in actual writing isn't as glib or smooth as you thought it would be. New ideas will sometimes bombard you, changing the course of what you've previously decided. Characters won't behave the way you originally envisioned. And sometimes you write yourself into a corner and get stuck. Getting unstuck can utilize some of the hardest decisions. It may mean cutting out a lot of what you've already written to go in a new direction. Or perhaps you need to decide to do some research to help solve the problem your characters are facing.

Character A is on one path, should they collide with Character B? When, if at all? How will the arcs of both these characters affect each other? How much action versus explanation should go into this scene? Do Characters C and D hate each other? Do they secretly love each other? Will the fate of Character E end in death? Will the villain win? Is there an identifiable villain? Decisions.

There is an accountability to writing. A law of the universe not often discussed is that for every decision made there are consequences. For your characters, and yes, even for you as the writer. Decisions about the words we use may either draw readers to our work or push them away. The point of view we choose will often determine our target audience. What elements we choose to put into the story will also draw or repel readers. Whether or not we choose to get feedback and improve our writing can have some very powerful consequences over how successful our novels may be.

It is not a mere moment of deciding "I am going to write a story today," although that is always a starting point. We can just as easily decide "This is too hard; I'm going to quit." Once you are determined to set down the winding path of writing a story, you will stop frequently - more often than you'd like - to assess, rethink, and choose. It's not a path for the fainthearted or lazy.

After you've crossed the finish line on your first draft then comes the next big decision: "I am going to go through it and rewrite it, edit it, and improve it." Subsequent drafts of editing and revision require even more decisions, some of them painful. Deciding to get feedback from others in order to improve your story has powerful consequences at well. Ideally, you should be given sound advice from people who read a lot and know a thing or two about writing and editing. Sometimes the feedback is unhelpful. You have to decide who to listen to. You have to decide which advice will make your story better and then choose to make the appropriate changes.

You choose if you want to go after publication or not. You choose which publication route you want to take. If going the traditional route, you have to choose your words carefully for a query letter and choose which agents and publishers you are going to solicit. You have to choose whether to keep going that route as rejections come in. And hopefully you'll get to choose who'll you'll work with and help make decisions in the publication of your novel. If you choose the indie route, you have even more decisions to make. Who will your printer service be? What format(s) will you publish in? Who do you get for cover artwork or do you do it yourself? You need to choose good editors and copy editors. You have to choose fonts and layout. And with either route there's all the marketing choices you'll have to make to let people know about your book.

And then you have to choose whether or not you will start all over with a new novel.

Writing isn't some blow-in-the-wind hobby, not if you're serious about it. Writing takes decision-making skills and lots of determination. Many people have taken up writing this month for fun. For those new to the game, you're probably finding out it's not so easy as you probably thought. I would hope that by trying it out, you'd gain a better appreciation for the books you've read and those determined people who have moved forward by the hundred thousands to make decision after decision to create the stories you read and love.

And for those of you who are not new to the game, I share your frustration and joy of the process. The hours seem to slip by so quickly and yet so little seems to make it to the page. I believe at least 75% of our writing time is spent up in our heads making decisions.

This is why NaNo's word count is a true challenge for those taking it seriously. Writing is hard.

The End is in Sight

It's been a slow blogging summer, as you may have noticed. There are a couple of reasons, one being health related, but the second reason is much more relevant to you, my readers and friends: I'm getting ready to publish my first book.

It's not much of an announcement these days; thousands of people are publishing every year, whether traditionally or on their own. With a plethora of novels hitting the marketplace each year, the advantage belongs to readers. You can find just about anything you want to read. I have a handful of writer friends who have books that have come out or will come out this year. It's exciting to be among them.

Here are some of their books (in no particular order):

Coming Sept. 9th from Month9Books

Thyra Winther's seventeen, the Snow Queen, and immortal, but if she can't reassemble a shattered enchanted mirror by her eighteenth birthday she's doomed to spend eternity as a wraith.

Armed with magic granted by a ruthless wizard, Thyra schemes to survive with her mind and body intact. Unencumbered by kindness, she kidnaps local boy Kai Thorsen, whose mathematical skills rival her own. Two logical minds, Thyra calculates, are better than one. With time rapidly melting away she needs all the help she can steal.

A cruel lie ensnares Kai in her plan, but three missing mirror shards and Kai's childhood friend, Gerda, present more formidable obstacles. Thyra's willing to do anything – venture into uncharted lands, outwit sorcerers, or battle enchanted beasts -- to reconstruct the mirror, yet her most dangerous adversary lies within her breast. Touched by the warmth of a wolf pup's devotion and the fire of a young man's desire, the thawing of Thyra's frozen heart could be her ultimate undoing.

CROWN OF ICE is a YA Fantasy that reinvents Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen" from the perspective of a young woman who discovers that the greatest threat to her survival may be her own humanity.

Released July 2nd from Forever Yours

DARK LEGACY 
Mala LaCroix has spent her whole life trying to escape her destiny. As the last in a long line of "witch women," she rejects the notion of spirits and hoodoo and instead does her best to blend in. But when she finds a dead body floating in the bayou behind her house, Mala taps into powers she never knew she had. She's haunted by visions of the dead girl, demanding justice and vengeance.

DEADLY SECRETS 
Landry Prince has always had a crush on Mala, but when Mala discovers his sister, murdered and marked in some sort of Satanic ritual, he wonders if all the rumors about the LaCroix family are true. Yet after Mala uses her connection to the spirit world to identify his sister's killer, he starts to form his own bond to her . . . a very physical one. As they move closer to each other and closer to the truth, Mala and Landry must risk everything—their families, their love, and even their lives.

Coming Aug. 5th from Forever Yours

A GIFT AND A CURSE 
Mala LaCroix sees dead people—really. After using her psychic gifts to catch a killer, she's locked in a psych ward and must strike a deal with the devil to secure her release. Apprenticed to a dark arts practitioner, Mala vows to free herself and save her loved ones from danger. But she doesn't know who to turn to when her crush on Landry Prince turns into something more serious.

A FATE WORSE THAN DEATH 
Landry has sacrificed everything to protect Mala. A near-death experience changes him forever, and now he, too, possesses supernatural powers he doesn't understand. Mala and Landry must band together to defeat the dark forces—both human and otherworldly—who would use their abilities for evil. Even as they fall for each other, they must prepare to battle for their very souls . . .

Coming Sept. 9th from Forever Yours

Deep in the Louisiana bayou, Mala LaCroix cannot escape the mysterious things she's seen. Haunted by her otherworldly past, she only wants to hide her special abilities and care for the man she's come to love. But the dark swamp she calls home holds more than just Mala's secrets, for a killer is leaving behind ghosts trapped between worlds, hungry for vengeance . . .

Landry knows Mala could never turn her back on those in need. It's part of what attracts him to her. But now that he's wrestling with his own demons-and losing-he fears that just being near the woman he loves endangers her life. And that traps him in a terrible dilemma: leave Mala alone to catch a murderer by herself or stay close-and risk entangling her in the brutal battle for his very soul.

Coming July 22nd from St. Martin's Griffin

Clementine has spent her whole life preparing for her sixteenth birthday, when she’ll be tested for Extraction in the hopes of being sent from the planet Kiel’s toxic Surface to the much safer Core, where people live without fear or starvation. When she proves promising enough to be “Extracted,” she must leave without Logan, the boy she loves. Torn apart from her only sense of family, Clem promises to come back and save him from brutal Surface life.

What she finds initially in the Core is a utopia compared to the Surface—it’s free of hard labor, gun-wielding officials, and the moon's lethal acid. But life is anything but safe, and Clementine learns that the planet's leaders are planning to exterminate Surface dwellers—and that means Logan, too.

Trapped by the steel walls of the underground and the lies that keep her safe, Clementine must find a way to escape and rescue Logan and the rest of the planet. But the planet leaders don't want her running—they want her subdued.

Released Feb. 2014 by T.J. Loveless

After a bloody tour in Iraq, all Karen Barnes wants is a simple life, surrounded by horses and the mountains of Wyoming. But when a stranger tries boarding a famous horse worth millions at her stable, Karen grows suspicious that the horse has been stolen.When her worse fears are confirmed and her life is threatened, her instinct for survival kicks in. But things are far worse than she could have even imagined when she discovers that the theft is just a coverup for espionage.

With the lives of those she cares for at stake, can she find the courage to fight one more battle, or will the violence and carnage tear her to pieces?

Released Jul. 7th from 7DS Books

(Anthology, including author Darke Conteur.)

slay verb (used with object), slew, slain, slay·ing. 1.to kill by violence. 2. to destroy; extinguish... A Slayer has but one purpose. 7DS Books debuts the newest collection of short stories in SLAYERS. Seven short story missions of your not so typical slayers taking on highly unusual targets. These captivating stories slice through tales of aliens, super slugs, demons, and beyond. Did that say super slugs? Yes. Read something dripping in fresh plots and bizarre characters.

Released Mar. 1st by Elephant's Bookshelf Press

To be human is to have regrets, to question decisions, even to doubt our own abilities and capacities. Whether it’s because of a path not taken or a decision made for selfish or – perhaps worse – unselfish reasons, we all have had moments and decisions we regret. We might regret not recognizing an opportunity. In the end, the choices we make help shape our future. The final anthology in Elephant’s Bookshelf Press’s “Seasons Series,” Winter’s Regret includes stories from P.S. Carrillo, Liz Coley, Sakura Q. Eries, Morgan George, Michelle Hauck, Kelly Heinen, Amanda Hill, Precy Larkins, Robert Wayne McCoy, Mindy McGinnis, A.T. O’Connor, Jeff O’Handley, Paul Parisi, Matt Sinclair, A.M. Supinger, Charlee Vale, and Cat Woods.

Released Apr. 23rd from Createspace

Lucy London puts the word genius to shame. Having obtained her PhD in microbiology by the age of twenty, she's amassed a wealth of knowledge, but one subject still eludes her-people. The pendulum of passions experienced by those around her both confuses and intrigues her, so when she's offered a grant to study emotion as a pathogen, she jumps on the opportunity. When her attempts to come up with an actual experiment quickly drop from lackluster to nonexistent, she's given a choice: figure out how to conduct a groundbreaking study on passion, or lose both the grant and her position at the university. Put on leave until she can crack the perfect proposal, she finds there's only one way she can study emotions-by experiencing them herself.

Enter Jensen Walker, Lucy's neighbor and the one person on the planet she finds strangely and maddeningly appealing. Jensen's life is the stuff of campus legend, messy, emotional, complicated-in short, the perfect starting point for Lucy's study. When her tenaciousness wears him down and he consents to help her, sparks fly. To her surprise, Lucy finds herself battling with her own emotions, as foreign as they are intense. With the clock ticking on her deadline, Lucy must decide what's more important: analyzing her passions...or giving in to them?

(no picture available yet) Dark Light by Rick Pieters
Coming this Fall from Cliffhanger Press

Carter Collins doesn't much like the taste of fame or his glamorous, gay Hollywood life, and his father's stroke hands him the reason to leave—to return home and help. No more spotlight. Just family, old friends, the family business . . . and interdimensional aliens staging a hostile takeover.

Avebury, Ohio has a new evangelist who's silencing opposition as he builds his tabernacle, and it was no stroke that felled Carter's father. The Reverend's prayer cubes can kill or control. Now Carter finds his mother clutching one, ready to sign over the family's TV station and hand the preacher the pulpit he seeks. This evangelist is a Trojan horse for sinister beings not of this Earth.

Aided by a discarnate guide, Carter pieces together the real reason he's here. The town protects a prime portal, an entry point for Earth's life-force energy. That gateway needs a guardian against invaders who would invert the energy and plunge the planet into a new age of darkness. If Carter accepts his role as guardian, he'll draw in friends, family, even his life-partner. This time, the spotlight could well mean his death, or theirs. But not accepting it could be much worse.

Coming Aug. 3rd on Amazon KDP Select

Set sail with Captain Carvin on four voyages on the magic seas of Ryuu.

He faces pirates early in his career. The King sends a sorceress with him on a voyage to a far land to recover precious artifacts. He must deliver the King's sister to her future husband through treacherous seas. Years later, he is reunited with the sorceress on a scouting mission in a sea controlled by the enemy.

Coming Nov. 15th wherever ebooks are sold

Intergalactic trader, Ven Zaran, contracts for a cargo that takes him to one of the few non-Confederation worlds. It is a danger he thinks he is ready for, but in a flash his ship is seized and half his crew arrested on minor charges. With corruption at every level of government, Ven has to resort to more drastic measures to free his ship and crew. He's fought gangsters, pirates, and false charges before, but taking on a corrupt planet might be more than he bargained for.




(no picture yet) Billy Bobble Makes a Magic Wand by R.S. Mellette
Coming 2014 from Elephant's Bookshelf Press

Everyone needs a little magic in their lives

Twelve-year-old Billy Bobble and his best friend Suzy Quinofski didn't mean to change the universe. Billy just wanted to find a way to help his hoarding, schizophrenic mother, and maybe impress a coven of older girls in high school. Suzy wanted to help her friend and cling to her last remnant of childhood: a belief in magic. None of this would be noteworthy if Billy weren’t a quantum physics genius, and Suzy his equal in microbiology. Together they make a real, working, magic wand and open a door to the Quantum World, where thoughts create reality, his mother isn't crazy, and all things – good and bad – are possible.


Everyone's publishing journey is unique, including mine. Right now, I'm finishing up my edits based on copy editing feedback from someone else, and then I'll start going through the proofreading and formatting process. My cover artist is already at work, and if everything goes as planned, my first book will be out in September.

When we pick up a book to read, we really don't think about how long it took the author to write and polish their story. We don't think about how long it took them to publish through a traditional publisher, or to do all the edits and formatting in order to indie publish. No, we pick up a book and devour it within a very short time. And while we read, we're oblivious to the author's long hours, tears or anger, triumph over writer's block, or the many parts they've torn out or rewritten. We see only the finished product. We read it. Then we move on to the next book. As readers, we're spoiled and we take a lot for granted.

A little while back I was looking through the books on my bookshelf, checking out how other people have designed and formatted their novels, and I got thinking about all the books I've read over the last five years. How many of them do I want to go back and reread? Which characters still stick out in my mind? Which situations or worlds would I want to revisit? It seems like people grab a book, read it, and then hurry on to the next new thing without ever looking back. Ignore your To-Read pile for a moment and ask: which books that you've read recently would you like to go back and revisit?

Maybe it's just me. As a reader, I only buy books I've already read and want to reread (the library is my friend). This is mostly due to money, but I think not having a large budget for books is a blessing in disguise, because I don't have the temptation to spend frivolously on books I may end up not liking or which were cool for a one-time read. You gain favorite, trusted authors. You find yourself quoting those books, or going back to them to fulfill a special emotional niche.

As a writer, I haven't focused on speedily churning out novel after novel after novel (even though I have plenty of completed first drafts waiting to be polished), and I don't intend to. My goal is to write rereadable books and I hope that my first one will be a novel people will want to revisit again and again, that you'll discover something new each time you read the book. So what does that say about my debut novel? No, it's not an easy-breezy, consume-in-one-afternoon read. It's the type of book I like to read, and a type which most of my beta readers and critique partners have said they like to read.

Taking this step to publish is huge. My dad died this past April from cancer. He was brilliant, but very few people knew it. He was a modest man, a man of great ideas and solutions. He just had one problem: he was good at starting things and coming up with the ideas, but he wasn't good at finishing those projects or promoting his ideas. During his last days he expressed his regret over and fought to stay alive in order to finish some of those things. The moment he relaxed, realized he'd run out of time, and let go of those tethers, he passed away. It taught me that I was in danger of doing the same thing. Oh, I didn't have a stack of unfinished first drafts leering at me, but I was terrified of actually publishing, of actually finishing a book as far as anyone can finish it. So, I set a publishing date and notified the right people, got to work again, and heart-in-throat I'm now nearing the end.

Thank you again for being a blog follower and for sticking with me even though I didn't have a product for you to read yet. That's about to change, and I hope that if you choose to read this book or any others that come after it, that you feel comfortable approaching me to talk about it, or about the writing process. I do have some more in-depth Behind-The-Scenes posts coming up, as well as a few other things that go with a book launch. In the meantime, check out the books by my friends and stay tuned for further updates.

My questions for you this week are: Have you ever conquered a fear, or are you working on conquering a fear right now? What was/is it and do you feel stronger now?

Or - What are your favorite books to reread? If you're a writer, how does knowing the long writing process intimately affect how you approach reading?

Accentuate the Positive: What If ... ?

When you've been writing for a long time and hung around the vast writing world, it's easy to see a lot of negative things bantered about. Consequently, it's easier to start thinking negatively about others and even worse, about yourself as a writer. So much emphasis is placed on nailing a query letter, your opening pages, your synopsis, your social presence, etc. that it becomes a quagmire of shadowy rules, rejection, deception, and negativity.

Think about your realm of influence for a moment. Are you often a beta reader or an established critique partner? Do you edit or help with PR? I'd even be so bold as to add, are you a literary agent or publisher?

How happy are you? How happy are the people around you? Is daily snark regarding other people the norm? Do you pick up someone's manuscript prepared to be a skeptic?

What if this next week you could only mention the positive things about someone's work?

What if instead of tearing someone down, you show them that they aren't hopeless or crazy but that they do have some things going for them. It may be a lot, it may be a little, but think how much of a boost you could give if that other person knew what they did right for a change.

What if you set a goal not to speak disparagingly of anyone else? What if you decided not to listen to or share gossip?

Focusing on the negative is a piece of cake. While we do need to know what we have to work on to become better writers it doesn't always have to come in a negative or derogatory package. It takes strength of character to be a positive person, someone who is genuinely concerned about helping someone else.

It's as simple as dealing with a child. If you always focus on what that child is doing wrong or where the child is lacking, you destroy their motivation and self-esteem. If you focus on what the child is doing right and point out their strengths, it motivates them to do even better.

Sure publishing is a business but people aren't. Sure you run into delusionals who have an ego the size of Brazil, but most people aren't that way. There is a hopeful person on the other end of that manuscript, someone who is trying to do better and whose basic desire is to share something they created.

Don't assume that they are getting positive vibes from other sources. You may be their only outside influence that day, week, or month regarding their work.

I find it very disturbing that as a society we're obsessed with perfection without having a concrete definition or outline for that perfection. If stripped down to our very core, we are all imperfect people, and you know what, it's okay. As long as we're trying to be a better person each day, isn't it time we chill out and admit that we're never going to reach perfection? Why would we expect everyone else to?

There is enough room for everyone to express themselves. There are so many subjectively diversified tastes out there, don't assume that your subjective tastes are what must be the rule. You may be tired of a premise, but that doesn't mean others are. You may think writing X + U is a bad idea, but that doesn't mean someone else won't think it's a brilliant pairing. Your style won't be the same as someone else's, and that's okay. Their voice will differ from yours as well. It's okay.

Now, I'm not saying you have to love, accept, or buy every story, query, or synopsis that you get. I'm not saying to you have to write a detailed letter of explanation for every rejection you give. But can we ditch the snark in social media for a week? Can we ditch it in our conversations? Can't we write a blogpost saying why we love writers or what they consistently do right? Instead of the "reasons why I'm rejecting this" feeds can we focus on "reasons I love this" feeds instead? If you're critiquing someone else's work, is it so difficult to highlight all the many more places they are getting it right instead of the fewer places they are getting it wrong?

Perhaps I'm the crazy one. I'm guilty of succumbing to the writing world negativity at times too. It's something I intend to change. If any of this has agreed with you, will you join me in a positivity week starting today?

Guest Post: Five Tips for Editing & A Few Resources

I want to welcome T.J. to Yesternight's Voyage today. T.J. is a member of the Speculative Fiction Group, a savvy reader and editor, and she blogs over at Writing From the Padded Room, a blog meant to help new writers. Be sure to add her blog to your regular reading roll.

Holy cow! You did it! Wrote a novel/short story and are reveling in the euphoric feeling that comes with such a great accomplishment. Before doing anything else, I suggest letting your newly written MS sit while you celebrate.

Now that it is done (you've celebrated, and lived in the world where it doesn't need editing) comes the part many dread and fear. Edits.

The first, and probably most important part of preparing to edit, is to ensure you have Critique Partners. Those wonderful people who agree to read over your work, help find plot holes, world building issues, spelling, grammar, passive writing, and are willing to be the partner in crime while you break the "rules" of writing.

It is tough and scary to let someone else put red ink all over the new baby. But it must be done.

Once you receive their advice, comes the truly hard part. You have to make those changes, correct the issues, decide if an idea in certain places will work or not.

Here are five tips to help with the editing process:

Editors look for grammar, spelling, overuse of pronouns and reality issues.

This is the first pass of your MS. Don't read. One of the best ideas? Get ready to highlight in the document. Highlight every single pronoun - he/him/himself/she/her/herself/I/me/myself. You'll be surprised at how many show up. As you go through your one hundred plus pages, simply sweep for those words.

Next, you'll need to look for spelling. Luckily, with today's software programs, spelling errors are pointed out while writing the rough draft. Although some of us, like me, have a tendency to zoom past them with the thought, "I'll catch it later." I really should get out of that habit.

And finally, grammar and reality issues. This will require reading.

By reality, I mean did you do your research? Even writing fiction, where we get to twist everything to our own nefarious ends, all things should have a good solid foundation. Writing about the gods? Make sure you stick close to what the average reader understands about their stories and personalities. Twist it all you like, but without the familiarity the reader will question it and lose their ability to suspend reality. And if writing hard science fiction? It is best to have all those little details deeply nestled in current theories, proven hypotheses, and easily reasearched points.

Grammar is fluid, but it does have hard and fast rules which should be followed. Know them, ensure you keep as close as possible to the rules. Many readers don't mind dialect, but they will become Grammar Nazis when it comes to glaring issues.

Edit out unnecessary paragraphs.

What is unnecessary? You'd be surprised at those little paragraphs written into rough drafts which don't push the story forward. I'm as guilty as the next person. Perhaps at the time I wrote it, the hope it would show more about the main character, or how bad the bad guy really is. Realistically? No. It was well written, beautiful prose. But it has no true point, doesn't move the plot forward and doesn't help the reader. I know you love it and can justify it in twenty different ways. Cut it. Be ruthless. Tear it out and know it helps your story, not hinder.

Edit all that passive writing.

Editors complain often about the massive amount of passive writing in an otherwise great story. It tells the story, cuts the reader's ability to fall into the world of your imagination, doesn't allow the reader to feel like they are part of the action.

Here you can do another highlighter session. What is passive writing?

Passive is usually denoted by was/were/have been/is, etc. Follow the advice of Rebecca Johnson and you'll have a fun way to find all the passive writing in your work. Some passive is fine. A lot needs work.

Shew! So far you've taken care of mechanical issues! Yay! You're done, right?

No. I'm sorry. Still two more things need to be done.

Time to look at the characters.

Editors have complained the story premise is fantastic but the characters fall flat. Romance characters come across as big bags of hormones, SciFi characters are only interested in gaining power, Urban Fantasy characters are only interested in becoming something like a werewolf/vampire/witch/ghost/god.

It is a common complaint. Characters need to be able to pull empathy from readers. When falling into the alternate realities being weaved by writers, a reader should be able to either understand why the main character feels certain things, even if the reader disagrees. All the characters in a book should be three dimensional. The villain has a soft spot, the MC made a bad decision for good reasons.

Flesh out the idiosyncrasies, show the readers the characters are possible.

And finally, check the timeline.

Meaning, check your plot and the progression of the story. Did it stutter in a few spots? How did you fix that plot hole? Is there a way to strengthen the tension and move the plot forward in a more seamless manner? Did you write a scene just to get to the next one? Yes? Is that repaired? Have you cleared up any confusing/awkward sentencing? Did you check to ensure the little details all match and move forward with the story? If a character drove a truck to the restaurant but a car to leave, you'd better be able to explain why.

These are the five things all editors look at. Either during the intial submission or after the book has been chosen and is in the editing phase. Yes, every editor is as unique as the people writing. But the five points laid out above are ones they all agree on.

Give your story its best start when going out into the big, bad world. It must compete in a very subjective industry, and depends on you to make it the best it can be.

If you need more tips and tricks to editing, I suggest the following as additional reading.

http://www.archetypewriting.com/articles/writing/selfEditing.htm

http://wordservewatercooler.com/2012/06/02/top-5-self-editing-tips-structure/

http://www.lindasclare.com/2012/10/clean-up-your-prose-with-self-editing.html#.UOg53uTAdJk

http://agentcarlywatters.wordpress.com/2012/10/15/self-editing-knowing-how-to-listen-to-your-gut/

Wait, no--Give me a few more days! Okay, fine (deep breath) I'll send it.

I blitzed it last week as you might have noticed. That's all right, though, because then you all went and read other blogs or saved some time by not wading through one of mine.

I like to set goals for my writing, a little milestone list to check off and mark my progress. Last week, that changed. In a moment of quick decision I threw the unconfident perfectionist in me out the window and committed to three week's worth of deadlines. And I've been so busy since, I haven't missed that other side of my ego at all.

Deadlines differ from goals in that deadlines involve other people. You make a promise to them by a certain time frame. In my case, I stopped fussing and tweaking over my manuscript to send out the first part to beta readers. Do I think it's ready for other eyes. Definitely not! (And it never will meet my idea of perfect.) Should I have done it? Yes. There comes a time when you find all you are doing is combing through the same material over and over to tweak, and tweak, and tweak without knowing if the whole thing even works.

In a mad rush, I sent it. I spent every spare minute of last week splicing together my last round of major edits for Part 2, so it's ready to go when my reader's are. (I kind of blew it apart in order to move scenes around and create new chapter boundaries.) Can I say: what a rush! There was no time to sit back and brood. There was no time to leave something undone because I can always get to it down the road. There was no leeway for mental blocks. Anything I'd hesitated on whether to keep or not was cut.

To my surprise, I also ended up writing two new chapters in two hours. They were concise, tense, and for a scary period of time they almost upset the rest of the book. Almost, but didn't. I nearly panicked Friday night over a couple of plot holes I found. (Funny how chopping away a bunch of exposition uncovers things like that.) I worked furiously on Saturday to plug things up.

To tell the absolute truth, writing to deadline nearly made me ill. You see, it's impossible for me to set aside what I do all day. I still had to fulfill my duties and keep my personal priorities straight. I'm very grateful my family let me hoard the spare hours to work on writing. The end result: a breathless rush of days and little sleep.

I have another whirlwind week of editing to deadline ahead of me. I think I've acquired a taste for it. I've also surmised that when those deadlines are met, I need time off to recuperate.

Even though I haven't received feedback from my beta readers yet, can I just tell them publicly "thank you" right now, for pushing me to send the manuscript to them. I would have been comfortable sitting on it for another couple of months, tweaking away, otherwise. I'm not in a hurry to make a fool of myself to professional eyes. But - what I did learn this month - is that it's okay to be a fool to friendly eyes. Letting the manuscript go is mandatory for anyone serious about publication. Then the trick is to keep so busy you don't have time to fret over what your readers' reactions are.

Have any of you had a hard time letting go of a manuscript so other people could read it? What do you do to keep away anxiety once that's done? (I'll need some good suggestions for when Part 3 is sent off and there's nothing left to edit to deadline for.)

Passive Nightmare

One thing I’ve quickly learned about myself is that my greatest flaw is passive writing. Old ms drafts ooze with it and I still work to search and destroy parts of my stories that have entire passages of passive phrasing. Anyone who does their homework on writing craft soon sees the animosity out there toward passive writing, and it’s justified. Passive writing is lackluster, sluggish, and boring. Childish even.

Most of the time you run into advice along the lines of:
Get rid of all uses of the word “was” or any conjugation of “to be.”
Get rid of –ing words.
“Had” is bad.

And so forth.

People intend to be helpful and some actually know what they’re talking about. Others don’t. So I muddled along as best I could and through a lot of sweat and effort started to see progress.

And then at random, I picked up another book on writing craft at the library two weeks ago. The emphasis of the book: revising. So I took it home and read it. Lots of good stuff in it but the best part came toward the end. Strong nouns and verbs vs. weak nouns and verbs and an actual method to eradicating passive writing! Not a weak directive to get rid of certain words, instead, a strong emphasis on word pictures and voice that ends up getting the job done right. I felt ecstatic over my find.

And I thought I’d share the reference for anyone else struggling with passive writing. Get your hands on The Weekend Novelist Re-Writes the Novel by Robert J. Ray. Weekends 16 & 17 are the golden chapters. Of course, the whole book is full of great advice on plotting, structure, character motivation, and archetypes.

The best part—I added it to my online wish list and five days later my brother bought it for me as a birthday present. Now I can go back and mark up the book all I want with highlighters.

Some other writing craft books I’ve enjoyed in recent years:
Writing the Breakout Novel and the Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook by Donald Maass – If you’re sitting down to write a first draft, wait until you get to the revision stage before picking these up.

Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell – great for first drafts.

Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King – excellent for those nitpick drafts and final polishes.

The Elements of Style by William Strunk and E.B. White – another good one for final edits and chopping down word count.

The Random House Guide to Good Writing by Mitchell Ivers – great reference for all stages of the writing process.

How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card – another handy reference for speculative fiction writers; especially good for learning rules and tropes so you can break them the right way.

I have read several others, but these are the outstanding ones that worked well for me. And remember, you don’t have to do everything any craft book says to do. Find what works for you and your style. Usually I find one or two sections in any given book on craft that stands out to me.

What are some of your favorite books on the craft of writing? Do you struggle with passive writing or phrasing (or am I standing out here in the cold alone?)

A Method to the Madness

I don’t normally issue status reports on my work because I figure, being an unknown, who cares? And I don’t intend to beleaguer you much today either. At the point where I’m finishing up another round of revision and in the middle of holding threads, scene tatters, and parts needing surgery, I’ve had ample time to think about method.

There’s the initial birthing stage. Ah hah! I have a great idea! So I write it down in summary or in a quick first draft that hits all the points and scenes simmering in my brain. This stage is wild, uninhibited, and anything goes. No one else is going to ever see it.

Sometimes I’m a pantser, sometimes I’m an outliner. It really depends on the story and how it came to me. Either way, I usually know the beginning to the end before I write.

So then what?

The three manuscripts I’ve juggled for the past few years in the vortex of revision and development are making me wake up. I’ve dabbled in one suggested method or another, trying them out, seeing what works for me. It’s a necessary path to self-discovery for a writer. I think my path took a little longer. I haven’t been in a rush. I’m more concerned with doing it right than in getting it before an audience. And only now, when the end is in sight for one of those stories, I can reflect back on what I tried, what worked, what failed, and what made me get lost.

What does this mean? I can streamline the process now for the other two, and for future manuscripts. That equates to not only faster product output but higher quality output.

The first thing I’ve learned: the second draft should be the longest and slowest. It’s not the time to worry about voice, choice of words, or word count. The second draft is all about plot holes, characterization, back story, and major world-building development. If that isn’t the focus, it’s easy to become side-tracked and discouraged. The second draft is also not meant for other eyes.

While the rough draft/first draft was all about getting ideas down, it’s time to switch from hare to tortoise mode when facing the second draft. What I love about this draft is getting “in the zone” for each scene you work on, digging deep and discovering what makes the story tick, lots of research, finding out that the first draft isn’t carved in stone and is about to drastically change.

If you take the time to slow down and thoroughly develop the story in the second draft, there is less likelihood of being ten or more drafts to follow. Oh how I wish I’d know this before! Well, learning from the past, that’s what this blog is about anyway.

The third draft is where voice, syntax, and such come into play. Line edits. Also not a fast hare-sprint-to-the-finish-line type of draft. This is where you worry about word count.

So then we’re done, right? Um, no.

Now the manuscript is ready for other eyes to see. Beta readers/critique partners, line ‘em up. Give a few a go at the manuscript. Choose other writers over relatives and friends. If possible, get someone with expertise in your research fields to double check that you got your facts straight. Then take the feedback and learn from those fresh pairs of eyes. They will catch things you didn’t. Both in second draft material and third draft material.

The fourth draft is incorporating what they’ve helped you learn or consider. Sometimes this means large rewrites or several small tweaks. The point of the fourth draft is clarity and continuity.

Done now?

Nope. Another round of beta readers. Different ones from before. Bonus points if you can find writers who are also your target audience. Gather their feedback and tweak. You should be at tweaking rather than overhaul status at this point. One more round of line edits.

Now, it’s time to send the manuscript out into the world and see if the professionals want it.

Five drafts, approximately. A far cry better than the ten drafts I’ve put the current MS through. Developing a sensible method—I know better now. Prioritizing and having a set goal for each draft stage makes a huge difference, especially that second draft.

The journey of a writer is fraught with frustration and mistakes. I love it when I wise-up and then things fall into place.

Have you jumped the gun and sprinted when you should have strolled instead?

Trimming the Manuscript Part 2: Too Much Plot? – It Happens

Some writers have a knack for developing plotlines and subplots. If you’re an ace outliner on top of that, you might find, as I did, that pretty soon you have too much of a good thing. And too much plot or too many subplots can contribute to an inflated word count.

For a first-timer (meaning someone not published yet) your epic-sized novel may be the reason why agents and publishers are saying “no.”

There’s a difference between an epic and epic-sized. Some stories are epic. They are also tightly written too. Having an epic-sized novel doesn’t necessarily qualify it as an epic.

So how to bring down the word count and yet still have a solid storyline?

Outline in the simplest form. First identify what your main plot is and the crucial plot points that make it happen. Don’t include all the subplots or any plot points that aren’t crucial. If you have a hard time identifying crucial from the unnecessary, get some beta readers right away. You’re too close to the story and have invested too much time into developing plot points and lines to think straight about them. You need other eyes to help you.

Once you have the basic gist of your main plotline then look at your subplots. Write a separate outline for each of them. One or two subplots are the norm for any story. If you find you have five or ten, you need to get out the pruning shears. If your story is an actual epic, there will be more subplots but still make sure you haven’t bit off more than you or your audience can chew.

Once you’ve analyzed your essential plot points in both the main storyline and the subplots, you should have some scenes or even chapters you can cut already. If this round of analysis didn’t come up a lot to trim, then it’s time to look at each scene in the story.

Is this scene absolutely necessary? If you have a scene full of action and nothing else, you’ve got room to trim. For instance, your main characters have just walled up inside a fortress while an invading army of trolls surrounds them. Now the heroes must fight to keep the fortress. It’s a necessary part of the story but watch how you tell it. Pages and pages of straight action equates to boring filler. Are you characters growing during the conflict? What’s at stake for them? Are you showing it? What can happen during this battle to spin a plotline forward? There needs to be growth and change for any scene to be necessary.

Say you have a main character that is newly arrived on a strange world. There’s the temptation to explain everything about that world right away. After all, we need to ground our readers so they don’t feel lost. And a sense of wonder is a great way to keep them reading. Don’t describe your setting, incorporate it. What will that character first tend to notice about the new place? What is going on there? It’s not always like that scene in The Wizard of Oz where Dorothy steps out of her house and gets several minutes to examine the Munchkin countryside. Places are active, not passive. Even quiet, pastoral settings can incorporate a tone. If there is no one there for the MC to react to or act upon, use the setting as a character. Trim the info-dumps. Spread out the details according to what the character will actually notice and what will actually happen. It’s great that you made up a deadly species of squirrel, including charts and an index on all their characteristics. If the squirrels aren’t a main part of that scene don’t share all your notes with the reader.

Sometimes we can condense or tell a series of happenings as if they happened off-stage, rather than write them out. It’s a great way to save space. Say you have a group of people traveling, you can trim all the travel scenes, doing a recap through dialogue after they’ve arrived, if something interesting happened. Unless, of course, the bulk of the story is about their journey, we don’t need to read about all the interesting parts of their trip in full-blown detail. “Pick your battles” is a well-known saying and it’s applicable here. Pick your scenes and don’t fret about the rest. Again, note if there is plot or character growth during a particular scene. If there is, keep it. If not, summarize or chuck it.

Another good rule of thumb is to start a scene with the action already going and end it early. We don’t need a prologue to a scene or a miniature epilogue at the end of it. Get to the point, share what is necessary, and make sure the scene propels the reader forward. Scene prologues and epilogues give readers an invitation to put the story down.

True epics will exceed 100K words and often even the 120K. There is a limited market for these books and a devoted body of readers who can’t get enough of them. If you have a true epic on your hand, don’t freak out over all the negativity on word count. As long as your manuscript is tight, every scene is necessary, and you’ve unloaded every bit of fat possible, you’re doing it right. Finding an agent or publisher is going to be an uphill battle but that’s due to circumstances out of your hands.

Contrary-wise, don’t make the mistake of thinking your story is an epic merely because it’s got a huge girth. It’s our job to analyze, chop, tighten, and choose wisely the content of our stories. Most people fall into the trap of epic-sized rather than true epic. Beta readers/critique partners are your best buddies in this instance. They’ll point out the places where their attention wanders, the parts that aren’t necessary, and question whether you’re serious about six subplots.

And congratulations if you are good at plotting. It’s a great skill. Embrace it, but don’t overdo it.