He said, She said

I got into an interesting discussion on the WD forum recently.  I had mentioned my utter disgust with the word "said" in my own writing.  Now let me be clear about one thing, I CAN read it in other people's work, usually I don't even notice it.  (I usually skip over the "said" though I know it's there).  In my own work?  I can't stand it.  I will write dialogue and then reach the end where "he said" would go and I just stop and shudder when I consider putting "said" in there.

Again, there's nothing wrong with using Joe said, or whoever said in your writing.  I came to the realization that I disliked the word when I was younger and writing a lot of dialogue.  I realized that I was using it every few lines and frankly I already have problems with repetition in words...  I decided to stop using it along with "replied" and "asked".

The first problem I ran into when I stopped using he said, she said was clarity.  I was no longer using any tags at all to indicate who was speaking.  When dialogue is really strong and there's only two characters chatting it's easy enough to write it without using "said".  The reader can assume that the characters are going back and forth in their discussion and realistically quotation marks are already telling the reader that the characters are talking, so why reiterate that with said?  However I did find that when my character's voices weren't very strong it got confusing very, very quickly.  So how did I fix it?

I began to add actions.  What are the characters doing?  What is their expression like?  What are they observing?  It's easy to add too many descriptions, if the dialogue is going well and it's firing back and forth and easy to follow then it's probably not the right place to add an action unless it enhances or directly affects the dialogue.  That's the key I try to follow.  I add action descriptions for two reasons, one to denote who is speaking when there's more than two people and two to further the scene, the story and the dialogue.  I will always believe that adding something like this is more useful than saying "Joe said" after your speech unless absolutely necessary.  It's become a pet peeve of mine in my own writing and I do think I'm very much in the minority on this, but that's okay.  Everyone's got their own style and this just happens to be a part of mine that I see no reason to change.  I'm sure a "he said" will pop in my writing somewhere eventually, but for the moment I've got too much of a block toward that particular phrasing.

Family vs Peers, who should read it first?

Lately I've been considering who to give my novel to when it's finished.  Do I give it to my family?  Friends?  Peers?  Try and find an agent or editor to read it?

My first question is going to be this, who is my audience?  If my family reads the type of book I write and can give me an honest review then yeah!  Why wouldn't I?  But if they're not my audience, if they don't have any interest in the things that I write then as supportive as they are they're not the right people to give it to.

So what about friends?  Again, audience is a huge aspect of it.  With friends though you have to remember which friend you're giving it to.  Are they going to be able to tell me not only an honest review but one that is going to be constructive in its criticisms and specific in the things that work and that they like?  If they're not or if they're not into that kind of book do I really want them to be reading it?  And if they don't like it will they be afraid to tell me for the sake of our friendship?  Consider your audience and the people you're giving the work to, if you don't think you can take what they have to say, they're probably not the best person to give it to.  Again, even if they're super supportive that may not be what you're looking for.

Your peers (other writers) who have shown a good ability to take and receive criticism (which could also be your friends), and who are interested in the genre you're writing is perhaps one of the best ways to share your work and get very good feedback.  The only problem with this avenue that I've found is that sometimes your peers forget that they shouldn't be editing your voice along with the rest of their critique.  I've definitely been guilty of that in the past and I've been learning how awful it can be if you don't pay attention to that.  When you're critiquing someone else's work you're not supposed to make it yours.  Don't change the language but highlight what you don't understand.  If you've got some awesome peers?  Then this is definitely one of the better ways to go in my estimation.

The editor?  An awesome option right?  Someone who's professional, who knows to edit your grammar and to clarify your story and language.  There's only one problem.  They can be expensive!  You're definitely paying someone to do the work and if you can afford it awesome!  Make sure you talk to them first and that you're clear about what you expect from them and what they're willing to give you for the price they're asking.  I've heard a lot of horror stories as well as good stories in regards to this version.

Ups and Downs of Writing

More and more I've been reading and in everything I read that talks about the life of the Writer I've been seeing how life goes up and down.  Not just in life itself, everything there could stay exactly the same, but the writer is one of those people who suffers.  We suffer from the art of self doubt, overconfidence, depression, elation... we go up and believe we can do anything and then the next moment we're down where nothing can work and all we can write is to be thrown in the trash.  Take heart though, if you're a writer reading this who recognizes this in yourself as well, we're definitely not alone.  It's something that most writers seem to suffer from.

This week I got banned from the Writer's Digest forum (permanently and my IP address was banned so I can't register with a different name) for "spamming".  I've emailed the guy they said to but I haven't heard anything from him. Fortunately!  As I just went and checked again to see if I as still banned, I found that not only am I no longer banned but that it was an admin problem for the power going out that resulted in a great many people being banned who should not have been.  I'm back to full access.  Yay!

That incident did however lead me to start reading more of the writing books that I've been slowly collecting for the last little while.  And that's how I discovered today's topic.  There's always things you NEED to do if you're going to be a writer.  The first rule of writing is WRITE so you always, always need to be doing that, no matter how down you are or how up you are.  You've got to find a way to keep writing.  However you should also know that the ups and downs are normal, that if you keep working through them eventually you'll come up with your novel.  Once your novel's done then you can start editing and finally you can get to the point where you let your novel fly free on its own.  When that happens good!  Try not to let it get you too down and move on to the next novel.  Keep writing.  Right now that rule's the hardest one for me to keep doing.  There's no good reason I haven't written a word in two weeks, but I haven't and I am failing badly at rule number one.  At the very least I've been keeping up with this blog which now has a schedule!  (yay!) so there's a reason to write all the time on something.  Now I just have to figure out how to get my butt moving on the rest of the chapters.

Characters - A Study of Evil

I've been considering what it is to make an "evil" character lately.  I remember once a long time ago I used to have discussions with people about what constituted as "evil" when you made a character.  At the time these discussions started it was the "obvious" evil verses the more subtle ones.  (Think drowning kittens vs taking over a kingdom.)  Now in the case of drowning kittens (or people as the case may be), most people would consider that a more obvious type of evil.  Murder = bad, if you don't know that it also = evil.  So what about the other one?  Taking over a kingdom.  I use the idea of the kingdom but it could also be country or anything else that requires a leader.

If you look at history it's always, always the victor who dictates how things are seen because they're the ones who will write the history books.  Imagine what would have been written about America if Germany had won WWII...  It wouldn't have been pretty I'm sure.  The atrocities that were committed by the furor and his followers would have been justified in their minds and in the history books that they wrote after.  Fortunately for a great, great many people those atrocities are not only seen as such but there are a great many efforts by many more people to ensure they do not happen again.  The world has moved on and away to try and understand how to accept all peoples, no matter their differences.  We're not there yet obviously, but we're working on it and that forward motion is a good thing to my way of thinking.

What I find really interesting is that I bet a lot of people would hesitate over saying whether or not invaders are "evil".  Invasion of another land or kingdom or people often includes a great deal of death, torture, destruction of land, maybe even slavery, theft... huhm... alot of those things are lumped in the evil category aren't they?  We seem to think of them as "necessary" evils, and it's all in the presentation.  In a fantasy novel "invasion" much like in real life can happen lots of different ways.  If you're portraying the take-over as a response to a different invasion force, it's much more acceptable.  The person invading is often (if not always) seen as the bad guy and those defending or fighting against the invasion are the good guys.

Yet the ways you could write such a thing are limited.  As interesting as the bad guy might be to write about, very few people actually want the bad guy to win in the end.  Why would we want the bad guy to win in the end when that happens far too often in life?  Yet look at the history of the world and think about how many things would be different if someone else had won the battle.  Would we really be more "evil" than we are now?  I'm not so sure.  So I've been considering my novel and what I want to do with my books in this light and I realize that I always seem to make my bad characters redeemable in some way shape or form.  Now I like that because I believe all characters must have motivations that are true to the character and the choices they make in the story (much as we are in life).  By keeping in mind that the "bad" guy has his own motivations and believes in them just as strongly as the "good" guy it's harder to see who the "bad" guy is.  Hence the word Antagonist.

When you've got someone in the story who presents an obstacle for your protagonist they don't necessarily have to be evil, they just have opposing goals to your protagonist.  I think that's one thing that I'll always enjoy exploring through my writing.  What is it that makes a person evil, vs good, especially in gray situations where the outcome makes all the difference?  I've got my own theories about it, but it's still interesting to explore.  It goes along the same lines for me as "why does God allow bad things to happen?".  There's always reasons for things in life, I believe that even when it's really hard to see or acknowledge, and I utilize the same thing with my writing.  My bad guys so far always believe in what they're doing just as strongly as any of my good guys, though perhaps the biggest difference is the good guys try to do things selflessly while the bad guys are often selfishly motivated.

Characters - What's in a Name?

After my last post I've been thinking about character names a lot.  When I name a character I know that the name is going to be part of what defines them.  It says something about who they are, where they're from and the way they're going to be.  Ideally I love it when characters come with their own names.  A short search sometimes yields one without any problem.  Sometimes it's not a name I understand, sometimes it's an earth name (aka in one of the baby sites).  The odd thing that I love when the characters I meet come with names attached is that often the meaning (when it's an earth name) suits the character.  It's one of the amazing things about writing that I really love.

It's not always that easy!  Any writer who's written more than one story knows there are some characters who are stubborn, who won't tell you a thing about themselves without you wrestling them to the ground and making them cry uncle first!  When a character like that rolls around I will first flip through my mind and try out different sounds.  Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't.  When it works I"m happy enough since I usually get to name them and make up the meaning when that happens and since it's something that was chosen specifically for that character it fits them well enough and I as the author feel comfortable working with the character.

When making up sounds to form a name doesn't work I have to stop and consider what I already know about the character.  The very first character I meet for a story is the hardest.  They're the one that you may not know everything about to begin with and finding a name for a character when you know nothing about them is HARD.  You don't know what they love or hate, or why they're important or what kind of story they're going to feature in.  Sometimes you don't even know if they're going to be your main character.  It's in this case that I find two things helpful to pursue immediately.  First of all where are they from.  It's the where they are from that's important not the where are they now for a very specific reason.  If you know where they're from, you know the (or you should have an idea of) type of names those people give, you know the culture that the character is going to have come from, you know the possibilities for class that are likely, whether the character has magic or not, whether it knows a lot about science (fantasy vs sci-fi would be a place difference), even things like how the character will handle problems, what kind of prejudices your character might have, what experiences were likely when your character was growing up, etc, etc, etc.  Wow, all that just from a place!  Now, knowing where the character is currently will help you start to fill in all that in between information.  How they got where they are, what happened along the way and why they're the way they are now. 

That's fabulous!  With two questions you've got a handle on your character so now the name, that's when I choose three or four things that really personify the character and I track over to one of the web's baby name sites.  I specifically go for sites that let you look up the meanings.  I pop the first description of that person's personality into the search function and peruse the names that are conveniently placed before me.  Usually the first trait I put in comes up with something I can use, sometimes I don't like any of the names presented to me or they don't quite fit, or if it's a not entirely positive trait it may not show up with that specific word (synonyms are useful there).  I'll move on down my list of traits until I find the name that fits the best.  If that still doesn't work I'll start looking at the sounds of the names that kind of fit and re-arranging them to create a mix of names that suits the character.

Very, very rarely I'll come across a character who is so stubborn nothing seems to fit them.  But in that very rare case I've almost always found it's because the character is hiding something from me that I need to understand about their personality before I can name them.  When I go back and find out more about the character a name is almost always revealed.  If they won't talk even then?  Well, then they're not worth the trouble and it's time to find a new character and story.  You'd be surprised how often they start talking quickly after that... no character likes to be left behind for another!

Character Creation - Who am I?

So I have been considering what to write for today's blog post.  I should probably make a schedule and post to that but so far it seems to be every two or three days.  I'll try not to let too much time pass in between for anyone who's interested in reading it more frequently.

Today's post is on Characters since I haven't yet posted anything directly about them.  I've been considering my own characters for the novel I'm working on and I've been comparing them to my favourite characters in various books I've read.  There is always something about each of the characters I love in other books that speaks to me in one way or another.  I'm a fan of the down and out or misunderstood characters personally, but I do love other characters as well.

Phantom by Susan Kay has long been my favourite book, it's an in depth look at what the Phantom of the Opera's life before, up to, during and after the whole Opera thing might have been like.  Erik (predictably perhaps) is and always have been one of my favourite characters.  What I love about Susan Kay's version over other versions is how real she makes him.  He's someone who grows up in a world that doesn't understand him, and he is brilliant and very, very human.  (Also see Elizabeth which is another of Susan Kay's book, though they're both out of print as far as I know if you can get your hands on it, definitely do it).  Erik is a rich, complex character at all ends of the evaluation.  One of the things I think really works for this story is that you also get a good look at his parent's history as well as his own.  It's not a huge in depth thing but it tells you what you need to know so you understand why his mother raises him the way she does and a lot about their relationship and his subsequent life choices.  Susan Kay does the same thing with Queen Elizabeth in her other novel (mentioned above).  If you want to know how to write intricate well thought out characters Susan Kay has long been one of my favourites.

The Redemption of Althalus by David and Leigh Eddings is another book whose character has stuck in my mind for a long time as someone I love to read about.  Althalus is witty and entertaining at his very heart and he carries you through the story rapidly because you want to know more about him.  He's so engaging in that book that despite it being a fairly sizable book you go through it rapidly.  So there's another type of character, is he misunderstood?  Probably, but I found him simply enjoyable to read as opposed to being fascinated with his complexities or with his history (although he does have a history int he book if I remember correctly).  Some characters are just so fun to read that they could be doing the dishes and you would still think it was funny!  By that way of looking at it, you don't always need a complex character but they have to be somewhat amusing to the reader.

Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey was the first book by Lackey I'd ever read of her rather in depth and massive series.  I loved Talia (she's the main character) because she was so shy and awkward and out of place.  It really resounded with me at the time and the more I learned about the character and the world the more I fell in love with the character and the writing.  There's people that you can like and admire and there's people that you just want to cheer on.  Talia you grow with as you grow with the series so there's yet another type of character.

I could go on but this post is already pushing it for normal post lengths.  Every character in these three examples has its own uniqueness to it.  Now since I"m the one identifying with them they've all got something in common with me and so with each other as well.  But at the same time they are incredibly distinct and unique.  What you want most with your characters are to make them memorable to people, characters that someone can identify with.  To that thought, I know I need to make my characters unique from each other.  I use different parts of my own personality, my own traits to make the characters someone I identify with and then try to write someone else who might identify better with someone else.  It's really hard to write a character I don't identify with so I have to search myself to find that little thread that makes me understand the character and thereby get a character who's different from me, who I would not normally identify with so that someone else might be able to later.  I don't identify with every character and neither will everyone who ends up reading my books.  That doesn't mean the characters can't draw people in if I can make them unique from each other and engaging.  There's always someone who will get them if I keep them consistent and true to themselves.  To do that I make certain I know everything about every character, even those that aren't going to be important for this story.  And hey, who knows, sometimes characters can surprise you if you let them!

Short Stories vs Novels

Generally I have always been a novelist.  I don't like reading short stories and I hate writing them.

That being said this foray into attempting to write a short horror story has been highly educational!  I never would have expected to find writing horror not only educational but kind of enjoyable.  I get to work with a new idea (that I can later turn into a novel) that I put all the important bits into one short scene that reads like a complete story.  I think horror is a little easier to do this in since I don't actually have to have the good guy win in the end.  Horror can easily be a tragedy.

Novels are usually much more intricate, have a larger cast of players, and more than one plot.  You've got to pare a short story down to the most important plot (no subplots!) and maybe a tiny bit of backstory (preferably not much is needed) and a lot of action in a very short period of time.  This is very challenging for me since usually my mind starts spinning new characters and plots and places... but it's a good exercise to bring that spinning down to a very tight spiral and try your hand at controlling your words and your characters as well as your situation.  It's also nice because the story has a shorter end goal you can finish the initial draft faster and feel like you've accomplished something.  If you're finding you're a little stuck and you usually write novels, why not try a short story as a "break" to let your story breathe but to continue writing!

Genres - Sharing Borders

So I have been stalled with my current story as I figure out how many plot lines I actually have going at the moment.  I've got a good handle on them now I think but I decided to let them stew and to work on a horror story for a contest with Writer's Digest.  I haven't yet decided if I am going to submit it to the actual Writer's Digest Horror Story contest or if I'm just going to submit it to the forum version of said contest.  One's free and one costs money, but one wins money for that monetary submission and one wins little trophies for the forum.

Now.  That being said, regardless of where I end up submitting it, I've been finding some interesting things while I've been working on it.  First of all being that I am most definitely not a horror writer.  Secondly I've realized that writing this other genre (regardless of my personal feelings toward it) is definitely stretching my writing skills and imagination.  And thirdly, I am both more and less critical of my work.  More because I'm trying to make it a horror story that I would read and less because I don't usually read horror so I don't have as much to compare it to.  Now either way I'm definitely going to be taking advantage of the Writer's Digest Critique section to try and improve it since I don't believe that's against the rules for either contest. (of course I'll be checking that first).

I don't know what most writers would recommend in regards to writing outside your genre but I have read over and over again that writers should also be avid readers.  Not only should they be readers in their own genre but in as many different areas as possible.  I think that writing has the same reasoning to it.  If you want to write a really tense scene in a fantasy novel then why not study how to write thrillers or horrors?  Depending on the feel you want for the scene I can only see studying that genre assisting in your final creation.  Stories need to be well crafted in all aspects and few stories are exactly the same the entire way through.  So, my foray into horror is at the very least an interesting exercise because it's challenging.  Perhaps I'll try writing a short romance next... I've never liked those though I usually like some aspect of it in my fantasy.  Go figure!

Story Events - Plots

I've been having trouble with Chapter 8, fortunately only partly due to writer's block.  I've realized that there are some holes in my novel because I wasn't making one of the characters important enough who I had written into it as being important.  I'd also been forgetting several of the plot points that were also important to the story (hence why I was having a block when I thought it was too thin a story).  So now what I'm doing is going back and doing an "event map".  Normally the characters in my stories run away with them but as I have started holding the DM position I've realized how I like to write is a very similar thing.  I like to plan the stories that I DM for people by creating events that can happen when they reach a particular place.  Some events will happen when they get there and you know they're going to get there because you've set the premise or the story up that way.  Now the nice thing is the when or the particular order doesn't always matter unless it sets off a more important event later.  So I'm taking the same premise with my writing.  I'm going to do an "event map" instead of a plotline or outline for my novel.

 Basically that means I'm going to write out all the possible plots and subplots, attach which characters are going to be needed in each one so I know where they cross over and who's important for each segment and then I'm going to write major events in each plot-line that needs to happen and which characters NEED to be involved.  I've decided not to write a true outline this time, though I've been doing a synopsis for each chapter and that's been helpful.  I suspect that doing it this way instead of as a definite outline I'll be able to keep more flexible.  What do you guys do to plan your story?  There's lots of comment space!

Writer's Block

Writer's block as always been one of those things that I struggle from.  When I was in high-school I never seemed to have a problem with the dreaded writer's block.  Somehow I always had someone to talk to or I always managed to find something to read or do that would lift it pretty quickly.  Since then I've taken lots of writing courses and been in a few different writer's groups and I've found writer's block an increasingly difficult problem.  So what changed?

I've been really thinking about the things that cause my writer's block and I've come to a conclusion.  I have no idea if this is going to be universal or if it's going to be just me so if anyone feels the same way, do please let me know.  When I was writing in high-school (and younger) everyone around me gave me praise, made me feel good about what I was writing and the way I was writing it.  They seemed to think I could be a writer and that my writing was worth reading.

Enter university.

Now, don't get me wrong I loved school in high-school and university was no different.  There were classes I hated and classes I loved and some that just didn't interest me but overall I love learning and I loved the experience.  Except for one thing.  Suddenly, my writing didn't seem so wonderful anymore.  No one understood it, or if they understood it they simply did not like what I had written.  I could not have enough description one day and then had too much the next.  I began to suffer from writer's block so badly that I had to force myself to break through it with no help from anyone else just to get a poorly written short story on the page so I could hand it in for the next day.  What happened?

I know that when we're younger people give us praise much more frequently.  It seems that when we get to be adults we don't get that anymore, we should be able to hear the hard truths and deal with it.  The "hard truths" were often viciously laid out and a great deal more deconstructive than constructive.  I remember having writer's block so badly and begging my teacher one semester to help me find a way around it.  The only solution I was given was to "just go write it."  Now obviously (now anyway) that was good advice in its own way, but I felt like I was drowning and couldn't bring myself to write a word because I was terrified that people wouldn't like it.  One of the worst criticisms I've ever had was a flat out statement that was agreed to by all that a character was "disgusting and unlikeable".  I don't know about you but when I like a character hearing something like that (from the entire group no less) is devastating unless that's what you wanted for that character.

Now let me explain what I think my teacher meant.  "Just write".  I think that teacher meant that I should go home and start writing everything and anything that came to mind.  I don't think it was meant to be "just go write the story and stop complaining" which is how I took it as it came with no further explanation, it was supposed to be "just go home and write something."  I've only really understood that in the last few days as I've been working on chapter 7 and now chapter 8.  However I also recognize that fear and discouragement are powerful things that can contribute to that block.  It's built from the ground up with fear of what other people will think about it, fear of it not being good enough and anything else you can think of that involves others judging my work.

Yes, eventually my work will be judged by others.  Once it's done and someone else reads it the judging will begin in one way or another and there's nothing I can do to change that.  But I am not writing for others and I have to remember that.  Yes, audience is something to take into account, so is the publisher or agent I want to read my book and then support it.  But at this stage, at this point in the writing there is only one person that I need to write for and that's myself.  I'm a reader too, I contribute to the hundreds of books that are published every week simply by being a contributor to the purchase of them.  I know what a good story is, I've long had a sense for timing and figuring out the future of a story before it happens.  The book that I'm writing is in that way no different.  I write the book I want to read and I can trust that those other books that I read have other people reading them too who will one day pick up my book and read it too.  It's for the people like me that I write because I write it for me.

So.  Go away writer's block.  Go away fear.  I've no use for you at all.

Word Count Notes for Novels

So I was poking through Facebook (bad habit I know, but hey, this time it was useful) and I had cause to be glad for the new formatting when I had a link to a blog posted on my page.  It looked interesting so I followed it to Rachelle Gardner's blog ( http://networkedblogs.com/nwlT3 ).  She's a literary agent and has some really good articles on her site that speak on a wide variety of subjects in regards to writing.  There was also a link to another site for a blog by Colleen Lindsay ( http://theswivet.blogspot.com/ ) that had a very interesting article regarding word count for novels of varying genres.  ( http://theswivet.blogspot.com/2008/03/on-word-counts-and-novel-length.html )

Generally, the word count suggested for most novels (excepting YA and younger novels which are generally shorter) is between 90,000 and 120,000.  It's pointed out particularly in the comments that there's also been a lot of novels published that must be over that count.  (Patrick Rothfus's The Name of the Wind or the majority of Adrian Tchaikovsky's Shadows of the Apt series for example are both extremely long and detailed.)  There was a lot of arguing back and forth and if you want to take it very seriously, honestly these women are or were Literary Agents and there's a reason they link to each other and say what they say.  If you want to get published, especially the first time they say you must be aware that the general word count for novels is somewhere between 90,000 and 120,000.  Having said that, and having read the much longer books that have been printed by newer authors (and being someone who reads exceedingly quickly so enjoys longer books) I posted a comment with a theory (that will appear when and if Colleen deems it worthy) that I think bears repeating here.

I believe that the people with experience are right and that the general word count for most novels is going to be within the aforementioned word counts.  However!  I also believe there are two things that will forgive almost  any page count.  Spectacular writing and sales.  If you have well over 120,000 words, you are asking your reader to sit and stay with your book for hours on end and even if the reader is an incredibly fast read, it better be a d*** good book.  A longer word count gives you more chances to wander, more chances to mess up and more chances to lose your reader so that they never come back.  While it can also allow you more time to develop your characters, plots, sub-plots and everything else you might need in your book if you do not do this in a way that can hold someone's interest through every sentence of the book then you need to cut it down.  If you're losing the reader, especially more than once, you've already lost the agent.

If you don't need the scene then it shouldn't be in there.  It can be for character development, it can be for plot development it can be for whatever you want but it should advance the story or it better keep me very interested and I say that as a reader, not so much as a writer.  If you can't keep my interest I won't finish your book and I won't buy your next one.  Assuming you get a second chance.  If your book doesn't sell well because I don't finish it, I also won't recommend it.  That means your sales are already below what they should be.  Your agent/editor is going to be the first person to read your book and whether it's 30,000 or 200,000+ words your first priority should always be a story with purpose.

Keep in mind though, you can have a scene that advances the plot without it being full of action every second.  There are ways of keeping interest that don't need to be a fight or really active and make your reader want to turn that page until there are no pages left!

Smooth Sailing?

There's a peculiar thing that can happen when things are going well.  You've managed to write something you're happy with (like I finally did with chapter 2) and you're feeling good but for one reason or another you've got to stop.  You manage to stop in a good place, you've got your groove going and you know you'll be able to pick it back up when you go to it later.

Only... somehow that doesn't happen.  You come back and sit down in front of the screen aaaaand... nothing.  Nothing but the urge to go and do something else.

This is another hurdle I'm realizing is part of why I'd been having such problems with Facebook.  I think it's got a lot to do with Rule Number 1.  For those who didn't read my last post or who forget what Rule number 1 is, it's WRITE.  Simple enough right?  Sure, except for those dishes that need to be washed, the laundry and cleaning that need to be done and everything else during the day that somehow doesn't seem so important once you actually GET writing but can be very difficult to ignore before you start.

So how do you find the time to write when life's got you pulled one way or another?  Some things you really can't ignore (or shouldn't) like kids if you've got those (as a few friends of mine do) you can't really ignore them unless you want social services taking them away and no parent wants that, as much as they'd like to write.  Or homework if you want to get the most out of any classes you might be taking.  And you should probably keep eating and other mundane stuff necessary for survival.  As for the rest of it?  Well maybe it can wait for a little while.

I know for myself I've got to learn to either do everything and then sit down and just write what I know I've got brewing in my head and sometimes I'm looking for anything that lets me procrastinate.  Lately I've found writing a blog and talking to my hubby two of the best cures for writer's block and writer's procrastination, but I've also found you've got to find your time.  My time means I don't sleep.  It means writing until all hours of the night, until the chapter's done and until my hubby wakes up in the morning and heads in to work.  Usually with me waking up before he goes and pestering him to read the chapter I wrote while he slept.  I'm glad he finds me amusing and likes my writing or I think I'd have driven him crazy already.  As it is I'm really thankful to have him around and supporting me.

Find your supporter, the person you can talk your ideas with when you're stuck and who'll live with your craziness no matter the hours (doesn't have to be a spouse and if you don't have one yet try writer's groups).  And second find your time to write.  I need no excuses, no distractions and no one to interrupt.  Night-time provides that for me.  You might find early morning or midday or night works the best but it's definitely worth it to find the time.  If you're still stuck with writer's procrastination try and work out an exercise or something that helps you get started.  So far, this blog's working great for that.  So, it's 11pm, and I'm going to post this, watch some more Castle (third season out soon) and then descend into the world of words and visions in my mind.

The 6 Rules of Writing?

I was stunned to learn this weekend that there is an article about "the 6 rules of writing" by Robert A. Heinlein.  I was provided with a link to a great article http://www.sfwriter.com/ow05.htm that not only provides the original 5 rules of writing but adds a 6th.  I was stunned to read how simple there were but to realize how utterly true they were.  Especially after this last weekend since my failure with chapter 2 completion.

Rule 1:  You Must Write.
Rule 2: Finish What You Start.
Rule 3: You Must Refrain From Rewriting, Except to Editorial Order.
Rule 4: You Must Put Your Story on the Market.
Rule 5: You Must Keep it on the Market until it has Sold.
Rule 6: (Added by the author of the article, Robert J. Sawyer) Start Working on Something Else.

http://www.sfwriter.com/ow05.htm is the link to the article again, I highly recommend you go and check it out, especially if you're not doing one or more of the suggested rules above.  I know for me I'm stuck between rule one and rule two.  Sawyer also explains each rule wonderfully so I am not going to steal his work and repeat everything he says here.

Each rule has its own time frame, you've got to write in order to finish and you've got to finish something in order to send it out for rewrites and you've got to put it on the market if you're going to sell it and you've got to keep doing it if you're going to get sold and you've got to keep writing if you want to actually make it.  It's surprisingly circular isn't it?  I'm planning on making these rules into my mantra for everyday and first and foremost for today I've got to leave all my fears and worries behind so that I can write.  I don't think it matters what I write anymore, but I need to be writing.  A wonderful blogger named Lana left a comment on my last post that was extremely encouraging and reminded me of a quote from Stephen King (who doesn't know that name eh?) "Fear is at the root of most - if not all - bad writing", well that certainly sounds like me lately!  (You can pop over to Lana's blog with this link: http://whatliesaroundthebend.wordpress.com/)

I also have gotten some extraordinarily good advice from the wonderful writers at Writer's Digest's forums.  First and foremost?  Write and persevere.  The two hardest things to do when you're writing a novel and things come at you from every direction.  (Here's a link to the forum if you need it:  http://www.writersdigest.com/forum/)

So thank you to everyone who has offered me suggestions and support through this hard stretch and I hope that this post gives a little back to those who are also looking for some help.

Chapter 2? Failure...

So today started out with the best of intentions.  I was going to finish chapter 2!  I was going to sit down and work out the details I need to figure it out and get it written.

As you can probably guess that didn't happen.  I am having such writer's block with this one and it's really bothering me because Chapter 1 started off so well and ended with me being satisfied if not 100% happy with it and now chapter 2 has be totally stumped.  Do I start off with the same character from chapter 1?  Do I move to one of the other characters and if so which one?  What works the best, what will be the smoothest... ugh.

I actually think one of the biggest reasons that I'm struggling with chapter 2 is because of stress.  When stressor after stressor gets dropped on you all on the same day it has a way to stifle creativity.  But in all fairness I was kind of having the same problem before today.  So what to do with writer's block?

Today I've done a lot of networking, critiqued some other people's works (I hope I was useful) partly to be useful, partly because I eventually want my work critiqued and partly because I wanted to and spent some time with my mom.

I also worried about work (or lack there-of), worried about not being able to crack Chapter 2, and before I knew it found everything around me that I had ever worried about in the last month kind of attacking me.  This made me feel a lot like the world is falling apart.  It makes me feel sick and weary very quickly and the last thing I do is want to write.  So what am I doing about it?  I'm writing a blog post and later I think I will go and work on a short story for awhile.  Who knows, maybe it'll help knock something loose.  Right now I need something I'm not so worried about screwing up and I think that's what's happening with Chapter 2.  If I can't get my groove going again by the end of Friday after trying to write something else for awhile then I'll move back to the drawing board and re-consider the storyline.  I was pretty sure this would be chapter 1, but who knows, maybe I'm still searching.  At least blogging is writing about something.

Life Stealing Time, Taking Advantage!

One of the biggest problems I'm having (besides being somewhat addicted to Facebook games) is that life seems to take me away from my writing quite frequently.  I can't tell you how many other writers I know who have the same problem, but today got me thinking about that.

First of all, writers are told to draw from their experiences, the proverbial "Write what you know" being tossed out with sickening frequency.  But if life didn't happen around us and to us and with us, what would we have to write about?  Yes, I as a writer also need to find the time to sit down and write that next chapter (yes, which is lagging at the moment as I puzzle over how to start it, I think I have an idea though), or edit that passage that's been bothering me or whatever.  If I don't find the time to sit down and DO the writing nothing is ever going to happen, but if I don't find time to live life as well?  At that point I die as a writer.  My world comes from my head yes, Reinora is largely conceived there, but if I did not interact with people where would I get the ability to interact on paper?  Characters are in their simplest forms people interacting!  So don't get too discouraged when you hit a really busy patch in your life that pulls you away from your writing.  Take notes about interesting conversations you had (actually, the mundane ones too to make things more realistic if neccessary).  Take notice of the people you interact with, or that are interacting around you.  I think that's the very reason that some writers love writing in public places where they can be solitary but still around people should they need inspiration.

Second, there's some real purpose to letting your brain take a break from your writing.  It probably wouldn't work for everyone, but I know if I'm having a lot of  trouble starting the next chapter (in this case it's a good thing as I have too many options to start from) sometimes I need to let my brain stew with my ideas before I come up with the right place to start or the right character to start with.  I know I for one need as much dreaming and imagining time as I do writing time some days and life can provide you with the inspiration you need to get that lightening idea.

Just be warned.  Sometimes life really can get the better of you, use it, take notes from it, expand your experiences, but don't forget that your writing is where you come back to.  That's what I've got to remind myself daily.  So!  Tomorrow I will be writing chapter 2, feel free to harass me with comments in the meantime if I don't get it done.  A kick in the pants when people are watching does tend to make you want to work and not get it done again.  (Kind of like why I finished NaNoWriMo a couple years ago... they're right, tell a lot of people and you tend to want to get it done just so they can't tease you.)

Exploring Setting - Swamps vs Marshes

So I had to revisit the geography for the continent that I'm currently working in.  One of the major portions of land I had thought would be more of a marsh or a swamp, but that got me thinking, what's the difference?

In an attempt to answer just that I looked it up.  Long and the short of it?  Marshes seem to be much more shallow than swamps, though both are generally the result of constant flooding in low areas with lots of river overflow.  Swamps are generally deeper and have many more trees, as my husband says the swamp is more like a flooded forest where the Marsh is a flooded meadow.  Not totally accurate but pretty close.

This brought to me the importance of research.  I also learned that not all swamps have to be brackish and stink (which I thought was part of what a swamp was) it can be fresh water, salt water or the brackish water that is one of the things I thought was inherent in swamps.  Now this works really well since it LOOKS like it's not good, even with fresh water, because algae tends to cover the surface.  So if you want to find what works the best it's really worth it to pop out and look, researching something like your settings really help to ground your work and give you a good idea of what can happen where you're writing in.

One of the things I learned from my anthropology classes is that geography can influence the development of people's cultures by quite a bit.  My decision whether to make the area a brackish swamp verses a fresh water marsh will seriously influence the type of people who live there as well as the culture that they will develop.  The sad thing?  i had to look this up while redrawing the boarders for my countries due to the geography and for that I had to decide what geography works.  When they say you need to have more reality in fiction than in non-fiction these days I see where they're coming from.  You've got to set the rules and the stones before you can break them.

Aftermath

So Friday was absolutely spectacular!  The only thing I am sad about is not having as much time to write on set as I expected.  That's not a bad thing of course, it meant I was actually ON set a great deal of the day which was one of the most incredible days of work I've ever had.  It's definitely something I think you've got to be interested in though, there are a lot of uncomfortable conditions in order to get the vision the director has done properly and there's long moments of just standing around waiting for one thing or other but I didn't mind any of that, I loved every second.  I really hope that I'll be able to make this a career while I'm writing because those two things work so well together.

Now, as for the writing, Saturday and Sunday?  Complete washes.  Why?  I don't always write well with other people around and my hubby was of course home all weekend!  I enjoyed spending time with him though and he lets me expound all my issues with writing in his direction and helps me smooth things out.  He's also giving me a lot of cheerleading with everything I write.  Today, (Monday, though I'm writing this late enough the post may seem like a Tuesday post) I had an incredibly hard time waking up.  I was tired and my body ached and I felt like I hadn't slept.  But the strangest thing happened when I finally got up, I sat down at my computer, played facebook games for awhile and then pulled out my writing and started transferring it to the computer.

Originally I'd wanted to write long-hand because it was helping me stay away from Facebook and all of its' wonderful games, as well as giving me a really organic feel that was helping with the creation.  Now that I've written on the computer again I realize I'm really a child of my generation.  I'm a total computer geek and instead of being as incredibly distracting as I thought working on my laptop would be I'm finding it incredibly freeing!  Yes, it's a little less organic in some ways but because my typing speed keeps up with my thoughts far, far better than my handwriting speed (at least if I want to be able to read it later) I'm finding the process flowing through my keyboard with a great deal more speed and ease than I expected.

If you're struggling with your writing I highly reccomend trying a few different ways to write, with the physicality of things as well as with the words themselves.  I suspect I'll keep using my notebook for ideas (since that's the really organic part of the writing process for me, I drew a castle map in there earlier to help ground my ideas of the place they're living), and then do the actual writing for each chapter on my computer.

I've also found doing a chapter by chapter synopsis really helpful.  It's good to clarify my ideas as well as give me a quick overview of what happened in that chapter so when I come back to it later I can pick it up without having to re-read the whole thing (as that usually ends up in massive rewrites and constant edits and I never get past the first chapter >.<).  I've also added onto the end of the synopsis all the questions I feel are raised in that chapter that will need to be answered eventually.  This is a question a book I was reading recently, The Complete Handbook of Novel Writing by the Writer's Digest, suggested was important for mystery novels (I think that was the section where I read it).  I thought it was just as applicable to fantasy and so far it seems that it's really helping me keep an awareness of where I'm going and what I'm writing into the chapter already.

Short and the long of it?  If you want to write comfortably, then find the physical area and the physical medium that works best with your thoughts.  If the computer isn't working for you try long hand.  If pen's not working try pencil, if that's not working try crayons, pencil crayons, paints, different types of paper, notebooks, even different computers or keyboards might work better for you!  And of course different physical things can work well for different processes of thinking.  (My preference for pen and paper with ideas and a computer for actually writing for example).  Also, make note of the questions you raise that will need answers as you write each section of your novel (or chapter, or scene, or whatever works best for you, just don't let too much go by before you do it or you'll forget).  This can really help later should you get stuck on a section, you can pop back to the outline and see what you've forgotten to answer or if you need to answer something to make something else work.

God's Gift to Me!

So today I'm feeling a little like it's my birthday.  I have been trying to figure out what to do while I'm writing so that I'm out of the house and not sitting here alone all the time but that wouldn't cost money (aka, sitting at a restaurant since I can never justify sitting there without steadily buying drinks and/or food v.v') but that won't leave me sitting alone all day in the house.  God's answered my prayer and with something I never expected to happen!

For some time now I've had to great loves, writing and film but I figured there was no way that I would be able to make them fit together.  Not unless I had something published and someone wanted to make one of my books into a movie or if I wrote a screenplay and managed to get on set.  However, I did send out an application to an extra agency.  Last year we (hubby and I) had joined one agency but they were so huge we never got any roles, never even a hint of it.  Part of that was lack of work (which I understand hasn't really changed) and part of it was I think how big the agency was and how inexperienced we were.  The agency I applied to more recently (after leaving the first) is much more specialized and takes a much smaller roster.  I figured I wouldn't get in but I did get a relatively positive response with my first application but then heard nothing.  When we got back from Europe I didn't think to email them back right away but hubby suggested I do so if I was still serious about it so I did.  A little while later I got a call asking me to send more information because they couldn't find my previous email that asked for it and yesterday I got a call asking if I was free today for a set call they thought I'd be perfect for!

So what do I get to do today?  I get to go hang around set, get paid for hanging around, work as an extra (no, can't tell you where or what show yet) and in the hanging around time, chat or *puts dramatic and triumphant music on* write!  God's given me a huge gift in that since I won't be home attached to my computer games that I've had so much trouble on and I'll be making money while I write and working in between!  This couldn't have worked out much better so pray it continues and I might just get this book done and get into film like I've always wanted in a way I never, ever expected.

God's so good!

New Name

So shortly after I posted the blog for today I realized that there's no point to keep everything a secret if I'm trying to blog about it.  Hence settling on the name Chronicling Reinora.

Reinora is the name of my world and since I'm writing about the process of writing the Chronicles (Dear Lord I hate that word, have you noticed it's an ugly word?  It's not so bad with S on the end, it's ugly with ING on it... yeah, weird I know, but there you go.)  I figured a blog's name should actually have something to do with what you're writing on so there it is, bright and shiny.  I changed the website address too so it's the same as the name.  Yay me!  I wrote some more after I posted last (eventually, fb got in the way first v.v, dang addicting games!) and I'm feeling pretty good about where it's going.  I'll post an excerpt when I've finished at least a chapter's worth.

I finally have the name worked out, it should show up properly on search sites.  Yay!