Writer Tip: How To Figure Out When You’ll Earn Out Your Advance

Happy Monday Everyone! I found a cool tool that I think could help many of you however you are published. It’s a tool to help you figure out when you’ll earn out your advance. It can be really helpful for authors traditionally published and those considering whether traditional or self-publishing is the best option for a specific manuscript.

Hana Lee, a traditionally published author, has created When do I earn out?, a free web-based calculator. It will give you an estimate of how many hardbacks, paperbacks, ebooks, and audiobooks you have to sell to earn out your advance and also shows how much a publisher would earn in revenues. It’s an eye-opener and a very helpful resource.

You can find out more about Hana and her books on her website or on Twitter or Instagram at @K_Hana_Lee on Twitter.

Upcoming Interviews, Guest Posts, and Blog Hops

Wednesday, May 3 I have an interview with debut author Matt McMann and a giveaway of his MG spooky mystery Escape From Grimstone Manor and my IWSG post

Thursday, May 4 I’m participating in the Life’s a Beach Giveaway Hop

Monday, May 8 I have an agent spotlight interview with Ellen Goff and a query critique giveaway

Monday, May 15 I have an interview with debut author Jen St. Jude and a giveaway of her YA contemporary speculative If Tomorrow Doesn’t Come

Tuesday, May 16 I’m participating in the Mom’s Rock Giveaway Hop

Wednesday, May 17 I have an agent spotlight interview with Kristina Perez and a query critique giveaway

Monday, May 22 I have an agent spotlight interview with Natasha Mihell and a query critique giveaway

Hope to see you on Wednesday!

 

DARCY PATTISON INTERVIEW AND START YOUR NOVEL-SIX WINNING STEPS TOWARD A COMPELLING OPENING LINE, SCENE, AND CHAPTER GIVEAWAY

Today I’m excited to have Darcy Pattison here to share about her new book, START YOUR NOVEL-SIX WINNING STEPS TOWARD A COMPELLING OPENING LINE, SCENE, AND CHAPTER, that was released in early June 2013. Darcy’s is the author of many picture books, nonfiction books, and THE WAYFINDER, a YA fantasy. She’s also the author of books on the craft of writing, including NOVEL METAMORPHOSIS: UNCOMMON WAYS TO REVISE NOVELS WITH CRATIVE WRITING TIPS, TOOLS, AND STRATEGIES. I have NOVEL METAMORPHOSIS and found it really helpful as I revised my manuscript. Plus Darcy holds novel revision weekend workshops, which some of my writer friends have attended and raved about. I was lucky to meet Darcy at a Michigan SCBWI conference where she gave a great session on novel revision and a talk on social media.

Here’s a blurb about START YOUR NOVEL:

You want to write a novel, but you don’t know where to start. You have a great idea and—well, that’s all. This book explains the writing process of starting a novel in six winning steps.

CHAPTERS
• Starting the Journey
• Why Editors Focus on Page 1
• STEP ONE: Clarify Your Idea
• STEP TWO: Review Your Skills
• STEP THREE: Plan the Opening Chapter
• STEP FOUR: Plan the Opening Line
• STEP FIVE: Now, Write!
• STEP SIX: Revise
Writing teacher and author, Darcy Pattison, is the author of NOVEL METAMORPHOSIS: Uncommon Ways to Revise,How to Write a Children’s Picture Book, and The Book Trailer Manual. She brings extensive experience in teaching writing to this exciting new book and helps you get started with the creative writing process. The book is available on Kobo, Kindle, and in print.

Hi Darcy. Thanks so much for joining us.

1. Tell us about yourself and how you became a writer.

I am the fifth of seven children, daughter of a real cowboy and a teacher from the Show-Me-State of Missouri. With seven young children and living in a rural area 100-miles from the nearest library, my mother wrote to the state library to ask for books to be sent. We grew up with family story times each night. I distinctly remember the first time I got to read the story for that special time. Later, my mother arranged for the book mobile to stop at MY house. Folks from 30 miles around came by our house to check out books. I grew up with a rich and varied experience with literature and stories. At some point, I wanted to be on the opposite side of stories, to become the person who writes them.

2. That must have been hard being so far from a library. That’s awesome that your mom arranged for a bookmobile to stop at your house. In START YOUR NOVEL, you talk about using plot templates to help clarify our story ideas and you show how that can change the Cinderella story. Share about how plot templates can be helpful.

One of the difficult tasks of a writer it to focus a story so that it doesn’t ramble off into nothingness. Plot templates are a shortcut way to focus a story. For example, if you want to tell a Cinderella story, you could use a revenge plot template. In that Cinderella story, the abused girl has had enough and plans to humiliate her step-family. It’s one valid retelling of the Cinderella story and a fresh one. Plot templates let you figure out what focus will help you tell your story in the best way possible.

3. And your examples using the plot templates with the Cinderella story in your book really show how you can tell the story in many different fashions. You also talk about scene basics. What are some of the key points we need to focus on in creating our scenes?

In this continuum of things we call scenes, there are very loosely constructed scenes and very tightly

constructed scenes. For beginning and intermediate writers, though, I recommend tight construction. This means that scenes—however long the scene is—need a beginning, middle and end. The beginning sets up the conflict of the scene, while the middle complicates it. Somewhere in the scene, there is pivot point where something changes drastically and often it is what leads to the disaster at the end of the scene.

I often use this Harvard Bar Scene from the movie, “Good Will Hunting” to demonstrate the pivot point: http://youtu.be/ymsHLkB8u3s. The scene opens with Will and his friends entering a Harvard bar, just to check it out. The pivot point comes when Will steps into his friend’s discussion with a Harvard student. Up to this point, Will and his friends are just doing a friendly once-over of the bar scene; after this, Will goes head-to-head with a Harvard grad student and wins.

Also, notice what Will is fighting for, what is worth him fighting for: his friend. Sometimes, character motivations can be convoluted. I like to ask the question: what is the character fighting for? That should be evident in the scene, even if it is unstated and subtext.

4. Those are great tips about what our scenes need to do for the story. One of the things I thought was really helpful in START YOUR NOVEL was the discussion on first lines and how you show 12 ways to do it. Tell us about some of the ways that we can craft our first lines.

Steven King recently had a great article about opening lines and mentioned several of his favorite lines from his novels HERE. I’ll use his opening lines as examples.

"I've never been what you'd call a crying man." 11/22/63

This is a variation of the I AM opening, where a first-person narrator is giving a summary or judgment about themselves.

"Everybody thought the man and the boy were father and son." Salem's Lot

This type of LET’S MEET JACK OR JILL opening focuses on character and promises a character story instead of just an action/adventure story.

“On the second day of December, in a year when a Georgia peanut farmer was doing business in the White House, one of Colorado's great resort hotels burned to the ground.” The Shining

SETUP openings take the time to locate the time and place, even if it is in a small way. Here we know the specific date (December 2), general time period (during President Carter’s term of office), the state (Colorado), and what is at stake (resort hotel burns). We don’t know why it burns or why we should care yet, but the reader is firmly oriented in time and space.

5. Those are all great examples. Thanks. What are some of the common mistakes you see in author’s first chapters?

Backstory. Never put backstory on the first page. I often see a great opening that grounds the reader in an immediate scene, but then the writer inserts backstory with a couple pages of explanation that bogs down the story and slows the pace. Put the backstory in chapter two, if you must; but it’s better to delay it until the backstory directly affects the ongoing story.

Telling, instead of Showing. The story is told in a lackluster way with no sensory details and few vivid verbs.

Nothing happens. Sometimes writers need to do prewriting to figure out their characters, the setting, and the plot. The problem comes when they leave that prewriting in the novel. Each scene or chapter should have a purpose in the story and something must happen in that scene. Something changes. Too often, first chapters are a mash-up of events with no real purpose. In this case, read along until you find the real beginning point of the story, often 30 or 50 or more pages in.

6. I’ve heard others say that the story is often started too soon and the first few chapters can be cut. I’d like to move on to social networking because you also do workshops on this. I’ve noticed that a lot of authors are not as active in blogging, perhaps because of how much time it takes to maintain a following by following others. What’s your thoughts on this and blogging as part of a writer’s platform? There are so many ways for authors to engage in social networking. Are there any you see as essential and why?

I consider a website the basic necessity of every author. It’s publicity space that you own and control. It should be up-to-date and creatively interesting. A blog, on the other hand, is optional. If you are the sort of person who likes writing about a topic over and over, then start a blog. It’s probably better if the blog is about something besides writing. I was recently talking with a mystery writer and I asked what sort of things interested her. She said she loves to read stories about near-death experiences, because the phenomenon is a mystery that fascinates her. Her blog could be about mysterious events that we encounter in life. Interviews with those having near-death experiences might figure prominently on her blog. It’s not directly tied to her mystery books, but that doesn’t matter. Her readers find her mysteries interesting; they will also find interesting the mysteries that mystify her. Blogs work well when they work because the author has a passion for something. If you can’t find a passion to write about, don’t start a blog.

7. Yeah. Blogs are a lot of work, so you do need to be passionate about them. What are you working on now?

My picture book, WISDOM, THE MIDWAY ALBATROSS received a starred review in February and I am excited that I’ll be collaborating with wildlife artist Kitty Harvill again. When WISDOM came out and we started talking with people about it, we realized that people didn’t realize an important strength of the book. It is a biography of a wild animal in art and text. It is the story of the oldest known wild bird in the world and how she survived the Japanese tsunami. I researched the story heavily, including talking with biologists on Midway Island. But Harvill also did extensive photo research. As a studio artist, she has done many portraits of people and pets. When she moved to wildlife art, she took that aesthetic with her. The illustrations in WISDOM are studio-quality portraits of a specific bird. It’s not just some generic bird, it is Wisdom herself.

Our next book, ABAYOMI, THE BRAZILIAN PUMA, follows the story of a puma cub that was orphaned when her mother was caught in a trap and died. The scientists who rescued him shared original documents with me as source material to write the story. Harvill saw the cub in person and photographed it for references for her art. This will be another biography in text and art.


Thanks for sharing all your advice, Darcy. You can find Darcy at http://darcypattison.com, @FictionNotes, Youtube.com/DarcyPattison, and Pinterest.com/DarcyPattison.

Darcy has generously offered an e-book of START YOUR NOVEL for a giveaway. To enter, all you need to do is be a follower (just click the follow button if you’re not a follower) and leave a comment by midnight on September 1st. I’ll announce the winner on September 4th. If your e-mail is not on your Google Profile, please leave it in the comments.

If you mention this contest on Twitter, Facebook, or your blog, mention this in the comments and I'll give you an extra entry. You must be 13 or older to enter. International entries are welcome.

Darcy also has a Goodreads giveaway HERE.

Here’s what’s coming up next:

Next Monday I’m thrilled to have C.J. Redwine back to talk about her new book, DECEPTION, the sequel to DEFIANCE. I really loved how C.J. took the story in a totally different direction I didn’t anticipate. And of course, I’ll be giving away an ARC of this.

Next Wednesday, I’m giving away a copy of ITCH, THE EXPLOSIVE ADVENTURES OF AN ELEMENT HUNTER by Simon Mayo. He’s a very popular DJ in England. It’s a middle grade story about a boy who needs his science know how to keep him ahead of a malevolent corporation and a top-secret government agency. It’s gotten great reviews and I’m hoping you and your middle grade kids might enjoy it.

The following Monday is Labor Day and I’m participating in a Sequels Blog Hop Giveaway. I’ll have lots of great sequels for you to choose from. Don’t worry if you’re busy on Monday having fun. The contest will run through September 9th.

Wednesday that week I’m thrilled to share an interview with Mari Mancusi and a giveaway of SCORCHED, a dystopian/fantasy/time travel story. I’ve been excited about this book since I read the book sale blurb in PW Children’s Bookshelf. And I was not disappointed. It’s fantastic and I can’t wait to share it with you. I’m sure Mari with have lots of advice for us because she’s also the author of another 8 book series.

The following Monday I’m interviewing debut author Caroline Carlson and giving away a copy of MAGIC MARKS THE SPOT. It’s a fantastic pirate adventure story with a bit of fantasy as well. It’s my first pirate story and I really enjoyed it.

Tuesday next week I’ll have a special Tuesday tip interview with Daniel Alexander who is the 20-year old author of two books and a new picture book, A SWIM THROUGH SPACE, which he’s offering for a giveaway. He has 28,000 Twitter followers and he’s going to share some advice on Twitter. I’m really excited for the tips because I’m not sure exactly what to do on Twitter and I’ve heard this from a number of writers.

And don't forget our Tuesday Tips and Casey's Thursday agent spotlights.

Hope to see you next Monday!

HOW TO CARVE OUT TIME TO WRITE AND THANK YOU BOOK GIVEAWAY

First I’ll announce the winner of JACOB WONDERBAR AND THE COSMIC SPACE KAPOW by Nathan Bransford. The winner is:

PHIL

Congrats! E-mail me your address so I can send you your book.

We’ve just had our first week of summer break. And every year at the beginning of summer, I vow that next school year I’ll be less busy and have more time to write. This year here’s what I’m doing to make it happen:

1. I am retiring from volunteering for the PTO and school activities. Since my daughter started first grade, I’ve worked at any PTO event I’ve gone to, been brownie co-leader when no one else would, been restaurant night fundraiser, Academic Society reception host, etc. You get the idea. Her schools really needed the help so I’m glad I did it. But my daughter will be in a big high school next year with lots of other parents who can help out. I know I’ll have to work at some of the swim meets and other activities my daughter is involved in. But I’m retiring from major school volunteering.

2. Simplifying work at my house and in my yard. I love gardening and have a big yard. But I have been planting more perennials and grassing in weedy spots to save work so I can write more.

3. Accept help when it’s offered. For example, I’m carpooling with a friend to get my daughter to swim practice at 7:00 am weekdays. I take the early shift since I’m at work when they’re done. It cuts 40 minutes of my day, which means less writing time. She just offered to take them if I bring my daughter to her house. I’m so excited because it gives me 30 minutes extra at home alone when I can write. So I said “Thank You!” and “Yes!”

Even with this, I realize I’m going to have to claw out time to write. Because my daughter is on swim teams year round, it’s always busy going to meets and getting her to practice. But if I carve out 20 minutes in the morning, 20 minutes at lunch (when I take a lunch break, which hasn’t happened much lately) and a few 20-30 minute time slots on the weekends, I will get more done.

Sure, I’d love big blocks of time, but it just isn’t going to happen. And my years with my daughter will be ending in a few short years, so I want to enjoy them. But I can still get back into a consistent writing routine where I write some most days. If I do, I’ll finish my revisions and make progress on a new project. I started it this weekend. And the best part—it’s working!

What about you? How do you stay productive in your writing?

So now onto my book giveaway. I really want to thank everyone who helped spread the word for Elana Johnson’s debut of POSSESSION and for supporting me in general. As a new blogger, I so appreciate it.

Casey and I decided that I would join as her blog partner right at the time Borders filed for bankruptcy. I know to most of you, it is just another super bookstore. But I remember Borders when it was an Indie bookstore on State Street in Ann Arbor down the street from the University of Michigan campus. Then when we moved to the other side of Ann Arbor, Borders expanded there too. My daughter and I have many happy memories of going there when she was younger. Sadly, that store was closed.

So even though I knew I wasn’t getting any “super” deals, I stood in line for almost an hour to buy some books I wanted to read and give away to try to help them in my little way to survive. Here’s what I chose:

DELIRIUM by Lauren Oliver

Here’s the description from Goodreads:

Before scientists found the cure, people thought love was a good thing. They didn’t understand that once love -- the deliria -- blooms in your blood, there is no escaping its hold. Things are different now. Scientists are able to eradicate love, and the governments demands that all citizens receive the cure upon turning eighteen. Lena Holoway has always looked forward to the day when she’ll be cured. A life without love is a life without pain: safe, measured, predictable, and happy.

But with ninety-five days left until her treatment, Lena does the unthinkable: She falls in love.

I haven’t read BEFORE I FALL, another Lauren Oliver book, yet. But I loved this first book in her dystopian series.

DESIRES OF THE DEAD by Kimberly Derting

From Goodreads:

Violet can sense the echoes of those who've been murdered—and the matching imprint that clings to their killers. Only those closest to her know what she is capable of, but when she discovers the body of a young boy she also draws the attention of the FBI, threatening her entire way of life.

As Violet works to keep her morbid ability a secret, she unwittingly becomes the object of a dangerous obsession. Normally she'd turn to her best friend, Jay, except now that they are officially a couple, the rules of their relationship seem to have changed. And with Jay spending more and more time with his new friend Mike, Violet is left with too much time on her hands as she wonders where things went wrong. But when she fills the void by digging into Mike's tragic family history, she stumbles upon a dark truth that could put everyone in danger.

A friend lent me the first book in this series. I loved figuring out the mystery and learning about Violet’s special abilities. This book is a great continuation in the series.

ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS by Stephanie Perkins

From Goodreads:

Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris—until she meets Étienne St. Claire: perfect, Parisian (and English and American, which makes for a swoon-worthy accent), and utterly irresistible. The only problem is that he's taken, and Anna might be, too, if anything comes of her almost-relationship back home.
As winter melts into spring, will a year of romantic near-misses end with the French kiss Anna—and readers—have long awaited?

I won this book and was hesitant to read it because I don’t read much romance. But everyone, including Casey, raved about it. I confess that once I got to a part in it on a Saturday night I could not go to bed until I finished the book.

THE IRON QUEEN by Julie Kagawa

From Goodreads:

My name is Meghan Chase.
I thought it was over. That my time with the fey, the impossible choices I had to make, the sacrifices of those I loved, was behind me. But a storm is approaching, an army of Iron fey that will drag me back, kicking and screaming. Drag me away from the banished prince who's sworn to stand by my side. Drag me into the core of conflict so powerful, I'm not sure anyone can survive it.
This time, there will be no turning back.

This is the third book in one of my favorite fantasy series. I love the world Julie created, the fey, and the love triangle. I bought an extra copy of this one to share with you.

To win a copy of one of these books, all you need to do is be a follower (just click the follow button if you’re not a follower) and leave a comment by midnight on July 9th. Please list your first two choices in your comments. I can’t guarantee you’ll win one of them, but I’ll try. I’ll announce the winner on July 11th. International entries are welcome.

Next week I’ll be doing a short post because it’s July 4th. And on July 11th, I’ll be interviewing Andrea Cremer and giving away a copy of her book NIGHTSHADE.

Here’s something else you’ll want to mark on your calendar. On July 6th at 9:00 pm EST, WriteOnCon’s doing a live chat with Tessa Gratton, Maggie Stiefvater, and Brenna Yovanoff. Even though my in-laws will be here, I’m going. I’m so excited! You’ll definitely want to check the WriteOnCon site often because a lot is going to happen as a lead up to their FREE online conference August 16-18.

Hope to see you next week.

Why Is "Fiction Novel" Redundant?

Once upon a time, I was an aspiring author who didn't understand why "fiction novel" is considered an automatic "you shouldn't be querying if you don't know why this is wrong" thing. I read a lot of agent blogs and would see it listed as a "don't" but no one ever explained it. Rather, it was constantly referred to in a veiled way (see: "you shouldn't be querying") that questioned my intelligence. When it finally clicked, I felt pretty silly but it didn't seem worth weeks of feeling inadequate. I still see it frequently mentioned on blogs, and now twitter, and rarely do people stop to explain why it's a no-no. This post is for any aspiring author who hasn't made the connection yet.

Let's look at the definitions from Merriam-Webster.

Fiction:

"Something invented by the imagination or feigned; specifically : an invented story."

Novel:

"An invented prose narrative that is usually long and complex and deals especially with human experience through a usually connected sequence of events."

The problem with the phrase "fiction novel" is that novels are, by definition, fictitious. Following? So saying you have a fiction novel is redundant, like saying you're giving someone a "free gift." I think the reason people get confused is because they've come to interchange the word "novel" with "book" and forget that while a book can be any type of work, fiction, non-fiction, or otherwise, a novel is comprised of fictitious prose. Or expected to be, anyway.

When you specify what kind of novel you have in your query, you should use the genre and/or age category.

"My literary novel..."
"My middle-grade novel..."
"My contemporary young-adult novel..."

Agents will know your novel is a work of fiction.

Questions? Leave them in the comments and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

Word Counts for Children's Books

I received a request awhile ago to do a post on word counts for different age categories in children's lit.  Since opinions vary greatly, I did some research to verify the numbers in my head.  This is what I came away with.  Though, please note that most of the sources I found had slightly different numbers (and I think I'm missing a couple sub-categories).  Check out the links I've provided below and read the comments of this post.  I'm sure my readers will chime in with their knowledge and opinion!

***

Board Books: 0 - 100 words.

Early Picture Books: 0 - 500 words.

Picture Books: 50 - 1,000 words.  1k is pushing it.

Nonfiction Picture Books: 500 - 2,000 words.

Early Readers:  200 - 3,500 words, depending on age level. 

Chapter Books: 4,000 - 10,000 words.

Hi-Lo Books: 500 - 50,000 words, varies greatly depending on age level. A large number fall between 500 - 20k words.  Some 60-90k YA books get classified as Hi-Lo, but I don't think they were specifically written for the category.

Middle Grade: 25,000 - 45,000 words, usually around 35-40k.  Longer word counts allowed for fantasy, sci-fi, historical.  Up to 60-70k is probably safe (though there are even longer exceptions).

Young Adult: 45,000 - 70,000 words.  Longer word counts allowed for fantasy, sci-fi, paranormal, historical. 80-90k is safe (there are some as high as 120k, but I recommend staying below 100k, if possible).

Nonfiction MG/YA: 5,000 - 70,000 words, varies greatly (with some exceeding 100k) depending on the type of book and age level (I recommend researching similar titles to what you're writing/proposing to find appropriate range).  Memoirs seem to fall within the same range as novels for their age group. 

***

We all know there are exceptions, but I wouldn't count on being one.  I recommend staying within (or close to) the recommended word count for your age category/genre unless you've received a lot of feedback verifying it needs every word (or doesn't need more if you're low).  There are a lot of agents that will reject on atypical word count alone.

From my own experience as an intern, I tend to be more critical of YA manuscripts exceeding 80-90k and have to be blown away to want to read a full that length or longer.  While some need the length (and those tend to stand out) most simply need more revision and tightening.

Sources/Further Info:

Manuscript Length at Kidlit.com

How Long Does a Book Have to Be at Writing for Children and Teens.

Word Count For Novels and Children's Books at the Guide to Literary Agents Blog.

From Picture Books to YA - Information to Get You Started at QueryTracket.net.

Counting Chickens - A Few Words About Word Counts at Hope Vestergaard's site.

On Word Counts and Novel Length at The Swivet.

Word Counts at Stacy Whitman's Grimoire.

Hi/Lo Books: Writing for Reluctant Readers at Writing World (stated count of 400-1200 words).

Hi-Lo Books for Upper Elementary Grades at ALA (example titles ranging from 10-90k words).

Writing for Children - Age Categories Determine the Guidelines for Your Children’s Book at Suite 101.

For non-fiction MG/YA I looked at 2009 nonfiction mg/ya nominations for YALSA and the Cybils.

Tip!  Use Renaissance Learning to research word counts on existing titles.  I recommend looking at a large variety to avoid exceptions.

Love Interest a Must in YA?

I recently read a YA fantasy manuscript that had a great premise and great writing but no love interest.  Not even a possible love interest.  I went through more than half the novel expecting one to pop up before resigning myself to the fact that it wasn't going to happen.  By the end, I was pretty disappointed.  And rather than thinking about the awesome world building or lovely prose, I was mentally working in a love interest, wondering if the writer knew how much stronger, more marketable, and compelling the story would be with one. 

That got me thinking.  Does a YA novel need to have a love interest, even just an inkling of one, to really shine?

With issue-oriented novels, it's not so black and white.  But with fantasy and standard contemporary, I think yes.

In the least, with any YA novel, I feel the main character needs to have an awareness of this dynamic.  I don't know about you, but when I was a teen I was always conscious of attraction and chemistry even if I wasn't inclined to date anyone, was too caught up in other life stuff, or was just plain avoiding such things.  The adolescent years are when we really start exploring love and sexuality (often to the point of preoccupation), and I think you're only hurting yourself if you completely avoid it in your YA novel. 

What do you think?  Can you think of any YA novels that are successful without a love interest or hint of one?

So Tell Me: Do You Write Slower Now?

Tuesday Tip:  Join Inkwell, a new community for writers, if you haven't already!

I've been thinking about something lately.

The more I write and the more I learn about writing, the less I produce and the less confident I am. 

Here's what I mean:

When I wrote my first novel, I wrote 152k in five months.  I clocked in 50k for my second in two months.  My third was 55k in three months.  I finished that last draft almost a year ago.  Since then, I've tried rewriting it about ten times with no success, and I feel like I've been peeling the words off my brain one at a time.  So I started something new hoping the words would flow like they used to.  Nope.  I'm lucky to write a few thousand (or hundred) words in one month now.  No matter what I work on, I spend a whole lotta time on very little.

So what happened? 

Has my internal editor become so strong it paralyzes me?  Have I lost all confidence in myself?  Have I spread myself too thin with everything I have going on?  Have I spent too long trying to rewrite novel three?  Is it that I'm so determined to fix that novel I can't move on?  Am I no longer writing for me?

Not sure.  But I feel like the more I learn about writing, the slower it goes and the less confident I am.  I can't seem to let go and just spew words anymore. 

Seems like it should be the other way around, doesn't it?

So Tell Me:  As you've learned to write, do you find you write slower than you used to?  Are you more or less confident in your ability?

Elizabeth Gilbert - Nurturing Creativity

Because it's too awesome not to share further, I nabbed this video from YA author Stephanie Perkins (Natural/Artificial) who got it from Stella. Thanks girls!



If you're reading from a reader, click through.

Omit Needless Words & Tighten Your Writing: Part I

 

You hear it all the time, "omit needless words," "tighten your writing," and maybe you're thinking, huh?  What words?  How?  What don't I see?  How do I learn?  I'm going to try and point out some things to look for, but I don't think the knowledge won't will really soak in unless you're willing to you'll treat it as an exercise and get into it.  So grab a few pages of your manuscript (double or triple spaced) and a red pen and get ready to wage war on extraneousness.  This will be is a series, so keep your pages and mark them up as we go.

Disclaimer:  I am no expert at this. I'm just trying to share what I've learned and may make errors or omit important info in doing so.  Please add to the lessons in the comments!

ADVERBS AND ADJECTIVES:

The Adverb: 

An adverb modifies a verb, adjective, or another adverb.  They often end in -ly, but don't always, and tend to qualify, intensify, or downtone what you're saying.  They also ask a question such as, How? When? Where? How much? or Why? 

The cat jumped quickly leapt onto the couch. 

The boy walked slowly and carefully tiptoed out of his room.

John ran quickly from fled the scene.

"Get rid of those words!" she said loudly and hastily shouted.

I really want you to understand this.

It's very quiet here.

This is really, quite fun.

Sometimes you need adverbs to convey something more than your base words do alone, but if they're not adding to the sentence, cut!  Check them all, especially your -ly words.  Remember: Weak verbs depend on adverbs.  If you feel you need an adverb, examine your verb before moving on.

Here are some adverbs to look for:  very, not, too, really, basically, in a sense, rather, quite, extremely, totally, essentially, somewhat, almost, a bit, a little bit, nearly, severely, sort of, kind of, etc.

The Adjective: 

An adjective describes a noun or pronoun and tends to answer a question such as What kind? How many?  How exactly? or Which?  Adjectives are interesting because sometimes you're removing one to tighten a sentence and sometimes you're adding one. 

An adjective needs to go if your noun or sentence implies the description your adjective offers (is redundant).  Make sure your adjective is telling us something your noun absolutely cannot.

Examples:

The icy icicle hung from the ledge.

The fragile glass shattered.

The hot summer sun seemed stagnant that summer day.

It was a horrible, horrible crime to shoot that woman.

The small baby didn't like the harsh cackle of the evil witch. 

The loving mother hugged her child and said, "My heart is yours."

He was a furious, violent, and rabid man. (In this case I'm getting rid of two adjectives and keeping one that implies the other two).

An adjective should be added if it can replace a clause or phrase and still convey what you want to convey.

Examples:

The woman was very intelligent and knew all about knowledgeable in physics. 

With little thought or care Irresponsibly, the couple left the dog on the side of the road.

He was deserving of deserved the award.

The haze of the atmosphere atmospheric haze was thick.  (Watch out for "of the.")

A large number of Many students love her. 

It was within the realm of possibility that possible she had magic. 

And so on and so forth. 

***

Here is an example of a sentence that could be edited of adverbs and adjectives:

A harsh, wicked wind swept quickly through the empty streets that cold, stormy night and made a loud, mournful sound outside my thin window.

Becomes:

Wind swept through the streets that night and howled outside my window. 

Or:

That night, wind swept through the streets and howled outside my window.

Not the greatest example, but do you see how much faster it reads?  How many less words it uses?  "Harsh, "wicked," and "quickly" are implied by the action of the wind sweeping through the streets.  "Empty" is almost a given and doesn't seem to be relevant.  "Cold" and "stormy" are implied.  "Loud, mournful sound" needed to be replaced with a strong verb.  "Thin" is redundant.

The one adjective I might keep is "wicked."

That night, a wicked wind swept through the streets and howled outside my window. 

The key is not to cut and tighten everything that could be tightened, but to examine whether keeping, discarding, or adding an adverb or adjective best conveys your intent for the sentence in as few words as possible. 

In the comments, please add examples, knowledge, and your own findings in regard to adverbs and adjectives!!  Part II is now available. 

Thoughts on 2009 & 2010

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking abut 2009 and 2010. What happened? What have I learned? What do I want out of this next year?

The answers have been somewhat surprising.

This time last year I was eight months pregnant and anxiously (miserably) awaiting the arrival of my second baby, Dresden, wondering how it was going to affect my life, my family, and my writing.

My goals for 2009 were centered on the desire to get something ready for submission, to overcome weaknesses, improve my blog, and generally just survive as a mother of two.

I feel like I failed in my writing goals, for the most part. I didn’t write anything I was comfortable querying, nothing I loved enough to polish, and rewrote the first half of one novel so many times it would make you puke.

But some wonderful things did occur this past year. I started Agent Spotlight and my blog sort of blew up. I joined SCBWI, Publisher’s Marketplace, spoke with agents who loved what I was doing, had people interview me (1, 2, 3), and became thoroughly ensconced in the writing and kidlit community. Not to mention had that baby (late!), got married, became a reader for a lit agent, and yes! survived as a mother of two, and managed all that I wanted to manage and more.

Despite not achieving my main writing goals for the year, there’s a lot to celebrate there, so I’m dubbing 2009 “The Year of the Blog.” Lit Rambles has been a vehicle for much love and success, and 2009 has been absolutely amazing if I stop and try to count all of its blessings.

And all of you are among those blessings! That’s a lot!

For this next year, one would probably expect me to keep on trucking towards the goals I didn’t achieve in 2009, and in some ways I will, but there is something that is going to set the pace of 2010, and there are some things I’ve realized that will really affect my goals.

Things, things, things.

This year I find myself anxiously awaiting something come January again. Not a baby, thank goodness, but school.

Yes. I’m going back to school, continuing my education. And I find myself pondering the same questions. How is school going to affect everything? Can I manage? What will suffer?

Family, House, Work, School, Interning, Writing, Blogging, Spotlights, Reading, Critiquing, Networking, Socializing, and so on and so forth, and all those other things that happen in a natural year.

That’s what I’m looking at having to manage in 2010.

I have a feeling something is going to fall to the wayside or have to go away completely, if not more than one thing, and it’s not going to be my family or house, of course! But what? I can’t imagine letting any of that go.

So I’m not going to just yet. I’m going to remain optimistic and see how I handle it all, but there are some things that do need to change slightly. Namely, my attitude, my main goals, and one of my blog features.

See, in all this thinking I’ve been doing, I realized something big. I went about my writing goals all wrong in 2009. I was focused on word counts and finishing and submitting and succeeding. It was all hurry, hurry, more, more, now, now and I lost sight of the goals that really matter to me.

I honestly don’t want to publish just to publish. If I’m going to do this, I want to publish novels that I love absolutely and can get behind 100%, novels that mean something to people, that matter. If I can’t do that, consider me out of the running. I don’t think I could handle the pressures of being a published author under any other circumstances. And as much as I hate to admit it, I don’t think I can write those kinds of novels yet, YET, but I AM happy to know this about myself.

Which brings us back to goals.

I have to stop focusing on word counts and getting to the finish line and get back to focusing on craft and quality. I have to stop all this hurry, hurry, more, more, now, now and go back to being satisfied with the slow, steady climb to my cloud of dreams.

So, my friends, I won’t be focusing on word counts this year, I won’t be doing writing challenges, and I won’t be doing NaNoWriMo. Yes, that means I won’t be doing Wednesday’s Words either. It’s been an amazing tool this past year, and I appreciate every one of you that has participated and encouraged me, but I’ve decided it's not what I need anymore. However, if you'd like me to keep posting WW for you, I’d love to do that, and I’d love to keep encouraging everyone that has been a part of WW in the past. Just let me know in the comments. I might put it up occasionally, anyway, to keep you updated on my writing.  I just won't be keeping track like I was.

So… after all that, what are my goals for 2010?

1) Manage school with everything else.

2) Learn to prioritize better.

3) Focus on craft and quality.

4) Be a source of support and encouragement for all of you.

5) Allow this writing thing to take as long as it needs to.

Now, how about you? Have you given much thought to the past, present, and future? Have you considered that you might be focusing on the wrong things, and letting the rush, rush get to you? What did you learn in 2009? What are your plans for 2010?

Please answer one or all these questions or tell me something else entirely. After reading my (long) ramblings, I’d love to know what’s on your mind!

An Interview... with Me!

I've had the pleasure of being interviewed twice as a blogger (links in the right sidebar, if you missed them), but now I can share with you my first ever interview as a writer!

Please stop by Heather Lane's fabulous blog, Edited to Within an Inch of my Life, and check it out! I'll be popping in all day to answer questions and reply to comments, if you're compelled to leave me some.

While you're there, make sure to take the time to follow or subscribe to Heather's blog. It's blossomed into a great, inspiring place for writers to be, and Heather has a new feature where she interviews aspiring authors journeying towards publication! Isn't that amazing? I love learning about fellow aspirees, their triumphs and tribulations, and it'd be great to see this feature continue.

See you over there!

Initial Paragraphs - No Indentation?

In the comments from Sunday's post on manuscript formatting, Sharon asked:

I'm curious about the last entry under chapters...Why don't you indent the first paragraph of a new chapter?

Thanks for the question, Sharon! Gives me something to blog about.

The way I understand it, in writing, an indentation denotes the start of a new paragraph, a sort of pause, setting it apart from any preceding text. When a paragraph is preceded by a header or title, this sort of denotation isn't necessary. It's obvious where the paragraph begins.

That said, this is not a hard-and-fast rule AT ALL in creative writing. If you take a look at several books on your shelf, you'll find that some authors indent their initial paragraphs and some don't. Essentially, it comes down to a matter of style, and it's so inconsequential you needn't really worry about it. I doubt any agent or editor really cares which you do on initial submission, and if they do have a set preference, it's obviously an easy fix.

Does anyone else want to weigh in on this, or provide more concrete information?

(If you missed it, don't forget to check out today's writing tip, too!)

Writing / Research Tip Tuesday

Another Tuesday, another great tip. This one from frequent reader and commenter VR Barkowski. Make sure to stop by and visit her blog. She posted another great research tip there yesterday that you might not want to miss!

"The Seventh Sanctum website is crammed with all kinds of random generators plots, characters, names, ideas. It's also a whole lot of fun. I won't mention how much time I've wasted with the quick story idea generator. :)"

What a fun website, VR! I've certainly lost some time to it since you sent this tip in. Thanks so much! And hey, everyone, I'm getting low on tips again, so if you have one you want to send in, please do!

agentspotlight(at)gmail(dot)com

Wednesday's Word Count

Happy Wednesday! Was yesterday the first day of fall? I love fall! Here's my report for the week. The rewrite is looking like this...

Current word count: 17,517

Goal last week: 4,000

Accomplished: 3,488

Words 'til finish: 37,483/750 words a day until Nov 13th.

Goal this week: 5,000

Excuses / comments: As you can see above, I've adjusted my goals some. I asked Heather to give me a deadline and make me accountable, and this is what she came up with. Though, I'm really supposed to hit 1k a day since this takes wedding plans into account. I think it's perfect, and we've both agreed that I'll sit out of NaNo this year to make it work. If I've fallen behind by the time Nov 1st hits, I'll definitely use NaNo to spur me on, but I won't be doing a new project. Sort of a bummer in some ways, but it's a definite relief in others. It feels good to have a manageable goal again.

Now, how are your goals coming along? What have you got going on for the week? Any new or exciting fall plans?

Wednesday's Word Count

Things have been pretty busy this week, and they're about to get crazier for the next two to three. What does that mean? If I start slacking off on the blog, and in my word count, don't be too hard me. ; )

Current word count: 14,029

Goal last week: 6,636

Accomplished: 3,331

Words 'til finish: 45,971/1021 words a day until October 31st.

Goal this week: 4,000

Excuses / comments: I only did about half of what I needed to in order to stay on track, but I'm still making progress so it's all good. I'd have to do over 7k a week to stay on track from here, and I just don't see that happening, but I'll push on and try to get to at least 4k this next week. Things are hitting the proverbial fan for my MC in my WIP right now, so I'm hoping that will drive a lot of words out of me in the next few days.

Hm, what else? I can't beleive we're already halfway through September! How are your goals coming along? Any news you'd like to share? I know a few of you about to start subbing - good luck!

P.S. If you missed my interview on Beth's blog on Monday, check it out (hope I don't read like a dweeb)! Beth's been so nice to feature me as her Blog of the Month. Thanks again, Beth!

Wednesday's Word Count

Samantha over at Day By Day Writer does a neat little word count update where she posts her current word count, new words written, and the words she needs until her goal, including a fluctuating daily-required count. I love the idea of keeping track that way, so I've decided to steal her idea and do my own while keeping my weekly goals as well.

Current word count: 10,698

Goal last week: 5,000

Accomplished: 3,625

Words 'til finish: 49,302/948 words a day until the end of October.

Goal this week: 6,636

Excuses / comments: Things were busy this last week with my daughter's birthday and all the wedding planing going on. I didn't do as much as hoped, but I'm definitely making progress. If I want to make my goal of being done with a new draft by NaNo, I have to maintain 948 words a day right now, coming in at a total of 6,636 for this next week. I'm not sure I'll be able to do it with everything that's going on at the moment, but I've done 1k a day in the past (easily) so I know I'm more than capable. After all, I managed NaNo last year, and that was around 11,000 words a week, wasn't it? Right. So I'll just tell myself...I can, I can, I can.

How are your goals coming along? Anyone else waiting to hear who Tabitha's new agent is? The full story is supposed to come out tomorrow. Woot! Congrats Tabitha!

Wednesday's Word Count

Ah, September.

The month my daughter turns three. Also the month I planned to have my revisions done by. Not happening, seeing as "revisions" turned into "rewrite" and "rewrite" turned into chaos. Chaos subdued, I'm just now picking up steam on the new draft. *Whimper* The good news? Progress!

Goal: 3k

Accomplished: 5188

Goal for new week: 5k

Excuses / comments: I didn't realize I wrote as much as I did until I checked my word count this morning. I think I may have broken through whatever was holding me back. Time will tell. I plan on giving myself as much time as the project needs, but... you know me and goals. They push me forward. So, I'm aiming to have the rewrite done in time for NaNo. Probably not going to happen (two months?!), but you never know. I will manage a good chunk, at least.

How are your goals coming along? What does September mean for you? Anything?

Wednesday's Word Count

And here we sit. At the last Wednesday of another month.

Prior Goal: 2k

Accomplished: 2138

Goal for new week: 3k

Excuses / comments: I managed my 2k, and did quite a bit of thinking about my rewrite and new idea. I've finally let go of my fervent desire to have something polished by the end of the year. It's not doing anything for me, this rushed feeling, so I'm going to go with the flow for the rest of the year, and then regroup with some great goals for 2010. As Angela was kind enough to point out to me, I've done great things with my blog this year, even if I haven't accomplished all that I wanted to with my writing.

Things are going to be busy in the next few weeks. I have my daughter's birthday coming up in about a week, and all the planning involved in trying to throw this little wedding together in a short amount of time. But, even if it has to take a backseat, I don't want my writing goals to slip off the schedule completely, so I'm going to try for 3k this week. Really, that's only about three hours of writing time, at the most, if I can hit a stride and turn off Ms. Internal Editor. I just need to make the time to sit down and write an hour here and there.

Did you make your goals from last week (there were some great ones!)? What are your goals this week? Anyone planning on doing NaNoWriMo this year? It's going to come up on us pretty fast.

Wednesday's Word Count

Wow! I loved all of the commiseration and fabulous responses in yesterday's post. It was fascinating to see who has annual trouble months and/or what affects your creativity. And of course, reading that so many of you go through writing funks is heartening all on its own.

Prior Goal: 5k (hey, I was optimistic).

Accomplished: Namuch.

Goal for new week: 2k.

Excuses / comments: Collectively, the popular suggestion yesterday was to start something new. I can dig it. Maybe that's what I need to get the creative juices flowing again, and then I can plink away at the rewrite as well. I know several of you have suggested having two projects going on at the same time, so I suppose it's time I see if that will work for me as well.

I'm going to write that 2k (at least) by next Wednesday. That's my promise to you and me. Who else wants to set a goal and be accountable for it? Leave em' in the comments!

That Time of Year Again...Maybe?

As some of you know, I'm having a hard time getting back into the groove of writing. The issues I've been having with my MS have really knocked me down, and the getting back up has been surprisingly difficult. Even now, after sorting it all out in a way I'm happy with, I'm struggling to get motivated.

Thinking on this, I recalled a few weeks last year where I had a really hard time with my writing. I was so unmotivated and frustrated that I was pretty much ready to give up. Turns out, that happened in late July, early August.

Hm.

It has me wondering if there's just something about this time of year for me. Luckily, it only lasted a few weeks last time and I was pounding out words again. Let's hope that's the case this time as well. I'm miserable!

How often do you get into a writing funk? Is there a time of year that seems to affect your writing? How do you deal? Do you push through or wait until motivation and inspiration strike again?