Pen Duels

In August of last year a group of friends and I established a critique group.  (We named it A Bitch of Writers) It's one of the greatest things that I've ever done.  We meet on a bi-weekly basis (our submissions are due one monday, we meet the next) and we each critique two other people's work.

In under a year critique group has managed to help me start putting description into my first drafts (my first book ever had absolutely no description.  I didn't even remember what my characters looked like.  I was getting better before joining the group, but now I'm leagues ahead of where I was this time last year.)  It's helped me to recognize when my plot starts to go awry, and I've found myself paying more attention to my wording choice as I'm writing.

Just recently, though, our critique group decided to add a new element to what we do.  For a while we worried about become a writing group, which wasn't our intention at all.  We're already part of a writing group, and while we love writing together, we didn't need to spend time writing in each other's company.  We got together for the purpose of improving our writing.

So, we came up with an alternative.  It's called Pen Duels.  (Yes, we do have to name everything we do.  We're writers, what do you expect?)  Basically, every month and a half to two months we get together and share a story that we've written using a writing prompt.

These prompts, which I send out the Monday after each Pen Duel meet up, whether we have a date for the next one or not, are just little things that each of us has to find a way to work around.  For example, the last Pen Duels featured stories about two existing characters from different books meet up.  We had all kinds of things!  One actually took place inside a video game!

Of course, it was a bit of a coincidence that we all ended up using the same writing prompt.  I send out two (I don't want anyone to feel forced to write something they absolutely hate, so I try to make it a choice.  Whichever one speaks to them is the one they work on.  It seems to have gone over well so far.)

So far I've found it kind of awesome to see how each person interprets the prompt in their own way.  Which is honestly my favourite thing about writing.  How two people can have identical ideas, but have the story end up completely different.

Anyway, we've set it up so, rather than sending in a submission and having everyone go over it and prepare critiques, we instead read it out loud and have a bit of a discussion afterward.  This, of course, took some developing.  Our first one we kind of sat around after the story was over, nodded and said it was good.  Since then we've decided to stick to our critiquing format (we critique seven areas: Plot, Characters, Voice & POV, Dialogue, Description, Scene Structure and Overall), while still holding it as a discussion.

Doing it this way means that we're not only putting our writing skills to work, but we're also keeping it all about critiquing, so there's no fear that we turn into a writing group.

A Bitch of Writers and Pen Duels have improved my writing ten fold.  While they also take up quite a bit of time, I would never regret joining them (or helping to set them up.)  I can't wait to see how my Camp Nano book turns out after months of critique group.

If there's one thing I would recommend to any writer to improve your writing, while studying the craft can help, I would say join a critique group.  There is nothing as valuable as getting direct feedback from other writers.  If you can't find one, take that leap and set it up!  If you make one, others will join.  I can only hope that yours is as successful as ours is.

How To Kill Your Characters

As a reader, I have a couple pet peeves when it comes to the books and series that I read.  One of those is when an author cops out.  When they set up huge battle scenes, but somehow every single character manages to survive.  This may seem like a good thing, because my favourite characters get to live!  Shouldn't I be happy?  The thing is, I would prefer being connected to the story more.  To get upset over the lose of a character.  I may be mad, but I will keep coming back to see what the author is going to do next.  I hate it when the author is unwilling to lose a character.  I understand the feeling, but sometimes the story just isn't as good if they don't make the hard decision.

On the flip side are the authors who kill off all of their characters.  Maybe they're overcompensating for keeping a small group of main characters alive, but whatever the reason their characters are slaughtered left and right.  Characters that I've fallen in love with and never wanted to see die.  I know, I know.  This sounds like a complete contradiction to what I was saying before.  The problem comes when all of my favourites are killed off.  It's no longer a question of wondering who's going to die, or thinking that it could be anyone, because at the end of the day nearly every character is being buried.

So, as a writer, how do I use these pet peeves to make my writing better?

I don't want to be the writer that my readers hate.  I don't want to kill of all of their favourite characters (but I really don't mind one or two).  I want my readers to get mad and throw my book across the room, only to go pick it up a couple of minutes later because they have to know what's going to happen.

Now, of course, I've managed to develop a bit of a complex.  I'm terrified to kill off a character, because what if it's the wrong character?  What if I lose my readers because that was the one character that kept them reading the books?  What if I don't kill any characters, and my readers get bored or annoyed because they're going through all of these dangerous situations and nobody ever dies?  How do I find that happy medium where the readers get mad, but don't boycott the books?

I've come to realize that this is an issue that most writers probably struggle with.  Who do you kill off, and who gets the happy ever after ending?

In the series I've been working on I have a character that has had a lot of ups and downs.  Originally I thought he was going to be one of my favourites, but have realized that he's not as great as I thought.  Often I find myself calling him a jackass, and basically wanting to punch him.  Near the end of the book he starts to redeem himself, and in the next one I know he'll probably get back up there as one of my favourites.  So, of course, he's going to be dying.

I'm terrified about this decision.  I know he needs to die, because I need that catalyst to bind the group together while still breaking them apart.  (I realize that doesn't make sense, but I can't explain it without ruining the book, which I refuse to do!)  I need to it happen, but I'm scared that he'll redeem himself too much.  that my readers will start to imagine his life, will start to hope for him to be with one of the other couples.  That killing him off will do more than just make them cry.  (Though, if they do cry, I think I would be elated.  Not cause they're crying, of course, but because I did my job as an author.)

While this fear makes me occasionally think that I'm not going to do it.  That I'm going to let him live, I know that I can't do that.  I have to stick to my guns.  The character needs to die, and I can't allow myself to back down from the challenge.

I've decided to give myself a goal, in order to help myself overcome the fear that I've managed to develop.  My goal is to kill off enough characters that my readers never know who could die next.  This is almost strategic in that main characters have to die.  Characters that they thought I would never kill off will have to be killed.  I still have to make sure, though, that I'm not killing so many characters that my readers become jaded.  That they start to think that everyone is going to die and just put the book down because what's the point.

It's going to be a challenge, but I'm up for it.  I'll have to say a few tearful goodbyes, but in the end, the story will be the better for it, and isn't that really what writing is all about?

And They're Off!

On Tuesday I finished my editing.

That sounds like such an awesome statement, doesn't it?  Just uttering those words gives me a satisfaction that there are literally no words to describe.  Let me say it again.  I finished my editing.

Now that I've heaved that huge sigh of relief, it's time to face reality.

As of Tuesday I was officially done my third draft.  That doesn't mean that the book is perfect, of course.  Far from it.  In fact, I noticed a few things after finishing that will need to be fixed.  It bugged me for about a minute and a half before I remembered that this is far from the last draft of this novel that I will be writing.  I know that, once I get feedback from the beta readers, I'm planning on doing at least one more draft before even considering sending it out to agents.  And that might even end up turning into two, depending on the feedback I get.

Normally this thought might depress me.  I mean, I just finished editing, and already I'm thinking about what else I'm going to have to fix.  This time, though, that depression isn't showing up.  And I think I know why.

I've always struggled getting through this draft.  (In fact, I've never managed to get through a book in the editing stages the first time.  I always find way too much wrong with it, so I end up shelving it and never coming back.) While some writers struggle getting that first draft out, I don't seem to have that problem.  It's reading it over and seeing all the mistakes I've made that I start to feel like I'm in over my head.

Finally I've manged to get all the way through my editing.  I've even sent it to Beta Readers!  Even though I know it's not perfect, and certainly not ready to be sent out to agents, I know that I put a lot of effort into making that novel as good as it could be before I needed another set of eyes to pick out the weaknesses.  (Yes, I do still have some minor line edits that also need to be worked on, but I'll fix those as much as I can as I go through it next time.  Despite the nickname, I'm only human.  Therefore I do make mistakes.)

I'm excited, though.  Beta readers means that I'm one step closer to the goal of being published.  It means that I felt confident enough in my work to give it to friends and cross my fingers that I won't get it back with four notes telling me that maybe this isn't the book that will get published.

Now, more than ever, I'm confident that I'm going to become a published author.  This dream will come true.  I just have to persevere!  And put in the work.  One day I will see The Commons on the shelves at Chapters, and I can't wait.

Sad Scenes

I've been in hard core editing mode for the last couple days.  I've had to be.  My project, The Commons, is due out to beta readers by the fifteenth, and I'm not nearly done with it.  Unfortunately I've hit a little bit of a glitch.

Usually these glitches occur when I'm finding myself having to rewrite a scene.  I hate having to redo work that I've already done.  It doesn't matter that I know the scene will be so much better when I'm done the rewrite, it just kills me to throw out those words and start over fresh.

This time, though, it had absolutely nothing to do with the editing or rewriting.  It has to do with the scene itself.

This particular scene isn't one I enjoyed writing in the first place.  In previous projects I've had torture scenes that I've thoroughly enjoyed writing, but this one, well, nothing could be further from the truth.  I knew it was coming the entire book, of course.  I had it written into the very plot.  A character was supposed to die.

Here's the thing about books.  They never quite turn out the way you thought they would.  In fact, there's always some element that changes between the plot and the actual first draft.  In this project, that change was the character that had to die.

Originally that girl was a nobody.  Somebody that popped up for the simple sake of killing her off.  I wasn't supposed to get attached.  My characters weren't really supposed to get attached.  They should know her, but they shouldn't care about her.  Unfortunately that didn't happen.

Okay, I say unfortunately, but I don't really mean that.  The change was a good thing.  If my characters hadn't gotten attached, the death wouldn't have meant as much.  It wouldn't have had the impact that I know it's going to have on my readers, once it makes it that far.  I love how it turned out, and I wouldn't change it for anything.

The problem is, that's the same effect it has on me.  I loved her.  She was this quiet little girl who hung around in a library, but she had backbone.  Courage that nobody really knew she had until that last moment.  I loved her because she was afraid, and she still tried to do what she thought was best.  At least for her.  I loved her.

Editing that scene was so much harder than I thought it would be.  I found myself not wanting to read it.  It's a gruesome death.  Reading it made me cringe, which was exactly how I want my readers to react.  If they don't already hate the people who do that to her, I want them to as of that moment.

It just wasn't supposed to happen to me.  I wasn't supposed to be that effected by it.

I know I'm not the only one whose ever been through this.  I've heard other writers having the same problem as me.  We all want our writing to effect other people, but don't think about how we'll feel as we're writing or editing it.

It's one of the challenges we face as writers.  We have to get past those scenes.  At least enough to get it written well.  To make other people feel what we want them to feel.  But we need to distance ourselves, at least a little, from the books that we're writing so that we can do what needs to be done, to get that book to where it needs to be.

Beware The Writer

Being a writer has some perks, but in the long run, most people would look at being a writer as not such a great thing.  After all, we talk to voices in our heads.  We're often kept up at night because ideas are occurring to us. We often find ourselves procrastinating until the last possible moment, so plans are cancelled while we're frantically writing/editing/ripping our manuscripts to shreds.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying being a writer is a bad thing, in fact, I love it, but a lot of people just don't see the perks.

First of all, we can claim creative license.  What does that mean?  It means that, should we get upset or annoyed over a situation or with a person, there is always the possibility that the annoyance will be worked out with writing.  (This could include things like characters being created who look or act remarkably like the person whose annoying us and killed off.  Or situations that we were recently in being put in a book and the outcome being completely different.)  It's a great way to work off the stress or annoyance without taking it out on other people.  Personally, I think this is a great advantage to being a writer.  If I start to stress, I write about it.  That way it's not all building up inside.

Then there's the fact that we can get completely lost in these worlds that we've created.  Have a two hour trip to the hair dresser planned?  No problem!  Writers can spend that time thinking about a scene they've been having issues with.  Of course, I for one, tend to like to write down what I'm trying to think about, but if I need to I can work with just imagining it.  I've worked through more than one issue in my scenes during a time when I couldn't pull out anything to work on it.  Sometimes it even helps to get to sleep, cause you can tell yourself stories.  Don't even get me started on what you can make up for your kids once you have them.

The excuse 'I had an idea and had to write it down' can get you out of all sorts of conversations that you're not enjoying.  Now, I've yet to use this one myself, but I have actually had to go write down an idea before, so I'm sure that when it does happen, I'll be able to pull it off.  Getting bored during a conversation?  Act all excited and tell them an idea just occurred to you and disappear.  They might think you're a little strange, but they'll forgive you.  After all, you're a writer!  You're creating a novel!  It must have been a really important idea.

Have you ever been out and about and noticed signs hanging on businesses doors?  Have you ever noticed when the grammar/spelling/anything is wrong with it?  Writers do.  It's like our eye is immediately drawn to the mistake.  Now, this can be annoying for us, because it bugs us that they got it wrong and still put it up.  (Then again, some of us don't edit our blog posts...)  On the other hand, writers can feel superior when they read those signs because they would never make such an obvious mistake!  More than one good eye roll has occurred thanks to this little superpower.

Finally (and this is my favourite) is creativity.  Not to be confused with creative license.  Creativity is something we can use in everyday life.  On all sorts of things.  Decorating a room.  Setting a fancy table.  Coming up with solutions to problems.  All of these things take creativity and vision that writers have.  That they need in order to write their books.  Of course, this can also be used when plotting the murders of the people that annoy you when writing about it doesn't work.  It's the writers who come up with the truly creative deaths.

Remember all of these things the next time you're talking to a writer.  If they suddenly disappear, it could be that your conversation isn't quite what you thought it was.  If they seem distracted, they could be thinking about their latest project.  And, if they're starting to get annoyed, they could be thinking about putting you in a scene (or, just planning your death).  You never quite know what's going on in the mind of the writer.

So Little Time

My goal, as can be seen by looking at my progress before section, is to have The Commons to a completed second draft so that I can send out to my beta readers by the fifteenth.  That's a whole nine days away, and guess how far I am from finishing it?

If you guessed not anywhere near close, you were right!  I'm stuck around chapter 22 (in which I have to rewrite the first scene) of 35.  In the last two days I've barely gotten anything done.  It's a sad fact for me to admit, as I was actually planning on doing at least two chapters a day.  Of course, I was hoping to be done a bit early so I could take one more look over it and see if I missed anything, but that's definitely not going to happen now.

Nine days and thirteen chapters.  Which means I no longer have time to procrastinate.  I can't let myself get distracted by all the shows I want to watch.  I don't have the time to waste, anymore.  If I do get distracted, I'll end up missing my deadline.  And that's not something I'm willing to let happen.  If I don't get my manuscript out to my betas on time, then they wont get it back to me on time.  If I don't get it back in time, then I can't use the feedback to go through it one last time and start sending out queries.

It's the domino effect, writer style.

Now, I suppose you're asking: 'What does it matter if you get your queries out on time?'.  That's a very good question to ask.  The answer is, I was really hoping to do both Camp Nano sessions being held this year.  I also need to plan out the novels I'll be writing during nanowrimo.  If my editing isn't done, and if the queries aren't sent out, then I have to sacrifice one of those things.

In June I'll be taking part in the first session of Camp Nano, where I'll be writing Pandora, I book that I was supposed to write about a month ago.  Procrastination got the better of me then too, and I only managed 25,000 words in the time I should have been able to write 100,000 words.  I've been trying to figure out a way to get motivated when it's no nano...but that's another post.


The point of the matter is, I've already put off writing this novel once.  I can't do that to the characters again.  They've been awfully patient while I've been editing.  Mostly because I promised them that I would be finishing their story in June.  I'm afraid of what would happen if I tried to put it off again.  There might be a riot.

In August, I'm hoping to write The Techs which is the second book in The Commons series.  I've just barely begun to plan it, but I already have a bit of the story line going on, so I'm getting excited.  Of course, I don't want to write the novel until I'm completely done editing the first one.  I'm a little too wary of the changes that I could make which would mean far more work in editing the second one.  I've done that once, and I'll never do it again.

In August I'll need to write about 100,000 words.  I'll have even less time to work on the novel which should, by then, be completed. 

After that comes the planning for the three novels I'm going to be writing during nanowrimo.  Yes, three.  I'm a little crazy like that.  I'll only have two months instead of the planned three.

All of this means that I only have so much time to get my editing done.  I only have so much time to get my queries out.  And I don't have time to be acting like I have all the time in the world.

Nine days to finish thirteen chapters.  It's going to be tight, but I think I can do it.  What's my motivation?  In November I'll be taking a trip down to San Francisco to go the The Night Of Writing Dangerously.  And when I'm down there introducing myself to people, I don't want to tell them that I'm still working on the novel that I'm going to be sending out real soon.  I want to tell them that I have queries out and waiting for responses.  Or maybe, just maybe, that I found an agent

The Necessities of Writing

A couple of weeks ago I made a post about what I use as a writer to help me do what I need to do.  Music and movies, maybe a quiet place where I can concentrate, those were the kinds of things that every writer has that not everyone understands (including other writers).  Today, though, I'm going to talk about something that every writer needs in order for their craft to work.  A computer.

I know, you're thinking that some people write by hand.  You would be right.  There are some out there that do write out their manuscripts by hand.  I personally think they're crazy (though many people think that I'm crazy writing 300k words in a month, so I guess it's more in the eye of the beholder.)  The fact of the matter, though, is that we're no longer living in a day when books are hand written and bound.  Whether writers like to write out their first draft by hand or not, that manuscript does eventually need to make it's way into the computer.

So what happens when your computer breaks down?

Last night I got home from a night out with friends, determined to either do more editing or writing a blog post.  (Yeah, yeah, okay.  I was actually going to procrastinate.  Don't hold it against me.)  Anyway, I turned on the computer, checked out facebook...and my computer crashed.  I tried to wait it out, but nothing was working, and I eventually had to shut the computer down.  When it restarted, windows refused to load.  This continued on for an hour!  One hour of turning off and on my computer trying to make it actually work.  An hour when I could have been editing (or possibly procrastinating.)

I'm sure you can all imagine that I was rather pissed.  A few angry texts were sent out and I swore to my computer that all the money I had set aside was going into buying a new laptop, cause I have had it!

Truthfully, I will probably end up buying a new computer.  I was already planning on buying one next month, however an hour long computer crash isn't something that I can afford on a regular basis.  I spend a lot of time on my computer, and it's not always about facebook or twitter.  Most of the time I'm writing or editing, or even planning.  I do most of that on the computer, and if the one I'm using is going to be unreliable, then I have to shell out the money to replace it. 

I've never been truly serious about anything like I have been with writing.  I think most of my family is surprised that I've actually kept up with it.  I've told them so many ideas for what I was going to do with my life, but it's never lasted even a year.  I always change my mind, or decide that it was a stupid idea in the first place.  Now that I am, though, I can't just neglect the things I need in order to be successful in the writing industry.

So this weekend I will be going out and seeing what laptops are available.  I'll be bringing the tech savvy boyfriend with me so that I'm not buying something that's going to crap out on me as quickly as this one did.  Who knows, I may be the proud owner of a shiny new laptop the next time I'm posting on this blog.  while that would make me happy, it would probably make my bank account not so happy.

But my bank account can complain all it wants to, it's going to fall on deaf ears.  I need reliable tools in order to accomplish my goal.  I can only hope that I find a computer that is in my price range but is still better than this one!