Category: Writing

Posts in which we talk about the writing craft and process

Right or left?

Updated on January 10, 2013 by Janet Mullany

No, I’m not talking about the election–GO OBAMA!–really, I think we should all go back to normal (huge sighs of relief and gratitude)–and so I thought I’d share with you this fascinating blog post by Trish Jackson about right-handed or left-handed characteristics.

Now I come out consistently right-handed. In popular writing terms right-handed people are pantsers, left-handed people are plotters. Some people are a mix but apparently I’m not, which surprised me because in some things I am very structured. But it may explain why to spend my time productively I must make lists otherwise I am all over the place.

I’ve bemoaned frequently the fact that I have trouble with plotting, typical of a right-handed person. At the moment I am struggling with a synopsis–this is the book where the hero sits on a cat (which is unharmed. Heck, I can’t afford to lose readers) and playing around with the “marriage in name only” trope which I’ve ranted about before.

I’m one chapter into the book and already the hero has changed professions, the heroine’s name has changed three times, and she’s lost her title and changed her marital status. Since the hero has changed professions I cannot use the title (of the book) I intended but the new one opens up all sorts of ripe possibilities. I don’t have a handle on the heroine yet, as you probably guessed, but the hero is adorable (despite sitting on the cat). His parents are both still alive and they live with him. He’s a man who’s pulled himself up by his bootstraps etc and he’s buying his way into gentility. I even had the bright idea of making him a Quaker, but he’s really not the sort of guy who’d spend time sitting quietly.

So first I want to know if you took the test and if you’re right- or left-handed and whether the results surprised you. I guess the question is can you make yourself more one than the other. How? Any ideas?

Posted in Writing | Tagged pantsers, plotters | 7 Replies

Happy NaNoWriMo!

Updated on January 10, 2013 by Elena Greene

For anyone who’s not familiar, NaNoWriMo, often abbreviated to NaNo, stands for National Novel Writing Month. According to the organization’s website, “National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing on November 1. The goal is to write a 50,000-word (approximately 175-page) novel by 11:59:59 PM on November 30.”

The last time I participated was in 2007 but I didn’t make it to 50,000. The last time I “won” was in 2006. Each time I’ve participated, I’ve had a blast and gotten a lot done. There’s something about watching the progress graph climb that helps to motivate me.

I’ve heard people criticize NaNo for a number of reasons. It is true that a lot of people don’t get anywhere close to the 50,000 word mark. Personally, I think it’s great that people who talk about wanting to write a book someday actually give it a try. If they learn that writing isn’t really their thing, that’s fine. They can go on to other endeavors. If they learn to respect the hard work that authors put into writing, that’s a good thing too.

The other complaint I’ve heard is that NaNo produces a lot of dreck. True, but I still say no problem. For writers like me, it’s a good way to start a rough draft, to get to know my characters and get a clearer idea of their journey. I wouldn’t think of inflicting my rough drafts on my critique partners, let alone the reading public. A lot of rewriting and editing happen before I put anything out there.

Will some participants go ahead and self-publish their not-ready or even may-never-be-ready drafts? Probably. No big deal. It seems to me that the search algorithms at online bookstores won’t put those titles near the top of the list and bury more carefully written and edited books.

Anyway, I wish everyone a successful and fun NaNo. I’m not participating this year because I’m on the 4th draft of the balloonist story and need to focus on that. However, I’m setting myself the personal challenge of having this draft ready for critique by the end of the month. If others can write 50,000 words of rough draft in this time, maybe I can manage 15-20,000 of somewhat more polished work. Here’s my Storytoolz progress bar. Wish me luck!

What challenges have you set yourself recently?

Elena
www.elenagreene.com
www.facebook.com/ElenaGreene
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Posted in Writing | Tagged NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month | 1 Reply

Reflections on Two Years as an Author

Updated on January 10, 2013 by susanna

Susanna here, for my regular third Friday post.

An Infamous Marriageis my third published book, and I’ve been thinking lately about how much my life has and hasn’t changed in the two years and change since The Sergeant’s Lady came out.

On the surface, my world doesn’t look that different. I’m still not at a point where I’d feel safe in quitting my day job, so Monday through Friday, 8:00 to 5:00, I’m focused on the glamorous world of academic research administration.

My coworkers all know I write, though sometimes they seem surprised that I’m still at it. It’s as if they think that after a book or two, I would’ve gotten the writing urge out of my system.

I’m confident in saying that won’t happen. I started writing at age 8–a highly derivative tale of talking horses in a Narnia-like fantasy world–and I look forward to many more years of storytelling.

What has changed is that now I have two careers. I thought I was treating writing as a career before I sold, but it goes to a different level once you add all the business aspects of being an author. Contracts, royalties, tax records, promoting your new release while you work on edits for your next contracted book and simultaneously draft the book after that, etc. I love it, but I’d never claim it’s easy. I sometimes joke that Mr. Fraser and I form a three-career household.

Since I’m still in the middle of my blog tour, commenters on this post can enter my grand prize contest. At the end of the tour, on December 6, I’ll be giving away a $50 gift certificate to their choice of Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Powell’s Books to one commenter on the tour as a whole. You get one entry per blog tour stop you comment upon, so check out my blog for the whole schedule!

Over to you. Let me know what you think of the cover or of romances involving the Battle of Waterloo, or tell me what’s keeping you busy these days. If you wish to be entered in the drawing, include your email address formatted as yourname AT yourhost DOT com.

Posted in Writing | Tagged An Infamous Marriage, Susanna Fraser | 8 Replies

Writers’ Habits

Updated on January 9, 2013 by Elena Greene

I recently read THE IMMORTAL DINNER, by Penelope Hughes-Hallett, subtitled “A Famous Evening of Genius and Laughter in Literary London”. The book centers around a dinner party held by painter Robert Haydon whose guest list included John Keats, William Wordsworth and Charles Lamb. There’s lots of interesting background information on the participants and their contemporaries.

For example, there’s an account of Coleridge composing poetry “in walking over uneven ground, or breaking through the straggling branches of a copse-wood” while Wordsworth preferred “walking up and down a straight gravel-walk, or in some spot where the continuity of his verse met with no collateral interruption.”

Maybe it’s presumptuous, but I love it when I read about famous writers with similar habits to mine. “Thinking walks” are part of my own writing process. I’m more like Wordsworth–I like a reasonably level path, to keep my mind free to focus on my story–which is a good thing as copse-woods are scarce in my neighborhood.

Another account that made me smile was this one by Marianne Knight, one of Jane Austen’s nieces. “I also remember how Aunt Jane would sit quietly working (which meant sewing) beside the fire in the library, saying nothing for a good while, and then would suddenly burst out laughing, jump up and run across the room to a table where pens and paper were lying, write something down, and then come back across to the fire and go on quietly working as before.”

I always keep a writing pad in my purse, one by my bedside, and one on the kitchen counter for just that reason. Ideas don’t always come while I’m actively writing–perversely, some of the best ones come when I’m doing something else. Perhaps it’s because sewing and walking, both rhythmic activities, loosen up the creative process for me as they do for other artists I know.

Do you have any favorite accounts of famous writers’ processes? Are there any quirky habits you use that help you be creative, whatever your field of endeavor?

And to anyone who sees a woman striding through a neighborhood muttering to herself, remember she may not be crazy. She may just be a writer. 🙂

Elena
www.elenagreene.com

Posted in Jane Austen, Writing | Tagged Coleridge, Jane Austen, Wordsworth | 9 Replies

Drafting and polishing

Updated on January 9, 2013 by Elena Greene

About a week ago I finished the 3rd draft of my mess-in-progress. Maybe it’s my imagination, but do I hear a collective groan? Or is it just that I sometimes feel as if five years from now I’ll be announcing the completion of the 327th draft or thereabouts. Because sometimes–and particularly with this story–I wonder if I’m just repainting the Golden Gate Bridge one more time.

A happier metaphor for my writing process involves skiing. When I’ve been to ski resorts with friends, most of them like to try as many different slopes as possible. Once they’ve gotten down a slope in one piece they feel they’ve “conquered” it. Me, I like to keep at it until I get it “right”. The first few times I’m just trying to figure out the fall line, where the ice patches and moguls are, etc… Once I’ve done that, I can approach it with confidence and something I hope approaches grace.

With my writing it’s the same. Unlike other creative people who start a project–which could be a novel, a sweater or a computer program–in a spirit of fun and adventure, I’m always worrying about failure. I know, I’m a wimp! So it takes me 2-3 drafts to get a good feel for my characters and plot. Then comes my favorite part of the process: putting it all together, polishing until it feels right. And I’m finally there. 🙂

Anyway, I’m not saying that others don’t do a good job with finishing and polishing. Professionals do all the parts of the process, even those we find scary, tedious, unpleasant or whatever. It’s just that we all have our favorite parts.

So how about you? Do you enjoy starting a project of any sort? Or do you prefer the final stages, when it all comes together? How about the messy process in between? Or do you enjoy it all (in which case I’ll try not to be too envious)?

Elena
www.elenagreene.com

Posted in Writing | Tagged creative process | 15 Replies