A to Z - All About Writing: Critique Groups & IWSG

Welcome to the Blogging A to Z Challenge, where, this month, I'll be focusing on all things writing. This may be a random jumping around of topics within my theme, but hopefully something somewhere will be useful to someone. (V is for vague - see that last sentence.) Check out all the participants here and lets get on with today's letter.

C is for Critique Groups

One of the big issues I find with many new writers is that they write a story and dive into submitting it without ever having anyone else read it. By anyone else, I mean someone other than your mother or significant other. I'm talking about fellow writers who will be happy to offer advice while tearing your word baby apart. That can sound traumatic, but it sure makes for a stronger story. Remember, you are not your story. A story is a thing you made. That thing almost always (no, really: always) can greatly benefit from a few pairs of critical eyes. 

You can find critique groups in various places. If you're looking for an in person group, in which case you will likely be asked to bring a few pages to read out loud and bring copies for the group to write comments on, check your local library or sometimes local bookstores. Those places are where these types of groups usually meet. Doing a search on Facebook might also turn up groups in your area. 

If you're not fond of getting critiqued in person, I suggest an online group. Online groups are nice when you have a busy schedule, don't like dealing with people face to face, or don't live in a bigger city that might support an in person group. I've found I get very honest and great feedback online that gets glossed over a lot more in person. It's easier to be truthful when you're not face to face, calling out ugly sentences, scenes, or irrational character actions. Not only that, but the person doing the critique can take their time, save it and come back to it after thinking about what they really liked or didn't. There are many groups out there and a google search will get you to most of them. My personal favorite is Critique Circle. 

Find a group that fits you. That might be a genre group, a large group, a small group, a group that you feel comfortable with, though that might take a few meetings to establish one way or the other. Groups might meet every week or bi-monthly or once a month. Online groups usually require that you critique others before earning critiques of your own work.

A few things to remember when being critiqued: 

Don't defend your work, but asking for clarification is fine. 

Smile and say thank you, even if you totally don't agree.

The critique an opinion. It may be spot on, totally off, or somewhere in between. Don't get offended.

Use what feels right to you and discard the rest.

Give advice that pisses you off a few days to sink in before discarding it. Truth can be painful.

No one can write your story but you. Use rewrite suggestions if they fit, but keep your voice.

A big bonus of being part of a critique group is that you'll likely learn just as much if not more by critiquing the work of others than receiving critiques of your own work. It's easier to see what feels off, sounds bad, annoys you, and what makes something great in other people's work than it is when reading your own. Figuring all that out will make your writing stronger.

Are you part of a critique group?

And hey, it's the first Wednesday of the month! That means its time for an Insecure Writers Support Group post. Too bad this didn't coincide with I day, that would make things easy. We can't have that.

This month's question asks: When your writing life is a bit cloudy or filled with rain, what do you do to dig down and keep on writing?

Honesty, when I'm having a sucky time of writing, I stop writing. At least for a day or two. Not for good. I have a hard time being creative when my mind is wrapped up in negativity or the stress of a project or submission issue. So while some people might push through that and keep on going, I'm not one of them. I need a couple days of distance from whatever has me down to process or come to terms with it before I can dive back into being productive. 

What about you?

Would you like a free e-book? This April, I'm giving away free copies of my new anthology, Destiny Pills & Space Wizards. Claim your copy here: https://claims.instafreebie.com/free/vhJFWpLL Enter code atozpromo

Prefer paperback? The print book goes live on April 20. Reviews are always appreciated.

A to Z - All About Writing: Basic Formatting

Welcome to the Blogging A to Z Challenge, where, this month, I'll be focusing on all things writing. This may be a random jumping around of topics within my theme, but hopefully something somewhere will be useful to someone. (V is for vague - see that last sentence.) Check out all the participants here and lets get on with today's letter.

B is for Basic Formatting

While this is something that seems like it should be common knowledge to anyone who has read books or taken high school English, I can easily say from reading the work of many beginning writers, it clearly is not. So today we're going to skim over the basics.

1.    Unless you're writing for posting on the internet, paragraphs should be indented somewhere between .3 and .5 inches depending on what formatting guides you happen to be following.

2. Dialogue (character's speaking) should be in a separate paragraph from general narrative. This makes the story far easier to read.

"If you see what I mean," she said.

3. Dialogue tags can either precede or follow dialogue. Following is most common. Tags denote who is speaking and should generally be kept to a simple he/she said rather than going nuts with using a hundred different words for 'said'. Said does the job and lets the dialogue do it's thing without being distracting. Tags should be formatted as above using a comma unless the dialogue is a question, in which case: "Was that a question?" she asked. It has also been debated that said can be used for questions in place of asked, but I find that distracting in most cases, so I prefer to stick with the common 'asked'.

4. Scene breaks are used to show a progression in time, or a change of pov or setting. A scene break in submission formatting is usually denoted by a blank line and a # and a blank line. In a printed book, it may have a decorative symbol or simply two blank lines.  Scene breaks are breaks within a chapter to show that something has changed from the previous portion and now we're onto something related, but new.

5. When writing dialogue it's fine to use slang, poor grammar and contractions. When writing narrative (the descriptive part of the story where people aren't talking), those should generally be avoided unless we're deep in a character's pov.

6. When submitting writing for publication, double spaced is the way to go unless you have been explicitly been told otherwise. Other things to hunt down specific submission guidelines on include, type of quotes preferred (straight or curly),  indent preferences, italics protocols, and font preference. Always check the guidelines.

7. Learn to use Word (or whatever program you use) properly to insert page numbers and title/author identifying headers. Both of these are easy google searches and take only a few minutes to figure out, if even that.

Got any basic formatting tips to share? Drop them in the comments.

Would you like a free e-book? This April, I'm giving away free copies of my new anthology, Destiny Pills & Space Wizards. Claim your copy here:  https://claims.instafreebie.com/free/vhJFWpLL Enter code atozpromo

Prefer paperback? The print book goes live on April 20. Reviews are always appreciated.

A to Z - All about Writing: Agency

Welcome to the Blogging A to Z Challenge, where, this month, I'll be focusing on all things writing. This may be a random jumping around of topics within my theme, but hopefully something somewhere will be useful to someone. (V is for vague - see that last sentence.) Check out all the participants here and lets get on with today's letter.

A is for Agency

What the heck is agency, you ask?  That's when your character makes things happen instead of things happening to them. A character having agency, means they are taking an active roll in attempting to influence their fate.

For example, I once did a beta read of a fun fantasy story about a princess. My main issue with the character, who was a spunky girl full of charm and all, was that everyone else in the story was active in moving along the plot for her. All she did was ask people to do things and they did, because she was the princess. There was a plot, there was a charming main character and an interesting host of other characters, but because the princess didn't actually do anything. This resulted in low to no tension and distanced the dear princess from the stakes. 

When the rewrite came through and the problem was fixed by the princess having to accomplish  tasks in order to get assistance from the other characters. She had to do something. She had to be active in her plot. This raised the tension level and created stakes that impacted her. 

In order to create a compelling story, your character should have agency. They should be a part of the action, of doing things to get the story from part A to part B and so on throughout the plot. The plot should be influenced by the characters motivations and actions.

There is also the matter of things not having agency. Such as when a character's feet take them to another room. In reality, it is the person going into the other room. One way to look at it is that the character's feet are somehow in control of the body, and that's just weird. Another way is that the author is trying to show that the character is distracted and maybe on autopilot. When you encounter these random acts of agency in writing, you have to consider what you're trying to get across.

Is the fact that your character's hand finds the knife at their side and draws it because its a habitual motion in that they don't give it any thought, or that the hand has a life of it's own and is disembodied from the character.

Personally, I'm fond of handing agency to an occasional body part or thing as long as its to illustrate something important to the character. It's the times when it's not intentional that active hands and feet get creepy. 

Would you like a free e-book? This April, I'm giving away free copies of my new anthology, Destiny Pills & Space Wizards. Claim your copy here.

Prefer paperback? The print book goes live on April 20. Reviews are always appreciated.

2018 Blogging A to Z Challenge Theme Reveal

I've been on the fence as to whether to participate in the April A to Z Blogging Challenge. Then, lying in bed last night at 3am while trying to get back to sleep (because I have a dog with a four hour bladder that has to pee in the middle of every darn night), I realized it really bugged me to skip a year. I've been doing this challenge since 2013. Did I really want to break my streak now? Now, when my word for the year is speak? No, sir, I did not. So while I won't promise to return every visit, I'll do my best to be as social as possible with what time I have available.

Deciding factors in the decision to participate:

• Missing a year did really, really irk me.

• My elderly mother in law is doing much better after three weeks in a physical rehab center and is back living in her home. I'm still on high alert on her care, but she's in amazingly good spirits (like happier than I've seen her in the twenty-two years I've known her) so we'll see how it goes.

• I don't currently have any scheduled author appearances in April, though I need to prep for a big one (Penguicon) in May.

• A Broken Race has been redesigned and formatting on the ebook is nearly done for the re-release.

• Destiny Pills & Space Wizards is print ready other than the inside illustrations that I'm waiting on from my daughter. Guilt tripping mom time!

• I finally received edits on Trust, but have yet to open that file. Look at me procrastinating.

• The two author events I'm organizing this summer are moving along. One is almost filled so I can get to work on the table layout and marketing. The other is still in the sign up phase, though that deadline is in April so that may suck some of my time.

• The more I tried to talk myself out of doing it, ideas for blog posts kept popping into my head. Thanks, stupid manipulative subconscious mind.

So there. I'm doing it.

And the theme is....  All about writing with a smattering of marking tips and bits about my books. 

Why? In working with my local writing group and considering all I observed at the writing workshop I was on a couple panels for recently, I discovered that there is a ton of knowledge about writing that I assumed everyone knew, but sadly, that is not at all true. So this April, we're going to cover an array of things, some of which may seem basic, or not, depending on where you are in your writing journey.

There you have it. I hope to see you in April. Good luck and happy writing.

IWSG: March and A Broken Race Gets A Facelift

What? It's March already? Did someone fast forward my calendar, or my life, for that matter. Ugh. There's just not enough time.

I used to do surveys for points. This was years ago. I don't remember what service it was, but on nearly every survey, toward the end where they ask you about your demographic details, there were always these questions. Do you feel the world is moving too fast? Do you feel the internet is overwhelming? I though they were the silliest things. Overwhelming? The internet is awesome! How can the world move too fast?

Well guess what? My answers these days are: yes. OMG yes.

I've reverted to playing solitaire on my computer to unplug from the internet. The internet is stealing my energy and my ambition. There is too much out there I should be doing: networking, marketing, learning, researching. Even though I'd hoped to blog more and I have plenty to talk about, I'm stuck on too fast and overwhelming. And no, this post isn't a challenge to see how many times I can use that word.

Here's one fun thing I can share that's quick and easy. A Broken Race is being re-released very soon. It has a new cover and additional content actually in the book rather that only here on my blog. I received the rights back from the publisher a couple weeks ago, and as soon as I get the all clear from Createspace, the new version will be ready to order.

And now it's time for another Insecure Writer's Support Group post! 

How do you celebrate when you achiever a writing goal / finish a story?

When I reach a writing goal, such as finishing a chapter or a number of words, I go off and do a quick reward to relax. That might be watching an episode of whatever I'm currently binging on Netflix or going out to work in my yard or garden.

Finishing a short story usually means taking the rest of the day off from writing while I ponder potential edits.  Finishing a novel means taking a couple days off to let my brain decompress. Holding a whole novel in your head takes a lot of energy and it can be very distracting. All that thinking about motivations, backstory, what would this or that character do or say and twisting all the plot and subplots together into a tight thread. When I'm mid-novel, that's all going on at once during all the minutes of the day (and sometimes, night). Finishing a novel means I get a clean reboot. I go vegetate on a yard project or a season of show, or read a couple books. Of course, in the back of my mind, I'm now starting to contemplate edits, covers, blurbs and all those sorts of things.

If we're talking holding a finished book in my hands, I'd love to say I do something huge to celebrate, but honestly, I'm probably already contemplating which project to work on next. I don't know about you, but my writer brain doesn't seem to take anything more than long weekend vacations. No rest for the wicked.

How do you celebrate your writing victories?

IWSG: February

 It's a new year, and it's time for another Insecure Writer's Support Group post! 

This month's question is: What do you love about the genre you write in most often?

I enjoy the 'what if' aspect of speculative fiction.

What if humanity had to evacuate Earth, after a long journey on one of the first seed ships, you finally arrive, only to discover other evacuees are already there and established, and you're outdated and irrelevant? 

What if you were told to kill the person you loved because they were guilty of a crime (and they are, but you feel their actions were justified) to gain the support you need to save your homeworld from an enemy? 

What if you wanted to have a child, but society says you don't qualify because if your ancestors' health history, even if you're perfectly healthy?

Sometimes I set out with a what if in mind from the beginning, other times it comes to me in the opening chapters when I'm contemplating the plot or during edits when I'm trying to refine the plotlines or character motivations. When what if questions cross and multiply, that becomes a fun bit of chaos to sort out, but I try to only do that with novels. Short stories tend to focus on a single question at the heart of it all. 

In other news...

Sorry about the lack of responding to comments and visiting blogs lately. I do read and appreciate them, really. Outside of writing, I've been dealing with aging Mother-in-law health issues - as in she may need to move in with us very soon. She's been falling more often and is no longer resisting the idea that she should probably not be living on her own. Several of us family members live within a ten minute radius, but when everyone has their cell phones on silent at 4am, and you fall when you get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, distance isn't the issue. While, we now have an app for that, I'd much rather know she's safe in bed. If that means we need to make room for another body around here, then I guess that's what needs to happen.

This week's fun was summed up with my sister-in-law taking her to the ER because her leg that was bruised from last week's fall swelled up due to poor circulation and the fact that she refuses to keep it elevated no matter how many times I tell her to do that when I'm over there. The more fun part was that she had no idea where her ID or insurance card was and was positive that I had it. I didn't. She put it...somewhere. Oh the joys of getting old (she's eighty-seven).

On top of not sleeping well (half-anticipating another 4am phone call), and not feeling quite right (daughter brought home some illness from school), I haven't been ultra productive outside of work, because paying the bills is top priority with what energy I have. Unfortunately, all things book don't pay the bills. So back burner for those items for the most part.

The 30in30 challenge is creeping along. That's my progress level. Creeping. My brain has been too scattered to be very productive even on my rewrite project. 

How's your February shaping up so far?

January updates on the resolutions and writing

January has been a flurry of activity toward my one word goal for the year: Speak. First up, a fun interview at The Contents Page where I discuss noisy chickens, my writing process, and Sahmara.

With book 4 of The Narvan wrapped up and in incubation, I'm preparing (by which I mean procrastinating until the last minute) to dive into a rewrite of Not Another Bards Tale this February. I've joined a 30,000 words in 30 days writing challenge. You might be saying, "but wait, February isn't the month for that, being only 28 days and all." True enough, but what's another 100 words a day? Stay tuned for updates on the 30in30 challenge.

My 2018 author event calendar is filling and plans are fleshing out for the two events I'm organizing this summer.
March 10 - Herrick Library MiFi Writers - Holland, MI
May 4-6 - Penguicon - Detroit, MI
June 9 - Fandom Fest - Benton Harbor, MI
July 6&7 - Michigan Authors at the Lakeshore - Muskegon, MI - Tentative
July 15 - Detroit BookFest - Tentative
August 4 - Michigan Authors at the Lakeshore - Holland, MI
September 9 - Kerrytown Bookfest - Tentative

After a meeting with the publisher of A Broken Race, I'm regaining the rights to that book and will be publishing a second edition with additional content in the coming months. The Narvan contract is still up in the air as of this moment as they are restructuring/refocusing and have offered options. Updates to follow.

That meeting also spawned the idea to gather all my previously published short stories into an anthology. The print rights on all of those have returned to me so now its just a matter of sitting down and making that happen...in my free time.

How are you doing with your resolutions?

Best Writing Advice Of 2017

As I creep into the new year, I'm still working on a project from the old one. I'd hoped to have it finished, but the story isn't quite done with me yet and I'm pondering where to end it. I think I got that figured out yesterday, but I'm guessing it will be at least another 10K to 15K before I get there.

What I wanted to talk about here though, is a little line of advice I read last year that helped me get to this productive point where I've cranked out 95K in just over two months. I'm sorry that I don't remember where I came across it so I can't credit it properly, but it comes down to this:

Touch your writing every day.

You don't have time for a two hour writing session every single day?  Take a few minutes to touch your project. Read the last paragraph, write a couple sentences, read over the last scene, write a paragraph, sit with your words and consider what you'll write next.

The problem many of us have is we get a new sparkly idea. We binge-write until the sparkle is gone. Then the real work of maintaining plot, pace, and character sink in. After that, writing a chore, it's work, the words might not come as easily. We have to stop and think more, plan ahead, consider, contemplate. All of that takes time. Time were we may not be actively pouring out words, where we feel like we're not accomplishing much of anything and maybe we're wasting our time. Time most of us don't have much of to begin with.

When the urge isn't there or other obligations swallowed your usual writing session, make yourself sit down and touch your words.

Make small steps until the story starts to flow, ideas start to click and the plot and ending reveal themselves. Percolate. Stay familiar with your story.

Don't give in to the urge to set aside your writing for a day. That day turns into two, and three, and a week, and on and on.

Having practiced this for a couple months now, I'm having a much better time making the writing happen. I used to mostly write in the morning and call it good. Now I've added touching my words at lunch and sometimes after work or dinner. Writing once and touching here and there, it's made my time in front of the keyboard much more productive. I hope it will help you too.

What's the best writing advice you came across last year?    

IWSG: January and 2018 Goals

 It's a new year, and it's time for another Insecure Writer's Support Group post! 

This month's question is: What steps have you taken to put a schedule in place for your writing and publishing?

My publishing schedule has been rather up in the air all last year and I don't foresee this year being much different as a good deal of it depends on my publisher. There have been editors coming and going, restructuring, a new backend interface, a move, and  other delays for various reasons. Ah, the joys of working with a small press. If I had to sum up last year in one word, I'd go with frustrated.

As to writing related things under my control, I do have a schedule. I write every morning Monday - Friday and quite often on the weekends too. I try to touch my WIP at lunch and again after work. My goal is 1000 words a day. Coming out of NaNo, where I managed roughly 2K a day for the month, half of that feels quite doable. December saw goals met and we're onward into January. How that will play out once I get this current rough draft completed, time will tell. 

February is slated to be a 30 in 30 month (or 30K in 28 days in this case... or 28 in 28, but it doesn't quite have the same ring to it.). I hope to be working on rewriting Not Another Bard's Tale, a silly fantasy story. The problem is I went all experimental with it originally, and while it's a fun character piece, there's no cohesiveness. It needs a much stronger plot to pull it together.

At some point, likely the point with the worst timing, I'll be getting edits back on the first book of The Narvan. 

I'd like to get NABT and at least book one of The Narvan out into the big world in 2018.

As to other goals, that brings me to my One Word for the new year.

Speak. Mostly speaking up when I've had enough. I started in on this already at the end of November, by asking for help for next year, outsourcing, delegating. I'm also hoping to organize an author event in my town with my local writing group, and perhaps assist with another nearby. In May, I'm going to Penguicon and sitting in on some writing panels. On a smaller scale, I'd like to get back into my weekly blogging schedule. 

Past One Words have been:

2012 was the year of Less. This helped me overcome my habit of over obligation.

2013 was the year of Me. In which I focused a little more on myself instead of doing everything for everyone else.

2014 was the year when I said I would Write. Shit happened. Goal denied.

2015 was sort of a do over year. I tried to work toward solving my problem from the year before by choosing Time. Making time to do the thing I wanted to do: write. Because, well hell, no one else tells you to sit down, stop doing all the things, and write. You have to do that yourself.

2016 was the year of Relax.  That went pretty well and started my morning routine of time in my comfy chair.

I tried to Enjoy 2017. I'd give it a solid meh. I made an effort, but life, work, and finances often got in the way.

What's your one word for 2018?