Author Jean Davis: A to Z

Showing posts with label A to Z. Show all posts

Friday, April 13, 2018

A to Z - All Things Writing: Line Edit

L is for Line Edit

We covered the Developmental Edit last week. What we're talking about today is the step between the Dev edit and Proofreading / Copy Edit. The Line edit will focus on tone, language, sentences and paragraphs and word choices among other things. It will not focus on typos.

Things a line edit will focus on:

Word usage:

overused words - just / suddenly / like / and many other common offenders

clarity - Is the meaning of the sentence clear? Is it clear who is speaking?

repeated words - using the same words in nearby sentences

Sentence and Paragraph structure:

avoiding repeated structures - which can make reading very boring

openings - making sure the lines don't all start with the same word or phrasing

length - avoiding run-ons or too many short sentences which can create a staccato effect.

Dialogue:

does it feel natural?

is it in character?

Tone of the story:

is it consistent throughout?

Action:

is it clear and easy to follow?

Pacing:

do areas move too fast or too slow?

Tightening:

are there wasted words?

can adverbs be switched out for better verbs?

can anything be removed that doesn't impact the story?

are there any areas where information is repeated or rephrased that can be removed?

A good line edit will put the final polish on a story and then all that's left is to hunt down those pesky typos and check punctuation.

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.

Thursday, April 12, 2018

A to Z - All Things Writing: Killing off Characters

K is for Killing Characters

Some writers never kill anyone. That's fine too. The death of a character should have meaning and add depth to the remaining characters' arcs and impact the plot. If we went around hilly nilly killing everyone for giggles, that wouldn't make for a very engaging story. Maybe it would for some people, there seem to be readers of just about everything. However, let's just say for the sake of this post, that it's not an ideal goal.

People die in books. Sometimes its off the page, such as to launch a murder mystery or in backstory - your main character's mother died when they were six and that impacted who they are today. Those both have impact on the character and plot. But when is it a good idea to kill off a main or secondary character? Only if it is necessary to advance the plot or drive a remaining character into change/action. As a writer you want to get your readers attached to your characters, to care about them. Killing them off could anger your readers, so it better be for a darn good reason. If you've read any of George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series, you know what I'm talking about.

Writing the death of a cherished character is also hard for the author. They created this character. They brought them into this world, and now they're taking them out of it. As many times as your mother may have thrown out that threat, she didn't act on it. Writers do and it isn't easy. It's draining and makes us sad.

Have you ever killed off any main characters?

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

Wednesday, April 11, 2018

A to Z - All About Writing: Juggling Projects

J is for Juggling Projects

When the ideas come to fast to finished one thing before jumping to the next, how does one handle that?

I'd like to say that I only ever work on one story at a time because it would make me sound all organized, but that really just isn't the case. I do have one main project I try to stick with at a time, but there are usually a couple secondary things bouncing around in my head. And hey! Look! A Sparkly chicken! Darn ideas, are always popping up.

The best way I've found to manage them is to jot those ideas down, either in a computer file - which I do attempt to be organized and have an ideas folder on my hard drive - or in a notebook. The notebook is what a lot of people tell me they use. I have a lot of notebooks. While that sounds like I should be all good then, I'm not. I have a lot of notebooks and I have no idea what is in most of them. Rather than spend an aggravating couple days flipping through (Because I have done that and I'm not a pleasant person when I can't find something), those notebooks for the idea/ending/outline/note to self/ character idea / that one cool name I don't want to forget / etc, I'm sooooo much better off just creating a file for it and naming whatever it is and then hitting save. I know where those things are and can just search on my computer for them if it comes down to that.

Back to the juggling. I usually have a project in progress, one I've just finished that I'm contemplating edits for, and a new one or unfinished one that I'm pondering and gathering ideas for. And still, one of those sparkly chickens will hit me now and then. If it's a short story and I'm in the middle of a novel, I'm not opposed to taking a couple days off to get that story down - assuming I have it mostly formed in my head. If it's going to take days to drag out the first half and require a good deal of research, it goes into the ideas file for later.

Working on multiple things at once isn't a terrible thing, but do try to focus on finishing one of those things before diving headfirst into the next big thing. You'll feel a lot more accomplished.

How many projects do you prefer to work on at once?

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

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

A to Z - All About Writing: Ideas

I is for Ideas

Where do writers get ideas for their stories?

Everywhere. Ideas are all around you.

Contemplate an everyday situation, what's the worst thing that could happen to change it? Write about that.

Speculate about someone you see in a store or park. What are they doing? Who are they?

Read articles and watch the news. Ask yourself what if questions and answer those with a story.

Look at an object near you. Wonder where it came from. Who made it. What did it go through before it came to you?

Google an interesting place and do a little research. Think about what kind of story would happen there and run with it.

Writers are almost always thinking. It probably looks like their just gazing off into space and ignoring you, but they just might be plotting their next story.

Where do you get your ideas?

Monday, April 9, 2018

A to Z - All About Writing :Having A Hard Time Writing

H is for Having A Hard Time Writing

You want to write a book. Great! But where do you start? At the beginning. It might not end up being the start of your story, but you've got to start somewhere and words on a page are much easier to rewrite and edit than words bumbling about in your head. So write.

Now that you've started, how do you continue? Try to end each writing session on the edge of the next scene. That way you can ponder that next scene in your head between sessions so when you sit down next, you have the words ready to go, or at least some inking of what happens next.

But now I'm stuck on a difficult scene. We all have scenes we struggle with. Give emotional scenes some time and don't be afraid to move more slowly than you usually write. Pouring out all that internal depth takes a lot of out of a writer. A scene that might normally take you twenty minutes, might take a few days. Act out action scenes to get a good visual of how they would look and flow so you can use the right descriptive language and timing. Are your characters traveling from point A to B with a whole lot of nothing happening? Opt for either a scene break and skip right to what happens next or make something happen. Set someone or something on fire, perhaps not literally, but give the scene a reason to exist if we need to see the characters actually traveling. Is the dialogue heavy scene dragging? What's the worst thing one of the characters could say? Put that gem on the page and see where that goes. It's sure to stir things up.

But I just don't have time to write. Sure you do, you just have to find it. It might be getting up an hour early or staying up an hour late, or writing on your lunch break. While a full day of nothing but time for writing sounds like the most awesome thing ever, it's not. It's a mythical thing that, even when attained, makes few happy and productive. If you can find a full hour, awesome. If that doesn't work, grab a few twenty minute sessions throughout the day. True story, you probably do most of your best writing when you're not actually sitting down to write. It's going on in the back of your head or while you shower or fold the laundry. Maximize you keyboard time for spewing out the words you've pondered rather than sitting here for four hours with a blinking cursor, fighting the urge to re-organize your office supplies.

Do I have to write in order? No. Some of us do. I generally do. But I've talked to many writers that don't. I will say, that going non-linear can be freeing - the ability to skip to the next scene that excites you rather than slog through what happens between this scene and that one. However, I would advise at least writing a few notes to yourself along the way about the scenes you're skipping. That way, when you come back to sew the whole mass-o-chaos together, you've left yourself a map to do so.

Everything I write sucks. Welcome to your first draft, where sucking is just fine. Remember, the goal is to get the all words on the page. Once you write "The End", you can mine for the gems and get spackle and sandpaper out. You might be surprised, what seems like an endless stream of suck today, might not be half bad once you've had some time away from the finished project.

What part of writing do you find the hardest?

Saturday, April 7, 2018

A to Z - All About Writing: Genres

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 . Lets get on with today's letter.

G is for Genre

Genre is what kind of book you're writing. The category you would go to in order to search for it. Where would you find it in a bookstore? There are a lot of genres. Knowing what your story falls under is important because genre plays into a lot of things both at the writing and trying to publish stages.

While you're writing, you need to know what genre you're attempting to fit within. Yes, you can combine genres, but do keep in mind that odd combinations make your book more difficult to sell because the audience for that is likely smaller. Meaning you might want to think twice about that Western Steampunk Mystery Romance.

Different genres have different expectations from readers. It's a good idea to read the genre you're writing to know what those elements are. You'll want to writer your story with the majority of the readers of that genre in mind with regards to word usage, characters, heat and violence levels and other types of content.

Genre plays into word count as well. Middle grade is shorter than young adult. Science fiction and fantasy have much higher word count thresholds than many other genres. It's a good idea to do a little research and know the general range to shoot for.

When you're ready to try to sell or publish your story, you'll need to know what genre it is in order to search for the correct market. You don't want to sent out your western romance to a publisher who specializes in literary fiction. That would be a waste of everyone's time. If you're looking for a publisher, you may want to know other comparable titles within your genre with which to compare your work.

What genre's do you write?

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

Friday, April 6, 2018

A to Z - All About Writing: Facebook Groups

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

Thursday, April 5, 2018

A to Z - All About Writing : Editing

E is for Editing

Yesterday we covered Developmental Edits, but what about the edits you do yourself before anyone else sees your work?

And yes, you should always edit before you show your work to someone else. If you're going to ask someone to read your work, you want them to focus on the story, not typos, weird formatting, missing words, or jumbled sentences. A few of those will probably slip through no matter how many editing passes you make, but putting your best work forward will get you the most useful feedback, chances of getting published, and better reviews.

Editing is best done in passes. Trying to spot everything at once is an overwhelming task so break it up into focus areas. Rather like the developmental editing we talked about yesterday, it's beneficial to start with the big stuff and work your way down to avoid making more work for yourself. Passes might look like this:

• Main plot and character(s). Does the plot move from point A to Z with a fulfilling ending? Is it engaging? Does the MC internally change from beginning to end? Are they likeable (at least in the degree that someone would want to read about them for a couple hundred pages)? Do they have agency (see day 1)? Are character motivations clear and believable?

• Subplots and secondary character(s). Are the subplots necessary? Do they benefit the main plot and characters? Do the secondary characters change? Do they add to the story? Can they be combined to tighten the story? Are they well rounded? Do they have proper motivation for their actions?

• Chapter by chapter. Does each chapter have a beginning, middle, and end? Does it build tension from one chapter to the next? Does it have a clear opening and enticing ending? Does each chapter serve a purpose to propel the plot and MCs journey (internally and/or externally) forward? Are the pacing and voice cohesive throughout?

• Description. Are all the senses being used? Is the setting adequately described in each important scene? Are the characters described enough that the reader can tell them apart? Are any world words, technology, foreign languages/words, gizmos, and anything else out of the ordinary that you threw in there clear enough that the reader is going to understand them in context and not be thrown out of the story. Are your details (character, setting, etc) consistent throughout?

• Dialogue. Does each character sound different? Does it serve a purpose? Can it serve more of a purpose/hold more tension? Does it sound natural? Is it clear who is speaking? Are there any places where action beats will serve better than simple tags?

• Paragraphs and sentences. Do they vary in length? Are there massive paragraphs that need to be abroken up or too many short ones in a row? Do they start differently (no one wants to scan the page and see every paragraph starts with 'He') Do the sentences have good rhythm? Are the sentences clear? Does the sentence phrasing vary? Reading aloud during this pass is the best way to find most of these things.

• Word choices. Adverbs - can they be switched out for stronger verbs. Adjectives - are there enough or too many? Are names clear and not to similar? Do the names (places, characters, etc) fit the story/setting/tone. Do the words being used convey the story clearly? Can any words be removed to tighten the story?

• Typos. Oh typos, the bane of our existence. This is also a good pass to do aloud so you can catch those pesky homonyms and missing/repeated words amongst many other things.

Is there anything you edit for that I missed here?

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

Wednesday, April 4, 2018

A to Z - All About Writing: Developmental Edits

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.

D is for Developmental Edits

A Developmental Edit is your first stop when you're either paying for an edit or receiving one from a publisher. A dev edit will cover the big picture aspects of your story. There will be comments on the overall plot, subplots, characters and their motivations and arcs. It might cover whether the story needs more description, action, tension or dialogue.

This stage of editing shouldn't be about the nitpicky things. It will help get the main story shaped up and tightened to create a compelling plot and host of characters that readers will care about.

You might think you have all of this covered, but you know your story. It came from your head. You can see the setting, you know the characters, the backstory and where book two will be headed. Everything seems perfectly logical in your mind.

Unfortunately, (or probably not because it's a darn twisted place) the reader is not in your head. It's very likely that some of what you think is clear on the page isn't actually there at all. There's probably a whole host of details still in your head that just need a little prodding by an editor to be shaken loose in order to fill out the story.

If you have a good critique partner, someone you trust, that isn't afraid to get critical and tell it how it is, they may be able to do this step for you. However, if you are going for publication, you'll be hit with a dev edit regardless of the fact that you think you have this step already covered. Odds are, there are still a bunch of things that could be fixed. It always seems like a story is never quite done.

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