Now what do I write?

First off, I have to apologize. I had a really fun blog planned for today, but I am computer challenged and technology was working against me. I have enlisted the help of my savvy husband and hope to have said fun post  up next week.

Instead, today I am asking for your help.

The novel is done(ish) and I am twiddling fingers waiting for feedback from my beta readers. I have some other, smaller projects to work on in my downtime, but that is not going to be enough. I can't just write nothing so my biggest question is: What do I write next?

A gals gotta write something

The good news is I have a ton of potential ideas floating around in my head. The bad news is I have a ton of potential ideas floating around in my head. Since current novel is the first book in a proposed trilogy, my gut reaction was to get started on book two. I even have some plot outline started. Go me!

But then I got to thinking. What if this book never sells? I'm not sure I'm up for self-publishing it. So if I write the second book, but the first one isn't published then...yeah, you see where I'm going with this.

I was just going to bite the bullet and write it anyway since it was the most intriguing idea in my list. But then...I took a shower. And we all know that's where the muse lives.

The shower muse gifted me a truly awesome idea for a YA Distopian. I'm not even a huge distopian fan, but this idea kicks so much tushy I'm having a hard time saying no.

Now I'm torn. Do I keep with my current momentum and write book two, keeping the faith alive that everyone will want to publish this masterpiece? OR Do I go with something completely different and potentially awesome?

Help! Anyone else wondering about writing book two? Advice from those who have been there? What's the word?

Managing Social Media

If you haven't heard about the My Name is Not Bob April platform challenge yet, please stop right now and go check it out. Robert Lee Brewer is dishing out sage advice on a daily basis to help us writerly folks improve and grow our platforms.  In a previous post, I mentioned my dismay with my blog's poor showing on a recent Google search. I retract any previous grumblings.

Not Bob is a genius and my cup now overfloweth. So now I have a new problem. How do I keep up with the social media of it all and still be a productive writer? We all know how addictive these sites can be. By the time I check Twitter, FB, post to my blog, and check out my favorite blogs/websites half the day is gone. Plus, with new content going up all the time, it's hard not to double or triple check some of these sites.

Now add in to that being courteous to my fellow writers. Now that I am getting new followers daily, lots of blog comments and RTs I need to thank folks. And not just in a hey-thanks kind of way, but in a meaningful way that opens a dialogue for growth.

I think I need to set up a schedule. And not just a vague 'in the morning' schedule, but a real honest stick to it schedule. I don't have one and it shows in my productivity this last week. So here's where you come in. What schedule do you use to keep from spending all day on the internet? How do you keep things running and still find time to write (and shower, cook, clean, watch kids and all the other stuff we have to do)? Let me know. Please!

A Pantster's Tale

So now that I am nearing the end of revisions (quietly doing the happy dance) it's time to start really thinking about book 2. I know what the book is about and I have tons of scribbled notes, but that's not what I'm talking about. It's time to decide how I'm going to write this book.

With my current MS I wrote with wild abandon, never knowing what scene was coming next or what crazy capers my characters would get into. Seriously, I didn't even know how I wanted the thing to end. Unfortunately, I got about halfway through and ran into a serious block.

I didn't know what to write next!

I wrote a lovely start to a book that didn't seem to be going anywhere. After that I did a very (very) rough sketch for the rest of the book and that helped to guide me home. By rough sketch I mean I wrote one line for every scene with random extra details peppered in for fun. I ended up only using about half of those scenes.

The result was a rough draft I wouldn't show my dog (If I had a dog). I had way too many characters and plot holes you could drive a semi through. Let me be perfectly clear: it was a hot mess.

This has led to a lot of revisions on my part. I slashed around 20,000 words and had to re-write entire chapters. I guess this was about half revision, half scrap and start over.

I should have known better than to write this way, but when the idea hit I didn't stop to think about it. I just wrote. Which is fine. However, I should have used a break somewhere to map some things out.

In my 'this is how I pay the bills' world I'm forced to be analytical. While marketing sounds like a very dreamy, creative type job it's really only about 10% creative with the rest of the time spent pouring over numbers of all kinds to see if your creative works. If it works in marketing it just might work in writing, right?

So for book number dos I plan to do things a little different. I'm going to road map my book and we'll see how it goes. It could be an absolute failure. It could be the key to writing a book without the need to write half of it over again. Just like when reading my favorite books, the mystery of what will come is the best part.

Next time I'll talk about how I intend to make the switch to plotting.

So what about you? Are you a plotter? Do you write as you go? Are you somewhere inbetween? Have you ever switched styles and how did it go? I'd love to hear your tales.

Novel Super Glue

There are those that will tell you that the key to any great novel is a wonderful plot, others will preach character arcs, and still more will say its convincing prose.

I am here to tell you that none of those things are worth a can of beans without consistency!

I want to talk about two kinds of consistency because they are the offenders I am seeing most often in my reading these days. Let me preface this by saying, this is not rocket science.  A trustworthy beta reader can be a huge help in finding these lapses.

The first is detail consistency. Some of this seems pretty straight forward.  If your character goes to the gym on Tuesdays and Thursdays, then you can't give her a gym scene on Friday without explaining why she's there on her off day.  Makes sense right?

So why are so many authors leaving out the why?

Here's an example, in an unnamed book I am reading the opening scene is a doctor trying to stitch up a man's ankle in the emergency room.  This is made difficult because a storm has knocked out power and there are no lights (yes, I know there would be a back-up generator at a hospital, but apparently the author does not).  The author spends a lot (a lot) of time describing the difficulty of putting in these stitches using only the occasional lightning strike to see. We have a crystal clear picture. And then...

Another critical patient comes in and we see a whirl of activity while doctors and nurses hook up central lines, examine wounds, apply bandages and use the shock cart.  During this entire scene no one has any trouble seeing anything.

Now maybe this patient was taken to an area of the hospital where the lights were on. Or maybe they were having a hard time seeing.  The point is, I don't know, because the author didn't tell us.  All the sudden, this detail that was hammered in our head for fifteen pages is just gone.  The glue holding the scene together has dissolved.

The second area I want to touch on is character consistency.  This is a biggie for me.  Failure to keep your characters consistent is an epic fail. I'm not saying your character's can't grow, but I need to see that growth, not assume it.

Here's another nameless example to bring home the point.  Character A has been ordered by his boss to get a valuable object from character B.  Here's what we know about character A: he is shy, always follows the rules (due to his personality and his cultural upbringing), is excessively polite, does not have any home invasion skills (like lock picking) and, most importantly is afraid of character B. Character B is a highly armed, very skilled professional body guard. So what does character A do? Obviously, he breaks into character B's apartment and steals the object.  What? No, why would he do that? The character A we've come to know would simple ask character B for the object, using please as many times as possible.

In this case, the author made a character do something because the plot line called for it, not because it was a probable action for the character. This is a cardinal rule, character trumps plot every time. There are few rules in writing, but this is one of them. If your character is going to do something out of character there must be adequate motivation. 

Failure to be consistent in your writing is like taking the binding off a book.  Pages start falling apart and very shortly you'll find yourself with little more than a hot mess. Or a can of beans. Your choice.

Art Imitates Art

On Monday I went to my first theatre audition in nearly five years. With such a long hiatus I was a bit nervous that it wouldn't be the same, but just like riding a bike, it all came back to me.  I decided to audition to give myself a break from all my current editing.  I'm sure anyone who has ever gone through serious editing can relate to the creative drain it can create.  I figured a little art in another form might help to rekindle some of my depleted stores.  I got a bit more than I bargained for.

As soon as I pulled into the parking lot, my stomach got the nerves.  Those butterflies that most of us have felt at one point or another.  Not bad, just different.  Immediately, I was struck by how similar this was to starting a new project.  It had just the right mix of excitement and panic.  Yeah, something new! Oh God, can I do this again?

But once we got past all the formalities and it was just me on the stage with a script in my hand, all of the butterflies dissapeared and I was left with wonderful freedom.  In theatre we are given the chance to take a character and breathe life into the written word.  We give the character emotion, movement, motivation.  For those brief moments, we get to live in someone elses shoes. 

Writing can be the same, if we let it.  For the time we are sitting at the computer cranking out words we immerse ourselves into the world of our characters.  We give them emotion, movement, motivation.  All that.  If we give ourselves over to the process and stop worrying about every single word.

After the audition, I felt good about what I had done.  It wasn't perfect and I could see the other talent there around me.  But before I gave head space to doubt and speculation I allowed myself some time to just enjoy what I had accomplished.  I put myself out there and didn't die. :)

That's exactly how I felt when I finished my current MS.  I knew it wasn't perfect; far from it actually.  I also knew that once it was done, I would be competing with a lot of other folks for agents.  But for just a bit, I let myself forget what was down the road and revel in my success.

Then came the waiting.  It was less than a day before I knew if I was cast, but they were some long hours.  I started second guessing all the lines I had delivered.  Was it enough?  Would the director laugh at me and throw away my audition sheet?

And that's how I feel when I send out my work to be critiqued.  Will they like it?  Will they get it?  Did I give them enough?  Will they laugh and fill it with red ink?

The next morning, the truth was out there.  Alas, I wasn't cast.  When you are competing with twenty other ladies for three female roles, the odds are slim to start with. 

And just like that, my manuscripts can come back with enough red ink to light up the night sky.  Details that I overlooked, grammar mistakes, weak word choices.  No matter the reason, my MS as it went out wasn't ready yet.

So is that it?  Do I throw in the towel on my MS or on acting?  Heck no!  I go back to the table and look at all those notes.  Chances are high, the changes will make my work stronger, an one step closer to being ready for query.  And I'll keep going to auditions because we only lose when we stop trying.  Rejection is good for us.  I'm sure when I query there will be plenty of rejection letters.  But the beauty is that I only need one agent/director to like me.  Then the real work starts.

How do you know you're done?

It should be pretty easy to know when you are done writing a story.  If you write chronologically, you're done when you get to the end.  If you write scenes and then plug them in, you're done when all the scenes are written.  Maybe you're a total seat-of-your-pants kind of writer.  If that's the case, you know you're done when there just isn't anymore story to write.

When I finished my first draft, I knew it without a doubt when I was done.  No questions about it.  I typed the final words and stopped.  What I had was rough, unedited and probably not very good (yet), but it was done.

Now that I'm editing, I'm suddenly struck with the realization that I don't know how I'll know that I'm done.  I've been slowly going through each chapter.  Removing weak spots, rewriting sloppy writing, filling in holes and all the things I know need to be done.  But how will I know when I've done enough.

For example, this blessed first chapter just might kill me.  I've edited this thing so many times I've lost track.  Even as I move through the rest of my chapters, the first one keeps pulling me back in.  And each time I read it, I find more things to change.  A word here, a sentence there.  I know it's better each time, but will it ever be good enough?

I've read enough cautionary tales to know that I'm not going to query until I think this piece is polished to perfection.  But will I ever get to that point?

As is my practice when I am stumped by a writing question, I turned to the internet and found Diane Gaston.  God bless her! Diane gave a couple of ways to create a stopping point for editing. She suggested limiting the number of revisions to three, or making a check-list.  My favorite was to set a time deadline.  Deadlines I can work with.  They create a definite point of closure.  Plus, I deal with them all the time in my day job.

So, I've created a deadline.  I am currently considering attending  DFWCON.  The conference starts May 19th and, like most, offers the chance to pitch your work.  So that's my new deadline.  Even if I can't go (there's a potential scheduling conflict) I am committing to stop editing and start querying by that date.  Of course, that gives me all kinds of butterflies and the likes.  But that is why I am so grateful for Diane.  This is what she wrote at the end of her blog:

Yeah, you say, that is all well and good, but how does this guarantee my manuscript is the best it can be?
It doesn’t guarantee anything, but, then, you will never know if your manuscript is the best it can be, even if you go through it ten times. No one ever knows, because expecting that kind of perfection is unrealistic. The question you should ask yourself is not if your manuscript is the best it can be, but if it is good enough for submission, if you’ve covered all the important elements, the ones on your checklist. If your answer is yes, stop editing and SEND IT IN.
Give the editor her turn to go through the manuscript. Even if she loves it, even if she buys it, she’ll suggest changes.
And you will have a chance to edit your manuscript all over again.

A Writerly Kind of Love

Last month I experienced a writer's high when I finished my most recent MS.  After working on this novel for over a year it was liberating to finally see the whole thing down on paper.  After months of pounding out words whenever I had five free minutes I would be able to lie down at night without obsessing about the next scene to write.

I wanted to get started on edits right away, but I heeded the advice of countless authors and decided to let it sit.  Besides, I needed the break and my next story was begging to be mapped out.

Last week I finally opened back up the document to start the editing process, but instead of the bubbling excitement I expected to feel at seeing my characters again, I was filled with dread.  As I read each chapter, I was overwhelmed with the realization of how much editing I needed. 

I have plot holes, bad name choices, passive voice, ludicrous dialogue tags and cheesy cliches all over the place.  I got to work, but the truth be told, I wasn't into it.  For the first time in a long time, I was no longer enjoying the writing process.

Still, I trudged on, until this weekend when something amazing happened.  After slicing the first 6,000 words, removing three minor characters and polishing my dialogue until is shined, I am in love with my first chapter.  All 3,000 words of it are spectacular.  At least, I think they are.  And right now that's all I need.

Sure, I loved my novel before, but it was more like a high school kind of love.  All shiny and new with tons of 'firsts' to keep me hooked. But even though I sang its praises to the moon, I knew my love for this first draft couldn't last...they never do.

But this love is different.  I can see myself settling down with this first chapter, sending it out with my queries, posting it to critique groups.  I imagine a future with this chapter and it makes my heart sing!

And...it makes me realize that all those other chapters waiting in the wings aren't good enough for me.  They are going to need some serious work to be worthy of following this new first chapter.  But instead of dreading it, I'm excited again. and back to enjoying the process.

What is the hardest part for you in the writing process?  What keeps you going when the writing gets tough?

Writing 101: Dialogue Part II

Better late than never, here is what I'm sure is the much anticipated part two of Writing 101: Dialogue.

Last week I talked about giving your dialogue context and purpose. This week, I want to discuss a few other finer tips on dialogue.

Did you know there is a king of dialogue rules? Yeah, me either. But the internet doesn't lie. Apparently the king of dialogue has decreed that Dialogue in a novel must be in conflict.

According to James N. Frey "When characters have different goals and are intent on achieving them, conflict results. If the stakes are high and both sides are unyielding, you have the makings of high drama."

This makes good sense. After all, no one wants to read a book where everyone always agrees and gets along. Conflict is the difference between a good idea and a good story. But like all rules, even the King's rules, this one should be broken...sometimes.

Every once in a while, your characters may want to just have an honest conversation. Maybe your character wants to explain something to another character. No drama, just an 'I need you to understand me' kind of talk.

This is fine, but if most of your conversations don't have conflict, or at least an underlying tension, your readers will stop being interested.

Here are some additional things you can do to give your characters some character through dialogue. Most of these come from a great book by Renni Browne and Dave King, Self-Editing for Fiction Writers. I highly suggest this book for some simple to use tips to take your writing to a better place.

Vary your sentence length. This one is easy to spot on the page.

“Hey, Bob, How was your weekend?”

“Pretty,good. How was yours?”

“OK, Did you catch the game?”

“Yep, I never miss one.”

“What did you think?”

“The referees were awful.”

“I couldn't agree more.”

Wow, even in real life that conversation is dull. I can almost here “Bueller, has anyone seen Bueller?” in the background.

Look what happens we vary the length.

“Hey, Bob, how was your weekend?”

“Pretty good, you know. Same old, same old. How about you?”

“OK, Did you catch that game on Sunday?”

“Oh yeah. I never miss an opportunity to watch the boys in blue in action. During football season, Sundays are holier than ever.”

“Well, than, what did you think?”

“Oh, man, the refs were creaming us out there. Did you see that call right before the half? Since when did a little bump in the shoulder constitute un-sportsman-like conduct?”

“I hear ya, man, I hear ya.”

But even if you vary the sentence length, that will still be a boring conversation. Why? Character A asks a question and then Character B answers. Character B asks a question and then... you get the idea. What if when Character A asks “What did you think?”, Character B responds, “What did I think? What did you think when Coach Nimrod called a trick play in the fourth quarter with 3 seconds to go?” Character B doesn't answer the question directly, but we certainly get the point.

Also, don't forget that rarely do we actually speak in complete sentences. Most of the time we use fragments or abbreviated sentences. Contrary to everything your sophomore English teacher told you, you can use a sentence fragment. And even better, you can string two of them together with a comma.

Take this for example, your character can say,

“It's good. It's really good.”

Or, they can say,

“It's good, really good.”

See the difference. Same words, but the second example sounds much closer to what someone would actually say.

So there you have it, the nitty-gritty on what I learned about dialogue. I had intended to discuss accents this week, but Lordy, that's a big subject. So next week I will tackle the subject of accents and dialect. As always, let me know if you have suggestions for topics you'd like to see covered.

Here are links to this week's resources:

http://www.novel-writing-help.com/writing-dialogue.html

www.amazon.com/Self-Editing-Fiction-Writers-Second-Yourself/dp/0060545690/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328718402&sr=8-1

Writing 101: Dialogue Part I

No matter how young you were when you first put pen to paper, there is at least one thing you have been doing much longer than writing. Unless you are Emlyn Chand, who claims to have sprung from the womb with fountain pen in hand, you were a practiced pro at talking well before you wrote your first masterpiece.

So why is it that adding dialogue to our work is so painful? Dialogue is another one of those skills that if done well is seamless in a great piece of fiction. However, if you don't follow some basic guidelines your novel will start to resemble Frankenstein. And I'm not referring to the cuter, funnier Young Frankenstein.

Here are the basic tips I found in how to write excellent dialogue (AKA dialogue that doesn't suck). Since this is such a broad topic and one that I am especially bad at, next week I'll cover even more useful tips!

First tip, listen to how people talk. This is a perfect excuse to take a seat at your favorite coffee house, library, or lunch table and eavesdrop on other people. Feeling extra bold? Use the record memo feature on your iPhone. Some people would call this being nosy. As writers, we get to call it research. But don't just listen in, write it down. Don't skip lines, don't gloss over the hiccups, write it down verbatim.

You'll probably find two things from this exercise. One, people in general have a very poor grasp on the English language. And two, real dialogue is not going to work in your novel.

So now that you have this conversation on paper, tip number two is to slice and dice. Cut out all the filler words like 'um' and 'ah' that we are all so quick to use. This should give the scene an immediate improvement, but you're not done there. Next, figure out what the main subject on the conversation is, and cut out anything that isn't.

Like a magpie with a shiny object, people tend to get distracted by the things around them. If one of your speakers uses the phrase, “And that reminds me...”, you have just hit a tangent. Dialogue should not include every fleeting thought that pops into your character's head. Stick to the point.

Next, check to see if this conversation has a purpose. You have some dialogue free of fillers and all on one subject, but does anyone care? Let's say your MC is getting a book at the library. While checking out the book, she enters into a conversation with the librarian about how great said author is. Go ahead and picture yourself as the subject of this conversation. The talk is brief, on topic, and full of articulate language. Great! Does it have anything to do with your story about Cyborg aliens intent on destroying the planet? Darn! You were about to get some great PR, but that scene will need to be cut.

If you've followed the tips above, your dialogue is probably looking pretty good. Now it's time to take a look at your tags. The purpose of a dialogue tag is to let your reader know who is talking. Here are some things your tag should not do.

• Give the reader backstory on the speaker
• Give character traits for the first time
• Pull the reader out with creative verb use (hint: no one actually ejaculates words)
• Get on a soapbox

I know it's tempting. All that he said/she said on the page can make you feel boring, but trust me, tags should be boring.

However, you can feel free to shake it up with a he asked/she asked tag occasionally. Also, it is OK to add action to a tag so long as it makes sense. For example: “You're hilarious,” he said, stirring his coffee. This is fine, not stellar, but fine. What's not fine? “You're hilarious,” he said while taking a sip of his coffee. No matter how awesome your character is, he probably can't talk and drink coffee at the same time.

Now that you have some decent dialogue and the reader knows who is who, give your words some context. Chances are, your characters are not having this conversation in a vacuum. Life is happening around them, so don't forget to remind the reader. If your characters are chatting at a coffee shop they might hear the ding of the bell over the door, the espresso machine gurgle, or the waitress take the order for the next table over. It's important to slip in parts of the environment to keep the conversation realistic.

And don't forget that your characters are not statues. Unless they are, in which case please skip this paragraph. When people talk they fidget and move, blink their eyes, and have facial expressions. All these things can give the reader greater insight into your character and break up yards of quotation marks.

But in the words of Bon Qui Qui, “Don't get crazy”. There is a fine line between adding context to your characters' conversation and interrupting them. I like to imagine the stage directions in a play. If the playwright gives the actor an action for every line, the actor loses the freedom to interpret the role. If, as the author, you give too much context, your reader loses the ability to imagine the scene for themselves.

So there you have it, some quick tips on dialogue. Next week, I'll cover some additional subject like the all important voice and accents (yuck!). As always, I'd love to hear your suggestions for what to cover in this series. 'Till next week, y'all!

Writing 101: Backstory

And Now...the Back of the Story.

Our characters are fascinating people (or creatures for the fantasy fans out there). They have complex lives full of drama, love, pain, and joy. As the creators of these characters we know all about them and want our readers to love/hate them as much as we do.

So how do we do that? Most importantly, spend the first three chapters of your novel giving the reader a full account of the past twenty years of your character's life so they can fully appreciate the subtle nuances of your character's actions.

Wait, what? We aren't supposed to do that? Well, there goes 15K from my word count. But I promise, knowing what (insert character) wore to Prom her Junior year is going to be really important later on.

OK, so you need some backstory. The real trick is dishing it out at the right time, in the right format, and in the right quantity. That seems pretty straightforward, but if like me you want to know more, here are some helpful tips.

According to Vicki Hinze the one absolute place backstory doesn't belong is in the opening pages. This is your chance to capture a reader's attention, so you need to hit them with the here and now.

I love her advice for how to incorporate the history that your character needs. “Think of bites. You can't eat a roast in one bite. But you can eat a roast by eating a lot of little bites. It's the same thing, for the same reason. So you don't choke.”

Hinze doesn't agree with the idea of cutting all backstory. And neither do I. By picking just the right slice of history to share, you give your reader better understanding of your character's motivations. Hinze agrees that these little nuggets of info “evoke the images and feelings you want the reader to have so that the reader reacts emotionally and logically to the characters the way you want them to react.”

So how do you pick which nuggets to share? Camy Tang has a great checklist to keep you from fluffing your MS with info a reader doesn't need. If you answer these questions honestly, you'll probably come up with a fairly short list of declassified facts.

1. Is your backstory absolutely relevant?
2. Is your backstory short?
3. Is your backstory broken up or inserted all at once?
4. Is there a dire reason for a character to need the information?
5. Is there conflict preventing the information from coming to light?
6. Is the information tied to some type of action?
7. Can you create a situation where someone needs to know the information?
8. Is the backstory given from the point of view of the character with the most to lose?
9. Is the backstory realistically and believably conveyed by the character?

So that covers when and what to include, but the hardest part for me is the how. Nothing is worse than the “As you know, John, we've been friends our whole lives.” Unless John has amnesia this is not going to impress your reader.

Going back to Tang, she suggests beating the information out of your characters. Or something like that. She suggest you “make that person have to fight to get the information. Create conflict that tries to prevent the character from finding out what they need to know. Let the witness be slippery or reluctant. Make obstacles for the character, and the reader will be drawn into his fight to find out the information.”

Kathy Steffen suggests that we expose critical backstory through dialogue. She says, “A veiled reference to something in the past can intrigue a reader.” I say, this sounds good but is probably harder than that. If you make your comment too veiled, the reader might be confused.

JK Rowling is a master at weaving in the little details. When bits of information needed to be shared, she often has the character unable to give all the information. Just as we were about to learn something really juice, Snape would but his greasy nose right into the thick of it. As a reader this gave us just enough to know that something is important, but also enough intrigue to keep us readeing to find out what it is.

I also love shushing my characters. When the big mouth brother is about to tell a tale of past embarrassment, the MC stops him cold with a look of murderous rage. No need to spill all the beans, but the damage is done.

So how do you know if you've done it right? Steffen suggests utilizing a very high-tech device to locate and eliminate unnecessary backstory. The Highlighter. Go back and highlight anything that is background information. If it doesn't happen during the time line of your tale, it's history. Then take a hard look and determine if it is essential information to the reader in order to understand your character's actions. If not, it has to go.

The cold, hard fact is that you have to write your character's history. After all, our past is what shapes our future, and this is true for you as a writer and for your characters. Unfortunately, most of that backstory is for your eyes only. While it does nothing for your word count, backstory will help you to write characters that hold a reader (and hopefully an agent).

Here are the links I used for today's entry.

Do you struggle with backstory? How do you handle it? Share your thoughts with other writers.

Do you have other writing issues you'd like to see covered here? Please let me know.

http://storysensei.blogspot.com/2005/08/how-to-write-backstory-without-putting.html

http://www.fictionfactor.com/guests/backstory.html

http://howtowriteshop.loridevoti.com/2010/12/writing-backstory/

Is taking things into her own hands (Writing 101)

The world of writing and publishing books is scary. I understand that and I haven't even submitted my first query. The literary world is chock full of reasons to keep your lights on at night and the covers pulled over your head, but for me the worst is the unknown. Like many aspiring authors I ask myself almost daily, “Is my writing really good enough?”

If I'm being completely honest with myself, I have to answer no.

So what's a gal to do? Cry in her Cheerios? Burn her notebooks? Absolutely not!

Just because I don't think I'm good enough right now in this very moment doesn't mean I can't be. If I really want to get better I have to be willing to put in the effort. It has to be about more than just practicing my craft; I have to actually work at it.

Throwing a basketball at the hoop won't make me a basketball player.  Pumping out words on my keyboard doesn't make me a writer. If I want to be a center forward for the Chicago Bulls (not likely since I'm only 4'10”) I need to know how to play basketball, then practice it. Likewise, if I want to be the next JK Rowling (Brandon Sanderson, fill-in-the-blank) I need to learn how to write and then do the writing.

Now, I don't want to give the wrong impression here. I know how to write. But I know there are things I could do better. Much better. Like what? Well, lots of things. So how are you going to get better? Good question. I'm glad you asked.

While I'd love to attend every web seminar, writer's conference and boot camp that catches my eye, my pocket book has it's limitations. I think most of these are very worthwhile, but there is a better (read: cheaper) option out there for folks like me who don't have the liquid funds available.

So here's the plan. Each week I will select an area of writing that I think I need to work on. I'll do some research through the web, the library and any other free/cheap resources I can. Then, I'll post my personal findings here. We can learn together.

Starting next week look for the first edition of my Writing 101 series. My focus will be the pesky transition. I hope you enjoy it!

Do you have areas of interest that you'd like to see covered in the series? What part of the writing process holds you back from finding publishing success. Let me know and I'll try to include it in the series.