Editing, otherwise known as Author Torture

So during Camp NaNoWriMo, I was asked about how I edit.  I had just finished my novel and was in the process of editing it during the later part of the month.  I figured other writers might be interested in hearing how I edit, since it could be either different from what you do or something that you've never tried before.  Anyway, I figured I'd give a general overview of how I go about editing.

First I go through and read my first draft (which, btw, is a terrible thing to make an author do) and make a little outline of what happened in each chapter, marking what the major problems were along the way.  Once I've gone through and fixed those problems, I'll read through again, crossing my fingers that it'll be better.  Only once I've finished the major problems (inconsistencies, any plot holes, strange character motives/reactions/developments, etc) will I go through more carefully and fix awkward things like dialogue or description or whatever. After that's fixed, I'll read through once more, polishing (i.e. Is that really the word I want there? etc.).

Obviously, the three phases I just laid out there take more than one try each.  For example, the novel that I'm currently editing (or was - I'm taking a break from it so I can look at it with fresh eyes again) received a pass where I fixed a bunch of inconsistencies in primarily changing character motives.  But at the end of that pass, I realized I wanted to change a certain character's motive again, so that required another pass at it.

As I edit, I often find other things that need to be fixed or changed, even after I've outlined the major problems I knew to begin with.  That's why I find editing to be rather torturous - even though you're fixing it, you keep finding parts that need more repair.  Eventually you get to a point where it all seems like it's falling apart, even though you've been editing like mad.  That's when I stop, let it sit for a while (a week, a month, whatever), and come back to it later.  I'll read through it once to get back in the story, and go on with editing.

Now that you know how I edit - how do you edit?  Does it differ from what I do?  I also know that some people love editing, and prefer it to writing the first draft.  That's not me, so I wonder why?  If you're one of those people, enlighten me please?

Grab Your Quill - Let's Write! Point of View

Point of view, or PoV, is the perspective that the story is told from. When a reader picks up a book, they are looking through a camera at the story. The location of this camera is their PoV. A couple definitions before the full discussion on PoV: First person uses "I". I did this, and I saw that. Second person (which is almost never used in fiction, and is really only used when writing how-to/self-help kind of things) uses "you". Third person, the most common for fiction, uses "he", "she", and "it". He looked out of the airplane window, trying to ignore the girl snoring next to him. The majority of fiction is classically told using third person, although recently, there has been a surge of first person books.

All the different points of view can pretty much be summed up into four types. The first of these is internal, main character. When a book/story uses an internal PoV, that means that the camera the reader is watching through is located in the head of one character. The reader sees what the character sees, hears what the character thinks, but unless that character is a mind reader, the reader can't tell what other characters are thinking. All internal PoV use first person, but this also limits what can be written to show the reader. First person anything is often hard to pull off well, even though there are more and more books in first person that are being published nowadays.
The second PoV is internal, secondary character. Again, the reader is being shown the story through a single character, but in this case, that character is not the main character, but rather a secondary character. Nice how the names of these PoVs correspond with what they are. I have yet to see this PoV succeed (that I remember), although I'm sure it can be done. In fiction writing at least, this PoV isn't used very much.

After internal PoVs, there are external PoVs. The two types of external PoV are limited narrator and omniscient narrator. Both use third person, and both place the "camera" in the world instead of in a character's head. The primary difference is how that camera is set up. In external, limited narrator, the camera is stuck. It's placed on a tripod somewhere and it can't see everything that's going on. In the classic good versus bad story, the camera is often stuck with the good side, preventing the reader from knowing what's happening with the bad side.

External, omniscient narrator. This one is a lot easier to understand if you know what omniscient means (I happen to like this word). Omniscient means "all-knowing". Contrary to limited narrator, in omniscient narrator, the camera is no longer stuck on a tripod on the ground, but rather flying around up in the sky where it can swivel in every direction and zoom in on anything at all. This might seem like it would be easier to write in, since then the author can show the reader anything that he/she deems necessary. However, sometimes it's better to keep the reader in the dark to make them keep reading.

There's only four of these PoVs I've talked about, but deciding which one to use can make or break a story. So how do you choose? There's a few questions you can ask. First, consider each choice of narrator individually. Beginning with the main character, for internal, main character, ask what the narrator (main character) will be able to know that other characters won't. Also consider what the reader can learn about the main character and the other characters from inside the main character's head. Finally, ask yourself if you can effectively write the story. This means considering if you can properly convey any emotions or tension necessary, as well as delivering the build up and the climax of the story in a way that will hook and keep the reader. Ask yourself these questions about all four PoVs (main character, secondary character, limited narrator, and omniscient narrator), then decide which one will be most beneficial for your story. Good luck!

What is your preferred PoV for your own writing and for reading?  What do you find easiest to write in?

Grab Your Quill - Let's Write! Mary Sue and Gary Stu

Once again, the writing advice that I've been writing for Shelfari - if you know me on there, you probably already know this.  If you don't, then this is for you.  :)



You’ve probably heard of them. Mary Sue and Gary Stu go hand in hand, as they walk down the perfectly picturesque avenue. Mary wears a perfect dress, is pretty, and happy, while Gary graciously courts her. Neither has a care in the world.

@#$%^&*&^%$#! Wake up! Why are you falling asleep? A novel has another 75,000 words of this to go. But have you ever actually read a book like this? I guarantee that no matter how perfect or idealistic a book may be, there is some flaw in your characters.

There’s a reason for this. Perfect characters, called Mary Sues and Gary Stus, are boring. The reader can’t relate to them, because nobody in the world is perfect. The term “Mary Sue” has also evolved to include overdone characters – like the princess oppressed who longs for freedom. Mary/Gary characters are clichéd.

To make a good story, both plot and character have to be original. Mary/Gary’s are the unoriginal characters. All good characters are believable – they aren’t perfect, and they make logical decisions and reactions. All characters that appeal to publishers (and any readers looking for fresh stories) are also different from any character that came before it.

There aren’t many tips for how to make a good character – I can’t tell you that your female lead should love raspberries and be terrified of lighting, because then it’s not your character. To make a new character, you have to make them. If you succeed, the character will come to life. Until you experience this, it probably won’t make any sense; I thought it was ridiculous until I started writing. I also tend to really love the characters that work, and get bored easily with the characters that don’t. If you are not successful, it will be hard to imagine your character’s reactions, and hard to force them to conform to your plot. (Of course, it might also be hard to force them to your plot because there’s a problem with your plot.) Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts to creating great characters. The only way to get better at creating and portraying characters is to write. Good luck!

Grab Your Quill - Let's Write: Overall Structure

I know that some of you will have seen this on Shelfari, but for the rest of the people who view this blog, here is a bit I wrote on overall structure - these will come somewhere around monthly, and will probably be more continuous (maybe) than the other posts I do, which are just whatever I feel like writing at the time. Hope you enjoy!

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As a writer, I have no fear of writing long passages - I hope you won't be afraid of reading this one. A lot of you will probably already know this stuff, but I figured it would be best to start at the beginning for this writing corner. And where better to start than with structure? Enjoy. :)

Everybody knows that in any good story, there's a beginning, middle, and end. A good beginning will hook the reader, the middle will keep their interest and force them to keep turning pages as fast as they can, and an end will satisfy them while still leaving them wanting more. Some people describe the structure of a story through what's known as the 3 Act structure. This is basically three Acts, like in a play, with two Plot Points in-between the acts.

The first Act is the beginning of it all, and the first Plot Point is what I call the trigger point. Some people include backstory in the first Act, but if you're writing a more lengthy work, it's actually better to work this backstory into the later Acts as needed, rather than dumping it all at the beginning – that's called an info dump.

Info dumps are characteristically very boring because they take too long to get to the action. As numerous little kids have said, "When do we get to the good stuff?"

The first Plot Point, or the trigger point, is the point where something happens that causes the rest of the story. Perhaps this is your main character deciding he (or she) is going to take a vacation in Egypt, but then the plane crashes in the middle of the desert, where he/she is stranded. Fortunately for him, he encounters a tribe of desert dwellers, who, although they don't speak English, take care of him. Unfortunately for him, these same desert dwellers who are so kindly taking care of him are also under attack by another tribe – then your main character finds out they want to use him as barter.

This brings me to Act 2. Although the reasons behind your main character's decision to go to Egypt might be in Act 1, and his actual decision to go, or perhaps when his plane crashes, would be the trigger point, all the stuff I said after that are additional problems or conflicts. Act 2 comprises of all the conflict and problems that your main character encounters. These conflicts will escalate through Act 2 until the final crisis comes. This crisis is the second Plot Point, or the climax.

As a note, when escalating conflicts, you don't want to simply throw the same thing at your character over and over. Having one dinosaur attacking your character, and then having twelve dinosaurs attacking your character won't escalate the tension in your story (you want to build this to the climax) nearly as well as if the conflicts change each time so that your main character has to adapt.

The second Plot Point, or climax, is the final push in the story. This is where everything is on the line. This is the point where something happens and suddenly, there is hope again that everything will be all right. (The exception to this is if you're writing a tragedy, in which case you should just kill everybody off.)

Finally, we have Act 3. Because it is nearly impossible to hold a reader's attention for very long after you've finished with the great crisis that your poor main character had to suffer through, it is generally a good idea to wrap everything up and finish. If you're planning a sequel, or just want your reader to keep reading, you can also throw in a question that you don't answer, even though all the loose ends of the story are wrapped up.

There's a lot more about structure I could say, but hopefully this wasn't too boring, and it helps – look for more about each of these (the three Acts and the Plot Points) in the future!

And Then and Then and Then...

And then I suddenly disappeared off the face of the earth! And then I came back. And then I complained about school and whatnot to some friends who kindly listened to me. And then...wait, are you falling asleep? That's not a very polite thing to do when somebody's telling you a story.

And yet, that is exactly what we all tend to do when somebody tells a story. Any good writer knows how, whether consciously or subconsciously, to show a story. Heck, any reader knows how to tell between a story that is told and a story that is shown - mainly because told stories are boring. From this comes the Golden Rule of writers:

Show, Don't Tell.

This is one of the most basic fundamentals of story telling, and yet, it is often the one that many people miss. I'm sure you all either remember being a kid who tells stories with "and then"s the whole way through, or have at least seen a kid who did this.

(You all? What am I, Texan? A Texan with a northern accent?)

When an author shows, rather than tells, the story, it is much more vibrant to the reader. For example:

The rain was cold.

This is not nearly as effective, or image-inducing (no, you aren't supposed to slip hallucinatory drugs to your readers...just supposed to make them think you did) as:

The rain froze my skin.

Or:

I shivered, my body protesting the icy fingers that slid down my neck.

The second one here also uses personification, which is a way to create relatable, vivid imagery for your reader. (There are other tricks for this too, and I'll have another blog post on them some other time.)

As an author, it is your job to put me into your story so I can see it for my own eyes. I don't want a second hand account, seen through your eyes, I want to see it for myself. As a reader, you demand this from an author. Show, don't tell, and not only will your story be much more interesting, but everyone will be happy. :)

Mommy, why is the sky blue?

Why? If you've spent any time at all with a toddler, you will probably be sick of this question to the point where just the sound of the word makes you ill. But it's a question that you should always be thinking of when creating a story. You may have heard this called "motive".

Motive is why characters do anything. It is also what makes the story believable. If you have a character that decides to randomly start fighting the guy passing by on the street, it is very strange. This lack of motive is why we don't have people just walk down the street and start fighting in real life, with the exception of drunks, but even then, there is a reason no matter how small.

Without motive, your characters are not believable, because they don't act in ways that you would expect of any being. This includes irrational beings, because even if someone is irrational, there will be some sort of twisted logic that makes sense in their mind which provides a logical (at least to their point of view) reason for what they do.

In addition to unbelievable characters, the entire story is then made unstable. If any plot points happen without a suitable motive, the entire story is destabilized and the reader won't be able to immerse themselves into it. Ideally, your reader will be able to completely imagine the story that you tell, because there are no flaws in it. I'll have several more posts on this I believe.

This is why it's really important to have a motive for all characters to have a motive. Large, very important motives will affect the main plot, and thus be more obvious if they aren't there or are flawed, but even the small motives are problems if they don't logically make sense. And if just one of these small motives is flawed, it casts doubt on all the other motives, large and small alike.

What motives do you find in your characters, and what motives do you notice the most? A couple common ones are revenge and love – what else have you seen?

Under the Spell of Procrastination

As probably about half of the people who will see this post already know, I spent part of the day writing (yeah, you know 'cause you were doing it with me xD). In the afternoon, I did some word wars with a few people, all writing something or other. And lo and behold, in ten minutes I could produce about 250 words on average. I'm not too thrilled with this rate - back during NaNoWriMo and whenever I've done any similar challenge previously, I've been able to crank out at least 400 in 10 minutes, although it's usually closer to 500, with the occasional 600s when it's really going well.

(Personally, I think that "going good" looks better due to the alliteration, even if it isn't grammatically correct. But that's beside the point.)

Unfortunately, even at this snail's pace, I wrote more today than I have in a long time. Which, on the one hand, is good, since I'm writing again, but on the other hand, it's bad because it shows just how even more bad I have been. This failure to write has absolutely nothing to do with my desire (or lack thereof) to write, but everything to do with Procrastination.

Yes, that word was worthy of being bolded and capitalized.

I think anybody who isn't Superman or at least in possession of a Superman will knows the beast that is Procrastination all too well. If you happen to be one of those rare people that has never procrastinated, I commend you and will tell you not to read the rest of this post lest you also be captured by the beast.

Now that I have done my superhero duty in saving that poor person from being devoured by Procrastination, I will go on to help the rest of us, who have already been attacked once, to fight back.

Procrastination is rather addicting. Once you start procrastinating, you find more and more things that really aren't very productive in any way whatsoever, which makes it easier and easier to start procrastinating in the future. For instance, the person that I saved up there by telling them not to read on has never spent time on MLIA or FML or anything of the sort. There was once a time when I had not either. Unfortunately, Procrastination hunted me down and I succumbed to the lure. So now I know about MLIA and FML and various other sites that I can *waste* use time on to procrastinate. In the future, though I may fight back against Procrastination, it will be harder for me since I now know more places where I can go to procrastinate.

(Another side note: I still have a hard time saying waste time or kill time after reading The Phantom Tollbooth for the first time. If you haven't read it, finish reading this post and then go read that book.)

However, though there are many sites that you can go to that are frequent feeding areas for Procrastination (he/she visits them often to make sure his/her prey is obeying him/her), there are also sites that you can go to that are prime fighting arenas. Though this post is rather long already, I'm going to go on with those sites and other ways to keep yourself writing.

Number 1! My personal favorite, is Write Or Die. (Links to sites mentioned will be at the end of the post.) This site (created by Dr. Wicked) has a web app. It's essentially a text box that you write in - but! If you slow down (i.e. don't type), the background starts turning red in gradually darkening shades. If you don't type for long enough, it turns completely red and starts playing some awful noise to remind you. Oh, and there's a pause button in case you need to go to the bathroom in the middle of your time - but to fight Procrastination even more, you can't go to any other tabs while WoD is on pause.

Personally, I find that the noise isn't that bad - the most useful part is the shades of pink to red. Usually by the time it gets to the second or third shade, I'm sufficiently reminded to start writing again. Because that's how Procrastination starts: first you stop doing what you're doing, even if you don't realize it, and then before you know it, you're surfing the web under the spell of Procrastination.

Number 2! I don't particularly like this one, since I don't find that it fights Procrastination enough. But I know many other people like it so I'm putting it here anyway. Written Kitten! For every 100 words (number of words variable), you get a new, cute, adorable picture of a kitten on your screen! This one's more of a positive reinforcement site - perhaps that says something about me. I prefer the "do or die" sentiment than the "good job, here's a carrot" sentiment.

I suppose the carrot comes from the carrot and the stick saying, but I think that a piece of chocolate would work better than a carrot. Of course, the saying was talking about a donkey, not me.

Number 3! Moving on from the sites, these next two require another person to join you. Team work! Sort of the opposite of divide and conquer. Anyway, word wars! If you don't know what a word war is, it's when a group of people (group being more than one) decide to start writing at a certain time, for a certain period of time, and when the time is up, whoever has written the most words wins. Main point is to add a little competition to try to inspire faster production than Procrastination would otherwise allow.

I really like word wars because I'm competitive, and it gets me to the point where I can say, "Ok, at such and such time, I'm going to write as fast as I can for this amount of time, now GO." Short attention span works for me. Usually I and whoever I'm doing it with will do 10 or 15 minute spurts, with around 5 minutes in between.

Number 4! Word sprints. I don't use these very much myself. But they are similar to word wars - you need 2+ people. Set a word goal, and write as fast as you can, starting at the same time as the other person, until you reach that goal. Then see who got to the "finish line" first. Sometimes I'll throw one of these in with the word wars just to change things up, but I prefer the word wars due to the fact that I don't have to keep track of the number of words. It's really helpful to have a program that automatically tells you how many words you have as you're writing for word sprints, so that you don't waste time checking your word count.

What are your favorite ways to procrastinate? And when you don't want to procrastinate, how do you stop the beast? (answer the last one especially - I need more help in that area. The first area I'm doing just fine in.)


Write Or Die: http://writeordie.com/
Besides the web app, which is free, you can also get an app for Ipad and/or Desktop, which cost 10 dollars each, but well worth it.

Written Kitten: http://writtenkitten.net/

Titles

Titles. Kind of strange that my first post on any sort of writing craft is about something that usually comes at the end of the creating process. I'll start with novel titles, but the basic principles are the same no matter what you're titling.

Ideally, a title should grab the reader's attention. But you probably already knew that. It's actually more important to think of that as creating almost a cliff hanger with the title. Your title shouldn't give away the entire story, because even if it's a great story, your reader won't be inclined to read it if they already know what happens.

For example, if I titled a book "Great Adventures of Survival: Involving a Dragon that Burns the Hero, Who Then Must Be Saved by the Princess", it wouldn't be nearly as attractive to me as a reader as a title like "A Fiery Rescue".

Now, I'm not saying that the first one is really something that you'd title your book, since it's a bit of an exaggeration, or that the second is really that great (I just made those up). But having a more concise title that doesn't give it all away will make someone who just sees the title more likely to read it.

You can pull title ideas from anywhere really. I've taken titles for my novels or short stories anywhere from a small icon in the story to a major section. Titles can come from a particular message or icon that keeps popping up in the story, or from something that happens in the story, or from the theme of the story.

I mentioned that titles are usually produced at the end of the creative process. I think that's probably because that's when you know your story the best - when it's all finished. Especially with a novel, there are so many things that you'll find out along the way, about your characters, your world, and your plot, that it's easier to look back and pick out something iconic that would make a good title.

I'm a rebel though, and I often pick a title before I even start writing. It doesn't necessarily mean I'll keep that title, but sometimes it's the title that gives me the inspiration for the story, and so it's the very first thing that gets put down on paper for the story.

Where do you get your titles? For titles that I come up with before the story, I'll usually be thinking about something when I come across a particularly catchy phrase. For instance, yesterday I was making a (delicious) sundae, when I thought "Sweet Sin". Sure, it was in regards to ice cream, but then my mind caught hold of the idea and spun off to interpreting it as a vengeful murder.

Here's a challenge. Come up with your own interpretation of Sweet Sin, and if you like it enough, write something following that interpretation. I would write a short story about that murder if it were me - and now that I'm writing this blog post, I'll have to. :)