Archive for the ‘Novel Writing’ Category

It’s been nearly a year ago that I decided to write my first fiction novel. I had a robust start with 10000 words in just a few days, and then…I lost momentum. I posted a bit about it here on ProWebWriter. The file for the book has been sitting on my hard drive since June and I’ve made NO progress. My weak defense excuse is that I started a new full-time job in July. I struggled to find motivation.

I found out about the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award via the Kindle Direct Publishing Newsletter. The brief description intrigued me. Two categories, two grand prizes, a publishing contract, and a $15000 advance. It didn’t register right away that the contest required a completed manuscript. I was on board until I figured that out. My manuscript is MILES from complete. Oh well, there’s always next year, or the next contest.

I was telling my partner about it later. How I found this awesome contest and submissions were in three days. Then I realized I needed a complete manuscript to enter, so I just figured it wasn’t possible. “Why not?” she says.

“Uh, because submissions open in THREE days.”
“So.”
“So, I’m not anywhere near done.”
“Well, get it done. You can do it, I have faith in you.”

I was devoid of any excuse. Why couldn’t I do it? So, I’m writing this post in the midst of this endeavor. Submissions open tomorrow, and I have until February 5th to complete my manuscript and write a pitch. Apparently, there’s a whole horde of people who have been waiting since last year for this contest to roll around again. I took a very brief look at the discussion forums before I decided to wing it. I’m a little late to the game to be all researchy and scientific about it.

So here goes nothing. I’ve written nearly 6000 words in 2 days with a long weekend coming up to make an even larger dent. Even if I don’t make the deadline, I win because my debut novel will be complete and ready to publish. I needed that push! If you’d like to enter, check the link above. You’ll find all the info you need there. I’ll keep you posted. Either way, look for some new informative posts headed your way. Happy Writing!

Prepping For Critique

Once you’ve got a good start on your novel or you’ve completed the rough draft of your manuscript, it’s time to enter the editing phase. This is the point where you let go of your baby and see if it can stand alone. It’s not an easy step, but necessary in the publishing process. The first step is Proofreading. While it’s difficult to proofread your own work, you will catch mistakes.

If you would prefer your manuscript to be a little more polished before you let others critique it, you can always run it through editing software like Editor by Serenity Software. Editor will set you back $55 for the standard version, but it will find mistakes and inconsistencies that you will initially miss during your proofread. Personally, if I bought every 50-dollar piece of software that I could benefit from, I’d have no space on my computer AND I’d be broke.

Finding an Objective Eye

More than likely, as you seek out a beta reader or critique partner to put an objective pair of eyes on your draft, you’re going to have to count on getting lucky. There are communities online dedicated to such pairings but the caveat is it will be difficult to find a dedicated reader and you may be expected to return the favor. If you haven’t started using Twitter to meet and interact with other writers, now’s a good time to start. That’s the next post.

You can also find readers by blogging. Those who take the time to comment are already reading what you’re putting down. Most Writers’ forums have an area where you can post your work for critique. I suggest that you find a writers’ community where you feel comfortable, interact, and post some good information BEFORE you ask for critiques. You should never have to pay a beta reader, but remember, the relationship is usually a reciprocal one where you will be asked to critique your partner’s work as well. Look for someone in your genre. Writers’ communities are a dime a dozen.

What’s Next?

It’s time to hire an editor. After you’ve done everything you can to get your work to a polished state, bring in an editor. Why now? Well, because it will be a less time-consuming task at this stage in the game. It’s always a good idea to send the editor you choose a sample to edit so you will have an idea of their editing style and what you are getting for your money.

Why Are These Steps Are So Important?

As an indie publisher, the odds and resources are stacked against you. Following these steps will ensure that your work is on a level with mainstream publishing. Churning out the best product you can helps quell the stereotype that indie publishing is less professional and shows readers that you are serious about writing and providing them with the best product possible.

As with most aspects of life, if you’re serious about writing, you’re going to need a serious support system. I know ALL of your ideas are sheer brilliance, but you have to bounce them around a little before you throw them out there as gold. Trust me. I’m no different from other writers, I have several ideas in the works at all times. Of course *I* think they’re brilliant since they’ve made it past the “No, that’s stupid” phase of thought. With me so far?

I’m reluctant to share my ideas before they’re complete because I fear that they’re so brilliant someone might steal them. Please cast my confidence and narcissism aside because I assure you that is not what I’m about. More than anything, writers want to be read. However, we definitely don’t want to read our ideas coming from someone else’s pen. That being said…I’m going to jump out there and share an example.

I had this brilliant idea for a book that would delve into a genre I have yet to explore: the paranormal. I’ve been ruminating on this one for more than a year now. I had the perfect title, perfect start, and had even managed to find a couple of willing victims to contribute to the project. As the project neared the collaboration/writing stage, I unveiled my title…what I thought was an intelligent and luring one-word lull to an interesting non-fiction work.

Are you ready, here it comes: PRINCIPALITIES. Isn’t it beautiful? The first reaction I received from my comrades in arms was, “What does that mean?” So, I proceeded to explain, “It mean evil spirits.” Right? WRONG. The title is based on a verse from the Bible:

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. ~ Ephesians 6:12

The second reaction went something like, “If I were searching for a paranormal book to read, I’d never search that. Even if it came up in the results, that title wouldn’t prompt me to buy/read the book.”

Well, that’s a huge problem, so there went my gorgeous title out the window. It had to go. Not only did it not represent the project well, I found that I didn’t know the definition of “prinicipality” which is as follows:

noun, plural -ties.

1. a state ruled by a prince, usually a relatively small state or a state that falls within a larger state such as an empire.
2. the position or authority of a prince or chief ruler; sovereignty; supreme power.
3. the rule of a prince of a small or subordinate state.

Boy, was I way off. In my defense, it does have a different theological meaning:

As a writer, you have to be able to separate yourself from your work and look at it from a reader’s standpoint. My title actually fit if you use the second definition, but there’s a serious combination of thought that must take place for it to work, and that is why it doesn’t work. I’m not writing for an academic paper or journal, I’m not doing my research at the Harvard library, so it’s really ineffective to title my book like I am. Keep it simple = reach more readers.

Thank goodness I conferred with my contributors! I was set and completely prepared to proceed with an ineffective title! You can apply this idea to all areas of your writing in progress. Ask yourself a few questions:

• Is my title simple and effective?
• Who is my target audience?
• Does EVERY word in my work cater to that audience?
• Have I separated myself from my work by having it edited?

If you answered “No” or “I don’t know” to any of these questions, you need to reach out to some objective opinions, and I don’t mean your mom. Stay tuned. We will discuss where to go for constructive criticism next.

Okay, Writers…let’s review how to get past 10,000 words. I did it! Have you? If you’re a returning reader at PWW, then you’ve seen my posts about getting stuck on my debut novel at 10,000 words. In those posts, I’ve pretty much covered how to push past Writers’ Block. However, we learn by repetition, so I’m going to pull the advice from both those posts and put them here in one place.

Push Past That Writers’ Block

The first and most important piece of advice is to KEEP WRITING. I know, I know, you don’t feel like it, you feel blank, you don’t have time, it will come out all wrong, you’ll have to trash it anyway….etc. etc. WRITE ANYWAY. Even if you just write a few sentences here and there…that’s a few sentences you didn’t have before. Oh, and while we are right here…GET RID OF ALL THOSE EXCUSES. Glad we covered that.

Now…the best case scenario is to WRITE EVERYDAY, but life happens and it is sometimes impossible. If you don’t have time to sit down and write, jot notes and ideas. You can never have too much material to draw from. I am the gold-medal procrastinator, stop that too. NO PROCRASTINATING. If you feel like procrastinating, revert to the above note-jotting and idea-storming.

If You Just Can’t…

…write a coherent sentence, work on the marketing side of things. It will be less you have to later when you really just want to get your book OUT THERE. Here’s a few ideas:

• Create a book trailer for YouTube
• Work on your profiles at: Goodreads or Shelfari
• Release a teaser on Facebook, Twitter, YOUR WEBSITE, etc.
• Get established on sites where you plan to sell your book like Amazon, Smashwords, etc.
• Network with other writers, cover artists, book reviewers, etc.

Read my previous post: http://prowebwriter.com/dont-choke-at-10000-words/

And…your soul is probably screaming, “What do I do now!?!” Fear not, you are not alone. For here I sit, completely stuck at…you guessed it…10000 words. The first thing that I found while researching for this post was that I’m not alone.

A Little Backstory…

I’ve never written anything longer than probably 10 pages all at once. I’ve written loads of blog posts, tons of web articles, lots of web copy, a small collection of poems, and a story here and there. I always figured novel-writing was for everyone else and that my niche was writing things that gratified me in less time. After all, this was the reason I gave up art for writing. ADD has always afforded me the tendency to choose toward the path of least resistance. This is NOT a good thing.

I’ve had the ideas for no less than 5 books sitting in a folder that has traveled with me for the better part of probably 7 years. Some of these ideas included an outline or even the first few pages of a rough draft. One of them is even a completed manuscript for a children’s book. Yet they sit, and I can’t answer the question as to why they sit with anything but a number of useless excuses.

So When I Decided To Do Something About It…

…I made myself a goal for the month of April…yeah, nearly 2 months ago now…to complete the rough draft of my first novel by the end of the month. That would give me May to do a nice long revision and hopefully have it out for summer reading. So, the first week in April, I began writing. I overshot my goal for 10000 words in my first week by nearly 300 words. The sense of accomplishment was AWESOME…and debilitating.

I haven’t opened the file since. It’s a shameful thing. All the talking up I did about writing my first book has become a point of shame with friends and family. The conversations usually go a little something like this: “How’s the book comin’?”

“Er, I haven’t opened the file in __ weeks. I’m trying to get motivated though.”

“Oh.”

Finding Motivation

The only REAL piece of advice when it comes to writer’s block is to write anyway. (I have an excuse for that too.) A solid piece of follow up advice is abandon ALL excuses. For the last few weeks, I’ve been procrastinating by thinking up ways to motivate myself. Oh! There’s another one…stop procrastinating! Aside from the 3 stellar tips bolded in this paragraph, here’s what I came up with:

• Get some software that is actually for novel writing
• Release book teasers via your marketing avenues (Facebook, MySpace, or whatever)
• Create a book trailer for YouTube (similar to a movie trailer with still images)
• Set up your marketing accounts (Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Shelfari, Goodreads)

Of course the problem with ALL of these is that none of them include any work on your actual novel. The more time you spend doing things like this, the less time you are spending writing. These tasks are merely mean to re-motivate you and force you to open up that file! Check out this link for some actionable steps to get you back in the groove: http://www.aliventures.com/project-started-in-four-steps/

Writing a novel is a huge undertaking and there are a number of ways to go about it. Some authors write an extensive outline that acts as a sort of road map as they write. Basically, the author plots the entire book in the outline. It’s the written equivalent to say, a storyboard like filmmakers use to make a movie. Some authors just write and then revise and revise and then, revise again. There is no right way to do it. You do what works best for you.

I began writing at the beginning of April. I completed more than 10000 words in the first week. The sense of accomplishment was awesome. I’d never written anything that long. Then I choked. It’s like the writing gods stole my motivation. I haven’t even opened my manuscript in 3 weeks. I had set a goal to have the rough draft completed by month’s end. I’m not going to reach that goal.

I don’t have some miraculous tip that will help you make it through the duration of this endeavor. I can only relay the advice any writer would give you and I’m talking to myself: KEEP WRITING. Don’t get wound up in doing too much research or reading too much “help” information (like this post). Just write. Anything that is not writing is procrastination. Any time that you spend doing other things is time you are NOT writing.

If you feel unmotivated, write anyway. In my next post, I’m going to provide some links to FREE writing software. I actually downloaded an alternative software to my word processing program to motivate myself further. Why? Word processing programs are designed to handle A LOT of different tasks including, but not limited to, novel writing. There are several programs available just for the writer that help you compartmentalize and organize your writing in manageable chunks.

This will help not only with feeling overwhelmed, but it’s much easier to proofread and organize small chunks rather than pages and pages of text. At 10000 words, pages and pages is what you have. So stay tuned and find out if any of this software will help you in your journey.

If you’ve already choked, get some advice: http://prowebwriter.com/too-late-im-stuck-at-10000-words/

Here I am procrastinating on the brink of writing my first novel. I’ve tried a few methods to outline my book by mind-mapping it, staring at sample outlines, downloading outline templates…only to come to the conclusion that I have to create it MY way. Writing is an art; a creative process. Classically trained artists study the processes of the masters and some even try to emulate their style. In the end, you find that your best work comes when you just…LET GO.

That’s where I am. It is by no means my intention to undermine the advice of countless successful authors, but they did it their way. Creation is as unique to the individual as a fingerprint. You can’t create something new and different by emulating someone else. Take advice, but mold it to work for you. Let the process take over and control every aspect of creation from the method you use to outline to the last period. “Bob’s outline” might look great on the page, but it’s Bob’s.

If you flow better with a physical pen to the page, start doing your hand exercises because 50,000+ words is A LOT. If you want to spend some quality time with your laptop because your brain is too fast for your cursive slant, what are you waiting for? Brew some coffee, tea, buy a 6-pack of Pepsi, a pack of smokes, a Large McDonald’s French Fries or whatever you need to feed your vices. Cut out the distractions and prepare to virtually hibernate…because the time is now.

Do this thing YOUR way. That’s the only way it’s going to get done. All the specialized software and sample outlines in the world won’t feed your creative juices. Get the $ signs out of your head. This is for you and them, your readers. Write. Write like never before. Write like there’s no tomorrow. Push. Push yourself…push until you have that rough draft…until it sits before you tangibly. Then proofread. Stay tuned, because that’s the next post.