[No, your eyes aren't deceiving you. This is, in fact, my second entry for today. Which, by my reckoning, catches me up to last Thursday. Sorry. I'll try to do better in the future.]
Continuing in my series of posts inspired by going back to read some of my earlier works, I decided that it would be a good time to evaluate my progress as a writer. So here is a list of things on which I think I've made progress over the last few years of writing:
POV: As mentioned in previous posts, my preferred POV is first person. So when I made forays into third person, I didn't always get that, unless I'm writing in an omniscient POV (and so far, I haven't), POVs should be one to a scene. But in my latest completed novel, I found myself deciding, at the beginning of each scene, who should carry the POV ball for that scene. Which means that I've made progress there.
Starting and Ending Scenes: I have a tendency to either start a scene too early, or let it run on too long. or both. I don't necessarily need to know that Annalise went to bed, fell asleep, woke up the next morning got out of bed, and got dressed before going down to confront her Uncle Jacob at breakfast. I can just say, "The next morning at the breakfast table, Annalise confronted her Uncle Jacob." Poof! The reader assumes all of the sleeping and waking and dressing things have happened while we were away. Which is helpful when one is trying to reduce one's word count... (who, me?).
Showing instead of telling: My older works are rife with phrases like, "Annalise was nervous." "The Earl was frustrated." Now, Annalise stares down at the reins in her hands, wishing that her palms were not wet with sweat. The Earl grinds his teeth as he looks at his enemy. Which (hopefully) makes the characters more vivid and the story more interesting.
Using active verbs/active voice: Instead of writing things like, "Just then, there was a rap on the door", I'm now writing, "Uncle Jacob rapped on the door, interrupting them."
Reducing "weasel words/phrases": Weasel words are words that suck the life out of a sentence, like a weasel sucks the contents from an egg. These are words like: Appeared, suddenly, seemed, a bit, just. (If I had a dime for every "just" I've taken out of either of the pieces I'm currently actively editing, I could afford cable television, I think!) Also on the list are what I'm coming to think of as "weasel phrases". My characters have an appalling tendency to "make their way" from one place to another, and they keep "finding themselves" doing things. I'm getting better at stomping those out, but I still have a ways to go!
Improved editing skills: I'm getting better at editing what I've written, even when it means deleting a scene I dearly loved, or even a particularly witty turn of phrase.
So I think I've improved as a writer in the last few years. I know I still have much to learn, and many skills to perfect, but it's good to be able to look back and see the progress I've made.
How do other people measure their progress as writers?
Showing posts with label progress. Show all posts
Showing posts with label progress. Show all posts
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Friday, March 4, 2011
You're Out Of Order; or Writing The Ending First
I have another confession to make. (I seem to make them fairly frequently on this blog.)
I've already written the last scene of my current Work In Progress. Even though I have not yet finished all of the scenes that lead up to it. And in fact, I've just pasted two scenes into the story that I wrote a month ago, but hadn't added in because the story hadn't progressed that far yet.
This -- writing out of order -- is something I rarely do, and for a couple of reasons.
First, I usually find that when I know how a story is going to end, it's difficult to generate spontaneity in earlier sections. If I know I'm writing a character out at the end of Chapter 29, and I write her demise before I write everything else leading up to her demise, I'm likely to treat her differently than I would have otherwise. Perhaps I'll have her pull back from a relationship where she really should have moved ahead; or perhaps I'll make her take a foolish risk that she would never have taken in a million years.
And the second reason is that there is a risk that once you get to the section you wrote ahead of time, it just won't fit into the story anymore. Your characters may have grown in unexpected ways, or you might have found a way to fit the key parts of the scene into the story in another, better way. Though that also happened to me recently: Two of my characters had had a fight with each other, and I had a long, drawn-out, wordy reconciliation scene planned out for them, but at the end of the previous scene, it was just right for the two of them to say, "I'm sorry," and move on.
Of course, one school of thought says that you should outline the story you want to tell, and then just work on whatever section strikes your fancy on a given day. Unless you're a more thorough outliner than I am, though, this could be frustrating, as it might prove difficult to keep your characters consistent and to keep them moving along their arcs as they should. I did try this method once, back in my early writing days. It's probably worth noting that the story never did get finished, mostly because I never seemed to get around to writing "the boring bits": the scenes that filled in the background and provided transitions and held the story together. One might argue that if the missing parts really were that boring, perhaps they did not belong in the story at all; but it's just as likely that what they really needed was someone to write them who was better at incorporating necessary information into the story without getting all info-dumpy.
So if writing out of order is so problematic, why did I do it this time? Mostly, I'll confess, because I was otherwise stalled on one of the two main tracks of the story, and I hoped that if I pushed ahead on the other one, it would break things free on the first one. (And it did!)
But another reason was because there were certain character moments and certain turns of phrase that I wanted to make certain to capture while they were still in my mind. All too often, I think about a scene ahead of time, and work out just how the dialogue will go, until it's just perfect...only to have it completely disappear out of my head when it comes time to actually sit down and write that scene.
And the final reason, in this case, was the weather. I can see you wondering: What does the weather have to do with it? Well, we had some painfully cold weather here in January and early February (high temperatures that never got above 0 degrees F), and two of the scenes I wrote were set during cold weather. So I wanted to write them while my toes still ached from having been outside in that kind of weather. I wanted to capture the feeling of frigid air in my lungs while it was still fresh in my mind. I know that if I had waited until now to write those scenes (we've been having highs in the 50s and 60s F), it would have been more difficult to distill the essence of that kind of cold down to a few paragraphs.
So do other people always begin at the beginning of the story and write straight through to the end, or do you skip around, depending on how you feel on a given day?
I've already written the last scene of my current Work In Progress. Even though I have not yet finished all of the scenes that lead up to it. And in fact, I've just pasted two scenes into the story that I wrote a month ago, but hadn't added in because the story hadn't progressed that far yet.
This -- writing out of order -- is something I rarely do, and for a couple of reasons.
First, I usually find that when I know how a story is going to end, it's difficult to generate spontaneity in earlier sections. If I know I'm writing a character out at the end of Chapter 29, and I write her demise before I write everything else leading up to her demise, I'm likely to treat her differently than I would have otherwise. Perhaps I'll have her pull back from a relationship where she really should have moved ahead; or perhaps I'll make her take a foolish risk that she would never have taken in a million years.
And the second reason is that there is a risk that once you get to the section you wrote ahead of time, it just won't fit into the story anymore. Your characters may have grown in unexpected ways, or you might have found a way to fit the key parts of the scene into the story in another, better way. Though that also happened to me recently: Two of my characters had had a fight with each other, and I had a long, drawn-out, wordy reconciliation scene planned out for them, but at the end of the previous scene, it was just right for the two of them to say, "I'm sorry," and move on.
Of course, one school of thought says that you should outline the story you want to tell, and then just work on whatever section strikes your fancy on a given day. Unless you're a more thorough outliner than I am, though, this could be frustrating, as it might prove difficult to keep your characters consistent and to keep them moving along their arcs as they should. I did try this method once, back in my early writing days. It's probably worth noting that the story never did get finished, mostly because I never seemed to get around to writing "the boring bits": the scenes that filled in the background and provided transitions and held the story together. One might argue that if the missing parts really were that boring, perhaps they did not belong in the story at all; but it's just as likely that what they really needed was someone to write them who was better at incorporating necessary information into the story without getting all info-dumpy.
So if writing out of order is so problematic, why did I do it this time? Mostly, I'll confess, because I was otherwise stalled on one of the two main tracks of the story, and I hoped that if I pushed ahead on the other one, it would break things free on the first one. (And it did!)
But another reason was because there were certain character moments and certain turns of phrase that I wanted to make certain to capture while they were still in my mind. All too often, I think about a scene ahead of time, and work out just how the dialogue will go, until it's just perfect...only to have it completely disappear out of my head when it comes time to actually sit down and write that scene.
And the final reason, in this case, was the weather. I can see you wondering: What does the weather have to do with it? Well, we had some painfully cold weather here in January and early February (high temperatures that never got above 0 degrees F), and two of the scenes I wrote were set during cold weather. So I wanted to write them while my toes still ached from having been outside in that kind of weather. I wanted to capture the feeling of frigid air in my lungs while it was still fresh in my mind. I know that if I had waited until now to write those scenes (we've been having highs in the 50s and 60s F), it would have been more difficult to distill the essence of that kind of cold down to a few paragraphs.
So do other people always begin at the beginning of the story and write straight through to the end, or do you skip around, depending on how you feel on a given day?
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Merit Badges For Writers; or, How Do I Know If I'm Making Any Progress?
This week, I stumbled across a Web site that made me giggle: Merit Badges For Writers.* Yep, they're basically electronic badges that you can download and post on your blog, your Facebook, or wherever you'd like. There aren't a lot of them out there yet, but the ones they have are fun. I mean, don't you think I need "Grammar Ninja" on my blog? And "Historical Fiction"? I am so there!
Sometimes, as a writer, it's hard for me to tell whether I'm making any progress in furthering my writing abilities or not. I read a lot of advice, and have digested several books on writing technique, but I can't always tell whether it's having any impact on how I write, and if so, whether that impact is positive or negative. I think I'm making progress on "showing not telling," and I'm struggling hard to resist the urge to head-hop. I'm making a conscious effort to use fewer dialogue tags ("he said," "she asked," etc.); I wrote a dialogue passage last week that didn't contain a single one, yet it was always clear who was speaking, and the passage flowed naturally and easily. Shouldn't something like that deserve at least a little recognition, if only just a good, loud "Attagirl!"?
There are other important milestones in a writer's life, too, a lot of firsts: writing your first short story, your first novel, making your first submission to a critique group or a contest. Not to mention the big ticket items like querying agents or actually publishing something. I don't know about anyone else, but there are times when I would just find it comforting to be able to see, visually, that I really am making forward progress. Wouldn't a row of "merit badges" be a great way to remind yourself that your work is improving, and that the top of the mountain is getting nearer all the time?
I think I'm going to have to work on something like that. And yes, I know that it's possible to collect all of the merit badges and still not reach the summit, but I'd still really like to look back and see the trail behind me, and know that I've overcome all of those obstacles. If I am mighty enough to do all of that, I'm mighty enough to keep pushing onward. Right?
How do other people track their writing achievements? Or do you? If not, do you think you should?
*Actually, they have Merit Badges For Readers as well. They're having far too much fun.
Sometimes, as a writer, it's hard for me to tell whether I'm making any progress in furthering my writing abilities or not. I read a lot of advice, and have digested several books on writing technique, but I can't always tell whether it's having any impact on how I write, and if so, whether that impact is positive or negative. I think I'm making progress on "showing not telling," and I'm struggling hard to resist the urge to head-hop. I'm making a conscious effort to use fewer dialogue tags ("he said," "she asked," etc.); I wrote a dialogue passage last week that didn't contain a single one, yet it was always clear who was speaking, and the passage flowed naturally and easily. Shouldn't something like that deserve at least a little recognition, if only just a good, loud "Attagirl!"?
There are other important milestones in a writer's life, too, a lot of firsts: writing your first short story, your first novel, making your first submission to a critique group or a contest. Not to mention the big ticket items like querying agents or actually publishing something. I don't know about anyone else, but there are times when I would just find it comforting to be able to see, visually, that I really am making forward progress. Wouldn't a row of "merit badges" be a great way to remind yourself that your work is improving, and that the top of the mountain is getting nearer all the time?
I think I'm going to have to work on something like that. And yes, I know that it's possible to collect all of the merit badges and still not reach the summit, but I'd still really like to look back and see the trail behind me, and know that I've overcome all of those obstacles. If I am mighty enough to do all of that, I'm mighty enough to keep pushing onward. Right?
How do other people track their writing achievements? Or do you? If not, do you think you should?
*Actually, they have Merit Badges For Readers as well. They're having far too much fun.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Summer Writing Challenge; or, How Am I Doing So Far?
Thought I'd take a few minutes this week and let everyone know how I'm doing with my summer writing challenge.
For those who were out of the room back in May when I announced it, I'm taking part in a summer writing challenge this year. The challenge runs from June 1 - August 31. Participants are allowed to set their own goals. I selected 30,000 words as my goal, which doesn't seem like much for someone who has done NaNoWriMo (50,000 words in one month), but I added a twist: All words that count toward my goal must be in the form of shorter works of fiction. So, short stories, character sketches, even novelettes and novellas would count. Just nothing novel-length.
Earlier this week, I completed my first "short" story, which may actually be more of a novelette at 12,200 words. But still, for me to complete anything in less than 100,000 words is something of a triumph. This is in fact the second shorter work I've completed this year, the first being a short (7,000 word) piece I threw together in response to a writing prompt here back in April.
I experimented with a few things in this story. It's written in first person, but the POV shifts between two different characters. I wanted the two POV characters to have distinctive voices, and I think I've succeeded for the most part. And I wanted the story to end with a twist; I think I achieved that as well. It is a bit longer than I'd planned (I was aiming for 8.000 words, so it's only about half again too long -- like everything else I write), but I don't know how much it could be trimmed and still make sense.
I also made use of research I did on my recent field trip to Kimball, Nebraska, since I decided to set the story there. In fact, it's sorta-kinda-but-not-really the story of my trip. Or rather, it's my trip, but the way it would have been if someone else took it -- someone with ulterior motives for visiting a small Nebraska town one day in late spring. (I feel as though I should be twirling my mustache here or something...)
However, because I want to try to submit this story for publication, I'm not going to post it on one of my blogs. I may run it past my critique pals, and of course I'm always looking for more beta readers. So if anyone who isn't part of The Melt-Ink Pot or anticiworkshop wants to provide feedback on the story, drop me a comment here (or via LJ, Facebook or Twitter if that's how you came to be here), and we'll see if we can work something out.
What's next? Well, I'll tease you a little and post the first paragraph of my new WIP here:
For those who were out of the room back in May when I announced it, I'm taking part in a summer writing challenge this year. The challenge runs from June 1 - August 31. Participants are allowed to set their own goals. I selected 30,000 words as my goal, which doesn't seem like much for someone who has done NaNoWriMo (50,000 words in one month), but I added a twist: All words that count toward my goal must be in the form of shorter works of fiction. So, short stories, character sketches, even novelettes and novellas would count. Just nothing novel-length.
Earlier this week, I completed my first "short" story, which may actually be more of a novelette at 12,200 words. But still, for me to complete anything in less than 100,000 words is something of a triumph. This is in fact the second shorter work I've completed this year, the first being a short (7,000 word) piece I threw together in response to a writing prompt here back in April.
I experimented with a few things in this story. It's written in first person, but the POV shifts between two different characters. I wanted the two POV characters to have distinctive voices, and I think I've succeeded for the most part. And I wanted the story to end with a twist; I think I achieved that as well. It is a bit longer than I'd planned (I was aiming for 8.000 words, so it's only about half again too long -- like everything else I write), but I don't know how much it could be trimmed and still make sense.
I also made use of research I did on my recent field trip to Kimball, Nebraska, since I decided to set the story there. In fact, it's sorta-kinda-but-not-really the story of my trip. Or rather, it's my trip, but the way it would have been if someone else took it -- someone with ulterior motives for visiting a small Nebraska town one day in late spring. (I feel as though I should be twirling my mustache here or something...)
However, because I want to try to submit this story for publication, I'm not going to post it on one of my blogs. I may run it past my critique pals, and of course I'm always looking for more beta readers. So if anyone who isn't part of The Melt-Ink Pot or anticiworkshop wants to provide feedback on the story, drop me a comment here (or via LJ, Facebook or Twitter if that's how you came to be here), and we'll see if we can work something out.
What's next? Well, I'll tease you a little and post the first paragraph of my new WIP here:
Edna stomped into the kitchen and threw her gardening gloves onto the counter with more than her usual vehemence. "There are fairies," she announced, her nose wrinkled in disgust. "Living at the bottom of the garden."Yeah. It's a fairy tale. Of sorts.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Trembling On The Brink
In all of the stories I've written so far, I've reached a point where I feel as though all of the setup, all of the tension-building, and all of the background work is done. From here, it's just one long unstoppable downhill ride on the roller-coaster hill. Granted, there may be a twist or two before we actually hit the bottom, but from here, the story should be a quick, thrill-packed ride.
(Or so I hope. It hasn't always worked out quite that way. When I reached that point in last year's NaNoWriMo story, it turned out that I was still four months and more than 150K words away from where the story said it wanted to end. I'm seriously hoping that doesn't happen again this year.)
I think I'm a hair's-breadth away from that point in my current WIP, The Daughters of August Winterbourne. There have been three abductions and a second murder, although Celia and her sisters thus far only suspect one of the abductions. I've put in all the clues and hints that are needed (I think) for the revelations that are about to happen. All of the background is finished; all of the little character beats I wanted to establish have been established. I'm well aware that, in fact, the story so far is overwritten, but I'm trying hard to keep things moving in spite of it.
Now comes the tricky bit: Making it dramatic without crossing the line into melodrama, keeping the action rolling without wandering down too many side roads, and remembering that this part of the story is supposed to be fun (at least for the readers, if not for the characters, who aren't going to enjoy it at all). Got to remember to keep the angst at bay. If people want that, they have plenty of television-viewing options available to them.
{puts foot firmly on neck of Inner Editor} And you, troublesome thing, can just sit there and shut up. Yes, I know we can -- and will -- need to edit for pacing later. Key word in that phrase is l-a-t-e-r. As in, some time other than now. Got it?
So how are other people's projects progressing?
(Or so I hope. It hasn't always worked out quite that way. When I reached that point in last year's NaNoWriMo story, it turned out that I was still four months and more than 150K words away from where the story said it wanted to end. I'm seriously hoping that doesn't happen again this year.)
I think I'm a hair's-breadth away from that point in my current WIP, The Daughters of August Winterbourne. There have been three abductions and a second murder, although Celia and her sisters thus far only suspect one of the abductions. I've put in all the clues and hints that are needed (I think) for the revelations that are about to happen. All of the background is finished; all of the little character beats I wanted to establish have been established. I'm well aware that, in fact, the story so far is overwritten, but I'm trying hard to keep things moving in spite of it.
Now comes the tricky bit: Making it dramatic without crossing the line into melodrama, keeping the action rolling without wandering down too many side roads, and remembering that this part of the story is supposed to be fun (at least for the readers, if not for the characters, who aren't going to enjoy it at all). Got to remember to keep the angst at bay. If people want that, they have plenty of television-viewing options available to them.
{puts foot firmly on neck of Inner Editor} And you, troublesome thing, can just sit there and shut up. Yes, I know we can -- and will -- need to edit for pacing later. Key word in that phrase is l-a-t-e-r. As in, some time other than now. Got it?
So how are other people's projects progressing?
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