Editing- That's What I Meant

Have you ever found yourself telling somebody that’s what I meant or that’s NOT what I meant? Well, that happens all the time in writing. The entire story is in the writer’s head, but what comes out isn’t always clear, just like in conversations. That’s why it’s so important to get fresh eyes on your drafts. No matter how great or successful a writer you are, your work has to be looked over by other people who can catch all the things you meant to say but didn’t (outside of your own mind, anyway).

I started my first novel, The Anuan Legacy (coming fall of 2017), from a place of zero knowledge or experience on how to write a book. Therefore, it may have spun around longer than a seasoned writer’s work would have, but nobody should ever scratch together a draft and immediately send it out the door without putting it in the hands of qualified reviewers and editors first.

My critique group (The Plot Sisters), does a great job of being my first round of fresh eyes, and sometimes my second and third rounds, as well. But after a while, they don’t have fresh eyes anymore, either. They know all the things that have been cut and may no longer recognize when something is missing that should have been included. 

For The Anuan Legacy, after I wore out my Plot Sisters, I hired a trusted and reputable professional to give a critique as both a reader and someone who knows the current dos and don’ts of novel writing. (These change over time.) This resulted in more revisions. I then passed the manuscript on to beta readers. Beta readers are volunteers who have never seen the story before and are willing to read it and give feedback. Of course, this drove another round of revisions. Once those were complete, I ran the updated draft through a second professional critique. More revisions. Then my Plot Sisters graciously agreed to review the manuscript yet another time. The material had morphed enough since they’d last seen it that their eyes were fresh again. Of course, I received more revision suggestions. Next, more beta readers and, you guessed it—more revisions. My manuscript went through so many revisions it barely resembled the original draft anymore and the time had come to bring in the heavy hitters. I sent it off to an editor who gave it a good content edit. And, yep, I had more revisions to make. 

I might mention that after every set of comments, whether it be from my Plot Sisters, a professional editor, or anybody in between, I wanted to kick myself for not catching those things on my own. It always seemed so obvious after someone else pointed it out, but “tired eyes” just miss things. 

This process can go round and round and round. So, where do things stand now with my debut novel? I just received the manuscript back from line editing. If you guessed that will result in more revisions, you’re right. But hopefully soon, it will be ready for proofreading and publishing—with a million other steps in between like blurbs, cover art, formatting, reviews, launch activities, and so on. 

Suffice it to say that when this book finally reaches all of you, it will not just be made of paper and ink, but of my blood, sweat, tears, heart, and soul. I hope you enjoy it. 😊 

Happy Reading!

Traci

This post originally published on Traci's website: http://www.traciisonschafer.com/ 

April 12, 2017

Visitors Part II: Fred Marion February 2, 2017

 

Fred Marion with the Plot Sisters

                                 (Cindy, Jen, Fred, Jude, Chris not pictured Ruthann & Traci)



   Last month we had another distinguished guest that shared their writing story with the Plot Sisters. We were pleased to have Fred Marion.

  

     Fred finished revisions on his middle grade fantasy novel, The Very Strange and Very Secret Trash Can Club, earlier this year. The manuscript is currently in the hands of his notorious agent, Ms. Jenny Bent from the Bent Agency. She will hold the key to the next step towards publication. Ms. Bent agreed to represent Fred after receiving an awesome query letter and reading his full manuscript. Fred shared that Ms. Bent shared many suggestions and asked him to revise aspects of his novel which he toiled over for months. 

     Not only did we relish and celebrate with Fred in the retelling the how of landing his agent, but Fred also shared endearing personal tales of steadfastness, perseverance, and providence. He told us how he believes writers process their own emotions in the words in which they write. How "writers have to keep writing because they simply must write." 

     Fred's background includes an English degree from Wright State University with an emphasis in creative writing, copy editing at the Dayton Daily News, journalist stints in both North Carolina and West Palm Beach, Florida until finally finding himself back in Dayton, Ohio. Today Fred creates a weekly newsletter of writing and literary events in Dayton, carves out time to work on his own projects, as well as freelances and does webdesign part time. He credited his wife for encouraging him not give up on his dreams. 

     Among the tips Fred shared with us were the following:

1) Create Accountability

2) Read A Lot In the Genre You are Writing

3) Information Diet- don't get too distracted by "other" information that may hinder your writing

4) Vary Sentence Length To Keep Your Writing Interesting

     Fred is going to be speaking on a panel, March 25, 2017, at the Antioch Writers' Workshop Spring One-Day Seminar about "Finding Your Writing Tribe." Other panelists will include Becky Morean, Grace Curtis, and Ryan Ireland. We hope you find him as charming and refreshing as we did. You can find out more information about Fred and his work on his webpage. http://fredrickmarion.com/

~Cindy

    

Love Stories

I've been writing novels for about five years now. When I first started, I had the seed of one idea in my head: the story of a little girl named Laney and her friend, Harvey the Hippo. These characters had sprung from some things I'd written in high school, and my first attempt at a book resulted in a novel called Drops of Jupiter.

I like the story, but I've done nothing with it since I finished it so long ago. Instead, I moved onto writing (in order) Hunting for Lilacs, Beyond the Trees, After We've Fallen, The Chocolate Garden, and Just Be.

The last of those was the novel that poured forth this past November, when I participated in NaNoWriMo 2016. It is a love story at heart and something I struggled with for a long time. Should I write a sappy love story? Does this love story have to have a happy ending? It this story really categorized as a romance? And how do I feel about that?

I didn't have the answers to those questions, and part of me wondered why I was so against writing a love story. What's wrong with them? If written well, the story can put smiles on people's faces. Isn't that what I want to do?

Well last week, I gave the first 20 pages of Just Be to The Plot Sisters to read and it was as if I'd purged myself of any bad feelings about love stories. They enjoyed reading the pages, and after our discussion, I realized that every other book I've written, with the exception of Drops of Jupiter, has a love story either at the center of the book or on the periphery of it.

I think I'd better come to terms with the fact that I just might be a love story writer. Plenty of worse things exists out there, don't you think?

Happy Writing!
~Christina

Visitors: Part I: Jan Irvin, January 19th, 2017

     In this late week of February, around the Miami Valley winter is giving way to spring. We thought it was significant to share the Plot Sisters' visitors these past few months on our blog. It has been a privilege of sharing conversations with two local authors; Jan Irvin and Fred Marion. We've divided this blog post into two parts. Here's Part I: Jan Irvin, January 19th, 2017.

Jan Irvin (publishes under J.E. Irvin)

    Although a few of our Plot Sisters had known Jan before her speaking engagement with our writing group in January, she opened with getting to know each of us a little better.  She asked us to give a short introduction about our own individual works in progress. This led into her speaking about her books, The Dark End of the Rainbow and The Rules of the Game, that were both published by Whiz Bank LLC, a small publisher out of Florida. Contests can provide opportunities many writers over look. Initially, her first chapter was entered into a contest to which she won, and that event opened the door to her first published book.

     As a retired public school teacher and adjunct professor from Wright State University Jan found that her own writing has been a life-long activity. She had submitting numerous short fiction pieces and endured many rejections before she began to get accepted on a regular basis at literary magazines. She shared with us craft specific advice along with encouraging tales of tenacity. Among the many craft techniques she sprinkled in the importance of finding the arc of the main character, character motivation, and the impact of pacing. Jan outlined four themes that are "must-haves" for her writing:  1) Mystery, 2) Surprise, 3)Suspense, and 4) Romance. One of the many admirable qualities Jan possesses is gratitude. Her humble spirit and excitement that she can share her published work with others is apparent and contagious. Thanks, Jan!

*If you'd like to learn more about Jan or her books go to: https://janetirvin.wordpress.com/ or follow her on facebook : facebook.com/darkendoftherainbow.


~Cindy

Measuring Success

I love writing. I love rewriting, fixing loose bits, brightening the fuzzy spots, clearing out the rubble. It is a habit and a hobby, and I can spend blissful hours lost in the worlds I'm making. But I've never had one thing published, ever. I don't count blogging as publishing and I don't care if other people do.

So why go on writing?

Point #1: There are people in the world who go their whole lives without finding a lasting passion for something. Work, eat, sleep, love your loved ones; repeat. Life is busy, but is it full? I count it as a tremendous success to find something you love to do. The passions that drive us to excel come from something unique within us. We have to work to find them.

So, if you find something you love, you're an explorer who's found a place worth planting a flag on. Celebrate your success.

Point #2: Once you've found something beautiful, you really do want to share it. In comes the idea of publishing. The only thing is, it shouldn't be the very next thought. Publishing is hard. There are lots of little steps between finding and sharing. Steps that might make it easier to go on writing when you feel discouraged.

Point #1a: Find a writing group. That may not be so easy, so if you do it, remember to celebrate that success, too. The PlotSisters met in a writing class and we just never stopped meeting. If you want to meet other writers, you have to go to events and talk to people. If that gives you hives, then it's a big success when you get out there.

Good writing groups will give you praise and criticism. If you find a group that only does one or the other, ditch them. They won't help you. If you feel discouraged after a critique, think clearly—are you being too sensitive, or is your group a bunch of jerks? This is an important point. Critique can hurt, especially if the critique is spot-on.

Point #1b: Sending things to editors or agents is hard. First, you worked to make your stuff good. Then you had to write a cover letter. Groan. After that, a synopsis and bio. Oh, and I forgot to mention everybody has different formatting rules. Groan again.

So when you actually manage to send something in for consideration, you've accomplished something. It's worth celebrating, really.

Point #1c: While you're waiting for the probable rejection that's coming, remember that you love writing. Everybody gets way more rejections than acceptance. Receiving a 'no' is part of writing. Keep trying. The things you love are worth it.

Happy Writing!

~Jen

That Time of the Year Again

Here we are, 20 days into November, and I'm guessing that many of you are in the thick of writing for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). If you're not familiar with that challenge, you can head on over to the link provided for the details, but the crux of the challenge is this: to write a 50,000-word novel in 30 days. Yes, that's right, at the end of 30 days, a person should have a first draft of a novel in hand.

This is the third time I've written a first draft in less than a month (twice I've participated in NaNoWriMo), and while I find that each time, my style of writing has been different, my life's commitments have been different, and my attitude has been different, what has stayed the same is my approach to writing those 50,000 words.

And here's my best advice:

1. Sit down with your writing utensil. I know that sounds funny, but it's true. Lots of people say they are going to write but never bother getting their butts in the chair. Wherever and however you write, you need to get there first.
2. Ignore all unnecessary items. That could mean Facebook and Twitter, laundry that really doesn't need to be done, or the book club you were supposed to attend. If you put aside a few things that can wait until after the month is over, you will have more time to write.
3. Be ready to write at a moment's notice. One day that I logged almost 6,000 words was the day I had my draft open and ready to go all day. I didn't have a huge chunk of time, but those little intervals, by the end of the day, really added up. 
4. Write, don't revise. Any person who has "won" NaNoWriMo will tell you the same thing: put the story on the paper and don't go back until you've hit the 50,000-word mark. Sure, you might have written the most horrible sentence in the history of horrible sentences, but who cares? Get the story out. Then worry about the rest of it.

Even if you missed out on NaNoWriMo, these tidbits will help you at any time. So go ahead and choose a month that works for you, and see how many words you can get done. I'm sure you'll surprise yourself and in no time, you'll have accomplished that dream.

Happy Writing!

~Christina

Starbucks

Where it all began!  At least our writing group that is. Every other week, like clockwork. We meet. We exchange critiques, ideas, encouragements, and suggestions for improvements on each others' writing. I'm getting ready to head out the door soon, but wanted to take a minute to just take a deep breath.

Today is September 1st. This weekend is the last official weekend of summer and bam! just like that it's Fall. Many of the Plot Sisters are teachers or former teachers of some capacity, not to mention mom's of school kids, and Fall always translates to BUSY. There's a challenge into staying balanced in responsibilities, but yet continuing to devout time to develop one's craft. And I'm trying my best to devote time in front of the computer screen or trying to keep a legal bad in front of me to write the ideas that keep beating around in my head. "You have to get 'em down on paper" How many times have we heard that? A lot. And it's true. I've got several irons in the fire and when I can't extend on an idea on one project I have to move on to another project and pound out some words. It wasn't as productive of a summer writing wise as I would've liked, but I can't reflect too long about the past or I'll never move forward. And there's so much in the future that it's not worth giving up to stand still.

Happy Writing!

~Cindy