NaNo Day 5

Standing at around 8,000 words, but today is sluggish.  Don't know if it's because I've been up every day before 5 a.m. or if my fire is dwindling.  I think it's the former...I hope.  We've all been posting snips, almost daily over at the Compuserve Writer's Forum.  And now we have a Wall of Shame thread going to keep us procrastinators moving. Hoping to get a few thousand words ahead this weekend to buffer the Thanksgiving trip.

NaNo update

Day three of NaNoWriMo:  I'm still alive.   I'm gonna try to get a few more words down before bed, but right now my word count is at 5,063.  I'm just gonna copy & paste my previous post from the Compuserve Forum's NaNo thread and get back to writing.....


Posted earlier this evening:  "Tuesday, I had all three kids at home since school was out for parent teacher conferences, and my husband was in his classes for the majority of the day, but I still logged in a little over 1800 words.
Went to bed last night at 11pm, husband snoring. Moved to couch, where husband woke me up at 3:30 am not believing my line about his snoring, lol. Had the alarm set on my phone for 5am, but the 2 y/o woke up just before it went off.
Got her back to sleep.
Started coffee [twice, after forgetting to add the water to the reservoir] and got 382 words before I had to take the oldest to school and head into work on my day off for a research study proposal meeting [which ended up lasting three hours]. I'm sitting on 1690 for today, most of that was done between 12 noon and 5pm [with a little arguing over "not fair" amounts of homework and two toddlers fighting over a yo-yo].
Maybe tonight I'll get a little sleep before the alarm goes off in the morning."

Can I really do this?

Me:  I can.  I can do this.  I can write 50,000 words in thirty days.  Right?  I mean, I think I can.

Me:  I don't know.  That's a lot of words.  How am I gonna work, take care of the kids, eat, argue over homework, help the nine year old memorize a poem, sleep?

Me:  You're really pathetic, ya know.  You just got back from Surrey, with all that motivation and determination, and now you're doing it again!  You're doubting.  What happened to "today, we write" HUH?

Me:  Yeah!  There may come a time, when I give up.  But it is not this day.   This day, We Write!!!!

The Surrey Hangover

Like so many others, I’m finally starting to get over the Surrey Hangover.  Just in time to do a last minute gear-up for NaNoWriMo (more on that in a bit).  

Well, you’ve all seen the notes I’ve posted on workshops and master classes.  Now I’ll go over some of my favorite bits.  First off, these are the themes that stuck with me:  Write every single day.  Believe in yourself.  Know your characters and story like you know yourself.  Read as much as you can.  Don't Give Up.

Now, the fun parts.  I met so many great folks.  Some I knew from the Compuserve Forum.  Others were brand new to me (Darcie, Deborah, Trish, Scott, Adrienne).  I miss you all, and look forward to seeing everyone again next year.  Until then, there’s always Facebook and blogs.

All the keynote speeches, classes and workshops were excellent.  But the two presenters that stood out for me were Ivan Coyote and Robert Dugoni.  If I’d known how moving they were going to be, I would have filmed it.  Seriously folks, these two are amazing!  

There’s no way to describe it.  Dugoni’s keynote speech showed pure passion for writing.  He tweaked the Aragorn LOTR speech, but I can’t remember how it went. I do remember that it brought more than a few tears and laughs.  We all stood at the end for a group “This day, WE WRITE!”  

You might be thinking that it’s a bit cheesy, and it may be.  But if you can listen to that man’s speech and not feel a surge of pride, passion, and motivation for writing…then writing is not for you.  It takes a whole lot more than want to to write a single novel, much less keep doing it.  

As Ivan Coyote put it, “This is serious shit.”  It is hard work, and tons of dedication is required.  But passion for writing feeds that dedication like wood on a fire.  After hearing them speak, I had a raging bonfire.

[I emailed Robert Dugoni yesterday and asked for a transcript of his speech to tack on the wall—like Stewart Smalley’s Daily Affirmation]

Friday I was scheduled to pitch my manuscript to Sorche Fairbank at 14:45.  Thank the gods I took pitch classes from Chuck Sambuchino and Katharine Sands.  I must have rewritten my pitch ten times or more in the 24 hours beforehand. 

I passed Ron Wodaski in the hall, and he stopped to tell me how well his pitch went, which only made me more jittery.

To say I was nervous would be an understatement of galactic proportions.  My whole life I’ve had an iron stomach, totally impervious to mere nerves.  Not that day.  No Sir.  No Ma’am.  

Sweaty palms.  Tachycardia.  Near Syncope.  I’m pretty damn sure I overdosed on caffeine between breakfast and the pitch.  That didn’t help.  

And the cottonmouth!  Jesus Christ!  Even smoking weed never gave me a case of dry-mouth like that did. 

The pitch was going well and I realized I’d left out the major subplot, which ends up being the payoff at the end.  After explaining that to Sorche, she perked up….and wanted pages.  Thirty to thirty-five of them.

[Cue adrenaline rush]

I blabbered some lame apologetic jibberish.  “Well, see I was really pitching for practice because I’m doing a total rewrite, changing the whole book to third POV instead of switching back and forth from 1st to 3rd-”

“That’s good.  I think that’ll work better.”  She nodded for me to continue.

“And I’m just not comfortable with sending anything out right now.  Parts of it are in second draft-others in third.”

“I agree.  You shouldn’t send anything until you have it completely polished.  Why don’t you take my card.  Here’s my email-and send me a query when it’s ready.  Mention that you pitched to me at Surrey.”

[Cue Hallelujah music and sun breaking through clouds, spilling glorious light over us both]

I know I thanked her more than once, but I can’t remember a damn word after that.  

I saw Ron again, and gushed about my pitch.  He said he’d met Sorche a few years earlier, and that if she showed interest it was no small matter.  

From there I road Cloud Nine up two flights of stairs to attend Jo Bourne’s amazing description workshop, where my pen ran out of ink halfway through.

Saturday night’s Compuserve Par-tay was a blast.  I had a great time discussing obscure BBC shows with Michael Slade, watching a nameless someone open a bottle of ale with his belt buckle, talking ales and whisky with Jack Whyte and Robert McCammon, eating Doritos with Lagavulin and ranting about real life description of clotted blood with Ron, and listening to great authors read snippets of their work aloud.  

It was so great to finally meet Forum Folk in person.  I wish there had been more time—Pam, Ron, kc, Diana, Tyner, Donna, Laura, Ev, Martha, Jo, Beth… I know I’m leaving out a few.  I had a blast, y’all. 

Sunday afternoon I had a great discussion with Jo Bourne on plotting a knife wound, bleeding, suturing, etc.  Only at a writer’s conference can I discuss medical jargon with non-medical types, and be free from squeamish faces and syncopal episodes.

Dinner Sunday night was bittersweet.  Everyone has gotten closer by that point, but we all must go home.  Special thanks to Martha for getting up an hour early Monday morning to split a cab ride with me.  

It was exhausting, exhilarating, and humbling.  And I can’t wait to do it all over again next year.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the lovely and talented Diana Gabaldon!

Viewpoint and Focus—Diana Gabaldon

Diana started out with a quick apology for her sleepiness, which she attributed to staying up late drinking Lagavulin (provided by moi, for the Compuserve Forum Par-Tay).  She noted that a lack of hangover was one of the perks to drinking very good whisky.  My sentiments were with her at that moment.  At 11 a.m. I still needed more caffeine that the three cups I’d drank.  No Hangover.  Plenty Tired. 

[Diana read excerpts from LORD JOHN AND THE SCOTTISH PRISONER as well as BOOK 8 as examples of changing focus, and I can’t post them here]

Writing can be like magic tricks.  The magician distracts the viewer with movement/other characters to hide the things he doesn’t want you to see.  

Viewpoint is established by WHO is talking.  Pick a POV.  I won’t go into basic POV (first, second, third, omniscient), you can google that.

When you write a scene, decide what effect you are striving for.  The character will focus on things they’re invested/interested in.  That is what you want the reader to see.  

Have one movement per paragraph-it draws the eye down the page.

Change focus frequently-zoom in and zoom out.  If you start out describing a landscape, zoom in to see the anthill and how it reminds your MC of the busy city they left behind, before zooming back out to see the eagle soar overhead against a clear blue sky...you get the point.

Occasionally remind the reader who’s head you’re in.  This is especially important during long sections of information/description. 

Give just enough description to set the scene, but keep your eye on the goal.  Don’t get lost.  

Only tell the reader what they need to know at that moment.  

#Most questions asked at the end were related to the series, and not writing, so I didn’t write anything else down#

Get Off Your Ass And WRITE!

Writing Bootcamp for Procrastinators—Ivan Coyote

Any way I try to describe Ivan Coyote’s class, I find it entirely lacking.  You simply have to be there.  Honestly.  I’ll bullet-point the highlights, but really it was the most motivating class the whole weekend.  I will not miss one of her workshops next year.  

*Figure out what routines work for you.  If you grew up in a small house with upwards of 10-15 people in it at any given time, a quiet place might not be for you.  If you are distracted by nature, don’t write next to a window no matter how many times people tell you to sit somewhere “inspiring.”

Try all kinds of routines.  Mornings/Nights. Busy coffee shops/the oversized, well-lit closet, far away from ALL noise. With or without music. TRY EVERYTHING until you figure it out, and own it.  It doesn’t matter if NO ONE else does it that way.  YOU do. 

*Give yourself a deadline.  Ivan actually got her first full length novel (later published it) from NaNoWriMo.  If there’s a writer’s group, join it.  Make sure there are writers you think are better than you—give yourself something to strive towards. 

*Write. Every. Single. Day. 

Make the time.  Utilize the time.  Practice!  You wouldn’t show up to the playoffs without training first.  You won’t write well without practicing that either.  

Ivan said that at the beginning of NaNoWriMo, it was taking her three hours to get out the daily 1,667 words.  A few weeks later, she was getting that in forty-five minutes.  You Will Get Better With Practice.

*BELIEVE IN YOURSELF!!!!!!!!

Damn, I’m motivated all over again!

Your Shiny New Novel Needs Work

Polish & Shine—Elizabeth Engstrom

Elizabeth first covered her writing process.  When she starts a novel, she sees the end and works her way toward it.  She has a writing goal everyday, say five pages.  Once she has them, she does whatever else Life requires of her (unless of course she’s on a roll).

The next day she does some mild editing to those first five pages, prints them, and files them away.  She DOES NOT look at them again until the first draft is finished.   Then, she does day two’s writing.  Day Three, she does mild editing on work from day two, prints it, files it and writes day three’s work….. And so forth and so on.  Never Ever looking at work that’s already filed away.

Plots can change while you’re writing.  So she keeps a note pad, jotting things down along the way, but doesn’t go back to fix things.

After the first draft is written and all the pages are filed away, she takes a two-week break from the novel.  Here, she really stressed this break in order to look at your manuscript with a critical eye for editing.  

She works on articles and short stories to keep herself writing.  After the break, she reads the manuscript, in one sitting if possible, with her notes nearby.  

We were all relieved to know that her first drafts are bad, so she says.  They’re full of grammatical and spelling errors, telling instead of showing, backstory….All the same things we do.  

She rewrites the story one more time, all the way through, making changes according to her notes. Now she has a second draft, which she takes another two-week break from.  

For her third draft, She focuses on making it read well.  Then, she has an amazing checklist (as well as other writing tips that can be found on her website, HERE) she uses for editing the third draft.

1. Take out all the side trips.  If it doesn’t further the plot, take it out.

2. Flesh out the telling parts.

3. Take out the following words:  very, causing, here, this, now, today, just.

4. Investigate the use of the word “IT”  

5. Investigate the sentences using “There is” or “There are”

6. Investigate every Adverb (-ly words)

7. Replay every conversation.  Make sure every person is attributed correctly.  EX: He is referring to the last male who spoke.

8. Take out:  almost, nearly, kind of, sort of

9. Take out distractions or Shin Busters* :anything that pulls you out of the story—unattributed dialogue (who said what), inaccuracies, unclosed quotes, speech in paragraphs

10. Make sure reader is grounded in space and time at all times.

11. Investigate every use of “to be” (was, were, etc.)

12. Investigate all use of Passive Voice (by)

13. Make sure every sentence furthers the story, you need tension in every single one. 

14. Make sure every chapter has structure and is weighted at the end.

15. Make sure the opening grabs the reader and flows. Start with action

16. The ending echoes the beginning.

17. The protagonist needs an internal revelation separate from the external problem

18. Don’t let ancillary characters take over the show and don’t introduce a main character after act one.

19. Avoid cliches

20. Be interesting with every sentence.

21. Vary the rhythm of sentences

22. Use a sensory image in every paragraph.

23. The only slowing should be a subplot complication

24. Can you increase tension or tighten suspense, drawing out the action

25. Have you answered all the questions posed to the reader.

26. Omit unnecessary words.

27. In the final read-through, it should read like the wind!