Category: The Writing

Every writer at some point faces the challenge of how to keep the words going in the face of stress or rejection letter doubt. Angela Korra’ti, author of Faerie Blood, shares her thoughts on what’s worked for her in her article On Motivation.

Nadia writes the Final One Degree, discussing Olympic gold medalist Yuna Kim’s memoir and comparing it to writing.

As May approaches, I’ve been taking a careful look at my schedule.   With a calendar in front of me, I start circling and marking important days.  Mother’s Day.  My birthday (and it’s a significant one this year).  A guest blog spot for Carina.  My beloved sister’s first Samhain release.

Ask yourself questions.

• Any school duties this month?  e.g. Princess Monster just finished the science fair at her school (lucky it wasn’t next month)
• Note when the kids get out of school. 
• Any major projects that might require overtime for the Evil Day Job?  (Not this time)
• Do I want to take a few days of vacation?  (yes, need to schedule with my boss)
• Any dinner dates out?
• Can I pull together a loose menu plan for at least a couple of weeks?
• Any family events I have to prepare food for?

If I were writing 50K for May, I’d cross off days with big events and adjust my daily quota accordingly.  To be safe, I’d also give myself a few extra floater vacation days just in case something unexpected comes up.  I try really hard to get a little cushion in the first week, writing 2-2.5K each day, because it’s inevitable.  The glow will fade, the drive will waver, and it’ll be really hard to keep going.

Most importantly, SCHEDULE YOUR WRITING TIME.  Decide now when you’re going to write.  Are you going to get up an hour earlier?  Write over lunch?  Write when the monsters are asleep?  Write in 15 minute chunks throughout the day?

Whatever your life, family, and work schedule, make sure you have time in your personal calendar for writing.  Don’t commit to a huge writing month without figuring out HOW and WHEN you’re going to pull it off.

My number one goal for May (other than keeping my sanity with all the Coyote Con and MayNoWriMo group stuff to juggle) is a synopsis for a possible follow-up to The Bloodgate Guardian.  That might sound like a small goal (versus writing 50K in one month!), but as I go through my initial notes, it’s going to be quite difficult.

For one thing, the characters I planned to base the second book on are side-characters I’d created in the second incarnation of BGG.  They lived in subplots — they weren’t intended to carry an entire story themselves.  Also, I didn’t have these two characters ending up together, so the romance elements are completely AWOL.

In general, I’m ahead as far as basic character development.  I know Quinn’s backstory and how the story could open for several sections through his POV.  I don’t have as good a handle on Tara, his potential heroine.  The other question that nags me is the paranormal aspect.  In BGG, the hero is a shapeshifter and a Maya priest.  If I don’t do some work, both Quinn and Tara are humans.  As is, their story would be humans vs. demons.  Maybe that’s okay….or maybe I need a new twist.

As May rushes closer and closer at the speed of light despite my huge to-do list and fervent prayers that I’ll get it all done by May 1st, I’m starting to feel overwhelmed.  When that happens, I need to step back and make a list.  Break the big insurmountable goal down into baby steps.

Baby steps I can handle.  Huge complex synopsis is beyond me right now.  So here’s my preliminary to-do list of baby steps….

1. Pull Quinn and Tara files from the second incarnation of BGG.  DONE.  (Woo-hoo!  It always feels good to cross something off the list — which is why no step is too small to write down!)

2. Go through second incarnation of BGG and pull all the secondary demon sections.  I had a major shift in bad guys between version 2 and version 3 (the one that is getting published) so I need to at least sketch a possible timeline of the demon’s movements through Texas.

3. Brainstorm some additional paranormal possibilities.  Quinn is very solid in my mind, so I’m considering some new angle with Tara.  This involves making notes, re-reading some of my research for inspiration, and general doodling.  Dedicate a notebook for this brainstorming and keep it in my purse for down moments.

4. Work on the romance.  Why are they meant for each other (when I obviously missed that the first time around!)?  Why are they the worst possible matches for each other?

5. Go through the Emotional Toolbox for each character.

6. Re-evaluate existing plot scenes from #1 and make decisions about what to keep and what must change.  (A butterfly flaps its wings in chapter one and everything past page 10 has to be thrown out.)

7. Write up background and character letters for both characters.  Really explore their past, dark secrets, etc.  Dig!  Ask Why over and over and over.  Go through the Emotional Toolbox again if needed.

Throughout all these steps, I’ll be jotting ideas on note cards.  Not formal scenes, yet, just ideas, so now I can….

8.  Go through notecards and begin discarding defunct ideas and expanding the good ones.  Order.  Streamline.

9.  Write that synopsis!

This is from a post I wrote up for MayNoWriMo.

Everybody’s writing process is different, so don’t get hung up on the “right
way” to do anything. The trick is to find what works for YOU. You may be a
write-by-the-seat-of-your-flaming-pants writer. Great. Maybe you need to have a few notes written in advance. Maybe the whole thing should be plotted out in gruesome detail. It’s totally up to you.

This is what works for me.

1. At least some plotting. Each of my projects had different needs.
Ironically, the first year (2007) I had a very detailed plot and even created
storyboards for the project, but it required the most work. The second year, I had nothing written down at all — but the entire plot was in my head. I knew exactly how the story would end and just wrote hard to get there. The last year, I had notes, but no detailed plot.

For me, I really need to know the end (what I’m writing to) and a few key spots, but half the fun and glory of writing hard and fast is the discovery, the sense of magic as unexpected bits unfold. So don’t be afraid to just GO.

2. Each day, I start a new file. If I can’t finish the scene, I make notes and
continue that file the next day, but one big WIP file does not work for me when I’m writing fast and hard.

3. No reading back to other days (another reason I use individual files). If I
have questions, feel like I messed up a plot point, or forgot a backpack (inside joke: in Beautiful Death, I kept forgetting to have Isabella bring the backpack with her from scene to scene), I jot a few notes in my notebook, but I KEEP GOING FORWARD.

4. No backtracking or revisions. This is the hardest for me. When I’m writing
leisurely, I always re-read the last day’s work and “polish” it before
continuing. It’s like a pre-edit. But it’s also very tempting to keep
editing/reading instead of writing new words, especially when the going is tough in the story.

But wait, you cry. What if a major plot point needs to change? How can you
keep going?

I open another file (might as well count this toward my words, right?) and type out all my thoughts about the revisions I’ll need to do. I write out all the changes I think I’ll need. Then I continue FORWARD in a new file as though those changes have been made. Writing them out gives me the closure I need to move foward.

5. No cheating. If you read the NaNoWriMo forums, you see people talking about ways to get your word count for the day, like typing song lyrics, or throwing in an exploding goat into the scene (that has nothing to do with your story), etc.  That just doesn’t work for me. I’m a working writer. I’m going to have to revise this steaming pile of poo before I can submit it. Do I really want to have to edit out an exploding goat later?

6. Don’t get hung up on grammar, research, or word choice. I often write a word and then type [word choice?] to indicate that’s not really the word I wanted, but I can’t think of it. MOVE ON. In the Maya story especially, I had lots of [research Chich’en Itza] or [name the pyramid in the made-up city] or [check the spelling of Hunahpu’s name]. MOVE ON. If you’re like me, a five-minute check on the internet turns into checking e-mail, Twitter, etc. and your writing time disappears.

7. Write with focus. I don’t start a project that I know nothing about, I don’t
know where I’m going to submit it, etc. I always — even for the most basic
spaark of an idea — make a “target sheet.” Genre, length, and where I’m going
to submit it. When I’m finished, I don’t always submit it where I expected, but that focus helps keep me on the track toward “the end.” e.g. if I know I’m
targeting romance, then I’d better not kill the hero at the end of the book,
right? ::Ahem, guilty as charged, although I did fix it.::

Any pointers or tips you have to share?

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