Month: April 2018

What Are You Willing To Sacrifice?

Writing your first novel-Some things you should know, , 2 Comments

Time in businessI love reading Jerry Jenkin’s blogs. I always take something away from what he has to say. I don’t know that he offers anything different or new, it’s just the way he says it. I read what he’s written, and a light bulb goes off.

He offered some profound information in an email I received some time ago, and I recently revisited. While it’s as obvious as the nose on your face, we sometimes miss the obvious due to the circumstances we find ourselves in. I wanted to share it with you.

First, he said we all make time to do what we really want to do. Then he followed that up with a comparison of make and find. You won’t ever find the time to write. We all have the same 168 hours per week. The only way to add hours to your calendar is to sacrifice hours from it.

In order to make the time, you must carve something else out of your schedule. It all starts with your priorities. How desperately do you want to write, finish a book, become a novelist?

Only you can determine your priorities. What are you willing to give up to pursue your dream?

TV?

Movies?

Parties?

Concerts?

Sports?

Hobbies?

Social Media?

Jerry Jenkins worked full time and helped his wife raise their three young sons. He wasn’t about to sacrifice his family for writing time, so he scheduled his writing from 9:00pm-12:00am.

What did he sacrifice? TV time, social gatherings with friends, and a couple hours of sleep.

What are you willing to sacrifice?

-Jan R

What Are You Willing To Sacrifice?

Edit, Edit, or Edit?

Writing your first novel-Some things you should know, , , 3 Comments

 edit-icon-hi

I know I’ve posted this before, but it’s been a while, and I thought it was worth being revisited. When you’re a newbie like I was, you don’t even think you have to edit-much. The publishing company has people that will go through and correct your work, making you look like a pro, right?
About a year ago, I ran into an article in Writers Digest that talked about the different types of editing. Yes, there are different types, and as a novelist, you need to know what they are.

Developmental Edit – better known as the content editing, story editing, structural editing, or substantive editing. This edit looks at the big picture of your novel and focuses on:

  • character arcs/development
  • pacing
  • story structure
  • pot holes or inconsistencies
  • strong beginning, middle and end
  • plausibility/believability
  • clear transitions
  • point of view
  • showing vs. telling
  • dialogue

Copy Edit – is the one most of us think of when we hear edit. It is completed after the developmental edit and cleans things up. This edit is the line by line with a focus on:

  • grammar
  • punctuation
  • spelling
  • redundant words
  • inconsistencies/continuity errors
  • awkward sentence structure

The proofread- I never thought of a proofreader as an editor, but in all reality he is. The proofreader checks your manuscript for lingering errors, missed commas, and typos. It may be tempting to skip this step or do it yourself. Keep in mind, you’ve read the book so many times you will be blind to many lingering errors. You need an unfamiliar eye.

I’m not sure where you are in the writing process, but you do need to know the proper steps to take before submitting your work. Remember as stated above, you don’t see the errors. You are so familiar with your work the errors become invisible. Your brain actually fills in the holes as you read.

I didn’t have this information and submitted my work to several different agencies after I ‘edited’ it and had a few friends read through it. Needless to say I got nothing but rejections. I followed up on suggestions, and that’s when I realized just how bad the manuscript was. I couldn’t believe I sent such shoddy work to an agent. I was embarrassed and glad I hadn’t met the agents in person.

Hope this helped!

-Jan R

Edit, Edit, or Edit?

Remember That One Teacher That Put You To Sleep?

Writing your first novel-Some things you should know, , 2 Comments

sleeping-in-classWhen you’re writing, you need to mix things up.  You don’t want to be the one that puts your reader to sleep.

You know what I’m talking about. We’ve all had teachers or sat through sermons that literally put us to sleep. How embarrassing-you can’t hide the little jerk of the head when you catch yourself and attempt to shake it off.

There are many different things you can do to add a little excitement and keep your reader’s attention, but one thing you have to avoid, is monotony. Change those sentences up.  Use structure and length for change of pace to slow down or speed up.

WHAT NOT TO DO!

Suzie entered the boutique. She looked around for dresses. She walked over to the semi-formals. The store owner said hello. She picked the one she liked. She walked over to the counter. The owner rang her up. She handed her the money. She left with a smile.

Now there’s a lot of things wrong with this paragraph from the style perspective, but their are no grammatical or structural errors (I hope :-)). It has strong verbs and nouns-all good elements, but something isn’t quite right.

It’s a string of segregated sentences that can stand on their own-definitely overused. It’s also composed of sentences similar in length and cadence.

You need to vary the length. Change the beat every now and then. 7-14 word sentences are recommended as they feel more natural. Nobody talks like that paragraph was written-well except for that boring teacher or preacher that put you to sleep 🙂

By the way, did you finish reading that short paragraph? 🙂

Hope this got you thinking.

-Jan R

 

 

Remember That One Teacher That Put You To Sleep?

Are Those Mistakes Jumping Off The Page?

Writing your first novel-Some things you should know7 Comments

the-trained-eyeI’ve been taking an on-line course that is suppose to help me become a standout writer. Knowledge is power. I spend as much time reading as I do writing, and I’ve learned a lot. Mainly, I’ve become more aware of my own writing. I also notice things in other peoples writing. I use to enjoy reading for pleasure, and I still do, but I see errors that I never noticed before. I guess I’m turning into an editor 🙂

You can’t improve if you don’t see the errors you are making. You would think something like the overuse of certain words: adjectives, adverbs, and one of my favorite- ‘ing words’ would jump out at you, but they don’t.

If you follow my blogs, you know I have a problem with the words ‘had’ and ‘so’.  There may be others at times, but these are definitely the most obvious. You probably have your own. Think about it.

I’ve also struggled with on-the-nose writing and dragging dialogue. Two concepts I had never heard of before an agent took the time to tell me why my novel wasn’t ready for publication.

I understand the concepts well now, thanks to the internet and some incredible bloggers. I guess I can’t leave out the webinars and on-line classes.  The point is, the information is out there. You just have to look for it.

Part of writing is learning what works and what doesn’t, seeing the obvious even when it blends in with everything else. Your reader might not be able to pinpoint the problem when they read your work, but they will know that something isn’t quite right.

By reading and learning what to look for, you are beginning the process of training your eyes to see the obvious. My husband is a hunter. I hope I’m not offending to many of my followers. He can spot a deer in a field 200 or so yards away. They just seem to jump out at him. How does he do it? He’s developed a trained eye. Something that every good writer needs to do.

Something to think about. I hope you all have a great week!

-Jan R

Are Those Mistakes Jumping Off The Page?

I’m Having A Love Affair With Had!

Writing your first novel-Some things you should know6 Comments

resumewritingoverusedwordsOn more than one occasion I have declared my love affair with the word ‘had’. When you use a word so many times it jumps off the page, you have a problem. It doesn’t matter if the word is used correctly or not. You need to find another way to write the sentence without using ‘the word’. In my case that word is ‘had’.

What’s wrong with using the word ‘had’ over and over, besides making it an awkward read?

  • If you are using ‘had’ a lot, odds are you have a lot of backstory/info dump, because it specifically details things that happened before the current action. In some circumstances, that can seem dull, or like the focus is in the wrong place. Why spend so much time on something that’s not happening right now?
  • Using ‘had’ too much can also indicate you are telling vs. showing.
  • ‘Had’ is also rather formal. People rarely say ‘he had put on weight’- you say ‘he’d put on a bit of weight’ or ‘he was looking fatter’ something to that effect.
  • If it’s overused to the point that it becomes noticeable to the reader. It is bad.

For this blog, I’m focusing on ‘had’ because it’s a problem word for me. Most of us have them. They could be words like but, although, because, however, that, and if you’re writing dialogue–so(another one of my favorites that I know to look out for 🙂

To a certain extent, this is a matter of style. A lot of writers have these little tics. You may find a turn of phrase that you fall in love with, or it may be a word that carries over from the way you speak. As I stated above with ‘had’, only if a word or phrase is overused to the point that it is noticeable to the reader, does it become a bad thing.

Noticing that you use a particular word frequently, is the first step to improving your writing. Make some adjustments, but don’t get bogged down for a half hour trying to decide if ‘your word’ is really necessary.

The best time to work on these tics, is after you’ve written a chunk of prose. Go back through and look for your problem word. You can use the find feature on your computer (Usually ctrl-F or command-F). As you edit, double-check to see if the word is really necessary, or if it can be changed. If you have to, rewrite the entire sentence.

Food for thought. I bet I’m not alone in my love affair with certain words 🙂

-Jan R

I’m Having A Love Affair With Had!

“ing’ Words Revisited

Writing your first novel-Some things you should know, 24 Comments

gerund_onlyA while back, I revised my novel and noticed something that should have leaped off the page during past reviews, but didn’t. I was having a love affair with ‘ing’. These ‘ing’ words were all over the place.

I stopped the revision process and did some research on ‘ing’. I remembered reading somewhere, that the overuse of ‘ing’ words was not a good thing.

Opportunities to overuse the ‘ing’ word are boundless. There are nouns, adjectives, verbs, and even verbs masquerading as nouns called gerunds, all ending in ‘ing’.

So what’s the big deal? What’s wrong with ‘ing’ words?

The overuse of ‘ing’ words mark you as an amateur – Don’t be alarmed if you see more than a handful on one page. Do take a closer look if you see more than a handful in a single paragraph.

While wrapping a soothing sling around the fledgling’s broken wing, Diana was humming, dreaming of her prince charming. Yet troubling thoughts about his depressing friend Starling kept intruding, interrupting her very entertaining daydreams. There was something intriguing and alarming about him.

‘ing’ verbs weaken your writing and make it clumsy and hard to read .                                                                                                                                                                    Abigail was walking along the bike trail. There was a boy riding his bike. He was smiling up at her as she passed. She started wondering what the boy was so happy about.

Abigail walked along the bike trail. A boy smiled at her as he rode passed. She wondered what he was so happy about.

Starting a sentence with an ‘ing’ word is the weakest way to begin a sentence.

Hitting the thug in the face with her purse, Josie reached for her phone.

Josie hit the thug in the face with her purse and reached for her phone.

To identify overuse of ‘ing’ words in your writing, try this:

  1. Use the “search” or “find” function in your word processing app(usually under editing).
  2. Use ‘ing’ as your search term.
  3. Examine each ‘ing’ word you find.
  4. Ask whether the ‘ing’ word is essential to meaning.
  5. Determine whether a simple past or other tense might work better.
  6. Decide if a stronger word choice might be the way to go.

Once you identify ‘ing’ words, replace weak or common ones with specific, stronger word choices. Your writing will become more concise, clear, and engaging.

Remember, not all ‘ing’ words are bad. The issue is whether or not you have made the best word choice.

So much info on the internet. You get the cliff notes. Hope they help, or at least get you thinking  🙂

-Jan R

“ing’ Words Revisited

What Was Your Biggest Misconception?

Writing your first novel-Some things you should know, , 7 Comments

10957898._SY540_As a new writer, you probably have many misconceptions. I’ve been at this for a while now and can only laugh at myself when I think about how naïve I was. One of my favorite sayings is you don’t know what you don’t know.

I think my biggest misconception was anybody can write a novel. It’s easy. You get a great story line and put pen to paper, or fingers to keys, whichever you prefer. Well as my more experienced readers know, that’s a laugh.

Writing a novel has been one of the hardest journey’s I have ever taken. And I’m saying journey, because you’re going to be at this for a while. Like years, if you follow the traditional route.

One of the first things you’ll learn, after you receive a mailbox full of rejections for your first draft, is you don’t know how to write a novel. Unless you’ve had training, you don’t know anything about POV, dialogue, scenes, narrative voice, pacing….. Hopefully you can put sentences together that are grammatically and structurally correct (I missed out on that one too).

My second biggest misconception was that it didn’t have to be perfect. There are editors that work for publishing companies. Their job is to go through my mess and clean it up. So what if I mixed they’re and there? They’ll catch it. I have a great story, that’s what counts-right?

Don’t give up! Learn your craft. Your dreams of becoming an author are achievable, but you will have to work. Perseverance is the key.

What was your biggest misconception?

-Jan R

 

What Was Your Biggest Misconception?

Use Parallelism To Enhance Your Writing

Writing your first novel-Some things you should know, , 3 Comments

ModulePARALLEL13If you’re like me you’ve heard the term parallelism, but didn’t quite grasp the concept. I never really understood the meaning or purpose of using it, until recently when I participated in an on-line class.

What is parallelism? Its the use of grammatical elements in patterns. A repeat of verbs, nouns, or any other part of speech, to create a pleasing pattern.

Noun+Verb – I woke up, I made breakfast, and I called the professor.

Verb+Verb – I laughed and cried at the same time. (Get as many verbs as possible in your sentences-they add movement.)

Prepositions – We looked in, around, and under the couch for the keys.

Sentences using parallelism are memorable and well structured. Song writers and Poets use parallelism. Readers don’t notice that the writer is using the technique to add rhythm and flow, they just enjoy it.

Other reasons to use parallelism in your writing:

-You will avoid the tendency to sprinkle adjectives and adverb all over the place.

-You will avoid long, confusing, run-on sentences.

-Your sentences will come out more clear and concise.

Just something else to think about and add to your arsenal of tools.

-Jan R

 

 

 

Use Parallelism To Enhance Your Writing