Encouragement

You Can’t Do This Alone!

Writing your first novel-Some things you should know, , , , Leave a comment

1I remember my middle sister as a child. She was the kid who sat in the corner with her nose in a book, didn’t play well with others, well to be honest,  didn’t want to play at all.  Her friends were imaginary. I always thought that she was a little strange, and she probably was, but she is also one of the most talented writers I know.

You haven’t heard of her or read any of her work. Why, because she writes in a vaccuum. I have encouraged her for years to reach out and join the writing community.

She is an introvert, like most of us who seem to enjoy the keyboard much more than a group of pretentious people. I would be okay with that if she belonged to writing groups, or had people she related to that could help motivate her to move forward with her skill.

You don’t have to interact with others face to face, at least not at first. If that’s not your cup of tea, go online. Join writing groups and form relationships with other author want-to-bes. There are some great ones out there that cater to just what you’re looking for.

Critique groups:

  • Scribophile.com
  • AbsoluteWrite.com
  • CritiqueCircle.com

I am a member of Scribophile. It’s a great site to seek critiques and suggestions from fellow writers. Members on this site operate at different levels of expertise. I have gotten some great feedback, but I have also received feedback that was not up to par. I was pleasantly surprised at the community in the group and the willingness of total strangers to help me with my work.

Genre-Specific groups:

  • Romance Writers of America  rwa.org
  • Mystery Writers of America    mysterywriters.org
  • Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America   sfwa.org

I think you’re getting the picture. I was a member of Romance Writers of America and need to renew. You can get excellent information and discounts from these sites. They will keep you informed on contests, conferences, writing groups/forums, what’s selling, agents looking for new works, and information on how to improve your craft.

You can’t do this alone. Plug in!

Something to think about.

-Jan R

 

You Can’t Do This Alone!

Follow The Rules!

Writing your first novel-Some things you should know, , , , 4 Comments

iStock_000013116314_Full-919x1030.jpgOne of my resolutions this year is to get Always and Forever published. It’s a beautiful story with a great premise, but it wasn’t quite ready for prime time 🙂 At least that’s what I was told by one of the agents I queried.

That was my first lesson learned. You can have a great story, but if it’s not written correctly, you can forget it. You have to follow the rules. No grammatical or structural errors, no head-hopping, no information dumps, watch the pacing, transition from scene to scene, and for goodness sake, make sure it’s clear and concise. Nobody wants to read a bunch of written-ese, it doesn’t matter how pretty the sentence sounds with all those extra adjectives. Remember you are writing a novel, not poetry.

I left out a lot of the rules that should be on your checklist when you go back and edit that book, but the previous paragraph was becoming too long and cumbersome, and I think you got the point. And no, the publishers and literary agents do not have editors on standby to do a complete makeover on your story, no matter how good it is. Let’s put that myth to rest.

You’re never too old to learn a new skill. So that’s what I set out to do. If I was going to make my dream a reality, I was going to have to learn the rules and apply them to my story. I have to admit, I thought often about throwing the first very rough draft out and starting over. I’m glad I didn’t.

Don’t give up!!! That was something else the literary agent that I queried told me. You can do this! Most people fail because they stop trying. You never know, you could be one query away from a literary agent excepting your work.

You want to go the e-book route? That’s okay too. I have considered it myself.  But you still have to produce high-quality work. You have to follow the rules. You can put anything you want on e-books if your only goal is to be called author, but if you want to actually sell your books and be successful, you’re going to have to take the time to get that story right.

Something to think about.

-Jan R

Follow The Rules!

How Do You Do It?

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

1b9274d0012bdfeccde1fef6c6e083deSo how do you do it? It’s so easy to write blogs on finding time to write, or finding motivation to write. All of the tips and recommendations sound great, until you’re in the same boat as those people you are trying to help.

I’m sitting here in my apartment of one week, following a move that seemed to take a month, and I just want to quit. Maybe that’s a bit extreme, but a break would be nice.

In the past month, I have sold two homes, bought a really nice piece of property and parked in an apartment until our new home can be built.

If that’s not enough, my granddaughter is scheduled to be born (C-section), and I will be bringing her 3 year old energizer bunny brother back to our tiny apartment for the week. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing. I do love baby brother by the way. I’m just finding it harder to keep up with him 🙂

With all of this craziness, the one thing I know for sure, is I have to plan. When am I going to be able to write without distractions?

It’s Sunday afternoon and pretty quiet for the moment. The calm before the storm. With that in mind, I decided to take advantage of my free time and write my blogs for this coming week. Goodness knows I want have time when little man visits. I can put them in queue and post them on my scheduled days during the week.

Would love to hear from you. How do you do it?

-Jan R

How Do You Do It?

Don’t Believe Everything You Think!

Writing your first novel-Some things you should know, , 13 Comments

imagesEX1UP1B8I’m preparing to send my manuscript out to literary agents again. This is the second time it is going out, the first time resulted in rejections, so I have to admit I’m a little apprehensive.

I saw a blog I had written almost a year ago and decided to republish it. It is exactly where I am right now and serves as a reminder to control my inner critic. You know, the one that tells you your work isn’t good enough or ready to be sent out. Most of us writers have one.

No one wants to be humiliated or rejected. Your inner critic will paralyze you by telling you just how bad your work really is (even if it’s not) .  Don’t listen!!! If you’ve gotten this far, you have hopefully addressed all areas that could be in question, and the novel should be pretty doggone close to perfect. If you haven’t done you due diligence and know your work has flaws, fix them before sending it out-common sense right.

I remember doing a Bible study on the battlefield of the mind. Though it’s primary purpose was dealing with spiritual warfare, it also related to many of the issues that we deal with in our everyday lives. Our mind is a battlefield. In writing for example, all of us worry about looking dumb and never getting published. Fiction writers make a business out of being scared, and not just looking dumb.

It took me six months from the time I started writing my novel, to tell my husband what I was doing. When I finally told him, I was a mess. I knew he would be excited for me and encourage me in my endeavor, and I didn’t want to let him down.

For the longest time I treated my novel as a hobby. That’s not a mindset that will get you published. When I finished and sent it out to literary agents, I was more than a little anxious, but the first few rejections confirmed my beliefs. I just wasn’t good enough.

Note that I said, “I wasn’t good enough.” Well that’s not exactly true. The truth is the novel wasn’t good enough. The fact is, it was filled with grammatical and structural errors, there was some serious head hopping going on, and my on-the-nose writing was all but bringing the story to a complete halt.

I don’t know that the inner critic will ever go away. So how do you combat it? You keep moving forward and growing in your craft. Don’t stop writing. I still question my novel, but I know, that I know ,that I know, that it’s a lot better than it was after the unofficial first draft. I’ve learned the hard way and hope you avoid some of my pit falls.

-Jan R

Don’t Believe Everything You Think!