As a writer, I am very observant of the writing technique and style of the books I read. I try mainly to learn from this, deciding what I think is good technique that I would like to emulate and bad technique I would like to avoid. Still, I try not to be openly critical of other authors. Even in writing this post, I will refrain from mentioning the book or author I'm speaking of, only the bad technique that I wish to discuss.
I was reading along the other day in a book (which turned out to be a great book overall) that is written in first person present sense. Twice in the book, the narrator referred to characters by name that were introduced to her pages after she's already been using their name. Since this is written in first person PRESENT TENSE, how in the world could the narrator have known the character names to use them if they had not yet been introduced to her?
To me, this is sloppy writing. Of course the author knows the characters' names, but when writing, you have to stay in the moment with the narrator and your point-of-view (POV) character and only share details that they know at that moment in time. Of course, you can share more if the narrator is third-person omniscient. But whenever you have a book told in first person, you've really got to limit what you say to what they know (especially if you are writing in present tense where no future knowledge or experiences could be coloring the re-telling of the story).
This stuck out to me pretty strongly as I read the book, and really irritated me. Fortunately, it only happened twice and then the rest of the book was gripping enough that I got over it enough to love the story. Still, I wish that little bit had been a bit more polished. (And for anyone wondering, this is a professionally published New York Times Bestseller, so don't blame lack of editing or indie authors for this mistake).
That's it, I've said what I need to say about this. Now I'll get back to writing and hope that nothing I do will irritate anyone else so much that it will be the focus of a blog rant. You can't please everyone though, right?
Showing posts with label writing well. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing well. Show all posts
Monday, July 1, 2013
Monday, June 17, 2013
Words of Wisdom Regarding Writing
These are some of my favorite quotes on the topic of writing. I can identify with most of these, or find them ironic, humorous, or pithy. Maybe I should warn you, I REALLY like quotes on writing. Here goes...Enjoy!
“If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn't brood. I'd type a little faster.” ― Isaac Asimov
“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” ― Ernest Hemingway
“You can make anything by writing.” ― C.S. Lewis
“Let me live, love and say it well in good sentences.” ― Sylvia Plath
“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.” ― Stephen King
“We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.” ― Anaïs Nin
“No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.” ― Robert Frost
“You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.” ― Madeleine L'Engle
“If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” ― Stephen King
“If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.” ― Toni Morrison
“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.” ― Mark Twain
“You never have to change anything you got up in the middle of the night to write.” ― Saul Bellow
“Fantasy is hardly an escape from reality. It's a way of understanding it.” ― Lloyd Alexander
“Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.” ― E.L. Doctorow
“After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.” ― Philip Pullman
“There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.” ― W. Somerset Maugham
“Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” ― Anton Chekhov
“Words can be like X-rays if you use them properly -- they’ll go through anything. You read and you’re pierced.” ― Aldous Huxley
“The scariest moment is always just before you start.” ― Stephen King
“Being a writer is a very peculiar sort of a job: it's always you versus a blank sheet of paper (or a blank screen) and quite often the blank piece of paper wins.” ― Neil Gaiman
“I write to give myself strength. I write to be the characters that I am not. I write to explore all the things I'm afraid of. ” ― Joss Whedon
“This is how you do it: you sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until its done. It's that easy, and that hard.” ― Neil Gaiman
“Write the kind of story you would like to read. People will give you all sorts of advice about writing, but if you are not writing something you like, no one else will like it either.” ― Meg Cabot
“The true alchemists do not change lead into gold; they change the world into words.” ― William H. Gass
“The role of a writer is not to say what we can all say, but what we are unable to say.” ― Anaïs Nin
“You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” ― Jack London
“You don't write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say.” ― F. Scott Fitzgerald
“I love writing. I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions.” ― James A. Michener
“The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself.” ― Albert Camus
“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” ― Ernest Hemingway
“You can make anything by writing.” ― C.S. Lewis
“Let me live, love and say it well in good sentences.” ― Sylvia Plath
“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.” ― Stephen King
“We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.” ― Anaïs Nin
“No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.” ― Robert Frost
“You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.” ― Madeleine L'Engle
“If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” ― Stephen King
“If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.” ― Toni Morrison
“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.” ― Mark Twain
“You never have to change anything you got up in the middle of the night to write.” ― Saul Bellow
“Fantasy is hardly an escape from reality. It's a way of understanding it.” ― Lloyd Alexander
“Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.” ― E.L. Doctorow
“After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.” ― Philip Pullman
“There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.” ― W. Somerset Maugham
“Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” ― Anton Chekhov
“Words can be like X-rays if you use them properly -- they’ll go through anything. You read and you’re pierced.” ― Aldous Huxley
“The scariest moment is always just before you start.” ― Stephen King
“Being a writer is a very peculiar sort of a job: it's always you versus a blank sheet of paper (or a blank screen) and quite often the blank piece of paper wins.” ― Neil Gaiman
“I write to give myself strength. I write to be the characters that I am not. I write to explore all the things I'm afraid of. ” ― Joss Whedon
“This is how you do it: you sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until its done. It's that easy, and that hard.” ― Neil Gaiman
“Write the kind of story you would like to read. People will give you all sorts of advice about writing, but if you are not writing something you like, no one else will like it either.” ― Meg Cabot
“The true alchemists do not change lead into gold; they change the world into words.” ― William H. Gass
“The role of a writer is not to say what we can all say, but what we are unable to say.” ― Anaïs Nin
“You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” ― Jack London
“You don't write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say.” ― F. Scott Fitzgerald
“I love writing. I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions.” ― James A. Michener
“The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself.” ― Albert Camus
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Outlining: A Love-Hate Relationship
When starting a new writing project, should you make an outline or not? This is something that I have personally gone round and round about at different times. Clearly, there are advantages to writing an outline.
First off, you have a clear picture of how the whole story will unfold before you ever type the first word. This way you don’t get to page 100 and realize, let’s say, that it was actually the school teacher that kidnapped the president, and you should have been dropping hints all along the way. Now you have to go back and work these details in, which can be a lot of work and lead to inconsistencies if you don’t pay close attention and edit well. I’ve even had to go back and add in whole characters when I didn’t plan well. Not an easy task.
Another advantage of an outline is that you have a quick reference of your whole book at a glance. This can be helpful for submitting to agents and publishers, especially if you are trying to write the ever daunting synopsis. It can also be helpful when you think of something you want to change, but can’t remember what chapter Aunt Sue lit her hair on fire. It saves a lot of time from paging through the manuscript to find it. Admittedly, though, an outline for these purposes can be drafted as you write the book or even after it is complete.
Something everyone tends to be short on is time, and writing an outline lets you do all, or at least a good chunk of the planning work up front. From it, you can write faster and have a better idea if the work is worth writing at all before you even start.
So with all of these advantages to outlining a book at the onset, why am I bothering to write this post? Shouldn’t it just be: Outlining – Do It! And I end the post right there? Well, to me, it’s been far from so simple. I have tried several times when starting a new book to outline the entire plot and subplots before I started chapter one. What I got had mixed results.
Once, I spent several days outlining a book that I was so entranced with I couldn’t stop thinking out it. As soon as I completed the outline I instantly lost interest in the project. For a long time, I thought the outlining had ruined it for me. As I reflect now, I think that I realized that my story wasn’t as interesting and complex as I imagined in vague snippets in my head, so it was a good thing I didn’t waste my time writing the whole book.
Another book I outlined went differently. I finished the outline, thinking that I had a pretty solid book and went to work writing it, still enthused about the project. But it didn’t take long for me to realize that the plot looked a lot more interesting all condensed in bare-bones outline form. Once I tried to flesh it out and write the story around the outline, I found that my plot was pretty skeletal. When I ditched the outline and just wrote the story from scratch, it filled in remarkably. This book still needs some major re-writes, but it’s not a lack of outlining that was the problem, but rather my lack of adequate vision until after I’d written it and set it aside for several months.
For a long time, my bad experiences with outlining, and the challenge they can be to write, made me think that I was better off not trying.
My most recent book that I am working on now, currently called TEMPO (you’ll hear more about this in the future, I am sure), has taught me a different lesson. This is, by far, the longest and most complex book I have written to date. I knew when I started that I had to outline, or I would get lost. I didn’t just make a skeletal and dry outline, I wrote a 29 page outline. When I thought of a line of dialogue or a perfect description or analogy, I wrote it in so I could include it in the final book. This kept it creative and interesting. I found that I really enjoyed the process because I got to discover what happens in my story, which is one of the most exciting parts, quickly. The process took a couple of weeks.
I feared that once I finished the outline, like my previous experience, I would lose interest in the book. On the contrary, I was anxious to start crafting my exciting plot-twisting tale into beautiful and full scenes, characters, and descriptions. Crafting language is fun, and I now knew that I had a great story to mold it into.
I am currently about one quarter of the way through the first draft, and it has been a great experience. I have made changes, which I update the outline to reflect, but they mainly deal with detail and pacing rather than substance.
Simultaneously, I'm re-editing IN AN INSTANT to finalize the manuscript. That is a book I did not outline, and that hasn't really been a problem except that I have frequently gone back to add new scenes that broaden understanding of the characters journey and the meaning of the book. But, I think that nothing short of time and experience would have brought those to light for me. With or without an outline, I would still be adding to this captivating and heart-wrenching novel.
So, my final verdict is: Outline! If you lose interest in the project afterwards, it probably wasn’t worth writing. If you’re having trouble writing from it, then it’s not complete enough and needs more work. I am positive I will outline all of my future books with scary-long outlines like the 29-page monster I am working from now for TEMPO.
Still, if an outline is preventing you from getting started, then forget it and just write. The most important part of writing isn't an outline—it's passion. As long as you have passion, you're writing is well worth the effort and will move your readers to feel, know, love, and hate right along with you.
Happy writing!
First off, you have a clear picture of how the whole story will unfold before you ever type the first word. This way you don’t get to page 100 and realize, let’s say, that it was actually the school teacher that kidnapped the president, and you should have been dropping hints all along the way. Now you have to go back and work these details in, which can be a lot of work and lead to inconsistencies if you don’t pay close attention and edit well. I’ve even had to go back and add in whole characters when I didn’t plan well. Not an easy task.
Another advantage of an outline is that you have a quick reference of your whole book at a glance. This can be helpful for submitting to agents and publishers, especially if you are trying to write the ever daunting synopsis. It can also be helpful when you think of something you want to change, but can’t remember what chapter Aunt Sue lit her hair on fire. It saves a lot of time from paging through the manuscript to find it. Admittedly, though, an outline for these purposes can be drafted as you write the book or even after it is complete.
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| Image by Stuart Miles from FreeDigitalPhotos.net |
So with all of these advantages to outlining a book at the onset, why am I bothering to write this post? Shouldn’t it just be: Outlining – Do It! And I end the post right there? Well, to me, it’s been far from so simple. I have tried several times when starting a new book to outline the entire plot and subplots before I started chapter one. What I got had mixed results.
Once, I spent several days outlining a book that I was so entranced with I couldn’t stop thinking out it. As soon as I completed the outline I instantly lost interest in the project. For a long time, I thought the outlining had ruined it for me. As I reflect now, I think that I realized that my story wasn’t as interesting and complex as I imagined in vague snippets in my head, so it was a good thing I didn’t waste my time writing the whole book.
Another book I outlined went differently. I finished the outline, thinking that I had a pretty solid book and went to work writing it, still enthused about the project. But it didn’t take long for me to realize that the plot looked a lot more interesting all condensed in bare-bones outline form. Once I tried to flesh it out and write the story around the outline, I found that my plot was pretty skeletal. When I ditched the outline and just wrote the story from scratch, it filled in remarkably. This book still needs some major re-writes, but it’s not a lack of outlining that was the problem, but rather my lack of adequate vision until after I’d written it and set it aside for several months.
For a long time, my bad experiences with outlining, and the challenge they can be to write, made me think that I was better off not trying.
My most recent book that I am working on now, currently called TEMPO (you’ll hear more about this in the future, I am sure), has taught me a different lesson. This is, by far, the longest and most complex book I have written to date. I knew when I started that I had to outline, or I would get lost. I didn’t just make a skeletal and dry outline, I wrote a 29 page outline. When I thought of a line of dialogue or a perfect description or analogy, I wrote it in so I could include it in the final book. This kept it creative and interesting. I found that I really enjoyed the process because I got to discover what happens in my story, which is one of the most exciting parts, quickly. The process took a couple of weeks.
I feared that once I finished the outline, like my previous experience, I would lose interest in the book. On the contrary, I was anxious to start crafting my exciting plot-twisting tale into beautiful and full scenes, characters, and descriptions. Crafting language is fun, and I now knew that I had a great story to mold it into.
I am currently about one quarter of the way through the first draft, and it has been a great experience. I have made changes, which I update the outline to reflect, but they mainly deal with detail and pacing rather than substance.
Simultaneously, I'm re-editing IN AN INSTANT to finalize the manuscript. That is a book I did not outline, and that hasn't really been a problem except that I have frequently gone back to add new scenes that broaden understanding of the characters journey and the meaning of the book. But, I think that nothing short of time and experience would have brought those to light for me. With or without an outline, I would still be adding to this captivating and heart-wrenching novel.
So, my final verdict is: Outline! If you lose interest in the project afterwards, it probably wasn’t worth writing. If you’re having trouble writing from it, then it’s not complete enough and needs more work. I am positive I will outline all of my future books with scary-long outlines like the 29-page monster I am working from now for TEMPO.
Still, if an outline is preventing you from getting started, then forget it and just write. The most important part of writing isn't an outline—it's passion. As long as you have passion, you're writing is well worth the effort and will move your readers to feel, know, love, and hate right along with you.
Happy writing!
Monday, April 15, 2013
Being Punctuated: A Matter of Clarity and Comedy
I recently had a discussion with some friends about why so much time is spent on grammar and mechanics in school. Isn't it all a little arbitrary and pointless? To partially answer that, I submit the following cases where the grammatical mechanics (punctuation in this case) make all the difference in meaning.
Try not to laugh too hard.
Try not to laugh too hard.
1. Say "No" to drugs
Incorrectly punctuated:
Just say "No" to drugs from the D.A.R.E. police officers.
Whoops, lets not turn the officers into drug dealers.
Just say "No" to drugs, from the D.A.R.E. police officers.
2.A comma could save a life
Incorrectly punctuated:
For all those who like to cook and eat my wife just made a blog with recipes.
Let's make sure no cannibals show up:
For all those who like to cook and eat, my wife just made a blog with recipes.
Incorrectly punctuated:
"I want to eat Mom!"
Or, for the good of the whole family:
"I want to eat, Mom!"
3. Declaration of love?
I'm sorry I still love you.
Or, is it...
I'm sorry. I still love you.
4. Emphatic Quotation Marks
5. Who needs who?
Woman without her man is nothing
Could be:
Woman: without her, man is nothing.
Or:
Woman, without her man, is nothing.
You decide.
Thursday, April 4, 2013
A Complete Story in Fewer Words Than This Title?
Yes. It's called Skinny Fiction. It's an awesome concept I just came across recently when I visited this blog, and I've been having a lot of fun with it ever since.
The idea is to write a story in as few words as possible. Potentially, try to get the story across in 10 or 25 words, but definable less than 100 words. This turns it into a poem, of sorts, but the key is that it must have a storyline. A character, a beginning, a middle, and an end.
A great example of Skinny Fiction is by the famous author, Ernest Hemingway. He wrote:
"For sale: baby shoes, never worn."
Now, tell me that doesn't give a whole story. Yes, a lot is implied, but that's the power of Skinny Fiction. It engages the imagination, and can lead each person down their own little road based on the connections and understandings they form.
The following is my Skinny Fiction story which is inspired by my novel, IN AN INSTANT, which I am currently having beta read and doing some edits. It's no wonder that it was on my mind.
A great example of Skinny Fiction is by the famous author, Ernest Hemingway. He wrote:
"For sale: baby shoes, never worn."
Now, tell me that doesn't give a whole story. Yes, a lot is implied, but that's the power of Skinny Fiction. It engages the imagination, and can lead each person down their own little road based on the connections and understandings they form.
The following is my Skinny Fiction story which is inspired by my novel, IN AN INSTANT, which I am currently having beta read and doing some edits. It's no wonder that it was on my mind.
Diagnosis
by Melanie James
by Melanie James
Uncertainty. Heart races.
A look. A sigh.
Answers.
We cry.
I’m still me.
This story, I wrote a few days before Easter.A look. A sigh.
Answers.
We cry.
I’m still me.
Salvation
by Melanie James
Darkness surrounds me.
I walk toward him; he walks toward me.
Morning blooms.
And this one was inspired by my precious little one-year-old daughter, Allie.
Little One
by Melanie James
Awake; her face is the dawn.
Sticky fingers, tears, hugs, kisses, mysteries solved.
More hugs and kisses.
Away into dreams.
I watch. She doesn't know.
Can you write a story in 25 words or less?
Bet you can't.
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
How Writing Impacts My Life
To say that writing has impacted my life is probably too obvious to even mention. But how it affects my life is well worth discussing, I think. Here are the main 8 ways that writing has, and still does, impact my life.
1. Writing helps me make sense of my life. Everything I write has a little (or a lot) of me in it. Don't spend too much time analyzing and guessing what aspects of my work pull elements from my real life, because you'll likely be confused and guess wrong. But the fact of the matter is that I pour a little of myself into everything I write, and it all has special meaning for me. Through the course of the stories and development of characters, or even just the way I describe something, I find a little more meaning and sense in the world that is my real life.
2. Writing is one way that I connect to other people. Through my stories, I can share a little of myself that I may not otherwise divulge. My husband often claims to better understand the workings of my mind after reading a new story I have written.
3. Writing helps me say what I want to say. I'm not always the most eloquent person, but I have a lot I want to say. I love crafting those messages into stories that not only tell my message, but illustrate it in such a way that it, hopefully, comes alive for people. I want to make the world a better place.
4. Writing is my most consistent hobby. Through the years, I really can't think of many things that I have consistently stuck with. I do crochet, but otherwise, my hobbies change regularly and may never see a rekindling in months and years to follow. Writing is the one major exception. I have been writing stories and poems since I was in elementary school. I'll write a novel, then edit and re-edit it even if I don't think anyone else will ever read it. I get absorbed in my books and characters, and it is truly an enjoyable experience.
5. Writing lets me use words, which I love. Ever since I was a baby, I have loved words. I love it when I find the perfect word to convey the precise meaning and connotation that I am trying to share. I love it when a phrase makes me ponder or see something in a new way. I seek to create some of my own ponder-able statements.
6. Writing helps me relieve stress. At times, when I have faced a particularly aggravating situation, writing about it in the context of a fictional story, and letting the characters work it out, helps me see the situation from a different perspective. Often, it's the key to calming my emotions and seeing the solution. And no one gets hurt.
7. Writing is always a great conversation starter. If you write and have ever talked to someone about it, it's likely that you've often heard one of two things: "I'm also writing a book" or "I know someone who is writing a book". It's astounding how many people write. Taking the time to take genuine interest in other people's literary pursuits always leads to fascinating conversations and builds friendships.
8. Writing is just a whole lot of fun. What else can I say. I write because I love it. I can't count how many hundreds of hours I have devoted to writing. And I have loved ever minute of it. It is challenging, exciting, and rewarding. Even if I'm the only person who ever reads some of the things I've written, it was, in my opinion, time well spent.
1. Writing helps me make sense of my life. Everything I write has a little (or a lot) of me in it. Don't spend too much time analyzing and guessing what aspects of my work pull elements from my real life, because you'll likely be confused and guess wrong. But the fact of the matter is that I pour a little of myself into everything I write, and it all has special meaning for me. Through the course of the stories and development of characters, or even just the way I describe something, I find a little more meaning and sense in the world that is my real life.
2. Writing is one way that I connect to other people. Through my stories, I can share a little of myself that I may not otherwise divulge. My husband often claims to better understand the workings of my mind after reading a new story I have written.
3. Writing helps me say what I want to say. I'm not always the most eloquent person, but I have a lot I want to say. I love crafting those messages into stories that not only tell my message, but illustrate it in such a way that it, hopefully, comes alive for people. I want to make the world a better place.
4. Writing is my most consistent hobby. Through the years, I really can't think of many things that I have consistently stuck with. I do crochet, but otherwise, my hobbies change regularly and may never see a rekindling in months and years to follow. Writing is the one major exception. I have been writing stories and poems since I was in elementary school. I'll write a novel, then edit and re-edit it even if I don't think anyone else will ever read it. I get absorbed in my books and characters, and it is truly an enjoyable experience.
5. Writing lets me use words, which I love. Ever since I was a baby, I have loved words. I love it when I find the perfect word to convey the precise meaning and connotation that I am trying to share. I love it when a phrase makes me ponder or see something in a new way. I seek to create some of my own ponder-able statements.
6. Writing helps me relieve stress. At times, when I have faced a particularly aggravating situation, writing about it in the context of a fictional story, and letting the characters work it out, helps me see the situation from a different perspective. Often, it's the key to calming my emotions and seeing the solution. And no one gets hurt.
7. Writing is always a great conversation starter. If you write and have ever talked to someone about it, it's likely that you've often heard one of two things: "I'm also writing a book" or "I know someone who is writing a book". It's astounding how many people write. Taking the time to take genuine interest in other people's literary pursuits always leads to fascinating conversations and builds friendships.
8. Writing is just a whole lot of fun. What else can I say. I write because I love it. I can't count how many hundreds of hours I have devoted to writing. And I have loved ever minute of it. It is challenging, exciting, and rewarding. Even if I'm the only person who ever reads some of the things I've written, it was, in my opinion, time well spent.
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