Progress Report

Here it is twenty days into National Novel Writing Month and I've written about 12,000 words. Not even halfway there yet and I know I won’t make the 50,000 mark. Joining gave me a not so gentle push back into my writing and I’ve made headway in my novel, but…

Something happened while I was writing. My original outline changed drastically. Don’t they always? Writing is rewriting. here's what happened; a minor character, I had killed off in the outline came back to life and now has a staring role.

Sometimes I think novels write themselves. I had no say in the matter. The character made the decision to live. When it happened, I composed a timeline for him and I must admit the plot is stronger and much more interesting.

Am I the only one who thinks November is an awkward month to hold the novel writing event? My garden required massive attention before frost threatened to freeze the plants. A few early Christmas parties took up several evenings and renovating the basement took priority.

I’m enjoying the pep talks on the NaNo website and intend to keep writing. My motto has always been quality before quantity and I would rather have 25,000 good words than 50,000 gobbledygook words.

Many thanks to my writing buddy, Sue Malarkey, for talking me into joining.

Novel Writing Inspiration

Because I write very detailed outlines, I am not the kind of writer who usually gets stuck in the middle of plots, but am I a slow writer, so signing up for the National Novel Writing Month never occurred to me. I have known several writers who’ve signed up and completed 50,000 words in past years. Writing 1,666 words every day for 30 days straight sounds easy, but I have my doubts.

I was chatting with my friend, Sue, this morning. She has signed up for Nano and encouraged me to try it. Maybe it’s the nudge I need to get me back into the flow of writing daily. Let's face it, I need more than a nudge. A kick in the pants, perhaps.

During the summer, I stopped writing my current novel to edit a completed novel that I had evaluated by an editor and now I need to get back into my unfinished novel.

Will I be inspired to write 50,000 words in 30 days? Well, that's the plan. I have about 125 pages written so far and, of course, another 50,000 words won’t be enough to finish the novel, but I hope it inspires me to keep going.

That seems to be the point of NaNoWriMo. Get writing, keep writing and share your experience with thousands of other writers.  

COMMUNICATION LESSONS

I remember growing up in Willowdale, Ontario in the ‘60s as a simpler time. There were no personal computers or cell phones and communicating with friends happened by writing letters. Of course we had a telephone and, as I recall, we had a party line, which was cheaper than a private line. Our party line family spoke Italian and I would listen in on their chattering, not knowing what they were saying.

During summers at the cottage in Muskoka, several families shared a phone line. Different rings were assigned to each cottage. I think ours was two short rings. I would send postcards home to my father who worked in Toronto Monday to Friday and joined us on weekends. I found a few of those childish postcards in a drawer after my father’s death.

Letters took about a day to arrive across the city and we eagerly anticipated a visit from the postman. Today’s methods of communication are immediate and intrusive. People are too easily accessible. Cell phones ring and people answer them, regardless of where they are or what they’re doing. Whatever happened to the days when people had to wait to communicate with friends and family? Patience seems to be a thing of the past.

I’ve changed with the times and I find myself opening my email account, anticipating chatty messages from friends across the globe. It’s not quite as exciting as receiving a letter by mail, but I still look forward to it. Easier communication methods have made us lazy. No longer do we sit down with pretty paper and inscribe our thoughts with ink. Fewer written letters have reduced the need for proper writing skills. Modern test scores prove that current students’ writing skills are far below that of their 1960s counterparts.

Though rarely face-to-face, people are socializing more. Fifty years ago, culture encouraged modesty and humility. Social networks make us feel important. We share our entire lives online without knowing who is scrutinizing us. Am I the only one who finds this creepy? 

We can chat online via Skype and see each other. We have three-way connections and hand-free phones. Every year something new comes out and everyone rushes to buy the latest gadget. I will admit the computer is far superior to a typewriter and cell phones make me feel safer while driving at night alone, but sometimes I think that progress is moving too fast. I want to slow down and ignore the world around me.

Will today’s technology seem outdated fifty years from now? Of course it will, but thankfully I won’t be here to see it.

Does Your Novel Need a Professional Edit?

Knowing when your manuscript needs a professional editor’s blue pen isn’t always easy. Most writers, myself included, take months, if not years to write a novel. We share it with a writers’ circle and self-edit until we believe it’s as good as it can be.

Then the scary part of querying agents begins. When the concept and sample chapters attract an agent, I happily send my novel off, crossing my fingers and praying that this is the agent who will sign my manuscript to a contract and find a publishing house.

I finished my novel at the beginning of the year and queried between thirty and forty agents. Several asked for partials and one wanted the whole manuscript, but conflicting responses left me confused. I’ve published short stories in well-known magazines in the United Kingdom and won a contest or two so I know my writing is good.

One agent loved the back story, but not the current, while another agent loved the current story, but not the back story. What to do? My novel is a dual time-frame plot with the back story taking place in 1812 Upper Canada and the current story revolving around the descendents of the 1812 characters. 

I decided I needed a fresh pair of eyes and looked for a freelance editor. Since I live near Toronto, I wanted to stay close to home and looked up The Editors’ Association of Canada. My first attempt failed when an editor kept my manuscript for about three weeks and then emailed me to say he was too busy to do the work. He refunded my money and I had to start over. Almost a month wasted.

My second try worked like a charm. I hired Allister Thompson, who quoted me a very reasonable fee. We agreed he would get back to me in a month with a substantive edit and we signed a contract. He kept in touch while he was editing my work and finished in three weeks. He charged less than his quote and sent my evaluation by email.

I admit I was nervous while I read his evaluation, but he assured me that I have the skill to write compelling fiction. He said my characters were well-drawn and the plot interesting. That was the good news. He went on to say that, my manuscript was too long and he suggested I get rid of one character. He included several pages of general impressions and a chapter-by-chapter breakdown, which helped me decide which scenes to keep and which ones needed cutting or editing.

I wrote back and thanked him before I got down to the complicated task of yet another major revision. It wasn’t as painful as I thought it would be. By eliminating that one minor character, I got rid of one hundred pages. It took me about a month to complete my revision and I’m thrilled with the final effort.

If your manuscript is having trouble finding an agent, perhaps it’s time to get the opinion of a professional editor. It can’t hurt.    

Life Gets in the Way

I haven't posted anything lately for several reasons. Like the title says, life gets in the way and I've been taking a break from writing. No, I haven't been suffering from writer's block or procrastination. My other half has been ill for the past year with a rash that drove both of us crazy. Doctors just kept prescribing expensive creams that sometimes helped and most often did not. 

After insisting that he be referred to a dermatologist, he had a chunk of skin cut out of his arm and analyzed. Another month went by before we got the diagnosis--Lupus. I think we were in shock for a few days while we processed this information. Of course I went on-line and read everything I could about the disease. 

Fortunately, Lupus can be managed and, because he's had it for at least a year, the waiting period of six to twelve months for a Rheumatologist has been reduced to one month. 

Now that we know what he has and, he can manage the disease with diet and medication, I can get back to my writing. I've been keeping a journal with all my thoughts, prayers and feelings during this time and it's helped get me through a dark period of our life. From fiction to non-fiction, writing can be a form of therapy.

When Good Novel Outlines Go Bad

I work long and hard on my novel outlines, making sure the main character has a goal to work towards, rising action and challenges before a crisis propels the story towards a satisfactory climax.

So why does it surprise me when I find myself wavering off course? I'm determined to finish the first draft without looking back at what I've written, but that came to a halt the other day when I realized my main character was taking a backseat behind the antagonist.

Actually, the antagonist began as the protagonist since he will be in all four books of the series. It made sense while I was writing the outline, but while reading the first draft scenes to my trusted colleagues in our writers' circle, they reminded me who needs to be the main character in the first novel.

Taking two steps back, I realize they're right. Now what? I've written 150 pages. After pondering the problem for a few days, I decide all I need to do is rearrange the chapters, bringing the new protagonist to the beginning of the novel. Easily done since I never use chapter numbers in the first draft. 

Now I feel satisfied with the written chapters, but what about the rest of the outline? I've added notes on the outline where the changes will happen. Should I forge ahead and resolve the holes that crop up as I write or should I take the time to rewrite the outline? What's a writer to do?

Inspirational Quotes From Notable Authors

I was cleaning out the cupboard below one of my book shelves when I came across an old notebook containing famous people's quotes I've copied over the years. Some of them are from best-selling authors. I've always wondered if authors of classic novels had an easier time writing than I do. Apparently not, according to some of the quotes in my notebook.

Most of my stories begin with a character and then the 'what ifs' come into play. 

          Find out what your hero wants, then just follow him!
         Ray Bradbury

Good advice and here's another one.

          I try to create sympathy for my characters, then turn the monsters loose.
        Stephen King

Beginning to write a new story or novel can be daunting. Figuring out where to set it, what goal to give the main character and keeping the plot on course can slow us down.


          Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it's the only way you can do anything really good.
          William Faulkner

          To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme.
          Herman Melville

Sometimes we get lost in the writing process, but giving up isn't an option.

          Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.
          E. L. Doctorow

It's important to surround yourself with supportive family and friends. Encouragement and praise is something writers feed on.

          It is the writer who might catch the imagination of young people, and plant a seed that will flower and come to fruition.
          Isaac Asimov

What could be harder than writing? Editing, of course.


          Half my life is an act of revision.
        John Irving

Only half! Self-editing is a never ending chore. When is a manuscript good enough to send out?

          It is perfectly okay to write garbage, as long as you edit brilliantly.
         C. J. Cherryh

           I am irritated by my own writing. I am like a violinist whose ear is true, but whose fingers refuse to reproduce precisely the sound he hears within.
           Gustave Flaubert 

It's difficult to know what length the manuscript will be when all your little gems have been written down.


          Not that the story need be long, but it will take a long time to make it short.
        Henry David Thoreau

Some (or should I say many?) writers have a primary career and writing is a hobby. Finding your title on the Best Seller's list is usually just a dream. 

          It took me fifteen years to discover I had no talent for writing, but I couldn't give it up because by that time I was too famous.
          Robert Benchley

Wherever a writer goes, people are always amazed when they learn what you do. 

          People on the outside think there's something magical about writing, that you go up to the attic at midnight and cast the bones and come down in the morning with a story, but it isn't like that. You sit in back of the typewriter and you work, and that's all there is to it.
          Harlan Ellison

And a few final words of inspiration.

          If you can tell stories, create characters, devise incidents, and have sincerity and passion, it doesn't matter a damn how you write.
          Somerset Maugham