Building a Novel ~ One block at a time

So you want to write a novel, eh?

I’d like to throw out some tips to you to get you started:

1)     Characters - You absolutely have to have characters planned out for your novel. Either in your head waiting to be birthed, or ones you’ve written for but never really gave them a home.

2)     Define these characters - give them hair color, skin color, clothes that suit them and facial features that define them. Give them personality and a voice that can carry a novel.

3)     Environment - Okay, so now you have characters, now you’re going to need a setting in which they’ll live or a world to wander through (You never know, you might be writing a sci-fi novel and you really need to discover the worlds in which they live)

4)     Premise - This is where you’ll define what your novel will be about. The beginning, middle and how you see it ending. You don’t have to adhere to the premise entirely but this will get you started in the direction you wish to go.

5)     Outline – You can, if you want, outline each chapter; again as you wish to see the story develops. You needn’t stick to this outline like crazy glue to your fingers, you just need a basic outline of all you see happening with each chapter.

6)     Timeline – As you work on the outline, this might be where you put forth a timeline. Have you missed years’ perhaps dates? Are they consistent/inconsistent with the rest of what you wrote?

7)     Editing – Not by paragraph, not by chapter, not even by the time you reach the middle. Save all edits for after you’ve written THE END can you go back and edit.

8)     Seek feedback – This is where a writing group comes in handy if you have one. I myself don’t have one these days, so my editing is done in my spare time. I read and fix things I think I miss, I read it out loud to myself because this is how the reader is going to hear it in their minds when they read it. Fixing things means my consistency and imagery and such.

9)     Edit some more- I go through each chapter doing the above. Making sure I have my handy dandy timeline ready for viewing, then I check for any grammar mistakes I may have made and tweak them to my liking.

10)  Edit some more - After the two edits to your liking, you’re going to want to give it another trip down the reading lane.

There you have it. Your novel should be a complete novel instead of a work in progress.  I know many writers do many more edits before being satisfied with a completed work, so be sure you’ve done enough to satisfy you. Then get searching for publishers! 

Book Bites: 

 Outlining Your Novel by K.M. Weiland

 The Essential Guide to Writing a Novel by James Thayer

What's in a Word?

Have something to say, and say it as clearly as you can. That is the only secret.

~ Matthew Arnold

***

What’s in a word?

Well to begin with, letters, as simple as that, letters are what makes up words. But as writers you need to be careful and choosy with which word you use because just like driving a screw into dry rotted wood, the sentence just might fall apart!
And is that what you want, your sentence to fall apart?

I didn’t think so. First you need to begin with a good strong piece of wood. Okay, too metaphorical here. The strong wood is symbolizing your strong plot! You’ve got a story all ready to build so you have got your solid piece of wood and a few loose screws. Oops again, didn’t mean that. You have screws on hand and are ready to begin writing your story!

Oh my, where do you start? Do you have a character in mind?  What I mean is, has this character been knocking on your noggin begging to be let out of the closet you have her/him stored in? Well, if you’ve got the plot idea, now is the time to let Suzie McQuirkle out of the closet and let her have a run of a few lines. What? You don’t have a plot OR a character?  Uh oh!

Ok...you need to start writing a few sentences. We do that with words. It was a dark and stormy night. Oh that is too cliché. Try something a little stronger. The car was zooming down the wet roadway... Ah little better. You can do so much with the words in a cliché. This might be the foundational piece of wood your seeking to begin building your plot and character. 

Once you have those two elements, start asking the questions: WHY? Why was Suzie zooming down a wet roadway? Was she running from something or worse, someone? WHAT caused her to flee? WHO is she fleeing from? The law, a stalker? Oh my we’re building now! Let’s not forget the WHEN and HOW of the questions, okay?

When you start questioning your character, you have begun to pick up a few more scraps of wood to add to the little story you’re building. I hate to do this to you, after I’m always saying to just keep writing and writing and don’t stop. But stop for a minute. Yes, one minute is all I’m allowing you! Look at the words you used!!! Are they strong words? Too fluffy? Too exuberant? Ok, minutes up. You’ve looked at the words and are thinking, maybe zooming isn’t a tight word, you need something MORE graphic.

Okay, time for the thesaurus. I always have mine opened as I’m writing so I don’t use the same word twice in a paragraph or two. If it is meaning the same thing, you need to find another word! Make it strong, bring home the point you’re trying to get across.
 
The car was zooming down the slippery wet road, making a speedy getaway as Suzie dashes in and out of traffic, she zipped right through the scene to safety. Safety? I don’t think so. She more than likely crashed, or you wouldn’t have told the reader the road was wet and slippery.

See all those synonyms I used. Pretty easy huh? Well it’s not and it takes a lot of skill and tried and true blood, but you’ll get the hang of it in no time. Remember, in writing, words are your friends!  Make every one count for something as you build your little birdhouse, I mean story. A few loose screws later, you might just have something! Stick with it.

Workshop for Writing?

"To workshop your writing is the building blocks to your future"~~joni

A lot of people tell me they’ve been writing for years. They also say they are ready to submit their work to a publisher/editor.

I say, "Did you workshop it?"

They say to me with jaw hanging open I’m sure, "Workshop it, what put it on the chopping block?"

"Well no, that is not what I meant. What I mean is, did you have a group of your peers look at it and let them give you their opinion?"

"Well no, my work is good, I don’t need anyone’s opinion. It is THAT good."

Let me tell you friends, that is a bad idea. That is your ego talking and it can get you into a lot of trouble. Remember my post on EGO? It’s down a few pages but I distinctly remember telling you to put it on the shelf for a rainy day and pull it out when you’re feeling down. When it comes to writing, there is no place for your ego!

I remember when I first started putting my poetry out there. I thought it was so good and didn’t need a word neither here nor there. My peers liked my work but saw in it great potential, not perfection. Well slap me upside the head and call me silly, why don’t you? That was the reality check that I needed to get this determined writer moving.

Once I saw where I needed work I went right to it reshaping, restructuring, molding it to make it shine like a bronze statue.(I’d say a Gold statue but then that would be my ego talking again.)

There are many workshops around the internet but the home I found was Writer’s Village University. This is the place where my work is safely displayed (without the eyes of millions) and other writers safely critique it. I say safely displayed because my home at WVU is password protected where only members have access.

My peers are either published author’s or new budding writers who want to learn the craft and aid another writer in their dream. It is like having a pack of rainbows tucked into one workshop with a bunch of little elves making my pot of gold dream come true.

It is important to see where you need assistance at in your work. Even published author’s like to have another eye looking over their work to see if they might have missed something or if there is something, when added to the story, will give it the extra punch it needs to get published.

Never fear having your work in a workshop. Even Santa needed a workshop! Why? So he could bring the best that he had to offer to the entire world. Now get to work on building a glorious story for your workshop. Make it the best tool that you use in your career.