Yearly Archives: 2012

by

Book of the Week – 7

This week I’m reading The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin. I bought it when it came it out in September 2011 and it has been on my TBR pile since then… So, I know, I’m a bit late to this party, but so far I’m LOVING this book! Can’t wait to finish it…

From Goodreads:

“Mara Dyer doesn’t think life can get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there.

It can.

She believes there must be more to the accident she can’t remember that killed her friends and left her mysteriously unharmed.

There is.

She doesn’t believe that after everything she’s been through, she can fall in love.

She’s wrong.”

Check out Michelle Hodkin’s website here.

What are you reading this week?

 

by

ROW80 Check-In #6 – Self-editing and dealing with repetitions

Hello gentle reader,

last week I tackled the issue of self-editing a novel (here!) and from your comments I gathered that a lot of us have the same problem: repetitions. When we write, we unconsciously repeat the same words or ideas when really, once is enough. Then, when self-editing our work, we are faced with the issue of dealing with those repetitions.

So here is a 4-step guide to help with reducing unconscious repetitions…

Step 1- Identify overused words

Having a fresh look at your novel or a beta-reader read your WIP is a way to identify overused words. However the best way to know which words are the most frequently used in your manuscript is to use a word cloud generator like Wordle. According to its own website, “Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text.”  So in our case, and if you paste your manuscript into Wordle, you will get a word cloud where the words that occur the most in the manuscript are the largest. The largest words in your cloud should be proper nouns.

Here is the word cloud for THE LAST QUEEN, which I’m editing during this ROW80:

See? All the biggest words are my characters’ names. If your largest words are “eyes” or “says”, you might want to have a second look at your manuscript…

Then you can…

Step 2- Identify repetitions of effects

In SELF-EDITING FOR FICTION WRITERS, Browne and King explain:

“Most writers already know to edit out places where they have literally repeated a word or phrase. But the repetition of an effect can be just as problematic. (…) Repetition can rob your writing of its power.” (pp. 175-176).

So you need to check if you have in your manuscript:

–       two sentences that give the same information,

–       two paragraphs that accomplish the same thing,

–       two characters who could be made into one without harming the plot,

–       two chapters that cover the same topic or use the same plot device.

If you do, highlight the repetitions you identify. Once you have done this, you can…

Step 3- Eliminate repetitions

Two is too many…

This is the hardest part. Because this is the time to make choices, to decide what to do with your highlighted words/sentences/paragraphs/chapters. And only you can choose whether to delete or change repetitions.

Step 4- Do a final check

To do so, repeat steps 1 and 2: your word cloud should now only have large proper nouns and you shouldn’t have the same ideas/effects repeated over and over.

That’s it for me. How are you other ROW80 writers doing?

Here is the Linky for the other check-in posts.

by

Bout of Books Read-a-thon – Day 6

 

Bout of Books is a week long read-a-thon, which has started on Monday, May 14th and will run until Sunday, May 20th.

Find out more here: http://boutofbooks.blogspot.co.uk/

Follow the fun on Twitter here: @boutofbooks

Check out today’s challenge/giveaway here: Book Poetry hosted by Smash Attack Reads!

I have posted my goals here: https://emcastellan.com/2012/05/12/bout-of-books-4-0-read-a-thon-goals/

My update:

Book I’m reading: The Pledge by Kimberly Derting

Number of pages I’ve read so far: 278/380
Total number of books I’ve read this week: 1 (Vixen by Jillian Larkin)

SO. I confess. I haven’t been reading a lot since yesterday because I have been catching up on Supernatural, season 7. I blame it all on Dean Winchester.

How have you been doing? What have you been reading?

by

Bout of Books Read-a-thon – Day 5

Bout of Books is a week long read-a-thon, which has started on Monday, May 14th and will run until Sunday, May 20th.

Find out more here: http://boutofbooks.blogspot.co.uk/

Follow the fun on Twitter here: @boutofbooks

Check out today’s challenge/giveaway here: Shoe Challenge hosted by The Reading Housewives of Indiana

I have posted my goals here: https://emcastellan.com/2012/05/12/bout-of-books-4-0-read-a-thon-goals/

My update:

Book I’m reading: The Pledge by Kimberly Derting

Number of pages I’ve read so far: 190/380
Total number of books I’ve read this week: 1 (Vixen by Jillian Larkin)

I love The Pledge! I wish I didn’t have to work to keep reading it…

How have you been doing? What have you been reading?

by

Quote of the Day – 9 + Bout of Books Read-a-thon Day 3

“We read fantasy to find the colors again, I think. To taste strong spices and hear the songs the sirens sang. There is something old and true in fantasy that speaks to something deep within us, to the child who dreamt that one day he would hunt the forests of the night, and feast beneath the hollow hills, and find a love to last forever somewhere south of Oz and north of Shangri-La.”

George R.R. Martin (originally published in The Faces of Fantasy: Photographs by Pati Perret copyright © 1996 by Pati Perret)

 

 

On another note today…

Bout of Books Read-a-thon – Day 3

Bout of Books is a week long read-a-thon, which has started today Monday, May 14th and will run until Sunday, May 20th.

Find out more here: http://boutofbooks.blogspot.co.uk/

Follow the fun on Twitter here: @boutofbooks

I have posted my goals here: https://emcastellan.com/2012/05/12/bout-of-books-4-0-read-a-thon-goals/

My update:

Book I’m reading: The Pledge by Kimberly Derting

Number of pages I’ve read today: 106/380
Total number of books I’ve finished reading this week: 1

 

How have you been doing? What have you been reading?

by

Waiting On Wednesday – 8 + Bout of Books Read-a-thon Day 2

“Waiting On Wednesday” is a weekly event, hosted by book blogger Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

Today I have chosen Stolen Night (Vampire Queen #2) by Rebecca Maizel (expected publication: June 21st 2012 by St. Martin’s Griffin). It is the second installment in the Vampire Queen series and Infinite Days being one of my favorite books, I can’t wait for Stolen Night.

From Goodreads:

“Lenah Beaudonte should be dead. But having sacrificed herself to save another, she finds herself awakening with strange powers that are neither vampire nor human – and a new enemy on her trail. In her vampire life, Lenah had thought that being human was all she ever wanted; but the human heart suffers pain, heartbreak and loss. With her new powers growing and the dark force of the Nex after her soul, Lenah faces a choice: between the mortal love of gorgeous Justin, whose passion fed her human soul, and taking a different path to become the mistress of her own destiny, wherever that may lead …”

I interviewed Rebecca Maizel a couple of weeks ago, feel free to check out the interview here.

On another note…

Bout of Books Read-a-thon – Day 2

Bout of Books is a week long read-a-thon, which has started on Monday, May 14th and will run until Sunday, May 20th.

Find out more here: http://boutofbooks.blogspot.co.uk/

Follow the fun on Twitter here: @boutofbooks

I have posted my goals here: https://emcastellan.com/2012/05/12/bout-of-books-4-0-read-a-thon-goals/

My update:

Book I’m reading now: The Pledge byKimberly Derting

Number of pages I’ve read so far: 386/386 of Vixen by Jillian Larkin
Total number of books I’ve read: 1

How have you been doing? What have you been reading?

by

Bout of Books Read-a-thon – Day 1

 

Bout of Books is a week long read-a-thon, which has started today Monday, May 14th and will run until Sunday, May 20th.

Find out more here: http://boutofbooks.blogspot.co.uk/

Follow the fun on Twitter here: @boutofbooks

Check out today’s challenge/giveaway here: Sarah – Bookish Question

I have posted my goals here: https://emcastellan.com/2012/05/12/bout-of-books-4-0-read-a-thon-goals/

 

My update:

Book I’m reading: Vixen by Jillian Larkin

Number of pages I’ve read today: 152/386

Total number of books I’ve read: N/A yet

Unfortunately I haven’t read a lot today as I was working from dawn to dusk, so I’m hoping I’ll finish this book tomorrow, since it will be a regular workday for me.

How have you been doing? What have you been reading?

by

ROW80 Check-In #5 The art of self-editing your novel

Hello gentle reader,

6 weeks into ROW80, I am happy to announce that I have had a breakthrough in my self-editing process. As a reminder, my goal for this ROW80 is to edit my YA Fantasy manuscript The Last Queen and to have a final draft for it by the end of June.

So, up until this week I wasn’t very organized to self-edit my novel: I knew I had to cut 20K words and tidy up the whole thing, but the way I went about doing it was quite random and unsystematic.

But this week, I decided I had wasted enough time playing around with my MS and being inefficient. It was time to be professional and serious about this self-editing process.

It was time to slay some bad writing habits and come up with a shiny, edited and readable manuscript.

Today I am going to share my method to self-edit my novel, as maybe some of you, fellow would-be-published writers out there, are still struggling with this process.

Step 1: Finish the first draft of your novel. Your book has a beginning, a middle and an end. Congratulations on making it this far. Now put the manuscript away in a drawer for at least a couple of weeks and celebrate.

Step 2: Recover from celebration. then read two amazing books on the craft of writing.

How Not to Write a Novel: 200 Classic Mistakes and How to Avoid Them–A Misstep-by-Misstep Guide by Howard Mittelmark and Sandra Newman 

This one is not only a hilarious read, but it will also help you reflect on the main aspects of your novel: the plot, the characters, the setting. It is a great way to evaluate if your book has cartoonish villains, a plot so complex even you have lost track of it, or a setting so clichéd it will make any publisher nod off.

Self-editing for fiction writers by Browne and King

This second book is great for the next step of your self-evaluation: it will help you see the mistakes you have made regarding style, dialogue, points of view, beats, proportion and repetitions.

Once you have read those two books (or others like them), you can move on to…

Step 3: Know your strengths.

These you will know from experience and from the feedback of your beta readers. For example, I know that I don’t really need to amend the plot and characterization in The Last Queen. Devising a complicated plot that falls into place by the end is what I know to do best. Once you know what is great about your novel, you can focus on amending what needs to be edited, rather than wasting time fiddling with characters that are already well-written.

Step 4: Know your weaknesses.

From your readings, you should know by now what is probably not that great in your Beloved Manuscript. One of my main problems in The Last Queen is repetition. For you, it might be settings that are too detailed, lengthy paragraphs with boring content, and so on. Just know what they are. Because it is only then that you can…

Step 5: Make a checklist of what you want to edit in your novel. Edit your novel.

I love lists. They are a great tool when you self-edit as you can have yours by your computer while you read through each scene/chapter. Read each scene, and check it against your list of mistakes. If you have committed any, you edit, then move on to the next scene.

Step 6: Finish self-editing your Precious Manuscript. Celebrate some more.

Step 7: Repeat Steps 5 and 6 a few times before thinking about sending your Masterpiece to an agent.

That’s it for me. How are you other ROW80 writers doing?

Here is the Linky for the other check-in posts.

by

Bout of Books 4.0 Read-a-thon – Goals!


It’s springtime and my TBR pile is getting big, so I have decided to take part in a read-a-thon created by Amanda @ On a Book Bender. Exciting!

What is that all about?

  • Bout of Books is a week long read-a-thon, which will run from 12:01am on Monday, May 14th through 11:59pm Sunday, May 20st in whatever time zone you are in.
  • Bout of Books is low pressure, meaning participants are only asked to push themselves to read more than they normally would during any given week. There is no competition between readers.
  • How much time a reader wants, and can commit, to read, tweet, or network with fellow bloggers is left to individual preference. All challenges and giveaways are optional.
  • Networking with fellow bloggers is actively encouraged, though never required. Co-hosts are there to facilitate blog hopping and interaction between participants.
  • Twitter will be used to post updates throughout the read-a-thon. Everyone will be tweeting with the #boutofbooks hashtag. Follow @boutofbooks for all important announcements.

My goals:

  • Read every day
  • Finish at least 2 books that week
  • Communicate every day with the community
  • Find new blogs and people to follow

 Books I’m going to read this week:

Catching Fire (The Hunger Games #2) by Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3) by Suzanne Collins

I know I am a bit late to this party but after reading The Hunger Games I felt that I needed to take a break from this story before reading the rest. I now feel in the mood to finish the trilogy.

The Pledge by Kimberly Derting

It is a YA dystopian novel and I have only heard good things about it. Time to see what the buzz is all about for myself.

Vixen by Jillian Larkin

A 2010 debut and a YA historical novel… I love books about the Roaring 20s and this one has been sitting on my shelf for quite some time now, so I have decided to finally take a look at it.

What are you going to read this week?

by

Picture of the Day -10

Dark Shadows directed by Tim Burton

In cinemas today !

From Warner Bros. Pictures :

“In the year 1752, Joshua and Naomi Collins, with young son Barnabas, set sail from Liverpool, England to start a new life in America. But even an ocean was not enough to escape the mysterious curse that has plagued their family. Two decades pass and Barnabas (Johnny Depp) has the world at his feet-or at least the town of Collinsport, Maine. The master of Collinwood Manor, Barnabas is rich, powerful and an inveterate playboy…until he makes the grave mistake of breaking the heart of Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green). A witch, in every sense of the word, Angelique dooms him to a fate worse than death: turning him into a vampire, and then burying him alive. Two centuries later, Barnabas is inadvertently freed from his tomb and emerges into the very changed world of 1972. He returns to Collinwood Manor to find that his once-grand estate has fallen into ruin. The dysfunctional remnants of the Collins family have fared little better…”