Category Archives: About writing

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The Writer In You Blog Hop – 2

The Writer In You is a blog hop hosted by Katie at The Fiction Diaries. In her own words, “this is a blog hop for all aspiring writers out there. It is a chance to meet other writers and share tips, writing, and experiences, all while gaining new followers for your lovely blog…” Every Saturday, Katie asks a question that we have to answer.

This week’s question is: Do you outline your writing?

I do outline my stories before writing them. I didn’t use to, but over the years I have learnt that outlining your novel before writing it actually 1) saves you time and 2) helps you be a better writer. Because outlining makes you think about your story, makes you deal with the tough questions (Where is this all going? Is this scene/chapter useful for the plot? What are the arcs in my story? etc.) and makes you solve all the problems BEFORE writing the story. So when your outline is done, you can just WRITE. No excuse.

What about you? Do you outline your writing? Join the fun here and happy writing!

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ROW80 Check-In #8

Hello gentle reader,

I’m late for this check-in, as I have just returned from London (for those of you who don’t live in the UK, we enjoy a four-day weekend here for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee). Also this is my last ROW80 check-in for this round, as I’m now done with my one and only goal:

self-edit my YA Fantasy novel The Last Queen.

I’m so happy I am done with this I could sing.

And now that The Last Queen is off living its own destiny, I’m now focusing on the JuNoWriMo challenge: my goal is to write every day, even if I don’t make the 50,000-word goal.

So thank you, fellow ROW80ers, this has been very formative for me.

And let’s not forget the Linky…

Have a great week and happy writing!

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A Writer in the Spotlight – Jennifer Bosworth

This week again I was lucky enough to have a YA author give me an exclusive interview! The idea behind the “Writer in the Spotlight” feature is that published (and bestselling) authors are the best source of advice for us, would-be-published writers. Today’s interview is with the amazingly nice Jennifer Bosworth.

Author : Jennifer Bosworth

Genre : Young Adult, Science Fiction & Fantasy

Location: Los Angeles, CA, USA

Website : http://www.jenniferbosworth.com

Twitter: @JennBosworth

Books : Struck (2012)

My interview (29/05/2012):

On writing:

Did you always know you wanted to be a writer?

I did. In fact, I consider it my first memory, just knowing that I wanted to be a writer, because I don’t remember a time when I didn’t want this.

When and where do you write?

I write at home, and I make sure that wherever my husband and I live, I always have at least a nook of my own, if not an entire room in which to write. I occasionally write at coffee shops, but I don’t do my best work in them.

I’m definitely a morning writer unless I’m drinking wine or whiskey. I know I shouldn’t say this, but I do my best writing while drinking, but only ONE drink. I don’t want to become a Hemingway.

Do you ever experience writer’s block?

I always have something to say, but I go through periods when I don’t know how to say it. At those times, I usually just start writing and feel my way through. I don’t believe in writer’s block for myself, because I know the only thing that’s standing in my way is me.

What do you say to people who want to be writers? How difficult is it to get published?

Write for the love of writing, and no matter how artistic you are, don’t forget to at least attempt to find a hook for your story, and don’t neglect plot. “Stuff” needs to happen in a book. Pretty writing will only get you so far. There’s a lot of competition out there, so if your work isn’t exciting enough––which doesn’t mean car crashes and explosions, it means conflict, conflict, conflict, interpersonal, personal, man vs. nature, whatever as long as it’s conflict––you’re going to have a much harder time selling a book.

Also, keep in mind that writing is a business, and if editors have no idea how to place your book, you’ll have a hard time selling said book. If they know exactly how to position your book in the marketplace, you’re golden. This sounds depressing, I know, and I have a lot of unmarketable books in me so I understand the difficulty writers have accepting this idea. But if you want to sell, not just write, you have to meet the publishers halfway.

Is it better to outline and plot your novel or “go with the flow”?

Depends on the writer, but I prefer to write wildly and revise later. Is that the smart, economical thing to do? Not really. It’s much more practical to outline. But the most creative scenes in any book or screenplay I’ve written have always been off the cuff.

A good rule of thumb: know where you’re going, but discover the path as you travel.

Do you set goals for yourself as you write?

I live and die by mini-goals. When I’m working on a first draft, I need to write at least 1000 words a day. I used to do 2000, but I found that after 1000 I wrote complete crap. I also like to give myself holidays as deadlines for finishing an entire manuscript. I don’t know why, it just feels right.

On “Struck”:

To write this book, where did you get your inspiration from? Were you aware of the coming dystopian trend in YA literature when you wrote it?

Haha! I hate trends, so if I’d known one was coming I probably would have written a different book. To set a trend sounds great, but I don’t want my book to be an “if you liked this, you’ll love this” sort of book.

The inspiration for STRUCK literally struck when I learned a few strange but true facts about lightning and about human lightning rods. I like to base everything I write, no matter how fantastical, in reality. The fact that real human lightning rods exist was jet fuel for my imagination. And I’d always loved post-apocalyptic novels like Stephen King’s The Stand, and wanted to write one myself. A human lightning rod standing between salvation or the utter annihilation of mankind? I couldn’t resist writing that book! I guess I would have written it even if I’d known the dystopian trend was looming.

Mia: How did you come up with this character and her power?

Again, I try to ground my fantasy in reality, and the human body has a complex electrical system. It stands to reason that we can learn to utilize it in small ways. But what if a human were charged with a LOT more energy than was normal? What could they do then?

I regards to Mia’s personality, I consider her my alter ego. I grew up in an extremely religious community, and as a kid I didn’t feel like I was encouraged to think for myself. It seemed like adults were always telling me what I believed as opposed to asking me to decide for myself. Part of the reason I created Mia is because I love the idea of pitting a cynical teenager who doesn’t believe in much of anything against two doomsday cults who are trying to force their beliefs on her. Mia’s dilemma gave me a way to act out my personal angst.

 What type of music did you listen to when you wrote this book?

Oh, torture. I love music, but I can’t listen to music with lyrics when I’m writing, unless it’s Tom Waits, because his lyrics are more like growling and grumbling than singing. I listened to movie soundtracks a lot, particularly the one for a movie called “The Gift.” It has a lot of creepy fiddle moments. For some reason fiddles inspire me.

What are you working on now?

A couple of novels are competing for my attention. The first is a psychological YA horror called THE HIVE, which takes place in a claustrophobic, small-town religious community, but involves supernatural terrors. I’d say it’s a cross between “Big Love” and “The Ring.” The other book is a post-apocalyptic, fantasy western. Think “Firefly,” but with magic instead of science. I’m also working on several horror screenplays, which my husband and I hope to produce.

Reading advice:

Which authors inspire you now?

Gillian Flynn, who writes extremely dark, literary mysteries, has been my biggest inspiration of the last ten years. Reading her books makes me a better writer. Adam Nevill, an up and coming horror author (and a UK boy!), and Joe Hill, Stephen King’s son, are another couple of writers whose books I wish had been written by me. They give me a new standard by which to measure myself, and they make me want to strive every day to be better.

Which YA books would recommend?

My top 3 YA novels of 2012 are Shadow and Bone, by Leigh Bardugo; The Scorpio Races, by Maggie Stiefvater; and Harbinger, by Sara Wilson Etienne. Each of these authors gave me something the likes of which I’d never read before. I like being surprised. I’m not one of those people who reads the same kind of book over and over again. I need variety, and I love it when authors take risks.

But my all-time favorite YA novel, which I think everyone needs to read, is Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow. That one was a game changer for me. It redefined YA literature in a way no other YA novel had done before, and it changed the way I thought about issues like terrorism, privacy, and dissent. 

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Struck is out now and you can buy it on Amazon. If you’re still not convinced, you can watch the AWESOME book trailer here.
 

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Preparing for JuNoWriMo

Hello gentle reader,

this week I have been getting ready for JuNoWriMo and it is all very exciting…

What is JuNoWriMo?

JuNoWriMo means “June Novel Writing Month”. It was started by Becca J. Campbell and Anna Howard and inspired by NaNoWriMo. The idea is to write the first draft of a 50,000 word book in 30 days. That’s an average of 1667 words per day.  The nice part of the challenge is that you also get to support and interact with other writers.

Getting ready…

The first edition of JuNoWriMo will start on Friday, June 1st and in the meantime, author  Aaron Pogue has been giving his advice on the JuNoWriMo blog to prepare the challenge: in a great series of posts, the idea was to help participants with their synopsis, character description, conflict resolution cycle, and so on… It is worth checking out if you’re interested in prewriting pointers.

Why am I participating?

During the past year, I have written and self-edited the first book in my Epic Fantasy trilogy THE DARKLANDS. I will soon start looking for an agent with it, but in the meantime, I want to take a break from that story. Thus, JuNoWriMo is for me the perfect opportunity to put THE DARKLANDS in a drawer for a month and to work on something else.

This month, I want to write a short YA dystopian novel which has been at the back of my mind for a while. When I say “short”, it is compared to the novel I just finished, which is over 100K… The working title for my JuNoWriMo WIP is BLACK ROSES, but it will most certainly change once I have completed the story. I usually come up with a definite title halfway through the writing process.

What is my JuNoWriMo novel about?

BLACK ROSES is set on the American continent at the end of the 22d Century. A virus has wiped out most of the world population ten years earlier. The only survivors are Humans (who weren’t affected by the virus) and Immortals (who have survived the virus and been turned into supernatural beings). Immortals rule the country and its capital New Wentworth, while Humans live on the margin. However, a third category of people is caught between them: Keepers have survived the virus but haven’t been turned into Immortals. The ruling class needs them in their new society, making them targets for rebel Humans. Seventeen-year-old Nessa is a Keeper. To her, this Friday is just like any other day. She hasn’t planned that Humans would choose it to stage a rebellion, that her life would suddenly be in danger, or that she would fall in love.

Why have I decided to write this specific story for JuNoWriMo?

I have always liked dystopian stories, even when they were just called Science-Fiction. I had the idea for BLACK ROSES years ago: I wrote a synopsis and a few key scenes before filing the thing away. Then the YA dystopian genre took over the world, and I started thinking ‘Maybe I should try and write that story after all.’ I don’t really intend to try and publish it, since the market is now saturated with YA Dystopian stories, but I think I will enjoy writing it in a short amount of time and having my beta readers read it. It will be a good way for me to hone my skills.

Interested in joining the madness?

Sign up for JuNoWriMo here.

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ROW80 Check-In #7

Hello gentle reader,

this week again I’m happy to report that I have been working well toward my ROW80 goal: I’m ALMOST done self-editing my Fantasy novel THE LAST QUEEN… I hope to be completely done by Wednesday.

This week on the blog you can find out if you are like the writers depicted in the movies (here). It’s fun, try and take the test!

I also recommend you join a new meme called The Writer In You, hosted by Katie @The Fiction Diaries. Every Saturday she asks a question about our writing habits.

Finally, I wanted to share with you an infographic called How a Book is Born. It was created by the publishing house Weldon Owen and it shows “the path of a book from idea to final product”.

Here it is:

According to its author, the chart is only 74% accurate… Find out more here.

And last but not least, here is the Linky for the other ROW80 participants…

Have a great week and happy writing!

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The Writer In You Blog Hop – 1

The Writer In You is a blog hop hosted by Katie at The Fiction Diaries. In her own words, “this is a blog hop for all aspiring writers out there. It is a chance to meet other writers and share tips, writing, and experiences, all while gaining new followers for your loverly blog…” Every Saturday, Katie asks a question that we have to answer.

This week’s question is: When and where do you do most of your writing?

I have a very busy life and I tend to write when and where I can. Which is, mostly in the evening and at the weekend. In an ideal world, I would get up early in the morning to write, take a break in the afternoon, then go back to writing in the evening. I like writing at my desk by the window in my living room with music on.

What about you? Join the fun here and happy writing!

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Writers in Movies

As a writer who watches a lot of movies, I’m always slightly annoyed by the way writers are depicted in films. Why? Because according to movies, if you’re a writer…

You’re British (or at least European)

You’re agoraphobic

You always have a bad-hair day

You eat junk food

You have no sense of fashion

You suffer from writer’s block

You take drugs to fight writer’s block (and you have a bad-hair day)

You have conversations with imaginary people (who look like movie stars)

You’re a loner

You’re uptight

You’d do anything to avoid your agent/publisher/editor

You’re old-fashioned

You’re a sad little thing who needs a hug (and a boyfriend)

Your day job is teaching (and you hate it)

You’re crazy (and you know it)

Your life is a mess (and so are you)

Whatever you do, your manuscript will end up blown in the wind

Does this sound familiar to you? Do you agree with this depiction of writers in movies? Are you like this? Tell me what you think in the comment section!

Movie credits:

Secret Window by David Koepp (2004)

The Ghost Writer by Roman Polanski (2011)

Adaptation by Spike Jonze (2002)

Swimming Pool by François Ozon (2002)

Possession by Neil LaBut (2002)

Stranger Than Fiction by Marc Forster (2006)

Nim’s Island by Jennifer Flackett & Mark Levin (2008)

Midnight in Paris by Woody Allen (2011)

Limitless by Neil Burger (2011)

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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.

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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.

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A Round of Words in 80 Days – Check-in #4

Let’s review: last week I missed my weekly check-in as I was away from home without an Internet connection. This week I’m back but I’ve had to change my goals, as what I had decided on four weeks ago is no longer attainable, given my personal circumstances (day job and other non-writing obligations).

So let’s have a look at my goals:

1-        Write the first draft of my new dystopian novel with at least 750 words per day: not anymore. I just don’t have the time. So I will probably write this first draft from time to time, but I cannot pretend I can write it every day, with a set number of words.

2-        Self-edit/revise The Last Queen so that I finally have a final draft for it: this is what I have to focus on. I need to be done with that by the end of June and so far this final draft is not ready yet. So it’s Revision, Revision, Revision for me. My manuscript needs to be 20K shorter, so I have to start making serious cuts in it. Samurai like.

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

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

This week on my blog you can find:

– an interview with YA writer Rebecca Maizel on writing, reading and her books.

– a post on YA best-selling author Lauren DeStefano with her advice on writing a book and getting it published.

– inspiring pictures!

Happy writing!