Pens Down

Today is the last day of NaNoWriMo - The month of novel writing, where authors and would-be writers frantically try to complete a minimum 50,000 word novel in 30 days.

I planned to keep writing till the last day, even when I passed my 50k mark a week early. But when I found my story finished just over 60k, I felt a little flat. I still had several days to go but did not have the urge to write as frantically as I had been.

Why?

I think you need to take time to celebrate that feeling of being 'finished'. Of course there's gaps in the story that need filling, extra scenes you thought up later and a whole lotta editing to do. But I just wanted to sit on that sensation of finishing this book. I hadn't finished a whole novel before, although I'd started plenty.

Finished your NaNo novel - what now?

If you still have time to write, then write. I took one day off. This was not easy. For some reason my mind finds tormenting me a great lark, it kept suggesting writing ideas and scenes for the book that wouldn't come when I needed them earlier.

The next day I wrote a short story, in a genre and style that is completely different from my novel. The old 'change as good as a holiday' routine. The fast pace of NaNoWriMo can leave you feeling a little burnt out from writing this one novel, so why not start a notebook, forget the NaNo novel for the day and just jot down weird and crazy ideas for other stories instead.

Then what?

My tact on approaching what comes after NaNo will be two steps.

1. Leave it alone for two weeks.

I'm going to print my manuscript, save it in a million different places for safe-keeping and let my mind lose the attachment to each and every word. This is the only way I'll be able to approach editing.

I won't stop writing though, whether it's ideas, dialogues, blogs, working on other WIPs (I'll be writing up the final chapter to Dog Show Detective and starting that book's edits), the idea is to keep the imagination cogs oiled and moving.

2. Read, a lot.

Prior to November, I took on the task of reading books in the genre I wanted to write. This gave me a feel for the common language used and understood by the readers and writing devices used for the narratives. Time now to return to that task before I edit the book. My NaNo novel is YA fantasy, so I'm reading similar novels to look for the type of character arcs, the places where the narratives reach a climax and what stands out from each novel. I'll keep notes on this too.

For example.

The Book Thief - Markus Zusak: Tells a story set in Nazi Germany, but manages to find a new angle, the story is narrated by Death (whom we learn is a very sensitive being).

The Alchemyst - Michael Scott: (I'm now on the second book, The Magician), There are immortals, mythical creatures and magic. What stood out for me with this novel was the magical creatures were all from historical legends and mythology, some will seem familiar and some, I hope, will have the young readers jumping on the internet to research the stories surrounding these myths.

Malice - Chris Wooding: I haven't read this one just yet, but what excites me is that the narrative is about children being taken to another world that exists inside a comic book. The novel is a combination of text narrative and intermittent comic graphics. When students struggle with reading, English/Lit teachers can sometimes encourage them with graphic novels. There is however a gap then in getting students keen to move to text narratives, and easier text usually means a less mature plot. I would love to see more novels like this one to help move students gradually from experiencing success with graphic novels and moving onto text novels. There's a niche out there author/illustrators!

Magyk - Angie Sage: During November, when I wasn't writing, my eyes were usually too tired to read. So, I downloaded this book from iTunes. You can listen to books while driving, doing the dishes, hanging out the washing or walking the dog. I also downloaded some writing style books this way. This narrative's best feature was the action. It started early and kept at a fast moving pace.

My hint on audio books - listen to the sample, a good reading voice makes a difference, one Podio (podcast) book I'm listening to now features a guy who sounds like he's trying to sell me a set of steak knives).

I have also discovered Amazon Kindle for PC. How did I not know about this sooner?!

It's great. I download books straight to my PC.

Being in Australia and having books cost so much over here, this is fantastic, not only are the books cheaper, but I have no freight costs. So far I'm finding I prefer to read non-fiction online and still like a hardcopy book for reading fiction. But the application is free so give it a go!

Next:

I'm looking at a few books and sites for editing your story.

I'll let you know what I find and we can start slashing and rebuilding our novels!

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Creating Character Flaws

Hmm, those characters are really... nice. Time to ruin them and make some fun!

Now, there are flaws that work and many that are just irrelevant. 

One key ingredient to a good flaw - it moves the story! And before we begin, 'brooding' is not a strong enough flaw for any character, human or otherwise. There's a good reason viewers preferred Spike to Angel in 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer', he was bad. 

This brings me to another key ingrediant - balance it with a good trait. Spike was funny, funny enough we could overlook the years of slaughtering and kitten consuming.

Here is how my NaNoWriMo characters are shaping up and problems I've had with character flaws.

My NaNoWriMo novel (which has now passed 50k - Yay!) is called The Costume Maker and began with an idea of characters. I first had two characters in mind, a gypsy woman who makes amazing costumes, is a bit magical and has a short temper, and a teenage girl who is completely rude, selfish and yet somehow, adorable.

Missy, the teen, is so rude to the gypsy woman, Rosa, that Rosa sends her to a magical world with Dragons and Fairies and magical Gypsies.

These two characters are working well in my story. Rosa is fiery and sentimental. Missy sees each experience in relation to herself, and is always looking for personal gain, she is also totally unaware that she has any flaws at all and wonders why people treat her as if she's stupid.

Next I needed some heroes to go and save Missy. I sent in her new almost boyfriend, Lance and a shy girl called Lucinda, that Missy considers a 'freak'. These two characters are the ones that will need a lot of editing in my second draft, they're just too... nice.

I've started to show Lucinda's shyness and feelings of inadequacy as a flaw, but it needs strengthening so there can be a bigger character arc over the story. A character arc is where your characters start out the story one way, but undergo changes throughout your narrative. Lucinda should be extreme in her shyness and self-doubt, and through discovering she has the blood of magical Gypsies, she will start to grow into a confident young woman. How can I use this to move the story though? Still playing with that.

Missy propels the story because her personality causes hitches in the heroes' attempts to save her. They find her in a Fairy castle, but discover Missy is actually reluctant to leave. More problems follow.

Lance is also a bit cardboardy at the moment. He's captain of the school footy team and is hugely popular, but I want to deepen him to be some kind of closet nerd or something. Again, I need to find ways to make this move the story, perhaps he can be a science nerd by heart and his knowledge helps them in a dangerous spot in the story? Or maybe his online gaming comes in handy when they actually meet a dragon? Food for thought.

I've also mentioned the need to balance flaws. 

With our heroes it's usually the other way around. We start with their good points and then throw in some problems. With Missy I started with the flaws, I don't even intend to arc those much, I want Missy to stay pretty much the same right to the end. What I will do, is throughout the story, reveal great traits Missy has, like bravery and loyalty, that the others didn't know were in her.

Where can you find great flaws?

There's always the original sins. Biblical sins as flaws can add a deeper theme to your narrative as well as a moral.

Phobias can be fun flaws which must be faced for the character to progress through the narrative.

Everyone thinks I'm a very calm character, but the smallest things can freak me out:

Hairy spiders, flying (don't give me the safer than a car lie. If a car's engine dies, you just get out), balloons (waiting for them to 'pop'), milk that's been in the fridge for more than 24hrs, middle aged man in supermarket isle wearing a Superman t-shirt, identical twins (not the people, but the concept of one person splitting into two freaks me out) and hanging my clothes on the line (too hard to even explain).

If you must have a nice character - then go whole hog and make them really namby-pamby, then have a piano land on them, because that's what your reader will be wishing for.

Webs and blogs on character flaws:

Dark World - Character Flaws
This one has the most extensive list of flaws possible. You'll find one perfect for your story.

Killer Hobbies
More about how to make your characters stand out, than flaws, but very helpful.

Men with Pens
One of the best sites to explain character flaws and how they work.

Here Goes...
A more artistic approach to writing flaws.

If you know a blog covering character flaws, share it in the comments.



And, as with all things NaNoWriMo, the idea is to get the story told in November, it's easier if you know your characters up front, but if not, you can rewrite flaws and situations in your first edit.

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Writing Resources & Distractions

Occasionally I like to share websites and resources that I find helpful for writing (or for entertaining me while I pretend to write).
Halfway now through NaNoWriMo and I'm starting to pick up the pace. The Costume Maker is moving along well, although I'm finding I need to deepen two of my main trio's characters. The irony is the most shallow character seems the best hashed out. I think the other two need deeper flaws, so I'll do some research and that may be the topic of my next post.
For now, here are links I'm enjoying:

The Stoakes-Whibley Natural Index of Supernatural Collective Nouns
Did you know a group of Unicorns is a 'fondle'? Alan Baxter's page has a chart of most supernatural creatures and their collective nouns. I find it great for suggesting mythical characters for my Fantasy stories.

Writing Advice
Mostly geared towards Sci-fi and Fantasy, this site has got interesting content. Also a complete section for those who are not sure about the defining difference between Sci-fi and Fantasy (like my bookshop that always mixes them).

Mastering the Long Flashback
Anna Staniszewski's site is a little difficult to read because of the dark background, but the content is extremely helpful for those of us (me, I mean  me), who are clumsy with flashbacks.

Language is a Virus
Designed specifically for NaNoWriMo, this site has loads of widgets to cure writer's block. Games and plot generators.

Thirteen Ways to Write With Magazine Cut-Outs
Valerie Storey has put together a great blog post with incredibly imaginative ideas. Check it out and have your paper, scissors and glue handy!

The Art of Misdirection
The Gotham Writers' Workshop site has an endless number of scholarly articles on the practice of writing. Impressive resource for fiction writers.

The Magical Writer Journey
I've always believed that you can do anything. Sounds naive I know. For me writing is a skill that you can improve by... writing. Sure there are some people born more creative than others, but actual story structure, grammar etc, it can all be taught (otherwise I'll be wasting my time teaching highschoolers English). Legands about writers scribbling notes on a napkin and then making millions is not good for my moral, I don't want to strike it lucky. I want to provide a great product. This blog post puts it in perspective.

Ink-fever
A writer friend of mine, who blogs regularly about her stories, writing process and insights. Has a wonderful e-book The 33 Worst Mistakes Writers Make about Dogs, I urge anyone who includes a pooch in their story to read this. Understand the psyche of your four legged character.

The Creative Penn
I've listed this site before, but it's really worth checking out! There are free downloads and one in particular talks about how to market yourself as a writer. Essential in today's online world. You can also buy her e-books from this site. I subscribe to the podcast through iTunes, always relevant, interesting and fun.

What I listen to:
There's a lot of talk about soundtracks people use when writing. I don't listen to music when I write, I either have silence or I listen to a Podcast about writing. Here are my favourites (you can search for them in iTunes)
The Writing Show - with Paula B.
The Creative Penn
Writers Talking
The Secrets Podcast for Writers
I Should be Writing
Litopia After Dark

I'd like to start listening to Podcast novels and would love to create one (if I ever have a fully polished manuscript, and my voice magically improves so I no longer sound like I'm six in recordings).

Do you have a favorite Podcast or writers' site? Add the link in the comments (then we can all have an excuse not to finish our NaNoWriMo novel).

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Opening lines and hooks.

 The first line of your narrative is your connection with the reader. You want to make an impact, build an interest so the reader commits to the narrative. Like all relationships, there will be ups and downs. Your narrative will require quick moving/action scenes but also need to give your reader a rest with easier paced sections and ways to pass on necessary information.  Make sure your reader has a strong investment in the narrative so they will see you through the slow times.  Fashion of narrative styles have evolved along with the medium and technology that delivers them. Today readers want the story to start moving straight away, and it's harder to hold their attention for long. Many experts are suggesting that the way we read is changing, see this great article: Does the Brain like E-books?So when we hear of opening hooks in novels today, the need has developed to have intermittent hooks throughout your narrative.  There are different techniques you can use for a begining paragraph, the main key is to give the reader just enough information to let them know this is the type of story they would enjoy reading, but not too much, they'll have to read more to find out what's going on.   Lets look at a few examples: Mark Twain started Buck Fanshaw's Funeral with:Somebody has said that in order to know a community, one must observe the style of its funerals and know what manner of men they bury with most ceremony.It's intriguing enough, but two paragraphs down is where I think Twain would begin his tale today:On the inquest it was shown that Buck Fanshaw, in the delirium of a waisting typhoid fever, had taken arsenic, shot himself through the body, cut his throat, and jumped out of a four-story window and broken his neck - and after due deliberation, the jury, sad and tearful, but with intelligence unblinded by its sorrow, brought in a verdict of death "by the visitation of God." Von Fiend's children's book Ock, the story of a young vampire, begins:Ock's place is hard to miss. It's the scary mansion, just outside of town. When you start getting the creeps, you know you're getting close. Those styles peak the curiosity of the reader, but there are other ways to build a relationship. Try putting the reader into the 'place' of your novel quickly so they immediately picture where they are.Cornelia Funke paints a vivid picture in the opening of Dragon Rider:All was still in the valley of the dragons. Mist had drifted in from the sea nearby and was clinging to the mountains. Birds twittered uncertainly in the foggy damp, and clouds hid the sun.The reader has an immediate phsyical sense of connection with the setting. Another thing to remember is: Make sure you live up to your promises!  I recently bought a book based solely on the opening line:When all is said and done, killing my mother came easily. Okay, this may reveal some Freudian state of mind about me. But the point is, I found the rest of Alice Sebold's The Almost Moon, a bit of a let down. For starters, killing her mother did not come easy at all, the actual act took a lot of effort, was clumsy and there were severe repercussions. Don't lie to your reader.  Stephanie Meyer's 1st chapter of Twilight begins with:My mother drove me to the airport with the windows rolled down. It was seventy-five degrees... Not very thrilling (especially for a thriller), and there are many chapters to come before things get exciting. So how did she get a commitment from so many young readers known for their short attention spans?  A great preface:I'd never given much thought to how I would die- though I'd had reason enough in the last few months - but even if I had, I would not have imagined it like this. Here's my go, this is how I began Dog Show Detective a story about an 11yr old girl who takes her dog to shows and solves mysteries:

Entering the Junior Handlers dog show competition would be difficult, it would take dedication and it might be embarrassing. But Kitty had no idea it would be dangerous. No, Kitty Walker did not expect her life would be threatened, Kitty had bigger worries.

Now I know its NaNoWriMo time, and that means don't fuss and edit, get the story down - plus you should already have a beginning by now. But think about starting a few key chapters with a great opening hook and keep a notebook of ideas for strong openings for when edit time comes around!

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Dialogue - What I'm trying to say...

Dialogue

This is my weakness in writing and can be an essential part of 'showing not telling'. I've been working on my dialogue for my NaNoWriMo novel The Costume Maker and this is what I have found helpful:

Watch out for 'Talking Heads'...

If your conversation between two or three people runs too long, you'll have endless he said/she saids, the reader looses the connection they've worked to build up of place. Your location fades and disapears - all the reader sees is floating heads rambling on.

The solution? Sometimes you might have a conversation that needs to be hashed out, it can't be short and sweet. To break it up, insert a few instructions and descriptions to remind the reader where the characters are. Make them short though, you don't want to draw the attention away from what is being said. 

These are the sort of lines you can insert.

"He makes me feel like a woman."

Max slammed his fist on the pine kitchen table, causing the china cups to shake. He pushed his chair out roughly and it fell - he didn't pick it up, instead he walked firmly out of the room.

Susan followed him."We need to finish this."

Swinging around to face her, Max's profile filled the doorway to their bedroom.....

Anyway, you get the idea now. After you have several lines of dialogue, just get your character to move around, pick something up, stare at the sky... anything to put your reader in a physical place.

He said, she said...

If you've read any book on writing you will already know this rule. When writers start out, they often worry about their limited vocabulary and convince themselves there must be a better word to use.  J.C.Hutchins, author of 7th Son, admits in a podcast interview with The Creative Penn, feeling in the beginning he was a fraud, a 'hack' and talks about the doubting voice in our head that tries to tell us we're just pretending to be writers. 
As a result, new writers can abuse thesauruses in an attempt to find more loquacious ways of speaking. 
You can have characters yell, declare, admit or whisper, but if they are truly just 'saying' something, than use 'said'. It's simple and does not distract from the voice. The idea is to make reading easy for the reader and 'said' stays in the background.

Where to begin...

Don't feel like you have to start at the beginning of the conversation. Does the reader really have to hear: 
"Excuse me Mike, can we talk for a moment?"

"Sure Lacey, what it is it?" blah blah blah.

You can start halfway through conversation, or create impact by starting after one character has dropped a bombshell to the other. Jump straight into tension and drama. You can slowly reveal clues to the reader as to what the bombshell actually was.

Language...

Have fun with your characters, slip a joke in or highlight their personality in the way they speak. In any room full of people you will find a mix of personalities, funny people, rude people, boring people, shy people, etc etc etc. Make sure there's variety in your characters when they speak, don't have them all sound like one generic character voice.

Speaking out loud when you write the dialogue can help you create individual voices for your characters. Make sure you use the right words for that character, Bob the hairy plumber who scratches his bum, probably doesn't use words like loquacious (or maybe he does, because he's an international spy undercover?). Mur Lafferty emphasises the importance of appropriate language use in her podcast I Should be Writing.

Another point made by Sara (see the comments at the bottom) is not to overuse names, people who know each other do not usually use the person's name in everything they say. It's okay occasionally when you want to make it clear who's speaking, and Mum's often do it when they're mad at you (in fact then they usually use your whole name - no abreviations!).

Accents... 
I loved Wuthering Heights and the gothic but romantic language used. There was however, one character, a gamekeeper or some such thing, and I could not understand a word he said. 

Thick accent? Consider either not making it extreme, or making it extreme only occasionally. When this character has something important to say, make sure your reader can understand it. If necessary, include a translator.

How much dialogue?

I'm not a big fan for specific formulas on the percentage of dialogue in narrative. Stream of consciousness text may have almost no dialogue and others quite a lot. 
Think about your audience. Teens tend to talk a lot, so if you are writing about them or for them you may want to have lots of dialogue. 

If your descriptions seem to drag on, you may need more dialogue, or if your narrative looks like a script, perhaps you need less (or insert more movement between lines).

NaNoWriMo...
Okay, we're in a hurry, don't worry about creating the most amazing or witty dialogue right now. Just get down what you need your characters to say and you can embelish and decorate later (when you edit). If you have any funny or punchy lines, write them in a notes folder or at the end of your narrative with an * so you can insert it later.

Have fun writing dialogue, make it as different, quirky or dramatic as you can! As with all writing techniques, if it doesn't move the story along, cut it out.

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NaNoWriMo 2nd Week!

9 days into NaNoWriMo and all is well.

I've 16,336 words towards my novel The Costume Maker, so at this stage I am very confident of making my 50,000 word goal. In fact I'm planning to step it up a bit now and aim for 75,000 words for a good first draft.

The story is coming along well. My characters have found themselves in the magical realm and need to get home. They have encountered dragons, mystery forest creatures and Fairies. The three teenagers are very different characters, although they are just starting to find they do have some things in common.

What I have learned so far...

• If I can set aside the time each day, I can be a writer! Well at least with the quantity of words.
• The novelty of carrying a notepad and whimsically writing up chapters while in restaurants and on walks starts to wear off as far as the rest of the family is concerned.
• Book writing is addictive. My Dad turned up for a visit and has gone home with a notebook with paged filled for the book series I've talked him into writing.
• There are a lot of books on how to write, I can't possibly read them all. BUT, I can BUY them all!
• Plotting rules! see my post on PLOTTING. I wrote lists of anything that could possibly happen in the story and different places the characters would go. This has been fantastic, I've not had to stop to think about what happens next. I wrote all my ideas on index cards and rearrange them to change the story.
• Fantasy works well if every cause has an effect. E.g. through experiments of genetic engineering, my Fairies are almost human size, the consequence however is that they can no longer fly, even though they have wings.
• I like to write to podcasts, my pick are The Creative Penn and Litopia After Dark. Let me know if you have a favourite podcast about writing - I might do up a list soon.

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NaNoWriMo Writers Are Off and Running!

Today is November 2, over 24 hours into NaNoWriMo writing. I thought I would blog about my progress and my findings so far.

Nov1, got up early, but had an essay that desperately needed finishing and submitting. Nano would start straight after. No it wouldn't, took my daughters shopping instead.

Once the shops started rolling down their doors in a vain attempt to get me to stop spending, the girls and I headed into the Pancake Parlour, where it had been rumoured my local Nano group would be. The only other Nano-ers that came were my friends from uni, Inky & friend (ink-fever) and Penguin Girl (I'll get back to you with her blog if she's running one).

Still, the food was good (who doesn't like a big scoop of butter on their batter?) and the company fun. We even wrote a little. I was proud of Emily and Matilda because they both got their first chapters completed. So enthused were they that Emily was trying to continue writing as we walked back to the car.

I made up my word count to 2,000 before bedtime and my count is now 3027words for The Costume Maker. I intend to get to 4,000 by tonight.


What's happened so far... Missy has talked Lance into taking her to the school Halloween dance and to take her costume shopping. He puts his foot down though when she tries to get him to go as a fairy. No way. He's going as Bugsy Malone. Missy thinks he's getting a rabbit costume. The seamstress at the costume shop is a bit weird and mysterious, but the gowns are lovely and Missy demands a lot of attention. Lucinda comes to the shop to find her mother serving the mean girl who always makes fun of her at school.

Comming up next, Missy will find out that there are serious reprocussions for being mean to people, especially mysterious gypsy costume makers who have magical powers.

What have I learned so far? 

• I am so glad I had my general plot planned. I knew what I wanted to happen in the opening and where I wanted it to lead (the next scene), but I didn't have the details structured, so it just managed to evolve. This way there was not stopping and starting.

• Also, as I was on a roll, I just kept writing. I don't think I am going to worry about chapters at all, I can sort that out after November. By stopping for a chapter break I will also break my focus on the movement of the narrative.

• I also learned at the shopping trip that I buy more books than I could ever read. I might do some reviews soon on all the Fantasy fiction and 'How to Write' books I've bought.
  

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