November - not just #NaNoWriMo

November certainly is a busy month! Not only are writers around the world rushing to complete 50,000 words in one month, and gents are combing out that Movember fuzz on their upper-lips, but it's also the month when plastic dinosaurs come to life!

Dinovember is the imaginative creation of Refe Tuma and his wife, as they dedicate every November to convincing their children the toy dinosaurs come to life at night. 

I loved this idea and had to share it with my girls, wishing they were still young enough to believe in magic dino toys. Oh what fun I could have had with our elaborate collection of all things prehistoric when Emily was just a wee little palaeontologist in the making.

'Do the kids really believe?' She asked me.

'Id believe, if someone did it for me,' I responded, and perhaps my tone was a bit wistful and nostalgic, because the next morning I awoke to this:

The dinosaurs got out of their tub!

They snuck out of the garage...

And migrated up the stairs.

One got into the cat food...

Pinkachu was NOT impressed.

Things may have gotten out of hand. It's always fun until a saurus gets stir-fried.

Want to check out the original Dinovember characters? Check out Refe Tuma's blog: 

Thoughts on Creativity

or join in the fun with your own pics on the Facebook page:

Dinovember

Those whacky Dinos, what will they get up to next?

Guest blog by:

Wool. E. Mammoth.

'Forget Jurassic, Pilocene was the Coolest!'

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Curing the NaNoWriMo Hangover

K.M. Weiland's new book launched today: Dreamlander

It's a great read for fantasy lovers, I've reviewed the book on Goodreads and Amazon. 

Just 99c, check it out!:

December's here and NaNoWriMo is over. Long live NaNoWriMo.

In my pre-NaNo post I listed 8 things to give up to get those 50k words. I didn't go completely without. I did stay away from television for the first few weeks and haven't watched very much since then. My fav' shows at the moment are Castle, Bones, Justified and The Walking Dead (okay the last one is a love/hate relationship). I did give up a lot of social media time. I was almost non-existent on Twitter and Google+ and I only wrote one blog post. 

My days revolved around the word counts. All I could focus on was the 50k prize. And I did it. I finished the first draft of Undead Kev and have almost finished Warracknabeal Kids. Now it's over, I've taken a couple of days to shake the daze from my tired mind and it's time to get on with things. Here's a list of my plans for December. Did you take part in NaNoWriMo? How do you plan on recovering from the crazy?

• 3 pages - before NaNo my routine included writing three pages longhand first thing in the morning. These pages can be garble or clear story ideas. It doesn't matter. You can use the words to plot or just to dump all thoughts crowding your mind and blocking your creativity. I gave up my 3 pages during November, but I find it a refreshing way to start my writerly day.
• Meditation - visualisation techniques and guided audio recordings help me to clear my mind and plan my words. It's just 5-10 minutes out of my day but really sparks the creativity.
• Short Stories - novel writing has exhausted me over November. I'm taking a little break and concentrating on short stories for a while. 
• Blog - I can't wait to get around and visit blogs again. I'm gonna be a blog-reading machine!
• Reading - I decided to try some books off the high school reading list. Finally got around to reading Catcher in the Rye and now I'm working my way through some Steinbeck classics.
• Educating - Learning grammar rules via Grammar Girl, workbooks and my good friend Denise Covey (a grammar guru).

I know many NaNoers are jumping right in with their editing. I'm going to take a little break and look at  editing in the new year.

I've also got my Christmas tree up - what do you think?

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8 Things to Give Up for NaNoWriMo

National Novel Writing Month.

50,000 words in one month. Sounds crazy. Ready to give up? Great! Me too. I'll give up lots, just so long as I don't have to give up writing my novel. It's all about the words and we know getting words on  the page can often be all about finding the time to write. What are you prepared to sacrifice?

Here's a list of the things you could give up for November to win NaNoWriMo:

1. Plot - 'But I'm not a pantser!' I hear you shout. That's okay. Maybe you spent all of October planning every scene for your novel. Fine, try that. But if you don't have your story plotted out already - now is not the time to do it. Just go with it. And if you do? Add some random things on the days you feel stuck. Sometimes knowing what you have to write can slow you down. Have your character pop into a cafe for a bowl of jelly and find a fly in it. The thing is you'll get your word count, it's great writing practice and you can always delete it in the edits.
2. Perfection - Repeat after me - 'This will be a crap draft, but at least I'll have a draft.'
3. Cleanliness - Now I'm not suggesting you stop showering, that's a great place for inspiration. But forget the vacuuming, washing clothes, mowing lawns etc. Kids can wash their own clothes and wear their uniforms crinkled. The family will figure out how to make baked beans on toast, and maybe they wouldn't mind whipping up something for you while they're at it. It is a universal rule that NOBODY EVER visits an author's home in November. Make sure you don't visit a writer friends house and comment on the cobwebs either. That's like killing puppies, you don't want to kill puppies... do you?
4. Television - Ooh this is going to be a hard one for some people (me). I can't remember the last time I turned on tv to see what was on, but we watch a lot of DVDs and download tv series from iTunes (I love Castle, The Walking Dead, Justified & Bones). But for November I've pledged to watch NOTHING. My family are sadly not supporting this challenge, so I'll be spending a lot of time alone in my room typing.
5. Company - Those people called family and friends will only weigh you down dude! Ditch 'em now. You may however, hang with other writers and encourage each other with word races and accountability for word counts. If you can't trust yourself not to wander off for coffee with mates, hide all your shoes for the month.
6. Stress - Nothing slows action more than worrying about it.
7. Blogs - Don't panic, I'm not suggesting you HAVE to close down for the entire month (although many bloggers are), but you shouldn't let yourself on until you've met your word count for the day (at least). I'm not planning to do much blogging over November and I doubt I'll be visiting blogs, unless I get ahead of schedule. There's a zillion blogs to visit, no one will mind if a few of them slow down. Plus, I don't like to blog unless I'm reciprocating by visiting blogs, otherwise I think it's a bit selfish and rude. And I don't want to be rude. I want you to like me :)
8. Internet time - Schedule a reduced time, maybe thirty minutes a day, to check emails, Facebook, Twitter etc, or again, let yourself online AFTER you reach your daily word count.

That's my list. I'll be giving up all these things for November. How about you? Another one for the guys is shaving, let your stubble go wild this month!

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Ready, Set... What was I saying?

NaNoWriMo has begun! Actually it began on the 1st of November, but I was having issues deciding which story to begin. After running through all the possibilities, I decided to go with my original idea of book 2 in the Dog Show Detective series.

Kitty Walker continues to chase those elusive show ribbons with her best friend, Miniature Schnauzer, 'Spade'. Unfortunately, Spade happens to be the worst show dog ever. While Kitty tries to mend Spade's naughty ways through obedience school, she stumbles upon another mystery. Someone is breaking into the cars of the obedience school members while they are busy on the field. Things escalate to house break ins. It starts to become obvious that one of the obedience school members are responsible for these thefts. But who? 

Surely not Kitty's mother? 

Mrs Walker tries to prove her own innocence, after all, Kitty is banned from solving mysteries after she put her life at risk when got involved in the last mystery. Sadly Mrs Walker is as bad at detecting as Spade is at dog showing. Ultimately, Mrs Walker will need Kitty's help, especially since the crimes have escalated from theft to murder.

Day two, I've managed 1632 words. Opening with a show, Spade nicks a scarf off the judge and makes her chase him around the ring until he gets bored. Now Spade has been sentenced to dog obedience school or his showing future is over.

Schroeder, my less naughty, more sooky Miniature Schnauzer

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NaNo - when now????

I was so cool about NaNoWriMo this year. Planned way ahead. Figured I'd do a sequel to my children's mystery novel DOG SHOW DETECTIVE. Plotted it out, have character sketches and a few little plot twists all mapped out. Now I've changed my mind.

After much feedback from beta-readers, both writers and kids in the targeted age group, I've decided DOG SHOW DETECTIVE is not as completed as I first thought. I need to juice up the start and add something more to the main character to push us into caring about her. Knowing this may change other aspects of the story, I'm not sure I should be jumping into the sequel.

The big question is what project do I focus on for NaNo. I could do another kids' horror story like MY ZOMBIE DOG, or I could go with a Science-fiction YA piece, or a teen spy-thriller. No rush there's still two and half days before I need to begin writing. No hurry.

How are your NaNoWriMo plans coming?

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N is for NaNoWriMo

In 2009, I signed up for a contest called NaNoWriMo. NaNoWriMo is held over the month of November each year and the idea is that you start and finish a 50,000 word novel (minimum) in that month. It seems fast paced and the emphasis is definately on quantity rather than quality, but oh the whimsical fun!

I mentioned that this is a contest, but with a difference:

Who are you competing against? Yourself. If you beat the hurdles and excuses that prevent 50,000 words, then you win.

What do you win? Other than being listed as a NaNoWriMo Winner and receive some cool badges for your blog, you win 50,000 words of a first draft for your novel. Come join the madness, and friend me at NaNoWriMo. November will be upon us before you know it.

Fact is, I usually write two manuscripts a year. One takes me 11 months and the other takes me 4 weeks. Why? Deadlines. I make sacrifices and push myself for November, also my family and friends understand my pressure and give me the space and support to write. For some reason I just can't drag that on for the rest of the year.

In 2009 I worked out my plot by starting with a brainstorming (also known as Clustering) session. 2010, I had my story prompt from a character exercise I did at the CYA Writer's Conference (you can see my post about it at Character to Plot Workshop).

Already a NaNoWriMo participant? Did you know NaNoWriMo have a Young Writers Program? It allows the junior authors to become involved as well. They don't have to do 50k of words though, they can pick their own limit. Last year my girls did 6,000 words, Emily with her paranormal mystery (about dragons used for murder) and Matilda with her Greek God mystery (Greekafied). 

There are some great resources on the Young Writers Program site for beginners too. I found the High School Workbook extremely helpful. It will take you step by step through the process of setting up your plot and characters in a lovely simple format. And it's free! 

My tactics: 

• Don't tackle anything that needs constant research, and if it does, skip that and fix it later (you can edit in December, you won't have time in November)

• Plan your plot - If I try to write constantly for 50,000 I'm likely to start with a family story and end up with space porn, but only after going through a period of postmodern zombie/military action. I need structure.

• Don't start something you've been planning. Start something new that you are not yet attached to. Come December you can get crazy about your plot and characters, but you won't have time to dwell in November - there's writin' to do!

• Tell everyone you're doing it. Put it on your blog. It will make it a lot harder for you to drop out after 539 words.

• Drag your friends and family into it, or join a region group (you can do that on the site). If you have writing buddies you will urge each other on and help with plot barriers. 

What I love most about this challenge is that it is international and although there are would-be authors struggling over manuscripts every day, now I feel part of that group knowing we are all busily typing at once. Join me... join me.. join me....

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NaNoWriMo - The Mad Dash

So... how's it going? I've been lagging behind in my NaNoWriMo Novel, and have decided to do a mad dash to the finish line. Sorry Year 7 French student, reports may not get written this year, pets - no walkies, kids - feed yourselves, bills - the cheque will be in the mail next week, Tim - do I 'look' like I'm in the mood? (Okay, maybe the French reports still have to go out, but the rest can wait)

This week is for words, words and then some words. Fail is not an option. Of course, I wouldn't feel like I failed, even if I stopped now - I'd have almost 30,000 words for my supernatural thriller. My biggest problem, if this novel doesn't have the words 'The End' typed by the finish of NaNoWriMo, is Dec 1. Come that unofficial date, I know my brain will go into a self-induced coma and refuse to budge.

It's going to be a big week for my protagonist Dusty, she now knows who the killer is but has to discover his secret stash of drugs he intended smuggling, locate another dead body, save the remaining  coworkers from certain death, convince the good guy she's worth a go and learn the killer had a partner. 

Do you work better under pressure?

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10 Motivators to Keep Writing for NaNoWriMo

I like to move it, movie it...

Well I told myself to slow down. My NaNo novel came to a bit of a halt last week. I just decided to give myself a day off, or maybe three, I'd reward myself with words later. Turns out, I'm a bit stingy with my rewards. This week I will have to work hard to push those numbers up again. I did get a few words in on Sunday, and I didn't let myself waste my time off.

To keep the flow and motivation of writing when I just can't get to the keyboard or pick up the flow of my story, I like to:

1. Write something else about my character in my notebook, like a diary entry. This can help me gain some insight to her deeper motivation.
2. Watch youtube clips and listen to podcasts on the craft of writing - there's so many good one's out there!
3. Watch a flick or shows in my genre - in my case it's mystery, so I sat through a few good episodes of Castle.
4. Go to the movies. You watch a creative story unfold and you're in a new environment, away from home.
5. Take walks. My imagination goes into overdrive when I walk the dog. It must be because I can't talk to anyone, my mouth shuts up and gives my brain a go.
6. Start recording my dreams, even the silly one.
7. READ. I read books on writing, and look for the element I'm struggling with, like dialogue or structure. I'll also read something similar to my writing style - I try to read things that are simple and don't take too much thinking.
8. Draw. I doodle, 'cause I'm not much of an artist, but drawing loosens my mind and lets me be creative.
9. Listen to Audio books. Sometimes I don't write because I'm exhausted or unwell, at these times I find it hard to read as well, so, I pop on a Charlaine Harris audio book and listen to the story unwind.
10. I listen to Relaxation and Meditation books on my iPhone right before bed.

Is your story flowing or trickling? Do you keep pounding on, or step away?

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NaNoWriMo - What's the Rush?

Slow down, enjoy the view.

Day 9 of NaNoWriMo - and hasn't the time been flying? My first week went well, with my little fingers flicking across the keyboard every spare moment I got. Then, I lost something - the spare moments. Not to worry, I made myself type some words before bed, even when I didn't feel like it.

My problem? In my rush, I've found I've also been rushing my story. I'm pushing my protagonist along in this supernatural mystery/thriller, saying 'come on, get to the next clue, this is NaNoWriMo you know, we don't have time to dawdle!' Dusty has reluctantly obliged (sometimes she shoots me dirty looks, because really, I think she can't be stuffed being the main character and wishes I'd given it to someone else - ungrateful little ....).  At not even the half way mark, we've had most of the murders (I might be able to squeeze one or two more in *evil chuckle*). Dusty has identified the bad guy and he is currently safely tied up, leaving her with the dreamy good guy.

My solution? Slow down. Tell Dusty to take her time, notice the scenery, maybe have a cuppa and think this thing through. Has she really got the bad guy tied up? What if she got that all wrong? That would leave her all alone (except for a couple more would-be victims) with... the killer. And the only guy who would defend her? Well, he's tied up now, so smart move there Dusty.

How's your novel going? Are you taking the time to breathe, to let your protagonist breathe?

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NaNoWriMo Death = Words

Day 6 of NaNoWriMo and the plot thickens - or does it?

I went into this NaNo novel with a vague plot idea and premise, I'd have a palaeontologist with a mystical gift of seeing how a creature died when she touches its remains. All fine and good until she comes across a human body, that everyone else thinks died in an accident. She can't say she 'saw' the murder without sounding like a loon, so she'll have to prove it before becoming the next victim.

First few days went great. I knew where to start - in the action. I start with an explosion and my protagonist finding a body (okay, if you've read my posts you'll know I actually started with two characters discussing the weather for three pages, but I got there eventually). Great, Dusty now has to find some evidence to prove the victim's death was the result of foul-play. Then she got a little distracted by a handsome Italian volunteer and, well, let's just say the novel jumped an age audience.

So now what? I wasn't sure. I decided to let Dusty work it out and I just followed her around and wrote her choices. At first she was lame and hid in her tent. But eventually she started suspecting people and making a few bad choices allowing the killer free time to go... kill. I now have two dead bodies and two missing girls. I've added some flooded roads to stop anyone else from getting in or out of our site (plus, of course, someone tampered with the radio, so there's no contact out).

The body count has given me more things to write about, suspicions, theories, grief, fear, etc. So if you get stuck do you think you'll bump someone off? Or maybe throw in a romantic Italian guy?

I've got the family away this weekend, so, I'm trying to bump up my word count after missing a whole day yesterday (I'm a little snowed under planning these new French classes for my students - and trying to learn French to stay one lesson ahead of them). How's your NaNo going?

NaNo on!

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Judging a NaNo Novel by its Cover

I'm not much of a graphic artist. My 12yr. old (Emily) had to show me how to use photoshop. But how could I resist trying to make a book cover for my NaNoWriMo novel? I know, 50,000 words to get in one month and I start procrastinating with pictures.

Do you try to make up covers for your novels?

I tried to do a few for Dog Show Detective and didn't end up satisfied with any. I think I'd go with a cartoon picture, but I can't mock that up because my drawing skills would result in a picture of a stick-dog. Here's what I came up with, using a photo of Emily and Schroeder playing the parts of Kitty and Spade:

Are you going to do a book cover for your NaNoWriMo novel? Put it up on your blog so we can all have a look - pleeease!

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NaNoWriMo Life Prompts

Cartoon from InkyGirl.com

Day two of NaNoWriMo and all is well. I've passed the 5,000 word mark (10% of the way there!). My story is starting to take shape, I've not plotted it out thoroughly, I only know there is a murder and a reason and the 'who it is' might surprise me. You can buddy me at charmaineclancy.

I was worried I'd struggle with NaNoWriMo this year, because I've been working full-time as a substitute teacher, at the moment I'm an Art Teacher (it's such a beautifully creative environment, I feel inspired to write!). We've had a few issues at my school because the new French teacher was not getting a good response from the kids and has decided that subject is not for her, so, until we get a new French teacher, I will be taking those classes too. Great, except, I don't speak French. I've downloaded an audiobook and I'm cramming in the language so I can teach the kids (I only have to stay one lesson ahead).

What does this have to do with NaNoWriMo? I was listening to my French tape while typing and decided to abruptly change a character's nationality to French. Secondary character Alisha is now Francine. So what do you do if you change your mind about something big in your novel?

Well, you DON'T go back and change it! Just type on as if Alisha were always Francine. I typed one line in capitals:

ALISHA IS NOW FRENCH AND LET'S CALL HER FRANCINE.

I'll find it in the edits and fix the inconsistencies.

So if you get stuck for ideas, just look around and steal the first thing you see! NaNo on!

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NaNoWriMo Dynamic Beginnings

I've blogged many times about the importance of a good opening hook. You can see my post about strong beginnings in First Impression and Lasting Impact. So how did I begin my NaNoWriMo novel today?

With two characters discussing the weather. Yep. This went on for about three pages. It was utter rubbish.

But...

It doesn't matter. There's a good argument for writing weak beginnings and material to just be scrapped later; it's a first draft. I had a rough idea of my plot planned out, but I wasn't prepared to spend time working out exactly where the story should start. I got about six pages done today and I think my story will actually begin about page three (which was Chekov's exact prediction - write your story, then throw out the first three pages). Plus, I was sticking to my theory, if you can't think of anything to write... write anyway (I include this as a tip on writing when you're stuck in Thinking About Writing)

After a long bout of weather-chatting, today my protagonist was merrily digging away and discovered a... severed hand! Yuck enough for most, but for her, even more so. When she touches dead things, she gets a flash of how they died. Turns out the hand was not an accidental death by misadventure caught up in the land explosives clearing dirt. She was murdered.

Anywhoos, I was happy with my word count, I hit 2,634 and will probably get a few words down tonight before bed.  Did you start your novel today (I know we're all on different time zones)? How'd you go? Love it or Hate it?

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NaNoWriMo Ready

The clock is ticking, NaNoWriMo begins... tomorrow morning!


Come join the madness, and friend me at NaNoWriMo here.

Last year I worked out my plot by starting with a brainstorming (also known as Clustering) session. This year I had my story prompt from a character exercise I did at the recent CYA Writer's Conference (you can see my post about it at Character to Plot Workshop).

Our family workshop (because, yes I make my whole family join in) was to write down our story premise (one sentence that sums up what your story is about), mine was: Psychic paleontologist tries to solve a murder after receiving a vision of the victim's death.

Then we wrote down, as a dot point, just ONE thing that could happen in our story, mine was:

• Dusty finds a body.

Then we passed our notebook around the table and, based on our premise and dot point, each person would add their own dot point of a plot idea that could happen in the story. This would work well with a critique group because you'd get lots of ideas. These are the ones I found in my notebook:

• A dig explosion goes off early, burying a volunteer - was it an accident or something more sinister?
• When Dusty accidentally touches the body she sees the killer has a cute little teddy bear.
• Dusty love jello.

Once we received our books back we went on to write as many plot ideas for our own story as we could. You just write ANYTHING that could happen in the story, small or significant. You do not have to use the suggestions given to you, but you're not allowed to cross them out either. All ideas are there to inspire.

The great thing about this approach is if you get 40 ideas and write out each one as a scene or chapter, you could easily reach your 50,000 words.

In last year's NaNoWriMo our family all included an evil Pomeranian puppy within our story, I look forward to seeing what quirky element or character we can share this year.

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Plot Ideas from Headlines

This political news reads like a tragic romantic comedy

NaNoWriMo is fast approaching, the month where crazy writers try to get 50,000 words on paper in just 4 weeks. As I've roped my whole family into attempting NaNoWriMo, we've been holding family writing workshops. Last night we brainstormed story ideas from news headlines.

I got this idea from Writing Excuses, they have the best podcasts on all aspects of writing fiction, so check them out.

These were some of the headlines we dug  up to use:

• Road Rage: 9 ways to get your self-killed
• Spy Anna Chapman at U.S.-Russia Rocket Launch
• Dead Fish Tell Evolutionary Tales
• Is Your Dog Pessimistic?
• Building Rome on a Cloudless Day
• New planet 'like earth', say astronomers
• Teens die in horror road crash
• Frozen in Icy Tomb - Arctic gives-up the secrets of Russia's lost adventurer
• Child Bride Set Free

On our browser homepage I found some more today:

• Violent Games Pose Threat to Young Boys
• Cancer-causing Chemicals Found in Wells
• Pig Hunter Wins New Zealand's Biggest Lotto Prize

We brainstormed around the table on each heading and came up with different story ideas. One example was:

Anna Chapman is not a human spy, but a computer chip in the Russian rocket. This launch is meant to be a test launch. BUT... The USA agenda has for some time been to start a war with a small oil-rich country, but their biggest fear is Russia will side against them, and they don't want to risk nuclear war. So... the chip in the rocket is designed to have the rocket 'accidentally' target that small country, sparking a war between the target and Russia, so that America can step in and back Russia up. This would make sure they were Allies. Only one down-and-out internet geek (let's call him 'Mike O'Sopht') unravels this conspiracy and the world now depends on his actions. 

Okay, this example is why I don't write political thrillers. But you get the idea, you take the headline and see which story ideas it prompts for you. How about you, can you come up with some new story ideas from these headlines?

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NaNoWriMo Fever!

It's the most, wonderful time of the year....

Last year I discovered NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) for the first time and became immediately obsessed with writing 50,000 words in one month. I'll be Nanoing again this year and fingers crossed I'll get a whole novel written in November.

There's no cheating allowed - which means in October I can't write a word towards my story, but I can start plotting and planning. My novel idea for this year:

Digging up Death

Dusty Fields is a palaeontologist student who has the gift of seeing how creatures died when she touches their remains. Handy for work, but something she keeps a secret from a judgemental world. Dusty avoids all but prehistoric death, until she comes across a colleague's body at her dig site and must help an infuriatingly dense detective solve the crime without revealing her 'gift'.

I've got the whole family joining in. Last year Matilda and Emily both wrote novellas (kids get to choose the wordcount they will aim for). This year we're trying to entice Tim to join in too. All through October our family has little workshops, this week we're focusing on plotting and story ideas.

Using John and Caitlin Mathews StoryWorld cards, we experimented with coming up with new story ideas. This pack of cards includes many fantasy and traditional fairytale characters, objects and settings along with a book to show different ways they could be used.

Our aim was to deal out two character cards, one object and one setting. Then we each came up with different ideas. You could also use tarot cards or print up archetype characters and draw them out of a hat to do this.

I can also use these cards in the classroom for creative writing, they are so beautiful the kids just love them. Here's a sample:

There were some pretty interesting ideas, including a murder mystery in fairyland! You can buddy me at NaNoWriMo and see what the month of crazy brings.

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The Red Pen and the Manuscript

The edits for Dog Show Detective are moving along, I have now scribbled all over the first six chapters. How to Revise Your Novel is the course that I have been using to help me learn about editing and I gave you an overview of the 1st step last week. This week I decided to focus on a book I downloaded straight to my iPod from the Amazon Kindle application, called Manuscript Makeover, by Elizabeth Lyon.


I haven't gotten very far into the book yet, but there has been some insightful views revealed already.


Here are couple of hints from the book:


Read a lot, and especially read loads of what you write - okay we kinda knew this, which is why I've been reading Trixie Beldon, The Thief Lord and other children's mysteries. What Lyon adds though is you should keep a file. This could be a notebook, hardcopy or electronic, but keep a record of all the really effective examples you come across in your reads. You could have one for great dialogue, one for character description, another for use of flashbacks. These passages can be used to measure the success of your own writing or as a guide for when you get stuck for ideas on how to describe the setting without boring your reader.


This file brings us onto another strategy from Lyon: Modelling. To refine your style take a descriptive passage that impresses you and try to imitate the syntax and emotion of the sentences for your own description. Manuscript Makeover provides examples and many more strategies for improving your writing style and tackling editing your manuscript. I'm enjoying it!


This week I'd like to leave you with a few editing links I found - beware, it's tempting to spend all your time reading sites and blogs on editing, leaving you no time to actually chop at that manuscript!


Book Dreaming - I love this blog, it's colourful, cheerful and has great content. This particular post has tips on editing that I liked.


Query Traker.net - This blogger is well known for advising on Querying publishers and agents, but this post tells you how to tackle editing a whole novel without letting it overwhelm you.


Improve Your Writing with these Editing Tips - Some tips on spotting problems with your prose, like try reading it backwards!


AboutAScreenplay - Just as relevant for novels. Make sure all your scenes contain the right formula to move the story along and capture the reader. Learn more about CONFLICT.


Dog Show Detective - The Edit:
My main lesson this week was to increase the conflict in each scene. I throw in loads of obstacles and challenges. Don't let your characters off lightly!

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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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