WIP Wednesday

First off - Happy Birthday to my awesome stepson!! He's 21 today, which is blowing my mind. When I married his father he was this adorable freckle-faced little 10 year old :) Now he towers above all of us and has turned into a wonderful young man. :)

Now....in writing news - things went wonky LOL I'm rewriting a novel I wrote a few years ago (as I've told you before). Revisions have been going very well. Then I realized that while they were going well for the OLD storyline, I was getting way off track for the NEW storyline. Not that anything was horrible, and I'd added quite a few new tidbits. But I was 100 pages in and the real crux of the new stuff hadn't really started yet and was bogged down in all this stuff that, while I liked it and it worked well for the other story, was pretty irrelevant to the new story.

I always block out my scenes on post its and put them up on my cork board during revisions, so I can see what I have and more easily determine what needs to change. But for this problem, those didn't really help.

So...I typed up a little mini synopsis for each chapter, printed it out, put it on my cork board, and started rearranging and cutting. It was kind of fun. I had my tape, scissors, red pen, and push pins all laid out. I cut one entire chapter and took another one, cut a few bits out of it and taped them into the synopsi (?) for 2 other chapters...and got rid of the rest of that one. Then I moved a few chapters around so their content fit the flow of the story better.

And then I took all that, made a new little synopsis for each chapter on a post it (one for each chapter), put those on my main cork board, opened my files and went to town. It probably sounds more complicated than it was LOL But it worked great! I'm a very visual and hands-on person. If I can see it and DO it (as opposed to just reading it) I can work things out much quicker.

So, I am now well on my way to getting this puppy where it needs to be :)

Do you have any special little tricks like this that help you when it comes to revisions?

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WIP Wednesday

Well, I actually managed to stop procrastinating and start working on my WIP :D My goal is to revise a chapter a day (I'm rewriting the book but salvaging what I can so some of these "revisions" are really totally gutting and rewriting but keeping track by chapter is still much easier than by word count) and so far I am a chapter ahead. So I'm pretty happy with myself for the moment.

This is a partial verse novel and I am having a blast writing it. I just hope other people will like it LOL

How are you all doing on your projects?

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WIP Wednesday - What Kind of a Writer are You?

Non-fiction update: Edits with my developmental editor are complete and I am now working with a fabulous line editor. A few revisions led to a much needed new Chapter 1 :D Things are looking good!

As to my question for the day, we talk a lot about being a pantser or outliner, but I've been thinking about another kind of writer lately.

My crit group started up again recently, and this time, I didn't have a finished project to post. So I've been writing as I go along, sometimes finishing my required pages the day I'm supposed to post.

Now, I knew this about myself before, but it's really been driven home lately - I am a layer writer.

My first draft is generally nothing but getting the actual blow by blow scene down. She did this, he said that, they went here, she said something else. It's flat but it gets the basic scene done. Then I go back and add some emotion to it. Give the characters reactions, feelings. Then I'll usually go back and add more action or motivation or anything else that's missing.

I try to do all this on the first try, of course. But invariably, I usually end up with a flat, bare bones scene that needs a few more layers to really make it work.

I can tell when I've had the time to go back over my weekly post several times, because the comments I get from my awesome crit partners on the emotions and tension and action in the scene are generally better than when I posted at the last second.

And when I post for my second crit group, after I've revised several times incorporating awesome main CPs' corrections and suggestions and added layer upon layer, I can really tell a difference.

I have improved a bit over the years. And if I go slowly and think about every line before I write it, I can get some of those layers in there the first time around. But when I do this, my projects have a tendency to fizzle out. I lose interest in them. Because I'm spending too much time trying to get them perfect the first time around.

If I just word vomit the scene and worry about adding the layers once I have the basic structure set, I have a much better completion rate. And I enjoy writing the story more as well.

How about you? Do you layer with each revision or can you get it all out with the first draft? (and I envy you if you can!) :D

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WIP Wednesday - What Kind of a Writer are You?

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WIP Wednesday - Let the Plot Points Flow!

Okay, I know you've heard this from me before...but I think I really did find a way of outlining that I like! I always knew I was a visual person, but I didn't realize just how strong that trait was until recently. I'm sure many of you partook of the awesomeness that was WriteOnCon. I loved each and every minute of it! And I took away a ton of useful information and tips to use in my writing.

The one bit of awesome that inspired my newfound love of outlining was the post on revising by associate editor Kendra Levin. In that post, she had a little flow chart depicting a format for creating an effective plot. (READ HER POST AND SEE THE CHART HERE)

Now, I'd heard this information before, seen it in written form (beginning, two turning points, climax, ending, etc) - and I'd tried to use this in my rough outlining. But for some reason, just having it written down did nothing for me. But plugging my plot points into this chart.....holy moly, let the writing flow! The light bulb went on, the muse put on her party hat and started shaking her booty, I was EXCITED to write and the rest of my story points jumped from my pen onto my fun little chart.

I really should have figured this out earlier - I mean I have always been one of those people that does better looking at the picture than just reading the instructions. But I suppose sometimes you have to fail a few hundred times before you get it right :D

I took the cork board that I had attempted to use  for outlining and I drew the chart form onto the board. It looked like this:





Then, I wrote my plot points onto little notecards and added them to the correct points on the chart. Now it looks like this:





Isn't it pretty!!? And now I have a complete flow chart for my story. It's not heavy duty outlining, but I know where I'm going, when I need to be building tension, and what major points to be aiming for. And suddenly I feel like I can actually finish this story.

It's amazing what a little picture will do for you :)

How about everyone else? Does anyone else use this method, or something similar? Am I the only person out there that has to have a picture to look at before they GET what's going on? :D

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WIP Wednesday - Let the Plot Points Flow!

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WIP Wednesday

Oops, it's Wednesday. LOL Oye, real life getting busy :)

Well, quick WIP update....I'm loving outlining...but I'm not so sure it works for me. But I want it to - badly. I spend a good 8 months on revisions after the initial 2 or 3 months of writing draft. I do NOT want to spend an entire year on one manuscript anymore. But outlining seems to kill the drive to write the story.

So, I have two options at the moment.

1. Word vomit draft one and then outline during the beginning of the revision process (thanks for that term, Elana LOL). This option is what I'm leaning toward as it will allow me to get the story out but still organizes things in time to be efficient in the revising arena.

2. Continue trying to outline before draft 1. This one I'm not so sure about. However, my fabulous crit partner and agent buddy Christine recommended an outlining book that is on its way to my house as we speak. I will give it a shot, 'cause hey, I'm will to try just about everything once :)

So, for now, no progress on the fiction WIP. The NF book is getting much closer to being done but work stalled out for a week or so as I dealt with some Real Life stuff. IF I can get all my ducks in a row here, I should be done with revisions on that this week and then will just need to finish up the 4 new chapters we are adding (and they are, thank goodness, at least partially finished).

Then, manuscript off to my editor and I can focus the summer on fiction. Woohoo!

How about you all? How are your projects going? Have any of you tried outlining to find it just doesn't work? Do you outline at all, during any stage of the process?

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WIP Wednesday

Oh, my WIP.....oye. Okay, I have been enjoying the outlining, and I will continue to work on it. But, I have changed gears and am working on something else :D For two reasons. (We'll call the first project Project A and the new one Project B)

1. While I am really liking the outlining thing, for Project A at least, some of the urgency that I had to write the story seems to have dissipated a bit in the process of getting down all the details for the outline. Now, I say for Project A, because I've written just as many notes for Project B and I haven't come across this problem yet. So, I'm thinking it is the project, not the outlining.

2. There are two very different directions I can take Project A and I can't decide for the life of me where I want to go. I can't decide which side of the fence I want my MC on - which is a pretty big decision as who (or rather, what) she is determines the rest of the storyline. I have actually outlined both scenarios....and I just CAN'T decide. Which leaves me sitting in front of a blank screen pulling my hair out.

And then, while researching for Project A I came across something else that sparked a new story idea, one I am VERY excited about; one that I still feel that urgency to write, even with all the notes and outlining.

So :D Looks like I'll be working on the new idea instead. Though I do still really want to write the other WIP...and if I can ever figure out which way to take the story, I'll jump right on it LOL

Has this ever happened to you? Have you been working on something and had an idea for something else that you just couldn't ignore?

I'm excited, don't get me wrong. But I do feel incredibly guilty about Project A. Maybe I can keep working on a few notes here and there so it won't feel left out ;-)

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WIP Wednesday

Well, it's been a while, but I actually have a new WIP! Woohoo! I am, of course, still working on polishing up my NF manuscript for publication (I still need to add a couple new chapters, but the book should *fingers crossed* be completed by the end of the month).

So! I have decided to *gulp* outline my new YA. I don't know what's possessed me (maybe the desire to cut my editing time down to six months LOL) but this time around, I am going all out on the whole outline process.

I've set up a cork board with cards on each of my main characters, their characteristics, motivations, etc. The other side of the cork board has a card for each of my chapters. I have my story arc written (the main conflict, two main turning points, the climax and the resolution) AND I have a basic synopsis written.

I have an idea of how long I'd like the book to be so I will try and break down the events in the book by chapter and get those on the cards.

Now - do I think this will work? Not a clue. It's never worked before, though I've never tried to prepare a book to this extent. Then again, I've never had a clear idea before of exactly how the story will be, from beginning to end. Normally, I have a scene or two in my head and I just sit and write, building on those scenes. And then I generally end up cutting half the book and doing major rewrites and spending months filling plot holes and fixing other glaring problems. I am trying to solve a few of those problems before they start.

This time, I know where I want it to start, what I want to happen in the middle, and how I want it to end up.

This may be because I've been thinking about this story since December. I've never given that kind of thought time to a book before. I may have ideas and jot down notes and think of it now and again, but I really have been seriously stewing on this story for months now.

So, hopefully all this careful preparation won't be for naught once I start the story and the characters take over. I will admit that I am enjoying having a specific checklist of points to hit in the book. That must be the OC list maker in my personality, sighing with giddy delight at my mad organizational skills :D

Well, we'll see how this goes.

On a weird and slightly annoying note - I started writing chapter 1 and it came out in present tense. I don't like present tense as a general rule. Not horribly fond of reading it (though I've had my exceptions, and I have read more of it lately, so perhaps that is feeding into the strange and new direction my writing is taking). I've never written in present tense, so this could be interesting :)

How about you? Do you outline? If so, do you do a basic sketch or really dive in?

And have you ever found yourself changing from your preferred tense into something you've never before attempted...or wanted to attempt?

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