I love Garth Nix. Like, he is my absolute favorite author of all time. His website is pretty great if you haven't checked it out. It is easy to find: www.garthnix.com On his site, you'll find a list of his favorite books, a Q&A, bio, book plugs and two little gems: The 9 Stages of a Garth Nix Novel, and How I Write: The Process of Creating a Book. 9 Stages is funny and worth the read. However, I am all about the Process of Creating a Book page. It is an incredible look into the way my favorite author writes. http://www.garthnix.com/writing.html Check it out! Read on after the jump.
Showing posts with label writing process. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing process. Show all posts
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Friday, June 10, 2011
The writing process (part 2)
Continuing from where I left off.
After speaking with a few writer friends, I figured out that I was attempting to revise and edit at the same time, which can be difficult and time consuming. They told me that a lot of people do it that exact way though. Since I was on a time crunch, I had to force myself to stop editing, and just worry about the story. Does this flashback make sense right here? Shouldn't he say that sooner? Four chapters ago, this town was in the north, so why is it sitting in the middle of the southern most lake now? I fixed those kind of details at certain milestones in the story, after meeting a word count goal, or when I didn't feel up to continuing the story right then.
Thankfully, I have a really great friend that has devoted countless hours of his (and his wife's) life to editing my writing. He can tell when I find a word that I like, because I'll use it seventeen more times in the next three paragraphs. He catches my grammar mistakes (there is so much green in my Word .doc! Ugh!). He is the lord of prose and has helped me improve dialogue and descriptions when they were not quite right.
If you aren't lucky enough to have someone in your personal circle that seems to enjoy (blech) editing... and is good at it... then you have to buckle down and do it yourself. I do edit my work. I just hate it. Mostly because a good majority of the time, it looks right to me. I could spend three hours editing a 5 page paper, give it to my friend, and it'll come back with a ton of missed commas, corrected words, etc in thirty minutes. Really. There are a lot of really great people online that will edit your work for you as well, either on a trade basis (you read and critique my story and I'll edit yours) or for a fee. I have seen editing fees from individuals that are just passing time to be relatively cheap to outright exorbitant. The same goes with professional editing services. Do your homework before you pay anyone for anything, especially online.
My editing process also includes readers. I call my readers my alpha readers and beta readers. Alpha readers just read for the story. Does it make sense? Is it exciting? What do you love/hate about it? My beta readers come in after several edits and revisions, based upon alpha suggestions and my feelings on the story. Did you find anything repetitive? Did you understand the story? Was the writing clear and easy to understand? Any glaring grammar, punctuation, or spelling mistakes? A fresh set of eyes on a project really helps!
I also find it incredibly hard to edit on the computer. I print it all out, edit by hand with a highlighter and red pen, and then edit page by page in the digital file. It may seem that it takes longer, but for me, it is actually faster. I could spend two days doing it by hand and then another day entering the changes into the document, or I could spend two weeks editing it in the digital document and miss half the changes that I would have found when doing it by hand. I get distracted way too easily.
I shared portions of Immo1 with several writing groups, friends, and family. I submitted it to a few contests. I am currently finishing up the final details in order to publish it as an ebook. I want people to read my novel. I want them to wait in anticipation for the 2nd and 3rd. I have set up at night, unable to sleep because I sent off part or all of my story to someone and couldn't stand waiting to hear their response. I got a lot of really good responses. I got a lot of really helpful criticism. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Make your work available. Submit it to contests and magazines. Begin researching how to query and submit your work for consideration at big time agents/publishers if you want to go that route. Blog about it. Share some of your work with the online writing community. Get out there and claim your spot as a writer. You are part of an exclusive club; act like it!
- Revision
Before I actively started writing, I considered revision and editing to be one and the same. I learned that they are actually very different things. I wrote the first 15,000 words of Immo1 as free writing. I didn't have names, locations were scattered around an inconsistent map, and details were very skimpy. I took a day off of writing to go back and fill in the missing names and make a real map. It ended up taking me half a week. I didn't understand the difference in revising something and editing it. Revision is where things are rearranged, removed, and replaced. I kept finding spelling mistakes (big surprise), extra or missing commas, gibberish, and random things that I didn't remember writing.
After speaking with a few writer friends, I figured out that I was attempting to revise and edit at the same time, which can be difficult and time consuming. They told me that a lot of people do it that exact way though. Since I was on a time crunch, I had to force myself to stop editing, and just worry about the story. Does this flashback make sense right here? Shouldn't he say that sooner? Four chapters ago, this town was in the north, so why is it sitting in the middle of the southern most lake now? I fixed those kind of details at certain milestones in the story, after meeting a word count goal, or when I didn't feel up to continuing the story right then.
- Editing
The bane of my existence! Editing, oh how I hate you. I mentioned that I am really bad at spelling. Like, not in the sense of my fingers type faster than my brain and type something wrong. I honestly cannot spell worth a damn. I understand homonyms and that ilk. I certainly try to use words correctly. But I still spell a lot of words by ear. I also like to make up words. Yeah, it is a terrible habit. Editing is a nightmare for me.
Thankfully, I have a really great friend that has devoted countless hours of his (and his wife's) life to editing my writing. He can tell when I find a word that I like, because I'll use it seventeen more times in the next three paragraphs. He catches my grammar mistakes (there is so much green in my Word .doc! Ugh!). He is the lord of prose and has helped me improve dialogue and descriptions when they were not quite right.
If you aren't lucky enough to have someone in your personal circle that seems to enjoy (blech) editing... and is good at it... then you have to buckle down and do it yourself. I do edit my work. I just hate it. Mostly because a good majority of the time, it looks right to me. I could spend three hours editing a 5 page paper, give it to my friend, and it'll come back with a ton of missed commas, corrected words, etc in thirty minutes. Really. There are a lot of really great people online that will edit your work for you as well, either on a trade basis (you read and critique my story and I'll edit yours) or for a fee. I have seen editing fees from individuals that are just passing time to be relatively cheap to outright exorbitant. The same goes with professional editing services. Do your homework before you pay anyone for anything, especially online.
My editing process also includes readers. I call my readers my alpha readers and beta readers. Alpha readers just read for the story. Does it make sense? Is it exciting? What do you love/hate about it? My beta readers come in after several edits and revisions, based upon alpha suggestions and my feelings on the story. Did you find anything repetitive? Did you understand the story? Was the writing clear and easy to understand? Any glaring grammar, punctuation, or spelling mistakes? A fresh set of eyes on a project really helps!
I also find it incredibly hard to edit on the computer. I print it all out, edit by hand with a highlighter and red pen, and then edit page by page in the digital file. It may seem that it takes longer, but for me, it is actually faster. I could spend two days doing it by hand and then another day entering the changes into the document, or I could spend two weeks editing it in the digital document and miss half the changes that I would have found when doing it by hand. I get distracted way too easily.
- Publishing
This is the last step in the writing process. If you've made it this far, congratulations to you! Most writers finish countless pieces only to store them away in a cabinet, binder, or document file. You have to go out there and make your publishing dreams come true. It doesn't happen over night, and it will not just fall into your lap (unless you are a celebrity...)!
I shared portions of Immo1 with several writing groups, friends, and family. I submitted it to a few contests. I am currently finishing up the final details in order to publish it as an ebook. I want people to read my novel. I want them to wait in anticipation for the 2nd and 3rd. I have set up at night, unable to sleep because I sent off part or all of my story to someone and couldn't stand waiting to hear their response. I got a lot of really good responses. I got a lot of really helpful criticism. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Make your work available. Submit it to contests and magazines. Begin researching how to query and submit your work for consideration at big time agents/publishers if you want to go that route. Blog about it. Share some of your work with the online writing community. Get out there and claim your spot as a writer. You are part of an exclusive club; act like it!
The writing process (part 1)
There are so many resources online pertaining to the writing process, and most of them have different ideas about what is and what isn't in this process. Prewriting, writing, revising, editing, and publishing seem fairly elementary but what folks think is [should be] included in each seems to differ somewhat. So, I'll add my two cents to the views.
I approach prewriting oddly I suppose. I detest outlining. It makes me feel confined to a determined outcome, regardless of how the story might change as I go along. When I wrote Immo1, I started with my prologue. It was the singular thing resonated in my mind. From there, I spent several days thinking of how I could turn the prologue information into a full length novel. I wrote down each idea, or plot arch I suppose, and reevaluated how each idea made me feel as a reader. If it sounded like it would get boring, I deleted it. Then I evaluated what was left as a writer. I asked myself, "Which of these sounds like it would be fun to write?" I chose the one that best fit me as a reader and a writer.
As a writer, I do not want to "know" what is going to happen. My style of writing has been called "by the seat of your pants" writing, and that is because I don't have everything planned out. I wrote the first scene of my book with a lot of replacement words. My main character didn't have a name. She was "female main character, FMC" for a good week. I didn't have names for other things, such as towns. I sat in a bookstore coffee shop and stared out the windows for names, looked at random Google images, and turned a random radio station on to a low setting. I picked names as I went along because I'm terrible at names.
I started writing...and just kept writing. I didn't worry about names, unimportant details like colors, and settings. The story was the important part. I did go back through later and fix it all, but I just wanted to get my story on paper. Everyone knows the hardest part of writing is defeating the blank page. I was determined to do that, and I did. So all you "pantsers" out there, keep up the good work. And, if you are one of those people (most people, I guess) that live by outlines, character biographies, and binders full of notes, keep on keeping on if it works for you. If it doesn't, try a new method. It couldn't make you write any less than staring at that blank page.
I'll say this now. I am an incredibly finicky writer. I love to sit in coffee shops and write for hours on end. People watching helps me stay sane and I get an incredible amount of writing done. It may or may not have anything to do with the insane amount of coffee I consume in one sitting. Even if I sit on the patio, with traffic noises, screaming kids, and random creatures that gravitate toward me (I'm looking at you, wasp), there is nothing like sitting at your favorite coffee shop with a fresh brew, soft music, and a story.
Writing at home is different, and more difficult for me. I feel more inclined to be social at home with friends and family. I get on the internet. I play computer games (Hearts, I will win one of these days...). The cats want fed every 5 minutes. Even retreating to the computer in my bedroom doesn't help. I can't just "unplug" from the internet. I use reference sites all the time. I can't spell to save my life, but neither can Microsoft Word. Dictionary.com is my lifeline. Wikipedia is great for checking how others have portrayed a type of character. I use Google to make sure the idea in my head isn't in there because the book I read last week used it. I like to stream music when I write. Unplugging doesn't work for me.
You have to find your writing spot. Sometimes, the perfect writing situation isn't available all the time. I can't go to the bookstore every day. So I compromise by keeping a fresh pot of coffee on, leaving the door cracked so I can hear my family and friends (most of the time), and resisting the urge to cuddle the furrballs. I still get a decent amount of writing completed when I sit down to write.
Part 2 to come...
- Prewriting
I approach prewriting oddly I suppose. I detest outlining. It makes me feel confined to a determined outcome, regardless of how the story might change as I go along. When I wrote Immo1, I started with my prologue. It was the singular thing resonated in my mind. From there, I spent several days thinking of how I could turn the prologue information into a full length novel. I wrote down each idea, or plot arch I suppose, and reevaluated how each idea made me feel as a reader. If it sounded like it would get boring, I deleted it. Then I evaluated what was left as a writer. I asked myself, "Which of these sounds like it would be fun to write?" I chose the one that best fit me as a reader and a writer.
- Writing
As a writer, I do not want to "know" what is going to happen. My style of writing has been called "by the seat of your pants" writing, and that is because I don't have everything planned out. I wrote the first scene of my book with a lot of replacement words. My main character didn't have a name. She was "female main character, FMC" for a good week. I didn't have names for other things, such as towns. I sat in a bookstore coffee shop and stared out the windows for names, looked at random Google images, and turned a random radio station on to a low setting. I picked names as I went along because I'm terrible at names.
I started writing...and just kept writing. I didn't worry about names, unimportant details like colors, and settings. The story was the important part. I did go back through later and fix it all, but I just wanted to get my story on paper. Everyone knows the hardest part of writing is defeating the blank page. I was determined to do that, and I did. So all you "pantsers" out there, keep up the good work. And, if you are one of those people (most people, I guess) that live by outlines, character biographies, and binders full of notes, keep on keeping on if it works for you. If it doesn't, try a new method. It couldn't make you write any less than staring at that blank page.
I'll say this now. I am an incredibly finicky writer. I love to sit in coffee shops and write for hours on end. People watching helps me stay sane and I get an incredible amount of writing done. It may or may not have anything to do with the insane amount of coffee I consume in one sitting. Even if I sit on the patio, with traffic noises, screaming kids, and random creatures that gravitate toward me (I'm looking at you, wasp), there is nothing like sitting at your favorite coffee shop with a fresh brew, soft music, and a story.
Writing at home is different, and more difficult for me. I feel more inclined to be social at home with friends and family. I get on the internet. I play computer games (Hearts, I will win one of these days...). The cats want fed every 5 minutes. Even retreating to the computer in my bedroom doesn't help. I can't just "unplug" from the internet. I use reference sites all the time. I can't spell to save my life, but neither can Microsoft Word. Dictionary.com is my lifeline. Wikipedia is great for checking how others have portrayed a type of character. I use Google to make sure the idea in my head isn't in there because the book I read last week used it. I like to stream music when I write. Unplugging doesn't work for me.
You have to find your writing spot. Sometimes, the perfect writing situation isn't available all the time. I can't go to the bookstore every day. So I compromise by keeping a fresh pot of coffee on, leaving the door cracked so I can hear my family and friends (most of the time), and resisting the urge to cuddle the furrballs. I still get a decent amount of writing completed when I sit down to write.
Part 2 to come...
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