In case anyone thinks a book springs fully-formed from an author's head, let me say that's not my experience. Most of my writer friends go through many drafts, many versions, and tons of edits before an editor ever sees a word of what they've written. While writing/ revising/ editing, I use a terrific software program called SCRIVENER. Read a few of my thoughts on Scrivener here.
Today, while pulling together a few things for my soon-to-be updated website, I found this page. One of my earlydrafts of my soon-to-be-published book, MAKING FRIENDS WITH BILLY WONG. (Coming in just over a month!)
First of all, I almost fell off my chair reading the date. And then I almost fell off again.
What on earth could I possibly have been thinking? UFO's?
You know that writing advice that says "What's the worst thing that could happen to your character? Write that!"
Well, a lot of things could have happened. And, thankfully, didn't. Aren't you glad I didn't have Azalea and Billy chasing after a UFO?
Of course, you can't revise a story until you have written it. I won't bore you with how I struggle with plotting. Because this week, I'm knee deep into revision. Hooray! Just this once, I won't sing the praises of my beloved SCRIVENER software which makes revision kind of fun. Heck, it makes writing fun some of the time.
(Nothing makes the Bad First Draft fun, but those SFDs have to be written before you can get to the best part - for me: Revising!)
(The GLORY BE notebooks and the revisions I printed. Many others never made it off my computer.)
Do this shrinking thing, and you'll look at your story a whole new way. I promise.
Yes, I know I may sound like a broken record, but for my money, you can't do better than going right over to Barbara O'Connor's blog and type REVISION into the search box. Before you're done, you'll have a whole new outlook on the subject.
Here's just one that I particularly love because it's exactly how I feel about revising.
Today I'm minding my own business, pulling my hair over revisions, using my beloved Scrivener, concentrating madly.
Till I decided to use the Scrivener dictionary/ thesaurus tab. I guess I must have been searching SAY, though for the life of me, five long hours later, I can't think why.
But this appeared: word notes!
say, said While most writing can be improved by choosing strong and precise nouns, adjectives, and verbs, this isn't always so. When reading a novel's dialogue, we should be paying attention to what the characters say, and learn about their feelings through their words. But too many young authors overstress the verbal markers of back-and-forth speech. So we read Frank replied or Frank riposted or even Losing his temper, Frank violently expostulated. Much of the time a careful writer can set up the rhythm of a conversation so that it's always clear who's speaking and with what degree of passion. If more precise identification is needed, a simple Frank said will usually suffice, the weak and common verb scarcely intruding on the give-and-take on the page. — MD Conversational, opinionated, and idiomatic, these Word Notes are an opportunity to see a working writer's perspective on a particular word or usage.
Just for fun, I posted the above in my status on Facebook.
Hey, I needed a little diversion from all the very hard work I'd been doing all day.
And boy-howdie! I got some reaction from my writer friends.
Almost two years ago, I'd blogged on the subject, here:
Inspired by the Florida SCBWI event in Miami and my fabulous critique group- Let's write!
There's nothing quite like a blank page/ computer screen.
Dusting off my trusty Scrivener. Putting all my scribbled notes into folders (the Scrivener kind).
I'm reading a few encouraging quotes about beginnings.
Here's a good one
That's how a good story starts. It doesn't spell everything out for you. A good story gives you something to think about. It raises as many questions as it answers.
~ Eric Kimmel
(via Bobbi Miller's website. Lots of good stuff for writers. CHECK IT OUT, HERE. )
How about this from a little notebook I scribbled in frantically during a Maryland SCBWI event. Maybe 2009? (I never throw notebooks away, do you?)
The only way to figure out who a character is is to write. Write a whole draft. You will never know what you are doing. You will discover.
from Coe Booth, though possibly paraphrased, so don't quote me/her.
And another hastily scribbled note, from Roy Clark at the St. Petersburg Times Festival of Reading, Fall, 2011: Our writing standards are too high, too quick. Lower them at the beginning of a project. After you have a draft, raise your standards.
Here's to new beginnings, 2013. As we flip our January calendars, how are your beginnings?
Your revisions and your revisits?
Here's what's on my desk this morning. Enough inspiration! And now, to write.
I spent most of my career living life on a September to June schedule. Yes, I was a school librarian.
So even now, September seems like a new beginning. When I see moms with those lists and kids gleefully choosing notebooks, pencil boxes, just the right markers and themed binders, I feel an overwhelming need to purchase some paperclips. Or at least a new red pen.
Today's post from a Facebook friend about her Top Ten Writing Tools of the Trade inspired me. Since I agree with many of her top ten, I'll let you click over there and won't repeat. HOWEVER, one of her top ten may be something the rest of the writing world hasn't discovered. So I'll share right here.
And since I can't say it any better than she did, I'll just quote her word for word:
FLIP DICTIONARY.It’s not a thesaurus—exactly—but it’s similar, kinda. It will help you find the term or word that’s eluding you. It might even get you thinking of a whole new story to tell. I just can’t emphasize how totally awesome it is.
I found out about this Flip Dictionary from another writer.
Sometimes a writer friend gives you a gift and never realizes how much you appreciate it. So all these years after she told me about this book, I'd like to say thank you to Selene Castrovilla.
I met Selene at a New School class we took together and again at a terrific Highlights Founders weekend. I still remember her holding up her very obviously loved Flip Dictionary and sharing it with the Highlights group.
So my Top Ten Tools of the Trade would include my trusty Flip Dictionary, my absolute favorite colored paperclips (Thanks, Teddie!), my Office Depot black pens (cheap and good- often oxymorons), my collection of writing books (though I'm thinking I should move away from the craft books and just start revising already?).
And one more writing tool that I don't think I could live without. Truly. And anybody who reads my blog knows what I'm about to say. Yeah, that's it. SCRIVENER. Yes, I'm a broken record (does anybody even say that anymore??) on this one. But I'm not sure I can write another novel without my trusty Scrivener software. I know I don't want to try.
Does September seem like a new beginning? Are you ready with your writing tools?
I usually don't have trouble coming up with a character's name. In fact, that's where I start. With a name or two, definitely a place and a time.
But unlike some of my fellow writers who shall remain nameless, for me all that can change in a heartbeat.
Take Cletus, for example. Cletus, you say? Yes, a real boy from my past, going into a story kind of from my past. Missing May, one of my favorite middle grade novels of all times, featured a boy named Cletus. I thought it was a perfect name.
But then a few teachers and young moms perused the manuscript. Cletus was deemed unsuitable. So I named him after two "Franks"--one is a favorite life-long friend, the other a new little boy in our extended family. Both really nice people! And I like his new name even better: Franklin (Franklin Cletus Smith, in my mind's eye), Frankie, AKA Frankfurter when teased. A character I love a lot.
Problem solved.
Move on to the next. Now mind you, naming characters can totally change their personality. Glory's big sister in my forthcoming novel GLORY BE was originally called Virginia. Not for long. A very wise writer in my critique group pointed out that naming characters after states, in children's books, can be confusing. I thought about that name and it seemed way too milktoasty for this big sister. She became Jesslyn. She became more daring. An aspiring fire baton twirler, sneaking away to visit Elvis's house in Tupelo, standing up to Old Lady Simpson who wants to close her public pool.
If you love Scrivener as much as I do, perhaps you've tried their very own Name Generator? I've never actually chosen a name this way, but I did play around with Scrivener on this and see how it might actually work.
I'm beginning (yet again) a new/ old project. Just writing that makes me realize why I love to write in Scrivener. There's only one way to tame a New/Old Project.
Here's what I love about Scrivener.
1. I like order (hey, I was a librarian for a long time, and a mostly organized person even before that). I like putting all my notes, research, chapters, thoughts in one place. I'd dread delving into this if I didn't think Scrivener could tame the notebooks, notecards, ripped out newspaper articles, and false-start chapters I have.
2. One thing I love best about the software is how I can make document notes, all the words I've cut, all my wanderings and musings, right on the side of the chapter I'm writing. Yet, if they get unruly, I can make them disappear with one click.
3. If I mess up, all is not lost. If I remember to take a SNAPSHOT of the previous version, it is there for the asking later.
This morning I followed a link from Facebook and stumbled on this, from a thesis writer.
To to read the entire blog, click here.
Her blogpost is titled Is Your Computer Domesticating You?
It’s hard to be messy in a clean way
As I write I have ideas – some of them don’t relate to the bit I am writing at that specific moment, so I often ‘jot notes’ on my documents as I go. At the moment I use the comments function in Word to do this, which makes my documents look messy. In fact, so messy that I often turn the comments off just so I can see what I am doing.
But – out of sight is out of mind and the ideas can easily get lost when they are invisible. In addition, the format of the comments is uncomfortable to read. By contrast each of the Scrivener fragments I write has metadata attached to it where I can jot to my heart’s content.
My thoughts exactly.
And that cute little button at the top of this blog? Arranging words is a nice thought. But that's not all it takes. I've arranged these new/old words before. This time, I need all the help I can get- Scrivener is just the beginning, but what an excellent place to re-start.
My critique group must tire of my ravings about Scrivener. I think I'm such an admirer of this writing software because the first time I tried it, I gave up in failure. This time I was more persistent. And considerably more motivated. Now I'm Scrivener's biggest fan.
I am revising historical fiction and there's just not a better way to keep track of all the photos, web pages, lists, books-- you name it-- than Scrivener. Not to mention your entire manuscript, and all those note cards.
Today I vaguely remembered notes from a hymnal of very old songs, a book I'd seen during a faraway summer but not one I'd owned. I'd carefully printed titles I loved, but where was that notebook? Where was my hymn list? When you've been writing at a story for almost ten years, off and on, you have way too many notebooks.
But I found it. And now I wanted to be sure it was someplace handy for reference. I took a picture, saved it to my computer and imported it right into my "research" notes in the binder.
Never to be lost again! By the way, I chose #5, Rock of Ages, from the list. Now I know all my hymn-ish stuff may not make this revision cut, but for now, I can't get the words out of my head, or the tune.
For my next novel, I will begin with Scrivener. I will transcribe into Scrivener as soon as I write a note on the back of a recipe card, scribble reminders with my grocery lists, or photocopy something from a book. Yes, I do love Scrivener.
I've been uncovering all sorts of good writing advice this weekend, right under my nose. Literally. Computer files stuffed in folders. Paper files falling out of notebooks with names like "Character" and "Title picking" and "Revision."
Ha. Revision. As if that fits neatly into a computer folder. (Though it's beginning to fit much more neatly now that I've discovered/ almost mastered Scrivener!)
Today I've been thinking about Secret Life of Bees, a book I loved. I recently re-watched the movie and, though I don't often say this about movies made from books, that movie wasn't half bad.
Now, I'm going to pay attention to some excellent writing advice I found tucked into one of those aforementioned computer folders, hiding on my desktop. This advice from Kidd has been on her website for a while, and perhaps you've read it. But I think it bears remembering. All 10 of them.
One day it occurred to me that most writers, myself included, erred on the side of being too careful in their writing. I made a pact with myself that I would quit playing it safe when what the story really wanted... what my heart really wanted, was to take a big chance. The best writing requires some daring-- a little literary skydiving. Look at your idea and ask yourself: how can I make this larger? The novelist E. M. Forster once said that a novel should deliver a series of small astonishments. After I finish each chapter, I read it with an eye toward figuring out where I’ve played it safe, where I backed off, where the small astonishment was lost.
8.Trust yourself, but listen to others (Certain Others)
As a beginning writer, I had to learn to trust my own creative instincts, but at the same time, gather a handful of trusted readers who would tell me the unmitigated truth. I had to learn how to detach enough from my work to listen genuinely to their advice and criticism, to see my work through their eyes. It is a difficult thing to sort out, but with practice I figured out how to stand by my best, most authentic impulses and words, while letting go of or revising the parts of my work that really were wrong, extraneous, unaffecting and plain mediocre. I eventually became ruthless about cutting my work. Sometimes it’s like pruning a tree-- the best work grows from the severed place.
Uh Oh. On the way to my way to revision, I found myself with a big roadblock. A fun, intriguing, often baffling one, well worth my time, so I'm saying.
I was making such good progress with the Cheryl Klein notes from my evening at her revision workshop.
Yes, it was getting harder. After printing out the revision in a new font, I was to read it without marking it up, noting the good stuff and the bad stuff. Then I was to list the first ten things each significant character says or does. Fun! I like this so far!
Then Cheryl's handout sheet says run the plot checklist at cherylklein.com.
Still good, though getting harder.
But wait!
I was just about to change my font and print out the entire revision when I got a message on Facebook that the writing software, Scrivener, had a new deal (big savings if you are participating in NaNoWriMo and complete the word count!) and an upgrade. I'd tried Scrivener before and gotten totally bogged down with the complicated bells and whistles. This time, I listened to the easy tutorial that hit the high spots and I gave it a whirl.
No, it's not going to help with word choice, characterization, or the voice of your novel (BTW, I love how Cheryl Klein defines voice: "Kind of like air- hard to talk about..."), but it's a neat way to organize.
Before Scrivener, I was a huge fan of stickie notes. I had a zillion legal pads, multiple versions on my computer, in a word-- a mess (but I do kind of like those Frida Kahlo stickies my friend Ivy gave me for my birthday):
Now I'm wrestling this revision into shape. If I don't get bogged down again with all the bells and whistles. So far, I'm a huge fan of Scrivener.
Now if I could just figure out how to change the color of those pushpins...
Soon I'll get back to my notes from the excellent Revision Workshop. More to come, at a later blogpost.
