When you’re starting to write a novel, you never really know if your plot and characters have legs. You have your main characters, you have a pretty good ide
a of what’s going to happen to them, you have a central theme, and an ending in mind. All these ideas swimming around in your head may or may not work on the written page.
That’s because what we imagine about our characters and their journey might not translate to the reader. What we imagine as writers may work in our minds, but not on the page. The final result might not resonate or connect with the reader, and this is the worst thing that can happen to a novelist. Not poor sales, not poor royalty cheques, not one or two bad reviews, not failing to win an award. No. It’s having a reader shake her head and say she has no clue what the author is trying to accomplish and feels nothing (or little) for the characters. Read more
Setting & Achieving Your Writing Goals
Is writing your day job? Or like me, do you have to fit it in between the many things that fill a mid-life. I remember days in my late twenties when I could like on the couch and do nothing. Why did I waste so much time? (Okay, I was recovering from getting a university education and further designation, so I won’t be too hard on my younger self.)
But now, with a day job, two teenage girls, several pets, a husband and a house – time is of the essence. Not to mention the biggest time factor in life: getting older. Yet, I’ve decided to start my novel all over again. Read more
Holiday Tasks & Seizing Opportunities
Dear writers,
The countdown is on! We have exactly two weeks until Christmas arrives… whether you’re ready or not, the day will still show up on December 25th, and so will all your company demanding your attention.
Therefore, you will need to prioritize your precious time and outline some kind of schedule to make sure you still get some writing time in over the last week of December (before the 2017 year is over).
If you are one of those writers who hold down one or two other jobs to pay the bills between small pockets of writing time, maybe you will get some much needed time off over the holidays?
Free hours? Free days? Free time?
What are you going to do with all this free time?
I have a few suggestions for you:
How to End Well
“The most-asked question when someone describes a novel, movie or short story to a friend probably is, “How does it end?” Endings carry tremendous weight with readers; if they don’t like the ending, chances are they’ll say that didn’t like the work. Failed endings are also the most common problems editors have with submitted works.” – Nancy Kress
December is a good month to think about endings with another year winding down. If we were in a novel, November would be the climax of the most horrible thing to ever happen to your character – lucky November! No wonder it tends to be a grey month. But now we are onto December when the hero gets conquer to her fears, the boy finds the girl, the quest locates the lost treasure. Hurrah!
For me, the ending is the most important part of any story.
What did I say?
What about that critical first sentence, the first paragraph, the first page you slaved for months over? There are workshops and blogs and books written about the importance of the first words of any story.
But here’s a little test. Given these two reviews, what story would you pick to read:
“The novel is slow to start but keep with it, because it gets fantastic and the ending is awesome!”
“The novel starts off great, the concept is really cool but the ending sucked.”
Freedom
“Nothing happens in my life worth writing about.” “I can’t write.” “I don’t have an imagination.”These are excuses I hear all too often.
And the painful thing of it is that it shows, not that people don’t lead exciting lives, but that people don’t write because they don’t know how this works.
And I, poor excuse for a teacher that I am, intend to set this wrong to rights.
Read more
Querying, a Procrastinator’s Past Time
I recently learned that although I don’t consider myself to be a procrastinator, when it comes to querying, I am.
There’s always something more to do;
- I need to find a publishing home for the first book before I can think about querying the second.
- I need to complete the suggested edits to the final draft of the second book before I can reach out to the agent who made those suggestions.
- (or my favourite) I need to have the final book of this trilogy written so I can promote all three books together.
The problem is – it’s a never ending cycle. If I am going to wait until the third book is polished, it could be another ten years before the first book is ready to query, because that’s about how long it took me to edit the first book. Read more
Writing Life Events
I’m a pushover for stories revolving around weddings, funerals, birthdays and holidays. Everyone has experiences of these relatable events.
Life events can make the most of storytelling by giving us a recognizable backdrop along with the unique twists and turns of each story. This is what intrigues me; the combination of the familiar and somewhat predictable components and the inevitable unfolding surprises. There are endless possibilities of tears, laughter, intrigue and celebration, possibly all happening on the same occasion. Not to mention the fun of getting to know characters as mundane or bizarre as you can imagine. Read more
My Guilty Writing Fuel
For most of us writers, doing the thing we love most entails planting our butt in a chair for hours on end. Not only are we physically inert, but our minds wander too. Writing is tedious work; boredom can easily set in. That’s when many of us feel the need for a little assistance to keep us focused and fueled.
Coffee, tea or…
By “assistance” what I really mean is a pleasant little diversion to keep us from going completely bonkers while we’re writing our next opus. And often, this diversion is a guilty pleasure, such as chocolate (one of God’s wonders for sure!), coffee (again, nectar from the Gods), tea, candy, or smoking for famous authors such as Patricia Highsmith, Oscar Wilde and George Orwell. Read more