I'm A Pantser, Sort Of

Just read a terrific post by Jami Gray on outlining and why she doesn't do it. Ms. Gray writes urban fantasy and paranormal suspense romances. Her post got me to thinking again about how I write.

A good book I can recommend that speaks to this subject is one by James Scott Bell, "Write Your Novel From the Middle: A New Approach for Plotters, Pansters, and Everyone in Between". In his book, Mr. Bell describes the three categories of writers - pantsers, plotters and tweeners - and how each category has merits of its own.

When it comes to a new project, I tend to be a more of a pantser than a plotter - or maybe tweener would be a better description. Meaning, I do a little of both. I'll write by the seat of my pants most of the time, but there have been times when doing a brief, non-obligatory outline has helped. I've also done complete outlines that were later discarded because the story had gone completely another way.

When an idea first strikes me, I will mull it over for a bit before writing that first word. The ideas can come from anywhere. From something as obvious as a news story or as unlikely as seeing or hearing an interesting name. I once got an idea for a story from seeing the last name of a football player printed on his jersey. A scene flashed in my mind where the hero had been captured and was being ruthlessly interrogated. That led me to wonder what this hero did for a living and how what he did would result in the seen I'd imagined. All this led to a story idea that is still in my archives but one that I would like to further explore one day.

Once I have the spark of an idea and I've thought up the characters who might inhabit the kind of world the idea inspires, I will write a scene or two involving the main characters just to see how they'll get along. Will there be immediate sparks or will their relationship take some time to grow? Who will be the antagonist and how will he or she wreak havoc on their lives? Who will be the secondary characters who influence their lives? What is their world like? What do they do for a living?

The answers to those questions become the beginnings of the new world where my story will take place. So, in a way, I do a bit of outlining to start with. I might also write a bit of backstory for my main characters, how they came to be in the place where they met, any drama from their past that might influence their future, that kind of thing.

Once I have all that in place and have some idea of the direction the story will take, I like to write the ending. It always helps to know where the end will be and if I can make that ending written in stone, so much the better. Knowing how the story will end makes it easier to keep things on track toward that ending when my characters decide to go down a rabbit trail. Rabbit trails are fine, fun and even enlightening but can also derail a story pretty fast if the writer isn't careful. Then again, rabbit trails can reveal elements in a character's personality that might remain hidden otherwise. I've had new characters show up on rabbit trails and even had characters I thought I knew to show me they are something completely different from what I originally made of them.

One that comes to mind is a character from my current project. He started out as a peer of my hero but as I wrote one scene between the two, he began to sound more like a father than a peer. That's how the foster father of my hero came to be and he's been a well-loved character ever since. I've even met him in real life. Well, I met a man who looked and acted just like him. Really freaky experience, too.

My thoughts on outlining are that outlines can be useful tools at the beginning of the writing process but don't be so tied down to an outline that you miss those interesting plot twists that take your story in a different and possibly more interesting direction. Always be open to new directions while writing your story but don't let a new direction take you so far off track that you lose your way back to the path toward the end you had originally envisioned. Unless changing the end will enhance the story that comes before. In other words, know where you're going but be willing to alter that destination for something better.

Now, back to what I had intended to do today when I got sidetracked by a post that led to writing this post. Is real life imitating art?

Adapt What Has Already Been Written or Just Rewrite The Thing?

That's my dilemma right now. My current work in progress has been written and rewritten and altered and bears very little resemblance to the very first draft completed way too many years ago to mention.

And now I find myself thinking, "Oh, just rewrite the whole darn thing and be done with it."

A complete rewrite would take longer but then I already know the scenes and how they will unfold. Trouble is, the prewritten scenes sound a bit different from the newly written parts. One reason I'm thinking just rewrite the scenes over again. Another reason is that I have scenes in mind that I've already written but because there are so many versions of this same story, I'm having a hard time finding said scenes. Then there's the difference in my voice from when I first began to write.

This current story is the original story I began writing way back in 1995. Back then, my hero was - well, let's just say he wasn't the nicest guy in the universe in his younger days. My heroine was not nearly the strong female type she is today. Back then, she actually cowered before the hero. Today, she's liable to land him on his back the hard way if he puts a toe out of line. They're pretty well matched and at this point in their lives, the romantic chemistry is undeniable.  

I did make them quite a bit older in the current incarnation, which I think helped. Plus, I got older - but we don't need to go into that much detail, do we?

I suppose I'm answering my own question as I write this. Just bite the bullet and rewrite the thing, already. I really like these characters. I should. I've lived with them in my head for (counting fingers) a lot of years. Perhaps one day soon, they might even get introduced to the rest of the world.

But I gotta rewrite the darn thing first. Good thing Snowmageddon's happening this weekend in my little corner.

Be Sure To Read The Fine Print

I've been shopping for a cover for my book and I found one that I could have settled for and that my writing friends thought was awesome. Went to buy it and for once, read the agreement part. Glad I did because I ended up not buying the cover.

This particular book cover e-tailer sells covers using combinations of stock photos to make up the cover pictures. These stock photos must be leased. In the agreement, it stated that the license was for no more than a set number of copies, print and digital. Probably wouldn't be a problem but if the book becomes a best seller, the author would be required to pay again to lease the cover. The author would also be responsible for informing the seller of the additional sales or risk copyright infringement. I'm thinking that if they said that, they have a way of following up and will know if the author fails to notify them. Or maybe that's just my personal paranoia at work.

Now, I don't know about you but since I am planning to self-publish so that I can keep all the money my book brings in, why would I tie myself down to the possibility of having to shell out that same money for a book cover that I don't own? Kind of defeats the purpose of self-publishing, doesn't it?

There is the additional problem, for me, of the second book cover I would need. I am writing a series and the hero of the second book is the twin brother of the hero in the first book. However, because hero #1 does not know he has a twin brother, the twin has been sporting a holographic facial disguise to keep from being mistaken for hero #1 (yes, hero #2 does know about his relation to hero #1). By the second book, we know of the twin situation so that cover will require the same face, split in half to show the disguise face.

Yeah, a bit on the complicated side but it will come together in the end. Trust me. I've already written the first book and the second is in synopsis form so I'm pretty confident of the path this story will follow.

I say all that to reiterate the headline of this post - as with any literary contract, read the fine print very closely. If something there doesn't make you feel comfortable, don't sign said contract.

Now, I realize I'm probably thinking really big here but I've heard it said and I hold firmly to this statement - "I'd rather dream big and get half of it than dream small and get all of it." If you listen to Joyce Meyer at all, you've heard her say this one many times.

So, yes. I am dreaming big. I don't want to have to pay out more money down the road for a sale that puts my book over that set number of copies. Besides that, the man on the cover didn't resemble hero #1 closely enough to suit me - physically or facially.

Don't get me wrong. The covers they offered were very well done. I saw a few that I would have loved to get and then write a story based on the cover alone. A title even popped into my head with one of them. The prices were pretty reasonable, too. Much less than some quotes I've seen for custom covers. Still, that little stipulation in the contract was a deal breaker for me.

To sum up - if planning to purchase a premade cover for your book, look first at how that cover was created and then carefully read the fine print before committing. Save yourself a nasty surprise down the road.

Sabbatical Is Officially Over!

It was actually over yesterday, but tomorrow is when the 2000 words a day officially starts. I did write today with my small group but didn't keep track of how many words got written. I can tell you that the book is now at 32,377 revised words. Also, my copywriting class began yesterday and I have homework already. Seems to me I now need a schedule.

I already know it's best to write in the morning. If I wait until after lunch, most likely it won't get done. I am most anxious to get the book done and shoved out the door now that the severance nest egg is quickly dwindling. Not that I think I'll make loads of money off the first endeavor. I just want to get on with the next one, get it done so I can move on to the next one after that.

I've probably mentioned this before, but a repeat certainly can't hurt - especially since I'm saying it for my own benefit as much as anyone who happens to be reading this.

My plan has always been to just keep putting my books out there on Kindle, Nook, and any other place it can be self-published, build that audience then maybe go for an agent once that audience is there. I said maybe because I've learned something important about having an agent and being published by one of the big houses - I don't get to keep all the money my books earn.

Now, if I were, say, J.K. Rowling, that might not be such a big deal. As a nobody just getting started and in need of an income - yeah, pretty big deal. I see heads nodding in agreement so I know I'm not alone with that thought.

I understand why, though. An agent hopefully works hard to get their client published. The publishing house works hard to bring that book to the masses. There's also the possibility of that all important advance when agents and publishing houses are involved. On the other hand, self-publishing means the book is out there a lot sooner, so it can start earning a lot sooner. Maybe not a lot to begin with but with more books on the virtual shelf, the better the odds of one of them making it big. Right?

That's my theory, right or wrong.

I know, I know - just putting a book out there doesn't mean it'll sell. There's got to be a little more effort put in and I agree. No one can buy my book if they don't know it's there. That's where social media comes in.

Facebook and their greedy ways aside, there are other ways of selling my wares. This blog is one example and even if Facebook won't share my posts with people who actually want to see them, anything I do post there ends up on Twitter. I can have a website created to feature my books, share that URL around. Lots of free and inexpensive options for getting the word out and probably some I haven't even heard of yet.

Word of mouth is also a way of getting a book known, bought and read by more people. If it's good enough, that is, and I hope it will be by the time my beta readers have torn it apart and I do final revisions based on their suggestions.

One thing must happen first, though. Gotta finish the darn thing.

Tomorrow, 2000 words a day, everyday. More if possible. Book out to the masses - end of the year?

Doable, I think.

Apparently, I'm On Sabbatical

I've been feeling lately that I really should be doing something. I think it's been stressing me out, too.

I haven't done a lot of writing since my last post. Can't seem to get back into the groove yet. I was lamenting this to one of my friends yesterday and she said that I should consider myself as being on sabbatical until the 29th, when my copywriting course starts.

I like that word, sabbatical. Means I'm allowed to do whatever I want, even if that's nothing at all. Well, that's the definition the word is getting for me right now.

This conversation took place at Panera, where I should have been concentrating on writing but just couldn't do it for some reason. I'd start a new page, get only halfway down, read what I just wrote and erase it all to start over. Just could not get into it. Sometimes, when it gets like this for me, I'll pull out the old "Novels In Progress" file from my computer and read some of my past writings.

Though a few writers might deny this, every writer has a similar folder or notebook or something where they've written pieces and parts of new projects that were subsequently abandoned for one reason or another. For me, it's generally that I either lose track of where the story was going, lose interest or the story just isn't really going anywhere to begin with. These are the projects that I keep because 'someday' will come.

There's quite a bit of good writing in this folder and even I will sometimes swear at myself for abandoning what might have been a good story. Rarely does that mean I'll pick the project back up to work on. A lot of what I've written in the past revolves around Star Wars characters. Whenever I get stuck or just need to free write a plot idea, I'll use the characters from Star Wars so that I don't have to fiddle with character development. I can just write the plot and see if it's useful. A lot of times it isn't because the other elements from Star Wars tend to creep in and I just don't have it in me to try and come up with alternatives.

Still, these stories are a good read for me and I do find encouragement to battle on once I've read some of them.

I also have a folder entitled "Story Ideas".  Again, many of these involve Star Wars characters but are only a few lines and mainly written for my own entertainment. Not really something for public consumption. I also get a boost from these as many were written off the cuff and within a short burst of writing frenzy, something I apparently do quite well - except with my current project.

Um, where was I? Oh, yeah.

So, yesterday, when I tried to look at some of these abbreviated and abandoned projects on my laptop, I had forgotten that while these stories were written in Word, I do not happen to have Word on my laptop. Computers no longer come with Word as a standard program - haven't for a long time. Which means, when I pulled up some of these files, all I saw was a bunch of garbled nonsense. I guess sometimes Word documents don't translate well to Notepad or Wordpad.

That's when I decided to see if there was an ad supported Word program I could get for free. My friend has one on her netbook and since I only wanted it to read these files, I didn't think the ads would bother me. How did it work out? Let's just say that I ended up doing a system restore. Not only was the program not an ad supported free program, I ended up with a lot of other bloatware on my computer that would reinstall itself as I was trying to uninstall it. Lesson learned.

Once I got home, I started searching for a compatible program or app that would allow me to at least look at these files in a readable format. Little did I know, I already had something like that on my laptop - Google Docs. Who knew?

So now I can look at these files, read them more easily and continue to gain inspiration from them. I finally came to the conclusion that, while I'm not sure where to go next with my current project, I do have one or two things that definitely have to happen in their current setting. I'll make a list of those things and then see if that doesn't inspire some written prose or dialogue. But is that the kind of thing one does on a sabbatical?

I do feel the urge to do some free writing, though. Who knows? Might actually come up with something useful there.

One thing I have done, I downloaded a program called Grammerly on my chrome browser. It's reviewing this post as I write and telling where I'm going wrong. At this point, it's saying I have two critical errors in what I've written. Let's go see what those are, shall we?

Well, it didn't like my phrasing of 'One thing I have done' and it also didn't like its own name, Grammerly. And now I have to tell it to ignore its own name again.

For those that don't know, Grammerly is a program a writer can use to find grammatical mistakes in their writing. It really doesn't like its own name. Hilarious. Continuing on.

The free version of the program (ha, fooled you, Grammerly!) works inside the Chrome browser and will review anything written in the browser - like blog posts. It only picks up the more typical issues. It will advise on the more advanced issues, but that's a paid upgrade and right now, this poor author can't afford it. Still, that much is helpful even if a bit annoying at times.

You can also upload files into the online version of the program and it will do the same thing there. It's helpful but not really something I'll rely on. Some of my characters do not use correct grammar when they speak and this thing will drive me nuts pointing out all those errors.

I kind of did a bit of rambling there, didn't I. Well, I am on sabbatical so there.

Life After The Flu Or How to go back to writing after not....writing

So, the first full week of the new year saw me down with the flu after spending a week with family in southern Ohio. An aunt of mine had passed away and my Mom and I went down for her funeral. We spent some time after the funeral with my Mom's youngest sister. Her husband was sick and, of course, Mom and I became sick once we got home. We didn't have it as bad as my uncle did but it was bad enough to keep me, at least, doing a lot of sleeping to get over it.

I am better now but it has been a little over two weeks since I've written anything other than my last post here and one on my nail blog and some Facebook comments. Oh, I did do a little editing after realizing I had created a couple of major continuity issues with the first few scenes. I suppose I did do a bit of extra lines to continue a scene but for the most part, I haven't touched the book for a bit of time.

And no, I did not prepare a short story for the contest at Writer's Digest. Well, I could probably cut down something I already have written but I think my time would be better spent elsewhere now. They always have a contest of some sort going so I'll get another chance at a later time. For now, I'll be headed in a different direction.

I don't know about you but when I've been away from writing for a bit of time, I need to get reacquainted with the story and characters before I can continue on. That usually means skimming through from the beginning to reacquire the flavor of the piece. It also usually means I see places where changes are needed.

Today was to be the beginning of my copywriting course but I've learned that the live version starts at the end of the month and I would really prefer to do it live. The sessions will be updated and I just think the feedback would be better.

All of which means, I have another couple of weeks to work solely on the book. Time to get back into the habit of writing everyday. But how does one do that when one has been doing pretty much nothing but binge watching Falling Skies and playing Disciples 3: Reincarnation or Torchlight 2 or any one of the many games I have on my computer?

Discipline.

That word. That word! Oh, that word.

Yes, it takes discipline to stay the course when there's so many other things that are calling for my attention.

Discipline never has been one of my strongest abilities. I am very easily distracted by things shiny and otherwise. Imagine the dog from the movie 'Up' and you'll understand. There's always something else that I could be doing but not everything leads to the kind of productivity I need in order to make this full time writer thing work out financially. You have to have a finished project in order to sell said finished project.

So, it's back to daily writing for me. But not just writing. Not only should the writer practice the craft on a daily basis but the writer should also be open to continuing education relating to the craft. This means reading - not only books about writing but published works by successful and, dare I say it, not so successful authors.

If you own a Kindle or a Nook, you know there are a lot of books out there for free or cheap. Not all of them are good but I believe a writer should be reading the not so good as well as the good. For me, it's a lesson in how not to write. Of course, being a writer myself, it's hard these days to read as a reader. I'm constantly rewriting in my head what I'm reading in the way I would have written the story if it were mine. It's only when I'm reading something excellent that the writer in me can walk away and leave the reader alone - as is the case with what I'm currently reading, Watership Down by Richard Adams.

It also helps that I've bought the professional narration to go along with the book. I'm being read to as I'm reading and I'm finding it quite easy to forget I'm a writer while my mind imagines the scenes I'm hearing and reading. It's been a long time since I've read this book but it's still just as good as I remember. Mr. Adams writes so well that it's easy to imagine the action and become so immersed in the story that it feels quite real.

I have found in the past that if I'm reading while working on my own project, my writing tends to improve, especially if what I'm reading is an excellent example of good writing. Not that I adopt the bad writing from the books that are just plain not good. I learn from them as well. It doesn't matter how good or bad the reading is, the writer can always learn from it.

Which brings me back to that word - discipline. It takes discipline to stick to anything worthwhile. That includes daily writing, daily reading, daily exercise, daily you fill in the blank. For me, I'll apply the concept of discipline throughout the rest of this month to my book as well as both types of reading. By then, I should be so steeped in discipline that it will be easy to stick to the copywriting course schedule and complete those assignments on time.

It's back to 2000 words a day for me, regardless of what the days bring. More than likely I'll exceed that goal and will eventually increase it but for now, that's the goal. Writing in the morning, reading in the afternoon - sounds like a full day to me.

Welcome To 2015!

Year end vacation is nearly over. Monday the work begins again. I'll be starting that copy writing course as well as getting back down to it on the book. Although, Writer's Digest is having a short story contest right now. They extended the deadline to enter until January 16. I'm thinking of banging something out and sending it in.

Maximum word count is 1500, entry fee is $25 per manuscript. In addition, all entrants will receive a special pass to an upcoming webinar on marketing short fiction. You can find more details here. If you've never explored the Writer's Digest website, I highly recommend you do so. Lots of good information for free and even more when join up.

I also recommend their tutorials. There is a cost - either monthly or yearly. Yearly is the best value. I'll be watching more of those beginning Monday, as well.

For now, though, since it's gloomy and gray and pouring with rain outside, I think I'll just get bundled under a quilt in my chair and continue with the book I'm currently reading - Watership Down. I finally got the book on my kindle and even got the professional narration. They call it immersion reading. I'm finding I quite enjoy being read to. The narrator even alters his voice for each character. I had forgotten just how good this book is. I remember reading it a long, long time ago.

Hope everyone had a good holiday and is looking forward to a brand new year. I know I am.

Oh, and since I am in Ohio.....GO BUCKS!

Sorry. Just had to do it.