A NOVEL Writing Site.com

Announcements

…And a Happy New Year!

By Lynn Dean, on December 30th, 2011

We’ll be back to regular Friday posts on January 6, 2012 with an article from our NEW CONTRIBUTOR, Shannon McNear!

Announcements

In the true Spirit of the Season…

By Lynn Dean, on December 23rd, 2011

We wish you a Merry CHRISTmas!

Editing, Plotting

Writing Lesson 3.17 – Repairing What Lies Beneath

By Naomi Musch, on December 16th, 2011

Re-writing / Self-editing

As we consider story structure, we’ve compared it to laying the groundwork and frame for a house. We’ve planned (plotted), followed the blueprint (kept theme in mind), searched for incongruities in structure (those scenes, voices, or characters that just don’t fit), and revealed backstory clues. But when we get to the re-writing or self-editing stage, writing a novel is more like remodeling a tilted, old farmhouse.

My husband and I have been remodeling our old farmhouse for a number of years now. It’s slow going because whenever we rip into something, we find something hidden underneath that also needs re-doing. That’s what re-writing is like. It’s usually not until a story is finished and has been left to sit for a while that we come back and begin to notice things we didn’t see before. We take a closer look at what lies beneath the structure and realize that some wiring (plot lines) spiders off to nowhere. There are weak studs or cross beams (characters & themes) that don’t hold their weight. The plumbing (action) is rusty and clogged. We might even find rotten, bug-infested wood (useless dialogue) that needs to be torn out or replaced.

Is your work-in-progress looking like an old farm that needs a major remodel? Start by taking a look at what is precious enough and in repair to keep — the stuff that’s really supporting the old structure. But then carefully examine the underpinnings. Sometimes you don’t have to demolish a scene or a chapter, but just like the stairway and kitchen sink in our house, you have to move it to a place in which it will work better.

Exercise:

Let your finished story sit for as long as you can — a week, a month, a season if possible. (Work on something else!) When you come back to it, start peeling away the flooring and sheetrock — you know, the bare thrill of your idea — and take a good, revealing look at its underlying structure. Is it all solid, or does it need repair?

Characterization

Writing Lesson 3.16 – Backstory–The Story Behind the Story

By Melinda Evaul, on December 9th, 2011

In a well-developed story there’s so much more than meets the eye.

As an analogy, look at some of the things we found recently when we opened the walls and floors of our house!

These clues gave us interesting background into the lives of people we never met. We know what they ate for breakfast, what brand of coffee they enjoyed, even (judging from the era of the products) the dates they lived here.

As you develop characters for your story, be sure to take a peek behind the surface. Don’t settle for an angry antagonist. Find out WHY she’s mad at the world. Is your hero truly fearless, or does he have a secret weakness? Why does he struggle with this one thing?

Some authors interview their characters in their imaginations. Their background stories may remain hidden, merely adding a realistic dimension to their lives on the pages. Or, like the fragments we discovered in our walls, their secrets may come to light at some surprising moment as the story unfolds.

Exercise:

Grab a writing instrument and a sheet of paper and “interview” your characters. Get to know them as you would get to know a new neighbor. Begin with obvious surface characteristics and work your way toward an intimate understanding.

Personal Motivation, The Writing Industry

Writing Lesson 3.15 – Just in Time for Christmas…

By Lynn Dean, on December 2nd, 2011

November is past, and NaNoWriMo with it. Whether or not you took the challenge to write 50K words in a month, here’s one way to see a story by YOU in print by Christmas!

Snapfish is an online photo development company. Around the holidays, they offer special prices on photo scrapbooks–bound books, in a variety of sizes, printed in small quantities with lots of full-color illustrations. Mixbook is another online company that offers similar books at a reasonable price. Most people use scrapbooks like these to preserve family memories, but there’s no reason you couldn’t use photographs or even jpgs of your own artwork to illustrate a short story of your own.

You could present an original story or collection of poems to someone you love for Christmas.

Exercise:

Decide on a recipient and a story. Believe it or not, this is a very real part of professional writing. Before writers begin a project, they know who their target readers are since this will affect so many style decisions.
Decide on an appropriate format, number of pages, and price. These are also decisions that professional writers and publishers make up front so that a book appeals to readers’ interests and their pocketbooks.
Experiment to see how your story will fit into the number of pages you have to work with. Page design is another aspect of professional publishing. While you’re at it…
Select a font style and size. This is also a part of page design. It’s important to choose a type face that is readable and fits your story and page size. It’s best to stick with one font style, though you might use a second style for your title.
Choose illustrations and decide how they will work with the text on each page. Original photographs and artwork can make the story more personal, and they will also save you money and time for securing the copyright permissions required to use other people’s work.

Even if you decide, in the end, not to place your order, you will still have gained valuable experience by trying your hand at several steps required to produce a finished book. And if you DO decide to “take the leap,” you may be surprised to experience the thrill of producing something all your own.