I'm working on a short story set in the Shifters world right now, and can I just say what an incredible relief it is to be working in that world, for what will likely be the last time? As much as I love Kaylee and the Soul Screamers world, and as much fun as I have there, writing about my werecats feels like going home. I feel like I know where I am in that world, whereas in Kaylee's world, I'm still feeling my way around. (Which is awesome too, in its own way--lots of surprises.)

But anyway, working on this short story has made me think about one of the most valuable things I've learned since I started writing. It's pretty simple, and I sometimes feel like an idiot for not figuring it out earlier than I did. But here goes:

The reader doesn't need to know what happened every moment of my character’s day. Not even in summary. It’s really completely okay to end one scene where it should logically end, then start the next one when the next action begins, so long as I give a reference to location and how much time has passed. Readers don’t need to know what happened in between. If the in-between were relevant, it wouldn’t be the in-between. It’d be another scene.


 

Hey, that almost rhymes!

So, that's my little bit of wisdom for today. ;-)

I was actually pretty productive yesterday, which I consider to be quite a feat, considering everything else I have going on right now.

39,353 / 115,000 (34.2%)

All of these things will add a lot to my word-count, so it’s actually fortunate that the rough draft is coming out so sparse. And I really look forward to the rewrites. Rewrites and revisions are where the magic happens. ;-)

[If you haven't entered for your chance to win a signed copy of Jeri Smith-Ready's Wicked Game and something yummy to sink your own teeth into, scroll down for details...]

I really was going to publish a craft post yesterday, but...

Also, I feel like answering questions this week. A couple of people have said (written) that they want to hear (read) what I have to say about productivity and consistent output. Or something like that. I don’t feel particularly qualified to give advice on that subject, but I do like to talk, so I can probably come up with something. But if you have any other questions for me, leave them in the comments, and I’ll take them one at a time over the next week or so. So long as they pertain to writing, the publishing industry, or my books.

I’ve learned better than to say I’ll answer any old question… ;-)

I spent several hours yesterday researching a new idea for Side Project. The rough draft is finished, of course, and I'm polishing now, but so far it's looking like this is going to be one of those books that grows during the rewrites, rather than shrinking. To date, it's the shortest book I've ever written by more than 20,000 words (the next-shortest is one of those under-the-bed books), and while I'm trying to keep it pretty short, I've come up with a few ideas to add depth to the world and characters, and those will necessarily add a bit to the word count.

But hopefully I'll also be able to tighten. Though in my own opinion, this one was never really very loose, with the exception of the first chapter.

Which brings me back around to first chapters. Somehow, I always wind up there.

First chapters are the hardest part in the entire book for me. Every book. So far, the only one I've written that didn't wind up with a new starting point during the revisions was Pride. That one started very well for me, and you'll see what I mean when it comes out. Or maybe when you finish Rogue. (Because everyone's planning to read it, right? Right? ;-) )

Anyway, all the other first chapters have needed massive revisions. The worst so far was Rogue. Not that the first chapter of Rogue was bad. It just wasn't where the story needed to start. That original first chapter is now the third chapter. The two now preceding it were each the new first chapter at one point, and only that third attempt stuck.

I swear, knowing how (and where and when) to start the story is the hardest part, and I've found that most of the time, I don't even really know who my characters are (especially in the first book of a series) until I'm well into the book. So usually by the time I'm finished, the first chapter is no longer consistent with the rest of the story. Thus, it must be rewritten.

Which is what I did last night and this morning. I rewrote the first chapter of Side Project. I think it's much better now, but I won't know for sure until I have some input from my CP and my agent.

I sent it to Rinda this morning. And now I'm off to work on chapter two.

[Note: the December giveaway details have been posted, so if you missed it, click here to enter on the Blogger post. Double prizes this time!]

My lap-desk has sprung a leak. Every time I pick it up, it pours tiny white Styrofoam balls all over my lap. I’ve put new lap desk on my Christmas list for #1, and with any luck, he’ll find a great one and it’ll be the first gift I open. In the mean time…I’m picking up tiny white balls all day long.

Sigh. My kingdom for a dust buster.

Writing news: Yesterday I struggled with a bit of introspection. That stuff’s hard! The progression of thoughts must be logical, and it must lead the reader to the conclusions I want him/her to draw. (Though those conclusions may not be accurate. Such is the nature of the beast. ;-)) But it also must be something the main character would actually think to herself. In other words, her thoughts must be true to character.

That’s the big problem with a silent Scooby-Doo scene. (By Scooby-Doo scene, I mean a scene in which characters are figuring stuff out. And by silent, I mean that the MC is thinking it through in her head, as opposed to through action of some sort.) A; There’s no action, so you have to keep the reader interested based on the conclusions themselves. And by how entertaining the thoughts are. B: There’s no one around to help the MC out. No one for her to bounce ideas off of. Which, you'll all recall, isn't very Scooby-Doo of her at all. Where's Thelma when you really need her? ;-)

I try to keep these scenes to a minimum. Generally, I think it’s better for characters to discover things through action, or at least interaction. But this one is necessary, so I’m keeping it short. And hopefully shocking...!

Anyway, after I got the Scooby scene out of the way, the writing went faster, and I wound up with 3,102 new words. I actually wrote a little more than that, but some of it was rewriting some stuff I wrote the day before. So, Side Project now stands at:

25,022 / 75,000 (33.4%)

I'm trying to make some serious progress on Pride this week, so my blogging will probably be short and sweet. Like this piece of wisdom I've just discovered (which everyone else in the publishing industry probably already knew): if you can lift a character from the story easily (without having to rework the plot), you probably didn't need him in the first place. Sounds obvious, huh?

So, naturally, it took me three years and six books to figure out (at least consciously). ;-)

In an attempt to tighten and streamline Pride, I'm removing two characters from the book. They aren't main characters, but they aren't bit parts either. Which is why I'm surprised by how easily they lift right off the page. I'm kind of disappointed, though, because they each have interesting motivation. Maybe I can work them (and their motives) back into a future book. Regardless, they'll soon be absent from this one, and you'll never miss them. Promise. ;-)

On another note, yesterday I discovered that Pride has two chapter sevens. They're completely different chapters, of course, but both are labeled "SEVEN." So now you know how truly rough my rough drafts are. ;-)

...to get a very complicated, pivotal scene out of my head intact. It's important that I get the details right on this one, and the constant peeking at my synopsis (and the regular what-on-earth-was-I-thinking? moments) are slowing me down considerably. I hope to have it sorted out by tonight, though.

116,411 / 120,000 (97.0%)

…that outlining an entire book in advance makes the rough draft go sooooooo much faster. Some of you already knew that for a fact. Some of you probably won’t believe me. But never fear. I’m not trying to convert the entire population of pantzers over to the dark side. I swear. I’m just saying that what I wrote yesterday is proof positive that, for me, at least, outlining before I write the book can really make the words fly onto the page.

How do I know? Because yesterday I started the first scene in the entire W3 manuscript that isn’t in the outline at all, and it went…so…slowly.

Now, I feel like I should pause here and qualify the previous statement. I still made my goal (though just barely), so from the outside it probably doesn’t look like it slowed me down much. After all, a daily quota is a daily quota. Right?

Wrong.

So far, I’ve been very pleased with the whole consistency thing I’ve been striving for (my New Year’s resolution), because since I set a nice, moderate daily goal, I’ve been able to meet it relatively early in the evening most days. Which leaves an hour or so (sometimes two) to read for pleasure, catch up on email and blog-hopping, or watch pointless television with #1.

But yesterday it was literally midnight before I typed the last word of the day. No time to goof off and relax. No time to watch TV. And no pleasure reading at all. And if I may be whiny for just a moment here…I really missed that free time!

Even worse, I woke up dreading the work I have to do today, because now I have to finish up the scene I started yesterday. Which isn’t outlined, in case anyone missed that. Meaning that I have no idea what’s supposed to happen, so the words probably won’t flow. They’ll have to be pulled painstakingly from my brain one syllable at a time, with much back-tracking and rethinking.

But, on the bright side, once I’m done with that, I can get back to the outline and hopefully everything will flow smoothly again.

Writing update: In spite of my snail’s pace yesterday, I made my goal.

(Warning, this one's long, and probably rambling, because I'm not feeling very good this morning.)

In the comments section of yesterday’s post, Karen said: How do you come up with character names? For example, what made you pick Faythe?

That said, here’s how I chose Faythe as the name of the main character in Stray.

My first two novels (the ones buried somewhere on the hard drive of my last computer) were high fantasy, and the names I used in them were typically exotic (meaning impossible to pronounce) and fun (meaning weird). So when I started Stray, I knew I needed something recognizable. Something that wouldn't make the reader stumble over pronunciation.

I came across the name Faith while flipping through a baby name book one day (this was before I had internet access), and liked it immediately. It isn’t symbolic of anything in the book. I just liked the way it sounded. However, at the time, the spelling struck me as kind of…vanilla. Since I like the letter “y” in the middle of names, I changed Faith to Faythe, hoping to give a nice, familiar name a little something extra to make it stand out.

So…now I try to avoid strange spellings, to make life easier for my future (hopefully) readers. I don't want to give anyone an excuse to put my book back on the shelf instead of buying it.

Okay, let me follow up tales of my own incompetence with a (hopefully) helpful hint from my mentor: When naming your characters, be careful not to use too many of the same first initials for your main characters. Readers (especially very fast readers) tend to skim names, and it can be confusing if, at a glance, several of the names look alike. For instance, if you have a prominent character named Michael, you probably don’t want to name two other prominent characters “Michelle” and “Mitchell.” That’s just asking for trouble. I try to give each major character a different first initial, to cut down on the confusion. Though I must say that by the time I got to the third werecat book, I was just about out of initials, other than Q. I haven’t found use for that one yet. ;-)

My current favorite source for names is this website, where they list the most popular names in the US, either alphabetically or in rank order, divided into two lists, one for men, and one for women. It also has a huge list of last names, which has been invaluable. I try to pick names in the top 1000 for last names, and the top few hundred for first names, so they’re easily recognizable. And the alphabetized lists make it easy to pick, for example, a man’s name beginning with W, that’s not overused, but not too strange either.

Okay, that's the extent on my naming wisdom, such as it is. Hope that helped, Karen!

Writing progress: The Zokuto site is down, so I'm using the Evolution meter instead, today. I hit page 250 last night, and still had time to watch this week's episode of Lost on ABC.com. Yea!

(Another long craft post. LJ will have cuts. Blogger won't.)

Today’s question comes from that Other Rachel again. That girl is one big ball of curiosity and eagerness to learn, and I love that, probably because I ask more questions than anyone else I know. Although mine are usually whinier and go something like, “But whyyyyyyy?”

Anyway, in the comment trail for yesterday’s post, Other Rachel wrote:

I keep falling into the trap of physically describing someone whilst they are staring into a mirror… I know there's a better way to do it, but I keep falling into that trap. Any more hints when you have time?

Yes, actually, I do have some hints. Who's surprised? ;-)

In my own writing, I seldom use the character-looking-in-a-mirror thing, which you see more often in 1st person, to avoid having the MC say things like “I have brown hair and green eyes.” In fact, the only instance I can think of where I use it is when Faythe (or another MC) is getting the first glimpse of herself after being beaten to a bloody pulp. It’s nearly impossible for her (and thus the reader) to know how bad her face looks without having seen her own reflection. Though I’ll also have her see her own swollen cheek at the bottom of her field of vision. Or a broken nose, or whatever.

The other thing I avoid when at all possible is the paragraph-long “chunk” description, where an author sets aside several sentences in a row for no purpose other than to describe a character’s appearance. I hate that. Hate it. We all have our pet peeves, and that’s one of mine. (And now that I’ve said that, I can think of an instance when I used it in Stray, right off the top of my head. Lovely, huh?) Anyway, there’s no reason to use chunky descriptions or mirror-views when you can just as easily work a character’s description into the narrative. Into the action or into the dialogue tags.

Now, describing a first person narrator is always tricky without the mirror, but I usually get along just fine by having her smooth down a green cotton tee as she speaks, or brush back a stray strand of fine brown hair. And comparisons work well too. The narrator can mention how dull her own blue eyes look next to Jane’s cobalt ones. Or something similar.

I also like to use descriptions in dialogue tags, instead of just “he said” or “she said.” For instance,

John ran one hand through thick brown waves, pulling his shirt straight over a well-defined chest. “She looks pretty good to me.”

It varies, but the point is that you don’t have to pause in the action just to describe a character. That stops the flow of the story, and long descriptions can be hard to remember, especially if there are several people in the scene. So instead, I sprinkle these one-phrase-long descriptions throughout the scene, reminding the reader what people look like and who they are as they speak and move around.

Does that help? It’s nothing ground-breaking, but it can make a really big difference in writing that just needs a little smoothing out.

Okay, I'm off to work now. I got done with my work early last night, and rewarded myself with some pleasure reading. I'm hoping to do that again today!

54,194 / 120,000 (45.2%)