The Basics of Good Storytelling

NaNo update:  Edited DEMON synopsis.  Edited 46 pages of DEMON, deleting five because I didn't want to sort through the mess.  I wrote 1025 new words.  The 'real' writing begins today

When I checked my yearly goals list recently I noticed I was lacking in my goal to reach 50 books by the end of the year.  I have 15 books to read in the two busiest months of the year.  Luckily, my daughter is getting a few MG books from Scholastic Book orders that I can read for 'research'. :-) 

So I looked at my TBR pile and, out of seven books on my desk, three of them had been partially read.  I stopped reading them for one reason or another.  The currently published books weren't giving me the satisfaction that I needed.  I took my pile upstairs and looked in my TBR box and my 'keeper' box.  I finally found what I wanted to read.

The first book, I read in a little over a day.  Julie Garwood's THE SECRET.  I'm currently reading THE BRIDE, and then THE WEDDING will be next. These books were published in 1992, 1989, and 1996, respectively.  I love, love, love her historicals, but won't read any of her contemporary stuff.  I tried it, but it doesn't appeal to me.

So what do these books have that current books don't?

I don't really know.  I can't pinpoint it.  I'm drawn in by the characters, but the story keeps me reading. 

She head hops like a fiend, but it works for the story and she does it well.  It doesn't jolt me out of the story, rather it enhances my reading. Clue #1 for head hopping.  There is tons of narrative, but again it works for the story. 

Maybe that's what's missing from so many current books . . . the basic ability to tell a good story.

As writers, especially new writers, we get wrapped up in the 'rules'.  THERE ARE NO RULES, PEOPLE!  Yes, you need to know what head hopping is, what a POV character is, and all the other junk that belongs to the craft of writing, but deep down, the writer needs only one thing in her arsenal.

THE ABILITY TO TELL A GOOD STORY.   Learn how to craft a story.  Learn how to structure it.  Learn to pace it appropriately for the genre.  And then,

Screw the other stuff.  Follow your gut and write it down. 

Back to NaNoing.  Write on!

And So, It Begins . . .

NaNo, that is.

If you want to be my buddy, I'm magolla.

National Novel Writing Month, AKA NaNo, starts today, November 1, and participants have until the end of the month to write a 50,000 word novel.  It's a good challenge as it forces a writer to actually sit and write, cranking out the words without the internal editor challenging every sentence. 

The only problem is that 50K isn't really a novel-length novel.  It works for middle grade and young adult, but it's too short for most genres and too long to call it a novella.  But turning out a publishable product isn't the goal of NaNo, finishing a novel is.

There's a thing called editing, which involves fleshing out the subplots, the characters, and the entire storyline, while tweaking sentences and words.  But that's what multiple drafts are all about.

This is my first year to 'officially' do NaNo.  I know I can write 50K in 19 days, because I did it this last May when I wrote TROLL.  But this time I have to write DEMON.  I'm debating about entering RWA's Golden Heart and they want their money by 11/15, but you have to turn in a completed manuscript by 12/1.  I'll see how the next week or two progresses and take it from there.

Which means I might be flaky with my blog posts.  I'll try to post my stats as I write, but that's all I can promise. 

NaNo is a HUGE challenge for me because this month is my daughter's birthday, we have company coming for Thanksgiving, plus all the Thanksgiving cooking.  I'll have to go on Farmville and CafeWorld sabbatical, I guess.

Until later, Write on!

Crisis of Faith

--writing faith, that is.

For some reason, this week has been rough for me. I think it's because so many of you are doing NaNo and producing some truly impressive word counts--one online friend wrote over 11K in 3 DAYS! I must say my fingers would be bloody stumps if I had written that many words. But more power to her, and all you NaNo over-achievers!

I was putzing around with my suspense and managed to get stuck. . . again. I knew where I wanted the story to go, but I just couldn't get it there. So, I started looking at my books about writing craft--trust me, I have a lot--but one caught my eye. It isn't a craft book, but I stuck it there because of the impressive bibliography, it's Michael Crichton's TIMELINE. I opened it and read the first page. Love the story, it's on my desk for another read. And this morning, I was doing my usual blog-hopping and read Donald Maass's post on Writer Unboxed. Wow! What an eye-opener!

THIS was why I was stuck writing Rosewood Manor (RM). RM has the potential to be a HUGE conspiracy book, BUT I'm not at the point in my writing career to write it to it's full potential! I keep wanting to shove it into a romance, but it isn't. So, for the moment, RM is shelved. I still love the story--and the ghost--she is my Aunt Mary, so I have to like her! I'll return to this story when the time is ripe and I'm a better writer.

Onward to some better news!

Last week, Lori Brighton, held a first paragraph contest with her Kensington editor as the contest judge. I found out that one of my good friends didn't final, so I figured why bother looking if she didn't final. Well, when I hit the 'L's in my blogroll, I pulled up Lori's post. What do you know?!?
DEMON CONNECTION was listed as a finalist, #7 on the list! Whee!

I don't suck as a writer!!

So I had to send in my first page to Lori. Uh, I looked in my file--Nada. I looked in my sub files--Nada. I checked my recycle trashcan that I always forget to empty--Nada. At this point I was having a major freakage attack, but finally found it! Yay! So, with minor tweaks, I sent it on it's way.

Now, my mission is clear: tweak Demon Connection so it will be ready if needed. And if it doesn't make the next round, then it will be ready to query.

Write On!

Dis and Dat

I need to buckle down to Candace Havens' Writing Game challenge. I sent her note asking about where to link her--and got NADA. True, she's busy pimping her own books, but still . . .
--Speaking of which, I'm already a day behind and a day late. 632 words in the hole that I need to write on top of the new count for today.

Food for thought, peeps: No matter where you are in your writing career, DO NOT alienate your readers, and potential purchasers, of your novel. True, you are only one voice, but many single voices add up to substantial numbers. Think about it.

I HATE cleaning house, but I like the end product--A CLEAN HOUSE

My family claims to eat leftovers, but they DON'T.
--And they complain that I don't cook enough. At the time of this blog post, I have in my fridge from last week: Beef Enchiladas, Homemade spaghetti sauce, pizza--two kinds, and yes, I make my own crust, chicken tortilla soup, a big vat of chili, and a smidgen of homemade marinara sauce. Feel free to come over and chow down!

Let your writing sit for a couple of months, if you can, prior to your final polish. For some reason, I pulled up a picture book story that I wrote earlier this year. My comment, "Oooohhh.....crap!" Now this isn't to say that it was a rough draft, it wasn't. This story had been through about six edits--four of them documented into a new word document. I read three sentences and my fingers itched to rework it!
--I guess it is a good thing I never queried this particular story! :-)

Today is laundry day. Laundry day is usually a good writing day. Why? Because of the built in breaks. Don't look at laundry as a chore. Look at it as an opportunity to take those much needed walkabouts from writing!

AND GOOD LUCK TO ALL THE NANO PARTICIPANTS!!

Write on!

NaPiBoWriWee--What the Heck is That?

Unless you live under a rock or don't have Internet every writer knows November is NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month. So what the heck is NaPiBoWriWee? (Boy, I'm cutting and pasting that word from now on! It's hard with all those capitals.)


NaPiBoWriWee is Paula Yoo's answer to NaNoWriMo, National Picture Book Writing Week. I found her blog through Alice's CWIM blog. See I'm doing research when I blog hop. :-) Hey, It's my blog, I can lie if I want to. So Paula's challenge is to write seven picture books in seven days.

I thought, "Why not?" and signed up. When I told hubster he had a different reaction, and wondered why I would want to add stress to my life.


Uh, stress? What freaking stress? I don't have no stinkin' stress! The only stress in my life is if my kiddo will somehow goof off, or faint, during her First Communion this Sunday. And I don't see that happening. Or we run out of food when we have family over for brunch afterwards. Okay, that's possible, but unlikely as we tend to have more food around than anyone I know!

So I have to write 7 picture books with a word count anywhere from 50-2000 words per book, and I have to have them finished by May 7th. And I only have two titles, translate that to two ideas and they aren't really formulated yet. Yeah, I've got a lot of thinking to do. HALP!

Okay-dokey. This weekend is out--uh, see above, daughter's First Communion and then family brunch (18 people) on Sunday, which means, shopping and prepping the food and cleaning house on Saturday, plus taking the kiddo to cooking class at the Savory Chef followed by a soccer game (that we have to stay and watch--another 1 1/2 hours lost, including driving time) provided the rain lets up enough so the kids aren't playing mud soccer. Whew! How do you like THAT sentence?!

Uh, I gotta go brainstorm in the shower. . . and during my workout. . . and during the walk to school. Argh! Blank page staring at me . . . Going nutso . . .

Write on!

BIAW & NaNoWriMo

BIAW--Book in a Week
NaNoWriMo--National Novel Writing Month
Both of these endeavours are writing challenges. Most BIAW participants don't finish a book in a week, but the goal is to write as many pages as possible within that week.
NNWM does have a goal of 50K in 30 days. This is a doable goal, but as a writer your plate must be cleared, your research accomplished, and your internal editor turned off. The problem for most Americans is that this is also the month of Thanksgiving which is spent with family, not writing.
This next week I will shoot for 2K a day, Monday thru Friday. That should give me a 10K start on book 1 of my demon war series.
Now to finish organizing my notes, finishing my demon excel worksheet, and thinking about my first couple of chapters.