Noveling in August

[Aufilia]

July Thread Link

I'm not sure if anyone's "in charge" of starting the thread or not but since it hasn't appeared I just thought I'd do it......

SO! My novel placed 2nd in the SF/F category at the PNWA literary contest awards this weekend. I am very excited! One of the "prizes" for being in the top 3 was attending a party with agents right after the award ceremony. I was impressed the PNWA people were really helpful about actually introducing us to agents who were in the right part of the field, though sadly there were only 3 who were interested in fantasy and 1 of them left before I got to speak with her. But I had nice chats with 2 agents who were both enthusiastic about me sending them my first 3 chapters, which is cool.

So now I just have to finish my draft 3 revisions!!!!!!! I was pathetically useless last month and got all hung up on chapter 7, so I have skipped chapter 7 and revised chapters 8 and 9 and am now working on 10 (out of about 30). My goal is 1 chapter per day so we'll see if I can manage. Baby#2 is due in 2.5 months so even taking a month to finish revisions is kinda cutting it close, but I do want it to be the best it can be....

Anyhow... how's everyone else doing?

[MommyHawk]

grammar gurus...help!

I'm rearranging my chapters again....UUUGGHHH!!!....and maybe it's/I'm stupid for doing it, but I just can't seem to settle on the best way to do it...

maybe someone can add their two cents...here's my dilemma:

* The novel is in 1st person POV with sporadic third person POV's later after she 'moves on' and goes home (that is about chapter 7/8'ish)

* the story starts in the past, one year from where the story ends ...so I have it written in 1st person PAST tense

" right now I have the PRESENT tense starting once she is 'back' to the present...

but now I'm thinking I should do the entire novel in PRESENT tense since it starts with her in the past, but it's her own POV, and then we leap a year ahead after a few chapters to catch up to where she is now...

ANY suggestions? I am ultra confused and the present tense seems to make more sense...but I'm not sure since the first part IS from the past...does any of this make any sense? :

obviously, I need help...

On the brighter side...I found a writer's critique group! But I'd like to finalize what the heck I'm doing before I submit any work to them...but I am excited to be in the group - they said they are a rather 'advanced' group (whatever that means) so I want to come in with my stuff set and ready, kwim?

so that's me for this month...I had a hell of a time last month writing with vacationing the first half and then coming home to the most horrible experience of my life...

I want to edit a chapter each day (taking your idea ) so I can keep my mind busy and actually accomplish something...

[Aufilia]

Hmmmm, my instinct would be to stick with one tense all the way through, and first-person present or first-person past would do IMO. First-person past is much more common and I find it easier to get "into" than first-person present. But all the events could be past, even if the earlier part is longer ago than the current part...

How many chapters do you have? I have 30ish (I'm open to re-numbering or re-breaking them as I go, so it might change).

I'm still mired in chapter 10 today. I need to insert a brand-new talky scene, and I so hate writing conversation. Several members of my writing group also think this one minor character who bites the dust needs to die "on-camera" but I am not sure if that's really necessary because I can't think what it will add. By now the reader ought to believe my protag is willing and capable of doing away with this other guy and there's no particular emotional/plot pay-off that i can think of...

[MrsAprilMay]

I hope it's OK if I jump in here. I have been thinking up my plot for years. I recently worked out some time lines and character notes. I decided to start on my birthday this year so I could keep track of how long this whole process takes me. I jumped the gun a bit and started yesterday.

I'm a few pages into chapter 2. I skipped chapter 1 for now, because starting a story is always one of the biggest challenges for me.

Do you mind if a newbie asks a couple questions? First off, where do you store your work? I'm using google docs right now because I don't trust this computer. I'm starting a new doc for each chapter. Does this sound alright? Also, how do you decide on character names? Even for minor characters I'm getting hung up on their names.

MommyHawk - Congrats on finding a writer's critique group! What a great opportunity!

Aufilia - Congrats on coming in 2nd place! How exciting! I read in the last thread (lurker, much?) about you being stuck on chapter 7. Glad to hear that you are plugging away.

[Aufilia]

Originally Posted by MrsAprilMay

I hope it's OK if I jump in here. I have been thinking up my plot for years.

Hi, welcome! Anyone is welcome to jump right in, and please do!

Do you mind if a newbie asks a couple questions? First off, where do you store your work? I'm using google docs right now because I don't trust this computer. I'm starting a new doc for each chapter. Does this sound alright? Also, how do you decide on character names? Even for minor characters I'm getting hung up on their names.

I have a USB thumbdrive that I store my files on. That way I can work without the Internet, which is useful sometimes. I periodically back it up (the whole drive) on my laptop hard drive, and also periodically zip up the folder with just the novel and email it to myself (Gmail).

I also create a new document for each chapter, but I know some people prefer to have everything in one big file. I just like working with smaller chunks, myself. My re-write process tends to involve retyping the whole chapter 'fresh' and smaller documents certainly make that easier. On the downside, it makes it trickier to do stuff like renumber your chapters or run wordcount on the whole novel.

My novel is fantasy so I get to make up names entirely, heh heh. Though actually I do spend a good amount of time sometimes cruising baby name sites looking for obscure foreign names to play with/adjust to my liking. It actually took me like 30 tries to name my protagonist, though the female main character has had the same name from day 1. In the first draft, though, a lot of people were just "the duke" or "the blond guardsman" or whatever. When my writing group read my novel they were constantly badgering me to give more people real names, LOL.

So I made it through the first half of 10... wrote the talky scene and it's not too bad I don't think....

[Sagesgirl]

I'm actually starting work on my rewrite, but honestly it is so hot here I feel like my brain has baked. Between that and a certain fellow who has hijacked about half my thought processes, I'm working embarrassingly slowly. I will definitely pick it back up once school starts, though! I'll have 1.5 hours between my last class & when I need to go pick up the girls from school, and so no excuses.

I'm glad I've restarted, though, even though I'm back at square one. It feels a lot more real now.

I am signed up for Creative Writing this coming semester! I hope I can learn something useful. I don't pretend I have nothing to learn, I'm just not sure what level the class is aimed at. Does that make sense? I don't need help coming up with believeable characters; I know all my protagonists inside & out.

MrsAprilMay, to be honest I hand-write my first draft. Most people don't. I do think your idea of having each chapter in its own document makes perfect sense. I've seen that method recommended in more than one book, so obviously it's useful!

Aufilia, congratulations! I hope one of the agents comes through for you. You're well on your way; I find it very exciting.

[Aufilia]

Sabra, I'm sorry you're dealing with heat! It was terrible here last week (90-105 every day and we don't have a/c) and I got less than nothing done. I swear my entire life last week revolved around thinking up the next place with air conditioning where we could go to hang out.

That 1.5 hours sounds like good time if you can make it work. I find I'm doing most of my writing now in the evening after DD goes to bed, which she's been doing around 8-8:30. I'm ready to conk out by 10 myself.

As for me, I finished up chapter 10 and am moving on to 11, which is a very important chapter plot-wise. The next couple after 11 I should get through more quickly... I hope...

[Sagesgirl]

Aufilia, I'm glad you finished up that chapter that was bedeviling you!

I actually got some writing in today. I was able to finish up my initial big scene. I like it much more this time around; I think it gets things across a little better.

In memory of what we were doing a few months back, I'm going to share a few paragraphs here; tell me what you think:

"Why am I here?"

"My last assistant didn't re-enlist."

The blond soldier leaning against my office door arched his right eyebrow. "Fascinating. And yet that still doesn't really explain why I've been unceremoniously dropped at your doorstep. Did your last assistant shoot things for you?"

I had to smile a little at that. Annie had actually been a Quaker--a conscientious objector. "No. I had to shoot everything myself. More fun like that, anyway. If you'll sit down, I'll explain things to you." So saying, I moved to sit in one of the comfy leater chairs that ringed my conference table, and watched as Staff Sergeant Carleton Bellamy moved to join me.

He was a handsome man. According to the file I had, he was two inches taller than I, and two years older, a soldier since seventeen. He pushed himself up from the door and limped to the conference table, moving quicker than you'd expect from one so injured. There was still a little wince of pain when he sat down. Out of habit, I flicked into Magesight to check his aura. I saw what I expected--the dull gold of a normally healthy man who was currently injured, spiked through with red pain. Judging by the size of the spikes and the dullness of the gold, he was a stoic. I was pretty sure I'd be curled into a fetal position in a hospital bed, jabbing the morphine button.

So...I really like the opening exchange. I strongly prefer starting with dialogue. There's actually a lot of talking in my first scene. I've changed a lot of it, but kept the opening two sentences.

I need to rewrite the last two sentences in the excerpt though. Make it a little bit tighter. Actually, I want to redo the entire part about his aura. I don't like the way I've phrased it. But I'm not sure how to rewrite it and I don't want to lose the tiny bit of momentum I've gained by stopping to fix it right now.

Oh wait, how about "I saw what I expected--the dull goal of a normally healthy man, but with red spikes of pain so large they'd have me curled into the fetal position in a hospital bed, jabbing the morphine button"?

[Aufilia]

Originally Posted by Sagesgirl

Oh wait, how about "I saw what I expected--the dull goal of a normally healthy man, but with red spikes of pain so large they'd have me curled into the fetal position in a hospital bed, jabbing the morphine button"?

I like it. It's smoother and more readable.

If you're looking for quick suggestions I'd also want to put a paragraph break between the 2nd and 3rd sentences in that last paragraph -- the topic changes from Carleton's file to his actual person and the transition doesn't quite work as-is IMO.

Oh, and I like your starting dialogue, too. Very snappy.

Me: I went through the rest of chapter 11 tonight, hopefully I can make it through 12 tomorrow (but I'm not holding my breath because my BIL and his GF are supposed to arrive in the evening so I bet between cleaning and hosting I won't get any writing done!)

[MrsAprilMay]

We're 1/3 of the way through the month. How is everyone doing?

I finally finished my first chapter last night. : It's the second chapter of the book, because starting a new project is the most difficult part for me. Looking back at it now though, I may just make it the first chapter. I don't feel like I missed much of the background information that I wanted expressed so far.

[Aufilia]

I just started looking at chapter 13 and I wish I was farther along. I had this ambition to get through 13 today while DD is at grandma's house but now I'm thinking a nap sounds pretty good instead... zzzzzzz.

AprilMay, good for you for getting that first/second chapter done! You can always decide later what to do with it.

[MommyHawk]

wow, this new format is pretty and nice...

I went to a writer's assoc. meeting last night...not exactly as 'nice' as the romance writer's meetings, but I did get to chat with some other writers...but they all seem to be at the very beginning of their journey. not that that's a negative. I've been there and can share for sure!

I haven't edited a wink, but I get to submit a chapter to my critque group for the first time at the end of this month! so I just need to polish it one last time...

and I think I'm going to keep things the way I have them organized with the present chapter first and then jumping back in time...and then jumping back to the present...I could do something akin to Jodi Picoult and spread it out throughout the book...but then I'd only be doing it because it works for her...kwim?...

geeze...who knew writing a book was so much work!

anyone have any advice on query letters and synopsis? Maybe we can start a thread to share ours and get help with them?

[Aufilia]

Mommyhawk -- I would do what works for you and your story, regardless of Jodi

You can find lots of good advice about queries (and lots of sample) on agents' blogs. I could come up with some links if that would be helpful, because I spent several months obsessively researching queries earlier in the year.

I've found synopsis writing much harder. There's lot of varying advice out there, sometimes even conflicting advice. I had mine read by an experienced writer I know who teaches classes and sadly, what I had thought might be "right" was apparently about as boring as unbuttered bread. Both she and one of the agents I spoke to at the PNWA awards advised writing my synopsis sort of like a movie trailer, which so far hasn't happened.


As far as writing stuff, I just finished revising chapter 15, which is the midpoint of my novel. Yay. But I think the going will be slower from here on out because I'd already revised the first half once before, whereas I haven't done much of anything with the second since the first draft.

[MommyHawk]

how do we do all this faster? I know my favorite author hashes out a book in 9 months, start to publishing...and that's with writing it all and editing too!...so how do we get our own speed up? Yes, she's been in this enough to have some 30 books under her belt, but still...how do we get a book - start to finish - done in a year? Maybe it has more to do with already having an agent/editor/publisher than a specific way of doing things...

how long has it taken you to do your novel from start to where you are?

I started mine May 2008 and finished writing it Jan 2009...so less than a year, but then enter EDITING...and wow, it's August and I haven't gotten any further than chapter 10! Not to mention query letters and a synopsis!...

one step at a time, right?... :

[Aufilia]

It's hard to put an exact time to mine.... I had started it once before and given it up after a couple chapters, but at the time I quit that first attempt I had a plot outline that was very helpful when I picked it up again....

I started really working on it this time around in late October last year. Draft 1 took 5-6 weeks (and was about 55k long). I had draft 2 finished and critiqued by my writing group by March, and had the intention of finishing draft 3 and sending it out to agents by the end of May. Of course then pregnancy happened and I got totally derailed....

I suppose it would be faster if we were all full-time novelists, too! I WOTH full time until I was laid off, and now I have my hands just as full all day with DD. More full, maybe. If I was actually a money-generating writer I could at least try to hire a mother's helper so I had some time during the day to work!

[Aufilia]

How's it going, fellow novelists?

I just finished revising chapter 20, which puts me about 2/3 through the book. Except that I skipped chapter 7 because I couldn't figure out how to fix it. But still. I'm CLOSE to 2/3.