 It’s easy to look at your book and think that once you type THE END, the writing is over. Even after several rounds of readers and editors, the process may not be finished. It may have been the best book you could write at the time, but you are always improving—even if you don't think so—and quite often, if you look away long enough when you do come back, it may be with shock.
That’s what happened to me. I wrote AtP about a year and a half ago, with critique partners, did the edits with awesome betas and revised the crap out of it. I queried it, sent out fulls, the works. I thought it was ready and when I decided to self-publish, all I needed to do was format it. So I started. And it is apparent now, that in that year and a half since finishing AtP (where I wrote/edited/published my romance series) I have learned a lot. I was just browsing AtP to check the formatting as I went and so much jumped out at me that I now know how to improve. So, it’s back to the editing floor as I glean this baby with a new level of polish. On the one hand, I’m thrilled to see how clearly I have improved, on the other—I really thought getting this one to publication day was going to be fairly easy since ‘all the hard work’ was supposedly behind me. Ugh. But also, yay? I haven’t officially set a release date, so I have no formal deadline, but I did imagine one in my head. Let’s see if I can push myself to keep it. Wish me luck!
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 I have been working closely with one of my writing buddies on a developmental edit of her fantasy epic. It’s totally unlike the stories I write, both in genre and style. I tend toward a cozy cast of a few characters and fairly structured POV changes. She has a large, diverse cast and moves through POVs as needed for the story. In my reading, I have truly realized, and am now pointing out to her, how important POV character choice is in any scene. (Without giving anything away) Her story follows a magical traveler on a journey, when she has just picked up a companion. For much of the beginning, that companion is our POV character, and this is perfect! He doesn’t know much about her or her world, so it is easy for him to be the reader’s door into it. We learn as he does, and it’s wonderful. Later in the story, we get more scenes from other characters’ POVs, especially as the action gets more focused on the larger group—this is necessary. Our original character doesn’t have a lot to lose in some of these scenes and therefore the tension is not his to share with the reader. As we near the climax of the story, I’m finding more scenes stuck back in his POV. I love him as a character, but those scenes consequently feel distant as he mostly observes what is going on. Now I am flagging her MS up like a Christmas tree asking for POV changes so the reader can feel the tension of those most affected by the events in the scene. This is the big takeaway here: you are the author, and your world is yours, but the goal of writing is to share it with others, and to do that we need the best portal for that—the best character to relate what is happening, what they are feeling and doing to lead the reader into the action, the emotion, and the world overall. While this is a benefit of fantasy, the acceptance of more varied POV than some other genres, it is something we can all do in all our writing. Understand which characters have the most to gain (or lose) in a scene and frame it around them. If you can’t use their POV, choose your POV character that is closest to them, the one who knows what they are thinking and feeling, even when they are trying to hide it. It’s also an excellent exercise to write scenes in other characters’ POVs, even if you don’t keep it (or even ever mean for it to be) in the finished book. You can even use these scenes later as bonus material for readers.  Lately, I have been working with a group of authors on an anthology. They are all at different stages in their writing careers. I am on the developmental edit team, and working across the experience spectrum has been eye-opening. It has made me reflect on my writing journey, and how to help others with theirs. There’s so much I know now that I wished I knew back when I was working with my first editors and beta readers.
It’s easy to be in awe of your own work. However, the beta-reader/commenter/editor is flagging things for a reason. The story lives in our head; we know 100% of it, but we’re lucky if 60% makes it to the page in the first draft. Those comments are showing us what isn’t making it, highlighting what the reader doesn’t understand (literally or stylistically). The comments don’t mean something is bad or wrong; they mean something is lost in the story's translation from your brain to the page. When we see comments, we get upset and want to defend our story-baby on each one. We have the justification, and maybe it’s right. But if you find yourself justifying the same idea over and over—pause. That is where you need to work. If it’s a matter of the reader not understanding what’s going on, you need to do a better job of explaining/describing. If it has to do with missing info/facts, that’s usually a quick fix - just move things around or expand a little, give us that tidbit that will help us make sense of what’s going on. If the issue seems to be confusion about the world or character, you need to add details, a better description of setting, body language, etc. Use action tags in-between dialogue not only to add interest but to place your characters relative to each other, so the reader is able to set the scene in their mind. If the reader is not engaged with your characters, you need to work on your character development. POV needs to be tight, well defined, and consistent. You need to get into your MC’s head and know their motivation and internal conflict/inner struggles and how this relates to how they present the story. If the character is going to tell the story in a particular way, you need to make sure the reader understands why the character is like this, or else that added layer of story you’ve worked so hard on will be lost. You must set the tone for the reader. Revising is a huge part of writing. Writing is easy; words flow, drafts build... but revising is how you make sure that your vision, and story, is clear to a reader. This is hard, and impossible to do on your own Understanding how to use editor comments is probably the most important skill for a writer to develop. Just as you shouldn’t blindly follow every suggestion, you also have to shut down that part of your brain that wants to shout, ‘No, I love this! Let me tell you why it works!’ Don’t tell them why it works in the comments. Show them in the story! To make the most of the comments that your editors/betas leave on your manuscript, you need to understand how you are reacting to those comments. I’d wager that everyone has that defensive gut reaction, whether they are newbies just starting out or established writers with a string of books to their name. I sure did when I first started out. I was working as a ghostwriter and the client connected me with the editor. When I tried to explain things, I was told that wasn’t my job; to stop, read the notes, and make it better. No ifs, ands, or buts. While that was a direct hit, it was also easier because it wasn’t my story-baby on the line (well, it was, I was too close, but I digress). It was his story and his editor. I had to learn quickly to get at the root meaning of those comments and make the fixes. In the end, I got some really nice compliments from that editor. It helped me push forward in my own stories, and in my acceptance of revision comments. No editor is highlighting things to tell you the story is bad—they are there because they want to help (however blunt some comments may seem). For me, if I write some crazy comment manifestos to someone, that’s a good sign. The more I rattle on, the more I am invested in the piece. Dig deep, writers! Put your ego aside and take a moment to breathe. As writers, we know our stories all too well. We see everything in our mind’s eye, forgetting that the reader is not privy to any of this. Translating this highly-detailed picture in our heads into words is difficult. It is impossible to do on without feedback. This is why editors’ and beta-readers’ comments are so valuable. They are basically your short-cut to a better story. P.S. Dear writers, even this blog post has gone through my best editor! We cannot, and should not do it alone! he other day I was helping a fellow writer with their story and they mentioned being stuck on having to use a line over and over since the action was the same and kept repeating in the story. There was nothing wrong with the line, except that they felt like they were repeating it ad infinitum. And that was true, so I played a little game and told them to do the same. How many ways can you convey the same thing? What other aspects of the action can you look at and draw from? What other senses can you call upon? I think, for the meat of our stories, these questions come naturally. Explaining your magic system, or describing your villain in the most solicitous way, is fun. The hum-drum lines that bring us from scene to scene sometimes get overlooked though, putting us in this mess that my author friend is in now. So let’s look at their example: The issue: Every motorcycle turn is taken at speed and threatens to run off the road. The line: She took the corner at such a speed the bike threatened to go off the road. OK, it’s fine if you do it once or twice, but it will definitely get boring, eventually. So, we play our game!  What does our MC feel—internally and externally?
The bike’s wheel trembled as she took the turn. Maybe she ought to slow down—but there was no time for that. What does the MC do? Stella struggled to keep her grip on the handlebars as the bike screeched around the corner. What does the MC see? Stella could just catch the glares of pedestrians out of the corner of her eye as she flew around the corner. What does the MC hear? Gravel skittered, pining against the brick building on the corner as Stella failed, yet again, to slow enough for the turn. What does the MC taste? Stella bit her tongue with the effort to keep the bike upright as the force of the turn threatened to send her skidding sideways. What does the MC smell? Burning rubber told Stella that she had once more taken the curve too quickly. If she didn’t let up, the bike was going to fall to pieces beneath her. Are they all good? No, but are they different? Do they paint a picture? And most importantly, have they gotten you writing and thinking outside the box? YES!  So, if you’ve been following the blog, you know I have my next novel out querying all around. Now, the plan is/was to choose however many top agents I like, query only them, then self pub if there’s no interest. I know the thriller market is tough, and I don’t mind self-pubbing. I digress. That list of agents didn’t include any who required a synopsis in the query package. Part of that was luck, part was.... well, I have never been good at a synopsis. So naively I figured, well, it’s not on their list, maybe I’ll just skip it. Here’s the thing, it might not be on their initial list, but they might ask for it!
One agent that I had written off finally replies over 100 days post query—to ask for a full! Yay! And (problem #1) a synopsis. Shit. So, I obviously want to reply asap, which my book is still on their mind. After several lists and pages of how to write a synopsis that doesn’t suck (they say I can do it in a morning!) I get to it, problem #2—I haven’t read my book since I started querying, back in September, and I’ve been busy on multiple other projects. What the heck is my book about!? Turns out, here is the silver lining. It’s WAY easier to condense your book down to 700-ish words when you only remember the major points! So I did whip that synopsis out in a morning after all and got it sent out along with my manuscript just after lunch. Now it’s back to a waiting game. Who knows, maybe it’ll wow them, or maybe they will hate it (the initial query was only a couple pages and didn’t include what I think is the ‘hard sell’ part of the book). I am just happy they want to read it, and hopeful that even if it’s a no, it will come with some feedback. But, moral of the story, or maybe insane advice—you decide. You definitely need a synopsis if you are querying ANYONE, but if you wait long enough and get far enough from your manuscript, it just may be easier to write.  As a self-employed person, especially one that works from home, it is easy to blur the lines between working and not. Am I on the computer to relax and mess around or am I checking emails and working on social media posts? Am I editing or am I chilling with some ice cream? I have always been a person with too many ideas. Writing both helps with that and encourages me to overdo it. I write thrillers and horror here; I do some ghost writing, and I publish equestrian journals and non-fiction fun books. I love getting ideas for one or more of those ventures at all hours of the day. But I know better, and I am trying to be better. This spring I quit my horseback riding instructor/horse trainer job because it had become all-encompassing. I worked every day and was expected to be on call, even when I did go home. It wasn’t healthy, and I definitely burnt out. I needed to change, and it wasn’t easy. I took a full two months off of riding—cold turkey. No riding, no teaching, no horses; nothing. Then I started back up in an amateur role. I now lease a horse that I go ride a few times a week and just have FUN. I realized recently that I was getting in to the same cycle—for myself this time—but still working every day, at any hour, on multiple projects. I can’t turn my brain off for all the different projects, but I can set limits. I now have a ‘No Work on Sunday’ rule. The only exception being writing fresh words if inspiration strikes—I won’t ignore a blast of motivation. I have some social posts scheduled, as well as this blog, but beyond that (and maybe one check in to be sure there’s nothing important in my inbox) you won’t see me in a business capacity on Sundays. I want my writing to work; I want to keep loving my job(s) and to do that means I have to take a break. Will there be weekends that I have an event to sell books, sure, and maybe that week I’ll make Monday my day off. But there will always be a day off, not just a few hours here or there. You can only be so productive. I’ve learned that the hard way and I am recognizing the path now and trying a different route. Have you experienced burn-out? What do you do to stave it off? Sharing stories is the best way to help other people, everyone goes through it! It can happen at every level and in every profession—it can happen everywhere there are people who want to be better.  You might have noticed I haven’t had a book review up lately. It’s not because I haven’t been reading—I’ve been doing tons of it, just none of it is published. With According To Plan in the beta reading stage, that means I’ve traded the job out for reading other authors WIPs too.
I love beta reading time, and I wish I had more time for it when I wasn’t needing to trade manuscripts. I’ll read nearly any genre to find a good beta partner and that means often reading things I wouldn’t normally pick up off the shelf. I’ve just finished a sci-fi dystopia about the uprising of a group of people who were told they were living on the moon, right alongside a YA retelling of Pride & Prejudice. Talk about some whiplash. And the biggest surprise- I loved them both! My favorite part was being able to give the authors some ideas to make the even better, I’ve even heard one has already gotten a partial request from an agent! In return, I’ve gotten some really good feedback on AtP as well, places to improve and comments that make me feel like it’s going in the right direction. Sometimes, after all my beta reading, I find myself trying to insert comments on the published books I read. Oops. I’ve just picked up a couple ARC books, so there will be more reviews to come, in fairly random genres, but I think it’s always good to read wide—everything is a learning opportunity.  OK, that may be a bit of an overstatement, but the em-dash is one of my favorite punctuation marks. However, the number of keystrokes for getting one was driving me crazy—the default on windows is alt 0151—and when I’m on a roll, I don’t want to have something so trivial slow me down.
I don’t know a ton about computers, but grew up as ‘the one who fixed it when it broke’ in my family, due only to the fact that I was the only one willing to google stuff, and willing to try it out when faced with the blue screen of death. So I went back to my old ways and hit up google. It turns out making a script for it isn’t all that tough. I downloaded AutoHotKey, attempted to learn how to use it—and failed—then hopped over to the forums instead and found my answer. Once you have the program, open a new script. Right-click anywhere and it’ll be under the ‘new’ menu. Use this code: :?*:---::{ASC 0151} ; em dash Inserting whatever keystrokes you want to customize for the --- . I used a double comma since it’s easy and never comes up organically. Hit save, then double click the script file icon to run it. BAM em-dashes for all! Here's the discussion forum link for anyone interested in more about how it works.  Alright everyone, I’ve mentioned my WIP a few times over the past couple months but really haven’t said anything about it. I’m nearing completion of the draft and I think it’s time to share a bit about it! It is a psychological thriller about a book-smart woman who can’t deal with the advances of her assistant-turned-stalker; she makes a plan to run but when everything goes wrong and she must learn to trust her instincts to get herself out of danger.
It’s the first book I’ve written with the help of a real-time critique group. We are a small group and shared chapters weekly as we went. It was a very different experience than Excite- I wrote the entire first draft in 30 days (NaNoWriMo anyone?) then edited and sent the whole shebang out to betas. I’m hoping that having gotten so much feedback along the way, the revision process will be smoother. It’s been fun to see where people think the story is going and to only sort of know myself. I’m not much of a plotter, so not much was written in stone before I started. The group was formed out of a class on coursera.org for new writers—and while I’m not new per-se I am new to the process as given and getting very diverse feedback from writers of different levels, and critiquing theirs in turn, has been really cool. So, in addition to that logline tease, I’ll do you one better. The title (and I’m 90% certain it will stay) is.... According To Plan. It’s so early I don’t have an official cover yet. That will come later. But I do have a placeholder, one that I made to keep my motivation up. If you want to see that head on over to my Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/EricaDamonAuthor) later this week for the reveal! Sometimes writing sucks. I said it, but I probably don't mean it the way you think. I don't mind staring at my outline and trying to get my fingers typing, that's fine. I don't even mind revising and trying to remember all those grammar rules.
It sucks when you are too close to apiece that you cant see that it needs to be binned. The first novel length story I wrote, I was just in love with it. With the idea, the characters, the whole universe. But it was the first thing I wrote, no outline, no plan. Its not great. Deep in there is a good story, somewhere. But no matter how long I put it aside for I cant seem to get far enough from the love for it to do the kind of revision it would need. When I first write it the MCs fiance died at the end, but it was too hard (it wasn't right for the story, I still think letting him live in the second version was a better idea) but I wasn't thinking about that when I changed it. I loved him just as much as m MC did. He had to live, so I trashed that ending and gave them an almost happily ever after. I wish I had saved the scene though, I think it would have helped me rewrite further. I printed a couple test copies without hardly editing it and couldn't get enough. I have ideas for expanding that universe, but without that manuscript its all for naught. But going on 10 years later, I just cant cut those first scenes I fell in love with. I have to admit defeat at some point. New ideas are coming, ones that I have the skills now to bring to fruition and see through. I hope someday I can re-write that book. Until then, Ill just keep staring at the red pen marked-up copy on my shelf. |
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