CRAFTING A KILLER OPENING TO YOUR NOVEL

As I revise my current Work in Progress, I’m paying close attention to the first ten pages. Why? Most agents I’ve looked up want to see the first ten pages – some want more. There’s one big agent I have my heart set on – she wants ten. The drafting process isn't hard for me. I'm not a complete pantser. I outline every story beforehand but I deviate from the outline as I go. 

Revising and editing, however, is hard for me. As it probably is for every writer that is willing to put in the work to craft a story that is worth 6 hours (or more) of your reader's time.  

What am I doing to ensure those first pages are written as tight and clean as possible? What am I doing to ensure there is enough in these pages to keep her reading? What am I doing to ensure she feels that all-important connection to my main character?

Here’s a list things I’ve done to improve my manuscript with the above key elements in mind:

Start with a hook – a hook doesn’t have to be gimmicky. It has to draw the reader in. It has to make a statement that this story is worth reading. It has to make the reader want to read on. It has to make them ask a question – Why did that happen? How did that happen? When did that happen? What just happened? If you can do that, you’ve hooked the reader.

Introduce your main character- in the first ten pages your reader should have an understanding of who your MC is. They might not know everything there is about the character (they should NOT know everything about the character at this point. It’s too soon) but they should have a sense of who this person is and whether they like them or can root for them in the story.  – A quick aside – The reader does not have to like your main character but they do have to root for the main character. If they are unable to root for them to win, there is no investment in the story. They won’t care if you have Samantha get hit by an Ice Cream truck and lose both her legs while crossing the street. They’ll shrug at best and at worst, they’ll put your book down.

Present a problem – if you haven’t hinted at some type of drama in the first ten pages, I won’t keep reading. I need to know that something is going to happen to this person that I really like and I want to see how this person solves/or comes through it. You don’t have to present every issue in the first ten pages though. But you must show the reader that not all is perfect in the MC’s world.

Show, Don’t tell – I know this piece of advice is everywhere. But it is the absolute truth. Nothing pulls me out of a story quicker than the author talking to me. Let the characters move the story forward with dialogue. There’s going to be times when you have to tell and not show but choose those instances wisely. Engage the five senses in your scenes to help with the showing.

No info dumping - There shouldn’t be huge chunks of prose about what happened before the story started. Or don’t try to explain who a character is through giant clumps of exposition. Weave the backstory into the manuscript organically – through dialogue, or character action. I know this can be difficult, especially for fantasy and science fiction writers, because you have to build worlds and explain how those worlds work. I know. I write Young Adult science fiction and fantasy. If I can do it, you can to.

This list isn’t all encompassing. There are other things to look for but these are the key elements I’m looking to hone. These are the things I’ve been working to perfect in my manuscript. I’ll dive into each area in depth in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.

Have a great day. Read a book and smile!

HOW TO MAKE YOUR MANUSCRIPT, SHINE, SING, DANCE, AND WHATEVER ELSE YOU WANT IT TO...AGAIN

I’ve been so busy today that I barely have time for a post. So…I thought I’d recycle one that I especially thought was helpful from a few years ago – originally posted 9/19/11. I hope you find something here that you can use.

 

I’m almost finished with my massive, colossal, humongous, edit. These are the rules I live by when editing. Of course, this list isn't all encompassing. There’s a ton of other great tips at your fingertips. So here, I’ve listed only 25 of the ones I can’t forget:

1.  Don’t over do it on the adjectives. But a few sprinkled throughout the MS is fine.

2.  Avoid starting a sentence with – There are/was/is/

3.  Punctuation and grammar are important.

4.  Avoid starting a sentence with – It is/was

5.   You can delete most (not all) instances of the word “that” from your manuscript without changing the meaning of the sentence.

6.  Don’t start all the sentences with the same first word. Can you say boring.  

7.  Structure your sentences so their not all the same length.

8.   Use a comma before “which” in a sentence with a non-restrictive clause (the information could be removed without compromising understanding).

9.  You do not use a comma before “that” in a sentence with a restrictive clause (the information is vital to the meaning).

10.  Keep the dialogue tags to a minimum. Let the character’s personality be the tag.

11.  Show the reader – don’t tell them.

12.  If you can say it properly in 4 words, don’t say it in 10.

13.  Subjects must agree with verbs, pronouns, and objects.

14.  Use the active form of verbs.

15.  Choose your nouns wisely. A carefully selected noun will not need an adjective.

16.   Watch out for overused words: saw/see, can/could, then, just, look, felt …

17.  Don’t make your villain a wuss. Make him as evil and diabolical as you can.

18.  Don’t start your fantasy world off without first establishing the normal world for your protagonist.

19.  If you’re going first person point of view (especially for YA) go deep.

20.  Cut back on the use of the word “was” and “ing” ending words – it slows the pace of the story.

21.  If you’re writing a YA/MG story and your MS is 120,000 words after the revisions and editing- you probably have an issue.

22.  Don’t go it alone – get a Critique Partner and a Beta Reader (more than one if you can).

23.  Pacing is the key to keeping your audience up all night reading.

24.  Do research your setting if you’re writing contemporary realistic fiction.

25.  Not one tip on this page is guaranteed to make your MS a best-seller. But they’ll enhance what you’ve written and make the possibility of a best-seller more a reality than a dream. And if you haven’t already figured it out, some of these rules can be broken and your story still be a best-seller. The key is knowing when to break the rules.

Do you have a writing tip? We’d love to hear it. Please share your tip in the comments.


 

Have a great day. Read a book and laugh!!!  

 

I'm not finished, yet?????

Every time I think that I couldn’t possibly edit my WIP anymore, I find something to correct. I’ve compiled a list of things that are sure signs that your MS is not ready to send to that agent yet.

You’ve never had a critique partner. No, sorry folks, mommy dearest doesn’t count. You need an objectionable person with knowledge of writing to critique the story. It’s like when mommy said you looked pretty for your 8^th grade dance with the fuchsia puff dress, purple headband, green stockings and white dress shoes. She didn’t want to tell you you looked like a mix between Punky Brewster and Rainbow Bright. She’ll do the same to your manuscript. Trust me!

You enlist the “Find” feature in Word and discover that you’ve used “was” 30,000 times. Um…clear sign you’ve probably overused other words also. Grab a thesaurus and have a go at it. But don’t go crazy with that thing. ***ahem*** I’ve had that problem, well still do. You're not writing a dissertation. Remember that.

You’ve never had a beta reader. Now you can get mommy to read it. You need a regular lay reader to read it and tell you what they think. If you write YA or MG, you should get a young person to read those. Don’t ask your grandpa to read your YA romance with a female protagonist. What’s the likelihood that any grandpa anywhere would be reading a Gossip Girl type book? Not very likely. ***I’m just saying*** But I guess it could happen. Maybe???

You need a dictionary or another writer friend to explain what some of the terms in this post mean. If you don’t know what YA, MS, WIP or MG is then you may not have done your research on the craft of writing enough either. I know that may seem harsh but it is the truth. Do you have to write a perfect MS? Yes. As perfect as you can get it. But you can’t do that until you know:  how to edit, how to revise, and use proper story structure. So, if you’re having trouble with this post, then you’ll have problems in your MS.

You've only deleted 10 words from your first draft. If you’ve deleted at least 1500 words of the original MS that’s a good sign you’re on your way. This is just a "me" thing, but I can’t see how you could edit/revise your MS and not delete at least 500 words. I always make my draft considerably long, with too many unnecessary words and phrases, and too much backstory. I have a lot of cutting to do in the end. You should too. If you can’t cut some of what you’ve written because you’re emotionally attached to the words, then that’s okay. You won’t be able to sell it but you do have other options. Print your MS and use the pages to line the kitchen and bathroom cabinets. It’ll save you money and time since you won’t have to get cabinet liners. ***I’m just saying***

I hope you find inspiration to keep editing. It can seem a daunting task but you can do it. If you feel that you can’t then I have one last tip. ***You could print the MS and wallpaper your office with it. It might actually look nice if you used colored paper. Ask your mother, she'll tell you if it looks good.

 Have a great day. Read a book and laugh!

Are You Prepared: As a Student

As a mother, a writer and a human being I’m continually learning. Learning is an essential part of the human experience. We can never know enough. Society, technology and media, are always evolving and if you aren’t changing with them you’ll be left behind. Behind isn’t where you want to be as a writer. Especially for those writers of MG or YA. It’ll be reflected in your work. So do your homework. If you remain open and have the mentality of a student, you won’t miss opportunities to learn. The more you learn the better equipped you’ll be to edit your manuscripts.

How do I remain the consummate student?

I ask questions. Many agent blogs and publisher blogs allow readers to send questions via email and the comments section. Send in your questions or peruse the ones that have been answered. Some helpful sites to visit:

Mary Kole - from the Andrea Brown Literary Agency has a blog a wonderfully informative blog. Her blog has a plethora of information from editing tips, to querying agents. She also allows you to email her questions. And her answers are ultra honest and concise. I’ve learned quite a bit from her site. She has wonderful insight into the writing life from the perspective of an agent and a writer. You won’t be disappointed!

Nathan Bransford – a former agent with The Curtis Brown Literary Agency, has authored his own book and has a new job. But his blog is chalk full of helpful information. If you haven’t already checked in to his site, you’re sorely missing out.

The Blood-Red Pencil – This blog is awesome! It has some of the best editing tips I’ve seen online. I think in part because the authors are manuscript editors. I can’t do enough justice to this site you have to check it out for yourself.

Writers Knowledge Base: A search engine for writers – full of articles on anything having to do with writing. Great for finding articles about editing, freelancing and more. It’s a database of the best of the best online.

Other Helpful sites to visit that aid in the never-ending saga of editing:

WordCounter – this site will count the frequently used words in your document. You can have it search the 25 most used or the 200 most commonly used words. I recommend searching in batches as it can sometimes take time to load if you put too many words in. It may take a while to get a whole manuscript (I did my 75,000 words in 2 hours, while getting the kids out for school) analyzed but it’s free and well worth it. You can designate that it not count small words such as “the”, “it” and etc. 

The AutoCrit Editing Wizard - this site gives you three free 500 word max, searches of your document. What are you searching for: overused words and redundancies, clichés, and sentence variation…these are the free wizards. You can search up to 500 words three times a day but if you need more in-depth editing you can pay a fee and have the wizard find other errors in your manuscript. The Wizard will analyze your pacing, dialogue, readability and other errors.

Once you’ve done your research and edited to your hearts content then try this site:

Writer’s Market – you must have a subscription. This site is the first that I subscribed to as a new writer. It is full of information on agents, publishers, contests, magazines – how to contact them, their current interests, organizations their affiliated with and more. It has great articles and can be broken down by different markets (Children’s, Fiction, Nonfiction…). It is well worth the subscription cost.

I visit these sites often. I’m always on the lookout for editing tips, either to share with my followers or for my own manuscript. I’m also on the hunt for great book reviews because as much as I love to write I love to read. Reading is a form of learning - if you read like an author (but, that's another post). The consummate student is always striving to improve. And a visit to any of the sites listed here will aid you in your quest for knowledge. Happy Learning!!!

 

Editing Tips for Writers

I've been working on editing my novel, the Chloe Chronicles and the Rebirth for some time now. So, I’m constantly discovering new tips on how to edit my manuscript. There's a plethora of information available. It can be quite intimidating.

Therefore, my post today will be for writers. Of course, anyone can use the tips I've discussed here. I’m not a published author and know that my tips are not all inclusive. However, I’ve implemented the following editing techniques to my manuscript. I find it reads much better, clearer. The tips will allow my readers the capability of delving into my book without the distraction of messy, clunky, disconnected writing.

First Editing Tip:

The very first thing you should do once you complete the first draft is to put your manuscript away for at least two or three weeks. This will give you the opportunity to look at it again with fresh eyes. This waiting period is meant to give you the ability to look at the manuscript you've pondered for months (sometimes years) in a different light. Many writers differ on the length of time needed to produce these “fresh eyes,” but all agree that it’s necessary. 

Second Editing Tip:

Once you’ve waited for your “fresh eyes” to appear, the next step is to do a thorough read through. I read my entire manuscript from first page to last. I try not to make any corrections during this step. This is very difficult to do. I see so many errors at this point and want to make changes to them. Don’t! My goal during this step is to:

• spot gaping holes in the plot – your reader should understand what has happened, not scratch they’re head in confusion.
• ensure character arc – your protagonist should be different by the end of the storyspot dialogue errors – know your characters, would they really say that. 
• 
  look at sentence structure – sentence lengths should vary within each paragraph.
• Your villain is well thought out – your villain will provide much of the conflict in the story so must not be weak. He/she/it must be strong enough to survive the entire story. If the villain is weak, your story will be also. The same thing goes for your protagonist.
• Ensure your story has enough conflict to propel it to the end. Conflict is what keeps your readers, reading. No conflict = boring story = no readers!

… I make notes on the hard copy of the manuscript, with notes in the margins and underline or highlight things I need to change. Alternatively, I use a notebook with notations of changes that I need to make by notating page this, page that and paragraph this, paragraph that, beside it so I can find the things I need to correct later.

Third Editing Tip:

In this next round of editing, I’m looking to seek and destroy. Meaning: I'm going to have to cut a lot. What am I looking to destroy:

• the endless back-story (back-story is info that gives the reader details of what happened before the story began). This should have been spotted and notated on your read through
• All the other things you noted in your read through. Anything that does not propel the story forward – especially dialogue that does not push the story forward or reveal anything about the character(s) that the reader must know/understand to understand the plot.  
• Repetitive use of words – never use the same word in the same sentence, if possible, not the same paragraph (this mostly refers to verbs) Use a thesaurus to find new words to replace the repetitive ones. Nevertheless, remain mindful of your audience – you’re not trying to prove your intelligence but stimulate a reaction from your audience.
• Cut down on the use of adjectives and adverbs – especially those words ending in – “ly” like, suddenly
• Cut down on fillers, words that add no meaning and if deleted from the sentence does not reduce clarity, examples: just, then, probably, usually, almost, there was, there is, had, mostly…

Fourth Editing Tip:

Once I’ve deleted all the unnecessary things from my manuscript its time to ensure that my spelling, words, and sentence structure are correct. Sure go ahead and use your spellchecker but it will not catch all the errors. You must do a line-by-line edit to catch any redundancies or awkward sentences, misspellings, and proper word usage.

Fifth Editing Tip:

Don’t push that send button!  Do not think under any circumstance, that once you complete your first draft it’s ready to send to agents. It’s not. Even if all your friends tell you, your story is great, flawless, and perfect. It’s not. Wait. Follow the steps in this post…nobody ever gets it right the very first time. Even the authors on the best-sellers list have to do a thorough edit…or pay someone to do it for them. Scour the Internet for editing tips. The easiest places to look are blogs. Blogs by other writers are filled with tips on editing. Keep looking until you keep finding the same tips or you can say that you’ve implemented almost every tip you’ve come across.

Sixth and Final Editing Tip:

This is actually two tips in one. ***no need to thank me*** Read then write. Read more, and then write more. I’ve never personally met anyone who loves (you must “love” to write to do it or else you must be insane, in my humble opinion) to write but does not like to read. I LOVE reading. I read quite a bit in my genre…actually anything I can get my hands on. My bookshelf is overloaded. I also read outside of my genre…to keep me on my toes. And, of course, I love to write. I feel sad when I don’t write. I miss my characters and feel as if I’m neglecting them.

Those are all the tips I could think of right now. I’ll gather more information and post more editing tips later. This should suffice for now. I should know…their keeping me awful busy.

If you have any editing tips please let everyone know in the comments section below.