Tara Maya's Blog, page 39

Too Much of a Good Thing: Over Plotting Your Novel...

The Other Side of the Story: Too Much of a Good Thing: Over Plotting Your Novel...: By Janice Hardy

Showing All Sides, But Still Needing More 
Layers are good, but adding plots to show another side or perspective because you feel the reader just won’t get it if you don’t should make you pause. Your instincts are in the right place – you know you need more to make the story work – but you’re looking wider, not deeper, and adding things that likely only explore the idea. Are you: 
Focusi...

Help! I Didn't Finish My #NaNoWriMo Novel!

November is over...is your novel still out at sea?
I did win NaNoWriMo and finish my draft for the time being. However, suppose one did not. There's two things you could do at this point: stop cold and wallow in depression, or consider that four weeks isn't long to write a novel (especially if yours is closer to 100,000 words than 50,000) and keep going.

As it happens, there IS an unfinished (sic) novel that I have to finish, and of course that is Blood, book 6 in the The Unfinished Song. I set...

Tips To Write a Novel in 30 Days

Tips #1 and #2: Plant a Seed Scene and Set Pieces
Tip #3: Five Tips to Better BrainstormingTip #4: 50 Brainstorming QuestionsTip #5: Choose an EndingTip #6: No Fail Formula to Storyboard Your Novel and Create a Three Act Beat SheetTip #7: Three Things You Need to Know About Your CharactersTip #8: Plot With CharacterTip #9: The Rule of ThreeTip #10: Three Subplots to Strengthen Your PlotTip #11: What to Put on Plot CardsTip #12: ...

I Won #NaNoWriMo! Now What?

It's the end of the month, I've met my NaNoWriMo quota and I have the rough bones of a novel complete. Now it's time for me to step back and evaluate the novel I wrote as well as the way I wrote it.

Here's my evaluation about the novel itself:
State of the Draft: I have about half-scriptment and half draft. I would have been fine with just a scriptment, but that would have been only 20,000 words (about one third of the final word-count), so I drafted some of the scenes more fully. The first thi...

Update on #NaNoWriMo 30: What To Do After #NaNoWriMo

In the spirit of NaNoWriMo, I pulled an all-nighter to finish my 50,000 words. The question is what do you do after NaNoWriMo? Of course, that depends on the state of your novel.

If you did not finish:1. Do not stop cold.Let's say that it's midnight on Nov 30, or dawn on Dec. 1 and you have just one or two chapters left... or maybe even the last third of the book. But NaNoWriMo ends, and you think, "Damn, I didn't win," so you give up, stop cold. Or perhaps you "won" ... you passed 50,000 word...

NaNoWriMo Tip #30: Wrapping Up and Revision

"I just can't face editing my novel!"
Do you hate editing?
Me too.
Or I used to. That’s because editing usually involved the mental equivalent of ripping open my chest with a rusty knife and tearing out my internal organs.
It doesn’t have to be that way. When I first used the Rich Outline method – and it was hard for me, not coming naturally at all – I discovered that if I wasn’t trying to rearrange the major plot organs of my novel to force it to make sense, Revision was actually the most enjo...

How To Sell Your Books On Nook UK

Great news! 

NOOK is now available in the United Kingdom and that means you can reach even more readers when you publish your eBooks through PubIt! We have added new features to PubIt! so that your eBooks will be available for sale in the UK on NOOK.co.uk (if you have indicated that you have Worldwide Rights to your titles).

Our new UK functionality will automatically convert your US pricing to an equivalent UK pricing in GBP (£). If you prefer to set your own UK list price,...

Help! I'm Just Starting #NaNoWriMo! (Emergency Tip Day 4)

Help! I'm Just Starting #NaNoWriMo! (Emergency Tip Day 4)
Planning Day One: Refine Your  Idea - Brainstorm a Log Line and create a Beat SheetDay Two: Expand Your Idea - Deepen Your Characters and Spice up Your PlotDay Three:  Outline Your Novel - Create a Scene by Scene OutlineDay Four: Outline Your Scenes - Scene Helper
Writing Day Five: Draft Your Scenes - From Scene to Draft - First Third of Your NovelDay Six: Keep...

NaNoWriMo Tip #27: Get Back The Mood, Push to Finish!

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mso-level-number-position:right; text-indent:-9.0pt;} @list l0:level7 {mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in;} @list l0:level8 {mso-level-number-format:alpha-lower; mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in;} @list l0:level9 {mso-level-number-format:roman-lower; mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:right; text-indent:-9.0pt;} ol {margin-bottom:0in;} ul {margin-bottom:0in;} </style> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YOTOe6F5i5o..." style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="328" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YOTOe6F5i5o..." width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /> With any luck, you know that wonderful pressure at the back of the head that comes when you are almost finished with a book and you HAVE TO FINISH IT NOW!<br /><br />I’ve experienced that. (So has my family, poor schmoes.)<br /><br />However, I’ve also had to reverse problem, rather more often. In fact, I’m having it right now. I’m almost done writing out my Tips, and because I’m ALMOST done, some whacked part of my mind feels as if I AM done.<br /><br />Imagine a marathon runner who comes within sight of the Finish Line...<!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Times; panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;} @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;} @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073743103 0 0 415 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Times; mso-fareast-font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} p.MsoListParagraph, li.MsoListParagraph, div.MsoListParagraph {mso-style-priority:34; mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:0in; margin-left:.5in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Times; mso-fareast-font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} p.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst {mso-style-priority:34; mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-type:export-only; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:0in; margin-left:.5in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Times; mso-fareast-font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} p.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle {mso-style-priority:34; mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-type:export-only; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:0in; margin-left:.5in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Times; mso-fareast-font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} p.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast {mso-style-priority:34; mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-type:export-only; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:0in; margin-left:.5in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-add-space:auto; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Times; mso-fareast-font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-size:10.0pt; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} /* List Definitions */ @list l0 {mso-list-id:586236031; mso-list-type:hybrid; mso-list-template-ids:-1471651980 67698703 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715;} @list l0:level1 {mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in;} @list l0:level2 {mso-level-number-format:alpha-lower; mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in;} @list l0:level3 {mso-level-number-format:roman-lower; mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:right; text-indent:-9.0pt;} @list l0:level4 {mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in;} @list l0:level5 {mso-level-number-format:alpha-lower; mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in;} @list l0:level6 {mso-level-number-format:roman-lower; mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:right; text-indent:-9.0pt;} @list l0:level7 {mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in;} @list l0:level8 {mso-level-number-format:alpha-lower; mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in;} @list l0:level9 {mso-level-number-format:roman-lower; mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:right; text-indent:-9.0pt;} ol {margin-bottom:0in;} ul {margin-bottom:0in;} </style></style>

Update on #NaNoWriMo 26: Shiny Attack!!!

Thing are going well with my NaNoWriMo novel, but if you were paying close attention you may have noticed me slobbering after a Shiny New idea.... another novel earlier in the series, September Knight.

I have the best of reasons to think about September Knight. It comes before October Knight. (Obviously.) And one should really know the events of the prequel first...riiiiiiight?

Anyway, when attempting to ward off an attack of the Killer Shiny, it's best to throw it some meat. So I've gone ahead...