Zachary Ricks's Blog, page 12

GSG NaNo Gaiden Ep #30

The climax is over… now it's time for cuddling the denouement.

Denouements are hard if you don't know what they're for. Show the characters reacting to your awesome stupendous world-shattering climax conflict resolution. And end. This is the "We've got Top Men working on it… Top Men." This is the "R2! He'll be all right, won't he?… Award Ceremony… Everyone gets a medal but Chewie". Grace note.

GO FINISH IT!

Download GSG NaNo Gaiden #30

GSG NaNo Gaiden Ep #29

So, you're not sure how to end your book.

No Problem! You're over 50,000 words, right? h/t to Holly Lisle for the tip. If you're interested in more great tips from her, sign up for her courses – and do it fast, because I don't know if she's taking new students. If you're there too late, she has promised to have all of her courses made available for Kindle and Nook and whatnot, so watch for her instructional books at amazon.com. www.hollylisle.com.

Enjoy!

Download GSGNaNoGaiden Ep #29

GSG NaNo Gaiden Ep #28

This is the grand finale! The last battle! Your hero is kicking butt! Or is Having His Butt Totally Kicked!

Either way, this is it! FINISH IT!

Download GSGNaNoGaiden Ep #28

GSG NaNo Gaiden Ep #27

Get finished. You're almost there. Go for it!

I've taken some writing courses over the last few months, and I'm learning a lot. I've hit a point where I'm starting to look for / see techniques that other authors are using. It's weird, reading this way, where you notice a technique, and you might think that it takes you out of the story, but it hasn't done that yet.

Download GSGNaNoGaiden Ep #27

GSG NaNo Gaiden Ep #26

Your book may not be what you thought it would be when you started. You may have gone down a number of rabbit holes, taken left turns at Albequerque, and this may not be what you really wanted.

So what? You've got three days to write. Keep going. Don't worry about it right now – make it as good as you can in this moment. And when we get into December, go back and edit the holy bejeebers out of it.

But for now, just go write.

Download GSGNaNoGaiden Ep #26

GSG NaNo Gaiden Ep #25

Hello, listeners.



It's Black Friday, and traditionally, people have sales on Black Friday.

Here's what we're selling today at GSG.

#1. Permission to give yourself a pass if you didn't write this month. This is a volunteer thing. You didn't write? It's okay.

#2. Permission to suck / write your book the way you want to write it. I'm writing essentially Robotech fan-fic. People may not like that. Oh well.

#3. Permission to not give a flying flip about what other people may think about your book. Your book may not have been for that person. Oh well.

#4. Permission to separate your self from the book you wrote. You aren't your book. And rejection of the book is not rejection of you. Some people are going to be vociferous about their rejection of your book. Those people may be jerks. Why are you paying attention to them?

#5. Permission to go write.

So go write.

Enjoy!

Download GSGNaNoGaiden Ep #25

GSG NaNo Gaiden Ep #24

Happy Thanksgiving!



Enjoy!

Download GSGNaNoGaiden Ep #24

I hope you and your family have a great holiday season. And I hope you're writing like the dickens! Seeing as how Dickens was a writer, that's even more appropriate.

GSG NaNo Gaiden #23

Cross-posted at Geek Survival Guide.

You've got a first draft coming together. And that's great! But please, please don't think that it's a finished book. You've made batter. But is it a waffle? A pancake? A Chocolate Cake? Tempura? Maybe it's bread dough, and it needs to be kneaded, allowed to rise, kneaded again, put in a greased bread pan, and left in an oven to come out and be slathered in soft butter and raspberry huckleberry jam just like mom makes. (Yeah, my mom makes homemade raspberry huckleberry jam. You may now be jealous.)

It's none of those things! It's just batter! It still needs to be cooked – edited, frosted, maybe drizzled in syrup? Maybe have something dipped in it and deep fried?

So. EDIT. Then publish. But first, write.

Here's that David Farland article I mentioned about why people read: Why People Read

Download GSG NaNo Gaiden Ep #23

GSG NaNo Gaiden Ep #22

Cross-posted at www.geeksurvivalguide.org.

I'm at the library for a write-in, and don't really have access to my desktop PC – just this Chromebook and my iPhone. So I recorded this episode on the phone, mailed it to myself, and have uploaded it.

Upside – we have a podcast.

Downside – it's in m4a format, not mp3. Which shouldn't be a big problem for any computer nor for most audio players now available on the market. But some time tonight, I'll convert it and re-upload.

Meanwhile, my first draft is done. Wow. Today on the podcast I talk a bit about all the re-writing I'm going to do on this. And how I knew I was finally in the right track on my story over the last couple of days. Yes, I cried. Happy? Do I think you will? No. Not yet.

Because I've got a lot of RE-writing to do. I've got to make sure that what's in my head and in my heart is what's actually down on the page. I've got to go back and make sure that I've sufficiently foreshadowed the ending while not necessarily giving anything away. I've got to make sure, now that I have a good understanding of what the characters' motivations actually are, and where they're going to wind up at the end of the book, that I've sufficiently built the story to support the ending I've got. Because I like this ending. I like the climax and the last battle bits a lot.

I also have a second plot that I need to add in, a bunch of fill-in work I need to do to flesh out the setting and the residents, a bunch of… dang. I guess it's not quite done yet, is it.

Well, that means I get to do more writing. FUN!

Enjoy!

Download GSGNaNoGaiden Ep #22

GSG NaNo Gaiden Ep #21

Cross-posted at geeksurvivalguide.org.

Day 21, you should be 35,007 words in. And Loving It!

But if you're not, you can change it. If what you're writing is boring you, if it seems like a drudgery to write, that will come through. So make it exciting – compelling – emotionally involving!

And that will come through too!

Enjoy!

Download GSG NaNo Gaiden Ep #21