Tia Silverthorne Bach's Blog, page 75
June 5, 2012
Story Strengths: Surprise
During April's Blogging from A to Z Challenge, I wrote a post about Story Strengths with an S theme: Sarcasm, Sweet, Saucy/Sexy, Sincerity, Secrets, Silly, Sadness.
Thanks to a comment by Linda Luke, I realized I forgot one of my favorite S story elements. Surprise. Nothing will irritate me more than a well-written book with interesting characters that is overly predictable.
Although I will read all genres and authors, I shy away from romance novels. Too often, they follow the same formula: woman is immediately attracted to man, woman falls in love in 20 pages (if that!), man gives into heat but fears love, a misunderstanding occurs, man realizes he does love woman, man and woman ride off into the sunset.
But worse than formula is a surprise gone wrong. Case in point: Jodi Picoult's
My Sister's Keeper
. She had an interesting story, a child conceived as a bone marrow match for her sick older sister, but the surprise ending ruined the entire book for me. I thought the author took on a very sensitive and controversial topic, but copped out of taking a side with a surprise ending that didn't make sense or add anything to the story.
My favorite way to incorporate surprise is little by little, like small bursts of flavor in a delicious cake instead of a dill pickle in the middle of my cupcake. Too much and too wrong.
Another favorite: a book I don't think I'll like but end up loving. Come to think of it, that's the best kind of reading surprise.
Do you like the element of surprise when you read? As a writer, do you feel pressure to put something in your novel the reader's not expecting?
Thanks to a comment by Linda Luke, I realized I forgot one of my favorite S story elements. Surprise. Nothing will irritate me more than a well-written book with interesting characters that is overly predictable.
Although I will read all genres and authors, I shy away from romance novels. Too often, they follow the same formula: woman is immediately attracted to man, woman falls in love in 20 pages (if that!), man gives into heat but fears love, a misunderstanding occurs, man realizes he does love woman, man and woman ride off into the sunset.
But worse than formula is a surprise gone wrong. Case in point: Jodi Picoult's
My Sister's Keeper
. She had an interesting story, a child conceived as a bone marrow match for her sick older sister, but the surprise ending ruined the entire book for me. I thought the author took on a very sensitive and controversial topic, but copped out of taking a side with a surprise ending that didn't make sense or add anything to the story.My favorite way to incorporate surprise is little by little, like small bursts of flavor in a delicious cake instead of a dill pickle in the middle of my cupcake. Too much and too wrong.
Another favorite: a book I don't think I'll like but end up loving. Come to think of it, that's the best kind of reading surprise.
Do you like the element of surprise when you read? As a writer, do you feel pressure to put something in your novel the reader's not expecting?
June 4, 2012
Top 10 Writing Pet Peeves
No writer is perfect, and perfection would be boring anyway.
I'm a big believer in keeping a reader engaged. Some mistakes, at least for me, bring me out of the story and back into my own head.
My Top 10 Writing Pet Peeves
Lose/Loose
This one annoys me, because I don't get it. The words are just so different. Chose/choose bugs me, but I can understand why people confuse them. Although I guess you can lose something that gets too loose. Hmmmm.
Similar Sounding Words
Examples: there/they're/their, its/it's, you're/your, two/to/too
The spell check function fails this test. I get it. When you are typing fast, you might accidentally use the wrong one. If you know you make these mistakes often, do a Search and Find as part of your editing process and make sure these words are used correctly.
Mark Twain (from Wikipedia)Overuse of Very
Using very gets old very quickly. I love the Mark Twain quote, "Substitue damn every time you're inclined to write very; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be." Rarely is "very" needed (with the exception of dialogue).
Irregardless
I. Hate. This. Word. Why? It is not a word. It's a double negative, and actually means not having no regard. So irregardless would technically mean having regard. Are you confused? Me, too. To me, it would be like saying irrelevantless.
Too Many Ellipses in Dialogue
I like an ellipsis for dramatic effect within story (or a blog post). However, I don't like line after line of dialogue with ellipses. Yes, it is a good indicator of someone being interrupted, but if someone is interrupted line by line, I think the conversation should be over. I know I would clam up by then.
Also, some writers use it to show pauses when a simple comma will do.
Unnatural Dialogue
Speaking of dialogue, I want it to sound like two people talking. Good dialogue should read fast and true. It shouldn't read like prose. And rules that apply to good writing, do not apply to good dialogue. People speak with words writers are told to avoid: just, that, very. Even irregardless. Furthermore, if you craft a teenager, don't have them speaking like an adult.
Read dialogue out loud to catch awkwardness.
Using the Word Believe Too Often
If a writer is using first person point of view, "I believe" is obvious. If the narrator is telling you about other characters and using believe, the reader doesn't know for sure what the narrator really knows. Do we just take the narrator's word for it?
Example: "I believe ghosts haunt the house up the street. My friend believes they don't."
If I is the narrator, we know he/she believes it simply by stating it. And we can't know for sure that the friend doesn't believe in ghosts, unless the friend character says it or the narrator shows why they don't think the friend believes it.
Am I making any sense?
Using Spell Checker as Editor
The spell check feature is awesome, and it will save you from typos and misspelled words. It will not save you from #1 or #2 above. Or some typos, like typing form for from. Use it, but don't let it be your editor.
Too Many Characters with Similar Initials
Maybe it's because I read at night, or maybe it's because I have three kids, but I can't keep it straight when Molly loves Max who was once wed to Mindy who fights constantly with her sister, Melissa. Oh, and Mike is falling fast for Molly, but Mindy is jealous.
Inconsistency
This is the worst. I'd rather an author own a mistake throughout, or own a style that I might consider wrong, than to switch back and forth. Confused as to whether to use the oxford comma or not. No problem, pick a way and run with it.
Example: I recently read a book where a main character was Molly for half the novel and Mollie for the other half.
*****
While I was compiling this post, I thought of 5 "Mistakes" I Like in Writing. I was going to include it, but decided to tease you with it instead. That post will appear on Thursday.
What is your biggest writing pet peeve? Or, what mistakes make you cringe when you are reading?
Note: I edited and edited this piece, terrified I'd make a mistake. There's nothing like writing a post about mistakes that contains mistakes. I hope it's as error free as possible.
I'm a big believer in keeping a reader engaged. Some mistakes, at least for me, bring me out of the story and back into my own head.
My Top 10 Writing Pet Peeves
Lose/Loose
This one annoys me, because I don't get it. The words are just so different. Chose/choose bugs me, but I can understand why people confuse them. Although I guess you can lose something that gets too loose. Hmmmm.
Similar Sounding Words
Examples: there/they're/their, its/it's, you're/your, two/to/too
The spell check function fails this test. I get it. When you are typing fast, you might accidentally use the wrong one. If you know you make these mistakes often, do a Search and Find as part of your editing process and make sure these words are used correctly.
Mark Twain (from Wikipedia)Overuse of VeryUsing very gets old very quickly. I love the Mark Twain quote, "Substitue damn every time you're inclined to write very; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be." Rarely is "very" needed (with the exception of dialogue).
Irregardless
I. Hate. This. Word. Why? It is not a word. It's a double negative, and actually means not having no regard. So irregardless would technically mean having regard. Are you confused? Me, too. To me, it would be like saying irrelevantless.
Too Many Ellipses in Dialogue
I like an ellipsis for dramatic effect within story (or a blog post). However, I don't like line after line of dialogue with ellipses. Yes, it is a good indicator of someone being interrupted, but if someone is interrupted line by line, I think the conversation should be over. I know I would clam up by then.
Also, some writers use it to show pauses when a simple comma will do.
Unnatural Dialogue
Speaking of dialogue, I want it to sound like two people talking. Good dialogue should read fast and true. It shouldn't read like prose. And rules that apply to good writing, do not apply to good dialogue. People speak with words writers are told to avoid: just, that, very. Even irregardless. Furthermore, if you craft a teenager, don't have them speaking like an adult.
Read dialogue out loud to catch awkwardness.
Using the Word Believe Too Often
If a writer is using first person point of view, "I believe" is obvious. If the narrator is telling you about other characters and using believe, the reader doesn't know for sure what the narrator really knows. Do we just take the narrator's word for it?
Example: "I believe ghosts haunt the house up the street. My friend believes they don't."
If I is the narrator, we know he/she believes it simply by stating it. And we can't know for sure that the friend doesn't believe in ghosts, unless the friend character says it or the narrator shows why they don't think the friend believes it.
Am I making any sense?
Using Spell Checker as Editor
The spell check feature is awesome, and it will save you from typos and misspelled words. It will not save you from #1 or #2 above. Or some typos, like typing form for from. Use it, but don't let it be your editor.
Too Many Characters with Similar Initials
Maybe it's because I read at night, or maybe it's because I have three kids, but I can't keep it straight when Molly loves Max who was once wed to Mindy who fights constantly with her sister, Melissa. Oh, and Mike is falling fast for Molly, but Mindy is jealous.
Inconsistency
This is the worst. I'd rather an author own a mistake throughout, or own a style that I might consider wrong, than to switch back and forth. Confused as to whether to use the oxford comma or not. No problem, pick a way and run with it.
Example: I recently read a book where a main character was Molly for half the novel and Mollie for the other half.
*****
While I was compiling this post, I thought of 5 "Mistakes" I Like in Writing. I was going to include it, but decided to tease you with it instead. That post will appear on Thursday.
What is your biggest writing pet peeve? Or, what mistakes make you cringe when you are reading?
Note: I edited and edited this piece, terrified I'd make a mistake. There's nothing like writing a post about mistakes that contains mistakes. I hope it's as error free as possible.
June 3, 2012
Reading to Write Plus ROW80 Update
Another great prompt by the Author Blog Challenge, so I had to answer it.
How do the things you read impact your writing? What do you love to read? What do you avoid reading at all costs? How would your writing change if you read more of the things you typically avoid?
Like I don't remember life before my little sister (I am three years older), I do not remember life before I loved books. It is so much a part of who I am. With every book, I find elements I want to incorporate into my writing and elements I don't.
What I love most about books... rarely do people agree. For the last ten years, I have been an active member of a book club. Not only has this helped me appreciate books even more, it's helped me with rejection and critiques. Rarely has a book brought all the members together in either unanimous like or dislike. Readers are individuals, and trying to write a book to make them all happy will make a writer crazy.
One of my favorite quotes:
I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody. Bill Cosby
Now that I review books and read book club selections, I can honestly say there is not a type of book I avoid. I thought I hated science fiction. Then I read Margaret Atwood. I thought I hated horror. Then I read Carrie Green (go indie authors!) and Stephen King. I swore off non-fiction, and then I read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.
The only thing I still shy away from is erotica. But the day the ladies in my book club put aside convention and throw one on the calendar is the day I say, "Game on!" As long as we have wine and open discussion, there's nothing I won't read. And I pride myself on finding redeeming value in every book. Even the ones I don't like.
What do you avoid reading?
*****
My A Round of Words in 80 Days (ROW80) Update
Writing: This round of words (since Wednesday) has been a bust. My reasons would only bore you, not matter how legit. Excuses seem to be beating my muse in the writing version of arm wrestling.
Blogging: Daily, now thanks to the Author Blog Challenge. This is it for daily challenges. My brain is becoming mush. My Mom in Love with Fiction blog suffered last week. Not one post.
No reason to prolong the obvious trend here. Reading, some. Social Media, some. Editing, some. Nothing to brag about.
I will only say this in the way of defending myself. These last two weeks of school are crazy. All the sports wrap up, summer swim starts, girls have ending projects and exams, and so on. In trying to explain my overloaded brain to my husband, the following dialogue transpired:
Me: "I think I need to throw up." (I didn't lead into this, just announced it.)
Hubby: "Did you eat something bad?"
Me: "No, my stomach is fine. I just thought if I threw up, all the stuff floating around in my head would purge. After all, my brain is closer to my mouth than my stomach is."
My husband loves these conversations. (Did I mention he grew up in a house full of boys, and now lives in a house with a wife, three daughters, and a female dog?)
I'm so far behind in all the things I want to do, I don't know how to proceed.
What do you do when you are so far behind catching up or moving forward seems impossible?
How do the things you read impact your writing? What do you love to read? What do you avoid reading at all costs? How would your writing change if you read more of the things you typically avoid?
Like I don't remember life before my little sister (I am three years older), I do not remember life before I loved books. It is so much a part of who I am. With every book, I find elements I want to incorporate into my writing and elements I don't. What I love most about books... rarely do people agree. For the last ten years, I have been an active member of a book club. Not only has this helped me appreciate books even more, it's helped me with rejection and critiques. Rarely has a book brought all the members together in either unanimous like or dislike. Readers are individuals, and trying to write a book to make them all happy will make a writer crazy.
One of my favorite quotes:
I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody. Bill Cosby
Now that I review books and read book club selections, I can honestly say there is not a type of book I avoid. I thought I hated science fiction. Then I read Margaret Atwood. I thought I hated horror. Then I read Carrie Green (go indie authors!) and Stephen King. I swore off non-fiction, and then I read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.
The only thing I still shy away from is erotica. But the day the ladies in my book club put aside convention and throw one on the calendar is the day I say, "Game on!" As long as we have wine and open discussion, there's nothing I won't read. And I pride myself on finding redeeming value in every book. Even the ones I don't like.
What do you avoid reading?
*****
My A Round of Words in 80 Days (ROW80) Update
Writing: This round of words (since Wednesday) has been a bust. My reasons would only bore you, not matter how legit. Excuses seem to be beating my muse in the writing version of arm wrestling.
Blogging: Daily, now thanks to the Author Blog Challenge. This is it for daily challenges. My brain is becoming mush. My Mom in Love with Fiction blog suffered last week. Not one post.
No reason to prolong the obvious trend here. Reading, some. Social Media, some. Editing, some. Nothing to brag about.
I will only say this in the way of defending myself. These last two weeks of school are crazy. All the sports wrap up, summer swim starts, girls have ending projects and exams, and so on. In trying to explain my overloaded brain to my husband, the following dialogue transpired:
Me: "I think I need to throw up." (I didn't lead into this, just announced it.)
Hubby: "Did you eat something bad?"
Me: "No, my stomach is fine. I just thought if I threw up, all the stuff floating around in my head would purge. After all, my brain is closer to my mouth than my stomach is."
My husband loves these conversations. (Did I mention he grew up in a house full of boys, and now lives in a house with a wife, three daughters, and a female dog?)
I'm so far behind in all the things I want to do, I don't know how to proceed.
What do you do when you are so far behind catching up or moving forward seems impossible?
June 2, 2012
Inspired Writing: Author Blog Challenge
Today marks the kickoff of the Author Blog Challenge. Throughout the challenge, we will be given writing prompts. I won't always follow them, but I sure like having the option.
My writing muse is a little skittish lately. (When all three of my children are running around, the muse is more easily scared off than normal. June could be very interesting. One more week of school left!).
Today's prompt: Who are the writers you most admire? Who are your writing mentors?
The writer I most admire... my mother. She's the one who inspired me to write. But, more importantly, she's the one who made me believe I could write. I never thought I'd publish a novel. I wrote for therapy. Whenever I questioned life, I wrote about it. Journals. Stories.
I would fill up spiral notebooks full of teenage melodrama. My first crush became a story about a woman falling for a guy but not knowing how to tell him. When I didn't have friends, I created characters. My mother not only encouraged me, she shared her own stories with me. Writing felt like something I was destined to do.
When I was younger, I was obsessed with Judy Blume. She not only made me want to write, she helped me through the awkward teenage years. Now, I read anything and everything I can get my hands on. In finding my path as a writer, I learn as much from books I don't like as I do from books I love.
Only in the last few years have I had the confidence to consider myself a writer. I feel inspired every day by the writers in the blog universe who uplift writers. Some of the online writing communities that inspire me: Kait Nolan's A Round of Words in 80 Days, Rachael Harrie's Writers' Platform-Building Campaign, and Melissa Foster's World Literary Cafe.
I'm looking forward to meeting the authors in the Author Blog Challenge. I'm sure I will find new sources of writing inspiration.
Who gave you a love of words?
My writing muse is a little skittish lately. (When all three of my children are running around, the muse is more easily scared off than normal. June could be very interesting. One more week of school left!).Today's prompt: Who are the writers you most admire? Who are your writing mentors?
The writer I most admire... my mother. She's the one who inspired me to write. But, more importantly, she's the one who made me believe I could write. I never thought I'd publish a novel. I wrote for therapy. Whenever I questioned life, I wrote about it. Journals. Stories.
I would fill up spiral notebooks full of teenage melodrama. My first crush became a story about a woman falling for a guy but not knowing how to tell him. When I didn't have friends, I created characters. My mother not only encouraged me, she shared her own stories with me. Writing felt like something I was destined to do.
When I was younger, I was obsessed with Judy Blume. She not only made me want to write, she helped me through the awkward teenage years. Now, I read anything and everything I can get my hands on. In finding my path as a writer, I learn as much from books I don't like as I do from books I love.
Only in the last few years have I had the confidence to consider myself a writer. I feel inspired every day by the writers in the blog universe who uplift writers. Some of the online writing communities that inspire me: Kait Nolan's A Round of Words in 80 Days, Rachael Harrie's Writers' Platform-Building Campaign, and Melissa Foster's World Literary Cafe.
I'm looking forward to meeting the authors in the Author Blog Challenge. I'm sure I will find new sources of writing inspiration.
Who gave you a love of words?
June 1, 2012
Fun Facts Fridays Debuts
June 1st... the first day after sixty days of challenges. So what do I do? Why I sign up for another challenge, of course! I'm excited to participate in the Author Blog Challenge, which begins officially tomorrow, June 2.
SourceAfter that, I'm going to try a new routine for July and August. I'll be posting 4 times a week. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday (ROW80 updates). Occasionally an inspired Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday might happen. I'm nothing if not flexible (my husband is laughing somewhere!).
In the past, I haven't stuck with theme days for long. But I'm going to give it another whirl. Starting now, Fridays will be Fun Facts Fridays. I was so inspired by the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, because it allowed me to expand my creativity beyond the theme of writing and mother and daughter stories. Fridays are now up for grabs... whatever facts I find fun!
Today I found some fun and interesting facts about words.
(Source: EnglishClub.com)
1. Only two English words in current use end in "-gry". They are "angry" and "hungry".
Funny... I am always angry when I'm hungry.
2. A sentence that contains all 26 letters of the alphabet is called a "pangram". The following sentence contains all 26 letters of the alphabet: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." This sentence is often used to test typewriters or keyboards.
Now, what I really want to know... What person sat there and came up with that sentence, and how long did it take? I was going to challenge myself to do one, but it seemed silly to take away some other person's achievement. ;-)
3. The word "alphabet" comes from the first two letters of the Greek alphabet: alpha, bēta.
Okay, that's just plain obvious. So why didn't I know it?
What's your favorite fun word fact?
Please check back every Friday for some fun and interesting facts.
Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!
SourceAfter that, I'm going to try a new routine for July and August. I'll be posting 4 times a week. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday (ROW80 updates). Occasionally an inspired Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday might happen. I'm nothing if not flexible (my husband is laughing somewhere!).In the past, I haven't stuck with theme days for long. But I'm going to give it another whirl. Starting now, Fridays will be Fun Facts Fridays. I was so inspired by the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, because it allowed me to expand my creativity beyond the theme of writing and mother and daughter stories. Fridays are now up for grabs... whatever facts I find fun!
Today I found some fun and interesting facts about words.
(Source: EnglishClub.com)
1. Only two English words in current use end in "-gry". They are "angry" and "hungry".
Funny... I am always angry when I'm hungry.
2. A sentence that contains all 26 letters of the alphabet is called a "pangram". The following sentence contains all 26 letters of the alphabet: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." This sentence is often used to test typewriters or keyboards.
Now, what I really want to know... What person sat there and came up with that sentence, and how long did it take? I was going to challenge myself to do one, but it seemed silly to take away some other person's achievement. ;-)
3. The word "alphabet" comes from the first two letters of the Greek alphabet: alpha, bēta.
Okay, that's just plain obvious. So why didn't I know it?
What's your favorite fun word fact?
Please check back every Friday for some fun and interesting facts.
Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!
May 31, 2012
On Blogathon: Thank You, Michelle Rafter
Thank you, Michelle Rafter, for another lovely post-a-day-in-May challenge through Blogathon. For several days, I've been considering how to best wrap up the experience.
Then it hit me, the ABCs of Blogathon. Well, of course. Granted, I just came off the Blogging from A to Z Challenge in April, so I might be a bit A to Z crazy.
ABCs of Blogathon
Achievement. It feels good to commit to daily blogging and have the support necessary to achieve it.
Note: I had several posts I'm particularly proud of, one that was also featured at BlogHer: Reviewing Without Prejudice . Plus, I saw increased page views and comments.
Blogs, blogs, everywhere. I love the diversity of subject matter. Everything from animal narrators to mommy stories and writing adventures to adventures on a bike and planning dinner parties.
Community. If you have ever felt alone out there, wondering if anyone reads your posts, you need to find a blogging community. Blogathon is one of my favorites.
Decorative. With so many blogs for inspiration, it's nice a way to see what you do and don't like in blog design and then consider your own blog decor.
Engaging. Michelle is active in the Yahoo group and reading blogs. She cares and encourages participants to share their success stories at the end.
Fun! Who doesn't enjoy a good Wordle (or in my case, Tagxedo) post?
Generous. I'm always amazed how much time people will give to helping others. When questions are posted, people jump in.
Haiku. What would Blogathon be without Haiku Day? It's just another way Michelle pushes us to try new things and believe in ourselves.
Interesting. Both in what you'll learn and the blogs you will read.
Jan Udlock. Michelle's right-hand woman this year. I met Jan last year, and she's as gracious and supportive as they come. Thanks, Jan! (a shout-out to Jennifer Willis and Jackie Dishner, too, since we are talking Js).
Kaleidoscopic. I can only imagine that all the blogs viewed at once would create a beautiful pattern of words and colors.
Lessons Learned. Several of the bloggers have posted lessons learned both here at the end and during the theme day, If I started blogging today, I would...
My related posts
If I Knew Then What I Know Now
Community and Knowledge Go Hand in Hand
Michelle Rafter. Without you it would never happen. Many thanks.
New to...
Old. No matter how long you've been blogging, you will learn something along the way in May.
Photography. I'm not a good photographer, so I especially appreciate all the wonderful photo posts.
Questions. Several come up every year, and Michelle and her cohorts are quick to help or point bloggers in the right direction.
Rest... is for June 1! ;-)
Social. With Twitter pre- and post-parties and interaction on Yahoo groups, Blogathon is a very social and engaging community. A few bloggers in the Portland area even organized an in-person meet up.
Thirty-one Days of Blogging Fun.
Uplifting. You will believe by the end that you can do it.
Variety. I mentioned it above, but there's no shortage of subject matter. If you have an interest, Blogathon has the blog.
Welcoming. Michelle, and her team, make sure each blogger feels the love.
X marks the spot! (Come on, X is hard!)
Yahoo Groups. Some don't like it, but I find it so much more personal than Facebook. Plus, last year's kept going long after Blogathon!
Zany. You can't help but catch the creative bug when you see how interesting other people's perspectives are.
I admit that I'm still finding my way through the participating blogs. My goal over the next two weeks is to visit every single participant on Michelle's Blogroll. Wish me luck!
Congratulations to everyone who found out something about themselves, whether you managed 31 posts or not.
What was your favorite part of Blogathon?
Then it hit me, the ABCs of Blogathon. Well, of course. Granted, I just came off the Blogging from A to Z Challenge in April, so I might be a bit A to Z crazy.ABCs of Blogathon
Achievement. It feels good to commit to daily blogging and have the support necessary to achieve it.
Note: I had several posts I'm particularly proud of, one that was also featured at BlogHer: Reviewing Without Prejudice . Plus, I saw increased page views and comments.
Blogs, blogs, everywhere. I love the diversity of subject matter. Everything from animal narrators to mommy stories and writing adventures to adventures on a bike and planning dinner parties.
Community. If you have ever felt alone out there, wondering if anyone reads your posts, you need to find a blogging community. Blogathon is one of my favorites.
Decorative. With so many blogs for inspiration, it's nice a way to see what you do and don't like in blog design and then consider your own blog decor.
Engaging. Michelle is active in the Yahoo group and reading blogs. She cares and encourages participants to share their success stories at the end.
Fun! Who doesn't enjoy a good Wordle (or in my case, Tagxedo) post?
Generous. I'm always amazed how much time people will give to helping others. When questions are posted, people jump in.
Haiku. What would Blogathon be without Haiku Day? It's just another way Michelle pushes us to try new things and believe in ourselves.
Interesting. Both in what you'll learn and the blogs you will read.
Jan Udlock. Michelle's right-hand woman this year. I met Jan last year, and she's as gracious and supportive as they come. Thanks, Jan! (a shout-out to Jennifer Willis and Jackie Dishner, too, since we are talking Js).
Kaleidoscopic. I can only imagine that all the blogs viewed at once would create a beautiful pattern of words and colors.
Lessons Learned. Several of the bloggers have posted lessons learned both here at the end and during the theme day, If I started blogging today, I would...
My related posts
If I Knew Then What I Know Now
Community and Knowledge Go Hand in Hand
Michelle Rafter. Without you it would never happen. Many thanks.
New to...
Old. No matter how long you've been blogging, you will learn something along the way in May.
Photography. I'm not a good photographer, so I especially appreciate all the wonderful photo posts.
Questions. Several come up every year, and Michelle and her cohorts are quick to help or point bloggers in the right direction.
Rest... is for June 1! ;-)
Social. With Twitter pre- and post-parties and interaction on Yahoo groups, Blogathon is a very social and engaging community. A few bloggers in the Portland area even organized an in-person meet up.
Thirty-one Days of Blogging Fun.
Uplifting. You will believe by the end that you can do it.
Variety. I mentioned it above, but there's no shortage of subject matter. If you have an interest, Blogathon has the blog.
Welcoming. Michelle, and her team, make sure each blogger feels the love.
X marks the spot! (Come on, X is hard!)
Yahoo Groups. Some don't like it, but I find it so much more personal than Facebook. Plus, last year's kept going long after Blogathon!
Zany. You can't help but catch the creative bug when you see how interesting other people's perspectives are.
I admit that I'm still finding my way through the participating blogs. My goal over the next two weeks is to visit every single participant on Michelle's Blogroll. Wish me luck!
Congratulations to everyone who found out something about themselves, whether you managed 31 posts or not.
What was your favorite part of Blogathon?
May 30, 2012
Twist Ties & Writing: ROW80 Update
The perfect toy. A huge smile on my child's face.
"Mommy, mommy, can I please have it. Please!"
Patience and childhood don't often mix. (Heck, patience and being an adult don't love each other either. At least for me.)
I tear open the box. Yank and pull to get the plastic out. Finally, success. Oh, but wait. Each piece is twist-tied into the plastic in some wickedly intricate maze. Dare I get scissors? Grand idea, but some of the twist-ties are so tightly bound that cutting could ruin the piece.
My children watch, anticipation mixed with frustration.
Fifteen minutes later, if I'm lucky, the small hairbrush and barrette finally break free. I dry the tears, both mine and my daughter's. My salivating child takes her bounty and runs. I'm left with clear rubber bands, twist-ties, plastic, box pieces, a strong desire for a stiff drink and... not one toy to play with.
And God help you if it's a birthday party or Christmas morning. This scenario gets played and replayed until I swear I'm going to write each and every toy company and ask what they have against the human race.
What does this have to do with my A Round of Words in 80 Days (ROW80) Update? Or about the progress of my writing?
SO. Much.
I clear the time to write. Focus on the prize of continuing story. I sit down, open up the document, read through the last chapter or so, crack my knuckles, and get ready to write. The story is in my head, but trying to wrangle it from there unto the piece of paper is so much like twisting each of those ties round and round. You turn it one way to realize it's getting too tight, then you go the other direction and free it, only to find there are four more twist-ties holding it in place.
Characters fight with me. Words fail me, or sometimes come at me so fast I can't capture them. Scenes unfold in my head, so clear. But I have to translate them into words so a reader can see the same replay. More twist-ties.
And, yes, I do see writing in most any day-to-day activity (and being a mom, especially).
Do you ever catch your stories creeping into the oddest, or most mundane, moments of day-to-day life?
ROW80 Update
Writing: Monday we spent eight hours in the car. But I used my Tuesday. 2,123 words, split between a couple of projects. Now I need to focus on unwrapping one story at a time, and not getting so excited by ideas that I flutter from project to project. Phone rings... ah, let's write on the YA. Laundry signal beeps. Ooh, back to women's fiction.
Editing: Had an unexpected, and interesting, project come up. Finished. Now back to my backlog. Slowly making progress. Tomorrow is editing day.
Blogging: Daily here. Blogathon wraps up tomorrow, but then I'm onto the Author Blog Challenge. Mom in Love with Fiction has suffered this week, but those words needed to go to the WIP.
Social Media: Overwhelmed. Challenges are wonderful, inspiring me in so many ways. But they also bring many wonderful bloggers into my life. Now if only I had more hours in a day.
Reading: Finished a book and started another. Reviews to come.
Exercise: I'm proud to say I will take this goal off the next Round. I've been so dedicated to exercise that it's become like eating. I can't imagine not doing it. If it starts to wane, I can always add the goal back in. Success.
"Mommy, mommy, can I please have it. Please!"
Patience and childhood don't often mix. (Heck, patience and being an adult don't love each other either. At least for me.)
I tear open the box. Yank and pull to get the plastic out. Finally, success. Oh, but wait. Each piece is twist-tied into the plastic in some wickedly intricate maze. Dare I get scissors? Grand idea, but some of the twist-ties are so tightly bound that cutting could ruin the piece.
My children watch, anticipation mixed with frustration.
Fifteen minutes later, if I'm lucky, the small hairbrush and barrette finally break free. I dry the tears, both mine and my daughter's. My salivating child takes her bounty and runs. I'm left with clear rubber bands, twist-ties, plastic, box pieces, a strong desire for a stiff drink and... not one toy to play with.
And God help you if it's a birthday party or Christmas morning. This scenario gets played and replayed until I swear I'm going to write each and every toy company and ask what they have against the human race.
What does this have to do with my A Round of Words in 80 Days (ROW80) Update? Or about the progress of my writing?
SO. Much.
I clear the time to write. Focus on the prize of continuing story. I sit down, open up the document, read through the last chapter or so, crack my knuckles, and get ready to write. The story is in my head, but trying to wrangle it from there unto the piece of paper is so much like twisting each of those ties round and round. You turn it one way to realize it's getting too tight, then you go the other direction and free it, only to find there are four more twist-ties holding it in place.
Characters fight with me. Words fail me, or sometimes come at me so fast I can't capture them. Scenes unfold in my head, so clear. But I have to translate them into words so a reader can see the same replay. More twist-ties.
And, yes, I do see writing in most any day-to-day activity (and being a mom, especially).
Do you ever catch your stories creeping into the oddest, or most mundane, moments of day-to-day life?
ROW80 Update
Writing: Monday we spent eight hours in the car. But I used my Tuesday. 2,123 words, split between a couple of projects. Now I need to focus on unwrapping one story at a time, and not getting so excited by ideas that I flutter from project to project. Phone rings... ah, let's write on the YA. Laundry signal beeps. Ooh, back to women's fiction.
Editing: Had an unexpected, and interesting, project come up. Finished. Now back to my backlog. Slowly making progress. Tomorrow is editing day.
Blogging: Daily here. Blogathon wraps up tomorrow, but then I'm onto the Author Blog Challenge. Mom in Love with Fiction has suffered this week, but those words needed to go to the WIP.
Social Media: Overwhelmed. Challenges are wonderful, inspiring me in so many ways. But they also bring many wonderful bloggers into my life. Now if only I had more hours in a day.
Reading: Finished a book and started another. Reviews to come.
Exercise: I'm proud to say I will take this goal off the next Round. I've been so dedicated to exercise that it's become like eating. I can't imagine not doing it. If it starts to wane, I can always add the goal back in. Success.
May 29, 2012
Pacing: A Guest Post by author, MK Graff
I'm so excited to have M. K. Graff, affectionately known as Marni, visiting today to talk about pacing. Marni is a friend and writing cohort of my mother's, and she's fast become a friend to me. I love her spirit, style, and writing.
I found this post quite informative, and I hope you do as well.
Enjoy!
*****
“Variety of pace without loss of impetus is characteristic of every good novel I can think of.” Ursula K. Le Guin
Heavy words for a writer to live up to, and this quote from Le Guin shows writers how important pacing is to your work. Pacing is like a dam that forges and slows the speed at which a novel moves. Learning how to operate that dam is one of the most important tasks an author has to learn to keep his readers turning pages. Without mastering this, we end up writing stories that lack momentum, might feel uneven, become anticlimactic, or even seem melodramatic.
Here are five tips for understanding and developing this important plot skill.
1. Length matters: Length controls your story’s momentum. Short scenes and chapters, coupled with terse sentences and snappy dialogue will all contribute to a feeling of intensity and speed. In the reverse, long scenes and leisurely sentences or extended dialogue passages tend to ground the story with a sense of place and time. This is perhaps the simplest way to control your pacing. As your story nears the tense scenes, learn to condense everything. Limit the length of your scenes to 500-800 words. Stop your scenes at important moments. Change back and forth between POV. See how it works?
2. Vary pacing. As important as the high-tension action scenes are, it’s even more important to vary your pacing with slow, introspective scenes. You need those slow scenes to give both your characters and your readers the chance to catch their breaths. The most exciting of scenes lose intensity if not balanced with moments of deliberate quiet. Think calm before and after the storm.
3. Paying attention to details builds all-important momentum. Slow motion is often used in film to denote that something tremendously dramatic is happening. To mirror this technique in your own writing, slow it way down by piling on the smaller details. There’s a shooting in your scene. To get the full impact of this event, take your time and describe every step in detail: the look on the gunman’s face as he fires, the recoil of the gun, the flash of the barrel, the horror the sees on the victim’s face, and finally the impact of the bullet and the spreading red stain across the victim’s shirt.
4. Control your tell vs. show ratio.Now do the reverse and don’t linger on a scene, but shock your readers by announcing it and then plunge them into the action after that gun is fired. Instead of taking the time to show the details, you can thrust the gunshot upon the reader simply by telling him it happened and go on from there.
5. Manipulate sentence structure. Controlling the ebb and flow of your sentence structure with the use of clauses, longer versus shorter sentences, and brief versus involved paragraphs contribute to the pacing. This is a subtle but effective technique and also applies to the length of the words you choose: long=slow, short=fast. For those intense scenes, cut back on the beautiful, long-winded passages and slap your reader upside the head with staccato structure. Short sentences and snappy nouns and verbs convey urgency, whereas long, measured sentences offer moments of introspection and build-up.
It all sounds easy; the trick is to get the balance right.
About M. K. Graff
Marni Graff is the author of the Nora Tierney mystery series, set in the UK. The Blue Virgin is set in Oxford and introduces Nora, an American writer living in England. She becomes involved in a murder investigation to clear her best friend as a suspect, to the chagrin of DI Declan Barnes. The Green Remains follows Nora’s move to Cumbria where she’s awaiting the publication of her first children’s book and the birth of her first child. When Nora stumbles across the corpse at the edge of Lake Windermere, she realizes she recognizes the dead man. Then her friend and illustrator, Simon Ramsey, is implicated in the murder of the heir to Clarendon Hall, and Nora swings into sleuth mode.
Graff is also co-author of Writing in a Changing World, a primer on writing groups and critique techniques. She writes a weekly mystery book review at Auntie M Writes. A member of Sisters in Crime, Graff runs the NC Writers Read program in Belhaven and founded the group Coastal Carolina Mystery Writers. She has also published poetry, last seen in Amelia Earhart: A Tribute; her creative nonfiction has most recently appeared in Southern Women’s Review. Her books can be bought at Amazon or at Bridal Path Press.
*****
Thanks, Marni! And it was such a pleasure seeing you at the Gaithersburg Book Festival. One of the highlights!
You can check out my review of Marni's The Blue Virgin here (4 stars).
Do you have a trick to keep pacing balanced in your writing?
I found this post quite informative, and I hope you do as well.
Enjoy!
*****
“Variety of pace without loss of impetus is characteristic of every good novel I can think of.” Ursula K. Le Guin
Heavy words for a writer to live up to, and this quote from Le Guin shows writers how important pacing is to your work. Pacing is like a dam that forges and slows the speed at which a novel moves. Learning how to operate that dam is one of the most important tasks an author has to learn to keep his readers turning pages. Without mastering this, we end up writing stories that lack momentum, might feel uneven, become anticlimactic, or even seem melodramatic.
Here are five tips for understanding and developing this important plot skill.
1. Length matters: Length controls your story’s momentum. Short scenes and chapters, coupled with terse sentences and snappy dialogue will all contribute to a feeling of intensity and speed. In the reverse, long scenes and leisurely sentences or extended dialogue passages tend to ground the story with a sense of place and time. This is perhaps the simplest way to control your pacing. As your story nears the tense scenes, learn to condense everything. Limit the length of your scenes to 500-800 words. Stop your scenes at important moments. Change back and forth between POV. See how it works?
2. Vary pacing. As important as the high-tension action scenes are, it’s even more important to vary your pacing with slow, introspective scenes. You need those slow scenes to give both your characters and your readers the chance to catch their breaths. The most exciting of scenes lose intensity if not balanced with moments of deliberate quiet. Think calm before and after the storm.
3. Paying attention to details builds all-important momentum. Slow motion is often used in film to denote that something tremendously dramatic is happening. To mirror this technique in your own writing, slow it way down by piling on the smaller details. There’s a shooting in your scene. To get the full impact of this event, take your time and describe every step in detail: the look on the gunman’s face as he fires, the recoil of the gun, the flash of the barrel, the horror the sees on the victim’s face, and finally the impact of the bullet and the spreading red stain across the victim’s shirt.
4. Control your tell vs. show ratio.Now do the reverse and don’t linger on a scene, but shock your readers by announcing it and then plunge them into the action after that gun is fired. Instead of taking the time to show the details, you can thrust the gunshot upon the reader simply by telling him it happened and go on from there.
5. Manipulate sentence structure. Controlling the ebb and flow of your sentence structure with the use of clauses, longer versus shorter sentences, and brief versus involved paragraphs contribute to the pacing. This is a subtle but effective technique and also applies to the length of the words you choose: long=slow, short=fast. For those intense scenes, cut back on the beautiful, long-winded passages and slap your reader upside the head with staccato structure. Short sentences and snappy nouns and verbs convey urgency, whereas long, measured sentences offer moments of introspection and build-up.
It all sounds easy; the trick is to get the balance right.
About M. K. Graff
Marni Graff is the author of the Nora Tierney mystery series, set in the UK. The Blue Virgin is set in Oxford and introduces Nora, an American writer living in England. She becomes involved in a murder investigation to clear her best friend as a suspect, to the chagrin of DI Declan Barnes. The Green Remains follows Nora’s move to Cumbria where she’s awaiting the publication of her first children’s book and the birth of her first child. When Nora stumbles across the corpse at the edge of Lake Windermere, she realizes she recognizes the dead man. Then her friend and illustrator, Simon Ramsey, is implicated in the murder of the heir to Clarendon Hall, and Nora swings into sleuth mode. 
Graff is also co-author of Writing in a Changing World, a primer on writing groups and critique techniques. She writes a weekly mystery book review at Auntie M Writes. A member of Sisters in Crime, Graff runs the NC Writers Read program in Belhaven and founded the group Coastal Carolina Mystery Writers. She has also published poetry, last seen in Amelia Earhart: A Tribute; her creative nonfiction has most recently appeared in Southern Women’s Review. Her books can be bought at Amazon or at Bridal Path Press. *****
Thanks, Marni! And it was such a pleasure seeing you at the Gaithersburg Book Festival. One of the highlights!
You can check out my review of Marni's The Blue Virgin here (4 stars).
Do you have a trick to keep pacing balanced in your writing?
May 28, 2012
A Picture of Words: Blogathon Theme Day
Another Blogathon theme day...
Our fearless leader, Michelle Rafter, suggested everyone post a Wordle graphic today. I've cheated a bit, because I find Tagxedo a much easier to use.
Interesting.
I used my blog address to load words into the graphic. Clearly, I talk a lot about writing, books, my Mom, depression (but only in relation to my novel, Depression Cookies , so don't worry), blogging, ROW (as in A Round of Words in 80 Days), and words.
And how perfect that "Blogathon" ended up front and center.
Hope all my Blogathon buddies are doing well, and enjoying the holiday weekend.
What words were highlighted in your graphic?
Our fearless leader, Michelle Rafter, suggested everyone post a Wordle graphic today. I've cheated a bit, because I find Tagxedo a much easier to use.
Interesting.
I used my blog address to load words into the graphic. Clearly, I talk a lot about writing, books, my Mom, depression (but only in relation to my novel, Depression Cookies , so don't worry), blogging, ROW (as in A Round of Words in 80 Days), and words.
And how perfect that "Blogathon" ended up front and center.
Hope all my Blogathon buddies are doing well, and enjoying the holiday weekend.
What words were highlighted in your graphic?
May 27, 2012
Quotable Week: ROW80 & #writemotivation Updates
I found some quotes this week to illustrate my writing progress.
You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you. Ray Bradbury
I've been a bit drunk on life this week. Earlier in the week, I had to have a spot of basal cell carcinoma taken off my arm. The stitches were really bothering me, and long sessions of typing weren't going well. I outlined some chapters and took some notes. But it's not so easy to calculate that into wordcount.
This weekend we are having some family fun in Charlotte, North Carolina with my husband's brother and family. I've brought out the laptop to do this post, but then it's going away again. I promised the kids. (Okay, I admit it... it's a holiday weekend, and I want to have some fun, too.)
I would hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo, and if an echo sounded, no matter how faintly, I would send other words to tell, to march, to fight, to create a sense of hunger for life that gnaws in us all. Richard Wright, American Hunger, 1977
As I was taking notes, more thoughts would come. Thankfully the stitches were in my left arm, so I could write all I wanted. Kicking it old school. It's just hard to hurl words onto paper, because I couldn't keep up. I have a lot of chicken scratch to decipher. And the stitches don't come out for another week.
The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible. Vladimir Nabakov
The pages on my WIP haven't seen any new words, but I'm feeling the story. I don't want it to escape, so I'll sit down on Tuesday and type until my arm falls off.
The rest of the A Round of Words in 80 Days (ROW80) update:
Reading: Finished a book on the drive down to Charlotte. My first Sarah Dessen book. Loved it! Reminded me so much of the Judy Blume books I read as a teenager. Now, I'm reading Michael J. Fox's book, Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist. Already I can tell I need to focus much more on the positive in my day to day life.
Blogging: Daily here and 3x on Mom in Love with Fiction. In case you missed it, I talked about a real-life lesson on self-published authors versus traditional ones this week. Check it out. My experience made me feel so fortunate to be a writer.
Editing: Did some on the car ride down. The sore arm didn't help with editing, since I do it all on the computer.
Exercise: Still running a minimum of 3x a week. Just making sure I have lots of sunscreen on. A bit of a slide on the sugar intake. Something about long car trips makes avoiding Snickers bars near to impossible.
#writemotivation Update
1. Write a minimum of five days a week for a total of 2,500 words on my works in progress.
Hours of writing. Didn't attempt to count the words (see saga above).
2. Get current novel, Depression Cookies , up on Smashwords by month's end.Ran into some formatting difficulties. So bummed. Still hoping to have it up soon. It's looking like June. What started as sadness, turned to irritation, and now it's slowly boiling to angry. I don't like to be angry. *insert calming breaths here*
3. Read a book every 10 days, plus at least one craft book in the month of May.Finished a book in one car trip, and one-third done with another. Ahead of goal.
Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday weekend!
You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you. Ray Bradbury
I've been a bit drunk on life this week. Earlier in the week, I had to have a spot of basal cell carcinoma taken off my arm. The stitches were really bothering me, and long sessions of typing weren't going well. I outlined some chapters and took some notes. But it's not so easy to calculate that into wordcount.
This weekend we are having some family fun in Charlotte, North Carolina with my husband's brother and family. I've brought out the laptop to do this post, but then it's going away again. I promised the kids. (Okay, I admit it... it's a holiday weekend, and I want to have some fun, too.)
I would hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo, and if an echo sounded, no matter how faintly, I would send other words to tell, to march, to fight, to create a sense of hunger for life that gnaws in us all. Richard Wright, American Hunger, 1977
As I was taking notes, more thoughts would come. Thankfully the stitches were in my left arm, so I could write all I wanted. Kicking it old school. It's just hard to hurl words onto paper, because I couldn't keep up. I have a lot of chicken scratch to decipher. And the stitches don't come out for another week.
The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible. Vladimir Nabakov
The pages on my WIP haven't seen any new words, but I'm feeling the story. I don't want it to escape, so I'll sit down on Tuesday and type until my arm falls off.
The rest of the A Round of Words in 80 Days (ROW80) update:
Reading: Finished a book on the drive down to Charlotte. My first Sarah Dessen book. Loved it! Reminded me so much of the Judy Blume books I read as a teenager. Now, I'm reading Michael J. Fox's book, Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist. Already I can tell I need to focus much more on the positive in my day to day life.
Blogging: Daily here and 3x on Mom in Love with Fiction. In case you missed it, I talked about a real-life lesson on self-published authors versus traditional ones this week. Check it out. My experience made me feel so fortunate to be a writer.
Editing: Did some on the car ride down. The sore arm didn't help with editing, since I do it all on the computer.
Exercise: Still running a minimum of 3x a week. Just making sure I have lots of sunscreen on. A bit of a slide on the sugar intake. Something about long car trips makes avoiding Snickers bars near to impossible.
#writemotivation Update
1. Write a minimum of five days a week for a total of 2,500 words on my works in progress.
Hours of writing. Didn't attempt to count the words (see saga above).
2. Get current novel, Depression Cookies , up on Smashwords by month's end.Ran into some formatting difficulties. So bummed. Still hoping to have it up soon. It's looking like June. What started as sadness, turned to irritation, and now it's slowly boiling to angry. I don't like to be angry. *insert calming breaths here*
3. Read a book every 10 days, plus at least one craft book in the month of May.Finished a book in one car trip, and one-third done with another. Ahead of goal.
Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday weekend!
