Kelly Hashway's Blog, page 126

Hard Copy or Screen?

I'm deep in revisions this week. I promised my agent I'd have my revisions finished for her ASAP. And the good news is that they are going well. But this time I decided to revise a little differently. Sure I went through looking for plot holes, overall flow, consistency, and all that other good stuff. But I also printed my manuscript out. Now I don't normally do this because--well, that's a lot of ink. But this time I had to look for things that I needed to actually see in my hands, not on a screen.

So during this hard copy revision, I got out my yellow highlighter, purple pen, and colored sticky flags. I used my orange sticky flags to mark the passage of time. Each day was labeled where it began. This really helped me see the time span in my manuscript and make sure I had everything planned out correctly and realistically. I used pink sticky flags to mark important events that occurred in relation to my MC. (I can't give you more details than that without telling you specifically about my manuscript.) This really helped because during WriteOnCon, I learned that you are supposed to have something happen every three pages. Now, I didn't mark all my events--only the major ones--but I was able to physically see how often things happened to my MC or because of my MC. Very helpful!

I used my highlighter for recurring words. Nothing shows you how much you use a word better than highlighting it. And since I couldn't find a red pen, I used my purple pen to mark corrections--crossing out things I wanted to delete and writing in things I wanted to add to the manuscript.

It went really well. I'm a visual person so seeing my revisions like this helped me get a better hold on my manuscript. I'm definitely using this technique on my next manuscript.

How do you revise? Do you need to "see" your revisions in hard copy or are you strictly a revise on screen person?

Practice Novels

During WriteOnCon, Beth Revis talked about failure and practice novels. It isn't a new topic, but it's something that writers need to hear about. We see people who seem to hit it big with their first published book, and we wonder why things were so easy for them. But really, it wasn't. Most of those success stories happened for book four or five, not book one. Someone's first published book, may actually be the third book or even seventh book they wrote.

Well, this got me thinking about my own writing. Late in 2004, I wrote my very first novel. A middle grade adventure. Then I wrote another middle grade adventure novel. After both of those I sought advice from published authors and revised the first book. I queried for a while with not much luck at all--one full request that resulted in a pass. So I took classes and revised again. Only to realize that I needed to scrap much of the story and completely rewrite it as a fantasy. After revising that several times, I began querying again. And while I queried, I wrote a young adult fantasy. Well, my MG fantasy landed me my amazing agent. I signed with Lauren in February and immediately got to work on the next MG novel in the trilogy. I finished, and now I'm working on another YA novel.

Let's add that all up. Two practice novels that will forever be shelved since I pulled bits of them and totally reworked them into a new novel. My MG that got me my agent. My first YA novel. Another MG novel. And now another YA novel. Six. I've written six books before I've had a novel published. And it's nice to know I'm in good company with authors whose first published books were actually not the first books they wrote.

How many books have you written? Do you have practice novels that you view as experience instead of as publishable work?

Monday Mishmash 8/22

Happy Monday! As usual, my mind is a mishmash. Here's what I'm thinking about today:

Revising I'm working on revisions for my new YA manuscript. I've been through one round and am going to try something different for round two. I'll be blogging about it later in the week.Tennis I'm teaching my daughter to play tennis. She's only four so we are starting slowly, but she's doing well, and I love being on the court again. (I played in high school.)Dash in the Poconos My signing at the Shawnee Inn is all set for September 17. Dash and his book will be on display in the Buckwood Cafe, and we'll be doing a craft the day of the signing. Yay!Reading Now that my YA manuscript is fully drafted and has been through one round of revisions, I'm hoping to get back to my normal amount of reading. All my free time has been spent on my own novel.Pretend Book Signings My daughter's been having her own pretend book signings. She makes signs and reads books, including my book. She even shakes my hand and pretends she's famous. Have I ruined her?

Well, that's it for me. What's on your mind today?

Oh, I have an interview up on Miranda Paul's blog if you'd like to check it out.

Appreciated Follower Award

First of all, hi to all the She Writes blog hoppers! Feel free to look around.

This week I received the Appreciated Follower Award (twice!):

Isn't it pretty? This award was given to me by Fi Phillips over at Fi's Magical Writing Haven and Karen Wojcik Berner at Bibliophilic Blather Thank you so much Fi and Karen. They both have amazing blogs, so definitely go check them out.

Here are the rules for this award:

Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.Copy and paste the award on your blog.Have faith that your followers will spread the love to other bloggers.And most of all - have bloggity-blog fun.

Here are 5 awesome followers whose comments I look forward to on a regular basis:

Beverly Diehl from Writing in Flow  C. Lee McKenzie from The Write Game  Brenda Moguez from GrrlGuide  Catherine Stine from Catherine Stine's Idea City Courtney Koschel from Finding My Muse  

Wow, I could keep going. I have so many great followers. So since I can't award you all with this, let me say thank you for visiting my blog. I love being able to interact with all you amazing people.

So, here's my idea. I know the award spreads the blog love, but I want to take it a step further. Let's have everyone recommend one awesome blogger/follower that we can check out. Who visits your blog the most? Whose blog do you visit the most?

Time (In Books)

One of the things I struggle with not just as a writer but as a reader, is the passing of time. Right now I'm reading Hex Hall, which I'm loving. Anything magic is for me. But in the book, there are several places (like the beginnings of chapters) that mark a passing of time. Here a few examples:

 

"Later that night..."

"Two days later..."

"A week later, things still weren't any better."

"By the beginning of October..."

Now, they are all clear about the time frame so I'm not lost in the story. And not much space is spent on setting up this lapse of time either. But as a reader, I can't help thinking, what happened during those two days, week, or month? The "Later that night" one doesn't bother me much because I can do without mundane details of the day. But I can't help being curious when a chunk of time is passed over.

I'm working on a YA novel now, and I've gone back and forth with the idea of allowing time lapses into my story like Rachel Hawkins does in Hex Hall. I'm trying to decide if it's really necessary to skip over days and allow more time to pass or if I should keep the timeframe to the one-week period it could take place in. I tend to like fast paced books that occur over a short span. (You might remember a previous blog post about that.) But when a character needs some time to deal with changes in their life and things sort of become routine while they are adjusting, time lapses can make sense.

How do you feel about the passing of time in novels? Do you find yourself wanting to know what you missed in that week or month that was skipped over? Or are you glad that a simple line can skip over routine things so the story can keep moving forward?

Monday Mishmash 8/15

It's Monday! I hope everyone enjoyed the weekend. Here's what's on my mind today:

Book Signings I'm working on setting up another signing, this time at the Shawnee Inn and Golf Resort, which is the site of the Pocono Retreat (SCBWI's Eastern PA regional event). Their gift shop will also carry copies of May the Best Dog Win. Yay!WriteOnCon If you aren't familiar with this online conference you should check it out. It begins tomorrow, and it's free.Iron Pigs We took our daughter to a minor league baseball game Saturday evening. It poured! But she got a foam finger, ice cream, and a pretzel. Plus she high-fived both mascots (FeFe and Ferris) and got a kiss from FeFe, so she was happy. They called the game during the 4th inning though.Editing I had four editing jobs last week! Crazy! I'm still working on one since it's a novel.Running My knee has been bothering me for the past week, so I haven't run since last Monday. It's finally better, and I'm back to my normal running/reading on the treadmill routine.Well, that's my mishmash of Monday thoughts. What's on your mind today?

Fast Draft vs. Edit as You Write

I've heard a lot of writers talk about how they fast draft, meaning they write and write without thinking much about the words they are putting on the page (or screen). Now this doesn't mean write anything and not care at all how it comes out. It means you get your thoughts and ideas down, letting them flow naturally. My honest reaction to this was, "No way. Not for me." I've always been the edit as I go type. I revise each word and try to make sure I am putting the best possible word choice on the page as I write. Well, last week that all changed.

I'm working on a new YA manuscript, and the ideas are pouring out of me. I wrote my usual summary of the book so I know where I am going with the story. But right from the start, my character's voices were in my head talking a mile a minute. I had to change the way I wrote. So, I opened up a blank screen and let the words flow. I listened to my characters and just tried to keep up. The result? I wrote about 50K in just over one week. It was crazy. It was like I was doing NaNo, only I wasn't trying to write this fast. I just couldn't help it. Getting the words down like this, kept my ideas flowing.

I'm not a night person, but now I'm wired at night, not wanting to shut my laptop off and go to sleep. I just want to write. Okay, so maybe that's a downside to this method, but really, I'm not complaining. Drinking more coffee, yes. But not complaining. Another great thing about fast drafting is I don't have to stop and think about something that happened six chapter back and wonder how I'd written a particular scene. It's all fresh in my mind, because six chapters ago wasn't weeks or even months ago. It was a matter of a couple days.

So, I'm loving this method of writing and am so happy I tried it. I'm even allowing myself to write scenes out of order. Whatever comes to me, I write. And you know, it ends up piecing itself together in the end.

What about you? Do you fast draft or edit as you write? Would you ever consider trying the other way?

Special Guest: Emma, Teen Writer

Today I have a very special guest for you to meet. She's a teen writer, and... well, I'm just going to jump right in.

Can you tell us a little about yourself?

Hello! I am Emma Beaudoin, you may know me as zemmzemm on this blog. I am 13 years old, and attend highschool at the moment. I live in Quebec, Canada.

When did you start writing?

I started writing for school; as most of us do, and I really enjoyed, and still enjoy it. I suppose it was in grade 5 that I realized how much I liked writing, so I decided to take it to the next level; writing for leisure. That's when I wanted to be a writer. My teachers from grade 5-7 have all been a great support for that, as have my family and friends. Not only my family, friends and teachers, but my adopted teachers from the Children's Writer Chat Friends group. They've been a great support as well.

How do you come up with your story ideas?

Well, inspiration has many ways of coming to me. One of those ways is through nature. I am often inspired by nature for my story settings. Another way of inspiration is through daydreaming. I love daydreaming! If it were a sport I'd go into the Olympics for it! My best friend Carson Turnbull and I daydream on the bus in adventures together, then tell eachother our adventures in our minds. I find that is a way to comeup with story ideas. The next way, probably the most likely to be used as story ideas is reading. Reading different books helps me see what people like to read, and which styles are most popular.

Do you listen to music when you write or do you need quiet?

When I write, I do not listen to music. I find it distracting, and I can't seem to think how people do not find it distracting. I see people in class during silent reading listening to their ipods while reading! When reading or writing, complete silence is best for me.

What's your writing space like? 

My writing space is at a desk in my room. My desk is fairly large, occupied by a computer, whcih takes up half of the space on my desk, although there is still space to write. My keyboard and mouse are underneath the desk on that rolling shelf thing. They are both wireless, which makes things easier. I like to write there, and in many other places too. I also like writing outside in nature where I get inspirations.

I know you are co-authoring a novel, can you describe what that's like?

Co-authoring is an amazing experience. If you ever get the chance to experience it, go for it! I really get to know my own style better, and the style of my partner, Carson Turnbull, an amazing writer herself. It's loads of fun. We write a chapter, send it to eachother, the other corrects it, sends it back and we keep it and continue. It's loads of fun! We're each writing from the prospective of a character, her Sazle, me Kaligo.

What's the best book you've ever read and why?

Best book... sheesh! That's a toughy! You're not making it easy! I guess I'd say The Lost Hero. It is written by Rick Riordan. I love him! He is funny and makes his books funny too! His humor shines through his books and his imagination is wild! I love it! He uses greek mythology in his book and it's very good! I would recommend it to fantasy fans!

Who is your favorite author?

Rick Riordan is AWESOME, so I'd have to say he's the one! (I completely agree!)

If you could compare your writing to a famous author's, whose would it be and why? 

Oh! Well, very good question by the way. I really don't know. I suppose my writing is unique.

Can you give us your blog address and tell us what you blog about?

Of course! My blog address is http://advice4writing.blogspot.com/ My blog is called Writer's Passion, and it is all about writing advice. I haven't updated it in a while, but I'd love your comments and if you'd like follow me!

Just for fun:

Cookies or cake?

Cake! Cheesecake especially!

Morning or night?

Night!

Print book or ebook?

Print book!

Notebook or computer?

Notebook!

Books or movies?

Books!

Thanks a lot for interviewing me Kelly! Bye everyone!

Thanks, Emma!

Emma said she'd check back in to answer any questions you might have and read your comments, so feel free to leave them below. I hope you enjoyed getting to know Emma. 

Did you write as a teen? If not, when did you start?

Monday Mishmash 8/8

Happy Monday! Time for another mishmash. Here's what's on my mind today:

Teen author I have a very special guest stopping by my blog on Wednesday. She's a 13-year-old writer. If you write for teens, you're going to want to be here for her interview.Love at first type Okay, that was super cheesy, but my new WIP has completely stolen my heart and taken over my life. I'm losing sleep for it, ignoring my husband for it, and devoting every free second I have to it.Bargains I got the best bargains on my shopping trip last Friday. Seriously, the deals were phenomenal. I'm still on cloud nine over the experience.Word count Yup, I'm talking about my WIP again. Have I mentioned I love it? My word count each day is crazy. You'd think I was participating in NaNo, and it's coming so easily. This has never happened to me before.Dreaming about books I had this dream over the weekend, where I went to my mailbox and found a ton of free books. I almost didn't want to wake up.That's it for me. What's on your mind today?

Character Interview

Thank you to everyone who commented on Wednesday's post about first or third person POV. You all had such helpful suggestions. I did some experimenting as many people said I should. I wrote the opening in third person. It started out just fine until about the third paragraph when I felt like it was falling flat. So I kept that opening on the page but went back and started over in first person. At first it was pretty much identical, switching "she" for "I" and whatnot. I wasn't happy. So I took Brenda's suggestion to interview my MC. Thank Brenda! This was such an eye opening experience. (If you haven't checked out Brenda's blog, you need to.)

I put my laptop aside and said out loud--like the crazy writer I am--"Jodi, do you want to tell this story or should I?" Yes, I was literally talking to my MC. And thankfully, she answered. She isn't a pushy character, but she politely asked me to step aside and get out of her way. She has a story to tell, and she needs to tell it her way. So I got rid of my two mediocre drafts, erasing them completely, and I told Jodi to start talking. And immediately, I realized she's a better storyteller than I am. I'm okay with that since I created her.

Now I realize that I sound a little nuts here, but I think many of you understand where I'm coming from. My characters need to take over. They need to take the reins and tell their own stories. So Brenda's suggestion to interview my MC really helped. I had to flat out ask Jodi what she wanted.

Do you ever interview your characters, even if it's just to ask them one big question to get the story started? Do you make character collages? How do you get to know your characters well enough to let them take control of their own stories?