Judith Post's Blog, page 90

Part 3

I posted the next chapter on my webpage.  It’s not PG, just warning you.

http://www.judithpostswritingmusings.com/

Part 2

I posted the second chapter of TRANSCENDING THE PHYSICAL on my webpage, if you’re interested.  http://www.judithpostswritingmusings.com/

What happened to copy edits?

There was a time when I used to read books and never notice a mistake.  Now, that could have been because I didn’t notice them like I do now.  The longer I write, the more mistakes glare at me in anything I’m reading.  But it feels as if books are rushed more these days, and more mistakes sneak through.

It’s easy to miss small mistakes.  We read over them.  Our head fills in what should be there, or we’ve rewritten a scene so many times, we can’t tell if it’s good or not.  Hopefully, our beta readers catch them.  Or our editor.  Or copy editor.  But not always.

I notice small mistakes in books I read, but it’s the bigger ones that make me wonder.  Where was the editor?

I recently read a book that was written in third person, but every once in a while, for no reason, the story switched to first person.  Not internal dialogue.  That, I like it.  Just the wrong POV.  It was annoying.  I’m assuming the author wrote the book in first person, and then decided to make it third person, but she didn’t catch everything.  Neither did her copy editor.  Not sure why.  It seemed pretty obvious to me.

I’ve gotten used to a typo here, a missing word there.  But the wrong verb tense?  A name that switches halfway through the story?  A subplot that just disappears, never to return?  It’s easy to do all of those things as a writer.   You realize you have three characters’ names that start with J and decide to change two of them to something else, but you miss a few of them, and the old name still drifts through the story.  An easy mistake to make.  That’s when you rely on your copy editor.  Or, I read a mystery/romance where the ghost of a Roman centurion gave mysterious clues to the protagonist, and if she helped him find where the bodies of his fellow soldiers were buried in England, he could find peace…but he never got it, because the author forgot the entire subplot when she got hot and bothered with the story’s romance.  An editor could have fixed that.

I think today, poor editors are so pressured, they don’t have the time to spend on projects that they once did.  That’s why writers have to find really good critique partners.  We should make our stories as perfect as we can BEFORE we send them off into the cold, cruel word.  I have topnotch partners.  I hope you do, too.

And now, on a completely different, more frivolous note, since I’m talking about our actual writing and how it’s edited, I’m curious what you think about using contractions in your stories.  I love them.  I think they make a story feel more real, more like what people would really say.    I even think they make narration or exposition flow better.  I’ve read writers (including one of my favorites) who never use contractions.  They always use “she would” instead of “she’d”.  And I can skim over that most of the time, but then it catches up with me and stops me cold.  It sounds too formal.  It slows me down until I force my brain to squash the words into contractions.  And then I do better.

What do you think?  Contractions or not?

Also, (and this is the time for a shameless plug), my 6th and last Mill Pond romance is now availabe for free on NetGalley for reviewers and bloggers.  If you’re interested, just hit this button.  [image error]

 

The Fall Solstice has come and gone.  Hope you have a wonderful Fall, and happy writing!  Also, if anyone has any questions they’d like me to answer, (if I can), let me know!

 

My webpage:  (I started a new, free story.  A new chapter will go up each week):  http://www.judithpostswritingmusings.com/

My Author Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/JudiLynnwrites/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel

Twitter:  @judypost

Also, if you’re interested, Marcella Burdette sent me a site with lots of links for writers: http://www.supersummary.com/fiction-writing-guide/

 

 

 

 

Sharing

I stumbled on a tweet where Ilona Andrews (one of my favorite writers) tries to do a quick lesson on outlining.  She uses Little Red Riding Hood and puts her own spins on it.  Pretty fun!

 

You are here: Home / Work / On Outlining

SEP 27 2017

On Outlining

C. writes

I was wondering if for a future blog post on writing or writing tricks, if you could describe your story outlining process a little? And/or post a small example of your typical outline? Even just a short blurb would be really awesome.

I’m a very visual person, and I struggle with ADHD (diagnosed as an adult… boy it explains a lot), especially in terms of attention and organization. (What is this foreign concept of “organization”?) Outlines for essays have always been helpful, but I just can’t wrap my head around how that may look like for a story. I’ve tried Googling some examples, but I mostly come up with things like “fill in the blank” character profile sheets. Approaches I’ve tried to make end up being tooooo detailed… and then the story gets strangled to death. I’ve even tried looking in ADHD forums for ideas and tips.

There’s probably stuff out there, but I’ve been too dense to find it. I have so many story ideas that I’ve written paragraph idea sketches so I don’t forget them, but every time I try to sit down and write one of them, I get “lost” and can’t find my way around my own story. I know editing is where you refine your plot, but I’m hoping to somehow figure out a nice basic road map to reference to get through the rough draft.

I will continue to try looking for things out in the ether, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask you since I love your stories so much and love how you bring your pieces together. It would be pretty cool to see a small example of your outline style.

Let’s take a stab at this.  We’re going to outline a retelling of Red Riding Hood.  Any similarities to any future or past retellings are coincidental.  There are only so many way you can spin this old story and many people have done it, so I claim no rights to this cliche synopsis and release it into public domain.

We’re going to do this in three stages.

Stage one.

Imagine a five year old, one of your relatives, children, siblings, etc.  You need to tell the story of Red Riding Hood to him and do it so he or she don’t get bored.

Red Riding Hood was a very nice girl, who lived on the edge of a dark scary forest with her mom and dad in a little cottage.  Red Riding Hood liked to wear a red cape her Grandma gave her for her birthday. Her grandmother lived by herself in the woods.

Five year old: Why did Grandma live in the woods by herself?

This is a valid question, so let’s think up of a reason.

Her grandmother was a powerful witch and she had to live in the woods, because that where she gathered the best herbs.

At this point let’s circle back to the first paragraph.

Red Riding Hood is a very nice girl, who lives on the edge of a dark scary forest with her mom and dad in a little cottage.  Red Riding Hood likes to wear a red cape her Grandma gave her for her birthday.  Her grandmother told Red Riding Hood that if she were ever in trouble, the red cloak would protect her.  Red Riding Hood’s Grandmother lives by herself in the woods, because she was a powerful witch and that’s where she gathers herbs to brew her magical potions.

One day, Red Riding Hood’s mother asks Red Riding Hood to deliver a basket of bread rollscookies bottles of imported nightshade to Grandma.  Red Riding Hood puts on her cloak and goes to the woods.

In the Red Riding Hood’s village also lives a very nice boy, whose name was Ranulf.  Ranulf is a hunter and he is really good at hunting, because Ranulf is a werewolf.  He keeps his magic a secret, because people get scared of werewolves and Ranulf doesn’t want to scare anyone. For awhile now, Ranulf has been finding disturbing signs in the woods, animals who were hacked to pieces.

Need to up the stakes here.

Also, two girls had disappeared from the village.  They went into the woods and didn’t come back.  Some people said it was some deadly beast who tore them apart.  Someone like a big scary wolf.

Back to the front paragraph.

Red Riding Hood is a very nice girl, who lives on the edge of a dark scary forest with her mom and dad in a little cottage.  The forest is a dangerous place.  Two girls from their village had gone into the woods and never came back, but Red Riding Hood isn’t scared of the woods. She loves wandering under the big old trees and goes there often, which is why her grandmother, a powerful witch who made the woods her home, gave her a red cloak for her birthday and told her that it would protect her in time of danger.

One day, Red Riding Hood’s mother asks Red Riding Hood to deliver some bottles of imported nightshade to Grandma.  Red Riding Hood puts on her cloak and goes to the woods.

In the Red Riding Hood’s village also lives a very nice boy, whose name was Ranulf.  Ranulf is a hunter and he is really good at hunting, because Ranulf is a werewolf.  He keeps his magic a secret, because people get scared of werewolves and Ranulf didn’t want to scare anyone. Even so, people don’t like Ranulf.  There was just something odd about him that makes them worry.  So Ranulf keeps mostly to himself and doesn’t talk to smart and funny girls like Red Riding Hood.

For awhile now, Ranulf has been finding disturbing signs in the woods, animals who were hacked to pieces. Then, the girls disappeared.  Ranulf knows that something terrible is in the woods, and when he sees Red Riding Hood leave by herself, he decides to follow her. But because he isn’t well liked, he turns into a wolf, so he can follow her undetected.

Red Riding Hood notices the big bad scary wolf and tries to lose him.

Come up with at least two ways of figuring out how she is going to lose him.  Possible variations: she wades down stream.  She uses some magic to distract him.  She falls into a pit and he passes her by.  Something here.

Unknown to her, Red Riding Hood is being stalked by a woodsman whose name is Gary.  Gary is a very sick person.  He liked to kill small helpless animals and set things on fire when he was younger, but now he grew up into a big strong man and he is looking for bigger things he could kill and torture.  From Gary’s point of view, things that come into his woods belong to him and he can hurt them however he wants. Ranulf smells Gary early on and decides that nothing good would come from the woodsman being there.

Woodsman Gary, Ranulf and Red Riding Hood slowly make their way through the woods.  Gary keeps trying to get Red Riding Hood.  All the while Red Riding Hood thinks the wolfs if her real problem…

The cape should turn her invisible.

Red Riding Hood notices the big bad scary wolf and tries to hide from him.  Just about when he iss ready to discover her, her cape turns her invisible.

Have a big scary scene here with her holding her breath. Have her do some magic.

Unknown to her, Red Riding Hood is being stalked by a woodsman whose name is Gary.  Gary is a very sick person.  He liked to kill small helpless animals and set things on fire when he was younger, but now he grew up into a big strong man and he is looking for bigger things he could kill and torture.  From Gary’s point of view, things that come into his woods belong to him and he can hurt them however he wants. Ranulf smells Gary early on and decides that nothing good would come from the woodsman being there and decides to put himself between Gary and Red Riding Hood.

Woodsman Gary, Ranulf and Red Riding Hood slowly make their way through the woods.  Gary keeps trying to get Red Riding Hood.  Ranulf keeps trying to keep Gary from getting Red Riding Hood. Red Riding keeps trying to get to the Grandma’s house safe and outwit both of them.

Stuff happens.

This is a perfectly fine thing to have in your synopsis.  I don’t need to completely plot the story down to every detail.  I already know that I will likely do a three act structure in this part where there are two encounters between my three characters, with the big finale being the final encounter.  As I will write the story, I will discover how it will unfold and those details will allow me to come up with a better encounter than if I just write it now cold turkey.  Don’t be afraid to let stuff percolate in your brain. Like Grandma’s potions, stories need time to brew.

Gary, who is an impatient and impulsive bad guy, decides to abandon his pursuit of Red Riding Hood and instead to head directly down to Grandma’s cottage and wait for Red Riding Hood there.  He arrives to the cottage to find the old witch is out, so he breaks the door and goes inside.  While inside, he finds a transforming potion and takes it, turning himself into Grandma.

Because why the heck not, right?  Might as well push this as far as it can go.

Red Riding arrives to the cottage to find her Grandmother inside.  But Ranulf, who followed her, smells Gary’s scent and realizes that grandmother was the woodsman in disguise.  He attacks Gary to save Red Riding Hood.  Not realizing that Ranulf is trying to save her, Red Riding Hood fights him off and locks him outside the house.  Gary has been waiting for this moment for a long time.  He wants to hurt her very much.  He just keeps smiling and smiling, but Red Riding Hood’s grandmother wasn’t a the smiling type.  She realizes something is wrong and when Gary attacks, she was ready.

Meanwhile, Ranulf finally finds the way inside the house.  He breaks in just in time to help Red Riding Hood finish off Gary.  Ranulf turns back into a human, and he and Red Riding Hood cleaned up the mess and waited for grandmother to come home together.  Red Riding Hood always kind of thought that Ranulf was interesting but he was always off by himself, so now is their chance to finally get to know each other.

Stage two.

Now that I figured out the general layout of the story, the question is where to start.

I’m probably going to start with a scene where Red Riding Hood is in the woods, because I need to show her running around there not being scared of the scary woodland creatures.  So perhaps something with a monster, of which she isn’t scared.  As she turns to go home, she stumbles onto human remains, possibly one of two girls who disappeared.  She might recognize the hair or an article of closing.  As she turns to leave, she sees the big black wolf watching her from the shadows.  Something about the wolf deeply freaks her out. She takes off for the house, where her mother asks her to visit her grandmother.

At the core, this is a story of two outcast weirdos finding each other, so getting them together in the first scene creates symmetry with the ending: they start together and they end together.  The story comes full circle.

This is all I need to start.  The general framework of the story and the general framework of the scene I am about to write. I don’t need anything else.  I don’t need to think ahead on any details.  Those will come as I write.

Stage three.

The woods stood still.

Red frowned.  The woods were never still.  They moved and shifted with life.  Even in the darkest deepest corners, where sun barely broke through the dense canopy of leaves overhead, things with glowing eyes prowled, hunted, and cuddled their young.  But here, in this shallow ravine, the woods stood still.  Birds didn’t sing, squirrels didn’t scamper, and the woodpeckers had fallen silent.  Nothing moved.  The air felt dead…

There you go.  Now you try to retell your own fairy tale for fun.

Change of pace

I’m halfway through writing my second mystery, but every once in a while, I just need a change of pace, to write something a little different.  So I started a short story on my webpage.  And it IS a change of pace, offbeat.  I posted Part 1 today.

http://www.judithpostswritingmusings.com/

How Much Can a Head Hold?

For whatever reason, I’ve been hungry for cabbage soup, so I made two big pots of it today–one for John and me, one for my sisters (who love soup, but hate to cook).  I used two Dutch ovens, and they LOOK about the same size.  Except they weren’t.  By the time I sauteed the sausage slices, added onions, carrots, potatoes, and diced tomatoes, along with seasonings and broth, one pot had room for the sliced cabbage and one didn’t.

At the moment, my head feels like pot number 2.  If I add anything else, something is going to overflow and spill out.  John and I love people, but we’re not exactly social.  Most nights, we’re just as happy staying home as going out.  But September has been a buffet of friend delights.  Our calendar has never had as much ink on it for things to do.  I’ve loved every minute of it, but when I sit down to write, I can tell there’s more jiggling around in my brain than usual.

I always rewrite whatever I wrote the previous day before I let myself write anything new.  I have to.  I’d never put in the time to do it right if I had to rewrite an entire manuscript.  It’s too daunting, so I rewrite in stages.  Polish yesterday’s chapter before I start a new one.  Polish a fourth of my manuscript before I move to the next one.  And I can tell I’ve been busy, a bit distracted.  There are sentences with missing words.  The ideas are there, but little things haven’t stuck to the page.  They’ve spilled out.  Or I’ve used the wrong name for the wrong person.  Little things.  Things you can mop up and clean.   But things that don’t usually happen.

I know this story is far enough in to find its own way.  I wake up in the mornings with tweaks and new scenes in my mind.  The characters take turns I didn’t expect.  The book can hold its own with everything else that’s happening this month.  But if the writing holds its ground, something else has to give. I forget to put the chicken out to thaw or my foot goes in my mouth and I sound as intelligent as a hamster when I open my mouth.

Have I reached the point that if something pops into my brain, something has to fall out?  Not usually, but I’ve never been a multi-tasker, and when life gets busy, little things bite the dust.  We all lead busy lives these days.  I hope you juggle better than I do.  Happy writing!

Webpage:  (I posted a novella on it):  http://www.judithpostswritingmusings.com/

Author Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/JudiLynnwrites/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel

Twitter:  @judypost

Newsletters–yea or nay?

My friend, M. L. Rigdon/Julia Donner just spent time setting up a newsletter with mailchimp.  She sent out the first one, and I enjoyed reading it.  I’d link it here, but I can’t find the link.  (Hint, hint, Mary Lou, if you’d like to put it in a comment for us).  I’ve seen more and more writers offering newsletters.  Do any of you?  I started one a long time ago, but fizzled.  I just couldn’t figure out what a reader would want to hear from me.  I already have this blog and a webpage and an author Facebook page.  I thought that was probably more than most people would want to bother with.

I read that authors often provide something free for people who read their newsletters. I wrote many free stories for my webpage.  And I had lots of visitors.  I don’t have the time to do that now, but I’m putting up excerpts.  And thank you to the people who still visit my page!

So, I’m asking:  what makes newsletters better than other author sites?  Are they more fun to write?  Do readers enjoy them more?   I’m curious.

I finally turned in my first mystery for Kensington and I’m working on my second one. They won’t come out until 2018, so if I wanted to start a newsletter, I have plenty of time to play with ideas, etc.  How often do you send a newsletter?  How do you make it special?

Thanks for any feedback!  And happy writing!

 

webpage:  http://www.judithpostswritingmusings.com/ 

author Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/JudiLynnwrites/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel

Twitter:  @judypost

 

 

 

Business…and…Mysteries with Romance

I finally got my official contract from Kensington.  It takes what feels like a long time between receiving a 3-book deal to getting the official 20+ page tome of subject heading after subject heading that I mostly have no clue about.  That’s when I’m grateful I have my agent, Lauren Abramo, from Dystel, Goderich, and Bourret.  I think most of what Kensington offers is set in stone–like the Ten Commandments–but what I concentrate on are my writing deadlines. And when do my books come out?  I know my deadlines–and I’ve given myself more time between books now that I’m writing mysteries, but I still don’t know when my books will come out.  Kensington won’t decide that until 2018.

My 6th and last romance, SPECIAL DELIVERY, is due out Nov. 7th, and I wanted to give it a fair shot, so I paid for a blog tour.  In truth, I thought Kensington would promote my romances, but not so much.  MOST writers have to promote themselves these days.  That was a learning experience for me, so I’m promoting this one a little myself.  Of course, BookBub is the BEST, but I can’t afford it, and it’s harder to get accepted by BookBub than to pass through the eye of the needle these days.  The price for my tour isn’t terrible–$60.  But it takes a day or two to decide which tour you want and to get everything ready for it if you want each blog stop to be unique with a different excerpt or blog at each spot.   And, yes, this is time well-spent.  You want to start a good two months before your book comes out.  I’m using Goddess Fish Promotions again, and they’re great to work with.

Now, with the business stuff behind me, I can concentrate on my favorite thing–writing. The first mystery is done and sent.  And this time, probably because I just finished writing them–I’ve added a romance subplot to the clues and red herrings.  This is where it got a little bit tricky.  I’ve been reading (okay, I’m a little obsessed with) Jenna Bennett’s Savannah Martin series.  She mixes mystery and romance into almost a fusion.  There’s lots of TALK about sex (nothing graphic, though), lots of steam, and gritty murders.  It makes for an intoxicating cocktail.

This is the thing, though.  I’m finishing book #10, and Rafe and Savannah still aren’t married.  It almost feels like the TV show Castle.  The chemistry is intoxicating, and they keep growing closer, but how long can you flirt with HEA and not deliver?  I’m thinking they get married in the next book.  Thank God.  But this prolonged tease let me know that even though in romances, the HEA comes at the end of the book, that’s not the way it works in other genres.

I make no secret that I’m an Ilona Andrews and Patricia Briggs fan–from the days I wrote urban fantasy.  And werewolves and werelions don’t just walk in and sweep the heroines off their feet either.  It took a few books before the hot guys won the hotter women.  So, I didn’t let my characters–Jazzi and Ansel–walk down the aisle in book one and have their HEA.  I don’t think I can come up with one diversion after another for 10 books, but I know that stalling is a good thing.  And dead bodies are great distractions to keep heroines and heroes too busy to plan ahead.  But what happens after the “death do us part” clicks in?  Do things get (yawn) boring?  I’m thinking of Castle and other TV shows.   Can you keep them interesting after marriage?  What do you think?  I was a sucker for Tommy and Tuppence, Nick and Nora, and marriage didn’t hurt them.  Any opinions?

Happy Writing!

 

My webpage (posted every Thursday):  http://www.judithpostswritingmusings.com/

Author Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/JudiLynnwrites/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel

Twitter:  @judypost

 

 

 

 

WIND RIVER THOUGHTS

We hear about so many injustices, we forget the American Indians. This is so well said. And if this created Jake in your new book, no wonder he’s so mesmerizing. Can’t wait to see this book available for my Kindle.

historyfanforever

In 1973, I visited the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in Lame Deer, MO, drawn there by a character in a story I was writing who was half Cheyenne. Forty years later, after endless rewrites and title changes, Avenue to Heaven is finished. Back then, I’d thought I’d done a lot of research but learned within moments of stepping inside the reservation trading post how phenomenally ignorant I was.

A lady behind the counter greeted me without words. Her stance was familiar from all I’d read about Native Ameican cultures. (A teacher at the grim parochial schools Indian children were forced to attend wrote of how disturbing it was to speak to a classroom of the tops of bowed heads.) I accepted that I was wicaśaśni, one of the takers, and a stranger on her land, and browsed, bought a lovely wristband, and mentioned that I loved the book on display,

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Attitude

Our grandson lives in Indianapolis.  He’s young and rents a house with a friend of his. He invited us down last Sunday to see the house, meet his roommate, and grill for us.  My daughter’s a traveling nurse in Indy and bought huge steaks and baking potatoes for the meal.  My sister, Mary, came along for the fun.  And it was fun.  When my family gets together, we tend to tease each other, catch up, and laugh a lot.  The next day, Ty called and said that his roommate thought we were hilarious and ruthless.

Okay, I had to think about that.  Hilarious?  We do love to give each other grief.  And it’s possible each and every one of us is a tad eccentric.  Ruthless?  Well, nothing much is sacred.  Everything’s on the table.   And our approach to life?  If something’s wrong, deal with it.  If life hits you hard, throw a pity party, get over it, and decide what to do next.

I read a blog on Triberr today about writing characters, and it made me think of my family.  The blogger–a writer–said that knowing GMC isn’t enough.  Each character in the story should have a different attitude. And after thinking about that, I agree.  People might have common goals, maybe even beliefs, but they’re approach to those could vary a lot, depending on their attitudes.  Lots of things shape a person’s life, and all of those combine to determine a person’s attitude–how he sees what happens around him and how he feels a person should react to it.

The blogger said that if you listen to character A and she sounds exactly like character B, you haven’t made each character unique enough.  And to do that, think about each of their attitudes.  People in families all have different personalities.  They’ve experienced the same of many things–parents, experiences, schools.  But that doesn’t equate to the same personalities.  Why?  The oldest child usually is more adult motivated.  The second child is often more in tune with his older sibling and other kids than his parents.  So birth order comes into play.

My sister Patty and I are only ten months apart.  My parents were young, and money was tight.  They were busy and had too much on their plate to shower us with attention.  But my sister Mary came along twelve years later.  Mom and Dad were more comfortable financially.  Mom was ready to just enjoy raising a baby, but she was older.  By bedtime, she was tired, so Mary would pester me for bedtime stories and wake me up when she had nightmares.  The dynamics had changed.  Having a sister twelve years younger than I was felt like getting a new doll, only better.  I could play with her, have fun with her, but I didn’t have to raise her:)

Parents and birth order are only part of what makes attitude, though.  I was the oldest child, but only for ten months.  Then poor Mom had two of us to deal with.  And we were nothing alike.  Are most brothers and sisters?  I loved school.  Patty didn’t.  I made top grades, and Patty tried to flunk achievement tests so that she’d get put in easier classes.  (Yes, she was smart enough to try to work the system:)  I liked sports. Patty hated them.  With my grandsons, Tyler was easy-going.  Nate had ADD/ADHD and struggled through school, hated it.  Ty couldn’t wait to start college.  Nate never wanted to see the inside of a classroom again.

Many things go into developing character and all of those things create a person’s attitude.  I think attitude might be the thing that distinguishes interesting differences for writing.  When I outline my next book, I might list what each person’s attitude is.  I’m pretty sure that would make each person’s approach and dialogue different from each other’s.  Just a thought.

Happy Writing!

My webpage:  http://www.judithpostswritingmusings.com/

My author Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/JudiLynnwrites/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel

Twitter:  @judypost