Amanda Meuwissen's Blog - Posts Tagged "tips"
Gardeners Versus Architects – The Importance of a Writer Keeping Notes
There are two types of writers (and those of us who fall into a third category somewhere in between)—those who plan out everything to the letter before they write, and those who write by the seat of their pants, allowing the characters and writing process to dictate where the story goes.
Or, as George R.R. Martin puts it:
Even those of us who would staunchly consider ourselves architects will often change things when our characters surprise us and a little gardening is needed. But I think it’s also important for gardeners to at the very least retroactively do some heavy planning, namely by taking notes as they write and brainstorm ideas that they can easily reference later when editing.
I am a middle of the road writer. I plan, more so with every new book idea, but those plans change, often greatly as a story moves forward, and I’ll find myself altering even the biggest plot points. This is made so much easier by taking excessive notes from the start of the writing process through completion.
Title ideas? Written down. Character bios and physical descriptions? All down. Snippets of dialogue. An outline. And, eventually, notes about plot points, reveals, really any pertinent details marked as connected to the chapter they appear in so that later I can easily see any plot holes or things I missed that need to be brought up again, or maybe even removed.
I cannot tell you how helpful this practice was as I edited what will be my new series, Life as a Teenager Vampire, starting with BWN in February! Even with a few ‘kill your darlings’ moments. I had the notes, but darn it, the scene or detail no longer worked with the overall story. (Of course I still saved those notes, and any scenes I cut, because you should never, ever delete something you could potentially use later or change your mind about).
So I implore you, fellow writers, whether you’re a gardener like Martin, a planner, or a mixed bag like me, take notes throughout your entire writing process. You and your readers will be thankful for the attention to detail and (hopefully) flawless plot that comes out of it.
Or, as George R.R. Martin puts it:
“I think there are two types of writers, the architects and the gardeners. The architects plan everything ahead of time, like an architect building a house. They know how many rooms are going to be in the house, what kind of roof they're going to have, where the wires are going to run, what kind of plumbing there's going to be. They have the whole thing designed and blueprinted out before they even nail the first board up. The gardeners dig a hole, drop in a seed and water it. They kind of know what seed it is, they know if planted a fantasy seed or mystery seed or whatever. But as the plant comes up and they water it, they don't know how many branches it's going to have, they find out as it grows. And I'm much more a gardener than an architect.”
Even those of us who would staunchly consider ourselves architects will often change things when our characters surprise us and a little gardening is needed. But I think it’s also important for gardeners to at the very least retroactively do some heavy planning, namely by taking notes as they write and brainstorm ideas that they can easily reference later when editing.
I am a middle of the road writer. I plan, more so with every new book idea, but those plans change, often greatly as a story moves forward, and I’ll find myself altering even the biggest plot points. This is made so much easier by taking excessive notes from the start of the writing process through completion.
Title ideas? Written down. Character bios and physical descriptions? All down. Snippets of dialogue. An outline. And, eventually, notes about plot points, reveals, really any pertinent details marked as connected to the chapter they appear in so that later I can easily see any plot holes or things I missed that need to be brought up again, or maybe even removed.
I cannot tell you how helpful this practice was as I edited what will be my new series, Life as a Teenager Vampire, starting with BWN in February! Even with a few ‘kill your darlings’ moments. I had the notes, but darn it, the scene or detail no longer worked with the overall story. (Of course I still saved those notes, and any scenes I cut, because you should never, ever delete something you could potentially use later or change your mind about).
So I implore you, fellow writers, whether you’re a gardener like Martin, a planner, or a mixed bag like me, take notes throughout your entire writing process. You and your readers will be thankful for the attention to detail and (hopefully) flawless plot that comes out of it.
How Non-Fiction Inspires Fiction
Everyone deals with writer’s block. Sometimes the answer is to take a break. But since we all know that writing a little every day is best to facilitate a healthy writing relationship, how do you take a break, or step back from your fiction writing, while still keeping your juices flowing? Non-fiction.
Non-fiction doesn’t mean you suddenly change the genre you write in. It can mean blogging, like I am now, keeping a journal, writing articles for other publications (or your day job), or simple commentary on sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr to get your ideas, even if non-fictional, out of you.
Personally, I find that spending some time getting my everyday thoughts on paper (or in a Word doc) makes me itch to get back to my fiction, especially if I had otherwise recently burnt out on fiction writing.
Write every day. Yes. But don’t feel you need to only work on you current big fiction project just because you are or want to be a fiction writer. Take a break, writer something else, write something in a genre or style unlike your big project, and you might be surprised how quickly you’re inspired to return to the writing you really want to delve into.
Non-fiction doesn’t mean you suddenly change the genre you write in. It can mean blogging, like I am now, keeping a journal, writing articles for other publications (or your day job), or simple commentary on sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr to get your ideas, even if non-fictional, out of you.
Personally, I find that spending some time getting my everyday thoughts on paper (or in a Word doc) makes me itch to get back to my fiction, especially if I had otherwise recently burnt out on fiction writing.
Write every day. Yes. But don’t feel you need to only work on you current big fiction project just because you are or want to be a fiction writer. Take a break, writer something else, write something in a genre or style unlike your big project, and you might be surprised how quickly you’re inspired to return to the writing you really want to delve into.
Top 5 things I wish I knew before I was published
1. You can’t please everyone
This is something we all struggle to learn, not because we don’t already know, but because it affects us anyway and it is such a tough thing to slough off.
You’re a published author, you’ve had the book professionally edited, typeset, with a cover you love, promoting it as best you can…and you still get negative reviews. It’s not that you don’t know to expect this, it’s that it feels like a blow every time and you have to remind yourself of this fact – you can’t please everyone.
There’s a fine line between constructive criticism that you can internalize to improve for your next book, and people who just don’t like your work and never will. Separating those and moving on to the next positive review is so important. As an author, you have to grow a tougher skin, especially at the start.
2. You are your own marketer
I think people who have yet to be published have this idea in their heads that as long as they get accepted by a publisher, at that point their hard work has paid off and they can sit back and let the publisher do the work to make them successful.
NOT TRUE.
Some people might think that, well, maybe not for smaller publishers, but surely with the Big 5—NOPE. Still not true.
Unless you magically become the next JK Rowling and are already famous, books do not sell themselves, and publishers do not market for you. You are your own marketer and you need to do the work to get your name and your titles out there.
Have a website, have social media, engage, write things other than your books, look for where your audience hangs out, do signings and conventions, do everything, and don’t expect for one second that anyone else will do it for you.
3. You have to spend money to make money
This sort of ties into being your own marketer, but successful marketing costs money. It doesn’t have to cost a lot, but you need to be aware that some budget should be spent on blog tours, conventions, purchasing books you might want on hand not provided by the publishers (as most don’t give you more than a single copy).
You will spend money on a release and you need to plan for that, but if done right, you should make that money back on the first month of sales. There are exceptions, like buying the URL for your website adds additional cost, certain conventions cost more and might not pan out, buying boxes of books might not always sell initially, but it’s a learning curve. You just need to be ready to spend a little no matter who you publish with.
4. Be ready with your next book immediately.
Maybe most of you are like me, where as soon as you get one idea out of you, you likely already had the next one percolating, and the one after THAT. So moving from one book release to already being in the midst of writing your next one should be easy.
If you want to be a successful writer, this is important because it keeps you top of mind with your readers. It means they’ll constantly be looking forward to your next book. If you’re forgotten, it’s easy for people to miss that next release, and you want to gain momentum over time, not lose it.
If you just have one or two books in you and that’s all you plan to produce, fair enough, but if you want to write and write and write, DO IT, and always be ready with that next idea. One book a year is entirely doable.
5. Participate in NaNoWriMo
National Novel Writing Month saved me as a writer. As someone who has regularly written stories for close to two decades, it may surprise you that I hadn’t heard of or participated in NaNo until very recently (I’ve done it twice now).
If you don’t know, it’s the month of November each year where writers dedicate themselves to writing 50k words. It might be the entirety of a novel, or maybe just the start if you write lengthier pieces, but it is still a grand undertaking, because it translates to over 1600 words a day. That’s easy when you think of one day, but doing it every day for 30 days straight is a challenge.
When I first participated in 2015, it rejuvenated my passion to write every day, because for that month I had to, and when it was over, I didn’t want to stop. You don’t have to write 1600 words every day forever, but write something, and NaNo is a great way to get started. It’s also how I’ve kickstarted my last two novels and the one I’m currently editing.
If you worry about being able to get a novel written a year, try NaNo next November. It is a lifesaver.
This is something we all struggle to learn, not because we don’t already know, but because it affects us anyway and it is such a tough thing to slough off.
You’re a published author, you’ve had the book professionally edited, typeset, with a cover you love, promoting it as best you can…and you still get negative reviews. It’s not that you don’t know to expect this, it’s that it feels like a blow every time and you have to remind yourself of this fact – you can’t please everyone.
There’s a fine line between constructive criticism that you can internalize to improve for your next book, and people who just don’t like your work and never will. Separating those and moving on to the next positive review is so important. As an author, you have to grow a tougher skin, especially at the start.
2. You are your own marketer
I think people who have yet to be published have this idea in their heads that as long as they get accepted by a publisher, at that point their hard work has paid off and they can sit back and let the publisher do the work to make them successful.
NOT TRUE.
Some people might think that, well, maybe not for smaller publishers, but surely with the Big 5—NOPE. Still not true.
Unless you magically become the next JK Rowling and are already famous, books do not sell themselves, and publishers do not market for you. You are your own marketer and you need to do the work to get your name and your titles out there.
Have a website, have social media, engage, write things other than your books, look for where your audience hangs out, do signings and conventions, do everything, and don’t expect for one second that anyone else will do it for you.
3. You have to spend money to make money
This sort of ties into being your own marketer, but successful marketing costs money. It doesn’t have to cost a lot, but you need to be aware that some budget should be spent on blog tours, conventions, purchasing books you might want on hand not provided by the publishers (as most don’t give you more than a single copy).
You will spend money on a release and you need to plan for that, but if done right, you should make that money back on the first month of sales. There are exceptions, like buying the URL for your website adds additional cost, certain conventions cost more and might not pan out, buying boxes of books might not always sell initially, but it’s a learning curve. You just need to be ready to spend a little no matter who you publish with.
4. Be ready with your next book immediately.
Maybe most of you are like me, where as soon as you get one idea out of you, you likely already had the next one percolating, and the one after THAT. So moving from one book release to already being in the midst of writing your next one should be easy.
If you want to be a successful writer, this is important because it keeps you top of mind with your readers. It means they’ll constantly be looking forward to your next book. If you’re forgotten, it’s easy for people to miss that next release, and you want to gain momentum over time, not lose it.
If you just have one or two books in you and that’s all you plan to produce, fair enough, but if you want to write and write and write, DO IT, and always be ready with that next idea. One book a year is entirely doable.
5. Participate in NaNoWriMo
National Novel Writing Month saved me as a writer. As someone who has regularly written stories for close to two decades, it may surprise you that I hadn’t heard of or participated in NaNo until very recently (I’ve done it twice now).
If you don’t know, it’s the month of November each year where writers dedicate themselves to writing 50k words. It might be the entirety of a novel, or maybe just the start if you write lengthier pieces, but it is still a grand undertaking, because it translates to over 1600 words a day. That’s easy when you think of one day, but doing it every day for 30 days straight is a challenge.
When I first participated in 2015, it rejuvenated my passion to write every day, because for that month I had to, and when it was over, I didn’t want to stop. You don’t have to write 1600 words every day forever, but write something, and NaNo is a great way to get started. It’s also how I’ve kickstarted my last two novels and the one I’m currently editing.
If you worry about being able to get a novel written a year, try NaNo next November. It is a lifesaver.
Balance between plotting and musing for the busy writer
You may have heard of Architects versus Gardeners for writers. Architects plan everything out beforehand, while Gardeners cultivate their stories as they go. Most writers are a little bit of both, even if you lean more one direction.
And you should be both.
When you get a spark for a story idea, a scene, a conversation, a descriptive action, never rein yourself in to prevent writing ahead just because you feel you should follow the script. Conversely, don’t spend all your time ruminating on ideas and all the ‘fun’ parts you can’t wait to write, and then never figure out what exactly the plot is for your story or how to connect the pieces.
Usually, an idea for a story grips me so hard, I spend hours, days at the start just writing down notes about the characters and what I want the story to be. Maybe I’ll flush out a scene or idea if it’s particularly strong, but I keep myself open to what comes naturally—I let the muse MUSE.
Then I sit down and try to bullet point out the arcs of the story. Usually, I get a little caught up in certain spots and will write forever on one section while not fully knowing what will happen with others just yet. As soon as I feel stuck with plotting though, I pause and move to the beginning of the story. How does the story start?
It becomes a give and take of these processes from there. I write, if something sparks in me that draws me ahead, I scroll down to let that out of me, and once it runs its course, I return to the main body of the text again.
As I start to progress through the story, before I catch up to those moments where I know I’m stuck on plot, I look ahead to them on purpose, try to see if I can find more inspiration to develop them sooner rather than later now that I’ve written more from the beginning and have also indulged a little in additional muse-filled ideas along the way.
It may seem sporadic—jumping around from the start, to the middle, to the deeper plot, to the fun parts—but that’s the nature of the human attention span. One of the reasons we tend to hit what we call ‘writer’s block’ is because we burn out by doing things too much one way. This method keeps you fresh without stifling your gardening skills or your ability to erect masterpieces with fine architectural detail.
For me, writing this way helps better build plots because they form naturally, never forced, but I also don’t get so caught up in the fluff that I forget to plot at all. Over the years, these skills just get better. I think my next book release is far more clearly plotted than my first few novels.
Always grow, always improve, always strive to better yourself and your writing.
I hope these tips help you with your next writing endeavor. The best trick of course is to write as much as you can, whether it’s that great novel you’ve always aspired to create or maybe just a piece of fanfiction to share with friends. Every tale you spin makes you better for the next round.
What are some tips YOU find most useful for plotting compelling stories?
And you should be both.
When you get a spark for a story idea, a scene, a conversation, a descriptive action, never rein yourself in to prevent writing ahead just because you feel you should follow the script. Conversely, don’t spend all your time ruminating on ideas and all the ‘fun’ parts you can’t wait to write, and then never figure out what exactly the plot is for your story or how to connect the pieces.
Usually, an idea for a story grips me so hard, I spend hours, days at the start just writing down notes about the characters and what I want the story to be. Maybe I’ll flush out a scene or idea if it’s particularly strong, but I keep myself open to what comes naturally—I let the muse MUSE.
Then I sit down and try to bullet point out the arcs of the story. Usually, I get a little caught up in certain spots and will write forever on one section while not fully knowing what will happen with others just yet. As soon as I feel stuck with plotting though, I pause and move to the beginning of the story. How does the story start?
It becomes a give and take of these processes from there. I write, if something sparks in me that draws me ahead, I scroll down to let that out of me, and once it runs its course, I return to the main body of the text again.
As I start to progress through the story, before I catch up to those moments where I know I’m stuck on plot, I look ahead to them on purpose, try to see if I can find more inspiration to develop them sooner rather than later now that I’ve written more from the beginning and have also indulged a little in additional muse-filled ideas along the way.
It may seem sporadic—jumping around from the start, to the middle, to the deeper plot, to the fun parts—but that’s the nature of the human attention span. One of the reasons we tend to hit what we call ‘writer’s block’ is because we burn out by doing things too much one way. This method keeps you fresh without stifling your gardening skills or your ability to erect masterpieces with fine architectural detail.
For me, writing this way helps better build plots because they form naturally, never forced, but I also don’t get so caught up in the fluff that I forget to plot at all. Over the years, these skills just get better. I think my next book release is far more clearly plotted than my first few novels.
Always grow, always improve, always strive to better yourself and your writing.
I hope these tips help you with your next writing endeavor. The best trick of course is to write as much as you can, whether it’s that great novel you’ve always aspired to create or maybe just a piece of fanfiction to share with friends. Every tale you spin makes you better for the next round.
What are some tips YOU find most useful for plotting compelling stories?
