Gabe Cole Novoa's Blog, page 30

How to Write Excellent Plot Twists

Photo credit: Romain Toornier on FlickrI got an interesting suggestion not too long ago about writing a post on plot twists—specifically, how to write a good one. I've found, for me at least, there are two kinds of experiences with writing effective plot twists: planned plot twists and surprise plot twists.

Planned plot twists. By and large, this is the majority of plot twists. In order to pull off a twist that both makes sense and is effectively built into the story but clever enough that it'll surprise readers, you often need to plan ahead. When trying to come up with a plot twist, some steps you can use to spark a twist include:
What are all of the possible outcomes? Write them down. Even the most ridiculous, out-there outcomes, add them to the list.
What are other outcomes I didn't include? By this, I mean push yourself. When you've come up with what you think is a final list, it can be good to push harder and consider what you could add as a possibility that you may have initially censored out. (Remember: don't censor!)
How can I make this specific outcome bigger/more surprising? Once you have a favorite (or a couple favorites), brainstorm to see how you can make it bigger and more surprising. What can you do to enhance this twist? Again, don't censor even the most ridiculous possibilities.
How can I make sure this outcome makes sense in the context of the book? Now that you have an outcome, built it back into the plot. This is one of the many reasons why it's helpful to plan ahead—it's much easier to build something into the plot when it's all an outline than it is to add something retroactively to a manuscript.
Surprise plot twists. Now, this might seem a little incongruous—of course plot twists are a surprise! That's the point! But what I actually mean are plot twists that are a surprise to the writer. This has happened to me a couple times; I'll have a solid plot down, start writing, and out of nowhere a wild plot twist appears! It's always fascinating to me when this happens, but I also have to make sure to integrate it into the plot as I write—and rewrite—because spontaneity can sometimes be messy. 
While those are two options for the inception of a plot twist, far more important, to me at least, is honing them in revisions. I'll often use multiple rounds of critique partners and readers to see who gets the twist and when, so I can then go in and make adjustments as necessary to make sure the twist is believable, but not predictable. Sometimes this means tweaking specific characters, or revising several scenes to leave a dusting of foreshadowing (but not too much!). It often takes some careful rounds of testing with readers to get the right balance between surprising but believable—but it's definitely worth the extra work.

How do you write plot twists? And what are you favorite examples from YA lit?

Twitter-sized bite:

Want to write a twisty manuscript but not sure how to nail those plot twists? @Ava_Jae shares some tips. (Click to tweet)

On NaNoWriMo and Finding Time

Photo credit: bitslammer on FlickrAs NaNoWriMo approaches, I've been seeing more and more writers consider whether or not they'll join in this year. And one of the top considerations for whether or not that answer will be yes or no is, understandably, time.

So far, I've done NaNoWriMo twice (though I've done my own write a book in a month challenges much more often). The first time I was at my first year of art college, and my classes and assignments were rigorous and time-consuming. My homework involved detailed projects that required many hours multiple days a week to finish—and that's without the frequent trips to art supply stores downtown to get what I needed for those projects.

Basically, I was the busiest I'd ever been, but I also knew I really wanted to participate in NaNoWriMo for the first time even though finals were happening. So I did.

This required stealing time wherever I could find it. I did the bulk of my daily writing in the early morning hours, sipping blearily at my tea, and on the bus on the way to my classes. When I didn't get enough words in during those slots, I wrote before class started at my desk, or after I got back between homework assignments and final projects. It was challenging for sure—and doubly challenging when I realized thirteen days in I was writing the wrong manuscript and scrapped the whole thing—but it was also rewarding. I proved to myself that even when I was tackling the end of the semester I could get the words I needed down.

Of course, the last few weeks when I was home from school on my extended winter break were much easier. But it was still rewarding to know I could manage to keep my head above NaNo water at the end of a busy semester.

The point is, time is absolutely a factor when it comes to whether or not you should NaNo—but it's not the only factor. Because like writing at any other time of the year, if time is the only issue it's not often impossible to overcome. As writers, we have to learn where we can best squeeze in our writing time, whether that's on the commute to work, getting up extra early before school, while kids are at school or napping, or after a long work day into the late night hours.

There will always be reasons why we won't have the time to write a book, or participate in NaNoWriMo. But if time is the biggest factor for you, it might not be a bad idea to sit down and really consider where you could steal enough minutes from your day to slap down 1,667 words. You might just be surprised by how a couple minutes here and there of quickly jotted down words can add up.

How do you fit writing into your schedule? 

Twitter-sized bite:

Concerned about time when considering whether or not to #NaNoWriMo? Author @Ava_Jae talks finding time to NaNo. (Click to tweet)

Vlog: My Writing Habits

Someone asked, so I answered: today I'm talking about my writing habits when I'm first drafting a manuscript.


RELATED VLOGS: 

4 Fast Drafting TipsDo You Have to Write Every Day?On Finding Time to Write
What do your writing habits look like? 
Twitter-sized bite: 

Music? Snacks? Writing sprints? What do your writing habits look like? Join the discussion on @Ava_Jae's blog. (Click to tweet)

How to Digest a Tough Critique

Photo credit: acevvedo on FlickrGetting critiqued is scary. Whether it's a CP who's already read four of your manuscripts, a beta reader, a freelance editor, your agent or editor or someone else, it can be nerve-wracking to wait for critique to come in.

Even though it's not personal, getting your manuscript critiqued can certainly feel that way. Comments can feel like punches to the gut and every flash of red can feel overwhelming.

To help get through the natural emotional reaction to critique, I like to follow these steps:


Before the critique:

Remember this will make the manuscript better. This is a mantra I often repeat to myself both before reading critiques, during, and while I'm revising. Receiving criticism now is good—it means you can make your manuscript better and better and address problems early. Because...
Remember it's 1,000% better to see the problems and fix them now than not realize until after it's published. As tough as getting critique for your manuscript can be, getting a lot of it early is important because the last thing you want is a major problem unearthed after the book is published. Because then it'll be too late to fix it. 
While reading the critique:

Read it all in one sitting. I find it helps for me to read all the notes in one sitting, because that way nothing is a surprise when I come back to the notes and I can mull over everything together. This is, of course, what works for me—if you need to take breaks and tackle it in chunks, that's cool too. 
Take deep breaths and consider each comment. Oftentimes, the first instinct with critique is to throw up defenses. Not everyone would see it like that or they didn't understand the point! or but this is too important for me to change etc. It's a natural reaction—but one you should challenge yourself to resist. You don't have to accept every comment, of course, but you do have to give each one careful consideration. It's your job.
After reading the critique:

Thank critique partner (or whoever) for their thoughts. Always do this! Even if the critique isn't resonating with you right now, thank them for their time and thoughts. Critiquing isn't easy and they're helping you not only better your manuscript, but better your writing skills.
Take a break. How long is up to you. I usually like to step away from notes and sleep on it before I make any changes. This helps me really let the critique sink in and get the gears moving as I start to consider how to tackle the problems and make changes. 
Read again and consider how to fix issues. Once you're emotionally ready to start making changes, it's time to look over the notes again and start making concrete plans. For me, the second look-over is usually as I import comments from Word to Scrivener. I then like to organize them by category, which allows me to look at each section (plot/pace, character, world building, writing, miscellaneous) and consider what needs the most work and what strategy I'll use to start revising. 
Get to work. There's only one way to move forward and make your manuscript even better than it was before—and the time to do it is now. Good luck!
What steps do you take to digest a tough critique? 

Twitter-sized bites:

Struggling after getting a tough manuscript critique? @Ava_Jae shares some steps for taking critique. (Click to tweet)  

How do you digest a tough critique? Author @Ava_Jae shares some steps. (Click to tweet)

Why I Use Adverbs as Placeholder Words by Janice Hardy

Hey guys! I've got another special guest post today from award-winning author of The Healing Wars trilogy, Janice Hardy! Today she's talking about adverbs and placeholder words, so hope you guys enjoy!

P.S.: Janice is hunkering down during the hurricane, so she may not immediately be able to answer comments, but will as soon as she can!




You’ve no doubt heard it over and over: Never use adverbs in your writing. Sound advice, but if you follow it to the extreme, you could miss out on their very useful properties.

As bad a reputation as adverbs have, they’re handy during a first draft. They allow you to jot down how a character feels or how they say something without losing your momentum. You can keep writing, and go back and revise later.

They’re also wonderfully helpful red flags that point out opportunities to revise and flesh out what your character is doing. They’re like your brain telling you about the emotional state of your character, and pointing out a place you might want to examine further.

For example:

I walked cautiously across the room to the back door.
Here, “cautiously” is doing the explaining, telling that this person is nervous in some way. You could find another word for “walked cautiously” like tiptoed, sneaked, or slipped, but that only solves the adverb problem. It doesn’t do anything to capitalize on what your subconscious might be telling you. Instead, try looking deeper and showing someone being cautious in a way that helps characterize and further show the scene.

I scanned the room, checking for tripwires, pressure plates, anything that looked like it might be a trap. Clear. I darted for the door.
This is interesting and tells you a lot more about what’s going on, which probably saves you words somewhere else. Especially since there’s a decent chance the description in that scene might be a little flat. If you had a better sense of the character’s emotional state and what that character was doing, you probably wouldn’t have used the adverb in the first place.

Adverb tells are used most often in dialogue. They’re dropped in to show emotion or description without conveying what that emotion or description is:

"I hate you,” she said angrily.
In this instance, “angrily” doesn’t say how the character speaks. Does she shout? Snarl? Spit? The adverb is vague and adds nothing to the sentence that readers didn’t already assume by reading the dialogue. It’s a pretty good guess saying, “I hate you” means she’s angry.

Dramatizing the anger would show and thus make the scene more interesting. This character might bang her fist on a table, mutter snide comments under her breath, spit in someone’s face, or even pull out a Sig Sauer nine mil and blow some guy’s brains out. All of those would be more exciting than “angrily,” which can mean something different to everyone who reads it.

By using an ambiguous adverb, not only are you falling into lazy writing, you’re missing a great opportunity for characterization. The gal who would mutter snide comments is not the same gal who’d break out that Sig.

Now, let’s look at a line like:

"I hate you,” she said softly.
Many people would swap out “softly” for whisper in this instance, but whisper isn’t the same as speaking softly. You can speak softly and not whisper. “Softly” is an adverb that conveys something specific depending on the context in which it’s used. It denotes tone as well as volume, attitude as much as forcefulness. What we pair with this adverb changes how we read it.

She clenched her fists so tight her knuckles went white. “I hate you,” she said softly. (Implies controlled anger.)
She giggled, covering her mouth when the teacher turned their way and glared. “I hate you,” she said softly. (Implies playfulness.)
She kept the table between them, moving as he did around the edge. “I hate you,” she said softly. (Implies fear or apprehension.)
All three sentences use the same adverb, but notice how each has a different feel to it based on what came before it. Anger. Playfulness. Fear. Can you replace the adverb with something else? Sure. You could even drop the tag entirely. Do you have to just because it contains an adverb? No. It all depends on what you want that line to convey to readers.

Adverbs work when showing the action would take more words than using the adverb, and that would gunk up the story. It could even shift focus to the wrong detail and confuse readers.

For example:

She muttered incoherently.
This is clear and says what it needs to say. You could eliminate “incoherently” and dramatize it, but that might put too much focus on something that doesn’t need that much focus.

She muttered half-words that didn’t make any sense.
Every writer will have their own preference here, but “incoherently” feels clearer to me in this instance than “half-words that didn’t make any sense.” I may not want readers trying to figure out what she’s trying to say; I just want them to know she’s not saying anything that makes sense. Making a point of what she’s saying instead of how she’s saying it could lead readers down the wrong path.

The reader/writer disconnect can happen at any time. Look at where you use adverbs and identify what you’re trying to do with them. If what’s in your head isn’t making it to the page, you could wind up with a disconnect.

"Oh, that’s just wrong,” Bob said angrily.
Here, the adverb is used to denote anger, but it makes readers decide what Bob’s anger looks like and how he acts when he’s angry. You might know Bob cracks jokes so he doesn’t blow up, so you read his dialogue in a sarcastic tone, but readers might think Bob screams and yells, or maybe he gets quiet and dangerous. They could read that same line in different ways according to what “angrily” means to them.

Adverbs are effective placeholder words that let your subconscious know where you can craft stronger scenes and sentences. It’s not always about replacing them with stronger words. Sometimes those adverbs are pinpointing an important aspect that would make the scene sing if you fleshed it out.

Adverbs, generic nouns, boring adjectives, even clichés—are valuable first-draft gems to quickly insert a basic emotional note into a scene without having to stop the drafting to find the perfect word or description.

How do you feel about adverbs? Do you find them useful or do you avoid using them?


Check out my new book, Understanding Show, Don't Tell (And Really Getting it), and learn what show, don't tell means, how to spot told prose in your writing, and why common advice on how to fix it doesn't always work.


Janice Hardy is the award-winning author of The Healing Wars trilogy and the Foundations of Fiction series, including Planning Your Novel: Ideas and Structure , a self-guided workshop for planning or revising a novel, the companion Planning Your Novel Workbook , and Revising Your Novel: First Draft to Finished Draft . She's also the founder of the writing site, Fiction University. For more advice and helpful writing tips, visit her at www.fiction-university.com or @Janice_Hardy.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Indie Bound

Win a 10-Page Critique From Janice Hardy

Three Books. Three Months. Three Chances to Win.

To celebrate the release of my newest writing books, I'm going on a three-month blog tour--and each month, one lucky winner will receive a 10-page critique from me.

It's easy to enter. Simply visit leave a comment and enter the drawing via Rafflecopter. At the end of each month, I'll randomly choose a winner.


a Rafflecopter giveaway


*Excerpted from Understanding Show, Don't Tell (And Really Getting It)



Twitter-sized bite:

Author @Janice_Hardy talks adverbs & placeholder words on @Ava_Jae's blog + a giveaway! (Click to tweet)

How to Think Up Book Ideas

Photo credit: mathieuhervouet on FlickrWhile for some writers book ideas pour endlessly out of the universe, for others coming up with an idea they want to write can be a little more complicated.

I fall somewhere in the middle of the spectrum, closer to the "complicated" end. For me, book ideas are a little harder to come by than my friends who often have more than they know what to do with, but on the other hand it's been over a year since I've really struggled to think of a book idea. Which is fine—everyone works differently and has different writerly seasons and all that.

But for those who find it a little more challenging to come up with book ideas, this is for you.

Ask, "what do I want to write about?" I'm very much a list person, and my "what do I want to write about?" list is easily my favorite to work on. Right now my list includes lots of Latinx, chronically ill, and nonbinary characters largely because I want to read much more of those characters having adventures with leads me to...
Consider what books aren't out there enough that you want to read. This is actually what lead me to come up with the Beyond the Red trilogy. I wanted YA on another planet that included a POV of the natives from the world, plus all the things I love reading about—monarchy, fantasy politics, sci-fi tech, etc—and from there the story grew. I also love doing this because it pretty much guarantees you're going to love whatever you end up with. :)
Pay attention and ask questions. Sooo many stories start out of questions, and a great way to figure out which questions to ask is to pay attention to the world around you. Whether that means consuming art (movies, books, music, TV shows, games, etc.), keeping on top of current events, experiencing new things or places or something else, story ideas can come out of everyday experiences if we let them.
Consider what you loved about your favorites. Whether it's masterful world building, a certain type of character, a feeling you had while watching/reading, or something else, a great way to learn is to take note of what makes you love your favorites. Then, when you're ready to write your own, consider how to apply those lessons into your writing and sources of inspiration.
So those are a couple tips for coming up with book ideas—what would you add to the list?

Twitter-sized bite:

Struggle to come up with book ideas? Author @Ava_Jae shares 4 tips for brainstorming ideas. (Click to tweet)

Vlog: Where to Find Books to Read

Love reading, but not sure where to find your next TBR? Today I'm answering a question from a vlog viewer: where to find books to read.


RELATED LINKS: 
GoodreadsFall 2016 YA Books to Look Out ForHow to Read More (vlog)2016 YA Debuts I'm Excited For (vlog)
Twitter-sized bite:

Want to read more but not sure what to read next? @Ava_Jae vlogs about where to find books to read. (Click to tweet)

Repost: Pre-NaNoWriMo Tips

Photo credit: Moyan_Brenn on FlickrThe time has finally has finally come and the first post of October is here! Because October is also known as NaNoPrepMo, at least in my mind, I like to talk about preparing for NaNoWriMo here. But I've also written about this pretty thoroughly three years ago, so I'm going to repost what I wrote, but with some updates. Because websites and methods and manuscripts change over time, but much of NaNoWriMo preparation is still largely the same.

So here we go!

Decide on an idea. This kind of goes without saying, but the sooner you think of your NaNo novel idea, the more time you’ll have to let it develop before the mad dash of November. And you’ll be writing so quickly come November, that you’ll be glad for every iota of pre-decided information you have. Assuming I get all my deadlines done this month, I'll be working on my #MagicMurderMayhem WIP this NaNo, which I worked out over the summer. :)
Start plotting. If you’re a pantser, then you’re probably going to skip this step. But if you’re even slightly open to plotting (even a very flexible, loose plot), then I highly recommend that you try plotting in advance. As a regular fast-drafter, I can tell you that the best tip I’ve ever received on fast-drafting is to know what you’re writing. Just about every time I’ve ever encountered writer’s block, it was because I didn’t know what was next, or how to connect the dots between two plot points (in which case I plotted in more detail and voila! The words returned).

Point is, when you’re writing like a speed demon for NaNoWriMo, it’ll be much easier to keep the pace if you actually know what happens (or at least have a vague idea). Whether it’s flashcard plotting, a brief list of events, a plotting method similar to mine, or the combination method I used (successfully!) for #MagicMurderMayhem, NaNoWriMo will be so much smoother if you get your events in order before the race begins.
Tell family/friends about your November plans. We writers tend to withdraw in November. We sneak away to our caves and shoot daggers (with our eyes, of course) at anyone who dares interrupt our precious writing time. Letting your friends and family know in advance about why you’re going to disappear for thirty days can help save you some aggravation and disappointed people. 
Connect with fellow NaNo writers. Do you have a Twitter? If you don’t, I recommend getting one and searching hashtags like #NaNoWriMo to find fellow NaNo writers. It’s early, but people are already thinking about it (like me), and you’ll be glad for the support of your fellow exhausted/excited/slightly crazed writers come November. 
Familiarize yourself with the website. I’m not sure when exactly, but the website occasionally goes down before the big event to prepare the servers and give the site a fresh upgrade. That’s normal, so don’t panic when it happens. (It may have already happened this year, but I'm not sure.)

But until then, it doesn’t hurt to set up your account and browse through the site, just to get to know it if you don’t already
Investigate distraction-free writing tools. Like Write or Die,  Freedom, or my new fave, myWriteClub's word sprints, which I talk about in this post. They come in handy when you're trying to write quickly.
Mentally prepare yourself. In order to reach the goal of 50,000 words and claim your NaNoWriMo victory, you’ll need to write 1,667 words a day, assuming you write every day of the month. 1,667 words isn’t all that bad, and some days you’ll fly through them and roll right into 2 or 3k. But there are days when you’re going to be exhausted, when time is really short, when every word is fighting you, and those are the days you need to be prepared for.

It’s okay to miss a day. It’s also okay to get stuck and write terribly and cry over your keyboard. It's also okay to realize part-way through you're writing the wrong manuscript and start over.

Here’s what you’re not going to end up with at the end of the month: a masterpiece. You’re writing the first portion of a book (50k isn’t usually a full-length MS, although it can be depending on the category/genre) in a month. It’s going to be messy and occasionally ugly and embarrassing. And that’s totally okay.

The point isn’t to come out of NaNoWriMo with a gleaming, beautiful draft. The point is to get the first portion of a draft finished, so that you can complete your book and then revise it later.

You’re writing the bare bones. They aren’t going to be pretty, but they don’t need to be. 
Get excited. You’re going to write a book. Or a portion of one, anyway. You. A book. Yours. It’s something to be excited about, it’s something to celebrate, even if the writing is so horrendous that you cringe when you read it back. NaNoWriMo is exhausting, yes, but it’s also exciting because you’re doing something that millions of people only ever dream about—you’re writing a book, and it’s all yours.
For those who have (or are going to) participate in NaNoWriMo, what do you do to prepare?

Twitter-sized bite:

Ready to gear up for #NaNoWriMo? Author @Ava_Jae shares tips to prepare for the big event. (Click to tweet)

Book Review: TRUST ME, I'M LYING by Mary Elizabeth Summer

Photo credit: GoodreadsOne of my favorite movies is Catch Me If You Can . Maybe because I just really love smart people, but the story of a con artist—especially a young one—was fascinating to me then and is now. So saying that, it's kind of a tragedy that it took me so long to get to Mary Elizabeth Summer's  Trust Me, I'm Lying , which is, in fact, about the daughter of a con artist who has picked up the tools of the trade herself. 
Before I go into how much I enjoyed this book, here is the Goodreads summary:

"Julep Dupree tells lies. A lot of them. She’s a con artist, a master of disguise, and a sophomore at Chicago’s swanky St. Agatha High, where her father, an old-school grifter with a weakness for the ponies, sends her to so she can learn to mingle with the upper crust. For extra spending money Julep doesn’t rely on her dad—she runs petty scams for her classmates while dodging the dean of students and maintaining an A+ (okay, A-) average. 

But when she comes home one day to a ransacked apartment and her father gone, Julep’s carefully laid plans for an expenses-paid golden ticket to Yale start to unravel. Even with help from St. Agatha’s resident Prince Charming, Tyler Richland, and her loyal hacker sidekick, Sam, Julep struggles to trace her dad’s trail of clues through a maze of creepy stalkers, hit attempts, family secrets, and worse, the threat of foster care. With everything she has at stake, Julep’s in way over her head . . . but that’s not going to stop her from using every trick in the book to find her dad before his mark finds her. Because that would be criminal."

Trust Me, I'm Lying checked off all the things I could have wanted in a book about a con artist: smart protagonist who cleverly works through problems, high stakes, and immediate and pervasive conflict. Julep was a really fun protagonist to read about—she's witty, sharp, independent and determined. I loved seeing her work her way through the clues to find her dad while hiding her parentless status at school and trying to make ends meet. I was, however, a little disappointed that she was completely oblivious of Sam's crush on her (not really spoiler—it's obvious early on) because how did she not notice? But that wasn't a major issue and didn't lessen my enjoyment of the book.

And then the twists! There were quite a few that I honestly didn't see coming, and I loved how the book kept me guessing the whole time. What happened to Julep's dad? Who is coming after them? Who can she trust? Combined with Julep working her way through dangerous situations and the implied ticking clock of her missing father, I was engaged from beginning to end.

Overall I'm giving 4.5/5 stars, I've added the sequel, Trust Me, I'm Trouble  to my TBR, and I recommend it for a fun, clever read.

Diversity note: There wasn't much, although Sam (Julep's best friend) is Black. I hear there's major bisexual rep in book two, however, so I'll definitely be checking that out. :)


Twitter-sized bites:

.@Ava_Jae gives 4.5/5 stars to Mary Elizabeth Summer's TRUST ME, I'M LYING. Is this smart con artist YA on your TBR? (Click to tweet) 

Like smart protagonists, clever plots, and lots of twists and turns? Check out TRUST ME, I'M LYING. (Click to tweet)

Discussion: Your Favorite Posts

Photo credit: morag.riddell on FlickrShort post today! So as I've recently hit the 1,000 blog post milestone (for which a giveaway is still running, by the way), I thought now was as good a time as ever to take stock of what you guys have enjoyed and would like to see more of.

My blog posts generally fall into one of many categories: book reviews, how to, writing life, writing tips, character development, social media, editing, publishing, and miscellaneous. Both because I'm curious and because I'd like to gear future posts toward what you guys would like to see most, I'd like to know: what blog posts have been your favorite (or what types of blog posts have been your favorite)? And what would you like to see more of?

Similarly, if there are any topics or questions you'd like me to cover, let me know in the comments and I'll add them to my list of possibilities. :)

Thanks!

Twitter-sized bite: 

Have a publishing or writing question you'd like answered? Author @Ava_Jae is taking blog post suggestions. (Click to tweet)