Getting to The End - That First Draft

WRITING WEDNESDAY

Wow!  What happened to Monday and Tuesday?  LIFE

One of the easiest things about writing is the ability to give up.  I've done it.  Everyone has done it.  But what does giving up get you?  Not a whole lot.

This time--THIS TIME--and every time after, giving up will not be accepted.  Why?  Because you can do it!  With a little help and some tips and tricks, you, too can finish that book!

What does it take to write that first draft?  Writing it!

Whether you're a panster or a plotter, the writing must happen.  We all obsess about our every word.  Why?  Because we want our writing to be perfect.  But nothing and no one are perfect.  Still, we strive to do our best.

One of the biggest things most successful writers will tell you is to Just Write.  Sounds simple, doesn't it?  It isn't, but we can make it easier.

Many successful writers will say that the key is to write a fast first draft.  I agree with that.  But what, exactly, does that mean?  It means No Editing.  That's right.  You don't write a few pages, then go back to pick it apart and polish it to what will probably be changed later.

If panic sets in at the mere mention of No Editing, take a deep breath.  There are ways to make that first draft with no editing easier.

1. Have a fairly solid idea of where your story is going.  Does this mean you have to plot the entire story?  Not necessarily.  It depends on what works best for you.  Simply put, have an idea of your opening, an inciting incident that shows the conflict of the two characters (hero and heroine in a romance), the mid-point aka main turning point, the black moment (when all seems lost), and the resolution aka the happily ever after in a romance.  Cooking Up a Story
2. Know your characters' GMCs.  If you don't know what GMC (Goal, Motivation, Conflict), you can do a search on the Internet.  There's an abundance of information out there to help you.  A quick explanation is Goal (what the character wants), Motivation (why the character wants the goal), and Conflict (what's keeping the character from reaching his/her goal).  Each main character should have his or her own GMC.  Check out my blog on Building Characters and blogs and articles by others.
3. Do as much research as you can pre-writing.  Whether contemporary, historical, or even futuristic/dystopian/other, they all take some research.  You want to write a cowboy book, a doctor book, or even a setting you're unfamiliar with?  Research.  Again, the Internet is a wonderful tool for this and many other things.  Use it.  Talk to people who can help.  You'll find more than you need, but that's okay.  What you don't need you may need with another book.
4. Plan and use your writing schedule.  Set aside time to write every day and also set a daily goal for pages or words to be written.  And stick to it!  Check out my 4-part blog series on Goal Setting for some ideas.
5. Think about what you're going to write before your fingers touch the keyboard.  In whose POV will the scene be?  What is going to happen in a scene? If it helps, instead of writing one scene and stopping for the day, stop in the middle of a scene--especially an exciting or tense point--and start there the next day.  Once you're in the scene, writing it, let the moment and the characters carry you along.
6. If you find yourself stuck...  Don't panic.  It's amazing what our subconscious does for us.  Try sleeping on the problem.  Brainstorm with a writer friend or group of writer friends.  We often get too close to our story and characters that we can't think "out of the box" or beyond our preconceived ideas.  If those things don't produce results, write whatever comes to mind. Don't worry that it isn't quite right, just get down the idea.  But don't edit now!  Remember, we're on the No Editing plan.  Write a note (sticky notes work well), along with the page # and chapter/scene if needed, and refer to it later, after the first draft is finished. Or highlight that section and go back when you've finished the first draft.
7. Write it down!  Ideas come to us at the strangest times.  Have a notebook where you can write them down.  Put a notebook in your car, your purse, or wherever you can grab it.  While driving, DO NOT write notes.  This is where a small voice recorder can really come in handy!

Once you have that first draft written, it's time to put it away.  Let it sit for a while, if possible, and work on something new or whatever it takes to get you away from the story.  Once you've had some distance, go back and start editing.  That's the time to refer to those notes and make changes.

Celebrate!

Now that your first draft is finished, feel proud of your accomplishment.  Many people want and hope to write a book, but a large percentage of those people never do.  You have!

Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

Begin Your Dream, Then Finish It

WRITING WEDNESDAY
Millions of people dream of writing a book.  In fact, it's said that in the U.S. alone, 200 million people want to write a book.  Only a small percentage actually do.

Maybe you're one of that small percentage who has actually sat down at a keyboard or held a notebook and pen/pencil in hand and started writing.  If so, I salute you!  It's the first step of making your dream come true.

But there's more to it than that first step of beginning.  The hardest part is to finish writing that story.

An idea springs to mind, and we start writing.  Before long, we lose interest, we hit a wall, we start to lose interest in our characters or story.  Or all of those things!  And then we quit.  We shove the story aside and wait for inspiration on a new story.

A few false starts aren't bad.  Nothing but starts isn't good.  How will you know if you're able to write a complete book, if you stop a few chapters into writing it?   Some authors do well with 80,000 to 120,000 word books.  Others aren't comfortable writing anything more than 50K to 75K   Some writers panic at the thought of anything over 30,000 words, while others enjoy writing short stories.  What do you feel is your comfort zone?

I'm here today to tell you that tossing it aside isn't always the best thing to do.  In fact, if you're a new writer, it's one of the worst things you can do.  I have everything I've ever written saved, either in hard copy or on computer (disk or whatever).  I became serious about writing with the hope of someday have my books published in 1996.  Because my focus then--and still is--romance, I joined Romance Writers of America (RWA) and went to my first National RWA Conference in July that year.  Kathie DeNosky and I had met briefly online, and we met in person at that conference.  Within very little time, we became friends with two other aspiring authors, Janet Lee Barton and Belinda Barnes.  The four of us eventually formed our own, small critique group.  It was Kathie who pushed me into entering writing contests.  My first entry, Contract for Love, placed Honorable Mention in the Love in Uniform Contest in 1996.

I entered more contests, each time with a finished manuscript.  After placing or winning in six more contests with three other finished manuscripts, I hit the jackpot in 1999's Georgia Romance Writers Maggie Award for Excellence and won first place with the first 30 pages of the book in the Unpublished Short Contemporary Category.  When the final judge, Silhouette Editor Mary-Theresa Hussey, asked to see the full manuscript of The Rancher and the Runaway Mom, it was written.  In April of 2000, I got The Call that Silhouette Romance wanted to buy my book.  (A short P.S. on this.  Every other book I'd entered in contests had been completely finished when I entered, except this one.  I was short less than two chapters when I sent in the entry, and I finished it, long before the finalists were announced.)

By the time I SOLD what later became Rachel's Rescuer, I'd written nine previous books.  Of the ten, including my first sale, half of them have been published.  Those other five?  I still have them, and plan someday to rewrite, revise, and polish.  The stories aren't bad, but they need work, and I've learned SO MUCH in the years since I first wrote them.  Cowboy Over a Barrel (original title) and published as A Saddle Made for Two, was my second Silhouette Romance.  The Cowboy and the Ice Princess (published as The Rodeo Rider, the first in what has become a 10-book series) was my second Harlequin American Romance.  Who knew they'd love cowboys as much as I love writing them?

If all that sounds like bragging, it isn't.  Admitting and patting yourself on the back or having others pat you on the back makes doing the hard work that much more special.  Kathie has by far surpassed me in the writing world.  She sold her first Silhouette (now Harlequin) Desire on my birthday in 1999.  Belinda sold in December of that same year.  Of the three of us, I came in third in April of 2000.  Jealousy never had a place in our friendships and never will.  Envy?  Yes, but along with that came admiration and Kathie kicking my backside to keep me going.  I have no room to brag.  Sharing the things I've learned (and will continue to learn) with others makes me hopeful that one smidgen of something I've shared might be the one thing needed to create an award winning book and author.

So now you know why tossing a beginning aside isn't a good thing, right?  But why?

• Each book started as an idea.  Ideas grow into completed books, if you stick with it.
• As a writer, each finished manuscript is a learning process.  You grow as a writer with each one.  If you're part of a critique group or enter contests, there will be people who are willing to help, to tell you your strong points and help with your weak points.
• If a book doesn't sell, it might be perfect later.  Publishing tastes change.  Those tastes could be right up your writing alley.   

Here are a few tips I've learned along the way.  Whether you're just beginning or have been writing for much longer, but feel you're getting stuck and going nowhere with your writing, these are a few things to keep in mind and give some thought.

1. READ!!  What type (genres and sub-genres) are your favorite reads?  Which of those do you feel you are best at writing?
2. Study and know your market.  Always keep in mind that what's selling now may or may not be hot in the future, but it's worth a try.  Yes, some writers make it big with something completely different, but it's rare.
3. Hone your skills.  This includes grammar, spelling, and all the mechanics of writing.  Editors (if traditionally published) will love you for this.  Readers (if you're self-publishing) will, too!  There's not much worse than trying to read a good story, while bad writing keeps pulling you out of it.
4. Learn to plot.  It doesn't have to be scene by scene, chapter by chapter, but have a solid idea of how and where the story begins, turning points, hooks, black moments and resolutions (aka Happily Ever Afters).  If you don't understand those terms, check out some of my older blog posts and especially check out the blogs, books, and advice of other authors!
5. Your non-writing friends and family can be a part of your pep club, but they will always love your writing, no matter what.  Get outside that circle t learn.  Join a writing group, a critique group, or enter contests.
6. Keep learning.  Always.  Nothing is better than knowledge, not even talent.  Without knowledge, even the most talented will struggle.
7. Don't give up!!  I was lucky enough to find writing friends who wouldn't let me do that.  Throwing in the towel was something I often considered, but they kept me from doing it.  My mantra became, If you quit now, the next book probably would have the THE ONE. Who wants to tempt fate that much?
8. Enjoy writing, but also enjoy life, yourself, your family and friends.
9. WRITE!!  Each time you sit down to write, whether it's been an hour, a day, a week or months, you'll learn knew things.  If something isn't working, try thinking about it from a different direction.
10. FINISH THE BOOK!!  Because an unfinished book will languish.  Until you finish writing that first book, you'll never know the wild exhilaration of writing THE END.

One more special hint and the reason I'm blogging about this.  Write on, don't edit.  I hear a lot of "But...but..." out there, so here are two great links I found today, which led me to write this blog post.

• Lessons from Oleander–The Dangers of Premature Editing, one of Kristen Lamb's blog posts, this one from yesterday (March 25, 2014).  Short, sweet and to the point.
• 5 Tips for Writing Quickly and Effectively from workawesome.com

Read them.  Think about them.  Ask yourself if you're brave.  Maybe next week we'll look a little closer at what these two blogs/articles have to say.  Why?  Because it's important.  Write on!

Never give up; for even rivers someday wash dams away. ~ Arthur Golden

Taming the Series Beast

There's a lot of information to keep track of while writing.  Characters (description, age, major life events, family, etc.) and settings (houses, towns/cities/countryside with names, buildings, even streets) and plot.  Oh, that plot! And that's a whole other animal.

When a story revolves around a character--or two when it's a romance--it's important to know as much about him and/or her as possible.  Characters, like the story itself, grow from the time we first have an inkling of the person we want to create to the end of the story.  Because all but a very few have more than one character, we have a lot of information to sort through, choose, and use.  And although those characters stay with us in our minds, it's easy to forget details, as time goes by.  There have been times when I haven't been able to remember a past character's name, so obviously there are far too many living in my head. ;)

After the first couple of books, I realized that there were so many things to remember and so many times when I had to search for a small detail that was important, even in a stand-alone book, that I needed to do something that would help.  I started looking for the best way to keep track.  It took some time, but I found it, and I still make small changes to my method when needed.

First let me say that I'm an organized disorganized person.  Or is that an unorganized organized person?  I've never figured that out.  Yes, my desk is often a mess.  I like having things near me so I know where they are and can grab them at a moment's notice.  The same is true for writing.  I need that basic information about characters and story close at hand, so I don't have to stop and hunt through pages and chapters for the name of a minor character or if it was morning or afternoon when an incident occurred.  With a series, it's needed even more.

So what has helped save my sanity and time?  3-ring notebooks.
One notebook for each book.  For a series, there's also one small notebook to hold master lists.


BOOK NOTEBOOK

Each individual notebook includes:
*indicates in plastic sheet protector

• *Photo of Hero & Heroine and child/children if applicable. 
• *Age chart of main characters that includes major life events, especially those that pertain to the story.  This includes a column for years (2013, 2012, 2011,etc.), beginning with the year in which the story is following through to birth of character.  (spreadsheet)  This makes it easy to check their ages for high school graduation, a move or job change, or any other major event.
• *Storyboard  Yes, I plot before I write.  (You can see a photo of my plotting boards and the printed storyboard here.)  Quite often I write the first three chapters to get to know the characters better, before I go on to plot the rest, although I usually know main turning points, the black moment and the resolution, before I start writing.
• *List of Characters  This includes any character appearing in the story, even the grocer, parents, siblings and anyone who doesn't appear but is mentioned.  It's much easier than looking back through written chapters.
• *Calendar  I use a blank calendar sheet template for each month in which the book take place.  Month, dates, years.  Then I add a snippet of each scene in the blank date when it happens. This helps me know what happened two weeks before, and I don't have to go back through the written chapters and scenes to find it when needed.
• Other photos I might need, including floor plans I find online, so I can move the characters around without forgetting the master bedroom is on the first, not the second floor.  I'm working on a story that includes a sailboat, so I have photos of that.  It's also nice to have photos of the area, either from doing a quick Google search or using the Earth option on Google maps.

After the above, I have tabbed dividers for each chapter, where I keep the most recent printed copies of the story.  As a rule, I do edits and revisions on hard copy, and this keeps everything in one place.  Any other notes or information are slipped into the pockets in front and back.

Because I'm paranoid, the above files are kept on my computer.  I can always pull up a file, if I haven't added it to the notebook.


SERIES NOTEBOOK

One, smaller (as in thinner) notebook holds master lists that cover all the books in the series.  These include:

• Age chart for all main characters in the series i.e heroes and heroines. No major events noted, except year of birth and ages up through the latest book. (spreadsheet)
• A companion age chart for the main characters, their children, some family members and, in the Desperation series, two other minor characters who appear in nearly every book. (spreadsheet)
• Complete character list that includes character name, role, and which books in which each appeared.  Yes, that can be a lot of names, especially if townspeople are included often in the stories.  At last count, there were 16 main characters and 140 minor characters.  7 minor characters have appeared in all 8 books in the Desperation series.
• General Timeline that includes book title, month and year of each book's setting, first name and age of main characters and their children.
• Yearly Calendar (created with MS Publisher) that includes dates of the beginning and end of each book and dates of babies born or added to main characters.  (helps keep the ages of children at my fingertips ;))  The Desperation series at present spans 6 years, from 2008 thru 2013.
• Character Name List, alphabetized, keeps me from using the same name twice, whether first name or last.  (MS Excel can sort and filter any way you choose.)

With a little thought, I manage to keep the series beast under control.  Please note that it isn't tamed.  Using my method keeps me from hunting for notes in odd places, such as in the cutlery drawer in the kitchen, or the unmentionable drawer in my bedroom.  Then there's the bathroom cubbyhole...  My notebook is portable, if needed, especially when writing longhand in the car while waiting on grandkids to explode from school.  It might take a little time to put together, but, hey, it's time well-spent!

Still, my way isn't THE way.  THE way is YOUR way.  To help you find it, here are a few links a writer friend posted on our writers group page.  Check them out, see what might suit, then pick and choose your favorites to create YOUR VERY OWN WAY.  Don't worry.  Nothing is set in stone and can be adjusted or thrown out.  To paraphrase Old Blue Eyes (Frank Sinatra, for you youngsters), do it your way.

• Love Inspired® author Debby Giusti shares her thoughts on The Continuity Challenge
• Some great tips from author Dame Jenna aka Jenna Black: Creating a "Series Bible"
• Author Angelique Armae shares Easy Tips for Creating a Book or Series Bible
• H.V. Long discusses How to Write the First Book of a Series
• Best-selling author Kate Douglas on Ending a Series  (Yes, they do have to end...sometime.)
• Author Misty Evans explains Series Business - Three Types of Series
• Paranormal author Mima explains that readers love series books and shares how to make it easier with her Tips for Building a Series

Now you have many different ways to tame your series.  But the fun is in writing the book(s), isn't it? ☺

Not convinced you're ready to write a series?  There are many reasons, but one of the main ones is that readers LOVE series!  I know I do. :)  We'll look at other reasons and delve deeper into why readers love them next week.  

P.S.  This blog was started around 10 a.m. on Thursday and is finally finished at 10 p.m..  Wow!  Have I learned a few things!

“Every secret of a writer’s soul, every experience of his life, every quality of his mind, is written large in his works.” — Virginia Woolf

Don't Be a Snoopy: Open with a Bang!

WRITING WEDNESDAYS

We've all been there before.  We're reading a brand new book, brand new story, but it's going nowhere fast.

Whether you're a writer or a reader, the opening of a book--the first line, if you will--is as important as the characters and their GMC.  Without a snappy opening, a reader might decide it isn't worth the read, in spite of an ending that will blow them away and a middle that not only doesn't sag but soars.

A Saturday afternoon in November was approaching the time of twilight, and the vast tract of unenclosed wild known as Egdon Heath embrowned itself moment by moment.  Overhead the hollow stretch of whitish cloud shutting out the sky was as a tent which had the whole heath for its floor. (Thomas Hardy, Return of the Native c.1878)

Times have changed.  Back in the Stone Age, when I was in high school, we read quite a few classic novels, then wrote different types of papers on what we read.  While I can't recall exactly what the paper was about, I do remember being told by my (excellent!) Senior English teacher that if we were reading Thomas Hardy, we could skip the first 50 pages, read the rest of the book, then go back and read those first 50 later.  Why?  Because those first pages were little more than description of the heath he loved so well, and they were boring.  Really boring. (see above quote)   By the time Mrs. Dalbom told us that, I was already over 100 pages into Return of the Native.  No, not Hardy's most famous Tess of the D'Urbervilles.  I chose the lesser known book.  I can honestly say I had to force myself through those 50 pages, but I probably learned something.  Books need to open with a bang.  (By the way, I still have the book.  And, yes, it's printed, not carved on the walls of a cave.)

Readers today include all kinds of people who are eager for a good read.  They want to be caught up in the story from the very beginning.  While "setting the stage" is important, spending more time doing that instead of getting to the meat of the story can be disastrous.

Try these on for size:

Cooper Adams had stared death square in the face and lived to tell about it.  But his recovery from a run-in with the meanest, nastiest rodeo bull the good Lord ever blessed with the breath of life, couldn't compare with the uphill battle he faced now. 

(Cowboy Boss, Kathie DeNosky)

Her sensible black pumps held tightly in one hand, Anastasia Devereaux plastered her back to the brick wall behind her, took a deep breath and waited for the fog to clear from her glasses.  "Don't look down," she whispered when the haze evaporated.  "You can do this if you don't look down."

(Lonetree Ranchers: Brant, Kathie DeNosky) 

He wore his all American good looks like a merit badge, but the devil in his dark eyes told Erin Brailey this man was no Boy Scout.  

(His Sheltering Arms, Kristi Gold)


"Let's have a baby, Whit."
(The Pregnancy Negotiation, Kristi Gold)


In each of the above, we get a quick glimpse of who the character is and a promise for conflict.  It sounds simple enough, doesn't it?  And sometimes it is.  There are times when it comes out perfect on the first try.  Other times, the idea is there, but there needs to be some tweaking.  Then there are those times when nothing comes to mind, and it takes a little work and a lot of thought to come up with something that will make the reader want to read more.

I've been lucky.  Most of the time the opening comes easy.  It's a good thing, because I can't move forward until I have that first line(s) firmly in mind.  I'll be the first to admit that some are better than others, and the following are the ones I like best.


THE TRUTH ABOUT PLAIN JANE
Sinking onto the leather chair behind the massive oak desk that proclaimed him head honcho, Trey Brannigan ran a hand down his face.  The day wasn’t over yet.  Plenty of time for more to go wrong.

HIS QUEEN OF HEARTS
Devon Brannigan tugged at the black leather patch covering his left eye and tried to find a more comfortable position on the hard church pew.  He couldn’t believe his good luck.  In only a matter of time, he’d finally have his hands on his no-good, greedy former neighbor.  Once J.R.’s wedding vows were spoken, and the newlyweds departed for the reception, not only Dev, but all three Brannigan brothers would taste the sweetness of revenge.

FAMILY BY DESIGN
Becca Tyler limped her car to the side of the road, the vehicle lurching every few inches because of the flat tire.  Coming to a final, slow stop, she turned off the engine and pressed her forehead against the smooth, cold leather on the steering wheel.
What now?

BACHELOR COWBOY
“Keep your hands where I can see them, and back on down that ladder real slow.”  The voice was soft and low.  Distinctly feminine.  And definitely not joking.

THE LAWMAN’S LITTLE SURPRISE
Trish Clayborne sat in the warmth of her car at the stop sign, blinking away the tears filling her eyes.  Home.  She was almost home.

THE MAVERICK’S REWARD
Pain shot up his leg and knee, radiating into every inch of his body, but Tucker O’Brien worked through it as the nurse stepped out of the examining room.  He hadn’t planned to be in the small doctor’s office in Desperation, Oklahoma, but nothing was going as he’d thought it would.

The thing to remember is that all of these openings are about the character.  While some may mention the setting or surroundings--which is always a plus--it's there only as a backdrop to the character.  Something is happening to that character or has just happened to bring him or her to this particular time and place.  There's often an urgency that will make the reader want to know more, and the only way to know more is to read the book.

Start the book where something has changed and include how the character feels about it. This is the perfect place to practice "show don't tell."  Backstory isn't needed.  There's plenty of time for that...such as throughout the rest of the book.

Now it's your turn to share.  What's your favorite opening line?  In your book or someone else's?

*Thanks to Kathie DeNosky and Kristi Gold for sharing their first lines.

Writing is a fairly lonely business unless you invite people in to watch you do it, which is often distracting and then have to ask them to leave.

- Marc Lawrence

Growing a Story

WRITING WEDNESDAYS

Doesn't "growing a story" sound nice?  It conjures up all kinds of words, like "nurturing" and "planting" and "blooming" and "blossoming."  Those words make a person want to dig in and start doing.

As a writer, if the word "plotting" causes you to run to the nearest corner and curl up in a fetal position, thumb in mouth, hair twisted around finger, there's a way to get around it.  Instead of "plotting," think "growing a story."  Why?  Because plotting is nothing more than the growth of an idea into a story with a beginning, a middle, and an end.

Like a garden where we prepare the foundation by turning up the soil where we'll be planting, we prepare our work area for a new story idea.  How many of you clear your desk, pull out a new notepad/notebook, or create a new folder on your computer?

I admit that I have what's become a ritual.  It begins with a new folder bearing the heroine's first name within my Manuscript folder in Documents.  Blanks of forms I'll be needing (storyboard, age chart, character list, pages written total, notes, and more) are added so I have them all in place in advance.  I fill them out as needed and as I go along.  I also put together a new 3-ring binder which contains sheet protectors where I'll keep printed copies of some of those forms, photos of the hero and heroine and anything else that might help me visually.  Yes, I probably overdo it, but it works, so why change it?

Next comes the seeds aka the ideas.  If only they came in order, writing a book would be so much simpler.  They don't, but by watering and fertilizing and giving them time to germinate, the garden begins to show signs of sprouts.  Once those start growing, we have to take care of the weeds, those ideas that don't work well with what is now the overall theme or framework of the story.  The strongest sprouts will become the 8 Plot Points of the story.  Again, those are:

1. Opening
2. Inciting Incident
3. Turning Points (1 or 2)
4. Main Turning Point
5. Black Moment
6. Sacrifice
7. Resolution
8. HEA

Those 8 are the connecting points.  The questions that need to be asked and answered to grow the story are what get the characters from point 1 (A) to 2 (B), from 2 (B) to 3 (C), and so on.  See them as the rows and areas of your garden, building from the beginning to the back end, smaller to larger as the story grows.  Pansies to Sweet Peas to Marigolds to Irises to Climbing Roses.

How to keep track of all this?  A storyboard.

(Disclaimer:  This is the way I do it.  This is NOT the only way. Take what might help, change it around, and make it YOURS.)

The average length of my books is 12 chapters.  I usually have 3 scenes per chapter.  That is NOT set in stone.  It depends on the story. ☺

Here's where I do the work... 

I LOVE whiteboards!  I can write on them or use paper and magnets.  I choose magnets and sticky note sized paper so I can move scenes around.  Sometimes they don't work where I'd first envisioned them!  (Sticky notes tend not to stick for me.)  I only need a brief idea of what the scene is about.  I'll build on that as I write the scene.  I can scribble that on the notes or when I have a good amount of scenes, I can print them on a page and cut them to size.

I was recently introduced to a new way of plotting those basics listed above, while at a writers retreat.  Author Patricia Davids used "Idea" paint on a wall, creating a huge surface that becomes a white board.  Five of us plotted a book for each of two writers, while Pat, then another wrote the ideas on the board.  From there, the writers would fill in the blanks (scenes) between those points.  I was impressed and intend to give it a try in the future.





This is the way I did it before the white board, so cork bulletin boards can work well, too!

(See the rows of seedlings and different types?)
 

Here's a basic version of a blank storyboard, created using a Word .doc, that will be filled out after I've finished plotting and am ready to start writing. Once it's filled out, it's saved and printed, then kept in a sheet protector in my notebook, so I have it on hand as I write the first draft.

Does all of this have to be done to plot a story?  ABSOLUTELY NOT!  It took me a long time to come up with something that worked for me.  I discovered the .doc storyboard above in an old handout book from an RWA conference.  (I'd love to credit the author who created it, but I don't know who it was.)  With that in hand, I changed, added, and removed until I found what worked for me. The white board and paper storyboard is only the latest incarnation, and I have no doubt that I'll be tweaking and making changes yet again before long.

If you've never plotted but feel you should, or if your plotting style just doesn't seem to be working for you, see if any portion of the above will help you.  Always feel free to recreate or adjust any kind of plotting device, until it suits you.  That's the best part.  Nothing is set in stone and improvements can always be made. :)

So where do I start when the tiny glimmer of an idea hits?  I'll share that next week. :)

My stories run up and bite me on the leg - I respond by writing down everything that goes on during the bite. When I finish, the idea lets go and runs off. ~ Ray Bradbury

Doing the Advance Work

WRITING WEDNESDAYS

I'd planned to share a little more about conflict, but decided at the last minute to skip that until next week, when I've had more time to prepare.  And that's the word for today.  PREPARE.

Preparation is something we do for special things, such as trips and weddings.  We prepare for the weather with ice scrapers and snow shovels for the winter, and fans and lawn chairs for summer.  People in areas where hurricanes and tornadoes threaten plan where to take shelter during storms.  We even buy life insurance and have wills drawn up in advance to prepare for life's end.

Planning is another word for preparation and something we do nearly every day.  We set our alarm to wake us in the morning.  We often plan what we'll make for dinner and make shopping lists---especially as we mature and realize that, with so much to remember, we get forgetful at times.  We have calendars to remind of us doctor appointments, children's activities, and lunch with friends.  Nearly every waking moment of our lives we're either planning and preparing for something or carrying out those plans.

Preparation is the foundation of writing.  When a writer sits down, she must have some kind of idea of where her story will start, who the main characters are, a few things that could happen to those characters and very often how the story might end.  It's rare for a writer to sit down at a keyboard or with pen and paper in hand , with absolutely no idea of what to write.

As each person is different in how they prepare and plan in life, so is each writer.  Some tend to be able to take an idea for a story, add a character or two, and then take off writing.  Others do more planning in advance, knowing the smallest of details about each character and exactly where the story beings, what happens throughout, and how it will end.  The majority of us are probably somewhere in the middle.  For me, that middle spot works, but it took me a few years to find what was comfortable for me.

Here are a few tips for preparing to write fiction.

• Know your genre.  The number of genres in fiction today is mind-boggling.  Do some research to learn about them all, then choose where you feel your writing--your stories--will fit.
• Decide on the length of your story.  Whether your plan is to write a novel, a novella, or a short story, you'll need to have an idea of what the final word count will be.
• Choose the setting of your story.  While this might seem insignificant for some, the setting of your story can be vital.  This is especially true for historical settings.  One can't write a Regency romance set in early 18th century North America.  Research is one part of preparation that shouldn't be skipped.  Even contemporary settings often need a bit of research.
• Know your characters.  They need names.  Have an idea of what they look like.  Ask yourself what type of people they are.  There are hundreds of resources to help you know your characters better, so don't fudge on this.  If your characters aren't real to readers, there will be no interest in the story.  Remember GMC and use it.
• Beginning, Middle and End.  Know where your story will start, a few things--especially turning points (more on that later)--that happen in the story, and how the story will end.
• Grammar, spelling, and punctuation.  Brush up on grammar basics.  While there are some readers who don't notice small mistakes, others will close a book forever if they stumble over bad grammar, poor spelling, or missing/unneeded punctuation.
• Find a good writers' group.  It really does help to have friends who share your enthusiasm and are there to help you up when you stumble.  People who don't write won't do.  You need other writers, even if it isn't live and in person.
• Don't give up.  Let me repeat that.  DON'T GIVE UP.  If you really, really want to write, you can't throw your hands up when the road gets a little bumpy.  Stick with it.

The above is just a sampling of writing preparations.  Even after the plans are complete and the preps have been done, when the actual writing has begun, there'll be more that will pop up.  Don't be discouraged.  We didn't know everything about life the moment we were born, and neither do we know everything about our story when we start to write it.  But as writers, we have that chance to prepare and start a few steps ahead before the writing begins.  Take the chance.  Prepare.  And then write!

Tell the readers a story! Because without a story, you are merely using words to prove you can string them together in logical sentences.

- Anne McCaffrey