MuseTracks Link of the Week – Editing

Here’s a cool link. Pro Writing Aid is a great companion to any writer’s toolkit. This handy-dandy site is software that edits writing. It gives reports on overused word, sentence variation, cliches, redundancies, repeated words and phrases, alliterations, pacing, and much more. Just paste in your text and Wha-lah! You’ll see the areas needing improvements.

Free editing software

Check it out and see if it works for you.

Do You Want To Make Money? Help Yourself!

 

Write your first draft with your heart.  Re-write with your head.  ~From the movie Finding Forrester

 

 

Do I want to write as a business?

 

This is a question that has plagued my brain for quite awhile. I’m so very lucky because I don’t depend on writing for a viable source of income and that’s a luxury. I recognize that. While I struggle with wondering whether I want to put a passion to work, I’ve learned some very important things that an author should understand if they want to make a go in this industry.

 

The first thing to ask yourself is if you know your genre. I know a lot of you are shaking your head and telling me to start with something a bit more advanced. I’d like to, but too many authors haven’t studied their genre well enough and make basic mistakes that turn off readers. Have you read books written in the same vein as yours? Do they sell well? What aspects of one book make it a better seller than another? Are there things that readers come to expect and love in that genre? Is it in your book? I know we all want to write about the things we love, but let’s face it, if your book is about something that has a very narrowed window of interest, you might have a tough time making it into a viable seller.

 

I started this journey wanting to write a category romantic suspense, but my characters wouldn’t let me keep the story within the confines of a category book. (At the time, I didn’t even know it was called “category” and that it had all those rules attached to it!) I seem to write bigger suspense/thriller types of stories and with the encouragement of many people who read my pages, I started to swing towards all out non-romantic suspense. There was a problem. I didn’t read that type of book.

 

After jumping in and raiding my husband’s book collection, I discovered two things. Those books were awesome and I didn’t want to write one. I liked the stories, but I always found myself wanting more romance infused into the book. I finally came upon writers like Brenda Novak, Roxanne St. Claire, and Allison Brennan who wrote big suspense with a romantic thread running through the stories. I’m also happy to say that they sell quite nicely. Know yourself. Know your market. Do your homework.

 

Not all of you will agree with my next assertion. You need to spend money to make money. Spend some money on a professional editor and for a professional design of your book cover. Begin with your critique partners, have some beta readers give you feedback and then send your work to an editor. It will cost money, but it should be money well spent if you get a reputable editor. Don’t ever, ever, ever rely on just yourself to edit your work. I can almost guarantee that you will not have a polished product.

 

If you want your book to be placed next to a professionally published book and the reader not be able to distinguish any difference between the quality of the two, then find a cover designer. Unless you have a degree in marketing and are a computer genius, you will be able to spot a homemade cover a mile away. I believe this is almost more important in the virtual world of selling than in the real world. All you have to capture their attention right off the bat is that tiny picture showing up on their screen. Spend the money- make it professional. I know an author who put her book up for sale with a cover she put together for little to no money. It wasn’t bad, it was actually quite attractive until you compared it to others professionally done in her genre. Despite that, sales were fair and then she hired a designer and re-published the book with its new cover. Sales soared and she started receiving fan mail. Does a cover make that much difference? YES!!!!!

 

Once there’s a refined, sleek looking product the author needs to publish it. You have two choices at this point. You can hire a company that will do the work for you or you can educate yourself and do it. Most of my friends are doing this part themselves and saving money. If you don’t think this is for you, there are many companies willing to take your money. Some are quite reasonable and others will charge you a huge amount. It’s just like anything else. Do your homework and research the options. I’m of a mind that if you can figure it out, then give it a try.

 

This is the beginning of the business part. Are you still with me? Are you scared? Are you excited? The next two weeks will be spent talking about marketing, looking at actual authors’ numbers, and can you truy make a living doing this?

 

** Spoiler Alert** Yes, you can! It takes research, trial and error, and a whole lotta chutzpa. 

Link Of The Week

Are you short on critique partners? Do you just not want to share your writing yet, but need some kind of feedback? Well, I’ve got a site made for you! Check this out-

http://www.autocrit.com/

The Twelve Days Of Writing Elves

“Never allow yourself to become one of those people who, when they are old, tell you how they missed their chance.”
Author, Claire Ortega

 By: Stacey Purcell

 Merry Christmas to all of our Muse Track readers! It’s hard to believe another year has come and gone so quickly.

I believe that, besides getting older, we fill our days so full, there’s hardly room to breathe. The Christmas season is a microcosm of that idea. We pack three months of activities into one and we expect to be merry and productive on top of that. Wow! That is a tough road- especially if you are the creative sort.

I have a confession to make.

I am not able to write on command. I don’t seem to have mastered the idea that you simply have to be disciplined everyday and the words will come. I understand the principle, try to employ it, but if the creative juice is not there- then it just isn’t there.

This month with all the parties, family flying in and out, shopping, cooking, cleaning etc., I’m finding it especially hard to get words down on paper. So what do I do? If my novel set in Costa Rica with lost treasure, drug cartels, small portable nuclear arms and wild romance won’t flow from my fingertips, I go back to my Twelve Days of Writing Elves to keep the creativity from getting rusty. (Those Elves have gotten me through many holidays and back on track.)

1. Elf 1 says- Find a holiday writing prompt and write a scene about 500 words. I borrowed this one from Writer’s Digest: Christmas Ghost
   While hanging up your Christmas lights, you are flagged down by a neighborhood kid who offers to help. As he helps you, he tells you about the Christmas ghost that haunts his house. What’s odd is that you’ve noticed the same things happening around your house. Write this scene.
2. Elf 2 says- What is your voice? Do you like to write in short staccato sentences or are you more flowing? Are you spontaneous? Or more methodical? Our voice is ultimately what comes out of us. Do you have a writer that you really admire? Do you like their voice? Take a few pages from your book and try to re-write it using their voice, their style. You might be surprised at what comes from this exercise.
3. Elf 3 says- Take an emotion that is commonly written about- let’s say “gut wrenching”. Now dig deeper and create a list of different, deeper, ways of making this emotion tangible. (Thank you Donald Maas for this one.) Take a trip out of the surface emotions into unchartered waters. Your writing will be better!
4. Elf 4 says- Create 5 new titles for your current WIP. What elements will you choose to highlight? How does it “color” your book differently?
5. Elf 5 says- Write the top ten things that must happen in your book before you put in the final period. Even if you are a pantster like me, you should be able to make this list. Use it as a road map or a check off list. (Thank you Will Graham for this brilliant idea.)
6. Elf 6 says- Read two chapters out of a new craft book. Write down 3 things you just learned. Post it by your computer, and try using those items the next time you write on your WIP.
7. Elf 7 says- Get your writing buddies on board and do a page swap. No editing, no rewriting to prepare it for others to read. Just swap the last page you all wrote for FUN- only for FUN!!
8. Elf 8 says- Take an experience your character will have and try to experience it yourself. If they are eating oatcakes from a medieval feast, then prepare some yourself. If they are in a rain forest, try going into a steam room fully clothed and do some kind of activity. If they are going to shoot a gun, go to a firing range and try it out. Use all of your senses!
9. Elf 9 says- Use the timer that was given in Link of The Week (Tuesday) and do a 5 minute brain storming session on finding a $1000 poker chip from the 1960s behind a loose board in a boarding house you just bought to remodel into a B and B. (Again- thanks Will Graham.)
10. Elf 10 says- Take 5 chapters and search for comfort words. Start off with “just” and “that”. You can highlight all of them with the push of a button and try eliminating as many as possible. Easy way to improve your chapters!
11. Elf 11 says- Read a book. That’s it- just read a good book.
12. Elf 12 says- Press the power button on your computer, scoot your chair away from your desk and walk out of the room. Never, never forget this is a time for celebrating family and friends. Enjoy them. Revel in your time together. Find peace and contentment in this season. The book will still be there next week.

May your Christmas be happy, healthy, and full of wonder. Merry Christmas!

Let the dialog speak.

I LOVE dialog. No really, really, love it.

I think most readers feel the same. It says so much, so easily, about who your character is, what they believe, what they feel and what their faults are. Dialog is moving and touching and scary and brilliant. Let it speak for your characters, after all, it IS their voice you’re going for right?

This is one of my all time favs. If you haven’t seen Tombstone, I suggest you do so. (Warning – It’s addictive.)

Wyatt Earp is fighting, none too successfully, an attraction to a woman who lives outside what was considered decent for women of that time.

Josephine: I’m a woman, I like men. If that means I’m not “lady-like”, then I guess I’m just not a lady! At least I’m honest.
Wyatt Earp: You’re different. No arguin’ that. But you’re a lady alright. I’d take my oath on it. 

TWO lines. That’s it. TWO lines and I know so much about these people it’s almost ridiculous.

Here’s another, and I hope Stephanie Perkins doesn’t mind me using her novel Anna and the French Kiss as an example. It’s a brilliant read with one of the best character voices I’ve heard in a long time.

St. Clair: “Definitely not.” He laughs. “Second lesson, the words on the chalkboard. Listen carefully and repeat after me. Granola.” I narrow my eyes as he widens his in mock innocence. “Means ‘granola’, you see. And this one? Yaourt?”

Anna: “Gee, I dunno. Yogurt?”

See! So much can be gleaned about a character from simple sentences of dialog. I  know they both have a sarcastic, witty personality. I know she’s somewhat outspoken and that he’s a flirt. This one gets SO much better. It’s a must read, btw. I read it in an evening.

Okay, I won’t beat this one to death, but it’s pretty important. I know we’ve all seen it. What could have been said with dialog, instead is written out for us. Can you see it? He’s being sarcastic, of course, so I search for a witty response. As if I can’t figure out the simple translation…

We tend to over-explain, whether by author intrusion or internal thoughts. When in doubt, let your characters speak it out. It’ll keep the pace humming and let your readers get to know so much about them and connect on a personal level.

Candi

Just another manic Monday…

The brilliance of what we do, as writers, is that we don’t have to play by the rules.

Well sort of.

We get to make it all up as we go. We get to change the balances of power, reinvent obstacles, and pretty much make the people in our lives (books) suffer in ways we can only PRAY doesn’t come around as bad juju, or Karma, and bite us where the sun don’t shine.

If only we could control real life so eloquently.

Ah, beach, hot sun, cabana boy with a drink in hand… I digress.

I realized recently, that I was projecting my own stresses – into my writing!

It hit me when I was editing. I LOVE my current WIP. The character is so much fun. He’s smart and savvy and fifteen, so everything about him screams hormones, mistakes and rebellion.

He’s so achingly confused and determined and scared and, and, and… political?!?

Yeah, that’s the same reaction I had while editing. My character, Arlin, actually had a 1 1/2 page internal with himself about the policies surrounding the ranking system in his government.

Um, yeah. Note to self… no writing after reading political drivel. E-V-E-R!

Here’s where we have to be careful not to project ourselves in our characters. I know I resemble the Tasmanian devil at times when the politicians are up to no good, but Arlin doesn’t. Whether I agree with something, my character has to have his own opinion and I have to give him that voice. His own voice.

We’re the same as our characters, but entirely different – and that’s how it’s supposed to be!

Edits, Drama, and the Murder of an Epilogue

Song of the Day: Rolling in the Deep by Adele

Edits. Love ‘em or hate ‘em?

I think most of us have heard of revision hell. Conversely, we all know that someone who so rock, their editors have nothing to refine. So when my time came to be professionally edited, I had no idea what to expect.

The past few weeks I’ve been working on rounds of edits with my editor (I never get tired of saying that – my editor). Denise is fan – flipping – tabulous. And thus far, I’ve enjoyed the editing experience.

I look pretty good as a brunette.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not strolling through a field of poppies, barefoot and fancy free. I’m not one of those authors who so rock. No, I completely short circuit over doing revisions on a deadline and I’m convinced that Murphy’s Law requires that life heads into upheaval at the same time. Let’s face it, 14 days or less for revisions translates to 14 hours or less for this mom of a rambunctious toddler and ever-dramatic preteen.

I'm not being overly dramatic, am I?

Add in the momentary lapse of sanity with shameless sobbing, fist-pumping, and foot-stomping when I had to delete my entire epilogue. My epilogue that ties everything in a neat, pretty bow. My epilogue that hints to what’s to come in the next book. My epilogue that so rocked! Noooooooooo…

Other than that, I’ve been lucky, or maybe I just fake it well. My edits overall have been rather painless.

Action, adventure, romance. Check

Good grammar. Check.

No plot holes. Check.

Flowing sentence structure and pleasing cadence. Check.

Clear logistics. Check.

Drool-worthy libertine pirate with insatiable appetite. Check.

Tee Hee

My editor (giggle, snort, giggle) encouraged me to dive deeper into character motivation and helped pull the ropes tighter in my writing. Together, we spit-shined my novel squeaky clean. God love her, she found my amorous scenes hot and well written, and even asked that I add another. Gladly. Can’t have too much lovin’ to make your toes curl.

That woman’s got an eagle eye, too, picking out repetitive verbiage and phrases. Apparently, I have an affinity for certain words. They magically appear over and over in my book, this despite that I am usually very cautious about repetition. Still a few slipped past. Damn you CPs! *shakes fists*

Listen up, authors. She says she literally sees the following phrase, or variations

Even the dog is narrowing his eyes.

of, in every single manuscript that crosses her desk. She narrowed her eyes. Confession. I did this five times in the novel. Five! Everyone was narrowing their eyes. Ugh.

I’m not unique. Every author does this. We’re so wrapped up in conveying thoughts, emotions, and actions just right, we simply do not notice we’ve been repetitive. In an 80-100K book, it’s easy to overlook the same phrase or word.

Just when I thought we were finished, the copy editor sends it back. Writing historical fiction has its own challenge by way of proper words usage, terminology, and dialect. I have done extensive, exhaustive research on words, trying my best to avoid anachronistic terms. Imagine my surprise when the CE sent my novel back full of flagged words. *sigh* It’s times like these I wonder how I made it this far.

So how do we avoid these pitfalls? Get a good editor. Employ awesome critique partners. Besides that? Well, reading aloud works. Doing a ‘Find’ in Microsoft Word for any word you favor or think you’ve used more than once will help, as well. Do your research. And just be vigilant. No one is perfect. That’s why we have a team of peeps saving our asses.

Dear epilogue, you will be missed.

Now, please. A moment of silence for my dearly departed epilogue.

How about you? Do you have any favorite words that sneak into your manuscripts time and again? How about editing? How has the editing process worked for you? I’d love to hear from you.

For Crying Out Loud- Get It Right!

The wastebasket is a writer’s best friend.  ~Isaac Bashevis Singer

By: Stacey Purcell

Do you want to hear a semi depressing number? I read that less than 1% of the books that are published by the Big Six are by debut authors. Excuse me while I sit down for a second. That is a fairly harsh number, to say the least.

Fortunately for those of us still working on getting the first book out of the door, we have options. The publishing landscape is not as desolate as it seemed when I came across that tidbit of information. As you have undoubtedly heard by now, our industry is changing fast. What does that mean?

It means that we have options…if we don’t blow it.

E-publishing has brought us several more publishing houses that are looking for quality work. Companies like Carina, Wild Rose and Ellora’s Cave are offering representation to thousands of authors and paying a higher percentage to the writer. We also have the ability to skip agents and publishers altogether.

Here’s where we start to have some trouble.

The other day, I was chatting with Jenn about writing contests. She noted that there seems to be a drop in the number of entrants across the board. I’m sure the economy is partially to blame, but she also pointed out another factor that is driving the numbers down. As more writers self-pub, they are entering less contests. Whoa! Stop everything! It should be just the opposite..

One of the biggest draws in a writing contest is the final judge for each genre. If you’re a finalist, then your pages are read by agents and editors. Obviously, if you are doing your own work, then you don’t need them. So why enter? In my opinion, if you are publishing your own book, then you should be entered in multiple contests. It’s a terrific way to get your pages edited and help you polish those words. Can you edit your own work? Of course you can, I just wouldn’t advise it.

Listen up people, if you are going to publish DIY, then please don’t settle for editing it yourself. Enter contests, find critique partners, hire professional editors, and just get it right! We have this amazing opportunity to take control of our artistic future and the public is receptive. There are many success stories, but there are many failures as well. I’m afraid that if they are continually disappointed with mediocre, sloppy books, they will stop giving new authors a try.

Even at $2.99.

Even at $1.99.

Heck, even at .99.

When an author puts out a crappy piece of work full of typos, poor spelling and awkward sentences, they sink themselves. They also make it more difficult for me to grab that customer back to being willing to try an unknown writer. That makes me mad. Many of my friends have beat me in putting their stories up for sale first and I watched how hard they worked. Countless hours were spent writing and re-writing until it was their best possible product. They used the feedback from contests to hone their writing style and add more texture to the stories. It didn’t stop there. They had critique partners and beta readers marking up their manuscripts. It wasn’t always fun, but they knew it was necessary. Feedback is essential to any really good author.

This is a competitive industry. Be smart when you make decisions about your career. There are many things we can’t control in life, but the quality of our work isn’t one of them.

This one is just because I thought it was funny!

K.I.S.S. – Another lesson learned by Candi Wall

I hope everyone is well and busy writing, editing, submitting, revising, celebrating… Whatever stage you’re at, we at Musetracks wish you the best.

Some of you may have noticed my absence, others may not.

I’ve had a bit of an uproar in my life recently, nothing too concerning, but enough to keep me from doing what I’d hoped to accomplish over the last few weeks. Big sigh. But what I’ve learned over these past few weeks is something that applies in our writing as well as our everyday lives.

K.I.S.S. a/k/a Keep It Simple Stupid

Simple right? Yeah, okay.

Life is nothing but curve balls, twists, turns, you know, the best laid plans of mice and men…

And so during this unexpected, unwanted hiatus, I tried to keep the irons I had in the fire going.

Job – Check

Family – Check

Chores – Check

School prep – Check

Appointments – Check

Sports – Check

Volunteer – Check

Sleep – Yeah, not so much

Write – Okay whatever

Eat right – Pah!

Exercise – LOL!

Read – Can I do that? Really?

Priorities TAKE OVER our lives!

Not a darn thing we can do about it, and most of us don’t even realize we’ve prioritized our lives until after we’re done with our must-be-done’s and are onto our want-to-do’s. We plug along at our lists and schedules on auto-pilot, rearranging as we go, finagling each unseen activity or issue we need to add into the mix. We do it automatically. Some do it well, some do it mediocre, some (like me lately) just scrape by.

Regardless of how we do it, we scrape it all down to the necessities to keep it as simple as possible.

And we as writers, have to apply this to our writing as well.

And of course we’re not talking about your plot, or revising, or submitting. We’re not even talking about writing. All these things are HARD. They’re supposed to be. Nothing good comes easy or simple, but what we give as our final product needs to be. Readers don’t want to, and won’t, read filler words or sentences. They want movement, purpose, drive and action/reaction. When considering K.I.S.S., taking out filler words, scene and dialog that doesn’t create forward motion in your story is a must!

Consider two sentences:

*Amber didn’t know where the directions on the note would take her, but she had to find out.

*Amber eyed the note carefully, each crudely scribbled word carving another layer of fear deep in her heart until she forced her eyes back to the road.

(I’m tired, so bear with me.)

Okay, now assuming you’ve set the stage for your character, which line screams K.I.S.S. and still maintains the same level of intensity? The second, right? Assuming your readers are already inside your characters head means you don’t have to tell them about her fear, they’re already there. The reader doesn’t need to be told that she ‘eyed the note carefully’, they’re already seeing her in their heads, glancing nervously between the note and the road.

Sure details and setting and emotion are important. But keeping our readers moving along, instead of stalling the pictures we’re painting in their mind’s eye with too many words, is our job. Now wasn’t that last sentence the perfect example of over-writing? Had I went with

K.I.S.S. it would have read something closer to: But keeping our readers moving along, instead of making them skim, is our job.

Share! What do you do to trash the unneeded filler words we always add in the first drafts?

BTW – Next week, I’ll have the awesome Saranna DeWylde here with her novel, The Real Housewives of Mount Olympus. (Click on her name and the link will take you to the Amazon page for her novel!) I got a chance to read this pre-pub stage and it’s a fast, sexy, ultra-fun read that will have you looking at the gods and goddesses in a new way.

She’ll be giving away a free e-copy to one lucky comment. But it gets better, she’ll give away a copy each time we get ten comments!

AGENT SHOP news? Did you see who’s going to be here in September (25th is pitch day)????

LAURA BRADFORD

Frankly, My Dear, I Don’t Give A Damn (…I Lie)

By: Stacey Purcell

“You’re beginning does not have a strong hook and I’m afraid you won’t draw your readers in as it stands.” Ouch.

Writers are gluttons for punishment. We pour our hearts upon the page, open our souls for all to see and then serve it up on a platter for human consumption. This is the wondrous glory and the bane of our existence. We cannot escape the inevitability of being critiqued. It is a part of the creative life. Unless we’re determined to never let our work see the light of day, then someone, somewhere will offer their opinion on what we’ve done.

Before we put our stuff up for sale or send it off to an agent, we need to have impartial eyes read over our pages. Critique partners are a writer’s secret weapon. When done correctly, they can help us avoid the type of comments at the top of this post. They can find holes in your plot, compliment your choice of words, and keep you from head hopping. The trick is to find just the right kind of help you need and to recognize you won’t need the same type of help at every stage.

I attended a workshop recently taught by my friend, Lorin Oberweger. She’s a professional free lance editor( www.free-expressions.com ) who I think is rather brilliant. The workshop was titled Working Smarter: Understanding What Kind of Feedback You Need and When You Need It She suggests that we break the process up into 3 phases.

Phase 1 is when you’re writing an early draft. Construct it more like a dialogue rather than a list of improvements. Ask questions like: What’s happening?- literally unfolding in the scene. What emotions are conjured for you? What is your impression of the protagonist? What is the viewpoint character trying to accomplish in the scene?

Phase 2 should be done during the middle drafts. Your partners should dig deeper into your characters and story. Ask questions like: Does the opposition seem clear and significant enough to pose a compelling obstacle in this scene? How am I handling the pacing of this scene? Do I understand what motivates the protagonist/ antagonist/viewpoint character in this scene?

Phase 3 is for the last drafts of your story. It’s almost ready to send out into the world. This is when giving concrete suggestions are the most valuable. Is the scene successful? What elements are eluding me? Is there a lack of credibility? Problems with grammar, formatting, flow? Are there issues of language/ voice?

This is a wonderful structure for helping a writer along without breaking their heart. Too much constructive criticism at the beginning may seem like an insurmountable blockade. Even though it is well meaning, it can be overwhelming. Start with the general and steadily move to the specific. Makes sense.

Of course, like most things in life, critiquing is not a one size fits all thing. While Lorin outlined this method, we also discussed that not every approach is necessarily for you. For instance, I’ve found that, for my personality, I need a combo of all three phases to help me feel like I’m truly moving forward. On our first pass, we focus more in on Phase 1 and 2 and only touch on 3. (Some things, you just can’t ignore!) After I’ve wrestled with it for awhile, we make another pass and that’s a combo 2 with a heavy dose of 3.

After you decide how and what you need from your critique partners, you may decide that you need help from a professional. There are many wonderful free lance editors and many awful money suckers. Be careful. Do your research. Get references. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Lorin Oberweger and I think she’s amazing. She’s supportive and very insightful. That being said, after she suggested I cut two chapters even though they were “extremely well written”, I sent her an email back that looked something like this:

YOU SUCK!!! (Of course, she was 100% correct.)

She just smiles and tells me, “I suck so you don’t have to.”

Do you have critique partners? How do you structure your time with them? What have you found that really works? What doesn’t? Have you worked with a free lance editor before? Were you happy? Chime in and let us know!