Writability

Discussion: When Do You Read?

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So over the weekend I read two books in two mornings (George by Alex Gino and Charm & Strange by Stephanie Kuehn, both of which were excellent), and a few days before that I completed my Goodreads challenge of 50 books for this year. Which got me thinking about my reading habits this year.

When I have a lot of work, whether it’s writing or schoolwork or both, I find that I tend to do most of my reading in the afternoon/early evenings, right after I’ve finished my work, but before I’ve checked out for the day. When I took public transportation earlier in the year, I read a lot on the bus, and throughout the school year I occasionally try to read before or between classes.

When I have more free time and/or dedicate a day to reading, as I did this weekend, I’ve found that I really like reading in the morning after I’ve completed my morning work. There was something really nice about cuddling up with a book and reading a large chunk of a story (or, in the case of this weekend, the whole story) and still having the rest of the day to do whatever my heart desires.

So, I guess in a sense, I don’t necessarily read at a consistent time—I just try to steal minutes whenever I can and before I’ve gone into braindead zombie mode (AKA: after 5PM). And sometimes this means I don’t get a whole lot of reading done that day, but sometimes it means I get way more done than I expected.

Overall, I’ve found that making a point to read (almost) every day, even if it’s only a couple pages a day, has not only been great for my reading habits, but has really allowed me to enjoy way more books than I would’ve imagined possible for myself a couple years ago. And I still have eight weeks left to read even more this year. :)

When do you generally read? Do you have a set time and place or are your reading habits more erratic?

Twitter-sized bite:

When do you usually read? Join the discussion on @Ava_Jae's blog. (Click to tweet)

Vlog: On Self-Care and Writing

On the importance of taking care of yourself first, AKA why I'm not NaNoWriMoing right now.

RELATED LINKS:

Do you take writing breaks between projects? What do you do while taking time off from writing?

Twitter-sized bite:

Are you a writaholic? @Ava_Jae vlogs about the importance of taking writing breaks to avoid burnout. (Click to tweet)

Writing is Never a Waste

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So while I’ve not (yet) seen it this year, whenever NaNoWriMo comes around, there tends to come a group of people who go on about how NaNoWriMo (and fast-drafting, in general) is a waste. They argue that anything written that quickly must be junk, that few people come out with anything decent out of NaNo, and that “word vomit” isn’t really writing.

Literary elitism aside, I feel like now is a good time to talk about something very near and dear to my heart, namely: writing is never a waste.

I’ve talked before about practice novels and immediately trunking manuscripts, so I won’t reiterate those posts. But as someone who has indeed put away a lot of manuscripts without attempting to edit them, who writes posts three times a week and still has to write essays for school, someone who does a lot of writing year-round even when I’m not working on a book—I can firmly say every bit of writing you do, whether’s it’s fanfiction, non-fiction, NaNoing, or something else, absolutely works toward making you a better writer.

There are so many novel-writing lessons you can really only learn by writing a novel, and another one, and another one. Every fanfic, blog post, essay, or article you write helps you further hone your voice and practice how to manipulate words, and sentences, and paragraphs to get your point across the way you want to.

The truth is, the only way to really learn how to write is to write. And if NaNoWriMo is the device that gets you to sit down and put words to paper, then don’t let anyone tell you it’s a waste—even if you never look at that NaNo book ever again after November 30th.

Writing, in all of its forms, methods, and strategies, can only help you hone your craft. And maybe when you NaNo or fast-draft, the words you put down aren’t as polished you’d like to see in a final draft, but the thing is, they’re not supposed to be. In writing, no matter how quickly or slowly you write, nothing is perfect the first time.

But even if you don’t go back to make those words better in the future, know that you haven’t wasted your time. That practice you got while throwing those words down is invaluable and can only help you in the future.

What do you think? Is writing ever a waste?

Twitter-sized bite:

Why @Ava_Jae says writing is never a waste of time regardless of type of writing or what happens to the MS. (Click to tweet)

Fixing the First Page Feature #16

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November is nearly here! And I, for one, could not be more excited. Though I suppose that also means I really need to decide whether or not I'll be NaNoing this year, like, soon, but details, amirite?

Ehem. Anyway. Let's start this month's fixing the first page critique, shall we?

As is the usual MO, I'll start by posting the full first 250 excerpt, after which I'll share my overall thoughts, then my redline critique. I encourage you guys to share your own thoughts and critiques in the comments (I'm just one person with one opinion!), as long as it's polite, thoughtful, and constructive. Any rude or mean comments will be unceremoniously deleted.

Here we go.

Title: IMPERIAL DAWN

Genre: YA Fantasy

First 250:

"Never trust a man who smiles as he stabs you in the back. Then again, if a creepy, smiling dude approaches you with a knife, you should probably run. Just saying. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t have a choice.

I’d given up my right to choose when I’d agreed to steal for him, to kill in his name.

So why did I trust him?

Let’s just say it’s complicated.

I pulled myself through the window, grimacing as the floorboards creaked menacingly. “Shut up, you.” I muttered.

The room was dark and musty, smelling of mothballs and old paint. I wrinkled my nose and pushed through the heavy velvet curtains. Rich people’s houses were weird - you could practically smell the richness. As if it wasn’t obvious enough from the golden toilets and satin underwear.

I glanced around hopefully for anything worth stealing, but somehow, creepy family portraits and ugly old doilies didn’t cut it. I couldn’t picture myself lugging a golden toilet around, or selling satin underwear to some poor street merchant, so I heaved a sigh and headed towards the door. The gods of fate must’ve had something against me - or maybe they just liked watching me suffer. I glanced around glumly, remembering Cain’s instructions.

Get in. Get the papers. Get out.

He’d made it sound so easy. Jerk.

In pitch blackness, I began rifling through drawers. 'C’mon-'

I froze as cold steel pricked my throat, and a low voice ordered, 'Don’t move.'

That’s when I knew I was screwed."

You know, reading this was funny for me because I'm actually working on a WIP with a somewhat similar-ish opening. Small world lol.

Anyway! I like the protagonist's attitude, and I think it definitely makes for an interesting opening. I like some of the details here, but I'm still having trouble picturing the setting (what room in the house is it, for example? What clues can you give us about the time/place?). Also, the first four paragraphs didn't really work for me—it's dangerous to start with exposition, and the first paragraph especially felt a little borderline corny to me. I think it'd be stronger if the first four paragraphs were cut and a short hook was added before the protagonist climbs in.

Now for the in-line notes:

"Never trust a man who smiles as he stabs you in the back. Then again, if a creepy, smiling dude approaches you with a knife, you should probably run. Just saying. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t have a choice.

I’d given up my right to choose when I’d agreed to steal for him, to kill in his name.

So why did I trust him?

~~Let’s just say it’s complicated.~~

[Like I mentioned above, I'd like to see a hook added here and the above removed. It'd be great if you could give us a sense of the stakes right away—right now, I have no idea why the MC needs what they need, or what will happen if the MC doesn't get it. Why is your MC stealing? What's at stake for your MC, personally? Giving us a sense of this right away would make the rest much more compelling, because we know what your MC has to lose.] I pulled myself through the window, grimacing as the floorboards creaked ~~menacingly~~. “Shut up, you.,” I muttered. Why is the MC speaking at all? If they're breaking in, wouldn't it be stupid to talk, even if quietly?

The room was dark and musty, smelling of mothballs and old paint What does old paint smell like? I know what new paint smells like, but usually when a room has been painted a while ago, the smell of the paint disappears. I wrinkled my nose and pushed through the heavy velvet curtains. Rich people’s houses were weird - you could practically smell the richness. I like this, BUT it directly conflicts with what you said the house smells like—mothballs and old paint. I'd imagine richness would smell new and luxurious, not like your grandmother's house. As if it wasn’t obvious enough from the golden toilets and satin underwear. Ha ha nice.

I glanced around hopefully for anything worth stealing, but somehow, creepy family portraits and ugly old doilies didn’t cut it. I couldn’t picture myself lugging a golden toilet around, or selling satin underwear This made me pause because I thought the line above wasn't literal. If it is literal, then did he break into a bathroom? How else would he know they actually have golden toilets? What room is he in? I'm having trouble conceptualizing where he is. to some poor street merchant, so I heaved a sigh and headed towards the door. The gods of fate must’ve had something against me - — I'm noticing this in a few places, so make sure you use em dashes rather than hyphens. The former are longer (see above). or maybe they just liked watching me suffer. I glanced around glumly, remembering Cain’s instructions.

Get in. Get the papers. What are these papers? Why are they so important? We need to know what your protagonist knows and why this is important to your protagonist, otherwise there's very little tension in this scene. Get out.

He’d made it sound so easy. Jerk. I like this. :D

In pitch blackness, I began rifling through drawers. Again, what room is he in? Are there other drawers? What kind of drawer is this—a filing cabinet? A dresser drawer? A kitchen cabinet? I know it's dark in the room, but if he can see enough to be able to pick out a sheet of paper (which, how can he? Does he have a flashlight?) then he must be able to see some of the rest of the room, too. 'C’mon-'

~~I froze as c~~Cold steel pricked my throat, and I froze. (It's better to put the reaction after something happens, a) so the reader is just as surprised as the protagonist and b) because logically, that's how your MC would process it—cold steel on their throat, then freezing.) ~~and a~~ A low voice ordered, 'Don’t move.'

~~That’s when I knew~~ I was so screwed I considered cutting this line altogether, but I think it works better if you remove the filtering part. Otherwise I'd just delete the whole line because it's telling and we can already tell your protag is in trouble without your MC saying so."

I think this could potentially be a really hook-y opening, it just needs a little more working. If the stakes are added in from the start and we get more description throughout, I think this opening could be really great. You're almost there! Just keep expanding.

If I saw this in the slush as is, I would probably pass, but if the elements I mentioned above were fixed, I'd definitely be interested in continuing.

I hope this helps! Thanks for sharing your first 250 with us, Jay!

Would you like to be featured in a Fixing the First Page Feature? Keep an eye out for next month's giveaway!

Twitter-sized bite:

.@Ava_Jae talks setting the stakes from the start & sensory description in the 16th Fixing the First Page critique. (Click to tweet)

On Word Crutches

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So over the weekend, while burying myself in revisions in a desperate attempt to try to finish revisions before NaNo (something that is still in progress), I came across the part of my edit notes that listed words I was overusing.

Forgetting, I suppose, that this is my least favorite part of the editing process, I plugged my MS in word cloud, wrote down the most commonly overused words, added the words from my edit notes to the list, and started searching.

And, well. This happened.

Agent: You say "breath/breathe/breathing" a lot. Me: Whaaat? *looks up "breath"* *220 matches* o.o #amrevisifying
— Evil Jae (@Ava_Jae) October 25, 2015

Word crutches, unfortunately, happen to everyone—and more so, I've found that when you get rid of one crutch, you tend to accidentally add another to your repertoire. (For example, my characters used to arch their eyebrows all the time—now, apparently, they think about breathing constantly.) I'm guessing this tends to happen because when you're first drafting, you're mostly focused on getting the words and story down without getting too caught up on which words your using, which means your brain will rely on many defaults. Which is okay. Because first drafts.

Going through your manuscript to cut down on the crutches should be one of the final things you check for, because if you end up having to add more to your MS, you'll probably add them back in, or vice versa, if you end up cutting something from your MS, you'll have wasted time removing a crutch from a passage that's getting trashed anyway.

Many times, I've found when systematically removing these overused words, that many of them are often redundant to begin with, i.e.: saying it's night then repeating that it's dark, or saying it's winter then repeating that it's cold (both of which maybe I found several times in this WIP...oops). And while going through and removing them unfortunately can be a little time-consuming, it is ultimately one of the easier parts of the process, even if I do find it excruciatingly boring.

But one way or the other, removing word crutches is part of the polishing process necessary in those couple final steps of manuscript editing. And removing them not only tightens your writing, but challenges you to push yourself in terms of not always relying on the first words that come to mind.

What are some of your writing crutches?

Twitter-sized bites:

Have a lot of overused words? @Ava_Jae talks tackling this step of WIP polishing. (Click to tweet)

What are some of your writing crutches? Join the discussion on @Ava_Jae's blog. (Click to tweet)

Vlog: To NaNo or Not to NaNo?

NaNoWriMo is upon us! And some of you may still be undecided about whether or not to participate—which is okay! If that's you, here are some things you may want to consider before deciding.

To NaNo, or not to NaNo? That is the question.

RELATED LINKS:

Have you NaNoed before? What was your experience like?

Twitter-sized bites:

Not sure whether or not you want to NaNo? @Ava_Jae vlogs about some things you may want to consider. (Click to tweet)

Undecided about whether to NaNo? @Ava_Jae vlogs about her experience & some determining factors. #NaNoWriMo (Click to tweet)

Discussion: Will You NaNo This Year?

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So NaNoWriMo is THIS SUNDAY—*queue freakout*—and I am buried under revisions. At this point I have no idea whether or not I’ll be able to participate, which isn’t fun especially since I do actually have a half-plotted WIP idea, but revisions have to be my top priority right now (I will talk about this a little in tomorrow’s vlog).

Still! I'm hopeful that maybe, somehow, I’ll finish in time to plot out the WIP idea and try to jump in (and just in case I do—this is my NaNo profile). Not making any promises right now…but we’ll see.

I’m curious, though—who is participating this year? Who is still thinking about it? And remember, I have a NaNoWriMo round-up post with lots of NaNo secrets and tips for your perusal.

Short post is short because I have revisions to do. But let’s hear it: are you participating in NaNoWriMo this year? Why or why not?

Twitter-sized bite:

Will you participate in NaNoWriMo this year? Why or why not? Join the discussion on @Ava_Jae's blog. (Click to tweet)