So, you've printed a draft of your manuscript. What now?

Patty here…

This past weekend I reached an important milestone in my writing. I printed a copy of the manuscript I’ve been working on since forever. It's a departure from the four novels in my Tucker Sinclair series. This book is about a female LAPD homicide detective. Big deal, you say. Well, yes. For me, it is.

I used to print copies willy-nilly because—you know—printing takes time, which means that while the HP is spitting out pages I don't have to deal with writing contrivances and sketchy character motivations. At some point, I began to feel guilty for wasting so much paper so I stopped printing copies and tried with mixed success to edit on the computer screen. Once I wade into the depths of the manuscript it’s difficult to flip back and forth between pages on the screen. I need to hear the scratching of my pen across the paper when I jot down notes, i.e. “Haven’t I written ‘she buttoned her coat against the chill’ fifteen times already?”

Each manuscript is printed on a different color paper so I know which draft it represents. The current copy is green. The next will be beige because it's the closest color to the white paper of a finished book.

Once I printed this current manuscript, I read through it as quickly as possible. That allowed me to spot word echoes and mile-wide plot holes. During this fast read-through, I didn't make many notes because I wanted to keep reading to make sure the story held together. The plot hit a pothole on page 369 when I realized that two scenes were out of order. The way I had written them was not organic or logical. One thing did not lead to another. Luckily, it’s a small change that makes the story stronger and opens several story elements I’d not considered before.

My able writing assistants Riley & Scooter

While reading, I also realized I needed to do a better job early on of foreshadowing an event that happens to one of the ancillary characters. Again, this isn’t hard to do. I have already written the story elements. I just need to lift some of the words out of their nesting places and drop them throughout the book to ratchet up tension and suspense.

During the next read-through I will question everything on the page: is it accurate; is behavior true to the characters I've created; is it organic. Once those changes have been transferred into my computer file, I’ll worry over it a while longer before printing out what I hope will be a polished copy. Then I’ll plead, beg, whimper and ask politely if one or two of my more talented writer friends will read and critique it. Any volunteers?

While I await feedback, I'll reread some of my favorite books on writing just for inspiration, including On Writing by Stephen King.

 
Here’s a great interview with King that includes his Top 20 Rules for Writers:

1. First write for yourself, and then worry about the audience. “When you write a story, you’re telling yourself the story. When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story.” 
2. Don’t use passive voice. “Timid writers like passive verbs for the same reason that timid lovers like passive partners. The passive voice is safe.” 
3. Avoid adverbs. “The adverb is not your friend.” 
4. Avoid adverbs, especially after “he said” and “she said.” 
5. But don’t obsess over perfect grammar. “The object of fiction isn’t grammatical correctness but to make the reader welcome and then tell a story.” 
6. The magic is in you. “I’m convinced that fear is at the root of most bad writing.” 
7. Read, read, read. ”If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write.” 
8. Don’t worry about making other people happy. “If you intend to write as truthfully as you can, your days as a member of polite society are numbered, anyway.” 
9. Turn off the TV. “TV—while working out or anywhere else—really is about the last thing an aspiring writer needs.” 
10. You have three months. “The first draft of a book—even a long one—should take no more than three months, the length of a season.” 
11. There are two secrets to success. “I stayed physical healthy, and I stayed married.” 
12. Write one word at a time. “Whether it’s a vignette of a single page or an epic trilogy like ‘The Lord of the Rings,’ the work is always accomplished one word at a time.” 
13. Eliminate distraction. “There’s should be no telephone in your writing room, certainly no TV or videogames for you to fool around with.” 
14. Stick to your own style. “One cannot imitate a writer’s approach to a particular genre, no matter how simple what that writer is doing may seem.” 
15. Dig. “Stories are relics, part of an undiscovered pre-existing world. The writer’s job is to use the tools in his or her toolbox to get as much of each one out of the ground intact as possible.” 
16. Take a break. “You’ll find reading your book over after a six-week layoff to be a strange, often exhilarating experience.” 
17. Leave out the boring parts and kill your darlings. “(kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings.)” 
18. The research shouldn’t overshadow the story. “Remember that word back. That’s where the research belongs: as far in the background and the back story as you can get it.” 
19. You become a writer simply by reading and writing. “You learn best by reading a lot and writing a lot, and the most valuable lessons of all are the ones you teach yourself.” 
20. Writing is about getting happy. “Writing isn’t about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid or making friends. Writing is magic, as much as the water of life as any other creative art. The water is free. So drink.”

HAPPY MONDAY! HAPPY SAINT PATRICK'S DAY!!

How to Write a Novel part Seven

James O. Born

The language of the novel has everything to do with how it's received and the way in which a reader perceives it.  I know that sounds obvious, but many writers don't seem to get it.  I'm not talking about every novel written with exquisite prose and flowery language.  Some novels are written bluntly and to the point.  Some tell the story of survival and danger and require a different tone.  Some have a lighter touch and certain language would crush the comedic timing.  One way to think of the tone of your writing is the music to a movie.  I am a fan of Shakespeare's Henry V and seen the movie starring Laurence Olivier several times.  In

addition, I've seen the remake by Kenneth Branagh dozens of times.  It's the same story with essentially the same dialogue.  (I would hope that they were both following the same source material).  But the impact of the remake by Branagh is much stronger in my opinion and it took me a number of viewings to figure out why.  Laurence Olivier is arguably one of the greatest actors of all time.  The production with him is from the 1950s and is spectacular.  After careful consideration, I realized it was the music of the remake that set the tone and made it that much more exciting for me.  Others would disagree, but I find the remake to be far superior to the Laurence Olivier version.  And I generally don’t care what others think.  They only get in the way of what I think.

Consider all that when you decide how you want to tell your story.  Our friend and fellow blogger, Paul Levine, once told me about his experience writing the excellent novel Illegal. 

He changed the tone of the novel by simply referring to the protagonist by his last name, Payne, instead of his first name, Jimmy.  That gave the story a harder edge.  I thought it was a brilliant and simple move and an explanation that should be in writing classes.  So now it is.  Thank you, Paul.

The other language quirk that I would look at if I were starting my first novel was avoiding clichés.  Things do stick out like sore thumbs, but they also stick out like George Bush's ears or, for that matter, Barack Obama's ears.  Have I just stumbled onto a hidden code about our presidents?

One of Elmore Leonard's famous rules is never used the phrase, "Then all hell broke loose."  I listened to him so intently that I don't even use that phrase in real life anymore.

Is he a smart as a whip?  Or are smart as Neil Degrasse Tyson?  This one isn't really a cliché because Tyson is a very bright

guy.  Use your own imagination, I'm tired of doing all the work. 

Is he lonelier than an Amish electrician? (Thanks Larry the Cable Guy).

Something faster than a speeding locomotive or is it faster than Adrian Petersen in the open field.  Is it faster than the French army in reverse?  (You can never go wrong poking fun at French military expertise.)

They don't all have to be funny, they just have to avoid being clichés.  Personally, I avoid clichés like the plague. 

Work smarter not harder.  Or whatever.

Our quote this week is more contemporary, but right on the money, I mean, as precise as George Will’s elocution.

“You either have to write or you shouldn’t be writing. That’s all.”― Joss Whedon