Writers in the Storm

Don't you love it when you find a new awesomesauce writing tool when you're not even looking for it? Me too!

I'll try keep the backstory short (as good writers do, right? ;))

Back in the dark ages, when I thought myself invincible, I helped a friend move. I insisted I could lift the end of a nine-foot couch by myself and carry it downstairs. Turned out I could, but not without bursting something in my right forearm. It formed scar tissue, and I couldn't bend my right index finger (if it were a normal injury, it wouldn't happen to me). I had surgery, and I now have use of the digit, but scar tissue caused by the surgery means I'm left with killer tendinitis in that forearm. Overuse=agony.

So, with the deadline on my last book under contract approaching, I was set on fire by two new story ideas (Very funny, muse. She is such a bitch). I figured I'd just write the two proposals at the same time I finished the book. After all, I'm retired. I have the time, right? Right. Except for that forearm. Once the tendinitis flared, even resting it on ice bags when not typing didn't help. 

I got Nuance's Dragon Naturally Speaking software somewhere years ago to read my manuscript back to me during the edit process. I knew, of course, that I could dictate into it, but I wasn't interested. When I write, I edit as I go. It's not at all odd for me to rewrite a sentence 5 times to get it right. So dictating just wouldn't work for me.

You'd think, after all these decades, I'd learn never to say never. I was getting desperate. The deadline was approaching at the speed of light, I was dreaming about those two new ideas and I was in pain. I dug out my CD of Dragon, but it wouldn't work with my current version of Windows.

Hey, wait - I have the latest version of Windows! I'd heard there's voice recognition built into it! Yeah. Not so much. I got it activated, used my old Dragon headset and mic, and tried it out. You know the old story about a roomful of monkeys at typewriters, creating a novel? They'd have had a better shot at finishing this book than I would, with that Windows speech recognition program. I have zero accent, and still, it got one out of three words correct.

I broke down, bought the new version of Dragon, and installed it. Those of you who know just how cheap I am will understand how frantic I must have been.

Enough with the backstory, Laura! Jeez, Margie Lawson would not be proud. Anyway HERE's the takeaway for you

This thing is the hot fudge for your writer's sundae!

At least, it is for me. These are the advantages that I've found, working with this software:

• Dragon has slayed my inner editor - She got so confused, she's slunk away and I haven't seen her since. It's something about saying the words instead of seeing them as I type. I put on the headset, close my eyes and dictate what is happening in the scene that's running in my head. I'm free to get into my character's skin, and experience his thoughts, because part of my mind isn't taken up trying to spell words, think of synonyms and correct errors. I don't even look at the screen while I'm dictating.
• I'm writing FASTER - I am a very slow writer, because I edit as I go. When I complete a chapter, get feedback from my crit group, I move on. I now have to do one more read-over, to correct mistakes Dragon made, but it's still faster than my old way, because my internal editor is as dead as Pluto (the planet, not the dog).
• It  spares my arm - Notice this isn't number one on the list. Though this is why I bought the software, this is less important than the items above it.
• Who knew dragons were wicked-smart! - I don't make it easy. I have a character named Hope, and Bear. How does Dragon know it should cap those words? Because it learns! When it makes a mistake, I correct it (can do that via voice, too), and it remembers! It also learns the way I say things (if you have an accent) and learns from its mistakes there, too. Every time I close out of the system, it updates what it has learned about my voice.
• Its FUN! - I know, it's a new toy, but it's fun to use! It's a little miracle to see the words appear on the page as I say them. I so laughed - the other day I was dictating, and the cat came in and jumped into my lap. I forgot I had the mic on, so, "Hi love-bunny!" turned up in the middle of my black moment. You'll want to watch that.

Now, this is my personal endorsement - not the blog's. I don't think any of the other WITS bloggers use Dragon. But they may, after reading this! They have versions for Mac and Windows. Also, a caveat - you can find cheaper versions, other places on the internet - but check to be sure that version is compatible with your Windows release.

So what do you think? Are you ready to try out dictation software?

What shiny writer's toys do you have to share with us?

About Laura

Laura Drake is a city girl who never grew out of her tomboy ways, or a serious cowboy crush. She writes both Women's Fiction and Romance.

She sold her Sweet on a Cowboy series, romances set in the world of professional bull riding, to Grand Central.  The Sweet Spot won the 2014 Romance Writers of America^®   RITA^® award in the Best First Book category.

Her 'biker-chick' novel, Her Road Home, sold to Harlequin's Superomance line (August, 2013) and has expanded to three more stories set in the same small town. The latest, Twice in a Blue Moon , released July 1.

In 2014, Laura realized a lifelong dream of becoming a Texan and is currently working on her accent. She gave up the corporate CFO gig to write full time. She's a wife, grandmother, and motorcycle chick in the remaining waking hours.

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Sonja Yoerg

The act of writing is an exercise in managing symbols. Every word, after all, is attached to a universe of meaning; the bit we formally agree upon is the definition. Everything else a word signifies exists in a web of personal memory, experience and emotion. If I write “moon,” your brain lights up along myriad pathways: full moons, night, mystery, howling, moonlight, tides, half-moons, lunar eclipses, Halloween, moon walks, and sticking your naked butt out a school bus window.

Slipping a telling detail into your story pins it to reality, and that’s a good thing. You want your reader to believe, and there’s nothing better than a specific, unique word or description to do the job. A symbol is the opposite of a telling detail. It spins the reader out wide, into the realm of other words, and older, bigger ideas. Symbols make a story thick with meaning.

Now you want some, huh? Okay, let’s see how you might go about it.

Symbols come in all sizes. How handy. Is the heroine’s dress red or white? Either way, it sends a signal, albeit small, so choose wisely. Larger symbols require more attention. If a single symbol is repeated throughout the book, it’s a motif, as with the numerous references to birds in Jane Eyre. My second novel, Middle of Somewhere, takes place along a hiking trail. Red tent stakes go missing and reappear. They are red. They are pointy. They are supposed to be holding things down. Woven into the plot, they mean more than a piece of gear designed to keep the tent fly taut. In this book, there’s also a symbol so large it refers to the entire story: the trail itself. I don’t indicate it directly (“Oh, life has its ups and downs!”) but rather let the reader figure it out—or not. You can’t completely control reader brain waves, but you can leave them a trail (ha!) of breadcrumbs for them to discover.

Symbolism is like sex: if you’re thinking about how you’re doing it, you’re not doing it right. Saul Bellow said, “Symbolism grows, in its own way, out of the facts.” That’s lucky, because you don’t have to plant the symbols, just recognize them. If you are planting them in the first draft, they will be obvious. Ray Bradbury, one of my favorite authors, put it well: “Good symbolism should be as natural as breathing, and as unobtrusive.” I take note of the symbolism that appears unbidden in the first draft and use the revision stage to deepen it. Or leave it as it is. Which brings me to my next point.

Symbolism is like drinking: if you’re wondering if you’re overdoing it, you’re probably already drunk and are about to fall down and hurt yourself. Less is more. If the symbolism is dead obvious, your story will feel like a cheap trick. When in doubt, leave it out.

Symbols aid the writer as well as the reader. One of my happiest moments as a writer comes from discovering elements in my story that make sense beyond what I had intended. It’s magical, a gift from my story to me. In the book I just finished writing, I found I had associated three generations of women with water: one with a lake, one with a river and a third, loosely, with the ocean. I sprinkled a little more ocean over the third character, and thanked my book for providing the title: Blue for the Water.

If you are open to it, your stories will help you understand them, often whispering through the mystery of symbols. Listen closely.

Do you consciously add symbols to your writing? If so, how do you decide on your symbol and its introduction into the story? Do you notice symbols as a reader?

Sonja Yoerg grew up in Stowe, Vermont, where she financed her college education by waitressing at the Trapp Family Lodge. She earned her Ph.D. in Biological Psychology from the University of California at Berkeley and published a nonfiction book about animal intelligence, Clever as a Fox (Bloomsbury USA, 2001). Her novels, House Broken (January 2015) and Middle of Somewhere (September 2015) are published by Penguin/NAL. Sonja lives with her husband in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.

I love how life hands me "lessons" when I most need them. And it's wonderful when those lessons are tied to a wish...

More than a year ago, as I played with my thirteen-year-old Siamese cat, Shogun, I thought, "I'll never have another kitten. Heck, I'll never live with a litter of kittens again." My childhood cat had given me one litter before she was spayed. I smiled at the memory and let my wish go.

Two weeks ago, I received a call from my local animal shelter, asking if I could be a first-time foster for a mother and her FIVE sixteen-day-old kittens. Of course I said yes. Then I freaked out.

I picked my family up the next day. And I've been learning every day since.

Lesson 1: You may think you're going to die, but you won't.

All six kitties were stressed with the move. I was afraid I'd lose one of them. I don't know a person who doesn't have fear going into a new environment, a new situation, with no skill-set.

I'm in the process of the final edit before I send out my YA to two agents, an editor and a publisher. My main character is facing the sudden loss of her father and a forced change in her life. She must depend on trusted friends and her wits, skill, and intuition to navigate each day. Just like my sweet mother cat. 

I'm not an emotion writer. I'm a plot-driven science fiction writer who joined RWA to learn how to write "relationships." So of course, Laura Drake, the queen of emotion in her stories, is always asking me, "Where's the emotion in this scene?" Uh, on Planet Xanadu?

I thought about my brave little mama (she weighs less than six pounds) and how she must feel. I thought about my fears. I tapped into the fear and desolation when my father died. Then I edited.

As writers, we use our own experiences to flavor our stories. The trick is getting the right blend of spices in the dish we serve to our readers. Sometimes we need to expose bits of those dark parts of us we'd rather leave in the back of the frig. Maybe that's what the adage "Write what you know" really means. We all know where we've hidden that stuff.

Lesson 2: If you don't explore, you won't discover cool stuff.

As long as mom is close by, the kittens are brave explorers. But if I go into their room when mom is wandering the other parts of my house, the kittens run to their hidey-hole. It doesn't matter that they've clamored to be held, tried to climb my leg when I'm writing, or let me nip their claws.

When I write that first draft, I pour words onto the page. A new story is untraveled territory with unfolding characters. It's an adventure. It's fun. Actually, any time in your manuscript, especially if something just isn't working, is a wonderful chance to try a fresh technique, build a plot in a new way, or incorporate that brilliant idea from the last workshop you attended!

Enter a trusted critique partner, group, or mentor. I know if I get myself trapped on a ledge or wander off on a dead-end trail, my critique partners will scruff me and put me back where I belong.

If you don't have a cadre of trusted writer friends, join a group and find your support team. An interesting bonus: while you're supporting them, you'll learn in a way you can't get from articles or lectures.

Lesson 3: Socializing five kittens (and characters) is a lot of work.

Yes, but someone has to do it. (*Huge smile*) Feeding, changing water and litter boxes, shopping for supplies, additional cleaning. It's a more work than I anticipated. but holding, petting, and brushing my charges more than makes up for the not-so-glamorous tasks.

If you knew how much work, how many hours, how much sweat, how many tears you'd shed over your first manuscript and your characters, would you have picked something different to do with your "spare" time? Obviously not.

We're writers. Because we have to write. Getting sixty thousand, or eighty thousand, or a hundred thousand words on the paper is a lot of work. And we haven't even started with time spent editing, re-editing, pitching, querying, or submitting.

We're human. We get tired. We lose faith. But the next time I want to "pick a different hobby" (yes, a previous friend offered that advice) I'm going to remember: Socializing five kittens is a lot of work.

Lesson Four: Sometimes you have to rear up on your hind legs and fight for what you want.

The kittens are now old enough to "play fight" each other. Picture two three-quarter pound little bears, uh-kittens-on their hind legs swinging with their front paws, throwing an occasional bite to the neck. And then a third one rams them and they all roll on the floor with tiny yelps.

You wrote it. It's your voice, your vision. You've already incorporated mountains of advice and ideas from your writer friends. Sometimes, though, a contest judge, an agent, an editor, or even a trusted critique partner suggests a change  that choke-chains you. To be fair, you think about it, even try to incorporate it. But the story, the characters, the pacing go off. You think and try again, with no success. You begin to doubt yourself.

This is the time my husband calls, "Fish or cut bait." Sometimes, you have to stand up for your work, even if it means passing on an agent or a contract. After all, you are the one responsible for your writing and your career. If you sell something that is not your voice, not your passion, will you want to follow up with more of the same?

Lesson Five: Purr.

Enjoy the choices you've made. Revel in your words. Live your own best story. And purr. When you finish that difficult scene, when you send off Query #415, when you capture that new idea. Just purr. You might be surprised how good it feels to let yourself enjoy each and every accomplishment, no matter how small. You're worth it. Purr.

 

Has life supplied you with writing lessons lately? Share your insights, tips, and purrs with us!

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ABOUT FAE

Fae Rowen discovered the romance genre after years as a science fiction freak.  Writing futuristics and medieval paranormals, she jokes  that she can live anywhere but the present.  As a mathematician, she knows life’s a lot more fun when you get to define your world and its rules.

Punished, oh-no, that’s published as a co-author of a math textbook, she yearns to hear personal stories about finding love from those who read her books, rather than the horrors of calculus lessons gone wrong.  She is grateful for good friends who remind her to do the practical things in life like grocery shop, show up at the airport for a flight and pay bills.

A “hard” scientist who avoided writing classes like the plague, she now shares her brain with characters who demand their stories be told.  Amazing, gifted critique partners keep her on the straight and narrow. Feedback from readers keeps her fingers on the keyboard.

When she’s not hanging out at Writers in the Storm, you can visit Fae at http://faerowen.com  or www.facebook.com/fae.rowen.