Writers in the Storm

Hi everyone, I’m Orly and I’m a challenge addict.

It started innocently enough. You know, a writing challenge here to get motivated, another challenge there to get a draft done. Pretty soon it became multiple challenges a month. What can I say, there’s just something about being in a group of writers suffering with supporting each other.

And there are so many challenges out there to enable motivate the writer in need.

Since I’m recovering from a month with two challenges, dog-paddling through the beginning of another challenge, and looking ahead to the next challenge, I thought I’d share a few thoughts to help my writing friends:

1.  Identify.

Not all challenges are created equal and not all challenges are right for you. NaNoWriMo, for example, is a great motivator for those who can crank out word count, but if you’re a slower writer or an agonizing writer, that kind of challenge may be more disheartening than motivating. ROW80 ("the writing challenge that knows you have a life") requires measurable goals but you must post a blog with your progress every week.

A Facebook writer’s group I’m in had a fun challenge in January pitting writers against rewriters. Everyone picked a side based on where they were in their project, then announced their personal goal. It was energizing watching everyone post their accomplishments.

There are challenges of all shapes and sizes. Look around, ask around, and pick one that suits your needs. Signing up for NaNo when you’re revising probably isn’t the best plan – trust me on this! Been there, tried that.

If you don’t find one that suits you, create one with your own writing group. Challenges don’t have to be huge or complicated.

2.  Plan.

Once you identify the challenge, it’s time to figure out what you’ll need to accomplish it. Each November I sign up for PiBoIdMo, that’s Picture Book Idea Month. “Planning” for that includes buying an adorable notebook to capture my 30 days of picture book ideas and then optimistically writing out 1 through 30 on the top right corner of the pages.

If you’ll be participating in a challenge with word count, planning may include advance research or ensuring you have dedicated time each day to write. This wouldn’t be the time to schedule a bathroom remodel where you’ll be constantly interrupted by workers and construction noise (yes, been there, done that – noticing a trend here?).

Make sure you have whatever research or craft books you need for writing handy. Draft an outline or post your plot points where they’ll be easy to see. Print out any inspirational quotes that will kick your creative brain cell butts into gear.

3.  Jump in.

Now you’re ready. The calendar clicks over and it’s time to jump in. Bring on the challenge, baby! One additional thing you need, though … a good attitude.

You only have 14 new picture book ideas instead of 30? That’s 14 more than you started the month with. And out of those 14, there are probably at least one or two that can be flushed out into a great manuscript. You publicly announced that you’d write 25k this month and only wrote 17k? You’ve added 17k to your manuscript and established forward momentum.

Challenges are for celebrating accomplishments. Every word, every idea, every page revised is an accomplishment because you're that much closer to a completed project. Not to mention the camaraderie and bonds you’ve made with fellow challenge participants.

Okay, I lied. Following those steps won’t help you conquer the challenge addiction. But they will help you have fun and succeed. And isn’t that the point of joining challenges in the first place?

Are there challenges you absolutely love and want to share with WITS readers? Do you have other success tips to share?

Because we’re suckers for a good challenge, the WITS team decided to share our addiction with our beloved readers. On April 20, we’re holding our own little challenge - Write Up A Storm. From noon to midnight Eastern time, we’ll be Writing Up A Storm on the WITS Facebook page. That’s write … wait, right, ahh they both work. Pop in for an hour writing sprint or hang out for a couple of hours or the entire 12 hours. After all, misery creativity loves company.

Will we see you at the WITS Write Up A Storm challenge?

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About Orly

After years of pushing the creativity boundary in corporate communications, Orly decided it was time for a new challenge. Three women’s fiction manuscripts later (plus a handful of picture books), it’s safe to say she’s found her creative outlet. When she’s not talking to her imaginary friends, she’s reading or at least trying to ignore everyone around her long enough to finish “just one more paragraph.” Orly is the founding president of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association.

You can find her on Twitter at @OrlyKonigLopez or on her website, www.orlykoniglopez.com.

Holly Robinson

I'm in a semi-comatose state after crashing through the first draft of a novel in six months to meet my editor's deadline.

Not that I'm complaining. I've been struggling to get to this point in my career for over twenty-five years. After earning a degree in biology, I started writing fiction and went for an MFA. I wrote a novel as my thesis and found an agent.  Surely, I thought, New York would find me now! Could Oprah be far behind?

Apparently, New York and Oprah had better things to do. My manuscript was rejected by a couple of dozen editors. So were the next five novels. Finally, I self-published my novel Sleeping Tigers through CreateSpace. Two weeks later, my agent sold the manuscript he'd been shopping around, The Wishing Hill, to New American Library/Penguin.

As a hybrid author, I straddle the worlds of Indie and traditional publishing, and this is the question I get asked most often: “Which did you like better?”

That, my friends, is a thorny question, but I've tried to describe the differences here so you can decide the best route for you.

THE ACTUAL WRITING AND EDITING PROCESS

Any way you want to publish, if you're a first-time novelist, you will have to write the whole book before you sell it. However, there are some significant differences in the writing and editing process.

Going Indie: In writing an Indie novel, you obviously have to finish the manuscript entirely before you can make any money. If you collaborate with an editor and copy editor along the way (and I hope you will), you call the shots. You can write as slowly or quickly as you choose, and you don't need an agent.  Indie authors who make the most money are those who 1) typically write genre fiction, like romance or fantasy; and 2) write quickly and 3) usually in series.

The Flip Side: If you're going to publish with a traditional house, you need to first convince an agent that you're worthy, which can take months. Then, when the agent sells your book, the editor will probably send an editorial letter with holistic revisions, talking about things like character and structure. After, that you'll do a second round of pickier line edits. Finally, you'll get the copy editor's draft with dozens of queries that make you want to tear your eyes out with a fork. The bad news is that this process takes a year or more. The good news? Your book will ultimately be much better than you could make it on your own.

MARKETING YOUR BOOK

People naturally assume that, if you're with a big publisher, you'll have a publicist and everything will come up roses. You can simply hole up, focus on writing and forget about pimping your book. That's not exactly true.

The DIY World of Indie Book Marketing: With Indie novels, you are the only one steering the plane. If you want a Kirkus review, you pay for it. Ditto an ad on Goodreads.  It's difficult to get Indie novels in bookstores. This all takes time, patience and creativity, but the good news is that you can build buzz yourself through online promotions, blog tours, Goodreads giveaways, etc.

The Flip Side: Once I was with Penguin, I was astonished to discover that, months before a novel comes out, it's appearing all over: Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes & Noble, Powell's. I recently went on Goodreads and was shocked to discover there was a giveaway of Haven Lake, my newest novel—100 copies—five months before its April pub date!  The weird part was that I didn't even know it was happening. Months before a book is released, I also start getting emails from the publicist describing which book bloggers she has contacted, where the book is out for reviews, etc.  Bookstores order my books after visits by Penguin sales reps. However, traditionally published authors must still do their share of marketing, because publishers only devote about three months to pushing each book out the doors. In today's world, few writers can afford to closet themselves. Marketing happens 24/7.

The Bottom Line: Where's the Money?

Some Indie Authors Do Make Money: I know a lot of Indie authors who are disappointed when they publish books and sell only a handful of copies—certainly not enough to pay back their initial investments. I also know Indie authors who make bank. Most Indie authors keep a lion's share of their royalties—usually 70 percent—and they have no agents, so they don't pay commission. Other than the initial investment in cover design, copy editing, etc., most of the money goes to you—or to advertising.

The Flip Side: Traditional authors get a much smaller percentage of royalties—25 percent, if we're lucky—and we have to pay agents 20 percent of our earnings on top of that. We have no control over the prices of our books. Advances are paid on the basis of an entire manuscript first, and then on the basis of a synopsis and a few chapters for subsequent books. It's nice to get money up front, but those advances are divvied up in three parts—the first on signing, the second on delivery, and the fourth on publication—and have been waning in size over the past decade. An advance now can be as low as $3000 for a full-length novel. Traditional authors can, and are, dumped by their publishers if they don't make their advances. This all sounds terrible, I know, but remember that you're not pulling your wallet out of your pocket for anything, either. Whatever you make is profit, and it's great to have the wheels of marketing turning without you having to grease them.

Where's My Home?

I love self publishing. I love having control over everything from the cover to the marketing. I take huge satisfaction in watching sales grow, and enjoy those surprising “lottery win” moments, like when Audible recently bought the audio rights for Sleeping Tigers—which, right there, made up for my initial publishing investment. Most of all, I love the idea that I can write what I want, when I want.

However, immediately after Penguin published my first novel, they bought the next on the basis of a synopsis—and then two novels after that. I feel like I'm balancing on top of a speeding train and I love this, too. I adore working with this particular editor, whose sensibilities mirror mine. And, because I don't write genre fiction in series, but stand-alone novels, Penguin has sold many, many more of my books than I could have done on my own. For now, I am happily at home in the traditional publishing camp. But I'm glad I self-published first, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

What publishing camp are you in? Do you have questions, or observations to share?

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About Holly

Novelist, journalist and celebrity ghost writer Holly Robinson is the author of several books, including The Gerbil Farmer's Daughter: A Memoir and the novels Beach Plum Island and Haven Lake.

Her articles and essays appear frequently in The Huffington Post, More, Parents, Redbook and dozens of other publications. She and her husband have five children and a stubborn Pekingese.

 

Margie Lawson

If you wish review the rule that started it all... Margie-Rule #1: Never Take Any Word for Granted. Or read the whole series!

Are you an NCIS fan? A Jethro Gibbs fan? A Mark Harmon fan?

If you said YES, you know Jethro Gibbs has rules. Smart rules. I wanted smart rules too.

Margie’s Rule #8: Beware of "Writerly!"

Writerly is my term for writing in a way that sounds more like the writer than the character.

Writers know they are supposed to limit backstory. Writers know they are supposed to  avoid clichés. Cautions about backstory and clichés are in every basic how-to book for writers.

I don’t see cautions about what I call writerly writing.

Elmore Leonard, NYT Bestselling mystery/suspense writer, has the best quote that defines my take on writerly writing.

If it sounds like a writer wrote it, rewrite.  – Elmore Leonard

Kudos to Elmore Leonard!

If his name doesn’t trigger an immediate reaction, these book, movie, and TV Series titles might:

• Get Shorty
• The Big Bounce 
• Mr. Majestyk
• Out of Sight 
• Justified

Tens of millions of his books are in print.

Um. Wow!

Back to Elmore Leonard’s quote.

If it sounds like a writer wrote it, rewrite.  

– Elmore Leonard

Writing that’s writerly doesn’t sound natural.

It may be dialogue or an internalization.

If something sounds like it was written by a writer, it doesn’t sound natural for that character to have said or thought those words.

Some writers may be great at writing dialogue that sounds right for that character. But the character’s thoughts sound like a writer wrote them. They don’t sound like words or phrases that character would think.

You may be wondering, what’s wrong with writerly writing?

So what? Who cares?

The problem is keeping the reader locked in the scene. If the writing is writerly, it’s not a strong fit for the character. The reader is less engaged. Less likely to keep reading.

How do you avoid writerly?

You go deep into deep POV, explore the character’s emotional set, and ask yourself what words they would use in dialogue and in their thoughts.

• Imagine being in that scene. Imagine if you were that character. Consider their life.
• How they were raised. What’s happened to them.
• Put yourself in that character’s skin and heart.
• What’s their relationship with the non-POV character?
• What’s the POV character’s emotional set?
• How would they react? What would they say? What would they think?
• What words would they choose?

The writer has to get out of their own way. Cliché alert. :-)

They have to become less cognitive, more reactive. When a stimulus presents, think colored-by-emotions first responses, not processed responses.

Writerly writing may be beautiful. It may be perfectly cadenced. It may have power words and backloading. It may have perfect words, but those words may not be ones that character would use at that time.

Beware of Diluting the Power!

Sometimes it’s the little things that are writerly.

Writers may slip good details in a scene, but they do it in a way that dilutes the power.

A character who is upset wouldn’t think about the color of the couch they sit on.

A character who puts on a hat wouldn’t think about the color of their hair.

A character talking to their spouse usually wouldn’t say the names

Here are a few examples of what I usually call writerly. Some are cliched and writerly.

I am not saying these sentences are always undesirable. Some may be perfect for a particular character.

1. He gave me a sardonic
2. My foot found purchase.
3. I gave him a dismissive
4. He ascended the stairs.
5. Her hope was submerged.
6. He released her from his embrace.
7. He propelled me toward the receiving line.
8. He questioned his cavalier attitude toward self-preservation.

Some of those examples may not seem writerly. They may sound right to you because you’re used to reading them. You may be used to writing them.

You may think what I consider writerly is what writers are supposed to write.

Ask yourself if the words you put on the page are your best choice for that character in that situation.

Beware of Nicey-Nice!

Some writers fall into what I call Nicey-Nice. They choose reactions and words that are nicer than their characters could use.

It’s hard for those writers to step out of their nicey-nice response set. If a character wishes they could do something really strong, maybe really wrong, it may be your best choice.

More examples of writerly.

1. “Stop scratching.” Shannon drew my hand away from my neck.
2. I didn’t bother to hide my disdain.
3. Rob diverted his gaze.
4. He expelled a laugh.
5. She tried to suppress her lips from showing her reaction.
6. She unfolded herself from the chair.
7. Rex put his hands on my shoulders and pivoted me to face him.
8. I grab her hand so fast she doesn’t have time to evade me.

Where’s your spotlight?

In examples 4 – 8, the spotlight is on the bolded letters. Not what the writer intended.

Be sure you have the spotlight on the words you want to emphasize. The ones that share the power.

Sometimes writers try too hard to avoid using a word they recently used. But a gun is a gun is a gun. It may work to use weapon or revolver or the type of gun as long as the word choice has to fit the character.

Writerly, Writerly, Writerly

Is writerly writing a contract breaker?  Probably not. We see writerly lines in print. We see I-can’t-believe-that-got-published in print too.

Writerly writing falls in the small stuff category. Definitely not horrible. But we know too many things in the small stuff category can make agents, editors, reviewers, and readers stop reading.

Beware of writerly writing. It only takes seconds to choose words that are a better fit.

BLOG GUESTS:  IT’S YOUR TURN!

Post a comment and you could win an online course from Lawson Writer’s Academy!

Check out the courses offered by Lawson Writer's Academy in March:

1. Scene and Sequel—Superpowered Writing Tool, Instructor: Kathleen Baldwin
2. Screenwriting Strategies for Fiction Writers, Susie McCauley
3. Taming Twitter and Facebook Too! Instructor: Julie Rowe
4. Digging Deep Into Deep POV, Instructor: Rhay Christou
5. Avoiding Author Meltdown, Instructor: Susannah Scott
6. Getting Serious About Writing a Series, Instructor: Lisa Wells

The drawing will be Sunday, Feb. 8th, 8:00 PM Mountain Time.

See you on the blog!

All smiles................Margie

About Margie

Margie Lawson—editor, international presenter—teaches writers how to use her psychologically-based editing systems and deep editing techniques to create page turners. Margie has presented over ninety full day master classes for writers in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. She’s excited to share that Romance Writers of Australia is bringing her back to present at their conference next summer.

To learn about Lawson Writer’s Academy, Margie’s 4-day Immersion Master Classes (in Denver, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Dallas, Seattle, San Antonio, Columbus, Jacksonville, Houston, and on Whidbey Island), her full day Master Class presentations, on-line courses, lecture packets, and newsletter, please visit www.MargieLawson.com.