Writers in the Storm

by Fae Rowen

First of all, on this Veteran's Day week-end, a heartfelt THANK YOU to all those who serve our country in the Armed Forces. And to the families that support them. My father was in the Army, my husband served in the Coast Guard, and my godson is currently a pilot in the Navy. Won't it be wonderful if they all could be at home?

I've always been connected to music. Heck, I played the piano competitively. In fifth grade, the only thing I wanted for Christmas  was a recording of The Moldau by Bedrich Smetana – and the sheet music to Batman. I became that river with its sometimes dancing sometimes powerful current every time I heard it.  My soul sang when I listened to it.

In junior high I moved on to movie soundtracks–The Robe, Exodus, Cleopatra–remembering scenes from the movie as the tracks played.

It's no wonder that when I wrote my first novel, a fantasy medieval adventure romance (I never intended to try to sell it!), I listened to the same song over and over and over. Sting's Fields of Gold supplied scene after scene of ideas as well as the tone of the book. In fact, I named the hero's home after the title of the only song in my playlist.

My gothic medieval was born from St. Elmo's Fire, Man in Motion. More on that later.

The music you select doesn't have to relate to the setting of your book. But for me, the music supplies the tone, the background, and the through-line for my characters. When you're writing, you don't need to blast your speakers. For me, the music is soft. Not so soft that I wonder if it's there, but not so loud as to actively engage me in listening.

Movie soundtracks support all the emotions in the picture, so they are wonderful sources of "mood music" for scenes you may be having difficulty with. Think of Braveheart. From innocent love, to battles, to betrayal, to torture and death, you've got it all in the music.

The next movie you watch, let a section of your brain pay attention to the music. If you really enjoy a movie, consider listening to snippets of the soundtrack on iTunes to see if the music added to the richest of your experience. One of the first things I did after seeing Star Wars was buy the soundtrack. Darth Vader's theme is wonderful when writing a villain!

An interesting thing happened recently with my WIP, a YA science fiction tale. I was half a dozen chapters in, when I realized that the new must have additions to my iPOD were all related to the new book. I hadn't really listened to the lyrics-it's all about the rhythm and melody for me-so I downloaded the lyrics. Wow!

• The Foo Fighter's Learn to Fly is my hero's theme song.
• Alanis Morissette's Guardian could have been written for my heroine, a guide/bodyguard.
• The Offspring's  You're Gonna Go Far Kid is the refrain of the young man in love with my heroine. It mirrors his frustration as he watches the budding relationship between his love and her latest tourist.  (Explicit lyric warning--think frustrated young man!)
• And Pirates in the Caribbean (Part 3) is the "theme" of the book. Yeah, in outer space.

Little did I know when I downloaded this group of songs, they all related to my new book.  I just knew that I finally had time and remembered to buy the songs I'd liked enough to capture with SoundHound.

I tried an interesting experiment. When I wrote a scene in a character's POV, I played that person's song. It helped me settle right into their outlook on life, and their emotions about their situations. The writing was easier, my critique group had less complaints (okay, obviously last week I wrote without music!) I felt nourished and couldn't wait to get back in my chair for the next pages.

A secret, just between us. That gothic medieval? Well, the whole idea for the book came from the theme to St. Elmo's Fire. The song gave me the pivotal scene, the black moment when the hero confronts his stepfather's hate-filled ways. From that scene, it was not too difficult to backtrack and see how they got to that point. The whole book was about breaking the boy but not the man when he returned to his birthplace as a knight.

If you've been drawn to a particular song or kind of music recently, see if there's a parallel with your current project. You might be surprised.

I hope you enjoy the links to the music I've mentioned. I really enjoyed listening to them again.

Have you used music for writing inspiration? Has music guided you to write something differently than you'd originally envisioned? Let us know, while you listen to the music!

Susan Spann is back, with another amazing post that will help you create an Author Business Plan. If you missed her first two posts in the series, they are: Overview of an Author Business Plan, and 7 Steps to Writing Your Business Plan.

Here's Susan:

Welcome back to my WITS series on writing an author business plan. This month we’re taking a closer look at Section 2 of the business plan: Writing the Book Synopsis.

A Synopsis (Part 2 of the author’s business plan) is a 1-2 page summary of the novel or other work. The synopsis is not the same as a query (which doesn’t give away the ending) or a book proposal (which is a tool an author uses to sell a work “on spec”.) Book synopses follow a standard form and structure – for fiction, the synopsis is always written in third person present tense, regardless of the narrative form of the work.

Some authors write the synopsis before the manuscript. Others prefer to wait until the manuscript is complete. (The latter is more common in fiction, though by no means universal.)  I write my synopses “after the fact,” so my method requires a finished manuscript, but there are many good resources (online and off) for other methods – find the one that works for you!

Here’s how I write a synopsis for my novels:

The final synopsis begins with a one-paragraph blurb that describes the book as a whole, but I leave that for last. It’s easier once you’ve put the rest together.

Step 1: Open a copy of the manuscript and also create a new word processing document (this will become the synopsis.)

Step 2:  Read the first chapter of the manuscript. When you finish, summarize the chapter in one sentence. ONE SENTENCE. (Do not pass go, do not collect semicolons.) Continue this process through the entire manuscript, summarizing each chapter in one sentence. The sentences don’t have to connect or make sense as a whole at this point – this step is about distilling each chapter down to essential components. Many of your bells and whistles - supporting details and super-awesome-decorative-bits won’t make it into the synopsis. That’s okay. Take a deep breath and keep going.

Step 3: Close the original manuscript, and edit the summary you’ve created as if the synopsis was a manuscript in itself. This is the point where all those one-sentence summaries have to learn to play nicely together. Turn the summaries into a unified story. The sentences don’t have to remain in first-draft condition, and the number of sentences can (and will) change. Delete, reorganize, and edit until you have a coherent whole.

Step 4: Write the introductory paragraph. Remember that book-jacket style logline/summary paragraph that opens the synopsis? Write it now. Since you’ve just spent many hours reading and summarizing your manuscript, writing a killer introduction – one that entices a reader – is easier at this stage.

Step 5: Edit for length. After the synopsis reads smoothly (aloud as well as in your head,) it’s time to revise again – this time for length – until the synopsis is no more than two pages long. I typically write a “final” two-page version and then take it through a second round of editing until I have a one-page version as well.

Remember: the synopsis tells the entire story – including the ending. This isn’t a query, and it’s not a document you’ll ever post in public places. The synopsis is used by you – and also by agents, publishers, and even contest judges – to evaluate the work as a whole.

Your business plan homework between now and next month is to try your hand at writing a synopsis. If your work isn’t finished, try distilling a chapter or two from your work in progress into one-sentence summaries. Then tune in next month, when we move to Section 3: Effective Techniques for Author Marketing.

What method do you use to write a synopsis? Do you write it first or after the work is finished? And do you consider it a pleasure or a pain?

I’d love to hear how the process works for you!

Susan Spann is a publishing attorney and author from Sacramento, California. Her debut novel, CLAWS OF THE CAT (Minotaur Books, July 2013), is the first in the Shinobi Mystery series featuring ninja detective Hiro Hattori. Susan blogs about writing, publishing law and seahorses at http://www.SusanSpann.com. Find her on Twitter @SusanSpann or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SusanSpannAuthor

By Laura Drake

We’ve talked about it in other posts. How learning your writing process is finding your way in a pitch black room, full of furniture. You can learn by barking your shins, but there are less painful ways. Hopefully, this post will help.

I’m an organized person, so it would make me crazy trying to locate details in my WIP. Which chapter did the dog first show up? Or the first kiss? Or harder yet, the smaller details – what kind of shoes did the old man wear the second time the heroine met him?

I’d end up scrolling through two hundred pages. And get distracted.

Oh, now there’s a clunky sentence.

Wait, did I really use the word ‘jerk’ twenty-three times in this book?  

I did NOT just compare his private parts to a DEER ANTLER! (yes, I did, and my crit group will NEVER let me forget it.)

Before you know it, I’d be hopelessly mired in the text, and forgot what I came for.

I’m an accountant by trade (well, I used to be - Ah, retirement) so if I need something organized, of course, the first place I go is Excel.

I know all you math-adverse readers have now broken into a sweat. Follow me here – no formulas are involved. Promise.

First, I thought about what information I wanted to capture. Here’s my list (yours may differ)

• How long each chapter was
• What happened in each chapter – by scene
• Track POV – so I could check the balance in my novel
• Track the romance, and where it happened.
• Timeline
• Word count

So I made up what I call my Chapter Cheat Sheet. Here’s what it looks like for my novel, Road Song:

If it's too small to read, click on it and view it full-size.

• I now know how many pages each chapter is, and the word counts (if you total the word count column, you'll have the total word count of the book.)
• The pink highlight = chapters that advance the romance. I can see quickly where it is, and if I have enough
• The column in the middle shows scenes, using only a few words, separated by '/'
• The POV is shown by the color coding in the scenes; Green for the Heroine, Purple for the Hero
• Blue I used to denote scenes that could be cut, if I ran over my allowed word count
• Red was problem scenes I knew I'd have to come back to later.
• The far right column is a timeline - because I stink at them.

Note that I have more than one sheet to this workbook. You can use them for a more detailed timeline, or anything else you'd like to track. Revisions usually means cutting and pasting scenes in different places, so I'll create a new sheet for my newly revised version.

Honestly, the Cheat Sheet has been invaluable for me. It gives me a bird's eye view of the entire novel on one screen. I can't imagine writing a book without one.

Hope it helps save your shins!

What do you use to organize your WIP? Any suggestions for us?