Dance: the cure to writers block?

I began this week with 9000 words, I deleted 5000, wrote another 3000 and deleted about 2000 of those. Yet I’m not disappointed. I decided that in order to get into the story I needed the beginning to be right* and the best way to do it was to tear it up and try and piece it back together. Only most of the pieces didn’t fit to I had to write new ones

It’s coming together, I plan to finish a big chunk of it today – that way next week I can finally dive into the good stuff. I’ve had some really good ideas this last week and they came from hoping around my lounge to various songs.

I want to say it was dancing but I don’t think other people would agree. No idea why this was so helpful but everytime I got stuck I found a song, turned the volume up and proceeded to go mad. By the end of it I’d found the answer.

I had Friday off, which was just as well as I spent the last 2 days criting my friends manuscript. It’s 50,000 words and I didn’t plan on doing it that quickly but got caught up in the story – I still managed to do my writing so it’s all good.

Have you got something that helps you when you’re stuck?

 

*not perfect, that’s a long way of…

Books that make you want to go out and buy blueberries…

Ok, since the beginning of the year I’ve been in a bit of a reading flump, it’s not that I haven’t been reading, but more what I’ve been reading.

I gave up on the first two and only carried on with the third because I was having one of my stubborn streaks.

And there have been some good titles in the pile: Before I Die, Entangled & XVI* – there is nothing bad about these books, they’re well writing and interesting but they haven’t made me do anything.

I haven’t cared that much about the characters, worried about them or had the need to go and do something because of them. Like go and buy blueberries…

And then, this week I finally sat down to crit my bestest writing buddies WIP… I started yesterday and finished this morning, unable to put it down and get on with the other stuff I should have been doing.

Now if you think she’s my friend of course I’m going to praise it, trust me you’d be wrong. If anything I’m even more horrible, I was pretty much a cow** for the first part of the book. It’s a good job she’s made of stern stuff.

But the deeper I got pulled into Jaime’s world the more I found myself doing all the things I do when I’m in love with the story, characters, world, etc…

I felt for Jaime, I worried, I cheered, I went to find a book of Tennyson poems, I wished I could help her, I wanted to strangle the author when it got bad (I never would, she knows I love her ) and on the last page I knew wanted more.

The books that make you act like that are the best ones.

What I pictured one of my favourite characters to look like...

*only a few chapters away from the end
** not the standing in the sunny field kind

The countdown begins…

This time next week I’ll be checking boarding passes, packing that one extra book* and doing last minute revisions in time for boot camp. The closer it get’s the more excited I am about it. A whole week on writing, reading, and talking about writing and reading

My bestest writing buddy is on a mission to get her WIP finished in time for my arrival, that’s about 40k in one week but if anyone can do it she can**.

My mission is to get the revisions done for part one of my WIP, which I’ll be focusing on this weekend.

A visit to WriteOnCon, while much too brief (I was double booked so couldn’t spend a lot of time there), gave me some valuable input and meant there is another plot rethink. Not as major as previously but it will mean a few changes and a lot more research…

Apart from boot camp the other mission for my holiday is book shopping. I’ve been saving up for 2 months for the express purpose of getting lost for hours amongst shelves of wonderfulness.

The minimum purchase requirement is 20, which is think is a decent number (it should also keep me out of trouble for a month, maybe two) and the maximum is, well, however far I can stretch the budget.

Books I definitely want to get are: Newes from the Dead by Mary Hooper, The Prophecy of the Sisters by Michelle Zink, Magic under Glass by Jaclyn Dolamore, Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma, The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson and Finding Sky by Joss Stirling…. I’m thinking Linger by Maggie Stiefvater also.

Anyone for further suggestions?

*ok, maybe more like third or fourth

** I have told her she doesn’t have to finish it but she promised and like me she never backs down on a promise. Hence, we only make very few…

I’m going to boot camp…

…apparently, judging by my writing buddies latest blog. I thought I was going on holiday? What a foolish notion. *lol*

It’s all good though, I’m actually looking forward to it. It was her that started me off on my WIP the last time I visited, only it was writing exercises then. I still have them, see below -

“Tea?”

Sarah looked at the girl in disbelieve.

“Tea? You’ve hunted me for weeks, beaten the crap out of me and just dragged me out of my bedroom window and now you want me to have tea with you?!”

The girl just smiled and poured herself a cup, taking a seat opposite Sarah she winked and said:

“It’s never to late to start being civil.”

Sarah snorted.

“You know we aren’t that different, you and me.”

“Really?”

Sarah laced her question with sarcasm.

“Apart from the fact that I don’t chase innocent people into a deserted park or kidnap them.”

The girl sighed and opened the drawer in the cupboard behind her, taking out a brown folder she placed it in front of Sarah and opened it. There was her name, Sarah Owen, 17 years old, pisces… the notes carried on from there.

“What is this?”

“You. Shall I read?”

The girl pulled the folder towards her and lifted the first few pages.

Of course the story has changed a lot since then. It’s still evolving now, but that was the day that the name Sarah first appeared.

So boot camp eh? Well like Marieke said, I’m going to be crit-ing Ysolde while I’m there* and she’ll be helping me in my WIP. Which should have the first draft finished by then, I have 2 chapters and an epilogue left and another 3 weekends to do it in. No problem.

So since I couldn’t possibly fit everything into the comment section, here’s my reply m’dear:

This may or may not include vicious critiques, Yes chronic comma confusion, That would be you, I’m staying away from comma’s cocktails at the Hard Rock, Check veggie burgers at the same Hard Rock, Double check flirting with waiters,That was you not me. It didn’t get us served quicker though, you should practise more 1k1hr, oho… I’m worried youtube vids, That be me Doctor Who overload, Check, check, check, Torchwood too please cheesy films And some truly awful ones *wink* and tea. Yep, stocks are running low! Oh. And books. Possibly. Book buying may or may not occur. *g* Like the sun might possibly rise and set… right?

.

So before I go back to writing I just quickly wanted to share this – ♥

And yay for Jackson Pearce also loving SYTYCD, I knew YA author’s were the best.

*I so can’t wait to read it. It looks ace.

From the other side of the looking glass: Crit Partner

Being a crit partner has to be easier then being a writer, right?

Personally, I don’t think so.  Actually, I confess that when my friend asked me to crit her book I was utterly terrified.  Click here to see what she thinks…

It started innocently enough, sending me the odd chapter asking me what I thought of it… it ended with me taking 2 days of work to spent a long weekend sitting in front a screen dissecting, analysing and editing a 74,000 word document.*

Here’s the thing, while I love reading, crit-ing is something else entirely.

So if someone asks you to crit their work here’s a few tips;

Make sure you have enough time to do it
You might be able to read a 500 page book in a day but trust me, crit-ing will take you a LOT longer.

Find out what your writer wants you to pay attentions to; characterisation, flow, descriptions, etc…
Without a guideline of what your looking for you could overanalyse the entire text and miss that big giant plot hole; because you were to busy finding an alternative for the word ‘murmur’.**

Be brave
You have to be able to say, “This doesn’t work” or “I don’t like this”.
My friend handles criticism really well but that still didn’t stop me from panicking about it.

Offer suggestions
Once you tell them what you don’t think works; suggest an alternative!

Don’t forget what’s good
Crit-ing isn’t just about what’s wrong. It’s also about telling the author what you like.
Is it a certain character?
The language?
The world they’ve created?
Never forget to tell them about what you love. Every writer wants to hear that.

Read the whole thing
Sounds a bit obvious but what I mean is read the book consecutively, ideally in a short space of time. This will help you follow the story better. While I was crit-ing the final manuscript I noticed that there was an inconsistency in the story. One, which I never noticed before. ***

Write down your thoughts
Don’t worry if they aren’t important to the story. For example in one chapter the heroine struggles to get out of bed in the morning. I sympathised greatly with her because I’m not really a morning person either.****
It’s nothing to do with the story, (and my friend knows this about me already) but it gave her an insight into how I was feeling about the character at that time. I did this throughout the manuscript, personally I also think it makes it more fun for the person doing the crit.

Accept that the author has the final say
Not everything you comment on will get picked up. The author might read your suggestion but not agree with it. It’s their story so don’t get defensive about it. If you don’t like it, write your own.
You can do whatever you want in that…

And finally…
If you don’t feel comfortable doing a crit, you have to say NO.  Ask them to find someone else. If your heart isn’t in it, you won’t enjoy it and the end result won’t help the author either.
Just as every writer has their own style, so does every crit partner. You have to find the right match.

* Ok, that is a bit on the extreme side but I promised to get it back to her by a certain date and I never break a promise.
** My friend and I have this thing about the word ‘murmur’
*** I’d only read chapters over months before
**** Ok, I like morning but I take a while to get going…

Criticism

I’m not good at taking it, I know it’s not the ideal thing to admit when you want to be an author, but I know it’s the truth.

It’s a flaw I’m trying to work on.

I also know why I take it too much to heart.

I spend a big part of my childhood with the knowledge that those around me, while they didn’t wish me harm, didn’t expect me to succeed. In their brutal honesty they would sometimes say things that might not have had an impact on them but weren’t the things an orphan didn’t need to hear.

These were good people, don’t get me wrong, but the feeling of not belonging and not being accepted for who I was had a big impact. When I tried something new and didn’t achieve perfection first time round I always felt like I had failed. So I didn’t try very often.

I have grown in many ways since then but when I don’t get it 100% right away my first thought it still that I’ve failed. At that stage someone* will tell me to stop being stupid and see how great what I’ve done is and I do get there, it just takes me a little while longer.

Today I sent the first part of my book to my crit partner. It’s been 5 years since anyone has read any of my stories** so I was utterly terrified.

The notes that she sent back are great, really they are and it was good to see things from another perspective. I now know that there are a few things that need changing and I’m thinking about how best to go about it. I know she’ll help me, give me tips (she’s been at this way longer then me) but like I’ve said, I struggle when I don’t do it right the first time.

So after I read them, I sat down and read a book***, thought about what she said and decided to carry on.

Because the story is good. So are my characters and while it’s not perfect now, I can make it so much better because of it’s flaws. And you know what? In the end the most important thing she said was:

“…I do really like it. I want to read more, and not just because it’s you writing it. I think it shows potential, and I want to know what’ll happen next. And I love your writing style!”

Who am I to deny her finding out what happens in the end.

* I might not have parents but I have some wonderful family & friends in my life now.

** Mainly because my first attempts weren’t that great, (I’ve read them since then and they really weren’t) and I needed the time to pick myself up again.

*** ‘The curious incident of the dog in the night-time’ by Mark Haddon,  and I would recommend it.