Friday, October 28, 2016

The Editing Process: Breakthrough

I finally had a breakthrough with my writing. I managed to finally get passed the second lesson and I'm onto the 3rd. This one should take me too long but when I finally have the time to finish them up I will.

So far, I have a few scenes that will probably need to be deleted, reworked, or merged with another scene. There are currently 72-ish scenes for this novel, making is a monster but I'm going to work on fixing it.

This will be my last editing update post for awhile since NaNoWriMo starts. I'll be doing writing update posts until I finish. If I manage to finish all of my projects, then I'll continue to edit and hopefully finish by the end of December.

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Types of Outlines


I've mentioned before about the importance of outlining in a previous post. This is going to go into a little more depth about the different types of outlines that I've heard of or tried out myself. It will be a general list with a few examples.
  • Sequence Boards. I call them Sequence Boards because you lay out your novel in a sequence of how the scenes go. You write one scene on an index card until you've plotted out your entire novel. This is my go-to method. It's nice because you can rearrange scenes to see what works better.You could also do this in a notebook, the only thing you wouldn't be able to do is rearrange the scenes to see how they fit.
  • A General Outline. This is the generic outline you'd use for taking notes for class. For example: 1.) Chapter One a)character introduced b.) plot starts i.) something else goes here. Things like that. It's not a method I use anymore but it works for some people. 
  • The Snowflake Method. I've never used this method before but I know several writers who have and found it very helpful. Here is a link if you'd like to take a look at it. 
  • Storyboards. It's similar to a Sequence Board but a little more creative. Sometimes when I need to do something artsy for my writing, I make a Sequence Board. It has all kinds of arrows and pictures. It's fun.
  • Beginning-Middle-End. There is an actual name for it but I don't know what it's called. This is basically the least amount of planning I do and it's usually for short stories. I need to know my beginning, my middle, and my end. It helps me stay on track. Sometimes I use this method with another method because it helps me understand my plot better. 
  • Mind Map Method. I've only ever used this once and it was a general guide of how certain things happened in my novels. It's not the best method but at least you can have parts of your story planned out. For example, in my novel, my character meets a lot of people and these people become important to the plot. I had laid out when, where, and how he met them. Then added a little bit about them that I needed to know. If you ever used a mind map before, it was kind of hard to get everything down in one word or small phrase but I managed it...somehow.
There are tons of ways to plan your novels. You can look up a ton of them online but it's something that every writer should do to stay on track with their writing. Keep away from those filler scenes! Noted, we all write them from time to time but that doesn't make it okay. I end up deleting them during the revision stage (which you should). Outlines will help when it comes to writer's block. You know what comes next and push ahead. Even if it does suck. You can polish that up during the revision process.

Friday, October 21, 2016

Editing Process: No Longer Procrastinating

So, last week was a bit of an eye opener for me. I was so busy that I wasn't able to complete everything I needed to complete. My work schedule was ridiculously busy and I just couldn't find time for everything . So, I decided to pick up the pace a bit.

I've edited my short story and I'm currently sending it to my critique partner/beta reader who will look over it for me. If you're a writer and you don't have a critique partner or a writing buddy willing to pick apart your story, then you need one. I really appreciate mine.

I've started working on Dowsers again because it needs to be finished by the end of the year and I won't have a lot of time in November to do it. There is that.

My Western for my writing assignment is coming along pretty well. I still have a lot to work on with that. I'm going to be cutting a lot of it and fixing it that's for sure.

Hopefully, I finish Dowsers soon. I know the more I continue with these lessons, the fast I'll get through it. That's what I need to do right now.

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Luca Moran from Mirror Magic

This week, in order to get ready for NaNoWriMo in less than a month, answer the following questions about as many of your characters as you’d like.

I saw this and thought it would go well with my blog post about getting to know your characters. This might be a fun way to get you started. 

I've decided to just do my main character, Luca. The story will remain in her point of view throughout both novels so it's good to start there. There is a reason why she is named Luca but that will be explained later.

Full name: Luca Moran (Female)
Birthday: December 3
Hair Color:  White (used to be brown when she was younger)
Eye Color: Gray
General appearance: She looks very washed out when it comes to color but she is lanky and looks homeless because she is. Her clothes get torn from traveling constantly. What really makes her stand up is the mark in the middle of her forehead known as the "Gods' Mark" that makes her stand out more.
Personality-type (this can either be Meyer-Briggs or you can write out their personality): Since I don't want to do the personality test for her or any of my characters, I'll just write it out. She can be shy at first, mostly because of what happened to her. She is weak, physically, and doesn't know how to fight at all. She gets anxious when dealing with something she's never encountered before - which is a lot. Despite being weak physically, she has a strong sense of will and is pushes her to continue on. She tends to think about things logically and is wary about jumping in blindly.


 I did not create this myself. If you would like to find this for your own blog, click on the image below.

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Know Your Characters


Knowing your character is a must when writing your novel. They are usually a selling point to most stories since you want your readers to connect with them. So, you want to know all about your character and how they will react to things, to make them seem more believable.

This is a task that can happen differently for each character but for this post, it's about developing your main character.

  • What is your character's name and age? These are pretty basic when it comes to writing but they can be important. Age will explain a lot of things about how they view things. How the world sees them. Their experiences as well. A 30-something-year-old is going to have way more experiences than a 16-year-old.
  • What changed in their life that made this story important? I've read a lot about characters and this is a common thing that comes up. Something has to change in the character's normal life. So what made this change so much more different.
  • What was their past like? Someone's past is important to who they are in your current novel. Even childhood scars can still effect them. Make connections with their personality and how it changed them.
  • What kind of personality do they have? This connects with the past question. Something might have a huge influence on who they are in your novel. This is important to how they will react to certain instances in your novel. And make sure that you follow it. 
  • Name some of their flaws. Flaws aren't the same as imperfections. You characters need to have flaws that will conflict with something in the story. It has to cause some kind of issues.
  • What is their culture? Culture can have a big impact on who they are as a person or some of their strange habits.
  • What do they look like? This one can be tough. You don't need to know every single detail of your character unless it's absolutely important. If their tattoo is nothing more than a mark on them when they got stupidly drunk and really has no purpose...then we don't really care. But if the tattoo becomes a mark that causes your character to become a target, then we might need to know about it. 
These are the absolute basics of what you need. Characters are another thing you want to develop as your write. You want them to grow. You want to learn somethings about them too. By giving them room to grow, you'll build a more realistic character.

Friday, October 14, 2016

WriYe Blogging Circle: Planning Or Pantsing

If you are a planner, what part of planning is your favorite? If you’re a pantser, what is your favorite part of pantsing?

Bonus: Show us your NaNo planning - handwritten or computer screen!

I love planning out my novels. A lot of people don't enjoy this part of the process but I do. Getting deep into my novels is probably one of my favorite parts, aside from writing the actual novels. I love building my own worlds - which I do a lot.

My favorite part about planning is probably the outlining portion. I like knowing where my novel needs to go. It also helps me consider things I need to discover about the world I'm planning for. It's good to know where I want my story to go, too. The world slowly builds itself as I outline or even as I write.

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Building Your World


World Building is a pretty important part of writing a novel, especially, if you've created your own world. You have to basically build up your world from scratch which is fun and addicting (if you are me and many other people I know). Even writing a novel in the modern times will need some world building. Knowing your settings is important so it will remain consistent throughout your novel.

The thing about world building, it that people take it too far and they end up losing sight of their novel. It's happened to me and my friend does it all of the time. I'm trying to get her to tone it down a bit because she goes nuts with world building. It tends to make her unmotivated to write.

Remember, you only need to know the important things.

This is more for the Fantasy/Sci-fi people but they can also work in other styles.
  • What kind of government does your world have? This might be important because it can change the way the world functions. You've got to keep in mind how different governments work and how it effects the community. 
  • Does your world have magic? If it does, how does it work? What are the limitations? Magic needs limitations. You can't have save your character from everything. Nothing is more annoying that limitless power.
  • Where does your story take place? I feel like this should have been one of the first bullet points but I'm just going to go with it. What the name of the place your story take place in? What's it like there? Describe, briefly the place in which your story will be.
  • Do you have any strange creatures? If it does, list a few and a brief description only if they are important to the story.
  • Is the world part of the plot? Meaning, is the world falling apart, dying, being destroyed and your character has to save it or seek refuge somewhere else. You know, things like that.
  • Only add important detail. You don't need to know everything about your world before you start the novel, just the key things that are important.
  • Build the world as you write. You are going to come up with new material for your world as you write. It's okay to learn about your world as your character shows you.
This is as basic as I can get the list. Just remember not to over-build your world and allow for some room to play with it. You can add further detail as needed.

If you novel deals with military, you might want to know a few things about your military. Or if your story has to deal with slavery, you've got to know the system. Things like that. Ask yourself a lot of questions that will help improve your novel and make it seem like a real place.

Take what you need and go from there.

Saturday, October 8, 2016

NaNoWriMo 2016: Mirror Magic Series



What inspired the idea for your novel, and how long have you had the idea?
I was going through my Talecraft cards last year when I came up with this idea. It was just a small idea then but when I finally sat down to plan it, it became a huge idea that turned into a douology. I plan on writing both of them for NaNoWriMo. They are called Mirror Magic and Mirror Mage.

Describe what your novel is about! 
The whole series is about a girl who has to figure out her magic, why it's different from the other magics, and she has to find out how to use it.

What is your book’s aesthetic? Use words or photos or whatever you like! (First Novel)
Whenever I think of this book, other than mirrors, I think of a forest in the winter. The dead trees everywhere, snow coating the ground and it just over all makes it hard for people to hide. It's kind of bleak and bare.

Introduce us to each of your characters! (First Novel)
Luca Moran - Named after her father because they thought they were having a boy. The MC who has to figure out her magic, deal with discrimination due to the mark on her forehead, and stay hidden from the army that has been trying to capture her.

I'll keep it at my main character. Anyone else will really spoil the plot.

How do you prepare to write? (Outline, research, stocking up on chocolate, howling, etc.?)
I love outlining, researching, and world building. Those are my favorite things to do when I'm planning out my novels. I used to just write without guidelines but I found myself writing a lot of filler. So my outlines are scene-by-scene but they are loose enough to allow me creative freedom.

What are you most looking forward to about this novel?
I'm looking forward to actually writing it. It's not what I usually write because it's very character driven rather than plot driven. I don't write many character driven novels or stories.
List 3 things about your novel’s setting.(First Novel)

  • Cold, winter
  • Lots of Forests
  • Tense air due to the Kingdom's main problem. 
What’s your character’s goal and who (or what) stands in the way? (First Novel)
Her main goal is to learn how to use her magic and how she can use it to protect herself and others that she cares about. There are many things that stand in her way, the army, the Kingdom's rebellion, and herself.

How does your protagonist change by the end of the novel? (First Novel)
She will have better understanding about herself and her magic.

What are your book’s themes? How do you want readers to feel when the story is over? (First novel)
Don't be afraid of doing things alone. That basically covers the first novel. 



If you'd like to fill this out, click the image below and be sure to check out the other blogs as well.


Friday, October 7, 2016

New Genre Challenge: Western


Well, this happened. A writing group I'm apart of is doing a genre challenge and I'm writing the only things I haven't really touched. Western. This is about a female gain robbing a train without anyone noticing. It's basically 5 short stories that are going to run to about...5k a piece, so 25,000 words total for the whole thing. Each short story is in a different gang member's point of view showing what kind of job they did. I'll definitely post this on Wattpad once I'm done with it.

It's an interesting experience. I know nothing about writing Westerns but I'm doing a lot of research on them. And I love trains. So it's a bonus. I'm hoping to get this done before the end of November while editing everything else I have. I've got so much on my plate. I'd better make a list.

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Introduction to Planning a Novel

It's October. Just a little under a month away from National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). I figured it would be the best time to do this kind of post. It's a planning post, kind of. It's more like an overview of what I'm planning on posting this month. Since it is close to NaNoWriMo, I've decided to do a planning series where it goes through basic points of planning.

What is planning in a novel? It's where you figure out what your novel is going to be about, your characters, and your setting. It's simple. There are various ways to go about planning, but these are some of the key things that are consistent for me when I plan.

Things I plan on covering:
  • World Building. World building is essential to a lot of writing even in contemporary settings. You've got to know key/important places and why they are important. 
  • Character Building. This is also important since characters are kind of needed to tell a story, whether it be human or non-human. You've got to have some kind of information down about them.
  • Plotting and Outlining. I'm a huge supporter of outlining. It's a good way to track what you are doing in your story. My reasons are in a different post that I will link HERE.
Unfortunately, there are only enough weeks in the month for three more posts but these are the bare essentials for planning a novel. Especially if you writing for NaNoWriMo. It's easy to lose motivation during the month it's best to know where you are going with your novel. 

But the one thing you need is an idea. You've got to start somewhere. If you don't have an idea then you need to get one. How you go about getting ideas for novels/stories is up to you. I can't tell you how to generate your ideas as they vary from person to person. Do some exploration, you'll find something to write about.