What do you like about writing short stories? What don’t you like
about writing short stories? How do you think short stories differ from
novels?
Bonus: What is your favorite short story anthology?
Short stories are nice when I need a break from writing a novel or editing. Sometimes novels tend to be a lot to commit to but writing a short story is exactly what I need. It's also good practice for working on concluding things. I like the simplicity of writing a short story.
But, short stories are limited. Coming up with a smaller plot tends to be harder than writing a full on novel, sometimes. Not for everyone. It's important to stay focused on the task. Since they generally have one plot and maybe one subplot - maybe - it tends to be a lot harder to conclude everything within the small word count. That's where I struggle, as I'm not a good short story writer but I try.
There are obvious differences to short stories and novels. Word count being one of them. The structure is a little different since everything has to be wrapped up at the end of the short story. The amount of characters you introduce in a short story is very limited. I could go on, but I guess it's pretty obvious. There are more limitations to writing a short story compared to writing a novel.
I don't have a favorite short story anthology.
Monday, August 29, 2016
Friday, August 26, 2016
The Editing Process: Knowing What Went Wrong
Dowsers is one of the longest novels I've written and decided to edit. There are a lot of mistakes that I need to fix before this reaches other people. Aside from the normal grammar and spelling mistakes I have, I found several things wrong with my main and sub plots.
Going through it once was enough to force me to understand where I went wrong. Thankfully, there is no insta-love. Or love triangles (I hate them). The relationship between my characters is important for their development because my characters have problems. Don't all characters, though?
I do need to redo the ending. I'm terrible at writing endings and beginnings. This is something I'm going to have to work on because it's the most important part of the book. I can't having it being lame. That just won't do.
There is also a matter of my antagonist being slightly bipolar. He really shouldn't be that way. I mean, he's good at acting because that how he gets what he wants, but he isn't bipolar. So, that is on my list of things I need to fix.
Now, the plot. I've been playing with some other options that my plot has to offer to see if they work better. It might. I might have to figure out what works best - which offers the strongest plot. It's going to be a lot of work, but it will be worth it in the end.
Pretty soon, I'll have to do some trimming...and adding. Adding is the hardest parts editing but it has to be done.
Monday, August 15, 2016
The Survival Agreement
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Feel free to check out my Wattpad: HERE - The first chapter of The Survival Agreement is available there. I'm hoping to update at least once a week on Sundays since this is a finished story. The only thing that takes time is when others are helping me by going through it.
This story is the first installment of my District Pluto series. And at the current moment, I'm editing the second story, The Morality Sentence. It's going to need some work - a lot of work.
Thursday, August 11, 2016
Third Edits - Complete
These edits for The Survival Agreement didn't take me very long. While I know there are places that I can improve in, I need another opinion so I'll be actively looking for beta readers. I actually have a few that I've contacted but I'm waiting to hear back from them. This is the hardest part of the process for me. Finding someone to read my work.
I actually sent it to an editor. I was going to wait until after the beta readers but it already presented itself. I figured I'd see what they had to say about it until I find more beta readers. This is mostly a trial time for me. I don't know what process I would prefer first and which I would prefer second. I guess I'll see.
I actually sent it to an editor. I was going to wait until after the beta readers but it already presented itself. I figured I'd see what they had to say about it until I find more beta readers. This is mostly a trial time for me. I don't know what process I would prefer first and which I would prefer second. I guess I'll see.
Saturday, August 6, 2016
Second Edits - Done!
Finally! Finally my second edits are done for District Pluto: The Survival Agreement (formally known as The Sacrificial Son). I've even created a checklist for what needs to come next. My third and final round of edits (which is mostly a syntax edit) should be over quickly before I sent it out to Betas. Then I'll be editing two projects at once. The next story in the District Pluto series, Morality Sentence and my stand alone novel Dowsers. I'm hoping to get some of these out to Betas by the end of the year but I have a feeling that Dowers will take me a long time to edit but I really need to get back on it.
One thing I noticed when doing this second edit was that my characters were weak. While typing up my edits, I tried to fix this but I don't know how well I did. I guess I find out when I start the last round of my editing. If not, then hopefully my betas can help me with how they read. It occurred to me that my characters didn't even have the barest of description so I had to add that in. That was a struggle.
Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the outcome of this short story/novella (possibly a novelette). I can already see the improvements compared to my very first draft. I finally have a name for it too, as I stated above. It's no longer Sacrificial Son, it is now titled The Survival Agreement. I already have the cover art made (and fixed). Actually, I have two. I have one that I picked out but I'll also ask the people who are my betas - if they want to. I'm not going to force that on them. I already have one in mind.
One thing I noticed when doing this second edit was that my characters were weak. While typing up my edits, I tried to fix this but I don't know how well I did. I guess I find out when I start the last round of my editing. If not, then hopefully my betas can help me with how they read. It occurred to me that my characters didn't even have the barest of description so I had to add that in. That was a struggle.
Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the outcome of this short story/novella (possibly a novelette). I can already see the improvements compared to my very first draft. I finally have a name for it too, as I stated above. It's no longer Sacrificial Son, it is now titled The Survival Agreement. I already have the cover art made (and fixed). Actually, I have two. I have one that I picked out but I'll also ask the people who are my betas - if they want to. I'm not going to force that on them. I already have one in mind.
Sunday, July 31, 2016
Writing Traditions
Traditions
Zombies are a July tradition here at Wriye. Do you have a writing tradition of your own? How did it come about?
Bonus: Share an example of your tradition!
I think the closest thing to writing traditions I have are NaNoWriMo and WriYe. Even the prepping is part of the tradition because it gets me excited to do what I have planned. Then I fall flat on my face (with WriYe) half way through. But I try. I really do.
How I came about NaNoWriMo was by accident one year. I don't even remember how it happened, I just stumbled upon it my Freshmen year of high school (12 years ago) and I've kept going since. I don't normally get involved with the local writing events that happens with NaNo. I mainly just use the site to keep track of my word count, and to lurk in the forums from time to time.
I came about WriYe a few years later. I can't remember how though. Probably by accident - like everything else. WriYe is a huge commitment and I have a hard time staying on the forums for the whole year but that doesn't mean I forget to accomplish my writing goals. Though, I do tend to lose track of where I'm at in my goals.
That's really all I have to say about my traditions involving writing. I don't really participate in any other writing events, not yet anyway. I'm trying to get everything organized and I have too many manuscripts to edit. Though, I might stop editing from time to time to write a new novel to add to the stack.
...Editing my own work is hard but I'm slowly getting there.
Zombies are a July tradition here at Wriye. Do you have a writing tradition of your own? How did it come about?
Bonus: Share an example of your tradition!
I think the closest thing to writing traditions I have are NaNoWriMo and WriYe. Even the prepping is part of the tradition because it gets me excited to do what I have planned. Then I fall flat on my face (with WriYe) half way through. But I try. I really do.
How I came about NaNoWriMo was by accident one year. I don't even remember how it happened, I just stumbled upon it my Freshmen year of high school (12 years ago) and I've kept going since. I don't normally get involved with the local writing events that happens with NaNo. I mainly just use the site to keep track of my word count, and to lurk in the forums from time to time.
I came about WriYe a few years later. I can't remember how though. Probably by accident - like everything else. WriYe is a huge commitment and I have a hard time staying on the forums for the whole year but that doesn't mean I forget to accomplish my writing goals. Though, I do tend to lose track of where I'm at in my goals.
That's really all I have to say about my traditions involving writing. I don't really participate in any other writing events, not yet anyway. I'm trying to get everything organized and I have too many manuscripts to edit. Though, I might stop editing from time to time to write a new novel to add to the stack.
...Editing my own work is hard but I'm slowly getting there.
Critique and Criticism
Critique and Criticism
What is your method of critiquing a piece of writing? What do you expect out of people critiquing your work?
I haven't critiqued in a really long time. In my head, I do it all of the time, but I haven't critiqued someone's work (with them being willing) in years. But, I guess I could say, that I look for inconsistencies or anything that stands out to me that really shouldn't be there (misplaced plot, forgetting to delete a passage before continuing, etc). I tend to ask a lot of questions when I'm looking over someone's work, mostly to benefit them. Instead of telling them that something is wrong, I ask them specific questions so they will figure it out and hopefully, it will help them improve other places of their story as well.
I also look for grammar issues and sentence structure flaws, if they ask me to, but I mainly focus on the story itself, rather than the syntax. At least at first. Unless the same mistake is consistent throughout the story. Then I'll point it out. For example: I was reading someone's story and they lacked commas. I had to go back and read several sentences to figure out what in the hell they were trying to say. I definitely pointed that out.
When someone is critiquing my work, I would hope they would be honest with me and ask me questions as needed. Questions are beneficial, and so is being straight forward. Though, I haven't gotten close to this yet, I would hope that they would do their best to help me improve my writing rather than just be an asshole about it, but there is always that group of people who will be flaming jerks and just straight-up tell me that my work is crap. If they aren't going to give me a reason why my work is crap, then they aren't worth my time.
I don't mean to sound like a bitch about it either. I'm asking for constructive feedback to help me improve. Telling me that I suck at writing, isn't telling me where or why they think I suck at writing. It's just telling me that this person isn't into my story. That happens. I'm not delusional to think that everyone is going to enjoy my writing, since I know I don't enjoy every piece of writing that I come across.
Telling me how I should write my novels or stories is also something that I would like them to not do. My plot is written like this for a reason and trying to sway my story line isn't going to happen because the chances are, my story is already finished and the way I wanted it. They can question my plot if there are some major plot holes that need to be fixed or if the plot is weak (or has weak points) but their opinion on how my story should go is a big no-no. I can forgive small adjustments but not if they are suggesting that I go back and change everything. Just - no.
When critiquing, you're supposed to let the writer know where things really didn't connect with you, as a reader. If the characters come off a bit wooden instead of real, or if there is an incomplete subplot that never got resolved - these are things that should be pointed out. If they are a bit harsh about it, I'm okay with that, at least they are telling me where I need to improve. Let me know where my sentences get too wordy or if my sentences are too choppy. It happens. I catch them when I'm going through my edits. I hope that someone will catch them when reading through my story too (the ones that I miss).
Again, I haven't gotten to this point as I'm still going through my edits, since it's long and tedious but I'm getting to it. It's on my list of things to do once I finish editing the first short story of District Pluto.
What is your method of critiquing a piece of writing? What do you expect out of people critiquing your work?
I haven't critiqued in a really long time. In my head, I do it all of the time, but I haven't critiqued someone's work (with them being willing) in years. But, I guess I could say, that I look for inconsistencies or anything that stands out to me that really shouldn't be there (misplaced plot, forgetting to delete a passage before continuing, etc). I tend to ask a lot of questions when I'm looking over someone's work, mostly to benefit them. Instead of telling them that something is wrong, I ask them specific questions so they will figure it out and hopefully, it will help them improve other places of their story as well.
I also look for grammar issues and sentence structure flaws, if they ask me to, but I mainly focus on the story itself, rather than the syntax. At least at first. Unless the same mistake is consistent throughout the story. Then I'll point it out. For example: I was reading someone's story and they lacked commas. I had to go back and read several sentences to figure out what in the hell they were trying to say. I definitely pointed that out.
When someone is critiquing my work, I would hope they would be honest with me and ask me questions as needed. Questions are beneficial, and so is being straight forward. Though, I haven't gotten close to this yet, I would hope that they would do their best to help me improve my writing rather than just be an asshole about it, but there is always that group of people who will be flaming jerks and just straight-up tell me that my work is crap. If they aren't going to give me a reason why my work is crap, then they aren't worth my time.
I don't mean to sound like a bitch about it either. I'm asking for constructive feedback to help me improve. Telling me that I suck at writing, isn't telling me where or why they think I suck at writing. It's just telling me that this person isn't into my story. That happens. I'm not delusional to think that everyone is going to enjoy my writing, since I know I don't enjoy every piece of writing that I come across.
Telling me how I should write my novels or stories is also something that I would like them to not do. My plot is written like this for a reason and trying to sway my story line isn't going to happen because the chances are, my story is already finished and the way I wanted it. They can question my plot if there are some major plot holes that need to be fixed or if the plot is weak (or has weak points) but their opinion on how my story should go is a big no-no. I can forgive small adjustments but not if they are suggesting that I go back and change everything. Just - no.
When critiquing, you're supposed to let the writer know where things really didn't connect with you, as a reader. If the characters come off a bit wooden instead of real, or if there is an incomplete subplot that never got resolved - these are things that should be pointed out. If they are a bit harsh about it, I'm okay with that, at least they are telling me where I need to improve. Let me know where my sentences get too wordy or if my sentences are too choppy. It happens. I catch them when I'm going through my edits. I hope that someone will catch them when reading through my story too (the ones that I miss).
Again, I haven't gotten to this point as I'm still going through my edits, since it's long and tedious but I'm getting to it. It's on my list of things to do once I finish editing the first short story of District Pluto.
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