Writing Update: Making Plans

Well, I'm back in the swing of things. I just printed out all of Hourglass because I discovered that I can't revise on my computer. I'm not sure why. I just have a really hard time focusing on revisions. So, I printed my manuscript...which took a lot of paper but it was worth it. I kind of like not having to stare at a screen all day and my foot really appreciates me not sitting at a desk all day.

The revisions are going along smoothly. I want to try to finish everything by the end of the month but considering that it's already the 11th of May...It might not happen. I'll keep working on it though. I've been doing some research into some cover artists and I think I found one I really like and could possibly be a good fit for my series. While I'll still be making the cover art for my Wattpad stories, I kind of want my published novels to be professionally done until I get used to the new program I got or until I get better in general...Improvement is always nice.

I've been looking into making my own publishing company and it looks relatively easy. I'm going to look into it more though. I still have to come up with a name for it and do some more digging to figure out if it's what I really want (it probably is). There is just a lot to do for that.

Once I'm about halfway through my revision process, I'll be looking for Critique Partners. I want to make sure that I have something that I can actually give my partner(s) so I want a good portion of Hourglass finished by then.

Since I'm off school for the summer, I'm really hoping that I can continue to work on my novel and start working on my stories for Wattpad (which I've been procrastinating on). I think I'm going to take down my story Spliced until I'm done with my edits for District Pluto: Morality Sentence. Which I want to publish on the site next. I've been thinking about it a lot lately and it's something that I've been really interested in working on.

Another thing I started up again was reading. As much as I would love to go through and re-read the Tamora Pierce novels, I don't have them available for me right now. They are in my dad's basement waiting to be transferred to my apartment. I just need to clean it first. So, instead, I'm reading Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas. I will get through this story...I will. This book has been sitting on my shelf for a year now and I still haven't read it.

I'll probably write a review and post it...just to prove I actually read it. 

Writing Short Stories When You Usually Write Novels

Writing a short story is something I feel like every writer should know how to do. It doesn't matter if you say that you "only write novels" because there is going to be a time where short stories are needed. Short stories have multiple purposes.

How Short Stories Might Benefit You:

• You want to give your readers a little extra. Your readers are important. I can't stress that enough. Sometimes giving them a little something extra isn't going to kill you. Writing a short story is a good way of doing that. Say you have a side character that your audience just loves. Why not give them a little short story in that side character's point of view. It doesn't have to be related to the original story but be sure to give it a plot on it's own.

• Helps you omit needless words. If you don't want to give into your readers, then at least use it as practice to omit needless words. It will force you to stay focused on the plot and try not to generate subplots, since it is a short story.

• It opens up other opportunities. Anthologies being one of them. Or for those who aren't published yet, short story contests. There are a lot of them. Anthologies and contests are a good way to get your name out there so use it to your advantage.

• You learn to gain control. This might sound a little weird but I was one of those people who would try to write a short story and ended up writing a whole damn novel. I learned to tone it down. It taught me how to control my story, keep things on the right path because your characters really don't have the control of the story, you do. When your character's veer off, that's you trying to explore your options or you just really have a hard time following your own directions. 

 I'm sure there are other ways that short stories can benefit but these are the immediate things that came to my head.

Now that we know how short stories can benefit you, lets move on to how to write one. I'm a novel writer. I know how hard it can be to cramp a story into a limited amount of words. But I learned.

For this short story contest I decided to enter, the guidelines for the story were:

• Any genre
• No more than 3,000 words
• Due November 31st

It was a pain in the ass.  I had a great story planned out but then I realized that it was too damn long. Something had to go but what? Everything varies for me. I don't always do the same method twice in a row but these are the basics of my process.

• Figure what I wanted from the story. That meant plot. I needed a small plot that had a lot of impact and could intrigue readers to continue. So knowing what I wanted for a general plot was important.

• Keeping characters limited. There are only two characters that the readers know the names of and one that everyone refers to as "Boss" but you don't get to know him as a character very well. Keeping characters limited means that you will have to not fill your story with a ton of characters. That will just make it drag. Keep the characters that have an important role. 

• Throw everything into an outline. I advocate outlines more than anyone I know. I love outlines. They are the way I keep everything in line. I even outline blog posts. By throwing what you have into an outline, I was able to establish three major parts of the story that were 1,000 words a piece and it was more than enough for what I was writing. It will also keep you from veering off into something that it shouldn't be.

• Write what's important. This is the only way I didn't go over the limited amount of words. I only wrote down what was important to this plot. When you have subplots or a series, you'll probably have to write a lot more than in a short story. Novels are more complex than short stories. I only have one plot for this story. Keep only what's important to the story. 

It might look like a lame little list here but it works for me. It's as simple as it can get really. It's a short story, after all.

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.

The Editing Process: Slacking

So, this last week kind of sucked when it came to editing. I didn't work on Dowsers at all. I instead worked on The Survival Agreement because it needed some work. I'm going to have to get started on editing my short story for that contest. I really need to get things done.

Basically I'm slacking. I did finish planning my two novels and created the cover art for it already. I'm actually pretty happy about it. I put aside my editing to do this so I really need to get back on track.

Short Stories

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.

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.

A Month of Correcting Things

Now that February is coming to a close, it's time to get back into editing. I hate to admit that I hardly touched my manuscript in a few weeks - shame on me. So, it's going to be my main focus for the month. I've been working on my retelling of a fairy tale story and it's not even close to being done so I'll continue working on that in March. It shouldn't take me too long...I hope. It's getting pretty lengthy.

So, for the next month, all my posts will be about editing and the process I'm going through. I'm actually going to start that process today after I'm doing writing my chapter. I've been using Holly Lisle's How To Revise Your Novel class because, while it is a long process, I noticed that my manuscript turns out far better than I anticipated it to be. So, I'm going to stick to it.

Thankfully, this week is my Spring Break from school. I'll have plenty of time to catch up since I only have six lessons to start with. I just need to find the best solution to doing the worksheets since printing them isn't an option right now.

Now with that said, off to finish up some writing and start working on my editing. There is a lot that I need to finish by the time March ends.

Tell A Fairy Tale Day

On Friday, February 26th, it's Tell a Fairy Tale day!

So naturally, what better time to re-write a fairy tale. Most of my day was spent plotting out the story I wanted to tell. It's a sci-fi version of Beauty and the Beast. I didn't intend for it to be Sci-fi but it kind of happened to be that way, which is fine because I can re-write it however I want. It should be interesting, I hope.

My goal is to have it finished by the 26th, if not, then the 28th. It will be a nice break from the novel I've been editing very slowly. I haven't been in the editing mood lately. All I want to do it write, so that's what I'm going to do. Maybe in the end, it will be something I actually share with someone.

...After editing it a few times, of course.

Progress Update: First Edit

It has happened. I finally finished editing the first draft of the Sacrificial Son. I'm not sure if it's going to be called that but that's the title I have now. It will be what I'll call it until I figure out another name for it. Anyway, it's finished. I'm letting it settle for a moment before I go through it again.

I already know there are scenes that need work. Mostly the ending scenes. They are important to the story since it introduces a much bigger plot that encompasses the series. This editing process was a journey. I'm still trying to figure out what works for me but there are some things that I find really help. I'll be sharing them in another post later down the road.

For now, I'm going to continue planning my new novel The Escapist. That is also a temporary title. I only picked that because it was the only thing that fit for now. I don't have all of the details worked out yet so the title is more than likely going to change. As far as planning goes for this novel, I think I figured out a fair bit but not enough to get started yet.

Progress Update: Beginning of a New Month

 

Yesterday was the start of a new month and, for me, it started off pretty well. I managed to get 2 hours of editing in with the new method of editing I'm doing. Frankly, this is working a little better than my other method even though, I'm pulling a few things from that method.  I still haven't found a sure way of editing yet but I have a long way to go.

This month is the month I work on my District Pluto series. I've come to the conclusion that I'm going to need more short stories in the series to help people understand the world a little better. It's best to understand the world. 

I'm pleased with my progress so far. Editing short stories is going to be much easier than editing a novel. Baby steps, I suppose.

I'd better get my 2 hours in for today and write a page in my handwritten stories.