A long time ago, in a post far away, Sara, a reader of this blog (at least back then she was; I don’t know whether she still is), asked in a post comment:
“Do you have any ideas about how to incorporate backstory and the character’s thoughts into the story without interrupting the flow?”
Accomplishing this is actually much like incorporating any other description into the story, and there are several things you can do. Read More
Jeff DeRego is no fan of NaNoWriMo. I can sympathize. What I can’t sympathize with is that he disses the idea of writing “every day.” Listen to his audio commentary for Paula B’s Writing Show. Here’s my audio response.
I agree with him on NaNoWriMo. I agree with him except on one point. I think writers do write every day. Maybe you don’t always write words for your novel, but you write something that isn’t email. Maybe it’s an article, or an editorial, or maybe it’s pre-writing for your novel. Or maybe “writing” just means planning on your novel–although I’d be very careful with that one, because “planning” can be a wonderful source of procrastination, which is not writing.
In short, I think it’s much more important to maintain a sustainable pace and to adopt an effective writing process. That said, I am doing NaNoWriMo this year, but only because I just coincidentally happen to be starting a new book.
(And as it’s turning out, I’m probably not going to “win.” But that doesn’t bother me so much.)
-TimK
A friend of a friend asked me the following questions:
I am writing a book. I have finished the first half and just need some editing and advice as to how to orient the story so I can complete the second part.
I would say, whatever else you do, finish writing the story. You can always go back and edit afterward. Don’t let editing hold you up. Read More
I never do NaNoWriMo, because I believe if you’re a writer, you should write. Period. One month of excitement is not going to change your life. It’s like one of those one-day self-help seminars. You go; you have an enlightening, emotional experience; you feel good about yourself and your future; and three days later, you’re back to being your old self. NaNoWriMo always seemed to me to be like that. One month of hard-core writing, followed by… what? If you’re a writer, you write, year-round. You don’t cram it all into the month of November. I have held this position for years.
However, I am participating in NaNoWriMo this year. Here’s my NaNoWriMo user page.
Why the change? Actually, no change. It just so happens that I’m almost ready to begin working on Volume 2 of The Conscience of Abe’s Turn: The Birth of the Conscience. This is a sequel to the first book in the series. And I plan to use Agile Storytelling to complete it as quickly as possible. I don’t know whether I’ll finish the whole book before the end of November, but I’m hoping I’ll complete 50,000 words worth (about half the book).
The whole idea behind Agile Storytelling is to adopt a set of practices that make it easy to quickly write a passable story. This works, because you do things in an order that helps you organize your thoughts quickly, and you also avoid writing a lot of prose that you’ll later need to throw out. You make all the big changes up front, and then the bulk of the writing proceeds smoothly. I’ve already tried the technique, in a limited way, while writing the short story “Recovery, Relapse, Relationship,” one of the extra chapters in Abe’s Turn Volume 1. (My dad said it was the best thing I’ve ever written. Nice of him to say.)
I’ll post more about my experiences with Agile Storytelling here as I work on the next volume.
-TimK
I know I’ve been away for a while, because I’ve been in the midst of the frantic throes of releasing my new novel, The Conscience of Abe’s Turn and my dad John King’s memoirs, Can You See God in This Picture. (We sold out of the latter on the day of its release, but I have more on the way.)
Releasing Abe’s Turn has taught me something. I need a lesson in humility. Not a lesson in how to be humble, but a lesson in how to admit when I’m good enough. You wouldn’t think a guy like me, who absolutely hates to admit that he’s ever wrong, would need that. But (like Dad), I’ve always doubted my own ability, always been plagued by feelings of inferiority, and usually for no good reason. That’s death knell to the working writer. Read More
This post was originally posted at my personal blog.
A friend of mine emailed and asked:
If you don’t mind me asking, how much did it cost you to publish your book (or your dad’s)? You seem to be doing all of the important things that subsidy presses do and probably at considerable savings.
I’m still refining my publishing process, and I don’t intend to publish many books by other authors (which is more expensive than publishing my own books, because you have to coordinate between two people, rather than just between the two sides of my own brain). But here’s what I’ve found out so far: Read More
I had written and completed numerous shorter works over the years, but The Conscience of Abe’s Turn: Season 1 Episodes 1-4 is the first full novel-length work I had ever written and edited to completion. The experience taught me a whole new set of lessons.
Some of these lessons I learned from my own editing experience. Others are classic truths of which I was merely reminded, and with which I know other writers wrestle regularly. We each have our own hurdles to jump over. Still you might encounter–or perhaps you are encountering–one of these.
Be prepared with these 7 lessons learned from editing a first novel: Read More
I was in the mood for a romantic comedy, something to make me giggle and at the same time to make me feel. What I came out with was a bit less romance, a bit less comedy, but a whole lot of feeling. A Good Woman, starring Helen Hunt, based on Oscar Wilde’s play Lady Windermere’s Fan. Read More
I just read Holly Lisle’s novel Night Echoes. I put up a quick video review of the book, which is below. Read More
I frequently use PersonalityPage.com to assemble personality traits for characterization. The site is not organized for writers. In fact, the site navigation is poorly designed and pretty difficult to figure out. I had to poke around the site a bit to find the best pages there for characterization and how to use them. But having done so, I discovered that the content on those pages is perfect for writers trying to create characters. Read More