Traveling in Time (But Only 5 Days)

I just spent the last five days sick. Super sick. As chance would have it, my husband caught the same thing I had, so we laid on the couch watching my Criminal Minds DVDs while high on cold medicine.

As some of you may remember, I don't do well with medicine. I have no idea why, but basically anything stronger than Tylenol makes me loopy. The night time stuff makes me go right to sleep, and the day time stuff makes me groggy and spacey. We packed the kid off to the grandparents and laid around wishing we were dead.

Yesterday was the first day I felt like a human being, so I spent five hours straight cleaning the house. All the blankets got washed, all the surfaces disinfected, and all the floors scrubbed. I now feel confident that we will not reinfect ourselves with the plague.

It's always weird getting back to the world and social media after five days straight of not thinking about anything but how much phlegm your body is producing. I feel like a time traveler who's not very good at her job, as I've only jumped five days into the future.

I didn't mean to, but I know have distance on all the writing and personal stuff I'd been working. I think I am going to take advantage of this, and re-prioritize my projects. I'm also trying to not over do it and "catch up" on all the stuff I didn't do whilst coughing up a lung. Wish me luck!

How you do get back into the routine after spending a long time sick? Any disinfecting rituals you have that don't involve setting fire to everything and hoping for the best?

Gee Gee Gee Baby Baby Baby

Guess what! I am sick!
It's the summer. I protest. There should be some sort of law against getting a bad head cold in the summer. Also, there should be an addendum to said law that the punishment is worse if the victim is still in her first trimester. 

Morning sickness + coughing * (lack of sleep^2) body aches - Robitussin Dm + three boxes of tissues and counting = Elizabeth high on cold medicine and unable to string more than two coherent sentences together. 

If I could remember the order of operations I might be able to tell you why my toes are tingling.

Rewriting is going fabulously because I haven't done any in a few days. Too scared to see what my addled brain will cook up. Mostly I've spend my days laying on the couch with my husband, who is also sick (he's the one that shared the virus--he really shouldn't have), watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer on Netflix.

Shocking confession time: I've never seen Buffy or Angel before! I know! I am fixing that right now. It's rather addictive. I feel like I am arriving to a fandom about ten years late. Maybe that's because I am. When I told my husband I'd never seen either series he wanted to know what I did with my time as a teenager.

I read books. Also, I wrote some. I didn't watch a lot of TV, and still don't. 

I tried to post yesterday and tell you guys why you weren't getting a coherent post from me, but about halfway through this post I got distracted and I forgot about it. 


Here's a song:

P. S. I like this song prior to the aide of over the counter cough medicine. True story! I think it's cute. I like J-pop (Japanese Pop, even though technically these girls are Korean so it would be considered K-pop) a lot.


P. P. S. I was going to say something, but I forgot while I was typing the first P.S.


P. P. P. S. I remember now. I was going to make a joke by adding a tag that didn't belong to this post, but then I figured only I would notice/find it funny. First I was going to use the tag "zombie apocalypse" but then I thought it might actually apply since my cold could be the first wave of the virus that will create the zombie apocalypse. (Also, I don't know why I have some of the tags I do. Seriously, why does "Bigos" get it's own tag? It's just a dish I make.)


Okay, so I looked through my tags, and it's no go. Even the ones that don't fit would just seem like I hit the wrong button. I mean, if I tag this post "lolcats" even though there aren't any cats in this post (just Korean girls and a confusing math equation) it won't be funny. Not in the ironic way I was hoping for. So the tag thing is a bust. Sorry. 


P. P. P. P. S. I didn't want to end the post on such a downer. So I added another PS. Although I wonder, adding more "Ps" to the P.S., that's not a real thing right? It's just something people do so you get the point that it's another added message but separate from the first. 


Have a great day!

Great Balls of Fire

Monday, my sister in law calls out of work because her throat is sore. Turns out she's come down with strep throat, and was kind enough to share it with me (thanks sis!). My lymph nodes are the size of golf balls, and my throat is on fire, I have large doses of antibiotics and decongestants coursing through my system.

Therefore, comprehension is briefly suspended from my posts. You have been warned. :D

Monday, before my throat decided to do it's flaming razorblade impression, I managed to get some really crucial details about my setting worked out. Worldbuilding is personal to every book and every story. My other three novels didn't require this much worldbuilding because they were set on Earth. It's amazing how many details we take for granted. What kind of food is served, how the materials for the buildings arrive, how the technology continues to function when the entire structure of civilization has come crumbling down around the character's ears. Little details like that.

I am being very careful about not over building, since that is how many fantasy writers procrastinate actually starting the novel. But Monday, I worked on several pieces of the "special physics" that most of my plot works on. Crime procedures, how magic applies to ghosts, what it can and can't do, these are important details when you're writing something close to a murder mystery.

The best method I've found to not over do any aspect of working on a novel is making a list of what I absolutely must know. What I have to know about the world, what I have to know about the characters and the plot. Everything else can sort itself out. Life's been a little crazy lately, so I've been moving much slower on the pre-writing aspect of my WIP, but I only have a few more details to build on before I can start.

What do you guys to do prepare for your novels? How do you balance between knowing enough that you don't stare at the blank page, or knowing too much that you're bored?

On the other hand, you pansters out there, how do you pull all your details together after writing your novel? I wrote a book without knowing enough about the setting once, and it was the biggest pain in the neck to go back through and add all those details.

And who thought up gargling with salt water? Salt? Really? Normally salt hurts wounds, not helps, but somehow it works magic on a sore throat.

How to Write a Novel 8: Revision and Editing

Quote: “Writing and rewriting are a constant search for what it is one is saying.”
~John Updike

Song playing: Numa Numa by O-ZONE

Feeling marginally better today. Slightly more like a human being, and less like a dust bunny.

Still not feeling well enough to my brush hair though, so it looks like squirrels have been nesting in it. And ants have overtaken my desk, and keep trying to climb into my tea. Yuck! Although, it occurs to me that there could be worse ways to die than drowning in a sugary liquid. Like drowning in chocolate (yes, I am still taking Dayquil, why do you ask?).

I certainly appreciate the well wishing that I recover, but guys, it’s a slightly mixed message when you tell me how much you love me on Dayquil. Maybe that’s the key to success in writing. Drugs. Just kidding, I am totally kidding. I think you guys are noticing the difference between me, and me without my filter. Or maybe it’s the lolcats and fuzzy animals. I shall ponder this matter further. Perhaps Dayquil could be an exercise on how to find your voice, huh?

Today I will be talking (or typing if you want to get really nit-picky) about Revision and Editing. Another topic that strikes fear into the shriveled hearts of writers everywhere. But revision and editing can really be a make or break it for your writing career. You can’t bank on getting an agent that’s willing to coax you through the editing process, or pawning the editing off on an editor.

I have included pictures of cute baby animals to make the process easier.

1.Why Bother? Why not just hire an Editor?



Most of the time when a book gets published it don’t get a really in-depth editing job. The book gets a once over to make sure there aren’t any glaring typos that will embarrass the publishing house, and then off it goes into print. Frightening, huh? Then your book is published, out there in the world.

All those extra words in your rough draft, those spliced commas, the unnecessary dialogue tags, the gratuitous use of the semi-colon, the subplot that takes away from your story, the mention of the main character having blue eyes on one page, and green a few hundred pages, will be in your book, for the world to see. Think about how you’ll read it years from now and cringe, just as you cringe at the stuff you wrote in high school.

Hopefully now we’re all properly motivated to edit, right?

The point is you could have a killer idea, and an awesome query letter, but if your manuscript doesn’t shine like a teenager’s oily forehead then you’ll probably be rejected. Sure, there are some agents out there that might work with you to get the manuscript up to par, but ninety-nine times out of a hundred, they will simply say, “No thanks.”

It’s reasons like these you shouldn’t feel too paranoid about someone “stealing your idea”. There are a ton of ideas out there, but not everyone has the execution to pull it off, and write it well (and even if someone did steal your idea, they would still write it differently than you. A friend of mine and I actually plan to each write a book based on the same idea—even the same characters and general plot points to prove that no one can truly steal your idea). But if you really want to be obsessive over someone stealing your idea, that’s okay.

2. Distance. It’s not you, it’s me.

This sounds bad, but part of the Blogger Pledge I took was to be honest (what, you guys didn’t take the Blogger Pledge? To first do no harm? To be honest? To be prepared at all times?), so here it goes: I do my best editing when I am bored. It’s true! Don’t throw stones! I know I am supposed to gleefully skip to my desk at the thought of revision, and sometimes I do.

Sometimes I do.

But most of the time I would rather be doing something else. Like grouting the bathroom title.

I find my utter disinterest in the words helps me get some distant on the work. The times I am rabidly obsessive over the words on the page also helps. The only time I don’t edit well is when I really, really love the words on the page. It’s hard to find fault when you’re enjoying yourself.

Don’t get me wrong, I still love my story, and my characters, I still feel passion for them, but it’s not the same passion I felt while I was writing the book.

So the remedy is distance. Most people recommend at least a week, I prefer three months. That seems to be long enough that when I reread the manuscript I have forgotten large pieces of the writing. This is a good thing. It gives you the distance you need to read with a crucial key.

This is the process I use to revise and edit, but you might do things differently. Whatever works for you, so long as the book gets edited, right?

3. Thinking of You


(The writer, deep in the Revision trenches)

Most of this section came from Sol Stein’s Stein On Writing, and so far, this method has served me the best.

First, I print the book out, and think about it. No, I don’t read through it, not yet. Have I been thinking about my main character these three months? Does s/he still seem as alive to me now as s/he did when I wrote the book?

If yes, then good. If not, then I might want to pay attention to the characterization in the novel. A good character will stay with you long after the book is over.

How about the villain? If you have a villain who is human, and not just a force of nature or the protagonist himself, have you been thinking about the villain? Does he haunt your dreams? Observe how popular some of the greatest villains still are: Darth Vader, Hannibal Lector. If your “villain” is a force of nature, do you still feel worried that you too might be caught in a hurricane? Beset by a superflu? If your “villain” is the main character himself, can you adequately explain without looking at notes or scenes why the character posing such a challenge to himself?

Now, think about the conflict. What is the main conflict? Can I sum it up in a short sentence? If not, you may be in trouble. At the heart of any book is a struggle, whether it’s between two people, man and beast, or man and himself. Which does your fall into?

Next, before even doing one read through of your book you sit down, open a new document, and figure out the following:

What is the most memorable scene in your novel?

What is the least memorable scene in your novel?

If you haven’t cheated and read through the book, you might have to ponder for a moment. Chances are, the scenes that have stuck with you for three months are the memorable ones. Which springs to mind immediately?

You are allowed to skim lightly through the manuscript (but no reading!) for the least memorable scene. Now look at the two side by side.

Normally, you can immediately see the difference. For me, the memorable scenes are the ones with the action, witty dialogue, heartfelt apologies, confessions, redemptions, and sacrifices.

The least memorable scenes are almost always the boring “So this is how the world works, Bob” scenes, or one that just seemed to exist to set the next one up. Once I started comparing these scenes right next to each other, it became clear why one of them was boring and the other was not.

Now, figure out exactly what made that memorable scene so memorable. Try to think of it beyond “Because someone is getting shot” or “Someone is dying a tragic death”. That’s the event of the scene, not the heart of the scene itself. Usually, the scenes are memorable because something life changing is happening, or there’s a lot of emotion involved, or the conflict is high.

If you can’t seem to figure out why that scene is the most memorable, come up with your next memorable scene. Maybe even a third. I wouldn’t go past three though, or you’re defeating your purposes. Compare them to each other. Usually there’s some common thread, individual to you.

In the book I am revising, for example, the memorable scenes that weren’t high in conflict had a sense of wonder, of discovery to them that resonated with me.

Now, figure out how you can incorporate one of these elements into your least memorable scene. This doesn’t mean jack the conflict and tension up to an 8 or 9, because that would be like pumping your book up with steroids, not to mention exhausting to read. If it’s a conversation, make it an argument. Make the character feel more, more hopeless, or happier. In my example, I injected that same sense of fascination and wonder that was present in the memorable scenes. Maybe you could sharpen the inner conflict more.

Sometimes, the answer is to cut the scene, and move the bits of information in that scene somewhere else. Or you could combine two wimpy scenes to make them one uber scene of awesomeness.

Because that’s your next job. To find the next least memorable scene.

I know this probably sounds really complicated and scary, but I really enjoy this part of the revision process. Once I had a bar, a set of standards for each scene in my book, it became clear what I needed to cut, what I needed to fix, and what was working. I then applied that to all of the scenes in the book, until they were all interesting in some way.

Again, this doesn’t mean injecting your novel with steroids, and jacking the conflict up. Sometimes the “fix” for a boring scene was to make it quieter, less dramatic, the revelation more internal.



I also like to rate the scene, with a one for the least amount of conflict, to a 10, with the most emotion and conflict possible. I then go through my scene list, and rate each scene. I make sure the numbers rise and fall. You don’t want too many 4’s right next to each other, because it has a numbing effect, and you don’t want too many 8’s right next to each other because that is exhausting.

The exact level of tension and conflict your scenes should be at is different for each author, and even each book. You need to figure out what is working the best for your book. Don’t feel bad if your book doesn’t have exploding cars and zombies in it. This doesn’t mean your book is boring. A scene rated at 8 might be the scene where your character reveals she’s pregnant. It’s all relative to your novel.

You may have noticed I haven’t mentioned I have read through the book at this point. That’s because I don’t want to get “cold” on my manuscript, where I read the thing over and over until all that precious distance I had is gone. I find it easier to do this scene tweaking when the book isn’t fresh in my mind, but that might not work for you. Figure out what does, but don’t be afraid to experiment.

4. As the Reader

This is the point where I read as a reader. I print the entire book out, single spaced. I have my red Sharpie, and notes on the scenes next to me, get comfy, and read the book in one sitting if possible. I pay more attention to the overall story, and less the grammar and spelling. Sometimes, I think of a way to fix a scene I already had flagged as a “snooze fest” while doing the read though. I make my notes where it sagged, where I thought the character’s motivation needed to be clarified, overall impressions, and anything else I think might need work.

5. Start your engines!



Now I start the revision. I save my rough draft (you owe it to posterity), and open a new document I title Initials of Book Draft 2 (so, Heart Shaped Box would be HSB Draft 2), copy paste the entire thing, and save. Now I can tinker with the draft to my heart’s content, and if I make a big mistake, it’s not like I’ve lost the text.

This is where I do things a little strange. Even though I already have the second draft saved in a separate Word document, I find I work better in small pieces. So with the mangled manuscript and the scenes notes on my desk, I copy one or two scenes into another Word document, labeled Scene Editing 1 (the number goes up as the numbers of scenes increase). For me, it seems less intimidating when I am just working with one or two scenes at once. I highlight the entire Scene Editing document, change the font to something large and clean looking. Currently I am using Franklin Gothic Book. Then I space after every paragraph and line of dialogue. My friend did this when she edited a scene for me, and it made a huge difference. The paragraphs stood by themselves, so I could edit them easier.

Now I rewrite what I need to using my scene notes. If this was a boring scene, I spiff it up. I also do a little bit of line editing, even though I won’t start the major line edit until much later. The way I see it, I might delete an entire scene or chapter. Why bother with line editing until you know it’s going to stay?

But a little editing can’t hurt, just to make things tighter. So I do a word search for all the words I overuse. This is much easier to do to two or three scenes, and not the entire book at once.

For example, I love commas, and abuse them on a regular basis. I have recently fallen in love with the colon, and I am still trying that on for size. Common words I seem to feel the need to cram into my writing whenever possible:

*a little (people are always doing something, “a little”. She smiled a little, she hated him a little, etc)

*ah (as in, “Ah, I see what you are saying.” “Ah, I guess it’s over.”)

*well (“Ah, well, that’s done with.” See how I used both “ah” and “well” in the SAME piece of dialogue?)

*just (She just needed a little more time. Again with the two overused words in the same sentence. Look at the revised version: She needed more time. Much better.)

*that (I over use this word so many times it’s not funny. She wished that she never saw him. He knew that she would hurt him.)

So I do some minor tweaking, just to polish it up a bit, but I don’t spend hours on word order, and the nitty-gritty. Like I said, you never know what is going to stay and what is getting deleted, and you are more willing to delete a scene you DIDN’T spend three hours line editing than one you did. Just saying. ;)

I usually have three to four chapters per Scene Editing document, and number them accordingly. Also, after I have finished with the scene, I paste it back into the Draft 2 document, so as I work my way through the manuscript, Draft 2 is gradually replaced with edited scenes.

After I have gone through my entire manuscript and changed the stuff I KNOW needs to be fixed, I send Draft 2 to the cleaners, AKA the beta readers.

6. The Beta Readers

Some of you might have used beta readers before this stage, and if so, that’s fine. A lot of writers give the beta readers their first draft right after they are done writing it. I just prefer to fix what I KNOW needs to be fixed before I hand it off to someone else.

Chances are, if you know your middle sagged, your betas will pick up on it as well. So when they tell you, you’ll be thinking, “Yes, yes, I already knew that, what about the stuff I didn’t catch?” Even if you tell them that you already know your middle sagged, and to just ignore that, it’s going to be hard for them to do so.

I figure, why not take your first draft as far as you can, and then let the beta readers tell you what else needs to be fixed?

For those of you who don’t know, a beta reader is someone who reads your rough draft and offers a critique. Now, while your mother will be a good cheerleader beta reader, normally you have to get someone who is impartial enough to tell you what sucks and what doesn’t. I suggest a variety of non-writers and writers alike.

The non-writer betas should be readers, and they can give you the insight of what your audience will think about your book. The writer beta readers will hopefully help you with the more technical stuff, and give you very specific feedback (the villain was too clichéd, the first chapter starts out slow, the ending was too abrupt). And hopefully, these betas are also offering you ways to fix the problems as well.

I prefer utilize beta readers who read in and out of my genre, urban fantasy/fantasy. Remember though, even if the person is your best friend, if they can’t stand your genre, they might not be a good beta for you. Someone who can’t stand detective novels isn’t going to magically love it just because you wrote it. It’s not that you can’t let those people read your book, but expect a more skewed critique. If you could find someone who might not LOVE your genre, but doesn’t mind reading it, that’s fine, and sometimes desirable. Those people can pick out flaws that someone well versed in your genre might take for granted.

Overall, remember you can’t please everyone. Try to take their critique for what it is, and NEVER argue with them, never try to explain away their complaints. This is how you drive them away. It’s their opinion, that you asked for no less. If you don’t agree with them, that’s fine, but thank them for their time, and think about what might have prompted them to say that in the first place. Maybe you might want to be clearer on the point they brought up. Especially if you seem to have a consensus, that everyone thinks the middle sags too much, chances are: your middle sags.

7. More Revision

Now you make the changes you think are necessary. Figure out how to pick up your dumpy middle, and make the motivation clearer. Whatever suggestions the beta readers picked up, thank your lucky stars for them, and put their suggestions to work.

These changes become Draft 3. I copy the entire Draft 2, paste it into new document, and make the changes they suggested. This is your Draft 3. Again, in case you make major changes that somehow doesn’t work, you still have your second draft to fall back on.

Now, sent it out again. I like to use my betas in waves. Depending on how many betas I have, I’ll send the book out to three people at first, even if I have a total of seven or so guinea pigs—I mean, beta readers. This means that the second round of betas are reading your third draft, the new, non-saggy middle one. Don’t tell them what other beta readers picked up, just hand them the draft and ask for input.

If no one comments about your middle, then you’re saved. If they do, ask them for suggestions, and try not to kill yourself. Remember you can’t please everyone and ultimately, you are the author, and you know what is best for the book. But make sure to check your ego at the door. If these people are all commenting on a plot hole, you can beat your bottom an agent will see the exact same plot holes (and maybe three more).

You can lather, rinse, repeat this stage as many times as you need to, but eventually you will have to get off the merry go round. I would suggest not making yourself insane over revision. No one is ever going to give you a clean bill of health, other than your mom perhaps. There will always be SOMETHING that could be better, could be fixed. Sometimes I rotate between the two groups of betas. So if the first group caught the saggy middle, and the second group said the climax needed more pizzazz (I like that word. I need to find a way to use it more often), give Draft 4, the one incorporating the changes from both rounds of beta readers to your first group, and ask them to comment. Hopefully they have had enough time and distance to catch something new, and comment on the changes you have made. Or you could give it to a third group of beta readers. Again, don’t mention all the changes you’ve made, and don’t mention the comments group two made. You don’t want to taint them with your impressions.


8. Line Editing

When I finally think the chapters and scenes are here to stay, then I line edit. I print out the double spaced copy, and tackle the manuscript one page at a time. Don’t be scared, I know that’s a huge manuscript staring you in the face. Just take it a paragraph at a time. Get that red pen out, put the first page on the table, shove the rest of the manuscript to the side, and edit, edit, edit.

*cut every adverb you can. A stronger noun is better than a weak noun with an adverb attached.

*Check for hooks at the beginning of each chapter, and questions at the end.

*cut the clichés, and the near clichés.

*Make sure the characters can physically do what you say they do. Ie: “Susan walked through the door as it opened.” I know you’re trying to be economical, but that is physically impossible.

*Cut the flab. Less is more. I am not saying strip the book of all adjectives and description, but keep it concise, interesting, and part of the characterization. If you can tell us what the room looks like from the POV of the character, all the better.

*try to make the verbs and nouns as descriptive as you can without being distracting. Difficult, I know. Basically, you want to tell us what happened as precisely as you can, without drawing attention to the word itself. We don’t want to see the words, we want to see your story. The litmus test for me is precision. I want to tell exactly what happened, but as unobtrusively as possible.

*read the book out loud. You will immediately hear any clunky or awkward sentences.

Lastly (that’s a word, right? The Dayquil is telling me it is), none of these “rules” should be followed off a cliff. Figure out what works for you. Just when all the writers in the world (they have secret conferences) all agree on a rule of grammar, some brilliant writer comes along and breaks it with great fan fair.

9. I Wish that I Knew What I Know Now



For me, editing is both a great pain and a great joy. I like to think of myself as a sculptor, and my rough draft as the vague outline of my statue.

It’s heartbreaking to come back to a draft, especially if you’ve put it down and written another book in the meantime, and realize the book isn’t as good as you thought.

“Rats,” you say to yourself, “I can write much better than this right now. This instant. I should just trunk this book, and start another one. I learned so much between writing this book, and now.”

But if you follow this line of logic and trunked the book, wrote another one, and let that one sit for a little while, guess what?

You’re going to be at the same place. Even if you type really, really fast and can hammer a book out in an month, and let the book sit for a month or two, that’s still a minimum of three months before you can edit that book, and for most people, that’s a lightening fast turn around. Usually it’s closer to 6 months to a year between the conception of the idea, and the point when you can sit down to edit the book. You will always look at your manuscript and think you could do better.

And you know what?

That’s the entire point of editing. You are supposed to see all the flaws, all the inconsistencies. No one produces a perfect first draft. No one. But that’s okay, because you are bringing the writer you are today, to the draft you wrote months ago. All those things you learned? The tricks and tips you picked up? You can now apply them to your rough draft. No matter how long ago you wrote that novel you can use what you know now to change what you didn’t then.

Isn’t that empowering? I find myself invigorated with that thought! It’s my theory that you could potentially take that awful first novel you wrote and revise it into something publishable.

Some projects, depending on the problem, might take longer to revise than others, and some will be more work, but if you really wanted to I don’t see why you couldn’t. You’d probably have to do a lot of rewriting and revision, but like I said, it’s possible.

Some drafts you have might be an easier edit, sure, but you can edit all of them. You can apply the knowledge you have now to the books you wrote years ago. Isn’t that great?

Again, let me stress everything I talked about is just one way of doing things, and you should find what works best for you. I also edited this post to death, but I am about to make myself crazy. So again, I shall blame the typos and run on sentences on the Dayquil.

As for me, I guess I should stop blogging about editing and actually do some.

What do you guys think? What is the best editing method for you?

(Thank you Wikicommons for the pictures)

How to Write a Novel 7: Research (and Jurassic Park)

Quote: none, still riding the ‘Q

Song playing: Don’t Cha by the Pussycat Dolls

First, some observations:

*Still sick. Nyquil consumption high. Switched to the daytime formula. A comedian once said that it won’t make you sleep, but you’ll spend the rest of the day staring at your reflection in the toaster. I find truth in that statement.

*My iTunes doesn’t appear to be shuffling songs very well, as I have heard the same five songs in the past hour twice, and it’s a playlist containing 207 songs. In the middle of this phenomenon I reshuffled the songs. Didn’t make a difference.
Conclusion? Steve Jobs is controlling my computer via iTunes. Apparently his favorites songs are All the Way Down by Ryan Cabrera, Don’t Cha by the Pussycat Dolls (don’t judge me!), Colors of the Wind by Vanessa Williams (you know you get teary-eyed every time you hear this song, too), All I Ever Wanted by Basshunter, and the one odd ball song, Dr. Online by Zeromancer. Why does it not surprise me Steve Jobs likes pop music?



*My Nyquil-addled brain made a connection between how writing is like Jurassic Park yesterday, observations of which I will share at the end of the post.

*I just used the gift certificate to Amazon.com my future in-laws gave me for Christmas, and spent it all on books. 50 dollars worth. All of them used, but in Like New condition. That’s twelve books. Spent almost as much on shipping though, Amazon’s downfall. They should make it easier to search from individual book sellers. Anyway, I am salivating with the thought of all of those books arriving within the next few weeks. All of them are books about writing with the except of two novels by Patricia Sewell. Expect cries of joy and book reviews to follow.

*I continue to blame all spelling errors and typos on the Nyquil.

Now, onward to research, today’s topic on How to Write a Novel.

Let me once again reiterate that every single writer has a different way to write. What works for one person might be the worse technique another writer ever did. Your mileage will vary. This is just to get you thinking, and maybe you’ll find something from the post you can take away.

1. Research

Research. I know. Most people hate it, they think it’s a dirty word. But you’re going to have to do some, at some point in time. Usually. Unless you’re writing some really weird, avant-garde thing, but then I still image there are aspects you aren’t as familiar with as you could be.

Some writers like to research while working on the plot and brainstorming, and others like to wait until after the first draft is written, to see what they need to do. Typically, there’s going to be a mixture of the two.

As you can probably tell, I love doing research, but I was also a huge nerd in high school (shocking, I know). You know, the brainy sort of nerd that seemed to be friends with everyone, but was a too weird to be considered cool. That was me.

It’s hard being a writer, for many reasons, one of them being you have to be an expert on a little bit of everything. It’s jarring to read a book that has characters doing unrealistic things regarding their jobs, their location, physics of the world, etc. It’s in your best interest to find as much information on your subject as you feel like you need to in order to tell a good story.

2. Profession



What is your character’s job? You might need to research their job if it has a large bearing on the plot events. That’s why there’s a lot of books out there for courtroom procedures, crime scene investigation, and law enforcement, but not so many on being a botanist.

I find myself doing at least a smidgen of research on the character’s profession, just so the character seems more realistic. Most of the information you need, like typical ages, salaries, educational requirements is on the Internet. There are also books out there about specific jobs, like the aforementioned books on crime scene investigation.

3. Setting

I am not going to rehash what I talked about in the post on Setting, so suffice to say, you want to have a good feel for your setting, wherever it is. This is a great excuse to take a vacation to oh, say, Hawaii. You could even start setting your books in locations you’d like to visit, justifying the travel expense with “research”. Just saying.

4. Exploration

I like to think of research as exploration. Research doesn’t just have to be boring reading up on facts and figures. You could take a day trip to a park, if you want to really capture the feel of a rustic setting. You could try to visit the city where your character lives, if it’s feasible. You could talk to people from the culture you are writing about (if they exist. Sadly, elves do not). You could talk to your elderly relatives about what life was like back in their era, and jot down your own experiences with transitioning into the digital age.

You could write down some specific details about your favorite restaurant, or the taste of your favorite meal, or buy a candle that reminds you of how your character’s beach house smells. If you’ve never been in a fight you could ask someone else how it feels to be hit in the face (I wouldn’t suggest starting a fight. I doubt the cops will accept the “it’s for my book” as an excuse).

Research is building your experience with the unknown, the untried. The more you reach out and try to understand new, the better informed you are.

5. Other media

(no, checking your email doesn't count as research. sorry)

I am also a big fan of watching movies as a form a research. I enjoy the movie, of course, but I also keep a pencil and notebook with me. I dissect the movie and try to figure out what did and didn’t work. If you’re writing a detective novel, try to watch a few crime movies. If you’re writing about aliens, you could watch Alien, or Predator (but not Aliens vs. Predator. I paid 50 cents to see that movie, and want my money back), and pay special attention to how people deal with encountering the unknown.

You could also view art, look though magazines, and read poems. Whatever it takes to make you feel like you can talk confidently about the place, and characters, and themes of your novel. There is no right or wrong way, and it might change with each novel, depending on the demands of each book.

6. Jurassic Park and Writing

So, yesterday I watched Jurassic Park (love that movie, and the special effects have withstood the test of computer graphics era well) while on Nyquil. Good times. Ian Malcolm was chewing the geneticists out, saying that they were so excited with the fact they could clone dinosaurs, they didn’t stop to think if they should. The geneticists stood on the shoulders of those who did genetic research before them, took a few short cuts, and BAMN! Cloned dinosaur time. Malcolm further made the point that the geneticists didn’t earn the knowledge they received, so they didn’t have the skill to control what they created.

Which was the point my brain told me this is surprisingly similar to writing. It made immediate sense to me, but for those of us not following my Nyquil logic, here’s the gist.

To be a writer you have to pay your dues. Not because everyone in the publishing industry is mean, and don’t like to play fair, but because it’s how things operate smoothly. You have to learn how to write properly, how to craft a story and sentences and characters and when you’re done all that, you have to learn how to write a book from start to first, and then when you’re done that, you have to teach yourself how to edit. After that, you have to learn all about publishing, and submission guidelines, and agents, and how to balance your time effectively.



It’s a lot to learn and it can take months, years, or decades to master depending on how you apply yourself. You write a book, it’s terrible, you learn why it sucked, and then you write another book that sucked marginally less. Lather, rinse, repeat.

The steps and time frame is different for every writer, but almost everyone goes through some version of this learning process.

However, there are some writers who write a book or two, and then suddenly, a book they wrote gets published and receive commercial and literary acclaim. Sometimes these writers are geniuses, and other times, just super-doper lucky. At any case, these writers will still go through the same learning process that us poor, unpublished, un-bestselling novelist smucks do, just in the limelight. Just with the entire world watching what they produce next. Sometimes the follow up novels to these “amazing debuts” are great books, and sometimes, they fail miserably.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that J.K. Rowling has yet to publish something non-Harry Potter related. Stephanie Meyer has yet to produce something non-Twilight related. Dan Brown continues to produce Da Vinci Code-esque novels. Whatever your personal feelings on these authors, it’s hard to take your first few steps at all, much less in the limelight.

So the next time you’re staring at your ceiling, wishing God/Allah/the universe/the flying spaghetti monster will make your first novel the bestest seller there ever was EVAR, think about all the pressure that comes with that sort of fame.

And think about Jurassic Park.

Maybe the publishing business does have the right idea, that by the time you have something in print, nine time out of ten, the book is good enough to be published.

So what do you think? Do you spend a lot of time researching, or very little? Do you want your first book to shoot straight to the top, limelight be darned? Or would you rather published a few successes, gradually building in popularity?

The Ramblings of a Sick Mind (and LOLCats)

Quote: none, I am on Nyquil at the moment

Song playing: Map of the Problematique by Muse

So, fair warning for you guys today: I am sick with the flu. Fever, body aches, nausea, the whole nine yards. Had to call out of work today, because I am not allowed to be around the clients when I am sick for some reason. Plus the fever makes me really loopy. So if I go on tangents more than normal today and my spelling is even worse, I blame the fever. I will be blogging about How to Write a Novel tomorrow, because I am in no state to tell someone where the kitchen is.

Why am I not in bed, you may ask with concern in your voice and honeyed tea in your hands (thank you)?

Because I’d rather be blogging and writing. Because I can only lie around in bed for so long before I get bored, and I don’t feel like watching a movie, or popping in one of my seasons of Criminal Minds. Because I feel like I should be writing since I am not at work (those are pretty much the two activities I divide my time with…oh yeah, and wasting time on the Internet. And my fiancé. Can’t forget about him). I’ll probably have to erase 90% of the stuff that I write today, but sometimes my over-heated brain produces something amazing when I am sick, so there’s always that hope. Not that I am advocating you all write while you’re sick. Stay in bed, and watch Criminal Minds. I am clearly insane.

I would like to know why when I get more sleep, I get huge bags under my eyes. I thought you got bags under your eyes from lack of sleep, not from sleeping in. Seriously, I have huge, puffy bags under my eyes. I could pack my entire room in them. Plus, I have an extremely fair complexion (I am 90% Irish, so I sunburn in ten minutes, no exaggeration. Sadly, the red head gene passed me over, I just got stuck with their skin tone and freckles.), so now I look like a zombie.



Anyway, in other news, Michael Emeritz revamped his blog, and it looks super cool, so you should go check it out. He has this bookshelf thingy there that I am insanely jealous of. He also wisely pointed out in regards to dialogue, it should be able to stand for itself. I intended to mention that, but of course, I forgot. So yes, good dialogue will stand without you having to use tags to tell us who said it.

I thought we could all do some sort of dialogue workshop, to help each other improve, but I am not exactly sure how to do that on a blog, so if anyone has any suggestions, I am all ears.

In other, other news, I had a shiny new idea yesterday while I was watching Hellboy II and pretending I wasn’t sick (I was just “taking it easy”). I would also like to know why when I already have too many projects going at once, I get really cool ideas, but when I am ACTIVELY looking for something to work on, it’s like tumbleweeds blowing around in my brain. Nothing catches my interest. I am in the middle of a serious edit, and developing another book, plus I have at least five other ideas nagging for attention, and my muse decides now is the time to drop a great idea into my lap. My muse is fickle, I guess. Or he likes playing head games with me.



I know, I know, you’re probably thinking, “Waaaah, Elizabeth, poor pitiful you with all of your ideas. Such a tragedy to befall you.” I know it’s a good thing to have ideas, but whenever I get a new idea I have to resist the urge to abandon what I am working on. We all know the best way to resist temptation is to give in to it. And I know by the time I do get to the idea, some of the new-idea luster will be gone.

So I am splitting the difference, and doing like I described in…one of my earlier posts, and developing the idea as much as I can before abandoning it to more concrete things. Basically, I try to get as much of what I find exciting about the idea on paper, and even think about the plot a little bit. This way, the idea is fleshed out enough that is has life, and more times than not, I will be minding my own business when two of the half formed ideas combine to make one new, SUPER idea.

One of the really exciting things about this idea is the characters.

Now, I write about all sorts of characters. I really do, not on purpose but it’s just what happens. I have characters of all ethic backgrounds, of different fantasy races, and professions. Some writers have a few personality types they like to write about, but mine seem to run the gamut. I have just as many embarrassingly shy characters as I do spunky and bossy characters. It’s just how I roll.

But these characters, specifically the guy, but the girl is too, are anti-heroes rather than heroes. This in and of itself isn’t new for me, I already have several anti-hero characters (actually the book I am developing at the moment has TWO), but this guy…he is just a few steps up from a straight villain. The idea of writing a character like that is frightening and fascinating, much like the character himself.


For those of you who don’t know what an anti-hero is, or you have a fuzzy idea but aren’t too clear, allow me to explain briefly.

Anti-heroes come in several different shades and flavors, but all of them differ from regular heroes in a few key fashions. The main difference is the level of morality. What a normal hero would consider morally objectionable, an anti-hero has no problem with. Superman is a hero, Batman (yay Batman!) is an anti-hero. Cyclops is a hero, Wolverine is an anti-hero. Anti-heroes do good things, but their motives are usually less pure than a regular hero. A hero might save the world because It’s the Right Thing to Do, an anti-hero will save the world because he doesn’t want to die, or because someone is paying him to, or because he’s trying to get back at the guy who wants the world to end. See the difference? Same results, just different reasons. And the anti-hero’s methods for saving the world will be less scrupulous than the hero’s.

Anti-heroes are much more flawed than a regular hero. A regular hero has a few flaws to show he is human, but is still undeniably a good, upstanding citizen. Depending on the specific type of anti-hero, the anti-hero might have just as many flaws as he does merits, or even more.

I find anti-heroes fascinating because they are gritty and realistic. Anti-heroes evoke a big range of emotion in the reader, whether it’s the “I can’t believe he just did that, what a jerk.” or “Wow, she is such a bad ass. I wish I was a bad ass.”

You have your anti-heroes who are gritty, your Han Solo type, who is essentially nice guy, but he enjoys breaking the rules just a little too much. You have your bad boys/girls (James Bond, Samantha Jones from Sex and the City), charming criminals (a la Ocean’s 11), and your dark heroes (Batman, Rambo, Ripley from the Alien movies, Prince Nuada from Hellboy II (although in this movie he serves as the antagonist, he really is a dark hero because of his motivations and backstory)). All of these characters have different shades of morality, going from generally decent people (Han Solo), to almost a villain themselves (Prince Nuada).

For my shiny new idea, my male main character is a dark hero seriously flirting with actual villainy.

The point of this ramble is to underline my point in my…earlier post about not pulling your punches (those pauses are me not remembering which post, and not having the energy to look it up).

See, the idea of writing a guy that is level of flawed makes me nervous. (or girl, I am not sexist, anti-heroes are both genders, this particular character just so happens to be a guy). I will admit it makes me squirm in my seat. I like to believe that people are overall Nice. But he isn’t nice, most of the time. He’s dark, and tortured, and does what has to be done, and gets his hands dirty with work that more traditional heroes can’t do because of their moral code. He and Batman would get along super well in the morality department.

I am already worrying about writing about a character like that. I worry I won’t have the skill to write him sympathicly (Is that even a word? Take that spell check!) enough. While I was thinking about his character, I kept having the urge to explain. You know that urge, the “I’m not bad, I’m just drawn that way.” “It’s okay that he’s rude to people, because he’s sad.” You want to explain away bad behavior, to justify it to yourself, so it won’t seem so bad. But that’s cheating, and we all know it. There might be an explanation for bad behavior, and he does have a brutally traumatic back story (*evil grin* I sure didn’t pull any punches there), but bad behavior is still bad behavior.

The other part of me is reveling in the idea of writing about people who kick ass and take names, and don’t apologizes for the lamp they just smashed. Characters this emotionally disturbed and complex are undeniably interesting to me, so I also feel pure joy at the idea of taking the gloves off, morality wise.

It’s going to be a challenge, to walk that fine line between good and evil, and I find myself frightened I will fail miserably, but it’s sure going to be fun to try.

I think some tricking of my subconscious is in order. Sometimes when an idea intimidates me, and I worry too much about it, I have to tell myself I am not really working on it. Like, right now I am working on developing a book called “A Dangerous Mind” while I am not editing. I am doing the prewriting stuff, the character development, research, and so on. I know I am working on this idea. But sometimes when you tinker with an idea in your spare time, you come up with some really great stuff, because you weren’t pressuring yourself. You didn’t feel the need to be awesome, or good, or funny, or talented, because you were just fooling around. And while you were fooling around with an idea, something great came from it.

Yes, I believe this is what I shall do. Just don’t tell my subconscious, or internal editor.

By the way, Jessica Page Morrell wrote an AMAZING book about anti heroes, villains, and matching the two up. It’s call Bullies, Bastards, and Bitches. Seriously, one of the best books I ever bought. She’s very thorough with the different shades of anti-heroes and villains. Even if you never plan to write an anti-hero, I would recommend getting this book just for her section on villains.

One method she mentioned for making flaws is to think about all the things that people do to annoy you, great and small. Does it bother you when people wear too much cologne? How about liars? She suggested exhausting this list, and from there, you have a great start for some good character flaws. So what about you guys? What thing do people do that get on your last nerve? Have you ever worked on a project that you worried you weren’t up to the challenge? What did you do to get over that fear? And where the heck is my Nyquil?

Okay, I think I have rambled enough. Time to go see if my alphabet soup will spell out a bestseller. Wait, I think I see a word…no, two…“y-o-u s-u-c-k”.

Drat. A magic eight ball my alpha bet soup is not.