POV Workshop

So a little over a week ago I went to a workshop with Janice Hardy on the power of point of view. And it changed my life.

"But Elizabeth," you ask me. "Why has it taken you so long to write about this workshop if it was over a week ago?"

To which I shush you and bribe you with candy. I've been deep in the writing trenches, not to mention some stress from the daily life, and my brain can be likened to tapioca pudding. A day old. Left in the sun.

Janice's workshop was positively amazing. I have to admit, I was really nervous meeting her. I've read The Shifter and Blue Fire, and really enjoyed both books. They are fun to read with an excellent plot, but she doesn't skimp on the characterization. 

I was more than ecstatic when I meet her and discovered she's a great person. Smart, funny, excellent teacher, and very...approachable. Somehow I am making her sound like a car, but you get what I mean. She's one of those people you feel like you can talk to for hours and forget what time it was.

During the workshop she talked about how point of view can change your writing. Janice said a lot of common problems--pacing, telling versus showing, info dumping, etc--can be fixed if you're in better control of the point of view of the character. It makes sense to me. If you're inside the character's head, you're going to notice only what's in that person's character.

She also talked about telling versus showing. It seems I have more telling in my writing that I knew about. Conveniently, Janice has a post about that very thing today! So you should pop over and check out her post.

The best thing about this workshop is I was able to really see where my weaknesses are. This is invaluable knowledge. Maybe get a critique, or just take a hard look at your writing, but figuring out where you can improve is the first step to...you guessed it, improving.

So take a gander at Janice's blog post and tighten up any telling you might be doing by accident. 

And then stop by and let me know how you figure out what areas you need to improve in! Hypothetically of course, since we're all perfect, right? Right.

The Year In Review

Happy New Year!

I know today is the first day of 2011, and most people review their year yesterday, or the day before...but that's just silly! How can you review a year that hasn't past yet?

Now that the year has truly past, here is a brief look at all the things I accomplished this year:


Personal Life

*Started a New Job
*Married my husband
*Moved into a new apartment


Writing Life


*Took Holly Lisle's online class for writers. How to Think Sideways and How to Revise Your Novel. These classes are absolutely amazing. It's like having a pro writer for a mentor. 

*Took a three day writing seminar from Aaron Allston and Michael Stackpole. It was absolutely spectacular. The classes were short, yet packed with information. They talked about a lot of issues like Plot Analysis and Writing a Series that doesn't get a whole lot of coverage. Michael Stackpole has a newsletter full of goodies, and he's bundled them, along with some How-to writing books that I bought, and I still refer to frequently. 

*Read NUMEROUS books on writing. I have lost count, honestly. 

*Took Kristin Nelson's webninar about writing query letters. It was soooooooo informative and awesome. She is one of my favorite agents, and it was great to hear from the agent's mouth about some of the pitfalls of fantasy and science fiction queries.


(**A short aside: Many would-be and even published authors debate the merits and flaws of reading books about the craft of writing. Some writers argue it takes away precious time when you could be writing or reading fiction, which is also essential to a writer. Obviously I think there is some merit to reading books about writing, since I own so many, and have taken classes. 


While every writing style is different, I like to be ahead of the curve. I like to learn what I can from the people who have "been there, done that" and make my own mistakes. It's partially in this spirit that I blog, actually. Hopefully someone can learn from the processes and mistakes I am making. There's no short cut to good writing, but I honestly feel like these books have helped me. The caveat is that not all How To writing books are created equal, and you should do lots of research as to the content of the book and the author.)


*Read tons of fiction books. Also lost count. Some highlights were Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate series (Soulless, Changeless, Blameless, Heartless) and Jim Butcher's latest addition to the Dresden Files.

*Started a blog! And meet all kinds of wonderful people like Joseph Selby and Charity Bradford and Mia Hayson and more people too numerous to count! I would like to mention Lena Hoppe here, even though I met her a few years ago during NaNo. Just because she's been an awesome part of my writing life, and this is starting to sound like an acceptance speech. Acceptance for what????


*Revised a book and decided with much debate to trunk it. It was a hard decision, but ultimately, in order to bring it up to standards I would have had to rewrite the entire thing. I might do that in the future, but I needed some space. The other issue I have with it is the book is really like two small books fused together. And the love interest is from one book, and the main character from the other, so I am having a hard time imagining how I would rewrite it into one coherent book and keep the love interest there.
 Also, with my current WIP I took the subplot, and made it the primary plot so I worry there might be too much conceptual overlap.


*Started three books. The third one is being writing right now (no, not literally). The other two...well, they had issues.


Whew! That was a busy year!


I don't know about anyone else, but I am pumped for this coming year. Last year was great, and I can't wait to see how the next one turns out. I also have some exciting things (secret things!) planned for the blog, and I can't wait to get the ball rolling. Until then, I hope everyone has a great New Year!

Experiments and Doubts

So I am getting down to the wire on my WiP. I've decided to experiment in several ways with this novel, and although I'd like to say I am totally confident about these choices that's not exactly true.

Have you ever done that? Tried a new method of writing or preparing that made you a little squirmy? I'm open for experimentation. I am always trying to find better ways to hone my craft, to prep and write a novel. Sometimes the results are spectacular. Sometimes things go splat. I am hoping my latest experiments will be wildly successful, or at least not ruin the book, but again, I still feel nervous.

My first experiment will be in the form of an extended plot outline. I didn't think I would ever use one, but the need seems to call for it. I am trying plot out the events I have to know to make the novel work, but leave a lot of ground left to explore. Since the story's main driving plot is very close to a murder mystery, there are certain things I need to know ahead of time. Like how the two main characters collect evidence from immaterial objects, like ghosts. Fun, I know. 

So while I don't have who's going to live and die planned out to a T, and only a sketchy idea of how things are going to get solved, I still have to know how their methods work. Enter the extended plot outline. It's a really detailed plot outline, that lets you be as specific or vague as you want. So one chapter might read "Bast discovers dead body" another chapter that I have more ideas for might even have a piece of dialogue I thought of and don't want to forget. 

This will allow me to plan out the nitpicky details ahead of time, without ruining the fun of creativity. This doesn't mean I won't have to smooth things out in revision, but at least it gives me something to stand on. I also intend to plan the first few scenes out in great detail, and use only the broadest strokes for the middle and end. Just the scenes that have to be there to make the basic plot work. Then, after I write through the scenes I have planned out on notecards, I will then plan the middle, incorporating anything that has changed since the outlining stage. I've never plotting this way, but it sounds like an excellent way to have some stepping stones in the plot without having to incorporate your new elements completely in the first revision.

The other great experiment with this book is my POV choice, and the one that's making me extremely nervous.

It's going to be multiple first person point of view. 

First person is a bit of a change for me. I usually save first person for the books I know are only going to be from one character's perspective, and when I have an excellent feel for their character. I've never finished a novel in first person, but I have two half finished novels from first person, both with totally different voices.

When I started working on my WiP, I already had Bast's voice talking in my head, and she was definitely going to be from first person. When I added another main character, I didn't think much of it, because I also had an excellent feel for that character's voice. The characters are polar opposites and have different roles in the story. 

I realized that I would need a way to tell the reader that the POV has changed, because most people assume a book written in first person is from only one person's perspective.I considered my options.
 

I don't like naming the chapter after the POV character, because it feels a little...clunky. I usually don't name chapters anyway, because it can break the flow of the book. Don't get me wrong; I've seen both techniques used well, but I just didn't think either work for my book. I also decided that I would change POV with each chapter, and any scene break I wanted to do within the chapter would be indicated by *** marks.

When I went to the writing seminar at Dragon*Con, I asked the writers giving the seminar, Michael Stackpole and Aaron Allston, how you would make sure the reader knew who's head you were in without naming the chapter after the character. To my delight Michael Stackpole and Aaron Allston did not tell me I was a naive fool for trying to pull off this perspective. 

Instead, they advised me to make sure each voice was unique, so there was absolutely no doubt who was talking (Which is a good habit to get into, even when you're writing third person). I told them about my chapter plans, and they thought it was also a good idea, because eventually the reader would pick up on the fact that a chapter means I am changing character perspectives.  


That settled, I didn't think too much more about my POV choices until yesterday.

Yesterday I ran across a story about a guy who tried to get him multiple first person novel published, but couldn't because the publishers didn't like the POV. I read several other articles talking about badly used multiple first person. The general wisdom for multiple first person is don't do it. I know there have been books utilizing this perspective, but it's really hard to pull off. You have to make extra, extra sure that the character's voices really ARE unique and different. You have to make sure the characters are relaying a different view on the world to justify their having a POV at all.

You're supposed to do this with a POV character anyway. No matter if you're writing in third, first, single or multiple, you're supposed to make sure your POV characters each have something important to contribute to the story. You're supposed to make sure they all are unique and sound like real people. 

This doesn't always happen though, and never is it more obvious than multiple first person.  Now I wonder if I am kidding myself. I mean, I'm not even published yet. Should I wait until I have a few published novels under my belt before embarking on such an ambitious endeavor? If my POV choice bars me from getting published, it will feel like a waste, because that's something that can be fixed. 

But.

If I can pull off the POV choice, I think it will rocks your socks. The events of the books are character driven, and very personal. Both characters are put into uncomfortable moral situations where they have to choose which is the lesser evil, and deal with the outcome of their actions. The character themselves are polar opposites.

I guess at the end of the day, I just need to make sure that the characters come across as unique and different. I have thought of this book as a multiple first person for so long, I have a hard time imagining it any other way. In order to make sure this really is the POV that will do my book the best service, I will rewrite a chapter from each character in third person, just to make sure. But I am still slightly nervous.

Have you ever had something like this happen to you? Where you thought you had things under control and then you read or hear something, and suddenly you're questioning your choices? How do you decide which is fear talking and what is good common sense? How did you decide what to do? Does anyone have any advice on multiple first person perspective? 

Critical Writing Skills: Time is on My Side

Quote: "Hear the ticking of the clock...the sound of life itself." Kamelot, The Human Stain

Song Playing: Time by the Rolling Stones (surely you saw that coming)

Despite my connotations with "Time" to the movie Fallen (great movie by the way, held up really well even after the Digital Age), I think it's quite fitting for today's post.

People complain about not having enough time. Time is one of the those non-renewable commodities; once it's gone, you're not getting it back. You can make more money, you can get healthy, but you can never get back time you feel you have wasted. The best you can do is learn from the experience and move on.


Almost as bad as that, there are many, many distractions out there to steal your time away. In today's age it's virtually impossible to avoid all distractions.


That's why one of the most important habits you can ever develop as a writer is to protect your time.


Learning how to improve your writing, learning the market, learning where the dictionary is are all important skills as a writer, but if you forever let other things get in the way of writing, you will never be a writer. Forget about publishing. You can't wait until you "have the time" to write, because that's like waiting for tomorrow to arrive. You have to make time. You have to squeeze time out of your day, like blood from a stone.


When I tell people that I am a writer, a good 50% of them tell me they've always wanted to write a book, but they've never gotten around to it. That makes me sad. It occurs to me that if they really really wanted to write, they would make the time, but still think there's a misconception that writers just sit down to write, and the rest of the world will arrange itself around you.


It won't. You have to fight for your time, however short or long it might be, and protect it like a mother bear protects her cubs (how many metaphors can I cram into this post? Let's see...). Even if you can only squeeze ten minutes out of your day, that is still 70 minutes in a week. You could write a novel in a year with that sort of time.


But only if you are consciously aware of how you're spending your time. I became a much happier person the day I started consciously using my time. If I sit down to vegetate for a half hour, I know that's exactly what I am doing. I no longer feel guilty when I sit down to relax, because I know how I am spending my time. Before, time would just slip away from me, and I wondered where it went.


Now I budget my time like I budget my money (there's another one), and I feel more relaxed for it. I know I have time to do what's important to me. Life events will snatch up your time if you let it, so be wary of time wasters.


I am not advocating that you lock yourself away in a hole and ignore your loved ones. You need to make time for other things in your life that's important to you (friends and family should probably figure on that list somewhere...they get cranky if you ignore them for some reason). I am suggesting you take a good look at where all your time goes, and then try to rearrange your day so you have time for what you want to do.


You might have to make sacrifices. Most writers aren't avid TV watchers not because we're pompous elitists, but simply because we don't have the time. There are a few TV shows I watch on a regular basis, because I enjoy them and sometimes I need to relax my brain, but I haven't just channel surfed in years, simply because I don't really enjoy TV and it's very time consuming. I'd rather be writing. Also, I have those shows on DVD so I can watch them on MY time, not on the TV's time.


Here's my suggestion for making the most of your time:

1. Make a list of all your activities. All of them. Include hanging out with friends, watching TV, everything you do for fun.

2. Make a list of all your chores. Include everything you have to do to keep the power on and food on the table. Cleaning, paying bills, etc.

3. Now, keep track of what you do for a few days, and how much time you spend doing them. Did you waste three hours watching TV shows you really didn't enjoy just because the couch is where your butt landed? Keep track of that.

4. Now, merge your activities and chores list. Keep things flexible, and don't plan your day too tightly, as that is a recipe for failure (been there, done that). Make your list according to what is the most important to you. For me, time with my husband and friends, writing and reading are the most important activities to me. So I make sure I have time to do that, and if something less important to me falls by the wayside (like keeping up with a TV show or the current movies), it's not a big deal to me. I am so behind on movies it's not even funny, but that's because I'd rather be writing. And I don't often have time for both.


You might notice gaps of time you're not using as well as you could in your time tables. Consider combining tasks. Do you have to have a cup of coffee to wake up in the morning? Why not read emails during that coffee time?


I won't say you'll have plenty of time for everything you want after you keep track of your time, but you will know where your time goes, and be able to take advantage of unexpected opportunities.


What about you? What measures have you taken to make sure you have time for writing?

The Writing Seminar Part 1

Wow! That was an amazing experience, even if I am now exhausted. I haven't been this tired in years. It's the mental sort of tired where your brain feels like silly putty, and it takes you an extra three seconds to respond to what people are saying to you.

I fluctuated yesterday between rambling on and on about the classes I took at my writing seminar to my hapless family and staring into space processing everything.

I had hoped to post pictures from Dragon*Con (the place where the seminar was held) but my computer is so old (how old is it? You all yell) that I don't have the proper port for my memory card in my camera. So I have to snitch my dad's lap top soon, and upload my pictures, and then transfer them to a flash drive, and...you get the picture. But stay tuned for pictures, because among others, there was a shockingly good cosplay of a drow priestess. 

I also took 23 pages of notes. There were 14 classes total, an hour each, with a half hour in between, and lasting Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I will be blogging about some of the really cool bits of information I received, but first I have to actually sift through my notes (hence the Part 1 of this post's title).

The information I received from the two authors who gave the seminar--Michael Stackpole and Aaron Allston--was amazing. Even when they went over something I already knew about, they explained it in such a way that I gained new insight and understanding on the topic. I've been to writing classes before, but taking a class from a published author, one who actually knows how the real world works, made a huge difference.


If you get a chance to take a seminar by one of these guys, I would heartily recommend it. Michale Stackpole also has some short books on writing on his website Stormwolf.com up for sale, that I have bought and also heartily recommend. 


If you are despairing that you'll never be able to go to a writing seminar because of time or money, then despair not! I am taking a writing class online by a well known published author, Holly Lisle, that has also been invaluable to my progress as a writer. The aspect I really enjoy about Holly's class is it's very easily adapted. If you already know how your writing style works, this class is very easy to shift and fold into other styles. Here is the link describing the class in case you're interested: How to Think Sideways. Scroll through the testimonials to read about what exactly you're getting in the class.


Both Holly's class and the seminar I just took taught me ways to write, not how that author in particular writes. It's a very subtle distinction, but it makes a huge difference. When an author teaches you *their* method of writing, you are left taking one or two pieces of what they are doing. When an author can break down the writing process and show you the nuts and bolts of writing, that's entirely different. You see why they are doing something a certain way, and you can adjust to your own methods accordingly. 


In both the writing class and the seminar, I was learning from working writers. Writers who make their living...well, writing. The next time you look at taking a writing class, make sure to look into the author give the class. I am not saying that you should never take a class from someone who isn't a professional writer, but I think it's important that you realize there's a difference.


But ultimately, you all need to figure out what's best for you. I decided that writing classes and seminars were the next logical step for my writing career. You might decide differently. We're all working towards the same thing, but we might get there using a different path.


What do you think has helped you improve most as a writer? Was it a seminar or lecture? Reading every book your hands touched? Why do you think it helped you so much?

Wheee! Going to a Writing Seminar!

I am extremely excited to report that yours truly is officially going to a writing seminar two weekends from now.

Dragon*Con is hosted every year in Atlanta, and I usually don't have the money to go, even though I do love me some nerd conventions. This year I found out about their writer's track. They have three full days of classes on improving your writing.

I don't usually make a point to go to the local seminars here because they are very vague about their programming. They talk about teaching you how to be a better writer, and learning techniques on plot and structure, but I never know if it's going to be new information for me.

Not that I know everything. Far from it. But you reach a certain point where the plotting basics just don't teach you anything. It's what sucks about being in the intermediate stage of writing.

However, Dragon*Con has a list here about the different classes being held, and what each of them entails. It's three full days of writing goodness! I know for a fact I can use what they are teaching in those classes.

I managed to switch days with people at work, and I just paid for it. I am so so so so excited I can hardly sit still.

My only problem is I have an urge to cosplay. It IS Dragon*Con after all. I have to represent my fellow nerds. But I also want to look somewhat professional, and somehow, I am thinking dying my hair neon purple and wearing a costume doesn't exactly scream that.

I think I will compromise and wear my Full Metal Alchemist t-shirt. I would wear my Last Airbender shirt, but I am afraid of being stoned to death. That movie destroyed the tv series, and some of the fans are more angry about it than I am.

What do you guys have going on? Ever been to a writing seminar? Any tips for me?