Revision Friday: Three Ways To Beef Up Your Fiction

Revision is all about making your WIP the best it can be, right? When we are creating it's best to keep moving, no stopping to make sure every sentence does what it's suppose to. Revision is different in that it requires a level head, devoid of the emotional energy of creation. Here are three ways to absolutely improve your work in progress.

1) Slay your babies.These are those sentences created in the heat of getting the words on the page that you read over and say, "Well, now that was an awesome sentence." Sometimes, that's all it is; an awesome sentence that adds clutter. Clutter distracts the reader from the story. Believe me, usually your "babies" aren't as cute as you think they are. 

2) Cut the flab. These are those extra words that in our hurry to get the story on the page we add without noticing. Things like: He nodded his head in agreement. Really? What else would he nod, his toe? Take out all the unnecessary words that cover the muscle of the story. Who doesn't want well toned arms? Stories need toning, too.

3) Chop those cliches. You know, those turns of phrase that are stale and overly used. Sometimes in the heat of creation they creep in. It's our job as writers to seek them out and excise them. Or, convert them to something fresh.  

For example:  She waited quiet as a mouse.     She waited like the forest after rain.

So what are you going to SLAY, CUT or CHOP today?

Cooking the Perfect Synopsis

So, I've been working on my synopsis for my middle grade novel, which means I've scoured sources for suggestions, formats and instruction on getting it right. 

Why? Three reasons: 

1- It's a vital marketing tool, next to the Query.

2- If it isn't right you may have a flaw in your story. 

3- At some point someone is going to request one.

I've coalesced what I've researched into a basic recipe. 

*****************************************************************

Rockin' Synopsis
Preheat: Present Tense
Serves: Agents, Publishers anyone looking 

1 cup Voice               [Gives a taste of your unique voice.] 

1/3 cup   Who       [Main characters: What do they want?]

1/3 cup   Why       [Why should we care?]

1/3 cup   How       [How is he/she going to get it?]

1/2 cup   What      [What goes wrong, who/what gets in the way?]

1/2  cup  Risk            [What is he/she risk? No risk, no story.]

1/2 cup  Reward    [Do he/she get what they want or version of it?]

Mix well trimming extra words, unnecessary phrases until you have a succinct mix. Set aside for several days. With fresh eyes, revise again perfecting every sentence until you have the exact flavor you want. Then share it with several  CP's or Beta's to see if they see what you see, feel what you want them to feel. If not, revise again. Repeat this until the synopsis has risen to the desired level. 
***************************************************************************

I found several excellent suggestions for how to obtain the perfect ingredients and boiling them down to the exact proportions. Here are a few links you may find helpful!

How to Write A Synopsis
How to Write A Book Synopsis: Tips, Techniques
Writing A Synopsis
Synopsis
Writing a Synopsis That Rocks

I know there are tons more out there! Do you have a post on your blog? Share a link in your comments! 

*Check in next Monday for Middle School Review of Savvy and Scumble by Ingrid Law

What I've Learned About Scene

     I wanted to talk about scene today. I'm working on the first draft of a middle grade novel. (I've had a few false starts.) In the process I have noticed a few things. 1) I keep trying to order things 2) My "beginning" is getting vague as I go deeper into my story.3) I keep reading over my written scenes.  *pulling out hair*

    I've continued to look for all the advice I can about the role scene plays in the novel. The main point idea: scenes are the starting point for story. Usually, scene presents itself long before you have a coherent story. However, we who are control freaks or want to sound "authory" try and explain the scenes instead of just writing them. Don't misunderstand this is not the editor showing its fangs--that comes later. This is our need to order things, understand exactly where we are going, write everything in our minds eye and plan accordingly.

     So, what to do. Well, here it is...*listen up you pantsers your gonna love this*. Story shouldn't be our concern until we have created enough narrative that the "elements themselves begin asking for the coherence of structure" (Vandenburgh, 27). Simply stated: Write our brains out without thinking about order or where it's taking us. As far as this draft is concerned, the writing should suck. Vandenburgh calls this "prewriting" to make it easier to toss later.(Resource: Architecture of a Novel by Jane Vandenburgh.)

    Holly Lyle on her post about scene states,"As the atom is the smallest discrete unit of matter, so the scene is the smallest discrete unit in fiction..." Our scenes are to story what scaffolding is to skyscrapers. It appears we try to manipulate our scenes before we give them a chance to spill out on the page. 

     Kay Kenyon writes,"If you are reading and re-reading your last few pages to get a run-up on your next scene, stop this now. Rereading causes revision blindness later."  She suggests using a tool called a scene list to jot down things that occur to you while you are writing to keep you from going back. I believe this is similar to the process Joyce Carol Oats uses when the story is first being born.

     Linda Clare explains that the most important element of scene is change, something has to happen. We still have the work of choosing, we need not tell everything in our minds eye. The adage..."Enter late, leave early" should be all the order we care about at this point.

     I love Jean Oram's analogy of a scene to a Thanksgiving dinner. What if you sat everyone down, insisted that everyone act a certain way, eat in an order you dictate and not allow any spontaneity. Why? Because, it is your dinner and you have a vision of what it "should" look like. She goes on to explain that this would create a "cardboard cutout of real life". This is what too much pressure to order can do to scene. (Besides, whats Thanksgiving without some drama?)

Bottom line folks...there is a ton of great advice out there. At some point you discover what works for you and I have great faith that I will too.

What helps you to get the story on to the page? What role does scene play in that process?

Sometimes, it's What You Don't Know

Source: travel.ca.msn.com

     Silence is golden. 

     As writers we often talk about the deficiencies in telling instead of showing. This idea is far more than one of aesthetics or sophisticated writing. It is fundamental in the telling of a story or the unfolding of plot.

     As a reader, I want the experience of knowing the questions as the clues are presented by the writer. That way I may not know the details, but I feel them. I become emotionally engaged, pulled in by the tension that subtext creates. 

     "Meaning is only compellingly elusive when the reader must struggle to reconcile the tension that arises from plot, " writes Catherine Brady.

   So when I say, silence is golden, I mean exactly that. The gold I am after as a writer is that magic that cumulative clues create in the telling of the story.  

For a more in depth look at this concept check out "Story Logic and the Craft of Fiction" by Catherine Brady. 
  
Did you prospect any gold today?   For me, it often requires sifting through the dirt, if you know what I mean.

Monday, Monday, I'm Not Cryin' But I Could Be

 Tweet    Monday's are sometimes tough for writers, at least they can be for me. This is when I plan my week. What I have to do, what I want to do and especially what is most important to do.

It is always easy to plan the have-to's,  they are usually scheduled appointments, things that have deadlines this week, people you have committed to. Done!

Similarly, want-to's are often easy simply because they don't even have to to written down and they still have a pretty good chance of happening. You know...read that book, eat that last piece of pie, call a friend, watch a movie...buy those boots you saw on sale... Done!

It's the most-important-to-do's that seem to have the hardest time finding space on the calendar. Now, let me clarify. I'm not talking necessarily about need-to's either. Need to's are like the laundry, changing a diaper, cooking a meal. They will happen and if they don't there are consequences: screaming baby, nothing to wear, starvation. What I'm talking about are the things like...cut calories and eat healthy, exercise, work on my WIP,  the things that no one is going to call you on if they don't happen.

So, how can I make this happen? Here is the hard part...schedule it just like an appointment.

You have to set aside a special time to actually do it. Even more important is you have to be specific. Exactly, what is going to happen during that time. What is this bite going to look like? This is where I often go wrong. I either plan way too huge a bite that I choke on it or I make it too vague and spend most of the time fumbling around without really accomplishing anything.

Is this easy?   Hell no!  Do I always succeed? Double hell no! Why do I keep trying? I try because I believe that is why we have new days, new hours, new minutes so we can try it again.

How is your Monday going? Sometimes I have to push my Monday to Tuesday, what about you?

I Really Do Want To Do Some Things This Year...

OK, so after yesterday's post you probably all think I am the resolution/ goal scrooge. (You're probably right!) If you knew me 15 years ago you would understand.  I was a young mother with five children, trying to make a difficult marriage work, and an endless list of should and shouldn't do's.  So I'm a bit soured on the whole lets go conquer the world mentality.  Short story...life is way to hard without having people, God, or anybody looking over your shoulder and second guessing yourself. 

That said, I do have several things I plan to add to my writing life.  They say if you share them with someone you're more inclined to actually make the changes. (Oh, here it comes...OMG... *stomach churns* could I be committing to something...no, no...just breathe.) I'm pretty new to this writing life, so be gentle.

Stuff That Would Be Really Cool In 2011... (OK,  so I like lots of sugar with my medicine.)

1) Complete rewrites on my middle school novel.

2) Join a writer's group.

2) Find some awesome beta readers to critique my work.

3) Attend my first writer's conference.

4) Start work on my next middle school novel.

5) Write 3-5 blog posts a week.

6) Work with reluctant readers and coach kid's writing.

What cool stuff do you want to do? Any suggestions on how I can succeed in having a cool 2011?

WIP Thursday: Pushin' Through 'Till Mornin' *twangy guitar playing*

    With my outline finished, I have moved on to crafting the scenes.  I am working on the first draft of my middle grade book. *Interject back-story: I have several projects in different stages of completion. The outline is a new tactic to see if it can get me over the hump and to the end. You see I am a perfectionist. Translation: I rarely finish things. (Need the psycho babble explanation? Go see your own shrink, I already paid for mine.)

     So where was I? Oh, yes…The good part is I know where I am going. The bad part is I am about half-way through and I feel like I am floundering in a large pot of spaghetti noodles trying to grab on to something solid. This is still better than without the outline because at least I have noodles to grab. They just seem to slip from of my hands as fast as I grab them. What is up with that? Does anyone know what I’m talking about? I don’t think it is writer’s block because I have plenty to write about. I have chilled with my characters right down to their underwear, theirs not mine. So what's the hold-up?

     I am ready and anxious to push this through. I am armed with my Chai Tea, Caramel Milky Way and mood music.   I will let you know how it goes this week. What do you do to push through until the sun rises?