Tag: Novel

Writing a Novel – Walking Away

In past issues of this guide we’ve covered the novel writing process, from concept and planning, through the first draft and up to the last bits of editing before you put the “Finished” stamp on it.

Today I’m talking to you about another part of the process, one you don’t want to think about, ever. It’s the hardest thing we as authors can do, Walking Away.

I know that sounds like giving up, but walking away can be healthy and in fact, there are two different walks. I’ve been through one of them and the other is present in my mind and is one I’m not looking forward to but willing to do should it come to that.

Walking Away from a Concept

The first thing I knew about my novel was the character’s name. Before I decided on genre, I knew Jason Wisher would be my protagonist and I knew what kind of a person he was. But I hadn’t built his world.

I originally envisioned that as a post-human society, the entire world affected by a global phenomenon that turns humans into elementals. I call it post-human because after the event no one was Homo sapiens anymore. The entire world turned into element-wielders. Chaos would follow but out of it a new order, with a new police force. My character would be part of it.

But the concept had a flaw. As law enforcement, and to ensure the character didn’t toe thin lines of legality and criminal behaviour—which goes back to me as I am an extremely legal person—his options were limited. There were investigative avenues that he couldn’t take, because he was a by-the-book character. An independent contractor might be able to flaunt rules more defiantly and openly but a cop shouldn’t.

I already had a concept planned for the first novel and beyond, but when it came to the writing I was stuck. I knew where the investigation had to go but because of the restrictions I’d placed on the character and his narrative, I couldn’t push forward. In looking for an answer, I questioned the very nature of my new world, of the people in it, how do they maintain control and I came up short on answers.

I decided to walk away from that world. I still kept the characters and some ideas but I scrapped that sci-fi world. I started to think on what would fit the type of story I wanted to tell, the character I wanted to develop, and the moment I opened myself to new concepts and having discarded the previous one, I found the answer in Urban Fantasy. The pieces came together and I had explanations for everything. It was a cohesive and consistent world. The rules worked in-universe and my character had many more avenues and opportunities not only for investigations but also for growth.

Walking away from a concept is a tough decision, but if things aren’t working. If you can’t answer the hard questions about your world, if you can’t explain everything or if the story just isn’t going anywhere under the rules you’ve established, then it might be time to say goodbye to this concept. Keep as much as you can, but open yourself to changes and new ideas.

I kept character names and ethnicity for mine, but their roles and even species changed.

It’s not an easy choice, but it might be the one you need to make to find the world you want to and should write. I’m not a believer in inspiration, muses and writer’s block. Hard work is all there is, but you can’t force creativity and imagination. If the concept stifles you and makes the writing process harder than it already is, then perhaps it’s not worth it. Perhaps it’s the wrong concept or even genre.

You just need to recognize that it’s time to move on.

Walking Away from a Manuscript

This is the hard one, the truly hard one, and not one you come to lightly—or at all. I only became aware of it after reading a blog post made by an author.

In the previous guide I spoke to you about all the editing process, of getting through your work to streamline, improve, optimise and generally do everything in your power to make your novel the best it can be.

If you choose to look for representation or for a publisher, be prepared for rejection. I still remember the first rejection letter I received and one day I’ll frame it. As many will tell you, it’s a very subjective business and what someone likes another will definitely hate.

Why am I telling you this? Because after each rejection you’ll undoubtedly try to fix something in your novel, that one thing you’re sure was the reason the agent/publisher rejected you. And you’ll do so with neurotic abandon.

But there’s only so much you can fix, only so much you can scrape off.

There comes a time when you have to look at your manuscript and put it aside, walking away from it and towards other ventures. If there’s a fantastic story in your head waiting to be told, don’t let the quest for publication stop you from doing it. If one manuscript is getting nowhere, then you might need to consider letting go and focus your energies on a new project and then try to get that one published.

Don’t Give up too early

Or at all, is what I’d like to say.

I know I’ve just spoken to you about giving up and packing up and leaving things. But you should never do it lightly. Never do it without fighting. Only do so when you’ve reached the point where you’re not getting anywhere, either with the concept or the querying.

And before you decide to give up on the manuscript altogether, maybe you should consider independent publishing. Is it something you’re interested in; is it something you can afford? If the answer’s yes, the maybe that’s the road you should take.

But if not, then maybe it’s time to let it go.

 

I had originally intended on this being the last guide for this series, but as I’ve written and as is always the case, I’ve had more ideas. This will be the last on the process, however, unless I get a request to cover a specific part of it. Future guides will be more about storytelling itself, my advice on handling different types of scenes.

As always, I hope this has been of some help.

Writing a Novel – Second Draft and Beyond!

Last time we spoke of the last steps of the planning stage, The Outline, and the first actual draft of your novel. With that done, and hopefully after you’ve taken some time off from it to clear your head, it’s time for the next stage:

Part IV – The Second Draft

While the first draft’s purpose is to get your basic story on paper—and for you to actually finish writing it—the second is where you give in to your urges to go back and fix everything that is wrong with the novel.

Take out the documents you’ve prepared with subplots and changes you thought of during the previous step and alter your outline to include them. In doing so, you’ll revise and refine these new ideas and go back to your world building to expand upon them.

One thing I like to do is save a copy of the first draft and rename it Second Draft, so I can work on that one without losing the original. I prefer digital mediums so I can keep what works from the first draft without having to rewrite any of it.

Now that you’ve taken care of all the preliminary steps, you have to read. Starting from the first page of your novel, read it carefully and make amends, rewrite or simply cut paragraphs that don’t add enough—or anything at all—to your plot. Improve the flow of sentences, conversations and scenes. Add in your new (sub)plot details and keep working on everything on a page-by-page or chapter-by-chapter basis.

While the hard rule of the first draft was to never look back, the Second Draft is all about that. Still I would recommend just pushing forwards, revising each chapter, then once you reach the end go back to the start and do it all over again. You’ll probably have to do multiple passes.

Eventually it’ll all reach a stage where you’re more-or-less happy with it—writers are, in general, their worst critics and will never be truly happy with something they’ve worked on.

With my first novel, I did two passes. The first one adding the new plot elements and tightening the existing ones and the second pass working on the prose.

Once you’ve reached that stage, where you feel there’s nothing else you can do to improve it, you’re ready for the next steps, where you’ll realise just how wrong you are.

Part V – Proofreading

DO NOT PROOFREAD YOURSELF!

Sorry about the caps, but it’s very important you understand this. Once you’ve finished work on your second draft, your head will be full of everything you’ve written and you won’t see any of your writing errors clearly. In fact, even taking a short break won’t help.

You need outside help. Get someone you trust, particularly someone with an eye for detail and have them proofread your novel. If you don’t know anyone with those skills, then hire a freelancer, you can usually get proofreading done quite cheap.

I was fortunate that I was seeing someone at the time with impressive proofreading and editing skills. They went through my novel and made so many annotations I was often joyful when I saw an unaltered paragraph.

Depending on the person and the length of your story, this step might take some time, hopefully enough to refresh your mind and eyes.

Once your proofreader finishes—and hopefully gives you brutally honest feedback on your novel, or at least tells you if it’s any good—it’s time to get back to work.

Part VI – Editing

I call this step editing because it’s what you’ll be doing for a while. I could call it Third, Fourth and Fifth Drafts, but that would just get confusing.

With your proofreader’s work done, you need to make all the proposed changes. Depending on their skills, the changes can be simply grammatical or even alter entire sentences. My proofreader added their own suggestions and I used those to work on my text and as I did, I picked up other errors in style and flow that I wouldn’t have otherwise.

Your first proofreader, if they’re someone in your life, is also your Alpha Reader (you’ll get Beta ones before the novel is finished), and you can usually expect some greater feedback from them than from a stranger. Mine made me realise some conversations sounded forced and needed some rewriting.

Part VII – Streamlining

This step is optional but I do recommend it.

It’s said that the average novel length is 90.000 words, and it’s true there are Agents out there that will not take any fiction with a lower word count; but the truth is your novel doesn’t have to have a set number of words. A smooth and easy to read prose will trump any word count.

Streamlining means optimising your novel and you do this in a few ways:

  • Take long sentences and shorten them. Say as much as you can in as few words as possible. The closer you can get to that “For Sale: Baby Shoes, Never Worn” often attributed to Hemmingway, the better.
  • If you have a description or an info-dump that doesn’t add anything to the plot, consider taking it out entirely. During the writing process, we add plenty of world building but unless it adds context to current or future scenes in the novel, then it might be best to cut it.
  • In general and very important if you’re writing in the 3rd person, make sure you have as little exposition as possible. It’s best to show than tell.
    • First person narrative is more forgiving when it comes to exposition. For example, a Detective character could have pages on connecting the dots and thinking of motives. It’s exposition but since you generally assume the story is the character’s narration or an inner monologue, it’s easier to digest.
  • Remove all instances of purple-prose, and by that, I mean overly complicated sentences or visualisation. It’s annoying.
  • Smooth out conversations and try to split/cut long monologues, unless the scene calls for it.
    • Example, if your character is an expert on a subject. In this case, you could have him monologue for a bit if they ask him for his opinion or advice.

By the time you’re done, you should’ve been able to trim around 20-30% of your total word count and you can be sure your prose will be much easier to read.

With the streamlining done, you’re close to the end.

Part VIII – Final Steps

Yes, sounds dramatic, I know, but in truth it’s just a second/third/fourth/Nth round of proofreading and editing. But your readers in this step are what many call their Beta Readers.

With all the work you’ve put into the novel at this point, you’ll want your Betas to focus on flow, pace and plot, but not without forgetting to check the writing itself.

To give you an example of what my current Betas have done for me: They’ve praised the style, pacing and characters, which I was happy about, but they also told me some of the expositions—aka info-dumps—broke their immersion in a scene and made it difficult to dive back in. They also told me I had to add more ‘senses’ to my prose, not just sound (dialogue), but sight, smell, touch, etc. It’s something I thought I was doing already, but really hadn’t. Do note that you don’t need to add all five every single time, but senses others than sight or hearing sometimes enhance scenes.

Picture a scene with a character opening a door to find decaying bodies. You could perfectly well describe his shock and horror at the rotting corpses, but you’ll enhance the scene by adding smell, such as the stench wafting from the remains, and which he could smell from across the hallway. If you mention his gag or retch to the sight and smell, you’ll add a relatable physical experience that will further draw your readers in.

Beta Readers will help you bring your novel to a finalised state—after a few rounds of editing and re-reading—after which you can consider submissions for Agents or Publishers. For publishers you might consider hiring a Professional Editor to work on your novel. For agents, it’s not important, as Editing is part of the publishing process.

 

As always, I hope you’ve enjoyed and found this guide helpful. Come back in two weeks for the hardest lesson any writer has to learn: walking away. I’ll explain it all on 17 April. I’m also working on a few examples of First Draft vs Second Draft and beyond. To make sure they’re as good as possible, they might take some time, but you will get them!

Writing a Novel – The Outline And First Draft

In the first part of this guide, I covered the planning stages for writing a novel, from character conception to building every aspect of your world. I hope it’s been of use to you. Today we’re moving on to the second and third steps: Continue reading Writing a Novel – The Outline And First Draft

Writing a Novel – The Planning

I am not a professional writer. I haven’t published anything yet, though I do plan to in the near future, but I have written three novels so far. I’ve learned a few things over the course of doing so and I will strive to guide you in the novel-writing process through this series. While I’m writing these with novels in mind, there isn’t any reason you can’t use these guides for any other work. Continue reading Writing a Novel – The Planning

Bad Blood – Chapter I – His Royal Badness

It was a warm summer day, like every other in Onigashima, the island housing over seven million supernatural creatures. Everyone and their monstrous uncle lived here. Why do I bother? Margot thought as she opened her office door, which had “MARGOT VANCE – FIXER” printed on its frosted glass pane. Business had been slow lately, and no one seemed to need her anymore.

She pushed the door open and walked into her small office. The wallpaper was old, dirty and patches had come off but Margot had stapled maps and newspaper clippings to cover them. The creaking hardwood floor welcomed her every morning, not that she noticed it anymore. The gaudy rainbow flamingo coat and hat rack, a present from one of her first clients, stood sullenly a couple of feet from the door. As was her morning ritual, she hung her suit, wide-rimmed Fedora and tie on the rack, in that order. On the opposite side was a medium sized blackboard with a notice board on its back, though it had been a long time since she’d tacked something on it. The few thumbtacks that remained had long since rusted to maximum tetanus effectiveness. Her desk stood on the opposite side from the door, an old and scratched mahogany desk she’d “salvaged” from an enemy’s office when she’d burned it down. He had it coming, trust me. The desk’s top was almost bare, a round water stain its only permanent occupant. There had once been a phone and a computer on her desk, but they’d been possessed so she dumped them on boiling Holy water. To the desk’s right was a small and nonworking radiator that had given its best and last many moons ago, and above it a small window with an impressive view of the adjacent building’s brickwork. Behind the desk and to the left was a small bathroom, but only clients used it. Margot swore never to use it again after something tickled her while sitting in there. As for the tickler, his tongue hung along with other trophies on the wall right behind the desk. Her pride and joy was a little to the left of the bathroom: the bar, stocked with all her favorite gut-melting drinks.

Today however, there was something else in the office, a particular thing that frankly had never been there before.

An intruder.

Weston Styles, The Bone Mage, The Unnatural Investigator, His Royal Highness (or Badness as Margot often said, mockingly) sat on one of the small chairs facing the desk. Even looking at his back, she instantly knew who it was from the bowler hat, black umbrella with the wooden grip and the smart (literally so, it cleaned itself, reminded him of appointments and the front pocket made coffee) pinstripe suit of two shades of grey. His hairline had receded in the ten years since he and his partner had founded this kingdom.

Margot walked over and sat opposite him, noting the grim countenance he bore instead of his usual confident and disdainful smile. While his suit kept itself prim, the rest of him didn’t look as fresh. Bags under the eyes, half-bitten nails, at least a couple of days unshaven, Margot observed. “It’s rude to stare.” He said in a tired tone, blinking slowly and heavily. Lack of sleep, she added to her mental notes.

“You look like shit…and you have ten seconds to tell me what you want before I kick you out!” Margot seethed, as she always did when they met, too many bad memories.

Onigashima’s King straightened. “Don’t waste your breath, the answer’s no. I’m not closing up shop and giving business to your sycophants!” She said, before he could even speak.

“What are you talking about?” He said slowly, rubbing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose. “Do you have coffee?” He said and with a sharp ding, his front pocket bulged and came off, turned into a coffee filled cup and set itself on the table in front of him. When Margot raised her eyebrow questioningly he added, “This one’s disgusting.”

“Sorry your highness; I only have Scotch and Vodka.” She said drily, giving him a humorless and quite unfriendly smile.

“Ugh…” He reluctantly sipped from the pocket-cup.

“Time’s up, out!” She stood to her feet, kicking the chair back into the wall and pointed at the door.

“Still angry then…” He said.

“Still wearing the ring?” She sneered, turning the subject on him.

“I am married after all.” He said flatly.

“She’s been gone five years.”

“Doesn’t mean she’s dead.” He said, hopeful.

“Convincing me or yourself?” She knew it was a sore subject but she couldn’t help herself.

“Both…” He said, suddenly deflated. “I haven’t come to argue or relive past grievances, Margot.”

“Then what? Coming to make me an offer I can’t refuse?”

“I don’t see how you could, looking at the state of this place. Not much money coming in it seems.”

“And whose fault is that? And I already said, the answer’s no! I’m not retiring and giving the job to your people!” She ranted, the air around Weston getting heavier as the rage made Margot’s power manifest.

“Again, what in the blazes are you talking about? I’m not here to force you into retirement, nor have I done that with any other fixer!” He said, outraged. “Bloody hell, Mar, I was the one who set you lot up on this in the first place! Why would I suddenly want you out?”

“To give it to your ‘Unnatural Investigators’, your pathetic band of lackeys!” She said what she’d suspected since she’d heard about UIs taking over her colleagues’ zones. She didn’t like the other fixers on principle, but even if they tried to kill each other every time they met, they all stood for something, or at least she hoped they did.

Weston shook his head, resting it on his hand. “You have it all wrong, Margot. My ‘lackeys’, as you call them, haven’t been forcing fixers out; they’ve been taking the zone because the fixers are gone!” He said, exasperated.

“What?” She said, incredulously.

“It’s why I’m here. I’m hiring you. You’re the last Fixer still in Makai and I need you to find out what happened to the rest!” He said, to Margot’s shock.

“Why me?” She said, her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“You really want me to say it?” She folded her arms in response. “Because you’re the only one left I can trust with this. My UIs aren’t equipped for it; they’re not detectives. And you’re the last Psyclone in Makai…”

“What’s my power got to do with this?”

He pulled out an impossibly large and phone-book-thick folder from inside his jacket, from one of the dark recesses of that too-smart suit. “There’s something else…I had someone else on this and he vanished too.” He carefully set it in front of her.

She flipped the cover, saw the photo inside and her eyes widened in shock. Important, happy and gut-wrenching memories also flashed through her mind as she read the name John William Spencer. “No…”

“I’m afraid so. He’s gone too and I have no way of finding him…and you know the people won’t talk to me…” He said and for the first time Margot felt his desperation. With Maggie gone, J.W. was the only thing Styles had left, his only—loving—family. “I’ll pay any sum.”

“Good! Open that limitless purse of yours and give it here, I’m charging you on expenses and I’ll still charge you on delivery!” She said bluntly.

“Just try not to abuse it…” He said, pulling out one of those small coin purses with a metal clasp. It was made from a leather as black as night and from a creature best not described—ever. It didn’t weigh much in Margot’s hand, and she put it in her trouser pocket.

“Do you have any leads?”

“My people went through his study and they’re interviewing the last people to see him.”

“I’ll talk to them myself. I’ve seen how your UIs work and they can be off-putting to say the least.” She said. They could make the Dalai Lama kill them with their bare hands, the pricks. “Who are they?”

“His usual patients, Lillian Carpenter and Abaddon.”

“Those two still married?”

“Yes and for the past three years they’ve been doing couple’s counseling with J.W. He once told me their problem was too much honesty.” He rolled his eyes, but smiled as he remembered the conversation.

“Are they at the palace?”

“No, J.W. did house-calls for them at their house on Fallen Square.” One of the better neighborhoods in the island-city.

“Anything else I should know?”

He fidgeted in his seat, seeming so unlike himself for a second. Despite her animosity towards him, it pained her to see him like this, at the end of his rope and ready to hang himself with it. “He’s been a bit erratic lately…I fear he’s reverting, but I don’t have enough proof.”

“Violent mood-swings?”

“And moments where he seemed disconnected to the world…” Margot had an idea and it wasn’t what Weston thought, but she didn’t say anything. Not until I’ve spoken to her, she thought.

“I’ll go see Beauty and Beast, and I have a few ideas on where to start.”

“Good, thank you. My UIs are at your disposal, Margot. You can use them for anything, enforcement or information.” He stood up, picking up his hat and umbrella and placing them both under his arm. “Though they’ve been listening in to all of this, so some of them might be a bit reticent to help you, but I’m sure you’ll find a way to make them cooperate.” He managed a weak smile, but she saw some of his old self in it and her mind once again flashed with happy and sad memories, her blood boiling as the bad ones kept piling up. She pushed the memories down.

“I do need something else from you.” She said, following Weston to the door.

“Pray tell…”

“I need your osteomancy.” He eyed her suspiciously. “Think of it as the King’s signet ring.” She said and he nodded. With a flick of his wrist the bones on her hand snapped, crackled and popped, the appendage hanging limply, just a sad sack of meat and bone shards. Margot grimaced, the pain enough to make lose her step and hit the coat rack, the flamingo’s head hitting the wall. Weston pulled her up. The rainbow flamingo wobbled and threatened to topple but didn’t go through with it, though it did look displeased.

“Enough?” He said.

With an effort of her will, Margot’s bones reconstituted themselves. She flexed her hands to make sure everything was back in its place. “Yes, I have it now.”

“Good, I’ll contact you later to check on your progress.”

“Fuck off…you came to me, let me do my job in peace.”

He gave her hard stare. “You’re on my time now and I don’t like it wasted.”

Margot bit back her response and nodded. Sometimes it’s wise not to push. She waited for him to leave, and saw four Unnatural Investigators emerge from the alleys and fall in line around him, his personal escort as the high and mighty return to their abodes.

She put on her tie, straightening it out as best she could, doing the same for the suit and finally put on the once-brown Fedora—now a distinct and faded cardboard color. She locked the office door behind her, and left towards Alleyweb, to find the Mapmaker and get a few stones rolling before heading to meet the happy unholy couple.

Twenty fixers vanished with no explanations, some of the most dangerous individuals in all of Makai. It chilled her to think of who—or what—might be responsible.

Even scarier was the thought that John William Spenser was also missing, arguably the most powerful man in the world, the one they once called The Illusionist.

This is not going to be easy, she thought.

And she was right.

 

 

On Style & Format

During my first roundup of current events, I mentioned I like writing the fiction for the blog even though it’s the least read part of it…something that makes quite sad to be honest. And I mentioned I might explain a few things about it, on form & style. Continue reading On Style & Format