Mystery Writing

Does a routine help you write or . . .

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 10 Comments

Do you write anytime or anywhere?

I find I write best if I have a routine, but life doesn’t alway cooperate. I’m able to write during random times during the day or when I have a free half hour here or there, but what really gets me is too much external input.

I find can’t write while on a long distance drive, but I can write while on a plane. Could be because there is too much to see in the passing landscape along the highway, but really, on a plane? What’s to see.

I can write while I’m alone on a walk (digital recorder is much easier and safer than a pen while walking). But if someone is with me, it’s pretty rude to work on a novel instead of socializing with a walking partner, so no writing during social times.

I can write while we are sailing, assuming my husband is at the helm and the water is flat. Rough water = no writing.

I can write if a TV is on in another room. But I can’t write if music is on. TV – boring. Music – interesting.

I can write in very short periods of time but not if there are too many interesting things going on around me.

When do you write best? Do you get frustrated when you can’t get enough writing time?

Thanks for reading . . .

How Do You Deal With Thoughts in Your Novel?

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 14 Comments

Do you use one of the three choices listed below:

  1. Write the thought in italics.
  2. Write the thought followed by a comma and ‘she thought.’
  3. Write the thought and assume your POV is strong enough for the reader to know whose thought it is.

I’ve listed an example of each option below.

Let me set the scene: Two women are running from an encroaching forest fire and one of them (Nora) is nine months pregnant.

Here are the examples:

  1. Kalin slammed the Jeep into park at the end of the dirt road. She leaned over the centre console and checked out Nora’s footwear. Flip-flops. Not good. “Do you think you can hike to Silver Lake?”
  2. Kalin slammed the Jeep into park at the end of the dirt road. She leaned over the centre console and checked out Nora’s footwear. Flip-flops. Not good, she thought. “Do you think you can hike to Silver Lake?”
  3. Kalin slammed the Jeep into park at the end of the dirt road. She leaned over the centre console and checked out Nora’s footwear. Flip-flops. Not good. “Do you think you can hike to Silver Lake?”

Which one do you think is best?

And can an author use all three within a novel?

I’d love to hear your opinion on this one.

Thanks for reading . . .

 

It Was Only A Glass Of Water . . .

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 6 Comments

I’ve had a bit of a setback this week.

Water, water everywhere . . .  and not where I want it to be. An innocent little glass of water and presto – no more Macbook.

If you’re reading my blog, you know I’m living on a sailboat and nowhere near a store or something as luxurious as a Mac store, so when I spilled a glass of water on my Mac it brought tears to my eyes.

I shut down, ripped out the battery and hoped for the best. Days later, I’m not having any luck.

After the terror subsided, I remembered I made a back up the day before (phew), and that my husband loves me. The second is a very important point. When I asked if I could have his computer for the rest of the season, he happily said yes. He would use the tablet. Again phew.

We have backup equipment on the boat for almost every part, and I’m very happy that this extended to a backup device for my Mac and an extra computer.

Now I just have to get used to the keyboard!

My message: don’t forget to backup your work.

Thanks for reading . . .

Writing: Speeding up a Scene

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 8 Comments

So you want to put your scene into overdrive? Here’s one way to work on it.

I recently read the opening scene in CJ Lyons’ Nerves of Steel. It’s a fast paced scene that takes the reader along for a bumpy ride.

I wanted to know what made this scene speed along like a comet crossing sky.

I reread the scene, looking at each word very carefully. And it seems to me, the verb choice drives the speed.

CJ Lyons uses action verbs. She doesn’t use uncommon verbs that take a reader out of the story, but she does use specific verbs representing movement.

Here are some of them:

  • Thundered
  • Chopping
  • Gusting
  • Tugged
  • Tore
  • Shredding
  • Ricocheting

You get the idea, so if you think your scene is slow, why not check the verbs and see if they are fast?

What do you do to make your scene rip?

Thanks for reading . . .

Location, Location, Location: Details for a Manuscript

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 4 Comments

Do you create your location first or do you write a scene first?

For a novel, I decide on the location before I start writing. My first three novels take place in a fictitious ski resort in British Columbia, Canada. The fourth novel takes place in the Bahamas. I chose the location first because I wanted to write about people who live in isolated places.

Some scenes dictate a location, but for others, I might write the scene and then chose a location. I keep track of locations in a spreadsheet. This helps me avoid using one place to often. Believe it or not, in a ski resort not everything happens on the mountain.

If I have a scene written and haven’t chosen a location, I do this by looking at the mood of the scene. Is is romantic, frightening, funny, awkward?  I think about where in my created world the scene will have the greatest impact. Then I add the details.

When reviewing a manuscript, I check for the empty stage syndrome. Did I get carried away with action or dialogue and not describe the location? If I did, I work on describing the location. Sometimes at this stage I drop a clue or a red herring based on location.

Do you decide on location first or write a scene first?

Thanks for reading . . .

Kickstart Your Writing Session

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 4 Comments

Writer’s block? I don’t’ believe it.

Sometimes it’s very difficult to put words on page, and there are too many reasons for this to mention them all.

Here’s one quick trick I use when my brain is stuck.

First I remind myself that if I was at work, there is no excuse for not getting your job done. You can’t exactly say to your boss, “The numbers for the spreadsheet you wanted by three just didn’t appear, so I didn’t create the spreadsheet,” now can you?

So why make excuses for writing?

Having decided that giving myself the easy way out is not an option, what do I do?

I spend 10 minutes working on a crossword puzzle. It makes my brain think of words. They may not be words I would write with, but more often than not, a word triggers an idea, and then before I know if, I’m off and typing.

Doesn’t work every time, but when it does, it’s a good feeling.

Any tricks you want to share?

Thanks for reading . . .

Writing Targets

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 7 Comments

I’ve read some authors write to achieve a specific word count per writing session.  This doesn’t work for me. During the time I allocate for writing, I might write, edit, proof read, research, or read. Setting a word count adds to much stress to the joy of writing. I can write to a deadline, I can write for the fun of it, I can write for creativity, but if I set a word count for a session, I obsess about the number of words and not about the quality of the writing.

While I’m doing other things with my writing time, all related to writing, an idea will often pop into my head. When that happens, I make a note of it. I’ve learned that if I don’t capture an idea, I won’t remember it later. I get right back to whatever activity I’ve been doing.

For me the writing life doesn’t mean writing all the time, but it does mean I shouldn’t get distracted from the task at hand. I believe all these things (editing, proof reading, researching, reading) make me a better writer.

Any thought?

Thanks for reading . . .

Keeping Point Of View Consistent

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 7 Comments

I’ve always thought Point of View (POV) should remain consistent. Maybe not for a whole novel or even for a chapter, but at least within a scene.

I’m reading a mystery novel that changes the POV within a scene. It’s a novel published the traditional way through a well-known publishing company. I find the POV change within a scene distracting and think it takes away from an otherwise good story.

Are the standards changing?

Anyone else have a view on this?

Thanks for reading . . .

 

Alarms Needed: Writing Takes Over Life

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 8 Comments

I don’t know if this happens to others, but when I’m writing my entire brain focuses on what I’m doing, and it tunes out ‘real life.’

This can be a problem while writing and living on a sailboat.

It’s shocking, I know, but sometimes I have responsibilities on the sailboat. My husband, Matt, could be off windsurfing, playing volleyball, or spear fishing, and I’m on the boat writing.

I might need to turn off the water maker when the tanks are full, turn of the generator when the batteries are charged, or re-angle the solar panels when the sun moves – which it has a tendency to do during the day.

Matt learned that when I’m writing, there is a slight chance I could forget my duties. And yes, he learned from experience. His solution: he sets an alarm.

Now you’d thing that would be enough, but it’s not. He leaves me a note for what the alarm means.

I’ve learned to read the note as soon as the alarm goes off and attend to the task right away. If I sit back and start writing without doing what I was supposed to do, there’s a good chance I forget.

Sometimes the boat needs take precedence over writing, but I still love to write while I’m on my catamaran.

Thanks for reading . . .

Writing while Sailing: Retyping a novel

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 4 Comments

I love to read books and blogs on how to write and remember reading a tip I’ve never followed before.

The tip: When you’ve finished a good quality draft of your novel, put in a drawer for a least two weeks, longer if you have the patience. I’ve done this part. What I haven’t done is the next part of the tip. Retype your entire novel.

What? I thought, who has the time? And is it worth it?

Now that I’m back on Mattina, and we are in the Exumas, I’ve found the time.

I’ve typed in the first 8 chapters and am amazed at what I’m discovering.

First, typos appear fresh. I’ve seen some that I was sure I’d edited out.

Second, dropping clues too early jumped out at me. By letting time go by, I can see the novel with fresh eyes and have been able to hold back information. I think this will make the novel more tense.

Third, I had a few names that didn’t suit the character I’d assigned them to. Yup – changed those too.

Fourth, and the best result, when I read a sentence and it’s not the best it could be, I don’t want to type it back in. It’s easier to let go of writing and rewrite a sentence when it’s not on the page yet.

I’m amazed at how well this technique works. Yes, it’s a lot of work, but I think Look The Other Way will be a better novel because of it. Too bad my typing sucks.

If you have any editing techniques you’ve tried that worked for you, let me know.

Happy New Year!

Thanks for reading . . .