writing

How Do You Proofread?

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 7 Comments

#writetip Proofreading takes intense concentration. Do you have method you’d like to share?

I’m talking about the final proof, after all your readers have given you feedback, you’re not going to make any story changes, and are about to send your manuscript to your agent or publisher.

It takes me about an hour to proof 5 double spaced pages. That may seem slow, but I think worth the effort.

First, I look at each character in a line, then the sentence, then the paragraph, then the page, and finally the scene.

This is where I check every punctuation mark, check for their/there swaps, and grammar errors. For example, I force my eye to look for a period at the end of every sentence.

The only editing I do at this phase it to ask whether I need every word.

If I start to skim, I take a break, let my mind relax and get back to it.

What is your process?

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Agent Feedback on Blurb

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 7 Comments

#writing

My wonderful agent, Margaret Hart, and her team at the HSW Literary Agency have come up with a new blurb for Burnt. It still amazes me how many people it takes to write a novel, even when it comes to the blurb and the synopsis.

I was very flattered that they came up with a new and improved version of the blurb. They have read all three of my novels, are familiar with my voice, and were able to tweak my original blurb and it still sounds like me. Pretty cool!

Here is the new blurb . . .

Instead of exchanging vows with her fiancé, Ben Timlin, Kalin Thompson spends her wedding day trapped by a forest fire in the mountains of British Columbia—and the pregnant friend trapped with her has just gone into labour. Meanwhile, Ben hangs from the rafters of a burning building, fighting for his life…

When the cause of the fire that ruins Kalin’s wedding and levels half of her beloved ski resort is declared as arson, finding the firebug responsible becomes Kalin’s personal mission.

In the course of her investigation as director of security at Stone Mountain Resort, Kalin gets on the wrong side of small-town corruption and uncovers more than just arson. There are those who will go to extreme measures to keep Kalin from exposing their secrets. But Kalin will go to extreme measures to protect what is hers.

Naming A Novel

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 14 Comments

#writing

Do you struggle with naming your novel? I do.

My novels are Fracture Line, The Final Gate, and Burnt.

After submitting The Final Gate to my agent, Margaret Hart, I received feedback from her editor that I should change the title.

I think I’m on title 200, and I’m still working on it.

  • Should the title be a line from the novel?
  • Should it be a metaphor?

After picking a title, then comes the research.

  • It the title already used?
  • Does is have a meaning I’m are unaware of?

Then comes the test market. Sending the title out to the people who have read my novel should give me some feedback. But what is they all like different one.

There are so many things to consider.  I think I’m finding the harder than writing the novel, the blurb and the synopsis. Yikes!

How do decide what your title should be? And if you happen to read the blurb for The Final Gate, can you send me a title?

Surprised by Synopsis

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 7 Comments

#writetip The dreaded synopsis surprised me. We all know how hard it is to write but . . .

I discovered a hole in my plot during the process of writing the synopsis. I was having a difficult time getting the story described in under two pages of double spaced text.

Then I realized the novel wasn’t coming full circle and I couldn’t relate the ending to the beginning. Why? I didn’t close off one of the story lines. I don’t think I would have discovered this if I hadn’t written the synopsis.

My point? Maybe the synopsis is not just for your agent or publisher. Maybe it’s good for you too.

Thoughts?

LIfe’s Challenges

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 3 Comments

#dogs Sometimes life presents a challenge. Cali decided she should attack a dog bone that is clearly too large for her. Our lovely wheaten terrier let her take the bone. He sat patiently beside her waiting for his turn.

This little Jack Russell, with her straight ears and long fur, meets all of life’s challenges with a big attitude.

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Writing or Laundry

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 3 Comments
Farley hinting it's time to do the laundry

#writing #sailing

Why is it that when something is hard to write, doing the laundry becomes imperative? Since I live on a sailboat, laundry can be an adventure on its own.

I can do the laundry by hand (not my favourite).

I can go to a laundry mat.

I can drop my laundry off at a laundry service.

The last two are harder than you might think. First the laundry has to be bagged and loaded into a dingy. Then I have to drive the dingy to shore (where I am currently anchored this is across a couple of miles of open water).

The next challenge is to carry the laundry across a dock and through town, avoiding the local dogs and fast moving cars that drive on the left side of the street.

Phew! Made it. The drop off is my favourite. Somehow it takes a long time to get the laundry done, but it certainly helps me procrastinate.

Hook, Line and Sinker

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 4 Comments

#writetip I guess I’ve been fishing a lot lately, but Hook, Line and Sinker made me think about how I review scenes.

How about: Hook, Tension, and Point of Scene?

These are three useful things to ask yourself after writing a scene. I write thriller/mystery novels, so the pace has keep moving.

If the scene doesn’t have a hook early on, why would anyone keep reading?

If there is no tension, why would anyone keep reading?

If you can’t state the point of the scene, why did you write it?

As usual, only my opinion . . .

Converting from iWorks Pages to Microsoft Word

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 2 Comments

#writetip This is probably one of those things everyone knows except me. I recently switched from iWorks Pages to Microsoft Word. I’m a fan of both programs, but found most of the people I exchanged documents with use Word.

So for convenience, I changed over.

Already having completed the first draft of my novel, Burnt, I converted the document and at first glance everything appeared fine.

Until . . .

My proofreader sent the document to her kindle. The italics in the document didn’t transfer, but they appeared in the Word document on her computer copy.

What happened, you ask?

The italics showed on the Word copy, but when I clicked on italicized text, the little box at the top that shows a text is italicized wasn’t highlighted. The code to format the text didn’t copy from Pages to Word.

Hence the text didn’t appear italicized on the Kindle.

To fix this, I had to retype in any italicized text and hit the italics button. The next version appeared correct on the Kindle.

How does one know these things until they come up and bite you? And how do I know there aren’t other errors?