Fiction

Writing and the Cruising Lifestyle

~ Kristina Stanley ~ Leave a comment

The cruising part of my life has begun in full force. #writetip It’s been a whirlwind of travel through the north-east of the United States, and today I’m writing from Severna Park, MD. I’m looking at the Chesapeake and feeling rather spoiled. It’s only two days now until we reach our sailboat. She’s up on the hard and we’re about to begin our preseason maintenance on our Lagoon 380. Somewhere in the midst of that, I have to find time to write.

So my question today is: what’s the difference between a journalist and a fiction writer? A novelist is not restricted by facts. I think a journalist can report and still keep themselves separate from the person they are writing about. It might be hard to do sometimes, but possible.

To me, when writing a novel, the author must put themselves in another person’s place. Understanding a character’s motivation can only be done, if you as the writer can switch places with the character. A scene comes to life when the writer controls the events, decides what will happen when, who it will happen to and so on. Sometimes writing a scene is an emotional roller coaster for the writer, but then, I think , it’s probably an emotional scene that’s worth reading.

How much of you is in your character?

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 3 Comments

I was asked this question last night and it got me thinking. #writetip

A character comes from your imagination or your life experience. To me, that means anywhere from none to 100% of the writer is in the character. Since a novel is fiction and not journalism or a biography, I like to think not much of me is in there. Especially when the character is nasty.

A character’s origins may come from the writer, but I bet it’s more interesting to write and read if he/she grows into someone else; although, a person could have a very exciting life, and then maybe a memoir is the way to go.

I can’t imagine doing or saying some of the things my characters do or say. My biases must influence how I describe a character, but in the end they are who they are and not me.

If too much of the writer is in the character, then I think too many restrictions on what the character can or can’t do come into play. Let the character breathe and see what exciting things happen.

Is writing lonely?

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 4 Comments

Not for me. #writetip Writing does require many hours working alone, but that does not mean it’s a lonely profession.

Let’s face it, social networking keeps a writer from being isolated. An awesome writing community is available at the touch of your keyboard. The trick is not to spend so much time networking that you don’t to write.

Then there is the research. Interviewing experts in any area is always enlightening. When you find an expert passionate about their subject, the excitement follows.

How about all the hours spent talking with friends, family, and other writers about your manuscript? That’s definitely not lonely.

It’s a wonder any of us find the time to get words on a page, and when we do, we get to spent time with our characters.

So who has time to be lonely?

Sentence Structure

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 2 Comments

Variety  in sentences can reduce choppiness and smooth the narrative. #writetip

Early in my writing, one of my mentors (Joan Barfoot) suggested I work on variety in sentence structures. I decided to be methodical, about it and here is a method I use to check for variety.

Randomly choose a page of your novel.

Hit return after each sentence. Basically, you form a new paragraph with each line.

Run through the following checklist:

– Are the sentence lengths different? If not, you might want to vary the lengths.

– Do you ever use introductory phrases or clauses. If not, why not try it and see if it changes the sound of your writing.

– Do you use sentences that contain conjunctions? Are they different or do you repeat the same ones?

–  Short declarative sentences can be powerful, but if used to often can lose their power.

Where Ideas Come From

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 2 Comments

The hair salon? #writetip I went out for a hair cut and came back with a plot solution. The man who cuts my hair is chatty. He talked about his life, current events, etc. He’s funny, and I was enjoying his stories, and then it occurred to me he’d given me a solution for a plot problem I was having.

My problem: I still haven’t figured out how to politely pull out my notebook in the middle of someone’s sentence and write down what they’re saying.

Being a writer means you’re always working. Is there ever a time when you don’t think about your novel? When you are not hearing what others say and playing with it, altering it, and seeing where it might fit  in a story?

I guess it pays to  listen, no matter where you are.

Manuscript Feedback

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 2 Comments

How do you take high level comments and use them  to improve work? #writetip Early on, I received feedback from my agent, Margaret Hart, telling me the pacing near the end of my first novel slowed down. I hadn’t been able to see it until she pointed it out. Afterward, it was obvious.

So how was I going to fix it?

I reviewed each scene and asked myself, did I really (and I mean REALLY) need the scene. Just because I liked it was not a good enough reason. If it didn’t move the plot forward, reveal something, develop a character, I deleted it. That was hard. By then end my novel went for 86,000 works to 80,000, but the story is tighter.

For the remaining scenes, I reviewed first and last lines. Get in late, leave early.

I studied the narrative. Did I need the description? Was the place I described important to the story. If yes, I kept the details. If no, I either removed them or shortened them.

If you have thoughts on how to ” pick up the pace”, I’d love to hear them.

Is your protagonist likable?

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 2 Comments

How do you know? #writetip I ask four or five early readers. On my first novel, my husband was my first reader. I expected him to tell me I was fabulous, my writing was great, and he’d never read anything better. Well, that’s what husbands are for. Right?

So after he did all the above, he said he didn’t like my protagonist. Wasn’t I surprised. She was whiny and negative. Not a great personality if you’re going to spend 300 pages with her. We had a detailed discussion about why he thought this and it was back to work for me. I liked her, but I had to think hard about why others might not.

Now, I ask all my early readers to tell me what they do and don’t like about my main characters. This helps me gain perspective on the characters and think about who I want them to be.

If you’ve read a few of my posts, you’ll know I depend on my early readers. I can’t thank them enough for helping me, spending their time reading my drafts, and being willing to comment. The conversations after they’d read my work are often invigorating. Who said writing was lonely?

Writing Schedules

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 5 Comments
Dogs know how to have fun.

When do you write? #writetip My dog (updated cruising with dogs today) hasn’t noticed the water is cold or that it’s Friday. He doesn’t know we’re preparing to go cruising for the winter. And he doesn’t feel guilty about not writing.

I read somewhere once that “writing is like having homework for the rest of your life.” How true. To overcome this feeling, I write Monday to Friday and take the weekend off. Because I’m not trying to get words on the page every day of the week, my mind relaxes and sometimes a plot issue solves itself or the next scene pops into my head.

Everyone has different writing times. Find yours, but also find your time off.

Listening to Your Novel

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 2 Comments

What do you hear when your novel is read out loud? #writetip

I’ve tried reading my novel out loud and taping myself.  Although this helps find errors and hear the tone of the story, it is very time-consuming.

I use my Kindle. The text-to-speech sounds like a robot, but that’s okay. While I listen, I concentrate on the words on the page and it takes me half the time it took with the tape recorder method. I use the slowest reading speed available.

The comment feature enables me to put corrections into the kindle, like leaving comments in a pages or word document. When I’ve finished hearing the novel I go back to my computer and enter the changes. This gives me a chance to review the changes before updating the novel.

If you’re used to typing on your phone, then you’ll have no problem with your kindle keyboard.

Hearing a novel helps find typos, repeated use of words, awkward dialogue.

I’m sure there are other products for this, I just happen to have a Kindle and use this feature. If you know of others, I’d love to hear about them.