Author: ransomnoble

Published Writer: young adult and science fiction

You Can’t Edit a Blank Page

This saying has been credited to many authors and I can’t find the original. I do believe it’s true, though.

The newest member of my writing group stated she had a story she had been writing in her head, and alarms went off in my head. How can she think she’s writing if it hasn’t left her head?

Perhaps it’s fortunate I curbed my tongue. I did want her to come back. She seems like a good addition to the group.

However, I am wary of those who think they can create stories – which are made for sharing – without writing them down. A first draft is usually crap. It’s allowed to be crap. Perhaps even supposed to be crap.

That’s why re-writing and editing exist – to cure the first draft into something wonderful.

I know some first drafts are pretty amazing. I have a friend who puts my first drafts to shame. It’s not a mark of a good writer vs. a bad writer, just that our starting points are different. We both rework our manuscripts until they shine. At the end, we have styles that change our work and voices that speak to the reader. We hope they’re clear and emotionally moving.

Sometimes we succeed.

Other times we scrap a project as not worthy. It’s just part of the process. But if we’d never written a word, we’d never know. And neither would those who read our work be able to share in the story we create.

Some of these sayings are popular for good reason. Imagine a plain white sheet of paper with red dots all over it. Meaningless without the (presumably) black text underneath. Because of this, I give myself permission to make bad first drafts. I just want the story to shine through, and it might take a few tries.

I haven’t failed until I quit trying, and I count it as forward progress as long as my pages aren’t blank.

Posted on by ransomnoble 4

Thorny Pitches

Do you call it a logline or a premise or a one-sentence pitch? And by whatever name you call it, is it really that much different?

The logline’s history starts with scriptwriting, so if I have a novel, do I want to call it a logline?

The premise is a one-sentence summary of a novel, which may or may not be nearly the same as the one-sentence pitch.

Whichever one you think you’re writing, it has to be catchy. Ever feel sorry for all the industry professionals who have these short pithy sayings aimed at them all the time? From Oh, I’m in the elevator with an editor, time to spout out my pitch, to Bathroom break, I think someone’s in the stall next to mine – it’s an agent, I can tell by the shoes! It’s enough to make me glad I’m not one of them.

Well, almost. I think it’d be really cool to discover books, but from the things I read on Twitter via #pubtips, well, wow, there are some bad queries out there. There must also be some great ones, because books keep getting published.

The trick of all those one-sentence dealies in the beginning is word choice. It takes them forever to be crafted, but once they exist in a pretty form they’re helpful. Remember Mark Twain’s words, “The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.”

I mean, what if the first Percy Jackson book was called The Lightning Bug Thief? That just gives an entirely different picture of the book.

The same concept works for pitches, or anything else in a very short form that must get people excited about the project. We’re writers – we need to use our words. There are so many of them out there just waiting for their turn in the spotlight.

It also means we need to stop thinking the first draft of a premise is the correct one. The first draft of anything usually needs a lot of coaxing to shine.

Posted on by ransomnoble 1

Digging Into Plot

Yesterday I pulled out my synopsis and I started making notes. Finally!

I’m really glad I wrote the synopsis now. It makes it easier to figure out where to change things. My notes are in dark blue, littering the typed pages.

Today I think I’ll add green or purple, whichever I can find first. I like adding a different color to show different kinds of work, and today I’ll be making a new line for the plot. It might take two or three times to get where I need to go and changing colors in the notes helps me see which direction I’m going.

As opposed to all black and white- then I’ll forever be scratching things out that don’t work.

Makes me think I should’ve done all this work before I wrote the book, but I didn’t develop the synopsis first.

Why oh why didn’t I do the synopsis first?

Well, I suppose I haven’t yet outlined a book before I’ve written it. The Art of Science might have been the exception because I had a chapter guide before I wrote it – but that one changed away from the outline version completely, too.

Do any of those writing books out there mention the people who have to write the rough draft before being able to look at the plot structure and make it better? I wonder if I might be one of those people.

Posted on by ransomnoble 2

The Market Says

Discussing the magazine market with my friend, she said there was a bigger market for ‘how to write’ especially in the speculative fiction field than there was for the fiction. She’s been researching for her own magazine, and I don’t doubt it.

But it’s a little funny, since in order to write for any genre you need to be familiar with the genre. Of course, they’re probably buying books instead of magazines, but why?

If we’re out for the short story market, it’s best to get our hands on the actual publication we want to have purchase our work. (I’m sure that’s best in every market.) Wouldn’t that make the demand equal for both products?

Are we trying to write in a vacuum?

Maybe we’re listening to the characters in our head. What’s to stop them from taking over the story? Not that it’s bad for them to take over the story, that’s part of what happens when they become real to the author. I guess I’m asking: How do we know they have the best plot possible, if we have nothing to compare to?

Not that we want to redo a plot. I know I’ve heard Twilight has a lot of similarities to Wuthering Heights (can’t be bad to be compared with a classic), but I wonder sometimes where the line can be drawn between using an old plot with newish characters, like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and the arguable every plot can be traced back to one of [insert number of plots below 50 you think there are].

Have you ever wondered what the true fascination with Zombies really is? I think if I get around to reading those re-makes, I’ll choose Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters instead…

Posted on by ransomnoble 3

Do you ever wonder?

Why are there 40 phonemes in English and only 26 letters? Also, of those 26 letters, some of them duplicate sounds. No wonder everyone is confused about how to spell.

I’m not sure adding letters would have simplified the rules. There’s probably some history behind why we have fewer letters than phonemes.

When we teach children to speak and read, we focus on the letters many times. I see alphabet books with all kinds of themes to check out the letters – just the 26 letters. As I learn more about phonics, I wonder why we can’t stretch those phonics into picture books.

I’ve never written a picture book. I think about it from time to time. (Regular readers might remember that.) Perhaps part of the drawback is that children’s picture books go up to 32 pages? But I’m not sure we need to have only one phoneme per page. On the other hand, maybe that would be best.

It might be a fun summer project for me. Like I need another project! My daughter might appreciate it. It’s definitely something that would be fun to have around here, even if it doesn’t get published.

All it means is I could put lots of large, fun words in there to enrich her vocabulary. Might even throw in pulchritudinous, just for kicks.

She’ll be ready for the SAT before she starts Kindergarten. Ha!

Posted on by ransomnoble 3

Monday Again

Bummer!

It seems odd to get attached to certain days of the week, but how often do you hear people say things like, “Oh, I can’t wait until Friday.” Friday may still be three days away, but they’re pushing through their weeks to get there. Barely enough time to enjoy the weekend, and another week hits.

Why are we trying to travel so fast through the days? It’s not like we’re given extra. Even Mondays have their place, and I suppose I wouldn’t prefer other days if there weren’t Mondays to compare them with.

Like I stop calling the early hours of morning the “ugly” hours as long as I get to sleep through them, I’d campaign to sleep through Monday, but that’s a lot of sleep time. I don’t think my daughter would go for it anyway. Since she’s the one who determines my schedule, we’re stuck with Mondays.

We’re stuck with the ugly hours, too, until she learns to sleep through the night.

I have a to-do list a mile long, and finally my plot is figuring itself out for my current project. Yes, I’m still talking about Don’t Tell Your Mother, the one I had the editor give me comments on weeks ago. It just takes forever for the words to really seep into my head and do their damage.

Not really damage – I think it’s going to make it better. A lot better, I hope.

Then I read about authors who hand out their synopses to people they know looking for opinions. They use the information to develop the plot of the next novel. I could do that, but I’m not sure about the feedback I would receive from my friends.

As in, would I receive feedback?

I think I need an advisory board. A bunch of people who read books similar to what I’d like to write, and maybe not so similar, but also willing to meet and discuss a prepared outline. Sounds like fun to me…

Does anyone out there 1- outline in advance to develop the plot and 2- run it by a group of people for comments?

Posted on by ransomnoble 6

What’s so funny?

Last night a group of my friends went to the Funny Bone to see D. L. Hughley. There was an emcee, whose name I do not remember, and an opening local comic named Danny T.

After the show, we discussed the humor – what we found funny and who, of the three, was the ‘funniest’. Oh, funny’s a difficult term to pin down. I know I don’t write humor. My husband doesn’t think I’m funny (something about my joke timing is off), though several of my friends laugh at my jokes. Well, they laugh when I’m not joking, too, but that’s probably another story.

I hadn’t seen enough of D. L. Hughley’s humor to know what was repeated and what was new from his act. Danny T I have heard once before, and I recognized a couple of his lines. Both the comics have different styles, and one of my friends thought Hughley seemed more practiced.

Is that bad?

Most jokes are definitely funnier the first time around, but some of them are funny every time. It must be hard to be a comedian.

It must be harder if you’re afraid to offend someone. Most of the jokes were at least a little off-color. It reminds me of a quote from the book Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein, “I had thought — I had been told — that a ‘funny’ thing is a thing of a goodness. It isn’t. Not ever is it funny to the person it happens to. Like that sheriff without his pants. The goodness is in the laughing itself. I grok it is a bravery… and a sharing… against pain and sorrow and defeat.”

What do you think of jokes?

Posted on by ransomnoble 5

A Title Is Only a Few Words

But, at least for a blog post, that may mean the difference between clicking a link and ignoring it.

A title or headline must grab interest in a few words, make the reader or listener pay attention for what comes afterward, and be descriptive of what comes afterward. So, no, we can’t just type in all caps “REALLY COOL STUFF AHEAD” and expect anyone to read it. Bummer.

Some words might incite interest, like “free.” If you use that method you’d better provide something free, though. And some clickers are getting wise to the oh-i-have-to-buy-something-else-to-get-it kind of free.

It’s enough to make people question the cost of free.

What else out there gets attention?

Another method of titles – which may not work in fiction – is to focus the writer for the article. It makes me think of novels titled “Frodo and His Epic Journey to Destroy the Ring.” Probably better not to do that.

Titles either seem to come to me or be elusive prey. I haven’t found a good method to hunt down a fiction title for an ornery story except to get help from someone else. Give it a working title and ignore the snickers of “Title Here” until something else fills the void.

In some ways, it would be nice to write more non-fiction. At least the focus is there to make something like “Five Tricks to Beat the Evil Overlord that Anyone Can Do” work.

Now that my brain has kicked into high gear to think of random tricks to beat evil overlords and stories I could work that into, I think I’ll be off to fantasy-land.

What do titles mean to you and how do you come up with them?

Posted on by ransomnoble 3

A Blog Grader?

I saw my friend Sarah Holroyd posted about Twitter and how to find potential markets with it. Her link at the bottom was for Blog Grader.

So of course I ran over to check my blog. A lot of it is numbers that aren’t explained in detail – like what does it mean to get 85 for a blog grade? Does that mean I passed something?

I love the links at the bottom of things that give you more information. The best time of day to post, how often to post, and a blogging kit. Do they normalize that for time zone? Oh, now I’m just being silly.

That happens now and then.

So I’ll probably spend part of my morning finding the cool links, then dig into that chapter rewrite – if I get a chance with the baby running around the house. Nap, baby! – at least until the chapter is done!

I know, I know. It doesn’t work that way.

Neither does asking for all the teeth to come in at once.

Then we’ll be back to doing more reading. We have library books we haven’t cracked open yet. Yesterday we went to the University Club Writer’s Group in Iowa City. It was great that she slept both ways in the car, but then she decided to be loud during the writers.

Still learning about indoor voices. She understands what she wants to understand – and at this age it’s difficult to know when she’s just ignoring it.

Posted on by ransomnoble 0

Don’t Forget the Science

Read the article here.

Oh, I love science and the opportunity to learn for free. The heart of science fiction is always in the science where it begins. The writer can take as many liberties as can be believed by the reader, but it has to start with known science and end where the imagination can logically take the story.

“What if?” is the best question to answer. It isn’t always something from another world based on science to make the fiction. It’s the driver for every story ever told.

Where have the questions taken you recently?

Posted on by ransomnoble 1