My Personal Editing Process

I wanted to share my personal editing process so that maybe ya'll could try it out. 

So first, I color-code the parts of my manuscript I need to change: Red for awkward parts, Orange for info dumps, Yellow for

places where I need to add more, Green for things I need to tone down, Blue for confusing parts, and Purple for incongruities. Then I highlight everything I love in Pink!

After that, I go back and fix everything I highlighted. Once that's done, I double-space the manuscript and print it out. I haven't actually gotten to this part yet, but when I do, I'll use my special japanese highlighter pens to highlight and make notes again. 

Then, I'll put the edits onto my computer, and repeat the process until I write something I'm actually proud of. 

Try this method if you want, and if you do, tell me how it worked for you. Happy editing! 

Getting to Know Your Characters

Some of you have had your characters solidly built into your brains for years. You know how they would react in any situation, their favorite music, their favorite colors, people who they would admire, everything. 

But others of you just created your characters last week. You barely even know what they look like. This post is for you.

First of all, you need to know what your characters look like. If you can art, you can draw them. If you can't, check out websites like Rinmaru Games or Dolldivine, or choose from hundreds of mobile apps. I've drawn my characters, made them on both websites and a few apps, and I can now see them vividly in my mind. It doesn't hurt to write a lengthy description in their character sheet, however you want to do that.

Then you'll need to know the basics of their personality. I like to write short stories about my characters, but a description of their personality on their character sheet will do. 

After this, they'll need a backstory. Just keep writing and deleting until something good pops up. They'll need a country of origin, a family, old friends, old crushes, an old home: a well fleshed-out past. 

Then, you can get to know them however you want. Just try not to seem crazy 😊.

Writing Believable Friendships

Sorry I missed yesterday's post, I was really busy. Anyway, today I'm going to be covering the subject of making character friendships believable. I write a lot of character friendships, so here are my thoughts on doing so.

• Make your character's strengths and weaknesses complement her friend's. In my novel, my MC has recently moved from South America, and is an excellent fighter. Her friend is from the USA, and he needs to work on his fighting. She teaches him to fight, and he teaches her to fit in as a normal American teenager. They share their skills and knowledge to help each other.
• Give your friends a special brand of showing affection. Some friends show affection by hugging, gossipping, and passing notes; others tease each other to the point that someone reports them for bullying. Some friends have secret handshakes. Others share their favorite books or shows as if they're in a two person fandom cult. Find how your set of friends show affection, so that they feel like real people with real relationships. 
• Give your friends reason to trust and like each other. Some characters in fiction were forced into situations where they had to be friends, like Grover, Percy, and Annabeth from the Percy Jackson series, or Katniss and Peeta from the Hunger Games. In these examples, the characters earned each other's trust and respect, through conflict (whether internal or external) that exposes their true character.
• Give the friend a life and opinions. The friend likely has other friends, family, school, work, a history, a love life, etcetera. Show how they live outside of their life as your MC's bestie. Maybe give them their own sublot. Heck, maybe even have them abandon their friend because of a difference of opinion, or because something big came up at home/work/school. (They should usually come back, though.) They can't just be a sidekick. They have to be as real a person as your protagonist.

So these are my tips for creating believable friendships. I hope it helps, and happy writing!

What is a Subplot?

I'd wondered this for a long time, so I'm here to help out anyone who wonders the same thing. A lot of writing books don't have a great explanation of what a subplot is, so I had to watch a whole bunch of Youtube videos to get an answer. I'm giving you that answer in this post. 

Wikipedia defines a subplot as: "A secondary strand of the plot that is a supporting side story for any story or the main plot. Subplots may connect to main plots, in either time and place or in thematic significance. Subplots often involve supporting characters, those besides the protagonist or antagonist.
Subplots are distinguished from the main plot by taking up less of the action, having fewer significant events occur, with less impact on the 'world' of the work, and occurring to less important characters." 

What does this mean? Well, let's break it down. First, let's tackle the "supporting side story for the main plot" part. Say your protagonist has to save the world from the dragon army. That's the main plot. Then, along the way, he falls in love with the princess, who is betrothed to the prince of a neighboring kingdom. That's the subplot. It adds meaning and complications to the main plot. Simple, right?

"Subplots often involved supporting characters." In our example, the love interest is a supporting character. And so is the prince of the neighboring kingdom, and his father, and her father. They're all secondary characters, supporting the subplot, which is supporting the main plot, providing extra meaning and complications.

"Subplots take up less of the action, have fewer significant events occur, and have less impact on the fictional world." Whether the princess chooses the hero or her prince, it won't be significant to the war against the dragons. Sure, it will change the protagonist's life, for better or worse, complicating the quest to defeat the dragons, but he's a character. He's not the world. He's just one guy. The fate of the world is much more important than the fate of his romantic subplot. 

So, in summary, a subplot is a little mini-plot that boosts your main plot, using supporting characters and problems to add meaning and complications to it. 

Does your story need a subplot? That depends. Do you have supporting characters that have problems of their own, problems that could boost the plot? That's for you to decide. 
Happy subplotting!  

(I apologize for rambling; my brain is absolutely fried.)

How Much Description is Too Much?

Some people write too little. Others write too much. My rule of thumb for both types of writers is this: if you've painted a picture you can see the same each time you read it over, you've done a good job.

If you see a totally different picture every time, you've written too little description.To fix this, go back and listen for the holes in your description-- maybe you can't see your living room walls. You've written: "The two couches faced each other, their stained cushions sagging under the weight of the books stacked there. The coffee table was home to a stalemated game of chess."

It's good description, but we can't see the surroundings. They might as well be blank white fog. So finish this off with: "The walls were lined with bookshelves topped with portraits of famous (and infamous) poets. The carpet was a frayed greyish-blue." Boom. Description. 

If you find yourself skimming what you've written, you've put in too much description. For example, you wrote: "The two couches, centered in the middle of the room, faced each other as if habing a , their stained cushions sagging under the weight of the books stacked there. The coffee table, sitting between the two couches,  was home to a stalemated game of chess. The black king was in the center of the board, with the white king on his right. The walls of the library were lined with wooden bookshelves topped with portraits of Edgar Allen Poe, Shakespeare, Maya Angelou, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The carpet was a sad, frayed greyish-blue, with three big worn patches where furniture had once stood." That's too much. We'd get a clear picture if it weren't for the fact that we're skimming over it. The fact is, that much description is too much.

 

To fix this, take out whatever seems extraneous. This is entirely subjective, so if you aren't sure, let someone else read it. They can tell you, "I don't care who the poets are, or where the kings are on the chessboard. Just give me the basics." 

Remember, let your readers use their imaginations.You should give the reader a picture, but don't shove it into their brain. When you read a book, you should be forced to use your imagination to make the story yours.  

So when you're writing description, remember, if you've painted a picture you can see the same each time you read it over, you've done a good job.

Writing a Strong Love Interest

You probably didn't think I'd write about this subject, because I don't read romance. But I read books with romantic subplots, and I've developed a sort of preference for the love interests I like, and I'm going to share my opinions here. They're just my opinions, just like everything on this blog. Don't take it as gospel, just keep it in mind while you're writing your love interest.

1.  Make them likeable. I haven't read a terrible love interest, but what I've heard is that a lot of writers create love interests that start out as total jerks, for the sake of being "fixed" by the protagonist. This is ridiculous; if your MC is falling for a total jerk, she doesn't have very good judgment. In real life, a boyfriend like that will likely require a restraining order. 
2. Make them compatible with the protagonist. People do say "Opposites attract," but there should be something they have in common. Maybe they're both huge geeks, or are both haunted by similarly dark pasts. 
3. Make them flawed. A flawed love interest is much more interesting than the confident, muscular, Romeo or the beautiful, gentle Juliet. And if your love interest is perfect, why would he/she want to date your flawed protagonist? (I'm assuming you're making him/her flawed, because flaws are an important part of any character.) 
4. Give them identity and a backstory. Love interests should be real people, with history and personality. If they're just a one-dimensional cardboard cutout, your readers won't identify with them. And if they don't identify with a character, they won't care about them. Have your love interest be as real as your MC.
5. Let your characters fall in love slowly. Nobody wants to read about people who fall in love by the first page. They need to learn about each other and get to know each other before they can really fall in love. 

Remember, this is applicable to all genres with an element of romance. This applies to your science-fiction, your historical fiction, anything. And this doesn't just apply to your protagonist; anybody in your story can fall in love with anybody else.

I hope this helps! Happy writing!

My New Blogging Schedule

I've been kind of winging it for the last couple of months, and it's been a bit crazy trying to come up with topics. So I'm going to make a schedule to tell me (and you) what to blog about.

Monday: Characters

Tuesday: Description/Editing

Wednesday: Plot/Outlines

Thursday: The nuts-and-bolts of writing

Friday: Whatever I want

Saturday/Sunday: Fun weekend stuff

Let's see if I can keep up with this schedule.😁

Making the Most of Your Writing Time

You're a student, you have a full-time career, you have your own business. If any of this is true, you probably have limited writing time. So how do you use that time to its fullest potential?

First of all, you need to secure at least an hour of writing time. You've got to hold onto that hour like it's the most important thing in your day, because it is. It's your hour to be creative, to be free. So when friends ask you for favors or to go out to lunch with them, you have to say no. Doesn't matter how close the friend is, if they eat into your writing time, you have to tell them no. 

Once you've explained away their hurt expression, you'll need to devote yourself solely to writing. Put on your headphones and play your music or white noise. Turn off your phone, then tuck it in a drawer. Then lock the drawer. Don't throw away the key, though 😁. Put your attention on your writing, even if you have to superglue your pants to the chair. (Don't actually do that. When it's time to get back to your "real" job, you're going to need your pants.)

Try racing yourself. See if you could write more in five minutes than you did the last five minutes. This will make the time fly, and you'll get a lot done if you always push to be better.

If these tactics don't work, figure out what does. Talk to other writers with limited writing time to find out what works for them. And then tell me, so I can dispense that advice in a follow-up post😉. 

Novel Update!

So, I probably mentioned this in an earlier post, but I'm writing an octology. I'm currently on the final battle in the second draft. My word count is  exactly 24,000 because I'm a terrible underwriter. I'm hoping to beef up my count in the third draft. I want to be finished by October, so I can start plotting the next book in the series, which I'm going to be writing during NaNoWriMo.

I know you probably don't care, but I wanted to tell y'all to keep myself accountable. I'll be posting updates about every month. In the meantime, keep reading my blog for more writing advice. 

Writing Comedy

Humor is an elusive thing for some writers, and comes naturally to others. Either way, it is very hard to explain comedy, for the same reason that jokes aren't funny when you have to explain them. But I'll do my best.

Irony has three meanings: Verbal irony, situational irony, and dramatic irony. 

Verbal irony is saying one thing to mean the opposite. It's basically sarcasm. This can be very helpful in creating funny or witty dialogue.

Then there's situational irony. This is used a lot in sitcoms. You expect one thing to happen and get another. For example, your high school mean girl says. "I am a nice person!" and then stomps on someone's foot. Or your strict principal commends you on your brilliant food fight. 

Lastly, there's dramatic irony. This is when your audience knows something, but your characters don't. A good example of this is The Son of Neptune. It's part of a series that is a sequel to the previous series starring the protagonist, Percy Jackson. In The Son of Neptune,Percy has lost his memory. The audience (at least, the ones who read the Percy Jackson series) know all about his past, but he is oblivious. I don't know how you would adapt this concept to make it funny, because (plot twist) I couldn't write dramatic irony if my life depended on it. 

Now, humor is more than just irony. Teasing is funny, as long as you aren't being mean. Some people find farts immensely funny.

Basically, whatever you find funny, work into your writing. And have fun doing it!

How to Research (And When and How to Use it)

Say your protagonist is turned into a vampire. You can make up vampire facts like "Vampires sparkle in the sunlight," or you can study actual vampire lore. You need to research all about what happens to vampires in sunlight, what different folklores they appear in, what they feed on in said folklores, how they're killed, how they are created, etc. Just run a google search. Seriously, everything you need to know is on there.  



Then, you can make up little details. If your vampire is a modern teenager, you can write about how she wears costume contacts to cover up her red eyes, or how she wears a baggy hoodie too keep herself protected from the sun. You can make up things that don't contradict the mythology, or your readers will be screaming, "Vampires don't freaking sparkle!!!" Use the mythology to your advantage, don't go against it. 

Here's another example: your protagonist is a swordfighter or archer. You need to know all the moves and gadgetry, but you don't want to confuse your readers. Most readers don't know about parries and fletching, the archer's paradox, the gladius, or backswords. So use words everyone knows to explain things they don't know about. You can call your character's parry a block, and call the fletching the feathers on the back of the arrow. You can also explain these things so you can use the technical terms later. 

A third example: your protagonist is from Japan, or Germany, or whatever. You'll need to research their culture and integrate it into their character. Maybe they have an accent, or have a name like Kioko or Alary.

So, to summarize:

• Use your research to your advantage, building off of it and creating a personal approach to the facts.
• Use technical terms to show that you know what you're talking about, but make sure your readers know what you're talking about as well.
• Research cultures and folklore to build characters. 

Happy researching!

How Many Words/Pages Should You Write?

A writing book by Chris Baty, the founder of NaNoWriMo, stresses that to get your novel done in a 31-day month by writing exactly 1,667 words per day. I personally set my goal to 1,100 words per day, and that is getting easier. I finished my daily word count (for today, starting at midnight) at 3:30 A.M.And an old-school writer named Gary Provost swore by his five typewriter pages a day. 

So who's right? I say: you.

"Whaaaaat?" 

It's your job to figure out how many words or pages you need to write. But I'm here to help you do that.

So, first of all, write as much as you comfortably can. Track how many words/pages you write for at least five days, and find the average. Maybe you wrote 1,290 words on day one, 503 words the second day, etc., and you come up with an average of 1,674 words per day. Now, that's probably a little too specific to keep track of, so maybe trim it down to 1,500 words a day. Or bump it up to 2,000 words. Just have two zeros at the end of your number. 

So now that you have a daily writing goal, stick to it. Write that number of words/pages every day. You can write more, if you want to. I don't care. I just care that you get your book done. As long as you want it to be (50,000 words, 250 pages), you need to reach it eventually, and eventually will come if you write every single day. 

Staying Motivated During a Long Project

[This advice applies to all areas of life, but I'm going to assume that you come to my blog for writing advice. So I'm only going to be focusing on writing]

At the start of a project, you'll be super stoked. You could write for hours on end without stopping. And then, you stop. And you inner critic goes nuts, screaming "This is no good! You'll never be published! No one will like your book! You might as well jump off of a bridge!"

Do not listen to this internal critic. He's only out to destroy you, and your manuscript. Instead of letting him destroy your motivation, reenforce it. 

How?

Well, why did you start writing this book in the first place? To be a bestseller? To prove your parents (or anyone else) that you really can make money off of your crazy hobby? To share your unique message with the world? To enjoy seeing your work in bookstores? Whatever it is, write at least a page about it. Write about how someday, you'll be on TV, talking with famous TV personalities about the world you worked so hard to create, and listening to their glowing praise as you raise a glass to your international success. Write about the smug feeling that'll permeate your soul when your parents hold their copy of your novel in her hands, amazement and pride on their faces.Write about fans crowding you in bookstore, telling you how your book changed their lives. 

Write about what motivates you, every time you feel lackluster, and remember, write what you want to write. Get your writing into the world, where it will be recognized as uniquely yours for seventy years after your death, or whatever the copyright law is. Your motivation will guide your book to be everything you want it to be.

Happy writing! 

The Art of Self-Confidence (And Ice-Skating)

[Sorry I haven't posted in awhile, I've been having a hard time juggling everything. But I'm back now, with a fresh new post.]

So I went ice-skating yesterday, and I think I learned some things. I was no good at it. In my church youth group, even the worst skaters skated awesomely by the end of the hour. But not me. Even with advice from better skaters, I legitimately could not learn to skate. 

But I kept going. I improved. I managed to skate around the people blocking the wall without falling down. I did my best, and that's what counts.

It's the same in writing. Your first draft will be a pile of this weird, gross cream cheese-and-chicken dish I made. It's gonna be gross, smelly, and kinda squishy and make weird sounds. But it's something. And unlike the chicken, you can improve it. It's like ice skating. Your first time stumbling around the rink, clutching onto the wall, will end, and you can push off and cut the corners as you go around this time. And as you go around, you can keep getting better, and someday you will be able to skate like an olympian. And write like J.K. Rowling. 

At the end of the day, it's not talent that counts, it's effort and practice. That's what will polish your manuscript.